“Sebas, I understand what you are trying to say. I was also concerned about the fact that we have so few who are capable of cooking.”

“But Ainz-sama, can she truly cook something befitting Nazarick?”

Sebas glanced at Demiurge with knife-like gaze. Demiurge simply smiled back at him.

Bastard— Sebas swallowed the word in his mouth.

Ainz has forgiven him, but Demiurge hasn’t. That’s probably why he was interfering with Sebas on the matter of what to do with Tsuare.

“That has its merits as well. What do you think, Sebas?”

“...Tsuare cooks mostly home-made meals. To say if it’s fitting for Nazarick… I cannot offer a solid answer.”

“Home-made meals. I doubt boiled potato is fitting for Nazarick.”

“I believe Demiurge is being short-sighted right now. Perhaps she can only cook home-made meals right now, but the Head Chef can teach her. We need to look for long-term investments.”

“Then, why not just have her help me in my breeding pens? Grinding up all that meat is also quite a chore.”

“I—”

Ainz watched the noisy scene quietly. Beyond them, he could see the scenes of the past unfold. The ghosts of their creators, illusions from the past...

♦ ♦ ♦

“Then where shall we go today?”

“To the Fire Giants.”

“To the Ice Dragons.”

“...Ha… Ulbert-san, don’t you remember that some people need the rare drop from the Fire Giant Boss, Surt?”

“It seems like Touch Me-sama is the one who doesn’t remember that there are people who need to kill the Ice Dragon to fulfill their class-up requirements.”

“...That may be, but Yamaiko-san needs the rare drop to enchant an item.”

“No, I’m not particularly…”

“You mean the ‘The Flame of the Beginning’? Then you would need ‘The Ice of the Beginning’ as well. Let’s go to the Ice Dragons.”

“...Thanks to all the cash items, it has a high drop rate now. Compared to the Dragons, Surt has a lower drop rate, so let’s get that out of the way first.”

“Then I’ll go buy the cash item for it now.”

“...But, but, but…”

“...How about going for some erotic monsters like Succubus?”

“Shut up, younger brother.”

“If it’s demonic monsters, I want to go get the Lords of the Seven Deadly Sins. Of course, we would need some more preparations.”

“...Touch Me-sama, stop trying to solo-play this. Considering the members we have now, it’s most efficient to go get the Ice Dragons.”

“No, no, isn’t it you who’s trying to solo-play, Ulbert-san? When did we ever care about efficiency?”

“Can the top mage and top warrior stop fighting…”

“They were like that from the start. Ever since I invited them to join the guild.”

“To be talking with that weird, pink slab of flesh, Touch Me-san is brave.”

“...Teapot-san, Peroronchino-san, should I use the Guild Master’s authority for the no weapon loot?”

“Didn’t some guild put up the guide for the Lords of Seven Deadly Sins before?”

“They defeated “Pride”, it just got uploaded today.”

“They say a World class item will drop after defeating all seven, since they’re World class threats.”

“Speaking of World class items, why don’t we use ‘Calroic Stone’ to make a golem core?”

“Nuuboo-san, shouldn’t we focus on weapons?”

“Making armour isn’t bad either.”

“Shouldn’t we think some more about this? Since it’s an item we can ask the GMs for, we should consider it some more.”

“Isn’t that right? Momonga-san?”

“I know how to get more ‘Caloric Stone’, but we already spent so many minerals from The Seven Hidden Mines.”

“To never be able to attain it unless we own all of them, it’s a headache.”

“Yea, as long as different guilds own different parts of the mine, we can’t get it back once we use it. It’s not like they’ll just sit around while we take them over one at a time…. How about leaking this information to a place like Trinity? Some are bound to get greedy and come running for it. We can strike when they’re exhausted from fighting each other.”

“You want to sell the information to the Alliance as well and make them fight with each other? You really are a strategist, Punitto Moe-san.”

“Speaking of the Alliance, it seems he’s hatching another plan against them.”

“What? Why?”

“It seems like they stole a World-class item from some guild, which is now really mad at them.”

“Oh man, though I think an alliance between top guilds like last time would be difficult.”

“—Then can Momonga-san decide?”

“That sounds good, Guild Master. What do you want to do?”

“...Eh? Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention… What were we talking about again? ...We’ll just go with a vote like last time.”

“No objection.”

“Me, too.”

“Then new gold coin to vote for Ulbert-san. Old gold coin to vote for Touch Me-sama. Now they will pitch their plans to you guys.”

♦ ♦ ♦

“Be. Quiet. You’re. Before. Ainz. Sama.”

It was as if Cocytus had splashed cold water on both of them. Both looked over at Ainz and the colour of their faces changed. It was impossible to read any emotion from the red flame that lit his empty eye sockets, but they could feel something strong coming from his gaze. Both acted before a strong reprimand came their way.

“I have committed a grave mistake in front of Ainz-sama.”

“I have no excuse for such poor behaviour.”

The reaction they received was an incomprehensible one.

“— Hahahahahaha!”

Bright laughter echoed throughout the room. Very happy and bright laughter. Sebas, Solution, Demiurge, Cocytus, no one could remember Ainz laughing so happily and blinked in surprise.

“Of course, of course, you are forgiven. That’s it! Fighting like that! Hahahaha!”