The Dark Warrior Read Free

“That’s why I can’t just send you to a human city. I really should have made learning the personalities of my subordinates my highest priority.”
    One of the reasons he hadn’t brought Albedo was because of how she had denounced humans as lower life-forms. He couldn’t take her to a city where there were lots of people only to have her throw a mass murder party the moment he took his eyes off her. Plus, Albedo didn’t have any disguise magic, so there was no way to hide her horns or wings.
    And then there was the biggest reason—the one he couldn’t tell anyone: Ainz, who had been a normal office worker, wasn’t confident he could just sit at the top and manage everything with Nazarick’s future in mind based solely on secondhand information. That’s why he had decided to venture out, foisting operations onto Albedo, who had the skills to manage them. One should always delegate to a talented subordinate when possible. Nothing good came from a higher-up mucking around in an area outside his competence.
    Also, where Ainz was concerned, Albedo was bound by two chains: loyalty and love. Under the circumstances, he felt safe leaving the Great Tomb of Nazarick in her hands.
    Love…
Whenever he saw Albedo, and whenever she said how much she admired him, he was reminded of his mistake in rewriting part of her backstory. Yes, right before the game’s servers were supposed to go down, he’d edited her bio to say that she was “in love with Momonga”—in other words, with Ainz. Of course, he had no way of knowing they would all go flying off to some new, other world. He’d just meant it as a little joke on the last day.
    Reflecting on it, though, Albedo herself didn’t seem to mind, but what would Ainz’s friend, her creator, Tabula Smaragdina, think if he found out?
What if it were me? If my friend had warped an NPC I made…
He also didn’t like that he was taking advantage of her condition and assuming she wouldn’t betray him.
    He shook his head to banish those dark thoughts. His undead body suppressed major emotional waves, but little ripples like this still affected him like they had when he was human.
If I turn completely undead, will I stop feeling this guilt?
Thinking absentmindedly on these things, he turned his close helmeted head to face Narberal. “Nabe, I’m not saying you have to discard that sentiment, but at least suppress it. This is a human city, and we don’t know how strong some of them might be, not to mention a lot of other things. Try not to do anything that could trigger hostility.”
    Narberal bowed deeply to signify her loyalty and submission, and he held her head down to make his final point. “One more thing. When we take a fight too seriously or think we’d like to kill someone, it…frightens the humans. I don’t know if you really have bloodlust as such or not, but it comes off that way, so don’t go all-out without my permission. Okay?”
    “Yes, Mr. Momooon.”
    “Okay, the inn that lady told us about should be around here somewhere…” Ainz scanned the area.
    There were some shops open and a few people going in and out. Looking to the side, he saw some artisans in aprons carrying goods, but there were only a handful. Ainz and Narberal looked for the inn based on the picture on the sign, since they couldn’t read this country’s writing.
    Finally Ainz found the “picture” and began walking faster. Narberal noticed and matched his pace.
    Scraping the mud off his sabbatons, Ainz went up the stoop, pushed open the swinging café doors, and stepped inside. The windows that would have let light in were mostly shuttered, so the room was dim. A human accustomed to the light outside might have felt it pitch-dark for a moment, but Ainz had the Darkvision ability, so there was plenty of light for him.
    It was a fairly large space. The first floor was a pub with a bar in the back. Behind the bar were two built-in shelves lined with bottles. The door to the side of the bar