AN: Two readers took the 'dare to be awesome' option and are currently writing stories to be uploaded to FFN, so...I was GOING to do a double release day, but instead...how about fifteen chapters for various stories, including one for this one? Well, enjoy. I'll be publishing them all...now.
On with the show:
...Prart...
Neia was in her office looking over documents when the knock outside the door took her out of her thought process. She bit her lip to suppress her annoyance and looked up to her left where CZ stood waiting. CZ's clothing remained that of an unassuming maid, she even had a tray under one arm ready to fetch things at need, such as tea or snacks or a full meal. For all the world, she was playing the role of maid to the general. The exception to this disguise was her unique and dangerous spell gun. Maid and body guard, and she excelled at both.
"CZ, would you?" Neia asked, and the maid demon approached the door and opened it. She did not invite the knocker in, but instead she stepped out to speak with them. Neia resumed reading and making notes along the way on a spare sheet of paper that she attached to the main document. Those notes included suggestions for increased training, supply requisition support, even a few words of praise here and there, and then she moved on to the next one. She wondered if the Sorcerer King ever got tired of paperwork. 'Probably not.' She thought with a weary exhale.
She shook off the thought, it was pointless to compare herself to a god.
A moment later, CZ returned, "Neia, they're saying that some adventurers are here to see you."
"Adventurers? Did the Sorcerer King assign more to us? Fine, have them draw their equipment and so on, and I'll see them at the evening formation with everyone else." Neia's voice was tired, even annoyed, but CZ's shaking head told her not to return to her paperwork.
"You should see them now.. It's Blue Rose." She repeated in her customary monotone.
Neia shot up from the chair thinking she should have realized something was different when CZ said a sentence with more than four damn words in it.
The chair fell backwards and she came out from around the desk, CZ opened the door and found some familiar and very welcome faces on the other side of it.
"Lakyus, Gagaran, Tia, Tina...!" She paused and looked around. "Ah, where is Evileye?" Neia asked, confused.
"I'm back here behind this big ox!" Evileye's voice said, and Gagaran sheepishly moved out of the way, allowing the vampire girl to move to the front where she could be seen.
Neia laughed, it was the first laugh she'd had all day, and she was heartily glad of it. She stuck out her hand and shook those of their visitors firmly. "What brings you to Prart?" She asked as she stepped backwards and walked over to her desk, gesturing for them to pull up chairs as she righted her own and reclaimed her seat.
"What, we can't just come to see you?" Evileye said with a note of humor in her voice.
Neia looked at them quizzically. "Just because I wear green armor, doesn't mean I am green too, you know. Jokes aside, what brings you here? I'm truly overworked here, and glad to have you. I'll never forget what you did for me in Wenmark. But there is a siege pending soon that, I'll be frank, I might not survive, most of us might not. There is a lot to do to bump the odds more in our favor. So... whatever you're here for, I'll help if I can, but this is a bad time."
Lakyus adjusted herself in her chair, she sat centered on the pope, opposite her desk and said calmly, "Neia, can you take off your visor?"
Neia shrugged, "Sorry, force of habit, these make people uncomfortable." She answered, pointing to her eyes. She looked at them with an unbroken gaze, her fierce and penetrating stare had not diminished since last they met, if anything, as Lakyus looked into the eyes of General Baraja, she could see worse than flame and suffering demons. It was as if there was a monster dwelling within that would consume without mercy whatever raised its anger.
She did not however, flinch from her answer. "That is why we're here. To defend our country." Lakyus said.
Neia folded her hands together on her desk and looked over to CZ. "CZ, could you bring some tea for our guests." She asked politely.
"Yes." The demon maid responded and went to a corner of the room where a set lay ready for use.
"Now, what do you mean, defend your country?" Neia asked, "None of you are from the Roble Holy Kingdom."
"No, but we are going to be citizens of the Sorcerous Empire." Lakyus said, leaning forward on the desk.
Neia sat quietly for a moment and absorbed that statement. "Did I just hear..." She started to speak, only to be interrupted by Evileye.
"We had a visit not too long ago from Vanysa. She showed up in Kedyn, we were not... exactly fired. But..." Evileye shrugged, "It was pretty obvious we weren't useful there anymore, then she told us about the guild system's inevitable demise and well, she laid it all on the line for us."
"How do you mean?" Neia asked in an uncertain tone.
"She took out a map, showed us all the places that were going to throw their lot in with the Sorcerer King when the war ended, either as vassal states or as literal provinces under direct control of His Majesty. She then pointed out that this left nowhere for us to go but to places like Argland or even farther, pointed out the advantages of the system of the Sorcerer King, offered us an obscene amount of money and very generous conditions, and said we could make an official oath here. Oh... and she told us about... that... condition too." Evileye said, lowering her voice without even considering whether or not anyone could have overheard, let alone understood, what she was speaking of.
"He told you?" Neia asked.
"Yes. So we're in, this is our first assignment, we're going to defend Prart from any and all threats." Lakyus said.
"Even if it means more humans?" Neia asked, "Because you are talking about that without a shadow of a doubt." She said emphatically.
The entire team nodded. "Yes." Lakyus said with iron conviction in her voice.
"Alright, then I'm glad to have you. I have some former slaves harassing and slowing down these armies, and a coded message arrived from Gustav about one of his deceptions, they now believe there is a massive army behind them in the Southern Kingdom, and they're sending out their best to deal with it. In addition, Skana sent me an important message, I just got it this morning. It seems, well, read it yourself." Neia said and took out a document and slid it across the table.
Lakyus picked it up and her team looked over her shoulder at what was written there...
"Dearest Neia,
We are hotly pursued by greater numbers and deadly magic, so I do not know that I will make it back to Prart to join you for the siege. Though it hasn't even been a year since we came together, it bears the feeling of many lifetimes, and if I must pass from this world, I want to do it as more than simple lovers, I have had many of those, some for hours and others that I was happy to start the day with, but with none other than you have I wanted a lifetime of the same, if this letter reaches your hands, I hope that you will accept this crude offer on cheap paper, and if I make it back alive, be my wife before the end arrives.
Yours in war and peace,
Skana
Neia did not know why the members of Blue Rose were blushing furiously.
Lakyus lowered the paper to the desk, laid it carefully flat, and slid it across the desk, back over to the general without saying a word. Neia looked at them in confusion, then looked down at the document, and realized what she'd just given them. Never had she hoped for an ambush or an attack so much in her entire life. Her face turned strawberry red and she quietly took the document in hand, slid it into a drawer, took out another, and slid that across the table in its place. "Can we agree to never speak of this again?" Neia asked hopefully.
"Yes... at least until it's really funny." Gagaran said as she recovered from her surprise at what she'd seen.
Neia felt like she would die of embarrassment, but it gradually became one sided as the members of Blue Rose increasingly saw the humor in the mistake.
"I can never tell Skana, she'll never stop laughing at me." Neia said with a shy laugh.
"Now, if you look at that document... the correct one, you'll note that King Astraka is coming this way too, I crushed him at Kasaga, just like you defeated Remedios's soldiers at Kedyn. They need this win, a lot of people have died and they're not making gains from those deaths. Sure, they've burned up villages, they've burned up villagers too, from what I hear." Neia said sharply, anger coloring her face and hate filling her eyes.
"But even from their perspective, all that is meaningless. They have to crush my army here, they have to kill me, and they have to have one big win to energize their campaign. If they can do that and unite the Roble Holy Kingdom again, they'll go crawling up the backside of the Abelion Hills. Killing the small population of beastmen who live there would be a big credibility boost. From there..." She paused, seeing they were lost, and she reached into the desk to retrieve a map. She laid it out on the table and traced her finger over the areas she was talking about until they were caught up. "From there, they can move in on the Slane Theocracy, defeat General Rockbruise in a pincer, and wheel north. General Enri wouldn't fall easily, but she only has so many soldiers. Even with her dragons, the Black Scripture is no joke and combined with their comrades in the other scriptures, anything goes."
"Neia, we're adventurers, not generals." Evileye tactfully reminded her.
"Oh, right, well, the point is that while things going bad could just mean that the Sorcerer King uses his own personal power and crushes all the opposition, that victory would still be a diplomatic defeat. He'd look as bad as they're claiming he is. The vote over his divinity might go bad in the Synod, and his followers would never feel safe because... well, who follows a god who loses a war?" She asked, opening her hands questioningly to her sides.
"The fact of the matter is, even though the ones opposing my god can't hope to win a complete military victory, they don't have to do that in order to win the war. They can even lose the war and still win their objectives. By contrast, we require a complete and total victory on the battlefield, off the battlefield, and in the hearts and minds of all the people we rule over every step of the way." Neia said with some frustration.
"Sounds tough." Lakyus said as she accepted a cup from CZ. Her comrades accepted cups as well and their faces shared similar expressions of agreement.
"It is, but we still have lots of advantages, "We've won all the big battles. General Zetsumei is conducting her invasion and Queen Draudillon is very enthusiastic about proving her country's worth to his majesty. General Enri has defeated General Boabdill quite handily. All in all, we're doing everything we need to do, but this city right here..." She jabbed her forefinger down at the map, pointing to Prart, "Is the linchpin of the west. We win this, we can then take Hoburns, sweep the north, and crush the south. We win a big victory here, and I mean a total victory, without having to turn to his majesty, prove our strength, and everything changes. I say the north would fall overnight and the south would fall in a couple of weeks."
"After that..." Neia said, until Lakyus raised a hand, giving the general pause.
"I get it, you have to fight and win big or even if you win the war you may lose the objective." Lakyus said simply, her sisters looked relieved.
"Yeah, that is what I said." Neia replied.
"So what can we do to make sure this win is so over the top that the names of those enemy commanders go down in history for having the worst luck in the entire long record of war?" Lakyus asked with a warm, eager smile on her face.
"I'm glad you asked that." Neia said sharply as she took a sip of tea from the cup CZ laid on the desk for her. "It's simple, I want you to work with my soldiers, train them every day, publicly. Be seen, put on displays of strength, boast of your prowess and show off what impossible legendary fighters you really are. That will keep morale sky high." She said calmly, methodically, keeping her voice as calm as a flowing brook, the power of the evangelist filled it, and filled them.
The members of Blue Rose felt in that moment as if they could see the training, the cheers, the call to conflict, the enemy arrayed and their will to fight broken under their withering charge, leading tens of thousands to cleanse the taint of evil from it and renew the nation. It was a heady feeling, and Lakyus took care to shake it off.
"Did you do that on purpose?" Lakyus asked gently.
"Did I do what on purpose?" Neia asked innocently.
"I 'felt you' sort of, when you were speaking just now." Lakyus replied.
"Oh, that. It's just something that I do, I don't fully understand it myself." She looked into Lakyus's eyes as she spoke, and within those pupils Lakyus felt a well of power nearly at the breaking point of bursting through the founder of Black Justice.
"Well... we're here to do a job, we're your subordinates now, but if you are doing that intentionally, please know that it isn't necessary, we're on your side, because this is the side you come to if you're fighting for the future of people... all people, no matter what they look like or what they are." Lakyus said and instinctively clasped Evileye's hand.
The diminutive mage allowed the grip to form and squeezed back. "I understand." Neia said, "Again, please think nothing of what just happened, a lot of the time I don't even notice it, you're good people, I'm not going to have to manipulate you to get you to do the right thing, and I swear in the name of my god, Ainz Ooal Gown, that I won't do so." She said in a voice which brooked no argument.
"Good enough." Lakyus said. "Now, what else is there?" She asked.
"For now, go get quarters assigned to you," Neia said and opened up her desk, she took out a blank sheet and scribbled something on it, then handed it over to Lakyus. "Take this, it will authorize you keys to this building, there are still spare rooms here for VIPs, there aren't many in here, just myself, Queen Calca, CZ, and there was Skana but..." Neia trailed off, the absence of her lover was getting to her, she clenched her fists and they could see her force herself to focus.
"Anyway, you'll stay here with us. Beyond that, be encouraging, help people develop their skills, oh... and one more thing." Neia said, her expression turning dark, she stood, put her fists on the table and leaned forward. Lakyus regretted the lack of a visor on the general as she saw the pulsing, burning wrath in her eyes.
"Yes?" Lakyus asked uncertainly.
"When 'they' get here, you can kill everything in armor that shows up outside those walls except for one person. If you can avoid it, do not harm Remedios Custodio. That bitch belongs to me!" Neia said savagely, and as she spoke, a terrible timbre lay under her voice, and in the breasts of the members of Blue Rose, a great swelling of pity formed for those who were unknowingly marching towards the walls of Prart.
...East of Hoburns...
Skana was tired. She'd done a lot in very little time. Her little band of a paltry five thousand was now... well, not that any longer. Now they were down to about four thousand five hundred, however no death had been in vain, villagers had been freed of oppressive collaborative rule between Astrakian Loyalists and Slane Theocracy priests, who were in reality little more than violent thugs out to 'punish the heretics'. Time and again she'd ambushed and driven off ambushes that were laid by people who... simply were not good at laying ambushes.
However, with the spread of information being inevitable, a large punitive force had been dispatched, and now she was on the run. Skana hoped her last letter had arrived at Prart, it was doubtful that she could send another. The distracting thought was depressing, so Skana pushed the idea aside and scanned the horizon with her piercing green eye. The day was cool, the year was on the wane and she'd never seen much of the world, but as she thought about it, it was probably snowing somewhere already. Birds were still out though, chirping in the trees. She dismounted from her undead steed and went over to a particularly tall tree. Her soldiers behind her looked uncertainly over to where she was going. The one-eyed commander shook her head quietly so they would know to keep their distance, and came closer to the tree herself.
She found the source of the chirping, there on the ground was a shivering baby bird, she looked up, several branches above her head, there was a small nest. She scanned the tree up and down and planned her actions. The bird was first deposited into the pouch at her side, then she grabbed the first branch and hauled her way up.
From one to another, and then when she was in reach, she carefully balanced herself, keeping three points of contact, and pulled the baby bird out of her pouch with her free hand, and she put it back into its nest. After that, she climbed farther and farther up the tree until there was a wide field of vision. She could see for miles around. Skana could see no soldiers, not behind them or in front, but in the distance she saw a low column of smoke start to rise. Her shining green eye went wide with alarm and she scrambled back down as fast as she could.
Branches slapped her face and scratched her wrists, but she ignored all that until she could safely make the final leap to the ground again, she rushed to her horse and took off at a hard gallop, her soldiers following behind her as fast as they could.
Miles on foot took time. Miles on a living horse took less time. Miles on an undead horse that never ate or drank or slept or tired... that was only a little time.
But it was enough time that by the time Skana and her party got there, the massacre was just ending. It wasn't a village, as she'd first thought, it was a small train of wagons, not many, just a half dozen, a few families at most, or that is what they'd been until minutes ago. She recognized the killers immediately by their armor, they wore the armor of the Slane Theocracy.
Even Roble Holy Kingdom nobles who were on their side, got frustrated over this, killing Holy Kingdom peasants meant nothing to the Theocracy, they never felt the loss, but even the most indifferent nobleman depended on peasants to 'produce things' to pay taxes, to work, so from that perspective, such killing was at best a waste and at worst an attack on their interests.
To Skana, on the other hand...
She shrieked a war cry and drew out her sword, by standard practice, Black Justice members typically began combat with a bow to force the opponent to be defensive and allow themselves, rather than the target, to control the flow and pace of battle. Her soldiers followed those standards, but she did not. Her horse ate up ground like a flood swallowed the land underneath it, her hair, long and unkempt, accentuated her fearsome one-eyed face, and too, it told the one she was approaching exactly who she was.
'Skana the Bold' had become a famous, or infamous name due to her bold tactics and relentless aggression. In some Theocracy circles she was a high value target on par with the pope, since it was generally agreed that one would have to assassinate both women in order to cripple the leadership of the Black Justice religious movement.
Skana had her sword out in one hand, pointed straight ahead, she didn't even look back to see if her people were following her. She didn't need to, the arrows caught up, several of the Theocracy's raiding party went down, the big one that Skana was charging however, was not one of those. He took out a bastard sword from the body of one of his victims, and held it over head, pommel just a little forward from his forehead.
As she drew closer, she could see something more of him, he had an ugly face, a pug like nose, and splotches on and scars on his face, he was also a muscular behemoth of a man, and his scowl had probably frightened many a person into submission.
For Skana it was just something that was going to egg her on, as she drew closer she veered her horse away just before the sword started to move, and she flung herself off the back of it, landing on her feet, she darted forward, he looked very confused as neither the horse nor she had been where they should have been.
She cleared up the confusion on his face when she came inside the area of the completed strike, stomped her boot down hard on the blade, pulling him down forward a little as the sword came out of his grip from the sudden weight of her body... and then shoving her own sword straight through his eye.
He went limp immediately, save for his final spasms. She drew the sword back as she stepped to one side, allowing his body to fall forward into the muck of chewed up earth.
She looked around as she swept the sword at the air to cast off stray blood. Several of the Theocracy soldiers were looking around them in shock, they still held their swords, but they were frozen in uncertainty.
Uncertainty was not a defect of Skana the Bold. She snapped out her bow, and though she wasn't the best shot, at this range she couldn't miss. She sent arrow after arrow into faces and throats before the remaining Theocracy raiders... or scouts, or whatever they had been, could decide whether or not to surrender. She put away her bow as her soldiers looked on in shock.
One of them, still on his horse, rode over to her. "Commander Skana." He said as she knelt over a dead peasant.
"Yeah, what?" She asked harshly.
"Ma'am..." He asked more calmly.
She exhaled slowly and looked up from the body she was checking, "Yes soldier, what do you need?" She adjusted her tone so as to not take it out on the young man, even at a glance, he was young, fresh faced, she wondered if he'd killed anyone yet. Not something she could ask, not her right, she let go of the thought.
"Ma'am, ah, Commander, those Theocracy soldiers might have surrendered." He said softly, suddenly losing a part of his will when confronted with the one-eyed woman's gaze.
"Did they surrender?" She asked.
"Well no, but..." He started to say before she interrupted him.
"Then there isn't a problem." She said, "I'm happy to accept any surrender that happens, but I don't have time to dawdle here, either they make up their mind to fight and die, fight and flee, or surrender, but we're under pressure here. Plus..." She said, standing up, she gave the half-burned body on the ground a nudge with her foot, "They had a better chance than this guy, or them..." She pointed to the wagons, blood stained much of the wood, it was obvious they'd died in these places. She let her eye tell her what happened. The wagons were driving somewhere, possibly to Prart... based on the direction the wagons were facing. They were peasants, based on what they wore. There was no evidence of arms. A theocracy group found them. She walked over and looked into the wagon, arrows riddled it, inside, they were good shots, none were outside the wagons. The one she'd been kneeling at a moment ago had tried to run, as had those other few found outside the wagons, and they'd been killed for their efforts, probably all with swords in the back like the one she'd seen a moment ago. When she herself had arrived, they'd just been getting the fire ready to burn the bodies.
She spat at the ground in disgust.
"Do you understand me soldier? Accept surrenders, but if they don't surrender right off, well there is no rule broken by putting them down, and these are theocracy fanatics, you give them too much time, all you'll get is a knife in the neck for your trouble." She said bluntly.
"Ah, well... yes, ma'am."
"Good, now let's get going." Skana said as she walked away and back over to her horse.
"Where?" The soldier asked.
"To go from hunted, to hunters again." She said. "With a little help from some of their 'kind' volunteers." She said as she looked at the bodies.
...Nazarick...
Sebas' face was the definition of neutral, but he detected something in the way Ainz spoke about the Dark Dwarf Kingdom and the Dark Elf territory. "My lord... do you plan on going yourself?" He asked.
"Do you presume to confine me to my throne, Sebas?" Ainz asked in a humorous, rhetorical voice.
"No, of course not, my lord, you may go wherever you wish." Sebas said urgently.
"Did nobody program an NPC to grasp the concept of humor?" Ainz wondered with a mild amount of frustration.
"I know, and I intend to. I will send Aura and Mare to the Dark Elves, while I personally go attend to the Dark Dwarves." Ainz said patiently.
"Your guardians would be honored to act in your stead, my lord. We would dreadfully fear for your safety if you are unguarded among unknown beings." Sebas said, retaining his diplomatic tone.
"The eight edge assassins will always be near, never fear." Ainz said, his patience began to wear thin at even the most courteous and roundabout of objections.
Sebas, sensing the fight was lost, bowed deeply. "As you say, my lord, I only ask that you return to us safely when you are finished."
"I will." He said with a gentler tone of voice.
A few minutes later, he saw Mare and Aura approach, and it was times like this he wished he could smile, they were such adorable, if unusually deadly, children, reminding him much of their creator. For an instant, he almost decided to have them accompany him instead of going off on their own, however, as he considered it a bit more, he changed his mind. They could handle it, he had to trust them, and that was all there was to it.(and there for sure were no ways that this can go terribly out of hand...)
...E-Asenaru...
Zaryusu was once a very proud male, he considered himself to be rather strong, and he knew that since those days he had become much stronger. Yet with his increased skill had come an increased humility. Despite knowing more than he ever imagined, still more than most of his people ever did before... he felt uncertain about things.
The uncertainty had increased, not decreased, with his skills and education. At first, he'd thought that he was doing something wrong. After all, shouldn't certainty increase with self-improvement and increased understanding of the world at large?
The more he'd come to understand though, the more correct the opposite view seemed to be, and with good reason. He soon understood that he was seeing not only more problems, but also more perspectives.
As he rode out at the head of the column with Lady Shalltear, he couldn't help but think that perfectly described his circumstances with her.
So far as humans went, he supposed she was incredibly beautiful. Many humans liked their women to be dainty and delicate looking. She had soft features and a very... regal bearing. Yet he knew also that she was the kind of disaster that could exterminate his people in an hour if she either chose to do so or was commanded. Her vampiric strength was in a whole other world even compared to other vampires.
That however, was less a problem than one might think, not least because she was on his side. Therein lay a strength he had obtained, but she had not, and that he played to his advantage in order to work with her.
He understood her perspective, as they'd ridden together, he recognized that she only saw the world in terms of things that either directly pleased Lord Ainz, and things that directly displeased Lord Ainz. The former was to be embraced, the latter to be avoided or crushed. She was fixated on him completely. The little vampire wasn't exactly brilliant, she was emotional, very much the 'child' she appeared to be, which made her power all the more terrifying when it was unleashed.
But that was what he learned; she couldn't be ordered about, not by him. She could though, be 'unleashed'. She needed guidance, and guidance he could give by appealing to her desires, and her desire to avoid the appearance of disappointing her master. Anything not obviously in the 'will please' or 'will displease' categories that wasn't a threat, would be ignored completely as irrelevant.
Now that he understood all that, riding with her was very pleasant, and along the way he did his best to keep her happy and focused on the task at hand.
"So, where do we go next?" She asked, looking rather bored after the first five hours had passed them by.
"Next we ride for the coast, we travel that way all the way to Re-Lobell, we should reach it in about a week if nothing goes wrong, and assuming that King Zanac needs no support from us in retaking the capital, if we're both successful after that, then this entire country is under the sway of His Majesty." Zaryusu said enthusiastically.
"As it should be." She said proudly.
"And I am sure he will praise you for your efforts." Zaryusu said kindly.
She preened at that, and her eyes started to flutter, she'd be mooning over the Sorcerer King for the better part of the next hour if he didn't interrupt her, and he had no intention of doing that.
She interrupted her own routine, much to his surprise, to look at him intensely.
"Is something wrong?" Zaryusu asked softly, at first thinking she might have detected something strange that he could not detect.
"No. But I should say that you've been very good to have on this journey." She said. "I will praise your work to the Sorcerer King. Perhaps he was right to listen to Cocytus and let your people live."
"I will thank you for that." He said in a favorable and... very diplomatic tone of voice.
"I think we can pick up the pace of the march just a bit." Zaryusu suggested, "The sooner we get there, the sooner we win." He added, preempting her question, and he gave the signal to a nearby drummer to increase the marching pace.
He wanted this week over fast.
AN: Well we're rapidly approaching the end of Act 2, if you're still reading at this point, I assume you like it. From here part of this story, featuring Ainz, branches off into 'Dark Plains' (not yet written) a short story detailing how Aura and Mare bring the Dark Elves into the fold, and into 'Under the Stone Sky' featuring how Ainz brings the Dark Dwarves into the fold. Under the Stone Sky exceeds 40,000 words and was written over a five day period, so. Is it my best work...well I have my own favorites of course, but I think it is pretty solid, plus...Gargantua tears things up. Plenty of Sasuga and general mayhem worked on the unprepared, one of the beta readers said it was a better version of the original author's dwarf arc, I leave it to you to decide if he's correct. You CAN skip the story and when God Rising moves on, just accept that 'something happened' that resulted in the shift in events, but if you want to KNOW...then you'll have to read Under the Stone Sky.
That is all, enjoy, and expect Chapter 86 in a few days. :)