Creak, creak, creak
"Mmm, just a little longer, Mother."
Creak, creak, creak
"Yes, yes, we must thank Lord Ainz properly."
Creak, creak, creak
"Indeed—eating it all up."
"—Lord Momon!"
Facing the mask-wearing girl who was bounding towards her, Pandora Actor, a high-ranking Double Phantom, raised her guard to the highest level.
Double Phantoms, these monsters, when transforming into someone, can read the surface thoughts of those around them and extract their "impressions and views" of the person they are transforming into, using it to enhance their performance.
For example, when a Double Phantom transforms into A, they can read the impressions of A from B and C, deducing the most likely actions of A in front of them, thereby helping to perfect their imitation.
However, this ability is not perfect.
Firstly, this special ability to read surface thoughts is a form of mental attack and can be immune.
For example, if Pandora were to use this skill on Ainz, it would be completely blocked by the undead's racial immunity to mental attacks.
At this moment, Pandora was able to smoothly read the surface thoughts of everyone in the "Blue Rose," obtaining their impressions of the adventurer Momon.
Only the masked girl, Iburiel, was an exception.
Pandora sensed a "resistance" from her—resistance from racial immunity.
But unlike Ainz, due to the overwhelming level difference between Iburiel and Pandora, Iburiel's racial immunity was easily broken through by Pandora.
And the key point is that this is new intelligence: as the primary target of this assassination operation, Iburiel is not of the human race.
(This cannot be ignored. I must report to Lord Ainz before the second phase begins.)
It is also possible that there was resistance from a magical item, but the difference between breaking through item resistance and breaking through racial resistance is subtle to the person involved. As a guardian of the Treasury, Pandora knows she cannot be mistaken about the difference.
The remaining question is which race this girl belongs to.
There are too many races that can resist mental attacks, but most of these races are of a different form, meaning they have a very different physique and appearance from humans.
This girl, who does not reveal a single piece of skin, even hiding her face completely, seems to be concealing her racial characteristics.
Although there are many options, Pandora already has her own prediction.
(Most likely… yes, most likely, she is an undead, like a vampire bride.)
The basis for this prediction mainly comes from the combat reports of Anoma and Demiurge.
Especially Demiurge, he has compiled a detailed report on his analysis of this girl. It covers everything from her abilities to the deductions made from his combat experience.
According to this report, the true form hidden under the girl's cloak does not exceed human specifications and has no special limb structure. So Pandora believes that an undead in a complete human form is the most likely answer.
Incidentally, it is admirable that after such a short battle, Demiurge's report includes "Although it cannot be determined with certainty, it is possible that she is not of the human race."
(Demiurge is truly remarkable... Albedo actually wanted to bypass such a wise man to take control of the intelligence agency? Although I understand the reason of "wanting to make more contributions to become the legitimate wife," even if I agreed to cooperate, it would probably be... No, what am I thinking, I must focus on my task.)
What forced Pandora to straighten her attitude was another drawback of the mental reading ability.
When a Double Phantom reads the thoughts of many people at the same time, it is likely to become confused due to the inability to handle complex multiple pieces of information properly.
Although for a high-ranking Double Phantom like Pandora, reading the thoughts of so few people is not a problem... However, there is a special kind of emotion that can be as overwhelming as the thoughts of hundreds of people, causing the Double Phantom to be at a loss!
That is, love.
The archenemy of Double Phantoms.
Ordinary Double Phantoms simply cannot correctly analyze this emotion and will almost certainly ruin the act. If it were not for the psychological preparation based on the intelligence provided by Lakyus, Pandora might even feel stomach pain.
"What does Lady Iburiel think of Momon? And everyone in Blue Rose, it has been a long time since we last met."
"Lord Momon, it is a great relief to see you again. I apologize for the wait."
Although Pandora replied with "It's okay" to Lakyus's apology, she was well aware that the Blue Rose group had arrived about half an hour ago.
Then they sent out the ninja sisters to thoroughly investigate the location of this meeting—a disused quarry on the outskirts of Rasel.
Only, they failed to discover the tailing Hanzo at all.
"Hmph, their abilities don't seem to be as good as Tera's."
In Nazarick, watching everything through the remote viewing device, Ainz said with some disdain.
Tera, who had undergone special training from Hanzo, seemed to have already surpassed her two sisters—Tia and Tina—in terms of stealth.
Watching with Ainz were Albedo, Demiurge, and Renner Vaiself.
"It's about to start, isn't it? Renner, these humans have interacted with you before. If you feel uneasy about watching, you can choose not to, you know?"
Since Renner was the provider of the intelligence, she was included in the audience. But to be honest, Ainz really didn't want this woman to stay by his side for long.
If only she would leave because she couldn't bear to watch, Ainz would have been relieved.
But things didn't go as he wished.
Renner, thinking "I can't fall for such a simple loyalty test," politely declined Ainz's suggestion:
"Please allow me to witness the end of these foolish ones, my Lord Ainz."
—No, I wish I could just tell her to leave. Ainz thought it would be much easier if he could say that openly.
But he didn't give up.
"Is that so... But it's going to be very brutal, you know? Won't you feel upset?"
So that's how it is, there's a higher-level test within this simple one. Renner thought to herself.
"Please forgive me, my Lord Ainz, but I do feel heavy-hearted. However, this is also a kind of baptism for me. For the sake of Nazarick, I am willing to endure it."
Obsessing over old relationships is definitely not allowed. But at the same time, one cannot be so ungrateful as to act like a white eye wolf... This is the right answer, isn't it?
Ainz was puzzled to find that both Albedo and Demiurge seemed to take Renner's response as a matter of course.
What "baptism"? How did it become "for the sake of Nazarick"? What does this have to do with her being a spectator here??
Unable to get to the bottom of things, Ainz could only shift his gaze back to the remote viewing device, trying as much as possible to ignore Renner's presence.
"Alright... Oh, Shalltear is about to start."
The ability to see Momon again made Iburiel extremely happy, like seeing a rainbow after days of heavy rain; like discovering an oasis while crossing a desert; like the dawn finally coming after a dark night...
—It should have been like that.
But in fact, when Iburiel called out "Lord Momon," for some reason, the joy she felt was lower than expected.
She, of course, didn't know that a butler named Sebas had also experienced a decrease in joy for similar reasons... The reason was that the person in front of her was an impostor.
Perhaps because a girl in love is more perceptive than a loyal butler, or perhaps because the girl had already sensed something "strange" from her "rival" in previous interactions, Iburiel showed a rather reserved attitude.
Even Gagaran noticed something was wrong.
"What's wrong, little one? Why didn't you just run up to him?"
Yes, Iburiel stopped halfway while running towards Momon. It was as if there was an invisible abyss between them.
"Mmm, nothing, I just remembered that now is not the time for that kind of thing."
—A lie.
She wasn't stopping for that reason at all.
Instead, she suddenly felt a "sense of unease."
Moreover, her two hundred years of adventuring experience kept reminding her of the existence of that "sense of unease." Her adventuring experience was like another self, constantly shouting in a corner of her heart, trying to get Iburiel to think carefully about the "strange feeling" she had already noticed. If she thought carefully, with her rich experience, she might really be able to deduce a certain "possibility" just from Nabe's minor slip of the tongue.
However, the girl in love was avoiding thinking at this moment, refusing to face that "sense of unease."
Iburiel glared at Nabe, who was standing quietly beside Momon. It was all because of her! This rival had done something to make her confused... Could it be a conspiracy by the rival?
Feeling the strong emotional fluctuations from under the mask, Nabe just frowned and snorted coldly.
Momon had already started chatting with the members of Blue Rose, and on the contrary, Iburiel was on the outermost edge of the crowd, hesitating.
(Ah—! What am I doing! What nonsense am I thinking about! Go, go up and tell Lord Momon how much I've missed him—No, no, no, it's too embarrassing, that kind of thing should be said when we're alone... alone... that kind of thing? And that kind of thing? No, no, no, not now! This is a very serious time! How can I have such thoughts! Wait until later... Heh, heh, heh...)
Thus, the "reminder" from her two hundred years of adventuring experience was thrown to the winds, although it protested, but the protest was in vain.
Iburiel had not only stopped trying to ignore the "thorn" in her heart, but had forcibly pulled it out...
—At that time, if she had used "Teleport" immediately, she probably could have escaped, right? Even if she couldn't get everyone out, at least one or two people could have made it, right!... For countless times thereafter, Iburiel always regretted this.
(...Damn it! I can't let Lord Momon wait any longer! He must be wondering why I'm not coming over now... He's already looking at me from time to time! Is he... is he also... shy?)
Pandora did occasionally steal glances at Iburiel, who wouldn't come over, but of course it wasn't because of shyness. It was because she was relieved.
To be honest, she wasn't very confident that she could impersonate the object of Iburiel's affection flawlessly.
If Iburiel really ran up, Pandora felt there was a possibility of being exposed. But even if she was exposed, the envious Demon General would cast "Dimensional Lock" in the first place.
But everything was going smoothly.
For some unknown reason, that troublesome woman didn't come closer and was still there, fidgeting, thinking about something.
Then, just as Iburiel was finally about to step forward, the hourglass of fate had run out its last grain of sand—time was up.
A silver-bell-like female voice suddenly descended:
"Oh my, oh my～It seems there is a group of humans chatting quite happily here, could I join in, Alinz?"