Magic Caster of Destroy

He placed both elbows on his table and meshed his hands, covering the lower half of his face.

His nonexistent belly ached. Now was the time for the review. As he held that feeling in his heart, he peeked at Demiurge and Albedo.

They did not seem angry. Nor did they seem speechless.

However, who could tell if that was or was not a poker face? After thinking of that, he looked closely at them again, to see if their faces were frozen in anger.

I want to get out of here. In the first place, why did I sit here… no, it’s too late. Words said can’t beunspoken. Grow a damn spine, Ainz Ooal Gown!

With that, the phantom pain in his gut seemed to have subsided, but he still felt like throwing up.

When he learned the Emperor was approaching Nazarick as planned, Ainz could not help but indirectly ask Demiurge “Then, what will we do next”, but instead the answer he got was “Since all is going as predicted, we shall stick to the plan.”

But I don’t know what the plan is!

Of course, he did not actually say that.

As the ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Ainz had to adopt an attitude that matched the expectations of the NPCs. To him, they were like his guild members’ children, who had been placed into his care. Therefore, he put his all into making a good impression on them, even when all he had to do was resolutely nod and answer “is that so” in a kingly way.

When it came to Demiurge’s plan, however, Ainz was desperately flailing in the dark.

The actual talks with Jircniv Rune Farlord El-Nix had been played entirely off the cuff, trusting that there would be a way through no matter what. As for how confident he was of having said the right thing during the negotiations… well, simply put, he had no confidence at all.

Like a student waiting for his test scores, he peeked at the two of them.

This is like a job interview…

When he had just started working, he remembered having a similar feeling to this.

“Then, as planned, the Emperor has made his move.”

Ainz took a deep breath. Just as he was about to speak, a voice interrupted from beside him.

“Ainz-sama, I fear to ask, but I have a question. Why did you have to give the emperor of the humans a place as a collaborator? Couldn’t we have just conquered the Empire by force?”

In response to Shalltear’s question, Ainz’ non-existent heart skipped a beat.

In order to conquer the world, they would first apply pressure to the Empire. Because of that, they would allow the Empire to launch an attack on Nazarick, and use that to threaten the Empire and force the Emperor into direct talks. Then, they would demonstrate the overwhelming power of Nazarick. That was how this operation should have gone.

That was all Ainz knew. The exact importance of why they had to impress Nazarick’s power onto the Emperor was a mystery to him.

Because of that, he had no idea how to properly answer Shalltear’s question.

Aura continued after her.

“Shalltear is right. We went to their capital and it’s nothing much.”

Ainz glanced at the other Guardians. They all seemed to feel the same way.

Even if they had no intention of going against the decision made by Ainz, their master, even if they thought it was the right way, the doubts would still keep welling up.

In addition, they wanted to know why Ainz made the decisions that he did, to understand his true intentions, so they could serve him more effectively.

If they did not know his motives, then the chances of them accidentally working against his aims would be higher. In particular, two of the Guardians felt uneasy about this lack of knowledge, namely Shalltear and Sebas, who had already committed mistakes in the past. Both of them watched Ainz with eager faces, ears pricked up so they would not miss a single word of Ainz’ answer.

Ainz suppressed the stress he felt from being the focus of everyone’s attention, and searched for a way out of this predicament.

First, I need to decide whether or not to affirm or deny Shalltear and Aura’s words. If I affirm them,that means conquering the Empire is part of the plan. If I deny them, it means we won’t beconquering the Empire for now… but which side are Demiurge and Albedo hoping for? Oh no, notgood, I took too long…

With a cold smile on his face, Ainz laughed.

He took a deep breath.

The odds were one in two.

If he screwed up here, all he would have to do was change the course somehow. And besides―

Shalltear is always messing up, so I should reject her in this!