Ainz's Plan

Simon and Dick were the last of Class A to arrive back at Kizen.

They looked worn out from the grueling lessons, but fortunately more than two hours remained before afternoon classes. The students headed back to the dormitory, handed their uniforms off to their servants for laundry, and made for the bathhouse to wash up.

"Heh heh heh! You guys won't believe what happened to me earlier even if I tell you."

Dick spoke up in the bathhouse, his face lit with excitement.

"What is it?"

Dick glanced around once, then lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper.

"So I'm stepping onto the teleportation circle to move, right? And suddenly — bam! — it feels like something just blocks me cold! Next thing I know, I'm standing inside Professor Bahil's research lab out of nowhere!"

Simon blinked.

"Professor Bahil from Curse Studies?"

"That's the one!"

"Did something happen while you were there?"

"He just made me clean."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"…"

Simon gave a wry smile. Something about it felt off. In truth, Simon had been the one meant to end up in Bahil's lab — but someone had swapped the destinations, and Dick had been sent instead.

"Heh heh. I've heard the upperclassmen talk about it. 'Teleport Scout.' Professor Bahil marked me, right? Does that mean I'm becoming his direct disciple?"

It had almost certainly just been a misdirected transfer, yet Dick was far too worked up about it. Simon turned his head, a cold sweat beading on his brow.

"W-well… maybe?"

"Holy shit, connecting with one of Kizen's real power players like this! You guys know what a direct disciple means, right? Your whole school life just blossoms open! Even disciplinary measures — if they're minor, half the time they just look the other way after checking with the professor in charge!"

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard all year."

A voice cut in without warning.

"Some worthless commoner trash, a direct disciple of Professor Bahil? Even a dog walking by would laugh."

Hector and two of his faction members had stopped in their tracks. At Hector's words, his friends snickered along. Dick rose slowly from his seat, a smile still lingering at the corners of his mouth.

"Oh my, is young master feeling sore about it? Everything has to be about you being the best, huh? Can't stand that Professor Bahil might have taken more of an interest in me than in you?"

"…"

Hector took a step toward Dick.

"Watch your mouth. Merchant scum."

"Being a merchant means I know your type real well. You think you're the only one in the world with a hard story? You're small fry too, you bastard. Acting like getting through the Moore family's training is some kind of noble rank."

Dick scraped a little too hard. Hector snapped, thrusting his right arm out roughly — and Ainz caught him by the wrist.

"Kh—?!"

"You were about to use a curse just now, weren't you? The Jet-Black flow is plain as day. At least try to hide it a little?"

Ainz glanced sideways at Dick.

"Dick, I get what you're thinking, but it's still the student protection period. Even if you provoke him into a heavy disciplinary hit, it won't do much damage."

Dick said nothing — Ainz's read had been correct.

Ainz turned back to Hector.

"You drop it here too. You started the provocation. No matter how much of a blowhard he seems, talking to him like that isn't right."

Ainz's indifferent tone twisted Hector's face further. With the hand Ainz wasn't holding, Hector swung a fist.

Ainz tightened his grip on Hector's wrist. Hector's expression contorted even more, and Jet-Black began to pour from his body. And then—

A bucket came flying under Hector's feet, shattering on impact and spraying shards. The other students screamed in surprise.

"…Too loud."

Kazan, who had been sitting in the bath, rose to his feet.

"You looking to die?"

"…Kazan Edward."

Hector withdrew his Jet-Black as he looked at Kazan. Ainz released Hector's wrist as well.

"I'd heard the rumors. You're still clinging to this school?"

Kazan cracked his neck in silence. Each time he rolled it, a grinding pop rang out far too loud to believe it came from a human body.

"Hector!"

"Be—be careful. That bastard's eyes look completely gone."

His friends rushed over and planted themselves in front of Hector like bodyguards.

What came out of Hector's mouth, however, was unexpected.

"We're done here."

The two friends turned to him with startled faces.

"You'd do well to watch yourself too. There won't be a second time."

Hector tossed the parting line at Dick, then strode out of the bathhouse. After a brief daze, his friends scrambled after him as if fleeing.

Once the situation settled, Kazan sank back into the bath and closed his eyes. The students sharing the same tub quietly took the hint and edged away.

Ainz stepped into the sauna.

After finishing his shower and stepping out, a uniform cleaned by laundry magic had been delivered to the dormitory door.

The students changed into their uniforms, got through the single remaining afternoon class without incident, ate dinner, and returned to the dormitory.

"Aaaah! Finally, the weekend!"

Dick stretched with a shout.

"Simon, what are you doing this weekend?"

"The weekend? Nothing planned, really."

Simon answered with an indifferent look.

"Come on~ that won't do! At Kizen, how you spend your weekends is what actually matters. My weekend schedule is more important than weekday classes, honestly. I'm heading down to Rochester."

Rochester — Kizen's sub-city.

A mid-sized city that thrived on visits from Kizen staff, students, and servants. Famous as a necromancer haven and a student town, it was packed with restaurants, inns, and shops catering to necromancers, and a fair number of Kizen students worked part-time jobs there to cover the cost of class materials.

"What are you planning to do in Rochester?"

"Business planning."

Dick answered seriously.

"The monthly living stipend Kizen hands out isn't enough. And it's not like I'm so overwhelmingly good at studying that I can snag a scholarship. I've got to put my specialty to work fast."

Simon nodded.

"Simon, you should set up some kind of income stream too. Professors covering materials like they do now only lasts through the student protection period. The monthly stipend can't cover the massive material costs for Kizen classes. That's why the upperclassmen all have their own unique revenue streams."

Dick pointed at Ainz, who was lying down with his eyes closed.

"Ainz already had his set up before enrollment. The trading company our family runs is a client of Ainz's business. And since Ainz is affiliated with the Ivory Tower, he can probably get support from that side too, right?"

"Hmm, is that so?"

Simon had his eye on Summoning Studies, which burned through materials at an absurd rate — he needed a plan.

"Heh heh. Or you could just wait for me to get established in Rochester. I might be able to set a job aside for you too."

"No. The money I need is something I should earn myself."

"…Oh. You're pretty sharp when it comes to money, huh. Still, if things get tight, you can always ask."

Dick slipped off to Rochester in secret, claiming he needed to prepare for tomorrow's schedule.

Leaving Kizen on a weekday was forbidden, of course — but given Kizen's free-spirited culture, it wasn't a serious problem so long as no one caught you.

A short while later, Ainz also went out, saying he was going for a walk.

Simon bought some snacks from the school store, came back, and was spending time alone when Nephthys barged in. She chatted with him about this and that, handed him something, and vanished.

Ainz wandered the grounds for a while and was walking through Kizen's interior campus, intending to head back soon.

He had decided to set aside the matter of that Priest for the optimal timing, and was thinking through when to make formal contact with Kazan as he drifted along when—

"…?"

A female student was loitering near the outer wall, hovering suspiciously. It was obvious at a glance that she was trying to sneak outside.

"Ah."

Ainz recognized her immediately. Eshu Arzel — originally, she and Simon were supposed to meet for the first time in their second year, but a minor divergence caused by Ainz's reincarnation had placed her in the same first-year Class A.

Seeing her stuck in place because of the sentries near the wall, Ainz quietly moved closer.

"Ugh… what do I do? I just need to get past this point…"

With the sentries planted firmly on patrol, Eshu could neither leave nor turn back, and she hesitated in place.

Should I send out a doll to draw their attention? No. A doll appearing out of nowhere would only look more suspicious.

Eshu's specialty was Curse Dolls.

Exactly as the name suggested, she commanded doll-form summons. They ranged from ones no bigger than a finger to ones larger than Eshu herself.

The dolls could fight as summons in their own right, or serve as vessels that carried curses and other forms of black magic — but Eshu's real talent lay more in handling them as summons.

No choice. It's risky, but I'll use a doll to draw their eyes somehow and break out!

The moment Eshu made up her mind—

"What are you doing there?"

"Hyeek?!"

She nearly screamed at the voice from behind, but managed to swallow it. Slowly turning her head, she found a familiar male student standing there.

"Ainz… right? You startled me…"

"More importantly — trying to leave?"

"I-it's for my part-time job…"

"At this hour?"

"I don't have a choice… Night shifts pay more…"

What Eshu was saying was that every day she had a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shift, she had to sneak out like this.

The financial pressure must be severe…

There was no reason to dig further into someone else's private affairs, so Ainz left it at that — then a good idea occurred to him, and he spoke to her.

"Then how about we go together for now? I've got a proposal for you as well."

Ainz used magic.

He transferred himself and Eshu to a suitable spot on the outskirts of Rochester.

Eshu was dazed. Teleportation magic was the domain of Kizen professors and those of equivalent skill — her reaction was only natural.

Still, she owed him thanks at the very least.

"Um… ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thank you."

"It's nothing, really."

As they walked toward her workplace, Ainz asked,

"Do you leave like this every time?"

"Pretty much. If I don't, I can't earn enough. My family isn't in a position to support me."

On the way to her job, Eshu told Ainz all sorts of things.

It started with how her family were low-ranking nobles barely distinguishable from commoners, and how she had four younger siblings beneath her — then drifted into trivial childhood memories. Eventually she even demonstrated a few of her specialty Curse Dolls.

Well now. This is rather interesting. Her control is quite refined, too.

Ainz's conviction solidified. Someone at Eshu's level was unlikely to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be a landmine.

"Eshu. Mind if I make a proposal?"

"A proposal? What is it?"

"For the group lessons next week — I'm planning to split off from Meirin and form a separate group. Would you join the one I'm putting together?"

Just as he'd told Eshu, Ainz intended to form his own group while placing Meirin with Simon's side.

If he stuck too closely to Simon — Special Admission Number One — that Priest would grow wary of Ainz beyond an acceptable range. So he would keep his distance, put Meirin in Simon's group, and use the pretext of "helping the group my little sister is in" to look after Simon from time to time. That was the plan.

Eshu considered it. Ainz's name carried real weight, and the performances he'd shown in class so far had been overwhelming. Joining his group would be fine.

"Um… then, what are you good at?"

"Everything except Poisonology and Blood Flow Studies. If I had to pick a specialty… curses, maybe?"

Ainz demonstrated an original curse of his own on one of Eshu's Curse Dolls — a black-magic reinterpretation of the spell Blindness, which sealed a target's vision as if they had gone blind, rewritten through Jet-Black.

The Curse Doll afflicted by Blindness began flailing as if it could no longer see, and Eshu was already considerably surprised that he had an original at all.

Convinced she would regret turning him down, Eshu made her decision. Arriving at her workplace, she opened the door, then looked back over her shoulder before going in.

"I'll take the proposal…! See you at school later!"

"Alright. Take care."

Having successfully recruited his first group member, Ainz used teleportation magic and returned to Kizen.

The first weekend morning at Kizen dawned.

What Simon had received from Nephthys was a kind of map. It led through the interior of Kizen to a point in the middle of Rok Island, the destination marked with a skull like a treasure map.

When Nephthys had given him the map, she had told him that Simon's father had also been a student at Kizen, and that traces of him remained scattered across Rok Island.

Simon set out following the map, searching for the traces his father had left behind.

Ainz, thinking that things were finally beginning, spent his time waiting for Kazan to return.

Dick was in Rochester for the business he was planning, so if Kazan came back first, Ainz figured he could make contact then and there. He lay on his bed.

A short while later, the dormitory door opened and Kazan returned.

Kazan headed for his bed, intending to lie down and sleep—

"Kazan Edward."

Ainz called out to him.

"What?"

"Nephthys's unofficial agent. You're tracking a Priest who infiltrated Kizen, aren't you?"

"!"

Kazan shifted into a combat stance toward Ainz.

"You confirmed the Priest's face, attacked someone with that face during the pursuit — only for them to turn out to be an ordinary Kizen student. You fell into the Priest's trap, and with Nephthys's help you were processed as a repeater, correct?"

"…How do you know that?"

Kazan started to raise Jet-Black.

"Ah, no need to be on guard. I was asked to do the same work, you see."

"…What? Then…"

"Before enrollment, I met Nephthys in Langerstein. She ordered me to track the Priest — and to make contact with you."

Ainz recited the code phrase Nephthys had told him to use when contacting Kazan.

"…So you were the one."

"That's about the size of it. Kazan, keep doing what you've been doing. I'll prepare my own means of surveillance. Let's share information when Simon and Dick aren't around."

"Fine by me."

Kazan climbed into bed, burrowed under the covers, and was asleep within a minute.

Ainz spent a leisurely weekend waiting for Simon and Dick to return.