“Ah…”
Roberdyck’s body stopped moving. He did not have to look to know who had done it. It was Ainz Ooal Gown—that godlike being who could control the passage of time—who was supposed to be standing in front of him. When had he vanished from his field of vision?
The cold flowing into him made him feel as though he had turned into an ice sculpture. Thus, any feeling and freedom were stripped from his body.
“—It was useless, wasn’t it?”
So spoke the gentle voice which carried no trace of enmity to Roberdyck. The mace fell from nerveless fingers, to the ground—
Then, Ainz muttered as he looked to Roberdyck who had lost all will to fight.
“Well, that was a waste of effort. I think I might have actually broken a sweat.”
It was completely useless. Every tactic and trick he had tried could not do even the slightest bit of damage to Ainz.
The thoroughly defeated Roberdyck looked quietly at Ainz, and calmly asked him a question.
“I have something to ask. What is to become of us afterwards?”
“Mm? Is it because you’re a divine magic caster and you think you won’t end up in the same state as those other two?”
With that as a premise, Ainz began his explanation.
“Well then, about those two. Aura, take them to the Large Cave. Gashokukochuuou says he’s running out of nests.”
The dark elf’s ears twitched, and his eyes went wide.
“Ai-Ainz-sama! Mare! I can order Mare to go instead, right? Make him go there instead!”
“Oh, hm. Fine with me.”
“Understood! I’ll let Mare go instead!”
“As for that, I apologize. There will be no kind fate in store for them. As for you—the subordinate I sent in pursuit is also a divine magic caster, but the god she believes in is completely different from the gods you worship. When it comes down to it, I have no idea what the Four Gods you worship are. As such, I need to confirm the details on them. As their subordinates, you have names for them, but whether they’re the Four Gods or the Six Gods, these names are little more than job titles, like the Fire God, Earth God, is that it?”
“That, I don’t know about that.”
“I see… so they’re not superior beings who possess a mysterious power, they’re nothing more than great men of the past who’ve been deified—”
“—how could that be?!”
“Well, do listen. That’s just my theory. But if that were the case, if you do borrow the power of the gods to work your magic, could dead people provide it to you? Or rather, what are the gods? Do they even exist? Are you really using the power of the gods?”
“…What are you trying to say?”
“…Have you ever seen your god?”
“My god is always by my side!”
“That is to say, you’ve never actually seen him directly, then?”
“No! When we use our spells, we feel the presence of a mighty being. That is our god!”
“…And who declared that that presence to be a god? The god himself? Or someone using another kind of power?”
Roberdyck recalled the theological debates he had taken part in. There was no clear answer to Ainz’s questions. Until today, the priests still debated hotly over whether that was the proof of God’s existence.
Just as Roberdyck was about to speak, Ainz interrupted him.
“…Well, supposing these super-dimensional beings—which we shall generously term gods for our purposes—do exist, I wonder if that means they are originally colorless entities. Simply put, they are chunks of power. Because drawing on their power dyes them in a different color and changes the thing… well, they do exist in a world with magical laws, I just wanted someone to chat with someone about this. It wouldn’t be funny if there really were gods.”
“…”
“My apologies. That was off-topic. The power of the god you believe in. I think we won’t be able to learn it… so do you want to take part in a human experiment?”
“…human experiment?”
“That’s right. For instance, when we alter your memories so the god you believe in is someone else, what will happen after that?”
He’s insane. That was Roberdyck’s deepest and most honest thought about the situation.
No, he’s an undead. It wouldn’t be strange no matter what he did.
Ainz took a step back, looking with deep interest at Roberdyck. That look was the way a scholar would examine a laboratory animal, and it made Roberdyck want to throw up.
“Why, why do you want to do that?”
“To prove that god exists… eh, I’m not going to bother going on with that joke. Truthfully, I want to become stronger by understanding the nature of that power. And if those beings you call gods really exist, I want to know if they have emotions or thoughts. I want to confirm that. As for me, I have never thought of myself as a chosen being. In truth, there are many others like that.”
Roberdyck had no idea what Ainz was talking about.
“Therefore, expanding military preparations is essential. Of course, it may be that no enemies exist, or if they do exist, none of them are as strong as we are. However, don’t you think that the leader of an organization shouldn’t be negligent? After all, if we rest on our laurels, we’re likely to have our feet cut out from under us when we least expect it. Confirming the existence of gods is part of that. “
Ainz shrugged as he finished.
Part 2
Arche panted heavily.
Every time the grass swayed from the wind, her whole body would tremble. Like a small animal, she fearfully looked in every direction.
The surroundings were a forest, and there were many places without light. The spreading canopies of the nearby trees blocked out the light from the sky, and there was almost none on the surface.
Although this environment would normally be difficult for a human being to navigate, in lieu of illumination, Arche used the ‘Darkvision’ spell, which made her surroundings seem as bright as day.
However, even with this spell, she still needed a lot of concentration to pick out grass patches which people could be hiding in, tree trunks that might conceal enemies behind them, and listen to the branches creaking as they swayed in the wind.
As an arcane magic caster, if Arche were confronted by a monster which attacked her, she could not get rid of it by herself. Normally, she would have her colleagues to help her, but the ones who would help her, who would provide cover for her, or heal her, were all absent.