Grand Foreigner (Chapters 1- 200)

Chapter 20

Ainz calmly met the approaching Dragon Witch - but not because he was prepared for her approach - nor was it because he was confident in his victory, infact, Ainz had little confidence in staying alive. However, he took the approach of the Dragon Witch easy because his emotion suppression cut off his panic, leaving only simple and clear understanding of her approach.

"We need to run" Ainz instantly decided. He did not want to fight an opponent whose strength he did not know — and in the past few hours his desire had not changed.

"Retreat" was the thought to come to Ainz, but in an instant, as soon as this thought was fully fleshed out in his mind, it was replaced by another one... "Jeanne is the reason why we were found."

Retreating with Jeanne was possible. As practice showed. It was possible to teleport with the help of a spell. However, Jeanne remained the weak link that the Dragon Witch could detect with the help of her abilities. If Ainz retreated now, then the Witch would catch them again, but this time, she would be ready for teleportation magic. Perhaps she would bring with her a counter-spell, or a teleportation-blocking spell. No, in the current conditions, it would be quite logical if the Dragon Witch already had something like that - so she would just need to approach Ainz - and he would lose any opportunity to escape.

In such circumstances, Ainz would need to protect Jeanne from observation. It would be possible if she agrees to become his Servant. However, Jeanne refused such a proposal before, and she might refuse it again. If this happened, Ainz will have to use one of his charm spells, and after it wear off and Jeanne reacts to his actions, use the Command Spells to prevent her from harming him or his other Servants ... No, then Jeanne could find another way to sabotage their work, which Ainz could not have foreseen and warned - so, because of this, this method of influence did not fit with this girl.

So, the only correct way of behavior was to leave Jeanne and escape with the rest of the Servants. Doing this, Ainz might even manage to see some of the Dragon Witch's abilities when she fights Jeanne, and come up with possible lines of action.

Looking at how, seemingly out of nowhere, Jeanne appeared in front of Ainz, looking at the rapidly growing wyvern-shaped spot with the Servants on its back, Ainz had no doubt that the girl would not back down, no matter what conditions lie before her. She will fight. And she will lose. And she will die.

Thus, Ainz believed that the most logical line of actions was to run away, leaving the girl to fight with her incarnated alter-ego, then watch the battle from a safe distance, using magic, gather information, prepare for a new battle, and then, finding supporters and developing a strategy, deliver a crushing defeat on the Witch in her castle.

In other words, Ainz should have escaped now, using the "Greater Teleportation", leaving Jeanne to be torn apart.

But he could not.

It was not a matter of limiting factors, not the absence of mana nor spell that forbade him to teleport. But he still could not. Stretching his hand forward in order to cast the spell, Ainz realized that he could not.

Jeanne was not his guildmate or friend. Even ally was to strong of a word to call her by Ainz's standards. She was a very weak ally, if Ainz understood anything about her, she didn't have any information about the world around her and, in general, Ainz simply didn't see a reason to bother with the salvation of a Saint. But he still could not leave her. For a strange reason, which he himself could not describe, he could not do it.

"..." - Ains tried for a few precious moments to come up with an argument for or against, before saying with a sigh "Okay. Okay. So be it".

Memories of Touch Me made Ainz inhale and exhale a little indignantly through his nose, "Maybe you were right. Or I just don't understand myself anymore."