“Is that so? Well… then should we return, as well, Shalltear?”
“I have no objection.”
“I’ll finish up with the field before leaving. I also want to talk a little bit with the dryads and the treants.”
“Then let’s disperse for now. Thanks for today. I think I finally learned how to spend holidays. If we get the time again… yea, let’s go for a bath together.”
Mare looked away from the book he was reading to check for movement at the gate to the 7th floor.
He felt a little feedback of power and placed a bookmark before setting the book down beside the chair. He grabbed the staff beside him; the Divine-class item, ‘Shadow of Yggdrasil’.
Mare reached for the magic item hanging around his necklace with the other hand but stopped mid-action.
There was no need to contact his sister. Since there were no reports of an intruder, the person approaching had to be a comrade.
Mare shuffled his way down with small steps as he headed toward the gate.
His sister liked to jump down to the colosseum from the audience seats, but Mare didn’t. The stairs were there for a reason and using them seemed like a show of loyalty to the Supreme Beings. They probably intended for the stairs to be used.
I can’t say that to sister… She’d give me a scary glare…
So he decided that at least he would not let the generosity of the Supreme Beings go to waste and went down through the stairs. Beyond the waiting room, there was a figure standing in front of the mirror that sparkled in seven different colours.
“D-did you wait long?”
“Oh oh! Isn’t it the floor guardian, Mare-sama! For you to come here personally, I am honoured.”
The clown, dressed in a pure white costume with a mask shaped like a bird’s beak, bowed to Mare, who did the same.
“Hello, Pulcinella-san. What are you here for?”
“Well, I don’t know if you’re aware or not, but I’m currently working under Demiurge-sama’s orders. Today, I came as Demiurge-sama’s messenger. Please, take this.”
The clown handed over the folder he was holding.
“If it’s from Demiurge-san, is this the memo folder?”
“That’s correct. My, my, for Mare-sama to come out personally. I was really lucky. If it had been Aura-sama I would have needed to ask her to call you.”
“Huh? Is that so?”
The memo folder was a system devised by the ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Ainz Ooal Gown, himself. It was a system that allowed floor guardians to write down non-urgent messages and communicate with each other. Nothing similar existed until now.
When Mare accepted the folder, he got a strange feeling and muttered “T-this is…” while staring at it.
“H-huh? But why couldn’t you give it to my sister?”
Since Aura was a floor guardian as well, there was no reason why the message couldn’t be delivered to her as well. She was also a hard worker, so she wouldn’t just throw the folder in a corner somewhere.
“I don’t know the details myself. But Demiurge-sama gave me specific orders to not give it to Aura-sama and hand it directly to you.”
“I see… W-what about Demiurge-san?”
It was a short question, but Pulcinella understood what he meant.
“…I can’t say I fully understand what he meant either. However, I believe the answer or the reason would lie in that folder.”
“Ok… Uh, hmm, speaking of which, uh, what’s Demiurge-san doing right now?”
“He’s conducting a breeding experiment. Humans can breed with each other, but can’t breed with demi-humans. Is this not a true tragedy? For lovers to be unable to bear the fruit of their union just because they’re from different species! To save such unfortunate souls, Demiurge-sama is working hard. To develop that possibility between humans and demi-humans!”
The clown spoke as if he was reciting a speech with both arms wide spread and pointing at the sky.
Mare blinked at Pulcinella, who changed so suddenly.
“Ah, please excuse me. I’ve gotten too excited over Demiurge-sama’s generosity of trying to bring joy to humans. Please, forgive me.”
“Ah, it’s, uh, fine.”
“Demiurge-sama said that he would make himself —or rather the demons— the target of the human’s hatred, so they wouldn’t resent each other. Such immense selflessness! This Pulcinella cannot even see because he moved me to tears.”
Pulcinella motioned to wipe his tears on top of his mask. Of course, there were no actual tears and he spoke in his regular cheerful tone, which didn’t sound sad at all.
“…Why would they hate him?”
“I cannot understand why they would hate our kind and generous Demiurge-sama, but he said that himself. Ah, speaking of which, listen to this. Because Demiurge-sama was so generous, he took pity on the starving livestock. So he made them exchange children with each other, roasted them and put them on the table. If he was heartless, wouldn’t he have served them up without exchanging them?”
“I-Is that so?”
“Of course. He even allowed them to say farewell by bringing over both parents and letting them sit by the table… For there to be someone like Demiurge-sama, who would be considerate enough for the family to say farewell while smiling… There won’t be anyone besides the Supreme Beings. I’m sure of it.”
“I guess…”
Mare gave a flat response to Pulcinella’s enraptured speech. He didn’t care what happened to anyone who did not belong to Nazarick. After a couple of seconds, Mare erased all thoughts of Demiurge’s livestock.
“Plus, when starving, their head might say yes, but their stomach might not. Demiurge-sama thought ahead and after warning them, made sure they ate it all, down to the last bit. He is a truly generous…”
Feeling that the story would not end, Mare quickly interrupted.
“…H-how’s Guren-san doing? If I want to send the message back, I might need to relay it to him, but I don’t know what he’s doing and where.”
“…’he’ or ‘she’, I personally theorize Guren is genderless. Last time I saw that person was when Demiurge-sama wasn’t present and it was lying in ambush around the 7th floor’s gate.”
“I-is that so.”
Mare remembered what Guren looked like.
An area guardian which hid its gigantic body in lava and pulled the unsuspecting opponents into terrain that was advantageous for itself — Guren.
It was only level 90, but because it was optimized for combat, in terms of pure fighting ability, it ranked amongst the strongest in Nazarick and could even fight evenly with some floor guardians.
Thus, it was the most suitable one to defend the 7th floor in Demiurge’s absence.
“Ah, it seems I was too chatty. Since I already passed on the memo folder to you, I will now go off to spread smiles and laughter.”
“T-Thank you.”