Chapter 14
The sound of glasses of wine crashing and the false laughs of the nobles who seem to enjoy themselves with no worry about the world around them. It can only reflect the decay of the nobility of the Baharuth empire.
In the party's ambiance, there is a teenage, a little blond hair girl with blue eyes and delicate features. She had the look of a proper noble lady, but in her eyes, there was anger and desperation, as she was arguing with both of her parents.
"We should not be here!" she hissed.
"We are not nobles anymore," she announced as her father stares at her with fury on his face.
"Silence! Before someone hears us!" he said.
"How much gold you lost to get invited to this party?! How much?!" the blond girl exclaimed.
"Not much, just around 50 gold coins!" the girl just looks stunned at the price of the invitation.
"Did you wasted all I gather?!" she said, with fury on her eyes.
"You are our daughter, Arche! is your duty to help your parents!" he yelled.
"Dear, stop before someone hears us," Arche's mother said, calming the pathetic excuse of a man. Her mother has been always very weak and very submissive. It was not surprising that even now, she was oblivious about what is happening around them. How their family is getting more and more in debt, and they would be in a lot of monumental problems if they keep going like this.
"Father, please, we don't have enough gold to last another year… please, I begged you stop trying to live the same lifestyle we had before, we are not nobles anymore, we need to think about our future." Arche implores at her father, as much she hates doing it.
"We just need to find a suitable match for you and your sisters, once we get that we could return to the fold, and plot to get that emperor out of the throne!" he said convinced of his master's plan.
"It's impossible, I told you! And I will not marry an old man or let you throw my sisters to any kind of marriage as well!" She would not let her father do something like that, even if she had to take her sisters and run somewhere else.
"How dare you!" Before he could hit his disrespectful daughter, another noble brought his attention.
"Oh, Sir Furt, nice to see you!" an old fat man said with an enormous smile.
"Ah, Count Wulat!" Arche's father looks thrilled to see this fat lord. Something that brought the attention of a young girl.
"May I present you my wife, and my older daughter," he said and the moment the fat lord look at Arche, she felt shivers down her spine.
"She is truly a beauty," the fat lord said licking his lips.
That action was disgusting and made Arche feel physically sick, even though she hated the man's gaze upon her. She was glad that it was her and not her little sisters.
"Well, well, what don't we talk over there? Mm? Let's talk about the future," Arche father looks thrilled and like the fool he is, went with him. Bringing a feeling of dread on Arche's heart.
"Now, I need to talk with my friends, be careful, and don't bring shame to our family," Madame Furt, Arche's mother said.
Arche is shock and angry; she was not stupid like them. She knew that her family was not openly welcome to these kinds of parties, not anymore, like many families who were purged by the emperor went he took the throne, they are not welcome to this gathering. They are pariahs.
And now she must deal with the pointing fingers and the mocking of other noble families.
"I will take them away… before my father does something stupid, I will take one more or couple more jobs… perhaps only one and then we will go away from here," Arche murmured, getting as far away from the party as possible.
Arche thought about how much her family has changed. A few years ago, she was happy; she was a student in the Magic academy, even an apprentice of none other than Fluder Paradyne, the strongest magic caster in the empire. She was born with an innate talent, the "All-seeing eyes".
Everything was going great for them until the emperor Jircniv Rune Farlord El Nix took the throne. The purge of the nobility gave him the title of "The Bloody Emperor" and now her family like many others are going down slowly, one by one.
Arche refuses to think what would have happened if she was not as talented as she was, it was the only thing that keeps her family going. Arche thought for a while about becoming an adventurer but quickly dismissed it. The money was not as good as she thought it would be.
Being a worker was dangerous, yes, but more attractive economically and she is lucky to find an excellent team to work with. She was so happy to meet them; they have helped her a lot.
Arche sighed. She then hears quite the commotion. It was on the main floor and from the second floor; she saw a girl with a maid.
Arche would not lie, the maid was a beautiful woman; she had a soft smile and gentle eyes, just like a mother would. The petty girl who, Arche believes to be the same age as her, is incredible pretty, with long black hair, delicate features, and powerful golden eyes.
Arche knew that this petty girl would grow up to be quite a stunning woman, and they seem to be popular.
She remembers her father saying something about an heiress who came to the empire a few weeks ago. Somewhere from the south, perhaps the Holy Kingdom, they seem to have migrated to the empire in search of more green lands to settle down. And they're supposed to be very rich, like very filthy rich.
"She looks so… arrogant," Arche whispers.
Arche saw how the childish girl is looking down at everyone in the party like they were just worms on her feet. The maid seems to be quite tired as she sighs at the behavior of her lady. Arche felt bad for her. She knows about that kind of girl, "daddy princesses", Arche calls them, they get what they want when they want, and no one can say no to them.
"Typical," Arche muttered.
Then she saw her mother approach them. She could only facepalm as her mother seems to get them to their side, whatever that means, the only thing that her mother was doing, is to bring attention to their family. And just as she said it, her mother seems to be the center of ridicule without her noticing. Arche cursed and quickly went to save her mother from the nobles who are nothing but vultures on dead meat.
"Oh my, are you madame Furt? Aren't you supposed to be… having financial problems? How do you get in?" one noblewoman said with a hidden smirk.
"W-well we manage to get an invitation," madame Furt said with a nervous smile.
"But how? Do you have any gold at all?"
"W-we..."
"My apologies, Miss Espinela, to have to endure such company," the noble lady said, while many laughs at the poor madame Furt who seems oblivious of it.
"Don't worry, I am getting used to filth," miss Espinela said with a distant face. While her maid seems to sigh even more.
The nobles seem to not notice that she was talking about them.
"It's the price we must pay, we, the nobles of a nation, there are some who are not worthy to be at our level, I hope you understand," the condescending tone of the noblewoman was not lost to Arche who'd just arrived.
"Mother, please let's go," Arche said forcibly.
"B-but why, Arche? I am..."
"Now mother!" she said getting her mother from that place.
"How rude!"
"No wonder they are not nobles anymore~"
All the nobles there seem to forget that both the maid and the little miss seem to have been watching with an intense gaze to the girl who just left.
"It's that her, Yuri?"
"Yes, miss Rubedo," Rubedo only nod, as she saw her objective getting further away from them.
When the party ended, Rubedo and Yuri went back to their mansion, their base in the Baharut Empire. Yuri is serving some tea as Rubedo seems to report back to her sister.
"{Sister, we made contact with our objective, how should we proceed?}" Rubedo said, waiting for her sister's response, but the only thing she heard from her point, were soft sobbing.
"{Sister, are you there?}" Rubedo asks a little confused.
"{I am here, my little sister… it's just that your older sister is very depressed. Very, extremely sad}" Albedo said.
"{Ah, okay… but what about my mission? What should I do?}" she asks again.
"{Our lady's… our lady's first time was not with me!~}" Rubedo almost cringed when she heard Albedo wails of sorrow.
"{Eh, sister… my mission?}"
"{How could it happen?! I knew it! I should've not let those two go! I should have known that Lupusregina would be the first!}" Rubedo just shook her head, ending the call.
"My sister… it's not right on the head," she mumbled.
"She took the news bad… like Lady Shalltear," Yuri said.
"I guess so, but I wonder how it happened so fast?" Rubedo said, taking a sip of the tea.
"It was our lady will to take Lupusregina as her first lover," Rubedo blushes a little, thinking about when they found it out.
It was the day their lady came back from her undercover mission. Lady Galadriel just went to her room, holding the hand of Lupusregina. Hours later, both Albedo and Shalltear found out what was happening in there, as both heard the squeals of pleasure of their lady through the entire floor.
Shalltear and Albedo spent the entire day on the bar, getting drunk, or at least trying to get drunk since both of them were immune to intoxication.
"Well, our lady was cheerful the next day," Rubedo said with a smile.
"Although I must admit, I am jealous of Lupusregina," Yuri admitted.
"You and pretty much everyone else," Rubedo said.
"That's very true."
"Well, since my sister still is… not over it, we need to think about what we know," Rubedo said taking a scroll out.
"Thankfully, Lord Demiurge has been doing a fine job," she said.
"Arche Eeb Rile Furt, the oldest daughter of the Furt family, she is capable of Tier 3 magic and is blessed with a talent, call "All-seeing eyes" that allows her to see the tier of a magic caster," Rubedo said as she continues read the information from the scroll.
"Her family is neck-deep in debt and she is working to pay for it,"
"Our orders are to get close to those with special talents and to investigate the empire's nobility and their military strength," Rubedo let a frustrated sigh as Yuri told her the objectives.
"It's something wrong, Miss Rubedo?"
"Yuri, I was created to fight, to eliminate our enemies, I am not a good actor, I can't pretend to care about those worms like you or others from Nazarick, I was close to snap and kill those annoying humans, especially that fat one who keep looking at me with those perverts eyes," Rubedo said irritated.
"I understand, Miss Rubedo still those are our orders, and failure is not an option," said Yuri, and Rubedo had a pout on her face.
"Now, would you like a bath or perhaps dinner first?"
"I want nothing," said Rubedo with a childish tone, Yuri sighs as she remembers what Lady Albedo told her about her little sister childish tantrums.
"None of that young lady, you will take a bath and dinner then you will go to sleep, or I will call your sister, lady Nigredo, understand?" that seems to do the trick, as a sobbing Rubedo stood up with tears on her cheeks.
"I hate you! Yo-you bad, ugly maid!" she said as she runs to the second floor.
"Don't forget about brushing your hair!" Yuri exclaim with a slight smile on her face.
"I won't! I am not a child!"
Back in Nazarick, a certain demon empress was looking at the body in front of her with keen interest. She was debating with herself what exact spell she must use to revive a certain dead body.
"My lady, are you sure about this?" Galadriel saw a certain succubus with a smile.
"Thank god she stopped brooding, she was unbearable… well, it is partly my fault since I should've told her about taking Lupusregina as my first lover. And besides, I was just too horny to think about other things. Well, I will deal with Albedo's relentless pursuit of love and Shalltear pervert advances later," she thought.
"Yes, now Pestonya use [True revive] and then, [Max Healing]"
Pestonya, the head maid of Nazarick, immediately obeys her lady and uses her skills on the decomposed body.
Galadriel thought what to do with Ninya's body, she thought about experimenting with her a little, to see the drawback of resurrection, perhaps killing her again and then use a resurrection wand and see if there is any difference, as well if she could use [Hell Necromancy].
She was very curious about that skill since back in Yggdrasil, you could revive low-level NPCs and turn them into minor demons. But at the end of the day, she decides against that, the poor girl didn't deserve that lifestyle.
Besides, Clementine is quite the experimenting toy. They broke the blond girl to the extreme. She didn't even scream anymore, she just stands there looking at the wall, humming softly and talking to her imaginary brother. Like something trapped her in her own mind space.
She got an amazing idea about what to do to her. She wanted to reconstruct Clementine's mind using no skill. Demiurge was quite excited to do so. Both of them were.
To be able to play with a human mind, it's interesting. They wanted to build up a new Clementine from the ground up. Making her loyal to them, and perhaps to see if they could recreate the procedure again in someone else, then she would use [Hell Necromancy] on her, and see what happen.
The soft moans of Ninya brought the attention of the demon empress, who saw the small fragile girl slowly waking up.
"Wha-wha… what happened," Ninya mumbled, looking around her slowly.
"You are alive, Ninya, I brought you back," Galadriel said.
Galadriel thought it would be the best thing to do in this situation, to be that figure to the girl, to be her savior and all that. She needs to learn how to inspire loyalty in the old fashion way, she already has a background in this world to play along with, it was the only good thing those noobs did that she was thankful for.
"Wh-who are..." Ninya was about to say something, but her voice suddenly disappears as she saw the person in front of her.
"Welcome to the world of the living, Ninya," Galadriel said with a regal voice.
"You… you are..." Ninya wanted to speak, but she didn't find her voice.
"Me? Me?" Galadriel let a slight laugh as she saw the stunned girl.
"I will help you with that, my name is famous after all… I am the supreme ruler of the great tomb of Nazarick, Yggdrasil's goddess of war, daughter of the ancient gods of the nine realms Friggs and Odin, Jôrmungandr's tamer, the god of your gods, the Ancient One… or as you know me better, Galadriel Melkor," Albedo and Pestonya had devotion on their eyes and poor Ninya too.
They didn't know that inside of their lady's mind; she is rolling on the ground, ashamed of everything she said.
"But… how?!" Ninya finally spoke.
"I guess, a little of explanation it's needed. Would you feel better if I was in this form?" Ninya looks in complete shock as she saw a certain warrior before her.
"Miss… Elian?!"
"Indeed, I took this form when I became an adventurer, you may not understand but… I recently woke up," she said deciding to sound thoughtful.
"Woke up?" ask Ninya.
"My old world was ending, it was only natural, everything has a beginning and an end, so I use my power to recreate a world to my image, a fresh world, with alternative possibilities. But the creation of such a thing took a toll on me, so I went to sleep, to rest," she said using her glorious pose number II.
"In the millennia to come, I send vassals to take care of this world, I believe you have heard of them," she said as Ninya was only nodding in fascination.
"Some of them rose to be gods, others to be greedy kings, other to be heroes, but at the end of all things, they are all lesser beings," the females in the room looked in awe at her.
"I have brought you back since it was not your time yet."
"But… but why me? What did I do to deserve such a thing?" Ninya said in tears.
"Why not them as well?" Galadriel smiled as she came up with the best excuse ever.
"The one responsible for their demise, transformed them into zombies, tainting their bodies and souls forever. If I had brought them back, their agony would have been eternal. You wanted that for them? To bring their souls back in to decay bodies, in agony, in pain?" Ninya shook her head, wiping the tears from her face.
"Rest assured that the one responsible for the death of your friends is suffering a fate worse than death. But be rejoiced that your fellow companions are enjoying a feast in my father's hall's, in Valhalla, in the realm of my parents, Asgard!"
"I think… that it was a little too much," Galadriel thought.
"Thank you so much, my lady!" Ninya said with her head on the ground.
"Now, my dear Ninya… I must ask you, what would you do now?" Ninya looks at her, confused.
"You have two choices, return to the mortal life or stay here and become stronger, you wanted to save your sister if I remember correctly," Ninya seems to remember about that.
"If you do choose to return to the mortal world, you will need to understand, that my plans for this world are starting, and only those loyal to me and those who accepted me as the only true God, would be safe, would you swear loyalty and servitude for now and always?" Galadriel put her hand close to Ninya.
Ninya didn't even wait as she kisses Galadriel's hand, accepting her as the only true god of this world. Galadriel smiled as she thought that it was a little easier than she originally thought. Galadriel didn't realize that Ninya was the first of many, who would grow to be part of a new church, a new religion. The world would never be the same.