Chapter 50: In Her Own Words

...Menowa...

Nobody picked up the hood that had been thrown away in disgust by Albedo. It sat, neglected and gratefully forgotten. Neia, Mu'Ulm, & Mu'Bin sat with Albedo and Pandora's Actor until they were left all alone.

"I'm due back in Kirakira prison." Mu'Ulm said, breaking the ice, "But can I go back... like this? I want them to see me in this gear, because it's the only way they'll ever believe it." His brute voice suddenly boyish as he spoke, he laughed, "And if I'm being honest, I don't want to let it go."

"Serve my faith loyally, and if you are released from prison, if you swear to use it for the will of my god, you will bear the finest arms my temples can provide you." Neia said proudly as she thrust out her chained wrists to take the behemoth's hand in hers and shake it firmly.

"I am your minotaur, you did what I thought couldn't be done, whether you're around or not, I won't forget that, Angel of Kiril." Mu'Ulm replied with a nobility that not long ago, he'd forgotten he ever had.

"She will survive." Albedo said crisply, as if to command the wish to be reality.

"I hope so, mother." Neia said comfortably.

"It will be so, ja." Pandora's Actor added as he patted Neia's back.

"I hate to ask this but... can I ask for one of those [Gate] things to send me back to my unit? It's a bit of a long walk." Mu'Bin scratched under his jaw uncomfortably.

"Ja, mein guter minotaur." Pandora's Actor said, and a few moments later, the [Gate] opened.

Mu'Bin looked down at the two, "Thank you, and General Baraja... I doubt very much we'll meet again, but I'll not forget what you did, or what it means. I hope you survive, make it home, and live peacefully for the rest of your days." Mu'Bin said, and reached out and shook her hand in turn.

Neia smiled up at him, "Thank you, I think you're right, we won't meet again, one way or another but... one day soon, it may be that the Baraja children ride East, with a grown minotaur girl as one of them, and they will know your name when they do. Look for them, and when they come, the Devor Empire will begin to see its end."

"Is that a prophecy?" Albedo asked curiously.

Neia shook her head, "Just a prediction really. I know who I am, who my wife is, and what we will teach our children. Even if I don't live, my wife will ensure our legacy, and I will not forget what the Devor are."

Mu'Bin bowed his head, "I will look to the west every day, until I meet them." He then turned, and stepped through the gate where he vanished.

...Nazarick...

Ainz stood still as a statue. "Ragnarok... she said it... she said Ragnarok..." He wished he could still swallow. His emotional inhibitor went wildly into overdrive.

He thought back to the heydays of Yggdrasil, the last big event of the company. How every single guild on their server had come together, and even the 'gods' in the form of shitty devs had descended in their own avatars, to fight a single titanic clash in the battle of Norse mythology where the NPC world enemies like Loki had armies of monsters that spawned endlessly until the world enemies were defeated. "Something like that... here? I feared it... but to hear it from a prophet is very different."

Ainz paced the floor in front of his mirror of Remote Viewing. "I need to know more, and I need to prepare more. To face off against that... I need the world at my back, and I need more power. Even as a god..."

His eyes fell on the wall, where a map of the nearest nations rested, pinned, this one was far more elaborate than the first crude one he'd managed to acquire, it showed the triumvirate, the vast empires of beastmen, and the kingdoms around them on which they preyed.

He approached the map and put a skeletal finger on the Minotaur Kingdom. "Thanks to my daughter, you're next. But you'll come quietly." He traced his finger east. "Devor. Mictan. Tlaxan." He read the names off, and mentally reviewed what little he knew of them. 'Made up of mainly predatory beastmen, they use golems and magic based on ripping mana directly out of living things... Vanysa proposed something like that, but mentioned her methods were crude, if we can acquire that knowledge, something might be made of it. Golems are their favorite battle support. Vast territory, I wonder why they haven't eaten themselves into extinction like Rargnan's Kingdom almost did. They must have something that sustains them that minimizes the need for food. If I'm going to ensure we triumph at Ragnarok, those empires will have to fall. Everything will have to fall.'

Ainz felt his red eyes pulse, 'Alright, so if I have to take over the world after all, fine, isn't that what my daughter said, she wanted to hand me the world? We'll need bigger armies, vast beyond measure. Hundreds of thousands of Black Paladins, Red Paladins, of every race, training for centuries, assuming we have centuries at all. So... the world will belong to me, or it will die. Well done, daughter, well done indeed.' Ainz thought, and then went and sat down in his chair and thrust his face into his hands.

"Gah! How do I live up to this?! How can I meet this kind of challenge...? I'm a salaryman, damn it!" He cursed, then froze as it hit him, and his hands came away from him.

"No... I'm a guild leader, and this... this is the ultimate event. Plus... when other players arrive, I may be able to draw on them for help, maybe? They'll know what that is and what it means, I just need to prove that it's coming, be able to prove it quickly when they show up. So... great. How the hell do I do that?!" He asked the empty room, and lost himself in thought for a very long time.

...Menowa...

Neia sat in the quiet carriage as they rode back to Kirakira prison. "Do you think it went well... mother?" The Black Paladin asked.

Albedo gave a grave and serious nod, "The brutality you exhibited against the Devor... one might think it would work against you, but they 'hate' the Devor with a passion. It endears them to you, I would wager that even now..." Albedo's face began to split with a smile and she, for once, turned to Pandora's Actor who was shifting uncomfortably, "Go on, say it."

He thrust his hand dramatically toward the roof of the carriage, "That even now! Even at this very moment, your speech, 'You can fight back!' is already on the lips of every male and female of the capital, that scavengers have gone to see the pile of heads the terror of the West brought as a trophy! That even now you," he thrust his finger towards Mu'Ulm' are entering the realm of living myth for killing so many, they will speak of the minotaur champion, they will speak of the angel of their god come again, and they will not dare to strike you down meine gute Frau!" He finished with a great dramatic flourish and folded his hands into his lap.

"Yes, precisely that." Albedo said succinctly. "This time has been well used."

Neia bowed her head, "Then I can say what I said when I reached Prart after escaping Wenmark. That it wasn't for nothing. If they do take my life, I can go knowing father will have this kingdom one day as a final gift." She smiled at the wrathful look on Albedo's face.

"Mother, don't give me that look, someone here wants me dead, I can only speculate why, but I'm a prisoner, and I'm not a god, I can be killed like any mortal. All any mortal can do, is make our lives matter while we have them, for what means most to us." Neia's smile was sweet and serene as she sat back against the cushion of the carriage. "Besides, as I learned in the library, when you've resolved to lose your life, you are at your most powerful."

"I'd prefer you not die that way." Mu'Ulm uttered directly and tapped his meaty fingers on his left knee. "I want to see what else you'd do here."

Neia reached up high and put her hand on his shoulder, looking up at him, she kept that serene expression on her face, "Even if I live, I'm going home, I'll have to leave you behind to finish what I started. Work with those of my agents I send to you, and when it is possible, I'll have a request put in that sets you free to work beyond the walls. As I said to Mu'Bin, when the children of my house ride east, including little Mu'Treiu, I want her to find allies ready and waiting for them all."

"Are you already thinking about another campaign, Neia?" Albedo asked with a raised eyebrow.

Neia nodded sharply and turned her attention to her mother. "I am, mother. My experience on the border has taught me that the Minotaur Kingdom is weak, but not irredeemably so. We can build on it, make it something worthwhile, but that 'will' create conflict with the Devor. I haven't the wisdom of the three geniuses, nor even the demoness, let alone father. But I know war, the Devor will, sooner or later, run across my devotees. When they do..." Her eyes filled with darkness and red points pulsed like twin beating hearts, her hand went slowly out between the four of them in the empty space between the seats with her palm up, and she closed her fingers inexorably into a fist.

"My people will fucking kill them all. When they exterminate the Devor parties, the Devor will surely recognize our weapons, equipment, and methods as a threat. They 'have' to respond, and when they do... I want hundreds of thousands of Paladins of every kind, ready to fight. The black, the red, the white of the old guard. I want our elven rangers, the children of the surviving scriptures, the goblins and orcs. I want dragons and death knights and the very power of god to become the shadow that rides east. I want to make the largest army I commanded in the Battle of Kami Miyako, to appear to be nothing but a parade drill. The Triumvirate will kick over a hornet's nest, and when they do..." The serene smile on Neia's face became cold and calculating as a demon. "Father will rule most of the continent, and what little is left, will bend a knee in gratitude that he took it."

Albedo's silver laughter filled the coach and her golden eyes shone with devotion as she caught the sense of Neia's vision of the future.

Mu'Ulm felt a tingle run up and down his spine. "If you were not Kiril's Angel, I would've thought you to be Kiril's Demon." He said with a deep huff of breath.

"The difference between a demon and an angel is nothing but perspective." Neia shrugged as she spoke, "I do what has to be done, nothing more, nothing less.

For a moment they were all quiet, and Neia reached down to play with the necklace that hung around her neck, "Thank you, mother, for this. It greatly eases the pain and keeps the worst things at bay. Was this one of Nazarick's treasures?" She asked as she clutched it with urgent tightness.

"Not originally, the demoness made it for you, using some of my blood. By the way, she also informed me of Demiurge's plan to drive you to get the peasants killed, I managed to prevent that, by killing your pursuers." Albedo's expression was that of the cat who swallowed the canary. "That hurt his plans badly."

"I didn't even know about them... th-thank you... sincerely." Neia whispered as she tried to imagine what state she'd have been in if she were forced to bear witness to the deaths of those she'd fought to rescue, and then been immediately dragged into court. Her face went pale white. "I'll have to thank my friend later... I guess I was being a little cold to her."

"Time enough for that, but only if you survive, meine Frau." Pandora's Actor remarked casually, to which Neia could only offer the silent assent of a grave expression as they rolled through the massive gate of the great prison.

"Go on down, we'll take care of the minutia within, and reclaim your equipment, go make a good impression. I doubt Mu'Ka will object when he knows the story." Albedo gave a malicious smile that said he wouldn't be objecting even if he did have objections.

So within minutes, they were standing in the great open yard of the prison, like bloodsoaked figures of legend, as prisoners and instructors approached.

Hooves kicked up dust, as did boots of the elven teachers, but before it could become a mob, Mu'Ulm shouted a loud, "Fall IN!" and within a handful of breaths squares of soldiers formed up.

Wide brown eyes were staring at the minotaur champion with awe, his bloody matted fur and the equipment that could have only come from a god, sparked envy as much as awe.

Not less so, was the even more bloodstained Black Paladin that had taken over the prison. She stood behind Mu'Ulm, and he spun on his hoof and rendered a crisp military salute. Above, guards watched with unbridled fascination, she glanced their way, and suppressed everything to embrace the rhythm of the moment, and returned his salute.

"Mu'Ulm, take command, and tell your part of the story.

He did. Loud, booming, grandiose, but not a word exaggerated, though he had to pause as cheers and stamping hooves interrupted him repeatedly, most especially the part about the severed heads, the red hand, and the promise of death sweeping east in their lifetimes.

Neia took up her part of the narrative, going backwards from Mu'Ulm's arrival at Last Home, till she was done. "And that's everything." Neia said like she'd just given a weather report.

"I expect tomorrow I'll be leaving here, whether to go home, or to go hang, I honestly don't know, but I'm proud of you all, you've come a long way. Your people are worth fighting for, and remember this..." She punched her fist fiercely at the air, "You can fight back! They can take your lives, but they can't take your justice, they can't take your strength, they can't take your will, they can't take who you are, only you can give those things up, and having seen the state of your kingdom, you know trading those things away for a few measly days of life, just isn't worth it! Fight! Fight! Fight!" She pushed her evangelist voice to its limits to drown their hearts in a sea of will deep enough to drown their fears.

"We can fight back!" The call was taken up, first among the prisoners, but then inexorably above, like heaven was echoing them, as the guards took it up for themselves, hatred of the Devor ran deep among the lot of them, and the bloody figures in front of them proved that it could be done.

Neia looked up at Mu'Ulm. "You've got your army, now make sure that, even if I can't be here, that my children are one day impressed by what you've done with it."

"See to their instruction, I leave you in command, me, I'd like to get clean. I'm sure I stink to the heavens." Neia uttered with a crinkled nose.

"You do, you really do." Mu'Ulm crinkled his own large nostrils a bit, and Neia smirked.

"Uh huh, just get to work, they're in your hands now." Neia said, and within moments of Neia's departure for her improvised bathing area, the minotaur champion was bellowing orders and the instructors began running drills and rotating students through various crafts and tasks.

She reached the place where water flowed lightly, and raised her bucket and rope up above when it filled, then stripped and stood beneath the lightly falling trickle. "God that feels good." Neia whispered as she ran her hands through her hair, washing the blood away over her skin and returning to her native gold, her skin slowly restored to its natural self, she swore briefly when it was over. "Damn it... need my prison uniform." She cursed mildly, until a set of clothing flew over the low wall that obscured most of the yard.

She caught it smoothly, "Thanks!"

She heard a squeal of excitement when she spoke to her benefactor. 'One of the elves, got to be.' She rolled her eyes and put her clothing on swiftly, leaving one hand on the slightly off colored pattern of her father's symbol.

Her eyes closed and she turned her face to the west. "Soon, so soon. I'm not tired, but... if I can sleep, tomorrow will come sooner, and I can finally get this over with."

With that in mind, she left the shower area and found that the same elf who had tossed her clothing had obviously returned her equipment, as Mu'Ulm clearly no longer had his either. She sighed wistfully, 'Damn, it's hard to go around without armor on when you're used to it.' She thought to herself as she left the yard, and walked back to her cell. As she passed various guards, to her surprise, they saluted her, each one, until she returned to her cell, found her cot, and closing the bars behind her, she fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.