The Dark Warrior

The office of the highest ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick was a luxurious one. All the furnishings were elaborately ornate, giving the place an air of elegance and rarity. Soft, fluffy scarlet carpeting covered every inch of the floor and muffled any footsteps. Flags with various designs hung, crisscrossing over each other on the far back wall.

The desk in the room was made of dignified ebony. And the room’s master sat in a black leather chair. This individual clad in a raven-black robe that seemed to suck light in could be described briefly as “the Dark Lord of Death.”

His bare head had neither skin nor flesh—just bone. Red flames burned in his hollow eye sockets, with something black mixed in. He had once been called Momonga but now went by his guild’s name, Ainz Ooal Gown.

Ainz folded his finger bones. His nine rings sparkled, reflecting the glow produced by the Continual Light spell. “Sheesh, what should I do now?”

Eight days had passed since the day the Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing game
Yggdrasil
closed its servers and he was mysteriously transported—as his skeleton-like character—to another world. During that time he had checked the conditions of his castle, the Great Tomb of Nazarick, and his minions and learned that it wasn’t so different from in the game, so he decided to make his next move.

“Everything will be as you wish, my lord.” The gorgeous woman standing quietly by responded to Ainz’s muttering. She was flawlessly, peerlessly beautiful, wearing a snow-white dress. Her smile was like that of a goddess. Her lustrous hair was a black the exact opposite of her dress and reached all the way to her waist. But she wasn’t human.

She had golden irises with vertical slit pupils, and thick horns curled forward out of her temples like a ram’s. Furthermore, black wings sprouted out of her back near her hips, arching around her such that they concealed her feet.

“Hmm. I’m glad to have your devotion, Albedo.”

She was Albedo, captain of the Great Tomb of Nazarick’s floor guardians. There were seven floor guardians, and she was the NPC who oversaw them.

Ainz and the other members of his guild had built the Great Tomb of Nazarick. Now the NPC servants they created had become self-aware and sworn allegiance to Ainz. He was pleased about that, but it was also a burden, since he used to be just an office worker. Acting like a master before his subordinates and making sure things were running smoothly—an absolute ruler had a lot of responsibilities.

The biggest problem was that their guild lacked information about the world outside.

“And the next report?”

“Here it is, Lord Ainz.”

Ainz accepted the sheaf of papers and ran his eyes over the characters written in bold fountain-pen lines. It was a report from the guardian of the sixth level, Aura Bella Fiora.

Her report explained that so far they hadn’t encountered any other
Yggdrasil
players like Ainz, nor seen any sign of them. She said that their survey of the forest near the Tomb was proceeding on schedule and that they had reached the lake at the foot of the mountains on the other side.

Ainz nodded. He was most concerned about running into other players, so he was relieved they hadn’t. “Got it. Please tell Aura to proceed under her current orders.”

“Underst—” There came a succession of quiet knocks on the door. Albedo looked at Ainz, and then, with a bow, went to answer it. Once she’d seen who it was, she announced, “Shalltear would like to see you.”

“Shalltear? Sure, let her in.”

With Ainz’s permission, a girl of about fourteen wearing a raven-black ball gown with a full, wide skirt made a graceful entrance. She had almost waxy white skin, and “unparalleled” was the way to describe her shapely face. Her long silver hair bounced with every step she took, as did her chest, which was big for how old she looked. She was guardian of the first, second, and third levels, “True Vampire” Shalltear Bloodfallen.

“I hope you are well, Lord Ainz.”

“You, too, Shalltear. What brings you to my quarters today?”

“I came to see your handsome face, of course.”

Ainz’s skull didn’t change expressions, but instead the crimson flames deep in his orbits flickered. He was about to say, “Save the brownnosing,” but decided against it—because he saw the smile on Albedo’s face gradually change as she watched Shalltear’s crimson pupils cloud over with lust out of the corner of her eye. Her subtle expression remained, and her beauty was unspoiled, but the smile was no longer a smile. It was the grimace of a jealous demon. But Ainz felt all right—the glare was directed at Shalltear, not himself.

“Then you’re satisfied now, right, Shalltear? Lord Ainz and I are presently discussing the future of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. Could you not bother us? This is something important we need to do alone.”

“It’s basic politeness to greet someone before stating your business. Don’t be so disagreeable, Ms. Over-the-Hill. What’s your hurry? Are you past your expiration date?”

“Food so pumped full of preservatives it doesn’t have an expiration date is no different from poison! I think I’m still on the safe side.”

“…I wouldn’t underestimate the bacteria that cause food poisoning. Some of them even cause contagious diseases.”

“…Do you even have anything to eat over there? Your display is quite impressive, but when it comes to the goods…you know?”

“……‘Display’?! I’m gonna kill you!”

“……So
who’s
past her expiration date?”

Before Ainz stood two women whose facial expressions were difficult to describe; those looks could put an end to a hundred million–year romance. He quelled the impulse to hold his head in his hands and spoke up before an appallingly ferocious battle could break out. “Cut out the kids’ stuff, you two.”

They immediately answered in unison and beamed smiles at him. Instead of whatever horrors they had been moments before, two lovely, innocent maidens now stood there.

Women are terrifying… Or maybe it’s just these two…
Even Ainz, whose larger swings in emotion were suppressed since becoming undead, was a little freaked out when faced with such rapid adjustments of attitude.

The reason for their conflict was that they were rivals in love. Both Albedo and Shalltear had fallen for Ainz—i.e., he was loved by two incomparable beauties. What guy wouldn’t be happy about that?

But Ainz couldn’t just accept their feelings, especially when Shalltear the sticky-voiced necrophiliac came over to whisper, “You have great bone structure; it’s as if you were modeled by a god,” in his ear. Maybe to her they were words of love—or a compliment—but to Ainz, what had happened several days earlier would be remembered as a shock to his system: The first compliment ever paid to his appearance was as a skeleton.

He cleared the trivial matter from his mind and repeated his question. “I’ll ask again: What is it, Shalltear?”

“My lord, I am going to join Sebas as you ordered. It seems like I won’t be back to the Great Tomb of Nazarick for a while, so I came to say good-bye.”

Ainz recalled the orders he had given her and nodded. “Got it. Stay sharp, do your job, and come home safe, Shalltear.”

“My lord!” her dignified voice rang out.

“You can go, Shalltear. Once you’ve left my quarters, tell either Narberal or Entoma to have Demiurge come see me. Tell him I need to discuss with him something about our next move.”

“Yes, Lord Ainz.”