Chapter 55: An Undead

Silence befell the throne room as Ainz removed his mask.

Fear, confusion, and curiosity flickered across the group's faces as they tried to understand why a skull had suddenly appeared where Ainz’s face should be.

“Enri, get behind me!”

Nfirea was the first to recover. He hesitated for only a moment before decisively moving in front of the girl he loved, shielding her behind his thin frame.

Lizzie Bareare looked at what her grandson was doing, concerned. She wanted to yell at him not to do anything stupid, but seeing how Nfirea was desperately trying to protect Enri, she sighed, thinking that this grandson of hers was very silly, but at least his heart was in the right place.

Hearing Nfirea, Peter unsheathed his sword and positioned himself in front of Ninya. He didn’t know if it was instinct, concern, or desperation, but he felt stronger in that moment.

Lukrut and Dyne reacted similarly, falling into the familiar formation they used when venturing into the wild: Peter in front, the two of them in the middle, and the fragile wizard in the back.

Sensing the hostility from the group, Lupusregina, Pestonya, and the 8-Edge Assassins, who were secretly guarding Ainz, adopted battle stances, ready to eliminate the threat to their master.

Watching it all unfold, Ainz raised his hand to stop his subordinates from turning the throne room into a bloody scene.

His subordinates stopped and returned to their positions, giving him time to sigh and mourn the lost opportunity to make friends with these people.

Desperate as he was for connection, especially with people who aren’t fanatically loyal to him, he wouldn’t infringe on his dignity by calling friends people who would treat him as an enemy even after he saved/ resurrected them solely due to his undead nature.

“What are you doing, Nfirea?” 

Suddenly, Enri raised her voice, sounding surprised, but also annoyed.

She easily pushed Nfirea aside to look at Ainz. 

Ainz couldn’t see an ounce of fear in those eyes, only curiosity.

“Let me go!” Ninya struggled to free herself from her party members’ formation, all while looking at Ainz with a troubled expression, one indicating more shame than anything else. 

“Get behind me, Enri!” Nfirea asked, beginning to sound desperate.

“Why?”

“Because it’s dangerous,” Nfirea said, then pointed at Ainz. “He’s a lich, an undead. I don’t know what he wants from us, but it’s definitely something bad, I-”

SMACK!

Before Nfirea could continue, Enri slapped him in the face. 

“Enri… why?” Holding his now-red cheek, Nfirea asked, confused and hurt.

“Why? Because you’re being rude to Ainz-sama.” Enri answered in an exasperated tone, then turned to Ainz and bowed her head.

“Sorry about this, Ainz-sama. Nfirea is just jumpy because of the fight, so please forgive him.”

Hearing this, Ainz smiled, understanding that Enri was being harsh to Nfirea out of concern for his safety.

The two of them are looking out for each other in their own ways. 

What a pair.

“Hey, Nfirea, you apologize too.” Enri grabbed the boy by the arm and pulled him closer, then pushed his head down to the floor.

At the same time, Ninya walked until she was beside Enri, with her companions following her like shadows.

Ainz found the looks the three of them threw at him very annoying. Like he was a big monster who had killed their family.

Is this how you look at your benefactor?

Ainz prided himself on being reasonable, but even he was beginning to lose patience.

Then again, this only shows that prejudice against the undead runs strong in this world.

He then looked at Enri and Ninya.

By this world’s standards, it is these two who should be considered strange, not them.

It was a curious thing.

“You’re not afraid of me?”

“Should I?” Ninya replied immediately, while keeping her eyes on his.

“Why would I be afraid of you, Ainz-sama?” Enri asked in confusion.

“Why?” Her answer took him by surprise.

“Well, they seem to be afraid of me,” Ainz said, pointing at the others. “So it should be fair of me to assume humans generally are afraid of undead.”

“But you’re still Ainz-sama, right?”

“That I am.”

“Then you’re still the person who saved me, Nemu, the villagers, and even resurrected Grandma Lizzie, so why should I be afraid of you?”

“He’s an undead, Enri.” Although he tried to lower his voice, Ainz could still hear Nfirea clearly. “All Undead hate and want to kill all living beings.”

“Is that true?” Enri then asked Ninya.

“ Hum…There are cases of intelligent undead who can suppress this hatred to work with humans, but I’ve never heard of anyone like Ainz, who speaks and acts so kindly to living beings.” She then looked at Ainz.

“Are you really an undead? You seem… so human.”

At the question, many curious eyes turned toward Ainz at once.

Having lived for many decades, Lizzie Bareare had the equation of undead = enemy deeply ingrained in her mind, something she could rightfully say was not born out of prejudice, but from experience.

As adventurers who had clashed with undead many times, the members of Sword of Darkness held similar beliefs, and were it not for her connection with Ainz, Ninya thought she would have reacted just like them to his revelation.

But inwardly, everyone was struggling to reconcile Ainz’s behavior with that of an undead.

Was it possible that he might not be one?

“Oh, I’m definitely an undead through and through.” Ainz quickly shattered their hopes. “Only… not one from this world.”

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I want to test if writing shorter chapters actually helps me write more. The thing is that I usually need 5-6 hours to write a normal chapter for this fic(writing + 2 rewrites), so even starting feels like a great endeavor most of the time, which makes it difficult to fit in on most days(I prefer to write everything on the same day), and even when it fits, I tend to procrastinate, while dedicating about 2 hours to write something like this seems way more manageable and comfortable, even if it is less satisfying.