Ending up with a stray soldier with dramatic looking eyes and a lost, frustrated look on her face was the last thing in the world Momonga expected. Yet even when he returned to Nazarick, he couldn't regret his impulsive decision, and wondered briefly, 'Could my high luck stat be at play here?' Thus far he'd managed to encounter a number of useful or potentially useful people… but even more than that?

'She reminds me of Punito Moe… that intense look, she really was prepared to go out there, knowing she would probably not survive. A strong, martial spirit and a sense for tactics the way Punito Moe would have approved of.' Momonga still felt an ache in his heart when he thought of his old friend's vanishing.

Punito Moe's final words still rang in Momonga's mind. 'I'm sorry, but I'm being called up to deal with the riots. If I don't make it back, may we meet again in another world…' Then the gear was given out, and he was gone.

'I always wondered if he made it through all that… maybe not. For all I know, they're all dead but one…' Momonga let that thought hang in his mind for so long that he missed the fact that the small blonde archer was facing him again and was looking up at his face.

"My Lord? Are you… alright?" She asked, and Momonga briefly shook off his reverie as he snapped back to reality.

"Yes, yes I'm fine. I was just- just thinking. You remind me of someone, a friend, someone I lost a long time ago." He said and chuckled, "A very good friend indeed…"

"Oh." Neia inclined her head, "I'm sorry for your loss, My Lord. I wish I could say I can empathize, but I've never had a friend before, so… I can't say I know what that's like."

Momonga winced. She hadn't said it sadly, it was, if anything said with complete passive indifference, which in his mind, made it all the sadder. "I, I see. Well perhaps here, that will change. Nobody will mind your expression here, as long as you don't mind monsters, you might find that you get along with my people nicely."

Neia didn't answer right away, though she knew that had some other person said what he did, she might have had quite a different reaction. Yet everything about him seemed so… noble. Almost godly in his charisma, no part of her nerves tensed in panic. 'No. If he meant me harm, he wouldn't need to go about it this way.' She thought, her life in the field, usually lived alone on the frontier or in a solo hunt for monsters, demihumans, and worse, gave her a keen eye for power, and one look at him and she knew for sure… 'He wasn't meant to be defeated.'

So if he used the word 'monsters' casually, she could only conclude he meant the category of being, not the behavior she should expect. Having reached that conclusion she said, "If they're worthy of My Lord's service, I'm sure I'll get along with them."

It was a surprise to hear, even given his recent fortune with the others, though in their case, they'd already gained something, or the promise of something, from him. Friendship came easily with gain. But as he led her through Nazarick he was left wondering why she fell so easily under his sway.

'It wasn't that I saved her from death, I wonder, could life have really been so unbearable for her under that boss of hers? Probably. Humans here seem to have a similar sleep pattern, which meant most of her waking hours were spent under the thumb of someone who mistreated her. That is its own kind of death. To avoid that, what wouldn't someone latch on to?' He wondered, only really listening with half an ear while she explained the protocols of the Holy Kingdom's court, its history, the order of the country, and the public personalities of those in charge of it.

All that too, reminded him of Punito Moe, who described himself as an outsider without ever 'saying' it was so, and who also had an 'unfortunate' supervisory situation.

That only added to Momonga's interest and curiosity about this new world, 'It's as if I can see the shades of my friends in the people of this world… little bits of themselves… it endears them to me so…' Momonga had to consciously stop his inner melodramatic chuunibyou self from waxing poetic and listen to the young paladin archer speak of the leadership in her country in more detail.

They were alone in his office for untold hours when he heard a knock at his door. "My Lord, everything you wanted is in readiness." It was Albedo's voice, and her words caused a sudden seizing of his heart and his tongue.

'Did I ask for something specific? Wait, no, Draudillon, well, I did invite her for dinner, did I take too long, how long have I been here?! What were my last instructions?!' He wanted to scream as he realized he'd been so lost in his thoughts that he'd forgotten Draudillon and Oma, and between embarrassment and dismay at Albedo's statement on the other side of the door, he couldn't bring himself to ask what in the world she meant.

Neia had gone silent, looking at him with quiet, confident expectation. For whatever reason, she seemed to have already decided he knew everything that was going on around him, and so he could not think to seek her for any kind of excuse.

So he stood up and tugged at his robe, not coincidentally feeling the fabric of his skirt tight against his thighs. As always, it gave him a rush of confidence that no magic spell could truly replicate, a feeling of power, control, and even sensual pride all at once.

In front of him, the human spontaneously went to one knee and bowed her head, pressing one fist down against the floor. 'Has he become even more noble somehow?! Is it even possible to appear greater?! Yet he does… this is what a true King, a true noble should be like!' Neia thought, and the people and places she left behind that she'd spent her life serving or learning to serve, seemed suddenly so small, petty, and insignificant…

Combined with his shocking kindness to her, it was all she could do not to weep from pure joy at being in his supreme presence.

"Enter, Albedo." Momonga commanded, and the door opened.

"Will it please my Lord for me to escort him to the banquet he commanded we prepare for him and his guests?" Albedo asked, "Queen Draudillon and General Oma are just completing their tours and will be properly dressed within mere minutes. If we take our time, they will be seating themselves before we arrive." Albedo said and glanced down at the back of the kneeling blonde woman. 'A human? Another? A romantic competitor?' She wondered, but immediately dismissed the notion, all she could feel from that one was admiration, none of her succubus senses detected lust or attraction. More like… a servant's devotion.

Something Albedo could approve of out of anything when it came to the Master of Nazarick and the rightful ruler of the forty other supreme beings.

"Yes, yes that would be fine. But-" Momonga paused, something about the spark of envy in her eyes, the adoration… intuitively he knew if he left, she would wait here by herself, alone and without question. It was difficult to think of a way in which that would not be cruel to do, particularly after having invited her, and so he allowed his impulsiveness to run its course and said…

"Prepare a space for… my new friend here. Give her some proper formal clothing, a bath, and, yes, have CZ attend to her every need until she can join us. Then we will go." Momonga promised, and he watched the way Albedo's radiant face brightened all at once.

"My Lord… a Queen… a General… you would let someone like me-" Neia stopped when he nodded.

"You are offering valuable insights into your home, the least I can do is make you feel completely welcome in mine." Momonga promised, and Neia's loyalty meter shattered as it was overloaded, leaving Neia's mind a blur until the hot water splashed over her body when she found herself in the care of a curious looking, blank faced maid with an eyepatch.