SCENE III: VENGEANCE


CHAPTER I: GUARDIAN


Her name was Tsarra Shabella, a high elf maiden from Alfheim who was given up by her family to have her spirit interred into Compliance with Law. It was considered a position of pride that she was pure enough of spirit to be given this chance, a chance that she accepted without hesitation. She soon learned of the horror of spending years in slumber, only awakening when called upon and stuck in a constant state of limbo until she awoke again. Though she appeared calm and serene, she openly admitted that she was happy that the family that forsake her and the realm that allowed her suffering was non-existent now.

The new ring composed of the metal and gems of Compliance of Law, which I called Lawbreaker, was able to not only hold her essence but allow her to manifest into a physical form of magic but only within a short range of the ring. It made me feel like I failed and consigned her to another prison instead of knowing the peace of death and its freedom that she wanted. She didn't agree in the slightest, calling me her master and vowing to stay by my side no matter what. I made sure to correct her by saying that she had free will and once I found a way to give her freedom from the ring, she could choose what she wanted for herself.

Out of all the things Lord Ainz was expecting to happen on my return from the Treasury, seeing me carried through a Gate by an ancient elf spirit was far from it. Defiance had compromised my health in order to save her and left me half dead but a tense hour at the Gigantic Tree in a comfy bed was all it took to remove the healing debuff and allow Heroic Recovery to fix the damage done to myself. As soon as I awoke, Aura slapped me hard across the face, leaving a bruise for breaking my promise and becoming critically injured again. She didn't stay mad for long, however, her concern for my well being taking over as she and Mare cried their eyes out in my arms. It was the first time I promised them that no matter how injured I got or how bad the situation became, I would always find a way home.

Lady Chagama wasn't so forgiving, openly shouting at me for making her and her children worry so much about my well being and my state of mind. She made me swear that I would bring them along next time I decided to do something incredibly stupid, something I didn't agree with at first but given her fury, I had no choice in the matter. It made me feel relieved to have so many people care if I lived or died but it was followed by sadness for a family I already lost, slain by my own hands. I didn't know if Lady Chagama knew about how I felt so I told her but it was unnecessary because she already knew my memories, including the horrors.

Tsarra made the situation much worse by using this time to express her undying love for me and her willingness to stay by my side forever, something that enraged Mare and Aura at the audacity and boldness of her claim. Lady Chagama had asked in a pleasant voice ripe with threat why she decided now would be a good time to say such a thing, especially in front of her children who are married to me. Her answer was calm and precise, a simple statement that since we were all being honest, it made sense for her to be honest as well. From the memories unwillingly placed into my head by the ring, it's no real surprise to me that she had little to no sense of timing because her life had been one of privilege before, every word spoken freely and without reservation. All eyes turned on me to make a decision, the three dark elves all glaring with only Tsarra smiling pleasantly. I didn't know how it would work out so I decided to ask them for more time to think about it and added that we had more pressing issues.

The Sorcerer Kingdom hadn't stopped being in danger in our absence.


The large gate to our castle felt new to me yet I'd only just seen it yesterday. As Lady Chagama intone the magic to open it, I questioned to myself how I could have some days that passed by in a blur of compressed horror and other days that seemed to drag on with nothing eventful to speak of. "Your mind is wandering, Beric," Tsarra states from my left, my head first looking at Aura who smiles at me and gestures upwards with her head. I do as she suggests and looks up to see Tsarra floating through the air above her head, her long hair and dress moving in a breeze that didn't exist physically. "Does something trouble you?" she asks politely with concern, my head shaking no as I turn back forward to watch the gate open fully.

The other knights are already moving towards the gate as soon as they heard it start opening, familiar faces both excited and questioning. Bormu and Rassah reach us first and have pride of place to ask their questions. "Do we need to have a meeting about changes everytime you decide to leave? Who's the spirit?" Bormu asks casually, my face smiling awkwardly at her question as I try to think of a coherent response. "My name is Tsarra Shabella, former daughter of Olaurae Shabella and Kaylin Shabella, nobles of the land of Alfheim," Tsarra responds politely for me but judging from the confusion on the faces of the two adventurers, I can see that they don't know what that means. "It's a long explanation and we'll do multiple business items at once. Let's go to the map room," I state as I start walking forward, Aura and Mare flanking me a little too readily as Bormu and Rassah move aside then follow behind.

Krat joins us as we move through the courtyard, his grim demeanour and rough exterior restored with rest as he nods to me. "A new high elf slave for you to bring along? You aren't a typical knight, are you?" Sharlot taunts from his back as he takes his place with the Valkyries behind me, my face frowning at such hostile words spoken so casually. "She isn't a slave, she's a spirit from another land now lost to us. Let's not be overly hostile to new faces," I explain sternly but Sharlot only chuckles at my command. "She's bound to a ring on your finger. How is she not a slave that you can indulge every whim upon? One sentience can know another like breathing and-"

"Enough," I snap at her, Sharlot laughing again as I groan in frustration. I want to say more but know that I need to wait until we got to the map room so that everyone could hear it. The tension among the dark elves and Tsarra starts to resurface from earlier but I stare at each one involved, beating down any resistance from them with a harsh glare. I don't know why I bothered because Aura smiles back at me with defiance and Mare follows where Aura leads. I won't bring that up again.

As we cross the bridge to the main castle buildings, I notice the Murktalons Oliver and Sasha sparring nearby in hand to hand combat. Sasha clearly has the advantage, the more lithe Oliver not able to evade the aggressive grapples and tosses of Sasha. With us watching, Sasha rushes forward and slams her left shoulder into his stomach as he attempts to evade, his evasion too slow as he has the wind driven out of him. She pushes him a good few steps before shoving forward, his body impacting the ground hard as she rolls her shoulders and stands idly over him. Her tone is filled with amusement as she states to him, "C'mon, Oliver. Has being a prisoner made you this careless? You never used to be this slow."

"Hey, we just regained our mobility a few days ago! It's not like I can just spring back like you do!" he retorts in frustration as he moves to his feet but Sasha moves forward suddenly and uses a hand to shove him back onto the ground. Oliver groans in frustration as Sasha chuckles dryly. "The exercise is still in effect. Don't expect me to go easy on you."

"Raincheck. Boss man's here," he says suddenly as he moves to his feet rapidly, Sasha turning her head with an amused grin before her grin drops and she turns towards us to stand at attention. Both of them stand shoulder to shoulder and puff out their chests proudly but I tell them to follow us and move towards the stone stairs upwards, the group moving past as they follow. "So who's the spirit? She's really pretty-"

"Oliver, be careful," Sasha growls at him, Oliver mumbling a low apology as he keeps his curiosity in check for now. We climb the first flight of stairs when we meet up with the two remaining Murktalons that I don't know by name, a small woman in dark robes that concealed her face behind a heavy hood and a scarred, tanned skinned wild woman who seemed to ripple with muscle and exposed a little too much skin to the open. With a wide grin, the tough woman pulls the hood roughly off the other, revealing pale skin and short, black hair on an embarrassed face. "Liara! Don't do that!" she whimpers as she puts the hood back on, the other woman laughing as she slaps her hard on the back, nearly knocking her over. "And hide such a pretty face!? Why would I not do that!?" she jokes before turning to and staring at me in particular.

She doesn't say anything and we keep moving, her eyes and face tracking me as she waits for us to pass and joins the others. "So when are you and Oliver getting together?" I hear the woman say loudly from behind me, no response forthcoming as we keep climbing the stairs. "Fine but if you don't take him for yourself, I will, Sasha. Remember that," she elaborates in a challenge but no response is her answer still.

I start wondering what kind of army we're creating as I open the wooden doors to the map room.


Our first order of business is to update the map, slight pride in my movements when I remove one of the markers as our first official victory as the Knights of the Sorcerer Kingdom. The pride is tempered by Lady Chagama updating me on new incursions, the map around E-Rantel once again filled with hotspots that the Adventurer's Guild was losing members. Though the casualties are light still, the numbers are growing to alarming levels. "As you can see, our situation is very dire," I state to the room as I turn around, all eyes now fixed on me with grim expressions as I continue. "E-Rantel is surrounded by monster dens to the point of isolating the city entirely. Lady Chagama has updated me with commerce reports to the Adventurer's Guild as well. Trading caravans and merchants are being lost along with their escorts along the roads at a higher rate than normal. This is a crisis, plain and simple-"

"If it was so simple, we wouldn't be here talking about it," Liara states from her seat, my head nodding as I understand what she means. "Right. This is a crisis that we need to resolve. Research is being done to counter the means that these dens are created but that will take time. Now, this next part will be...enraging...but I ask that you all remain calm." All eyes turn on me in confusion as I exhale lightly, hoping that they'll understand what I need to say. "Until the research is completed, I want to focus our efforts on the defence of E-Rantel in case of attack and improving our skills-"

"Wait, we're just backing off from the challenge!?" Sasha interrupts in outrage, my head turning to her as she leans back and folds her arms in an attempt to calm down. I wait patiently for other outbursts but no more come and I continue the briefing. "We don't know what we're facing but from the hard fight we just had, we can't afford to attack every nest head on. If each nest puts up the same resistance as the first we fought, we'll be ground down to nothing and whoever is pulling strings will simply replace their losses."

The sentiment is grim and spoken grimly but no one refutes it, my head nodding once at their silence. "It's better to observe and see what their ultimate plan is and how far it will go. If they do intend to attack E-Rantel eventually, we must be ready for it. Once we find out what we're dealing with, there will be plenty of fighting ahead." I didn't like the plan either and shared their disbelief but I really don't have a choice. If I decided to attack with the knights instead of defending, the scenario I described would be a certainty and worse, the people of E-Rantel would pay the price for our failure.

"I know this magic..." Tsarra states to me idly, my head turning to my left in surprise to see her materialize into a solid form of white energy. She chose to stand on the ground instead of float, her calm and serenity now tempered by determination. "I've seen through your memories what you speak of. They're called úan brith...Monster Stones. It's an ancient weapon that the dwarves once used during their war with Alfheim."

She shares her mind with me as she speaks, my eyes closing as I'm forced to watch images of terrible bloodshed, dwarves and elves dying in droves for an unknown purpose. Among them are terrible figures, shadows in the background that orchestrated the entire war on a whim for their own amusement. One such being gifted a dwarf with knowledge and with that knowledge, he creates the first Monster Stones, unleashing hordes of artificial life to overwhelm the elves. In desperation, the elves cried out for some way to resist and were answered by the same being, the same knowledge now in the hands of the elves as they created Monster Stones of their own. One thought started to overwrite the sounds and the sights of mayhem, my mind now comfortable with the idea of having Lord TouchMe guide me with his memories.

The World Championship stopped the Proxy War...but the knowledge remained.

My eyes gently open as the memories recede and give me a strange clarity that I didn't possess before. "The knowledge of Yggdrasil...someone from that world brought the knowledge of Monster Stones to this land and is using it now against us. Tsarra, do you know how to stop it?" I ask her but she shakes her head no and sighs sadly while dipping her head. "I was the daughter of a noble groomed to be sacrificed. I have little knowledge of such things as artisanship and jewellery. I'm...sorry that I can't assist you further-"

My left-hand reaches out and takes her right, her hand warm to the touch and granting me a sense of peace as she looks up at me. "You did fine and this will help us. Thank you," I say politely as she smiles at me, my head already turning to Lady Chagama and my sense of peace quickly evaporating. "You have memories of Yggdrasil, Lady Chagama. Do you remember the Proxy War?"

"I participated in it along with the rest of Ainz Ooal Gown," she starts to explain, Aura and Mare looking at her in confusion as she sighs sadly. "It was before we secured Nazarick, before Aura and Mare were created. The supreme beings had unearthed knowledge about how to artificially create dungeons through item use and tried to hide it but it got out. Naturally, it was heavily misused and culminated in the Proxy War, a war of infinite armies that devestated much of the realms of Yggdrassil-"

"-And resulting in the gods themselves creating the World Championship among the nine realms...as a means to compensate for the complete removal of such power," I finish, the memories of Lord TouchMe trying to exert themselves but my mind shutting them out for the time being. "But the gods aren't all seeing and all knowing and some of the knowledge remained in the hands of the supreme beings, though guarded jealously and used sparingly...that's what in the Arena, isn't it?" Aura and Mare look at the table and sadden, their reaction giving me my answer as Aura tries to explain. "We never asked what it was that Lody Chagama placed in the Arena...but it isn't the same type of knowledge-"

"I'll go talk with Lord Ainz and tell him what we've discovered once we're done," Lady Chagama states in interruption, my head nodding as I ask her to do so now. She obeys strangely enough, opening a Gate and entering it slowly and reluctantly as I try to turn my focus back to the situation at hand.

Yggdrasil truly does poison all it touches...but it's our duty to make it right.