Hi there. I'm still on schedule despite what I said back then, and I hope it will stay that way.
See you again in the afterword.
Chapter 80: Formulation of Alliances
Silence enveloped a particular street within E-Rantel. The people there all stood still, still trying to process what just happened. The undead who had just vanished after declaring his claim of authority over E-Rantel called Ainz Ooal Gown left no trace. It would have been acceptable to say the people were hallucinating after the shock of the monster attacks. However, it was undeniable that Momon, the hero who had saved the city, had spoken with and even agreed to work with that undead. It was no figment. It was reality.
"M-Momon-dono! Why did you support that undead's proposal!?"
One man mustered his courage to directly question Momon, with the crowd starting to make noises, voicing the same concern. Momon remained standing upright as he spoke his reply in a calm, straight, and dignified tone of speech.
"It was a decision I had to make. If I voiced opposition, the possibility existed that he might retaliate against me. Yes, I would fight back in that case, but if he's strong enough to make me use one of my trump cards, then the ensuing battle between us risked the entire city being reduced to ashes, similar to what happened to the landscape where I fought Honyopenyoko. I have grown attached to this city after living here for a while, so I couldn't afford to take the risk"
Some voices exclaiming "Ooooh..." could be heard from the crowd. Momon's explanation made sense, and the last part of it gave the people a sense of security by implying that Momon loved the city of E-Rantel and he would go to great lengths to keep it safe. Therefore, all silently and unanimously accepted, despite the undead. Regardless of that, Momon continued his speech.
"In any case, his claim will need approval from the Crown, and I can't do much in that matter. For now, I suggest all of you go home and continue going about your normal day. I'll gather more information for the time being and... Hmm?"
Momon suddenly looked up, and the people around him followed suit. What they immediately saw was two shining blue lights falling down from the sky. All of them were familiar with the sight, so they all knew that those two lights were the people of ARKS coming.
"I'm going there. Please excuse me"
In a display of superhuman physical ability that left many speechless, Momon dashed towards the approximate impact point of the blue lights, leaving the crowd somewhat dazed, but also relieved knowing that the city still had a hero who would protect them from future dangers. Still, being curious, a few people began running towards the same direction.
[X][X][X]
Ryu and Hikaru dove down from the sky towards the city of E-Rantel, and they landed on the street right in front of the Adventurer's Guild building. Naturally, the hard impact of their landing startled civilians in the vicinity, but Ryu wanted to get there as quickly as possible to get information about how the city had fared against the Darker attack during his absence.
"Ryu!"
Just a second after landing, someone called out to Ryu. The voice was familiar, and the quick presumption was soon confirmed when Ryu turned his head towards the source and saw the figure of Momon who approached him.
"Ah, Momon-dono"
"I heard that your team went city-to-city trying to save them all from the monster attack. Thank you for your hard work"
"Ah, yes. It's thankfully over for now, and it seems the people here are safe. Thank you for protecting this city, Momon-dono"
"Casualties were inevitable, but Nabe and I did everything we could to minimize it. Now, I know that you might be tired, but there is something important I need to ask"
"Hmm? I don't mind, but right here where people can hear?"
"This matter concerns the livelihoods of the people, so I believe they have the rights to know"
At this point, several people came running behind Momon and stopped within earshot distance. Their faces were generally tense, which drew the curiosity of several other people who immediately approached and seemingly asked questions.
"With that being said, I want to confirm if it is true that ARKS has forged an alliance with someone named Ainz Ooal Gown"
Ryu had no idea how he should answer that. Indeed, ARKS and Ainz were now allied, but if the one asking the question was basically Ainz himself, and in front of unknowing civilians to boot, there must be some kind of plan in motion. His answer could make or break everything, and knowing the weight of that made him freeze in place.
"Yes, that's right"
As if she had noticed Ryu freezing, Hikaru gave out the answer in a straight tone. Several gasps could be heard from the people behind Momon, but she paid no heed to them and continued speaking with her arms folded.
"ARKS is now short on manpower. We can't protect all the people at once on our own, and jumping cities like we just did today... didn't work well. So, our only choice was to ally ourselves with someone who has enough strength to fight against the Dark Falz and their Darker minions"
"I see. Then let me inform you about what had happened just recently"
Momon then proceeded to tell Ryu and Hikaru a summarized story of Ainz Ooal Gown proposing to put the city of E-Rantel under his protection in exchange of handing the authority over the city to him. The story also included the fact that Ainz was an undead being, which made the people uneasy about the proposal. Nevertheless, the short storytelling gave Ryu enough time to calm himself, enabling him to speak in a more composed manner.
"Guardian Kingdom? A certain person in our team may find the name awkward. In any case, Ainz indeed once stated his intention to found and expand a nation, but that is outside the scope of our alliance, which is to aid each other in battles involving Darkers and Dark Falz. Nothing more"
Momon nodded with his arms folded hearing Ryu's explanation.
"That means ARKS is not to be taken responsible for his recent actions. The way I see it, even if he hasn't forged an alliance with ARKS, he would have done those anyway"
Momon spoke with his voice slightly amplified for some reason, as if he wanted the crowd of curious civilians nearby to hear him. It then dawned on Ryu that Momon, either Ainz himself or a Doppelganger subordinate, was trying to cover for ARKS by painting them as unrelated to Ainz's conquest, preventing a possible stigma. Ryu was silently thankful and impressed, seeing how far Ainz had thought of everything.
Momon then continued speaking, still in the same tone of speech.
"I apologize for taking your time. You have done much more work than I did, saving not only one but multiple cities, so please go home and take your well-earned rest"
"Ah, yes. I'm glad to know that this city is in your good hands. We'll take our leave"
Ryu and Hikaru then flew away from the place, going back to their room in Shining Golden Pavilion. The day had been a very exhausting day, and he really could use some sleep.
[X][X][X]
At the bridge of Laguz, Xiera stared at the multitude of photon interface displays floating in front of her. Her fingers danced around, pressing photon buttons for whatever purpose she had in her mind.
The foremost part of the bridge functioned like a balcony where people could stand and have a view of the stars above and the nose of the ship below. Several people, namely Guardian, Rose, Alice, and Lily, were standing around at the balcony, waiting for anything that could happen any second.
"Ryu and Hikaru are already back at E-Rantel now"
Guardian spoke while looking at her photon interface. She then turned her head towards Lily who was visibly anxious, and then she spoke.
"Lily, you're supposed to stay close to Ryu, right? I'm just wondering why you aren't now"
"Uhh, Ryu-san told me to go with Rose-san and Alice-san, so..."
As Lily spoke her reply, Rose looked at her and asked a question.
"Hey, I'm now wondering... Are you strictly bound to obey Ryu and Ainz no matter what they ask you?"
"Huh? Yes, I am. I just know that it's my purpose"
"So, what would you do if they told you to do conflicting things? Like for example, Ryu told you to ki- I mean, destroy an object, but Ainz told you to protect it. Who would be the one you obey?"
Upon hearing Rose's question, Lily showed a slightly surprised reaction which was partially obscured by her helmet.
"I have never thought about it, and I don't know... Even if I try imagining it happening, I can't figure out what I would do"
"Guess you won't know until it actually happens, huh? Oh well, never mind then"
As Rose leaned to the balcony railings after her speech, Alice spoke to her.
"As far as I know, magical constructs are not even supposed to answer to anyone other than their master or creator. Lily is definitely a sophisticated one, capable of interacting with other people even with the absence of both. Nobody would ever figure out by themselves that she is a magical construct. I'd be lying if I said I'm not impressed by Ainz's creation capability"
Rose didn't immediately respond. She was briefly silent with her head turned towards Alice before she spoke.
"Sorry, Alice. The way you said it was kinda..."
"I was just stating a fact according to my knowledge. Of course I still consider Lily as a person. I'm not that narrow-minded, you know"
Alice looked annoyed as she spoke, but she didn't voice it out any further. Rose then replied after a brief silence.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I just felt uneasy because... I'm a magical construct too in a sense, right? Along with Meru"
Hearing Rose's words which were spoken in a mildly mellow tone of speech, Alice turned her head towards Rose with her face showing a minor sign of being dumbfounded.
"Oh... yeah, I forgot. But if I can happen to forget that, it means you're genuine enough that the fact doesn't matter anymore"
"Heh, you have a point there. Anyway..."
Rose smirked as she spoke, and then at the end of her speech she looked over to the seat where Xiera was sitting.
"Hey, Xiera. Found anything yet?"
"Uhh, still nothing spotted yet. Though, why don't you all just take a rest? You must be tired after battling for hours"
Xiera replied while still attending to the plethora of photon screens and control panel in front of her. Hearing it, Rose looked over to the others around her briefly.
"Now that you mention it... yeah, I guess. Let's regroup with Ryu at that inn and sleep there"
"Have your well-deserved rest, everyone!"
Hearing Xiera's words, Guardian rolled her eyes.
"Well-deserved for them. I've been just standing here all day doing nothing, you know"
The group of four then left the bridge, intending to regroup with Ryu at Shining Golden Pavilion and retire for the day. Dark Falz Double was still under the radar and the planet below was relatively at peace for the time being, but everyone knew that this was just the calm before the storm, figuratively speaking.
[X][X][X]
Several days have passed after the Darker attack. The city of E-Rantel has mostly recovered, and today its people were doing their activities like always. The impact of the attack such as visibly damaged buildings could be seen in several places, but nobody had time to sulk over it. Merchants kept their shops operational, blue-collar men worked to repair damages, and the Adventurer's Guild continued their service.
Both of the Adamantite Rank teams in the city remained on standby in case of another attack, but there has been none so far. Xiera was still unable to track the location of Dark Falz Double, and Ainz had no luck from his side either. ARKS and Ainz had been communicating through the two Adventurer teams, which naturally had to be done discreetly.
What made today different than the usual day was the fact that an official announcement from the Crown was broadcasted city-wide. The spreading method varied from conventional town-criers to magical means, but nevertheless the news took the people by storm, sparking commotions at various places.
The core of the announcement was the fact that the Crown has officially approved the concession of E-Rantel to Guardian Kingdom, and declared that Re-Estize Kingdom was open for further alliance negotiations.
Nobody had expected the King to grant the claim of an undead just like that without opposition, and now all the people were concerned about their future lives knowing that soon the city would be ruled by an undead, known for their hatred towards the living. Fleeing the city was not really an option either, because without having a good wealth and connections to start with, most of them would be reduced to paupers and forced to live in the slums thanks to the deeply-rooted seniority system of cities.
Having been caught between a rock and a hard place, a group of concerned citizens flocked over to Momon and Nabe who were sitting in the waiting room of Adventurer's Guild, standing by in case of a sudden event which would need them to immediately spring into action such as the recent Darker attack. Some members of Ignite Maximus were usually there as well for similar reasons, but today none of them were present.
"Momon-dono! What should we do? This city has fallen into the hands of an undead!"
One man spoke to Momon with a very visibly worried face, and all the other people around him sported similar facial expressions showing how concerned they were. Momon lowered his head and folded his arms, while Nabe maintained her sitting upright posture.
"Hmm, so the Crown conceded to his claim. That is unexpected"
"You should have slain that undead! Now we're all doomed!"
"No, when I said that it was unexpected, I wasn't expecting the Crown to make the wiser choice"
Within an instant, all the civilians around Momon and Nabe became confused, not getting what he meant.
"I said it myself back then that Ainz was likely strong enough to make the battle between us annihilate the entire city, reducing it to ashes. Their options were to either give the city away or have it taken from them by force, which would cause damages and casualties"
Momon stopped briefly, taking a breath before resuming.
"Think about it. I can say with confidence that should I and Nabe fight Ainz Ooal Gown, at least half of the city population will get killed in the crossfire, without mentioning the potential destruction of properties. Would you really rather have that?"
"B-But getting ruled by an undead is-!"
"Don't get me wrong. I know your concern very well. After all, my personal quest all these years was to slay two vampires, of which I have slain one. I have enough experience with various undead beings I have encountered, and I can say that Ainz Ooal Gown was different. We still don't know what will happen next, and who knows, he might be a great ruler"
"But that's-!"
"Unimaginable, indeed. I won't deny that. In any case, please go back to your normal activities and continue to do so even after he reigns. If later you feel treated unfairly under his rule, then please come to me"
The people who heard Momon's words couldn't fully accept the conclusion, but they couldn't oppose it either. Being ruled by an undead was never something anybody would want, but all people trusted Momon who had saved the city multiple times and was now suspending his own quest in order to keep the people safe. In the current circumstances, the citizens of E-Rantel were basically hostages whom Momon could freely choose to ignore and leave alone, but he didn't. Who wouldn't feel indebted seeing Momon's self-sacrifice?
As the result, everyone unanimously agreed with Momon and promised to spread the news to those not present, and then they dispersed, returning to their activities.
But one young man stayed behind, and Momon naturally noticed.
"Are you still concerned about something?"
"I'm actually wondering where the other team has been all this time. I haven't heard about them for a while"
"Oh, you mean Ignite Maximus? Well, most of the team belong to ARKS, so they are busy teleporting around the world unlike my team who remain here in E-Rantel"
"Are other places constantly under attack by those monsters?"
"Their endeavors are not only combat"
Momon then leaned forward, resting his arms on the table and lowering his head. The young man had no idea what the gesture meant. Perhaps Momon was silently pitying them for having to do such an exhaustive amount of tasks.
[X][X][X]
"You know, under normal circumstances you would have been arrested for intrusion, landing on the Imperial Palace courtyard like that"
Behind his official work desk, Jircniv spoke with his eyes fully directed at the person sitting in front of him across the desk. The Four Imperial Knights standing behind him were also as wary as him, having been watching the movements of the person claiming to be an ARKS representative ever since he entered the office of the Emperor. In addition, there was also another man and a girl standing behind the representative, likely his escorts. Jircniv's sharp eyes noticed the Adamantite Rank plates worn by the escorts, so it was easy to conclude that they were likely part of the Ignite Maximus team.
"I'm fully aware of that, but time is a luxury for us. The sooner we can settle things, the better"
The representative, having introduced himself as Casra of ARKS Intelligence Division, spoke with a straight tone of speech, seemingly unconcerned with the fact that he was currently speaking with the Emperor of this nation. Casra's visibly long and sharp ears easily made anyone assume that he was an elf at first glance, but even for elf standards those ears were larger than normal. Regardless of what Casra's race actually was, seeing the implication that a non-human could reach a seemingly important position within ARKS made Jircniv wonder if ARKS was a multi-racial organization, in much the same way the Argland Council State was.
Not wanting to bring it up and complicate things, Jircniv began speaking right into the point.
"I appreciate the reinforcements sent by ARKS back then, but it is a fact that my nation has suffered a significant number of casualties from the attack. I demand explanations on what those monsters were and why they attacked my people out of the blue"
"A reading material will be provided, but it is written in our world's language. We happen to have a workaround for that, but due to some limitations only one person can be granted with the knowledge of our language"
Jircniv turned his head towards the nearby scribe who was tasked to record the meeting.
"In that case, I assign you to take the knowledge"
The scribe was briefly surprised, but then he immediately bowed to Jircniv.
"As you wish, Your Majesty"
Casra then looked at the escorts behind him. The girl one nodded and immediately walked to the scribe.
"Give me your hand"
The scribe complied, putting his hand forward. A magic circle appeared on the girl's hand, with which she held the scribe's hand. Just a few seconds later the magic circle disappeared.
"It's done. Now you can read ARKS language"
The scribe was visibly surprised, but Jircniv remained unfazed, having known that one member of Ignite Maximus was a former local Adventurer of E-Rantel who possessed the Hierophant of Language Talent.
As the girl returned to her former position, Casra spoke.
"Now, let's get to the important point. Those monsters are called Darkers, and the particular ones which attacked recently are of the Toy type Darkers, courtesy of Dark Falz Double"
"So, it was not Dark Falz Elder?"
The two escorts behind Casra showed a minor sign of surprise, while Casra himself kept his face unchanging.
"I see that you're well-informed about past events, as expected of the leader of a nation. There are details that I'm not allowed to disclose, but I can say that Dark Falz Elder is no more. As for why they attacked, it is likely because they felt like doing so"
Jircniv squinted his eyes, and the knights behind him showed visible and audible reactions. Nobody raised any ruckus because they had been instructed so, but nevertheless Jircniv kept his calm and spoke.
"Are you telling me that thousands of my people were killed simply on a whim by that Dark Falz?"
"Unfortunately, yes. Dark Falz Double is like a child, treating everything like a toy to play with. But we have evidence that they came here with a goal in mind, and that is why we, ARKS, are going to stop them from accomplishing it"
"That is all well and good, but I must remind you that your battle has taken countless lives of innocent people who were supposed to be unrelated to your affairs, and as the Emperor I cannot simply let it slide. I expect that you understood my point, no?"
"Yes, I won't deny that the lost lives were failures on our part. We wanted to protect everyone, but in the end we were still mere mortals with limited capabilities"
All this time, Casra spoke without any noticeable changes on his facial expression, which remained straight with a minor sense of smugness. His tinted goggles made it difficult for Jircniv to read his face, and it annoyed Jircniv. Nevertheless, Jircniv didn't show his annoyance, and spoke again with the same dignified tone of speech.
"So what is your reasoning for this visit? I highly doubt that it is just for mere explanations, am I correct?"
"Of course. We don't wish to have more harm befalling your people, but being shorthanded our best available option is to recommend allying your nation with the newly founded Guardian Kingdom"
Inside his mind, Jircniv clicked his tongue. The recommended action was essentially what he more or less was going to do anyway. However, now that it was confirmed right to his face that ARKS as an organization was already within the grasp of Ainz Ooal Gown, his options to stop Ainz's conquest were pretty much gone.
Keeping himself calm and collected, Jircniv spoke in response to the recommendation.
"The kingdom founded by Ainz Ooal Gown, isn't it? Baharuth Empire has already undergone alliance negotiations with him, so that matter has been already taken care of"
The two escorts, whom Jircniv now certain were Ryu Seika and Alice Vegelshaft, tried to hide their surprise better than before, but Jircniv still noticed their reaction. Meanwhile, Casra just made a slight nod before speaking.
"Good to hear. But regardless of that, ARKS will still come to your aid should the Darkers attack again, not that we wish it to happen for real. The world-wide attack forced us to make a sadistic choice between spreading our forces beyond thin or making more choices of which city to save first. Nobody wants to experience that again"
This... is just unbelievable!
What Casra had been saying from the beginning until now made clear implications that ARKS didn't prioritize a single government entity. Instead, they intended to protect the world and all who dwelled within it regardless of races and nations. Such a view of equality would be dismissed as a pipe dream by anyone in the ruling hierarchy, but now he saw it with his own eyes, the existence of a nation which held that view and had advanced their civilization beyond common understandings.
I wonder if my empire can follow the example... Abolishing demihuman slavery might be a good start, but I'll save that matter for a later time.
As Jircniv was pondering, Casra put his hand forward and particles of light began appearing around it. Within an instant, something which looked like a large documents folder appeared and he put it on the table.
"As promised, here are copies of materials that should provide insight about us and what we regularly deal with. If there is nothing else, we will take our leave"
Is that a magical storage? Don't tell me...!
It was easy to immediately assume that Casra pulled out the reading material from some kind of storage magic. Jircniv knew that Fluder couldn't use such magic, and he had never heard of anyone else capable of that. But right now the person in front of him did it casually. This piqued his interest, and therefore he made a quick decision.
"Hold on for a moment. Before you leave, I want to have a certain person see you. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes if you are concerned about time"
Casra nodded without hesitation in response, and then he spoke his affirmation.
"Very well"
Jircniv then immediately rang a nearby small ornate bell on his desk. This bell was a magic item made by Fluder Paradyne, which would sound a matching bell owned by the aforementioned person no matter where he currently was on the palace grounds.
Just a couple seconds later, the person in question appeared out of nowhere right next to Jircniv, coming via teleportation magic. Once again, Casra looked unfazed while his two escorts showed a minor reaction of surprise.
"What do you need me for, Your Majesty?"
"Gramps, I want you to take a look at our three visitors here and tell me what you see"
Fluder then turned his head towards Casra, Ryu, and Alice. His eyes went wider for a brief moment, and then he spoke while maintaining his calm tone of speech.
"All of them have a unique reading. The shape and color of their aura are nothing like I have ever seen, but what interests me the most is the girl"
Alice showed a surprised reaction, while Fluder resumed his remark.
"Her aura is a mixture of the aura I'm familiar with and the unique aura, and the intensity is the greatest among the three. From this observation I can say that she is actually the strongest one of them and I would like to study this strange phenomena if possible"
"Wait, that can't be right!"
Alice immediately spoke her denial, tightly gripping her staff weapon with both hands as she spoke.
"I'm nowhere near the strength of others in the team. I know it from experience, so there must be something wrong in your observation!"
This forceful declaration by Alice prompted a slightly surprised reaction from Ryu, who then immediately went into a thinking posture, pondering about the statement. Jircniv took a good look at Alice as she spoke, and then turned his head towards Fluder.
"I don't think she is lying, so what do you think, Gramps?"
"There is a possibility that the other two are wearing a power concealing item or such. My Talent is sadly unable to see past that"
"We don't wear such things, but perhaps..."
Ryu, who has been silent so far, spoke as particles of light appeared around his hand, instantly materializing a white ornate magic staff.
"O-Ooohhh!"
Fluder suddenly exclaimed with his eyes going as wide as humanly possible. Having noticed that, Casra smirked and spoke.
"Interesting. In that case..."
Casra stood up, and light particles appeared in front of him, drawing a flower-shaped shining sigil in front of his body.
"Phosphor Engine, Florenberg!"
Right after Casra declared, a strange object similar to a spiral conch shell materialized on his left hand. Even without a Talent like Fluder's, Jircniv and probably the knights behind him could feel the heavy air of power around it. Fluder himself on the other hand, fell to his knees with a hysterical facial expression.
"Ooohhh! Please let me study your realm of magic! I wish to delve into such a new and unknown art! Surely this could help our alliance, could it not Your Majesty?"
Heh, as expected of Gramps. At this rate he will openly betray me and I won't be able to do much about that.
Fluder's behavior was within Jircniv's expectations. He had already betrayed him to Ainz Ooal Gown anyway, so there was basically nothing more to lose. Of course, in all likelihood his words that it could 'help our alliance' meant that Fluder wished to gain more information to appease Ainz Ooal Gown, and further his worth to the undead. It was so transparent to him that he nearly lost his decorum along with the old man and face-palmed at the situation.
Nevertheless, Jircniv now gained information that the power level of ARKS people depended on whether they had their weapon equipped or not. The usefulness of this was questionable, since they were capable of summoning their weapon out of thin air. Still, it was useful information regardless, since so much was still unknown about them.
[X][X][X]
"Whew, I was not really suited for this"
Casra stretched his arms after returning from the planet below. Right now he along with Ryu and Alice were already back at the Gate Area of Laguz. It was quite visible that there were many other people hurrying left and right for each their own mission.
"Sorry about that. Not many of us can effectively handle speaking directly to a nation's leader as a representative of ARKS"
Ryu spoke to Casra, whom he was aware not to be the Casra he knew because this was Guardian's universe, but nevertheless, Casra replied with a slight smile.
"Can't be helped, wasn't it? In any case, I must take my leave. My works are not gonna finish themselves. Thanks for the interesting sight, by the way"
Ryu just nodded, and then Casra walked away. Immediately, Ryu noticed a familiar person coming from the entrance. It was Guardian, visibly battered and bruised all over her body, and she didn't look amused in any way.
"Guardian! What happened to you?"
Ryu asked with a concerned tone as he quickly approached Guardian. He remembered that she was supposed to go to the Slane Theocracy and act as an ARKS representative there, taking advantage of the fact that she was already highly regarded by the higher ups of that nation.
"Did things go bad there?"
Alice asked as she casted some healing spells on Guardian.
"No, things went fairly well. They had their doubts, but they agreed to make a non-aggression pact towards Ainz's 'Guardian Kingdom'... Ugh, that name... Anyways, for the time being they didn't want to officially ally with it. As for why I'm like this, Zesshi challenged me again and I didn't refuse"
"Did you win?"
"It was a draw again like in the past because our fight had to be stopped before we utterly destroyed the environment around us. Needless to say, it was intense and she looked very happy for it"
Although Ryu had never personally seen Zesshi, he had heard a thing or two about her from Guardian. She was the other person who had helped Guardian to kill Apostolo Dragon along with the Captain, and for some reason she was constantly eager to fight Guardian.
"Why did you go to such great lengths to entertain her demand? I mean, you never had to, right?"
"Yeah, I know. It's just that... It seems she's been living her life secluded within that building for a really long time, and she's developed a twisted sense of boredom thanks to that. I don't know what kind of circumstances made her live like that, and I know it's not my place to butt in. But if I can make her a little happier by accepting her challenge, it's all worth a few cuts and bruises"
"Wow, guess you can call me impressed. Now I kinda understand what Matoi meant when she said that your kindness can sometimes be a curse"
Hearing Ryu's words, Guardian rolled her eyes with a sigh.
"Why do you have to remember that of all things?"
After a few laughs, the group proceeded to the bridge. Xiera was there as usual, and the rest of the team were in the room as well. The former noticed the trio coming, and so she turned her seat around and greeted.
"Welcome back! Thank you for the hard work! How did it go?"
Ryu was then the first to respond to the question, followed by Guardian.
"It went fairly well, though it somewhat became a show of power from our side"
"As for me, it was a little worse, but at least they will make a non-aggression pact"
Xiera nodded hearing the words. Indeed, ARKS has been sending representatives to various nations of the planet below to explain about themselves, Darkers, and Dark Falz. In addition, squads were also dispatched to deal with stray Darkers which emerged once in a while.
"You know what's funny?"
Rose spoke up out of the blue with her eyes rolled. Not waiting for anyone to respond, she resumed.
"We allied with Ainz back then so he could help spread news about us, right? But now here we are, spreading news about his kingdom everywhere"
All on the bridge who heard the remark had a dumbfounded expression in varying degrees for a brief moment, but then they all chuckled. Hikaru was the first one to reply.
"Teeheehee, can't be helped. Double screwed things up in many ways"
"Right. Anyway, the three of us escorted a representative to a nation we have never been before. It's very far south from our usual location, and the civilization strongly reminds me of Harkotan, though of course the people are of our normal size unlike those giants"
Hearing Rose's remarks, Guardian put her hand under her chin and pondered briefly before replying.
"Harkotan, huh? So like, oriental architecture, armor suits, and shrines?"
"Yup. They also have katana wielders. Quite an interesting coincidence, isn't it? In any case, their response was about the same as what you got. They don't want to officially ally themselves, but they won't make any aggressive moves against Guardian Kingdom"
Guardian seemed to cringe briefly upon hearing the last part of Rose's words, and then she lowered her head and sighed.
"Really, why did Ainz have to pick that name of all things? Some of the Slane Theocracy guys thought that it was my kingdom, and you have no idea how hard it was to tell them that it wasn't"
"Pfft! Hahahaha! Poor you!"
Rose laughed hearing Guardian's complaint, and the latter facepalmed with a sigh. The rest of the people in the bridge also let out a laugh in varying degrees of intensity. Ryu felt quite delighted that a lighthearted and cheery conversation like this still could happen in the middle of a crisis, but he couldn't help feeling that this was merely a calm before a storm.
[X][X][X]
Afterword:
The initial purpose of the alliance between Ainz and ARKS went out of the window, and Dark Falz Double is still nowhere to be found. Something needs to change soon.
See you again later.
