“I guess…”

Mare gave a flat response to Pulcinella’s enraptured speech. He didn’t care what happened to anyone who did not belong to Nazarick. After a couple of seconds, Mare erased all thoughts of Demiurge’s livestock.

“Plus, when starving, their head might say yes, but their stomach might not. Demiurge-sama thought ahead and after warning them, made sure they ate it all, down to the last bit. He is a truly generous…”

Feeling that the story would not end, Mare quickly interrupted.

“…H-how’s Guren-san doing? If I want to send the message back, I might need to relay it to him, but I don’t know what he’s doing and where.”

“…’he’ or ‘she’, I personally theorize Guren is genderless. Last time I saw that person was when Demiurge-sama wasn’t present and it was lying in ambush around the 7th floor’s gate.”

“I-is that so.”

Mare remembered what Guren looked like.

An area guardian which hid its gigantic body in lava and pulled the unsuspecting opponents into terrain that was advantageous for itself — Guren.

It was only level 90, but because it was optimized for combat, in terms of pure fighting ability, it ranked amongst the strongest in Nazarick and could even fight evenly with some floor guardians. Thus, it was the most suitable one to defend the 7th floor in Demiurge’s absence.

“Ah, it seems I was too chatty. Since I already passed on the memo folder to you, I will now go off to spread smiles and laughter.”

“T-Thank you.”

Mared bowed his head and Pulcinella replied softly.

“No need to thank me. I am satisfied just watching your smile, Mare-sama.”

The clown dramatically shrugged his shoulders .

“Until we meet again.”

He disappeared through the gate to the 7th floor while waving.

After watching him disappear, Mare opened the memo. Filled with feelings of superiority and treachery from the fact that only he could read it and not his sister, Mare quickly scanned the page. He blinked a couple times after he finished reading it.

This… it’s more like a message Ainz-sama sent to the guardians than a memo.

The message was addressed to only the male guardians and praised them for their usual hard work. The following content could be summarized as invitation to take a bath together if they had time.

The names of the participants listed were Ainz, Demiurge, Mare and Cocytus. The first two people had circled ‘participating’ between the choice of participating or not participating. Normally, Sebas’ name would be there as well, but he was out gathering information in a human city with Solution.

Uh, what’s the date going to be…

There was a side saying that the date was undetermined and will be arranged for the most convenient date for the participants. There was no reason to hesitate in circling the “participate” option. The message said it would be fine for them not to participate, but Mare just couldn’t refuse a proposal from his kind and generous master. No, there would not be anyone in the Great Tomb of Nazarick who would refuse.

Mare picked up the pencil that was included in the file and circled the “participating” next to his name.

“…Ehehe.”

He smiled while looking at the circle beside his name, but dark clouds soon shrouded his heart.

“Uh, but… how do I give this to Cocytus?”

There were several mentions across the message to not tell anything to the female guardians and Mare could feel his master’s intention of wanting to keep it a secret amongst the male guardians. In this case it would be best for him to hand the message personally.

If I keep it a secret and sneak out… it won’t be good, right? Because if I’m… uh, do they call it “attention”? While I’m getting that, she’d need to defend the floor alone.

Unless it was due to orders, Mare would always tell Aura where he was going, even if he was just going to visit the other guardians. It was the right thing to do since Aura and Mare were both tasked with defending this floor.

Mare grasped the magic item hanging around his neck.

“S-sis? Can you hear me?”

An immediate reply came.

『I can hear you Mare. What’s up?』

“Ah, that’s a relief. Uh, what was it. I need to go visit Cocytus right now. I’ll be back soon.”

『To Cocytus?』

“Yea. I need to hurry.”

『What’s it about?』

Mare’s shoulders flinched for a brief moment. He felt like his voice would crack, but then he barely managed to squeeze the words out.

“N-n-n-n-nothing? It’s nothing… but I need to go.”

『Hmmm…』

Aura’s voice sounded as if she was suspicious, and the thought of that caused Mare’s hands to be soaked with sweat.

But, uh, I can’t help it. It’s Ainz-sama’s orders.

Apart from Mare and Aura’s creator —Bukubukuchagama— Ainz’s words ranked higher than any other Supreme Being’s. It took priority over anything else.

『Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. Go then. Remember that the 5th floor is cold, so protect yourself against it… Ah, but if it’s Mare there won’t be a problem.』

“Y-yeah. It’s fine if I use magic. Then I’ll be off.”

If he kept talking for too long, he might give something away. So Mare quickly took his hand off the magic item. It sounded like his sister was trying to say something else before she was cut off, but whether it was fortunate for him or not, he couldn’t hear it.

“A-alright! Time to hurry.”

Mare activated the most important ring he received from his master.

Immediately after he teleported, Mare felt something white sticking to his face.

It was snow that was flying in the air.

Mare’s breath condensed into a white cloud which was instantly blown behind him. It was the result of the snowstorm and the extreme cold in the area.

The snow and ice flew along with the storm in a frenzied whiteout, and the endless snow covered any trace of footprints almost immediately. Though the weather was designed to make any invader lose track of where they were, it was usually not this severe. Usually, the black clouds in the sky would drop a few sprinkles of snow, and even though this was a gloomy world, the clouds never completely covered the sky.