Roy had spent thirty whole years laying the groundwork for this day.
From the moment he was reincarnated, he had lived cautiously.
That life had not been as easy as it looked.
Roy had grown accustomed to enjoying solitude, and he could endure loneliness better than anyone.
As Arthur had said, Roy could hold out for thirty years for a single goal.
How much ambition, how much desire, must he have had?
The Higuma Family ranked only in the lower-middle tier of the elite, but compared with commoners, its members faced an unimaginable wealth of temptations.
As long as Roy was willing to throw money around, he could easily have lived a life of wine, women, and boundless excess.
His third brother owed billions of dollars in outside debt and changed girlfriends every week.
Yet Roy, the eighth son of the Higuma Family, had still been a virgin at thirty before crossing over-a bona fide wizard.
That was because he knew his fifth brother had stolen another man's girlfriend, and that boyfriend, a hacker, had taken control of a robot and blown his head off.
In a sense, it had been a scheme by his second brother; his fifth brother had not known the woman already had a boyfriend.
Of course, given the morals of the Higuma Family's members, he might well have enjoyed it.
So Roy had rejected every outside temptation and become a notorious shut-in among the nobility.
Compared with an Immortal's long lifespan, what did a mere thirty years of restraint amount to?
Nothing more than a fleeting moment.
That was just how ruthless Roy was.
Even though he considered the Resistance members in the Cat Re-Estize Kingdom his friends, he was in no hurry to seek them out.
With an Immortal's long lifespan, he could do that whenever he liked.
For that reason, he merely gave Eve an instruction, then continued familiarizing himself with his body and classes, working through them from low to high.
First came Armed Merchant, a class devoted entirely to noncombat pursuits. Players with this class mainly traded goods between worlds to turn a profit.
Its only noteworthy feature was a trait called [Armed].
It allowed players to equip the vast majority of equipment and receive its bonuses.
After all, merchants traveling far from home needed to take up arms to protect themselves.
In Yggdrasil, however, it was an utterly terrible choice.
When building classes in Yggdrasil, specialization always beat versatility.
For instance, within the spellcasting system, casters were divided into [Magic-Type], [Faith-Type], [Mental-Type], and [Other-Type].
If you took spellcasting classes from all four branches at once, your caster level in any one of them would never get very high. Even at level one hundred, you would be unable to cast super-tier magic.
The same applied to weapons.
For example, Shalltear had [Valkyrie (Lance)], while Certain Death had [Degraded Valkyrie (All-Rounder)].
Even without the degraded version, Certain Death's class would not boost her combat power as effectively as Shalltear's specialization.
Then why was Brunhilde, the strongest in Roy's [Hall of the Valkyries], a [Valkyrie (All-Rounder)]?
Because she had a boss template, unlike players.
Who knew how many players had followed Brunhilde's example and chosen that class for its versatility, only to fall into a trap?
Still, Roy was quite satisfied with [Armed Merchant].
It meant he could wield any divine item and bring out its corresponding effects.
Ainz could not. He had no warrior classes and ordinarily could not use any warrior equipment, so he could only switch through [Perfect Warrior].
That switch took a considerable amount of time in combat and could sometimes leave a fatal opening.
In the original story, Shalltear had lost to Bone King not only because he was decked out in divine equipment, but also because she really was an idiot who repeatedly let him stall for time.
Naturally, Roy would not pin his hopes on facing an idiot like Shalltear.
During practice, he trained his combat awareness by constantly switching weapons, causing Kagura Inori a little trouble.
But that was all.
The gap between them in close combat was simply too great.
Roy's class build probably counted as [Caster · Other-Type].
It was much like the [Specialization] category in Hunter x Hunter.
Anything that did not fall into the first three categories belonged to [Other-Type].
How could a caster with unimpressive stats and little experience possibly defeat World City's [Unbeaten Demon God] in hand-to-hand combat?
Kagura Inori held back her strength, handling him with ease while pointing out unnecessary movements during his weapon switches and helping Roy awaken his body's memories.
Yes, just as Ainz's combat instincts had improved after a few practice sessions in the New World.
The new body granted by his crossing over already held a certain amount of dormant combat awareness.
He could digest and absorb it through fighting.
Even so, before undergoing rigorous training, Ainz had embarrassed himself in quite a few battles.
For instance, when Bone King fought the Wise King of the Forest, who was level 31, in the original story, the creature's tail had struck him in the back.
Only his overwhelming stats and equipment had saved him from disaster.
Gazef, Brain, and the others in the original story had not been particularly high-level, but they were truly strong.
A warrior forged through countless trials was fundamentally different from someone who had suddenly struck it rich.
That was the gap.
Roy was like someone who had eaten a fruit of fate and was digesting it little by little until it dissolved completely.
There was a crack.
Under Kagura Inori's training, Roy felt it would not take long to reach his ceiling in hand-to-hand combat.
At least he would not stumble into disaster so easily.
Whatever strength you possessed, your combat ability should rise to match it.
To avoid boredom during training, Roy kept changing what he practiced.
After familiarizing himself with Armed Merchant, he soon moved on to his second class, [Gold Dominator].
This class was rather peculiar too.
It had a special skill that allowed him to control gold.
That sounded a little like Magneto, or perhaps more like someone with the Gold-Gold Fruit's powers.
He could control all kinds of gold to launch attacks against his enemies.
In particular, he possessed a [Mysterious Gold Ball], which he could summon to perform various attacks.
Kagura Inori was responsible for advising Roy:
"Supreme One, with Liquid Armament, you could try covering your body's vulnerable areas, or even creating false information to lure the enemy into attacking."
"As for your regular fighting methods, you could bury gold underground and pierce your opponent in an instant!"
Kagura Inori had exceptionally rich combat experience, more than enough to keep honing Roy's fighting ability.
By relying on mechanics, Roy could indeed slaughter Kagura Inori.
But he had to account for one possibility: those mechanics might fail.
Many fighters who depended on gimmicks became laughingstocks the moment their gimmicks stopped working.
Roy had cashed in on those mechanics, but he could not rely on them alone. If he discovered they had failed, he still needed to be able to grab a weapon and fight his enemy head-on.
That was Kagura Inori's value.
Soon, he had finished familiarizing himself with Gold Dominator's abilities as well.
Roy then skipped the World Merchant, World's Richest Man, and Recorder classes and began training as an Observer.
There was essentially little worth training in the Observer class.
Its core function was to diminish his presence.
Ainz possessed a ninth-tier spell, [Perfect Unknowable].
It completely concealed his sound and presence, leaving only those with thief-class perception able to detect him.
Roy's [Observer] class had a similar effect.
When he activated the [Observer] trait, others found it difficult to notice his existence.
It seemed like a worthless waste of a class build, but it actually concealed a certain effect.
It reduced the enemy's chance of hitting him.
He could not be targeted.
Originally, that reduction in probability was not very high, but Roy had a divine item.
The Mysterious Battle Cloak.
Once he put on the cloak, he could activate its concealment trait, making him very difficult for enemies to target.
In other words, many of Kagura Inori's attacks against him would miss.
Roy wanted to test what those misses would look like in reality.
Experiment after experiment helped Roy solidify his combat foundations.
The same was all the more true of Space Traveler, Fate Aria Singer, and Time Observer.
The training continued.
As time passed, even Kagura began to feel the strain.
As the Arena's Unbeaten Demon God, she could fight for months without it affecting her body.
But Roy was different. She had to remain focused at every moment, teaching His Majesty every aspect of combat experience.
Teaching, not actual combat.
That made the drain on Kagura Inori especially severe.
Yet Kagura Inori was unwilling to surrender this glorious assignment from the Supreme One to anyone else.
Even if she had to fight to the death.
The War Ghost's resolve surged in an instant. It could fight for another three days and nights without a problem.
Then Roy said:
"Let's stop. That's enough training for today."
"I want to bathe and change."
"Huh?"
Kagura Inori stared in astonishment, only to find Veronica already waiting nearby.
"Master, your bath is ready."
"The water is just the right temperature."
When did you get that ready?
Kagura Inori's mouth fell open in disbelief.
Veronica spoke down to her:
"His Majesty's training could lead to many possible outcomes. Preparing for all of them is what makes a subordinate worthy."
You still have a long way to go.
Only I am the Supreme One's finest subordinate.
Not even Eve can compare.
As Roy headed to the bath with Veronica following closely behind, only Kagura Inori remained, looking bitter.
Damn it. I absolutely won't lose next time.
The contest in the Arena ended in Kagura Inori's defeat.
World City, bath
Roy actually had many scrolls on hand, including spells specifically intended for cleansing.
Those were not meant for everyday bathing, but for dealing with attacks from monsters such as slimes.
Heteromorphic races often attacked using sludge, corrosion, deadly poison, and various other methods.
That was what Cleanse was for.
Still, Roy preferred to relax in the Royal Bath.
After all, he had known how to enjoy life in the real world too.
Give anyone several million dollars a month for living expenses, and they would know how to enjoy themselves.
Roy soaked in the hot spring while Veronica attended him with a massage.
I want it. I really want it. I want it so badly. I want it more than anything.
Master, do you need me to serve you in bed?
How would you like it-rough or gentle?
Would you like an after-dinner dessert, or a full meal?
As a Highest-Ranking Vampire and an inheritor of The One's bloodline, Veronica wanted only to become the King of the World's bedchamber maid.
Although she desperately wanted to take things further, a perfect maid had to hide her desires.
Everything had to respect her master's wishes.
Her desires could only resonate with her master's.
Roy had no such thoughts for the moment. He let out a long breath, easing his mental fatigue.
The bath was soothing and intimate, stirring the heart.
Roy enjoyed Veronica's service, and in mere moments, the weariness in both his body and mind disappeared.
Her flawless massage technique left him floating on air.
Who else could enjoy the service of a vampire of the highest rank as he did?
In that regard, the title of King of the World was well deserved.
Roy dozed briefly, until a message arrived from Eve.
"Supreme One, the first intelligence report has been compiled."
"Would you like me to report it immediately?"
Before you continue