...Nazarick…
Demiurge sat behind his desk going over his assistant/paramour's last experiment. She stood in front of him in her demonic glory, golden skin from head to toe, bat wings outstretched behind her, they twitched with the excitement that she kept the rest of her body from revealing. Her storm grey eyes were steely firm, her hands folded behind the small of her back and her feet shoulder width apart. The horns that curved from the front of her forehead toward the back held tiny dangling silver balls with a little fragment of metal within to create a ringing, tinkling sound of a bell whenever she walked. They swayed still from her motion, but the sound at least had stopped. Her clothing was a simple black skirt with a dark shirt and a white lab coat made to accommodate her wings.
Her ample breasts heaved from the exertion of rushing to see him, which raised a pencil thin eyebrow of his own above his crystalline eyes. 'Why would she go that fast?' He'd wondered when she barged into his private workspace without so much as a knock.
His brief anger had dissipated when he saw the fang filled smile on her face and the radiant light that was practically a glowing expression.
The sound of the documents slapped in front of him… on top of the one he'd been looking at, should have angered him. But sense prevailed. 'She wouldn't do this if it were not important.' That much was certain, so he'd gingerly taken it up and started to read.
When he did, he set it down, his tail lashed behind him while the rest of his body remained stock still.
"You are sure?" He finally asked in a quiet monotone.
"Course. I'm always sure except when I'm not, and I am." Vanysa replied with a sharp nod.
It took Demiurge a moment to grasp her weird statement, but when he did, he asked, "Have you informed Lord Ainz?"
She shook her head vigorously, "After the last time*, I brought it to you first."
"Right. Right." Demiurge nodded slowly and read over the document again. "If this fails…" The archdevil began, and slowly stopped the flow of words and simply stared at her.
She opened her hands out at her side and shrugged her shoulders. "But if it doesn't. But if it does…? What do you want, Demi? These are the results of our experiments, the fruit of years, decades, of work, and we have a breakthrough, anything might go wrong that we haven't foreseen. Only one makes no mistakes." She smirked a little. 'As far as they know.' Though a swelling of adoring love for her lord pounded in her breast, she knew differently than what she said. 'He is wise beyond all measure, but if he truly knew all, he would never have taken a daughter he knew would die. Nobody would do that to themselves… my king, my god, my poor godly king..' Her heart ached and for a moment she wished only to weep for his fate atop the world.
But she kept her tears back behind eyes of unflinching steel. 'This is all I can do for you… just this, know one secret of my master that no other can share.' She could not suppress the sniffle, but Demiurge didn't notice it. His fingers folded together and his elbows rested on the table in front of him. His mouth was behind his hands, but she could feel the smile of her paramour.
"You're right, of course. The results are what they are. How many did you kill for this answer?" Demiurge inquired while he reached into a file cabinet, he flipped through various folders while she replied.
A sadistic smile formed on her face and drove out the sorrow welling within. "Twenty beastmen magic casters. Ripping out their mana reserves is as fatal for humans, but it appears we can use their larger reserves more effectively than we can humans. I suggest breeding them for that purpose. Preferably bearmen, pandamen especially."
"Still got that grudge?" Demiurge's eyebrow raised again.
Venom dripped from every word, her savage teeth were bared like she was ready to kill, her talons clicked together when her right hand opened and closed into a blood hungry fist. "Course. They ate my fiance, my city, half my country, and were going to eat me because I stopped responding to their torture. I forgave Astraka, at least he had a sort of noble reason for what he did to me. But I'll never forgive them. Let them exist to fuel the power of the god of death for ten thousand years, at least then the eaters will serve a purpose."
"Fine." Demiurge laughed indulgently and drawing out a folder, he opened it on his desk, took up a requisition stamp, and pounded the document ordering the preservation of all beastmen magic casters with a tier one priority of bearmen specifically. "Whatever gets us there. It's their own fault for refusing our Lord's kindness."
Vanysa shrugged along with his indifference and folded her hands behind her lower back again. "As you say, Demi. Once you've confirmed my work, do you want to tell Lord Ainz? Or Lady Albedo?"
Demiurge opened his mouth to speak, then hesitated. His brow furrowed, "She's calmed down a great deal over the years, though only she and Lord Ainz know why. Ever since that incident, she's barely ever needed to be confined, and since the prophet's death, she's always just done it herself. But this might send her over the edge."
Vanysa proposed a suggestion in the stretching silence. "I'll tell her. We have an… understanding. And some common ground. I am the one who told her where to find him before. And I recorded the prophecies of the prophet. If I explain things while you explain it to Lord Ainz…?"
Demiurge gave a very slow nod of understanding. "A woman to woman matter. Perhaps that is for the best. But…" he raised a finger up from the folded posture. "Tell her only of 'your' success. Make sure she knows I am still checking the last round of experiments, if she thinks it is only 'possibility' and not 'certainty' she might stay calmer."
"I see. You trust them, then?" Vanysa asked with a faint smile tracing over her lips.
"You've worked with me for decades. You take care with your work. Checking is a precaution, nothing more." Demiurge replied in a dry sort of voice that led to the demoness's lower lip forming a faint pout.
"Way to make a girl feel appreciated, Demi." She let out a dismissive huff with her pout.
"If our work from this is right, you'll get a lot more appreciation when you come to our shared quarters tonight." The archdevil's tail slapped the floor sharply for emphasis.
And the demoness smiled, turned, and walked out with a slow swaying to her hips that she knew crystalline eyes followed with great interest.
...Ongeku Roadway…
"Listen, we know that in 'the game' Ainz Ooal Gown was a ruthless guild, but that was just a guild, this is reality… I… I think." Changati rubbed his forehead while looking down toward the ground. "There's no reason to think Momonga will be just as cruel here as the 'character' he played. OK, yes, he sounds like a tyrant, but this is a medieval level world at best here. Of course there are kings and queens. I admit I'm disturbed by the whole 'religion' thing. But maybe that's all that makes sense. Right? I don't want to go near his territory yet, not till we've learned a lot more. But depending on what we hear, maybe we should think about contacting him."
Mendoki shook her head vigorously. Her green hair flew wildly back and forth behind her back. "I absolutely oppose it. Besides, you're an anarchist, Changati, I expect differently out of you."
Changati replied by folding a hand behind his back while holding the other out toward her with palm upturned. "Sure I'm an anarchist," he answered in a reasonable voice, holding eye contact as he spoke, "but I'm also a guild leader, leading an organization is kind of the opposite of anarchy. The key is you all 'want' to be with me. We don't know anything yet about his empire, maybe it really is the best deal around."
Mina and Raolius looked from one to the other with pursed and doubtful lips. "Listen, you all know I'm from a rich family, that means I know a lot of rich, powerful people. I grew up as the veritable niece to some who were like aunts and uncles. Rich people like them, they may or may not like their own, but almost none will give a damn about anyone else. Sure some did, but…!" She stopped her statement with a flourish and thrust a hand skyward, holding it there dramatically, drawing their eyes to her as one.
"But…?" Changati asked, rotating a hand toward her, encouraging her to continue past her 'dramatic moment'.
Mina's elven disguise was flawless, her bright blue eyes widened to an almost comical size to hold their attention as she finished her statement. "But we can't count on either one. We're going to have to ditch the name 'Farwalkers'. We recognized Momonga from the name he took, I don't think it's a good idea for him to have a chance to recognize 'us' in return. Not until we know what we're dealing with. If it's a problem… well who knows more about dealing with villains than I do?" She brought the raised hand down to rest on her large breasts with a note of pride and a clever little smile.
"Fair enough. Then there's only one name for us." Raolius added his two cents with a smirk of dark purple lips. His long tiefling ears twitched, he drew the moment out, and said, "From now on, we may walk far, but we are not the Farwalkers. We are 'The Kingless'." His red eyes went from one to the next and felt his chest swell with satisfaction as slow smiles were formed in return.
"I can think of nothing better." Changati replied and, boldly grabbing the tiefling friend by the horns, he held on tight, "You can always be counted on to come up with something clever, my friend."
Raolius let the shake go on for a bit before he shook off the hold and straightened up, "Now we've settled that, let's go."
They returned to the wagon train and walked along beside it, peppering people with more and more questions about the 'Newcomers' and their history since coming to the borders of the Ongeku kingdom. Sunrise and sunset, they put pieces together more, and more, and more.
Pryde answered some, merchants answered others. But while their ears were turned to answers, their eyes were turned to endless horizons and a great blue sky the likes of which they'd never seen. The forests and plains called out, and the whispering wind told them the world was theirs to roam as much as they craved.
They passed through villages along the way, and took careful note of how they lived. Simple roughspun clothing, thick furs over the shoulders of warriors and those of relative wealth, but little in the way of gaudiness. The homes in the villages were simple wood and thatch covering with a coating of thick mud on the outside as additional protection. Each village organized itself in a circle shape rather than a square, with farms spreading outward from the residential center. In the interior of each village, there was a small fountain used in common, and the stalls for goods ringed between the fountain and the buildings themselves.
From here Changati and Mina both took an interest in a peculiar habit they observed. At each village, the merchants met with only one resident, handed over goods in exchange for coin, and took on goods from others, then moved on. Except for recreational periods, none of them entered the villages at all.
After the third time this happened, the two walked up the road the slow moving wagons rolled along and looked up to a merchant seated atop his wagon. "Excuse me, sir, would you mind explaining what we're seeing at each village? I never see you actually 'selling' to everybody, just to one person in each place… I don't mean to pry, I'm just not a merchant and…" Changati shrugged.
The merchant chuckled, "Not many guards get curious about why we do things." His double chin wrinkled when he smiled, and his ample, round belly jiggled a bit when he shifted. His olive skin was slightly darker from the sun, and his hazel eyes were alight with amusement.
"Well it's simple, young man. We act by Ongeku law. Our King declares that so that no merchant can harm a town, in order to sell in any place smaller than a city, we can only sell to one resident within that city, who will in turn sell to the rest of his neighbors. And at the same time, we must pay within ten percent of peak prices for wheat and other crops. So we partner through the merchants guild with every village headman, who chooses someone for us to sell to, and because there are a fair number of residents, and different types of goods, it keeps any one from getting so wealthy that they can hurt everybody else. When harvest season is well passed, they'll assess what we paid, and if we're within ten percent, we're fine. If not, we're assessed a tax that covers the difference to within five percent to keep Ongeku farmers from falling into poverty."
"You don't resent this kind of system? I mean couldn't you make a lot more if you didn't have to pay like that, and if you could sell to anyone?" Mina scratched the head through the blonde hair that disguised her doppleganger body and looked cockeyed up at him.
The merchant was quiet for a little while as he chewed that thought over. "Maybe. Probably, even." He finally replied, "I know some of my colleagues have groused about some of our rules before, but I myself don't mind much. My father was a farmer, my mother too. It was that system that let them make enough money to help me get started as a merchant. If nobody does that, then nobody moves up, so I don't really mind the system that much. Sure sometimes I wish for an extra coin in my pocket. You don't become a merchant if you don't want to turn a profit." He chortled deeply, his jowls flapping a little with the weight of his amusement. "But I'm a man of the system, and our King is a good one, we trust him to look out for 'us' too, just like he does the peasants."
"Interesting. Th-Thank you for the lesson." Mina said and stopped dead in her tracks, waiting for 'their' wagon to catch up.
She and Changati got in when it rolled up and they were quiet for most of the rest of the day.
As the wheels of the wagons turned, day upon peaceful day, with the sky, grass, forests, clean flowing rivers, and timeless villagers who were as much a part of the land itself as they were of their own communities, something else grew. It grew in each of the hearts of the Kingless, unlooked for, unsought, but growing like a flower in fertile ground under bright sun and good rain… it grew inexorably and like a sunflower, it faced the light of each day without a doubt. More than 'respect' for the ways of the Ongeku… they began to grow to love it, like their old world was a nightmare, and they had awakened to find a dream. But with that, came dread stories of the Empire of the undead.
"...they'll cut up a corpse and animate the skeleton to make the dead serve their killers."
"...They'll force our people to work for half wages over nothing…"
"The founder of their faith slaughtered thousands and mutilated captives…"
So the stories built up. Carrying with them stories of priests who invaded Ongeku lands one or two at a time to convert others to their dark ways.
And by the time they saw the great stone looming walls of the capital city, Changati addressed his Kingless friends and said in a hushed whisper alone in the fading light, "We have to protect this place… this 'Eden'. Maybe it isn't the whole story, but from what it sounds like, Momonga set up a grim and brutal empire, and now… now he's going to take this place like he took whatever else he already did."
Mina's eyes flashed furiously, "I couldn't agree more. He sounds like those brutal industrialists I grew up with, pay workers little, or nothing if you can get away with it."
Mendoki's snarling voice was low and angry, "Forget that, he's doing just what happened on our world before, like when the Spanish, English, and Portuguese began to settle the New World, they didn't give a damn about the native religion, they just wanted to tear it all down and build up what they wanted because they were convinced their way was better. We can't sit by and let someone with our level of power just have his way with this world. Maybe we do need to know more, but I don't like this already."
Raolius clenched a fist, "We should try to wrangle a meeting with the Ongeku King, offer to help him somehow. I'm not much for kings of course, but we can't just…" he closed his eyes and stared off into the seemingly endless wilds, "We can't let our world happen here, if Momonga is trying to do that, or even if he's not but it's happening anyway, we have to stop it, stop him."
"Agreed. Tomorrow… when we reach the city, I'll see what I can do. With our power, it should be easy." Changati remarked, making a fist and holding it out between them. "Are you all with me, then?"
They covered his fist with their open palms one by one, and said together, "To whatever end."
*A HEART FOR A KING