A pity that him going up against Ainz was like a mouse fighting a lion.
Ordoro's eye twitched as he listened to what Fluder said.
Under the teachings of the Six Great Gods there should not be a reason to allow for the existence of Heteromorphic creatures, especially Undead who harbor a hatred against the living. The only reason that Ainz was allowed to keep existing was because his power was so great that it overthrew all principals and codes of humanity. As the bishop that oversaw the unit that Ainz destroyed, he could not feel anything but contempt.
"Paradyne, you must realize that in today's world Undead have become the continuous bane of humanity; it has become a standard to eliminate them on sight. Our unit acted in the same way as any group of soldiers would and they did not know that the land on which they were trespassing belonged to Ainz Ooal Gown."
The one who spoke this time was the Archbishop of Wind, Yliana Forx Aurado. She was the most levelheaded of the Six Archbishops and thought that if she allowed Ordoro to keep leading the diplomatic meeting things would only get worse.
The corners of Fluder's mouth twitched upwards. At least one of the archbishops had a good head on her shoulders. But it would still prove insufficient.
"Your Excellency, no matter the reason we cannot allow this incident to go undisputed, which reminds me that I have been forgetful. I have completely forgotten to deliver a gift that I was allowed to bring to you by my lord."
Fluder ruffled around inside of his robe and appeared to be retrieving something. At this moment the dozens of guards immediately readied their weapons and prepared to fire their strongest spells at a moment's notice. Fluder was the most powerful wizard in the human nations. If he took out a magic item here then it would be almost impossible to stop him from killing the archbishops if he so wished.
Fluder raised his hand and gestured to calm down as he slowly and without making any false moves produced an object wrapped in a piece of fine red cloth.
The archbishops gestured to one of their aides to go and retrieve the gift.
When it was delivered to them they motioned that the aide himself should open it in front of them as doing so themselves was too dangerous.
The aide slowly untangled the knot and revealed the contents hidden inside the cloth…
"What?"
"Is that?"
"That idiot Nigun!"
Before them inside the cloth, the Six Archbishops saw a beautifully shining crystal that seemed to contain a faint glimmer in its core. This was the same crystal that Nigun was given in case Gazef Stronoff proved too strong to fight. Normally to give this crystal just to eliminate one man was unheard of. But if Gazef proved too powerful and revealed the Theocracy's involvement with the nobles of the kingdom then it would be inviting even more trouble.
What was even worse was that they could clearly see that it had been used. The strong magic glow that was present in the crystal before was nowhere to be seen. Only a slight trace still remained.
"I believe this to be one of the great treasures of the Slane Theocracy. My master has deemed it proper to return it to you as a token of politeness as looting antiques is not one of his hobbies."
Antiques?
Archon, who had thus far remained silent, was racking his brain over what he had just heard. To call a magic item that could destroy an entire city an antique was unfathomable. Just how powerful was this sorcerer that he could leisurely return magic items like this without giving it a second thought?
"As for the second reason, I believe that perhaps you should already have an idea. Not too long ago my master sent some personnel to this city in order to find out if establishing diplomatic relations was beneficial."
Archon's brows twitched.
If that was true then the ones that the Sorcerer King sent would be…
"However, when one of these emissaries was taking a stroll through the city one certain evening one of the Theocracy's men attacked him unprovoked. Although he was saved by his comrades the offense still stands."
"Emissary? Don't you mean spy?!" Ordoro spat angrily.
Sending Emissaries to foreign nations was common practice but doing so in secret without announcing it was an entirely different matter.
"To begin with these are huge claims you are making Fluder! No man of the Theocracy would attack a random person on the street. There must have been a reason that this envoy of the Sorcerer King was attacked!"
Fluder gently stroked his beard as he often did when trying to hide a facial expression that he would prefer to remain unnoticed.
To think that they'd walk into this trap so easily. This Archbishop was really an idiot.
"Indeed you are right, Your Excellency. There really is a reason that he was attacked which brings me to my main point. The offense that this emissary has committed was that he was not of the human race!"
So it really was him.
Archon felt a vague sense of fear as he now knew for certain that the envoy that was attacked was the strange werewolf that Zesshi fought a while back.
"Your Excellencies, as you yourselves have stated, the very existence of the Undead to you and all of humanity is considered a nightmare that one does not wake up from. It is the unique trait of the Slane Theocracy, however, that every race that is not human must be exterminated."
Too late the Archbishops understood what Fluder was getting at. According to reports from their spies in the Empire, hundreds or perhaps thousands of demi-human and heteromorphic creatures were Ainz's devoted followers. A nation that pushed for extermination of these races would surely be seen as an enemy.
"Please wait a moment, Paradyne-dono! While we do not deny that there was indeed an incident with a non-human in the capital, it is our understanding that this non-human was a werewolf of some kind. In other words, the soldier who attacked him was doing his duty as a soldier of this nation to protect the innocent citizens of this capital."
Yliana tried to remedy the situation as best she could but knew that the six of them had already fallen into the trap and now could only struggle to avoid the worst outcome.
No matter what this could not escalate or else there would be no end to their troubles.
"Your Excellency seems to misunderstand the main topic. My master commands thousands of creatures like that werewolf who I can guarantee will not attack a human unless ordered to or in self-defense. But while one of these creatures was on a mission to judge whether relations with this nation were feasible he was attacked without provocation. Where does that leave the Theocracy?"
The archbishops tried to form words and reasons in their head but found themselves utterly jammed.
They had heard from reports that Ainz was a clever schemer but only now realized that this war of words had already been decided.
If they claimed that Fluder was lying then they would have to present a witness to disprove the accusations. They could not do so due to the fact that the witness was a national secret and one of the five legacies.
If they stated that the attack was for religious reasons then there was no telling what the reaction from the opposite party would be.
The best choice of action would be to formally apologize and try to reconcile. But to do so with an Undead went against everything that they themselves had preached to all followers of their faith. As the archbishops they would be in danger of being proclaimed heretics by all the lesser priests if they so much as negotiated with an Undead.
The fact that Fluder had been granted an audience in his master's name was solely because of his status as the greatest magic caster in the world. To think that Ainz Ooal Gown would be clever enough to create such a dangerous situation using nothing more than a name.