He had to make Ainz Ooal Gown a lasting legend, a good one rather than bad, if possible. Ainz imitated a sigh and counted his spending money in his head from the coins that remained.
“Speaking of money, what should I do about the Guardians’ salaries?”
Ainz pondered as he leaned back in his chair and looked to the ceiling.
The Guardians insisted that they did not need something like wages, claiming how they could possibly desire compensation on top of serving the Supreme Being which is their greatest joy.
But from Ainz’ perspective, he questioned whether it was alright for him to simply accept their good will. Work must be met with fair compensation.
Even if the Guardians insisted that pledging their loyalty to the Supreme Being was in itself the reward, it was difficult for Ainz to be convinced.
It may just be his self-righteousness, having experienced working in a company for pay. However, he could not abandon the notion that work had to be rewarded.
He did fear the possibility that a salary might corrupt his children who did not know any better. Even so, there was merit in introducing it as an experiment.
“The question is what I’m going to reward them with.”
His eyes moved from the ceiling back to the few remaining gold coins on the table.
“If I consider the Guardians as department heads of a listed company, then they would need at least 15 million yen annually… Shalltear, Cocytus, Aura, Mare, Demiurge… Albedo would need a bit more, right? So multiply by six and… Hmm, yep that’s impossible. I can’t raise that much money.”
Ainz pulled at his head and suddenly opened his eyes wide.
“That’s it! I can substitute it with something else! Currency that can only be used in Nazarick— make something like notes for children and have one equal a hundred thousand yen!”
Having shouted as much, Ainz frowned once more.
But what could they spend that currency on?
All of the facilities in Nazarick were free. Even if he thought of minting coin, he could not think of what to spend it on.
“Maybe use it to buy items from this world?”
Ainz compared the common goods of this world with those of Nazarick and doubted whether any of the Guardians would actually want them.
“But if I start charging for the stuff that was free up until now, that would be counterproductive… what should I do…”
After thinking it over for a while, Ainz came up with a great idea.
“Right! I’ll just ask the Guardians to think about it. I can ask them if they have anything that they want badly enough to pay money for!”
As Ainz muttered happily to himself about his nice idea, his smile suddenly turned bitter.
“With that said…”
He realized that he was talking to himself more and more often.
He knew that it started back when the game was nearing its end, the loneliness from his guild mates no longer showing up. But why was it that his muttering did not die down even after the NPCs gained sentience and moved about on their own?
Perhaps it became a habit, or—
“Because I’m still alone…”
Ainz gave a lonely smile.
Of course, saying that he was alone even with the self-aware NPCs by his side was rude to them. But he also had this thought; in order to act as Ainz Ooal Gown, the leader of the 41 Supreme Beings that the Guardians wanted, it was possible that he was killing Suzuki Satoru.
Ainz heaved a sigh and turned his gaze back on to the coins on the table. That was when he heard a knock on his door.
After a brief respite, the door opened. Confirming that the person who entered was the one he was expecting— Narberal Gamma, Ainz deliberately fixed his expression so that one corner of his lips curled upwards, into a face that looked as if he were looking down on someone.
The low rank illusion that Ainz was able to cast plainly showed his emotions on the surface. As such, there was a chance that he would show a face ill-fitting of Nazarick’s ruler. That was why he practiced a countless different expressions in front of the mirror so that whenever he was in the presence of others, especially Narberal, he could seem more dignified. He had a great deal of trouble choosing an expression out of the many he practiced.
“What is it, Nabel.”
He questioned her with an equally decorated voice.
“Yes, Momon-sa… san.”
“… It seems the ‘sama’ appears occasionally. No choice but to leave it as an old habit. Regardless, at least you fix it when I give a warning, albeit temporarily. I guess I must give up on that endeavor. Ah, there is no need for you to bow your head, I am not angry. And the respectable way you address me… well, it should be fine since it seems other people including the guild leader have come to some misunderstanding about us. So, what is it?”
“Yes, the iron ore that you demanded of the merchant has arrived.”
It wasn’t a demand I just bought it normally….
Thinking so in his head, his dignified expression remained unmoving.
“I see… where was the iron ore from? Was it gathered from all eight locations?”
“I apologize. I was not told.”
“…It’s fine. I have plenty of money. Although I do not know how many places it was gathered from, there should be more than enough money to purchase all of it.”
Ainz confidently filled the sack with the coins that were stacked on top of the table and tossed it at Narberal’s feet. He watched as she courteously picked up the bag.
“Understood, but may I ask you a question?”
“Is it regarding the reason why I am buying iron ore from different locations?”
Ainz explained it to Narberal who nodded her head.
“It is so that I may toss them into the Exchange Box. In other words, I wish to test whether or not the amount of gold differs based on where the ore was mined.”
The Exchange Box was not influenced by the appearance of the original object. For example, regarding a detailed stone statue, it would ignore any workmanship and calculate its worth to be equal to a stone of the same weight. Then the test was to see how it handles the difference in components— in the actual material. That was the reason why he was buying iron ore from various locations.