The Paladin of the Holy Kingdom: Part 1

If Ainz was an excellent person, perhaps he could follow those directions and play the role of a perfect Sorcerer King. However, much to his regret, Ainz’s abilities were perfectly normal, or perhaps even worse than that.

Therefore, Ainz had gotten into a spirited debate with Demiurge over the matter.

He recalled things going like this: Ainz had pleaded, “I don’t understand, write in more detail,” whereupon Demiurge had humbly replied with “How could I possibly do something that rude to the sagacious Ainz-sama?” and this had led to an intense back and forth. He had roped Albedo into this battle halfway, and Ainz — who had begun at a great disadvantage — had finished at a complete loss.

And so, the operational directives granting him complete discretion ended up in Ainz’s hands.

If this was a prank on Demiurge’s part, he might be able to deal with it in some other way, but this was the fruit of his subordinate’s trust and respect.

In particular, that was made very clear by such pronouncements as “You will surely be able to reach a better conclusion, Ainz-sama — how could one as insignificant as myself bind you with my words and deeds?”

If you went by common sense, why would the king of another country come over alone… what an unreasonable argument… still, I’ve come all this way. Although I stirred up some problems along the way and got careless a few times, I still came all this way...

He did not believe in the gods, but he wanted to pray to them with all his heart.

Couldn’t Demiurge and Albedo consider my abilities before dumping missions onto me...

Being asked to do the impossible made his motivation shrivel up.

...All right, pull it together, me. It’ll be easier after I get through this.

Ainz poured his strength into his legs, and then he stood up.

The plan had come to the vital middle stages, and that was the worst part.

According to Demiurge, if they formed a defensive line at this city, they would attack until there were eighty five percent casualties.

Ainz had no idea what he was talking about.

Since Demiurge felt it ought to be this way, then it should be a better answer than anything Ainz came up with. If all those deaths brought benefits to Nazarick, then let them die. Rather, Ainz would think about whether killing more would bring even more benefits to Nazarick and such things.

However, the problem lay in the fact that Demiurge had asked Ainz for humans here which could not be killed.

Frankly speaking, if that was all, then he would randomly select a few and be done with it, but there was one more thing to note.

That was humans who were devoted to Ainz, or who might be persuaded to join Ainz’s side.

『I feel that there must be several humans who are as devoted to you as those Dwarves, so please tell me their names, and when I make my move, I will take care not to kill them off.』

When he received that message from Demiurge, he had even thought, Are you kidding me? as he doubted Demiurge’s thinking.

“...There’s nobody like that.”

Those despondent words escaped Ainz.

There were no humans here who were devoted to Ainz.

Rather, he had keenly experienced how much the undead were hated in the Holy Kingdom.

Under these dire circumstances, how many people would be devoted to his undead self?

However, he could not tell Demiurge that there were none.

Demiurge sincerely believed that Ainz could fascinate several humans. So what would happen if he told Demiurge that he had not managed to do so with anyone?

My stomach hurts...

The Dwarf Demiurge was speaking of must have been Gondo Firebeard, but that had simply been lucky. He had scored a critical hit on a weakness in his heart by pure chance, and such luck would not repeat itself.

And it was precisely because he had the font of information which was Gondo that he had managed to strike a chord in the hearts of the runesmiths. However, there was nobody like that in the Holy Kingdom.

There was one person with whom he had formed a friendly relationship, Neia Baraja, but that was all.

Besides, he had given her a magic item to improve their relationship, as well as for another reason, but how effective it had been was still unclear. She kept glaring at him with murderous eyes, so he probably should not expect anything good to come of it.

What would Demiurge think if I told him there was only one person? Ainz asked himself.

Would the image of Ainz which Demiurge held in his heart not crumble completely?

And then, what would happen in the future?