As the guards approached and began to work the chain securing her to the pillar of defense, Neia shouted out, "Hear that? The wealthy escape justice, what meaning has their prohibition on healing by temples?! The wealthy can afford healing potions, or they can pay a spell caster of the guild, even if you beat them for some crime, here before all, they endure only a few minutes, why I wouldn't be surprised if they kept servants in the audience with potions ready for use! Yet you, you the people, no matter how minor your guilt, must endure and suffer to heal slowly, if ever at all, and bear your scars forever. If Puniti steals bread to stay alive, she must bear her pain and scars into her grave! But if that fat priest traded healing for sex, exploiting the desperation of the poorest of women, even if you did beat him severely, his pain would last only minutes and his body would be clean of marks of shame forever!"

Neia didn't resist as they attached a chain to her right wrist, or her left wrist. She walked with back straight, and she did not stay silent as they worked, "You think you do justice by having me beaten! HA! You think you serve the gods?! Then let the gods take up your whip and beat me themselves! Can they not?! What manner of god is it that cannot do anything themselves?!"

She looked around and walked peacefully between the two very uncomfortable men, "You are not protecting the gods, you are protecting yourselves from having others speak of the injustice that you do by your exploitation! Justice is more than blood and whips! Justice is the strength to act, and strength is not just about what you can do to others, it is about what you can TAKE for others! So I'll take this for my god, for my justice, and for my people, and the scars may be mine, but the BLIGHT is on YOU!" She said, her eyes turned to the priests and the noble, but as if afraid to meet her gaze, they moved away from the podiums and out of her view.

The audience was spellbound, and the guards did their work slowly, very slowly, when one of them stopped. "This isn't right." He said softly. He looked at the other guard beside her, who paused as he was running links through the hoop.

"What?" He asked.

"This isn't right." He said again, a little louder. "She didn't DO anything." As he spoke, a distance away, a man wearing a mask was testing inspecting a long whip.

"You don't have to hurt people to be punished." Neia said simply. "You just have to be critical of the people who deserve to be criticized, but who have the power to silence people, and as long as people just follow orders out of fear or gain, well that is all it takes for them to get away with it." She shrugged.

He didn't pick the chain back up. "Just do your job man." His colleague said, "The judge and jury made their decision, you've got orders, and its the law."

He tugged the chain tight, raising Neia's left arm

"And what if I don't?" He asked.

As Neia had been lead to the pillars of discipline, there had been ugly rumblings in the listeners among the audience about her sentence. Someone shouted, "Mercy!" Neia thought for sure she recognized the voice of Puniti, and she wryly thought that it was probably the first time that girl had ever raised her voice for anything, if her first impression meant anything.

"What do you mean, what if you don't?" The guard who had just secured her left arm said.

"I mean...what...if...I...fucking...DON'T?" His comrade at her right arm replied, "She did not DO anything, you know my father is still missing a hand because he couldn't afford to pay for it to be fixed, now he's living with me because he couldn't take care of the farm anymore. All she did was say that shit was wrong, and all she did was say what their rules are. How the fuck do I punish her for that? How the fuck am I supposed to face my father when I go home tonight eh?" He threw down the chain he was holding. "How is that conversation supposed to go? Yeah you know those temple rules that keep a painful stump at the end of your arm, those rules that cost us the family farm, today I helped have a woman whipped to the bone for saying that wasn't fair."

"Mercy!" Another voice went up.

It was one thing for a man to be indifferent to the pain of a stranger, but it was another to be casual about the pain of a well known colleague or a friend, and the guard who had just secured her left arm went quiet.

The guard at her right arm leaned forward and spoke in a rough high whisper, "What would those fat fucks do for you if you got hurt here? This is Neia Baraja, these chains are a joke, if even half the stories are true, she's powerful enough to be at least the same as a platinum ranked adventurer, I tried sparring over at the guild hall last week and got beaten by a gold rank, and you're no better than I am. If you got hurt, the most they'd do for you is give you a slight discount on healing, and if you got dead, they'd throw a quick funeral, forget about you, and find another bully boy replacement at the local tavern. She's chained because she let us chain her. She's here because she told the truth. C'mon man, this...isn't...right!"

The priests were calling for assistance, extra guards to maintain order, the judge had gotten out a fresh gavel and was beating it like he was trying to tenderize meat.

"Mercy! Mercy! Mercy! Mercy! Mercy!" The call got taken up, louder and louder, and the rough man at the left side stayed immobile for a moment, and then walked slowly in front of Neia, and she met his gaze, he searched her eyes as she searched his, she did not blink, she did not waver, she just whispered softly, "Whatever you do, is whoever you are. So...who...are...you?" She asked, and he thought long, and he thought hard, glancing over her shoulder, the audience had begun to raise their fists and not to far away, several of his fellow guards were doing the same, "Mercy...Mercy...Mercy!" He looked up at the various guard positions, arrows that had been pulled tight to pierce her flesh and run her through if she tried to escape, had gone from taut and ready to release, to relaxed, some had returned arrows to their quivers...it really was a beautiful day...

"Fuck it!" He shouted and threw his weapon down, and went to loose the chain that held her arm aloft, and as he struggled to undo the lock, a fresh group of guardsmen arrived with halberds out.

...In Nazarick...

Ainz looked over at Sebas, "Have shalltear open a gate, somewhat out of sight of their location, send the eight edge assassins through, I will reward Neia's faith in me. They are not to hurt anyone...yet. But let no blow strike Neia Baraja...or...I suppose she deserves it...the woman Puniti who spoke up for her."

"It will be done my lord." Sebas said.

...In the pavilion...

The fresh guards were considerable in number, and they were quick to surround the pavilion, the two at Neia's pillar were confronted, and even as they tried to argue, they were grabbed by four others and arrested, the others who had escorted her, those who had been found with raised hands, were similarly arrested and dragged away, and order was slowly restored. Neia stood still, and allowed the new ones to secure her arms so that they were raised over head and spread apart.

With the threat of violence imposing silence, there were no more shouts, but the whispered words "Mercy...Mercy...Mercy, fell from countless lips, loud enough that there was no one who could not hear it, even as no one voice could be called guilty of saying it. It was an eerie scene, and Neia stood still, back straight, and said loud enough for all to hear, "Into the hands of the god of justice, I commend myself!" She breathed deep, and looked up at the sky, the warmth of the sun came down on her, and she thought about what the rest of her people were up to, no doubt they had really fucked up the adventurer's guild's platinum ranks by now, and she wished she could be there to see them take on the mythril ranks. "Oh well, it can't be helped." She said to herself.

She heard the punishing sound of the lash being tested, she guessed this was standard procedure, to enhance the fear of the one to be whipped, but Neia felt no fear, compared to Jaldabaoth and the demihuman hordes, this was nothing.

Then it turned out that she was wrong, and silence fell, she heard the whistling of the whip, she waited for the crack, she waited for the blood, she waited for the inevitable scream to leap out of her throat, but it did not happen. Instead what she saw was, sliding across the stone past her feet, was several feet of the whip, severed in mid flight and having flown the rest of the way.

The man holding the whip pulled it back in, rolled it up, and looked dumbfounded at the broken portion. "Bring me another!" He shouted.

Another was swiftly brought to him, the whispered call for mercy came out from people's lips again, and the noble looked smugly satisfied, as did several priests, but no sooner than the test was done and the whip lashed out once more to score her back, than once again the whip was broken, this time close to her back, close enough that she could feel the slight push of air against her body.

The punishment officer behind her looked confused, and stepped forward by a foot, and as soon as the whip went forward, it broke again. His frustration began to mount, as each time he tried to hurt her, the whip only broke shorter, and whatever was cutting it, was coming closer and closer to where his hand held it. His frustration began to mount, and gradually became intimidation as inch by inch his failure came closer to paining him personally.

Neia laughed, sensing what was happening. Her god, her one true King, had heard her cry. "Perhaps if your gods could hold the whips themselves, you'd have more luck! My god protects me, can you say the same!" Her laugh hit like bricks on glass. The whip was now down to half it's former length, and though they could not see what was happening, the eight edge assassins had begun to make a game out of who could take the smallest piece out of the whip, while still protecting their charge, and though no others could see, they added beautiful acrobatics as they took turns frustrating the human fool, awarding each other points for style and flare in how they conducted their task.

"GAH! Bring out two more punishment officers!" The noble judge shouted, and a messenger rushed off, and two more came out, gave their colleague a replacement, and they resumed their positions.

...In Nazarick...

"They are persistent in their foolishness." Ainz said in an almost complimentary manner. "Very well. Eight edge assassins...redirect the occasional blow to strike a priest, or that pesky noble fool, but do not harm anyone else." He said through a message.

This added a new layer to the game, and the eight edge assassins took to it with vigor, they had begun turning it into a game of horse, where each successive assassin had to do with a whip what his predecessor had done, and that was how the nobleman lost his right eye, when a whip from one of the punishment officers was driven wide, and hit the fool square in the pupil. He screamed like a beaten child, collapsing to his knees and clutching his face.

"Evil will, shall evil mar." Neia said, repeating a phrase she had learned in the library of Ashurbanipal.

"If you were being just, I would be allowed to suffer the consequences. But you are unjust, so my god protects me! You will hurt yourselves worse and worse, the worse the deeds you do in his sight!" She shouted. "Gag her!" A priest shouted, and the punishment officers stopped, and one approached her.

...In Nazarick...

Ainz saw the fool approach. "He must be on the slow side." He said, and targeted him. "Brave enough to gag a bound girl, brave enough to beat a woman in chains, lets see if their courage holds after this." He said and targeted the man, "Grasp heart." He squeezed, and the man fell in mid-step, he crashed to his knees and fell forward.

...In the pavilion...

The crowd began to shout, the priests froze, the punishment officers dropped their whips.

"The god of justice protects the just who act in his name!" She shouted. "I told you, I am no blasphemer, you are!" Neia shouted. "Now...let...me...go." She snapped.

The judge had gone white as a clean sheep's wool, and he called the priestly juror's together to confer. The crowd's chant had gotten louder and more bold, and numbers of them were on their feet, the guards who had taken over were getting nervous, shifting their grip on their weapons.

After a short and hushed exchange, the judge returned to his podium and called for order the chanting briefly stopped and he said, "Due to the unfortunate passing of one of our number, and the ineptitude of of his colleagues, it has been decided that as a show of contrition and mercy by the grace of the gods, we will dismiss the charges against Neia Baraja."

"So they're blaming others and chalking the death of the one man up to a simple case of unfortunate timing. I may be a bad boss, but they're terrible bosses." Ainz said to himself.

One of the guards approached the pillars and undid the chains, allowing Neia's arms to fall freely, the audience cheered her release.

...In Nazarick...

Ainz quickly messaged the eight edge assassins. "Find where they've taken the guards who were arrested, when you've found their location, notify Shalltear and have her open a gate for them, bring those men to my throne room, I would have words with them, and also, the priests, judge, and remaining punishment officers, monitor their activity, when they return to their homes, make them disappear, Demiurge will need new test subjects." He said, using the kingly tone he'd practiced in front of the mirror every night, "Well done my assassins, you have served Nazarick admirably today."

"We live to serve." They said in unison, and went to carry out their mission.

The priests did not linger long, and nor did the judge, and wisely enough, neither did those who had tried to beat her and still retained their lives.

Neia however, showed no interest in them, she had another aim, the winning of the crowd, and she set about it eagerly, moving amongst their number, speaking with people...with her visor back on...and shaking hands, preaching the glory of the Sorcerer King and promoting the views of Black Justice, especially their views on the obligation to heal without cost, this found a ready audience more than any other message, and it was hours before she broke away.

When she did, she returned to the adventurer's guild and found that the adventurers and black justice members had gone from a contest of arms, to a contest of drinks, with the area normally used for combat training, having had tables laid out, and people of both sides slumped over at most of them, including, with no surprise to Neia...CZ, who she now knew could not hold her liquor. Skana was sitting with her, still going strong, with a series of mugs stacked in a pyramid in front of her, and a stack almost as high in front of an adventurer wearing a mythril plate.

Neia looked the figure over, he was a red haired man with a thick beard and a broad chest, he wore mythril armor colored green, with numerous symbols decorating it, he had a great big two handed ax leaning beside him and green eyes that gave away a mirthful spirit, he leaned back contentedly and waved politely to Neia as she came closer.

Skana grinned drunkenly and raised her mug, "Looks like you got it settled, nicely done, whatever it was." She said laughing, "Looks like CZ was right, I'll have to tell her after her intoxication protocol is off."

"Her...what?" Neia asked.

Skana laughed, "Oh, she was telling me about it awhile ago, it seems the Sorcerer King told her to experience things the way you did, so she activated something called an 'intoxication protocol' that let her experience getting drunk...and it turns out it doesn't give her much tolerance for the stuff, but it does let her enjoy it."

Neia rolled her eyes, "Somehow I am not surprised." She chuckled and touched CZ's shoulder, "Can she do something about this herself, or...is she stuck like this?" Neia asked.

"She can turn it off any time she wants, but...she doesn't want to." Skana said with a giggle.

"So...we carried her back to the hotel for no reason at all?" Neia said with her mouth open in surprise.

"Yup." Skana said, and downed the rest of her mug, then placed it atop the others.

"Cute." CZ said, and got out a sticker which she promptly affixed to Neia's cheek...and then to the mythril plate adventurer's. He blushed red as his fire red beard, and poured another for himself after stacking his mug with the rest of them, and then he filled Skana's mug, and handed it back to her.

"To full mugs." Skana said.

"May they never empty for longer than it takes to fill them!" He said, and they slapped the mugs together and resumed drinking.

Neia had the distinct sensation they'd said that phrase more than a few times, and mentally rolled her eyes. "You go ahead and have fun here then, you can tell me about your contests tomorrow, I'll be in my room tonight, join me if you like, I'm fairly tired, that was exhausting." She said, and Skana gave her a mischievous grin and said simply, "Oh I like." And then she laughed teasingly, drawing a similar laugh from Neia before she walked away.

It wasn't long before she returned to the hotel and sought out Tinamoc. As she relayed the events to him, he listened intently and silently, when she was done he said, "So...you've made some friends today, haven't you?" His voice was so sarcastic that she couldn't have missed his meaning if she'd wanted to.

"I suppose so." She replied with a shrug.

"They'll connect you to my mission soon enough, but what that will mean, I don't know, priests are powerful here, really powerful, they will respond, and to succeed here means we can't just start killing everyone who gets in the way. This isn't Prart, even the most hypocritical priest, isn't going to be nearly as corrupt and debauched, you're not going to do the same thing twice. I don't object to you trying to spread these ideals, hell I've come to share them, but please just exercise some discretion." He replied.

"I will." She said, "At least as much as they allow me to, remember I didn't seek that out...well...this time, they did that."

"That was stupid of them." He said.

"Yes it was." Neia replied.

"I doubt they'll be that stupid twice." He said.

"Never underestimate the persistence of stupidity." Neia answered.

Tinamoc sighed. "I suppose not. Well goodnight then, I'm going to go over my books for today's work, plan on leaving day after tomorrow early in the morning."

Neia stood up and shook his hand, "Good night then. Shall I meet you for breakfast tomorrow?" She asked.

"No, you can sleep in, I shouldn't need anything, but if I do, I'll send someone for you." He said in answer.

Neia walked out of his room with a polite wave, and then went to her own room, she sat down on the bed, and then she began to shake and tremble like a leaf in a breeze, the tension of the events might not seemed to have gotten to her, but nonetheless, she felt it, she imagined the whip tearing into her skin, she knew what those could do, she pictured it slicing off bits and pieces of skin, dripping blood at her feet as she hung from her chains, she hugged herself tightly and rocked back and forth, and tears of stress ran down her cheeks as she thought about just how narrow a thing that had been, now that she was alone, she allowed herself to feel it all, and it rushed through her like a river in flood, overflowing its banks, she felt like the emotion might drown her, and she forced herself to at least remove her clothing before moving under the covers of her bed, the shaking of her fingers was such that it took several minutes just to undo her boots, making her anxiety that much worse until she could finally kick them off. When she was under the covers, she pulled them all the way over her head as if to hide from the world, and she shut her eyes tight so that not even the fading light of the setting Sun could touch her, and the world was closed away as she embraced the safety of the darkness.

When she heard Skana enter the room, she said nothing and pretended to be asleep, she didn't want to talk, and luckily, she didn't have to. Skana seemed to have believed her to be slumbering, and when she got into bed beside her, she simply lay her arm over Neia in a half embrace, and went to sleep with her. Neia felt the comforting warmth of another person, and held back her welling tears again until she was sure Skana was deep in slumber. Only then did she let them quietly run out, with only the warmth of touch providing comfort, but it was enough that eventually she really did fall deep into a blessedly dreamless sleep.

AN: I know, this one is kind of short, I'd planned to make it a little longer, but it depends on two factors...first...how much free time I have when I get going, and second...where is a good cutting off point. I might be able to keep it going to detail what happens in the throne room when Ainz meets the guards he had taken, or the reaction of the priests and punishment officers and so on when they face the judgement of Nazarick, but I think those are points that are just as good to kick things off as they are places to end, so I'll use them to start the next chapter instead of ending this one with them. Thanks in advance for any reviews, even the occasional bad one offers insight, so I want your honest feedback, and if you just happened to like it (or hate it) and that is all you want to say, without any notes, well fuck it, do that if that is what you want, either way, I appreciate that people take the time to add things. On an unrelated note, if you're not quite understanding Neia's delayed reaction to all the stress, count yourself lucky. That is a real phenomenon, the ancient Greeks called it 'fear shedding' a person's adrenaline and their courage can sustain them throughout a high stress situation, such as being under enemy fire or under some severe threat, but afterwards, when its over, the body has to deal with the fallout, emotionally and physically. I've seen it happen to people who were under severe stress during promotion boards, or faced off against a bully, or after enemy engagements in combat, it always looks pretty much the same, and I think I've done it justice here...though I did stretch it out to cover more time before it hits, than it usually takes.

Thanks again for reading, and expect another chapter soon. I don't by the way, expect to use that 'back and forth' jump from location to location often, I tried to write that scene from Nazarick and the Pavilion in different ways, but the only pacing method that worked to convey the whole scene seemed to be to literally frog back and forth to keep the pace up. If you didn't quite like that part, well to be honest, I don't like that method either, though it worked well enough, if you'd like to rewrite that section yourself and do a better job than I did, I'll replace my version with yours and give you credit at the end of the story in the author notes section here.

Also...I haven't recommended anyone in a few days, and with that in mind, Godsfall has put up another chapter (fucking finally) and its latest one is on point, give it a read if you haven't already.