The room was dark, with only a small magic light in the corner giving off a dim light, it was mostly empty but in the middle of the room stood a four-poster emperor sized bed. An irregular lump shifted and moved under the silk sheets. A hairy figure rose from the sheets and let out a yawn as he stepped off the bed, Sun moved to the door as he rubbed his eyes. The rooms of the supreme ones were quite large and split in to multiple rooms, with a single one being larger than Kaito's own apartment. There was the bed room, Ainz didn't use his at all but Sun made up for that, a lounge, an office, a walk-in wardrobe and private baths, as well as any rooms the guild member added themselves.
"Good afternoon, my lord" one of the 41 maids bowed as he walked out of the room
"morning" Sun gave a small nod as he walked to the bath
Ever since coming to this world Sun had to spend a long time washing himself, "That stone monkey title is a lie" he murmured as he covered his body in shampoo
His hair would get everywhere, he should be completely bald with the amount of hair he wakes up in and what gets caught in the drain. The monkey washed the shampoo off and spent a few minutes relaxing in a hot bath. Using a wind spell to quickly dry himself, he spent the next half an hour combing his hair, in all it took the monkey just over an hour to clean himself.
"No matter the age, you can't escape work" Sun murmured as he looked over documents stacked on his desk
They were mostly technical documents of designs that Sun himself had been working on; drawings, displacement calculations, cost and material estimated. It took much longer than the monkey would like to realise he was just doing his job and not getting paid. He flipped through a book of a few hundred loosely bound pages, on the front was a detailed drawing of a massive warship.
"Yamato" Sun mused as he thought back to his childhood
One of his childhood hobbies had been building models; ships, planes, tanks, even a few landmarks. Kaito had kept a few of these models even up until Yggdrasil had shut down and his biggest, and favorite, had been the model of the Yamato battleship, it had sunk nearly 200 years ago but he was still impressed by the sheer effort put in to building something so big back then. In fact, his love of building models was the reason he studied engineering, so he could build something like the Yamato for himself.
"I need to give it a better name than that" Sun sighed as he looked at the battleship design
"Ummm, my lord" the maid standing quietly behind him spoke up, "Sorry to interrupt but it's about time for you to meet with Lord Ainz"
"You're right" Sun picked up the giant technical document and continued to look through it as he left his rooms
Despite Nazarick being land-locked Sun had already set about being able to build the ship, although from what he had seen of this world, he would have to completely overhaul the way the people made ships if he wanted to even start, hell he would need to invent to tools needed to build it. But if he could make one of these ships then it would be an unmatched power at sea.
"My lord" Sun looked up from the document to see Demiurge bowing to him
"Demiurge, you're going to be working outside, right?"
"Yes, my lord, I'm preparing to leave soon"
"Well stay safe, and take this" Sun pulled a sealing crystal out of his inventory and handed it to the demon, "It contains a high-level angel, if an enemy is too powerful use it, it could work as a good distraction so you can escape"
"Thank you, my lord" Demiurge took the crystal and bowed
Sun looked at Demiurge for a few seconds as he thought back to when Ulbert was creating him, "I wonder?" the monkey thought, "Take a look at this for me" Sun handed him the document he had been reading over
"Yes" the demon looked over the book, "I'm sorry, my lord, I can only really tell it's a design for a ship I'm afraid the nuances are lost on me but I can tell you put a lot of detail in it"
"That's fine" Sun took the document back, "So it seems his genius is reserved to strategy and the like or maybe none of the NPCs have any real knowledge of modern weapons"
"Anyway, good luck, if you do a good job I might teach you what everything in here means"
"I would enjoy that, my lord" Demiurge bowed one last time as he left to continue his duties
Sun walked in to Ainz's office and fell in to on of the sofas, the skeleton sat behind his desk and Albedo stood by his side, "Good afternoon, my lord" the succubus bowed her head
"What's that?" Ainz asked as Sun threw the book on the table in front of him
"It doesn't really matter, we should get this report over with"
The two sat there for half an hour listening to Albedo summarise the situation inside and outside Nazarick as well as a few of the problems that had popped up and a few she felt might appear in the future.
"Good job Albedo" Ainz praised her before turning to his friend, "Sun, how are your experiments going?"
"Well Tenzou has purchased a large amount of sulphur and I'm getting Mare to help me produce charcoal and my saltpetre pit should start showing results soon" Sun told him, "I also finished building the papermill and I've received the first pages"
Sun took a small stack of pages out of his inventory and handed them to Ainz, the quality of the paper wasn't poor but by modern standards it wasn't good, the colour was a light brown and the skeleton could still see small bits of wood in the page but for the purpose of writing on it would do just fine.
"This is good, we won't need to waste parchment on documents and written messages now" Ainz took out a pen and scribbled on a page to test it, "How many pages can the mill produce?"
"It's not at full production capacity yet but since those golems can work 24 hours a day, it should be a few hundred pages maybe a thousand"
"Good"
As they were about to leave a knock could be heard on the door, "Come in" Ainz ordered and an eight-edge assassin scuttled in
"Lord Ainz, Lord Sun" he paid he respects before looking to the monkey, "The white flowers are blooming in your pit, my lord, just as you said"
"that's good" Sun looked at Ainz, "How about I show you my saltpetre pit"
Sun, Ainz and Albedo appeared in the middle of the jungle on the 6th floor, in front of them was a pit, about 5' deep and 6' on all sides, it was filled with animal waste and rotting animal parts and Ainz could even make out some human corpses, on top of it all Ainz could see white flower like buds forming. Albedo stepped back as she held her nose in disgust, even Sun pinched his nose shut.
"What is this, my lord?" Albedo asked, clearly disgusted
"Saltpetre is a by-product of putrefaction, it's the best way to make it"
"And what are you going to use this saltpetre for?" Albedo asked
"it's the main ingredient in gunpowder, it'll be useful to make explosive traps and a number of other weapons"
"This is good" Ainz looked down at the pit
He knew nothing about this stuff, although his face or skull didn't reflect his ignorance, but Sun was quite knowledgeable on how to make this stuff and would be invaluable in sustaining Nazarick in the future, if they could cut down on consumables and even produce useful things for this world then it was only good.
"Demiurge is going to be working with animals, I should've asked him to save any waste for me"
The three moved away from the foul-smelling pit and breathed in a lung full of fresh air, "So how much can that pit make?" Ainz asked as the arena came in to view over the tree tops
"Not much but it should be enough for my experiments and to booby trap a good part of Nazarick" Sun answered, "Although I would like to talk to that apothecary you know"
"Yes, Nfirea could probably help" Ainz stroked his chin, "I will have to invite him to Nazarick sometime"
"talking about humans, I was thinking about getting a few to join us here in Nazarick"
Ainz internally raised an eyebrow and Albedo's face twisted in to a look of disgust, similar to when she saw the pit, "And why would you do that? Nazarick isn't exactly the most human friendly place"
"It would be stupid to assume that the humans here couldn't ever rival our strength or even work together to beat us, we need to see how strong humans here can get" Sun explained, "And besides having loyal humans means that we can move around in this world more freely"
"You're right, being careless might get us killed, do you have humans in mind?"
"An adventurer group that Tenzou has been working with on occasion, they're quite strong and seem like they can improve and I feel they would accept the invitation"
"And if they don't?"
"Well I can always use a new saltpetre pit"
Tenzou stood in the middle of a forest a few miles from the imperial capital, he wore his monkey king armour and was resting Ruyi on his shoulder, next to him Shizu stood guard in her maid uniform with her magic gun.
"There you are, why'd you call us all the way out here?" the members of seven steps stumbled out of the forest, "And what are you wearing?"
"it's not important, I'm here to offer you a job" Sun looked at the 5 adventurers, if they refused then they were surrounded by eight-edge assassins and there would be no escape
"So you're finally recognising our skill now, Mr skips to orichalcum" Bara boasted as he flashed his new gold plate, "We can take on the hard jobs, how else will we catch up to you guys"
"It's not a job with the guild" Tenzou kept a straight face, "What do you think of the empire?"
"What are you talking about?" Erika asked as the other members looked confused
"What you're wearing put us off at first but now you're asking weird questions" Indra spoke up, "What is going on here?"
"I'm just asking if you're a patriot, would you betray the empire?"
"The emperor took everything from me so I really don't care what happens to him or this country" Erika answered seriously
Indra sighted, "I guess I have no special attachment to this place"
"Ok this is getting weird, you're asking strange questions, you and Shizee are dressed weird" Bara finally released his frustrations, "What is going on?"
"I suppose I should tell you, her name isn't Shizee it's CZ2128 Delta and my name isn't Tenzou it's Sun WuKong"
"Why would you lie about that?" Indra tried to think of an explanation for everything
"It really doesn't matter, what does is that if I could offer you power and wealth, would you betray the empire and maybe all of humanity?"
"OK, none of us know what you're talking about" Erika put her foot down, "What are you even talking about?"
Tenzou sighed as his hair changed colour and he started growing taller, he soon towered over the adventures covered in hair that seemed to be made from gold. Seven steps stared in fear and awe as they watched their friend transform before their eyes, they had no idea what he was but they could feel the unrivalled power he held.
"What are you?" Bara whispered without thinking, too afraid to move
"I told you, I'm the stone monkey king, Sun WuKong and I want you to help me work for the glory of Nazarick"
They all stood in fear, unable to move or even talk, they only stare and watch time tick by slowly as they came to terms with the new reality, "Ok I'll join" Alec snapped the group out of their trance, seeming to be unaffected by the power of the monkey
The group looked at him, unable to understand his reasoning, "He's still the same Tenzou we've adventured with even if his name and face have changed" Alec explained, "I can tell he's never lied about anything important"
"You're right" his brother understood, "beside I can't leave you alone or you'll get yourself killed"
"The twins are right, besides I never had great love for all humanity anyway" Bara joined the twins
"If it's to get stronger then I guess I'm fine with it" Indra agreed
The four adventures looked to their leader, who had been silent this whole time, "As leader I should agree with the majority, right?"
Sun's face broke out in to a wide smile, "Then allow me to welcome you as the first human subjects of Nazarick, glory to the supreme ones"
Yuri alpha stood outside the great tomb, waiting patiently for her master to return, she wasn't forced to wait that long as Sun WuKong soon appeared before her, with her little sister beside him.
"Welcome back Lord Sun" Yuri bowed her head and presented the monkey with his ring of Ainz Ooal Gown
"It's good to see you too" Sun put the ring on, "Ainz should be in, he needs to greet the newest subjects of Nazarick"
Yuri raised her head to see a group of humans standing behind her master, staring in wonder at the exterior of the tomb, unlike many others in the tomb she had no problem with humans and quite liked the species, in fact contrary to everyone else she didn't enjoy killing them but if she was ordered to then there was nothing to be done.
"Yes, Lord Ainz is in the throne room" Yuri replied, "I'll make a gate now"
The members of seven steps walked through the strange gate and in to a throne room unlike anything any of them could have imagined, not even the emperor himself had a throne room so grand, the ceiling was so high it was like it was challenging the sky with rows of pillars as thick as trees reaching up to support it, at the end of the room a single throne dominated the view and on it sat death.
"Ainz!" Sun casually walked to the throne as the adventures looked around dumbstruck, "I told you they would say yes"
"I still don't see the need" Albedo stood next to Ainz as she usually did, "what can humans offer us?"
"A lot of things" Sun flopped down in his usual spot on the steps, he had refused having a throne built for him preferring to sit there, "Erika get over here"
The human snapped out of her trance and rushed over to the foot of the steps, she nervously looked up at the three monsters above her; the beautiful Albedo glared down at her with obvious malice, Sun kept a neutral expression and she couldn't possibly tell what was going on behind Ainz's vacant eyes.
"My name is Erika Elen Atte Rulean" She curtsied, like she had been taught when she was younger, "My lord"
None of their expressions changed, "Sun tells me you're a former noble" Ainz spoke in his most commanding voice
"Y-yes, my lord"
"So I would assume you know how to read and write?" Ainz asked, "Multiple languages as well"
"yes I know how to read and write the languages of the empire, kingdom and theocracy"
"that is good, none in the tomb know how to read or write the languages of this world, I will need you to teach a few of them"
"Of course, I'm here to serve" Erika's breathing was heavy and she was covered in sweat, she felt the crushing aura of death coming off of Ainz
"Good, the rest of your group will focus on training for now" By this point the other members of her group had assembled behind her, all feeling the same crushing pressure, "Shizu take them to level 6 they can be instructed by the twins for now"
Ainz's interest had been peaked by Sun's suggestion of accepting humans in to the tomb and now he was bent on finding out how strong humans could be, "I wonder how strong Gazef can get?" he thought to himself
The humans all introduced themselves and soon left the throne room for their accommodations, "I still think it's a bad idea to let humans in to the tomb" Albedo kept up her protest, "They are untrustworthy and will certainly betray us at the first chance"
"Humans are much more trustworthy than you think and they know what will happen if they try to betray us" Sun told her
"And it's already done, no point in arguing over it" Ainz sided with the monkey
"You're right my lords, I try to tolerate their presence"
"Good, because that human is gonna be teaching you how to read and write"
Sun let out a yawn as he walked the halls of the great tomb, the maids all bowed as he passed and he gave them each a head nod, the stone monkey waltzed in to Ainz's office and fell on to the sofa as he normally did.
"What is it today?" Sun asked as he looked over some papers, all the pages produced in his mill
"nothing much, we just need to observe Cocytus' battle with the lizardmen"
Ainz had decided to send Cocytus to conquer a tribe of lizardmen that had been found nearby, it was another one of his experiments trying to see to what extent the NPCs could change and if it could be directed. Ainz, Sun and Albedo gathered around the mirror of remote viewing and the image of a wet marsh appeared, they could see a crudely constructed mud wall and on top of it were scaly humanoids, coming out of the tree line at the edge of the marsh was the army of Nazarick. Hundreds of skeletons, zombies and hell beasts moved toward the lizards.
"How do you think he'll handle this?" Ainz asked
"Not sure, Cocytus is a warrior not a general"
The supreme beings watched as all the undead charged forward at once, the army of Nazarick outnumbered the lizardmen by a lot but the marsh slowed the zombies down and halved the force meeting the lizardmen, that combined with the club like nature of the enemy's weapons meant they easily fought against the skeletons that charge ahead. The two watched as their undead army was beaten down.
"How would you have fought this battle?" Ainz asked as soon as it was clear that they had lost
"Cocytus sent in all his troops assuming to overwhelm the enemy, not a bad plan since he has numerical advantage but he didn't consider that the marsh would slow some of his troops down, splitting them up and giving the lizardmen numeric superiority" Sun answered after some consideration, "I would have sent the zombies in first and held the skeletons back then when they engage the lizardmen quickly send the skeletons around the side or back while using the archers and hell beasts to harass and supress their ranged units, their lines would be thrown in to chaos and a rout would occur"
"You're much smarter than I give you credit for"
"It's mostly common sense, no one can fight a war on two fronts, just ask Germany, twice"
The two watched as the elder lich battled a single lizardman, "He's quite skilled" Ainz noted as he watched the lich get killed
"And that weapon is interesting"
"Well seems he lost, shame" Ainz turned to Albedo, "Call Entoma and summon Cocytus"
"We should also call Victim, we need to fortify the tombs defences and his abilities will be useful, no better time than the present"
"Good thinking, Albedo call all the guardians together" Ainz stood with a flourish
Albedo rushed off and the two could hear her whisper under her breath, "So cool"
"so that's what you've been doing all day" Sun sat unimpressed
"I'm starting to regret not kicking you from the guild in those last 10 seconds"
The two supreme beings sat in the throne room, raised above the guardians who kneeled with their heads bowed low. Floating low to the ground was a pink blob, that could be mistaken for chewed gum, it had small arms and legs and branch like wings sprouting from it's back and a halo above its head, this was Victim guardian of the 8th floor, known as the sacrificial fetus.
"First things first, Victim introduce yourself to the others" Ainz spoke in a commanding tone as the guardians raised their heads to look up at him
The fetus floated up and turned to face the guardians, tilting its body forward in a bow, "Greetings my name is Victim, guardian of the 8th floor" the angel had no mouth or throat, or neck for that matter, his high-pitched voice was transmitted in to everyone's heads
The angel turned back around to face Ainz, "I'm afraid I summoned you only to kill you" Ainz apologised to the guardian, "In order to protect the tomb from whoever attacked Shalltear I must invoke a powerful spell caused by your death"
"It's is fine my lords, the greatest joy I can experience is being of use to the tomb" Victim lowered himself
"Still I thank you and wish you to know how grateful we are to you" Ainz turned away from Victim to Demiurge, "Now, Demiurge I must congratulate you on securing a stable supply of parchment for the tomb, they will suffice for low tier scrolls"
"Thank you, my lord, it is my pleasure to serve anyway I can, your thanks are unnecessary"
"It's only natural to praise a job well done, although I do wish to know what animal you obtained the skins from"
"They're bipedal sheep…. Yes sheep, I think I will call them Abelion sheep" Demiurge seemed to smile, like there was some joke only he got, "But don't worry about them my lords, they're animals unworthy of your attention"
"I remember there was a race of bipedal sheep-like monsters in Yggdrasil, do they exist here as well?" Ainz thought as he tried to imagine the creatures
"You mean humans?" Sun spoke up
"That is quite obvious my lord, although there are also demi humans" Demiurge had called them sheep as a joke, he fully believed his masters understood him, "Is there a problem?"
"How the hell did he figure it out?" Ainz wondered as he gave Sun a side stare, "No, it's just that you should be clearer in your reports, jokes are fine but when it comes to business we need to be serious"
"You're right my lord, apologies"
"It's fine but how are you getting these humans?" Sun asked
"We're kidnapping them from the remote villages in the Abelion hills"
"Good but try a take people no one will look for or take the whole village, we don't want any loose ends that could come back to bite us"
"Yes, my lord"
"Now, Shalltear" Ainz looked at the vampire who had been dreading her turn
"My lords"
"You are not responsible for what you did, it was mind control so it would be wrong to punish you" Shalltear looked like she was about to protest but Ainz continued, "It would be wrong to punish you for attacking me and Sun but you did fail your mission and put the tomb in danger, a lesser crime but it still deserves some punishment that I will administer later"
"My lord"
"Cocytus" the insectoid had been just a nervous as Shalltear, his cold aura was radiating so wildly that the floor around him had a thin layer of ice, "You failed to defeat the lizardmen tribes"
"I'm sorry my lords" Cocytus bowed lower, "I have brought shame on Nazarick and I will atone with my life"
"Look at us" Sun commanded, "You are not permitted to die, you will live with this shame"
"Quite right Sun, although I'm curious Cocytus why did you lose?"
"I cannot begin to apologise for bringing such disgrace on Nazarick" Cocytus continued to apologise for his failure
"Your apologies aren't needed, I don't intend to punish you harshly, I just wish to know what factors contributed to your loss"
Cocytus thought for a few seconds, "I underestimated my enemy, I didn't know their numbers or strength, I also didn't take the topography in to account or the strengths and weaknesses of my troops, overall I didn't take information in to account"
"good, learn from this defeat you may be leading armies again in the future" Ainz praised Cocytus' self-evaluation and the insect relaxed, "Although you still lost and must erase such shame, you will exterminate the lizardmen, by yourself"
Cocytus stayed silent for a few seconds, not confirming his orders, "My lords" the guardian seemed nervous, "May I ask you spare the lizardmen?"
"You come back in defeat and have the nerve to ask anything of your masters" Albedo scolded him
"Why should we?" Ainz asked
"What?" Cocytus obviously hadn't thought that far ahead, it wasn't his way
"I'm not opposed to anything that will benefit Nazarick, we gave those humans a place here so we could better understand this world and so we could learn the language" Ainz looked down on Cocytus with his vacant eyes, "So what place do the lizardmen have in Nazarick?"
"Ummm… they have many powerful warriors, they could be useful in strengthening Nazarick" Cocytus scrambled for any excuse he could find, "And many more could arise in the future"
"true but it would be much easier to use them as undead, anything else?" Sun pushed Cocytus
"Uhhh….uhhh…. I'm sorry my lords, there is nothing I can think of" Cocytus racked his brain but came back with nothing
"Shame, Demiurge anything to add?" Ainz turned to the demon
"well it might be useful to rule over them, we might be ruling over a large group of people one day so it would be beneficial to practise with the lizardmen" Demiurge came up with an answer instantly, "They could also provide a stable source of resources"
"As expected (read: sasuga) Demiurge" Ainz praised the demon
"Your praise is unneeded my lord, you knew what I was going to suggest before I even thought about it, you just wanted Cocytus to catch up"
"I simply wanted him to think for himself, that goes for you all, always seek for the greatest benefit to Nazarick even if you have to amend our orders"
"My lords" all the guardians heard his declaration
"But now we must change your punishment, Cocytus you will show the lizardmen our power and bring them under our rule but once they are you will not use fear or intimidation to rule"
"My lord" Cocytus confirmed his orders
"Now activate Gargantua, gather our troops and make preparations, we're going to give the lizardmen one hell of a show" Ainz stood from his throne with a flourish, "Now Sun we have many more things to discuss"
"Yeah yeah" the monkey stood up and the two teleported away
"Thank you, Demiurge" Cocytus stood, along with the other guardians
"No need for such things, Lord Ainz was expecting this he knew I had the answer he was looking for" Demiurge waved his gratitude off
"So they expected Cocytus to lose?" Mare asked
"Not necessarily, perhaps they wanted him to come up with a creative solution or ask for reinforcements"
"Quite right Demiurge" Albedo chimed in, "I was with them as they watch your battle, they discussed strategy and tactics effortlessly, lord Sun even proposed a way to win with the troops you had"
"Really! I'm curious how Lord Sun would have won?" Cocytus turned to the succubus
"He suggested using the slower zombies to hold the lizardmen forces while archers and hell beasts held their ranged units then send the skeletons around the side or back"
"As expected of Lord Sun, a flawless strategy" Demiurge praised his master
"Truly they are the only ones worthy of ruling over Nazarick" Shalltear beamed
"This is awesome" Ainz shouted as the two appeared in his office
"Yeah I didn't expect Cocytus to be capable of such self-reflection" Sun agreed, "I probed Demiurge's knowledge a few days ago and the results were surprising as well"
"Really? What happened?"
"It seems that Demiurge is quite knowledgeable when it comes to strategy and that's how his genius manifests but when it comes to engineering, he knows nothing, maybe none of them know anything at all"
"Interesting, maybe you should teach him, Demiurge has a brilliant mind who knows what he could do with such knowledge, it could benefit Nazarick greatly"
"Although I do wonder how much they can change"
On the edge of the lake where the lizardman village was located stood hundreds of undead, all wearing magical armour and weapons, the lizardmen leaders watched carefully as the undead army moved in perfect sync. The wind grew cold and the undead parted to reveal two figures that struck fear in to lizard army, the first was a skeleton in a robe exuding an aura of absolute death and despair and the second was tall humanoid covered in golden hair and had an aura of absolute power and domination. The skeleton raised his hand and the lizardmen watched him cast a spell unknown to them, the lake soon froze over and held them fast, the entire village panicked as everyone scrambled for higher ground. As they recovered on higher ground the lizardmen witnessed a mountain move and throw a massive cube in to the middle of the lake, the undead moved to create a stairway to the top.
"How powerful are they?" one lizard questioned as he watched this all
They watched as undead in golden armour marched up and created an archway with their standards, various monsters walked through until finally the two great ones came through and sat upon two thrones that appeared behind them. They sent forth heralds and demanded for them to send envoys immediately. The lizardmen chose the great warrior Zaryusu Shasha and his brother the tribal chief, Shasuryu Shasha. The two approached the base of the cube and announced themselves to the great ones, they were only met with silence.
"Demiurge teach these insects how they should talk to the supreme ones" An angelic beauty glared down at them
"Bow down" the two lizards felt their bodies move without permission as they slammed themselves into the ice, a great weight holding them down, "You may look upon the supreme ones"
"We are the rulers of the great tomb of Nazarick, I am Ainz Ooal Gown and this is Sun WuKong" the skeleton introduced them
"Introductions out of the way, we're your new kings but since the loser can't conquer anyone, we're sending one of our trusted warriors, he'll be here in 4 hours send your best warriors" Sun explained what will happen, "If you beat him then we'll leave you alone forever"
"We give up" Shasuryu instantly surrendered, he knew none of them could beat a warrior who served these monsters
"If you do then I'll have to slaughter you all" A malicious smile appeared on Sun's face, "But I'm not opposed to that"
"Prepare yourselves, you have 4 hours" Ainz declared as the two stood to leave
"Excuse me but will this ice melt?" Zaryusu asked
"Right, I didn't want to get my robe dirty" Ainz turned to Sun, "I'm sure you can do something"
Sun looked down on the two lizards, "Is everyone on higher ground?"
"Yes"
"release them Demiurge"
"You may move" the lizards stood up as they felt the weight lift off their backs
Sun jump off the cube and in to the lake, the monkey grabbed the brothers by their wrists and lifted them out off the ice, "Hellscape" he summoned a polearm and smashed through the ice with it
The ice instantly turned to fire, the lizardmen watched in amazement as the entire lake lit up. A few seconds passed and the flames died away, Sun dropped the two back in to the lake, which was now steaming and a comfortable temperature.
"Enjoy a steam bath, on me, consider it a gift" Sun smiled as he jumped back up to the top of the cube
The monsters and their demons left the stunned brothers to come to terms with their approaching death.
The supreme beings and their guardians exited the gate inside a wooden complex they were having built in the great forest of Tob. It was quite plain, with very little furniture or decoration, the only colour in the wood coloured room coming from the symbol of Nazarick burned in to one of the walls.
"I'm sorry my lords" Aura hung her head in shame, "When I heard you were coming I kinda rushed everything"
"That doesn't matter to me, you built this out of devotion and love and because of that it is just a great as Nazarick to me" Ainz gave Aura a pat on the head, "And I'm sure Sun agrees"
"Yeah"
"That said, what are those?" Ainz pointed to the only furniture in the room, a set of thrones made completely of bones, the bones seemed to come from a variety of animals but some of them were definitely human
"It's only right that we prepare a throne for you my lords" demiurge took credit for the creations
"Quite comfortable" Sun sat down on one of them without hesitation
"Thank you, my lord"
"How does he do stuff like this" Ainz lamented that he and Sun were so different, "I can't sit on that but Sun is fine with it, no that's going too far, it's just creepy but I can't hurt Demiurge's feelings"
"Shalltear!" Ainz came up with an idea, "I have decided on your punishment, you'll act as my chair"
"Brilliant Lord Ainz, truly the only chair worth of a supreme one is one of us guardians" Demiurge praised his master before turning to Sun, almost expecting him to do the same
"I'm not sitting on any of you"
"SO YOU WON'T DO THAT!" Ainz screamed in his head, "Is it really that creepy? I can't back out now, why do I have to do this?"
Shalltear was already on all fours and Ainz's fate was already sealed, swallowing his pride the skeleton lowered himself on to Shalltear's small frame, "I hate my life" Ainz tried to maintain his composure as he felt the vampire shift under him, "I'm sorry Peroroncino"
"May I be excused for a moment, my lords?" Albedo made the strange request with an unnaturally serene expression
"It's fine, go on"
The succubus bowed and left the room, a few seconds later a loud crash could be heard, "WHY HER? WHY WHY WHY" the sound of several other things breaking could be heard before Albedo walked in, with the same serene expression, "Oh Aura, I bumped in to the wall on my way out and damaged it a bit, I hope you don't mind"
"Not at all" Aura, along with everyone else, gave Albedo a look of concern and surprise
"Now let's see how the lizardmen are preparing" Ainz brought up the lizardmen village on the mirror of remote viewing; the lizardmen were busy repairing, drinking and hyping themselves up for the coming battle, "Not doing much"
The image moved to the chiefs as they drew battle plans in the dirt, "Where's that white one and the one with the magic weapon"
"His name was Zaryusu, he's probably in one of the huts" Aura suggested
"Yes, normally the mirror of remote view can't see inside buildings but with a little magic" Ainz pulled out a scroll
Something suddenly dawned on Sun, "Wait, Ainz that mi…" but it was too late
The imaged changed to inside one of the huts and everyone could see the two lizards were intertwined, Ainz immediately shut the image off and everyone sat in silence.
"Disgusting" Albedo spoke first
"How could they do such a thing in front of the supreme ones" Aura joined her
"Truly they are only animals" Demiurge's contempt was clear
"Well, it's not like they expected to be watched" Sun defended them
"That is right"
"I suppose it is a natural thing to do"
"They can be forgiven this time" The guardians change their tune once their master came up with an excuse
Ainz let out a sigh, "Moving on, we still don't know who attacked Shalltear, so there is a chance they could be working with the lizardmen, even if that is a slim chance, we must remain vigilant"
"Although I'm still questioning if it was a player" Sun wondered out loud
"What do you mean?" Ainz asked
"Everyone we've suspected of being players; the all talk sage, the six gods, the eight greed kings, they're all dead, it might be possible that we're the only players in the world at the moment"
"True but we should assume the worst and prepare to fight a player, besides we're immortal aren't we, a player my show up in the future"
"Quite right, I suppose we have all the time in the world to prepare"
The supreme ones turned their attention back to the mirror of remote viewing, the battle soon started and it soon ended. It was completely one-sided with Zaryusu being the only one out of maybe 20 lizardmen managing to even hit Cocytus, although it did no damage. Cocytus bowed before his master as they praised his fight.
"A true warrior through and through, I wouldn't expect anything less from you" Sun congratulated the guardian
"A second defeat was unthinkable my lords"
"Good, but now you must lead the lizardmen and fear is not permitted" Ainz reaffirmed his mission, "You will have the full support of Nazarick and the other guardians"
"Thank you, my lords but may I ask, what are you going to do with the bodies of the two brothers?"
"Yes, Zaryusu and Shasuryu, I was planning on seeing what kind of undead they would make"
"Excuse me if I'm overstepping my lords but although they were weak, I believe they could become much stronger"
"We are already using the humans Sun brought to test the limits of strength in this world"
"Hold on, it's always better to have multiple test subjects and beside they were leaders in the tribe, resurrecting them and making them loyal will make the lizardmen easier to rule"
"I suppose you're right" Ainz held his chin, "Is their anyone left to represent the lizardmen?"
"The white skinned one with powerful magic didn't fight"
"Then bring her here"
"I thought you would want to talk to her my lords so I've already brought her with me"
A lizard with pure white scales and red eyes came in to the rom and bowed before the two supreme beings, "My lords, my name is Crusch Lulu priest of the united lizardmen tribes, please accept our absolute loyalty"
"Good" Ainz moved to the lizard's side and put a hand on her trembling shoulder, "I have a favour to ask of you, do it and I will bring Zaryusu back"
"You can do that!"
"Bring back the dead is as easy for me as breathing is for you"
"Is that so? Then how may I serve you? Do you wish to use my body?" Ainz's jaw dropped and Sun burst out laughing as Shalltear and Albedo were surrounded by an aura of murderous intent
"No" Ainz picked his jaw up, "I just need you to keep an eye on the lizardmen and make sure none of them betray us"
"None of them would dare"
"I'm not stupid, just make sure there are no traitors and you will get Zaryusu back, surely that trade is favourable to you?" Ainz stood back up and walked past the lizard, "Think hard about my offer, you don't have much time to seize this miracle, what are you going to do?"
Zaryusu felt like he was floating and then suddenly he felt warmth and a light shining on him, "Zaryusu" a voice called out from far away but the more his name was repeated the closer it got
He opened his eyes and saw Crusch standing over him, the lizardwoman threw herself on him, when she saw his eyes open, "what happened? Did they kill you? Where am I?" the confused lizardman looked around, he was sure he was cut down by Cocytus
"Seems you've lost some levels, I guess that hasn't changed" Zaryusu looked up to see Ainz and Sun standing over him, surrounded by bowing lizardmen, "You should get some rest, resurrection is hard on the body"
"Resurrection? You can bring the dead back to life?" Zaryusu pulled himself up and bowed before the two, "I, Zaryusu Shasha, pledge myself to you, oh great ones, truly your power is unrivalled"
"Good, Cocytus will be overseeing your people on my behalf from now on, serve us well"
"We will my lords, we only ask to prosper under your rule"
"On the honour of Nazarick, your people will never know suffering or decline again"
"Thank you, my lords, may I also make a personal request? I wish for you to bring my brother Shasuryu, and my friend Zenberu back to life"
"I will think about it, keep their bodies safe, if you serve me well then your loved ones will be returned to you" Ainz turned and opened up a gate
The two left the village and walked in to Ainz's office, "This is so stressful" Ainz fell in to his chair, "I don't want to be guild master anymore!"
"Can you stop complaining, we still have a lot of things to do" Sun dropped in to another chair
"Yes, Shalltear's attacker, any ideas?"
"we're using Sebas as bait but there is a chance that they aren't following him, so we might need to make a bold move" Sun thought for a few seconds, "It also seems impossible that they would know Shalltear was apart of Nazarick so maybe they were hunting for some a powerful monster"
"You're right, knowledge of Nazarick should be very limited, so maybe another powerful monster would draw them out"
"Good thinking my friend" Sun smirked as he stroked the hair on his face, "But who should play this villain?"
