The Ruthless Person

Momonga looked at the miserable state of the girl before him. Beyond a sense of confusion, he felt no stirrings within his heart. Perhaps this lack of emotion was not an influence of his undead nature, but rather a reflection of who he truly was.

After his parents passed away from overwork, Momonga had lived in a daze, performing mechanical labor like a worker bee. Even when he saw the corpses of homeless children on the street, he remained unmoved.

He had seen sights far more wretched than the girl before him. His current inner calm was less a result of being undead and more a testament to the fact that even as a human, he could have viewed this scene with the same detachment.

After all, it had nothing to do with him; Momonga lacked the energy to care about anything beyond himself.

"What is the meaning of this?" Momonga asked Demiurge, who stood at his side.

His only current feeling was bewilderment. When he had initially saved Carne Village, he had done so for three reasons, but none of them were out of sympathy for their unfortunate plight.

The first was that he saw the shadow of the former "Touch Me" in Sebas. The second was to test the strength of this world.

As for the third, it was naturally to build a good relationship with the local residents to avoid hostility from other players. If there were other players here besides himself, given their past perceptions of Nazarick, they might view Nazarick as an enemy. To avoid being targeted from the start, it was necessary to show Nazarick's charitable side until he understood the situation and could decide on his next move.

Based on these three reasons, Momonga had chosen to intervene. Yet, even if he wished to emulate the actions of Touch Me, he would not compromise a single step when the safety of Nazarick was at stake.

At this moment, Momonga had already vaguely guessed why Demiurge had done this, but he still felt the need to ask.

"Ainz-sama, on the night before you were assassinated, she had contact with an outsider. While I cannot be one hundred percent certain this human is linked to the incident, I believe we must treat the matter with caution," Demiurge replied.

It was just as he thought. Momonga nodded. His guess was correct; perhaps the villagers of Carne Village were connected to his assassination attempt.

It might not have been a direct attempt on his life, but there was likely an indirect connection.

The assassination had been well-prepared. Perhaps they were reinforcements the Theocracy had readied in advance. They might not have intended to deploy them initially, but his intervention had caused events to spiral down a different path.

Momonga did not ask why Demiurge had targeted Carne Village. If it had been him, he would have thought to screen the village as well. That was the only settlement in the area; otherwise, was he supposed to plow through the empty plains?

"My hypothesis is that the enemy made preparations in that village in advance. They intended to snipe the Warrior Captain, but because Ainz-sama intervened, the enemy assumed Ainz-sama was the Warrior Captain's reinforcement, leading to this incident," Demiurge continued.

"Hmm... your analysis makes perfect sense." Momonga nodded again. This time, his thoughts were perfectly aligned with Demiurge's, which made him feel a touch of pride.

"Ainz-sama, although I have obtained clues about the suspected enemy from the mouth of this insect, I require your magic to extract the person's appearance to facilitate the next stage of the investigation," Demiurge added.

"I understand... hmm, through 'Control Amnesia,' is it?" Momonga said.

"Yes, Ainz-sama," Demiurge replied.

"Well done, Demiurge." Momonga was quite pleased. He had finally obtained some leads. Even if he did not yet know if they were useful, it at least brought a measure of peace to his anxious heart.

Enri looked through blurred vision as the skeleton in ornate robes extended a hand of bleached bone toward her. Suddenly, she felt a splitting headache as her memories began to resurface bit by bit.

She remembered—her identity, her ordeal, and the reason she was here.

"Hah..."

Enri tried to speak again, but her throat could only produce a hoarse, rattling breath. She wanted to curse the bastard before her, to curse this hypocritical undead.

Her initial thoughts had been too naive. The undead would always be the undead; they hated the living. She had never regretted anything more than her choice to trust this undead who had healed her wounds.

If she had taken her sister and left after this creature departed, things would not be like this. How could there be an undead in this world that felt close to humanity?

Wait...

What about Nemu?

Enri suddenly thought of her sister, Nemu. Memories regarding her sister shattered the seals in her mind. Her expression shifted instantly, and tears gushed out like a broken dam...

She remembered. It was the demon beside this undead who, in order to force a confession for things she knew nothing about, had tortured Nemu to death...

No...

Not just Nemu...

Everyone in the village...

All of them...

Killed in various ways...

The look of fierce hatred in Enri's eyes caused Momonga to pause for a moment, but it was only for an instant before he cast the spell, "Control Amnesia."

Compared to other irrelevant people, the safety of Nazarick, the interests of Nazarick, and the companions of Nazarick were the only things Momonga cared about.

Beyond that, everything else could be discarded.

Soon, under the influence of Momonga's magic, Enri's expression went vacant. Momonga focused intently on casting the spell. After a long while, the magical light faded, and Momonga fell silent.

"Ainz-sama, have you found a lead?" Demiurge inquired.

"This... hmm... I cannot be certain yet," Momonga said, shaking his head.

"In that case, Ainz-sama need only sketch the person's appearance, and I shall capture that human and interrogate them," Demiurge said, sounding slightly excited. This was another opportunity to share the burden for Ainz-sama.

"Uh... allow me to think about it first. There is no need to rush," Momonga said.

He did not want to mobilize the Guardians. He had agreed blindly before because he didn't know what Demiurge was referring to, but now he needed to analyze the situation carefully before making a decision.

Since that enemy was capable of killing him, Demiurge was likely no match for them either. If he rushed into action and was accidentally killed, while he could likely be resurrected using the guild's function, it would be a significant expense.

Without a certain degree of confidence, he did not want to waste resources. Furthermore, he still could not confirm if the person in Enri's memory was actually related to the assassination.

In Enri's memory, he had seen a boy named "Hakimi" who claimed to be a traveler. His behavior was strange; his greeting ritual involved slapping himself in the face.

Momonga found it difficult to judge the identity of this person. At the very least, he had never heard of a custom where slapping oneself was a greeting in his original world. Could it be a custom from a specific region of this new world?

Even so, it was impossible to confirm if the assassination was linked to him. The only major connection was that this person had arrived at Carne Village on the very night Nazarick arrived in this world.

Although Momonga tried his best to categorize this person as a player, based on Enri's memories, he did not seem to fit the characteristics of a player.