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Chapter 234 ~ Leading the Fool

“A whole village? Are you sure?”

“Yes, my lord… A whole village vanished, and a lord’s son, missing. It is a troublesome affair…”

The Count said to Prince Barbro as they sat around a small table. Princess Renner stood by their side and quietly poured tea for the two men. 

“My vassal is… beside himself. Though only a third son, he was still his son, after all.”

“I see.”

Prince Barbor’s deep voice was largely indifferent. He ignored his little sister as well, not acknowledging her pour except to take the porcelain cup and sip from it when she was done. 

“It is unfortunate, but does it really matter? I can round up some common trash off the streets for you to fill your village, if that’s all you need. I won’t even charge you anything.”

Barber said with a wicked gleam in his eye. 

“Thank you, my prince. But I’ve already made the land available to third sons of my vassals. My real concern is the missing boy. The vassal who suffered the loss has been a good subordinate, and a trash noble is still a noble. Moreover, the fact that he vanished from a village where all of its denizens also disappeared without any sign of violence sounds… unbelievable. It was as if the peasants put the trash son down themselves and ran.”

Renner, having finished pouring the cup for the count, put on her most distressed girlish face and covered her mouth with three fingers.

“Goodness, Count. That is like they are rebelling against you personally.”

The Count’s relaxed air changed immediately. His entire body tensed sharply, enough for the prince to see the shift. 

"Y-Yes, that's it exactly, Princess Renner. As expected of a member of the royal family to see through the heart of any matter in an instant. 

"Of course. It is why the Royal family is Royal. We recognize that affronts to our most loyal nobles are affronts to ourselves. The basis of the crown is action, and those afraid to act, are unworthy of it and should not be supported."

The words of the incomprehensible and silly little sister sounded to him as if she was laying down his path to the throne. 

‘A prince of action is the one that belongs on the throne of Kingship. Yes… Perhaps I can use this trivial affair to get ahead of my fat little brother and force father’s hands.’

“Yes, it is as my sister says. I will take the lead in this investigation. Bring justice for the noble house that was wronged by these stupid peasant rebels. We will find them, and wring the truth of the son’s fate from their tortured bodies! I swear it on my sword!”

The powerful man of broad shoulders towered over both Renner and the count, his muscular body adorned in full formal martial regalia of blue, red, and gold, with dangling tassels on his shoulders and a sash across his chest. 

The blond bearded prince Barbro appeared every inch the Warrior Prince. 

Renner demurely clapped her hands with a smile and girlish giggle. 

Inwardly, she knew very well the kind of man he was. A coward and a bully. Never once did he take a task that might actually risk himself. 

"Yes, of course. A Prince who protects the nobility is the sort we need on the throne of Re-Estize. I will look to you in the days ahead, my Prince." 

The Count said and stood up, and was gone after a brief set of goodbyes. 

Left alone, Barbro looked down at his little sister. 

She was…an enigma, to put it nicely. Absurd. He was aware that she sometimes had interesting insights, and he wasn’t above asking for them. After all, she was of no threat to him. 

"Sister, where would you begin on this?"

Renner tapped her cheeks innocently, her eyes looking off into the distance towards the city beyond. As capitals went, Re-Estize had what she was sure was one of the ugliest in nature. Massive in size, it was riddled with crime and squalor.

Finally, after a moment of brief silent, she spoke. 

“Brother, except to take their grains and goods to the market, peasants don’t move around much, do they?”

“No, they don’t. They have no reason to move.”

“And they, who knew only of the ways of menial labor in the farm, and can only hunt a little, would they venture into a forest full of dangerous monsters?”

“No, that is suicidal.”

“And they probably won’g go to a city because they wouldn’t know how to survive so… perhaps you just need to look for a village. A village where there are a bunch of new people. We do keep birth records in the villages after all.”

She proposed with a sweet, innocent smile that, as it always did, pushed aside any sense of inferiority he would have felt from a different tone. 

“But those aren’t very good… They’re wildly inaccurate as some may not even register themselves until much later. Besides, they can simply lie about their names.”

“True, but if a village goes from a hundred families to two hundred families, I think it’s fair to ask where those other hundred families came from, don’t you agree? I think it's safe to say any village with a sudden burst of growth is suspect, and then we just have the Lord come by and look for anyone he recognizes as being from his domain." 

"I see, I see." Prince Barbro muttered, and it was somewhat true, what she said made sense, and he nodded sagely as if he'd been leading the conversation himself.

“But to take in so many people… are they even capable of it?”

“Maybe if they have more land to work than people to work it, or if they suffered some recent heavy losses and are in need of labor forces to work the land they have. I would imagine they would even overlook the murder of a Lord, rather than turn them in as they know they should, they are all peasants after all."

“Then they’re complicit in the crime, and the whole place can just burn when we find it.”

Prince Barbro’s teeth gritted when his square jaws clenched. And Renner forced herself to hide the grin she was on the verge of showing on multiple instances. 

“As you think best, big brother. Forgive me, but this is all a bit much and I would like to return to my embroidery.”

The fragile young girl, the golden princess, and the most radiant beauty of the kingdom seemed very doll-like to the powerfully built Prince Barbro. Like a fragile, thin, little vase. 

“Of course, sister. I will remember your… suggestion. And as thanks, I will forget your bodyguard’s offense to me.”

"Thank you, brother, that is reward enough, he was only trying to protect me, and he is just a child, still, your generosity will also be remembered ." 

Renner replied and taking the sides of her gown, she curtseyed with a bowed head.

They then parted ways, her sharp ears caught Barbro coming up with various ways to kill treacherous peasant trash, until she was out of hearing and back in her own room.

Then, as soon as the door clicked behind her, she threw the latch for additional needless security, and went down to her knees and prostrated herself before the empty air. 

“Is that to your satisfaction, Lord Demiurge?”

She asked, and upon the utterance of his name, a whirling void of darkness opened, and the devil himself emerged from it. 

“Yes, that was well done, Princess Renner. That is exactly what we needed.”

Demiurge said, and he reached down to gently pat her head with a grin on his handsome, devilish face. 

--------------------------------X--------------------------------

Word about a job which promised great wealth spread fast and wide as Foresight spread rumors and stories about the wealth that lay ahead. 

Imina’s elven heritage proved useful in lending a mythical touch to the “legend”, telling stories “from her father” who had heard stories from his father’s ancestors centuries before of a powerful lord of greed who hoarded fortunes in his tomb. 

Stories of powerful artifacts, shining mountains of pure gold, and endless stream of riches spread among the rumor mills of worker bars and taverns. But even through it all, they still searched for any hint of their missing blonde-haired friend. 

In the end, Hekkeran could only rub his forehead in disappointment as they met in private on the day of departure. 

“...We’ve done our best. All we can do now is hope that it’s enough.”

He looked from Imina to Roberdyck. 

“That girl we met… she looked human, but I don’t think she was. I don’t have any basis for this, except for my gut instinct. But… if I’m right, and she’s not in charge there… I don’t even want to think about what kind of monsters we’ll face.”

Imina touched his arm and looked up at her lover’s eyes with a small comforting smile, one that she herself was forcing to show on her face.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Don’t think about that. We’re “Foresight”. We’ve survived great many terrible things. We’ll survive this one too… And when it comes down to it, you’ll do the right thing. I believe in you.”

Roberdyck nodded in agreement to her words, and their display of trust in him ended the discussion right then. 

The fast spreading rumors brought quite the number of teams together outside the tomb, making the gathering space on the outskirts look more like the beginnings of a village than a temporary camp. 

A few camp followers and travelling merchants also appeared, eager for a chance to profit off the life risking efforts of the workers who expected lots of coins to enter their pocket soon enough. 

‘Well, at the very least, we did a really good job with those rumors.’

Hekkeran looked around the lively crowd and thought to himself. It was, by far, the largest gathering of workers any of them had ever seen. 

A few familiar faces were also present. 

Parpatra, a wrinkled old man with the vigor of someone much younger than his age and leader of the worker group Dragon Hunt. 

Gringham of Heavy Masher. Short in height, but he made up for his size sideways with having considerable strength and adorning thick armor over powerful muscles. A man with dwarven blood ancestry, known for their toughness and strength. 

And some of the not so reputable once as well, to put it lightly. Erya Uzruth of Tenmu. 

A powerful swordsman from the Slane Theocracy who took human supremacy to the point where even other humans found disturbing. His personality was so disagreeable that despite being compared to Gazef Stronoff, he couldn’t find or form a team. So, he bought mentally broken elf slaves to provide magical backup. 

Although slaves were pricey, his earnings as workers allowed him to “replenish” his slaves as soon as they were dead. He only ever purchased female elves, and never even cared to properly arm or equip them in any way. And to prove his “human superiority” over them, they weren’t spared his advances whenever there was free time. 

A scum in every meaning of the word. 

Talks about how great of a treasure this tomb held filled the camp with excitement. Despite the prospective danger that may lay within the unexplored tomb of an ancient entity, none showed fear, hesitation, or nervousness that exceeded their greed. A truly exemplary group of what it meant to be a worker. There’s no danger too great as long as there’s enough gold. 

Hekkeran exchanged a brief conversation with Parpatra and Gringham before leaving with a few final words to wish them good luck, and returned to his comrades in their own small tent with a mute, dead eyed stare. 

He slumped down on the ground, the twin swords behind his waist rattling as it hit the floor. 

“When this is over… after we save Arche, I'm done. I don’t want to do “this” any more. It’s pointless…”

Roberdyck was the first to respond, with a deep sigh. 

“My friend… I’ve toyed with the very thought many times. I’ve only stuck with this as long as I have because of who i work with. If we aprt ways, i’ll find a village somewhere and settle down as a local priest. That would be a life good enough for me.”

“I go where you go, even if it means no more tombs or caves. But first… first we rescue Arche. I just hope she’s alright… I hope… they’re not torturing her…”

“Don’t think about it… most monsters aren’t interested in humans like that at least. Just… get some rest. Tomorrow, we get started. And hopefully… it all works out.”

Hekkeran said and went to his bedroll, and collapsed almost immediately into ugly, ugly dreams. 

--------------------------------X--------------------------------

A number of monitor screens reflecting live feeds of the groups of workers entering the tomb one after another floated before the obsidian throne. 

Each screen followed the movement of a group of workers, reflecting even the subtle changes of their expression from excitement to vigilance clearly in real time. 

The stage was set. The workers, led by greed and entered the darkness, would never leave it. 

Sitting on the obsidian throne, Momonga watched as he clenched his hand on the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown. 

Although all were part of their plan, the fact that these greedy rats laid their filthy feet into his beloved home he and his comrades created and where his children live to raid and rob it elicited great disgust and anger from the very depths of his heart. The only comfort was the fact that none of these bastards would ever leave again and that they would wish for death sooner rather than later. 

Lelouch, who stood by his left, and Yuuji, as well as Aika, who stood to his right all watched the screen with similar sentiment, though not to the same extreme. 

“Momonga-sama, all the rats have entered, and none had chosen to leave after reaching the threshold. The little magic caster’s comrades have also followed the rules and path told by her through telepathy. We may start the test now.”

Albedo said as she manipulated the screens and displayed a map with the current location of each group of workers denoted by a red, blinking point. 

Momonga, or rather, Satoru could understand the desperation one would have for fortune while living in such a cruel world. He too had seen many good natured people turn into criminals to steal credits from others just to survive. 

That is why, he placed a few golds near the entrance. If they took it and left, then their fate would’ve ended much swifter. But none took their chance, and now, any remnants of remorse vanished from his heart. 

“Very well. Begin the test for Nazarick’s defenses.”

“Yes.”

These little rats wouldn’t even begin to scratch the surface of Nazarick’s defenses’ full capabilities. However, Albedo took this task with the dedication and focus a Guardian Overseer would have towards any sort of threat that may threaten Nazarick. 

At the very least, they’d be able to test the effectiveness of their free POP monsters and traps against lower life beings of this level. 

She just hoped they wouldn't expire so quickly. It’s the least they can do after daring to invade her beloved’s home with such ill intent; use their body to serve her beloved and the Supreme Beings by becoming test subjects and/or food for the denizens of Nazarick. 

“Albedo, how is Foresight?”

Yuuji asked. 

“They are being led by Arche to the designated place using the Message scrolls, my love.”

Albedo answered, her voice ever so soft, gentle, and affectionate as she spoke to her beloved.

“Good. Continue watching them. See if they’re truly worthy. If they are… We’ll have our “Champions” against Baharuth.”