And now it was the current emperor — a child that everyone adored.
Until now, he had seen many different types of emperors but none of them were incapable. All the children were talented as if they had been picked by the gods — but despite the current Emperor’s youth, his talents and abilities outshined the previous emperors by a wide margin. Even though it could be argued that Fluder had been aiding the preparations since two generations ago, the autocratic centralisation of power within the Emperor’s person had only been possible due to Jircniv’s exceptional skills
Fluder loved Jircniv Rune Farlord el Nix.
He had educated the Emperor and treated him like his own child, and Fluder believed that the Emperor treated him like a father as well.
But even if that was the case—
Fluder was still willing to abandon someone who he saw as his own child.
I wish to peer into the abyss of magic, Jircniv. I will not lose sight of that goal, no matter what I have to sacrifice for it. Even if it is an adorable child like you.
“Then your Majesty, is this why we called off the Kingdom’s invasion?”
“That’s right. The details about the devil calling himself Jaldabaoth are far more important. Gramps, have you found anything from your investigation yet?”
“Regretfully no, your Majesty. Even after the investigation, we still could not find any information about him.”
That’s right. That was how things had turned out.
“Paradyne, can’t you investigate it through magic?”
Fluder narrowed his eyes and looked at the speaker with a serious expression on his face.
“It is true that magic can be all powerful, but that is—”
“—Gramps, sorry. But if you start talking about that subject it’ll take quite long. So, it’s better to stop for now.”
“I understand, your Majesty.”
For a moment, Fluder looked dejected, and then adopted the tone of a teacher and started lecturing the people who seemed like students that kept missing the point.
“There are ways to prevent magical investigation. For instance, did you know this room is proofed against eavesdropping by magic? There are also other things that this room is protected against, and magical investigation is the least of such things.”
“…I understand. Because there are so many counter-measures, it would be difficult to do it.”
“That’s right. However, we would be lucky if the magic simply failed to work. High-tier magic casters can prepare retaliatory countermeasures to such spells. Some of them can even kill the spellcaster immediately if things go badly.”
How could someone of my ability be compared to the Supreme Being? There’s no one else more deserving of the title of Supreme Being than him. I need to prove my usefulness to him quickly….
Some people blanched with expressions of distaste as they heard Fluder talk about being killed, but he paid them no heed.
“Taking that into consideration…”
One of the ministers took out a piece of paper.
“There’s a place which seems to be the stronghold of a magic caster who goes by the name of Ainz Ooal Gown. Since Paradyne-sama found it through magic, does it mean that the person is less powerful than Paradyne-sama?”
“That’s too naive!”
Fluder shouted out loudly as he tried his hardest to forcefully suppress his urge to smile bitterly.
This showed how anxious he was.
“Your thinking is too naive. Consider that he saved Carne Village, or rather, only Carne Village.
With that in mind, I placed a magical surveillance field around the entire area and it was purely by chance that I saw someone who appeared to be Ainz Ooal Gown entering them. If you forget that this was nothing more than a coincidence, you’ll regret it.”
Part of that was the truth. Taking the Supreme Being lightly was a foolish move. No, despite the fact that he also used to be like that, he realised how scary it was to be ignorant about it.
Fluder laughed on the inside at how foolish he used to be. He was truly ignorant.
“My apologies.”
He raised his hand to beg his pardon.
“Ah ha, speaking of which, gramps. What happened to the workers that broke into the suspected stronghold?”
“Although our spies, who had been tailing them, have only sent a preliminary report via ‘Message’, they estimate that the workers have been wiped out.”
Jircniv snapped his fingers, and slightly opened his eyes. He had heard that multiple skilled worker groups had been deployed, but it was quite a shocking turn of events for them to be wiped out in just one day, or perhaps even half a day.
Fluder was not really surprised since it was the outcome he had expected, but still showed a surprised expression.
“……Is that so? But speaking of which, it is information gathered through magic, and you know how unreliable that is. How much time will it take for the adventurers to return?”
“Considering that it was an urgent situation where none of the workers had returned, they should have retreated immediately, so it’s estimated that it will still take around four days in total.”
“Including the time needed to gather information from the adventurers… At least five days. So before that, we won’t be able to take any action.”
‘Message’ was not reliable, due to the content becoming less clear over long distances. Many countries did not rely on ‘Message’, for several reasons.
One of them was the tragedy in the country called Gartenbarg.
It happened in that country about three hundred years ago. It was a nation founded by humans who were mainly magic casters with cities centred around quick exchange of information using
‘Message’. But because they trusted ‘Message’ too much, when they received three falsified messages, a civil war broke out between the cities. Then it was destroyed when monsters and demi-humans invaded.
There were also other examples, such as the songs the bards sang about a man who murdered his wife based on false information.
As a result, few people trusted ‘Message’. Conversely, anyone who relied too much on ‘Message’
was thought of as foolish. Jircniv was one of the smarter ones. While he did make use of ‘Message’, he would also gather information through other sources. He would never trust only in a single spell.
“But, that Earl sure is foolish. If he had hired the workers from E-Rantel, things might have gone more smoothly. He might be dancing within my hand due to his incompetence, but too much incompetence is a problem as well. If he’s going to be the bait, he should at least do a good job of it”
“It is as your Majesty says.”
Fluder’s agreement caused Jircniv to raise a brow.
There were two reasons why he accepted Fluder’s proposal in the meeting couple days ago.
The first, would be to gain an understanding of Ainz Ooal Gown’s character.