Chapter 9 Downfall of Castle and Country

He was frozen, standing in the dirty cell of the prison, unable to take his gaze from the female form that was looking at him with a slight, almost imperceptible smirk.

A world item? The Slane Theocracy had a world item… and several divine items, by the sound of it.

The resurrection wand had worked as it should on Clementine, who apparently used to be part of one of the secret "special operations units" of the Theocracy. Neuronist had begun the usual interrogation, but she had died again at the 7th question. Her strength seemed to deteriorate from the resurrection, and he had the feeling that using it too much on the same individual would end up with the body disintegrating.

With this in mind, he had ordered to keep her sedated, until he had the time to actually come and interrogate her. He was regretting not having done this sooner.

It had been three months since he first registered as an adventurer; he had passed the first two weeks as a mithril class before being promoted to adamantite, in a mission where he had recollected some herbs from a sealed evil tree in a record time of three days. Harry had decided that he wouldn't return from a mission any sooner than 5 days after seeing the incredulous faces of the Guildmaster and the Magician Guild's head of the kingdom.

Only now he had found enough time to use legilimency on her, discovering this. The Theocracy… that was the country Demiurge was investigating right now!

Cursing loudly, he ignored the humorless chuckle of his prisoner and leaved the cell, barking an order at Neuronist to sedate her again, his right hand coming to the side of his head as he activated a [Message].

"Albedo"

"Hadrian-sama? Is everything all right?" came the immediate answer, sounding alert.

"Cancel the missions. Everyone is to return to Nazarik, except for Sebas and Solution. Tell them to use their portkeys, I want everyone back as soon as possible." judging by the description of the world item and the memories he got from Clementine, the mind-control could surpass even the protections placed against it by the race (such as the undead) or the items the NPCs wore, so he wanted everyone to come back safe soon.

"Understood, Hadrian-sama" this was one of those instances where he really appreciated being their leader. He didn't need to waste time explaining since his orders were absolute.

"Once they're back make the guardians reunite in the Throne room, I'll be there in 10 minutes. Make sure Pandora comes as well."

"We'll be ready by then" was Albedo's last response before he ended the [Message], only to start a new one immediately.

"Nigredo"

"How can I be of use, Hadrian-sama?"

"I want surveillance on Sebas' team at all hours, notify me immediately if there's a confrontation, it doesn't matter the level or species of the enemy. Albedo will give you more details later, understood?"

"Y-yes Hadrian-sama" the voice sounded a little overwhelmed by the intensity and the way he had delivered the order, but he really couldn't care for something so trivial at the moment.

"I'll be counting on you" were his parting words before he ended the [Message]. He was almost outside the prison now, he could begin to see the surroundings filled with nothing but snow.

Stopping, he concealed himself before teleporting to the 6th floor, a few yards away from the point where the portkeys should bring his servants. This zone of the floor was covered in runes that formed a circular drawing, and two golems were standing guard just outside the largest circle. There were three different sized circles of runes. The last and middle layers were binding runes, meant to trap whoever stepped on them.

On the other hand, the center of the circle would send an alarm to indicate someone had arrived. The sound this alarm emitted would be different if the one coming wasn't keyed to the recognition ward he had placed in the zone. He had figured that would be enough to identify if the one coming was an outsider that had taken the appearance of a Nazarik-member.

Completely hidden, he watched with relief as all the servants that had been sent outside returned, all of them jumping to avoid the second and third layer of runes. Harry hadn't wanted them to worry over his unease, so this was necessary to calm his nerves before telling them about the Slane Theocracy.

Having a clear head now, he waited until they left the floor before cancelling the concealing charms. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself for the conversation that would take place before walking leisurely to the Throne room.

"I'm happy to see you've safely returned. I've received outstanding information from the most recent prisoner; we'll have to consider the Slane Theocracy as a powerful enemy now."

He then proceeded to take out a large pensieve from the bag hanging around his neck, and used the elder wand to place the newly acquired memories he had gotten from Clementine. Signaling the guardians to take a look, he waited patiently for the memories to play out. There were too many to play them all at the moment, so he had focused on the bits he considered the most alarming.

The World Class Item, Downfall of Castle and Country, a seemingly unassuming white dress with a large opening on one side and a round neck, the image of a dragon with five claws rising to the sky embroidered with golden threads. A mind-control item.

The Divine Class items, as well as all the memories he could find that demonstrated the strength of the Black Scripture.

And finally, the purpose of the special operations units known as scriptures.

Black Scripture: the strongest, with each of its members focused on a specific type of combat or skill that was comparable to a whole combat group. Clementine even considered some of them like demigods because of their immense powers and the fact that the blood of the Six Gods runs in them. Harry admitted they seemed like adamantite-ranked adventurers by the memories she had of the time before she betrayed them.

Sunlight Scripture: The ones Harry had captured had been a group that focused on carrying out the extermination of demi-human villages. The majority of its members had been magic casters that could use Divine spells of at least the third tier along with all the other normal high level spells that were employed by adventurers. For obvious reasons, he didn't have to worry about them anymore.

Windflower Scripture: specialized in information gathering and espionage, Clementine had worried about them chasing her for the crown she had stolen. Harry had kidnapped her however, so he thought it was safe to assume that this specific division was still busy trying to find her.

Clearwater Scripture: specialized in infiltration, the members of this group were heavily focused on stealth and the ability to modify their physical appearance. Harry had thought about placing a thief's downfall on both, Nazarik's entrance and the portkey's zone just in case they somehow managed to trick them.

Holocaust Scripture: specialized in assassination, guerrilla warfare, and counter-terrorism, it was mainly used as a military unit in charge of protecting the home soil of the Theocracy.

It was quite distressing the fact that they seemed to possess several divine-class items, along with the world item, all of them left behind by the "Six Gods" they believed in. Harry was sure they had been players, and was greatly relieved that it had only been six and not a whole 40-something people guild.

He wondered if it really made a difference the fact that some members of the Black Scripture seemed to be descendants of them. Maybe they were born with a natural higher level than the normal humans? Whatever the case, the Black Scripture was the most dangerous, so he would focus his attention on them.

Seeing his guardians emerge from the pensieve, he prepared for the discussion that was to come

"I'm confident you understand the relevance of these memories" receiving alert nods from them; he continued "I have reasons to suspect that the World item is one that was designed to affect NPCs, which would put everyone in Nazarik at risk with only one exception"

A brief moment of silence passed before Albedo, Demiurge and Pandora seemed to catch his meaning

"Hadrian-sama! Surely you are not implying-!" came Albedo's panicked voice

"Please, if I'm allowed to make a suggestion-"Demiurge's sounded more like an odd mix of worry and reprimand.

"Although it may sound disrespectful, it would be better if-"Pandora didn't sound different than usual, even if he was fidgeting in a manner a true militar never would have.

The three had spoken at the same time, sharing a displeased look between them once they noticed. This little scene had been enough for the other guardians to catch up however, all looking at him with disagreement.

Harry lifted a hand to request silence, before explaining "I've heard about a similar item before, in the first years after the foundation of Ainz Ooal Gown. It was only designed to work on the mercenary, POP and Guild-NPCs." Harry actually was aware that this wouldn't be the case. The lamp he had been trapped at had had a similar description, but it still had worked on him.

He wanted to be the one that stole this particular item however, because if one of them resulted affected he would be forced to kill them. Harry on the other hand, would be able to avoid the effects of Downfall of Castle and Country if he wore another World item himself. The back-up plan he had devised for this was made simply because carrying around a World item everywhere was dangerous, so he couldn't use them on a daily basis.

Not even with Death's help had he been able to create a device that could jump through dimensions, but the worlds in this same universe weren't nearly as restricted. Thus, his friend had greatly helped him design a world-jumping device in the form of a black hairclip, easily missed among the messy curls of his head. True, he wouldn't be able to come back to this world immediately after arriving to the one he had chosen, but the matter of fact remained that he would break whatever effect a World item had on him.

This would not be necessary for this mission however.

"B-but Hadrian-sama, surely you don't mean to retrieve it on y-your own?" came Mare's soft voice, the puppy look on maximum level.

"Of course not Mare" his guardians seemed momentarily relieved before he continued "but none of you will come with me"

"Please consider it again! Let me protect your great person, let me be your shield Hadrian-sama!" Albedo's wings flapped once in consternation as she voiced her opinion.

"I would rather not risk you falling to mind control" he answered seriously, but couldn't say anything else since Shalltear spoke.

"We would resist! There's no way we would raise our hand against Hadrian-sama! Against Nazarik!" she exclaimed, eyes filled with determination. Was she seriously this naïve? She had yet to pass his test of overcoming the blood lust, there was no way she would be immune to a World item of all things.

He chose not to comment on this though, and instead said "You seem to think I will go unprotected. No, I merely meant that I will not allow you to carry this mission along with me, but I'll certainly need you to be alert nearby, in case something goes wrong"

After that, he proceeded to explain the plan he had in mind. Harry would be using "Avarice and Generous" a pair of gauntlets, which looks like a devil's hand while the other looks like an angel's. This should allow him to summon creatures without consuming EXP if the situation went out of control, taking instead the EXP stored in the item.

Aura would be nearby with "Picture of Nature and Nation" a big scroll, with the power to isolate an object/people in a different dimension. She was instructed to use the scenario that only had one exit if she received his signal. They would only use it if the attempted theft was discovered by the Black Scripture, the plan was to enclose them in this dimension and annihilate them.

In terms of close combat, Shalltear should be enough in a fight against 12 humans. Having seen the battles of the Black Scripture made him think they were around the level of adamantite adventurers. For her, he would assign the World item "The Black seeds of the Fallen" a thin collar adorned with opaque blue stones, it incremented the negative energy of the user, so it would heal an undead like Shalltear, recovering 50% of the health taken from each blow. A simpler way to put it was that whatever damage taken was halved if the user was an undead.

Cocytus, Mare and Albedo were to stay in Nazarik unless he said otherwise, with the defense at maximum, while Demiurge prepared an army in case they needed to destroy the whole city. They would get there through a [Gate], something Pandora should be able to do if he took the appearance and ability of one of his old comrades, so long it was a Magic Caster.

Harry would have liked to reassure them further with the Back-up Manual, but he had yet to complete the book, so this would have to do.

Deciding a surveillance team of Mercenaries and POP monsters would be used to study the Slane Theocracy territory, all that was left was wait to receive enough details to patch up the plan before executing it.

AUTHOR NOTE:

Well, I didn't think I would be writing this so soon.

Then again, following the timeline of the Light Novel, the next one was Shalltear's mind control. This would not happen however, since

a) She didn't leave Nazarik

b) Harry didn't give an order to capture people that used Martial arts

c) Harry was aware of the World items because one was used on him.

So, if I want to respect the timeline I guess this is what would have happened instead of the Bloody Valkyrie Arc.

As always, reviews and comments motivate me to write faster (not to mention they generally make me happy) so feel free to let me know your opinion.

I never wrote a disclaimer, but I assure you I'm not making any profits nor gaining anything by writing this story, so please don't be disappointed if I don't follow-up the comments of "You should do this or that". I write for fun really, and this is simply an idea I had.

So~ thanks for reading, I hope you were at least mildly entertained by this beginner's story.

See ya later!

P.D. Did you know I wrote the final chapter of this story after the 8th chapter? My evil side wants to post it since it would be a huge spoiler and it is ready. I'm trying very hard to resist temptation. I'm confident no one is expecting that ending.

P.D.D. I know my profile doesn't really say anything, but I'm a woman hahaha one of the reviews addressed me as "Sir" and it was weird xD so just as curious data, I'm female haha. I still liked the comment however ¯\_(ツ)_/¯