“According to the Sorcerer King, your base might be under surveillance, right? Then if they know how many troops we have, they might not send too many troops over. That works to our advantage. However, there’s a problem.”
“Food.”
“Yes. While the priests can make food, they can only make very little even after exhausting their mana. They also can’t feed like demihumans.”
Remedios and Gustavo had looks of distaste on their faces. All three of them knew that demihumans preyed on humans.
Therefore, even if they tried to starve the invading demihumans, they all knew they would lose in the end. That was because the demihumans’ prison camps could be considered larders for them.
“Go check how long our food can hold—”
“We’re checking already. We’re also looking for any blacksmiths who might be able to modify the demihuman gear for use by humans.”
“I expected nothing less of you, Captain.”
The three of them continued discussing their preparations for the siege. After another hour, they reached a conclusion which all of them could accept, and the three of them smiled.
“All right, then let’s prepare for the siege.”
One week later, as their food supplies dwindled and it was about time for them to move, the demihuman army appeared from over the horizon.
However, it was a massive army whose scale far exceeded their expectations.
Part 5
Ainz looked out over the city, which was in a panic over the appearance of the demihuman army, and he slowly collapsed.
This was not a figure of speech.
Ainz’s heart and soul were stretched to their limits by fatigue, and despite his undead nature, he fell to his knees from mental exhaustion and grabbed his face.
What should I do… what should I do after this...
Fundamentally, Ainz had been following Demiurge’s script.
Of course, not every word and action was planned, so he had improvised a fair bit, but even so, Ainz was counting on following the developments of Demiurge’s plan.
Or rather, the problem was that he had improvised too much.
Frankly speaking, the operational directives he had gotten from Demiurge basically said: “Please adapt to the situation,” and other things like that.
This was too much. That was what Ainz had thought when he first looked at the instructions.
If Ainz was an excellent person, perhaps he could follow those directions and play the role of a perfect Sorcerer King. However, much to his regret, Ainz’s abilities were perfectly normal, or perhaps even worse than that.
Therefore, Ainz had gotten into a spirited debate with Demiurge over the matter.
He recalled things going like this: Ainz had pleaded, “I don’t understand, write in more detail,” whereupon Demiurge had humbly replied with “How could I possibly do something that rude to the sagacious Ainz-sama?” and this had led to an intense back and forth. He had roped Albedo into this battle halfway, and Ainz — who had begun at a great disadvantage — had finished at a complete loss.
And so, the operational directives granting him complete discretion ended up in Ainz’s hands.
If this was a prank on Demiurge’s part, he might be able to deal with it in some other way, but this was the fruit of his subordinate’s trust and respect.
In particular, that was made very clear by such pronouncements as “You will surely be able to reach a better conclusion, Ainz-sama — how could one as insignificant as myself bind you with my words and deeds?”
If you went by common sense, why would the king of another country come over alone… what an unreasonable argument… still, I’ve come all this way. Although I stirred up some problems along the way and got careless a few times, I still came all this way...
He did not believe in the gods, but he wanted to pray to them with all his heart.
Couldn’t Demiurge and Albedo consider my abilities before dumping missions onto me...
Being asked to do the impossible made his motivation shrivel up.
...All right, pull it together, me. It’ll be easier after I get through this.
Ainz poured his strength into his legs, and then he stood up.
The plan had come to the vital middle stages, and that was the worst part.
According to Demiurge, if they formed a defensive line at this city, they would attack until there were eighty five percent casualties.
Ainz had no idea what he was talking about.
Since Demiurge felt it ought to be this way, then it should be a better answer than anything Ainz came up with. If all those deaths brought benefits to Nazarick, then let them die. Rather, Ainz would think about whether killing more would bring even more benefits to Nazarick and such things.
However, the problem lay in the fact that Demiurge had asked Ainz for humans here which could not be killed.
Frankly speaking, if that was all, then he would randomly select a few and be done with it, but there was one more thing to note.
That was humans who were devoted to Ainz, or who might be persuaded to join Ainz’s side.
『I feel that there must be several humans who are as devoted to you as those Dwarves, so please tell me their names, and when I make my move, I will take care not to kill them off.』
When he received that message from Demiurge, he had even thought, Are you kidding me? as he doubted Demiurge’s thinking.
“...There’s nobody like that.”
Those despondent words escaped Ainz.
There were no humans here who were devoted to Ainz.
Rather, he had keenly experienced how much the undead were hated in the Holy Kingdom.
Under these dire circumstances, how many people would be devoted to his undead self?
However, he could not tell Demiurge that there were none.
Demiurge sincerely believed that Ainz could fascinate several humans. So what would happen if he told Demiurge that he had not managed to do so with anyone?
My stomach hurts...
The Dwarf Demiurge was speaking of must have been Gondo Firebeard, but that had simply been lucky. He had scored a critical hit on a weakness in his heart by pure chance, and such luck would not repeat itself.
And it was precisely because he had the font of information which was Gondo that he had managed to strike a chord in the hearts of the runesmiths. However, there was nobody like that in the Holy Kingdom.
There was one person with whom he had formed a friendly relationship, Neia Baraja, but that was all.
Besides, he had given her a magic item to improve their relationship, as well as for another reason, but how effective it had been was still unclear. She kept glaring at him with murderous eyes, so he probably should not expect anything good to come of it.
What would Demiurge think if I told him there was only one person? Ainz asked himself.
Would the image of Ainz which Demiurge held in his heart not crumble completely?
And then, what would happen in the future?
In the Dwarven Kingdom, I told Demiurge that I wasn’t that smart, but at that time it didn’t seem like he believed me completely… this is bad. How great a person am I in his eyes? Or rather, it seems I’m getting greater and greater; am I imagining things? Normally, wouldn’t it be the other way around?
The expectations placed on him hurt. They were not weighty; they just hurt.
In the past, he had pondered how heavy and painful the word “loyalty” could be. In particular, the part where his subordinates viewed Ainz as a great being was the most painful of all.