The night was heavy and still.
It was around ten in the evening.
Lucien leaned against the doorframe, only halfway through his cigarette, when a dull rush of air suddenly came from the night sky.
Boom.
A figure in heavy black armor slammed onto the stone street, cracking several paving stones and throwing up a cloud of dust.
Ainz did not even bother cushioning the landing.
The instant his feet touched the ground, he put away the flight item hanging from his neck and strode toward Lucien.
He had come in a hurry.
The moment he received the call, Ainz had activated a flight item and rushed here at full speed.
He had even left Nabe behind despite the fact that she had been traveling with him.
It was not a particularly rational decision.
Lucien had already been ambushed, which meant whoever was behind this incident might also have Ainz’s group among their targets.
Leaving Nabe alone could have exposed her to danger.
But at the moment, Ainz had not been thinking that far ahead.
“Lucien, are you all right?” The red lights beneath Ainz’s helmet flickered rapidly.
His gaze swept over Lucien, and after confirming there were no visible wounds, his voice relaxed slightly.
“I already told you over the call that I’d handled everything here.
You didn’t need to rush this much.” Lucien dropped the cigarette onto the ground and crushed it beneath his boot.
“Come inside.
We’ll talk there.” Ainz followed him into the dim potion shop.
The interior was a complete wreck.
Broken glass, splintered wood, and shattered potion shelves covered the floor.
A thick smell of blood filled the narrow room.
Since becoming undead, Ainz’s senses had grown much more sensitive to that kind of scent.
Khajiit’s corpse lay near the entrance.
Ainz glanced down at it.
There were two wounds clearly intended to disable him, along with one fatal strike.
It looked as though Lucien had deliberately interrupted the old man’s casting before killing him instantly.
Then Ainz looked toward the back of the shop.
Clementine’s corpse was hanging from the remains of a broken storage cabinet.
Her right arm had been severed at the shoulder.
Her chest was badly caved in.
There was nothing left covering her body.
Adventurer plates of nearly every rank below Adamantite were scattered across the floor around her.
As an undead, Ainz felt no discomfort at the gruesome scene.
Without even realizing it, he was simply examining the aftermath from the perspective of a player analyzing a battle.
“Let’s sit.” Lucien gestured toward a counter farther inside.
A few chairs and a table there were still intact.
Ainz pulled out a chair and sat down.
Lucien took the seat opposite him and went straight to the point.
“The woman inside was already hiding here before I came back.” “The old man appeared afterward and blocked the entrance, trapping me between them.” “I don’t know the exact reason.” Ainz folded his hands on the table and began thinking.
“Were they targeting you?” “No.” Lucien shook his head.
“I had already left.” “I only came back after I heard something happening inside.” “I think their real target was Nfirea.” “That’s possible.” Ainz followed the logic.
“He’s supposed to be one of the best apothecaries in E-Rantel.” “But why would two people go out of their way to kill a single apothecary?” “And if killing him was really their only objective, sending both of them seems unnecessary.” “Kidnapping?” Lucien suggested.
“Possibly.” Ainz nodded.
“They might have wanted his Talent and intended to force him to produce some kind of special potion.” “Or perhaps Nfirea possesses a rare item they absolutely need.” Lucien agreed.
Then he added another piece of information.
“I’ve investigated their base before.” Ainz looked at him.
“It was an underground fortress.” “I found a Skeletal Dragon sealed inside, along with several native creatures I’d never seen before.” “They were similar to that old man, somewhere between human and undead.” “A Skeletal Dragon?” The red lights beneath Ainz’s helmet jumped sharply.
“Yes.” Lucien pointed toward Khajiit’s body.
“And the old man was carrying a black orb filled with necromantic energy.” “The magical presence coming from it was fairly strong.” “I suspect they may be capable of summoning stronger undead.” “These two might only be field agents or senior members of a much larger organization.” Ainz straightened in his chair.
His attitude became considerably more serious.
In YGGDRASIL, Skeletal Dragons were lord-class monsters among low-level undead.
Their level was only sixteen.
However, because of their immunity to lower-tier magic and their strong resistance against slashing and piercing weapons, they were unusually troublesome opponents at their level.
If something like that appeared inside a city in this world, it could easily become a major disaster.
The fact that this organization had managed to keep one sealed beneath E-Rantel suggested that they possessed advanced necromancy or powerful magic items.
Ainz began considering how to proceed.
After thinking calmly for a moment, he made a suggestion.
“Later, I’ll arrange for someone to bring these two corpses back to Nazarick.” “I can have one of our divine magic casters resurrect them, then hand them over to the intelligence division for interrogation.” “What do you think?” “If we learn who they work for, we’ll have far more options going forward.” “Sounds reasonable.” Lucien agreed immediately.
Leaving the corpses here would only cause trouble.
He also possessed items capable of resurrection, but interrogation was another matter entirely.
He had almost no experience in extracting information from unwilling captives.
These two looked like the sort who would resist stubbornly.
Letting Nazarick handle the matter would save both time and effort.
With the important discussion finished, the potion shop fell quiet.
“Right.” Lucien suddenly remembered something.
“At noon, you said there was something important you wanted to discuss face-to-face.” “What was it?” “Ah…” Ainz suddenly became hesitant again.
His gaze drifted involuntarily toward the back of the shop.
Clementine’s naked corpse still hung from the cabinet.
Multiple wounds pierced her body.
Blood had run down her pale legs and gathered at her feet.
Ainz had been struggling with the same issue for several days.
He had sent Yuri to Lucien because he wanted to make Lucien’s life easier and demonstrate sincerity.
But afterward, he had begun worrying about whether Lucien might treat Yuri as something expendable.
Ainz still carried the mindset of an exhausted corporate worker.
Suzuki Satoru had been nothing more than an unsuccessful low-level salesman.
After several days of arguing with himself internally, however, Ainz had finally decided to confront the issue directly.
He thought that once a man possessed enough status and overwhelming power, the desire to surround himself with women and indulge his desires was simply part of human nature.
He knew that was exactly the kind of thought one might expect from a frustrated, unsuccessful man.
But so what?
There was nothing inherently wrong with having lived that kind of life.
And Lucien was now a max-level assassin who could act almost however he wanted and kill nearly anyone who stood in his way.
They were partners now.
Friends.
Instead of hiding his concerns and constantly worrying about them alone, Ainz had decided it would be better to simply ask Lucien directly.
In truth, if Ainz himself had not been trapped in a skeletal body that physically prevented such things, he probably would already have been cautiously looking for ways to satisfy those same desires.
If Lucien expressed similar interests, then as long as the people involved were not members of Nazarick, Ainz would even be willing to offer whatever assistance he reasonably could.
The naked corpse in front of them provided a convenient opening to bring up the subject of relationships and desire.
Ainz cleared his throat.
“Well…” Suddenly, hurried footsteps came from outside.
“Lord Ainz!
I arrived late.
Please punish me!” Nabe rushed into the shop and dropped to one knee.
Her expression was filled with self-reproach.
“It’s fine.
I was the one who left without waiting for you.” Ainz raised a hand.
“Nabe, stand guard outside for a while.” “Do not allow anyone to approach.” “Yes!” Nabe immediately stood and withdrew outside.
Ainz was just about to continue when another interruption came.
A [Message] spell connected to him.
Ainz accepted the communication.
“Good evening, Lord Ainz.
I have something to report.” It was Entoma’s voice.
“I’m busy right now.
Tell me later.” “Understood.
In that case, please contact Lady Albedo afterward.” “I will.” Ainz ended the communication.
At this point, he only wanted to finally ask the question he had been holding back for days.
He did not want another trivial matter interrupting him.
Ainz turned toward Lucien and tried to keep his tone steady.
“Lucien, there’s actually something I’ve been wanting to ask you…” He stopped.
Lucien was not looking at him at all.
Lucien sat slightly forward in his chair, staring toward the entrance with an expression of genuine surprise.
“Look over there.” Lucien pointed toward the door.
Ainz turned.
A brilliant blue light suddenly erupted from Khajiit’s corpse.
Powerful magical energy filled the room.
Then the body, its throat still pierced through, began dissolving from the edges as though ice had been exposed to intense flame.
Within only a few seconds, the corpse broke apart into countless tiny points of blue light.
They floated upward.
Then vanished completely.
Ainz’s posture stiffened.
Lucien had already risen from his chair and crossed the potion shop in several quick steps.
As expected, the female assassin was gone as well.
Not only her corpse.
The blood splattered across the walls had vanished.
The pieces of flesh caught on broken wood were gone.
Even the severed arm Lucien had cut away had disappeared.
The only things left behind were the adventurer plates scattered across the floor and the shattered wooden furniture that proved a battle had taken place.
Ainz hurried over and stared at the now-empty wooden spike.
The red lights beneath his helmet flickered violently.
“They were resurrected.” His voice was cold.
Based on their understanding, resurrection mechanics could generally be divided into three types.
Ainz immediately began analyzing the situation with complete seriousness.
The first was resurrection at the place of death, either through an item or a spell cast by an ally.
The second was revival at the entrance of a dungeon or instance, the standard system used after a complete party wipe, allowing players to immediately attempt the challenge again or withdraw.
The final method was resurrection at a designated revival point, such as a guild base or a safe city that had been registered beforehand.
The corpses had disappeared completely, along with their blood.
There was little doubt that something resembling the third type of resurrection had been triggered.
Both men reached the same conclusion almost immediately.
Someone at a distant location had used high-level resurrection magic on them.
Or the two had been carrying some kind of automatic resurrection item linked to another location.
Lucien frowned deeply.
The ability to resurrect operatives remotely meant there was an organization behind them with access to advanced resurrection methods.
More importantly, that organization could apparently monitor the life and death of its deployed members.
“This is serious.” Ainz’s voice was grave.
“Resurrection may cause level loss, but it doesn’t erase memories.” “They’ll report what happened very soon.” Ainz looked toward Lucien with concern.
“Lucien, you may have just attracted someone’s attention.” Lucien exhaled slowly.
He had not accounted for this possibility at all.
Fortunately, after killing Clementine, he had not relaxed enough to start talking freely about himself.
The only information likely to leak was his appearance and the fact that he was extremely powerful.
For the moment, that was not fatal.
Up to now, only Ainz, Nabe, and Demiurge had seen Lucien’s true face.
At nearly all other times, he used assassin abilities to alter his appearance slightly, making himself look older and more weathered than he actually was.
As long as he stopped using this particular disguise, that part of the problem could be mitigated.
But that did not remove the larger threat.
An organization capable of remotely resurrecting fallen field operatives clearly cared deeply about controlling information.
Lucien knew neither its true objective nor its location.
The enemy knew something about him.
He knew almost nothing about them.
That made the situation troublesome.
The two stood silently in the wrecked potion shop for several moments.
They needed to find the enemy’s base.
Just as they began discussing how to follow that lead, footsteps sounded outside once again.
Nabe hurried into the shop.
“Lord Ainz.
Lord Lucien.” She lowered her voice.
“A Skeletal Dragon has appeared in the outskirts of the city.” (To be continued.)