“A whole vilge? Are you sure?”

  “Yes, my lord… A whole vilge vanished, and a lord’s son, missing. It is a troublesome affair…”

  The t said to Prince Barbro as they sat around a small table. Princess Reood by their side and quietly poured tea for the two men.

  “My vassal is… beside himself. Though only a third son, he was still his son, after all.”

  “I see.”

  Prince Barbor’s deep voice was rgely indifferent. He ignored his little sister as well, not aowledging her pour except to take the por cup and sip from it when she was done.

  “It is unfortunate, but does it really matter? I round up some on trash off the streets for you to fill your vilge, if that’s all you need. I won’t even charge you anything.”

  Barber said with a wicked gleam in his eye.

  “Thank you, my prince. But I’ve already made the nd avaible to third sons of my vassals. My real is the missing boy. The vassal who suffered the loss has been a good subordinate, and a trash noble is still a noble. Moreover, the fact that he vanished from a vilge where all of its denizens also disappeared without any sign of violence sounds… unbelievable. It was as if the peasants put the trash son down themselves and ran.”

  Renner, having finished p the cup for the t, put on her most distressed girlish fad covered her mouth with three fingers.

  “Goodness, t. That is like they are rebelling against you personally.”

  The t’s rexed air ged immediately. His entire body tensed sharply, enough for the prio see the shift.

  "Y-Yes, that's it exactly, Princess Renner. As expected of a member of the royal family to see through the heart of any matter in an instant.

  "Of course. It is why the Royal family is Royal. We reize that affronts to our most loyal nobles are affronts to ourselves. The basis of the is a, and those afraid to act, are unworthy of it and should not be supported."

  The words of the inprehensible and silly little sister souo him as if she was ying down his path to the throne.

  ‘A prince of a is the ohat belongs ohrone of Kingship. Yes… Perhaps I use this trivial affair to get ahead of my fat little brother and force father’s hands.’

  “Yes, it is as my sister says. I will take the lead in this iigation. Bring justice for the noble house that was wronged by these stupid peasant rebels. We will find them, and wring the truth of the son’s fate from their tortured bodies! I swear it on my sword!”

  The powerful man of broad shoulders towered over both Renner and the t, his muscur body adorned in full formal martial regalia of blue, red, and gold, with dangling tassels on his shoulders and a sash across his chest.

  The blond bearded prince Barbro appeared every inch the Warrior Prinbsp;

  Renner demurely cpped her hands with a smile and girlish giggle.

  Inwardly, she knew very well the kind of man he was. A coward and a bully. Never once did he take a task that might actually risk himself.

  "Yes, of course. A Prince who protects the nobility is the sort we need ohrone of Re-Estize. I will look to you in the days ahead, my Prince."

  The t said and stood up, and was goer a brief set of goodbyes.

  Left alone, Barbro looked down at his little sister.

  She was…an enigma, to put it nicely. Absurd. He was aware that she sometimes had iing insights, and he wasn’t above asking for them. After all, she was of no threat to him.

  "Sister, where would you begin on this?"

  Reapped her cheeks ily, her eyes looking off into the distaowards the city beyond. As capitals went, Re-Estize had what she was sure was one of the ugliest in nature. Massive in size, it was riddled with crime and squalor.

  Finally, after a moment of brief silent, she spoke.

  “Brother, except to take their grains and goods to the market, peasants don’t move around much, do they?”

  “No, they don’t. They have no reason to move.”

  “And they, who knew only of the ways of menial bor in the farm, and only hunt a little, would they veo a forest full of dangerous monsters?”

  “No, that is suicidal.”

  “And they probably won’g go to a city because they wouldn’t know how to survive so… perhaps you just o look for a vilge. A vilge where there are a bunch of new people. We do keep birth records in the vilges after all.”

  She proposed with a sweet, i smile that, as it always did, pushed aside any sense of inferiority he would have felt from a different tone.

  “But those aren’t very good… They’re wildly inaccurate as some may not eveer themselves until much ter. Besides, they simply lie about their names.”

  “True, but if a vilge goes from a hundred families to two hundred families, I think it’s fair to ask where those other hundred families came from, don’t you agree? I think it's safe to say any vilge with a sudden burst of growth is suspect, and then we just have the Lord e by and look for anyone he reizes as being from his domain."

  "I see, I see." Prince Barbro muttered, and it was somewhat true, what she said made sense, and he nodded sagely as if he'd been leading the versation himself.

  “But to take in so many people… are they even capable of it?”

  “Maybe if they have more nd to work than people to work it, or if they suffered some ret heavy losses and are in need of bor forces to work the nd they have. I would imagihey would even overlook the murder of a Lord, rather than turn them in as they know they should, they are all peasants after all."

  “Then they’re plicit in the crime, and the whole pce just burn when we find it.”

  Prince Barbro’s teeth gritted when his square jaws ched. And Renner forced herself to hide the grin she was on the verge of showing on multiple instances.

  “As you thi, big brother. Five me, but this is all a bit mud I would like to return to my embroidery.”

  The fragile young girl, the golden princess, and the most radiay of the kingdom seemed very doll-like to the powerfully built Prince Barbro. Like a fragile, thin, little vase.

  “Of course, sister. I will remember your… suggestion. And as thanks, I will fet your bodyguard’s offeo me.”

  "Thank you, brother, that is reward enough, he was only trying to protect me, and he is just a child, still, yenerosity will also be remembered ."

  Renner replied and taking the sides of her gown, she curtseyed with a bowed head.

  They then parted ways, her sharp ears caught Barbro ing up with various ways to kill treacherous peasant trash, until she was out of hearing and ba her own room.

  Then, as soon as the door clicked behind her, she threw the tch for additional needless security, a down to her knees and prostrated herself before the empty air.

  “Is that to your satisfa, Lord Demiurge?”

  She asked, and upoerance of his name, a whirling void of darkness opened, and the devil himself emerged from it.

  “Yes, that was well done, Princess Rehat is exactly what we needed.”

  Demiurge said, and he reached down to gently pat her head with a grin on his handsome, devilish fabsp;

  --------------------------------X--------------------------------

  Word about a job which promised great wealth spread fast and wide as Fht spread rumors and stories about the wealth that y ahead.

  Imina’s elveage proved useful in lending a mythical touch to the “legend”, telling stories “from her father” who had heard stories from his father’s aors turies before of a powerful lord of greed who hoarded fortunes in his tomb.

  Stories of powerful artifacts, shining mountains of pure gold, and endless stream of riches spread among the rumor mills of worker bars and taverns. But even through it all, they still searched for any hint of their missing blonde-haired friend.

  In the end, Hekkeran could only rub his forehead in disappoi as they met in private on the day of departure.

  “...We’ve done our best. All we do now is hope that it’s enough.”

  He looked from Imina to Roberdybsp;

  “That girl we met… she looked human, but I don’t think she was. I don’t have any basis for this, except for my gut instinct. But… if I’m right, and she’s not in charge there… I don’t even want to think about what kind of monsters we’ll face.”

  Imina touched his arm and looked up at her lover’s eyes with a small f smile, ohat she herself was f to show on her face.

  “Don’t think about that. We’re “Fht”. We’ve survived great many terrible things. We’ll survive this ooo… And when it es down to it, you’ll do the right thing. I believe in you.”

  Roberdyodded in agreement to her words, and their dispy of trust in him ehe discussiht then.

  The fast spreading rumors brought quite the number of teams together outside the tomb, making the gathering spa the outskirts look more like the beginnings of a vilge than a temporary camp.

  A fe followers and travelling merts also appeared, eager for a ce to profit off the life risking efforts of the workers who expected lots of s to eheir pocket soon enough.

  ‘Well, at the very least, we did a really good job with those rumors.’

  Hekkeran looked around the lively crowd and thought to himself. It was, by far, the rgest gathering of workers any of them had ever seen.

  A few familiar faces were also present.

  Parpatra, a wrinkled old man with the vigor of someone much youhan his age and leader of the wroup Dragon Hunt.

  Gringham of Heavy Masher. Short i, but he made up for his size sideways with having siderable strength and ad thick armor over powerful muscles. A man with dwarven blood ary, known for their toughness and strength.

  And some of the not so reputable once as well, to put it lightly. Erya Uzruth of Tenmu.

  A powerful swordsman from the Sheocracy who took human supremacy to the point where even other humans found disturbing. His personality was so disagreeable that despite being pared to Gazef Stronoff, he couldn’t find or form a team. So, he bought mentally broken elf sves to provide magical backup.

  Although sves were pricey, his earnings as workers allowed him to “replenish” his sves as soon as they were dead. He only ever purchased female elves, and never even cared to properly arm or equip them in any way. And to prove his “human superiority” over them, they weren’t spared his advances whehere was free time.

  A scum in every meaning of the word.

  Talks about how great of a treasure this tomb held filled the camp with excitement. Despite the prospective dahat may y within the unexplored tomb of an a entity, none showed fear, hesitation, or nervoushat exceeded their greed. A truly exempry group of what it meant to be a worker. There’s no daoo great as long as there’s enough gold.

  Hekkeran exged a brief versation with Parpatra and Gringham before leaving with a few final words to wish them good luck, auro his rades in their own small tent with a mute, dead eyed stare.

  He slumped down on the ground, the twin swords behind his waist rattling as it hit the floor.

  “When this is over… after we save Arche, I'm done. I don’t want to do “this” any more. It’s pointless…”

  Roberdyck was the first to respond, with a deep sigh.

  “My friend… I’ve toyed with the very thought many times. I’ve only stuck with this as long as I have because of who i work with. If rt ways, i’ll find a vilge somewhere ale down as a local priest. That would be a life good enough for me.”

  “I go where you go, even if it means no more tombs or caves. But first… first we rescue Arche. I just hope she’s alright… I hope… they’re not t her…”

  “Don’t think about it… most monsters aren’t ied in humans like that at least. Just… get some rest. Tomorrow, we get started. And hopefully… it all works out.”

  Hekkeran said ao his bedroll, and colpsed almost immediately into ugly, ugly dreams.

  --------------------------------X--------------------------------

  A number of monitor ss refleg live feeds of the groups of workers entering the tomb oer another floated before the obsidian throne.

  Each s followed the movement of a group of workers, refleg even the subtle ges of their expression from excitement to vigince clearly iime.

  The stage was set. The workers, led by greed aered the darkness, would never leave it.

  Sitting on the obsidian throne, Momonga watched as he ched his hand oaff of Ainz Ooal Gown.

  Although all were part of their pn, the fact that these greedy rats id their filthy feet into his beloved home he and his rades created and where his children live to raid and rob it elicited great disgust and anger from the very depths of his heart. The only fort was the fact that none of these bastards would ever leave again and that they would wish for death sooner rather than ter.

  Lelouch, who stood by his left, and Yuuji, as well as Aika, who stood to his right all watched the s with simir se, though not to the same extreme.

  “Momonga-sama, all the rats have entered, and none had chosen to leave after reag the threshold. The little magic caster’s rades have also followed the rules and path told by her through telepathy. We may start the test now.”

  Albedo said as she maniputed the ss and dispyed a map with the current location of each group of workers denoted by a red, blinking point.

  Momonga, or rather, Satoru could uand the desperation one would have for fortune while living in such a cruel world. He too had seen many good natured people turn into criminals to steal credits from others just to survive.

  That is why, he pced a few golds he entrance. If they took it a, then their fate would’ve ended much swifter. But ook their ce, and now, any remnants of remorse vanished from his heart.

  “Very well. Begiest for Nazarick’s defenses.”

  “Yes.”

  These little rats wouldn’t even begin to scratch the surface of Nazarick’s defenses’ full capabilities. However, Albedo took this task with the dedication and focus a Guardian Overseer would have towards any sort of threat that may threaten Nazaribsp;

  At the very least, they’d be able to test the effectiveness of their free POP monsters and traps against lower life beings of this level.

  She just hoped they wouldn't expire so quickly. It’s the least they do after daring to invade her beloved’s home with such ill i; use their body to serve her beloved and the Supreme Beings by bei subjects and/or food for the denizens of Nazaribsp;

  “Albedo, how is Fht?”

  Yuuji asked.

  “They are being led by Arche to the designated pce using the Message scrolls, my love.”

  Albedo answered, her voice ever so soft, gentle, and affeate as she spoke to her beloved.

  “Good. tig them. See if they’re truly worthy. If they are… We’ll have our “Champions” against Baharuth.”

  VergsX