Jierunifu had it wrong from the start. Did Ainz Ooal Gown send his precious daughter here to boost Nazarick's prestige?
No? Not at all! Because he didn't care what the Imperial citizens thought of him. With such absolute power, how could he care about the opinions of insignificant humans? He was simply enjoying playing with himself.
Ainz Ooal Gown knew from the beginning that he would feign an alliance, and then secretly try to unite with other countries to form an Anti-Ainz Ooal Gown alliance.
He had already anticipated the current situation months ago, and I, foolish and naive, wanted to scheme against him, to make him display his strength in the upcoming war with the Kingdom, and then use that to stir up a sense of crisis in various countries, thereby achieving the goal of an alliance.
However, Ainz Ooal Gown had already shown his strength to me long ago; I just realized it now. That's right… it was through his precious daughter, Princess Elizabeth!
The reason he sent his 'free-spirited' precious daughter here was precisely to demonstrate Nazarick's power to the Empire, to me. Yes, to show me his power and wisdom.
The power to arbitrarily change the climate, the power to lift the curse that had plagued Renas for years, the power to instantly kill a Corrosion Demon with one blow, the power to command Metsukuni, and so on.
These were all deliberately arranged by Ainz Ooal Gown for his daughter to show me. He understood his daughter very well, so he deliberately orchestrated these events, allowing his daughter to fully display Nazarick's strength, to show me and make me understand how the Empire would be treated if it became an enemy of Nazarick.
I recall over a month ago, during the meeting with Ainz Ooal Gown at Nazarick, when I proposed an alliance, he said: "An alliance with the Empire offers no benefits to me."
At the time, I misunderstood Ainz Ooal Gown to mean: what benefits would Nazarick gain from an alliance with the Empire? However, after I handed the initiative to him, he inexplicably agreed to the alliance with the Empire. Only now do I understand why Ainz Ooal Gown agreed to my request for an alliance without any conditions.
Ainz Ooal Gown intended for the Empire to play the role of "Fulda." The Empire's current predicament is truly thanks to Fulda's betrayal.
Ainz Ooal Gown, who could have capitalized on the situation, did not pursue the Empire's responsibility. Instead, he used the Empire to point the spear at the Kingdom, let the Empire off the hook, and even sent his daughter over. Wasn't he trying to make the Empire the second "Fulda"?
Once other countries spontaneously form an Anti-Ainz Ooal Gown alliance and turn their swords against him, he will have a righteous cause for retaliation.
In this way, Ainz Ooal Gown can rightfully destroy all countries that oppose him. The Empire… will be the first, I suppose. If it were me, I would do the same.
But why would Ainz Ooal Gown, possessing absolute power, go to such great lengths? With his daughter's ability to casually summon a Metsukuni-level monster, dominating the world would be incredibly easy. Why would he still devise such an intricate trap for me to fall into?
I believe Ainz Ooal Gown's purpose in creating so many elaborate schemes is to enjoy the process of humans being manipulated in the palm of his hand.
I could sense a hint of this from our first meeting, but at the time, I was too panicked to delve deeper.
Now, with the Empire already under Ainz Ooal Gown's control, how can it struggle? Should it follow his wishes and play the role of "Fulda"? Or should it directly turn hostile and go to war with him? Or... should it kneel at his feet and cling to life?
Of these three options, the Empire has no hope of survival except for the last one. So, what about the two trump cards mentioned earlier?
Princess Elizabeth? Yes… I did indeed plan to curry favor with this 'free-spirited' Princess and have her oppose her father. Even if she couldn't, I could use the Adventurer who looked remarkably like her.
However, thinking about it now, this might also be Ainz Ooal Gown's arrangement. You see… the time when that Adventurer who resembled Princess Elizabeth appeared was close to the time when information about Nazarick was leaked.
Moreover, that Adventurer's identity is very likely the previously mentioned Saintess of E-Rantel. That Saintess herself has extremely high prestige among the people of E-Rantel; she has no reason to come to the Empire to be a Black Worker, does she?
It's obvious that the Saintess was sent by Ainz Ooal Gown. Someone who looks so similar to his precious daughter—if I could think of using this, wouldn't Ainz Ooal Gown have thought of it?
As I said before, Ainz Ooal Gown enjoys manipulating humans. So, before annexing E-Rantel from the Kingdom, he had already conceived a pretext that would grant him righteousness.
Then he threw out the Saintess who resembled his daughter, let her gain prestige in E-Rantel for a while, and then had her come to the Empire as a "guide" to trick the Empire into Nazarick, leading those poor Black Workers to invade Nazarick.
She then used her resemblance to him as an excuse to escape, bringing out information about Nazarick that could be revealed, such as Nazarick's background.
Although I didn't really dare to believe that story about Nazarick, that wasn't the main point. The more important thing was… that Saintess conveyed a very important piece of information to me.
That was… the existence of Princess Elizabeth. It was through that Saintess that I learned how 'free-spirited' Princess Elizabeth was, and it was through her description that I foolishly considered Princess Elizabeth as my trump card.
However, all of this was part of Ainz Ooal Gown's plan. If I had truly followed my original plan, been misled by that Saintess, and focused all my efforts on Princess Elizabeth, then when the Anti-Ainz Ooal Gown alliance was formed, she would certainly have been proposed as the leader.
After all… she is a Princess of Nazarick. If she were the leader, it might even split Nazarick into two factions, further weakening Nazarick's combat power.
But if it truly came to that, the actual leader of the Anti-Ainz Ooal Gown alliance would be Princess Elizabeth, wouldn't she? But if at that point, this 'free-spirited' Princess turned her weapon and, with her father, attacked from both inside and out, eliminating the elites from various countries who had gathered under her banner…
Princess Elizabeth's ultimate fate might also be to be eliminated by Ainz Ooal Gown. Of course… only the Saintess who looked remarkably like Princess Elizabeth would be eliminated. In this way, the so-called Anti-Ainz Ooal Gown alliance would actually just be an alliance initiated by the Empire using an "imposter" who looked remarkably like Princess Elizabeth!
The purpose was to sow discord between various countries and Nazarick, thereby achieving the goal of weakening both the countries and Nazarick!
One could almost say that would be the end of the Empire and humanity. If such a thing really happened, I can already imagine the smug faces of Ainz Ooal Gown sitting on the throne and Princess Elizabeth standing beside him.
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