After finding out the relevant information, Louis headed straight towards Viscount Ainz's mansion.

Soon he saw a fairly upscale residential area and courtyard.

He took a quick glance and instantly gauged the level of Viscount Ainz.

Although his title is of the lowest level, he should have some assets.

An ordinary viscount simply cannot afford such a decoration style.

This is the level of earls above average.

If he hadn't been involved in some grey industries, this Viscount probably had some ability to make money.

For example, like those emerging nobles, they can gain extra profits by using their areas of expertise.

As he got closer and closer to the Viscount's mansion, the guard at the door glanced at him, stepped forward to stop him and said, "Sir, are you looking for someone?"

Louis glanced at him and said:

"I heard that the Viscount is in some trouble. I think maybe I can handle it."

He looked at the guard with a smile.

To his surprise, the two guards at the door looked at each other and one said, "I'll go talk to the old butler about the situation."

After saying that, he turned and left.

Louis secretly admired: "It seems that the situation is better than I thought. I can handle all the related matters without showing my identity."

He also confirmed one thing.

That was Viscount Ainz, who was probably more interesting than he imagined.

Without revealing his identity, the guards maintained due courtesy.

The character of the master can be seen from the behavior of his servants.

Not long after, he saw a middle-aged butler walking towards him hurriedly.

After seeing Louis, his eyes lit up and he said softly, "Sir, are you here for Madam Xilin's former residence?"

Louis chuckled and said, "I heard someone talking about this on the road. I was a little interested and wanted to see what it was about."

He glanced at the maid beside him, and the maid left first. Then he said respectfully: "Please come in. The Viscount has been troubled by this matter for a long time. It would be great if someone capable could come to help."

Louis shook his head and said, "There's no need for the Viscount to prepare in advance. I just got interested. If you can trust me, just take me there to have a look."

He is telling the truth.

But when the housekeeper heard it, he became more cautious.

His movements became more cautious.

Soon, Louis saw Viscount Ainz, who was dressed in formal attire. He was sitting in a small pavilion in the garden. When he saw Louis approaching, he bowed like a noble and said:

“May the god of love bless all the beautiful things in the world.”

Louis smiled and said:

"I don't believe in the god of love."

To be precise, he does not believe in any god.

But he respects people's belief in the righteous God.

Um.

Only applicable to righteous gods.

The two sat down and chatted for a while before Viscount Ainz got to the point: "Mr. Julius, it would be great if you could help solve the problem with Ms. Sirin's former residence."

Louis smiled and said, "Aren't you worried that I might lie?"

“If someone like you is capable of deception, then I, Ainz, must have been wrong.”

Viscount Ainz laughed and said, "I am a believer in the god of love. The god of love gave me eyes that can witness beauty. Just as I said when we first met..."

He blinked and said, "May the god of love bless all beautiful things."

"Beautiful things don't necessarily mean they are good." Louis shook his head.

Viscount Ainz said:

“The beauty favored by my God is all that is beautiful in the world.”

"As He taught, beauty is not superficial; it comes from the essence of a being, revealing its grace or ugliness to the world."

The last time Louis heard something like this was when Beatrice mentioned the incident where Eros had a problem.

He had no intention of arguing with Ainz, so he simply said, "So, can you tell me about the situation of your house?"

The geographical features of the northern border are not actually very suitable for the eternal existence of the dead.

Although as a border, there has never been a lack of wars.

However, the possibility of the dead and the undead appearing on the soil at the borders of various countries is relatively low.

It is true that too many corpses do tend to breed evil spirits.

But the bodies lying on this land also represent a large number of warriors who fought to defend their country.

If they stand up, the first thing they will do is to destroy the undead transformed by the invaders.

Especially for an old brand like the Unther Empire, which has been established for a very long time, it’s good enough that they didn’t set up a team of heroes for you.

The murderous aura and surging righteousness of the soldiers' remains will instead affect the entire border, turning it into a forbidden zone where the undead cannot enter.

In fact, many years ago, the empire had used mysterious means to strengthen this power.

The power accumulated over the years has made it impossible for the undead to naturally grow in most areas of the northern border.

If so, there are generally two possibilities.

One type is the undead that migrated from areas outside the border.

The other type is high-level undead whose strength far exceeds that of ordinary low- and middle-level undead.

If it's the former, then fine.

But according to the people he asked on the streets, there was no news of any undead disaster in the territory.

It is most likely the latter.

High-level undead are at least LV10, or even model-level undead.

Such a monster is definitely not something an ordinary viscount can deal with.

"I came here this time just because I heard the news and planned to deal with it."

Viscount Ainz exclaimed, "Your smoothness is a great blessing to us."

“Ms. Xilin’s former residence should not become a lair of the dead. That would be our loss.”

"If you can do it, I will give you the highest amount of reward I can currently prepare. Please help me."

Louis asked curiously, "Given your situation, Viscount, the reward you offer should be enough to attract strong enough adventurers, right?"

"But it's not timely enough." The Viscount said seriously, "If Ms. Xilin's former residence is destroyed, I will be ashamed to face the shopkeeper when I return to the kingdom of the God of Love a hundred years later."

Louis said, "Ms. Xilin... Such a familiar name. Is she someone famous in the art world?"

The Viscount nodded and said:

"I thought you came here because you heard about the problems at Ms. Xilin's former residence, but now it seems that's not the case."

Seeing Louis's puzzled look, Viscount Ainz became even more puzzled:

"If I'm not mistaken, you are a noble. If you are a noble who pays more attention to the art world, you should have heard of Ms. Xilin, the first person in the past century to be a fine artist."

Louis nodded and said, “Although I am a noble, I really don’t know much about this industry.”

There was a hint of tenderness in his eyes: "Because the person I love will never use this kind of thing to judge my worth."

Viscount Ainz's expression softened. "If not, then I would like to thank you even more."

"It's a pity that my family is poor and I don't have many gold coins. Otherwise, I would be unworthy of my status if I didn't give you a generous gift after seeing you today."

From a poor family?

Are you in Versailles?

Louis gave Viscount Ainz a strange look.

After meeting him, Louis could be sure that this guy's wealth was definitely far beyond that of an ordinary earl.

With his status as a viscount, he was able to do this, and it could be said that he had financial resources that transcended class.

Do you really think everyone is Mayer?

As if he saw Louis's thoughts, he chuckled and said:

"My family has believed in the god of love for generations. The god of love encourages us to have eyes that can discover beauty."

“Our family has devoted all of our efforts over the years to preserving these beautiful artists and their legacy.”

"My grandfather, my father, and my uncle all died defending beauty."

There was an indescribable look on his face.

That is a belief that is visible to the naked eye.

From his eyes, Louis seemed to see the figures of his family elders who had fought bravely to defend artists and works of art, and finally fell on the road.

Originally he had some playful thoughts, but now his expression became serious: "Please tell me the location, and I'll see how to deal with it."

“That would be great.” Viscount Ainz said.

Without much reason, just out of meddling in other people's business, Louis confirmed the schedule for the second half of the day.

As for the reason…

Viscount Ainz didn't even have time to call in help, which meant the undead in the house weren't that powerful.

Otherwise they wouldn't be given a chance at all.

Because he could see that Viscount Ainz was just a LV5 bard.

If a threat can be dealt with easily, then why not? …

"That Ms. Xilin should be more powerful than I thought."

On the way to the house in the carriage, Louis looked at Viscount Ainz and said.

Viscount Ainz nodded. "She is recognized as the best artist in the past century... Actually, it's hard to say whether anyone can rival her in the past 1,000 years."

Louis was also surprised.

This evaluation is too high.

"You put it this way. Even I, who don't know much about art, want to go and have a look."

Viscount Ainz said calmly:

"What a pity! The beauty in the painting reflects a desperate reality. It is said that Ms. Xilin was only 25 years old when she died."

"How can you achieve such results at such a young age?"

Louis seemed to feel that what he said was a bit rude, so he emphasized:

"After all, even a genius needs time to accumulate experience. At her age, it's hard for people not to doubt her work, unless..."

Louis remembered a special situation.

As is normal, it is impossible for a legendary or even demigod-level strongman to appear in his twenties.

But there are many unreasonable people in this world.

In the past, there were young men who picked up the entire legacy of a fallen god, including the divine fire, divine nature, divine power, and divine duties, and grew into a demigod in just a few years.

Then in less than 10 years, he was promoted to a god.

But these are the results that can only be achieved with the action of external forces.

Even Louis was able to reach this level in such a short time only with the feedback from Rimuru's promotion, the increase in his power of sin, and the nourishment from the Emerald Heritage.

25 years old is really too young.

Viscount Ainz sighed and said, "Have you ever heard of genius disease?"

Louis thought for a moment and said:

"The genius disease of the beauty of the knife's tip?"

"Yes, the one with the beauty of the tip of the knife."

Viscount Ainz said: "Geniuses vary, but those who can be called geniuses are almost able to call for miracles."

"But it is called a 'disease' because this kind of genius has side effects that cannot be avoided."

“The first person to be diagnosed with this disease was a sculptor.”

"He could use an ordinary knife to create a beautiful wood sculpture, and the moment he finished, the sculpture became a real thing."

“That is the pinnacle of art that the masters will never be able to reach in their lifetime.”

Louis nodded.

He had read some descriptions of genius disease while reading a book.

"But the side effects are too great. When I was reading the book, it said that Prisim, the first sculptor with the genius disease, would permanently lose half of his maximum physical strength every time he completed a sculpture."

"He died of illness after completing only a dozen or so works."

Of course, those works were even more horrifying than he had imagined.

In his previous life, Louis had only heard similar stories in legends.

The story is called "The Finishing Touch" and "The Magic Brush of Ma Liang".

And such artists really exist in this world.

Viscount Ainz sighed and said:

"Outsiders may not understand the specifics of genius disease, but in fact, genius disease occurs every few decades."

"They come from all walks of life, including stone carvers, wood carvers, miniature landscape casters, painters, embroiderers..."

"Depending on the severity of their genius disease, the ceiling they can reach will also be different."

"A few years ago, the Ainz family knew a genius artist with a disease. He had a photographic memory, and his embroidery works were lifelike."

“If his embroidery is burned, then no matter where in the world, anyone holding his work can feel where the embroidery is.”

Louis was surprised:

"No matter where in the world?"

Viscount Ainz said, "Yes. Even in the Abyss, in Baator, or in any other demiplane, no one can escape the lock of the Embroidered Ashes."

"Have you heard of the Guardian Stone Family of the Rockshi Empire? I heard that the five Guardian Stone families spent a huge price to ask him to help embroider the appearance of the five Guardian Stones."

"This way, no matter where in the world, the Rockhi Empire can bring back the lost guardian stone, although there is only one chance."

Louis exclaimed, "This is truly amazing! So, Mr. Ainz, what's the price?"

“Blindness,” Viscount Ainz said. “The more embroidery works there are, the larger the area, and the more elaborate the workmanship, the artist’s eyesight will be permanently deprived. Currently known methods cannot even alleviate genius disease.”

"Is the price so high?" He was stunned for a moment. "Wait, are these patients with genius disease you mentioned professionals?"

Viscount Ainz looked at him meaningfully and said:

"Of course not."

"The cost is different for every genius patient?"

"He was the best embroidery artist at that time, and his price was the lightest in history. At least he would not die."

"What about the sculptor of the beauty of the knife's tip?"

"That person is just an ordinary civilian, not even a professional."

Louis felt an electric current running through his body in an instant, and the tingling feeling on his scalp was completely uncontrollable.

Because when he was reading the book, he clearly remembered that at the end of the legend of the beauty of the tip of the knife, an incident was mentioned.

That was the sculptor Prism, and his last work was a statue of the Red Dragon King.

He was kidnapped by the Red Dragon King of that generation and asked to carve the most unique red dragon statue in the world.

Prisim agreed.

He carved a statue of the Red Dragon King, and at the moment he put pen to paper, the statue turned into a red dragon and soared into the sky.

The Red Dragon King was killed on the spot by the sculpture carved by Prisim, and Prisim also died on the spot.

He originally thought it was just a myth.

But he later read relevant records from the Dragon Empire in another book, which clearly stated that there was a generation of Red Dragon King who was very powerful, far surpassing ordinary dragons.

But he is not a dragon born of nature, but a miracle called into life by the sculptor.

He didn't think much about it at the time.

If a top professional can do this, it is reasonable.

Can……

Viscount Ainz clearly said that a genius patient does not have to be a professional.

The Red Dragon King is guaranteed to be a demigod.

He is far superior to all the Red Dragon Kings of all generations and is the most powerful among demigods.

An ordinary sculptor created the most powerful demigod? This is outrageous.

This is myth shining into reality.

At this moment, he fully understood the value of "Ms. Sirin" mentioned by Viscount Ainz.

(End of this chapter)