"South." Neia said simply as she stood in front of Tinamoc, her voice filled with confidence. "That is our mission, and it would look bad if we abandoned it, and if we go and Remedios is in some way connected to this, there is a chance she'll follow us away from innocent people, plus even with nominal order, who can say what dangers of a more official sort might exist, and I'd sort of miss you if you didn't make it back." Neia said with a wry grin.
"Fair enough." Tinamoc said. "Glad to have you, now what do you want to do, should we move on from this position or do you think it is safe enough now to make camp?" He asked.
"We need to see to the dead and the injured captives need to be interrogated, and I don't have the means to do that with me." Neia said, "But don't worry, I don't plan on being here long."
"We're ready to move when you are." Tinamoc said patiently, and Neia walked over to her horse and took a set of parchments from her pack, following her instructions to hide her communications, she used them before messaging Sebas and informing him of recent events, after explaining, he instructed her to wait until sunset for support. She readily agreed, and while time passed, she went to one of the merchants and handed him a sack of coins. "I need wine for my people, and something to eat that is better than the usual rations, they earned it today." She said.
"They did." He said, "They really did. Take what you need out of the back." He added.
Neia shouted over to two of her fighters and called them over to help carry food crates and wine casks to a more open space a few feet away from the carts, and an impromptu cooking and drinking area was established. Toasts were made and cups were raised, the dead were praised for their courage, the wounded for their fortitude, and the living and whole for their uncanny luck. To the novice who had lived their lives in simple villages in peace, the person who grew up on stories of invincible heroes, this might have made no sense, after all, the very best always survived...but veterans knew better. No matter how skilled you were, no matter how hard you trained, whether king or commoner if the wrong arrow came along and had your name on it, or an ill timed thrust came your way...that was it. The brevity of life was never more evident than when people saw it ended in a moment.
Neia looked down at her cup, others had finished off two or three already, but she had finished barely a sip of the first before Skana approached and put her hand on Neia's shoulder. "If you're feeling somehow responsible for the people who died, don't." She said simply.
Neia's gaze shifted up to Skana's face at the sudden touch, and froze at her statement. "What? Why not?" She asked.
"Did you force anyone to be here?" Skana asked.
"No." Neia replied.
"Did you personally take their lives?" She asked further.
"No." Neia answered again.
"Did you ensure they had the very best possible training and equipment and give them every possible advantage that you could?" She probed further.
"Well...yes." Neia answered.
Skana shrugged. "Well then you didn't do anything to feel guilty about, we chose to come along knowing the risks. Sure, I'm going to miss this," she said pointing to the place where here left eye had been, and which a patch now covered, "but this is the risk I chose to take, I'm not going to say I don't understand your feelings, but if you cling to tight to those, it is an insult to the people who gave their lives, like you're saying you neglected them or threw them away, and we all know better than that. Hell we fought a SCRIPTURE today, and we not only survived, we kicked their asses, the Slane Theocracy will feel that sting for a long time to come." Skana grinned and squeezed Neia's shoulder, "Now drink up, you earned it as much as we all did today."
Neia let a smile form on her face and stood up, she moved to the center where the cook fire roared, she took up a spoon and banged it on the iron pot to draw people's attention to her.
"Black Justice, you've done well today, you did your jobs, you protected your charges, and not only kept your lives, but you made the lives of the dead count for something by making sure they did not die for nothing. I couldn't be prouder of you all." She raised her cup and held it high as the fighting band in numbers matched her gesture, raising their cups in turn.
"To justice, the strength to pursue it, and to us all!" she toasted, and as the sentiment was echoed she brought the cup to her lips and drained it to the last drop.
She got out of the way after that, allowing conversations and jokes to resume, and just as the sun began to go down, a portal appeared, and through it stepped an unliving god, Ainz Ooal Gown.
Neia couldn't have overlooked that sight if she'd wanted to. Nor could anyone else for more than a moment have missed it. The aura of his presence was simply to much, and when she saw him step through, she rushed immediately to where he stood and knelt. "Your majesty!" Neia said joyfully.
"Pope Neia." He said, using her title, "It is good to see you again." She heard the kindness in his voice, and emotion welled up.
"I had not thought you would come personally my lord." Neia said.
"I believe it worth my time." He replied in the practiced, lordly manner of someone who had ruled for thousands of years...or as in his case, unbeknownst to anyone else, as someone who had practiced in front of a mirror alone every night for hours and hours on end.
The rest of the merchant caravan had by now dismounted and gone to one knee in deference, and the Sorcerer king held his arms wide open, his staff outstretched, and he said, "Bring to me your honored dead."
His orders were quickly carried out, and the bodies which were carefully wrapped, were laid in front of him in two rows of five.
"CZ" he said, and from behind him stepped CZ Delta, who carried in her hands a number of wands.
"If your fallen are strong enough, and willing to give their lives a second time, I can and will restore them, but they will be very weak for some time, and they will have to return to my realm to train again and recover what it cost of their life and their skills to rejoin this world. If however they are weak, then they will become the dust to which all life must return." He said, and Neia bit her lip nervously,
"Let it be as my lord wills it." She said softly.
One by one he took the wands and used them on the bodies, and one by one the gasping breath of their forms resumed, as if they'd been under water and seeking air, they let out a gasp and inhaled deeply, soon all ten were restored to life, and with that use each wand disappeared.
"Welcome back." Ainz said, and reached out with a skeletal hand, and helped each fallen man and each fallen woman, rise from the ground as if he had made them from the mud of creation and given them life on his own. A few paused briefly and touched their wounds in shock and confusion, as if they were unsure if it had been real or a dream, the bloody spots were there, the wounds were not, and their awe did not diminish when they saw the skeletal hand, or the face of their divine lord. The hesitation remained in some, as if it would be profane to touch him, but to let it hang there would be worse, so hesitant or not, each one took the offered hand and rose to their feet...some less gracefully than others, but rise they did.
"Are you ten ready to give your lives to me a second time?" Ainz asked.
"I am!" they answered in unison, and went from standing on their feet to going to one knee with eyes downcast.
"Raise your heads," he said, "You cannot see what lies a head while looking down. For now, you will return to my realm, you have lost much strength and must regain it, you will train until you are ready, and then you will rejoin your brothers and sisters again."
Their heads went up and their eyes shone with devotion, and he stepped aside and gestured to the portal, "Go, I will return soon myself and have little extra time to spend." He said, and they quickly stood and hurried through with waves to their comrades, who could not help but be a little envious about the chance to spend more time in the realm of a god, even if it did take a sword in the face to make it possible.
"Now for the dead of the scriptures and their expendables." Ainz said, "Bring them to me."
In turn the dead men were brought and laid before him, there were many, but it was not a difficult matter to handle, not for an undead overlord specializing in necromancy. "Mass create skeletons!" he said and gestured with his staff, and the flesh peeled from the bodies, the muscle dissolved, the organs rotted away in moments, and then before their eyes, skeletons wearing the clothing of their enemies began to stand up. "Go through the portal and wait on the other side." He said to the mass of undead, and they obeyed silently and without question.
"Now for the living." He said. "Bring me the surviving Scripture members."
This was greeted by shouts and protests and threats, but, kicking and screaming, three men were carried over and thrown at the feet of Ainz Ooal Gown.
"You're going to tell us everything." Ainz said, "One way or another, but one of you is lucky, I'm going to let you go, because I have a job for you." Ainz said, and they looked up at him, made silent by their surprise.
"One of you is going to go back to the Slane Theocracy, and tell them everything that happened here, the other two will be enjoying my hospitality. Which among you is most senior?" Ainz asked in a tone that said he had better get an answer.
"We are of equal rank." One of them said after a moment's hesitation.
Ainz thought for a moment about a way to decide who he would release, and what criteria to use, and for some reason the memory sprang up of his family, the absence of his own father, and he felt a merciful impulse come over him to not inflict longing on someone else, "Very well, do any of you have children to return to?" Ainz asked. The men on left and right, looked at the man in the center. "You?" Ainz asked in a tone that said it was not a question.
"This day your life is given back to you, for the sake of those who are guiltless. These two however, will have to answer for what they've done. You have one month to make your to the coast and sail home, if you do not and are caught again in these lands after that time, you will suffer in ways that would make your gods shrink in terror of my will." Ainz said, the large red orbs in his eyes seemed to loom like twin suns over an insect, and the vaunted scripture wet himself. Ainz was certain he would obey, and gestured for a black clad fighter to come and cut him loose.
"RUN!" Ainz said to him, and he ran, and ran, and ran until he vomited and collapsed, leaving danger as far behind as he could, eager to rest so that he could find the strength to run again.
As the man took off, Ainz gestured to the remaining two, "CZ, throw these through the portal, see that they are given to Neuronist Painkill."
"As you say." She said in the flat tone she always had, and when she carried out her orders and returned, Ainz called for Neia to come closer again. "Neia, why don't you spend some time with CZ, I understand that she's missed your company the last...what has it been, two months? I think to make up for the lost strength of your ten fighters, CZ should remain with you for awhile.
Neia could not keep the grin from her face. "It would be my pleasure my lord." She said.
"Now, where is this 'Tinamoc' you mentioned in your letters, I'm quite curious to meet the man who made such an impression on my squire?" Ainz said casually, seemingly unaware of how much her heart sang at the words 'my squire'.
Neia quickly pointed out the man at the head of the caravan.
"At the front." Ainz said approvingly, thinking back to his office days and his general disgust with managers who avoided being among the people they managed.
Tinamoc saw the gesture referencing him and rather than waiting to be called, he immediately rushed over and knelt at Ainz's feet. "Raise your head." Ainz said, "I have heard much about you. You began with nothing, and built the largest trading enterprise in the Holy Kingdom. Ability is something I value." He said.
"You are to kind my lord, I'm simply a man making his way in the world." Tinamoc responded.
"Making a good way from what I understand. I wish you success on your trade mission, but when all is settled, reach out to the Sorcerous Kingdom, we can expand our ties then to mutual gain." Ainz said in a congenial but lordly voice.
"It will be my pleasure." Tinamoc said sincerely, practically shaking at the lordly presence he felt.
"Neia I have much work to do, so I leave the rest to you, reach out to Sebas if you require anything." Ainz said, and when the gate reappeared, he stepped through it, the sound of cheers striking his back as he left.
When he was gone, Skana approached CZ and Neia, before Skana could say anything, CZ spoke up in the almost flat monotone that Neia could read like a book. "Cute." She said, and took out a sticker, and placed it on Skana's eyepatch.
The entire gesture was so unexpected that it flustered Skana to silence as she tore off her eyepatch and looked at it, there was a small flower sticker on the center, and she wasn't quite sure what to say, she looked down at it in her hands...looked up at CZ's blank expression, looked back down at the eyepatch with the flower on it, then back up at CZ, and Neia burst out laughing, and not lightly, she hugged her belly doubled over laughing.
It was infectious, and a grin slowly broke over Skana's confused face, and she also began to laugh as she put her eyepatch back on. CZ stood there with an expression that was almost a smile, until the two women stopped. "Not cute." She said to Neia, then took out another sticker and put it on Neia's cheek, "Now cute." She said. And Neia gave her a hug. "Its good to see you again CZ." She said smiling broadly.
She gestured to Skana, "CZ, this is Skana, one of the scouts of Black Justice. Skana, this is CZ, one of the maid demons the Sorcerer King took from Jaldabaoth." Neia said as she made her introductions.
This had Skana's eyes go wide in surprise, "I've heard about that...but I never thought I'd see one up close...nobody said these maid demons were cute."
"Thank you." CZ said simply.
The Sun had continued its slow descent since Ainz had arrived on the scene, and darkness gradually overtook the light, the wagons circled up for the evening and tents were pitched and a watch established.
"Do you...sleep CZ?" Skana asked uncertainly.
"No. I will take a watch, I need no sleep." CZ replied.
"Goodnight then." Neia said, and hugged CZ again, "I'll give you a rundown on everything tomorrow."
"Goodnight." CZ replied, and she went off to take an unoccupied position on a wagon.
Skana watched the maid demon walk away and then asked Neia, "Is she as strong as she seems?"
"Probably stronger." Neia said bluntly.
Skana swallowed, "I would not want to threaten this place tonight."
"Agreed." Neia replied, and they walked away, it wasn't for another twenty paces that Neia even noticed that she had unconsciously taken Skana's hand...or had Skana taken hers...? And they were walking toward's Neia's tent together, her heart pounded in her chest and she was glad of the encroaching dark in that it hid that she was biting her lower lip in uncertainty, the opening of the flap was normally as subtle a noise as the slight rustle of a few leaves in a breeze, but as she lead Skana inside, the sound was as loud as a thunderclap to her.
...Ainz cut off the mirror of remote viewing when he saw the two women enter the tent, his jaw open in surprise, 'Ehhhhhh!' He said, and behind him Mara and Aura tried to see what had prompted his reaction.
"What was that all about Lord Ainz?" Mare asked with the innocent curiosity of a child.
"N-Nothing." He said and vaguely remembered that he had at one point considered where to provide the two young elves with an appropriate sex education course. To cover for the moment he said, "Mare, go check the training grounds, I'd like to have the area prepared to do night fighting exercises soon. Aura, help him by having some mid level monsters prepared for use."
The twins hastily acknowledged his impromptu orders and Ainz sighed with relief that he'd found a quick way to get rid of them. He palmed his forehead and sighed, "I shouldn't use that thing when they're around, goodness knows what they'd see that they're to young for."
"Eight edge assassins, I have a task for one of you." He said to the invisible monsters that probed along the ceiling. They quickly assembled in front of him and he pointed to one of them and said, have Shalltear create a gate for you at my last point, then chase down this man," Ainz said, shifting the mirror of remote viewing to the collapsed member of the Gray Scripture, "I want you to follow him, don't hurt him, and don't let any monsters or bandits get in the way. I want you to know every contact he uses to get himself out of the country, every time he uses a contact, reach back out to us so we can dispatch someone else to follow that contact, and then continue to follow him, we're going to track one to another, and from that to another, and from that to another, until such time as we have identified every agent they have."
The invisible monster let out a sadistic grin, and after acknowledging his instruction, it rushed off carry out its duty.
"Sebas, summon the other guardians, its time we have a talk about our next step." Ainz said in a tone of voice that might be used for giving the time of day, instead of deciding the fates of nations.
AN: Well there we have the next chapter. I know some of you were hesitant about any form of relationship between Neia & Skana, some for personal story preference, some for reasons that...well frankly I can't believe still exist in the 21st century, but be that as it may, I have for the present left their...private time, more nebulous. There is something to be said for the subtle, and quite frankly Ainz finding himself embarrassed seemed to fit the moment better, if the Pervy reviewer wants to imagine literal skullfucking, hey thats up to him, if someone else wants to imagine innocent hand holding and intimate conversation, sobeit. The real events may be revealed later in some way as their characters are fleshed out a bit more, as I reveal some of the driving factors for Skana the bold that set her apart from the more innocent Neia Baraja.
And that is kind of an important point, Neia IS, I think, a bit more innocent...now she can't be all that naive, she grew up in a small home, do you think her parents stopped having sex for the next 18 years after she was born until she grew up? That, despite her isolation in her youth that she never had a crush on a boy or felt affection or desire? No, in that environment, even the most inexperienced (and she isn't exactly a busy little succubus) is going to have some practical knowledge, feelings, emotions, and connections.
So...why Skana? Why not a man? Because Skana is things that Neia isn't, and represents things that Neia never had, as the way they relate to one another is explored through the lens of unfolding events, ones that shape them and which they shape, this will become more clear (If I do a decent job that is), and the way Neia related to other characters in the LN suggested to me that she had stronger emotions for female characters than for male ones. When dealing with the other male Paladins, she spoke comfortably but disinterested, despite long association with people like Gustav who depended on her, but all her relationships with women were distant, painful, frustrating. She never knew the Holy Queen, and she was always at odds with the woman she once admired, Remedios Custodio, who seemed to hold her in contempt. Similarly while she was close to her father despite resenting him for her eyes, her relationship with her mother was one of frustration and occasional violence where her mother beat her for daring to express frustration with the eyes she inherited from him, this also includes dealing with where she fell short when compared to her mother. It was only with CZ, a literal fucking fembot, that she built a friendship, and she cherishes that relationship inordinately strongly given their short association. This tells me that she has felt a lack of and a longing for connections to members of her own sex, and in high stress conditions like life and death battle, those bonds can become more than platonic. Taking her any other way, really wouldn't have worked, not without completely rewriting how I was representing her, and speaking as a war veteran I can tell you, those bonds are not easily broken. Maybe you disagree with the direction that I'm going character wise, but I'm not doing so without reason, oh and one more thing...
...Every character that lives or dies or exists in this ongoing saga, is there with a purpose, and that purpose is not always what it seems. :) Enjoy, and feed me your reviews, I'm hungry.