When her master returned from the elf country, Albedo greeted him at the Ice Prison, then returned to his office to resume her duties.
Toppling the Re-Estize Kingdom had dramatically expanded their domains and her workload. Albedo’s abilities were specialized in domestic affairs, so nothing here really gave her much trouble. Since they’d burned most cities to the ground, really thorny issues like occupational politics had largely gone up in flames.
For that reason, Albedo was devoting a considerable portion of her mental faculties to the creation of internal resources detailing occupational strategies for use in the many countries that would eventually come under their control.
What had worked in E-Rantel might be applicable even when expanded to a national level, but it was not hard to imagine that would come with some growing pains. Cities and countries each had their own requirements, and approaching them as separate beasts would avoid further problems down the line.
Naturally, what she drew up here might not apply universally to every country. Different races and cultures made all the difference. But the bare-bones outline of it should remain useful.
Once it’s written up, I’ll run it by Demiurge and Pandora’s Actor, then get Lord Ainz’s approval.
Their minds should ensure her work was even finer.
I could ask that girl, too…
Her master was the wisest of them all, so having him look first might be the fastest approach—he could certainly find things the other two would miss—but as head of the floor guardians, it would never do for her to offer documents that contained obvious problems.
These thoughts on her mind, she made her way through the pile on her desk when—
“Albedo! Come to the Ice Prison.”
This Message made her jump. She sensed a towering rage behind her master’s thoughts.
Once you hit a certain level, resistance to mind control was vital. Charm or Dominate could be instantly fatal otherwise. Every floor guardian had measures in place.
Despite that, Albedo felt a twinge of fear. She might have been able to null the side effects, but it was impossible to ignore the raw emotion behind them.
He knew.
Albedo was working on something behind her master’s back. Had he found out?
Had Demiurge sniffed it out and informed him?
It was still at the experimental phase. She had not fully deployed it yet. Would that engender this much fury?
She could think of no other reason why such anger would be directed her way.
What was this?
Albedo hastily used the ring’s power, moving to the Ice Prison.
Her master stood before the cage housing the half elf they’d captured. Behind him stood the domain guardian, Neuronist, with Aura and Mare.
His expression was unchanged, but she could still sense the towering fury.
Albedo immediately prostrated herself before him.
“I cannot apologize enough!”
“……F-for what?”
He sounded genuinely confused. She swiftly concluded the cause of his fury was not what she’d imagined. This kowtow was a poor choice.
But she’d thought of an excuse on her way here. Her master might be vastly more intelligent that her, but given enough time, she could form plans as good as his.
Or at least I hope so.
“If anything in Nazarick has displeased you and incurred your wrath, Lord Ainz, then that is the fault of the captain of the guardians—myself. I besmirch Lord Tabula Smaragdina’s reputation. Thus, the only possible response is to bow my head and profess my sorrow.”
“…………No, Albedo, that’s not right at all. First, let me correct a misunderstanding. This fury is not directed at Nazarick at all.”
Albedo breathed a sigh of relief. Not performative—from the heart.
“Th-then what is the cause?”
“Raise your head and stand before me. I do not enjoy having those who are faultless bow before me.”
“Thank you, Lord Ainz.”
Albedo rose to her feet.
The twins momentarily looked dubious, which concerned her, but that was not important now.
“Then can I assume the prisoner had provided you with unpleasant information?”
He had been using Control Amnesia to gather just that.
Her master had practiced this quite a bit, but even for him, it took weeks just to skim the surface of memories lasting any length of time. Sorting carefully through the memories to find critical information could theoretically take years. And if he was adjusting those memories as he went, decades.
Many might assume examining memories would prevent false information, but what they learned was only what the individual believed to be true. It was quite possible for people to have simply been deceived.
Achieving any degree of certainty required searching the memories of multiple subjects, and nobody had time for that. Ultimately, her master said simpler means of gathering information were far more practical.
Same for memory manipulation.
For example, say he burned a village down and a surviving villager had the nerve to bear a grudge against him and sought the power to harm him—this was not possible, but for the sake of argument, assume they achieved it.
If they removed the villager’s memories of who had burned the village, did that solve the problem and turn the villager into a useful tool? No. While on his quest for power, he had likely told someone he was out for revenge—and unless all such moments were eliminated, the villager would notice the inconsistencies.
In other words, the villager might not remember his village burning down, but he would remember saying, “An undead named Ainz burned my village down,” over drinks.
Here, the prisoner was unconscious, and this was merely a useful way to gather some information ahead of time.
“Shalltear.”
That word was enough for Albedo.
“……Who is the prisoner with?”
“……Albedo.”
“Lord Ainz.” She bent a knee.
“Everyone not required for Nazarick defense can put aside their current line of work. We will invade and destroy the Theocracy at once. They started the fight; we’ll finish it. Agreed?”
His tone was gentle. But the emotions behind it were the polar opposite. She could not remember the last time he’d been so angry.
“Indeed. As you say. I’ll send word to all floor guardians and have them prepare.”
“Good. Get to it, Albedo. Now.”
His kind tone made her shiver. Albedo bowed low.