Ainz Ooal Gown: Noble Knight

Chapter 108 Success

Ainz paused for a moment, as if considering his words.

"...I need you to come with me on a mission. This must not be mentioned to anyone."

Pestonia's ears twitched back slightly: "Including Lady Albedo and the other guardians?"

“Including everyone.” Ainz lowered his voice even further. “I don’t want a third person to know about this.”

Pestonia paused, her gaze lingering on Ainz's skeletal face for a moment.

Although she had some doubts, her duty as head maid prevented her from asking further questions.

“Yes, Lord Ainz,” she replied.

Ainz nodded slightly, raised his hand, and a stream of magic flowed from his fingertips, enveloping the two of them like a thin veil.

The light and shadow distorted for a moment, and the faces of the two people changed simultaneously.

Ainz transformed into an ordinary-looking middle-aged man with thinning hair and a dark complexion, while Pestonia became a peasant woman, wrapped in a faded headscarf.

"Let's go."

After saying that, Ainz activated the seventh-rank spell, [High-Rank Teleport].

The teleportation light appeared on the edge of a village in the kingdom, then quickly dissipated without attracting anyone's attention.

The morning mist had not yet completely dissipated, shrouding the low thatched roofs of the village in a gray-white veil. The sounds of roosters crowing and dogs barking came intermittently from afar, and occasionally a wooden door creaked.

Ainz stood in the shadows, his gaze sweeping over the houses.

The middle-aged face he was wearing showed no emotion, but in his heart he had already sentenced the entire village to death.

Pestonia stood half a step behind him, looking like any ordinary village woman. She didn't know what Lord Ainz was planning to do, but she had a vague sense of unease.

The silence lasted for a few breaths.

"Lord Ainz," Pestonia couldn't help but ask, voicing her long-held question, "Why did you go to the trouble of bringing me here, avoiding everyone else...?"

Ainz gazed ahead, his eyes falling on the low rooftops, pondering how to conduct the experiment. A few breaths passed.

He slowly spoke, "Resurrection magic... I need to confirm its specific rules in this other world."

Pestonia's bad feeling intensified, and she asked the worst possible question: "Are you planning to... use these villagers for experiments?"

"That's right, so that Nazarick can obtain complete information about the resurrection."

Ainz tried his best to explain the principles of the experiment in his mind, using his limited knowledge.

"The experiment needs a sufficient sample size to rule out chance and prevent Nazarick from making misjudgments due to inaccurate intelligence."

Pestonia was speechless; she couldn't refute Lord Ainz's righteous argument for Nazarick.

Her gaze shifted from Ainz's profile to the row of low houses in the distance.

A woman was pushing open the courtyard gate and carrying out a basket of clothes to hang out to dry. Her movements were practiced. Behind her followed a barefoot child, rubbing his eyes, as if he hadn't woken up yet.

Pestonia still felt a pang of pity seeing this.

“…Lord Ainz.” Her voice was softer than before. “I know you must have your reasons for doing this. But if the entire village disappears, the kingdom will surely send people to investigate.”

She paused, then added softly, "What if this attracts the dragon's attention..."

Ainz turned his head, his eyes, disguised as brown pupils, looking at her as if he were weighing something.

A moment later, Ainz's voice rang out: "That makes sense. Unnecessary commotion could expose Nazarick."

Pestonia's shoulders relaxed slightly for a moment, as she was about to say something more...

However, Ainz had already raised his finger and then swung it downwards.

"But there is still one experiment that has to be done, but don't worry, it doesn't require too many people."

After seeing Ainz make the gesture.

An almost invisible, transparent outline emerged from the air—the Eight-Limbed Assassin Insect. Its body was slender and twisted, with eight segmented limbs ending in sharp, sickle-like blades.

It was so fast that it left almost no trace in the air; a dark line, quickly swept across several low fences, disappeared into the morning mist.

After a few breaths, it returned.

Hanging from eight arthropod-like limbs were three small bodies: two boys and a girl, the oldest of whom looked no more than seven or eight years old.

They were still asleep, without any struggle or cry, when the blade of the assassination insect precisely severed their carotid artery and sealed the wound at the same instant.

Pestonia's breath caught in her throat for a moment. She pressed her ears tightly to her head and gripped the fabric of her skirt with both hands.

She watched as those tiny bodies hung down quietly, like three plucked fruits swaying gently in the morning light.

“Lord Ainz,” Pestonia’s voice was hoarse, “these three children…”

“That’s enough.” Ainz thought Pestonia was worried that there weren’t enough test subjects.

“Three samples are enough to verify the effect. And the fact that the village only lost three children will not attract much attention.”

Ainz looked at Pestonia: "We can begin now. Use [True Resurrection]."

Pestonia took a deep breath.

She raised her hands, and soft light emanated from her palms, pouring down upon those tiny bodies.

Pestonia activated the ninth-tier faith-based magic, True Resurrection, in an attempt to resurrect herself.

A moment later, the eldest boy coughed suddenly.

He opened his eyes, looking around blankly, slowly scanning the familiar rooftops and fences around him. Then the other two children also woke up one after another, making muffled sobs.

Ainz was somewhat pleased, not because he had returned to some unknown spawn point, but because he had woken up again at the location where his corpse had been.

Furthermore, the ninth-tier resurrection magic can resurrect children whose level is only about one.

Ainz suddenly wondered if he could revive these children if he killed them again.

But now was not the time to think about these things, so Ainz suppressed his curiosity.

Then he stretched out his hand, and magic flowed from his palm, enveloping the three bewildered children. Before they could even make a sound, they fell into a deep sleep.

The light of the teleportation spell shone again.

Ainz and Pestonia, along with the three children, disappeared at the edge of the village, as if they had never existed on this land.

The ninth level of Nazarick.

At the door of Pestonia's room, Ainz had removed his disguise and reverted to his pale, skeletal appearance.

Pestonia stood next to Ainz, her head down, clearly not in a good mood.

“Pestonia,” Ainz’s voice held a hint of joy, “you have another task. Go to Sebas, a border city of the Dragon Kingdom, and he will tell you exactly what to do. After completing the task, return to Nazarick.”

Pestonia paused slightly, then looked up at Ainz: "Has Lord Sebas encountered some trouble?"

“Hmm.” Ainz didn’t explain further. “He’ll tell you what to do when you get there. You’ll need to use [True Resurrection].

Pestonia glanced at the three children lying on the ground, seemingly wanting to say something, but in the end she simply used teleportation magic to leave.

"I understand, Lord Ainz."

The teleportation light engulfed Pestonia's figure.

The seventh level of the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

Ainz slowed his pace as he walked through the corridor that was surrounded by flowing lava.

He turned his head and glanced at the three small figures huddled together behind him.

They had woken up on their way to the seventh underground level, but no one cried or made a fuss. They just huddled together, carefully observing everything around them.

Dark red flames surged up from the lava channels on both sides of the corridor, casting crimson shadows on their youthful faces.

The eldest boy shielded the two younger ones behind him, trying hard not to tremble.

Ainz looked away, silently preparing what he was going to say.

How should I start the conversation?

'Demeurge, these three children are what I had left over from my experiment. They're yours.'

No, that's too casual. As a superior, this kind of wording makes it seem like he doesn't value the contributions of his subordinates at all.

'I heard you're short on material lately, so I specially found this for you.'

No, that's not right. He didn't "deliberately" look for it; he just brought it along after the experiment. If he said he "deliberately" went to find it, wouldn't that be lying?

Ainz tapped his jaw twice with his knuckles.

As the supreme ruler, lying was of course not a problem, but he instinctively did not want to deceive these guardians whom he regarded as his children.

And what if Demiurge pressed him for answers, asking, "How did you find these children?" or "How much effort did you put into this?"

In fact, Ainz had considered letting the children go, but even with disguises, there was still a possibility that information about Nazarick would be leaked.

This is something Ainz cannot accept.

'Never mind, let's see Demiurge first.'

We'll see how things go and adapt accordingly.

Ainz stopped in front of Demiurge's residence.

The door was not closed.

Ainz walked straight in and saw the inner room that had been set up as a study.

Dark red cracks crawled all over the charred stone pillars, and bookshelves lined the walls, neatly stacked with various scrolls and books.

Demiurge sat behind the desk.

He was looking down at something, a rare look of focus on his cunning face, the corners of his mouth slightly upturned, as if he were admiring a very satisfying work of art.

But his watching stopped the moment Ainz entered.

Then Demiurge held down the edge of the paper with one hand, and quickly gathered the whole stack together with the other, then quietly stuffed it under the open thick book on the table.

"...Demeurge."

"Lord Ainz."

Demiurge stood up from behind his desk, an elegant smile on his face, as if the act of hiding the item had never happened.