Let's ignore Irubyue for now; if it weren't for the mask, one would surely see Irubyue's face flushed with delight. Let her revel in it a bit longer!
"This is truly surprising," the Old King said. Of course, he was surprised, as Iri had just made it up.
"Moreover, my father woke up a long time ago, but seeing that the current era was no longer the same as before, he initially didn't want to interfere with you all. It's just... that kind of thing happened..." Iri said, her voice filled with resentment. As she spoke, Arshe, behind Iri, unconsciously flinched. You can't blame Arshe for this; it's all Xiao Di's fault.
Iri then recounted the incident of the Black Worker invasion of Nazarick in its entirety. As Iri spoke, she secretly observed the emotional changes of Princess Lana and the Old King.
Princess Lana maintained her worried expression, being a professional actress, while the Old King's face hardened.
Uh... After mentioning this, Iri suddenly had an idea. Could Princess Lana's intention be this?
To make the Old King understand that the cause of Nazarick's invasion of the Kingdom was entirely the Empire's doing... This way, even if Ainz-papa hadn't accidentally dealt with the Blood Emperor later, the Kingdom still shouldn't have allied with the Empire.
This Princess Lana is too terrifying! To curry favor with Nazarick, she's actually selling out her own country to this extent! How yandere must this girl be!
"There's actually this layer of connection..." The Old King frowned after listening to Iri's account.
"I also tried to persuade my father, but to no effect. Father insists on coming out from underground, restoring Nazarick's glory, and implementing the concept of co-existence for all races," Iri said.
"Co-existence for all races??" The Old King was somewhat surprised, never expecting this ancient nation to propose such a concept.
"Yes, from Nazarick's glorious era, the consistent advocacy has been for co-existence among all races. At that time, the citizens lived in great harmony under Nazarick's rule, until the appearance of the Eight Greed Kings..." Iri paused, turned her head aside, revealing a look of deep resentment, and then continued.
"After my father rescued the residents of Karn Village, he worried that the villagers might be attacked again after he left, so he arranged for some Goblins who could be close to humans to serve as village guards. Nowadays, those Goblins live together with ordinary villagers in Karn Village, and nothing unpleasant has happened. Moreover, this has attracted even more non-human races to migrate in. Therefore, I also believe that Nazarick's former concept of co-existence is still viable today," Iri said.
"..." The Old King probably couldn't process so much information at once; he just silently lowered his head, staring at the teacup in front of him, seemingly deep in thought.
"His Majesty the King, I sincerely implore you, to avoid casualties among the Kingdom's people, please return E-Rantel to us directly. I also do not wish to see the Kingdom's citizens suffer. A regime built upon blood and corpses is not the outcome I desire, so... I request you, return E-Rantel to us," Iri said with great solemnity.
Of course... she was acting. Iri didn't want the Kingdom to just give up E-Rantel directly, as that would deprive Ainz-papa of an opportunity to show off. That wouldn't do. The battle on the Katz Plains was not just for showing off, but for deterrence...
The Theocracy, when Nazarick announced its re-establishment, declared that it was none of their business and they wouldn't get involved in this mess, precisely because they had witnessed Ainz-papa's strength during the Sunlight Scripture's invasion of Karn Village.
So they chose to back down and continue to observe. If this battle on the Katz Plains, where Ainz-papa demonstrated his strength, were missing, who knows what tricks the Theocracy might pull behind the scenes. It wouldn't do to not scare them.
"I... I will do my best. Although I cannot give you a definite answer, I will do my best, Iri-meimei... If, and I mean if, war truly becomes unavoidable... what kind of losses will the Kingdom suffer?" the Old King asked.
"..." Iri did not answer directly. Instead, she lowered her head and closed her eyes, feigning mystery. After a moment, she finally replied.
"It's very likely to be a complete annihilation," Iri said with great seriousness. This wasn't said to scare him; in the original plot, if Ainz-papa hadn't agreed to Warrior-Captain Gazef's dying request, he truly intended to annihilate the entire Kingdom's army.
"Annihilation, huh..." The Old King seemed to be stunned for a moment, then his body slumped down, leaning weakly against the back of the chair. It was clear that he believed Iri's words.
Almost everyone present also gasped at Iri's declaration of annihilation, especially Irubyue. Irubyue was very clear about this.
Setting aside what other terrifying things Nazarick could produce, just the two Soul Eaters Iri had summoned earlier were enough to destroy the entire Kingdom. Iri's words were certainly not an exaggeration.
"Father!" Princess Lana also put on a panicked expression, looking at the slumped Old King.
"I apologize... for letting Iri-meimei see such a sight. I... I will do my best to prevent such a situation from unfolding... I... will." The Old King's speech was no longer coherent. The goal of intimidating him had been achieved, and strictly speaking, it wasn't even intimidation.
The subsequent conversations were not very substantial. The Old King remained in that dejected state afterward.
Iri wasn't worried about telling the Old King the outcome of the war in advance. In the Kingdom, the Old King's word didn't really count anyway, and the main military power wasn't in his hands, but rather with the noble who supported the First Prince. That guy originally looked down on Ainz-papa, even saying that Ainz-papa was at best a circus magician, so naturally... he would pay the price for that.
Afterward, Blue Rose escorted Iri out of the Royal Capital. On the way out, everyone's faces were solemn. After their discussion, Tia was able to move normally, and her complexion seemed to have recovered quite well. It appears that the level recovery effect of this resurrection short staff also depends on the person!
Previously, when reviving that Lizardman, it seemed to take several days to restore him to his original level. This characteristic should be noted down.
"Alright, this is far enough," Iri said, turning to the Blue Rose squad after exiting the Royal Capital and reaching the street.
However, the members of Blue Rose looked at each other, not knowing how to communicate with this Princess. Even the boisterous Gaguran looked at Iri with a troubled expression, unsure what to say.
"Oh, I almost forgot, regarding joining Blue Rose," Iri said with a slight smile, bringing up the topic.
"..." Upon hearing that Iri still remembered this, Lakyus instantly stood up straight, startled. The invitation to join Blue Rose was just an excuse, and besides, Iri was a Princess! For a Princess to join an Adventurers squad... that was unheard of.
"No, that... Princess Elizabeth, that was just... just..." Lakyus didn't know what to say. If she directly admitted it was an excuse to trick her into coming, what if she got angry? This Princess was not someone to be trifled with.
"Just what? If it's just for me to be a nominal member, I'm still very willing to join you," Iri's words nearly made everyone's jaws drop.
Iri had her own considerations for saying this. It would be better to have an identity when she went out to play, just like Ainz-papa disguising himself as Fei Fei; at least he had a grand and respectable disguised identity!
"This... that..." Lakyus was utterly incoherent, probably not expecting Iri to respond like that.
"You don't have to worry about my identity. To be honest, after seeing Princess Lana, I also realized that I don't look like a Princess at all, so just treat me as an ordinary Adventurer. So, please take care of me from now on," Iri said with a smile.
This was Iri forcefully joining Blue Rose. After all, Lakyus herself had brought it up earlier, so she couldn't blame Iri for using them.
Afterward, Lakyus was forced to take Iri to register at the Adventurer's Guild, listing Iri as a member of the Adamantite-ranked Adventurer Blue Rose squad.
During registration, the big sister at the Royal Capital's Adventurer's Guild immediately processed the paperwork as soon as she saw Iri.
Lakyus was quite surprised. She had originally planned to use her family's status to pressure the Guild Master into allowing Iri to join their squad exceptionally.
Adamantite-ranked Adventurers normally required various achievements to advance. Iri wasn't even an Adventurer, so suddenly saying she wanted to join an Adamantite-ranked Adventurers squad was almost impossible.
However, the big sister at the counter simply saw Iri and asked for her name, then immediately stamped and issued the card, without even calling the Guild Master.
This was very strange, and Iri also found it curious, but since the card was given, it didn't matter. She was too lazy to consider other details.
However, the reason it went so smoothly was that almost all branches of the Adventurer's Guild in the Kingdom knew about the existence of the Saintess of E-Rantel, so basically, Iri just needed to show her face.
"Well then, this is truly goodbye. If you need my help, find me at that inn in E-Rantel, or just leave me a message. Irubyue can also teleport directly to E-Rantel, right!" Iri said.
Irubyue nodded. Of course... Iri naturally knew what Irubyue intended by setting up a teleportation point in E-Rantel. She wouldn't expose her here.
"Well then, see you all later." Iri turned around, just about to use a teleportation scroll she had secretly taken out of her satchel.
"Please wait a moment, Princess Elizabeth." Which of the Twin Ninjas? called out to Iri.
"Is there anything else?" Iri turned back and asked. It was indeed a bit unexpected for the Twin Ninjas to call her. Then she saw the Twin Ninja who had called her whisper something to Lakyus, and Lakyus seemed to remember something.
"Princess Elizabeth! There's a quest; could we trouble you to accompany us?" Lakyus looked up and said.
"You can just call me Iri, and you don't need to use honorifics with me. If you can do that, then I'll go," Iri said with a smile.
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