Ainz and the twins were eating together.
Well, Ainz wasn't capable of eating, so it was just Aura and Mare. They
had more on the table than the natural flavorings the dark elves had
provided.
Ainz had pulled out some Nazarick food from his inventory.
Aura and Mare had taken one bite of each dish the dark elves supplied
and written their opinions of it on some paper next to them. Later, they
would show these to knowledgeable members of different races in E-Rantel
for further investigation.
That said, at the moment, they'd made no discoveries of note—financial
or otherwise. It wasn't clear what relations they might have with this village
in the future, but they did not seem like they'd be a profitable trade partner.
The reason he was having the twins sample each and record their
impressions was so Ainz would have something to say if anyone happened
to ask.
This plan had one big problem. Aura and Mare were used to Nazarick
food—they had discerning palates. The two of them didn't have a single
positive thing to say about the dark elf cuisine so far. But telling the chef, It
tastes terrible, required you to be either entirely inconsiderate of people's
feelings, willing to ruin relations with this village, or possibly a very young
child.
So their meal was taking quite a while.
A bite, some chewing, a frown, and then their honest opinion. Then
some flipping through their notes, frowning harder, and finally writing
something nice. They couldn't exactly say, Fresh ingredients! every time.
They needed to change it up.
If they'd had a thesaurus available, it would have been soon worn out.
By the time they'd pried their impressions out and put it to paper, both kids
looked exhausted. Like they'd just completed an eating competition.
"Good work," Ainz said, well aware of the effort involved.
They brightened up immediately.
"No, this is nothi…no big deal, Uncle Ain!"
"R-right. W-we're just eating and writing what we think!"
Mare wasn't wrong, but as someone who couldn't eat, it was hard to just
nod agreeably. Especially since their efforts were for his benefit.
They were children, so if they expressed their unvarnished opinions, it
would likely not cause (major) issues. Ainz's words were another matter. If
he could partake himself, he would likely have been desperately racking his
brain for polite phrases, too.
He couldn't thank them enough, but repeating himself would just start
becoming oppressive.
So he said nothing more, simply listening to their reviews.
Their honest takes matched up perfectly and never changed. Just to be
sure, they went through them anyway.
"Perhaps we should have offered some properly seasoned food and told
them this is how we eat? They might have tried to make something similar."
"It's poss— Maybe, yeah?" Aura was still tripping over her word
choices every now and then. "When you got to fry meat, all you really need
to do is salt it—and it'll be just fine. But the way they keep it fresh isn't all
that great, so the meat is still pretty gamey. Perhaps there are people who
prefer it that way, but I'm n—I ain't one of 'em."
They'd been in this village a while, but Aura still wasn't used to talking
to Ainz this way.
"I—I agree. It smells funny."
"Hmm."
"The veggies are better, but they're lacking in sweetness. Bitter or tart
hit you first. Again, people who like that might enjoy that? I wonder if they
could make some sauces out of the fruit."
"I could use some dressing, at least."
"Mm-hmm."
Pretty much the same as always.
"Then let me see what you've written down, please."
Glancing them over, he could tell they were trying very hard to say
something nice.
Ainz bowed his head again internally.
Once he'd read them through—they weren't particularly long—he did
his best to remember the contents and handed the notebooks back. Morning
prep complete.
Time to head out to work.
"Okay! It's about time for me to get going. I might be late again, so feel
free to eat without me."
They answered as one, but Ainz noticed Aura had almost said something
else.
"What is it, Aura? Something on your mind?"
"Uh, well, er…yeah, maybe, Uncle Ain. You're going to study medicine
again today?"
"That's correct. Apparently, I'm learning a slightly harder brew today. I
used a Gate to ask Nfirea about the medicine's name, but he hadn't heard of
it. It would be much faster if we could get them to trust Messages…" Ainz
sighed. "But I suppose there is a chance an enemy of Nazarick would use
them, so let's just let them have it their way."
" Will that be an issue?"
Aura's tone shifted, so Ainz matched her.
If she was asking as a floor guardian, then Ainz must answer as the ruler
of Nazarick.
"I'm not sure. But I don't plan to make the medicine myself. If any of
the components involved existed in Yggdrasil, I know my brew would fail."
Much like cooking.
Ainz lacked the relevant skill, so he could craft nothing that involved
Yggdrasil herbs or alchemical solutions. But he could make medicine using
this world's techniques and herbs found only here. While studying with the
apothecary, the first step was to make sure he knew exactly what went into
a particular recipe.
Still—
"So many mysteries. We can't use Yggdrasil herbs, but what happens if
they're cultivated in this world's soil? Do those count as herbs from this
world or not?"
"I—I think it's the latter."
"Likely, yes. But what happens if the potency diminishes? Herbs raised
by human hands are nowhere near as effective. Nfirea says our efforts to
cultivate them around E-Rantel aren't working out because there's
something lacking in the soil. A vital nutrient perhaps. That's why they're
experimenting with cultivation inside the forest."
"Yes, they are. A little patch of them in the woods. There were lots of
logs with mushrooms or moss growing on them, too. I remember seeing
those when I went to take a peek. It's actually kinda hard to get close to that
village these days…," Aura said.
Enri's goblins were on watch for quite some distance around Carne.
There were goblin trap makers, and the traps they made sounded alarms—
which were much harder to detect than traps that did damage.
"But if nutrients are the issue, we could just have Mare help or use
items."
Both looked at Mare, who shrank visibly.
"Er, um, so, I can do that, but I'm not actually sure that's what's needed.
I a-actually am sneaking into the E-Rantel Adventurers Guild field at night
to see, but I feel like that's not the right approach."
The harvested ingredients might look the same, but once you made a
potion from them, the effects were slightly diminished. A particularly
unwelcome outcome.
Was Mare oversupplying them? Was it pure coincidence? Was there
something else missing? A better spell for these herbs? There were so many
factors involved that no clear answer had emerged.
"We've been here a few years now, but there's still so much we don't
know."
"Right."
"R-right."
Each time they learned something, they found more they didn't know.
The mysteries only deepened over time. But fortunately—if that was the
word for it—they were all things that didn't exactly seem high priority.
Quite a lot of them had been left on the back burner.
If these issues could be left to minions or summons, they might have
solved them already, but those beings weren't capable of handling all the
experiments needed.
It seemed that the bare minimum was an NPC—a being created the
same way a player was. But it was possible players and NPCs would have
different results. If they really wanted to be thorough, they'd have to do
each experiment three times, once with Ainz, once with an NPC, and once
with a minion.
"Cultivation experiments might be best left in the hands of those under
our control, but we can't have truly vital experiments leaking to anyone
who might potentially become a threat to us. That's why we're having those
done with Nazarick insiders alone—but our numbers are limited. What a
headache."
Keep an eye on other countries for technological breakthroughs, while
taking steps within Nazarick to ensure our technological superiority.
Hard work, but…
With Albedo and Demiurge in charge of it, I'm sure it'll be fine. They're
both very smart.
In fact, they might already have handled the matter and he was just
butting his oar in. Couldn't hurt to bring it up, at least.
I can have a summon write a note and drop it in the suggestion box
again.
That way he could avoid the risk of anyone asking, You just now
noticed?
—Whoops.
"Oh dear! It's time! Gotta run!"
Before they could even nod, Ainz burst from the elf tree.
Showing up late was out of the question. Back when he'd been a lowly
employee, he'd never once been tardy. No matter how obsessed with
Yggdrasil he got.
Gotta hustle!
Light struck his face.
A ray of sunshine filtered through the branches above, telling him it was
another beautiful day.
Aura listened until her master's footsteps were out of earshot before she
spoke.
"I feel like Lord… Haaagh."
She trailed off in a sigh. It was hard to keep the act up when it was just
the two of them. Not good. Meanwhile, Mare wasn't really doing any kind
of act at all.
It was hardly fair. She shot him a look.
"Mm? Aura, wh-what is it?"
"Mm? Nothing. Nothing at all!" Taking out her frustrations on her
brother wouldn't help. Aura put her head on right and finished her earlier
thought. "Uncle Ain seems to be having fun."
Mare nodded at that.
Aura didn't really get why, though. Her head tilted to one side.
"He's been running to the apothecary every day since we got here, but is
it really worth all that effort?"
"Good question. B-but I can't use the druid spells with these trees, so
maybe their medicine has some unique qualities, too."
"If someone as smart as Uncle Ain is this interested, maybe. But I find it
hard to believe that this poky little town has something so special to offer. I
mean, even the tree magic is just something you happen to not have, right?
Or is it something other druids can't use, either?"
"Hmm. I don't know. Other people, um, might be able to, but I feel like
it's elf-specific magic that originated in this world. Like daily-life magic
did. Also, if Uncle Ain is spending this much time on something, it must be
worth it, right?"
That went without saying.
"Yeah, that's probably true." Aura looked up at the ceiling, then back at
Mare. "So why is it he's having so much fun?"
"W-well, you know. N-new knowledge—gaining information? That's
fun? He really likes information."
"Okay, okay. That, I get. That's how he can make such good plans."
Their master wasn't just smart. His obsessive hunger for knowledge
directly fed the brilliance and foresight that saw so far ahead.
She remembered Demiurge saying their master had plans that spanned a
thousand years, and the way he acted made that claim very convincing.
Aura let out a sigh of admiration.
He hadn't led the Supreme Beings for nothing.
BubblingTeapot was still her ultimate master, but Ainz was close
behind. Peroroncino lagged a distant third. Ankoro Mocchi Mochi and
Yamaiko were tied at fourth and the rest of the Supreme Beings beneath
them. Mare ranked everyone below third basically the same.
"That's our uncle! Meanwhile…" Aura's face fell. "We're getting
nowhere."
Mare looked just as gloomy.
"Y-yeah. We've learned nothing special, not one piece of information
that sounds relevant. And we've gotta try again?"
"What else can we do? I'm getting real sick of playing house. But if we
play something else, then what? We'd probably win most games without
even trying, and if we pretend to lose, what'll happen if they find out and
think we're making fun of them? Technically, we're supposed to be getting
along."
A long silence.
Another day of playing house lay before them. But they had no solid
reason to back out of playing with the village children and had no alternate
proposals. If this wasn't a directive from a Supreme Being, they might have
tried faking sick, but that was off the table.
"...…Well, at least we know my tamer skills don't work on dark
elves. That's something we didn't know before." Aura saw Mare wince, so
she snapped, "I'm including one-hundred-level dark elves, you know."
The reminder made him shudder.
Ainz crossed the bridge between trees, bathed in the dappled sunlight
filtering down from above.
Every now and then, a dark elf waved at him. Not just that—a dark elf
walking his way smiled and said, "Fior, off to the apothecary master
again?"
"That I am," Ainz replied.
The fake name had startled him at first, but after a few days, he'd gotten
used to it.
"I'm afraid I've got no knack for it, so I'm giving my provisional master
no end of headaches."
"Your casting skills are plenty magnificent. If you were an equally
skilled apothecary, that would be far more astonishing. Same as how no
one's both a skilled druid and a skilled ranger at the same time."
Ainz had slain a beast that approached the village—a giant hypnotism
python. This had earned him tremendous respect from the dark elves who
lived here.
Ever since then, people waved and came over to chat. Their admiration
was evident.
"That certainly makes me feel better. Much as I'd love to stop and talk, I
am keeping my provisional master waiting. If you'll excuse me."
"I do apologize. Don't let me delay you further!"
Completing a polite extraction, Ainz pressed on, arriving at the place
he'd spent the last few days training.
"Sorry I'm late," he said, stepping into the elf tree.
He was not actually late. Time was entirely subjective in this village;
only the hunters were at all strict about it. Most people never promised to be
anywhere on time, preferring to play it very loose indeed. No one had
specifically told Ainz to be here at this hour.
But he was a little later than usual, so he figured it was worth
acknowledging.
In fact—
"You aren't late at all, though?"
Was the only response.
The apothecary master never looked his way. Looking distinctly
uncomfortable with the process, he was slowly, gingerly adding crushed
herbs to a plate.
Ainz took a seat next to him and, once he was done, picked up the plate
and set it on the scale. Then he began adding weights to the opposing plate.
He didn't get it right the first time and had to swap weights in and out
several times before the plates balanced properly. Ainz then wrote down the
final measurements on the page he kept close at hand.
"Okay, what's next?"
The apothecary had been growing increasingly agitated the whole time,
and he snatched the dish of herbs away, moving them to a different dish. He
was being careful, but it was impossible to get all the herbs off the dish—
some residue and fluids remained behind.
The master scowled at that, then tried to use a scraper on it.
If this tool had been made of rubber, perhaps it would have come off
clean, but unfortunately, it was made of wood. He got some off, but there
was still some left.
"Argh, what a mess!" he yelled, mussing his own hair.
He never would have let Ainz see him this distraught the first day. This
was less because the days they'd spent together had brought his guard down
than a demonstrative act provoked by his irritation with the workflow Ainz
had proposed. It was mostly a hint he'd really like to stop.
"Hang in there, Provisional Master."
The apothecary shot him a sulky look.
That might get one reaction from women or children, but from a grownass man, it did not exactly make Ainz's mind waver. No matter how
handsome dark elves were.
"…Provisional Disciple, you've turned this into a complete nightmare."
"We've gone over the reasons. And you agreed. I didn't force you into
anything."
"...At the time, I thought you had a point. Certainly, our village had
no giants. But once I slept on it…I realized that learning to feel it by hand is
important. Once you learn that, you can always take measurements later
when you're back home."
The apothecary sounded less and less confident as he went on.
Ainz was swearing internally—he'd hoped the master wouldn't pick up
on that.
He wasn't sure if this observation came too late or too soon, but he'd
certainly hoped to keep him confuddled.
The dish-based approach was the result of the apothecary's attempts to
get Ainz to learn by the weight on his palm and then with his tongue.
The hand he could obfuscate—he just had to work harder on the illusion.
But flavor was a nonstarter. Put it on your tongue and feel how numb it
gets… Easily said, but Ainz didn't have a tongue. A fact he could hardly
admit here.
So he'd made excuses. "In the city I'm from, we have creatures large
and small, from giants to dwarves. Treating them requires different dosages.
For that reason, I'd like to take accurate measures of the volume of herbs
needed in a single dose, so I can later adjust that to match the body mass of
the patient."
The apothecary master had treated only dark elves, so these words rang
true.
Ainz thought the story had a grain of truth to it. But he was also well
aware it was a deception.
The logic behind it was based more on the world he'd come from and
might not apply here.
This world ran on magic, and that warped the laws of physics. Potions
clearly had one foot in the realm of magic, so it seemed altogether plausible
they would hardly function the way things had where he came from.
He knew for a fact that a small potion could heal a giant's injuries just as
well.
Naturally, your average human and your average frost giant's maximum
HP were substantially different, so you'd imagine the amount recovered
would differ. And yet, in practice, it seemed to be identical. They hadn't
experimented to be strictly sure—this was an estimate based on what Ainz
knew about Yggdrasil, the principles of which were rather similar to this
world's. So there was a possibility his rationale here was actually true.
In retrospect, I should probably just have said I have no sense of taste.
That would have saved them a lot of trouble. But if he'd gone that route,
it probably would have led to other problems somewhere.
No use crying over spilled milk. What I need now is something that'll
silence his complaints and convince him…but nothing springs to mind. I
thought I had him where I wanted him so didn't prep any other excuses. Big
mistake.
Ainz adjusted his facial illusion, closing the eyes. Since it was just an
illusion, he could still see just fine.
The twins had said his face didn't move nearly enough—It's like you're
wearing a mask. So he was making a point of closing his eyes sometimes.
The parts left uncovered by the cloth—his brows and eyelids—were
particularly vital in conveying emotion, so if they never moved, it was just
like he was staring fixedly at a single point and rather unsettling. He'd had
no idea.
With them supervising, he'd practiced until he was capable of producing
things that looked enough like emotion to pass rudimentary inspection.
Even then, that was true only when he was consciously controlling it. The
movements were still rather clunky, and he definitely couldn't do anything
at all if he wasn't focused on it.
It wasn't clear how the apothecary had interpreted this bout of silence,
but he said, "And doing it this way—you know it's unproductive. Far less
medicine produced a day is bad for the village!"
A fair assessment.
The village had a number of druids, albeit low-level ones, and they
could heal most urgent injuries. The demand for medicine came from
hunters and anyone else leaving the village proper—people who necessarily
would be far from the druids.
If the druids accompanied the hunters, they might help when injuries
occurred, but since they weren't good at concealing themselves, they'd get
in the way of the actual hunts.
Ainz didn't know much about hunting, so he was of the opinion they
should just make a base camp and leave the druids on standby there, but this
village had its own way of doing things. Likely the result of trying things
out and seeing what worked. An outsider with little knowledge of the forest
itself really shouldn't be sticking his nose in.
"And can anyone truly say that the properties don't change while the
mixture is sitting on this dish? They cannot."
The scale and its dishes were a retired model taken from the Baleares—
to Ainz's knowledge, the most accomplished alchemists this world had to
offer. If they'd used them without issues, there likely wouldn't be any
issues. He'd said as much already—specifically, that he'd been given it by
his master, so it should be fine.
But when asked, "Did your master use the same herbs? Can you say
these herbs won't be affected?" he'd been at a loss. Without asking, he
couldn't really know.
"Like I said before, it should be fine."
"Should isn't will be. You aren't completely sure! You have doubts
yourself! Are doubts allowed? Medicine can be harmful. What if this dish
causes a reaction and the result winds up hurting someone?"
"...That seems highly unlikely."
"Yeah, maybe so. But to be absolutely sure, we'd have to make every
kind of medicine and double-check. And even if we did, the change might
be minor enough that we wouldn't even notice! But after days or weeks
pass, the change could become much more significant. Then we go use it on
someone in critical condition and the changes wind up killing someone it
should have saved."
His reasoning was perfectly sound.
Ainz had no basis to make clear declarations against any of these
hypotheticals. He could not defeat this argument.
And what Ainz did know was stopgap knowledge. How was that
supposed to compete with the wealth of knowledge a true master had? If
either Baleare had been here, they'd likely have made swift work of things.
But he couldn't afford to back down.
Especially given the potential involvement of the tongue he didn't have.
"Then you just keep doing it your way. I'll take the raw data back to the
city and follow up on your suggestions to investigate things."
Ainz rattled all this off before the apothecary could say anything else.
Only a fool would let his opponent fire back. Ainz was a fool and
frequently got hit with return fire—or shot in the back. Mostly by
Demiurge.
"There are more apothecaries in the city. With their help, we can make a
lot of medicine rapidly. And there are all sorts of races, so I can borrow the
help of apothecaries from those races to ensure it's safe for all."
The master looked a bit disgruntled. These medicines were passed down
from generation to generation in his tribe and considered trade secrets. He
likely wasn't thrilled about them being shared with that many people. Ainz
sympathized. Albeit less concerned about vested interests than sharing
knowledge with those who might prove a threat to him.
Ainz did not actually intend to do anything he'd claimed. It was simply
a rationale he'd concocted to get through this impasse.
Ainz's friends had taught him well.
The true value in knowledge came from monopolizing it.
If he shared the knowledge he'd gained here with anyone, it would be
with the inhabitants of Nazarick.
"If you've got no arguments, Master, let's proceed."
The apothecary looked less than pleased by this assault. But he didn't
have a decisive argument, so he shrugged and went back to putting herbs on
the dish.
He moved fast. It was not easy for Ainz to play his part and take notes.
Perhaps that was the goal.
If he finished his side of things and Ainz still wasn't done, then he'd
have an excuse to jeer. Less because he was trying to get through a job he
didn't like than payback for having argued him down.
Not so fast, buddy.
Sure, Ainz wasn't as fast as a professional apothecary. But he had spent
the last few days performing the same basic tasks repeatedly. He wasn't
about to call it quits now.
Getting fired up, he threw himself into his work.
When the herbs came his way, he put the appropriate weights on the
scale, relying on applied experience to get it right on the first try. If he
didn't have time to write things down, then he'd just have to pound those
numbers into his mind. Ainz was not exactly a brainiac, but it wasn't like
his short-term memory was completely lacking.
When Ainz got faster, so did the master.
Neither spoke a word. They focused purely on their tasks. If anyone else
had stopped by, they would likely have been shocked by how fast the two of
them were going.
But…that's the fun.
As he learned how to make the medicine, he considered the effects of it.
This medicine doesn't do that much. But if we combined it with other
things…there could be some synergy.
Yggdrasil had been a game with an immense wealth of data, and players
had loved nothing more than finding new ways to gain an advantage. Ainz
—or Satoru Suzuki—had been but one of them.
And medicines Yggdrasil lacked, made with this world's original
techniques—they had potential.
Compensate for the weaknesses with magic items rather than spells…but
that would take time. It needs more zip…
They'd first have to investigate whether synergy was actually possible.
But the potential for new methods and techniques got him excited.
I should have looked into this sooner. Ainz pictured Nfirea's face. I have
the connections. He'd tell me more if I asked…
But Ainz had been focusing his study time on other matters. He'd left
acquiring knowledge of this world's techniques to Titus, et al.
Honestly, I'm not capable of running anything, let alone a nation. I'd be
better off putting myself in the research department. That's what I like doing
anyway…
He'd had vague thoughts along these lines when he'd first started
learning here.
If Satoru Suzuki had actually had a good brain—Ainz's skull was
thoroughly empty—perhaps he could have learned both. But that had not
been the case. And so he was devoting his efforts to a field he was ill-suited
for—and that was arguably a complete waste of time.
I've thought about fleeing my duties before. But this isn't that. All of us
have a place we're meant to be. When I get back to Nazarick, I should tell
Albedo I'm transferring…but what then? Would that not be a betrayal of the
NPCs' trust? I'm the guild master; I'm calling myself Ainz Ooal Gown—is
that any way for me to behave? What would…the others say…? Ah!
The apothecary master's hands stopped—and with it, their competition
and Ainz's line of thought.
The master had turned to face the door.
Ainz had been about to grin triumphantly but quickly hid that, following
his seven-day-master's gaze. There was no one there—so he listened
instead.
There was a commotion in the distance. It didn't sound urgent—at least,
not like a monster attack or serious injury.
"You're the last arrivals from the city?"
"Mm? Uh, yes, we should be. I don't know of anyone else headed here.
You mean…?"
"Yeah, I do. This is what it's like when someone arrives—and it's a
newcomer. If it was a neighboring dark elf, it wouldn't sound like this.
Might be an elf."
Could it be someone from Nazarick?
No, Ainz dismissed the thought. If they wanted to get in touch, they'd
send a Message. It was hard to imagine them just popping by. But if this
was an elf, he had an idea.
"An elf merchant?"
"Could…be. But…this feels different. Well, not our problem. If it was,
someone would come to fetch me."
He seemed to be trying to convince himself. He turned back to the table.
"Let's keep going. I'm sure your teacher told you the potency of many
brews diminishes the longer they take."
He was going much slower than a minute ago, but this didn't last long.
A dark elf villager burst in, out of breath.
"Mango!" the interloper yelled. Then he saw Ainz and slowed down.
"Oh, and Fior. Sorry to interrupt."
Everyone in the village knew Ainz was making regular visits here. But
whatever was going on had made that fact slip his mind.
"You apologize to my provisional disciple but not to me? What's the
meaning of this?" the apothecary grumbled. He didn't take any real offense.
He was scowling but clearly toying with the man.
"Ah, sorry, Mango. I'm interrupting your work."
Mango Gilena—that was the apothecary master's name.
The apologetic dark elf glanced at Ainz once more but remained silent.
"Uh, if I shouldn't hear this, I can leave?"
"No, that's not it; it's just… Mango, an elf came to visit. Apparently, the
human country near the forest is attacking us."
He glanced at Ainz again.
"Ah, in that case, I can promise it isn't my country. This is likely the
Theocracy—they lie between the woods and my home. I'd heard they were
at war with the elves."
The dark elf looked relieved.
"Well, the elves want us to send troops. They've got other villages to
visit, so they've left already, but the elders called a meeting to decide what
we should do."