*I am happy for the feedback on the fight scene. As for many of your noted concerns, I never said Narberal was exhausted, just breathing more heavily like in her fight with Khajiit. I even chose Narberal over Yuri for a reason, so there's no reason for you to lose your heads *ba dum tss*. I'm an awful person aren't I?*
Nine people sat around a small campfire with bowls of soup. The Swords of Darkness and Nifirea dug into the simple fare with gusto. They were famished after the hard battle earlier. On the other side, Ainz and his party were much more reserved.
The two maids didn't eat anything. With no need to eat due to magic items or race they weren't interested in the human food. Veres and Ainz just played with the food in their bowls. The food was simple and meant to be easy to transport and store, so the taste was rather salty and bland.
After eating a few meals in Nazarick it became difficult to slog through the food. It wasn't even as good as the industrial mass-market food of Japan. That food had been engineered to appeal to the tastes.
For Ainz, eating became an adventure all its own. As a skeleton he didn't have the normal parts needed for eating, and if he wasn't careful it would just fall through his jaw. To eat he needed to activate his Undead Touch racial skill.
When in contact with food in his 'mouth' he was able to taste things. The skill would then destroy the food, turning it to dust. It also increased the sensitivity of his sense of touch, making things feel 'normal' instead of as if he was wearing gloves.
The challenges of eating like this were numerous. The most pressing one was for him to have to control his skill to not hurt those around him. It had been quite the scare when he touched a maid and she fell over dead. The anger he'd focused on himself for hurting his friends' children, even accidentally, took a long time to abate.
Luckily, they were able to resurrect her using the Guild Control system and she had woken up without memories of the incident, but otherwise fine. It was a thankfully cheap and easy way to test another function of the base, and he was relieved that it worked properly. Feeling guilty, he 'rewarded' her with assisting him for rest of the day when she refused time off.
Now, he ate carefully to not break the illusion placed on his face. While it was much stronger than normal using some of Veres' skills, it could still be broken. He also had to focus the Undead Touch into only his mouth, so he didn't accidently kill one of the humans if he brushed up to them. It was an exercise in control of his body's functions that took great effort.
Eventually, he gave up eating as being too much effort for too little. He and Veres stopped eating, putting their half-eaten bowls down in front of them. As everyone finished eating, the humans took out their damaged and used equipment to make any repairs they could, as well as properly care for their equipment. The way they cleaned and cared for their equipment made it obvious that they were professionals.
"Na-Nabe-san. Would you be able to tell me how you learned such powerful magic? I really want to learn more and get stronger. If I could learn from someone like you, who has reached the realm of heroes, I could finally reach my goal and save my sister." Ninya asked. She was hesitant to ask the reserved and at times hostile mage but wanted to learn how she could get stronger.
"Shut up inferior lifeform (Gadfly). It would be a waste of time for me to teach someone like you." The words spoken in response were harsh. They didn't quite understand the emotions behind those words, but all of the humans could tell that it meant Ninya didn't have the talent needed. When Ainz saw the saddened visage of the young adventure in front of him he felt obliged to say something.
"Ehem. Ah, it might not be the best idea for you to follow the same path as Nabe. You saw what she could do earlier, but that is truly the extent of her power. Even though she can use fifth-tier spells, she is rather limited in the range of spells she can use." An expression of understanding crossed the faces of Ninya and Nifirea. As magicians, they understood what he meant.
"Why is that Momon-san? Wouldn't she have needed to learn lots of spells to get to such a high level?" Peter didn't understand though. As a warrior he knew that you needed to learn the basics and build from there. You couldn't just skip steps to get more powerful.
"That's because she's an elementalist. She focused solely on lighting magic in her training, and now can't use many attack spells outside of [Lighting] based attacks. Of course, she was able to achieve higher tiers much more easily and with more powerful attacks within her expertise. In the end, she trained in specialization over general performance." That explanation Peter could understand.
As a warrior, there were many styles he could learn from. Many more skilled warriors would even make up their own styles. These styles became quite potent if one spent years mastering them, but in turn would be weak to certain counters instead. It truly comes down to a Jack of All Trades or Master of One choice.
"But wouldn't that also mean certain counters would be very effective against her?"
"Correct. That, as well as explaining and proving her abilities were too much effort and risk when we are still strangers, is why we only said she could use 3rd tier magic."
"I apologize for my lack of skill." Narberal seemed to be genuinely remorseful in her inability to use more powerful or useful skills to serve her Master.
"Hey, hey. It's still pretty impressive what you have been able to do. For someone so young to be that good takes a lot of talent. Surely you have some advice for our aspiring mage here, right?" Peter asked, clapping Ninya on the back.
"Well, you would probably know by now if you are skilled as an elementalist. Also, it never hurts to learn new skills. If you can't keep up with your comrades physically you may get them killed." The finality in Momon's tone made Ninya gulp. Thinking back on the battle from earlier, she realized just how right Momon is. Whenever they were put in a physically demanding situation she would only slow everyone down. Perhaps adding some endurance or minor weapons training would be best. She'd need to ask Lukrut to help her train after this job.
"Well, in terms of talent, I think you have all of us beaten. You and Mel were monsters out there." Lukrut's light tone shifted the topic masterfully. Unfortunately, his words made a certain skeleton incredibly nervous.
"Really? I don't think our strength is that amazing. Plus, you've seen our faces."
"No, that's not what I mean. You're different from us, even from Nabe and Lily. The two of you are really magnificent. At first, I was jealous of you for having beautiful women following you, but with your strength it really makes sense. Honestly, you must have been on some amazing adventures to get so strong."
"Yes, it was really fun. There was us, a Paladin, a Monk, and a Nin- Thief." They could all hear the melancholy in his voice. His heavy tone and the downcast look of the party made them think something bad had happened to their friends.
"Well, I'm sure one day you'll find comrades like them again!"
"That will never happen." Ninya's uplifting tone was crushed by Ainz's harsh refute. The tone became heavy as they all felt the pain he felt from losing his friends.
"Excuse me. I want to check the perimeter for more monsters in case we missed any." Ainz put forth a lame excuse to get away from them. The fresh wound of being abandoned in YGGDRASIL was still very painful, even with his undead state his emotions could take control at times.
As he walked away, the humans watched his female party members move to follow after him. A harsh glare full of bloodlust from Mel made the other two sit down. She had no interest in letting the two beauties comfort Momon. The unwitting humans were made painfully clear of the hierarchy within the other team as the young masked ranger followed after Momon's armored figure.
"Ah, what a blunder." Was all Lukrut could say to the suddenly dreary atmosphere. They could all tell how sensitive a topic their former comrades were for Momon's team.
"I did something really bad didn't I?" Ninya was distraught by how she'd hurt Momon. She knew exactly what it was like to lose someone close and she had brought up replacing them insensitively.
"There's nothing you can do about it now. Just make sure to apologize to him later. By the way, what kind of relation do Momon and Mel have? They're more than friends, right?" Peter tried to move on to a (hopefully) less tricky topic. They were all surprised by the complex expressions on the normally stoic beauties.
"Well. Yes, but I don't think in the way you mean. They traveled together for years, and were the closest out of all of the Supreme Ones. With the others gone, they have gotten closer." Lily hesitantly said. It was clearly something they didn't want to discuss with outsiders, but they didn't feel like there was a choice.
"We'll just have to make them close the distance then." Lukrut proclaim, full of energy. All the humans started cheering as they thought up ways to drive their super-human companions together.
The two disguised maids looked out towards where their beloved Master's went with small smiles on their faces. They would do anything to please them, and nobody, nobody, in Nazarick disputed their potential relationship. Even though these humans were inferior, there was a chance they could help their Masters find happiness, and that was worth taking.
"Plus, if a man like that gets taken we would finally have a chance. Ah, my beautiful Lily. Please aid me in bringing them together, so I may learn how to express my love fore you!" Lukrut's sudden and strange cry was followed by a harsh smack from Peter. His outlandish dreams and proclamations of being with such a beauty already following a future legend dispersed the remaining clouds over their conversations, and they all traded stories and dreams around the campfire as the night wore on.
Veres stood silently behind Ainz. After an obligatory walk around the camp he sat down in front of a large boulder. He hadn't even once noted her presence.
"They're all gone, huh." He said, more to himself than Veres.
"Damn it! We spent so long! So many hours, so much money! All for what!? Most of them never even bothered to say goodbye. It's almost, almost like it never even mattered!" Without a need to conceal his feelings from the only other person, he let all the dark emotions boil out. Even with his emotions suppressed, there was still a frothing resentment simmering in his heart over the loss of his friends. Only strong emotions were suppressed, so that small kernel of resentment was bared for him to feel.
"It didn't. At least not for them." Veres' cold words made Ainz snap his head over to her. He could feel her distaste for the way things ended, and some small part of him wondered if she was right.
"To them it was a fun game to spend their free time on and enjoy exploring. How many of them gave up everything for Nazarick? Not just their free time and money, how many actually made it their lives? Only you." It hit Ainz like a truck. She was right. The biggest reason they all stayed in the game and together was because it was fun. Because they were winning. Even he nearly quit after being PKed so many times, and if their first raid as a guild hadn't gone so well they probably would have broken up, many leaving the game to find some new enjoyment.
"What about you? You stayed to the end, even though you didn't exactly have an easy time at the start. Why stay?" He spoke with baited breath.
"I was in a dark place when we met. Why I stayed that long was out of convenience and commitment, I didn't want to just give up what I'd worked for without a fight. But, once I joined the Guild, it was fun again. Not because we were winning, or some dream I wanted to fulfil. It was just, fun. I finally had people around me who treated me well, and I wasn't so alone. As time went on and people started leaving, it was still fun." That didn't make sense. When people started leaving they stopped the large raids and epic quests. They had already learned so much about the game and had their golden age.
"What was fun wasn't the quests or anything. What was fun, was you. You made me feel normal again, like I wasn't some invalid. You treated me like a normal person and got me to go out and do things. That is why I stayed with you to the end. And why I'll stay with you now." Ainz was speechless. He had always known she cared about him, but this seemed a bit much. He couldn't respond as she came and sat down between his legs. He didn't have the cognitive power to do anything when she leaned back into him. He absently held her when she grabbed his armored hand, pulling around her smaller frame.
"You know, this world really is amazing. I don't think I can ever get used to it, and I'd hate to see this world lose its beauty like ours." Veres commented, looking up into the clear night sky.
"Ah-yeah." They lapsed into a comfortable silence as they enjoyed the quiet night.
As the night went on, they both thought about what the future would bring. They were in a world full of unknowns without a clue as to why or how. They didn't even know if they were alone here, but they probably weren't. Would other players be as calm as they are? How would they react to Nazarick, especially given their history?
That made Ainz think about how he met Veres. The Guild had run into her trying to fight off several players on her own. She really didn't stand a chance and the guild attacking her, Seraphim, wasn't exactly friendly with Ainz Ooal Gown. They would hunt players and beings they thought were 'evil' and torment them for sport. It was all the reason they needed to help butcher them.
The hard part had come after. A lot of the Guild didn't want to add a new member after the Three Burning Eyes incident. It had taken all of his negotiation skills and experience as Guild Leader to get enough people to let her join. Add on that Veres was originally in a light orientated guild that was allied with Seraphim, and most didn't trust her at all. For months she was kept at arms-length by almost everybody.
He hadn't though. When he heard that she had been targeted because of her racial classes, he felt a sense of comradery with his own experience of being hunted. Plus, Veres just seemed to like to hang around him and with their complimenting builds, they became good friends.
It was because of this he felt he had to say something about his feelings. They had been ripped from their old lives, yet he was overall enjoying it. It could be stressful dealing with the NPCs, but with Veres around he could let go every now and then.
"I don't want to go back, not really. There's just so much more in this world." Ainz spoke from his heart. He didn't want to lie about it when the girl literally in his arms had voiced her feelings. Veres looked back at him, a curious glimmer in her eyes.
"Do you want to stay? We could rule Nazarick, live out our biggest fantasies."
"You aren't going to try and go back? Even if you were given an opportunity?"
"No, not if going back means leaving you, leaving all of this. I, I like being strong and capable. I like to be able to go out and do whatever I want whenever I want to. I even like having the maids serve my every whim when they aren't over-bearing. And, if staying here means I can stay by your side, then I won't go back."
Ainz wasn't sure what that meant. He could tell how much happier she was at times, but was it really because of him?
"What do we do then? The NPCs, they see us as gods. Can we really live up to their expectations? I don't want to lose what's left of everything we built." Veres could feel his hesitation at being a ruler. He had been thrust into the position of a king without any notice, and now so much was expected of him.
"We have fun as gods. Nazarick is our home. I don't think we can live up to all their expectations, so we should just be the best rulers we can be. You are already perfect for the job. You brought the guild together and made us so successful.
The NPCs, they have become so much more then their programming, and they'll keep growing over time. What they think isn't going to change my opinion of you, so should we really force them to be anything else?"
"…Damn it. It's all just so much. I don't know how we are going to manage everything. A game is one thing, but real life…"
"I know. What ever happens, I'll stay by your side." As Veres burrowed into his embrace the two talked and laughed the night away. Bitter-sweet memories about days gone by and light-hearted quips at each other's expense passed the time for the two immortals.
*I decided to make Ainz able to eat for a couple reasons. To me it makes no sense for him to not have a sense of taste when he has every other sense. So, I went with his undead touch having some abilities. We really don't know how his racial passives work and he shut it off in the LN. Just thought it would be a good way to add a few new (minor) physical abilities without changing his character. He needs to get that missing bone somehow.*