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every detail of their current situation, she said what she knew Albedo would want to hear. “Lord Ainz said there is no one he trusts more than you.”
    “Tee-hee!” A strangely excited squeal echoed in Narberal’s head. “Great, great. Good girl, Narberal! Keep on talking me up! That’s an order from the captain of the floor guardians!”
    Narberal wondered if that was worth giving an order over, but she realized Albedo was fighting a battle with Shalltear to decide which woman would serve by their lord’s side. When she thought of it that way, an order made perfect sense.
    All the while Narberal was coming to understand this, Albedo’s voice kept ringing in her head. “While Shalltear is out, I’ll be gently closing the gap between Lord Ainz and me. He may be an impregnable fortress, but if I strike with wave attacks and establish a bridgehead, he must one day fall! And on that glorious day, Shalltear will cry oh so bitterly!”
    Narberal’s brow creased slightly in response to Albedo’s delighted screams. As might be expected, the captain was a bit of a hassle when she got this worked up.
    Sounding so cheerful it seemed like she might start skipping, Albedo plotted quietly how she’d have to do this and that, but all at once her voice grew serious. “But why are you helping me? What’s the reason you chose to support me and not Shalltear? Are you trying to get something?”
    “It’s simple. If I were asked who was worthy to sit at Lord Ainz’s side, you or Mistress Shalltear, I would answer that you are.”
    “Tee-hee! Wonderful! Now, here’s a girl who can see Nazarick’s future—the big picture. Impressive!”
    “On top of that, Yuri isn’t very fond of Mistress Shalltear.”
    “Ah, Yuri Alpha. I see, interesting. So is it safe to consider the others my allies as well, do you think?”
    Narberal pictured deputy leader Yuri Alpha and her other teammates one by one as she answered. “Hmm, I’m not so sure. Lupusregina is more on your side, but Solution probably leans more toward Mistress Shalltear. I don’t know about Entoma or Shizu; they don’t seem particularly attached to either side at the moment.”
    “Do you think there’s a way to win Solution over?”
    “I imagine it would be difficult. She and Shalltear have some things in common…”
    “Oh, right. Their bad taste, huh?” Narberal confirmed, cocking her head in her inability to understand Solution Epsilon’s twisted hobby. Narberal, too, considered all humans save one lower life-forms, but that didn’t mean she wanted to torment them. If they got in her way, she would kill them, and if they made trouble, she would kill them, but that didn’t mean she’d want to go out of her way and take all kinds of time to do it.
    “Well, we can’t do anything about that. Very well. Let’s try to get the other girls in my camp, starting with Entoma and Shizu.”
    “That sounds good. Solution and Entoma both enjoy eating humans, so it’s possible that if we can get Entoma to ally with you, Solution might follow.”
    “Hmm… Got it. Then, to change the subject…will you give me more details about how Lord Ainz, my beloved, is doing?”
    “Yes, mistress.”
    And so the check-in with Albedo livened up, although there were some brief tiffs such as when Albedo raised a bizarre war cry when she heard that Narberal and Ainz would be sleeping in the same room. Narberal had to cast the same spell four times and Ainz was somewhat disgusted when he returned, but that’s another story.
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    Feeling the air had taken on a color, Brita sniffed several times like a dog. The faint green component of the smell was probably not her imagination. It was some chemical or mashed plant. That told her she was nearing the block she was aiming for.
    Brita followed the road and reached the block where the smell was even stronger. Looking both ways, she stopped before the largest house on it. The other houses in the area were constructed with a store in the