“Your Majesty, please retreat!”
“Tell me then, where can we retreat to? Where would we be safe?”
In response to the minister's proposal, Jircniv snorted.
“But your Majesty!”
“I know what you all want to say. But abandoning the palace will make me a laughing stock. Even if the opponent is a dragon, which doesn’t seem to be from the Agrando Republic, and if it is making such a move knowing that I won’t escape…… then that dragon may be as intelligent as I heard them to be, it seems to know the political situation of the Empire very well.”
Although Jircniv kept the nobles on a tight leash, that was only possible with the help of the knight orders. If news spread that he had fled the capital because of a dragon, the nobles might think that Jircniv’s military power was weak, and thus band together in revolt. Although he would not lose to an unruly mob, the Empire’s national power would fall drastically.
Even if we fight or retreat, there will still be a huge loss. This sure is an annoying chess move, just what is the story behind that dragon?
In the end, the number of people in the courtyard increased again. Forty royal guards surrounded the dragon, along with sixty knights, and even arcane and divine magic casters were present among their numbers.
“Only having one hundred and twenty people sure is unsettling. Your Majesty, how about letting me join them?”
Jircniv’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. Fluder was the Empire’s greatest trump card. Yet, it was unclear if it was wise to let him deal with a dragon, whose species was known to be strong. Thus he was hesitant, but he also trusted that Fluder could safely escape back to him even in the worst situation.
But there was something Jircniv did not know.
The old magic caster had made that suggestion so Jircniv could not retreat using Fluder’s teleportation magic.
“Understood, gramps. Could you tell ‘Immovable’ to retreat as well?”
“Understood. However, I can’t estimate the strength of these people. They should be very powerful, so if you want to retreat, you should start making preparations now.”
With that said, Fluder opened the window. He flew out using flight magic and hovered in the sky.
“Now then, can everyone hear me!? I am a servant of Ainz Ooal Gown-sama, Aura Bella Fiora!”
During that exact moment, another voice echoed through the air.
“The Emperor of this country sent a bunch of disrespectful people to the Great Tomb of Nazarick where Ainz-sama lives! Ainz-sama is very unhappy, so if the Emperor does not apologise, we will destroy this country!“
Jircniv’s face twisted. How did they come to that conclusion? How did they piece together all the small clues?
As he looked back into the room, he found expressions of surprise staring back at him. Then, when they realized what Jircniv had in mind, they shook their heads.
“For starters, let’s kill everyone here! Mare!”
The other dark elf standing by his side thrusted her staff toward the courtyard. In that instant, a localized earthquake seemed to shake the courtyard. Because it was contained, Jircniv did not feel much of the strong shaking. However, the earth screamed and a complex pattern of cracks opened up in the ground, like a spiderweb with the elves and the dragon at its heart.
Except for Fluder who was floating in the air, the knights, the guards, the magic casters, everyone else was swallowed by the earth.
The dark elves must have placed themselves outside of the earthquake’s effective range, because they were unaffected. The dark elf calmly withdrew her staff, and as quickly as it had occurred, the rents in the earth were sealed once more. The spiderweb-pattern of cracks sealed themselves in the opposite manner of how they appeared, returning the ground back to when it was originally before.
The knights gathered in the courtyard just now were nowhere to be seen. It was truly a shocking conclusion.
“Good, they’re all dead! Now, if he doesn’t show himself soon, we’ll kill everyone in the city next… Since we don’t know which one’s the Emperor, we’ll just wreck this entire city and stop caring about anything! So come out, come out, Emperor, wherever you are!”
“Y-your Majesty!”
The trembling servants addressed him with pale faces.
“…I was about say that we stepped on a dragon’s tail, but in the end, the dragon came instead.”
Jircniv struggled to control his trembling. As an absolute being who wielded the authority of an Emperor, he could not afford to show fear in front of his subjects.
Ainz Ooal Gown… who is this person… … No, now is not the time to think about that.
Jircniv turned to the window and shouted.
“I, Emperor Jircniv Rune Farlord El Nix, have something to say! Dear emissaries, would the two of you like to continue this discussion inside?” He then turned his head to his servants, “Prepare the finest welcome for our guests! With haste!”
As his servants hurriedly rushed out, he looked back to the dark elves.
…I underestimated them. However, if these are just subordinates… how can I not handle them? Even so, I can’t retreat here. If they want to negotiate, then we shall have a war of words. Ainz Ooal Gown, I will break your ambitions here!
Epilogue
Translator: SifaV6
Editors/Proofreaders: Namo-chan, Skythewood, Ferro, Nigel, Rockgollem
“Well then, here are the one hundred gold coins as promised. And this is the contract.”
After taking a quick peek at the contents of the bag, Arche’s father nodded his head in satisfaction. Without any hesitation, he quickly signed his name on the parchment and then stamped it with their family seal. His fluid actions revealed that this wasn’t the first time that he had done this.
“Now there shouldn’t be any problems, right?”
Eyeing the parchment that was handed to him, the man nodded. If Hekkeran and Imina were here, they would definitely reveal their displeasure. This man was the same man that had visited them previously at the inn.
The man glanced at the parchment a few more times while he waited. After verifying that the ink had finished drying, the man carefully rolled up the parchment, and stored it.