Summary of events: (These will be every 3 chapters) Ainz travels to the Re-Estize Kingdom, where he manages to work his way into a formal dinner. He takes advantage of being attacked by an enraged noble to take control of the nobles estate- the ore production, which he adds to the Sorcerous Kingdom. Ore shortages cause adventurers to leave the Re-Estize Kingdom, opening the door for Ainz to send a monster their way.
Chapter 4: Part 1
Zanac hunched in his chair in despair and frustration. He leaned forward so he could rest his burning forehead against the cool surface of the desk. For the past day, he had been furiously considering the problems ahead of him. His father, King Ranpossa III, was too sick to attend to his duties as King. Because he usually mediated the proceedings and kept order, his absence had only exacerbated the division between the Noble and Royal factions, causing all progress in the government to grind to a halt.
The timing could not have been worse. The Kingdom was facing an exodus of adventurers, and as Iron prices skyrocketed, many other businesses struggled as well. Zanac knew that they needed the adventurers to defend against monsters, and he was sure that it was only a matter of time before something dangerous showed its ugly head.
It seemed like the Kingdom was always desperately dealing with problem after problem since the Massacre.
"Dammit! Stupid nobles! Curse them, curse the Sorcerer King, curse everybody!"
Zanac slammed his fist into the desk in frustration, and then massaged his temples. He took a breath.
"I need to consult Renner-chan."
His little sister always had the answer. As much as he loathed relying on her, he needed a way forward.
He got up, stretched briefly, and pushed open the door. Ahead of him, he spied a servant.
"You! Do you know where my sister is?"
The man bowed respectfully.
"Yes, Crown Prince Zanac-sama. She is in the orphanage with Climb-dono and the children."
Zanac hurried out the door to head over to the orphanage. He mounted one of the horses at the stable, and prepared to ride over to the orphanage. It was a relief to be outside doing anything, anything aside from more fruitless desk work.
He spurred the horse to a trot, and left the stable. Several guards discreetly followed him, as was usual whenever a member of the royal family left the palace. However Zanac had hardly gone 100 meters before the Captain of the Guard reined a horse next to him.
"Prince Zanac-sama! There is a monster- Frost Wyrm- headed our way. It's not that close, but it's headed straight for the Capital! It's already destroyed two towns!"
"Do we have any adventurers to stop it with?"
"No, my lord, I'm afraid the strongest team in the city is currently gold-ranked."
Zanac stared at the man, aghast.
"Gold? But that's so low! Is there anyone we can ask for aid from?"
The Captain paused, before speaking up again.
"Well, all of our higher adventurers were forced to leave in search of gear. I'm sure they'd help, but none of note are close enough. The Empire will never help us. The Slane Theocracy is busy fighting the Elves. So I don't think so."
He ticked the options off on his fingers.
Zanac slumped in his saddle. Suddenly, he brightened, then he slumped again.
"We could always ask the Sorcerous Kingdom. I'm not sure they would help though. After all, the undead do hate the living."
Zanac stood straighter.
"Never mind that. They are our only hope."
Zanac spurred his horse again, and rode back towards the palace.' Will they arrive in time? How do I contact them? I suppose we do have some Pegasi Knights. They are fast enough to get there and request help before the monster arrives.'
He turned, and headed back to the stable. After a minute, he was back. Swinging off of his horse, he landed with a thud. He was unused to riding, and was unable to pull off a cool dismount. 'No matter.' He walked with the dignity befitting a prince towards the stable manager.
"Prepare 3 of the fastest Pegasi Knights we have. Send them to the Sorcerous Kingdom with this message."
He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, and on it he wrote:
Your Majesty, Ainz Ooal Gown,
We come to you in a time of great need. Regretfully, we are under attack, and we lack the adventurers necessary to fend off the monster. Please lend assistance.
Your servant,
Prince Zanac
The stable manager looked at him stupidly, and then asked his question.
"Prince Zanac-sama, why not just send the army to deal with the monster?"
"Two reasons: The army takes almost a month to assemble. We only have 3 days. And secondly, no amount of level 5 soldiers could ever kill a Frost Wyrm. They would only increase our casualties."
Zanac pressed the scroll into the man's hand, and headed off to alert the nobles. "I never got to contact Renner-chan after all.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3 days later ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part 2: Orik the Merchant
Orik had owned a small shop his whole life. He sold above average quality vegetables and fruits. Recently, he had been struggling to make ends meet, as the shortages of everything meant that even potatoes and turnips cost 1 or 2 silvers to purchase for his store. He had to sell them to the people at high prices to even break even. This meant less people bought his food. He could barely make money, even on good days.
When he heard about the incoming monster attack, he had had enough. It was time to pack his bags and move somewhere better. He had heard that the Empire was enjoying unseen of before prosperity, and he decided to move there.
However, he had failed to to leave the Kingdom in time, and now the dreaded monster was about to destroy the city. He had only heard rumors, but he had heard that it was a giant snake whose icy breath froze whole plains solid, leaving only frozen popsicles of previously living animals.
Suddenly he heard screams.
"It's coming!"
"I can see it in the distance!"
"Wow, it's huge!"
"Aieeeeee! We're doomed!"
Orik ran over to the base of the walls, and quickly scrambled up the steps. In his haste, he forgot his goods, and left them in front of his shop. He saw it! In the distance, but growing rapidly closer, was a writhing serpent. It's eyes glowed an electric blue, and several tendrils reminiscent of icicles waved about and under its head, forming a mane of sorts. It looked like lizard more than a dragon, though it didn't have lizard-like sluggishishness at all. It grew closer with terrifying speed.
'Nothing can save us now.' Orik thought. Little did he know how wrong he was.
Unexpectedly, a lone figure appeared in the air twenty feet away from the wall. There was a sense of weight to its presence, as if the world was bending towards it. An aura of blackness and despair hung behind its head. It casually turned, baring a bony face, and ribs poking between a rich robe. The undead looked at them for a second before turning to face the Wyrm.
"The Sorcerer King!"
These whispers of awe spread up and down the wall, uttered by the unbelieving watchers gathered there.
Despite its terrifying appearance, Orik was irrationally comforted by its presence. It seemed he was not alone, as the screams of terror from the Wyrm died down. All eyes turned to focus on the Sorcerer King.
(Disclaimer: Bad at fight scenes)
The Sorcerer King raised his arms to the sky.
[Flaming Skull]
He shouted. A giant flaming skull twenty feet high manifested before him, and sped towards the Wyrm. Orik felt his face dry under the furnace heat it took an instinctive step backward under the scorching wind it gave off. However, the Wyrm breathed its Ice Breath onto the ground, moving it up until he built a wall out of glittering ice. The head collided with the wall in a bright flash, melting the wall. However, the skull guttered out due to fire's weakness to water and ice based defenses.
After seeing this, the Sorcerer King made a gesture, and a complex figure stretched out from his hand. Six circles hovered in the air in a line, with many intricate geometries and runes spinning around inside the circles.
[Piercing Ray]!
With a purring sound, a beam of light appeared and stabbed towards the Frost Wyrm, which growled and waved a claw in a circle. A rune glowing electric blue appeared in front of the Wyrm, but it didn't stop the beam. The ray of pure light pierced through the rune and impacted on the Wyrm, stabbing a perfect circular hole through its whole body. They could see trees through the hole, and the charred insides smoking gently.
The Wyrm roared in agony, sending shockwaves out from its mouth which buffeted the observers. The Sorcerer King's cloak fluttered gently in the gale. In a final dramatic movement, the Undead King brought his hands together, and then pulled them apart. To massive globes of light gathered on each of his hands, sparkling with wild tendrils of electricity.
[Twin Maximize Dragon Lightning]
They each shot a long lightning bolt towards the Wyrm. For two seconds the Wyrm convulsed before lying still. As soon as it died, a mysterious black disc appeared beneath it, swirling with nebulous gases. The Wyrm fell through this disc, like it was a hole. When the tip of its tail finally fell through the disc, the disc disappeared, removing the Wyrm without a trace.
Slowly, a few citizens started to clap. However, the people were still too scared of the Sorcerer King for the applause to spread much further. The Sorcerer King descended onto the wall, an aura of dark radiance surrounding him. He looked kingly and majestic, and his haughty glare swept the crowd.
Orik could only describe him as divine, like a God of Death come to judge his people.
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