(there is no difference in this chapter between the T version and M version, if you read one or the other you can skip this chapter).
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Alone
The talk all around The Re-Estize Kingdom, Baharuth Empire, and Slane Theocracy was one thing. Ainz Ooal Gown, a team that came literally out of nowhere had taken the Adventure scene by storm. First, it was tales of their uncanny power skill and beauty, talks that would turn any ear in any pub. It wasn't long until those talks grew to tales of how they had managed to save the town of E-Rantel of an undead surge from the Katze Plain. Tales became songs as it was now a common sight to see a huge blue dragon fly over the areas of E-Rantel and the like. They were levels ahead of the typical Adventure team, and now they had Dragons!
In these skies, Pero rides atop his recently acquired dragon. her name was Kilistran, a harem wife to the dragon Momonga now flew in a different part of the sky with Albedo hugging him. This was only the third day he'd flown on her back but they already developing a bond, she could interpret his sublet nudges and leans as which way she needed her to go if a course correction was necessary. he found it odd then that she never spoke to him, she could, they had spoken a few times but she must really resent being made to fly as a mount now as she never said a word to Jin unless she had to.
"Alright Kili that's good for now, land over there by that village." he directed and she nodded and pitched down flapping her giant wings as the people of Carne ran away in fear. Some had heard the tales and new this was one of the saviors of Carne and ran to meet him. He was in his human monk form as that was still his cover outside of Nazarick, although now he wished he'd chosen Dark Elf... Enri would have had a different experience had that ben the case.
"Sir Ji Joe!" Enri cried in excitement as she and Nemu came running up to greet him. Of course Enri's boyfriend Nfirea was with her, a huge smile on his face as well.
"Hey, guys!" Jin said jumping off the back of Kilistran. The villagers all crowded around and stared in wonder at the huge dragon sitting outside their village. Nemu seemed amazed and ran up to pet the dragon. For a second Jin was worried Kili would do something but she allowed the child to pet her nose.
"Wow! He's so cold!" Nemu yelled out patting Kili over and over and laughing.
"This is Kilistran Denshusha. 'She' is my great frost dragon that we found on a mountain!" he said to Nemu in an overly excited tone. Her eyes lit up.
"Amazing! She's so amazing Sir Ji Joe! Can I sit on her?" Nemu cried in wonder. Jin laughed and looked at his silent Dragon, she seemed to like the child... at least she was being docile.
"Well yeah, why do you think I came here? Who wants a Dragon ride?" Jin said opening his arms up to the crowd. many laughed and cried out in excitement. But only Enri, Nfirea and Nemu took him up on his offer. they were easily loaded on the back.
Nemu was in the front sitting in Jin's lap with him holding onto her, behind him was Nfirea who had his arms around the waist of Jin, then Enri held him at the end in the same manner. Kilistran beat her giant wings and took off with impressive speed and grace. her flying had already smoothed out and she no longer rocked to the side when coasting or gliding.
"AMAZING!" Nemu would yell out every time Kilistran would go up and down, giving the effect of a roller coaster. Enri was screaming in fear but in the good way, Jin could feel Nfirea trembling, he must not be doing well with the height. While Jin would like to contuine the flight longer for Nemu's sake, Nfirea looked like he might die soon so he cut the ride short and had Kilistran gently take them to Carne.
"Amazing Mister Ji Joe! that was amazing!" Nemu cried over and over even when they were back on the ground. All their hair was pushed back.
"I'm glad you liked it! Whenever I have some time I'll give you a ride Nemu... on the dragon!" He said looking up at Enri as in a way to say "if that's okay with you two". Enri smiled and nodded, she trusted Jin with Nemu.
"Well I just wanted to show you may amazing dragon, but i also have to go now. Momonga and Momon needs me," he said as he wove goodbye. he noted Kilistran made that odd noise again when he bid his farewell, he wondered what that was, a sound of anger or disgust perhaps? It was a shame she was not enjoying her time outside of her cave, he liked having her as a mount and planned to give her some top tier gear he'd stashed away in the armory. As they flew through the air back to E-Rantel he decided to asked kilistran why she hated this so much, it wasn't as if he mistreated her or anything.
"Hey, Kilistran... is being my mount such a bad thing? You don't seem to be enjoying yourself like your sisters seems to be with the others," She swung her massive head back to look at him as they coasted easily through the cloudy skies.
"My Lord... you mistake my silence... I do not speak to you... because I do not wish to offend you in any way! I do not think I am adequate to be able to speak to one such as great and wise as you... I am eternally grateful that such a powerful male as yourself would choose me... the lesser of my sisters and the third wife to Olasird'arc Haylilyal... and as I never provided him with a child directly... I was thought of to be... the worst wife as well... and yet you chose me first... I am... not sure how to say this... in love with you my Lord."
"Eh? Love? In love?... What?" Jin was shocked!
"Um then... the growling sounds you make are..."
"...you might call those... moans My Lord, not growls..." She said, he got the feeling that if she could she'd be blushing. he'd drastically misread the situation!
"And My Lord is so kind and lavishes so much praise on a useless third wife like myself... "My girl"... "my great frost dragon"..." amazing dragon"! my Lord has said these things about me and I have done nothing to deserve them... i am sorry for my silence, but I did not wish to ruin my... unbelievable luck in new mate! Oh, there is just one thing My lord... which order wife am I? I assume a great man like you has many wives... I must be far down on the list..." She said nodding with what might be a smile on her face. Jin realized he'd misread the entire situation wrong! She thought she was one of his wives.
"Oh... well I have no wives.." he was saying. She began to shake a little... then a lot, he became worried.
"F...Fi...First, w... wife? I... I am... such a... firs..." She was saying then her eyes rolled up and she fell from the sky! Shit, she had fainted! Obviously, this was no problem for Jin but this fall would kill her if she didn't come around soon!
"Better safe than sorry," he said as they fell tot he earth.
"[POLYMORPH]" he turned her human and took his real bird form, grabbing her in mid-air.
"Jeez... what is this situation?" he heard her mutter. he looked at her.
"You fell, so I cau..." he was saying but she covered her face and burst into tears.
"I Failed you, My Lord! I am sorry, you chose me as... as you... fi... first wife... and I drop you! My..." she was crying tears now in her human form... she looked amazingly cute like this he realized.
"Um, it's okay... uh..." he didn't know how to approach this... she was clearly so happy, he didn't want to tell she was just his mount! For now, he'd play it safe and easy.
"Um well, just make sure you keep this between us... um, I don't wish the others to know... just yet?" he felt bad leading her on like this but he hated seeing cute flat girls cry!
He landed and set her down. She was now blushing even more.
"Are... will this be?" She looked around in the isolated field they sat in... Crap! He was getting some Albedo vibes from this one.
"Uh no... we um... I still have much to do with my group..." He couldn't believe he was talking himself out of sex with a beautiful young flat girl... but she would take it the wrong way, and he needed this partnership to work out for the long term... damnit Suzuki! Am I learning from you? he wondered.
"I see My Lord... well whenever you wish to finalize our marriage, do not hesitate to let me know!" she said with a cute bow. All he could do was look at her boyishly flat chest... maybe he could marry this one... someday he thought. Then he remembered his own advise he's rebuked Suzuki with... with a sigh, he decided to put this relationship where it needed to be.
"Kilistran... um, when I picked you... it was as my mount to fly on... not my wife... and I like how great of a mount you are... but the reason I am not married is that I never planned to take a wife... I'm not marriage material..." She seemed to be processing what he was saying, and a sad look came to her human face. Damnit... he hated to make girls cry.
"But... um... you know, who knows what will happen? We both will live a really long time so... in the future... like.. far... FAR into the future... who knows, maybe I will be ready to settle down, and you defiantly make the list of women I'd want to marry... so..." He was 100% honest in this. Happiness and hope returned to her face when she realized he was interested in her at least.
"Yes.. waiting is no problem My Lord! It will allow us to forge a true bond after all... and even more so if we don't give into our... physical desires..." she said with a low tone. She was thinking of how great sex with her master would be after hundreds of years of waiting! It would be worth she thought.
"Alright, just so we're clear that um... right now, you are my mount and I'm the guy who rides you... in a platonic sense of course." He almost couldn't believe the things he was saying... maybe because he was looking forward to his time with Shalltear and Lupusregina too much when he got back.
He wanted to try out this Dark Elf body with those two as simultaneous test subjects. Kilistran changed back to a dragon s Jin changed to human as well and she happily flew him back to the stables they were having built just for the four giant frost dragons of Ainz Ooal Gown. The stables were more like large open spaces with a nicely built and furnished temple looking place where they could go to not be seen and do whatever hey wished, "dragon house" was a good word for it as thats what it was.
"Alright Kilisran, I'll be back to give you the gear I need to find for you, just relax here until then. She bowed and gave her new area an inspection as Jin left to meet up with Momonga at Nazarick. There was some talk about Cocytus failing at something and needed to be punished, he decided that was worth being around for. So he cast [GREATER TELEPORTATION] and was close enough to use his ring to meet the group in the throne room.
As he just walked into the middle of a meeting he stood back listening to see what Cocytus had done to warrant a punishment. All the floor guardians were gathered and taking a knee in front Momonga. Demiurge apparently had the floor and was suggesting something about using Lizardmen as experiments.
"Oh? that does sound intersting..."
"Indeed My Lord, it would seem there may come a day when we will need to govern many different races or people... this village would make a prime experiment for that day. Jin was slightly confused by all of this... why was Nazarick suddenly concerning itself with government over people not of Nazarick?
"I believe if we attempt to rule this village through diplomatic means rather than fear or violence... we can ascertain the temperament of Demihumans and their willingness to follow our orders and instructions... for when that time comes." Demiurge finished his pitch, but Jin was still wondering why this was even being talked about... what did we want with some savage Lizardmen? he thought. Momonga seemed very pleased with what Demiurge had to say, even bringing down the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown into the floor to make a point of how pleased he was.
"We will change our focus from the extermination of the lizardmen to occupying them, as Demiurge just suggested," Momonga announced and all the floor guardians spoke up at once that his word had been heard and they understood. Jin listened as Demiurge rejected the praise, claiming Momonga clearly knew that this was the move that should be made, and was waiting for Cocytus to suggest it first.
Momonga looked over at Jin who was shaking his head in confusion.
"Would you like to ask somethingPeroroncino?" Momonga asked. Jin took that as his time to get filled in.
"Yeah, uh one... why were we going to kill a bunch of lizardmen? Were they attacking other peaceful tribes?"
"No, in fact, they are very peaceful... They even put aside past grudges to unit against our threat of death to their villages." Momonga explained. Jin's mind was still confused, so they were peaceful? Put aside past grudges...
"We were going to exterminate them to raise their bodies as an undead army." he said further. Jin shook his head in disbelief.
"But we are no longer going to do..." he started but Jin interrupted him on purpose.
"But why were we going to in the first place? JUST for an army? How strong would this army be? "Not very" is what I'm, guessing right?" he waited for Suzuki's response. Momonga just nodded. This was more than he'd ever expected of his friend...
"If you want an army so badly... make one with the hundreds of thousands of mercenary scrolls we have! They would be at least two or three times stronger than the lizardmen would be, right?"
"And also very expensive," Albedo spoke up in reminder.
"The great Tomb of Nazarick's treasury is not infinite Jin. What makes you think we have that kind of luxury to spend that much gold on a resource that we can just reach out and pick up in our front yard?" Albedo asked in a sincere manner. If you were a heartless undead or demon that made so much sense it's stupid... but to someone with emotions, which were not always correct, this choice seemed "a little much". Now if they were a violent tribe... that would be different.
"Not to put too fine a point on it Jin, but I was attempting to teach the NPC's to not simply follow orders blindly, that if they see a better opportunity to make a greater victory for Nazarick, they should take it, even if they were not ordered to do so... Cocytus failed in that regard, not because he failed in his attack on their united tribes. Jin's eyes widened.
"So then... we already attack them? killing some in the process?" Cocytus nodded. While Jin was mad that he failed to see what Suzuki was really getting at... trying to grow the NPC's past their programming... at the expense of a tribe of Demihumans... he simply did not feel right about that.
"I see, it's a good plan... sorry for interrupting," Jin said as he crossed his arms to show he wasn't pleased but would not speak up on the matter more. The NPC's looked toward him for a bit then back to Momonga who ignored his friend's temper tantrums, he had bigger things to deal with than to constantly coddle Jin.
"As such Cocytus, your new punishment, or atonement would be the right word... is to govern the Lizardmen peacefully, in an attempt to instill true loyalty to Nazarick, not simple obedience... that is the true test we are looking achieve her Jin, to see how species will react to us ruling over them. Jin had just decided to remain quiet but he overruled his own decision.
"That's actually my other question... why are we doing this? it's not liek we're planning to take over the world or anything right?" For the first time since Jin had met the "aware and alive" Demiurge he saw him frown.
"There are many possibilities given to use... to not prepare for each and every one of them is foolish, at best." Demiurge said scowling at Jin... Jin's eyes darted around the room, everyone but Shalltear was looking at him with a displeased look. he was outnumbered in this... he decided to give it up and shook his head and motioned for them to continue. Momonga wasted no time.
"We will dispatch ourselves to the Lizardmen in two waves... the first will be a decoy, the second will be to flaunt our power o the Lizardmen. You know what I expect of each of you guardians, now go!" Momonga turned to his new wife.
"Albedo, awaken Gargantua and raise me a good army of undead." He ordered her.
"As you wish My Lov...Lord." She caught herself. However the whole time Shalltear was staring daggers at Albedo... she couldn't believe she'd been defeated so easily, at least she had her Lord Peroroncino. Shalltear looked at him but he seemed very upset... for the life of her she couldn't figure out why, why did her lord care for the meaningless lives of these Demihumans?
You mean like the army of undead we were going to make out of the Lizardmen till just now? Jin said to himself... this was all so ridiculous!
"I am grateful to all of you, now do as I command!" Momonga said then vanished. There he goes, acting like a high and mighty king again..."do as I command" ever hear of the word "please" Suzuki? Jin spat in his own head... he was in a very bad mood now. he watched the NPCs talk to each other about the new plan and how it was all going to happen this way no matter what, as this was a great plan that Momonga had laid for them. Jin gave a final shake of his head and walked out of the room...
"My Lord? What troubles you?" Shalltears voice called out from behind him. he turned to face her.
"Nothing... you probably see no problem with killing the entire world for no reason at all right?" Jina asked her, Shalltear didn't understand why he would ask her such an obvious question like that.
"Why would I have a problem with that Lord Peroroncino? And why would you? Anyone not of Nazarick is less than nothing... we all agree on this, don't you?" Now she almost seemed to be accusing him. Jin stared at her for a bit. Then turned away.
"No... of course not... why would I?" Jin said in a sad voice teleporting away. Shalltear was a bit annoyed that he would even ask a stupid question like that... then she thought of something and frowned. Lord Peroroncino was once human... this could be his former human weakness coming back... her Lord Momonga was acting as the true God that he was, but Lord Peroroncino was...not.
Momonga appeared in his room, falling face first into the bed laughing, after a second, he rolled onto his bed. Thinking how proud he was of Cocytus, he'd shown an ability to think past his programming... he had grown... which meant he'd changed. And they had witnessed another disagreement between himself and Peroroncino.
"Damnit Jin! Why do you have to fight me on everything! He only speaks up when it's convenient for him to do so... when he thinks his idea is correct." Momonga sat up wondering if this was something that might spiral out of control. Suzuki had lost nearly all of his humanity and was in charge, Jin had retained almost as much as Suzuki had lost... they were destined to clash on matters of morality versus profit.
"Just follow my orders Jin!" He pointed at the mirror pretending to rebuke his friend who was probably deep inside one of the maids right now. Jin says I shouldn't act like I'm a king because I'm not... but.. I am! I am THEIR king! Why am I even concerned about what he thinks in the first place? He should just fall in line like the rest of the NPCs do!
"But... he isn't an NPC... he's in the same boat I am..." Momonga shook his head. Useless thinking about this... he'd just forge ahead. Jin could take it or leave it... he didn't need to run things past him in the first place, why did he feel like he did in the first place?
"Whatever... it's time I get going anyway, we'll be ready to march on the Lizardmen soon..." he said straightening his robes. Whether or not Jin was there was inconsequential, only a fool would include someone like in political matters.
Jin was there, however. he didn't say a word to Momonga or even look at him, even Shalltear seemed to be acting like he wasn't there, as she was on the opposite side of the stage as jin. He thought that was weird. But he had his super tier spell [CREATE] to test out... he wanted to see how effective it would be outside and used it to turned the entire lake to ice in one spell, the tribe were panicking as Gargantua threw a large rock the size of him in the center, then the undead army formed a huge set of stairs and Momonga walked up it.
"Weird flex... but okay..." Jin muttered to himself. Seeing this royal procession. Behind Momonga was Albedo, Aura, Mare, Shalltear, victim, Demiurge, Cocytus then finally Pero. they all lined up on the giant stone stage Gargantua had created for them. Sever Lizard men tribe leaders approached Momonga after sending out floating undead clouds to deliver his words, then destroying them, when he was finished.
By the time the Lizardmen were even talking the first thing out their mouths was surrender. Jin nodded slightly, at least this huge display of power had crushed their resolve to fight, that at least would prevent more needless slaughter. or one would think.
"I don't think you would want to willingly serve under someone you had beaten on the field of battle... no. I've decided I still need to defeat you in battle if you are to ever obey me. Pick out your finest and strongest... should they be able to defeat my champion Cocytus, then we will leave you be and you will never hear of us again. Jin shook his head more... of course just simple surrender didn't satisfy Suzuki...no Momonga... right now... nothing of his friend remained in that undead body... not at this moment anyway is he wanted to slaughter these Lizardmen simply to prove that he could... this was borderline shameful Jin thought but said nothing... he was alone in this opinion, and knew it.
They bid the Lizardmen farewell to contemplate their plight of death and servitude. Jin said nothing to them as he stepped through the portal that took them from the Lizardmen territory. Jin chose not to participate in the battle planning that the guardians were doing in the throne room, instead of going to his room and locking the door
The slaughter went as expected Jin would hear as he would not attend... Cocytus showed their warrior spirit respect but cut the Lizardmen warriors down like they were blades of grass, and the surrender that they already had issued... was issued again.
"So much for not ruling them by fear Suzuki..." Jin was sick to his stomach when he heard no mercy had been shown, even in light of their incredible struggle. Cocytus and Momonga had still issued them death... for no reason. Jin stopped the report there and left Nazarick, missing the part where Momonga would revive the fallen lizardmen.
For the first time since coming here with Suzuki and meeting the NPCs, Jin felt alone.