Myobu's mind blanked for a moment as she was bombarded by a number of impossible things. The physical sensations were the most immediate, followed by what two of those senses were translating to her brain. It was almost too much to take in all at once. This had never happened before!

A sense of smell and touch should be impossible to experience virtually. Even if such inputs had been developed secretly, she would have needed to buy new hardware to support it.

"My Lady?" Albedo prompted again, a worried look painted across her face.

It was so organic, too. A natural reaction in shape and tone – far more than Yggdrasil could or would present. If this really was an update for the game, surely they would have announced it. Even if it was limited to NPC behavior, it would have tempted old players to come for a second look. Quite a few of her guildmates would have returned, if only to hear what the voices of their NPCs sounded like.

This could not be real. Was she dreaming?

She wanted to pull at her hair, to tug at her twitching ears and tails, to take her pulse – anything to verify that what she experienced was true, for no dream could be so detailed. She refrained, barely, as such desperate actions were not something befitting the Lady of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. She still had a role to play, and it was that thought that allowed her to formulate an answer.

"It seems," Myobu began slowly, "that something has gone wrong. Give me a moment to contact the GM, the All-Father's messenger. It shouldn't take long."

Her hand wasn't shaking when she brought it up to conjure the menu. She was quite grateful for that, considering all the eyes watching her.

Such thankfulness was forgotten when the menu failed to appear. She tried again to no avail.

She took a deep breath to quell her rising anxiety and looked instead to those kneeling before her. Focusing on them helped.

"The communication line to the GM is not available," she explained. "I can think of a few reasons for this, but can't be sure. It is likely linked to why the Great Tomb of Nazarick still exists."

Her claws clicked on the stone arm of the throne. She could feel the texture and coolness through the pads of her fingers. This couldn't be a dream, could it? What had happened?

"Demiurge, I want you to go outside and get an aerial view of our surroundings – a kilometer circumference should do. I want a detailed report of the terrain and if you find any discrepancies in either the number or behavior of the monsters outside."

The arch-devil's head bowed. "Of course, Lady Myobu. Shall I leave now?"

"Yes," she answered with a regal nod. "This mission is of the upmost importance. I trust you to complete it to my satisfaction."

"I will not disappoint you, Lady Myobu!" he said with a confident grin.

She watched him smoothly stand and leave, his tail swaying behind him. Her ears remained pointed in his direction as the resonant tone of his voice imbedded itself in her mind. Was that slight echo a side effect of his passive [Command Mantra] skill? It sounded very nice.

It was also yet another thing that likely wouldn't have been included in a simple update. Her options were running out, but her experiments deciding that would have to be finished later. She still had loyal servants kneeling and awaiting directions.

"Aura, I want you and Itzamna under stealth and watching the entrance. If you see any threats making a move toward Nazarick, I want them dealt with. Gargantua will remain on the first floor by the entrance to deal with anyone who gets past you."

"I'll get to it right away, Lady Myobu! No one will get past me and Itzamna, so you can rest easy," Aura exclaimed cheerfully. After Myobu gave her permission, the dark elf practically bounced away to fetch her pet and fulfill her assigned duty.

"Gargantua shall remain on the first floor, Shalltear, so you will overlook the second and third floor. For the rest of you Floor Guardians, I want you to guard and thoroughly investigate your floors. If there is anything different, I want to know immediately."

She paused and hid her growing frown behind a hand as she realized that she had just sent out Demiurge before he could check his own floor. She'd have to have compromise until Demiurge completed his task.

"Sebas, your resistances will protect you from the seventh floor's passive fire damage effect. I want you to patrol Demiurge's floor until his return. Tell the Demon Lords to be on high alert and assist you."

"I understand, Lady Myobu," Sebas replied. "Upon Demiurge's return, what would you have me do?"

"After Demiurge has returned, I shall call you all together again to discuss his findings in the arena of the sixth floor."

She brought her hand away from her mouth and waved. "Go, my Guardians. See to the safety of Nazarick!"

"Yes, Lady Myobu!" they echoed.

Shalltear, Cocytus, Mare, Sebas, Victim, and Rubedo stood and left to return to their floors. Albedo and Nenko stood to take their places at the right and left side of her throne respectively. Only Pandora's Actor and the Pleiades remained before her, having not yet received orders. Myobu hummed as she thought of what she could have the unexpectedly strong battle-maids do.

"Pleiades, you shall guard the ninth floor until further notice. Yuri Alpha shall be your leader until Sebas Tian returns from the seventh floor and re-takes the position," she decided.

"We hear and obey!" they replied.

"Pandora's Actor, you will return to guarding the treasury until further notice."

"I shall guard the mystical treasures within the treasury with my very life, Lady Myobu! No dastardly intruder will so much as see a coin!"

She waved them away and watched with newly enhanced eyes as Pandora's Actor opened a [Gate] to return to the treasury.

Yuri Alpha led her sisters out in a much more mundane fashion. The Pleiades truly were an interesting bunch. They were called sisters, but were of many different races. A family of choice, instead of by blood, according to their creators. What a family they made.

Yuri Alpha, the dullahan undead who specialized in close combat; Lupusregina Beta, the werewolf war-cleric; Narberal Gamma, the doppelganger magic-caster; CZ2128 Delta, the automaton sniper; Solution Epsilon, the slime assassin; and Entoma Vasilissa Zeta, the arachnoid who specialized in insect-themed magic and talismans.

There was one more "sister" who had not been present, but that was because she was an area guardian of the Cherry Blossom Sanctuary on the eighth floor. Aureole Omega was a miko and the only immortal human in the Great Tomb of Nazarick. She was double her sisters' level, being at the maximum hundred. Her background had her in charge of the teleportation gates of Nazarick.

If one of her suspicions was true, that position would be less of a gimmick and more of an actual concern. She could hope that it wouldn't prove to be a problem, but if it were…well, the eight floor was the most dangerous. Aureole Omega would have Victim and Rubedo backing her up if things went south.

Albedo's sweet voice broke her introspection. "Lady Myobu, may I ask what has you so concerned?"

"You may. As to the answer…I'm currently trying to figure out the dangers this new situation may bring," she said. "This is not what the All-father planned. While that is a great blessing, it leaves many unknown dangers that may threaten us."

"Lady Myobu," Nenko began softly, "whatever dangers may come, we will allow no harm to come to you. We will keep Nazarick safe."

"It is as she said," Albedo agreed. "We, your humble servants, will protect this place with our very lives!"

Myobu laced her fingers together and carefully leaned back so as not to crush her tails. "I know that you will, but I ask that you do your best not to die. As I said earlier, you all are my most cherished treasures."

She politely ignored their delighted blushes, wagging tails, and flapping wings. There was much to think on. The most important being whether this was the reality she was beginning to think it was or some highly sophisticated update she doubted it to be.

There were only so many sensations that could be transferred over to the brain. As she had never had a tail before, that would perhaps be her best bet. She didn't want to do the tests here, however, in case she did something else embarrassing as a result.

Having decided her course of action, she stood. She carefully hid her shock at how easy rising from her place was. She had expected her golden tails to throw her off balance with their additional weight, but it was the opposite instead. The tails naturally shifted to support her balance, making her stride even smoother and more regal than she had ever experienced in real life.

Another strike.

"I will be in my rooms until Demiurge returns," she tells the happy duo.

She uses the ring to teleport to her suite on the ninth floor without thinking of why it might not work, only to be hit with the possibility after she had already appeared beside her bed.

There was no menu, no HUD, and yet she had somehow used the ring of Ainz Ooal Gown to appear in her room. It was an instinctual twist of will, as if simply doing something that had been repeated dozens of times before.

Could her skills, inventory, and other items be utilized with the same simplicity? Would she feel the state of her HP and Mana as it fluctuated?

That was certainly something to test, but would have to be done later. She had another test first.

She carefully sat on the luxurious bed and brought one of her nine tails onto her lap.

Now or never.

The first test was gently petting it, which felt very nice indeed. So nice, in fact, that her other tails curled in pleasure. Myobu unconsciously started purring like a cat, which was something regular foxes couldn't do. She absentmindedly forgave the devs that artistic license as she delighted in the feel of her hand running over her soft fur. She may have ended up petting herself longer than she had intended, but who could blame her?

Strike.

Out of curiosity, she brought one of her hands to pet the fox-ears atop her head. While the sensation was not as strong as her tails, it was quite close. The additional sensation caused her to purr even louder and the vibration of it was a very interesting experience.

Unfortunately, she still had to test the opposite spectrum. Could her tails – something she had never had as a human – cause her to feel pain? If it could, what kind of force would be required and how much would it hurt?

This was a test she knew she wouldn't like, but was still important. If this world was real, she needed to know her boundaries.

She reluctantly stopped her petting and thought of what method to test first.

"Well, there was that one tale about a nine-tailed fox cursing anyone who pulled their tails, so…" she trailed off with a frown, but firmly grabbed a tail regardless.

A light tug didn't hurt, but it didn't feel good either. She experimentally tugged harder, but that only reminded her of the sensation of someone tugging her arm. It was a little annoying, but didn't necessarily hurt. She was starting to get the feeling that she'd have to tug it very hard for it to do damage, but that reminded her far too much of that one time she dislocated her arm IRL and she had no intention of going that far.

If pulling didn't hurt, would pressure? She had accidentally stepped on the tail of the family dog once and it had made a very loud yip in response. She had felt so guilty after that, but the dog had easily forgiven her. Did that mean it was more like stubbing your toe?

Only one way to find out.

She very much disliked the idea and the thought of it possibly dirtying her tails made her even more unhappy, but it was necessary. This wasn't something she wanted to be surprised about in the future.

She carefully positioned a tail under her heel and lightly applied pressure. Much like the tugging, a light pressure was fine. She reluctantly put more weight on it and started to feel a slightly uncomfortable pinch. It wasn't too bad, but…

She shook her head slightly and continued until she was standing her full weight on it. Her face screwed up in discomfort, but she didn't feel bad enough to start crying. It felt more like that time her friend stepped on her leg by accident.

She could feel it, it was uncomfortable, and she would greatly prefer it not be done; however, she wasn't about to go screaming bloody murder because of it. She'd probably yip if someone did so on accident and definitely if someone jumped on it and broke the bone, but it was otherwise fine.

Perhaps she wasn't heavy enough for it to make it hurt? She was remarkably light.

Still, the important thing was that she could feel both pleasure and discomfort from a limb she didn't previously possess. The same went for her ears, which felt good while being pet and hurt more than her tails when tugged or pinched.

This wasn't a game. Considering the sharp pain in her ear after she pinched it, it couldn't be a dream either.

Which left the possibility of this either being real or being a sign that she had finally gone mad.

If this was real, she should be cautious and act responsibly. If she was insane, she should treat it the same and just enjoy what her mind interpreted as her new reality.

The Great Tomb of Nazarick would continue in one way or another.

Was this not a wish come true? She should enjoy it.

Myobu stepped off her tail and meticulously looked over it for any dirt. She brushed off what little there had been gathered from the floor and gently pet it to soothe the lingering discomfort. When it passed, she reluctantly let it rest behind her with the other eight and began some preliminary plans.

First of all, she needed to know what had changed. A lot of that would have to wait until Demiurge returned, but she could test other things in the arena. Her skills, inventory, and items needed to be checked over in case a fight happened. The NPCs should probably test theirs as well. The last thing Myobu wanted was for someone to try out a skill in combat and be caught off guard because it didn't work like they were used to.

Actually, since the NPCs were changed into more sentient beings, it was entirely possible that other things in them had changed as well. She had altered their backstories, but had those backstories even been taken into account by whoever changed them?

Was Mare a bookworm, or was he just a magically gifted dark elf that could smile and respond to orders? Did he want to sleep all day or just when he'd stayed up too late because of a good book?

Was Demiurge smarter than the others or was he their equal? Could Demiurge even describe what he saw outside in detail?

There were so many other things included in the NPCs profiles, but did they mean anything?

And most worrying of all…would they remain loyal?

That thought had a sharp pain growing in her chest.

"They seemed fine," she said to herself as she hugged her tails. "They seemed pretty happy to follow what I said."

But did they? Did Demiurge fly out to scout or did he just keep going with no intention of ever coming back? Did Aura race after him? Would she ever see either of them ever again?

Worse yet was the possibility that she had sent both of them to their possible deaths. What if the environment outside Nazarick was inhospitable, or filled with monsters more powerful than all of them put together?

Why hadn't she sent them with more reinforcements?! They could be dead! They could –

An insistent beep from her hand caught her attention and caused her ears to twitch. It reminded her of the [Message] skill that could be used in Yggdrasil. With no button to confirm or deny, she brought her left hand to her ear and mentally thought of accepting it.

["This is Demiurge, Lady Myobu. I have completed my investigations of our immediate surroundings."]

A wave of relief flowed so strongly over her it nearly made her dizzy.

["Well done, Demiurge. Meet me on the sixth floor in the arena. I will call the others so we might all hear your findings. I will decide our future course afterward."]

["I am not worthy of such praise, Lady Myobu! I shall meet you on the sixth floor as quickly as possible."]

["I look forward to hearing your report,"] she said before ending the spell.

She stared at the wall for a moment, still taken aback at how quickly he was to demean his own efforts. Did he find so little to report that he found her compliment excessive?

Well, she would find out herself in due time. Before that, however, was a very interesting little test.

If Demiurge could [Message] her, did that mean that she could do the same to the other NPCs? That wasn't something that could be done before. It would be invaluable if she could.

[Message: Aura; "Aura, return to the arena of floor six. Leave your pet with instructions to guard the entrance."]

["I'm on it, Lady Myobu! See you soon!"]

Myobu ended the [Message], incredibly please with herself for figuring out how to do it without the menu. It was looking like everything would be more instinctual than she had previously worried. Now, could she get a group chat working?

[Message: Shalltear, Cocytus, Sebas Tian, Rubedo, Victim, Albedo; "Demiurge has returned. Meet with us in the arena of floor six."]

She closed the line upon hearing the multiple agreements and activated the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown to reach the meeting location.

She could only hope that Demiurge had good news.

The first person she saw was Mare, who was nervously shifting his skirt until he saw her. He awkwardly jogged forward and quickly bowed at the waist once he reached her.

"W-Welcome to our floor, Lady Myobu!" he greeted.

"Rise, Mare," she gently prompted. When he did, she could see his mis-matched eyes were wide and looking at her with awe and curiosity. It was adorable, but now wasn't the time for such distractions. "What is the status of your floor?"

"Ah, well, everything seems the same as before. I haven't seen any problems and we haven't had any more intruders since you sent us back," he reported dutifully.

"That is good to hear!" she said warmly. "I hope to hear the same from the others. They should be joining us soon."

The sound of metal on metal had her ears turning to the left, so she shifted to see what had approached. It was Demiurge. The sound had likely been due to his own swaying tail, as it was covered with metal plates. The thought made her insanely curious – was his tail metal or was the metal actually armor for a tail hidden underneath?

Thoughts of a Demiurge with a more traditional devil's tail were interrupted by a gate opening to her right. Shalltear strolled out from the black hole just as Cocytus walked in. Sebas Tian, Victim, Rubedo, and Albedo joined afterwards. Aura was last, having had to travel the furthest.

Right before she could prompt them for their own reports, Albedo stepped forward and kneeled.

"We, the Floor Guardians – disregarding Gargantua, the Guardian of the fourth floor – do hereby swear our undying loyalty to Lady Myobu, the last of the Supreme Beings and the who stayed with us until the very end!"

As if they had planned it all beforehand, the other Floor Guardians also took the knee – except for Victim, who simply descended until he was nearly touching the ground.

"Guardian of the first through third floors, Shalltear," the True Vampire said, as if introducing herself. "I serve and obey!"

"Guardian. Of. The. Fifth. Floor. Cocytus! I. Serve. And. Obey!" the blue insectoid said, a cold fog following every exhale.

"Aura Bella Fiora, Co-Guardian of the sixth floor. I serve and obey!" the outgoing dark-elf proclaimed, her usual gleaming eyes lowered in reverence.

"Mare Bello Fiore, Co-Guardian of the sixth floor. I serve and obey!" the shy mage said without stuttering.

"Demiurge, Guardian of the seventh floor. I serve and obey!" the arch-devil repeated, his echoing voice reaching into their hearts.

"Roolf hthgie eht fo naidrauG-oC, mitciV. Yebo dna evres I." Victim proclaimed in the game's version of Enochian. Myobu didn't go through the mental loops to translate it, but assumed he was following the supposed script.

"Rubedo, Co-Guardian of the eighth floor. I serve and obey!" the strongest NPC said, fist held over her heart.

"Sebas Tian, Leader of the Pleiades. I serve and obey!" the elderly looking dragonoid said.

"Leader of the Guardians, Albedo. I serve and obey!" Albedo finished smoothly. "We await your orders, Supreme One. You need but ask it of us, and it will be done!"

Myobu couldn't help but smile.

Some might have thought of this as just a production, but she could feel the sincerity in their words. It eased her worry of their possible betrayal and made her even feel slightly guilty for suspecting them of it.

"Very good, my Treasures. I am pleased to hear your oaths of loyalty! Now stand, so we all may receive Demiurge's report in comfort."

"As you wish, Lady Myobu!" they spoke as one.

After each of them had risen from their positions, she gestured for Demiurge to begin. He took a step forward and bowed his head in respect before speaking.

"The Great Tomb of Nazarick seems to have been moved. Where once we were surrounded by swamps, we are now in a very flat grassland. A little further north there is a village, followed by a large forest and the beginning of a mountain range. To our south-west there seems to be a rather large town, though it was hard to make out how large considering its distance from us."

Myobu nodded thoughtfully. "Any monster activity?"

"None in our immediate vicinity," Demiurge said. "Or on the road leading to the town. I couldn't say for the forested areas, but I would not discount the possibility."

Well, at least they wouldn't have to worry about monsters immediately. Still, to be in a flat grassland would have The Great Tomb of Nazarick stand out to anyone so much as looking in their general direction. They didn't know what dangers existed in this world, so standing out so boldly would be dangerous. They needed to hide Nazarick before anyone came across them.

If her talismans and illusion magic worked like they should, Mare and she could fix that problem without much fuss.

"And what of your floors?" Myobu wondered aloud. "Have you seen any changes?"

Each of them responded negatively, which was good news. She hoped it would stay that way.

"Good. I have some ideas on how to secure Nazarick for now, but I would like to hear your ideas as well…"

They had a miracle here. She wasn't going to let anyone ruin it.

A/N: This took a lot longer than I intended. Sorry! Anyway, next chapter includes Carne Village, where some serious butterflies begin to spread their wings!

If you spot any errors, please let me know. My eyes were heavy when I was finishing this up.