The Wheel and the Great Tomb of Nazarick
A FAN FICTION BY BUF_BUODA
CHAPTER THREE
AN: Insert Usual Disclaimers.
Hi! Compliments of the season. I'm back from the RL issues I had to sort out, and I hope to have more time for the fanfic this holiday season.
Cataquack warrior Thanks for the review, and hope I live up to your interest. I'll be fixing the honorific issue going forward. Forgive the slight grammar errors *sigh*. I'll try my best to minimize them.
Forgive my weird (in my mind) impressions of the characters. I'll hopefully improve as the fic grows.
To all the new follows, thank you very much for your interest.
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
[Spells]
['Message content']
Mat felt the weight of the dagger on his waist where it hung. Such a seemingly innocent thing, with its blood red ruby that capped the hilt. He'd been resisting the urge to grip it since all this started. It called to him even now, though for some reason, it's pull was weaker here - wherever here was. Shaking himself out of his dark mood, he looked at the guys now that they were alone. He turned to Rand and was about to speak, a wide grin on his face when the wisdom spoke firmly, as though she read his mind.
"No, Matrim Cauthon," she said, hands on hips, and face stern.
"Huh?" he felt a little embarrassed that that was all his clever wit delivered for a stunning riposte.
"You aren't going exploring, or any such nonsense - I can literally smell your eagerness to do so. Who knows what trouble you'd manage to get you and the boys into."
"Wait," began Mat. "I wasn't…"
Turning from him and effectively cutting him off, she shifted her position to address them all, taking her place as the leader in the Aes Sedai's absence. Folding her arms under her bosom, she tore into the boys with what seemed to Mat's mind to be relish.
"By the light, you boys act like children sometimes. How can you even think about wandering about in this situation?"
Mat kept his face sufficiently contrite as Nynaeve gave them all a hard look. She huffed at them, apparently satisfied with their reactions before turning to Egwene to speak. As soon as she had turned away though, he rolled his eyes and looked hard at Rand and Perrin.
'Don't tell me you'll actually listen to her!' he thought hard in their direction. From their resigned faces, it seemed the fools actually would. He turned to Loial, and the Ogier was done with his own horse, and was heading to a corner of the barn with a book in his massive hands. He sighed to himself. No one ever wanted to do anything fun.
Loial desperately clung to familiar things in an effort to keep the despair he now felt at bay. His excitement from earlier was all but gone. He rubbed his horse down - though he hadn't ridden it. He rearranged his pack. He took out an unfinished book and went to a corner of the barn to try and read. He sat there for a bit, spaced out until he realized with a start that he was holding the book upside down. Looking around, he surreptitiously righted the book, grateful that no one seemed to notice.
He struggled to take in what he had seen. Strange creatures like the goblins living side by side with humans. The thing that miss Enri had referred to - magic caster. He didn't know what that was. He watched the women sit down and take out their packs too, rearranging them probably for the same reasons that he did. Rand and Perrin took out a board of Stones and sat down to play, and Mat reluctantly sat as well, watching them, a coin dancing between his fingers as though he'd rather be gambling.
'Humans are so interesting,' thought Loial as he considered all that had happened. They were not paralyzed by the bizarre situation they found themselves. Some, like Mat, had already recovered enough to want to go out.
The one thing that could be said about this world (and Loial was fairly certain that was what this was, regardless of how far fetched that seemed) was that it was clean. Now that the backdrop of the constant, cloying presence of the dark one was absent, Loial could notice it for the first time. The land didn't moan - something Loial had never even been able to express until he had this land to compare it to. The trees he'd met here couldn't have been less interested in him. They were alive in a way the trees from his world weren't, and gloriously focused on their own interests. They felt so full of life that it seemed like they would start dancing at any moment. It was beautiful.
There was just one hitch. The little miss had mentioned something called trolls.
'Could they be like trollocs?' wondered the Ogier with considerable trepidation as the fear that the Dark One already had some influence in these lands, no matter how small.
He would wait for the Aes Sedai to return, but he was fairly certain that he wouldn't fight the rebellious satisfaction his heart felt whenever he considered that they might be trapped here.
'I'm so tired,' thought Momonga, or Ainz Ooal Gown (as he called himself now) as he lay on his bed brooding. He allowed the book in his hands drop onto his rib cage. Of course he knew it was all in his head - he was immune to physical penalties after all. That didn't make it any less true though. His head hurt, even though it was just a skull. In a more relaxed atmosphere, he would have chuckled at the irony of a technically brainless being with a headache.
His mind began to run around itself again as he tried to understand how he could even be existing. He caught himself.
'No running from the problem Ainz!'
The 'problem' was so ridiculous, it was nearly laughable - his subordinates all thought he was smarter, more perfect than he really was. He'd managed to bullshit his way through so far, but it was not sustainable. He knew it deep down. The episode with the Baharuth emperor, and the impressions of the guardians after that made it clear to him exactly how little room he had for error. Especially with the likes of Demiurge watching his every move.
'I have to be worthy of them! But I can't keep up with this pressure! Arrrggg!'
He'd thought this over and over again, postponing action because he couldn't decide what to do about it. No more.
His thinking had gone in a different direction since stumbling on an obscure book in Ashurbanipal.
Even he didn't fully understand how Ashurbanipal had expressed in the real life version of the great tomb of Nazarick. Books that were just skins in the game became real. So, in addition to being filled with game lore and mechanics details, the Library had now expanded to actually contain those books on the skins. Video link bookmarks kept there by his guild members has become actual video archives. He had a moment of embarrassment as he recalled Peroronchino's section of the library.
'Under no circumstances must I allow Shalltear or Albedo to see that place,' he thought to himself uneasily. His guild members were generally not political. Those who were focused on Japanese nationalism by default - if they ever thought about it. The daily grind of survival made political interest a thing of luxury for most. Most, except for Rei Dupeel san.
Dupeel san was an anomaly. Just thinking about his arguments with Touch Me san and Tabula Smaragdina san when he could goad them to partake was a minor source of embarrassment for Momonga. Besides the books which increased merchant and item appraisal skills passively in game, it was Dupeel san who had books on American conservatism, capitalism, and classical liberalism going as far back as the 20th century as skins for part of the background of his section of the great library. In the new world, those skins had become actual books, adding to the already eclectic mix of literature that Dupeel san collected to vibe with his eccentric character. It was deep in that section that Ainz found the book whose content had him thinking so hard.
Until he read it, he'd never actually thought about the problem in this new way. However, in those words, he felt the answer to his problem with the NPCs lurking.
'If only I can do this in a way that will keep them on my side. Think Ainz!'
"Yes! Tcch…" Ainz muttered as his emotional suppressor kicked in, stripping him of the joy of finally getting his little plan together.
"Oh well, better get on with it."
He got up from his bed where he'd been brooding, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, and setting them down as he reached into his pocket dimension to store the book he'd been mulling over. He absently glanced around the room, marveling again at the incredible beauty of Nazarick's game designs coming to life.
His room was one of the simpler ones belonging to the 41 guild members, but it was still otherworldly by any standard. The ambiance of the room was dark, matching his tastes. Of course, with his dark vision, the ambiance didn't hinder him. Everything in the room was perfect - from the wall hangings, to the floor finish, and even the chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The bed he had been lying in was soft beyond measure - even with his undead nature, he could feel it. The bed posts were exquisite, and his crest was carved into them in intricate patterns. As he looked at them, he realized that they were now the crest of Ainz Ooal Gown. His eyes went to the wall opposite him as he heard a soft chime, and caught sight of a blinking alert at the corner of his vision. Moving his head to look at the alert, he was a bit surprised when the blinking thing stayed at the edge of his vision.
'Wait,' thought Ainz. 'This feels familiar, like a game mechanic. Could it...?'
Feeling excited, he made the motion to call up his game menu.
Nothing.
'Hmm,' thought the Guild master. Now his curiosity was piqued.
He tried to focus on the alert with just his eyes, and a moment later, something popped up before his eyes.
'My character sheet! This is unmistakably my character sheet!'.
His emotional suppression kicked in, and he became calmer.
'Hmm, I thought I couldn't access this before? What happened?' thought Ainz.
Reading it, he noted some immediate differences. First of all, his levels had changed. In the game, it showed as 100/100. Now? It was simply 100 (I).
'Huh?' Thought Ainz, completely flabbergasted.
He considered this new information for a moment, then moved his gaze down to look at the rest of the stats.
The very first thing he noticed about the stats were his MP and a new category - Divinity. In game, he'd maxed out and actually exceeded the limit for MP. But now, the MP had an actual value. It was 160.
'But what exactly is Divinity?,' thought Ainz, chin in hand.
It was set at a very underwhelming 1.
'Uwaaa… That's low, but can I really complain when I don't know what it is?' he thought.
'I mean, there's no Yggdrasil equivalent. My karma is still normal, so it can't mean that.'
The red dots in his eyes dimmed considerably as he wracked his head. The character sheet gave him no answers. It was perplexing.
He focused on the "Spells" tab of the sheet, and the sheet changed, showing a long list of spells grouped by tier. A new change caught his attention, and he was immensely surprised - again.
The number of spells he 'knew' had changed. It was no longer 718/300, showing he'd exceeded the limit. It was simply 718 (I).
That wasn't the most exciting thing to Ainz though.
'THERE'S A HEADING FOR CUSTOM SPELLS!' screamed Ainz internally. It was empty at the moment, but the sheer excitement nearly overwhelmed him. His emotional suppression kicked in again, and he calmed down enough to realize that he could not figure this out right now. Besides, if he got immersed now, he'd never leave.
[Message]
['Albedo?']
Albedo was the leader of the floor Guardians. She was extremely devoted to Ainz, both as a denizen of Nazarick, and as something more. Shame washed through his bones as he thought about the tweak he'd made that produced that 'something more', but green light washed over him as his emotional suppression kicked in.
Albedo's beautiful voice sounded in his head.
['Ainz sama? What is your wish?']
Ainz replied
['Albedo, contact all the floor Guardians, excluding Gargantua and Victim. Have them meet me in the 6th floor arena in 30 minutes. Also, summon Sebas and Citrinitas.']
He literally heard the gush in Albedo's reply
['Citrinitas-chan? Fufufufu! As you command, Ainz sama!']
With the [Message] ended, Ainz focused on the little "x" at the top left corner of the character sheet. The sheet faded, and he teleported to the 6th floor to wait for the guardians. He would worry about how to recall the character sheet later.
Albedo was the first to arrive. She stood in the entrance to the arena as she feasted her eyes on the glorious form of her love. She was caught between respect for Ainz-sama, and excitement at her chance to catch Momonga alone. She still called him Momonga in her head. After all, wasn't she allowed a special name for her beloved? Her wings fluttered excitedly as she fantasized about teaching her Momonga what it meant that she was a succubus right there in the open.
"Sister,"
A sultry voice brought her attention back to the present, and she turned, watching her sister come towards her.
Citrinitas was her sister, though not a creation of Tabula sama. Unlike Albedo, she was only half succubus. Her other half was Lamia Noble. This was the first time she had been summoned in Albedo's memory, which meant never.
Red eyes with horizontal slit pupils in Citrinitas met golden eyes with vertical slit pupils in Albedo.
"Welcome, sister," replied Albedo. Unlike Albedo, Citrinitas had no wings, though that meant nothing to her with her True Polymorph skill.
Before Citrinitas could speak again, a gate opened before them. Out stepped Demiurge, adjusting his spectacles. Sebas came after him, staying as far away from the demon as he could manage. He inclined his head politely towards Albedo. She nodded at him in response. Finally, that flat chested lamprey stepped through holding a dainty umbrella like she was a lady and not a mad slut. The gate closed behind her as she stepped through, casting a dirty look that matched the one on Albedo's face at the succubus. Cocytus could be seen striding down the hallway with Aura and Mare in tow. Albedo smiled to herself at the prompt response from the guardians and Sebas, her irritation at Shalltear temporarily forgotten. No one would slight her love today. Or ever. Turning she strode into the arena with the guardians behind her.
As she walked towards her love in all his bony glory, she could not help feeling bicorns frolicking in her stomach. Her love turned to face them as they approached, and the red points of his eyes flogged the bicorns in her stomach into a stampede. Much as she despised the vampire slut, she could sympathize with her underwear crisis the last time they were here before her love. She barely managed to stop herself from jumping him right there and then.
"Ainz-sama!" chorused the guardians as they knelt before him.
The noble voice of her love as he acknowledged their fealty pulled her. As he told them to rise, she could see the vampire's face - it was completely flushed. She caught herself from smashing it - barely, and walked to stand beside her love.
Ainz watched them as they came towards him, and took an imaginary breath at the sheer lust that had emanated from Albedo. He noticed the person walking just behind her, curiosity in her red eyes as she took in the arena she was probably seeing for the first time.
'Hmm. Must be Dupeel san's NPC, Citrinitas. This is my first time seeing her outside of Dupeel-san's study,' thought Ainz as he surreptitiously watched Citrinitas. He gathered himself as they knelt before him. He made a mental note to read up on her backstory.
"Umu… You can all rise," he said as a replica of the Throne of Kings appeared behind him and he sat.
"There are 2 major things that we have to discuss today," said Ainz. He noticed Demiurge adjusting his spectacles in anticipation. The demon was rapturous - no doubt at the opportunity to see another part of the 10000 year plan Ainz supposedly had.
'It all ends today,' thought Ainz to himself, trepidation in his heart.
"The first regards decision making process in Nazarick."
Everyone looked at each other, a little confused.
Demiurge started to speak, but Ainz put up his hands for silence.
"Demiurge, there are many reasons for what I want to tell you. The first is that you all are creations, no, children of my dear comrades. I love you all very much."
He thought he heard a whimper from the guardian overseer at his side. Turning to observe her, he noted the slightly trembling wings and manic light in her golden eyes. She was the most dangerous part of this plan.
He got up as nobly as he could manage and began to pace, using the opportunity to put some much needed distance between Albedo and himself.
"If I were to use an analogy of the humans" continued Ainz, "you are my family. I am like the father, Albedo is like the mother, Demiurge - ". He was interrupted as all hell broke loose.
'ShitShitShitShit!' screamed Ainz internally as the succubus turned to him, mad lust pouring off her in waves.
Albedo screamed, hands stretched towards Ainz, and looking at him with eyes that held only lust, and no shred of reason in them. Stalking towards Ainz, she ignored the scrambles of the other guardians to hold her back.
Fortunately, his emotional suppression saved him, making him calm enough to remember he had planned for this very thing. To use the talk of family to set Albedo, and possibly Shalltear off, and to make it easier to sell his idea to the guardians while they were reeling from how he would resolve it. It all seemed very smart while he was planning it - not so much now the lust-crazed demon was advancing forcefully on him, her considerable bosom bouncing.
"ALBEDO!" He said forcefully.
The succubus didn't stop her advance.
Time for the big guns, thought Ainz as Demiurge and Cocytus struggled with the lust crazed guardian.
"Do you wish to fail me, Albedo? Because you are very close."
The words were like a battering ram. Albedo literally stopped dead, and a moment later, convulsed in horror as the full impact of Ainz's statement hit her. Even the other guardians were not spared the feeling of unbearable horror.
Falling to her knees where she was, tears rolling down her face, the succubus shook her head, before croaking out a pain filled "No."
The entire gathering was shocked to silence. No one could move. The question, though not directed at them, was the most painful thing they could imagine. They watched as their Lord walked to the kneeling succubus, reaching into his pocket dimension as he did, and drawing out a beautiful handkerchief. Demiurge and Cocytus stepped back and bowed, along with all the other guardians.
Reaching her, their master dropped to his knees and used the handkerchief to wipe Albedo's face, and then did the unthinkable. He drew her into an embrace, patting her back and hair as he did. In the deafening silence, nothing but the sobs of the succubus could be heard.
"I would never fail you, Ainz-sama," groaned the grief stricken guardian.
Lifting his head, their master, the one who had stayed behind with them after all others had left, he looked at them all in the eyes. "I know you will not fail me, my dear Albedo. You are my world. All of you are my world," he said, including them all in his last sentence.
"That is the first reason for the changes I will make regarding the decision making in Nazarick."
Ainz had anticipated that the statement about failing him would stop Albedo.
'The plan is working, but this is still bad. I have to take responsibility.'
That was what he had decided to do about his blunder with Albedo's settings in the first place anyway. He would not run away.
So he had chosen his words carefully in his heart as he went to her with a handkerchief. Kneeling there at her level though, she looked so… vulnerable. And he didn't know when he hugged her.
The impact on the others was electric.
The amount of devotion Ainz felt from them all was overwhelming. The pressure was horrible. He might have started babbling if not for his emotional suppression. He was able to stick to the plan though, and continue in the calm voice of his undead race.
'I will forever be grateful for my flesh-less face,' thought Ainz as he gauged the impact of his words on the guardians.
The weeping of the succubus began to abate, and Ainz got up, pulling Albedo with him in the process. He might as well link it to his plan for decision making.
"That is the first reason for the changes I will make regarding the decision making in Nazarick."
Releasing Albedo, he walked back to the throne.
"Everyone calm down. And Albedo, return to your place beside me."
In short order, things were back to relative normal - if you discount the absolutely fanatical devotion that shone in the eyes of all the guardians now.
'It will be alright, I hope. The first part is complete, though I acted on impulse by embracing her. I really must get better at this!' the Overlord said to himself.
"The second reason," continued Ainz, "is that I want all of you to grow and improve. Do you all know why I've been giving you tasks outside your specialties?
They all nodded.
"Those were experiments to know if you could grow. And the evidence is that you can."
Ainz paused. It was now or never.
"In light of all this, I want you all to stop treating me as infallible and all-knowing."
There was silence, then the arena exploded as all the guardians began to argue at once. All except Albedo. She was in a trance-like state at the moment.
"Silence!" said Ainz, waving his left arm in a modified version of the form he practiced in the mirror hours on end.
"No one can make all decisions. In fact, you already make most of your decisions yourselves."
Taking a deep breath, he hoped fervently in his mind that they would believe him.
"In planning the future of our home, we will all have input, and share the input together, except when we think it might sabotage some other plans."
"When we discuss, I learn much from you. In fact, I noticed that I also improved today. The fact that I did not anticipate this change, the fact that I can still improve proves that I am neither infallible, nor all-knowing. Now that even I can level up, would you also deny me this opportunity to grow?"
There was silence as the guardians considered this.
"I see. As expected of Ainz-sama." said Demiurge.
"I told you to stop that Demiurge," said Ainz testily.
"Pardon me, Ainz-sama. Please forgive this one's lapse."
"So, what do you see," asked Ainz, still more than a little suspicious that they would simply think around him.
"We see how this will benefit Nazarick. It might be painful now, but in 1000 years, it would bring great reward."
"Albedo?" asked Ainz. Sometime while he was speaking, she'd regained her composure.
"Ainz-sama, I agree with everyone here."
Albedo's mind was racing as she considered what Ainz meant by their ability to grow.
'It means I can catch up to him. Be worthy of him. He called me mother…'
Her body shivered a little in excitement again.
Then she understood something else. Something only she could. When her love turned to her and asked "Albedo?" she saw immediately that it must be so. Yet she was not foolish enough to speak her true thoughts in front of the other guardians.
The truth of the matter was that she hated Tabula sama. Hated him from the first day she realized that Ainz felt guilty about changing her settings to make her love him. She hated that she was initially set as a slut. Set to offer herself to everyone and anyone if her love hadn't changed it. She hated that Tabula sama didn't give her love his blessing to love her back before disappearing. She knew she was being unreasonable, but that was what it was. Now, what her love said gave her the confidence that he had considered it, and had offered a way to use this new incident as a means to overcome. After all, if they could grow, if other supreme beings - even her creator - came into this world and opposed her love, and if they were still the same as when they'd abandoned them, they could defeat them. Because they would have grown. Albedo felt so happy she could burst.
Cocytus clenched and unclenched his four hands, barely stopping himself from an embarrassing display of emotion before his Lord. His heart was filled to bursting with emotions so complex the Vermin lord doubted he could even identity them all. No matter. They were all variations of adoration for his great master who, despite being the strongest of all the forces of Nazarick, still sought to get better.
Cocytus could hardly imagine a better Ainz - such was the gap between him and his master in his mind.
Yet that was not all.
His master had also declared that they all could improve. As he thought on his master's words, he had realized the chance his master spoke about. Although he had complete confidence in his mastery of weapons, he was ashamed of his intelligence compared with Demiurge and Albedo. He had consoled himself with the thought that his creator made him that way, but the words rang hollow to him. It had become glaringly obvious to him after the incident with the Lizardmen. But now, there was a chance for redemption.
'All my training can finally yield visible results!' exulted Cocytus in his mind, clenching his hands again to keep control of his emotions.
He thought back to the feelings he'd been overcome by when Ainz spoke his feelings for them, treasuring them, committing them to memory for self-indulgence later.
"There is one more thing," Ainz said, dread filling his heart. This was the part of his plan he dreaded the most.
"Albedo," he said. The succubus turned to him.
"Albedo, I changed your settings and made you to love me." He literally heard Shalltear's teeth grinding. Pushing on, he continued.
"I have told you about this before to hear your thoughts, but now, I want to hear your thoughts again in the light of everything we've said about being open."
The overseer was perfectly still, except for the slight quivering in her wings.
"Ainz-sama," she began. "It is the greatest honor of my existence to have been changed specifically to love you. I would want it no other way even if you never return the feelings." Her voice was perfectly composed.
'I guess there's no getting out of this,' said Ainz to himself.
"Very well," he said out loud. "In the light of this, I have decided to take responsibility for my actions, Albedo. However, I will not explore the matter again until we are stable, and have achieved our short term aims for Nazarick."
He rose as he finished speaking, and Albedo and the guardians got on her knees.
"Albedo, come with Demiurge, Citrinitas and Pandora's Actor to my office in 3 hours time," said Ainz, red points fixing on the Guardian Overseer.
'Now my partner, or wife, or whatever. What am I doing? Arrg! There is no choice!' thought Ainz in despair.
"I am sorry, but I must keep you from your roles a bit longer," said Ainz as he teleported away
Shalltear was devastated as she saw Ainz-sama teleport away, and the throne disappear. For a moment, no one moved, still in awe of their supreme one. Yet Shalltear was in the depths of despair.
'I lost to that ape?' she repeated over and over again.
'No, I never had a chance to begin with. Ainz-sama changed her settings specifically.'
Grief sought to overwhelm the vampire as tears fell from her crimson eyes. She felt the succubus approach her - no doubt to gloat - and was shocked beyond measure when the succubus bent and embraced her.
Looking up, she saw the other guardians surrounding her. Aura had a concerned look on her face as they all regarded her. Even Citrinitas and Sebas looked concerned - though they did not join the circle of guardians surrounding her.
"Everyone...," she began.
Demiurge adjusted his glasses.
"As we said earlier Shalltear, we cannot expect Ainz-sama to have only one spouse. That he has chosen Albedo for the first doesn't mean that he has discarded you."
Frost billowed from Cocytus' mouth as he clacked his mandibles together in agreement.
"IT. IS. AS. DEMIURGE. SAYS. AFTER. ALL, AINZ-SAMA. RISKED. HIMSELF. TO FREE. YOU FROM. THE. WORLD. CLASS. ITEM. THAT. ENSNARED. YOU. HE. MUST. CARE. ABOUT. YOU."
Aura just patted her on the back as they all spoke.
She looked up, sniffling as she rose with the help of the succubus.
'No. Albedo,' she corrected herself mentally. 'After all, we are family, just as Ainz-sama said'