Chapter 110: Leading Ainz Astray
Sebas was in trouble.
The moment that thought took hold, it spread like a plague.
Ainz thought of Shalltear. The name that had turned black in the control panel. That helpless, drowning panic surged back through him.
If Sebas had been taken before he could even send word, before he could so much as get out a distress signal, then the enemy was far stronger than Demiurge had predicted...
The green light of forced calm flashed through him. Ainz extended still-trembling finger bones and opened the main power's NPC management tab.
The translucent interface unfolded in the Throne Room, dense rows of text spreading across it. Ainz changed the default katakana sort to level order, then began scanning from the top down.
His gaze moved along the list and landed on the name Sebastian.
The color had not changed. Still white.
Ainz exhaled.
That had been awful. Like an invisible hand seizing his heart in an iron grip and then releasing it all at once. Even as an undead, the dread that rose from somewhere deep in his soul was something he could not fully adapt to. Every time he opened this interface, he was afraid to see another name turn black, because that would mean losing another child left behind by one of his companions.
But this time it was a false alarm.
Ainz settled back against the throne. So Sebas had not been controlled, had not been attacked, yet was clearly subdued.
Ainz thought he knew what had happened.
The only thing that could leave Sebas this unsettled was, naturally, that one matter.
"Sebas, you must have gathered some intelligence about dragons in the Dragon Kingdom." Ainz asked with quiet confidence, his tone carrying a note of certainty. "Are they... very powerful?"
A brief silence on the other end of the [Message].
"As expected of Ainz-sama!" The shock in Sebas's voice was unmistakable. Admiration practically overflowed from the other end of the magical connection. "You've even deduced this."
Ainz's jawbone tilted slightly upward. A small flush of satisfaction moved through him. It seemed he had guessed correctly.
"Then tell me the specifics, Sebas." He let his voice fill with authority, maintaining the bearing of a Supreme Being without any apparent effort. "Go ahead."
"Yes, Ainz-sama." Sebas collected his thoughts, recalling what the bald tavern owner in Talbach had told him. "I have heard that a dragon's roar alone can destroy a mountain."
Destroy a mountain.
The words landed in Ainz's mind like a boulder dropped from height.
His jawbone dropped of its own accord. The satisfaction of a moment ago was gone without a trace.
A roar can destroy a mountain. Just a roar?
"My assessment," Sebas's voice continued through the [Message], carrying the careful precision of someone who had thought it through, "is that a dragon's roar carries power comparable to Super Tier magic. I cannot yet confirm the reliability of this intelligence, however. I have not found more credible corroboration."
Green lights, one after another.
Forced calm triggering in sequence, flashing through Ainz like a system running on a fault loop, unable to stop.
That cold sensation rose from somewhere deep in his consciousness over and over, pressing down the shock and the panic, only for a new wave of shock to sweep it back up again.
Dragons were that strong?
Ainz's finger bones tightened around the armrests of the throne without him deciding to.
Super Tier magic. Even for him, a level-100 magic caster, it was the uppermost limit of what he could do, available only four times a day, and laden with restrictions besides. He had just used [Fallen Down] on the Dragon Tusk Tribe to erase several hundred lizardmen from the landscape entirely. That was Super Tier magic. That civilization-erasing destructive force.
And Sebas was telling him a dragon could achieve the same with a single roar.
Shalltear didn't lose without reason.
If the dragon that had taken control of Shalltear truly possessed power on this scale, then her losing in a chance encounter was entirely understandable. In fact, the more accurate observation was that Shalltear had managed to leave an armor fragment behind in a battle at that level at all, which in itself proved her strength.
As for Sebas saying the intelligence's reliability was uncertain, Ainz did not see it that way.
He let out a quiet internal sigh.
For the usually steady Sebas to be this subdued, the intelligence had almost certainly been substantially verified in Sebas's own mind already. The reason Sebas said "uncertain" was probably out of consideration for his ruler, not wanting to deal too heavy a blow to the Supreme Being he served.
Sebas truly showed such thoughtful care.
A complicated current of feeling moved through Ainz.
These Guardians, the children he and his companions had created, always found their own ways of looking after him.
Then as their father and superior, as the ruler of Nazarick, as the being who bore the name of Ainz Ooal Gown, he absolutely could not show weakness before them. No matter how strong the enemy, he had to stand at the front. He had to be the pillar they could lean on.
That was the duty of a Supreme Being.
"Don't worry, Sebas." Ainz's voice came out unusually calm, as though what Sebas had reported was something he had already anticipated. "I've understood everything you've said. Well done. Please continue gathering dragon intelligence as you proceed."
He paused briefly. When he spoke again his tone had eased, carrying a note of genuine concern. "If you encounter danger, request support and withdraw immediately. Do not act on your own."
From the other end of the [Message], Sebas's voice came back, his admiration impossible to hold in check. "Yes, Ainz-sama. I will remember this."
Ainz gave a slight nod and ended the [Message].
The Throne Room fell back into silence.
He sat alone at the boundary of light and shadow, finger bones resting against his jawbone.
A roar that could destroy a mountain. Power on the level of Super Tier magic.
Ainz turned the information over in his mind.
If this intelligence was accurate, then his previous assessment of the enemy's strength needed to be revised upward. Demiurge's analysis may have been somewhat optimistic. The opponent was not avoiding battle. They were probably waiting for a more suitable moment.
But it was still too early to draw conclusions.
As Sebas had said, more intelligence was needed to corroborate it. The immediate priority was to have Sebas continue a deeper investigation in the Dragon Kingdom, while Nazarick itself could not afford to relax.
Ainz raised his head. He looked up at the elaborate relief carvings on the vault of the Throne Room, every line of them carrying the memory of him and his companions.
No matter how strong the enemy, he would not concede.
Come at me, then. Everything in Nazarick, I will protect it all.
This was the resolve he had already made the day he took the name Ainz Ooal Gown.