SEASON 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, and Happy New Year. Apparently it starts on the 11th but there was an early screening so we should get episode two on the 18th…..
Gaiden: Introduction [Pandora's Actor]
Translators: Frostfire10, Skythewood
The maid, Yuri Alpha, unconsciously heaved a sigh of admiration.
The scene that greeted her after the teleportation was a shine that seemed to have all the stars in the night sky.
In the center of the giant room was a heaping pile of gold coins and gems, so immense that it resembled a mountain. Several of these ten metre tall mountains formed a mountain range. There would would be several trillions of coins here. Or maybe more.
In addition, there were masterfully made works of art buried in the mountain of gold.
A quick glance revealed a golden mug, a scepter encrusted with all manner of gemstones, a crystal pitcher, an animal pelt which emitted a platinum radiance, an exquisitely woven tapestry made with thread-of-gold, a pearl-colored ocarina, a fan made of rainbow-colored feathers, a crystal jug, an extremely elaborate ring that released a pale light, and a mask made of an animal hide that had black and white jewels embedded inside.
Needless to say, they were but the tip of the iceberg.
There were hundreds, no thousands more of such articles buried within that gigantic heap of riches.
It was a good thing that the easily damaged artwork had protection magic cast on it. While Yuri did think that it would be better to hang it somewhere else, when she looked around her, she found the reason why that was impossible.
It was that the surrounding walls were full of treasure equal to or more valuable than those.
There were shelves everywhere and the treasures inside were more eye-catching than the mountains of gold.
There was a wand socketed with bloodstones, a pair of adamantine gauntlets inlaid with garnets, a small silver ring adorned with black diamonds, an obsidian statuette carved in the shape of a dog, a purple amethyst dagger, a miniature altar with countless small white pearls embedded all over it, a peony made from some glass-like material which scattered light in all the colors of the rainbow, a rose blossom which had been masterfully carved from a star ruby, a tapestry which depicted a soaring black dragon,a crown of platinum which held an enormous diamond, golden censers that were encrusted in gemstones, a mated pair of a male and female lion statuettes, carved from ruby and sapphire respectively, cufflinks which looked like flames and which had fire opals set into them, an intricately-carved cigar case made of rosewood, a jacket made of some golden beast's pelt, a dozen plates made of mithril, anklets decorated with gemstones of four colors, a grimoire whose cover was made of adamantite, a human-sized statue of a woman which had been carved from gold, a belt with imperial topazes sewn into its material, a chess set whose pieces were all topped in different gemstones, a statuette of a fairy carved from a single piece of emerald, a black cloak that was decorated with countless small gemstones, a drinking horn made from a unicorn's horn, a golden dais that held a crystal ball, and so on.
This was but a fraction of the wonders therein.
Others included a gilded statue using plenty of emeralds, red crystals that were the size of a man, a gigantic platinum statue of a warrior, a pillar covered in mysterious characters, as well as a gigantic sapphire which one would need both arms to fully embrace.
Yuri was surprised by the treasure when a calm voice reached her ears.
"Let's go."
"Yes."
"…….."
Yuri nodded her head and expressed her agreement.
Ainz paid no attention to the mountain of treasure, and activated a mass fly spell, causing the three of them to float upwards.
When they flew upwards, they could see that the air was tinted a slight purple. Yuri thought that there was something reflecting purple light but could not find anything.
While she looked around, she was spoken to in a quiet voice.
"….Yuri-nee. Powerful magic toxin in the air."
"Eh?"
"Nn?"
"….Blood of Jormungandr?"
Yuri's gaze fell on another maid who was floating due to Ainz's magic.
The other maid was CZ2128 Delta. AKA Shizu, and she did not speak much at all.
Yuri's questioning gaze was met with a freezing stare. The source were the black eyes. There was no enminity in those eyes. To be more accurate, there were no emotions in those eyes. Shizu's face was extremely prim and proper, but it could also be described as an emotionless mask.
Automatons like Shizu could not express emotions.
Shizu had a Japanese face, as if she were a Yamato Nadeshiko that had a high class lineage and would be called a princess. Her beautiful hair was pulled upwards and then dropped, and was in the shape known as a ponytail.
The maid uniform she was wearing was the same combat maid outfit as Yuri.
—She wore black arm guards with golden hems and purple runes that went up to her elbows and seemed to be a mixture of gauntlets, couters, vambraces and rerebraces. Her leg armour which seemed to be a mixture of high heels, sollerets, grieves and poleyns were made in the same manner as her arm guards.
Even the skirt part of the maid outfit had a magic black metal board over it, increasing its defensive properties. The board was an alloy of three metals: Magically enhanced steel, adamask metal comprised of mithril and beliat and a magic metal known as Galvoln. Her chest piece used the same metal.
Of course, the imbued magic was first class. It used data crystals that were rare even amongst the crystals that only level 90 and above Yggdrasil players could acquire.
Considering its defensive properties, rather than battlemaid clothes, they were more like full platemail.
The choker that sparkled of gems, the rings beneath her grieves, the ribbon holding her ponytail, and her underwear were all first class magic items.
Hanging at her waist like a sword was a strange gun that seemed to be a rounded white Styer AUG with two magazines. On a another note, this gun, automatons and Shizu's class of gunner were all added in the giant update of [Fall of Valkyria].
Shizu spoke the name of the most potent of poisons.
"Mm, that's correct. I didn't tell you, but the air in the Treasury is toxic. Anyone without poison immunity or items granting it will die within three steps."
"Would that be why you chose me— us to accompany you?"
The undead dullahan Yuri and the automaton Shizu both had immunity to poisons.
Ainz smiled and nodded his head in agreement. He then continued to speak.
"However, I brought Shizu for more than just that; she is also here for verification."
Ainz and his entourage crossed the mountain range of gold with the flightspell, and then they came to the door on the other side.No, was it right to call it a door? It was more of a bottomless black shadow in the shape of a door, affixed to a wall.
"This is the armory, so what is the password…"
"Ainz-sama, if there is an armory, does this mean that there are other treasures stored in other locations?"
"Ah, we do. I had a friend who was really into organisation. Everything should be categorised according to use. They should be split into defensive items, staves, wearables, others and crafting materials. Ah, and we have a room for data crystals as well."
In the direction Ainz pointed, Yuri saw that there were similar black things stuck to the walls.
"However, they're all located in the same place inside, and it doesn't really matter which direction you enter from."
Ainz simply said that, and faced the door of darkness.
This was a door which required a certain password to open. Perhaps one could force it open with magic or rogue skills, but Ainz did not know spells like that, not did he have such skills. Thus, he had to speak the password—
"I forgot."
That was only to be expected. There were so many such gimmicks in Nazarick that he would probably only be able to remember a password if it was one he used frequently. However, given that he did not come to the Treasury often, he did not remember the password to this door.
Since he could not remember the password, Ainz spoke a master password:
"[Ainz Ooal Gown]"
In response, the jet-black door displayed a series of words: "Ascendit a terra in coelum, iterumque descendit in terram, et recipit vim superiorum et inferiorum."(Skythwood Note: This is an excerpt from the Emerald Tablet, AKA the Tabula Smaragdina.)
"…Tabula-san really was a perfectionist."
Ainz recalled the serious person who designed the gimmick of [Ainz Ooal Gown].
He had a hand in designing about forty percent of the smaller mechanisms throughout the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick. His abnormally intricate designs consumed much of Nazarick's free data capacity, which caused the other members to complain about being unable to indulge themselves. Thus, he took responsibility for his actions and paid for many cash items to expand said data capacity.
Ainz studied the words which appeared. This must be a hint for the password, but what could it mean?
He racked his brains, taking his time to plumb the depths of his mind for the answer.
Soon, Ainz finally found the password, which slumbered within his memories.
"It should be — By this means you shall acquire the glory of the whole world, / And so you shall drive away all shadows and blindness — am I correct?"
As Ainz said this, he looked to Shizu with questioning eyes. Shizu nodded in response to him.
She had been made by one of his friends who had worked on different mechanisms from Tabula Smaragdina. Shizu's backstory had been written so that she would be familiar with the bypassing of Nazarick's mechanisms. This was why she could easily solve that password hint.However, Ainz had not asked her for help because he wanted to indulge the selfish desire to open the door through his own efforts.
As though in response to Ainz's wishes, the shadow door collapsed into a single point. Soon, the shadow was gone, leaving a fist-sized sphere of blackness floating in the air.
Now that the shadow had vanished, one could see into the tunnel that had been left behind. This was an orderly place, completely unlike the previous area.
The best way to describe it would be something like a display from a museum.
The dimly-lit room was very long and stretched ever inward. The ceiling was about five meters above the ground, a height which was clearly not designed with humans in mind, while it was about ten meters from one wall to the other.
The ground was made of tightly-fit, shiny black stone blocks, and it looked like a single gigantic stone slab. The dim light from the ceiling reflected off of it, causing one to truly feel the silence and solemnity of the place.
Neat rows of countless weapons were arrayed on the walls to Ainz's left and right, making an impressive display.
"I'm going in."
Ainz entered the Armory without waiting for his two followers to respond.
It was truly an armoury.
—Broadswords, greatswords, estocs, flamberges, scimitars, patas, shotels, kukris, claymores, short swords, sword breakers, etc, etc.
Of course, swords were not the only weapons here.
There were one-handed axes, two-handed axes, one-handed bludgeons, javelins, bows, crossbows, etc, etc.
Just the types alone were almost uncountable.
In addition, there were many unrealistic weapons here that stretched the definition of actually being called weapons. Those were the kind that could not possibly be sheathed, or which were more decorative than useful, and so on. No, these weapons were in the majority.
Almost none of them were made of anything as ordinary as mere steel.
There was a sword with a blade of blue crystal, a pure-white sword with gold inlays and engravings, a black sword with purple runes along its body, and even a bow that seemed to have been strung with pure light. There were countless of them.
Then there were other weapons that looked dangerous even at a glance.
There was a two-handed axe whose blade constantly dripped fresh blood. Tormented faces appeared and vanished on the black metal of a gigantic mace. There was a lance that resembled human hands clasping each other. And then there were many more weapons like these, in amounts which defied easy counting.
One could guess that most of them were magic weapons, but the exact effect each of them had was a mystery.
One might be able to guess at the purpose of a sword whose blade flickered like a flame, but it was impossible to know the abilities of a sword whose blade looked like a whip and which wriggled like a centipede.
The sound of Ainz's departing footsteps brought her back to reality and Yuri hurried towards him.
Slightly behind Yuri was, Shizu. She was looking at the surroundings while walking. Her noh mask-like face was a slight red.
Before long in the silence— about two hundred meters and thousands of weapons later — they reached their destination, which was a rectangular room. There was nothing inside. There were other passages visible to the left and right which looked similar to the one through which Ainz and company had entered.
The atmosphere of that way was also dramatically different.
If the previous room had been like a museum, then the next one was like a tomb. A large and dark space that the light could not reach spread out before them. The height of the room was about the same as the previous one, but the dim interior extended further in. It was hard to tell due to the angles, but it looked like there was a large niche set into the wall, with something placed within it.
What was this place?
Yuri narrowed her eyes in wonder, and Ainz spoke with good timing.
"Within lies the Mausoleum."
Looking at the puzzled Yuri and the still expressionless Shizu, Ainz looked around.
"He should be around here…."
Who? When Yuri made a puzzled face— There was no way that it had responded to Ainz's voice, but from a different path, there was a figure that showed itself to them.
That being had a bizarre appearance.
While it had a man's body, its head was that of a distorted squid. The right side of its head was half-covered in a twisted, tattooed letters, which resembled the ones that had floated up on the door just now.
Its skin was like that of a corpse, with purple blotches amidst a ghastly white color, and it was covered in some sort of sticky slime that gave off a bizarre sheen. Webs of skin grew between the long digits of its four-fingered hands.
It was the very picture of a heteromorphic character. The six twitching tentacles which sprouted from its mouth dangled down to its thighs, and it turned its cloudy blue pupil-less eyes to survey the group.
Its body was covered in a shiny, form-fitting black leather outfit studded with silver jewelry. Several belts wrapped around it. Its black cape was closed in front of it, as if to conceal its body.
Yuri knew that person.
A shout of shock shot out of her mouth.
"Tabula Smaragdina-sama!"
This was one of the Forty One Supreme Beings. As a magic caster, he was superior to Ainz in terms of attack power.
"……..No."
Shizu drew her gun and braced its stock against her shoulder, levelling her muzzle at the person before her.
This was an explosive statement, rebellion of one's creator. In addition, pointing a weapon at them was a great sin. If Yuri kept silent about it, she would be considered an accomplice. But—
"Understood. I'll believe Shizu."
Yuri whispered, clenched her fists in front of her chest, and punched her gauntlets together, which made a sound like a ringing gong.
Yuri's gauntlets were thicker compared to Shizu's. Shizu used a gun and thus her finger sections were thinner, and Yuri used her gauntlets as weapons.
Then, Yuri slid in front of Ainz and Shizu. Ainz was a magic caster while Shizu was a gunner, neither of whom did well in close combat. Then it was Yuri's role to act as their shield and engage in close combat.
"Who are you!"
The mysterious being who looked like Tabula Smaragdina merely inclined its head at Yuri's question, but did not make any reply. The thin smile that barely existed made Yuri unhappy.
However, Ainz revealed his true form.
"—Pandora's Actor. Return to normal."
Hearing Ainz's unhappy voice, the figure of Tabula Smaragdina melted. The way it changed reminded Yuri and Shizu of a certain person. Both of them thought of their colleague Narberal Gamma.
A male's deep and calm voice could be heard.
"It has been a long time, Momonga-sama."
Another heteromorphic being stood where the impostor Tabula Smaragdina had been
His shape was something else entirely.
His clothes were tidy. A two button dark suit hugged his thin body. He had a single cuffed plain white shirt, a silver grey striped necktie and black leather shoes. He also had white gloves that covered his strangely long four fingers.
Its face was flat, with no nose or other facial features. Its mouth and eyes were replaced by three empty holes. There were no eyeballs, teeth, or a tongue; just three black holes which looked like they had been drawn on by a child with a black marker.
The pink, egg-like head was smooth and shiny, without a single hair to mar its surface.
His appearance was strange, but there was something unfitting on his face. They were glasses. Although he had no nose nor ears, it was somehow secured to his face.
This strange character— and Narberal— were both Doppelgangers.
His name was Pandora's Actor, and he was a level one hundred NPC personally designed by Ainz and placed in charge of the Treasury. His talents lay in disguise, and he could copy forty five separate forms and even their abilities — though only at seventy five percent of the original's potency.
"…You seem quite lively."
"Yes. I am quite healthy. And may I please ask for what reason have you come here Momonga-sama? Even bringing the maid ladies over here."
Pandora's Actor spoke in a much more approachable manner than Narberal. Being called ladies, the the pride of being a battlemaid flared up in Yuri's heart, but she could not show that to someone close to Ainz.
Yuri tried her best to try to find out just what he was from their conversation.
Shizu's noh mask-like face had small signs of anger on it due to him impersonating her creator. To those who knew her, her anger was at its peak. But if one considered that it was a similar Supreme Being who gave that ability to Pandora's Actor, they could not be angry even if they wanted to.
Ignoring the feelings of Yuri and Shizu, Ainz continued his conversation with Pandora's Actor.
"I was thinking of using some magic items for activation experiments."
"Hou. Has the time come to finally use those?"
Pandora's Actor turned to the Mausoleum. Nonchalantly pushed up his glasses with his finger. It was ridiculous to think that it was secured even without a nose or ears that it could even droop.
"….We will not use any World Items, and we will not touch my friends' equipment. We shall we those alone."
"Then at most it would be the Artifacts I presume. That is a pity. I personally wanted to see the power of World Items which are said to be able to tear apart worlds. No, if anything goes then I would like to see Touch Me-sama's weapon, the World Champion of Alfheim. Ah, then the Cup of Hygieia…."
As Pandora's Actor mumbled, he placed his finger on the bridge of his glasses and smiled deviously. The way that the lenses caught light and glinted was quite unnerving.
Pandora's Actor had a setting of being a Magic Item Fetch, and that could sustain him. Having that be this disgusting was surprising.
Ainz recalled the settings he made, and his body twitched slightly in revulsion. Honestly when they were making everyone, they had gone too far. However, examining it calmly, it was like having the spellbook that one wrote as a kid being read out.
This was his black history.
If there were other guild members currently in Nazarick, they would be collapsing on the floor and laughing. Ainz felt that. He would not say who but….
"Then I'll just take them."
"I have to reason to refuse. Everything here belongs to Momonga-sama and the other Supreme Beings after all."
His actions and tone suggested that he were in a play, and he pointed at the surroundings.
"Although, it is with a heavy heart that I confess that I was hoping you intended to make use of my abilities, Momonga-sama."
Ainz stopped moving, and gave the heteromorph who was pushing up his glasses an evaluating gaze.
At one point Ainz had indeed intended to make use of him. Pandora's Actor possessed wit and cunning that ranked among the pinnacle of Nazarick's denizens. While he usually applied said intelligence toward strange purposes, it was very difficult to cast aside his wisdom during times of great need.
In addition, Pandora's Actor possessed very flexible abilities, to the point where he could replace all the other Guardians.
However, Ainz had not made him for combat or administrative duties, but to preserve the forms of [Ainz Ooal Gown] and the memories of his comrades.
"…You are my final ace in the hole, so I do not intend to use you for petty tasks."
"…I am truly grateful for that." With a look on his face which suggested that he was hesitant to speak, Pandora's Actor once more took a deep bow. "Understood. Then, I shall continue to manage the Treasury from now on."
"Mm, make me proud. Also, from now onwards, call me Ainz, Ainz Ooal Gown."
"Ohhhh! I hear and obey, my creator, Ainz-sama!"
With an attitude of ending the conversation, Ainz turned away but heard Pandora's Actor's voice.
"However, Ainz-sama. If you are performing experiments with magic items, would it not be best to use my abilities?"
"…….."
"In addition, if I take on your figure, I can act without sleep. This will lead to a reduction in the time needed…. How about it?"
Pandora's Actor placed a hand on his chest, as if to recommend himself. Shizu who was standing behind him made a Uwaa~ which was heard by Ainz. It's…. A bit of an overreaction isn't it. It was a bit over the top.
Every nook and cranny of his actions and posture screamed, I am cool.
Perhaps such actions would fit him if he was a handsome man, but instead he was an egghead, which made them terribly unfitting. It even made Ainz feel uneasy when he saw him.
Ainz silently looked at Pandora's Actor for a short time. He had decided on something. Ainz pulled out a ring from his pocket and threw it at Pandora's Actor. The ring traced an arc through the air, landing neatly in the hand of Pandora's Actor.
"This… is the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown, and it possesses the ability to…"
Ainz held up a hand, as though to tell Pandora's Actor not to go on. Although he seemed quite disappointed, Ainz decided to pay him no heed.
"It's a spare. I shall inform Cocytus and his subordinates about you within a few days. Afterwards, come."
"Understood."
Pandora's Actor made a such a straight bow that even his fingers had stiffened. It was extremely polite, or in other words, it could be taken as an act. Ainz looked at Pandora's Actor's egghead and nodded.
He was not a bad person. His abilities and personality were not bad. However—
"Uwah…."
Why did I design him with such a personality? I used to think this sort of thing was so cool.
If Ainz could have blushed, his face would be bright red.