Side Story: Crash Landing


Geoffrey was not having a good time.

Currently, he was flying away from a group of nobles who wanted to conscript him into their forces. He suspected it had something to do with the Frost Dragon the damn Priestess had dumped onto him.

Needless to say, he had panicked and flew off with his dragon, killing many of the nobles and their attache in the process.

He didn't mean to kill them, but the damn dragon—Torangit or something, Geoffrey couldn't pronounce it—didn't know the meaning of 'hold back'.

A solitary teardrop rolled down Geoffrey's otherwise serene face.

His relatively peaceful life of getting drunk had come to an end. There was no way he was ever going to be able to go back. Yeah, absolutely no way.

"God dang it, Tora-whatever!" Geoffrey smacked the back of the Frost Dragon only to be rewarded with a sore fist, "Why didja have to go and kill all of them?!"

"My name is Torangealit, monkey!" the Frost Dragon scowled, "And do you expect me not to kill the human fools who dared ask me to serve them?!"

"Yea, 'cause I'm your master now!" Geoffrey slowly crawled his way to the dragon's head. Typically, he would have never considered this course of action since they were very high up in the air, but his anger was getting the best of him. With one hand, he attempted to smack the dragon in the eye.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, MONKEY?!" Torangealit roared furiously as his eye stung in pain, "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!"

"You're damn right I did!" Geoffrey continued smacking Torangealit's eye, not noticing that the buildings and farmland below them were getting closer and closer.

"HUMAN!" Torangealit had stopped calling him a monkey, "STOP POKING ME IN THE EYE!"

"No way—Huh?" Geoffrey noticed the ground getting uncomfortably close, "OH SHIT!"

He yanked up on the reigns, causing the Frost Dragon to grunt in pain, and the two narrowly avoided being crushed into dragon-human juice. Torangealit nearly slammed into the ground, sliding across it as he avoided the worst of the damage at the last moment.

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit," Geoffrey plopped back on the dragon, "Holy shit, holy shit..."

"Don't do that again, monkey," Torangealit shivered. Even dragons were not above the fear of death.

"Yeah, for sure," Geoffrey sat back up with a groan and looked around him, "Where are we by the way?"

"I do not know about your primitive lands, monkey," Torangealit scoffed, "It is your fault we are here anyways."

"Alright, alright, my bad, now shaddup wouldja?" Geoffrey shook his fist and scowled, "I think we're near E-Rantel or something," he pointed towards the Fortress City in the distance.

"Those names mean nothing to me, monkey," Torangealit slowly got up and brushed the dirt off his noble self, "We should fly off as soon as possible to evade those fools who dared to command me."

"Hold on," Geoffrey noticed a nun panickedly herding in a bunch of children into a building nearby, "Maybe we could ask them for supplies first."

"Hmph," Torangealit sneered, "Do what you like, monkey."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Geoffrey waved as he leapt down the dragon and landed on the torn up earth, "Roar if you see anyone coming for us."

Geoffrey cautiously walked towards the building and knocked on the door, "Hello? I'm a farmer looking for some supplies! Just wonderin' if y'all got any to spare?"

He heard a lot of clatter and shouting inside the building before a little boy with dirty brown hair opened the door by a slit, "Do farmers really have dragons, mister?"

"Uhhhh," Geoffrey's brain went blank, "Yeah, of course, kid! New program by the King and all of that, haven't you heard?" he stiffly laughed.

The boy just looked up at him with giant puppy eyes, "Did that pretty lady with white hair send you to get me?"

"What?" Geoffrey wracked his brains for a pretty woman with white hair, "Oh! Her? Uh...no she didn't," the ex-drunkard immediately felt bad upon seeing tears well up in the brat's eyes, "No no, it's because the dragon and I are on a secret mission."

"A secret mission?!" the boy's jaws dropped in awe, "Can I come?"

"What?! No!" Geoffrey immediately rejected him, "It's 'cause, uh, it's a grown-up's mission!"

"Oh..." the boy lowered his head in disappointment, "Well, if you ever see the white hair lady again, could you tell her that I've been eating all my food, and I've made lots of new friends, and I always go to bed on time!" he nodded proudly.

"Yeah, I'll do that, kid," Geoffrey blankly nodded. Frankly, he had no idea what was going on. "By the way, could we uh, get any supplies from here?"

"I'll ask Sister Abby," the boy looked behind him and shouted, "Sister Abby! The farmer guy wants supplies!"

"Tell him we don't have any!" a muffled voice was heard from the back. It sounded a lot like the Sister was hiding somewhere.

The boy turned back to the man and shrugged, "Sister Abby says we don't have any. Sorry mister..."

"Shit..." Geoffrey cursed, "Well, thanks anyways, kid. We'll be heading on our way now."

Geoffrey walked back to Torangealit and mounted the Frost Dragon.

"Did you manage to get any supplies, monkey?" Torangealit let out a wide gaping yawn, "I see that you have come back empty-handed. As expected of a failure like yourself."

"Aw, shut it!" Geoffrey kicked the dragon's sides to no effect, "Goddamn kid kept me held up for a good few minutes! Let's just try to find somewhere safe."

Torangealit snorted in agreement as he flapped his mighty wings, slowly elevating the two as the wind blew across the plains. Once they gained enough altitude, Torangealit flew off in the opposite direction of the Fortress City.

"Ugh..." Geoffrey sighed, "Today has been a shitty day..."

Suddenly, he heard a faint shout come from behind him.

'Great, now I'm hallucinating too...' Geoffrey groaned and ignored the shout. He heard it again and this time, he snapped his head around only for his eyes to nearly pop out of their sockets at the sight.

"What…! What the fuck are you doing here, kid?!" to Geoffrey's great shock and consternation, the brown haired brat was barely hanging on to the back of the dragon. "When the hell did you get there, kid?! No, why the hell are you here?!"

"I…!" the kid struggled to speak as he hung on for dear life, "I want to come with you and find the white hair lady!"

Geoffrey just smacked his own face and roared at the kid, "And that made you want to hop onto a damn Dragon of all things with a stranger?!"

"Yeah!" the kid's grip began slipping, "That's right!"

"Shit—!" Geoffrey cursed as he just barely managed to grab onto the kid's arm before they fell down to their doom. He grunted as he pulled the kid onto the saddle and plopped the brat in front of him.

"Next time," the ex-drunkard took a deep breath, "Don't do stupid shit."

"Okay!" the brown hair brat happily replied, "I'm Ash! What's your name, mister?"

"...Geoffrey," the ex-drunkard hesitantly replied, "And this dragon here is called, uh..."

"My noble name is Torangealit, human," the Frost Dragon rumbled, "You would do well to remember it."

"That's so cool!" Ash's eyes beamed, "We're going to have an awesome adventure!"

"Fuck..." Geoffrey groaned as the three flew off into the sunset.

(◍ ͒•ಲ• ͒◍)

"Hey," one of the guards on top the parapets of E-Rantel's mighty walls poked his colleague, "I think there's something flying towards us."

"Uh, wha?" his fellow watchmen rubbed his eyes and yawned, "Oh, huh. There really is something flying towards us."

"You think we should ring the alarm or something?"

"Hm," his colleague squinted and brought out an enchanted piece of glass that allowed one to see far away, "It looks like a dragon."

"We should definitely ring the alarms then, right?" the guard raised an eyebrow.

"Na," his colleague put away the glass piece and covered his mouth as he yawned again, "It's probably that Silver Priestess and her Dragon again."

"Oh," the guard nodded, "That makes sense. And I think the dragon just crashed."

"Huh," the colleague said disinterestedly and laid down on the floor, "Tell me if anything happens."

The guard shook his head in disappointment and watched the sun set again on yet another uneventful day.


Chapter 36: Show and Tell


It had been two weeks since the Priestess's bold declaration in the Royal Court.

Marquis Raeven was facedown against the desk in his study. Recent events had thrown a lot of his and Prince Zanac's plans into confusion, but in the end he supposed it was all a good thing. The way things were progressing meant that changes in the Kingdom could be implemented much sooner.

Still, it was quite frustrating to have to toss out all of the plans he had tirelessly worked on for years.

Letting out another groan, he got off the desk and leaned back against his chair, staring at the austere ceiling. Indeed, perhaps this was for the better.

"Papa, Papa!" the cute voice of a very young boy and his clumsy running approached the hallway leading to his room.

Raeven smiled in spite of himself. No matter how tired or anxious he felt, his son would always—without a doubt—cheer him up. He got up from his chair and opened the door to his study with a big grin uncharacteristic of the man.

"Rii-tan!" he picked up his son and spun him around before putting him back down, "Is there something you need my chubby cherub?"

"Papa, Mama and I made this for you!" his child proudly held up a bizarre paper creature. Raeven carefully took it and closely looked at it.

It appeared to be some sort of two dimensional paper doll that was meant to represent a human male. However, this particular doll was so deformed that Raeven had a hard time even telling that much.

Nonetheless, the usually cold man smiled warmly, "Thank you, Rii-tan! Papa will treasure this forever and ever!"

The boy giggled, "Forever is a long time, Papa!"

Raeven soberly smiled, "Indeed it is, Rii-tan."

Marchioness Raeven appeared from the corner around the hallway, "Oh, there you are, child!" She walked over to her son and scolded him, "Don't run off by yourself again! What if you got lost?"

"It's okay Mama!" his son raised his arms and his wife picked him up, "I found Papa!"

"It would seem so," she rolled her eyes and sighed before smiling, "Your Papa is busy right now, so let's give him some space to do his work, okay?"

"Okay..." his precious son pouted, "You better hurry so we can play, Papa!" his child pointed at him.

"Mm!" he rubbed Rii-tan's hair, "Papa will hurry so we can play!"

"I'll take him to bed then, dear," his wife gave him a quick peck on the cheek, "Alright, let's head on to your nap then." She bounced the already sleepy Rii-tan up and down and walked away towards their child's bedroom.

"Haaa..." Raeven shook his head and smiled. It was thanks to moments like these that he remembered what he was fighting for.

He was fighting for the sake of his wife, his loyal retainers, and his beloved son.

With those at stake, who cared if he had some sleepless nights? Who cared if he needed to create countless more plans and backups around one annoyingly unpredictable Priestess? If it was for the sake of his family, he would even draft a plan to attack the heart of the Baharuth Empire!

Raeven's eyes glinted with determination as he went back into his depressing study and sat back at his worn chair and desk. He pulled out another stack of papers and quills before furiously scribbling notes on it.

He wouldn't be getting any sleep for a while, that was for sure.

But for the sake of his family, a little bit of lost sleep was worth it.

(◍ ͒•ಲ• ͒◍)

Count Lytton slammed his hand against the meeting table.

"This is outrageous!" he yelled. His peers, the other three of the Six Great Nobles present, looked at him disdainfully.

He was the youngest among them and was prone to reckless actions. Furthermore there were more than a few unsavory rumors floating around regarding him.

Lytton continued shouting, "Who does the King think he is?! Does he think our properties are for him to scrounge through at his leisure?!"

"Count Lytton," a handsome man, Marquis Pespea admonished, "There is no need to shout so crudely among peers."

"Are you not worried at all, Marquis Pespea?!" The man was positively frothing at the mouth now, "Do you have no pride as a noble?!"

Pespea's eyes narrowed, "Watch your words, Count Lytton. I am not so soft as to allow you to insult me without consequence."

The old bearded man, Marquis Urovana cleared his throat, "We are not here to insult each other. We are here to determine the best way to carry out the King's will."

A giant of a man, Marquis Boullope, scoffed, "What the hell are we going to discuss with just the four of us? Raeven is off doing god-knows-whatever, and Blumrush has been imprisoned."

Urovana's wizened eyes glanced at the brash man, "Then that is all the more reason for us to discuss our next course of action. Blumrush's… less savory acts were what led him to be imprisoned. Raeven, I cannot comprehend, but what I know for sure is that those who obey the King's will are on the side of the just."

Lytton snorted, "You think that's what this is about, you old fool?! The King doesn't give two shits if you're 'just' or not! This is obviously just a ploy to grab our assets!"

"I do not believe that to be the case," Pespea spoke up, "The King only began this vast investigation after the Priestess petitioned him to do so. Considering her character and her words at the Court, I believe that her desire is to punish wrongdoers."

"And?" Boullope took out a flask filled with what was probably liquor and chugged it, "So what?"

"And that means if the King were to use this chance to grab the assets of the innocent," Pespea calmly responded, "Then he would be spitting on the Priestess's goodwill and likely invite her wrath."

Urovana gravely nodded, "Indeed, the King is no fool who will return goodwill with ill intent."

Lytton snarled, "So what? That doesn't change the fact that we're all still slated for investigation. What the fuck are we going to do about that, huh? I know that all of you here have done something that would get you in trouble."

Pespea folded his hands together, "Indeed, it appears that we have been outplayed by the Priestess and the King. The best course of action now is to comply with the investigation. I am certain that none of us will be punished excessively."

Boullope rolled his eyes and took another drink from his flask, "Doesn't matter to me. Not like I do anything besides taking the occasional spar too far."

"I see," Urovana stroked his beard, "I agree with Pespea in this case. Resisting the investigation will only result in more hardship."

Count Lytton shot up from his chair, knocking it over in the process, "You old fools are giving up just like that?! You will let the King sully your dignity so easily?!"

"Count Lytton," Marquis Pespea sighed, "There are winners and there are losers. This time, we just happen to be the losers. Is it so hard to accept defeat with grace?"

Lytton gritted his teeth and picked his chair back up before sitting on it. The man had nothing else to say and was content to fume in his own rage.

"Alright, well I'm going to head out now," Boullope got up with a grunt and made his way out the room, "Gotta go supervise a mock battle with my militia. You three have fun talking about whatever," and with that, the imposing man closed the door behind him.

Urovana got up as well, "I must go and settle my own affairs as well. I bid the rest of you a good day."

"Thank you for your kind words, Margrave Urovana," Pespea nodded his head, "I will take my leave as well."

With that, the two of them left the room as well, leaving a fuming Lytton in the meeting room by himself.

"There's no way… no way I'm going to fall like this..." he mumbled to himself with eyes full of malice.

He was going to make the King and that bitch Priestess pay.

(◍ ͒•ಲ• ͒◍)

The inner sanctum was once again filled with the muttering of the Six Cardinals. Zesshi didn't have much interest in their mumbling though.

She looked down at the annoying brat that she had brought along with her. Ilona was her name or something.

In fact, the only reason that she had even bothered to agree to Raymond's request that she come along as a bodyguard during this Supreme Council meeting was because she felt kinda bad for the kid who had to stay in those catacombs all day.

Not that she would ever admit that.

The blonde brat was looking around the vast chamber with the most annoying-ass sparkling eyes. Zesshi sighed. Having to listen to the old farts talk was the most depressing thing ever. She would rather be bored in the catacombs by herself—and the annoying brat she supposed— than up here with all these old idiots talking.

"It seems unbelievable, but the Kingdom is finally cleaning up their act," the old hag of Fire spoke up.

"Indeed," the old fart of Water stupidly responded, "It would appear that the Kingdom is not a lost cause after all."

Zesshi scoffed. If the Kingdom was that messed up, then shouldn't the old farts have done something about it before it got messed up?

The annoying brat looked up at Zesshi curiously and whispered, "What's going on, Meanie Face?"

Zesshi's eye twitched as she muttered back, "Call me that again and you're going to have such a bad time during training tomorrow."

"Oop!" Ilona's eyes widened and she hurriedly put both her hands over her mouth. Zesshi just shook her head in annoyed amusement. Brat could be kinda cute sometimes.

'Fuck, did I just think that she was cute?' Zesshi inwardly sighed. She was already getting too soft.

"Perhaps it is time we take a more active approach in the Kingdom," the dusty old fart of Light pondered, "If this is the herald of a Golden Age for them, then it is the prime time for us to raise heroes of Humanity in the Kingdom."

The old fart of Darkness, Zesshi especially hated him, nodded in agreement, "We could use some more heroes now. Having to fight against the Elf country, preparing for the awakening of the Catastrophe Dragon Lord, and the Beastmen problem at the Draconic Kingdom..."

"Indeed," Raymond, the one tolerable old fart of Earth, interjected, "I propose that we send more of our acolytes and senior priests to the Kingdom in order to establish more temples as well as supporting the existing ones."

"Why would we need to do that?" the stupid old fart of Wind asked in confusion, "If the Kingdom grows to the point where it can nurture heroes, why would we need to send more support there? Our forces are spread thin as is."

Zesshi shook her head. She'd rather die than be that stupid.

The old fart of Water calmly responded, "I believe Raymond intends to help the Kingdom reduce the number of casualties the Kingdom's adventurers suffer."

Zesshi nodded. Indeed, people usually got stronger after they were brought back from the brink of dying. Priests obviously helped with this since they healed people, so having more priests would typically mean stronger adventurers and a higher likelihood of more heroes popping up from among them.

Not that she really understood anyways. It wasn't as if she had ever been in a situation of near death.

Zesshi's train of thought was broken by a slight tugging on her skirt. She looked down and saw the brat looking up at her with concerned eyes.

"Are you okay, Meani—Ms. Fairy?" she asked with a childish lisp.

Zesshi sighed and nodded.

The brat looked at her with skepticism, "You looked really sad..."

Zesshi's eyes twitched again, and she put a hand over the brat's mouth.

"Mmph!" the brat tried to pry Zesshi's hand away from her mouth but failed.

The old farts, hearing none of Zesshi and Ilona's ruckus, continued discussing.

"I suppose we have the Priestess to thank then," the hag of Fire hummed, "Perhaps we should ask her to help us deal with our other problem."

"The Red Demon?" the fart of Wind's eyes were filled with wrath, "Do you doubt the abilities of our Godkin, Berenice?"

"I do not doubt their abilities," Berenice replied, "But surely it would be a balm for us to have the strength of such a powerful hero on our side."

"I'm not sure," Raymond looked down at the table.

"What do you mean, Raymond?" the fart of Darkness raised an eyebrow, "Do you mean to say she would not wish to contribute to the glory of humanity?"

"It's not that," Raymond shook his head, "She seems like the sort of person who would condemn the way we… treat non humans. Considering how vehemently she acted when she petitioned the Royal Court, I do not think we would get along with her. It would be far too dangerous to work with someone who we cannot trust our backs too."

"I see," the supreme fart, or pontiff or whatever, finally spoke for the first time during the boring meeting and raised his hand, "In that case, I propose that we leave her be and send more acolytes to the Kingdom. All in agreement?"

"Aye," Raymond raised his hand.

"Aye," the rest of them echoed and raised their hands as well.

"We have come to a decision then," the pontiff nodded, "Let us hope for the continued prosperity of humanity."

The old farts all nodded and quietly filed out of the chamber. Raymond however walked towards Zesshi and Ilona.

"How are you doing, child?" he kindly smiled at the brat as he rubbed the top of her head, "Are you eating well?"

"Yes, Uncle Raymond!" Ilona hugged his leg, "I eat all of my food like a good girl!"

Raymond laughed boisterously, "That's good, that's good! Eat up and grow up to be a big and strong girl, alright?"

Ilona beamed happily, "Okay, Uncle Raymond!"

"Zesshi isn't mistreating you, I hope?" Raymond gave a side-glance at Zesshi.

"She's a big Meanie!" Ilona puffed her cheeks and stuck out her tongue, "She makes me train all day and calls me names!"

Zesshi rolled her eyes.

"Ahaha!" Raymond smiled, "That's just the way she shows affection, child."

Zesshi punched his shoulder, "Shut up."

Raymond just mischievously smiled, "In anycase, I hope you continue to stay healthy. And Zesshi," he looked at the Half-Elf who just raised an eyebrow in response, "Please take care of her."

"Hmph."

'I was going to do that anyways.''

(◍ ͒•ಲ• ͒◍)

"What?!" Gagaran shouted, causing all the plates on the table to clatter.

"Gagaran, you're being too loud," the red hooded figure who was sitting next to her plugged her fingers into both her ears, "I swear, I'm going to go deaf one of these days..."

"But still!" Gagaran continued, and it was perfectly understandable to everyone else at the table for they were all dumbfounded. All of them were dealing with the new revelation in their own ways; Gagaran was simply louder than them all. Eventually, Gagaran sat down and gritted her teeth, at a complete loss for words.

"Are you…" one of the twins spoke up—Tina.

"—that annoyed?" the other one, Tia, finished the sentence and raised an eyebrow.

"No! Nonononono! It's not that I'm annoyed, it's just…" the female warrior ruffled her hair in frustration, "Gah! Why is she so capable?!"

Renner smiled as she looked at all the Blue Rose members. She looked down at her cup of tea before smiling, "This is a good thing, isn't it? To think that we are blessed with another capable adventurer!"

Nobles had a way to say things ambiguously, after all, saying things crudely was not poised nor was it elegant. This meant that every sentence had a hidden meaning, and hers' was 'You are as capable as she is.'

"But still…" Gagaran slowly clenched her fist, "Just what are we lacking? All our hard work…" she trailed off.

The female warrior looked to the side to where Lakyus was standing. Ever since the Golden Princess told the news of the Priestess's actions in the Royal Court, Lakyus had been standing unresponsively by the window, blankly looking out.

Silence fell upon the room again.

"Gagaran-san, it's not because you're lacking…" Renner tried to cheer the warrior up; however, she was suddenly cut off by the leader of Blue Rose.

"As the Princess had said, this is a good thing," her voice rang clear, "It's about time those corrupt nobles got investigated for what they did."

"But that means your family will get investigated too," Evileye said, and the chill atmosphere returned.

Everyone on Blue Rose knew that Lakyus was a noble.

Lakyus turned around and smiled, "It's fine. I ran away from home to become an adventurer. Now, I am just Lakyus, the leader of the Blue Rose. So even if something came up from the King's investigation, it has nothing to do with me," the maiden took a seat next to the Princess, "More importantly, how is the investigation so far, Princess?"

Renner smiled, "I always knew Gazef-san was a capable person, but I didn't know he was this capable."

"Ha? What do you mean?" Gagaran crossed her arms curiously.

"Even though it's only been a few days since the Priestess brought the matter up to Father, the investigation has already revealed a lot of...unpleasant deeds from the noble faction, especially the former Marquis Blumrush."

"The former Marquis?" Lakyus asked with widened eyes, "That fast?"

A noble title could only be taken from you if you had committed a serious crime against the Kingdom, but to confiscate Marquis Blumrush's title who was also a leader of the noble's faction in mere days was unheard of.

"Indeed," the Princess poured a cup of tea for Lakyus, "Apparently the former Marquis had been selling information about the Kingdom to the Empire," she said calmly.

Everyone's eyes widened at this.

"W-What?!" Gagaran slammed the table once again as she stood up in disbelief.

"How did the investigation team figure it out?" Lakyus asked.

The Princess hummed, "From what I heard, the former Marquis put all the blame onto his household staff, and when they were taken for questioning, they all sold him out. One of the maids was there when he was sending the Kingdom's information towards the Empire."

Gagaran gritted her teeth, "Scumbag! Does he have no love for his own people?!"

"Also," Renner relished the feeling as she continued, "The investigation team also uncovered some of his other crimes. The Marquis also lent money to the lower nobles with excessive interest rates, causing the lower nobles to be unable to pay their debt to the Marquis. He also bought slaves from Eight Fingers to work in his mines," Renner informed the group.

Lakyus groaned and massaged her temples, "So," she sighed, "What's the punishment for the former Marquis?"

"Isn't it obvious?" the Princess took a single cookie from the plate before cracking it in two between her hands, "Execution."

"I didn't know the current King was so bloodthirsty," Evileye leaned back and forth in her chair.

"The King is executing his family too so none of the former Marquis's bloodline will be able to claim the title of the Marquis."

Lakyus nodded. By all means, it was a reasonable punishment. What Blumrush did was treason against the Kingdom itself. The highest punishment should be given to such crimes, moreover, it seemed that the King intended for the former Marquis to serve as an example to the new nobles who would be entering the Court.

"I love this new change," Evileye grinned underneath her mask, "Bloodthirsty Kings are the best."

Gagaran flicked the Vampire's forehead, "Watch your tongue!"

"OW!"

"What about the lower nobles then?" Lakyus ignored the two and asked the Princess.

"Thankfully, their crimes aren't so bad as to deserve execution, but they were deemed not suitable for their posts and titles. And thus, they had to be exiled. Their children or close family members will take over their titles," Renner slowly munched on her cookie.

"Ha! They get their just desserts!" Gagaran commented.

"To which territory are they being exiled to?" Lakyus asked.

The Princess swallowed before continuing, "Actually, Father hasn't decided yet. But from what I know, before Father gives out his verdict, they will take asylum in the Empire."

"Why would…?"

"They go there?" Tia finished Tina's sentence.

Evileye hummed happily, "Since they were lackeys of that shitty Blumrush they probably thought the Empire would give them another chance or something like that?"

"Wait?! If it's like that doesn't that mean we have to stop them?!" Gagaran urgently shouted.

Renner stopped Gagaran from rushing towards the door, "It's alright, Gagaran-san. That kind of thing won't happen. After all, most of them are pretty much delusional about the Emperor of the Empire granting asylum to people like them. The Emperor only likes capable people," she smiled as she picked up her cup of tea, "What do you think would happen to people like them once they reach the border of the Empire?"

Lakyus immediately answered, "They'll be killed on the spot."

"Exactly," Renner smiled, "So either way, whether they seek asylum or stay in exile, it doesn't matter. A new era is coming to the Kingdom thanks to the Priestess."

Lakyus tilted her head.

"Let's hope it's a good—" Zanac suddenly bursted into the room, cutting Lakyus off.

"S-Sister—!" the chubby prince panted from physical exertion as he leaned against the wall holding some miscellaneous papers, "Is this your doing?!"

Renner looked at her brother with big sparkly eyes filled with confusion, "What did I do wrong, brother?"

"You…! Don't play coy with me!" Zanac roared, "You were the one who pushed the Priestess towards asking Father for that blasted investigation!"

"Even if I did coax the Priestess, isn't that a good thing?" Renner challenged her presumptuous brother, "If the Nobility faction gets taken down a notch, then doesn't that mean Brother, Father, and I can take care of the people better?"

"That is..." Zanac just sighed. In the end, she was right. The Royal Family now had more room to move thanks to the Priestess. Still… for his and Raeven's hard work to come to nothing didn't feel very good.

Zanac just gritted his teeth and sucked it up.

"Don't worry so much, Brother~!" Renner gestured towards the table full of treats, "Have some snacks!"

"No, it's fine," Zanac shook his head and sighed, "Looks like I've been outplayed by you again..."

Renner smiled, "Don't worry too much about those plans of yours. With the way things are going, it'll be much easier to accomplish all that you have planned anyways."

Climb and the rest of Blue Rose looked at her oddly. The Princess didn't seem quite like herself with that last statement.

Renner continued, "Isn't it better to make new plans without the presence of obstacles than it is to stubbornly push on with plans that take them into account?"

Zanac just narrowed his eyes, "The obstacles aren't all gone yet you know. The Six Great Nobles aren't going to take this lying down."

"Five now," Renner absentmindedly stirred her tea with a silver spoon, "If they haven't protested at this point, then I doubt they ever will."

The chubby prince just huffed in defeat, "Very well. I'll go back and meet with my advisors to discuss how to handle this new… state of affairs."

"Okay!" Renner's voice went back to its usual cheery self, "Have fun, Brother!"

Zanac closed the door behind him without another word.

"Let's get back to our tea party then everyone!" Renner looked around at all her guests with a big smile that slowly morphed into an expression of confusion, "Why are all of you looking at me like that?"

Lakyus just sighed.

"Don't worry about it, Princess..."

(◍ ͒•ಲ• ͒◍)

"Your Majesty, there's a letter for you," the messenger bowed as they handed the letter to one of the Imperial Knights guarding the august Emperor.

The Imperial Knight—Nimble Arc Dale Anoch—carefully looked over the letter to ensure there was no evidence of foul play, though of course it had already been checked, before handing it over to the Emperor.

Jircniv took the letter and lazily glanced over it.

"So the Kingdom is finally getting its act together," Jircniv commented after reading the contents of the letter sent to him by none other but Rampossa III of the Re-Estize Kingdom.

"So the damn Kingdom is finally going to put up a good fight?" Baziwood Peshmel, the Lightning Bolt of the four Imperial Knights, guffawed as he leaned back against the sofa.

"I doubt it," a quiet blonde woman with hair covering half her face spoke up, "It's unlikely that the Kingdom would have gained enough strength to overpower us in a year."

Jircniv tapped his throne's armrest, "Leinas is quite correct. In fact, that old Rampossa is asking for a peace meeting of all things," he chuckled, "It appears he could be quite competent without having all those parasites around him."

Cedran shifted uncomfortably, "What if it's a trap, Your Majesty?"

"Well," Jircniv leaned back, enjoying this course of events, "That's what I have all of you here for, no?"

"Thank you for your kind words, Your Majesty," Nimble lowered his head humbly. Truly, the Emperor was a man of great virtues.

"That being said," Jircniv pondered, "I heard that this was all brought on by that 'Silver Priestess' of theirs. I wonder what kind of person they are, to catalyze this cleansing of the Kingdom's nobility."

"They must be a fearsome individu—" Cedran was interrupted by the servant who had just entered the room.

The servant bowed, "Your Majesty, the knights at the border have apprehended a group of people who appear to be nobles from the Re-Estize Kingdom."

"Oh?" Jircniv raised an eyebrow, "I can't say this was completely unexpected though."

"Scumbags..." Leinas muttered under her breath. The rest of the Imperial Knights couldn't help but nod in agreement.

They were nobles who had sold out their own country who were now seeking asylum in the country they sold information to. Did they really think the Empire would welcome them with open arms?

Jircniv scoffed. How laughable.

"Tell the knights to throw them in the dungeons on suspicion of espionage," Jircniv regally commanded the servant."We shall show them how the Empire treats parasites."

(◍ ͒•ಲ• ͒◍)

On the second floor of the mansion, Tsuare and Yuri were sitting inside a study room that had been prepared for the sole purpose of tutoring Tsuare only.

There was a large bookshelf tucked in one of the walls, which contained books primarily containing but not limited to the basic languages of the world, arithmetic, music, and introduction to technology. After all, you needed to teach someone how to crawl before they could begin to run. Tiamat was certain that the collection would only grow more complex the more Tsuare advanced in her studies.

Tiamat also made sure that the study room had the pleasant aesthetic that came with small interior details such reading lamps, wall sconces and pretty chandeliers, as well as an antique desk that fit nicely with the overall palette of the room. Of course, this also included the dark-wood panels, the carpet, and the crimson-purple leather furniture.

The room was very nice and all, but Tiamat was bored out of her mind as she sat on an armchair in the back of the room, observing the lesson Yuri was giving to Tsuare.

Despite all her talk about teaching Tsuare all she needed to know for running a business, Tiamat had no idea what an actual school setting looked like. Sure, she had watched tons of shows that depicted what schools looked like in the distant past, but she had never attended one herself.

In the end, she fell back on her very limited knowledge and asked some denizens of Nazarick to install a black board in the room plus some chalk for Yuri. Surprisingly, Yuri was unsatisfied with just that and pestered her for a bunch of books—which were now all neatly placed on the bookshelf—among other supplies.

The dragoness slumped back in the comfortable chair as she admired the room, 'As expected, money is the best,' she inwardly nodded to herself.

A good facility would encourage the students to study harder. At least this way, there would be no more complaints about sore backs, unclear book prints, or poor lighting darkness. Those were often things that the children at the orphanage complained often about.

'If I studied in a grand place like this, perhaps I could have become a President or something,' Tiamat snickered because she knew that there was no way in hell she would ever be up for such a tremendous job.

Tsuare's question brought Tiamat out of her musing, "So if you add this to this, it will calculate the distance of the diagonal line?"

Yuri pushed her glasses up as they glinted, "Precisely. You also have to square the height and the base before you add them together, and after you have the result, you have to apply a square root to it."

Tiamat put her elbow on the armchair and rested her chin on her hand, trying to remember Tsuare's lesson schedule again. It had been a week since they started, apparently.

The schedule Yuri came up with was a crammed crash course in various subjects, which meant eight hour lessons with only a thirty minute break every couple hours. The subjects taught ranged from etiquette, music, language, mathematics, dance, and so on.

The dragoness couldn't help but to shudder at the harsh crash course. If it were her, there was no way she would survive…

Tsuare scribbled something down in her book, and Yuri walked around her table and leaned over the girl's shoulder to look.

The small girl gulped in anticipation.

Yuri grabbed the book from Tsuare's hand rather roughly, and with inhuman speed the dullahan scribbled in the book.

Tsuare frowned as she clasped her hands together, already assuming that she had done a bad job.

Yuri returned the book to the girl, who nervously peeked at her result.

It was the number one hundred with a flower scribble on it.

"Perfect," Yuri sternly complimented, and Tsuare's frown turned into the brightest beam.

"Thank you very much, Yuri-sensei!"

"Keep this up and we'll increase the lessons' difficulty. But don't force yourself. If you can't do it, then you can't. All you need to do is admit that you can't do it and ask me for help. I am your teacher, and as such I will do my best to teach you."

Tsuare nodded enthusiastically, "Yes!"

Tiamat nodded in satisfaction. As she expected, Yuri took after Yamaiko in her teaching skills.

Tiamat grew ponderous as she turned her gaze upon the girl. Was it possible for someone with no education at all like Tsuare to learn this quickly even under the tutelage of a teacher like Yuri?

'There's absolutely no way,' Tiamat thought to herself.

Within a week the girl had acquired a basic grasp on the common language, and had quickly picked up performing arithmetic with arabic numerals. Yes, she was still a little slow with her calculations, but speed came with time and practice. At the moment, she was already studying basic geometry.

'Even I don't know what Pythago-whatever's Theorem is…' Tiamat weeped inwardly.

Was this due to the natural learning curve of the people here? Or perhaps it was just Tsuare? Either way, it was odd how the girl had learned so much material in a mere week.

Tiamat hummed to herself again. Perhaps she could ask Ainz to appraise her later.

The dragoness stood up from her seat, "I've seen enough for today. Please continue the good work, Tsuare. Listen to Yuri, okay?"

"Yes, Lady Tiamat!" Tsuare waved Tiamat goodbye as the dragoness headed out the door.

Yuri just nodded to the dragoness before resuming the class.

Tiamat walked a little bit further away from the hall before messaging Shalltear.

[Shalltear, could you let down the wards for a moment?]

[Oka—OUCH! Why did you hit me?! What do you mean password?!] Tiamat assumed someone was berating Shalltear for something.

A few seconds of silence passed before Shalltear spoke again.

[Ohhhhh, you mean that password, arinsu! Ahem, what's the password?]

A bead of sweat rolled down Tiamat's neck. Password? She dimly recalled Ainz saying something about bringing the teleportation wards back up for safety, but she couldn't for the life of her recall the password.

[Uhhh...] Tiamat frantically rummaged about in her inventory before finally, finally, coming across a small slip of paper. [The password is AOG2slash41!] she declared proudly.

[A...O...G...two….slash…. Forty-one!] Shalltear confirmed, [Alright, I'm letting the wards down for five seconds, Lady Tiamat!]

[Thank you, Shalltear!] Tiamat rolled her eyes at Ainz's paranoia. Who in the world was going to invade Nazarick? Still, given recent events, she could understand why it was necessary. Better safe than sorry after all.

Tiamat teleported into Nazarick, and soon the scene in front of her changed from the mansion to Ainz's office.

"You're back," Ainz commented from his desk as usual.

"Mhm, I'm back," Tiamat scratched her head as her horns popped out and slightly wiggled her booty to get her tail back to where it was supposed to be.

Ainz just stared at the dragoness.

"What is it?" Tiamat asked.

"Stop doing weird things."

"But my tail and horns are all tucked in. It was soooo uncomfortable," the dragoness pouted.

"Where did you even tuck in your big tail… You know what, forget I asked."

"You mean how I tucked my tail so it doesn't escape this poofy dress?" Tiamat lifted up the dress slightly. She was dressed like how the nobles in the empire would dress with their stuffy corset and big flowy dresses.

Tiamat lifted her dress up even higher, showing Ainz the inside of her underskirt.

"What the heck are you doing?!" Ainz stood up in embarrassment before a green aura washed over him, "Put your skirt down."

"I just wrap my tail around my hips like this," Tiamat demonstrated to the overlord as her tail wrapped itself around her hips in coils, "And because it added a bit of volume to the dress, I don't need to wear those stupid big skirt cages that makes the dress go all 'poof'!"

Ainz sighed, sitting back on his chair and feeling slightly embarrassed that he was thinking of…some other method to tuck her tail.

Tiamat smoothed the creases of her dress and sat on her own chair, pulling up the documents that she needed to look after.

The dragoness should have been free from the paper work punishment at this point, but seeing that Ainz was always so busy with these stupid papers, Tiamat decided to permanently lend him her hand.

And so they began their work quietly, in the way they always worked together. It wasn't like talking was prohibited, but they were too focused on their work to even talk, and even if they did, it was oftentimes pertaining to clarification on some confusing document.

Tiamat picked up her first paperwork of the day, submitted by Cocytus himself, and skimmed through it.

Long story short, the report was requesting more resources such as wood and iron now that the Lizardmen were no longer fighting over food supplies. The council and its people had undergone several changes to drastically overcome their starvation problem. For example, tribes now worked hand in hand to build a manmade—lizard-made?—pond by digging a canal from the river to the lake. This would serve as their food source and mean that the Lizardmen could spend more time on improving their living circumstances rather than hunting for survival.

Cocytus also mentioned that if they successfully secured a food source, the Lizardmen could expect a population boom to some degree.

Tiamat inwardly beamed at this. She was looking forward to seeing what baby Lizardmen looked like, especially a baby from that pretty Albino one.

The dragoness signed the paper, agreeing on sending some wood that they had collected from the Great Forest of Tob. As for the iron, it could be bought using Eight Fingers' resources.

"How long has it been since we last encountered the Lizardmen?" Tiamat asked Ainz.

Ainz answered, not even bothering to look up from his own paperwork, "You've been pretty busy after that, probably... three weeks?"

"Wow, feels like months since I last saw them," Tiamat commented.

"That is to be expected since a lot of stuff happened afterwards. Why? Are there any problems with the Lizardmen?" Ainz finally looked up from the paper to look at Tiamat, his voice laced with concern.

"Nope, it all looks good to me!" Tiamat gave Ainz the paper she had just finished approving.

Ainz's red orbs skimmed through the pages, and he nodded with approval, "Good job," he complimented.

"Yey!" Tiamat did a happy little jump before taking another document from the stack. Ainz just looked at her in amusement before going back to his own work.

After skimming through some of the pages, Tiamat tilted her head in confusion.

"Hey, who's Nfirea Bareare?"

"Oh he was—"

"What the heck?!" Tiamat cut him off and shot up from her seat as she read the report out loud, "'His innate talent allows him to equip and use any magical item regardless of restrictions,' What the actual fuck? That's so OP!"

"I know," Ainz sighed, "Just imagining all the logic-bending OP talents available in this world makes me feel more stressed than I already am."

"That's stupidly OP!" The dragoness continued reading the paper she was holding, "'Genius Alchemist and Pharmacist at level 4.' Okay that's a stretch, there's no way a level four alche-pharma is considered a genius."

"In this world they are," Ainz casually mentioned.

"Genius at level four. Four," Tiamat enunciated, "That's noob level in Yggdrasil."

"At least it's good that they're a low-levelled player compared to us."

"True. So is he part of Nazarick now?"

"Essentially."

"Essentially?" Tiamat asked back. Ainz was never one for ambiguity.

"Yes. Essentially, he's making potions for Nazarick as we speak. I'm trying to have him replicate a healing potion."

Tiamat cupped her chin with her hand. Indeed, it was true that a level four pharmacist in Yggdrasil could make a weak healing potion, but… "But why? Don't we have healers and millions of healing potions in stock? And you can't even use healing potions."

Ainz put his pen down, "But the rest of you do. Someday they're going to run out, and if they did what are we going to do about it? From what we've seen in this world, the materials required to make the standard healing potions don't exist here."

"Use our healers…?" Tiamat immediately responded as if it was obvious.

"But what if our healers are down too, who's going to heal them? What if nobody was there, and the one thing we need at that moment is healing potion. What then?"

"Ainz, you're just being paranoid."

"Am I?" he asked, his tone slightly raised.

"Yes."

"I'm not being paranoid, I'm just being careful."

"Suuuurrre," Tiamat stared at him incredulously as she slowly backed up all the way to her chair, plopping down on it, maintaining eye contact the entire time.

Ainz felt a twinge of annoyance. "It's never a bad thing to be over prepared. Besides, if we're planning to expand further, wouldn't it be good to have cheap healing potions be widely accessible?"

Tiamat hmmed, "That's true. Researching a good method to make potions is fine, but I think we can worry about mass-production when we, ya know, get to the point where people need them."

Ainz sighed, "Perhaps."

"Ainz," Tiamat got up from her seat and walked behind him, "It'll be alright. Nazarick beat like what? A thousand something player raid?"

She hugged him from behind, causing him to jolt, "Have some faith in us and yourself, okay?"

"..."

"What is it?" Tiamat tried to coax it out of him.

"There were… forty-one of us then."

"Yeah," Tiamat stayed quiet for a few seconds before speaking up again, "But we have our children now too. They live and breathe and learn," Tiamat rested her chin on his skull, "I mean, look at Aura! Just the other day we taught her how to empathize with Tsuare! I don't think our children are inferior to the rest of Ainz Ooal Gown in any way."

"Yeah," Ainz echoed, "Maybe I just need to have more faith."

"Yes," Tiamat happily nodded, "That's what everyone's been wanting you to do for a long time, bone-head!"

"Rude," Ainz leaned back, "Thank you, Tia."

"No problem," she gave him one last tight squeeze before letting go and shuffling back over to her seat, "That's what friends are for."

"...Umu," Ainz nodded, feeling a strange sense of emptiness as she let go of him. Her hug reminded him of something fluffy…. Oh, "Ahh…." Ainz raised a skeletal hand to his face, "I just remembered."

"Remember what?" Tiamat raised an eyebrow curiously, "It's better not be even more paperwork..."

"No, no," Ainz distractedly waved his hand, "I think I forgot a hamster somewhere..."

"You forgot a what?" Tiamat's hand made a sharp curve and ruined the document she was working on.

"A hamster," Ainz nodded, "I should probably check up on it… Would you like to come with me?"

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold on for a moment," Tiamat held her hand out and rubbed her forehead, "When did you get a hamster of all things?"

"When we first entered E-Rantel and had our little competition," Ainz rubbed his bony chin, "Naberal and I happened upon a large hamster."

"Why did you happen to notice a hamster?" Tiamat shook her head in disbelief. On the other hand, this talk of a hamster sounded very familiar.

"It was a very large hamster," Ainz simply responded. The Dragoness continued shaking her head.

"I can't believe you, Momo-chan… Yeah, let's go see just how big this hamster of yours is."

"Very well, I think I left Hamsuke on the Sixth Floor with Aura," Ainz stood up from his chair, "And please don't call me Momo-chan," his voice lingered into the room as he blipped out of the room, presumably teleporting to the Jungle Floor.

"He named the hamster Hamsuke..." Tiamat snickered to herself before teleporting to the Sixth Floor as well, "Of all things..."

With the end of that thought, she was greeted by a scene of large trees reminiscent of a time when Earth was less wasteland and more liveable. She could only gaze upon the scene for a scant few seconds before suddenly getting tackled by a particularly energetic Dark Elf.

"Lady Tiamat!" Aura excitedly looked up at her, "You're back, you're back! And Lord Ainz too!"

"Welcome b-back, Lady Tiamat..." Mare shyly followed behind his enthusiastic sister, "L-Lord Ainz arrived just a few seconds ago too."

"Oh?" Tiamat looked around their surroundings with her hands on her hips, "Where did he go?"

"I-I think he went over there, My Lady..." Mare shyly pointed in the direction of a clearing, "Your baby dragons a-are there too."

"Ah!" Tiamat brightened up, "I can't wait to see them again! Thank you, Mare!" she tousled his hair.

"You're welcome, M-My Lady..." Mare blushed as Tiamat ruffled his neat blonde hair.

"That being said, would you two like to come with me?" Tiamat pulled the two dark elf children towards her, "Ainz said he had something cool to show us!"

"Cool?!" Aura's eyes turned into twinkling stars, "I wanna see something cool!"

"M-Me too," Mare meekly raised his hand.

"Alright, then come along with me!" Tiamat stretched out both of her hands towards the twins.

Aura and Mare looked at her palms hesitantly as they stood inches away from her, and Tiamat just gazed, soaking in the warmth of their eyes.

"Will you two hold my hand?" Tiamat asked as she smiled, their hesitant gazes were simply too adorable.

"What?!" Aura looked at Tiamat worriedly, "C-Can we…?"

"A-Are we allowed to do that?" Mare mirrored his sister's question.

Tiamat looked at them warmly, "You know, I've always loved walking with a child holding each hand. Would you two do that for me?"

Aura and Mare looked at their Supreme Being, completely awestruck as they took her hand with their own tiny ones. Tiamat giggled slightly when they blushed. The color of red infusing their cheeks combined with the dimpled of a blossoming smile caused her eyes to shine in a way that only deep happiness could bring.

"Shall we?" Tiamat asked, gripping both of their hands tightly. Not so tight that it hurt, but tight enough so that they couldn't slip past her easily as they fumbled through the undergrowth.

Eventually, after a bit of walking, the three happened across a clearing and were welcomed by the sight of a giant ball of fur being assaulted by three especially chipper dragonlings.

Even more bizarre was the sight of Ainz trying to get the dragonlings off the ball of fur—was it trembling?—only for the baby dragons to ignore him completely as they happily yipped and roared away.

"Ah, please get off—Oh Tia," Ainz looked up from his futile task as he noticed the presence of Tiamat and the dark elf twins, "Could you help me get your summons off?"

Tiamat ignored him and pointed at the giant ball of fur with a mystified expression, "What is that?"

"This is Hamsuke," Ainz gestured towards the trembling furball, "The hamster that I was talking about earlier."

"Nuh uh," Tiamat shook her head and the dark elf twins imitated her, "No way that's a hamster."

"Well," Ainz extended a bony hand to pull a dragonling off only for it to snap at him, "If you could help me get these dragons off, I could prove it..."

"Oooookay..." Tiamat scratched her head before whistling to the dragonlings, "Red! Chili! Pepper! Come here!"

At her call, two of the dragonlings immediately leapt off the ball of fur and flew towards Tiamat, drooling like a gang of overjoyed puppies.

'Mooma!' Chili yelled telepathically.

'Mooma back!' Red happily nuzzled against Tiamat.

Pepper, the only baby dragon left who was busy chewing on the big ball of fur's butt, stopped what he was doing and poked his head out of the mass of fur. Once he saw the familiar red-haired figure, the baby dragon leaped in joy.

'Mooooomaaaaaa!' he followed in his siblings footsteps.

"Awww, it's so good to see all of you again!" she laughed as they happily licked her, as if to welcome her back. "I missed you all so much! You all grew bigger too!" Tiamat exclaimed.

Tiamat briefly let go of the twin's hand as she gave Red, Chili, and Pepper plenty of hugs and kisses. She grinned as she gathered all of them into her arms and noticed that her babies had all grown noticeably larger than before, albeit not enough to be truly astonishing.

"I took good care of them, Lady Tiamat!" Aura suddenly interjected with an expression that oddly reminded Tiamat of jealousy, "I fed them, I cleaned up their poop, and!" she pointed at the fur ball that had now stopped trembling and grew a bizarre tail that seemed to be a whole snake, "And I prevented them from eating Hamsuke! Even though I wanted to skin her!" Aura pouted.

"W-Wow!" a bead of sweat ran down Tiamat's face at Aura's last sentence. Regardless, the dragoness still patted the beast tamer's head for a job well done, "You did a great job, Aura!"

"Mhm!" Aura proudly stood there, arms crossed over her chest as she slightly leaned into Tiamat's palm, basking in the affection.

"I-I also helped Titus around the library..." Mare looked down as he spoke with burning red cheeks.

'AAAAAAAA! Is he jealous? So cute….!' Tiamat inwardly cooed. The dragoness raised her other hand and patted Mare's cheek, "Thank you for your hard work too, Mare. I am sure that you did an awesome job!"

"Thank y-you..." Mare blushed even harder, if that was possible, and leaned into her cheek-pat.

"Ahem," Ainz cleared his non-existent throat, "So about the hamster..."

"Right, the...hamster," Tiamat said to Ainz, still surrounded by the baby dragons who were curiously sniffing the dragoness, interested in the new smells she had accumulated during her time away.

Ainz's red orbs just stared at her before he sighed and turned back to the furball, "Hamsuke, get up and introduce yourself to my friend Tiamat."

Slowly, ever so slowly, the giant shivering ball of fur gradually unrolled itself and got up on its hind legs.

Tiamat's eyes widened the more she took in the bizarre sight.

Truly, the beast in front of her certainly looked like a giant hamster, but unlike any hamster she had ever seen or heard of, it boasted a snake for a tail, and many arcane sigils tattooed about its body.

"Where did you even find something like that…? And didn't I see this before already?" Tiamat gently put down the baby dragons who nipped at her heels and walked towards the hamster-thing.

"Doubt it. During our bet," Ainz responded, "I found her in the Great Forest of Tob. Apparently, she is some sort of folk tale that people speak of. Doesn't she remind you of the hamster mascot we used to have?"

"She does!" Tiamat widened her eyes, "Didn't that hamster die because of a bad air filter or something? By the way, what were you doing before you came here, Hamsuke?"

"M-My name is Hamsuke! T-The Wise K-King of the Forest, g-gozaru!" the giant hamster squeaked fearfully. For some reason, the scary Lady didn't remember her, which would have been a blow on Hamsuke's pride, but that wasn't her main concern at the moment.

"Hmmmm," Tiamat cupped her chin with a hand, "Has Ainz been mistreating you, Hamsuke?"

"N-No! My Lord has been most kind and generous to this undeserving one, gozaru!" Hamsuke immediately bowed to the ground in front of Tiamat.

Tiamat raised an eyebrow and looked at Ainz, "What in the world did you do to her? She's all trembling and scared."

Ainz raised his hands defensively, "I didn't do anything. Well, I did activate a low level of my 『Despair Aura』but other than that I really didn't do anything to her..."

"Hm, well she sure seems awfully scared," Tiamat ran a hand across Hamsuke's admittedly comfortable fur, "See? She's trembling even more now."

"I don't think she's used to strangers," Ainz shrugged, "Hamsuke was like that too when she first met Aura."

"Huh," Tiamat shook her head, "What could possibly be scary about Aura? Look at her!" Tiamat pinched Aura's cheeks, "The eyes of an angel, her smile, her plump cheeks! And even though Aura is small, she's agile and fast. She could take down five Hamsuke's in no time!"

"I can take down two thousand!" Aura bragged.

"See!" Tiamat further pushed her point, "How could Hamsuke be scared of someone this adorable and talented?" Ironically, she was completely oblivious to the hamster who was now trembling even harder.

"W-W-What about me…?" Mare said quietly as he looked down at the ground, embarrassed that he even uttered such a question. Of course he couldn't be compared to his sister…

"Mare is great too, of course! Don't you agree Aura?" Tiamat nudged his sister.

"I guess," Aura puffed her cheeks, "But he's not as great as me!"

"I think you two are both special in your own ways," Tiamat knelt down before the two, "Aura can use her agility to take down Hamsuke and make her serve under you and obey your every word, while Mare is best behind the scenes, paralyzing Hamsuke or even scaring her to death with his magic, don't you think?"

"That makes sense," even Ainz nodded in agreement, "With Aura and Mare combined they could probably take down hundreds of thousands of Hamsukes in a few days."

Hamsuke who was listening to the conversation only felt cold and scared. So very, very, very scared.

'Please don't kill me, gozaru…'

"But anyways," Tiamat stretched out her arms and pressed against the shivering hamster-thing, "This is pretty cool, Ainz! Her fur is really comfortable!"

"She makes for a good mount too," Ainz nodded.

"Wow, like the store-mounts back in YGGDRASIL?" Tiamat hopped on top of the squeaking hamster, "Now that you mention it, Hamsuke would have been pretty popular as a mount."

"Umu," Ainz agreed, "People really loved cute things after all. That being said, I should probably assign Hamsuke to a task or something."

"Uwa..." Tiamat held Hamsuke tighter as she stared at Ainz with mock disgustment, "You're going to make your pets do work too?"

"Well," Ainz tried to defend himself, "I'd rather have her be able to do something... She's intelligent too, so it seems like a waste to just use her as a mount."

"Hm," Tiamat hopped off and circled around the hamster, inspecting Hamsuke from every angle, "If she's intelligent, then why don't you have her make friends and let herself figure out what she wants to do?"

"That's..." Ainz hesitated for a moment, "Not a bad idea actually."

"That decides it then," Tiamat looked from Ainz to Hamsuke, "What do you want to do, Hamsuke?"

"P-Please don't eat m-me, gozaru..." the hamster shuddered.

"Huh?" Ainz and Tiamat both exclaimed at the same time, "Why do you think we're going to eat you?" Tiamat scratched her neck in confusion.

"Because, b-because, be-because…!" Large droplets of fluid began dropping from Hamsuke's eyes, "Awaaaaaaaaaaa!"

The two Supreme Beings leaned back in shock. Neither of them had ever seen a hamster cry before. Or a hamster at all for that matter.

The two looked at the dark elf beast tamer, but Aura just shrugged and shook her head, equally oblivious to why the hamster was crying as well.

"Oi, Ainz," Tiamat nudged her bony comrade in the ribs, "Go make her feel better. It's probably your fault that she's crying!"

"No," Ainz shook his head, "I have no idea what to do with animals, so I think you would be better suited at this task than I. After all, you do take care of your dragons quite well anyways."

Tiamat slightly blushed at the compliment, "I-I guess I can try to calm her down..."

With that said, the dragoness walked back over to the hamster, completely oblivious to how Hamsuke's tremoring grew more intense the closer she got.

"There, there," Tiamat gently stroked Hamsuke's side, "No one is going to eat you, silly hamster."

"N-Nooooooo! Please d-don't eat me, g-gozaru!" Hamsuke tried to curl up even more.

"Oh, hmm," Tiamat waved Ainz over, "Ainz, try petting her too. I heard that animals feel better if they get lots of pets."

"Very well," Ainz walked over and began petting Hamsuke as well. To the Overlord's and Dragoness's dismay, Hamsuke began spasming out in what could only be a panic attack.

Tiamat grudgingly removed her hand, "I guess petting doesn't work..."

Ainz nodded along, taking his hand off as well, "It would appear that way. Perhaps Aura knows how to handle this?"

"Aura!" Tiamat beckoned the dark elf ranger over, "Could you help Hamsuke feel better?"

"Yes! Leave it to me, My Lady!" Aura saluted before she took out her whip and cracked it, her face becoming the visage of a furious demon, "OI! YOU STUPID HAMSTER! IF YOU DON'T SHOW YOUR RESPECT TO THE SUPREME BEINGS, I'LL MAKE A CARPET OUT OF YOU!"

"I think you're scaring her more, onee-san..." Mare muttered under his breath, but sadly no one heard him.

Hamsuke quickly and fearfully uncurled herself, though she was now trembling even more than before, and bowed before the two Supreme Beings, "P-Please forgive this o-one for being so r-rude, gozaru!"

Tiamat leaned closer towards Ainz and whispered in where his ear should have been, "Isn't this… isn't this animal abuse?"

Ainz shrugged. It wasn't like animal abuse was a very contested issue back on Earth.

"Maybe Hamsuke could use a change in scenery!" Tiamat declared, "Let's give her a tour around Nazarick and see if she likes any of the places!"

"That's a great idea, My Lady!" Aura clapped as Mare nodded, "Maybe she likes really cold places like where Cocytus lives!"

"Then it's decided," Tiamat nodded and crossed her arms over her chest, turning to Hamsuke, "We're going to give you a tour of Nazarick!"

"Y-yes! Milady!" Hamsuke squeaked in response.

Ainz just shook his head.

'What were we even doing here in the first place?'

Omake: Eclair Ecleir Eicler

Eclair sighed.

Why did people keep thinking that it was him who stole those books from the library?! What a preposterous, shameful accusation!

And no matter how hard he pleaded to Titus, the librarian just looked at him like he was a lost cause. Him, a lost cause! How ridiculous!

'How could they…' Eclair balled his fins into fists, 'No, how dare they look down on me!'

His whole body trembled in anger.

"This is injustice!" he screamed out loud in the middle of the hallway, scaring some of the homunculus maids.

"This won't do! This won't do at all! It's time for a change, it's time for me," he pointed to himself, "The great Eclair Ecleir Eicler to finally rule over Nazarick! Just you watch! I will make you all bow down to me!" he declared, ignoring the weird looks the maids were giving him.

His beak grew wider as he thought about the eternal glory of Nazarick and him ruling on top of it all.

"But first, I, the great Eclair, need a plan!"

The penguin started racking his brain.

There was no way for him to go to the library because of that pesky Titus and his stupid accusations.

All of Lord Ainz's work was confidential, and only the Guardian Overseer, Albedo-sama, was able to involve herself in Lord Ainz's work.

"No…that information was not accurate," Eclair expertly deduced, "There is another person who knows about the most secret of plans too."

The Goddess of Dragons!

As if he was struck by lightning, Eclair came up with a brilliant idea.

"If I can't get Lord Ainz's seat, then I shall climb slowly and aim for Lady Tiamat's instead! And then afterwards, I can just take him down! The plan is perfect!" he complimented his own geniusness, "Muahahahahahahahaha!" he laughed, "As expected, I am the best!"

Now there was only one issue remaining.

How should he take the Goddess herself down?

He put one of his fins on his forehead as he fell into deep thought.

Taking her down by force? That was simply impossible.

The Goddess was known to take a lot of hits without so much as a grunt.

The legends of the Goddess testing all the traps in Nazarick to make sure they were working had soared to the level of a myth even among the smallest denizens. The traps could take down even the strongest of the strong. Yet, the dragoness remained alive even after all that.

Not to mention, she wasn't to be underestimated since she had proven herself to be stronger than Shalltear-sama.

"What to do, what to do…" Eclair paced around, his feet making a circle-like mark on the carpet.

All of a sudden, he heard a giggle come from one of the homunculus maids, so Eclair decided to listen for a bit. Afterall, information was always precious, no matter how small it might be.

"I heard that Mira got redirected to work at Lord Ainz and Lady Tiamat's secret base," one said.

"I'm so jealous," the second one complained, "I want to be of use to the Supreme Beings too!"

"It's not just Mira, you know," the third chimed in, "The other doppelgangers like Eli, Sam, Haley, Fin, Joe, Shane, Rin, and a bunch of others got sent outside of Nazarick for an important mission."

Two of the maids sighed simultaneously, "So jealous…"

"Regardless, it's not our place to think about it. We just need to do the best we can!" the third maid boosted all of their confidence.

"That's right!" the second maid clenched her fist in determination, "It's not about being chosen by the Supreme Beings, but how to prove to them that we're useful! That's why I will eat three portions of Lady Tiamat's lunch today!"

The first maid applauded, "Great idea! I wonder what's for lunch today?" she said dreamily, her mind already wondering about all the food the dragoness would cook for them.

"It really doesn't matter what she cooks, all of it tastes amazing!" the third maid drooled.

"That's so true!" the second maid replied.

And they all laughed together as they continued working.

Eclair smirked.

It seemed that he had found a plan to take over Nazarick.

Afterall, he heard from somewhere that the way to the heart was through your mouth. Eclair's body trembled with joy at the plan.

"Eclair's Cooking Operation: Take Over shall commence!" he declared to no one.

Eclair strutted into the cafetaria's kitchen, making sure to open the door as loud as he could, causing Tiamat who was currently preparing the day's lunch to flinch. He pointed his fin at her and yelled.

"It's time for us to d-d-d-d-duel!"

Tiamat just stared at the penguin weirdly. After a few seconds, she finally smiled and addressed the penguin, "Hi Eclair," she patted the flour on her hands onto her apron, "What kind of duel do you want?"

"I shall challenge you, My Lady, to a cooking duel!"

Tiamat bit her lower lips, trying to stifle her laughter. She knew the penguin didn't mean any harm and that this was just how he was built, but his antics were certainly hilarious.

Perhaps she could also make it more dramatic to satisfy him?

"I understand, a cooking duel was it?" Tiamat took a knife and stabbed it into her cutting board, "I accept!"

"Finally! Our match will be glorious!" Eclair arrogantly proclaimed to the dragoness as he lifted his two fins up in the air, "I have brought with me the judges to make this challenge fair and square! Behold," he pointed his fins towards the door, "Shalltear-sama!"

Shalltear regally walked through the door of the kitchen with her umbrella in tow, "I came because I had nothing better to do, arinsu~" she said before sitting on one of the chairs at the kitchen island that was located in the middle of the kitchen.

"Up next, our next judge shall be, Sous Chef!" Eclair introduced, "The man who originally controlled the kitchen before Lady Tiamat took over!"

Sous Chef waved and bowed before sitting next to Shalltear.

"Last but not least, our final judge shall be Lord Ainz himself!"

Ainz came through the door, followed by Albedo, "It sounded interesting, so I came," he shrugged before sitting next to Sous Chef.

Tiamat banged the table with a fist, causing the bowls and ingredients to jump up and topple back down on the table, "This is unfair of you, Eclair! How could you do this to me?! The disrespect, the audacity...! For you to arrange something like this behind my back, this is mutiny!"

"I only want to do what's best for Nazarick, My Lady," Eclair responded cool headedly with an epic pose, "And that is to take over your position!"

"Kkkhhhhh!" Tiamat fell to one knee, pretending that what Eclair said had shocked her, "Such disgrace… I shall redeem myself with this match!"

"Very well! Then if I win, I shall take your seat as the Forty First Supreme Being!"

Ainz nodded, "What a challenge! This event shall be written in the memoirs of Nazarick!"

Meanwhile, Albedo and Shalltear were trying to hold back their laughter. Sous Chef was… well, she didn't really know what Sous Chef was doing.

Tiamat stood up and brushed her apron with a hand, "What's the challenge?"

"I'm glad you asked, My Lady! The challenge shall be to cook three recipes that would suit our judges' palates! Three dishes for three different judges!"

"Very well. We shall finish cooking in one hour!"

"I accept!" Eclair mentioned.

"I shall appoint myself as the adjudicator of this match," Albedo chimed in, "I will make sure that it will be conducted fairly between Lady Tiamat and Eclair. I will also make sure that the judges will not have a biased opinion towards the Supreme Being."

"That is utmostly fair, Albedo-sama!" Eclair happily clapped his fins at the suggestion.

"You shall begin in three, two, one! Let the battle commence!" Albedo counted down, and the two challengers immediately ran towards the pantry to take all the necessary ingredients.

'There is no need for me to cook something new! All I need to do is take what Lady Tiamat takes, and copy her cooking style!' Eclair thought to himself.

Lady Tiamat took meat, flour, eggs, mushrooms, butter, mustard, candy, turkey, and potatoes.

So Eclair followed suit.

For meat he took sausages, he took flour too, unfertilized spider eggs, poisonous mushrooms, some red oil, brown candy, and potatoes.

'Wait, I'm lacking something!'

Eclair scanned the contents of his basket and compared it to the Supreme Being's.

'Turkey! I need the turkey!'

Eclair looked around the kitchen for some, but sadly, the Turkey Lady Tiamat took was the last one!

"I have been one upped by the Supreme Being!" he slapped his face in shock, "To think that she had thought one step ahead by using a rare ingredient so that I couldn't use it! How sly of you My Lady!"

"Hohohoho~!" Tiamat laughed haughtily, "The kitchen is my domain! I know everything about this kitchen, every single utensil, as well as every single ingredient and spice! It's your loss for challenging me here, Eclair!"

Eclair clicked his tongue, without the turkey there was no way that he could copy Lady Tiamat!

"If you beg," Lady Tiamat said to the penguin, "If you lay down on the floor and lick my shoes, I shall share the turkey with you," the dragoness smiled evilly.

"This isn't fair! Adjudicator!" Eclair turned his head towards Albedo for help.

"The ingredients are claimed on a first come first serve basis," Albedo clarified, "Since Lady Tiamat took the Turkey in her basket first, she holds ownership over the Turkey!"

"Tch! I have no choice!" Eclair was willing to lay down on the floor and lick Tiamat's shoes. However, he trembled as his pride couldn't take it anymore.

"No! I will not throw away my pride and my tongue to lick your shoes! I will win this fairly! Mark my words!" Eclair yelled out as he turned back to the pantry to grab the only part remaining from the Turkey.

Turkey's balls.

Ainz shone green as he inwardly vomited when he saw Eclair take the balls. There was no way he would be the one to have to eat that, right? He felt Albedo put a hand on his shoulder and looked up at the Adjudicator. He shuddered as he saw Albedo smile brightly.

"It's the judges' job to eat the dish presented to them," Albedo continued smiling. Ainz wanted to cry.

"Of course I will eat," Shalltear flipped her hair, "Isn't it a given? It is our responsibility as the judges afterall, arinsu."

Sous Chef nodded his head in agreement, "I have no complaints."

Ainz sighed and relented, "...Fine."

Tiamat lifted her knife, and Eclair followed suit.

However, her next movement came in a movement of action. It was simply too fast for his penguin eyes to follow!

"F-Fast!" Eclair unknowingly said out loud.

The meat was cut and trimmed in a perfect cylinder; the mushrooms and the potatoes too.

"If I can't copy her moves then all I need to do is analyze what she's doing and follow suit!" Eclair changed his plans slightly.

He minced his sausages, poisonous mushrooms, and his potatoes too.

Tiamat used all of the stove's fires. On one she browned the meat, with the other two she boiled the potatoes and stir-fried the mushrooms.

"Kkhh! To think that she is able to multitask!" Eclair struggled to keep up.

"What a magnificent performance!" Shalltear clapped and commented, "Lady Tiamat's figure as she's cooking…! Her beads of sweats, ahn~ I just want to wipe it away, arinsu~!

"Lady Tiamat is certainly making the best of the time limit," Sous Chef commented.

"Please elaborate," Ainz asked.

"There are two important details that I would like to point out in this match. One is the time limit," Sous Chef brought one of his spindly fingers up, "Within the one hour time limit, cooking three dishes for three different judges one at a time is simply an impossible task. If every dish had a different cooking time, that means one would be served cold, while the other would be extremely hot. That's assuming you're able to finish on time at all. This is why multitasking is extremely important. Every dish needs to be finished at the same time."

"That sounds very difficult, arinsu~" Shalltear slumped back against the chair.

"That's not even the hardest part," Sous Chef brought his second finger up, "Secondly, three different dishes for three different judges means that the cook needs to take into account our preferences, our likes and dislikes. This is especially true for Lord Ainz."

Ainz just nodded.

"Why is that, arinsu~?"

"Lord Ainz…" Sous Chef paused for a moment before continuing, "Is an undead!"

Albedo gasped, completely catching what Sous Chef meant.

"We all know that Lord Ainz is an undead though, arinsu?" Shalltear retorted.

"You're not comprehending, Shalltear-sama. As a Skeleton, Lord Ainz is incapable of deciphering flavor!"

Eclair who was listening to the judges commentary dropped his spatula at the shocking revelation.

Sous Chef continued, "How should one judge the flavor of the dish if they can't taste anything!"

Shalltear gasped, "That means it's incredibly difficult to make a dish for Lord Ainz, arinsu!"

"Precisely," Sous Chef nodded, "This means to win, the cook needs to get a point from Shalltear and myself!"

"What an impossible challenge, arinsu!" Shalltear commented as she furrowed her brows.

"Thirty minutes left!" Albedo announced.

Tiamat was already putting her first dish inside the oven.

Eclair noticed that she also made some sort of... pie?

So Eclair did the same. He browned the balls, and seasoned them with salt and pepper before putting the two balls whole in a single pie, before covering them with the dough.

Tiamat took something out of the oven; it was the turkey!

Then Eclair was shocked at what she did. She completely ripped the turkey to small shreds.

The judges were in awe at the sudden display of strength.

"My recipes seem to be different from yours, My Lady," Eclair said, remembering that he already put the balls pie in the oven, "But I shall win this!"

Tiamat just hummed happily at her corner, making a delicious turkey pie, while adding a generous amount of special red dust, completely covering it, inside and out and then put it in the oven together with the first dish.

"Five more minutes!" Albedo began banging on some pots as sort of a makeshift gong.

"Please don't bang on the kitchen equipment, Albedo," Tiamat scolded.

"Oh, okay," Albedo blushed and put the pots away.

Meanwhile, Eclair and Tiamat scrambled to finish and plate their dishes.

"Three, two, one, hands in the air!" Albedo yelled, and the two lifted their hands and backed away from the cooking stations.

They were finally ready to face the three judges.

"First of all, Shalltear's dish! Please present it, both of you!"

"I present to you," Tiamat started, "The Beef Wellington!"

"And I too," Eclair followed suit, "Beefu werrington!"

One dish was perfectly elegant, the outside a crispy golden brown that wafted with the scent of decadence.

Meanwhile the other one was paler in color, and it seemed that the pastry wasn't as tight as the first dish.

"I shall only judge the flavor, arinsu~!" Shalltear proudly said. Albedo just gave her a side-long glance.

She poked her knife into the second dish first and looked at the cross section of the dish.

It was two sausages, surrounded in mushed sausages, wrapped up in poisonous mushroom and pale pastry that had all been baked in the oven.

"Umph!" Shalltear held back a vomit, "Uh, please tell me how you cooked your dish, arinsu..."

Eclair proudly said, "First of all, I mashed all the sausages in the blender and then I stir fried them with red oil before wrapping them around another sausage. Next I followed Lady Tiamat by making some mushroom paste, so I smashed the mushroom to pieces and put them on top before wrapping it all in a puff pastry and baking it."

Shalltear cautiously took a small bite, the smallest she could bring up with her fork, and guided the fork towards her mouth. As soon as the 'food' touched her tongue, she ran towards the sink to throw up.

"Blurrrrrgh!" Shalltear vomited into the skin, "What is this garbage?! This is horrible, arinsu!" Shalltear yelled out in fury.

When Eclair heard that, it felt like he had been struck by lightning.

"B-But, I-I followed every single step! I did it just as My Lady did it!"

"Well, your copy movement skills are shit and it shows, okay?!" Shalltear went back to her seat. "I give this dish a zero! No! I'll give it a negative ten, arinsu!"

Eclair was petrified, he had an awful start. But he shouldn't give up! All he needed to do was to win the other judges' hearts!

"Next, explain your dish to me, My Lady!" Shalltear fawned over Tiamat.

With a smile, Tiamat began explaining, "The beef is the most tender part of the dish. I trimmed it, cooked it slightly just enough to brown it before covering it with mushroom and prosciutto. Then I baked it a tad on the outside to make sure that the pastry was cooked."

"Hmph! We shall see how good it is after I cut into it, arinsu!" Shalltear said, still traumatized over Eclair's monstrosity of a dish.

The knife immediately sunk through the pastry and past the meat. When Shalltear opened up the cross section, all the blood juices leaked out of the beef.

Albedo was shocked at the sight.

"Well, well, well," Sous Chef commented, "That is raw indeed."

Shalltear gasped, "You're serving me raw food, arinsu?"

Ainz sighed, "Raw food, huh? That's a bit…"

Tiamat nodded, "You're right, I served the beef blue, because Shalltear is a vampire after all."

Shalltear's eyes sparkled as she clasped her hands together, "I love it, I love it, I love it! The tantalizing smell of red bloody meat in front of me is just too much! I need to eat it now, arinsu!"

The vampire gobbled up the dish, "Delicious! A hundred points, arinsu!"

"Thank you!" Tiamat said happily.

"Next!" Albedo announced, "Please serve your dish to the second judge!"

Eclair put a dish up. It was a variety of fruits coated with sugar.

Meanwhile, Lady Tiamat didn't put up anything.

"Where is your dish, My Lady?" Albedo asked curiously.

"I have no dish."

Everyone was shocked.

"But why, arinsu?!" Shalltear asked in shock.

"Well, Sous Chef likes colorful things right?"

"Indeed I do, yes," he replied and nodded.

"So here you go," Tiamat handed him a bag of red plastic.

Sous Chef accepted and looked at the bag that was small enough to fit in his palm. The package read, "Skittles".

"It's a limited edition candy~" Tiamat said, "They said that you can taste the rainbow if you eat this. I haven't personally tried it, but isn't it amazing?"

"That is certainly amazing!" Sous Chef looked at the red plastic bag in awe, "To think that the taste of rainbows could be packaged into something so small…!"

Albedo cleared her throat, "As the adjudicator, I have to decide that Lady Tiamat forfeited this round."

"What, why?!" Tiamat voiced out her complaint.

"The reason was simple, you didn't submit a dish that you made yourself. Therefore Eclair will get the same amount of points as Shalltear gave to you."

"Hrmm, fair," Tiamat grumbled while Eclair jumped in joy.

"Ha! I knew I would win this match!"

"This isn't over yet!" Tiamat mentioned, "We have the last judge, the hardest of all evil bosses, Ainz Ooal Gown, the undead, the overlord, the one with no tongue!"

"I'm right here you know..." Ainz muttered.

"Now, present your dishes to the third judge!" Albedo shouted.

Both of them submitted a similar looking pie dish.

"Hmm…" Ainz analyzed both pies with 『Appraisal』. "If it wasn't for 『Appraisal』, I wouldn't know which dish was cooked by whom. Both of you did an excellent job on this."

Eclair nodded vigorously. Indeed, he had tried his best to copy every single movement the dragoness made.

"I shall eat this one first," Ainz declared.

His bony hands cut a slice of the pie, and he was immediately greeted with a slimy ball rolling out of the pie.

"Explain this dish to me," Ainz slowly said.

"This is the sacrilegious, the offensive, and mythical Turkey Balls Pie!"

Ainz slowly took a bite.

He didn't say anything.

"Next dish," he looked at Tiamat, trying to wipe the memory of Eclair's dish away.

Tiamat cut him a slice, and the ingredients inside were all doused in the color red.

"What is that?" Shalltear asked, peeking over at Ainz's dish, "Is it blood again, arinsu?"

"Nope. This is a turkey pie, doused in my special spice blend."

Sous Chef took a sniff by accident and immediately sneezed, "That dish! It's a spicy dish! That smells so spicy that it burned all my scent mycelium!"

"You're right! It's a spicy turkey pie; the spiciest thing I've made so far."

"Run me through it," Ainz poked the dish, making sure that there were no squeezy little balls inside of it.

"I used three bowls of enchanted ghost pepper powder to season the dish."

"T-Three bowls!" Sous Chef screamed out loud, "One teaspoon is enough to melt anyone's stomach!"

"But you see, Ainz isn't just anyone, he's an undead. If he can't taste anything, at least he can taste the massive tingle of the spice."

Afterall, he had liked her super spicy ramen the other day, so this would definitely do the trick!

"Perfect. Tiamat's dish wins," Ainz declared, basking in the tingly sensation of the spices.

"Yey!" Tiamat celebrated.

Meanwhile, Eclair was kneeling on the floor in despair, "To think that I, the great Eclair Ecleir Eicler, would lose the match!" he weeped.

"If you wish to defeat me," Tiamat taunted, "Train for another ten hundred years."

"Lies, all lies!" Eclair stood up and pointed his fin at Tiamat, "I will train for ten hundred years, and mark my words, Nazarick shall be MINE!" he waddled out of the room crying.

Tiamat just stared at him as he left and once he left the kitchen, she sheepishly rubbed the back of her head, "Was I being too harsh?"

"Nope," Albedo said.

"No," Ainz replied.

"Certainly not," Sous Chef responded.

"He deserved it, arinsu~" Shalltear grinned toothily, "If he wanted to take over Nazarick, he should at least suffer this much."

Tiamat just looked at the door. It was fun while it lasted, but she didn't expect that the small penguin would cry.

"Would anyone go and pat him for a good job done, at least?" Tiamat asked.

"Nope."

"No."

"Certainly not."

"Never, arinsu."

"Wow," a bead of sweat rolled down the side of Tiamat's face, "You guys are heartless."


A/N: It is with heavy heart that I announce we will not be continuing this story. Thank you for everyone who supported this story so far, and as much as I wanted to bring to story to its rightful conclusion, I can't. I apologize.
I will be posting the remains of this story and keep it here in case anyone would like to read them. So long.