'Well, glad to see that works.' Momonga thought to himself as he teleported back in to the throne room. He was referring to the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, which had been forgotten in his panic, that floated gently next to the throne. He quickly sat back down on the throne. Calling the staff to him was thankfully easier than in the game, a mere thought and open hand all that was needed to beckon it towards him.
As his hand closed around the staff he could truly feel its power and connection to him. It was truly awe inspiring to gaze into the depths of that power.
"[Status]" He commanded, hoping to see if anything had changed. When the harsh sound of an invalid game command sounded his worry started to resurface. If he no longer had access to his command window he had no control over his avatar; it had truly become his real body.
"[Open Master Source]" He then tried a command allowed as guild leader. Pushing his will into the Staff, he was happy to see a familiar holographic screen show up in front of him. While he was sure that many of the functions once allowed to the guild leader weren't available, he would now be able to see the status of many systems in Nazarick.
"Momonga-sama, is there some way for me to aid you?" He heard from in front of him.
'Crap! I completely forgot she was here!' He nearly jumped off the throne again in surprise. Thankfully, he was able to somehow keep calm when facing Albedo.
"Yes, please come here." The eager succubus dove towards him at his command, only stopping in front of him once she towered over him, ample breasts fully presented and face flush with excitement. He was taken aback by her forwardness before remembering what he had done to her settings. The shame quickly returned.
"Give me your hand." Once he had calmed down, he ordered her forward to try and tell if the changes to the player avatars extended to NPCs. As he had grasped her arm he was sure it was the same as the beat of her pulse resonated in his grasp. However, he let go of Albedo when he noticed her trembling arm and the flicker of pain on her face.
"I'm sorry, it seems that I forgot about a skill that is active." These were the only words of comfort he could provide for the NPC he had injured.
"No! Please do not mind my discomfort! Any pain I may suffer at your command is worth it!" The rapid response from Albedo surprised him, but not as much as what had happened.
'Is it my passive ability? If so, why didn't Veres feel any pain? As a divine type it should have been excruciating for her, but instead she seemed to not want to let go. Is friendly fire off for just the NPCs, or is it something else?' It took Momonga a few seconds to end the mental tangent before he responded. He couldn't dwell on it with all that he still had to do and so pushed on.
Once he had turned off his more dangerous passive skills he moved on in his testing, but he was nervous about what he wanted to test next. 'Is it really okay to ask her that? She will say yes, but it just seems wrong. Well, I don't really have a choice, do I? There isn't any better way to test it that I can think of. I just need to ask naturally.'
"Albedo, can I touch your chest?!" He asked. His panic once again surfaced when faced with her unreadable expression.
"You don't myo~ind do you?" His spirit withered upon uttering his request in such an emasculating way. The NPC didn't seem to care though as she thrust her ample bosom further into his face.
"Please feel away Momonga-sama!" The look of pure ecstasy on her face as he hesitantly started to grope her showed her growing arousal. Momonga wasn't looking at her though, his gaze was intently focused on her breasts as he grew more confident in his motions. He was soon lost in his own world, torn between the soft and full breasts he was feeling and his inner monolog. It wasn't until he felt a tremendous shudder in the palm of his hand did his focus return to the actual person whose chest he was fondling.
"Ah, I'm sorry. I got carried away." The look of orgasmic bliss on Albedo's face broke any will he had to continue tainting his friend's creation.
"You don't need to apologize! I live to service your every desire master! There is nothing you could do to this body of mine that I would be unhappy with!" The finality in her tone made him worry, he was now quite concerned about how she had been changed by his editing.
"I'm sorry Albedo, but it is improper for us to continue. Instead, I have a task for you to accomplish. I want you to assemble all the Floor Guardians, excluding Gargantua and Victim, in the sixth-floor amphitheater in one hour. I will teleport you to the third floor Guardian Room."
"Understood Momonga-sama." Her ability to return to her role as Guardian overseer impressed him, and he was glad to see that she was truly capable.
*Sixth-floor Amphitheater*
Momonga watched in fascination at the discourse among the Guardians. It reminded him so much of his lost friends that he couldn't bring himself to end the banter between them. He had spent the hour waiting for all the Guardians to assemble testing his magical skills. The mechanics were similar enough to YGGDRASIL that he was confident a little practice was all that was needed to return his skills. Many more of his abilities needed testing still though.
The called upon Floor Guardians trickled in slowly in the order Albedo had contacted them. It wasn't long before they were all present and the Floor Guardians, Sebas, and Brynhildr presented themselves to him. He was glad to see that they had at least superficial loyalty to him still.
"Wonderful! I can feel the loyalty of all your spirits! Now, the Great Tomb of Nazarick and the last guild members of Ainz Ooal Gown seem to have been caught up in a strange incident. Sebas and Brynhildr will report their findings to us so that we may decide the best course of action."
At his command the gentlemanly butler spoke first, describing the change to their environmental surroundings. The lack of hazards in the environment was strange to Momonga, and the lack of intelegent life made him more worried about the unknown than anything else.
"How curious, there are few places in YGGDRASIL with such terrain, and I am confident we aren't near any of them. I can now say with confidence that the Tomb and its inhabitants have been transported to a new world of some kind. Expand our area of surveillance and send out more scouting parties with the appropriate skills. Focus on speed and stealth. Once we are confident of no immediate major threats we can focus more locally. Does anyone have suggestions to help prevent any hostilities?"
"Uhm, we, we could hide the surface of the Tomb with dirt." The shy dark elf boy Mare spoke up to Momonga's surprise.
"You dare suggest we defile the Great Tomb!?" The bloodlust emanating from some of those present was palpable.
"Albedo, enough."
"I apologize Momonga-sama!" He was glad she reined herself in quickly, but was still upset it happened in the first place.
"Indeed. Mare, I leave the implementation of this task to you. However, you must make it look natural so that it blends in instead of making our presence more noticeable."
"Y, yes, Momonga-sama." The timid boy said, visibly elated to have had his idea help their Lord.
"Even with our strengthened defenses I expect all of you to remain alert. No, it is more appropriate to say that with such uncertainty we must be ready for anything." When he was confident the Guardians understood his intent, he turned to the other NPC with a report.
"Brynhildr, what is the status of the Prismatic Ore Mine that was under our control?"
"It has also been transported alongside us Momonga-sama. It is no longer in a distant location though, it is now a mine shaft in this realm with its entrance adjacent to Nazarick. In terms of its interior, all the locally spawned creatures as well as most of the undead laborers have become hostile to any outsider. The mercenary units put in place as commanders remain loyal, but don't have the numbers or strength to return it to operation."
"What about the contents of the mine?"
"Yes, it is physically identical to how it was before, but now any change to the structure becomes permanent. I hit a wall when fending off the spawns and the strike became visible. There was also no apparent refresh rate."
"Does it appear to have become an actual mine shaft that must be carefully dug?"
"It appears so Momonga-sama."
"That is quite the worrying situation. Cocytus, once your floor is secure take an appropriate force to clear out all the threats. We will need to take steps to reassert our control, so we may continue mining. Demiurge, you are to oversee organizing the necessary steps to get it operational again. After that we will need to study how to manipulate the ores with their changed properties. You have your orders, so I must now depart. Before I leave, I wish to hear your opinion of me from each of you."
"How. Amazing. So. That. Is. The. Presence. Of. A. Supreme. Being." The massive insect Guardian Cocytus said.
"Truly the bearing of the ones who created us." Came the smooth reply from the smartly dressed demon Guardian Demiurge.
"Right? It was super scary!" was the energetic reply of Mare's twin sister Aura.
"But, he, he was so nice to us earlier." Mare said, his soft voice missed by the other Guardians.
"Indeed, no other is worthy of ruling over us and controlling the Supreme Beings." Albedo said.
"Hm? Shalltear, are you all right?" Demuirge asked of the vampire Guardian who was still kneeling as tremors ran through her body.
"Ah~ Our Lord's presence was so great my underwear has gone through a crisis." The petite girl said erotically as she finally focused on the others.
"You Bitch!" The fury of the Overseer, who had just professed her love to the same man just moments ago, was nearly visible.
As the two women started to feud over their righteous claim to be the future queen of Nazarick the male Guardians started to slip away, hoping to avoid the quarrel. Sebas quickly excused himself under the pretense of attending their master, but the others couldn't depart so swiftly. They still needed the aid of the two females.
"However, it would be quite interesting to see." Demiurge said more to himself than anyone.
"What. Do. You. Mean?" Cocytus asked, unsure of his more intelligent counterpart's intent.
"Wouldn't you be interested in who wins Momonga-sama's favor?"
"What. Blasphemy. Do. You. Speak?!"
"I am talking about the future of Nazarick, don't you want do swear fealty to our Lord's offspring?"
"Mu! Amazing! How. Wonderful! I. Would. Be. An. Uncle!" As the icy Guardian wandered off in his own fantasy Mare's curiosity won over his insecurity.
"Bu, but, I, I don't think either have a chance." He stated hesitantly.
Time seemed to freeze in that moment as the attention of all present focused on the young boy. The hostility of the bickering females was now solely focused on him, as if in defiance of his claim of their unworthiness. Aura was shocked at her brother's forwardness, Demiurge was intrigued by this differing opinion, and Brynhildr looked on in mild curiosity at the sudden change in atmosphere. Cocytus was just confused.
"Hah?! Who else could be better for our magnificent Lord than a Guardian?!" Shalltear roared.
"I must agree with the lamprey. There are no better candidates then us." Albedo said calmly, a dangerous undertone in her voice promised great pain.
"Owah!? It, it's just th, that I heard Veres-sama f, fancies Momonga-sama!" The panicked boy cried as he tried to escape the attention. His words seemed to have the opposite effect as all present were floored by such implications. To think two Supreme Beings could be together was outside what any of them thought possible.
"When did you hear such an interesting thing Mare?" Demiurge asked, the only one present with the mental facilities to respond after such a surprise.
"I, I overheard Bukubukuchagama-sama speaking with Yamaiko-sama one time. Th-they said they wondered wh, when Veres-sama would confess her feelings to Momonga-sama. They seemed t, to know about her feelings from their 'Women's Intuition'. I, I don't know anything else!" Mare said as he shrank into himself. He was just glad to finally be free of the attention as the hostility died with his words.
"MARVOLOUS! I! CAN! THINK! OF! NOTHING! BETTER! THEN! SWEARING! LOYALTY! TO! THE! CHILD! OF! TWO! SUPREME! BEINGS!" Cocytus quickly lost control of himself upon thinking about such a scenario.
"T, true. I can't argue with that. I could never be equal to a Supreme Being in Momonga-sama's eyes." Shalltear said, a pained look of resignation on her face.
"But, would Momonga-sama even chose Veres-sama in the end? He may not return her affections." Aura commented, curious about the information her brother provided.
"No." Albedo spoke, just louder than a whisper. Her face was pale, twisted into a visage of horror. Upon being confronted with the possibility Albedo had no question about its realism. It had dawned on her that there was no way for her to be her beloved's only love.
"It may already be too late." Her quiet whisper continued. "When Veres-sama was distressed earlier Momonga-sama lost all interest in anything but her wellbeing." Her soft words and an affirmative nod from Brynhildr were all it took to persuade any naysayers to the love interest of their ruler.
"Well, I guess you can still try to gain Momonga-sama's affection. It is quite possible that even Veres-sama might be unable to satisfy the leader of the Supreme Beings."
"True! I just need to work extra hard to be recognized by Momonga-sama! It is fine even if I am just a mistress or meat-toilet! Being able to lay with two Supreme Beings would be even better if Veres-sama wishes it! Let us women work together to better our chances of being recognized!" Shalltear cried out towards her competitors turned sisters-in-arms. Aura seemed to want to say 'what can you do?' towards the overeager the more reserved Guardians, while Albedo was a ghastly white similar to Shalltear's complexion.
"Well, there isn't much we can do about it right now. If you wish to impress our Lord, you must first accomplish your tasks. I have much to do, so I must be off. Will someone also please get Cocytus? He seems to have wandered off." Demiurge said as he departed. Mare had already slipped away to complete his duties, happy to be out of the lime-light.
All of the NPCs soon departed to complete their duties, each going their separate way. Brynhildr also departed, although she had no destination yet. She hadn't been given orders and was thus unsure in what she should do. She didn't feel it would be appropriate to return to her mistress, she was in enough distress when she left for Momonga-sama's room. She could return to the mine, but wading through the mindless low tier monsters didn't appeal to her. Plus, she was conflicted.
She was loyal, of that she had no doubt. But she felt that her loyalty was to Veres-sama first and Nazarick second. She was also an angel type, so she was a little uncomfortable about the implications of her Holy Mistress loving an undead lord. The principle of such a union conflicted with her very nature.
Brynhildr was also different from the other NPCs, as she was classified as a Mercenary not a Base NPC. This meant that Veres-sama had very little impact on her settings, and she had been outside the Tomb before. She had even witnessed many fights with her mistress and other guild members fighting side-by-side. She respected the strength of Momonga-sama and understood her mistress' wish to follow him, but felt her loyalties ended there.
Making a decision, she headed for the exit of the Tomb. Her skills would be appreciated in defending against any attacks, and the fresh air would be nice. Hopefully a calmer atmosphere would also help her organize her feelings on the distressing information brought up by the Floor Guardians.
*Hello! I just want to say I am glad to see the positive reception I have gotten so far, as well as say a few things. This story will have its tone change quite a bit at times (the next chapter will be much more serious). It will have some bitter, some sweet, and maybe even some lemony flavors to it at times. It is rated M for a reason. I will try a couple things regarding mature content in the next few chapters to test the waters. Anything too raunchy won't show up for a while though. As always, please comment so that I can fix any mistakes and see what the reader wants.*