Chương 160: 159
Ainz was happy that he had been able to, at least for himself, affirm the importance of his title and position as leader and boss. But the confidence that that realization had given him, which had even made him get up and leave the bar, was not accompanied by an unexpected prophetic revelation, or even a clear understanding of the situation. So, after being inspired to reach new heights, having left the bar and stepped into the street, Ainz breathed the night air, looked up at the sky and asked himself. "And so… what now?"
Unlike in fiction or stories, while Ainz's sudden newfound confidence in himself and the mental impulse that came from it were great things, it doesn't actually give him any answer to his problems. The problem was that even though he was sure he was needed as a boss, he still didn't know exactly what he needed to do in this Singularity. Nor does he know what he requires to strive for and what was the necessary outcome of his actions.
That is, of course, he had to destroy the Singularity and restore the course of normal history with as little personal interference in it as possible. But what in the end was he supposed to do in that case?
In fact, once he had gone outside the bar, Ainz simply stood still.
"Ah? What do I do now?'
The thought that his Servants had obviously already come up with some kind of plan came to Ainz' mind, but…
"Their plan relies on me having a plan, doesn't it?"
Ainz's plan originally relied on his Servants coming up with some kind of plan on their own to solve the Singularity. And the Servants' plan relied on the fact that Ainz himself had a plan to solve this Singularity.
In other words, in fact, there was no plan to solve the Singularity, Ainz was back at the starting point of the Singularity itself.
He needed to do something, but no one knew what it was, even himself.
In this case… In this case, there were only a few possible solutions to the problem.
The first option was for Ainz to come clean to his Servants, but the problem was that from the Servants' point of view, he already had a plan. If he revealed the fact that he actually didn't have a plan… It would definitely destroy any reputation he had as a leader and boss.
Not only would he show himself as an incompetent leader without a plan to solve the problem, but also as a liar.
And secondly, it could disrupt the plans already made by the Servants, since the plan already created by them was created with Ainz's so-called 'plan' in mind.
Umm… What was he talking about again?
"This all just too complicated for me," Ainz shook his head slightly from side to side as he tried to wrangle the various 'plans' in action.
The next solution to this problem was that Ainz could do nothing. Something which comes with all sorts of difficulties. After all, no matter what his Servants had accomplished, it was just collecting information, very important information sure, but not really actualized gain that would bring the Singularity to a close.
Yes, if he didn't act in any way, he wouldn't disrupt the Servants' plans, but neither would the Singularity likely be resolved until he made some significant decision on the information gathered. Right or wrong, they might be.
And there was one last option, the crux of the issue, Ainz could actually just 'do' something personally…
Yeah, that's right, he should just 'do' something… Too bad he has no idea whatsoever on what to 'do'.
Ainz knew that he has no talent whatsoever in governing people, in fact, back when he was still just a Guild Master, it had always caused Ainz a headache. Perhaps, it's not exactly something that is a good quality in a leader, but he has trouble actually taking a decision in anything. He had made the guild govern in the form of direct democracy for a reason, after all.
Why did this Singularity have to be such a puzzle!? Why can't the Demon Kings just appear in front of him? You know, like in the past Singularities!?
Ainz sighed mournfully, and realized that he would have to actually think on how to solve this Singularity. And he even has to make actual plans! And not the fun kind either! Like for battles and traps, but an actual plan of action!
How do people even do that in the first place!?
Still, whatever Ainz decided to do, just standing here, in front of the entrance to a bar, would make him look ridiculous.
Ainz could have decided to go back to the bar, of course, but the thought of how stupid it would look from the bartender's side, prevented him from doing so.
Ainz looked around him, trying to find some suitable place for him to think about what to do. He was in the Kingdom of Cu Chulainn, there must be such a place… At the very least, in the form of another bar that he had not been in before.
The thought that because Cu Chulainn was related to the Celts, there must be a tavern somewhere, was perhaps something that is influenced by his experience in YGGDRASIL, flashed through Ainz's mind, but he pushed it away. He was planning on doing something more serious than looking for taverns in this world.
In this case, finding the nearest place where he could sit down without drawing much attention from passersby. Besides, maybe he could just find time to take in the surroundings? The opportunity to be outside without a mask or even a protective suit was always a pleasant occurrence to him in any case. He never really has that back home, the destroyed Earth had deprived him of that possibility, after all.
Hmm, if nothing else, other than giving him crises of faith, this Singularity was the first one where he could actually relax.
Whether or not that was a good thing remains to be seen.
After wandering through a few streets later, Ainz had found a suitable place for himself. Though it was not a tavern or any other establishment, but just a bench set up in the nearby park, on which Ainz took his seat.
Huh, sitting on a bench in the street pondering grand plans… Maybe it was just his over-sensitive sense of image, or was he slowly approaching the point where he could be called mentally ill?
Well, surely his plans for solving the world crisis were real… But isn't that what all the mentally ill said in the end?
Hmm, the difference between himself and the mentally ill was rapidly disappearing…
But anyway, putting aside thoughts of whether he was sick or not, Ainz still needed to think about what exactly he needed to do in the current situation.
First of all, he needs to list out things that he knows and go from there.
One, the Grail is already in Ainz's hands, this variable, perhaps the most important, judging by past Singularities, was already taken out of the equation.
In the previous Singularities, things usually ended there. But, here, it was critical not to confuse cause and effect. In those Singularities, he typically got his hands on the Grail after killing all the other opponents, like the Demon Kings and other assorted Servants in their employ.
So solving the Singularities wasn't necessarily about the Grail. It was just a happy coincidence that in the end it always boils down to it.
Perhaps there was a second Grail in this Singularity?
No, the last time such a thing happened, like in Okeanos, the collision between the two Grails produced a noticeable effect in the fabric of reality. And Ainz had not observed such a distortion in the current Singularity… Other than the typically expected of a Singularity, at least.
More accurately, was that the change in reality was, while significant, still within the range expected of a Singularity.
In Okeanos, the very geography of places around him was in question.
And here, in America, Ainz could… the other Servants could identify the geography just fine. Then again, maybe that's not something that could be relied on? Could he rely on the fact that the Servants have a good grasp on geography? It's not like he could actually tell if the surrounding geography was, in fact, scrambled… The geography of other places across the ocean was never his strong suit.
If it had been Yggdrasil, Ainz could have navigated the place even in some locations he had never been to by memorizing a map of the game worlds. But, when it came to reality, his skills were far more limited in that regard.
In any case, by all appearances, the likelihood of a second Grail existing in this Singularity, was unlikely. Until a mountain starts flying or something, this theory can be put aside.
Second, were the presence of Demon Kings in this Singularity.
That they were the reason for the continued existence of this Singularity was the most logical. Their presence was already a confirmed fact. And, judging by the fact that both warring sides, Edison and Cu Chulainn, are using them for their own purposes, it was also possible to assume that there were quite a few more Demon Kings in this Singularity.
And so the probability that they were the reason for the Singularity's existence was quite high.
There was, of course, also a third possibility, that this Singularity's existence was not connected to either the Grail or the Demon Kings at all. But if that was the case, there was no point in thinking about it yet, since it could mean many things. The actions of Servants, mages, people or any other reasons could have caused the Singularity, which meant that Ainz should only entertain such possibility only if the other two, more likely, options turned out to be wrong.
So, the most likely reason for the Singularity's continued existence, in that case, were the Demon Kings.
And so the most logical option going forward seemed to be killing the Demon Kings.
Still, before that, maybe some precaution needed to be taken. Such a conclusion could actually be a trap. In Okeanos, killing the Demon Kings almost led to a disaster, as the Singularity began to fall apart and only through the use of Super-Tier magic did Ainz manage to repair the normal course of human history.
Even so, Ainz's intervention on such a scale had resulted in, for lack of a better word, a twisting of human history, the creation of an unknown island in the middle of the ocean that had not existed before.
This very intervention was already highly questionable, but at least an island in the middle of the ocean was not so dangerous to the general course of human history. But, at the same time, if Ainz had made such an oversight in the middle of the United States, a country important to modern human history, entire cities might disappear solely through his ignorance. Or, at worst, the landscape might change and a variety of different deviations of history might have occurred that Ainz could not have predicted at all.
But still, would the Demon Kings really repeat a trap that is already shown not to work? Maybe if the so-called 'King' is desperate enough, but it seems unlikely.
So, while Ainz was somewhat assured knowing that he could probably just kill the Demon Kings and at most use his bare power to stop the destruction of Singularity, in terms of priorities, capturing the Demon King was more critical. When done, Ainz could interrogate, solving the mystery of this Singularity once and for all. And judging from the information Focalor gave, many Demon Kings were afraid of him, which meant he could theoretically make them talk, at least by promising them protection from Solomon like he had done for Focalor.
Okay, so Ainz needed to capture at least one Demon King, ideally two, so that he can determine whether they are lying.
Okay, so what he needed to 'do' was to capture some Demon Kings. Now, where to find them…
Hmm, both Edison and Cu Chulainn seem to be having imprisoned one of them each, but neither Edison nor Cu Chulainn seems to be possessing information that only the Demon Kings would have? Well, Cu Chulainn probably didn't say anything because Ainz didn't ask him, it would be quite possible that if Ainz had just asked him, he would have revealed the information to him.
But even if Cu Chulainn did, would he trust such information given by someone that has Medb on their side?
Yes, the Medb of this world wasn't the Medb of YGGDRASIL, but her character was already permanently imprinted on Ainz's mind. So, if Cu Chulainn had revealed such information to him, Ainz would clearly have suspected a trap of some sort.
Come to think of it, in case the reason for the Singularity wasn't the Demon Kings, or the Grail, the first thing that would have come to Ainz's mind would have been that it was Medb's fault somehow. Anyway, that fact wasn't that important for this reflection.
So, Cu Chulainn's information, or more likely, Medb's, could perhaps be trusted with some grains of salt. But was about Edison? He had been in contact with Tesla and Angrboda for some time, but he had never revealed information about the Demon Kings. It can only mean that he didn't plan to trust them with that information so easily.
What a conundrum, the only two ways of easy access to the Demon Kings, each comes with its own problems.
There are various ways that Ainz could collect the information that he needed, but most of them relied on chance or duration.
For example, he could send various disguised undead with orders to spy on Edison. But in that case, Ainz himself would only get the information if Edison didn't notice Ainz' minions following him, which was easy enough to arrange, but for Edison to openly talk about something he wants to keep secret. Which, again, didn't preclude the possibility of Edison leading Ainz into a trap, so this option was definitely not feasible.
Maybe Ainz could simply send his undead capable of summoning minions with the most advanced scouting abilities? They could scour the waste for any place where the Demon Kings could be hiding or even hidden… But that could turn out to be a colossal waste of time and effort. If the Demon Kings were kept in some distant wasteland hideout, then it would take either an unimaginable amount of time or even colossal luck for it to be found. But again, doing this didn't mean that whatever they found couldn't be a trap, like in the Rome Singularity.
He could use search magic? Ainz, while his class specialization shouldn't logically possess a breadth of scouting spells, through PKs had enough of the various tracking spells in his arsenal. But, still, most of them could only function when the searched object is inside a certain range, only functions when some sort of material part of the target is available, or by having reliable information about the target itself. Besides being mages, them being called Demon Kings, and usually looking like columns of flesh, sometimes, there are little information that Ainz possessed about the Demon Kings.
Huh, if he'd chatted with Focalor more, he might have gotten some useful information about the group that she had belonged to, like whether they were actually demons. But Ainz hadn't done that, and there was no point in crying over spilled milk anyway.
Of course, there was still another option, to go to the people who were supposed to know the exact location of the Demon Kings and get information from them, either by talking, or by force. Which in this case actually meant 'beating Edison down so that he would answer'. But, even excluding the fact that this plan might not work with a hundred percent probability, for example, if Edison didn't really know where the Demon Kings were. Or if he had actually entrusted the care of them to another Servant, such a course of action was still fraught with problems.
In any case, this option was already somewhat part of the Servants' plan already. Apparently, his Servants had already infiltrated Edison's forces. And, judging by the fact that they had received information about Cu Chulainn's forces and probably planned to pass that to Edison, they were at least determined to work together with Edison against Cu Chulainn, at least for now…
"Then… should I just attack Cu Chulainn?" Ainz pondered.
Up to this point, apart from Solomon, Ainz had encountered no one even roughly fitting the definition of a threat. It was highly unlikely that Cu Chulainn and his allies could actually pose a threat to him.
But, even excluding Medb and her manipulations, which may not have existed in this world after all, though Ainz did not want to test it on himself. There is still an instinctual fear of any connection that existed between the two Medb.
In any case, Ainz, excluding even his fears of Medb, was not sure that he should just attack Cu Chulainn.
Wouldn't destroying the local kingdom only cause more history to change?
Or, given the nuclear war and whatnot, was there anything Ainz could do to make things worse at this point at all? Ainz thought about his capabilities for a second, and concluded that there's nothing wrong with caution.
He could only curse his past decision to bluff, it would have been so much easier for him if he could just approach Tesla or Medea about their plans, but Ainz had trapped himself. And while sometimes his reputation as a 'genius' worked to his advantage, in a situation like this, he sincerely wished he could just turn to some Servant and ask them for advice without risking being called a charlatan.
Even so, Ainz thought that it would be good to order the Servant to reveal 'his' plan now, no matter how strange it might sound. Maybe he could make some excuse like 'tell your plan to this man who doesn't understand it'? But if he just teleported to, say, Medea now and stayed to listen to her explanation and plan, would things actually be solved?
After all, Medea were still relying on Ainz to actually solve the Singularity. Ainz actually asking for their plan just might even confuse him even more!
Ainz sighed, defeated, the stream of inspiration and confidence that had arisen in him dried up, bringing nothing much in return. Yes, maybe he wasn't a bad leader after all, but his position as an 'all-knowing genius' had brought him nothing but trouble. Well, okay, not having to explain his great 'plan' to the Servants had saved him from some embarrassment, but it's just a boulder on his back on this occasion.
"What do I do now? There's no way I can help the Servants, at least I don't see a way to do it successfully… In that case, all that remains for me to do, at least until I need to do something drastic or until I fully understand the Servants' plan, is to do something that at least won't hurt them." Ainz sighed.
It was a little sad for Ainz to realize that his usefulness in the current situation was close to zero, but at least he could still summon various invisible undead for reconnaissance.
Besides, Ainz sighed, if there was no way he could interfere with what was going on here in the United States… then maybe he could interfere with what was going on elsewhere?
After all, even if the oddities ended up happening only in the local version of the United States, maybe he could look around in places where the oddities shouldn't be? Say, check other countries for other anomalies or…
Ainz suddenly froze.
An ingenious idea struck him.
Wasn't there? There was supposed to be… an Association of Mages in London, right?
And he even remembered the location of its secret vaults…
"HE'S GONE! GONE!" Howls of panic were broadcasted through the minds of the Demon Kings. "AINZ IS GONE!"
The wave of outraged screams and terror passed through the minds of the Demon Kings like wildfire, but this time, Solomon responded quickly. "Silence."
Obeying Solomon's commanding voice, there was complete silence, which allowed him to ask for clarification. "What do you mean?"
"My King," A Demon King's voice, Solomon wasn't sure which one as he had sent all available Demon Kings into this world. And a personal check, even if it required Solomon an effort comparable to trying to shift his gaze to determine which Demon King was speaking, the demon Kings did not merit such an effort.
"We, in accordance with your instructions, have watched Ainz and his Servants, incessantly, periodically changing disguises so as to not give away our presence in any way in the magical sense."
Solomon nodded graciously, or did the mental equivalent of such, allowing the Demon King to continue their story. "Right now we're watching his six Servants, along with all the other Servants in this Singularity. But… Ainz had just disappeared from our perception."
Solomon's reaction to these words was quite significant for the Demon Kings. And the Demon Kings could net read his reaction in any way. "Hmm…"
The Demon Kings wanted to ask Solomon questions, but unlike with their other 'colleagues', none of them could look into his mind. Solomon could read the minds of his subordinates like an open book, as the other Demon Kings could read each other's mind, the other way around? It was impossible at its very core.
All the Demon Kings could do, in this case, was to wait until Solomon conveyed his thoughts to them himself, either by putting information into their heads or by dialogue.
Sometimes, although no Demon Kings would dare to even think it openly, just as people could feel a subconscious distrust of others, the Demon Kings sometimes felt restless by such an imbalance.
But on the other hand, if you take into account not the human side of Demon Kings, but other additional features of their existence, it worked in Solomon's favor.
If there was an immeasurably more powerful and all-seeing, all-knowing great magus, whose mind the Demon Kings could not understand, giving confident orders. The first and most logical reaction would be to assume that 'he has a secret and cunning plan'.
Normally this was true, and therefore it would not have been a particularly big plus on Solomon's part.
What was the point of assuming Solomon's secret cunning plan without confirming this information, if the Demon Kings could know it for sure, if they had access to Solomon's mind?
But it was at this very second, for the first time in a long time, that Solomon was glad that the Demon Kings assumed that this was all part of Ainz and Solomon's great game, because…
'It wasn't in the plan,' was the thought that flashed through Solomon's mind. A thought that must be kept secret at all costs to the Demon Kings.
Essentially, Solomon's plan was to give his opponent, in fact, a full sandbox, where he's free to act in whatever way he wants, and then study exactly how his opponent would act. Studying his Servants was of course useful as well, but the information concerning them was not even of secondary importance, but something on the level of 'trivia'. Interesting, but in no way affects anything he would do in the future.
Ordinary Servants, no matter how many or powerful they may be, pose no threat to Solomon's plan.
If Ainz had simply attacked and destroyed all the squabbling Servants, Solomon would have found out Ainz's favorite spells, and his tendency to solve everything by brute force. If he had tried to negotiate instead, he would have been able to trace exactly how he had plotted his intrigues and what he had stressed in his speeches. Whether he believed what he said or not.
Then, after gradually studying Ainz's actions and habits, Solomon would slowly get an answer to the most important question he had.
How could he counteract Ainz. How he would win.
What elemental defense was needed, how he needed to frame a dialogue, what he needed to emphasize in his arsenal, attack, or defense. Any information that might help Solomon in their next encounter. There would be one final battle between them. Solomon believed that with all his might.
Against any other opponent, Solomon needed to simply glanced at them with his gaze, and that would have been the end of it. The Demon Kings' praise, that he was omniscient, were not unfounded.
Clairvoyance EX, a skill that could be called 'cheat-like' without hyperbole. The ability, just with one look, to instantly find out all the information about whatever it is he's seeing, their past and even the most likely paths of their future.
Of course, a more accurate divination, more distant dates, and stronger targets with differing paths of the future, required a greater expenditure of Solomon's resources, a greater strain on his powers, but this had never been a problem… Until his meeting with Ainz that is.
Looking at Ainz, Solomon could see neither his past nor his future, no matter how hard he tried to focus on it. As if he was trying with all his might to discern something in absolute darkness, or to find a black cat in a dark room.
Solomon's eyes could not see even the surface of the being that is Ainz, never mind anything deeper than that.
That is why he wished to study Ainz in such a simple and plebeian way as 'practical observation' and why Solomon's plans for Ainz were not at all ideal.
Solomon had foreseen the fact that Ainz would easily notice the presence of the Demon Kings, even if it was difficult for even Solomon himself to do so. But it was supposed to be impossible to guess that their function in this Singularity was… to perform no function at all.
Solomon was even willing to sacrifice a dozen of his Demon Kings, even to their permanent death, in order to learn how Ainz had disposed of them. Which is why he did not require the Demon Kings to maintain a strict need to be disguised, but once again, Ainz had surpassed his expectations.
'That's something I hadn't considered' Solomon frowned mentally.
Solomon wanted to observe Ainz's actions, even his inaction would have given Solomon some information. How could he have foreseen that Ainz would choose the one action that did not give him any information at all?
For Ainz to simply not be observed.
While Ainz's servants went about their business, all of which were ultimately insignificant things to Solomon, overwhelmingly focusing his attention on Ainz instead. And so, if Ainz simply disappeared? Then it meant that Solomon's efforts were wasted.
But what did Solomon need to do in this case to fix it?
If his Demon Kings couldn't find Ainz on their own, that meant that either he was using some powerful concealment magic, which was an important information in itself. Or that he had left the surveillance area that the Demon Kings covered.
And that meant that Ainz was not on the continent of North America, as he had full surveillance over the continent.
But where was he, then? Hiding right in front of the Demon Kings' noses? Did he go away from the entire continent? Or maybe even outside the whole Singularity?
'He's playing with me' Solomon exhaled through his nose - 'taunting me.
Indeed, it was hard to see this as anything other than provocation.
If Ainz had already figured out the Demon Kings' plan, after all he even had a conversation with a few of them, and now had disappeared, it only meant that Ainz was provoking Solomon himself. No, it was even more than that.
'While I study him,' Solomon concluded, 'he's studying me.'
Ainz was provoking Solomon in order to study his reaction. What orders would he give to the Demon Kings? Will he appear himself? How would the Demon Kings themselves act?
Solomon froze for a second, and then he chuckled.
It was a game that could be played by two.
There was only one order he could give. "Start slowly bringing the Demon Kings back from the Singularity. We won't get any more information out of it."
Well played, Ainz.
Excerpt from "The History of Books, Part 4:
… The nineteenth century was the heyday of children's and fairy-tale literature. Blending not only children motifs, but also adult ones. A prime example of such a phenomenon was Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland'.
A classic story familiar to the vast majority of the world's population, written, according to the author himself, inspired by childhood fantasies and stories told by an orphaned girl he met by chance during one of his acts of philanthropy.
According to Carroll himself, the entire book was written almost word-for-word from the words of the girl's, Alice, stories.
A note in his diary states that the girl, at the end of telling her story, uttered several phrases that troubled him greatly. Phrases such as 'solving paradoxes begets more paradoxes' and 'I only tell you about stories that you already made'. Carroll himself had been at one time troubled by these words. But the mystery was a more strange coincidence rather than a mystical fact.
Still, according to Carroll's own notes, when he returned a few weeks later to the orphanage once again, none of the orphanage keepers could recall anything about the girl who had frightened him so with her words alone…
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