No, I can’t do that.
He was punishing Shalltear, but Shalltear’s mistake was actually Ainz’ fault. That’s why enduring the urge to get up was Ainz’ punishment.
Ainz destroyed the complicated emotions welling up within him.
He tried his best to ignore the chair that was panting and squirming. But he couldn’t help thinking Peroronchino, what a perverted setting this is.
“... Well then, let’s move on to the serious topic. Did we intimidate them?”
“I think it was perfect, Ainz-sama.”
“Exactly, just look at the lizardmen’s faces.”
Ainz smiled in relief after hearing what the Guardians said. Actually, it was impossible to tell the changes in the expressions of the lizardmen. They might be closer to humans than reptiles, but their facial expressions were totally different from humans.
“Is that so. Then the first phase to awe them with might is a success.”
Ainz exhaled in relief.
He used the Super-tier magic ‘The Creation’ that could only be used four times a day after all. If that didn’t work, nothing else would.
“Demiurge, how long would it take to find out exactly how large the frozen area is?”
“We have already started to do so, but progress is slow as the area is wider than expected. Please grant us more time.”
Ainz stopped Demiurge who was about to kneel. Ainz covered his mouth with his bony finger and thought. The area of effect being larger than expected could be considered a success in terms of magical experimentations.
‘The Creation’ is a Super-tier magic that could change the terrain itself. In YGGDRASIL, it was used to guard against the heat of volcanoes or the cold of freezing lands.
It was possible to show their might without using Super-tier magic.
Unrelated to this deployment, Ainz had always wanted to perform this experiment in determining the area of effect. ‘The Creation’ was a magic that had an amazingly large area of effect, and could cover the entire 8th floor in Ainz's experiment inside Nazarick. But it wasn’t clear what effect it would have in the world outside.
In YGGDRASIL the spell effect could cover an ‘Area’, but how big would an ‘Area’ be in this world? Ainz wanted to find out. If it could cover an entire plain, that would be too big.
Similarly, freezing the entire lake was going overboard. Care should be taken when using Super-tier magic.
“Aura, how is our security net?”
“Yes! We have deployed the undead assigned by Ainz-sama to secure a two kilometer radius area. But there has been no signs of anything special coming in so far. I have also sent monsters specializing in scouting to patrol the area within 4 km, but we have not spotted anything suspicious.”
“I see… The enemy might be hiding from detection as they draw close, what about the countermeasures against that?”
“There are no problems. With Shalltear’s cooperation, we have sent out undead proficient in reconnaissance.”
“Splendid.”
Aura smiled happily after Ainz praised her. Her depressed expression was gone without a trace.
“We have exposed ourselves to this extent, why haven’t the people who used the World class item against Shalltear made a move?”
Ainz asked again under the gaze of everyone present, but did not direct his question to anyone in particular.
“Why aren’t they performing surveillance on Nazarick and this place?”
“Could it be that they are surveilling us with World class items that could not be detected by normal means?”
Ainz tilt his head in response to Demiurge’s counter question.
“... I did consider this possibility, that’s why I use Momon… If they are really using World class item to spy on us, they wouldn’t be able to spy on Momon who also owns a World class item. That’s why I have been assuming they will use physical means such as scouts to watch us… They might use magic surveillance too, but it should be orthodox means...”
Ainz realized the Guardians around him seemed confused, which meant his explanation wasn’t clear enough.
“Well… How should I put this… In the past, we owned a mine that could generate a type of metal that was rare. As we were monopolizing the supply, the market price for it soared and people started scheming to rob it from us. The item they used that time was Ouroboros. It was a top World class item known as one of the ‘Twenty’.”
Ainz narrowed his eyes.
He was raging mad when he just got robbed, but looking back, it was a nice piece of memory. Even though they were massacred and dropped plenty of rare items.
“Outrageous! They dare usurp the territory ruled by the Supreme Beings?! Unforgivable! Please give us the order to counter attack!”
Hearing how angry Albedo was made Ainz turn his gaze.
He could see the hostility and killing intent released by all the Guardians, even the calm Demiurge was revealing a sinister smile. Not just that, even Mare’s reserved expression couldn’t conceal his urge to attack. Ainz couldn’t see Shalltear’s face as she was acting as a chair, but from her stiffened body, her determination was conveyed to Ainz through his rear.
“Calm down! This is all in the past now.”
Ainz raised his hand to calm the Guardians. They looked more settled, but they still felt unstable as if magma was flowing beneath the surface. To change the topic, Ainz continued what he was saying.
“The enemy used Ouroboros to stop us from entering the ‘World’ the mine was situated in. They probably used this chance to search the vicinity and seize the mine. When the seal was undone, we went in only to find that the mine had been conquered.”
During the rash attempt to take back the mine, about half the guild members died at least once. Ainz held back on and didn’t say this out loud.
“I will get to the main point. I mentioned that we were denied access to that ‘World’ but people with World class items could still enter that ‘World’. Hence, it is impossible for them to spy on us even with the strongest World class item.”
As Ainz listened to the enlightened acknowledgement from his subordinates, he still bore doubts on whether this was really true.
The possibility was high, but there was no evidence to prove that it was true.
When using ‘Conflict of the Five Elements’ which was also a ‘Twenty’ like ‘Ouroboros’, the game company sent a message to the owners World class items. Aside from an apology, they also sent an item as compensation. The content of the apology message was: ”Bearers of World class items, by right, you should be exempted from any changes to the world. But it is very challenging to maintain your data while we update the server. Therefore, we have no other choice but to treat this as an exceptional case as we update the server.”