Chapter 11

The scholar Lexicon earned his place as a servant of Ainz Ooal Gown, albeit with suspicion and scrutiny from the residents. His appetite for knowledge and discovery were key factors to his usefulness. Other than his skills as a fighter, and a sorcerer, Lexicon was a keen tracker and explorer, which would work well with how Ainz used Adventurers. Until his first mission would be given to him, he was assigned a room to live and work in. It was a gilded cage at best, and a heavily surveillance-filled space at most, but Lexicon didn't seem to mind. At the moment the intrepid scholar was at his desk, writing more notes and reviewing entries he's made over the years.

"I'm thankful Lord Ainz didn't leave me to rot in a prison cell. But now I see that the second-in-command blatantly distrusts me. Her actions and mannerisms with me are telling. Not the first time a king's concubine gave me the cold shoulder, but this one is an actual, real demon. I doubt a civil talk will mend anything between us-"

A knock on his door was heard. He sat up from his writing desk and walked to his door and opened it. Outside his room was Overseer Albedo herself. She stood regal and proud to match her position, and despite being of the same height, Albedo managed to look down on him with her glare. Despite the unpleasant aura for him, she maintained a polite smile.

'Well, speak of the devil, and she shall appear! I will need to remain cordial with her, even though she was caught red handed for my incarceration.' Despite knowing of her trickery against him, the scholar played coy and greeted the fiendish woman.

"Good afternoon, Overseer! Are you well? Would you like for me to pull a seat up for you in my room? It's no trouble, I assure you."

Albedo glared daggers at him. She couldn't care less for his amenities. Her tone and answer was proof of that,

"Silence, vagrant. I was right to have imprisoned you, but that isn't why I am here."

"Oh? Then may you enlighten, please?"

"Simple, wretch. By order of my beloved Ainz-sama, you are hereby officially receiving my apology."

"That's… quite the apology, my Lady Overseer."

"I'm unsurprised by your impressed look. However…" Albedo paused, leaving a bit of bait for the knowledge-hungry scholar to follow.

"However...?"

"You may receive a better apology if you answer me a question."

"I will answer your question to the best of my knowledge, Overseer. What is it?"

"Tell me how your staff works. Now."

'That wasn't even a question, that was a demand! Why even make it out to be a question? Is she one of those "I don't make requests" kind of people? Oy vay…'

"Of course…" Lexicon wasn't sure if she was always like this, or just with him. He answered her, "Well, have you tried stimulating the shaft first?"

"Stimulate what?"

"As in have you tried running your hand up and down against the surface? I do it every time before I go into battle. It helps with my focus while swinging it around against the bodies of my opponents. It also makes it harder and longer, improving my performance overall." He pulls out the dormant magic staff and presented it to Albedo. "Go ahead, give it a good rub."

She cocked her brow at Lexicon, suspicious of his intentions. She left her gaze upon him and to the staff. Albedo took the staff from his hand, and ran her free hand over the staff, until she was interrupted by Lexicon,

"No, no, please, not like that! That will never work. You must remove your glove first, otherwise it won't react to you. It is important that physical contact is made without obstruction. I assure you!

"Wait, weren't you wearing gloves from before?" Albedo asked, suspicious.

"True, but my gloves are custom made. See?" Lexicon showed her the gloves he wore, and as he said, they weren't normal gloves. These gloves exposed the inner palm, and the tips of the gloves removed to let the fingers poke out.

"Hmph. Fine, then."

Albedo removed her right hand glove and rubbed the staff with her bare palm. Slow and steady she ran her hand up and down the smooth, solid object of power.

"Good, good. It's working, I can feel it. Try rubbing the tip, too. That will yield a greater "burst" of energy when you wield it two-handed. Trust me, you'll need both hands when it's at its most erect…" A small snicker escaped Lexicon's grin, but Albedo didn't notice.

"Very… well."

Albedo ran her hand up to the tip of the staff, and twirled her finger on the top. The scholar turned his head away, coughing and wheezing beneath his breath.

"Hehe- Ahem! Very good. Almost there. Now, really run your hands across the shaft. Make it work for you, Albedo!"

With haste, and a spark of joy, Albedo did as he instructed. She moved her hands up and down the red rod, each hand moved in opposite directions, and warmed the shaft of the staff. Lexicon couldn't hold his laughter in well enough to go unnoticed. He snickered, coughed, and laughed, with his head turned away as to avoid Albedo's gaze. Albedo looked at him with confusion, and then back to the staff. The truth dawned on her, and she was flushed with a bright red hue on her face.

"You disgusting pervert!" She threw the staff at him, but Lexicon ducked in time, while the staff bounced off the wall and clattered to the floor. He laughed loud enough to be heard down the hall, but breathed in and calmed down. He wiped his eyes of the tears from his fit.

"Oh, I just couldn't help it! The look on your face was priceless! But to be serious: the staff wouldn't work for you no matter what "stimulus" you applied to it. It is unusable for "evil" or "chaotic" aligned entities, such as yourself. It was quite humorous you have to admit!"

"Shut your mouth! I will not stand here and be humiliated by your lewd tricks, outsider. If you do such a thing again, I will make you sit on your own rod in front of everyone in this tomb! Keep your "stick" out of my sight. Clear?"

"Crystal. Before you go, would you like some tea before you leave? I'm told it helps after "rigorous" activities." The euphemism couldn't have been more obvious. Albedo grunted in disgust at him and left. The scholar closed his bedroom door and picked his staff up-off the floor.

"Well, that made up for the little room mix-up. As fun as it was to tease her, I can't forget her rank and influence. She's still dangerous, after all."

"Did you have your fun, insect?"

Lexicon looked looked up to his bedroom table, and saw Shalltear Bloodfallen in his chair next to it. She held a cup of hot tea, while the steam rose up from the liquid inside. The laughter and amusement within Lexicon died down, replaced with a calm but cautious disposition. He smiled to the vampire and bowed.

"Lady Bloodfallen. I didn't see you come in. I did have some fun with the Overseer, but I meant no ill will by it. How may I help you? That is to say within reason, of course."

"Don't be so coy, little flesh-bag." Shalltear hemmed as she set her tea down, "While I enjoy seeing Albedo being humiliated, never would I think a mere… human like you would be able to make a fool of herself. I'm almost impressed. Almost..."

"Well, I am quite the charming fellow." He winked at her, giving her an example. She wasn't very impressed. His witty disposition was but a defense mechanism to mask the caution he held tightly in his chest, while with the predator in the room.

"Watch yourself, walking-stick," Shalltear warned, her red eyes flashed with cold light, as if she had pinned her prey, "None of us have the time to listen to your witty remarks or your honey-filled words. We have rules and we follow them; and so will you. No questions asked."

She then played around with her tea cup, "If it weren't for Ainz-sama, you would've been dead. Consider yourself lucky, for this will be the last time I will be so… well, "nice" to you."

Lexicon cleared his throat and adjusted the collar of his shirt. "Aye. Understood, Lady Bloodfallen. I'll do my best to follow the rules and to keep to His will. I would not wish to anger you, or anyone else."

Shalltear smiled and stood up from her seat. The short Guardian walked up to Lexicon and extended her hand out to him. "Let us serve Lord Ainz as we should, then."

Lexicon smiled back, and took her hand. In an instant she twisted his wrist, forcing him to kneel. The pain inflicted on his arm forced him to yield to her will.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow! L-Lady Bloodfallen, that hurts!"

"Good. Consider this an emphasis of my point, and remember; if you even think of the idea of disobeying Ainz-sama's orders, then you will suffer! No excuses. Understood?"

"Y-Yes! I understand completely! Please don't break my arm, I really need that to write!"

"Good." She released him, and walked past Lexicon, opening the door to leave.

"Oh. One last thing: welcome to Nazarick, witty scholar!" She closed the door behind her. Lexicon knelt on the floor and rubbed his arm. His fortune stood strong, but he couldn't count on it forever. She could have torn his arm off, but didn't. He was still an unwanted stranger in the tomb, and would not forget that fact anytime soon, even with being "reminded" of it.

"Sigh. Tough crowd."

Lexicon was a guest of the Great Tomb, but he was not one whom could walk without restrictions through the floors. It was deemed necessary that he would be escorted by the maids that Ainz believed to be fit for the job; in this case the Pleiades battle maids. It was not decided yet where, or if, Lexicon would work in the confines of Nazarick, other than working as an adventurer, but in the meantime he could use a bell to call one of the maids assigned to him. His options were limited, but he was permitted to leave and explorer with their supervision. He rang the small golden bell and then heard a knock on the door. When opened, Yuri Alpha stood before him outside.

"Good afternoon, Lady Alpha. Will you be my escort?"

Yuri looked over at him, and bowed,

"I shall be your escort, Scholar-san. Where do you wish to go?"

"Hmmm. I wish to meet with your warrior master, Lord Cocytus. Is he available to converse with today?"

Yuri Alpha turned around a bit and raised her hand to her side of her head, staring seemingly at nothing, until she looked over at Lexicon.

"Follow me." She said, then turned around and walked to the direction where the sixth floor was.

Lexicon followed behind her to the 6th Floor Arena. When they arrived they saw Cocytus practicing his martial arts. He wielded four katakana in each hand, and practiced his swings with each one. It fascinated Lexicon to see how in-the-zone Cocytus was, until he was interrupted. Yuri Alpha stepped forward and bowed lower to the warrior in respect to his rank.

"Lord Cocytus," Yuri Alpha greeted, "I have brought you our guest."

Cocytus grunted, "Thank you, Yuri. You may go. I will call you again when my meeting with him is done."

Yuri nodded her head and headed off somewhere in the depths of the forest, no doubt nearby.

The scholar walked before the guardian and bowed with grace, "Greetings and salutations, Lord Cocytus. A pleasure to meet you again. How are you today, if I may inquire?"

Cocytus nodded his head, "I am doing fine. So I heard you're in need of my attention?"

"I wanted to speak with you on a matter that may be of interest to you, as well as I: Bushido. You learned it from a "Supreme Being", yes?"

"My creator placed his teachings within me." Cocytus replied, "He created me in the image he sees me as."

"Fascinating! If that is true, then it must mean he was one of your strongest fighters. But the fact that another being, other than Ainz, brought the ways of Bushido here to the New World is telling. Then the authenticity of the scrolls' I discovered must be genuine!" Lexicon's joyous smile grew from hearing Cocytus' answer, but Cocytus became curious.

"How in the world do you know of Bushido?" He asked, cold air hissing out him his mandibles, "I thought only my creator knew about the arts. If not, then was he here?"

The scholar felt the sudden urgency in the blue insect man, but didn't want to cause confusion. "Well, that depends: what does your master look like? I would be lying if I said I met him and knew, Lord Cocytus."

Cocytus looked down, "Unfortunately, my memories of my own creator are a bit hazy, I remember that he was quite tall, having horns and wearing armor as dark as night, with golden lines glowing in the light, with the blood of his enemies streaking through them."

"Well that was… specific. In that case, I have not come across such a being before in my travels. I am sorry. Maybe the scrolls I mentioned will cheer you up a little? I learned the ways and code of Bushido from them. At least, what could be written on them. There may be more to Bushido that I do not know, which I hope you will enlighten me in, being a devout follower of the samurai Code of Honor."

"Show me." Cocytus hissed, "Perhaps those scrolls may give me some answers I seek."

Lexicon pulled off his back-pack which he took with him everywhere he could, and fished out the scrolls. There were five in total, and each one he unfurled and laid out before Cocytus in a tight, neat order. The scrolls were actually intermediate instructions; beginner's' guides to Bushido. Each one written in traditional Kanji and depicted the correct stances and movements of martial art styles of samurai combat. There was also a list of the rules and code-of-conduct for pupils to follow while under the tutelage of a sensi.

"Here they are. I must say, I am quite intrigued by Bushido. I made sure to study every word, and every code, in case anything happened to the scrolls, gods forbid! What do you think?"

Cocytus grabbed the said scroll and read them thoroughly, "They have some things right…" his hissed, "but at the same time, no."

He studied the forms a bit and looked over to Lexicon, "I noted some of your forms from the scroll. I will be blunt, your form is terrible."

Lexicon pulled his head back in shock by how blunt and honest Cocytus' answer was to his fighting stances. He shook his head, "B-but I did as the scrolls instructed! I studied every form and every stance! That was so blunt of you, Lord Cocytus! Please, explain."

"First; your form is too stiff, and I will add that you move around too much." Cocytus replied, "Second, Bushido is different from chivalry. They are not the same, I will go so far and say."

"I see. Perhaps my studies in knighthood may have blended with the studies of the samurai? They have some similarities, or at least from my understanding. But I would not wish to have the two confused any longer. Please, if I may make a request of you, would you teach me the correct, and more detailed ways of Bushido, Lord Cocytus?"

"Very well…" Cocytus muttered, not really keen on teaching a guest about his own code. He had lizardmen to deal with too.

"Excellent!" Lexicon pulled out a red colored book from his backpack and a feather pen, along with an ink well. He sat down before Cocytus with his legs crossed, and looked eager to learn from the samurai. "I am ready."

"But not right now," Cocytus told him, "Patience is required."

"Oh… I see. I understand then, Lord Cocytus. I was too excited for that moment." Lexicon put his things back, and rolled up the scrolls too. He then stood back up and faced Cocytus once more. "I do have a few more questions, however; what was your master's name? How did he practice his bushido? Do you have armor like his, or one that is similar?"

Cocytus said nothing for a minute, "My creator's name...was Lord Warrior Takemikazuchi."

"Ah. A strong name indeed, Master Cocytus. I will etch the memory of his character and deeds within my memory for you. Well, I think that will be all for today. I will leave with Yuri Alpha to speak with Lord Demiurge. That is if you wish to ask me about anything?"

"No. I do not. Take your leave then, Scholar-san. Thank you."