Chapter 4
The words rang in Ainz's mind.
Torture… Or death.
He had to do something. The eyes of every being in the room were filled with killing intent. The boy was still trembling. Ainz stood from the throne and picked up his staff. The boy didn't look like someone who would go around attacking people at random. Marsh wasn't saying anything. His eyes were just glazed over in fear. It didn't feel right to just kill him. And he certainly wasn't going to have him tortured. It struck Ainz that he could, he could, so easily kill, with no ramifications. Except on your own mind, he thought, only somewhat bitterly.
His staff glowed at the top, perhaps responding to his grip, his heightened heartbeat. If he didn't have some kind of excuse for hurting CZ, Ainz would have to kill him. He couldn't risk alienating the NPCs. If they felt he wasn't a good enough ruler, if they revolted… Without them, without Nazarick, he was quite literally nothing.
"Human. You may say one thing before you die. Choose carefully." said Ainz regally. It was a prompt. Defend yourself. Give me a reason to spare you, or lock you in the dungeon. Anything.
Marsh blinked and his eyes snapped into focus on Ainz. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again.
Demiurge stepped forward to stand a few paces from Marsh. "Ainz-sama. May I complete my mission by exterminating this human now?" Demiurge whispered a spell, causing one of his gloves to disappear and claws to elongate.
Then Marsh took a deep breath, threat of immediate demise overtaking his reluctance to speak. He turned and spoke. To CZ.
"Ojou-san*. I'm sorry. I can see now you aren't a monster. Please forgive me."
The last thing he could have said before he dies, and it wasn't to beg for his life, but to… apologise. It was definitely wrong to just kill him.
Demiurge just stood there, slightly apart from the others. His spiked tail swished. CZ narrowed her eyes at Marsh, as if really looking at him for the first time.
Ainz sighed. He would have to kill him. There was no other way out of this. He couldn't afford to look weak, especially after his recent form change.
"Very well. Then I sentence you to—"
"Wait. Please," said CZ, deadpan, brushing past Demiurge, walking a couple more steps, then dropping to a crouch next to Marsh, who was still kneeling on the floor. She pulled him into a hug, shielding his body from Demiurge, and said one word.
"Cute."
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What. What the…
Marsh's brain could not comprehend. So many questions vied for prominence, so many demanded answers that he knew he wouldn't receive. Who are these monsters? Where am I? Who is the man with the goat horns (Ainz?), and if he was a being this powerful, why had he, Marsh, never heard of him before?
And the most recent: Why is the girl hugging me?
"Cute," said the girl.
Marsh protested on instinct. "I am not—"
The girl's mouth was right by his ear, and hardly moved at all when she spoke next. "Do you want to live or not?"
Marsh's breath hitched.
CZ spoke to the being they called Ainz – she still hugged him, though if it kept him out of reach of a horrible death he supposed he didn't mind. "This human is cute. I forgive him. Can we keep him?"
Marsh wasn't sure what he expected Ainz to say. Perhaps "No, he's not some stray dog", or "We must keep to the laws of the land" (whatever land this was…). Instead, Ainz just looked somewhat relieved, which didn't make much sense considering he was obviously some fearsome and bloodthirsty evil ruler. All of this was too confusing.
The demon-creature with the spiked tail (who seemed very intent on skewering him) went to say something, but Ainz spoke first.
"Since CZ considers the matter forgiven, I see no need for a death sentence. Demiurge, the matter of whether this human is the monster you were hunting requires further consideration. We will discuss it later."
The demon (Demiurge?) simply bowed and stepped back into the crowd. At this, the girl disconnected herself from him and stood up. Marsh let out a breath, relief rocketing through his body. He thought, for the first time since he'd been pushed to his knees in this room, that he might have some chance of getting out alive. The other monsters looked shocked at Ainz. Seemingly noticing the wave of doubt crossing the room's inhabitants, Ainz spoke again.
"However, I will not simply let him go free."
Marsh's heart fell.
Ainz continued. "He has seen too much of Nazarick. Too much of us. We cannot take the chance that he may reveal us to the outside world, or lead an army back here to oppose us. The human will be locked in the dungeon henceforth. This trial is over."
Ainz began to walk away. As some hideous creatures grabbed Marsh by the arms to haul him to his feet, he felt the last tiny light of hope in his chest fizzle out.
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Marsh sat behind bars on a dank pile of hay. His knees were pulled up to his chest, with his chin resting on top. There was no escape from this cell. There were no windows. He was deep underground with walls made of thick stone. Plus, he didn't fancy messing with the jailor outside the door, who had two boar-like tusks curving from his maw.
There was a clattering outside the door, then voices, and Marsh looked up to see the door opening to admit the girl he'd knocked out in the forest and the man (?) they'd called Ainz. Marsh scrambled to his feet, pushing his glasses up his nose nervously. Should he bow or something? He did, briefly. Considering Ainz had spared his life and not had him tortured, it was probably appropriate.
"I'm sure you're confused and afraid, but we have questions, and it would be prudent of you to answer them if you wish to live. Why were you in that forest?" asked Ainz.
Marsh had been rehearsing this in his head. He couldn't afford to mess up now, with his life in the balance. "We've been getting reports of a monster causing trouble for travellers in the forest. I was there investigating. I was hoping to observe it, see if it could be communicated with, before someone went out and killed it." He turned to the girl. "Ojou-san, forgive me if this is a rude question, but you aren't that monster, are you?"
The girl shook her head. "I am not. We search for the same creature. Therefore, it's logical to assume you are not the monster either."
"That's right. Again, I'm truly sorry to both of you for this," said Marsh.
"But why go alone?" asked Ainz. "What would you have done if the beast attacked you? Are you a miraculous fighter?"
"Uh… Not exactly," said Marsh, shuffling his feet, "I'm more of a… well, biologist I guess. I don't like the thought of creatures being hunted down without a chance to explain themselves. If they can. I was alone because my family didn't exactly approve of my going on trips. They said they wanted me to stay at home. So I had to go in secret. And now I'll never see them again. I'm sure they're all worried about me, but there's nothing I can do now."
He was playing the sympathy card, which in retrospect was probably not the best card to play to appeal to a group of heartless monsters, but it was the only thing he could think of. Fighting was out of the question.
Ainz frowned. "You said you've been getting reports on the monster's whereabouts. Do you have its location?"
"Um… sort of. I know the general area it's lair is supposed to be."
Ainz nodded. "Come with us. Lend us your knowledge. Help us fight it and I will see about your release from the dungeon, though I still cannot let you leave Nazarick."
"I—"
"Also," Ainz continued, "See it this way… you can either take this deal or we can take the information by force and leave you to rot in this cell for the rest of your days. It's your choice."
It wasn't a choice, and they both knew it. Marsh bowed. "Of course. I accept your terms. When do we leave?"
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An hour later, Ainz, Albedo, Demiurge, CZ, and the soft-spoken human scientist stood at the gaping mouth of a cave.
"Alright," said Ainz, turning to face his people, voice carrying, "We don't know what we're up against. Whatever it is, it's extremely unlikely it will pose a threat to us. We are carrying out this task to forestall any future blame on Nazarick this monster might bring. Let's go."
As they walked deeper into the cave, it became harder to see. Someone cast a light spell, illuminating the end of the cave mouth. When they reached it, the cave expanded outwards into a space as large a stadium. Holes pockmarked the walls from floor to ceiling, so small a human would have to crawl to get through.
The ground was littered with bones. Ainz thought they were probably from humans, which made him feel slightly sick. They walked around the edges of the room, skirting the bones in the centre.
"Everyone take up defensive positions. We'll wait for the monster to return to its lair." Everyone nodded. CZ, specializing in ranged combat, ascended a ledge up the wall with the human trailing after her. Ainz hid behind a rock outcrop sticking up from the ground.
"Do you hear something, Ainz-sama?" Albedo whispered, hiding somewhere nearby. Ainz heard. A low humming was emanating from beneath the ground and was slowly moving upwards, through the walls.
What is that… Ainz's eyes opened wide. "EVERYBODY GET AWAY FROM THE WALLS!"
Ainz, Albedo, and Demiurge sprang toward the centre of the room, just in time as the humming went from a low drone in the walls to an ear splitting buzzing as hordes of little winged demons, not unlike the winged imps that resided at Nazarick, exploded from the holes in the walls.
A gunshot rang out and one of the monsters went down, shot right between the eyes. Up on the ledge, CZ was taking aim again.
Albedo was clad from neck from toe in her Hermes Trismegistus armour, forsaking the helmet for this battle for reasons unknown to Ainz, leaving her hair to flow down her back. She held her black bardiche tightly, a wicked gleam in her eyes and smile as she turned her head to Ainz.
Ainz nodded. "Nazarick, attack!" The three beings on the ground leapt forward into the fray of demons.
Devastation.
There was no other word for it.
Having had time to explore his new form's powers prior to the battle, Ainz discovered he now had advanced swordsmanship skills, and acquired the strongest sword Nazarick was able. It worked well, better than well, as he danced through the fray of demons like a harbinger of death. The demons dropped like flies.
He saw Albedo hack down an imp and spin gracefully to hack down another rearing up behind, then leapt away and past his eyes, her hair flying behind her. So beautiful. A demon reared up on its hind legs, half-meter long claws bearing down on her, and she met them with her bardiche, as one would with swords, and pushed her body weight forward, sending the demon toppling onto it's back. As she stepped forward to finish it off, Ainz had to turn quickly to stab a nearby imp.
When he looked back at her, their eyes met.
Ainz smiled at her, face probably splattered with as much blood as hers was. She smiled back, beautifully feral, and Ainz felt his heart speed up for the first time since the battle began.
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Marsh had been wrong. Incredibly wrong. These demons they were fighting were evil and wild and thus impossible to reason with. Were they the monster they were looking for or were they just the minions of a larger threat?
The girl (who he'd learned was called CZ) was lying on her stomach on the ledge, shooting shot after shot into the enemy hordes.
She didn't miss once.
A scrabbling and screech from the bottom of the ledge incline caught his attention, and CZ turned her head slightly from the sight of her gun to look at it.
"Don't worry," said Marsh, drawing his sword, "I'll protect you." Marsh had the high ground. As the demon ascended the incline, Marsh sliced it down. He turned back to CZ. CZ disconnected from her gun once more to look at him.
"Thank—" she began, but then her eyes widened and her mouth opened to yell – yell – from the girl who had spoken in nothing but deadpan since he'd first met her – "Watch out!"
A blood-curdling screech sounded right behind him. No time to raise his sword, he spun to see razor-sharp claws descend on his head.
CZ shot the monster and it went down in a heap.
Marsh blinked.
"Be careful," said CZ in monotone.
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Language notes:
*Ojou-san: A polite term for a young lady, like "Miss". I think if this was in Japanese, Marsh would call CZ this, though writing "Miss" sounded too stilted to me. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong in the word usage.
A/N: Thank you for all your patience. I spent many hours writing this chapter and I'm trying my very best. Please be kind to me. Also, Ainz has a sword now. I know that's not how it is in the canon, but we're already diverging, so why not. I know there was no evidence of spells being used in the fight, but lets just assume they are using them, but the specifics aren't being revealed to the audience.
If you enjoyed this, feel free to leave a review.
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Mailbox
Metafanfix: Thank you. Yeah he made a stupid mistake.
RyuujiVantek: I'm not an expert in YGGDRASIL game mechanics, but as far as I can tell from the wiki, CZ has very low physical defence. Also, she was hit very hard and taken by surprise. I don't know what else to say in that regard. Hamsuke won't be in this.
Awareness Bringer: Hello from AO3! Thanks for the comment. I just got it cross-posted recently.
awardedall: haha yeah I know Demiurge has crystal eyes, but I just... decided to ignore cannon slightly... whoops.
muratira: Yes, I ignore cannon sometimes to suit my stories. :) Just a little bit. I know about the aura, but that messes up my premise. :)
Prof...: Hi! Thank you! I hope you continue to enjoy it :)
Guest: Thank you so much! I like Albedo's craziness too and she will retain a little of it.
