Disclaimer: I don't own Overlord or Dungeons & Dragons
The Greater Apotheosis of Ainz Ooal Gown
Book : Consolidating Power
Chapter 3: Training an Army
Beta:
Enri Emmott, goddess of battle, sat across from Lady Shalltear at a wrought iron table shielded from the sun by a large umbrella located on a raised platform of concrete as they overlooked a small city of tents housing the ever growing number of liberated slaves sent to Felmid by the Bone Father's children from the Underdark of Laerakond. A host that the two of them had been tasked by Lord Ainz to train into an army.
"Before you say anything," The Bone Father's Consort said suddenly as they both absently picked at the food. As undead and goddesses besides, neither of them actually needed it for sustenance but it was the thought that counted and both seem unwilling to disappoint the servants who had prepared the meal. "Let me just say that I have no clue about training an army and am frankly bewildered why I was even given the task in the first place."
Surely Lady Shalltear is not suggesting Lord Ainz made a mistake. No, that can't be it.
"Perhaps Lord Ainz wants this to be a learning experience for you, my Lady?" Enri suggested carefully to her superior.
"Call me Shalltear." The Vampire said with a shrug. "You may not be a Guardian of Nazarick but my beloved has elevated you to godhood like he has the Floor Guardians, that makes you our colleague and peer. There is no need for formality between peers."
"You honor me, Shalltear." Enri said tentatively and received an approving nod from the sliver haired beauty.
"As for your suggestion," The Vampire said with a shrug. "I suppose it's possible. Though if it is true I would loathe to jeopardize the army's training just to learn something. From private conversations with Lord Ainz, I know that he wants that to be done well. And while I'm certain he's factored any mishaps I might make into his calculations, I would like to avoid creating any complications if possible."
Enri barely heard the latter part of Shalltear's statement, instead being hung up on something she said in the middle.
By private conversations does she mean pillow talk!? The Momon turned goddess' mind thought rather treacherously as she fought to hide the blush that accompanied the errant idea from the Supreme One's Consort.
Though by the mischievous, almost predatory, look that Shalltear sent her way, she was not successful. Thankfully, the more senior goddess kept her teasing to that.
Regathering herself, Enri offered a suggestion to resolve her colleague's worries.
"Then why don't I take charge of the training. I do have some familiarity with the task. You can shadow me as I go about my tasks and step in whenever you feel comfortable."
"Very well." Lady Shalltear said with a pout. "It's not like I can think of a better way to do things."
It was following the junior goddess' advice that led Shalltear to find herself accompanying Enri as they paid a visit to Sliver Hive to discuss what weapons and other equipment could be secured for their new army.
"-a dozen light tanks? That's all you can spare?" Enri asked incredulously. "That's barely enough for a battalion, much less a whole army!"
Apologies, my Lady. The strange fusion of four normal Slivers into a single creature that functioned as the Hive's overseer, a Sliver Overlord, replied telepathically. But we are still making up for the losses from the invasion. Between that and the resources transferred over to the expansion of the space fleet, it is truly all we can manage.
"Enri," Shalltear said interrupting the other goddess' reply. "Can you handle this? I'd like to explore this place."
Enri frowned probably guessing correctly that her request came from her getting bored and rightfully fearing what trouble she could get up to if left to alleviate her boredom on her own. She knew full well how much of a handful she could become if left to her own devices for too long. For all Shalltear's flaws, a lack of awareness of them was not one of them. Albedo and Aura were all too happy to remind her of them at every opportunity after all.
"Don't worry." The vampire goddess assured the Momon. "I won't cause trouble."
Sighing Enri nodded and offering the junior goddess a grateful smile, Shalltear stalked off.
The Hive's factory floor was a fascinating place. Slivers worked diligently as far as her eyes could see, a considerable distance indeed, at various stations along a seemingly endless number of conveyor belts that snaked every which way through the structure as they assembled various items that the Hive manufactured.
Here we're building new laser- Said a blue Sliver sporting many tentacles across its body that had accompanied her as it caught her looking.
"Stop." Shalltear told the creature. "I don't need a lecture. I probably won't remember half of what you'd say anyway. I just want to have a look that's all."
The Sliver bowed its head in understanding and apology but Shalltear just waved it away.
She continued her tour, thoroughly impressed by the speed that the Slivers worked and the sheer variety of things they could make. They could assemble a tank from its constituent parts in under an hour and at the same time build enough rifles to equip an entire battalion of infantry. It was hard to imagine that they were so behind schedule that they could not spare the equipment for their army. Not that she thought they were lying. No Felmidian, Shalltear had learned, would dare lie to her beloved or his representatives. That they'd said so had more to do with the sheer devastation their forces had suffered due to the invasion by the dark gods than anything.
Wonder how long we'll take to recover from that. The Vampire thought with a shrug as she watched a group of Slivers run a newly completed tank through some quality control tests. Albedo would know I guess. I'll ask her about it later.
"So logistics isn't to your taste?" Enri asked rhetorically as she and Lady Shalltear reconvened several hours later at the same platform overlooking the tent city housing the freed slaves that were supposed to become their new army. It had grown a whole new section while they were away, a product of the Bone Father's children's latest successful raid against the slavers of the Laerakondan Underdark.
"No," Shalltear said rather succinctly. "I know enough about myself to say that I can't handle anything to do with backend of this army. Any suggestions on what else I can do?"
Enri hummed as she mulled the matter over. If what Shalltear said was true, and she was inclined to trust her, then strategic planning and organization development were out of the question as well. As were most things to be honest. What then could she do?
"How about training?" Enri offered, feeling like she was running out of options.
"I don't know the first thing about how someone can get strong." Lady Shalltear confessed. "I was created strong."
"That's not what I meant." Enri lied. "I meant you could serve as the recruits' OpFor."
"OpFor?"
"Opposing force." The former Momon explained. "The recruits will likely need to face overwhelmingly superior opponents at some point or another. What better way to prepare them for that than to have them do exactly that in a controlled environment beforehand?"
"That actually sounds like a good idea." Lady Shalltear said, humming in thought. "What exactly do you have in mind though."
"Let me explain-"
A month of planning and training of the men later, Shalltear was finally given a chance to prove her worth and found herself hovering in the air in her full armor over a large underground cavern they'd borrowed from Baragon for Enri's experiment of her playing at OpFor.
Remember, Shalltear, these recruits are pretty raw. Enri told her over Message from where she was preparing the men who were to be her opponents in the mock battle. So go easy on them.
"I'll try." Shalltear said through gritted teeth.
She'd wanted to whine or scold Enri. The girl had told her the same thing seven times now! But she knew that the junior goddess was saying it for her own good. Shalltear dearly wanted to make this work and going overboard wouldn't help that.
Alright. Then I'll send them in now.
"I see them." Shalltear replied as she spotted the unit of soldiers cautiously advancing into the cavern. They hadn't spotted her yet despite her making no effort to hide herself which was a major mark against them that she would have to reprimand them for later. But that was for later.
"I'll start the exercise now. Shalltear out." She said as she cut the Message spell and prepared to trounce the former slaves who would be soldiers of her beloved Lord.
"So the troops are saying that they actually like your exercises." Enri told Lady Shalltear a few days and a dozen exercises later as they met up to review things over tea in the latter's Adipocere Chamber on the Second Floor of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. Studiously ignoring all the while the sound of women laughing and moaning lewdly in the background. "They say it's a real learning experience."
"Is it?" Shalltear asked doubtfully. "They didn't seem happy about the trouncings I gave them after I was done with them."
"Of course not," Enri told her with a chuckle. "You did beat them silly. And easily too. No one likes that in the moment. But they did appreciate things in hindsight."
"Really?"
"Really." Enri assured the skeptical Vampire.
"Oh. So I'm helping?"
"Definitely." Enri told her sincerely. "Very much so."
"I'm glad." Shalltear said with a sigh of relief.
Enri shook her head in fond exasperation. For someone who was otherwise so confident about everything, Lady Shalltear was very insecure about whether she was being a help to Lord Ainz's plans.
Which is strange when I come to think about it. Lady Shalltear is not shy about sharing all the affirmations Lord Ainz gives her in private and that's a lot. Why then is she still so insecure?
"I know what you're thinking." Lady Shalltear said sounding uncharacteristically embarrassed, even sporting a blush.
"Y-you do, my Lady?" Enri stuttered out uneasily.
"Relax. It's not a big deal." Lady Shalltear said with a shrug. "It's not like I'm a complete idiot. I know that I confuse people with being confident one minute and insecure the next. At least you're not calling me bipolar like Aura."
"I would never!" Enri cried honestly. Shalltear wasn't that bad.
"I know. I know." Lady Shalltear said with a sigh. "And just to avoid misunderstandings, Aura was just teasing when she said that. Her creator was my creator's elder sister, that makes us cousins. As such she teases me all the time."
I didn't know the creations of the various Supreme Ones see each other that way.
"I didn't know that."
"Now you do." Lady Shalltear said with an amused grin. "Anyways, about me being all over the place. It's because, well, I want to be more. More than a simple brute! My beloved has such grand plans for everything. You should hear him when he gets going. And I want to help him accomplish them but-"
Shalltear trailed off and Enri waited patiently for her to continue but she never did.
"But what?" Enri asked after the silence dragged on too long for her tastes.
"But I know I can't help him much." Shalltear admitted with a sigh. "If he needs something killed, I can do that easily enough. But that's only a small part of the things he needs done and I can't do anything else. Not well at least."
"That's not true!" Enri shouted insistently. "It's true you have your limits Shalltear, but you have your strengths too. And not just as a killer!"
"I'm a minx in bed as well. Even kinkier than Albedo." Shalltear added with a smirk. "Lord Ainz said so."
Too much information! I didn't need to know that!
"Not my point but yes, if Lord Ainz said so then it has to be true!" Enri said hastily as she fought a blush before calming herself down a bit and getting to her point. "What I meant to say was that you can do things that help Lord Ainz besides killing his enemies and, um, helping to warm his bed."
"Such as?"
"Like I said earlier, you're a great help in training the soldiers."
Shalltear hummed noncommittally at that and Enri scrambled to reassure her.
"It's true." Enri told her seriously. "But if you don't believe it, then why don't we prove it?"
"How?"
"We have tomorrow's exercise be with a unit that's already been through an iteration of it." Enri suggested. "Let them show you how much stronger they've become after going through the learning experience of fighting you once."
"If you think it's a good idea." Lady Shalltear said uncertainly.
"I do."
"Alright then. Set it up."
Two nights later in the Nazarick bar, Shalltear sat across from Albedo sharing some drinks. Much to their disappointment, their beloved husband had chosen to spend the night going over reports from Demiurge and Cocytus over the progress of their missions and had not called either of them to his bed. Instead, ordering them to spend some time relaxing while he worked. It was a generous offer but neither woman had any idea how to spend it and had as such defaulted to spending time with each other.
"So Enri tells me your little army is coming along nicely." Albedo said as they both took seats at one of the bar's tables and were served their drinks by one of the Homunculus maids whose turn it was today to serve as one of its waitresses. "Thank you, Foire."
"Yes, thanks Foire." Shalltear said as well taking the glass of Sous-chief's ever improving Nazarick ten-colored cocktail made with ten different liquors.
The young woman with yellowish bobbed hair and green eyes bowed in return before quietly taking her leave.
"I guess you're right." Shalltear said in answer to Albedo's statement. "But I honestly can't really tell."
"What do you mean?" The succubus asked, pausing in taking a sip of her sake to glare at her sister wife. "Aren't you regularly fighting against them in training exercises? Surely, you'd be able to gauge their growing competency and strength?
"I suppose they are growing better." Shalltear said with a shrug. "But they're so weak that I barely notice the difference. I fought a couple of units for a second time today and even though they got stronger thanks to me training with them, they still lost. Badly. I know he must have some kind of genius plan for them, but I honestly don't understand why Lord Ainz wants them trained."
"Are you questioning our husband's wisdom?" Albedo asked warningly.
"Of course not." Shalltear scoffed. "Like I said. I can't see his plan."
"Is that so?" Albedo said with a chuckle. "Did you need Aura to spell that out to you?"
"Enri did actually." Shalltear said, puffing out her cheeks in annoyance.
"Did she now?" Shalltear nodded and took a sip of her drink. "I hope you thanked her for the observation."
"Of course I did. I'm an idiot not a unmannered." The Vampire said with a roll of her eyes.
"Then did she tell you what she thought our beloved's plans for the freed slaves were?"
"She asked me to think on it on my own but I have no idea."
Albedo sighed but nevertheless explained.
"Tell me what is a god without mortal followers? Especially in Realmspace?" The Pure-White Devil said. "Nothing. And while Lord Ainz is a primordial. He is also a god. As such creating a cult among mortals was always part of Ainz's plans, it's why Neia is an Evangelist."
"But the mortals I've been training have all thoroughly been inducted into our beloved's cult already. Why train them to be soldiers too?"
"Why they're to be the nucleus of a mortal nation devoted to him of course!" Albedo declared as if it was obvious. "After all, the next step up from a cult is a nation dedicated to him is it not?"
Shalltear just looked at Albedo in shock. She hadn't even thought of that!
"This is why he calls you a genius." Shalltear said with a shake of her head.
Albedo blushed. "He gives me too much credit. I'm certain this is only one small part of his plans and there are many aspects that I've yet to decipher."
"Maybe but you're still better at it than me." Shalltear lamented.
"And I'm not as kinky as you." Albedo said with a shrug. "We each have our own strengths."
"I guess." Shalltear allowed, lifting her glass. "To our strengths."
"To our strengths." Albedo echoed as they clinked their glasses together.
Done!
Another short one. I'm thinking this is going to be the norm for this 'book'.
Now about this chapter… I hope you guys liked this little dive in how Shalltear is dealing with her lack of intelligence in this story. In canon, it took getting herself mind-controlled into fighting Ainz and the whole experience in the Dwarven Kingdom for her to mostly overcome/confront the issue. Here she doesn't really get the same kick in the butt to motivate her to do so, so she's less gung ho about the whole thing. But with Aura and Albedo to nag her about it and her observations about her subpar performance at tasks, I reckon she'd still work towards improving herself. Hence this chapter.
Well that's it for this chapter. Till next time pożegnanie!
