It was a somber atmosphere that greeted the three companions to the ground. While there were some armored figures and priests standing and staring in unadulterated awe at the trio as they dismounted, most of the people in the square were standing around in a group over to one side of the square. Faint sobs could be heard from some members of the group, but the majority were standing around silently.
Hardly the crowds of cheering people the movies always showed after the day was saved...
After dismounting, Karolus walked up to Blancheur's head, brushing down the feathers that were out of place from where he had savaged the demon, the warm light from his gauntlets seeping into the minor burns and wounds on the body of the Divine Griffin, his head coming around to bump against Karolus' shoulder affectionately as he sat down and began preening himself.
Looking over to his other companions, Karolus could see them quickly tending to their mounts in a similar manner, calming down the pegasi and healing any wounds they had. Quickly done with their tasks, they turned and began walking towards Karolus.
"Shall we go see what that's all about?" Morgiana gestured towards the crowd.
With a nod, Karolus led the trio across the plaza to the gathering, the people at the edge of the circle noticing their approach and very hastily getting out of the way. As the crowd split, the three of them could see what they had been standing around. Arranged in rough rows were around 50 corpses in a variety of conditions, most of them burned to a crisp, with their armor melted into contorted shapes on their bodies.
Totally unused to the brutality of the aftermath of battle, Karolus felt the bile quickly rising in his throat, before feeling the feeling fade away as the disgust in his mind was replaced entirely with a driven feeling of confidence. Thinking back, this was exactly the way he had felt all fight.
Huh, so that's how I managed to avoid screaming my lungs out that entire fight. Maybe it's the effect of one of my Auras? I'll have to figure that out later...
Turning his attention back to the scene in front of him, Karolus saw that sitting in front of the lines of bodies were two corpses that had been specifically separated from the rest, and were laid next to each other. One of these Karolus recognized as the crushed and broken remains of the 'Queen' that the demon had been holding, while the other seemed to be little more than an incinerated body that looked the same as all the others. Kneeling in front of the bodies, facing away from Karolus, was the form of a female knight, her sword and armor clearly superior to the others around her. As Karolus approached her, he could see the unease on the faces of the people across from him in the circle, their gaze flitting between the kneeling figure and him with what looked like concern.
Just as he started pondering the reason for this, the figure clearly noticed their advance, and in a single sweeping motion drew their sword as they stood, holding its point directly at Karolus' neck. Feeling his companions both moving to act on his behalf, Karolus quickly raised both hands open palmed to head level - both an indication to Morgiana and Carloman not to strike and also a sign that he didn't particularly want to get stabbed. Before him, the tracks of tears were clear on the knight's face, but the only expression on her face now was one of pure rage, her teeth bared in an expression of barely contained fury.
What on earth did I do to deserve this?
"You...how dare you…"
Karolus raised an eyebrow as he had a powerful sense of déjà vu from the demon's words just earlier.
"You think you're such a hero, but look!" She gestured behind her.
"The Holy Queen lies dead because of your recklessness, and my sister lies dead because you couldn't be bothered helping her!"
Her sister? I don't recall the demon killing anyone else while we were fighting…
Stepping forward and unsheathing his weapon, heedless of the knights nearby who did the same, Carloman stepped between the female knight and Karolus.
"Your Queen was dead the moment you failed to protect her, don't you dare try to pin her death upon Ser Karolus. Your sister is the same, she died to the demon well before his attack in the alley burned her to a crisp. Perhaps if you had spent the time to resurrect them instead of pointing fingers, we could have moved on without me having to kill you for raising your sword at a Grail Knight!"
Carloman's incendiary words clearly did not have the effect he hoped they would, and a deathly silence made the already awkward confrontation even worse than it had been. Finally, her expression turning to one of despair, the female knight gritted her teeth and lowered her sword, muttering something under her breath.
"What was that?" Carloman challenged, sensing victory in her defeated posture.
"We can't do that, these two were the only ones capable of casting [Resurrect] in this force."
"...you're really all that weak?"
Karolus was just as shocked as Carloman sounded. A force this large, and these two corpses were the only ones capable of casting a resurrection spell? And one at such a low level? The players in Yggdrasil that could be found casting a standard [Resurrect] could basically be counted on one hand - resurrecting party members was almost exclusively left to the Clerics of the party, who all had far more efficient spells to do so, all of which cost the target far lower XP and revived them on more health than the basic [Resurrect] spell.
Even the Knights must be extremely weak, most knightly classes eventually get access to some variant of [Resurrect] at some point.
"Enough, Carloman, let us at least fix this matter. I will cast [Raise to Glory] and we can put this behind us."
Morgiana stepped forwards and the Grail began to glow as she began to cast her spell to revive the fallen. The whole circle turned to her with hope in their eyes as she stepped forwards - they had all seen the feats she could accomplish, surely she could revive their fallen comrades. Before she had a chance to do so, Karolus stepped forward as well, placing his hand on her arm to stop her, confident in an idea inspired by the feeling of utter defeat from the people surrounding them.
Given none of them can cast [Resurrect], it's entirely possible they never dealt the Evil Lord any damage at all, given its high physical resists...
"Wait a moment, Morgiana, I have something I wish to try." Karolus turned to the female knight and continued. "Before we arrived, did your weapons just seem to do no damage to the fiend?"
Clearly taking it as an attack on her ability, the female knight locked eyes with him again.
"And so what if that's what happened? We threw everything we had at the demon, are you saying we were somehow lacking?"
Carloman went to respond, most likely to say that's exactly what was meant, but Karolus' quickly raised arm stopped him before he could speak.
"If that's the case, then I think I should be able to revive your warriors who died here, including your Queen."
Ignoring the still accusatory glare from the female knight before him, Karolus stepped forwards until he was standing before the lines of corpses and raised his hands out above them, quietly calling on a skill it had been some time since he'd had a chance to use.
"[Protect the Innocent: Resurrect]"
From his hands, a fine grey smoke flowed, covering the ground in front of him then spreading out to cover the entire group of corpses in front of him, creating a cloud that obscured them from view. The female knight behind him started forward to stop him, but Carloman grabbed her by the arm to stop her from intervening. It was as she opened her mouth to start protesting that the fog began to thin, and a vast chorus of gasps and deep heaving breaths broke forth from the corpses on the ground.
The smoke receded, and as it flowed away the forms of the dead became clear, all of them beginning to sit up in shock, their appearance exactly the same as they were barely a few minutes ago when they made their doomed attacks on the demon. The wide eyes of the two at the front had barely taken in their situation before the female knight hurled herself forwards and grabbed them both in a bearhug, grabbing them so tightly that they yelped in shock.
On its face value, the skill that Karolus had used was not very useful - it revived all dead targets in a large area to full health with an extremely minimal penalty of XP loss, but only if they had dealt zero damage to the target that killed them, nor inflicted any status effects on them. In practice, however, it turned out to be incredibly abusable by small groups of players, who could fight as normal and then just team-kill their own teammates when they got to very low HP, and then resurrect them to full HP essentially for free. While this did end up getting nerfed by the developers near the end of the game's life (in some part because of the shameless, frequent abuse of the ability by Karolus to resurrect his NPCs), it was never removed because of the roleplay value of that particular skill tree; somewhat attached to the skill, Louis had never decided to remove it from his character.
Seems like that might be a pretty useful skill in this world if everywhere is like this. Too bad they limited it down to three uses a day. I don't think I could bring myself to actually kill either of my companions though, so I guess the fact they removed that exploit doesn't really matter.
In front of him, the one known as the Holy Queen looked up at him from where she was still trapped in a bearhug from the female knight, and raised her arm to her affectionate subordinate.
"Enough, Remedios, I'm fine now."
As the knight - clearly reluctantly - removed her grasp on the Queen, she stood, and approached Karolus. Studying him with a piercing gaze, she waited a moment before lowering her head in a sign of respect.
"Good Ser Knight, we would have been lost without you and your companions. For your intervention, and in payment for my life and the lives of my people, I now owe you everything. You have but to ask, and if it is in my power it is yours."
As the knights and priests around them scrambled to take a knee so as not to be seen to be above the Queen, Karolus found himself completely stumped for words.
How do you even respond to such an earnest statement?
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Ainz was hard at work in the room that served as his office in E-Rantel when the maid that had been assigned to him for the day rushed over to the desk. As his eyeless skull looked up kindly to see what she needed, Ainz was concerned to see that she seemed uncharacteristically flustered.
"What is the matter, Foire?"
"Your eternal majesty, Demiurge has returned early, and begs an audience even though he didn't send word ahead…"
Ainz's brows would have furrowed if he had the features, but clearly his change in mood was enough for Foire to pick up, as she inadvertently bowed her head in front of him.
Demiurge is back early? I thought he was busy with the invasion of the Holy Kingdom?
Composing himself, Ainz straightened himself in his chair and shuffled his papers away in preparation to meet with Nazarick's most perceptive devotee. It wouldn't be good for him to see how little Ainz had got done since he left.
"Send him in."
Ainz spoke far more confidently than he felt, his training in front of the mirror paying off as his voice conveyed an air of surety that he most certainly did not feel. Foire hurried back to her place at the door, and had barely had the time to crack open the door open and announce the Guardian of the 7th Floor before Demiurge practically exploded through the door and immediately swept to one knee on the stone floor before Ainz's desk.
"Your majesty, I have news to report, but it is news of my most inexcusable failure! Please, punish me as much as you see fit, but do not leave your loyal subjects over this humble servant's failings!"
The sight of Demiurge so distraught at something raised feelings of concern and displeasure in equal measure in Ainz, enough that his emotion-suppressing ability kicked in. Demiurge must have taken this moment of overemotion as intentional silence, and looked up from his place on the floor.
"Even this puny servant's death will not pay for my failure of judgement, but please do not forsake us!"
What on earth could have caused all this? It's not like Demiurge to act this way.
Ainz, rising from his desk, once again responded far more confidently than he felt.
"Rise, Demiurge, I am sure that you could not have done something which I am unable to forgive."
The demon commander maintained his position on the floor as he replied, his head bowing even deeper as he responded.
"I am not fit to stand in your presence! I had thought there was no opposition to us at all in the Holy Kingdom Capital and so showed the minion who was to serve as Jaldabaoth, only for a more powerful being to turn up and defeat it. I am not worthy to command the forces of Nazarick!"
Wait, 'Jaldabaoth' was to be an Evil Lord of Wrath, and they're level 84 if I remember correctly. What on earth managed to defeat one of those? Barely anything I've encountered in the new world so far could hold a candle to that.
"I told you to rise, Demiurge. When I soon tell you to forgive yourself, I will expect you to do a better job of listening to me."
"Of course, your majesty" Demiurge got to his feet, but remained bent at the waist at a 90 degree angle before him.
"What information do you have on the individual who beat the Evil Lord of Wrath? I take it that there was no information on them before this fight?"
"You are correct, your majesty. I left after the 'transformation' as discussed, but the observers managed to get this rough image of the group who defeated my summon. Apparently it was a group of three, and the middle one was both the leader and the strongest of them."
Demiurge, from his bent over position, offered Ainz a thin sheaf of papers with basic information and abilities that had been observed. On top of the written information there was an extremely well rendered drawing, and as he saw it Ainz felt a headache coming on.
"So, it seems that YGGDRASIL has followed us here…"
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A/N: Happy Easter (or otherwise) everyone! Hope you're all having a happy and healthy time in this weird situation. While the lockdown continues I'll still be doing these pretty regular updates, but who knows how long that will last. Thanks again for reading, it's gonna be a few chapters of conversation and character building before any more serious action.
Thanks in particular to those of you who've left reviews! I've made an effort to include more internal monologue to give you more of an idea of Louis' experiences, and fear not, he's certainly not going to be dunking on named characters any time soon. The dance between his group and Nazarick will take a while before there's any outright war; you'll just have to wait patiently for that!