Chapter 7

A/n: Thanks for editing, Hakon!

Overwhelmed by the amount of support for this fic. Thanks, everyone!

Part 1

Jircniv sat in his private study where only his most trusted subordinates were allowed. At this exact moment, he was speaking with Fluder and Baziwood. However, to say Jircniv spoke with Fluder would not be truthful. In reality, Fluder was in his own world. Since Fluder showed up in his study via teleportation, he had been trying his hardest to tell him something. As to what this something was, however, Jircniv was yet to listen.

When Fluder had first showed up with a sword in his hand, Jircniv had thought for a moment that the old man had turned on him. But seeing as Fluder was just caught up in his mania, Jircniv was relieved to no end. This was not to say that Jircniv was paranoid, but seeing the image of Fluder with a sword in hand teleporting into his office was simply a scary sight to him. But to Fluder's dismay, Jircniv's business with Baziwood was his top priority.

"As I was saying. Baziwood, is everything ready on yours and Nazami's end? You do recall the goal, yes?" Jircniv began slowly while still controlling his breathing to slow his racing heart.

Having already calmed down, Baziwood replied, "Yup. Doesn't matter who he's trained by, your majesty. With myself and Nazami, we won't lose," Baziwood said with confidence in his tone.

"Are you sure? They're allowing that fellow to wear their treasured equipment. It might not be as easy as you think it will be," Jircniv questioned with a raised brow.

"Just how good could that equipment be, your majesty? I am sure with the two of us we will be fine," Baziwood dismissed Jircniv's worries.

Bringing a hand to his face, Jircniv could not help but sigh. "Baziwood, I will tell you again. From what I know from the Empire's secret archives, that equipment may very well be that good. First consider that famous sword that can cut through armor like paper, even if it's enchanted. But that's just the start. If he's truly wearing all of their treasures. Then he will be a force to be reckoned with, Baziwood."

Baziwood's goal in the upcoming war was to fight Gazef Stronoff one on one. To both prevent him from toppling the Empire's lines, and to accurately gauge his strength. Jircniv had heard a great many things about Gazef Stronoff, even since the days when he was only a mercenary. Back then, people spoke of a hardened honorable warrior. But now, as the people pinned their hopes on Gazef, the claims of his prowess and tales of his heroism were only raised to greater heights. This Led to this secondary objective of the war.

"I'm sure, your majesty. Although I'm flattered by your concern," Baziwood said with a grin.

With another sigh, Jircniv gave his final orders to Baziwood. "That's not what I… never mind."

Picking up the envelopes laid out on his desk, he continued. "Here, these are for General Carvain. Now, you and Nazami will immediately set off to the Katze Plains. Do not fail… or at the very least. Do not die."

Accepting the envelopes from Jircniv, Baziwood bowed and left the room saying. "Understood, your majesty."

With the sound of the closing door, Jircniv immediately braced himself for his coming conversation with Fluder. By the looks of him, Jircniv would say Fluder had just reached the seventh tier of magic, or something equally as absurd.

Practically throwing the sword in his hand onto Jircniv's desk, Fluder immediately began. "Your majesty, this sword!-"

"Will you calm down Fluder? Just what makes this damned sword so special?" Jircniv spoke, trying to reason with Fluder.

Inspecting the sword, Jircniv could see nothing special about it. It seemed to him to be a standard knight's sword.

Fluder, realizing that the significance of the sword was not immediately recognizable, calmed down and explained himself. "Your majesty, although this sword might look to be a completely standard item, it is not. The enchantment on this sword is double the standard effectiveness!"

Looking at the sword once more, Jircniv raised an eyebrow and said, "and why did you bother-" But in the middle of his thoughts, Jircniv realized this must be an item made by Ainz. Fluder has been obsessed with Ainz's talent for the last few days. To the point where Fluder even neglected his studies, a highly irregular move.

With a smile, Fluder cut in, "I see you already realized how this sword was made."

Picking up the sword in question, Jircniv spoke his mind. "You say the enchantment is twice as effective? Then this is actually two swords' enchantments put into a single sword then?"

With a nod from Fluder, Jircniv continued. "That is quite something… and he just drained one and put it on the other? Just like that?"

"Indeed, no material costs. No mana was used. I am still struggling to figure out how it works myself. I may never," Fluder said wistfully while staring at the sword.

"Hm, I almost forgot, your majesty. Ainz had mentioned wanting to make money off his talent. Shall we do the obvious and start doing this process with more swords?" Fluder questioned.

Jircniv had this thought when he first put together it was Ainz who made it, but one question remained. "How much would that cost? Wouldn't we need to enchant an extra sword for everyone we're making?"

"That is true, your majesty. However, I believe the added effectiveness would be worth the price. With an enchantment like this, the leather armor of the conscripts could easily be cut apart, let alone their flesh," Fluder said while stroking his beard.

After considering things for some time, Jircniv finally gave his reply. "Alright. We'll do that for a limited run of swords that will be used in the next war."

"I'm sure Ainz would be happy to hear it. It seems ever since he went to Ulric's store, he has been trying to earn more gold as fast as possible…" Fluder spoke with a hint of satisfaction in his voice. No doubt because Fluder wanted Ainz to become more interested in magic.

But Fluder's expression immediately changed to one of confusion as he reached for his head. Jircniv had seen Fluder do this before when casting a message spell, but it would seem by the abruptness, that it was Fluder who was the receiver. But as moments went by, Fluder's expression continued to become darker and darker until he yelled out loud.

"What! It escaped!? Capture it!" Fluder spoke in a frantic tone.

That did not seem to satisfy whoever was on the other end of the line, however, because Fluder immediately followed up.

"The Lich! Capture that damned lich!"

Part 2A

It had been a difficult past few weeks for Aisul, who had now been recovering in his phylactery for the past four days. During this time, Aisul had no interaction with the outside world. No light, sound, or any kind of other sensation. Aisul was completely alone, with only his thoughts. One would initially assume this would not affect one of the undead, as they typically have no emotions. But Aisul was different. As a unique undead with his own soul, Aisul still had his personality and emotions. The only difference in him now being the limitations placed on him.

Ever since Aisul first managed to get his hands on his phylactery, and discovered the knowledge needed to use it, he had been an undead. Aisul liked to consider himself a lich of his own making, however, this would be a lie. It was only by a chance encounter while looking through his great grandfather's belongings that Aisul, previously Aleil, had found his phylactery, and it was only by the grace of it that he managed to turn himself into a lich.

Aisul when he had first found it was in quite the shock at the time. To his knowledge, Aisul did not know his great grandfather to be a necromancer. So upon asking around in his family about what kind of life his great grandfather lived, Aisul discovered that he was an adventurer. So the best theory Aisul had on where his great grandfather had acquired it, was that he found it on an adventure. But the question remained to him, what happened to the lich who was previously inside it? Perhaps it was cleansed out with holy magic, or it had simply moved its soul to another phylactery. But this was all guesswork by Aisul, as he had no confirmation on any of his theories.

'Damned old man… Blasting me with fifth-tier magic while my back was turned,' Aisul thought bitterly to himself.

'Wait…' a realization came to him. 'Was that Fluder Paradyne?... No, it couldn't be… wait. Rumor is he's a necromancer, right?... I've got to get the hell out of here!' Aisul shouted in his mind before his emotional suppressor could take effect.

'No, think logically Aisul. It's only a matter of time before I can return to the world of the living, and seeing as I'm not dead yet, my phylactery is intact. But what the hell does that old man intend on doing with me?' he asked himself.

'If that old man really was Fluder Paradyne, then I'm in the empire… Not too far away from my base of operations in the Azerlisia Mountains… That's a start at least. Maybe I'll be lucky and I've not been locked in a cage with teleportation warding-' Aisul continued his thoughts before being interrupted by the appearance of shining light in his field of view.

"Ha-" Aisul began a boisterous laugh before shutting himself up. 'I would rather not have a repeat of last time.' he continued in his mind.

Coming back into being with a bag around his feet and standing on a table, stark naked with his rotting flesh on full display, Aisul observed his surroundings. He appeared to be in an enclosed dark room with only a single exit. Looking below him, Aisul could not help but notice another bag on the table underneath his feet.

Wasting no time, Aisul jumped off the table. Yet Aisul had forgotten that there was a bag around his ankles, binding them. So when he landed off balance, he had no way of correcting his fall.

Toppling over, face first, Aisul cursed, "Gods damn it!" Fortunately for him, however, the bludgeoning damage received from his fall was not enough to cause any real damage to him.

Removing the bag from his ankles, and getting to his feet, Aisul returned to his original objective and inspected the bag on the table that was now behind him.

Picking up the bag and inspecting its contents, Aisul thought to himself. 'Magi-Quartz huh. In this amount? What does he plan on doing with me?'

Usually, Magi-Quartz was used as a way of increasing the amount of mana one has access to in a ritual, draining the magi-quartz in the process; turning it into ordinary quartz. To someone from earth, they would see it as a kind of magic battery; formed by the natural or unnatural absorption of mana into quartz.

'Alright, no doubt about it. I need to escape.'

Walking towards the only door in the room, it reminded Aisul of a prison cell's door except there was no opening for food and drink to be slipped through, and neither was there a slit in the door so guards could look through.

'Not going to make it easy on me, are you, old man? Well let's try this first,' Aisul thought to himself as he lowered himself to the keyhole of the room, looking through and casting.

[Dimensional Move]

But nothing happened. Seeing this Aisul continued his thoughts. 'Well, it's not a cage at least. But how to get out? Maybe I could pick the lock?'

Looking around in the room he found himself in, Aisul could not find anything that would help him in that regard. So he continued his thoughts.

'Damnit. My only other option is to blow the door down though… Would that work?' Aisul asked himself while inspecting the door closely.

Looking at the door, Aisul had doubts about his plan. The door seemed to be made from solid iron, the only potential weak points being its hinges and deadbolt.

'That's it!' Aisul thought to himself while launching himself towards the table in the room.

Grabbing the bag of Magi-Quartz, Aisul quickly returned to the door. Withdrawing three chunks of magi-quartz from the bag, he placed them in different places around the door. Two of them, he placed on the handle to the door, just below the lock. The other he placed near the bottom hinge of the door.

'Maybe I should put more?' Aisul asked himself.

'No. If this doesn't work I'll use the whole damn bag. I can't afford to end my journey here,'

With no further delay, Aisul backed away from the door; raising his hand and casting.

[Fireball]

And with an explosion that made the entire ministry of magic shake. The door was blown clean off its frame.

Intermission

Somewhere in a simple hobble located in the middle of nowhere; surrounded by mountains. Rigrit Bers Caurau sat slumped in an armchair that seemed to be the most expensive item in the room. This was not the case, however, as Rigrit had many items on her that could eclipse the cost of anything and everything in the room.

Speaking of the room in question, one would immediately recognize the lack of any real furnishings. At a glance, this hobble that Rigrit found herself owning was just about the farthest thing from class one could imagine; there was no bed, no rugs, no shelves, no tables. Just four walls, a single window, a roof, a floor, and her favorite chair. This was not to say that rigrit could not afford better, that was the farthest thing from the truth.

As an adamantite-ranked adventurer, Rigrit was one of the wealthiest beings in the New World; Players and Dragons excluded. The reason Rigrit even bothered owning such a run-down old house is because of its inconspicuousness. From the outside, if one was even close enough to see the house in question, there was rot on the wood making up the siding of the house, clear signs of mold growing on the external walls, and what actually kept people away; a small battalion of skeletons which constantly circled the home.

Here, Rigrit could relax; and she did so. Since the late afternoon, when she first arrived at the place which she called home; Rigrit had been sitting in her favorite chair, wandering the line separating sleep and wakefulness. With only her thoughts keeping her in the realm of consciousness, although just barely.

'Damn….. Shiny dragon…' Rigrit thought sluggishly.

'Making…. An old lady… like me... Do so much work.' she continued in a dream-like haze.

The work which Rigrit was referring to had brought her all over the continent. Only after several days of nonstop teleportation and gathering information did Rigrit finally get the all-clear from Tsaindorcus that the mission was complete. Nearly seven years ago, Tsaindorcus had told Rigrit that he detected the echo of his father's magic. Rigrit after the two centuries that she had lived knew what this meant. Another thing from Yggdrasil has arrived in this world.

Rigrit had put off gathering this information for so long, and it came down to a simple reason. If it was a player who showed up like many times before; they would likely make themselves known before Rigrit would have to do any real work of her own. This was not the case this time, however. When Rigrit had first told Tsaindorcus that she could find nothing relating to the appearance of a player even after the 6 years that have passed and traveling the continent; Tsaindorcus became quiet and told her that he would have to deliberate with himself about what happened this time around. Before Tsaindorcus could end the message spell, however, Rigrit was able to badger him for an explanation, but the only response she received was that it might not have been a player who arrived this time around. But a monster instead.

According to Tsaindorcus, it had happened in the past. An instance where instead of a player; a monster from Yggdrasil would arrive. When Rigrit first heard this, it had struck fear in her heart. For a world-ending catastrophe to be able to just show up and start wreaking havoc was a scary thought to her. After all, what kinds of creatures do players, monsters of their own rights, consider to be a monster? Rigrit could not answer that question. No matter how hard she tried to imagine such a monster, all of her thoughts just came back to players themselves.

'How could anything be stronger than them? And if there's a monster from there wouldn't we know about it by now?' She questioned back then, but before she could get an answer, Tsaindorcus ended the communication spell on her.

"Stupid… Lizard…" Rigrit mumbled to herself while slipping into a deep slumber.

So deep that she failed to notice the sound of joyous laughter of an individual soaring through the skies near her home.

Part 2B

As Aisul cast his magic, he braced himself for the explosion that was to come. Magi-Quartz was well known for its destructive properties when shattered, and using only the amount he used, Aisul was sure that this would be quite the explosion.

Upon detonation, the resulting explosion shook the very foundations of the ministry. The shock wave of the blast was also powerful enough to sweep him off his feet into the table behind him, shattering both it, and Aisul's pelvis. Leaving him a lich from the middle up.

This would not stop Aisul however, who in an attempt to escape quickly, crawled to his detached lower half. After placing himself above his rotting legs, he quickly raised his hand to his torso and cast.

[Ray of Negative Energy]

As the magic took effect on his body, his hips started to reform, and so too did his legs start to reattach.

"C'mon! People had to have heard that, I've got to go!" Aisul said to himself in a hurried tone while surveying the blown-up room. From a distance, Aisul heard the sound of muffled footsteps and armor clanking on itself.

"Shit! I don't have time!" Aisul began to panic before his emotion suppression calmed him.

Grabbing the bag of Magi-Quartz, Aisul quickly scurried to the dark corner beside the opening where the door used to be.

'Gods damnit! Surshana-sama, please!' Aisul thought to himself, beginning to panic once more.

'I'll just have to blow this place to high hell if I can't escape…' He thought somberly before continuing, 'At least I'll go out with a bang…'

"Kaha-" Aisul began to laugh before shutting himself up. The sounds of footsteps were moving ever closer to him; he had to make his decision.

'Alright, let's do this before it's too late,' Aisul thought before casting.

[Fly]

'Ok, with this, maybe I can just fly right past them… Shit! They're here! Who the hell are they anyway!?' Aisul thought, beginning to panic again. In times like these, Aisul felt his emotional suppressor was not strong enough, but this was a foolish thought. Aisul's emotions were the only thing that separated him from a normal lich. if not for them, the cult that was his goal would likely not fully accept him into their numbers. They would simply dominate him and use him as a servant, as they would with any other normal lich.

"Ferentus! What the hell happened here!" a hardened voice said from the hallway.

"I don't know…" the voice of a young man replied in a hesitant voice before continuing. "Fluder-sama was holding materials here for research… nothing should have happened like this… I mean look at the door, it's in pieces! And the room is a mess too."

'I was right then! That old man was Fluder Fucking Paradyne!' Aisul thought before his non-existent heart stopped.

"Did someone break in? How could that have happened right under our noses!" The burly voice said, noticing the exploded door.

From the light leaking in from the hallway, Aisul could now see the shadow of two figures walking in through the doorway.

'This is it, just fly past them. Easy as that. These people have to be guards of some kind, and I can't risk combat with this bag of Magi-Quartz…'

"Wait! There could be an assassin! Don't just run straight in!" The young man called out, chasing behind the shadow of a man in full plate armor.

Luckily for Aisul, however, the guard captain of the Imperial Ministry of Magic was a hard-headed man and walked straight in. Not even bothering to check the corner Aisul was hiding in.

"I knew it. No way someone could be in here," The knight, now clearly visible, spoke in a casual tone while inspecting the shattered table at the end of the room.

"You're lucky, guard captain! Nothing more!" The young man followed behind, also not checking the corner like his superior.

'This is my chance!' Aisul thought while immediately starting to fly out of the room at the fastest speed he had ever flown. The foolish knight's thoughts being the last thing he heard.

"Look, the table's blown up too. Musta been whatever Fluder-sama was working on blew up."