Текст книги "Overlord - The Invaders of the Large Tomb"

Автор книги: Maruyama Kugane

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Текущая страница: 15 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

“Muuu!”

“Your comrades must have been exceptional individuals, no? Then, our relationship is as close as theirs, and yours.”

“That’s right.”

The evil atmosphere vanished as though it had never been, and Ainz continued in a quiet tone.

“Greater love hath no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends—so it was written in the Gospel of Mark.”

“…It’s all right if we die. However, for our sake of the bond that we share, that you yourself, and your exceptional comrades shared, please let her go.”

“Mm…”

Ainz hesitated for several seconds, and then shook his head.

“There will be no mercy for thieves like you. All that awaits is suffering upon suffering upon suffering, followed by death. But for the sake of the lives that you are willing to throw away for your comrade, you may bid her farewell. Shalltear.”

Ainz carelessly showed his back to them, and called out to the VIP box. There was no chance he would be hurt, and it showed in his attitude.

No, that was the reality of it. There was no attack they could use which would work. This was mere fantasy after understanding the truth of things. The two of them had no method which could wound the monster called Ainz. Because of this, they could calmly turn their heads back. At the very least, they had to buy Arche the time to flee.

Although they had no cards to play, they still had to do it. Imina and Roberdyck exchanged looks, and nodded.

On the other hand, a girl’s voice came from the VIP box in response to Ainz’s voice.

She was a human girl with hair that gleamed like platinum. Although the two of them were filled with anger, they could not help but be captivated by that beauty, their eyes drawn to the girl who possessed it.

Suddenly. the beautiful girl shifted her line of sight to look at the two of them. Her eyes were an entrancing crimson. Imina felt as though they were squeezing her heart. Similarly for Roberdyck, he was having trouble breathing with the crushing pressure on his chest.

Even after the girl’s eyes left her, Imina still didn’t feel like she could move freely.

“Shalltear, teach that child the meaning of terror. Teach her the gulf between the sliver of hope for escape that she clings to, and the inescapable reality that awaits all who dare invade the Great Tomb of Nazarick. After that, do not cause her any pain, but slay her with the deepest and sincerest mercy.”

“Understood, Ainz-sama.”

The girl—Shalltear—smiled to Ainz. However, when Imina saw that smile from the side, a chill ran down her spine. Her instinct told her that this was a monster draped in a very beautiful skin.

“Do enjoy the hunt.”

“That was my intention.”

Shalltear bowed deeply to Ainz before setting forth. Every step she took was one closer to ending Arche’s life, but even if Imina knew it in her mind, there was nothing they could do about it. Imina and Roberdyck were both unable to move.

Shalltear walked past them without any sign that she had noticed them, without paying them the slightest bit of attention. Perhaps Foresight could close the distance between themselves and Shalltear immediately if they ran after her, but she seemed so far away.

“What’s this? Still not coming? If you have time to talk, you have time to fight… How unexpectedly honorable of you.”

He was not looking down on her. His sentiment was genuine. In response to it, Imina’s fighting spirit recovered somewhat.

“Wait! A question, please! What happened there, where is the mercy in that?”

“A priest… then, I will tell you. In my Nazarick, a death without further suffering is mercy enough.”

Silence descended upon them. They would no longer speak with words, but weapons.

“Let’s go, Rob!”

“Yes! Ohhhhhhh!”

With an uncharacteristic battlecry, the charging Roberdyck brought his morningstar down on Ainz’s face. It was a strike that considered nothing but the full use of his strength. It was precisely because he thought that Ainz would not evade it that he put all his might into the blow.

Although Ainz took a strike made with all of Roberdyck’s strength, he did not react with pain as expected. Roberdyck followed up his attack, reaching out with his bare hand.

“「Cure Moderate Wounds」!”

The healing spell was targeted at Ainz. When exposed to healing-type magic, undead would take damage instead. However, like the attack spell Arche cast earlier, it vanished uselessly against an invisible wall.

“Ahhhhh!”

Imina tensed her bowstring as she cried out. Then—she loosed. Although Roberdyck was next to Ainz, she was not nearly bad enough to actually hit him. Rather, at this range, there was no way she could miss.

Yet—the arrows struck Ainz, and fell to the ground without doing any damage whatsoever.

Ainz vanished.

It was the same tactic as earlier.

“Teleportation!”

“Not quite.”

As expected, the voice came from behind.

“I—”

Before Roberdyck could finish, Ainz’s hand gently settled on Imina’s shoulder. There was no hint of enmity in that gesture.

However, it had a telling effect. All the strength in her body vanished, and she slumped to the ground. Although her mind was fully functional and conscious, her body felt like a puddle of immobile, insensate slime.

“What did you do to her?”

Roberdyck asked his question in a trembling voice, as his eyes went from Imina to Ainz, who stood by her side.

“Was that a surprise? It’s nothing special.”

Ainz proceeded to explain in such a way as to break Roberdyck’s spirit.

“It was almost the same as just now. After casting a silent ‘Time Stop’ I moved over here and cast the same spell I used on that man, ‘Touch of Undeath’. And then, I just touched her.”

The silence felt as though the space between them had been frozen. The sound of Roberdyck swallowing was exceptionally loud in comparison,

“…He stopped time…”

“Oh yes. Anti-time stop countermeasures are very important, don’t you know? You’ll need to have them by the time you hit level 70. Oh well, you’re going to die here, so in your case, it’s largely academic.”

Roberdyck grinded his teeth.

He was lying. If only he could say that. If only he could deny everything this monster—this god—was saying. It would be better if he fell to his knees and clutched his ears to shut the words out.

He understood that Ainz was very powerful.

However, even with that considered, stopping time and the like was something that should not exist in this world.

The march of time was a flow that could not be mastered or controlled by humanity. What could he do against a foe who was capable of such a feat? Cutting down an entire forest with a single sword would be an easier goal in comparison.

Ainz Ooal Gown. He was a being that the human race could never defeat. He was a man who stood at the cusp of divinity.

He gripped his mace in both hands—

—and he felt a light tap on his shoulder.

“Ah…”

Roberdyck’s body stopped moving. He did not have to look to know who had done it. It was Ainz Ooal Gown—that godlike being who could control the passage of time—who was supposed to be standing in front of him. When had he vanished from his field of vision?

The cold flowing into him made him feel as though he had turned into an ice sculpture. Thus, any feeling and freedom were stripped from his body.

“—It was useless, wasn’t it?”

So spoke the gentle voice which carried no trace of enmity to Roberdyck. The mace fell from nerveless fingers, to the ground—

Then, Ainz muttered as he looked to Roberdyck who had lost all will to fight.

“Well, that was a waste of effort. I think I might have actually broken a sweat.”

It was completely useless. Every tactic and trick he had tried could not do even the slightest bit of damage to Ainz.

The thoroughly defeated Roberdyck looked quietly at Ainz, and calmly asked him a question.

“I have something to ask. What is to become of us afterwards?”

“Mm? Is it because you’re a divine magic caster and you think you won’t end up in the same state as those other two?”

With that as a premise, Ainz began his explanation.

“Well then, about those two. Aura, take them to the Large Cave. Gashokukochuuou says he’s running out of nests.”

The dark elf’s ears twitched, and his eyes went wide.

“Ai-Ainz-sama! Mare! I can order Mare to go instead, right? Make him go there instead!”

“Oh, hm. Fine with me.”

“Understood! I’ll let Mare go instead!”

“As for that, I apologize. There will be no kind fate in store for them. As for you—the subordinate I sent in pursuit is also a divine magic caster, but the god she believes in is completely different from the gods you worship. When it comes down to it, I have no idea what the Four Gods you worship are. As such, I need to confirm the details on them. As their subordinates, you have names for them, but whether they’re the Four Gods or the Six Gods, these names are little more than job titles, like the Fire God, Earth God, is that it?”

“That, I don’t know about that.”

“I see… so they’re not superior beings who possess a mysterious power, they’re nothing more than great men of the past who’ve been deified—”

“—how could that be?!”

“Well, do listen. That’s just my theory. But if that were the case, if you do borrow the power of the gods to work your magic, could dead people provide it to you? Or rather, what are the gods? Do they even exist? Are you really using the power of the gods?”

“…What are you trying to say?”

“…Have you ever seen your god?”

“My god is always by my side!”

“That is to say, you’ve never actually seen him directly, then?”

“No! When we use our spells, we feel the presence of a mighty being. That is our god!”

“…And who declared that that presence to be a god? The god himself? Or someone using another kind of power?”

Roberdyck recalled the theological debates he had taken part in. There was no clear answer to Ainz’s questions. Until today, the priests still debated hotly over whether that was the proof of God’s existence.

Just as Roberdyck was about to speak, Ainz interrupted him.

“…Well, supposing these super-dimensional beings—which we shall generously term gods for our purposes—do exist, I wonder if that means they are originally colorless entities. Simply put, they are chunks of power. Because drawing on their power dyes them in a different color and changes the thing… well, they do exist in a world with magical laws, I just wanted someone to chat with someone about this. It wouldn’t be funny if there really were gods.”

“…”

“My apologies. That was off-topic. The power of the god you believe in. I think we won’t be able to learn it… so do you want to take part in a human experiment?”

“…human experiment?”

“That’s right. For instance, when we alter your memories so the god you believe in is someone else, what will happen after that?”

He’s insane. That was Roberdyck’s deepest and most honest thought about the situation.

No, he’s an undead. It wouldn’t be strange no matter what he did.

Ainz took a step back, looking with deep interest at Roberdyck. That look was the way a scholar would examine a laboratory animal, and it made Roberdyck want to throw up.

“Why, why do you want to do that?”

“To prove that god exists… eh, I’m not going to bother going on with that joke. Truthfully, I want to become stronger by understanding the nature of that power. And if those beings you call gods really exist, I want to know if they have emotions or thoughts. I want to confirm that. As for me, I have never thought of myself as a chosen being. In truth, there are many others like that.”

Roberdyck had no idea what Ainz was talking about.

“Therefore, expanding military preparations is essential. Of course, it may be that no enemies exist, or if they do exist, none of them are as strong as we are. However, don’t you think that the leader of an organization shouldn’t be negligent? After all, if we rest on our laurels, we’re likely to have our feet cut out from under us when we least expect it. Confirming the existence of gods is part of that. “

Ainz shrugged as he finished.

 

Part 2

Arche panted heavily.

Every time the grass swayed from the wind, her whole body would tremble. Like a small animal, she fearfully looked in every direction.

The surroundings were a forest, and there were many places without light. The spreading canopies of the nearby trees blocked out the light from the sky, and there was almost none on the surface.

Although this environment would normally be difficult for a human being to navigate, in lieu of illumination, Arche used the ‘Darkvision’ spell, which made her surroundings seem as bright as day.

However, even with this spell, she still needed a lot of concentration to pick out grass patches which people could be hiding in, tree trunks that might conceal enemies behind them, and listen to the branches creaking as they swayed in the wind.

As an arcane magic caster, if Arche were confronted by a monster which attacked her, she could not get rid of it by herself. Normally, she would have her colleagues to help her, but the ones who would help her, who would provide cover for her, or heal her, were all absent.

Which meant that all she could do was watch out for signs that an enemy was approaching, keep her distance, and flee. She was on edge because she was keenly aware of this fact, and it sapped her mental strength even more than normal.

Her original plan was to make it to the outside, which meant she would escape with a ‘Flight’ spell. But once she flew above the trees, she saw a gigantic flying creature in the sky which seemed to be searching for something, so she abandoned that plan.

After she confirmed the presence of the giant bat, she could not find it in herself to try and turn it into a contest of speed. That was because even though ‘Invisibility’ could fool visual senses, it could not deceive the special sensory organs of a bat.

After confirming her surroundings were safe, Arche once more flew up at a snail’s pace.

She was proceeding as slowly as possible with her ‘Flight’ spell because she wanted to observe her surroundings. If she went at full speed, she would not be able to react quickly enough even if she were on alert and spotted a threat, and that would mean she would be leaping into the mouth of any monsters which pursued her. In order to avoid this, she deliberately lowered her speed.

Finally, Arche felt the layer of magic energy surrounding her growing thin. Her flight spell was about to run out.

She slowly descended to the ground.

The question now was what should she do. Casting ‘Flight’ again would not be a problem. She could feel that she had enough mana for it. However, ‘Darkvision’ was also a crucial spell, and she also had to reserve enough mana for defensive spells in case of combat.

The 3^rd tier spell ‘Flight’ was one of the highest-ranked spells Arche knew how to use. Which also meant that it was one of the most draining spells she had. If possible, she wanted to avoid using it.

Ignoring the present circumstances, even she did not know how long it would take to get out of this forest without the use of spells that would stave off her fatigue. And without the ability to fly, she could not even confirm her current location.

On the way here, Arche had occasionally risen above the forest canopy and used the big tree beside the coliseum as a landmark. If she stayed in the forest, she could not spot the big tree, and she was not able to climb trees either.

“—Where can I rest…”

Arche mumbled to herself.

If she restored her mana through sleep, she could use ‘Flight’ more often, and movement under the sun would be safer. This was particularly true for the forest, where the monsters tended to come up at night.

It might be better for her to curl up somewhere and wait for day to break, rather than force herself to carry on in the dark forest.

But Arche had no idea where the safe places were.

If Imina were here, she would probably know. And if Roberdyck or Hekkeran were around, she could rest easily even in dangerous areas. However, her reliable companions were not with her.

“Imina, Roberdyck—”

Arche curled up beside a huge tree, and thought of her comrades.

“—Liars.”

There had been no word from them after so long.

As expected, they had not been able to escape.

No, that was something she had known from the beginning. There was no way they could beat the ridiculous entity known as Ainz. Even so, was she a fool for holding on to the faint hope of seeing them again?

Arche sat on the ground, leaned her back on the great tree, and closed her eyes. She knew it was dangerous, but she still wanted to close her eyes.

As the memory of the three of them came to mind, she squeezed her eyelids shut.

The icy-cool sensation of the wood against her head was very comfortable. It was only after she had rested for a while that she realized just how tired she had been. Her stress turned into emotional exhaustion, and it rose without stopping.

“—Haaaaa…”

She let her head rest against the tree.

And then she opened her eyes wide.

‘Darkvision’ painted the world of night in fresh, bright colors, but she had no explanation for what she saw in her field of vision.

Someone was watching Arche.

It was like nothing Arche had ever seen before, and her eyes seemed transfixed on the sight of the beautiful girl.

She was dressed in a velvet-soft ball gown dyed in the darkest shade of black, a garment that seemed thoroughly unsuited for her present environment. Her skin was as pale as wax. A single hand stroked her long, platinum hair, which seemed about to brush across Arche’s face.

Though she was a noble daughter, Arche had never seen a girl this beautiful before. If she were to show up at a formal dance, men would flock to her like moths to a flame, purely on the virtue of her beauty. Her crimson pupils radiated an irresistible charm that seemed to draw Arche’s soul into them.

But Arche immediately returned to her senses. There was no way someone like that would be in a place like this. Especially not someone with both feet on the tree trunk, standing parallel to the ground in utter defiance of gravity.

It was obvious that this was a pursuer sent by Ainz. Still, it was not completely impossible that she might have been a resident in the forest for a long time.

“Tag. You’re it.”

Her fleeting hopes had been utterly dashed.

“—A pursuer.”

Arche leapt away to open up a gap, targeting the girl with her staff. The girl seemed disinterested in Arche, and neatly walked down the tree trunk and onto the floor.

“It won’t be fun if you don’t run~”

“—if I defeat you here, I can flee more safely.”

Even as she said this, Arche smiled bitterly in her heart. There was no way she could beat any pursuer sent by Ainz, a being who existed outside the bounds of common sense.

Knowing this, the reason why she said so was to gauge the other party’s reaction.

“Then, by all means, although I can only play with you for a while.”

Her attitude said that she completely understood the difference in power between the two of them. Which was to say, if she fought Arche, she would not be playing around at all.

“—「Flight」!”

Arche cast her spell and began to flee. There was none of the leisurely, slow flight she had demonstrated on the ground. In one swift movement she was aloft, covering her face with her arms as she broke through the forest canopy and soared into the air.

Under the night sky, Arche looked around once more. She was on guard for the bat-like monster she had seen earlier. However, it seemed that it was nowhere around. And so, all that was left was to escape.

“Yes, yes, keep it up, keep it up,”

The beautiful voice called out to Arche, who was desperate to flee. Her heart lurched. Casting desperate glances around, Arche tried to see where it was coming from.

It was from in front and above her.

When had she—the girl from just now was there.

“「Lightning Bolt」!”

Bluish-white lightning leapt from her staff’s head and cleaved through the night. This was Arche’s strongest attack spell. Even though it pierced the girl, the smile did not vanish from her face.

Arche was sure of it. This was a being on par with Ainz, which meant that there was no way Arche could defeat her. The girl cheerfully spoke to Arche, who was eager to flee.

“「Come, my familiars.」”

An enormous pair of wings extended from behind the girl’s back. They were like a bat’s in shape, but far, far larger. An enormous bat flew out from behind her, like it had detached from her body. And of course, no bat with glowing crimson eyes like that could be a mere beast.

The girl smiled from beside the giant bat, whose wings beat steadily through the air. It was a smile that froze Arche’s body like ice, a smile that did not seem to belong on someone her age at all.

“Well then, do continue to flee~”

Arche fled.

She took flight with all her strength.

She flew into the forest to lose her pursuer, and the branches scratched her body as she fled.

Since she had discarded her companions to escape, that meant she had to make it out of here no matter what. In her mind, she would do anything to make that happen.

And after a flight of who knew how long, Arche was faced with despair.

It was a wall.

An invisible wall stood in front of her.

The world went on beyond it, but Arche’s body was blocked by that wall. Arche was now two hundred meters above ground level and the invisible wall had reached this high.

“—This is—”

Arche muttered to herself as despair seeped into her heart. She flew and felt around with her hands. But… wall, wall, wall, still a wall.

No matter where she flew, her hands told her there was something hard in her way.

“What is this?!”

“A wall, of course.”

It was an answer to her self-directed mutterings. Arche turned around, with an idea of who she might see.

It was as she had expected. The girl from earlier. But now she had a trio of giant bats as her escorts.

“Though it seems you’ve gotten the wrong impression. This is the 6^th floor of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. That is to say, you’re underground.”

“…This?”

Arche pointed to the world. The sky, the stars, the gently-blowing wind, the forest which stretched as far as the eye could see. Although she did not think this place could be under the earth, when it came to these people, even that might be a possibility.

“The 41 Supreme Beings, our most august creators, once ruled this place. It was created by them, and even we don’t understand all of it.”

“…They created a world? That would make them like gods…”

“That’s correct. To us, they are beings on the same level as gods. Gods with Ainz-sama as their leader.”

Arche looked around.

She had accepted it. No matter how you put it, after seeing so much, the only thing she could do was accept it.

There was no way she would be returning alive.

“Well then, not fleeing?”

“—Would it even be possible?”

“Of course not. There was never any intention to allow you to escape to begin with.”

“—Is that so?”

Arche gripped her staff tightly with both hands and charged the girl. She could no longer use spells since she was out of mana. However, even in this most hopeless of situations she still had to try her best until the very last moment. This was the duty of Arche, the sole surviving member of Foresight.

“There, there, you’ve done your best.”

The girl’s reply to Arche’s fully-determined charge was little more than bored dismissal.

“Then, your sad little escape attempt ends here... though it’s a shame I couldn’t see you cry.”

The girl easily caught the staff with one hand, and yanked it toward herself. Arche was thrown off balance and fell into the arms of the girl. The two of them ended up embracing in mid-air.

In this position, the girl buried her face into Arche’s neck. Although Arche tried to struggle, the girl who stuck to her like glue could not be shaken off. She breathed hotly on Arche’s neck, and Arche’s body quivered.

“…Mm, the smell of sweat…”

Not being able to keep one’s body clean was part and parcel of the worker’s life for Arche. This was true for all workers, adventurers, travellers, and anyone who spent time moving around outside. Even if they got dirty, the appropriate response would be “So what?”

However, she still felt deeply ashamed at being told this by a girl who was younger and more beautiful than her.

The girl’s face left Arche’s neck. A feeling of revulsion swept up over Arche as she looked into those crimson eyes. Within those eyes burned a lust for the female body, stained with the same carnal desire that men possessed for women.

“Be at ease. You will die without experiencing any suffering. Be grateful to Ainz-sama for his mercy.”

“–!”

Arche wanted to respond, but instead all she felt was surprise – surprise at the fact that her body had been immobilized. It was as though those crimson pupils had stolen away her soul.

At last, Arche realised the true identity of the girl. She was not human, but a vampire.

“…And then…”

The girl’s face drew closer to Arche’s, her tongue slipping past her lips to lightly lick at Arche’s cheeks.

“…Salty…”

The girl laughed, and despair swallowed Arche’s soul.

That only made the girl laugh harder.

Her lips split apart to her ears. The red of her irises spread to engulf their respective eyeballs.

With a cracking sound, she opened her mouth. What had once been neat, pearly white teeth were now things that made people think of medical syringes, in multiple rows like those of a shark. Her lascivious voice was laced with lewd undertones, and clear drool oozed from the corners of her mouth.

And then, terror enveloped Arche completely.

“Ahahahahaha!”

Arche’s mind lost hold on consciousness in the face of the laughing monster that reeked of blood.

The last thing that went through her mind was the faces of her two sisters waiting for her.

“Ooooooh? Fainted already? …Then there’s no need to knock you out with magic. You can embrace Death in your dreams~”

 

Part 3

After entrusting the cleanup of the intruders to others, Ainz sat down on the throne and started up the monitor. As he browsed through the data of Nazarick, the things that he focused the most on were the changes which occurred to the total amount of funds, which were miniscule. This was mostly due to not having activated any traps that consumed a large amount of money. From the looks of things so far, today’s experiment could be considered as more than successful.

Ainz smiled—even though it was impossible to show it on his face—towards the tense faced Albedo who was waiting by his side, anxious to hear his evaluation, and praised her.

“Magnificent. Although the intruders this time were a bit too fragile from our point of view, they were considered a fearsome force in this world. And you were even able to accomplish it while keeping expenditure to a minimum, looks like from here on, I can truly be at ease when entrusting the defenses of Nazarick to you, Albedo.”

“My deepest gratitude.”

Albedo bowed her head deeply while making a relieved expression.

“By the way, Ainz-sama, was it fine timewise?”

“Not a problem. I have already heard from Pandora’s Actor, the adventurers have decided to wait another day, or until something changes within the ruins, before leaving.”

The fact that none of the workers returned even when it was morning had caused a panic amongst the adventurers, and they had hurriedly reported it to Momon—Pandora’s Actor, who suggested that they wait another day. Usually, when something unexpected happened, the most appropriate thing to do was to retreat towards a safer location and assess the situation once more from there. However, things were different due to the presence of an adamantite-ranked team.

“In that case, could I take up a little bit of your time? The truth is, I have a proposal which I hope Ainz-sama would kindly listen to.”

“What’s the matter, Albedo? Could you wait a bit? … … Okay, not a problem now.” After verifying once more on the situation regarding Hamsuke and the lizardmen on the monitor, Ainz turned to face Albedo. “What is your proposal about?”

“—Yes” Albedo glanced around at their surroundings before continuing, “It is about the things that were mentioned previously by those foolish ones, regarding the search for the Supreme Beings, what level of priority should we assign it?”

“The highest. Take any actions necessary provided they do not bring harm towards the Great Tomb of Nazarick or reveal us in the process.”

Ainz answered immediately.

“As I thought so. I understand. In that case, here is my proposal: please allow me to personally select the members and be in charge of the unit tasked with the search for the Supreme Beings.”

“What exactly are you suggesting?”

Ainz’s voice deliberately became cold once more. It was because he noticed the dark emotions dwelling inside of him.

There had been opportunities to search for his comrades, but each time the plans were put on hold due to reasons such as “lack of manpower” or “lack of intelligence”.

If they were unable to find his companions even after searching every corners of the world, thoughts like this were the reason why Ainz could not make up his mind. Rather than knowing for sure that he was the only one left in this world, it was easier for him to hold onto the hope that through gathering up enough fame, his companions would eventually be able to find him.

“Yes. Although we were able to immediately determine that what those foolish ones had said previously were lies, I believe there will be times in the future where it will become difficult for us to judge. For this reason, I think it is necessary for us to have a unit tasked with determining the accuracy of received reports as well as for the search of the Supreme Beings. It would be much better for me to investigate them beforehand, and then report my findings to Ainz-sama.”

Ainz held his hand against his chin and muttered, “Is that so…” As he recalled his previous conversation with the workers, what he felt was not anger but a sense of emptiness. There was nothing more unbearable than dancing between hope and despair. As the head of an organisation, he had to disregard his personal emotions and make the decision to move forward whenever a decisive moment appeared, even if it was just a small step.

“Albedo, it doesn’t need to be you, right? I had hoped you could remain here to manage Nazarick for me. Regarding the need to go out and search for information… wouldn’t Mare and Aura be more suited? Since dark elves exist even in the outside world.”