When he returned to his palace, the priests were waiting, and the eldest of them spoke, 'My emperor, we have come to common ground, among ourselves, and with you. You were right to yield to him. Undead or not, he is a break with what we know of the undead, and even if we could break free...all that would mean is that someone else would reap the rewards of his knowledge and power. If he wanted us dead, I am certain he could have killed us all many times over...and given his capacity for reward, I cannot, we cannot, believe that this is just a trap.'

Jircniv sighed...in relief this time, for the first time in a long time.

'What will you do,' he asked, 'when the other temples of the other kingdoms oppose you.'

'We will break with them.' They said in harmony.

The elder priest continued to speak alone, 'In the Holy Kingdom, a group called 'Black Justice' is growing in significance, lead by one of the Sorcerer King's former servants, they are closely tied to the service of the Sorcerer King's ideals, and their leader, Neia Barja, has declared Ainz to be a god, its only a matter of time before they found a temple officially, and if we need to, we will join with them to continue to tend to the people. Too, the temples in E-Rantel are either losing influence or all on their own, moving towards the beliefs of Black Justice on their own by virtue of being directly ruled by the Sorcerer King, this had...had been cause for concern, but now it is cause for relief. We will send our delegations out to speak with them tomorrow, and we will organize a synod, a gathering of priests from all human nations that worship the four or the six gods.'

Another priest, this one the youngest of them all, interrupted, 'The question is not going to be whether or not Ainz Ooal Gown is actually a god or not...but rather or not we should embrace and worship him as such, or continue with the gods we always have...should he be a seventh...the only...and what are these 41 that were spoken of...'

Jircniv interjected, 'What do you think?'

Their eyes closed in contemplation, 'We have not drawn conclusions ourselves yet, but with the collective wisdom of the greatest priestly minds in humanity, we hope to come to some common ground and find answers.'

Jircniv tapped his fingers against his side as his brilliant mind raced, 'I think...this is probably a more dangerous situation than the Demonic invasions of Jaldabaoth.'

Eyes widened and stared at him in silence.

'Consider,' he said, 'When Jaldabaoth invaded, there was no question about battle lines, or who was on whose side, humans were fighting monsters and demons, and that was all there was to it. But this is different. If it falls to fighting, the lines will be between families, between neighborhood blocks, brother will be against brother, mother in law against daughter in law, mother against daughter, and father against son. Every man's enemies, will be the members of his own household, Ainz Ooal Gown has come as a sword, even though he does not raise one against us, his message and his power, may divide us more than anything he ever does, because just by existing, all who know of him, will know a god exists in this world, even if they suppress that knowledge and follow the gods of their traditions. I hope for your wisdom gentlemen, because a bad decision may very well see humans tearing one another apart.'

The sound of all their throats swallowing hard, was the only sound to break the silence as they imagined religious strife afflicting all the human nations.

They parted company then, and Jircniv returned to his bed, but he slept only a little, and rose before the Sun as was his custom, and stood to watch it crest the world and give light to his empire, and as looked out of his palace window over his capitol, on the main road, he saw a number of carriages, a virtual parade of them, all marked with the identities of various priests heading the temples, though ornately decorated, they did not really compare to his own, and were little more than peasant donkey carts, compared to that of the Sorcerer King. Still, they were unmistakable, and many were the eyes who followed their path, other than Jircniv himself, who saw as they went out the gate and began to take different roads, going in many different directions, to the temples of the various great cities of the empire and beyond.

'Majesty, what are you looking at?' A servant asked the shirtless emperor.

'I don't know.' He said, 'Either the start of a golden age, or the beginning of a conflict that will turn the human nations into ashes. Nothing like this has ever happened before, not in six hundred years, not even when the temples of the six gods were built, and I don't know what this means for me, for you, or for tomorrow, but I know I had better prepare for it. Lets get me dressed and ready, I have orders to give, I'll need to recall the legions from the frontiers.'

The servant's eyes went wide, but she scurried to obey as the emperor had his back to her, watching the Sun continue to rise above them all, uncertain of what today, let alone tomorrow, would bring to all of them, and quietly the emperor thought to himself, 'Even if I forget everything else in my life, I believe that this moment will remain with me till my dying day.'

He looked over his shoulder briefly, 'Also, summon the prime minister, I will need to dispatch a message to the Sorcerer King, I think we will need his help soon.'

I realize this is a bit short...but...hey...it seemed like a good place to end it. In case you haven't already realized, 'Memory & a Message' is taking place alongside 'God Rising' so you will see these two stories overlap and affect each other. Most of the stories I have in mind, will probably be like that, I might end up playing with the official timeline just a little bit, and making Ainz a little bit better educated than the official work, but I have chosen to take 'Elementary education' to mean 'standard' and in this world, to be employed in even a basic job, a college degree or certifications are a requirement, I doubt this would change in Suzuki Satori's world, so elementary, would mean at least some college education. If you don't agree...well neener neener, you just read it anyway and you can't unread it! ;)

Remember, reviews are MORE than welcome! The only way I'll know if the story should stop, is if it starts to suck, so tell me what you think.