"Lord Ainz, I have failed in my duties."
"You did well, Sebas. The dignity of the Great Tomb of Nazarick must not be violated. When you return, I will reward both you and Shalltear."
"I am deeply humbled, my lord."
"Sebas, did Lord Ainz have any instructions?" Shalltear asked, idly toying with her fingers as she sat atop the ruins of the marine base.
"Lord Ainz does not blame us. On the contrary, he intends to reward us."
"Really? So that means... Lord Ainz is finally going to make me his queen?" A rosy blush crept onto Shalltear's pale face.
"Forgive my bluntness, Lady Shalltear, but Lord Ainz never mentioned such a thing," Sebas replied with his usual composure before stepping into the wreckage of the marine base.
"Hmm… If I become Lord Ainz's queen, how many babies should I have? It would be perfect if they looked like Lord Ainz..."
Shalltear completely ignored Sebas' words and instead spiraled deeper into her delusions. In a way, she and Albedo were quite similar.
"As expected, we cannot underestimate the intelligence network of the Navy in this world," Ainz muttered as he examined the freshly printed bounty posters Narberal had brought him.
It had barely been two days, yet bounty notices for Shalltear and Sebas had already appeared.
Noblewoman, Shalltear Bloodfallen – 60 million Berries
Butler, Sebas Tian – 70 million Berries
(A small inconsistency here—technically, the Marines shouldn't know their names, but for the sake of readability, let's go with it.)
Originally, the plan was for Shalltear and Sebas to infiltrate the Marines by pretending to be bounty hunters, but an unexpected turn of events had led them to destroy an entire marine base instead—instantly branding them as wanted criminals.
"It seems I'll need to assign Shalltear and Sebas some additional crew members. A pirate crew with only two members is far from enough," Ainz mused as he rose from his seat in the tavern.
Narberal quietly followed behind him.
"Lord Ainz."
Inside the chambers of Ainz's room, Albedo was inhaling deeply into his bedsheets.
"Ah… Lord Ainz… His scent is everywhere… It's simply divine…" Her face was one of utter bliss, as if she wished to fuse herself into Ainz's bedding.
"Albedo."
"Yes, Lord Ainz!" The moment she heard his voice, Albedo immediately dropped to her knees.
"Come to the Seventh Floor's grand hall immediately."
"As you command, Lord Ainz!"
The moment the communication ended, Albedo's mind spiraled into another fantasy.
"What should I do? Lord Ainz wants to see me... But shouldn't the first time be in the bedroom?
Still, if Lord Ainz insists on the grand hall, I wouldn't mind… Maybe I should take a bath first?"
"My deepest apologies, Lord Ainz! I arrived late!" Albedo knelt the moment she entered the hall.
"Rise, Albedo."
'Ugh, I'm still not used to this…'
"Albedo, how many troops do we still have at our disposal in Nazarick?"
"Lord Ainz, aside from the personal squads of each Floor Guardian, we only have your Battle Maids and a number of level 40 Undead soldiers left."
"I see…" Ainz fell into deep thought.
Based on the intelligence he had gathered over the past few days from hunting pirates, a level 30 Undead soldier seemed to be roughly on par with a pirate worth 50 million Berries.
Given that Undead do not feel pain and continue fighting until their HP is completely depleted, their actual combat effectiveness was much higher.
Not to mention Shalltear's Vampire Brides. By Ainz's estimation, they wouldn't be any weaker than his current target—the Straw Hat.
However, Shalltear's Vampire Brides numbered fewer than twenty, and the Undead soldiers were needed to guard Nazarick, meaning they couldn't be deployed freely.
"It seems… we are severely lacking in manpower," Ainz muttered, feeling a slight headache.
"Lord Ainz, if you are worried about our forces, we could simply use undead summoning to create a large army," Albedo suggested.
"Undead summoning, huh?" Ainz stroked his skeletal chin. "Narberal, bring in the corpse of a human pirate."
"What a pity… This corpse can only withstand an intermediate-level undead summoning.
If I tried a higher-tier summon, it wouldn't hold up," Ainz remarked as he looked at the newly summoned level 40 Undead Warrior.
"Lord Ainz, I have made an interesting discovery," Albedo suddenly said.
"Go on."
"From what I've observed, the physical durability of human bodies in this world is significantly higher than that of human subspecies in our original world.
If we can obtain the corpses of stronger individuals and use your summoning magic, we should be able to create high-level undead soldiers with ease.
Furthermore, these soldiers would be a great asset to Nazarick."
"That's… an excellent point," Ainz mused.
Undead soldiers had no fatigue and no morale issues. They required minimal resources—only human corpses, which were far from scarce.
From a practical standpoint, this was indeed the most cost-effective solution.
"Lady Shalltear, Lord Ainz has issued new orders."
Sebas approached Shalltear, accompanied by ten newly summoned Vampire Brides and ten Dark Warriors—each at level 50.
Hearing Sebas' words, Shalltear's idle demeanor vanished.
"Shalltear, I need you to procure a large number of strong human corpses. Additionally, you must gather significant amounts of food and iron ore."
Ainz's projection appeared from a magic scroll in Sebas' hands.
"Yes, Lord Ainz! I shall carry out your command without fail!" Shalltear immediately dropped to one knee.
Once Ainz's image disappeared, she turned to the newly arrived reinforcements with a wicked smile.
"Lady Shalltear, do you have a plan?" Sebas inquired.
"Sebas, since we are already labeled as pirates, isn't attacking marine bases the most convenient way to find strong human corpses and gather resources?"
A sharp glint appeared in her crimson eyes as she licked her lips.
The ship Shalltear rode on had already been modified by a Guild Treasure from Nazarick, transforming it into a sentient vessel—Naglfar (Level 70).