Overlord - The Lizardmen Heroes - Куганэ Маруяма (читать книги без txt) 📗

Ainz couldn’t think of anyone who could analyze the gathered intel from different angles and judge whether the intel was important.

“Ara ara, the main problem is the lack of intel. We have to be wary of an enemy we couldn’t see, which made it hard for us to make our move...”

After listening to Ainz’ complain, Demiurge smiled as if he had a great idea.

“If that is the case, how about joining forces with a country?”

After a short silence, Albedo said “Oh.” to express that she had understood. Ainz made the same sound moments later.

“I see Demiurge, that’s what you mean.”

But the other three Guardians were still tilting their head in confusion. Aura admitted her doubts honestly.

“Ainz-sama, what does this mean?”

Facing Aura’s question, Ainz felt relieved that he couldn’t show any facial expression.

“Ara ara… Mare, Shalltear, do you understand what Demiurge is talking about?”

The two of them shook their heads.

”I see, it couldn’t be helped. Demiurge, please explain.”

“Yes, by your will. Everyone, Ainz-sama is worried about this unknown enemy. I think that if we encounter this strong enemy and both sides are openly hostile to each other, we will need a breakthrough point that could solve our issues during negotiations.”

Sensei, I don’t understand— Three students and one adult seemed to have these words carved on their faces. Teacher Demiurge seemed to realize his explanation was too vague, and continued by accommodating the standards of his students.

“What will you do if Ainz-sama is controlled by a World class item user?”

“I will cut that person into pieces.”

“... No, that’s not what I mean, Aura. Don’t you think that being controlled is a breakthrough point? In actual fact, there are people who could control their opponent with World class items, so the possibility of Ainz-sama being controlled is not zero.”

The deputy home room teacher Albedo added to teacher Demiurge’s explanation.

“He means after pretending to join under the flag of a country, Nazarick could use this as an excuse for any actions we take in the future. We can just say that we are acting under the orders of that country and didn’t have a choice. If the powerful enemy really exists, we could shift the responsibility to that country, correct? If the enemy doesn’t want a direct confrontation, they will do their best to accommodate us.”

“I see… if there are people who are unhappy with them, we can use this excuse to pull this third party to our side… That’s the idea. As expected of Ainz-sama…”

Just like the boss of an evil organization stroking a cat on his lap, Ainz patted the head of Shalltear who was acting as a chair as he said “It’s not me”.

“The one who came up with this plan wasn’t me, but Demiurge. He should be the one who deserved this praise.”

“No, you flatter me. Ainz-sama seems to have reached this conclusion before I did.”

“Ah, well yeah. My apologies for seemingly snatching your credit. And on top of that, it will be much easier for us to garner intelligence.”

A country should already have an intelligence network in place. They would be able to progress by leap and bounds just by sending a minion of Nazarick in.

After learning his advice was of use for Ainz and Ainz’s manner of speech as if he was confirming the two brilliant Guardians made Demiurge smile.

“It is just as you said.”

Ainz knew that Demiurge was implying that Ainz knew from the very beginning.

“Ah, as expected of Ainz-sama, to have thought about this so thoroughly… Hmmm… So lowly beings like humans could be of use too.”

After Albedo comment, the other Guardians — including Shalltear who was relegated to being a chair — showered Ainz with sparkling gaze of admiration.

It made Ainz feel uneasy, but he felt relief that he didn’t get it wrong when the two of them agreed with him.

“Well then… let’s target a country.”

“If we consider the nations in the vicinity, it would be the Kingdom, the Empire and the Theocracy.”

“Wha, what about countries further away? Such as the Republic and the Holy Kingdom.”

“I would advise against choosing nations that are far away, and I don’t want to come into contact with the Theocracy before I have adequate intelligence about them. That leaves the Kingdom and the Empire… And from the intelligence gathered by Sebas, the Kingdom isn't that appealing to me, but… we will need to research this further.”

Ainz extended his hand towards the mirror after saying “By the way.”

“We gave the lizardmen a bit of time, let’s see whether anything unexpected is happening.”

The bird’s eye view of the lizardmen’s village appeared on the mirror of remote viewing, with tiny spots moving around.

Ainz reached out towards the mirror and gestured, changing the scenery on the mirror.

The first time of course, was to zoom in.

The sight of the lizardmen working hard to prepare for war was shown completely.

“Futile efforts.”

Demiurge murmured at the lizardmen gently.

Let me see, where are they. It’s hard to tell the lizardmen apart.

Ainz searched for the six lizardmen he had seen in the recording with a frown on his face.

Hmmm— found the armored one. That’s the one that threw rocks, right? Next, the buster sword is here. The difference is too minute. It is easy to find those with prominent colors or equipment… Found the one with the prominent arm.

After observing that, Ainz kept shifting the image on the mirror.

“... I don’t see the white lizardman and the one holding the magic weapon.”

“Ermm… the one called Zaryusu?”

“Ah, right, that’s his name.”

Ainz recalled the lizardman who had come forth to negotiate at Aura’s prompt.

“Could he be inside the houses?”

“Probably.”

But the mirror of remote viewing wasn’t able to see inside buildings. That was the case, normally.

“Demiurge, Infinity Haversack please.”

“By your will.”