Just by looking at the emblem on the side of the carriage, which consisted of three overlapping staffs, everyone with a certain level of knowledge/culture would be able to tell who was sitting inside and who the owner of this carriage was. As such, the knights standing guard did not make any sound.
There were three men inside the carriage. All of them wore robes and were dressed like magic casters.
Although all three were famous figures within the Empire, even among them there was a clear difference in their attitude and status. The white haired elderly man clearly had the highest status among them.
Similar to how Gazef Stronoff was renowned as a warrior, there was no magic caster who was more famous than this man. This elderly man was the most powerful magic caster in the Empire, ‘Tri Arts’ Fluder Paradyne.
Opposite Fluder were two of his disciples, both of whom could use magic up to the 4th tier.
As though he could no longer endure the heavy atmosphere after setting off from the Imperial capital, one of the disciple sheepishly said:
“Master, what should we do about his Imperial Majesty’s orders?”
Silence took over the carriage once again. The moment they thought that was the case, Fluder answered in a deep and calm voice.
“If his Imperial Majesty wishes it, we as his vassals can only carry out his orders and begin our investigation. However, it is too risky to investigate using magical means. Should we start by studying the archives or conducting a demon summoning? In the end, we still need to gather information.”
“Are you saying that even you do not know, Master?”
Fluder closed his eyes and opened them several seconds later.
“My knowledge is lacking. I don’t know anything about the powerful demon Jaldabaoth.”
About one month ago, a group of demons assaulted the Kingdom’s capital. According to the intelligence they gathered, the commander Jaldabaoth and his maid servants were horrifying beings from another plane of existence.
Because of the demon crisis, the annual invasion against the Kingdom hadn’t been launched this year. Thinking normally, the Empire should have taken advantage of the situation and attacked the Kingdom while they were still exhausted from the demon invasion.
However, there were two reasons why the Empire waged war against the Kingdom.
The first reason was to exhaust the resources of the Kingdom. Unlike the Empire that formed standing armies, the Kingdom conscripted their soldiers. Hence, the Kingdom would lose in terms of quality every time the Empire mobilized its forces, so they had to make it up with the quantity of their troops. That was the reason why they picked the harvesting seasons to wage war. The farmers would be conscripted and unable to harvest their crops, which was a long term plan to sap the resources of the Kingdom.
The other reason was to weaken the power of the nobles within the Empire. During the war, they imposed special taxes on nobles who opposed the Emperor and drained them of their money. If they refused, they would be would be charged with treason. In the end, the only difference was tightening the noose on their necks or killing them for expressing a wrong idea.
As those were the reasons, the Kingdom which was already spent from the battle could be left alone— that was the conclusion of Emperor Jircniv. He had pulled the fangs of most of the nobles anyway.
However, there was still one problem.
Where was Jaldabaoth now, the one who committed atrocities befitting the title of a demon? And what kind of existence was this being that created such calamity?
It was only natural for the order to investigate Jaldabaoth to fall on Fluder, the most outstanding magic caster in the Empire.
“And the one who defeated Jaldabaoth, ‘Dark Hero’ Momon and his team mate ‘Beautiful Princess’ Nabe. How fascinating. And the mysterious magic caster Ainz Ooal Gown. Are all the hidden heroes starting to make their move? Maybe a fierce battle similar to the fight against the demon god two hundred years ago will happen once again.”
“...Will that really happen?”
“I have no idea, but only a fool would make preparations after the fact. Being ready before it happens is the action of a wise man.”
The carriage finally reached its destination.
The vast territory was surrounded by thick, high walls with several watchtowers overlooking it, guarding against dangers coming from both outside and inside. Multiple chosen knights —from the elite 1st Knight Order that was the best out of the eight Knight Orders of the Empire— formed teams with magic casters and made regular patrols.
Up in the sky were the personal guards under the direct jurisdiction of the Emperor, imperial air guards mounted on flying beasts, and even high-level magic casters using flight magic.
This was the symbol of the Empire’s might, and the place where past emperors had invested the most efforts in, the Magic Ministry.
Production of magic equipment for the knights, development of new spells, raising the standard of living through magic experiments, the essence of the Empire’s magic knowledge was all here. And the man who was overall in charge—although someone else was the minister of magic—was Fluder.
The carriage moved through the territory, and finally stopped before the innermost tower.
One common thing about the various buildings they passed by was the large number of people entering and exiting. However, there was hardly anyone going in and out of this tower. In contrast, the security at the entrance was beyond that of the other buildings.
First was how the security knights looked. They were not from the 1st Knight Order that could be seen everywhere in the vicinity.
They wore full plate armor imbued with magic, holding magic shields and had magic weapons hanging at their waist. Their crimson capes, sewn with the emblem of the Empire, were magical as well.
The imbued magic might not be that powerful, but such equipment was not something normal knights were outfitted with, even in the Empire.
These elite knights were the Imperial Earth Guards under the direct command of the Emperor.
The magic casters beside them were equally formidable. They were veterans and proficient in battles, emitting an aura that could rival veteran warriors.
And there was more. Four 2.5m tall stone golems guarded the entrance. With no need for food nor rest and never lazing off, they were most suited for security.
This place, which had a security system that was on par with the one protecting the emperor, only allowed entry to magic casters who had reached the latter half of their 3rd tier magic studies, those with special circumstances and magic casters proficient in research.