n village was for this purpose. Too see if other methods apart from violence were viable.

In the Lizardman village, Ainz was already recognised as the absolute ruler. Basically there were tribes where strength was everything. It was not as if humans had the highest population, and so he had to rule them. I f the lizardmen had the highest it would be great.

"But we do not know much."

If he told the guardians to act to take over the world, everyone apart from Demiurge would start a war. And if Yggdrasil Players exist or if anyone could rival Ainz and the others, this would be an extremely dangerous action.

And so, it is necessary for a loyal person with wisdom to exist by his side to take action without using this method. And after it was taken over, unifying the government would be impossible given the current state.

However having Shalltear suck their blood and turn into her servant was not a good method as their loyalty to Ainz was low.

"I want a loyal advisor-type person..."

He tried to change the memories of the captured adventures—Workers to pledge loyalty to him, but it ended in failure.

Ainz was not a psychologist and so could not test to what level should it be adjusted. Since he could not save and load, in the end it ended when they successfully had one person's memories mostly turned into lies.

"Shall I think of other things..."

Ainz whispered and leaned back on his chair.

Since none of the invaders could return, they would approach him. It would be fine to act in response to that.

"However...World Domination...Thinking of it seriously is embarrassing..."

"Well then, here are the one hundred gold coins as promised. And this is the contract."

After taking a quick peek at the contents of the bag, Arche's father nodded his head in satisfaction. Without any hesitation, he quickly signed his name on the parchment and then stamped it with their family seal. His fluid actions revealed that this wasn't the first time that he had done this.

"Now there shouldn't be any problems, right?"

Eyeing the parchment that was handed to him, the man nodded. If Hekkeran and Imina were here, they would definitely reveal their displeasure. This man was the same man that had visited them previously at the inn.

The man glanced at the parchment a few more times while he waited. After verifying that the ink had finished drying, the man carefully rolled up the parchment, and stored it.

"Yes, most certainly." Pointing towards the bag of coins in front of Arche's father, the man asked, "By the way, are you not going to check?"

"Heh, I'm fine with it even if it's one or two coins short."

"Is that so?"

Towards the generous yet foolish response made by Arche's father, the man nodded once more.

The amount of coins had already been verified before, so there shouldn't be any problems. But it was definitely not a good sign seeing a family that was nearly at the end of their rope to still be acting this way. No, perhaps their house was fated to end the moment that man became its master.

However, it was exactly people like these that made the best customers.

"Well then, you're fine with the usual interest rate and loan term, I presume?"

It was written on the document but he asked for formality's sake. He did not want to bring in the knights over some problem. There were those among the nobles, who had high levels of authority, that wanted everything to go their way. Most were eradicated by the Blood Emperor, but there was still a group of troublemakers.

The man himself was not that clean. Any problems, even when solved would have a fee. And so he asked.

In response to the question of the details, as expected, the father, without hesitation, and with a naturally pompous behaviour, nodded.

The man nodded in understanding.

"Now that it is complete, I shall hope that you repay it promptly..By the way, is your daughter still well and healthy?"

"Hm?"

The man suddenly remembered that there were three daughters in the family.

"I'm talking about Arche-san."

"Ah, Arche huh? Right now she's out making money."

"..Is that so?"

While your daughter is out and about earning money, what are you doing instead?

As the man thought as such, he hid the disgust in his eyes well. Humans with high levels of authority like nobles were sensitive to other's faces and atmosphere. Even the worst were better than merchants. Of course it was fine even if it was noticed but the man did not want things to become troublesome. Especially when the other man was very well versed in it.

He started to pity the girl with this kind of a father.

The man wasn't without emotions.

However, it was more important for him to recover the amount of coins that had been lent previously including the interest on top, and to ensure this cycle of loan and repayment continued. He couldn't care less about meddling in other family's businesses.

"Just because she was able to make a bit of money, she started to act arrogantly."

The man frowned when he heard the unpleasant mumblings made by Arche's father. After all, if a troublesome situation was to happen, it might cause a delay in the interest payment. If possible, the man would like the current situation to continue as long as possible. For that, he couldn't help but ask.

"Did something happen?"

"No, nothing big. It's just that my foolish daughter seemed to have forgotten about her obligations to her parents for raising her from birth and is starting to become disrespectful."

"If it's just that then.."

"Honestly! It's about time to let her understand her insolence! I need to teach her what being an aristocrat is all about!"

The man swallowed the rest of what he wanted to say. However, he couldn't help but let out a final remark.

"It must have been really troublesome."

"Of course. Such a foolish daughter.."

The man had purposely omitted who it was that he was talking about and allowed Arche's father to mistakenly believe that it was said for him, which resulted in more and more muttering.

One hundred gold coins was an incredible sum. However, at the rate that Arche's father was spending, he would soon be out of money again. If that happened, he would most likely come back to borrow more. The man had already decided not to lend any more until the money previously lent had been repaid.

The man glanced around the room.

What he saw was a room filled with luxurious furniture and decorations. Should the worst happen, he should still be able to recover what was originally lent, even if he had to sell them.

The man lowered his head in order to hide his thoughts.

"In the end, isn't it weird for the daughter of the Furt family to be doing that kind of dirty work? The friends that she associates with all seemed to be of common birth too, they probably share the same vulgar character."

"..Is that so?"

The man recalled the two person whom he met at the inn and started to open his mouth to retort. Sensing the man's opinion on this matter, the father quickly stringed up a set of excuse.

"Erm, I am not directing my words at those commoners, but those group of people known as adventurers."

"Is that so?"

"So it seems, they could be the reason for my daughter being so rebellious. I must teach her a well deserved lesson. As a daughter, it is natural for her to obey her father. It is one decade too early for her to speak her mind."

After taking a last look at the displeased father, the man stood up from his chair.

"..I shall be taking my leave now, for my next household appointment. I'll be leaving it to you to return the borrowed money when the time comes."

"Onee-sama, when will she return?"

"Do we have to wait a little longer?"

In the room, there were two little girls. Both of them were sitting on their bed side by side. Their facial features were almost identical.

Patches of rosy red adorned their white faces, causing anyone to think they had the faces of little angels. Their looks resembled that of their elder sister. One could imagine how beautiful those two will grow up to be in the future.

The two of them were wearing a pair of identical spotless, pure white dresses. One could hear the sounds patapata as the girls kicked their alabaster legs about.

"Is it true?"

"It is true—"

"Is that right?"

"That's right."

"Once Onee-sama comes back, we will be moving out?"

"Yes—"

The two laughed happily. They did not understand what it meant to move away from home nor did they gave the matter further thought. All they knew was their favourite sister will not be going out on trips anymore. That alone was enough to make them happy.

On many occasions, their sister, Arche had to go out. Although they did not know what exactly was their big sister doing, the two knew that it was something important. Hence, they decided not to behave selfishly, yet they could not suppress their desire to play with their sister.

That's right, the two loved Arche the most.

The most gentle, intelligent, warm sister.

"Onee-sama, she had not returned yet?"

"Not yet?"

"I'm looking forward to it, Kuudelika."

"Erm, I'm looking forward to it, Ureilika."

"I want to read together—"

"I want to sleep together—"

"Kuudelika is being mischievous."

"Ureilika is being mischievous too."

Then, the two of them looked at each other and smiled. Their laughter was as charming as a gentle ring of a bell.

"Then, Kuudelika will be together, with Onee-sama."

"Erm, Ureilika will be together as well, with Onee-sama."

The twins smiled happily as they imagined the happy moments that would visit them in their dreams—