Ainz reached his hand into a pocket dimension, and withdrew a certain item.
"Demiurge, there is no need to use that. Take this as a substitute."
The device Ainz withdrew looked similar to the demon statue Demiurge had prepared. However, its hands only held three gems, and it looked cruder in general.
"This was also a device made by Ulbert-san. Because it was a prototype, he wanted to dispose of it, but I thought that it was too much of a waste and kept it. How about using this instead?"
"How— how could I expend the treasures of Ainz-sama for my own schemes?"
"Is that how you see it? Very well, then. Demiurge, this is yours. Use it as you see fit. However, don't you think Ulbert-san might be embarrassed that his failed experiment was still around?"
"This is… how can I express my gratitude to you for gifting me with such a wondrous magic item?"
Demiurge rose from his chair and knelt on the floor. Mare, seeing him, frantically knelt down beside him.
"Enough, Demiurge. Do you not have something else to do? Think of this as a token of my appreciation for your loyalty."
"We Guardians were created by the Supreme Beings. As such, until the very moment of our extinction, we shall be utterly loyal to them. Even so, Ainz-sama has not only bestowed his mercy and care upon us in abundance, he has even given into my keeping such a valuable treasure… as for this Demiurge, though he has already sworn his complete and undying loyalty to Ainz-sama, permit me to once more offer my loyal service unto you!"
"Ah… erm, well, then, I shall look forward to your loyal service. Now, now, stand up. Demiurge. You had something else to say, no?"
"Ah, indeed I did! My sincerest apologies!"
Demiurge sat back down, and Mare returned to his standby position.
"Then, as I said earlier, Jaldabaoth targeted the hideouts of the Eight Fingers, and then proceeded to take control of the Kingdom's financial district. Seizing the resources of the warehouses was also an aim. Naturally, this device created by Ulbert-sama will be found in one of the hideouts' coffers."
"That much is clear now. And what about the third objective?"
"Yes. I have already transported roughly half the humans within this firewall into Nazarick. There are many uses they can be put to, and the blame for this will fall squarely on the demon Jaldabaoth."
So that was what he was up to, Ainz thought, but he still had some questions. Was there a benefit to letting Jaldabaoth's villainy grow? Rather, instead of inventing the character of Jaldabaoth, wouldn't it have been better to let some other demon do it?
"…so you intend to build infamy, then?"
"That is correct. The intention is to place Jaldabaoth upon the throne of the Demon King."
"Now I see. So accomplishing my order was part of your plan, then?"
Ainz looked at Demiurge, who was bowing low to acknowledge that that was the case. He remembered the order he had given. Then again, he had given several of them, and this was probably to give rise to the Demon King.
"This touches on the fourth objective, which was to use the Holy Kingdom as a proving ground for this incident."
At that moment, Ainz understood. He asked a question which had been weighing on his mind.
"Come to think of it, were these demons summoned from Nazarick?"
"How could I? I would not dream of doing so without Ainz-sama's leave!"
"Hm? Given that I entrusted the task to you, and you received Albedo’s permission, I thought you would have used the forces of Nazarick…"
"No, my lord. Those were merely the summons of my Evil Lords. After a day has passed, they can be called forth again. The strength of Nazarick will remain untouched."
"Is that so… I see why there are so many demons without memories in Nazarick. No matter, I understand. Then, another question, you said you sent every human here to Nazarick. That was regardless of whether they were male, female, young or old, correct?"
Ainz was vaguely upset by the way Demiurge could so easily and casually answer in the affirmative.
Humans were irrelevant. Perhaps Ainz had once been a human, but this body he had now felt no sympathy or closeness to them. It was as though they were a whole other species that could be casually kicked out of the way with one foot. He would slaughter any number of humans for the benefit of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick. Even then, killing children still upset him. This was a vestige of the man who had once been Suzuki Satoru.
Ainz took a deep breath, despite having no lungs.
"Demiurge. If a person has not given offense to myself or the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, they shall be slain swiftly and without suffering."
Demiurge bowed deeply, without saying a word.
Ainz Ooal Gown's priority was to ensure the stability and loyalty of his subordinates.
Since they had brought children back with them, releasing them safely would mean the details of Nazarick would escape with them. While it might be possible to raise them into zealots who were slavishly loyal to Nazarick, there were very few benefits to such a plan at the moment. As such, this was the greatest mercy he could give them.
"Then, are we done here?"
"There are two more matters for your consideration. Firstly, Mare has given us an excellent opportunity."
Ainz turned his vision toward Mare, the nervous, fidgety boy.
"And that would be?"
"At the moment, we are still in the training phase, so the exact degree of success is debatable. I shall elaborate further when we return to Nazarick. Secondly, from my observations of the situation thus far, I can safely conclude that the ones who brainwashed Shalltear have no connection with the Kingdom."
"I understand. Then, I look forward to receiving your help soon."
"It will be gladly given. During our battle afterwards, please feel free to defeat me. I would do anything for Ainz-sama."
"I see. Then, before I drive you off, could you damage my armor? It will be more convincing if I bear the signs of a hard fight."
"That is to say, you will remove it, and then I will damage it? It is unthinkable for one such as myself to dare raise a hand against Ainz-sama—"
"What happens if I remove it and it's so badly damaged that I can't put it back on? During the Shalltear incident, I had a smith create flaws in the armor before putting it on. If I took it off here and you beat it out of shape, I would probably be unable to wear it again."
Ainz laughed softly. The guardians before him, not understanding why, took on expressions of puzzlement.
"Th-then, Ainz-sama? I-isn't th-that armor m-made by magic?"
"That is not correct. This armor was not created from magic. I can see how you would think that way given that I, as a magic caster, am wearing it so naturally. But the truth is, I cast a warrior transformation spell and put it on. During the break before we travelled to the capital, I sent a ‘Message’ to Albedo to have her begin future preparations. It seems it was the right choice."
Sustaining the transformation spell and other magic would both lower mana and mana recovery rates to zero. Even though he could dispel the transformation if there was an emergency and use magic, he would be starting out from a depleted state. However, in this case it had been the right thing to do. Without it, the first battle with Demiurge might have been much more troublesome.
Demiurge's already narrow eyes narrowed even further when he heard Ainz's response. "As expected of Ainz-sama, everything dances within the palm of your hand. To think I would dare to match wits with such a great person… I should have expected nothing less of yourself."
As Demiurge chuckled to himself, Ainz back ran with sweat that wasn't there.