Tobi was in his office within the castle of Ainzport. He actually had the exact same office that Bloody Billy Turner had occupied. Just a few months ago the only way a Tech like him would have ever stepped foot here was if the wiring or plumbing needed to be fixed. Now he had the official title of governor and absolute authority to rule the city in Lord Mortem's name. In a sense, he had more real authority than even Bloody Billy had enjoyed. Just like Bloody Billy, Tobi could have anyone in this city killed without question. He could order the whole population to go out into the street and do a dance. And unlike the previous owner of this office he did not have to fear assassination. He was Lord Mortem's servant. No one would dare try to hurt him. And if anyone did, the five death knights that were under his command would likely dissuade them.

In another sense though, Tobi was as much a slave as he'd been serving on the Evil Witch. Sure, he had greater responsibilities and prestige, but he was still property. Ainz had been much more polite about it than Turner and his bunch ever had, but the message had been clear. Tobi was his slave and was to do as he was told. He wasn't sure whether or not the fact everyone was now Lord Mortem made things better or worse. Well, being a Tech he'd never known anything different, so at least it was easier for him to adjust. Sort of. Everything was changing and he had no idea what the end result would be.

Tobi looked at the schematics and reports and inventory lists that covered his desk. All the resources of the Delta were being inventoried, with the scattered groups of people included as another resource along with iron, food, rubber and everything else. Among the many plans on his desk were designs of factories, new wind mills, solar plants, vastly expanded docks, a rail line, and eventually even an airport. The long term plan was to expand Ainzport into a vast city with wide, perfectly straight streets with sewers and enough power output to provide electricity for every single home. Ainz had actually mentioned building a city for millions. Tobi shook his head.

"Are there that many people on the entire world?" Even if there were they would be in isolated pockets all over the continent. Did he plan to force all of them to migrate here? Well… if he wanted to Tobi couldn't deny it was possible. Ainz had the power to do anything.

The militia had been disbanded and all its surviving members taken away as prisoners. Tobi didn't know, and didn't want to know, what their fate was. He didn't think it would be pleasant. The remaining population had been disarmed and all firearms were now a state monopoly. Private ownership of any type of gun was forbidden and punishable by death. Humans were no longer to act as soldiers, even the small police force he had was armed only with wooden clubs. The five death knights were considered more than enough to maintain order and protect the city. People were allowed to work and own their businesses as before, though when the new factories were completed a certain percentage of the population would have to work in them. If enough people didn't choose to volunteer for them, workers would be conscripted. The factories would produce the steel, copper wire, pipes, tools, and other materials needed to create this amazing new city.

Tobi shuffled through the papers. He had a drawing for a building that would stand over a thousand feet tall and be covered in steel and sheets of glass. Ainz had called it a 'skyscraper' and would provide the room for hundreds of offices for all sorts of businesses. What these businesses would be and who would run them Ainz had no made clear. If Lord Mortem had ordered him and the other Techs to design a spaceship to travel the stars it would not have been more incredible than this building. Tobi could believe that the city they were building would have fit into the Golden Age, but how was it going to work in a world where most people lived in populations of less than a hundred? What were all of them supposed to do? Live in giant glass buildings and work in the factories?

Tobi had the sense that Lord Mortem was trying to recreate the world he had come from. He reminded of the story of the blind rabbit who had mistaken a wolves' den for her warren and insisted it was her home, despite all the things she discovered were different. The story didn't end well for the rabbit.

Tobi shuffled over to the window and looked out at the space that had once been the military camp. The barracks and other structures had long since been leveled. Now it was a vast construction site. Hundreds of skeletons labored endlessly, moving and laying and breaking blocks of stone. It would eventually be the Great Temple and would tower over the castle he stood in. Tobi had no idea what it would end up looking like. Albedo had claimed the property and taken personal charge of the construction. He wondered what the religion and the religious service would be like. How exactly do you worship the god of death, night, and shadow? The god who is supposed to bring an end to everything? The god who had come down among them and who ruled them completely?

Assuming he is a god, Tobi thought.

He turned away from the window and drew the curtains. That was a very, very dangerous thought to have, and one he would never dare to speak out loud. Tobi was the only human who had ever stepped inside the Great Tomb of Nazarick and been allowed to leave. No, wait, that wasn't true. Bloody Billy had been allowed to come back here, he just hadn't lived very long. Alone among all humans Tobi had gotten to see the truth of Nazarick and not suffered for it. He had been warned to never reveal its true location, but had been given no other prohibitions. He was free to talk about the lessons he'd given to the maids and about the questions Ainz had asked him or about all the different races who lived there.

But he hadn't spoken a single word about any of it. When Lord Mortem had shown up with him in tow everyone had simply accepted that he'd been chosen by the god as a servant and left it at that. A few of his friends had asked him and he had simply refused to talk about it. No one pressed him. Gods were mysterious and terrifying and people were wary of trespassing into anything that touched too closely.

The reason Tobi never spoke of his experience was that he did not believe Lord Mortem was a god. Oh, he was a being of great power and knowledge! He was definitely something more than human. A being to be feared and obeyed, no question! But a god? For all his incredible powers, Ainz had simply been too ignorant of too many things for Tobi to believe it. What god required language lessons? Yet every being in the Great Tomb, some as terrifying and seemingly powerful as Ainz himself, accepted it. Yet, NONE OF THEM had ever mentioned the name Lord Mortem, or talked of the Long Night. They had been completely ignorant of the world, more than a few of them had refused to believe humans were the only sentient species. Lord Mortem hadn't even called himself that, he'd been Momonga and then Ainz. He had only taken the name when it had been convenient, and none of his plans appeared to have anything to do with bringing an end to the world. (Not that Tobi complained.)

Tobi could not say for sure what Ainz was. A demon? An alien? A demi-god perhaps? But a god as Tobi understood the concept? No, and he most certainly was not the Lord Mortem from scripture. Tobi could imagine going back to primitive times with a mecha. How else would savages see him except as a god? Wouldn't that be analogous to the current situation?

But did it matter? Whatever he truly was Ainz had the power to make his wishes reality. And he had followers with absolute faith in him. Tobi shuddered just at the thought of telling Albedo or Shalltear or any of the others that Ainz was not divine. To even suggest it to any of those fanatics was suicidal.

The problem was Tobi saw Ainz as a flawed leader. One with immense power, but not necessarily with any wisdom or even a clear agenda. He had no idea if the future Ainz had in mind was a good one or not. Ainz intended to change the entire world. Who wouldn't be terrified by that?

There was a knock at the door.

"Yes?"

"Sir," his secretary said. "Franklin is here."

"Oh, okay, send him in." He needed to not worry about things he had no control over and instead focus on problems he could actually fix.

XXX

Darryl stood very still and kept both his hands up. He was facing six men, all with rifles pointed at him. One had hurried into the main building to get their leader. It was only a minute or so before a dozen soldiers came back out. All of them wore the same faded grey uniform and worn boots. One though had a stiff collar stitched on with two metal stars. The others deferred to him and kept a couple steps behind him. The leader came to a halt ten feet in front of Darryl. He did not order any of his men to lower their weapons.

"I'm Captain Hutchinson, commander of this camp. Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"My name is Darryl and I was just traveling when I saw your place. I was hoping to work and maybe earn some food."

"Wandering from where exactly? There aren't any settlements nearby."

"Well I'm originally from Turnersport, but I sort of had to leave because of a misunderstanding with a young woman and her older brother." Darryl gave a sheepish grin. Some of the onlookers chuckled, but the captain didn't appear amused.

"Turnersport is a long ways from here."

Darryl shrugged. "Her brother likes knives, a lot." This produced a few laughs.

"You're a Tech," the captain said without any hint of amusement. The scar on Daryl's cheek made it obvious. "If a Tech touched my sister I'd cut your balls off. Your sort shouldn't even talk to a woman."

"I definitely learned my lesson, sir. Can I maybe put my hands down, now?"

The captain slowly rubbed his chin. "You ever work on a car or a metal press?"

"I've handled cars, boat engines, planes, and even a couple scout mecha. I can fix anything you put in front of me, sir."

"I already have one Tech, and he's pretty worthless. You any better?"

"Absolutely, sir! I'm a hard worker."

"Whore's piss you are. You're a Tech, all your kind are lazy and worthless." He spat on the ground. "But maybe with two of you I can keep everything running. Work hard and mind your manners or you'll get a beating. And don't talk to any of the prisoners, especially the women. Understand me, Tech?"

"Yes, sir! I sure do!"

The captain nodded to one of the soldiers. "Take him to wherever Robert is and get him to work. Welcome to reeducation camp seventeen."

XXX

Franklin was several years older than Tobi and a good friend. All the Techs had lived together at the School and knew each other well. They'd been their own little community because no one else had wanted anything to do with them. You didn't necessarily like every other Tech you were forced to live and work with, but you learned to get along. Tobi had always liked Franklin, though. Frank had a sense of humor and loved inventing wild stories about the guards when there was no one listening. That could get you into trouble, and Frank had gotten more beatings than probably anyone else, but he never lost his sense of humor or his mouth. Tobi wanted to help him.

"How do you like having your own apartment?" Tobi asked as his friend came in.

"Well it beats sleeping four to a room. It's almost weird though having so much space all to myself.

"Tell me about it, things have sure changed." He motioned for his friend to have a seat.

"Yep, I always figured it would take the end of the world for us to be treated like people. Turns out I was right."

"I don't think the world's ending yet, just changing."

"Well so long as it's changing for the better I'm happy with it. You know I make offerings to him every week?"

Tobi paused and made an effort not to show his discomfort. "I heard people are starting to do that, I didn't know you were doing it too."

"Whose got more to be thankful for than us?"

"What do you offer him?"

"Mice, usually. I bought a bird one time."

"Blood for the blood god," Tobi said with a nod.

"It's appropriate don't you think? I know some people offer flowers or bread, but you have to figure he prefers blood sacrifice, don't you?"

"I could understand why it seems appropriate, there isn't a rule about it yet. So I think anything would be fine."

"Well I definitely want to do whatever I can to be on his good side."

"Glad to hear it, because that's sort of the reason I called you here."

"Well I was sort of wondering about that. Is there a problem with the factory I'm building? It's weird ordering skeletons around, but they do get the job done."

"No, it's nothing to do with work, that's going fine. This is about a personal matter."

Franklin shifted in his seat. "What do you mean?"

Tobi spoke as quietly as he could. "You have to stop seeing that woman."

"Huh? I don't know what you mean."

"Spare me. You haven't been as careful as you think. People have noticed her coming and going from your apartment almost every night. She's what, nineteen?"

"It's none of your business," Frank's right hand twitched. "It's not like I'm going to marry her or get her pregnant, so it doesn't matter."

"It does matter. You were right here in this room when Lord Mortem told us we couldn't have families or even lovers."

"I'm not hurting anyone, and if you saw Rachel and how beautiful she is there's no way you'd stop either."

"Frank, none of that matters. Lord Mortem doesn't want us being with women. Period."

"So we should just jerk off or fuck each other?"

"It's worked so far."

"Fuck that!"

Tobi sent a worried look to the door. "Lower your voice."

"We did that shit because we didn't have a choice," Frank said in a hush. "No woman would look at us to even spit on us. Now I've got a sweet honey who just wants to fuck my brains out and you expect to give that up and stroke myself instead. Fuck that."

"Things are still way better than they were. We've got money now, power, freedom, and status. We're freer and better off than anyone else, you need to be satisfied with that. So we still can't have women or families, so what? We still didn't lose anything. You can't lose what you never had."

"You argued for it, right here in this room. You know how important this is."

"That's right, while you and everyone else kept their mouths shut I asked we be allowed to have families. Remember what the answer was? He told us a story about eunuchs and castration and then said no. Be grateful we got to keep our balls. Do you think killing a few mice in front of his idol will help if he finds out you've defied him?"

"Do you plan to tell him?"

"I was never a snitch. But I heard about it, how long do you think it will be before he does?"

"I'll be more careful from now on."

"He's a god," or at least you think he is, Tobi thought. "Do you really want to break his commands?"

"Being with her makes me happy, and there's no way I'll give her up."

"I see. Well, I tried to help you. I won't report you, but it's just a matter of time."

XXX

Within the Cherry Blossom Sanctuary Rubedo nodded her head. "True words."