The Bloody Valkyrie

“Great. With that, let’s wrap up the greetings. From here on, Albedo and I shall proceed forward. Narberal, bring Hamusuke and Mare back to Nazarick… and treat the thing I put in your mouth carefully.”

“Yes!”

Narberal answered in high spirits. Hamusuke rolled the sentient item retrieved from the cemetery around his mouth and mumbled to Narberal:

“U-understood master. Also, this item is noisy! I also have more important matters to ask, can you calm down in my mouth for a bit? Then, your humble servant would like to ask a question… Narberal-sama, will this humble servant be in danger? Will this one be eaten?”

“Since you are apparently Ainz-sama’s pet, of course no one will devour you without permission under any circumstances. Do not worry, I will convey this to everyone.”

Ainz’ face had not moved, but he was smiling. It seemed that after the two of them had worked together in Re-Lantier, their relationship had improved.

“Good. Then we shall be off, Albedo.”

“Yes.”

Watched by Narberal and Hamusuke, Ainz led Albedo towards Shalltear’s direction.

“Seeing the corpses of these men, your loyal subordinate remembered what you mentioned in the Throne Hall, don't we need to retrieve the corpses of the men and the woman Ainz-sama disposed last night?”

“About that…”

He was just about to repeat what he said to Narberal last night, that ‘it was necessary to make them the instigators of this incident’, when he was interrupted by Albedo.

“While fighting against Ainz-sama, they might have obtained some information. Since there is magic that can revive the dead, shouldn’t we retrieve the corpses to avoid this risk? Could it be that you have a particular reason in mind?”

Ainz stopped breathing. No, he never breathed in the first place.

What Albedo said had hit the nail on the head.

...Damn.

Magic that revived the dead existed in this world. That meant that there was a better way than autopsy to obtain detailed and accurate information.

Ainz recalled last night’s events. His own identity, Nazarick’s name and also Narberal’s ability. Those people became aware of these facts and that woman was especially bad news.

Such a lethal mistake could not be resolved by admitting failure.

He could only hope that there were no individuals capable of using resurrection magic here. However, from the intelligence obtained from the Sunlight Scripture, it seemed that there were some people capable of using it in the Slane Theocracy. Moreover, there was a high possibility that the highest ranking adventurers could also use it. Those in the upper echelons of the government could also secretly possess a few individuals capable of using revival magic.

With that, once they determined that the deceased held important information, those in the highest positions in Re-Lantier would probably find people capable of using revival magic. Since they knew the problem was bad enough to shake Re-Lantier, those in the upper echelons would want to dig up more detailed information.

Ainz felt as if his nonexistent heart was rapidly thumping out loud.

What should I do?

Without question, they just had to retrieve the corpses. However, who should be ordered to go?

Ainz told Narberal to ignore the bodies at that place. Should he openly tell her that it was a mistake?

...No, that should not be said.

Since the current situation is that we still do not know why Shalltear betrayed us, I should avoid saying words that might further lower their loyalty. At times like this, it would be better not to give out orders in panic.

Ainz felt that he could empathise with the company superiors who would refuse to admit failure, and decided with a prayer in his heart.

“...What you say is correct. However I have a particular reason to ignore those corpses. Rest assured, everything is within my calculations… apart from the issue of Shalltear’s betrayal.”

“So that’s it! As expected of Ainz-sama. My thoughts were already anticipated long ago by Ainz-sama. I’ve spoken too much… my apologies. Speaking of which, why does Ainz-sama not use revival magic at all? When gathering intelligence, it should be possible to do the same to the deceased.”

“...Oh?”

Ainz naturally let out an out-of-tune exclamation.

“Did I not mention this before? Then have you heard about Demiurge’s healing experiments?”

“Yes I have. The experiment involving chopping off the limbs, then applying experimental magic treatment to the severed areas, right?”

“Correct. Let me ask you one more question. Do you know where the resurrection magic has to be applied?”

“Not on corpses?”

“...No. Ah, it shouldn’t be?”

Both Albedo and Ainz were in deep thought when realisation dawned in Albedo’s eyes.

“Ah, I was wrong. Ainz-sama said correctly - not bodies, but on the soul!”

“Correct. In Demiurge’s experiments, the severed limbs would disappear, and then regrow from the body. Therefore in a situation where magic was cast on the soul, what would then happen to the corpse?”