Hi, reporting in to say that I'm still alive and well so far, and I hope all of you are too. Stay hygienic, and stay safe.

The show still goes on, so see you in the afterword.


[X][X][X]


"You may rest, Nigredo"

"You are too kind, Ainz-sama. I am fully capable of doing this all night, if you wish me to do so"

"No. You have done well, and I have seen enough. Rest yourself until I call upon you again in the near future"

Nigredo was briefly silent, and then she bowed with refined elegance which was still a sharp contrast to her looks.

"As you wish, Ainz-sama"

As soon as Nigredo left the room, which was Ainz's office within Nazarick, Ainz leaned forward to his work table and fell into a deep thought. Through Nigredo's skills, he had watched everything which had happened around Ryu, Lily, and Guardian so far. The things discussed at their meeting with the head of Slane Theocracy was decently useful although partially redundant since a good portion of it were things Ainz already knew.

What intrigued Ainz the most was the potential power lying within Slane Theocracy. He had expected that the country possessed better countermeasures against scrying compared to Re-Estize Kingdom and Baharuth Empire, but he had not expected that the countermeasures had equal power to Tier 7 magic, which was high enough to force Nigredo to be fully serious in her recon effort. In fact, there was one place within the palace which was protected heavily with even higher tier countermeasures to the point that Nigredo had been unable to look through without the risk of alerting the people.

After seeing what he had seen, Ainz couldn't help agreeing with Alice's remarks from recently. Slane Theocracy was truly a powerful country, very likely thanks to the involvements of other players in the past. In fact, the so-called "Six Great Gods" revered by the country could have been players themselves. With that in mind, there was a good chance that the culprit who had brainwashed Shalltear was someone from Slane Theocracy.

"Urgh..."

Ainz cupped his skeletal hands into fists and pressed on the table hard. Reminding himself about the incident caused a feeling of rage to build up within his mind. He had sworn to exact appropriate retribution against those who had done such an atrocity towards Nazarick, and he sure as hell would do that.

However, there was still no definite evidence about the culprit, so for the time being Ainz would simply regard Slane Theocracy as a country to be wary of. He would investigate further about it someday, but there was something more important he had to take care of.

"The Empire's leader should be here in a few days. I have to prepare the welcome mats"

Ainz then pulled a clean sheet of paper and a pen from his inventory, and he began scribbling notes about possible fancy ways to welcome the Emperor. Demiurge would be the best person for this kind of thing, but after the many things which had happened, Ainz wanted to get himself sunk into a relatively trivial thing like this for some more respite he desperately needed.


[X][X][X]


"Tch, lose again"

Elder, still lying down atop the remains of the rubble pile which had used to be a floating ship, furrowed his brows as the mental link to his squad of Falz Arms got cut off. All of the Falz Arms had met their demise in the hands of two ARKS, except one which had been eliminated by someone else. He was upset, but he understood that the Falz Arms and himself were currently not at peak performance, so this outcome was not outside his expectations.

"I wish to entertain them myself, but this is not the appropriate time"

Elder stood up, stretched his arms, and let out a small sigh.

"We will meet again, ARKS"

Elder jumped off from the remains of the ship and landed on the ground on his two feet. He then walked away a few steps before disappearing into a blood red vortex.


[X][X][X]


"So... Alice"

"Yes?"

"How did you end up with these two?"

Janus asked the question with an inquisitive tone. The other two adventurers, especially the red-haired one who was walking back after blasting the giant hand monsters to pieces, had displayed a level of power beyond what the majority of creatures in this world could ever hope to achieve. For Janus, their power and their rather out-of-this-world getup were clear indications that these two people could possibly be the so-called "Players" which emerged every hundred years and brought major changes to the world, for better or worse.

However, there was still not enough proof for that conclusion. Moreover, the monsters these two people had saved the city from had also been otherworldly, so the chance existed that the monsters were summoned by Players. Therefore, until Janus could obtain more information, he would continue his initial mission of investigating the two new Adamantite Rank Adventurers in this city, and the first thing he wanted to know was how Alice, who was clearly inferior in power, was on the same team with them.

"The team split up and I was assigned with them"

The answer was not what Janus wanted, but he was nevertheless surprised by what he had just heard.

"Wait, there are more of this team?"

"Mel Rose and Hikaru here are recent additions. The other two are on an errand far away. Also, Hikaru is the leader's sister"

Alice gestured her hand slightly as she spoke to point out who was who. At the same time, Mel Rose's getup changed within the blink of an eye back to the one she had worn when Janus had first seen her. Before Janus could process what was happening, Alice leaned to him to say something.

"Mel Rose is two minds in one body. The one before was called Meru, and just now she switched to Rose"

Janus felt that he needed even more time to process the fact Alice had just told him. He didn't have any idea on what to say next, and Rose approached him with a smug facial expression and hands on her hip.

"Told you not to take us lightly, yeah?"

Hikaru also approached Janus while her eyes were on Rose.

"Don't be rude to Alice's dad, Rose"

"Hey, he was rude to us! Now we have proven him wrong!"

Rose spoke with an even more smug grin, which made Janus upset inside. But there was no helping it, because they indeed had proven that they were a lot stronger than what Janus himself could ever hope to achieve. Showing hostility right now would be beyond foolish.

Before Janus could speak, Alice spoke in his place.

"Putting that aside, is it over?"

Rose immediately reverted back to a serious expression and folded her arms.

"Yeah, for now at least"

Meanwhile, Hikaru put up some kind of magic information board in front of her, which Janus couldn't understand at all. At this point he became quite convinced that these two people could possibly be Players, and he felt a little glad that the Players arriving this time were seemingly benevolent.

"I don't see any signs of Elder around the city, although..."

"Although what?"

Rose asked Hikaru, whose arms were folded while displaying a serious facial expression, eyebrows raised and eyes sharpened.

"A large area southeast of this city is clouded with strange energy. I can't pick up anything over there"

Janus knew that Hikaru was definitely talking about the fog covering Katze Plains. It was fairly common knowledge that the particular fog was unnatural, hindering detection magic within and disappearing only during the skirmish between the Kingdom and the Empire, which happened annually. Knowing this, he was about to tell what he knew. However...

"Hey, what's that?"

Alice looked while pointing her finger slightly upwards. Janus looked at the direction she pointed at, and he noticed coming from the sky at a distance. It didn't look like a living creature, so Janus assumed that it was a flying vessel, though he had never seen anything like that in the entirety of his life and unlife.

"Isn't that a Fighter?"

Rose spoke out, confirming that the flying vessel was something she knew. Right after that, Hikaru nodded.

"Yeah, it is. Why is it here, and how?"

"Pardon my intrusion, but I need you to tell me whether that thing coming here is a friend or an enemy"

Janus spoke out quickly. He felt that he needed to know whether he should prepare himself for another battle or not.

"Should be a friend. Let's just wait and see"

Rose spoke calmly while looking at the so-called "Fighter" with her arms still folded.

Boom!

Suddenly, something blew up at one part of the Fighter, causing it to come down to the ground and make a hard landing, stopping just about a stone's throw from the group's position.

"Heh, as always. Let's go there and check"

"Right"

Janus, and probably Alice as well, were confused about the lack of urgency within the reaction shown by Rose and Hikaru. It was as if the Fighter exploding and falling down was a common occurence to them. Nevertheless, after exchanging a quick glance to each other, Janus and Alice followed Rose and Hikaru to approach the fallen Fighter.

By the time they arrived, the back part of the Fighter opened, and three people came out from it along with the thick smoke. Janus knew none of those people, but one of them was strikingly similar to Rose. All of them sported cautious expressions.

"Hikaru! I'm glad you're alright! Where are the Falz Arms?"

The only male among the group immediately spoke upon seeing Hikaru, who just laughed a little before replying.

"Already taken care of. They were not at their full power. But, how did you get a Fighter?"

The man looked at the fallen Fighter before speaking in response.

"Guardian's operator sent it after telling us that this place was under attack by Falz Arms. But as you can see, the calibration was not perfect. Though by the way..."

He looked at Janus after saying the last part.

"Who is this man?"

Before Janus could answer, Alice spoke up in slight excitement.

"This is Janus. My foster father"


[X][X][X]


Upon hearing what Alice had just said, Ryu immediately offered a handshake to Janus with a delighted face.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ryu Seika"

"Ahh, yeah. Like Alice said, I'm Janus"

Janus accepted the handshake offer although reluctantly.

"Alice told me about you once, she has been looking for you all this time"

"Unfortunately, I don't think this is the right time for chatting"

Ryu released the handshake and immediately went into a thinking posture with straight face.

"Right, now that we're here and the battle is over, what should we do next?"

Ryu looked at Alice, and she immediately noticed, therefore she spoke up.

"I suggest that we go back to the guild and tell them that crisis is averted for now"

"Right, let's do that. Although..."

Ryu then looked at Janus with a slightly concerned expression.

"...Is it fine for you coming with us? I mean, there are adventurers there and..."

"Alice has told you about me that far, huh? Don't worry, I have magic items concealing that nature of mine"

Ryu nodded, and then he looked at Guardian who seemingly was chatting with Xiera with her communication device.

"Guardian, are you coming with us? We still can tell the people that you are her twin if necessary"

Guardian looked at Ryu before speaking in response.

"Just leave me here. I still need to take care of this ship after all"

"Oh, alright then"

After exchanging a few nods, the rest of the group departed to the building of Adventurer's Guild. Janus couldn't fly and Alice was running very low on mana, so they decided to go on foot together and talk about a few things while at it.

"So, Ryu wasn't it? Are you the leader?"

"Yes, though only by circumstances"

"Where are you from?"

"Oracle, a country very far away from here"

"I have never heard of a country with that name. So all of you are from Oracle?"

"Other than Lily, yes"

"Ah, pardon me, but Lily is..."

Lily raised her hand as Janus was speaking.

"Me! I'm Lily Vangraf, Ryu-san's companion!"

"Alright, and the one we left behind?"

"Guardian. She is addressed by title due to some circumstances"

Janus was silent for a few seconds with his hand on his chin before he began speaking.

"With how she looks like Mel Rose, I'm going to make a guess that her actual name is the same too"

Hearing what Janus said, Ryu smiled with his eyes slightly narrowed.

"As expected from Alice's father. Indeed, Guardian's actual name is Melrose"

"That makes me curious about many things, but I'd like to ask something more important for me. Why are you all here all the way from your country?"

Ryu folded his arms and pondered briefly, and then he spoke his answer.

"To put it simply, all of us got stranded. In fact, at the beginning we were separated and finally got together just this afternoon. What about you?"

"I am investigating something, on request of an old friend"

"Oh, maybe we can help you in some way. What is it that you are investigating?"

"That will have to wait"

Janus spoke the sentence while gesturing forward, pointing out that the building of Adventurer's Guild was in sight. Some adventurers were standing guard at the front door, and Ainzach the guildmaster was talking with several other people. It took him just a couple more seconds before he noticed the group coming and immediately running to them.

"Ahh! Ryu-dono, Lily-dono! You're back! And the others too! And... who is this? A-Anyway, I'm glad that you're all still in one piece! How's the situation out there?"

"Ah, I will let the others speak since I got back here late"

Ryu exchanged a nod with Alice, who stepped forward and began speaking out.

"The monsters were not at their full strength, so Hikaru and Rose could take them out relatively easily while I assisted at a distance along with this man. For now, there are no more monsters attacking the city. I can't speak for the casualties, though"

"Ah, I see. The guild will work together with the city officials to take care of that. Please rest up, and thank you for saving the city again"

Ainzach bowed and returned to the group of people he had been talking to. Ryu noticed that Rakheshir was one of them, and their eyes met for a moment. Both of them immediately averted their eyes for different reasons. Rakheshir looked anxious, while Ryu frowned in disgust as it was happening.

Alice noticed the minor interaction and spoke out.

"I strongly recommend that you don't hold that grudge for too long"

"Heh..!"

Ryu let out a hard sigh which clearly implied that he was upset. Janus, having been standing right next to him, saw everything and began inquiring.

"Did something happen between you and that man?"

Ryu didn't respond, and so Alice spoke out to him.

"If you can't bring yourself to tell him, I can tell him for you, if you allow me that is"

Ryu's answer was only a hand gesture which anyone would easily interpret as 'go ahead', and therefore Alice spoke to Janus.

"That man is the guildmaster of Magician's Guild. Yesterday, when Hikaru and Rose arrived in this city, he declared Hikaru a demon and attacked her. Ryu didn't take it well, and he beat that man up very badly"

Janus glanced at Hikaru briefly as Alice was speaking, and then he began asking a question.

"I've been thinking that those horns and the red eye are magic items, but it seems they are not?"

Alice glanced at Hikaru, silently seeking permission to speak further about the matter. Hikaru noticed and took a few steps to get closer to Janus before speaking herself.

"I was kidnapped and subjected to a human experimentation, and as the result now I'm no longer human"

"Ah, sorry about that. What have the culprit made you become, if I may know?"

"I'm now part-dragon, or Deuman as people in Oracle call it"

"Oh, like the head of Dragon Kingdom. I see"

"A-Anyway..!"

Ryu suddenly intervened, then he cleared his throat before speaking.

"I'm going back to check on Guardian. If any of you want to come along, be my guest. If you feel tired, feel free to return to the inn and rest yourselves"

"I'm coming with you, Ryu-san!"

"I'm beat, Meru's beat, so I'll go rest"

"Me too, kinda. Take care, oniichan"

Alice glanced at Janus with slightly worried face, which Janus noticed and responded with a sigh.

"I won't disappear overnight. I still have an investigation to do"

"Come with me, then"

Alice grabbed Janus' arm while smiling somewhat mischievously.

"H-Hey, you should just rest!"

"This won't take long"

After saying that, Alice looked at Hikaru and Rose before speaking again.

"I will be back later"

Alice then went away with Janus, who followed somewhat reluctantly. Rose and Hikaru just smiled seeing the two.

After exchanging some handwaves, the remainder of the group split up. Rose and Hikaru went back to Shining Golden Pavilion, while Ryu and Lily went to where Guardian was at


[X][X][X]


"Where are we going? And, aren't you out of mana?"

Janus asked while sounding confused. Alice was now carrying him by the armpits with the help of [Fly] and [Lightweight] spells.

"Don't worry. It's close and I have more than enough left"

Just less than one minute later, the two of them arrived at the town square of E-Rantel. Because it was the dead of night, there were no peddler stands around. The location was not a designated evacuation point in the case of monster attacks, so there were no other people either. The only sound which could be heard was the water drops on the fountain near the center of the square.

The fountain's system was powered with a long-lasting magic item, courtesy of Magician's Guild, therefore it could run the water all day long for years without the need of maintenance. The moon was bright and unobstructed by clouds today, so the surroundings was not terribly dark, and the moonlight made the fountain's water glimmer slightly.

Alice put Janus down near a bench which faced towards the fountain, and she herself landed on her two feet.

"Why are we here?"

As Janus asked the question, Alice silently casted a spell which produced a light wisp and threw the wisp into the fountain. Within seconds, all the fountain's water glimmered brighter than before, creating a beautiful spectacle which would soothe the heart of anyone looking.

"Let's sit here"

Janus complied, and the two of them sat side by side on the bench. None of the two said anything for the next minute until Janus broke the silence.

"Why are we here doing whatever this is?"

Without any verbal response, Alice shifted her sitting closer to Janus, essentially zeroing the distance between them, and wrapped her arms around Janus' hip.

"W-What?"

"I missed you so much, dad"

Janus was flustered with the sudden turn of events, but he quickly regained his composure and spoke with a straight tone.

"Alice, I'm serious. You should just forget me"

"Told you, I don't give a damn about that crap. Vampire or not, you were the only father figure I had"

Janus let out a sigh before speaking in response.

"If you knew the reason I raised you, you wouldn't love me like this"

"Try me"

Alice laughed a bit while still hugging Janus from the side. She also leaned her head to Janus' shoulder this time.

"N-No, maybe you're better off not knowing"

"Then tell me something else. Why did you leave me back then, when the adventurers came?"

"I... didn't want to spill blood in front of you and scar you for life"

"Oh, so it wasn't because you knew the old lady?"

Alice looked directly at Janus' helmet-covered head with a slight smile and narrowed eyes. Janus was quite startled at what she had just said.

"...you know that much?"

"Like a dream, but yeah. I remember you raging at that old lady some time before in the middle of the night"

"Heh... if you know that much might as well tell you everything"

Janus took a breath, and then he began telling Alice.

"The old lady is an old friend. She helped me in a lot of things from the time I found you and picked you up. I had been a lone wanderer before then, so of course I had no idea how to raise a child"

Janus was briefly silent before resuming his speech.

"I was very angry back then because she told me to let you go. I mean, you were just four! Why would I let you live a worse life in this harsh world?"

Once again, Janus let out a sigh.

"But I lost the argument in the end, so we arranged what you remember... and I went back to being a lone wanderer. Thinking back, perhaps she was right all along"

Janus took a good look at Alice again, and then he caressed her head.

"Heh, look at you now. Strong, independent, and..."

Janus halted his own speech and averted his eyes awkwardly.

"And what?"

It took Janus a good ten seconds before he finally broke his silence.

"...And B-Beautiful... Just like her..."

Alice's face became flushed red as she heard the answer from Janus, but she quickly noticed the last part of what he had just said, and so she inquired with her eyes narrowed.

"Like who? That old lady?"

Janus, seemingly triggered by the question, immediately replied with denial and raised tone of speech.

"No way! That wrinkled, ugly Rigrit is nowhere near Lady Alish-! Ah, crap..."

Janus facepalmed, realizing that he had just inadvertently spilled the beans. Alice just smiled with a little smugness displayed on her face.

"You had a lover, and I just happen to look like her"

While still facepalming, Janus quickly spoke in response.

"Just to prevent misunderstanding, I didn't kidnap you from your real parents or such"

"Now, will you tell me what exactly happened?"

Janus lowered his hand, let out another sigh, and spoke to tell Alice his answer.

"I found you in the ruins of a carriage. Everyone else there was already dead, mangled and eaten by a large monster. I couldn't even tell which ones were your parents among those corpses."

"Oh..."

"One thing I can say for sure, is that your parents loved you. They stacked a lot of things to hide you within the carriage, and they probably sacrificed themselves to fill the monster's belly so you would live"

"Heh..."

Alice lowered her head while slightly smiling.

"You haven't answered my question. Why are we here staring at this glimmering fountain?"

"No particular reason. I just want to spend some time with you"

"Huh?"

"Who's to say that you won't soon go away without me knowing? Before that happens, I want to make a good memory with you, to cherish for the rest of my life"

"You talk like we're gonna die soon"

"With everything happening nowadays, we might"

Janus let out a small sigh and put his arm over Alice's shoulders, embracing her gently.

"Heh... perhaps you're right"

Both Janus and Alice continued to embrace each other side by side without more words to say. The glimmering fountain continued flowing its water, making the sounds of water drops which echoed throughout the town square.


[X][X][X]


Ryu and Lily were flying towards where Guardian and the Fighter ship had been left at when suddenly Lily uttered something.

"Hmm?"

"Something wrong, Lily?"

Lily only responded with her finger tapping the area around her hear. Ryu quickly understood that Lily was receiving a [Message] spell, and so he gestured her to land for now, which she complied.

At the spot they landed at, there were still no other people around. Everything was nearly pitch black with the moonlight being the only light source, and the silence began creeping him out the more he thought about it. To distract himself from the eerie silence, he just stared directly at Lily who was occasionally nodding.

"Alright, bye Papa"

Half a minute later, Lily spoke her goodbye to the other side, whom Ryu could easily guess to be Ainz from how she had said it.

"What was it about?"

"Papa told me he had teleported Guardian-san along with the ship into Nazarick to prevent too many people from seeing them"

"Hmm? Okay..."

Ryu couldn't immediately decide how to respond to this sudden turn of events, he needed a few seconds to let everything sink in and think about it. It was actually a pretty good move on Ainz's part, though Ryu was a little worried that Guardian would possibly get alarmed.

"So... now we have nothing to do. I guess we should just go back to the inn"

"Alright, Ryu-san!"

Lily said it with a nod, and the two of them flew back towards the Shining Golden Pavilion inn. They arrived just a couple minutes later and entered through the window. Both Rose and Hikaru were already there, still awake and sitting on some seats.

"So fast? What happened?"

Rose immediately asked the question.

"Ainz teleported Guardian and the Fighter ship into Nazarick, so there was nothing more to do for us"

"Uhh, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not"

Rose spoke her words with her eyes frowning a little, but before Ryu could give his response, something happened.

Beep!

"Huh?"

Rose quickly put her hand over her ear.

"Who is this?"

Ryu, and definitely Hikaru as well, could easily conclude that someone was contacting Rose through her communicator.

"Right, you can put on the display"

After Rose said that, a small display appeared in front of Rose's face. Ryu could immediately recognize that the other person behind the display was Xiera.

"Ryu! What's happening? I suddenly lost contact with Guardian I don't know what to do! I just figured to contact Mel Rose and hope you're with her!"

Xiera looked very panicked there, so Ryu quickly had the initiative to calm her down.

"First thing first, she should be fine. So calm yourself"

"How can I be calm if I just abruptly got cut off from Guardian and her readings just disappeared!? Please tell me you know something"

"Yes, I do"

Xiera went silent for a couple seconds hearing what Ryu had just said before she spoke again.

"Oh, alright. Then tell me what you know"

Everyone in the room then sat around the nearby table with Xiera's display floating in the middle.

"So, to put it simply, we got a powerful ally on this planet. I have not confirmed it, but I believe it is safe to assume that his domain is shielded with powerful magic that ARKS communication signal is unable to go through"

"I'm not so sure about the 'ally' part"

Ryu looked at Rose who had just spoken her doubt out.

"Please don't agitate Xiera any further, Rose"

He then looked back at Xiera's display before resuming.

"As far as I have seen, he has been acting like a genuine ally, although I can't deny that his morality is a little... off, compared to ours"

"Hmm! I see. So, do you have any idea when you'll be in contact with Guardian again?"

"I'm not so sure... we all have been entering and exiting his domain, Nazarick, with his teleportation magic on his whim, so we don't know where exactly Nazarick is"

Before Xiera could respond to Ryu's info, Hikaru spoke out.

"Oniichan, you forgot?"

"Eh?"

Ryu uttered a single word out of reflex. At first he didn't understand what Hikaru meant, but soon enough he figured it out.

"Oh yeah! You two have entered Nazarick from the surface!"

Hikaru folded her arms and smiled with smugness, while Rose just shook her head and let out a sigh.

"Although..."

Hikaru opened her photon interface with her face showing concern. After a few presses, a map of the area was displayed.

"The way people draw maps on this planet seems to be different than our mapping technology. While I can see some resemblance of the landscape, I can't pinpoint the exact location of Nazarick"

"So we need a locally made map? I think Liz has one, though it seems she's not back here yet..."

"You need this?"

A familiar voice suddenly spoke from the direction of the window. Everybody looked there, and it was indeed Alice who had just spoken, with a rolled up large scroll on her hand.

"Ah, yes. Great timing, Liz"

Ryu spoke while Alice walked up to the table and spread the scroll over the table. It was indeed a map of a large portion of the land, which Ryu had seen before when they had been on the job which had taken place in Baharuth Empire back then. Alice also looked at Xiera's display which was still floating over the table.

"Is this another ARKS thing?"

"Uhh... yes"

"Alright, so what do you need the map for?"

Without replying to Alice's question, Hikaru took a good look at the map. Her pointer finger slowly moved from the spot where E-Rantel was located towards the northeast.

"Hekkeran pointed about here, didn't he?"

Hikaru looked at Rose, who immediately leaned forward to take a closer look.

"Yeah, I think so. Meru thought the same as well, so Nazarick should be there"

Hikaru nodded, then she looked at Xiera's display. Sounds of button presses could be heard back there.

"Alright, I compared the map with the data I have from planetary scan. There is some kind of a cluster of ruined buildings around that spot. I was skeptical at first if this is really the domain you said, but just now I found out that it goes very deep underground and every attempts to scan the depths returned scrambled, illegible data. So I guess you're right!"

Bzzt! Bzzt!

Xiera's display suddenly went into static for a moment.

"Sorry! Linking communication through the planet's mutated photon has already strained the system! I have to cut this off now! I'll contact you again later!"

Without waiting for the others in the room to respond, Xiera's display was deactivated and the communication ended. Rose immediately stood up from her seat with her face showing determination.

"Let's go there now!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold your horses, Rose"

Ryu raised his hands forward, gesturing his disagreement. He immediately continued without giving Rose a chance to respond.

"We're not on a rescue mission. Ainz is our ally, so Guardian should be under a good care like how we were recently. Why don't we just rest for the night? If you're really concerned we will go there first thing in the morning. How about it?"

Rose remained silent, her eyes frowning and her eyebrows raised. Alice immediately spoke up noticing this.

"Rose, may I ask something?"

Seemingly surprised a little, Rose glanced at Alice with her expression reverting back to normal and replied.

"Huh? Sure, I guess"

"I just met you yesterday, so there are a lot of things I don't know yet about you. I can't help noticing that you have a hard time trusting Ainz. It is natural to be skeptical, but is there something you know about Ainz that everyone else don't, if you don't mind sharing with us?"

Rose didn't immediately answer. Instead she sat back down on her seat and lowered her head slightly. She finally broke her silence a couple seconds later.

"When I first arrived on this planet, I was unconscious and wounded quite severely. You know, the Gate Ship, it blew up violently with me still inside. I was then found by a tribe of lizardman, and they took care of me, until I regained enough strength to pull a Trimate and drink it, that is. Heh, can't forget the face they made when I went from a total mess to fully healthy within a second"

Rose chuckled briefly, and then she continued.

"We were skeptical at each other at first, but thanks to the lack of language barrier we could gradually understand each other, and eventually became friends. I had a pretty good time there for a while, until..."

Rose let out a sigh, her hands cupped into fists on the table.

"Until Ainz had many of the lizardmen killed because he wanted to expand his territory"

"I see. So you had a very bad first impression on him. Can't be helped, so I won't blame you for that"

Rose calmed down, then she folded her arms and asked a question.

"What about the others? How was your first impression?"

Rose looked around to the others in the room, and Ryu was then the first one to answer.

"He let me stay in Nazarick for a few days, then he saved a village from total annihilation. To me, he seemed to be good-natured, though a little too pragmatic for my taste"

"As for me, when I first saw him, he was highly adored by the villagers whom he has saved. Having prior experience of living with an undead also helped"

"Papa is a good person! I love Papa!"

"To be honest, I had a bad first impression on him too, but after learning that it was just some set up, I changed my mind. Maybe he wanted to play with us a bit because he was bored? I'm still not too content with him, though. But I will give him the benefit of the doubt for now"

Hikaru shrugged as she ended her speech. Rose let out a small sigh before she began speaking.

"Heh, guess I'm all alone. Even Meru disagrees with me"

"That's a good thing"

"What? What do you mean?"

Rose narrowed her eyes, looking at Alice in confusion.

"It would be bad if the whole team is biased by trust when he makes a questionable or flawed decision in the future. You are the key to keep our bias in check. I can count on you for that, right?"

"Well, if you put it that way... I guess that can work"

Rose shrugged, but it was pretty clear that she was no longer agitated. Seeing that the matter has been settled, Ryu spoke up to confirm the team's next course of action.

"So, do we agree to sleep for the night and visit Nazarick first thing in the morning?"

Ryu glanced at the others one by one, and they all nodded.

"Alright, let's call it a day then. Though by the way, where's Janus?"

Ryu looked at Alice as he asked the question. Alice immediately replied with a straight face.

"He told me that he would patrol the city walls just in case. He doesn't need sleep thanks to his nature anyway, he said"

"I see"

"By the way, is Trimate a type of Mate Drink? Just curious when Rose mentioned it"

"Ah yes. There are three tiers of Mate Drink; Monomate, Dimate, Trimate, in that order. The higher the tier, the more effective it is at healing, but also the harder it is to swallow. What I drank on a whim back then was a Monomate, which was just like plain water"

"I see"

The group then went to sleep soon after. Since now they were whole once more, one person had to sleep on the sofa again. In the end, the arrangement was the same as the previous night and they all slept peacefully in preparation for the following day.


[X][X][X]


Afterword:

Alice has finally reunited with Janus properly with a memory to cherish forever, although a little forced. The team decided to visit Nazarick from the surface the following morning. How will the further events unfold?

See you again 2 weeks later.