“The species that are acceptable to Nazarick… must be non-human, require no food and be mild-tempered, those were the conditions, right?”
“Yea, Ainz-sama said that. More specifically it wasn’t ‘require no food’ but ‘must be a self-sustainable species’… Since dryads and treants can gather nutrients from the soil, they don’t really need to eat. Although if the nutrient in the soil is depleted or if it doesn’t rain, it might be a little dangerous.”
“Hmm, does Mare make it rain every once in a while? Or do you use a magic item?”
“That’s usually Mare’s job. Same with recovering the nutrients in the soil. Apparently there’s a magic that makes the land more fertile and it also completely recovers the land. According to the dryads and the treants it’s so delicious that they’re going to get fat… but I wouldn’t really know about how it tastes.”
Albedo, who had been coldly looking around the village like inspecting the tools for an experiment while Shalltear and Aura were talking to each other, showed a glimpse of emotion in her eyes.
“Oh? Isn’t that the sous-chef in the field over there? What’s he doing?”
Following her line of sight, they saw a mushroom-like monster squirming in the corner of a small field, surrounded by a fence which was covered in vines bearing red fruits. On a closer look, it was apparent that he was picking those red fruits while wearing clothes that he could afford to get dirty.
“It’s just what it looks like. He comes here from time to time to grab ingredients. He’s also growing this and that on the side. Want to take a look?”
Albedo and Shalltear looked at each other. Looking at each other, they saw that neither of them was opposed to the idea and felt as long as they were not interrupting their duties, it would be fine to see what their comrade was doing.
“Yaho~. Working and sweating hard as always!”
The sous-chef raised his head at Aura’s energetic voice and spotted the three.
“It’s not like this body particularly sweats either.”
He stood up and straightened his waist with a grunt. It was an appropriate gesture for someone who was working while squatting, but he didn’t really have any feature that could be described as a waist. Because his body was completely straight and there were no contours or narrowing points anywhere, it was difficult to tell whether he really was stretching his waist or was doing it for the sake of doing it.
Next, the sous-chef stretched his neck as if it was strained. His head was a mushroom and looked as if a purple liquid was oozing from it, but since it was very adhesive and sticky it never splattered anywhere.
“Is that a tomato?”
Albedo took interest in the red fruit in the sous-chef’s hand. He raised it up all the way to his face and tilted his head as if it was something strange.
“It seems like a tomato. It’s a tomato you all know very well. Not the type that gathers sunlight to explode, not the type that attacks you suddenly, not the type that glows like gold when you cut it, but a regular tomato.”
“So I reckon it’s a common everyday tomato used as cooking ingredients, right?”
“Yes. Since I don’t have the skill for it, I can’t cultivate any vegetables that confer special effects. Were you interested in it because you wanted a dish made with tomatoes? Unfortunately, I can only make drinks.”
“No, I was asking purely out of curiosity. Isn’t it Shalltear who would want a dish made with tomato?”
“…Why do you think vampires would drink tomato juice? Undead cannot receive buffs from eating food at all.”
“Speaking of which, there are not many people in Nazarick who need to eat.”
Just as Aura said, most NPCs used items, so they no longer needed to consume food.
“It can’t be helped. If they started eating as well, the upkeep for Nazarick would skyrocket. Especially big eaters like your beasts would be a problem.”
“Seriously? Then should I let them go outside and forage there?”
“It’s not necessary. Ainz-sama, along with the other Supreme Beings, calculated our income and expenditures in such a way that they would be balanced when they created this tomb.”
“Ahhh, is that why Ainz-sama ordered so that only those who were self-sufficient be allowed in? So it would not upset the balance of the population?”
“Yea… Don’t you know about it?”
Albedo looked at the faces of the other three, one after the other.
“This is troubling. Not knowing anything about the place you’re protecting is no good. Make some time for it in your schedules. I’ll explain everything then.”
Albedo let out a sigh and looked at the field without much thought. Then she recognized the plant leaves that were spread out in front of her.
“Is that a carrot… no, a magical carrot?”
“No, that’s not the case. Did the Overseer not receive any reports about it?”
“What do you mean?”
The sous-chef’s gaze headed towards Aura.
“Mm, nothing… I see. You weren’t told of it. Then Aura-sama, what should I do? Will Aura-sama demonstrate it? I believe I taught y