Maruyama Kugane: The Invaders of the Large Tomb

“…Very well, as long as you are willing to offer everything, what I know will become yours. I will therefore grant your wish.”

“Oh! Ooooohhh!”

His head still pressed to the ground, Fluder cried tears of joy. The jealousy that had frozen his heart for so long seemed to have melted. At long last, his wish from over two hundred years ago might finally come true.

The absolutely overjoyed Fluder did not raise his head, but instead crawled towards Momon’s feet and kissed them. Although he had wanted to lick it at first, he realized that his god-like master might get annoyed if he did that, so he compromised, drawing on the tiny lucid fragment of himself in the corner of his mind.

“So be it. I accept your fealty.”

“Hooo! I am very thankful!… My master!”

“Now then, I will give my first order. Deliver sacrifices to my dominion—”

♦ ♦ ♦

“Gramps! Gramps! What is it, gramps?!”

Fluder, who was recalling his past, regained his awareness after realizing someone was calling him.

The shocking encounter from a few days ago still gripped his heart, and if he did not focus, his mind might take flight into fantasy again.

Fluder immediately remembered where he was, and nodded slightly to the person addressing him.

“Pardon my rudeness, your Majesty, my mind was elsewhere.”

In front of Fluder was the only person who would call him gramps, the Emperor of the Baharuth Empire, Jircniv Rune Farlord El Nix, and they were currently in the Emperor’s study.

Normally, there would not be so many people gathered in this room. The ones currently present were the Emperor Jircniv, who was accompanied by four of his bodyguards. The Empire’s highest ranked magic caster, Fluder Paradyne was there as well. In addition, even though the Emperor possessed remarkable intelligence, he had ten trustworthy ministers who were capable enough to assist him. One of the Four Imperial Knights, ‘Lightning’ Baziwood Peshmel, was also in attendance.

They all sat at their preferred places, and until recently, they had been discussing the future plans for the Empire. The papers scattered around the room spoke of how intense the meeting had become.

The young man called the Blood Emperor started talking to Fluder in a tone no one else would dare to use.

“No, don’t worry about it. It must be tiring for you to do so much work since you are getting on in years, so you might want to take it easy, but in the end it’s still a job that only grandpa can do. Sorry about that.”

“I am deeply grateful for his Majesty’s kindness. However, I am your Majesty’s loyal subject.

Please feel free to give me your orders.”

Fluder, who had come so far, lightly nodded his head.

Ah, I raised a really good child, Fluder thought while looking at the beautiful face of the youth.

Fluder had been serving the Empire for six generations now.

Initially, he did not have a really good relationship with the Emperor from six generations ago. Even so, he had been a skilled magic caster at the time, so when he was recruited, he ended up reaching a prominent position even among the court wizards.

Due to this, his relationship with the imperial family had gradually become closer over the next five generations. When he first acquired the position of head magician, he started educating the Emperor’s children from the fourth generation on, but it was mainly related to magic.

Ever since the third generation, he had been instructing them in various subjects, most of which concerned politics.

And now it was the current emperor—a child that everyone adored.

Until now, he had seen many different types of emperors but none of them were incapable. All the children were talented as if they had been picked by the gods—but despite the current Emperor’s youth, his talents and abilities outshined the previous emperors by a wide margin. Even though it could be argued that Fluder had been aiding the preparations since two generations ago, the autocratic centralisation of power within the Emperor’s person had only been possible due to Jircniv’s exceptional skills

Fluder loved Jircniv Rune Farlord el Nix.

He had educated the Emperor and treated him like his own child, and Fluder believed that the Emperor treated him like a father as well.

But even if that was the case—

Fluder was still willing to abandon someone who he saw as his own child.

I wish to peer into the abyss of magic, Jircniv . I will not lose sight of that goal, no matter what Ihave to sacrifice for it. Even if it is an adorable child like you.

“Then your Majesty, is this why we called off the Kingdom’s invasion?”

“That’s right. The details about the devil calling himself Jaldabaoth are far more important. Gramps, have you found anything from your investigation yet?”

“Regretfully no, your Majesty. Even after the investigation, we still could not find any information about him.”

That’s right. That was how things had turned out.

“Paradyne, can’t you investigate it through magic?”

Fluder narrowed his eyes and looked at the speaker with a serious expression on his face.

“It is true that magic can be all powerful, but that is—”

“—Gramps, sorry. But if you start talking about that subject it’ll take quite long. So, it’s better to stop for now.”

“I understand, your Majesty.”

For a moment, Fluder looked dejected, and then adopted the tone of a teacher and started lecturing the people who seemed like students that kept missing the point.

“There are ways to prevent magical investigation. For instance, did you know this room is proofed against eavesdropping by magic? There are also other things that this room is protected against, and magical investigation is the least of such things.”

“…I understand. Because there are so many counter-measures, it would be difficult to do it.”

“That’s right. However, we would be lucky if the magic simply failed to work. High-tier magic casters can prepare retaliatory countermeasures to such spells. Some of them can even kill the spellcaster immediately if things go badly.”

How could someone of my ability be compared to the Supreme Being? There’s no one else moredeserving of the title of Supreme Being than him. I need to prove my usefulness to him quickly….

Some people blanched with expressions of distaste as they heard Fluder talk about being killed, but he paid them no heed.

“Taking that into consideration...”

One of the ministers took out a piece of paper.

“There’s a place which seems to be the stronghold of a magic caster who goes by the name of Ainz Ooal Gown. Since Paradyne-sama found it through magic, does it mean that the person is less powerful than Paradyne-sama?”

“That’s too naive!”

Fluder shouted out loudly as he tried his hardest to forcefully suppress his urge to smile bitterly.

This showed how anxious he was.

“Your thinking is too naive. Consider that he saved Carne Village, or rather, only Carne Village.

With that in mind, I placed a magical surveillance field around the entire area and it was purely by chance that I saw someone who appeared to be Ainz Ooal Gown entering them. If you forget that this was nothing more than a coincidence, you’ll regret it.”

Part of that was the truth. Taking the Supreme Being lightly was a foolish move. No, despite the fact that he also used to be like that, he realised how scary it was to be ignorant about it.

Fluder laughed on the inside at how foolish he used to be. He was truly ignorant.

“My apologies.”

He raised his hand to beg his pardon.

“Ah ha, speaking of which, gramps. What happened to the workers that broke into the suspected stronghold?”