Neia's church had been preparing for the country's collapse for a long time now.

It was likely going to be a bloody one. A civil war between those who've seen her darling's glory, and those who remained blind to it.

She was now in the Holy King's palace, privately discussing the details with Caspond, who was himself anticipating this development for months.

They were sitting next to each other, and in front of them were countless maps and documents.

"... Miss Baraja, have you verified the people's stance on conscription? It would be a great tool for us to use, since the infrastructure is all still there."

"I would hope that would be a last resort. Being conscripted to fight their own countrymen would be very unpopular, even if we have tried our best to stress that this is an attack on all of us and our faith. And so, I believe our initial force should be only the current volunteers. There will also be a wave of new ones right after the fighting starts, and we predict it to be rather large."

They did not feel like a large initial force was needed. They would mostly focus on defence, and wait to see what their options would be. Ensuring continuous public support from their own side was one of the most important things, and so effectiveness of tactics needed to be balanced with how those tactics would be viewed. If they already had a massive army and were preparing for the war openly, some of their own people might see them as the aggressors, diminishing support.

Caspond was nodding along silently until she finished, at which point he seemed to be in deep thought for a few moments.

"Yes... I am very grateful for all your hard work, Miss Baraja... but there is one central piece of the puzzle we seem to be missing. I'm sure you realise..."

"Ah, that's..."

He was talking about what the Sorcerer Kingdom's response would be.

Rather, he was asking her. It was no secret that she could contact the Sorcerer King. And since Caspond did not know anything himself, she was the most likely person to have such information ahead of everyone else.

Neia sighed, preparing to tell him what her darling explained before. It was not exactly good news.

"Your Majesty... I was informed that the Sorcerer Kingdom doesn't want to interfere in other countries' internal affairs without very good reason, and so they will likely not support us officially..."

Caspond looked away with a troubled expression.

"Of course… that's only to be expected, after all…"

A gloomy silence filled the room. Neither of them wanted to speak until suddenly, he turned to Neia with a bitter smile.

"Ah, but there's no need to call me 'Your Majesty'."

"Is that so?"

"Aren't we equal in status at this point? Even if we weren't, surely we've been acquaintances long enough, hm?"

"I suppose. Very well, Caspond."

... ... ...

Demiurge stepped through the [Gate], appearing in the Holy King's chambers.

There, the doppelganger was already kneeling.

"Lord Demiurge."

"Report."

"The discussion with Neia Baraja went as you predicted, and my final orders were relayed."

The demon adjusted his glasses with a smile.

He had originally planned to initiate the conflict months from now, but the wars with the Theocracy and Council State were a boon in accelerating things.

Not only that, the preacher girl was also doing excellent work, even better than he had predicted.

Behind him, some lesser demons were carrying the perfectly preserved, unharmed body of the true Caspond Bessarez.

It was time.

... ... ...

Neia was laying in a bathtub, trying her best to simply relax.

There was finally no more work for the day, and so she took her darling's advice and tried to rest. He seemed really concerned, insisting that she take more breaks.

And so, that's what she was doing now.

He had also started sending larger portions of food, as well as small snacks, so that she could "stress-eat", as he called it. Eating was very relaxing for Neia, so she found that it really did help a lot.

Neia yawned, feeling that she was getting a bit sleepy.

Recently, her dreams about a future with her darling were increasing in number, and so she was looking forward to sleeping. She dreamt about their wedding, about them adopting a child…

She closed her eyes, thinking that perhaps she might even fall asleep now, as she was bathing.

But right after, someone burst into the room, spooking her and making her squeak in surprise.

It was the maid she was probably the most friendly with, Emma. The look on her face was one of horror.

"Your Holiness!"

"Emma?! What's going on?"

"The Holy King was assassinated!"

Neia's face went pale.

"Right after you left the palace, a man working with the southern nobles was able to somehow get close and kill him! You were supposed to be killed as well, but left earlier than they expected!"

She immediately jumped out of the water and grabbed a towel.

The war has just started.

... ... ...

Ainz was sitting in his office, carelessly stamping documents he did not understand.

He did his best to at least vaguely glance at the contents of some of them.

"Ah, one of the frost dragons gave birth... cool. Expenses to raise it? Demiurge wants to experiment? Sure. Why not? Here's a stamp."

He grabbed another document.

"Trading with the Dragon Kingdom... okay, alright... stamped."

He was muttering to himself to prevent the boredom-induced insanity from fully taking him.

"And here's... ah, runecraft! Please tell me the sales are up! Please be some good news!"

It wasn't. He stamped it anyway, but with sadness.

He reached for another document.

"Hmm... projected growth of the economy... okay. Oh yeah. Understood. Uh-uh."

Right as he stamped the puzzling report, a knocking was heard on the door.

"This is Increment, here with a letter from the kitchen!"

It must have been from Neia. Finally something that wasn't this. The insanity seemed to disappear as he wondered what she might want to talk about. He could even say he was excited at being rescued from this hell, especially if it was Neia, and not someone who would just add more piles to his workload.

"Come in."

The maid bowed, and then hurried over to bring him the single piece of folded paper.

"Here, Lord Ainz!"

"Is that all?"

"Yes!"

"Thank you. You may return to whatever it is that you were doing."

"Thank you, Lord Ainz!"

He waited for her to leave before opening the letter.

"Your Majesty. The Holy King was assassinated. It seems the war has started. I was the secondary target, so I may be in danger… I am scared, but don't worry, I will do my best!"

Ainz was honestly surprised. Did Demiurge really start it already? Was that mentioned in the report?

Either way, he needed to think now.

She was scared. That wasn't good. He should be a good pretend-boyfriend and do something to ease her worries.

Neia was already being guarded without her knowledge, and she probably wasn't in any real danger in the first place, but what could he do to make her feel safe?

And then, he found the perfect answer.

He would send CZ over.

Not only would she no longer be afraid, but both of the girls would be happy to see each other again.

... ... ...

Neia was sitting on her bed, trying to calm down. Or better yet, fall asleep.

Since everything regarding her church's part in the civil war was already so well prepared, there wasn't actually much for her to do now.

Tomorrow, after all the facts regarding the assassination would hopefully be known, she would give a speech about it. It will give excellent justification for their side, while also being that much needed recruiting tool. Her script will also be forwarded to as many of their speakers as possible. Those further away from the capital were already equipped with scripts which would need to be adjusted only slightly based on what the inciting incident was, in case there were any issues with getting Neia's version to them in time.

She already had some ideas about how to frame this, but there were still some questions regarding the assassination. For example, how did the man get close to the Holy King? Who was he? Were more people in the palace traitors? If she was also a target, were there others?

Was she still in danger?

Neia looked at the female paladin stationed in her room, and felt just a bit safer after doing so.

She decided to lay down on her back, determined to get some sleep tonight. Tomorrow was going to be a difficult day, so she needed it.

But her mind simply did not allow her to rest just yet.

And so, she tried to think of nice things.

She thought about His Majesty.

She thought about them hugging… holding hands… kissing…

She thought about their wedding, wondering what it would be like. Would it be a massive ceremony with countless people attending, and would it last the entire day? Or maybe it would be just something small, where their trusted friends would spend the day talking and celebrating with good food and drink?

Inevitably, her fantasies also wandered towards what married couples did on the night of the wedding.

She thought about all the ways he would touch her body. All the ways she would touch his.

But this wasn't the time. She really should just sleep now.

Just then, a disc of darkness and energy appeared in the room.

She sat back up instantly.

Was it His Majesty?

Instead, a maid passed through, the portal closing behind her.

The paladin was already pointing her sword at the intruder.

"W-what?! Who are you?! How did you get here?!"

"... I'm Shizu."

The paladin looked to Neia, who was now getting off the bed.

"That's Shizu!"

"I see! I apologise for drawing my weapon!"

"... It's fine."

Neia rushed over to embrace her friend.

"Shizu! It's been so long! It certainly feels that way, at least!"

"... Yes. I am happy to see you."

"But what are you doing here? Did His Majesty send you?"

"... Yes. Lord Ainz said you were in danger, so I should defend you. Also that we were friends, so we should be together."

Neia smiled bitterly.

She was truly happy to see her friend again, but she wished it could have been under different circumstances.

"I was just about to go to sleep, but that won't do, right? Let's sit down and talk!"

"... No, you should get rest. It's getting late."

She frowned.

"Are you sure? I want to welcome my good friend…"

"... You want to spend time together right now?"

"Yes, I want to be a good host to you!"

"... But you need to sleep… hmm…"

Shizu looked like she was thinking very hard.

"... Why don't we sleep together?"

"W-what?! What do you mean?!"

"... I could cuddle you while you fall asleep. I love hugging cute things."

"Huh?! B-but isn't that a bit inappropriate?!"

"... We're both girls, right? It should be fine."

"I- I suppose that's true?"

Neia remembered the female paladin still in the room.

When she looked at her, the woman's body language clearly indicated she felt like she shouldn't be there to hear any of that.

"Uhm… Linda, you are dismissed for the day."

"Yes, Your Holiness!"

The paladin rushed out the door immediately.