Chapter 144.1: Volume 16: Chapter 5: Kill Steal (1)

The highest authority of the Theocracy's armies, the Grand Marshal, was said to have two right hands; General Valerian Ein Obinie and General Gael Russells Bulgari, each in command of a theater. Valerian was the one in charge of this war with the Elves.

A tent was erected near the Elven Royal Capital as a unified strategic command center which, at this moment, was occupied by Valerian and six other military strategists. In contrast to Valerian, who was over 50 years old, the remaining military strategists were pretty young, in their 20s.

Age was not always a good marker for ability, but for positions that required knowledge and experience, it was one of the more important indicators. So, it wouldn't be strange if one found the strategists too young for the job.

However, despite being young, they already had bags under their eyes and wrinkles etched into their foreheads. Their faces showed chronic exhaustion and they looked like they were running on fumes.

Valerian ran his eyes over the documents that were partly responsible for their exhaustion.

It was the casualty report of the Elven stealth raid last night—it was still early morning right now, so it had been only a few hours since the event in question happened.

"—that's too many."

Even though he had already expected these numbers, he couldn't help but be stupefied.

Fortunately, the Theocracy had an overwhelming number of divine magic casters compared to other nations. As long as they could retrieve the soldiers before they died, they could be healed. Due to this, the number of deaths was unusually tiny when compared to what one would expect from the corresponding number of soldiers who were heavily wounded. Most of the wounded should even be completely healed by now.

That said, there was an issue with the number of dead Elves they found in the camp. They were even fewer.

It was hard to think they took their dead and the heavily wounded with them considering that the Theocracy managed to fight back their night raid. So, it was probably accurate to think that the number of enemy corpses they found was pretty close to being the enemy's total casualty count.

The kill ratio was absolutely terrible.

"Yes. We ended up taking higher casualties, probably because the stronger Elves are appearing more frequently as we approach the Royal Capital." The strategist who compiled the numbers concurred with Valerian. "But, the enemy's main host is also originally smaller so they can't disregard their losses either."

A single hero could defeat a thousand soldiers by themselves. Likewise, a hero's death was also a bigger loss than the deaths of a thousand soldiers. Casualty numbers don't always directly translate to the proportional loss of fighting strength.

That was what the strategist is trying to imply with his words, but that's no consolation.

"The soldiers will be grumbling more now."

"That's a natural reaction. They've lost their brothers-in-arms after all."

Valerian replied to another strategist's grumbles.

It was normal for humans to want others to like them instead of being hated; subsequently, the possession of mutual trust with the soldiers, or the lack thereof, could greatly affect battle command as well. Furthermore, people like Valerian with Commander classes couldn't utilize most of their support skills if their subordinates didn't wholeheartedly follow them.

"We managed to repulse the Elves' night raids so it's not like our defensive perimeter is at fault, but when the other side sends its elites out we need forces of the same quality to face them."

"You're right. We do have a certain amount of strong forces at our disposal but most of them are divine magic casters. When the area of expertise differs...an unbridgeable difference in strength is needed to erase that disadvantage."

Divine magic casters were stronger when fighting face to face, but rangers were better at night raids. The casualty reports this time were the results of that.

"What we need to do is to make our defensive perimeter stronger so that something like last night won't happen again. Does anyone have a good idea?"

Perhaps it was because they had been thinking about this since the raid, but multiple ideas flew out from the strategists immediately.

Some of them were things Valerian had already thought of, but there were also some he never had an inkling about. They could probably make an incredibly strong perimeter if they managed to use all of these ideas. The problem was that they would need a lot of labor and time if they wanted to put all of them into practice. So, they could only sieve through the ideas to find the good ones and put them to practice in order of their efficiency.

And most of all—

"—Your excellency. Does our focus on the defensive perimeter mean we will continue fighting here for a while longer?"

A reasonable question.

"You should have..." Valerian turned his gaze to look around at the others. "You all should have read the high command's orders. We will have to fight here for a while longer. Am I wrong?"

No one objected, but that didn't mean they accepted it either.

It was natural for them to not agree with him. He understood their thoughts and they certainly were not the kind that he could simply brush away as naïveté.

To be clear, their thoughts were correct.

The deaths from the Elven raid this time were unnecessary. They could have been completely avoidable.

The Theocracy had set up its main camp quite close to the Elven Royal Capital, a frontline it could barely support. You could say that it was advantageous for disseminating intel faster and they could immediately respond to any changes in the enemy's forces. But, there was also the danger of the main camp quickly falling if, for example, the strong ones among the Elves resigned themselves to death and went on a rampage. Considering that the Elves were being pushed to the edges of despair, there was a very high chance of that exact thing happening now. There was no doubt the Theocracy should be making haste for a full-on frontal assault soon.

That was because if they made the stronger Elves occupied with their own camp's defense, it would lower the threat to Theocracy's main camp.

However, the Supreme Executive Council had ordered them to stop and leisurely exchange blows with the enemy here. These were the orders even as they acknowledged the threat of the night raids.

The orders were to establish the main camp at the very front to quickly respond if the Elves tried to escape from the worsening situation. These were reasonable orders. The orders also seemed like they were intended to bait out the enemy elites or the Elf King who rarely appeared. They agreed with this logic too, if not for the fact that they were not going to be assisted by the Holocaust Scripture in their efforts.

And why was it that they couldn't borrow the Holocaust Scripture's strength?

It was certainly not because their vice leader was killed by the Elf King.

The Supreme Executive Council excused it by saying that the Holocaust Scripture was assigned with some other mission, but no one here believed it.

Valerian knew the real reason; though the strategists here were all young, they too understood it.

They knew there were multiple reasons behind the Supreme Executive Council's refusal to permit the Holocaust Scripture's participation.

First, it was so that they could gain experience.

It was unimaginably difficult for humans who lived in the cities to live in such a forest. Unlike their life in comparative safety till now, they would have to be on guard against everything in their surroundings.

These battles were for them to address that issue.

Elves were supposed to be the stand-in for the monsters that attacked from the forest.

It would have been done differently if there were to be similar opportunities to gain experience in the future, but that was unlikely. In fact, it would be rather troublesome if such opportunities arose frequently.

That said, if they wanted them to gain experience, a mock setup in a safe place would work nearly just as well. They could use the Holocaust Scripture in place of the Elves. There's no way that the Supreme Executive Council wouldn't have realized that. But then, why were they doing this—going even as far as expending soldiers' lives like they were nothing?

That's for—

A change in our mindset.

For soldiers who would have to defend many lives, hunter and ranger skills were probably going to be necessary.

They plan to make the soldiers gain the expertise of fighting in the forest using this war with the Elves, who were skilled at it. If possible, they would try to make the soldiers passionate about obtaining classes like ranger. The existence of the casualties was required to spark that change. The more casualties there were, the more soldiers would start to feel a sense of urgency.

So, they were denied the help of the Six Scriptures—especially the Holocaust Scripture, who could have blockaded the Elves entirely by themselves.

Valerian grimaced internally upon remembering the orders from the higher-ups.

He could understand their way of thought, but he couldn't really accept it.

"Your excellency. I have a proposal."

One of the strategists spoke with a stiff tone; he was the youngest of all strategists present here. Incidentally, it need not be said that the predominance of young strategists in this war was also a part of the plan for a change in their mindset.

Valerian nodded at the young man to continue.

"While we did expect these casualty numbers, they're close to our tolerance limit. It's probably going to be very difficult to take down the city, the enemy's base, with a single all-out assault in such a situation. Especially due to the fact that as long as the Elves who are taking part in the night raids aren't obliterated completely, we can expect further fierce resistance. I cannot accept spending any more of our soldiers' lives. Please, can't you test the waters to see if the Supreme Executive Council would change their plans?"

He probably understood that it was impossible, but his heart was likely softened upon seeing the amount of victims.

Valerian suppressed his urge to sigh. He could understand where the young strategist was coming from. This was a path every general had to tread through at least once in their life.

The value of a life—of the Theocracy's citizens in this case—was extremely high.

Perhaps this was one of the weak points of the Theocracy.

This was certainly not a bad thing. No, in fact, it's the opposite. If given a choice between a nation where one's life was cheap and one where it's high, everyone would choose the latter.

It was expected for the Theocracy's armies to be soft due to them being protected by the heroes up till now, but the idea of keeping the deaths low was not wrong in itself. However, that way of thought belonged to those who didn't need to hold a weapon. Was it right for soldiers, whose line of duty included taking others' lives and having theirs taken, to have such thoughts?

There would certainly come a time when they couldn't win without any sacrifices.

There would certainly come a time when they would have to fight without the Scriptures.

It would be fatal if they refused to fight out of fear when that time came, if they considered their lives to be too valuable.

But, that didn't mean the soldiers' lives had to be seen as cheap. It only meant that the top brass like Valerian would just have to bear the pain, and come to terms with the loss of valuable life.

The young strategists here were now going through this pain. The results of that were quite visible from their expressions.

They probably couldn't even sleep soundly. The pained voices of the soldiers under them would probably never leave their minds.

Valerian felt a little pity for them.

This experience would have probably been a little gentler on them had it not been for the suddenly accelerated change in policy. The mental health of the strategists wouldn't have been as grounded down as they were now.

That said, they couldn't afford such leisures in this altered situation. More was being demanded of each soldier's individual skills as well as the quality of the generals who would have to lead them compared to before. The soldiers had to cultivate their strength and the commanders would need to be able to command their soldiers to die ruthlessly.

We are expecting a lot of deaths among the soldiers and even some injuries among the ordinary citizens in a hypothetical future war with the Sorcerer Kingdom. That's why we are having them experience death here...The Supreme Executive Council is really cruel...

"I can understand your feelings to a painful extent," because everyone here, including him, also thought the same way. "Even so, we cannot change it. It's not about the present, but the future."

"..."

The young strategist let his face droop and then raised it again, looking at Valerian like he was his last hope.

"...at least, at least, please permit us to use large-scale attacks when we assault those tree freaks' Royal Capital. Permit the use of high fire-power magic support to break the enemy's interception line—the surrounding defenses. Never mind catapults, we are not even allowed to use fire arrows. There will be far more deaths under such constraints."

"—I cannot permit that either. You can probably understand why, right?"

All of them were geniuses. They should have then reached the answer from what they knew about the Theocracy's present circumstances.

He would be repeating himself, but it was better to say this out loud.

"Hereafter, we may not be able to avoid confrontation with that evil Sorcerer Kingdom. When that time comes, we can evacuate the citizenry here if we can take this city without damage...probably. That's why we stopped cutting the trees from a point mid-route. That is why I cannot allow large-scale damage to this city. Understood?"

"So that's how it is. The Supreme Executive Council is acting under the presumption that there will be future hostilities with the Sorcerer Kingdom. ...The Elven city was built using those guys' magic so it should be possible to rebuild it using the captured Elves even if we destroy a part of it by fire. Is it not?"

Valerian agreed with another strategist's words.

"You're right. I know there are similar opinions. I also heard another idea about building a city in a completely different place using those Elves. But, considering the time it would take, we cannot take such a course of action."

There were certainly plans to use the captured Elves. It wasn't that difficult to force them to cooperate by using something like charm magic. That said, using mind control magic multiple times in a short period would gradually make them more resistant to it.

Also, from the experiments conducted, they found that it would take a lot of time to grow the Elf Trees from nothing even if they used magic. They were unsure about how soon the conflict with the Sorcerer Kingdom would occur, but they had estimated that there was not enough time to create a city from scratch for evacuation purposes.

So, considering that they would have to use what's already here, they couldn't go around destroying any more of it.

"The only thing that is permitted is breaking through the Elven city—their final defensive lines through brute force, while accepting the fact that we are going to take heavy casualties. Of course, the top brass doesn't want more people to die. Even a single extra soldier helps in our future war against the Sorcerer Kingdom. We should not lose them here if possible."

What the top brass was asking of them was truly unreasonable.

Valerian thought they were being contradictory, but he also understood that it was a painful decision for all.

"...Your excellency. The most important thing implied here is that those who defied death will gain strength, right?"

"Yes...you are right...It's exactly as you have said."

Valerian agreed with the words of the strategist who held the second most levels in the commander class here.

The Theocracy's policy until now was that one hero is better than a thousand soldiers. However, that was no longer sufficient. So, it started to put effort into improving each soldier's individual strength. That was why they were waging this war in such a brutal way.

The prediction of future hostilities with the Sorcerer Kingdom was at the root of everything.

And it was a fact that it was highly probable.

"Everyone, I know it's going to be hard, but please squeeze out every drop of your intellect so that even one more person can return to our homeland alive."

Everyone raised their voice in acknowledgment as Valerian bowed his head.

There's one more reason he left unsaid.

There was a person no one here in the camp except Valerian was informed about. He was waiting for them.

The Elf King was tremendously strong, enough strength to kill even those who were a step away from the realm of heroes in an instant. Yet, the Theocracy had a trump card that could certainly kill him.

That's the correct strategy. To pit the strong against the strong, a hero against a hero, and against those who surpassed even them—

But good military sense aside, he felt like the Supreme Executive Council was strangely fixated on having that person clash with the Elf King.

He didn't understand the true intention behind it.

But Valerian kept waiting.

For their final trump card in this expedition.

Right at that moment, a messenger entered, interrupting the meeting. With a tense expression, he quickly approached Valerian and whispered "reinforcements from the homeland" into his ears. "I see" Valerian replied, standing up immediately from his chair and announcing to the strategists who were looking over, wondering what this was all about.

"Everyone, there's no longer any need to defend the main camp. Redeploy those who were assigned to defense to the frontlines instead. Start preparing for a full frontal assault."

The long, long war was finally coming to an end. They were finally entering the final stage.

♦ ♦ ♦

Why are they fighting like that? Does the Theocracy not care about its soldiers' deaths?

It had been a week since they had left the Dark Elf village. This was Ainz's first reaction after observing the Theocracy's assault on the Royal Capital from a distance.

The Theocracy's soldiers made palisades out of trees and proceeded forward while pushing those palisades ahead of them. He could understand that they were guarding against those awfully precise Elven arrows, but still, it felt too wasteful. [bookmark]

As the palisades didn't provide protection against attacks from above, they were meaningless against special abilities like the one that could make arrows turn mid-flight. There weren't many with such special abilities so maybe they thought those losses were acceptable, but—

"—the Theocracy should have a lot of divine magic casters. Can't they just go all out with area-of-effect attacks? Elves had a positioning advantage at present. Shouldn't they summon angels to negate that advantage and attack them from above? No, they basically make their houses from trees so it's just wiser to burn them to the ground. There are a lot of trees around so why didn't they make siege machines from them and throw flaming projectiles from a distance?"

The stout and green trees weren't really that flammable, but the smaller branches and leaves were a different case. Plus, the smoke from those fires would also choke the Elves while obstructing their line of sight. The fact that the Theocracy's forces were not using even a single one of those methods looked very strange in Ainz's eyes.

And why aren't they deploying stronger people? If higher-leveled people similar to Fluder or Gazef were here, they could use far stronger spells or flashier attacks and turn the tides of the battle in an instant. There shouldn't be any reason to hold them back at this moment, right?

"Ummm. I can't understand their actions myself, but did you two manage to notice anything from the Theocracy's movements?"

Ainz asked the twins, who were watching the developments beside him. After a short while, Mare replied.

"Ah, well, maybe they aren't thinking anything...?"

"No, no. No way that's what it is. There should be some commanders or strategists in the army. It's hard to think that none of them had any plans. There certainly should be a reason behind those actions."

But he couldn't think of a reason. It was possible that some incompetent general managed to gain command authority due to politics and took independent action, scorning the strategists. Yet, considering how systematically they had cut down the trees and advanced their armies, he felt like that wasn't the case.

"Yeah. They are also attacking from other directions, but it's the same there as well..."

The Theocracy blockaded the Royal Capital in a semicircle and placed forces on the other shore of the lake to blockade the waterside.

"I don't see them using captured Elves as meat shields...it feels like they are pouring in the soldiers that they don't mind dying...does the Theocracy practice slavery?"

"No, even though they have Elven slaves, I never heard about them using slave soldiers. I think we already have a general idea of their political system...but it's hard to say that we know everything. Even so, I don't think they would do that, you know?"

"...W-what if they are s-summoned soldiers?"

"The soldiers hit by the arrows left behind their bodies, so I don't think that's the case either..."

As the other soldiers carried the fallen ones in a panic to the back lines—to the Theocracy's camp, it stood to reason that they were not disposable troops. Then, why are they not using the better methods at their disposal but instead letting those soldiers die?

Ainz searched his brain and finally squeezed out a single reasonable answer.

"This is just a hypothesis, but maybe they are fighting like that because they noticed we're here?"

"Eh?"

"N-no way..."

"No, it's too hasty to conclude that it's because of us specifically. Maybe they are faking it to give the false impression that they are idiots to their enemy nations or organizations while also keeping their stronger cards hidden."

The Sorcerer Kingdom couldn't be the only nation they wanted to mislead with incorrect intel. It was likely that the Theocracy had other enemies that Ainz didn't know about.

This type of misinformation campaign was something Ainz and others did multiple times till now. It seemed like the Theocracy had the same idea.

The Theocracy is a nation with a long history, so they probably have a lot of enemies too. But, is that really the case here?

He couldn't think of any other reason to hold back the stronger personnel... in this case, the ones they were guarding against would be...the Sorcerer Kingdom and the Council State North of the Kingdom? It was easy to imagine that the Theocracy's human supremacist dogma made for fraught relations with the Council State due to its racial diversity.

Umu. In that case, maybe we should form an alliance...No, Albedo and Demiurge have probably thought about this already. That said, there's no use for a superior who threw all the work to his subordinates. Maybe I should ask them about this later.

They had already formed a conjecture that the mysterious Riku Agneia who appeared at the tail end of the war with the Kingdom was likely related to the Platinum Dragon Lord of the Council State.

The only thing connecting them was the "platinum" theme they had in common. But, if that really was the truth, it would probably be a better idea to ally with the Theocracy against the Council State. Or, they could try allying with the Council State against the Theocracy while investigating their internal situation, that was fine too.

Whatever the case may be, they should make the first move before the Council State and the Theocracy formed an alliance against the Sorcerer Kingdom. Of course, if even Ainz could realize this, it was highly probable that those two geniuses had already made plans regarding it.

...Ummm. Considering that there's a chance those two are making preparations for forming an alliance right at this moment, we should do our best to avoid getting discovered here. If we do get discovered, we can just kill all the witnesses.

"Ainz-sama. Should I then infiltrate the Theocracy's camp and gather intel?"

Ainz shook his head at Aura's proposal.

"No, that's something we shouldn't do at any cost." Ainz tried to explain his thoughts to the two, "let's see...say for example, if someone was hostile to Nazarick and was as powerful as I am, would it be possible for them to infiltrate Nazarick and steal the information they want?"

"Yes, it's possible"

"I also think the same. If there's really someone who is as awesome as Ainz-sama, I think they can do it."

"Ah, umu..."

He got extremely confident replies—including a rarely heard, clear reply from Mare—but those were not the answers he wanted.

"Wait, the question came out wrong. Right, let's see. Shall—"

—Not her!

He could easily imagine what the answer would be.

If he used Shalltear as an example, "impossible" would be Aura's immediate reply. It was the answer he had hoped for, but the logic that would lead to that answer in this case was not what he wanted. So, he couldn't use her as an example.

Then who would make for a good example, Ainz wondered.

Pandora's Actor...considering he can transform into other guild members, the twins' answer will likely be "possible." Demiurge...Ungh. It feels like he can do it easily.. Aura...or Mare won't make for a good example. In that case...

"I am going to repeat the previous question. Hypothetically, yes, hypothetically. Imagine if someone on par with Albedo opposed Nazarick. In that scenario, is it possible for them to steal all the intel from inside Nazarick?"

"Eh? Albedo, you say?"

"E-excuse me, b-but did she do anything suspicious?"

"What! No, no, you are completely mistaken! I am completely sure that Albedo will never betray us!" Ainz answered in a fluster. "Didn't I say it was a hypothetical case? And the enemy was only someone on par with Albedo, not herself? Yes. A hypothetical scenario."

The twins looked at each other like they didn't really understand it. Aura then answered as their representative.

"I think it's really not possible for Albedo. First, Albedo is not proficient in stealth skills. I also didn't hear anything about her having equipment with such effects."

"Well...you are correct but...Albedo is a tank after all...She certainly doesn't have those skills."

This ended up being a bad example too. "...disregarding that, do you think it's impossible even if she puts her intellect to work?"

"Y-yes. I think it would be impossible."

Well, whatever. He couldn't think of any other suitable person, so he decided to use Albedo's name while feeling sorry for her.

"Umu. That's right. I think the same too. Nazarick's multi-layered, multi-type defenses can't be possibly broken through by a single person's strength. In that case, don't you think it would be the same for other places?"

"Impossible. The Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick is a holy land created by the Supreme Beings. It is a special—place. There's no way any other place can be the same."

Upon hearing Mare's confident proclamation, Ainz nearly said "ah, yes" but suppressed the urge.

As a person who helped create Nazarick, Mare's feelings for it were a delight to him, but that was not something Ainz could openly express in this situation. He couldn't ask Mare to read the mood either—to understand what his superior was trying to say.

So, he decided to ignore Mare's answer for now.

"Well, I think it's something like this. If Nazarick can do something, maybe others can do it too."

Ainz alone couldn't steal the information from Nazarick. Similarly, it was likely the same for organizations built by other players.

No, there's no way he could be wrong.

If they could intercept the opponent's intelligence, then the opponent could do the same to them. They had to take action while under the presumption of that being the case.

That was why Ainz didn't send any spies into the Theocracy as he could see hints of other Players in that nation. The Theocracy was also a country with a lot of history. If there was a Player there, they would also have the advantage of experience accumulated over all those years the Theocracy was in existence.

There was also the fact that they managed to create a spell Ainz had no knowledge of, the one that killed the prisoner after they answered three questions.

"Of course, there will probably come a time when we have to make a move while acknowledging the risks involved. But, I doubt that time is now. Aura and Mare."

"Yes," the twins replied.

"We—The Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick— are strong. However, never think for a moment that we are peerless. Never look down on our opponents. Never forget to gather intel first."

Hearing another "yes" from the twins, Ainz nodded.

"Good! Then—maybe we should continue observing the situation for a while longer. The present situation is not quite suitable enough for our goals yet."

They were here to steal the kill. No, to be precise, it was a bit different from kill stealing.

Kill stealing was the act of killing a monster someone else was fighting to steal things like XP and stuff. So, it could only be called kill stealing if it involved them attacking either the elven country or the theocracy and hurting them in the process.

But that was not what Ainz was aiming for.

He was targeting the magic items in the Elf King's castle.

Families with pedigree like royalty were highly likely to have a collection of magic items valuable enough to match their status. The more valuable they were, the more powerful they tended to be. Their power could be considered a part of the owner's military strength from a certain point of view.

It was hard to think that the Theocracy would lose after they had come this far. In this case, all of the Elven Country's magic items would finally end up in their hands. But, Ainz couldn't allow a hypothetically hostile nation to increase its military strength. So their present aim was to preempt the Theocracy and steal the Elven Country's magic items before they could.

There was also one more benefit to this plan; they would not be opposing the Theocracy directly. Of course, if their actions got out, the Theocracy would surely criticize them strongly. That said, the things they were going to steal weren't the Theocracy's yet, which made for a valid enough excuse.

All things considered, to describe this as thieves stealing from a burning house would be more accurate than calling it a kill steal.

Incidentally, Ainz did this many times during his YGGDRASIL days. He and his friends had cleaned out the enemy's bases many times, laughing when other guilds found them empty and raged. That was why this was the first idea he thought of.

But there's a problem.

Making a move here without knowing what kind of magic items the Elven Country and its royal castle held was not a good idea. They shouldn't assume that there were any in the first place. It was entirely possible that they actually don't have any magic items if their luck was bad. In that case, not only would they have to face danger with nothing to show for it, but it could also jeopardize their relations with Theocracy for zero gain. Originally, they should have gathered the intelligence first and then taken action.

Even if the Elven royalty possessed magic items, he could easily imagine that the dire situation of the war could force them to open the treasury and have the magic items put to use in the war effort. They could have also transferred them to a safe place elsewhere.

Unfortunately, they didn't have enough time to investigate.

"...Let us observe the situation a little longer and then enter the castle. It would be bothersome if they took away the magic items before we could get our hands on them."

"I can chase after them."

"Aah. That's an option. If Aura's the one tracking...no, we can't be sure the other party doesn't have any skills like [Forestwalker]. Our best choice is to get those items before they are whisked away. ...ummm. Maybe we should start sooner considering we still have to investigate where they are stored."

"N-now?"

"Yes. We should go right now."

Ainz looked at the Theocracy's assault.

It's been a week since they left the Dark Elves, so depending on how their talk with the other villages went, there were probably some Dark Elves fighting in there.

He felt a minor urge to look for them, but remembered the regret he felt because of his misconduct as Nazarick's ruler that time. He should only be thinking about Nazarick's benefit now.

Ainz turned his gaze from the castle to Mare.

"Well then, Mare. Depending on the situation, you might have to act as the frontline—tank. You don't mind, do you?"

Ainz confirmed one last time.

"Y-yes. I-it's fine. J-just like the village, t-the Royal Capital is also c-considered a part of nature so t-there's no problem. I will do my best!"

Both Aura and Mare wore different gear from their usual set, especially their armor. Aura changed into an archer's attire while Mare wore gear focused on defense.

These were not provided by Ainz, but given to them by Bukubukuchagama. The quality was also a bit lower compared to their normal stuff, but as they were matched with the twin's abilities, their stats didn't decrease by much.

They were preparing for a stealth mission. Perhaps Ainz should have worn a different set of gear like the twins, made the twins wear Secret Shoes and covered all of their faces with a mask. But, they didn't do any of that.

The main reason for Ainz—whose appearance was the most well-known among them—to not change out of his normal gear was that since the twins had already changed into weaker gear, he decided it would be too dangerous if he himself was weakened too.

After some thought, Ainz came to an extremely simple conclusion: "Can't we just kill all the witnesses?" And so, they abandoned all thoughts of disguising themselves.

The twins' armor also played a small role in making this decision.

Even though they were just spares, their defensive ability was enhanced by data crystals that increased defense in return for sealing away an equipment slot. With Mare's head slot being the one sealed, he couldn't cover his face behind a helmet anyhow.

That aside—

—these ones are reversed for the genders as well, huh.

And that was not all.

He couldn't help but wonder why they were given armor like these, especially in Mare's case.

Mare was wearing something that could be called dress armor, showing a lot of skin and with his navel exposed. One could only wonder why someone would even make such a piece of gear.

YGGDRASIL's armors' defensive stats came from a combination of the metal's quality, quantity, and the data crystals used. So even though Mare's navel looked defenseless, it was being protected by the data crystal's portion of defense at the very least. In actual terms, it could be said to be protected by a layer of magic.

Probably none of the ordinary people fighting here could even scratch his abdomen even if they hit with all their strength. Still, in YGGDRASIL mechanics, such exposed surfaces were more likely to trigger critical hits.

Frankly speaking, it was not something to be used as tank equipment.

Albedo's grim-looking armor was how tank equipment should look like.

Even Bukubukuchagama, while burdened with the racial penalty that disallowed wearing armor, did things like equipping shields in both hands or using special skills to harden her clay-like body.

So what was she, who was a tank herself, even thinking when she gave this armor to Mare?

The answer was probably "she didn't think about anything."

No. She definitely would have seriously pondered on it; though not about its fighting ability, but rather how to best satisfy her tastes.

They are siblings after all... Ainz thought, but he wanted to defend his past comrades in this case. Originally, Mare and Aura were only NPCs, so they wouldn't have changed gear on their own.

The navel-exposing armor Mare was wearing right now was an attire change and was never supposed to be used seriously. It was hard to think that someone would prepare useful gear for that. Bukubukuchagama should be praised here instead for the fact that she made sure the equipment had some utility even though it was just for fashion.

For some reason, the image of the sister with a smiling face—although she didn't have a face to speak of—and the brother who looked like he wanted to protest about something, flashed across Ainz's mind.