Chapter 130: Approved
Most of the female players Ainz had known in YGGDRASIL had reacted much the same as Narberal when encountering insect-type monsters with frightening appearances in the game.
And although a Doppelgänger was, strictly speaking, genderless, Narberal had been created as a maid — so being afraid of cockroaches was entirely reasonable.
Ainz felt his reasoning was quite sound.
"Approved." Ainz gave a nod. "For matters like this in the future, there's no need to make a special request. Consider it approved from the outset."
"As you command, Ainz-sama." Demiurge inclined slightly.
But Ainz suddenly thought of something, and adopted a thoughtful pose.
Wait.
If these were ordinary cockroaches, Narberal could simply deal with them herself — why make a special request?
And for that matter, Demiurge had come in person specifically for this.
There must be something behind this he didn't know about.
"Demiurge." Ainz asked with some curiosity. "Could it be that these cockroaches... have something special about them?"
Demiurge raised his head. The gaze behind the lenses met Ainz's.
The corner of his mouth lifted slightly, a meaningful smile crossing his face.
"No, Ainz-sama." Demiurge's tone carried a matter-of-fact contempt. "These bipedal cockroaches have nothing particularly special about them."
Demiurge added a quiet thought to himself: After all, valuable specimens of a special kind would never be classified as cockroaches. Marquis Raeven and Count Aindra of the Kingdom, for instance — nobles identified as valuable through Sebas's intelligence reports — naturally could not be wasted by treating them as cockroaches.
Ainz was somewhat astonished by this.
This world truly is extraordinary!
Cockroaches have evolved to walk on two legs?
He even had a momentary impulse toward collecting one.
If it were a rare species, keeping a few wouldn't be unreasonable.
But the thought lingered only an instant before he dismissed it himself.
No, wait.
Since Demiurge said "nothing special," that meant the bipedal cockroach was probably just a common species in this world — nothing unusual about it.
If you could encounter one anywhere, the collection value was minimal.
Ainz sighed quietly inside himself, somewhat disappointed.
Albedo stood to the side, taking it all in.
Her gaze moved from Ainz's skeletal face to Demiurge.
The expression that had been pure disdain a moment ago shifted into something closer to amusement.
Bipedal cockroaches.
Albedo had already understood exactly what Demiurge meant. That was, apparently, how humans registered in Demiurge's worldview.
At least he hasn't gotten stupid when it actually matters. She thought quietly. That's something.
Albedo watched Demiurge's elegantly smiling face, the disdain in her eyes having just faded by a few degrees —
Then Demiurge raised his right hand toward Ainz.
The German military salute again.
Albedo's expression collapsed in an instant.
The disdain in those golden slit-pupils deepened further than before. The corner of her mouth twitched once, then she lowered her eyelids, as though one more look would inflict irreversible damage on her sense of aesthetics.
Someone with taste like this... Albedo thought quietly. Can he truly understand Ainz-sama's perfect plan?
She found herself once again doubting Demiurge's judgment.
Behind the desk, Ainz's jawbone parted just slightly.
The green light of forced calm flashed through him.
He quickly closed his jaw and arranged himself back into composure.
"Ainz-sama." Demiurge held his salute. "Then this subordinate will go and begin preparations for Phase Two."
"Yes." Ainz gave a nod. "Go."
Demiurge lowered his right hand, turned, and walked toward the door — apparently entirely unaware that the other two people in the room were watching him with entirely different expressions.
The door closed softly.
Ainz sat in his chair. The lingering guilt still sat in his chest — he needed to do something to cover his own unease. He reached out and picked up the third proposal from the desk.
"It is suggested that Nazarick's male members wear female clothing and the female members wear male clothing. Rationale: this would increase diversity, allow members to experience different perspectives, and contribute to team cohesion."
Ainz scanned the page. He had already guessed who wrote this one.
Aura and Mare.
He reached his quiet conclusion.
No — to be more precise, this was the kind of thing Bukubukuchagama would do. Bukubukuchagama was Aura and Mare's creator.
Dressing Mare in women's clothing, establishing him as a crossdressing character — this was entirely Bukubukuchagama's idea of a joke.
Ainz looked up toward Albedo.
A proposal this absurd — Albedo wouldn't agree to it, surely.
He was preparing to open his mouth and reject it on the grounds of excessive absurdity —
"I think it's quite nice."
Albedo's voice came before he could speak.
Ainz's jawbone dropped open slightly.
Albedo stood at his side, that flawlessly beautiful face wearing a gentle smile, eyes gleaming with genuine approval.
"After all, Bukubukuchagama-sama liked it this way." She added, in a tone of perfectly natural agreement. "If that was one of the Supreme Beings' wishes, Nazarick's members should honor it."
Ainz sat with his mouth open, unable to find words for a moment.
A complicated current of feeling rose through him.
Three proposals — and the only one Albedo had rejected was his.
His own proposal, he thought, had been somewhat poorly drawn, but at least it was pointing in a sensible direction. A unified uniform, strengthening cohesion — what was wrong with that?
And this proposal about dressing boys in women's clothing — by any measure, wasn't it considerably more absurd than his?
And Albedo called it "quite nice."
Ainz had the feeling that his soul was being subjected to a silent interrogation.
"Ainz-sama?" Albedo tilted her head, a trace of puzzlement in those golden slit-pupils. "Do you disagree?"
Ainz came back to himself.
"This..." He chose his words carefully. "Albedo — isn't this proposal somewhat inappropriate?"
"Inappropriate?" Albedo blinked. "How so? Bukubukuchagama-sama dressed Mare in women's clothing all the time. And while Aura dresses in men's clothing, she looks quite good in it."
That's exactly the problem.
Ainz said to himself, inwardly.
Bukubukuchagama's sense of humor should not be allowed to become official Nazarick policy.
In the end, it cost Ainz considerable effort to reject the proposal — on the grounds that crossdressing was a gift bestowed specifically upon Aura and Mare, and did not need to be extended to the rest of Nazarick.