…Twenty Miles from Crossroads…
Enri lay like a dead body on her bedding. Having won the battle, defeated General Boabdil and seen to the disposition of supplies and prisoners, she now had a chance to rest. So she returned to her tent and collapsed. What distinguished her from the dead was her pounding heart, her shaking body, and the tears in her eyes as the faces of the dying she'd held passed before her vision. So many young men and women had died, people in the flower of youth who would never grow old now, never see tomorrow, never have children, never present grandchildren to their own parents…some of them no doubt had never even known the wonder and joy of intimate exploration of a deeply loved mate discovering one another's soft flesh and great desire. They would never know the happiness of clutching a new life to their breast, nor the bliss of watching them at play in front of their homes in a peaceful hour on a spring morning.
So much was lost when the young died.
And it ate at her. She'd held herself together through Ikari, but that battle had been relatively brief by comparison, and she had seen only a few bodies. The battle before Crossroads had been laid out as bare as a tapestry hung before her eyes, a hellscape of screaming and desperation. She was reminded that she was no warrior. She was not a woman who could walk through hell and walk away unscathed like Neia seemed to. She felt every death, even the poor ones of her ruler's enemies.
She was so lost in her reflection that she didn't notice Lupusregina's presence until the maid literally pounced on top of her with a huge grin on her face. Enri's face went to one of surprise in the candle light as she found the beautiful red haired woman straddling her and felt her powerful hands on her shoulders. All Enri could do as Lupu lowered her face to a few inches over Enri's own was stammer out, "Lupu… w-what are you doing?!" in utter surprise.
"Distracting you." She said in something akin to a dusky voice that sounded as predatory as it was seductive.
Enri was stunned into momentary silence. "Ah, uh, what?" She asked, acutely aware and starting to blush a deep red as she realized just what this looked and…felt like.
"Lots of your soldiers are doing this now, seems to be a thing humans do when their lives are almost lost, and since you're all alone… -su" She said teasingly.
"Oh, uh, no, I mean, thank you Lupu, but…but you know I'm married and… well we're both girls and…" She tried to explain as Lupu started to laugh on top of her, and then the maid bodyguard straightened up and got off of her, allowing her to sit up.
Lupu was all smiles as she scratched her head and looked sheepish…but also smugly self satisfied as Enri stared with her mouth agape.
"Just kidding. -su" Lupu said to her. "Though being both girls isn't a problem, Neia does it with Skana all the time. Too bad for you, it coulda been fun, yah know. -su." Lupusregina replied to her, enjoying Enri's blush and embarrassment.
She stood up from the bed she'd been laying on and put her hands on her hips and looked sternly at her bodyguard, "Really Lupu? Is this really the time for that kind of thing?" She asked rhetorically.
Lupusregina shrugged. "Seems a good part of your army thinks it is. -su" she said and Enri's fading blush reignited.
"But still." Enri said and crossed her arms, Lupu's flesh had been soft, and she had felt that warmth of desire in them both. "I'm married and…"
She watched Lupu's smile go from playful to warm. "Oh I know yah aren't gonna do it, salright, thought it'd be funny to do that, and make yah feel good for a moment. -su"
"Uh…ahhh…thank you? I think?" Enri said awkwardly.
"Any time, General Enri." Lupusregina said with a teasing smile and a mock salute, and then her face and voice turned serious. "Listen, I may not be human, but I've been with you for years now, we're friends, so I know what you're feeling even if I don't feel the same way. -su".
"What do you mean?" Enri said cautiously.
"I'm a sadist, I enjoyed killing out there. making an offering of blood to Lord Ainz in his service to give him the world is the highest honor I can think of, well…maybe second highest…" she added as she spoke, as she briefly imagined bearing an heir to his glory. She shook off the thought briefly and continued, "But you're a human, born a peasant and raised to something new. You were thrown into the fire here and told to survive. He's graciously given you the means to pass through, but you pay a price I don't. -su" Lupusregina said and walked up to Enri, so that there were bare inches between breast and breast.
"You pay it here." She said, and touched Enri's head with one finger, "And you pay it here, and laid her palm over Enri's breast where her heart lay, her voice was uncharacteristically understanding, the teasing and joking had passed away as she spoke, "I will never feel the things you do, the way you do. I was created by the supreme ones to feel at home in what you call a living hell, but I can tell you this, and I hope you take it to heart: All this that you do isn't for nothing, so even if you feel all those losses, focus on what you're buying for tomorrow, for Lord Ainz and for all of you who serve him. -su." She said, and Enri's body, though it still shook, relaxed a little.
"Thanks Lupu, I guess… I just got caught up with everything…" She said.
"You hate slavery right?" Lupu asked. Enri nodded and her face went dark.
"There are about ten thousand slaves in Crossroads. Wanna free em?" She asked, already knowing Enri's answer.
"Yes." Enri replied with conviction.
"Don't lose sight of that then. -su" Lupusregina said and let her hand fall away, "Those are really nice by the way, Nferia is lucky. -su" she said, cocking her head to one side, giggling, and sticking her tongue out slightly as her mischievous expression returned.
Enri blushed again, then laughed. "You'll never change, will you Lupu?" She asked as she turned to go back to bed.
"Nope." She said and gave a wave to her charge, as she walked back out of the tent.
…Argland Council State…
They were in session when the wave of wrath struck them. They did not fall to their knees, but the entire council's heads bowed as one, and bowed low as if it were demanded by a living god, and it felt, in that instant, as if a skeletal hand had laid an intimate caress over their hearts and was pondering whether or not to squeeze. Instinctive terror - that was the only way to describe it - raw and primal, and not felt lightly by those powerful figures It brought them abject silence when it hit. That silence held for a solid hour as they lost themselves in their own reflective thoughts on the experience they had shared together.
"There can only be one source for that." The Worm Dragon Lord said.
There was nothing but looks of common agreement.
"Was it directed at us?" The Obsidian Dragon Lord asked gravely.
"I don't think so." The Diamond Dragon Lord replied, "We've been on more or less friendly terms, and he hasn't shown us anything but favorable neutrality, even to the point of discussing his intentions in front of us."
"Still, we should check. If he alone can project that kind of wave of raw terrifying rage all this way, we should find out how far it was felt, I'll send out feelers to the Slane Theocracy, Re-Estize, and so on, and see if they felt it too, we need to be sure this was generalized and not targeted to us." The Platinum Dragon Lord replied.
"And if it was not?" The Worm Dragon Lord asked.
"Then we do nothing to avoid appearing weak, and later when the time is right, we seek to build more friendly relations with…well lets be frank, he won't have a kingdom, he will have an empire when this is all over. Our national policy going forward must have two parts…the first, maintain our independence, the second, do not anger off the empire next door." The Blue Sky Dragon Lord said sagely.
"A productive and positive relationship is our best defense." The Diamond Dragon Lord proposed, and they began to hammer out the details of their proposals.
…Commonton: Just over the Abelion Hills border with the Holy Kingdom…
AN: If you have forgotten them...as they haven't been central characters-
Robel: Former captain of the guard in Hoburns, fired after he was blamed for the death of a prisoner that would have implicated the then 'Count' Handor. Converted to Neia's religion and served as a liaison and administrator after her departure.
Gilcrest: Blacksmith who replaced Gascon after his assassination, serves as a kind of right hand man to Robel and has assisted with administration and correspondence ever since.
Both went East along with most of Neia's followers before things went from bad to worse.
Robel and Gilcrest were exhausted. The thirty thousand man army of King Astraka that had months ago marched east towards the Abelion Hills had been raided, slowed, hampered, ambushed, and more as it burned its way to the border. They had steadily pulled themselves farther and farther from Hoburns and as a consequence they had drawn themselves closer and closer to the demihuman lands ruled by the Sorcerer King.
Now they were operating out of Commonton just over the border and sending out small groups for individual actions, whittling down the significant force of trained professionals with their peasant volunteers, undead support, and now demihuman allies. Robel sighed, despite all their best efforts, before long they would have to fight a siege and they were outnumbered. The army was within sight, behind them beyond easy view, but nearly there if you squinted or had better vision than a human, Foundoton was a ruined and burned out husk. Its people had chosen to make a stand in some numbers and held off the force for three straight days before their walls were broken and their lives spilled out into the dust. Some of its former residents were now with him, most however, had chosen to die at home.
Gilcrest approached him and slapped his tired comrade on the shoulder. Robel looked over at him with his ice blue eyes and formerly neatly cut, now haggard dark hair hanging freely to the bottom of his neck, it bounced slightly as he moved. His always lean, sprinters body was ripcord muscle, but it did not alleviate his weariness.
"You look tired." Gilcrest said.
"Is anyone not?" He asked as the echo of demihumans preparing for a siege of their town reached their ears. They joined hands with the humans of Black Justice, and labored together for common survival, though some negative feelings still ran deep between the groups, the fanatical loyalty to their common lord, and the presence of a common enemy, had forced those feelings to be cast aside or at least pushed down temporarily.
"Granted." The young sandy haired, freckle faced boyish figure said and chuckled grimly. His powerful body was now crisscrossed with various scars from fighting, and his brown eyes looked out at the direction of the approaching army of Astraka. "How many do you think are out there?" He asked.
"As much damage as we've done, probably twenty thousand still." Robel said with resignation.
"How many do we have?" Gilcrest asked.
"Maybe half that, more if the entire town fights, the demihumans here are very strong, honestly the odds aren't that bad." Robel said encouragingly.
"Skeletons are great for some things, but we've lost a lot of them already, we'll use up the remainder in the first engagement." Gilcrest pointed out, "And we don't have but two or three people capable of using healing magic, while they have plenty. They can wear us down."
Robel's fist clenched and Gilcrest asked cautiously, "Can we get out of the town and lead them further into the interior?" He asked.
"Not unless we abandon the elderly and the children, human and demihuman alike, we don't have enough undead mounts, and even if we did, most of the food has traveled farther east and is with General Rockbruise, we'll run out of supplies long before we get help and we'll just die on the road." Robel replied.
"Shit." Gilcrest said pointedly.
"And if we do that, then there will be twenty thousand Astrakian loyalists marching to hit General Rockbruise from behind, between them and the army of the Slane Theocracy and the Elf Kingdom marching north, she'll be crushed." Robel added gravely.
"Aww hell." The boyish looking man said, "So we have to either stop them here and wipe them out, or hurt em so damn bad that they can't go one step farther than our corpses, that what you're telling me?" Gilcrest asked.
"That is exactly what I'm telling you." Robel said professionally.
"Any chance of reinforcements?" Gilcrest asked hopefully.
"None." He Robel replied with a fatalistic voice.
Gilcrest's face became resolute and he stuck out his hand towards Robel. In the distance they could hear the sound of drums and marching feet. "It has been an honor to fight beside you sir." Gilcrest said.
Robel heard in the young man's voice the resolve to die. "And I with you." He said and shook the young man's scarred up hand.
They went quiet and Robel looked behind him, the little town's population was like an anthill that had been kicked over as last minute preparations were made and warriors of each race took to the walls to prepare for a fight.
"When will it begin?" Gilcrest asked curiously.
"In a few hours if they had siege engines, but since we did manage to burn their battering rams, catapults, and the like, they'll have to stop to make ladders or a new battering ram. I don't think they'll want to wait that long, between the handful of red paladins we have, some of our better instructors, demihumans, and undead, we have an advantage at night, so they'll want to strike during the day." Robel said as his voice fell into that of a critical eyed professional soldier.
"So nights should be fairly peaceful at least. At least I won't die sleepy." He said with a wry smile.
Robel laughed and clapped him on the shoulder, "That's the spirit."
It was a while before they saw the cavalry of Astraka's army ranging just out of reach of anything in Commonton, their horses were obviously fit and battle ready. "Are they going to fight?" Gilcrest asked uncertainly.
Robel shook his head, "No, they're there to make sure we don't leave, and to make sure we don't lay any unpleasant surprises for them outside the town, wish we could have done that. More's the pity."
He proved correct about that, and when they found themselves facing an arrayed army of very angry humans, all he could do was look to the sky and sigh, if he was lucky, this was going to be a very long day.
Making ladders didn't take long, and whoever was in command over there apparently was in a hurry, because that was the only activity he spotted. The walls of Commonton were not large, but walls were walls even if they were only eighteen feet high and made mostly of wood. As a precaution Robel had ordered the demihumans to wet the wood to prevent fire from creating openings, and that cut down the risks somewhat at least.
The ranks of the archers were the first to move forward against the town.
"Archers!" Robel called out, and here at least he had some advantage, the archery skills of his people were prodigious.
They took a staggered formation along the walls and behind them, demihumans who were not archers but had some ranged capabilities arrayed themselves on the wall, determined to protect their homes at the front themselves.
"Loose!" He shouted, and thousands of bow strings released at once with a twang so loud he wondered if it could be heard by Astraka's army. Stone spitters send their own stone projectiles out against the opposing forces, and from them came a storm of arrows. Most struck nothing, embedding themselves in the wooden wall a building here and there, or falling uselessly to the ground. Some however, struck home and a soldier fell down with a cry of pain, or fell forever silent. A peasant improvised medical corps dragged the wounded to safety and began to apply what comfort and care they could.
The massed ranks of Astraka's archers took the worst of it, without the barrier of walls, and without being in a staggered state, projectiles hit home and men fell down screaming bloody murder, staining the ground red with their life's blood or fell silent into the grasp of death.
As they prepared the next volley the ladder bearing infantry began to rush forward, beside and around the ladder bearers there were men with shields to protect as many as they could, it left Robel a choice about who to target, either he could send arrows at the archers firing in support, or he could have the infantry targeted before they got to the wall, the former would inflict far more casualties, but archers did not take fortifications, so he made a quick decision.
"Archers on the ground, fire as before! Archers on the walls, target advancing ground troops!" He shouted from the top of the gate.
Stone spitting demihumans worked deadly well on the ladder bearing soldiers, though their stones could not penetrate shields, they could break the arms holding those shields by sheer force of the impact, and some archers along the walls found cracks in the defense, this forced those protecting the ladder bearers to become bearers themselves. Here and there a formation took to many casualties and a ladder fell abandoned as those bearing it lost their courage or their fighting power and either fled or rushed desperately to another ladder formation, those lone figures made easy targets, and they fell with a dozen arrows in their bodies or with their heads burst from the impact of a rock.
The advance continued however and the ladders rose where casualties had not been sufficient. "Receive the enemy!" Robel shouted and swords came out. The arrow duel continued from both sides as archers behind the wall targeted those they could not see as best they could, and Robel could see that they were still hitting some of the time, and doing a better job of it than the archers of Astraka. The soldiers at the wall were almost a blessing, in that at least the archers of his enemies, desiring not to hit their own, limited their fire to places where the ladders had not risen. He looked down over the wall, a ladder had come up to his position and soldiers were coming up, he took up a pole that was laying at his feet, it had a small, hand sized L shaped piece of metal secured to the end, he hooked it under the top rung of the ladder and pushed the ladder away. The menacing face of the young woman who was striving to come and claim his life, looked suddenly surprised as the ladder came away from where it had come to rest. Her expression was fearful for an instant, and she screamed as it fell backward. She landed in a heap with several others, she was alive, but probably hurt like hell. Other ladders were being pushed away in a similar fashion and it was making the Astrakan loyalists angry. That was when he saw the angels, a handful of magic users might not win a battle, but they could do some serious damage along the way, they swept in to defend another attempt at raising ladders, clashing from above with the soldiers on the wall.
Red Paladins proved very useful at pinning several angels down in a fight, but the reverse was equally true, Robel parried an angel's blow and kicked it in the back as it swept past, only for Gilcrest to impale it on his own blade and bring it down. Soldiers had begun to mount the walls in various places with some success, and bulges of fighting broke out, demihuman infantry came in swinging heavy weapons and punishing the human invaders for the temerity of attacking their town…but there were a lot of human invaders, and ever so gradually, the walls were lost.
"Secure choke points!" Robel shouted as their own began to fall back, and heavy infantry, shield using demihumans began to blockade roadways while human archers on the ground fell back behind those positions. Robel began to fight his way back down the steps, he gutted the woman who he'd previously knocked backwards, his sword went easily through her light armor and out the other and she fell with a weak scream and a sickening thud off the stairs and fell unmoving and then silent to the ground below. He lost sight of Gilcrest, but could hear his voice as clumps of people caught up together struggled to keep up with the demand to keep killing.
The bafolk with their long spears worked to keep the Astrakian army at bay, and where Black Justice fighters fell back, bows came out and close range archery struck knees, calves, kidneys, at every point they could outflank their foes.
But still they came on, still they came with drums of war calling down the wrath of the six gods on the heretics, they were winning, they could feel that they were winning, their army moved up, a banner of Astraka was planted over the gate as Robel watched helplessly, a small tower suffered the same fate, there were simply not enough of his people to take it back. Two Astrakan soldiers lifted up the bar holding it closed, only to die with arrows in their necks from some anonymous but deadly archer. The bar fell back into place, but four more went and took their places. Two more fell in the same way, but before the other two could be killed, they dropped the bar to the ground. They fell with arrows in their necks just as it hit the ground, two more rushed in and pushed the gate open and Robel could hear the horn sound beyond the wall for the general advance.
He took a spear by the haft as it was thrust at him and yanked it forward in his own direction, it threw the shocked man holding it off balance and as he stumbled forward, Robel shoved his sword into the man's face, he fell with a confused expression on his face, as if he could not understand how that had happened. Casualties were mounting and minutes later the way through the gate could no longer be seen as soldiers of Astraka began to fill the entrance.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a small clump of his own men pressed hard against the wall of a building, surrounded, they were dropping fast, doing their best to take as many with them as they could. He lost sight of the doomed handful as he withdrew further along the street, but he made out the scream of Gilcrest from that direction. His heart broke and despair filled the cracks within it.
"Feel our divine wrath heretic!" A soldier screamed at Robel as he dropped his halberd with its tip towards Robel and began to advance.
That was when the wave hit, and taught that man and those with him, what divine wrath really was. He and all those with him fell to their knees in awe as the overwhelming feeling of divine rage swept over the entire town, and cold death's hate touched the hearts of Astraka's army. Fear, he saw hate and rage turn to unbridled fear, and the rage of his god filled him and those with him, "Unleash the undead! They are breaking!" Robel shouted and took out and blew his own horn, with rage and renewed vigor the demihumans and humans alike flung themselves full tilt into the battle, every man and woman of every species who was capable of fighting, flew to the desperate front with violent killing intent and numbers meant nothing.
The courage of the victors was shattered as if they were already defeated, and the untiring skeletal reinforcements poured out from where they had been 'stored' in anticipation of their use. The quailing hearts of the collapsed army of Astraka called for them to retreat, they had however, fallen to ground and the angry defenders began to kill them where they lay. Screams filled the air like water poured into a deep vessel.
Those who rose, had only one thought, flee! Flee the source of horror and terror and the wrath of whatever had done this to them. Soldier trampled over soldier, brothers and sisters at arms forgot the virtue of sacrificing themselves for their fellows, there was only the desire to run like rabbits, and they got in one another's way and created a press that made the gate into a trap. It was like stabbing fish in a barrel for several minutes, others climbed the wall and leaped down below, some fractured ankles or broke legs and crawled or hobbled away from the wall as fast as they could. No man stopped to help his brother, no woman stopped to carry her sister. Until within the wall there stood no living soldier of Astraka, and surrounding the gate was a red carpet of blood and bodies.
Robel mounted the stairs as he sheathed his sword, and when he had reached the top, he yanked up the banner from the gate, waving Astraka's colors in front of him so that all would know it was taken, and then he flung it contemptuously down to the ground in front of the gate.
The space in front of that had been churned to mud as a result of the soil being soaked to its limits with the blood of the dead and dying, and the proud banner looked a terrible wreck. However this was not contempt enough. He lifted up the flap of metal protecting his crotch, opened up the front of his pants, took a stance, and laughed as he urinated over the side and on to the banner of the king. If he could have shat upon it without risk of falling over, he might have. He was exhausted, skeletons rushed out under him a moment later, trampling the ruined banner to further disgrace as they chased down the living, killing as they went. Those who had injured legs or ankles did not reach safety, and the terrorized army routed in disgrace.
He turned behind him, barely able to remain on his feet through his exhaustion as he did his pants back up again and dropped the metal protective plate back into place. His face was bruised and covered in dirt, grime, sweat, and blood, and nor was he alone in this as he took stock of the scene of Commonton before him. He saw where clumps of his own men had died together, through they were ringed by numbers of dead foes, it was a point of merit to note that with them had died demihumans, none had abandoned the other.
From somewhere, cheers came up, swords, axes, bows, spears, and fists of a dozen races punched as if to strike the sky and their cries were so loud that even the thunderous noise of skeletons pursuing routed prey could not be heard.
Robel raised his hands and silence gradually fell. "Seek the wounded, secure prisoners, we've won! But we are not done!" Behind him the sun had started to go down, he wondered how long all that had been, it felt like minutes, but it might have been hours. "Unarmed citizens, carry water, provide food, and aid where warriors direct you, to the elderly, aid in the cleanup, clear the arrows, fallen weapons, and what bodies you can manage and set them in the town square for inspection for reuse!"
When his orders were obeyed, he began to stagger down the stairs, that was when he'd felt the pain in his side, he was bleeding from an ugly gash, it was painful, but it was only oozing, he would live, but he would need treatment. There was something he wanted to do first. He wanted to find Gilcrest, so he approached a corpse bearing Black Justice armor and turned it over onto its back, it was not him. He approached another…briefly wondering "How many more before I find him?" The carpet of bodies was extensive. It would probably be awhile.
…Prart...the day after the wrath hit…
Neia and CZ sat across from Calca at the dinner table. It was a little strange for her to be dining with royalty still, but nonetheless there it was. They ate in silence for a little while. A servant poured wine for them, and Neia nodded in polite acknowledgment to the woman, a fresh faced looking teenage girl with long red hair and light freckles. She smiled nervously in return, but moved like someone with at least a decent amount of experience.
Finally Calca set her utensils down and folded her hands in front of her on the table, she looked Neia square in the eye and said, "You don't want me here, do you?"
Neia looked at her in surprise. "I'm sorry?"
" 'You...do not...want...me...here." She repeated slowly and deliberately.
Neia sighed and mimicked the posture of the Queen. "Put bluntly, no Your Majesty."
"Why not, did I do something to offend you?" She asked with a mix of anger and curiosity.
Neia shook her head, "No Your Majesty, but it is about your place in all this. You said yourself, you are the Sorcerer King's 'just cause'. If you die here, so does his cause and he goes from supporter of the rightful ruler to an invader. I'm not stupid. I know some of how this works among nobles." She answered gently.
Her answer calmed Calca somewhat. "I see. Well it is a risk I have to take. Remedios has all the authority that she does because she followed me in the first place, now she's become this warped, twisted thing I don't even recognize as the woman I once trusted with my life. I have to confront her, even if it is just once, and I'll have to trust you to protect me when I do it. Maybe I can talk her down, and if I can do that, then we can end all this that much sooner." Her voice was full of sadness and regret as she spoke, she could no longer meet Neia's gaze.
"I don't know if it'll work, but I understand your reasons and I won't fight it. I'll do my best to protect you, I swear it in the name of my god." Neia said respectfully. "What do you think of what we've done with Prart's defenses in the meantime?" She added, changing the subject artfully.
"I am impressed. I can hardly believe you were ever 'just a squire'." She said regretfully in answer. "I wonder how many others were denied the chance to shine the way you were."
Neia, at ease again, took a sip of wine and then a bite of her steak as she thought of how to reply. "No way to know. We just have to make it through all this, and do better next time." She said.
It was at that moment that a gate opened in the dining area and out of it stepped Shalltear Bloodfallen, dressed daintily and looking as beautiful as she ever did. "His Majesty wants to see you." She said abruptly. "Come with me."
"Who?" Calca asked , while Neia and CZ were already on their feet.
Shalltear pointed to Neia. "Her, but he didn't say you couldn't come. Knowing our Lord's infinite wisdom, he probably expects you to join her because you're with her at this moment." She sighed longingly as she thought of her master.
Neia could not move through the gate fast enough, and CZ was hot on her heels. The servant girl looked in shock as those she served, including the queen, rose to their feet and answered the summons. She remained stock still as the gate closed behind them. Unable to process just what she was seeing, her eyes fell to the bottle in her hand. "I think… nobody will mind if I have one glass of this to help cope with… that." She said in a soft, awed voice to herself and to the empty room as she moved to pour for herself.
The trio found themselves in Nazarick, before the Throne of Kings. When they arrived, she noticed that Demiurge was not present, while the rest of the guardians were arrayed along the wall along with several maids, only Albedo was an exception, taking her place at her lord's right hand, and none of them were looking especially happy. Whatever they had missed must have been truly terrifying. Neia felt a wave of nervousness. She could feel that something had recently transpired that must have angered their master enough that these calamitous beings would be on edge. Only he, only the god she served, could have been sufficient to do that to them. But courage was not something in which she was deficient, so she began to approach the throne, coming into the reach of the Sorcerer King's voice. She heard him apologize, speak to them for a minute or two more, and then dismiss them from where they stood.
When she'd come to a respectful distance and took to one knee, followed closely by Queen Calca and CZ, she looked up to him adoringly and spoke. "I come at your command Your Majesty." Neia said, choosing to ignore what she had witnessed.
The Sorcerer King's voice was now even and tempered as he spoke. "Yes, I am glad you've come today Neia, and also you, Queen Calca, it is proper that you should witness this."
The Queen looked interested, but remained silent.
"You have been my squire for quite some time, haven't you Neia Baraja?" He asked.
"Yes my lord." Neia replied proudly.
"I don't want you as my squire any longer." He said, and for a moment, Neia felt her world shatter into a million little pieces. Calca's face fell into a shock she couldn't hide, and even CZ's eyes widened slightly. Neia briefly wondered "What horrible thing have I done, have my failures been so terrible…yes probably, but why am I being punished only now?" She wanted to wail and her eyes were about to start bawling, but in that single instant he turned her misery on its head.
"I want you as my paladin." He continued, and her heart, shattered to those million pieces, reformed in its depths and soared to new heights of joy. She did begin to cry, but it was with a clear and obvious joy.
Those still present in the throne room looked on in silence. Few born outside of Nazarick, could ever say that they were truly welcomed as a comrade by those who were created within its walls. True, a visiting guest of the lord of the tomb could expect the finest treatment and service in the world. Granted their master's favor, such a guest would be treated with the respect of royalty. But in the hearts of those formed from the mud of creation by the supreme beings for their purposes, from the lowliest maid to the guardian overseer, an outsider was an outsider.
There was however, one exception to this, and that exception now knelt before their master. Neia had declared their master to be the god he was, and was giving her life to making sure the world knew it, she had offered her life unflinchingly in a test devised by Demiurge himself, and those watching through the mirror of remote viewing at the time, saw first hand how her heart broke as she failed to end her life on command, unwittingly passing his test.
She had become something unique in their eyes, and the only indication that the 'worthless bugs' outside the tomb had redemptive value.
"I accept your majesty's offer, I will take my oath now if it please you sire." She said as her voice cracked with happiness.
He nodded his head, and she lowered her gaze, took her sword, and rested it point down vertically in front of her, keeping her hands firmly on the hilt. She spoke with all the power her voice could muster. "I, Neia Baraja, dedicate myself to the service of the Sorcerer King. I bond my life to him and his cause, his people will be my people, his enemies are my enemies, his will is my will, his ways are my ways, for as long as he will have me; I will be his paladin, and he will be my lord."
The Sorcerer King stood from his throne, descended the steps, his every footfall echoed in the silent hall until he stopped before the kneeling squire. "You have made your oath." He said, and struck her lightly but firmly across her face, enough to sting, but with care not to injure her. "That is so you will remember it. You knelt as a squire, now rise as my Black Paladin." He said, and Neia could not stand fast enough, she sheathed her sword and smiled happily as joyful tears ran down her face.
"It is right that a paladin of mine should rise, to bring down a paladin who has fallen." He said to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. She nodded gravely.
Calca watched all this from bended knee and as Neia stood proud and happy, an impulse welled up within her that compelled her to speak. Normally she would speak with art and grace, but in this moment, she could not find either, so her words were rushed and emphatic.
"Your majesty, I offer you my kingdom as a province, not as a vassal, if you will have it." She said, looking up at him intensely.
Ainz froze, he and Neia both looked down to her, and he was glad his face could not show surprise.
"And what of yourself?" He asked.
"His voice…it's so noble…and it even sounds concerned for me…truly he is a king." Calca thought, and then answered, "If I survive this war, and it is your desire, I will serve to continue to rule the land, I would rather be governor of a great and prosperous province, than Queen over ruined ashes. As part of your kingdom, my people will have the brightest possible future, as fast as possible. It was always my dream to create a kingdom where all could live happily, from the small folk to the great, and I have been…shown several times that your ways are the highest and most noble, and therefore the most certain path to my goal is to present myself as your servant in the firmest possible way. My kingdom will be your province, and my crown your crown, your law will be my law, and my body and mind will be yours to command." She said hurriedly improvising an oath of submission.
"Then rise as the Governor Queen." He said, holding out his hand for her to take.
"I don't know that title." She said with uncertainty, "Does it mean you accept my oath?" She asked hopefully.
"I do, you have lived as a Queen, and I would not rob you of that title, you will be my governor, but you will keep the title of Queen for all your life. Doing the right thing for your people should not always require sacrifice." He said. His red orbs had terrified her the first time she'd seen them, when she'd lain naked on a table and found her shaking feet moving to the marching beat of his endless plans. Now she found them to be warm as winter flame in her own hearth. She took his offered hand, and stood.
"I will send you back now, as you have much work to do." He said, and with a nod to Shalltear who remained behind them, a gate opened. CZ then arose, and the three bowed together, deeply as they could, then backed away from him, and went back through their gate to finish a meal before the hard work of the last days of preparation was laid before them.
AN: Thank you all for reading this far, I hope you've found this story to be an enjoyable journey thus far and well worth your time. If you'd like to support and encourage my further efforts at making things awesome... you can support turning this into an audio and illustrated ebook (Which I will NEVER charge for) by supporting it on p a treon dot com slash godrising. Or you can help make the world a little more awesome by donating to my charity organization at bdgiving dot org. Or if you just want to hang out, get early access during the beta stages, get discord exclusives, or maybe get your own work looked at by a positive and supportive community, visit our discord server, the invite code is on my author page. Good news is... I'm off work today thanks to a flight conflict with my obligations tomorrow...so I have all day to write. Lucky us.
OH! And one final thing, to those of you who said you're going to start writing...yay! Writers keep communities alive, we need all of you! To those of you who got something significant out of stories like 'The Synod' thank you, that means a LOT to me, everyone who creates, wants to know if they've had an impact on those who see their creation. That is why we like reviews so damn much. Also, FFN cut off my address, so I'll try it this way...in case you made some art and found you couldn't send it because it cut off my damned address. You can send me any fan art using my username at the email service provided by the world's most popular search engine. Censor THAT FFN! ;) OK, I'm out.