Hostis Humani Generis
A/N: I'm lost in Ice Skater Hell right now, so I should probably leave this off, but I really wanted to update Hostis Humani Generis here.
The thing about fics like this, is that you have no idea how they ever advance.
– LLS
XXIV: Backstays
In the middle of the room was a big drawing board. A roll of parchment lay atop it.
Before it stood a skeleton of... something that looked like a hybrid between a human and an animal. It was not big – perhaps one-and-one-half metres tall. It had two horns resembling those of a devil coming out from its skull, its hands each ended in four fingers, and its feet were hoofed. This strange figure was robed in a saffron-coloured himation, with another himation wrapped around its horns like a hood, and a third shrouded its waist as well. Bracelets hung around it like a particularly macabre jewellery stand; a silver bracelet embedded with seven different-coloured gems, a necklace with a golden ankh, various rings that looked like twisted fingers, and gems hung around his belt – all magical items with considerable mana stored inside them. Despite being festooned with considerably more baubles than the Elder Liches, this was a Skeleton Mage – a step below the Elder Liches in the Undead hierarchy.
Yet, this was the Chief Librarian of Ashurbanipal, Titus Annaeus Secundus. It was an NPC created by a Supreme Being for crafting rather than combat. Its overall levels were also higher than the Elder Lich from before – which was why it commanded respect from Librarian J as the Elder Lich entered the room.
"Chief Librarian, I would have attention from you."
The Chief Librarian put down his bony hands on the drawing board, having been about to cast magics as a test. "I am listening."
"Sycorax-sama awaits your presence in the Green Room."
"...!"
An Undead did not feel the same way as normal creatures. Yet, any sentient creature would be alarmed if told that their boss had been waiting for a long while. "Why hast thou neglected to summon me 'til now? Even a 「Message」 would suffice!"
"My apologies, Chief Librarian. She asked to be shown around, and casting a 「Message」 before such an exalted personage is... unseemly."
"I have been entrusted this mission by the Overlord Ainz-sama! This would-!"
Titus hurried out immediately, hurrying through the Grand Library of Ashurbanipal. Much of the staff turned as he passed them.
He entered a room that was not only tastefully decorated with tones of pastel green, much like the rooms of European aristocracy, but also boasting of more bookshelves of overbearing knowledge.
There, the woman that sat in the room's main chair dominated with her presence.
Her head was bared indoors, leaving her long white hair to whip around her head, like a mass of snakes or several living albescent shadows. Her right eye shone in the dimness in her face – regular in feature and strong. Her left eye was covered by a silver eye-patch. She wore a knee-length dress of pearl-grey silk with lace hemming, under a black bolero jacket with a belt. Her torso disappeared into a six-metre length of serpentine coils under her.
She seemed like any other Nagini, but Titus could immediately identify that her hair was that of the Gorgons, and the pearlescent colour of her scales boasted of her power as queen of the serpents and serpent-folk – an immortal Nagarani.
By decree of Ainz Ooal Gown, the only other Supreme Being currently in residence.
Titus fell to his knees in a kowtow. "This lowly Skeleton Mage Titus Annaeus Secundus pays his respects to the Supreme Being of Lady Sycorax, and begs forgiveness for his lateness. 'Twas I who, occupied with the creation of scrolls for the sake of the great Overlord, neglected the time of Milady's appointment."
"It is fine. Get up. I took the time to settle my correspondence," Sycorax sighed, folding up a letter in her hand as she rose in greeting. "My heir has managed to get himself into legal trouble. Such is the life of a pirate – adventure in the face of law and custom. He will extricate himself, but his tale of weal and woe is entertaining while I waited."
Her head tilted. "Was it fun, to craft scrolls?"
"To answer Milady, the creation of scrolls for the purposes of the Supreme Beings is my reason for existence." Titus stood, straightening his robes. "I have been told that milady is interested in the workings of our Grand Library. Milady's map of the Nine Worlds is a great treasure within our walls. To have left Milady waiting is a horrible shame which I must atone for-"
"Oh, they bought our maps," Sycorax hummed. "The nature of Nazarick's experiments is not unknown to me. Your subordinate took the time to show me around – which is very polite of him."
"Yes, Milady."
"I am curious to know about the experiments conducted so far," Sycorax motioned to the side, where Titus noted one of the Homunculi Maids stationed with a tea set and snacks – a bowl of multicoloured jellies mixed with slices of fresh fruit. "Which is why I have prepared to stay here to listen. Unless, that information is restricted...?"
"Not at all. The Overlord Ainz-sama has indeed mandated to inform Milady of our ongoings," Titus bowed. "It will indeed be a long while, and I will provide notes."
"Excuse me." Sycorax conjured a gathering of papers and a pen that stood itself upright as she laid it out on a small table. "Forgive my use of a Self-Writing Pen. Now, please, begin."
"Such a great convenience," the Chief Librarian marvelled. "Ah, I have tested the use of various parchments..."
Sycorax was alone in her suite, having sent off Lumière to get her lunch.
She glared down at one list of her gathering of notes. It was topped with 'ten-year-old child'. "Nazarick uses humans in its experiments."
She took a deep breath, exhaling slowly through her nose after pronouncing that sentence, like it would make the truth easier for her humanised mind to stomach. Her first reaction was to demand answers, but her mind, educated and honed through long years on human battlefields and more in the halls of teaching war history, chose to prevail.
Even if she had chosen to play the dumb captain on an adventure, she was still a soldier.
"Livestock," she hissed to herself, before raising her voice: "Nereus?"
"Aye, Admiral?"
"What is your impression of the word 'livestock'?" She looked at the dark-haired man. In a different light, the horizontal pupils of his original aquatic ungulate form could not be hidden.
"Domesticated animals raised to produce food, fibre, and labour."
"How do you define an animal?"
"A living thing." When she shot him a look, he raised his hands. "Well, I eat... a lot of things."
"I am aware, Nereus. Your diet is wide and varied." Including humans, she wryly noted in her thoughts.
"How may I assist you in your troubles, Admiral?"
"No, I am... thinking." Aloud, she continued, "about the nature of morality and the notion of ruling by the sword."
Nereus considered her words. "This is a world where the strong prevail and the weak are eaten. Do you... disbelieve so, Admiral?"
"Natural selection states that 'organisms possessing properties that are better suited for survival in the environment tend to pass on their genes more often than ones that are less fit for the environment'," Sycorax recited. "It is not necessarily the strongest or most ruthless who are the fittest, but it can be, and often are, those who can band together for mutual benefit. Rán's Net is your archetypal example – people of the sea cannot eke a living from plunder without the custom of landlubbers."
Nereus accepted her words with a nod. "The problem isn't that they're crippling the young, but that we're on a continent filled with three human-oriented powers who advocate for human supremacy."
Sycorax noted that Nereus didn't actually mention the torture.
Why would he, she reflected. YGGDRASIL was a world in which players and NPCs regularly fought it out in increasingly gory and terrible ways. The nature of anonymity was an experiment of the Ring of Gyges allegory – no incentive to behave if there was no cost to misbehaving.
This was a world where the conquest of monsters was highly possible, if not plausible...
"This is perfect for a salaryman," Sycorax complained under her breath as she looked through more letters. "Bill, bill- better stop by E-Rantel, put in a public link to me-" she stopped, reading one letter from Ariel, and then rubbed her sole functioning eye.
"Nereus, come here and read this for me. My eye seems to be faulty."
Quickly, to save her from her monocular disposition, Nereus duly read aloud: "'To the Fleet Admiral. We hope that this letter finds you well. For the purposes of the maiden sortie in this world, we respectfully request permission of requisition for Rear-Admiral OTP is Canon's equipments, specifically-' "
"Stop."
When Nereus fell silent, Sycorax put her face in her hands. "Those things are still around?!"
Nereus blinked. "Requisition of Divine-class equipment, especially those of the Admiralty's personal vaults, would need special permissions not just from Nagato, but also from the Admiralty. Ariel did everything according to protocol."
"Nereus, you've worn the horrors. You've seen Canon-chan wear the horrors." Sycorax got her face out of her hands. "I cannot, in good conscience, let even- I mean, Momonga-san, near those horrors. His emotional suppression would not survive."
Fangirls were all very well and good, Sycorax admitted to herself, but not when one of them were so over-insistent of the identity. The guild's chief Artificer made excellent goods with Checky, Sycorax could admit, but Ainz Ooal Gown had rejected the player who skated professionally and called herself 'OTP is Canon' online for a reason.
"Love Wins alone would lose half its effectiveness without its set," Nereus innocuously commented. Rather, Sycorax uncharitably thought that Nereus was advocating for someone to wear the Divine-class monstrosity that would fail most sanity checks.
"Fine," Sycorax groaned, for lack of reason to object and actual necessity, signing off the requisition permissions for Love Wins and Victory to be sent via messenger crow later. "Right, new things..."
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