Christmas in the grave part III
Thus, Ainz announced the beginning of Christmas!
And all the floor guardians knelt speechlessly before the majesty of the supreme, and the magical atmosphere spread until the inevitable question came being uttered by Shaltear :
"And what does Christmas consist of?"
Maple smiled and Aniz answered with a soft tone.
"it is a moment of peace to share with loved ones, Maple who was once our enemy will accompany us to celebrate Christmas."
Except for Albedo and Demiurge, everyone was confused at this.
"Excuse me, Ainz-sama, can I ask something?"
"Go ahead Aura, feel free to ask anything."
"Why are we going to celebrate with that human?" Aura asked with true confusion painted on her face. "Isn't she something like... the enemy?"
Ainz thought for a moment before answering.
"Maple Tree was a great rival of Ainz Ooal Gown, however rivalry and friendship are just two sides of the same coin, I may never forgive Maple for trying to eat me nor she forgiveme for slaughtering her companions at every opportunity I have..."
Before he could continue Maple interrupted. "Wait, so you were hunting them!"
Ainz cleared his unexistan throat. "But in the end, we don't hate each other." 'or at least I think so' he added to himself . "For the same reason, I ask you to please get along with Maple, unlike Nazarick, Maple Tree does not have NPCs... I mean, subordinates like you and therefore she is alone in this world."
Maple leaned in and with a serious voice. "Please forgive me for trying (and sometimes succeeding) in eating you, I am in your care."
The atmosphere was tense among the floor guardians, however, there was no room for concern when Ainz announced the start of Christmas.
Ainz with the help of Maple made a simplified narration of what is Christmas, so Aniz said: "Consumerism; an old treason used to boost the economy by having people exchange gifts with each other."
Maple glared at Ainz but did not contradict him, however she added: "It's a time to spend with loved ones, to enjoy and have a good time!" Maple's eyes darkened for a moment at the mention of loved ones before lighting up again. "But we can't forget the Mistletoe!"...
Lights twinkled in the throne room, light music overwhelmed the air as a festive mood filled the place with tables laden with food and Christmas decorations pulled from the vault.
Nazarick's defenses had fallen, sitting on the black throne was Maple laughing tenderly.
Ainz in a santa outfit approached her somewhat annoyed, Maple gave him a warm look and said: "When I said to my self that I would conquer Nazarick I never thought that I would achieve it so quickly or in this way fu fu fu."
Ainz grabbed Maple by the reindeer suit and lifted her off the throne. "That's my throne, and you haven't conquered the grave yet."
Maple laughed lightly as she escaped from the bonny hand, Ainz let her go and the two began to walk together through the throne room that had become a party place. "I consider this a victory, I told myself that if I would conquer the grave I would not want to kill anyone and look at me, here I am."
Maple gave Ainz such a bright look that he had to look away for a second as he wondered if Maple would be able to kill him out of tenderness; as undead he was weak to the holy attribute that smile gave off incessantly. Ainz forced himself to remember that she wanted to eat him to push him out of his stupor.
It was then that he looked around and looked at the warm atmosphere of the throne room, an environment that was truly surreal but brought back beautiful memories of the past with his guild members, Ainz sighed heavily as his emotions returned to nothingness for his racial ability.
At that moment he noticed Albedo looking with the rage of a yandere from a few meters behind and next to her Demiurge with a face that was scary.
Aniz cleared his throat. "Perhaps you have overcome Nazarick's defenses and sat on the throne, but Ainz Ooal Gown knows no defeat, not now nor ever so if you want to conquer the tomb of Nazarick you must first conquer the hearts of my friends children."
Ainz made a sweeping gesture, indicating the entire throne room.
Maple looked at the guardians and smiled, but then she realized that a beautiful mistletoe was hanging over their heads, she blushed and turned to Ainz with a look that was as tender as it was shy and placed a light kiss on his bony cheekbone. "Momonga-san you are a very good person, thank you for everything."
After these words Maple in her reindeer outfit walked away towards the rest of the party.
Ainz cleared his throat after a few seconds in shock.
The party itself was confusing, no one really knew it was Christmas however most of the NPCs were still debating whether to act reverently or hostilely towards Maple, for the floor guardians on the other hand that was somewhat clearer: Jealousy; each and every one of them was jealous to a greater or lesser extent. What's more, Albedo, Shaltear and Demiurge were gathered in a corner looking at Maple from afar.
"It's over, I'm going to kill her." said the vampire. "I'm going to skin her, I swear, her lips shouldn't touch Ainz-sama's bones!" yet her body didn't move as she remembered the last time Maple invaded the tomb.
Albedo didn't say anything, she just trembled, blood dripping from her hands and mouth as she squeezed as hard as she could, injuring herself .
Demiurge for his part seemed to have a mental breakdown ; he would take a cup of hot chocolate, stir it, smell it, look at Maple, look at Aniz , put a hand to his chin as he muttered something, put the cup down and repeat; it repeated over and over again, faster and faster and sometimes altering the order, but always following the pattern.
Those three were constantly moving to be as far away from Maple as possible.
On the other hand, Maple approached the twins Aura and Mare as they reminded her of their guild members who min-max the attack and although Aura acted aggressive and Mare didn't say anything at first, Maple actually managed to talk to the pair. talking about some anecdotes about Ainz; Without a doubt, those anecdotes were powerful bait because before anyone knew it, Cocyutos was there, listening to Maple along with the twins.
Maple's rather childish personality helped her quickly win over Aura and before long Ainz chuckled lightly as Maple slowly put the plan "reindeer invasion" into motion.
The first person who fell was Aura, convinced by Maple's sweet words to dress up in the same reindeer costume as Maple, then it was Mare who was convinced with Aura's help, Cocyutos fell like a domino and then the disease started to spread Maple and her entourage went around the room spreading the word that the reindeer outfit was just right to please Ainz-sama during Christmas.
Ainz looked interested and gave Demiurge a mental order . [ Demiurge , with your own means, spread the style of Santa Claus costume among the inhabitants of the tomb without forcing anyone to wear it against their will, however I forbid you to reveal that you act under my orders... . By the way, while you were doing it you saw 'this.']
Demiurge put the cup of cold chocolate on the table while frozen for a second, 'this' ... Demiurge he knew what it meant because there was only one thing that could be defined as ' this ', he learned this from the vague explanation about Christmas, ' this 'It could only refer to one thing. Then a devilish smile appeared on his face, the snap and his red outfit quickly changed to a green outfit with a pointy Santa's helper elf hat. Demiurge took the cup of room-temperature chocolate and drank it all in the name of Ainz Ooal Gown!
Demiurge quickly convinced Shaltear and Albedo to become his accomplices, even without saying that it was Ainz-sama's order, both of them were more than willing to wear the same outfit as their lord and compete against Maple.
Thus, the throne room was filled at an unimaginable speed with santas and reindeers, two factions within the tomb, with Maple supported by Aura, Mare and Cocyutos on one side and Demiurge , Albedo and Shaltear on the other.
Unintentionally, Maple was doing what the great nations would take their tome to think about, it had not happened in this world yet, but when everyone realized that Ainz was unbeatable, in the future of an alternate world where Maple did not exist, then the world would realize that the only way to defeat Ainz was from within Nazarick. And Maple had just divided the tomb and the guardians into two factions: Team reindeer and Team Claus. This could well be the end of the grave...
When there was no one left in the room other than a reindeer or a saint, Ainz laughed happily for a few seconds, he came over and ruffled Maple's hair, who complained but didn't fight and instead allowed herself to be stroked.
"I know I said you had to win their hearts, but I didn't say you had to do it now either."
Maple played dumb as she looked away and whistled with her hands hidden behind her back.
Ainz sighed. "Damn, you know ahe we should be exploring the world, gathering information and preparing for the threats this new world has to offer?"
Maple suddenly seemed to realize something, as a spotlight went on in her head. Her illuminated face darkened a bit but something else was born on her face slightly smeared with regret.
A face that shouldn't be on top of Maple's festive countenance was accented as she removed the headbands from her head, rubbed her stomach, and ducked her head fingering the cheap metal chains under the suit.
"M-Momonga-sama..." An ominous feeling followed Ainz who knelt down to level with Maple so that he could see her face and hear her clearly amid the noise of the party.
Maple's face was a troubled one with tears in her eyes, yet there was some light there.
"I... Maybe ...C-can I buy you some...r-resurrection wands?"
Ainz didn't know what to answer instantly, instead he put a hand on her shoulder and hugged her . "Of course, don't worry about it."
A slight cry was muffled in Ainz's suit... And Ainz suddenly realized that this was indeed real, not just a game, the lives of the people he saw dying like nothing were in fact lives, the He noticed how Maple felt so devastated after having killed, and he couldn't help but feel guilty, guilty for not feeling anything for the death of such people, he only felt guilt and uneasiness when he saw Maple in this state, he only managed to empathize with her , but not with those humans. Then something caught fire inside him , a rather joyous and selfish thought: in the end if he could be empathic despite his undead body... It was just that the people of this world didn't matter to him how he didn't care about his coworkers, they killed themselves to work as he did too.
Mare twisted her expression slightly, while Aura looked somewhat confused at the situation from a distance. At that time Demiurge joined the twins as they looked at Ainz hugging Maple. Everyone was in a confused silence for a few moments, then Aura asked. "What's going on? Why does Ainz-sama pay so much attention to that human?"
Demiurge adjusted his glasses while thinking for a moment. "I'm not sure, actually I don't know. Is this an act? Isn't this the perfect moment to get rid of a dangerous enemy? I can only make assumptions. But... I don't understand what's wrong with Maple. Why does she feel sad ? It's rare to see a monster like her cry."
Cocyutos intervened in the conversation. "Isn't. Maple. one . human ? the . humans . do. not. feel . sad . about . kill . its. own . race ?"
Demiurge dismissed the idea immediately. "they kill each other in wars and fight over the smallest issues. In the end, the only thing I can think of, is that this is an act to earn Ainz-sama's trust, although I don't know why Ainz -sama plays along, this competition of ideas is too advanced for me."
Mare raised a timid hand to attract attention: "I-I, I don't think Maple is insincere. I think that she really is a friend to Ainz-sama and that's why Ainz-sama really cares for her."
Demiurge shook his head in some confusion, unable to bear in mind that Maple might truly be appreciated by Ainz, however, he didn't immediately refute Mare instead he sighed and walked away.
Maple's crying subsided slowly in the cold and hard bony embrace, even when the crying subsided completely the embrace did not break, Ainz slowly caressing Maple's back, seconds passed and Maple's tender voice emerged from the clothes from Ainz "You know, crying so much I think I got hungry." In a quick and intrepid movement Maple stuck her head into Ainz's stomach, causing him to freeze on the spot along with the rest of those present.
"Son of ... ahem. Maple please don't scare me like that."
With a small laugh Maple popped her head out of the suit. "Without a doubt, that world item you have in your stomach looks delicious." Maple smiled tenderly for a moment before shyly looking away. "So... I think I'm going to need wrapping paper too."
Ainz sighed. " Isn't your inventory your guild's treasury?"
Maple blinked and then smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand as she took some of it out of her inventory. "Oh! In all this, I think something is missing."
Maple put a hand to her chin and tilted her head in thought.
"TRUE! We didn't invite Gazeff -san to the party!..."
And Christmas continues .
Autor's note.
Pls, get me out of chrismas, I WANT TO CONTINUE WITH THE PLOT!
:P