CHAPTER 21:
HILMA
After some discussion, it was decided to bring forward their retrieval of Hilma, as well as stripping her estate of everything of use. Having not just one but two members of the Eight Fingers' executive council disappear would send them into a panic. Whether they went into hiding or retaliated, Demiurge was confident that they were ready to begin Operation Gehenna soon.
So, Harry and Albedo headed to the location that night, accompanied by Mare and Entoma. As a precaution, they sent a Message to Keno so that the Blue Roses knew what they were doing, just in case. Mare used his druid magic to drown the mansion in vines, while they began searching and ransacking the manor. Harry systematically checked the thugs' minds with Legilimency. Any who were bad enough, he sent back to Nazarick, not to be there for Demiurge's experiments, but as part of a larder for Entoma and Solution. Others, he would leave for the authorities, albeit their minds wiped. Albedo, meanwhile, was checking a basement area with Mare.
He grimaced as he watched Entoma eat the severed arm of a particularly muscular thug. The man had been a client at that brothel, and was violent to boot, so Harry had no actual qualms about her snacking on his flesh. It was still grotesque to see the insectoid Pleiades maid, her 'face' actually a mask-like bug, eat the arm. Entoma was cute, if you didn't realise what that face was, but she was also perhaps the most grotesque of the Pleiades.
Albedo and Mare returned from the basement area, entering the hall they were currently in. "There's a rather large cache in the basement. Most of it is drugs, which we will dispose of, but there's other smuggled goods. Valuables and the like. They will be sent to Nazarick for cataloguing. I've asked Shalltear to come through via a Gate and use her Vampire Brides to do that," Albedo said.
"Right," Harry said, only to hear a door opening and closing upstairs. "Heads up, she's coming down, I think. Albedo, you're giving this bitch the pitch."
"Understood."
They watched as a figure walked along the walkway, looking out the windows, now vine-encrusted. She was dressed in little more than a silk dressing gown, with long blonde hair framing features that were actually quite beautiful. Albedo cleared her throat as Hilma, as it had to be, stared at the vines. "Good evening, Hilma Cygnaeus," she said as the woman whirled to look down at them.
"Who are you?" Hilma demanded. "What have you…?" Her voice trailed off when she saw Albedo's white horns and golden eyes gleaming in the moonlight, along with her dark wings.
Albedo then approached her, unhurriedly, walking up the stairs, followed by Harry, Mare and Entoma. "We are representatives of Ainz Ooal Gown. I doubt you would have heard of this name, but that is neither here nor there. This is an opportunity for you."
The woman, despite her obvious apprehension and even fear, remarkably stood her ground, allowing them to approach her. "An opportunity? I assume one of you is responsible for this?" she indicated the vines growing on the outside of the mansion. "Then what can I do for you?"
Albedo smiled coldly. "You have a choice to make, Hilma Cygnaeus. The Eight Fingers will soon be no more, save for criminal rabble who have the organisational skills of a brain-dead ape. Your colleague, Ampetif Coccodoll, is now our guest, and enjoying our…hospitality, as is Succulent, the so-called Illusion Maniac of the Six Arms. You, however, have been identified as someone who could be of use, given your connections, despite your prior profiting off the misery of others. If you agree, you will keep your life, and will indeed live a comfortable lifestyle as our subordinate, unlike your colleagues, who will suffer just as the Eight Fingers' victims have suffered. Refuse or betray us, and you will join them, begging for a death that will be a long time coming. And if you believe that you can get out of this…have you seen what Entoma is eating?"
Hilma's eyes flicked over to Entoma, and she paled. "…She…is eating one of my guards?"
"Muscular people are so tasty!" Entoma chirped.
"Your guards and servants are dead, wishing they were, or incapacitated, ready for the authorities to pick them up," Albedo said. "This is not a nightmare you will be waking up from, but a cruel reality, as cruel as any your organisation has enforced upon the innocent. Be thankful you are shown any mercy at all. Well?"
Albedo extended her hand, and Hilma, after a moment, took it…only for enchanted tattoos of snakes to lash out and try to bite Albedo. The snakes broke their fangs on Albedo's skin, and with a scowl, she broke the snakes. "You've just squandered your sole chance for defiance," Albedo said coldly. "Do anything like that again, and we will simply take what we need from your mind and leave you a hollow shell, soaked in your own filth. Am I understood?"
Hilma's eyes widened, before she nodded hurriedly. Her very posture screamed resignation and submission now. Harry activated a Gate to Nazarick, and the three of them went through, with Mare and Entoma to supervise looting Hilma's mansion…
Albedo had some fun showing Hilma around Nazarick, or at least its worst areas. She had been inspired by a work in the Nazarick library, Dante Aligheri's Inferno, where Dante was shown around Hell by the Roman poet Virgil. She showed her an image from the Black Capsule, showing the Prince of Fear feeding one victim to his children, and telling her to imagine that happening to her. And then, she showed her (in person, this time) a small selection of what Demiurge and his underlings were doing to his test subjects, including Coccodoll and Succulent. Throughout it all, Hilma remained silent, save for gasps and quiet utterances of horror.
Eventually, she brought Hilma into the throne room, with Momonga sitting on the main throne, while Harry sat on a large, dark wooden throne that, while secondary to the main throne's magnificence, was nonetheless appropriate. In truth, the pair considered themselves more or less equals, but Harry deferred to Momonga as the overall ruler of Nazarick and Ainz Ooal Gown. Thankfully, Hilma, though traumatised by what she had witnessed, had enough wherewithal to kneel without prompting. She knew when she was outclassed by now. She knew that a wrong word or move would mean a protracted demise.
"Greetings, Hilma Cygnaeus. I am Lord Momonga, the ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, and the master of the guild Ainz Ooal Gown," Momonga said, glaring down at her. "My associate is Lord Enzo, my good friend and my counsellor, while Lady Albedo is the Overseer of the Tomb. I would ask if you enjoyed the tour…but we know that an honest answer would be a resounding no. Therefore, I will dispense with the pleasantries. You do know why you are here?"
Hilma nodded. "…You wish for me to make use of my connections for your own purpose. Lady Albedo made that clear."
"Indeed. We could simply take it from you and leave you to rot with Demiurge, and given your wilful ignorance of the suffering of those you peddled your drugs to, to say nothing of the slaves your colleague Coccodoll peddled, it would be a fitting punishment. However, I am a pragmatic person by nature. While disguising myself as a human is simple, a proxy may be better, especially as you are already established amongst the nobility, even if your position within the Eight Fingers wasn't so public. Rumours surrounded you, of course, but I'm sure they added to your allure. The femme fatale is a potently attractive figure to many."
"Is that all you wish for me to do for you, Lord Momonga?" Hilma asked, her voice close to breaking.
"Use your connections and, if need be, be a consultant on said connections and others of importance in the world," Momonga said. "And before you ask, I will not force you or even ask you to sell your body, to either me or my associates. Unlike your…friend Coccodoll, I have no intention of forcing or coercing anyone into sleeping with me or others. I am not a pimp or a rapist. But you will be punished for what you have done, and have turned a blind eye to. Back home, there was a tale known as the Sword of Damocles, whereby a man, wanting to know what it was like to be the king, was sat on a throne, with a sword on a hair-thin thread dangling over his very head. You have the Sword of Damocles dangling over your head, Hilma. I will not punish you for a minor failure, not to a great degree, but egregious failure or betrayal will end badly. On the other hand, while you work for me, you will be kept in a comfortable lifestyle, albeit one you do not deserve. Only by doing good work will you earn such a thing."
"…U-U-Understood," Hilma stammered. "But…the others of the Eight Fingers…"
"Will get what's coming to them very soon," Harry said coldly. Oh, that tone of voice made Albedo wet.
"The Supreme Beings have given you a chance to live, to show you are useful," Albedo said coldly, trying to keep her aroused smirk off her face. "I'd suggest you do not squander it…"
They discussed matters with Hilma a little longer, before they sent her to guest quarters, to be watched over. "Do you think she will be obedient?" Momonga asked Albedo.
"She has been shown the price of disobedience, and that she is powerless in the face of Ainz Ooal Gown. I cannot guarantee obedience in such a woman, only ensure it be as strong as possible." Albedo then scoffed. "Still, she is pathetic. She showed little concern or loyalty towards her colleagues, just horror at their fates, well-deserved though they were. She doesn't seem repentant about the misery she caused or witnessed in the Eight Fingers either. I hope she will prove to be of use as an asset. Otherwise, I'd be tempted to simply throw her into the Black Capsule and watch her be devoured from the inside out."
"Seconded," Momonga said. "What about you, Harry?"
"Thirded," Harry said. "Though honestly, my vote is more for having Shalltear chase her throughout the upper levels until she drops from exhaustion, and then let Shalltear eat her. What about the women we found in the brothel?"
"Being monitored as we speak," Momonga said. "Once we have arranged matters with the Blue Roses and Renner, we will have them placed into their custody. Honestly, I feel safer with Lakyus and Keno arranging where they go than with Renner. In any case, Albedo, well done. Regardless of whether Hilma proves to be an asset or a liability, you handled her recruitment well."
Albedo bowed. "Thank you, Lord Momonga. I only hope that she can prove of use. The paperwork we have retrieved from Hilma's residence should be copied soon, and we will bring the originals to the Blue Roses. Between them and Renner, they can dismantle the rest of the Eight Fingers, once we destroy the bulk of the organisation during Operation Gehenna. Scattered fragments of the organisation will probably remain, but they will be a mere shadow of what came before."
"Good. We can consider this practise for taking on the Theocracy," Momonga said. "Our goal is not the destruction of the people of the Theocracy, but the flawed ideology they represent. In other words, the notion that humans deserve to survive at the expense of all other species, and that even those humans who do not fall into line with said ideology are fair game. To kill an idea is nearly impossible…but we can expose the Six Gods for the arrogant wannabes they were. Thanks to Harry, we have a means of copying memories, and perhaps we can display them. What's more, we can introduce doubt. After all, what kind of god dies of old age? All of them, given what Antilene has told us, perished of old age, save for one, who was murdered by the Greed Kings. In fact, that will be the foundation of our campaign against the Theocracy. Use doubt to erode the populace's belief in their ideology, before finally striking the head off the snake."
"A most brilliant plan, Momonga," Albedo said. "Should I communicate as such to Demiurge? Knowing him, he may already have his own plans for the Theocracy, but I think this plan would appeal to him, if only because of the deviousness needed. That, and messing with the minds of these fools."
"Yes, it would be prudent to notify Demiurge," Momonga said. "What do you think of that plan, Harry?"
"What, messing with the beliefs of the people of the Theocracy? I'm game. Those tossers basically caused a bunch of fundamentalist neo-Nazis to crop up," Harry said. "It'll be fun to tear down their legacy in whatever way we can. And it's certainly a better idea to do that, erode their faith in their gods instead of simply trying to destroy it. Hell, knowing the truth about the Six Gods didn't affect either Lakyus or Roberdyck's abilities, but they had more faith in what their respective gods represent, not the gods themselves."
"An interesting point that I did not consider," Momonga said. "Hmm, faith in a concept rather than a deity working for the purpose of magic…that's intriguing. But I think enough has been discussed for the night. We have a busy day ahead of us. With two top figures in the Eight Fingers disappearing, along with Succulent…I think the Eight Fingers are already quite nervous."
"Then let them be nervous," Albedo said. "They have acted with impunity for too long." A smirk touched her lips. "It's past time that they learned what it means for the predator to become prey, for the hunter to be hunted…"
CHAPTER 21 ANNOTATIONS:
Hilma has been captured. I'll be perfectly honest, I'm not wholly certain she deserved her canon fate, or at least in order to serve Nazarick's purposes. Throwing her into the Black Capsule to be eaten alive and healed continuously seems unnecessarily cruel, at least for someone you intended to use afterwards. So, Albedo, on her own initiative, decides to cow her into submission by showing her what awaited her. I was inspired by reading in a Horrible Histories book which described a Jesuit priest was imprisoned at the Tower of London (I could be wrong, but I think it may have been John Gerard), and prior to being tortured, was actually shown the torture instruments, as a means to try and scare him into confessing. Of course, Hilma knows when to submit.
In a way, her punishment is to live. Hilma wasn't in charge of the prostitution wing of the Eight Fingers (Coccodoll was), but her drugs still caused misery to hundreds if not thousands. Now, as Momonga points out, while she is going to be living a comfortable lifestyle, it's entirely at the pleasure of Ainz Ooal Gown, with the Sword of Damocles dangling over her head. Should she make a spectacular failure, or else betray them…she's fucked.
Just so you know, the Katze Plains Massacre probably won't happen in this story. By this point, a certain idiot noble is just second in line to his seat, and probably won't get first. That isn't to say Philip won't appear in some capacity…
Review-answering time! Mugen-Muse: I think even Demiurge would be stumped in trying to educate Havish on the nature of morality. Then again, considering Demiurge's complete lack of morals, he's probably handicapped there even before taking Havish's character into account.
Neon1311: I, uhh, never thought of it that way, but oddly enough, I think Renner would actually be open to the idea. Climb…I'm not so sure about, though.
WearyCurmudgeon: Fair enough, and there's all sorts of methods whereby genes can be juggled between parent and child. Believe me, I've studied molecular biology, I know at least the basics. It still beggars belief, though.
Skull Flame: Yeah, honestly, 'Fat Rapist Pig' is more suited than Staffan Havish. It says a lot about how much Sebas is disgusted by him that he is happy to send him off to Demiurge, someone he despises. And Demiurge won't be taking part in that, though honestly, your guess is as good as mine as to what his immediate reaction to Davernoch's nom de guerre will be. But we know what Demiurge would do to Davernoch, at least in general terms.
As for the Lizardmen, I alluded to it a few times, at least in brief, but I didn't elaborate. In short, Momonga and Harry did some surveillance, before they sent out Cocytus as an envoy, partly as an experiment to see how diplomatic some members of Nazarick could be. Thankfully, Cocytus and most tribes got along famously, and trading was set up. Because of Cocytus eventually being accompanied by Zaryusu, Zaryusu met Crusch Lulu and are now lovers. In many regards, the Lizardmen are unofficially part of Nazarick. The only dark proviso is that Momonga wanted Lizardmen corpses to experiment on.
I have to admit, only alluding to those events was because I honestly didn't like that arc, at least the novel version. It had some wonderful moments (the Shallchair incident, as well as Aura enjoying her watch and her burger), but a lot of the arcs that focus on people outside of Nazarick more than those in Nazarick tend not to be enjoyable for me. And in the Lizardmen Heroes story, it was partly because the titular Lizardmen weren't actually that interesting, whereas for the Workers arc, it was partly because Foresight was sympathetic, and yet got murdered by Momonga for relatively petty reasons.
No numbered annotations this time.