Disclaimer: I Own Nothing

Volume One: The Pecking Order

Chapter 7

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AN: Well...it's been a while. Sorry about that. Hopefully, it won't happen again.

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Gustav was miles deep in paperwork and reports.

Normally, this stuff would have been taken care of by the Captain of the Paladin Order, but their current Captain, Remedios, did not do paperwork. This is because Remedios, while definitely a brilliant warrior and an exemplar of paladin hood, sucked at everything that required her to use her brain. It was honestly dumbfounding to some that she was the sister of Kelart Custodio, a genius level divine magic caster and the Head Priestess of the Holy Kingdom.

Naturally, Gustav was frustrated that all this work was being put on him, but he had learned to deal with it over last few years of him becoming the Vice Captain of the Order.

So, even though just the sight of all the paperwork he had yet to go through was enough to give him stomach cramps, he continued his work.

Eventually, after about an hour of looking over the reports, Gustav came across something interesting.

Apparently a tribe of Pteropuses had attacked the wall that protects the Holy Kingdom from the wild demihumans of the Abelion Hills.

"Hmmm...judging from the report, the attack seemed almost desperate, a far cry from most attacks on the wall. Perhaps they were displaced and forced this way? Yes, it would explain the desperation of the attack...but then, why were they forced out, and more importantly, who forced them out?"

Gustav then pulled himself from his musing and set the report aside, then as his eyes flicked across the the next report his eyes went wide.

"The Ashen King...well, at least we can now guess who the pteropuses were fleeing from." Gustav began to stroke his goatee as he went deeper into his thoughts, "Looking at this on the surface, it seems to be a good thing for us, after all, he's just killing off the demihumans, our enemies for centuries, however, looking deeper, this could become a massive issue in the future. If I'm reading this correctly, it seems that several demihuman tribes are uniting against him. If they win, and, against all odds, this union holds...what's to stop them from rolling over the kingdom!"

Gustav shot to his feet.

"Her majesty must be informed at once!" He exclaimed, before grabbing up the reports.

His stomach aches were hitting him especially hard with all the worries going through his head, so he casted a simple first tier healing spell to aid him. But he knew that it would only be so long until they returned in full force.

"I should really talk to Lady Kelart, and see if I can learn some higher tiered healing spells." He shook his head before speaking his thoughts out loud, "Now is not the time for such nonsense, the Holy Queen must be informed at once!"

As he ran off he took with him a head full of worries, and a stomach full of aches again.

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Ainz sat at the head of a long wooden table, thinking of anything he could say, anything at all.

The table itself was of a dark wood, and it was in the natural shape of the trunk which it came from, meaning that it was not a perfect rectangle, but instead had curves and edges that Ainz idly noted added toward its beauty.

The wood it was carved from had come from one of the trees they had cut down to provide a clearing around the village. It had then been taken to a group of Horuner craftsmen, whose chief had then given it to Ainz as a gift to prove his and his tribe's loyalty. Ainz understood the sentiment but at the rate he was gaining furniture, he'll have to expand his tent. Which, while not an issue, was still a bit of a bother.

Seated around the table was his 'Chief Executive', Vijar, and his 'Branch Chiefs', who all were giving him expectant gazes. He had just been asked how he would deal with The Ashen King, and Ainz had no clue what to say.

"Think dammit, think! I can't look incompetent in front of my employees here." Suddenly, Ainz accidently spoke his next thought out loud, "Umu, what do we know about the Ashen King?"

It was Vijar who answered quickly, "Well, not much is know about the Ashen King, just that he is extremely powerful, bloodthirsty, and is skilled in the use of fire magic."

"...I really need to be more careful with speaking my thoughts out loud, luckily, I don't think it's hurt me here...So, this 'Ashen King' is skilled in fire magic. Hmmm...that could be troublesome. After all, I am an undead, and as an undead, I have an inherent weakness to fire and holy attacks. However, my current equipment should make me practically immune to fire, but I shouldn't bet on it. Who knows, maybe equipment based resistances don't work the same way they did in YGGDRASIL. Although, so far everything else I have tested has...better to play it safe."

Ainz mentally shook his head clear of his thoughts as he realized that he had been in his own head for too long. He then gave a response to Vijar, "Hmm, ah...yes...is there anything else we know?"

It was Hectowaizes that answered Ainz this time, "There is nothing else that is definite, but there are rumors that he is perhaps an evil Spriggan, or maybe a Naga Raja, either way, no one knows for certain, as all whom have seen him, and lived to tell the tale, looked upon him from quite a distance away."

"Umu, is that all?...Thank you." Ainz answered in a calm tone. Inside his head however, it was anything but. "So nothing. Nothing at all! Uwahhh...I would never even attempt to engage an opponent I knew this little about in YGGDRASIL, and if I did, then Punitto would have my hide! Ok, ok, oooooook. Think. Think Ainz...why not just wait for him to come to us? Then we can build up defenses in order to ward off his future assault. Maybe that would work? I don't know, I'm not used to being in charge like this. But, as their new employer, it is my job to safeguard their well-being to the best of my ability. Okay, on the defensive it is."

"Listen well, here is my directive. You all will see to it that our walls are expanded in order to accommodate our newest comrades. Then, you will 'beef up' our defenses to an acceptable level. Finally, we will send out scouting units to find the Ashen King, and find any other demihumans who are fleeing him." Ainz put a lot of focus on making sure his orders came out in a clear, commanding tone, one befitting a leader.

""Yes my Lord"" A chorus of affirmation reached his non-existent ears.

"Then you all may go." Ainz spoke once more.

The demihumans all left the tent leaving Ainz to himself and his thoughts. "I think that went well, at least I hope it did. Uwahhh, this is hard."

He then spoke once more to himself out loud, "I'll just have to hope for the best then, but I will prepare for the worst."

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Clementine was a little bored.

Why wouldn't she be? After all, she hadn't been able to kill anything for the few days she and Khajiit had been hiding out in one of the Kingdom's Zuranon cells.

Well, except that one commoner girl they had the happy little accident of meeting on the way here. She had entertained Clementine for about a day or two.

But still! It had been too long! She need to do something, go kill someone, read a book. Normal, everyday activities, that normal, beautiful, intelligent, and humble girls like her did. Did she mention beautiful?

Mustering up her determination, she marched to the door of the safe house , which was located in an old cottage outside of some backwater town, with the closest thing to civilization near it being the King's Road, which flowed from E-Rantel, all the way to the capital, connecting several cities along the way.

The road itself wasn't anything impressive either, it was mostly dirt, it wasn't patrolled, and was frequently host to monsters and bandits alike.

Speaking of which, Clementine had picked up on some rumors which spoke of a powerful bandit who was really shaking up the commerce along the road. Some sources said that he even had the balls to raid Eight Finger's shipments.

Clementine then started making her way towards the town. But she stopped and began to speak to herself.

"I know Khajiit-Chan will be mad at me for this, but hey, a girl needs to have some fun every now and then. Plus, it'll take quite a bit of time to torture everyone here, this should keep me busy and happy for a while, so I think Khajiit will get over it...eventually. Also, he might not even notice, with him and all his other Zuranon buddies getting all happy go-lucky over their new plans for the rest of the Kingdom." She sighed, "Whatever, as long as I can keep having fun, it doesn't really matter what he does. But, it is a little frustrating that I can't kill the doll boy, I mean, I know we can use him for high tier magic, but still! Arghh, whatever, I'll just have to get my fun from others."

She then resumed her walk toward the village once more. Humming a light tune as she skipped merrily along.