Bone King and Albedo both carried World Items.
As a result, neither Laplace's Demon nor the All-Seeing Eye could normally see them.
Unfortunately, not being able to see them was itself a way of seeing them.
Take the changes to the terrain near Carne Village, combined with the fact that neither the [All-Seeing Eye] nor [Laplace's Demon] could investigate what was inside that area.
That, in turn, proved that something was there.
From this, Roy was certain Bone King had arrived. Meanwhile, troops from the Re-Estize Kingdom were stationed near Carne Village, so by any reasonable estimate, the two sides were highly likely to cross paths.
Roy therefore simply lay in wait, ordering Eve to keep the kingdom's troops under comprehensive surveillance.
Sure enough, an area appeared where nothing could be seen or heard, as though it had been blocked out.
This was exactly how it worked in the game.
Intelligence-gathering World Items could not investigate the holders of other World Items.
But Roy still had one final option: the Governor of Eternal Night City possessed a [Veil of Divine Concealment].
The effect of the [Veil of Divine Concealment] was a vastly superior version of the ninth-tier spell [Perfect Unknowable].
Anyone who put it on immediately entered a state of divine concealment.
Hela then observed the other party using the most primitive method.
Her eyes.
And so a chain of surveillance formed.
Bone King watched the Warrior Captain, while Hela watched Bone King.
Bone King could hardly be blamed for carelessness. No matter how hard he thought, he could never have imagined that someone possessed a hundred World Items.
There were fully three devoted to gathering intelligence alone.
It was simply a matter of overwhelming him with resources.
"Eve, they've finally arrived."
"Hela doesn't dare get too close, lest their World Items react."
"What do you make of their actions?"
As Roy watched the Warrior Captain subdue the Wise King of the Forest, he realized the plot had already gone off the rails.
From here on, he could only rely on his understanding of Bone King to carry out his own plans.
As for devising those plans, he would naturally leave that to Eve.
Eve answered immediately:
"Supreme One, judging by Ainz Ooal Gown's behavior, they will likely arrange for the kingdom's troops to encounter powerful magical beasts, then rescue them to earn their gratitude and establish friendly relations."
"This is the simplest and most effective method."
"If you wish to prevent the Great Tomb of Nazarick from establishing friendships with outsiders, I have five methods available."
"However, there is no need for you to stop them. The two sides will inevitably come into conflict."
"We need only wait for an opportunity, then take advantage of it."
Roy found this rather puzzling.
Why was Eve certain Bone King would attack the kingdom's troops?
The Shalltear incident had not occurred, so Bone King would not necessarily follow the original plot.
"Why are you certain the two sides will clash?"
Eve replied:
"Supreme One, the Great Tob Forest is rather too close to the Great Tomb of Nazarick."
"There is a Chinese proverb: how can one allow another to sleep soundly beside one's own bed?"
"After all, we are also seeking a way to deal with the Space Dragon."
Roy chuckled despite himself. That was indeed the logic of it.
He had recently been training his body like mad and relying too heavily on Eve to do his thinking. He needed to pull himself together.
Roy nodded and said:
"You're absolutely right, Eve. Bring up the map. I'll think it through first. I can't rely on you every time."
"Yes, Supreme One."
Eve projected a complete terrain map of the Great Tob Forest, laying it all out before him.
The Great Tob Forest was rich in resources. Adventurers could make a fortune simply by gathering herbs there.
It lay where the Re-Estize Kingdom, the Slane Theocracy, and the Empire met, yet it had never been developed because the forest was too sensitive a location.
If any one side tried to develop it, another would interfere, potentially making the whole venture more trouble than it was worth.
Rambasa III dared to develop it only because he believed that Gazef and Brain together could defeat the Empire's Four Imperial Knights.
That would leave him unafraid of the Empire's opposition. Nothing more.
Now that Gazef had subdued the Wise King of the Forest, the kingdom's morale would surely soar, and its development efforts would expand dramatically.
The Empire would never tolerate that. Conflict between the two sides was inevitable.
Before the forest was developed, the Great Tomb of Nazarick might maintain a friendly attitude.
Once the kingdom extended its reach into the forest, serious conflict with the Great Tomb of Nazarick would naturally arise.
At that point, Ainz's plans would shift from gathering information about the New World to occupying the great forest.
This had nothing to do with the Great Tomb of Nazarick's usual conduct. Even Roy would take similar action and occupy the forest.
The plot had changed, but that only made conflict between the kingdom and the Great Tomb of Nazarick unavoidable.
Yet Bone King's conflict with the kingdom would ultimately lead to a war of annihilation and a massacre.
This massacre might claim over ten million lives. It should be avoided if possible.
After all, humanity's gene pool was precious.
Roy had the power to stop all of this, but he did not want to reveal his strength yet.
The key, then, was to guide events sensibly, prevent war between the kingdom and the Great Tomb of Nazarick, and direct the latter's attention toward the Dragons.
Roy studied the map, constantly analyzing the situation.
What if I sent out dragon-shaped magical beasts, passed them off as True Dragon Lords making an appearance, and hit him hard?
World City had plenty of dragon-shaped magical beasts. Any two would be enough.
That did not seem workable.
It would reveal too much power, and Bone King was no fool. He would recognize them as magical beasts from the game.
Wait, it doesn't matter if he recognizes them.
Making Bone King think the Argland Council State has players as well as True Dragon Lords would be fine. Let the two sides fight even harder.
Right, I can pin everything on the Argland Council State.
A young man arrives from the Argland Council State.
He's a beast tamer, so it's perfectly reasonable for him to have dragon-shaped magical beasts protecting him, isn't it?
When he encounters danger, a level 80 dragon-shaped magical beast suddenly appears to save him. That's perfectly reasonable too, isn't it?
The Great Tomb of Nazarick gets battered by a dragon-shaped magical beast and investigates the Argland Council State. That's also perfectly reasonable, isn't it?
The plan seemed feasible now.
Roy considered it for a moment. Rather than directly revealing his proposal, he immediately asked:
"I want the Great Tomb of Nazarick to deal with the Space Dragon, starting with the Argland Council State."
"What would you suggest, Eve?"
Eve bowed respectfully.
"Supreme One, this is a very simple matter. We have many Automated Guards."
"These Automated Guards can blend into the ranks of adventurers and feed the enemy false intelligence."
"As long as those adventurers come from the Argland Council State, the Great Tomb of Nazarick will focus its investigation there."
Roy's eyes lit up.
We really are thinking along the same lines, and Eve even added details about the adventurers' origins.
Still, Roy could not help asking:
"Can the Automated Guards handle that work?"
In the original story, the Great Tomb of Nazarick had three types of automatically generated guards.
Veteran Guard: level 18
Seasoned Guard: level 25
Expert Guard: level 30
These were all automatically generated troops. In the game, they did not even qualify as speed bumps.
If all these guards were killed, they would automatically reset the next day without consuming any resources.
That was because undead upkeep cost nothing.
Roy's World City, including its nine major cities, was one of the game's top guilds, so naturally it had options for upgrading Automated Guards through paid purchases.
It produced more Automated Guards than the Great Tomb of Nazarick, though the first three types had the same levels.
After Roy spent money, however, he gained two additional types: [Special Guard] and [Super Guard].
One was level 40, the other level 50.
They were not much use in the game either. Their main purpose was to add atmosphere.
But Roy knew the plot. Compared with ordinary adventurers in the New World, these guards had considerable value.
Roy had therefore specifically asked the game company to expand the relevant options.
One was AI-randomized appearances, another was the range of guard skill specializations, and the last covered guard numbers and maximum levels.
Thus, each of Roy's rank-and-file guards had a different appearance and automatically generated an individual background and personality.
Roy had not painstakingly crafted any of these. They were all automatically generated by AI.
The total number of Automated Guards reached an astonishing six hundred thousand.
The Great Tomb of Nazarick could respawn six thousand a day. With Roy having maxed out the paid upgrades and spread them across ten cities, that number was hardly excessive.
No one else was bored enough to generate these speed-bump monsters and then waste money maintaining them.
Of Roy's ten cities, only Eternal Night City was like the Great Tomb of Nazarick, with undead making up its main population, so its Automated Guards cost nothing to maintain.
All the others required upkeep.
Where else would Roy's daily upkeep bill of ten billion gold coins have come from?
But now that Eve had brought this up, Roy had to ask one question.
Were guards with AI-randomized personalities intelligent enough to shoulder this responsibility?
Eve answered:
"Rest assured, Supreme One. I have already personally administered intelligence tests to all six hundred thousand Automated Guards."
"Comprehensive intelligence testing showed that these automatically generated guards have IQs between 70 and 100, with very few falling below 70 or above 100."
"Most fall within the range of ordinary people. They aren't clever, but they are sufficient for dealing with ordinary enemies."
"More importantly, I can implant terminals in them and direct each one individually."
"If they are captured, I can also swiftly destroy the terminals so the enemy will not discover them."
The Great Tomb of Nazarick's undead legions needed only simple automated routines and cost nothing to maintain.
Thus, even powerful combatants had little value beyond being pure cannon fodder.
In the original story, Bone King had once had the lizardmen train a [Death Knight], hoping it could learn martial arts, but the attempt had ended in failure.
Without intelligence, its value would always be limited.
World City's guards, however, were intelligent, living people.
Once you reached the New World, you understood why the expensive option cost more!
But before Roy could get excited about having so many subordinates, a question occurred to him.
When had Eve done all this?
How long would it take to administer IQ tests to six hundred thousand people?
Seeing Roy's surprised expression, Eve smiled faintly.
"Supreme One, as World City's prime minister, it is only natural that I keep everything in proper order."
"It does not take much time. All that is required is parallel processing."
An Artificial Intelligence micromanaging six hundred thousand people simultaneously-truly terrifying.
Yet Eve still looked utterly unconcerned.
As expected of humanity's strongest Artificial Intelligence.
With Eve here, it should be fine to make my plans a little bolder.
Roy suddenly had a new idea.
Perhaps the value of these Automated Guards lay not merely in misleading Bone King, but in becoming an important force in his conquest of the world.
Before you continue