With red cheeks and wet eyes, the world class beauty lowered her head toward Ainz. Getting embarrassed over her heartfelt words, Ainz waved as reply.
"Therefore, (we) shall go do work. The matter here will rely on thee."
"Yes! Leave it to me! In Ainz-sama’s absence, I will take the responsibility and manage properly."
On the way, Ainz heard a little bit of a wifely tone mixed up in there but he ignored it, because Albedo’s words were not finished.
"However, Ainz-sama must take care, the World-class item user who brainwashed Shalltear might attack here."
"Well!"
Returning to this room, Ainz let out a displeased sound for the first time.
"If they were to come, easily repelling them… cannot be done. Rest assured, Albedo. If we encounter an unknown assailant, I will treat retreating as priority, and even have servants prepared to serve as shields."
Ainz slowly looked towards the ceiling, imagining the presence of alarms which should have been there.
The hostile World-Class item user, players who may or may not exist, and vestiges of players who existed in the past of course would not necessarily appear as an enemy. However matters concerning safety should not be handled carelessly, therefore preparations ought to be made with regards to the worst case scenario.
"The first consideration is that before the enemy’s true identity is confirmed, operations must be as covert as possible. However, it is also necessary to place bait to lure prey… how should such a scheme be carried out?"
Albedo slightly lowered her eyesight, but from this reaction Ainz already anticipated the result.
"The report from the Cocytus has not yet been received. Entoma’s report was within the expected range, and the battle begun pretty much closer to the destination, so the report was prepared in advance."
"So it’s like this… although this is not the desired outcome, the important thing is what we can gain from that."
"I am relieved that you think that way."
"Good. Although I wish to head over there to witness it personally, regrettably my adventurer work has piled up and I am unable to go. However I still wish to know of the condition of the battle, therefore video record the battle between the lizard men and the army of the Great Tomb of Nazarick."
Chapter 1
Departure
Part 1
Azellerisia Mountains — the mountain range separating the Baharuth Empire and the Kingdom of Re-Estize, which also served as the national border. The Great Forest of Tove covered the mountain range’s southern foothills and to the north of the forest lay an enormous lake.
At the southern end of the lower lake was a large region where the lake and the wetlands blended into each other. Multiple structures had been built there, with a dozen wooden stilts serving as a foundation for each one. A door opened at the side of one of these houses, and its owner entered the sunlight.
His demi-human race was known as lizardmen.
Lizardmen were beings which shared human and reptilian characteristics. More specifically, aside from their heads which did not have basic human features, they were bipedal lizards, with dexterous hands and feet.
They were regarded as demi-humans along with goblins and orcs, and were not as civilised as humans, with a lifestyle considered barbaric to others. However, it also could not be denied that they have a culture of their own.
Adult male lizardmen had an average height of about 190 centimeters and were proud of their strong muscles, weighing over 100 kg with little body fat
A reptilian tail used for maintaining balance grew from their waists.
Evolution caused them to have webbed feet for ease of movement on the wetlands. It was also because of this that land activities were slightly inconvenient, but this posed no problem for their general lifestyle.
Their dark green and charcoal grey scales were similar to those of a crocodile instead of a lizard’s, and they were harder than the low-end defensive equipment used by humans.
Their hands had five fingers just like humans, but with short claws growing at their tips.
The weapons wielded by both hands were basically very primitive items. Since it was impossible for them to discover ore in the wetlands, their weapons were mainly spears crafted from magical beasts’ claws, or akin to blunt weapons with stone bound to them.
The sky was a clear blue, the sun had already risen to mid-air, and a small amount of thin white clouds were in a combed pattern in the sky. It was a good weather, with the distant mountain range clearly visible.
The lizardmen’s field of vision was wide, and the sun’s blinding glare could be seen even without moving the head. He, Zaryusu Shasha, squinted and walked down the stairs rhythmically.
He, Zaryusu Shasha, squinted and walked down the stairs rhythmically, while scratching the imprint of a black scale on his chest.
Lizardmen had a strict class society, with the tribal chief as the leader of the tribe. This position was not determined by blood, but elected by the tribe for being the strongest individual. This election for tribal chief took place once every years.
Assisting the chief was the council of elders made up of elected elderly lizardmen. Below them were the warrior class, followed by general male lizardmen, general female lizardmen, and lizardmen youths. Their society was structured this way.
Of course, there also existed those who did not belong to any of these categories.
First were the druids, who were led by the elder druid. They aided tribal life through the use of magical cures and weather forecasts to predict dangers.
Next were the hunters, whose ranks consisted of rangers, responsible for fishing and hunting, but since ordinary lizardmen would also assist in this aspect, their most important job were forest activities.
Lizardmen were omnivores, but their staple food was a species of fish around eighty centimeters long, and they did not consume many plants or fruits.
Despite this, hunters entered the forest mainly to harvest timber. For lizardmen, land was not safe, and even simply collecting wood from the forest required skilled personnel.
As such, they were allowed to make their own decisions, but still fell within the jurisdiction of the chief and had to obey the chief’s commands. Lizardmen therefore had an explicitly paternalistic society with division of labour done according to jobs. However, there were also those outside the jurisdiction of the tribal chief.
Those were travelers.
Hearing about travelers would evoke the impression of foreigners, but this was impossible in lizardmen society. Lizardmen had a closed society, and a situation where an outsider was accepted into the tribe was exceedingly rare
So, who were these travelers?
They were lizardmen who wished to see the outside world.
Basically, unless something drastic like a shortage of food occurred, lizardmen would not leave their hometown. However, there was a small chance that a lizardman who wanted to see the outside world would appear.
When travelers decided to leave the tribe, they would have a special insignia engraved on their chests. This was proof that they had left the jurisdiction of the tribe’s control upon leaving the tribe.
Most of those who left the tribe never came back, died during their travels, found a new place to call home, or encountered a different fate… but on rare occasions, they would return to their hometown after having seen the world.
travelers who returned were evaluated highly because of the level of knowledge they had gathered. Although they were individuals detached from the power hierarchy, they were still prominent within the tribe.