“Would you mind watching your words, Shalltear? This is a necessary issue so I can fully utilize my powers as the Overseer of the Guardians.”
“Kuu! Hmph! If you cannot bed him unless it is for duty… you are a failure as a woman. It seems you cannot seduce him with just your charms alone.”
“Aaah?”
Aura interrupted the two staring each other down as if she was at loss for words.
“Hey, I’m starting to wonder what the heck you guys are talking about, so can you guys quit it?
Let’s stop talking about irrelevant things and focus the matters at hand. Since you won’t be needing it immediately, it’s not a big problem, right? Can’t you summon anything else?”
“Well, I have a magic item, so summoning a mount isn’t so much of a problem for me.”
“Well, then use that. Problem solved.”
“If I summon using a magic item, then I need to switch my equipment or take out the item, so there’s an extra step involved compared to just using a summoning skill. Plus, a bicorn has better combat abilities…”
“Then you can just let the bicorn fend off the enemy while you use the magic item to summon a mount. It’s a very common tactic for a Beast Tamer who’s just starting out.”
“I guess that’s the only way.”
“Then I suppose we can say that Albedo became weaker.”
“Can you not laugh so cruelly at others misfortune?”
“You seemed very happy when I had my misfortune, Albedo.”
If she had denied it, then Shalltear would press on saying that she was.
“Afu, seriously… Let’s stop staring at each other here and go somewhere else. This is a rare vacation that we got from Ainz-sama.”
Albedo conceded as did Shalltear, who stopped arguing to nod. But—
“…I don’t know what to do even if we do have a vacation. We were made to guard the Great Tomb and serve the Supreme Beings. To work is our very existence…”
“However, since Ainz-sama told us to take a break. We must take a break.”
The reason why three of them were gathered was because their master said:
“All of you work so hard every day. Why don’t all the female guardians take some time off and spend it together every once in a while?”
It was because of that.
“Well, since we went out together and spent some time together, should we disperse? But does this really count as spending some time together?”
“Good question. If he asks if we spent some time together, how much time is appropriate? Speaking of which, what do you guys usually do with your time?”
“I patrol between the 1st and the 3rd floors. I also gather the opinions of the area guardians, check the security status of the floors, and when I have free time, I take a bath and touch up my makeup…”
“You work harder than expected.”
“What might you mean by ‘expected’?”
“A bath… What about you, Aura?”
“Mmm… When Mare’s at the colosseum, I’m patrolling the forest. There’re a couple newcomers as well. Then when I come back, I sleep… That’s about it.”
“That’s it!”
Aura and Shalltear looked at Albedo in surprise.
“That’s it. By newcomers, you mean the inhabitants of the new village on this floor, right? I’ve never been there before. Let’s go together.”
“Ara, you’ve never been there? Shalltear, what about you?”
“I have been there.”
Aura explained to Albedo who was making a curious expression.
“All the other guardians are the same. Cocytus took a look when he came by for the lizardmen, Demiurge likes to drop by and check on things, and others come for a visit once in a while. Mmm…
then let’s go now. It’s pretty close.”
The newly created village on the 6th floor consisted of about ten log houses. It would be more accurate to call it a ‘tribe’. To the right of the village were farming fields and to the left was an orchard several times the size of the fields.
The surroundings were obviously a forest and from the sky, it would look like a gigantic hole, hence the name ‘The Green Hole’. When cutting down trees and digging out their roots, it would be inevitable for the ground to be uneven. However, the village was strangely immaculate, organized and clean. This was thanks to Mare’s magic.
In the orchards were various figures hard at work. At a glance, they appeared to be human women, but they had skin coloured like tree bark. Beside them were creatures that could only be described as moving trees.
The former were dryads and the latter were treants.
The treants carried the dryads on their arms and raised them up to the fruit trees so that dryads could take care of the orchard.
“Apart from them, ten lizardmen live here. They often go over to the lake to the north, where we’ve just been, and play in the water. It’s not like they live in the water either, isn’t it strange?”
“It is bigger than the last time I was here. More residents as well.”
“That’s right. When we conquered the Great Forest of Tob, we found a couple of species suitable to live in Nazarick as well.”
“The species that are acceptable to Nazarick… must be non-human, require no food and be mild-tempered, those were the conditions, right?”
“Yea, Ainz-sama said that. More specifically it wasn’t ‘require no food’ but ‘must be a self-sustainable species’… Since dryads and treants can gather nutrients from the soil, they don’t really need to eat. Although if the nutrient in the soil is depleted or if it doesn’t rain, it might be a little dangerous.”
“Hmm, does Mare make it rain every once in a while? Or do you use a magic item?”
“That’s usually Mare’s job. Same with recovering the nutrients in the soil. Apparently there’s a magic that makes the land more fertile and it also completely recovers the land. According to the dryads and the treants it’s so delicious that they’re going to get fat… but I wouldn’t really know about how it tastes.”
Albedo, who had been coldly looking around the village like inspecting the tools for an experiment while Shalltear and Aura were talking to each other, showed a glimpse of emotion in her eyes.
“Oh? Isn’t that the sous-chef in the field over there? What’s he doing?”
Following her line of sight, they saw a mushroom-like monster squirming in the corner of a small field, surrounded by a fence which was covered in vines bearing red fruits. On a closer look, it was apparent that he was picking those red fruits while wearing clothes that he could afford to get dirty.
“It’s just what it looks like. He comes here from time to time to grab ingredients. He’s also growing this and that on the side. Want to take a look?”
Albedo and Shalltear looked at each other. Looking at each other, they saw that neither of them was opposed to the idea and felt as long as they were not interrupting their duties, it would be fine to see what their comrade was doing.