Chapter 8
The room was empty. On the floor was something that looked like burn marks of some kind of trap.
Tia and Tina immediately went through every nook and corner of the room, searching for clues, while Gagaran and Evileye headed outside, looking for any suspects. Lakyus had disappeared, her presence vanished suddenly. The Blue Rose reacted to her vanished aura instantly, rushing to her last known location.
"Nothing."
"Nothing."
"Did the innkeeper see anyone?" Evileye shook her head in response.
The four remaining women gathered in Lakyus room, and tried to visualise what happened.
"She probably stepped into the room, and whatever here activated and sucked her in."
"Do you think she's still alive? Can't it be some kind of destruction magic?"
"I'm not sure, but I hope she's still alive." Tia bent down to examine the floor, "but there's no blood or splatter, so I doubt it's destruction or explosion magic."
"Do you think she is being targeted?"
"Of course she is, it's in her room." Evileye rolled her eyes.
"Unless it's in ours as well…"
"I've been in my room. I'm still here." Evileye added, and Gagaran nodded.
"So what do we do now? We're working with very few clues here."
Lakyus generally is the brains of the Blue Roses, and without her, they weren't quite sure how to go about tackling this challenge.
"Who should we tell?"
The north of Nazarick lies a mountain range that the Re-Estize folk refer to the Azerlisia Mountains, that stretches for hundreds of miles. It's a fairly diverse mountain range in terms of climate. The mountains closer to Nazarick are more temperate, covered in trees and still had animals, but the further north you go, the cold starts to creep in and the vegetation thins. What was once verdant forests give way to hardy bushes and shrubs, and eventually, just grass. Even further than that, the grass gives way to snow capped hills and mountains.
It's a rarely travelled place, though there are few mountain passes where some merchants occasionally take when pressed for time to get to Baharuth Empire quickly, rather than take the easier route but less direct route. But due to the harshness of the terrain, and low volume of traffic, travellers that pass through here are often very well armed and experienced, to weather the challenges the mountain may throw at them.
They had their sights on a location at the shore of a mountain lake, far up the mountains. The remains of an ancient caldera that has since been filled with water, it's now a lovely tranquil place populated by the few mountain goats that come here to drink and rest.
"Is it... suitable?" Mare turned and faced Demiurge and Cocytus.
"The weather's a little cold, but normal horses should still do fine. It's large and there's little vegetation too. The caldera walls are a natural camouflage though, so building an arena here may not be a bad idea."
Demiurge mentally imagined the huge arena that they would carve into the mountain walls. With the caldera edges incorporated to form the grand circular stand of the arena, and the caldera peak converted into spires and towers housing VIPs and lighting. The Caldera itself would be the arena for the grand battles of their supreme beings, surely anything less spectacular would be an insult.
"This is a spectacle. This is how Nazarick makes their mark in the world. By creating wonders and aweing over all these lesser mortals who cannot fathom the scale and sizes that our Supreme Being has in mind."
Cocytus was quite excited, as he imagined how the caldera itself will be reshaped into an arena that could fit hundreds of thousands. It would be a great stadium, and he would like to fight in it, if the supreme beings permitted it.
"This. Caldera. Will. Be. Great. I. Would. Be. Honored. To. Fight. In. It."
Demiurge grinned, and tapped Cocytus lightly on his shoulderplate. "Ah, let's not get too excited. We should work on the plans and discuss with the rest. Ainz-sama and Wololo-sama must give their blessings before we begin. Good find, Mare."
"...You're welcome..."
Since the beginning of their arrival, reconnaissance has been something all the guardians did. Over time, there would be a collection of survey results and field reports, though it's still mostly around the vicinity of Nazarick. Making meaningful sense of the data collected by the vast network of spies and connections Demiurge built, is the tougher part, and requires intelligent servants.
There is more to find for the three, and they returned to Nazarick to continue their search.
"Yes, we accept the dominion and authority of Ainz Oown Goal over our elven villages. We are loyal to you, Emperor." The village elders of the 5 elven villages were gathered before them 3 days later, all kneeling before Ainz in the open field, and followed by everyone else.
Even though the sun was hot outside, and barely any of the usual sea breeze, they kneel.
As they should, if it was up to Albedo. They are but pawns in the greater game that the gods play.
Ainz himself was a little taken aback by the pledges of loyalty. The word 'Emperor' sounded a little strange for himself. It almost he felt like it was not meant to address him, as if they were meant to refer to someone else. Thankfully, being undead, none of it showed on his facial expression. It's really the ultimate poker face. No twitching of the eyes or face muscles to hint of your inner emotions.
"Ah yes…"
Albedo beamed in joy, her plans worked! While Ainz was away, Albedo had visited each and every village, and brought with a few giants with her. The giants was there to both intimidate them, and also to show that Ainz can be a just and fair lord that treats subordinates of different races well.
With a candy and a stick, it seemed that her intention were well understood.
"So, what do you wish of us, your majesty?"
Ainz walked close to the elven elders, and beckoned them to rise up. He brought up a large piece of paper, and spread it over a table that some of the elven men brought over. On it was the drawings of what looked to be the layout of a city.
The elders stared at the layout. Some appear to comprehend what Ainz has brought to them.
"Your majesty… we can't build such a thing. We have neither the men nor the materials."
"Do not doubt your Emperor's wisdom."
The elder gulped, imagining themselves as slaves to this madman's project. Visions of themselves in chains, toiling away building the city floated in their minds.
Ainz, is a just and capable lord.
"Now, now. I am well aware your limitations. The golems will do most of the hard labour. The elves just need to build the houses within the walls here. All 5 villages are to merge, and be grouped here."
The village at the riverside would be expanded, and fortifications such as defensive walls would be built, with some buffers for future growth. Some 40 golems were summoned to assist in the collection of materials from quarry sites that Albedo had earlier identified. The elvish men, were given metal axes and sent to gather logs from the forests for the reconstruction. The elven ladies were given farming equipment, and made to clear patches of land for farming. Children and elderly were tasked to build joints, weave ropes and make simple furniture.
Their earlier food shortages were temporarily supported by the produce gathered from Nazarick's 6th floor, and fruits harvested in the forests by summoned familiars. Ainz also used an item called the event item [Cornucopia] to create food via magic, to feed the elves.
It took about 3 days for the materials necessary to be collected, and for the construction of the outer wall to begin, and the elves themselves were most impressed by how fast the walls came up afterwards. What was once forests and bushes was replaced with 20 feet high stone walls, complete with watchtowers, all within another 3 days. In what would be the new town square was a 10 feet tall stone status of Ainz on a pedestal, a somewhat gaudy display of strength that Albedo judged as necessary to project her master's strength, and remind who's boss when Ainz is away.
All in, it took 10 days for a new town to appear, and the 500 plus elves have been completely relocated into the town. They were then subsequently organised into groups of about 50, each led by one chief, and a mayor is selected from the 10 chiefs.
The new housing of the elves is really basic, since it pretty much was built overnight, but further enhancements will be in the hands of the elves themselves.
In the future, a shipyard will be added so that seafaring warships can be built, and along with that fishes can be caught from the sea as a food source. Currently there's no natural meats in their diet, except those magically created out of the [Cornucopia], so fishes caught in the future will be a valuable supplement, and should produce a healthier population.
But there was one question that Albedo asked, that stumped Ainz a little longer than he expected.
" It is our first town, Ainz-sama. What shall we call this new town?"
Our town.
It's a lot more challenging than he expected. All country capital cities had some kind of kick-ass names, and he wouldn't want his first town to be named something lame. That would totally ruin the image of power that they projected, and be a mismatch with their roleplaying past as an evil guild.
"Ainz and Albedo's love nest? Momonga-topia?"
Ainz glared. Awful.
"Nazarick 2?"
No. That's too lame.
Then inspiration hit him like a thunderbolt.
"Necropolis."
"HUH?"
"Necropolis. It means city of the dead." Thank you Tabula-san for feeding me such horror related anecdotes.
And so it was then decreed. Necropolis.
Overnight, throughout the north of Re-Estize, grain stores were torched. Winter was coming soon, and the critical stores of food was what the citizens relied on to last through the cold winter months.
The morning many northern citizens awoke to smelled of ash and cinder, as the fires had swept through the stores and granaries. A fire that many had tried to stop throughout the night and into dawn, but to no avail. Some villagers braved the fires to salvage and save what they could, but their efforts are like little drops of water, barely significant in the greater scheme of things.
Villager elders gathered what they could, and asked for merchants to buy food from the warmer south. But most villages had little money after years of harsh rule under the nobles and royalty, and this was a curveball many could not withstand.
And when letters seeking help from the nobles fell on deaf and heartless ears, it was as if a great fire had been lit within their hearts. Some lesser nobles that lived in the towns too, suffering from the lack of supplies, added fuel to the tinderbox, openly questioning why they must serve Re Estize when help does not come when they needed it most.
Within two weeks of starvation, a rebellion had broke out. Some 300 villages and 30 smaller towns with a million population between them had taken arms, with whatever pitchforks and weapons they could muster, and declared their intention to defect to the city states of the north who were willing to offer their assistance in food and weapons, in exchange for future monetary payments.
The north sea town of Kest Estree was where the rebellion brew. A lesser noble, Erik Devail, the leader of the town, hosted what would be a pivotal meeting for the fate of the northern Re-Estizians. Erik was a medium aged man in his early 40s, and a former mithril ranked adventurer that retired from adventuring to take over the estate after his father, Lord Havard Devail passed away.
The Devails were lesser nobles, subservient to the whims of the more powerful nobles that centered themselves at the larger cities, and controlled more of the trade, and money as a result. Though Erik was not stupid by any means, he lacked the necessary political acumen and cultural finesse to navigate the challenges of nobility, and as such had not managed to make any gains in the higher society, and pretty much placed himself in a virtual exile in his hometown of Kest Estree.
Kest Etree is both a fishing and farming town, it is flanked by the larger seas on the east and the farmlands were on the west. The town itself slopes upward as it heads west, and as such isn't a very secure town to be a military stronghold, but it became the capital during those challenging 2 weeks, when various village chiefs and mayors reached out to each other begging for food, and Kest Estree was one of the very few who lost only a few granaries to the arsonists.
The gathering of the village elders and the town mayors, some 200 of them in Kest Estree was a sombre one, unlike prior northern gatherings that were usually associated with somewhat merry festivals. The gathering itself was held in Erik's mansion in Kest Estree, in a dining room that had seen far better days, and now had fallen into disrepair as the Devails' clout in Re-Estize faded.
"Are we sure we are all in this?" Erik asked, "We would very well lose our heads."
"Our men are starving. Our women are hungry. And what is of our nobles doing? Happily frolicking away our tax collections on women and booze in the capital!" An angry man yelled in the room. "So to hell with them, Erik! If we get out of this winter alive, I do not want to serve these nobles any more."
"Our people are hungry. We won't be able to survive a fight with well supplied troops from the south." Another respectable mayor, Dreed Jharl spoke.
Ah, a voice of reason.
"But the next tax collection will be early spring. We should gather what supplies we can muster during winter, buy and pool what we have, and rise up then. My family had enough of this rubbish from the south. We're not giving any more to them."
Damn it. Another bloodthirsty fellow after all.
Erik knew they were right. Harassed and bullied, the peripheral towns and villages rarely gotten the gains of what they produced, and instead were frequently forced to pay heavy taxes, once to the region's nobles, and another to the capital itself. On top of that, good, healthy young men were often drafted to fight the Kingdom's wars with the Empire, depriving the villages of the chance to build up food stockpiles or building improvements to their towns.
"But even then, how can we fight them? The nobles command larger armies."
"If the Empire holds the annual wars again, why not we rise up at the same time, then? The kingdom won't be able to handle a rebellion and an invasion from the Empire at the same time. We'll just have to promise and delay to pay the taxes, but not actually pay them."
A battle-hardened veteran spoke up.
"If every village gave 50 men, and every town gave 500, we would have 30,000 men. We can fight them off. Many villages have men that has fought in the annual wars before, and in terms of combat experience we are not inferior. It is time we take our future, in our own hands"
"How inspiring." A young man clapped. "But how are we going to fight Gazef?"
"We'll hire mercenaries."
"We don't have the money!"
"Gazef won't leave the King!"
"The King won't come down to crush us himself!"
The discussion did not end till night, though everyone was clear their position is to keep this plan a secret, and set the plans in motion for next annual war. Erik, on the other hand, was to find a champion, or a leader. Someone who can hold their own against Gazef.
Erik had a sweat drip down his forehead. This meeting went from a discussion on how to handle the coming food shortage into a discussion about rebelling and establishing themselves as independent. If any of the nobles found out, and he figured they probably would, as 200 men surely talk, all of them will be charged for treason and plotting to rebel.
But they'd have to get to him, first.
Ainz is pleased.
Necropolis was going well, two weeks into it's founding, and for the first time, the elves will have enough food for the coming winter. Winter in Necropolis is not harsh, but some of the usual fruit trees that the elves depended on do not bear fruit, so food is still short. Due to the shortage of men, they've not cleared much land for farming, and as such farming was previously done in small scales.
But with the golems, and their protection, things are changing. The golems allowed the elves to gather fruits and various crops from further out, and the magical item that Ainz brought still amazed them greatly. Though the elves themselves are unable to operate them due to their weak magical energies, watching Ainz create mountain of foods from the magical horn was nothing short of a god's miracle.
Ainz was pretty much their new god emperor. Some say he is made of the Bones of the Elvish God, that had resurrected and now came to restore them to their proper place as masters of the world. In their own words, Ainz was their god reborn.
Scouts too, had been sent out to the nearby areas to search for the captured elven men, that are probably working as slaves. The plan was to rescue them and assimilate them into the city, and gradually increase the population of Necropolis.
So far, about 60 elves have been rescued. A small amount, but there are still many more tiny elven villages that can be assimilated.
The mayor of the Elves, is young as elves go. Newly appointed from the population, he exudes youth and energy, something the older folk determined as necessary, to keep up with the demands of their new Emperor.
"Your highness, I bring before you the twenty elven children."
"Thank you, Alpein." Ainz waved off the mayor, and examined the children. Barely 5 feet in height, they are still teens and have not matured to their full strength. Albedo looked curiously at them as well, and one could easily see the eyes of both fear and admiration in the children, as they are brought to face their new masters.
"What do you think, Albedo?"
"Ah, these children are weak. But with some training that can be useful to you, Ainz-sama." And then Albedo glared at the twenty children, and their posture shrunk in fear.
"I see. Can I leave the development of their training programme to you, Albedo? You can seek Cocytus's advise on that."
"Yes, I will do as you say, Ainz-sama."
"Now, children. The future of our nation will depend on your hands, it is up to you to be strong to protect it." Ainz spoke at the children, and then turned to face Albedo.
"I have other matters to attend to, Albedo. Let me know how it goes."
"My pleasure, Ainz-sama. I will whip these children into shape."
Ainz teleported away.
Albedo then glared at the twenty children.
"You twenty have been selected to serve the leader of the Supreme Beings, Ainz-sama. You will not be permitted to disappoint him. So prepare yourself to be trained."
The twenty children gulped, at what sort of hellish training they would soon undergo for their god.
Nazarick has been awfully quiet.
Shalltear wondered whether this was her punishment. For raising her weapon against Ainz-sama.
Albedo is attending to Necropolis. Cocytus is busy with the lizardmen villages and Hamsuke.
Demiurge is away, doing something she wasn't too sure about. Mare is at level 6, tending to the beasts, and Aura is with Wololo-sama. Sebas is still in Re-Estize, but are making plans to return.
"Shalltear."
Shalltear turned to see Ainz, and she beamed.
"Ah, Ainz-sama. You've returned from the elf town!"
"I see you've heard of my little project. Perhaps Shizu told you?"
"Yes yes. When will we be able to visit it."
"When it's in much better shape." Ainz was still not ready to showcase Necropolis, not with it's current miniscule population.
"Aww…" Shalltear pouted, "What will you be doing, Ainz-sama?"
"Nothing much, would like to get some reading done in the library."
"Oh.." Shalltear wasn't much of a fan of books. But Ainz regularly refers to books for guidance, on how to better manage his many many subordinates as the leader of Nazarick. And he's back to refer to some books Punitto Moe left on strategy.
"Anyway, you look quite bored here. I'll get Albedo to pass you the details of some old cemeteries we encountered, maybe you can find something useful for yourself."
"Oh you don't have to, Ainz-sama. I've caused you enough trouble."
Shalltear bowed, and Ainz teleported to the throne hall.
"There's a lot of moving pieces. I wonder how Demiurge and Albedo keeps track of everything that happens in Nazarick."
A maid walks in, notices the presence of their master, and bowed. Ainz waved her away, and then remembering the door to his room being unlocked, proceeding to lock it.
"There was that two skeletal dragons in E-Rantel… I wonder whether it'll be useful to re-summon them as protection for the elves…" Ainz wondered, and took out a blank piece of paper and wrote a few barely legible characters on them.
Elves take far too long to breed to maturity, so for this year's tournament, the level of competition probably isn't going to be very impressive. Ainz wondered what's the best way to sway these New Worlders to his side. Having them come over because of money would probably seem like a cop-out, and Ainz felt that he needed to have pride over the people he choose to represent him.
Its pretty much like breeding monsters. Borrowing other people's monsters and winning would be fun, but there's something hollow about such victories, because it's not your own effort.
And then there's the competition about the horses.
I wonder what Mare knows about horses.
Perhaps there are steppe nomads in this world too. Their horses would work the best in endurance races.
E-Rantel
Narbarel returned to the border town after a week of absence to return to Nazarick. Last week, when Ainz told her that they are putting the whole adventurer thing on hold, she was secretly happy. For Narbarel, pretending to be nice to these humans was really quite emotionally exhausting. She would rather just squish them.
It was more fitting for Ainz-sama to be the ruler that he is, by building cities and creating monuments. Surely such activities are more fitting for supreme beings, than this whole "play-adventurer" thing that they were engaged in. Though that was her opinion, it wasn't something she could say to Ainz-sama, lest she is viewed as challenging the divine wisdom of their god.
Furthermore, away at Necropolis gave Albedo valuable time with Ainz-sama.
But she's back. In E-Rantel.
Temporarily at least, to notify the guildmaster of their intention to depart elsewhere. Ainz-sama said, "Let's not burn bridges that we may one day need to cross."
Humans can be so complicated.
"Where's Momon-san?"
"Ah, Pluton-san. Momon-san wants to tell you that we've gotten some additional leads on a different demon we are looking for, so he has went ahead to track the demon. He sent me to tell you, because he is hot on the demon's trail. We've spent a long time trying to track him down."
"Is that so?" Pluton looked visibly dejected that his prized Adamantium-ranked adventurer is leaving E-Rantel.
"We'll be away for quite some time, but we will return someday."
"Is this demon really so important?"
"The fate of our world depends on it."
Pluton's posture sagged. If Momom-san would place such weight on the demon, it must be really important.
"It can't be helped, then."
Narbarel smiled, "Thank you for your help so far, Pluton-san."