“Come see this, Ainz-sama!”
Aura led them into one of the houses she had opened up.
Ainz gave the place a once-over, but he could not detect any differences from the other buildings, and he found nothing special within it.
“Is this the Dwarven home where Zenberu once stayed?”
“No, this isn’t it. On our way to the home of the Dwarf who took care of Zenberu, we found several buildings that had been opened up. After checking them, I found footprints on the ground, and those might not be Dwarven footprints. Here, have a look. Zenberu, Dwarves don’t go barefoot, right?”
“Ahh, of course not. They all wear shoes, and they don’t take them off even inside their homes. I used to see them in sturdy, metal-soled boots.”
“That means these footprints are clearly not Dwarven.”
“How much can you learn from them?”
“Hmm, let’s see…”
Aura tilted her head in contemplation.
“They seem to have been made by a biped, and the drag marks between the left and right footprints suggest a tail of some sort.”
“Was it something like a Lizardman?”
Shalltear turned to look at Zenberu.
“No, it wasn’t. The tail is slim, not thick like Zenberu’s. Also, the footprints were filled in with dust, so they must have been left there for quite some time. Whoever left them did not go back and forth often. Also, it looks like the person who came in here left immediately after entering…Did they come because they were interested in a Dwarven city?”
Aura shifted her gaze from the house to the road outside.
“And it’ wasn’t just one person… there were a lot, at least 10 of them.”
“How far can you follow this trail? This is our only clue, after all, so I’d like to follow up on it as much as possible.”
“Understood. Could you follow behind me, then?”
There was no possible reason to refuse.
Everyone trailed after Aura, while Shalltear stood by behind Aura to protect her.
The owner of the footprints moved as Aura had predicted — it had the same objective as Ainz, wandering around and looking into the Dwarven buildings.
Halfway through the trail, Aura suddenly ground to a halt and stared at the road ahead. She was looking at one of the huge buildings that Ainz had spotted from above.
“There’s many identical footprints here. It looks like a squad of them came from over there. What should we do? Should we investigate this squad?”
“…No, it might be better to see where these footprints’ owners disappeared to. We’ll investigate the other group later.”
“Understood!”
Aura started moving again. In the end, they reached a building that was fused with the walls and seemed to span the entire city.
It looked like a bungalow, but it was huge.
“…There shouldn’t be anyone inside, but for safety’s sake, I will use magic after this. The enemy’s defensive spells might take effect centered on me, so everyone should keep their distance.”
Using divination-type magic carried the risk of being targeted by counterattacks. While the only one among them who might actually be killed in one hit by such a backlash was Zenberu, there was no reason to unnecessarily deplete his subordinates’ health.
“Ainz-sama, please allow me to guard your person.”
“Eh? Then I’ll come too.”
“No, you need to stay where you won’t be affected and watch your surroundings.”
After being rebuked by Shalltear, Aura looked pleadingly at Ainz, but in this case, Ainz shared Shalltear’s opinion.
“Indeed. Your sensory abilities are the best among us, Aura. While it does not seem likely, if there actually is an ambush, you may end up being the first one to deal with it.”
After hearing that from her master, Aura had nothing left to say. All she could do was reluctantly express her acknowledgement.
Ainz conjured a magical sensor and sent it into the building.
As expected, there was no sign of anyone hiding within, and so he sent it deeper inside.
What was this building used for? A counter and — are those lockers? It looks like a bathhouse, but there’s no separation for genders… is this a Dwarf-only building?”
As Ainz observed the interiors of several rooms, he found a place that looked like the tunnels through which he and the others had passed through just now.
Could this building be a checkpoint or base of some sort? Maybe it was meant to stop the enemy coming from the depths of this tunnel. Does that mean the tunnel leads somewhere else?
A quick search of the building’s interior revealed no trace of the enemy. He quickly summarized the state of the inside of the building, and then let Aura head inside, in order to verify if the footprints ended inside that tunnel.
After that, Ainz, Shalltear and Zenberu followed. He left the magical beasts and undead waiting outside in case the Hanzos returned in the meantime.
As they followed behind Aura, Ainz whispered to Zenberu: “What do you know about this building?”
“Sorry, Your Majesty, but I don’t know that much. All I know is that the gigantic building that our company saw just now — the one in front of the building where we picked up the trail of the footprints — was apparently used for administrative tasks. Also, the other big buildings we glimpsed from time to time used to house taverns or blacksmiths and the like. Even the Dwarven chiefs — no, their people in charge — don’t live in big houses. I don’t know the reason for that,” Zenberu concluded.
Just then, Aura stopped at the tunnel’s entrance.
“The footprints came from here. Shall we go on?
Ainz was briefly stymied by Aura’s question, but it soon passed.
“No, let’s not. There’s other places to investigate in the city. We’ll leave this place to the very end. Also, it would be better to have the Hanzos around for it.”
One could also say that the tunnels were very extensive, considering that the Hanzos still had not returned.
After they went back outside, Ainz cast a [Message] spell to speak to the Hanzo Leader.
“What’s the matter, Hanzos? Haven’t you found anything yet?”
『Our deepest apologies for taking so long. However, please take heart; though it has taken some time, we have finally found a trace of someone’s presence.』
“What? Really? Did you discover any evidence about the disappearance of the Dwarves?”
『This is not proper evidence, but there seems to be something — a sound coming from the depths of this tunnel.』
“Not a natural sound, I take it?”
『Indeed! It sounds like someone digging out an ore vein. What should we do? Would it be best if we went forth to investigate?』
“No, forget it. Before you do that, take us there. Our present location is—”
Come to think of it, he probably could not get the message across clearly using speech alone.
“That’s it, we’ll use a torch as a signal.”
『Understood!』
After ending the [Message], Ainz took out a torch. It was self-igniting, and he handed it to one of the undead waiting nearby. The undead creature waved it from side to side, signalling the Hanzos, whose location was unknown.
Of course, this was no ordinary firebrand. It was an artifact sold in shops; it did twice the damage of normal torches when pressed against the bodies of slime-like monsters.
This was somewhat wasteful, but Ainz did not have any ordinary torches with him.
The torch seemed to sear a red band into Ainz’s vision before the the Hanzos finally appeared before him.
“Forgive our tardiness, Master.”
“Dispense with the formalities, time is money. Take us there now.”
“Understood!”
Ainz rode atop a magical beast in pursuit of the running ninjas.