On the third day after the conference ended.
The emperor began granting audiences to outstanding individuals from the various planets.
One by one, the people on the list were summoned by the Secretary Department, received by the emperor, and dismissed. Everyone emerged from that door with an indescribable solemnity on their face.
Momonga sat in a reception room belonging directly to the emperor's Secretary Department, looking as though he had clocked in for work, waiting for his turn.
The room was not lavishly decorated.
Every table, chair, desk, and stand conveyed a dignified grandeur.
There was no ostentatious heap of gold and jade, only carefully measured space and restraint.
He sat on the edge of the sofa, his skeletal face betraying no expression, listening to the crisp clicking of footsteps drawing closer.
"Governor Ainz, please have some tea."
A cup of tea was gently placed before him.
The person serving it was a young woman.
Her short, straight, blue-violet hair was gathered into a pinned arrangement, with a pale blue paper flower tucked at an angle beside her right temple.
Her features were delicate, her demeanor gentle.
A light brush of lavender eye shadow above her amber eyes lent her just the right touch of charm.
A well-tailored, fitted skirt traced the slender contours of her budding figure.
She wore sheer black stockings and a pair of simple high heels.
As Konan approached, she resembled a dew-kissed flower blossoming from dignity itself.
Over eight years, the girl who had once tumbled through the mud of the Land of Rain had progressed from the Imperial Middle School to the highest institution of learning, graduating with distinction.
Now she was a member of the Secretary Department.
This institution, directly subordinate to His Majesty, held a unique weight within the Empire's officialdom. Most