Intermission

Clang clang. One could hear the sound of precious metals banging against one another.

Having confirmed that there was no longer anything in the upside-down sack, Ainz spread the glinting coins on top of the table.

He counted the gold and silver coins in stacks of ten pieces each.

Despite having already counted it numerous times, Ainz picked up the sack and peered inside.

Needless to say, it was empty— after checking it a second time, Ainz tossed aside the sack and grabbed his head.

“Not enough… This is nowhere near enough…”

His human face that was created with an illusion became undone. Of course, the mountain of coins in front of him was a small fortune. It was an amount that an average person from this world would not be able to earn even after several decades. But from the perspective of the Supreme Ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, the only one who could earn foreign currency, it was severely lacking and a great cause for concern.

Ainz’ mind was forcibly calmed whenever an emotion he experienced exceeded a certain threshold. For example, if he was hit by the panic of only having a single silver coin left remaining, his mind would immediately regain its composure. Currently however, that response failed to activate because at the back of his mind, he knew that there were still some gold coins in the coffers. This left him with a feeling of anxiety that burned through his body.

Ainz shook his head and proceeded to divide the gold coins in front of him based on how they would be spent.

“First, this is the additional funding for Sebas.”

Ainz’ face stiffened as he saw how the pile was reduced in an instant.

“Next is… costs for the restoration of the Lizardmen village that Cocytus requested as well as the necessary tools…”

Although it wasn’t as large as the one before, another significant chunk of the pile also became separated and only a few gold coins remained.

“… About the supplies for the Lizardmen village, I can use my connections with the guild as an adamantium adventurer. It’ll cover a bit of the costs so… about this much?”

He took back a few gold coins from Cocytus’ pile.

“…Maybe I should find a merchant and get a sponsorship. It would be a way to earn a regular income aside from adventuring.”

Including Ainz, there were only three parties of adamantium rank adventurers in the Kingdom. For this reason, there were instances where they would receive commissions from merchants. Ainz dearly wanted to accept those kinds of jobs because for him, they were easy and paid extremely well. However, he had hesitated to do so up until now.

He feared that it would paint his Momon persona as greedy, that the people and other adventurers would see him as someone who would accept any job for money.

Ainz was planning to elevate ‘Momon’ to an adventurer who was praised by all and when the time came, credit all of his fame to Ainz Ooal Gown. In order for this plan to succeed, it was necessary that he pay close attention to how the masses saw him.

“But still… I have no money. Maybe I shouldn’t have stayed in an inn like this.”

Ainz looked around the magnificent room.

This was the most splendid room of the best inn in E-Rantel. The money to rent such a place was exorbitant. Since it was useless to Ainz who had no need for sleep, he wanted to use the funds for the rent elsewhere.

It was the same for meals. Even if he were served luxurious food, all of it was useless to him since he could not eat. It would be smarter to refuse them and save on food expenses.

However, Ainz knew very well that he could do no such thing.

Ainz was, no, Momon was the sole adamantium rank adventurer of this city. Such a person could not make a cheap inn his residence.

The necessities of life were one of the easier ways of comparing oneself to others. An adamantium rank adventurer must dress and live befitting of his status.

He had to show such vanity for the sake of maintaining appearances.

That was why Ainz could not lower the quality of his inn even if he knew that it was a needless expense.

“If the adventurer guild thinks I’m so valuable then they could at least pay for my room… Haa… I guess they would do it if I were to ask.”

But he did not want to owe any favors. Until now, he took on urgent job requests and worked so that people would be indebted to him. He wanted to save it for later to use as a bit of intimidation. Spending it on such a trivial matter would interfere with his plans.

“Ah~ I’m broke. What should I do? Should I accept some requests, after all…? But there aren’t any that pay well these days. And if I take on too much then the other adventurers will resent me…”

He had to make Ainz Ooal Gown a lasting legend, a good one rather than bad, if possible. Ainz imitated a sigh and counted his spending money in his head from the coins that remained.

“Speaking of money, what should I do about the Guardians’ salaries?”

Ainz pondered as he leaned back in his chair and looked to the ceiling.

The Guardians insisted that they did not need something like wages, claiming how they could possibly desire compensation on top of serving the Supreme Being which is their greatest joy.

But from Ainz’ perspective, he questioned whether it was alright for him to simply accept their good will. Work must be met with fair compensation.

Even if the Guardians insisted that pledging their loyalty to the Supreme Being was in itself the reward, it was difficult for Ainz to be convinced.

It may just be his self-righteousness, having experienced working in a company for pay. However, he could not abandon the notion that work had to be rewarded.

He did fear the possibility that a salary might corrupt his children who did not know any better. Even so, there was merit in introducing it as an experiment.

“The question is what I’m going to reward them with.”

His eyes moved from the ceiling back to the few remaining gold coins on the table.

“If I consider the Guardians as department heads of a listed company, then they would need at least 15 million yen annually… Shalltear, Cocytus, Aura, Mare, Demiurge… Albedo would need a bit more, right? So multiply by six and… Hmm, yep that’s impossible. I can’t raise that much money.”