Overlord (LN)

After Aura reminded him, Ainz remembered the name of the Lizardman who had stepped forward to negotiate with him.

“Could he be in his house?”

“Perhaps.”

The Mirror of Remote Viewing could not peer into structures. However, that was only under normal circumstances.

“Demiurge, fetch me the Infinite Haversack.”

“Understood.”

With a bow, Demiurge picked up the Infinite Backpack which lay on the table which had been shifted to the corner of the room before courteously presenting it to Ainz. Ainz took a scroll out of it.

After that, he cast the spell inscribed within it.

The spell produced an invisible and incorporeal sensor. It could not penetrate magical barriers, but it could pass through conventional walls regardless of their thickness. If it could not pass through said walls, that would imply there was a powerful foe present, and they had to be wary.

He linked the sensor to the Mirror of Remote Viewing, so the Guardians could see what Ainz could see. Then he moved the eye-like, floating sensor.

“Let’s see what’s inside this house.”

Ainz selected one of the nearest houses — a pretty run-down affair — and sent the sensor inside. Despite the darkness of the interior, it appeared as bright as day through the eyes of the sensor.

The white Lizardman was pressed against the floor of the house. Her tail was tucked up and there was a black Lizardman mounted on her.

Ainz was utterly confused.

For a moment, he had no idea what was going on. In the next moment, he had no idea why they would be doing something like that at a time like this.

After that, Ainz silently steered the sensor outside.

“...”

Ainz grabbed his head in a moment of infinite weakness. The Guardians around him had no idea what to say, and looked at the ground with puzzled expressions on their faces.

“—What a displeasing lot. Cocytus will be attacking any moment now and they’re still indulging themselves!”

“Exactly!”

“Er, ah, a-about that...”

“Demiurge’s right! We need to make those two suffer!”

“I’m so jealous...”

Ainz waved his hand to silence the Guardians.

“...Forget it, they’ll all be dead soon. I once saw a movie which said that situations like these stimulate the desire to propagate the species.”

Ainz nodded, certain of his opinion.

“Indeed, it is so!”

“Well, if that’s all, we should probably let them off the hook.”

“Exactly!”

“Er, ah, a-about that...”

“I agree with Demiurge-sama...”

“...Quiet, all of you.”

After the Guardians had fallen silent, Ainz sighed.

“...Well, there goes my motivation. Never mind, there’s probably nobody to worry about in the Lizardman village. Still, we can’t be careless, because someone might be heading for us right now. Aura...”

Ainz froze, and looked at the twins.

Crap! What should I do now!? Those two haven’t been given sex education yet... no, it’s too early for that!

Ainz suddenly understood what it was like for a father to see a lewd scene on the television during a family gathering.

Dammit, how would a father or mother answer if they were asked where babies came from!? This is bad! I can’t believe I let Bukubukuchagama’s children see that — though, it shouldn’t be too bad. Let’s not consider Albedo, and Demiurge... he’d probably teach them from a clinical perspective. Shalltear... not too bad either. Let’s handle this another day.

After pushing the question to the back of his mind, Ainz coughed and asked:

“If the security net picks up anything, all the Guardians — myself included — will move out together.”

If there were any other players around, he would not adhere to his agreement of sparing the Lizardmen. If they would not become allies, then they would have to be terminated with extreme prejudice to avoid any information leaks. When they happened, they would destroy the village, even if they had to draw on all the forces of the Eighth Floor to do so.

Ainz thrust aside the guilt he felt at violating his promise to Cocytus. A little white lie would be preferable if it was for a good reason.

“...Now then, the show’s about to begin... let’s enjoy watching Cocytus in action.”

Part 2

The four hours passed in a flash.

The frozen marsh had long since melted, and the warriors were gathered there — at the main gate of the village. After the intense battle several days ago, there were precious few of them who had survived to fight in this battle.

There were three hundred and sixteen of them in total.

Nobody but the warriors would participate in this battle, because Shasuryu had said, “The enemy is few in number, so too many people on our part will just get in the way.”