"Let me catch you up on what you've missed." Momonga spoke, sounding far more regal than normal. It was, of course, because Albedo and a maid were in the room with you two, but you still hadn't expected it.

"Albedo and Demiurge have a first draft of the main defense plan. They would have had more, but Demiurge refused to leave your side while you were unconscious. Mare has covered about half of Nazarick's walls with dirt, and all dummy hills are complete. We have also found a small human settlement nearby."

"You've been busy. There's barely anything left for me to do, huh?" You gently tease, amused.

"Well, I wouldn't say that… Albedo could always use some help making plans. Isn't that right?" Albedo nodded, a large smile on her face. You doubted that that was the case, but it was a nice gesture. "On top of that, we need to figure out how sustainable our operations are and how difficult it is to get rarer materials. Is there anything that you can think of that I may have missed?"

"Has the infirmary been set up yet?"

"I—Ah—"

"Hey, it's fine. You've been dealing with a lot, I'll take care of it." It still hurt, though. The infirmary was your pride and joy, the only room on the 9th floor that you'd gotten to design except for your bedroom. But—

It still hurt.

"Wonderful. Zara…" You raised an eyebrow at him. He seemed to think better of what he was going to say and shut his mouth. "If you need help, please feel free to let me know."

Knowing the infirmary, it would take at least a day by yourself to pull it to where it needed to be to be functional. But, with help…

"Speaking of that; Albedo, if you aren't too busy, would you like to help me with the infirmary?" Both Momonga and Albedo brightened at that, obviously for different reasons.

You were… Going to regret this, weren't you?

"If Lord Momonga no longer needs me here, then I would be delighted to." Her wings fluttered slightly.

You were probably going to regret this.

"I've borrowed you for long enough today; feel free to help Zara with the Infirmary." You got up, making your way towards the office door.

"Oh, Zara?"

"Yes, Momonga?"

"Can you meet me back here in a few hours? There's a few things I'd like to discuss with you."

"Sure thing. Message me if you need me before then, 'kay?"

"Of course." And with that, you and Albedo left the office.

The two of you walked towards the infirmary; you'd memorized the route by heart.

"Lady Zara, it is an honor to work with you in your Infirmary. Perhaps, when it is done, we could… partake in some… extra activities?" Albedo spoke gently, her wings fluttering gently. Her smile was gentle, but you could sense the lust radiating off of her in waves.

But, you supposed, if she insisted on remaining professional in the hallway… You could try to nudge it away from whatever she was implying.

"Well, that would depend on when Momonga needs me. What were you thinking of, exactly?" Great job, Zara. You've done it. No more being hit on for you—

"Whatever you would like, my Lady~" As Albedo's gaze became more lustful than it had been before, you felt your chest tighten and your heart rate skyrocket.

You really, really weren't used to this kind of attention. You weren't sure if you liked it, but it was definitely making you paranoid (which, admittedly, didn't take much). Maybe… Maybe you could talk to her about it?

"I see. For now, let's try to set the Infirmary up as quickly as possible." Smooth, Zara. Smooth as chunky peanut butter.

Albedo nodded, and you pretended not to see the disappointment in her stare. Besides, you were almost there.

You made a left, then a sharp right, and there were the beloved double doors. They were likely still sealed from when you'd set the room up, but still.

You opened the doors with a flourish, looking into your beloved Infirmary.

Your Infirmary was designed to have room for 20 beds, each with bedside curtains. However, there were only 10 of those set up. On top of the beds, there was a large section in the back with shelves designed to hold various healing and various immunity potions. These shelves were mostly empty save for a decorative plant and some old human anatomy and species medicine books you'd managed to get ahold of. It was designed to feel like a modern hospital, but with the added charms of old and classic animated films, like Studio Ghibli. Rather than the Infirmary feeling cold and reeking of cleaning materials, it had a warm and comforting atmosphere and smelled like oranges. There were also two doors on the left side of the room, both still part of the Infirmary. One was a storage closet, where the extra beds and other odds and ends were. The other was an office, a place for any medical staff to calm down and rest.

You clapped your paws together, plan of attack already in mind.

"We need to re-stock the potions for the shelves, as well as set up the other 10 beds. After that, I need to set up a filing system to assess the health of everyone in Nazarick to get a baseline for what their being healthy looks like. With two people, that should take… Maybe three hours but probably four, taking your planning skills into account. Let's see if we can't prove my time estimate wrong."

"Of course, my Lady."

You were excited by the challenge; nothing like hard work to settle the mind!

"Let me go over this one more time; I don't want to have missed anyone."

You and Albedo were sitting at the desk in the back of the room, pouring over the documents scattered over the desk. Currently, you were going over your plans for seeing every single NPC, plus Momonga, to get a baseline for their health. Albedo, with her perfect memory, had made an alphabetized list of everyone while you had made a folder for their health files and stored them in the various filing cabinets. You'd never realized just how many NPCs your friends had made, there were so many of them!

"… You know, we're probably going to run out of paper when I start doing this. If we don't run out, we'll be low enough for it to be a problem…" You rubbed at your temples, staring down at the sheer volume of work you'd managed to create for yourself. You still had to look through you books on the YGGDRASIL diseases, and—

"Of course, Lady Zara. At the rate Nazarick currently uses those items, we may run out sooner rather than later." Albedo smiled warmly, but something felt off about it.

You didn't know what, but something felt… Off. The same kind of off that came with an absurdly hot woman having an extreme interest in, say, an MMO.

It was probably the hotness factor, but still.

"I see. I'll talk to Momonga, see if we can't figure out what to do about it." You stood, stretching and letting out a soft sigh.

"My Lady, perhaps we could take a break?" You blinked. Albedo, Overseer of the Guardians, wanted a break?

Well, her job was plenty stressful; there was nothing wrong with needing a break.

"Sure; what did you have in mind?" Swift and immediate regret. Albedo's face went from calm and professional to lustful and excited. Your calm replaced itself with the discomfort and unease clawing its way up your spine, guilt forcing itself to the forefront of your mind.

Albedo wasn't supposed to be like this.

But you and Momonga had changed her.

"My Lady, I would love to serve you. Oh, should we remove each other's clothing? Or should I undress myself?"

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"I—Um—"

"Please, my Lady, what would you like me to do? Say it, and it will be done~"

You caught a glimpse of your reflection in Albedo's eyes; your face was redder than Demiurge's suit, and you seemed panicked. You were, but did you have to be obvious about it?!

"I, uh, Albedo?"

"Yes, my Lady?" Her wings were fluttering, as if she were trying to prevent herself from spreading them wide open.

"I-I, ah," How. How do you express that you're a wimp? No-one had ever been this up-front with you about this kind of thing, except for him, and he didn't count.

"I think… If you want to be successful with what you're trying to do… You'll need to be, uh, more… More calm about it?" God, this was embarrassing. How on earth was Momonga dealing with it?

"I see, my Lady." You pretended not to see the flicker of disappointment cross Albedo's face, as well as the happiness that followed it.

After all, you hadn't said no.

Hadn't said no, intentionally.

After all, you and Momonga had changed her. It would be cruel to not give her some hope for something happening; at least, with one of you. However, knowing Momonga's skill with women he liked…

This would be your burden to bear.

Message Start

Momonga: Zara, you ready?

Zara: HOLY shit you just saved my ass

Momonga: ?

Zara: I'll explain later, okay?

Momonga: … okay?

Zara: OH! You mind if I check on Demiurge first? He's probably still sleeping.

Momonga: Yeah sure, go for it. Take your time, if you fall asleep holding him then I'm gonna get a picture. Gonna frame it in the office—

Zara: Momonga!

Momonga: It's fine. Go check on him, if you're not here in an hour I'll assume you fell asleep.

Zara: Rude, but okay.

Zara: I won't fall asleep.

Momonga: Yeah, and I'm actually 50 hamsters in a trench coat.

Momonga: Besides, I know how you get when you pass out. Go sleep, we all know you aren't done with that yet.

Zara: uuuggghhh fine

Message End

"I'm sorry about cutting this short, Albedo, but Momonga has asked me to go rest for a little while longer."

"It's more than fine, Lady Zara. Do you need someone to keep you company?" Albedo batted her eyes, wings gently fluttering.

God, you weren't equipped to handle this.

"I'll be fine, but thank you." Wings drooped, head lowered, guilt guily guilt—

"—But! If you wanted to walk me to my rooms, I wouldn't say no." You are both a sucker and a wimp. Your ancestors are screaming at you for being so easy to manipulate. But… Her being this way was your fault.

"Of course, my Lady. Shall I accompany you inside as well?" Albedo rose from her seat, smiling oh so happily at you.

You could get used to her looking so genuinely happy, even if those moments were between bouts of lust. And your guilt.

"No, I don't think I'll need that. That being said, if Momonga tells you to do it, feel free to just walk in." You made a mental note to message Momonga to tell him to explicitly not do that right now.

"Now, shall we go?" You offer her your arm; chivalry wasn't dead, though it'd work better if she did it. It wasn't your fault that you were five feet tall on a good day!

Her smile, though, was worth it.

"Of course, my lady!" She looped her arm through yours, and you set off towards your rooms.

Maybe… Maybe what you did to her wouldn't be so bad, after all.

"Thank you, Albedo. I really appreciated your help today." You let go of Albedo's arm, standing in front of the door to your rooms with a warm smile. "And please, don't say helping me is your duty; you didn't have to, and you did it anyways."

"I—You're welcome, my Lady." Albedo was barely containing her pure happiness, though the gentle blush on her cheeks gave it away. "Please, let me know if you need my assistance again."

"Will do!" You turned to open the door, then paused. "Oh, Albedo?"

"Yes, Lady Zara?"

"Please, let me know if you need my help in doing your work."

"Of course, my Lady." You could feel the effort it took for her to not protest, not to claim that she didn't need help.

It… It hurt.

Surprising, really. You'd need to figure out why, but that could happen later.

"Thank you, Albedo; that means a lot to me." Ah, there's the flash of guilt in her eyes. Didn't make you feel any better, but now she might take you up on it.

"Night, Albedo." And with that, you opened the door.

To the sound of quiet, almost inaudible snores.

Albedo's face twitched; knowing her, you knew she'd put two and two together for who the snores belonged to.

"My Lady—"

"It's fine, Albedo." She blinked in surprise, both that you'd allow this to happen and at your defeated tone. Still, she deserved an explanation. "He fell asleep in a chair on accident waiting for me to wake up after I passed out. I let him continue to sleep. Don't give him shit for it, okay?"

"… If that is what you truly wish, my Lady." She didn't like it. You knew she didn't like it. Still, as long as she didn't know he was currently in your bed, then she'd listen to what you said.

"It is. Besides, if your positions were swapped and you had fallen asleep, I would have done the same thing." It was the Truth, pure and simple (Including putting her in your bed, though she didn't need to know that). And she knew it.

"Of course, my Lady."

You had the strangest feeling that this would come back to bite you in the ass.

A problem for another day, then.

"Alright. Good night, Albedo."

"Good night, my Lady."

You stepped into your rooms and shut the door, offering Albedo a soft smile before doing so. Maybe…. Maybe you'd understand her better. Bit by bit, you would figure her out; maybe then you'd feel less guilty for changing her.

You padded quietly towards your bedroom, taking a moment to assess your inventory. To your surprise, you had a pair of sweatpants and what you could only describe as a pajama tank top in your stored items. That may have been from that one time you got sloshed and played YGGDRASIL, much to your guild member's amusement at the time.

Still, pajamas were pajamas.

You swapped into them, bra going into your inventory with them, before poking your head into your bedroom.

Demiurge was softly snoring and had rolled in his sleep; somehow, he'd managed to worm his way under your bedsheets to sleep. Maybe a maid had done it, or maybe his tail did it?

Still, it was your bed. And you were going to sleep in it.

You chose not to think about if it was ok, if Demiurge would be comfortable with it, and all those other things. You had to mentally prepare to sleep, especially since you weren't about to pass out from sheer exhaustion.

Bedsheets warm but not too warm—check.

Bedsheets not too heavy but still heavy enough to be bedsheets—check.

Weapon nearby just in case—not check. You searched your inventory, finding a small baton. That'd do, especially since you could actually use it.

Easy path to a panic room—check.

Time to sleep.

With a soft yawn—Momonga had been right, you were just a stubborn fuck—you climbed carefully into bed and tucked yourself into the small of Demiurge's back, threw an arm around his waist. You'd shared a bed with others before; maybe that would help you sleep.

And with another soft yawn and a sleepy nuzzle into Demiurge's back, you drifted off to sleep.