Plan

How should one describe the Bone King...

Though he came across like a cold-blooded demon in the anime, judging from the side-story novel, he actually did not have much of an opinion of his own.

Becoming undead had not changed his way of thinking. It was merely the racial passive called "Forced Calm" that made it difficult for his emotions to fluctuate too much.

He was also easily influenced by others and would readily change the way he acted for the sake of "friends" and "family."

In the main story, in order to become the ruler in the NPCs' eyes, he could torture, slaughter, and destroy nations without the slightest psychological burden.

In the side story, in order to destroy a nation, he did not seize a World Item even when he saw one in the hands of civilians. When taking an ownerless World Item, he would even choose to leave behind treasure of equivalent value.

Although some said that Ainz had been sidelined by the NPCs, that was merely because of his personality. He spoiled the NPCs left behind by his friends too much.

As long as he gave an order, even if there were occasionally some acts of outward compliance and inward defiance—such as the Supreme Being Hunting Squad—the NPCs would choose to obey in the vast majority of cases.

Therefore, Ainz was undoubtedly the primary target if he wanted to solve this problem.

And what Ainz valued most was naturally the NPCs left behind by his friends, with the Great Tomb of Nazarick coming second.

As for everything else, it was unimportant to him.

If he told Ainz some information related to the Dragon Emperor and the New World, letting him know that this world was not so safe and that the NPCs he cared about most were actually in danger...

Would he still care about something as trivial as founding a nation, which meant nothing to him?

He only needed to make up some excuse to get him to refrain from attacking humans for now.

He would first turn Ainz's attention toward the True Dragon Lords and give himself enough time to grow. Once his level was high enough—

Wouldn't Ainz have to do whatever he said?

However, how to reveal this plot information to him was a little troublesome.

Using Muni as an intermediary seemed like a good choice and would minimize the chances of an accident.

But he had assigned it to search for information on World Items.

"So, I still have to do it myself?"

Higashino Makoto rubbed his chin as he considered the possibility of things going wrong.

He possessed both a World Item and a class, so he had "World Protection" to resist the effects of non-direct-damage World Items.

With three health bars, plus the ability to clear abnormal statuses whenever a health bar broke, he could avoid being ambushed and instantly killed.

The life-saving skill "Corpse Liberation" allowed him to flee at any time.

And he was not weak himself...

Forget it. It still did not seem all that safe.

If he had already reached the limit of his growth, Higashino Makoto would not have lacked the courage to take risks.

But when all he needed to do was lie low to become invincible, even a ninety-percent chance of staying safe made taking risks reckless.

"...Is there something like a puppet that can be controlled from a long distance?"

Perhaps a class like Puppeteer could do it, but Higashino Makoto did not have skills of that nature.

Just as Higashino Makoto was racking his brains, a voice sounded beside his ear.

"Lord Amon, this one can do it."

Higashino Makoto looked around but found no trace of an enemy, nor any sign that the traps set in the room had been triggered.

After thinking for a moment, he came to a somewhat uncertain conclusion.

"...Huginn?"

"That is correct."

As the voice spoke, another raven flew out from beside his ear and arrived before Higashino Makoto.

It then began introducing its abilities.

"In other words, you can remotely control a mindless Grem, then use your connection with me to let me remotely control the Grem."

"If it dies unexpectedly, it will be reborn here with me the next day, just like Muni."

"Yes, great Lord Amon Nicola."

"Excellent!"

Never mind why Huginn and Muni had gained abilities that had not existed in the original game.

Could it be a privilege granted to Items with Wisdom in the setting?

Either way, it was a good thing!

After receiving confirmation, Higashino Makoto felt that he truly was the chosen one.

It was as if whatever he wanted simply appeared before him!

Now he had to consider what identity he should use when dealing with Ainz.

First, he could not be too weak. Otherwise, given Ainz's personality, he would likely capture him and use magic to search his memories.

The loss would not be great—only one Grem—but that would conflict with his guiding principle of growing steadily without exposing himself.

But if he was too strong... would he be deemed a potential threat to the Great Tomb of Nazarick and killed?

If he wanted a way to reach a consensus with Ainz—

Pretending to be the friend of a member of the Ainz Ooal Gown Guild seemed like a good method.

Given how much Ainz valued his friends, even if he knew he might be deceived, he would not target him before his disguise was exposed.

In that case, what he needed to guard against was the "Supreme Being Hunting Squad" led by Albedo.

But it was not much of a problem. The prerequisite for her hunting the other Supreme Beings was that Ainz did not know about it.

As long as Ainz showed even the slightest intention of "resurrecting him after death," they would not dare lay a hand on him.

"Since that is the case, everything that needs to be done next is clear."

He would find a Grem in the warehouse, have Huginn possess it, then go whisper in Ainz's ear. Ideally, he would get Ainz to fight the True Dragon Lords directly.

No matter which side won, it would benefit him.

Of course, in terms of strength, Ainz would undoubtedly be the one to win.

The main thing was to see what losses Nazarick would suffer.

Before long, Higashino Makoto found a Level 60 Grem in the warehouse.

He had no idea who had sold it to him. Plenty of materials had been used, but they had not been put together very well.

If he had to put it into words, its racial levels were probably fairly high, perhaps Level 40.

Moreover, its twenty class levels were not Warrior or Tank classes that suited the Grem race, but Priest classes suited for magic and healing.

It was probably a practice creation made by some rich person when the game had first launched.

Though it was trash in the game, this level of strength was more than sufficient in the human world.

Humans only had a level cap of forty-two. Leaving everything else aside, its level advantage alone would allow it to easily crush any human who had not awakened player blood.

After he made his choice, Huginn directly transformed into a tattoo on the Grem's forehead.

After handing the Heart of the Doppelganger to the Grem, it transformed into the appearance of "Higashino Makoto."

After testing it, there was a very slight delay, but overall, it was quite smooth to use.

As Higashino Makoto adjusted to the strange sensation of dividing his attention between two bodies, he considered one final matter.

"Whose friend should I be?"

Touch Me?

He was too famous, a figure many YGGDRASIL players had heard of. Moreover, Higashino Makoto knew too little about him, so he was unsuitable as proof for gaining trust.

Ulbert? He only remembered that he seemed to be a member of some resistance army. He did not know much else.

Tabula Smaragdina? Herohero?

There was too little information.

...It would be best if he knew both their game characters and at least some information about them outside the game, such as—

Peroroncino and Bukubukuchagama.