Ainz Ooal Gown: Noble Knight

If Demiurge hadn't overthought things, his true skill level might have been exposed long ago.

From this perspective, this over-interpretation has become a form of protection.

Ainz comforted himself, telling himself that it would pass if he just endured it.

However, he clearly overestimated the limits of his patience, because Ainz overlooked the fact that Pandora's Actor was also present this time.

The dual illusion created by Ainz himself took a step forward.

Before Ainz could stop her, Pandora had already brought her feet together and then raised her right arm in return to Demiurge with the same standard German military salute.

"Sparashi!" Pandora's voice rang out, carrying that distinctive German accent that Ainz knew all too well. "Lord Demiurge's manners have truly improved!"

Ainz's fingers, which were slowly lowering, froze instantly.

Before he could react, he saw Yau also step forward.

The dark elf girl exuded vitality, her heterochromatic eyes sparkling with eager anticipation.

She followed their example, bringing her feet together and raising her right hand to give a German military salute that, while not perfect, was full of presence.

"Me too! Lord Ainz, look how well I did!"

Ainz's jaw opened, and a green light flashed across his body.

Forced calm, triggered again.

But he could still clearly feel the shame welling up from the depths of his soul, as if he were being burned from the inside by an invisible flame.

He looked at the three figures standing in a row in the hall, saluting in the same way: Demiurge, Pandora'akert, and Yau.

Ainz felt as if he were experiencing some kind of calamity that could not be described in words.

Mare stood beside Yau, not following along, but his eyes were secretly observing the details of everyone's movements, as if he were silently memorizing them.

Cocytus turned his insect-like head, and two of his four arms unconsciously rose half an inch before falling back down, probably debating how many arms to use if he were to do it.

Albedo stood below the throne, her golden vertical pupils sweeping over the three saluting figures. Her lips twitched slightly, but she ultimately said nothing.

As Ainz gazed at the scene before him, he felt his soul undergoing a silent collapse.

'Why did it turn out like this?' he said silently to himself.

Chapter 144 Work

The afterglow of the salute had not yet completely dissipated, and the air in the throne room still retained the subtle awkwardness of the moment.

Just as Ainz lowered the finger bone covering his eye socket and was about to adjourn the meeting, Demiurge took a half step forward.

"Lord Ainz, there is one more thing I need to report to you."

Ainz froze instantly, fearing that Demiurge might display some new courtesy.

The previous combination of kneeling on one knee and giving a German military salute was already enough of a headache for him; what if Demiurge came up with some even more outrageous pose...?

"I-What is it?" Ainz's voice was unconsciously a few decibels faster than usual.

Demiurge calmly pushed up his glasses, a slightly troubled expression appearing on his face.

"It concerns Riblom Rashur. My subordinates have checked the city's grain reserves and found that the food is running low."

Ainz was slightly taken aback.

Demiurges continued, “In the previous battles, the Kingdom’s army used Ribrumrashur as a rallying point and supply depot. The consumption of 150,000 troops was quite staggering, and coupled with the chaos left behind during the rout, a large amount of food was either taken away by the soldiers as reserves or abandoned. Now, under the rule of the Demon Kingdom, the citizens of Ribrumrashur face the risk of starvation.”

At this point, Demiurge turned his head to look in Albedo's direction, his eyes filled with a hint of apology.

“Normally, such matters should be reported to Steward Albedo first, and then reported to Lord Ainz after the Steward coordinates them. However, since Lord Ainz happens to be here today, I will report directly.”

"It's alright." Albedo didn't seem to care about these things. "The Demon Kingdom was entrusted to you by Lord Ainz, so it's more accurate for you to report these specific matters directly to Lord Ainz."

“However,” Albedo’s tone suddenly changed, scrutinizing him with a critical eye, “Demiurge, is the life or death of a mere human worth bothering Lord Ainz for?”

In Albedo's view, the citizens of Ribloom Rashuur were nothing more than expendable resources within the Demon Kingdom's territory. If there wasn't enough food, a few would simply starve to death. It was an overreaction to trouble Lord Ainz with such a trivial matter.

Upon hearing this, Demiurge gave a meaningful smile.

“Albedo, you’re right, the lives of humans are indeed unimportant.” He paused deliberately. “However, their survival allows them to mass-produce items and resources for Nazarick. So…”

Demiurge's smile grew increasingly sinister.

Albedo blinked, then revealed the same wicked smile.

She nodded immediately, no longer arguing, clearly having grasped the deeper meaning behind Demiurge's words.

Ainz sat on his throne, watching the exchange of glances between the two guardians, feeling once again excluded from the "deeper meaning" of their conversation.

He tried to piece together Demiurge's meaning in his mind.

Mass production tools and resources?

So, is this to have the citizens of Ribloom Rashull produce items for Nazarick?

This understanding gave Ainz direction.

He subconsciously continued to extrapolate, realizing that if Demiurge intended to hand over the production technology of Nazarick to those citizens so they could establish production lines in Ribloomrashur, then it was indeed necessary to ensure their survival.

However, this also carries the risk of technology leakage...

Ainz touched his chin, his worry finally overpowering his hesitation, and he asked.

"Demiurge, won't this prevent Nazarick's technology from being leaked?"

Demiurge was slightly taken aback, then an expression of admiration appeared on his face, as if to say, "Lord Ainz has indeed considered everything thoroughly."

He replied with certainty, "Lord Ainz, please rest assured, the key parts are all handled by people from Nazarick, and there will be no leaks."

Upon hearing this, Ainz felt a weight lifted from his heart.

Since the core technology is in the hands of Nazarick's own people, even if the citizens of Riblomlashhur participate in some of the processes, they really don't pose any threat.

He nodded, about to indicate that Demiurge could handle the matter himself, but another question arose in his mind.

Ainz recalled his experience at that shady company before he transmigrated.

Those so-called "outsourced labor" workers work more than ten hours a day and their wages are barely enough to live on.

He himself was one of the victims of that environment.

Although the citizens of Ribloom Rashull weren't strictly speaking even "outsourced employees," Ainz still subconsciously felt that he should at least check their working hours.

“Demiurge,” Ainz asked with some empathy, “how long are the working hours for the citizens of Ribloom Rashull?”

Demiurge did not seem to have anticipated this problem.

A hint of confusion flickered across his cunning face, but he quickly regained his composed smile.

“Well…” Demiurge said casually, “Apart from the most basic physiological activities, they are constantly ‘producing’.”

A dark red light flickered suddenly in Ainz's skull eye socket.

His jaw opened slightly, making a soft clicking sound.

It has been "producing" all along.

Doesn't that mean that all waking hours, except for eating and sleeping, are spent working?

No, according to Demiurge, even sleep time was probably compressed to a minimum.

Ainz quickly did the math in his mind: there are 24 hours in a day, and after deducting the necessary sleep and eating time, the rest of the time is all spent working.

Even by the most conservative estimate, the daily working hours are still eighteen hours.

This is even more unscrupulous than the ruthless company I worked for before I transmigrated.

Ainz knew that Demiurge never had any pity for humanity.

But hearing this arrangement with his own eyes still stirred a deep, indescribable unease within him.

“…Demiurge.” Ainz’s voice was a few decibels deeper than before, and he gave his order without room for discussion, “Arrange holidays for them, and give them at least one day of rest every seven days.”

Demiurge paused slightly, his gem-like eyes flashing behind his glasses as if he were processing the deeper meaning of Ainz's words.

A moment later, a look of realization dawned on his face.

"Lord Ainz, you are truly merciful," Demiurge's voice was filled with heartfelt gratitude.

Ainz spoke with an air of self-righteousness, as if it were common sense: "After all, long hours of work can cause mental damage from excessive stress. If those citizens suffer a mental breakdown due to overwork, it will actually affect their subsequent productivity."

The claims about "psychological damage" and "productivity" are just excuses he came up with on the spot.

Ainz simply loathed this exploitative method, which was even more ruthless than that of the most unscrupulous capitalists.

But Demiurge's reaction was completely unexpected.

The devil's smile deepened little by little, his eyes behind his glasses filled with admiration.

Lord Ainz, you've actually thought of this!

Demiurge silently pieced together the whole story in his mind.

His original plan was simple: to exploit the citizens of Ribloomrashur, forcing them to contribute their bodies as raw materials to Nazarick under extreme conditions.

The more they are exploited, the stronger the contrast will be when Fei Fei saves them in the future, and the deeper the citizens' gratitude will be.

This is a fairly standard "suppress first, then elevate" strategy.

But Ainz's words just now exposed a fatal blind spot in his plan.

The mental endurance of those lowly humans has its limits.

If they are over-exploited, they may have already suffered a mental breakdown before Feifei arrives.

By then, even if Feifei saves them, all that will remain are a bunch of mindless shells, unable to contribute anything to the future of the Kingdom of Tajimi.

Lord Ainz even considered such details.

Demiurge pondered this conclusion repeatedly in his mind. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that Lord Ainz's plan was far more profound than he could comprehend.

He only saw the surface effects, while Lord Ainz saw a much farther future.

"Lord Ainz's wisdom is truly admirable." Demiurge bowed deeply again, his voice filled with heartfelt respect.

"I failed to consider the matter thoroughly and almost made a grave mistake. If Lord Ainz had not reminded me in time, the subsequent plans would likely have been affected."

Ainz sat on his throne, gazing at Demiurge's sincere, almost pious, expression of admiration, but his heart was filled with bewilderment.