Ch.5 The Never Ending Trait

In the Great Tomb of Nazarick, the sole guardian who knows of Ainz's return has been experiencing crippling anxiety. Demiurge didn't admit this, but he, along with the others, was also deeply hurt and lost with the disappearance of his ruler. Even now it feels like a dream to him again.

While in his private chambers, Demiurge grips his hand to a fist and clenches his teeth with anger "Why did I allow him to leave like that? He could possibly leave us again, or even be in danger. Curse my excitement and anxieties." He berates himself for simply allowing Ainz to leave without so much as an attendant. He still follows his order since he has informed none of the servants currently within the tomb and the maid has been sworn to silence.

Demiurge is the only guardian, besides Garguntua and Aureole Omega, who hasn't left the tomb to serve the heirs. His reasoning being that he would oversee the tomb in Ainz's absence. Albedo volunteered to stay as well, but was convinced to guide Flamel and keep her in check in her nation seeing as she is Flamel's only real family. Of course, Demiurge is still loyal to the heirs but someone had to stay. He is of course with the maids, his personal bodyguards except for Wrath and Envy, the latter of which was gifted to Flamel and the former to Justina as a way of showing his devotion to them.

He makes his way to throne room once more and now it is how it always appears as the table has been removed from when the two heirs had their little meal and the wine stain has been completely clean. This is because Éclair Eclier Eicler has overseen the cleaning of throne room…and he's still here.

He's applying all sorts of cleaning products on Ainz's throne "Clean it, polish it, and clean it once more. None dare to be so thorough in cleaning this most glorious throne!" He declares while wiping it down with a very clean rag.

Demiurge watches the butler clean and notices that he's dangerously close to sitting on the throne "Surely you're not even having a shred of thought to sit on that throne, are you?" he asks with a menacing aura only worsened by a devilish smile.

Éclair immediately catches himself "No, of course not, Demiurge. I am just…being so thorough in cleaning Lord Ainz's throne." He defends himself.

Normally, Demiurge treats this like nothing as Éclair has never actually sat in the throne and would be ignored, but with his new knowledge, Demiurge must ensure that the throne is ready for its true ruler once more.

Feeling the need to unwind a little, Demiurge makes his way to the bar. A regular to Sous-chef, Demiurge makes a composed sit on a chair and his drink is brought to him immediately by the NPC. Being polite, Demiurge thanks the Myconid for his speedy service. While he can't get drunk since he's resistant to poison, the drink still relaxes him a little.

It doesn't take long for Sous-chef to notice Demiurge's anxiety due to the look in his face and the unease in his jeweled eyes "This place is meant for ease and forgetting sorrows. But you seem especially upset for a person of such dignity." Sous-Chef comments to his patron.

Demiurge, not wanting to insult Sous-chef's courtesy, simply nods and responds "Yes, I won't deny it. I've simply been having thoughts of Lord Ainz returning to us, and I suppose those dreary ideas are getting to me."

While wiping a glass, Sous-chef reflects on the past "Yes, I have also wished for his return. His two heirs have been quite bothersome. Of course, I still pledge loyalty to them."

Without raising his voice or being rude, Demiurge criticizes the myconid's words "Do not blame the girls for this. It's really our fault to begin with. If only we'd had been cautious that day, then maybe Shalltear and Albedo could have worked something out."

Sous-Chef pours another drink for his regular and adds "Yes, it is wrong to blame the child when it is clearly the fault of the parent. If Lord Ainz were still here, those two most likely would have been the most proper heirs in the entire world for the throne."

Finally wanting to end his troubles with his own assurance, Demiurge simply states "But as the way things are, we must tend to our duties as if he was still here with us, whether it's bring us joy or frustration."

Sous-Chef nods in agreement and continues to serve the guardian.

Oustide of area of the former village, Momon travels by foot to find whoever attacked those people and stole their supplies, but what the supplies were is a mystery since they didn't say. But the intrigue is mild but worth looking into.

But in spite of his plan, his determination, and his clear motivation, the ruler of the tomb has a weight on his mind, and this is more evident by his actions thus far. Why doesn't he just make his presence known and why doesn't he simply assume control immediately, it's simple, he can't escape guilty thoughts of Alebdo and Shalltear raising their children without him. They may have had the other guardians, who he's sure that they were loving to them, but no replacement for a father's devotion and love.

But this stirs memories within Ainz from when he was just Suzuki Satoru. Thinking of Albedo and Shalltear makes him reflect on his own mother and how she worked herself to death and him witnessing it. Given how devoted Albedo is, he imagines she'd do the same for Flamel, trying with all heart to make her daughter smile, or even Shalltear doing all she can to prevent Justina from ever doing anything to earn the distrust of the other residents of the tomb.

"I guess I can't dwell on it, but the idea meeting them, actually meeting them, really makes me nervous. I didn't have any real family left, but now…two daughters. I guess it's better than being back home where I'd have pay a ton of child-support…but I'd deserve it in this case." He thinks to himself.

Before long, a bright light briefly obscures his vision "What!?" he says as the sudden brightness briefly confuses him. He looks around for a moment, and then a small group of people dressed in heavenly armor appears inside this light; there are about thirty of them.

One person approaches and states "You have crossed paths with the new order of the sunlight scripture!" he states while holding a torn flag with a sun symbol on it. He brandishes a sword stained with blood.

Momon wonders what these people are doing because the real Sunlight Scripture was dissolved so long ago. He looks at the bloodstained sword and it appears quite old.

The warrior brandishing the sword orders "Adventurer, state your business and then we will take whatever items you have on you!"

It is odd to Momon that he has encountered these people because they seem more like bandits and thieves than knights or a serious group of the Slane Theocracy.

"I see, so you use this little barrier to entrap travelers, extort them, and then attack them. Do none of you have any shame?" Momon asks the group

The leader raises his sword and declares "All who aid the Crimson Empire or the Philosopher's Empire are enemies of the gods, and therefore sentenced to death. Because of this barrier, none can hear, see, nor sense us. Your death, much like yourself, will go unnoticed and none will ever locate your corpse. A fitting fate for a soulless beast."

A little intrigued Momon asks "None can sense us in here?"

The leader answers "Yes, this absolute barrier is meant to hide all so that we can remain hidden and plot our attack on the Crimson Empress…" He almost finishes explaining when he hears a faint noise from the armored warrior.

"Hehehehe…." Momon laughs a bit louder "HAHAHAHAHA!" his laugh becomes hardy and amused when he says "I can't believe the ONE thing that has increased in my absence, the one singular thing that remains constant, happens to be stupidity, and OH what stupidity have I seen this day."

The leader raises his sword and charges in while rebuking "The only stupidity is coming from you!"

Momon undoes his armor and reveals his true form to the clueless bunch and one immediately shouts "He's an elder lich!?" as the leader stops in place at the sight of the true form of the great ruler.

"My plan was to remain hidden for a time, but when you foolishly isolated us, I saw no reason to restrain myself. After all, I cannot allow the empresses to have such foolish enemies, can I?" he explains with his staff in hand.

The leader looks a little nervous, but he rekindles the spirit of his peers by reminding them, while holding the bloody sword "Don't forget, this sword is stained with the blood of the Crimson Empress herself, nearly three hundred years ago."

Upon hearing this, Ainz realizes something important about that sword "So, that sword was used harm Justina. But if that's correct, then she must have been very young when that happened. It's sickening …too sickening to allow that sword to exist."

The inspired group of warriors charges at the Elder Lich while Ainz decides to do away with this lot and disgusting relic.

Ainz simply says "Well, since you've entrapped us in a sphere of heavenly light, then how about I attack with a spell of hell itself." He lifts his hand and points his finger at the leader and simply says "Hellflame." As a small fire shoots at the leader who looks like he's ready to simply deflect it but as it hits the leader's sword, which he uses to try to deflect the fire, it immediately erupts into a large dark inferno that begins to engulf the leader as he screams in agony and is completely incinerated by the fires and the sword is consumed as well leaving nothing behind.

The other warriors become afraid, but Ainz simply asks "What's the matter? I thought you all were going to make me suffer an unnoticeable death." The rest cower at seeing the one true overlord's power but he shows no mercy "You all attacked me first, so you only have yourselves to blame. Perhaps, in the next life, you'll all be born wiser and count on a simple cloak to achieve victory." He holds out his hand and the sounds of screaming echo, but none outside the sphere can hear the intensity of Ainz's magic, but he's careful as not to destroy it since he easily could.

The barrier soon fades and Ainz immediately dons his Momon guise again as the bodies of the warriors are nowhere to be found. He suspects there may be more groups like this one, but clearly this may have been a more important team since they had a symbol, and one that he finds revolting.

He makes his way back to the former village to report his findings to the mayor since she'll most likely want to know and it could benefit to make her ally or at least get on friendly terms with her. His time becoming more devoted to getting to the capital, he's going to have make his way eventually.

In the capital, however, Aura and Mare are enjoying themselves after a rough day in the fields with Aura having a burger with beef imported from Flamel's Empire. They generally lounge on the roof of Justina's palace these days since they are needed a lot. Aura is exhausted because she's trying to figure out the problem. Mare can't figure out much himself even though he is skilled in magic and Aura is a great tamer

"Man, I just can't figure out any of what's going here. No matter what I do, those farm animals aren't getting any better." She complains to her brother while taking a big bite.

Mare eats his own snack while saying "Well maybe because you're so focused on training animals for fighting. Maybe livestock isn't forte."

Aura feels a little insulted and argues "Come on, I can tame all sorts of giant beasts. So taking care of cows, pigs, and chickens should be easy."

Before Mare can say anything to his sister, Sebas appears and explains "Because we're not talking about a simple cold or infection. We're talking about a disease." Sebas shows up with a piece of paper in his hand, a report from the troops he was assigned. His role is mostly observing and leading since he doesn't have any real skill in what's needed.

His report isn't complete, but he has an idea of what's happening to the livestock and crops a little. He's here to report to Justina on his findings.

Little do they know, the Empress is about to intrude on them as she stands before the door, but then Aura says "It's days like this that makes me wish Lord Ainz were here again. He'd figure it out really fast."

Mare buts in to his sister by reminding her "But Lady Justina is trying her best. She's just not as experienced as he was."

Sebas agrees but also adds "Indeed, but she lacked his guidance growing up. They both did, and we didn't do our jobs properly since we've divided like we have."

The elf twins feel a little remorse but then Mare asks Sebas "By the way, what's it like working for Lady Flamel. I've never served her directly, and I'm curious."

Sebas looks to the sky and thinks for a moment. His answer is something that Justina eagerly listens for but what she hears is this from Sebas "Lady Flamel is very efficient in her endeavors, and she's quite the smart empress. Though, if I'm being honest, I say she and Lady Justina simply aren't the rulers Lord Ainz was. They lack so much of his confidence and his presence. But at least they try to honor him."

Justina backs away from the door and returns to downstairs where she has comforts but has to keep her head leveled. She goes back to her throne room, where her black knight waits.

Upon seeing her knight once more, Justina looks at her and immediately asks "Tell me, do you think I'm a good ruler?"

The knight is a little thrown off by the sudden question "Wait, what are you asking me?" she responds, and Justina simply waves it off. Interpreting it differently, the black knight thinks she's asking of loyalty "If you're asking me if I'm loyal to you, don't worry. The Re-estize kingdom is long gone. My loyalty is completely with you, Lady Justina." The black kneels while brandishing a black sword, specifically Kilineiram.

Justina smiles and replies "That's not what I asked, but thank you anyway." Her smile turns to a frown when the vampire who was talking with the mayor appears.

He tells her what's happening "Milady, that mayor isn't delivering on her assigned supplies. The herbs and vegetables are growing slimmer by the day. This cannot continue. You should allow us to force them to work harder."

Justina snaps "NO! My father promised them prosperity and wanted friendly terms with them, and it's going to stay that way. Besides, it's a tall order to begin with."

Seeing her stress, the black knight tells the vampire "How about you leave the Empress alone or I'll have you reassigned." She threatens as the leader of the vampire army.

The vampire looks uneasy but leaves the two in peace. Thoughts of doubt of being a ruler cloud Justina's mind as she sits in her throne with her face to the ground. But her salvation is on its way as her father is approaching at this point and his mind is made about meeting her. Helping the town and aiding the villagers supply route has led to him getting a ride to the capital on a supply cart as a bodyguard for the carrier after he informed the mayor the possible extra groups being around. But on thinking of it, Ainz wonders if this reformed Sunlight Scripture is actually with the Slane Theocracy or just a small insurgence. But either way, he won't allow anyone to harm his daughter's empire because it's part of his kingdom as far as he's concerned.

But a certain masked figure watches from afar, and she recognizes the armored warrior. "It can't be…" she says to herself.