Even if these thoughts were unspoken, it seemed to have been transferred to Albedo.
Ainz then respectively pointed at the areas south and east beyond the map.
"Towards the east there is a city called the Sea City, towards the south there is another city created by the one name Eight Desire King, it’s the city you must be most wary of. Eight Desire King’s City … is a floating city in the desert."
"Floating city?"
"This is merely hearsay, and may not be accurate, but there is a metropolis below the floating city. As if the floating city can generate an unlimited amount of water, the metropolis is entirely surrounded by a magic enchantment, such that people cannot imagine it is in a desert."
Albedo’s eyes turned frosty, and several words were whispered.
"Would you like to have servants carry out some forced reconnaissance?"
"There is no need to take such a risk. Even if the World-Class item users arrived here, before understanding their combat prowess, it is also necessary to confront them with a smile… how is Shalltear’s condition?"
"Regarding the resurrection, physically there is no problem, except..."
"Your speech is hesitant. Is it something that will make me upset?"
"Ah! Extremely sorry for this. Actually mentally she is a little disturbed.”
"... Did the effects of mental dominance still remain? Even with the resurrection after death is it unable to dispel the effect of the World-Class item?"
"No, not like that… because of showing hostility and battling with Ainz-sama, deep down she considered this to be an unforgivable sin."
Ainz was momentarily confused.
That was entirely Ainz’ mistake, Shalltear committed no wrong. She was already told this several times.
"Please forgive my rudeness of objecting to Ainz-sama’s decision."
Ainz nodded towards Albedo who had a sincere expression.
"I think it’s best if there are some punishment."
The fire in Ainza eye sockets darkened, he opened his mouth, but closed it immediately because the person in front of him still had words to say.
"......[Carrot and stick] is a well known idiom. If Ainz-sama were to mete out punishment, then the guilt in Shalltear’s heart will disappear, on the other hand, without punishment the negative feelings in her heart won’t go away."
So it is, it is true that there can’t be reward without punishment, the two must both exist to hold reason.
Regarding the parts though, to what degree to punish and to what degree to forgive, these are all decided by Ainz. If it was the usual, everything would simply be forgiven by Ainz.
On the other hand, even though it’d be slightly hard on Shalltear, but this is a good educative opportunity.
".....I get it, let’s give Shalltear some punishment."
"That’s right, this way will be best, also please forgive my impudence."
"What are you saying. To propose your viewpoint like earlier is what I need. When I am out of ideas, proposing ideas like you did just now is exactly what you should do for your duty as The Great Tomb of Nazarick’s Floor Guardian Overseer."
"Thank you very much!"
With red cheeks and wet eyes, the world class beauty lowered her head toward Ainz. Getting embarrassed over her heartfelt words, Ainz waved as reply.
"Therefore, (we) shall go do work. The matter here will rely on thee."
"Yes! Leave it to me! In Ainz-sama’s absence, I will take the responsibility and manage properly."
On the way, Ainz heard a little bit of a wifely tone mixed up in there but he ignored it, because Albedo’s words were not finished.
"However, Ainz-sama must take care, the World-class item user who brainwashed Shalltear might attack here."
"Well!"
Returning to this room, Ainz let out a displeased sound for the first time.
"If they were to come, easily repelling them… cannot be done. Rest assured, Albedo. If we encounter an unknown assailant, I will treat retreating as priority, and even have servants prepared to serve as shields."
Ainz slowly looked towards the ceiling, imagining the presence of alarms which should have been there.
The hostile World-Class item user, players who may or may not exist, and vestiges of players who existed in the past of course would not necessarily appear as an enemy. However matters concerning safety should not be handled carelessly, therefore preparations ought to be made with regards to the worst case scenario.
"The first consideration is that before the enemy’s true identity is confirmed, operations must be as covert as possible. However, it is also necessary to place bait to lure prey… how should such a scheme be carried out?"
Albedo slightly lowered her eyesight, but from this reaction Ainz already anticipated the result.
"The report from the Cocytus has not yet been received. Entoma’s report was within the expected range, and the battle begun pretty much closer to the destination, so the report was prepared in advance."
"So it’s like this… although this is not the desired outcome, the important thing is what we can gain from that."
"I am relieved that you think that way."
"Good. Although I wish to head over there to witness it personally, regrettably my adventurer work has piled up and I am unable to go. However I still wish to know of the condition of the battle, therefore video record the battle between the lizard men and the army of the Great Tomb of Nazarick."
Chapter 1 – Departure
Translator: Ferro, Exct
Editors/Proofreaders: Sene9ty, Namorax, Skythewood, Ghoststaker, JcqC, TaintedDream
Part 1
Azellerisia Mountains - the mountain range separating the Baharuth Empire and the Kingdom of Re-Estize, which also served as the national border. The Great Forest of Tove covered the mountain range’s southern foothills and to the north of the forest lay an enormous lake.
This enormous lake had a radius of approximately twenty kilometers, and was shaped like an inverted calabash, divided into the upper lake and the lower lake. The upper lake was relatively deep, hence large creatures gathered there while the lower lake was inhabited by smaller creatures.
At the southern end of the lower lake was a large region where the lake and the wetlands blended into each other. Multiple structures had been built there, with a dozen wooden stilts serving as a foundation for each one. A door opened at the side of one of these houses, and its owner entered the sunlight.
His demi-human race was known as lizardmen.
Lizardmen were beings which shared human and reptilian characteristics. More specifically, aside from their heads which did not have basic human features, they were bipedal lizards, with dexterous hands and feet.
They were regarded as demi-humans along with goblins and orcs, and were not as civilised as humans, with a lifestyle considered barbaric to others. However, it also could not be denied that they have a culture of their own.
Adult male lizardmen had an average height of about 190 centimeters and were proud of their strong muscles, weighing over 100 kg with little body fat
A reptilian tail used for maintaining balance grew from their waists.
Evolution caused them to have webbed feet for ease of movement on the wetlands. It was also because of this that land activities were slightly inconvenient, but this posed no problem for their general lifestyle.
Their dark green and charcoal grey scales were similar to those of a crocodile instead of a lizard’s, and they were harder than the low-end defensive equipment used by humans.
Their hands had five fingers just like humans, but with short claws growing at their tips.
The weapons wielded by both hands were basically very primitive items. Since it was impossible for them to discover ore in the wetlands, their weapons were mainly spears crafted from magical beasts’ claws, or akin to blunt weapons with stone bound to them.
The sky was a clear blue, the sun had already risen to mid-air, and a small amount of thin white clouds were in a combed pattern in the sky. It was a good weather, with the distant mountain range clearly visible.
The lizardmen’s field of vision was wide, and the sun’s blinding glare could be seen even without moving the head. He, Zaryusu Shasha, squinted and walked down the stairs rhythmically.
He, Zaryusu Shasha, squinted and walked down the stairs rhythmically, while scratching the imprint of a black scale on his chest.
Lizardmen had a strict class society, with the tribal chief as the leader of the tribe. This position was not determined by blood, but elected by the tribe for being the strongest individual. This election for tribal chief took place once every years.
Assisting the chief was the council of elders made up of elected elderly lizardmen. Below them were the warrior class, followed by general male lizardmen, general female lizardmen, and lizardmen youths. Their society was structured this way.
Of course, there also existed those who did not belong to any of these categories.
First were the druids, who were led by the elder druid. They aided tribal life through the use of magical cures and weather forecasts to predict dangers.
Next were the hunters, whose ranks consisted of rangers, responsible for fishing and hunting, but since ordinary lizardmen would also assist in this aspect, their most important job were forest activities.
Lizardmen were omnivores, but their staple food was a species of fish around eighty centimeters long, and they did not consume many plants or fruits.
Despite this, hunters entered the forest mainly to harvest timber. For lizardmen, land was not safe, and even simply collecting wood from the forest required skilled personnel.
As such, they were allowed to make their own decisions, but still fell within the jurisdiction of the chief and had to obey the chief’s commands. Lizardmen therefore had an explicitly paternalistic society with division of labour done according to jobs. However, there were also those outside the jurisdiction of the tribal chief.
Those were travellers.
Hearing about travellers would evoke the impression of foreigners, but this was impossible in lizardmen society. Lizardmen had a closed society, and a situation where an outsider was accepted into the tribe was exceedingly rare
So, who were these travellers?
They were lizardmen who wished to see the outside world.
Basically, unless something drastic like a shortage of food occurred, lizardmen would not leave their hometown. However, there was a small chance that a lizardman who wanted to see the outside world would appear.
When travellers decided to leave the tribe, they would have a special insignia engraved on their chests. This was proof that they had left the jurisdiction of the tribe’s control upon leaving the tribe.
Most of those who left the tribe never came back, died during their travels, found a new place to call home, or encountered a different fate… but on rare occasions, they would return to their hometown after having seen the world.
Travellers who returned were evaluated highly because of the level of knowledge they had gathered. Although they were individuals detached from the power hierarchy, they were still prominent within the tribe.
There were some who kept their distance from Zaryusu out of respect, but his fame was greater than that. It was not only because he was an traveller. The reason was…
When descending from the lowest stair to the wetlands' surface, his favourite weapon holstered on his waist collided with his scales, creating a clicking sound.
It was a blue and white blade with a dim glow. The shape was a bit peculiar, the blade and the handle were integrated, resembling a three-pronged fork. Starting from the grip part of the body it became increasingly thinner, until becoming paper-thin at the tip of the blade.
There were no lizardmen who did not know of this weapon. All the surrounding lizardmen tribes referred to it as one of the four treasured magic items: Frost Pain.
This was the reason behind Zaryusu’s great fame.
Zaryusu started to move.
He had two different destinations. The gift which he intended to bring to one of those destinations was currently carried on his back.
It was one of the large fish which served as the staple food of lizardmen. Walking as he carried four of these fishes on his back, the stench which entered his nose did not cause any discomfort to Zaryusu. On the contrary, it was a smell which made him feel very hungry.
A strong desire to eat. After puffing out wind several times out from his nose, he expelled this desire. Like this, Zaryusu pattered as he walked without stopping through the Green Claw tribe village.
Children, who still had their bright green scales, ran around and let out ‘sha sha’ sounding laughter, but stopped as they noticed the objects on Zaryusu’s back. Healthy growing children peered towards Zaryusu from under the shadows of houses—— no, it was because of the fish that they gathered together. Their mouths were slightly parted, even drooling. They stayed a slight distance away, but their eyesight was still locked on, with gazes like children who craved snacks.
Zaryusu smiled wryly and pretended to not notice as he continued walking. He had already decided who to give them to. It was regretful, but they weren’t meant for the children.