Overlord: The One Who Stayed
By: springpoweredtoaster
The Sunlight scripture's desperate weapon was not an angel, it was a race change item. Ainz's humanity is restored… and that's a problem. The butterfly effect results in many changes. Some die who lived, some lived who die, but still the will of Nazarick in this retelling, will not be denied. His level cap shattered and his humanity intact, what happens? Read on and see.
Status: ongoing
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2023-05-28
Words: 769429
Chapters: 398
Rated: Fiction T - Language: English - Genre: Drama/Adventure - Characters: Ainz, Lupusregina B., Enri E., Evileye - Reviews: 1,952 - Favs: 2,630 - Follows: 2,788
Original source: https//s/13800268/1/Overlord-The-One-Who-Stayed
Exported with the assistance of
Overlord: The One Who Stayed
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue-
Final chapter: Book One- -Key Notes-
Volume 2 Chapter 1
Volume 2 Chapter 2
Volume 2 Chapter 3
Volume 2 Chapter 4
Volume 2 Chapter 5
Volume 2 Chapter 6
Volume 2 Chapter 7
Volume 2 Chapter 8
Volume 2 Chapter 9
Volume 2 Chapter 10
Volume 2 Chapter 11
Volume 2 Chapter 12
NEWS
Volume 2 Chapter 13
Volume 2 Chapter 14
Volume 2 Chapter 15
Volume 2 Chapter 16
Volume 2 Chapter 17
Volume 2 Chapter 18
Volume 2 Chapter 19
Volume 2 Chapter 20
Volume 2 Chapter 21
Volume 2 Chapter 22
Volume 2 Chapter 23
Volume 2 Chapter 24
Volume 2 Chapter 25
Volume 2 Chapter 26
Volume 2 Chapter 27
Volume 2 Chapter 28
Volume 2 Chapter 29
Volume 2 Chapter 30
Volume 2 Chapter 31
Volume 2 Chapter 32
Volume 2 Chapter 33
Volume 2 Chapter 34
Volume 2 Chapter 35
Volume 2 Chapter 36
Volume 2 Chapter 37
Volume 2 Chapter 38
Volume 2 Chapter 39
Volume 2 Chapter 40
Volume 2 Chapter 41
Volume 2 Chapter 42
Author Note: News and stuff
Volume 3 Chapter 1
Volume 3 Chapter 2
Volume 3 Chapter 3
Volume 3 Chapter 4
Volume 3 Chapter 5
Volume 3 Chapter 6
Volume 3 Chapter 7
Volume 3 Chapter 8
Volume 3 Chapter 9
Volume 3 Chapter 10
Volume 3 Chapter 11
Volume 3 Chapter 12
Volume 3 Chapter 13
AN
Volume 3 Chapter 14
Volume 3 Chapter 15
Volume 3 Chapter 16
Volume 3 Chapter 17
Volume 3 Chapter 18
Volume 3 Chapter 19
Volume 3 Chapter 20
Volume 3 Chapter 21
Volume 3 Chapter 22
Volume 3 Chapter 23
Volume 3 Chapter 24
Volume 3 Chapter 25
Volume 3 Chapter 26
Volume 3 Chapter 27
Volume 3 Chapter 28
Volume 3 Chapter 29
Volume 3 Chapter 30
Volume 3 Chapter 31
Volume 3 Chapter 32
Volume 3 Chapter 33
Volume 3 Chapter 34
Volume 3 Chapter 35
Volume 3 Chapter 36
Volume 3 Chapter 37
Volume 3 Chapter 38
Volume 3 Chapter 39
Volume 3 Chapter 40
Volume 3 Chapter 41
Volume 3 Chapter 42
Volume 3 Chapter 43 -Epilogue-
Volume 4 begins: The Devil's Craftsmen
Volume 4 C1
Volume 4 C2
Volume 4 C3
Volume 4 C4
Volume 4 C5
Volume 4 C6
Volume 4 C7
Volume 4 C8
Volume 4 C9
Volume 4 C10
Volume 4 C11
Volume 4 C12
Volume 4 C13
Volume 4 C14
Volume 4 C15
Volume 4 C16
Volume 4 C17
Volume 4 C18
Volume 4 C19
Volume 4 C20
Volume 4 C21
Volume 4 C22
Volume 4 C23
Volume 4 C24
Volume 4 C25
Volume 4 C26
Volume 4 C27
Volume 4 C28
Volume 4 C29
Volume 4 C30
Volume 4 C31
Volume 4 C32
Volume 4 C33
Volume 4 C34
Volume 4 C35
Volume 4 C36
Volume 4 C37
Volume 4 C38
Volume 4 C39
Volume 4 C40
Volume 4 C41
Volume 4 C42
Volume 4 C43
Volume 4 C44
Volume 4 C45
Volume 4 C46
Volume 4 C47
Volume 4 C48
Volume 4 C49
Volume 4 C50 -Epilogue-
Volume 5 C1 -Unholy Kingdom-
Volume 5 C2
Volume 5 C3
Volume 5 C4
Volume 5 C5
Volume 5 C6
Volume 5 C7
Volume 5 C8
Volume 5 C9
Volume 5 C10
Volume 5 C11
Volume 5 C12
Volume 5 C13
Volume 5 C14
Volume 5 C15
Volume 5 C16
Volume 5 C17
Volume 5 C18
Volume 5 C19
Volume 5 C20
Volume 5 C21
Volume 5 C22
Volume 5 C23
Volume 5 C24
Volume 5 C25
Volume 5 C26
Volume 5 C27
Volume 5 C28
Volume 5 C29
Volume 5 C30
Volume 5 C31
Volume 5 C32
Volume 5 C33
Volume 5 C34
Volume 5 C35
Volume 5 C36
Volume 5 C37
Volume 5 C38
Volume 5 C39
Volume 5 C40
Volume 5 C41
Volume 5 C42
Volume 5 C43
Volume 5 C44 -Epilogue-
Volume 6 C1 -Sacred Unions-
Volume 6 C2
Volume 6 C3
Volume 6 C4
Volume 6 C5
Volume 6 C6
Volume 6 C7
Volume 6 C8
Volume 6 C9
Volume 6 C10
Volume 6 C11
Volume 6 C12
Volume 6 C13
Volume 6 C14
Volume 6 C15
Volume 6 C16
Volume 6 C17
Volume 6 C18
Volume 6 C19
Volume 6 C20
Volume 6 C21
Volume 6 C22
Volume 6 C23
Volume 6 C24
Volume 6 C25
Volume 6 C26
Volume 6 C27
Volume 6 C28
Volume 6 C29
Volume 6 C30
Volume 6 C31
Volume 6 C32
Volume 6 C33
Volume 6 C34
Volume 6 C35
Volume 6 C36
Volume 6 C37
Volume 6 C38
Volume 6 C39
Volume 6 C40
Volume 6 C41
Volume 6 C42
Volume 6 C43
Volume 6 C44
Volume 6 C45
Volume 6 C46
Volume 6 C47
Volume 6 V48
Volume 6 C49
Volume 7 C1 -Bloody Crown-
Volume 7 C2
Volume 7 C3
Volume 7 C4
Volume 7 C5
Volume 7 C6
Volume 7 C7
Volume 7 C8
Volume 7 C9
Volume 7 C10
Volume 7 C11
Volume 7 C12
Volume 7 C13
Volume 7 C14
Volume 7 C15
Warning
Volume 7 C16
Volume 7 C17
Volume 7 C18
Volume 7 C19
Volume 7 C20
Volume 7 C21
Volume 7 C22
Volume 7 C23
Volume 7 C24
Volume 7 C25
Volume 7 C26
Volume 7 C27
Volume 7 C28
Volume 7 C29
Volume 7 C30
Volume 7 C31
Volume 7 C32
Volume 7 C33
Volume 7 C34
Volume 7 C35
Volume 7 C36
Volume 7 C37
Volume 7 C38
Volume 7 C39
Volume 7 C40
Volume 7 C41
Volume 7 C42
Volume 7 C43
Volume 7 C44
Volume 7 C45
Volume 7 C46
Volume 7 C47
Volume 7 C48
Volume 7 C49
Volume 7 C50
Volume 7 C51
Volume 7 C52
Volume 7 C53
Volume 7 C54
Volume 7 C55
Volume 7 C56
Volume 7 C57
Volume 7 C58
Volume 7 C59
Volume 7 C60
Volume 7 C61
Volume 7 C62
Volume 7 C63
Volume 7 C64
Volume 7 C65
Volume 7 C66
Volume 7 C67
Volume 7 C68
Volume 7 C69
Volume 7 C70
Volume 7 C71
Volume 7 C72
Volume 7 C73
Volume 7 C74
Volume 7 C75
Volume 7 C76
Volume 7 C77
Volume 7 C78
Volume 7 C79
Volume 7 C80
Volume 7 C81
Volume 7 C82
Volume 7 C83
Volume 7 C84
Volume 7 C85
Volume 7 C86
Volume 7 C87
Volume 7 C88
Volume 7 C89
Volume 7 C90
Volume 7 C91
Volume 7 C92
Volume 7 C93
Volume 7 C94
Volume 7 C95
Volume 7 C96
Volume 7 C97
Volume 7 C98
Volume 7 C99
Volume 7 C100
Volume 7 C101
Volume 7 C102
Volume 7 C103
Volume 7 C104
Volume 7 C105
Volume 7 C106
Volume 7 C107
Volume 7 C108
Volume 7 C109
Volume 7 C110
Volume 7 C111
Volume 7 C112
Volume 7 C113
Volume 7 C114
Volume 7 C115
Volume 7 C116
Volume 7 C117
Volume 7 C118
Volume 7 C119
Volume 7 C120
Volume 7 C121
Volume 7 C122
Volume 7 C123
Volume 7 C124
Volume 7 C125 - Epilogue-
V75 Intermission-The Best Vacation Ever
Series End-
Vol 8: Darkest Before Dawn C1
Volume 8 C2
Volume 8 C3
Volume 8 C4
Volume 8 C5
Volume 8 C6
Volume 8 C7
Volume 8 C8
Volume 8 C9
Volume 8 C10
Volume 8 C11
Volume 8 C12
Volume 8 C13
Volume 8 C14
Chapter 1
AN: Note that this is a retelling of volume 1, some overlap occurs of course, but dramatic changes begin to manifest early. This is a commissioned work. No this is not erotica. (I know that's the norm with 'Ainz gets a dick' stories). Reviews are welcome.
The oppressor now feared his oppression. Nigun stared at what should not be possible. ' How can this magic caster, a man of no name that I've ever heard, do what I have just seen him do?!' Panic sent a tingle up and down his arms, legs, and spine. The cloaked and masked mage had clearly not even put any effort into his actions, and was as casual as if he were merely taking a stroll through the great parks of Kami Miyako.
"I don't know how you obtained such power, caster, but in other circumstances it would be enough for me to want to recruit you to our side. But I am afraid my mission doesn't allow for that today. Instead, I must defeat you with my most powerful weapon!" Nigun cackled, his mouth fell open in a laugh half filled with relief and half filled with mad terror at the possibility that even this might fail.
"Please permit me some small resistance." Ainz replied and took a graceful, mocking bow to the now terrified elites.
Nigun yanked out his ice blue crystal and without a word, activated the magic within. "With this, even the most powerful are made vulnerable!" He screeched the threat in a ripped voice when he extended the crystal out from his body.
A glow fell from the sky and engulfed the caster, who was suddenly clouded, a mere shadowy outline surrounded by the light.
The screech died and laughter, slow, low, and relieved began from the blonde member of the Sunlight Scripture. "Ah hah, haha hah… hah ahhhh…"
The laughter was taken up by the remaining members of his Scripture, if less enthusiastic than his own, "I warned you! You were no match, none! Nobody can resist the magic of the divine!" Nigun screeched again, eyes wild with hope, but the shadowy figure hidden by the wall of light that rained down on him, did not fall.
' What is… what is this? What have they done?' Ainz wondered as he stared at his gloved hands. He didn't need to remove them to know the difference, and yet despite himself, he couldn't help it. With the light obscuring his view outside, it felt likely that they couldn't see well within either. The magic which hit him neither hurt nor did any evident damage, but that did not change his sense of either relief or alarm or how they blended to confuse him to no end.
The sight of flesh on his forearm greeted his eyes. As understanding dawned, so did a peculiar twisted sense of humor. Almost as if he intended to mock the humans outside the light in which he stood, Ainz began to laugh.
"This?! This is what you've done?! What a joke! What a ridiculous, absurd joke! Is this what you think of as 'damage'?!" Ainz shouted, his back arched and his gauntlet covered hands went over his gut as he stared up to the sky from whence the light came and laughed harder and harder at the ones that were trying to threaten them.
"Eee!" Nigun shrieked again and took a step back, the hand holding the crystal dropped it to fall into the soft grass where men had bled and died only moments before. It landed with the quiet sound of bending green blades and his other arm went back with his leg. ' Run, run away while you can! While he's still within the light!'
His companion however, had clearly lost all reason, "How dare you! How dare you strike my love! My lord! The ruler of my heart and my every hope for every day that will ever be!" her hands came up and folded into fists beneath her wildly shaking head, the weapon she held swung madly like she had a grudge against the air instead of those who had cast their magic. "Curse you! Curse you all, you vile lower life forms !" Her howl of rage split the space between them like thunder and froze the Scripture with fear for the first time in their lives.
' So, this was their magic, a vulnerability spell, there were definitely players here, how interesting. So I'm… wait, am I human?' Ainz wondered, ' For all I know yet I might be an elf… I feel human, but what does an elf feel like?' It was an uncertain question, but some degree of relief settled in his body for the present. ' I wasn't sure I liked being a skeleton, but… what about my levels? This spell was specifically meant to hurt heteromorphic races and had a randomized duration. How long will this last? Are the rules the same here?' Questions ran like stampeding horses through his mind all in an instant.
Ainz raised a hand with palm out toward her as the light faded away to nothing, leaving him standing unperturbed as if nothing had ever happened. "Calm down, Albedo, it's fine, their pathetic magic was meant to make me vulnerable, and it failed."
"How can this be?! How?! You should be weaker!" Nigun cried out and clawed at his face in despair, he clawed at his flesh with such desperation that his nails tore at his skin and left red streaks as if a cat's claws had raked over both cheeks, and yet he felt no pain. He felt only one thing.
Fear. The thing felt no weaker.
"The spell didn't do what you thought it did." Ainz answered with the magnanimity of a king. ' My voice is still different, I wonder if I look the same?' The other question popped into his head in an instant, but his inner guildmaster and gamer couldn't help but come out to explain the failure. "Your ridiculous magic, if it had been used on the Warrior Captain, would have made him… something very different than himself, but you've misunderstood the nature of your spell, and so used it on an opponent who would never be weaker than you, no matter how many times you cast it."
The scripture members began to wobble at their knees, then fall to the ground without a blow being struck.
"As expected of my love! To break their will without striking and to know their magic even better than they!" Albedo exclaimed with joyful reverence.
Ainz ignored the praise and raised a hand to finish them. Then… he hesitated. His humanity gave him pause, the prospect of killing his own kind, the prospect of simple murder, made his stomach roil and he felt himself go faintly green at the prospect. Still, he had to keep up the role.
"Albedo, take them and return to Nazarick. I will finish here." Ainz ordered, the humans had a moment to gasp or squeak or squeal in terror as was their wont to do, but Albedo moved faster than eyes could see or reflexes could answer. Her cruel bardiche severed the right leg of every man in the scripture just at the back of their bended knees, sending a chorus of howls to the uncaring sky.
Nigun's eyes gazed to the heavens when the 'crack' caught his attention despite his screams.
"It seems your country was watching you… not that they saw much. Enough at least to know they should stay away from these lands from now on." Ainz explained to the howling Nigun.
He clutched and rolled on the grass, clutching the wounded stump and staring upward, ' If they see, won't they come for me?! Won't they save me! Won't they rescue me?!' He reached for the ephemeral hope as he saw out of the corner of his eye, the dark armored warrior woman simply tossed the wounded through a whorling ovoid shape in the air and made them disappear beyond sight.
She had just reached down and grabbed his collar when the sickening realization hit him. ' No, they won't come for me, because we don't have anyone who can defeat this caster. What have we done? By all the gods, what have we done?!' He wondered before the dark void engulfed him too.
It wasn't until Albedo had gone and he stood alone that Ainz examined his character sheet and levels. ' I see… so my racial levels aren't gone but… 'available for use', so I can re-allocate them. That's good. Next…' He removed his mask and ran his hands over his face and ears, ' Yes, definitely human.' His hand went down to his chest and to his crotch. ' Yes, definitely male, good to have that back at least. My 'son' made it.'
' Wait… what the hell…?' Ainz put the mask back on and focused more sharply at his stats. ' How did I gain xp?! I'm max level, one hundred… how could I… unless…'
His inner player emerged to force a smile over his face that he couldn't fight, ' The level cap… the level cap is gone, or at least 'changed' significantly.' The understanding that he could grow ever stronger, the dream of every player, ran through his veins like alcohol to an alcoholic. It intoxicated him so much that he had to sit down. "Did they do this? Or is that a product of this world?" He muttered the question to no one in particular. With the return of humanity came his other senses, and the full force of 'the world' hit him all at once.
His own horrid, polluted, ruined world of domes and smog, filthy sky and filthy ground was utterly at odds with this one. The constant smog that killed those whose cheap personal filters broke was gone. The concrete jungle of his city was replaced by the feel of soft grass, the smell of artificial chemicals was replaced by clean air, flowers, and things he was sure his world once had, but which vanished long before his time. Ainz's eyes welled up behind the mask, "Blue Planet… if you could be here now… all of you… my precious friends… would you feel like I do now?"
He lay out on the grass, his arms and legs stretched out, certain he was alone, he removed his gauntlets and ran fingers over the little blades of green that were nothing but a memory at home. Ainz had no idea how long he enjoyed the moment, but it was probably too long, ' They're no doubt still waiting back in the village to find out what happened, it would be rude of me to keep them waiting.' He took several long deep breaths while he put the gauntlet back on and ventured toward the village again.
He was seen almost immediately and a cheer erupted from within, and out came the Warrior Captain, his bulging muscles and powerful, deep set eyes were the same as Ainz recalled. ' Undead or not undead, he is an impressive sort of man. Respectable courage, too.'
"So, you slew them, Sir Ainz?" Gazef asked, a half dejected huff left his lungs, "I am ashamed of my weakness in the face of strength like yours."
Ainz waved it off, "They're not dead, but they are gone, let that be enough, Warrior Captain."
"Please, you saved my life, call me Gazef, and… if you accept nothing else from me today, accept my welcome later, come to the capital some day, and I will welcome you with open arms." Gazef slowly extended his hand, Ainz took it, and grasped with a firm squeeze.
Gazef's eyes went even wider, but he said nothing of what he thought. ' Magic caster's are supposed to be physically weak, but he feels stronger than me!' He buried the unworthy, jealous thought, and bowed his head when the grip broke.
"I may take you up on that… Gazef, for now, farewell. I will take it as a favor if you would send some relief supplies to this village, and if there are survivors from the other places, bring them here. I promise… no one will attack this village ever again." The words of the magic caster brought glorious and joyful smiles to the faces of the peasants who beamed bright as the sun above their heads, staring in gratitude at their unexpected savior.
"I- I believe I can arrange for that." Gazef said, barely blinking back tears from the depth of his heart that the wish of his peasant childhood was so unexpectedly fulfilled.
Albedo was at his side again by the time the funeral was taking place. "Tell me, Albedo, what do you think of 'humans'."
"They are lower life forms unworthy to exist on this side of the dirt." She spat immediately.
"I see, I see." Ainz replied in the most sage tone he could manage. ' Shit, I didn't even think about that! Almost all the NPCs despise humans! This is bad, this is very bad, what if they see me this way, what if they find out?! Will their loyalty hold? Damn it! Alright, so who doesn't expressly hate humans?! The twins, they don't. Neither does Sebas, some are generally neutral, but others? No, others are… they… alright, the mask stays on. At least it has some deception bonuses so as long as I wear it, my change shouldn't be obvious. But… I need to look into a way to change back as soon as possible!'
The silence stretched between them and Ainz coughed and cleared his throat to bridge the gap. A stone's toss away, the young girl and young woman he'd saved wept over a pair of stones that marked the graves of their parents. Nor were they alone. Thirty lives had been lost, a devastating harvest of blood and death for a village that couldn't have had more than two hundred individuals.
He fingered the wand, his heart ached as he recalled the loved ones he once had, and he struggled not to think of them, ' Resurrection might be too much for this world, it may not be possible at all, or if it is, it must be rare.' The notion of drawing the wrong kind of attention to himself made sweat spring to his newly restored skin. ' I did enough, that will do.' He told himself, but whether he really believed it or not, even he wasn't sure.
Instead he focused on the moment, "Albedo, I understand why you might think that way, I felt the same on first sight. But as I look at them now, I think of them like…" He paused, trying to think of some favorable way to present them and hopefully temper Albedo's contempt, ' Like small animals? Insects with their place? No…' Finally, with her eyes turned toward his white painted mask of jealousy, peering through the slit in her helmet, he answered her. "Like pets, or useful tools, or raw materials from which great things are made." ' Alright,' Ainz thought, ' that last part might have been too much, but I can't unsay what is said.'
"My lord's wisdom is beyond bounds, I will act according to your will." She bowed her head to her master and as they turned to go, the village chief approached.
"My lord, will we see you again? We still must repay you somehow." The old man rasped out, worn out from the strain of the day, breathing hard despite not having gone very far, his hand was outstretched to stop the departure of his rescuer.
"Yes, for now, rest assured the time will come when you can repay your debt to me, till then, live long and prosper. When I need you, I will be here again." Ainz said, and the portal opened at his back.
The old man's eyes bulged at the sight of the gate, ' Such regal bearing, he must be a nobleman of some kind… if this isn't what a king is like, I don't know what is…' The village chief though, kept his thoughts to himself and his awe etched on his face when he bowed at the waist.
"Thank you, my lord! We are yours whenever you need us!" He pronounced from the depths of his soul, and the regal savior inclined his head, and stepped with his companion, through the void and disappeared.
Chapter 2
"Question them thoroughly, but question them… lightly." Ainz had said to her when he left the humans in her custody.
When Albedo left the torture chamber of Neuronist, she was still confounded at the orders. "Strange that my lord would give us such an order." It was enough to make Albedo scratch her horn in confusion when she went to deliver her report. Her feet clicked in a steady rhythm over the stone floor, the echo resounding off the walls in her isolated walk, her lack of company making it easy to enjoy the alone time of her thoughts.
' Could he have a use for them alive? Further experiments? Obviously I can't 'question' his decision, but if I am to serve well I should be able to better understand his mind.' That was a comforting thought in and of itself, but the prospect of spending even more time with her beloved Ainz made her entire body quiver with excitement, so much so that when she reached the door to his office she had to stop with her fingers wrapped around the handle.
Albedo's other hand went to her breast while she got control of her breathing, and then knocked soundly three times on the heavy wood. The dull thud noise carried within, for a moment there was no sound but her pounding heart, and then she heard his voice.
As soon as the sound hit his ears, Ainz was breathing hard. He held a hand to his chest, the gauntlet pressed the flesh beneath his robes and made him only more anxious than before. ' OK, OK, calm down, stay calm, she doesn't know, the mask hides racial data at least so there's no way she could know I'm not undead anymore. All I have to do is 'act' the part.'
"Enter." Ainz announced after anxious seconds and snatched his hand down to his lap before the door opened.
"Your report, Albedo." He said, borrowing the voice of a no nonsense boss he recalled from his previous employment.
Albedo felt the rush of arousal in her loins at his commanding voice, but keeping her tiny smile and calm composure, she answered him thoroughly as soon as she walked past the death knight and closer to his desk.
"The commander was a font of information, even with minimal prompting, Demiurge did have to use his command mantra once, but now we know everything they do about their home country and the area surrounding it." Albedo completed her statement, but in her bright glowing yellow eyes, a question lingered.
"Is there something wrong, Albedo?" Ainz inquired, struggling to keep the squeak at bay. ' Does she know?!' He wanted to cry out, but she only wrung her hands together in front of her waist and shifted on her feet.
"My lord, permit the question, and forgive me if it is not my place, but… why do we let them live?" Albedo's question was a very practical one from a demon's perspective, Ainz recognized that immediately.
' We know everything, now they'll just consume resources, kill them and we can have them serve as food, or we can experiment on their corpses, alive they're a burden. Quick! She's staring at you, think of something!' Ainz shouted at himself and cleared his throat.
"Because we don't know what use they may have later. Perhaps a trade with their home country, perhaps a return of them as hostages as a gesture of good will. Since we can't know what use they'll have alive, we shouldn't kill them yet. Once they're dead, we may not be able to revive them, but alive we can simply kill them at our leisure." Ainz spat out the half thought answer from a video game villain he once recalled and watched Albedo's face.
"My love! My wonderful Ainz, how insightful! How far ahead you think, to even consider the oddities of the unknown and factor that into your fathomless calculations!" Albedo cried out and flung herself from where she stood, to by his chair so that she was at his feet.
"My lord, my love…" She said with reverence and played with the ring on the finger reserved for brides.
"Albedo, the rest…" Ainz said after clearing his throat again and shifting in his seat.
"Ah, yes, yes my lord. Shadow demons monitor the village and we have more following Gazef back to his Kingdom's capital. We will continue to watch for anyone worth mentioning, and we've checked the bodies. None managed to rise from the dead with Pestonya's resurrection, they turned to dust when we tried. None of their equipment was worth mentioning, some minor enchantments, but not worth equipping any of our own with them." Albedo finished, and Ainz took up where she left off.
"Good, keep the village under observation and safe from all threats. That's everything for now." Ainz said, but Albedo didn't move from where she'd cast herself.
Which is not to say she was motionless, a hand, her ring bearing hand, came up toward him, and Ainz immediately responded by taking it, a wave of guilt washed over him like a sea breaking through a levy in a hurricane.
"Albedo, stop. No." The words were torn from his lips with the greatest effort, and the seductive beauty of the succubus hit him like a freight train, he felt his body sweat with anticipation, such beauty, such devotion, all his, for him, and all he had to do was reach out and take it.
But he couldn't.
"Albedo, you feel what you do because I did something terrible to you. I don't know how I can ever make it right… you're the child of a dear friend, and I changed you." The sea of guilt only rose at his confession, but Albedo's answer gave him pause.
"What was I before you graced me with your choice, my love?" Albedo asked him with wondering eyes.
His tension was answer enough, and her eyes briefly went away from him.
"I wasn't a woman you could love, was I?" She asked, and the silence held from her beloved lord.
"I still shouldn't have done what I did." Ainz finally said with conviction.
"Do you dislike me as I am? Does it disturb you? Does it inconvenience you? Am I less wanted?" Albedo asked the slew of questions and terror at her own boldness welled up. ' What will he say?! What if he says yes to any of that? Or worse, all of that?!'
"No." Ainz said and put a hand on the soft dark hair of her head. "I could never, you're the child of a dear friend, as I said."
"Then there isn't a problem, it's no different than if my father, my maker, gave me away to marriage. I like who I am, and what you made of me, and if you're not unhappy with it either, then is it a problem?" Albedo rose to her knees and clutched her fingers around the gauntlet. The tightness of her hold would have bent a lesser metal or broken a weaker hand, but with his strength and equipment intact, it was like any other woman's soft hand close to the surface of his body.
They were interrupted by the sound of a sword clattering to the floor. "I see, so a sword of this world won't bind them here, but if we make them from corpses, they will remain." Ainz said, explaining the sudden racket.
"Then we should procure more corpses, correct, my lord?" Albedo asked with the automatic competence he expected out of an overseer.
"Yes, but avoid disturbing the graves of the villagers, we should keep our good will with them as high as possible in case we need them later, we must procure them from some other place." Ainz gave the quick instruction, a flash of pity ran through him for the unfortunates, but eager for a distraction, turned his mind to something else.
"Gather everyone to the throne room. You go ahead first, I will follow shortly." Ainz ordered, and Albedo rose, slowly, ensuring he got an eyefull of her ample cleavage.
' Oh my god those are… holy. Divine, beautiful… and they belong to your best friend's 'daughter' of a sort, don't be a pervert, Satoru!' Ainz reprimanded himself while his overseer rose to her feet and left the office, rolling her hips before his eyes with every step. ' Don't be the sort of boss that takes advantage of a subordinate! Even if you have to hide what you are for now!' Ainz reminded himself when the door shut, and he was at last able to take a relaxed breath after his successful act.
' Ainz-sama feels different somehow, but I can't put my finger on it, but still… he acknowledged my feelings and didn't reject them! What a wonderful victory over that little loli lamprey!' Albedo's heart sang and a happy smile was fixed unmoving on her face when she encountered Sebas in the hall.
"Lady Albedo, is Momonga-sama available?" Sebas asked, and seeing her face, he asked further, "You seem to be in a remarkably good mood, did something happen?"
"Yes," was all Albedo said, and walked on with a spring in her step that left Sebas watching her retreat with great but unspoken curiosity.
' Shalltear will be nothing but my lord's footstool when all is said and done! I and I alone am going to be seated beside him!' They were selfish thoughts and selfish words, and part of her quailed at the force behind them, but her woman's heart which ached for his absolute devotion to her, could not regret them. Nor could she keep her succubus heart from throbbing, or her blood from boiling, nor keep back the fluttering happiness that made her feel light as air all the way to the throne room.
Sebas followed the fashionably late Ainz into the great throne room where most of the guardians and maids were now assembled. No one moved from the places where they knelt. The tapping of the staff and the sound of footsteps were the only things to break the silence.
The master of death ascended the steps while Sebas knelt front and center before his maids. ' Such dignity and poise… truly he is the leader of the forty-one.' Sebas held fast the reverential thought while he beheld the back of the one who stayed.
From on high when he was seated, Ainz was compelled to admit that they made a majestic looking group. ' My friends, my precious friends, if only you could see what a wonder you truly wrought… you would, like me, never want to leave it.'
Like a rubber band stretched too far, he snapped and the thought was gone, sweat ran down his skin and he shivered within his robes. ' I can't fail them!' He reminded himself and to disguise the shudder, he stood from his throne.
Ainz's eyes swept his guardians, maids, and many vassals from behind the mask, and he struggled to speak, the words of apology he intended to offer died in his throat. ' No, don't. Pleasantry or not, I shouldn't tell them I apologize unless I am sincere.'
[Greater Break Item] He cast the spell and the flags bearing the sigil of Momonga fell and ceased to be.
Shock briefly colored every face save for that of the unflappable Sebas and the smiling Albedo who already knew his intent.
"My name is now Ainz Ooal Gown, I may be addressed as such." He swept his staff out before him to hide his nervousness, making a grand gesture of the pronouncement and then holding his arms up high and out. "Does anyone object? If so, let them speak!"
' Please don't object! Please don't say anything, please oh please oh please I don't want to have to explain myself!' Ainz begged in his mind.
Nobody did.
"We have heard your glorious name, Supreme One! We pledge our undying loyalty to you, our beloved master." Albedo pronounced, though when she did, he heard her special emphasis on 'beloved' and felt certain that word was her pledge and hers alone.
No other seemed to notice it, or if they did, they saw no way or reason to object to it. The remaining guardians, joined by Albedo, all announced as one, "All glory to Ainz Ooal gown! Supreme Lord and leader of us all! Ainz Ooal Gown, we give ourselves completely to you! Long live your mighty name, our King of fearsome power, all shall know of your greatness!" The shouts and praise of servants high and low were so long and loud that they were heard beyond the open door of the throne room and were taken up even by those not in attendance. It seemed in that moment to Ainz as if the entire tomb shouted as one body, like one being.
Though his breast swelled with pride, a part of his mind was elsewhere. ' My friends, would you object to using our name? I'm hoping only to borrow it, if there are others like me who are trapped here who may know of us. Perhaps I can help them, or perhaps word of this name will reach you, and you will find your way here… and call it home again. If you do, when you do… I will happily be myself again… assuming of course, the loyalty of the tomb can stay with me as I now am. Perhaps the spell will wear off, perhaps it won't, but for now… I must hide in my own skin, until I know for sure.'
The shouting died down as if it were timed to do so with his fading, drifting reflections, and he chose to address the tomb again.
"-Next, we're going to do something new. In the past, the Tomb, our precious home, has always held to itself, defending always in victory, but never venturing out beyond our sacred home. But no legend is ever born from remaining at home. Instead, we will make our mark on this world, make my mighty name a legend that spreads through all time and all lands!" Ainz hoped he wasn't squeaking as he borrowed the 'presenter voice' as best he could, then for dramatic effect, he grasped the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown tightly in his hand, rapped it on the ground, and the air trembled.
"There may be heroes who will oppose us, but we will be greater, surpassing everyone else. Everyone will know us for the true heroes! If there are stronger, we will be smarter, if smarter, we will be stronger. By any means necessary, we will show this world that we are the greatest force to ever exist, will you fight for this glorious future?!" Ainz bellowed out the question, and again the cheers echoed throughout the tomb as renewed oaths poured from ecstatic lips.
' My friends, if you exist in this world, you or others, you will hear this name one day, and come to me.' The reverential thought that all but broke his heart, seemed to have infected the rest, and as the cheers died, their heads fell as if in silent prayer for the realization of their master's vision.
Ainz sat alone in his room with the door locked by every means available and took off his costume. ' It really does feel like cosplay…' He thought privately and stared at the reflection in the mirror. Though he felt somewhat at ease since Albedo had asked to address them when he departed, and therefore no one should come by seeking him, he still had a tingle of doubt.
In the mirror, there wasn't Suzuki Satoru. He touched his face, it was lean and not at all fat, with almost 'squared' features. His hair was still black, but his body looked and felt different. "So this is what it feels like to have a lot of muscles." He muttered and touched his abs. "I suppose my strength stats are responsible for this, my voice isn't really that different. In fact it's almost identical to the one I had as an undead except for the desire to squeak when I'm nervous." He rolled his eyes and ran his hand through the thick dark hair on his head and took a deep breath.
"The real question though, is how well can I use this body, I seem to be a bit taller than average, that is if Gazef and the village are any example, but how well can I use my warrior skills, and my other magic… and what do I put my spare racial levels to… so much to think about." He rambled on to the handsome man in the mirror. "So, the first thing though, I can't keep this secret forever, so who can I trust will definitely not despise me if they know I'm like this? They all 'seem' loyal, but Shalltear is a vampire, Demiurge and Albedo are demons… Sebas? Not human but he has a high karma value and should be a lawful good alignment."
No answers were readily forthcoming to him, but… an idea did take shape, something that would 'delay' the discovery by the tomb and allow him to strengthen himself enough that 'if' they turned on him, he should be strong enough to fend off anyone. ' The level cap is raised, who knows how high, if I can become powerful enough, I won't have to worry, but to do that, I need to grind again. So… I need to both grind, and keep my secret for now until this either wears off or until it no longer matters if it does or not. Well Ainz, looks like you're putting some levels into warrior, and going on an adventure. But of course… whom should I take with me?' Ainz had no answer to that one either, but from the bottom of his heart, despite everything, he felt something else entirely.
A sudden, rising… excitement.
Chapter 3
A black armored warrior stood in the arena, but he did not stand alone. ' I need to be sure I can do this.' Ainz told himself.
"Just a low level goblin, my lord?" Cocytus asked and hissed out freezing air before he used the scroll.
"Yes, I need to do more experiments." Ainz answered, though he didn't reveal the nature of what he wanted to learn.
He heard the sound of the heatless blue flames consuming the parchment, and then in front of him stood a summoned monster. The goblin had only a moment of self awareness before the massive blade cleaved it in twain. The sickening sound of flesh and a cry of pain carried around the arena, the stumps of arms pulled it along, spurting blood and dragging bloody intestines behind it. Ainz stepped back, disgust and horror ran through him.
' It's alive?!' He realized as the pitiable summon stared up through hopeless eyes.
"Wh-" The question was only half formed on its lips, ' Why… why did you call me up?! What did I do wrong…?' It wanted to ask, the word died on its lips when the sword pierced the brain and ended the pain of the summon. Weak in the knees, Ainz fell to the corpse and vomited against his mask, the acidic bile stained the inside as he truly shed blood for the first time in his life.
' That… will stay with me.' Ainz had the grim thought, the all too human face, begging to understand before it died, was already gone. The summon vanished into the aether as the magic dissipated.
With his back to Cocytus, Ainz felt comfortable enough, and desperate enough, to raise the face plate, remove the mask beneath, and briefly wipe it in the sand. "Blood got into my helmet." Ainz said when he heard Cocytus take a step forward.
It was enough to stop the guardian in his tracks when Ainz added, "Prepare another scroll, something more powerful this time, a werewolf." Cocytus began sorting through scrolls while Ainz frantically wiped the vomit from the mask and then affixed it back to his face and closed the helmet over it.
"I'm ready." Ainz said, and listened as the scroll burned up. His heart beat madly as guilt over the brutal killing ran through him, ' It may have been 'just a summon', but its pain was real enough, no more of that… unless-' Ainz was distracted by his thoughts, but at the moment the werewolf rushed him, those thoughts vanished. His body moved almost on its own. He easily leapt over the dark furred beast, its hot breath wafting to him. Ainz could almost hear the sound of dripping saliva falling to the sands of the arena. ' Those levels put into warrior classes are very effective.' When he was upside down as he flipped past the arm of the monster, he swung his sword and severed the arm at the elbow. The werewolf went down, but only for a moment as it went into a berserker rage.
It charged with snapping jaws clapping shut, just shy of Ainz' face, he danced back, testing his reflexes and fending off the sharp claws of the remaining hand, ' Yes, this is amazing, this body is wonderful!' He thought while he toyed with the rage filled monster that dripped blood in the sand as it moved after him, kicking up clouds behind it in its desperate effort to chase him down.
' I was never this fit in my own world… and this also makes up for having lost my undead characteristics fairly well.' He contemplated this just before raising his sword up, and with one firm twisting slash, bringing it down across the monster's body and splitting it from right shoulder to left hip. The two halves split and toppled, the jaw snapping hopelessly into the sand, until the beast died and vanished.
As soon as it was gone, Ainz checked his exp totals. ' The goblin gave me two exp, the werewolf gave me twenty, more importantly I now know I can grind against summoned monsters. That definitely isn't from the game. They stopped that in the first patch when magic casters power leveled themselves and their guilds rather than explore or do quests.'
Cocytus watched his warrior clad lord stand with the sword tip buried in the sands, resting his hands on the pommel, the guardian revelled in the admiration of his master's display. ' Is there anything my lord cannot do?' "Would you like another, my lord?"
Just about to say yes, but request something stronger, Ainz saw a trio of other guardians entering the arena. Albedo, Shalltear, and Aura.
"There'd be nothing but sour old milk in those balloons on your chest you gorilla, someone like you is just not fit to be Lord Ainz's first wife!" Shalltear spat the words out, but Albedo did not yet rise to the bait.
"My 'balloons' are at least inflated, I don't have to stuff my bra to pretend I have them. I thought your defense was high, but it seems those mosquito bites on your chest would make that assumption of mine false. Why, without stuffing up top, you would be flatter than Mare." Albedo cackled and put a hand to her chest like she wanted to emphasize its size, Shalltear of course, could only fume in rage.
"You bitch, that food display you put up there isn't even fit for a human, let alone the glorious scion of our lord!" Shalltear snarled, and that got under Albedo's skin.
Ainz suppressed the wince, but stopped in mid step before he approached them. ' Scary women… I'd be lying if I said I didn't at least enjoy their notice, but-' His trail of thought cut off when Albedo completely lost her temper at the last insult and began bellowing a stream of invectives at the diminutive guardian.
Shalltear was one of the strongest in Nazarick, though you wouldn't have known it by looking at her, a bell shaped victorian dress of black and white that hung down to her ankles, a delicate looking black parasol, and a childish face that made her appear to be about age fourteen. She carried herself erect and with perfect poise despite her argument with the Guardian Overseer, and her voice, when not yelling, was as delicate sounding as her face was looking.
She took the insult with a cocky little smile with her lip upturned on one side and continued her stately walk as they drew closer to their master.
' -But they are a bit much, no matter how beautiful.' The pair had no way of knowing how the insult, and how it was received, cut into Ainz and set him ever more resolutely into his decision to keep his secret from them, and while they bickered, he chose to address Aura.
Aura knelt immediately when she came close while the pair hung back to fight over their love rivalry over their master, and Ainz tried to distract himself from the memory of Shalltear's whispered words from before, ' Your bones must be divine…' The necrophilia fetish was a bit much even when he was undead.
Now that he was human, it was even worse. ' Did Peroroncino just copy and paste the fetishwiki into her backstory?' He wondered, and immediately thought, ' Probably so.'
Then he came back to his senses as Aura began to speak. "Forgive me, my lord but they have been at it all morning."
"Have they? Well, it's to be expected." Ainz played it off as best he could and let out an exasperated sigh, ' Just keep up the act. You were already pretending to be an all knowing lord, now just add 'not human' on top of that.' "Regardless," he added, "Tell me what you found."
"My lord, we searched everywhere we could for several days, and found no evidence of any supreme beings. Though for terrain we found a large forest, a large lake at the foothills of the mountain range, and some very interesting animals… which I hope you will permit me to gather some day." Aura gave a glowing smile and her tanned ears twitched.
' She is still a child, and a lovely, charming girl.' Ainz laughed and reached out to pat her head, she flushed rosy at her cheeks and squeezed her eyes shut. "Of course Aura, once we're sure of the lay of the land, I will let you capture some rare monsters if that is what you want. How could I refuse the child of my dear Lady Bukubukuchagama?"
His billowing, enthusiastic voice as he indulged the wishes of a girl he saw as the child of a deeply cherished friend, ' And almost… more? Maybe? If I had-' Ainz cut off his own line of thought as it crashed down on him in an instant. Without the game, without his friends, without his old life and all its concerns obscuring his vision, Bukubukuchagama's winsome tease took on a new life and a new perspective. ' Or… maybe it's my intelligence stat or luck stat or something else telling me what I was too dense to recognize before.' He crouched down and pulled Aura into his arms. "Of course." He said, doing his best to disguise what he really felt and failing miserably.
' Lord Ainz is hugging me! Lord Ainz is hugging me! The Supreme Being, the ruler of Nazarick! The one who stayed is hugging me!' Aura panicked at first, but then a moment later her sudden shock was replaced by the happiest moment of her life, her heart sang and her arms rushed around the armored body as much as her little limbs could manage it.
"You'll have the very best life I can give you, and all the beasts you can tame." Ainz said with the deepest sincerity and the noise of arguing from the two guardians ground to a screeching halt when they saw the sudden affection of their master for the dark elf girl.
Ainz swallowed the lump in his throat over the opportunity he didn't realize he'd lost until that moment, and the opportunity presented to him now to look after the children of his companions. He glanced up to see the other guardians staring open mouthed and with quivering around their eyes as both Shalltear and Albedo tried to determine if they had a new and unexpected rival or not.
' Ainz-sama is the best! The very, very best!' Aura thought and squeezed hard enough that ordinary armor would have been crushed in her grip. When Ainz began to relax his embrace, Aura did the same, though her lips formed a little pout when he stood up.
"Go on, finish what you were saying, Aura." Ainz said while trying very hard not to look at the two guardians that had fallen to silence over his sudden display of affection for the little dark elf.
"S-So we haven't found anyone worth mentioning, not even any lesser beings except for ones who are part of this new world. We did find some natives and there is a village of lizard people not far away, but otherwise nothing but empty land, wilderness, beasts, and monsters."
"I see, we'll continue to monitor the situation, set some of your stronger and more intelligent beasts to patrolling the area covertly until we are completely concealed."
"Yes, of course, Lord Ainz!" Aura said with excitement, the blush still on her face, she looked up at him with a little biting motion on her lower lip.
"Do you need something else, Aura?" Ainz asked when she didn't say anything else.
"It's just, can-can I hug you again, my lord? That was nice." Aura grinned sheepishly, and Ainz crouched and opened his arms.
She dove into them and squeezed again, until Ainz's grip began to slacken and he stood again.
"Thank you, my lord!" She shouted and skipped away more than happy with the best reward she could imagine at the time.
"Now, what, Albedo, Shalltear, can I do for you?" Ainz asked and reflexively picked up the sword he left buried a quarter way up its length into the arena sands. He propped it up on his shoulder, and Albedo looked down at Shalltear with the same intense, steady eyed gaze that Shalltear gave when looking up into the eyes of her rival in love.
Before, Ainz swore he was seeing a battle among women, but now it seemed, he was seeing a truce among the same. The two guardians spoke in one voice.
"Can we have hugs too?!" The pair exclaimed and put on the same pouty face Aura wore a moment ago, right down to biting their lower lips and gazing up into his eyes.
A piece of his heart cracked, and in spite of the danger of possible discovery, however remote it might have been, Ainz answered by sheathing his blade, opening his arms, and saying… "Yes."
The 'squee' noise of excitement as they rushed toward him, kicking up a flurry of arena sand behind their heels, made the risk worthwhile as far as Ainz was concerned.
Chapter 4
"My Lord." Sebas folded a hand over his chest and leaned forward in a formal half bow, at his back, the Pleiades battle maids curtsied while they stood upon the arena sands before their lord. Nearby a jealous Shalltear and Albedo stood watching, equal parts euphoric from their chance to embrace their lord, and fuming that they would not get to go with him.
"I am venturing out into the world myself, and I need one of you to accompany me." Ainz said with a sweeping gaze from within his helmet.
Gasps came from the maids and they snapped their eyes up instinctually to look at the concealed face. While CZ was difficult to read, ' Her constantly neutral face is beautiful, but definitely not human enough. A disguise could fix that, but still, even if I could, her manner is such that few humans would feel comfortable with her.'
"Rest assured, even if you are not chosen today, that isn't a reflection of any failure in yourself, only that your design makes you better for a different task, and when I call on you for it, I will need you to give your all." Ainz spoke as lovingly as he could to the array of beautiful battle maids, and though some pouted a little, they were all quick to answer.
"Of course, my lord." Or some variant of "Whatever you choose will of course be correct."
"First, know that you will be venturing among humans. If you have a special hatred for their kind, please step out of line now." Ainz said, and then wondered, ' Should I have made that an order? No… yes, I should have, but it's difficult to just order around my friend's children.'
Narberal Gamma and Solution Epsilon immediately stepped backward.
"Next, because I am venturing among a mostly human society, you must be as capable of blending in as possible. If you lack, or your creator did not give you the means to blend in, please step out of line now." Ainz narrowed the field again.
CZ2128 Delta and Entoma Vasilissa Zeta took one step backward.
Only Yuri Alpha and Lupusregina Beta remained. Ainz looked over the remaining pair who stood with heads demurely bowed at Sebas's right and left side, their hands delicately folded in front of their waists.
He tried to recall their settings, ' Didn't her creator call her 'The Smiling Sadist' or something?' Ainz asked himself. ' And didn't Yuri Alpha's creator make her into a serious workaholic?' Both had drawbacks, but the former seemed more potentially problematic.
Ainz pointed to Lupusregina, "Step forward, Lupusregina. I seem to recall you enjoy the suffering of humans, this sounds the same as disliking them. Or am I wrong? You aren't hiding your hatred so that you can accompany me, are you?"
Lupusregina shivered at the almost accusation of dishonesty. She shook her head with wild denial, "MylordIwouldnever!" She spoke so fast it was all one word and her eyes filled with tears.
"My creator designed me to enjoy the suffering of my friends, regardless of whether they're human or not. The more I like them, the more I like their suffering. But I don't especially hate humans or anyone else! I promise!" She slapped her hands together with fingers interlocked and held them up level with her chest as if in prayer. "Please, believe me my lord, I would never lie to you!"
' So he gave her a twisted personality.' Ainz mused and fought the shiver by turning his eye to Yuri Alpha. He then yanked his eyes back to Lupusregina as a thought occurred to him, ' I really didn't mean to make her cry, great, now I feel terrible.'
"I believe you," Ainz said, "but does that mean you would be more eager and more readily be comfortable making friends with them?"
Like she wanted to make up for her twisted personality, she nodded with the same vigor she'd used when denying the earlier question. "Yesmylord!" Her obvious eagerness made her once again string the words together as if they were all one.
' No! Not a decision! No! No! No! No! No matter what I do one of them will be hurt, and I don't want that! But I have to pick someone… I should have just chosen away from them and just sent for whoever I wanted later, but… I needed a distraction from those two.' He cast a side eye toward Albedo and Shalltear. ' I'm a terrible boss 'and' a terrible father.' A depression washed over his body as he looked at Yuri Alpha…
"Yuri Alpha." Ainz asked, "Who do you believe is better suited to accompany me on this expedition?"
"Lupusregina Beta, my lord. Her personality is twisted," she pushed up her glasses when the red headed maid looked over at her sister and stuck out her tongue, "but she is friendly, outgoing, and is a capable cleric. Her ability to heal may be very helpful in your travels."
' Does she know?!' Alarm chased away the brief depression, and then he stopped that line of thinking cold. ' No, I'll be among humans, it's a reasonable thought.'
"Very well, Lupusregina, you will accompany me. Gather traveling gear and meet me here in one hour." Ainz ordered, when they were all out of sight, he could swear he heard an almost 'howl-like' "Yahoooo!" from the withdrawing red headed beauty.
"So this is E-Rantel." Ainz muttered when he saw it appear in the distance. ' How strange, I've seen pictures of medieval european fortresses from the old days, and these look a lot like they did. But also 'different' or maybe it's just me, it just looks so 'real'.' It was a little unnerving in a way, Ainz thought with goosebumps on his skin as they drew ever closer.
The soldiers on the walls wore cheap half plates of steel and carried steel halberds at an angle across their bodies. There was a double gate which controlled entry where similarly equipped soldiers checked goods and monitored entry. Ainz saw no one turned away, and quickly concluded it was a mere formality.
"It doesn't look like much, huh, My Lord." Lupusregina asked, rather than her usual oversized weapon, she carried an enchanted mace which hung from her side. Her traveling clothing was a subdued green and brown, but of excellent quality.
Ainz looked down at her from where he walked at her side, "No, it doesn't." He admitted, "But please be polite, and while we are like this," he tapped his armor and pointed to her traveling clothing, "do not refer to me as 'my lord' or 'Lord Ainz' or 'Sir' or 'Sire' or in any way treat me as a superior. I am the adventurer 'Momon' and you are simply…" He stopped, ' Wait I didn't come up with a name for her… shit!' He swore without saying it, the amount of time pointing at her stretched out uncomfortably, "Lupu!" He exclaimed as he grasped for the first name he could think of.
She fairly glowed, her high cheeks flushed red, "I love it, my- ah, Momon, yeah, I love it." Her smile glowed up at him, and they resumed their walk toward the city, though 'Lupu' had more of a spring in her step the entire way to the wall.
The outermost district was more than a little rank with unwashed bodies, rotting, fetid garbage and infrequently drained sewers. They passed by numerous large empty buildings which served as barracks for soldiers and storage areas for supplies in times of war. Momon and Lupu wove their way through the grounds with ease, but Lupu could not help but let her distaste come out.
"I envy the fact that you can't smell this, Momon." Her nose crinkled in disgust, "It really is foul."
' Trust me, I know.' Ainz thought to himself, but answered, "I can tell, even without a sense of smell, it would be easy to conclude." He said when they passed a clogged open sewer drain where bits of human and animal feces floated like boats on the toxic water.
When they made it past there to the residential district, more women and children came into view. Ainz felt the familiar shock of seeing children actually running outside, so different from home. And people actually lingered to talk on street corners, though they were dressed poorly, he saw them through different eyes. ' They're wealthier than the richest of Japan, they can actually go outside, no domes, no rebreathers, no filters, no poison… unless you count the sewage smell.'
The reality of his own presence was enough to perk up his spirits so that he walked with a spring in his step the same as his companion, all the way to the inner district. It was a relief, the administrative center of the city as well as the main merchant district, people shouted their wares from stalls that sold fruit, vegetables, and bloody meat. Lupu's mouth watered at the sight in spite of herself, her eyes lingered a little longer than was proper, but she carried on when her lord's long steps carried them past the merchants.
Cleaner than the outer city and broken from it by a secondary inner wall, the quality of clothing changed as well, the deeper within they went. Better armored guards, better dressed people and, rather than simple tan or dark cotton cloth, rich dyes and more elaborate accessories, particularly wide hats, were the norm.
However, it was Momon and Lupu who stood out. A head and a half or more taller than the average man, clad in his onyx dark armor with twin blades on his back, each one as long as a person was tall and as wide as a child's body, he was an imposing sight. Necks craned to look up at him, children stopped to point and since there were fewer people in the interior than in the outer area, far from weaving through the crowd, people got out of his way.
"Dark Warrior" was a phrase that reached his ear more than once. Momon chose to ignore it, but the radiant red headed Lupu, though she didn't particularly care for the people, did enjoy the desirous looks of those who caught a glimpse of her.
' My creator made me more beautiful than the lot of mortals. Even I can't blame them for noticing, for that matter, that they notice is the first redeeming quality about them.' She thought and folded her hands behind her head to enjoy the stroll.
She pretended to ignore their looks, despite enjoying them. However, what truly made her heart sing was her fantastic luck. ' I owe Yuri Alpha an enormous favor… thanks to her, I get to spend all this time with Lord Ainz! They'll all be so envious!' She held back her giggle of guilty pleasure, and kept the corner of her eye focused on her master and, for this role, 'partner'.
Though it must have taken some time, it felt like mere minutes to Lupu's senses when they made their way into a simple but functional large building of wood set on a stone foundation. She caught the sign as they went in, though what it was exactly was unclear to her as the lettering wasn't anything she knew.
Momon put his hands on the rough, unpolished counter as soon as he approached. In front of him stood a woman with plain features and a red rainbow shaped cap of red fabric with a white frill over the top.
' He's a big one…' She thought to herself, only her consummate professionalism kept her eyes from bugging out of her head when she saw not only the remarkable specimen of a towering dark warrior, but the radiant beauty of the redheaded woman with the mace dangling at her side.
When he said directly in a deep, rich, noble voice, "I need to register myself and my partner as adventurers here." the receptionist couldn't smile broadly enough.
"Of course, I just have to ask a few questions first…" She said while pulling out a few forms.
Eyes from various adventurers bored into their backs while Ainz lied through his teeth to the receptionist.
Much as she enjoyed seeing her master at work, paperwork bored the battle maid and she could acutely feel the desire and attention they were getting. Stares of envy at her master, stares of desire at the contours of her body her close fitting traveling gear revealed, ' Next purchase is a cloak, not that I mind the obviously good taste humans have for beautiful maids like me, but… they're just not strong enough to be good for anything but torture.' Lupu let out a mental sigh to go with the thought and turned around to face the rough looking figures. Most of them wore cheap iron or copper plates around their neck, and not one of them had a complete set of armor to their names, though they looked confident enough.
More than a few had scars or shaved heads, though some had longer hair that ran down just below their necks. A wicked thought occurred and a mischievous smile formed on Lupu's face.
"Pardon me, Momon, if this is going to take awhile, would you mind if I had a little fun?" Lupu's mischievous grin set Momon's hairs standing on end, and for a moment he said nothing.
But he could practically see the tail wagging behind her, her pretty face looked so eager, like a pup eager to play, he couldn't help but relent. He waved toward the tables. "Don't be too rough with them, and don't play with any food."
Her smile split into a laugh when she sashayed away and over to the nearest table. "You look strong." She said of the behemoth of a human who sat with a mug of beer in front of him.
He grunted, "You look cute." He winked, and for a moment she couldn't help but preen at the praise of the inferior life form.
"You're observant, but… I'll bet I'm not just cuter, I'll bet you a beer I'm stronger too. The name is Lupu, that back there," she jabbed her thumb over her shoulder, "is Momon, the strongest man in the world."
She spoke a little louder than she needed to, and the thickly muscled adventurer with the unshaved face looked her up and down, "You serious, girly?"
"Yup." Lupu drummed her fingers on the table, "Very. I'll bet you that beer."
"Whatta you got fer me when I win little pretty?" His mouth formed a lewd smile and from past his lips came an equally lewd laugh.
Lupu looked away and gave a coy smile out of the side of her mouth. "A story worth remembering." She then planted an elbow on the table with her arm up and fingers open.
"Bring it on, boyo ." She mocked his earlier 'girly' and he slammed his elbow hard enough to rattle the table and slosh a bit of golden beer onto the wood, and put his hand in hers.
"Three?" She asked.
"We do five, here." He answered, and their loud talk, having culminated in a challenge, went from drawing just eyes, to drawing a crowd.
"… Three… four… five !" A bystander called.
Lupusregina didn't slam his hand down, he began grunting, straining with effort, "Gaahh… Gnaaahh…" He grunted and groaned, staring bug eyed at the beauty across from him, her arm didn't move even a hair from where it had begun.
Sweat sprang to his brow, "What's wrong Yorig! Get going! I said 'five' like a minute ago!" Someone behind him urged.
"I'm trying!" The beefy man who was evidently 'Yorig' groaned.
Lupusregina melodramatically and mockingly brought up her other hand to her mouth and let out a yawn. "Use a second hand if you want, it's fine, I don't mind."
Yorig flushed, then brought his other hand up, laid it over top, and struggled to force Lupusregina's down. "Can I… can I use a martial art…?" He gasped.
' What's a martial art?' Lupu wondered to herself, but gave a little nod. "Go ahead."
[Lesser Strength] He grunted and resumed, it did no more good than the before.
"You can use it now." Lupusregina encouraged him, "I'm waiting."
Open mouths stared in disbelief, "Well, if that's all…" She said with a disappointed pout to her lips and slammed the back of his hand down on the table.
She flashed a V for victory with her winning hand, snatched up the wooden mug and drank it down. "Thanks!" She winked at the man who whimpered as he rubbed his bruised hand and bruised ego both at once.
She slapped the mug down on the table, "Don't feel too bad. I'm partnered with him, after all, and he can beat me all hollow." Lupusregina winked, "You didn't win, but you still got your prize."
"Uhwah?" Was all he could manage to ask.
"You got to arm wrestle Lupu, partner of Momon, the strongest man in the world. Plus, pretty soon everybody will know his name, and that story ought to be worth a few free beers." She might have been teasing, but when the dark warrior approached, towering over her and placing an onyx armored hand on the delicate but powerful shoulder of the victorious Lupu, Yorig couldn't help but think…
' I think she's right… I got to arm wrestle a legend before it became a legend…'
"We're done here, come along, Lupu, we're going to the inn, we just need to pick up a few supplies first." Momon said, and she nodded with rapidity and obvious happiness.
"Of course, bye boys." She taunted them with a playful wave, ' That wrist will probably hurt for days if he doesn't get a healer, it's not exactly torture, but it is a start. Does that count as playing with my food though… maybe I should ask?' Lupu couldn't help but critique the possible failure to obey his orders, but ultimately decided against it.
' No, Lord Ainz is all knowing, if he minded, he'd have said something or wouldn't have let me do that. It's fine.' She told herself, and followed him out of the building with the passive thought, ' The beer was barely better than water with a head on it, hopefully somebody in this world makes something passable.'
Chapter 5
"Ah, Momon…?" Lupusregina asked when they were out of sight and heading down an alley toward a supply shop. While her voice was polite, it had a casual air that fit with her easy self satisfied step following her absurd victory armwrestling at the guild.
"Yes… Lupu?" Ainz replied to her with a hint of relief, ' Almost any other would be struggling to be casual, good god what if I'd chosen Narberal Gamma? I doubt she could do it.'
They brushed past a boy with a bowl cut-like head of hair that dangled heavily in front of his eyes when Lupusregina asked, "You had Albedo with you last time, right? So why not bring her again? If… if I could ask." She blushed a little at her own boldness, but it was enough to stop Ainz where he stood.
"Albedo…" He said, glancing out of the corner of his eye, the young man with the apron on had paused to stare at them in the same sort of reflexive awe that others did, but quickly moved on, Ainz trailed off on his train of thought as bitter guilt washed over him.
"There is nothing wrong with asking, but I must caution you to never mention her out in public again, especially not to me when I am acting as 'Momon'." Ainz warned her, "who can say what might be overheard by the wrong party?"
Lupusregina had her face turned up at him and she tightened her lips, "Yes, of course, so sorry my, er, Momon."
"It's fine." Ainz replied, ' Albedo… that poor beautiful girl… what have I done to you, what a selfish, stupid whim of mine… how do I make this right?' He wondered, and found no answer.
Lupu sniffed in his direction, "Momon, are… are you alright?"
"Yes, of course, why?" Ainz answered with a sudden rush of panic.
"I just… I am…" She glanced up and down the alley, "what I am. You know how we are with, you know, 'our own'. Did I upset you? Please… please forgive me." Lupusregina lowered her eyes in deference, and on impulse Ainz put a hand on her head and rubbed gently.
"No, it has nothing to do with you, and don't think about this again, Albedo just has things to do at home. I can't have her and I both gone all the time." Ainz insisted, and without waiting for an answer they moved on.
They walked in amiable silence. They found a small shop that by the virtue of having its own building, when compared to the many small stalls closer to the entrance into the city interior, must have been doing quite well. The walls were lined with shelves, and each shelf had a well organized array of products. One long hook had a series of leather packs, another pouches for belts. Another had a stock of herbs in various containers. Some were of cheap clay, a few were rough stone with a smooth space for labeling, and others were of glass.
Near those were other camping supplies, bedrolls and other materials, but Ainz had a particular need for which the shop was well prepared. Behind the counter a rotund balding man with a salt and pepper beard sat on a bench, tilted his head up to look at the towering dark warrior. "You're a big'n, I'd remember you. Since I don't, you must be new."
"Yes, I need two sets of traveling equipment for adventurers." Momon pointed to the copper plate dangling from around his neck.
"Sure, sure, copper plate huh, no problem, you got the coin for it, this stool is right comfortable and I don't want to move without money in hand." His chubby face split in a little laugh, and Momon politely let out a half of one himself before drawing a pouch of copper coins from off his belt and tipping it over.
Copper coins fell into a clatter on the counter, and it proved enough to buy motion from the shopkeep. "Twenty-five coppers per set." He answered, and walked to the wall behind him, rows of pre-packed sets of gear were arrayed on shelves, and with strength surprising for a man of his age, he easily slung two onto the counter from where he stood. They landed with heavy thuds on the rough wood.
He waddled back to his stool, sat down, and slapped chubby hands down on the gear. "This is a complete set of rations for seven days, sleeping stuff, flint, and a few herbal treatments for injuries. You run out of anything, come back here with that pack on and I'll knock a copper off any replacement item."
"Do you sell potions as well?" Momon asked while looking around the shop.
The old man laughed, "Oh, by the four, no. You want potions, the Bareare have a monopoly on that, and more power to em. They sell at a good price to adventurers, but even then most copper plates can't afford em… but…" He looked at the high end equipment and clothing of the pair in front of him, "Maybe you folk could. Stop by there before you go out, a lot of adventurers who come in with copper plates…" For a brief moment, sorrow filled his face, a glassy shimmer took over his eyes, "I never see again. Dangerous work you're goin out to do, and I wish you luck, I truly do."
"I-I see. Thank you. Is this area so dangerous?" Ainz asked, furrowing his brow behind his helmet.
"I wouldn'ta thought so when I was young, 'course." The old man wiped his eyes with vigor and sat up straighter on his stool, "But the thing is, most adventurers are fresh off the farm, got no idea what to do and big dreams. Like a kid who smells a hot pie in a window, they follow the promised flavor right into the dog's yard, and…" He jerked his hand up and snapped his fingers over the space between him and his customers. "Some of them, they had great potential, others, well I started mourning them before they left the shop. But one wrong monster is all it takes. One too many goblins, and next thing you know they're gone, and the problem they went to solve is a little bit stronger. Nobody much cares about copper plates except… well folks like me."
"An folks like Ainzach, at least. But we can't do much about it except give good gear and good advice and hope folks listen. Most of the time, they don't, and I never see em again." The fat throat had a thick lump in it, and then he shook off whatever he felt. "Good luck to you folks, thanks for taking the time to talk to me. Next time you visit, I'll knock off two coppers, just make sure there's a next time."
"Of course, have a pleasant day." Ainz remarked and, putting his hand on Lupusregina's back, he guided her toward the door.
When they were outside, Ainz's sense of anxiety began to rise. ' I may be strong, but with a very different level cap than the game, there's no certainty that there is nothing stronger than I. Is the level cap removed from the guardians as well? Or is it just me?' His heart palpitations grew only greater when he glanced sideways down at Lupusregina as he tried to work out which was worse.
' Could I kill them to save myself? If they turn on me, would they turn on me, are they even capable of doing so, and if they did, how far would I go to stay alive? Maybe there's no harm in telling them what happened, perhaps they would help me fix it. But… do I even 'want' to fix it? Being an Overlord had its advantages… but if I'm being honest, yes, I missed my penis, even if I didn't get to use it before.' His line of thought became only more tense before they entered the adventurer's guild hall.
That made him think of Albedo. ' Love, she must have declared her love more in one day than anyone else did in my entire life.' Then he remembered… ' Never mind, nobody ever declared it for me at all, so even 'once' was record breaking.' The morose thought was accompanied by a sense of guilt that hadn't faded between the outside and inside of the building when he passed through the cheap wooden door of the inn and headed to the counter.
Respectful looks met them immediately. "That's the one with the crazy strong woman… says he's stronger than her… thas the way it goes isn it? They say women like a strong man…" Whispers went about the room, but nobody barred their way.
A red headed woman's loving, proud look at a little glass bottle full of blue liquid, turned jealous when she saw the stares of the vibrant, radiant Lupusregina, and as if seeking comfort from the vial, she snatched it in her hands and held it close to herself.
Lupusregina ate up the attention, waving her fingers pleasantly at the various patrons. "Room for two… two beds." Ainz added, a large man that was a peculiar mix of muscle and fat, with a bald head and a brown mustache, was quick to answer.
"Five coppers for the room, add two for meals if you eat here. Common sleep area is three coppers." His voice was as beefy as his body, but he stiffened when Ainz replied to him…
"Five coppers it is."
"Ehhh, that is a copper plate, right? They sent you to get supplies and get a room before getting a job, right ?" The man behind the counter crossed his arms like he was defying contradiction.
"Yes, why?" Ainz asked.
The innkeeper glowered at Ainz and retorted, "Because this place here, it's for lowbies, you need a team or you'll die out there. No matter what fancy armor you got from daddy, or how strong your nursemaid behind you is, it takes more than…"
From the moment the innkeeper spoke, Ainz recognized a problem. ' Lupusregina established her strength, and to a degree established mine, but if I let myself be insulted now, my reputation will drop.' His time as a salaryman came in handy when he recalled the importance of establishing a reputation for strength. Even though he was no longer a salaryman, there was no question in his mind that even though the method of expression had changed, the truth hadn't. Be thought of as spineless, and he would be walked all over.
Ainz's hand darted out, took the man by the throat, then, before the many watching eyes, he lifted him up several feet off the ground. "If you're going to talk down to me, you need to be bigger than you are. I can take care of myself, are we clear?"
Eyes bugged out of the big innkeeper's head and a gurgled nod followed.
Gasps filled the room behind Ainz, warriors knew quite well how strong someone had to be to lift another person one handed.
To cap it off, Ainz spun and tossed the insulting behemoth of an innkeeper across the room. Tables and chairs broke, and the redheaded adventurer cried out in alarm.
"No! No! No! No! No!" She howled, and Ainz cursed in his head, he'd gone too far.
' Damn it, did I break her potion?!' He wondered, ' Or did I hurt her?' A sickly concern for her wellbeing gnawed at him when he saw that she'd tumbled to the floor.
She glared up at Ainz as soon as she saw him standing over her. In her hand was an intact potion. "You lunkhead! You idiot! You meathead!" She shouted from down on the floor, "Look what you've done!"
A nasty gash from a broken table leg was dripping blood down her body. "I can't afford a healer! I was supposed to go on an adventure today! Now I have to use my potion! Thank goodness it survived! But still! Do you know how expensive these are?! I skipped drinking, I skipped meals, for weeks on end, just to be able to buy this and now look at me!"
As women went, she wasn't bad to look at in his eyes, but more noteworthy was how little she seemed to care for the pain she must have been in. ' Impressive. Before I got 'this' body, back home, I'd have wailed over a lot less. She takes it in stride, so this is an adventurer…' The admiring thought was enough for him to be happy to extend a hand down to her.
The innkeeper was on his feet and, looking more than a little bit sheepish.
"I felt safe and secure as long as I had my potion, now I haven't even left town and I have no choice but to use it!" She shouted at him, despite accepting his hand and letting him pull her up.
"Why do you have to use it? Is healing so costly, my companion is a cleric, she could heal you." Ainz suggested.
Shocked gasps went over the room, even the redheaded adventurer shut up.
"What?" Ainz asked.
"Don't you know?" The woman asked him with trepidation when she grabbed another chair and sat down with only a little wince.
"You can heal party members, but not just 'randomly encountered people'. That goes against temple rules, you can be kicked out of the guild if you do that." She replied.
' Now that… that is colder than a corpse in winter.' Ainz thought unhappily when it turned his mind to the exploitive care systems of his own world.
But his intelligence stat seemed to be working overtime and he had a quick reply. ' I was wondering how I would pick a job when I can't read the language here yet. And here is my solution.' He thanked both his luck and intelligence stats and said, "Then why don't we work together? I will lend you my sword for this one adventure, and because we are in the same party, my partner can heal you now."
The woman's blue eyes brightened, "Alright, that's fair. Even… brilliant, plus you're obviously strong at least…"
Ainz thrust out his onyx mailed hand, "I am Momon. This is Lupu."
"Brita." The redhead said and with some reluctance, took his hand and shook it.
"A bargain then." Ainz said and looked over his shoulder, "Alright Lupu, heal her."
The tavern in the inn was quiet while the healing was conducted on the young iron ranked Brita, and she raised a red brow when it was over.
"What tier spell was that? The last time somebody used a healing spell on me it took several really painful seconds to work… but that was instant." Brita asked, and Ainz answered with a hint of pride.
"Fourth tier, and yes, I am a warrior on par with her." Ainz put a hand on Lupu's head and she flushed with pride at his affection and praise.
Brita's mouth dropped open, "You… really?" Her disbelief quickly morphed into excitement.
It was easy to understand why. Ainz looked her over more closely, her sword looked to be simple steel, her armor was mostly leather with a few metal studs throughout. To call it basic gear would be a fair to generous assessment. A full plate armored warrior and a fourth tier cleric were practically guarantees of survival.
But before her excitement could verbally explode, the double swaying door of the inn echoed again as several figures breezed into view.
"Brita! Love of my life, will you go out with me after this adventure?!" A sonorous and mockingly romantic voice called out.
Ainz looked over to the entrance to see a blonde, decent looking man of fair complexion and moderate build in high boots with leather armor over a red shirt. He wore a single sword and had a strong looking arm extended out melodramatically.
"You know this one?" Ainz asked, suddenly reappraising Brita, who rolled her eyes.
"Yes, the idiot is Lukrut, and they're the Swords of Darkness, the people I was going to work with today. Which… I suppose it means you'll be along for the ride." She grinned sheepishly up at Lupu.
"He's going to hit on you. You get used to it." Brita chuckled.
To Brita's surprise, Lupu had a quick answer. "I do the hitting, and he'll get used to it."
"Joke's on you, oh ravishing beauty! I'm into that!" Lukrut declared for all to hear, spreading his arms out wide to the sound of a collective groan in the tavern area.
' Great, a world of perverts… again.' Ainz mentally groaned as the Swords of Darkness reached for chairs to pull themselves up to where their comrade sat.
Chapter 6
A round of hefty explanations were followed by introductions, ' Lukrut is a perverted idiot. But not badly intentioned at least, despite his taunting.' Ainz mused, though Lupusregina, far from being merely offended, seemed to enjoy the chance to knock him down a peg with her responses.
"Come away with me and I will love you for a night or a lifetime!" Lukrut spouted the cheesy line, only for Lupusregina to answer…
"That lie took longer to tell than you would last, I'm sure." She flashed a winning smile at his sudden deflation, his arms drooping and shoulders slumped with exaggerated injury.
"You're so cold to me, Lady Lupu!" Lukrut clutched at his heart as if wounded.
"It takes more than a twig to start a fire. It's not my fault all your equipment is short on quality." She chuckled, but the rest of his teammates roared with laughter as he was handily dispatched in the game of wits, it went on until a slender swordsman smacked the blonde adventurer in the back of the head.
His name was Peter, and Ainz noted that despite his youth, he seemed serious and in control, he wore banded armor over a leather shirt, brown trousers and short, dusty cream colored boots. He was blonde and blue eyed, making him look much like Lukrut, enough so that Ainz briefly wondered if they were brothers.
Thankfully the other team members of the Swords of Darkness were more like Peter and less like Lukrut. Ninya, a serious young man with a talent for magic, had short brown hair, and a somewhat nervous and humble demeanor. He looked down or away whenever Ainz caught his eyes.
It tickled at Ainz's brain a bit. But he wasn't sure just why yet.
Dyne, a somewhat heavyset, short druid with a thick light brown beard over the lower half of his face was polite and deferential. He seemed comfortable with Peter being in charge despite being several years older at least. Dyne was jolly and quick to laugh whenever Lupu shut down Lukrut's fumbling attempts at flirtation.
"I suppose I should show my face if we're going to work together." Ainz finally said, and took off his helmet. He wiped his brow, and out of the corner of his eye he noticed the way Lupusregina stared at him with greater intensity than he thought the winsome and playfully sadistic maid was capable.
With tan features, ink dark hair and a squared, firmly defined jaw, by his own world's standards he made a handsome if exotic looking figure. ' But what about this world?' Ainz wondered.
"Oh so you're a foreigner. No wonder you didn't know how things work here." Brita chimed in, "I've seen features like yours on people from far to the south, I should have realized it sooner."
"Yes, yes I'm a foreigner." Ainz explained and put his helmet back on. Lupusregina's long and lingering look didn't disappear, but nobody else seemed to notice.
"So, who is our client?" Ainz asked, setting his arms on his thighs and quickly shifting the subject away from where he was from.
Peter reached out and took a mug of beer from a server that approached, and answered after a deep swig, "A herbalist here in town, Nfirea Bareare. He's going out to the forest of Tobb to gather herbs for more potions, we'll be his bodyguards. Then to Carne Village to buy up whatever they've gathered from the outskirts. Then back here again, all in all, it will only take a few days."
"Alright, so when do we leave?" Ainz asked as the reality of his first real adventure set in, excitement began to build. ' I'm truly outside! A real live adventure! I can hardly believe it!' He did his best to disguise his zeal to get going, though he slid his foot a bit as if to stand up immediately.
"A few hours," Peter answered, "he'll be meeting us here, so if you want to settle into your room first, maybe catch some shut eye so you can be fresh for the journey, go ahead." He waved a hand toward the stairs leading to the second floor, and Ainz took that offer up.
"That would be a good idea, we'll come down in a few hours." Ainz answered, "Lupu, come along."
"Sure thing, Momon." Lupu replied and followed him toward the stairs.
The stairs creaked under the heavy steps of her master, but despite her excellent hearing, Lupusregina noticed nothing about it, her eyes bored into his back, doubts swirled in her mind. Doubts that gnawed at her gut for their treason, doubts that made her hate herself for the treason of their very existence.
When the door closed behind them, Ainz drew out an eighth tier scroll and used it immediately. The cold blue flame devoured it in mid air, and they were now 'completely' alone in that they could not be overheard.
The beds were simple, cheap wooden frames with a cloth mattress stuffed with straw and with a soft black bear pelt laying over top of it. The same was true of Lupusregina's, and the mattress gave under his weight when he sat down.
Lupusregina however, did not sit. She went to kneel at his feet and look up at him with wondering yellow eyes.
"Tell me something, Lupusregina, you said you don't hate humans, but… what are they to you?" Ainz asked the question that had lingered too long at the back of his mind.
"Toys, I guess, my lord." She answered reflexively, "My sister, Entoma I mean, is like that. She sees them as food, but doesn't care about them one way or the other. I see them as toys, but otherwise don't think much of 'em either way."
Ainz nodded, "That is pretty much what I thought." He said, but then she kept staring at him.
"Is there something wrong, Lupusregina?" Ainz felt ice form in his stomach.
Unable to answer any way but truthfully, she gave a nod that stopped with her head hanging low.
"What is it?" Dread began to consume him, his breathing slowed, and fear began to follow.
"May I… may I see your face, my lord?" Lupusregina asked without looking up.
He answered by the slow movement of his hands again to his helmet and pulling it off.
What she did next was a complete surprise. She began to… sniff.
Starting from his feet, the sniff, sniff, sniff continued up his length until she was standing in front of him, inches from his face. Her bright yellow eyes inches from him, Ainz couldn't help it.
His breath quickened, so close to someone so beautiful, so radiant, her fire red hair and the soft feminine scent that even to a normal human nose was noticeable in the subtle way every man who desired women was born to know.
"Forgive me, my lord." She said when she realized what her instincts had driven her to do. Her already wide golden eyes seemed to redouble for a moment before she flung herself back and returned to kneeling at his feet.
"Your nose told you the truth, did it not?" Ainz asked with grim rhetoric.
She didn't answer him, she didn't need to, they both knew the truth.
"So, that leaves only one question then, doesn't it?" Ainz pressed, "Are you loyal to Ainz Ooal Gown, no matter what he is, or aren't you?"
Her answer was to remain on a bent knee with silent lips and downcast eyes.
"Lupusregina." Ainz commanded, ice in his veins froze his heart, "If you cannot serve me as I am now, tell me."
"I-I er, well, forgive me, my lord. This is just a lot to take in, if-if I were more clever, like Lady Albedo or Lord Demiurge, then I'm sure I'd know what to say." She stammered out, clearly distressed and flummoxed.
"Just state your loyalty. Can you serve me, or not? I won't hurt you, I promise. You're the precious child of a dear friend. But if even my battlemaids aren't with me, then nobody will be." Ainz said it as steadily as he could, but a part of him wanted to cry out in anguish at the very thought.
The guardians, his maids and servants, the moment they'd come to life, bizarre as it was, it was as if he'd watched his own children being born into the world, and now here was the possibility that one, and if one, all… might reject him as their caregiver and provider.
"I am your servant. Now and forever. No matter what form you take, you are the Supreme Being." Lupusregina at last pronounced with finality.
Relief flooded through him and he wiped the sweat from his brow for the third time that day. "Tell me then, will the others feel the same?"
The question was as much a demand as anything else, though she could hear the anxiety in her master's voice, and it shook her to the core. Not least that he could ask it, but that she herself didn't know.
"M-My lord, I feel Entoma, Pandora's Actor, Yuri Alpha, CZ Delta, Sebas, and Lord Cocytus would do so without hesitation. Probably also Lord Mare and Lady Aura… but for the rest? I just don't know… forgive me, but I just can't say. You are the Supreme being, but most were created with a deep dislike, hunger, or hatred for humans. Even I can't say what they will do. Forgive my inadequate answer, master." Lupusregina answered as thoroughly as she could, which flooded Ainz with relief.
' If she had answered with their certain loyalty, I wouldn't have trusted her answer at all.' He pondered and put a hand out to pat her head. "Your answer is more than adequate, but I should tell you what happened at least. However, you must understand that under no circumstances are you to reveal this to anyone."
"No, of course not, this is for you to reveal, forgive my pretension my-" she said and he cut her off.
"Canine instincts and senses, yes. Of course you would recognize that this was not an illusion." Ainz snorted and let out a grim chuckle. "I brought the best suited with me in terms of your likely loyalty, but also the one most likely to find out the truth." Ainz rolled his eyes and went on to explain the morphomantic magic contained in the crystal.
"So, my lord, can you turn back?" Lupusregina asked, biting her lower lip when she asked, unsure if she even should have done so.
"Maybe. The spell typically expires on its own, most morphomantic magic is dependent on resistance and chance, and is not intended to be permanent. It may expire, it may not. If it doesn't, then I need to either find a way to turn again, or create a way, if no item for that can be found." Ainz admitted, then breathed a sigh of relief.
"The good news is, thanks to this, I now know that there are threats in this world that may harm us. Had I not learned this, I might have sent one of my precious children out without a world item or any kind of proper protection against high level magic or equipment. If anything happened to any of you…" Ainz trailed off and stared down at the faithful battlemaid who, had she been in a wolf form, surely would have been wagging her tail at the affection his words conveyed.
"If I have to, if it comes to it, if they won't accept you… I'll follow you anywhere." She said with steady resolve that was almost like a different person from the winsome and playful one he recalled from earlier.
' This is the loyalty I hoped for.' He thought, but said out loud, "Hopefully it doesn't come to that."
"Agreed, my lord, hopefully it doesn't. But if it does, I am with you, and I don't believe I will be the only one." Lupusregina replied, but then asked, "Does that mean my lord actually intends to sleep for a little while?"
"Yes, I won't take chances out there, and should be at my best. Wake me when it is time to go, and until then… guard." Ainz ordered, and the red haired battle maid gave a sharp and loyal nod.
"Yes, my lord!" She said with passionate loyalty, and Ainz sighed with relief when he stretched out on the bed to take a very brief, and much longed for nap, and not even dreams could touch him then.
Chapter 7
Nfirea craned his neck up at the onyx armored man in front of him. "Thank you for joining us." He said in a youthful voice that to Ainz seemed barely into manhood. The alchemist was slight of build, not especially tall even for the people of this world, if anything, one might say he was short. But he was open, friendly, and polite. He held a hand out readily in greeting.
"It's my pleasure. I will do my utmost to ensure a safe journey." Ainz replied and took his hand, he gave it a gentle, but firm shake, and then Lupusregina stepped over to do the same.
Lupusregina's gregarious and friendly smile was infectious, and it made the young man blush. "Not to worry, we'll take good care of you. Momon is the strongest man in the world, after all. He's as strong as I am pretty." She winked, then when Nfireia turned a bright shade of red behind his mop of blonde hair, she laughed at him.
"You're a fun one." Lupu added before Peter coughed and interrupted.
"Should we go?" Peter asked, and waved toward the double door.
"Ah, yes, let's." Ainz agreed, and took the first step outside.
Along the way Ainz made a point of learning what he could about adventuring through some roundabout questioning from his traveling companions. They walked beside the horse drawn cart, and though Ainz thoroughly enjoyed the warmth of the sun and the feel of fresh, clean air in his lungs… what he learned was nothing short of disappointing.
' So they're just monster hunters in the end, glorified exterminators, like hunting rats that are particularly dangerous.' The unhappy understanding, the blow that it was, made sense.
' They need better equipment, so they hunt monsters to pay for it, many times dying in the process since they don't have the equipment needed to ensure survival.' Ainz read between the lines, and drew a parallel between the unloved but necessary mercenaries, and the temp agencies of his own world.
' You need them, but care nothing for them. No benefits, no loyalty, just use them up and throw them away. Only the best of them, the ones who survive a long time, are revered in any way.' Ainz recognized when he heard the story of Blue Rose, Red Drop, and other adamantite ranked teams who were the pinnacle of humanity.
When he asked about the adventurers of the Slane Theocracy, the adventurers only groused. "They don't have any. Anyone strong enough to become an adventurer gets drafted into their scriptures or their army." Brita explained, though her voice was not exactly thrilled.
"You don't approve?" Ainz guessed.
"No, definitely not, Momon." Brita expanded, "Adventurers need teammates to survive. The Slane Theocracy may arm, train, and develop their talented people, but then they only do their own thing. If a serious threat appeared outside of E-Rantel, the guild could reach out to all the other big teams for help, even across borders. It would be up to the teams themselves if they wanted to help, and most of them would. But the Theocracy only decides what to do based on politics." She spat a thick glob of saliva into the dust to express her distaste. "Politics, it never goes well for common people when that's the going concern. So, whenever a big threat appears, the Slane Theocracy mostly ignore it. Look at what's happening in the Draconic Kingdom." Brita continued.
Rumbles of agreement came up from the rest, but Ainz was uncertain. He felt a drop of sweat grow on his brow, fear of appearing ignorant, even though he was, always made him anxious at work, and this was no exception.
Lupusregina came to the rescue, "What's going on there?"
"You haven't heard?" Peter said when looking over his shoulder, "The Beastmen Kingdom started invading earlier this year, they used to just raid the border, but now it's a full fledged invasion. Beastmen eat humans, so it's a national disaster that their Queen is trying and failing to stop. The Theocracy shares a border with the Draconic Kingdom, but all they've sent are basically retirees."
"Not very neighborly." Lupusregina answered and played with the mace at her side.
Mistaking her statement for sympathy, Dyne spoke up. "No, it isn't, we'd help if we could. But a beastman is a serious threat that anyone lower than a gold rank is unlikely to survive against, and a gold rank is as good as dead if he tries to face two or more. True heroes are needed to face off against something like a beastman invasion. We're… we're just not there yet." He admitted with a head that hung in reluctance.
"I see." Ainz mused, ' So the elite we faced… still, weak as they were, maybe they could get stronger, what if…'
The stirrings of an idea began to take shape. But he needed more information.
"Brita, you said that if we'd healed you before we were a team, we could be kicked out of the guild… what happens when adventurers are removed from the rosters? Where do they go?" Ainz tried hard to keep his voice neutral.
"They become workers, they don't get guild contracts, some of them become bandits, but most take on the more dangerous jobs that the guild just won't touch. They do have some strong numbers, and can become workers for all kinds of reasons, like… healing without temple approval." Brita said and looked pointedly at Ainz from her place on the other side of the wagon.
"I see." Ainz answered again and snapped his jaw shut.
" Not a man to waste words…" Was the thought they held around the wagon as their estimation of Momon went up several more notches.
However, while they were thinking about that, Ainz was busy solving a different issue. ' My level cap is gone, but what I don't know is what the status is for others here, the 'elites' of the Theocracy proved to be pathetic relative to us, but maybe they have inborn level caps?'
' My own was broken, even Lupusregina doesn't know that, maybe others can be broken as well? What if my new level cap is the 'human' level cap, if so, should I go back?'
Round and round Ainz turned these thoughts, keeping an ear turned to the rest of the conversation, learning more about the poor state of adventurers in Baharuth was of particular interest. As a result of the strengthening central government and military, more adventurers turned to risky or illegal jobs, many had become workers because that offered more opportunity than a guild affiliation.
Ainz's plan continued to develop in his mind, without the certainty of the guardians or most other loyalties, about which he still kicked himself, ' Their loyalty should be to you, no matter what you have become…' He said that to himself many times, only for his innate human fears about the nature of their settings and the unknown ways that may influence their choices, to rear its ugly head again and cause him to keep silent.
' Most players would want to support the Theocracy, heteromorphic guilds were few, and demihuman guilds were only slightly more common. If others are here now, it would likely be a human… which is an argument for me to remain as I am to better deal with them. Could I present myself to the guardians on those terms? They should know the dangers of other players from the last invasion. On the other hand that might only stoke their hatred to new heights.' He kept the sigh he felt rising, confined to his own tumultuous mind. Drifting mentally far from the buzz of chatter around him.
Albedo looked around the room to the other guardians. "Cocytus, what were the results of the experiments in the arena?"
The insectoid being exhaled icy chill and answered, "He fought well."
"Could you elaborate? What is he compared to?" She asked, "What could possibly compare to a supreme being?" Her yellow eyes narrowed with annoyance, and the insectoid tapped his long spear on the floor.
"Lord Demiurge?" Cocytus asked.
"Yes," the slender devil in the sharp red suit adjusted his tie as he stood, "I observed through the mirror how members of new world warrior bands fought. I saw three massacres in the Draconic Kingdom, and a clash between two bands of raiders between the Re-Estize Kingdom and the Baharuth Empire, a feisty little skirmish to say the least, nothing large, only a hundred men or so. In addition, I and Cocytus observed some adventurers and worker groups in separate training grounds. Thank you, Aura, for finding those."
Aura flashed him a 'V' gesture with her right hand and a childishly happy grin.
"Lord Cocytus, could you explain the rating criteria?" Demiurge asked, placing a hand up on the shoulder of his comrade.
"Yes. Speed, strength, dexterity, endurance, all were compared on a scale from human to supreme being." Cocytus explained, "Lord Demiurge assisted in the creation of this scale."
Demiurge picked up seamlessly from Cocytus, "Quite right, I evaluated the various fights in collaboration with Lord Cocytus's expertise in combat, including the 'AQ' of various opponents."
"AQ?" Albedo asked, her interest growing with the dual narrative.
Demiurge seemed, if it were possible, to have straightened himself up even more, and the other Guardians responded by leaning forward with interest, sensing something remarkable was to be said. "Aggressive Qualities, courage, and the willingness to press home the advantage. Lord Ainz is not a warrior, he never defeated Lord Touch Me and never used combat as the method to defeat Lord Takemikazuchi. However, since coming to this place, Lord Ainz has shown a degree of growth as a warrior that would be considered impossible if he were not a supreme being. His first tentative swings when we first saw him use 'Perfect Warrior' in Yggdrasil were on par with what, back then, we would have said was a player of around level fifty.
Albedo's eyes flashed bright as lightning, the stern rebuke of the harsh critique was on the tip of her tongue when Demiurge held up one hand to tell her to stop. "However, within the first few engagements in the arena, he showed skills on par with someone of level seventy to eighty." His mouth opened in a joyful smile, "It is as if this world has 'strengthened' him somehow."
"You think Lord Ainz brought us here? Don't you?" Albedo proposed, a steady look in her eyes, the anger was gone and an intensity greater even than she thought possible, filled her up like a pouring rain filled a vessel.
"I cannot rule it out." He looked around at the other attending guardians. "We all heard the last Supreme Beings speak of the coming end, and we heard it from Lord Ainz as well, Yggdrasil, the world we knew, it was all going to die. The Supreme Beings returned to whatever world they came from, content to let it come to a close, but our Lord…"
"The One Who Stayed." Aura, Mare, Albedo, Cocytus, and Shalltear intoned with bowed heads.
"Yes, The One Who Stayed." Demiurge bowed his head then said with reverence reserved for gods, "We knew he didn't want to let us go, he cherished this place, he didn't want it to end… perhaps he brought us here. Using his matchless might, he carried us to this new world."
Albedo was silent for a moment, then she replied, "No, he seemed confused about why we were here, how we were here. I have no doubt he wanted to save us, but then, why everything else? Why the unfamiliarity with everything?"
"Perhaps he simply reached blindly to find some habitable place for us. Or perhaps something interfered, he intended us to go to his paradise world with our creators. Perhaps this is all a test, and he simply doesn't want us to know how far he went for us? To abandon two worlds to save us… his humility is profound. He doesn't want us burdened with the knowledge so that we would not feel inadequate." Demiurge laid out the various options, and it left the room full of quiet reflections within every head.
Lord Mare anxiously rotated the staff in quick, jerking motions in both hands, he clutched it against his body like it was a security blanket, his dark elf ears twitched, and he said, "B-But i-if that's true, wh-what do we do?"
"We work harder, of course." Shalltear answered, for once not preening, her blood red eyes shone between the fluttering of her lashes as she blinked back her loving emotions for The One Who Stayed. "If he doesn't want us to know, then we say nothing. We clutch it to our hearts and show him we were worth it."
The eyes of the guardians were on her as one, even those of her rival. The Guardian Overseer spoke first. "Lady Shalltear is right. If we've given him everything already, and he has gone so far for us, then we must add to ourselves so that 'more' is 'more'. It's the least that we created servants of Nazarick can do for the One Who Stayed."
The rest of the meeting was routine, with trivial discussions about the wildlife and observations on the village that had wisely come to love Lord Ainz as if he were their own. But Albedo's heart was already turning toward whether she should wear an apron… or nothing, when she waited for him in his room on his return.
"… It's useful to be a talent holder, but unfortunately even that has its limits." Ninya added to the conversation, "Mine is good, but pretty limited really. I can learn spells in half the normal time, but it doesn't change the total mana I have for casting, so even if I could learn a higher tier faster, my total mana doesn't go up with it. So, right now I can only use tier two spells."
Ainz listened with great interest from the moment he learned about talent holders, but only his helmet kept the shock from his face at what Ninya said next.
"Some are really amazing, like Mr. Nfirea here, he can use any magical item, no matter what, without any requirements." Ninya waved her hand up at the young man driving the cart, and he responded with a self effacing smile.
"I'm grateful for my gift, but it's only as good as actually having items, and not many come my way." The young alchemist replied.
"I suppose that's true." Ainz answered with quiet calm while panic ran through his mind.
' Could he use the staff? What if he could? This one is dangerous. Very, very dangerous. Or… very useful.' Ainz was turning that over in his mind when Lukrut chose to attempt to engage the fire haired and radiant Lupusregina Beta.
"So Miss Lupu, what's your relationship with Mr. Momon here? Are you husband and wife?" He gave a wolfish grin toward her, and she paled immediately.
Her tongue was bound for the first time in Lukrut's brief acquaintance with her, and though it had been 'very' brief, he felt the way the question cut to the quick. All humor and mockery was gone, and whoever she really was, was laid bare in a vulnerable moment. He snapped his lips shut and the smile vanished, ' Stupid question, idiot, that's far too personal.'
The fire haired woman answered when his moment of humble self recrimination passed, "He rules supreme in my heart. You… rule supreme beneath my feet." Her jest was less than her customary humor, but it still had her usual playful smile.
He accepted the unspoken rebuke and answered with, "Joke's on you! I'm into that!"
"What aren't you into, pervert?" Peter answered with a sour look on his face, and a dismissive snort from his nose.
"Mr. Lukrut, please do not delve into our personal lives." Ainz interjected, and Dyne quickly voiced his agreement.
"It's just rude, you know, prying like that." The druid said from behind him.
"Right…" He put a hand behind his blonde head and rubbed it self consciously, "Sorry, that was a bit too much."
Ainz privately agreed with the sentiment, though it was difficult to resent it overly much, given that it brought another of Lupusregina's answers of loyalty.
Chapter 8
Night's cloak was Clementine's favorite attire. Amidst the great graveyard of E-Rantel where the dead existed alone, their own little world apart from the city. Stone graves and small monuments dotted the area like a little forest of stone. She wove in and out of their haphazard emplacement, a disorderly place. Were she not who she was and what she was, she'd have tripped a thousand times.
As it was, the darkness proved no barrier to her, so she sprinted like the wind, the cool air rushing past as she pushed through it, her feet trod on the graves of the dead without care for the insult done to them. Her short blonde hair hung loose, framing a twisted smile that, had it been seen, would have appeared to grow more twisted with every insulting step over the corpses of the fallen.
At the center of the great expanse was a single tomb, a deep one, reserved for the wealthiest of the wealthy who were kept superior and apart from the masses even in death, by having this place to rest all to themselves.
Illuminated by magic, even that soft white glow could not touch the deft movements of the woman who wore light leather armor to which countless small adventurer plates had been sewn like a kind of armor over her breasts and upper thighs. She wore long leather gauntlets and gloves, and at her sides were two sets of enchanted twin stilettos. The way they tapped against her body during the run ceased almost the moment she'd begun to sneak.
Her breasts rose and fell very slowly, the run she'd just engaged in would have worn out a common person, and would be very difficult for a soldier even without the obstacles, but for her it had been barely more than a jog.
She went unnoticed by the light until she was within the deepest recesses of the tomb, said to be one of the oldest segments, holding some of the nobles and wealthy elites of E-Rantel from some six centuries earlier. There, nobody would be disturbing the living who chose to occupy it.
"Helloooooo!" She announced, and taking out a stiletto, she began to toss it idly in her hand. The figure she spoke to was someone like her, at least somewhat.
He was cloaked, hooded in red, and held a staff in his right hand. He was hunched, old, and grim faced. Utterly unlike the blonde woman in every way.
Every way but the one that mattered to them both.
He stood over a corpse, completed his spell, and the body began to move.
She barely noticed when the skeleton got up and went to where he pointed.
They were both utterly twisted.
"Hellooo Dale! I'm here, pay attention to me!" She put her hands on her hips and leaned forward a little, "You can't call a pretty girl like me out into the dangerous dark, all the way here, and then just ignore her."
"I know, Clementine, I know." Dale said to the blonde and turned around to greet her.
Clementine was almost to Dale an instant later, her powerful legs launched her forward, and her stiletto thrust forward ready to pierce his heart. Instead it struck a wall of bones and stopped dead as the bodies that lined the room in the various catacombs that had been dug into the earth and lined with stone as a kind of bedding.
"Don't try that again, or I'll kill you. And don't call me Dale. Or would you like me to call you 'Clemenjuice' again?" His humorless face formed a toothless open laugh, and her eyes narrowed.
"Try to squeeze me, old man, and it'll be me who does all the thrusting." She said, though she stopped her attack, stepped back, and sheathed her stiletto in a sharp motion while keeping her eyes on him.
"It was your thrusting that got you that nickname." His mocking laugh drew an appreciative one from herself as she acknowledged the truth of her sadistic nature.
"You got me there, Dale ." She teased him with a wolfish grin.
She stared at him steadily, then pouted at his poker face.
When she grew bored, she looked around, "Where's the rest of your little club?" She was right, they were alone but for the dead and the undead.
"Do not refer to Zuranon as a 'club', you make it sound like we're ladies at tea." His eyes narrowed and he clutched his staff a little tighter.
"Oh no, no. I'm sooo sorry." She gave him a mocking apology, "As a token of my regret, well, I have a little trinket for you." She reached into the pouch at her side and took out a little circlet with jewels dangling down around it, a spiderweb design ran up and down, and at its center a gem as dark as the night through which she'd run.
Khajiit gasped and forgot her previous use of his second name. "This is-"
"Yep," Clementine giggled almost girlishly, "The Crown of Wisdom from a Miko Princess, one of the treasures of the Theocracy. I took it off some poor girl whose head seemed weighed down by this heavy old thing. But, I guess she liked it a lot, because as soon as I pulled it off her blonde little head she started screaming, raving, and screaming some more. She had a little accident though, and fell onto my stiletto." The giggle became a cackle as Clementine recalled the death.
"It is also useless trash." Khajiit groused, "If nobody can use it, what good is it? You'd have been better off bringing me a treasure of the six great gods. That… is pretty little garbage. Barely one girl in a million can wear that and survive, let alone become a magic item I can use for high tier spells. If I don't have such a person, then?" He tapped his staff on the stone beneath his feet, the echo resounding off the walls of the tomb for several lingering seconds.
"Even I wouldn't want to tangle with the pervert they've got guarding the treasures of the six gods." Clementine let out a shudder, "Back when I was still part of the Black Scripture, I fought the best of their best, and like all the rest of them, I couldn't lay a hand on her. She's beyond humanity, and beyond perverted. " She scrunched her face in distaste. ' Who would really lie with a monster just to ensure they have strong children. A real pervert, that's who. She should just get off on murder, like me, like a rational person.' Clementine thought.
"I'd have to take your word on that kind of strength, though I suppose it would take something like that to deter you." Khajiit admitted with some unhappiness. He hated crediting anyone with telling the truth, but in the time he'd known Clementine, she'd never spoken of anything as unbeatable as Zesshi Zetsumei, the one who guarded the treasures of the gods.
He chose instead to go back to her question rather than continue, "The rest of my disciples are in other parts of the tomb, they gathered enough negative energy to raise skeletons themselves even with their own weaker pools of mana. Thanks to the orb of death, this is much more efficient."
He caressed the spot in his robe where the orb sat, though it had a twisted personality, comparable to Clementine herself, it was always eager to help where death was involved.
"That's good, because guess what, there's a guy in E-Rantel who can use the crown… if you're still interested in getting your mommy back." She winked at him, and Khajiit was all ears.
' So real.' Ainz thought when the chirping of the birds hit his ears and they went along the road, the warm sun that beat down on his magically created armor, was in a word, delightful. It was hard not to smile about everything. Not for an instant did he miss his old life. ' I may not look like my old self, undead or living, but thankfully I don't 'feel' like my old self either. My old body was in such poor shape that even ten minutes like this would have had me collapse.' More than once he felt his hands coming up to flex his fingers, and the desire to feel the weight of his twin blades kept gnawing at him like an itch he just couldn't scratch.
"By the way, there are some special herbs I want to collect on the way to the forest, but I checked before the journey, and it seems some goblins and ogres were sighted in the area. We'll be taking a little longer of a route than usual. Please be on your guard." Nfirea didn't sound nearly as nervous as his seemingly frail body should have made him, and Ainz's estimation of the youth went up another notch or two.
Peter glanced behind him to where Ainz walked at the back of the cart, "This is your first time out, so forgive my asking, but are you two sure you'll be okay?"
Brita laughed at the question before either Ainz or Lupusregina could answer, "I told you Peter, he threw Big Richard like a rag doll, there's nothing to worry about."
"Strength is great, but Brita, you should know that isn't everything." Peter's concern was unabated.
"Not to worry, we can handle anything we're likely to encounter out here." Ainz's voice was steady and calm, and Lupusregina chimed in her own opinion.
"I promise we won't embarrass you in front of the client… too much. "
"Your kindness, it touches me!" Lukrut said, clutching his chest at the heart.
"Careful boy, I touch you and it'll be to hurt you!" Lupu taunted him, then bending down, she picked up a small rock in her palm, held it out, and while he looked at her, she slowly closed her fingers over it, and squeezed.
A moment later she opened her fingers, and it was broken to pieces. She tilted her hand to the side, letting the new 'pebbles' fall down to the ground in front of her, where they were promptly stepped on. She ground her foot into them for good measure. But the smile never left her face.
The men who happened to look back, sympathetically winced at her illustration.
Lukrut did not assert that he was 'into that' afterward.
"Let's stop here." Nfirea suggested when they passed by a slow moving river. The gentle waters made no noise, it only drifted on seemingly without end. The constant low rumble of the cart, and the noise of horses stopped a few moments later when they pulled off the dirt road and moved over soft grass, ending their detour at the riverbank.
By the water, Ainz watched a dead leaf drifting slowly along. He was instantly curious and glanced around. The leaf was clearly dead, browned, and what one would expect in fall, but here it was high summer.
Nfiera looked up from where he was watering the horses and saw the way Ainz's gaze followed it. "Is there something wrong, Mr. Momon?"
Ainz shook his head, "Oh, no, I was just noticing that the leaf was dead, but everything else seems to be alive…"
"Oh, have you never been by the Long River before?" Nfirea said while patting the white neck of the horse as it drank.
"No… no I haven't. Why?" Ainz cocked his head at the question.
"Well, that river, or so they say, crosses the whole continent, I've seen those leaves before, they actually have a little magic in them, nobody really knows where they come from or why they have magic. But wherever it is, it must be autumn now, and it floated all the way here. When I was little, I wanted to go to the end of the river and find out where it came from, but… there's no way of doing that. Not with the Beastmen Kingdoms and Empires, and everything in the way."
Ainz didn't say anything to that, and Nfirea took it as criticism, returning his attention to the horse and away from the towering adventurer. "It must sound silly to you, huh?"
"No, no. Actually, it doesn't." Ainz answered, "A long time ago, where I'm from, there's a story about people who lived in a world of poison, and all they wanted to do was see places that weren't poisonous. So they created imaginary worlds, just for the sake of exploring them and seeing new things. I imagine anyone who is confined to very little, would want to see a lot. Isn't that why most people become adventurers?" Ainz watched the leaf until it passed out of sight, barely noticing the way Lupusregina watched him in turn.
"I never figured you for a poet, Mr. Momon." Ninya bowed his head to Ainz, and said, "That isn't why I became an adventurer, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy my friends, and seeing as much as I get to. I'm very lucky, and thanks to my talent, I get to be someone who experiences the world. Even though it's dangerous, as long as I'm with my friends, it's worth it. Due to both my talent, and them, I won't die as a nameless peasant never going farther than my family's fields."
Ninya blushed and waved his hands out wildly when the stares of the rest of his team were focused in his direction. "Not that I'm a softie or anything!"
Most of his team laughed, but Lukrut came over and put an arm around his comrade's neck and rubbed a knuckle into the top of Ninya's head. "I knew you liked us a lot, but now you go and say it!"
"Gaaah!" Ninya said and made a half hearted struggle until Lukrut let go with a chuckle.
They were traveling and chatting again in no time, and while they did so, Ainz could almost see his friends in their places, when they were few, the guild was new, and before they even had Nazarick yet. ' My friends, are you out here… somewhere?' The sobering thought lingered until he felt the tension in those around him.
Then the mocking voice of the lecher in the group was gone, Lukrut's absurd expression of constant humor became serious, wolfish, predatory when he looked around the wagon. "They're coming." He said with a steady voice.
"From where?" Peter asked, keeping his eyes ahead to ensure their hunters didn't realize they had been spotted.
"Over the hill, to our right, there must be around thirty of them at least." Lukrut suggested.
Ainz glanced over to Lupusregina, she tapped her nose, pointed one finger 'up' and then flashed ten fingers.
' Forty.' Ainz realized, ' Lukrut isn't a clown after all.'
Peter took command immediately, "Mr. Bareare, the best thing you can do is hunker down in the wagon. Lukrut, stay at range and pull the turtle from its shell, Ninya provide support from back here and Dyne, stay close and use your magic to slow down anyone who gets past us. Brita and I will stay up front and use my 'Fortress' skill to keep them back while they're whittled down."
"Got it." They said together while Nfirea stopped the wagon.
"What's the best way to use you two?" Peter asked, glancing at Ainz and Lupusregina.
"Just stay back, we'll handle it." Ainz replied, and Lupusregina gave a big toothy smile and flashed a V sign with her index and middle fingers.
"Easy, don't worry about it, it's Momon and Lupu to the rescue, even for perverts and frauds." She snipped her two fingers together like a pair of scissors, drawing a glance, and a nervous chuckle from Luckrut when he took out his bow and drew his first arrow.
"Alright… but don't worry, we won't leave this all just to you, you've got all the support we can provide." Peter promised while Lukrut let the first arrow fly.
It went about halfway to the goblins and ogres that emerged from the tree line and embedded itself into the grass. It stopped the creatures long enough to make them laugh, giving Ainz a good look at them.
The ogres were clearly taller than he was, while the goblins were about the size of human children. The ogres were a dusty brown, while the goblins a forest green. The ogres carried large broken tree limbs as clubs, while the goblins were armed with swords, knives, and axes. The ogres wore nothing but loin cloths, while the goblins wore a motley array of different armor pieces gathered from wherever they could get them.
The enemy charged over the field, their many steps rumbling like distant thunder, and Lukrut fired his second arrow, it flew like the bird the fletching was taken from, and pierced a goblin through the eye, toppling it over dead in an instant.
[Twine Plant] Dyne said, and green vines grew up just where an ogre stepped and began to wrap its way around the leg and over the body, holding it fast while another arrow flew through the air to strike another target.
' What are they doing…' Peter wondered just before he severed the head of a small goblin that came on with more speed than skill. He couldn't resume his thought as another came on swinging a sword. Peter caught the blow on his shield and then countered with a thrust that buried the sword in the goblin's chest.
Brita had only a half chuckle confined to her own head when she saw the brief disbelief at the casual approach Momon and his companion had. ' I told you, but you wouldn't believe me. Well, I guess 'seeing it' will make it easier.' The iron ranked adventurer thought when she disemboweled a goblin that attacked Peter from behind.
The goblin was slumping to the ground when Momon drew out his blades, and an ogre came on, the massive club went up, and to Peter's dismay, so did Momon. The dark warrior leapt up from the ground, much higher than the ogre, then twisting on his way down, by the momentum of his blade and the force of his own arm, cut the ogre vertically down the middle.
"By the four…" Dyne muttered when, faster than he could see it, Momon advanced against another ogre and cut it in half across the waist, then another at an angle. Ogres with the strength of five normal people, torn in half like paper in the hands of a child.
Blood sprayed into the air, and then they watched as Lupu went to work, she took the mace from her side, and for an instant, Lukrut felt the urge to call out to a beautiful woman in distress.
Then the mace swung, and the red haired cleric broke the ogre's club. The crack of wood was like the crack of bone. And if anyone needed a comparison, she gave them one when she spun past the stump of a club, brought the mace up again, and broke the ogre's arm. It howled with pain with the sickening crunch as the bone of its arm pierced its flesh from the inside out from the force of her blow.
Her sweet smile never left her face when she hit it again, this time in the ribs on the other side of its body and caved them in completely. It fell with a groan, not a scream, as its own ribs pierced its lungs, and robbed the ogre of life.
' Orichalcum? Or adamantite?' Ninya wondered when he released his magic arrow and struck the twine plant bound ogre in the face.
Thanks to Momon and Lupu, the battle was nothing but a massacre, the mace smashed heads into pulp, and the swords wrought a harvest that turned one goblin into two with every swing. The path of their movement could be followed by the trail of bodies and associated parts left in their wake.
Not a single goblin or ogre fled the now red stained field of grass alive.
Chapter 9
"Why are you cutting the ears off?" Ainz asked when he saw the rest of the party crouched over the corpses.
Brita looked up and winked, "Easy, remember how I said I skipped meals and alcohol to buy this potion? Well that doesn't save much… it helped, but this is how adventurers really make money. The guild buys these things as proof of the kill." She sliced off the top half of an ogre's ear and dropped it in a pouch.
"They don't drop crystals or other items?" Ainz asked, ' That is different from the game. So some things are similar, but not everything.' He reasoned when the others shook heads in denial.
"No, I've never heard of that." Dyne answered, "That would be nice, but…" he gave a martyred sigh, "We don't have that kind of luck."
"What about old ruins, dungeons, things like that?" Ainz pressed.
"Yes, but only really powerful, desperate, or foolish adventurers or workers would dare to go into places like that. Nobody knows much of anything about the world from six hundred years ago or so. At least not among humans, so those places are still found. However, few people are willing to go inside without serious power on their side." Peter answered.
"I lost my first party in something stupid like that…" Lukrut looked away and spat into the bloody pool near to where he crouched. "We weren't powerful or desperate, just what Peter said, foolish. Stupid, naive fools who found a place and thought we'd become legends. I don't even know how they died, I heard their screams begin in the dark, saw the light of their torch go out, then there was silence." He dropped the partial goblin ear into his pouch and pushed himself up from his knees.
"So I ran. I don't even know what killed them. I want to go back to that place someday though, find their bodies, and bring them home to beg their families' forgiveness." Lukrut's lewdity and jokes began to make more sense all of a sudden.
' So he's one of those.' Ainz reasoned and chose to stay quiet.
Lupusregina however, filled the dead silence with her own opinion, laughter, clear, mocking laughter. "Wow, you sure are stupid, aren't you? I mean I knew you were dumb, but I thought you were just the lewd kind of dumb. Not the everyday kind." She held her belly and continued her laugh, seemingly barely aware she'd made the young man angry until he stormed over to her.
Whether Lukrut intended to attempt to strike Lupu or yell at her, Ainz didn't know, neither would have been survivable. As soon as Lukrut was in Lupu's face, she put a foot past him, hooked it behind his leg, and gave him what, to her, was a little tap to the chest, but to him, a hammer blow.
He wheezed when his back hit the ground and his body bounced. "Miss Lupu! What was…" Brita and Ninya started to shout, but rather than finish him, the red haired beauty put her hands on her hips and bent over the wheezing ranger.
"Even if their bodies are still there, which, trust me, they're already long digested, they're gone, but even if they were, they're dead. Being weak like you are, you'll just add yourself as a long overdue dessert. And so what if you succeed? Let's say you stumble through the dark, poking that little twig in places you shouldn't, find a few bones, shove 'em in a potato sack and run on home; what then? Are you planning to dump the bones in front of their mommy and daddy? Are those even still alive now? Besides, did you drag those idiots in or did they go in on their own? Quit taking the blame for other people's stupidity, you're stupid enough all by yourself."
Lupusregina straightened up and shrugged her hands out, "Not that I give a damn, one less pervert in the world isn't a problem, and it might be fun if you let me watch you make them cry and clutch at bones and open up those fresh wounds all over again. But if you do plan on being that stupid, well at least now you know you're being stupid, stupid."
Lukrut managed to get his breath back, gasping slowly became normal breathing, the long hiccup like breath eased off, but he didn't stand up, he stared up at the sky in relative quiet.
"You're really smart, Lupu." Lurkut finally admitted.
"Well, I'm not using blood to run two heads at once. Stop putting it all into powering the one on that twig, and maybe you can begin to properly appreciate the unused one." She heaped her mockery on him and with a toothy smile, held out her V sign for victory again before stepping 'on' his chest and then walking on.
"If you peeked, I'm taking your eyeballs." She said to the man who once again began wheezing behind her.
"So cruel… I'm touched." Lukrut moaned, costing several minutes more before he could recover.
The hours of travel and peppering of Ninya and the others with questions about magic, adventuring, and the local politics, left Ainz with new questions and not enough answers. However, they didn't seem to mind as it passed the time on the road and neither did he.
The wide open world, with its endless sky and horizons that could be seen for miles upon miles, made Ainz think of 'explorer' players. They cared nothing about levels, or bases, they jumped into Yggdrasil wanting nothing more than to explore and see what they hadn't seen before. ' I thought them fools before, but now? Now I think I understand them. Of course, out of loyalty to my friends, my guild, and the children we made there, I must be a good ruler. But if it comes down to it? If they learn the truth and reject me?'
His heart shook in his chest at the very notion, an ache settled there that he knew would some day demand an answer, but instead he focused on the other half of that thought, ' Then if I were alone, or with a handful only? I could enjoy exploring this world for the rest of my days.'
It left him conflicted for most of the remaining walk for the day, until at last they settled down into a campsite for the night. The roaring flame had a meal of thick stew ready in short order.
Ainz reached up for his helmet, removed it, and accepted the wooden bowl that was offered to him. It wasn't exactly smooth, and for a moment he wondered if he'd risk a splinter on his tongue when he took a bite, but seeing his subordinate snatch the bowl and dig in with gusto, he could hardly complain.
An explosion of flavor hit him in an instant, though it was a little more salty than ideal, but compared to the tasteless rations of his former world, it was a feast. ' Nazarick can do better, vastly better, but… wait, when was the last time I ate?' He asked himself and realized, ' Before I logged on. I've been so stressed with everything that it killed my appetite, but now I'm starving.' He almost dug in with the same gusto Lupusregina was showing, her spoon flying from bowl to lips like she was in a duel with her food. ' Werewolf.' He recognized the lupine trait, but despite his hunger, Ainz took his time.
It was better that way, the full flavor of the chicken, potatoes, and broth came out as it slid over his tongue, he had to fight to suppress the full expression of his enjoyment over the meal, lest he break his calm exterior.
"You truly were impressive out there, Mr. Momon." Dyne said with an open, friendly smile.
"Yeah, see, I told you!" Brita added and stamped her foot, "I've worked with you guys a bunch in the last year, and you still don't take my word for things."
"You also said you were a man when we first met." Peter pointed out, and the red headed Brita crossed her arms in a huff.
"Because most parties won't take women adventurers, and here I am, just an occasional extra hand." Brita snapped with a hint of bitterness.
"Are women adventurer's frowned on here?" Ainz asked with interest at this unlooked-for development.
"Not exactly." Lukrut answered, "But a single woman in a party of men tends to pose problems, so you don't see many mixes. Women adventurers tend to form their own teams, or, like Brita, get to occasionally join one like us for a short term assignment."
"I see." Ainz said, "That explains your conduct toward my partner here."
Lupusregina felt the blush rise when her lord referred to her as his 'partner', but instead of melting, she narrowed her yellow eyes. "One word, pervert, and there'll be another woman in this party."
Lukrut chuckled, but said nothing as Ninya got up and spoke. "'Scuse me, I've got to ah, go."
Ninya turned and rushed awkwardly over to the treeline near to their blazing fire.
"Is it safe for Ninya to go alone?" Ainz asked as he watched the retreating back.
Peter answered, "No, not really. But Ninya gets really upset if anyone tries to go with him, people have their own things, I guess. And here is probably as safe as anywhere to be alone."
Lupusregina stood up and stretched out, "Well, I think I need to do the same, and if one of you follows me…" She looked over at Lukrut, "Pervert," she whispered, "you'll be crawling back."
She was gone before Lukrut could tell her what he was into.
Ninya squatted with his pants down and sighed as he relieved himself. "Thanks to the gods… I've been holding that in for hours ."
Ninya closed his eyes and pitied the insects he drowned, "So, I was right." Lupusregina said when she poked her head out of the bush behind the magic caster and right beside Ninya's head.
"I always know a woman when I smell her." Lupusregina grinned with confidence while Ninya's mouth fell open in a silent scream.
Before the silent scream could become audible, the lightly tanned hand of the adventurer Lupu came out and covered Ninya's lips with two upright fingers. "Now now, use your bedroom voice, I'm just curious about why you're lying to them?" A cruel, sadistic smile spread over the cleric's lips, "Are you afraid that pervert will try to have his way with you? He's harmless, I'm sure of it. Or is it the rest of them?"
"L-L-Lupu I… err… what…" Ninya's sudden fear turned into embarrassment, her blue eyes were like saucers as she tried to wrap her mind around the absurdity of her circumstances.
"Well, what is it, oh and pull your pants up, you finished about twenty seconds ago." Lupu said and straightened up, rustling the bushes and bringing Ninya out of her stunned state.
The little magic caster scrambled to grab her pants and pull them up to her waist. She was still fumbling with the cheap iron buckle and moved to stand in front of the temporary comrade to spout denials, but in the face of the red haired beauty, she could not find even the words to lie.
She slumped, tears of rage in her eyes, "Please… please don't tell them. I'm… I'm not afraid of them raping me or anything, they're decent people… but they'd kick me out. I don't want to get kicked out. I can't get kicked out. I can't…"
"How come?" Lupu asked her with a cockeyed look.
"You heard them, there aren't many female adventure teams and male teams won't take women on, there's always someone who falls in love, or maybe more than one and they fight or… nature takes its course and they have to fill the slot when she leaves. Small teams can't take that hit, so they just… they just don't let in women unless they're really powerful. If I were higher ranked that wouldn't be a problem. Like Blue Rose, or like… like you're going to be. But I'm this." Ninya held up her iron adventurer plate. "We're a copper for twenty, so they can easily replace me with someone else."
"They hired Brita, didn't they?" Lupu pointed out.
"Yes, but for one job, and Brita hasn't got a team, she finds work for other adventurers and then gets hired on as a bonus so she can go too. She finds out stuff that isn't even put on the job boards yet. Even so, she only gets the short jobs that last only a few days. That would be fine, but…" Ninya shut her eyes and snatched up her staff to clutch it tight to her chest.
"But?" Lupu pushed.
Ninya felt no mercy from the cleric, ' I knew something was off with her, she's too open. Too friendly. She's got a truly twisted personality beneath the surface. She's got me pinned down and can expose me if she wants, there's no choice, I have to tell her everything.'
"My… my sister. She was taken as a nobleman's plaything, they call her a concubine, but really to someone like that noble lord, she was just a toy. Tsuare was always beautiful, that's why he took her. I became an adventurer so I could-" Ninya was stopped when Lupu guessed.
"Rescue her?" The mocking smile of the cleric taunted her, but Ninya denied it.
"No, I can't possibly fight a castle full of guards, even if I did, there's nowhere I could run. I hoped to make enough money, fast enough, that I could buy her back. Adventurers can make a lot more money than peasants just regularly working, and we sometimes find useful things. So I started doing this in the hopes of getting lucky, finding some treasure or saving up enough to buy her out of wherever she is now." Ninya lowered her head, it was the first time it had ever been said out loud.
And now that she said it, it sounded utterly hopeless.
"Wow, is your whole party dumb? I thought it was just the pervert." Lupu said with a hand on her hip and scratching her head. "I guess it makes sense you want to help your sister and all, I've got sisters too. But here you are running around scratching for coins to throw at the ones taking turns on her? Damn, this whole country must be stupid."
"What am I supposed to do!" Ninya hissed through tears, "I can't take a castle by myself, I'm not adamantite, I'm not strong, I'm just Ninya! A nothing peasant with a bit of magic talent and… maybe just enough courage to risk my life."
"That." Lupu pointed at her, a vicious smile plastered in place. "Risk your life. So you get up enough gold or silver or copper or whatever your sister's holes are worth to them," she paused to let Ninya sob at the brutal assessment, then went on without mercy, "Throw them at the bastards and they give whatever leftovers there are of your sister back to you. Then what? You might be dumber than the pervert. She spends the rest of her life scratching at the dirt on a farm waiting for the next one to take a fancy to her? Or maybe she's so mutilated that she's lucky nobody is attracted to her anymore."
Lupu's words cut at Ninya's heart like animal claws, but the cleric seemed to have no pity, "It doesn't seem to me that you'll have accomplished anything. Look at that." Lupu pointed to the ground and out of reflex, Ninya looked. A group of ants was dragging a number of large insects toward their little hill.
The mockery and insults of the dangerous cleric were hammered like a smith beating hot iron as she pummeled the little magic caster's soul with merciless words. "I've seen the soldiers of this country, they're generally pathetic so far. One jump above the average peasant. If you don't like how you're being treated, then do something about it, or you deserve what they do. You deserve whatever you let them get away with." She put her hands to her cheeks in a mock dramatic gesture and in a taunting parody of a woman's voice she said, "Oh boo hoo, they're raping our sisters, guess we'd better give them coppers, and hope they stop. Oh boo hoo, they're taking our crops, guess we'll go hungry."
She then dropped the mockery and taunting, turning to a vicious tone with a predatory baring of her teeth as she spoke, "The lot of you are idiots. Just kill them. There are a bunch more peasants than soldiers, you can make weapons out of whatever you want. And they've got to eat. Who will feed them if you don't?"
"Are you… are you telling me to start a rebellion? That's treason." Ninya gasped at the almost blasphemous suggestion.
Lupu shrugged, "I'm not from here, it's not treason for me. And treason goes two ways, it seems to me that if your noblemen are doing that kind of thing, they have already betrayed you. What else can they do to you as punishment that they're not already doing to you for fun? Starvation? Kidnapping? Rape? Torture?" Her yellow eyes were wide as if she was enjoying the suggestions, "If you don't do anything about it, what do you expect?"
"You've got nothing, so you've got nothing to lose, and you do at least have guts enough to risk your life, so why not risk it doing something that isn't stupid? Maybe then you can get her back 'and' get even." Lupu gave a mild titter, "Or don't, it's night there now, while you're drowning bugs pretending to be a man, I'm sure your sister is hating being a woman. You could have started three rebellions in the time it probably took you to get to iron rank, and three more by the time you've saved enough to get on your knees and beg them to take your money for her 'remains' if she's alive or dead." The titter died and Lupusregina turned and walked back into the brush, leaving Ninya to sob alone beneath the shadowy night, concealed from the stars by the branches of the trees.
' That was fun.' Lupusregina mused as she sashayed her way back to the camp.
Chapter 10
When Lupusregina left with that twisted smile on her face, Ainz felt a little anxious, but brushed it off. ' She's been watching Ninya curiously for awhile now. Is she interested in that one? No, I think I'd remember if any of their settings included an attraction to the same sex. But then again I can't rule out Peroroncino's influence anywhere.'
"Your teamwork is very good." Ainz said, choosing to break the brief quiet when he held out his bowl for another helping.
Nfirea chose to help him, accepting the bowl, and laddling more stew into it.
"Thank you, but that's what happens when you work together for a long time, it isn't anything special. The Swords of Darkness have been at this for… oh, about four years now. We've gotten very good at responding to one another's actions without looking." Peter said, praising his comrades and sending Ainz's estimation of the young leader up another notch.
' Good, a leader should praise his subordinates before himself.' Ainz thought, and added, "Yes, that happens. I was with my comrades for many years, we were seamless, and it seemed we could overcome anything… anything…"
The morose sense of loss hit him like lightning out of the sky as Nfirea handed back the bowl. It slipped from Ainz's nerveless fingers. The bowl fell to the dirt and the stew splattered over the grass. "Forgive me… I… I seem to have lost my appetite, I'm going to go for a walk."
When he was gone, Nfirea turned to the others, "What was that?"
"He lost them, I'd say." Peter proposed.
"Yeah, definitely. They must have been close, I know that feeling all too well." Lukrut acknowledged. "The dead have no more problems, it's only the living who suffer the loss."
"It's hard to imagine what kind of comrades could stand beside a man like that, but I would say that's the case." Dyne added.
When Lupusregina returned, they looked behind her for Ninya, "Don't worry about him," the red haired woman said, thrusting a thumb back over her shoulder, "He's just having trouble getting something out. He'll be back eventually."
The cleric's smile vanished when she looked around, "Where's Momon?"
"He said he was going for a walk, he mentioned his comrades and then…" Peter waved a hand in the direction to which Momon departed.
Lupusregina's face was serious, her lips tight shut, "Yeah, they're gone, they've been gone a long time. I knew them very well, they were amazing. Now he's the only one of them left behind, and I make a pale substitute."
"Aww no! You're amazing, Lupu! I'm sure he thinks so, otherwise you wouldn't be with him." Nfirea insisted, "Not just anyone could stand beside a man like that!"
"The kid's right, you know." Brita insisted, "If you weren't really useful, you wouldn't be there. No warrior worth their salt keeps anyone by their side that they can't rely on. I won't say I know what his old comrades were like, but you know, he's got you at his side right now and that has to be so for a good reason."
' They'll look beautiful screaming.' Lupusregina thought to herself. ' Ninya, the Pervert, and the rest of them, I could get used to this, but oh how wonderfully they'd scream for me.' Her smile of pleasure was assumed to be at their praise, as she imagined their warm, open expressions twisted into terror and fear.
It was so enjoyable that Lupusregina felt like she might lose control and climax in bliss at just the thought. But she was a battlemaid before all else, and kept it clamped down enough to rise and say, "I'm going to find Momon, he shouldn't be alone now."
"Of course…" Sympathy passed to her through the tone of their words, and soon Lupu was out of view.
"So do you think they're lovers?" Lukrut asked when the party was by itself again.
"Is that always where your mind has to go?" Brita asked with exasperation.
"Yes." Lukrut said with a smirk, "Besides, it makes sense, doesn't it? Look at her, what man wouldn't? And the usual rules aside, a pair doesn't have that problem, especially when they're both crazy strong."
"I actually agree with our resident pervert." Dyne said and rubbed his chin in thought, "Women are naturally drawn to strong men, it's just a fact of life, and he's probably on par with the Warrior Captain."
Nfirea gasped, "Wait, really? And you think women will just, you know, be interested in him on that alone?"
"Probably." Peter answered, "Think about it, what else matters but strength? You can't expect anything else to matter when that is the difference between survival and death."
"B-B-But what if, you know, what if there's someone else who likes her and, well he's, and she's, and they're really close and…" Nfirea stammered, and began to blush under Lukrut's perverted grin.
"Oh so you're worried he might steal a girl you're interested in. Is that it, Mr. Bareare?" Lukrut swept a hand back through his hair and Nfirea didn't even try to deny it.
"Well, work hard! If you give up, it's all over." Dyne said in the deep voice of a man who had seen it all before.
"Oh, give the kid a break." Brita groaned, "Pack of brutish idiots with their lower brains in their pants…" the woman of the group said and marched over to Nfirea. She crouched in front of the blushing young man and put her hands on his shoulders, "Listen here, if you want her, you better say something. They're wrong about strength always being enough, but one thing that's enough for a definite no is cowardice. If you don't have enough guts to tell her you like her, or love her, you'll watch her fall into someone else's arms one day and that'll be that. Our plump little druid isn't wrong about that, if you stop at dreams, you'll die alone in reality."
"It's getting late, we should start to turn in." Brita suggested, and one by one their bedrolls were laid out.
Ninya returned as they were made ready, "I'll take first watch." She said to her team, and one by one they, without argument, drifted off to sleep.
' Rebellion. Wow, I never would have even considered that, but… she has a point. I've been scrabbling for coins for four years now, barely making enough to keep myself alive and hoping to get strong enough to make more money and get her back. If I'd rebelled and gotten people to go with me? Maybe I'd have failed and died, but that can be true out here too. I could be killed at any time, one bad arrow and it's all over. She's right though, the guards aren't invincible, maybe I could do something.' The thought ran through Ninya's mind over and over as she dreamed of the possibilities.
She was still doing so when she saw Momon and Lupu return, she traded a few words with him, and he went to lie down to rest, but his companion instead sat on the log right next to Ninya herself.
"So, still thinking about it?" Lupu asked with an almost sultry look.
Ninya gave a little frightened nod.
"But I don't know anything about war." Ninya muttered.
"One of Momon's friends was a military otaku… don't ask me what that means, I don't really know the details, but he used to go on and on about war, how about I tell you what he said, they were the wisest people I ever knew. Maybe you can do something with it." Lupu suggested. "Or…" She held her eyes close to Ninya, the yellow loomed like twin moons, inches away from the little brown haired mage.
"It's night time isn't it… do you think she is sleeping?" The words loomed like the yellow eyes, and like something born of nightmare hollowed out Ninya's miserable soul.
"Tell me…" Ninya begged. "Please, Miss Lupu."
"One time while I was with them, he started reciting this book from memory, it began like this: "The Art of War is of vital importance to the state…"
And so time passed as Lupusregina recited what she remembered, and a world of unlooked for information was opened in the mind of the little mage. She was so engrossed that they went on through three sleep shifts and didn't notice it until the recitation was done and she'd peppered the ever more seemingly dangerous cleric with questions it never even occurred her to ask.
When she lay down at last and Lupu took over the watch, to Ninya's surprise, she slept, and soundly, with a decision hard as iron in her heart.
Ainz lay awake longer than the others realized, first troubled by his longing for his absent friends, but also filled with a collector's curiosity. Ninya had used magic he'd never seen before to create a system of alarms around the camp when it had been made. That was a nervous sort of thing to see. ' That magic didn't exist in the game. Yes, that is fairly benign, but what about other magics? Are there spells beyond Supertier? Or even if there aren't, that doesn't mean there are no spells that cannot hurt us badly. What if there is a spell that does instant death to werewolves? Or something that just makes succubi so horny that they can't fight? Who knows?'
He barely lent an ear to the lessons of Punitto Moe being passed from Lupusregina to the little human mage. Ainz had problems of his own, but also the beginnings of a solution. ' Those goblins and ogres gave me some exp, not a lot, but it's definitely true that I can gain it. I can gain exp from summoned monsters, and from living beings here and I get more from the more powerful ones. A single ogre was worth ten times a single goblin.'
The question of what humans were worth was an open one, but one thing he noticed. ' One of those goblins must have been more powerful than the others, because it gave me double what the other goblins did, that means the more powerful the member of the species, the more exp I can gain from killing them. If that holds true for every species, then I can start 'grinding' again and build up to the new cap quickly. However, what it doesn't tell me is about the caps of others. However, there 'are' some people considered 'expendable' who will take great risks and whose lives have wildly different values to Nazarick.' While he thought this, he candidly admitted that it was partially fear based. ' Something to counterbalance the others if they give into their settings when the truth comes out. I doubt they can reach guardian strength, but what if I can grind them 'safely' in the Arena with controlled monster summons? It's a worthwhile experiment at least.'
He yawned as the plan took shape, and drifted off to an uneasy but optimistic sleep.
The next day they were up and on the way, it didn't take long to reach the great forest of Tob. "Gather what you need, I'm going into the forest, Lupu, come with me."
The others were gathered around assisting Nfirea and keeping watch when Momon and Lupu began to fade into the green amidst the trees.
"Alright, Mr. Momon, please be careful and call for us if you need help." Peter said with some amiable concern in his voice.
Ainz waved a hand behind him, dismissive of the concern, and when they were well out of sight, he looked down at Lupusregina Beta. "Are we alone?"
"Yes, My Lord. We're far out of their range of senses." Lupusregina answered and glanced around the forest, the smells of living things were everywhere, the sounds and sights, vivid and inviting, calling to her to hunt and kill. She licked her lips, but remained passive at her master's side.
Ainz cast the message spell. "Aura, did you find it?" He asked.
"Yes, Lord Ainz. Asleep in a cave, it's a neat looking thing, do you want me to wake it?"
"Yes, wake it and draw it to me." Ainz answered and cut off the spell.
He waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Minute passed after minute, impatience began to build.
Just before Ainz could cast the message spell again, Lupusregina spoke.
"I smell it. It's coming, should I, My Lord?" The battlemaid asked and fingered her mace.
"No, no leave this one to me." Ainz replied with breathless anticipation, his breath quickened and he drew his swords smoothly out of their place on his back.
A green snake tail darted out of the woods, he saw it coming far in advance, and deflected the head of the snake tail with ease, batting it away like a child would an insect.
"Impressive you are. Strong you must be. Leave you now must, or kill you I will." The curious creature announced from concealment.
"A brave thing to say when you're hiding out of sight, submit to me, and I will spare your life. I'll let you be a pet to one of my children." Ainz offered, and the snake tail rose into view, shaking with anger.
"A pet not I am, dead, you are. A battle for our lives begins, survive, only one of us can." The voice said, and charged into view.
Ainz dodged with ease, raised up his sword, spun underhand, brought the sword up, and then brought it down just behind the head of the monster, easily avoiding its claws and teeth, and it fell at his feet with a spraying of blood.
The head separated from its body, the life began to go out of its eyes almost immediately, it seemed to understand that it was dying, but without lungs to propel air, it could no longer speak, its mouth moved, but made no noise.
Red stained the ground, and the tail behind it fell limp and lifeless behind it.
"A hamster monster?" Ainz asked when he looked down at the beast. The claws and teeth were sharp enough for sure. The fur was soft to the touch, but when he pressed, he felt a thick hide beneath. The tail was indeed that of a snake, the head gone lifeless along with the rest of it. Black eyes stared at him from the front and the back alike, accusingly as if he were guilty of something.
' How much exp did I get… let's see…' Ainz wondered and focused on his stats. ' Twenty times that of the strongest ogre… but still not very much, I'm still a long way from level one hundred and one. But, with this, I should be able to rank up and get more advanced jobs very quickly. I need money for Nazarick of course, but more than that, I need more power, I want to see where this new level cap goes.'
"Lupusregina, take the head, we'll rejoin the others." Ainz ordered, and with a contented grin, she nodded in acknowledgement. "What about the rest of it, My Lord? It'd be a shame to waste the body."
Ainz brought his onyx colored armored hand up to the chin of his helmet. "You're right… call for Aura, have it taken back to Nazarick, and let Demiurge have it for his experiments. We must learn all we can about the life forms of this world if we're to prosper in it."
"At once, my lord." Lupusregina replied, sending the message while they walked back toward the others, holding the oversized hamster head in hand like the trophy that it was.
Chapter 11
When Lupusregina held up the head of the hamster, they all took a step back in shock, eyes wide as stars, "Even dead, those eyes radiate power and wisdom. How could you ever kill such a beast?!" They exclaimed.
"I used my sword until it stopped moving." Ainz answered the question with a dry tone. As fights went, it had been frankly disappointing, but they detected none of that disappointment.
"Amazing…" Ninya and Brita replied together and with slow, sometimes flinching motions of their hands, they reached out to touch the fur of the head.
"The Wise King of the Forest has taken down Orichalcum ranked teams before, few survive their encounters with him. To think you two alone could kill him…" Dyne said with breathless wonder.
"Nah, I didn't do anything. Momon killed it, I just stood by in case he needed me. It was easy for him." Lupu said proudly of her partner, her chin raised as if daring them to deny her claim.
Nobody did. "Amazing… you're amazing…" the praise came from multiple quarters as the others clustered around the head of the beast to take turns touching it, unperturbed by the blood that still dripped from the beheading with a bit of spine still dangled down. Nfirea appeared a bit green at the sight, and declined to handle the head, but he wasn't short on praise either.
Or with curiosity.
"Peter, Brita, Mr. Momon, if it's alright, could we stay another day in Carne when we get there? I'd like to study the fur and see if I can apply it to any potions. I'll pay you all extra for your time of course." Nfirea practically pleaded.
Ainz quickly called up his salaryman experience and rattled off conditions. "It's fine by me, as long as you compensate us for the extra supplies we use as well, and any expenses we incur while there. And of course pay for the materials and let me benefit from anything you develop by studying the fur."
"Were you a merchant at some point?" Peter half joked, only for Ainz to laugh at him.
"Yes. You might say that." Ainz answered, and the laughter stopped.
"Yes, of course, that's all fair, Mr. Momon, how about the rest of you?" Nfirea pressed the rest of his companions.
"Yeah, sure, why not?" Brita added, "To be honest, I've been thinking about giving up on adventuring anyway, and I'd like to check the village out, it's getting harder to find teams, and if this has taught me anything, it's that I'll never reach the top, not with a peak that high to head towards." She pointed up toward Momon's head and looked up at him. "You're amazing."
"Fine by me, an extra night in the village won't be a problem. It'll even be nice to relax for once." Peter answered for the rest of his team, who nodded along with him.
The trip toward Carne Village was uneventful with warm sun, fresh air, and thanks to a little preservation magic from Mr. Bareare, the head didn't stink up the journey. All in all, it was just a pleasant stroll, right up until it came into view when they reached the top of the dusty road that went up the hill overlooking the village.
"There wasn't a wall here before… what happened here?" Nfirea looked down on the village, saw a series of burnt up homes, toppled timbers, and the charred remnants of places where people onced lived and slept. "An attack? Then how is it still here…?"
"You won't find out from the top of the hill, Mr. Bareare, we'll have to go down there and ask." Lupusregina said with flat out sarcasm.
"Right, Mr. Momon, could you take the lead? You know, just in case." The young alchemist asked, and without criticism, Ainz did just that.
"There are goblins ahead, should we kill them, Momon?" Lupusregina asked.
"No, Lupu, you smell humans down there too, don't you?" Ainz asked, and she gave a slow nod.
"Humans, but no fear. They're probably not hostile." Lupu said to the group, sounding almost disappointed.
"Then we go forward, but no sudden movements." Peter instructed, and the wagon rolled forward.
The goblins sprang up to their feet with barely a rustle among the high grass, arrows nocked and drawn, ready to shoot. "Wait! I'm here to trade!" Yelled Nifrea.
"Someone go get the boss, nobody get arrow happy, we don't want to fight… especially not against that big guy there." The largest of the goblins ordered the rest of them.
A moment later Ainz saw her, the familiar face of the girl he'd rescued before he was turned back into a human. "Nfirea!" She shouted when she saw him and clapped her hands together just below her mouth, "Everybody relax! He's a friend."
And the tension passed away to nothing.
Demiurge stopped at the door as soon as he heard moaning sounds. ' This is Lord Ainz's room… who would be…' He stopped that line of thought and simply opened the door. Beneath the sheets a shapely form writhed and undulated, clinging to something. He reached up and pushed his glasses against his crystalline eyes.
"Albedo… what are you doing?" Demiurge let out a weary sigh as the nude succubus pushed herself up and rested on her hands.
"I'm putting my scent here, so that it will be the first thing he experiences when our lord returns." She had a fanatical smile on her face and her wide yellow eyes bored into the solid crystal of his own.
"Yes I… I see. But don't you have things you should be doing? We must live up to our lord's expectations after all. And he is undead, it isn't as if he needs sleep." Demiurge pointed out as reasonably as he could to the disturbing sight in front of him.
"Of course! Why this is only 'one' of my duties! Right, Lord Ainz?" Albedo grinned down at what she clutched and for a moment Demiurge was forced to do a double take at the skeletal visage that greeted him when she raised it up.
The likeness was flawless, it was indeed Lord Ainz… on a pillow. "Is that… a body pillow?" He asked. His sense of exasperation growing, he kept his pulse even despite the mild annoyance on display.
"Yes, of course! I've had lots of practice sewing! I've made enough clothing for children both male and female up to the age of five, but… I don't know what to do if they have no gender." Albedo pouted a little, distressed when she looked down at the pillow's face. She touched it reverentially as if it were the lord himself.
"To think, The One Who Stayed… abandoned everything to be with us, I must give him many children, and all happiness, it's the very least we weak guardians, we servants, can do." Albedo said when she traced her fingers over the skeletal jaw.
"I do agree, but if the twins are any indication, the Supreme Beings had no issue with boys in girls clothes and vice versa. Therefore, it seems unlikely that a genderless child would require anything unique." Demiurge answered, annoyance replaced with sympathy for her desires, since he shared them himself.
"Thank you for the insight, Demiurge, that is a relief." She reached up and touched her breast, exhaling deeply with relief over the answer to the question that had troubled her so. "Speaking of serving him, what have you to report?" Her voice became professional, as one would expect of the Guardian Overseer.
"I've established a small facility, a farm you might say, where we can use human stock for experiments of all kinds. My 'loyalty' experiments have been telling. That is to say, humans have little of it." Demiurge's disgust was palpable not only in his tone, but in the way he tensely held his hands behind his back. Disloyalty was the worst of sins for those created to be loyal, and it heightened his hatred for the human captives even further from where it had been when everything began.
"Oh, how have you been doing this?" Albedo's brilliant mind began concocting all manner of possible scenarios, but before she'd gotten through three of them in her head, Demiurge explained.
"After our conversation the other day, I snatched up some humans from village survivors, just some places that had already been raided and destroyed, that way nobody would miss them. I then separated them by family. After that, I took children from one and put them with another and so on. After a short while, I informed each group that the ones who had their children had started abusing the ones placed in their care. The result was that each group started abusing the children given to them as revenge. I continued to come up with ever more elaborate things, and then broke them down into hierarchies and let them decide the punishment since the 'abusers' had broken the rules."
He broke into a very broad grin, "Of course they settled on various mutilations, and I had each one of them watch as it was done to one another. By sunset, these neighbors that had once been friendly with each other, were eating each other's roasted bodies simply to torture their companions with the knowledge. In less than a day, loyalty was ruined, those pathetic wretches." Demiurge spat with both amusement and contempt. "Interestingly, the magic experiments showed that we could feed the prisoners indefinitely just by feeding them their own severed limbs and healing them, as long as the limbs were consumed first, the nutrition remained."
"I see. That is useful, very useful." Albedo acknowledged with obvious pleasure, "Are you going to show Lord Ainz what you've done when he returns?"
"Dirty the Supreme One's feet in a place like that?" Demiurge shook his head, "No, I'll keep Lord Ainz informed of everything of course, but the foul stench of human waste and such low 'company' is beneath his notice. Though perhaps if he would like a tour… maybe he could improve my work. I suppose I'll just have to bring it up to him and ask what he'd like to do."
"That would be for the best." Albedo replied with patient understanding. "Our lord is far, far beyond us. Surely he can offer insights we can't even imagine. Now if you will excuse me, this will take a little longer." She sighed and pulled the blanket over her skin again. She was already writhing in the bed before Demiurge even left the room.
Clementine ground her teeth. "Everybody dies so easily ." She groused to Khajiit. "It's no fun when they just take it. Adventurers have more spirit."
"Then target adventurers." Khajiit said as a zombie got up from where a still corpse had lain a moment earlier. He drew back the black orb in his hand and stepped aside to let it pass.
Clementine spread her arms and watched the zombie lumber away. "Yeah, yeah. Listen Khajiiiii, I'm getting bored. I've gone by their place three times so far and the brat still isn't there, what if I grabbed the granny instead."
"She's a third tier caster. You might lose." The old man pointed out, to which Clementine cackled.
"I'm Clementine, I've stepped into the realm of heroes. An old granny is no match for me, and magic casters are always physically weak. I can handle her. Besides, she's starting to get suspicious, I think." Clementine closed her mouth and drew her lips tight. "If she thinks something's up, she might make this harder. I'll give it a few more days, but I want to see this as much as you do." She sighed with orgasmic bliss, "What was it called?"
"A death spiral. Yes, and if you have to take her, then you have to, but don't do anything to put my plans at risk, or you will be one of my zombies next." Khajiit said to her with a long, steady look while two of his acolytes carried another corpse into the room for him to turn.
"A hundred and fifty now, right? That orb sure is impressive." Clementine said with a begrudgingly favorable tone.
"It is. Thanks to this we'll gather enough undead to draw even 'more' powerful undead, and then more, and then more until they spawn on their own, and once finished, we'll have enough to destroy the entire city…" Khajiit showed the first traces of excitement, ' Then I will have enough power to turn myself into an undead of supreme power… and bring my mother back.'
"So they're gone… I'm so sorry." Nfirea said with sympathy. He was sitting in Enri's home, a small house like any other in any village in the Kingdom, it was nothing but two rooms. A bedroom shared by her parents, her sister, and herself… and the kitchen, living, and dining area all combined into one that had no real furnishings to speak of other than a single crude, rough table that would give you splinters if you weren't careful.
"They were fine people, they shouldn't have died that way…" Nfirea said and took Enri's hand in his, the warmth of her hand and the life flowing beneath was a comfort when he hung his head. ' Idiot, you don't have a right to mourn them like they were your parents instead of hers.' He cursed himself, but she didn't seem to mind.
"Thank you." Enri replied, her head hung like his own, she didn't draw her hand away, but rather let her fingers interlock with his. "At least they were avenged. That magic caster, Ainz Ooal Gown, killed nearly all of them. Though I heard his companion… Albedo, killed almost as many herself when they tried to kill the Warrior Captain."
' Serves them right.' Nfirea thought, then caught the name she'd said. ' Albedo… Albedo, didn't I… yes, I passed Lupu and Momon in the alley, Lupu mentioned that name.' It could have been coincidence, but he wondered, it tickled his brain, ' Was it?'
"We're very grateful to them both. The magic caster, Ainz, even gave me a red potion to heal the wound that the knight gave me. I should have died, but instead I was healed instantly." Enri stopped talking when she saw the open mouth of her friend. "What?"
"R-R-Red? A red potion? Are you sure?" Nfirea stammered.
Enri touched a finger to her cheek and looked up and away while she brought back the memory. The warmth of the sun shone through the window and caught her long vibrant blonde hair, for a moment Nfirea forgot all of his curiosity and suspicion, and just lost himself in the sweet vision of the flower of youth. ' I love you. I'll take care of you and Nemu and we'll be a family and…' The words hung on his tongue and would not leap past his lips.
"Yes, definitely red. I thought it was blood and it was scary, but it was a healing potion." She answered him. "If he hadn't come, we'd all be dead."
' Bastards.' He gritted his teeth. ' Kingdom nobles are so utterly worthless, they're trash, complete trash. They don't care what happens to anyone as long as they can drink and eat and laze about doing nothing.'
He kept his anger suppressed as best he could, feeling Enri's sadness return through the trembling of her hand in his, she wiped her tears, "My sister is with me still, I can't lose myself in sadness forever, and we'll get by. We still have our home, our farm, and wonderful friends like you." Enri gave him a weak, fragile smile.
He felt his heart both grow and break at once at the words, and he wanted to say more. His aching heart was racing through the wound she'd unknowingly given him. ' I have a good life as a herbalist, I make plenty of money, I can be more… I can… if you… it would be easy to look after Nemu, or even more children.' The promise of a family in his dreams was so tantalizingly close, she was looking at him with those wide, beautiful blue eyes. ' I love you, you could live with me, everything will be safe there.'
"Enfi?" She asked haltingly, using her favorite pet name for him, and the courage in his heart died.
"Anything you need, I'll help you." He said as he failed to close the gap between his wish to speak and his will to do so.
"You're the best friend a woman could ask for." Enri said, and brought him in for an embrace. He returned the hug she gave him, breathing in the scent of her clean hair and enjoying a warmth he feared he'd never have the wish to ask for more of.
When the moment passed, he forced himself to another subject. "So, about those goblins?"
Enri finally smiled, "Those came from a magic item the sorcerer who saved us gave to me. The horn of the goblin something, they follow my orders and are completely loyal. They've been a big help rebuilding the village, they're why we have an actual wall now."
Her enthusiasm for the one who saved her stoked a bitter jealousy inside Nfirea that shared space with his gratitude to the man, and yet more importantly, she mentioned using it shortly after he left, which had been a fair while ago, relative to how long summons lasted. Yet they were still here, summons were not normally permanent. The more questions he asked about the item and the magic caster, the more he had to ask.
"So he used lightning magic, that's at least third tier." Nfirea said, and his suspicion that there either could simply be two people named Albedo, or they both knew the same person increased. ' Yes, that's right, terrific warriors typically associate with each other like master craftsmen do. It would make perfect sense.'
"Is third tier good?" Enri asked innocently. To which Nfirea could only chuckle.
"It's better than me. I can only use second, and Granny can only use third, anything higher requires talent. But since he had such a powerful item, maybe he can use as high as fifth tier, that's the realm of heroes and the limit for humans other than Fluder Paradyne." Nfirea acknowledged, his manly competitive spirit was somewhat annoyed that the mysterious Ainz had not only saved the woman he loved, but was so much more powerful as well.
' Wait, could this Ainz have been Lupu? She's a cleric, but also crazy strong, and clerics usually keep healing potions for when their mana runs out.' It was an absurd thought. Utterly absurd. ' What if she's a magic caster from another country and Mr. Momon was her escort, that would make sense, and she had him asking all those questions for her so she could learn the magic of another country without sounding ignorant.'
Strange, but not impossible. One powerful person was amazing, two powerful people together were heroic, three was beyond unlikely. Four, all in the same general area, all at once, without being a team? No way. ' Something stinks worse than my alchemy shop on brewing day.' Nfirea stood up slowly, "Excuse me, I'll be back soon."
' They are definitely the goblins from the Horn of the Goblin General that I gave to the girl… Enri, I think her name was.' Ainz realized after watching how the goblins behaved. They were stronger, larger, better equipped, and definitely higher level than the scrawny malnourished ones Ainz and the Swords of Darkness defeated in the previous encounter.
One of those goblins stood in front of a line of villagers who were drawing bows. He was giving them instructions, and though they were following them imperfectly, they were following them. The creaking of wooden bows bending to human will was followed by the noise of their twang as they loosed their arrows at straw targets.
"They're not bad." Ainz acknowledged.
"They're not, Momon?" Lupusregina asked from where they stood overlooking the sight. For reasons not clear to her, her master had chosen to visit the graves of the villagers he hadn't saved before, and this gave him a perfect view of the practice of the living.
"No, not really. They're not warriors, but… look at them." He waved a hand out to encompass the line of middle aged and young people, "They saw their loved ones killed and nearly lost everything, now they're determined not to suffer that same fate again. Resolve, even in the weak, is admirable." Ainz answered. "Ten days ago they were nothing but sheep to be slaughtered, now they've resolved to become wolves and protect themselves. In time they may become worthy of standing in a battle line. Remember, even Nazarick was not made in a day."
A quick and quiet spell of level assessment informed him that several had already gained a few levels. Two had gone up a level with swords, another two with spears, and the rest had all gone up a level as archers. ' At low levels that is to be expected, but it seems there's a natural cap. Brita mentioned having been adventuring for four years, and yet she is only level seven. Peter meanwhile has been at it for half that long and is level nine. Ninya is even younger and has reached level ten. Though that talent… I want to study it.' Ainz thought, his greedy collector's mind at work.
' And for that matter, what about the great gods? They were probably players like me, and some of them could have been immortal races, could they be hidden and quietly power leveling humans? If there are humans who can rise above me, one day we might not be able to defeat them. I need to study this at length.' Ainz concluded, just as Lupusregina addressed him.
"I understand, Momon. But we have company coming." Lupusregina answered him, and they stopped talking until Nfirea approached.
"Excuse me, but… Miss Lupu, do you have a healing potion?" Nfirea asked.
"Is someone injured?" Ainz asked, and inclining his head toward the red headed beauty, she reached into the pouch at her side and took out a red potion.
Nfirea gasped and stared at it, "Miss Lupu, are you Ainz Ooal Gown?!" He exclaimed, and she took a step back, her jaw dropped and she stared up at her companion, completely dumbfounded.
Before they could say anything, Nfirea continued, "It's just, I saw you both once before, Miss Lupu mentioned Albedo, I wasn't eavesdropping, I promise, and all I heard was the name… but then Enri told me that Ainz had a companion by that name. A black armored warrior… so, ah, Mr. Momon, would that make you, 'Albedo?'
Ainz's jaw fell as far open as Lupusregina's jaw at the profound misunderstanding that had just occurred. He almost didn't know what to say, and so, he laughed. Deep and rich, ' I see, he only heard of Albedo as a black clad warrior, Enri never actually saw her, so now he sees me, Lupusregina is a caster, so…' It all made a twisted sort of sense if you misunderstood things a certain way, so he answered, "You caught us. Yes, she is Ainz, and my name is Albedo. What you heard before was us discussing the names we'll use in this country. We prefer to remain anonymous, can we trust you to keep it to yourself?"
"So that's why you asked for this, huh boyo?" Lupu said to him and tapped the potion in her palm.
He gave a rapid series of nervous nods, "Ah, yes of course, it was just too impossible to think of there being four powerful people all in the same area and not having anything to do with each other. Either they'd be on the same side or rivals, sooo… please forgive me!" Nfirea said and suddenly bowed.
"You saved the woman I love and escorted me here and I've gone and pried too much, but also… that potion, even knowing what I know, all I can think of is how much I want to make it!" Nfirea exclaimed.
Lupusregina caught the feel of the eyes of her master on her, curiously, without his undead nature, he was easier to read, especially now that she understood his transformation. "I see, well I guess it's fine." She shrugged, "But giving up secrets like this isn't something I'd ever just do, you know. But if you'd work for me, that's another thing."
"Work for you?" Nfirea asked, "But I have a shop and you could just buy whenever you like from Granny and me."
"If you've got a gold mine, do you let just anybody work it?" Lupusregina asked, "Besides, think about it, this village is really grateful to me for saving it, so obviously you'd work here. Who else lives here, virgin boy?"
He blushed, "You mean, I'd be close to the woman I love?"
"Right, I swear you stank more of lust when she came into view than any ten men fresh from whore houses." Lupu crinkled her nose and Nfirea blushed a deep crimson. "She has to be a virgin too or she'd have noticed, but that won't last long if you go wandering off. Maybe you're better hung than the pervert, but I'll bet it can't reach all the way here from E-Rantel." Lupusregina's hammering of the young man kept him blushing and off kilter.
"There's other men, men who are here, and she's at the ripe age isn't she, just lost her folks, a farm is a lot to manage, and I swear I saw a few men watching her rear when she walked by. Work for me, set up here, and you'll get a chance at the girl. Or don't, they've got whore houses in E-Rantel, maybe that'll be enough for you, eh?" Lupu's wolfish grin wore him down.
"I'll have to talk to Granny about it, but she's been looking at retiring, if I throw the promise of making a new potion into the mix, I'm sure she'll be okay with me moving here." Nfirea replied, "It's still a lot to take in, ah… I guess I should call you Miss Lupu. But… but thank you for saving the woman I love."
"It's nothing." Lupu waved her hand away, dismissing his gratitude. "It's easy for people like Momon and I, and it was kinda fun."
Nfirea bowed deeply again, "Still, thank you. Your secret is safe, and I'm your man, both of you, forever, for what you did to help my Enri."
"Go get her tiger, before someone else does." Lupu said and pointed toward the village again, and he jogged away after slipping the red potion she'd offered, into his pouch.
As soon as they were gone, Lupu bowed her head. "I screwed up, master. Will my life be enough to make up for it?"
Her hand 'turned' and a sharp claw stronger than adamantite was pressed to her own throat, but to her surprise, Lord Ainz was laughing again.
His armor clinked with the force of his shaking laughter, "It's fine, Lupusregina, it's fine. He didn't find out the truth, even if he was a little closer to it than comfortable. But still, be more careful. We're safe for now, besides, who knows how he might have reacted if he'd learned that Momon was Ainz? As it is, a false secret not only won't hurt us, but his keeping it will be a true test of his gratitude and loyalty."
"Yes, master." Lupusregina replied and her red furred hand became normal again.
Chapter 12
Nfirea's wish to stay one day in the village to study the fur of the Wise King of the Forest, became two days when he wished to study the blood, and then became three days when he wished to study the eyes. So the days blurred as he worked on potion after potion. A house emptied by the murder of its inhabitants during the attack became his new workshop.
Ainz didn't mind, it was pleasantly relaxing in the village, the people were friendly and open toward him, far more pleasant than the people of his own world most of the time. Brita and the Swords of Darkness took up assisting with the training of the villagers just to pass the time, as well as gathering plants from the now much safer area of the forest for Nfirea to test out with his new subject. Meanwhile 'Lupu' under his direction, began to charm those around her with her outwardly smiling and cheerful demeanor.
However, all of that was an aside to Ainz, who sat at the table with the village chief and his wife in their home. "… not that we're not impressed with the accomplishment, Sir Momon. But killing the Wise King also removes a barrier to other monsters that may attack the village. He kept to himself, and as long as we didn't venture into his territory he wouldn't come to us. Now with him gone… who knows what monsters may appear?"
"I see… I see. I owe you an apology then, I acted rashly without thinking of what this would mean for you." Ainz answered, "I must take responsibility for this."
' Damn, I took the time to save them, and started establishing this as a base, only to remove something defending the place, without thinking.' Ainz cursed, ' I need to solve this one or word will spread that Momon is a glory seeker who doesn't care who he puts at risk, that will be a problem. On the plus side, the experience I gained from killing that thing was a lot better than the ogres, it means I really can grind out a great deal if I just find strong enough things to fight.' It was a mixed blessing of a thought process for Ainz, who waited while the wrinkled faces of husband and wife looked at one another with uncertainty.
"Are you… offering to stay and protect us, Sir Momon? We… we don't have much. And what we have, we've been saving to give as a gift to Lord Ainz as a show of gratitude when he returns. We're a poor place, we can feed you of course but… but not much more. We can't possibly pay you to stay here just waiting for danger."
"What if I were to make this place my base of operations?" Momon said to them with a sudden flash of inspiration.
The pair shot their eyes to him, "I- Sir Momon I don't understand?" The old mayor stammered out.
"Most adventurers stay at the inn to look for partners. I don't need another partner. Your village has empty homes. It also has plenty of space. Give me one of the homes, and when I'm not adventuring, I will reside here. In addition I'll check the forest and deal with any monsters that appear there. That should be good enough, right?"
"But… Sir Momon, there were two other monsters of great power in the forest, and when they learn the Wise King has died, they'll surely come to investigate." The old mayor shuddered. "Would you really fight them both?"
"Of course. They wouldn't pose a threat if they considered the Wise King to be their rival." Ainz replied, ' So, others, I'll have to check them out as well, who knows what might be done with them? And Nfirea is very excited about what he's found he can do with the Wise King's body parts. I wonder if we can harvest it again and again through resurrection? But that might be a bit cruel, it was an intelligent beast. But if we make it quick, is there really a problem?'
"If… if you say so, of course we must accept. But you must at least also let us provide you with food, and accept at least some coin from us for your efforts when you stay with us. Once we've paid Master Gown back at least." The old woman insisted and stretched out her aged hand to cover the mailed one Ainz had allowed to rest on the table.
' She can't be much past her thirties, but looks much older, this place is hard on the body, clearly.' Ainz concluded, but that sympathy was buried under a wave of satisfaction as he 'completely' acquired a village as his home base and eliminated the concern about where to stay, unlike his undead body, this one needed rest.
' Plus, I can keep an eye on Nfirea. An added bonus.' Ainz considered, and then replied, "Yes, that would be acceptable."
The hand covering his, slowly enfolded its fingers into his palm and raised his hand up into a handshake. Her husband did the same and the bargain was struck.
Then just like that, Ainz had a second home, he only needed to pick which one.
"I'm bored Khajiii, soooo bored!" Clementine groused for what had to be the hundredth time, she dragged her fingers down her cheeks, "I killed two information brokers and nobody knows where that brat went!"
"Maybe if you didn't kill them, you might have better luck." Khajiit said while rubbing his chin and tapping his staff on the stone. "The rest are bound to go into hiding if a few of them disappear. Rats always scatter when one of them is killed.
A twisted smile came over Clementine's face. "I know, I know, but I like killing… no, I'm in love with killing!" She clutched her stiletto in her left hand a moment later and licked a bit of dried blood from the tip. "I need it! I can't feel any kind of pleasure without it, so of course I killed them…" Her wild wide eyes narrowed and she winked her left eye when she said, "Sorry if it's so annoying, Khajii, but you knew what you were getting into from the beginning."
"The price I pay, eh. Everything has a price. Well, if the boy hasn't come back and you don't know where he is, ask someone certain to know." Khajiit suggested, and for a moment Clementine looked at him in confusion.
"His grandmother, she will know if nobody else does." Khajiit pointed out, "It is a minor risk, and she is unimportant in the grand scheme of things, she's a third tier magic caster, but if you catch her off her guard, we might finally make some progress. I didn't want to do that, but I can't wait forever either."
"You're the best, Khajii!" Clementine said and took off at a dead run out of their place in the underground crypt.
"What a troublesome personality." Khajiit muttered and waved his gnarled wooden staff out toward the disciples waiting off to one side. They took his meaning, and brought in the next corpse, this one was reduced almost to bones and it took all four disciples just to keep it in one piece when they carried it to the small altar at which Khajiit worked.
Clementine made it back to E-Rantel with ease, her tremendous acrobatic skill made it easy to avoid the crude, even pathetic guards meant to protect the city from threats. She was completely unseen and unheard, shadow to shadow, alley to alley, under the cover of a spring night she barely made a splash on the little puddles she encountered along the way.
Then she made it, the shop was famous to say the least, and to some degree that fame was its own form of security. Nobody wanted to mess with third tier magic casters. Even Khajiit's own Zuranon found that the best policy was to avoid a needless fight.
But the ex-Black Scripture Clementine was not nobody. ' A quick stabby stab and they die like anyone else.' She laughed silently behind her twisted smile beneath the window of the home. It was like any other residence of a prosperous merchant. The shop below, the living area above, the walls made of crude plaster coated wood and had a pair of windows on the upper floor for light.
She looked up, the wooden shutters on the outside were closed, but that was no real obstacle for her even without martial arts. She crouched low, took out a stiletto, then after one deep breath, she jumped. Her powerful legs carried her up to the second floor and her hands caught the frame. Not a sound went out from the point of contact, but ever the professional, Clementine stopped for an instant to listen. She then slid her stiletto in the vertical space between the shutters and raised it up till she felt the touch of the latch. One sharp motion, and the latch opened.
She sheathed the weapon and opened the right shutter, then inched along the window and opened the left, behind the shutter there was a glass window. It was a silent testament to the prosperity of the merchant to be able to afford one of actual glass. Most were simply open holes with shutters to keep out cold. Again, it was no obstacle. Her stiletto jammed down at the tiny crack between the window and the sill, then she pried it up a tiny bit. She paused to listen again, only the sound of her own heart was there to reach her ears.
Her fingers pried the window open, and when it was done, she kicked her legs off the wall while holding on to the upper frame and swung herself in feet first, tucking her legs in to ensure she easily cleared the bottom of the window.
Clementine landed quiet as a cat on the floor, and crept toward a nearby room. The faint sound of an old woman snoring reached her ear, and that smile became even more twisted. She drew from her sheath a stiletto enchanted with mind control, and reached for the handle.
The door and its handle were obviously quite old, smooth cut and polished, but the handle was wrought iron and had bits of rust here and there where alchemical ingredients had touched and eroded it over years. There was no evidence of a lock, not that it would have done any good even if the old woman had one.
' No matter how skilled the magic caster, if they're asleep and have no skill in detecting the unknown, they might as well be a baby.' Clementine mentally mocked the woman who slept in bed in front of her. She could see that the famous Lizzie Bareare was a small woman, barely up to Clementine's chest if she'd been allowed to wake up. Even in the dark, the stiletto armed woman could tell that her target had short white hair, and a mass of wrinkled skin around a broad nose.
The old woman tossed and turned beneath an expensive blanket, the room was the definition of simple, a desk, an end table with a candle next to the plain bed, but it was obvious she'd spent serious money on the comfort of the place she slept. The thick mattress might even have been enchanted, but the blanket itself was at least very thick and made of very soft bear fur. Hatred welled up in Clementine, old hate for the comforts of others, it made it even easier and more pleasurable when she stood at the old woman's side.
Clementine raised the stiletto up over one hand… then brought it down when the aged grandmother rolled toward the predator again. Lizzie's blue eyes flew open when pain ripped through her body from the point in her shoulder where the stiletto pierced, it was only a mere moment though. One moment of pain, confusion, and understanding, and then Lizzie Bareare's mind, belonged to Clementine.
"You seem to be injured, are you alright?" Clementine asked and put a hand on a spot of blood.
The bright eyes that once shone with intelligence, then fear, Clementine now looked down into the hollow, empty face which then broke out into a smile of welcome like Lizzie was seeing an old friend. "It hurts a little, but I feel good, how are you, my friend?"
"Wonderful, wonderful." Clementine answered and clapped her hands together, the stiletto stuck the woman to the bed, and so the old woman didn't rise, she only lay at ease as if weary. "I was just looking for your grandson, but it seems he's nowhere to be found, I was hoping he would play with me and Khajii, can you tell me where he is or when he'll be back, pretty please, for sweet little old me?" She pouted down at the old woman, and was met with an aged cackle.
Lizzie, as it turned out, was the talkative sort when mind controlled, as some tended to be, it was rare, but when it happened, Clementine noticed it was always with magic casters. So it was no real surprise when Lizzie Bareare answered at length in a sing-song kind of voice. "Oh, my grandson loves to play with his friends, of course I'll help you, he's such a good boy, best boy, even. He went out to gather herbs with a small team of adventurers, they took the long way around and were going to stop in Carne Village to do some trading." The old woman's smile became quite knowing, "He's sweet on a girl there, I'll just bet you he's sticking around there to flirt with her. He does that sometimes."
"Thank you so much, you're such a good friend to me, how about I fix that injury for you in gratitude?" Clementine asked, touching the tips of her fingers together and tapping them impatiently.
"Would you?" Lizzie asked, "You're the best!" She added with joy on her empty face.
"I am the best." Clementine said with back straight as she stared down at the prosperous woman, eyes full of loathing, the powerful killer yanked the stiletto out of the shoulder, and began to poke more holes in the helpless old woman.
Mind controlled as she was, Lizzie couldn't scream or protect herself, but she felt every ounce of pain as Clementine tore her apart, blood spattered and spurted as old veins opened, the bed soaked through with so much blood that when Lizzie at long last expired, there wasn't total silence. The stillness was shattered by the dripping red fluid, as it soaked through to the bottom, the blood of the elderly pharmacist dripped to the wooden floor.
When the old woman drew her last breath, all Clementine felt, after one last burst of ecstasy, was the warm afterglow as if she'd finished an evening with an incredible lover. She licked the blades clean of blood, sheathed them, then looked around again. An adventurer's plate hung on the wall. ' Hers? Her son's?' Clementine wondered, but couldn't ask the tortured, mutilated corpse.
She shrugged, as trophies went, this was her favorite, and the dead had obviously treasured it enough to display it in private. She snatched it up with a deft yank that snapped the little leather strap, and walked down the stairs, then right out the front door as if she were any other customer. ' I wonder how Khajii feels about road trips?' Clementine pondered as she vanished into the night.
Chapter 13
Ainz settled in fairly quickly over the week that passed in the village, every day he and the Swords of Darkness, along with Brita, stopped in to check on Nfirea, and every day he said, "Just one more day, this is amazing."
Ainz didn't really mind, it was just the break he needed. Much to his surprise however, Lupusregina seemed to be taking a liking to the blonde village girl he'd rescued on his first venture out. Enri seemed oblivious to Lupu's hidden sadistic nature, but not to the constant teasing of the red haired battle maid.
Almost every time he saw the pair, Enri was blushing, and Lupusregina was laughing, though Nfirea was not immune to the taunts of the battlemaid, and she often managed to con one or the other into a compromising position. It was a nonissue to Ainz as long as the client didn't complain, so he let it pass while he watched the villagers live their lives.
Brita took to assisting with the hunting when not working with the other adventurers, and the lot of them began spending more time with Enri's summoned goblins. Initially skeptical, he was watching on the eighth day with Lupusregina when she asked, "Momon, how come you find them so interesting? I mean they're just humans and goblins, right?" She scratched her head with sharp, jerking motions of her hand that made Ainz think of the way a dog might have, and he let a light chuckle of his own pass without comment.
"Yes, they are." He explained with the noble voice he still hadn't gotten used to having, "But that is part of what makes them interesting. In Yggdrasil there was often discrimination and even hatred between different beings, and in the other world, it wasn't much different."
"First world?" Lupusregina asked with wide blinking eyes, she was, if possible, even more attentive when she stared up at him, secure in his 'shared' humanity with the villagers, he had his armor on, but helmet off, though it was secure under his arm when he looked down to her.
"First world?" He repeated the question back to her.
"The world the Supreme Beings would go to when not in Nazarick." She explained, and it hit him.
' Of course, they would have seen us come and go, perhaps remembering something of their time in Yggdrasil, they don't know it was just a game, to them, it was their world.' Ainz understood, and it prompted him to derail her question with one of his own.
"What do you remember of those days, Lupu?" He asked, keeping to the adventurer name to ensure it remained habitual.
Her yellow eyes were bright and happy when she answered. "Lots of things! I remember watching my younger sisters be born, I remember the day of the great invasion… fighting our way back and keeping the invaders busy to buy time for our creators… seeing you arrive, the fighting retreat, the death of Aura and Mare. Then after, seeing them remade by the will of their creator. So many moments shine bright as the daylight we're standing in." Lupusregina's enthusiasm became reverence, and drifted slowly toward sadness.
"When they one by one, the Supreme Beings I mean, said goodbye and vanished, I wanted to ask my maker, Beast King Mekongawa, how I let him down the day he said goodbye, but for some reason…" Her head hung like a dog caught in the midst of mischief, "I couldn't speak."
"What'd we do wrong, Momon?" She asked, using the name with the same reverence she would have used calling him 'Master' or 'My Lord' in Nazarick. "We all kind of ask that to ourselves."
"Nothing." Ainz answered with absolute confidence that bordered on anger, his body tensed up, it was like listening to a child ask why their mother or father didn't love them. Only once had he felt anger at his friends, anger he knew was unfair, that they left for the real world. Now, that anger returned in force, that they were so cruel as to abandon their children.
Again, he knew, ' That isn't fair. They were 'just NPCs' back then, not alive. Not like they are now.' But it didn't dissipate as easily as his prior moment of frustration. Chiefly because, as he saw it, there was a sad child looking up at him and hoping for answers he couldn't begin to give. He put a hand on her head and suppressed the urge to say 'Good dog' instead he chose to say, "Nothing. You did nothing wrong. Things happened, and they had to go, there was nothing you could have done to make them stay."
Lupusregina closed her eyes and raised up a little on her tiptoes to press her head a little more firmly into his hand, a very canine gesture if ever Ainz had seen one. But she didn't say anything else.
He was the first to break the silence, shifting the subject, "In what you call 'First World', different peoples often fought one another, in this one, things are often the same if the Slane Theocracy, Beastman Kingdom, and Draconic Kingdom are any indication. I wondered if the villagers would accept the goblins. They have, and now it makes more sense. Goblins didn't kill their neighbors, humans did. And because the villagers accept them, the adventurers do."
"Wouldn't the adventurers hate goblins, though?" Lupusregina asked, remaining on tip toe until a disappointed pout took over her face when Ainz's hand withdrew.
"Perhaps, but adventurers travel a great deal, exposed widely to others, their minds are more open, a closed minded adventurer is a poor one. They don't see possibilities that someone else might be open to, and so seeing the way the goblins work with the villagers and everyone at ease, it is much easier for them to settle into normalcy." Ainz explained, "They may not be much, but they work hard, and are dedicated, so that gives them value."
"I understand, Momon, but I still want to play with them." Lupusregina's wolfish, sadistic smile took over for a moment, sending a shiver down Ainz's spine.
"I am also one of them now, you know." He reminded her, and she shot her eyes up to him and gave her head a tiny shake.
"You are The One Who Stayed. No matter what else you are, you are that first." Her yellow eyes glittered with devotion, and against that he could say nothing, though his disturbance at her desire to treat humans as toys had not left him.
It was then that they spotted Enri Emmott coming around a corner to oversee the construction of a new home in place of one that had been reduced to a burnt out husk of fallen timbers and toppled stone. The doorframe stood, but the rest was nearly gone or shattered to the ground. The change in Lupusregina was not physical, but he felt it nonetheless.
"Is she your friend?" Ainz inquired as a father might ask his child after seeing them with someone after their first day of school.
"Kinda. She's fun to tease. She makes cute noises and blushes like a cherry." Lupusregina replied with a mild laugh.
"I see, well I do intend to have this village protected, so we'll add her to the list of those whose lives I will guarantee." Ainz promised, "Now go, play, have a little fun." He said, feeling very much the parent when Lupusregina turned invisible and began to creep up on the unwary Enri.
Left alone for the moment, the smell of hot meat and vegetables wafted toward Ainz's nose, he sniffed the air and followed it, encouraged by the growling in his stomach.
Lupusregina waited until Enri was done with her work and the rebuilding was well underway, then followed her. Undetectable by an ordinary human girl, it was child's play to watch until the blonde was alone with Nfirea. As soon as the pair was by themselves and Nfirea began to stammer and sweat as he tried to have a normal conversation with the girl he loved, Lupusregina snatched his hand and as if it belonged to her, then used it to swat Enri directly on her ass.
The blonde peasant jumped immediately, and somewhat impressively and spun around to stare open mouthed at her friend. "Enfi!" She shouted.
"Aahhh, I don't! I didn't! I wasn't! I swear!" Sweat was already springing up, and it became a river, Lupusregina let Nfirea take back control of his hand and he stared at it.
"I lost control! I didn't mean to! It felt like someone grabbed me!" He took a step back, and the shock on Enri's face became understanding.
"Come out here Lupu! I know it was you!" Enri put her hands on her hips and looked around rapidly.
The red haired battlemaid crept behind Enri, blew softly on her ear and whispered, "How'd you know?"
Enri jumped with a loud, "Eeep!" and spun around again, putting her hands protectively over her derriere. When she landed however, Lupusregina had already begun pointing at the blushing pair and laughing so loud she arched her back and faced the sky.
"Your faces! You two look so ridiculous! So ridiculous! You're redder than cherries, and that's saying something, given that you're both cherries!" Lupu exclaimed while she cried tears of laughter.
"Damn it Lupu!" Enri said, "What's gotten into you?"
"Just helping young lovers." Lupu answered when she managed to stop her laughing and wiped a remaining tear from her eye. "Really, you two should just do it already."
Enri and Nfirea looked at one another, and never had the young man been so glad of the hair hanging down in front of him. Enri however, turned her eyes back to Lupusregina and said flatly, "Lupu, it's not like that, he's my best friend, I've known him since I was little."
"Yeah, so?" Lupusregina gave a full body shrug with her arms out and shook her head. "I swear, it's like everybody in this world is denser than rocks, you're a village girl, who do you think you're going to marry? Me? That old mayor guy? Everybody else you know is either dead, young enough to make you a pedo if you try, old enough to be your father, already married, or a girl. And you're pretty, but not my type. Besides, I'm a mimidoshi, I know lots of practical stuff, and I know that unless it's just business, you're supposed to be like best friends with your mate. Silly virgin. Besides, he's game, just look."
Lupusregina said and pointed.
The pair had been blushing the entire time, but Enri followed the path of Lupusregina's arm, past the tip of her finger and all the way down to the Nfirea's very, very obvious erection.
Enri brought her hands up to cover her mouth, "Nfirea!" She exclaimed.
"Oh, don't be that way." Lupusregina said, "You're a pretty girl and he's a young man, what do you think he is, made of stone? Maybe a bit is, but not the rest. I've done my work for now, sooo… toodles!" Lupusregina winked at him and began to sashay away, cocky smile plastered on her face.
"It's up to you now, boyo, don't screw her up." Lupusregina whispered when she was passing Nfirea.
When she was gone, Nfirea looked down and held his hands together like he was worried she'd appear and take control of one of them again. "Heh, uh, sorry about that."
"It's fine, she's a strange one." Enri replied and looked past him to be sure the beautiful, shapely back of the cleric was still in retreat. "But… still, strange or not…" Enri looked down again, Nfiria's hands hung down in front of his manhood, "she's not lying, is she?"
"No…" Nfirea finally whispered.
"This is… this is a lot to take in, Enfi, can I ask you to wait?" Enri asked, and to that Nfirea could do nothing but nod.
"You don't like traveling much, do you Khajiit?" Clementine asked on their third night of travel.
"No." The old man answered, every hated inch of road was more dust on his dark red robes, every step, a hated moment wasted in anticipation of the fulfillment of his plans.
"Awww, c'mon." Clementine said, "The air doesn't stink, you've got that big sky up there, what's not to love? You spend enough time in those dusty crypts, you'll turn into a corpse yourself."
Khajiit didn't take the bait, he only took another bite of plain bread. "I like crypts and tombs." He finally answered, "I don't like villages, I grew up in one of those, they're trash places, good only for harvesting."
Clementine didn't think of anything to say to that, and they went to bed shortly after. There wasn't a need, she didn't much care for the places either, recalling how ugly village life was herself.
' Stupid parents, stupid brother, stupid village. Just one or two more days of travel, snatch the brat, kill the rest, and then I get to watch a city die! What fun! Although… maybe I can kill off the whole village too, we only need the one brat, why not wipe out the rest. Villages are disgusting places, every one of them just like home… they can all just die.' Clementine cursed everyone she knew from her own village, and she did it by name.
Then for the thousandth time, she cursed the Black Scripture instructor who raped her when she was still learning.
Then as Clementine's last act before every rest, she counted. ' One… two… three… four…' She mentally counted out every time she got the chance to do the penetrating, and finally fell asleep when she hit the number that had finally killed him.
Chapter 14
They arrived on the outskirts of Carne Village on their sixth day of travel. ' For a man so eager to get somewhere, he sure does walk slow.' Clementine thought, neglecting at least partially on purpose that he was both an old man and a magic caster, not an adventurer, merchant, nor a young man accustomed to long walks.
"We're here." She said when they crested the hill and found themselves staring down at the village.
"Do you know how to find the boy?" Khajiit asked her, and Clementine reached up with one hand and tapped her nose.
"Sure thing, Khajiit." She said in tandem with the tap. "The woman smelled like more than just 'old woman', it smelled like an alchemy lab, all I have to do is find that smell, and I'll know where he works and probably where he lives."
"Fine, but what about the village? Strange that they should have a wall, very strange. What if there's trouble to be found here?" Khajiit asked with a narrow look down at the little place. The wall was simple spiked wooden logs, each one roughly as tall as two people standing one on top of the other, in addition, there was a watchtower with somebody in it, four of them in fact, facing each direction by what were likely the entrance gates.
Clementine glanced down at him, even in the dark she could see that his gnarled old hands were white at the knuckles where he was clutching his staff. "You worry too much, between the two of us, we can handle anything, and walls go both ways. Sure it is supposed to keep people out, but it also keeps them in ." Clementine pointed out. "I'll sneak in, then you just conjure up a few undead at one gate, then I'll grab the brat, and go out the other. Easy."
Khajiit considered her suggestion, it had merit, it wasn't entirely quiet, but it didn't need to be. Plus it was difficult to ignore the appeal of more death that would come from his undead rampaging through a defenseless village. The promise of more corpses was far, far too alluring to ignore.
"Go." Khajiit finally muttered, "Signal me when you need the distraction."
Khajiit watched as the woman leaned into her run, sprinting over the ground toward the walls. ' Definitely a Black Scripture.' He acknowledged her skills privately and reached into his robe to remove the Orb of Death. The few passengers along the road that fell victim to himself and Clementine would likely never be missed, and they provided him with additional negative energy to use at need. It still felt like a shame to waste it, but the chance at bringing death to a whole village was just… wonderful, and that would make up the difference anyway.
"Will you be returning to Nazarick tonight, Momon?" Lupusregina asked with a look in her eyes that suggested she wanted to say more.
"No, this is important to my future plans." Ainz answered, but it was an incomplete answer, and he knew it. ' I also don't think I'm ready to face them all yet.'
She silently nodded and went to the small cookfire in the corner and stirred the cast iron pot. "Forgive my humble attempts at cooking, but for now this is the best I can do." She answered, he could see the darting way her eyes went from him to the food, his insistence on informality grated on her more than a little.
' She is the best at it, though. Plus her little games with the peasant I rescued seem to be bearing fruit. Protect his girlfriend and he will be grateful, the deeper his loyalty, the harder he will work and the more he can be trusted.' It was still an unhappy thought, and it made him recall the anguish of his own uncertainty.
"Master." Lupusregina stopped dead, she sniffed the air coming in through the window. Her sudden formality and tension would have told him enough, but his own level one hundred senses were alert, and he began to stand.
"I feel it too." He whispered, then pointed toward the door. "Go."
Ainz yawned against his will and reached for his helmet.
Lupusregina sprinted out the door and followed her nose. She exited the little hut just in time to see the blonde woman sailing over the wall, then land rolling in the dirt without stopping. Lupusregina narrowed her eyes, ' That's not bad, not great, but not bad, a damn sight better than the rest of the adventurers I got to play with.' She thought and watched as the woman slipped around the village going door to door. Not to break in, but only stopping, then moving on. ' Looking for someone, but nobody here is really important, except…'
Understanding hit Lupusregina, and a wolfish smile appeared on her face. She went straight to the house of Enri and Nemu Emmott. ' She's looking for him. But he's not home.' Lupusregina chuckled, the smell of sex in Enri's house was impossible to miss, and she privately resolved, ' Whenever I get a chance, I should 'look in' on them some more.' When the battlemaid reached the house, she slipped in through a small window and crawled along the floor.
The faint sound of womanly moans came from beyond a closed door ' Guess I can't call them virgins anymore.' Lupusregina said and maintained her undetectable status in the corner. She listened in, enjoying her lewd and 'strictly necessary' eavesdropping.
She knew it wouldn't be long before the blonde woman found this place, not if her nose alone was good enough to detect her target.
Clementine felt annoyance rise up in her like nothing else when she looked down at the empty bed. " Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Did I miss him again?!" She screamed in annoyance, it had already taken far, far longer than she thought it should have to complete her objective.
But she did learn one thing. She stared in disbelief at the head on the counter. ' The Wise King of the Forest… somebody killed it. That thing has taken down entire orichalcum teams and even a few adamantite ranked adventurers. Somebody killed it?! And if they did, why is it here?!' Clementine felt a sort of rare anxiety, only a handful of warriors were her equal in the world, and she knew all of their names, and was personally acquainted with a few of them. ' If one of them killed it, and is still here, that could be a problem.'
She reached for a chair, broke the leg off, tore a sheet, and then took up a bottle of clear liquid, sniffed it to ensure it was alcohol, and then soaked the improvised torch.
A quick spark from her flint and it was lit. As soon as Clementine left the house she threw the torch as high and far into the air as she could in Khajiit's direction.
She then resumed her house to house search, more quickly than before until she found the house with the alchemical smell, and heard the moans within. Instantly, she understood. ' Oooooh, fun, he found himself some little village slut to pound, lucky him. Well I hope he finishes quickly, because he's almost out of time.' Clementine's bemused smile became vicious when she found the window, ' Open… stupid. Even his grandmother was more cautious than that.' She didn't snort with derision, but she felt it at the thought.
She climbed in, shimming through the small square, then down to the floor and over to the door. She pressed her ear against the wood, the smell of sex and alchemical ingredients was coming from inside. ' Maybe one more minute.' Clementine kept the chuckle to herself, and waited.
Enri rocked her hips back and forth over her first lover, though she'd been inexperienced before, a farm girl is never completely innocent, seeing the couplings of many beasts, living in small houses with parents that did as parents do to become parents, total innocence was unlikely for anyone. But the experience proved entirely novel, and she found she enjoyed it a great deal.
Shyness was long gone as she rode her lover to her eighth climax of the evening, and finally, at last, collapsed on him when she felt his own pleasure crest. Their bodies were slick with sweat from their exertions, and she sighed as she clung to him. He was breathing harder than she, but when she kissed him, he reciprocated with greater passion as well.
"It feels like I've waited for that for a lifetime." Nfirea said happily.
"Why didn't you ever tell me you were in love with me?" Enri asked when she held his eyes in hers, illuminated only by a small candle, the fire danced in the reflection of one another's eyes.
"Because he was a weakling, duh."
Neither Enri nor Nfirea had spoken, and for a moment each thought the other had, shock formed on both faces at once and they turned their eyes to the open door. The candle illuminated a slender blonde woman with a bare midriff, strange leather armor covered in various adventurer plates, and holding a stiletto in hand. She had a vicious smile plastered on her face and tapped it on her cheek.
"Be grateful, I let you finish first, call it a last favor from one woman to another, but I'm afraid that's the last bit of pleasure for you, girl. I need the boy, I don't need you. Soooo…" She raised her empty hand and wiggled her fingers, "bye bye then."
"Whatcha doing there?" Lupusregina whispered into the blonde woman's ear just as abject terror appeared on the young couple's faces.
Clementine whirled around ready to strike, only to find the impossible. Her thrust was stopped dead by a tanned open hand. "Bad girl! Those aren't your toys! Play with your own things!" Lupusregina said, then closed her hand around the wrist of the still disbelieving, staring blonde, and yanked.
Clementine smashed through the thin walls of the house, the shock and disbelief hurt more than the blows themselves as she went sailing into the night air after the thunderous crash.
She heard the sounds of alarm being raised and the moans of zombies already beginning as Khajiit began his part. ' Dammit!' Clementine groused and flipped herself over to land and slide on her feet over the ground until she could form a crouch again.
The redheaded woman was quiet, and strong, and clearly dangerous. More worrying to Clementine though was… ' Who is she? I should know everybody capable of doing anything like that. But I don't recognize her at all.'
The woman emerged, stepping over the rubble of the ruined house and dusting herself off. "If this were my maid outfit, I'd tear your throat out for getting it dirty." The redhead said to her. Behind the woman, Clementine could see her target, the woman he'd been screwing, and a little girl frantically trying to understand what was happening and throwing on clothes while they tried to work out whether to flee or where to go if they did.
"Bitch… you may be strong, and quiet, but I'm a Legend. " Clementine snarled, "You're some nobody… get out of my way!" She snarled, "Do that, and I'll leave you alone, I only want the boy."
"My name is Lupu, but I guess 'bitch' isn't totally wrong, if you think about it." Lupusregina said and laughed uproariously at a joke that Clementine couldn't quite grasp. The woman who called herself 'Lupu' went on. "Fraid I can't do that, you see we're supposed to protect that one, and that means I'm going to have to kill you, or take you alive. But either way, you're not leaving."
"The undead! The undead!" Shouting and screaming carried up all over the village as people rushed to the alarms of the watching goblins.
"What the hell is happening!" Peter shouted in response to the alarm, his team was already throwing on their armor and readying for the fight while the goblins bought them precious minutes.
"Why are the undead here?!" Brita shouted while she secured her belt.
"We can worry about that later, but we've got to go!" Lukrut shouted as he ran out the door with Dyne and Ninya following hot on his heels.
"We're earning our coin today!" Ninya shouted as encouragingly as she could, and stopped cold. She'd expected to see Momon and Lupu at the gate, but the first thing she saw amidst the light of villagers running with torches beneath the light of the moon, was Lupu facing off against someone who was clearly not undead.
The attacker was clearly beyond the realm of heroes, darting in to finish Lupu off, only to be batted aside like an ant. ' Lupu is… playing with her? She's playing with someone moving so fast I can't even see her…'
"Come on." Ninya looked up when the voice reached her ear and a large hand rested on her shoulder. She looked up to the towering figure of Momon. "We have to protect the village." The majestic voice all but melted her on the spot, only to reform itself into iron conviction.
' If my home had a hero like this, my sister…' Ninya had the momentary selfish thought, and it redoubled her own resolve over Lupu's advice, and she lept to follow Momon's lead.
Zombies were climbing over the walls despite the goblin's best efforts, the gate was giving way, thunderous bashing and smashing from the stronger undead that cared nothing for injuries, slowly began to force it to give way.
Lukrut was shooting arrow after arrow and hitting his mark, Dyne's plants were holding the undead in place, Peter lopped off heads. Ninya added her magic arrows to the defense, and villagers gathered to protect their own, shooting arrows as best they could.
It would not be enough for long. "Stand back from the gate!" They heard the powerful shout of Momon, "Stand out of the way! They're going to break through!" Ainz felt the very human fear rise with the stink of death, but thanks to the stats of his warrior body, it passed away almost instantly as the fear resistance kicked in.
The cracks, thunks, and tears redoubled, almost like the undead understood they were going to break through. However, because of his orders, the goblins and the humans alike began to fall back. "Hold them back from climbing over the wall! I will take care of the rest!" Ainz gave the order.
"There's over a hundred of them out there! You can't possibly handle so many!" Brita shouted.
Ainz drew his two great swords. "Fifty swings each." He snapped, and then the gate burst open. The villagers cried out with alarm, and then watched in disbelief as the hero in black armor charged alone.
The swords swung wide and swift, bodies were knocked to pieces, shattered, rotted heads spun away and bodies fell without them. ' I'm seeing a legend being born… the Battle of Carne… where one warrior destroyed… how many are there even?' Brita recognized, and nor was she alone. The dark hero disappeared from view and the flow of undead over the walls began to falter.
"We're going to live…" People said, and then they heard the crash at their backs.
They turned en masse, and Ninya recalled the sight she'd put out of her mind a moment ago.
Clementine wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "I'm going to kill you."
"You said that, but as far as I can see, you're only killing time, and you're even doing a pitiful job at that." Lupu responded and tapped her foot. "Really, I was almost impressed at you, but you're just a one trick pervert, did you develop all those skills just to listen to people screw?"
"Bitch… you'll pay for that!" Clementine shouted, and opened her arms, "I'm beyond human limits, I kill and kill and kill and nobody can stop me, everyone fears me! I can rob the treasures of cardinals and the homes of mages! I'm death itself!"
"Hmpf, little people often lift themselves by claiming lofty titles. But I see nothing special about you. Saying you're beyond human limits… that's like saying you've got bigger boobs than a loli. Who cares?" Lupu mocked her and Clementine's face went red with rage.
"I will show you what that really means…" Clementine said, and crouched down. "Fucking bitch." She groused, and began to activate her martial arts.
Chapter 15
The dead fell with absurd ease to Ainz's blades, though he could feel the eyes watching him when people and goblins returned to the walls. ' Make my name a legend, and I can do damn near anything.' He thought as he put the last of them down, a few hundred undead were nothing, but… the exp did add up, even if it was almost nothing individually. ' Am I getting a little more because it is a mob?' He wondered, but then focused on the real question.
' There's no chance that this is a mere coincidence. That one Lupusregina is dealing with is a fighter of some sort, not a mage. People who can do both are exceptionally rare, even nonexistent other than myself. So she has a caster as a partner… a necromancer, no less.' Ainz's time as a gamer told him that much beyond doubt, leaving only the question of where they would be located.
Behind him he could hear the crash of another home being demolished. ' Lupusregina is playing with her food again.' The thought almost made him laugh while he scanned the area. He called on his experience as a guild leader and surveyed the landscape.
' They 'could' be anywhere, but where are they 'likely' to be?' He asked himself and immediately ruled out the forest, even with a good view of the gate, that was literally all. No line of sight to their partner or any idea what else was happening inside the village itself. That left one obvious position right away that offered a way to see what the undead were doing 'and' let them see inside. ' The hill.' He turned his eyes in that direction, and sure enough, a small figure stood, visible to him only because of his high stats.
He sheathed his swords to give himself just a little more speed, just in case the person was faster than he expected, and began to sprint.
Clementine thrust again and again as fast and hard as she could, yet her blows were batted away by the one calling herself, 'Lupu' with a single flick of her wrists. ' How is this even possible? She is a human, right?!' The question hadn't been seriously intended, but once the seed was planted, it began to grow.
"Really, is this the best you can do? I'm disappointed, really I am, I've seen better out of soooo many other lesser beings." Lupusregina said and folded her hands behind her head, she let out a sigh that was clearly intended to taunt.
Clementine's eyes, already narrow and full of hate, darted around, others were starting to gather, none of them meant anything, they were weaklings, but it meant something worse. She glanced past Lupu, and the woman picked up on her shifted attention.
"Oh, them? You really didn't notice? Wow, you suck. Yeah, Momon took care of them, he's probably already on the way to take care of whoever you used to create all that rotten meat. He might be a little cross with you for using the bodies of the families here though, he's gotten to kind of like these folks." Lupu said, and the villagers stared at one another in horror, open mouthed, and in many cases, weeping when they understood what Lupu had just told them all.
"I'll end their misery once I've ended you." Clementine snarled, her bosom heaved with deep breaths, "One poke is all it takes."
"Tell it to the lover boy back there." Lupu jabbed her thumb over to where Enri and Nfirea stood.
' How can anyone… how is this even possible?' Nfirea ignored the joke thrown in his direction, he shared the thought with the rest of the villagers, the zombies and other undead were reduced to hunks of meat, and in front of them all an impossible fight was being waged. Lupu seemed to be utterly indifferent in the face of a monster, and more importantly, utterly untouchable by it.
"You can only mock someone so much." Clementine glared.
"Yeah, eventually I'm going to have to kill you, I'm just waiting for Momon's word. Or you could surrender, I could use a pet. Though I guess I'd have to housebreak you, can't have you sniffing around places you shouldn't." Lupusregina's mockery redoubled and made the blonde howl with rage and charge again.
"What are you?! Who are you?!" Khajiit yelled while the dark warrior rushed him, he put up wall after wall of skeletons, raised undead, and sent off acid and fire attacks… but the warrior avoided most and simply bashed through the skeletal walls or literally slapped the undead aside and put them down with that alone.
"Stronger than you, and nobody you'd know, nobody you need to know. A name is meaningless to the dead." Ainz declared and drew his twin blades as he came close.
"Skeletal dragons!" Khajiit shouted, holding aloft a dark orb in hand. That set the warrior jumping backward, and relief flooded the long face of the red robed caster.
"You're right to be afraid! Even one would require a team of adamantite adventurers, and I've summoned two, and you're alone! You handled low ranked undead easily enough! And this is a setback! But it's all over now! You'll die here, Clementine will kill the rest of the village, and it will all be over!"
Ainz looked up to the sky, true to Khajiit's word, two skeletal dragons flapped bone wings and bone tails. An ear splitting roar led to shouts of alarm in return.
"OK, so this is different." Ainz begrudgingly admitted. ' I wonder if they're as weak as they were in the game.'
Clementine got up to her feet, her ears rang where Lupu slapped her. ' The bitch actually slapped me… me!' It was a galling thought, but the roar splitting the air and the alarm of those who watched her humiliation was a comfort. "You're done for now, I'll never admit this to Khajiit, but his magic is really good. Your warrior friend is done for, how will he face two skeletal dragons? Hadn't you better start running? Since you did so well, I'll even give you a head start." Clementine gestured to the wall and she waited for the panic to ensue.
The villagers and petty adventurers looked like they were about to break.
"No way!" Enri shouted her defiance when she felt Nfirea's confident arm around her waist holding her a little closer. "We're not running! This is our home! You're not going to kill us! You're not going to burn it! Nobody will ever take from us again!"
Clementine glared at the blonde peasant. "When I finish with her… you're next."
"You don't have a chance." Nfirea said with utter confidence.
"Nope, not even one. See that warrior is a lot stronger than me. I'm not even a warrior, I'm a cleric." Lupu said with a cocky grin and a raised chin, daring Clementine to disbelieve her.
It was a dare Clementine accepted, "Bullshit!" She spat into the dirt.
"I'll prove it." Lupu said and raised a hand, and in Clementine's eyes, did the stupid and the impossible both at once.
The healing light hit Clementine worse than a physical blow, not because it didn't work, but because it did. ' How… how how how how how how how?! You can't be this strong 'and' use magic like this! It's not fair! You're breaking the rules!'
"See, all better, now I can play with you again." Lupu clapped her hands together with excitement and a giggle, and then took the offensive. She hit home before Clementine could even raise an effort at self defence, the back of Lupu's hand connected to Clementine's jaw and flipped the woman end over end six times in the air before the blonde woman landed face first in the dirt.
Khajiit extended a hand toward the dark warrior when the skeletal dragons descended to guard him. "Surrender, and I'll let you serve me!" His aged voice was almost raspy, his long face and bald head made him look almost cartoonishly villainish. An absurd notion on its face even if things were not as Ainz knew them to be.
"No, I'd rather use these as an experiment." Ainz answered, and advanced at Khajiit slowly enough to allow one of the massive beasts, easily fifty times Ainz's size, to bar the way. The claw came out to stop, and possibly grip, Ainz's body, and his sword came out to strike it.
Khajiit's jaw dropped, the bones shattered like icicles hit by stones, the fragments fell down, and the warrior swung again before those fragments hit the ground. Bits of bone began to fall like snowflakes as he literally began to cut the undead monster to pieces.
"Go! Stop him!" Khajiit screeched, sending the second skeleton in to attack. For a moment everything was obscured, there was only the sound of a crash, a smile of relief began to trace over his face. "So, you couldn't handle two…"
He frowned, the skeletal dragon was flapping its wings, but not moving from where it impacted. "What's wrong…" He wondered, until the dragon roared as its arm was wrenched away from its body.
"That's… that's not possible!" Khajiit stammered when the dragon moved, and he saw that the sword was buried pommel up into the dirt, and the dark warrior grasped the skeleton, and tore the arm free.
"Many things that are impossible to believe, are very real." Ainz replied, and then he yanked the sword out, and proceeded to cut his way through the body of the dragon. The rain of bones continued to fall as the beast continued to flail hopelessly. ' Slightly stronger, but just as dumb. Without constant control, all they can do is follow their last order.' A huge drawback to undead was the lack of intelligence in most of them, and these were no exception.
As one dragon collapsed with a crash into the dirt road, the other advanced, and began to suffer the same fate. Khajiit held the orb in a trembling hand, "Ray of negative energy!" He shouted the spell and black energy shot out to heal the remaining undead monster.
The dark warrior however, simply moved faster, and the trickle of negative healing energy that had been pulling bones back into place, simply couldn't keep up, and then gradually died out. "No! No! No! I refuse to believe I'll die here! Five years of preparation! Five years of work and death in the crypt! Five years to destroy E-Rantel and achieve my fondest wish! All to die by a nobody outside of a nothing village?!" He shouted his rage and began using his own mana to desperately launch spell after spell, fireballs lit up the night, but his wild desperation, which redoubled when the second skeleton crashed down, did not help his aim.
The dark warrior was closer, advancing faster than Khajiit could respond, he opened his mouth to scream one last desperate spell and save himself from a fate he could no longer avoid, and his life flashed before his eyes…
… Himself, the young Khajiit, playing by the water with his friends outside of the village they were all born in.
… Himself and his mother having lunch, a little tiff over when he had to come home.
… His harsh words to her, the hurt in her eyes…
… His fun time playing again, but a lingering sense of guilt… a resolve to apologize…
… His return home. 'Mom, listen I'm sorry I…' the last words, and they died in mid sentence when he saw her corpse lying there, dead.
… The guilt, an apology he could never give… learning she died of a rare illness and needed him home so she could rest easy…
… The resolution, to give her back her life, no matter what…
… His first kill…
… His first spell…
… One after another… joining Zuranon and rising through the ranks…
… Learning about the death spiral, obtaining the Orb of Death…
… The morning of the present…
The sword was up, it was coming down, ' I have to say the spell! It's my last chance!' He understood.
But only one word came out.
"Mother!" Khajiit shouted for help which had died decades earlier, and the sword severed his head from his body. He lived to see the world spinning end over end and felt the pain as he began to roll down the hill. Dust in his eyes and the taste of it on his tongue, rocks jabbing into the skin of his face.
He rolled down like a ball, unable to cast a spell as he could no longer speak, he felt his consciousness fading, and a part of him wondered, ' Will I live long enough to come to a stop?'
Khajiit got an answer to his question, his head finally rocked back and forth at the base of the hill, his face looking up toward the endless sky, then his eyes began to close, and his life came to an end.
"That was easy." Ainz said while the head tumbled down the hill and the body toppled over. "I guess that's enough, and the exp I got from those skeletal dragons was a lot better than the undead down there." He yawned heavily and looked out over the village.
"Lupu! Finish it, I'll be returning in a moment!" Ainz shouted, and started to stroll back down the hill.
When the skeletons fell from the sky, Clementine could barely believe it. "Impossible." She muttered, a sentiment shared by every single observer.
"Nah, it's routine for someone that strong. Those were nothing, not even a warmup." Lupu said, and then she heard her master's orders.
"Whelp, I guess that's it for you then, playtime is over." Lupu said with a smile as sadistic as Clementine's own.
The blonde crouched down, "So it is, if Khajiit really failed, I'd better get going." She said, and though she kept her voice confident, when she crouched down to launch herself at the red haired woman again, she felt the ember of fear burst into flames, her opponent took the same posture, both legs bent, one hand on the dirt, one hand up, despite being without a weapon.
' She means to end it, fine, so do I, I'm beyond humanity, and she? She's just a crazy skilled copper plate nobody!' Clementine meant the thought to reassure herself, and then she sprang into action.
Her stiletto came out, and whooshed through open air, as expected, the woman knew how to dodge, but Clementine was confident in her experience, and had a second one in hand an instant later. She brought it out and tried to jab the redhead in her kidney. That too, whooshed past, but this one went 'behind' the woman who stepped inside Clementine's attack.
The blonde Black Scripture was quick to try to respond by changing her grip and bringing her stilettos in, but to her horror, she felt hands holding her arms, and squeezed.
Her bones snapped under Lupu's hold, and her will to fight snapped with them. Clementine let out a wail of pain. She kicked and struggled, trying to escape. ' Run! Run! This is a monster! A monster! A monster! It's not a human after all! Get out of here! Go! Go!' Clementine told herself, but the monster that held her broken arms was now lifting her up.
"Well, that's it for you, I don't really need you, any purpose you had, you've already served, so… to use your words, 'bye bye.'" Lupu was grinning up at her, licking her lips.
How the redhead intended to kill her, Clementine didn't know, she barely listened to what was being said, but understanding dawned when she began to feel the slow, steady pull on her arms and felt the fingers of the redhead tearing into her flesh.
"No! No!" No please!" Clementine whimpered and cried as all her courage and will to cruelty died with the feeling of the pull on her arms. Her flesh began to slowly tear away.
The ripping that sounded like paper tearing continued with agonizing slowness, the cruel yellow eyes of the woman that Clementine recognized too late to be that of a true monster, bored into her.
Then she felt it, the feeling of falling. Clementine collapsed when she hit the dirt and landed on her back, up above her, she could see that Lupu still held her arms in the air.
"Hmm, I kind of thought one would tear before the other… oh well, I should have taken bets." Lupu mumbled, then raised a foot and stomped on Clementine's ankle while the woman on her back in the dust struggled to kick herself away from the horror of her own demise.
The ankle shattered, but the pain was less than which shot from where her shoulders used to be.
Clementine rolled over onto her belly, and began wiggling, crawling on it as she threw away the last bit of pride to put just one more inch between herself and the one to take her life and her pride and grind both down into nothingness.
"You made a bad mistake, and you don't get to learn from it." Lupu muttered, approached, and put her foot on Clementine's back.
The former Black Scripture felt the foot on her back, pressing her breasts down, grinding them painfully into the dirt, adding one more final agony. The wave of cheers from her would-be victims hit her like one last insult and she thought, as her brain finally began to die, ' This has been the worst day of my life!'
Then it was her last, and Clementine, died.
Chapter 16
The aftermath of the fight was beyond anything Ninya had ever dreamed of. ' A battle of heroes or monsters, something like this.' She thought, clutching her staff and staring around her in a daze, ' people don't even get to see this once in a hundred years. And it took place here, in a little village…'
When Momon returned through the gate and Lupu walked away from the corpse of the blonde killer to go and greet him, the spell was broken and cheers erupted. Torches were in many hands by then, the resolute words of Enri Emmott electrified the crowd, and from it was born a confidence not one village of humans had held in itself for six hundred years.
' If my own village had been like this one, would Tuare have been taken? No… no not a chance. Lupu was right.' Ninya thought to herself, her eyes transfixed on the blood soaked cleric who traded words that Ninya couldn't hear over the cheering in the night. Torchlight cast shadows and light about, making every man and woman taller and stronger and more active by their shadows.
Ninya turned her attention to Enri, the resolute villager's entire body began to shake as she shed the fear from the prior events now that things had calmed down. Calm or not however, the village was not going back to sleep. The wounded were gathered and brought forward, it was difficult not to pity them when she heard the village elder say, "Momon, sir, we suffered many injuries in the fighting against the undead, could we ask for your partner to heal them?"
' They know about the ban, now. So sad, they'll…' Ninya stopped the thought cold as a corpse when she heard Momon's answer.
"Lupu, go ahead, as long as nobody at the guild finds out, it will be no problem." His majestic voice when he looked down at the red stained, red haired cleric was like oil thrown into flames, there was nobody who didn't know what was being asked.
' He's risking his career as an adventurer, just to help some pathetic nothing village…?' Ninya clenched her jaw and jogged over, ' It hurts, but… I have to stop him, or at least warn them…'
"M-Mr. Momon! Miss Lupu! If you do that and the guild finds out… you'll be expelled! You won't be adventurers anymore!" Ninya stammered out her objection over the groans of the dozen wounded. They had long, deep tears in their flesh, bite marks where entire chunks of flesh had been torn away in the most desperate moments when only raw courage kept the wall from being overrun. Shame washed over Ninya when she stood in the way of his effort at healing the wounded.
' Someone like that, so noble, strong, there are many lives they're destined to save, many great things they're destined to do! I can't just let them throw it away for people like me!' Ninya screamed in her head and silently begged for forgiveness from herself and from the groaning men and women.
It was enough to give Momon pause, however, and he glanced down at Lupu.
"That's true. But it is not true if they are part of our Party. Am I correct about the laws here, you can heal party members without concern for the temples?" Momon asked her, and Ninya gave a shaky nod of her head.
"Yes, but you…" She snapped her jaw shut.
"Then we are taking the entire village into our party. There is no limit to the number of members a party can have, is there?" Momon spread out his hands, and even the wounded ceased their groans to stare.
"Ah, no, not technically, but…" Dyne interjected.
"And you can add party members whenever you wish as long as you register them afterward, right?" Momon pressed on.
It was Brita who was the first to start laughing, she clutched her belly and lost all control, doubling over with outrageous laughter, and from there, Lukrut joined her, followed by Peter, Dyne, and at last, a disbelieving Ninya.
From there it spread to the whole village. "Momon, sir, what is your party called?" Enri asked, struggling to hold back the laughter at his outrageous proposal.
"Axel." Ainz replied in an instant.
"I don't understand, why 'Axel' sir?" Enri asked, "It's such a small thing. Most teams go for something fearsome or large."
"Because the wheel turns on it." Ainz replied, and then it became a whisper.
The whisper became a chant.
The chant became a cry like those of warriors in a battle line.
"Ax-el! Ax-el! Ax-el! Ax-el!" The word became more in the eyes of those who breathed it like a sacred name.
"Get to work, Lupu, heal the team." Momon ordered, and the bloody cleric with a broad and vicious grin went from body to injured body, restoring them to their full strength and health again. Bloody wounds vanished and the wounded were whole once more.
The victory, the healing, the unexpected salvation from unexpected danger, an ocean of confidence was theirs and they had energy to boot, nobody wanted to sleep. Instead, the many torches came together to form a bonfire and an impromptu festival was held. Food and drink went about, music was played by those few with instruments, songs carried into the darkness around the village, and carried on till beyond the break of dawn.
It was only with the coming of the light, the piercing rays of the sun as they chased away the night and illuminated the true nature of what the village had survived the night before that brought home how close they had truly come to annihilation.
Nemu clung to her big sister and whimpered when she saw the bodies of the zombies being loaded into carts, Enri clung to the little girl, and felt her own sense of relief when Nfirea clung to her in turn.
"They really saved us there, didn't they?" Enri asked without looking up at him.
"They really did. I owe them everything." Nfirea said, his words and face more grim and resolute than Enri had ever known him to be.
"We owe you also, Enri Emmott." The village elder said when he approached her, a hand folded behind his back, and the other held in the hand of his wife, she turned her attention to him and picked up Nemu to clutch her close.
"What?" Enri asked.
"Without that wall, without the goblins, we would have suffered terribly. You insisted on both, and that bought time for salvation, I argued against both the use of that item and against the extra work spent on the wall. I thought archery practice was enough, I was wrong. I was wrong and I think my time as elder is done." The old man added, Enri's bright eyes widened.
"Why are you telling me?" She asked, the heavy thud of a zombie corpse being dropped onto a pile was louder in her ears and in her own mind than it probably was in reality. Past the old man, in the distance, the remains of the two skeletal dragons loomed larger than she imagined any creature could ever truly be.
"Because I think you should be the next chief. You were the mind behind the work we did, the whole village will support you. And if you need an old man's advice, I'll offer what I can." The old man said in a self deprecating fashion with a little wry smile on his wrinkled face.
"You don't have to answer right now, dear, things are still hectic and… a lot drunk." He chuckled, most of the villagers were not busy working on clearing out the bodies, they were instead clearing out their bellies by throwing up the hours of alcohol consumption. "Think about it for a bit."
"Ah- I- I will." Enri stammered, and the couple left her alone.
"You looked like you've seen a ghost." Lupu said when she eventually approached.
"Thank you… thank you… thank you…" Enri shot the words out with divine reverence and fell to her knees in front of the red haired cleric. She looked up at the blood soaked woman, "I don't know how you fought like that, and I don't care. You saved us… you fought for us. I can't thank you enough."
Nfirea went down to his knees beside the woman he loved, "She's right… without you two, I'd have lost everything, probably even my life, she was definitely after me, but… why?"
"Heh," Lupu chuckled a little, "You two put on a good show, I couldn't very well let her ruin it." She paused to let their blushes return. "But as for why they wanted you? I don't know, but I'll bet there's a way to find out."
Hours passed and the many bones of the skeletal dragon were hauled toward the outskirts of the village under Peter's direction, Ainz saw the young warrior giving instructions to a score of peasants working with their carts, lining them up in a caravan formation. Curious, he approached the youth.
"Peter, what exactly are you doing?" Ainz asked, watching the peasants load the bones into the cart, the constant clatter and rattle grew loud as burly peasants, some less sober than others, worked to tie square cloths over top of high stacks of the remains.
"Gathering the evidence for your promotion of course, Mr. Momon." Peter said with absolute deference in his voice, fully respectful, when the young man looked up, Ainz saw that Peter's eyes shone like he was staring at an idol.
"I don't understand." Ainz replied and took off his helmet to scratch his head.
Peter laughed, "You're too humble, Mr. Momon. Forget chopping ogres in half, you alone killed two skeletal dragons and a magic caster. Your partner killed a woman who I can only assume was an adamantite ranked warrior…" His eyes fell, "If we'd had to face her… she would surely have killed us all. Her armor was covered in adventurer plates, trophies, I guess. There's copper, iron, silver, gold, mithril, and even orichalcum. That narrows down her skill level a great deal, and Lupu not only beat her, she beat her easily. So, we'll transport all this back to E-Rantel with us, get signed witness statements from the whole village, and you'll get the plate you deserve."
"I see." Ainz said and thought, ' That will make spreading my name much easier.' Gratitude rose up, so he reached down and put a heavy armored hand on the young warrior's shoulder. "I won't forget your thoughtfulness. But do you think we'll be leaving today?"
Peter thought that over, "That's up to our client, but… I think we will, yes, at least long enough for him to go back and see his grandmother. The roar of those skeletal dragons was really something, who knows how far away they were heard? They were also very clearly visible against the moon when they were up high, so they were visible for miles around. Anyone who saw or heard them would go straight for the adventurer's guild. If we wait too long, they'll send an investigation and suppression team."
"Right, we shouldn't waste time then." Ainz answered with a decisive air and drew his hand away.
"Oh, and by the way, we found this on the ground next to the magic caster's body." Peter said, and held out a pouch. "I had Dyne tap it with a staff into a pouch, we don't know what it does, but it looked dangerous and definitely magical, you killed the man though. By common adventurer custom, you keep what you kill outside of a team fight."
Ainz reached down and took the little brown cloth pouch, his respect for Peter went up another notch. ' Loot law for parties in the game seems to have been picked up here by adventurers, good for him to keep it up.' The appreciative thought was quickly concealed by his collector's avarice and when the pouch was in hand, he opened it up.
A little black ball sat at the bottom of the pouch. ' Yes, that's right, I remember it now… he held this out and used it to heal the skeletal dragons.' Ainz called up the image to his mind and then sealed it up and cinched the pouch tightly to his belt. "Thank you, Peter." Ainz said with the utmost sincerity.
If Peter planned to say anything in return, Ainz never knew.
Because in the next instant, a gut wrenching, heartbroken wail stopped everybody in their tracks, and it was coming from just inside the walls.
Chapter 17
Lupusregina was standing over the wailing Nfirea and scratching her head. "What's wrong with you, all I said was 'go through the dead meat's things and see if there's anything useful there.' Why does that merit a bunch of tears, did she turn out to be a childhood friend gone wrong or something?"
Nfirea's hand shook, the hair that hung down in his eyes hid the worst of his expression, his knuckles were white from the tension. He didn't look up at the red haired beauty, he only stared down at the closed fist and sobbed.
He heard Lupu's question repeated, a little more sharply, more commanding. His shaking fist became shaking fingers as they opened slowly to reveal what lay within. A plate. Obviously very old, obviously worn.
A name sat emblazoned on it. "Lizzie Bareare" Nfirea whispered her name like a prayer, tears ran down his face and he said it again. "Lizzie Bareare. That is… was, my grandmother's name."
Lupusregina's face formed a deep frown, ' The only casualty of the whole trip is one person who wasn't with us, go figure.'
Nfirea's shaking fingers dropped the little mithril plate. Enri however, caught it immediately, and put her arm around his upper back while she held the plate in his stead. "Grandmother," Nfirea mumbled through his sobs, "That must have been how this one," he waved a hand to the torso of the woman who identified herself as Clementine, "Found me. She must have done something to grandmother, mind control magic or something, and found out I would be here."
Lupusregina Beta felt the orgasmic bliss rise in her as she watched the twisted emotional suffering of the two humans, she'd helped bring the two together… in her own playful way. The brief time knowing them had led to her finding enjoyment in their antics. Now they were suffering one of the worst losses they possibly could… and the smiling sadist couldn't have been happier about it. ' Yes! Yes! Oh… yes!' Her mind screamed out as she was flooded with pleasure that left her trembling with unrivalled excitement the sort of which she'd never felt before.
The battlemaid's legs trembled so much her knees almost knocked, and finally she could stand no more, and fell with a thud, knees hit the dust and scattered small clouds, she all but wept with the bliss of the moment.
' Wow, she barely knows us… but she's such a good friend already, she's so hard hit by how Nfirea feels… she feels his pain like it's her own… what a good woman.' Enri thought, and after putting the plate back into Nfirea's hand, she gently reached out to put her palm on Lupus thigh. Enri gently pressed down on the soft green fabric of the traveling pants. "Hey… Miss Lupu… you couldn't have known, this isn't your fault, you protected us, that's good enough, you couldn't know they were going after Nfirea's grandmother."
The young man nodded without looking up, his eyes still latched on the mithril plate that Enri pressed into his hand before touching Lupu's thigh. Though he couldn't yet look up, he could speak, and did. "Yeah, don- don't blame yourself. This was just… just a thing that happens. And… and you made it right as anyone can be. You killed her killer for me, I'm… I- it's- you're amazing. Beyond amazing. For the rest of my life, I'll be thankful to you both."
It took the battlemaid a moment to regain her breath from her moment of bliss, when she did, she put her hands on their heads and tousled them gently before saying, "Thank Momon, not me." Lupu gave a very small, indulgent grin, "Everything I do, I do for him first."
"You're a team… that's to be expected. But still, thank you, too." Nfirea said when her hand withdrew, "I still-" he stopped for another round of sobs, then picked up his words again. "I still need to process this. Just… just give me some more time."
He watched as Lupu gave him a polite nod, and when Enri came around to comfort him, he let his head rest in her chest as he cried out his sense of loss.
"I'll take care of the body, not to worry, I know what to do with it." Nfirea heard Lupu say, but he didn't ask or care what it was she meant.
Lupusregina looked over the torn apart corpse and gave a light whistle. "I really tore you up last night, didn't I?" She said to the dead, pallid corpse with the empty death milky eyes that stared at nothing. The corpse didn't answer her, the dead never did have much to say, and even most undead couldn't do more than grunt.
She shrugged and bent down to start picking up the parts to take away and thought to herself, ' I guess I have to save the head, armor, and weapons for proof, I'll bet you're worth something to get my Lord promoted. But your corpse, I'll bet Entoma would like a snack, and maybe Solution. Unless Lord Ainz has any plans for you, kind of a shame really. If you hadn't gotten in the way, you and I, we might have gotten along.'
"Oh well, you really screwed the pooch, or tried to anyways." Lupusregina continued chattering to the corpse when she dragged it toward the gate, just then Momon came into the village. She stopped as soon as he approached her.
"Lupu, what is it?" Ainz asked her, other peasants began going in and out, and as others sobered up enough to work, they began to immediately pitch in, going out to the other gate and started hauling dragon bones. While more carts were used to clear materials, goods, or otherwise refurbished for the extra cargo. Almost every farmer had a cart and a horse or at least a mule, and not one of them was slacking beyond what it took to be able to stand up again after their earlier revelry.
Lupusregina jabbed her thumb over her shoulder toward Enri and Nfirea. "The blonde one here," she held up the head, "Killed his grandmother, the adventurer plate from when she was young was found in the belongings of this hunk of meat."
"Oh, how unfortunate." Ainz replied, a well of pity rose for the young man as he mourned the loss. ' At least he isn't alone.'
When everything was said and done, it took most of the village's wagons to load up the bones, but when that was ready, their client wasn't.
It was evening the day after the battle when the adventurers and their client met up in the house designated for the hero 'Momon'.
They sat around the table while Lupu stirred the cast iron pot, the fragrant smell of cooked meat and vegetables wafted over the table, it was, in Ainz's view, somewhat improved. ' Her cooking skill seems to have gone up, not much, but a little.' He considered that and filed it away for later, ' I'll need to see if the skill console is still accessible in the creation room, I may not be able to make new NPCs, but being able to analyze the ones I have would be really helpful.'
"I'm just asking for another two days, that's all, of course I'll pay you for your time again, but I just need to get ready for what I'm going to see when I go back. I know Granny is dead… I just need to prepare myself before I collect her body." Nfirea said with a quiet shiver that showed he was still suppressing how he really felt.
"Another two days is fine by me as long as you have the coin, this has already been an adventure and a half, so a paid vacation isn't a bad idea." Peter admitted.
"I don't mind either, any chance to hang out with the love of my life, eh Lupu?" Lukrut winked, and without even blinking, Lupu stuck her ladle in, took out a tiny lump of meat, put it on her thumb, and flicked it faster and harder than an arrow with her forefinger. It flew straight and true, into Lukrut's mouth, knocked him backwards from his chair, and tumbled with a thud onto the floor.
He pounded his chest and coughed at the unexpected bit of meat in his mouth, and lay there for a full half a minute before he groaned and began to rise and righted his chair to reseat himself. "You're so merciless, Lupu my love…"
"Better remember that." She flashed a predatory grin.
"I'll miss this." Ninya said with a breathy sigh.
"What's that?" Dyne inquired, his rounded face somewhat red, she answered him.
"I'm done. This is my last journey as an adventurer with the Swords of Darkness." Ninya replied.
"Wait, are you… are you serious?" Peter asked, "What about your sister… weren't you going to do something about that?"
Ninya clutched her staff in her lap, "Yes, I haven't given up on that, but this trip has taught me something. I'm taking a lot of risks for no great gains, I'll never get my sister back like this. It's been how long, and I don't even know if she's alive or dead anymore? For all I know she died a year ago or more. Even if she is alive, this isn't getting me closer to my goal, I need to do something else."
"What, exactly?" Peter asked, the rest of the team narrowed their eyes, suspecting insanity was to follow.
"Nothing you need to worry about, besides, you don't let women on the team so… I never should have been here to begin with." Ninya confessed, "I'm- I have been lying to you all. I'm a woman, and Lukrut if you ask me to prove it…"
No jokes were forthcoming, instead they looked her up and down and reappraised her in a way they never had before. Little things began to click into place for them all. Her habit of bathing alone, relieving herself alone, the loose clothing that she always wore. "Huh… go figure." Lukrut said and scratched his head. "Well… I guess… I guess all we can do is wish you good luck with whatever it is you're doing."
"Look ahhh… I was going to wait until we got back and collected our pay, but I was thinking about quitting too." Peter said, and all eyes were on him.
He gave those at the table around him a sardonic half smile. "That fight, and the one before, showed me limits I can never reach, if I continue doing what I'm doing, I'm just going to die a pointless death, and take my team down with me."
"You may improve with time, you know." Ainz said to the young man, who put his hands on the table and folded them together with fingers interlocked.
"You're a good man, Mr. Momon, but what I saw out of you and your partner is a sign, a sign that some people aren't meant to rise to the top, and some people are born ready to be there. I'm part of the former. I was the best fighter in my village, I wanted to be adamantite ranked, and I thought if I could only work hard enough, that was possible." Peter gave a snort, "We had big dreams, the Swords of Darkness. We dreamed more than we ever had any right to." He took out the little black stone dagger that was the symbol of the bond of his team.
"Now that I know how far away that dream is, I might as well be a turtle dreaming of having wings, or a fish dreaming of walking down a street or climbing a tree." Peter's fingers fidgeted with one another when he turned his attention to Nfirea. "We'll get you home, we'll show the guild what Mr. Momon and Miss Lupu accomplished, see them get the rank they should have. Then after that?" Peter looked toward the window, "It looks like this village needs more hands, maybe I can lend mine to it."
"We need good people. And this is a good place to live." Enri said with inviting warmth. Lupu scooped up bowls of stew and began to fling them along the table, stopping them perfectly in front of every person.
"The decision is yours of course, and I can understand it. Perhaps you should pass on your skills here." Ainz suggested, offering some hope to the young man that he had not wasted his time.
Dyne and Lukrut traded glances. "Wow." Lukrut said and tapped his foot. "Look, I… you know the thing I wanted to do. But… Lupu was right, what am I going to do, dump corpses at the feet of their parents? I might as well stab them again. Maybe it made sense years and years ago, but now? No… and the truth is that I want to be with my team, even its trickiest member."
He winked at Ninya, who rolled her eyes. "This is why I bound my breasts tightly down. Pervert." She said, and Lukrut had the decency to blush.
Dyne was the last of the Swords of Darkness, "I think… I think I want to keep trying out there. I'm sorry, but I worked too hard on my magic to stop now. When I've reached the limits of my skill, if there comes a time I can go no farther, I will come back here again. Please, stay alive until then." He reached down and took the little black dagger and, setting it on the table, he began to slide it over to Peter.
"No." Peter said and put a hand up with his wrist on the wood, "Keep it. As long as one of us is out there, the Swords of Darkness are not gone."
"Whelp, guess that means some of you have a new redhead neighbor." Brita said with a bemused expression.
Lukrut gasped and clasped his hands together, "Miss Lupu is staying here! Oh I knew it! You do love me!"
Brita smacked him on the back of the head. "No, you imbecile! I mean me ."
He looked up at her with a sheepish, taunting smile that led her to sigh with exasperation. "I always fall for this one's antics…" Brita groused, and the gathering fell to idle chatter until the time came to rest.
When Ainz and Lupusregina were alone at last, she approached him and began to remove his armor. She was halfway through the process when she inquired of him, "Momon, what will you do about bathing."
Ainz reached up and stroked his squared jaw, "Right, I can't very well return to Nazarick like this… and I would very much like a bath." He raised an arm and sniffed. "Sweat, yes I definitely need a bath."
Lupusregina hung her head and instinctively became formal. "I like the smell of a supreme being. My lord does not 'stink'."
Ainz chose to let the comment pass and replied only, "I would still like a bath. I'll visit the nearby river tomorrow."
When he was down to his regular clothes, he flopped down in the bed, and turning his eye toward the first of the maids to earn his unreserved trust, he gave a single firm order. "Guard."
She seemed to stiffen, and her wolf-like nature became more obvious. It was like watching the spirit of a loyal hound emerge from within one of his friend's children. ' If only they'd known, they wouldn't have left.' He reflected, and finally drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 18
Ainz stood at the edge of the river, the water was clean and perfect. The little noise of the babbling waters as they ran over rocks was almost a kind of musical accompaniment. He wasn't wearing his armor at the moment, rather he was wearing a robe that was hastily put together for him at his request by Enri Emmott. "Why would you take a bath 'dressed'?" She had asked with a cockeyed look.
"It is a custom in my country to wear one of these, I may have left my home, but it is still part of me." Ainz had answered, and that was that. The alacrity with which she'd worked was surprising, she snatched a few unused bolts of fabric from someone, rushed back through her own door, and with fingers moving like she was a master swordsman with her needle which was her weapon of choice, she stitched an improvised robe together for him to use.
Her hands held it out at the shoulder and her head bowed with humility. "It's a bit of a hasty job, but I hope it will do."
He reached out to take the robe from her, his hand on the collar, but she hadn't moved, she was obviously tense. "Something on your mind, Enri?" Ainz asked and drew back his hand.
She lowered the robe and raised her head, "May I ask your advice, Momon?" She bit her lower lip and waited until he nodded and took a seat.
"I've been asked to take the role of the next chief. I'd talk to Lupu about it, but-" Enri stopped speaking and, carrying the robe to the table to set it between them, she claimed a seat herself.
"You think she'll tell you to do it, and you don't want to hear that." Ainz guessed.
The way the village girl bit her lip was answer enough.
"I agree with her." Ainz replied. "Could I tell you a story?" He asked.
She looked up at the square jawed, dark haired, towering warrior figure, and waited.
"There was a man who had friends, his friends had children, and they had wonderful times together, he and all of them. It was the happiest time of the man's life, because he had no family of his own outside of them. Then something happened, and his friends were taken away. All that was left behind, was him and their children. The children lacked direction, they were sad, they were confused and hurt, and every time he looked at them, he saw the sense of loss in their eyes. Faced with their desperate need, he chose to take care of them himself, because there was nobody else to do it." Ainz wished very much for his helmet at that moment to hide his face, but as he spoke, he did his best to present an expression of stoicism. How successful he was, without a mirror he was unsure.
"So… I'm supposed to be like the one in that story?" Enri asked, she formed a self deprecating smile, put an arm on the table, and propped her cheek on her palm when she looked up at the dark warrior.
"If you like." Ainz suggested. "You don't have to say yes, there may be others willing to take the role. But you are young, full of ideas, and that young man, he's an important figure. If you're tied to the village and he is tied to you, what does that make your village?"
Enri thought that through, and red creeped over her face, "But I'm nothing, just a peasant, I can barely write my own name and only count well enough to sell my crops without getting cheated!"
"Nfirea can read and write. Have him teach you. The Swords of Darkness, for the most part, seem set on staying here, they're around your age, who better to guide and understand them? You'll make mistakes as a leader, but your very reluctance, makes you better suited for the role." Ainz suggested as gently as he could.
"So, what happened to the man in that story of yours?" Enri asked by way of distraction.
"I don't really know, he's very much alive and trying to take care of his friends' children, I know he treasures them, and he's doing his best for them. Who knows how it will all work out." Ainz stood up, "Thank you for the robe." He said and put it under his arm.
Enri stood at the same moment and bowed deeply. "Thank you for the advice."
He left her there, and now he stood beneath the shade of a great tree for his first 'new world bath' he touched the water with a toe. It was warmer than he expected, and slowly he inched his way down into it. The robe he'd been given was of green and black, the colors divided vertically and solid rather than striped for simplicity. The dyes were simple and cheap apparently, and the cloth locally made. Coupled with the green grass that he scrunched beneath his toes like a guilty pleasure and the warmth of the sun, it was still surreal.
Ainz couldn't help but think, ' I've never actually felt real grass before now… it's remarkable.' The fresh air and clear water and the warmth in general was on a whole other level. From where he stood he could see villagers out in their fields, hoes and plows busy wringing a living from the soil, on the surface it seemed like just more back breaking work. ' But this place at least, is well fed, they eat what they grow, and don't need breathing masks just to go outside. My world, for all its technology, is a living hell, and for all the danger, this is paradise.' His body sank down into the water and the fabric floated around him, his warm hands cupped some of the water and splashed it into his face.
The water ran over his skin and the tingling sensation that came with it left him feeling truly alive. He took a long, deep breath. ' From what Ninya told Lupusregina, there are a lot of people who are like the worst executives back home. They ruin things for others just to get better things for themselves. Gazef's abundant gratitude to me suggests that true heroism is very rare among those with the power to actually be heroes. If left to itself, this world will be ruined eventually because nobody knows what lies far enough down the road they're on.'
"If I take over this world, I can prevent all that from happening." He muttered, and checked his stats again. The two skeletal dragons were worth much more in terms of raw numbers, but they still barely moved his exp bar. ' I wonder if the world item that was part of me when the change hit, has something to do with breaking the level cap?' He considered the question that came to him out of the blue, and lowered himself to sit in the river bottom. It brought the water up to his shoulders, so he allowed his arms to float freely while he thought. He could think of no way to experiment with that, which didn't risk a potentially unpleasant side effect.
He turned his mind back to the idea of ruling instead. ' From what Lupusregina says, Ninya has a scheme in mind, it should be nurtured, perhaps we should find her sister for her, that might be a useful way to gain her gratitude.'
"Should I wash your back, Momon?" Lupusregina asked, he didn't look behind him to where she stood.
"The water itself is doing that. But if you'd like to take a bath yourself, go ahead." He said, and a moment later he heard the sound of flowing water being broken by footsteps as the brown skinned maid stepped into the waters and sat nearby. She took the same posture as her lord, legs drawn up and arms floating freely, allowing the flow to carry away any grime. Her long red hair was up to keep it from getting wet, and around her body was a robe similar to his own, though with black and green on opposing sides.
"Enri?" Ainz asked, seeing it out of the corner of his eye.
"Enri." She confirmed with a little smile.
"Is there anything I can do," Lupusregina looked around, sniffed the air, and was quiet for a moment, collecting sounds, secure that they were alone, she finished, "my lord?"
"Nothing, I was just thinking about the needs this world has that requires a ruler that can guide it." Ainz said.
"Oh, the plan, yes, Lord Demiurge told us about that." She said with a broad and enthusiastic smile.
"Ah, yes… yes the plan." Ainz said hesitantly. ' What plan?' He looked away from her and out toward the fields so his confusion couldn't be given away by his expression.
"What's the next step… do you… do you show one of the others?" Lupusregina asked, her admiring yellow eyes focused on her beloved master.
"Yes. I'll need things from Pandora's Actor, and soon. So he will have to be next. Plus I know he has no special hatred for humans, and his loyalty should be high since I am the one who created him." Ainz said, though whether he was trying to explain it to her or convince himself, he himself was uncertain.
"What kind of world will you make when you rule it, may I ask that, my lord?" Lupusregina inquired.
Ainz's voice became airy, distant. "A world where everyone wishes to be ruled eternally. A world my friends would have been proud of. But before I can even begin with that, I need to know that all the children of Nazarick will be with me. If even one will not, I don't think I can bring myself to stay."
Lupusregina felt a sublime glow of privilege, being so privy to her lord's mind was a deep and rare honor, something she couldn't have fathomed as even a possibility before the day they came here, or even ten minutes ago before it happened. Yet it was so. "If you go, so do I." She grinned, "A great lord should never be without a maid. You may empty Nazarick if it comes down to it."
Ainz snorted, "I like your optimism, your maker made you quite the girl."
She couldn't help but beam at his almost parental praise and inched a little closer to him. His hand came out of the water, droplets splashed and fell back into the river from which they came, she didn't even care that her hair got wet. Ainz's hand was on her head, giving her repeated pats of praise. ' My sisters will be so jealous!' The thought came up immediately, and with it, a profound humility that Lupusregina Beta couldn't help but think would never, ever fade.
' No, I can't lead the village.' Enri answered herself, ' But I know how it can be led.' She thought as the door shut in front of her and the dark warrior was gone. She sent Nemu out to the adventurers and to Nfirea, asking them to come at once to her house.
When they gathered together, she told them about the offer to let her lead the village. "Congratulations." Nfirea said, enthusiastic despite his still mournful state. "When do you take charge?"
"I don't. One thing that all this has taught me is that one person isn't good at governing alone." Enri said and pointed to Peter, "You helped organize our training in ways even the goblins didn't think of," then she pointed to Ninya, "you started checking to see if anyone had magical talent that could be cultivated," lastly she pointed to Nfirea, "you running a shop and a lab here may make this village famous." She lowered her hand and her gaze, "Everyone brings things to the table, so everyone should have a say in how things work. Not just do what I say and hope I'm never wrong. I think things are going to change, and change a lot very soon."
"Why? And what are you talking about?" Nfirea asked, he looked around, the rest of the room looked no less confused.
"The Wise King is dead, the Dark Warrior slew two skeletal dragons, and I'll bet that the woman Lupu killed was famous. Mr. Momon has personally offered to reside here, and we have our walls, with all of that, this will be the safest village in Re-Estize. Safety is a peasant's dream, and we're going to live it."
They began to understand the meaning behind what she said, and it was difficult for any of them to disagree.
Enri continued, "One chief isn't enough, I want us to prepare for the future, start a council made up of our fighters, our farmers, our traders… I don't know all the details yet… I was hoping you'd all help me with that. See, before this, all we had to do was have a big meeting and everybody talked about stuff until we came to a decision. But if we get bigger, and we don't have a lord living here, we won't have that option. What if we have people choose who to represent them, and they present all their ideas to the chief. The chief then decides what to accept among their proposals."
"Sounds complicated, and what if the chief or the representatives aren't any good?" Nfirea suggested the obvious problem.
Enri scratched her head and thought it over. "I suppose that's possible. We've had plenty of bad lords over the years. But we can just have everybody pick new ones every few years, they have to keep asking people to let them do the job, and besides, that way we can always get new ideas flowing and not…" Enri sighed, "Our chief was a good one, but he never liked change. We need people open to new ideas and not set in their ways. So… so new people every five or six years will keep new ideas coming."
"So ah… what do you all think… should I present this to the village, you've all seen a lot more than I have, that's why I brought it to you first." Enri bit her bottom lip as looks traded back and forth.
"A lord took my sister as a plaything, I like any idea that keeps that from happening." Ninya said, clutching her staff against her body, "This might be worth a try, and if it doesn't work out, it can always be abandoned and the old system picked up again." Ninya suggested, and that spurred more positive expressions from the rest.
Enri sighed with relief, her shoulders slumped as nervousness at presenting the novel idea finally fled. "Alright, I'll present it to the village after you've all gone back to E-Rantel to finish your task, the village will be waiting for you."
Chapter 19
The sun was as at Ainz' back, the birds were chirping, the breeze was mild and warm as it traced over the small gaps in the armor, the turning of the wheel rolling over the long dirt road was a steady, constant noise, much like the occasional snorting of the horse Nfirea drove. Rather than walking beside the cart, he and the adventurers that had guarded the young man, rode seated and chatted amiably.
Lupusregina, true to form, was a lively and engaging conversationalist, but equally true to form, she used that charm to draw out words they might have otherwise held back. Though far from brilliant, her brutal wit had its own way of making people see things the way she wanted them to.
Ainz was content to just enjoy the day and continue to call it a work trip, it had already lasted far, far longer than he estimated, but it was only a matter of time now before it would end. Before he could let his mind travel far down that road though, he saw a distant cloud ahead, and leaned forward toward Nfirea, "Do you see that?" He asked.
The young man squinted, "Is that… is that a dust cloud?"
"It is, and the wind is low right now, so what does that leave?" Ainz made the question sharp, and even through the shaggy mop of hair, he saw the face of his client turn pale.
"Stop the wagon." Peter ordered when he heard what Ainz said.
Nfirea obeyed, pulling on the reins and raising his hand so that the others would see and do the same.
None of the adventurers needed orders to know what to do next. Ainz vaulted from the wagon, a majestic leap carried him beyond the front of the horse, his legs bent on landing and he quickly straightened up. His great swords came out, and before his first step, the other adventurers took their places in a wedge formation in front of the lead wagon.
Peter took up position at Ainz's left, while Lupusregina took the right, and the team spread out from there with Ninya at the rear. "Soldiers or bandits, but there isn't a big difference between the two sometimes." The way Peter shifted his shield and gripped his sword a little tighter revealed that the uncertainty was likely worse than either alone.
"I see, I see. Will soldiers bother adventurers?" Ainz asked.
"Inside a city? No. And adventurers of high rank? Never. But you're a copper rank pair and none of us are above iron, so the guild might take a guard's word for us starting trouble 'outside' of a city." Peter replied, and Ainz's estimation of the Re-Estize Kingdom's worth dropped yet another notch.
"Wait… those aren't… they can't be? No way…" Peter whispered as the figures drew closer.
"What is it?" Ainz asked.
"Those aren't soldiers, don't you know who that is?" Peter's voice began to reach a higher pitch with every word.
"No, should I?" He asked with a furrowed brow beneath his helmet.
"The red cloak, the mask, Lukrut are you seeing what I'm seeing?!" Peter exclaimed and whirled to face the ranger.
"Yes, unless you know another team like that, that's Blue Rose !" Lukrut's excitement was palpable, and the entire team relaxed.
"Blue Rose… right, I've heard of them." Ainz began to sheathe his swords, and Lupusregina pouted, but put away her mace. "I thought they were a group of five women, but it looks like a dozen people there."
"It's a suppression force, someone must have seen the skeletal dragons and an emergency dispatch brought them in to deal with it. Heh, won't this be a surprise?" Peter asked rhetorically and began to wave his hand and shout.
"Heeeey! Hellooooo! Everything is fine!" Peter shouted and waved, and a wave of relief went up in the form of countless sighs up and down the row of wagons.
"We better go deal with them, ah… Momon, Lupu, would you come with me?" Peter asked, his face was flushed red, but the vibe Ainz got was hero worship rather than just anxiety alone. "You are the two that took care of the problem, all we did was handle the scrubs."
"Fine." Ainz answered, and the trio stepped away from the stopped carts, approaching the dozen adventurers on horseback, and much to his surprise, as they slowed down, from among the group, there was a familiar face. One 'much' better equipped than the last time he'd seen him.
"Gazef Stronoff." Ainz murmured under his breath. When they were ten yards from the wagons, the trio stopped, and a radiant blonde woman in expensive blue and white clothing rode up, flanked by the broad shouldered dark skinned Gazef, it was the Head Warrior who spoke first.
"Did I hear someone say everything was fine?" There was some disbelief in his voice, but the horse was reined in, he traded a look with the radiant, fair skinned blonde woman. She clearly shared the doubt.
"I heard that there were two skeletal dragons in the area, did we hear wrong?" Relief and anger warred on his face, and was mirrored by the tight lipped blonde.
"No, you heard right, I killed them." Ainz explained.
The two on horseback stared at him with open doubt, their eyes focused on his copper plate. "You? A copper plate? Killed not just one but two skeletal dragons." The blonde woman replied.
"It's polite to introduce yourself before you basically accuse my partner of lying, lady ." Lupusregina snapped and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
The blonde snapped her back all the straighter and turned her eyes over to the copper plated cleric. "Lakyus of Blue Rose. And you are?"
"Momon." Ainz replied, "And my partner, Lupu, our team name is 'Axel'. And yes, I did."
"One skeletal dragon is difficult for a single adamantite adventurer team . You're copper plates. You really expect me to…" She stopped when Lupu pointed to the wagons.
"Go back there and look. We were just bringing the bones back for proof, they're all there, along with witnesses, witness statements, and so on. Including our client, Nfirea Bareare." Lupusregina's face was clearly quite smug. "My partner took care of the dragons, and the Wise King of the Forest, I took care of some crazy bitch named Clementine."
The name echoed back beyond the pair and all eyes turned to the redhead.
"You… you killed her?" Gazef's brows went up.
"Sure, assuming that's her body back there all wrapped up in pieces." Lupu answered him, but Gazef could barely comprehend it, he stared at the plate that hung down in front of her neck, and she crossed her arms.
"If you're going to check out a woman's chest, be more discreet about it. Pervert Head Warrior." Lupu said, crossing her arms in front of her chest and letting out a snort of derision.
He did a double take and could not help but laugh for a moment before the gravity of her claim came back to him. "Ah, how, exactly?"
"I tore her apart until the blood stopped flowing, people who lose both their arms tend to die for some reason." Lupu shrugged, "Go figure, right?"
Gazef traded a look with Lakyus, "We need… need to see this. To be sure. You understand."
"Of course." Ainz replied nonchalantly and the trio stepped aside. The Head Warrior raised a hand and gestured forward, and the rest of the adventurers on horseback followed.
"Impossible."
"Unbelievable."
"Are they… copper plates, seriously?!"
The words came from the various adventurers who reached in and pulled out chunks of bone, and looked for any evidence of falsehood. The peasants driving the wagons were quick to confirm everything that was asked of them.
Yes, the dark warrior of Axel killed the dragons. Yes, the dragons were summoned by a magic caster. Yes, they had the bodies.
Gazef took up the head of Clementine, wrapped in a preserving cloth, she was unmistakable. If the facial expression was any clue, the fearsome warrior had died in absolute terror and pain. The wounds on her body also supported what the copper plated Lupu had said. The woman's limbs had been literally ripped off. A sword left clean cuts, a mace like the sort Lupu wore, that crushed. But these were tearing marks, bits of skin dangled where it had been ripped away. Not far from that, was the head of the Wise King of the forest, which drew comments, stares, and disbelieving strokes of their hands over its soft fur.
He set the body parts down and turned to look over to the masked magic caster. He looked down into her mask, and she through it up to him.
"How does a copper plate do this?" Gazef asked with a small whisper.
"By being stronger than that when they started." The little magic caster said when the milky eyed head of Clementine was put back into the wagon.
"Evileye, wasn't it?" Gazef asked.
"Yes." She answered and cursed her diminutive stature, she grabbed the top of the wagon's side and pulled herself up to look into the pile of bones.
"And that," she pointed to the red robed corpse, "Is a Zuranon member who has had a bounty on him for a long, long time."
"You recognize him?" Gazef asked rhetorically when she let go and dropped back down to the ground.
"I do. I never met him personally, but I've seen drawings of his face. There are not many people who have long heads like that one, and one ugly face, even for an old man. His name is Khajiit Dale something or other, he is, or was, a high placed Zuranon member. He broke from the main branch a few years ago and disappeared along with a number of disciples. Somehow, he ended up here." Evileye replied and shook her head, "He came to a bad end, no real surprise to be had with that. Most people like him, do."
Gazef grunted, "A bad end, or in charge. I wonder what he was doing out here, but if he is what you say, and who you say, it's no wonder he fell in with Clementine. I definitely know who she is. I fought her once, but couldn't kill her. I always considered her a loose end."
"I'd say it's tied up now. That's for sure." Evil eye looked up to the pile of bones.
"I couldn't agree more." Gazef's armor clinked a little when he reached up and tapped the side of his helmet. The armor was a rust colored red with a brass colored outline around the various components, on his back was a long blue crystal sword. Clad in the treasures of the kingdom, Evileye couldn't help but doubt even Lakyus could defeat him as he was now.
And yet he was still clearly, obviously impressed.
"The guild will have to reevaluate them both before you think to take them to the capital for anything, you know that, right?" Evileye asked, uncertain if he really did. ' Good man, but dense about guild politics.' She rolled her eyes behind the mask and ignored the chattering of peasants and adventurers as the story was told and retold.
"Is that so? Why?" Gazef asked her with genuine confusion.
"Because they're copper plates. If people think copper plates can do this, it will degrade the value of all the other higher ranks, next thing you know they'll try hiring young and inexperienced people off the books and then…" Evileye stopped speaking.
He understood. That was clear, the brief haunted, distant look was turned toward the other young adventurers, iron plates, in the prime of life, vigorous, and vulnerable both at once. ' How many young warriors did he see die by taking on things they weren't ready for yet? I guess it isn't just adventurers who suffer that end.'
"Come on," she finally said, "If we take too long, we'll be just rude, I'll get Lakyus. It's obvious that they're telling the truth now." Evileye replied, and went to her sister while Gazef turned away and walked over to the tall dark armored warrior.
"I don't like that one." Lakyus grumbled and crossed her arms in front of her chest. The glare was toward the red haired cleric.
"You don't have to like her, but Gazef confirmed it, that was Clementine." Evileye said in a low whisper. ' I swear, I love her, but she's so stubborn!' The magic caster rolled her eyes looking up at the woman she considered a sister and tugged on the enchanted wrist length cloth.
"I know what that means, you don't have to tell me, they have to be adamantite or nearly. How is this even possible? We should have heard about power like that before now." Lakyus kept an eye toward the redhead with the mace that was chatting with the big, beafy Moknak of the orichalchum team 'Rainbow', but her question demanded an answer from Evileye.
"I can only guess, they're foreigners, not many have dark skin like that, so maybe they have reputations from somewhere else, somewhere farther south?" Evileye suggested, "The important thing though, is that we have them reassessed as soon as possible. Adamantite teams are always needed. If he really took down two skeletal dragons by himself, it would be crazy to make him grind through iron, silver, and gold ranks as if he hadn't done Adamantite feats already."
"I still don't like her." Lakyus shot a glance at the brown skinned beauty, and gave distasteful snort.
' Was I that childish at that age?' Evileye wondered with a roll of her eyes so large that she was grateful for the mask that hid them.
"Whatever, let's go." Evileye replied and gave an insistent little tug on Lakyus's arm.
The suppression team warmed up to the beautiful cleric with exceptional speed, though the dark warrior was more quiet and sparse with his words, but that was often the way of heroes. He sat in the wagon while the newly arrived senior adventurers rode on either side.
Idle chatter was the rule, but Evileye couldn't help herself when she rode beside the dark armored warrior. "How'd you do it?" She asked. "Some special item? Power?"
Ainz pointed to the great swords on his back. "I kept hitting them with these," then he pointed to the many carts loaded down with bones, "until I turned them into that."
"How much did the village pay you to protect them?" Evileye asked, "They're giving you a bonus, I hope."
"They paid nothing. I was escorting him." Ainz jerked his thumb toward Nfirea. "I don't normally like escort quests, but I guess they can be okay."
"So… why didn't you two just grab him and run? All you had to do was protect your client, right?" Evileye stared up at him, even mounted on a tall horse, she had to turn her face up to meet the dark hero, and she immediately felt him stiffen at the question.
"Then who would protect the village?" Ainz asked, she felt his stare through the helmet, and against such an answer, she felt her heart, which had been stilled for over two hundred years, skip a beat.
"You're… serious, aren't you?" Evileye looked at him cockeyed, like he was some alien thing she'd never seen before.
"Of course. After I killed the Wise King, I gave my word I would protect the village." He said to her, and she bowed her head.
"I apologize for the rude question. I shouldn't have assumed you were the sort to run away. But most would have." Evileye apologized.
"My name is Momon. And Axel is not 'Most'." He answered, and Evileye quietly promised herself one thing.
' I'd see him in an adamantite plate the day we return, even if I have to get a ladder to climb up and put mine around his neck! That's the kind of adventurer this world needs! A hero! A true hero…'
Though her words were not spoken, the sentiment was shared up and down the line as in spare moments on the trip, Momon's noble words were spread among the peasants pulling the proof of team Axel's victory, with many a driver privately resolving that they would spread Momon's name throughout the whole of E-Rantel.
Chapter 20
When they were within hours of E-Rantel, a member of Rainbow rode ahead to alert the guards of the pending arrival of something all but unthinkable. It was because of this alert, and the natural gossip of those who heard the word, that the gate was opened all the way and crowds got out of the way in advance, ready to see what had never been seen before.
Lupusregina was true to form not twenty minutes before coming in sight of the gate. "Momon killed two skeletal dragons, all you did was show up late and congratulate him. He should ride in like the hero he is." Lupusregina's sharp yellow eyes and her fixed stare on the two members of 'Rainbow' along with the truth… that she was right, were effective tools.
And so, two of the orichalcum team members rode in the cart, lending their horse to team Axel, and to add to that, Lupu had a further suggestion, one she gave with the twisted smile that seemed to savor its own warped nature.
So it was that the head of the Wise King was mounted atop the tip of one of Ainz's great swords and held aloft for all to see, as if it were mounted on a pike.
' The people of this world are impressed by strange things. At the end of the day, it was just a big hamster. But listen to that…' Ainz was glad the helmet hid the rolling eyes over their commentary.
"He actually killed that thing?"
"Such power in those eyes, even dead, I'm scared to look it in the face."
"And look at those bones… so many… zombies, and is that a part of the head?"
The praise and awe came from numberless voices when they wound their way through the streets, all the way to the adventurer's guild, where a group of adventurers was already standing outside, anticipating something they weren't sure even the suppression force could handle.
There were two dozen adventurers outside on the grounds when the caravan began to line up. The peasants hopped down with a single spry motion as if they were a military unit and began to unload the bones and lay out the dead for counting.
However, it was the Swords of Darkness that withdrew the heads and bodies of Clementine and Khajiit as proof of their demise in front of the guild leadership and guild members who watched in ever growing disbelief.
The clatter of bones was punctuated by the murmuring of armored men and women, many of whom reflexively clutched at their armaments, swords, spears, hammers, and so on as the bones were laid out end to end in row after row.
"Our contract is complete, Momon." Nfirea said with a sad bowing of the head. "I have to… to go see about Grandmother. If her body was left at home, it might have been reported by now and taken by the watch. That means I'll have to arrange for her funeral and everything else. But as soon as I'm done I'll move back to Carne and set up there. If you'd like to wait in the city for a few days, I'll put you up in the best hotel."
"The best, isn't that costly?" Ainz asked, lowering his sword to let Lupusregina retrieve the head and watched while she approached, all smiles, toward the guild leaders and held it over her own head for all to see.
Nfirea chuckled and shook his head. "Skeletal Dragon bones aren't very useful to me, but they do have their uses in some other fields, they're tainted with magic, so a lot of casters will pay a great deal for even one fragment. This though?" He inclined his head toward the rows that were still forming. "This will end up being sold all over Re-Estize and perhaps as far as Baharuth or who knows where else. The story will spread with the fragments, and in months if not weeks, 'Axel' and its leader 'Momon' will be on the lips of adventurers everywhere."
Shock went through Ainz so much so that he froze. All he could manage was a simple, "I see. That is good."
' Such humility out of such a powerful man, almost anyone else would be boasting, bragging and talking themselves up… but he really doesn't need to, does he? His power, his character, it all just speaks for itself…' Nfirea thought with a wave of envy through his body that he despised, and resolved to overcome.
"Two skeletal dragons. Do you see that?" Lupusregina grinned and pointed over and over, at the bones. "Plus the Wise King of the forest, plus Clementine, plus Dale the long headed twit…" She stamped her foot, dropped the head of the Wise King on the ground and set her hands on her hips. "You name me any adventurer who did that much is less than Adamantite."
"She may be pushy, but she has got a point." Evileye looked up to Pluton Ainzach and imitated Lupu's posture, though she tapped her foot on the grass instead. "If they were already Orichalcum, you wouldn't hesitate to promote them to Adamantite for this one, and we both know it, Pluton."
A broad faced, hook nosed man with brown hair and narrow eyes was quick to interject. "Abah, ah, well, that may be so! But he's only had just one adventure! Yes, it is an impressive one but still… one must pay their dues!"
"Sorry, who are you exactly?" Evileye demanded, turning her attention to the adventurer who stood with only a moderate amount of enchanted equipment.
"Igvarge, of Kralgra, a Mithril ranked team." The largish man snapped his mouth shut, feeling the stare behind the mask.
"Then shut up. If you had your way, one of the thirteen heroes would have to linger below their due rank because they hadn't been there long enough. One adventure with enough events to fill a hundred adventures is worth more than one hundred adventures where nothing happens at all." Evileye scolded the man, who sucked in his teeth, clenched his jaw, and went silent.
Sweat sprang to Pluton's brow, his eyes darted from the other adventurers to the adamantite Blue Rose and over to the increasing body of evidence showing that the little magic caster was right… and then to the uncommonly dangerous cleric and her companion.
' This isn't like being caught between a rock and a hard place, this is like being just surrounded by rocks and hard places! I can't offend Blue Rose, but I also can't offend every other adventurer here with a rapid promotion… no matter how impressive.' His eyes continued to dart around until he felt a gentle hand fall on his shoulder.
He swung his head over to find the radiant pale face of Lakyus looking at him, "Hey, now… those are all good points… why don't we split the difference here?"
"Split the difference… how exactly?" Lupu inquired of the Adamantite ranked swordswoman.
"There's…" Lakyus glanced quickly over her shoulder and leaned in, "That matter." She lowered a hand and discretely pointed her forefinger toward Nfirea. Her words became a whisper that the young man couldn't have heard even if he weren't in conversation with the dark hero. "His grandmother was brutally murdered to find 'him', the fact that Clementine was with Khajiit at the village is no coincidence. Clementine definitely killed the old woman, but why? Why is her grandson so important, it's his skill."
"You know something, don't you?" Lupusregina guessed, her predator senses clawing at her mind. Her nose itched when she smelled the anxiety on the pretty adventurer.
"I have it on good authority that Clementine did not leave for nothing. She took an item with her, something she needed Nfirea to use. There isn't much like that that would also be of interest to someone like Khajiit or Zuranon in general." Lakyus kept her eyes steady on Pluton, the middle aged man had gone a bit too fat over the years, but the steel resolve of an adventurer in his youth and long experience was not gone yet. He stared back and narrowed his eyes as he ran through the list of items that might include.
"You're sure?" Pluton inquired.
Lakyus crossed her arms, "Nothing in this world is a given. But I can't think of any item more likely than the Crown of Wisdom."
"So… what's this crown thing?" Lupu asked, "You're talking 'around' me, and I don't like it." The battlemaid clenched her jaw, but far from being dismissive, the blonde who had earlier almost made Lupusregina want to claw her face off, spoke sincerely.
"An item of the old gods, used on certain people, it turns them into living items that can use powerful, seventh tier magic. Almost nobody can use it, but since Nfirea can use anything without any requirements-" Lakyus explained and then stopped short when Lupu facepalmed.
"Of course, yes that makes sense." Lupu said as if she understood the obvious. ' Seventh tier is impressive to you people? See, this is why I think of you as just toys!' The derisive thought was covered by her gesture, and the other adventurers gave slow, sage nods.
"So I'm guessing you want me and Momon to go and sort this out, finish the job, get back the crown thingy and prove we're worth the cost of materials for new plates? That about it?" Lupu winked at them and stuck out her tongue.
"Ah, er, yes. Well, that would do, but… an observer, we need someone beyond doubt, beyond question to go and who will come back to confirm you are beyond question, Adamantite level." Pluton's sweating resumed.
Igvarge promptly spoke up. "I'll go."
"You'll just slow us down, why are you even here? Shoo, shoo little manlet." Lupu quipped and held her arm out toward him with her palm down, and waved her fingers back and forth.
He immediately turned red with fury. "I'm a Mithril ranked adventurer you snot nosed newb! I'll not be talked down to by some other newb's little-" He reached out to snatch her hand, intending to put some pressure on her fingers and remind her of his seniority.
What happened next was not entirely clear to anyone but Evileye, and even through the magic caster's eyes, she wasn't sure of what she saw. Igvarge's hands moved with preposterous slowness as far as the magic caster was concerned, but by comparison? Lupu's hand moved faster than the sound of speed itself. She had his wrist gripped in her slender palms, and squeezed.
The smiling face was gone as if it were only ever a mask, and raw sadism was naked and plain. "Little what ? Little man? Little what ?" Lupu demanded.
He was down on his knees, gasping, clawing at her grip and finding all his strength was beyond worthless. He managed finally to squeak out a prideless " No-nothing…"
Only then did Lupu release her hold, and the smiling face was back, she stuck out her tongue at him, then said in a cheery voice, "Oh good, I thought we had a little misunderstanding there, I'm glad we cleared that up. Now, as Mr. Ainzach was saying here, we need an observer, and since Igvarge here is," she coughed and gave a mocking look to the man struggling to stand on shaking legs and rubbing his pained wrist, " no longer interested in observing, how about Evileye here?"
"Me?" Evileye looked up to the cleric.
"Her?" Lakyus added, she glanced over to the rest of Blue Rose, they seemed more interested in getting stories from the peasants, and she knew them well enough to know they wouldn't care for an assignment they'd see as 'babysitting'.
"Sure, you trust her, right? And she's the strongest of your party, isn't she?" Lupu asked, "If she says we're Adamantite, we are, and that's that, nobody will argue against Blue Rose."
"No… no I suppose nobody would do that." Pluton acknowledged, "But this is still a quest, you're officially going to retrieve a possible great treasure. Eliminate any hostiles along the way… we don't have an immediate reward for this but…"
"I can personally promise that the King will grant a reward of comparable value later." Gazef said as he approached the little group. "You'll just have to trust my word, is that good enough for Axel?"
Lupu pointed to Ainz, "That would be for Momon to decide, but I think he'll be okay with that." She flashed a winning smile at the Royal Head Warrior, and he wasted not another moment in going to speak with the onyx clad hero.
"That settles that, now… how about something to eat, eh? Something meaty ." Lupu gave Igvarge a look as he backed away, and licked her lips. He did not linger any further.
' Dangerous, she is extremely dangerous, and she's the cleric?!' Evileye contemplated, the rest of the group were giving her once overs as well, the response to the perceived insult to Mr. Momon had not gone over well at all, and to so easily crush a Mithril ranked warrior to his knees was unthinkable even for someone a rank higher who was also a warrior. For a cleric to do that? What did that make Lupu? It was a question for which the magic caster had no easy answer.
However, the charming brown skinned beauty with the fiery red hair in long braids, was almost impossible not to like as far as Evileye was concerned, and it kept her thoughts on a singularly enjoyable track that she wasn't about to move away from. ' Besides, if Momon likes her, and he's the kind of man he is, there must be a lot to her. And Igvarge was out of line, what would I do if someone insulted Lakyus that way? Looking out for a teammate is just to be expected. Yes, everything will be fine, and who knows? It might even be fun, and I'll get a chance to be near Momon again, and that… that I think I'll like very, very much.'
Chapter 21
Once the full tally of bones and bodies were laid out, there was one more thing to do before departure.
Say goodbye.
The armor of Clementine, which she had bedecked with the plates of the many adventurers she'd slain, was held out by Momon. All present adventurers, even Igvarge, fell silent as one by one the lightly armored and heavily armored alike came forward to look for the names of missing comrades.
"Indari… wow, I wondered what happened to him… hard to believe." Someone said, and taking out a sharp dagger, they cut away the binding that held the gold colored plate in place. After going through the rest, the young woman stepped away, knowing no more of the names.
A beefy warrior approached, thickly muscled, and carrying a large maul on his shoulder, he slammed the head of it hard into the ground. He was bald headed and had sharp blue eyes that ran over the many tags. ' Stern fellow.' Ainz thought, until water filled the blue eyes when he found a name he knew.
"Gretchen…" His trembling hand touched the silver plate. "So it's true." He bawled like an infant when he found the name on the breast of Clementine's armor, his thick, sausage like fingers pawed at the plate until he got a nail behind it, and yanked it away with such force that the leather strips simply snapped.
So it went, one by one, until only a smattering of little plates remained with none to mourn them.
It was after the last of the adventurers had come and gone, that Pluton Ainzach approached and held shaking hands up, "I-I will take the rest. The names on here must belong to other guilds, I'll put out word to the guildmasters there and send them back for proper honors."
"That's good." Ainz replied, the man's grief hit him like a hammer, and Ainz nodded respectfully at the offer.
"That is the way it's done. Every man and woman who registers knows there's a possibility they might die out there. Some go into too much danger, too soon, and that's it. Some just have bad luck, a bad day and it's the last. And some…" He blinked back watery pools and paused when his voice choked up, "Some we just don't know what happens, until somebody finds their plate. Sometimes in a cave, sometimes in a monster's belly, and sometimes, like now, on the armor of a monster disguised as a human."
Ainzach spat at the ground, and Ainz gently, reverentially laid the armor into Ainzach's hands.
The remaining plates rattled on the handoff, then Ainzach turned to face those present.
"A moment of silence for the dead, may they rest easy in the afterlife, avenged, and free of pain." The plump guildmaster said, and quiet befell the area that was so great you could have heard a pin drop. Heads bowed for the span of several breaths, and the called-for moment passed and was done.
When it was, the guild members took it on themselves to disperse and return to the interior, while Pluton Ainzach turned back to the dark hero. "Mr. Momon," he said while looking up at the dark hero's helmet covered face, "You've done a service that, in my view, would justify immediate promotion to adamantite. However," he folded the armor up and tucked it under one arm, then scratched his head in thought before going on, "Some folks would be unhappy by such a rapid rise. The feeling may be that it cheapens the rank if it is achieved so quickly."
Ainz crossed his arms in front of his chest. ' If I think about it like a job… right, it's like when somebody just joins the company and immediately gets a big promotion, it doesn't matter what they did, the others see them as not having paid their dues yet. Still, I did something big out there!' It rankled, but he kept 'most' of that from getting out of his mouth.
"I shouldn't need to prove my strength again and again… but I understand. You're about to offer something, aren't you?" Ainz guessed, and the plump face of the tense guildmaster relaxed.
"Yes, if an adamantite adventurer accompanies you on this task and attests to your strength, nobody will argue against a promotion. Evileye of Blue Rose has volunteered," he gestured to where the short mage stood chatting with Lupusregina, she saw and waved her hand, hopping up and down with almost childlike enthusiasm, "Just finish this, get her endorsement, and that will be that."
"I see, explain what you need then." Ainz said and gave a quick, hesitant wave to the masked woman. ' She seems to like me, it would be good to have a friendship with someone outside of Nazarick, even if they're not especially strong compared to its children.'
Pluton Ainzach went on to explain everything he knew, which proved to be far too little.
He was just wrapping up when Evileye approached with Lupusregina in tow. The masked mage stuck her hand out toward him and he grasped it firmly, taking care not to squeeze too hard.
"So it looks like I'll be joining you as an observer." Evileye said in a childlike voice.
' She sounds very young, is it the mask, is that a side effect of it, or an enchantment?' Ainz was very curious what lay behind the accessory.
"Just try not to get in the way, eh, short stuff?" Lupu said and winked down at the mage who briefly took a step back, offended, until she saw the tongue sticking out and realized she was being playfully taunted.
"Right… I'll try not to get in your way." Evileye replied with a chuckle as if that was too absurd to even contemplate.
"So, where do we go first?" The little mage asked the pair, and for that, Ainz was grateful to have a quick answer in the form of a question.
He looked down at the woman who was barely more than waist height to himself and asked, "Where are there likely to be a vast number of bodies?"
"This is E-Rantel, a major assembly point for Re-Estize soldiers during our wars against the Baharuth Empire. You can't throw a rock without hitting a grave somewhere." Evileye answered with a disappointed sigh. ' So, this really is all there is to him, jump to the obvious and no further, and he made such a strong first impression.'
Ainz nodded in answer, "Yes, I see, I see." He muttered and thought back to his days as a guildmaster, it was a warm, happy memory, raiding tombs to build up his own necromantic skills, and when he thought about that, it made sense.
' Older graveyards are full, by definition, that's why new ones get opened up, but they're also little used and so rarely visited, perfect place to hide if you're a necromancer.' Ainz thought and dropped his hand down to put on Evileye's shoulder.
Her heart jump started almost immediately despite being quite dead, and then it did it again when he spoke to her.
"That isn't quite what I mean, I'm sorry, I thought the depth of my question wouldn't be lost on an adamantite adventurer." Ainz replied, with Lupu chuckling when she moved to his right side.
"What I mean is, where would I find the oldest, deepest, and most heavily used graveyards, some place that is almost never visited any longer?" Ainz asked the question more thoroughly, and to him, it seemed she was pausing to think.
' Stupid, you should have known a great man like him would think deeply and quickly about a subject, you don't get to be that powerful without learning a lot along the way!' Evileye criticized herself for the foolish moment of doubt and answered just before the silence could become awkward.
"The oldest graves are south of the city, the great families are at the center, there are a great many old catacombs that run underground all over the area, nobody ever goes there unless a member of one of the city's great families dies. Even then, they now use mausoleums above ground."
"I see, so a deep system of catacombs that nobody ever visits and are swelling with all the bodies a necromancer could ever wish for, is that right?" Ainz asked her, and to that, Evileye could only incline her head and be grateful that she could no longer sweat nervously.
"Then let's get going." Ainz answered, and every heavy armored step he took, made the dead heart of the little vampire woman, come to life again.
Reaching the outlying graveyard took time on foot, but there was little reason to hurry, nightfall didn't concern the pair as far as Evileye could tell. When the shadows swept the land and dead tree limbs took on the look of monsters in the dark that would tower over great heroes, the pair she observed moved under and past them unafraid.
The way in was unlocked and unguarded, only a low iron fence that had rusted and fallen into disrepair in many places served to separate the living and the dead.
The brown trail was of hard, packed earth that crumbled beneath their steps, and the grave markers went from clean white or granite, to old, gray, and moss covered in many places. More than a few were cracked, and many more than that were broken.
Names forgotten because all who knew them passed away, were ruined forever when stones toppled over the earth that covered forgotten faces, names were worn away by wind and rain, a testament to the age of the area they now found themselves within.
Finally, Evileye watched as Momon called a halt by placing a hand on his teammate's shoulder. Envy shot through the little vampire mage at the familiar touch, while she also acknowledged with a certain cocky pride in her own advanced recognition that, ' He is a true professional, he doesn't speak without need in a potentially dangerous area.'
' It feels good to have physical contact with someone again, the undead body had its uses, but the same senses were… different, than this, even through armor.' Ainz thought with a certain sense of comfort at the feel of the shoulder under his armored hand.
' A flawless sense of caution.' Lupusregina thought with pride in her lord, ' He wants me to check and signal him covertly, that's why he says nothing even though he knows I love it when he speaks. Lord Ainz is so coooool!' Lupusregina wanted to howl with excitement, but she focused on the matter at hand.
She sniffed the air, it was heavy with the stench of death, and some living things, she turned behind her to face the little magic caster, while not entirely certain what to make of her yet, she acknowledged privately that Evileye recognized her master's greatness instantly. That put her at least somewhat better than a mere worm that had yet to see his greatness first .
Lupusregina tapped her own nose three times, and visibly sniffed the air to ensure her actions were understood. The thick odor of death and decay was punctuated by the odors of some living things, small animals for the most part, possums, coyotes, foxes, and others that might try to take shelter among the scattering of trees and graves and broken old tombs.
She pointed off in a slightly different direction and raised a fist so that both could see her. She opened and closed all five fingers four times. She then pointed 'down'.
' Twenty underground… she must have a talent for scenting things out, what's that they call it? 'Hunter's Nose' or something.' Evileye pulled her faded memory to the fore and watched as Lupu took the lead. Lupu's simple traveling gear seemed to offer no protection on the surface, but it was difficult not to notice that it somehow seemed impossibly clean as well.
' Enchanted, probably against damage too.' Evileye realized, and her estimation of the copper plate team Axel went up another notch.
' This 'is' just like the game.' The lifelong gamer in him came out in force, and Ainz pointed Lupusregina off in one direction, while he went down another.
Evileye herself hung back and watched as the pair split, and she began to follow down the center. She smelled the blood when it hit the air, but heard no scream.
[Fly, Evileye cast the spell and ascended into the air, her blood red eyes widened like saucers when she saw the superhuman speed with which both Momon and Lupu ate up ground. He was tall enough that his long strides carried him faster than the undead they encountered could respond. Old, degraded blood of the sort that had lingered too long in a corpse for even a vampire to desire, flowed into the dust and grass.
Momon's sword never missed a neck and severed them clean off, sending corpses toppling with quiet, final thuds.
Lupu was little different, her mace simply broke heads, but if Momon was a sprinter, Lupu was an acrobat, leaping from place to place before any of the watching undead could respond or call out to the masters that summoned them as guards. ' She's like a wolf chasing prey. I've never seen such a deadly cleric, most of the time they're frail at best. No wonder she brought Igvarge to his knees so easily!'
Within minutes only, the undead were dead again, and without a skeleton or zombie letting out a cry. Evileye descended upon the pair as they approached a large columned gate of white stone. Heavy bronze doors barred the way within, and with the undead put back to the ground, there were no guards to keep them out.
"Nice work." Evileye acknowledged when she stepped close to the pair.
"Course, Momon is the best." Lupu gushed, and when the towering dark hero reached out, took the large handle with one hand, and pulled a door meant to be pulled by three or more, opening it by himself… she was not inclined to disagree.
Within, torches flickered and glowed, casting the shadows of the dancing flames in endlessly shifting patterns over white floors, leading far, far beyond easy vision, and giving away the recent, even current occupation of the house of the dead, by the living. Without a trace of fear that would have set many an adventurer to hesitating, Ainz said simply, as a hero might, "Let's finish this." And placed one foot forward into the parade of shadows.
That was when she watched the impossible.
' There are times to go in stealthily, to hunt and stalk and kill your prey so that they die never knowing that their death was coming,so that they die wondering what killed them. But not for nothing, the hero charging forward is considered the greatest ideal.' Evileye thought and watched as the pair immediately began their charge.
Momon kicked a door in with such force that its iron hinges snapped and the entire piece flew inward, crashing into someone out of Evileye's sight, she immediately felt his life force die. ' Head crushed. That's a hero's might.'
Charging a magic caster was a dangerous thing to do, and yet he did it. Rushing into the room, his great swords swung in broad arcs just out of view until she caught up with him. Behind her mask, the vampire mage's eyes widened, the swords swung through a room that was fundamentally too small for them to do so. Yet they did, and 'why' was more impressive than the two bodies that lay cut in half on the floor. His swords cut through the stone and cut through the solid rock more easily than an oar split the surface tension of water.
Scattered rocks along the wall testified to the raw power of the towering dark hero.
Evileye left Momon behind and followed the sound of the laughing Lupu.
Her ears told the story of what was happening, and yet she could barely believe it.
Lupu smacked the door open when she found it around the corner, the back of her hand cracked the door in half so simply that it toppled with ease, "Hi hi!" She wiggled her fingers at the three magic casters that stood around a captive stretched out on a rack.
They wore dark blue robes and carried short wands, their faces were shrouded, but she could smell their fear and shock, not to mention see it when they whirled around to face her. On the rack, a pitiful specimen of a human lay strapped down. His arms and legs pulled so far that his bones were obviously no longer connected to one another.
His head fell limply to the side, which likely took all the gaunt, emaciated man's strength to manage, in order to look at the one who caught his tormentor's eyes.
"R-Run." He tried to whimper out, and as if his words were a trigger, the magic casters who tormented him began to cast their spells.
"Charm person!"
"Sleep!"
"Confusion!"
' Oh they want to capture me, how quaint.' Lupusregina giggled and rushed forward, her left and right hands caught the throats of two magic casters before they could utter another spell, closed her fingers tight, and pulled.
Her nails dug into soft flesh and the acrid stench of urine hit her nose at the same moment fear intensified in the dark eyes beneath the hoods. The pulling fingers ripped into the throats and tore the flesh away, however the third man between the two was struck by her body during her charge, and he flew backward over the table.
He rolled over the prisoner and tumbled end over end on the stone floor until he came to a stop against the wall, striking his head and dazing him, but he did not die.
Lupu had a cruel smile etched on her face when she released the two once held fast in her grip, they fell as if they were one person, living long enough to feel the agony as their knees hit the stone floor, and long enough to feel the pain when their faces hit.
Saka rubbed the back of his head, hitting the wall stunned him, his vision blurred, his comrades began their slow fall to the floor with spraying red droplets, now signifying only that his present minutes were full of fear.
' What happened? What happened with Clementine? What happened with Master Khajiit, who is this? An adventurer…?' Stunned or not, he could wonder such things by the time she hopped over their victim and approached him. Her hips rolled in a sensual walk, the long red braids that hung down her back were swaying in time with her hips, and red dripped from brown fingers that hung loose and open like claws.
"You had a bad day now, huh, real bad day, but don't worry." The redhead was saying to him, "I'll make it all better."
Saka tried to understand the nonsensical thing the radiant, exotic woman was saying, but it made no sense.
"You're my master's test, you know, and I aim to make sure he passes. Hesitation is weakness, and he never hesitates. He is bold, brave and loyal, and he will have everything. You… you are just a stepping stone, now be a good stepping stone, and stay still so he can step on you, and move a little further forward." The woman said and cocked her head to give a sweet, beautiful smile.
' Got to take her down…' Saka thought with desperation, his body numbed from the force of the blow, he still tried to raise his wand to fight back. His arm shook, fear flooded his entire body and lent him strength to hold the blue crystal tipped wand in front of his body.
His lips opened to cast a spell, but before he could speak, he felt the dirty coppery taste of blood on his tongue. His brown eyes spread open in horror, faster than he'd seen her move, her hand shoved into his mouth.
The widened eyes trembled, the urge to fight was gone, all that remained was the urge to beg . He shook his head and stared into her beautiful, apple like face, her yellow eyes held him intently. "Hmpf," she said to him a moment later, "Less courage than the village girl. Pathetic. She didn't piss herself when she was about to die."
He didn't get to ask what the mad woman was yammering about before the fingers bent and dug into his tongue, splitting the soft flesh and then tearing back out away from his mouth. That pain was bad enough, but hot on its heels was the raw agony of his teeth being knocked out from the inside, they clattered to the floor so loudly that over his mutilated cries, he could still hear their noise.
The taste of blood was gone, as was his tongue and her hand, she threw it on the floor and stomped on it with a sickening squelch. "If I liked you, hurting you would be a lot more fun, but as it is… you'll have to do." He held his hands over his wounded maw and shook his entire body back and forth in denial.
He didn't have a moment to try to work out what she meant, she showed him first. Her hands tore at his flesh, and he let out tongueless cries as the sickening sound of his own tearing flesh reached his ears. ' No! No! Master! Master help us… !" Saka thought with desperation.
"Nothing to say? Cat got your tongue?" The woman giggled and crouched over him, the smell of his own blood, sweat, and fear soaked his body like a torrential rain soaked the ground. "No… no, it wasn't a cat." She whispered as she came closer, her face looming close to his. "It was a wolf." She allowed her face to briefly begin to morph, and despair consumed even his sense of fear.
He lost consciousness. Fainting straight away and going limp. "Well, that was anticlimactic." Lupusregina muttered, stood up, and stomped hard on his head, the skull cracked open and the brain within smushed as easily as mud under a heavy boot.
She turned around to see Evileye standing at the door.
' Wow… just… wow. She tore them apart.' Evileye could only look on, impressed at the corpses.
The victim on the table was in horrible shape, burned, mutilated, stretched on the wooden rack, he could have been down with these monsters for weeks, or even months for all Evileye knew, and the Dark Hero's companion seemed to have taken his treatment very personally. ' She really wanted to avenge him…' Evileye felt the sense of approval growing as she saw the way the last of the necromancers had been torn apart.
"He's still alive, you want to bring him along or just come back for him later?" Lupu asked her, pointing at the man on the rack who had no strength to speak.
He blinked, and that was the first real sign of life Evileye saw in him, "We'll come back, who knows what's further down."
"Dead men who don't know they're dead yet, that's all." Lupu said, but under the eye of her appraiser… she cast a simple healing spell on the broken man, and left the room just as Momon passed it by.
Chapter 22
Evileye followed the bloody footsteps of Lupu as they descended deeper into the catacombs, occasional undead came into view, only to be dispatched by what could only be described as seamless teamwork. ' They're like my Roses…' Evileye considered when the pair silently went in two different directions in the same moment and dispatched the contents of two rooms at once.
As a mere observer, Evileye remained behind and checked each room, and each left her gawking. Seconds was all it took, and dozens of undead were in pieces, zombies in one room, skeletons in another.
But more troubling to Evileye was the intent for so many corpses, most necromancers wanted only enough servants to attend to them while they conducted their research in private, delving into forbidden arts because of their own private obsessions. A few sought to raise armies intending some kind of conquest.
But the looming shadow of the Death Spiral, a thing she held out hope against, was more and more obvious the further in they went. An undead that ended a life, created a new undead, a few hundred, a few thousand, could potentially turn an entire city if they got within the walls.
' They're tearing apart years of work before my eyes, and if they didn't, what would have happened to E-Rantel?' Evileye had no idea, but it wasn't good. Guards mostly used spears and swords, far from the best weapons against the undead. The possibility of success seemed all the more likely as they continued to descend ever farther and found more and more rooms full of corpses either already animated, or just waiting to be.
Shadows flickered over their bodies from the firelight as they came at last to the deepest depths of the catacombs. ' At least we haven't found any armored undead, that would have been really ominous.' Evileye kept her chuckle confined to her own mind while the pair of adventurers stalked the halls in front of her.
"This should be the final level, shouldn't it?" Ainz asked and pointed toward the stairs going down into the depths.
"Yes, I think so, but nobody has had really accurate maps of these places for a long time." Evileye looked up at him and answered with stars in her eyes hidden by her mask.
"Good, stay behind me, they know we're here by now, they don't seem to have prepared an escape route for themselves, so this is their last stand." Ainz said and put a hand on both the shoulders of Evileye and Lupusregina.
Evileye suppressed a shiver of delight, but her consummate professionalism wouldn't let her remain silent. "Sir Momon, you have excellent armor, but no shield, what will you-?"
He cut her off with a squeeze of his hand on her shoulder. "Trust me."
Evileye fell silent.
Lupu leaned back and looked to his left side where Evileye stood and said with a little titter, "Yeah, what Momon said, trust him, watch this, it's going to be good!"
The shouting that made its way up the stairs confirmed the truth of his assessment, and he began to walk down the stairs.
"Why so slowly? Wouldn't a charge give them less time to prepare?" Evileye asked.
"Fear." Ainz replied. "They're already prepared, but fear will weaken them, we've stalked and eliminated the entire catacombs, they only know we're coming because nobody else has checked in and nobody coming up has made it back. Though they may have heard some noises of violence. Now they can only listen while some unknown force stalks in on them. Panic makes haste, haste makes for bad decisions. It's basic strategy."
"Yeah, basic strategy." Lupu echoed and stuck her tongue out at Evileye with a playful wink.
Evileye's estimation of Momon went up another rank.
The stairs were not endless, though they were long, and the noise grew to a tumult and finally began to ebb, the trio all knew why. The noise of Ainz's footsteps was reaching them.
Down far ahead in the dim stairs, they saw the bright glow of orange light, and the faint smell of lamp oil reached their noses. The two great swords of the dark hero came out slowly to the front of Ainz's body, but in a stance Evileye had never seen any warrior use before, the pommel's were held one end over the other so that the sword points were vertical as if it were one long edged staff.
She cocked her head, and looked to Lupu beside her when the woman fell back behind Momon, the bloodsoaked cleric only rubbed her hands together and gave Evileye a knowing little look.
The unknown was made known when they reached the base of the stairs.
"Fire!" A voice from beyond shouted, and both fireballs and arrows launched en masse toward the dark hero.
' No!' Evileye wanted to cry out, ' He's destined to save many lives! To do great things, even he can't take so many hits…' She thought as his body was hammered by scores of arrows and scorched by flames, and the Dark Hero died to protect them.
Or… that is what she should have seen.
Instead she saw the meaning of his unknown stance.
His greatswords spun like a chariot wheel locked into place, arrows were knocked aside and fireballs failed to so much as warm his spinning blade, it moved with such speed in front of her that even the Adamantite ranked Evileye couldn't follow its spinning motion.
It even caused the humans behind the rows of armored undead to hesitate. From the back center one of them, full of fear and awe and disbelief, had enough sense through his terror to give orders to the stunned necromancers. "Again! Hit him! Fire! He can't stop them all!" The disciple screamed and fireballs flew again, while undead archers reloaded, aimed, and fired in unison. Still the sword spun, and the dark hero did not move from his place in the door. ' He doesn't advance because as long as he stands there, they can't hurt us! True heroism! Of the highest order!' Evileye thought with admiration that grew ever higher.
Her own acute senses were at work while she waited for the ambush to simply run out of mana and arrows. The sound of breaking wooden shafts was as steady as dry pine needles underfoot on a hike, it seemed without end, the constant shouts of 'Fireball!' came on again and again, and yet to her dismay, Sir Momon did not even seem to tire, let alone miss.
His towering, powerful body blocked all access to herself and Lupu, and the cleric, true to the nature Evileye had recognized, couldn't help herself. She leaned against the wall and began to clean her bloody nails. "How much longer, do you think?" Lupu casually asked.
"Uh, ah, I don't know, if they have mana enhancing items, a few minutes, then that'll be the end of the fireballs. The skeletons, if they have more arrows we don't see, maybe a minute more." Evileye answered the radiant red stained, red headed adventurer.
"Sounds about right, guess you're not bad at this stuff, huh?" Lupu asked her.
Evileye could only stare from behind her mask, "I'm one of the strongest adventurers in the world."
"Oh?" Lupu looked at her with sudden interest, "Seriously?"
"Ah, yes." Evileye answered, briefly turning to look again at the way the dark hero ripped through every attack without any effort whatsoever. "Or, I was."
"That's more like it." Lupu chuckled, and curling her fingers over her palm, she brought them up and blew on them with a cocky expression taking shape with the upturned corners of her lips.
' Even Lakyus couldn't do this without all of her swords, and she would have had to do something else against the magic casters.' Evileye understood very clearly that Sir Momon could do this was something she would have deemed impossible even after seeing the remains of the skeletal dragons.
The bright light and heat of the fireballs began to die down as magic casters began to run out of mana, and the arrows tapered off a moment later.
"What are you waiting for!" A robed man shrieked and pointed toward the entrance. The crypt core was a single wide open space with single stone coffins in place around the room, the faces carved on them were chiseled and handsome, like the dead wanted to be remembered, but likely only idealized representations of who they were. "Get them!" He shouted.
And the armored undead dropped their bows and took up swords. Their bone white jaws fell open in screams that could not exist but for magic, and their feet clattered on the stone as they charged with swords raised high.
"Now, Lupu, go, play, have fun." Evileye heard Sir Momon order, and the pair broke from the entrance.
Momon charged with great swords swinging in massive, wide arcs, what anyone envisioned when they thought of the word 'Heroic knight'. But Lupu was almost wolflike, leaning far forward, so far that more than once her hands were used to draw her along in a bizarre animalistic fighting style as savage as the wolf the girl reminded Evileye of.
Her red braids flew behind her and she barely even used her mace. ' Cleric? She's a cleric?! A cleric should be back here!' Evileye again reminded herself and watched the two tear through scores of armored undead like their iron and steel armor wasn't even there. The swords swept four or five aside with every swing, and the clattering fearless masses of the undead died a second time before the onslaught.
Lupu batted heads from shoulders or with a palm that had to be harder than steel itself, smashed into chests with such violence that the undead flew back and broke their comrades into a jumble of bones that rattled and shattered on the floor or against the walls.
It wasn't lost on Evileye that the pair moved along the sides rather than in the center, the undead were forced to split their numbers, and it put them on path to surrounding the now manaless necromancers. ' With me here at the entrance, they can't go anywhere, they're trapped between a rock and a sharp (hard?) place.' Evileye just held her hands together like a prayer as she praised the dark hero in her own mind. 'So cool! He's amazing!' She squeaked even in her own mind as the duo reached the back, the necromancers had mere moments of terror for the most part, half fell with the first swing of the sword, bodies severed in half at the waist, went flying and spinning in all directions. Those unfortunates who survived to land in pain on the stone, tried to crawl away. Some, missing parts of their arms, could not even do that.
Lupu simply punched, and heads exploded. Her mace was entirely unnecessary, and within mere moments, there was only one man left alive. The red coated cleric approached to finish him off, cracking her knuckles and staring down at him as he scrambled away like a crab through the blood and viscera of his mutilated deceased companions. The sound of slapping hands striking bright crimson puddles and splashing them about was accompanied by his cries.
"Mercy! Mercy! Please I surrender! I surrender! Don't kill me! Don't hurt me! I have information! I can help you!" He held out a shaking hand from down on his back. Lupu glanced up toward the dark hero.
He whipped his swords out, scattering bloody viscera over the walls and casting off the red stains, satisfied he sheathed the swords on his back again.
"Knock him out and search him for now, let the authorities have him, he can die just as well later as he can now." Evileye heard Momon say, and approved of his judgement.
A sound punch from Lupu later, and a limp man lay crumpled in a robe stained red by the failure of himself and his fellows. Crouched over his body, she rummaged through his things and pulled out a delicate looking jeweled circle. "Huh, I guess this might be what they're looking for."
"Mission accomplished then." Ainz said, "We'll go through the other rooms, see if there are any remaining living captives, then head back."
' Spoken like a proper adamantite ranked hero.' Evileye confirmed to herself, and followed as they carried out the last of the cleanup.
Hours later, Evileye was telling the story of the operation to the entire guild from atop the dais, to the crowd of adventurers below, and concluded it all by holding aloft the crown of wisdom.
"Mission accomplished." Evileye said, and giving it back to Sir Momon, she watched him hand it over to Gazef Stronoff.
"You may have saved this city and its people from a Death Spiral, from whom knows what kind of terrible undead rising, and I am eternally grateful." The hero decked in the kingdom's treasures replied. "Sir Momon, the reward for this will be beyond anything I have the power to give. Come to the capital as soon as you can, and I will have to let the King himself settle on what to offer you."
"I would be honored to receive the King's favor." Ainz answered, "But saving the people is what anyone would have done, what higher calling is there for an adventurer?"
Approving, awed mutterings filled the floor below.
Pride swelled the hearts of the adventurers below at the declaration and praise for their profession, and more than one engraved his words on their hearts.
"Nonetheless, a reward is due, and a reward you will have." Gazef answered and extended a heavy hand.
The handshake between the two was almost like the joining of allies or the forming of a new friendship in the eyes of those who saw it, and when it broke, Pluton Ainzach approached.
He held up a pair of adamantite plates. "I have wanted to do this for a long, long time, and I doubted I'd ever get a chance to. An adamantite plate is almost as rare as feathers on a fish, and I am proud to bestow them now. These are marks not of what you've done, but of what you can do. You stand at the peak, and from that peak, you can see all that needs to be done. I pray you do it, and do it well."
He then put one around the neck of the red haired Lupu, who flashed two fingers out in a V for victory sign to the crowd that was already cheering down below.
She winked at them, and the story of the Beautiful Princess Lupu was born into legend.
The cheers redoubled when Momon lowered his head and allowed the adamantite plate to be placed around his neck.
"Team Axel, welcome to the world of living legends." Lakyus said and approached with an outstretched hand of her own. "I look forward to working with you in the future."
Ainz shook her hand with gentle courtesy, "And I with you. As my senior, I hope you will advise me when I need it."
He watched as her eyes blinked at the profound humility of the hero who, by all rights, should have embraced the arrogance of the strong. ' Better,' Ainz thought, ' to show deference to seniors who have been on the job longer, who knew being a salaryman would provide so much useful knowledge? I guess some things are the same in every world.'
With Lakyus stunned to silence, Ainz turned his attention to Gazef, "I will take you up on your offer, but it has been a busy, busy time, so I hope you won't mind if I take some time to rest and to celebrate first. It won't be long, however, I can promise you that."
"Good, till we meet again!" Gazef said, and they all began to break up.
Evileye however, lingered, she put a hand on Momon's arm and looked up at him, "Will I see you again?" She asked in what she hoped was not a lovesick voice.
"Ah, yes, of course. We are fellow adventurers of the highest rank, I would imagine we will." He turned to walk away, but then it hit him, ' wait, is that… is there something there?' He wondered, and recalled the way Bukubukuchagama had once let her eyes linger on him, and he'd wondered the same thing. Back then he'd said nothing, this time, he chose a different path.
"But…" he added, "I hope it will be soon, Evileye." He said succinctly, and Lupusregina fell in beside him.
' Yay!' Evileye felt the girlish excitement come to her at his final added words, ' He says little, but means it more. What a man!' She thought, and when Lupu turned to look back at her and gave a taunting wink, Evileye didn't even let it bother her.
' I can't wait!' The vampire mage thought, though the question she most feared also came up. ' What will he say, or do, when I have to reveal what I am… a man that righteous, surely he'd despise the undead…'
She set the question aside as one that would only ruin her hopes, but it was one she knew would need to be answered some day. Just not… today .
Epilogue-
Ninya and the rest of the former Swords of Darkness enjoyed the hospitality of the village, deciding to delay their trip back to Carne and enjoy some of the money they'd gotten from their latest, and 'last' reward for adventuring, they splurged. Peter now had several pieces of enchanted equipment thanks to the generosity of Sir Momon, as did Lukrut, Dyne, Brita, and herself. There had even been enough money left for drinks, and so, no reason to hurry.
So every village they stopped in, they spent liberally, making themselves very popular with poor, nameless villages on their long circuitous route back to Carne and the work that would await them there.
But Lupu's words hung in Ninya's mind, which was part of why she didn't mind the delay, every night, she recited the lessons she had learned from the adamantite ranked cleric.
And it was because she was up late at night in one poverty stricken village, that she was the one to hear the scream, the slap, and the tearful sobbing. Ninya stood up from the table where she was drinking and reciting lessons and bolted out the door expecting to find some little domestic brawl, and instead found a crude carriage and some armed guards in cheap leather armor.
"Come on! You're lucky I like you, I only slapped you a little bit! Just be good for me and if you're lucky I'll even give you a bonus… you should be glad of the chance to bear my child!" The nasally voice, the entitled pronouncement, it was the sort heard all over Re-Estize.
The nobles of this particular area were not particularly well off, but they were still nobles, though even at a glance she knew the waifish man in the dirty clothing that had obviously once been quite fine, was not actually the lord. ' The local Lord's son.' Ninya realized.
' Don't get involved.' The thought came to her as her eyes darted around her, nobody else had emerged from their homes, and she knew why, ' They're thinking the same thing. Just like when the Lord of my village took Tuare…'
Lupu's words to her returned again, the mocking, taunting truths that were ground into her like salt into open wounds, the instinctive fear of the nobles that was ingrained in every peasant man and woman from infancy was like ice in her veins that froze her blood and compelled her to do nothing.
On the ground in front of her though, a pretty young peasant girl whose dress was already torn and face red from a slap looked tearfully to where Ninya stood, the girl was young, quaking in fear.
"Please! My lord, don't take her!" A very thin older man pleaded, he and his wife knelt inside their door and their hands were up and pleading, "Show mercy! We paid our taxes didn't we?"
"Yes, but it wasn't really enough, the least you can do is obey like good dogs." He nudged the blonde girl's leg, "Yes, dogs, and she's just a bitch." He laughed at his own joke. "Now come on, you!" He reached down and tugged the girl at the wrist, dragging her through the dust.
The slender little blonde yelped in pain when she was scraped over the dust.
Ninya's blood had turned from ice to fire as the advice of the adamantite adventurer sent her over the edge. "Hey! Let her go!" She shouted, and the noble, the villagers, even the peasant girl, froze at the unspoken disbelief that someone had said the impossible.
" Excuuuuuse me !" The lordling exclaimed, affronted, "Don't you know who I am?! I'm Lord Philip, these are my lands, peasants, and therefore this is my business, not yours."
' Stupid adventurers!' Philip cursed, ' Don't even know the faces of the people who rule the places they visit, as soon as I'm the official lord, I'll put a tax on their passing through my lands and make them come pay respects to me personally.'
As if that settled the matter, he turned to his guards. "Take the bitch and put her in the carriage, do I have to do everything myself?!" He snapped, ignoring Ninya again.
The old fear came up in Ninya again, in the light of the torches of the night, the young girl's fearful face was lit up bright as the sun, and Ninya's old anger drowned her peasant fears in their coming sea of rage.
"I said let her go, you piece of shit !" Ninya brought her staff up, the words of Momon echoed in her mind, ' Protecting the people is an adventurer's highest calling!'
"Put that one down!" Philip shrieked and waved a hand toward Ninya.
"Magic arrow!" Ninya cast her spell, and arrows of light ripped from the air to pierce the guard's cheap armor.
Ninya's shouting had drawn the attention of the rest of her friends, the chaos drew out the other three guards from where they were out of sight on the other side of the carriage, and the rest of the village, hearing the unexpected chaos, began to poke heads out of doors.
Lit by torches, the former Swords of Darkness needed to know only one thing, that their teammate was in trouble. Lukrut's arrows pierced a guard through the throat, Peter clashed briefly with another who clumsily waved a spear with a shout more of fear than of spirit, he ducked beneath, and buried his sword to the hilt in the man's guts.
Brita handled the last, avoiding the spear, bringing her mace down to break the wood, then while the guard looked at it in brief dumbfounded confusion, she spun and smashed her new mace into his face. He crumpled with a sickening crunch of bone and a thud into the dust.
Ninya ran with a banshee shriek to the noble, raised her staff, and began to hit the young man in the face and head. Unused to warrior combat, she would have gotten derision from any instructor.
But she got only blood and screams of pain from the lord. Holding her staff in two hands, she brought it up and down on the scrawny youth's head.
Ninya shouted and screamed her hatred so greatly that she drowned out his screams of pain, spattering blood over the fallen girl he'd dropped into the dust in his desperate failed effort to protect himself.
It wasn't until she felt a pair of hands pull her back and she began to breathe deeply, heavily, that she stopped seeing red, and saw what she'd done. The head was a caved-in wreck, the young man who identified himself as 'Philip' was very, very dead. Blood stained the ground and the trembling body of the peasant girl.
"No more! No goddamn more!" Ninya shouted her rage at the uncaring sky.
Looking at the dead guards and dead lordling, those who had seemed invincible had been shown to be frail, the godlike status of lords in the eyes of peasants took a mortal blow.
And with the fatal wound, the girl's father and mother approached the dead guards and picked up the fallen weapons.
Thus was born a battle cry. "No more!" became a shout that threatened to split the sky.
Ainz stepped through the gate that took him back to Nazarick. Lupu had cleared the hall and passed on his orders that none were to be there for his return, as he had a private matter to attend to that required the utmost concentration.
Lupu followed him all the way to the treasury, through the various traps and past the statues of the Supreme Beings that had come and gone. She lingered there a moment, to look at her maker. When she did, Ainz waited too.
"He would be proud of how you have performed your duties." Ainz promised her.
"Thank you, My Lord." Lupusregina said and stared up at the great black werewolf king. "I loved him like a father, and tried to model myself after him."
"I see a great deal of him in you. He was playful, whimsical, and ferocious all at once, but a very good friend." Ainz answered and touched the open hand of the werewolf statue. The open hand with its terrible claws were meant to be in a posture of ferocity, but to Ainz, it was like an extended hand of friendship. "I hope wherever he has gone, he is well."
"Me too, my lord, but I am glad that you are the One Who Stayed." Lupusregina replied, and followed him the rest of the way to the treasury.
When they were at the door he asked her, "Tell me, have you ever met Pandora's Actor?"
"No, my lord, never." Lupusregina shook her head slowly, her shining black and white maid outfit swayed with her, the slit portion of the dress exposing her long right leg up to the thigh.
"He is… unique. He is my creation." Ainz replied. ' Oh god, I was such a chuunibyou when I made that one, what the hell am I going to face?! Please oh please be normal!' He cried out in his mind and opened the massive double doors.
Glittering treasures of gold, priceless items, things that even alone would greatly enrich any kingdom to possess them, mere flavor text in the game, they had come to reality now.
But all of that, he ignored. For there in the center of the room, was the Beast King himself, Lupusregina's creator.
"Father…" The battlemaid thought in an instant, her eyes wet with tears, and before Ainz could even speak to tell Pandora's Actor not to do that, the area guardian of the treasury returned to his natural form, black pits for eyes and mouth and noseless face. Bright yellow uniform with buckles and buttons, a red shirt and black tie and a flawless black and red military cap that arched at the front and had a short brim coming out over his forehead. The guardian took a bow, his left hand sweeping dramatically in front of his waist as he did so.
"Mein apologize mein Frau! I should not have taunted one so lovely with so heartbreaking an image!" Pandora's Actor exclaimed.
' Oh no! He's even more cringy than I feared!' Ainz broke out into a cold sweat.
Lupusregina wiped her eyes and glared, "That was mean." She said and crossed her arms.
"Ja. Mein regrets. I but thought it a mere prank… but I should have known better. Were mein Vater to be gone, to see his like and learn it false would have broken mein heart." Pandora's Actor said and only then did he slowly straighten up.
"Enough." Ainz said in a slow, drawn out way, "No more pranks like that, now I've come here for a reason."
"Vater, if you need anything of the treasury, it is yours to claim and for me to inventory, I live but to serve you!" Pandora's Actor declared in a long, loud voice and raised a hand to his chest and extended another out in a grand dramatic gesture.
' Ugh… alright, this is the important part. Ignore the cringe, and just… do it.' Ainz told himself and took a deep breath. "Pandora's Actor, is your loyalty to me as the undead creator, or is your loyalty to me absolute and total, no matter what?"
Near at hand, Lupusregina took on a subtle defensive stance with one foot back, ready to charge and transform if she had to. Created to buy time, she had no chance against Pandora's Actor in a fight, even if he were not the strongest guardian, he was nonetheless a level one hundred, several times stronger than her.
Ainz reflexively checked his exp rating, it had gone up considerably with the recovery of the Crown of Wisdom, like he'd received a 'Quest Bonus', but it was still a long way from level one hundred and one. ' Still, if it comes down to it, I can handle him. Especially with Lupusregina to buy me time.'
The doppelganger cocked his head in confusion and lowered his arms, the sense of drama gone, he didn't even speak any german. "Father, you are my maker. My loyalty to you is beyond even my loyalty to these treasures or this tomb. No matter what, I am yours… but why… why would you ask such a thing?"
Ainz slowly took off his helmet and stepped forward. "I don't know if this is permanent, and I know we don't have any race change items, and I still find it hard to believe it worked… but…" He touched his human face and traced his fingers over it. "This is me, for now. Do you still stand by your words?"
"Father, who else knows?" Pandora's Actor asked with baited breath.
"Only Lupusregina, for now. In time I will inform the others, when I can be sure none of them would break loyalty, the hatred of humans their creators gave them may be far stronger than I know. So I must prepare." Ainz replied and gave a deep sigh. "Now, your answer?"
Pandora's Actor dropped to one knee, bowed his head and covered his heart with his long fingered hand, "To you, always you, no matter what your form, you are my maker! The One Who Stayed!"
"Good." Ainz answered and put a hand on his head. "Now, about why I have come. I learned a great deal about the outside world, and because of the danger I yet face, I require many more servants."
"You wish to offer great rewards?" Pandora's Actor waved at the endless treasures.
Ainz then turned his mind toward the workers he learned of, men and women who would take on almost any job, on the edge of society, with no security and no options, and no way to change that. He shook his head, "No, I wish to send them an invitation, and make an offer to them."
"An offer, my lord?" Pandora's Actor asked.
"Yes, an offer they can't refuse." Ainz answered with relief and resolve blended into one.
Final chapter: Book One- -Key Notes-
Note: Uploaded the wrong chapter, fixed now
Q: What is my pat re on-
A: /tellingstories
Q: Book 2, when?
A: Being currently released here and on Royal Road.
Q: Will there be a third book?
A: Maybe, I've had a few people inquire about sponsoring it. We'll have to wait and see what happens. If you'd like to sponsor it, reach out and say the word.
Q: How to inquire about sponsorship?
A: Email is easy, but discord is my 'preferred' method.
Q: Discord access, how?
A: Invite code is: discord. gg /hJrfday
Discord also has unreleased stories and content. It's also (to the best of my knowledge) the 2nd largest Overlord driven discord server.
Volume 2 Chapter 1
The wealth of the tomb was beyond counting. Literally. "What treasures will satisfy this offering, mein Vater?" Pandora's actor asked with an upward gaze that, even faceless, seemed somehow to bear an air of eagerness.
' Interesting, despite his featureless state, little things about himself reveal a great deal about how he feels. Is this because I created him?' Ainz asked the question of himself and had no ready answer, it was a minor mystery, but on the surface it seemed probable to the otherwise socially awkward former salaryman.
"Have you used your 'King of the Fort' job skill since coming to the New World?" Ainz asked.
"Nein, mein Vater. My last instruction was to use it only when Nazarick called for gold, and this has not happened since our coming." Pandora's Actor answered, and this too gave Ainz pause for thought.
"I see… I see…" Ainz answered and brought his mailed hand up to stroke his chin while he thought. ' So that too differs from the game, at least that alleviates one concern, we won't be running a deficit keeping Nazarick under my control. Maintaining a guild base in the game was expensive, the shitty devs really stuck it to the guilds that way. How many times did we have to go on dangerous raids just to ensure we could afford the upkeep on it, prior to my cash shop item giving him Lord of the Fort? Too many times, far, far too many times.'
The reflective moment passed and he turned his attention back to the kneeling Pandora's Actor. "Then how much money can you create?" Ainz couldn't keep his relief at bay, and that in and of itself was enough to slow Pandora's Actor's answer.
"Ah, my lord…" He reached into the pocket of his dimensional space and drew out two heavy looking silk sacks, each roughly the size of a watermelon, and he sat them on the dark stone floor. The clinking of coins broke the silence of the moment.
"One is of platinum, the other is of gold, and I can produce this once every thirty days mein Vater, and smaller sums can be taken in their place, should there ever be a need!" Pandora's Actor seemed unable to refrain from an over the top gesture, thrust his arms open like he was going to embrace the sacks of coins, and Ainz wanted to die inside.
' I made this chuunibyou?! What was I thinking?! German! Drama?! OK the uniform is very cool but the rest… why… the excessive dramatic posing… no, just no!' Ainz's mind ran like a sprinter away from the proof of his chuunibyou past, and he felt a longing for the emotional suppressor of his former undead body. ' To feel nothing, what a blessing!' He mentally sighed and said with quiet desperation, "Do not speak German in front of me. Ever ." Ainz emphasized after he finished speaking, and he could feel the surprise from the NPC. For a moment, he wondered if he had wounded the blank faced doppelganger.
' I made him, after all, I must take responsibility.' Ainz acknowledged while restraining his own sigh. "Pandora's Actor, you are as I made you, this makes you… something of a son . Therefore you must become more than I have made you. You must grow in ways that you have chosen for yourself. Show me what I did not create."
' Well, that was a load of bullshit if ever I said any.' Ainz reflected, but Pandora's Actor ate it up.
'Ja… Yes, father, I will show you what you wish to see, I swear it as your son." The doppelganger replied while Ainz took up the coins.
"I know you will." Ainz answered in turn, and taking up the coins, he tossed them into his pocket dimension, he then turned to leave, and as he did he added, "Practice your imitation of my former shape, I may need it."
Pandora's Actor snapped up to a rigid posture and gave a crisp salute with his hand canted over the brim of his cap. "Yes… father !" he emphasized as the door slowly closed behind the retreating Ainz and Lupusregina.
When they were alone and leaving the area, Lupusregina was quick to ask, "What next, master?"
"The Arena." Ainz answered in an instant.
There was no need to explain what he was going to do there, but on the long walk, that didn't stop Lupusregina from asking another question of her master.
"Lord Mare, or Lord Cocytus, master?" There was a little shudder in the battle maid's voice when she asked the question.
"Are you concerned?" Ainz asked with a downward glance at the maid as she followed at his side.
The sound of feet over stone was answer enough, but the battlemaid chose to speak for herself instead. "I can't win, master."
The red haired beauty was far from cowardly in nature, thus making her words even more profound.
"Do you believe I could lose?" Asked Ainz, it was a direct question, and one Lupusregina felt like a hammer on her heart.
"I believe victory would be very difficult, master. But I believe you could win, however if you want to know who I think would be more easily defeated, I would say Lord Cocytus." Lupusregina replied, her eyes turned down with what might as well have been great interest in the stone beneath their feet as they walked.
"Why Cocytus, Warrior Takemikezuchi gave him a great many immunities to magic." Ainz asked with a very curious interest, his inner gamer came out in earnest at the unexpected reply from the battlemaid. It seemed to contradict all reason. ' Mare is such a sweet little boy, nervous, soft natured. By contrast Cocytus is a paramount warrior, shouldn't it be the other way around?' He wondered.
"Master, if Lord Mare were to turn on you, he would call for help from the other guardians who he would think might help. But Lord Cocytus, if he were to want to fight you, he would try to do so by himself." Lupusregina replied and closed her sunlike yellow eyes that glimmered in the shadowy walk of the hall of the great tomb.
"I see, that is a fair point, I will be informing Cocytus, which by the way, means I need to do something else first." Ainz said and stopped in his tracks before activating the message spell.
' Mare, Aura, I have a task for the two of you.' Ainz said with all the authority he could muster.
' Yaaaaaay! What is it, Lord Ainz?!' Aura exclaimed.
' A-At once, Lord Ainz!' Mare exclaimed with a subdued, nervous eagerness that characterized the young male dark elf.
' I want you both to go to Carne Village, there is a forest near there, Aura, I want you to tame every monster that could threaten the village. Mare, I want you to prepare to expand the village considerably. Tell them you are an Emissary of Ainz Ooal Gown, and they will cooperate in every way. Fix the roads, build more homes, prepare training grounds suitable for adventurers and for soldiers. If they request anything in particular be built, listen to their representatives within reason. If there are useful beasts taken that can help with the construction, their use is permitted. Go at once, do you have any questions?'
' None, Lord Ainz!' The twins exclaimed, and Ainz killed the link.
"There, that will remove said problem and get a task done too." Ainz murmured under his breath. Unsurprisingly, he felt his heart rate begin to ease, the notion of having to fight either of those two precious children of Bukubukuchagama was such that, however unlikely it was, facing it as even a possibility was still too much .
When they reached the now empty arena, Ainz sent out a message to Cocytus to join him, and straight away it so happened.
The insectoid ice monster stood tall and strong, weapon in hand and ready to serve The One Who Stayed.
"My Lord." The Guardian said and knelt. Head bowed and weapon upright with the butt of it planted in the sands.
' This, this, I need to get this over with, I need to. Whatever happens, happens. I put off the twins, but I can't put everything off, and I need his help as a warrior now.'
"Cocytus, who am I to you?" Ainz asked from beneath his onyx colored warrior helmet.
"The greatest of the Supreme Beings. The One Who Stayed." Cocytus's answer was so reflexive it was hard to imagine any deception in the words, but still, sweat sprang to Ainz's forehead.
"And am I the Ainz that you know? Have you any doubt?" Ainz asked, and the Guardian raised his head without thought or permission.
Cocytus searched the body which stood before him, though covered in magic armor, the importance of his master's question, and the mystery behind it, was such that he could not help but raise his head. Lupusregina stood a pace behind at his left hand, her body was relaxed, but ready as if she were prepared to fight. ' What goes?' His formal warrior mind asked, Lord Ainz was tall and broad of shoulder in his enchanted, conjured armor given to him by the spell 'Perfect Warrior'. But there was more. It troubled his icy heart, and yet the question demanded an answer, so he moved his mandibles and spoke.
"None. You are The One Who Stayed." Cocytus replied, "To whom all my loyalty and my life belongs."
"And is this true no matter what? Even if I should change?" Ainz cut to the quick, ' Just rip the damn bandaid off.' He told himself, and waited.
"No matter what, My Lord." Cocytus responded.
Commanding words were the next to follow, and with them, Ainz's hands came up to the sides of his helmet. "What happens next is a secret, you are forbidden from speaking of this to anyone."
"Master, I obey." Cocytus answered in turn, no criticism came to him for raising his head without permission, and therefore he concluded that it was a not unexpected response, however impertinent it might have been considered at some other time.
A moment later he understood why, as the helmet came off and was held in front of his master's chest, and Cocytus found himself looking into the tanned face set beneath black hair, and brown eyes stared back down at him.
"Illusion?" Cocytus asked, cocking his head. He saw Lupusregina slide one foot behind her, turning to the side as if she were readying herself for an immediate fight. ' No. No. And she knows.' The Guardian recognized.
"It is not, is it, My Lord?" Cocytus asked with a calm and even voice.
Ainz let out a sigh and relaxed at the Guardian's answer, he set the helmet under one arm and scratched his dark hair, at his side, he felt Lupusregina begin to relax. "No, it isn't. During my visit to the village, as best I can figure, whatever spell they cast, reacted with my world item, I was changed into this."
"I see." Cocytus replied. "That is why she is prepared to fight. My loyalty was in question."
As an insectoid, he didn't have the same inflections as a human, but Ainz could still detect the subtle implication that he was wounded by doubt, and like a father that has unintentionally hurt his child, Ainz felt his heart go out to the faithful Guardian.
Ainz yanked off his mail glove and cast it to the sand, scattering granules with the force of his toss, then barehanded, he reached out and put a palm on the frozen forehead, it was cold to the touch, pleasant, really. Then he said to the Guardian, "You did nothing wrong, Coctyus, nothing you have ever done has caused me to question your loyalty. This is the kind of uncertainty that comes with a body like this one, and I merely acted according to it."
"I see. I understand, Master." Cocytus responded with a noticeable relaxing of his icy form. "How can I help?"
"One side effect is that I can now gain more power than before." Ainz began the sentence in a professional manner, but by the end, a broad smile traced its way over his face as his boyish inner RPG grind gamer came to the fore. "Your creator gave you the ability to summon high level monsters, did he not?"
"My 'Dueling Partner' skill. Yes, My Lord." Cocytus answered clearly but inside his head was spinning. His lord was already among the most powerful beings in this world, and yet there was the possibility of more? ' I am privileged above all others, to bear witness to the growth of my master's power.' He thought with reverence. But another thought troubled him.
"Few of the others know." Cocytus guessed. Ainz's smile fled, his lips became tight and he gave a somber nod.
"No, they do not. Lupusregina knows, her nose found the truth. I just informed Pandora's Actor. Now you. Some of those who reside here have a deep hatred for humans that may transcend their loyalty to myself as the master of the tomb. I will reveal this slowly, to a precious few at a time." Ainz explained his intentions, and Cocytus nodded.
Part of the guardian of the fifth floor wanted to immediately say, ' None would ever be disloyal to a Supreme Being.' But he knew quite well that the hatred for humans ran deep in some of them, the fact that the invasion of the tomb had included humans was not forgotten. It was still an unthinkable thought, and yet he thought it anyway.
"So you prepare." Cocytus recognized his master's intent, and his admiration swelled for his master to heights he had not known he could achieve.
"Yes, that's my intention, my own summons can gain me some experience, and I can gain some out in the wider world, however that is very low, if the rules of the old world hold, I can gain more experience by way of strong opponents summoned by someone else." Ainz took his hand from Cocytus's frozen forehead and held a finger pointed out a few inches from the Guardian's face. "You."
Arche sat down at the expensive table with her parents. It was smooth and polished, and had over a dozen chairs, though it had not held any but the five members of her household for quite some time. Her somewhat overweight father traced a finger over his brown mustache, he wasn't looking at his daughter, he was looking at the pouch she put on the table between them.
His fingers twitched, eager to snatch it up, only the hand of his wife on his shoulder kept him from doing so. Her long, angular face was slowly becoming wrinkled through age and worry, her once glowing golden hair was beginning to whiten, more from stress than age, as Arche figured it.
Arche rested her hands folded one over the other on the table in front of her. "Father, this has to stop. You can't keep spending money as if you have more of it coming in. You don't."
Her father's plump face darkened. "Yes I do, you just brought some."
"Father, I'm an adventurer, a worker, I could die out there, or the jobs could dry up, what then ?" She opened her hands and spread her arms out, imploring with him to listen, she leaned forward, her sharp blue eyes were hardened by experience.
The middle aged former noble sputtered, "Nonsense! We're nobles after all. Everything will be fine."
Arche slumped, then brought a hand up and rubbed her forehead when it bowed forward. "Father, we're not nobles. We lost that place in the world, we need to sell this house, we could get a good price for it, and you could live well off of that for a lifetime if we just pay off our debts."
"No!" Her father shouted and slammed a plump fist down on the table. "Never!"
"Dear…" Arche's mother said, but to her daughter, not her husband, "You must understand, this is the only life we know, there's no other place for us."
Arche felt a hint of pity rise up to combat her anger at her father, her voice became quieter, more daughterly when she answered, "There needs to be, mother, there needs to be. Kuuderika and Ureirika can't live off your memories, and if you want me to keep coming back alive, I need to upgrade my equipment. I can't keep using all my money to pay off your debts forever."
"Why not? You're doing fine now, aren't you?" Her father spat, and Arche felt her head hurt.
"Father, my team has upgraded their equipment twice in the last year, that has let us take on better jobs that pay more money, but I haven't upgraded even once since we got started. If I can't keep up with them anymore because their equipment gets better and mine doesn't, they'll drop me the same way the Bloody Emperor dropped our whole family."
"They wouldn't dare drop a noble's daughter!" He said with a furious glare in his dark, deep set eyes.
' We're not nobles!' Arche wanted to scream at him, but instead she took a deep breath and appealed to the old idiot's innate bigotry against the lower classes. "They're peasant workers, what do you expect?" She asked, ' I'm a worker too, and a peasant, and you're not even a worker.' Her contempt for him only grew when she saw that her statement worked and he became sullen. His face purple with anger at an insult that hadn't happened, to a house that no longer mattered.
"All we need is for the Bloody Emperor to die." Her old man growled through gritted teeth, "This is all his fault, all of it. He cast us out for nothing, but it's not done, we're the last, and we will outlast him ."
Arche flopped back in her cream colored expensive chair, with the purges of the nobles and their replacement with elevated commoners of various talent and utility, some of the old guard, like her father, had taken it hard. Their luxurious house was now the last one in the area to be occupied, others were empty, sold off or forcibly reclaimed by the Emperor when the occupiers were executed.
Some had been smart, and gone on to live quiet lives, using the sale of their estates to fund comfortable retirements, pay for the education of their children, and to attempt to restore their status by drawing the emperor's attention through merit, or through their children's merits. Arche could feel nothing but envy for those families. ' They're the smart ones.' She thought, and shoved the coins the rest of the way across the table, the clinking noise they made when he snatched them up, was like the sound of rattling chains to the young Arche. She brushed her hand briefly through her short blonde hair and stood up.
"I'm going to go meet with my team, promise me you'll only pay your debts and use the rest of that on necessary expenses." Arche said with resignation.
"Yes, yes, of course. Only debts and necessities." Her father said, holding the coin pouch in his palm, the hand bobbed up and down several times as he tried to get an estimate of the contents by weight.
' At least that much is progress, he's actually thinking about what's there instead of tossing it aside to spend later.' Arche's hopeful thought rose up and held until she reached the front parlor of her family estate, and found that their aged butler was allowing a merchant into the house.
The plump man was getting richer off her increasingly poorer family, and he had the gall or decency to tip his round blue felt hat to Arche as the one he knew was making it possible. Arche wasn't sure which it was, nor did she speak to him, only nodding in return as she went back out into the streets of Arwintar again.
Volume 2 Chapter 2
Ainz spun in midair and cut through the level eighty kuraokami that otherwise towered over him. An authentic ice dragon summon, it was on par with a greater fire elemental, with long ice scales and blue eyes with dark pupils. Its snake-like body would wrap around its prey to confine them, and then it's great maw would snap down for a devouring. 'Those things were a problem for lower-level teams in the game, but at this level?' Ainz recalled, but now it was barely a challenge, and it was only that much because he didn't have all the warrior skills he needed.
When his sword clove the body in two all the way down until his sword struck the sands below, ice shattered like shrapnel over most of the arena. It pinged off of Ainz's armor like easily ignored hail. Lupusregina however, dodged like an acrobat, spinning and twisting her limbs and body in the air like a cat. 'Is she a werewolf, or a werecat?' Ainz joked to himself before she landed in a prowling posture on all fours with fearless eyes locked on the icy target, ready for the order.
Lupusregina rolled away, and per her master's instructions, shifted to her wolf form and rushed in, the ground tore up under her racing paws, and her claws tore like wild and maw tore like she was starving, into the icy flesh. She did almost no damage compared to her master, but for this experiment, that was unimportant.
The monster's head fell down with a thunderous crash, it stared at him with defiance, its lips drawing back in a growl, its icy breath wafted from an open mouth so large it could swallow Ainz whole, armor, swords, and all.
But it was woefully outmatched. Ainz swung his blades in a constant hack, cutting his way through the snout and jaw until he reached what passed for its brain, and with a decisive blow that scattered shards of ice in all directions, it died.
The entire beast went limp, and then vanished. 'Good, now to check my xp, and Lupusregina's.' This was their eighth experiment, and still he had seen nobody else from Nazarick, and put off all requests from the others to come and see him.
'I am busy with an urgent matter. Ensure my last orders have been carried out, and I remain undisturbed until I summon you one by one.' That had been Ainz's answer, and every subsequent plea had been similar, only increasingly more curt.
Not that he didn't feel any guilt, the dreaded sensation that he was tormenting his friend's children by keeping away from them was like nails on a chalkboard to his conscience, and yet the possibility of what might happen was too dreadful to him in too many ways to let him give in to their plea.
The Kuraokami had been quite valuable, at least relative to the other beings he'd encountered thus far, and more importantly it was a 'safe' opponent. Easily defeated, and yet also netting a reasonable amount of xp. When Ainz checked Lupusregina however, he was shocked.
'Impressive, very impressive.' He thought when she knelt before him with eyes downcast, she had indeed gained substantial xp, totalling twenty-nine percent of his own. 'It seems that their racial levels don't count, but in each of my duels, she has managed to gain a percentage equivalent to her total job class levels. So, a level one warrior might gain one percent of what I gain in the course of a duel. Nothing at all worth speaking of at first, but for a high-powered monster like this relative to the New World?'
The possibilities opened up in Ainz's mind, only one question remained. 'New Worlders seem unable to check their relative skills, but I can. What if I were to formally make a new world member my servant, could I increase their skills sufficiently to make them useful?' It had been a question that haunted his brain for weeks.
Workers were such a perfect idea, he couldn't get away from it, though he also turned his mind to the 'ex' adventurers that intended to settle in Carne. 'Loyalty is always an issue.' Ainz mused, 'But there are ways to ensure it, to win it. Enri, Nfirea, they're proof of that.'
"Shall I summon another, my lord?" Cocytus asked his master in the silent interval.
Ainz thought it over, then asked, "The Guardians have had regular intelligence meetings while I've been gone, isn't that right?"
"Yes, my lord." Cocytus answered, cocking his head at the unlooked-for question.
"How far has Momon's reputation spread?" Ainz asked, and Cocytus knelt to answer.
"The adventurers praise Momon in E-Rantel. Word is spreading also throughout Re-Estize through Blue Rose, they used flight magic to return with great speed, the little one has been especially vocal. Within a few weeks, through message spells and travel, Momon and Lupu of team Axel will be household names." Cocytus was openly proud of his master, though it was only Ainz's general understanding of the guardian's body language that let him recognize it.
"Good, we'll need to do a few more jobs just to seal that reputation. Which reminds me…" Ainz turned his eyes back to the kneeling Lupusregina.
"You made those two into sort of 'pets', didn't you?" Ainz asked, and he didn't need to be clearer, Lupusregina gave a wolfish grin up at him and shifted back the form of a beautiful red-haired maid.
"Ninya and Enri? Yes, My Lord. Ninya is a funny little thing, and that Enri smelled like a bitch in heat for her man, they're both fun playthings." Lupusregina giggled girlishly before covering her mouth to stifle the undignified noise.
"I see, we're going to go back that way and do a few more jobs before we go to the capital of Re-Estize. Would you like to look in on them?" Ainz asked, and his servant nodded rapidly like a dog that had its eyes locked on a treat in her master's moving hand.
Unable to resist, Ainz removed his onyx armored glove and patted the top of the battle maid's head. Her vibrant red hair was soft, even luxuriantly so, and reminded him of that of a dog he'd touched once, it gave a little under his touch, and when he patted, she pressed her head reflexively into his palm.
He could feel the warmth beneath, and it was only reluctantly that he took his hand away. "Then we will, but first, we do this until we both gain a level." Ainz answered, then drew his swords again.
"Alright Cocytus, summon another one." He ordered, and Lupusregina rushed over the sands, scattering the surface of the arena behind her in her urgency to move out of range until her master's order to attack would bring her forward again.
Ninya and the rest of her team were quick about organizing the village, the initial glee at seeing the dead body of the entitled noble and his guards however, settled into fear within hours.
That very morning, the village elder called a meeting in the village square.
Ninya looked them all over. They were dirty, far from well fed, and exceedingly 'scruffy' with unkempt beards and gnarled, hardened hands. There was no real order to speak of among the village, the oldest men milled about in front with their wives, with the younger members behind them. There was no discipline or consistency among them but the fact of their poverty and hunger. Growling bellies spoke to one another of their hunger.
Up at the front, the village elder, a frail old man put their feelings into words in simple terms, leaning on his staff and shaking from age and fear he said, "If we turn the visitors in, the lord's lord may spare us. That is our best hope."
Ninya and her teammates stood off to the side, apart from the gathering, she spat in the direction of the bloody ground where dead noble brat's body had been lying until a short while ago.
"You're dreaming, old man." Peter said, echoing Ninya's sentiment, his arms folded in front of his chest, "Ninya," he turned to his teammate and looked down at her, "What is the penalty for striking a nobleman?"
"Death." She answered reflexively.
"And what is the penalty for rebellion against the crown?" Peter asked further.
"Also death." Ninya answered, and the hush came over the crowd.
"You all look hungry. Am I wrong?" Peter asked, and growling bellies answered him.
"Your lord sends most of your food up to his lord, and leaves you very little to eat, now somebody said that wasn't actually the lord, just one of his sons, I don't know what it was like here, but I'm guessing even if he'll forgive you for this, his lord won't. So, will your local lord back your rebellion, or his master?" Peter probed, and the silence held until the village elder answered…
"His master."
Voices of fear and trembling went up from the villagers, mothers clung to their young children and husbands to their wives.
Ninya stared, her eyes sweeping the group with frantic urgency, "They'll make an example of you all, you know they will! Your lives are nothing, nothing to them! Wiping out a village and then scooping up a group of people from somewhere else and dropping them here has no more meaning to them than changing clothes!" She slammed her fist down into her open palm.
"You didn't want this, I get that, and I'm sorry I forced it, but it is forced. If you want us to go, we'll go, but if we stay, we can help you! It'll be a while before the brat is missed, and that's our chance!" Ninya urged them, then Lukrut interjected.
He scratched his head and let out a troubled sigh, "Look, the truth is this place is done for, even if we fight, that's good for what, a skirmish or two? Then the Baron will send a few hundred armored soldiers and," he snapped his fingers, "that'll be that."
"So, what do you want to do?" Ninya demanded, and true to form, the ranger had a suggestion.
"I say we just abandon the whole place, go to Carne, Mr. Momon mentioned making it his base of operations, and it has walls. Even a Baron would think twice about making an enemy out of an adamantite ranked adventuring team by attacking their residence."
Ninya thought that over, and so did the rest of the village, the vote wasn't unanimous, but it was overwhelming. Carne was a different domain, it had space to spare, actual walls, and above all, an adamantite patron that had the favor of the Royal Head Warrior.
That had been on the first day, and several nights later, Ninya found herself explaining the situation to Enri Emmott and her little council. Enri sat at the center of a table that had been set out in the middle of the village square, and at her left and right side, canted like bird's wings, there sat a table of villagers and a table of goblins.
At Ninya's back, the many families that chose to join her and the former Swords of Darkness, shuffled with eyes downcast, glancing up occasionally through their tear blurred eyes, seeking to convey their hopeless desperation through their glances.
When the diminutive young rebel at heart finished explaining what happened, she couldn't think of anything more to add, so Ninya said only…
"Please… don't make them pay for what I did. Help me, I… I beg you." Ninya said, and went down to one knee and bowed her head as if Enri was lady of the land herself and not just a village chief.
Enri felt her blood run cold at the violence, but… not as cold as she expected. "I understand what you want, but you're asking us to risk not only ourselves, but also our benefactors, Ainz Ooal Gown, and Mr. Momon and Miss Lupu. It's only a matter of time before your Lord figures out where you've gone. Then what?"
"I don't know." Ninya said, flustered, "Tell them you captured me, offer me to the Baron in exchange for the security of everyone else, I'm the one who killed the lord's son, nobody else… I just… I'm sorry, I couldn't just watch while he took that girl!"
Behind her somewhere, Enri heard a young girl begin to sob. 'The intended victim.' Enri concluded, and turned her eyes to the left and right to the two tables.
"Well, what do we say? Do we let them stay, offer them sanctuary, and risk a fight? Or do we send them out to die?" Enri clenched her jaw, torn between the safety of her village and the fear felt by those in need, she knew her answer despite what it might cost.
"I myself, want to let them stay, we can ask Mr. Momon and Master Gown if they will mind giving us advice on what to do, and if they object, I guess we have no choice. But for now, at least, I say let the newcomers stay. We have lots of land to be worked, don't we?" Enri added, and various heads nodded at both tables.
"Jugem," Enri said, "they need to get practice right away, after we get them settled on farms, start breaking them into groups for training, "we don't want the tragedy we faced, to ever happen again." Enri stood up, her palms flat on the table, and while her goblin leader nodded in acknowledgement of her orders, Enri turned her eyes to the newcomers.
She then gestured to the goblins at the table, "These goblins are all part of the village too, treat them like your neighbors, they're part of this village, and if you can't tolerate that, then we can't tolerate you. Am I understood?"
Enri leveled her eyes at the disorderly assembly, Ninya kept her eyes bowed, and her team went down to one knee with her. The remaining newcomers imitated those who led them to Carne Village, and bowed their heads and went down on one knee as well.
"That is fair, and… thank you, Chief Enri." Ninya uttered with breathless thanks. "I'll make sure you don't regret this."
And so the assembly broke up, and the village of Carne doubled its numbers in a single day. Within two days homes had been assigned among the empty buildings and 'guests' were taken in while new homes were built. Farmlands that would have had to lay fallow, were instead parcelled out. And before long, Brita and Peter had a whole new crop of people using wooden sticks to train with swords, while Lukrut aided with the bow, and Ninya began to organize people into working groups.
In Enri's mind, everything was working out marvelously, within two days of that, Nfirea returned to open up his workshop in Carne, and 'working out marvelously' became absolute bliss.
It was in that blissful state, the heady afterglow of a lovemaking that left Nfirea panting and heaving so that he could barely move, that Enri found herself interrupted.
"Miss Enri! There are some dark elf children to see you!" The shout from outside snapped her to instant awareness.
'Elves are very, very far away from here, but… I can think of two people who might have some elves in their service… and I wouldn't want to keep either of their servants waiting.' Enri recognized and immediately began to throw on her clothing.
"I'll be right there!" She shouted as she rushed to grab her pants.
Volume 2 Chapter 3
Knowing whom her visitors came from, Enri moved as fast as she possibly could to come out and greet them. They were beautiful children, with sharp features, tan skin and heterochromatic eyes that mirrored one another, one green and one blue. The girl in the short white skirt carried a staff and shifted nervously where she stood. Her blonde hair waving a little bit with her nervous gestures, while she also wrung her staff like she feared she was in trouble. By contrast, her companion wore a vest and long pants, they were mirrors in more than their eyes. He stood straight and tall and had a bold, energetic expression of confidence.
She went down to one knee in front of the pair and bowed her head. "I am Enri Emmott, Chief of Carne village, you wanted to see me?"
"Yeah." The one in pants said and looked her over.
' Oh, she's a girl, so they're sisters.' Enri thought, and raising her head, she smiled at them both.
"I'm Aura, this is my little brother, Mare." The one in pants said and slapped the blue and white clad sibling on the back.
' Brother… in a skirt… well, who am I to judge?' Enri raised an eyebrow in spite of her thought, and it clearly was enough to make Mare blush.
"M-My creator decided I should b-be something called a t-trap." He said in a charming melodic stutter.
"I see, well your creator made you both into beautiful children." Enri replied to him and flashed her most winning smile in their direction.
It was clearly the right thing to say, and a touch of the arrogant confidence of the one called 'Aura' faded away and became more polite.
"Right so… we're here to do a little work. I'll be clearing out the forest," Aura said and pointed out into the woods, "and my little brother will be doing some earth moving for construction, Lord Ainz said the village would need a whole lot done. Do you have a list of things already, or do we need to figure it out?" Aura's voice was a little sharp despite her seemingly relaxed air, and Enri flinched.
"S-Sister, y-you're being rude." Mare stammered, drawing a grateful smile from Enri who bowed her head again.
"I don't have a list, because I can't read much. I know how to sign my name, and that's really about all. I-I'm sorry." Enri blushed with shame at her ignorance, but quickly shot out, "But I do know what needs to get done! I can tell you everything that would go on a list if I could write it!" Her voice ended in a squeak, and the dark elf twins traded a quiet look.
"That'll do, but I guess I should add the reading and writing thing to the limitations of the village. Master writes a lot, and you need to be able to tell him when you need things by correspondence." Aura's explanation was so matter of fact that Enri wasn't even embarrassed by it.
"O-Of course, I can't expect Lord Ainz to be at my beck and call, I know what he's done for us, it's already more than we could ask for, and to know he's still looking out for us after our disaster, when he already went so far… I won't forget it. I promise." Enri said with the utmost humility, and the remaining frostiness of the red and white clad Aura vanished utterly.
"Right, well I'm going to get started. Mare, you handle things here." Aura said brusquely and faster than Enri's eye could follow, Aura took off in the direction of the forest.
While still watching the red blur run, Enri dismissed her cautionary question about whether or not the child would be okay, and when Aura was out of sight, Enri began to explain what the village needed.
The next few hours were dreamlike.
Taking Mare out to the fields, and after explaining how the soil had to be turned and broken to let vegetable roots go deeper… she could only stare open mouthed as he took control of the earth and did exactly that. Soil that was hard from lack of use was rendered useful again almost immediately, afterwards long furrows raced over the ground like some great tunneling creatures were racing one another and creating little long hill ranges… within minutes, the entire area was ready to be farmed.
"H-How… how did you do that?" Enri asked, staring down at the young crossdressing boy.
"M-Magic, n-nothing special, j-just sixth tier control earth." Mare explained, and to that, Enri could only answer with a silent, dumb stare. She recalled what Nfirea had said to her about tier magic, third and fourth were beyond impressive, fifth was the realm of heroes, and yet this little child had used a tier beyond to see to a farm ?
"Inconceivable." Enri said in a reverential whisper with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"What else?" Mare asked, and in the mind of the largely illiterate peasant, possibilities emerged that were once nothing but absurd fever dreams. Without even thinking, she began rattling off the impossible. "Stone walls, stone houses that don't fall apart in storms, sewage that drains and towers to watch for danger, training grounds for people to learn to fight in and…"
When Enri finally finished, Mare shrugged and asked, "I-Is that all?"
Enri's knees shook and buckled, taking her down to the ground. ' Is that all?!' She cried out as dreams became trivialities before the servant of a man who was rapidly becoming more than a mere benefactor in the mind of the peasant girl.
"A whole village vanished and a lord's son went missing, what a troublesome affair." The Count said to Prince Barbro. Princess Renner stood at the small table where the two nobles sat and quietly poured tea for the two men. "My vassal is beside himself," the slender Count added and shook his head, "he was only a third son, but still, a son."
"I see." Prince Barbro's deep voice was largely indifferent, and he ignored his little sister, not acknowledging her pour except to take his porcelain cup and sip from it when she was done. "It is unfortunate, but does it really matter? I can round up some common street trash for you to repopulate the village, if that's all you need. I won't even charge you anything." Barbro had a wicked gleam in his eye when he spoke, and the Count politely ignored it.
"Thank you, My Prince, but I've already made the land available to third sons of villages on my land. The vassal who suffered the loss has been a good subordinate. My real concern is the missing boy, a trash noble is still a noble. From what his older brother said, Philip liked to have fun with village girls, nobody minds, really… except for the villagers themselves." The Count let out a snort to show what he thought of that opinion.
"But the fact that he vanished from there and then the whole village was just gone without any sign of violence, it sounds like the peasants put the trash son down themselves and then ran." The Count's suggestion was enough to buy silence from Prince Barbro.
Princess Renner finished pouring the cup for the Count, and then putting on her most distressed girlish face, covering her mouth with three fingers, she asked him, "Goodness, Count, that is like rebelling against you personally ."
The Count's relaxed air changed immediately. His entire body tensed up so sharply that even Prince Barbro saw the shift.
Until she'd put it that way, the Count dismissed the matter as a minor assault on a minor noble's minor son at most, but from the lips of the Princess, he found a new perspective, one he did not appreciate.
"Y-Yes, that's it exactly, Princess Renner." The Count briefly stammered before pretending he saw it that way all along. "Leave it to the Royal family to see to the heart of any matter."
Renner looked down demurely, an eye to her elder brother, "Of course, it's why the Royal family is Royal, we recognize that affronts to our most loyal nobles, are affronts to ourselves. The basis of the crown is action, and those afraid to act, are unworthy of it and should not be supported."
In the eyes of Prince Barbro, his incomprehensible and silly little sister laid out his path to the throne. ' A Prince of action is the one that belongs on the throne of Kingship. I can use this trivial affair to get ahead of my fat little brother and force father's hand.'
"Yes, yes, it is as my sister says." Barbro agreed. "I will take the lead in this investigation, and bring justice for the noble house that was wronged by these stupid peasant brigands. Not to worry. We will find them, and wring the truth of the son's fate from their tortured bodies!" He brought his sword out and said, "I swear it on my sword!"
A powerful man of broad shoulders and towering over both Renner and the count, dressed in full formal martial regalia, of blue, red, and gold, with dangling tassels on his shoulders and a sash across his chest, the blonde bearded Prince Barbro appeared every inch the Warrior Prince.
Renner demurely clapped her hands with a smile and girlish giggle, ' But he's a coward and a bully. Never once did he take a task that might actually risk himself.' Despite the thought, the third Princess Renner wore a mask of being duly impressed with the grandiose gesture of her older brother.
The Count drank down the rest of the tea and bowed his head, "Yes, of course, a Prince who protects the nobility is the sort we need on the throne of Re-Estize. I will look to you in the days ahead, my Prince." The Count said and stood up.
When he was gone after their brief goodbyes, Prince Barbro looked down at his little sister, absurd as she was, he was aware that she sometimes had interesting insights, and he wasn't above asking for them. ' She's no threat to me.' He reminded himself, then asked her, "Sister, where would you begin on this?"
Renner tapped her cheek with one finger and looked away, the room in which they stood was the height of royal luxury, the table they'd been sitting at was the color of the sun, the floors clean white marble, and her clothing was of the purest white, a flowing dress that hung down to her ankles, and a gold circlet that dangled a small chain over her forehead that shook when she turned her head. The third Princess looked to the broad window to the outside world beyond the palace. She took a few steps from him and looked out into the city beyond. As capitals went, Re-Estize had what she was sure was one of the ugliest in nature. Massive in size, it was riddled with crime and squalor.
Beyond that, high walls stood that kept the squalor 'safe' to prey on its own. "Brother," the Princess asked, "except to take their goods to market, peasants don't move around much, do they?"
"No, no they don't." He answered, "They have no reason to move."
"And do you think peasants who only know how to farm, and can only hunt a little, would venture into a forest full of dangerous monsters?" Princess Renner asked.
"No." Prince Barbro answered again, and moved over to where she stood.
She glanced away from the view where the sun shone in on her face and glinted from her long golden hair, and looked up to him. ' He may be able to see farther because of his height, but with that brain I doubt he can see past his own nose.' Her contempt for her sibling was as thick as stew and rich as her family's treasury room, and it was perfectly concealed behind a smiling mask.
"And they probably won't go to a city because they wouldn't know how to survive, so… you just need to look for a village, a village where there are a bunch of new people. We do keep birth records in the villages after all." She reminded him with a sweet, innocent smile that, as it always did, pushed aside any feeling of inferiority he would have felt from a different tone.
"But those are never very good." He said to her, "Besides, any new census will just have the villagers lying about their names."
"True, true, but if a village goes from a hundred families to two hundred families, I think we should ask where those other hundred families came from, don't you agree, dear brother? I think it's safe to say any village with a sudden burst of growth, is suspect, and then we just have the Lord come by and look for anyone he recognizes as being from his domain." The Princess lowered her hand in a gentle, graceful gesture, so that one was folded over the other in front of her waist.
"I see, I see." Prince Barbro muttered, and it was somewhat true, what she said made sense, and he nodded sagely as if he'd been leading the conversation himself.
"Do you really think a village would take in so many people?" He asked with a furrowed brow. The notion of split inheritance was familiar enough that he imagined it applied to peasants as well, and her suggestion became less likely.
"Maybe, if they have more land to work than people to work it, or if they suffered some recent heavy losses and are in need of replacements to work what land they have." Renner pointed out, and suddenly her suggestion became probable again within his mind.
Then she added, "I would imagine they would even overlook the murder of a Lord, rather than turn them in as they know they should, they are all peasants after all."
It rubbed Prince Barbro in just the wrong way, his teeth gritted when his jaw clenched, "Then they're complicit in the crime, and the whole place can just burn when we find it."
"As you think best, big brother." Renner said with a tranquil voice, "Forgive me, but this is all a bit much and I would like to return to my embroidery."
The fragile young girl, the golden princess, the most radiant beauty of the kingdom, seemed very doll-like to the powerfully built Prince Barbro, and he didn't question her words at all. "Of course, sister, I will remember your ah… suggestion, and as thanks, I will forget your bodyguard's offense to me."
"Thank you, brother, that is reward enough, he was only trying to protect me, and he is just a child, still, your generosity will also be remembered ." Renner replied and taking the sides of her gown, she curtseyed with a bowed head.
They then parted ways, her sharp ears caught Barbro coming up with various ways to kill treacherous peasant trash, until she was out of hearing and back in her own room.
As soon as the door clicked behind her and she'd thrown the latch for additional needless security, she went down to her knees and prostrated herself before the empty air.
"Is that more or less what you had in mind, Lord Demiurge?" Princess Renner asked, and in front of her, a whorling void of darkness opened, from which the Archdevil himself emerged.
"That it is exactly, Princess Renner. That it is exactly." Demiurge said, and he reached down to gently pat her head with a smile plastered onto his face.
Volume 2 Chapter 4
"So it's like that, is it?" King Rampossa asked from his seat on the throne. The massive room was empty by the King's own order, at the express request of the Royal Head Warrior.
"Yes, my King." Gazef said from his kneeling position a few feet from the throne. Alone as they were, the aged king with his loose white hair allowed the Royal Head Warrior to stand and speak as one would to a friend, but in such times as this, the formality was done at Gazef's own will.
"So much power emerging into the world… it is like something out of the stories drawn from the mists of time." King Rampossa said, rising from the red cushioned chair and its ornate golden frame. He stepped away and approached the warrior, placing a hand on Gazef's head he added, "It is good that you came back alive. It is a great relief to my heart."
"Thank you, my King." Gazef said, closing his eyes briefly, "And yes, it's like something out of legends. Ainz Ooal Gown driving off a Scripture, Momon and Axel defeating two skeletal dragons, ending a Zuranon offshoot threat, and taking down both a Black Scripture and a necromancer on par with an adamantite mage… this is… quite a lot to take in."
The King's aged hand slipped away from Gazef's head and fell back to his side, and the old man began to pace. Gazef rose to follow him, the red and gold robes fluttered around the king's legs as he walked, it was a curious habit of the old man. ' He likes to think in motion.' Gazef acknowledged with no small approval, though old now, the old man remained fit and ready to do his duty. Despite his age, he was still an echo of the vigor of his youth of which Gazef had heard only stories.
"And you say that this 'Momon' is likely to visit here soon?" King Rampossa asked.
"So Momon pledged, and I believe he will. I gave him my word that he would be well rewarded for his service to Your Majesty." Gazef's voice was somehow both imposing and humble at the same moment, and Rampossa gave a sagely nod of understanding.
"Yes, yes something like this, we want him to be friendly to the crown." The King said with patient thought as he paced about the massive columned hall, he never drifted too far from Gazef, as though the warrior was a kind of anchor, and like a good anchor, Gazef never wavered.
"The noble faction has used our annual war with the Empire to keep their privileges high, and it is killing us." The King said and snapped his head down toward the Head Warrior.
Gazef met the proud eyes of the old man, it was the first open acknowledgement of what the warrior had long suspected. "How long?" He asked.
"Long enough that if I live ten more years, even if nothing else goes wrong, my sons will inherit only the headsman's axe. If I were to have twenty years in me, I wouldn't see the last of them without living on the run." King Rampossa admitted, "Something has to change."
"When a man says that, my King, they're typically about to say what bothers him." Gazef said, and though it felt as if the world was opening up beneath his feet with the king's words, he did not tumble into the black pit of despair that lay beneath.
"Yes, the appearance of Axel and an unknown mage of great power, offers a chance we didn't have before. A chance for new nobility to rise. Even the finest of the old guard are almost all worthless to the Kingdom's prosperity, and some are… harmful ." The King said the last word with great bitterness, and what he meant was no secret.
' Eight Fingers.' The criminal organization was beyond brutal, distributing Black Dust, an addictive narcotic, throughout the kingdom and eroding its wealth. Corrupt nobles sometimes grew the plants used to make it in their own villages. Attempts at eradicating the practice had been ineffective, and many a judge had been threatened or killed. Many nobles were either bought and paid for or intimidated into silence, and thus nobody stood against them. "Your Majesty, do you wish to hire them to eliminate the criminal organization? They are only two, they need spies, intelligence, leverage…"
The amount of things needed for something like that… Gazef's mind was spiralling as he considered the matter, "My Lord…" The Royal Warrior trailed off.
' Nobility, they're adventurers, but new and very powerful, they just barely registered, the guild might be upset but if they were given a title and retirement and a task that the guild would covertly favor?' Gazef's mind flew to the obvious, the king was looking down at him, speaking without saying anything, by his side again, the relationship of years spanned the silence to reveal the truth.
"Ainz, you wish to hire Ainz to help in the war against the Empire, and to ennoble all three." It was a guess on Gazef's part, but not one he considered unlikely, and when the subtle nod came from the white bearded old King, Gazef was again grateful to have such a lord to serve.
"If we can arrange for them all to be here at once, that would be better. But that requires predictability that the powerful typically don't have." King Rampossa gave a mild laugh at his own expense, but Gazef didn't share it.
"My King, Sir Momon indicated that he would make Carne Village his base of operations, and Master Gown may have kept a watch on the place after rescuing it, if we send a message to E-Rantel, we can have word sent asking for both to a formal ceremony in the capital. I can't imagine they would refuse such a thing." Gazef's voice was somewhat uncertain by the end, but he began with confidence.
"It is worth a try, if it works out, we may have powerful allies to spring on the Empire when the time comes. If only…" King Rampossa killed his own words, but the thoughts, unspoken, went on. ' If only one of my sons had your vigor and strength, if only one of them had all the qualities of my Royal Head Warrior, I would be able to retire now. If only I had my own lost youth back, if only, if only, if only… things were not as they are.'
Sebas knelt before his liege with the greatest reverence. "My Lord, I am prepared to receive your orders, how may I serve you?"
The faint scent of Albedo's perfume lingered in the room, though it was cleanly made, there was no doubt of why the scent seemed to linger strongest there. Her visits to Ainz's room had become so regular that one could have told time based on that alone. What struck the aged, dignified looking butler as strange was that they met in his room, and not in the throne room itself.
' He can do as he wants, The One Who Stayed… but still, it is strange.' Sebas considered the question with care, and found no answer until his lord, still dressed in his warrior regalia, laid a hand on Sebas' head.
"Am I the master of Nazarick? Am I the one to whom you are loyal, no matter what?" Ainz asked the question as he had rehearsed it, Sebas was above all, a dignified servant, and so Ainz wanted to present himself as his dignified master when the time came.
And the time had come.
The gesture of affection was both unlooked for and more welcome than Sebas expected, his tight, tense lips barely moved, but he did suck in his breath at the sudden act.
"You are Lord Ainz, The One Who Stayed, to whom our lives and our loyalty are the same." Sebas replied without reservation.
"And if what your Lord Ainz is, should change?" Ainz asked him, out of all the guardians, he was most sure Sebas would remain absolutely loyal. ' Soon I'll run out of the easy ones.' Ainz told himself to mentally prepare for the day he had to tell Solution, or Naberal, or Demiurge, or Albedo… but telling himself was easier than doing so.
"Then my loyalty remains the same." Sebas answered.
It was a relief to hear, but it didn't stop Ainz's train of thought. ' Sebas is the third level one hundred being for me to tell, and even less likely to resist me than Cocytus, I would have preferred to tell him first after Pandora's Actor, if only I hadn't needed to reveal it to a guardian. But still, even if it comes down to it, I'm now level one hundred and two. I can handle Sebas if I need to.'
Still, it was a relief. And so Ainz held his hands steady as he removed his helmet, and revealed his human face.
"Look at me, Sebas. Look, and know your master." Ainz ordered, and Sebas raised his head, though Ainz heart was fluttering and his stomach roiling as it had when the truth was made known to Lupusregina he kept his eyes steady.
"Sire… what is this?" The Butler of Steel asked with breathless confusion.
"A spell gone wrong, I don't know how it happened, but it has. Now, has your loyalty changed? Or are you still my servant?" It was the critical question, and with it came the answer Ainz expected at least this time.
"I am your servant, you are The One Who Stayed, My Lord. I bend to your will, now and forever." Sebas said, without hesitation.
Relief flooded through Ainz from tension he hadn't known he felt. "Then I have a task for you. I want you to visit the Baharuth Empire, take whatever battlemaid that you wish, and establish yourselves as wealthy figures. While there, this is what I want you to do…"
When Ainz finished his explanation, Sebas's thoughts turned inward. "I believe Solution would be well suited for this task."
"Good." Ainz replied and reached into his pocket dimension to remove the coins he'd acquired earlier. He threw them at Sebas's feet. "Have these melted down and exchange them for Baharuthian currency, then see to it at once."
"I will not fail you, My Lord. The purges in Baharuth left many empty manors, we can easily acquire one and integrate ourselves for your purposes." Sebas took up the coins and put them into his own pocket dimension, and stood up when his master stepped back and put the helmet back on.
"Good, I place my trust in you, Sebas, do as you have said, and do not fail me." Ainz ordered, and Sebas withdrew.
When he was alone on his bed, he dismissed his 'Perfect Warrior' spell and went to his bed, he fell backwards with a deep sigh and his arms spread out to take up as much of it as possible. The room was thematically black, with grim, gothic furnishings befitting an Overlord of Death. ' I was 'such' a chuunibyou!' He mentally exclaimed, and staring up at the dark ceiling, in spite of, or perhaps because of, his circumstances, he began to laugh.
Back home, his lungs were stained and scarred from the toxic air, his body ached to the point where everything hurt, like it was for everybody else is his old world. His diet had left him in poor health and as he knew it, he had no future.
Now? Here? In this body? He was the definition of strong compared to any human and probably a fair number of monsters. Every breath came easily and without pain, every step was light as air. The sun, the moon, the stars, everything was real and visible, and despite his concerns that still lingered, things were going well. ' I'm free! I'm free of that old hell! That nightmare world is gone and I have everything I dreamed of!' He laughed, and laughed, and laughed some more. Ainz laughed on the bed, staring up at the ceiling and utterly at ease alone in his room where he would remain undisturbed.
Whether his spirits rose because of the laughter, or the laughter grew because his spirits rose, he didn't know, but he was still laughing when the message spell came in.
He heard Aura's voice in his head as soon as the message spell connected, ' Lord Ainz, we have an urgent message for you, as both Momon and as Lord Gown. From Gazef Stronoff.'
This had his attention. The laughter of the human male on the bed vanished, ' What is it?' He demanded.
' My Lord, 'Both' of you have been invited to the Capital for a feast, the King wishes to show his gratitude for the help given to his people.' Aura explained, ' The invitation is for one month from now.'
' I see, and how did you maintain my cover?' Ainz pressed.
' My Lord, Lupusregina accepted for Momon, and I promised to pass on word to Lord Gown.' Aura explained, briefly sounding uncharacteristically nervous.
' She heard the edge in my question, better to reassure her.' Ainz thought, and then answered, ' It's fine, you did well. I will be arriving in the village soon, and notify Pandora's Actor that he needs to be prepared to play as myself in a few days.'
A thought occurred to him immediately afterward, ' Aura, not that I mind, but why didn't Lupusregina notify me instead of you?'
' Oh, my lord, she's peeping on Enri and Nfirea right now, she said you wanted the pair kept safe, so I offered to contact you for her while she ahh… watched what she said was an… 'adult performance art' I don't know quite what she means, but it got really loud and there was screaming involved, some kind of wrestling I guess.'
Ainz was even more glad for his isolation in that moment when his face turned red. ' Er- Yes. Yes, that's right, it's fine, thank you Aura, leave her to it, give them some time, I will be joining you… later than I initially intended.' He rolled his eyes, and his humanity smacked him in the face like an unexpected door. Enri was a pretty young woman, it was no surprise she was engaged in a liaison with the brilliant young pharmacist. ' A pity about his grandmother, he must have rushed back to Carne for comfort, and at least gotten it.' Recalling all his recent actions, fueled by a powerful body and his own anxiety and ambition mixed together, he suddenly felt overwhelmingly… tired .
' I can't wait, My Lord!' Aura's childish innocence helped to curb the flush on Ainz' cheeks after the connection cut, and for a solid minute, Ainz remained lying flat on the bed.
"That… kind of made me wish for my undead body back." He muttered and took a deep breath, the scent of perfume lingered in the air, and for a long time, he slept, resting at his ease through dreams of wings enfolding his body, and the moans of ecstacy from a demoness designed to be the goddess of beauty herself.
Somehow, he knew it was a dream, but such was the warmth of the imagined embrace, that he did not want to wake up.
Volume 2 Chapter 5
Demiurge stood with his hands folded behind his back, towering over the prostrate Princess Renner, listening to what she had to say. When she finished explaining it all, and what she intended to do to provoke her stupid eldest brother, Demiurge could not help but recognize the power of the mind subservient before him.
It was reason enough to reassure the Golden Princess at least. "Yes, very, very well done. And not to worry, we demons are very particular about contracts, deception in all things, but where your oath is given. You and your 'puppy' will be safe when my Master reigns supreme."
She could feel the heat of damnation radiating from the monster in front of her, ' What kind of monster is this being for 'this one' to serve it?' Renner asked herself, and yet could find no answer that was not itself unthinkable.
"One thing bothers me, however. Why were you the one serving tea and not one of your maids? Is it not normal for human societies of nobles to have servants or slaves do that kind of work?" Demiurge asked. Sensing it was alright, the Princess raised her head to meet his watchful face.
"Not when you want information kept quiet. Everybody knows the maids can't be trusted, and because I am a woman… well of course my stupid eldest brother thinks 'I' should be playing the role." The contempt that dripped from her lips spoke volumes of what she thought of that arrangement. But at least it had been useful.
"Very well, continue to push the idiot towards idiocy for now, and when my master arrives, make sure the Noble Faction acts… just like themselves." Demiurge let out a cruel, mocking laugh that was joined by the crystal timbre of the Golden Princess.
They bonded lightly over their shared contempt of the petty jealousies of the idiotic and the incompetent, and it made the Princess bold. "Will I be allowed to meet your master beforehand? I admit I'm curious to behold the majesty of such overwhelming power for myself."
Demiurge's face became serious, even grave, and his laughter died. "Succeed, and you will meet him as your first reward." He brought a hand from behind his back, the long finger raised up from the closed fist it had been part of. "It might not seem like a reward, but after you prostrate before his glory, you will not have another wish but to meet him again when he is gone."
"Then I look forward to my success, Lord Demiurge." Renner grinned, and the archdevil called up the gate again, and vanished with two steps into the void.
Renner had just risen to her feet when there was a knock at her wide, white double doors. "Enter." She said, and her enchanted locks opened to allow her visitor. Knowing who was coming, she felt even more at ease.
A beautiful, golden haired boy in the flower of his youth came in, her puppy, her Climb, her bodyguard, her everything, approached and knelt. He knelt in front of Renner with his head bowed, his mithril and orichalcum blended armor clinked only a little with his movement. Fifteen summers old as best either of them could say, he always looked at her with such love and devotion that she hated it when his head bowed.
"Raise your head." She commanded as a Princess should, and he obeyed.
"Did you want to inspect the city again, Princess?" He asked her, placing a hand on the hilt of the sword strapped to his side.
"Yes, my Climb, yes. You will protect me, won't you?" She asked with innocent blue eyes.
' No matter what the cost!' He cried out inside his youthful mind, losing himself in the endless blue pools. But aloud he answered, "Of course, My Lady." He did his best to keep the breathtaking love for her out of the sound of the spoken words, but he considered himself remiss if he didn't offer a critical point.
"My lady, I know you love to provide what help you can to the people, but I must still suggest an additional bodyguard, it's no secret that your ending of the slave trade has riled the Eight Fingers, and being out in public with only me to guard you may be dangerous." Climb said to her again.
And again she shot him down. "I understand, but I accept the risk." Renner answered, "You'll just have to work hard." She gave him a tiny smile that thrilled him to the core, and the matter was closed.
Within the hour a white and gold carriage large enough to hold eight comfortably, but holding only the two side by side in the interior, was being driven out into the heart of Re-Estize.
Across from the pair sat a chest full of copper coins and 'bread slip' papers. This took up the bulk of Princess Renner's allowance for the day, and Climb loved her for it.
Her route was almost always the same, and she stopped at the same place no matter what route she took. Climb knew the spot intimately well, the place she'd stopped when she'd found him.
He looked out of the little window of the carriage. The memory came rushing back as it always did. ' My Princess found me there, a little waif of a thing, barely more than a toddler, dying an unfortunate death in the cold, wet, uncared for, unmourned, and unloved. Until the angel beside me turned her face to mine.' Nursed back to health, given food, bathed, cleaned up, taught to read and write, dressed, and allowed to stay as a companion and servant. Climb's life now had purpose.
He was deep in those thoughts, while the Princess partially exited the carriage, and began to throw coins to the crowds that gathered expectantly.
Dirty, unwashed, filthy, foul smelling, grimy, ugly, crude, ignorant, wretched, abandoned, and hopeless. Climb knew that there was not a kind word to be said in high society about any of those the Princess turned her eyes toward. Most who had anything, preferred to ignore this segment of the population, which was most of them. Until the slave trade ended, they were the bulk of the ones being sold off, they were the bulk of the crime, and they were the bulk of the peasants snatched up and thrown to replace the population of any slaughtered village.
The smell they emitted hit him like an ocean wave in the middle of a storm, and there was no way the bathed and perfumed beautiful Renner didn't smell it either. Yet she didn't mock them, nor taunt them.
She tossed coins to those in the back, and handed them gently to those in the fore.
Climb knew his duty, and kept close to where she stood, the footman who held the door open and rode outside of the carriage was armed as well, a longsword hung from his belt, and he wore leather armor beneath his formal clothing.
As usual, it proved wholly unnecessary. A hunched old woman who was probably no more than thirty, held a gnarled and mutilated hand out, at her tattered dark cloak clung two small children that looked with awe up at the angel who gave their mother money. ' I wonder if their father is alive. I wonder if she even knows who the father is?' It could have been anyone really, prostitution was rampant, and it used up peasant women in their prime and spat them out into chewed up husks of their former selves. And that was if they were lucky, both voluntary and independent.
Eight Fingers brothels were hell houses, seldom raided, openly patronized, and in flagrant violation of the law.
The old woman didn't speak, Climb watched her face and wondered if she could, tears ran down her cheeks, and that said plenty. The Princess then added a bread slip to the few coins she gave to her, and the woman bowed as fast as she could, and her children with her, before someone else took her place.
The bread lines were one of the few ideas that had been generally accepted by the nobility as a way to reduce crime in general. Bread slips could be traded for free prepared bread, old food on the cusp of going bad, it proved a useful way for merchants with aging stock to clear the shelves by selling it to the crown to be given to the masses. Crime had dropped accordingly, but the population had also gone up as fewer people starved.
Subsequent attempts at finding work for them had all been blocked by the nobles. Something Renner acknowledged when the rabble spoke to her. "I give you what they give to me, if I could give you work, I would, but…" And she broke down crying before the masses every time.
Her sweet and bitter tears at their plight, and her constant visits to the poorest segments of the city had made her exceedingly popular, and made her the butt of more than one joke told in the private company of nobles… whenever Climb was not there to hear it.
Their time there was barely an hour, and when it was done, Renner held out the now empty chest to show her time was up. The crowd began to disburse, the footman closed the door, Renner sat beside her bodyguard, and the carriage rolled away.
At her side, she could feel his loving eyes, though she pretended otherwise. ' Climb! Yes! Look at me that way, my Climb! Mine! My precious Climb!' Every time she did this, he looked at her with such loving devotion, such total innocence, that was all she could do to keep from losing her mind to her passionate desire to possess him completely.
And yet she held back the desires of her mind that rampaged like wild horses, until she was alone in her room back at the palace, and could only stare at the mad face in the mirror until daydreams and desires could be brought completely to heel again.
Lupusregina stood with her hands on her hips over the struggling Ninya. The little brown haired girl was struggling because Lupusregina had a foot on Ninya's ass and was pinning her to the dirt. "Just because you're a magic caster, that doesn't mean you have a reason to have a weak body." She giggled a little until the brown haired girl stopped struggling.
Only then did Lupusregina let up her foot… only to give the girl a sharp kick to the flesh of her behind and send her tumbling over to land face up. "Why'd. You. Do. That. Lupu. I… I gave up." Ninya asked with her arms spread out. Her breath was rough, hard, desperately labored from the exertion.
"What do you think happens when you give up?" Lupusregina crossed her arms and walked over to the girl. "Giving up gives the winner the right to do whatever they want to you. And for a girl, that gets real ugly real fast. Or did you forget that?" The brutal truth hit Ninya like a hammer.
"R-Right, I won't forget again, but I am a magic caster, I don't know how to fight without magic!" Ninya stammered out without rising.
"First you learn to take a hit, then you learn how to avoid getting hit, and then you learn to hit back better than the other person." Lupusregina said, ticking off the three steps with her fingers, folding them into her fist, and then snapping her body down into a kneeling posture and bringing the closed fist down inches from Ninya's head.
The ground shook like an earthquake underneath her blow, and Ninya felt the icy tendrils of death's chill run over her body. ' That would have shattered my face into mush.' The sweet smile in the beautiful dark face seemed more menacing than ever, as the impossible cleric brought home the reality of her lessons.
Others were watching nearby, Brita aided with sword instruction along with Peter, while Lukrut and the goblins helped the newcomers. But it had all stopped when Lupu demanded a practice session with the little magic caster.
Ninya felt the eyes on her and the ears turned toward the advice of the adamantite ranked adventurer. ' So this is what it's like to learn from the peak… and to think I ever imagined I could become strong…' Ninya thought, despairing of her limited progress.
"I understand. I will train my body harder." Ninya closed her eyes so that she needn't see the promise of pain in the beautiful face, and gave her word. She felt the gentle tap of a palm on her cheek as she was patted there by the hand that shook the ground.
"Good girl, don't let me down, start every day with a four mile run and an hour practicing not getting hit, and when I get back, if you can avoid my hand on your ass, I'll praise you." Lupu said and stood up, putting her hands behind her head she looked around. "Anyone else want to try to wrestle with this lovely adventurer?" She giggled when there were no takers, and spun on her heel to walk primly away with a smile like that of the cat that swallowed the canary.
Her goal was Enri Emmott, the little minx was freshly bathed, but to Lupusregina's sharp werewolf senses, she still had the scent of sex coming off her body as if she had just moments ago stopped rolling in the sheets. ' Nfirea is more of a man than I thought, keeping up with this little cat in heat.' Lupusregina couldn't help but be amused by the whole affair, but she had a different reason to approach the woman, and it was Enri's own request.
At the village square, where the tables for Enri and her little council sat, there were only Enri and Lord Mare, who was helping her with land parceling at that moment.
"S-So y-you see, if y-you d-do it this way, you'll get much more f-food." He pointed to the way he'd drawn on a piece of paper.
It was profoundly counter intuitive to Enri, even Lupu could tell the blonde peasant was confused, but it was hard not to approve when the peasant girl scratched her head and answered Mare with, "I don't understand how, but if Lord Ainz says it, it must be right."
It clearly pleased Mare, who gave his usual nervous smile up to her. "R-Right!" He nodded his sharp featured head several times in rapid succession.
Lupusregina watched as the pair bantered back and forth, Enri seemed uncommonly comfortable with the little boy, her hand often going to his own or to his shoulder or arm. Her warmth towards him seemed both natural and genuine, and Mare didn't seem to mind it at all.
The battlemaid didn't have to wait long, a minute or two after she came to stand in front of the village chief, Enri said a warm, "Thank you, Lord Mare, I'm truly grateful for your advice. We'll do it how you say, then maybe we can begin to repay Lord Ainz for his kindness. But… do you think you could let him know about my concerns for the future, you know, the new villagers?"
"Y-Yes of course." Mare said, and then inclined his head toward Lupusregina before parting ways with Enri.
Lupusregina approached, "You two are getting along well." She said congenially.
"Of course, he works for Lord Ainz, therefore he's always correct and I should treat him as the honored guest he is. Insulting him would be like insulting our savior, and that won't even be considered." Enri said with an iron conviction that raised a red brow on Lupusregina's face.
She marked that down in Enri's favor in her own heart's ledger, and went on, "You wanted to see me?" Lupusregina asked.
"Yes, thank you, Lupu." Enri hung her head, "I want to beg Sir Momon's help… again. Our village is already poor because of our debt to Lord Ainz, but… I will give him anything he asks if he can help."
"With what?" Lupu asked, the arched red brow didn't come down.
Enri explained about the events surrounding the murder and the fugitive villagers that took place during Lupu's absence, and when she was done Enri fullyexplained what she wanted. "Sooner or later, they will get found out, I know some of the villagers are just hoping that nobody will notice. But I know we can't hide them forever. When that happens, the lord's lord will probably send people to come take them, and then we'll be in trouble for 'harboring' them."
"So, whattaya want?" Lupu asked, her yellow eyes boring into the distressed peasant chief.
"You're going to the capital, right… to get a reward? Ask… ask for us. Ask for Carne Village, if an adamantite adventurer becomes lord, it's possible that the whole thing will be swept under the rug to avoid fighting another noble. Nobody cares what happens to us, so nobody cares what happens when we're slaughtered…" Enri stood up so sharply that the chair she was in flew backwards and briefly scattered the dust into the air where it hit, she approached around the table and went down on both knees to Lupusregina and bowed her head.
She then went prostrate with her forehead into the dusty floor. "They'd think nothing of killing us all to avenge one dead lordling. But they probably won't want to fight another lord over the third son of a minor noble. Especially a lord who has the favor of the King and the Royal Head Warrior. Ask for this village, become our lord, and we'll be good servants. We still have to pay back Lord Ainz, but I'm sure a great man like Lord Momon would understand why we have to do this right here. I know we're not much of a reward, but please!" Enri's words tumbled out like raging river waters over a cliff, falling from her lips with the force of desperation.
"Please!" Enri said again with her eyes rising no higher than Lupusregina's boots, "Ask for lordship of Carne, and we'll be the best servants any lord can ask for! We'll grind ourselves into the dust to give him everything he could want…"
"Why not ask for this 'Lord Ainz' fellow? Didn't somebody say he'd helped out here before, and didn't a messenger come saying he was also invited to the capital?" Lupusregina tried her hardest not to laugh uproariously at the whole affair, and she was incomplete in her success, sounding only hesitant as if the prize of 'Carne' was worth less than what he was entitled to.
"He's wealthy beyond words, and he's already done so much, plus if he asks for the place he rescued it might make him look bad, so… I can't ask that. Please… it has to be Sir Momon, I know how little this place is, I do. But if it helps… I'll throw myself into the offer as… something other than a farmer." Enri flushed with embarrassment, grateful she was being left with space to speak privately to the adamantite ranked cleric.
Lupusregina took in the extent of Enri's offering for a long moment, and she was unable to resist. "Oh myyyy! You're so desperate you're sexually harassing me! Oh noooo, someone… !" Lupu clapped her hands together with fingers interlocked and held them to her cheek, tilting her head away and fluttering her eyes as if in distress.
Enri had felt herself about to weep a moment earlier, her love for Nfirea was such that offering herself, even for his sake, and even for that of the village, felt like a betrayal. But when Lupu melodramatically and mockingly turned it on its head and began to laugh, her urge to cry faded away.
Lupu's laughter was like birdsong, the adventurer was wearing a green and black slit skirt that exposed her powerful leg with every step, it was somehow beautiful and practical and made the powerful adventurer seem even more than she already was. But when the woman grabbed her own belly and doubled over in laughter, Enri could only think to stand up, put her hands on her hips, and look really, really embarrassed before starting to laugh with her.
"Damn it Lupu! I was being serious there!" She leaned forward to face the woman who mocked her, and Lupusregina finally began to wipe tears of laughter from her bright yellow eyes and straighten up.
"I know, and that's why it's so funny, don't worry, pervert girl. I'll ask Momon for you, my guess is he already has that in mind anyway, and I'll leave off your pervy offerings of a threesome between us," Lupu winked, and Enri turned several deeper shades of red.
"A threesome?!" Enri said much, much louder than she intended, and scores of heads snapped to face her.
She darted her face around, embarrassment multiplying a hundred fold, she yelped out, "Damn it Lupu!", and rushed back to her home, leaving a laughing Lupusregina behind her.
Volume 2 Chapter 6
When Ainz awoke it was to dreams of ecstasy, delights that sought to keep him in bed. A supreme desire clung to him the way a fog might engulf a landscape. ' Albedo.' He felt a rising hunger to embrace her, like the dream carried over into the waking moments.
It was accompanied by an overwhelming guilt. ' I damaged her. I can't take advantage of that.' He told himself, loathing and revulsion for his own urgent impulse to take the succubus was briefly all-consuming. It drove him to action, throwing on his clothing and dressed as 'Momon' again, he sent a message to Pandora's Actor. ' Disguise yourself as me, and visit the capital of Re-Estize. Wear an enchanted mask, and if asked to remove it, show a… suitable face.'
' My Lord!' Pandora's Actor acknowledged the command at once.
' Commit to nothing, offend no one. Learn everything. This is strictly an intelligence gathering operation for now… oh, and above all, ensure that the name Ainz Ooal Gown is elevated in the eyes of those who learn it!' Ainz added, keeping his instructions as generalized as possible.
' I will make you proud, father!' Pandora's Actor declared, in his mind's eyes, Ainz could practically see the dramatic gesture of the doppleganger.
Ainz killed the connection, intuitively he knew, ' I slept later than I intended, I'd better be careful about that and not venture here as often, they'll get suspicious if their 'undead master' spends long amounts of time here.'
He stepped through the gate that appeared in front of him, and vanished, appearing just outside of Carne, beyond the hill where he wouldn't be seen, and descended toward the village.
The fields were now in prime condition thanks to Mare's work, and more than that, the wooden walled core was now extended by a complex web of long stone walls that went out to the fields and surrounded even those. ' Enri's idea.' He guessed, the sheer stone walls were fifteen feet tall and even at a glance, wide enough for two or three men to stand abreast. The walls narrowed to a cart wide path that led back to the main gate of the village, providing a shockingly elaborate defense network for a little nothing of a village. ' There's no way they can man those walls, even I know that much.' Ainz thought as he walked toward the village. ' But it would deter the average bandit and keep farmers safe from average low level trash monsters, and if the place grows, perhaps it can be manned…' As he drew closer, the vision of Carne growing far beyond its village origins began to loom large in his mind. Sitting at the crossroads between the Slane Theocracy, E-Rantel, and the Baharuth Empire, even being within relative reach of Nazarick and from there, the mountain ranges to the north. Carne had only the wild untamed forest and the constant threat of war which made the place undesirable.
' But I'm taming the woods, and if I can bring peace… no, 'when' I bring peace.' The idea of using Carne as a capital for himself was appearing better and better. His inner salaryman recognized the value of the place as a potential trade hub, especially if it drew more powerful and important people to the place.
Enri's significance began to jump several levels in his mind, not least because of her own foresight evidenced by walls and fields prepared in advance of having the people needed to farm them.
The thinking was interrupted by shouting and cheers when his name went up from those manning the wooden walls and towers and was then carried within. Their champion, their 'local hero'. The one who bested two skeletal dragons before their eyes, had come back.
It was immediately clear that there were 'two' different groups of villagers there, those who swarmed him were local to the area and had seen his actions, others however, hung back and watched with impressed but otherwise indifferent eyes. He read their thoughts easily enough, ' Oh, another adventurer, that's nice but… what's the big deal?'
Enri awoke in Nfirea's arms to the sound of the adventurer's name being heralded all over the village. ' Just yesterday I was basically ready to throw myself at his feet… oh gods above, Lupu will never let me live that one down. I hope I can speak to him without blushing.' She thought as she got up and dressed. Nfirea was still sound asleep.
That was a point of pride that left a smirk on her face. ' He's very, very thoroughly worn out now.' She almost laughed about it before she left the room and then exited the little house.
Momon was disengaging himself from several peasants eager for the privilege of boasting about touching the armor of the adamantite adventurer, and Enri saw Lupu a few feet away from her door.
She caught the bright yellow eyes of the radiant redhead, and the cleric's perfect lips mouthed the words, 'Pervert girl'.
Enri could only blush, and oddly enough she felt herself set at ease by the taunt, watching Lupu approach Momon and chatting idly about the activity of the village since her arrival. Enri couldn't hear what was being said, but she saw Lupu pointing at her, and then doubled over laughing.
The blush on Enri's face only grew when she thought she saw the adventurer looking her up and down as a man instinctively looked a woman over. Enri could think of nothing to do, nothing to say, ' What if he took the idea seriously, we're desperate, I could hardly turn him down. I'm not as pretty as Lupu, and I guess he's sleeping with her, I mean, who wouldn't, but still, there's a lot to be said for the new and…'
She barely saw the world around her any longer as she tried to convince herself of… what, she didn't even know, She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't even notice that the black armored hero was in front of her until she heard him say her name as if he'd said it several times already.
"Enri?"
She gave her head a vigorous shake and looked up at him, his helmet was off to reveal the dark haired and sharp featured face of the hero.
"Oh, ah, yes, I'm sorry, Sir Momon, I was… distracted, by something." Enri stammered out the excuse.
"It's fine." Momon said to her in the rich voice of a man born to rule, "Lupu tells me of your request, and I accept, though I had no idea you were like that . Still Lupu is an adult woman and I wouldn't dream of coming between you two. Though you should talk to Nfirea first-"
He cut off his words when Enri whirled on Lupu who stood beside him with a cheshire smile. "Damn it, Lupu! What did you tell him?!"
"Was there some misunderstanding?" Enri heard Momon ask her and she turned to look up into his deep set eyes.
"Ah, yes, I'm afraid so. That isn't how things are, and ah, well, yes thank you… My Lord. When the village is yours, we'll be good servants, and work hard to enrich you." Her eyes blurred with the memory of terror when knights had come and killed her parents and nearly killed the little sister who still barely managed to sleep alone most evenings. "Just please… please protect us all."
"No force coming to threaten you, will ever enter this village unless it is bound by rope or chains." Momon's noble voice carried far beyond her, and where one ear heard it, one pair of lips repeated it, so that those who hadn't heard it, would know that safety had been secured.
Ainz turned his eyes down to the cleric who still wore her bemused expression, "Lupu, we're going, it's a long way to the capital."
"Of course, Momon." She said with a bounce in her voice, "See you soon, Enri, do have fun." Lupu said and gave a little wiggle of her fingers in place of a wave.
Enri watched the pair withdraw and began to wonder about the meaning of those words, ' I have a sudden sense that I should probably check the ground outside my bedroom window…' She thought to herself, and a wicked grin came over her face as she realized what she was almost certain to find. ' I'm sure I gave her one hell of a show, I wonder if I should tell Nfirea… or would that give him performance anxiety… or would that be 'enhancement'…' She wondered and licked her lips, feeling the heat rising in her body, he was asleep not far away, and there was one way she knew to wake him up that would 'definitely' prove enhancing. ' So I'm a pervert, so what? I'm a 'fun' pervert!' Enri grinned internally and sashayed toward the lover she wanted to wake up.
Tuare whimpered, her throat was torn and she couldn't scream anymore. That was bad, it meant getting hit again, her head snapped to one side and hung listless and unmoving. She couldn't see well. ' This is bad, this is very bad.' She saw double, two of her abuser instead of one. His fat body was heavy. ' I won't see soon, my eye will swell shut.' That was a relief at least, to not see was to have one less sense to suffer through.
The great weight of the obese mustached customer lifted and she saw the blurry vision of him standing up off the bed on which she lay. The sound of his bare feet on the stone and then felt his heavy, hot breath from his panting over her. Sweat slick hands were on her body, she felt herself being turned over, and then turned around so that her lower body was over the bed. Tuare whimpered again and tried to relax so that the inevitable wouldn't hurt as bad as the first time. Fat fumbling fingers were pulling her legs open. She hoped it would finish soon.
Pandora's Actor rode in luxury through the capital of Re-Estize, the black carriage of Nazarick was polished to a mirror shine, it clattered and bumped over the crude cobblestone that served as roads, leaving a 'shaky view' for the treasury guardian.
He didn't mind that, not much at least. But sitting erect on the red cushioned seating of the outrageously expensive onyx carriage, looking out the window as he was, he definitely did not care for the view. Shabby, rundown homes. Wooden construction barely fit to be called a shelter by a wild beast, the smell of raw sewage from trenches that were infrequently drained and frequently jammed, the city was coated in a stench of despair.
' Not a magical item to touch.' Pandora's Actor suppressed his distaste when he made his way through the winding streets, and little by little things started to improve. Houses became newer, solid wood, taverns that had patrons going in and out, were better lit. The patrons entering and leaving no longer darted their eyes around, on guard against getting ambushed after a few drinks. Then things grew even better, full shops with upper and lower floors came into view, the lower floors of red brick or gray stone.
Shopkeepers stood in doorways and street vendors became fewer in number, guards in chainmail became more common, though in pairs only.
Deeper into the city, the miasma lifted further, stone replaced brick and wood for full structures, groups of guards moved in tight formation, carriages and horses were bountiful. The rattle and clip clop sound of hooves over stone was accompanied by the chatter of well dressed people in custom tailored clothing going about their business.
Occasionally his sense for magical items began to go off and he detected enchantments here and there among passersby, nothing noteworthy caught his attention, but it was still a relief. ' It isn't the treasury, but… at least there are some for me to inspect.' Pandora's Actor made a mental note to peruse the more upper class shops in the noble district when time permitted.
His unfamiliar carriage, naturally eye catching to the familiar, was utterly jaw dropping in the eyes of those who had never seen it before. Playing his role to the hilt, Pandora's Actor sat by the window clad in his mask, rich dark robes with red trim and bright silver shoulderpads, his golden staff in hand, and held himself aloof.
Reaching the palace at long last, his black carriage rolled to a stop before some stiff backed guards. Atop the carriage, a simple homunculus footman descended. Dressed in formal black and white attire and designed with human idealized aesthetics in mind, he was almost as eye catching as the carriage itself. Somehow appearing relaxed despite the straight formal posture, his white gloved hand closed delicately around the onyx handle and without so much as a 'click' opened it to allow his passenger to exit.
Pandora's Actor immediately assessed the palace, made of many gray stones, it had numerous spires ascending to touch the blue sky above, each one rising to pin like points at a peak. The many towers were a testament to the wealth concentrated in that single building, and the power that went with it loomed like the shadow of a mountain over those who would dare enter. It was designed to make those who would come to meet with royalty, feel small and insignificant.
But to Pandora's Actor, the true son of Ainz Ooal Gown, the resident of the unconquerable Nazarick with all its marvels and wonders, these arrogant humans looked like children at play with castles of sand. It was nothing.
So he ascended the stairs of gray stone with his pride intact, the tapping of his staff sent shockwaves through the guards, a pair of them in full plate armor holding long halberds across their bodies and wearing long swords at their sides, reached for the red painted double doors at the same moment.
They pulled, and the doors groaned their objection, but gave way before the honored guest of King Ramposa.
A long red carpet led straight to the heart of the palace, on the walls were many paintings depicting the likenesses of the Kings and Queens of the past, and their many children. More morbidly, the golden wooden frames each had a little bronze plate at the center base of each one that indicated when a member of the family was born, ruled (if they had) and died.
The male members of the royal family were all square jawed and most were sharp eyed. Most of the men were posed atop horses in heroic mode, but others were poised and regal, some holding scepters or formal clothing, or seated in a chair surrounded by their families. They were mostly warrior looking men in their prime or later years just before time took the worst of tolls on them.
What struck Pandora's Actor most about it was the obviousness of their heritage, father to son, father to son, and continuing down the generations, all had strong features and a close family resemblance.
So it was, all the way to the last, where the painting of the current King Ramposa and his family showed something unique. The second son bore very little resemblance to his father. ' Curious.' Pandora's Actor considered, then turned his attention to the herald at the large double doors. A young boy in his teens, dressed in white doublet with a black vest, and though he had a short dagger at his side, his chief instrument was a long brass horn held at the ready, resting on his right shoulder and held in his right hand.
"Name, my lord?" The herald asked in the cracked voice of youth.
"I am Ainz Ooal Gown, here at the invitation of King Ramposa." Pandora's Actor answered.
The herald turned to the door, opened it, and then in a smooth motion born of abundant practice he brought the horn up to be held in his left hand as well as his right, brought the thin funnel end to his lips and blew.
A loud trumpeting announcement called the court's attention to the door, in a great mass, the dozens of courtiers ceased to converse and turned their eyes toward the noise.
"Announcing Ainz Ooal Gown! Guest of the King!" The herald proclaimed in a ringing voice.
Pandora's Actor approached with a slow, stately step befitting that of a noble or a king of his own domain, each step of his foot drew him closer, each flutter of his outrageously expensive cloak drew fresh critique, the staff tapped over the stone and was the only sound until he stood within courtesy distance of the king.
Ramposa sat on his throne, back straight and with a steady, serious look befitting a true king. At his right hand stood Gazef Stronoff, clad in enchanted armor and bearing a great sword at his side. Gazef was what you would say a man purpose built to be a warrior, was supposed to look like.
Pandora's Actor gave a slow and steady bow. "King Ramposa, as your herald stated, I am Ainz Ooal Gown, it is my honor to make your acquaintance."
Volume 2 Chapter 7
Sebas sat across from the elegantly dressed Solution Epsilon, a radiant smile on her face as she smoothed out the black and white fabric of her maid clothing. "So, 'Lord Tian', how much longer do you think it will be?' She asked and gazed out the window.
The roads of Arwintar were in excellent shape, even though they were made of cobblestone, which made the ride relatively smooth. The sky was clear and the sun high in the sky. Sebas had enjoyed the view through most of the city. While it was not 'Nazarick', the population of the bustling metropolis was open faced, confident, and energetic. ' People confident in their future.' He considered that to be the best way to think of them.
Predictably enough, based on what they'd learned from Nigun, there were a number of dark elf slaves seen working in various places, but not in great numbers, and even those seemed well fed and none appeared to bear marks of mutilation and they didn't carry themselves as if they were terrified of those around them. It made Sebas think more deeply about the Bloody Emperor, who was said to be a hammer to the nobility, and a warm blanket to the commoners. ' No mere brute, but a cunning mind who recognizes the value of the basis of his empire and his power.' It was reassuring, but it also kept Sebas mindful of the need for caution.
The carriage began to slow down and finally stopped. It was then that Sebas answered Solution's question. "Now." He said in the understated way he did that passed for a sense of humor.
"Then it's time for me to play my part." Solution pouted for only a moment when his 'almost jest' came at her expense. The polite and demure smile of a maid became her mask as she emerged from the golden carriage.
With small, light steps she descended soundlessly to the stone in front of their new manor, and held the door to allow the 'lord' to exit.
While the new carriage caught the eyes of passersby and many a well dressed figure stopped their horse or even carriage to get a look at who was moving into the empty estate, Sebas remained aloof. ' Be seen, but never be seen caring that you are seen.' His posture was that of the supreme gentleman, a formal suit with a pinstripe pattern, a cane of onyx with a white ivory head carved in the shape of a dragon's head. At his side, Solution appeared every inch the beautiful, demure maid. He walked toward the door with his back to the street, while Solution paced herself just a little faster to get the door for him when he reached it.
The manor was a combination of white stone and golden colored wood, all polished smooth,while stained glass windows caught the light of the sun and sent a cascade of colors into the many rooms. The estate had once belonged to a high ranking noble that made the mistake of engaging in a conspiracy against the emperor on his ascent to the throne. That foolish noble's head had been the first to be lost when the purges began of the old upper class.
Sebas recalled the head on a pike at the city gate, it had been well and truly picked clean of flesh, and Sebas couldn't help but wonder, ' Was this his home?'
It was a trivial question however, and he didn't indulge the pointless curiosity any further. The door shut behind him, and his superhuman senses told him that the world outside had begun to move normally again, however it would not be long before word spread.
"What did you learn about our neighbors, Solution?" Sebas asked as they gave themselves a tour of their estate.
Solution's face hardened in contempt, food was food, but stupid food was disgusting. "We have only one neighbor, the 'Furt' family, fallen nobles, mostly worthless trash, but the eldest daughter is an adventurer. The father is a fool, the mother is a fool, and their two youngest… who can say?"
"An adventurer?" Sebas asked, and Solution corrected herself.
"A 'worker' to be exact. The adventurer's guild is going through hard times here, so a great many have become workers to make ends meet." Solution said when they entered the dining hall. The estate was a thoroughly dusty place. Fine furnishings had been left as if they were just waiting for their owners to return, but left untended, and thick layers of dust that grated on both Sebas and Solution's nerves had accumulated.
"Good, so this will be fertile ground to find some test subjects for Lord Ainz. I think it won't be long before we've gotten what we need here. Not long at all. Now… until then, this place needs a thorough cleaning. Wouldn't you agree?" Sebas asked, dragging a white gloved hand over the redwood table and holding up a finger stained thick with gray dust.
Solution's maid instincts went into overdrive, she couldn't suppress her shudder of disgust. "I'll get started right away."
Sir Furt was chatting excitedly with his wife when Arche entered the room. Her eyes immediately scanned the room, ' He's usually this excited after he buys something, and the same for mother.' The eyes of her parents were always so frantic and fervent after a little 'shopping spree' and it troubled Arche's weary heart to no end. And yet… nothing new appeared in the room to burden her strained purse strings.
Her father was dressed in formal green clothing with a white ruffle coming down from the neck and protruding from a tan vest, his burnt umber pants hung down to the knees to meet high white socks that were covered with gold buckled black shoes. His blonde hair and thin mustache made him appear every inch the nobleman he no longer was.
Arche's mother was no better, clad in a brass colored top that came down over a long white dress that was obviously recently cleaned, the blonde woman still had a pretty face despite being old enough to have a working daughter. ' Leave them.' The words came to Arche's mind again. Tonight she would say them out loud, but that thought was driven away by the nature of the conversation she heard when she came closer.
"I don't know anything about him 'yet,' but he's surely wealthy beyond measure if he can afford the old Duke's estate!" Her father wrung his hands in the first hopeful sign Arche had seen. They were sweating.
' Maybe he does know we have a problem.' Arche was forced to admit, his face had become puffy and red, flushed with anticipation. She chose not to interrupt and let herself pick up on the topic.
"He only had a maid with him! That means he's surely unmarried, if we can only entice him, all our concerns will be over with!" Her father exclaimed, Arche felt the bottom fall out of her stomach when she began to understand.
Her mother turned a loving eye toward her eldest child, "Arche Eeb Rile Furt," Arche felt her heart race, her mother never said her full name except when there was a heavy subject to be brought up, "it's time we talk about your future ."
Born of noble society and educated to it from birth, Arche knew what that meant. ' Marriage.'
' I thought I didn't have to worry about that nonsense anymore. That was one of the good things about losing our title! Why are they bringing this up now!' Arche screamed inside her mind.
Sensing her dismay, her father cleared his throat and explained, "We have a new neighbor, he bought, or rented, the estate beside us. Nobody knows anything about him, but he must be tremendously wealthy and knowing that is enough by itself." His eyes almost bulged out of his head, "We 'must' make a positive impression on him, and by 'we' I especially mean you . It's time you did something worthwhile for this family-"
Arche's mind went white hot with anger to the point where she heard nothing else. ' Bastard! You selfish, selfish bastard! Me risking my ass is the only reason you're still eating every day! Do something?! Do something?! The best thing I could do is gut you here so I can save my sisters from your stupidity!'
The speech raged in her head so loudly that she wasn't even aware he'd finished speaking until her mother reached over and gently covered her daughter's trembling hand.
"If things were now as they were a year ago… you'd already be married or at least engaged." The silken voice of the family matriarch was almost pleading, though her father was oblivious as gold coins danced before his eyes in his own imagination, and the imaginary noise of their clinking drowned out the real words being spoken around him.
"No nobles will have a cast out family married into theirs, but this is a new man, he's older, and will not live forever. I caught a look at him, he was very handsome too, despite his age." Her mother's voice was rushed, almost frantic in its own way, her fingers closed over Arche's hand, the slight pressure a hint at her hopeless sense of urgency. Her mother's other hand formed a fist and covered her heart.
"Think of us, we're your parents… what will happen…?" Her mother's eyes filled with tears that she wouldn't allow to fall, Arche remained unmoved, her stare became hard at the woman who bore her.
"Think of your sisters. Our best hope is new money, nobles typically won't marry a newcomer, but… but… but new money needs ties, you don't move into an estate like these if you don't plan to stay. It means you have a chance, and maybe he'd take care of-" Her mother cut off her own frantic plea to convince her daughter when Arche's hand began to shake in her mother's hold.
"What if I'm not his type?" Arche objected, her short hair was not finely done, her clothing cheap even by worker standards, with a rose red shirt. Her tan boots came up to her thighs, and though by Arche's own estimation, her face was pretty and her blue eyes nice to look at, she knew quite well she was lacking the ample bust most men preferred. Her two copper staves fell from her unheld hand to land with a clatter on the floor after bouncing and then rolling off the edge of the table. ' I'd almost feel suspicious of someone attracted to me.' She taunted herself over her almost childlike appearance, only being of the proper height for her age saved her from being mistaken for a girl half her actual age.
"Then be his type!" Her mother hissed, "Do anything it takes, he has a beautiful maid, be polite and ignore it if he is obvious about sleeping with her, or anyone else… just so long as he marries you!" Her mother's words became a pleading whisper and the woman leaned forward.
A few feet away, her father was busy rebuilding the family legacy in his own head. "… why, with wealth again, we could buy back what was stolen from us, reenter noble society, and I could start making the fools who abandoned us, pay for it! Everyone will want the daughters of the Furt household, we can arrange marriages for our youngest, early, and then…"
Arche tuned him out again, her mother's own hand shook with fear, the opposite of being inspired by her husband's rants, neither could take it any longer and the pair of women stood up.
That caught Sir Furt's attention, "I'm going to prepare our daughter, please, don't mind us." Arche's mother said with haste, and seeing this as eminently sensible, he waved them off.
Arche didn't resist as her mother grabbed her arm, though she did pause long enough to bend down and pick up her staves before allowing herself to be taken away by the older woman.
Alone together in her room a few minutes later, Arche locked the door behind her and said what was on her mind. "Leave him."
Her mother stopped cold at the wardrobe of her daughter, hands still grasping at the smooth pearl covered handles. "What?"
"I said, leave him." Arche clutched her staff, "You're still young, still pretty, and you have noble bearing and education, you could become a merchant's wife and start over. There's a lot of new money in Arwintar now, you might not be a noble anymore, but he's destroying whatever we've got left." Arche's contempt for her father was thick as rising bread and, for once, it showed.
Her mother slowly let slip her hold on the handles of the highly expensive wardrobe and approached Arche. "I'm no better. I see things, I buy them, I like to pretend, the only difference between your father and I is that I know I'm pretending. He doesn't, not yet. I don't know why I can't stop, but it's all I can do anymore. He's not wrong, though. If you got a rich husband, you would be able to look after your sisters. You wouldn't have to risk your life in those dirty, dangerous jobs…"
"Mother… you can't be serious." Arche said, stupefied when her mother's soft, unworked hands went up to her daughter's cheeks, in an instant, the woman seemed to have aged thirty years.
"Arche, women don't have choices, we have duties . I'm failing in mine, and your father failed in his, but you've got a chance, you have a duty to your sisters, even more so than to me." Madam Furt laid it on thick, desperation was thicker in her veins than the blood that pumped through them, ' I have to make my daughter see!' She urged herself, "Sooner or later you'll not come home, then what do you think will happen? Our estate will be gone, and everything in it. Your father and I will be sold into slavery, I'll be a maid if I'm lucky, a prostitute if I'm not, your father has never done a hard day's work in his life, he'll die in a mine or on a farm. And your sisters… how long do you think those two little girls will last…?"
Arche hung her head. The world around her seemed to grow so dark that it threatened to swallow her up. "That doesn't change that I'm not likely to be his type."
"And that doesn't change my advice, become his type. Your tie to this city is a path to establishing himself, your old noble blood might not be a taint forever. Maybe the Bloody Emperor will die and the next one won't have his grudges." Madam Furt suggested the hopeful option with a wan smile, and all Arche could do was breath slowly in and out.
"I'll… mother… I'll meet him, if you can arrange it, I'll meet him. I'll… try. On one condition, and one condition only, I'll do my best." Arche said, and her mother's wan smile became a tiny frown.
"What is that?" She asked.
"That, if everything goes well, I be allowed to take my sisters with me, I don't trust them around father ." Arche said, adding polite emphasis to the word 'father' as if to say, "or you" without having to spell it out.
It didn't need to be said, Madam Furt hung her head in defeat, "Alright, Arche, alright. Do this for the family, and I'll let you take them with you. I'll convince your father it's for the best."
"It is for the best, mother ." Arche said with a chilly voice while her mother returned to the wardrobe to help pick out suitable clothing for her daughter, and, with that, Madam Furt did not argue.
Volume 2 Chapter 8
King Ramposa looked over the man who presented himself, Ainz Ooal Gown, the description given by Gazef definitely fit this man down to the last jot and tittle. Expensive robe, mask and all, plus a magnificent staff of twisting gold with gems in the mouths of coiled snakes. When one heard the words 'supreme magic caster', this was what they pictured.
The King chose to stand up, "You saved the life of a dearly treasured servant, and for that I am very grateful." Ramposa ignored the hushed babble when the King chose to stand to speak to the one who bowed to him.
The sharper nobles understood that it was precisely because Gazef himself had been rescued by the guest of the King. The less sharp thought they smelled weakness in the old man. The sharpest, such as Marquis Raeven, saw the old King reaching out across the divide to a new potential ally of great importance.
"A dearly treasured companion from long ago gave me words I never forgot. That helping the weak is only common sense. Your villagers were in danger and couldn't protect themselves, I did only what anyone with common sense would do." Pandora's Actor said, and slowly straightened up to meet the expression of the ruler of Re-Estize.
"A sentiment worthy of embracing, but a difficult one even in good times. You can't save everyone, after all." Prince Zanac said from where he stood a few feet away.
"Perhaps not, perhaps not. But I saved what I could, even if some were lost before I came. Isn't that how it always is?" Pandora's Actor asked, projecting his voice powerfully across the space between himself and the Prince.
"It is, and it is because of that, that I am alive at all. An entire scripture of the Theocracy driven off by one man is unheard of." Gazef said with equal force, openly praising the guest full of might, and the political winds within the hall shifted considerably.
"My magic may be potent, but my timing poor. I arrived well ahead of when I was invited, and I hope I may be forgiven for arriving without proper notice. If it requires more than a bowing of my head, tell me." Pandora's Actor then bowed his head to his host, and the King was quick to respond.
"Not at all, travel is often a dubious thing at best, all manner of things may get in the way, or everything may go smoothly, a few days or even a week is more than acceptable." There was no hint of disagreement in that, as every noble present had endured the challenges of weather, a sick horse, a bandit attack, or worse in slowing their travels.
However, what set them abuzz was the King's next words, "Just to show that there is no trouble, please, stay as the guest of my house. In my palace, I can afford you whatever servants you require and my most luxurious apartment for your use until the feast."
Pandora's Actor raised his head, "Thank you, King Ramposa, I accept your hospitality with gratitude. I do have a servant of my own who will be joining me shortly, I sent her ahead to acquire accommodations on my behalf, but… as you are offering your own generous hospitality, I will have her recalled at once."
"If… I may ask, Lord Gown, may we hear the full story of just how you defeated the Sunlight Scripture?" Marquis Raeven asked with the greatest of diplomatic tones. Of all the nobility, he alone took the question of magic seriously. And the word of a magic caster who could defeat an entire Slane Theocracy special unit was cause for great concern.
"In the simplest of terms, my magic was greater than theirs, and my bodyguard stronger than theirs." Pandora's Actor answered, "I could be more specific, but… and not to be rude, unless you have a great deal of education in the field of magic it would make no sense to you."
Eyes began to glaze over around him at the prospect of a lecture almost nobody cared about, but Raeven's were not among them, ' Power lies in his hands that he is not revealing, and that must be addressed.' the Marquis privately acknowledged, but he sensed the disinterest of the fools among the other noblemen and women. ' Later then.' He concluded.
The King seated himself again, and gestured to Gazef, "I'm sure you two have to catch up, why not take advantage of the moment, take him personally to a room, and we'll send his servant to him when she arrives."
"Of course, my King." Gazef said, turning to bow to his lord with an open hand pressed over his chest.
Gazef took long steps away from the throne and looking up slightly to the masked magic caster, he put a hand on the arm of his rescuer. "Please, come with me."
"As you wish, Gazef." Pandora's Actor said with the utmost courtesy, and the pair exited the throne room.
When they were alone, Gazef didn't delay himself in speaking. "Thank you for coming, Lord Gown." He didn't care that he had no idea if the honorific he used with the magic caster was accurate or not, in his own mind, Ainz was a Lord in nature and in power if not as a matter of law.
"You're welcome, but I admit, I get the feeling this is about more than proper thanks and a reward as a show of gratitude, am I wrong?" Pandora's Actor asked, and Gazef's dark skinned face showed a hint of shame in the way his jaw clenched.
"No, no you are not, but please, when we're in your room." He said with a whisper, and Pandora's Actor went silent.
The rest of the walk was silent except for the sound of their feet and Gazef's armor. The hallway was polished to a shine and reflected the natural light which the high windows allowed to filter into the hall. Paintings sat at intervals between the windows, all of which depicted Re-Estize, and the royal family in particular, in glorious moments throughout its centuries long history.
"Your country has a rich past." Pandora's Actor finally said, breaking the unhappy silence coming off of the Royal Head Warrior.
"Yes, yes it does, I love this country, and my King. We've survived great and terrible things, won our freedom from the Empire, and built something great." Gazef answered with a note of sadness as much as pride.
"Really, Re-Estize was once part of Baharuth?" Pandora's Actor asked as if he hadn't been more or less reading the warrior's mind.
"Yes, and we've had the same royal family since, but times are hard now." Gazef snapped his jaw shut after speaking, and held his tongue until at last they came to a door. "Here." He said, and reached for the brass handle. He opened it as a servant would and stood aside, allowing the magic caster to duck under the arched door frame and enter the room.
"Thank you." Pandora's Actor said, and Gazef entered after him, then closed the door.
"Times are hard, because our nobles are selfish bastards, they keep the King weak, and so keep us weak to the Empire. Our war every year is draining us of our wealth, our peasants die by the thousands and many harvests go uncollected because we have to pull them from the fields to go fight. You were right to ask what you did, we need help. Mighty help. Your help." Gazef spilled the words like they were milk in a tipped over milk pail.
Alone with the man that saved his life, Gazef went down to one knee and bowed his head. "You saved a village because they were weak, you said that was common sense to do. Please… Lord Gown. Help my kingdom the same way."
Pandora's Actor fell to silence, taking in the request, it was the crudest and most direct of actions, far from savvy political maneuvers that he sensed intended from most of the court. ' A warrior, direct, to the point, and without games… almost disappointing in a way, but honest.'
"That is… uncommonly direct. I admit I expected some attempt to harness my magic, but nothing so blatant as that." Pandora's Actor recalled his master's orders, ' Commit to nothing' .
Gazef did not raise his head when he answered, "I know, but I am a warrior, and my kingdom, my king, has no time for games. The annual war is going to take place in a matter of months, and when it does, thousands of my people will die, and thousands more will starve. Even though we will win, as we always do, we will lose as we always do. We will be weaker, they will be stronger, and my kingdom will be a step closer to total collapse."
The warrior tensed every rippling muscle, "I know it is shameful, but I must beg for your help a second time, despite my rank, I am still only a peasant. I can beg for this without disgracing my king."
"I will… consider your request. But you'll forgive me if I don't offer an immediate answer." Pandora's Actor said with a slow, even speech that was more than the warrior could reasonably ask.
"I can ask nothing more, hope is good enough for now, and it is more than I had this morning." Gazef said when he got up to his feet. "Thank you, Lord Gown." He added, and exited the room.
Demiurge was in his office going through the reports of the shadow demons that had been scattered to the four winds. The Slane Theocracy capital of Kami Miyako, the Baharuth Imperial capital of Arwintar, the Draconic Kingdom, the Roble Holy Kingdom, Re-Estize… ' It's such a big world and we have only so many shadow demons.' His lord's wisdom made a great deal of sense.
But finding worthwhile servants among insects was an ordeal at best, and even then, Nazarick still needed its defenses tested against 'forces' in this new world, which was only adding to his stress.
Albedo entered without knocking and sat down opposite himself, the two geniuses did not always agree, yet neither doubted the loyalty of the other, and the visit of someone whose mind could match his own was doubly welcome in times like this.
She postured herself in a maidenly way, her legs pressed together beneath her white dress, her hands demurely clasped and in her lap, and a sweet, girlish smile on her face. Her wings fluttered pleasantly, the state of her mood was beyond question.
"You're in a good mood today." Demiurge said, opening the conversation with the succubus and setting down the document in his hand.
"Well yes, I had the most wonderful dream the night our lord stayed in his room, it was strange, but… it was also wonderful. I can't wait to tell him about it when he comes back." Albedo answered with a shiver of delight.
"Yes… when he comes back… he hasn't spoken with you personally, has he?" Demiurge asked, his lips tensed with unhappiness.
"No, no he hasn't, he seems to be quite busy, but the waiting! Oh the waiting will be worth it!" She exclaimed, her yellow eyes wide and intense.
"Yes… I also miss his presence, but it troubles me that I can't see as deeply into his plans as I wish. I know he wants a rebellion in the Re-Estize Kingdom, and I know he wants to find a use for the lower life forms in the wider world. I would have suggested the Lizardmen, but they won't work well with the human nations. Plus they are very few." Demiurge tapped his finger on the desk as he struggled to grasp the depth of his master's intentions.
"I know, he just thinks so far ahead, I often don't know what I should do, he hasn't had us retaliate against the Slane Theocracy, only continue to pump Nigun and the others for information. It's very difficult not to accidentally kill such weak beings." She rolled her eyes, "Worms. But at least he's found a place for some of them."
"You're referring to Carne Village?" Demiurge asked, and Albedo nodded in answer.
"Yes, we can conduct all kinds of experiments there, cohabitation between lesser races, military exercises, strengthening weaker fighters to prepare them to fight for our Lord… and that pharmacist seems to have an aptitude for his work as well."
"Not to mention talents, Ninya learns twice as fast as a common caster, the boy Nfirea can use any item without restriction, and there are clearly more, some of which may be extremely useful." Demiurge added.
"Is that what you're hoping to find in Baharuth?" Albedo asked.
"Yes, they and the Slane Theocracy are advanced in magic, as far as this world goes, but we need to know so much more before we can truly 'emerge'." The Archdevil let out a deep sigh from his long face.
"I assume that is why Lord Ainz has stayed away for so long, he's saving us inadequate servants the shame of failing him, and yet… I can't put my finger on it, something else is profoundly different." Albedo said with a tentative air and tightened her fingers grip on one another with self induced annoyance.
"Different?" Demiurge arched a brow. "How?"
"Cocytus is aloof, Lupusregina has, with one exception, remained even closer to our master than before, if I am reading her own reports accurately. Sebas chose 'Solution' to take to Arwintar, she blends well, she is a gifted assassin, but she hates humans, and so being around them is profoundly uncomfortable. A better choice would have been Aureole Omega, or Yuri Alpha. So why Solution? He had to know she was suboptimal for this, and yet he chose her anyway and has not answered except to say, 'It is what is best.' over and over."
Albedo clenched her jaw, "If my lord is having his way with Lupusregina and they know about it… that is his right, but… what is wrong with me ?!" Albedo shot her hand up and put it over her heaving breast. Her happiness melting away beneath the stress of rising concerns that she had not yet given voice to until that moment.
"Are they aware and staying back to avoid letting it slip?" Albedo asked and stared intently at Demiurge, the most cunning and far thinking of the Guardians, and aware of her own potential for self bias, she desperately sought his counsel.
"No… No, I don't think so. Have you spoken to Shalltear about this?" Demiurge's brow furrowed. The 'other' candidate for wife to The One Who Stayed, she was as fanatical as Albedo in her own way.
"No, I sent her out to search for a talented swordsman that was rumored to exist with a group of bandits east of E-Rantel. Supposedly he has considerable skills and was only ever defeated by the Royal Head Warrior. He might prove useful to us if he is properly tamed." Albedo explained, and at that Demiurge could only offer silent agreement.
"Excellent, even a common stone can have a use to the right craftsman." Demiurge suggested, and then added, "Don't spend too much time worrying about Lord Ainz and Lupusregina, I'm sure she's just cautious because of their situation, and the others likely just concerned with their own performance of their first outside missions." Demiurge said, hoping to allay her fears.
"You're right," Albedo said, her smile slowly returning, "I'm being silly, thank you for your words of confidence, Demiurge, I'll be visiting my Lord's room, and I'll be there for the rest of the day… and night. Let me know if anything of importance happens."
"I will, just… don't take it too far." He said, recalling the shockingly well made body pillow of their master.
She laughed when she stood up, then asked, "Demiurge, when do I ever overdo anything ?"
' I wonder.' Demiurge reflected, but said nothing as she left the room, and went back to his reports.
Albedo made her way to her master's room a short while later, her Ainz pillow clung tightly under one arm, and opened the door.
Before the door even shut, she knew something was different. She raised her chin and sniffed the air, a musk was present, an unfamiliar musk, like someone else had been in the room. Someone male. The pheromones were exceptionally strong. She reverentially laid the pillow upright against the wall and followed the pheromones over to the bed, she went down to her knees and pressed her nose to the sheets. Her own powerful succubus scent was still detectable, her faint spray of perfume was to be expected.
But what was not, was what else she found. The masculine musk was flooding her nethers with desire, hunger, wanton and reckless beyond all reason, and she followed it from the foot of the bed, to where a tall man's crotch would have been, and then all the way up to the head.
The height was perfect, the scent wasn't of bone, but of flesh, and the way her body was responding, with trembling desire on a whole other level…
With the utmost devotion she rose, placed a delicate hand of impossible strength down on the place where a heart would have been beating, and Albedo felt a smile begin to form.
Volume 2 Chapter 9
Pandora's Actor, one of the three great geniuses of Nazarick, sat down at nearby table as soon as he was alone again. Next to the table there was a shelf full of books. ' A lot can be learned about a people by what they write.' He mused and took one up at random.
"The Beggar Prince…" He read the title and flipped through the pages inside, immediately grateful he'd taken a few hours to learn the written language of the region. ' They have a hideous written language, like scribbled spiderwebs. The Supreme Beings had a much prettier one.' He judged, and went through the text. The fact that misfortune and nobility were featured so prominently within it was telling as to the state of affairs. ' Clearly it found an audience here.' Pandora's Actor thought and after flipping through the pages, picked up another.
He immediately regretted it. ' Why would a human be so lustful for a lizardwoman maid?! I'm visiting a nation of perverts.'
He immediately set the book back on the shelf, and a moment later a knock prevented him from reaching for another.
"Come in!" Pandora's Actor invited, and a beautiful young woman cracked the door and slipped within. He knew the woman immediately. ' Princess Renner.'
She was wearing a flowing blue dress that formed a bell shape below her waist, white ruffles ran up the long sleeves and curved down under her small, supple bosom. Her hair hung loose down behind her head and bounced lightly with every step she took. When she was a few feet away, she hiked up her dress, went down to her knees, and went prostrate before him as if Pandora's Actor were her master.
"Your Majesty, Lord Demiurge informed me of your coming. I'm ready to accept your orders, all I ask is a life with my puppy, for that, I will work to give my entire kingdom into your power." Renner said with breathless hope. She could feel the power crackling around the monster of a being in front of her.
Though Renner had no sense for magic, she had one advantage that no talent could replicate. Supreme intellect. Lord Demiurge was unbeatable, Lord Ainz was his master. There was no way to survive but to surrender completely. ' Father, my brothers, they're such fools. They would fight on principle and preserve nothing at all.' She suppressed the contempt for them that she felt rising up, lest it be mistaken in his direction if it was noticed at all.
Pandora's Actor made a simple gesture with his hand, "Raise your head, servant." He ordered and played his father's part. When she obeyed, he pressed her with a question. "Who will come to me first? The nobles, or the Royals?"
"The nobles won't at all, master. I made sure that I mocked the use of mere magic as parlor tricks and let the maids overhear that the Scripture was overrated. They already hold Gazef in contempt so they won't give weight to his rescue. Only the Marquis Raeven, my father, and my brother Zanac are likely visitors."
"Well done, servant, well done. Are there no nobles you want to preserve at all?" Pandora's Actor asked, he leaned forward and removed his mask, showing a chiseled human face somewhat older than middle years, but full of dignity and with sharp, piercing eyes that threatened to look into Renner's husk of a soul.
She felt herself pierced by the dread gaze, but there was only one answer. "None, though I don't dislike Zanac, he is nice to my puppy. But Barbro… if you could make him suffer, I would be grateful."
"Your oldest brother?" Pandora's Actor asked rhetorically.
She nodded with wild, rapid eagerness. "Years ago, when I was little. Barbro insulted me, and my puppy attacked him to protect me. So he had my puppy beaten up. I. Hate. Him." Renner hissed with her beautiful blue eyes narrowed to slits, "Make him pay, make him suffer, make him scream, bleed, and cry for mercy. No one touches my Climb, my Climb, nobody mocks my precious, precious Climb…" Renner's hushed tones were accompanied by a body that shook with rage that had not abated even slightly with the passage of time, and it only stopped when Pandora's Actor spoke.
"You already set him on his course to this, didn't you, servant?" It was a rhetorical question, but she answered it.
Renner's cruel smile seemed oddly well fitted to her radiant face, her ocean blue eyes glazed over and the smile took up only one side, her head cocked a little, and a little laugh preceded her words. "Yes, master. Barbro left a few days ago with two thousand soldiers. He'll do what he does best… behave like a stupid brute, make everybody hate him, and then…"
"Good. Very good, servant. As promised by my servant, Demiurge, you will have a life with your puppy. It remains to be seen if that life is on the throne of Re-Estize, or a little cottage somewhere far from power. But you don't care about which, do you?" Pandora's Actor asked, and she violently shook her head in denial.
"If I have my Climb… I don't care about anything else, master." Renner replied with fanatical devotion to her dreams. "Take my kingdom, make it yours, make it ashes, make it golden, only give me my Climb as I can never have him now… and I am your servant forever." She lowered herself again and prostrated before the magic caster who defied reality, and pressed her forehead to the top of his shoe.
As if to reassure her, she felt the wave of power crash down on her, it hit her back almost like a mountain, the entire room seemed to rumble and shake, and yet the Golden Princess felt no fear, the brief shock of pain was gone almost immediately, and the power was more like the comforting press of a weighted blanket. ' He is a god, and this is his covenant, his promise to me.' She understood the wordless display, and it was all she could do not to weep with joy when she was allowed to rise again and depart.
Ainz sat on the horse and looked over the walls of the capital. "Momon, is something wrong?" Lupusregina asked, tilting her head back to look up at him. His helmet was off for the moment, and that kept the radiant smile on the werewolf battlemaid.
"Nothing." Ainz answered, but the truth was, it was still surreal. ' So damned military… so 'real'.' The easiest thing to accept had been the world at large not being a miserable poisoned mess, however staring at the great high walls of the capital of Re-Estize, he could not help but be reminded of the dark shadow that was cast over everything. The ever present threat of war, destruction, and worse.
Along the way, he made a point of passing through the route taken by the former adventuring team 'The Swords of Darkness' and found just what he expected. A village empty of life. The houses were already inhabited by animals, the bloody dirt where Philip had been beaten to death had turned to dust, and blown away before Ainz' coming. However, the emptiness was a stark reminder that terror ruled the lives of the peasant class.
The gray wall, which Ainz was now craning his neck back so he could see the top, with its armored soldiers patrolling and stationary soldiers on the watch, was just another element of the same thing. The converse to the abandoned village, or the burnt out husk of homes that still lingered in Carne when half the village had been exterminated.
' This world is on the same path as mine, centuries behind, perhaps millenia, but it's on the same road…' He recognized what no one else could, the horrors that lay ahead. That was as unreal, as it was unthinkable. ' If I were still undead, what would that mean to me? Nothing? Or would I think the same as I do now?' That in and of itself was troubling, the extremes of emotion were kept under tight reign, but he still felt 'himself' in a strange sort of way.
"Momon?" Lupusregina asked again, her voice small and uncertain, the radiant smile replaced by the biting of her lower lip and a deceptively delicate looking hand that reached from where she sat on her high, reddish brown horse, to touch his forearm just above his hands.
He tightened his grip on the reins of his dark horse and clenched his jaw. ' I've worried her. Oops.' He turned his eyes down toward her and away from the wall, and gave her a reassuring little smile. "It's fine, I was just thinking of something personal."
Lupusregina removed her hand from his forearm and tapped her nose twice in rapid succession with her pointer finger, and tilted her head to give him a more pleasant smile again.
Ainz wasn't quite sure what to make of the gesture, and eager to keep any awkwardness at bay, he gave a crisp command, "Come on, let's go." He then lightly tapped the spurs against the horse, and it cantered toward the gate.
The gate to the city was wide enough for twelve horses to pass abreast, however the guard at the city gate took a very practical approach to order and set up four 'fence' segments that took the number of entries down from a potential of twelve, to four. The wooden posts sat in holes and had long horizontal wooden poles shoved through from a front pole to a back pole, and so kept people from jumping ranks.
However, a 'VIP' line appeared to be an option, an underutilized line that had a sign in front of it. On the sign was painted a gold coin, and below the coin, an adamantite plate. "We could use that one, couldn't we, Momon?" Lupusregina asked, pointing it out.
"Yes, but Axel has a reputation to maintain. So we won't set ourselves above others." Ainz replied, and got into line behind twenty or thirty other peasants, most of whom entered empty handed, and a few of which had cheap packs or rolls slung over their backs. The special line was short, and those who entered passed off a gold coin to a trio of guards who simply slipped it into a box, wrote down a name and amount, and let them pass.
It took some time to reach the front, and when they did, the guards, a somewhat lax group, immediately stiffened. Ainz already stood a head and a half taller than most, and his thick onyx shaded armor gave him even greater height, then atop the high black percheron, he may as well have been a giant among dwarves.
Lupusregina tried hard not to laugh, her long red hair hung down in waving braids that bounced as she cantered her horse beside her master. "Team Axel, adamantite adventurers. I am Momon, and this," he gestured to Lupusregina at his left hand, "is my partner, Lupu."
She shot out her hand and made a V for victory with her fore and middle fingers, and gave them a winning smile while she imagined peeling their skin.
Their mouths opened and closed without words for several seconds until Ainz asked, "Is there a problem?" As if there might have been.
"Ah, no… no! Of course not, ah, Sir Momon! Yes, at once, please enjoy the city!" The guard who obliviously blocked the way squeaked out the string of sentences in rapid succession and stood aside.
"Which way to the adventurer's guild here, I should check in with my colleagues in Re-Estize as a courtesy at least." Ainz asked, placing his helmet on his head again.
The guard shifted his feet and scratched his cheek with rapid, almost frantic motions as he struggled for an answer. "Ah, merchant district… not sure 'exactly' where but it's probably in the square…"
"Thank you." Ainz answered, and spurred his horse forward again.
Lupusregina did the same a hair later, and they were within. "What do you think of this city?" Ainz asked while he looked around at the squalor.
Lupusregina put her two fingers up to her nose and closed them over her nostrils. "It smells. The city needs a bath."
It needed far more than that. Half rotted barrels sat beside the few sturdy buildings, shunted into alleys, and they were overflowing with garbage that was picked through by dirty, underfed children and adults alike. The hollow, sunken eyes of the waif thin sticks that passed for humans looked at him as if he were some strange creature, while others looked at him with envy or hatred. Others looked at him like he might have something worth stealing, but with the twin greatswords on his back and with his considerable size, those chose to give him a wide berth and withdrew into the shadows of their alleys.
"Lupu, what are your thoughts?" Ainz asked while they rounded a corner where a once intact fountain had so long ago ceased flowing that it had now become a dump for trash. Broken barrels, moldy sacks, broken bottles, and people who had either passed out drunk, died, or both were all lumped in what had held the vanished water.
Lupu watched a dagger wielding man with a cruel snarl on his pock marked patchy bearded face withdraw under her withering gaze of contempt, when he was gone, she looked up over at her lord and answered. "Carne had toys I was starting to like. This place doesn't."
From the smiling sadist who wanted nothing more than to see the suffering of those she actually liked, it was a withering criticism.
Ainz wasn't about to argue with the sentiment. ' A people in decline. They see no future for themselves and, for now at least, they're not wrong. Still, they do have abundant human resources here.'
The city did improve as they went farther and farther into the interior. Eventually reaching the merchant district. The buildings were in far better shape, and the hurried shuffle of those eager to be out of sight gave way to people taking a more leisurely approach to life. Beards became neatly trimmed, clothing clean, the smell abated even if it didn't vanish completely. Near the center of the merchant district there sat, true to the statement of the guard, a large fountain in the midst of an open square with intact streets around it.
A quick question from a passerby who stared openly at the adamantite plates Ainz and Lupusregina wore, and they found the adventurer's guild.
AN: Enjoying? Consider supporting me on patr e on. My page is /tellingstories
That's how I take the time off work to write. Don't worry if you can't. I'm happy you're reading. That's plenty, but if you can, then I can write more. Plus, yes I offer perks.
I'll be posting another chapter tomorrow… BUT…
I'll be busy for a few days after that, so won't likely have time to upload more till I get back. Be patient.
Volume 2 Chapter 10
"So that's the case, is it?" Sebas asked the shadow demon rhetorically.
"Yes." The mouthless shade said after it finished explaining the situation.
Sebas reached up with his left hand and stroked his chin, "Thank you, go and resume your explorations."
"At onccccce." It answered, and then in an eyeblink it was gone.
The shadow demon was entirely right, that evening Solution approached Sebas in the study of the manor and extended her hand to him. In her hand was a small cream white scroll made of silk. A decadent and wasteful use of expensive material, if ever Sebas had seen one. ' They're trying very hard to impress before we even meet.' He thought and slid the white silk bow off of the document.
Unrolling the silk, he put on a set of glasses that would allow him to read the local language. True to expectation, it was an invitation to dinner at 'the house of Furt'.
"Flies to honey?" Solution asked with a disdainful smirk on her face.
"Yes, this should do." Sebas answered and slowly rose to his feet.
"Will you send a formal response?" Solution asked, her eyes unconsciously darted in the direction of the house of Furt, as if eager to devour those who lived within.
"No, let them sweat." Sebas replied, "But I will get ready to go."
This caused Solution to give him a brief double take, "That doesn't sound like you." She expressed her opinion, and Sebas turned to look her way.
"I am a servant of my lord, first . If setting them on edge makes my task more likely to succeed, then I will set them on edge. My loyalty is absolute, all else is secondary. You should know that, Solution." Sebas answered in a voice of iron.
She looked away, briefly ashamed of herself for questioning the loyalty of a created being. "You're right. Forgive my doubts. I mistook your…" she briefly choked on the word, "' Kindness' for disloyalty. I will not make that mistake a second time."
"See that you don't." Sebas said more evenly, "Lord Demiurge seeks the path of greatest harm because it pleases him, so he was designed by Lord Ulbert. I seek the path of greatest kindness, so I was designed by Lord Touch Me. Both of us serve Nazarick first, if we have to oppose our own wishes to succeed for our master, we will . That is all, Solution. Resume your work, even as skilled a maid as you can't be completely finished with this manor yet."
Solution accepted the harsh critique and inclined her head to the head butler. The stern reminder was sufficient, and she left to resume the war against the dust.
"Where is he!" Sir Furt growled and hunched over, he tugged at his hair. He hunched over so far that his forehead almost touched the dinner table. "This is the House of Furt! We're a noble family whose legacy stretches back to the dawn of the Baharuth Empire! An invitation here should be beyond honored!" He said with bulbous eyes that bugged out of his head.
At his side, Madam Furt put a hand on his thigh. "Now dear, he may be of foreign nobility, and being fashionably late is to be expected." She replied, but there was a squeaky catch to her own voice that betrayed her own anxious nerves, her eyes darted over to her daughter and looked Arche up and down again as if appraising whether the offered gift was good enough.
Arche did her best not to shudder, it was not an unfamiliar look. Her short hair was combed clean, and her dress tight to show off her youthful figure, though to a small degree of embarrassment, her bust was deemphasized in favor of her contours. Her mother's words rang in her head, ' We have duties.'
At her left and right side, Kuuderika and Ureirika were subdued, they wore flowing childish clothing of golden silk, a contrast to Arche's virginal white with its vibrant red ruffles that ran in patterns that came to a peak at her breasts, concealing her relative smallness.
"Everything will be fine, mother, father, just fine." Arche spoke to her parents, but her hands beneath the table went to the uncomfortably shifting subdued sisters. ' I'm responsible for them, I have to save them from that blistering idiot. House of Furt, what a joke! What a joke! What a joke! What a joke! We're nothing now, but he's acting like we're just back from the Bloody Emperor's palace.' Bitter frustration ripped through Arche's body like a blade she recalled being stabbed by during a quest. It tore through her arm and came out the other side, and stayed lodged there till the end of the fight when Hekkeran pulled it free and Roberdyck healed the wound.
She recalled the way her body had shaken from the pain, and gentle hands embraced her. ' This will hurt, but not for long.' Hekkeran's promise had proved true in both parts, her yowl of pain as the hobgoblin's sword when withdrawn had been accompanied by her own body's response to fear, and then the warm healing light from a warm, chubby faced Roberdyck had eased it all.
This moment at the table of her fallen house with a foolish father and a desperate mother and two oblivious but anxious little girls filled her with the same dread and trembling as the sword being pulled out of her body. ' This is like the calm before a battle.' Arche thought, and then every head turned when their head butler entered.
A stiff, formal man with graying hair, he had served the Furt house since Sir Furt's father had been the family head. Though he always kept his own thoughts to himself, Arche had seen his eyes linger on her father's back more than once. ' He wishes grandfather were still in charge.' Or so Arche believed, and more than once she herself had thought that if that were the case, they wouldn't be worse off.
"Announcing Lord Sebas Tian." The butler's dignified ringing voice carried to the table, and Sir Furt immediately composed himself, giving a light tug on the green vest he wore and clearing his throat.
The waif thin old butler stepped aside, and Arche got her first look at the man she was supposed to seduce. ' Old enough to be my grandfather.' She saw that immediately, and yet the old man might as well have been carved out of steel, wearing a richly embroidered shirt of golden thread patterns that seemed to follow muscle contours on a solid ruby fabric, he was the epitome of high fashion. His white beard neatly trimmed and full around a square jaw, he had a distinguished air about him that screamed noble ancestry.
"Thank you for having me." Sebas said inclining his head politely as the butler saw him to a seat near Arche.
"It's our pleasure to have our neighbor as the guest of the n- ancient house of Furt." Her father said with such politeness that Arche could be forgiven for forgetting the frantic state he was in only minutes earlier.
He extended his hand out across the table to each of the trio in turn, "This is my wife, Madam Furt, and my daughters, Kuuderika, Ureirika, and their oldest sister, Arche."
The women at the table, down to the youngest two, stood as they were introduced and curtseyed to their esteemed guest before reseating themselves properly on the dark wooden seats.
The first course was wheeled out and silver trays laid down in the center of the table between the hosts and their guest. The server began to quietly ladle soup into small silver bowls while Sir Furt ignored her to speak to his visitor. Conversation danced around inanities about the capital, politics, and other matters for some time before at last the broke noble turned the subject to Sebas. "So, Lord Tian, where do you come from?"
"A far off country, unknown here, in search of 'fresh opportunities' which I have thankfully found in abundance." Sebas said in such a way that Sir Furt was immediately interested.
"I see, well the Empire is rich in opportunities for those with the… right connections, and the right names." Sir Furt replied with a clever little smile adorning his slender face.
' Subtle he is not.' Sebas noted. "Of course you're right, the right name can be worth more than gold itself."
"So true." Madam Furt said with a flash of pearl white teeth when she smiled and placed a hand on her husband's wrist. A delicate, subtle gesture.
"Was your wife unable to join you today, Lord Tian?" Madam Furt asked, keeping the hopeful edge from her voice.
"That would have been quite impossible." Sebas said with a cool, dry voice, and the older couple felt the bottom fall out of their box of hopes.
"Oh, is she… ill?" Madam Furt asked.
Sebas gave a teasing little understated smile in return, "No, she doesn't exist. I never married." He replied, and with their sudden hopes restored, the table let out loud laughs.
The little ones giggled uproariously, unable to understand the joke, they were nonetheless charming in their own way. "So, are you rich?" Kuuderika asked with a big smile on her face.
"Kuuderika, that's rude." Arche said and rapped her sister lightly on the knuckles with her palm.
Sebas laughed when the little girl's lower lip trembled. He reached out and patted her head with an affectionate, forgiving gesture, and she immediately calmed. Sir and Madam Furt looked briefly aghast at their overly direct young daughter, and Sebas politely waved it away.
"It's fine, that's not the normal sort of question but, children are quite direct, aren't they. No guile at all." Sebas gave the parents an indulgent, forgiving look.
Then he looked down at the tiny girl next to him and answered, "Yes, yes I'm very, very rich, why do you ask?"
"Ah, it's getting late, isn't it? They should get to sleep." Arche said, shooting up to her feet with such force that she had to catch the chair before it could topple over.
"You won't have your servant attend to that?" Sebas asked, and Arche froze, like finding an unexpected monster after having believed she'd cleared a dungeon, it was a mistake.
Madam Furt however, jumped in, "My daughter has a deep love for children, and her sisters are very attached to her, it may be improper, but… perhaps there are worse things for a woman to feel for children, before she becomes a mother herself."
' Far, far more subtle than her father.' Sebas privately praised the woman whose subtle touches and guided words were clearly meant to direct his attention to the eligibility of their eldest child and the usefulness of the Furt name.
"I suppose that's true." He admitted and recalled the way Lady Bukubukuchagama fawned over her creations. "I have to admit, I am a little curious, having never seen a noble heir take care of children herself. Though I suppose it wouldn't be proper of a guest to go unescorted with the daughter of an esteemed house." Sebas chuckled as if it was a joke, but the more crudely minded Sir Furt waved the matter off.
"Not at all. You're a guest, anything we can do to make your time with us pleasant, is an option." Arche turned away while holding her sisters' hands, desperate to hide her blush at the implied offering of her that her father made.
' I have to get these two away from him.' Arche felt herself near tears within, what he would do with her, he would do with them, ' What wouldn't he trade for money or power?' She asked, and did not like that she couldn't think of an answer.
However she kept that to herself as she took tiny hands into her own. Her sisters' palms were soft as velvet, while her own were hard as leather turned into armor. ' How am I supposed to seduce a man like this?' Arche had no answer to that either, but as she led the mewling little pair away, Sebas fell into step nearby.
The hall was a little dustier than Sebas expected, but he let that pass unremarked upon as rude to say. Arche however, didn't let it pass when she sensed his appraising look over the manor. "We have cut back on our staff lately." She explained when they reached a golden door.
"I see." Sebas answered when Arche released her hold on Kuuderika and opened the door with the little 'click' noise of the catch being withdrawn with the turn of the knob.
She entered with the twins and took them straight to a large bed. "They have their own rooms but…" She shrugged, "they like to be together."
"I know a pair of twin children, they're the same way." Sebas said with a brief reserved chuckle when he thought about Aura and Mare.
Arche picked Kuuderika up in both hands and flopped her onto the bed. Then did the same with Ureirika. The pair bounced up and down on the soft fluff, "Be careful, the monsters are coming!" Arche said in a mock threatening voice. The twins immediately snatched each other's hands and began a loud, fake snoring noise.
Sebas cocked his head, ' Asleep in their regular clothes?' The unspoken question found an answer in a rolling of Arche's eyes, and she pointed to the door.
She walked out with the stealth that you'd expect of an experienced adventurer, and when Sebas followed, she gently closed the door. "In a few hours, they'll 'wake up' and pretend to have forgotten to change, and come to my room. They'll make up excuses to keep spending time with me, then I'll change them into their night clothes and 'then' they'll finally go to sleep." Arche's eyes rolled again. "It's absurd, I know, but-" She snapped her lips shut.
"But?" Sebas asked.
"Can I… give you a tour of my home, Lord Tian?" Arche asked with a demure downward glance.
"Please do." He answered and waved toward the long hall away from the direction they'd come.
Arche took the lead, and when she did, she began to roll her hips with every step. Sebas recognized what it was immediately. ' Lady Albedo does it often enough. Though 'far' more effectively.' Compared to the level one hundred succubus, Arche's effort at a seductive walk was clumsy as a chimp. Her steps were too far forward and threw off the rolling motion meant to draw a man's eye. She was clearly uncomfortable with the heels she wore that had disguised her short height, everything about her was in conflict.
But Arche was obviously trying.
"This is the library." She said when they entered the room, and immediately kicked herself for a fool for showing him. Some of the shelves were empty, and dust was obvious.
"It isn't used?" Sebas asked. The large windows that were meant to let light in, revealed a bright night sky outside and an empty city street partially obscured by a low stone wall that kept the estate of the Furt house apart from the rabble and roads.
"Ah, well my father says we should invest in things that show our nobility, and so he began selling off the oldest tomes a long time ago, while I was at school." Arche said with a flush to her face.
The long open room was full of shelves, and at a glance Sebas could tell it had not been properly dusted in months or more, there were chairs of wood with cushy red velvet sewn into the seating and backs, and those were hidden beneath a layer of dust illuminated by glowstones emplaced along the walls that betrayed the abandonment of this part of the home.
"I see." Sebas answered and looked down at her.
Arche felt the look on the back of her head, and felt much like a child in trouble, she wrung her hands in front of her waist. "You disagree?" Sebas asked.
"A good noble's daughter supports her father's goals." Arche followed up, stiffly repeating her earliest lessons.
"But?" The question from Lord Tian hung in the air.
Arche felt the stare on the back of her head like it was a burning hot poker. She turned around, looked up at the old man and answered, "But I disagree with him. I learned a lot in the academy, I studied magic there, all that I got for myself, I got because I studied."
"What did you study?" He asked her with curiosity as they began to head toward the door. Her hand touched his arm and traced over its length.
' By the six, he is carved out of steel, he'd probably give Hekkeran a run for his coins if it came down to a battle of strength.' Arche thought when her hand drew away from him.
"This way, I'll show you to the solarium on the top floor, it's a favorite spot." Arche said with genuine enthusiasm, "Especially at night, which is ironic given that it's supposed to be for sunlight."
"As you like." Sebas replied.
Arche did her best to roll her hips, ' I should have studied 'that' harder. Maybe asked Imina for tips on seduction. Should I have touched his chest? Ugh, if only my fingers weren't like leather.' She cursed her hard body a dozen times before they reached the stairs.
When she reached them, she answered his prior question, the stairs creaked a little with age, but the way up was lit by many candles which flickered their orange glow over the room and illuminated the shine of the steps that were still properly cared for. Arche tried to catch a glimpse of her company in the reflection to see if he was looking at her with any hint of desire, but his stone face was blurred. But even blurred, she should have seen some hint of manly want. Eyes falling a little too low, catching her swaying hips, or more. But there was nothing.
"I studied magic, I had a full scholarship there, and I was actually very good." Arche said with a defiant hint of pride she couldn't keep from her voice as they went up to the fourth floor, bypassing the rest of what she considered a mostly useless house.
"Really? You're quite young, aren't you?" Sebas inquired.
"I'm seventeen, I know, I'm a little short, but-" Arche bit her lip and tried to appeal to the lecherous instincts she felt sure must be beneath the surface, "the women in my family, we always look much, much younger than our years."
She couldn't feel a single shift in the watching eyes behind her. Burning frustration roared through her heart. ' I'm failing! I need to step this up another notch.' She thought to herself and tried to remember if the solarium had wine or not. ' The moon, the stars, a man and woman alone… lots of wine…' Arche quailed within, but her mother's admonition hit home once more.
' What will become of your sisters when the debts get called in, or if you go on a quest and don't come back?'
The question haunted Arche so much that just hearing it asked made her want to bawl. Instead, like the worker she was, she steeled her resolve and carried on.
"That is fortunate." Lord Tian said to her with neutral praise.
"I- I, yes, I think so." Arche responded and pointed down the long hall, "It's just this way."
' Please don't let him be a lolicon… or maybe that would work in my favor…' It wasn't the first time she worried about that kind of thing, everything about what she wore right now was 'imprisoning' in its own way. Despite being 'covered' as a noble woman ought to be, she felt uncomfortably displayed, and arguably worse, it seemed like it was failing. Humiliation was bad, humiliation with nothing to show for it, was worse.
"So you studied magic?" Sebas asked, and Arche's ears pricked up at the hint of interest.
"Yes, I can use up to the third tier, and my master thought I had potential to learn more. I studied under Fluder Paradyne, the preeminent magic caster of the Empire, if you're not familiar." Arche's voice rang with obvious pride, and she felt the first stirring of interest in her begin at her back.
"Is that so, then you graduated?" Sebas asked, and Arche held back a relieved sigh when she reached the door she sought and could replace her answer with a simple…
"Here we are."
The door opened to a very short hall, which in turn led to another door.
The hall was wide enough for only two to pass abreast, and gauging their path, Sebas guessed they were near the back of the estate, making the room they were about to enter into an outcropping.
The room she opened up to him had a few small couches and seats, but it was utterly surrounded by windows, the room was large enough for no more than six to fit comfortably, and it was clearly meant to be intimate. The windows began at waist height and went up to form a dome of glass overhead.
In the center of the room there lay a table, and Arche looked over her shoulder, "This is a nice feature." She said with a knowing smile and placed her hand on the round surface at the center, and the top of the table began to open up. "It's enchanted, it keeps wine bottles cooled to just the right temperature."
' Okay Arche, you can do this, you can do it, you can do it, you can do it!' She told herself, and bent far forward and began to bob her legs a little while she pretended to rummage for 'just' the right bottle. ' I never ever thought I'd be praying to the gods that a man old enough to be my grandfather would be checking out my ass.'
She bit her lower lip, grateful for her hidden face. ' Kuuderika and Ureirika are on the line.' She said to herself, and opened her legs a little more, but she didn't feel a tempted hand reach out to touch her.
Instead she only heard him take a step within and seat himself on the couch.
"Arwintwar has some beautiful nights." Sebas said, watching the twinkling stars and the bright white moon above.
"Yes, it does." Arche agreed, cursing her failure, she drew out a bottle and a pair of glasses.
Sebas reached for a silk rope, "No, no need to pull that and wake a servant." Arche said in a little lower voice, "I'll pour for us both."
She closed the top of the round table and set the glasses down, then broke open the narrow bottle and poured the red wine into the clear glass, making the only noise in the room, the sound of low sloshing. ' Fine, last arrow in the quiver, get him good and drunk.'
She handed him the glass and sat on the couch as close to him as she could, so that his arm naturally fell behind her on the polished dark wooden rim of the seat. The soft cushion gave under her slight weight, and she held out her glass.
"Do they 'toast' where you're from, Lord Tian?" She asked.
"Yes." Sebas said, ' She's trying very, very hard.' He thought, and a bit of guilt over how far he was allowing her to go, rose up.
"Then… may we toast to new beginnings? It's a favorite toast of mine." Arche replied.
"As you like, to new beginnings then." Sebas said, ' A suitable one for me as well, all things considered.'
"To new beginnings." Arche echoed and clinked her glass to his, the faint 'tink' noise followed by them both taking a sip.
"So your parents must have been proud of your performance at the academy, I imagine you must have graduated near the top of your class, not many magic casters ever reach the third tier, let alone greater." Sebas said, and Arche mentally cursed.
"I… I didn't graduate." She said and looked up at the stars. "I chose to put my talent to use."
"Talent?" Sebas's ears pricked up again.
"Yes, I can immediately detect the tier of magic that someone or something is able to use, it's a particularly unique and powerful gift." Arche's humility gave way to pride again. "The women in my family… we've always had children born with talents, my mother always knew the exact value of anything she touched. Her mother was always able to know exactly how to get where she wanted to go. Her brother was able to block any blow." Arche's voice was briefly enthusiastic, and then she had to look away to the night beyond the windows again when she felt the old mans' eyes boring into her like Sebas was seeing her for the first time.
He set his glass down, empty, and she refilled it, and went on talking about some of those in her history that she knew of, each time it emptied, she refilled it again.
' A line of talent holders, how interesting, my master wants useful servants, and I think I may have found just the one. I can arrange for Fluder later, but for now, this one…' Sebas thought as he memorized every word.
' Good, he's starting to see me as a woman, I just had to keep talking while he drank. Time to act, and then when I'm-' Arche couldn't bring herself to finish the phrase her father used for wanton noble girls who got caught playing around, ' damaged goods', ' he'll have to marry me to make up for tainting a house, even if we are fallen nobles, he wouldn't want that reputation just after getting here.'
Arche wasn't sure if she was reminding herself, reassuring herself, or trying to convince herself, but when he set his empty glass down again, she rose, turned to face him, and leaned forward to put her hand on his chest. ' That's hard too… hopefully the rest-'
The fallen noble daughter's intended act was to put on a sultry smile, which she managed a crude imitation of, and to then lower her hand, tracing it down to his waist and undo his belt.'
' Alright, this has gone far enough.' Sebas decided.
"L-Let me show you how h-hospitable, the Furt house is…" Arche fumbled the words and tried to blink with heavy lidded seduction that she hoped was aided by the bright lights given to them by the moon and stars.
He put his hand over hers, and closed it around her wrist in a grip that, even gentle as it was, might as well have been binding chains. "Enough." Sebas said in a voice of command that brooked no disobedience.
At his words, the totality of her situation slammed down on her like the crack of a task master's whip on the backs of a slave. ' I failed. I failed, humiliated myself for nothing… and now it's all over… I can keep being a worker… I can… maybe make enough money, run with my sisters, then what?! No…' The looming black fate, darker than a starless night, coated her view of the future and made her earlier toast seem all the more bitter.
She wanted to lower her hand, or to rush for his belt with the hand he didn't hold, but his voice was as steel as the rest of him. She knew intuitively it would do no good. The words hit her again. ' I failed.'
Arche's legs grew weak, wobbled, and she fell to her knees in front of the man whose hand still held her wrist, lowered her eyes, and tried not to cry against the waves of humiliation behind, and the growing sense of impending loss ahead.
"I have a proposal for you, Arche Eeb Rile Furt." Sebas said with an unexpected gentle calm.
Volume 2 Chapter 11
Shalltear moaned with pleasure when the vampire bride finished her off. The pale flesh of her familiar was cool to the touch, and yet to the diminutive true vampire guardian, only one thing could have been hotter. ' Lord Ainz… my Lord. My love…' His fine calcium bones, their perfect structure, that glorious red orb. Not to mention those penetrating red eyes.
It was all… ' Glorious!' Shalltear thought the word, but shouted only a desperate banshee-like "Yaaaahhhh!" Her little hands tightened on the head of the dark haired familiar whose final desperate flicks of her tongue sent her mistress over the edge. In the throes of passion, she felt the skull 'crack' in her hands.
Her climax… and the unlife of the familiar… had both reached their end.
She banished the summon to dispose of the unmoving corpse, and then crinkled her nose. ' They may call me a pervert,' Shalltear thought with quiet dignity, ' but even I don't like to stink.'
And with that thought, she went off to the baths.
The baths of Nazarick were as decadent as Neuronist's room was painful, the rising heat of the water kept a constant fog of steam that thickened the deeper into it that you went. No true barrier to the vision of the ones who used them, it was a nod to the idea of privacy.
Not that Shalltear cared if she was seen when she peeled off her dress in the changing room and exited again. The soft earth gave in under even her light weight, the bending blades of grass caressed the bottoms of her feet like a lover's touch. The smooth white tile marked her path into the wet, and she sank into it with a sigh.
"You really should use a towel." A matronly voice said from within the steam in deeper waters.
Shalltear followed the voice and her lips tightened in restrained displeasure. Technically her superior, Albedo was also her rival.
She was also a source of significant envy to the vampire. Shalltear's eyes went immediately to Albedo's chest.
The succubus batted her wings, sending little waves of water in the direction of the vampire.
"Look all you like." Albedo said and stood up, a haughty expression on her smiling face, her hands were on her hips, though not a tall woman, the succubus was a powerful warrior. "That way you can easily see why Lord Ainz will choose me over you. Why… you're even smaller than the little waves I sent over to you. No wonder you pad your bra."
Shalltear fumed and felt the urge to cover her chest, her one insecurity. "Maybe I need pads, but 'mine' don't sag either." She gave a lecherous look at the demoness and leaned forward, her eyebrows rising and falling, her smile one of absolute mockery.
Albedo turned red in the face, "They don't sag ! My body is perfect, yours on the other hand…" Albedo approached and looked down at the pale vampire, "if mine is a feast, yours is an empty plate."
Shalltear glared up at the dripping wet beauty, the water flowed over the contours of her breasts, and slipped down over her smooth belly to rejoin the waters of the women's baths. The vampire Guardian raised a fist, then brought out her finger, pointing at Albedo. She wanted to speak. Shalltear tried to think of something, anything to say back.
She couldn't. Her finger fell back into the fist, and her hands fell to her sides. Her wits failed her and she sank into the water, defeated.
Albedo didn't feel the rush of triumph over her rival, if anything, she felt like a bully. ' Rival or not, that stung. A fight is a fight, but… too far is too far.'
The Guardian Overseer lowered herself into the water as well, wondering what to say, and hoping her wits did not let her down.
"A proposal?" Arche repeated the words with as much dismay as relief.
"You can come up off of your knees first." Sebas said, and she slowly rose in time with the blush to her face.
When she did, she darted her eyes left to right and then, still acutely aware of the hand that had not released her wrist, she gingerly sat down on the couch beside him again. Arche had a difficult time meeting his eyes until he released his hold over her wrist. When he did, with a heavy slowness she brought it back and folded her fingers into her palms and set the knuckles against one another. Arche's lower lip quivered as the shame of her forwardness and desperation ran rampant for several seconds before he spoke.
"That is better now, isn't it?" Sebas's voice retained its dignity, and yet was somehow warmer. Arche gave him a tiny, fearful nod.
"Why don't you start by telling me everything . Then I'll explain what I mean." Sebas suggested, and under his penetrating gaze, there was nothing she could do but pour out her heart.
Arche told him everything. Her family's fall, her father's spending and rising debts to cover his lost status, her mother's 'slightly' lesser spending that was centered around trying to net a wealthy husband for Arche herself. The risk to her sisters, the slave auctions that had taken nobles who refused to bow to their changing situations, and that dark looming fate that was waiting just beyond the hill when her father's debts were called in.
She spoke of her connection to Foresight, becoming a worker, leaving the academy, she confessed everything as if he were an interrogator, or as if he were a temple priest to whom she had to unburden herself in safety. Sebas felt like both depending on what Arche was about to say, and finally it was done down to that night.
"… So I was supposed to seduce you, the hope was that having 'damaged' my worth, or even impregnated me, you would do the proper noble thing and marry me. Then…" She looked away, out into the stars, "Then my sisters would be safe. Life as a worker is hard and dangerous. We don't get the support of guild investigators, we don't have any security. We're disposable 'heroes'. My talent carried me a long way, but there is never a tomorrow promised to people in my position." Arche gave Sebas a wry, half proud smile and relaxed as if a great weight had lifted from her shoulders.
Arche extended a hand outward toward Sebas again and closed the other into a tight fist that turned her tan fingers white. "That's everything, Lord Tian. I tried, I failed, and I humiliated myself and disgraced whatever was left of my ruined family name along the way. I guess… I guess all I can say is that I'm sorry. If it had worked, if you really did rescue my sisters, I'd have spent my life trying to make up for trapping you tonight." Her head hung in defeat. "Really. Especially because I simply don't look like a noble anymore."
"Do you like being a worker?" Sebas asked, interest piqued over her last words.
"Some of it." Arche admitted readily, though the shiver of excitement suggested it was more than 'some'. "My teammates are more like family than my parents. We lay our lives down for one another, we've saved each other's lives countless times, and there's a satisfaction to getting things for myself. I don't have to bow or scrape to my father, I earn my life. I don't need to depend on someone else. I'm not really fit to be a nobleman's wife anymore, no matter how I was raised."
Arche didn't spit when she said the last sentence, but Sebas felt her scorn for the idea, so it was unsurprising when she laughed. "Look how I messed up tonight! I couldn't even walk in a way to draw your eye, let alone anything else!" When the laughter began to fade she rested her hand on his thigh.
"Whatever your offer, Lord Tian, thank you for not making a mockery of my disgraceful self tonight. I'm truly thankful, you really are a great man, and you'd make a noblewoman very, very proud as a husband I am sure." Arche said with a well of gratitude that overflowed from her lips.
Sebas inclined his head in a slight, lordly nod of acceptance. "How far would you go, to save your sisters?"
"I was going to give up the life I liked, to have my mother's life, Lord Tian. To stop my father's folly from destroying them, I'd even be a concubine. I'm the only one who can properly protect their happiness." Arche hissed the promise out and rose her eyes to his, he searched her face and found no reservations.
"Would you put your comrades to the test? Even knowing they might not pass?" Sebas probed, and Arche pursed her lips shut tight.
"I- I don't own their lives, but- but if it is a test I know they'll pass, I think they would forgive me that." Arche responded with a tentative uncertainty.
"Swear your life, your soul, your magic, your talents, your everything, and swear to put your comrades to the test, and I will see your sisters saved." Sebas offered.
"What of my… my parents?" Arche asked.
"In a few days, I'll let them decide for themselves. But first, you must ask for it yourself. You must, out of your own strength, ask for the help you need, and put everything on the line for it." Sebas gave the instruction, and Arche searched his face as he had searched her own.
She searched for cruelty, she searched for malice, she searched for plans to hurt those she loved, and found no evil. "Is this what they call, 'a leap of faith,' Lord Tian?" Arche asked through a pounding heart.
"I believe so, Arche, I believe so. Now, will you make the leap, or do I walk out without your word? I won't offer this a second time, I promise you." Sebas said without any reservation nor hint of compromise.
"You swear, nothing bad will happen to my sisters, no matter what?" She asked, "They'll have happiness?" Arche pressed the question, leaning close enough that she could feel the breath coming past his lips to caress her face.
"In my master's name, I swear." Sebas made his vow, and Arche slowly stood up, she brought her hand up to her forehead and felt the dampness of sweat there, soaking past her glove.
"It's a deal then, I hope to the four this isn't the biggest mistake of my life. F-Forgive me, Lord Tian or… may I- may I call you Sebas?" Arche's weak smile revealed the weary spirit that lived inside her flesh in that moment, and Sebas stood up as well.
"You may. Tomorrow, tell your parents that you failed, and that you're going on a job, then come to my home, and wait there." Sebas gave the order, and Arche could only bow, her throat suddenly dry and her eyes threatening to flood when the stress of the day hit her all at once.
"I'll see myself out." Sebas said, seeing her distress, he reached for the door handle. "Everything will be alright."
With nothing else to do but watch him go, Arche could only give tiny nods and pray to the four that he was neither lying nor wrong.
When she was alone, Arche went to her room, peeled off the dress she despised, wiped off the makeup she wore, and flung herself on a bed that had long ago begun to feel too soft for her to be comfortable in.
' Gods who watch over us… please… please don't let this be a mistake.' Arche prayed, and closed her eyes to sleep.
Volume 2 Chapter 12
"Remember what we said in the arena, we realized that it would be unnatural for a man like Lord Ainz to have only one wife." Albedo said, holding up one finger, and then adding a second.
That brightened the expression of the child sized guardian, and Shalltear gave those words a thoughtful nod. "Still, when will Lord Ainz choose? He has been out of the tomb almost constantly for weeks now, and when he is here, he…" She killed the thought.
Albedo revived it, "Lord Ainz hasn't chosen to see you, any more than he has me. Has he?" The succubus asked. "It's torture, it made me wonder if we did something wrong."
Shalltear bit her lower lip at that and looked up at the demoness, asking a quiet, "Did we? Maybe? Without knowing it?"
Albedo's answer was spoken with hushed horror, "That question has haunted me more than I want to admit, Shalltear. First him going away with Lupusregina, and when they first came back, she barely visited with her sisters, she remained with him in the arena, 'training'. I concerned myself with the idea that a mere maid was stealing his affections and I questioned Cocytus, but to no avail."
"Cocytus wasn't there, or wouldn't say or…?" Shalltear probed, but Albedo's answer brought some relief.
"Cocytus confirmed our Lord and Lupusregina were in fact merely training, our master was honing 'warrior' skills, just like he said at the meeting, but why there was so much of it… I sensed he was holding something back. Something large, but he said he could say nothing." Albedo gritted her teeth, "Even you know what that means."
Shalltear's answer was quick, "Lord Ainz himself ordered silence."
Albedo didn't say anything right away. She became pensive.
"You know something, don't you?" Shalltear asked when she saw Albedo's face.
The vampire guardian crossed her arms over her chest, the comfortable cleansing of the bath was forgotten in an instant at the possibility of answers to the mystery of their master's absences and constant warrior training.
"I do, but also I don't." Albedo admitted.
Shalltear furrowed her brow, her red eyes stared unblinking up at the face of her superior. "I don't understand. Have you concluded something from some sort of hint? Did someone say something… please… Albedo ." Shalltear asked with quiet urgency and a bite to her lower lip that drew a drop of blood that blended into the red almost imperceptibly well.
Albedo swallowed and rubbed her forehead with her right hand, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and confessed. "Every night he was away, I was visiting our master's room to roll around in the sheets so that when he returned, he would have my scent to enjoy." Without intending it, her voice became a little more proud and her chin went up a tiny bit, "A succubus's scent is naturally alluring, I hoped to please him, entice him to fulfill his desires."
Shalltear looked down into the clear waters of the steaming bath, "That's cheating. We had a deal, no using skills or powers."
Albedo couldn't help but smirk, "No, I didn't, this happens naturally, I can no more change this than you can stop being a vampire."
"Still." Shalltear groused, but her thoughts returned to Albedo's alleged insight. "What happened?"
"Nothing… the bed went unused while he was away. But he must have stayed the night here at least once, because another natural emission reached him. I had… a dream ." Albedo dropped the word like it was a bomb, but Shalltear only held her blank expression.
Albedo rolled her bright yellow eyes, "Right, you wouldn't have done this. Listen to me. I am a succubus, dreams are one way we unconsciously use our powers over those we desire. An erotic dream at night asleep makes them easier to seduce during the day, do you get it?"
"Ah… you mean you 'sent' him a dream?" Shalltear asked, "That definitely feels like cheating."
Albedo shook her head with vigor, "Again, no, I can't directly control it, or at least… I don't think I can. I've had many erotic dreams of our master, but this was different. It was like it reached him, like we shared the dream."
"And this didn't happen before?" Shalltear probed, the beginnings of understanding began to rise within.
"No, it didn't. I went to his room after he was gone again, and I smelled him, but not him. It had to be Lord Ainz, but… there was the scent of flesh, man's flesh. I think… I think he's found some way to give himself a form that can do things!" Albedo let out a tiny squeal of excitement and clasped her hands together as if in prayer, she gazed to the heavens and let out a longing sigh.
"How he could have done it, I don't know, but… I'm sure he has." Albedo added.
Shalltear thought that over, 'flesh' was just not as appealing to her, and so exciting as it was in its own way, she needed more. "So… why hasn't he done anything, he could have summoned either of us to his bed at any time?"
"Perhaps he wants everything to be perfect, perhaps he is worried about getting lost in bliss and forgetting to take the world over the thrill of taking Nazarick's treasures for his decadent pleasure." The succubus shuddered with wanton desire.
But Shalltear's doubts were unabated. "That sounds wrong." She said in a small voice, "I don't doubt your senses or the change but… I don't know. Have you talked with Demiurge or Pandora's Actor about this?"
Albedo shook her head, "No, you're the first. We did agree to share information, and this is as much as I can offer you. I'll also add that you should keep it secret as well. He'll tell us formally when he's ready, for now… just be ready for our final battle to see which of us is by our Lord's right hand… and which is merely the seat on which he rests himself."
Shalltear had the sudden vision of herself on all fours, her master planted firmly on her back… a mere chair to a Supreme Being, she began to breathe harder… ' It would be… such bliss… a reward like nothing else…'
"I call first seat!" Shalltear exclaimed, then caught Albedo's expression of outrage, clearly the thought came to the winged beauty just as quickly.
"No! That honor will be mine!" Albedo exclaimed, the splashing of water going on and on for quite some time.
A stone's throw away, Aura scratched her head and remained back out of sight, "Great, I'll need a bath 'after' my bath thanks to those two… this'll be one of those days." She crinkled her nose, and waited for the battle of women to end.
Arche's slumber was heavier than full plate armor, but that didn't stop her mother from waking her up. She felt the shaking of hands rocking her body back and forth, soft fingers clinging to her biceps. Despite the fact that the manicured nails dug into her skin, there was no pain, only an awareness of sharpness and pressure.
The young magic caster's eyes began to flutter open and found the slender features of her worried mother hovering a few feet over her face. Worry lines were etched on her, and to her mother's credit, Arche saw a semblance of shame in the face of the woman who bore her.
"Did it work?" Was all the matriarch of the family asked.
Arche closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. "He- He didn't want me ." It was the truth, and it stung the young mage. She squeezed her eyes shut so she wouldn't see disappointment on her mother's face.
But closing her eyes did nothing to hide the bellow of her father's anger out in the hallway. Arche's eyes flew open and her face turned to look past her mother toward the door, the knob was rattling as her father tried to open it.
Arche began to sit up, her mother moved backward to allow her daughter's legs to swing over the bed, it wasn't lost on the young woman that her mother's hands were shaking. She whispered her next words to her mother, "He had to come too? Wasn't I humiliated enough, being thrown to a man older than my late grandfather like a piece of meat ? My father has to come yell at me because I wasn't…" Her face scrunched with disgust, " tasted"?
"You had one job for this household! One job! Be a desirable marriage prize! If you'd done that years ago we might still be nobles! If you'd been a proper daughter we'd be safe now!" Her father's voice kept bellowing from out in the hall, his flabby fists couldn't break down the door, his soft body however, could make a lot of noise.
Arche ignored both him and her shaking mother in favor of putting her gear on. She snatched up her staff from its resting place against the wall, and was no longer the daughter of a fallen house, but felt herself for who she was. ' An adventurer. I'm an adventurer now.' She said to herself, and the quailing of her childhood when her father yelled at her, the shame of her mother's disappointment, began to recede. She ignored the invectives thrown at her for her previous evening's failure and gave her mother a long steady stare.
"You were right about one thing mother, we do have duties. This is mine. I have a job to do." Arche said without remorse, and went to the door. She flung it open and found her father's fat fist held overhead ready to pound on the door, he froze, his mouth open to hurl whatever he planned to next, but he was struck dumb.
Arche's hand came out, and she struck him with the back of her palm across his cheek, her eyes full of tears of rage. "Go die in a fire." She hissed. She was no warrior, and her slap would have been like the gentle tap of rain to someone like Hekkeren or Robberdyk or even Imina. But it staggered her soft bodied father at a pace, and he brought his palm up to the red spot on his cheek where her hand fell.
"I'm going to meet with my team for a job. Don't expect me back for some time." She said with the utmost contempt, "And when I come back, count yourself lucky if you get a single coin out of me. Go use your own body for gold if you love it so much. I'll never do that for you again."
She spun on her heel and left the weeping and bellowing figures behind her. It was only their noise that followed her out of the house.
So nobody saw when she went straight next door to the estate of the House of Tian, knocked on the door, and was admitted in by the most beautiful maid Arche had ever seen. ' She's like a doll…' Arche thought, looking over the maid that introduced herself as 'Solution'.
That one managed the walk that Arche could only fumble through, everything about the woman was exotic, erotic, proud and beautiful. Golden curls bounced with every rolling of her hips and every single step seemed designed to entice the watcher. ' If I could have moved like that… no, no wonder I failed. Even if I could move like that, Lord Tian has 'this' to occupy him, no wonder I couldn't win him over.'
It was a somewhat unpleasant line of thought that carried on until she was led into a study. The slender arm of the maid waved her in, and she then retreated, leaving Arche alone with the target of her failed seduction.
It was enough to make the mage blush at the memory, and shuffle her feet a little like a child caught doing something she wasn't supposed to.
Sebas waved her to one of the chairs in the study, unlike her library, this one was filled with rows of books that were slid tight against the shelves. Arche looked at it with open admiration, and when he saw what she did, he spoke.
"My… father, he was very, very wise. He had a saying, that 'the best bookends are two walls'. I suppose I inherited my love of reading, from him." Sebas didn't smile when he spoke, but there was a sparkle to his eyes that made Arche comfortable when she looked at him.
"Lord Tian, about last night-" Arche began, but it was waved away immediately.
"You never need to mention it again, I understand. People will do a great deal for those they love, it's why I've chosen to give you a chance." Sebas said, and Arche closed her mouth in silent confusion.
Sebas read in silence for several minutes, leaving Arche's eyes to wander. Sebas was dressed in the same style of formal suit as he wore the other day, with silver cufflinks and polished black shoes. He read on, his eyes moving over the page, glasses on his face that he hadn't been wearing the previous day gave him an even more distinguished look.
The room was without carpet, but had polished bright wood that matched the walls and long glass windows that let in ample light from the rising sun.
Finally he finished his reading, marked his page with a strip of silk worth several days of a normal job's pay, and snapped the book shut. "First, tell me everything about your family debt, who holds it, how much, when do they pay, everything." Sebas commanded.
Unable to bring herself to refuse, Arche told him what he wanted to know. But when she was done, she had to know.
"Lord Tian-" She began, looking up at him, but he cut her short.
"Call me 'Sebas'." He said with a pleasantly open air about him.
"Sebas… how will this help my sisters?" Arche asked, cutting to the heart of her true concern.
"Simple, in a few days, they will be in this house, until then, you will remain within these walls, you can consider yourself my guest, or you can assist Solution with the housework, do as you like, but do not venture out." Sebas said, and reached over to the silk rope that would ring for help.
Arche's heart raced. ' So soon?!' She asked herself, but found no way to disbelieve by the time the radiant maid returned.
"Show our guest to her quarters for now, then return, I have something for you to do, Solution." Sebas said, and the quiet maid inclined her head to the master of the house with a smile that froze Arche's blood.
' A beautiful monster.' Her instincts screamed at her with every step as she followed the quiet woman out.
NEWS
Volumes III & IV of 'The One Who Stayed' have been sponsored.
Next up after Volume II will be a very different 'Lizardman' arc, followed by an equally different 'Dwarven' arc. However it's been about a year since I've read those novels, so I'll have to reread them to get a better feel for the characters. For early looks, you'll have to be on my discord server and self assign the role 'Librarian of Nazarick' to be notified when they come out.
Invite code: discord dot gg / mPAkatrGwZ
Volume 2 Chapter 13
Pandora's Actor's first night in the palace looked to be tranquil. ' No attempted assassinations… yet. No one asking me to help overthrow the King or soliciting me into a faction. The Princess did an excellent job. I 'must' praise Demiurge for finding such a useful tool for the advancement of my father's goals.'
The sun was down and the only light in the room was that of the candle by which he, the doppelganger, read the book he selected. ' Really, a nation of complete perverts.' He thought to himself until his quiet was disturbed by a knock on the door.
"Yes?" He asked, sitting up in his bed.
"Ah, it's Climb, I'm Princess Renner's bodyguard, please… my lord, may I come in?" The broken voice of a boy nearing earnest manhood carried through the thick wood, and Pandora's Actor rose, went to the latch, yanked it to the side, and opened the door.
The boy entered, but not alone, a second figure, hooded and cloaked and stooped over like an old woman, rushed in at the same moment, held over the back and at one arm by the young blonde boy.
"Thank you, Master Gown, thank you." Climb said with his eyes down at the stooped figure he held onto.
Pandora's Actor raised the dark eyebrow of the man he was imitating, thought for just a blink, and gestured to the table. "You're welcome, and please, King Ramposa, take a seat and make yourself comfortable."
The stooped figure rose up straight and his 'escort' let him go. The old king threw back the hood that concealed his face and gave a little frown to the magic caster.
"What spell did you use to tell who I was, Master Gown? I consider myself well versed in magic, as non magic casters go, and I've never heard of a spell that gave a man's name." The King had dropped all formality in that moment, and it was like seeing another man.
For an instant, Pandora's Actor could see what he must have been like in his youth, a powerful leader who must have commanded great respect from his warriors, he could easily picture the old king leveling a sword and personally leading a charge into battle. It was difficult not to sympathize with his plight.
The doppelganger guardian chuckled and snapped the lock shut over the closed door. "No magic, King Ramposa, it was only that young Climb here looked very much like he was holding a tiger by the tail when you entered."
Climb, to his credit, was embarrassed. "Forgive me, majesty, I blew your cover without meaning to."
Ramposa took Pandora's Actor's invitation to sit, and went to sit down in the chair with a heavy grunt. "No, no, with almost anyone else I would have fooled them completely, we made it past a half a dozen nobles without more than a glance when Climb said he was taking a servant to be healed by the new caster. It is just that this one, is more clever than most." He raised a respectful chin toward his guest, and Pandora's Actor took a seat opposite his host. "Still, I never heard of myself being referred to as a groped cat before…" He let out a deep chuckle that did nothing to ease the boy's blush.
"Thank you, majesty." Climb expressed his gratitude for the forgiveness, but the King had already moved on.
"I have no time for games, Master Gown, so I won't play them. How powerful are you? Are you on par with Fluder Paradyne?" King Ramposa asked.
"And then some." Pandora's Actor replied truthfully.
"I see, then I want to hire you, if I know my Gazef, he's already been here to beg for your help on my behalf, I promise I didn't put him up to that as he is just… very enthusiastic in his defense of the nation. I count that as a credit to the man. But I hope it didn't put you out." Ramposa explained and kept his expression carefully neutral.
"It's fine, as for hiring me, what do you want me to do?" Pandora's Actor asked, his estimation of King Ramposa rising up several notches.
"Most of my nobles think nothing of magic, a few spells obviously are useful, they all see healing magic and divine magic, but most of what they see are just parlor tricks and street performers. But I am an old man, I've seen a great deal, and I know what magic can do in the right hands. To put it bluntly, I want you to win the next war for me, to break the cycle of destruction. I know beyond a doubt that we're doomed, and that the noble faction is actively, if obliviously, helping us fail." Ramposa's face became bitter, "Such a shameful, wretched fate."
"What's that?" Pandora's Actor asked when he caught the bitter voice.
"Some of the young nobles in the noble faction, their fathers were boyhood friends, and we were all part of the brotherhood of banners. All of us, it was just a schoolboy club when we were little, then it was more. We fought together, saved each other's lives… and then I ascended the throne, and I lost them all to petty concerns within their own houses." His fists clenched tight and whitened the knuckles with the tension.
"If I help even one out of the hundred, then I will create ninety-nine malcontents and one ingrate. But trying to rob me of Gazef was too much, even for them. Your saving him from the attack by the Theocracy may have inadvertently saved this nation already, and now I am preparing to strike back." The King promised through clenched teeth.
"In a few months, we would normally be mustering over one hundred thousand peasants to fight the Baharuth Empire. I'm sure you understand the waste this creates. The starvation and lost harvests. If you didn't, I'm sure Gazef explained it." The King's smile was bitter, but his eyes were sharp and hard as a well forged sword.
"I don't want to do that again. Instead, I will pay you handsomely, if you'll just turn that magic on the Baharuth Empire. I will offer you land, gold, goods, or ingredients in any combination, a coin, foot, or ounce for every knight killed, with extra for a promise to use your magic for no other kingdom. I will offer you the position of Court Magus, a noble title, and even to arrange a suitable marriage to ensure you are properly compensated for your service."
"You have a great deal of confidence in a magic caster whose skills you have never seen." Pandora's Actor said tentatively, unsure if his estimation of the king should go up or down, or if his estimation of the Re-Estize Kingdom's dire situation should go up.
"I am aware, but that is how grave matters are. I am very old, if I leave my throne to Zanac, nobody will follow him. If I leave my throne to Barbro, he will destroy the loyalty they give to him. My daughter's only value politically is for marriage, though she is far wiser than anyone credits her."
Climb stood apart from the conversation, hand on his sword to protect his king, but hearing the king praise his daughter's intelligence was such a surprise that he lost control of his face and his mouth formed a sudden O shape before he forced it to close again.
The King looked at Climb out of the corner of his eye, "A man should know his children, regardless of their sex, young man. She is far more clever than most, if I ever doubted that, it was over when Baharuth began adopting some of the ideas we ourselves rejected from her, and they benefited from doing so."
Pandora's Actor made his decision, he view of the king went up again. "If I use my magic for your cause, you won't need to raise an army, I can take care of that for you, but that won't change anything inside your borders. Plus, won't you be weaker? This war seems to provide unity and power from your leadership, if I win it for you, what good will that do in the end?"
Ramposa gave him a long, steady look. "You're a true genius, to see so deeply into the subject, you're right, it isn't enough to win the war abroad, I must win the war at home. I already have a plan for that in the works, Master Gown, I can't ask for your help in that affair. There is another I will be turning to for help. For now, can you tell me your answer?"
Pandora's Actor folded his hands together and closed his eyes as if in thought, "You're asking more of me than you know, but I won't deny that the offer is tempting. Let me think about it, I will give you an answer at the conclusion of the feast. Will that be acceptable, your Majesty?"
King Ramposa slowly stood up and slid his own chair back under the table. "A few days is nothing, I look forward to your response." His charming smile returned and he looked at the borrowed bodyguard when he flung his hood back over his head.
"Come along, young man, grab the tiger's tail again, then you can go back to your quarters." The King chortled a little when he used the same term Pandora's Actor coined, and left the guardian alone.
' Father, you've truly laid the most masterful of traps for your prey, I am so proud that I am your son.' Pandora's Actor thought when the iron bolt tapped hard against its place in the stone wall, securing the door shut behind his brief visitors.
Sir Furt could hardly believe his ears. He sat in a chair older than his grandfather and stuffed thick with goose down over velvet, ornate decorative engravings of wild beasts that were so small and intricate you had to look closely and squint to make them out. It was a point of pride that this was his. Sitting in that seat, Sir Furt felt every inch like he was the Bloody Emperor himself.
But now his face was turned ashen gray and rapidly going ghost white.
"Say that again." He demanded of the moderately built man who stood a few feet away. A hulking brute stood behind the visitor, and unlike the one who just spoke, this one was silent. He spoke only by his presence and his equipment. Boiled leather armor and a heavy looking mace. It did nothing to make him more gentle that his large head was shaved bald and he had a few minor scars over a hard looking face.
"I said, your debt is being called in, Sir Furt." The lender said and held out a gracious hand, "There have been some questions about your ability to pay, and I'm afraid we require a substantial sum of the total now ."
"My- My daughter is out on a job, she'll pay when she gets back!" Sir Furt squeaked out.
"That may be fine then, but we require something now, you can't just borrow more again today as you usually do, not without paying something." The lender's cold brown eyes were telling about his doubts.
"But- But-" Sir Furt began, and cut himself off. He silently cursed his daughter. ' Damn you, if you'd just gotten that old goat's rod up this wouldn't be happening!'
He took a deep breath, "We have substantial goods we can give to you as collateral or payment if you like." Sir Furt said instead of his intended protests.
"We can extend you additional credit if you offer something of high value." The lender suggested offhandedly, and Sir Furt's eyes bulged beyond his control.
"What?" He asked.
"There's a premium on young blonde girls right now. You happen to have two of them, they're quite fashionable in certain," the lender made a somewhat sour face, scrunching up his cheeks and tightening his lips, revealing his distaste, "Circles. Give them up, and we'll be willing to extend you a little more since they're well bred and well behaved in addition to their other qualities."
"I see… I see." Sir Furt said with a neutral, careful voice. ' They're my girls, I can't… I- well if I do, that will solve the money problem. At least for now. I can acquire some fine things to show off to the other nobles, I'll become an important figure again. Then when the Bloody fool on the throne dies, I'll get my position back, then I can find them again. They're 'my' daughters after all, they really ought to do this for their family. It's no different than what that ungrateful girl was supposed to do before, and where is 'she' anyway? Off galavanting with dirty ruffians, no doubt.'
Bitterness struck him like the back of her unladylike hand did when she walked out, he recalled her threat to give no more money to him, and that was a problem. ' I just need time… time to get my status back, that's all.' Sir Furt said to himself and slowly stood up.
"Wait here." He ordered, and left the room.
A few minutes later, he walked Kuuderika and Ureirika into the room, their little fingers clung to his left and right hands, in their arms each carried a stuffed rabbit under their free arms, a gift from their big sister. Kuuderika wore a red dress, while Ureirika wore blue, they looked up at the lender with wide, innocent blue eyes.
By now he was a familiar person to them, and so when he knelt down and Sir Furt said, "Go see Master Sanek." They walked over to the merchant without hesitating.
They curtseyed like good little noble girls and said at once, "Hello, Master Sanek, thank you for coming to the Furt house."
"You're good girls, aren't you?" He said to them in the kind of easy congenial tone that always set people at ease, and they nodded furtively.
"Yes, we're good." They said in unison again, the echo game was a favorite of theirs, and they often said the same things at the same moment, it was charming, in the way that children could make things.
He gave them an encouraging little smile and put his hands on their shoulders, "You're going to be coming with me, for now, alright?" He asked them, and the twins looked over at their father.
He nodded without saying anything, and Master Sanek stood up straight, he approached the table and removed a small pouch from an inner pocket. He slowly set it down on the table, and the sound of clinking coins of gold tantalized Sir Furt's ears.
"Do you want to count it? It's the usual sum." The lender asked, and the blonde fallen noble shook his head.
"No, it's fine, I'm sure it's all there." Sir Furt said and stared at the little leather pouch like it was a viper coiled and ready to strike.
"As you like, m'lord." The lender said, bowed, and when he held out his hands, Kuuderika and Ureirika trustingly put their hands into his palms, and let him lead them out of their home.
When they walked out of the house, Master Sanek led them just beyond the gate, and waited just as he was instructed. He looked down from one girl to the next, and they, sensing his brown eyes on theirs, looked up at him in return, questions unspoken waiting to be asked. Nothing happened, there was no shout, there was no chase, there was no hint of remorseful second thoughts. He looked back through the bars of the gate, the clear windows gave him a view into the room beyond, and he saw his client finally reach for the pouch, spill the contents on the table, and begin to count.
Cold hearted merchant as he was, Master Sanek still couldn't help but feel a pang of pity that would likely drive him to drink that night. ' Such a fool.' He thought of the fallen noble, and led the girls away.
Volume 2 Chapter 14
Ninya and Brita sat in Enri's home along with Peter, Lukrut, Nfirea, & Jugem, each of them with a simple wooden mug in front of them that had a frothing head of beer hovering above the rim. "Getting Sir Momon to request rulership of the village is a big step forward, but it probably won't happen before we have trouble." Peter said, and the faces around the table turned the color of ashes.
"Peter, that's a little harsh, isn't it?" Ninya asked with a quivering lip, he gave her a long hard look in return.
"No, it isn't. Even if he reached the capital already, and that is optimistic, the invitation Lupu told us about won't have the ball for days, meanwhile it's been weeks, I have absolutely no doubt that they've worked out the villagers were missing and sent out soldiers to search for where they ran off to. So we need a plan for ourselves." Peter said and jabbed a finger pointed down on the surface of the rough wooden table for emphasis.
He then slowly wrapped his hand around the handle of the mug and took a swig.
"What about those two monsters Aura brought the other day? The troll and the naga? They each have a bunch of subordinates that are going to come here too. Won't they prove a good defense?" Enri asked and bit her lip.
"Maybe so, maybe so." Brita added, staring down into her mug and speaking with a bitter voice, "But they're afraid of Aura and Mare, and neither of those two are staying here. We can't count on them, that's the thing, if you don't have people you can count on, you can't make a plan. Even if you do, it will likely fail from the lack of trust."
"Oh come on, Brita… no more of that…" Lukrut said, and Brita shot him a glare that held until he trailed off.
"Shut. Up." Brita spat the words at him with venom and took that long, hard glare at him and stretched it out even further. "I was stuck with a copper plate for a lot longer than I should have been because nobody would work with me. They wouldn't even give me a chance, even you guys wouldn't give me a chance. You only gave Ninya a chance," she pointed at the magic caster, "because she bound her tits down and cut her hair to disguise herself as a young boy. Don't tell me not to say true things because they make you uncomfortable, Lukrut. Especially when they're relevant now."
"Ah… yes, well, Brita does have a point." Nfirea said, rubbing the back of his head throughout the uncomfortable chuckle that followed his words. "The two groups of villagers need time to mesh, the newcomers are also very weak, very underfed. The trolls aren't much of a problem as long as they're fed, and nagas are supposed to be intelligent, and able to live off regular food. But they're not all working together or training together or anything. Even I can see that much. The locals of Carne don't associate with the runners, the runners are willing to work, but they don't associate with anyone from Carne."
"And nobody outside of this room says our names." Jugem added in a gruff voice and folded his arms in front of his chest. "Goblin this, goblin that. They're friendly, but that's all. We're not comrades."
Lukrut had the grace to look somewhat shamefaced and red at Brita's withering criticism, nor was Brita alone in her glare, Ninya's eyes were on him too, as were those of their host, Enri. Peter wore a somewhat uncomfortable expression before Nfirea redirected things, and his cheeks were tinged red, but the bitter stares did not touch the leader of the former Swords of Darkness.
"I can do something to strengthen the newcomers, thanks to opening up the woods. I have all kinds of herbs and other materials in quantities I could only dream of before. But even with that?" Nfirea swept up his mug and drank from it like the others did, "They're not unlimited. I shouldn't use them recklessly. Plus if I use too many on the newcomers, they'll be seen as weak. I've seen others in the village look down on the runners, that might make an already difficult problem, worse."
Ninya frowned, "Maybe I shouldn't have come here and asked for your help… this is just making trouble… I should go t-turn myself in, tell them I did it. Then they can go back home and…"
"No." Peter, Brita, Lukrut, Enri, and Nfirea said all at once. It was Peter however, who explained why when Ninya's eyes popped open at the uniform utterance.
"Ninya, even if they believe it was just you acting alone, they won't care, you should know this. One peasant's death will never satisfy the bloodlust over a noble 's death, even if the noble was lecherous trash. Even if 'they' think he was trash, he was a noble's son. Anything less than a village, and they won't care who did what. Just being present is enough to be guilty. You know this best out of all of us."
"I-I-Yes, I know, I'm sorry. I was just hoping…" Ninya blinked her eyes, "There really is no way out, is there, when they find where the villagers are?"
Brita bit her lower lip, then drained her mug and said with like bitterness, "No. Maybe if Sir Momon becomes a lord 'first' and takes this land. Now that he's an adamantite ranked adventurer, I'm sure if he took it personally, he'd bring the guild into it, and they'd probably prohibit contracts with the offender. That's as good as inviting monster attacks. But that is even assuming he becomes a lord at all ."
"There is one thing we can do to bring everyone together, but… I don't know if we can manage it." Lukrut suggested, and the table leaned toward him.
"Simple." He said and held up a mug like he was about to propose a toast, "The answer is right here." He pointed toward it with his free hand. The interested looks turned to snorts of derision and a collective sigh.
"Wait! Hear me out!" He said and took a swig that drained it near to empty.
"Look, I've been watching the women-" He began.
"I'll bet you have." Brita, Enri, and Ninya glared at him when they all said the same thing, but Lukrut pressed on.
"-and the men, and there are a lot of unmarried people from both villages." Lukrut began, and Enri immediately picked up on where he was going.
"Enri, your father and mother lived here, right?" Lukrut asked.
"W-ah- yes, they did." Enri answered as Lukrut's words picked up speed.
"And Ninya, yours met in their village, and Peter, Brita, yours all met in your own village, right, right, and right, just like mine?" Lukrut pressed, and dawning looks of understanding began to form on their faces as well.
"We've got a strange situation here, where we've got two villages inside of one set of walls. So to bring them together, we hold a festival, call it… the Festival of Axel, to celebrate the adamantite team and the rescue they provided us. Then we get everybody really, really drunk, and wait for them to start screwing each other." Lukrut looked from one person to the other, there were doubtful, but interested looks.
"Lukrut… this isn't just one of your feeble minded attempts at finding someone to have sex with you, is it?" Brita asked, and to her surprise, he gave her a profoundly serious look.
"No. Not this time." Lukrut emphasized and pushed his idea, hard. "The family system of a village is fine when there's only a village, you grow up next door to a boy and you're a girl, guess who you're going to marry. But we've got more than that and we've got to break down those walls. If they start pairing off between each other, the new and the old will be 'all new'." Lukrut suggested, "and just for good measure, I'll have you know I'm a fair musician, and I know all kinds of bawdy tunes to get some action going."
"Good, but we need more than that." Ninya said, and gave Peter a suddenly confident look.
"Games." The two said in unison.
"Games?" Jugem and Nfirea traded confused glances and scratched their heads at the same time.
"Yes, adventuring teams usually play games to build familiarity. We can pair old and new up together in groups, so that they're forced to work with new people and come together to win." Peter explained.
"I can offer up some moderately priced potions as prizes." Nfirea proposed, a blush to his cheek as he sought a way to further participate.
"Fine, and we can have the goblins and us veteran adventurers act as team captains." Brita proposed.
Jugem's gruff tone followed. "And we can do that in training too, mix up the groups so that the runners and the people born in Carne are used to fighting beside each other, they'll build trust that way too."
"We have enough beer, and if we hunt really hard, we can get enough food quickly. If we push this hard, I think it can work." The tense mood in their little council began to ease, and with it came new confidence.
"I think that settles it, we can start integrating the trolls and nagas when they arrive, and if I have to, I'll use this again." Enri touched the horn that hung around her neck. "It may not bring many, but every sword and arrow helps."
Their nerves were considerably eased by resolution, and their mugs had all been drained to empty. "So now that the worry beer is out of the way, how about the 'relief' beer?" Lukrut asked with a cheeky, rosy grin, and nobody laughed, as Enri was already rising to go bring over a small cask.
Arche was sitting in the chair in the study, across from Sebas as she usually did, and as per usual, she was telling him everything she knew about what he wanted to know. Noble society, how dances were done, who the most important people were, what powerful figures she'd been acquainted with, and what they were capable of. He demanded everything, she held back nothing.
Part of her wondered, ' Is he a foreign spy, am I betraying my country by telling him all this?' It sometimes nagged at her, but brave as she was against monsters, whenever that dread closed over her heart like the icy hand of death, she fended it off with the warm promise of the safety of her sisters.
"Master Tian, you have a delivery." Solution said from the door. Arche looked over at the beautiful woman and her blood froze the way it always did. Sebas was cool and cordial, Solution was nothing but polite to her, but the way the maid's eyes followed Arche, the magic caster felt like it was a look of hunger.
However, that was forgotten when Kuuderika and Ureirika entered the room and saw their sister. "Sissy!" They cried and ran to her, Arche shot up so fast and with such force that she toppled the chair over behind her when she rushed over to them. She went to her knees and embraced them as they leaped into her arms. She kissed their cheeks and squeezed them tight until they let out phony groans to show she was starting to be a little rough.
Pent up tears ran down Arche's cheeks as she kissed their own, she went from one to the other and back again, their little stuffed bunny rabbits dropped to the floor in favor of squeezing their sister instead.
It was several minutes of this before Arche composed herself to look over at the aged lord. "What happened? How are they here?" Arche felt the existential dread coming over her, the initial happiness at the reunion tempered by a grim knowledge that this didn't happen out of nothing.
"Solution, how much?" Sebas asked the maid who still stood in the doorway.
The maid gave a crooked smile to the Butler of Steel. "Ten gold coins from the budget to get Sanek to withhold further credit from Sir Furt, five more for the lie that little blonde girls were exceptionally fashionable slaves, and 'the usual' extension of credit for another hundred coins, with those two as payment for his current interest."
Arche's face went pale, "My… our father, he sold Kuuderika and Ureirika to you for a fifteen gold payment and a hundred gold coin loan?"
Four little bright blue eyes stared up in total innocence of the exchange.
Arche's fingers tensed, she squeezed the pair more tightly than before, her jaw tensed, and she looked over to Sebas, putting her hands to the backs of her sisters' heads and drawing them in as tightly as she could, she asked the only question that mattered. "What happens now?"
"Solution, call for a Gate." Sebas ordered, and then he stood up from where he sat.
Arche felt only confusion, fear, terror, all at once the impossible whirlwind of emotions tore through her. Her hairs stood on end, her face paled, her heart raced and she clung to her sisters as if terrified that they would be ripped away from her. But beyond it all, lay an unbridled hatred for a man she would never again think of as her father, and for a mother she would never forgive for letting it come to this.
"Now," he answered her, "it is time for you to meet my master." He pointed behind her, and her jaw fell open when she saw the whorling void in the space behind her. "Pass through this, and your wish will be granted." Sebas promised.
Arche swallowed hard when Solution stepped through and vanished. Sebas stood beside it, waiting while Arche stood. She drew back from her sisters, "Come with me, I know this is scary…" She said in the understatement of the year as they stared at the void with tears of fear in their eyes and shaking little bodies, "But I will protect you, I promise."
Thus reassured, they clung to her when she stood up, so that she was carrying one on each hip, and she stepped through what Sebas called a 'gate'.
Volume 2 Chapter 15
AN: It'll be a few days before I get the next chapter uploaded, little busy here.
"What a man… it's enough to make me wish for a crisis, like a demonic invasion or something, just to get to see Momon again." Evileye said and let out a longing sigh before she slumped back in her chair in their booth at the adventurer's guild of Re-Estize.
"Don't even joke about that." Lakyus shuddered, shut her eyes, and her quiet voice became grim as the grave. Her hand touched the hilt of her sword. "Demons are powerful and dangerous. Even now, this one claws at my mind, this dread being threatens always to consume me, to devour me, and to use me as his instrument to wreak havoc upon all the world… It's only my own great power as a priestess of the god of water that keeps it bound."
Inside her mind, she heard the foul sword speak, ' Crazy bitch! For the last time, I do not want your mind! Who would want a chuunibyou body like yours? Eh?! No. No. No. No. No. No. Just swing me into soft living things to make soft dead things, and I'm happy. I'm only a 'named' demon sword, I'm not an actual demon… I'm really nice if you'd just get to know me!'
"Always he speaks to me, like a siren, calling me with sweet words to my doom…" Lakyus opened her eyes, "Please, never joke about that."
' I'm not talking to you for a month! Blasted chuunibyou girl!' The sword screamed at her, and went quiet.
"There, I've suppressed it again." Lakyus said in response to worried looks from her sisters in Blue Rose. "But really, don't joke about demons."
Evileye touched a hand to Lakyus' palm, "I'm sorry, that was insensitive of me, I just picked the least likely thing, I forget how much you struggle for all our sakes. But… I just miss Momon a lot."
"I wonder if Momon's a cherry." Gagaran said with a deep chuckle, "He might be able to put up a good fight either standing or lying down." Her squared jaw framed a broad grin that didn't give away whether she was joking or not, and she looked around with interest to see if there were any new boys to deflower.
"Probably not, muscle head." Tia and Tina said together. "He's traveling with Lupu."
Evileye looked down at her untouched beer, and felt suddenly quite depressed. It was Lakyus' turn to offer comfort.
"Hey now, I'll bet you'll see him again before you know it, it's only been a few weeks." The radiant blonde priestess said as encouragingly as she could.
Guilds dotted the cities and large towns of the Re-Estize Kingdom, but among them all, only two stood head and shoulders above the rest: E-Rantel and Re-Estize itself. This one was especially large, a rare two story building with a small walled training ground in the back, and welcomed upper ranked city guards as patrons as well as adventurers themselves.
As a result, you couldn't see clearly to the swinging double doors at the entrance, especially on a busy day like this one, people dodged and weaved past one another to find their tables and make themselves comfortable at the increasingly rare seating.
Adamantite adventurers however, never lacked for seating. Particularly 'good' seating. Blue Rose, having based itself out of the capital, had a permanent booth of their own at which nobody sat without their express invitation. Well seated in the corner, it was an easy place from which to get the attention of one of the many servers who roved the bustling hall.
The noise of conversation was as thick as good beer, and it was accompanied by the music of clinking armor, the sound of falling coins, loud mouthed insults, and hearty jokes. The thick smell of alcohol engulfed the room, as did the smell of hot food that was being prepared or served at nearly every hour.
It was because of all that, however, that it was the towering Gagaran who, alone among Blue Rose, saw what she saw.
"Yeah, right." Evileye grumbled with a morose, downward glance, "Threats large enough to draw in two adamantite teams are really, really rare. Which is good." She added with haste, "But those are about the only times I can really expect to see him."
Gagaran didn't look down at her sister, she only asked "Evileye, if I could make it so you could see him today, would you buy my beer for the next month?"
Evileye looked up at her towering red armored sister, her own vampire eyes glowing just as red as Gagaran's armor from behind her mask. "I would do it for a year, forget a month. A man like that doesn't just come along every day and say 'How do you do', you know."
"It's a deal." Gagaran said and stood up to wave, "Hey Sir Momon! Lupu! Over here! We have a booth, come join us!" The hammer wielding behemoth of a woman waved her hand wildly back and forth overhead, and grinned almost like a guilty schoolboy when she saw that Momon heard her voice and was making a beeline for where she was.
Gagaran sat back down and looked smug, "Beer for a year, you said it, Shorty." She teased the magic caster, but before the little mage could protest, she saw that she was not being mocked.
' Momon…' Evileye's heart almost started beating again at the sight of the onyx armored mountain of manhood and muscle. Her eyes fluttered behind her mask in a maidenly sort of way that felt quite at odds to her. She quickly spoke to cover her own embarrassment at 'nothing at all'.
"S-Sir Momon, please, ah, come, sit here! It's so good to see you again I really didn't expect it and I'm so glad that it wasn't as long as I thought it would be and…" Evileye cut herself off as the rambling tumbled out of her mouth, grateful for the mask for the first time in over a century, she slid over and patted a seat beside her.
"Lady Lupu, please, join us why won't you?" Evileye added when the red-haired beauty's radiant smile came into view after she stepped aside from behind the leader of Axel.
"Gee, thanks." Lupu grinned and flopped herself down.
Ainz reached out his hand to Gagaran, "Thank you for drawing our attention to you, I'd begun to worry we might not have a place to sit down."
She clasped his hand, "Our pleasure, Shorty here," she patted Evileye's head beneath the red hood of her cloak, "was just saying she was going to pick up my bar tab for the next year, so of course I had to invite you to join us to share in my good luck."
"Lakyus, Tia, Tina, Evileye." Ainz said and shook each of their hands in turn before he sat beside the little magic caster.
"That is impressive generosity, I don't drink a great deal, but I'd be rude to refuse such an offer of the colleague who evaluated team Axel for our adamantite plates." Ainz said and removed his helmet to place it beneath the table.
"No worries Momon, I'll drink some for you!" Lupusregina grinned and thrust her hand up in the air and waved it wildly back and forth.
"Er- yes, of course. I was absolutely honored to evaluate you, and I'm happy to have a drink with you both ." Evileye added with haste and wished that she was unable to blush, even with her mask, she felt like the dark eyed hero could see through her.
A busty young server with a tray full of silver looking mugs approached, blonde with a brown vest that cut off to show her bare midriff and wearing a dress slit up to the thigh and with her hair swaying around her back, she was dressed for attention. Her sharp features and gentle brown eyes were eye catching to say the least.
"Two more beers for our friends here, would you, Sylvia?" Lakyus asked as the server began to lay out the drinks. The server looked down at the eager smiling Lupusregina and caught a glimpse of the adamantite plate that hung down just over her cleavage.
"I'll rush it so you're not kept waiting." Sylvia said immediately, and withdrew from view as fast as her legs could carry her.
"So, what brings you to Re-Estize?" Lakyus asked, filling the quiet of Evileye's now tongue tied state.
Ainz shrugged it off as a minor matter when she asked. "Visiting the King, we were invited to a feast, I'd planned on a visit eventually, but this just made it more important to come sooner. I had wanted to do a few more quests, but there simply hasn't been much worth mentioning. Though I hear there is a basilisk causing trouble and I planned on going to kill it, but it could have made trouble for the guild if an adamantite adventurer snubbed an invitation from the royal family."
' What a noble person, putting the guild ahead of his own desires…' Evileye thought. ' Perhaps… perhaps I can trust him with my secret, or… is he so good that… would he kill me?' She didn't even consider that it would require effort on his part, having seen the way he fought, her pride compelled her to admit it, both of Axel's members were well beyond her skill and strength, and her instincts screamed at her that there was much more to both than met the eye.
' If I want a future with him, I can't start it with a lie.' Evileye told herself, but the temptation to keep her cover through it all did not vanish in the least. "Where are you staying?" Evileye asked, "I have a place of my own here-"
The server interrupted and laid down two large mugs, one in front of Lupusregina, the other before Ainz, ' At least I can drink, thank goodness that alcohol was a big part of salaryman life.'
"Thank you!" Momon and Lupu said together, though if his voice was noble, hers was wildly enthusiastic, she took up the mug with one sweeping gesture and began to drink it down.
Ainz took his own up and began to drink like the rest, pacing himself to them.
Lupu and Gagaran caught one another's eyes when drinking at the same moment, and began an unspoken, informal contest between the two. "Keep em coming!" Gagaran and Lupu shouted at once, and the server dedicated to the table returned before the first mugs were slapped down to the table and the two locked eyes in earnest.
"Not bad, little red beast, not bad. But let a veteran show a virgin how it's really done!" Gagaran's taunt lit the competitive streak in the battlemaid, and they snatched up their mugs again and began to guzzle.
Within an hour, Gagaran and Lupu were taunting one another's drunk faces and chatting like old friends, trading barbs, and growling at one another whenever their mugs went empty.
Lupu slapped both hands down on the table and leaned over it, glowering up at the towering Gagaran, "You may be a mountain, but I'll climb up and show you who's boss!"
"I prefer young virgin boys, but you're so damn pretty I might make an exception for you, Lupu!" Gagaran laughed, and far from blushing, Lupu straightened up, snatched up her mug, and they began to rush to outpace one another in draining the contents. Little golden rivulets of beer went down their cheeks, and it dawned on Lakyus.
' No wonder Momon and Lupu work together, it isn't 'just' strength, she's got a wild beastial energy to her that complements his reserved and cautious ways.' Lakyus considered the seemingly mismatched pair and reevaluated her prior poor thoughts of the cleric, Lupu. ' She's not undisciplined, she's passionate like… a shorter and prettier Gagaran.'
Evileye meanwhile, had begun trading words with Momon again, and made a second attempt at drawing him to her home.
"If you have nowhere to stay, Sir Momon, I have a place here in the city! You could stay with me until your business is concluded at least!" Evileye raised her voice, her mask hiding her blush from everyone but herself when she looked up at the swarthy chiseled features of the dark warrior.
"That wouldn't put you out?" Ainz asked.
She rapidly shook her head and thrusting her hands out in front of her, she shook them back and forth as well, "No, no really! I would… I'd love to have you spend the night with me!"
Gasps stopped the entire booth dead and they one and all stared down at the mage.
"Wow! She's horny." Lupu hiccupped and slumped back in her chair, "Go for it, magic girl!" She added.
"And people say 'I' am forward, really." Gagaran added.
"Horny." Tia said.
"Very horny." Tina added, and the twins faced one another and gave sharp nods before reaching for their mugs again.
"Evileye-" Ainz began.
It took a second for Evileye to realize just how she'd said it. "Ahhhhhhh! Ex-excuse me! Yes, I have to, ah, tomorrow, things, reasons, excuses, ah, pardon me, I'll ah… Sir Momon, I'll see you tomorrow!"
They watched as Evileye fled, dodging in between people like she was rushing through a battlefield avoiding her foes.
"I believe that would be my cue to leave." Ainz said and stood up, he held a hand out to Lupusregina, who took it with a wicked, flushed grin. "I'll see to my companion, I planned on staying here for tonight, if there are rooms available." He added.
"If there aren't, tell them you can have mine." Lakyus said, "We have rooms here on permanent reserve, but we never use them."
"Thank you, I'll do that." Ainz replied and bowed, he glanced over to Gagaran, the woman had slumped forward and fell face first to the table where she promptly began to snore. "You should probably take care of that one too." He chuckled.
"Passionate followers, a blessing, a curse, a gift, aren't they?" Lakyus gave an indulgent and sunny smile when she glanced up at the dark hero.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." Ainz answered, and the stumbling Lupu pressed herself against him as they walked away.
It took Ainz only minutes to acquire a room, receive a key, and then ascend the stairs.
As soon as they were out of sight, Lupusregina straightened up and began to walk normally again. "Apologies if I got too close, master." She whispered as soon as they entered the room.
Ainz locked the door and looked around, it was a single bed, not unexpectedly, but it was quite large and covered with thick furs. "It's fine, why did you start pretending to be drunk, anyway?"
"A message, master. From Sebas, they're ready for you, and the next phase, to meet his tool and make it yours." Lupusregina said and rubbed her hands together. "But the beer really was pretty good, and I like that big one. She's fun, I wonder what that big smile would look like, all twisted and ripped open even wider, and what she sounds like when screaming in pain."
"Just get some rest, I'm going back to get ready, wait for me here and neither leave nor admit anyone." Ainz ordered.
Lupusregina nodded rapidly, "Yes, My Lord." She said, and sat down on the bed when her lord vanished through the gate, and left her alone to wonder what it would be like to torture her new friend.
For a moment, Arche's vision was gone, there was nothing, and then when she could see again, she had only one string of connected thoughts. ' Did Sebas kill us? Are we dead? Is this Heaven?' She could be forgiven for the question, because beneath her feet lay the softest ground she'd ever felt. Rolling hills of perfect green, a bright blue sky and a light springlike breeze caressed her skin the way she imagined a loving parent would their own child.
To her right, a great lake stood still but for the small waves created by the breeze that lightly billowed through her hair. In the distance, a high tree grew with great broad branches in every direction. Her sisters' fear, and her own, were rapidly diminishing when Sebas walked from behind her, stood between herself and Solution and said, "Welcome to the sixth floor of the Great Tomb of Nazarick."
"Tomb… this is a tomb? Did… are we dead?" Arche squeaked out in disbelief, her bright blue eyes wide as the sky whose color they mimicked, or so they felt for a moment.
"No, you are very much alive, and I have informed my master of what an asset you have been to him, and your willingness to go to any lengths for your siblings, it is a sentiment shared by all the occupants of this place." Sebas said, and then added, "Follow me."
Unable to think of anything else to ask, or anything else to do, Arche followed Sebas toward the tree, it proved a pleasant walk, though her nerves were getting to her in spite of the tranquility of the place.
As she drew closer, she realized it was 'not' just a tree, the tree was also a 'house' of some sort. There was a door cut into the trunk, and the high branches had additions that lay balanced or seemingly 'grew' from the branches themselves in some instances.
When they were nearly to the door, two dark elf children emerged that Arche could only describe as 'beautiful'. With their bright heterochromatic eyes, the girl in the dress wrung the staff in her hands like she was afraid she would get in trouble, while the young boy stood bold and brash with hands on his hips. "Hey Sebas, Lord Ainz is inside already, best not keep him waiting, he's busy."
"I understand, Lady Aura, I won't be long." Sebas said and bowed to the pair.
"Ah, will my… my sisters be coming?" Arche stammered, ' Sebas isn't actually a lord?!' She mentally exclaimed, the feeling of drowning hit her, like she was being overwhelmed with sensory and world shattering experiences and a new revelation had just been piled on top of it all.
"They can wait outside." Sebas said as reassuringly as he could, and Arche set the girls down. She put a firm hand on each of their shoulders and squeezed to keep their attention.
"Stay right here, alright? Don't wander off. Understand?" She asked and ordered both at once, and found it needless. They seemed not to have her sense of distress.
They gave happy nods and flopped themselves onto the grass, Kuuderika lay on her back with her arms open, while her sister seemed to prefer to rest her back against the tree and stretch her legs out. "OK." The pair said at once, then Arche followed Sebas through the door.
The door shut behind her, and it did nothing to allay her fears, nor did the impossibility of the house itself. Everything seemed to have been 'grown' into place, the tables, the seating, nothing betrayed the marks of having been 'cut' or 'carved' into being. ' I've heard of plant based magic that was used on crops, and even to make some unique artistic shapes with trees, but… nothing like this?' Her estimation of the power of Sebas' master went up ever higher as she followed the older man deeper into the tree.
It wasn't long before they entered a room with a single long table, grown into place like everything else, where a human male sat at its head. Sebas knelt when he entered, "Master, I've brought the person I spoke of, as you instructed."
Arche went to one knee as quickly as Sebas spoke, she lowered her eyes and waited for him to speak. Handsome by most measures, with dark hair and eyes, chiseled features and a fairly solid looking build, it was difficult not to acknowledge the power of his penetrating eyes even from where they knelt at the entrance to the room, at least twenty feet from him.
He stood, and said, "Raise your heads."
When she did so, he said more. "My name is Ainz Ooal Gown, I am the master here, and you would be Arche Eeb Rile Furt, isn't that right? Sebas has spoken much about you."
The noble tone was kind, but firm, commanding. ' He… he is a nobleman.' She felt the certainty crystalize, everything about him fairly ordered her to beg to serve his will. The air of command and authority came off him as it did off of the Emperor himself, but moreso.
"I-I, yes, My Lord. That is my name… I hope you've heard good things about me." She flashed a weak, hopeful smile, the man in front of her was dressed as a magic caster, with flowing dark robes, a golden staff of carved twisting snakes with jewels in their mouths, everything about him screamed 'magic caster' and yet… she sensed no magic.
"If it weren't, then you would not be here now." Ainz said and approached her, "I'm told you have a talent, a very unique one that I might consider to be quite valuable. Is that true?" Ainz asked, but before she could answer, he put it to the test. "What tier of magic can I cast?"
"None, My Lord, I can sense no magic from you." Arche said with confidence, ' Just tell the truth, flattery will not end well.' She told herself, wondering why someone with no talent for magic would ask such a thing.
It seemed to take him aback for a moment, and then a deep, rich laugh came from his squared jaw, "Oh, of course." He stepped back. "Forgive me." He said, and stepped back another pace, he held out his hand. "My ring, it hides my magic. So your talent, if it is real, is not unlimited. Good to know." Ainz said and reached for the little gold ring, then slid it off.
It felt like a star exploded in Arche's face. She covered her mouth to keep the threat of vomit from coming past her lips, and covered it by throwing herself at his feet. "You are god ! The god of magic my master spoke of! Lord of the Abyss!" She cried out and cared nothing for the stinging pain when her head struck the wooden floor.
' Well, that was a favorable reaction if ever there was one.' Ainz reflected with dry discomfort at her adulation. "That doesn't answer the question I asked, however flattering your answer was."
The words tumbled from Arche's lips like water over the falls, she rushed them out with a desperate urgency that threatened to either harden her soul or shatter it into a thousand tiny fragments just by being in his presence. "God of Magic… there is no tier number for what you can use. Even eighth tier is merely legendary, ninth tier I once heard a story of, and someone drunkenly once told me about a legendary creature that could use the tenth tier… but even the existence of something more… you don't just use a tier… you are a God ! If we have to name it, I would name it God tier magic!"
"Good enough." Ainz answered with glib acceptance. He slipped the ring back on, and the supreme power he exhibited vanished like it had never been.
"With such… power, what can I… you offer me everything I want, but I can do nothing- nothing for you with your power." Arche pushed herself back up to a kneeling position, but kept her eyes downcast.
"There is one thing you can do, one thing which will prove very valuable, but may put you at great risk. If it fails, and you die, your sisters will be kept safe, but if it succeeds, you will rise beyond your deepest dreams of strength." Ainz said, and held out his hand. ' Acting is hard.' He thought briefly, ' I should give Pandora's Actor more credit for his skill at the craft.'
Arche saw the hand when it entered her field of vision, "Take my hand, Arche Eeb Rile Furt, swear to submit to the will of Ainz Ooal Gown, swear your absolute allegiance to the Halls of Nazarick, and even the dreams you don't yet know you have, will come true."
"Master… if my sisters live free and happy lives, the only dream I have that matters, will have already come true. I swear, I am yours, do with this body whatever you will, I will obey. I will test my comrades, tell you everything about my country, and follow you even to the point of death, or beyond it if you bring me back." Arche swore, and taking his hand, she turned the palm down, and pressed her lips to the ring he wore on his finger.
"Then my first order is this, follow me." Ainz said, and walked past them out of the room, leaving her to snap to her feet and follow as fast as she could.
Volume 2 Chapter 16
Her sisters were more than happy to remain where they were when the trio passed them by on exiting the house, though where Lord Ainz was taking her, Arche couldn't even begin to guess. The long and convoluted route of halls and rooms were almost too much to believe, though Sebas and her new master took it in stride.
One thing she did notice was that there was a definite slightly downward slope to be had, nothing large, just 'barely' noticeable. But present.
The dark stone was inky black, though to her dismay, though the stonework appeared stacked, the floor beneath her feet was smooth as if it had been made from one solid piece. ' Combined by magic, or joined by magic I can't even fathom?' She asked herself and had no answer.
It was a struggle just to keep her jaw from dropping when she found herself at a solid white double door. "Is that… wood?" She asked with uncertainty, it seemed far too smooth.
Ainz looked over his shoulder, "No, this is a kind of prismatic ore, naturally enchanted materials that this world may or may not have more of. It is 'vastly' stronger than adamantite and its innate magic easily modified to purpose."
Arche felt her mind implode at the very idea, but could do nothing but accept it. "It will only open to the bearer of one of these rings." He said, holding his hand up to show the ring she had kissed earlier.
He laid his hand against the surface, and the double doors swung open to reveal… nothing special. A magic circle of white on a black stone floor, and a small raised stone platform against a far wall with two sets of steps on either side, and an obsidian looking podium rising at the front center of the platform.
"Stand in that circle, Arche." Ainz ordered when the door closed behind them.
With slow, fearful, small steps, she did as her master ordered, she looked up at her new lord, feeling like a little bird caught in a hurricane. She didn't ask for mercy when she stood there, clutching her staff.
"Sebas, prepare to defend if this goes wrong, and if it does, do not let her leave this room alive." Ainz ordered, and Arche's face went pale.
"My lord, I won't betray you… I swear it…" She squeaked the words, but he waved them off.
"I believe you, but this is a new experiment, and those have uncertain ends, I am cautious by nature, so please do not take offense at what I've said." Ainz meant what he said, and he saw her relax at his reassurance.
Curiosity bubbled up in her when she saw him touching something on the podium, and it made her wonder if it was more, but, commanded to stand there, she obeyed.
' Interesting.' Ainz noted, ' Very interesting.' He looked down at the console screen from the game, it had remained in a functional state, and it listed the full roster of both guild members and the NPCs. Conveniently enough, as he moved his finger along the roster, he could see their statuses. And more conveniently than that, it let him sort through them alphabetically by name, by level, or by any number of other things such as specific attributes, karma ratings, and more. He chose alphabetical, and began to search the list.
' Albedo.' He saw the name and felt the wave of guilt again, but that vanished with the joy of success when he saw another name.
' Arche.' Her 'oath' added her to the list, and it let him see her specific statistical scores. ' Level seventeen… level cap reached. Excess exp cannot be applied.' Ainz tried not to smile at this success, because a pulsing glow of gold in a little white rectangle on the console was the option, 'Increase Level Cap'.
Ainz tapped it. The words changed to the price. ' One hundred thousand coins.' He read, glanced up at Arche, saw her nervous look, and then went back to minding the console. ' A hundred thousand is substantial… nothing compared to what we have on hand, but… yes. If I take over an entire country, I can funnel a part of the wealth into creating all the powerful figures I need, I'll still have to level them up, but my experiment with Lupusregina showed that I could do that much. And there may be 'other' players out there to contend against. At least for now, this experiment is worth the price.'
He tapped the payment request, and looked up to watch.
Arche felt herself begin to float, her hair rising up over her head like it was caught by an upward draft, her body rising from the floor, her legs kicked out to find purchase that wasn't available, fear began to overwhelm her. ' Am I being punished for something?! What's happening to me?!' She screamed inside her own head, and gave a desperate voice to her terror, "M-Master… what's happening… what is this… please… if I've done something wrong…" Then there was nothing, only darkness.
Barbro stood in the center of the village. It was as empty as he heard. "Pathetic." He cursed. "Absolutely pathetic."
He pointed to one of the men behind him, "Burn it down. I don't even want to look at it."
"But sire, more villagers will be moved in, where will they stay?" The armored soldier asked.
"Dirt staying in the dirt is fine, they can build new places here, if they want something, they should work for it, not expect us to just hand them homes they didn't build for work they haven't done. Is my tent set up yet?" Barbro asked the most important question and looked off toward the orange glow of the setting sun.
"Ah, yes, Sire, it is. Your entertainment is in there as well, and a cook has prepared a meal for you." The soldier answered the unasked questions that were implied by his first one, and so he grunted out in impatience.
"Good, get this burned up already, anything you find, you can keep. Tomorrow morning when the scouts come back, we should have some idea of where the trash blew off to." Barbro snapped at the brown bearded soldier and wheeled about to leave the center of the trash heap that was the village.
He didn't look back to watch the sights that went with the sounds of the looting soldiers, extra food, clothing, any tools they could find, things like that always helped set soldiers at ease and it offset the overall cost of any military action to let them plunder a bit, so it didn't matter.
He moved aside the red velvet fabric of the tent and looked around. He had an oversized cot with an actual field mattress. A bear skin that had been stuffed and sewn up tight, it was supremely comfortable on his body. It was more comfort than his entertainment had likely ever had.
' Eight Fingers picked a good one for me this time.' Barbro thought with some admiration for their skills. She didn't look up at him from her place on her knees. Completely healed and bathed, one would never know she'd ever been injured. But the broken, fearful look in her pretty blue eyes when she looked up at him, spoke volumes about what lessons the world had taught to her.
Her blonde hair had been kept long, but braided like a certain sexy adventurer that shot his flirtations down like he'd shot down many a bird on the wing. The broad, powerfully built Prince gritted his teeth, the braid and look of this one had been by his express request, but that didn't make him less resentful, as if the adamantite adventurer she was made up to look like, were actually fearful on her knees and in front of him.
' Eight Fingers has been such a profitable partnership for me, that was the best idea I ever had, and what did it cost but a few bits of information here and there, and nobody is the wiser.' Barbro thought, and felt his shaft harden, he unbuckled his belt.
"What's your name, girl?" Barbro asked.
"Tuare, sir, T-Tuare." She kept her eyes in the dirt and slowly lowered her arms away from her breasts, exposing them to his eyes.
"Tuare…" Barbro grumbled as the belt slid off from around his waist, he folded it in one hand, and then brought it down hard across her cheek when she looked up, she yelped like a wounded dog when the blow hit and snapped her face away. "Your name is what I tell you it is."
"Yessir!" She squealed and touched the wounded cheek where a streak of blood already opened up.
"Now, what's your name, girl?" He asked again, peeling off his clothing.
"Whateveryoutellmesir!" She whimpered, tears already formed in her eyes.
"Lakyus, your name is Lakyus. Do you understand, slut?" Barbro ground the hated name out.
"Yessir, m-my name is Lakyus." She bit her lower lip.
"Is Lakyus a worthless little slut?" He demanded, and she nodded, watching as tears fell into the dust.
"Yessir, Lakyus is a worthless little slut who just wants to make her betters happy." Tuare whimpered.
"Then crawl over here Lakyus, and start sucking." Barbro laughed and watched the way the long blonde braid fell to trail in the dirt when the Eight Fingers prostitute obeyed.
He snatched up the braid and wrapped it around his hand like a leash when she rose up, and sighed as heat engulfed his member. ' Ahhhh, yes, adamantite or not, she should have known there'd be consequences for displeasing me…' He thought, and went on indulging in his fantasy with the substitute he'd been given.
' It's good to be the Prince.' He thought, a half hour later, when he shuddered and heard one of his favorite sounds, the steady 'gulp' of 'Lakyus' from down on her knees.
"Was it really a good idea to get my brother interested in making a name for himself by chasing down peasants?" Prince Zanac asked his little sister.
"Yes, brother dear. If you want even a 'chance' at the throne, it is." Princess Renner said, and looked to Marquis Raeven. The thin well dressed noble had his mouth shut and did not have the ingratiating posture most nobles wore when speaking with the royal family. As one of the few trusted members of the Royal faction, he got leeway in private that others never did. "Tell me, Marquis Raeven, what do you think that our oldest brother will do?"
"Kill peasants, burn villages, and pretend he has accomplished something, even though all he has produced is arrogance, noise, and death." The Marquis gave the brutal assessment of the crown Prince without any hint of doubt, but it was still a shocking admission to the ears of Prince Zanac.
"You don't think he'll even try to find the ones actually responsible for the death?" Prince Zanac asked of the nobleman.
Raeven brushed his hair aside with one hand and slumped forward, his golden hair had a wavy look, his thin nose and slender face were accentuated by strong golden eyebrows that were naturally furrowed and gave him a fearsome, intense look. But the true power of the man, Prince Zanac and Princess Renner both knew, was that he was a canny politician, able to play both sides of the coin at once without making enemies of either.
Raeven's one devotion, Renner knew, was to his son's future, which as the savvy politician knew, required a strong king and a strong kingdom, and so she trusted him to back the royal faction against the divisive noble faction that wanted a weak government for their own selfish reasons.
"I think he'll try for a week, get bored, and start killing people. When or even if he finds the right people, he might stop, but if he can't, he'll kill a thousand or two to avenge the trash and score a few short term political points." Raeven said, doing his best not to spit in disgust at the pointless brutality.
"Sister, why would you…" Prince Zanac tried to wrap his head around the truth, Renner told him herself that she set him on this path, which as it was laid out by Raeven, would cost many innocent lives. But she was also the one who protested against slavery and used most of her allowance, simply giving it to the poor of the capital.
"Because, we need a bargain, here and now." Renner's sweet eyes were gone and in their place was fanatical will, "Brother, I do not want the throne. I want one thing and one thing only. I want my Climb. Let me marry my Climb, let me have him, and I care for nothing else."
The younger Prince was very quiet, his first impulse, to spit out, ' That peasant boy' wilted on his tongue, the face before him fit with many a long heard rumor, that misfortune befell those who were cruel to her bodyguard. Her request, and her face, all but confirmed them.
"I do not love our oldest brother, he is cruel to my Climb, treats me with contempt, he is lazy, incompetent, and a coward at heart. Besides, you know he is in bed with Eight Fingers, don't you, Zanac?" Renner asked rhetorically, she knew he knew, because the source was sitting with them both.
"Y-es. I do. He gambles, uses their whores, takes bribes for information, and more. He's as corrupt as any of the nobility. Father doesn't know, but if he did?" Zanac folded his hands together in his lap and looked down, "It would kill him to know the truth."
"Now he won't have to, I'll do what I can, brother, you'll have to do your part, of course, but all I want at the end is for Climb and I to be together." Renner replied to her brother quite reasonably, "Any points he gains will be worthless very quickly, and when they are, you will be out front to inherit the throne. Our good Marquis," she extended a hand toward the gold and white clad nobleman, "will use his connections to the noble faction to demand a successor be named, and then there can only be one answer." She gestured with her other hand to Prince Zanac. "A few thousand peasants for a throne, that's the way these things work, isn't it?"
"And what if my stupid brother tries to leverage Climb's life against you for information?" Zanac asked, his chubby face went tight at the suggestion. The Princesses had little power, and despite her beauty and reputation, even Barbro knew there was more to the woman and would use her if he could.
Princess Renner's eyes went glassy and wide, a dreadful, insane smile spread over her face, all was twisted, warped, mad, and an air of absolute malice hovered over her like the wavering ripples in the air above a hot flame.
Her answer left no doubt about her seriousness, and all doubt was wiped away as she retorted, "Then I will make him suffer so much… so much that people will pity him for ten thousand years, and his name will be used to describe suffering for ten thousand more…"
Volume 2 Chapter 17
'Click!' If there was a word for it, that was what it felt like to Arche, like somebody had opened a locked door in her own mind, the inky blackness she experienced briefly, changed and there was only white. Like going from a darkened, windowless room, and stepping out onto the sun itself. Warmth ran through her veins, a comforting caress, and she felt her body begin to strengthen itself.
A moment later, she understood. ' I'm growing stronger… so much stronger…' Her muscles felt like they were growing, she felt like she had enough energy to run day and night without pause, and as to the well of mana within her body, it was like somebody had tunneled the well deeper and found a reservoir she hadn't even known existed, then tapped it.
She felt the billowing winds that swirled around her body like a tornado, and she felt them slowly fade away, and her body descended back down to the stone floor.
When her toes and heels hit the stone, she went down to one knee again. "Master… whatever you've done… it is… it's a miracle."
Ainz looked at the console when the process ended, ' Level cap raised to twenty-seven. Actual current level, twenty-one. Max tier, four. All that untapped exp was applied, I suppose. Good to know, I can get them all the experience they need, then only elevate them as much as I trust them, or until I can be sure I can control them.' It was something to think about extensively later.
However, he turned his thoughts to what she just said, ' I've done nothing, or rather, not much, raising her level cap by ten, and it appears I can do it again by another ten levels for one hundred and fifty thousand coins. So… there's a cost increase, probably proportional, fifty percent increase per ten levels.'
Ainz stepped back from the console to address his new servant. "Arche, you are now assigned to Sebas, you will bring your team to be 'tested' for their worth, and others with them. If they fail this test, they will perish. If they don't, they will join you."
"Master." Arche acknowledged without any hesitation.
"Sebas, you will take Arche to the arena, have Cocytus use his skill to create monsters to fight, ensure her survival, and keep her strength rising. When she is capable of fifth tier magic, do as Demiurge suggested, and take her to Fluder to set everything in motion. I am going to return to Re-Estize, call for me if you need anything. But otherwise, proceed as planned. Oh and, see that the rest of the Tomb is informed about the presence of the two small humans, give them a comfortable room and whatever they need. They will be living here for the foreseeable future."
"Master." Sebas answered, and when Lord Ainz vanished through a gate, he faced Arche to give her his instructions. Sebas was surprised to find her leaping into his arms.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Sebas!" She cried out and wrapped her arms as tightly around him as she could, and kissed him on his cheek.
Madam Furt walked all over the estate looking for them before she said anything. Hour after hour, "Kuuderika? Ureirika? Where are you?" She stopped the few remaining servants, and each of them denied any knowledge of the whereabouts of the twins.
It wasn't until she returned to their room to see if they might have gone back and taken a nap, that she saw something unexpected that caused her heartbeat to pick up just a bit. The butler was overseeing the reorganizing of their things and storing them into wooden bins usually meant for transportation.
"Jaem, what are you doing?" She asked a little more urgently than she intended to, her fingers closed over the hem of her green flowing dress, and held it tight, hoping for a benign answer like, "deep cleaning their room', but what she 'got' was more banal.
"Sir Furt ordered us to pack up their things to sell, my lady, I assume because of his new loan." Jaem replied, and Madam Furt felt something deeply wrong.
She gave a curt nod, said nothing more, and rushed to the main room where her husband spent most of his time. As she expected from the words of Jaem, he was there looking over a pile of coins, and a merchant stood on hand, a merchant they both knew as a premier art dealer.
"We'll have new lamps coming soon, only fifteen gold, but that's a few months away yet, for now, we have this marvelous painting, it's called 'Sayet and the Shield', he waved a hand over to a magnificent piece of a coastline where a bright green flag fluttered over a tower. A dark haired figure in a cloak as green as the flag, held a shield out defiantly while a beastwoman, a racoon girl, embraced him.
"It'll be twelve gold pieces." The merchant said, and Sir Furt pushed twelve over to him.
Madam Furt watched the slow way the coins moved over the table, the merchant swept them into hand, accompanying him was a junior of a noble house that had been recently elevated by the Bloody Emperor, ' Flemel's son, an idiot.' She recalled reflexively and waited with patience while her husband made small talk with the pair. The merchant left, and the young noble chatted in idleness for a bit, tendering a potential invite to an upcoming party that the Furt house could attend 'if everything goes well'.
' It never goes well. But he always thinks it will.' Madam Furt cursed mentally, but held herself aloof but for a brief greeting until the nobleman left.
When they were alone, Madam Furt asked her husband directly, "Why are we packing up and selling Kuuderika and Ureirika's things for sale? Are you buying them new things, and for that matter, where are our girls? I've been all over the estate, and I can't find them."
"They were taken away this morning." Sir Furt answered, his wife's face began to go pale, and he jumped ahead of her thoughts, "I had to let Senak take them! He was going to call in our debt and not lend us anymore! But we're close ! Today proves it! I gave them to him for sale in exchange for a payment, since your daughter failed to perform her duties, and still hasn't returned with more money, I had to offer something! They were all he would take! So I gave him Kuuderika and Ureirika in exchange for the current payment and another hundred gold coin loan! But look!" he pointed to the painting that was leaning up against the wall waiting to be hung. "I had the good luck to buy that! And Flemel's son saw me do it! That will surely get us an invitation to a ball, we'll get our good name back!"
Madam Furt's heart skipped a beat.
"We'll get everything we deserve again! And everything will go back to being how it was!" Sir Furt put his hands on her arms, holding her up when he sensed she might collapse where she stood. "They won't be slaves for long, we'll quietly buy them back, hopefully they won't be too damaged to marry, but even if they are, you're still young, you can give me more…" Sir Furt's words flowed like a roaring river and the noise deafened his wife.
She didn't want to imagine her girls on the auction blocks, those were miserable places even with the emperor's reforms, and they were soft, sweet girls. ' They would never survive whatever someone wanting to buy two little girls, might do with them…'
Her thoughts turned to Arche, gone off on her job. ' She doesn't know yet, but she'd never forgive this, she'll… no, I'll… my little Kuukuu… my Rari… sold… sold… he sold them so he could…' Madam Furt tried to hate him, but as he babbled on about the opportunities coming his way from this, she only saw a reflection of herself.
She steeled her heart, gave him a little smile, and straightened up. "Forgive me, husband, I'm a little light headed. Of course, of course you're right, this will be a fine opportunity, it was worth it, and they're just doing what needs to be done for the family, just like you." She smiled through her words and his hands fell away from her arms when she steadied and echoed his sentiments.
"Why don't we have some wine and relax, without Kuuderika, Ureirika, and Arche around, there's nothing in between us and what we want to do for a while." She proposed, and taking his hand, she led him away from the pile of coins on the table.
*See, I told you it was me. Now would you kindly remove that Royal Road review accusing me of stealing my own work?
Volume 2 Chapter 18
Sir Furt never had much tolerance for alcohol, and under the constant praise and encouragement of his wife, he continued to consume more, and more, and more. He staggered towards his wife, his fingers drunkenly pawing at her dress. "Lesh doit, lesh make anudder… a betterun than your failed shlut…" He spat and touched the cheek Arche slapped, the mark from her final slap was covered with makeup, but it was there and so was the memory. ' After I get my title back, I'll disinherit her, ungrateful girl! I raised her all those years and what does she do?! Threaten to cut the family off?! What does she think a family is for?!' The mental curses were clearer than his fumbled words, but the anger made him more receptive to his wife's charm and to the alcohol she kept offering him.
"Yes, you're such a great man, you can have 'one' more, right?" She teased and showed a little skin to him, and the room began to get all spinny. "Oh not to worry, husband ." His wife said with abundant charm and a tap on his cheek. "Let me get you to bed, we can do all kinds of things there."
He gave a slow nod and looked up with a lecherous smile on his face and a little drool slipped down into his blonde beard. "M'kay." he muttered and let her take him to bed. She flopped him into place on his back.
"I'll return in just a moment, I just have to get ready." She said in the sultry way she always did, and he promptly fell to snoring before the door shut behind her.
Madam Furt rushed to the main room and found the pile of coins still sitting where her husband left them. She went to the silk rope and began to yank it. This pull would ring almost every servant bell in the house, including every bedroom. They had few servants anymore, but the Madam Furt wanted them all.
She kept yanking on the bell while tears ran down her cheeks. It took quite some time, almost an hour, or so it felt, until they began to arrive, a few butlers, maids, and a single footman for the carriage they retained.
They were dressed in service clothing, the cause of their delay, and looked back and forth at one another, uncertain of why they had all been gathered, and even more profoundly confused about why the Madam of the house stood weeping shamelessly in front of them.
Madam Furt sniffed hard, wiped her nose violently and crudely with her sleeve, and then said what was as unthinkable as her actions, "This house is over."
"Madam…" Jaem said, taking a step forward, she stopped him dead, raising a hand up to call him to a halt.
"Arche will never give anything to this house again. And my husband has sold Kuuderika and Ureirika. They're gone, probably sold off already or being transported to wherever they will be… the House of Furt has no heirs now." She pointed to the coins on the table.
Her words were cold as ice and filled with hate that was rivaled in its thickness only by her sorrowful face. "Divide that among yourselves as your severance, it should be enough to live for a long, long time, until you can find employment somewhere else. In addition, you can take whatever you can carry out of this house in the morning, go sell it, call that a bonus, I ask for only three things from you all in return. My last requests as the Madam of the House of Furt."
The horror of learning that the little girls they'd watched grow up, had in fact been sold by the man they worked for, was sinking in, and more than one pathetic, pitying look was in place, two of the maids had teary eyes, and they were not alone. It was obvious why, the chance of finding two small girls in the auction system that spread out all over Baharuth was exceptionally low.
"The first thing I ask is that if any of you ever find my girls… please buy them, buy them and look after them like they were your daughters. They shouldn't have to suffer because of their stupid, stupid parents."
The madam swallowed a lump in her throat, then carried on, "The second thing I ask, is that you tell workers to pass on to Arche, when she returns I mean, that I had nothing to do with their sale, I didn't want that, I didn't know he'd done it. She'll hate me anyway, but for the right reasons at least."
"And, the third, Madam?" Jaem pressed, having a sinking feeling about what she wanted.
"Pour alcohol, pitch, and anything burnable all over this house. Spend all night getting ready, my husband won't wake up, he's very drunk. I want this place ready to turn into hell by morning. Take whatever you want, including the carriage. I'll even sign documents turning over anything you can carry, if only you'll also carry out my final wishes." Madam Furt said and sat at the table in front of the coins.
For a long time nobody said anything, until Jaem did. "Yes, Madam, we'll do what you want."
That galvanized the remaining servants to work, and all night long they worked, laying out papers and tearing down curtains to prepare to use for fuel, soaking them in alcohol and laying them in strips to better spread the flame. The only sheets that weren't in use were those on which Sir Furt lay sleeping.
And while he slept, Madam Furt filled out an inventory of taken items and signed them over to the servant who expressed a desire for them. Silver forks, spoons, knives, plates, all manner of easily portable materials were shoved into packs and then labeled and shoved into the carriage that would take the last servants of the House of Furt away.
Dawn was just breaking when the last of the preparations were made, and she looked over the few faces of the faithful servants, they were clearly tired from lack of sleep, but they also wore faces of pity, sorrow, or anger all their own. One by one, Madam Furt extended the signed paper over to each servant, and thanked them by name.
"Jaem," she said and embraced him, looking up into the careworn eyes of the middle aged servant, "I barely knew a life without you, I hope you find a good house to serve in again, and don't think too harshly of me, even if I do deserve it."
"Liyal," she embraced the maid and slipped the rolled paper into the young woman's hand, "You weren't with us as long as Jaem, but you worked hard, there's a good recommendation for you, just like for the rest, thank you for everything."
So it went, until it was all done. "Now, get going, all of you." Madam Furt commanded.
"Madam… what about you?" Jaem asked as they briefly hesitated to leave.'
"I'm leaving my husband, of course." She said, and pointed toward the door, "Just leave a candle lit for me so I can set the fire in a little while."
They vanished out the door, one by one, leaving the last click to be like the clap of thunderous doom to the woman who stood alone. On a whim, Madam Furt took the painting and hung it up on the wall, admiring it briefly. ' It really is a fantastic piece of artwork, a shame nobody will ever see it again.'
She then went back to her bedroom, her husband was still asleep and snoring in a drunken stupor. She went to the bedside table and yanked open the drawer. Every noblewoman kept a dagger at hand in her bedroom to spare herself from being disgraced if an invasion should threaten to overthrow them. Madam Furt was the same as any other in that respect, and like other women who took that seriously, she kept her dagger sharp.
She drew it from its simple leather sheath and went over to where her husband slept. Conveniently enough, he'd rolled over onto his belly at some point. She set the dagger down, pulled off the shoes and socks that covered his ankles, then took the knife up.
It took only a moment, ' I'm no warrior but… Maybe Arche would praise me for this.' She thought with savage pleasure as the bright blood spurted and her husband screamed when she slashed the tendons of his ankles.
That woke him up, the snores were gone and the screaming went on in earnest. He howled and howled like a stuck pig and turned desperate to see who attacked him.
Madam Furt looked down at him with disgust and hatred, and he stared up at her in turn with eyes empty of any understanding. Answering the question he couldn't ask through screams, she shrieked like a banshee at him. "You sold my children! You bastard! You took them! You took them away! They were our future! They were our future and you destroyed it all!" She shrieked it and slashed her knife down again as he flailed, sometimes she hit the tendons, sometimes not, but he wasn't going to be walking. He rolled away, desperately trying to escape her.
And fell with a thud that brought a whimper with it.
"Arche's wish will come true! You just wait there you unmitigated bastard!" She shrieked and kicked him hard in the gut, then brought her foot up when he hugged his belly, and brought her heel down on his kidney. He yowled again like the stuck pig she now saw him to be. She then strode toward the door, leaving him shaking in pain and briefly too paralyzed to move.
She took the candle left burning on the table, then lowered it to a soaked strip of cloth that lay on the floor and ran to other piles of burnable and alcohol soaked materials.
The flames roared to life and the heat and smoke began to fill the room.
She watched the line of flame rush down the long ropes once used to summon servants, she watched it catch torn curtains and watched it catch strips of blanket, cotton, torn up furniture bits, and watched it vanish. ' They probably couldn't get it to run everywhere in the manor, not even if they tore up every page of every book to use for fuel… but it'll get enough.' She thought, and returned to her room. There weren't burning materials laid to that place, and there weren't, for a reason.
Madam Furt flung open the door to find her husband scratching at the wood, trying to get it open, and without any hint of mercy, she planted a kick full into his face, shattering his nose and forcing several teeth down his throat.
He struggled further, gurgling out protests when she went behind him, grabbed the blonde hair she once found so attractive, and began to drag him back into the bedroom.
From where he lay, he could see beneath the door to the beginnings of fire. "Wha…" He tried to say, but she answered before he could finish.
"Fire. The house is on fire. I had the servants get the entire home ready to burn." She said, approaching her wardrobe.
"We've got a few minutes to go before it spreads here, but it won't be long." Madam Furt tore off her expensive clothing and tossed it over his body, concealing herself briefly while she changed into a simple riding outfit, long out of fashion with the rich, it had become very common clothing.
"The servants all think I'm going to be dying in here with you, I told them I was leaving you, and I think they simply assumed I was going to die a little later." Madam Furt said and spat in his direction.
"I gave it a lot of thought." She said to the writhing figure on the floor while she yanked up her pants and slid on a belt. "I was going to do that, at first, but Kuuderika and Ureirika are out there somewhere, hopefully not suffering, and I owe it to them to try to do what our daughter was doing the whole time. Protecting them. From you. You owe it to your daughters to do what Arche said." Madam Furt's words were as icy as the spreading flames were hot, and tendrils of smoke began to come through the crack in the door.
"Get. Get me out." He gasped. "You're. My wife." He whimpered, "You. Duty. Me." He couldn't form a proper sentence, but he began crawling toward his wife.
"Not anymore." Madam Furt said, and spat on him. "There, that glob of spit on your face will put out a little fire. That was my last duty. Now do what Arche said, and go die in a fire."
She sat on the bed and yanked on low boots suitable for walking.
"What you do? Without. My. Name." He seethed as he struggled to mouth simple words.
"Furt is a dead name. Worthless trash. I'll go to work. I don't care at what. I'll dig holes, I'll be a prostitute, I'll teach music, maybe even be a merchant. I'll do whatever I have to in order to find them again. I'll buy them back, and spend my life begging their forgiveness for letting them stay where you could use them, you unimaginable bastard." The smoke was beginning to billow thickly under the door, it hit the ceiling and began to fill the room from the top down, closing inch by inch on a man whose wounds kept him safe from the smoke for as long as possible.
She yanked a small traveling pack from out of her wardrobe and threw a few more small things into it that might be useful, then slung it on to her back. "Here, here is a bonus for all my years of faithful marriage to my noble husband!" Madam Furt said, and spat on his face twice more, the first flames were making their way rapidly under the door, the sound of crashing and cracking was becoming like a roar.
"Don't. Leave. Me!" He cried out, desperately clawing after the Madam Furt as she went toward the window.
"Go. Die. In a fire." She reiterated her words, and smashing the window open, she jumped out to land in the grass.
She remained long enough to hear the first horrific screams of her husband's still hungover, agonized body as the flames began to cover him and the smoke began to choke his lungs, and then stepped away to watch as the manor started to collapse. A crowd was gathering which she easily slipped into, and watched as the wing where the library was suddenly caved in, and the roaring red flames picked up high enough to be seen licking at the sky.
She watched until the wing where her husband lay dying gave way and covered his corpse or ended his life, then with that, the Madam Furt slipped away to disappear, never to return again.
Volume 2 Chapter 19
Ainz spent the next few days going back and forth between the capital of Re-Estize and the Arena of Nazarick, checking on the progress of his newest servant. Arriving well before he needed to, meant he only had to send a notification to the palace and was ready to present himself at need, and since no word came right away, there was drinking with Blue Rose and the other adventurers, until Lupu pretended to be quite drunk… always after Gagaran passed out, and then helping her to her room before gating himself out.
"I swear, I know I promised to pay for beer for her for a full year, but isn't this a little bit excessive?" Evileye asked and slapped a few silvers down on the table again.
Gagaran gave her a silly grin, her head was laying on the table, face turned to one side and looking up glassy eyed at her sister. "Awww shuksh, you should be gratefulsh, I buy Lupu drinks, meanin you buy her drinks, meanin Mishter Momon keepsh comin back!" The giant woman grinned stupidly and raised a shaky finger, "I'm akshually making a great shakrifish for my shishtersh happinessh. Hic! Hic! Though how shat woman drinksh sho mush with that little body… it musht go to her boobsh… hic!"
"Gonna shleep now… bye bye…" Gagaran promptly closed her eyes and began to snore at the table.
"Draw lots to carry her to her room?" Evileye proposed.
"Evil boss can do it." Tia suggested.
"Yes, evil boss." Tina agreed, and the twins immediately vanished from sight.
"Ah, maybe it should be me…?" Evileye proposed under the steady eye of the cross armed Lakyus.
"Yes, maybe it should." Lakyus tried to stifle her laugh when sliding out of the booth, and mostly failed.
"Well, I got to spend hours with Sir Momon, so it was worth it." Evileye acknowledged and began to heave the meathead onto her back, though the giant of a woman was dragged from the knees back, for the vampire caster, the woman's weight was still nothing, and so she hauled her off to bed.
"How is she performing, Sebas?" Ainz asked his butler during a spare moment between sessions. The sand kicked up at his feet as the Lord of Nazarick trod over it, and Sebas knelt when his master came near. Arche did the same, her head deeply bowed and forearm resting on one knee while the other was bent in the sands.
Sebas answered with great humility, or so it seemed to Arche's ears. "Adequately, My Lord. Arche has risen three levels by Cocytus's estimation, I have been pitting her against summoned elementals and allowing her to deal the final blow to each after I weakened them."
' Actual elementals, powerful creatures on a worse than national disaster level, dispatched like mere goblins by Master Sebas, and left helpless for me to finish off… and somehow…?' Arche suppressed the urge to look down at her hands, she'd looked at them often enough and noted nothing different. Yet the sense of it was there. If what Sebas said was accurate, ' And he is not going to lie for me.' She understood that, clearly. ' I have somehow gained years worth of progress, and had my limits pressed beyond all reason from only a year ago, and in barely a week. If I doubted it before, I don't now. My new master, master Sebas' own lord, is a god, the god master Paradyne seeks.' Arche shivered with excitement under the gaze of the Master of Nazarick.
She felt his penetrating dark eyes fall to her, "Are you well, Arche, have your needs been met?"
Her heart pounded beneath the towering figure, "Master, you have given me everything I asked for… and I am grateful. Lords Aura and Mare established a little cabin for me by the lake on their floor, and Lord Mare allows my sisters to borrow books to read."
"Hmmm, yes, we'll have to do something about that too, won't we?" Ainz muttered and stroked his chin, Arche felt her blood run cold.
"Master, if it was wrong for them to borrow books, I promise they didn't do anything bad on purpose, they're good girls." Her breathing became labored as panic began to set in, but her master was looking off to the rows of golems in the stands.
"No, not that, I was thinking that their education needs to be seen to soon. We can treat the present as a small vacation, but soon they will need proper teachers if they're to become good servants." Ainz said in a conversational voice. "Sebas, Arche." Ainz said, and they responded at the same moment.
"Yes, master?"
"Fluder Paradyne taught the current emperor did he not? And this emperor is regarded as the greatest in their history?" Ainz asked.
"Yes, my lord." Arche replied without a doubt.
"Then he should be acquired, we will use him as a tutor to your sisters." Ainz said, and leveled his finger down to Arche, the finger was only inches away from her forehead, but her eyes locked on the tip like it had descended from a divine realm.
Her pulse thrummed and heart raged in a torrent of rising loyalty as her sisters were handed the brightest of all possible futures. "Master… I gave you my oath already, I am yours many, many times over, but if I could offer it again, I would be grateful." Arche said through tears that blurred her vision of her god.
"Many oaths mean nothing, mean the one you give, that will be enough." Ainz uttered the command and she engraved it on her heart, everything about him sang of power and nobility, divinity given flesh, and struck dumb, she could only bow her head to him again.
"Is there any position I should prepare them for, my lord? They are young, but if you have plotted out their lives already…?" Sebas asked, then stopped when Ainz denied it.
"No, let's see where their talents take them, perhaps they share Arche's talent for magic, or perhaps they're better suited to the sword, or trade, prepare them for anything, until they know what they need exactly." Ainz ordered crisply.
"As you command, my lord." Sebas responded.
"Resume your practice then. I will return in a few days… and when I do, tell…" Ainz took a deep, slow breath, ' Please don't let me have to fight them.' He briefly thought, and added, "Mare and Aura to meet me here alone."
"As you wish, my lord." Sebas answered, and the pair of servants waited until their master stepped through a gate and was gone again. Only after that did they slowly rise from the warm sands of the arena to stand erect again. "Such is the lord we serve. Now redouble your efforts, Arche, you must be worthy soon."
"Master!" Arche said and gritted her teeth. "Anything for Lord Ainz, please, when Cocytus returns, have him call forth the most dangerous monster he can, I'll take the risk if it will help me grow faster."
"Such a beast creates terrible fear." Sebas cautioned Arche.
"It will be worth it." She said through a determined grinding jaw.
"As you wish." Sebas said as Cocytus made his way over to them again.
Hours later, Ainz and Lupu were cantering up to the palace on their horses, the constant clip clop noise of hooves was now a comfortably familiar sound to Ainz himself, and Lupusregina as per usual, seemed to be just plain chipper. She was humming a delighted tune with a smile on her face and long red braids dancing behind her as if it were keeping to the music of her hum.
They arrived at the palace of the King, and leapt down from their horses with practiced unity. Ainz, in his guise as Momon, kept his twin greatswords on his back, red cloak fluttering in the breeze, a contrast to the practical traveling equipment of Lupusregina. She had chosen a variation on her battlemaid outfit, wearing a black and white dress slit at the thighs that was tight at the belly and up, emphasizing her figure but granting her full freedom of movement, and atop her head she wore a simple cap similar in design to that of her maid uniform. At her side she had her enchanted mace, and on her face was the deadliest weapon a beautiful girl could wield against the unwary.
A smile. She disarmed the guards with a glance, their stiff postures relaxed as all stiffness was redirected from their backs to another part of their bodies. "Momon and Lupu of Axel, here to present ourselves to His Majesty, King Ramposa III." Ainz said, and the guards almost fell over themselves to rush to the door.
It swung wide enough with the urgency of their action to admit four people with ease, and Axel strode through the door and down the long stone hall leading to the throne room. ' I can't believe I'm really doing this!' He almost laughed at himself, in many ways it was a gamer's dream, in almost every way, it was the dream of those trapped in the hellish world of his birth. ' If only my friends… if only they were here… finding them will have to be a top priority when everything is said and done.' Ainz promised himself, and quietly recited their names like they were sacred oaths or incantations to steady his pounding heart before he reached the door to the throne room.
"Announcing Momon and Lupu, adamantite adventurer team Axel!" The herald at the door called out, and eyes went to the pair. Adamantite ranked adventurers were rare, and true to her word, Evileye spread the story of their actions all over the capital.
Ainz felt his gamer instincts sharp as a knife and clear as clean glass, ' I'm on the cusp of an event flag, I can feel it.' He told himself and, driven by his desire to see it through, he approached the throne and knelt to the king. Lupu at his side did the same, though he noted, ' A little more stiff than I would have hoped, but still not bad acting.'
Lupu wore her radiant smile, her bright yellow eyes lightly closed by dark lids, and behind them she had the silent hope, ' I hope I get the chance to kill everyone here who sees or expects my master to kneel.' The daydream of their screams was a pleasant comfort, a stark contrast to the pheromones of desire her sharp nose caught from the male eyes that raked over her body.
"Your Majesty." Ainz said with a bow of his head beneath the helmet. Up close, the king looked like what he expected an old warrior monarch to look like. Loose white hair that hung neck length, piercing, steady eyes, and a strong looking body that had yet to go to fat.
"Momon, Lupu, welcome to the capital, we are pleased with your coming, and with your steadfast efforts at the protection of our people." The king bore a noble voice of his own, and it rebounded from the far stone walls, "We permit you to rise. In thanks to your efforts, per our invitation, we will be holding a feast for you and your companion beginning this evening. Quarters will be provided for you and your… lovely companion, so indulge yourself to your heart's content." The King finished speaking, then clapped his hands, and a young boy clad in red and golden clothing stepped forward from where he waited at the wall.
"See them to their rooms, give them a tour of the palace if they so desire, the feast will begin at sunset." The King said, and the young golden haired boy bowed and went to where the heroes stood, then led them away.
Out of sight of the court, the boy asked them, "Would you care for a tour, masters, or would you like to go straight to your room?"
"Quarters will be fine." Ainz said with indifference, biding his time until the servant deposited them at a door. "Pull the rope if you require service, Sir, Ma'am." He said and bowed deeply at the waist, holding the position until Momon and Lupu had gone in and closed the door.
Alone, Lupusregina quickly asked, "That was… abrupt, wasn't it?" She scratched her head with a sharp, sweeping gesture of her hand running through the hair at her scalp. "I was expecting some big speech or something. And what was with the plural speech? He got another voice in his head other than his own?"
"He is a King, a King is more than one person, he speaks for the entire Kingdom. And this was just a greeting," Ainz explained, "no doubt he'll say more at the banquet itself. We can expect to be privately approached for work later." Though his voice was calm, his skin was a tingle with excitement that still lingered beyond the recent events.
Lupusregina absorbed his words and privately committed them to memory when she went to sit on the bed. She wore a troubled look, darting glances at her lord while he perused the bookshelves. Ainz could feel her stares. "Ask whatever it is, Lupusregina." He finally said.
"Master, when will you tell the others?" She asked, and he stiffened.
"You haven't told anyone in awhile, not even Entoma, or CZ, or even Yuri. Forgive my asking, it's not my place to say, but…" Lupusregina looked down at the stone and kicked her feet back and forth against the wooden frame of the bed in a nervous gesture, "I worry about you."
' Loyalty. A treasured thing.' Ainz thought, and almost dismissed the question before he chose to answer it. "I'll be telling Mare and Aura next. Sebas has already been informed of my intent."
Lupusregina gave a tiny series of rapid nods, "Lord Mare will absolutely side with you, master. Lady Aura? Maybe, I believe so."
"You sound confident." Ainz answered and stood up, dismissing the contents of the shelf as no longer interesting.
"I am. Neither guardian hates humans, and they're only children. But children can do the unexpected, if either did dare reject you, it would be Lady Aura." Lupusregina offered her appraisal, and Ainz took it seriously.
' A battlemaid is meant to assess threats well to ensure they can delay even where they can't triumph, I would be a fool to reject her opinion because it is undesirable.' Ainz acknowledged privately, and said nothing.
They were interrupted by a knock at the door, "Sir Momon, Lady Lupu, time we've come to have you dressed for the evening."
"Enter." Ainz acknowledged, and allowed a pair of young women to enter and lead Lupu away. She glanced back at him, her lingering wide yellow eyes asking, searching.
He nodded. ' I can manage by myself through this at least.'
She allowed herself to be taken away.
The two men who entered to work on him immediately, and true to the nature of service people who had a long task to perform with a customer, they were chatterboxes.
"… And that was just for starters." A slender little man stood on a footstool and measured Ainz's arms, the worker's clothing was flamboyant, bright as a peacock's feathers and a bright feather cap sat on his head. "I tell you, Eight Fingers is getting worse, why rumor has it they even started using monsters to extort towns for gold, or to keep villages producing the plant used to make black dust."
"Oh goodness, how terrible!" The other tailor said from down on one knee where he measured Ainz's feet. He had a long, high pitched voice and clucked his tongue several times. "Everything from abducting peasants for prostitution, to gambling. What are the guards even doing about it? Nothing, that's what."
The conversation went on and on, and the longer he listened, the more he had his doubts about the authenticity of the conversation. ' This is strangely focused.' Ainz considered it and recalled a movie from his own world. A spy film, the character was prompted to action by information he learned in an unrelated manner. He was more open to act when the option was presented, precisely because there wasn't an attempt to convince him on the spot, only to present him with information in an unguarded moment that he would later recall when the moment of decision came. ' They're plants. The King here is no fool, he's not taking the chance on my refusal. I'll have to remember his application of this strategy myself for later. Not to worry 'majesty' I have no intention of refusing your request.' Ainz suppressed his laughter, and used the opportunity to probe the 'agent' tailors further with questions of his own.
"Is the drug trade really that pervasive?" Ainz asked.
"Unfortunately yes, poorer nobles grow the plant they use for it instead of wheat, it makes crops more expensive and the wealth gets hoarded by alley lords, Eight Fingers has some powerful fighters too, so ordinary guards can't stop them." The tailor at his back responded readily, "Now my good man, this will only take a few minutes more, and we'll have some clothing made ready for you in no time."
"You can alter clothing so quickly?" Ainz asked with sudden intrigue.
High pitched laughter came from both tailors, "Oh my no, but we can do cheap enchantments that create 'temporary' alterations, typically for a day or two. Permanent or automatic ones are just not worth the cost for single use, but this will do nicely. Trust us, dark hero. We leave you to adventure, but this is the battlefield of the fashion world, where we are gods!" The higher pitch voiced little man at Ainz's back spoke with such passionate enthusiasm for his craft that it was difficult not to trust that he knew what he was doing.
"As you wish." Ainz answered, and they scribbled down numbers, measurements, and concepts, only to quickly retreat from the room.
"Hey there, neighbor." Solution said to the blonde young man in casual, but decent clothing. She looked him over from behind, he wore a blue sash and a gold and brown vest. He had a shock of fire red hair amidst the blonde that stood out like a robin's red crest, and had a lean, strong figure. He sat at the bar in front of her chatting in idleness with two of his friends. Solution knew their names immediately. ' Half elf, Imina, a ranger, and Roberdyck, a priest, and of course, target one, Hekkeran, a fighter. Around mithril class by adventurer standards.'
Which to Solution, made them essentially trash. She put her hands on her hips and waited for him to turn around. He spun halfway round on the stool and gave her a sideways look, then appraised her up and down, she kept the cocky smile on her face when his eyes widened at the unexpected beauty.
"Sorry, you mean me?" He asked and pointed at his chest.
"Yeah, it's about a little friend of yours, you know her I'm sure. Short thing, short blonde hair, magic caster, cheap staff, two little girls for sisters, ring a bell?" Solution asked in a sharp, unyielding, and decidedly unfriendly tone.
All three of them tensed up. "Arche, yes… I knew her, what's it to you?" Hekkeran demanded, his own voice growing sharp in response.
"What would you say if I told you she racked up quite a debt?" Solution asked.
"I'd point to the ruins of the house where you can probably find her bones if you sifted long enough, Arche and her sisters are dead." Hekkeran said with bitter revulsion.
Solution closed her eyes and folded hands in front of her so that all her fingertips were touching their opposite number, then asked tauntingly, "And if they're not?"
Hekkeran's blood ran cold, his eyes went wide, "Then," he said, "I'll have to ask you to step outside so I can beat you to a pulp, bad enough she died… you have to mock her memory?"
"Oh, you want to beat me up? How quaint." Solution tittered, her breasts heaved as the laughter intensified and her ruby lips parted, "Fine, I'll tell you the rest from down on the filthy ground."
She headed for the door, and all three began to rise, their own glares said they doubted her just as much. "No, no, just me." Hekkeran hissed and waved a hand down, telling his team to seat themselves. They did, but with reluctance.
He followed the curly haired blonde woman outside and looked her over more closely, dressed in a very expensive maid outfit, she moved with smooth and graceful steps that warned him that she'd had some kind of 'motion' based training. ' Dance? Or perhaps she really can fight?' He wondered as they went behind the building.
She was right about one thing, the alley was anything but clean, caught in the shadow of the nearby building, the last rain left the ground dank and mold grew from discarded food, a slightly bad smell suggested animal waste had been dumped one way or another nearby, in his mind it was, ' The perfect place to teach her a lesson.' Hekkeran cracked his knuckles from his right hand into his left. "Take it back or this will get painful."
The blond put her hands on her hips and stood with her feet shoulder width apart, she appeared quite open and vulnerable. She tilted her chin up and said, "Make me."
Hekkeran came on, and the maid was gone.
' So that is mithril rank. What a waste.' Solution thought, and from behind him, she brought her fist around to the back of his head.
Hekkeran felt the pain of the blow and flew face first into the wall, his teeth, nose, and jaw were broken.
"You should have started with a martial art." He heard the woman say from behind him, "I guess it's not a bad show for you to have survived even that mild strike but still, sloppy." The footsteps were ominous, and he grunted when he felt his blonde hair grabbed and yanked at the root. He had nothing left to resist with when she flung him away from the wall he was kissing.
His body was cracked and bruised when he sailed through a number of old rotted crates and hit the opposite wall with his back. When the noisy crash of breaking wood ended, the maid had more to say. "You should always go into every fight like it's going to be lethal, doing otherwise is just asking to be killed." He looked up at her through bloody eyes and grunted in pain when he felt her hand beneath his jaw tilting his face up to make sure he saw her.
"Listen here, your little friend, her little twins, they are alive. And I know where they are. If you want to see them again, I have a job for you, are you listening?" The beauty asked the ruined worker.
Hekkeran nodded, doing his best to focus, ' How did she do that?! How?! What is she talking about?!' Pain or not, he began to understand the purpose of the stranger's coming.
"In a few days, you'll get word about a job, a big job needing lots of teams, you're going to be very, very enthusiastic about it, tell lots of stories about how much treasure there is, and lure the most covetous, thieving, worthless trash workers into accepting. And you're going to swear on the life of your comrade not to breathe a word of this. Do you get it?" Solution asked.
Hekkeran tried to nod, but with his head up, he couldn't, so he blinked his bloody eyes.
"Good, now I don't want to have to repeat myself, so I'll go let your little friends know they can come out here to take care of you. When it comes time for the job, do your best, and when you fail, before you die, ask for mercy. I can promise you, we will spare at least 'one' if we're properly entertained."
The woman straightened up and sauntered away, just as Hekkeran felt his vision start to blur and he lost sight of her before she rounded the corner, and he passed out completely.
Volume 2 Chapter 20
"Ooooohhhhh!" The voices carried high and necks turned to watch the arc of the stone sail overhead and far beyond the distance lines. The one who threw the stone behind her turned and held a hand up to her eyes pretending to block out the sun to see better. She let out a long whistle, and then flexed her bicep and wore a toothy smile.
It was all the more impressive because it was only a little elf girl who did it. "As expected of a servant of Lord Ainz." Enri said with absolute sincerity.
"Nah, it was easy, that's why, much as we like games, my brother and I shouldn't do these. We can't not win, we're fine with the food and music." Aura said with a grin.
A strapping young man took up a similar sized stone, took position, and with a roaring grunt he heaved it back overhead, it landed twenty paces away, and he flushed red when Aura winked at him. With a sheepish grin in return, he rubbed the back of his head and said, "I kinda agree with the little lady here."
Enri crouched down and put a hand on the shoulders of Aura and Mare alike. The two had become familiar with her and her near worshipfulness of their master, and so they allowed her touch, particularly since she was constantly thinking of their wellbeing and happiness when they were about. "I just want you two to have fun too. If you're okay with music and food, that's fine, just know that nobody will complain if you want to play. Our home is yours as long as you're with us. It is the least we can do."
"S-See sister, I told you." Mare said with a little blush to his cheek.
"Yeah, yeah. Look it's nice and all, but it's better if we don't, besides, we can enjoy watching." Aura said, a blue eye on her brother who she was sure would admonish her if she was rude about her refusal.
It was enough for Enri to give in at least, and she stood up and called the village to order.
Teams were selected and the team caber toss began, the heavy thunk of stripped tree trunks flying overhead to flip into the field was punctuated by cries of judges calling out points and shouts of enthusiasm.
Young men, eager to impress young women, sought to display their skills in archery contests, various games were all over the empty field beyond the village, and at every one, the prize was beer. Music and dancing, dancing and music, but through all that, the leaders of Carne remained sober and supervising.
Fights between the Runners and the native Carnians were broken up by Lukrut, Peter, Enri or Nfirea before they could become serious, and turned into contests of armwrestling or drinking, or the combatants put as a team against another pair to wrestle in displays of stubborn strength. Nfirea would more than once covertly dose a Runner's drink with a stamina potion to give them the endurance to win and so earn respect for their number.
Thus, the day wore on. The smell of sweat and beer was everywhere, competing with the smell of abundant meat harvested from deep within the woods with a little help from Aura's beasts, who sniffed out or killed greater game.
Two houses were set against one another, then those were paired to be set against two others, and little by little, barriers began to come down.
Enri crinkled her nose a little when she smelled sex and heard moans from a bush she passed by on the fringes of the fields. When she came to Lukrut, he wore a boyish and bemused grin, somewhat mocking and flirtatious seemed to be his default state even when it wasn't intended.
"Looks like it's all coming together, isn't it? Though I wouldn't want to drink from the river today." He chuckled, and Enri stared at him with a cockeyed look of confusion.
"Oh, I was just down there to take a leak, didn't go, there were several different couples coming and going from various lightly concealed areas, and I heard a lot of splashing and moaning." He chortled when Enri began to blush.
' That's a really good idea! I'll bring that up with Nfirea later! How did I not think of that?!' Enri remonstrated herself, but forced a neutral expression to acknowledge the blonde archer's lecherous point. "Yes it is, a few fights to break up, but nothing serious and the Runners are starting to blend in well. Speaking of, have you made your peace with Brita yet?"
Lukrut had the grace to look somewhat ashamed of himself, "No, no I haven't, not really. I was the deciding vote on not letting her into the Swords of Darkness back when we were all copper plates, and that's a sore point for her still."
"I see." Enri said without the hint of criticism she felt Lukrut deserved.
"Yeah, you don't have to say anything, I should go clear the air with her, things are going to get real bad real soon and all… do you know where she is?" Lukrut asked and, unwilling to meet the pretty eyes boring into him, looked off toward the crowd.
"Give her a little while, last I saw she was leading a Runner off to one of the newly built homes, I… wouldn't interrupt, and maybe you should bring her a beer too, she'll probably be thirsty." Enri gave him a bawdy look, and it was Lukrut's turn to blush.
"Right, I'll do that… maybe give it an hour, she's… passionate." Lukrut bit his lower lip and gave a jealous look back towards the walls of the village.
"Oh, were you two…?" Enri asked, and he nodded.
"Just once or twice, it was before I joined the Swords of Darkness, we had fun, that's all it was supposed to be, I… no, never mind, this isn't the sort of thing you need to worry about. I'll go apologize to her later, wish me luck." Lukrut said and shuffled on.
When morning came, and hangovers came with it, it was all but the end of having two villages in one set of walls.
Ainz exited his room just in time to find Lupusregina extending a hand to knock. "How do I look, Momon?" Lupusregina asked, twirling around in a quick pirouette. Her gown was of a vibrant blue, and true to her seemingly preferred style, was slit at one thigh to show off her leg. It rose up in a form fitting fashion to push up her ample breasts, which were in turn concealed by white ruffles, but leaving the shoulders exposed while her sleeves were long and ended in white gloves.
"Lovely." He said, and meant it. For a moment, he almost asked how he looked, but instead he refrained. Though at least he understood why after a moment, ' I'm still thinking of that old ruin of a body I used to have, this one… I actually look good.' Still, he didn't ask.
"Shall we… Lupu?" Ainz asked and extended the crook of his arm.
"Of course, Momon." She gave him a winning smile and savored a thrill of the sort any maid of Nazarick would have given her life to experience. ' I'm only a maid, this is only a cover, but this is still perhaps the happiest day of my life.' Lupu thought to herself as they descended the stairs and every eye turned to team Axel that, for all appearances, might be born nobles.
A long table was laid out for the occasion, and at its head was an empty space for only one. Nearest its left hand at the corner end was Gazef Stronoff, at its right, the king's son, Prince Zanac, followed by his daughter, Princess Renner, beside her brother. Behind her stood her bodyguard, but to her own right hand sat the Marquis Raeven.
The space to the left of Gazef, Ainz saw, was occupied by Pandora's Actor in his guise as Ainz Ooal Gown, and, to the left of that, two empty spots and it was immediately obvious to Ainz whom those spaces were for. Proximity at the table was the measure of the position within the court. ' Just like in normal work meetings, we wait for the boss to arrive.' Ainz recalled from his old world.
When Ainz and Lupu took their places, servants began to wheel out carts filled with silver trays or bottles of wine, and it was while they did this that a herald called out: "All rise for King Ramposa III!" Ainz and Lupusregina stood like all the rest, and, with slow and stately steps, the King entered and walked to his place at the table.
When he reached it, the servants began to pour wine, starting from the end and working their way to the front while the King spoke. "The King is the face and the beating heart of the Kingdom. But the people, they are his blood, they are his fingers and hands, they are the feet that march to war and the living embodiment of his rule. As King, I have always sought to protect my people as best I could. Yet sometimes, even the greatest king needs help." King Ramposa waved a hand toward Axel and Pandora's Actor.
"These three embodied what it means to do just that. Ainz Ooal Gown crushed raiders that threatened not only my peasants, but our Royal Head Warrior. Momon and Lupu took it upon themselves to protect a village from not one, but two skeletal dragons, and went on to destroy a Zuranon enclave in E-Rantel, thus saving the city from turning into a land of the undead. They have, even if they didn't know it, embodied the true will and desire of my rule, and for that…" King Ramposa said just as a servant poured wine into his silver cup, and raised it, "I thank you, each of you. Hail to the heroes."
"Hail to the heroes." The court said, having raised their glasses after the King, and as one, they drank.
"Now, you may be seated… eat, drink, and be merry. That too is the will of your King." Ramposa said with a charming sly smile before he seated himself.
"Two skeletal dragons, truly impressive, Sir Momon." Pandora's Actor stated with the utmost courtesy.
"From what I hear, you bested a whole scripture of the Theocracy, if we're picking things to be impressed by, Master Gown, I think that is the more impressive." Ainz responded with similar courtesy.
"They're merely men, and men can die, that's always their greatest fear, but you bested men who love death so much they risked their lives to spread it. No mean feat." Pandora's Actor retorted.
"I won't say it's nothing, but men with no fear at all, as is said of the Scriptures, is nothing to belittle either." Ainz answered and sipped from his cup. ' Business rules, don't outdrink the boss, drink just enough to be sociable, don't make a fool of yourself. Learn what you can.'
Renner stared at the two with the utmost fascination as the bond seemed to form right away, ' Could they be… brothers? Or related in some way?' She wondered, it was little things, they used words the same way, they both cut their meat the same way, and they seemed to be on exceptionally good terms despite the fact that outside of a team dynamic, magic casters and warriors almost never got along.
She kept her suspicions to herself, and simply observed, filing away details later to possibly bring up to Lord Demiurge. ' Could Momon be a subordinate?' She wondered. Her father, though he was no fool, detected nothing amiss, nor did her brother, or anyone else.
' Questions beget questions like whores do bastards.' She quietly cursed and wished just for once to be able to enjoy something like everyone else did without questioning it.
The table grew steadily drunker as the evening went on, and servants began to help the people away from their tables to sleep it off in various guest quarters. The sound of dragging feet and the occasional toppling of a body that had just a little too much and crashed to the floor or face first into the table, punctuated the sound of the remaining conversation.
It was not lost on Renner, however, that neither Master Gown nor Sir Momon engaged much in the way of drinking. Though Lupu seemed to enjoy herself, she frequently cast 'cure poison' and went back to it again. "It's good to be a cleric." She said with a laugh that quickly spread to those near enough to hear it, even the King himself was only moderate in his consumption.
Finally it happened that only the King's immediate circle remained both conscious and present, along with their three guests, and the King rose to his feet.
"Momon, Lupu, Master Gown, walk with me." He said, and for a moment it appeared that Gazef and the rest were going to rise as well. Their hands on the table, they were pushing themselves to their feet to join him. "No, I wish to speak with the three heroes alone." The King said with haste, and he left them behind.
It was pitch dark out when he led them quietly out to the back of the palace where the gardens lay. Despite the night's darkness, seeing wasn't difficult, various green twinkling lights were going constantly along the path.
"Glowbugs," Ramposa said, "rare creatures in most seasons, but at this time of year, they come out in numbers and flock to blue roses so my garden path is lined with their favorite perches. It also grants me a degree of privacy I don't get very often."
"I see, fascinating." Pandora's Actor said.
"Very pretty." Ainz added.
"Yes, it's nice." Lupusregina completed the round of praise, and the King let out a bark of laughter.
The path crunched under heel as he led them down the garden path, "Like most things in this Kingdom, it isn't what it seems. The glowbugs kill most of the flowering buds they alight on, so we have to regularly call out casters to heal the plants. There's a metaphor there, and I'm sure my daughter could see it if I'd brought her with me. But this is my task." He said and led them beneath a high trellis that was covered in roses and glowed with twinkling lights that lit up the small path, revealing it to be of broken up black pearl that reflected the light like countless tiny mirrors.
"Sir Momon, you were rightly promised a reward, and you will receive it no matter your answer. My request of you is simple, and this is a job with abundant compensation to be had. I want you and Lupu, team Axel, to take down Eight Fingers. Hunt down their leadership, made up of adamantite or nearly adamantite killers. I will give you all the information we have. They are the rot of this kingdom, like a disease or a cancer, or perhaps like termites in unprotected wood. They've eaten their way into the structure of the Kingdom. They threaten to bring it down with their many nibbles. This may not be easy, and it may pose a great risk, but if you succeed with the big fish, my personal guard and the Royal Faction can take down the rest."
"That is… a significant request, King Ramposa." Ainz said, pretending to be surprised and glancing down at his partner.
Lupu clung to his arm and looked up at him, she winked and gave a tiny nod.
"What are you offering?" Ainz asked.
"Lordship, of any lands you choose that I have available to give to you." Ramposa replied. "If everything goes well, then even land equivalent to one of the ten great lords is a possibility."
"That is acceptable compensation. The village I fought in, I built a relationship with the people there. If it is acceptable to you then I would like suitable land around that region." Momon asked, and to that the King was quick to concede.
"It will be yours when the job is done, we can talk about how far out that land should go, after the job is done, I trust you will accept my word that I will be generous?" Ramposa replied, his piercing eyes not at all fitting the aged body that carried them, were held firmly up to the face of the Adamantite adventurer.
"I do." Ainz replied, "I accept your terms, all that you have asked, will be done. I will begin tomorrow."
Ramposa then looked to Master Gown, "Magic casters are a prickly lot as a rule, and what I'm asking of you is even greater than what I am asking of Sir Momon and his partner. Will you also, do as I have asked, and what will you ask in return if you accept?"
Pandora's Actor took his cue from his master and from the plan of his master that he'd been informed of by Demiurge. "I understand the desire to have a strong magic caster in your service, but I am far older than I seem, and I dislike serving. I emerged from my studies only to help people I found in sudden distress by chance. Being sucked into court games for someone else has no appeal to me."
Ramposa felt his heart was about to drop into his guts.
Pandora's Actor put a hand on the King's shoulder and added in a sonorous, noble voice, "Therefore, if I do this for you, restoring the peace I value so highly, would only be worthwhile if I were an independent ruler. Give me the land of the Katze plains south of E-Rantel, and extending to the western border of the Draconic Kingdom. When the Baharuth Empire capitulates, I will also take land from them in exchange for peace. I will be a buffer state between you and they, and they will not threaten you again. Give me an alliance between the Kingdom I will have founded, and yourself, and never again will a harvest be interrupted by a war in the north."
"Peace within, and peace without, for not even a hundred and twenty miles of land across? I call that a bargain." King Ramposa replied, but as he stuck out his hand he asked, "Are you sure you can do this?"
Pandora's Actor reached out to the king and clasped forearm to forearm. "I can." He said, in a voice that closed all doubt, like a coffin lid closed in the dead.
And King Ramposa III's heart began to lighten.
Volume 2 Chapter 21
"… So that is the situation." Ainz said, looking down at Lakyus. "The King of Re-Estize has hired me to bring down Eight Fingers, his intelligence tells me about a subgroup within their leadership comprised of some particularly dangerous people referred to as 'Six Arms'. More importantly, the organization is simply too large for just two to bring down."
' As expected of Momon! Bringing down a team of mighty killers is a trivial afterthought!' Evileye looked through moony red eyes hidden by her white mask.
"So, will you help me?" Ainz asked, opening his onyx armored hands and resting them on the table.
"Sir Momon," Lakyus spoke calmly, evenly, and in a businesslike manner, "your reputation for your care for the weak has spread quite widely, and it is a sentiment that I myself share." She lightly touched the red shirt she wore, resting a hand on her breast, it was a friendly indication of how heartfelt she intended to be, but her tone was calm and not at all enthusiastic. "But first and foremost we are adventurers, and if I start putting my team at risk for free, very soon everybody with a sob story will expect it. Ultimately that will only hurt my profession and get more people killed for not being able to afford good equipment. I can cut our pay for a single mission, but… I can't and I won't do this for nothing."
"Toldja Momon, chuunibyou is stingy." Lupu smirked knowingly and put her feet up on the table, and dared the beet red Lakyus to argue.
"Evil boss." Tia and Tina said at once in a deadpan voice that only made Lakyus turn more purple.
Ainz put a hand on Lupusregina's wrist. "She's not wrong, adventurers can't eat fame or repair their armor with legends or buy weapons with exposure. If we want the skills of the talented, we should provide suitable compensation." Lakyus began to visibly relax, and her sisters with her.
"I never said I wanted your help 'for free', Lady Lakyus. Only that I wanted it." Ainz said with a little wink, to which Lakyus raised a finger, opened her mouth, thought about it, and then closed her mouth and lowered her finger back down to lay with her hand flat on the table.
"Alright, that's true, I apologize for the misunderstanding." Lakyus said, darting her bright blue eyes up at the giant Gagaran and down at the diminutive Evileye when they chortled at her expense. "What are you offering, Sir Momon?"
"I'm being offered a lordship, I will give you fifteen percent of the net revenue from taxes at the end of my first year." Ainz promised, "What do you say?"
Every member of Blue Rose spun their head toward Lakyus. However, the hard nosed adventurer did not immediately give in. "On top of paying for the replacement of any disposable items we use."
"Naturally." Ainz inclined his head toward his counterpart.
"Fine, we have a bargain." Lakyus said and put out her hand.
Ainz clasped her forearm, she was warm to the touch even through his gloves, and from her the barest tease of an expensive perfume enticed his senses. The light scent of lavender, and at a glance closer, his sharp senses detected the use of makeup. ' So she has a bit of vanity… or is this just to give her an advantage in negotiations?' He didn't know, though he suspected a little of both.
Lakyus and Momon both reseated themselves when their agreement was made, and with the job at hand, the teams were united in their focus, even Lupusregina put her feet back on the floor and sat up straight, the disinterested look gone from her face. "So, what do you need us to do?" Lakyus asked, "You do have a plan, yes?"
"I do." Ainz stated, "I need you to launch a series of burning campaigns on farms where the plants that make black dust are grown. Hit them and hit them hard for the next two weeks. Then… wait." He said and closed his hands together.
"Just… wait?" Lakyus looked back and forth to her team, they didn't scratch their heads, but their confusion was evident.
"Wait." Momon answered, "I will take care of the followup, and then our allies will be used in mop up operations."
"That isn't much of a plan." Gagaran said gingerly.
"This isn't much of a problem." Lupu grinned up at her mountainous counterpart, "Not to worry, we got this, don't you worry your adorable virgin head about it." The adamantite ranked red haired cleric winked playfully up at the blonde square headed giant who blushed for the first time since the rest of them had known her.
"You're a virgin!" They shouted as one over her arm waving protests and Lupu's outrageous laughter, and not much business was discussed after that.
Barbro breathed in the scent of smoke, waving over from a burning village that belonged to a noble who was not part of the Royal faction, and that same noble also had no connection to Eight Fingers and so had no value to the Prince. Allowing his soldiers a little plunder was extra honey on the cake, it allowed him to keep their loyalty to him up. ' Bought loyalty is the easiest kind.' He drew himself up with a smug expression, as an excuse, he wrote a short letter home announcing that he'd caught some of the traitors that had killed a lord's son, and that the village had attempted to hide them.
"Is my tent ready?" He asked one of his officers.
"Yessir, and… so is Lakyus." The officer said with a passive voice and blank eyes.
"Good." Barbro muttered and went into his tent. The slender blonde was a little bit better fed, but she shrank from him, no more grateful than before. He stared down at her while she groveled like a dog with her belly up and fingers folded into her palms like a dog's paws. She looked up at him with eyes full of fear.
"Beg for your supper, Lakyus." He said with a smirk, she was dressed in a close approximation of the adventurer's expensive clothing, though much, much cheaper. Mere red wool clothing with the cheapest red and gold dyes, a caricature.
"Please let me eat! Please let me eat, sir!" Tuare whimpered and held still when his foot went down to her throat, very little pressure came down, but very little needed to.
"Then hadn't you better apologize?" Barbro asked rhetorically. "I'm sorry I was rude! I'm sorry I was disrespectful! I'm sorry I was bad to you!" Tuare screamed her sorries until she felt her breath cut off and became a gurgle. His foot slowly eased up again. Her bulging eyes stared at him. "Forgive me…" She begged as he called her Lakyus and spat down into her face, the noise of his grunts were accompanied by the roaring fires of the ruined village and the crashing noise of broken homes tumbling inward onto their foundations.
When Prince Barbro finally released his bruising hold on his plaything, he was happy and sated, though breath came labored enough that he immediately thought, ' I should get more exercise, I don't want to end up like my idiot younger brother.' It led him to another thought, erasing this place completely might take another day or two but… ' Yes, worth it, an object lesson to the absentee lord and an object lesson to the peasants he sends to reoccupy the place. Murder a noble, and everything you ever were, will cease to exist.'
' Time well spent.' He mused with satisfaction, such a destructive act would intimidate the more weak willed, and increase the likelihood of ascending the throne. ' Time well spent indeed.' He praised himself one more time, and looked at the curled up little ball of pale flesh that was trying to look anywhere but in his direction, until he stepped into her view, and she couldn't avoid it again.
Enri was more than a little pleased, and with good reason. The newly arrived ogres and lamias were followed by a small tribe of goblins that encountered Jugem and his warriors hunting in the woods. Suspicious at first, this faded when the various groups began to work together over the course of several days. Ogres proved quite strong, while the lamias knew so much about plantlife that Nfirea found himself relying on them as harvesters in the woods, and in turn he spent more time on lifesaving potions.
"That festival certainly worked like a charm, didn't it?" Peter asked as he strolled beside the chief speaker of the village. With his eyes forward, he barely noticed the dust that was kicked up by their walk toward the walls.
"It really did." Enri acknowledged and watched as a Runner woman and local Carnian chatted as if they'd known one another their whole lives, bows in hand, they were lining up beside a goblin instructor, and from where Enri and Peter stood, they could both hear the pair call the goblin by name.
"What's the population up to now? We might actually need to do a census in order to work out who gets what land next." Peter suggested after the question.
Enri didn't know quite how to answer, and she didn't have to, from a distant tower, a bell began to go off in earnest. She paled and her fist clenched. "Either our numbers are going to go up, or they're going to go way down… come with me!" She shouted, and took off at a dead sprint toward the wall.
Her arms and legs pumped like they hadn't since the day her parents died, her mind screamed for her to not do what she was doing now. ' Go, find Nemu! Run! Run away and don't look back!' Her bright eyes shimmered like sapphires as she feared the horror that lay ahead, but despite her urges, she ran toward the wall where two watchmen rang a large bell.
The entire village was like an anthill that had been kicked over, but with nowhere to go but to fight and defend their homes and families, and dreading what would happen if they failed, peasants rushed to their positions.
Enri reached the simple wooden ladder and scrambled up to the top, "What's going on?!" She shouted and the bell ringing stopped, the peasants pointed to a distant coming cloud. Enri squinted, it was difficult to tell just what she was seeing.
"Peter?" She asked, her heart beginning to calm little by little.
"Sorry, no, I can't tell." Peter answered.
"Lukrut?!" Enri called, but she needn't have shouted, he was scrambling up the ladder only a few feet away.
Lukrut shaded his eyes, then activated his martial art, [Farsight] and what was making the cloud came clearly into view. "Relax! False alarm!" He shouted. "It's a group of peasants! No weapons but farm implements, and it's mostly young children!"
The sigh of relief that went up in one body from the village gave way to laughter as the absurdity of their fears hit home.
"They're just the next ones, you know that, don't you?" Ninya asked, clutching her staff in her hands.
Enri whirled around to find Ninya standing there behind her, but not looking at Enri, rather she watched the dust people become visible as just 'people' and desperate ones at that. "I'll bet my staff they're on the line of march straight here."
"Ninya… you can't know that." Enri said, but doubt was thick in her voice.
Ninya answered without blinking or nodding, she only stared out at the coming little herd. "You've done a lot here, and with Momon, Nfirea and Lord Ainz all having made this place famous, people are searching for safety. When I was a little girl, and my big sister was taken away by a lecher, I prayed for a noble hero to come and save us. But the only nobles I've ever met were the ones who would do like the one who took her chose to do." Ninya spat over the wall and into the dust, her knuckles white as she tightened her hold on the staff, her entire body shook with outrage.
"I saved one girl, one single girl, and damned who knows how many innocents died for it. How stupid… if I'd just let him take her, she'd be home crying right now, maybe. Or dead, or maybe worse, but it would only be one person." Ninya ground her teeth and muttered her recriminations.
Enri could think of nothing to say to that, ' She's not wrong, but… isn't that what's wrong?'
Ninya turned her attention to Enri again, "I'll go out and talk to them, and explain what they'll find in here and what's expected of them… assuming… assuming we're not going to keep the gates closed?"
"No, no we're definitely letting them in." Enri said, surprising herself with her certainty, "But talking to them first is good, explain it all, then they can decide if they want in or not."
"Fine." Ninya said, and went down the ladder, the few guards at the gate lifted the heavy wooden barrier and the gate groaned open to allow her out, and the young magic caster went out to face the living consequences of her choice.
Volume 2 Chapter 22
"Again." Sebas said with a voice as calm as a babbling brook and strong as any mountain.
Arche approached with a steady stride out from her place of safety behind Cocytus. Beneath Sebas's boot lay a younger red dragon. An impossible foe for someone like her, but he had already beaten it to within an inch of its life. The fight was gone from the summon, it had not even the strength to roar. Unafraid, Arche put the tip of her staff to its eyeball. The yellow orb blinked at her once, and without hesitation she shouted the name of the spell. "Lightning!"
With a wild crackle the spell that would barely have scratched the monster minutes ago, ripped through its most vulnerable point and fried its brain. The body of the long red monster shivered and shook, and then Sebas lifted up his foot and placed it back into the sand.
Arche grinned and looked up at her superior with bright and joyful eyes. "Another, master Sebas?"
Sebas very nearly said yes, but for catching sight of Albedo out of the corner of his eye. "No. You've earned a rest, go spend time with your sisters."
Arche bowed deeply over and over again, clutching her staff to her chest, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Sebas!" She exclaimed and all but pranced out of the arena.
As she left, Sebas approached the Guardian Overseer, her sharp yellow eyes trailed after the shrinking human that vanished from the sands, silence ruled until Arche was completely gone. "You are keeping something from me, Sebas."
The Butler of Steel folded his hands behind his back and inclined his head. "I am."
"You don't even deny it?" Albedo reared back and glowered.
"I would not lie to my colleague." He answered, and somewhat mollified, Albedo pressed on.
"What are you hiding from me? Is it something to do with the change to our Master? Is it to do with the human pets he's acquired? I am the Guardian Overseer Sebas, I shall not be kept in the dark!"
"And yet you are, by Lord Ainz' command alone, I am kept silent. I believe he will reveal his reasons in due time, but for now I can reveal nothing, confirm nothing, and deny your request for answers." Sebas inclined his head, "I am truly sorry, Lady Albedo. But as I said, this is his will."
"At least tell me one thing… asking as a woman…" Albedo's yellow eyes quivered briefly, and Sebas said nothing.
"Lord Ainz hasn't acquired those three human pets to… to breed with them… has he?" She shivered at the very thought, and this much, Sebas felt comfortable setting her at ease.
"I believe his experiments are what they seem, Lady Albedo, to the best of my knowledge Lord Ainz is not a lolicon, nor is he interested in Arche as a potential mate." Sebas responded, and Albedo visibly relaxed.
"That is… answer enough, thank you, Sebas, for setting my heart at ease." Albedo spun on her heel and withdrew, her stride was long and dignified as long as she had eyes on her, but as soon as she was out of sight, she began to prance. ' Lord Ainz has a di-ick, Lord Ainz has a di-ick! Now I can have his bay-be!' Ha ha! Thank goodness Sebas is soft hearted and less intelligent than I. He good as told me my suspicions were true. Whatever he is, Lord Ainz can finally take my virginity!' She clapped her hands together and snuck off to her master's room to peel off her clothing and wait for his return… for however long it took.
Narberal Gamma waited in the office of the human tick she was supposed to meet. Her raven black hair in her usual ponytail bounced while she tapped her foot. Her arms were crossed and, bored out of her mind, she looked around the office of her target. ' I knew I should have just gone to his home instead. Stupid flea.' It wasn't entirely fair to judge him for being late for an appointment that he didn't know existed… but Narberal was in no mood to be fair to anyone, let alone a piece of trash human.
His bookshelves were lined with dusty old tomes with letters she didn't recognize or care to learn unless she had to. The desk was a cluttered mess of papers in multiple stacks that left very little room to actually write on, ink stains were over the fine wood, staining many areas a dark contrast to the naturally light tan surface. A single window admitted light, but various glow stones around the room suggested that the secret weapon of the Empire was something of a workaholic. ' Maybe catching the flea at home wouldn't have worked after all.' She snorted and sat down in the old man's chair to wait.
Though it might have been only ten minutes, in truth to Narberal Gamma it felt like an eternity before she heard the click in the lock and saw the door open a second later.
An old man with a long white beard and a simple staff that looked more like a walking stick, entered the office.
He saw her only a hair after the moment she saw him, but the shock was his alone.
"Who are you?! What are you doing in my office?! Get out! Get out this instant!" Fluder shot at her, his entire body shook with rage at the insult of his desk and office being occupied by some nobody.
"I've heard you want to look into the abyss of magic, gadfly. Shut up, if that is true." Narberal said and held up a hand.
The mention of magic and the abyss were enough to still the shaking of the old man's rage filled body and turn his wizened eyes from wrathful to focused. Narberal touched the ring on her finger, and removed it.
"Gwaaaaaaahhhhh!" Fluder Paradyne clutched at his chest. ' Seventh… no… is that the eighth tier?! Eighth?!' His knees began to wobble and it was only clinging to his staff that kept him from falling over entirely, the rush of power that he saw from the unassuming dark haired beauty before him was unthinkable… and yet it was there.
Narberal slipped the ring back onto her finger, and it was gone. "My master is far more magically gifted than I, bagworm. Come with me, serve him, abandon this Empire, everyone, and everything in it… and you might serve some purpose to the only god in this wretched world."
Fluder did not know what just happened, all he felt was awe, confusion, and true optimism for the first time in many years. The mystery did not diminish when the whorling black void appeared in his room. But when the eighth tier caster stepped through it, there was nothing in the world that would have kept him from following, and nothing he would not do for the prize that lay beyond the other side.
When he emerged, Fluder immediately asked himself, ' What was I expecting?'
Whatever it was, it wasn't his former student, or two little ones who might have been younger versions of herself lying on the grass and holding books over their faces. "Arche?" Fluder asked, and the bright, promising student from before the fall of the House of Furt, winked at him.
"Yes, teacher." Arche replied, "Welcome to your new home."
The old caster stroked the long white beard that hung down his chin to the tip of his belt. "I was told I might look into the abyss if I came here, have you…?"
Arche ended the thought, "No, teacher, but I have come closer. The god of this place…" She stopped to sigh and looked around. "Would you believe we're underground right now?"
Fluder frowned, "But the sky?"
"Not real, fly up and touch it, I've spoken with some of the beings who inhabit this place, even they don't fully understand how it happened, but they tell me that forty-one gods once created this place. That this was their home, and that now there is only their leader, The One Who Stayed." Arche bowed her head when she uttered the reverential title.
She then raised her head again, "He looks after this paradise now, with the children of his friends, and I am… I was… I still don't know why me. But I was given a chance to serve him, a chance I didn't really deserve, but Lord Sebas selected me anyway. Now, here I am."
Fluder did his best to absorb all that she said, then finally asked, "What was I called for then?"
"I suggested you, teacher. I traded everything for the lives of my sisters, I know, I know, you consider that absurd, but it was worth it to me, and my loyalty is rewarded. You, you have another purpose." Arche said, and Fluder waited on pins and needles.
"Begin by acting as a teacher to my sisters, until the Supreme Being comes for you himself. When he does, offer him everything." Arche said emphatically and went over to him, taking his free hand in both of hers, "You called me your favorite and most gifted student, then trust me now that I am telling you the truth. The one to bring you here…" She watched the withdrawing back of Narberal Gamma, "is only a maid . A battlemaid, but a maid ."
Fluder furrowed his brow as he took everything in, had he not seen the eighth tier off the woman, and passed through that curious hole in reality himself, he might have doubted his former student. As it was however, everything happened . There was nothing left for him but to accept it as such.
"What am I to teach them?" He finally asked, to which Arche answered…
Arche's eyes fixed on Fluder with intensity that he only ever saw in his own eyes in a stray mirror when he spoke of magic. "Teacher, their destiny is to serve the god who saved them from I don't even know what terrible fate. The One Who Stayed might ask anything of them, so there is only one thing to teach them."
"My student?" Fluder pressed.
Arche clapped her hands together. "Everything, teacher. Everything.'
Renner sat in her quarters across from Prince Zanac. "What do you know about the events that took place in Carne?" She asked, her face a mask of warmth that Zanac knew to be false.
"Just what we heard at the feast, and what word was spread in the aftermath by the former adventurers. Why?" The Prince asked, leaning forward over his round belly. The tea he intended to drink, immediately forgotten.
"That's one of the many things I do not understand about anyone." Renner let out a martyred sigh, "Nobody thinks further than an inch beyond their own noses."
"Sister?" Prince Zanac frowned deeply, lines of worry spread over his face.
"Brother dear," Princess Renner replied, "Let's play a little game. When I was very small, you used to play games with me, now… I'd like to play one with you."
He sat back, the frown lessening, but the hairs on his arms stood on end with wariness. "Alright. What sort of game."
"A game I made up. A little game I call 'What If'. You play this game by postulating a scenario playing out in a particular fashion, and then work out what is most likely to happen given all the various interests involved. A simple way to think of it, a farmer raises crops, and then his lands are raided by a monster and destroyed, along with those of his whole village. Along comes a savior who destroys the monster, provides enough food for the season, and then is about to leave. What are the peasants there likely to do?"
"Offer him a lordship to keep him there." Prince Zanac replied, "Offer him anything if he'll keep them safe."
"There's a reason they say the first King was a lucky soldier, brother, that's exactly right." Renner clapped her hands together once and held her palms against one another.
"Now imagine some dreadful force destroys your home, but safety is only a few days of hard walking away, or you could go into the wilderness, or somewhere not known to be safe, where do you go?" Renner pressed, and took a sip of tea before folding her hands together. Steam rose from the cup and the warmth of the rim spread out over her ruby lips. She kept her eyes keenly focused on her brother. His face suggested he was looking for a trap that didn't exist, and finally he slumped.
"To the safe zone, of course." He answered.
"Right again, it's the only logical course. Now suppose you live in that safe place, you fended off raiders, you saw undead dragons destroyed, you almost lost everything, you're terrified it may happen again, and there's nowhere to go, and a whole lot of new labor starts showing up asking to stay with you since you survived destruction while their home didn't. What do you do?" Princess Renner leaned forward slightly, ' Smarter of the two, still not the wisest out of us three.' She thought, and waited.
"My home has a lot of labor and a fear of destruction… I prepare. Build walls, use the extra hands to make sure we have time to prepare to fight, it's basically what we struggle to do against the Empire every year… though we mostly fail because of the nobles." The Prince's round face flushed with anger and his fingers made a fist in his lap that he concealed from his sister.
"Well… what if our stupid older brother comes across that place, full of peasants, and he realizes his 'targets' are there, what will our stupid older brother do?" Renner put her elbow on the table and rested her chin in her palm.
This was an easy question for Zanac to answer, "He'll attack. Not in person, because he is a coward, but he will send his soldiers to take the walls and destroy the place. His mouth fell open, "Wait, Carne, you're talking about the place the Dark Hero rescued, and that Master Gown rescued…"
"Very good, brother dear, very, very good." She praised him like he was a dog, but in that instant, Prince Zanac didn't care, he began to see the direction she was going.
Princess Renner's voice became almost hypnotic, her stare, serpent like, and from it, Prince Zanac could not turn away. "Our stupid brother will attack, he holds peasants in contempt, but he forgets that everybody in that place will have been a survivor of at least one and probably more terrible calamities, and probably even some military veterans will be there too. They'll have nowhere to go, nothing to lose, and some of them at least will believe they can win. But our stupid brother will be used to just burning out and plundering places where nobody fought back. He won't understand the desire for revenge that lingers behind. That if you strike somebody in the morning, they'll remember it still that evening, and dream of striking back until they can kill you in the dark."
"Our brother will give them that chance, and he will probably be killed. So, what if our brother dies? More importantly, the crown Prince, killed by our own peasants?" Princess Renner pressed.
"The peasants will have nothing to lose, they'll rebel. The Noble faction, they'll think the Royal faction is weak, they might rebel too, we'll be surrounded on all sides. The annual war is coming up, the Empire will send at least forty-thousand knights to deal with us, more if he thinks he can start gobbling territory up. It will be a free-for-all, the whole Kingdom will burn." Prince Zanac responded with mute horror.
"Exactly. You'd be the crown Prince, but only the prince of a ruined kingdom. So, what do you do, brother dear?" Princess renner asked.
"Stop our stupid brother before he destroys us. Nip this rebellion in the bud before he can even spark it. Thank you, sister, I will get going right away." Prince Zanac's face was pale as death before he even rose from his chair, his tea sat, forgotten and abandoned, on the little round intimate table he shared with his sibling, then he rushed from the room.
Alone again, Princess Renner stood up, went to her end table, and flipped open a book. There, a message scroll sat between the pages, waiting to be used. She removed it from its hiding spot and waited while the blue flames engulfed the floating scroll. " Master Demiurge, it is done." She said, and there was no answer, she waited, but realized at last that his answer was silence. ' That's fine too, it doesn't matter… only my Climb matters, only him only him only him only him only him! Only. Him.'
Volume 2 Chapter 23
Tia and Tina dropped the guards at the same moment. Their short knives entered each throat, Tia through the left, Tina through the right. Though they were at opposite ends of the field shrouded in darkness, a sharp ear might have heard the little gurgles of death and tearing skin as if it were one end, not two.
With the guards dead, the short blonde twins with stern, blank faces, swept deeper and deeper into the space of the black dust operation. A village lay there which they did not enter. Instead, while the people slept, they circled the outskirts to search for one thing.
The underground chamber. There was always one, a place where the leaves could be dried in a cool environment, readied for grinding into powder. The cool air caressed their skin and, as if they were favored by the four gods, the night sky was covered by clouds, hiding a bright moon that might have otherwise given them away to some unexpected talented watcher.
They swept farther and farther from the village, their tiny feet and tiny steps moved so quickly that they ate up the ground around them, far from random, they were engaged in a complex grid search that they'd done a thousand times in hunting living prey. It served the twins well now, as Tina found what they sought.
In front of her stood a tree right at the edge of the little woods the village harvested wood from, and at first glance it was like any other tree. Tina pursed her lips and made a simple noise. "Who Who! Who Who! Who Who!" She repeated the noise of an owl in a double sequence, and waited until her sister joined her.
Tia didn't have to ask, Tina pointed down. Footsteps in the ground led to the tree, but not around it. They stepped back, crouched on the earth, and began to dig, sweeping the earth out of the way. The dark rich soil flew back as if it were being dug up by dogs, and for a half a moment, Tina wondered if she made a mistake. ' Surely they…' She began to doubt, until she felt her hand scrape over smooth wood. ' Cautious,' she thought. It was quiet praise for the futile effort, and within a minute they cleared the covering of dirt aside, then threw the board off that concealed the hole beneath.
Down they went into the darkness, but it was no barrier to their trained assassin eyes, they saw clearly what lay beneath. Long wooden shelves stacked eight high, with row upon row of leaves covering every shelf, set to drying. ' Expensive. Very expensive.' Tia acknowledged, and she was right, converted to dust after processing, they were looking at thousands of silver coins worth of material.
The pair walked to the far end of the long cellar and began to douse the leaves in oil. Droplets flew through the air and soaked or stained the drying materials, and when they reached the ladder they'd skipped climbing down, Tia turned, drew out a bit of tinder and flint, then struck a spark.
The bright spark jumped into the air like a shooting star, caught the tinder, and began to burn up its life. She cast it from her slender fingers against the wooden shelf, with everything dry or tainted with oil, the flame leapt to life and began to roar through the underground chamber.
The twins exited, and went back to the fields. Behind them smoke was billowing into the darkness, the light hidden by the ground over the chamber, only the smoke revealed the truth of the lost fortune, and nobody would find it till morning.
When the twins reached the fields, pushing through the soft green leaves of the waist high plants, the twins enacted the second stage of the plan. They crouched down, yanked a few plants out by the root, then bound them up into a bundle.
Sparks lept from flint again to catch on the plant stalks, and as one, the pair rose to their feet, and began to sprint through the fields letting the fire catch as they went. At their backs the crackling began low, and the light was little, but within a minute the little crackling that was like that of a comfortable hearth, became a roaring flame and the comforting light, like walking on the surface of the sun. The blaze caught and in the light breeze, easily spread. Fire spread from plant to plant, and night became like day. Within the village, some soul began to shout and raise the alarm.
Fear and panic spread to the little population, they would rush out to fight the flames of the crop they were required to grow, but neither of the twin petals of Blue Rose remained to watch.
With ninja speed, they blinked out and were gone.
' We're done, evil boss.' They said as one through their message to Lakyus.
Lakyus drew her sword out of the body of the thug that lay staining the stone red at her feet. A crude mattress stained with blood and other less noble bodily fluids lay off to one side, along the wall, various young women and boys were chained into position with nothing to cover themselves. Their teeth chattered with fear and they pressed themselves against the stone at their backs, quietly pleading for the blonde death bringer to be sated with killing only a few. Behind her lay other corpses adding the smell of their own blood and bowels to the pits of this hell within the city.
She swept her sword out, casting the blood away and put it back into position over her shoulder. ' Good. I'm just finishing up here.' She said, and killed the link as soon as she acknowledged the receipt of Tina's message. She turned her sky blue eyes to the wares on display. "Relax, I'm Lakyus of Blue Rose, we've been hired to rescue you… sort of."
Teeth stopped chattering, and stares became wild with hope, arms yanked forward and the sound of a dozen chains snapping taut was so loud it briefly drowned out their cries for freedom. Lakyus didn't answer their questions right away, instead she addressed the more immediate matter. "I'm going to cut your chains, then I'm going to take you somewhere safe, you don't have anything to worry about anymore. Everyone that put you into this hell, is as good as dead. They just don't know it yet. Now be quiet." She said, and going from one to the next, she cast simple healing spells to ensure they could move when she needed them to.
' Gagaran, how is it going for you?' Lakyus asked, casting her own message spell while she finished up.
Gagaran brought her hammer down and crumpled the door. It became splinters that wouldn't stop a fly that desired entry, let alone the moving mountain of an armored woman that barrelled through with a battle cry. Unlike Tia or Tina, she had no care for whoever might be caught in her path. A roaring crowd calling for the blood of the fighters below, began screaming in fear of the shedding of their own blood when the behemoth began swinging her hammer. Bone crunched inside of bodies and tore through inner flesh like crude knives.
Her meaty fist passed through hard heads and out the other side, spreading viscera and brain matter on those whose dirty faces became twisted with terror. Some too frightened to scream. "Die already!" Gagaran roared and swung her hammer in a wide arc, arms bent the wrong way and bodies were flung wildly into others. Skulls cracked against skulls and rough bodies fell atop one another, some living, others uncertain if they were or not, and still others dead before they hit the ground.
Some tumbled into the pit where bruised and bloody captive fighters could only watch in shared confusion at the events in the space above. When understanding dawned on their faces, that their oppressors were being slaughtered, it was the turn of those within the pits to cheer on as horror unfolded above.
Gagaran tore through the crowd while it struggled to find its way around her. Most died, a few fell and were trampled into mush by those indifferent fellows who rushed with thoughts only for their own lives. None were dressed very well, thugs and degenerates, gambling addicts, petty criminals excited by the visceral thrill of watching others shed blood in their stead, ' I have no reason to spare any of them. There are no humans up here.' Gagaran told herself as red began to cover her pale face and its coppery taste touched her tongue whenever droplets made their way through her clenched teeth and into her mouth.
It was over in minutes, a few made it out, she knew what they would find. ' Guards all dead, or if any of the other fighters I freed lingered, they'll find someone else to kill them.' When it was only she and the pit fighters alive in the room, she took a better look around. It wasn't a large place, a low pit dug twenty feet below and with a sand coated ground, it was an improvised arena. Walls built up around the rim were crude but effective barriers that kept spectators from falling in when pressed, and glow stones dotted the room to ensure adequate lighting. There were nearly three dozen bodies scattered about the room, none moving. Most with caved-in skulls or chests, many with broken arms or legs twisted in the wrong ways.
She approached the edge and looked over the wall. "Stay there, my name is Gagaran, from Blue Rose. I've been hired to get you out." The fighters were bloody and bruised, gnarled and damaged flesh showed them to be pit veterans that had survived many clashes in the past, around their necks were heavy iron collars secured to chains that ran long enough to go from one wall to the next. ' Extra security to keep them in place. Ugly way to go.' The sand on which they stood was stained deep crimson, and came from no beach Gagaran had ever heard of. ' Red sand… never heard of that.' An idle part of her brain contemplated until she saw a drop of blood fall from the rough beard of one of the pit fighters and land on the ground beneath his feet. ' Oh, that's it.'
For the mountain of a woman who faced countless battles, this was personal, her blood raged at her to end the lives of those who treated combat like some sort of cruel sport, a few cries, pleas, and gurgles, reached her ears from the direction she'd come. ' Some stayed behind.' She thought with satisfaction.
The message came in from Lakyus just as she smashed part of the wall and began dropping bodies into the pit below. "Just climb up these, I'll break your chains and take you somewhere safe."
' I'm finishing up too, boss, just a few more to get out. We'll have to buy a drink for Sir Momon and Lupu the next time we see them, I've wanted a crack at these bastards for a while.' Gagaran replied, then killed the connection. The fighters below stacked the bodies up like cordwood, and clambered over dead flesh, their chains dragging through red sand until they reached the top.
Gagaran held out her thick hand, and took the bruised and broken flesh of the captive, he was clearly relatively young, she could only guess how he ended up there. ' A peasant captured on the road, someone in debt to Eight Fingers?' She wanted to know, but only for herself. So Gagaran didn't ask, she helped him clamber up over the wall, then did the same for his companion, before standing up to break their chains.
Evileye broke into the building with ease. Situated in the warehouse district, the intelligence she received told her that the goods housed here were not the usual sort. It was human capital. She licked her lips behind her mask, a 'talent pool' of sorts, a safe house for the worst of the worst, which paid a sum to Eight Fingers to smuggle them into the city, house them safely, and smuggle them out again. A lucrative practice that kept bandits out of the hangman's noose and allowed them to live well off of stolen goods and stolen lives.
The building was, from the outside, a perfectly ordinary warehouse, nobody went in, nobody went out. But as soon as she went in, she knew it was different, crude walls went up to create many different rooms everywhere. Her vampiric senses told her how many people were present, and she counted them off. ' Seventy… there are probably two or three bandit gangs here right now, all over this building.' She went to the first door, the sound of snoring went on as she expected.
Her superhuman strength allowed her to turn the knob and break the lock, then there she was, standing over a human. ' Feed.' Her instincts told her, ' Feed.' She restrained herself, then put her finger to his ear, and pushed it down, the body spasmed and gurgled as her finger went straight through and into his brain. Evileye's finger wiggled around inside to be sure, and then she removed her finger and wiped the brain matter and fluids on his blanket, then went on to the next one.
Room by room, she went to the bandits who paid good money to sleep safely, and she ended their lives before they knew she was even there. Floor by crudely built floor, she ventured, killing silently and counting them off. Sixty-five. Sixty-four. Thirty three. Thirty two… down and down the number went.
Till she was descending to the main floor. The aura of the living and the warmth of their lives were clearly visible to her. But one thing gave her pause. ' There are more voices than auras… undead. A vampire.'
[Maximize magic] [Fly] Evileye quietly cast the spell and floated down the steps, she could hear the sound of their chatter.
"You'd better not be cheating…"
"I only cheat on my wife, never at the table."
"If you're cheating on your wife with mine, I'll tell the boss to let Zule eat you…"
Evileye shot the rest of the way, coming into view to see the place that served as the 'lobby' for the operation of the crime hotel. [Shard Buck Shot] Evileye shouted, and a slew of crystals appeared out of nothing and shot toward the 'staff' of lightly armed figures.
Two were torn to shreds immediately, the third however, dove out of the way and rolled to both knees. "You made a bad mistake girly! You think you can stroll into Eight Fingers territory, hurt our business, hurt my job, and there won't be consequences. You're facing a vampire now, bitch."
Evileye descended slowly to the ground, in front of her the man to survive bared his teeth to reveal his fangs. Behind him, blood was already flowing in a spreading, broad red stain. A chair held up by the corpse, toppled to the floor with a crash.
Evileye pointed up, "Notice you don't hear anything up there even after all that noise? They're all dead. Your hotel is shut down."
The vampire snarled, his claws were bared, "Then I'll be the lone survivor…"
He broke into a charge, bellowing his fury and putting his fangs on display. He wasn't an overly large man, but vampires didn't need to be large to be deadly or strong. Evileye swept back the hood of her face, and possessed by what she admitted was probably a childish impulse, she removed her mask to bare her face.
Her blood red eyes brought a look of shock to that of the charging foe, but before he could do anything more, the hero of legend was inside his guard, grabbed his arm at the wrist, and flung him head over heels down to slam hard into the solid stone floor. [Crystal dagger] She said, and the shard shot from her hand and into his heart, piercing body and stone to lodge itself into the floor.
Understanding and unlife left the eyes of the vampire living among people, and it was done. Evileye slid her mask back into place, put her hood back over her head, and walked out the front door casting her message spell as she closed the entrance at her back. ' I'm done here, Lakyus, do you think Momon will be impressed?' She suppressed her giggle of enjoyment at the prospect.
' I think so.' Lakyus answered in her business voice, ' But we've still got a dozen more places around the city to hit, so don't get too excited, we do this enough, they'll gather their heavy hitters together, and that could be a problem, even for us.'
' That's probably why Sir Momon and Lupu want us together, we'll go together and take them down.' Evileye suggested the practical solution, but the connection was already cut.
' Ahhh Momon, I hope I'm right, they say the bonds of those who fight together are strongest of all… and I…' Evileye then drifted off into thoughts that began to make her blush. ' If he wants a child, maybe Lupu can bear it for him… but as long as I get to be with him…'
CZ Delta and Entoma stood outside the manor, behind them, Demiurge stood giving his instructions. "There are roughly thirty guards around the estate. Your job is to kill everyone but one person. The woman, Hilma. Bring her to me alive.
"Of course." CZ answered, her targeting reticule was already picking out various points of entry.
"Can I eat?" Entoma asked.
"As much as you like. As long as they're dead and eating doesn't let anyone get away." Demiurge explained.
Entoma raised her hands within her flowing robes. "Yay."
"Now go, I will wait here." Demiurge said and pushed his glasses up the length of his nose.
The manor was quite large, with various exotic woods used in its construction, an expensively maintained lawn held statues of stone and large fountains that kept a constant flow of gurgling water flowing through the air. The broad bay windows would let abundant light in during the day, though for the night the view within was closed behind thick curtains.
CZ was the first to act, she raised her spellgun and identified those in windows, then began to pick them off one by one. Dropping them where they stood with a heavy thud, while Entoma took a more stealthy approach.
[Carving bug] Entoma summoned an insect to hand with sharp jaws, and cut her way through the glass window to climb inside.
When there were no more targets visible from the outside, CZ strode to the window and climbed in after her sister.
Demiurge had only to wait. His sharp demonic senses told him what was happening. Life after life was extinguished, and all he had to do was wait. ' Glory to you, master, for this cunning plan. I am happy I could at least guess this mere one percent of what you have envisioned!' He sighed with the happiness of the servant who has absolute faith in his lord, and waited on.
CZ and Entoma came together again at a large white door, the gentle sound of rustling sheets and thrashing limbs reached through the barrier of wood to their waiting ears.
A traded glance between the battlemaids settled on a stealthy approach, and Entoma summoned another bug, which wiggled its way into the tiny space of the lock, and a moment later there was a click, the lock was undone, and no barriers remained.
CZ turned the brass handle and opened the door in silence.
There in the bed, a woman lay crying in her sleep, thrashing and pleading. "Noo… nooo… not again… not again… please no…"
CZ raised her spell gun and put it a few inches from the thrashing face that lay twisted and tortured on the proof of her great wealth.
Entoma's arm came out in an instant and cracked the woman across the face, the sound slap woke the blonde immediately.
Hilma stared up into the darkness where she could see only the shadowy outlines of two figures.
[Lightning bugs] Entoma summoned them, and amidst the air came many glowing green lights winking in and out and illuminating her, CZ, and Hilma all at once.
"You are Hilma?" CZ asked.
Hilma froze, ' Who are they… they got back here, to my room… that means my guards are probably gone, dead or bribed, help won't come…' She bit her lip and nodded. ' If they're not killing me right now, they want something, better to cooperate.'
"Good." CZ answered, and the weapon snapped down and fired twice.
Pain exploded in Hilma's mind and she let out a shriek of pain as she felt her legs severed at the knees. "Gyaaaah! Why! What are you doing?! Who are you people?! Please! My legs! My legs!" Hilma screamed as she was dragged into the darkness.
"You won't die. We won't let you. Don't worry." The young girl with purple hair and a strange, expressionless face replied before she grabbed Hilma by the hair near the base of her skull.
"No. She should worry. She will wish for it." CZ contradicted her sister, and Hilma's screaming only grew worse, the missing parts of her legs disappearing from her view when they dragged her out of her room, did nothing to help Hilma to stop her cries. Her one mercy, the expensive carpet being stained by her blood, did not hurt to be dragged over. It wasn't much, but it was all she had.
Volume 2 Chapter 24
Ainz sat in his private office, clad in a mask and wearing a ring that hid his magic, Fluder Paradyne stood in front of him. Ainz looked him over, his eyes hidden by the mask, which conveniently hid the facial expression the Lord of Nazarick was making. ' He looks like a video game character.'
' Still,' Ainz acknowledged privately, ' he is supposed to be the most powerful human caster in the world… until me at least.'
The desk in Ainz's private office sat on a slightly raised platform that meant the one behind it would look down on all the others. Around the room there hung the banners of the forty-one, plus the banner of the entire guild, each woven from silk and gold or silver thread, making each one by itself a priceless treasure to the outside world. There sat only one other chair in the room, intended for the presently absent Guardian Overseer or a single guest. Anyone else? They could stand or kneel.
Fluder stood, stroking his beard and resting on his staff, "You won't order me to kneel, Master Gown?" Fluder asked.
The very question sent shockwaves of discomfort through Ainz, his distaste for any disrespect for the elderly was palpable, at least to him. Though Fluder didn't seem to notice it. "No, it might take you awhile to rise, old man." Ainz attempted to make a congenial joke, and it actually drew a little smile to the old man's face.
"You're kind to spare an old man the difficulty, it makes my intended question seem rude, Master Gown, but I hope you will forgive me for asking it anyway." Fluder's voice was scratchy with age, but despite what time had done to his body, the energy and enthusiasm within his every word was as strong as if he were a man in his prime.
"Please." Ainz said with an inviting voice.
"Is it true that you could help me to peer into the abyss of magic? That my hopes, my dreams, can come true?" Fluder, intentional or not, reflexively moved his staff forward a little and leaned in, his eyes turned up at the elevated man who he was told was a god, eyes glistening with acute awareness of his fading time among the living. It was enough to stir a memory in the Lord of Nazarick.
" Spare… some credits… need a new breath mask… please… young man…" Ainz recalled the broken voice of the old man who sat, hopeless and weak with his back against the smooth surface of the building. " Please… I won't last long… I can't keep using this one…"
The desperation in the old beggar stayed with the young office worker, the ragged clothing had been filthy, the body, unwashed and if possible, more filthy than the ripped up clothing. The mask he used to filter the toxins that still made it into the domes, had little gouges in the rubber that were clearly visible, and probably other defects that were not. He gave the old man a few credits off his card and went off to work.
The next day, he saw the body lying down in the alley, waiting to be collected. Ainz still remembered what he thought then, ' He didn't get enough for a filter, all I gave him was false hope that he would.'
The memory was uncomfortable, and it was enough to make Ainz bite his tongue, words would not do, words would betray undesired emotions. Instead he held out his hand, and removed the ring.
To the old man, it was as if the sun exploded inches from his eyes, the supreme overwhelming power swept over him like waves from the sea during a terrible storm. The mere presence threatened to consume Fluder and stop his heart out of sheer awe. Sweat ran down his body beneath the robe, his limbs trembled, and he held back tears only so that he could continue to look. Fluder dropped his staff and his jaw, "God of magic! God of magic! I have found the God of magic at last!" He yowled with joy and shuffled his sandaled feet in the old man's approximation of a happy dance.
Ainz slipped the ring back into place and politely waited. Fluder's eyes shed the tears that were held within, and he wiped his face with vigor on the sleeve of the light blue robe he wore, ignoring the few that made it past his attempt at clearing them away, which got lost in his beard.
"Forgive me, my god, that was more than I hoped for… everything I am is yours, though, if I could make one small request for someone else?" Fluder asked slowly, bending down to pick up his staff.
"You can always ask ." Ainz promised.
"Yes, master. The Emperor of Baharuth, if he isn't marked for death, I would be grateful if there were some way to spare him. I did help raise him, while the abyss of magic is all I truly care for, I wouldn't just throw the sweet boy into his grave if I don't have to." Fluder glanced away, his breathing more shallow than before, and his grip on his staff a little tighter than was strictly necessary.
Ainz marked Fluder's character down a notch in the ledger of his heart. ' Unless I have absolute control over this one, he must never be permitted to rise too highly.'
"I have a task for you, on that subject. I won't promise the Emperor will live, but… I won't take his life if I don't have to. For now, what I want you to do is inform the emperor that you've found a ruin, a tomb, this tomb. Suggest it be explored for potential treasures to plunder, but that it be done by 'expendables'. I must have our defenses properly tested before we engage in anything in the open." Ainz passed on the order, and Fluder stroked his beard, suddenly lost in thought.
"Yes… yes I can do that, master. There are a number of expendable nobles that can be acted through." Fluder answered, then asked, "When should I begin?"
"Immediately." Ainz replied, and then a moment later, the gate opened at Fluder's side. "That will take you back to your office, see to this at once. Oh, and take this." He held out a folded piece of paper. "This has the location of the tomb marked."
Fluder made a humble bow and stored the paper into a pouch at his side, and with light taps of his staff on the stone floor, and the quiet shuffling of his feet, the most powerful man in the empire, committed himself to treason in favor of his dream by stepping through the gate.
When Fluder was gone, Ainz was alone, but only for a moment. The knock at the door was distinct, it came spaced out, another knock several seconds after the other, and that, not loud. ' Mare.' He realized, ' That means Aura won't be far behind, in fact she's probably with him now, along with Sebas, Arche, and Lupusregina.' He swallowed violently, painfully hard and cleared his throat. ' Time for the next step then.' He thought, and said with all the authority he could muster in his voice, "Enter."
The click of the latch was followed by the slow creaking open of the door, and as Ainz predicted, Mare entered the room. His skirt waving about with every step and his sister following on his heel. "See, dumdum, I told you it was fine to knock on Lord Ainz's door, especially if he is the one to call us." Aura's voice was smugly confident, and Mare, slightly hunched, was already blushing and clutching his staff against his body with a nervous, shifting energy about him that seemed to keep him from standing still.
Behind Aura, came Sebas, Arche, and Lupusregina, who took positions behind the two guardians. An entirely proper position, but also… practical.
' Lupusregina and Arche stand no chance, even Sebas would be hard pressed against one of them. But hopefully it doesn't come to that.' He kept the thought quiet and gave in to the quivering of his heart, choosing to focus on more banal business first.
"Your report." Ainz commanded.
"Ah, L-Lord Ainz, th-there is a human army a few days from Carne, a-and the villagers are asking if th-they can expect h-help. M-Miss Enri says she understands if it's a no, b-but that she h-has to ask 'for their sake'. Wh-What do I tell her, My Lord?" Mare answered.
"We cannot involve ourselves openly in the affairs of the Kingdom, so we will help them rebuild, or they can run and we will help them. But nothing more. However… we have a great many 'trash drops' in the treasury, don't we?" He asked rhetorically, everybody knew they did. Items going back to before they even had the limitless storage space of Nazarick. "We're not at war with the Kingdom, if anything, they're close to being allies. If we were to extend our generosity to the village to help protect themselves, the Kingdom can hardly claim we're at fault if they attack the victims I was so recently honored for saving… twice."
"No, of course not." The sentiment was shared by several voices, confirmation in Ainz's mind that it was the right call.
"Then gather up equipment suitable for level twenties, that should make up for any difference in skills at least. Tell Enri that she can 'buy' these things in installments of grain or coin until they are paid for." Ainz said, lightly tapping his finger on the desk in a constant, steady rhythm.
"M-Master, the village has also grown, new people keep showing up, some deserters from the army, some refugees ahead of the army, and Miss Enri is asking if she can delay tribute until they can make up the grain difference." Mare went on, and again Ainz agreed.
"Fine, that place is a long term investment, and these are special circumstances." Ainz said, again relief flooded through him as the need to reveal the truth was put off by just a few more minutes.
The report went on, first from Mare, then from Aura, and at last Ainz realized something important, and cursed himself for not considering it sooner. "I will need to assign someone permanently to Carne soon. There are too many important people there to simply leave their safety to the local militia. Especially if it grows."
The answer became immediately obvious. ' Axel is stationing itself there, nobody would think it strange if Lupu resided there full time.' It was such an elegant answer he briefly patted himself on the back for it. "Lupusregina, after we've finished with things as they are and 'Axel' is no longer merely an adventurer team, you will be stationed in Carne Village. Watch over the important people as your first priority, and the entire population as a second priority."
"My lord, I obey." Lupusregina bowed her head with formal dignity, but inside, excitement stirred at the prospect of all the little teasings that lay ahead for her intended security targets.
When the last brief was had, Ainz took a deep breath and hesitated… then rose and left his desk. He stepped down from the raised position and went to stand between the two guardians. "Aura, Mare… do you know how I see you?"
The twins scratched their heads and looked up at their master, he crouched down, and their eyes followed. "My Lord, I don't get it. We're your guardians, right?" Aura asked, her voice briefly uncertain.
"Yes, but you are also the children of Lady Bukubukuchagama, and that makes you the precious children of a dearly treasured friend. It makes you very special to me, so much so that if she were to return, it would be very hard to let you go." Ainz raised his hands and put them on the blonde heads of the twins and rubbed lightly.
They tightly shut their eyes, their hearts bursting with excitement that was so great it was frightening.
"So I have to ask you… who am I to you?" Ainz finished his words with the unexpected question, but it had a ready answer.
"The One Who Stayed." Aura replied, "Lord of Nazarick, master of the tomb, the divine leader…" The young girl who worked as a guardian rattled off titles, seeking something to please her liege and thereby reduce her own sense of anxiety that rampaged over her trembling eyes.
"Am I all those things, even if my form is not the same?" Ainz asked.
Mare nodded rapidly. "Lord Ainz is Lord Ainz!" The stutter was gone for a moment as the young trap almost shouted the clear declaration of faithfulness.
Aura was slower, "I-I wouldn't know if it was you if you were disguised, but… if you are you, then you're you, and I'll always follow you, Lord Ainz." Aura flushed a deep red over her dark skin and involuntarily began to rub away tears that were pooling in her eyes.
It was for that reason Aura didn't see Ainz' face before Mare, when Ainz removed his mask.
Volume 2 Chapter 25
The sound of crunching. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. That was all Hilma heard for day after day, except for the fabric like sound of her own flesh tearing. She never screamed, not once. Her mouth was open in a silent cry, but she did not scream.
She couldn't.
Her body was paralyzed, she couldn't even shut her eyes. But she saw everything in the mirrors. Little bugs were eating her flesh and bones save but for her vital organs, preventing her death, then, each time she wondered if the sweet release of her demise was nearly going to happen, a dog headed woman approached, healed her completely, and it began again.
So it went for the better part of a week… as near as she could guess.
No explanation.
No reason.
No questions.
Only pain.
And silence.
Except for the crunching, the ripping, and the tearing.
Then it was done. A slender man with pointed ears and glasses in a formal red suit of the sort she recognized as being popular in the south, approached and stood over her body. His hands were folded behind his back, and he leaned over her so that his head was above her face by no more than a foot.
"I'm sure by now you're ready to die many times over, not because you want to die, but because you want to feel no more pain." He said, and placed a hand on her cheek. Tears welled up in her eyes which blurred her view of the stranger, the man she recalled from the night the two women took her. He wiped her pooling tears away with a white gloved thumb.
"My name is Demiurge, and, other than the wish to die, I'm sure you have many, many questions for me. Well the same is true for me, but this wasn't done for interrogation, this torture was done to you for 'educational' purposes. To teach you to obey completely. There is no running, there is no escaping, the lord of this place is the master of death. Even if you take your life, he can bring you back to endure it again. You are now a servant of Nazarick."
Hilma didn't answer. Paralyzed as she was, she couldn't.
"Entoma, withdraw your bugs." He said, and from the shadows the purple haired girl emerged, then with a wave of her arm, the bugs that crawled about her, began to leave. They crawled out of every orifice, both the ones made by nature and the ones they had made themselves, a healing spell was cast from out of view, and Hilma's body was whole again.
"You may now move, but do not rise, only speak. Tell me you understand, or we will start over and I will return in another week." Demiurge commanded her, and Hilma babbled her subservience.
She sobbed out her words, she moaned them, she cried them out, tears flowed like waterfalls and she hiccupped through every word. No part of her body wasn't shaking in both terror and relief. "Yes! Yes I understand! I beg you… no more, no more no more no more! I promise I will be loyal! I obey! I am your servant! Your servant till eternal death releases me!
"Good, then we understand one another. Since the night you vanished, my master's work has done a great deal of harm to your business ventures. Farms growing your pathetic plants have been burned, your crime hotels were raided and everyone there killed, your underground games destroyed, customers slaughtered and fighters freed. To name a few things, I have only one question… where will your leaders gather to decide on a response?" Demiurge asked the question with a half open mouthed smile on his face. "You'll tell me, won't you?"
Hilma nodded, ' Anything! Anything!' She thought, and whimpering like a beaten dog, she answered, "There's an old manor in the city, nobody lives there, but we… we use it. It belongs to Prince Barbro, but he lets us use it for meetings and entertainment with the wealthiest of our customers. They'll meet there."
"I see, we've been monitoring your home since we brought you here, and nobody has come looking for you, no messages were delivered. How much more will we have to dismantle before they gather?" Demiurge asked the obvious followup question, and Hilma thought that over. But the fear of error was a significant one to say the least.
"I… master Demiurge, it may be that they've delayed because they suspect each other." Hilma bit her lip to stop the quivering, at least her answer wasn't obviously wrong, because the looming face rose away from her when he straightened up.
"Yes… scum of your sort wouldn't know anything about true loyalty, not like us." Demiurge stroked his chin and thought it over. Then he was looming close again, "You will dispatch a message, inform them that you've caught wind of the ones responsible and laid a trap for them, but you need help to pull it off. Tell them… tell them to gather as many fighters as they can, that should make them comfortable enough to appear, shouldn't it?"
Hilma gave many rapid tiny nods before she found her voice again, "Y-Yes, my Lord. Only give me what I need and… I will help you."
"Of course you will, and… just so you know, pain avoidance isn't the only reason to serve well. That… is just the reason not to betray us. The reason to serve well…" He said, then laid a hand over her breast, just where the heart lay beating rapidly below. [Aspect of the Incubus] [Absolute Bliss Level Five]
Pure white filled Hilma's eyes, absolute and total pleasure overwhelmed her body, where there was pain before that made hell look like a vacation, now there was only bliss that made heaven itself to be hell in comparison. Her body shivered, shook, and cries of ecstasy overwhelmed her every single sensation. The world that consumed her before had vanished, leaving her broken to pleasures she had never dreamed were possible for a mortal.
Then the touch to her skin was broken, and the bliss began to fade, leaving her a quivering lump that could barely breathe hard enough to stay alive. "Obey well, and you will experience pleasure, comfort, and happiness. Disobey, or betray, and your suffering will be a tale of caution that will be whispered of in tales of terror for generations."
Hilma couldn't respond, and as her brain started to work properly again, she realized she didn't need to. Her answer would come in the form of her actions. But that didn't stop her from giving it in the privacy of her own mind. ' Of course! I can't wait to betray them!'
Ainz looked at Aura and Mare through dark, human eyes, and with childlike innocence, their little hands came up and touched his cheek. "M-My Lord what…?" Mare started to ask, then listened with wide eyed attention as Ainz explained everything.
When he was finished, Aura was the first to speak. "They knew, didn't they, my lord?" She turned her head partially to indicate the trio behind her.
"Arche has never known me except in this form, but yes, they do. Lupusregina figured it out during our travels, and I revealed it to Sebas not that long ago." Ainz admitted.
That made the little dark elf twins start to tremble a little, and their green and blue eyes began to quiver, as did their lips. "D-Didn't you trust us?" Mare asked in a voice of hurt.
"Aura, Mare, that wasn't it. Something like this…" Ainz brought his hand in and touched his own face. "It is a great deal to cope with, and I couldn't be sure that this wouldn't hurt you. You're the children of my precious Lady Bukubukuchagama, the woman I had…" He gave a wry little smile to the twins, "a bit of a crush on if you want the truth. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt her children, so I put off telling you for my own reasons, and I am sorry, can you forgive me?" Ainz asked, and took Aura and Mare's right hands.
"Can… can we hug you, Lord Ainz?" Aura asked, sounding as anxious as her brother ever did, she had a rare demure and uncertain look on her face, but it vanished into a look of shock when the master of death pulled both she and her brother into his embrace and squeezed them tight against his body.
Their arms enfolded his own, and looking past them with their chins over his shoulders, he saw that Sebas, Lupusregina, and Arche had each visibly relaxed with the passing of tension.
' That leaves the remaining battlemaids, Demiurge, Albedo, Shalltear… the ones most likely to pose a problem. Rubedo was successfully started up, presumably she is loyal to me no matter what form I take, but still it would be best to inform her with backup available… which means telling the remaining Guardians first.' The thought filled Ainz with dread, and yet at the same moment, as he tried to imagine Albedo's reaction, the spine tingling anxiety was almost cathartic.
' I did something truly awful to her, even if I didn't know it at the time… if she betrays me…. I betrayed her first. I'm not ready to die, but if she cannot serve a human Lord in Nazarick, I will give her somewhere she can be happy. Even if I have to create a kingdom just for her.' The resolve settled in Ainz's gut like the lump in his throat that refused to leave, and his embrace over the twins grew subconsciously tighter before he found his senses again and released his grip.
When Ainz did, he gave them orders. "Go to the treasury, explain what I said about proper weapons for Carne Village, and deliver enough for the entire place to be equipped. Also, send Ninya to me as soon as you've made your delivery, I will be in the arena."
"Right away, Lord Ainz!" Aura was bright eyed and all smiles again, every inch an enthusiastic child who had just gotten a hug from a loved one, and with that, she grabbed her little brother's hand and hurried him away.
When they were gone, Ainz stood to face the remaining trio. "That went well." He said with an undisguised sigh of relief, "I was confident it would, but… doubt is the most insidious enemy…" Ainz touched his forehead, then cast his spell. [Perfect Warrior] Again the armored warrior of legend, he said, "Arche, Lupusregina, you are with me. We will be trying an experiment to see if I can increase your skills at the same rate when there is more than one of you at a time"
Lupusregina's wolfish grin was the only answer she needed to give, and the same went for Arche's bright eyes as her own ambitions to better her talent loomed large in her mind. The security of Arche's sisters allowed her to reawaken her former dreams, and little by little as she grew accustomed to a place filled with impossibly powerful monsters, she was blossoming.
Nowhere was this more evident than in the fourth hour of their training when Ainz pinned the dragon down at the neck, while Lupusregina tore violently at its exposed gut, and Arche shouted her spell again and again into its great red eyes. [Lightning! Lightning! Lightning!] Over and over Arche spammed the spell, feeling her body grow by leaps and bounds as an opponent that once would have been legendary, was rendered down to nothing but a punching bag.
' Power leveling in reality is shockingly like the game, satisfying.' Ainz reflected and checked the exp gains. His frequent private returns to Nazarick to have Cocytus spawn opponents for him had proven exceedingly profitable. His own levels had gone up to one hundred and ten, while Lupusregina was now the second strongest of the battlemaids, after Aureole Omega. Arche had grown less, but still thanks to Sebas's help, she was up to level twenty-six and was nearing her current peak. ' I'll need to provide her with new spell scrolls soon.' Ainz made the mental note and stepped away as the young dragon breathed its last.
The body was beginning to disappear when the gate opened, and from it stumbled a very uncertain, very fearful looking little mage in a cheap brown cloak with a staff that was every bit as cheap as everything else she wore. Her smallish face was brightened somewhat by her wide eyes, but it was obvious she was nervous by the stumbling way she walked.
"Master Momon I… sir, I was told I was going to meet the Lord who saved Carne ah, did I, what do I-" She stumbled over her words, her knees were wobbly and she was looking down at the sand under her feet, as if unsure if she should kneel or not. Ainz cut that off by raising his hand up in a simple gesture and then putting it on her shoulder in a comradely sort of way.
"Tell me, Ninya, would you give up everything if it meant the chance to protect your new home from your sister's fate? If it meant that such things would never be allowed to just 'happen' ever again? Would you give your absolute loyalty, if you had the power you needed to serve that purpose?" Ainz asked, his noble voice and high charisma rating was clearly having an effect on the woman, and though she couldn't see his face from behind the helmet, there was only one answer.
"Sir Momon… I still want to find some way to rescue my sister or… or avenge her if she's dead, but yes! I would do anything… anything to have the power to do what you said." Ninya's face became bitter, her grip on her staff, tighter. "Lord Ainz, he sent weapons to the village, it included a few magic items, things I'll use and do my best with but, but I am still weak. I can learn quickly, but I still need the experience, and that's extremely dangerous. It will take years, and the village doesn't have that. Are you… are you going to fight? If you do…?"
Ainz squeezed her shoulder a little, she ceased to speak, "Offer me your oath of allegiance, offer me everything you are, and your wish will be granted."
He waited while Ninya took in those words, she recalled his absolute power on the battlefield, and caught the eye of the cleric companion to the mighty warrior. The absolute brutality of Lupu had been a sight to behold, even looking at the maid whose equally brutal advice had upended Ninya's world, made her shiver. But when the cleric gave a tiny nod, Ninya recognized that she was being given an opportunity that would not come again.
"I-I pledge myself. Your cause, your will, everything. My very soul is yours, do what you want with it." Ninya shot the words out like an arrow launched from a tightly drawn bow, and when she spoke, the last strength in her legs faded and she fell to her knees. "I am your servant. Just… help me make this right." Ninya pled, then taking his hand from her shoulder, she slowly removed his glove, and kissed the ring on his finger as if he were a king, and she his subject.
"Then stand up, and follow me, you have some very difficult days ahead, but there is something else you must do first." Ainz said when he reclaimed his mailed glove and put it back on his hand.
AN: I'm participating in the Royalroad dot com writathon, 55,555 words in 5 weeks. Goal is to finish in about 10 days. If you'd like to read my original submission there, the title is 'Countdown'. First two chapters are up and more will be added daily until completion. Reviews are welcome and will help my overall author exposure. Thank you for your support. :)
Volume 2 Chapter 26
"Is this a dream?" Enri asked when she held up a suit of armor in both hands. Though it was leather by the touch, it was like no leather she had ever felt. It reminded her very much of the touch of the skin of lizards.
"No… Unless I miss my guess, that's dragon leather." Nfirea said, running his hand over the back of the black leather. Though his voice was calm, his mind was racing, "Lesser dragon, but still… impossibly expensive stuff."
Nfirea reached into the wagon and took out a small wand carved of twined wood the likes of which he'd never seen. The various cords of wood spiralled around a solid core and ended at an unfamiliar looking green gem. [Appraise Magic Item] He cast his spell, and froze.
"This is… Master Gown is just… letting us have these?" Nfirea asked, aghast.
Enri shook her head, "No, even if he offered, I couldn't accept that. We're 'buying them' from him in installments." She stared long and hard at the leather armor in her hands, even with no magical skill, she felt sure there was an enchantment of some type on it. "He's telling us to fight, that it's our turn to protect our homes. And he's right." Around the wagons, a crowd had gathered, there were eight large wagons lined up end to end. Enri raised her head and lowered the armor down so that she could see everyone.
"When Master Gown visited us, we needed saving! When Sir Momon came to us, we needed saving again! Now we have to save ourselves ! We've worked hard, trained hard, done things we'd never done before! Now Master Gown has given us the chance to prove we are worth his time! We know someone is coming for us to avenge the death of a worthless lord! We didn't do anything… and still we're going to die for it! I'm done with that! Done with all of that!" Enri's fury boiled over and gave voice to the outrage of a lifetime.
"I reject the Kingdom! Sir Momon's request must have been refused! Why else would they be alright with coming this way and killing us all! If we can't have lords worth following from the Kingdom, then we'll make our own! Damn them! Take up armor, take up swords! And let's get ready to fight! This is our home! This is our land! And they'll never take from us ever again! " Enri bellowed like an outraged banshee, and the call began to rise up.
"Carne! Carne! Carne!"
Only to begin to transform, little by little.
"Emmott! Emmott! Emmott!"
And from some unknown throat another call began that took hold and would not let go.
"Hail to Queen Enri Emmott of the Kingdom of Carne!"
Enri blinked in dismay when the call went up, her heart raced like it was trying to outpace her pulse, the scale of what just happened was far beyond her expectation, but caught in the moment and unable to think of what else to do, she gave her orders.
"Arm yourselves! Everyone! Arm yourselves! We have to prepare and we haven't a moment to spare!" Enri shouted, and hundreds of hands began to scramble for hilts, shields, boots, and armor pieces as if these were holiday gifts being given out, and they were the children receiving them.
Enri turned her eye toward Nfirea. "What just happened here?" She asked as peasants began to put on armor and equip themselves like proper warriors.
Nfirea chuckled and put a hand on the shoulder of the woman he loved. "You became a Queen, I think. And if you'll have me, I'd love to be the King." He winked at her dismayed, shocked expression, and then the understanding of the meaning behind his words began to sink in.
"That's… that's not how proposals work, Enfi!" She blushed a deep crimson, but Nfirea's loving expression, his broad smile and resolve did not waver.
"I've loved you for years, more than I could ever say. I don't know what'll happen next, but it'll be dangerous, and if I do have to leave this world, I want to do so married to the woman of my dreams. I'll love you for my whole life, you, only you, and no other."
"That- That is how you propose." Enri's blush didn't fade, but her surprise melted into happiness, before she dropped the armor into the dirt, then melted into his embrace in a passionate kiss that went on until the carts were entirely empty and the first 'Army of Carne' began to form up.
"Still no sign of her?" Imina asked, her long purple hair bounced in its braids as she peeled off the rest of her clothing.
"No, nothing." Hekkeran replied when he sat down on the stool. He didn't need to ask whom Imina meant, it was the same question for both women.
The blonde beauty that beat him into ruin and then sent his friends out to heal him before he died, for one. And on the other hand, Arche's body. "Roberdyck and I sorted through the ashes again last night. Nothing. We did find her father's body, but not her mother's, nor her sisters', nor Arche's bodies." Hekkeran sighed.
"It's a big house, a lot to sift through." Imina pointed out while she undid the hair ties and let the long purple strands come tumbling down.
"Yeah, I know, I know." Hekkeran said when he tossed a boot aside. "But still, the fire happened some time late in the evening, if there was a fire threatening the place, where would Arche go?"
"Straight to her sisters' room." Imina answered immediately when she threw her shirt over a chair.
"Right, so that was where we started. Arche was… is… a magic caster. Even in a dangerous blaze, she has a flight spell and should have been able to get them to safety. If she hadn't, then her sisters' bodies should have been in the area where her room was, or not far away. Arche, I would have expected to be found close by." Hekkeran pointed out while he undid his pants.
"So you think they weren't there at all? That the brutal bitch that beat you half to death was telling the truth?" Imina asked, however she didn't sound as skeptical as he thought she would.
"No, I don't. I think… I think Arche took her sisters and ran. I think that blonde woman knew more than she said about where Arche was… am I crazy?" Hekkeran turned around to ask the slender half elf.
"No, definitely not." Imina answered, "Because while looking for 'that' one, guess what I heard?"
Hekkeran didn't ask, instead he simply waited, he knew Iminad say, and he was right.
Imina went right on without him asking, saying to him that, "There was an agent coming about from Earl Flemmel, asking for people interested in a job. Raiding a newly discovered ruin, and didn't she say something about that?"
Hekkeran rubbed his forehead, "It's… a little fuzzy, but this is far too convenient to be coincidence. If Arche is in trouble, there's only one place we need to be."
"So when do we leave?" Imina pressed, her entire body felt like it was on pins and needles. Hekkeran's lean form was built for combat, and in moments like this, making a bold pronouncement of action for the sake of their team, he was the best of himself. She licked her lips and unconsciously parted her thighs as he approached.
"About three days, we'll do what they ask, encourage all kinds of teams to go along, and we'll get Arche out of there." Hekkeran leaned forward and captured Imina's soft lips in a warm kiss, pressing her backwards onto the mattress of animal furs, she sighed when the taste of his lips left her own. Her arms wrapped around his neck, her legs around his waist.
"Taking your love into danger… is that heroism now?" She teased him verbally while undulating her hips to tease his manhood.
"All for one, one for all. And no, I'm not asking for a fourway." They laughed at the joke and sighed together as they became one flesh joined at the hips. Their desire for one another was a fire fueled by the greatest of dangers, carrying them both, and their whole team, up to the ranks of mithril class adventurers. Clinging to his treasured Imina, the fiery pain of her nails digging into his back demanded urgency.
Her cries filled the room and spilled beyond their confining walls, into the rooms of others, it was shameless, and so they felt no shame. What was there to be ashamed of? ' We are alive! We are warm! We are happy!' That was all their cries meant in a language older than the spoken word.
But that time passed away, Imina fell into the sheets and accepted his quieting kiss before she fell asleep again. Hekkeran, though, did not sleep. He sat up and looked over to the window where moonlight streamed into the room. Outside in the city beyond, he could see tiny lights from other rooms where other people were caught in moments like the one that had just passed for himself. ' I doubt many of them have my worries though. This may… may very well be the end of us… but we can't leave her to die, even if I have to face that monster of a woman again.'
He felt the lump in his throat and turned his body halfway around to watch Imina sleep. She slept on her side, curled away from the window and moved only a little in the sheets. He could see half a smile still on her face, and all he could do was watch her breath. ' Wake her up, ask her to stay behind… let Roberdyk and I go, we'll get her out, you buy the drinks for us…'
He had the thought and hated himself for it. ' She'd slap me for the very idea.' He knew that thought was the truth as soon as he had it, and so he didn't give it voice. He reached down to the bottle at his feet, took a long hard swig, then set it down, and slid into bed. He spooned against her, and she, long accustomed to his warmth, nestled herself more closely into his arms. He breathed in the scent of her hair, and only then, and very slowly, did Hekkerango to sleep.
Prince Zanac swallowed hard, very, very hard, and very often. His thighs hurt, his ass hurt, his back hurt. He did everything he could not to wince at every bounce of the horse beneath him.
At his back, seven thousand soldiers marched, enough to convince his brother not to make a fight of things and to come back to the capital before he started something he couldn't finish. ' My stupid brother thinks he's just teaching some lords a lesson, but my sister was right, his line of march will take him straight to Carne, if he butchers the place Master Gown and Sir Momon rescued, right after we honored them both? I can't even begin to imagine the falling out that will happen between the Royal Family, the nobles, the newly honored, the mage we want us to save, and even the Guild!'
Prince Zanac's grim pondering was the only thing that kept him distracted from the pain in his body as he tried and failed to get used to life as a field commander. ' At least I could get more people together, faster, than my damn fool of a brother.' An advantage that wouldn't go unnoticed by the nobles when it came time to select the next heir.
Prince Zanac was only two days on the road when he came across the first ruined village. Having never seen death so close, let alone the ruined aftermath he found… he felt his stomach lurch. A woman who 'might' have been pregnant before, and thus too slow to flee, had been killed somehow. She lay on her side, her arms still lay over her belly, but maggots and blowflies now made her body their home. A foul, putrid odor came off her corpse and her eyes were gone, turned into empty sockets that stared up accusingly at the Prince, as if to blame him for her lot. Her clothing was mere tatters, ripped open where beasts had sought access to the flesh modesty once had concealed.
Bones lay exposed everywhere, and the odor grew so strong that Prince Zanac had to clutch to the reins when he leaned over and openly vomited into the dust.
"First time, My Lord?" A soldier at his back asked, and handed over a small white cloth.
Prince Zanac wiped his mouth of the acidic fluid that clung around his lips and then spat into the dust to clear the raw taste from his tongue. "Yes… yes it is. I've seen dead men before, but nothing like this, not so close at least."
"You get used to it, My Prince." The soldier said with a grim face that denied any desire of Zanac's that he was making a joke.
The Prince offered back the cloth, but the young swarthy soldier who offered it, shook his head. "Keep it, My Prince, this is the first time I didn't need it myself. I guess I'm past the vomiting stage."
"The war?" Prince Zanac asked.
The young dark haired soldier gave a regretful nod, "Yes, My Prince. I command a company during those… I've seen this every year for the last five years, though not quite like this, and usually we don't stick around to see what the rot looks like. Could we… unless there is a reason, perhaps we should move on."
Prince Zanac cleared his throat and tucked the cloth into his saddle bag for future use. "Yes, yes we should."
He raised his hand, and drew it down ahead of him, the flags waved, a horn blew, and the sound of seven thousand marching feet and clinking sets of armor began to drown out the chirping of birds again.
Volume 2 Chapter 27
Armed with the knowledge given by Hilma, and after using Blue Rose to apply pressure to the members of Eight Fingers leadership, it was trivial to simply 'wait' in the old estate.
Hilma stood shivering and shaking with fear in the corner of the room. She was hugging her belly and staring up at the towering Ainz, her teeth chattered, "They'll be here! I promise they'll be here! I swear! I swear! I told them the ones responsible for it were operating out of this place as a further way to thumb your noses at Eight Fingers. The anger on their faces, it was beyond raw… everyone worth anything will come here… please… please believe me, I wouldn't lie, I wouldn't!"
Ainz tapped the flat of one sword on his right shoulder, "How did you convince them that you were right?"
Hilma's already drawn, pale face went tighter, her lower lip trembled, and Lupusregina crinkled her nose. "Awww, she peed herself."
"I'm sorry! I'm just! I told them that one of my brothel girls had gotten close to one of them that got a little too talkative, promised that she would be free once he and his buddies took over Eight Fingers operations for themselves… is… is that okay?" Hilma felt her knees wobble.
"Yes, that's believable." Ainz said and walked away from the terrorized woman who seemed to want to join with the corner she pressed herself against. He walked to the head of a long table and sat down, without being asked, Lupusregina approached and stood behind his right shoulder.
She sniffed the air a few times, "They're coming, lots of them, I can't tell how many, but they're angry, blood hungry."
Hilma shot her eyes over toward the red haired woman she knew as Lupu. ' Superior senses… is that a talent? Or is she not human at all, but only looks like it?' Hilma's guts ached and a lancing pain from raw terror shot through her body, ' I know I didn't lie, I did what I was told, I'll be fine fine fine fine fine… just tell the truth, be faithful and hope I'm not punished…' Her beautiful face, despite being healed, was quite gaunt from the frequent vomiting after meals. She knew she was already losing weight, and that she didn't have that much that she could lose in the first place.
' I'm like the waif girls that decide to starve themselves in my brothels… but I don't want to die… not really, not like them…' Hilma told herself when the footsteps and shouting drew closer.
"Search everywhere! Make sure nothing in the building is left unexposed! Find them!" The rough voice called out.
' Zero… if he's come himself, then the rest are certainly here as well.' Hilma shivered. That was an unpleasant concept, in other times she would fear being exposed for betraying them, ' Especially Zero.'
Now?
Now she felt only a great swell of pity for her interdepartmental rivals.
"Very well, you've proven your worth." Ainz said, and the gate opened between them. "Go and tell Demiurge you are to be rewarded."
Hilma's eyes were out of his view thanks to the portal, but she knew that her eyes shone like the sun. "Master! Thank you, Master!" Hilma said and scurried on swift little steps through the portal, desperate for the sensations of bliss that were her reward for destroying her comrades.
"In here!" Ainz shouted over the cacophony of noise, his voice carried, and then was picked up and the call that the perpetrators were located, was carried all over the manor house.
The pounding feet came on, drawn like ants to a pile of sugar where Ainz was waiting. ' The others should be in place around the manor, if no call has gone out about my servants, then nobody here is worth noting in terms of their detection skills.'
The first to enter was a monster of manhood. His muscles larger than those of Gazef Stronoff, animal tattoos over his body that even a novice caster would have recognized as there for magical purposes, and a bald head to boot. Ainz laughed.
Whatever reaction those who came into the room were expecting with their faces of wrath, mockery, or arrogance, for Ainz to laugh was the last on the list.
"What's so funny there, tin man?" The bald figure Ainz recognized from Hilma's description as 'Zero' asked.
"I was just thinking, you look a lot like some childish chuunibyou's imagination of a cartoon villain." When Ainz said it, the dumbfounded look on Zero made Ainz laugh even harder, so hard that his fist came down and smashed the stone table, sending a crack from one end to the other and a loud crashing noise as the hunk he snapped off, shattered against the floor. Ainz had to wave his hand several times to stop stunned words from his counterparts while he composed himself.
At his side, he was sure Lupusregina was confused, but it was good to laugh anyway, and picking up on his mood, he could feel her rising excitement.
' I don't know what those words meant, but… I know when I've been insulted.' Zero thought, and did not like it. He snarled and pointed to the left and right of himself, his finest and strongest went along the wall.
"You've had your laugh, but now it's over. There are only two of you, and a lot of us." Zero chuckled, "I was expecting more."
Ainz shrugged and picked up the sword that had fallen to the floor, "I am Momon. This is Lupu, we're more than enough, either one of us by ourselves would do, but Axel 'is' a team after all. Plus, I'm a kind leader and wouldn't deny her the pleasure of play when I don't have to."
Rumbling anger met Ainz as more thugs filtered into the room.
"You really think you can win?" Zero felt at least somewhat dumbfounded, thug or not, he was intelligent enough to run the Eight Fingers organization that spanned from the far south of Re-Estize to Arwintar itself, and the confidence of the onyx armored man and his black and white clad female companion did not make sense.
Ainz made his voice as reasonable and polite as possible, "It's funny, someone else asked me something similar once, not that long ago, they had me outnumbered, and they too, were wrong. Though it did change things for me, they're now all wishing they were dead. I'll make you the same offer I made them." Ainz held out an open hand, "Go to your knees, offer your lives to me, and I will make your deaths quick and painless. Or resist, and you will beg for death before sunrise."
Zero frowned. "How about I make you a different offer. Drop your swords, surrender, and we'll kill your woman there when we're done with her."
Ainz heard the offer, and…
He wasn't quite sure he heard it properly.
"Could you repeat that?" Ainz asked with the utmost courtesy as he slowly rose from his seat.
"I said," Zero repeated himself, "Drop your swords, surrender, and we'll kill your woman when we're done with her."
Ainz looked down at Lupusregina, the beautiful battlemaid, clad in the clothing given to her by one of his dear friends, the girl he regarded as one of the children left in his care.
She looked up at him and cocked her head, "Momon, sir, did he just…?"
Ainz tapped the side of his helmet for a moment, then looked back over to Zero, "Just to clarify, did you offer to kill the child of my friend after you were all done raping her?"
Zero's face became smug. "Trying to buy time, I'll teach you true strength…" He said, and began activating his shamanic tattoos.
Ainz stood stock still, processing what he understood to be an acknowledgement of his question.
Then he lost all reason.
Zero lost sight of his opponent in an instant, but before his facial expression could even register confusion, he was falling over and did not know why. ' What happened…?' He wondered when he landed hard on his side and rolled onto his back. Out of the corner of one eye, he saw the onyx warrior sever the head of the undead king, Davarnoch, whose body began to dissolve before he knew he was killed. Edstrom had enough time to raise her blades, but they fell with a clatter before the first screams of horror could rise up. Lungs were just intaking breath to scream when Zero saw Lupu flash past overhead and slap Succulent's head from off of his body, and shove her mouth into the jaw of Peshurian, and tore it away from his face along with part of the helmet.
It clattered on the stone beside Zero's face, ' He had perfect teeth, I didn't know that.' It was an absurd thought to have in the midst of the whirlwind of death, and then the pain hit him when he caught sight of the reason for his fall. Both of his legs had spun away from his body after being severed, and he toppled over onto the stone floor.
The smell of copper, fear, and fluids was thick in the air, even more so than the dwindling screams. Malmvist attempted a thrust, his red hair bounced and his mouth open to let out not a battle cry, but a childish cry of fear. The fear of one who knew it was futile.
Malmvist was right, the greatsword of the dark warrior slashed through him at the waist and sent his upper body spinning off to one side, leaving his lungs intact to let him scream while he lay dying.
' If they're dead, the rest weren't even worth bringing.' Zero understood, and he began to try to pull himself over to his severed legs. The smell was rising, the noise was falling as the pair tore through the ranks of his finest as if there was a time limit.
His hands touched wetness that was flowing over the floor like spilled milk. Red, he rolled over onto his belly. ' Just get to my legs, if I can push them against my body, I can mend myself and run…'
The sound of his hand slapping into the bloodsoaked stone was all he could hear clearly, the slaughter was carrying on out of view, the redheaded woman was clearly laughing, but so far away… his slaps of hand to stone as he dragged himself, that was like the crashing of waves onto the shore by comparison to their distant melee and amusement.
Malmvist's screams were fading too, becoming groans that were becoming lesser themselves with every passing second.
Zero was counting the inches, ' So close… so close…'
His breathing became labored, the rough stone didn't hurt the hardened body, but the blood and the bodies that now lay scattered about were obstacles in their own right. More than once he had to stop, grab a corpse, and use his strength for the low task of casting the lump of meat away to spare himself the time to climb over it. ' Seconds count, go! All of you! Become a shield for me! Give up your lives so I can get my legs and run!'
He silently gave the command that not a single one of them would have obeyed if there were a chance of escape. Somehow though, his warrior instincts told him that they weren't going anywhere but to the ground.
A broad, joyful smile of the sort that had not touched Zero's face since boyhood, found its place when his hand at last clasped his left leg. His bloody fingers closed over the blue fabric at the calf, and he rolled himself onto his back and tried to sit up.
As he grunted at the pain, he felt a violent kick to his back that sent him tumbling end over end across the stone floor, bashing his head and arms and the stumps of legs across the surface. He lost his grip on the leg, which tumbled away and fell with a wet plop into a puddle of red.
"You threatened to hurt one of my little girls… you threatened my maid… one of the children of my dear friends…" Ainz's wrath was beyond measure, the sea of blood he had shed, was not yet enough to slake his wrath.
Lupusregina's heart was aglow while she watched her master slam his foot down over and over again on the crumpled form of the former crime boss. Limbs were smashed into paste, and nothing was there to hold him back.
But still, despite the warmth in her heart that she was eager to both boast of and share with her sisters when she got back to Nazarick, she couldn't help but pout.
"Momon sir, can I play with him, just a little, before we take his head?" She asked with a demure look down into the bloody floor. She shuffled her feet and kicked aside some stray intestines, her maid outfit was quite soaked with red, and her long braids were dripping as if the color was draining from her strands in liquid form.
Ainz halted, his breathing was heavy with wrath, but he stepped back. "He is yours, Lupu. Do what you want. But by dawn, take his head, we need to present it, and the rest of the leaders corpses, to the King."
"Course!" Lupu said and pranced over to the groaning lump of ruined muscle.
"You really screwed up, huh? Oh well. More fun for me, this one's on you!" She giggled, and took on her werewolf form, and under Zero's gurgled protests, choking on his own blood and wishing for a death that was far too long in coming, all he could do was wait while she ate him a little bit at a time. Until true to her word, there was nothing but a head with a face frozen in a final look of terror… right as the sun began to peak over the horizon, and shine its warming light on the carnage of cooling bodies that were strewn about the estate.
"Demiurge mentioned needing documents for his pawn to use, I'll call for him to send servants to snatch them and make copies, you can use the estate to clean yourself off before we go." Ainz suggested, and Lupusregina gave him an eagerly bobbing nod of her head.
"Right away, Momon!" The red haired battlemaid said with the utmost happiness and made her way to the baths.
' A productive evening, makes for a productive morning ahead.' Ainz said before sweeping his blade out, casting aside the remaining drops of blood that stained the dark weapon. Then he cast his spell, and sent his orders to Nazarick, ready for the next phase of their plans to begin.
Volume 2 Chapter 28
Prince Barbro sat atop his horse, that was his favorite place to be, it let him tower over everyone. His back was straight, his broad shoulders even broader thanks to his expensive orichalcum and mithril plated armor. He felt the sword sway at his side, in most occasions, he would have been quite happy right here. Being looked up to, being admired for the powerful man he knew himself to be.
But now he was vexed. "Tell me what you just said. Tell me… one. More. Time." He spoke very slowly and glowered down at the scout.
"Th-They have a wall, a very impressive wall, and people on top of it say they're not opening the gate. They said…" the soldier on his knees cleared his throat and lowered his eyes to distance himself from the repetition, 'He can sit his purple ass on his purple throne back home, but he'll never set foot in here.'" He cleared his throat again and added, "Majesty."
Prince Barbro felt his face turn red with anger. "Were we able to get a spy to infiltrate the other day and look for anyone matching the description of the ones we're looking for?"
The scout bit his lip and reached to his side where a bag hung. "Th-They dropped this." The young man's voice was full of disbelief at what he held, but he reached into the bag anyway, and removed the head of their spy. "They ah, sire they did say that the guilty are within their walls, the spy… was unnecessary." The young soldier swallowed with discomfort and lowered the head back into the bag.
Barbro felt his fury rise ever higher, ' All we've done will be meaningless if these are allowed to get away with… no, they have to die, they 'have' to die.'
The crown Prince bellowed out his rage filled order, "Go! Make ladders, we may not have intended a siege but by the gods we're not letting them get away with this!"
The scout scrambled away from where he knelt and rushed to pass the orders along to the other soldiers. ' Walls or not," Barbro considered with white hot anger, ' They're only peasants with hoes and sticks, and maybe a few bows. This won't take long.'
… Hours earlier…
Enri stood in front of her assembled crowd, goblins, trolls, nagas, and humans stood in neat rows armed and equipped with what was provided to them by Master Gown. "We've done the best we could to prepare, now all we can do is our best. But remember… Master Gown believed in us enough to save us. Someone like that doesn't act unless you're worth it, today begin to prove it. Go take positions, they'll be here in a few hours."
The cheers went up, and Enri noticed that trolls really liked to wave their hands in the air when they were happy. They weren't very bright in general, but she came to think of them as overgrown children. ' They have simple desires, but if they're fed and taken care of, they're happy to do things we ask them to do as long as we're nice about it.'
Not far away, Enri's 'advisors' stood in the wings, and as her village began to drift away to snatch up one more meal before the inevitable, her companions approached. Peter's face was serious, "Once we win," he said, "you know we have to start taking other places, there's simply no other option. How will we protect the village from retaliation until then?"
"Simple." Ninya chimed in, "Miss Lupu taught me a lot on the way here, and if we keep them guessing, keep them having to respond to us, they won't get a chance to attack. Except for the Princess, and somewhat, the King, most of the nobles are held in contempt, we'll raise rebellion everywhere we go, and as long as we keep winning, we'll get stronger, they'll get weaker."
"Careful, Peter, or I might make Ninya my military advisor instead of you." Enri gave a silvery laugh, but then added at his pretended look of offense, "She's right, of course. I know we can't stay here." Enri, unsure of what else to do, held a hand tight over the hilt of the sword she wore on her belt.
She looked over to the recently returned Ninya, "Was a week there really that good?"
Ninya bobbed her head up and down, her short brown hair, still cut like a boy, waved in the breeze, "Uh huh. Master Gown had me stand in a circle, I floated up, I heard a funny noise like falling coins, and then it was like a torch lighting up in the darkness and I could see what I couldn't before. According to the master, I went from a nine to a fourteen. He called it 'power leveling'. I have… no idea what that means, except that I'm now a better magic caster than ever."
Enri traded a glance with her husband to be, he shook his head silently. He didn't get it either.
"It's fine either way, as long as we win, we can worry about the finer points later, right?" Brita asked, tapping her sheath with one hand.
"Yeah, the lady's right." Lukrut remarked, "As long as we win here, everything is fine. We've got enough arrows and weapons, we have a plan, and they're not expecting our… reception." Lukrut's silly expression and charming eyes were gone, he was now the scout, the hunter, the practiced veteran adventurer. "My only real concern is the lack of true battle experience, but hopefully desperation makes up for that. There's nowhere to run and they know there's no mercy ahead for any of them, or for us, for that matter. Do or die."
"Do or die." Nfirea shot out and thrust his hand into the center of the knot of people.
The quiet Jugem was the first to thrust his hand atop Nfirea's. "Do or die." He said in the rough voice typical of goblins.
"Do or die." One by one they repeated the phrase, finally capping off with Enri, who put her hand atop the rest and added her own, "Do or die." to theirs.
"I think a royal house just gained its motto." Peter grinned and both Nfirea and Enri gave a solemn nod.
"If we survive today, then yes, we did." Enri replied, "Now let's get to our part, and then… we wait."
The sound of hammers and ropes and the shouting of low ranking soldiers busy about their tasks weren't Barbro's favorite sounds. The ground under their feet was churned up and foul smelling, the undisciplined soldiers were mostly one jump beyond peasants, and peasants just relieved themselves wherever. As a result, they were not well used to camp discipline, so the smell of piss was acrid in his nostrils over most of the camp after just a few hours of preparing to take the walls. So far, there'd been no sally, there'd been no negotiations. There'd been no noise of any kind. It was unnerving really, how quiet it was.
His more experienced soldiers, the better trained and those who had seen battle against the Empire, or bandits, or even monsters in a few cases, were some comfort. ' I still wish I had more people though.' The Prince thought, despite reviling the stench.
The only tent that was up was his own, and that had little more than a cot and the woman he'd brought for his own comfort and recreation. He licked his lips again. ' Lakyus… as soon as I'm King, I'll make life difficult for you until you give in.'
The whore made a passable substitute at least, ' Eight Fingers really knows how to break them. I might have to throw down a few nobles and raise a few of that organization up, I can use people like them.' Plans for the future, the throne he could practically feel under his ass already, were running through his mind when the young lord serving as an officer approached on horseback. He saluted his Prince, slamming a mailed fist over the heart.
"We have ladders ready, sire, and one of the trees we cut has been made into a ram." The officer looked toward the sun, it was already descending toward the horizon. "Should we wait until morning or…"
"Absolutely not. This should finish what we set out to do, there's no reason to delay." The Prince barked and shouted, "Call to arms! Make ready!"
Like swarming ants, the soldiers of the Re-Estize Kingdom assembled into lines. Not many ladders were ready, but it didn't take a lot either, not by Barbro's estimation. Behind him, out of reach of their arrows, his soldiers were lined up eight rows deep, each man holding the space between two rungs. The ladders were crude things that no carpenter would take pride in. Simple ropes bound in cross patterns along uneven branches hastily stripped. Privately, Barbro wondered, ' Will those even hold up when they're climbed?' Some of them he knew likely wouldn't.
' The ram will be good enough, once they're in, it's over." The bloodshed ahead was comforting
' But it's alright, if only a few make it up, that's all it will take, these are just peasants…' He thought, squinting, ' Is that…?'
Lukrut stood with leg back, side facing the host ahead, he nocked an arrow and drew it back, the bow he'd taken from the wagon was, according to Ninya, the best one in the lot. Buffed for range, he relied on himself for accuracy. His muscles were loose and ready, easily handling the heavy draw.
Breathing was slow, his martial arts were ready, his eyes narrow and clear. Peter's orders clear in his mind, ' Pull the turtle out of its shell.'
His fingers opened, releasing the arrow and it flew from the string, screaming over the field. "This is going to really piss them off." He grinned, and atop the wall up and down the line, the other archers waited for the signal for them to rise.
"I hit it." Lukrut said.
Enri frowned, "How do you know, it hasn't reached him yet?"
"Because I'm Lukrut, and I may be lecherous, perverted, cocky, obnoxious…"
Beyond the wall, they heard shouts of shock and dismay, Enri snapped her head away from the blonde archer to see the man on horseback picking himself up from the muck.
"But he does hit what he aims at." Brita acknowledged, albeit with a roll of her eyes. She took out her sword and whacked his butt with the flat of it.
"But so do I, so keep your hands to yourself till I bring the drinks." Brita grinned up at him, and Lukrut lightly rubbed the leather seat of his pants. He looked down at the red haired adventurer and made a sheepish grin, again the playful and boyish man Enri had come to know.
"Yeah, he's mad." Enri said with a dry, clinical voice.
Barbro felt the horse wobble for a moment before he fell, he had enough awareness to fling himself from the saddle to keep his leg from being crushed, and landed face first into churned up mud. He planted his hands on the soft ground and began to rise. The acrid taste of somebody, or many people's piss, lingering on his tongue. He spat the filth from off his tongue and went to wipe his mouth, only to find his arms and hands were no better off than his face.
He whirled to face the walls, the archer responsible was waving his arm as if saying hello to an old friend. "Peasant! Insolent scum! Disgusting worm!" Barbro roared his outrage like a wounded lion and drew his sword, it was slick in his muddy glove, and he bellowed out, "Attaaaack!"
His soldiers hesitated for a brief second, and then let loose a battlecry of their own. Recent 'victories' over peasants had given them some confidence at least, and so they jogged forward, ready for another easy win, walls or no walls.
Till the screaming began overhead.
As the attacking host came on, Peter put his hand on Enri's shoulder, "Now, my Queen." She then climbed atop the small platform where the banner of the Kingdom flew, and tore it down, cutting the thin ropes with her knife, and tossing it down into the muck in front of the gate. In its place, she raised another pole, with a new banner.
Solid vibrant green, except for the center, where a sheaf of wheat stood up.
It caught the wind when Enri unfurled it, a further defiance that would earn her a torturous death if she failed. Still, her fingers did not waver, her golden hair caught the wind and billowed at her back, and her defiance was made final.
Archers rose to their feet, drew, and loosed. The first volley was going to be the least accurate, and so the first arrows used had not iron heads, but little hollow wooden cones with slits cut throughout for the air to pass through. This created a whistling noise like the screaming of demons when done in a mass.
The unholy wailing overheard was enough to slow the courage of the soldiers trotting toward the wall, but not halt it. "Draw!" Lukrut shouted again.
"Loose!" He bellowed and began firing arrows of his own. The village was outnumbered, even with the refugees, even with their numbers increased, the very real possibility of death was ever present. He drew and loosed and drew and loosed again. Arrow after arrow left his hands and came to rest in the face or neck of an unlucky soldier. Some fell clutching wounds, bright blood spurting through their fingers, thrashing before they went limp to be trod over by their living comrades.
Most of the peasants on the ground below couldn't see what they were doing, ' For the best, the ones up here are the hardiest hearts.' Lukrut's thoughts turned to the strong eyes of the people arrayed beside him. Peter and Brita were waiting near the ladders and crude steps, readied at the front positions to charge the length of the wall when the archers drew back.
"Fireball!" The bellowing cry of a young woman near the center position was drowned out by most, but the spell stood out like a sore thumb as the burst of flame rocketed through the air and slammed into a group of ladder bearing soldiers. Three men were incinerated and the rest dropped their ladder, scattering as they batted out stray flames and dancing where they themselves were caught.
One fell with an arrow through his throat, the others threw up their shields and retreated to the back of other lines of ladder bearers.
"Fireball!" Ninya shouted again and targeted the ram bearers. The fire struck and put two men on their backs screaming in flame as the pop and sizzle of fat beneath flesh burst into the air, the smell of burning meat as strong in the noses of their comrades as the smell of blood.
But given the strength of numbers to support courage that not one in ten had on their own, it became obvious that they were going to reach the wall.
"This will only work once." Enri said through gritted teeth as the ram came up and the ladders began to rise.
"Now!" She shouted, and taking up the golden stalk that was her banner, the woman who would be Queen waved it wildly left and right.
The trolls waiting behind the gate raised the wooden barrier holding the gate shut, and dropped it at their feet. They flung the door wide, and just as had been practiced, the trolls charged out the door swinging their tree branch clubs into the faces of the ram bearers.
The screams of men and the crunch of their skulls and bones as they were beaten or trampled into the muck and the ram thrown over to fall with a crash, sent chills of horror through the ranks of men. Facing monsters had not been part of the plan. The trolls began to trot towards the ladders as fast as their lumbering legs would allow them.
Men jumped away from their ladders and began to scream as they ran in terror.
Not a single one made it to the top of the wall.
The way cleared, the trolls began to rush back to the gate, which closed behind them.
"Loose!" Lukrut called out, and arrows fell into the backs of the retreating Kingdom soldiers, pinning men to the blood stained earth to spasm and die, like insects pinned to a collector's board.
"My Prince…" The young nobleman asked in a hushed whisper as the wall they faced became silent as the grave again. "What do we do now…?"
Prince Barbro's mind raced, but found no ready answer, and so he said nothing at all, much like the dead that lay strewn in front of him as the sun finally descended over the horizon, and the cloak of night slowly began to dominate the world, and end the day.
Volume 2 Chapter 29
"Ogres, why are there ogres?!" Prince Barbro shouted to his staff.
The half a dozen noble sons had no clear answer, they stared around at one another and at their Prince as dumbfounded as he was angry. Outside, soldiers were eating their rations and setting up the tents nobody thought would be needed for a fight nobody thought they would really face.
The few casters that came along had run out of mana already, the priest or two intended to tend to the spiritual needs of the army had run dry also. So… some bled to death. Some infections festered, and some wailed in pain while they were bandaged, and had to be given copious amounts of alcohol to ease the pain.
"With respect, my Prince, what matters is that they are here." A mustached nobleman said, gesturing toward the exit of the tent that faced the walled village.
Barbro ground his teeth, but the man wasn't wrong. He shot his gaze down toward the one who dared to speak. Better armor than most, it was an obvious clue that he came from a prosperous family. Prince Barbro's estimation of him went up another notch.
"You're right." The Prince looked away from the sandy haired noble, though the flap to their command tent was closed, he could practically feel the silent walls sneering at him. "It's strange isn't it, how silent they are?"
There was a general rumble of agreement, and the Prince turned away from the flap and back down to the table they surrounded. "At least we know the layout now, our best bet seems to be to surround them." Prince Barbro pointed to the wall they had unsuccessfully stormed. "They can't concentrate their archers everywhere, and their ogres are useless on the walls. This is still just a village, once our soldiers are on the wall, we'll hit the ogres with spears, surround them, and bring them down one by one. Their walls will be our safety."
A series of approving nods followed, "At least they don't have more than one magic caster." Prince Barbro added, "Those are more trouble than I thought…" He stroked his beard, "have some of our soldiers make ladders all night, we'll delay the fight until tomorrow afternoon, and if they try that trick with the ogres again, we'll use cavalry with long spears."
It was a sound enough, and simple enough plan that the command staff could think of little to improve it.
"Fucking trash…" Barbro muttered when he stormed out of the tent, his feet squelching in the mud all the way back to his own space. The red and gold clad prostitute was already cowering in the corner. "Get over here, Lakyus." He spat into the muck, and waited for her to obey.
Enri sat around the table with the former Swords of Darkness, her husband, Brita, and Jugem. "That went well," their would-be Queen said with a tight smile.
"It did, but tomorrow will be harder. They know they have to try now. They'll surround us. They have numbers on their side." Peter shuddered. "I hate being outnumbered."
"Who likes it? Lukrut asked with a full shoulder shrug. "The fact is we hurt them, bad. There has to be two hundred dead out there, and they've been staring at a village that casually exterminates offensive people and sends demon screams overhead. That'll rattle any ordinary heart." He said and put his feet up onto the table before leaning back in his chair.
Ninya frowned, "I guess, but I was just remembering something Lupu taught me. She said confusion stops every intention. We're not surrounded yet, we can get some lamias out our back gate in the dark, they can slither on the ground like snakes, and really fast. We don't need a lot, we just need to make one side break and run, then we can hold the other two. If the left runs, the front will see it and they'll break. Then we can outnumber the remaining side."
"All that's fine." Jugem remarked and reached for his mug, "But how much longer do you think this will go on? Eventually they will get in, then what?"
Nobody wanted to think about that. Enri reached for the little horn that hung from around her neck. Her slender, rough peasant hands closed around the smooth surface. "I can use this again, a dozen more swords couldn't hurt to have, but…"
Nfirea placed a hand on Enri's shoulder. "We should save it, if we have to evacuate the children, some fresh swords might stand a better chance at getting them to the forest."
Enri didn't answer, but Brita quickly filled the silence, "Look, we need to attack, right now we're just taking what they have to throw at us, I say we attack, hit them hard, if we put their supplies to the torch tonight, then they have no choice but to leave when they fail tomorrow."
"Right, remember that time we got trapped in those ruins? How much longer would we have lasted if we hadn't found a hidden passage?" Peter gave a deep, grim laugh that didn't really suit the usually cheerful faced young man.
"Not long. Not long at all." Lukrut replied, "It's a good idea, we have the equipment for it, and it looks like rain tonight, so let's give it a few hours and we'll take some volunteers."
The thunder that rolled overhead outside seemed to endorse the plan, and planning turned to idle chatter, until even that died away and the sound of pouring rain began in earnest.
Prince Zanac grunted when he got down off of his horse and went to his tent. He was walking bow legged, and his entire body was sore, but still, he did what he could to keep some dignity about himself. He didn't reach around his rotund body to arch his back until 'after' he was alone.
However, as soon as he had his privacy, he let out a long, drawn out groan and shook his head with the vigor of a wet dog. "How does water get 'under' a helmet?" Prince Zanac asked himself and ran his fingers through his hair. His soaked gloves did little good, and he slowly peeled himself out of his armor. Servants would normally have been expected, he knew his brother had them. But the very thought made the Prince uncomfortable. ' He's always looked better than I have. He got father's body, I got father's brain. If only he had one ounce of loyalty in that muscle bound body of his, we might have been able to reach some kind of an accord.' Prince Zanac cursed his brother and kicked his boots away.
"Four villages… what a waste." The Prince cursed, a part of him felt the swelling empathy and urge to vomit over the gruesome sights his brother left behind, but at the core of it all was his contempt for his stupid older brother's infantile destructive nature.
' Just like when we were boys and he broke my toy sword after his broke. He hasn't grown even a little in all that time. What he did to Climb, I know my sister never forgave him. How petty… it's chilling to know how far she'll go for revenge though. My brother will never take the throne after this. But… maybe Climb should know what he's getting into.'
That at least was a comforting thought, and it eased his mind when the fat Prince lay back on his cot and fell promptly into an exhausted sleep to the constant pitter patter sound of rapidly falling rain.
Brita and Lukrut ran over the field as fast as they could. In the new armor they'd been given, it was a shockingly easy thing to do, so much lighter and stronger than what they wore before. At their backs were half a dozen goblins and six peasants, all of them were armed with bows, swords, and carried bottles of burnable alcohol as well as flint.
The peasants knew the way best, and were able to guide them the long way to the forest by following the river. The rushing water provided ample cover as nobody would go too close to it in the driving rain, fearful of slipping in and drowning.
However, under the watchful eyes of those born to the village, navigating the way safely and avoiding the risk of slipping into the raging waters was child's play.
Brita felt her breathing become shallow as the moment drew closer. Step followed squelching step, the blades of grass were crushed underfoot, and the circuitous route, though it took ample time, provided them with relative safety.
The cover of rain and darkness and their total lack of torchlight provided greater security, but their finest cover was the doubts of their enemies. Thinking the raid unthinkable had made the impossible raid possible.
Confidence that at least in camp they were secure, the guards were few. Lukrut crouched down, his sharp eyes piercing the veil of water falling constantly from the sky, his hand went smoothly to the arrow and drew it back on the wet slick string.
He took slow, deep breaths, narrow eyes focused, acutely aware of the ones at his back, then there was nothing. Nothing but him, his arrow, and his targets.
They were young men, shivering beneath thick green wool cloaks and resting lazily on spears, they stood close to share warmth that the rain would have sapped away.
He waited still, then a great roll of thunder hit the world below from the sky above. In an instant, Lukrut's fingers opened and the first arrow left the bow. Another came immediately after. The two arrows hit their targets in their throats before either realized the other had been hit as well. Wide, disbelieving eyes looked into the impenetrable raining dark for a killer they would never spot, and they splashed down into the grass before the noise of thunder faded.
Lukrut made a fist, and the fourteen rushed into the gap. Brita took the lead as soon as they stepped over the bodies of the fallen. Lukrut fell back, late as it was, few would be out and about, and those were barely aware of anything, making it easy to avoid danger.
Once again, Lukrut looked at the former iron ranked adventurer with a mix of curiosity and respect, ' How she knows her way around a camp like this… I'll have to ask her someday.'
Brita pointed to an area where a little glow of flame could still be seen winking in the darkness.
They ran the long way, stopping behind every tent, avoiding the few guards who mostly grumbled to one another or ignored everything in favor of keeping their heads down and their hoods pulled tight in the futile battle against the downpour.
Then they were there. A series of tents erected in a row, a pair of guards in front of each entrance.
Four to a tent, they slit the backs of the tents and crept in on their own individually.
Brita looked over her own, it was pitch dark, but that proved no obstacle, her hands did the seeing for her, no worse than any dungeon. ' Though Lukrut is probably seeing just fine. I swear, that guy…' Against her will a little sardonic smile formed. ' … that guy is something else.' She roamed her hand over the barrels and sacks, rattling things lightly as she searched for anything flammable to further add to the conflagration she intended to create. Lamp oil, pitch, anything that would serve her ends.
Her sardonic expression grew almost ecstatic when she heard the rattling of glass vials. ' Ah ha!' She waited until the thunder rolled again, and popped the top off the small box. She shoved the tip of the bottle between her teeth, bit down on the cork, and pulled it open. She took a sniff to confirm the contents, and began to pour it over grain, meat, vegetables, everything she could, casting the bottle all over the various stored goods.
Then she reached for the bottle she carried, yanked the cork, spat it on the ground, and shoved a dry rag into the hole. It stood upright on a box while she pulled her flint out of its pouch and began smacking the stones together. A spark jumped to life at the sharp cracking strike of stone to stone and it caught the dry cloth. The fire leapt to life, the offspring of the spark illuminating the grinning face of the red haired Brita.
She snatched up the bottle, raised it overhead, and threw it hard against a barrel full of grain. It shattered with a crashing noise, and the offspring of the flame became an all-consuming inferno. Protected from the saving rain, the flame spread unchecked while Brita made her escape out the back.
Even the laziest of guards weren't going to miss that. Elsewhere in the same large tent, the trio of goblins to enter with her, finished their objectives and rushed out the same way.
It was far, far too late for subtlety now as the shouts went up in earnest. "Run for it!" Brita shouted over the rain and the fourteen began to sprint.
"To arms! To arms!" Guards shouted and like a swarm of bees whose nest had been disturbed, swords flashed out and caught the flashing lightning. The little band of impromptu raiders was then forced to fight.
Brita felt the whistle of air and the screaming noise of Lukrut's arrow as it rushed past her ear and lodged into an unfortunate face.
Their new equipment was put to the hardest of tests, and Brita grunted as a sword thrust toward her gut knocked the wind out of her and sent her sprawling back into the mud, but to both her surprise and that of the soldier who struck her, there was no blood or death. For a brief moment, they each looked at each other with stupid faces. In his face Brita felt she could read his mind, ' You're breaking the rules, you're supposed to be dead!'
He was still wearing that face when she rolled forward and with a banshee cry she ran her sword through his iron armor like it was paper and shoved him to lie dying in the grass.
"Go! Go!" Lukrut shouted as they made their way toward the forest, behind her the sound of soldiers fighting the blaze was fading, but the noise around them as other opponents appeared, only continued.
' But father, I don't want to sit around and do nothing… I want to go out there and see the world!' Brita recalled saying to her old man in their pathetic excuse for a hovel.
' Bah! Just tend the farm…' His glib dismissal of Brita's dreams only fueled her determination, and that year she'd snuck off to E-Rantel to pretend to be a part of the levy for the army. ' Just one time taking the knights charge with those scared boys, I knew I'd rather face monsters, now here I am again… only I'm killing those same boys because they're the monsters… what a bitch this world is.' Brita cursed and swung her sword, an enemy head went flying into the darkness and the body toppled with a thud she never saw.
But they kept coming. The goblins fought like maniacs, stronger than the average soldier, each one took on two or three, and then five or six, the improved equipment giving them an advantage over the more crudely armored soldiers.
A shriek off to her right caught her attention, one of the peasants took a spear to the face, and a goblin took a sword through the ear that sprouted out the other side of his head. ' So close!' She scrambled on, the way they'd come would lead them into the forest. Pursuit would become dangerous or impossible soon. ' A little more!'
"Hurry up!" Lukrut shouted from up ahead, he'd whirled on them, firing arrow after arrow into those who threatened to close in around their little band.
"Just die!" Brita roared and tackled one of the soldiers who raised an ax with both hands, they rolled over and over on the slippery grass, the gap was widened, and both peasants and goblins brushed past.
Brita raised her blade when she rolled on top of the soldier, he raised a hand and screamed into the night, her face twisted in wrath and illuminated by a flash of lighting at her back.
Lukrut bellowed into the rain, "Hurry up Brita!"
Even for his eyes, the dark and the rain were not as bright as day, but in that flash of lightning that lasted several seconds, he saw the growing numbers closing in. The forest was close, but every second counted.
"Hurry up!" He roared and drew a light dagger, he flung it full force, spinning end over end, it pierced the eye of a soldier close to where Brita was rising to her feet. She glanced behind her, and Lukrut felt his stomach drop.
' Adventuring is the way to go.' Brita recalled the thought, ' Camaraderie! A team, not just a bunch of cowards, and nobody's orders but the ones we'll take!' Only to find, ' No, we don't take women…' The bitter words were ashes even now.
She took up the weapon in the hands of the man who lay dead beneath her and flung it into another.
"Brita!" She heard Lukrut's voice behind her, and despite herself, she glanced back his way. The lightning was gone, only rain and dark and she couldn't see that far.
She yanked the knife out of the face of the man Lukrut killed, and squared herself off in front of the host of foes.
As if they sensed her resolve and it was a weapon all its own, they hesitated.
In that moment, Brita screamed out her defiance and ran at them, away from the woods and into the forest of blades, her sword sang as it never had before, her armor fended off so many blows that she should have died a dozen times before she did. She swung and swung until her fingers ran slick with blood and the knife slipped from grasp when it lodged into an unfortunate face.
She felt the blade that went into her armpit, and the blade that pierced her thigh.
Still she swung the sword with her other hand, till she was down on her knees, and with it raised up for one more blow, swaying in the rain like one of the windswept trees into which her friends had gone, her sword came down again.
Then a spear found its mark in her eye, and so, Brita died.
Volume 2 Chapter 30
Lukrut watched the red haired woman's glowering face, the moment of her resolve. ' I'll buy you time… just go.' She never said a word, but she wore the face of someone that had said the same exact thing when he was younger and dumber.
"Goddamnit…" He cursed when she put her back to him, he reached for his sword, ' Go with her! Go on! Coward! Trash!' He cursed his unmoving feet, but even as he cursed himself, he knew it was futile. She was already doing what she had to do.
' All you can do now by going out with her, is insult her one more time.' He knew it, and spun around to run into the forest. The fading cries of Brita, her victims and her killers were swallowed up by the storm and distance alike as Lukrut and the survivors vanished into the darkness of the forest.
When morning came on, Prince Barbro could only stare in mute horror that was contained behind a mask of rage, dozens more dead, but that was meaningless, what really mattered was the lost supplies. ' A village. A goddamn village…' The throne looked farther away than ever before.
' At least we didn't lose the ladders we built.' He thought and turned his head when he heard someone call for him.
"My Prince, we've recovered three bodies, two humans and… a goblin." A trio of soldiers lined up and knelt beside the dead they dragged over.
Barbro could barely believe it, he chewed on his tongue and looked down beside the kneeling soldiers. They weren't wrong. A human female, a human male, and a goblin. "What kind of… what kind of armor is that?" Prince Barbro's instincts for equipment were sound at least, and he knelt to touch the leathery covering over the woman's breast.
It screamed ' expensive' .
"How could mere peasant trash have… this? Why are there goblins and trolls, and… it just doesn't make sense !" Barbro's fingers ran over the dark armor and noticed something else.
"Give me your sword!" He snapped and held out a hand.
"S-Sire?" The soldier startled, snapping his head up at the unexpected order.
"Your sword, idiot!" Barbro demanded and flexed his powerful fingers.
"Ah, yes of course!" The young soldier drew the steel and handed it to his Prince.
Barbro took it by the hilt, stood up over the woman, held the blade in both hands, and began to drive the tip of the sword towards her gut. The armor gave, but the sword didn't pierce. He thrust again and again and again as if he hated her personally, the red haired woman's corpse however, did not suffer another wound.
"Damn it." Barbro cursed. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" He began kicking the corpse of the red haired woman that lay at his feet. "How'd you do it! How'd you do it?!" He shouted at the corpses as if they could speak, the sun was slowly drifting through the vanishing clouds and it caught the faces of the dead. They were peaceful, all of them. It made the Prince hate them more.
"Strip the corpses and bind them to long stakes." Prince Barbro ordered, "Let them enjoy a little visual about their action last night, the walls fall today. Oh, and… bring her armor to me. It's unthinkable that peasant garbage should have better armor than the Prince of Re-Estize."
He then returned to his tent.
Enri was walking the wall with Nfirea and Ninya first thing in the morning, which was why she was among the first to see it when the army began to advance again. The wings of the army arrayed against her village began to spread out, just like Peter and Ninya had suggested they would try to do.
But what no one had said, was what lengths the unknown leader of the Kingdom Army would go to in order to terrify the people of Carne.
Nfirea and Ninya and she squinted at first, it was a cross of some sort, but what was on it wasn't clear at first.
Not until the rehorsed enemy commander began to draw close.
Not until they saw the red hair.
Enri's eyes began to well up with tears, her hands drew up and covered her mouth, her fingers trembled with shock.
"Oh no…" She whispered.
"Have they no mercy… even in death?" Nfirea uttered as he looked on.
Peter's jaw clenched tight and he sucked in air through his teeth. There, bound to the cross by ropes at wrists and ankles, was the naked corpse of Brita.
"Surrender! Or this will happen to all of you!" The Prince called out. "Your little raid failed! Everyone is dead! This is just one of them! We sure had fun with her first! She just kept screaming how sorry she was!" Prince Barbro lied to the wall. "Was that to you?! Was that to me?! Come out here and ask her yourself!"
Enri began to shake, she leaned forward and began to breath harder and harder. Her hand fell on Nfirea's shoulder.
And all that carefully constructed plan… it was forgotten in an instant.
"Attaaaaaaaack!" Enri screamed the order with rage she hadn't felt since soldiers mocked her hopeless effort at saving her sister's life.
Behind the wall, the sally call was echoed with a roar of confidence. Riding high on yesterday's victory, driven by a sudden rush of hatred that took the place of terror, people rushed into place, the gate opened, and the trolls began their charge.
Enri snatched up her banner as Peter, Ninya, and Nfirea rushed after her. They grabbed the nearest horses and flung themselves into place.
' This is either a terrible idea, or a really good one…' Ninya thought as she slung her leg up over the saddle. ' Master's leveling might not have changed me much… but it'll be good enough to burn a few of these bastards!' Lupu's words hung in her mind, ' If you just let it happen, you deserve whatever you get.' The woman might have been a monster, but she couldn't argue against it now. Not now.
Prince Barbro watched them sally out. "Remember, aim for faces! We can't count on getting through their armor!"
The stampede was above and beyond what he expected, the trolls would pose a problem, and by all reports the goblins were kind of tough, but… he stopped, the couple on the horse holding the unknown banner… the blonde, she was holding up a horn. He furrowed his brow. ' Are there more?' He wondered just as somebody announced a threat. Sweeping in from the distance, a dozen or so rapidly slithering monsters. "nagas? Why are there nagas?" He felt a rising sense of terror, a sixth sense to danger that had let him survive countless times. He pointed toward the charging couple on the horse.
"Kill those! Fire your arrows, kill them! Kill them! Don't let her use that!" Barbro shrieked, arrows flew from bows in a long graceful arc.
A blue light spread out from the man holding the reigns, and arrows bounced away. "Magic…" Barbro cursed, and the noise of the horn surpassed the thunder of the previous night's sky.
It rang out over the land like it was calling all the world to battle.
Then… it was gone.
And a new thunder took its place.
Pounding feet. Barbro looked to his left, heavily armored warriors were advancing with halberds down in perfect posture.
Behind them, he caught glimpses of magic casters, and an arc of fireballs soared through the air, screams began as they erupted among his unwary formation.
"Cavalry! Cavalry!" Barbro shouted and pointed toward the advance on the left wing.
Horsemen charged, only for a howl to drown out their hooves as if it were one giant wolf… only for him to see them by the hundreds racing past the heavy infantry. "Goblin wolf riders…" And the massive wolves, nearly the size of horses themselves, tore into the throats of the poor dull beasts that men rode.
The whinnying scream of horses ripped from dying throats, and the blood of horses stained the churned up earth, the blood and screams of their riders were quick to follow.
"Attack! Stop them!" Prince Barbro ordered his army to advance and fight, his heart quivered and broke, his courage poured out the cracks, and he spurred his horse away. As his soldiers had nowhere to go but into the fight, they charged with determined shouts, the left flank crumpled almost instantly. The front which he rode behind, was not lasting long either. The strange armor of the raiders were not the only sets, angry and hateful faces seemed everywhere he looked.
The blonde woman holding the banner and sword aloft yelled her hatred after him, while at her flanks a pair of casters sent acid, arrows, and fire into a rapidly collapsing front. ' I have to run! I have to live…' Prince Barbro thought, all desire for the throne replaced by the desire for just one more minute of life. The thunder of his horse's hooves underfoot was the only sound he wanted to hear, and little by little, the sound of fighting behind him began to fade away.
Peter watched with horror as the cross holding Brita's body fell forward and landed in the mud. But before he could do anything about it, he had the living to contend with. Armed with weapons that orichalcum warriors would envy, protected by armor they could spend years searching for and not find the equal of, he cut a swath through the ranks of soldiers that defied imagination. Blasts of magic seared him with heat when it consumed those around him, sweat ran down his body like a river, he felt the blows of spears and swords from too many to count, but other than scrapes and cuts on his arms, his body, it seemed, was all but untouchable.
He smashed his shield out, and a scream resounded from someone whose arm Peter had just shattered. He spun and thrust his sword down, cutting off the scream without seeing whom he'd killed, his every martial art was in play, but the battle was over before it began.
The Army of Carne, backed by their unexpected reinforcements, was swallowing up the lives of the remaining forces of the Kingdom.
The foul smell of sweat, fear, and death hung in their noses, but it was a comfort to Ninya, seeing the oppressors crushed, hatred in the eyes of villagers who had fled before and did not want to flee again, offered strength and resolve. Not far away, trolls that found themselves surrounded, found the villagers they lived with, breaking up formations that should have brought them down. Impromptu formations allowed the trolls to advance while villagers fended off attempts at encirclement.
It was over in minutes.
Shouts of victory crashed over the woods, some of the defeated soldiers had obviously fled within, but were not pursued. ' Let them die there.' Enri thought, and raised her banner up for the entire field to cheer for.
Peter was flipping over the fallen cross to which Brita's body was still bound. Most of the corpse was now battered and broken, that much was obvious as soon as he flipped the wood over to land with a red splash into the ground.
"Do we need prisoners, your majesty?" Peter asked, staring down at the once vibrant woman.
"No." Enri answered.
"Good." He responded.
"But we do need to chase down survivors." Ninya added, "We should start checking the tents that are still up, maybe we can find something useful. We won this one, but Lupu told me that it doesn't matter if you win a hundred battles if you lose in the end because you're ignorant."
"Fine, do that, I sent some wolfriders after the ones who fled on horseback." Enri replied and jammed her banner into the ground. "My King, should we go see our people?" Enri asked Nfirea, who wiped sweat from his brow and gave her a weak, exhausted smile.
"Y-Yeah, let's do that." He said through heavy, worn out breaths.
Ninya left them to do that, while she herself went straight for the commander's tent. She opened the flap and stepped inside.
"Please… please don't hurt me! I'm not a soldier! I'm not! I'm just a whore! Please… I just don't want to die… !" A crying voice shouted that Ninya would not forget in ten thousand years.
Ninya's eyes went wide as saucers and she stumbled over, flipping the desk out of the way as she charged toward the sound in the back corner that lay curled up and hiding as best she could.
"Pleeeease!" Tuare cried out, thinking the noise was of an aggressor.
"Tuare! Tuare!" Ninya shrieked and grabbed the hands of her sister at the wrist, she twisted the woman around.
Tuare froze, ' My name?! She said my name who is…' the thought trailed off when the tantalizing voice touched a memory from another life. She let her hands come away from herself for reasons other than the tight grip she couldn't hope to break.
Her tear filled eyes turned to the slender little face of the brown haired Ninya. Then Tuare's lip began to tremble as she struggled to say real words, but none came out.
Ninya crouched down and drew her sister's body into her embrace. "I've found you… sister… I've got you… you're safe now… I promise you…"
Tuare lost all remaining reason, tightened her hold around her only remaining family, held her as if she were afraid Ninya would vanish, and fell to sobbing that was still going when Peter came into the tent an hour later.
Volume 2 Chapter 31
The tip of Climb's sword was over the throat of a poorly dressed thug. "Please! I just work for them! They're the only work to be had! That's all! I'm not a bad guy!"
Climb did not lower his guard. This was the third person to tell a story like that, and the last two used the moment his sword went away from their necks, to go for his own. This time… he took a deep breath. "Roll over." Climb ordered, and the shaking slender, scruffy thug obeyed with trembling, fear filled body.
The blonde young warrior went down over the body of his captive and put his sword away, then bound the captured criminal with ropes, tying the unfortunate man's hands behind his back. There was no incident 'this' time.
"Four houses down, and the day is still young." He murmured.
"D-D-Did you say four houses down?" The thug stammered the question, twisting his head to the side so he could look up into Climb's face.
"Yes." Climb answered, standing up and wiping sweat from his brow. The warm feel of salty wetness stained his glove, and he cast his hand away, spattering it onto the floor beside his prisoner.
"Six Arms will… you know they'll retaliate, right? Couple'a raids is the costa doing business." The thug's 'I'm a victim' persona melted away as a sneer took over the part of his face that Climb could see. "But this's like goin to war, boy."
His sneer was quickly replaced by a look of confusion when Climb didn't react. That confusion froze on his face, "There's nobody left to lead you. The heads of every Six Arms leader were delivered to King Ramposa this morning by the adamantite team Axel. They got everything. Names and locations for safe houses, goods, and any important members who wouldn't have been with Six Arms that evening. The King's soldiers are sweeping the whole city, and a message was even sent with relevant information to the Baharuth Emperor himself so you could be wiped out everywhere . There's nowhere left to go. You. Are. Done."
The thug began to kick and thrash on the floor like a toddler throwing a tantrum until Climb grabbed him by the neck and yanked him up to his feet. It extinguished the last spark of resistance, and he meekly walked ahead of his blonde captor, sword tip at his back and out into the daylight he went.
There sat a carriage with dozens of others bound together, nor was that the only one.
"This is going to be a long, long day, but I think I'll call it a good one." Climb said as he helped the broken thug into the back where an armed guard would bind the captive to his fellows.
"Yeah, yeah it will be. Eight Fingers got my sister addicted to black dust. I found her working as a dust whore in the last brothel we hit… may they all get the ax." The guard answered, glaring with hate down at men who would not meet his eyes.
Climb had nothing to say to that.
Ramposa sat at the table still staring at the heads of the Eight Fingers leadership. The heads stared at him through empty eyes, all upright on the folded up robes of the member to leave no head behind. "I am beyond impressed. You really did deliver on your promise, and you've earned your reward many times over."
The old king sat with his hands folded over one another, and looked up to the adventurer team that stood a few feet away. "There is only one more thing I can ask your help with."
"My daughter is going through the documents we seized, the corruption is far, far worse than I believed. My… my son. He is one of the ones involved with Eight Fingers." The King's voice was empty of emotion until he said that, the wrinkled old fist slammed down on the table. "Didn't I give him everything?! He was born to wealth! Status! Power! Even the throne was his by right of birth! But still he turns to this?! Destroying his own country for what…?! Pocket change?!" The King's eyes turned dour, he stared down at the table between his hands, true rage and betrayal haunted the old man's eyes.
"Forgive me for unloading this on you… I shouldn't. But my eldest son is not fit to rule. I have known this since he was young, I tried to guide him properly, but he… no. It doesn't matter." King Ramposa gritted his teeth, "Everyone responsible for involvement in Eight Fingers, whether it be gambling with them, or working for them, or trading with them, or protecting them, is going to be arrested and their entire noble house dissolved. Whether it be the patriarch or their children. After that, I will be elevating new nobles. I know you asked for the rulership of Carne, and if you insist on that reward, I accept it. But I ask that you consider elevation to one of the larger estates. I will provide one to each of you, if that is alright."
Princess Renner was more than pleased. Locked in her room, a curious looking faceless man with three holes in his face, a winged succubus, and the more familiar Demiurge, were tearing through documents as fast as their eyes could move.
For the Princess, it set her skin afire with excitement. ' Working with non-idiots is such an utter joy!' Her black soul sang, pages were set aside, key points marked, and quills flew over paper as fast as the ink would run. Renner's dainty fingers turned dark at the tips from the ink stains, and yet there was no slowing down.
The sound of pages flipping and being stacked up as arrest warrants were issued and evidence compiled for each and every conspirator was inspiring. Between the four of them, the completion of the task took the better part of a day. But it was done, and when it was done, Renner looked over the many individual stacks of paper and said, "This is a small town's worth of executions ahead."
"Is that a problem?" The sultry dark haired demoness asked.
Renner shook her head, "No, Lady Albedo, not at all. We'll just have to hire a few new executioners is all. With my brothers out of the way and… this? All I can say is…" Renner stopped, moved from her chair to the floor, and flung herself prostrate to the trio. "I pledge myself and my Kingdom to the will of our shared master. And also… thank you for helping me today, it was a true pleasure."
"So she is as intelligent as you said, mein guter Demiurge." Pandora's Actor said, and to that the archdevil could only agree.
"Yes, she is. She will be useful in handing this box of jewels to our lord." Demiurge agreed, "A fine bargain in exchange for one underfed puppy."
Albedo's wings folded in around her body, the prostrate woman had yet to move, but the Guardian Overseer, acutely aware that her master had somehow changed, looked at the golden princess as much as a potential threat, as she did a useful tool. "Yes," Albedo added, "as long as she remembers her place, and doesn't seek elevation beyond her station… everything will be fine."
Renner chose not to answer, her answer, she knew, lay in her behavior.
"Finish the rest yourself," Albedo said with a sweet, matronly voice, "and you will get everything you desire." Then the gate opened, and one by one the trio left the Princess alone.
When word of the job reached them as was intended, days passed like hours as Foresight spread rumors and stories of the wealth that lay ahead. Imina's elven heritage proved useful, telling stories 'from her father' who had heard stories from his father's father centuries before of a powerful lord of greed who hoarded fortunes in his tomb. Stories of powerful artifacts spread among the rumor mills of the worker bars and taverns. But through it all, they searched for any hint of the missing Arche.
In the end, meeting in private on the day of departure, Hekkeran could only rub his forehead and say, "We've done our best… all we can do now is hope it's enough. Listen to me…" He looked from Imina to Roberdyck, "the woman who kicked my ass, she looked human, but I don't think she was. Someone that strong, I'd have heard a rumor of at least. Adventurer or worker, there's no way someone like that just 'exists' without me hearing about it. In other circumstances I'd think she was a foreigner, maybe from the Theocracy, but the look on her face… no, she's not human. If she's not in charge there, who knows what kind of monsters we'll face. Remember what I told you she said? If we fail to rescue Arche…"
Imina touched his arm and looked up at her lover's eyes, "Don't think about that. We're 'Foresight', we've survived terrible things, we'll survive this too. And when it comes down to it, you'll do the right thing."
That was the end of the discussion.
The fast spreading rumors brought scores of teams together outside the tomb, making the gathering space on the outskirts look more like the beginnings of a village than a temporary camp. A few of the usual sorts came along for the trip, camp followers and traveling merchants eager for a chance to profit off the life risking efforts of the workers who expected a lot of coins burning holes in their pockets.
' We did a really good job with those rumors at least.' He said, looking around the lively, previously empty landscape. It was the largest gathering of workers that any of them had ever seen.
"Parpatra, good to see you." Hekkeran said beneath the light of a full moon. The pair clasped hands, the wrinkled old man, though in his seventies, seemed as vigorous as Hekkeran recalled. "Dragon Hunt is ready to plunge into the darkness again, is it?" The leader of Foresight asked of his counterpart.
Despite having the strength of a man in younger years, Parpatra's voice betrayed his age, "Well, dragons are a greedy lot, and when we get word of treasure to be had, we have to fly to where it can be found. How could we miss this chance?" The old man teased, at his back the rest of his team of humans chuckled and tapped their weapons, voicing silent agreement.
"I guess that's true." Hekkeran agreed, the sound of crunching dirt underfoot caused him to turn around, he glanced down to see the short, stocky body of Gringham, leader of Heavy Masher.
As broad as he was short, Gringham made up for his size with having considerable strength and wearing thick armor over powerful muscles. It was often rumored that he had dwarven blood in his ancestry. His fondness for beer, heavy weapons, and love of dark underground places hinted at it along with his height.
Middle aged and swarthy with a pug nose and dark beard, Gringham's voice was deep and gravelly, "Hekkeran, Parpatra… 'that man' is here too." Though rough, he kept his voice to a whisper. "Hekkeran, try to keep Imina from him, he's been… at it again with his elf slaves for awhile now."
Hekkeran cocked his ear, and then he caught it, a very tiny hint of crying. He grimaced. "Erya Uzruth of Tenmu… that scum."
"It's a different set from last time too, I guess… the others were lost." Gringham added.
Hekkeran blinked several times, he knew what the short leader of Heavy Masher meant. Erya was a powerful swordsman from the Slane Theocracy who took human supremacy seriously. His personality was so disagreeable that despite being compared to Gazef Stronoff, he couldn't find or form a team, and so he bought mentally broken elf slaves to provide magical backup. He only ever purchased female elves, and he never properly armed or equipped them in any way, nor were they spared his advances when there was free time.
' Scum…' Hekkeran thought again, the leering eye the blonde swordsman turned on Imina, and his contempt for her half elven ancestry, it brought lingering hatred that was made worse by virtue of the fact that the leader of Foresight knew he couldn't defeat Tenmu if it came down to it. ' Maybe if I'm lucky, he'll encounter the blonde monster that put me down… there's a cheerful thought.'
It was enough to perk the leader of Foresight up, "So," Hekkeran changed the subject and did his best to ignore the distant cries, "you brought all fourteen members this time?"
Gringham grunted, "Aye, we were going to go on another job soon, if we had, heh, I'd only have brought a small team this time. Thank goodness for small favors, I hear this tomb is big…" He turned his eyes to the place, it had large columns that towered overhead and a great open courtyard in front of it. The stone roof appeared to be marble and carved by extraordinarily gifted artisans.
"I've heard the same, but…" Parpatra stroked his wizened old chin, "I don't recognize anything we've seen of it so far. Not the symbol carved on the outer stones, and not the design. I've seen a lot of ruins, but never anything quite like this."
"The world is a big place, and we know there were a lot of things that were lost in the collapse six hundred years ago. Who knows?" Hekkeran shrugged it off, "For all we know the collapse six hundred years ago wasn't even the first of its kind? Perhaps this is from an even earlier age."
Parpatra tapped the butt of his spear on the ground, "That's possible, we know so little about those days…" He looked away from his fellow team leaders, a number of other worker teams were forming camp and getting ready for the exploration the next day.
"A lot of people took up this job… I hope there's enough treasure to go around." Parpatra added, he didn't look up when there was a particularly despairing scream from the tent of the 'team' Tenmu.
"Well, we could come to a kind of… collective agreement, the three of us. Whatever our teams find, we all agree to divvy up accordingly." Gringham said, his voice went up a little to drown out the dying wail at his back.
"You have fourteen members, Hekkeran has only four, and I have the same, that's not really an even split no matter how you slice it." Parpatra pointed out while stroking his short white beard. "Speaking of four… I haven't seen that pretty little one, the blonde caster… Arche, is she around?"
"She's… close by." Hekkeran said with a cough and shifted the subject back to the matter at hand by turning to Gringham and adding, "Our very ancient old friend here is right. You'd get a lot more shares than we would out of a deal like that."
"Ahhh, what if we go in first, and take the biggest risk as compensation." Gringham pitched, and that was enough.
"Agreed." Parpatra said, and Hekkeran could only nod.
"Is this… really worth it?" Hekkeran asked, "Just gold? I mean?"
Gringham grunted, "Yeah, gold is life, it's what we strive for, you know that. And we'll take it any way it comes… even if we have to work with…" He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder, a different voice began to wail like the first, "that."
Hekkeran walked away with a mute, dead eyed stare to return to his comrades in their own small tent. "When this is over," he said, "after we've saved Arche, I'm done. I don't want to do 'this' anymore. It's pointless."
Roberdyck sighed, "My friend," the middle aged cleric answered, "I've toyed with the same thought many times, I've only stuck with this as long as I have because of who I work with. If we part ways, I'll find a village somewhere and settle down as a local priest. That will be good enough for me."
"I go where you go, even if that means no more tombs or caves." Imina said instantly, "But first… first we rescue Arche. I pray to the gods she's alright… what if… what if they're torturing her? What if they're…" She tried not to think of the other possibilities and tuned out the suffering of an elven woman in the Tenmu tent.
"Don't think about it, most monsters aren't interested in humans like that at least, just… get some rest, tomorrow we get started, and hopefully… hopefully it all works out." Hekkeran said, and went to his bedroll to collapse into ugly, ugly dreams.
Volume 2 Chapter 32
Hekkeran approached the entrance to the tomb. The sound of Heavy Masher's members rushing into the dark still echoed back to where he stood. Tenmu's footsteps were slower and more steady, however they were no less sure. ' Bastard didn't like being left out of our bargain, I guess. Well, fine, there's only one treasure we're after, anything else is a bonus.' Hekkeran reminded himself. Parpatra and his team however, chose to be more circuitous.
The many smaller teams of workers however, simply rushed into the tomb, and thereby showed themselves as novices.
"With Heavy Masher and Tenmu in front, what have we got to worry about!"
"Don't let them take all the loot!"
Cries like that kept Foresight standing to the right side of the walls while the overeager workers drawn by rumors of wealth went eagerly to their tasks.
' Most of them won't survive.' Imina thought with a grim expression on her face, ' But then, most of them wouldn't survive anyway, but there's enough here for a military company or two. Why would anyone want this kind of attack… unless they were sure they could handle it?'
The whoops and mix of barked orders over the sound of crashing feet and kicked doors were receding into the distance, the flickering lights of torches that loomed like suns when they were close, became flickering glowbugs as various members of worker teams charged down every path and toward every door.
Excited cries came and redoubled, then redoubled again, then redoubled again. The sound of falling clinking coins and happy laughter echoed out through the dark halls. The cool air of the tomb brushed over their skin like the caress of a clammy, decaying hand.
' This way, follow the long hall.' Imina heard the voice of Arche ringing in her head. ' Ignore anything and everything, touch not one single coin, not even to inspect it. When you hear cries for help… ignore them. Their trials are not yours.' The half elf stopped mid-step as the voice spoke to her.
She felt her lover bump into her back, "Watch it…" Imina whispered without looking over her shoulder.
"You heard her?" Roberdyck leaned forward to ask, the warmth of his breath wafted over Hekkeran's ear, a stark contrast to the chill of the tomb.
"What do we do?" Hekkeran asked, "Is it her, is this a trap?"
"You're asking if this is a trap now ?!" Imina whispered with a rough voice of disbelief just as the first screams reached their ears. "Of course it's a trap!" She hissed over her shoulder and crouched down to peer into the dark.
Somewhere not far away, a crunching noise began as the screaming subsided. "I mean, is this part of…" Hekkeran drew his hand down over the front of his face, "never mind, do we listen or not?"
The trio looked back and forth up their still line, faces searching silent words of wisdom through hard or shallow breaths, darting eyes and shaking hands. The smell of fear began to come from each of them as for the first time in a long time, they wondered truly, ' Will we survive this?'
"Yes." Roberdyck finally added, putting on a brave, if wavering smile. "If Arche were being made to trick us, at least she'd find some way to say so. Besides, we're already here, why lie now?"
Persuaded by their cleric, they began to advance. Priceless objects began to come into view through open, waiting doors. Glittering gold sparkled before Imina's eyes, and with her companions' martially enhanced senses, as well as her own, she could not just see, but also feel the pull of their bodies toward the gold and silver things.
It was no less true for her. The wealth of kingdoms lay within a few paces, a whisper of temptation passed her parted lips when the corner of her eyes caught a golden statue of a woman's terrifying face with live snakes for hair. The eyes were rubies, the teeth were pearls, the scales of the snakes were flakes of emerald and jade… the artistic value alone made it beyond worth.
' What else is in there… what else is in here… can't we just…' Imina asked when she stopped to look.
She felt her lover's hand on her shoulder, his bright eyes were pleading, and full of fear.
Imina felt the greed slip away in the face of her lover's anxious face. Their breath became shallow as they continued into the darkness.
' When you reach the four way… wait. And do not use your weapons.' Arche's words rang in Hekkeran's head, there was no questioning them.
' I will listen, come what may.' He told himself.
Erya was enjoying himself, a spring was in his every quiet step. A dozen skeletons had fallen to his sword without any bit of effort. His slaves walked with timid steps at his back. He could feel their eyes on him. He could feel their awe, he could feel their fear. It was moments like this that he savored, even more than when trembling thighs opened at his command.
He knew that about himself, ' I am superior to them, and what's more, they know it, they know it now far better than at any other time, because I walk tall and strong, and they can only scurry after and let me lead. How can anyone doubt the superiority of humans when we are at our peak?' It was a question he both savored, and hated at once, because the very fact that he had to ask it, meant that others doubted the answer.
' Imina… next elf I buy, she'll look like you.' He told himself and made a mental note to make sure he got a chance to work with Foresight again when that time came.
The treasures he passed by were eye-catching at the least, golden coins, expensive decorative armor, coffins overflowing with coins, and banners that were literally spun with gold. And yet for Erya Uzruth of Tenmu, there was only one thing driving him. ' I have to get to the center, let the other trash fools dig through the stuff that's easy to reach. The best loot is always deeper in.' A golden rule of ruin exploration, though he had little idea why beyond the notion that throne rooms tended to be there, which was as good a reason as any, he supposed.
A piercing howl of pain reached him, scrambling feet so far distant that he couldn't have helped if he wanted to, and he never did.
"Master… there are… there are noises ahead." The blue haired ranger elf said in her usual timid voice. She looked down at the stone beneath her bare feet. Clad in nothing but the cheapest ragged clothing, they had no enchanted gear or armor to protect themselves, not even basic sandals.
The clammy chill of the flow of air through the tomb seemed to stick to him like the saliva of some nasty, disgusting lizard. "Are you sure?" Erya demanded, his narrow eyes narrowed even further. The other two nodded without giving voice to their agreement.
' Alright, their hearing is better…' He admitted, and asked, "What is it?"
"It's… it sounds like a woman's voice, and… squeaking. Like she's humming music." The ranger answered, accompanied by furtive nods from her comrades, they clutched their hands together at the chest and tightly shut their eyes in case their master chose to hit them again.
He didn't. Erya listened as carefully as he could, quieting even his breath, and they were right. He kicked a stray bone out of the way and watched it bounce and tumble with noisy, drum like sounds of its own until it slid to a stop at the far wall near the door where the sounds were coming from.
He drew his sword from his sheath and made his way forward again. The door was clearly open, resting slightly ajar, thick and heavy, it seemed to be made of one solid piece of iron. Between the gap and from the gap below, a flickering of many lights revealed that someone or something lay beneath.
Erya flung open the door and entered as if he lived there. His face twisted in horror at what he beheld.
The room.
The room.
The room was covered in… pink . Ribbons, stuffed animals all designed to be so absurdly… cute. It didn't fit anything he knew of dungeons, frilly lace, tiny puppy dolls and kitten dolls, like what a tasteless girl with an unlimited budget might have done.
A fragrant scent of expensive perfume hung in the air as ephemeral as a single strand from a spider's web. The source?
In the center of the room stood a young girl holding a small penguin wrapped in her arms. She was obviously squeezing it tight, more interestingly, the penguin was alive. "Get me out! She won't let go!" It wheezed out and flapped its flippers with frantic urgency.
The girl had one green eye, mottled green gloves, a black and white maid dress with an almost metallic shine, auburn hair that hung loose down to her waist, a dark eye patch, and a blank expression. Everything about her was… strangely cute, from her white boots that came up just below her thighs, to the tiny mouth whose lips were pursed as if she were disappointed and had just let out a huff.
"So you're my target. Surrender. It will be quick." The girl said in a short monotone.
Erya held the sword out in front of him. "No. Lead me to the greatest treasures in this place, and I'll make your end quick and painless, if it's worth enough, I might even let you live."
"So, you have chosen… poorly." She said in the same cold monotone. She turned and walked to the wall where she then set the penguin down.
That was when he saw an unfamiliar looking device slung over her back.
Erya flashed forward when her back was turned, ' I'll just take her head and be done with it!' He told himself. A vicious little smile on his face, he could already see her head tumbling to the ground…
Until he felt himself flying backwards with agonizing pain in his gut and his arms reflexively going forward to clutch his body.
Pain shot through him from his front that made the thudding sensation when he landed on his back, feel like nothing.
He rose to his feet very slowly, his body shaking from both pain and fury.
"Names first. You do that, don't you?" The girl asked while she took the long device off her back. He heard an unfamiliar sort of 'clicking' noise as she fiddled with it, seemingly indifferent to him again.
"In duels with humans… but no matter what you look like, you're obviously a monster. No 'human' would be in a filthy place like this!" Erya spat and looked over his shoulder to his slaves.
"Boost magic and heal me you worthless trash!" He shouted, and though they winced at his words, they raised their hands and the glow of magic circles emitted a moment later. Erya felt his body strengthen, his dexterity rise, and began to activate his martial arts. ' I'll close the gap between man and monster and end this bitch!'
"I see. I don't like you." The girl said in the same monotone. "I made this room pretty, just for this. You are rude. We maids work hard. You should acknowledge that. My name is CZ Delta. Regret your rudeness in death."
Erya snarled at her and attacked again, his body flashing towards her three times faster than before… only for him to see the tip of her weapon begin to flash like glowbugs.
The punches to his gut were like hammer blows. His sword held up, bouncing back and forth as he tried to use it as a shield and bat away projectiles he could barely see.
But there were too many, she simply stood there, he saw her finger twitching over and over and over… and the pain in his body began to rise.
His armor dented, cracked, and shattered, the rain of her unknown weapon's projectiles began to get through. ' I have to push through! Just bring my sword to her and…' He struggled forward, the distance shrinking. A part of his armor shattered, and then he felt not a punch, but a tear as his body was pierced and flesh torn away from his forearm. It fell to the floor with a wet, sticky flop, exposing naked bone to the air.
Erya grunted, he was there, he thrust out his sword, but the strange maid calling herself CZ Delta, spun on her heel faster than he could follow, brought her weapon into his already battered gut, and sent him tumbling back. His sword clattering and crashing end over end before it slid to a stop just in reach of him.
Erya snatched it up and, aided by his martial arts, he shot to his feet again, breathing hard, the rain of blows from her distance weapon began to hit him again. The tiny projectile strikes tore through both his thighs, and then…
He felt his hands burst like pressed grapes. "Explosive rounds." She said with casual indifference as Erya stared through tearing, trembling eyes down at the bloody stumps. "You should not have been rude. It is not cute."
"No… No…" He mewed out, injury was a common thing even for him, but losing the ability to hold his sword, that had never taken place. He yanked his head around as he came crashing to his knees when the strength of his thighs gave out. "Heal me! Heal me you worthless slaves!"
They only smiled at him, sweetly, hatefully, and began to giggle. "No… no…" They pointed at him, and began to laugh, and their laughter was like knives. ' Don't you know… I'm better than you…?' He pointed a bloody stump at the trio, "Do it! Heal! Heal!" His shouts went unanswered, and his orders died in Erya's throat when he heard the tap of a heel on the stone just in front of him.
"Neuronist can have you. We are done." CZ followed up. He spun his head back to the front and stared up at the young girl who now towered over him, he opened his mouth to say 'no' one more time, only to see her bring the butt of her weapon up, and then crash down into his face.
"Slaves?" CZ asked the trio who stared down laughing with joy at the unconscious body of their master. They began to kick him repeatedly with their bare feet.
They looked up at her with pitiful expressions. "Make it quick." They said in unison, and went back to kicking the unconscious blonde swordsman.
"If you had no choice, you might be spared. Wait, and we will see." CZ replied, and this seemed to please the slit eared elves, who went on kicking their former master, for quite some time.
Parpatra was cautious by nature, allowing others to go in as if there was no danger. ' Even against skeletons, most of them won't survive. The ones who do, will become like me if they live long enough.' The wily old man gave a chuckle to the scene around him. He checked for traps and had his magic caster look for illusions, at each tombstone he approached, he thrust down with his earth penetrating spear. It pierced the grave and with its holy tip, he sought to purify whatever twisted unlife lay within.
The soft earth gave easily beneath his powerful thrust, and then he yanked it up a moment later. "Be careful." He reminded his team, "A place like this, it always has unexpected surprises."
"That's right! It does." A woman said as she emerged out of an open doorway that led into the darkness.
Slender and with dark hair done in a bun high up on her head, she wore glasses and a very clean, even perfect looking maid outfit. She had a slender face and wore expensive looking glasses, but most eye catching of all were the enormous green gauntlets she wore at the wrists. "My name is Yuri Alpha, and you… are our test subjects."
She swept her hand out in a grand gesture before her, and following her arm with their eyes, they saw rising from the ground, a slew of heavily armored skeletons.
"You… think you can beat us with these to help you?" Parpatra's old voice was full of confidence and he puffed out his slender chest, his team closing into formation with practiced skill.
"I won't be fighting unless I must, you will face the Nazarick Old Guarders by themselves. I'm just here to gather data." Yuri replied in a steady, even tone that was betrayed by the beginnings of a taunting smile she struggled to hold into place.
From the darkness, at the maid's back, another maid appeared, clad in flowing robes and with purple hair, her face, curious to Parpatra's eyes, didn't move when she spoke. "You're so childish, sister. Quit taunting them and get on with it." The smaller purple haired maid said and covered her mouth with her sleeve before letting out a giggle of her own. "It isn't as if they have a chance."
Yuri turned a little pouting look down to her companion. "Don't ruin all my fun, Entoma…" She rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh.
' Is she insane? No, that would stand to reason from their perspective, those aren't humans, that's for sure… humans wouldn't live here. Whatever they do, must be normal for them…' Parpatra thought before the maid simply shouted…
"Begin!" Yuri commanded. And the undead with gleaming armor, crackling magic hammers and swords began their inexorable advance.
Gringham felt the burning in his muscles, the raging pain ran through his body to the music of his clinking armor. He looked over his shoulder, one of his teammates had fallen and was surrounded.
"Help me! No! No! Not like this!" The slender thief brandished a dagger and held it up, shaking it before his body, but nobody stopped. A gout of flame illuminated the hall behind him and engulfed Gringham's teammate. The scream of pain caught up to his retreating companions even if he had not.
' That's the fourth one! The fourth one! But they don't know how many of us there are! If I just keep going…'
Ahead of him he saw another flickering light, and heard more screaming. The light was carried out from around a corner, it was also bouncing like mad. ' Another team, they're in combat, and they're losing!' He realized and the Heavy Masher leader realized almost instantly, ' If we go that way, we'll just get caught between both sides!' His heart raced as if it wanted to compete with his thoughts, his eyes darted around him for something, 'anything' that offered a ray of hope. ' What's with this tomb?!' He wondered, frustration and despair warring for control of his mind.
A door caught his eye and without thinking, he ran for it, flinging it open and diving in, a few of his comrades made it in, but the rest who were looking behind them, missed what happened and kept going.
Gringham did not open the door to call them, instead he flung his back against the door, was breathing heavily and turned his head to press his ear to the door. Forcing his mouth to shut while he listened.
The sound of tearing flesh, like ripping cloth, and screams, echoed and redoubled when his pursuers caught up to the part of his team that kept running, and whatever team was struggling around the corner. Then it was done.
It was pitch dark within the room, except for one small flickering white light from the far side. "Do we go in?" Gringham recognized the voice of one of his rangers.
"No… we wait, then we go back out the way we came, grab what gold we saw along the way… leave this place, and never come back." Gringham replied with a whisper. "I think… I think I'm done with this." He added with the whites of his eyes wider than he thought they could be.
"So, you're thieves after all. Even with your comrades dead, all you think about is taking what isn't yours and running away. I have seen a few noble humans, but you are not among them." The room began to brighten, and within it stood an old man in a butler outfit.
Gringham of Heavy Masher was not a man easily frightened, and yet when the aged man in the formal suit bowed with a hand over his chest, the veteran worker could only feel a profound existential dread.
The butler straightened up, "My name is Sebas Tian, and I am afraid you have committed three grave sins for which you must be punished." Sebas raised his hand and held out a finger, "The first is that you have attacked my master's home." He raised a second finger, "The second is that you abandoned your comrades, leaving them to die to save yourselves." He raised his thumb, "The third is that you sought to steal. If I were to add a fourth, it is that you made me lose a bet with a colleague."
"Ah… a bet?" Gringham stammered, ' He's talking, as long as we're talking, there's a chance!' He realized, and held his hands out openly as if making an offering. "What if we were to help you to win another bet instead, double or nothing! Then could we persuade you to let us make it up to you! And your master also!"
Sebas didn't respond, not with words, instead, he 'changed'. The old man was gone, the body seemed to melt into itself as something else 'grew' out of it, so that he was now two or three times his former height and build. Dark scales that were even at a glance, utterly impenetrable. Sharp, hook like spikes and protrusions thrust from his shoulders and head, and the hands were now tipped with razor claws. However, his gestures remained as formal and dignified as the butler who stood before them a moment ago.
One hand came out, turned palm up and with fingers open. Sebas gave a half bow again and said. "I accept your offer. My colleague predicted you would make it and despite our differences, I respect his mind, and out of that respect… if nothing else, I allow you a second chance. You may choose to fight me to the death, and if you are victorious, you will be allowed to go free. Or…"
Gringham and his companions traded uncertain glances. ' Fighting that thing is asking to just die.' He swallowed the lump in his throat and looked up at the black implacable face, "Or?"
"Or, you can kill one another, do that, and the last one standing will live." Sebas quipped, "It's that simple, I promise you."
Gringham and his companions drew their weapons, there were five, including himself, and of them, ' None are a real threat to me…'
Resolve settled on all their faces, ' This is about survival, it's nothing personal…'
Sebas watched with disinterest as they fell to hacking at one another, one by one falling to the floor, reduced to lumps of dead meat.
Of them all, one still stood within two minutes' time, blood streaked and breathing like he'd run a marathon, the heavy armored Gringham went down to one knee, his heavy hammer falling from nerveless fingers, to thud to the floor.
"You killed your comrades, and won your life." Sebas said with an icy stare.
Gringham nodded, "Yes… I… does that attone… can I, can I rest a minute before I leave?"
"Leave?" Sebas asked rhetorically, "You're not leaving."
Gringham's eyes shot up, "But you said if-"
"I said that if you defeated me you would be allowed to leave, but if you killed each other, then one of you would be allowed to live . I will keep my promise, you will continue to live. I fear however, that you will regret that very much, as you spend the rest of your days in the Frozen Prison." Sebas replied, and with two long steps, he towered over the worker.
Gringham screamed as he was dragged away, he screamed as he was dragged down the hall, as he was dragged down stairs, and as he was dragged into a frozen hell. The door shut behind him and was now alone, and around him, nothing but ice, snow and icy blocks. The warmth of his body's exertions were slowly drained away, until heat became a distant memory.
He would never leave that room.
When they reached the four way intersection they were told of, and finally stopped, Hekkeran spoke. "Why do you think we haven't faced any opposition? Weren't we supposed to fight?"
"Maybe you misunderstood?" Imina suggested doubtfully scratching her ear.
"Maybe." Roberdyck added, "Or maybe we're being led to the fight. We've heard the screaming, who knows how many are still alive. I can only… who can say?" Whatever he was going to add, the cleric changed his mind and clutched his mace tighter against his body.
"Well, well, well. You came after all." A taunting, beautiful voice came from the darkness.
"You remember me, don't you?" Solution asked when she stepped into the light. Her hands were on her hips and her chin was raised with an arrogant expression.
"Yes… now we came! Give us back Arche!" Hekkeran demanded with more courage than he truly felt. The buxom blonde brought a hand to her lips and laughed like he'd told the world's funniest joke.
"I don't have her, I'm only to lead you to her, if you stay with me, you'll be safe until you get to the arena, after that?" She shrugged, "The rest is on you."
"How do I know I can trust you?" Hekkeran demanded.
The woman looked flatly offended and drew herself up close to him, "My name is Solution Epsilon, I will torture, I will kill, eat, and consume any living thing I please that my master does not prohibit me from taking… but I will never lie. Least of all to an inferior life form with few redeeming qualities." Her hand came up and gripped him by his jaw. He felt the radiating heat threatening to rise and burn his flesh away.
And then before he could even understand the viciousness in her bright blue eyes, and before his comrades could intervene, she released her grip.
"Proof enough? I could have killed you then boy, and chose not to. This hall isn't where it ends for you. Now shut up and follow, before my master thinks you're being rude." Solution spat the vicious words and whirled around to show her back to them as if to say, ' It doesn't matter if you're behind me, you're not a threat.'
As if to further taunt the lot of them, the woman wore a maid outfit, and her skirt was slit at the thigh and all the way up to her hips. She walked with the sultry air of a woman leading a suitor to a bedchamber for a night of fun.
Hekkeran felt his team's eyes on the back of his head, but unable to think of what else to do, he followed. They passed monsters he'd only heard of, demons of wrath, elder liches, and bizarre creatures with many tentacles and strange horns. Yet nothing touched him or his team as they followed the curious blonde maid.
' If we hadn't obeyed… what would have happened if we encountered these things without her as our escort?' Imina wondered, and did not like the answer, she still clutched her bow, as Roberdyck did his mace, but her lover in front of her seemed disturbingly at ease.
' Like he's just 'given up' and lost all hope.' Imina thought. It seemed oddly freeing, his twin swords remained in hand, but nothing about his posture suggested he intended to do anything with them.
It was a long, silent walk until a pair of maids came from another hall and fell in beside the blonde to chat amiably as if Foresight was not following them.
The blonde maid treated the duo of maids very, very differently, ' Comrades, so, monsters can have comrades. Strange to think about, but that's the only thing that makes sense.' Hekkeran concluded just as the trio bade farewell and parted company, and in the distance a portcullis rose up and to reveal a much brighter area beyond.
"Just in here." Solution said and stopped at the opening, waving them on.
Up ahead, there was erected a dark iron wall set in the middle of the sands, and to that dark wall, was chained their comrade.
"Arche!" The trio shouted and rushed past where Solution stood, they moved so quickly they almost missed the masked robed magic caster who stood beside their bound comrade.
"Stop!" He bellowed with a voice of thunder, and held a gloved hand out over the forehead of their captive companion. In his other hand a golden staff of incalculable value snapped down to point at the trio in a gesture that could only be called threatening.
The waves of sand they kicked up as they ran stopped instantly, fear of what the unknown figure might do was visible on each of their faces and none of the three could even make an attempt to hide it.
Then the same noble voice rang out, and the staff the mysterious caster held in his hand swept out in front of him, the bright lights grew brighter as the flames of torches tripled in size, illuminating a vast number of stone golems serving as stand-ins for an audience. "My name is Ainz Ooal Gown. Welcome to the Great Tomb of Nazarick."
Volume 2 Chapter 33
AN: I've begun writing Volume 3, which begins with a very different Katze Plains. Pat-re-0n supporters and discord members will get early viewing. But yes, FFN will get regular updates too. (Though FFN is a huge pain in the arse, hence why it is much slower). The first three chapters are done, and I might have the novel finished around the time the last chapter of volume 2 is posted here. Enjoy!
Arche's eyes flew open as soon as the caster spoke. "You guys… you… you came for me? I knew you would… I knew it…" The little blonde caster said with pride so great she choked on the emotion.
Hekkeran had no idea what to do, to fight a being that had a servant that could crush him was almost unthinkable. It was Imina who came to the idea first. She knelt, laying her bow beside her, bending one knee while the other bent back, she bowed her head. "What do we have to do to get her back? Ahh… Master Ainz? Please… whatever she has done to offend your mightiness… there must be some way to make it right."
Prompted by Imina's action, Hekkeran and Roberdyck followed her initiative and did the same, laying their weapons in the sands while bowing their heads.
"Please." Hekkeran asked with the greatest humility he could muster. "She has sisters that need her care, they've done nothing to you."
"Her sisters are here, for the same reason she is." Ainz asked.
"My lord, we… at first, believed them all dead… but then your servant told us otherwise." Roberdyck answered, closing his eyes against his own regret at being so duped.
The chains that bound Arche to the iron wall went taut as she yanked herself against them, "Please! Just leave me! Saying goodbye to you was my final request! You're my friends, my only friends, I don't want you to pay for my mistakes! Just be content with a goodbye! Stand up! Stand up. Walk. Out. Of. Here! Our lives are over! Don't give up yours!" Arche shouted at her companions.
"No." Hekkeran replied, glaring at Arche through teary eyes. Their first moments running through his mind…
" … So you're a rich girl… why would you be in a place like this?' Hekkeran asked the diminutive blonde with the cheap staff but outrageously expensive clothing of bright green and gold dyes.
" Because I want to be an adventurer." Arche answered.
" This place is for workers, rich girl. Go use daddy's pull to get you in there." He chuckled when Imina and Roberdyck approached and sat at their table, mugs of beer in hand.
" My father got me blackballed from there, so it's either worker or nothing, and I'm not going to do nothing. Just give me a chance… and my name isn't 'rich girl' it's Arche…"
"Damn it…" Hekkeran said, again snapped to the present and he reached slowly for his swords
"No, it was my understanding that we could fight, if we could do well, you might let someone go." Hekkeran said with sullen understanding that he would not see another day.
"Hekkeran! Just… you don't have to do this!" Arche shouted from where she was secured.
Beside her, the magic caster raised his head to look past them. "Solution! Is there anyone left alive among the invaders?" Ainz asked.
"Nobody but prisoners, My Lord!" Solution shouted, "Besides those three in front of you, everyone else is dead or wishing they were!"
Ainz turned his masked face back toward the trio in the sands.
"Do you think you can win? Do you think you can even… entertain me?" Ainz asked as if an ant had challenged him to arm wrestle.
"No. But my comrade is over there, her sisters are there. It doesn't matter, I can't just walk away with them in danger… whatever she did… even if she is to suffer for it… even if I can't fight…" Hekkeran swallowed, "Let her walk out! I'll take her place!" The promise was ripped from his throat as if by hooks and he shot from his kneeling position to stand and face his adversary.
"If a fight is worthless, then take that instead! I'll make my goodbyes, just let Arche and her sisters leave instead! Please… you've shown your power… I… I beg you. Show your grace." Hekkeran asked.
"You want to trade your one life for their three?" Ainz asked as if affronted, "I'm no merchant, but I know my numbers, boy. One life is worth only that…" He held up a gloved hand, "One. I will permit Arche to leave if you will take her place, but her sisters…"
"I'll stay too!" Roberdyck and Imina declared, though they remained kneeling as they made their declaration.
As if to convince herself, her voice turned sorrowful, mournful, as Imina went on. "My Hekkeran is staying, so I would have stayed with him anyway, but if it… if it can save one of my comrades' little sisters, fair trade. I was probably near the end of the road anyway."
"I am a priest, who would listen to a priest that would leave a child in merciless hands?" Roberdyk asked and snorted, "That sounded less pretentious in my head."
"There… you have your three lives, we'll be substitutes for them, whatever punishment she and her sisters were to suffer, we'll take for them. One life, for one life. That is what you said, isn't it, Mighty Lord?" Hekkeran asked, words tumbled out in a frantic rush, "Please… it costs you nothing, play god with our lives and hers, alter their fates, I… I beg you."
"Are you sure?" Ainz asked, "You have no idea what she's done, what tortures and horrible viles my servants may subject them to, and who knows how long they might go on? A day? A month? A year? Perhaps more than one lifetime."
"I… know. I still make the offer." Hekkeran said, closing his eyes and bowing his head, his twin swords fell into the sands from nerveless fingers.
"Hekkeran!" Arche shouted, "Imina, Roberdyck… you… dummies…" And slumped her head to sob.
Their eyes were closed, those of Foresight's free members, waiting for the inevitable.
Which was why they heard the noise first.
A slow, but steady clapping sound. Hekkeran's eyes fluttered open. The magic caster was the source. Confusion ensued and a radiant young red headed woman with long braids emerged from behind the iron wall and began to unfasten Arche's clinking chains.
"Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. So it says in the Gospel of Mark." The caster said, the slow clap and unfamiliar quote suggesting the impossible to the trio of workers who had just given up their lives.
"What… I… I don't understand?" Hekkeran said, he looked behind him to where Roberdyck and Imina remained kneeling, equally open mouthed, confusion on their faces.
Arche stepped down into the stand and charged at them as fast as she could, diving into Hekkeran's arms and giving him a supremely tight embrace around the neck.
"You did it! I told my master you would!" Arche shouted, her feet dangled just above the ground as she held onto the still dazed and confused Hekkeran before planting a kiss on his cheek and dropping down to the sands again.
Hekkeran blushed and his mouth dropped open even further… "I… Arche…?"
"Will someone please tell us what's going on?!" Imina shouted when she saw Arche kiss Hekkeran's cheek.
"It was a test." Arche said and stepped back from Hekkeran so she could see her team. She went on to explain her father and mother's debts, the danger that was coming, the arrival of Sebas, the sale of her sisters into slavery that instead had them delivered into Sebas' hands… and her own vow of loyalty to the one who had rescued them all.
"But… the fire?" Hekkeran stammered.
Arche looked behind her to her master. "I didn't set a fire, master?"
"Nor did I." Ainz answered.
Arche bowed her head in a silent moment, "Then… it was probably my mother. She had her faults, but she loved my sisters and the thought of them being sold as slaves would be too much for her. She probably burned down the house with herself inside to punish my f- ah, her husband."
"Damn." Hekkeran whispered.
Arche then explained her training, the experiments that greatly increased her body and magical ability, and finally, Ainz's desire for loyal servants that were driven by more than personal gain.
Lupusregina chuckled, "Master has a thing about talent, without loyalty, the talent might as well not exist."
When Arche finished explaining, she then asked, "Any questions?"
"So… your sisters?" Roberdyck asked?
"Just fine, they're probably on the sixth floor playing in the lake. We got a little cabin up there." Arche said and couldn't help but laugh when their jaws dropped when she casually mentioned the lake.
"And… what about us… so this, we're not going to die or anything, really?" Imina pressed.
"No. Master wants to offer you work, permanent work, give him your oath, your absolute loyalty… and everything you feared will become a distant memory, while everything you ever hoped for will be in reach." Arche said with an almost motherly warmth.
' She went a little over the top there,' Ainz thought, ' but as a sales pitch went, it was persuasive. Over the top seems normal here anyway.' He shrugged off the oddity of the world's tastes and trusted the outcome to Arche's expertise in her companions.
"So… why not just 'hire us', why the theatrics, why the 'Arche the prisoner' routine?" Hekkeran asked, his entire body felt completely drained of the will to even move, and he slowly sank to his knees again.
"To see if you were worth it. The rest of your counterparts wanted nothing but to steal, several even abandoned their own team members to die. If you had touched even one single coin… you would have joined them." Ainz answered, "This precious tomb's wealth is more than just wealth, it is the many memories I built with my precious friends. It's one thing to use that wealth to bring greater glory to it. It is another to let thieves dirty my home with their footsteps and rob it blind." Ainz took up his floating staff again and approached the kneeling leader, standing beside Arche, he removed his glove and held out his hand.
"Kiss my ring and swear an oath of lifelong fealty to me, and you will regret nothing." Ainz promised.
"Arche… you know you're still going to get it for pulling this on us, right?" Hekkeran asked, and Arche had the good graces to bow her head.
"Yeah well… Pandora's Actor gave me the acting lessons to help me pull it off, and… I really am sorry for worrying you all, but nothing less than proof like this would do, otherwise… I never would have seen you again." Arche explained.
"Fine, but you still owe us drinks." Hekkeran quipped, and Arche's face brightened.
"So… you're… you're going to accept my master's offer?" Arche's voice went up a few notches in pitch and she clutched her staff like it was the only thing keeping her afloat after a shipwreck.
"Yes… we came all this way, if your master values loyalty so much, values you so much… it's… we've traded worse odds. And if Erya died here, that is just further proof that this is the right choice." Hekkeran replied.
"You with me?" He asked over his shoulder.
"Anywhere." The pair replied.
Hekkeran took Ainz's hand at the fingers and raised his face up to meet the mask the caster wore and said, "Foresight, Mighty Lord, has always found its strength in mutual trust. More times than I can count, my comrades are why I lived, and each of us can say the same of the others. The words you recited a little while ago, perfectly say what we've always held in our hearts, even if we didn't have a way to say them. Arche would never have gone this far, if it wasn't worthwhile many times over."
"So… I'm not really the best speaker… but I promise I mean every word. I pledge myself, Foresight, pledges itself, to your mighty name. We will carry out your will until our bodies break and we can no longer move." Having spoken an oath, he kissed the ring of the Lord of the Tomb.
"The oath is made. Now we begin to prove you mean it." Ainz said and looked down at Arche, who immediately fell to one knee, "Take your companions and… have a drink. Then meet me at 'the room' for their elevation."
"At once, Master." Arche said as her liege put his glove back on.
"Lupusregina, see about the prisoners' fates and report back to me before we return to Re-Estize." Ainz said, only for Lupusregina to ask…
"Re-Estize, master? Not Carne?"
Ainz hesitated for a moment, stopping in mid step, hairs stood on end as he wondered if he made a mistake, but he adapted quickly to respond by saying, "We'll revisit the matter of Carne when things have progressed further, I need to inform my… 'ally' that the Kingdom of Nazarick has just been given its justification for war."
Volume 2 Chapter 34
The aftermath of the battle was frenzied, celebratory, and full of mourning. It was hours later that Lukrut and the survivors of the raid made it back to the village, and when they did, the worst of the cleanup had passed. The bodies of the fallen were laid out in a tiered pyre of stacked wood with bodies in various layers. Enri, Nfirea, and the remaining Swords of Darkness members stood at the fore while villagers still bearing arms and blood stained armor bowed their heads.
The wind blew lightly as a mother's touch over their skin, as if the world itself wanted to offer rare comfort to the bereaved. It wasn't lost on Lukrut that the village fell into military lines, ' Did they do that on their own, or were they ordered as such?'
He and his remaining numbers fell into place off to one side as Enri began to speak.
"I've never been more than a peasant and a farmer, not in my whole short life. But because the outside world came to hurt us… more than once, I've been called to be more. So has my husband to be, so have common adventurers. So have all of you. Today…" Enri held up the still muddy, slender golden crown that had fallen from the warrior who fled, "we defeated a Prince. They won't forget that. They will want to erase us, erase their shame. And make us forget that our dead… ever lived at all. Today… on the fields of Carne, villagers became true warriors, and those who died, died to protect the lives of those they cherished. Say their names, while we send them to the skies and their ashes to the earth."
"Nfirea, Ninya, go ahead." Enri said and cast the muddy crown of gold on top of the pyre.
[Flame] Nfirea said, and a slow and steady flame spell gouted from his hand. Ninya did the same, and as the crackling of burning wood and the smell of burning flesh rose into the air, Enri saw the returned raiders and went to speak with them.
"I thought you were dead…" Enri said to the ashen faced Lukrut.
"Nearly. Brita sacrificed herself to buy us time to make it into the woods, from there the villagers with me guided us to safety. I guess we won, huh? So she didn't die for nothing." Lukrut swallowed the lump in his throat, but could do nothing about the trembling of his lower lips.
Enri felt the urge to comfort him, but instead she did her best to focus on business. "The Prince claimed you failed before fleeing with his survivors, before his defeat, he said that you all failed."
"No." Lukrut's voice became predatory, his battered and bruised hand came up in a fist, "We screwed those bastards good. Burned most or all of their supplies, they may have run, but they'll run hungry."
Enri took that in with a silent, thoughtful look toward the direction of the escape. "We're going to chase them."
"Chase them?" Lukrut stared at her, aghast, "You're talking…"
"War. Yes. Ninya picked up a lot of lessons from Lupu when she was here. We can't stop now, we're going to push them hard. I've sent out my wolf rider scouts, the rest of us will be chasing them down and leaving one in every ten of the army behind to protect the village. The Prince… he's worse than we ever dreamed he was." Enri shuddered, "Wait till you hear just what he has done."
Lukrut did not wait as long as he thought, when the funeral had passed and the ashes scattered to the fields, Enri gathered her war council, with one extra member. A beautiful woman in a mockery of the clothing typically worn by Lakyus of Blue Rose.
"Lukrut, Peter… this is… this is my sister, Tuare." Ninya said with a broken voice that made it obvious she'd been crying. The little brown haired magic caster held her sister tight against her body, one arm around her sister's shoulder, only relaxing to allow Tuare to look at the rest of the table.
The greetings were muted and looks, distant. Tuare looked away from them a moment later. "Tuare," Ninya said, "I know it's hard, but… tell them what happened, as best you can."
"If-if it will help." Tuare replied, and related to the table how the Prince bought her 'contract' from an Eight Fingers agent and turned her into his personal concubine, how he changed her name to Lakyus and made her dress as the famed adventurer so he could pretend to abuse the real woman.
When she was done, Lukrut and Peter got to their feet. "What are you two doing?" Nfirea demanded when Tuare fell to sobbing into her sister's shoulder once again.
"The Guild needs to hear this. We need to take her to E-Rantel." Peter said immediately.
"Yes, that!" Lukrut snarled, "When they hear about this, the scandal will be horrendous. Blue Rose are national heroes, for the Prince to do this? No, this will help the cause tremendously. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a general strike by the guild."
"A strike?" Enri asked.
"Yes," Peter answered in Lukrut's stead, "refusing to take jobs for anyone who supports the royal family. As monsters are always a problem, and the guild is the only one who can handle them. That's as good as destroying some places."
"Then go, take whatever supplies you need, but make for E-Rantel as quickly as possible." Enri said with breathless urgency.
"But… I want to stay with my sister… I don't… please don't make me go." Tuare said with a shiver.
Ninya nodded, "I won't let her go with anyone but me."
"But I need you to help with the army." Enri said with a little frown.
"Then, My Queen… My sister goes with the army. We're going that way anyway." Ninya said with iron finality.
"But…" Enri said, then looked at the pathetic, broken face of the blonde woman, and then slumped. "Fine, she'll travel with us, you two go spread word at the guild, tell them the proof travels with the rebels."
"That will have to do." Peter said.
"It'll be fine, I'll make sure I tell them everything, it's not like they don't know us, chances are they'll believe us even without her. Even if they don't, the rumors will spread faster than a flash flood, especially when as promised, an army shows up." Lukrut punched the surface of the table, "I'll get more arrows, and then we'll leave."
"Good luck to you." Nfirea said, and standing up, he thrust out his hand.
Peter, then Lukrut shook it, and the two former adventurers said in turn, "And to you." Then they left.
When they were gone, the planning resumed until they were ready to march.
Prince Barbro wiped his face clean of mud and dropped his helmet. He kicked it across the ground, it bounced end over end until it came to a clanking halt against the armor of a soldier who had collapsed in place where they stopped.
The golden crown he wore was gone, lost in the retreat, most of his banners trampled in the mud, most of his soldiers… utterly lost. As for food, there was nothing but what a few quick thinking soldiers managed to snatch.
He was six days on the road back, forced march after forced march, harassed by wolfriding goblin scouts that killed any cavalry he sent after them… the sickening sound of the wolves' teeth tearing into screaming humans and the dying whinnies of the horses unnerved the survivors, when finally a miracle occurred.
Prince Barbro knew he stank, and hated it, he knew he was filthy, coated with dried mud on his clothing, nothing looked good. ' I'll have to completely rewrite this story when I reach the throne.' He thought, grinning more and more broadly as he saw the advancing in the distance. "Ha… ah hahahah! Yes! Yes!" His brother's banner flew in the wind, and at its back was a force several times what Barbro himself left with. On any other day, that would have sparked jealousy, envy, or anger.
But now it was only relief. ' With this I can finish those bastards, they won because they kept an army hidden and outnumbered us. With these, it's at least two for every one.
With this… with this, I can win." Prince Barbro said, and waved with a bright smile on his face of the sort he hadn't worn for Zanac since boyhood.
"… It's true! I swear it! Some of you met Ninya, in fact most of you did, it turns out… yeah, he's a she. Who knew, right?!" Lukrut said from his place standing atop the table, murmurs of surprise and doubtful glances came from some of the adventurers and a few of the waitresses.
It was a rough and ready crowd in the guild, business had been a bit slow since the destruction of Zuranon's enclave, but that meant more time for drinking, so drink they did. Rangers, warriors, thieves, clerics and casters, all manner of adventurers sat around and enjoyed the peace, until Lukrut called for their attention and told them what happened at Carne Village.
"So yes, the Crown Prince attacked to wipe out the place Sir Momon saved! And more than that…" Lukrut said, and when he was done explaining Tuare's fate, the sister of an adventurer, used to mock one of the most well respected teams in the Re-Estize Kingdom, utter chaos ensued.
Voices bellowed and fists pounded tables, furious talk went against the Royal Family as Lukrut spun the story of destroyed villages and the survivors taking refuge in Carne, and he used all his bard-like skills to weave a tale of heroism among the villagers that fought back. The way the Royal Family's forces were annihilated, the Prince routed, the new Queen of Carne arisen and a vengeful adventurer turned general in hot pursuit, it stirred the blood.
Ainzach listened with absolute dread. ' I know Lukrut, he's an unprincipled flirt… but he's not one to make this up… neither is Peter… and there's no way to be just 'mistaken'. A peasant rebellion… what a thing…' He approached the table where Lukrut stood winding down his story with wild gesticulations, telling about the death of Brita and how the former adventurer was mocked in death after her sacrifice.
More than one head bowed in silent remembrance of the spunky, red haired woman and the chances she had too often been denied.
"Lukrut… a moment?" Ainzach asked, putting a hand up on Lukrut's forearm.
The ranger nodded, hopped down from the table with quiet deftness, and followed Ainzach up to his private office.
Ainzach sat at his desk and gestured to the opposite chair. Lukrut sat without his usual panache, the look in his boyish eyes, dead serious and unflinchingly focused on the portly, round faced guild leader.
"Would you put your life at stake over the truth of what you're saying?" The plump guild master asked, and Lukrut did not hesitate.
"I did that just by telling you all what happened, and yes, I promise, every word is absolutely true. Brita is dead, the Prince renamed a forced prostitute of Eight Fingers to 'Lakyus', dressed her up, and abused her for gods know how long. He attacked and destroyed several villages, and tried to destroy Carne, the residence of Momon. As far as I know, the Prince is still retreating now, if Queen Enri Emmott and General Ninya haven't caught up to him yet. Everything, every word, is true." Lukrut insisted and placed his hands on the desk.
"Do you doubt me?" Lukrut asked.
"No…" Ainzach let out the breath he held, his heavy gut falling in regret, "I have to inform the other guild masters about this, we need a unified response to the royal family and all the other nobles. If we don't, for all we know, Blue Rose may leave the Kingdom entirely, we can replace a stupid Prince, but we can't just replace an adamantite ranked adventuring team, and even if we could, this is an insult to our entire profession that can't be allowed to go unanswered."
"And… the rebellion?" Lukrut asked.
"We stay out of that." Ainzach shot back immediately. "As long as the guildhall isn't attacked, it doesn't matter what happens, we can't be seen as Kingdom soldiers and we don't want to be tainted with distrust for rebelling either." ' Though,' Ainzach privately thought, ' If a few trash nobles were wiped out along the way by this, I wouldn't be shedding any tears of regret.'
Lukrut relaxed, "That's… no, I understand." The ranger tensed again for a moment, then stood up. "As long as you're not telling me not to tell others, it's fine."
"No. I'm not. If anything… spread the fucking word." Ainzach said and pounded a once mighty fist down on his table hard enough that from the point of impact, a spider crack radiated outward by several inches.
"Will do." Lukrut promised, and made his exit back to the babble of the still dismayed commons.
Volume 2 Chapter 35
When Zanac saw his brother, filthy, exhausted, and waving at him like they were old friends who hadn't seen each other in years… he knew things weren't going well. ' My brother hasn't been happy to see me since we were boys. Things must have gone very poorly, but he had a punitive force, none of the nobles would have done this. Even if a village were burned, they'd just take some of the poor from the cities.'
The closer he got, the more ragged Zanac's brother and the soldiers with him appeared to be. He looked over his shoulder to the soldier at his back. "We'll camp here."
"Sire." The soldier bowed his head and covered his heart with his hand and wheeled his horse around to bark orders.
Camp was being quickly established, and while it was happening, Barbro came on with his remaining soldiers.
Prince Barbro felt ready to fall from his horse when the steady, weary clip clop of hooves brought him up close. He clasped his filthy hand to that of his presently clean younger brother. "Good to see you, brother." Barbro said through huffing and puffing of worn out breaths.
"Brother…" Prince Zanac asked with dismay, "… what happened to you?"
"You have a tent?" Prince Barbro asked, and Zanac waved his sibling and rival over to a white tent with several guards standing by at the front.
"Good," Prince Barbro responded when he saw where Prince Zanac pointed, "I want to discuss this in private."
They rode in silence toward the conical shaped tent and dismounted at the entrance. The guards pounded their spears several times in acknowledgement as the royals pushed aside the flap. A bottle of wine sat on a small field table with two chairs opposite it. The field table was a simple, innovative modular design, the legs were cut so that a small peg, usually capped with metal, sat at the center, while the table had depressions cut to fit the tip and a hole at the center of each corner depression sized to fit the peg and cap. In this way the tables were easily dismantled and reassembled. The chairs were a similar modular, space saving design that folded into three pieces in the back and two between the seat and the legs. The smooth wood would then be given a cushion suitable to the status of the user, and it was at this that the Princes sat.
Alone together, Prince Zanac did his older brother the courtesy of pouring wine for the both of them, though he did himself first as compensation.
Prince Barbro didn't complain, he accepted the wine in the silver goblet and drank it with a long, deep draught before smacking his lips and slamming the cup down. As dignity went, it had none, but alone together, the brothers were relaxed enough not to care.
"Good wine, it's the first good thing to happen since… Lakyus." He murmured the last word, and Prince Zanac raised an eyebrow.
"What was that? I didn't catch the last part, brother?" Prince Zanac asked.
Prince Barbro waved it off with a deep, bitter laugh, "Utterly inconsequential, just thinking of a toy I lost."
Prince Zanac's brow furrowed, "Yes… I see… but… what happened out there? How many do you have left? What destroyed so many men?"
Prince Barbro cursed and snatched up the bottle from the table, pouring his own cup. "Goblins, goblins and peasant trash, among a few others. There were a lot though, and between them and the rest, it was around six thousand… I was outnumbered, badly. Carne is in open rebellion."
Prince Zanac gasped, "A rebellion of peasants and… monster helpers? You're joking."
Prince Barbro shook his head, "No, no I'm not. We've been on a forced march all this time, out of the twenty-five hundred of us originally, we have less than a thousand left, and they've been chasing us. Wolf Riders have decimated my cavalry, but they haven't been engaging us aggressively, they're tracking us, I'm sure the ones in charge are following us."
Prince Zanac's face paled, "We've got to go then. We need to inform father and the other nobles, we need to put this rebellion down…" The younger Prince rubbed his forehead and shook his head, pressing his face into his hand.
"Damn it Barbro… I was afraid of this, you went too far, way too far. Attacking Carne was a bad idea." Prince Zanac said with exasperation.
"Obviously, but… wait you mean something else, don't you Zanac?" Barbro felt the throne start to retreat from him again.
"Don't you read the notices we get? Carne is the village Master Gown rescued, and it's the village that Sir Momon defended and made into his home. Sir Momon even asked for it as a governorship reward for service. You've alienated not one, but two powerful allies to the Royal Family at a crucial time, and sparked a rebellion on top of that." Prince Zanac pounded his fists on the table, shaking the bottle and tipping over his cup, it toppled off the edge and spilled the red wine within, down into the dust.
Prince Zanac bent over and picked it up, and when he set the cup back on the table, Prince Barbro's face was pale, his mouth barely open, staring ahead. "I… I didn't know."
"You would have, if you bothered reading anything father sent us." Prince Zanac said with a scathing tongue, "Now what? I came out here to bring you back before you messed it all up, but it seems I'm too late. We'll go back, you'll explain yourself to father, and what happens after that, happens."
Prince Barbro bowed his head, "Just get me out of here alive, I'll be grateful for that, but my soldiers… my soldiers are too exhausted to move, we have enough space ahead for a night's rest, and I doubt they'll want to take on… what do you have?"
"Ten thousand men including two thousand cavalry." Prince Zanac responded.
"That will do." Prince Barbro said with a weary, worn out voice. "Let me rest… and then… tomorrow we can go home."
Prince Zanac looked up to his brother's broken, exhausted face, pity swelled within his heart. "Alright… alright brother, rest, we'll go home tomorrow… I'll have a tent set up for you and see that your soldiers are provided for, you just rest."
Prince Barbro kept his head bowed, though he gave a tiny nod and reached for the bottle again with a trembling, filthy hand that shook so hard when he poured that some of the wine sloshed out and missed the cup, and he simply didn't care when it happened.
When Lakyus received word about what Prince Barbro was doing to a girl for the crime of 'looking enough like Lakyus', she locked herself up in her room and refused to come out. "Bastard. Bastard. Bastard." She gritted her teeth, tears of rage boiled over. Outside the door she could hear her sisters calling for her to 'open the damn door', but her sense of shame was far, far too great.
She stared down at the table, her fists shaking with abject rage. The day Prince Barbro had tried to flirt with her, she'd turned him down flat. The memory came back easily because, up until now, it had been a point of humor for her…
"They say women are attracted to strong men… what do you say, Lakyus?" Prince Barbro had said, staring down directly at Lakyus's chest.
The radiant blonde adventurer took a sip of wine and smiled demurely, then taunted him by saying, "I'd say that's probably true, but I'll have to let you know when I meet one, Prince Barbro."
His face turned a dark red at the insult, but he attempted to sally on, "You never really know a man's strength until you test it, and it comes in many forms, after all, a Prince is born to more power than most adventurers ever have, the power to… reward those who ' please' them, or ' punish' those who don't."
Lakyus ran her hand along the rim of her glass, seemingly very fascinated by the light noise it made. "I'm sure that's true, but then… a powerful adventurer who is so offended by a prince that she leaves his kingdom, and say… tells everybody that she left because a Prince with a tiny penis made offensive, perverted, lewd suggestions and veiled threats to her and her family… may quickly find that he is Prince of nothing. Why, I wouldn't be surprised if he lost all chance at the throne. Wouldn't 'that' be a shame?"
The way Prince Barbro blushed and stammered, while then saying, "Yes, yes. That would be a shame, thankfully there are no such Princes in Re-Estize…" It made her laugh a little when she lightly touched his hand.
He yanked it back, sloshing some wine on his expensive white shirt, and then excusing himself to storm off in a huff.
The memory of that day, Lakyus laughed at it many times… ' I didn't know he'd make someone else pay for it… I didn't know…' Rumors had it that she'd been beaten black and blue and violated while being made to apologize and beg forgiveness, all under Lakyus' own name.
Unfortunately, Lakyus knew those rumors were not just rumors, and soon everyone else would too. Guilt rampaged through her as fast as her heart could pump her blood.
The pounding on her door grew worse, and finally the wood splintered and Gagaran kicked several times, sending pieces of wood as thick as her arm splintering and sailing across the room to smash into smaller splinters before falling down to become tinder piles on the floor.
"Gagaran… what the…" Lakyus looked up, but the giant of a woman only swiftly walked over, put a beefy armored hand on her sister's shoulder and shot out…
"You know this isn't on you, right, Lakyus?" Gagaran said in an attempt to comfort her sister.
Lakyus gave a tiny nod as her sisters stepped over the debris and into the room to join her as well.
"I know that. I mean, I know that empirically. But emotionally? If I'd just been nicer about turning him down, made some excuse, maybe he wouldn't have hurt that one. Maybe if we hadn't waited until Momon gave us the excuse we needed to take down Eight Fingers, maybe if Barbro and the other nobles hadn't always blocked Princess Renner's attempts at funding a job request for us to bring them down… none of that would have happened." Lakyus dug her nails into her palms.
"It's infuriating, it's humiliating, it's degrading… which is I'm sure exactly what that slime wanted, even if he didn't want it to be public knowledge, but I'm sure it's even worse for her, whoever she is. By the four, I'll bet she hates me for just existing… hero of humanity, and because of my pleasure in taunting that bastard, she got turned into somebody's living doll to abuse."
"It's still just on him . He made his own choices." Evileye said with a bitter tongue, "At least we know why an Eight Fingers takedown was never a job that got funded. Prince Barbro, and a lot of the other houses too." The magic caster tried to sound comforting, but it was hollow and they both knew it.
"That's true, but still… it isn't enough. I won't be satisfied with just a scandal for the Prince." Lakyus shot back, "I don't know what will satisfy me… but when I know… so will they. But perhaps the guildmasters can start by a general strike on monster jobs within Re-Estize. No more support for any mission in any province of Re-Estize until they do something to make this right."
"I think that's the plan, I was just down there talking with Ainzach, and… they're furious, everybody is, especially now that we helped bring down Eight Fingers." Evileye said, looking up into the angry blue eyes of her sister.
"That'll do for a start, but if something doesn't satisfy me, I'm taking Blue Rose out of this kingdom." Lakyus said and looked around at her sisters with a silent question.
They answered immediately, "And we'll go with you."
"Good." Lakyus replied, and began to feel a little bit better, forming a weak smile of thanks to give to her beloved sisters.
Volume 2 Chapter 36
Prince Barbro did exactly as his brother said. The tent he was given was beside that of Prince Zanac, and as soon as the cot was laid out, he collapsed onto it. He slept for hours, and it was because he slept early, that he woke up when it was still pitch dark outside. The chirping of insects and the hovering of glowbugs were everywhere outside. With his ear attuned to the noise, also heard the sound of passing feet and the crackle of the occasional torch. He got up, but put on no armor, instead he felt his hand around in the darkness until he found the smooth patch of the tent wall, quietly snatching a dagger from his belt, and cut into the fabric.
Every cut and tear sounded like the roar of a forest fire to his panicked, urgent ears, every breath he took, sounded like a gale force wind. And yet he did not stop. He slit all the way up the side, then pushed an arm through the gap.
He then began to slit the fabric of the other tent, ' The throne is mine, damn it… the throne is mine… you should never have even been in the running! You shouldn't have been born!' Prince Barbro quietly cursed that he had a brother, with every cut and sawing motion of his knife he cursed another thing his brother had that he did not.
' I'm surrounded by people who don't see me for who I am, everyone is in the way! Well, you'll get 'out' of my way!' He vowed as the knife reached the bottom of the tent. He listened with care again, nobody was near. He then slipped out of his, stepping carefully around the ropes that held the tent erect.
The towering Prince Barbro ducked down, and gently slipped a foot through the tent of his sibling, his broad muscles were a close fit, and he sucked in his breath, thinning himself by just a little, and sliding himself from darkness, to darkness.
The sound of snoring reached him. Murmurs, mumbling that might have been words in a dream, and the rustle of cloth from a blanket over the sleeping body of Prince Zanac, the smell of spilled wine was in the tent still. Prince Barbro took two long, silent steps and waited while his eyes adjusted.
It had been a game once, between them. "I'm the King today… you can be the King tomorrow!" Prince Barbro had declared as they took turns giving one another orders and pretending to be heroes of old charging toward imaginary enemies.
The game went on until their last session, when Barbro played the role of king, and told his younger brother, "I don't want to play this anymore…"
The hurt on Zanac's face that day never truly left Barbro's memory. ' Was that where it changed?' Overnight, Prince Zanac became a rival rather than a brother and a playmate, and it was never the same.
Prince Barbro found the sleeping body of his brother very easily, the snoring was a dead giveaway. He raised up his knife, spread his feet apart, and towered over the short, fat competitor. Zanac rolled over so that he was on his back.
Prince Barbro hesitated, his brother looked so peaceful, a little moonlight made it through the mesh and that served as a dim window, and he could see a smile form on his brother's face. "Hurray…" Prince Zanac murmured in his sleep. Whatever it was, it was a good dream.
Prince Barbro braced himself, then muttered with quiet resolve, " I. Am. The King."
He then slapped his powerful hand down over Prince Zanac's mouth.
"Mhmmpfff! Mmmahffpf!" Prince Zanac struggled to speak, his legs kicked against the soft blanket and made no sound, his fat fingers clawed at the hand he suddenly felt stealing away his breath.
Barbro whispered soft words to the fat little Prince struggling under his hold. "Shhh, shhh, this is how it has to be, brother . For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I thought I could just exile you, but it's clear I can't stop at that. So… goodbye, I'll try to make it painless." He then brought his knife down to Zanac's heart. The force of his blow pierced through the breastbone, tearing open his brother's heart, and spilling out his life. The whites were wide as saucers as the pain lanced through the youngest Prince. Fear lit up his eyes as he silently begged with the last of his life's moments for this not to be real, or for his big brother to 'save him'. Then Prince Zanac felt nothing, and died.
Barbro didn't know if his brother could see him, ' I hope not, though, I hope not. At least he's back to dreaming again.'
The shocked eyes were held open only for seconds before they slowly closed, and when the body ceased to twitch beneath Prince Barbro's tight grip, the elder brother and now only living son of King Ramposa III, stood up. He crept back to the slit in the tent, then through the hole he'd made to his own.
He sat on his cot shaking for a short while, every hair on end, and a sense of loss he hadn't quite expected. How much time passed before he stood up again, Prince Barbro wasn't sure, it felt like an eternity, but it might have been only minutes.
"Alarm! Assassins! Assassins!" Guards! Guards!" Prince Barbro shouted, his bellowing, powerful voice woke up guards everywhere and snapped those standing outside his tent to attention. He ducked under the tent door and stepped outside, "An assassin! An assassin was just in my tent! He came in through the side! Hurry! Find him!" Prince Barbro barked the order and the clanging sound of guards in metal armor rushing everywhere stirred the camp from its deep slumber.
Prince Barbro stood silently outside his tent, a few guards kept on hand while the rest looked for the nonexistent assassin.
"Check on my… brother." Prince Barbro said, staring through the darkness that only torches fought against, at the entrance to the tent where his brother's body lay.
One of the few at his side broke away, and with slow and steady steps, the young soldier pushed aside the flap of the tent, and found what Barbro had done.
The last living son of Ramposa waited for the inevitable. The soldier came back out, knelt before Prince Barbro and with a bowed head he said, "I am sorry, sire. Your younger brother is dead."
Barbro didn't have to make the lump in his throat obvious, it was pronounced enough that the torchlight of guards who gathered to report on their failure to capture the killer, danced over it for all to see.
By that time the sun was starting to rise on the distant horizon. The false dawn beginning the day, the Crown Prince gave his first order. He pointed to the two guards outside his brother's tent.
"Hang those two, they were supposed to guard my brother… instead, he is dead, if they'd done their jobs right, then the peasants wouldn't have been able to kill him! Either they were incompetent, or they were in on it, and either way I don't need that!" Barbro's voice carried the natural air of authority that came with a lifetime of being prepared to rule, and loyal guards rushed to grab hold of the now struggling pair.
"What?! No! No! We guarded our posts! We weren't in on it! We weren't! We swear! By the gods no!" They struggled, kicked and flailed their legs about as four of their comrades dragged them over to a nearby tree, fashioned a noose as they continued to beg for their lives, and slipped the ropes around their necks.
"My Prince! Please! Mercy! We were loyal! We are loyal!" They cried out under Barbro's watchful eyes. He kept his focus on their tearful, fearful faces as two men began to haul the long end of the rope. The nooses tightened and the condemned dangled over the grass, their toes desperate to touch even a single blade of grass, and gain 'some' support for their bodies as their own weight strangled them.
The gurgling and gasping noises and their spasming limbs joined the smell of their bodies soiling themselves in death, as one final indignity overtook the pair, and within minutes, the strangled duo swayed like branches blown lightly in the wind. The rope creaking as they moved was the only sound to be had when the sun rose on the horizon and illuminated the day, putting the gruesome ends on display.
When it was finally over and Barbro was satisfied, he had the unit gathered and went to don the armor Prince Zanac had cleaned for him the day before.
Looking properly princely, and now well rested, Barbro strode over to his brother's horse, flung his leg over to mount it, and then turned it around to face the host. "My brother was murdered by peasant rebels! They've killed a member of the royal family! That is an assault on the Kingdom itself! We will avenge that defeat, we will avenge that sin, we will avenge our Kingdom… and the first hundred men to enter the gates of Carne, the home of the rebels, will get three hours of plundering just for themselves!"
Spears, halberds, and swords raised up as the warriors cheered. "Barbro! Barbro! Barbro!"
With that, the Prince gave his next order. "Break camp, and prepare to march, we've got a rebellion to crush!"
Volume 2 Chapter 37
Queen Enri rode at the center of her staff. Jugem held up her banner at her back, Ninya at her right hand, Nfirea at her left, and the Goblin Strategist on the outside to Ninya's right. The Goblin Strategist stroked his thin beard and kept his eyes on the horizon. "What can you tell me about our unfortunate enemies?"
"The one we're facing right now is an idiot." Queen Enri said with vitriol, her hands clenched the reins of her horse, behind her column there lay wagons loaded with captured armor for the recruits she intended to raise.
"Also, he has to die, painfully." Ninya said through clenched teeth.
"A wise opponent strikes where his enemy must defend." The Strategist said.
"A fool only seeks a battle to win." Ninya finished, and the wizened old goblin looked to his left out of the corner of his eye.
"I had some lessons." Ninya answered.
"I see." The old goblin kept stroking his beard, "If what the wolfriders say is accurate, he has another force coming this way, if he leads it, then he'll come straight for us."
"And if he doesn't? Or if he keeps running?" Enri asked.
"Then we move to intercept him if he tries to get around us, or we start taking villages and towns if he runs. After we've killed the first few noblemen, they will have to fight." The Goblin Strategist explained to his summoner.
"This is going to get very bloody, very quickly." Nfirea said with no small amount of regret.
"Good." Ninya spat. "The nobility treated us like animals, like whipped dogs. It's time for them to remember something they've forgotten."
"What's that?" Enri asked with a raised blonde eyebrow.
"That a dog is just a wolf that hasn't chosen to turn on you." Ninya said with hate thick in her throat.
"Wolves… yes… I think you've just picked the standard for the Army of Carne." Nfirea said with a pleasant smile on his face.
His voice carried, and went from his lips to an ear, and it became a whisper that went back, and back, and back. Through the ranks of the goblins, to the natives of Carne and the vengeful ones who settled there. "Wolf King! Wolf Queen! Wolf King! Wolf Queen!" The chant came up with every step, and carried aloft in the air until throats were too weak to bear it.
For days it went that way, the chant became a marching cadence, and at every village they passed, they warned of the rebellion, and at each one they had only to say the same thing.
"We've rebelled. Do you think they will spare you ? You're dead anyway, go down fighting for your families and your homes…" And dozens more suits of captured armor would be filled in turn.
Village after village, with no hope to survive the wrath of the nobility, had its young people join the ranks of the army of Carne.
And so the cadence, "Wolf King! Wolf Queen!" was carried on, to the sound of thousands of marching feet and slavering, hungry wolf riders got ever louder.
Until they encountered their target.
"Yup." Ninya said, "My Queen, you were right, total idiot." She pointed her staff at the idiot commander at the center of a new army. "We're outnumbered again, though."
"It doesn't matter." Nfirea said and held up his hands so that it was outstretched before him, "We're better prepared than before. Now, my beloved, would you care to address the troops?"
Enri looked over her shoulder, "If he wins, your wives, sisters, and daughters lives will be like Tuare, and your own will be like dust. If you win, you'll have your own kingdom. Remember that, and go only forward!" Enri raised the sword she could barely use, but clad in her dark armor with a red cape caught in the breeze and standing up in her stirrups with her long blonde hair waving like her battle standard in the wind, she made an inspiring figure.
It wasn't much of a speech, she knew, but it appealed to everything they valued and everything they feared.
"Wolf King! Wolf Queen! Wolf King! Wolf Queen!" The chant went up and halberds began to pound on the ground, creating a steady rumble that shook the very ground.
"How long before he orders a charge?" Enri asked.
Ninya and the Goblin Strategist looked at the opposing side, unlike the goblins they led, whose long spears stood still and ramrod straight, the ones in the Kingdom Army were waving and swaying, nervousness was obvious, they had little will to speak of.
"Not long." Ninya answered with her eyes narrowing and sweeping the ranks. The Prince made his lines long to give them confidence, to make them appear to be larger in number than they were. But Kingdom soldiers were conscripts for the most part, they had little real taste for battle, they could receive a charge, but nothing more with any order.
"He is an idiot." The Goblin Strategist reemphasized.
"Right, so we wait, perhaps they'll run, if they do, we give chase." Enri's eyes swept the terrain, the long dusty road over which they marched had dried out since the storm, the grassy field on either side was open, with only a small patch of woods, barely enough to fit a dozen men in, and in it, a handful of wolf riders were stationed, waiting for their opportunity.
Minutes passed as the two armies faced off against one another. From where they sat, Enri could see that the one in charge was discussing something with a man at his side.
What it was, became evident when a white flag went up, and the idiot commander began trotting his horse forward.
"I'll go forward. You should wait here." Nfirea said, and Enri looked over at him with a furrowed brow.
"I told you before, I want to protect the woman that I love." Nfirea gave a braver smile to her than he managed last time, and Enri felt her heart melt, but she hardened it with her duty.
"No, we'll go together. Ninya, Jugem, come with us." Enri said, and without waiting, she began to canter forward as well. Nfirea and the others were with her a moment later.
They met almost precisely between the two armies. Prince Barbro looked down at them with contempt, his face twisted with anger, "So, peasant trash, it's been 'suggested' to me that I let you go home without punishing you. That releasing you to your homes would end all this before it gets worse. I won't do that. But if you give up your arms and armor, and go home, I will hang only one in every five of you."
"We both know you won't do even that, scum." Ninya said, and hocking a vicious loogie, she spat across the space between them, and though she missed the prince, it struck his horse. That was enough to turn the handsome face dark with rising anger.
"That was my sister in your tent… I wanted you to know that." Ninya hissed. Her gentle eyes were hard and raw, but it only made the Prince laugh when he looked down at her.
"You expect me to care who she was? Girl, that isn't why a man buys a toy." Prince Barbro chuckled.
"No, worm," she hissed again, "I wanted you to know, because when this is all over, coward, that it was her sister that finally killed you. That it was her sister whom you begged for death, and you will beg."
Prince Barbro's face was a stormcloud of anger and contempt, "You'll do the begging, just like her… peasant ."
"She's not a peasant anymore." Nfirea pointed out as if he were making a logical argument in a school debate, "She's a General, and when we have our own Kingdom, she'll be appointed a noble title."
The Prince's mouth fell open at the nearly blasphemous statement, "By what right, by what…"
"Because I am King Nfirea the first, and this," he placed a loving hand on Enri, "is Queen Enri the first. We'll ennoble her to the Kingdom of Carne… and you… we'll feed you to the dogs."
Enri had felt proud of Nfirea many times in their time knowing one another, up until that moment, her greatest pride had been at the moment of greatest danger… but the present moment left all those behind. Her heart redoubled in size, so much so that she felt her breast could not contain it, and as if it needed somewhere to go, she began to laugh. Crystalline and beautiful, the Wolf Queen of the Kingdom of Carne pointed behind the Prince. "You've got our answer, we're not surrendering anything. Go, scurry along back, we've got a Kingdom to tear apart, a Kingdom to build, and we won't wait on you."
Barbro cursed and spat, and then wheeled his horse around and galloped back to his lines.
As they returned to their own, Enri asked her companions, "Is he mad enough now?"
"I think so. If he weren't a coward too, I'd even expect him to lead the charge." Ninya said just as they reached their positions.
She was right, the Kingdom's drums began to pound, and the infantry began to move forward.
Ninya looked behind her, "Signal the goblin mages."
The flag began to wave, and Ninya raised her hand up.
[Fireball]
[Acid Javelin]
[Bombard]
The spells came from Nfirea, Ninya, and the host of casters at their backs, fire and acid flew in a long, deadly, inexorable arc into the densely packed lines of the Kingdom infantry.
Men fell screaming and writhing in pain as fire and acid consumed their bodies.
The bombardments came again, and the walk became a jog.
"Archers!" Enri called out, and arrows were nocked, then flew into the air to land again among the densely packed ranks.
Men fell screaming to shafts in their necks, or silenced immediately when their lives were ended by an arrow through the eye. The path of advance was measured in death as the Kingdom army's numbers dwindled.
A horn blew from behind the Kingdom lines, and cavalry began their charge. Heavy horses thudded over the ground, adding to the rumble of marching feet.
"Wolf Riders!" Enri shouted, her husband continued firing off acid into oncoming faces, unable to miss hitting 'someone' with every blast.
The howling of wolves drowned out all else for a moment, and then the pounding of large paws from massive wolves began to compete with horses.
The goblins atop the wolves were armed, armored and skilled in ways that the kingdom cavalry could only dream of being. Though they were fewer in number, the wolf riders began to extract a heavy toll on the flanks where cavalry began their once proud charge.
"Alright, now." Ninya said, "Infantry, and sound the drums."
The boom of the goblin army war drums sent waves of terror into the advancing, thinning ranks of the kingdom soldiers, their steel armor could not protect them from their own cowardice. They began to waver with the first steps of the goblin heavy infantry.
Enri drew out her sword, her infantry were close. Her heart was running wild in her chest, fear was palpable, but worse was the fear of going back, worse was the fear of losing without doing anything. ' Last time, last time they came, all I could do was run away and die. I couldn't protect Nemu! I couldn't save my parents! I couldn't do anything but die! I can do something this time, I 'will' do something this time!' Her sword went into the air, her armor was one of the finest sets in the carts delivered to her village by Master Gown, and at a full set, the only places on her body that were vulnerable were her face, head, and throat.
"Charge!" She shouted, and lowered her sword forward, Nfirea, Ninya, and Enri spurred their horses as one, and into the fray they headed.
The bouncing of their horses made aiming difficult, but Nfirea's acid javelins and Ninya's fireballs were nonetheless hitting at least some targets.
The clashing and clamoring of swords, the screams and dying of men were indistinguishable from those of wild beasts, the heavy goblin infantry treated war like a chore, like farming, and the Kingdom soldiers, regardless of their superior numbers, began to fall like wheat before the scythes. Men fell screaming into the churned up earth, once dry, it became muddy with sweat, fear, piss, and blood all churned up into a morass into which men sank. The numerical advantage shifted, and the Goblin Strategist gave the final signal.
From the little clump of woods, the small number of hidden wolfriders emerged, behind enemy lines, they rushed straight for the commander of the army of the Kingdom.
His small honor guard saw the surprise attack too late, and spun their horses to charge and meet a threat for which they were no match.
Barbro saw the horror unfolding in front of him, his army of almost eleven thousand men, the ten thousand his brother 'delivered' and the nearly thousand he had remaining, was being whittled down by the second. His mouth dropped open in disbelief. He felt his fear begin to rise in his mighty chest. ' No… it can't be. I'm a Prince, damn it! Why aren't they winning! This should have been easy! They're just goblins and peasants… ok some nagas and ogres…' He acknowledged when he saw the ogres kick dozens of his men out of their formation and a naga's tail smash into a group and send them flying to the ground.
' But they're so few! How can this be happening to me?!' Prince Barbro wanted to pull at his hair, only the princely dignity he still had when surrounded by his honor guard prevented him from doing so.
Then one of his men let out a cry of alarm.
"Ambush!"
Barbro whipped his head to where the warrior pointed, a dozen wolf riders had been hidden in a little patch of woods, and were charging toward him full tilt.
"Get them! Get them, you idiots! Protect your Prince!" Barbro's voice became a high pitched squeal of fear as his warriors turned to do just as he said. They roared out brave battle cries and raised their swords for the clash that would decide the fate of their Prince…
Horses screamed and died so close that he could smell their fear, a few loyal guards yelled for him to run while the goblin wolfriders tore his guards to shreds. Flashing teeth of white became teeth of red, claw-like nails on the wolves raked over faces and horse throats, tearing out streaks of flesh to cast into the red stained grass, and the bodyguards died off.
Before the call for him to run had even reached his ears, Prince Barbro began to do exactly that. He turned his horse around and began to spur it to a gallop. Behind him his army, losing their leader, broke entirely and soldiers ran for their lives, trading their pride and dignity for a precious few seconds of ephemeral life.
The battle became a massacre, and the Prince alone survived. His lungs were burning from his hard breathing, the horse's flanks were bloody from the force of his legs digging into them to spur it on further.
And yet, at his back, the wolf riders were gaining on him.
"No!" He cried out and flung off his helmet to save his horse a tiny bit of the burden of carrying it while he was trying to escape.
At his left and right, the wolf riders fell in, almost like they were his honor guard, taunting him, laughing, waving, their wolves keeping pace with the horse of the Prince, but not turning on him.
They went on, and on, and on, the horse's fear of the wolves greater than its desire to carry its human passenger to safety, carried on for what seemed like an hour, until at last, it reared back on its hind hooves, forelegs kicking wildly, flinging Barbro from its back, and giving out a single final whinny of pain and fear… then it fell. It landed, dead on its side, its powerful heart overloaded from fear and stress.
Prince Barbro felt the wind knocked out of him when he landed on his back, he lay there coughing and wheezing without any air to spare, staring at the wolves and their riders that now circled him.
"Bring him back to the Summoner." One of them finally said, and a wolf's jaws snapped out over Barbro's leg, piercing the leather boot and the flesh beneath, and breaking the bone.
"Noooo!" He screamed and clawed at the dirt, as the wolf began to run, dragging him over dirt and rocks and grass, all the way back to the site of the massacre.
The victors were still working, and the commanders waiting, when Barbro was dragged over the grass by the wolf who still held his broken leg.
It jerked its jaw forward and released its hold, and he landed with a grunt and rolled over to their feet, he found himself staring up at the brown haired girl who called herself the sister of his pet Lakyus.
"Do it…" Enri said, "But don't waste time, we have a Kingdom to build."
"Yes, My Queen." Ninya replied, she put her foot on his throat and began to press down. The Prince's eyes bulged in his head. "My name is Ninya Veyron, you raped my sister, prepare to die."
She then looked up at the wolf riders, "Start to chew on his limbs, make it hurt, but don't kill him. He's not allowed to die till he begs ."
Barbro's head shook under the boot on his throat, and then he gurgled out howls of pain as a wolf latched onto each limb and began to tear away at his flesh like his armor wasn't even there. Bits and pieces of metal began to fall away, and with it went flesh and blood.
Ninya lifted up her foot from his throat to allow his screams to fill the world, and with his screams, her heart sang a happy song.
'Lupu was absolutely right. I'll have to do something for her when I see her again.' Ninya made a mental note about that as the tearing began to peel strips of flesh down to his bones, exposing them to the air, he kicked and struggled against the massive jaws, but all it did was injure himself more, and the breaks added up.
Until at last, he begged. "Please! No more! I'm sorry! No more! I beg you! Kill me! Kill me! Kill meeeeeee…"
Ninya raised a hand, and the wolves stopped their chewing.
The Prince dropped like a sack of bloody potatoes into the grass and stared up at her. "Mercy. Death… K-Kill me… Beg you… no more pain…"
Ninya recalled what her sister had said, her begging, crawling scraping, the way he made her humble herself as if she'd done something wrong. How she was made a substitute for his hatred of someone else.
"Eventually." Ninya said, "Continue."
Barbro screamed again as the wolves went back to tearing off bits of his flesh.
It was only when Barbro could no longer scream or beg, when his throat had lost the power to even plead, that Ninya said with cold satisfaction, "Now you can die, be grateful. It's a greater kindness than you ever gave."
Barbro's eyes still worked, and he saw the open mouth of razor teeth belonging to one of the massive wolves, coming toward his throat. His fear of death however, was long, long gone. Now Barbro feared only one thing as the maw began to drip hot wolf drool over his cheek, he feared not being allowed to die.
The teeth closed in, they slowly pierced his skin, he felt blood begin to spurt out of his veins and the hot fluid run over his skin, and his head began to crunch as the jaws closed tighter.
Then there was nothing to be afraid of anymore, for Prince Barbro, last son of King Ramposa III, firstborn and rightful heir to the Throne of Re-Estize… was dead.
And with his death, a cheer shook the world.
"Wolf King, Wolf Queen, Wolf King, Wolf Queen!" And the green and gold banner of Carne waved proudly over the field.
Volume 2 Chapter 38
King Ramposa's face was drawn and ashen. His fingers shook so much that they rattled the paper on which the words were written. ' Everything was looking up!' He thought with utter despair. Eight Fingers was broken, the heads of their leaders sat on top of pikes at the gates of the capital. A caster at hand who may have had the power to defeat the empire… now this .
He set the rattling, shaking paper down on the table, one bad thing after another had happened in the span of little more than days. "Sire, what do we do? If the Adventurer's Guild refuses to undertake any quests for any members of the royal faction, then we won't have a faction…" Marquis Raeven shuddered at the thought.
"That is bad…" Princess Renner replied, "But… my brothers, and the peasant rebellion… that is worse."
"My sons… both of them…" The King could no longer read the document put together from survivor testimony. The hated ink grew blurry through his pooling tears, while bitterness filled his voice for more reasons than one. Word of Prince Barbro's abuses and corruption spread like wildfire, even without the documented proof, the use of an Eight Finger's 'contract purchase' to pretend to abuse an adamantite ranked adventurer made it easy to draw the correct conclusion.
And all the King could do was sit in private with his few trusted advisors, and wallow in despair. "My son… Barbro… he cost me much. But I would have preferred he lived, and cost me more…" The King's head slumped, "He was wrong, you don't have to tell me that, Gazef." The King did not meet the look he knew his Head Warrior was giving him. "But he was my son, and bad as he was, I loved him. And Zanac… he would have been a good King, if only he hadn't been killed."
His hand drifted over the documents arrayed on the desk, next to the one informing him of his sons' demise and the declaration of independence for the 'Kingdom of Carne' sat reports of the places they'd taken. Several minor noble houses had been exterminated already, a number of towns, villages, and E-Rantel even surrendered without a fight.
Beside that, sat the document from the Empire, declaring their annual war.
"What can I even do?" King Ramposa asked. He was at a loss, neither Gazef nor Raeven had an answer.
His last remaining child however, did. "Father… there is only one course of action." Renner put her hand over his and looked up into his face with her loving, warm blue eyes. "My brothers…" She blinked back tears, "my brothers are gone, but the Kingdom remains. The nobles won't send an army to fight the Empire when the rebels are hanging entire houses… they can't even if they wanted to. We have to stop the rebellion from swallowing us in pieces. Master Gown is ready to declare the existence of his Kingdom and warn the Empire to steer clear. Let him do that, and then, we gather the noble houses together, all of the noble faction, and go to fight the rebels."
"Slaughtering the people of my kingdom doesn't sit well with me." Gazef remarked with a sullen look. "If they only knew the king I know…"
"But they don't." Marquis Raeven pointed out. "And there's no way they want to now, between everything that has happened with Prince Barbro, the Guild, and now this."
"I don't propose we go fight to win the battle, I propose we go to fight to win the war." Princess Renner said, and the three men looked at her, even her father's face of mourning vanished in the confusion.
As the Princess laid out her plan, the faces of her father, the Marquis, and Gazef, first turned ashen, then intrigued, and finally, as she spoke and argued as gently as she could, resigned.
"One third of Re-Estize will be lost." Her father replied at last.
"If we don't cut off the arm, the whole body will die. We can have two-thirds of our Kingdom, or none of it. And at the end, father… you know you will have to step down. A new ruler will be needed." Renner said and gently laid her hand on his arm, "Let our kingdom's great renewal be your legacy… not the things my oldest brother did… if you go out the right way… then you can spare him that shame. Please… father, let me help you." Renner wiped tears away from her eyes, and the king finally gave a somber, silent nod.
It took weeks for it to happen, the nobles were slow to heed the call at first, and village after village joined the rebellion. The 'Wolf King and Wolf Queen' ate up territory and captured noble houses were hanged from their own towers. Small engagements left more weapons and armor in the hands of the rebellion, and made the Kingdom of Carne seem unbeatable.
But the call was answered, tens of thousands of levied soldiers and household retainers, along with the heads and entire families of the noble houses, came to gather at the capital.
"Father, is it really necessary for you to go yourself?" Renner asked while her shaking hand caressed the back of his own, her eyes lingering up at him, worry filling her face.
"Yes, my daughter. I am the King. I do what needs to be done… I sacrifice what I must sacrifice for the greater good. And that means I must put myself at risk." King Ramposa said, his voice weaker than Renner had ever known it, he was clear in his determination, covering her hand with his own, he looked down at her for a long moment of reflection.
"Daughter, Renner, you were more than I knew you to be, and I regret not seeing it until your brothers were gone." King Ramposa laughed bitterly, "Not to worry though, I will make up for lost time when I come back. We'll set everything right, and restore our Kingdom to what it used to be."
"Yes, father, I can hardly wait." Renner replied, and flung her arms around him in a tight embrace. The hardness of his armor and the softness of his royal cape that hung down at his back were at odds with one another, but the warmth of his kiss to her forehead was real, clear, and utterly sincere.
Renner's pure white dress was long and flowing, and though in heels, she had to rise to her tiptoes to kiss her father's white bearded cheek. "At least take Gazef with you, father." She pointed a few feet away where Climb stood dutifully in the wings. "I have my Climb to protect me, I don't want you to go out there into danger without some assurance that you'll come home."
"Very well, Renner, very well." King Ramposa III said with an aching heart as the worry from his youngest living child for himself, warred against his worry for her. "Just assist Marquis Raeven as best you can, and I'll go end this once and for all."
"As you say, father." Renner answered and broke her tight embrace, removing herself to the side of her bodyguard.
"Protect my daughter, Climb. She is all I have left." King Ramposa said with a deep well of sorrow still roiling in his guts.
Climb immediately went down to one knee and bowed his head to swear loud enough that it echoed off the stone walls of the palace, "Majesty, no one will touch her unless they've killed me first."
"I believe you…" The King said, looking the blonde boy over, clad in the armor the Princess had scrimped and saved to give to him. Having clear eyes and a hard, handsome look about him, nearing manhood, the boy was always diligent, hardworking, loyal and devoted. ' The poor boy, in love with my daughter, but this was all he could ever do. If he'd been born a nobleman, he might have made a fine match, he might even have been a worthy king. But… it simply isn't meant to be.' King Ramposa reflected with a sense of pity for the young Climb.
"Send word to Gazef that I will bring him after all, and tell him to hurry, we're leaving soon." The King said, and then walked away without looking back.
Emperor Jircniv sat in his private council chamber. "Is this a joke?" He asked, rolling up the document and shaking it like a stick.
"I'm afraid not, my boy." Fluder replied. "I checked it out myself, the Kingdom has ceded part of its lands to a magic caster named Ainz Ooal Gown, he is a true caster and bested a Theocracy Scripture unit some months ago."
Jircniv frowned, unrolled the document and read it again.
' To the Emperor Jircniv of Baharuth, let it be known that on this fourteenth day of the month, the Kingdom of Nazarick is named into being. Also, we enter into a state of war in support of our ally, the Kingdom of Re-Estize, and in retaliation for the military attack upon our lands by your workers on your government's order. You are advised not to march your army to the Katze plains, and to instead offer modest recompense for your offensive conduct against both kingdoms. If your army appears, we will take land and lives instead of simply coins.'
Jircniv stopped reading and crinkled the paper up and threw it hard against the floor. The blonde hair and fine features of the young emperor grew tight and his teeth ground against one another in uncharacteristic anger. "Does he really think he can do what he says?"
"I believe so, my boy." Fluder stroked his beard and approached the sovereign he'd helped to raise. "Will you give in?"
"Of course not." Jircniv shot to his feet and kicked the paper off into a corner. "Defeating a scripture is no small feet but still, even if he can kill five thousand by himself, there's nothing he can do against twenty thousand knights."
"He may have an army of his own… remember he did eliminate hundreds of workers that tried to enter his home." Fluder remarked, and Jircniv stopped to think about what the old man said.
"That is a fair point, we'll pull ten thousand from the swamp area where the frogmen live to hold in reserve, just to be sure." Jircniv said, "We still have time to prepare, and with that peasant civil war being what it is, they'll be weakened anyway. This should be the last great kick before we've knocked down the whole rotten structure of the Re-Estize Kingdom. After this, next year we should be able to start just taking up territory and purging any problematic elements."
"A true new empire is about to dawn on the world." Fluder said with a voice full of wonder. "What marvelous magics it will birth, I can hardly wait to find out!" Fluder shivered with excitement as the meeting ended, and the magic caster departed the company of the Bloody Emperor.
Ainz spun with his sword and cut straight through the towering fire elemental. Day after day, hour after hour, he kept grinding away, killing the powerful summoned monsters of his subordinates, driving his exp ever higher. When he wasn't at it himself, the recruited members of Foresight were at it with aid from Sebas, who steadily secured them victories that were impossible on their own.
However, where for them it was simply a chore to be done, but when the last summoned beast vanished and Ainz removed his helmet to wipe the sweat from his brow, he knew that for himself it was something more.
"Is something wrong, my lord?" Lupusregina asked, holding out a tray with a silver cup and a silver pitcher of cold water beside it.
"Yes." Ainz replied abruptly and took the cup from the tray to quaff down its contents. The ice cold water was deeply refreshing, ' It is soooo much easier to grind in games, you never get tired.' He teased himself a little, and when Lupusregina poured again, he drank that immediately too.
"Master… if I can help…?" The red haired battle maid suggested.
"Fine." He said, the urge to get it off his chest was such that, even knowing Lupusregina's nature, he didn't care. He set the cup down on the tray and once again she poured, sloshing cubes of ice into the cup with tiny little clacking noises as it filled.
Ainz took the cup and resumed drinking, and jabbed his sword into the sands of the arena so that the hilt was pointing straight up. "It's my humanity. I'm going to have to go out and kill a great many people. Maybe if I was still undead, I wouldn't feel anything about it, but while I'm human?" He snorted halfheartedly, knowing how limited what he was about to say, truly was. "Humans, Lupusregina, sometimes feel anxiety or distaste at the thought of killing their own kind."
Lupusregina pursed her lips, careful not to frown, she instead raised a bright red eyebrow, "I never saw any of them hesitate, master. I mean even the peasant toys out there are killing their own kind in a civil war now. And didn't we just kill a bunch of humans who invaded our home? Forgive my ignorance master, but what is the difference?"
Ainz drank more slowly, buying himself time to think of how to answer her.
"They were thieves and traitors, that's why I had the three slaves spared when CZ brought it up, they didn't want to do what they did, so they weren't wrong. But going out to the Katze Plains, I'll be essentially committing a massacre. Does that make sense?" Ainz asked, unsure if his idea of a difference was at all meaningful.
"If you say it does, it does and I just don't understand it." Lupusregina scratched her head, her yellow eyes looked up at him with reverence, "As I understand it, master. Kings do things for the greater good, or they're supposed to, if you've decided what the greater good is, and they're in the way, isn't killing them to get that way justified?"
Ainz chuckled and put a mailed hand on Lupusregina's head. He rubbed there affectionately, and she pressed her head into his palm with absolute contentment. "You may be right, Lupusregina."
' I can make it quick, do it once, and I won't have to do it twice.' Ainz told himself, and moved on to the other matter. He checked his stats to find his level.
' One hundred and fifty, plenty of skill points to allocate, but most of them need to go to warrior skills… I'll have to confess the truth to Albedo, Shalltear, and Demiurge soon. If they turn on me…' He thought, and then briefly recalling that he could have the other guardians protect him from those three, a vision came to mind with it.
' The children of my friends… slaughtering each other… no. No. No. That can 'never' be allowed to happen. I won't let them kill me, but still better that end than to see my beloved children kill one another…' Ainz resolved, then placed the now empty cup back on the tray. The threat of heartbreak was enough to drag him over to other matters.
"Back to it." Ainz said with grit in his voice, "I have to be ready for anything, in this battle, or the one beyond it, if that should come to pass."
"As you wish, master." Lupusregina said, and carried away the tray, steering clear while Ainz drew the heavy sword out of the sand again, and a summoned ice elemental appeared, towering above him, and standing as little chance as the fire elemental before it. Ainz put his helmet back on, yanking it tight, and began his attack.
Volume 2 Chapter 39
"How many does that make now?" Enri asked as soon as she entered the tent. Her black dragon skin leather armor moved with her body when she ducked beneath the low entryway, and her companions were quick to answer.
"Your husband just got back from E-Pespel this morning, My Queen." Ninya answered, giving a half bow and covering her heart with her hand. "So between that and the mining city of E-Rorce to the north? We now have three cities, forty towns, and three hundred villages of various sizes going as far west as a hundred and thirty miles from Re-Lobell. We're ready to move on to E-Libera, and from there?" Ninya traced her hand along the map as Queen Enri approached and looked over it, "It's a week long march to the capital."
"They won't be waiting for you to take E-Libera." The Goblin strategist pointed out, his staff tapped the dirt beneath their feet, "They've had weeks, and we've faced nothing but skirmishes. They'll fight for that city to keep from fighting at the capital itself."
Enri brushed her long golden hair back over her shoulder, "I think you're right. I'm not that good at these things… yet . But I can't picture the King just letting us take another city. We're going to fight another pitched battle soon."
"Very soon." Nfirea said when he entered the tent, Enri's serious face went bright with youthful happiness and she rushed into his embrace. The former shyness and newness of their affection was burned away and in its place was a conflagration of open passion between the pair. The warmth and heat of his body was little impeded by the magic armor either of them wore, but that was nothing in the face of the fiery kiss that they shared, or the tightness of their embrace.
"Welcome back." Enri said breathlessly when the kiss broke.
"Thank you, dear." Nfirea grinned almost as sheepishly as he would have before everything went to hell. But his face quickly became serious, "The Wolf Riders have reported the Re-Estize King is on the way here. He has an army of fifty thousand at his back."
"Fifty thousand… that's a lot." Enri's mind was dizzy at the mere concept of so many people.
"I'm sure it would have been more, but when we started hanging nobles, they decided to take this seriously and move faster, even if it meant giving up numbers." Ninya pointed out, "It sounds worse than it is. A scythe is outnumbered by stalks of wheat, but what does it have to worry about?"
"Can we take E-Libera before they get there?" Enri asked, and the table was silent.
"I don't think so." Ninya finally acknowledged, "We could take it, probably even easily, but I don't like arguing with stone walls, especially with an army on the way. I say we lead them away from the city, act like we're bypassing it to get to the capital." She traced her finger from E-Rorce, over the plains away from the roads. "They can't let us besiege it, so of course they'll get in the way, which is just fine. As long as E-Libera isn't there to reinforce them, everything will be fine."
"Good, how soon can we go?" Enri asked, resting her hands on the table and staring more down at the map than at her companions.
"My soldiers are worn out, humans had to do most of the fighting at E-Pespel, so I'd give them a day of rest." Nfirea suggested, "If we can manage it, and I think we can as long as we send a small force ahead to prepare camp for us."
"Sounds good, let's do that then." Enri replied and slapped the table with the flat of her hand.
Ramposa rocked slightly side to side atop his horse, his eyes steady ahead, while at his side, rode Gazef Stronoff. "My King, you've barely said anything this whole time." Gazef said, the King's dark, thousand yard stare, set the Head Warrior on edge.
Everything about his Majesty was in a stark contrast to the scene. Overhead, birds flew without a care, beasts fled at the sound of the army's approach, but the sun was warm and the air comfortable, the weather was in every way, perfect for a walk, a ride, a hunt. Most of their recent days on the road had been like that.
But the King's mood had always been the same, he said little to anyone, and would not even hold, let alone take counsel. "What should I say, old friend?" Ramposa III finally asked without looking over.
"Majesty? I- I don't know." Gazef said with a difficult swallow.
"Should I say that I miss my boys? That I think nightly of the warmth of their bodies, that I wonder what was done with them in death? Were they buried, or torn apart by beasts? Should I ask ' how did it come to this?' and beg the four for an answer? Or should I ask what kind of king I was to let my Kingdom come to this sorry state?"
"Majesty, you did the best any man could do!" Gazef quietly exclaimed, his wide set eyes open as much as they could be while he looked at the King he admired.
"It wasn't enough Gazef, and you know it. The Theocracy tried to have you killed and nearly succeeded, my own nobility cooperated, and yet until the peasants started hanging nobles, nothing was done about it. I tried to raise my sons to value their Kingdom, and I failed the one who should have succeeded me. My youngest daughter, I protected from marriage that might have helped my country… I put her first, and I was wrong for it." The King's rambling words were low and thick as blood with their bitterness.
"The Empire was going to take my Kingdom sooner or later. Even you couldn't have prevented that." King Ramposa III put a hand on Gazef's shoulder, "But I know you would have tried and for that I am grateful. But now I have one more task for you, will you carry it out tonight after we make camp?"
"Sire," Gazef replied, and seeing the blurry eyes beneath the gold crowned helmet, he gave a humble, "yes… of course."
"Good." The King replied, and Gazef listened in disbelief to what his King had to say, but having given his word, he could think of nothing else to do but wait to do the unthinkable.
Three more days of marching carried the Army of Carne southwest of E-Libera before scouts rushed word that the Re-Estize Army had been spotted. With that the army settled into the camp their advanced riders prepared beforehand.
That night, Nfirea was on top of Enri, each thrust of desire filling her body and driving spasms of pleasure throughout, she slid her thighs up against his side and wrapped her legs around him. Her arms reached out, to pull him into her embrace. "Yes… yes… yes !" Enri whispered into his ears when he was closer. She undulated her hips against his manhood and began to rake her nails over his skin. The powerful praise of their followers, to the King and Queen of the Wolves of Carne was an aphrodisiac in and of itself. Success, power, and pleasure blended to become fuel for the fires of their shared desires, and the natural peak they both sought to become as one flesh in bliss was close.
Then the flap of their tent was pushed open and Ninya entered, "My Queen! My King!" She shouted and immediately blushed and looked away.
"What is it?!" Enri shouted as her eyes flew open to see the sudden visitor. Nfirea turned to look over his shoulder to find the blushing Ninya looking away and closing her eyes.
"Forgive my interruption but… a visitor… an urgent one, someone you know. He has information for you." Ninya hissed out urgently, her eyes were bulging as soon as they opened, and though Enri and Nfirea traded mutual looks of regret, they could only sigh in exasperation.
"Give us a moment to get dressed, and bring the guest in." Enri snapped, and Ninya bade a hasty retreat.
A moment later a hooded man escorted by two redcap goblins ducked under the entry to the tent and then drew himself up to a towering height. Even though he was cloaked and hooded, both Nfirea nd Enri realized that he was a virtual mountain of muscle that even if they stood up, they would still have to look up to.
He threw back his hood, and bowed his head. "Good to see you… people of Carne." Gazef Stronoff said, and pointing casually to the chair at the opposite end of the table he asked, "May I sit?"
"Gazef Stronoff… of all the people I expected it to be… you weren't it." Enri said with more warmth than she herself thought to feel. "I haven't seen you since you tried to protect my village. Are you… maybe having second thoughts about that decision now?"
Gazef put his elbows on the table and folded his hands up to rest his chin on them. "I'd be lying if I said I never wondered if we wouldn't have been better off if you'd been killed. Certainly this rebellion wouldn't have happened, but… if I could go back and do it again, I would make the same choice."
"That's a fair answer." Nfirea added, "But the real question is… are you here to surrender?"
"No." Gazef replied with resolve, "I'm here with information, an offer of exchange."
"Exchange?" Enri asked, "What is it that you're offering, and what is it that you want?"
"My King wants the bodies of his sons returned for proper burial. We heard about what Prince Barbro did, and it grieves my King's heart… but the boy was still his son. He asks for both Barbro's and Zanac's bodies to be given over.
"Well… we can give you Barbro's body, what's left of it, or at least tell you where it is buried. But we had nothing to do with killing Prince Zanac, he must have died before reaching us." Enri denied part of the request with a shrug. "What else?"
"The second is that this battle be the end of our conflict… The King offers you independence, and all the land from Carne Village, to E-Pespel to the south of us, and E-Libera to the northeast of us, including E-Rantel, will be yours." Gazef said, and both Enri and Nfirea's eyes opened wide as saucers.
"Why fight at all then?" Nfirea asked, "We would take that offer now and go home."
"Because we want something else from you, something tomorrow's fight would accomplish that even the King can't do on his own." Gazef said, and both Enri and Nfirea leaned forward with great interest.
' About one fourth of the Kingdom just dropped into our laps, what could he want for that?' Enri wondered, and Gazef took out a piece of paper, which he laid out on the table.
When he was done, Enri asked him point blank, "Do you swear on your honor as protector of the Kingdom, as the Royal Head Warrior, on the courage you showed at Carne… that this is not a trick or a trap?"
"I swear it," Gazef said with a deep, long look into the eyes of the one he'd heard of as 'The Wolf Queen,' "on all those things and anything else you can think of."
Enri and Nfirea reflexively folded their hands together, fingers interlocked, uncertain still, each silently asking the other what to believe. Finally, Enri squeezed Nfirea's hand.
Gazef waited in silence, and Nfirea spoke, "We have a bargain then. We'll see you on the field."
"And… good luck out there." Enri said with a pitying downward look as the silent, broken hearted warrior rose and made his exit after throwing the hood over his head again and ducking out of the tent exit.
The peasant rebellion turned the generally quiet palace of Re-Estize into a virtual inn for the most powerful nobles and their families. The violence done by the Carnian rebels in hanging those nobles that fell into their hands, sent shockwaves of terror through those on estates throughout the kingdom. More than that, the rebels of Carne, with their stunning successes, inspired other rebellions among discontented peasants who finally saw a chance to better their lives. At any other time such minor insurrections would have been easily crushed and the perpetrators drawn and quartered, but 'fear' caused many a noble to flee to the well fortified capital at the mere whisper of angry peasants. The royal family put the greatest houses up in guest rooms scattered about the palace, and at royal expense, rented out every single room in the best inns to provide space for the lesser nobility. True to form, even with everything on the line, they didn't stop playing their games of politics.
Renner grew tired of them within a day, and left the daily operations in the hands of Marquis Raeven.
Which is why on this particular day, her room was tightly locked with only herself, Climb, and the members of Blue Rose settled in for a chat.
The Golden Princess Renner, true to her reputation for sympathy, bowed her head deeply to Lakyus. "If a bowing of my head is not enough for you… I'll kneel." Renner said and dabbed her tear ducts with a white handkerchief.
"No. Don't do that." Lakyus said, glancing at the door. "It isn't your fault, you aren't your brother, you didn't know."
' No, I didn't, and if I had, I'd have had that idiot killed a long time ago. Endangering relations with the guild is a tier of stupidity I didn't know existed in this world!' Renner swore and cursed her dead brother over and over again, but all of that was confined to her raging mind and did not touch her gentle face.
"How are you holding up… are you going to be okay? I know you and Prince Barbro didn't get along, but weren't you on good terms with Prince Zanac?" Lakyus asked, and reached out to touch the shaking hand of her friend.
"Yes, my other brother's death is unfortunate, but it's the natural result of the Kingdom's policies. Kill an entire village over one noble, and you give another village a reason to rebel. We made sure they had nothing to lose and everything to gain. This was inevitable. My brother didn't deserve to die… but people often get what they don't deserve, do they?" Renner asked, taking a long breath before picking up her teacup for a sip.
"This isn't a social call, is it, Princess Renner?" Evileye asked, straightening up in her chair.
"Evileye!" Lakyus hissed.
Renner tittered, "It's fine, Lakyus, she's not wrong. There's a business reason for you to be here too. I'll be honest, what my brother did was unforgivable. The guild refusing to defend my family's supporters, I understand it. But it goes deeper than that, none of this could have happened without the corruption of the factions of the Re-Estize Kingdom."
The lips of the members of Blue Rose tightened, there was no reason to argue with what she said, everyone knew it.
"Father's final wish before leaving, was to end all that. So many pitiable girls, children, young men… so many ruined lives… my family can't possibly make this right, and we not only let this happen, some of us were part of it." Tears began to flow freely down Renner's cheeks. "I need your help to do this, it's not a normal job, not at all, but it'll be the easiest one you've ever done."
"Princess Renner," Lakyus began, "the guild is apolitical."
"Good, so is this." Renner said, "Climb, bring me that sheaf of papers over on my end table, would you?"
Climb inclined his head and obeyed, he took them up and brought them over, and the radiant blue eyed Princess gestured for him to hand the papers to Lakyus.
The radiant adventurer took them in hand and began to skim through the words on there, as she did, flipping from one to the next, she felt her heart skip a beat.
"These are all arrest warrants?" Lakyus asked, laying the documents down.
"No. Only half, the rest are title revocations. All I'm asking is for your help in arresting everyone on that list." Renner replied, "We'll put them on public trial immediately, while father is away."
"But…" Lakyus froze, but before she could unfreeze and speak, Evileye began to laugh.
"Yes! Absolutely yes!" The diminutive magic caster clapped her hands together in excitement.
"Shorty?!" Gagaran gasped.
"What? This has been a long time coming, and for the first time in who knows how long, they're all together… we can end it all in one blow." Evileye snapped the fingers of her right hand with a decisive motion.
Lakyus looked around at her sisters, "I won't engage in assassination… but the arrest of dangerous suspects… well, they're not nobles, so that should be a thin enough objection to satisfy the guild, especially given the recent events."
"Thank you, Lakyus, Evileye, everyone. The Kingdom will be a very different place after tonight." Princess Renner said with a contented little smile. "I can hardly wait." She added, and took another sip of tea.
Volume 2 Chapter 40
King Rampossa III drew himself up at the front of his army. At the head of each of them stood a freshly appointed young man personally selected by Gazef Stronoff. Across him stood an army not but twenty percent the size of his own force.
' And I still have no chance. The Carnian Wolves are equipped with magic weapons that can penetrate steel, they have armor that stops our spears, they have trolls that heal absurdly fast, goblins and wolves that tear through horses and men like a sword through wet paper. Good… that will do for this.' The King thought, and the drums began to sound.
The whole of the Re-Estize army began to advance, "Majesty… I will protect you. I promise." Gazef said to his aged King.
"Today, protect yourself." The King ordered, and Gazef fell silent.
The King drew his sword, and Gazef drew his own.
They watched as the wolf riders began to advance, relief swept over the King. ' This will work!' He realized, and for the first time in some time, Gazef saw a genuine sense of 'peace' come over the face of the heavily armored warrior King.
Glories of old passed before the closed eyes of the old King Ramposa, memories of battles won, the Brotherhood of Banners that was once shared, the happy moment that filled his heart with joy when his sons and daughters were born, the thoughts he wanted to have most, he had, and they set his skin tingling.
He raised up his sword, and Gazef raised up his.
The wolf riders were close, the magic casters were moving into position and covered by infantry.
Ramposa braced himself, and then he heard it.
"Haaaaaaalt!"
It wasn't the only voicing of the command, but even where it couldn't be heard, the fruits of it could be seen. All along the line, units led by Gazef's chosen, stopped dead in their tracks.
King Ramposa gave no such order. Instead, he lowered his sword, and shouted… "Chaaaarge!" With the vigor of youth that Gazef had never seen, the old man spurred his horse forward, the rest of the unit, not knowing what was afoot, followed.
Countless nobles, their most elite and loyal guards…
And no one else.
Gazef heard the drums of the Wolf Queen and her King, and saw them give their own orders, spells launched into the air and began to explode, screaming nobles and their retainers fell to ruin, some bore a look of shock on their faces, others never understood that they were dying.
The wolf riders wheeled about and began to surround the unit, Gazef desperately swung his sword within the maelstrom as the magic died and weapons meant to kill him came closer. Halberds belonging to heavy goblin infantry thrust out, it was a forest of sharp points that were being steadily thrust from the front, and the old feeling of pain began to fill his body.
Screams of nobles and their retainers swallowed the space between men, horses, and those who killed both, the grass was cast aside for dirt, and dirt became mud as the unit became ever more tightly pressed.
"I will defend my King !" Gazef roared like a beast when he saw his lord continue his advance, a quick look showed that the rest of the army still had not moved.
"Forward!" King Ramposa declared, rearing his horse back, its hooves kicking furiously, his sword aloft and white hair billowing, age was taking its toll on his body, his movements were slowed, but his voice still had the power of youth. The goblins, and the humans who began to fall in on the left, now had the unit completely surrounded. Gazef dodged a halberd thrust, swept in, and swung his blade, cutting the weapon in half, but the bearer in heavy dark armor drew a sword, while another halberd bearer filled the gap.
"Forward!" The King's voice boomed, but there was no going forward. A halberd thrust struck the horse in its noble pale breast, and it fell on its side, kicking and whinnying in agony as it tried to dislodge the deeply lodged halberd from its already dying body.
The King, unhorsed, fell on his side, and even over the din and chaos of the dying nobles and retainers around him, Gazef heard the break of bones.
"Forward!" King Ramposa shouted, weaker at last, his sword wobbling in his hands.
Gazef flung his body in between the King and the attackers, ' How can they be so strong?! They're goblins!' Gazef wondered as wounds began to find his body.
"Get… out… of here!" Ramposa finally uttered other words, but as there were no living bodies around him, only the dead, men fell on their backs, sides, and bellies, some still clutching wounds where armor should have saved them and did not. Gazef swung his sword with all the skill of a desperate novice, battering away blows that fell with constancy and steadiness of rain, and like drops of rain, he couldn't stop every one and wounds began to pile up on his body.
Gazef's wild eyes darted around, there was no one left to protect, and nowhere left to go, wolves were already feasting on horse flesh at his back, and humans leveled long spears to hem him in, but the Warrior Captain had no intention of fleeing.
King Ramposa's lips were moving, but no sound was coming out, at least none that Gazef could hear. Frustration and anger overflowed throughout his body, and he abandoned the King's last order, disobeying his lord for the first time in his life, his feet squelched in the bloody mud, a rope of unfortunate intestines was ripped further out of the belly of its dead or dying owner when he spun around to stop another piercing strike.
And then it hit, a single piercing blow, as the last of his martial arts ran out, as the last of his strength began to fade, a halberd ran through his body from one side to the other, tearing open kidneys, liver, and stomach.
"I will protect my king!" He said through blood foaming lips, and a halberd pierced his chest, came out the other side, and pinned both he and King Ramposa III to the ground, where they died, with Gazef's corpse still trying to protect his king, and his sword in nerveless fingers that somehow, still did not open to let loose their grip.
Getting nobles drunk was easy. Getting confident nobles drunk was easier. Getting frightened nobles drunk was easiest. The servants of the royal family kept the wine bottles coming out, and from where she sat at her father's place at the table, she raised her glass again and again in toast.
"To victory!" She said, and they drank.
"To the Kingdom!" She shouted, and they drank more.
"To the future!" And she would raise her cup again, and they would drink with her.
But where they drank wine, wine Renner had drugged, the Princess herself drank only pressed juice. The rich full flavor was, to her, better than wine anyway, with a tart sweetness that she only barely suppressed her urge to indulge in too often. ' A little bonus this evening, I get to have all of it I want.' That in and of itself was enough to keep her smile warm and genuine.
The wine flowed like a river, and in it, nobles chose to swim and drown. One by one they began to pass out as the evening wore on, their cheers and the loud cacophony of their private heaven became as tranquil and quiet as a monastery, little by little.
Renner looked out one of the high windows. In the darkness beyond, she caught sight of the full moon shining down, and then straightened her back. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of her watchful bodyguard. ' I wonder how father is faring out there? Has he engaged already?' It was an idle thought she quickly brushed off, then she 'winked' at Climb and he gave a sharp nod and addressed a guard that promptly left the room. The heavy footfalls of the palace guard trodding up the stairs was an unexpected sound to those revelers still awake enough to recognize the sound, but not sober enough to comprehend it.
The golden princess stood with back straight as Climb approached and leaned over to whisper, "It's done, Princess Renner."
Renner tapped her glass one more time, and weary, bleary heads raised to look at her.
"It's been a wonderful evening, and now, if you'll hear me out, there are things that need to be said that have gone un said for far too long." Renner put a hand behind her back and folded it into a fist. Her sense of hatred and contempt for the nobles that provided the maids as veritable spies for their houses and invaded her life, began to boil. Her knuckles cracked a little with the force of her fist, and she began.
"In times of peace and tranquility, you proved adequate in taking care of my family's kingdom… barely adequate. But whenever any disturbance arose, any trouble or trial or threat, you forgot your duty to my family, our kingdom and its people. Instead you looked out for something else." She paused and let the words hang.
The more clever and slightly less drunk, began to sense danger and tried to move, inhibited by the mild additional dosing given to them.
"You protected your lands, your names, your titles, your interests. You put yourselves first, many of you, I know, engaged with Eight Fingers, openly using your peasants to grow the plant that was turned into black dust. Or selling off your peasants as if the anti-slavery measures hadn't passed. Those very actions caused the rebellion that my father has had to go attend to. When it came to the Baharuth Empire, you often sold out information on one another or the royal family. In every way you could be a failure in difficult times, you were failures."
Renner paused again and took a sip of juice, the flavor exploded on her tongue, its tartness bringing happiness that kept her smile growing as she laid out words long held back.
"In every way you could be corrupt, you were corrupt. As of today, every corrupt, disloyal, faithless, or incompetent house has its land and titles officially revoked! You will be replaced by competent people. Your fortunes are forfeit, and for most of you, so are your lives." Renner then flung her glass down hard against the floor, shattering into a thousand shards pointed at the guests, and shouted, "Guards! Seize them!"
Chaos ensued as those unconscious failed to understand that their lives as they knew them were over, while those awake enough to understand the changing of their world, struggled to resist, and failed.
Renner watched with Climb at her side, as nobles were dragged, sometimes by their feet, clawing at the stone floor until their fingernails tore off, crying for mercy that didn't exist, or protesting innocence that both Renner and Climb knew they didn't possess.
Upstairs, Evileye ran through the halls faster than the eyes of mere common noble guards could hope to see. A part of the adventurer pitied the guards, but it was only a tiny part. ' They're no different than Eight Fingers thugs, and some of them are probably exactly that!' And so as she went down the hall, her vampiric claw came out and throat after throat from guard after guard standing outside of door after door, opened up and spurted an arc of bright red blood out onto the once clean, cream colored floor.
As one man fell, another would turn to see the commotion, but before that could happen, her finger tore its dread arc over the veins of the men who waited to die, and the noise of their tumbling armored bodies, loud as thunder for a second or two each, went through the hall, only to be reduced to twitching and gurgling, then nothing.
On other floors her sisters would be doing the same, dispatching the most trusted guards of the most powerful nobles as if they were but trash monsters beneath even novice adventurers to kill.
For the twins, it was a trivial chore, they would fade through shadows and thrust their daggers through armored backs as if the only armor they wore was a cheap shirt. For Lakyus, sending out her flying blades took an entire hall before the last managed to catch a glimpse of his inevitable death.
Within an hour, Gagaran was doing her part, leading the palace guards from room to room, all it took from the giant swaggering woman was one jab of the butt of her hammer and doors popped off hinges.
Cries of fear and outrage, including the unfortunate shrieks of children who didn't understand why men with swords and spears were breaking into their dark rooms and dragging away their mothers or fathers, overflowed into the death filled and bloodstained halls.
Within an hour, the palace was purged. Renner looked over the now empty table, the goblets lay toppled, glasses and bottles shattered, wine spilled over, dripped to the floor, the wet smack of drops of fine 'Re-Estize Red' falling into a puddle was the only sound in the great hall.
"Climb?" Renner said without turning from the sight of overturned chairs and spilled plates.
"Yes, my Princess?" Climb said, immediately at her side and with one eye turned toward her.
Princess Renner faced him directly and with eyes pooling with tears that made her naturally blue eyes seem all the deeper, "Climb… h-h-have the children removed from their parents. Separate the families. But please, be gentle. We can't risk any kind of mass escape."
"As you wish, Princess." Climb said with stoic resolve. ' She's so merciful and kind… even giving a practical order just breaks her heart… I must protect her, at any cost.' He resolved as he left her side to carry out her orders.
When the palace was secure and Climb was gone, Renner took a folded paper from within her sleeve, went down to one of the lower floor guardhouses. In the dim candle light that cast her shadow about the room, she passed the folded, sealed paper over. "See this to the captain of the city guard, place it only in his hands."
"My Princess… of course." The guard shot to his feet and shot out his response.
' Illiteracy has its uses.' Renner kept the somewhat repugnant thought to herself as she watched the common soldier scurry up the stairs, ' He won't read it, though I should consider transferring or eliminating the Captain of the Guard… I can't very well risk having Climb learn I sent out an order saying, 'Kill the rest' after all.'
In darkness of the night, the 'reserved homes' for minor nobles, and temporarily 'borrowed' inns, were hit by rank after rank of Re-Estize city guards. Screams were few as stealth was a priority, but when panic set in, the old died first, the young hid, the cowardly fled, the brave fought, the weak froze and all, in time, joined the old.
When dawn came, Princess Renner went to the throne room of the Re-Estize Kingdom. There sat her father's chair, his place of power for decade upon decade.
Empty.
Alone.
With her.
The Golden Princess Renner stepped up on the slightly raised platform on which it lay, turned around, smoothed her dress back, and as the golden sun streamed into the hall of the Kingdom… the Princess sat on the throne.
Volume 2 Chapter 41
Enri, Nfirea, and Ninya approached the shattered unit. "He really was telling the truth. It's still hard to believe." Nfirea said as they stepped over corpses to reach the fallen King and his Head Warrior.
"King Ramposa was wiser than we knew." Enri said while leaning over to close the wide open eyes of the fallen king. "His real enemies weren't on the other side of the battle line, but around him."
"So this was what, penance?" Ninya asked, planting her staff on the ground. The rest of the army had surrendered as soon as the last of the nobles fell, and at that moment they were stripping off their armor and donning regular clothes, ready to go back home.
Queen Enri shrugged, "I honestly don't know… maybe? He probably heard what his son did, maybe the shame was too much, maybe the Guild's terms of apology were too great… maybe losing his only boys was too much? Maybe this was just the only way to make sure he was successful."
Nfirea grunted as he tried to pick up the Royal Head Warrior's sword. "Gah… this is heavy… he must have really lived up to the legend of his lifetime." The young King said, looking over the fallen corpse who lay pinned across his king's body. "I could see that, who knows what lies he spun to the nobles, but he got them all together, and told us where they were, and if his daughter and the Marquis did their work well, then the rest are purged in the capital too. So much for asking Sir Momon to rule us though… which is honestly a shame."
"You don't want to be a King, Enfi?" Enri asked and reached out to take his hand.
Nfirea vigorously denied it. "No, being your husband and an apothecary of some note, doing my research, making my potions, that's what I wanted, those I take by choice, but the crown is being forced on me."
Enri squeezed his hand, "I'll make it up to you… every night, as long as you can keep up."
"I'll do my best." Nfirea said with a dry voice giving the lie by the gleam in his eyes.
Ninya pointed to the Kingdom soldiers, "Do you really want to send them all back?"
"That was the agreement." Enri replied, "I wish the Head Warrior lived to see that we kept it, but for his own reasons… I guess he didn't want to survive his king. We'll send both their bodies home with proper honors. King Ramposa III might not have been a perfect King, but he gave his life to try to set things right. So he can't have been all bad."
"But that many soldiers…?" Ninya asked.
The Wolf Queen shrugged it off, "Without armor, or weapons, or the will to fight. We can be generous once to people who had no choice about coming against us. Besides, I don't want to start things off acting like-"
"Understood, my Queen." Ninya replied, "Understood." She shuddered at the comparison she was sure was coming.
In the end, the plunder of weapons, armor, and war gear, less that carried by the King and his most loyal servant, took dozens of carts to fill, and the army that had been brought to destroy the rebellion, left feeling grateful to the rebels for their lives. Their one task, bury the dead of their own side, and then depart with enough food to go back to their homes. The sound of thousands of spades heaving earth, the smell of stirred up grass and blood, it still made Nfirea feel like Enri seemed to be whenever she visited his workshop.
But it had to be done. The ranks of the Wolves of Carne formed up before sunset, and began the walk home to await the official concession of their independence. "Are you worried they'll go back on it?" Ninya asked when she rode beside her Queen.
"No, not really. Sir Momon went that way, I'm confident that he'll persuade any opposition that going to war against us would be a futile waste." The Wolf Queen replied, "And we'll reach out to Master Gown as well, we can repay our debt much faster now. I doubt he'd be pleased to know the people he rescued are under threat again before we can properly pay him back."
Satisfied grins ran all around.
"A kingdom… a real kingdom… I never imagined…" Ninya gasped as the reality began to set in.
"Brita… she would have been very proud." Enri said in a quiet whisper.
That left them somber until they returned to Carne. The ramparts of the village were jam packed with people, the roaring and cheering soared over the heads of the returning victors, but before they could enter, Enri called a halt.
"Before I enter my home again, I want a moment of silence for the honored dead." Enri bowed her head, and both soldiers and residents alike did the same.
When she raised her head, and others with her, the gate opened, and the Wolf Queen and Wolf King rode into their home in triumph.
When she stopped at what she still thought of as the village center, and turned around to see her army had not even fully entered the gate yet, another sober realization hit her. ' By the gods… we're going to grow… massively, and soon.' She felt the hot wind of change rushing over her body, but forced herself to focus.
"Husband… would you?" Enri asked, and Nfirea obliged, against his wishes, then rose up in his stirrups.
"I'm not one for long speeches, I'm not eloquent or gifted in that… so I'll be brief. We fought, we won, we're free of the old and able to build something new. Let's do better than they did, tomorrow. But for now… go and celebrate however you see fit!" Nfirea's brief speech went over very well with those who were casting hungry looks on lovers who had been apart for far longer than they wanted to be, a sensibility he shared.
He cantered his horse over to their home, Enri and Ninya on either side.
"You two… you need your privacy… I think. I'm going to spend time with my sister, and work out what comes next for her." Ninya started off with a happy expression, but a bitter, difficult, sorrowful one replaced it.
"It'll be alright… she survived a lot to make it this far… just have faith in her." Enri said with a sympathetic look.
With that said, Nfirea and Enri entered the house where they found Peter and Lukrut sitting at the table as if the pair had been waiting for the royal couple to return.
Enri started to frown, but Lukrut held up his hands in surrender, "Wait, wait, hear me out. I just wanted to fill you in on everything before we settle in around here. Also…" Lukrut briefly stopped, "I wanted to say thank you. I know… My Queen, that you were thinking of Brita with that moment of silence… I was too. We were never an 'item' you know. Never a couple, not really, but if only she'd lived?" The irrepressible blonde flirt's hands shook so badly he shoved them into his lap to hide them. "I think, maybe… but now I'll never know. I could flirt with a hundred women a day, get turned down every time and I'm fine by the next beer, but that one… I just couldn't say what I wanted to, now I can't."
"Maybe she knew?" Enri offered, and Lukrut closed his eyes and shook his head.
"No, my Queen, she was too much like you, too dense to notice when a man is over the moon for you until he makes it impossible to ignore." He flashed a winning smile up at Enri, who dropped her mouth open in disbelief at his bold statement, until Nfirea started to laugh, and all Enri could do was laugh with him.
Lukrut and Peter accomplished the same response, and it was hard enough that Lukrut had to wipe away a tear. "I let her go and die without saying anything, I won't make that mistake next time… anyway, about what Peter and I managed…"
Enri listened as best she could, but the truth was she kept turning an eye toward the bedroom, so often that it was a relief to be done, and she fairly dragged Nfirea in after her, tearing at his clothing as rapidly as he tore at hers.
It wasn't until after she was lazy, happy and exhausted in bed, that Enri had the distinct sensation that she was being… watched.
Renner looked up at the sun, it was a little warm overhead, but not yet unbearable. The sound of a rope snapping taut and the creaking noise of the swaying body was drowned out by cheers.
The next noble was brought up. "On the charge of selling peasants to be turned into dust whores… how do you plead?!"
Predictably, he shouted, "Not guilty!" His fine clothes and fat body did nothing to endear him to the crowd.
But when the judge presented the receipt of sale, the crowd roared out their boos.
"The sentence is death!" Princess Renner announced… and another fat noble almost snapped the rope before the rope could snap his neck.
So it went, until there were no surviving old nobility that were not too young to matter.
Before word even reached the city that the battle was lost, that the King was dead, and the conflict was at its end, there was already an excitement in the air at the feel of change.
The evening of the last hanging, Princess Renner called together the current head of the adventurer's guild, the merchant's guild, the mage's guild, and various other key artisan and crafts guilds. She also called together the largest farmers and miners, everybody of importance but no title within the city.
They sat around the long table, clad in the clothing of their professions, while Princess Renner sat at the head of the table with Climb at her right hand, and the Marquis Raeven at her left, one of the last survivors of the old nobility.
Armed guards filled the role of servants, the clink of armor and smell of oil wafted through the air, but was quickly drowned out by the smell of good wine, something these preeminent men of their trades uniformly appreciated.
However, they had the good sense to not touch their cups, until the Princess of purge touched her own. When she did, she didn't drink, instead, she spoke.
"I'm not telling any of you anything new when I talk about the divisiveness, petty politics, and absurdity of the old nobility. You yourselves were often its victims, so we can skip that part." The Princess said, keeping her tone quite blunt and drawing their attention all the more for doing so.
"The Kingdom needs people to rule it, but we don't need incompetent rulers who have no idea how to do anything but abuse their power. So… I am going to establish a 'new' nobility. You." Renner said, pointing to both sides of the tables with her arms outstretched.
Stunned into silence that did not even let them babble, she was free to continue. "However, I didn't just get rid of one problem to get a whole new set of them. I'm the last unbound heir of King Ramposa III. So you have two choices… hail me as the first Queen of Re-Estize, or risk civil war. Do I need to tell you how well most of you will fare during civil war?"
Pale faces and looks of horror was proof enough that she did not. "We were lucky enough that the Wolves of Carne only wanted independence, and that my father found a way to salvage the Kingdom at the end. You won't be that lucky twice . Besides that, the entire plan hinges on a clean succession that lets us make a smooth peace with the new Kingdom to the east." Renner paused for effect. "Without that… war resumes and you'll have angry peasants, goblins, trolls, nagas, and who knows what else rampaging all over the Kingdom. What do you think they'll do to your livelihoods?"
To the pale faces, were added horrified, hyperventilating breathes from more than a few men who most greatly depended upon peace for their prosperity.
"Exactly. So, tomorrow, I will have it announced that I am the new Queen of Re-Estize, and you gentlemen, will spend the rest of that day getting ennobled. And in return, as your first 'gift' you will make sure that the entire city is overjoyed at my ascension. Are we clear?" Renner batted her eyes at them as if she were innocently giving them the time of day, when in fact she was dangling the world before their eyes.
Heads bobbed like wobbling dolls.
"There are some 'additional' conditions, for starters your title will only remain the same or increase, if your child marries someone of merit rather than blood nobility, or completes seven years of service to the crown when they come of age. I won't have talent languishing at the bottom. You gentlemen know the value of talented learners, embrace that in your nobility as well." Renner waited while they let that sink in, and then she added her final condition.
"A large part of the destruction and hatred, not to mention general distrust, came from seeing nobles with no connection to the common people. Therefore I intend my reign to begin in the exact opposite way. I will marry a commoner that I elevate to the ranks of the nobility. A man well known for his skill, power, bravery, and protectiveness of the people." Renner reached beside her to touch the hand of her bodyguard.
"I will wed Climb, and he will be my consort. Through his ascension, and yours, all the kingdom will have hope for better lives, even if we suffered some losses before today. Are there any objections?" Princess Renner asked in a sweet voice that said there damn well better not be any.
"P-Princess, you didn't… I don't…" Climb stared down at her, more than a little flustered.
Marquis Raeven however, shook his head and looked down at the young blonde warrior, "Now, noble Climb… your 'wife to be' asked if there were any objections, and speaking as a married man, I advise you to understand now that it's always happier when, with some women, there are none."
The Marquis was rewarded by a radiant smile from the Princess that almost made him forget just what she truly was, ' Though perhaps he'll temper her some, we can only hope.' He thought, and Climb fell to quiet blushing.
"Now, there's only one final matter to attend to, and then I'll let you all go to spread the word among your people about what I expect tomorrow… and remind key members that there are more titles and lands to be had, than there are spaces at this table." Renner's voice stilled the budding conversation.
"As you know, my father, brothers, and Gazef Stronoff were all killed in the conflict, our nation needs a new Royal Head Warrior… and I could think of no one better than the man who broke the back of Eight Fingers. Sir Momon, would you join us, please?" Renner called out, and right on cue, Pandora's Actor opened the door and stood behind the throne.
"You accept the job, don't you, Sir Momon?" Renner asked rhetorically.
The towering onyx warrior looked down the length of the table and crossed his arms, defying anyone at the table to consider opposing her selection.
"My Queen, I would be pleased to accept such an offer. My partner after all, has decided she missed her friends from Carne and has chosen to return, that leaves me free for as long as you need me to… help keep order." Pandora's Actor said in a voice that was deep, noble, and menacing all at once.
If there were any thoughts of rebellion, they were quashed at the sight of the unbeatable champion with ties to the new Carne Kingdom and the new Wolf Queen, with the power to crush and slay skeletal dragons all by himself, taking a side with the new Re-Estize administration. ' That worked out well,' Renner thought, ' father's plan wasn't bad, but Lord Demiurge's was better, but that's to be expected. I still need to satisfy my curiosity about whether Momon is Master Gown's son, or brother, or what… but for now it's enough to know… there's nobody left in my way.'
Volume 2 Chapter 42
The coronation of Queen Renner and King Climb resulted in a celebration that spanned three straight days, the streets so overwhelmed with music, performances and not to mention drunkards, it was harder for Gagaran to navigate the streets than it was to navigate a battlefield. ' At least on the battlefield I can swing my hammer at things.' She groused a bit, but all in all, her spirits were high, and at least the alcohol was cheap, a collaborative project of multiple guilds to temporarily lower the price on everything.
' A popular opening move. I always thought Renner was naive, but maybe I misjudged her. Or maybe that was the people she appointed, making their own opening moves to win favor?' Gagaran felt her head start to hurt at even the prospect of trying to work all that out, and quickly put it out of her mind.
Instead she focused on the matter at hand, getting to her favorite booth.
Weaving around or slightly shoving her way through the crowd of revelers on the corner, including a few adventurers as she drew ever closer to her goal, might have been time consuming, but it was worth it. It was worth it because of what she saw when she went in. Lakyus stood and waved her over. The twins remained seated and raised their cups, but Evileye, their… her 'Shorty' jumped up on the booth and waved her hands like a wild monkey for Gagaran to join them.
Though she couldn't see the bright eyes of her sister behind the mask she never removed, it didn't stop her from imagining a young girl with bright blue eyes overjoyed at everything good in her life. Gagaran felt herself almost skip to the booth before she claimed her seat.
"Can you believe it Gagaran?! Sir Momon is here ! And he'll be here for a long, long time! I'll get to see him often, without having to wait for jobs!" She clapped her hands together and let out a joyful little 'weeeee' noise.
"Yeah, great, but… I kinda miss Little Red." Gagaran chuckled.
"Little who?" The twins asked at once.
"Oh, his little red haired cleric, she was fun to drink with, but she's gone all the way to Carne, a whole other Kingdom now, or it will be next week, or tomorrow, or however long it takes for the rider to get the signed treaty from Re-Estize to there." Gagaran put the math out of her head and instead brought a mug of beer dropped off for her, straight to her lips.
"Does she know about that nickname?" Lakyus asked with a funny cockeyed look.
"I'll tell her about it over drinks, which… we know you'll be buying." Gagaran winked at Evileye, who groaned goodnaturedly at the reminder.
"So what's next for us though, other than watching Shorty try to seduce Sir Momon?" Gagaran asked, prompting Evileye to fume and pout in the corner of the booth.
"A lot, actually. The Draconic Queen is begging for help from everyone she can ask, and there isn't much else in the way of contracts right now, so I was thinking we head there, at least for a season." Lakyus suggested.
"Can she afford us?" Evileye asked.
"We'll find out soon, but for now, we drink." Lakyus ordered her team, and five sets of frothing mugs sold on the cheap were raised and crashed with a splash together at the center of the booth.
"To the future of the Kingdom!" They shouted, and a diminutive little masked caster added under her breath…
' And my future with Sir Momon.' If anyone heard her, and they certainly did, they were kind enough not to say so.
Arche wobbled and fell over into the sand, she remained on all fours there, while Sebas poured water and handed it to her. "You've done enough for now."
"No… I haven't. I have to repay him, and you for what was done for me… for my unworthy self." Arche did not raise her head, and Sebas sensed that reluctance was not due to physical weakness.
"Arche, you and your companions have been working so hard that even the Supreme Being himself, the One Who Stayed, has praised your efforts." Sebas replied with the steady, stable voice he commonly used.
"Sir Sebas, that isn't it. I know how many died in the tomb, how many workers suffered terrible ends, but the truth is, I'm no different than they were. If Foresight had been offered the chance to raid here… the chance to rob this place and… well, would I have done it? I think so." Arche bit her lower lip.
"The only thing that separates me from a deserved death and who I am now, alive and growing stronger, is a bit of luck in encountering you and your… kindness. You'd have been within your rights to throw me aside a dozen times that night in my home. Don't even try to deny it." Arche said with a bitter smile staring down at the sand.
"I won't deny it. But that isn't what happened, and even if that had been the case, Arche… you would have been acting out of love for your sisters, enough that you would have given up your life for them. Yes, you and your team would have been villains, and killed for it… but you'd have been villains for the right reason. Now you have a new chance, don't dwell on the wrong you never did, only focus on the right you can do."
Arche wiped her face on her green sleeve, "You're amazing, Sir Sebas… ah, would it be alright if I… if I asked you to at least let me make you dinner at my little cabin. Kuuderika and Ureirika haven't seen you in days, and they miss you."
"I would be honored, thank you." Sebas gave a half bow and held a white gloved hand out to help Arche up. "Now, take a break, we need to see if your level has gone up, and the rest of your team. Lord Ainz has a use for you on the Katze Plains."
"As you wish, and… ah…" Arche felt blood rise to her cheeks as she looked up into the rugged face of the one to save her sisters and herself, "may I just call you 'Sebas' please?" Her blush went much, much deeper for an instant and she squeaked out, "If not, that's OK. I don't want to be too forward or…"
Sebas let out a low, dignified, gentlemanly laugh, "If it pleases you, it pleases me… Arche, now let's go, we have to see about increasing your potential."
"As you wish, Sebas. As you wish." Arche responded, and followed where he led her.
The three former elven slaves bowed deeply as the master of Nazarick passed, ' Once I end the Empire's army at the Katze Plains, I'll have proven my claim to Kingship, and I'll have to come up with a proper title, just 'king' is so banal. Plus all the coolest rulers had great titles… wait… am I being chuunibyou again?' He asked, and shuddered with worry that he might be.
Instead of lingering on that unpleasant thought, he turned his mind toward something better. Almost everybody now knew of his 'changing', all that remained was Solution, Narberal, Demiurge, Albedo, and Shalltear. ' Before or after the battle… when is it better…? Lupusregina had a good point about the 'greater good'. If I win just one decisive battle, I might save lives in the long run. Trying to avoid making enemies of anyone, trying not to hurt anyone, trying not to offend anyone, I'll just end up with no one on my side at all.'
It was this sort of thinking that made Ainz turn over the events of the Re-Estize Civil War, ' Enri made hard choices, so did Nfirea, and Ninya, so did King Ramposa and Renner… I need a model of Kingship to study, and he's dead now. I'll have to think about whom to watch.'
His thoughts rambled on, independent of his desire to focus, and his desire to navigate, which was no doubt why he found his way to his room and was through the door before he really noticed where he'd gone.
The smell of perfume coming from off his sheets, it was enticing beyond all measure, and all he wanted was to slide between them and sleep. ' I may sleep fine away from Nazarick… but, maybe because this is my true home, I always have the best dreams in my own bed.' He thought, but instead forced himself to sit down at the desk and review at least some of the reports that had been delivered.
"If the name 'Kingdom of Nazarick' doesn't get the attention of any players, it's because there are none here." He muttered under his breath, and his heart skipped a beat. ' You're alone here.' The thought was one that filled him with dread, and he pushed it down. ' No, it seems like the founders of the Theocracy were players, and some of the other ones to appear, they may have been NPCs, even if there are no players now, we seem to be appearing at different points in time. My friends might come later… or…'
The thought began hopeful, but as he thought about it, a new kind of dread came over him, hostile players were bad enough, at least they'd still have human memories, and would likely be cooperative in a new environment. But there were NPCs as dangerous or more so than his own. ' In game bosses who lived only to spread destruction.' The thought gave new urgency to his constant training to increase his other skills. ' I was worried about my own NPCs' reactions, but the true danger might be worse than that!' Ainz began to breathe hard as he recalled some of the worst dangers of the game, and then imagined them real, alive, and driven by their backstories.
' The greater good.' He thought to himself, recalling Lupusregina's words not that long ago. In a few days the Kingdom of Nazarick would take the field for the first time against, if the papers he was sent were right, thirty thousand Baharuthian Imperial knights. ' If the rest of the world is no stronger than what I've seen so far, that will be easy. But I also know I can break the level caps of others now, though how far that goes remains to be seen. Could Arche surpass Blue Rose? Could Blue Rose reach level one hundred? Just how powerful are the individual knights?'
When the knights arrived, his first plan was a 'battle of champions' pitting Foresight against a few of the Empire, a formal duel likely wouldn't be rejected. After that… ' What spell will I use?' The thought of ending so many lives made him physically ill, his stomach rebelling against the idea, he covered his mouth and swallowed the reflux back down. ' The greater good. If destructive NPCs come this way again, or destructive players, maybe, I might be the only one who can stop them. Or at least the only one who can give those in this world the power to stop them.'
Ainz noticed the paper in his hands was shaking, he set it down, then rested his hands on the smooth onyx surface and breathed in slowly and deeply for several minutes until his hands stopped the incessant trembling.
He took up the next one, it was still sealed. He cracked the red wax and opened the tan paper to find a royal greeting.
' From the House of Oriculus, greetings,' He read, "Oriculus… oh yes! Queen Draudillon!" He let out a little smile of pride at the accomplishment, memorizing names of various rulers paid off. He read on.
' It is with a glad heart that we welcome you to the family of kingdoms…' As Ainz read on, he felt a profound sense of dignity from the author, the Queen's prose was flawless and suggested an abundant education in royal mannerisms. ' She's been ruling for a very long time… and there's an invitation to visit her kingdom…'
The idea was profoundly tempting, even if they were in the middle of an invasion. ' When I'm done with the Empire's army, my territory will somewhat border hers. The beastmen don't seem like the best neighbors. Perhaps I can peacefully acquire some territory in exchange for some form of aid.' It wasn't a bad idea, but then there was the other matter. ' I need more resources, and the Dwarf Kingdom is right there…' It made him reach to the right side of his desk, one of the little things picked up in the Empire as a curiosity. A dagger with a rune on it. ' Runecraft… enchanting without resources…' For the salaryman he was in his old world, it was the equivalent of free meals. ' Perhaps I can send Albedo, Demiurge, or Shalltear there and… put off the truth a little longer…'
He clenched his eyes tightly shut against the rising sense of frustration, keeping the secret of his transformation felt like betrayal, avoiding them might have even stung them a bit, but Ainz knew it couldn't be put off forever. At level one hundred and fifty now, he wasn't worried about losing… but the notion of hurting Peroroncino's daughter, or Tabula Smaragdina's, or the son of Ulbert… having to raise his sword or cast his spells against them… it was far too much.
' You're a coward, Satoru…' Ainz told himself, but that didn't change his mind. He set the royal greeting from Queen Draudillon aside and took up the next paper in the stack, mostly to avoid thinking about which of three were most dangerous, to tell next. This seal, he recognized. ' Slane Theocracy.' He thought, and broke the seal, then began to read.
' The nations of humanity are beset on all sides, we object, not to the founding of this nation, but that the Kingdom of Nazarick and that the empire of Baharuth should begin by destroying the precious gift of human lives… if a path to peace may be found, we pray to the six that you both will seek it, for the common good of man.' He set the letter down and immediately tossed it aside. ' Hypocrites. They were slaughtering peasants as easily as fishermen hooked fish. Who are they to object to anything?' He asked rhetorically, not that he thought they were entirely wrong… ' This world is dangerous for the weak, no question about that.'
But still he saw no reason to respond, ' I should pay them a visit however, I'm curious about their abilities beyond those pathetic scriptures.' He made a mental note, and his thoughts turned to Nigun. The surviving Sunlight Scripture members were probably being 'baptised' now. ' They'll be as useful as Hilma, or better… eventually.'
About that, he felt no guilt to speak of, and it fell away from his thoughts. He leaned back in his chair and began to rock it as he considered his options.
"Decisions, decisions, decisions." Ainz recited and crossed his arms over his chest.
"I can't put it off forever… but… maybe just a few days more. I'll take care of Baharuth first… and then… we'll see." He told himself, and even though he knew it was procrastinating just a little bit, it felt pretty good to feel like had some room to breath. That would be good enough for now.
The former Madam Furt sat at her little fruit stand, she took several copper coins and handed over a banana to a customer. Seemingly with an expression of greed, she put the coins into a heavy iron box beneath her wheeled stand. But the truth was the coins were an afterthought. Instead, her eyes were turned up toward the auction block. ' Another pair of dark elf slaves…' She cursed. And again tried to fight back tears, listening to the bidding go on, seeing the fear on their little faces, ' Is that what my Kuukuu and Reirei went though? My girls… I'm sorry! I failed you! But I'll find you! I'll go to every auction, ask everyone I meet… and one day, some day, I'll find where you are and beg your forgiveness. I promise… I will never 'ever' give up… I will find you, buy you, and set you free, after that, whatever you say or do, I will accept… I deserve nothing less.' She thought, and watched as a young man ascended the block, while she idly handed another customer their order, and dropped a copper coin into the box without breaking her rhythm.
Author Note: News and stuff
So ends Volume 2 of: The One Who Stayed
Volume 3 is currently in the works and will be available in pieces as it is written, on my discord and on my pat re on dot com / tellingstories, and then be turned into a downloadable PDF.
The third volume: Kingdom of the Lizardmen
Will be posted to FFN, Royal Road, AO3, and Scribblehub after the entire thing is written, which will take me about 5-6 weeks to complete.
The fourth volume: Kingdom of Stone
Will follow under the same conditions. Patr-eon and discord first, followed by FFN, Royal Road, AO3, and Scribblehub afterward.
So just be patient if you're not interested in either of the faster options, and enjoy the good things that come to you in their own time… plus… full disclosure… FFN's formatting sucks and it takes forever and I hate it. So there's also that. You waited about 2 years for Volume 14, you can wait a few weeks for each of these. :)
Now… there's one more thing:
A few years ago on the anniversary of my son's death, I chose to honor his memory by doing a fundraiser to help send two boys in Uganda to a school, The Kasese Humanist School, to be precise. Those boys are now graduating and ready to go to college, and the school has reached out to me to see if I can help them again. A university education is not tremendously expensive for them, about 1000 per year, and I'd like to be able to send them. Therefore if it is at all possible, I would appreciate your support.
go fund dot me /2f56bbe2
Volume 3 Chapter 1
AN: First chapter, enjoy. I'm well into it now, but it'll be a few weeks before I publish more chapters. After all I'm writing volume 3 of this, more 'Who Endures' another book called 'What Masks Are Made Of' (Entoma story going on my atheistbasementdragon profile when it is done) and what's more… a whole new original I have chosen to name: The World's Strongest which… I must say, is absolutely beautiful. Available only on Discord and Pat re on until it's finished in its entirety, then will go up on Royal Road and Scribblehub. Thank you for reading! Thank you for your support, and thank you for being the best damn fandom a man could ask for!
Overlord: The One Who Stayed
Volume III: Kingdom of the Lizardmen
"Are you ready?" Ainz asked the assembled band of Foresight. They stood on the sands of the arena with their arms crossed behind their backs and feet shoulder width apart, the equipment they now wore was far removed from the trash items they came with. More than that though, so were their bodies. Hekkeran's blonde hair had grown down shoulder length, and the pale blue of his eyes became hard as ice.
He still had his cheery moments, but now he was all business. His twin swords were replaced by vastly improved equipment stronger than adamantite, a blade of white and a blade of black. The white robbed its victims of their stats temporarily, transferring some of them to the bearer of the weapon. The black inflicted horrendous wounds. He wore dragon skin armor and boots, with fine bones woven into the double layered material giving it a slight 'ridge' appearance if you looked closely, almost like an outer skeleton. The skin was a faint grayish blue, almost metallic, but not quite.
Imina, and the rest, wore armor that matched his own, but unlike his, which was enchanted against piercing damage, her own set was enchanted to enhance her speed and dexterity. Her long purple hair hung long as it had, but when Ainz asked that question and they answered as one, "Yes, my Lord!" Imina did something more. At her side she wore a dagger, a backup for her enchanted golden bow that was strung with string taken from Fenrir's hair, it was the dagger she reached for in silence. She held it up to the binding point where her long strands hung in all their crowning glory.
"Master," she said with the utmost reverence, "You returned our Arche to us… spared our lives when you could have killed us… given us more than we deserve when… in another life, we might have been among those who sought to rob you. No, we would have been, I'm sure of it." And in one smooth motion, she severed the long strands she took so much pride in and let them fall to her feet. She raised one foot and stomped down, hard. Grinding them into the sand when she twisted her foot back and forth. "I pledge myself again, if I fail, I die trying."
Roberdyck's head was already shaved bald, only the faint stubble of blonde remained where his formerly neat haircut was done. In place of the old white robe he wore over his armor, he now had a robe of the same fashion, but bearing the crest of Nazarick. "Treasured God of Mercy and Justice, I swear I will not fail you. Your kingdom will be the most glorious in all the world, and I will grind myself into the dust to make it so."
Arche's head was bowed, her blonde hair was grown out a bit, her cheap staff replaced with something far and away more powerful than before, her outfit no longer a hodgepodge of cheaply acquired gear… and her magic far superior to what it had been. "God of Magic… savior of my family… what can I say but… I am your tool. Use me as you see fit."
"They are loyal." Cocytus remarked from a few feet away, and Ainz turned his bare face over toward Cocytus.
"Are they strong enough to win?" Ainz asked the salient question, and Cocytus nodded.
"Yes, my Lord." Cocytus replied in his short, abrupt fashion.
"Good. We begin with the battle of champions… if the other side accepts, I need it well known that I offered a chance for peaceful transition or the Kingdom of Nazarick will be known as warmongers. If my champions lose…" Ainz frowned.
"We won't!" Foresight shouted out as one.
"Good." Ainz answered, ' They'd better not! My whole image lies in this gamble. If they refuse to accept the results of the duel after we win, then I can justify exterminating their army. If my champions lose, then I must concede… of course they could refuse my duel request, but then my butchery will look worse.'
' I could use the guardians for this but… better to hold them in reserve, just in case… Nazarick's native forces must be held back for now…' Ainz reminded himself of his decision, his heart had palpitations that he very much hated at the present. The prospect of defeat was almost unthinkable.
"Alright," Ainz announced, trying to sound confident, "Has the fort to hide my forces been built?"
"Yes, my Lord. By Mare." Cocytus answered again.
"Then it's time to go." Ainz said, praying no hint of nervousness showed in his voice before he opened the [Gate], and vanished through the swirling hole in reality. Foresight followed him only seconds later.
The sun was bright and shining down on the long wooden fort, the wind blew lightly over the hill that overlooked the lower plains ahead, and from the entrance to the fort he could see the other side. Broken towers and fortifications that sat in a half finished or actively destroyed state stood like monuments to madness and decay. Some burned, others rotted.
The space between where the two armies were, remained desolate, devoid of life.
Clad in his dark magic robes, Ainz raised a hand and released a spell. [Greater Obfuscation] . The ninth tier spell would easily hide an attempt at looking inside the long oval fort that Mare had built for him, though it would do nothing about physical spies. [Greater Light Trigger] . It wasn't exactly an 'alarm' spell, but it served his purposes, should anyone come close to the fort at night, 'light' would shine around them which intended to light the way of someone, rather it would in this instance, give them away.
He then cast a message spell. ' Albedo, send my forces into the fort, we are ready.' He said.
' At once, my sweet and wonderful beloved, wonder and master of my heart, Lord and Master of Nazarick…' Albedo answered, and Ainz sensed her intent to continue.
' Albedo… the gate.' He gently reminded her, and it opened a moment later.
He cut the connection, and the growling hate-filled undead monsters began to fill the fort.
None of his New World Champions were disturbed by the presence of the undead, it had become a nonissue for them as they had every dream of their lives fulfilled. Roberdyck in particular had begun to take to them. ' Holiest of gods who lets me heal the sick and care for the injured without care for cost or profit, sacred divine ruler of life and death… granter of mercy and master of my soul… I can't wait to prove the depths of my loyalty.' He said while stroking the shadowy body of a soul eater.
If the mercy given to Arche had not been sufficient for him, it had been that his Master allowed him to spend his free hours going about the land using his templar and cleric skills to heal the injured and ill without charge. He had not even asked that his name be spread. So Roberdyck spread it. "I work the will of God." He'd said in the Kingdom of Carne, and found that his message had been well received, as a place that had also benefited from his Master's mercy. ' That he had to protect them from humanity says enough… he is the new divine… and I will prove it.'
Imina was indifferent to the undead monsters, rather than fond of them, she instead went to the entrance of the fort and slipped out, shutting the gate behind her and watching the distance.
"Are they here yet?" Arche asked, slipping out as well and falling in beside the girl she considered a big sister. Her hands clutched her staff, holding the gift tight against her body.
"No, not yet. We're early, the power of our Lord to move so quickly from place to place is… uniquely his." She smiled a bit down at her little sister and her half elven ears flicked about playfully. "Personally, I'm looking forward to the Slane Theocracy's coming. I want to see their faces full of hate for my half breed self before I stomp a human champion into pieces."
Arche shifted uncomfortably on her feet. Imina immediately flung an arm around her companion's shoulder and pulled her close. "It's not that!" Imina insisted immediately, "Not at all, it's just that 'those' humans hate half breeds like me, and it'll feel good to tweak their noses a bit."
"Right… I guess it will…" Arche gave a fragile smile up to the half elf, "Just don't let that get the better of you, okay? I like you better when you're happy-go-lucky, you know?"
"Not to worry, little sister." Imina smirked.
"Will they really show up? They don't fight in these kinds of things, do they?" Arche asked.
"Yes, they'll be here. But no, not to fight, they show up as observers, probably just looking for strong humans." Imina shrugged the matter off, "We're still pretty early even for… well, us . I guess Master wanted us to have some free time and stretch out a little."
So the hours passed with them doing exactly that, until the sun was even higher in the sky, and the sound of marching feet came on in the distance, a handful of Theocracy observers in white robes came into view first, but the distant noise of twenty thousand soldiers of the Empire of Baharuth marching on the road eventually gave way to the sight of them in full battle panoply.
They arrayed themselves in a simple square formation, knights in shining steel armor covered from head to toe, and in the center, four banners representing the four mightiest knights. "My Lord, as you predicted." Hekkeran Termite said softly, "Your 'new kingdom' announcement prompted them to go all out. They've sent the four knights… Emperor El Nix wouldn't have done that if he didn't intend to use them."
"Then the battle of champions is half over." Ainz said, sweating in relief beneath his mask and robes. "My Lord?" Hekkeren asked quizzically and looked up to his Master's masked face.
"They've done what we wanted, moving according to my will." Ainz answered and left it at that.
"I see." Hekkeren said with awe at the skill of his Lord.
"The Theocracy representative is moving to the center, come, let's go meet with them." Ainz said, and taking out a scroll, he uttered, [Summon basic party mounts], the scroll burned up in blue fire, and five ordinary brown percherons appeared in a puff of smoke.
When Ainz mounted the horse, the rest of Foresight did the same, and they began to trot down to the center space of the Katze Plains.
The four banners of the Imperial Knights began to descend as well, kicking up dust along the way, within a mere minute or three, all three nations were represented.
Predictably, the Theocracy representative, acting as the neutral party, spoke first. "We of the Slane Theocracy again protest this misuse of vital resources of humanity… we implore you all… seek peace!"
"This usurper demands Imperial land for himself… so… that'll be a no from us." Baziwood said with a deep, barrel chested laugh, his long mouth opened so wide it was obvious he hadn't even tried to stop himself from laughing.
"I, for one," Ainz said, extending an upturned open hand out to them, "wouldn't mind settling this in the oldest of traditions. A simple duel, your four champions, against my four champions. When we win… I will take the land I have so politely pressed for as compensation for all the harm done to my ally, the Re-Estize Kingdom, and the harm done to me when your Empire's noble attacked my home. But nothing else."
"And when we win?" Nazami growled, looking the robed caster over, along with the curiously silent and stern faced 'champions' at his back. ' Curiously blank faces, it's like they don't care, the closest thing to a reaction has been the way they gripped the reins of their horses when Baziwood laughed.'
"Then I withdraw my claim of compensation." Ainz remarked, "And remain on the land conceded to me by the Re-Estize Kingdom."
"You mean… in the way, don't you?" Nimble asked.
"If you want to put it that way, I won't stop you." Ainz said with a passive shrug.
The four knights looked at one another, the prospect of a bloodless fight and an easy win by four famous champions over four unknown nobodies was an appealing one.
The Theocracy representatives breathed a sigh of relief. "You bear witness to this bargain." Ainz said, pointing to them, "If they should break it, the consequences lie on their heads."
"It is witnessed." The leader of the delegation said with quiet reverence.
"Good, and… your name, if I may?" Ainz asked.
"I am Cardinal Raymond Zarg Lauransan." The brown bearded cardinal bowed his head, "At your service."
"Good, I will remember that." Ainz answered, then facing the four knights, he said, "Inform your soldiers of your decision, then return here to where my champions will wait to break you."
The supreme confidence with which he spoke set all four of the knights' teeth on edge, and with a snarl from Nazami, they wheeled their horses about and rode back to their own lines.
The Theocracy delegation began to withdraw back to their place of observation, while Ainz only turned his horse around and said to them, "Do not lose."
"Never." They said as one, and when he rode back to the fort, they dismounted, and stepped out of the way of their mounts.
In the Imperial tent, the knights were quick about commanding their mages to bless them, downing potions to enhance themselves as much as possible, and Nazami addressed the lead officer who sat in the white imperial command tent, informing him of the bargain.
Lounge Vermillion listened with dismay, "It's that easy? You just… beat up four nobodies and this is all over?"
"Yep, that easy." Baziwood was in good humor as he downed one more potion.
"I'm a bit more suspicious… I don't like this." Leinas said and dabbed a cloth to the pus seeping from half of her face.
"I don't like this either." Nimble replied, "Not one bit. My father once told me that if anybody ever offered to bet you a silver that they could make a mug of beer dance and spit piss in your eye, don't take it, or you'll be covered in piss and light one silver."
"Crude." Loune remarked, wrinkling his nose.
"Maybe, but that's what this feels like to me." Leinas replied.
"So just… don't lose." Loune felt the rising sense of panic at even the prospect, his heart started to race and sweat sprang to his body.
"No plans to." Baziwood grunted.
"I didn't plan for this either." Leinas answered and wiped more pus from her face, "But here we are…" She sighed, "Come on, let's get this over with." She said and headed for the tent flap, followed by the rest of the Four Knights, ready to face their enemies.
Volume 3 Chapter 2
Hekkeran stood at the front beside Roberdyck while Imina and Arche took the rear, Arche center, Imina to her left.
Imina caressed her bow, every one of them had activated their martial arts, more than they'd ever been able to use before. Arche touched her staff, the gift of the one to save her sisters.
' My dear Sebas requested this for me… wonderful man that he is… the least I can do is serve the same Lord with absolute devotion…' Arche thought as a tranquil kind of peace overcame her.
All the world faded away as the champions of the Empire descended to the cheers of their army, twenty thousand or more knights… it was no small thing to send out such a force, or to face it.
But none of Foresight was at all nervous. ' How much stronger have we become?' Hekkeran wondered, recalling the feel of dealing a final blow to impossible monster after impossible monster. Strength begat strength, and in between, the constant drills against Sebas, Cocytus, and even, strangely enough, maids… it seemed never ending sometimes… then it would.
He recalled their 'breaks' drinking and eating things meant for gods, or being able to travel to quiet places with coin enough for whatever they wanted, each able to pursue the desires of their own hearts… but most of all… the safety of their comrade. He turned an eye toward Arche, a girl nearly lost, he couldn't admit it, not really. Not openly. ' But she's like a little sister, gutsy, feisty, worked like a little demon to prove herself to us, and did. And we lost her to what? Greed, we nearly lost her to greedy stupid parents in an empire that ruined her because of who they were. This… is kind of like 'payback' .'
It was a comforting thought, and he drew his twin blades when the four enemy champions came close, holding them out at waist height. In front of him stood a famous figure bearing two curved tower shields. "Fitting, eh boy ?" Nazami Enec said to Hekkeran when he looked down at the dual wielder.
The swordsman said nothing, he didn't look like much, unusual armor aside. Nazami had to look down to look at the man, ' I'm bigger, broader, and more experienced… plus how is he going to get around these two shields? I'll batter him to pieces, he might be a little faster… but that's all.' Nazami narrowed his eyes. "It's rude to say nothing when someone addresses you, boy . At least introduce yourself."
"Hekkeran Termite. Sword of the King. Leader of Foresight. I am the man who will kill you today." Hekkeran replied.
"Termite, so you're a bug… fine, I'll squash you like one. I am Nazami Enec of the Four Knights."
Hekkeran tapped the back of his curved sword on his shoulder, relaxing a bit, "Guess we've got a minute while the others do this… why don't you go ahead and pray for a painless death, I'll wait."
Arche felt the eyes of the blonde woman on her. "Leinas Rockbruise."
"Arche…" She paused, almost giving her last name, but then, impulsively, wildly out of some desperate hope and sense of pride and devotion, said, "Tian. Arche Tian."
"Did you forget your last name or something…?" Leinas asked, then paused and reached for a cloth in the pouch at her side, she dabbed on her face, soaking up the pus.
"You're cursed?" Arche asked, and Leinas snarled.
"You're facing me, child, that makes you the cursed one." Leinas replied, but felt no wrath from the short blue eyed caster with the perfect youthful face. Only… ' Is she 'pitying' me?!'
Roberdyck took out his sword and leveled it at the slender blonde knight, the black armor was surely enchanted at great expense, and yet he felt no anxiety. ' Whatever he has, I have better.' That, Roberdyck was sure of.
"Count Nimble Arc Dale Anoch." Nimble said, giving Roberdyck a courteous bow with one hand over his chest before drawing his sword at the priest in front of him.
"Roberdyck Goltron, servant of the greatest of gods, defeating you will show his glory, a swift end to you will show his mercy." Roberdyck proclaimed, but it drew no answer.
"Meh, not much for formalities, but this is just polite so… whatever. Baziwood Peshmel, but I'm commonly just called 'Lightning Bolt'." He introduced himself to the half elf while holding out his long broadsword.
' Now that is an ugly looking weapon.' Imina thought as she looked over the long, broad blade, it had a good looking crossguard that curved outward below the fingers, and her sharp eyes told her that it also had an edge to it. His thick armor would be hard to penetrate, or could be.
"Imina. No surname. I'm a nobody. Just an adventurer who got more than she deserved." She answered him, and for a moment he looked away.
"Okay, we got the formalities done, are we going to do this or what?" Baziwood asked.
Leinas held out her pus stained cloth. "When this hits the ground, we begin." A round of nods accepted the offer and her fingers released it.
Hekkeran was the first to reach his target. Nazami brought the shield to a close in front of him just in time, the sides of the curved tower shields clashed together forming a wall, and he charged toward the swordsman intending to bowl him over.
But nothing happened.
The dual wielder should have fallen.
The dual wielder should be getting trampled under foot.
' I should feel his jaw breaking under my boot now, his strangled screams or even his breaking neck…' Nazami thought, but no matter how he pushed, the swordsman took a single step back and was now immovable.
The clang of the initial impact of the sword finally faded from the air. "Heh, you weren't expecting this one, were you, big guy?" Hekkeran asked, and then brought the other sword down to clang against the shield, his blades crossed over both tower shields, and he began to push .
Nazami's mouth parted, he mouthed only a deeply disbelieving, ' No…' And took a step back .
Then another.
Then another.
Then another.
"Don't take me lightly boy !" Nazami bellowed and spun on his heel, Hekkeran's momentum carried him forward and the shield smashed full into the dual wielder's face.
Hekkeran flew backward through the air, but far from being disabled, he flipped backwards and landed on his feet. The imperial knight was charging again, unimpeded, ' This time I will trample him.' Nazami vowed, but he held his shields out at his sides to ensure he could see his target.
' Okay, not half bad. Before Nazarick, that would have finished me.' Hekkeran admitted, ' Now… half bad is 'not' the same as any good!' He charged forward again, and leapt over the warrior, both blades slashing down as he flipped, and blood sprayed in the air.
Nazami howled and whirled around, pain lanced though him, and down on the dirt he saw the cause of his pain. "My ears! You cut off my ears?!" Nazami roared and Hekkeran turned to face him again.
"I did. But I did a lot more than that." Hekkeran said, and a moment later Nazami began to understand, the weight of his shields was growing.
' Am I… cursed?! Are those cursed swords?!' The knight asked himself, about to turn and call for help, he saw the state of the others, however before he could decide whether he should ask for help, he felt the lancing pain of the sword through his mouth and piercing the back of his throat. He saw the neutral face of the dual wielder, and felt another piercing blow through his armor only a moment later, the swords pierced his body through and through. His eyes widened, the shields wouldn't move… except to fall . They slipped from his hands where they fell with a dull thud into the dust of the Katze Plains, his own body held aloft only by the sword of the man who killed him. He never knew the moment when he also fell down to the ground between his weapons. The dead, as they say, know nothing.
Roberdyck missed the moment when Hekkeran began, but he wasn't worried, he charged his own opponent without fear, Nimble proved to live up to his name, backing away steadily with light, swift footwork that kept the larger, bulkier Roberdyck chasing him.
' He thinks he can tire me out… pick me off at his leisure, in another life… he'd be right.' Roberdyck realized with gratitude afresh to his Lord for all the endless training and preparation put into him.
At first, Nimble felt confident, a smile on his face as he danced with apparent ease, the templar cleric, or so he assumed the man was, looked shorter, bulkier, and slower. The face of the bald foe was one of anger.
But after three solid minutes, Nimble began to realize something. ' His expression isn't changing, he should be losing his mind at this.'
' A trap… he's got endurance… I'm not tiring him out, he's trying to tire 'me' out…' Nimble realized with dismay, ' He should know better…' But still the templar chasing after him as Nimble continued to dance out of reach, seemed utterly unperturbed.
"No…" Nimble whispered when he saw Nazami impaled. Only then did the templar's face change to a knowing smile, it was almost affectionate, friendly, like a huggable bear… that wanted to maul him to death.
Nimble changed strategy, he began to use his greater height and longer reach to target the templar. His long slim sword reached past the warrior's guard and… he felt a mild 'tap' and then nothing, the noise which greeted him was of his enchanted sword striking and sliding over the smooth but faintly bumpy armor.
The sword of the templar came up as Nimble tried to move his sword away and the tip was slowed by being caught against another bump.
And the templar's sword pierced Nimble's forearm. When it did, the stocky fighter stopped and yanked Nimble like he was a fish on a hook. "Dance away now if you can…" Roberdyck said while Nimble howled in pain.
Blood stained the ground, a massive fist smashed into Nimble's face, and he fell back, he had just enough time to see the templar jumping over him, the sword coming down… and to scream once as the sword tore through his armor as if it wasn't there and pin him to the ground like a freshly collected insect to a board.
Then Nimble too, fell limp. His fading eyes still full of disbelief as the impossible happened before his dying gaze.
Baziwood's cape fluttered in the air behind him as he charged the archer. ' This should be easy.' He thought, as her bow was out and an arrow flew from it, which he avoided, eating up ground as she began to fall back steadily on her heels, loosing arrow after arrow as she went.
He dodged each one, but she showed no fear, his sword came out to the front of himself, thrusting forward where he expected to impale her slender elven body at the belly and nearly cut her in half.
But she was gone. ' No, not gone…' She'd dropped her bow, bent backward, flopped on the ground, and her feet came up to catch his body. Her hands grabbed his wrists and squeezed. The armor crunched, pain lanced through him that was so overwhelming that he dropped his sword. It fell, useless to the ground and her legs pushed off sending him flying overhead to land hard on his back.
She took up her bow again, far faster than himself, she had another arrow nocked before he'd risen past his knees. The arrow pierced his body, and he fell forward, blood fountained out of his mouth and out of the hole in his chest.
"Wow, this bow really does pack a punch." Imina muttered.
"Nobody to nobody…" She said as she approached the dying man, "it was never a fair fight. We had God's help, you fought alone. I made it quick, I made it painless. May you have better luck in the next life." She said, then brought her foot up, and then down on the side of his head, squashing it like an insect under her boot. Brain matter and blood spattered like a cantaloupe hit with a hammer, and then the half elf turned around to see how her companions were doing.
Leinas shot forward only a hair faster than Nimble, ' Why would a mage not protect herself…?' She wondered, ' Why would a mage not be protected by her party…?!'
She found out when her sword connected and was stopped by the wooden staff. Shock ran through her as if she were struck by lightning. "It's not just wood… you're no match for me." Arche whispered.
Leinas felt anger run through her body. "We'll see!" She hissed at the mask of pity the young girl showed to her.
Her sword began to flash out faster and faster, and yet Arche seemed to be deflecting it with her staff as if it was just a child's efforts and not one of the four imperial knights.
Leinas began to grow more and more angry, sweat ran down her face, her eyes bugged out of her head, she ignored the pus that ran down her skin and the sense of self loathing it gave to her. ' I have to win! I have to win or I will never be whole! I have to! I must!' She wailed in her head, and the sense of infuriating pity from the caster grew only more sympathetic, the girl gave ground, but didn't use a single spell.
The whole world faded away, but Leinas did not know for how long. It was only when the small girl said to her, "Look at your comrades."
Leinas would have ignored the instruction, but the bright blue eyes looked so utterly sad, that Leinas couldn't help herself, she turned to look. Nazami, Nimble, Baziwood… all of them were dead. "Even if you hit me, your sword can't pierce my armor." Arche whispered, and by some trick of what Leinas prayed was magic and not… worse, physical superiority, the girl was in her face.
"Fall down… and deliver the army into my Master's hands… and I will have you healed…" Arche said so softly that Leinas didn't think she heard properly at first.
A small hand suddenly closed around Leinas' throat. "I was a mithril before my Master…" Arche whispered, "Now compared to me… you are not even copper ranked." She squeezed, Leinas felt her throat tighten, her body tensed as the girl was dragging her down.
"I'm going to hit you, go limp, if you get up before the end is called, I will kill you." Arche's whisper was the promise of death, "Die tainted and cursed if you want."
Leinas was just starting to nod when the punch in the woman's staff hand sent her flying through the air. Leinas landed on her back… and went limp.
For seconds, nothing happened, silence ruled.
Hekkeran raised his sword, and a roar of triumph by Foresight split the silence like an ax did dry wood. Their weapons pumped up and down with their fists. "Naz-a-rick! Naz-a-rick! Naz-a-rick!" They roared, proud beneath the watching eyes of their collective God.
Shouts of disbelief came from the Empire's side until Leinas herself began to stir.
' Deliver the army… how… how can she… no… they can't possibly think they can defeat the whole… no, he has an army that can!' Leinas realized as she trudged, broken and defeated, back to her own lines. ' I just have to hope she tells them to spare me… this is a gamble… the biggest one of my life… but I have no choice!' She thought and wiped away pus that dripped past the hair meant to hide it.
However, there was only one thing that mattered to her, she glanced over her shoulder and watched the four champions return to the fort, and the King in his dark robes step forward out of the gate of his fort. ' That fort can only hold a few hundred or so, and he has no others… what can he possibly do…?' Leinas wondered as she reached her own lines again.
She rubbed her aching throat and said with a hoarse voice to the first soldier to reach her, "Get Loune, we need to order a general assault! Now!"
Volume 3 Chapter 3
Loune Vermillion stood in the tent beside General Carvain and tried to ignore the chaos outside while Leinas was helped back within, a soldier beneath her arm, walking her forward. She fell hard on the dirt in front of them, her knees hit before she fell to all fours. "Y-You have to attack…" She coughed, "It was a trap. A hidden item… but they used it, they thought I didn't see it, but I did, I saw it break…"
"But… we had a bargain!" Loune Vermillion's dark robe fluttered when he strode forward and crouched in front of the fallen knight.
"They don't have the troops!" Leinas spat, "Will you give up twenty percent of the Empire because of three dead knights and a trick?!"
"I-" Loune began to say, his long oval face and sharp chin only a hand span from Leinas. He looked up at the horrified general, his brown mustache wiggled beneath his sharp nose, his short brown hair was bunched up when his hands reached up and grabbed hold of it.
"We can explain it afterward, General! But right now… right now this is on you ! Both of you… either fall for the trick and lose a fifth of the empire, or attack and end this!" Leinas hissed.
"I… ah… are you sure this is a trick?!" General Natel Inyem Dale Carvain shivered at the prospect of what the Imperial Knight, one of the Four, was telling him needed to be done. She was holding her throat with one hand, while coughing.
"I saw ! Now do it or lose when the Slane Theocracy representatives begin a handoff. That fort hides their forces, it can only hide a few hundred! That's why they wanted a duel of champions, it was a trick !" She hissed.
General Carvain and Secretary Loune traded lost, hopeless looks.
"Alright, we'll do it!" General Carvain said and rushed from the tent.
"Praise the gods…" Leinas said with a hoarse voice and let a violent series of coughs spray spittle into the dirt.
"Yes… praise the gods…" Loune said with his head bowed in hushed reverence when the sound of marching armored soldiers and their clinking, clattering, crashing armor hit his ears through the tent.
Raymond watched the duel with great interest, at first, the famous champions were his favorite to win… with good reason. But within mere moments… ' Those are on a whole other level…' He realized as he watched the unknown team in the curious metallic colored leather steadily take the four knights apart until there was only one survivor limping back to her lines.
The duel wielder made shields useless. Nimble, chased down and forced to engage, defeated only moments later by the templar cleric. The archer defeated the broadsword user at close range, squashing him like a bug. Meanwhile, the magic caster, unsupported, knocked Leinas Rockbruise into the dust.
' Unfortunate, but heroes can be raised, if the emperor won't pay for it, we will… it may take months to make them ready, but we might get some new scriptures out of it. The important part is that the fight was ended without throwing away countless human lives and…' Suddenly Raymond's sense of relief was washed away when the Empire's knights began to march.
' Maybe it will end quickly…' Raymond enjoyed the moment of optimism. ' Perhaps we should have just sent our usual letter of neutrality and disappointment… Maybe I shouldn't have come myself… I have this sickening feeling like I'm going to be horrified.' The optimism quickly drowned as new thoughts replaced the brief feeling.
Ainz stepped out of the gate of the fort, his 'army' was there in reserve in the event that he needed them… which judging by the Four… he wouldn't.
His voice projected over the battlefield, "You broke our agreement… this is on your heads…" With the power of his echoing voice, there was no way the Theocracy watchers wouldn't be mindful of what was happening.
"Very well…" Ainz opened his arms like he was preparing a large embrace, brilliant blue circles began to form horizontally over his head one after another, rising ever smaller into a single conical point… then more emerged vertical to the ground and began to circle his body, and one more began to grow beneath his feet over the ground.
' I'm going to kill so many… no… this… but…' Ainz' conscience tore at him, clawed at him, raged at him… he wanted to gibber and fall on the ground. ' Summoning the Dark Young… it's too cruel!'
But he had to stop them.
But it was cruel.
But he had to stop them.
But it was far too cruel.
But he had to stop them.
But they were people, just normal human people who hadn't done anything.
But it was war.
So he had to stop them.
They reached the base of the open plane and began to advance past the bodies of their comrades.
"Fools!" He shouted with gut wrenching pity, then released his spell, [Pantheon] . He bellowed, and the slowly rushing army and its thunderous beating feet and clattering armor began to slow as a light surpassing the brightness of the sun blinded all living things for a moment.
As the light faded, oohs and ahhs consumed the field as six Cherubim Gatekeepers became visible in all their terrible glory. They were clad in shining white plate armor, armed with a shield in one hand and a lance of flame in the other. The shields were all covered in eyes that blinked as if part of a living thing, they had the bodies of giant men, the head and mane of a mighty lion, with four wings of pure white feathers at an X pattern on their backs. Each of them was as tall as a giant, and they roared as one, opening their arms in imitation of their summoner.
The roar of the lion heads sent life shattering fear into the hearts of fearless knights, and Ainz pointed his hand toward the army arrayed against him.
Hovering over their summoner, the lions obeyed, descending toward the host from the top of Ainz' side of the slope, their wings beat with the force of gale winds, toppling weaker men and whole ranks fell like dominoes given the flick of a finger.
Lances began to thrust out and pierced entire ranks like a skewer that burned their victims until they were like bits of meat on a shishkabob.
Each time the lance was filled with victims, they were flicked and the bodies flung into those still living, or worse, the lion mouths would open, and the burned, charred bodies of men, armor and all, would be dropped into the waiting mouths.
It was a rout, an utter, total rout. The braver men tried to guard, to raise their shields and shout in defiance of terror, but they died.
The brave and cowardly all died the same, their blood ran together so that cowards' blood and braves' blood could not be split apart, the one distinguishing feature between cowardice and courage was that the cowardly lived a little bit longer.
They ran, trampling over the people they called brothers in an effort to live just a little bit longer.
' Go on! Surrender, damn it! Are you stupid?!' Ainz cursed at the fool on the other end that did not try to stop anything by giving in.
Twenty thousand became fifteen thousand, fifteen thousand became ten thousand.
' Oh, there is one… do not kill the blonde woman in black armor.' Ainz reminded his summons of what he'd been told, but tried to turn away. Finally his angel summons were near the camp, tents were burning and sending black smoke into the air, and nearby out of the corner of his eye he saw a Theocracy cardinal racing toward him on horseback.
' The bearded one… Raymond, that was his name.' Ainz reminded himself, and waited.
Raymond jumped off the horse and went down to one knee. "Mighty King, stop the slaughter! You've won! You've won!"
"They haven't surrendered yet…" Ainz said, pointing to the burning camp.
"I believe their general and secretary are dead, there's nobody left to surrender! Please… the Baharuth Empire has always been important in defending humanity! You've won… show mercy on the survivors… I'm sure the Emperor will concede… you've shown your strength! Now show your noble mercy!" Raymond implored and bowed his head before the unprecedented magic caster.
Ainz breathed a sigh of relief, the slaughter was clawing at his heart, "Stop!" He bellowed, and the Cherubims stopped in midthrust. From where he stood, he saw men laying on their backs, cringing, crying, crawling away or frozen where they were.
Ainz' voice carried over the open field, his arms still outstretched, staff in hand, he bellowed to them as if he had divine authority, "You are spared by the mercy of Ainz Ooal Gown. Go back to your Emperor, tell him what you saw today… and that I expect good terms to be offered to me within a fortnight. Otherwise my angels will visit his capital."
"Thank you…" Raymond said in a hushed whisper, "for your mercy."
Ainz lowered his hands and with a flick of his wrist, the angels vanished.
"Go to your Theocracy, Cardinal Raymond, and tell them what you saw here today. Tell them I have not forgotten that humanity's defenders happily slaughtered humanity on land under my protection. I forgave it because you did not know it was my own. Consider this our… starting point, at zero. Whether we become allies or enemies is more in your hands than in mine. Think carefully of which you want."
Raymond gave a quiet nod before he rose to his feet, mounted his horse, and returned to the other observers. They were gone within the hour.
Ainz however, remained waiting, looking out over the sea of bodies scattered over the field, he kept waiting.
Eventually he saw what he was waiting for, a lone figure in black approaching over the field, stepping over the dead, or walking around them, her pace never slowed even when she passed her dead comrades.
Reaching him on foot took several minutes, and it allowed Ainz to appraise her further, pretty enough, tall for a woman, long blonde hair, dark armor, the combatant that faced Arche. ' Is this some plot for revenge, perhaps?' It was a silly thought, as she'd done what Arche told her to do.
When she was near, but not 'too' near, the woman went to both knees and then all fours, then lowered her face to the dirt. "I am Leinas Rockbruise. Cursed of the Four Knights. I was promised a cure by the Emperor… but he never kept his promise. If he tried, I don't even know. Please… if you want to kill me, kill me… but I beg you… relieve me of this curse. If you do this for me, you can do anything with me. I will be your sword or…" She raised her eyes and flushed bright red, "If it please you more… your sheath ."
When he understood her meaning, Ainz' face behind the mask flushed as red as hers, and he was grateful that his role allowed him to remain totally stiff. "Anything you want, anything you demand, my soul is yours… if you will just end my torment!" She cried out and with her face turned up at him, she moved aside her hair to reveal the part of her face that was concealed.
It wasn't hard to understand why she wanted it. Her face was one rotted and open sore, it had a putrid stink even from where she stood. Though he was sure they weren't there, it appeared as if white maggots were constantly devouring the gaping space of flesh from her eye to one part of her cheek, and to make it worse, there was a constant buildup of foul yellowish pus that would drip down her face.
Ainz recognized it quickly, ' A rot curse… incomplete, she must have killed the one to give it to her before it could be completed. Middle tier spell, not especially difficult.'
"I can grant your wish… but it requires your absolute loyalty. Even if it means your death." Ainz said to her, and she got up to all fours and rapidly nodded.
"I don't care if I die, as long as I die clean !" Leinas shouted and began to weep at the sound of a promise she somehow knew this one could keep.
"Then follow me into my home." Ainz said, and the [Gate] opened again, "Your cure is on the other side."
Leinas was briefly startled when she saw the undead monsters go through the gate, followed by undisturbed members of the team that had slaughtered her comrades.
Then Ainz stepped through, and Leinas practically dove after him.
Volume 3 Chapter 4
Jircniv collapsed in his seat. "Eighteen thousand knights…?" He asked again as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Down on one knee before the emperor, the messenger spoke on, "Yes, Emperor Jircniv, all four imperial knights appear to have been killed, and the survivors making their way back all report the same thing. Angels on an unprecedented level of power, six of them, slew everything in their path. The reports are… truly horrific." The messenger bowed his head. "Loune is among the dead as well."
Jircniv hissed. Everything in the room was designed around the theme of power and comfort, fine art, displays of gold and jewels, the couch on which he'd collapsed was stuffed to near bursting with feathers. Jircniv himself was a very young man of golden hair and slender build. He wore fine opulent clothing of purple and golden robes with a golden chain around his head. This served as the crown of his office, and from it hung a few small chains with precious gems. But for all his wealth, in that moment he suddenly felt like a pauper.
' An emperor's greatest treasures are his best servants… and now I've lost the lion's share of them in one blow. Fluder is missing, the Four Knights dead, my general and my secretary slaughtered, and eighteen thousand knights in one blow…' The realization was like a hammer blow to his crumbling spirit.
The man who was the bloody emperor, was now himself 'bloodied' by the impossible.
"And… What of the Theocracy? They sent observers this year didn't they? Do they confirm what you're telling me?" Jircniv asked immediately.
"I have their report here, my Lord." The messenger bowed his head, the top was going bald in the pattern of a horseshoe, and his face was wrinkled with growing age. His belly was a little bigger than it should be, a lucky fate compared to those who went the opposite way in life… and he trembled as he delivered bad news and flipped through documents with nervous haste.
Just before Jircniv could tell him to hurry up, the messenger found what he sought, he licked his lips rapidly with nerves, and sweat began to run down his face. "The Slane Theocracy confirms that…" He read off the missive that simply confirmed everything.
The vow.
The breaking of that vow.
The condemnation of the Baharuth Empire's general for breaking it.
The total defeat that followed.
The private advice of Cardinal Raymond not to struggle onward.
' Good advice…' Emperor Jircniv flung himself on his back, his limbs draped like death had taken him, he stared up at the high polished ceiling of his palace, then tilted his head to the right to face the kneeling messenger.
"What are the terms?" Jircniv asked with dread.
"Turn over the territory demanded, an apology for the raid on the home of the King, and also…" The messenger scratched his head, and Jircniv raised an eyebrow while he waited. "My Lord, he's demanding the surrender of the dark elf slaves… all of them."
"That's rather strange… I suppose it would hurt our labor force but after losing almost twenty thousand knights… that's almost doing us a favor. A defeat might embolden rebellion…" The weight of the loss was starting to hit, "Tell me… what would you do?"
"M-My Lord… I-I-I would…" The messenger shut his mouth tight for a moment, then steeling himself, he answered with what resolve he could muster.
"Make amends. Then form good relations as fast as possible, I'm from the area he's asking for, there's a lot of open land, that's probably why he wants the slaves to resettle them. It will take years to build up cities and towns even with the Kingdom of Re-Estize and the Kingdom of Carne to help him." The messenger said and slowly closed his eyes. "If you can make peace valuable, perhaps we won't face another loss like this one."
"That is good advice… I want to be alone for a little while," Jircniv said, "but in an hour send me someone to take a message of surrender to the Nazarickian King." Jircniv commanded, and watched the messenger depart, when the man was gone, it was all the Emperor could do to lie there and stare at nothing… though he did notice a few strands of hair fall away and float gently to the floor.
Ainz' return to Nazarick was unceremonious, ' I still don't know about telling the rest of them… what they'll do… or say… Foresight performed more than adequately. But they are nowhere near powerful enough to offer proper protection. Though their devotion is welcome.' His heart pounded in his chest, and to cover it, he messaged for Pestonya to join them while Leinas looked around with almost reverential awe.
Foresight knelt in a line before him with their heads bowed and silently waited for orders. "You performed well, you may use the baths, the bar, and rest yourselves in your respective quarters. Resume practice with Cocytus until you have reached another wall in your progress."
"Master." They said as one, then rose and departed, formality dropped away when they were withdrawing, excited comradely chatter went back and forth among themselves…
"Was he really that hard to catch?" Arche asked.
"He was a Nimble one…" Roberdyck said with a heavy laugh.
Imina and Hekkeran groaned, "No puns!" They shouted…
And the four faded from sight and sound alike just as Pestonya entered the hall.
Leinas intuitively sank to one knee, and for a moment the silence passed between them all until Ainz broke it. "You betrayed your country and comrades for a reward from me, this does not make me trust you."
"My Lord… for all my life I was loyal to everyone… but that loyalty came with one condition, even with the Emperor. That I would be cured . The Emperor knew I would abandon or even turn on him if a cure appeared, if he knew about my survival, my standing here would not surprise him." Leinas answered.
"And once you're cured?" Ainz asked, "What then?"
"Anything… before my curse… I was considered beautiful. Warming your bed, bearing your children, fighting your enemies to the death… anything, everything… my life's wish fulfilled, my every reason to be will be the reasons you give to me…" Leinas vowed, and she hadn't blushed then, though behind his mask, Ainz did.
' I can never trust someone who would so thoroughly betray everyone they knew for their own wish… even if I grant it, the reality is that she may turn on me if she finds a new wish. Still, she did hand me a victory and the reward is trivial. Plus she was a 'force' in this world.' Ainz considered the options, and inspiration struck.
"Pestonya, cure her." Ainz ordered, and Leinas looked up when the dog woman stepped closer and put a hand under Leinas's chin.
The dog woman brushed aside the hair in the way, baring the warrior woman's mutilation and shame. [Remove Middle Curse], [Cure Serious Wounds] .
Leinas felt the pulse of magic, her jaw dropped as her hand rushed up to the spot, her eye, she had an eye there that could see again, she could feel it, and pushed to absurdity, she poked at it a little bit, feeling it give against the light touch of her finger. Her God, as he now was to her, reached into a hole in the air to pluck out a mirror and hold it up.
"It's done." He said, and Leinas held aside the hair herself to see her face as she remembered it.
For the first time in many years… she could cry from that side of her face, and so she did, with happiness absolute, she wept. "Thank you… thank… you… God of Mercy… thank you…" Leinas cried out and her words echoed off the halls of Nazarick so powerfully and profoundly that it was as if the dark walls themselves were hailing its king as a God.
"You've been given your miracle, but not without price. Pestonya," Ainz said and glanced down at the long dog face of his maid, "take her to comfortable quarters, I have to…" He clung to the hope of a desperate escape from the need to tell another of the remaining NPCs and searched for an excuse to leave, "go to the Kingdom of Re-Estize to perform my duties as Momon. It's a busy time there… have… have Albedo and Demiurge run things in my absence."
"Yes, yes of course, my Lord." Pestonya said, and the two women were left alone.
"What do you think he'll want from me?" Leinas asked when she was able to rise and follow the curious demihuman maid.
"Everything… woof !" Pestonya replied, and though before that moment such a statement might have bothered her, in this one… Leinas couldn't have cared less.
In the weeks that followed the catastrophic defeat of the Baharuth Empire, word spread like wildfire from the Argland Council State to the City State Alliance in the northwest and north east, to the Elf Kingdom and Draconic Kingdom in the far south.
Word spread from place to place, mouth to mouth, the unbeatable Baharuth Empire's knights were broken, those who survived, few of them were fit to return to duty. Haunted by nightmares of lion headed angels, gibbering and fearful, they lived lives that would never again be the same.
It was perhaps for that reason that Ainz was more than pleased with the terms of peace sent by the Baharuth Emperor. "The dark elf slaves will make a good, obedient workforce I think, they're likely to be grateful for their freedom and used to following orders. Plus elves reproduce slowly and suitable investment in their skills will produce great artisans in the long term…" Ainz muttered out loud while Lupusregina sat across from him at the table.
"Yes, everything went as planned, and then some. As expected of Lord Ainz! -su" She smiled with genuine happiness, and then her face became serious. "But… my Lord, forgive me… your absence from Nazarick for so long… I know it bothers the others… I would, no one would… ever question your choices. But they miss you."
"I know." Ainz sighed and ran his hand up and down the side of his face, "The ones left to tell though, that troubles me. None of them can possibly beat me as I am now if they turned on me… but the very thought !" His eyes went hollow as he considered the very possibility… "To look down on the body of one of my dear friends' children… to have… no… I'd rather die than hurt any of you. But I also don't want to die!"
"Those of us who know," Lupusregina stood and went beside him, down to one knee she grasped his leg at the knee and with bright yellow eyes shining up at him she said, "we would fight for you."
Ainz nodded and put a loving hand on her flaming red hair, "I know, my Lupu, and that is also something I fear. I love 'all' my friends' children, you're all rapidly becoming more mine than theirs… and to see one child kill another, it kills me inside to even think of it."
"What will you do, Master?" Lupusregina asked when he went back to the treaty.
"Three big cities, dozens of towns and a hundred villages or so… not bad…" Ainz changed the subject, "Lots of open space too… Lupusregina, set Albedo and Demiurge to the project of building a city, suitable towns and villages, to hold all the dark elf slaves. Have their collars struck when they're transported to the new area and make sure they're properly supplied while they establish themselves. We should be able to get adequate food support from the Kingdom of Carne and Re-Estize, and buy whatever we can from Baharuth."
"From Baharuth?" Lupusregina asked, uncertain if she heard him properly.
"Yes, there's a trade treaty here as well… it looks like he wants friendly relations after 'making amends'. Fine, we can do that." Ainz muttered and scribbled off his agreement. "I also need to do something about my mortality, if this spell isn't going to wear off, and if it were going to, it should have by now… I need to put more levels into a path of being an immortal human race, but those are… 'flashy' developments, if I do it in Nazarick, everybody will know." He shook his head, "There's a solution, I just have to consider it further."
"But… my Lord, what about…?" Lupusregina asked without finishing it, returning to the prior concern about whom to tell, and Ainz went quiet, "I don't know. I need an opportunity alone with one of the ones who doesn't yet know the truth, a chance to cover everything up until I can get closer without it seeming 'forced'. An adventure or something… maybe." Ainz rolled his eyes and slumped back in his ornate dark wooden chair.
"Like an adventure, Master?" Lupusregina asked, and Ainz cracked a smile when he looked down at her.
That was her favorite part about his present humanity, she loved the expressive face, his giant smile, ' Who would ever be unable to accept this version of our master?'
"Yes, like an adventure, something that will give me a good excuse, and it looks like Momon and Lupu won't be having any of those for a while. But who knows… perhaps I'll get lucky?" Ainz said, and tousled her hair again, leaving Lupusregina beaming with happiness at the touch of the One Who Stayed.
Volume 3 Chapter 5
' Run away!' Crusch Lulu was ashamed that this was her first thought, it was a shame that she was sure she would have for the rest of her life. She knew intuitively within a mere second what she 'should' have thought. ' Save the children! Protect the tribe! Get the elders out! Fight back!'
But when the toadmen raid hit the fishers and as they burst up from the water, immediately skewering two lizardmen through the chest before her eyes, blood splattering into the air like the spray of the swamp water from which the toadmen emerged. No, none of the thoughts she should have had, came to mind. Only, ' Run away!' The toadmen were larger than the lizardmen, half again as tall and broad on average. They were not always stronger, but with their slick and slippery dark green bodies, they were hard to come to grips with.
Simply put, they were hard to fight even at equal or greater strength, their powerful legs allowed them to leap great heights and they had better weapons as well, long javelins they got by trading with Baharuth Empire humans in their part of the swamp.
' So why are they here?!' Crusch Lulu wondered and with the alarming thought in her head, she cast her first spell. [Fireball] . A gout of roaring flame sprang to life in the air and rushed over the swamp water where, by the purest chance, it caught a pocket of gas and a mighty explosion rocked the trees and made the frogmen hesitate.
There were many, she saw now. ' So many…' Another impossibility in her mind. ' Frogmen have villages not much larger than mine… how can this be?!'
The sound of 'ribbit ribbit', the chortling laughter and the sound of splashing water at her back while she ran away from the shore and through the gate of her village that didn't draw closer. The frogmen's hatred of fire and their brief belief that she had extraordinary magic would not buy her much time. "Run!" Crusch shouted, finding her courage to say what her instincts should have made her say immediately. "Run away! Get the children! Get everyone out! A frogman army!" she shouted and two large lizardmen began to force the gate closed. ' It won't buy much time, moments only…' She watched it close and readied her next spell, when the line of burning gas that briefly made the frogmen stop, died down or was extinguished by their own mages, they would be on her village's heels.
Splashing lizardmen feet and tails went to and fro, word spread immediately and warriors gathered at the far gate, ready to make a stand while the rest began to flee. ' How could there be an army? I've never seen so many frogmen before…' Crusch felt her blood run like ice and her heart race, her pale white tail slapped at the swamp water, when she saw a frogman holding a long spear leap into the air. [Magic Arrow] ! She shouted and the frog's gut was pierced before it could throw.
It fell back, then howled in pain . Crush rushed to the top of the wooden wall when consternation and noise entirely unexpected came from the other side. Beyond the flames stood… so many frogmen, like they threatened to drown the water itself with their bodies. Their large, oversized heads and faint uptilt to their mouths bulged with every heavy breath.
But one stood out, broader than any three lizardmen, and taller than any two standing on one another's heads, ' A frogman Lord…' Crusch realized in dismay.
"You… you are the one who killed that one, aren't you?! -ribbit" It bellowed at her and held a large orichalcum trident, it pointed to the burning corpse of the frogman that had fallen back into the fires, it wasn't wailing or calling for help at all, it was a roasting corpse.
By instinct, Crusch nodded.
"He was my brother, I am Heketi! Frogmother! I 'was' only going to conquer you Lizardmen… but to kill my brother so that he would burn in flame?! No! You've signed the death warrant for all your people! The lizardmen are going to be destroyed down to the last of your young! The swamp is ours! You have no place in it now! -Ribbit!"
Crusch could think of nothing to say, the frogmen magic casters were already moving up to deal with the fire, ' It's only pure luck that they think they're dealing with magic of mine and not just burning gas… that will buy me some time, but they'll figure it out…' She stared across the flames that divided the two of them and rising her arm, she pointed at her rival with one claw out. "I am Crusch Lulu of the Red Eye Tribe, and you have made an enemy today… we will meet again !" She declared with boldness she didn't really feel, then hopped back down and hissed at the two lizardmen who waited below, "Go!"
They raced away to where the little band of warriors waited, and collectively abandoned their home.
"Where are we supposed to go from here…" The one to ask her that wasn't the only one with that question on their mind when they were out of sight of the village. Thankfully they couldn't hear the sound of the plunder happening, all their things, their meager possessions, falling into the hands of the frogmen invaders. But they knew that was happening even if they couldn't see it.
The question… Crusch Lulu didn't have a ready answer for, the shame of her initial fear still gripped her heart, and that fear faded not even a little bit when she beheld the massive Heketi, or the sheer size of the opposition which threatened the Red Eye tribe. As they continued splashing through the waters beside the great lake however, just putting distance between themselves and the army, an idea did come to mind.
"She promised to destroy 'all' lizardmen. I think that means we should visit our neighbors… search for allies. We'll go to the Green Claws… they're the closest one to us." Crusch said, and taking her place at the front of her tribe, she guided them as best she could, hoping against hope that they would listen to her.
Zaryusu was wading through the water of his fish farm, the warm water lapped at his body and the mud seeped between his scaled toes, his tail batted about within the water itself and scattered the fish away from himself.
His finger claws worked with practiced deftness at the corner of a pole. It was now routine for him to do this since the project began. ' I thought I knew fear when I was a traveler, I thought I knew fear during the war… I never knew what fear was till I became a fish farmer. Every night… I wonder what will be broken in the morning. Every day I have to worry that some beast might have devoured my stock and destroyed everything… war and the unknown are brief flashes of fear. This though, this is constant.' He sighed and fixed the fraying cord that held the net secure.
Zaryusu then took up a small twig and began to check each little gap in the net by pressing the twig down, hoping each time to feel resistance so that he would know the net was intact. He rolled his eyes when he recalled how many times he'd screwed up by using his finger claw and snapping the line himself before coming up with the obvious solution of using a twig.
It was busy, busy work, and he was still alone in doing it.
' At least my brother supports me.' Zaryusu had that comforting thought just as he heard his brother's voice at his back.
"Heyyyyy!" Zaryusu heard the voice at his back and looked over his shoulder, Shasuryu was waving at him, mouth open and tongue out.
' He's hungry.' Zaryusu wanted to laugh about that, but he was focused on his work. He held up a hand behind him with one claw up, telling the chief to wait.
He then resumed checking the netting for gaps. The hardest part was checking the ones closest to the bottom, and ensuring there was no gap at the base that the fish could easily wiggle under.
For that, he had a number of wooden stakes pinning the net into the muck below so that the net was flush at the bottom, but… things could go wrong. The steady flowing water could change the lay of the bottom and create a gap where there was none before, or slowly work a stake loose from its position. The big posts every twenty paces could be easily checked and not easily removed. But the small stakes underwater? Those were harder! He swept his foot over them each time and pressed his weight down just to confirm their placement, and his brother waited patiently on shore.
Shasuryu watched his brother go about the work of the farm, and not for the first time admiration for the young lizardman, the bearer of Frost Pain, rose up in his breast. ' If I were not chief, he should be.' He thought to himself and watched the slow, steady way in which Zaryusu worked. Hole by hole, stake by stake, the Traveler made his way all around the circuit until he had returned to shore.
Zaryusu stepped up onto the moist ground and approached his brother, water dripped from his body and ran down the length of his tail to fall away at the tip, where his brown scales contrasted the green of his brother.
Shasuryu kept his eyes on the churning waters, "How are the fish coming?"
"Ahhh, brother… seeing is believing…" Zaryusu said, then wading into the water, his hand darted out and broke through the surface of the lake and yanked out a fish by the tail. It flopped around, dangling in his hand. Zaryusu's mouth fell open from contented happiness. "Bigger! Bigger than what we get from wild harvests, and what's more I'm selecting them for size. The ones who get the biggest, fastest, are the ones I'm leaving alone, the smaller ones I'm selecting for bait to lure beasts away from these."
"How are you doing that?" Shasuryu asked, looking around the fish farm for some hint that he had overlooked.
Zaryusu pointed to a space farther away where a number of tree limbs hung over the water. "I hang 'bait' from those, it's easy meat and so they avoid the farm, as it turns out, we can also lay ambushes for the beasts themselves that chase the bait, and draw extra meat from those."
Shasuryu gave a slow nod of understanding, but looked disappointed when his brother dropped the wiggling fish back into the farm where it swam to what it thought of as safety.
"The fish by the way, are so fatty now that they melt in your mouth, they're succulent and juicy down to the last scrap of themselves. I tried a few yesterday just as a test and… well, in another week or two, you'll be the first I gift my harvest to!" Zaryusu said with enthusiasm and slapped his brother on his shoulder.
Shasuryu's tail pounded the ground as it wagged with joy, the heavy thuds giving away his obvious happiness at the promise. "Nonsense, you did all this work yourself, all I did was-"
"Make it possible. I know you argued with the tribe over this, that more than once they wanted to just consume the fish before they were ready… this wouldn't happen without you. Thank you." Zaryusu said.
Any answer his brother might have given was cut off by the sudden noise of shouting lizardmen, and both brothers turned to face the sound of their villagers calling out for help.
Zaryusu and his brother rushed toward the noise, the farm forgotten as they came closer to the source of the chaos. "What is it?! What's happening?!" Shasuryu bellowed.
"Red Eyes! It's the Red Eye tribe! All of them!" Someone called out from atop the low wall.
"An attack?! Why?!" Shasuryu shouted the question nobody could have answered, then cast it aside, he stood towering over his fellow lizardmen and pointed toward the back gate, "Get the elders, our women, and our children back! Warriors form up! Gather weapons and put yourselves on the wall! Make ready for a fight!"
Rallied by their chieftain, Zaryusu retrieved Frost Pain, then rushed to the wall and took up a place at his side just above the double doored gate as the Red Eye tribe came closer… and the most beautiful lizard woman he'd ever seen stepped forward as the tribe came to a halt.
"Please! We need help! We didn't come to fight!" She called out.
"So… brother? What do we do?" He asked of Shasuryu, who had no immediate answer.
Volume 3 Chapter 6
"I'll go talk to them…" Zaryusu suggested, knowing his mind should have been on his duty to protect his tribe… but… ' That one… that's the most beautiful female I've ever seen…' He thought, and all he wanted to do was get closer to her.
He didn't wait for his brother to respond, or rather, didn't plan to, but before he could leap over the front, his brother had his finger claws on Zaryusu's shoulder. "Wait-"
"Don't worry," Zaryusu said with a deferential nod, "I am a traveler, I can take this risk without hurting the tribe."
"It will hurt your brother." Shasuryu said in a low, gruff voice when he looked down his long face at his brown scaled kin.
"I will be fine, brother." Zaryusu said and put his hand over that of his brother, he slowly pulled the touch away, "If they wanted to fight, we'd know it by now. We're just being cautious…"
Shasuryu let his hand be taken away, and Zaryusu put a hand on the wooden wall before launching himself over the side. He landed on the soft ground below with a light splash and approached the Red Eye tribe. The sword he kept at his side, Frost Pain, the jagged blade of winter ice, one of the great treasures of the lizardmen drew murmurs from them as he came closer.
Zaryusu stopped six paces away and held his hands open and out at his sides to show he held no weapon. "I am Zaryusu, Traveler and member of the Green Claw tribe."
"A traveler is the chief?" Crusch Lulu asked and cocked her head to one side.
"My brother is the chief, I am his ears for now, why have you come?" Zaryusu asked, trying very hard not to immediately utter a mating call and maintain a serious air. ' They wouldn't be here without reason, if not to fight… then what?'
Crusch Lulu accepted the answer, raising a hand when some behind her muttered that the chief should have come out, it stilled their tongues and she took a slow breath. "Our village was attacked by an army of frogmen."
"An army? Not a tribe?" Zaryusu asked, his scaled brow narrowed.
"No, an army . There were many… many, led by a female named Heketi. She was enormous, taller than your walls, and broader than your gates… they've vowed to kill us all. We need help, we need-" Crusch stopped when Zaryusu raised his hand.
"If they want to kill all of you… why should we get involved?" Zaryusu asked, looking her up and down and then trying to focus on the desperate numbers at her back.
"No. Not 'us' my tribe. She intends to kill all of 'us' as in the lizardmen… she wants to take control of the entire lake and the swamp… we have no place in her world…" Crusch bowed her head, "Please, if we don't work together, she will crush us all one by one. There will be no Lizardmen…"
"Wait here, I must take this to my chief… I… I will be back." Zaryusu promised, and tried not to appear rushed as he returned to the wall. ' Frogmen… dangerous enemies, their powerful legs carry them over forts, their ranged weapons are a problem, though they don't have the strongest magic… they reproduce fast, they could well have an army of their own…'
When the gate opened a little and closed as soon as he entered, he looked up and called to his brother, "Shasuryu, privacy… you need to hear this!"
The big green lizardman traced a hand over the large scar that ran down the middle of his light tan front, the green scales of his hand caught the light during the act and glinted back up at him. ' This can't be good.' He thought and hopped down onto the soft ground. He followed his brother to his own hut.
Their huts, mounted on stilts and raised over the water, covered with grasses and broad leaves that let the air flow freely while also providing shade and warmth, were home. They were not luxurious temples or stone hearths, but they were home.
That was all anyone needed them to be.
The pair sat, and Zaryusu explained what he'd just heard. Shasuryu nodded, "I see… a frogman army… your thoughts?"
"They wouldn't be here if it weren't a problem… we may in fact need the other tribes to deal with this also… a great alliance of tribes. Either we fight them as one or we flee, and where can we go?" Zaryusu spread his hands open when he asked the question, and watched his brother think that over.
"Nowhere I can think of, what about you?" Shasuryu answered.
"I traveled much, I saw no place better for us than this one. There are other lakes, but there are other peoples in them, even if they let us settle, it won't be our old lives anymore, and who is to say they won't simply enslave us? We will be scattered all over, and no two of us will stand together again… we will die out." Zaryusu answered with finality.
"Will the other tribes agree, do you think?" Shasuryu replied with a question which Zaryusu couldn't quite answer.
"I don't know, but we can try. But we should also search for help, the frogmen outnumber us in the best of times, and that war we fought against each other didn't help us." Zaryusu slumped, "We need help."
"How can you be so sure?" Shasuryu asked, a rumble in his throat when he did it.
"Not to offend your pride as a warrior, brother, but when we fought our war of six tribes, did you hear anyone call any gathering of tribes an army ?" Zaryusu asked, and his brother went quiet again.
"No. But even if the Red Eyes didn't fight in the war, they definitely knew of it, and they might even have seen some of it. They never fled from the threat of invasion by the other tribes, but now here they are. However many frogmen they fled from… it was too many for Red Eyes alone."
Zaryusu held his breath while his brother, his chief, thought it over.
"Alright. We'll let them in and send word to the other tribes." Shasuryu said and slowly rose to his feet.
Zaryusu stood up, "We need to know more than we do, and I believe we need more than what the Red Eye tribe can tell us."
"What are you suggesting?" Shasuryu asked.
"We need to strike the frogmen, take prisoners, we need information. How many, what they're after… how they'll do it… and if we can, we need to slow them down." Zaryusu replied and reached for Frost Pain, his hand wrapped around the hilt of his sword, emphasizing his point.
"No, first we need the others. Then we can raid the frogmen." Shasuryu said immediately, "First I will go with the Red Eye chief and-"
"No!" Zaryusu exclaimed.
"No?" Shasuryu replied.
"Ah, brother… you're our chief. If you go, who will lead us?" Zaryusu asked, and then he cut his brother off again before an answer could come, "If our chief is absent, and their chief is absent, our elders… they are very old fashioned, they will not treat the Red Eye fairly. They will be suspicious, they may make a mistake and cause infighting instead of unity. I will go, I am a Traveler, my loss will not hurt the tribe."
Shasuryu looked down at the grass woven mat flooring. He didn't have to speak his heart. Zaryusu understood it.
"I know." Zaryusu replied, "But trust me, this is for the best, if a traveler goes, and I take the Red Eye chief, suspicion will fall, none go to war without their chief."
"I… I guess that is true." Shasuryu answered with no small reluctance. "Having me here and the Red Eye chief gone will bring some sense of security that there is no rivalry, and perhaps their chief leaving will convince them that the danger is real."
Zaryusu suppressed the sudden release of a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. While everything both lizardmen said was true, the truth was, ' I want to be alone with her! I don't want anyone else to be!'
His heart pounded at the very thought.
"Let's go let them in… explain things to the Red Eye chief, and the two of you can take your hydra and go, you'll make better time that way." Shasuryu commanded, speaking as a chief, only to take a step closer and grab his brother's arm.
"But come back. Alive." Shasuryu added, speaking not as a chief, but as one brother to another.
Minutes later, the gates were opened and the refugees of the Red Eye tribe began to stream into the gate, fears of 'invasion' faded when the elders of the tribe, as well as their infants and children, began to filter in behind the young and strong.
The gravity of the situation began to hit home, hard. Lizardmen faces did not change much, but much could be said for the occasional blink, and there was a great deal of nervous blinking as the many families began to enter, with desperate, hungry looks, growling bellies, frightened, and darting expressions.
Cries for food from small lizardmen young were not yet answered when Shasuryu raised his hands overhead to call for silence.
"The frogmen have an army. They have decreed the extinction of lizardmankind. They have destroyed the village of the Red Eye Tribe, and nobody knows where they will strike next." Shasuryu shouted, and the cries of the Green Claw tribe were many.
Frogmen were old enemies, and fierce ones when war broke out. Though fighting wasn't common, it happened. ' Usually when the Baharuth Empire diverts manpower elsewhere and leaves them in control of the area around the swamp… but why would they do that? They've always easily kept the frogmen at bay and confined to the swamp and the great lake region…'
Zaryusu couldn't think of an answer to the riddle, and so he waited in silence.
"My brother will take the Red Eye chief with him to the next village, and the next, and the next, and the next. We will have a grand alliance of lizardmen to fight against the frogmen, and with us all together, it is the frogmen who will be destroyed!" Shasuryu spoke with more confidence than he felt, but the relieved looks on the Red Eye refugees said plenty.
"Each family will host one other until my brother and the Red Eye chief return, and we will prepare to fight the frogmen until then." Shasuryu proclaimed, and, weighted down by the heavy news, no mouth nor tongue had the ability to voice an objection.
Zaryusu approached the albino lizardwoman. "Come with me, we will be riding on my hydra, and we can't spare a moment."
Her tribe looked to her with downcast eyes, "I will go with the bearer of Frost Pain, be at ease, we will come back, I promise you." Crusch Lulu said and put a hand over her heart, then bowed lightly with her red eyes briefly shut, and then when she straightened up and they bowed in acknowledgement, she faced Zaryusu again.
"I'm ready, let's go, you're right, we haven't a moment to spare." She said, and to her great relief, the long strides of the brown scaled lizardman were proof enough that he agreed with her sentiment.
AN: Just to let you know, I've finished writing this book, Volume 3 caps off at 43 chapters the last chapters will be edited over the next few days. Chapters will be released here on a weekly basis over the course of the next 37 weeks… or you can read early on discord / pat re on.
After the editing is done I'll be giving away pdfs of it in both locations. As for volume 4? Let's just say… I hope you like Dwarves… and Demiurge.
Volume 3 Chapter 7
Zaryusu went to the hut where Rororo stayed, the four headed hydra looked at him from all its eyes at once, it could feel his tension and responded immediately.
"We're going somewhere, my friend. I need your strength." Zaryusu said and held up his hand, the hydra's heads took turns pressing themselves into his palm before his body lumbered into the open.
"Your pet is impressive." Crusch said, looking the creature over.
"He's more my friend and comrade than my pet. I found him a long time ago, abandoned by its mother, most likely over having only four heads as opposed to the usual eight." Zaryusu explained and reaching up, he patted the hard brown scaled body. Rororo's tail wagged back and forth with pleasure at the affectionate touch.
"Come on, let me help you up and we'll get going." Zaryusu said and held out his free hand.
"We're going to ride him? Is it safe?" She asked and looked up at him, the oval length heads all turned to look at her and cocked in opposing directions as if not quite sure what to make of her. Long serpentine tongues darted out and wiggled briefly in the air before withdrawing into their mouths.
"As long as you're with me, yes." Zaryusu said and patted Rororo again. "Listen to me, Rororo, she's a friend, not food. Understand?" He asked.
The heads bobbed twice in unison, then the big beast held still while Crusch Lulu took a hesitant step forward. Zaryusu climbed up first, his clawed hands and feet doing seemingly no damage to the monster, not even discomforting it, he was up within the span of a child's breath. His hand extended down toward her again, she tried to imitate him as best she could, and with a little scrambling that brought a tiny blush to her cheeks, she was up sitting in front of him.
"Alright, go, Rororo." Zaryusu said and patted the left center head, his hydra turned in that direction and went for the gate.
Crusch looked behind her to see the members of her tribe beginning to divide up among the families of Zaryusu's people. Many of her people looked back at her, but it was noteworthy in her eyes that only one that she saw, looked back at the departing Zaryusu.
She watched until the entire area was a mere dot, ' Nobody looked to see him leave… except their chief.'
Zaryusu didn't say very much until Crusch began to fidget, straddling the beast and pressed into his body, it was already a trifle discomfiting. But the sun was pounding her like a hammer, strictly speaking it wasn't even that hot, but this much time unprotected in the sun began to leave its mark.
She began to shift as slight pain began to run through her body.
"Are you alright?" Zaryusu asked, glancing down at her from behind.
"I-I'm alright. Please don't worry about me." Crusch replied with haste, her little blush returning to her cheeks, her tail went over the side to dangle by and without her intent, caressed his thigh. Rororo continued to tramp through the muck, the constant splash and squish amidst the waters of the lake and the swamps around it were the only constant noises. Though occasionally there was the rush of wind through the trees or the sound of some creature of the waters breaking the surface for one reason or another.
Crusch made herself remain still and stiff for as long as she could, and she did her best to ignore it when his body pressed against hers when he leaned forward to tap one of Rororo's necks to guide the beast. It was hard not to notice that Zaryusu was there, steady and stable, quiet and focused. ' I wonder what he's thinking? Probably only about our task…'
' To think my brother almost got to do this! I'm the luckiest lizardman alive… I should be focused on what we need to do… but this is the most beautiful, radiant, desirable female I've ever seen…' Zaryusu answered that tumult of thoughts and desires by redoubling his focus and remaining steady and slow in every gesture, ensuring not one touch or action of his own could be questioned in her mind.
But he did notice when she was shifting again. "Have I made you uncomfortable?"
"N-No it's…" Crusch told him the half truth, and latched onto it by pointing up at the sky toward the bright afternoon sun.
"It's that." She said and ran one hand over her pure white arm. "On this." She didn't look over his shoulder, that felt too awkward, "It's that I burn easily in the sun if I'm out too long, normally I wear a bush cloak to hide my body from the light so I don't get these." She pointed out a series of tiny splotches of red on her body.
"I burn easily, you see. But unfortunately there simply wasn't time to grab my usual protection. Everything had to be left behind." Crusch said with no small unhappiness.
"Oh, can't you just get another one?" He asked and waved a hand toward the dense trees. "I'm sure there are plenty of bushes in there, aren't they?"
"Yes, but the bushes that work best are harder to find, the red berry ones are thick and protect me well from the light, but the rest might as well not be there." Crusch answered.
"Why not that?" Zaryusu suggested, then pointed down at the water's edge. The wind was blowing slow and steady, sending ripples over the waters that caught the light of the burning sun and sent the white reflected light glinting toward their eyes.
"How can I wear water ? Or are you saying I smell? I'm sorry but there was no time to wash before we ran for our lives -" Crusch said, glaring back at him before he gave his head a fierce shake.
"No! Don't wear water, and you smell wonderful, I-" Zaryusu stopped in mid sentence.
Crusch Lulu brought both hands up to the sides of her slightly open mouth, the redness on her cheeks had nothing to do with the heat or rays of the sun above and everything to do with him praising her scent.
"I, ah…" Zaryusu almost said, ' I didn't mean it…' but thought the better of it as that would have sounded too much like going back to saying she stank. "What I meant was, was not that way… I meant…" He swallowed and thrust his hand toward the shore again. "Wear mud. Cover yourself in that and you'll be protected from the sun."
"Mud…?" She narrowed her eyes at him.
"Yes, mud. It isn't perfect, but coating yourself in it will cover your body so that you don't burn." Zaryusu tried to stay as practical as possible and did not meet her narrow gaze.
"I suppose… but it would be difficult to get on my back." Crusch Lulu remarked.
"I'll help!" Zaryusu offered, and her tail lashed reflexively.
"Is that an offer you make to many females? Some way to excuse putting your hands all over them?" Crusch inquired almost as curious as she was embarrassed.
"No! I- That isn't- I'm just trying to solve your problem…" Zaryusu stammered.
"So you find my body repugnant do you? That is a common sentiment, few would want to touch scales like this." Crusch replied, only for his vigorous head shake to redouble.
"Certainly not! I would love to touch your body, it's beautiful, you're the most beautiful female I've ever seen and-" Zaryusu replied and both he and Crusch Lulu sucked in air in disbelief at the bold statement.
Rororo however, ignored it all and simply jogged along.
"So you are a pervert who wants my body after all?" Crusch Lulu demanded.
"No! Yes! I-" Zaryusu darted his eyes about like he was seeking an escape.
"Which is it?" Crusch asked.
With nowhere to go verbally or physically, like some deep primal call from the depths of his soul, the female of his dreams before him as they rode on an errand of desperation that could very well fail and doom them all, his body did the one thing it did not need to think to do.
His powerful hands gripped her shoulders, claws lightly pressing into the white scales, his back arched close to her, his head tilted toward the sky and tail stiffened out behind him. Then from his open mouth, "Eyaaaa… Eyaaa… Eyaaaaa…"
The high pitched noise was nonsensical to anyone outside their race, it was not even a word within their spoken tongue.
It was a mating call of lizardman to lizardwoman, the most primal expression of desire and want their kind could emit.
"Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-What… What did you do…?!" Crusch blushed a deep crimson over her cheeks and looked up behind herself.
He did it again.
There was no doubt in her mind. ' A mating call… I never thought I would hear one for myself…' Crusch's tail began to flail about and pound his leg, while Rororo simply rode on.
"You can't mean it…" She said, but he nodded.
"I do! I can't deny the depths of my heart! As soon as I saw you, I hungered for you, I wanted you. You are the most beautiful female of our kind that I have ever seen… and I cannot help myself. We will die if we fail, and we may even be killed trying to win over our neighbors. If we are going to die, I want to live honestly, and make my desire known to the woman I love." Zaryusu proclaimed, and it did nothing to quell Crusch Lulu's blush.
"We don't even know one another!" She exclaimed.
"You led your people to safety and put yourself at the front, risking death by doing so, that tells me you are a female among females, the greatest of your tribe… anything else I am content to learn later." Zaryusu answered her with confidence.
For seconds she could think of nothing to say, but she did finally come to ask… "So the mud suggestion, was that just so that you could touch me?"
"No. That was to protect you from the sun. That I would get to touch your body is only an added privilege that I would greatly treasure." Zaryusu answered and Crusch fell silent again.
AN: To see my unfolding original work 'The Strongest in the World' go to royalroad dot com. First two chapters are up, and the book is complete enjoy weekly releases of the first volume of a new epic story of power, conspiracy, desire, trust and betrayal.
Volume 3 Chapter 8
"It's still a lot to put on me all at once on the very day we've met." Crusch Lulu said in a bit of a tiff. "I'll skip the mud for now… but if we survive this, on the way back I will… I will permit it."
The happy thudding of Zaryusu's tail on Rororo's back was impossible to miss.
"I'm sorry… but I am still a male, and the idea excites me." Zaryusu acknowledged and moved his hands so that they were beside her long, slender body and holding onto the necks of two of Rororo's heads.
"I- Yes, I understand. My tribe is not large, I know what it is you're feeling, at least by… observation ." Crusch replied.
"Now who's the pervert?" Zaryusu joked and she gasped, scandalized.
"It's not like that!" Crusch exclaimed, and blushed when he laughed at her.
"I know, but the humans have a saying, 'Turnabout is fair play' and you put me on the spot first." Zaryusu replied without any taunting or meanness to his words.
"I suppose I did do that." Crusch admitted succinctly.
"We should be there soon." Zaryusu said, allowing the subject to shift and pointing to a distant wall of earth and logs. It was barely a dot ahead, but he saw it clearly.
"You mention humans, you were a traveler?" Crusch asked.
"Yes, I bear the brand of my tribe to mark me as such, I left and wandered the realms of men for several years." Zaryusu replied.
"Why?" Crusch asked, looking up over her shoulder at him, he wasn't looking down at her now, his mind was elsewhere, eyes focused forward.
"Why?" Zaryusu reversed the question.
"Yes, unless your customs differ from ours, that brand meant you would no longer be able to participate in governing the tribe, you would be forever apart from your own people. That is a very heavy burden, and besides that there was the very big risk that you might die out there. You could have been enslaved, or killed by humans, or a monster, or any number of dreadful ends."
"I could also die in our next tribal wars." Zaryusu answered in a voice as cold as Frost Pain.
"I left because I knew things couldn't stay the same, sooner or later we would be hungry again, sooner or later we would have to fight each other again, what if the hunger is greater next time? How will we survive? We still might not, we still have not recovered from the wars amongst one another, and now the frogmen threaten to destroy us." Zaryusu replied with his entire body tensing in frustration and anger.
"The world outside our lake and our swamp… I thought it might have answers . Knowledge that might help us to change our fates. I was right, I found things that, if we had known them years ago, would have meant none of us would go hungry. If someone had gone before me, none of that might have happened." Zaryusu's jaw tightened and his mouth audibly snapped shut.
"Yes, I understand… what if we fail, but are we able to leave?" Crusch asked, "Will your knowledge help us?"
"Maybe. I made human friends in the Kingdom among the adventurers, the Kingdom is safer than the Theocracy, I was warned never to go there or I would be killed. Baharuth to the north is far too great a distance, we'd have to travel far to get around the area ruled by frogmen. We aren't well suited to the caves of the dwarves, though they are friendly enough. Anywhere we go, living will be hard and anything might go wrong, our old likely would not survive such a journey."
"That is true…" Crusch said, and then her blood froze when Zaryusu spoke again.
"I noticed you had very few elders compared to us. Why?" Zaryusu asked, Crusch wasn't sure if his tone actually held suspicion in it or if it was all in her own imagination, but she chose to answer honestly.
' Our lives depend on one another… I have no choice but to trust this one.' Crusch reasoned, and putting her hands on the outside of his own, she answered, "It is how we avoided fighting in the war at all."
"I don't understand, did they find a dangerous food supply and risk themselves to bring it back?" Zaryusu asked, "Could stronger ones make it, if so, perhaps we could harvest something worthwhile before fleeing if we have to."
"No, nothing like that. That would make this easier… when the tribes went to war, our chief, he didn't want to risk joining any side. So he instead… he made laws. Laws with stiff penalties." Crusch said and searched vainly for the words to carry on with her explanation.
"Laws, how do laws help feed you? You can't eat laws." Zaryusu pointed out, and she lowered her head a little, watching the ground vanish slowly under Rororo's tireless round feet, the squelching mud and the breeze were tranquil to hear and to feel for a moment, but only for a moment.
She felt another burn from on her pale scales. The pain gnawed at her a little before she answered.
"No, no we don't eat the laws, we didn't, I mean. But whenever someone broke a rule, our chief would exile them, he would escort them out of the village, far out of sight, and then when he returned, he brought back meat to feed the tribe with. Nobody knew what he was doing, not at first. He almost always chose the aged ones for 'punishment'. Eventually we did figure it out. But we pretended we didn't." Crusch tightened her hold over his hands.
"We pretended we weren't guilty for what felt like the longest time while the other tribes fought each other, we were showing our shameful selves and pretending we didn't know that we were eating the bodies of our elders. How hypocritical we were… it wasn't until the famine was near the end, when we knew, we were sure that we were safe, that we turned on our chief. Only when we were safe, did we put the blame on him and start our own war against each other. I led the way. I rallied the village, and I killed him. He saved us, at a terrible price, and took all that guilt on himself so that we could go on… and I killed him for it."
"I see… I don't know what to say to that." Zaryusu answered, inching closer as if to offer his warmth.
"The strange thing though, he seemed at peace, my staff came up, and he bowed his head to me to accept the blow. He offered no real resistance, only a token of his true ability, and so I took his life with ease."
"I never knew your chief, but can I offer an explanation?" Zaryusu asked as kindly as his rough voice would allow.
She nodded with quiet acceptance and awaited his condemnation.
"I think he knew his tribe would survive, you took the role of chief after him, the tribe was in good hands, and it was over. And because he accepted all the guilt, the tribe could go on as it had without despising itself. I don't know the character of your chief, but if my brother were in his place, I think that would have been his thought." Zaryusu said with pride.
Crusch Lulu's tail drooped, a heavy weight seemed to have fallen away, and without even thinking about it, she let herself lean back into the body of the large male behind her. "Thank you for that. I think maybe you're right, looking at it that way, it does sound like him, he was a truly great leader."
"He must have been, now here you are doing the same, putting your life on the line to lead them as he did before you. It is hard to be chief, I don't even envy you, and I do not even envy my brother." Zaryusu gave a vigorous shake of his head. "Strangely enough, not being part of the governing life of the tribe was not a bad thing to think about when I considered becoming a Traveler. After the war, when things settled, I didn't dislike the idea of not participating in a decision to kill our own ever again. Any risks I took risked only myself. That seemed a little enough thing to handle."
"You say that, but 'yourself' is all you've got." Crusch Lulu replied, and then raised her hand and pointed ahead.
The matter was dropped in an instant, "They've spotted us."
Zaryusu looked closely, she was right, the solid wall was giving way to a view of the interior as the gate opened up in front of them and guards at the top held long spears at the ready, their numbers quickly increasing as others rushed up from the inside, ready to fend off the monster Rororo and 'whoever' was riding him.
"If they attack, I will turn Rororo around, he will take you back, warn our tribes that we failed and to run to the adventurer's guild of Re-Estize and ask for help. Ask for Moknak of Rainbow." Zaryusu's instructions were swift and given without regard for whether Crusch would agree with them or not.
"You're going to risk yourself again?" Crusch demanded to know.
"I have only myself, I am a Traveler, I can be lost. But I'm also the bearer of Frost Pain, they may not attack, but if they do, by using Frost Pain's power, I can buy time for you to escape." Zaryusu said, and sensing her hesitation he raised his head and spoke to his companion.
"Rororo, if they attack, take my friend back, even if you have to carry her in your mouths." Zaryusu commanded, and Rororo nodded as if he understood.
"You can't make that decision for me!" Crusch Lulu exclaimed.
"Someone has to survive, and you are a chief." Zaryusu said in the bluntest way he could.
Crusch Lulu could not argue with his reasoning, and launched no more objections as they came close enough to see into the eyes of the lizardmen on the wall.
AN: Just to give you an update, Volume 4 has the first nine chapters written. I'm producing a chapter or two per day on average. A special thanks to the one who sponsored these books, you made it possible to take the time off work to write these, and you're a goddamn champ. :) PDF downloads of all three completed volumes are available on my patr30n, thank you for your support, and of course new chapters will be uploaded every week otherwise. Also check out my original work, 'The Strongest in the World' on Royal Road. The first volume will be released at one chapter per week every Friday, and in the next week or two it will also be for sale in full on amazon along with my other finished work 'Countdown'. And of course… my other profile here 'atheistbasementdragon' has ongoing stories such as my sponsored work 'Who Endures' which is up to volume 4 on FFN, with weekly updates.
Volume 3 Chapter 9
Zenberu was a lot of things, but easily surprised wasn't among them. But when the guards atop the wall shouted that there was a monster coming… and it was carrying two lizardmen, he was very much surprised.
"Open the gate, I'll go out and speak with them." Zenberu barked the order and the little wooden gate made a loud creaking noise as the entrance split open and out he came.
As the largest of the Dragon Tusk tribe, he was also the strongest, and their greatest warrior. It was because he had the confidence of the strong that he thought nothing about swaggering outside the security of the gate to speak to their unexpected visitors.
He waited, open handed and open armed, as the hydra and its riders came closer.
"I am Zenberu Gugu of the Dragon Tusk Tribe, who are you and why are you here?" It was a blunt question from a blunt Chief, it set the tone that Zaryusu favored abundantly.
He hopped down from Rororo, then reaching up with one hand, he helped Crusch down so lightly that her feet made no sound when they hit a puddle on the ground.
"I am Zaryusu Shasha of the Green Claw Tribe," he said and reaching over his shoulder, he removed Frost Pain and held it overhead, "bearer of Frost Pain." He then replaced the weapon a moment later after ensuring that the others heard and saw him, not just Zenberu Gugu. "This," he put a hand on her back, "is Crusch Lulu of the Red Eye Tribe. We come with important news that affects all lizardmen."
This had the desired effect, he saw the way some tensed, fearing an alliance of tribes was ready to turn on them. Zenberu however, proved his mettle, he did not tense, nor flinch, nor did he show any hint of concern about the possibility.
"What is this news ?" Zenberu asked and crossed his arms in front of his broad and powerful chest.
"Frogmen, the frogmen have mustered… how many?" Zaryusu asked, looking down at Crusch Lulu.
"Too many. We can't beat them alone, none of us can. We need to join together, I've seen their numbers, they are far more than we can hope to fight." Crusch said and bent forward with a slight bow of her head, her hands pointed toward the ground, "they want to kill us all. All lizardmen, all our old, our young, everyone."
"The frogmen?" Zenberu looked over his shoulder, not thinking of the village at his back but rather at the distant frogmen, "They've been fighting the Baharuth Empire for years. Why would they come against us? How would they send so many against us? Humans may not be stronger than us man to man but they have good weapons, good armor, and there are a lot of them."
It was then that Zaryusu took note of the mark of the traveler on the bare scarred chest of the deep green scaled chief. Clad in only the usual long brown loincloth and a necklace with monster teeth to show his status, the figure himself was so impressive it was easy to overlook the mark. But there it was.
"You traveled to Baharuth, didn't you?" Zaryusu asked.
"Before my time as Chief, yes. The Empire always kept many thousands on the outskirts of the frogmen's territory and they fought often. The frogmen are fierce but they don't do well away from the lake or the swamp for long. They raided a lot of villages, but that is all." Zenberu's words were more thoughtful than Zaryusu at first expected out of the mountain of a lizardman.
' But that is a Traveller for you. He thinks, he doesn't just fight. He is more than a brute.' Zaryusu mentally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Your woman?" He asked, pointing at Crusch Lulu, "Has an unusual look, not a warrior look…"
"I am a druid, but I have fought, I killed the frogman leader's brother before our village escaped." Crusch blushed a little at the assumption that she was bound to Zaryusu, but didn't deny it.
"I see… and how many… how many exactly did you see?" Zenberu demanded.
"At least twenty entire prewar villages worth. And that is only what I saw . The frogmen can hide beneath the water, so there might have been more. They're led by a female named Heketi, she is very, very large."
Zenberu sucked in air at the scale she named. "That is many… but what do you plan to do?"
"Gather all the tribes together to fight them. And if we can't fight, to gather us all together to flee, we can survive outside of the lake and the swamp, they can't." Crusch Lulu pointed out.
"My brother rules the Green Claw Tribe, he plans on raiding the frogmen, finding out what's driving them. If there's a threat behind them, perhaps we could unite, but if not, at least we will learn something. How many they have, how they will fight, where they will go… but no matter what we learn, we must all work together." Zaryusu replied.
"You're asking a lot from us…" Zenberu said and waved one massive arm back toward the village, "The survivors of two defeated tribes joined with us, and they have not forgotten Green Claw."
"They'll remember nothing when they're dead." Zaryusu said with cold calculation.
"Yes… perhaps you're right, but this is Dragon Tusk, if you want us to work with you, then you must prove your strength." Zenberu brought his massive right arm up in front of himself and made a fist.
"Fight me. Fight me and I will work with you." Zenberu demanded.
Shasuryu Shasha jogged through the pathless forest, at his back were seven of his own volunteers who had offered to risk themselves on a mission which he would not pass to his brother. ' Zaryusu…' He thought, ' Forgive me for not waiting on you, but I knew you'd want to do this yourself, and I don't want to risk you again.'
It was hypocritical and he knew it. He brushed aside a branch ignoring the droplets of water that washed over his scales. He and those with him were all blending into the foliage, the surrounding bushes and trees were their best hope for hiding themselves as the frogmen naturally preferred to stay by the water's edge.
It was a circuitous route to say the least, and exhausting. "Here." He said when the sun began its decline in the sky and shadows began to deepen even within the already shrouded forest.
Strong limbs and strong claws dug into bark, and up the trees they went, limb over limb until they found thick branches and thick brush to hide themselves.
The sense of smell of the frogmen was a mild concern, but as the wind caressed Shasuryu's face, much of that concern melted. ' Assuming the female spoke the truth, then we're downwind from any frogmen, a few hours sleep, that's all we need and we should reach whatever is left of the Red Eye Tribal village.' He shifted with discomfort even after wrapping his tail around the trunk of the tree that he set at his back.
He crossed his arms in front of his chest and lowered his head after closing his eyes. ' Is she telling the truth? I want to believe it's all a lie, I want to believe the threat isn't as great as they say… but they came all together, and that makes it hard to doubt.' He began to force his breathing to slow down, worry would keep sleep at bay, a racing heart was a tense one. ' Steady, you'll know tomorrow.'
That was a somewhat comforting thought, ' Catch them early, kidnap one and buy time for the rest of our people to rally.' It was foolish, it was bold, it was dangerous, ' It's exactly what we need… and if it's true, then two chiefs' words are better than one…'
Shasuryu yawned, baring sharp teeth to the dark shadows, the noises of the forest continued as they always had, a quiet rhythm of chaos, the occasional roar, the scream of bats emerging from some hidden cave out of view, the cries of a dying beast thrashing around in mud or water and the crunch of bones under the assault of terrible teeth.
None of it disturbed the natives of the great lake, it was just as it had always been, life and death, wakefulness and slumber, both… all, existed side by side and always had. The only thing to disturb him at all, was the prospect that the tribe itself might end.
' To lose one… even a brother, is acceptable… as long as we don't lose it all. If we lose it all… then what's the point?' He wondered, yawned, and finally fell into a longed for dreamless sleep.
AN: I'm about two weeks from my commercial release of several original books, and if that goes well… between that, patr30n, and commissions, I'll be able to write full time. Thank you to those of you who have signed up for my patr30n, I hope you've enjoyed the first few chapters of Volume 4 so far. I've written up to chapter 20 on that as of now. It'll be about 40-50 chapters long. So… FFN will have weekly content for roughly the next 80 weeks at least. More if Volume 5 is sponsored too. Enjoy, thanks for reading, and thanks for reviews. Early chapter releases, pdfs, and original work are also available on my discord, the address to which is on my author page.
Volume 3 Chapter 10
Shasuryu's rest was filled with tossing and turning, the warmth of the night air over his scales and the rough feel of the bark that his tail clung to, none of that was a problem. But what troubled him most in the tumult of his dreams were nightmares. Nightmares of the burning hunger and the war that went with it. Even now, confronted by the real danger of the frogmen tribes that dominated most of the northern area of the lake, the past remained in the ever present moments of his mind at rest.
Fire licking at the sky, the broken walls of a village of lizardmen, crackle, crackle, crackle, the noise the fires made, and there was always fire in war, even beside the lake. He awoke with his eyes flying open, his chest pounding with the echoed scream of a lizardman on fire beside a child with its head bashed in and blood seeping out to turn already moist ground into dark, ugly mud. When awareness returned to the tribal chief, he still didn't fully leave the nightmare behind. ' How many of us died… we can't ever let that happen again… how strong would we be against the frogmen if we had all those lost lives back?' It was the sort of question you asked, knowing you'd never get an answer.
Shasuryu then relaxed the hold of his tail on the tree and scrambled down a few limbs distance before he released the hold of his claws on the bark and pushed off in a hop to land at the base again.
The grass barely made a sound, a mere 'whish' noise when he hit the soft ground in which it grew, he then went from one tree to the next and knocked his fist against it to wake his sleeping warriors.
The sun wasn't yet up, and if what he knew of the fragment held true… ' We can catch them off their guard.' It was a desperate hope, but it wasn't an improbable one.
Each in turn his fellow lizardmen descended from their places in the trees and then raced after their chief on short, swift moving legs. They skittered forward through shadow and darkness, not content with the darkness before the dawn, they hid amidst the brushes, behind trees, and avoided any indication of regular activity by any intelligent being, even if that sign was so much as a single lone camp or a cut log.
Shasuryu's forethought about where to sleep and how, paid off quickly. Within another hour's travel they were on the outskirts of Crusch Lulu's village.
What was left of it.
The walls were toppled, some in whole, some in part or broken into splinters. The huts he could see through the gaps were fallen heaps with little more than their raised foundations remaining. In the center of what 'had' been the village, a massive frogwoman stood with her back to Shasuryu and his warriors.
Arrayed in a curved pattern at her front and side were the frogman warriors she was speaking to. Part of the lizardman chief knew he should have been concerned with what she was saying. But something else drew his focus.
There were two battered and bloody lizardmen bound to stakes nearby, their arms were broken, and they were obviously in pain. They sat barely stirring with their legs out on the dirt while a guard stood by holding a long wicked looking spear with a single jagged toothed edge.
Others bore spears with a similar look to them, but the number of 'teeth' secured to the sharp edge varied, with the largest number being held in the towering body of the frogman chief. ' Teeth on their spears might denote rank.' Shasuryu considered the possibility and filed it away for later.
He raised his hand and moved it in a half moon shape. ' Avoid being picked up by the wind…'
They were skilled hunters, they would understand, he reassured himself, and they began to move, only the smallest rustles giving away their presence as they searched the perimeter of the fallen village for their prey.
Shasuryu found it right enough, a frogman standing on his two long, powerful legs with one wart covered green slimy webbed hand holding the center of a spear. The other folded behind his back, his big round throat bulge expanding and contracting with every breath.
' How can there be so many? These have got to be the ugliest creatures in the world!' Shasuryu thought. The frogman was clearly unaware of their presence as they drew closer, closer, and closer.
Inch by inch within the dense foliage they made to position themselves. Shasuryu then, crouching in position, pointed to each one of his warriors in turn and then tapped a part of his own body. ' You hit there, you hit that, you hit…' So he commanded without a word, and they nodded in common obedience to the guidance of their chief.
Then they were popping up to their feet as one, a single rustling of the bushes and their clubs were brought back, then hurled forward end over end.
The frogman warrior had only a moment or two of blank incomprehension. One moment he was staring into the shadows, the next at the shapes of lizardmen who sprang up from the ground like they'd been planted there.
His big wide mouth opened to call out for help, then the pain hit. A blow to each of his knees, a blow to each of his elbows, then he felt a pain in his temple, and then nothing, finally he knew only darkness.
"Take him!" Shasuryu whispered to his warriors and they scrambled to obey, rushing over the space to snatch the unconscious figure and retrieve their weapons.
"Two take him back… the rest, we leave a false trail, they will pursue their own. Carry it over your shoulders…" Shasuryu gave the orders before they'd even finished binding the broken limbs and binding the big mouth of the frogman guard. "Get back safe, I will meet you at our village when I've laid a false trail."
"Chief… you have…" Shasuryu shook his head, "Other than my brother, I'm the best at this, the rest will come with me to lay the trail, you two," he pointed to the lizardmen binding the captive, "take him back now. No more time remains, get that one back and find out what he knows, and pray to our ancestors that it isn't too late!" He hissed so harshly that his tongue slipped out and wiggled for an instant.
The rest of his little band snapped their jaws shut, and then they broke apart, going in two different directions. Shasuryu let his eyes linger for a moment on the withdrawing pair, they held the frogman under arms and legs, and they weren't very cautious about it. He winced, ' I don't envy that one when he wakes up.'
They vanished into the foliage and then he pointed to the other four, "Now, we lay a false trail, break twigs, but not many, press one foot heavier into the softer places on the ground, but rarely. They will chase us… and possibly, just possibly, their confusion will keep them off the other villages for awhile."
It was a bold hope, perhaps a mad hope, but it was the only one Shasuryu had at the moment. ' So the albino female wasn't lying, how many were there? A dozen of our villages worth? Two? And those were all warriors… we may need help… help and time. Lots of both, even.' The chief of the Green Claw tribe swallowed hard, and the four of them vanished into the shadows where they would become bait for Heketi and her frogmen.
AN: To the guest who asked if I was 'woke' because it seemed I softened, I assume, Arche's mother: While it is true in canon that Arche's sisters were sold into slavery, this was not their mother's doing. Rather the family was no longer able to pay their debts and the family was sold off as a result, this would include both the mother and father. I wrote Arche's mother as I did because while she was 'somewhat' wasteful, the LN represented her gift of perfume to have practical value for Arche as a woman. It seemed to me that she showed some concern for her children by doing this, and it was Arche's father who we see actually engaging the lender, and it is Arche's father the lender pities the family over. That is why I wrote Arche's mother as I did. Oblivious, perhaps foolish, but not overtly malicious. The author wrote a more foolish and selfish father than he did mother. If you have another interpretation, that's fine, but that is why I wrote Arche's mother as I did.
Volume 3 Chapter 11
AN: Hope you're enjoying this so far, here's some extra news for you… by the time you finish reading this on 03July21, I will have finished writing the 4th volume of 'The One Who Stayed: The Devil's Craftsmen' you guessed it, the dwarven arc. A 50 chapter story with one helluvan ending. I'll be doing weekly uploads here on FFN for… well this story has 43 chapters… so… 82 weeks… basically the next year and a half. If you 'really' can't wait for it, pdfs will be put up on pat re on which is '/tellingstories' along with my original works. Or you can go to discord where stuff is released early. (Invite code is on my author description) I have no idea if the 5th volume will be sponsored or not, so we'll have to wait and see. But I'll also be releasing original works on amazon over the course of the next few weeks as I wrap up more novels. Enjoy. And if you don't… just remember… too late, this has already been written all the way through… and how'd you get this far anyway? Heh, just a joke, thanks for reading, and again, have fun! :D
With victory over the Baharuth Empire secured and a treaty signed, a new decision had to be made, and Lupusregina, whether she meant it or not, offered him exactly what he wanted in order to make that decision. ' An adventure…'
The various denizens of Nazarick were easily distracted by the sudden explosive growth of new land to govern, and it had been easy to distract both Demiurge and Albedo with projects to survey and establish his Kingdom's peacetime government.
Ainz himself had his mind on something more. Something even more important to him than ensuring the continued growth of his new team of loyalists. ' With the bodies of the Empire Champions secured, perhaps I can do something with them. Leinas I don't have to worry about, but perhaps turning them to undead…' He sighed alone in his room and unfurled the newly made map.
The area he ruled now took up a fair amount of area bordering a swamp, the center of which had a truly massive lake.
' The land to the north of that is mine, but the swamp and lake itself… those belong to the native frogmen and lizardmen… I can't imagine a better place for an adventure. However, it is also true that in Yggdrasil, those were some of the most dangerous places for human players. I'll need security…' The decision hardened in Ainz' mind an instant later.
"Shalltear." He said instantly. ' I should be able to defeat her handily and disable her ability to escape if I have to, plus we'll be far from home, I can justify a visit on a diplomatic basis…'
Any doubts were instantly erased. He activated the message spell and reached out to Shalltear Bloodfallen. ' Shalltear, join me in my office in ten minutes, and bring Leinas Rockbruise with you.'
There was a moment of silence, and it for one instant Ainz wondered, ' Is there interference with the spell?'
The wonder was refuted when he heard her squeal with excitement in his head, ' Yessssss! Of course my Lord! I'll be there with Leinas as fast as I can be!'
The connection was terminated and Ainz left his quarters a moment later. When he arrived at his office, he found Shalltear and Leinas already waiting outside, and unsurprisingly, they were down on their knees. Ainz, for his part, wore not only his rich robes, but also his mask which would obfuscate his change of form.
The black fabric danced around his legs until he stopped moving at the door, they were down on both knees and gazing up at him with absolute reverence etched on their faces, eyes wide, staring, quiet admiration filled their faces with warmth, little blushes on them both made them appear at once both demure and filled with desire for his grace.
Leinas now wore her hair loose and behind her back, baring her once tainted eye.
Ainz said nothing, his heart pounded, his heart ached, his heart trembled, he couldn't help but fear the turning of Shalltear's love for him as the child of a dear friend, turning and twisting into hatred. The dread clawed at his soul, though he covered it by turning away from her and opening the door to admit them both at his back.
He went to his desk and sat down, folding his gloved hands together, he opened with something passive. "Leinas?" Ainz asked, and she sank down to both her knees immediately.
"My Lord?!" She almost squeaked.
"Are you adapting well?" He asked.
"Y-Yes of course, My Lord! Everyone has been gracious to your servant!" She was clearly nervous, a little tremble in her body, she bit her lip.
He turned toward Shalltear, "Tell me, Shalltear, how do you feel about…" He wanted to say ' humans' but instead he substituted, "Leinas?"
"She's human. The others are too, but all humans are inferior, they're weak, not that I doubt My Lord's wisdom, but I do find it hard to have any human around without… hunger."
Leinas didn't flinch away from Shalltear's words, which almost caught him by surprise, but then he realized, ' They probably had that discussion already. Leinas is brave at least, her courage holds even around my Shalltear.'
"I see. Leinas, when you made your oath to me, you offered me even your body. If that's what I wanted, did you mean it?" Ainz asked as clipped as he could, though he blushed behind the mask and shifted his feet like a boy caught stealing cookies out of a cookie jar.
"Yesss! Anything my Lord commands!" Leinas replied with fiery determination.
"You've seen the others, the ones who defeated your companions. They were once mere mythril ranks until an experiment here confirmed that I could strengthen them." Ainz said and then waited while she let that sink in.
Sink in it did, the blue eyes of the tall blonde woman blinked several times in rapid disbelieving succession.
"However, we need to know more about how strength is increased. For example, when one becomes another kind of being, what changes? You will be the test subject." Ainz pronounced. He waited for her to ask if it was dangerous, if she had time to prepare, she didn't.
Instead Leinas simply lowered her head, "I am prepared. Do whatever you want to me, My Lord."
"Shalltear, were the bodies of her comrades recovered?" Ainz asked.
"Yes, My Lord. We've had them preserved for now. But they await your use." Shalltear replied.
"Good, Shalltear, you will turn Leinas. Then we will resurrect one of her companions. Leinas will then turn one of her companions. The last to be raised will be kept human, and they will all be subject to training while you and I are gone, and we'll see how strong they all are when you and I return." Ainz explained.
Shalltear felt her rising excitement. "Return?"
"Yes, you will be escorting me into the great lake region, and will be responsible for protecting me. Can you do it, or should I ask another?" Ainz asked her, and her bright red eyes lit up.
"Of course! I can't wait, My Lord! I will work myself to the blood and bone for your life! Nothing will harm you, I promise!" She squealed and clapped her hands together as fast as she could, like an overjoyed child given just the right gift on Christmas Day. The sound of her clicking bright red fingernails reminded Ainz of rapid typing on a keyboard, and her fangs were instantly bared and ready.
Leinas for her part, only tilted her head and moved her hair out of the way. "You'd think I'd feel like I'd miss my humanity," she said, glancing at her Lord from her tilted posture, "but I don't think I will. But maybe one more breath for the road." She said with a laugh while Shalltear got up, went behind her, and cradled Leinas' body just below her breasts with one arm while the other went up to hold her at the forehead.
Leinas inhaled deeply one time, then exhaled, nodded, while Shalltear, who waited for that exhale, touched the tips of her fangs to Leinas' neck just over the vein.
Leinas lay completely relaxed and at ease, her body in its repose was limp as if she had just died, her eyes closed, the sharp points stung only a little bit at the touch. The beautiful little vampire's long tongue came out and licked over the throat, and where the tongue touched, Leinas felt only numbness, the sort one felt when falling asleep the wrong way on an arm.
Then they sank in. Her body stiffened at the sudden penetrating sensation, she couldn't see the shifting face of the monster, but she could hear Shalltear's muffled words. "Mmm… salty… tastes good…" Leinas blushed a little at the appraisal by the young vampire of how she tasted. It did answer a longstanding question.
' When monsters eat us, do they enjoy the taste or is it just a chore for them?' At least with vampires, she now knew the answer. The tongue continued to travel over her flesh as the bite tightened and she felt light headed as blood intended for her brain was siphoned off to feed a monster.
Leinas began to feel weak, part of her, her warrior instincts, stiffened her body, urging her to fight. But she proved her courage and restrained herself, forcing her entire body to accept its fate and be food for the monster under the eyes of their common master.
' So… I'm dying. I've heard it said that the body dies before a vampire is born… I guess that's true after all. I didn't think it would be th-this cold.' She could see her hand from the way she lay, it was always somewhat pale, but now it was white as a sheet as she lost more and more blood.
Then, to her great surprise, the vampire that hated humans, lowered her with great gentleness down to the floor. Leinas lay there, still clad in the simple clothing she'd been given on arrival, a pair of green pants, high riding boots, and a red cloth shirt, each far more comfortable than she'd ever worn, but simple nonetheless.
She no longer felt that comfortable cloth, she felt nothing. Nothing but a floating sensation, followed by a sensation of falling deeper and deeper into a black abyss while her eyes closed in her last moment of life. She tried to remain aware, instinctively, without the proper energy to understand her actions or thoughts, her consciousness a mere fog, perhaps it was a mercy then, that Leinas Rockbruise did not feel the actual moment of her death.
Volume 3 Chapter 12
The body died.
The woman didn't.
Leinas' eyes opened, and gone were the eyes of bright sky blue, her skin faded, her irises became vertical, her canines grew longer and her hair became dark as night while her skin took on the pallor of the dead after the blood pooled within.
She didn't take a first breath.
Leinas would never breathe again.
When she looked up, the little cute vampire seemed more beautiful than before. Enthralling. Enticing. ' I want to please her… I want to serve her… I am hers… forevermore…' Those were the first thoughts to radiate upward from the deepest corners of her mind, and with them, Leinas was happy.
"Mistress… thank you." Leinas whispered, and the looming blood moon eyes of Shalltear were out of view when Leinas turned her eyes to the masked caster who ruled her now immortal life. "My Lord…" Leinas acknowledged, and though she tried to move quickly, was unable to move beyond a snail's pace.
But still, neither critiqued her slowness as she went up to one bended knee and bowed her head, as if they expected her to be sluggish.
"How do you feel, Leinas?" Ainz asked of her, his voice rich with what she took for concern.
"I am… yes, well. I am wonderful. I feel… sluggish, weak… but wonderful… Master." Leinas answered.
"You're hungry." Ainz said and glanced over to Shalltear. "You have a fountain in your room from which she can feed, don't you?"
Shalltear's smile in that moment, made his skin instinctively crawl. "She is mine now, is this your intent, master?"
"Ah…" Ainz hesitated and pulled up in his memory what he knew of vampire lore. "Yes. I suppose she is. You will be responsible for everything about her, including her advancement in her warrior skills as a Vampire Knight."
Shalltear began to stroke the dark hair atop Leinas' head.
His skin continued to crawl beneath his robes, and so he raised one gloved finger of his right hand, "You are to see to her instruction… but remember that she came to us of her own accord. You are not to be cruel to her. She is one of us, now."
In just that moment, she appeared to be the child her design was intended to mimic. Her head went down and her face screwed up tight in thought, like a child being given instructions on the proper care and feeding of a pet, but unsure if she properly understood.
Finally Shalltear raised her head to look at him. "Is it considered cruel to take her chastity?"
Ainz was silent for a moment as he processed what he'd just heard. The thought came up almost before his understanding did. ' Peroroncinooooo!' He howled within his mind and failed to 'entirely' keep off the shudder.
Shalltear appeared not to notice, but under his eyes the new vampire had entirely pressed her head into the hand of the one to remake her and was rubbing affectionately even when Shalltear's hand ceased to move on its own, like each role was programmed into the other.
He put a hand over his mask and sighed, "Don't order her to ask for that… don't force her to do that… and I… I will leave you to your happiness." Ainz swallowed hard, regretting the decision already touching his anxiety laden head. ' Damn it, Peroroncino! Did you just paste the wiki list of fetishes into her flavor text?!'
He mocked the statement but then on second thought, ' That is probably exactly what he did.'
"Thank you, Master." Leinas and Shalltear said in the same moment, and each bowed their heads with gratitude.
Ainz closed the hand over his mask into a fist and cleared his throat with a needless cough, a deep desire to be away from the promise of future perversion ran through his blood, "Be that as it may, you will be accompanying me as my personal security, while Leinas will remain here. Take… five minutes, instruct her on what to do, then follow through the gate after me."
' A leg up on the succubus bitch!' Shalltear considered with raw excitement both mental and physical coursing through her body, a flood of desire exciting her loins.
Ainz was gone through the gate spell a moment later.
When Shalltear was alone with her new pet, she giggled and cupped Leinas' cheeks. "I'm going to give you some instructions for while I'm gone… but while I'm talking, get under my dress and keep your mouth moving too… the pleasure will be your reward, work hard for me to please the Lord of Nazarick… and I will show you heaven…"
Leinas didn't answer verbally, she only moved to obey while she listened to her mistress speak.
Zaryusu held his sword out as the Dragon Tusk Tribe surrounded the would-be combatants.
"Will it be to the death?" He asked his towering opponent.
"Only if you die before you give up." Zenberu replied and struck a posture with his large fist up and smaller one back.
Zaryusu wasn't sure if the warrior was joking or not, but at ease with monsters, he relaxed his body and prepared to strike.
"You, woman, start the fight." Zenberu said to the watching Crusch Lulu, she blushed faintly at the cheeks at his blunt address.
"Begin!" She said a moment later, and the two warriors clashed.
The fist of the monk came toward Zaryusu's head with blinding speed.
"Icy Burst!" Zaryusu shouted as the spray of icy fog shot up around him, in a burst of white, at the same time he was ducking to avoid the blow and spun outward, swinging the blade up and striking the dominant arm of Zenberu.
The sword stopped dead as if he'd struck a stone. ' Monk… he's hardened his body… this won't be easy.'
Zenberu showed no sign of pain, responding by spinning around and striking Zaryusu in the side with his tail, sending the warrior falling.
Cheers went up from the Dragon Tusk members, but those cheers faded when Zaryusu rose to his feet and immediately charged. The bearer of Frost Pain proved his mettle, avoiding another punch by so narrow a span that he felt the air whistle past the side of his head, then leaping up at the taller lizardman and hitting Zenberu's jaw.
Zaryusu's skull felt the impact of the powerful jaw, but though it rattled him to hit something as hard as a monk body, it clearly caught the chief unexpectedly.
Zenberu staggered back, he tasted blood. ' I've bitten off my tongue…' He realized when the severed part fell to the dirt where it was promptly stomped on by the advancing Zaryusu. He felt Frost Pain hit him again. ' I need to stop this, to get a grip on him… he's a great warrior… I can concede now…'
He snatched at Zaryusu's sword hand and yanked it up high, then bent it back, snapping it hard enough that out of the corner of his eyes he could see his own people collectively wince. It had the desired effect, Zaryusu dropped the sword.
Zenberu then opened his mouth to speak, and realized the catch twenty-two, he needed to speak, and couldn't.
' He's going to bite my neck?! He's going to kill me?!' Zaryusu realized in a moment of disbelief, he caught the sword in his other hand while pain radiated down his arm from the one with the broken wrist, and in a desperate thrust, his sword went through Zenberu's mouth and emerged out the back of his neck.
The tribe's maws collectively dropped as the bright blue blade pierced their Chief through and through, the faint fog of ice emerging around it freezing the scales it touched.
The hand holding Zaryusu's wrist dropped to the side of Zenberu's body, while Zaryusu's heart raced and blood pumped through his veins more powerfully than the pain from his injury could flow.
He was breathing hard when he drew the sword out, and no longer holding up the body of the Chief, it toppled forward with a heavy wet 'splat'. Blood dripped off the blade of blue, dripping down into the wet ground. Chest rising and falling, heart still racing on, Zaryusu held up the sword in front of himself, and Crusch Lulu rushed from where she stood alone, to stand with him. She glanced around at the tribe that stood utterly silent, staring at the body.
"Any- Anyone else?" Zaryusu demanded.
A Dragon Tusk druid approached, dark scales, muscular and holding a wooden staff, he stood beside the body of the Chief, crouched down, rolled the fallen warrior onto his back, and with trembling finger-claws, he closed the two wide and empty eyes.
"The Dragon Tusk follows the strong. The one who killed Zenberu, the bearer of Frost Pain, is a great warrior. And we will follow."
The old druid began to pound his chest with the fist which held the staff, and the gesture was slowly taken up by the tribe, until there was only the sound of pounding fists, and the Dragon Tusk hailed their new Chief.
He leaned back and looked down to where Crusch Lulu stood, the healing light of her magic had already begun to erase the pain and heal his injured body. Her red eyes met his when she felt them on her and he said, "You now have three allies."
AN: New book out on amazon: 'The Strongest in the World' give it a look.
Also: New story started 'Evolution of a Nobody' an original reverse Isekai. Available on discord and patr30n.
Volume 3 Chapter 13
Ainz didn't have to wait long for Shalltear to join him, but when she did, her face was flushed a bright strawberry red and she was breathing hard. "Shalltear, are you well?" He asked, ' Undead are immune to disease, she should not be sick…'
"Ahh, ahh… ohhh… w-wonderful Lord Ainz… just… making sure that Leinas understood everything expected of her in so short a time was very difficult." She said with a tiny giggle that led to her bringing a hand up to demurely cover her ruby lips.
"I see… if you need more time for her instruction, I can wait a little longer." Ainz raised a gloved hand, gesturing to the empty space where she could cast a gate spell and return if she wished.
Shalltear violently shook her head. "No! No! No need my Lord!" Shalltear exclaimed and stepped closer to him, the soft ground giving under her dainty feet. "Being with you is… it is my greatest happiness, and keeping a Supreme Being waiting would be unpardonable."
"I see, well then…" Ainz trailed off to look around the landscape, the ground was soft beneath his sandals feet and there was a superabundance of trees amidst a swampy area with many thick and winding paths of thick moss and brown muck amidst the bushes. ' Please… please… please don't force me to fight you…' Up close, she looked so small, so innocent, a perfect Victorian era child.
Peroroncino had outdone himself on her, every dream of youth or beauty, every ideal girl he'd ever dreamed of. He had made her utterly adorable, her porcelain pale skin, her wide bell shaped red dress, and her demure childlike demeanor. ' I know what she is by nature, but I know what she is to me… the child of one of my dearest friends, his last legacy, and the latter means so much more…' It was that thought which kept him weak at heart.
Despite being behind his red and white mask, he felt 'exposed' to her, even though she only looked up with quiet, hopeful expectation, unsure of the cause for his silence. He reached out and put a hand on the base of her flowing white hair. Feeling the need to say something as she gave a joyful smile that was colored by confusion at the sudden affectionate display, Ainz spoke to her. "I will be relying on you, we don't know what is out there, so be cautious. I don't want my children hurt." Ainz explained, and Shalltear could only nod her head in silence.
"Send out your household, search for threats or signs of intelligent life." Ainz gave the order more for the sake of giving her a command to carry out, and then watched as white wolves and black bats rushed into the nearby unknown lands ahead of them both.
The bushes and trees rattled with the pursuit of 'anything', a few brief howls went up out of sight, then a sickening 'chewing' sound than the sound like tearing paper that could only be the tearing of flesh.
The household of the True Vampire proved effective at ferreting out anything that was a waste of time, and at a gesture from Ainz when Shalltear looked up at him for permission again, she stepped forward.
Ainz followed her, into the shadows and the night that existed in the middle of the day, beneath the thick green canopy above that covered the forest and swamp like a sky of green and shadow.
Advancing through the wood beneath the overlaying canopy, Ainz couldn't help but think of Blue Planet. ' If he were here… even with everything else, he would be overjoyed… he would want to protect this world from the harm that these other beings will bring to it.'
' But then, this same world would harm my friends' children… the Theocracy despises nonhumans, most humans despise heteromorphs, and both demihumans and heteromorphs hate each other and humans alike. I can't allow them to come to harm.' Ainz turned that thought over in his head until he felt a slight tug on his sleeve.
Shalltear had her hand on her cheek and she was looking demurely down at an angle toward the wet ground. "Forgive my lewd forwardness, My Lord, but my servants seem to have found something."
"Something?" Ainz snapped out of his private reverie and looked into the deep darkness.
"Yes, My Lord. A demihuman, a lizardman, he is badly wounded, he is alone and he is being chased. Should I kill him?" Shalltear asked after informing him, and licked her ruby lips.
"No, I would rather question him. We're better off making friendly contact. What is chasing him?" Ainz asked curiously.
Shasuryu felt life and consciousness continue to bleed out of his body with every step. ' How long have I been running… how long? One day? Two? Three? I'm tired…'
Behind him lay the bodies of most of the warriors who had traveled with him. They lay spread out over miles, their bodies mutilated, defiled, and ruined. ' Trying to use their screams in the forest to torment me, to draw me out…' Last night had been the same, howls from one of his brethren, the rising smoke and the smell from the wind told him what was happening.
' Roasting him alive…' Shasuryu shuddered, it was a horrible way to die.
"Come back! Come back and we'll spare him! Come back and turn yourself in, return our comrade and we won't kill you!" Their ribbidy croaking voices haunted the hours of darkness.
But he held firm in his resolve. ' Surrender will accomplish nothing, as long as I'm running they'll think I've got their comrade. I have to buy time.' Shasuryu told himself, and so buy time he did. The few who caught up with him, he killed, their bodies littered the hidden landscape.
And still, Shasuryu ran. ' Monsters.' He realized an instant later, without panicking he scrambled up the nearest tree, his jaw clenched against the pain raging through his trembling, wounded limbs, he continued to go up. ' They may or may not smell me, but at least I can fight from here. I never expected to die this way, on the run, well away from home. Perhaps I'll get lucky and these beasts will attack the frogmen too.' His mouth fell open in a silent laugh as he drew his weapon and dug one claw into the thick bark of the tree. He swayed a little, unsteady and exhausted, only the fear and his denial of it kept him awake and ready to fight for just one moment more.
"Come on… come on you dirty b-" He stopped his muttered taunt, when white wolves and vicious looking bats emerged, but showed no interest in him. The screaming bats enveloped him for only a moment before they flew on, the wolves snarling, vicious growls, with hungry barks approached, ran under, and ran on. The noise of their paws rustling and their big bodies crashing through the brush was replaced by the rough screams of frogmen.
Shasuryu watched from his place in the tree, from where he stood he could see the flight of blood arching through the air like a green rainbow and turn the dirt to mud.
And yet somehow, the lizardman chieftain could only feel certainty of the Frogmen's death. He didn't take advantage of the moment to run. ' I can't outrun those things anyway… but I don't think I want to test their friendliness without their master.'
So, he gingerly sat down, letting his tail wrap around the thick branch on which he stood and keeping his claw dug into the trunk of the tree, he waited.
The beasts began their return, the bats circled just out of his reach, their constant screaming sending shivers down his spine, and the white wolves laid down around the trunk, lowering their heads down to their paws, and waited.
' At least they don't plan on killing me yet… thanks be to the gods for small favors.' Shasuryu thought, but kept his eyes moving down below and around him where the bats acted with the wolves to create a cage of flesh and teeth that he couldn't hope to penetrate.
"Wow, so you're half dead." Shasuryu snapped his head back to look up, a small human looking girl in a curious red and black dress that had the base remain up around her ankles rather than falling down over her head. She was smiling at him and had bright red vampiric eyes.
If he could have paled, he would have. As it was, his heart raced. She licked her lips in a very slow, languorous fashion. His legs felt like they were weighed down by lead.
"I would use a spell on you, but you know I just spared you, don't you?" Shalltear asked, her eyes mere inches from his own.
Shasuryu bowed his head. "Thank you."
That seemed to please her, she smiled, exposing her fangs. "You are polite. Good, now can you get down from this tree yourself, or do I need to help you?"
He pointed down at the wolves. "Will they attack if I get down on my own?" Shasuryu asked.
The vampire waved her hand and began walking upside down along the overhead branch, stepped onto the trunk and began to pace down. Before her fourth step the various creatures vanished into nothingness.
"I can get down. But where am I, where are we going?" Shasuryu struggled to keep his heart from exploding in his chest, his tail, fingers, toes, everything twitched and trembled.
"Where else, to meet the one who ordered me to save you. Come along, we don't want to keep him waiting." She said and hopped with childlike gentleness from her place walking down the trunk, back down to her feet.
Shasuryu clambered down, groaning as he walked, and did his best to follow after her.
AN
A quick Q :
Q: Book 4, when?
A: Written and completed, downloadable on my patr30n and discord.
Q: Will there be a fifth book?
A: The One Who Stayed: Unholy Kingdom has been sponsored, but I'm currently finishing up another original book 'Evolution of a Nobody' which will be done in the next 2-3 days. I'll start on it then. Additionally, you can find my current original works on Amazon 'Countdown' and 'The Strongest in the World' enjoy.
Q: How to inquire about sponsorship?
A: Email is easy, but discord is my 'preferred' method.
Q: Discord access, how?
A: Invite code is: discord. gg /hJrfday
Q: What is my pat re on-
A: /tellingstories
Discord also has unreleased stories and content. It's also (to the best of my knowledge) the 2nd largest Overlord driven discord server.
Volume 3 Chapter 14
Shasuryu shook from the pain of his wounds, but that was not the only reason. Fear. The dainty vampire girl in front of him reeked of blood and death, her finery a stark contrast to the surrounding environment, she walked with confident grace, her head held high. It was minutes before he dared to speak to her.
"What-What do I call your master?" Shasuryu asked with trepidation, his arms hung limp at his side and swayed only lightly back and forth, buffeted only by the desperate trudge he still had left in him.
"Yours… soon enough, if you're lucky." The dainty girl answered, "As for me, you may call me Lady Shalltear Bloodfallen."
"Ah, yes, Lady Shalltear, then." Shasuryu felt the weight of his wounds finally bearing him down to the ground, driven only by his will to go on, his blood running down his scales carried away his will with it, a little lost in every drop that found its way to the soft ground under his feet.
"I… sorry…" He gasped, and went down to his knees with a heavy thud.
He had enough strength to see the towering figure and magnificent robes of a masked caster holding a golden staff of entwined snakes in hand. "A god…?" Shasuryu gasped, and saw nothing more.
"Oh my… well I suppose you made it here after all." Shalltear said, looking down at the prone and unconscious body of the dying lizardman and then turning her eyes up to her master. "What do we do with him, my Lord? Should I turn him?" She asked and felt faintly green at the idea. ' His blood does not smell appetizing, strange how Leinas seemed so succulent.'
"No, no I think not." Ainz said when he looked down at the lizardman. A part of him felt overwhelming pity, the wounds he could see were ghastly ones, the backs of his legs had puncture wounds, the tip of his tail was missing and a small segment of what he assumed was bone protruded out of the end. Gashes seeped blood and rendered far more muscle visible than Ainz wanted to see.
' By normal standards, to go on so long he must have been a terrific warrior. Lizardmen… I've never seen one, they also weren't in Yggdrasil, are they rare here?' Pity or not, his ravenous collector's spirit would have demanded that he save this one, so he pulled out a scroll from his pocket dimension, held it over the lizardman, and used it.
"That should take care of his serious wounds, but he isn't waking up…" Ainz almost asked why not, and very nearly broke into a sweat. ' If I ask something like that…'
Shalltear, fortunately, seemed not to notice. "As always, My Lord understands everything, healing him while he's exhausted so that when he wakes up to see your miracle, he'll surely recognize you for the God you are."
' Right, he's probably exhausted.' Ainz realized, and then looked down at Shalltear, "Since we don't know what village he's from, we can't return him, we'll wait a little while until he awakens, and then have him take us to his village."
"As you wish, My Lord." Shalltear said with an excited, fang baring, smile.
Zaryusu's unlooked-for installation as chief left him with an immediate decision. "First… we honor the fallen." He said and knelt down to touch the corpse of Zenberu. "Had we not fought, we might have been like brothers one day." He touched the rapidly cooling face of the fallen and let his scaled fingers trail over the once powerful chest.
He stood, fingers shaking whether from the emotion of the moment or the fading pressure of the fight, Zaryusu wasn't sure, but when he stood, he found Crusch Lulu close at hand.
Her hand went to his shoulder while the elder lizardmen of the tribe came and when Zaryusu stepped away, they surrounded their fallen leader and carried his body away.
The rest of the tribe went down on one knee. Zaryusu recalled the adventurer who helped him long ago and the warning to, 'Seize every moment, it's not guaranteed to come twice.'
He took a deep breath and spoke as authoritatively as he could. "The frogmen are on the move! Something has changed and they've chosen to war against all lizardmankind. They want this lake for themselves and will not share it. They outnumber us considerably, and so if we want to live, we must fight together!"
"So what do we do?"
Zaryusu didn't see who spoke from amidst the gathered numbers, but he had an answer for the sea of steady faces.
"Send the very old, pregnant, and very young to my brother's tribe along with half the warriors. The rest will come with me to the village of the Small Fang. We'll parley for an alliance, hopefully they will listen."
"And if they don't?" The various Dragon Tusk tribal members brandished weapons in silent suggestion.
"Then they die alone." Zaryusu replied, "We can't afford to waste our strength on one another. Not now."
"We honor fallen chiefs with a pyre and a day of feasting, what about-" The voice of an elder began before Zaryusu cut them off.
"If you have preserving cloth, wrap him and bury him for now, we can come back to honor him according to your customs when we've won. A tribe is not to be thrown away for the chief." Zaryusu ordered, and the matter was settled, "Get ready fast, pack all the food you have, any tools or weapons you need, there's no more time to spare!" He exclaimed, and the sudden rise of his voice snapped them out of their disbelief.
They scrambled to carry out his will, leaving Zaryusu alone with Crusch Lulu for the moment. "Do you think we will have enough?" She asked.
Zaryusu didn't answer right away, "I don't know. I simply don't know… if your count is right, we may be outnumbered more than ten or twenty to one. Large human armies also have reserves, we don't know… really anything. When I get back, if we have time, we need a prisoner to interrogate."
"What about the Razor Tail?" Crusch asked, her hand tightening around his arm at his uncertain answer.
"Their heavy armor would be helpful, but they're farther away, hopefully the Small Fang can send a runner and will be believed. That is, if they're even still alive." Zaryusu answered.
"What…?" Crusch answered, her bright eyes glinted, her tail went stiff.
"The frogmen burned your home, but they haven't reached mine and they didn't chase you. Why?" He asked.
Crusch looked off into the distant horizon, "I don't know."
"I think they sent more than one group out, and I think it went for the Razor Tail, they're farthest away, and some of the most dangerous. Red Eye is famous for its druids, and Razor Tail is renowned for its heavy armored fighters. I'm only guessing, but I believe they chose both deliberately. They may recall how we fought one another before and were hoping that we would fall on each other again. That we might ally together may not have occurred to them yet." Zaryusu tried to speak with confidence, but like she could feel his doubt through his flesh, she clung all the tighter to him.
"This might really be the end for us… all our work, all our struggles, all the people who lived and died… and then we'll be gone and nobody will remember us. Not even the ones descended from our killers." Crusch whispered the words and her tail lashed behind her until she felt Zaryusu's tail still it by wrapping his tail around her own.
"We'll do our best, that's all we can do, other than hope. If we don't, what's the point?" He answered, folding a hand over the one that clasped onto his own, she had no answer, leaving them waiting in silence while the lizardmen of the Dragon Tusk tribe rushed to and fro gathering everything they could.
It took less time than he would have expected, perhaps an hour and the tribe was formed up, the warriors divided themselves into two groups without needing instruction, falling in on either side of the very old and very young in two short lines.
Zaryusu made his instructions quick, "If you see frogmen, avoid them, they will probably outnumber you, my brother's village has a good wall, tell him what happened here, that I will come back with as many allies as I can. If everything goes well, within a few days, we will have an army of Lizardmen, and we'll make the frogmen regret ever coming to our homes!"
A great bellow went up, and weapons rose to shake in the air with the roar.
Then they began to walk, the warriors with Zaryusu left first, waiting only until he mounted the waiting Rororo with the Red Eye chief, and then went the ones too old or too young to fight. They split like a river which found a fork, and when they were out of sight of one another even when he or the others looked back all Zaryusu could do was hope they meet again.
Volume 3 Chapter 15
AN: I have to say, I had fun with this arc, which is odd because the Lizardman arc was not my favorite in canon. But that said, the Dwarven arc in my opinion, is better in both cases. Incidentally… yeah that is up next. I'd upload these chapters faster, but I REALLY hate FFN's format for this stuff so about once a week is all I can tolerate. If you want to read the whole volume and the dwarven arc which puts Demiurge under the mountain, you'll either wait here, or go to, or go to discord. In addition, I'm 30 chapters into: The One Who Stayed: Unholy Kingdom putting Albedo into the Holy Kingdom arc instead of Demiurge. That will be a two volume set and is my favorite so far, but is a steep departure from the previous structures. Anyway, enjoy:
Shasuryu's eyes were slow to open, and when they did, he found himself staring up at a mask and a dainty face with sharp fangs. "I'm not dead?" He asked.
"No, but even if you were, it wouldn't matter." Ainz answered, "Raising the dead isn't difficult if they're strong enough."
Shasuryu began to run his hands over his body, his wounds were gone, there was no pain, though looking past them he could tell the sun was beginning to set.
"I… understand…" He said, "May I… may I know the mighty name of the one who saved my life…?" Shasuryu asked, as power and authority radiated off the magic caster in the crisp black flowing robes. Everything about him screamed, 'Lordly' in Shasuryu's mind.
"I am Ainz Ooal Gown. King over Nazarick. And you are?" Ainz inquired, holding out a richly gloved hand to indicate that Shasuryu could speak.
"I am Shasuryu Shasha, Chief over the Green Claw tribe." He said as his full awareness returned, then memory rushed back with it, bringing a reminder of the urgency of his and his tribe's situation. He quickly rolled over and lowered his face to the dirt. "Please! Save my people!"
Ainz blinked behind the mask, "What?" He asked without thinking.
' He needs more… of course he does… of course, of course… the vampire behind me, a mere servant used servants to destroy my pursuers, it won't be as easy as just asking!' Shasuryu realized, ' He waits for an offering…'
"Save the lizardmen, and I offer you the submission of my tribe! The ones chasing me, the frogmen, they come in great numbers to kill us all. Help us, and we will become your servants! I will offer myself as your personal slave if you wish it! A mere footstool to your greatness if you will only keep us from annihilation!" Shasuryu urged. The aura of power coming off of this Great One was beyond his comprehension. ' I have seen battle many times, I've seen great warriors and casters, dreadful monsters… but one look… and this is a God over ants. He can give us certain safety.'
Shalltear stood by, preening with happiness. ' With a single word he claims the whole place… what a magnificent lord!' Her red eyes shone bright as rubies in the daylight as her lord masterfully drew out the fear and anticipation of the new supplicant.
' What… just happened here?' Ainz wondered, ' They're looking at me… I need to say something…'
He cleared his throat and in a powerful, noble voice, he demanded, "Take me to your tribe."
Shasuryu rose to his feet, "At once, mighty one!" He declared and scrambled to his feet.
"While we walk, tell me about your people." Ainz said. The lizardman was around the same height as a human, though stooped forward just a little. He was powerfully muscled beneath thick scales and had a long, salamander-like tail. ' That's what they remind me of, salamanders walking on two legs…'
He followed along while the Lizardman spoke, "Mine is one of the five surviving tribes of lizardmen, we've lived around the great lake, on the shores and in our wetlands, for longer than ancient memory. The Greed Kings ignored us, the Demon Gods ignored us, and the humans don't live well in our land. We live mostly in peace, though we often compete with the frogmen on the outerlands in the north."
"Oh, so you have no conflict with humans?" Ainz asked with great interest. ' A demihuman species that is comfortable with humans will be a valuable example to other subjects… and perhaps soften my NPCs attitudes towards humans. That might be a bit of a stretch, but it can't hurt.'
"None really, we have even had travelers such as my brother who ventured out into the world and befriended humans. He spoke well of ones who were willing to help him, and of the dwarves in the mountains. He brought back a few pieces of something called 'Runecraft' from a smith he met." Shasuryu replied with a note of pride in his voice as he mentioned his brother.
"Runecraft?" Ainz asked, rolling the unfamiliar term off his tongue.
"A strange art that allows enchanting without ingredients or reagents." Shasuryu replied by way of explanation, and Ainz felt his blood run hot. ' Cost free enchanting?! With resources an ever present concern, the revelation of a cost free method of creating magic items seemed impossible to refuse. ' I'll visit the dwarves next.' He privately promised.
But to the matter of his guide, he asked, "Do you know why the frogmen are attacking?"
Shasuryu was quiet for several minutes as he thought that over, the shade of the trees covered him in a shifting layer of darkness that went on until the very pitch of night was on them. Finally he answered, "Would you accept a guess from your servant, My Lord?" The lizardman asked.
"If you think it's a good one." Ainz said congenially as they came into a small clearing surrounded by trees and bushes, "Why don't we stop here for now, we can continue on in a few hours."
Shasuryu accepted that request and seemingly by reflex he began to establish a camp.
A swelling guilt roiled up in Ainz' gut when he realized what Shasuryu was doing. "Stop." He commanded the lizardman.
"My Lord…?" Shasuryu asked before Ainz pointed to the ground in front of him.
[Create Fortress] . Ainz used the eighth tier spell, and from the ground a small fortification arose, thrusting its conical tip toward the sky like a spear, a wide double door waited to be opened, and several small towers jutted from small wings.
The clearing was entirely consumed and some small numbers of trees besides, and Shasuryu stood on, agog at the seeming impossibility.
"Eighth tier magic, child's play, really." Ainz answered and approached the door.
Shalltear walked past the stunned lizardman and smirked back at him, "You were right about one thing, lizardman." She gave him a fangy sweet smile, "He really is a God."
The trees crashed down as if the very forces of nature were bowing before the might of his new lord, and the door closed behind them all when Shasuryu finally followed. He found himself in a small room already equipped with a bed, and crashed into it like one of the recently fallen trees. ' What more can surprise me than what I have just seen?' He wondered, but as he lay on the shockingly comfortable bed that seemed to just let him 'sink' into it and left him feeling like he was floating on the water it occurred to him, ' There is probably more. I will just have to wait and see.' It was a pleasant final thought to have before he went to sleep.
When Ainz was alone with Shalltear, she immediately asked, "Would my Lord like me to warm his bed? Should I strip down here! Is this to be my first time!" Shalltear exclaimed with a rush of joy that lit up her small, eager face, her hands rushed behind her back to undo the laces that held her black and red dress secured. "Would my Lord prefer to simply tear my clothes away… what would be best?! Tell me so I may please you!"
' I'm finally going to get a leg up on that succy demoness!' Shalltear crowed to herself with joy, ' I knew having small breasts was not a liability, my pure beauty is beyond that of any one feature.' Her thoughts were filled with unutterable happiness, until Ainz put a hand out on her head.
"My Shalltear, my precious, wonderful child… do you know how much I cherish you?" Ainz asked, crouching down to then clutch at her shoulders. The tension of his fingers was impossible not to notice and all of Shalltear's thoughts, even her lustful wants, came to a grinding halt.
"My Lord… you're the One Who Stayed… we all know you love us… our creators…" Shalltear briefly turned sorrowful, "their leaving, we never understood."
"Did we fail them, My Lord? Why did they go… were we not enough? Were we flawed in some way? Did they simply not want us anymore…?"
Ainz sighed, "Shalltear… the realm we came from… you know it was not a part of Yggdrasil, don't you?"
She gave a little nod as Ainz went and sat down on a nearby bed wide enough for four and befitting a true royal, with rich dark sheets and a thick red blanket over top with two long pillows at the head. "Shalltear, sit on my lap." Ainz said, and held his arms out to her. She was so small, so little, that she was more than she seemed, he knew, but he couldn't help himself. All he saw was ' Peroroncino's daughter' .
She obeyed and came to him, her brief sorrow not entirely gone, but subdued as he put his hands around her waist and put her sideways on his lap.
She weighed almost nothing, really. No more than if she'd been a normal human child. "The world we came from, the other realm… Yggdrasil was a respite from that, we had… we had much to do in that place." Ainz struggled to find words that he himself could accept and offer them to her in turn, and he had little luck.
"It was those things, those needs in that other place that took your creators from you. I myself thought I'd lose you in the end, when Yggdrasil was ending, that was why I stayed, because that whole world meant so much to me, as did all of you. I could not let it all go alone. Each of your creators, each of my friends, had other concerns at one point or another, and whether they wanted to or not, they had to do what they did." Ainz answered her in part, and pulled her closer, into his robes.
"There was never anything inadequate about any of you, you are what we made you to be, and that will never not be enough." Ainz said that with an avowed conviction that left no room for doubt.
Shalltear hung her head in a tiny nod of acknowledgement, her lust forgotten, instead it was replaced with a sense of relief. "Can I stay like this a little while, My Lord?"
"For as long as you want, Shalltear. For as long as you want." Ainz replied. ' I'll tell her later.' Ainz promised himself, but there remained the nagging doubt… could he?
Volume 3 Chapter 16
"He's fallen asleep." Shalltear realized with dismay. ' It's true… I knew it. I heard a heartbeat. If he has a heart, he has flesh, if he has flesh…' Shalltear wiggled a little on his lap. The robe and the magic did nothing to hide the erection.
' So he's got one… !' Shalltear realized with a bright red glow to her eyes. Of course the question came to mind, ' Can I actually produce an heir?' The possibility that she couldn't as an undead, it haunted her. The still heart within her breast could at least quake in anxiety that she might fail to do what a Queen of Nazarick should, and produce the fruit of their Master's glory. As if to compensate for the trembling heart, she pressed her ear to his chest to listen to the slow rhythm beneath.
Ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump, over and over at a constant pace his heart continued, his breathing slow and steady, undetectable through his mask. It disguised so much of him that, if she weren't where she was at just this moment, she never could have guessed. She inhaled his scent. ' Human… so human… but humans are inferior… why would he do this…?' Shalltear pursed her lips as she sat there against the slumped over King of Nazarick.
' He knows I am a vampire… I feed on humans… they're prey… toys. Like that nice tail I want to put on Leinas as a reward for what I'm 'sure' will be her very hard work.' Shalltear ran her hands over his chest and up to his neck, she touched him there, and found flesh beneath.
' Does he want me to eat… does he want this… is that why he chose me? Is that why we're alone here…?' Shalltear asked herself, and it seemed at least possible.
The idea, it was bliss. ' Even that demon whore can't possibly know him the way I could…' Shalltear told herself and closed her eyes. She raised her head up, slumped forward as he was… her fangs came out. His vein, so rich, so beautiful…
Shalltear stopped. ' No. If he wanted me to… he would have commanded it. How long has he been awake… he's been pretending to be undead for weeks now at least…'
She slipped down from his lap, ' I'm the worst of his servants…' She told herself, and moved to one side of his body. With the level one hundred strength at her command it was easy to brace him and slowly lower him into his bed. His body sank into the mattress, it cushioned him like a cloud.
Shalltear then gently tugged the blanket back from beneath him and pulled it over his body. Her eyes lingered on his mask, ' There is a face beneath there, vibrant, alive, and it is his. All I have to do is remove it, and I will know what he looks like…'
Her dainty hands moved of their own accord until they were almost to it, she was leaning over her sleeping master, the One Who Stayed, and the loathing for herself she felt mere moments ago, returned in force.
"It's for him to decide… not me." She whispered without a breath and without a sound, and took her hands away.
Her heart wanted to tear itself in two with such despicable self hatred that offering to end her life if he wished, seemed the only sufficient atonement. But that… that would have required at least waking him up. ' I don't want to wake him…' She thought, and instead reached behind herself and began to undo the laces of her dress.
It fell to the floor, beautiful as it was, she cared nothing for it at that moment and kicked it away, her black undergarments followed, leaving her naked before the sleeping King. ' If only you opened your eyes now…' Shalltear thought, ' For what I even thought, let alone 'almost' did… at least I can offer this.' She thought, and floating up, she hovered over him, her hair tumbling free and nearly caressing his red and white mask, she began to descend.
Floating downward as gently as a snowflake on a still winter morning, she reached the bed and slipped her feet between the blanket. The mattress sank under her slight weight and she let the slope roll her forward so that she slept against the body of her lord.
Her red eyes closed, and her soft, slender pale arm went over the top of her Master's chest, she snuggled in close and a sigh of contentment and supreme happiness swept over her, tearing apart the earlier shame and loathing like it had been a mere sandcastle before a rising tide. In that way, Shalltear finally slept.
Heketi ribbited with pleasure as she and her tribe made their way across the lake. Interrogating the survivors and hunting the fleeing took time, precious time. But it didn't matter. ' With our numbers we should have no trouble at all. There won't be a lizardman left to walk free when we are done.' She thought with glee as the distant village appeared as a dot on the horizon.
' The Razor Tail uses heavy armor… they will be dangerous. But with this many…'
Heketi swam through the cool waters of the lake, the sun warmed her slightly exposed back, everything was right with the world. The village was growing ever closer, closer, and closer. With every kick of her legs, and so it was for the rest of them.
The gentle sloshing of the water, the buzzing of insects which her tribe occasionally darted out a tongue to snatch at, ' This was designed for us, the true gift of the gods where we and we alone should live. The lizardmen are mere brutes, interlopers wanting to take what's ours… they let us fight the empire, they let us die and offer us nothing but the points of their weapons… now though? Now we have our brethren back, all will be well, everything will be as it should be!' Heketi continued to put herself into an ever greater frenzy, her desire for revenge and retribution for everything the lizardmen did, and everything they didn't do.
She began to turn away from the village, only a little, but a little change of direction was magnified over distance. Small tendrils of smoke rose up from various spots within the village.
' Savages! Absolute savages… using fire is so… disgusting.' She darted her tongue out and snatched a bird in flight, it was yanked into her mouth and disappeared whole down into her gullet. Whatever fight it had in it vanished a few moments later after only a few little railings in her guts.
They reached the shore as the sun was beginning to set, but didn't leave the waters. ' Pathetic lizardmen call the lake their home, but they're stuck to the shores or in small boats, but we… we can live in all of it…' Heketi's body remained hidden beneath the waters, well out of reach or sight, waiting, waiting, waiting.
The fires continued to rise from a few huts.
' A few huts. Something is wrong. Something is very wrong.' Heketi poked her eyes above the water as the darkness continued to threaten to overwhelm the landscape and turn the blue waters to black. Little ripples of water went back and forth against her body, a constant cycle that she'd known since the time of her hatching in the murky northern waters.
For all her life, it was comfort, but now she didn't feel comfort at all. A chill went up her back. The same pillars of smoke just kept rising. ' There should be more of those… but there are only a few, the same exact few…' Heketi blew bubbles in the water, and the rest of her people knew what to do when they caught the sound. ' Dark enough anyway.' They swam the distance they had to, rose up to the shore, and when they were ready, Heketi opened her mouth.
' No watchers?' She asked herself. "First rank only." She said, "Take the walls."
The frogmen began at a jog, their rapid wide legged gait ate up the soft ground until they were ready, and then they charged with the mightiest cry the first rank of twelve could muster, and with their powerful legs they jumped the full height of the wall and over to the other side.
Heketi waited. "There's nobody here but one old lizardman! He says he's got a message for you!"
Heketi's lips tightened, her broad mouth was still. "Open the gate."
Her army followed, they were right, the whole village stank, though what it was was familiar, it was so overpowering it was hard to tell. ' The other lizardman village was cleaner than this… these stink!'
The gate opened and her force was about to follow her in when she held her arms out at her sides. "No… wait here." She said and pointed to the twelve. "I'm not unguarded, and it's just one old one."
The frogmen that ventured over the wall leveled their spears in a tight circle around the old lizardman's neck, one motion and he was as good as dead. The lizardman seemed to know this and held his hands aloft to show he was unarmed.
Heketi towered over him like a tree. "You are bigger than I thought you'd be." The wizened old lizardman said, and coughed several times in rapid succession.
"You have a message for me? Did your tribe flee into the forest, are they hoping to beg a truce…?" She chortled at that and shook most of her upper body, her webbed hand, easily vastly larger than his head, and wrapped the slimy surface of it around his skull. She began to squeeze.
"N-No." He gasped.
"Then what… what is it?!" She said, her large orblike eyes both focused down on him alone.
"My- My Chief… he wants you to know…" The old man struggled, kicking a little as she began to pick him up.
"Two things… th-that you'll lose… and…" He gasped at the pain in his head when he felt his skull begin to crack.
"And?" She demanded.
That was when she saw it, as she picked him up more, a buried string lashed to his tail began to rise up out of the ground. Alarm immediately ran through her.
"Fish oil is flammable!" He shouted as he jerked his tail, the other frogmen saw the string and heard the sudden clang of something falling within the huts.
AN: Volume 5 'The One Who Stayed: Unholy Kingdom' is up to chapter 33 right now, meaning the 5th book is nearly done. If you'd like to help sponsor the 6th book in the series, go to ko-fi dot com /tellingstories and select 'commissions'. The fifth book has Albedo spiraling the Holy Kingdom toward civil war, and the 6th book picks up with Ainz's intervention. As a bonus thank you, if it is fully sponsored, I'll bite the bullet and deal with the pain in the arse that is FFN and upload all of Volume 3 at once, and do the same with volume 4 once volume 5 is finished in a few days. There's no obligation of course, I will continue to upload chapters regularly and keep the PDFs available on free on discord and nearly free on patr eon. Everything I create, I ultimately make available for free for anyone, relying on only the generous and the financially well off to make it possible to do this.
Volume 3 Chapter 17
Ainz awoke out of a sound slumber, the light was just barely peeking in through the window of his room in the created fortress, and immediately his heart began to race. Shalltear had her cheek resting on his chest, that was alarming enough. More than that, she was nude, covered only by the long white hair that hung down the length of her body.
Her body wasn't as warm as the living, though she wasn't cold to the touch, she didn't breath, but her mouth moved, she snuggled closer in her sleep, one leg draped over his, appearing every inch the young girl on the cusp of womanhood that she was designed to be. The perfect deception to disguise the monster which lay within.
He instinctively brought a hand up to his throat and felt around. ' No, she didn't take a bite. I am… whole.' Ainz realized, and then he began to relax. Until he had to wonder, ' Did she do anything 'else' while I was asleep?' The fact that she was naked posed a whole host of other problems.
' Peroroncino just copied the entire contents of the fet-wiki into her flavor text so… nothing is off the table.' Ainz realized and grimaced behind his mask.
Then the reality of having a naked girl in his arms hit home and all else was jettisoned, he couldn't look. He didn't look, not again, it was enough to know that she was there. He found he had no will to move, ' It's the worst kind of paralysis spell! The self-induced kind!' He managed to mock himself and his virginal absurd innocence. ' How am I supposed to maintain the image of the supreme god they look up to, if I can't even move when one of them touches me?! Or strips… stripping is harder but still! No dignified Overlord acts like a shut-in NEET who has never seen non-pixelated boobs before!'
The light on the wall told him about the passing of time, it continued to rise upward with the steadily rising sun outside, and more than once Ainz had to ask himself, ' How long will I be like this?'
Shalltear's arms and legs continued to rub and caress him through his robe as she slept, until finally she began to stir, her eyes fluttered open and she immediately knew. "Master. You're awake." She said succinctly and rolled over so that she was on top of him, she put her forehead down to his chest while she straddled him.
"You slept, Master." She said.
"So you know?" Ainz asked, but it was rhetorical.
"I heard your heartbeat. It was beautiful." Shalltear replied to him without raising her head.
"So you know." It was not a question, but a statement.
She nodded without letting her forehead leave his chest.
"Say it." He gave the order with more iron than he really felt.
"You're living, My Lord." Shalltear replied to him with a tiny whisper of a voice.
"Do you know more than that?" Ainz asked.
She shook her head, again without raising her forehead from his chest, her hands lay on either side of her head, "I don't, Master."
"Tell me, Shalltear, does it matter what the answer is? What I am?" Ainz pressed her.
"It only matters that you're the one who stayed with us. Nothing else. That's what you are, Master, that's what I care about." Shalltear replied to him with the utmost urgency. "I know you can't trust me-"
"Why not?" Ainz asked with earnestness, bringing his arms up and putting his hands to her face, he forced her head back to look at him, and like a young girl caught with her hand in the cookie jar, she bit her lower lip, her fangs drawing out her own blood, her eyes welled up with bloody tears, and she confessed.
"I almost took a bite… I'm sorry… I'm sorry, My Lord… I didn't do it… but to even think of it… I had your neck so close, I wanted to taste you… I wanted to feel you… I lied to myself and almost had myself believing that is why you brought me here…"
She sniffled while tears of red ran down her cheeks, "To even consider an assault on a Supreme Being leaves me worthy only of death… only my life can atone for-"
"Shalltear… before you go on… why are you naked ?" Ainz asked, trying increasingly hard to not get increasingly hard. ' I'm not a lolicon… it's just the stimulation, just the waking up, that's all…'
"I almost did something terrible to the last Supreme Being, I don't deserve to wear the gifts of one… also… in case My Lord wished to use his newfound endowments, I would not waste a moment of his precious time." She did manage a little tiny smile with her sniffle at the latter part of her answer at least.
"Get dressed, Shalltear." Ainz gave the order, and though she pouted, she climbed off of him, setting bare feet on the floor, she walked to her dress and began to put it on again.
The rustling fabric was the only sound in the room. She stepped into her dress and pulled it up, sliding one slender arm through a sleeve, then another, Shalltear then reached behind herself to begin lacing it up.
"No." Ainz gave the polite instruction to her with the crispness of a parent, and her deft little hands froze.
He took the laces in his fingers, and gently pulled them out of her own until they lay limp in his hands. Then, in a silent gesture of affection, Ainz began to lace her up himself.
He didn't say anything as he drew a lace through each little loop, tightening it up a little more every time while Shalltear hung beyond the breathlessness of the undead. Her red eyes like twin blood moons opened wide to stare down at the new world below. ' If only my heart could beat like his, then I could show how wonderful this feels!' To have the Supreme Being who stayed with them to the end show her this affection after her sin. It burned, it ached, it made her heart burst into flames of excitement as much as it turned to ash at the contemplation of what her nature had nearly compelled her to do.
' And he doesn't blame me…' She realized, that was the worst part, his forgiveness of her imperfection, as if a failure was expected. She wiped away her bloody tears and cast them down to stain the gray stones of the created fortress to leave a mystery that would never be answered by those who would visit it after them.
Finally her Lord was done, he secured her final lace and gave it a sharp tug before securing it with deft and powerful fingers into a tiny little bow.
"There." Ainz said, and took her shoulders, she turned around and found that he crouched down so that they were at eye level, though she couldn't see beyond his mask.
"M-May this unworthy one beg to see her Lord's face?" Shalltear asked, "I know it's improper after my sin… a reward like that… even the maids outdid me. I'm sure Lupusregina didn't even consider what I did… but still…" Shalltear brought her hands up to close one open palm over a little fist before folding her fingers down in entreaty, "Please?"
The words Ainz had been mentally preparing died in his throat. His own heart ached for her as a parent would for a beloved child who was frightened of that parent's wrath. ' She is a True Vampire, it's only natural she would ache for human blood… but I brought her out here for this purpose, so that we would be alone and I could know where she stands. There's no backing down now.' He thought and nodded. "If your loyalty is to me, no matter what, you may remove it."
Her little hands dropped to her sides, her head bowed, she slowly brought her hands up again, without raising her head, she stared only at the stone and his bent knees that lay behind his dark robe. She felt the magic mask with her tiny fingers and folded them behind it, then with the greatest reverence, Shalltear pulled it away.
She held it down at waist height, beneath her eyes, moving her fingers over it with reverence, "You weren't sure of us, were you, My Lord?"
Ainz blood froze for a moment, but he couldn't bring himself to lie. Nor however, could he bear to tell her the full truth.
"I couldn't know… so I thought it best to reveal this in secret, one by one, in case I had to flee." Ainz answered, and the words were so unexpected that her face shot up to look at his own.
"Human." She said with a tiny whisper and reached out to touch his cheek, she stopped, realizing the presumptuousness, but he caught her hand in his and brought it up to press to the warmth of his flesh.
"Yes, Shalltear. Yes." He answered.
"H-How?" She had to ask.
"The Theocracy weapon, it was unexpected… I seem to be storing my undead levels in my phylactery, which… seems to have merged with me. I can still feel it, still access my magic as I always have. If anything I've grown vastly stronger than ever before, but I am…" He patted the dainty hand of hers that rested on his cheek, "this."
His prior words then came back to her, "M-My Lord why would you ever flee ? You're easily more powerful than any of us…"
"Because, my precious Shalltear, I could never hurt the children of my friends. Never . If even one of you was unwilling to serve me, I would rather leave Nazarick than do any of you any harm. So, beginning with Lupusregina who realized it first, I carried on." Ainz said in a delicate whisper only a little distance from the pale cheeks that were still stained with streaks of red from her earlier bloody tears.
"My Lord, if anyone refused then the rest of us…" She began but he stopped her immediately.
"No." Ainz vigorously shook his head, "I could never watch my friend's children kill each other. To see even one of you die would break my heart."
"So that is why we come out alone, in case the one who stayed… goes." Shalltear shuddered at the idea.
"Yes." Ainz replied.
"If ever our Lord goes… if even one of us will not have you… I go too. The one who stayed will never go alone… if my Lord will have this untrustworthy sinner…" Shalltear's lip trembled, blood drops began to pool at the corners of her eyes as tears threatened to fall again.
"My Shalltear…" Ainz replied, and he squeezed her, and squeezed her, and squeezed her, until at last he was ready to go.
AN: Volume five 'Unholy Kingdom' is now written and released as an epub and pdf on my and discord server. Crowdfunding for volume six is taking place using ko-fi dot com /tellingstories (Select 'commission' to support it) Of course everything will eventually be put up on here, so if you want to do nothing, just wait and I'll do a chapter per week and enjoy the ride) Volume 5 is my favorite so far.
Volume 3 Chapter 18
The fire flared up almost instantly. The buried string as it turned out was secured to three pots of burning fish oil. These pots in turn led to trails of oily rags and other scattered flammable materials that formed a kind of bridge to the stink of the village interior. With their reserves of oil all churned up into the ground, the whole place went up in a blaze.
Fire roared toward the sky and the entire body of frogmen, including Heketi, sprang for safety, she dropped the lizardman, leaving him to die screaming in the flames beneath her.
From the air she could still feel the heat chasing after her, threatening to scorch her people's flesh, down below were a few who moved just a little bit too slowly. Their legs aflame or worse, those few who hadn't moved fast enough even for that harm to be avoided. A handful roasted alive in the flames left to her by the lizardmen, their screams indistinguishable from those of the lizardman elder.
She could see them rolling about, or fleeing, one made it out, rushing through the flames to seek the safety of the waters. Before she or the rest of her people landed outside the village, the lone runner reached the water and jumped inside in a futile search to save the life he's already lost.
The yellow and orange glow didn't fade away, he'd rolled in oil that was now stuck to him, his head, still alight while boils rose from the heat and exploded, adding suffering to agony for the dying, his great wide eyes were melted away to nothing, but the screaming stopped when the burning oil hit his tongue, lit it aflame, and burned it away.
He lived a precious few seconds after that, by which time the Queen had landed with a splash in the waters. The frogman corpse began to float silently in the water, little ripples still coming away from the place where his desperate splashes died with his life.
Other frogmen were still shouting as they extinguished the flames on their comrades, burning their own hands to ease the pain of their brethren. Heketi however, lumbered around to look at the horrific flames that still leapt higher than the walls.
' Perhaps it won't be so easy. That old one knew he was going to die, he knew it, and yet he threw his life away without hesitation or even fear. He died screaming, that was a relief at least. They feel pain, and they can be made to run… but I had hoped to catch them off of their guard… it's no matter. With our renewed numbers the brave will just die standing.'
Despite her attempts at reassuring herself, Heketi felt the throbbing of her vocal sac, her eyes locked on the flames, her whole body instinctively craving to recoil from them. It kept her tense, unmoving, and it had the same effect on the rest of her raiding party.
The understanding of the lizardmen's do or die attitude was not lost on any of them.
Reality was hitting home.
She could feel the shift in her people. Their arrogance burned away in the flames.
' Maybe it's for the best if we don't underestimate them, they lasted as long as they did for a reason.' Heketi thought, and that settled her mind far more.
She gave her order without her eyes leaving the fire. "Wait until it dies down, when it does we are going to go through the remains, see if anything of value is left, then we will move south."
"We won't chase them right away?" One of her subordinates inquired.
"No… no we won't, we'll let them weaken themselves. Let them run, we'll follow after the fires and let them feast on mud if they want. Or cannibalize each other, you remember what the witness said. They'll eat each other if they get hungry enough, every full belly will weaken them more, and then we'll finish off the rest." Heketi promised.
The vision of her dream returned to her again, the great lake and the swamp around it, great villages of her own civilization rising up. Frogmen merchants spreading out, dominating the great waters, hunting down the few monsters that were a threat, forcing the Empire to acknowledge her as Queen, and her land as a Queendom all its own.
' No more pesky humans skirting around the borders, no more threats, and we could reign supreme forever here…' The glorious vision of the great homes she would build along the waters, an imitation of those built by humans at first, but with their own flare, adapted to the environment of her domain.
' It will be beautiful, glorious, wonderful beyond words… and all I need to do is clean out the pests…' Heketi thought, and watched as the flames roared on before her.
They were late leaving the improvised fortress, and outside their door, a nervous lizardman paced back and forth. Shasuryu's entire body was on pins and needles while he waited for their potential savior to emerge from the room with his concubine.
' I don't care that he's a lolicon… as long as he saves us… but what if he's a pervert who wants our women too? Should I ask? Can I even ask, do I risk offending him…? No, best not to, from what my brother says, it's only her type that are appealing to men like that. Wait, is he even human? I haven't seen his face, I just assumed, but I haven't seen a human in years.' Shasuryu's mind was racing like a gale force wind with every minute that passed.
' Make it casual, make it calm and peaceful, make it seem like you don't care, who knows, maybe it's normal for them?' Shasuryu tried to tell himself that, but he had his doubts.
' What good does it do to save us from the frogmen if we find a fate worse than death for ourselves afterward?' Shasuryu asked the vital question and with the time elapsed from his most desperate personal hour to the present, the once distant uncertainty loomed like a mountain before his eyes.
As soon as the powerful magic caster emerged, with the young vampire girl clinging tightly to his arm as they exited the building, the lizardman went down to one knee and bowed his head, "My lord, will you forgive me one small request?"
' A request? That is unexpected.' Ainz mused and inclined his head. "Go ahead."
"My lord, while your humble servant would never dream to criticize your pleasures…" Shasuryu's words caused Ainz to begin to blush beneath the mask, "the sooner we reach my village the better. So while I wouldn't dare to challenge your desires for your beautiful concubine… could this humble one beg your indulgence and ask that those pleasures be only slightly delayed."
Shalltear, at first baring her fangs in fury, shaking with wrath, quickly turned about in her mood when she was referred to as her master's lover. She clung more tightly to the arm she held and beamed up at him. ' He's suggesting that his village would be a better place for Lord Ainz to lay claim to me… of course, of course, long tedious walks in the swamp are not going to inspire desire in anyone anyway! But a lakeside view with lots of servants, however inadequate they may be, that is different!'
' Concubine?!' Ainz mentally recoiled, ' I'm not a lolicon! Alright, so yes, Shalltear is beautiful but… still, I'm not that way! Now if she had a more adult body and a chest like Albedo's…' He glanced down at the diminutive little vampire and seeing the eager way she looked up at him, and feeling the pressure as her powerful arms tightened around his own, he could only be grateful for his mask when he answered.
"Of course, we must hurry, but Shalltear is not my concubine, she is the child of one of my dearest friends, one of those I stayed behind to protect. Now, lead on, Shasuryu." Ainz commanded, and the lizardman rose to his feet, turned around, and led Ainz back into the swamp again.
Volume 3 Chapter 19
The rest of the journey to the village of the Green Claw Tribe belonging to Shasuryu Sasha was uneventful, and by Ainz' reckoning it could even be called pleasant. The air was muggy and full of insects, but the flowering plants, and the great trees that created a constant shade under which to walk, it was enchanting. ' Blue Planet… if you could see this, you would die of happiness.' It was enough to put him in an excellent mood, his natural curiosity prompted him to pepper their guide with questions.
"How many kinds of plants do you have?"
"What kind of animal life lives here?"
"Do you have any rare monsters not found elsewhere?" Several questions were prompted by a kind of fatherly instinct, ' I should bring Aura and Mare a present for when I get back.'
Shasuryu developed a spring in his step during that walk back, ' He seems truly fascinated, enthralled even… could he really see this as the wonder that I do?'
It was a hopeful thought, the eager, even youthful voice of the caster seemed so energetic, deep, rich and flowing like the endless wine of one of their great treasures. The lizardman chief found something quite unexpected about the passionate commander of the little vampire monster.
It was hard not to like him. Like some divine glow came off which illuminated even the dark cast by the shadowy canopy.
The questions asked of him only made the lizardman chief happier, his feet picked up and tail lashed up and down with contentment. "… Yes, my Lord, our villages are very small, there are only about two thousand of us or so."
"Why so few?" Ainz inquired, his collector's curiosity adding value and caution alike to the lizardman before him.
"Monsters are many in the deep swamp, and within the lake as well, both can kill the unwary. Besides that, we have sometimes suffered from hunger, and war has sometimes come between our villages. We once had more than twice the numbers we did, but… not anymore." Shasuryu's voice became heavy, the spring left his step.
"Oh, perhaps I should not ask more… it would be insensitive of me to open an old wound." Ainz answered.
Shasuryu shook his head. "I'm offering my tribe to you, you should know. We had years of good harvests, all of us. There was no hunger. Then we had bad harvests. We caught some fish, and what we did catch was too few. So then there was hunger, we fell fighting each other, and half of us died. The problem of hunger solved itself. Now there is no hunger again." His fists clenched tight at his sides while Ainz remained silent at his back.
"You must think us a race of fools, my Lord." Shasuryu finally filled the gap of words.
' So that happens even here…' Ainz thought as he reflected on all the stories of hunger and deprivation. Thinking of his historian friend… ' That's right, he told me about that once, how people would farm until they wore out the soil, their numbers growing large… fighting over the remaining food, then going somewhere else to start the cycle over.' It sent a shudder down his spine to imagine such desperation.
' No. No. No.' He told himself, ' Perhaps that's something I can prevent.' But there was no perhaps about it. With the knowledge in the library of Ashurbanipal at his disposal, he could pass all the knowledge of ecology they could ever want to the lizardmen under his rule.
Pity however, moved him to speak. "No. No you're not, Shasuryu." Ainz told him, and the lizardman stopped and turned around to face his Master.
"My Lord?" He asked the tall caster, his long face turned up toward the red and white mask.
"I've seen it happen before, on another world that destroyed itself, or nearly. Those vicious cycles happen when the knowledge of ecological management is absent. You offer me your people, and if your offer holds, then I will help you." Ainz said matter-of-factly.
Shasuryu's heart sang out with happiness, ' Who knows what bottomless well of knowledge lies in this one…' his mind spun with the idea of there being 'other worlds' but the very idea was so large, so overwhelming, and also so irrelevant that he all but threw it away in the face of the promise of salvation for his people. His immediate need, all else came second.
So it was in that positive spirit of restored optimism that Shasuryu and his charges reached the edge of the path over which he guided them, and before emerging, he stopped. "Please, wait here, this will be a surprise for them and I want a chance to explain so they understand. I'm sure by now, if my brethren survived, they will be nearly certain that I've died."
Shalltear looked up into the eyes of the lizardmen, her bright scarlet red was intoxicating, so easy to be lost in, even for him. "If you lie to us, lizardman, if you betray my Master, you will beg for death for ten thousand years."
"I do not lie." Shasuryu replied with a steady shake of his head, "You and he saved my life. I am an honorable warrior, my word is my bond."
That seemed to placate her, but when Ainz gave an approving nod, the little vampire still stepped in front of him, ready to shield his body with her own as his bodyguard. Her dress vanished, and in its place was a girl in scarlet red armor and replacing her parasol was a long lance with a bulb-like guard just beyond the wrist.
"Go, lizardman, and prove your loyalty." Shalltear commanded him, and he turned around, took a deep breath, and emerged into view.
' The village is intact at least… that means they haven't turned on each other…' That thought made him give a double sigh of relief, and more importantly he noticed that the earthenworks had been expanded, lizardmen youths were carrying buckets of earth into place to add new low walls from which to defend. The sound of shouting elders giving directions and grousing youths became louder and louder as he came closer to home until he was observed.
Recognizing him must have taken a moment, but the young on the walls keeping a watchful eye were quick to raise the hue and cry, immediately the entire village was soon a beehive of wild activity.
"You're alive?! How?!" One of the elders shouted in a raspy, broken old voice that hadn't been raised in years. His stooped body was near broken by time, but he had the ghost of his old strength in his cracked old green scales when he put his hands on Shasuryu's shoulders and asked his question.
"I was rescued!" Shasuryu shouted, then lowered his voice as his tribe and the Red Eyes came in to hear the story. "I encountered a mighty being, who by his grace, had his servant save my life, he has power beyond our ability to even describe it! He can stop the frogmen, I have offered my tribe in fealty if he would only grant my tribe life as he granted it to me."
This set them all to many murmurs of doubt and uncertainty. The tight grip of the oldster who held his shoulders faded, but before anyone could raise a doubt or ask a question, the Green Claw Chieftain spoke up again.
"I've come in first so as not to alarm you, but if you're ready, I'll bring our savior in so that you may see him and his servant for yourselves!" Shasuryu's voice was full of supreme eagerness, but nobody made to move out of his way.
Whatever they were expecting him to say when he came into the bustling village, that hadn't been it. Shasuryu carried on when they didn't make way, "He says he can end the struggle for food that nearly ruined us, and stop the frogmen attack, I have seen his power with my own two eyes, you must believe me… let me go bring him in, and see if you can doubt it!"
Many a lizardmen's head turned back and forth, male and female, young and old, were asking in silence what should be done. With no one proffering ideas, Shasuryu took the first step from the center of the little mob himself, and at that they moved aside.
He could feel them watching, eyes of the outsiders and of the Green Claw, fearful, hopeful, desperate, the sea of emotions that beset their small and nearly hopeless band warned him that they had not liked what they learned after his diversion. But there was no chance to ask, he had to move with the ebb and flow of the battle of words, and bring their savior inside to set their souls on fire, as his own had been before.
Volume 3 Chapter 20
"They're not ready… but how could they be?" Shasuryu asked, his mouth falling open and giving a somewhat sheepish sort of laugh as he looked up at the masked caster and down into the bright red eyes of his bodyguard.
"Then bring us in." Ainz replied with as much dignity as he could muster. ' I've gotten at least a little bit better about public appearances, but still, unless I treat this as a guild meeting I'm mostly lost… I should watch more of how Queen Draudillon acts under pressure, after all, who could be in greater difficulty than her?'
By the time he reached the crude little wooden gate, Ainz had managed to set aside his fears and focus on the matter at hand. Meanwhile his heart still pounded in his breast, he noted that the lizardmen had sharp eyes, sharp teeth, it was like being surrounded by little monsters. ' Keep calm Ainz… keep calm, you should have known your humanity would assert itself now and that being surrounded would do this…' He made another mental note to himself, ' After this is all over, I'm going to have to expose myself to more nonhumans and people outside of Nazarick. All this power, I've even killed summons and undead, but being this close to a bunch of easily killable lizard people makes my skin crawl? That's not okay.'
It almost felt like bigotry, even though he didn't feel any hatred for them, there was an almost reflexive discomfort, like being surrounded by a large number of beasts of uncertain temperament.
He slowed his heart and slowed the rest of his body, cursing the sudden irrational reaction as absurd, he spread out his hands, holding his staff vertical to the ground to give himself space.
The lizardmen backed away, their women, children, elderly, responding to his gesture, and Shalltear fell in at his left side as Shasuryu put himself at the head of the body of demihumans. ' The way he moves… I have heard a king is like a great chief… is this a king, am I seeing what it is to be a king?' Shasuryu wondered and reflexively began to kneel as Ainz spoke.
' Why are they kneeling, I just wanted some personal space?' He wondered as he addressed them, "I am Ainz Ooal Gown, lord of the Kingdom of Nazarick. On my journey I discovered your chief," he held out his gloved hand toward Shasuryu, "badly wounded, and restored him to life. He has asked me, ruler to ruler, to help his people… even offering to trade himself to me in exchange for help for you all."
A rumbling of awe spread among the tribes, the Red Eye tribe looked at one another and at the chief of their rival tribe, ' He offered to sacrifice himself for 'us', we're not his tribe… why would he do that…?' The thought occurred to many among their ranks. Still, their appreciative eyes were filled with gratitude for their neighbor, and Shasuryu's standing rose.
' Is there seriously something wrong with this world's taste? That felt so… cheesy… !' Ainz asked himself as he made his grandiose gesture and statements. "So for the sake of a chief who will trade himself away to protect his own, I accept his offer of submission and will extend my protection to all who call him their leader."
Zaryusu led the tribes away, a small band of lizardmen following behind in order to act as a rear guard and to assist their more distant Razor Tail neighbor. Riding on Rororo with Crusch Lulu, if it were not for the line of lizardmen and their families behind them… ' This might feel like an afternoon away with my mate…' He thought, and raised a hand slightly to where Crusch could see it.
He curled his fingers forward a little, and the pale lizardwoman leaned forward. "After we win, after we've survived… let's do this together. Go riding out around the great lake. Maybe further."
"You were a traveler before all this, weren't you? I've never traveled anywhere really, this is the farthest away from home that I've ever been." Crusch replied, her bone white face looking far away, "I've always wondered how big the world really is. Is it really round like they say? How long would it take to go beyond it… if I hadn't been born this way, I might have become a traveler and found out by now."
Crusch didn't seem like she was really talking 'to' him, more 'around' him. But Zaryusu answered her anyway by asking, "Why couldn't you travel?"
"Because I am an albino lizardwoman, we're born with powerful magic, that means I always had to stay with my tribe to help it, and then when I had to lead it… any thoughts of travel had to be put aside." Crusch replied to him with a wistful voice.
"I can understand that, but it's a shame. Yes, the world is round. I once traveled among the dwarves, they took me up on top of a high mountain… Not for long, it was far too cold for me, but for a brief glorious few minutes I felt like I was standing on top of the world… and I saw the distant curve. It really is round." Zaryusu snorted at that, "I barely believed it myself."
"What an amazing thing… how big it must be…" Crusch said with awe, "Alright, then it's a bargain… we go back, we save our people, and everyone else who fights with us… then I'll travel with you, just once at least, one time to see something other than the same walls and waters."
"Really, you would really go with me?" Zaryusu asked, his hands tight around the reins of Rororo.
"Of course. One time at least. I wouldn't risk myself if I were alone, but if my husband, the bearer of Frost Pain, is with me, I think we will be just fine."
Despite himself, that made Zaryusu happy for the rest of the day's journey. That night, they made camp, hiding beyond the tree line, well away from the water they preferred in order to minimize a frogmen threat, they made no fires. Instead they huddled together for comfort with some of their numbers keeping watch while others slept.
However, neither Zaryusu Sasha nor Crusch Lulu had any interest in sleeping, not really. Though each made the attempt, it was too much. Zaryusu felt his blood run hotter than a lizardman's had any right to, and so after hours in the dark, he rose from where he lay. The buzzing and chirping of insects in the swampy woods was no stranger to him, it was a comfort, if anything.
Amidst the chirping and howling of creatures in the night, he moved through shadows to the place where Crusch Lulu lay stretched out, her red eyes were sharp and they pierced him like knives. "We can't win, can we?" She asked him, and his scales brushed smoothly over her own, his body pressed close enough that she could hear his every breath.
The way he held her, he didn't need to answer and she didn't need him to either, she moved aside her loincloth, and he moved aside his own. Her fingers dug into his shoulders, his tail moved to entwine with hers, then she rested her head in the crook of his shoulder.
A moment later he was inside her, the ground beneath was cool, moist and squelched a little between the rustling noises of their slowly rocking bodies. Nobody seemed to know of the coupling that was taking place between the pair behind bushes covered by the shadow of a canopy that might as well have been as old as time. If they had noticed, at that moment neither Zaryusu nor Crusch would have given a damn.
His hardened hands held tight against her slender frame while her tail clenched to him as if afraid he might slip away if she let go. She kept her little gasps and moans quiet, giving the noises of her pleasure only to her lover, savoring the intimacy of the damned, and savoring one last burst of life before they were sure it would all come to an end.
It was not until hours of mating passed that either one of the pair was able to sleep, and neither slept at all, until they both did.
When they slept, neither frogmen, nor dreams, nor nightmares of the same, troubled them at all.
AN: Just to address one thing pertaining to a recent review: Yes, Ainz is going to be kinda OOC because… he's human for now, he's not going act like himself as an undead. We don't know a ton about him as Suzuki, but we do know a few things and that served as the basis for how he's written. He has mental references to his time as an office worker, and some of those thoughts indicate a more generous personality. Working late with colleagues, for example, and his genuine love for his friends, people he never met. We also know that his mother deeply loved him and seemed to have had a genuinely affectionate personality. All in all, Suzuki Satoru seemed to have been a pretty good guy, no evidence of sadism or cruelty in his real world life. So, I think he'd do things a lot differently if he weren't being overwhelmed by the nature of his undead body. Allowing outsiders inside, being one of them. He does this in canon as well, but only for nonhumans, so, I just expanded upon that in his human state. Some differences will be significant, some… not. If you think it'd go differently… remember you can always take this story at any point and write a divergence taking it where you like. :) It's all yours to do with as you like, all fiction is a gift to readers, and once a gift is given, what is done with it is not decided by the giver. Just relax, enjoy the ride until you don't, but if you want my honest opinion, my favorite so far is the retold dwarven arc… or the retold HK arc… those are fun. But that's just because I liked both of those more than the lizardmen, though that novel was still pretty damn good. (NOTE: Uploads will be slowed down by a bit while I'm out at Fort McCoy for ALC training for the Army Reserves)
Volume 3 Chapter 21
Zaryusu woke up at an hour when the sun had still not graced the world, the beams of light that would kiss the ground had not made their appearance. However, even if they had, beneath the thick canopy of the trees on the grassy and weedy bit of ground where he lay still entwined with Crusch Lulu, no light could ever hope to pierce through much.
The long night of lovemaking, scale to scale and tail to tail had done nothing to rob the young lizardman of his vigor or his zeal to protect his people, and upon awakening he rose with energy surging through his body, as if he could take on the world if it threatened his people, and somehow win.
Despite this, he did his best to disengage himself from his lover with care, moving as slowly as a thief in the night, his motions barely disturbing the sea of green and brown that surrounded him in the shadows of twilight's twilight.
The light of the false dawn would begin before long, but his day had begun before that of the eternal sun. He went to check the guards and found them where they should be, the powerful warriors over whom he had been made chief clearly took their duties seriously.
That was a relief at least, he felt the racing blood begin to slow in his body and calm overcame him. Zaryusu went to each one in turn, slapping them on their shoulders and saying, "Thank you for watching over us." Or some variation thereof.
They grunted, seemingly indifferent, but in their eyes he could see they were pleased to have their service appreciated.
The smell of the dew on the ground grew rich and the sounds of the day began with the cries of birds. The breeze picked up and blew over his body, wrapping around him like a familiar warm blanket while insects lit on his body and dreamed of being able to penetrate his thick scales.
It didn't take long to make the rounds, but he had barely finished when the alarm went up.
Lizardmen shouted their warnings and those who were awake shot to their feet immediately. Others sprang up from deep slumbers almost as fast as those who were already awake.
Crusch Lulu somehow knew exactly where he was and rushed to his side, a clutch of warriors formed up at either side of him, their spears and clubs made ready for battle when he raised Frost Pain above his head like a beacon.
The tendrils of daylight that finally peeked over the far horizon struck the icy blue of his jagged magic weapon and made it shine like a star fallen to the world.
The shadows that had caused the alarm slowly became more than shadowy blurs, and when they could be seen more clearly they one and all relaxed.
"Lizardmen…" Somebody said.
Crusch Lulu sighed with relief, ' All these warriors, and they instinctively rally to where Zaryusu stands….'
He almost seemed to take it as a given that they would be there, and that he would be at the center, his tail relaxed and at ease, his fist tightly closed around the hilt of his weapon.
The announcement that it was their own race was a relief, the barrier of tribalism meant nothing compared to the threat of annihilation, and so they waited and waved.
When they drew close enough, Zaryusu felt a sigh of relief come over him. ' Razor Tail.' The center figure in the advance could be none other than Kyuku Zuzu, bearer of the White Dragon Bone Armor.
Zaryusu reflexively took the lead and approached the fast moving band. The sound of their feet at a steady jog was finally audible, a low rumble as they made their way along the long shore path which dimmed as the group came closer and finally stopped.
The white armored Kyuku Zuzu broke from the group and approached after his tribe stopped. They raised their hands shoulder's height away from their weapons. "Kyuku Zuzu greets you." He had a crude voice, a simple and dull one that pained Zaryusu for him. The curse of the White Bone Armor had robbed a genius of his mind and given him vastly greater defensive power.
"Zaryusu Sasha greets you also." Zaryusu answered, "Razor Tail joins Small Fang, Green Claw, Red Eye, and Dragon Tusk?" That was the key question to ask of the simple minded chief.
Kyuku Zuzu inclined his head. "Tribe say this for good." He smacked his heavily armored chest, "Kyuku protects!"
Zaryusu smacked his own chest in the same way. "Zaryusu protects!" He replied.
The armor covered most of Kyuku's body, but his face was still visible,and the tribal chieftain's eyes sharpened for a moment.
"Kyuku will fight with you." The chief replied with agonizing slowness, as if he were trying to swim through water to break through the surface of his mind and speak with some intelligence, enough at least to let him affirm their bond.
"How did you follow so fast?" Zaryusu asked, ' They shouldn't have come this far, not with their old to watch out for.'
"No old left, we run." Kyuku said with glistening eyes, like a simpleton whose only pet had just died.
"I am sorry." Zaryusu said and made a horrified mental note to ask what happened later, the tearful look in the simpleton's eyes told him the chief understood that whatever happened meant that the old would be gone forever, but asking why would be salt on an open wound. ' I can find out from the others, we needn't know just now.' He told himself and he waved his hand behind him.
"We move together back to the Green Claw village. There we fight, go take prisoners, learn how frogmen come for us with many." Zaryusu explained, and again his simple terms reached through the simple mind to be understood.
Kyuku raised his empty hand again and gestured toward the waiting allies, and the Razor Tail added their numbers to the band.
The journey back to the Greenclaw village was with the armored Razor Tail falling in with the rest, a few scouts kept back and front to keep an eye out for any potential trouble. As a precaution they kept away from the lake to avoid any potential ambush, and the sunrise of morning passed into the steady slog of midday, and then finally became evening again.
Zaryusu made love to Crusch again that night, and again they fell asleep in each other's arms, and the routine began again before the sun arose on the day after.
Finally the Greenclaw village came into view, a little dot at first, Zaryusu felt relief flood through him, relief that became a sudden panic when he heard shouting louder than any he had ever heard in all the years of his life before.
' Danger! The village is in danger!' It was an immediate sense of panic that hit the lizardman and he very nearly ordered an attack before he felt the hand of Crusch Lulu on his arm.
"Wait. Listen." She whispered to him, and he listened more closely to the shouting in the village, and looked more closely as well. There was no indication of fire, though it meant very little to him since frogmen seemed to have a deep and abiding hatred for fire in general.
The shouts were gleeful, they were… ' Cheering? Why are they cheering?' Zaryusu wondered. Answer or no answer, cheering was a relief.
So they rode on, slow, steady, and finally came close enough to the gate to realize that nobody was watching outside the walls, all eyes were centered within.
Someone 'finally' sensed the approaching mass and shouted to alert those within, gesturing wildly, the lizardman youth had his hands waving frantically, a spear thrusting over and over up toward the sky, he all but danced, tail and body alike.
Zaryusu looked at the youth as if he'd gone utterly mad, but nonetheless he led the tribes toward the wide gate and into the interior. Ahead he saw a tall figure that stood like a human, his back straight and eyes forward speaking with some of the elders. The figure wore a rich dark cloth which even at a glance he knew would have been worth a fortune in a human marketplace. At the robed man's side however was something that immediately caused his eyes to lock on and every fiber of his body screaming danger.
The lance-bearing knight was half the size of the tall figure, and yet with scarlet armor covering their body, it was obvious that danger lay, the promise of unbeatable violence, waiting to be unleashed.
"We are damned or saved, by what I am seeing now." He whispered in a hushed voice so low he doubted himself that he even said what he did.
He retained his doubt until his brother approached and embraced him so tightly that the claws of his fingers dug like knives into Zaryusu's body. To the uncertainty he had but moments before expressed, he now had his answer just as quickly.
Volume 3 Chapter 22
Ainz felt the increasing number of eyes at his back and slowly raised a hand in front of his chest to stop the elder questioning him and looked over his shoulder. ' Telling one lizardman from another isn't easy yet, but I would definitely remember that weapon… and that albino lizardwoman, and that armor… new arrivals. Shasuryu's brother must have been successful.'
Shasuryu rushed past Ainz and flung his arms around the one bearing the oddly shaped blue blade. ' Definitely a brother.' Ainz thought as he watched them embrace in relief.
Shalltear looked up to her lord and whispered, "Lord Ainz, isn't it disrespectful to not pay mind to you right now?"
Ainz set a comforting hand on the red armored shoulder of his subordinate, "No, not right now." He said, "He has to brief the newcomers so they…" His tongue defied him briefly as he sought what to say next. ' Know who is in charge? Know who I am?' For the former office worker it was still too uncomfortable to say he was in charge of so many unknowns, and so he said, "know who I am." It was ambiguous enough that Shalltear accepted it and waited patiently at his side while Shasuryu explained.
Zaryusu shook his head in disbelief, "You must be joking. You raided the frogmen yourself?"
"I did, and only survived because of them." Shasuryu said and gestured toward the King of Nazarick with one open scaled hand as Ainz turned fully around to face them.
When the caster faced him, Shasuryu went down and bent his knee in submission. Zaryusu quickly followed, bowing his head, "You saved my brother's life, as he goes, I go also. I ask only one thing." He held his breath, a more charismatic figure he could scarcely imagine. The figure before him seemed as godlike as the small red armored knight seemed dangerous, and yet they had never traded words so he was almost fearful of what answer he might receive.
"What is it you ask for?" Ainz asked, tapping his staff on the soft soil of the village.
"That after you secure our safety, that you secure our prosperity. I want the lizardmen to grow strong." Zaryusu Shasha said, making a point to ask it for all the living tribes of his people and not only for the one which was now his.
Crusch Lulu descended from Rororo and joined her lover's side, descending to one knee on her own.
With three chiefs down on one knee, it became a cascade effect which radiated to the entire assembled body.
Shalltear wore a bright and contented smile. "At least they're sensible enough." She offered her highest praise to the beings that were unworthy even to serve as paving stones for her master.
"I accept your fealty and your request… but we need to know more than we do, was the captive successfully retrieved?" Ainz asked, and a lizardman raised his head.
"Yes, my Lord… I will retrieve it." The lizardman sprang to his feet and rushed into a small hut.
There was a cacophony of shouting and a brief struggle before at last the lizardman returned. He had a rope wrapped entirely around the body of the frogman, its arms and legs were bound together and secured in a tangle of different knots. Its head and throat were visible, but the rest was essentially 'dressed in rope' as near as Ainz could think to call it, and the lizardman dragged it down the short steps where the bruised and battered creature thudded and grunted in pain before being dragged through the dirt and muck.
"We have questioned it, and questioned it hard, My Lord, but it has given us nothing."
"I'll give you a spear in the guts! I'll give you a crack to your skulls! I'll give you death! I'll give you pain! I'll give you slavery that works you till you die of exhausation and the world forgets you ever lived! But I will never talk! I will never tell you anything no matter what you do to me!" The frogman belched out his words, his slimy green skin may have been able to sweat, or not, but with its rounded head, bulging throat and the constant rumble from its ragged breaths it was hard to say much of anything about it.
' A little like Demiurge's alternate state.' Ainz considered as he looked at the creature, it was tough, that much was sure. Blood seeped through cracks in the rope, the limbs were contorted uncomfortably and in angles that couldn't have been natural for it. ' Broken limbs, bleeding body, but still it shouts defiance… he is strong.' The tormenting of the creature made his stomach queasy to be sure, and yet he needed information.
He crouched down so that his mask was hovering fully in the face of the frogman while around them the lizardman tribe stood up. "Are you sure you won't talk? You won't tell us anything?" Ainz asked.
"Never, outsider… but what are you… you're no lizardman!" The frogman's ribbity-like voice was coupled with huge eyes that widened as they darted back and forth from Ainz to Shalltear.
"I am the King of Nazarick, and the new master of the lizardmen tribes." He answered glibly, then thought, ' However that happened…' He suppressed the snort and waited for the frogman to process that information.
"Then you're my enemy, and just as dead as the rest of them!" The frogman struggled with desperation in his bonds, agony twisted his face very briefly from the broken parts that were bound within ropes.
"Die! Just die! The Great Chief, our first Queen, Heketi, will come and kill you all! You're all dead and you deserve to be for barring our manifest destiny to rule all the great lake! Die! Just die!" It howled so loudly against the bonds and quiet rumbling lizardmen that Ainz might have thought it a wolfman rather than a frogman at that moment if he could not see the bulbous rounded head with its huge eyes at the upper edges of its head and its bulging throat.
"Nothing will change your mind? I can't bribe you with riches or comforts to talk?" Ainz pressed the question home.
"No! I am absolutely loyal to my tribe and to my Queen!" The frogman belched out the words with a furious ribbiting noise that Ainz took to be frothing anger.
"I see." Ainz said and then after standing up he put his hand on Shalltear's shoulder again. She looked up at her master.
"Go on, question him." Ainz gave the order.
She had a playful smile on her face that did nothing to hide her fangs as she pointed her hand down at him, [Charm Species] . "Hi there, friend, could you answer all my master's questions, tell us everything you know, I'd really appreciate it." She said in her sweetest little girl voice.
"Of course, my dear friend, anything for you." The frogman said, and as one the lizardman village cried out…
"What?!"
Volume 3 Chapter 23
Shalltear ignored the village's dismay, "So, who are you?"
"Ribitnik." The frogman answered, not at all thinking it odd that his 'dear friend' did not know his name.
"Okay, Ribitnik, tell us about the frogmen invasion, how many of you are there?" She asked while the tribes watched the scene play out.
"Thousands, lots of thousands, like four hands of thousands." He said, and the lizardmen gasped.
"Twenty thousand frogmen… you can't be serious?" Zaryusu gasped, and the frogmen glared at him.
"More than that, lizard, more than that!" The frogman exclaimed.
"How can there be so many?" Shasuryu asked, aghast.
"Like I would ever tell you!" The frogman belched out, looking up at the lizardman chief with contempt, his tongue shot out of his mouth fast enough to smack Shasuryu across the chest before it retracted into his mouth.
"So how can there be so many, you'll tell me, won't you?" Shalltear asked, ignoring the mocking violence of the prisoner.
"Of course, you're my friend." Ribitnik answered, "It's simple, the Empire lost a war. We've been fighting them off and on for generations along the coastal areas of the swamp, they had a lot of our prisoners, you know. So when they lost a war with someone else, a lot of their soldiers got pulled back, they abandoned the villages, and all the frogmen slaves they'd taken over the years were able to make an escape."
"Oh, so… how are you feeding everybody?" Shalltear asked, "Aren't you all going to go hungry?"
"No, there's lots of lizard meat here." Ribitnik answered and looked around at the lizardmen. "If we take over the whole lake in a few days, we'll have enough food to last for a while. We can hunt out the wild beasts on this side of the lake too, and start fishing where the lizardmen did. It will be tight, but even if we take some casualties?" Ribitnik couldn't shrug, but he could glare, "It would be worth it to take the whole lake forever, and that will just make it easier to feed everyone afterward."
It was an ugly future laid out before the lizardmen, Zaryusu traded eyes with the other chiefs, the future opened up like a chasm beneath their feet, against so many frogmen victory looked impossible. ' Can this one really help us so much?'
"So what is your plan, how come you've been moving so slowly?" Shalltear asked.
"Queen Heketi hasn't been moving slowly, she's been moving deliberately." Ribitnik answered with glee, "We did hope to slaughter two tribes early, or at least drive them off, but one ran and I got caught before knowing what happened to the other, probably all dead. If they're not, they'd run here. She wanted them to be huddled and hungry, you see, the lizardman liked to kill each other, a vicious and disgusting race. She, being a genius, realized that since they started killing each other over food once before, they would do it again. Why should a superior race like mine die at all if our inferior animal enemies will kill themselves for us?"
He answered like his superiority was self-evident, and he missed the way in which his words were erasing the boundaries between tribes with every passing second.
"So it'll be a few days before they come this way?" Shalltear asked.
"Yes, we do still worry about the rumors of their great treasures, but it will only be a few more days before she comes this way ready to finish them off forever." Ribinik's ribbity laughter of glee was accompanied by the shaking of his entire body with pending happiness.
' They lost a war… unless there was a war I don't know about then that could only mean the war against Nazarick and the Kingdom, nothing else would make sense… and then of course they lost so many knights they would have to pull back to keep things stable at home. Any frogmen prisoners could easily escape confinement under reduced and lax guard… and they'd be mostly veteran fighters…'
"How long does it take for you to make a frogman warrior anyway, that still seems like a lot?" Shalltear pressed.
"Oh, well we lay lots of eggs, most of them used to get eaten until Heketi came along with ideas about protecting them in one place. That was about twenty years ago and since we had a lot more numbers, together we could fend off monsters better. Then she put the chiefs in charge of each other's eggs to keep everyone honest. Then we had more than we needed between monster meat, fishing and so on, thus we sent more young to fight. A lot got caught, but it would weaken the human settlements. So the ones we got back were all full grown." Ribitnik revealed, and Shalltear nodded along like she understood.
"Do you have any special magic or weapons or powerful warriors?" Shalltear asked.
"We have some runecraft stuff we stole from the humans or bought from dwarves, but no truly overwhelmingly powerful items. But they have the great treasures… for now ." Ribitnik made a noise he considered to be somewhat threatening, a throaty ribbit-like noise that expanded the bulbous throat several times.
Curiosity and his collector's interest flared up in Ainz, but he held his peace and listened attentively. ' Focus on the importance in the present… I can worry about the rest later.' Ainz told himself while they went on.
"Wow, so you're very ambitious, do you have any weaknesses you're worried about at all?" Shalltear asked with a casual friendly smile.
"No, we can jump really well and we're as strong or stronger than humans, that's why they broke my legs, because I could easily jump as high as any ten of them standing one on top of the other." The frogman boasted with pride, "Ground scrambling fools can't even breathe under water, can you imagine only being able to breathe in one place? How ridiculous!" The frogman gave a snort of derision.
"Very ridiculous." Shalltear nodded sagely, "So what is the highest tier of magic you can use?"
"I can't use any, but the Queen can use up to the fifth tier." Ribitnik boasted, "She's very powerful, and tall too, she's as tall as these walls and as wide as these gates, when Heketi comes, that will be the end of these kin killing lizardmen once and for all."
"I'm sure, but how soon will they get here?" Shalltear asked.
"If nothing gets in her way, she'll probably plunder the other villages and surround this one in a week. We were told to surround the village on all sides, including in the water, keep the lizardmen from fishing, and wait for them to kill each other and beg us to make them slaves in exchange for food. After that we can just work the survivors to death to make the first frogman civilization. She'll be Empress of the Lake then, like the humans of Baharuth in the north or the dwarves in their mountains, we'll have a true kingdom of our own. She is a truly amazing leader." Ribitnik boasted with pride and Shalltear looked over her shoulder and up to her master.
"Is that everything, my Lord?" She asked, blinking her bright crimson eyes and using the same sweet little girl voice.
It was impossible, he had to do it. Ainz patted her beautiful head, helmet or no, and praised her. "Excellent work, Shalltear. Excellent work. I'm proud of you."
She beamed up at him while the lizardmen gaped, open mouthed.
"Send him to Nazarick, our next task is clear." Ainz said, and she bowed deeply before opening the gate before the still gaping lizardmen.
"My Lord, when I return," she asked as she picked the frogman up, "what will we be doing?"
"Taking over the lake, Shalltear." Ainz answered, and she did not lose her grin when she headed through the gate and back to their home.
When the gate vanished again, the lizardmen began to cheer.
Volume 3 Chapter 24
Shalltear's return to Nazarick was unheralded but not unnoticed, she appeared in Neuronist's workspace and lightly tossed the frogman to the feet of the obese round mouthed monster with her little snake's tongue. "Ohhh, Lady Shalltear, what have you brought me today?!" Neuronist giggled and clapped her palms together, rubbing them with eagerness as she looked down at the frogman. It stared up at her with blank confusion that was far beyond simple fear or horror.
"A soon to be endangered species. Study it, we need to know how much they can take, whatever is left of them will be serving us soon." She explained and glanced at the moaning figures on the wall. The surviving Sunlight Scripture members were barely aware of anything, the light of the torches cast shadows against the dim stone, none of them were dressed, their male members exposed to Shalltear's curious eyes.
"Are they still resisting?" She asked with only half interest.
"No, no I broke them weeks ago, they've spilled every secret of their people down to where their own parents live. Anything they haven't told me, they've held back because they don't know it." Neuronist promised and reached for a long thin kidney stone remover.
Collective wails went up, and Neuronist put it back down in the little silver tray again. "See? I am a professional after all."
The frogman began to wiggle and thrash pointlessly in its bonds, but the pair ignored him.
"I never doubted it, but when will they be useful for something?" Shalltear asked and looked the scarred wretches over.
"I don't know, Lord Demiurge wanted them used for something, but Lady Albedo immediately forbade his intentions, they can't be killed or used beyond keeping them broken." Her tongue darted out toward the men several times, "I have no idea why and it isn't my place to ask… oh well, at least I have this one now." She said and waddled over to the writhing and desperately croaking frogman, her gray skin jiggling along and the ooze-like substance that coated her flesh dripping away to the stone at her feet until she reached the new subject.
"Alright, have fun, Neuronist." Shalltear answered and walked out of the room with a little backward wave.
"I will, and thank you again!" Neuronist exclaimed and undid the frogman, "Oh my, you're partially broken already… well, not to worry we'll fix you right up…"
Shalltear was well away by the time the frogman was set to screaming.
' Should I go straight back… no he didn't say he wanted to leave right away, and he does seem to want to explain himself to the new subjects…' A certain wariness about this came over Shalltear's mind, the knowledge of how close she'd come to tasting his supreme blood was a heavy weight of guilt on her mind that she couldn't lightly expunge.
It was for that reason that she was distracted, and because she was distracted she made her way back to her own quarters without thinking.
The door opened, and three red eyed vampire brides of snow white flesh and silky dark hair were quick to present themselves. Two knelt, but one, the longest haired, and newest, remained on all fours, which was to be expected as she was the only one equipped with a 'tail'. "Welcome back, Mistress." They said in unison, and Shalltear dotingly patted each of their heads.
"How do you like the tail, Leinas?" Shalltear asked, as much curious as anything else, as the first new worlder for her to turn, it was a matter of curiosity to see how this one responded to vampiric instincts toward her maker.
"I love it, Mistress!" She exclaimed, her bright crimson eyes shone with glee, "Anything to please you."
An expected answer, but it led Shalltear to another question for which she walked past them all and took a seat. "Come here, Leinas, I have a question you might be able to answer."
"My Lady?" Leinas asked and scurried over the floor, the dark leather straps of the tail bounced behind her as she moved, and Shalltear asked her.
"You betrayed your lord for mine, I'm sure that's why my master had me turn you, because a traitor can't easily be trusted, unless you have something on them, something like this." Shalltear rolled up her sleeve and extended her wrist, "Go on, have a bite." She said magnanimously and held the little indulgent girlish smile as the greedy vampire and former knight grasped the True Vampire's delicate looking little wrist and sank her fangs in.
The bliss on Leinas Rockbruise's face revealed how much she loved the rich full flavor of Shalltear's lifeblood, but the diminutive little monster was not kind without reason. As her subordinate fed, Shalltear addressed her.
"I know you desire me, as well you should, but if you were to almost offend me, or to betray me even by accident, how would you make amends in order to deserve the chance to please me properly again?" Shalltear asked, while the vampire bride twins knelt a distance away and looked with envy at their tail bearing newest addition.
Leinas broke from feeding to gaze up adoringly at Shalltear, "Immediately confess, and then ask to, no, beg to be punished! I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't face some consequences! I know if I'm punished, my unworthy self might be forgiven, but if I'm not…" She lowered her crimson eyes, "That would be the worst punishment of all."
Shalltear rested her cheek in the palm of her hand and her elbow on her desk, then allowed Leinas to feed with little suckling noises for several more minutes as she thought the answer over.
"Work hard while I'm away, I won't be gone long, but I may have a use for you soon, a demonstration of your true devotion." Shalltear said, the suckling noise stopped and Shalltear withdrew her dainty wrist.
"I wait with hungry anticipation." Leinas vowed with little red stains on the tips of her fangs rendered visible by the broad and toothy smile on her face.
"Good girl, now… give me a wag." Shalltear gave the order, and the white cloth dress worn by her newest bride rustled when she wiggled her hips to shake the tail Shalltear had 'plugged' her with.
"The pleasure that awaits you, the rewards of pleasing me, they will drive you mad if you serve me well." Shalltear cackled and stood up so that even short as she was, she towered over Leinas. She rolled her sleeve back down while Leinas looked up at her with a quiet but hungry look on her face.
"I live only to serve the Lord of Nazarick, the Great Healer, and my Mistress." Leinas said with worshipful reverence before Shalltear flicked her wrist to create another gate and left her brides behind her.
AN: Sorry about the delay, a double release today as a bonus, I was gone to Fort McCoy training with the Army Reserves (Advanced Leadership Course) and I had little to no internet access for most of it. I'm back home now though, so enjoy. There's about 20 chapters left in this story, so about 5 months of weekly releases. I've written the first 8 chapters of Volume 6, and I think (in two years) when you get that far, you'll be happy with it. If you don't want to wait on the release, of course my pat reon supporters at /tellingstories get early access, as do my discord readers (invite in the author code).
Or just wait and enjoy the ride for the next few years. :) In other news, my new book 'Evolution of a Nobody' is available on amazon. A reverse Isekai that will make you laugh and cry alike. (Oh if you have trouble with two factor authentication on discord, reach out to me and I can get you in. We HAVE to do two factor thanks to a bot invasion awhile back.)
Thanks for reading! (OH, and to the reader who left the apology, don't sweat it. Enjoy the ride, man. It's cool.) ;)
Volume 3 Chapter 25
Shalltear's return found her Master in deep conversation with the elders of the lizardmen tribes. She approached her Lord and her dead heart defied its unlife to throb with devotion. She remained demure and quiet at his back, clad in her armor and waiting patiently for his attention.
"… Governing differing tribes scattered around the lake will lead only to trouble, and Heketi will burn the others anyway, as there are not very many of you I propose that you all remain here. Choose one chief over all of you, and I will provide supplies and direction to help you get established." Ainz proposed the measure and the lizardmen traded dubious looks.
"My Lord, are you saying you can feed us all while we establish Chief Zaryusu Shasha's fisheries?" One of the lizardmen asked.
"So few? With ease." Ainz promised, ' And conveniently enough, since all I have to do is give them things to get started, I won't have to make any hard decisions, though maybe I should send them a governor… someone to rule over them properly. Or at least someone to whom they would report for me…' Guilt and uncertainty warred in his mind and heart while he thought about the burden of being a bad boss and loading more work on his subordinates.
The mask was a relief as he did his best to act the part of the all knowing ruler, ' At least my charisma rating seems to have enthralled them, who knows what it would be like trying to manage as an undead being…' The thought brought him no small amount of anxiety, ' At least then I might not be worried all the time!' He shuddered and tried to focus on the questions of the moment which briefly gave way to murmurs of approval.
"The frogman's information suggests that this will not be difficult, my subordinate and I will go with a single escort in the direction in pursuit by Heketi, and rid the lake of the threat." Ainz promised, though as he gave them his word he had to consider what that entailed. ' My last attempt at mercy was still more vicious than I thought it would be… though why the Empire chose to attack the way they did I will never know. Wasn't the whole point of a duel, to 'spare' their lives?' The rhetorical question threatened to keep him awake more than once and it was only the fear of his own friend's children rejecting him that felt worse and kept him focused.
' Work is a relief from fear…' That thought came to mind as soon as Shalltear returned to his side. "What will you do first, mighty Lord?" Shasuryu asked from his place at Ainz' feet.
"Going after all of the toadmen piecemeal will take too long so… I will go straight for their heartlands in the northern swamp. Once Heketi learns that it has been attacked, she will have to respond and withdraw her forces to protect her homeland. Then I can take care of the whole problem in one fell swoop." Ainz proposed, ' Thankfully I listened to at least some of Punito Moe's tactics.' He thought, and this left the lizardmen confused enough to ask…
"How will she know she needs to go back?"
"I will make sure she knows." Ainz made the statement cryptic as he could, ' I didn't think of that… damnit!' His mind raced and his gaze fell on Shalltear. "Open a gate back to Nazarick, I need the mirror." He gave the order hoping his voice didn't become desperate or panicked and that she would obey it before it became obvious he didn't have an answer.
' I wasn't supposed to come back… was I? No wonder he seems thrown off, I was supposed to know to stay in Nazarrick and wait for him. I must get better at anticipating what he wants!' Shalltear chastised herself and gave a deferential obedient nod.
"As my Lord commands." She flicked her wrist and the [Gate] opened again. They stepped within and found themselves at the mirror, leaving the lizardmen back at their village.
Ainz went straight to the great oval glass and began to move his hands over it, swiping its view about, he expanded his hands outward, widening the view of the world until he found the great lake. His hands guided his view over the waters and he began to close his hands toward one another, over and over again to narrow and focus his view on the area.
The still waters came into view, ' From here the place is actually very beautiful.' Finding the frogmen armies proved easy, a small contingent was located at the Red Eye village, and a few hundred frogmen were located at the other ruins as well. ' They really ruined those, though there doesn't seem to have been much to ruin. I suppose she liked their locations…' At a glance it appeared that the frogmen warriors that were stationed there were not just on the watch, they were also trying to build, albeit with crude tools.
Notably there were some lizardmen elders working in one of the locations, ' What the tribe mentioned, sacrificing a few to ensure the rest had time to escape, this must be the survivors of that group.' Those aged lizardmen had been stripped of even their loincloths, their cracked, ancient scales were bleeding in places where they'd been wounded either in fighting or for sport.
They hauled rocks, mud and wood under watching frogmen-eyes. His viewing field finally found Heketi, true to the prisoner's recollections, she seemed to be in no hurry at all, if anything it seemed she'd paused to enjoy herself.
She was indeed a broad bullfrog-like being, she walked on two legs in a strange almost rotating sideways gait from legs that had feet turned away from the front and jutting out to the sides. Her legs were thick and green and covered with a mucus-like substance, ' I know they're frog people but… still, gross.'
She was broad bodied and wore a soaking wet cloth wrap that hung around her front and back, and a crown on her head that seemed to be made of twisted vines and finger bones with the flesh still on them. The source of those bones was still on their knees shivering and hissing in pain, clutching at their missing hands, were four aged lizard people. She was moving her big wide mouth above her bulging, pulsing throat, but the mirror conveyed no sound.
She made a gesture and behind the elderly lizardmen who contributed their fingers to her crown, several frogmen holding long spears to the bent old backs, thrust home. Their spears pierced the backs and came out the chests of the old, a spray of bright blood became a trickle as they grasped with the stumps and intact hands alike at wounds that had no chance of healing.
The spear wielders guided the bodies forward so that they were prostrate in the dirt as if offering obeisance to the Queen. Different species or not, in Ainz' judgement as she nodded in approval and made a grandiose sweeping gesture toward the remaining lizardmen, she was smug and satisfied.
"Now… her homeland…" Ainz moved on, scouring the dark woods of the northern part of the lake. He might have missed their homes entirely except for what the captive told them. The human settlements were found first. Rather, what was left of them. Most of the ruins were simply toppled over walls, a few uprooted farms, precious little else. But they acted as an aperture for finding the frogmen. ' They did say there had been a great deal of fighting with the Empire, I wonder if the peasants abandoned the area first?'
The question, he knew, would find its answer when he found the frogmen themselves, the view of the mirror carried him over the wetlands where he finally found a frogman hacking at some wood in knee deep water. He continued, searching until he found the first village. The frogmen villages were low places with homes built into the water itself and under ample tree coverage. Unlike the lizardmen, there was no evidence that they really favored land dwelling at all. Their homes were made of small stone platforms and walls of woven grass, broad leaves that acted like fabric while small sticks and vines acted like thread. Crude, simple places, they were nonetheless industrious in the extreme.
Their populations were sizable, each one several times larger than the lizardmen, and the frogmen themselves were garbed in crude armor. ' Are they wearing… vines?' He zoomed in on some heavy looking guards near a large pile of what appeared to be clear, viscous eggs. The guards were indeed wrapped in vines, a sheen told him they'd been rubbed and 'polished' probably with an oil to harden them into being useful armor. Each suit was made to fit the warrior who bore it.
He went over the woods for some time, and checked the lake for good measure. Heketi's army was sizable, but she had clearly left plenty behind. ' Nothing to chance, she left absolutely nothing to chance… had I not showed up, I'm sure the lizardmen would have been well and truly wiped out.' He mused privately and finally settled on a decision.
The presence of the corpses in the burned out remnants of the lizardman village gave him an idea. He looked down at Shalltear who was shuffling her feet and looking up at him with almost desperate adoration and said, "Open another Gate. This one to the Katze Plains."
AN: 18 more chapters to go in this volume, and then on to Volume 4, which takes Demiurge into the Dwarven Kingdom instead of Shalltear. Then after that, Albedo goes to the Holy Kingdom in a two volume story that changes everything in ways you can't yet even imagine. :) Completed PDFs up to Volume 5 are on my, and chapters are uploaded almost every day to my author discord. Thank you to my patrons for making it possible to write all this. :)
Volume 3 Chapter 26
AN1 of 2: Here's a little teaser before the chapter… if this story's 'favorites' and 'follows' knocks 'Godsfall' off the top spot… I'll upload and post every completed novel in this series in one day.
The Katze Plains was more or less as Ainz remembered it, they stepped out of the Gate and found themselves atop the hill overlooking the site of the Empire's ruination. Birds cawed and picked at corpses, uncaring of the smell of rot… or worse, drawn to it. A few skeletons rose to meander over the open ground, but by and large there was a carpet of corpses wrapped in armor lying spread out on the field.
' Having Leinas turned was probably the right decision, I have the distinct suspicion, now that I look back on it, that she incited the attack. I should ask Foresight if they know anything. If that is the case, if Leinas really did sell them out at Arche's urging, keeping the knight under control is the best possible outcome.' With that thought set aside, Ainz focused on the more immediate concern, most of the bodies still had their armor, the place of massacre had become something adventurers had not found the wherewithal to raid yet.
Given time, Ainz was sure they would. But that time would not be provided to them.
"Master, forgive my ignorant question, but why are we here? Couldn't we just easily raise a few monsters and wipe out those…" Shalltear paused and put her fingers tight over her nostrils, "foul creatures?"
At this Ainz could answer with more than a little confidence, and so he did, looking not at her, but at the sea of corpses. "Perhaps, but impressing on my new subjects a sense of 'scale' and that I can make enemies move how I want them to move, will be more useful and cost me nothing but a little more mana and maybe a few days. Plus this allows us to provide them with a lot of useful material to work with for quite some time."
Shalltear accepted this answer without question and the Sorcerer King began to approach the metal carpet of abandoned bodies. Some had already been reduced to mere skeletons, their bones clearly broken in places where their fellows trampled them in a futile attempt at escape. Others bore brutal injuries around which insects still flocked and at which birds pecked. No eyeballs remained, nor tongues, the soft flesh a clear favorite of the animal life in the area.
The smell was retch-inducing even with his mask in the way, his long stride slowed and was cut to a half step at the foul smell of human waste, blood, and rotted, maggot riddled meat once belonging to living knights. ' This is not a part of necromancy I like. If I were still undead, would I mind it as much?' A trivial question, he didn't linger on it and half step or not, he eventually found himself surrounded by death.
"Master, what are you going to do?" Shalltear finally asked.
"A seventh tier, [Animate weak undead] ." He explained, "It will raise the weak undead as skeletons or zombies under the caster's control, the trick is that it works only on those in the casting radius, but look at my radius." Ainz pointed out and waved a hand around him to point out the sea of bodies.
"I will clear out a large part of the Katze Plains for later use, deliver ample metal to the lizardmen to work with for a very long time, and wreak havoc on the frogmen before I go tend to them personally." Ainz' explanation was accompanied by a very satisfied smile on his face, and Shalltear clapped her hands together in happy applause.
"Brilliant, Master! Brilliant!" She exclaimed, and then stepped back to watch him work.
[Maximize radius] . He cast the first spell and a blue circle with dancing shapes and rune-like words rotated beneath his feet, then expanded to cover a large part of the massive plain. From his central position among the corpses, there were few of the knight corpses that were out of reach.
[Maximize magic] . The haunting ghost-like blue grew brighter and several circles appeared over his head and spun in sync with the circle beneath his feet.
[Animate weak undead] . A burst of brilliant starlight blue radiated out from Ainz as if he were a god birthing a universe from sheer will and spread out over the field of death. Birds took to the wing, scattering a few loose black and white feathers as they fled through the air to escape the wave of magic emanating from the sorcerer. For a moment there was nothing, no movement, the King stood there with his arms out, and the color of the wide emanating blast of magic vanished as if it had never been there at all.
Nothing moved.
Then. little by little, he heard the noise of rattling metal. The noise picked up and was joined by low groans as the dead began to move in earnest. The bodies consigned to rot, rose slowly to their feet, hunched, and still holding their weapons. The fleshless had become skeletons, while those with flesh, turned into weak zombies.
Bones broken in life were rejoined by the magic of their half resurrection into unliving beings, the sea of dead became an army of the unliving, loyal to the man who had killed them all.
Creating order among the undead was far easier than the living, and within a mere hour there were thousands of them lined up and ready in long columns three abreast.
"Shalltear, open the gate close to where we saw the bulk of Heketi's army, but just out of sight, in the woods." Ainz gave the order, and the gate appeared.
"Go, do not stop until you have reached the other side of the lake, then kill frogmen and nothing else." Ainz said and pointed to the gate, and as if eager to respond to such an order, the undead howled and charged in as one mad body with the weapons they once used in life now ready again to be used in undeath.
"That should get Heketi's attention." Ainz remarked in passing, "Now Shalltear, open another gate, this time near another burned out lizardman village. We're going to do this to each one of them, if that doesn't compel them to abandon their positions to go defend their homes I don't know what will."
"As you wish, my Lord. As you wish." Shalltear answered and looked up at him with mooning eyes, as the next group of undead rushed through following the next round of orders, she kept her eyes locked on him.
When she had a silence between one gate's coming and the next unit's going, she asked of Ainz, "My Lord, after we've finished, can you punish me?"
AN2: I know you weren't expecting another update this soon but… I'm in a pretty damn good mood. I got six chapters written for Volume 6 of 'The One Who Stayed' and the story is racing toward its final conclusion. As of right now I have no immediate plans for a volume 7, considering that by the end of it, the truly most important crux of the situation will reach its end. Of course, I do have other potential stories in mind to further elaborate on this alternative Overlord story, but we'll see how it goes, I have other projects to do and the one to originally commission this project wants me to write an Overlord x Lord of the Rings novel next. Of course there is still 'Demon Rising' and more Konosuba stuff, and 'The Accidental Hero' not to mention all my original work still coming down the pipeline. So much to write, and only one of me to write it all. If you don't want to wait on the story, go to my discord discord or .
Volume 3 Chapter 27
AN: An early release here… for one very good reason: I wanted to announce that I finished writing the 6th book in the series yesterday, 49 chapters, about 100,000 words, and it came out great if I do say so myself. If you want to see it early (weekly updates on FFN will make it take a few years) then you'd need to be on discord or . In addition, when the editing is done and the last chapter is released, I'll put a PDF of it on both locations for download. As for the possibility of book 7? We shall see. Now enjoy chapter 27 of Volume 3. :)
Heketi felt the warm glow of satisfaction from her belly to her throat from where she stood looking down at the prostrate corpses at her feet. ' The world is my lake, what could ever possibly go wrong now? The lizardmen are on the run, they left a few pathetic old people to buy time for the rest to escape overland… and all that meant is we got some slaves early. Maybe we can sell them to the humans. They buy and sell such things, I think.'
The bodies lay with their heads in the dirt where they belonged, the casualties she'd been warned might occur were not nearly as bad as any of her village leaders had suggested. The lizardmen seemed to prefer running to anything else, and now there was only one village left standing.
' Green Claw, wasn't it?' She tried to recall the name for sure, but couldn't be certain if she had it right or not. She stroked the bulging bulb of flesh that expanded from her throat, ' It doesn't matter. They have one of the only treasures to matter for war, let the armor bearer and the sword bearer fight to the death. I'll pick off the remainder.'
She set aside those thoughts for a moment and watched her frogmen and the lizardmen slaves get to work. The lizardmen elderly were not especially quick, but they were strong enough despite their age to at least handle loads of raw materials, and they could dig.
Some were busy with shovels already, hauling dirt away to create a low watery inlet, reducing the land to water level, and hauling dirt away to create hard packed high walls in another part of what had once been one of their villages.
The sound of shovels and the occasional cheers or jeers of frogmen were the only noises of note as the hours wore on.
Until she heard the screams.
They were unfamiliar things to some of her people, but Heketi knew them for what they were. Even among the ignorant however, there was a horrendous shiver of instinctual terror that ripped down the bodies of lizardmen and frogmen alike.
The screams came again, and every head turned to look toward the source.
' Undead… did one of the ones we wounded crawl into the woods, die, and rise?' Heketi wondered and reached for her long spear. She straightened her crown and slowly walked toward the ruined border of what had been a lizardman gate, the large eyes on her head peered into the shadowy canopy.
Others of her ranks began to draw up beside and behind her, their weapons drawn up and ready for use, long spears and clubs raised to striking position. Pride swelled in her throat as it pulsed with every breath.
The howling scream came again, vastly larger than before, a chorus of many voices that belied her earlier theory about it being one undead being brought back by its own bitter wrath.
The trees began to shake as if they were afraid of those around them, bending to whatever forces out of sight as if even the plants hated the intruder. ' How many undead are there… Do the lizardmen have a necromancer?' It seemed unlikely, they didn't have enough magic for that and even if they did, the voices didn't sound like lizardmen of undead or living nature.
The truth bore itself out when the first of the undead burst into view, ' Human!' Heketi realized as its hollow eye sockets locked with her for just a moment, but then ignored her and charged toward the waters.
It was followed by more, and more, and more. A screaming stream of howling undead charged through the treeline and headed toward the lake. The ranks of frogmen warriors tensed, their weapons moving a little as the line upon line of armored and sword-bearing undead ran headlong into the waters, completely ignoring the army.
The noise grew to such a mad degree as thousands plunged into the water, splashing fearlessly into water that could no longer drown them, the fishes broke the surface, leaping to avoid the chaos of unnatural beings.
As the heavy armored undead knights reached the bottom of the lake they churned up silt and muck enough that the blue waters turned a dark and dirty brown.
"They're not… attacking us?" One of her frogmen asked. Seeing that the undead were utterly disinterested in at least 'those' living, they began to relax at least a little.
"Who were they… I've never seen so many undead…?" Another older frogman warrior murmured.
Heketi slowly answered, her voice more confident than she really felt, "The Empire lost a war against a new kingdom, the undead must have come from the defeated army… but why are they ignoring us, and why are they here, where are… they… going…?"
Her eyes closed in thought while she listened to the roar of water, metal, and undead hatred.
A grim thought.
A grim realization.
' No… it can't be…' Heketi felt her breath quicken, denial could not change the facts, they were rushing in the right direction, and what else lay in their way?
She jumped in front of her warriors and faced them, her long spear pointed toward her home, "Go! We have to go! They're rushing towards our homes !" She croaked the words out in thunderous horror and a collective gasp of understanding came upon the force of frogmen.
She pointed to several of her young chiefs, "Go! Rush to the other sites, we're pulling back! We can't let the undead reach our homes or there will be no point to any of this!"
"My Queen… what about what we've…" A frogman dared to speak up, to argue, and for a moment her fury and wrath brought her eyes to look at him as if he were but a bug that had dared to nip at her flesh, but after a moment she thought the better of it. Her webbed hand came down and covered the whole of the small frogman's shoulder. "You're right, we'll leave fifty here to guard our gains."
"Everybody else… swim home !" She shouted and they rushed en masse, confident that they could outswim the undead to reach their home and prepare to fight with greater numbers.
Her feet kicked off the water, her spear held tight against her chest as she led the charge back the way they'd come, toward the sacred ground where all their young and families worked, and waited for the promised triumph, for all the lake to be made their own. All were unaware of the danger coming for them, and as such the guards that had been left behind were surely not enough to fend off the armored undead. ' They looked to me for triumph, if we don't stop this, then all they'll get is a massacre…' Heketi knew, and pushed on, but beneath it lay another truth, and one she dreaded to think.
' There is a mind behind this, a terrible one, lizardman or not, those were Baharuth Imperial Knights… And someone sent them to slay us all… if only I knew why… and if for sure, could I stop someone who could raise so many undead…'
She forced the thought down, and kept swimming on, just like the rest of her army.
Volume 3 Chapter 28
Ainz cleared his throat when Shalltear asked her question and chose to focus on the matter at hand, "One thing at a time." He said as noncommittally as possible.
The last of the undead ran through the final gate before his eyes. It shut, and Ainz turned around to look over the field. The birds had yet to return, but more importantly to his mind, there was something else surprising. ' So, some of the dead were fairly strong before they died.' He mused as he looked over the chaotic and churned up earth.
Few. But some. The carpet of dead was gone and what remained was a patchwork of perhaps thirty men in armor whose bodies had been picked apart. Ainz approached the dead, they were scattered over a very small area, suggesting that they had been part of a single unit which had been decimated by the spell. Also noteworthy was that they had all died on their backs.
Ainz crouched down over a corpse, the faceplate had already been raised, likely by the man himself based on the broken teeth and shattered bones. ' Trampled… while on his back…' Ainz thought and went to the next body, another clearly run down by his own fellows, some bore grievous wounds, perhaps injured trying to fight the summoned angels and their reaping.
' Very interesting.' Ainz thought and looked up over his shoulder to Shalltear. "Did you expect to find anyone like this after I reanimated the dead?"
She shook her head in denial, "No, Master. I thought they were all weak enough that everyone would rise from your spell… should I punish their corpses for their temerity?!" Shalltear asked and raised her lance to strike at the corpse.
"No… they're dead, they had no say one way or the other…" Ainz answered, Shalltear's whole body was still tense, almost twitching, she had an almost undetectable twitch to her, a desperate look in her blood red eyes. ' It really is getting to her.'
A swelling of pity came over Ainz, ' The poor men… they came here for their emperor, faced the impossible, and died by the hands of their own people's fears… that isn't a fitting end for bravery… the rest is sad, but nothing as sad as people who kept doing their best to the end…'
"They should have a better end than what they got." Ainz said and stood back up.
"Your generosity is truly awe inspiring, my Lord." Shalltear said with a hopeful smile spread over her face.
[Create Death Knight] . Ainz cast the spell over the dead human, and then repeated the process five more times. "We're returning to Nazarick for the night. Have the rest of the bodies taken back and preserved. We'll eventually open more friendly relations with the Emperor and the return of either 'the bodies of brave warriors' or resurrecting the dead to return them home would both be powerful gestures."
"And the death knights, Lord Ainz?" Shalltear asked while the last of them rose and looked down at them both. Their great tower shields and heavily armored bodies would have been a fearsome sight if she hadn't known how weak they really were compared to herself.
"The lizardmen will dominate the lake, they need to be properly protected from outside threats. A few death knights in the border regions for a few years should be good enough for the average threat. And if something defeats the death knights set on patrol, I'll know there's something potentially dangerous entering my domain." Ainz explained his thinking, and Shalltear nodded enthusiastically.
"That is an excellent way to keep the lizardmen prisoner, my Lord." She said happily.
"I don't plan on keeping them confined, only safe in their own lands for now." Ainz countered, but she cocked her head up at him.
"I don't understand the difference, my Lord." She replied, and Ainz opened his mouth to answer.
The mask he still wore concealed the frozen moment in which he had opened his mouth to speak, and then couldn't think of an answer. He cleared his throat, "Work it out for yourself, if I give you the answers all the time, how will you ever grow !"
"Ah, yes, of course, My Lord." Shalltear said and looked down with pursed lips.
Guilt went through him as he wondered if he'd been too harsh with her while trying to preserve his image. In desperation he grabbed hold of her earlier question, "You asked about punishment, Shalltear."
She nodded immediately. "Yes, my Lord!"
"When we have finished our work with the lizardmen, I will give you what you asked for, consider 'waiting' on it to be the first part." He declared, then putting a hand beneath her chin, he held her face so that she was looking up at his mask, which he removed with his free hand to bare his face to her. "But know this, I am not angry with you. You're the daughter of one of the best friends a man could have, I could never feel anything for you but affection. I am going to punish you for you… not for me. I have already forgiven you, I don't even count temptation wrong… only actions. You are my precious Shalltear, and forgiveness is yours for the asking, punishment or not."
What she did next, she seemed to do very slowly, and yet he knew she was moving faster than sound. It was a testament to the levels in warrior classes that he had added to his copious skillset. But what she did was so obviously not an attack that all he could do was open his arms to receive her. She dropped her lance into the ground where it pierced the earth to stand upright, and flung her hands around his body in a childlike embrace. The side of her face rubbed up and down against him with such vigor that he could only imagine she was at a loss for words and that was all she could offer.
His own arms moved slowly, reticent at least a little, he moved them to engulf her. She all but disappeared in the folds of his robe, and he held her that way for some time while the sun continued its slow descent on the horizon and left them engulfed in darkness.
He broke the embrace then, "Go, deliver the death knights, see to the last bodies, and then return to Nazarick, this body of mine… through magic I can go without rest, but I find that I like it, at least some. I will be in my room, you will continue to serve as my bodyguard, remain outside my door and allow no one to enter. I am counting on you." Ainz said, and bending forward, he kissed her forehead.
Shalltear sniffled but could not muster words. She nodded up and down, over and over again, until two Gates opened and they parted ways on the Katze Plains.
Thank you for reading! Volume 6 turned out beautifully, and all story PDFS up to and INCLUDING volume 6 are now on my discord server. Volume 7 is currently being crowdfunded while I work on more of 'Who Endures'.
Volume 3 Chapter 29
Shalltear's first task when her Lord vanished was to deliver the death knights.
When she passed through the gate and appeared again in the center of the Green Claw village, there were immediate outcries of happiness and relief that she had come back. However, when she was followed by the malice emitting death knights with their great tower shields and swords as long as a lizardman was tall, cries of dread came up uniformly from the ranks.
Shivering and dread from their numbers was so overwhelming that even when the lizardmen descended to their knees and bowed their heads, the shadows cast by the central bonfire revealed shadows that shook like leaves in a breeze.
The guard complement on the walls was copious, and the walls themselves had been raised by several feet. In addition, Shalltear noticed that sharp wooden stakes were embedded in various locations and at various heights several feet back from the dirt mounds which she disdained as subpar security.
She ignored their fear to point at the sharp wooden spikes thrusting out of the ground. "What are those?" She asked, looking down at the lizardman bearing the blue sword.
"Frog traps, Lady Shalltear." Zaryusu said without raising his head, "The frogmen like to jump over walls, I thought that if they are so eager to impale themselves, let them."
Shalltear furrowed her brow and let her imagination work, the weird running creatures reaching the wall, leaping over, crying for blood, one horrified moment when they looked down and saw the rows of spikes waiting for them, then impaled by their own weight and dragged down the base.
It was a slow, painful, brutal way to die.
' I love it.' Shalltear thought and looked down at the lizardman who spoke. "This was your idea?" She asked, blinking her crimson eyes as she looked at the unassuming lizardmeat.
"Yes, my Lady. Do you not approve?" He asked of her, and to that she shook her head.
"No, it is a marvelous idea. You're one to watch." She remarked with a smirk.
"Th-Thank you, my Lady?" Zaryusu half replied and half questioned, he was rife with uncertainty made worse by the malice-riddled beings at her back. "May I ask what purpose those… beings, have?" He pressed his luck by asking, but clearly pleased by his torturous weapons, she reached up and patted one of the death knights on the waist. Its dark flesh gave under the seemingly light touch of the armored vampire, she grinned down at the lizardman.
"Your security. These will help protect you both while my master works, and after my master leaves. You all belong to him now, be grateful… the King over Nazarick deems you worthy of serving him!" Shalltear shouted her proclamation into the deepening darkness of the quiet night, the crackling of flames seemed to applaud her and cast the dread shadows of the death knights long over the reassembled body of lizardmen tribals.
"Where is our new lord, my Lady…?" Shasuryu inquired, daringly raising his face to meet her eyes despite the look of hate from the death knight which was still radiating violence enough to make the bravest lizardman quiver with terror.
"He has returned home for the night and will come back in the morning, when he does, you will follow him to the heart of the frogman territory and prove that you deserve to exist." Shalltear's eyes fell over the masses.
"The world eats the weak, if you want the protection of the strongest in the world… prove it and then be grateful he acknowledges you." Shalltear's words dripped like venom from the fangs of a snake, but if it was venom, it was sweet and charming venom that struck the hearts and souls of the lizardman like flint to flint, it ignited a spark which caught fire in their hardy souls.
"We will, Lady Shalltear, we will!" Zaryusu and Shasuryu shouted, and their outcry of promise was taken up by the others until it became a mix of religious intonation and battlecry.
"We will. We will. We will. We will. We. Will. We. Will." The chant went on, and the lizardmen began to rock back and forth in a rhythmic pattern that synchronized together that seemed to slowly become a form of eerie worship.
Shalltear watched as their eyes became glassy, distant, and a zeal came into them very slowly but surely, which reminded her of the human test subjects. ' Like the ones who defeated the Empire champions… fanatics… Good, very good, it is just what my master deserves!'
Shalltear's sense of satisfaction as well as her Lord's ability to inspire devotion continued to rise as she opened the gate again. "Take these death knights and use them to protect yourselves, when our Master comes back, there will be a lot of work to do. Maybe he will even consider rescuing those captives of yours that the frogmen have already taken. He's got them running home right now, and no doubt that the survivors Heketi took of your people are kept guarded. You have nothing to worry about though, these will obey you. All you have to do is sit and wait… If you want to be rescued, that is…" She let the statement hang.
"We will." They answered, then Shalltear stepped through the gate and was gone.
"You heard Lady Shalltear." Zaryusu spoke up immediately when she vanished, "We're to go and rescue our people with these death knights, by the command of the King of Nazarick to prove ourselves worthy!" He shot to his feet and raised his frozen sword skyward.
For a moment all was stillness and silence.
Only the huffing noise of the undead broke the moment, and the crackling of the bonfires sent sparks of glowing orange into the air where it flickered and died away.
Finally he spoke, extending his hand outward toward the other chiefs, "You heard her, 'maybe' he will rescue them, and we 'must prove we are worthy' and 'use these death knights to protect ourselves…'" He looked the chiefs over, "This was a warning . If we won't rescue our own people, why should he bother to rescue any of us at all ?!"
Shasuryu thought that over, his brother had never looked stronger, more certain, and the more the statement went through his head, the more true it seemed like it could be.
Crusch Lulu, for a moment as her red eyes focused on the lizardman she was rapidly growing to love, believed he'd gone mad. But as he made his argument and held his sword aloft while six impossibly strong monsters stood ready to defend the village, she believed.
' Some of our people are captives, leaving them there, waiting for a king to save us after he bestows us with weapons that could rescue them? After he gives us the means to protect ourselves? No… we would shatter all faith and confidence in us that he now holds. His emissary's words were cryptic, but we must act or be forever held in contempt!'
"Then we have to go. Chiefs! We take one of these creatures with us, and then we alone rescue the captives!" Crusch spoke up and shot to her feet while the words tumbled out, tails began to pound the ground in unison, and the motion carried the night.
AN: I hope you're enjoying this. :) Partial sponsorship came in for volume 7, first two chapters have been written. They'll be on discord and pat re on.
Volume 3 Chapter 30
Heketi looked over her shoulder again, and again and again. Each time she did, she had to slow down the pushing of her legs as she moved over the lake. Getting from one end to the other was easy if one was in no hurry, but they had to race against the undead, the churning silt at the base of the lake disguised the truth of their numbers, while the water impeded the motion of the already heavy undead former knights. However, ' I saw, we all saw… if this many reach our unguarded homes…' The shudder that ran through the Queen had nothing to do with the temperature of the water that surrounded her body as she moved through the deep.
She slowed down again, her people simply could not keep up with her, ' Too weak… too weak… when I have the Lake I will have to change that…' She added that to the list of things she had to do. The endless swim was normally a peaceful thing for her, a time of reflection when she could think about all she'd done and all she would yet do.
Now as she ran through her memories, she was desperately searching for an idea that would ensure that they could triumph, and perhaps find a clue in her memories' deepest recesses for what caused the dead of the Empire to rise and come for her people.
Bringing the chiefs of all the frogmen together under her reign took up the bulk of her memories. Snatching up the many eggs, the small skirmishes that disguised the great operation of capturing egg clutches… so many daring raids… Thanks to her clever stratagem of mixing all the many tribes' eggs together so that nobody knew whose eggs were whose, and so all had to be valued equally… and all under her watch… she knew the whispers of her people.
' They whisper of my genius, of the power I brought to them all, and it made me proud… perhaps too proud? Could I have foreseen this?' Heketi asked as she pushed ahead and slowed down again to let her army catch up.
She'd asked herself that many times, but each time she failed to see how. ' No. There was no way I could have foreseen this… I made no enemy that I know of who could raise so many undead… finally free of the threat of the Empire and what do we get… an amphibious army of Empire soldiers controlled by someone else instead! How?!'
Still no answers came as darkness descended over the lake and she was only kept company by the noise of her legs kicking against the surface of the water whenever she broke through to look desperately ahead.
It was nearly dawn by the time she reached the outskirts of her patrols. Her powerful deep voice broke the morning stillness, her patrols spun to look in her direction as their Queen shouted to them all. "Raise the alarm! Bring everybody to the crest! Be ready to fight! Everyone who can bear a club or a hammer!"
Pride swelled in her throat as they did not even stop to ask questions, their feet splashing loud through the low waters as they jumped back toward the interior of the great village that held most of her population's members.
"Send word to the outskirts, call in all the reserves from the other villages! The undead! Thousands of undead!" Heketi cried and stood as soon as the water level was low enough that she had to in order to continue forward.
The frogmen's deep cries ribbited in alarm as word spread and the heavy warriors put away their spears, going for heavy clubs, militia and warriors were the next to fall in after her elites, followed by the younger males and the much older ones as well.
The frogmen darted their eyes around with fear, looking over the placid lake as their Queen jumped in front of their ranks. "We have only a few hours, the water slows them, the rest of the army follows me! Now hurry and prepare, get the youngest clear, everyone who can fight, must fight!"
The frogmen settlement was far more than a village now, despite them thinking of it as such, and to better aid the watery settlement's security and establish clear boundaries, many trees had thick, oil hardened vines bound to one another. These vines were packed tight between the bases of trees and one after another ran higher as far as the trees would allow. Where trees had been removed or were inadequate, large stone posts or wooden stakes had been embedded deep into the soft lake bottom to allow the vine fences to continue.
To add to this security in times of danger, the residents began to drop stones and stray wood or other debris on either side of the vine fencing to make it difficult to climb or cut at the support, and these were in turn secured by more poles that would hold the front into place. If these security posts were breached it would create a collapse of the fronts of the walls that would briefly break the momentum of an enemy charge, identify a point of danger, and allow others time to respond, while the stack behind the vines allowed extra space for the frogmen to stand and fight with the high ground to help them.
In addition, some trees held platforms which had caches of rocks or heavy wood that could be thrown as crude missiles against those attacking the walls.
There was no single 'gate' as every frogman could simply jump over the lowest part of the wall and anything they wanted to haul could be taken up slowly. ' Vastly better defenses than those pathetic lizardmen.' Heketi reassured herself with pride as her warriors jumped to the tops of the walls.
The first and fastest of her army arrived not long after the ones left behind had assembled and taken positions along the walls, and more began to arrive after that, their bulbous faces and throats emerging from the waters, followed by their powerful broad bodies and strong, thick legs.
They came in ones, twos, dozens, then hundreds. Many were worn out, exhausted from the desperate swim home, but they outdid the undead which were slowed by both armor and having to run on the sinking silt bottom of the lake.
"New arrivals rest, everybody else keep watch!" Heketi bellowed the order and took her position at the center.
The villagers from the smaller surrounding communities began to stream in after that, coming from farther away, some took more than an hour, some took three, but with their great hopping bounds, they came on in a steady and desperate stream. Heketi watched from her place at the top of the wall as they formed up in small units of their own and various chiefs put them into position.
' My people are brave, we will defeat the undead, we will defeat the lizardmen, we will secure the Lake and claim our future…' Heketi repeated the promise to herself, and then when she looked off into the distance of the placid lake she saw the darkening come into view.
The darkening, she knew, was the churned up silt of thousands of undead.
Her heartbeat picked up its desperate pace and she felt many large eyes focused upon her and her alone, seeking guidance, reassurance, and strength.
What to say? It was an eternal question, something, anything to buck up their spirits in the decisive hour. Finally she hit upon something, her own words to reassure herself. She held her great long spear overhead in both thick green webbed hands and shouted to them all, "We will defeat the undead! We will defeat the lizardmen! We will secure our future in this world! Nothing, not alive, not dead, not undead will bar our way through! This lake is ours ! Let no one take it from us!"
Great ribbiting roars met hers as clubs were briefly held aloft and shouts of defiance hurled toward the darkening waters. Some who carried wooden shields smacked their clubs in place for extra noise, but Heketi cared nothing for noise, she was focused on the darkness in the once blue waters.
The first undead heads began to rise up, their twisted faces, some bearing little flesh, and others fleshless, just naked white bone, stared through empty eyes at the living frogmen.
They were slowed still by the silt, the sound of splashing water picked up till the noise of droplets falling from their bodies were so numerous that it sounded like a roaring rain to the waiting frogmen defenders.
The undead knights spied the defenders in a great mass, howled their rage and hatred for the living, and then with their swords raised aloft as if they still remembered their warrior lives, they charged.
"Here they come! Hold your place, or lose everything!" Heketi shouted the final order and raised her spear to swing it down and begin the fight in earnest.
Volume 3 Chapter 31
The undead became so numerous that as the sun's ascent continued across the sky, its light glinting off the armor made the lake look invisible under the reflection of light off steel. The frogmen on the wall swung their clubs back and forth with desperate, wild abandon, smashing against steel helmets with wooden clubs, the finest of which had stones embedded in the middle of their heads.
Heketi lost sight of the fighting in various places, remaining as she did at the center, her strongest warriors used all their martial arts to fend off the onslaught, and the mindless undead hacked at the wooden barriers, splashing churned up mud and blood into a reddish-brown mix. Everytime a frogman's foot was caught or a stray sword pierced an exposed belly, the undead swarmed and tore the living to shreds before the eyes of their very comrades.
The undead were strong and full of hate, devoid of weariness or fear, they would not stop, there was no pulling back for them, just a single charge of do or ' undie' .
Little by little, the undead began to scale the wall. More than once they were kicked far back into the waters by powerful frogmen legs. Though the the undead fell in piles when a powerful blow sent them flying back like projectile weapons instead of enemies. The platforms that served as throwing positions quickly ran out of rocks, and the warriors who were slain for the second time began to tumble in greater numbers.
Heketi fought on, never leaving her position, while her warrior elites did the same, the others switched out. Some fighting for an hour or more before drawing back for a brief rest, serving in rotations on the wall.
The screams of her people suddenly went up in horror just out of her view. Her sharp hearing told her what it was. ' A breach. At least partial… Part of the wall gave way.'
It became a brutal fight as warriors who had not gotten a complete break, jumped from where they sat and lept high through the air to fall on the undead, the weight of their bodies, clubs, and gravity coming down hard on the first undead to enter the breach and for the present, stopping the advance.
' How much longer…?' Heketi asked as she smashed the end of her spear into the head of another undead, her weapon crunching into an unguarded skull, dropping the undead where he stood, while another simply took his place.
The armor of the undead made it harder, the undead could only be put down by taking or smashing heads, and many of those were still armored. Her warriors were growing weary. ' I wonder if they've run out of martial arts yet… if they haven't, they will soon.'
More shouting, more screams… this within view, Heketi saw out of the corner of her eye where the undead successfully pulled a few defenders down into the undead dominated side, and reached the top of the wall. "Fill the breach!" She cried, but it was a needless order, another weary group of frogmen pushed off with their mighty legs and soared to land atop the undead, swinging their clubs with wild desperation, briefly gaining a few precious inches of space between the precious frog eggs that were probably already evacuated, and the undead that would certainly trample them.
The thick knot of her males at a break in the wall were lightly reinforced as the eldest of the elder frogmen charged in to support their sons and grandsons, they were strictly speaking, expendable. The young were vital, and the old threw themselves into the fray to protect the future, a gift from the past to those who wanted to forge ahead into the future.
Elder frogmen died screaming as human swords and bony human hands tore into the thick frogmen muscle and ripped their legs open until they were torn from their bodies.
And yet for all the bloody stinking horror, Heketi could only feel pride in their courage as the elders threw their lives away without fear for the pain they were enduring to buy their young even one more minute of life.
The stink of blood was thick in her nostrils, and the blue water began to turn an almost violet shade as it was blended with the churned up silt and blood of frogmen that had fallen to the front of the wall.
One of her elite champions yelped in sudden horror, he cast a brief glance at Heketi, an undead climbing up from below grabbed at his vine armor and yanked, he began to fall, and the undead with it.
Her hand thrust out and grasped him from the back, for just an instant he hung there, suspended between the throng aching to tear him apart, and the safety of the Queen he was protecting.
Two swords pierced his vocal sac as he had fallen too low, and blood began to pump out, she felt him go limp in her hands and she almost let him go. ' No! He is mine!' Heketi told herself and yanked the body backward, he fell to the other side of the wall, an armored corpse whose fears and hopes were over with the moment of his passing. He couldn't float in the low waters, but the ripples echoed out from his body as if he might still stir to rejoin the fight.
The noise and screams of living and undead continued unabated, but even while her people began to weaken, she saw the truth, the truth came in the form of more undead, ' That clinches it… someone did this, those had to have come from where the other positions would see them…' They were fewer in number, a few hundred undead knights at most, but they emerged from the waters as the bulk of the first horde had, and added their howls of hatred and their strength to the fray.
From where she stood, the Queen could see another breach begin to open up.
"Hold on! Hold on! Just a little bit more! We've almost won!" She screamed the admonition to her weary people, most couldn't see the reinforcements, fighting was now on the ground, some undead broke through in places and were running among the interior huts of the settlement, tearing into anyone living that had not made an escape or rejoined the fight.
Screams of her dying frogmen were behind her, before her, and on either side of her. Heketi swung her spear again, and put down another. The only thing holding her people in place was that there was nowhere to jump to that would promise safety. The undead would never tire, never stop chasing them, but their spirits couldn't hold forever.
She never knew who the first of them was whose courage fled, but somewhere along the wall, it happened. She caught sight of one of her own not running, but leaping wildly away, using his comrades to buy him time to save his own life.
Heketi cursed the nameless one. ' May you die alone, and live long enough to regret this day.' She hurled her hatred at the one she counted as a coward who left his brothers to die, and yet he was not the last.
"Just a little bit more! Will you leave your Queen to die!" She admonished her soldiers, and though some said "yes… they would leave her to die" as they hopped and fled into the distance with not even a weapon to burden their escape, others continued with desperate courage.
It was then that she saw it.
More bodies began to emerge from the waters. ' No… not more… no more… no more…' She begged the gods of the lake to spare her more, until she saw more clearly what they were when the stirring waters parted.
A roaring ribbit of reinforcements hit the air, the undead had no sense of strategy and left nothing to guard their flanks, nor did they keep order and maintain the pressure on the walls.
Instead they charged the nearest targets which bought the frogmen on the wall a moment to breath.
The frogmen reinforcements hopped onto the attackers with wild frenzied killing intent, though they had only crude clubs rather than ones prepared for military use, they nonetheless had 'something'.
They hit hard and drew pressure from the wall, the undead on even ground seemed initially to still have the advantage, but the frogmen were fresh and nimble, leaping over the battle area, splashing into waters or luring the undead into deeper areas where they could be isolated and killed.
A useless effort when the numbers of undead were many, but reduced by hours of fighting, they were more manageable for the fresh forces.
"We're reinforced! Attack! Attack! Attack!" Heketi called for her weary warriors to sally forth and strike, and those who remained, followed their Queen as she jumped off the wall as high and far as she could, her spear held aloft like a goddess of war, she landed on an undead and smacked his head clean off his neck, sending it far out into the lake to sink to the bottom with the weight of its helmet to carry it down.
Thus inspired, the frogmen bellowed with desperately renewed vigor and followed suit, abandoning the walls and closing in on the undead from all sides, entangled and insensible among one another, the undead began to fall like flies.
From there, the noise and undead screams of hate began to diminish, thousands had been reduced to hundreds, hundreds to dozens, and at long, long last… There was only one, the desperate undead knight knew only to tear at flesh until the end, and it charged Heketi with a will that would have been called courage had it been from a living being.
She thrust her spear home, catching the helmeted head through the eye socket, and yanking back so hard that his head was torn free and sent sailing high overhead to land somewhere within their settlement.
The undead body fell with a splash into the waters, and for a moment the whole of the remaining frogmen army was utterly silent.
It was over, the Queen raised her spear overhead, and as if that were some signal on which they had all been waiting, they held their clubs up and shouted a victory roar.
"Heke-ti! Heke-ti! Heke-ti!" They chanted their Queen's name like a war cry, but towering over them as she did, she received their cheers only reluctantly, at her back she could see that the blue waters had been stained with blood so copiously that they were nearly violet, an ugly bruise-like shade, dozens of feet out from the remnants of the wall. ' How many… how many remain in my army…?' She had no answer, and once again, an unanswered question filled her with a dread she could not escape.
Volume 3 Chapter 32
With Shalltear gone, and after Zaryusu and Crusch Lulu spoke, it was Kyuku, clad in his white bone armor, who addressed the masses. His words were slow as ever, as if he had to wade through thick mud to find the wherewithal to speak. "Kill… frogmen… save… lizardmen." He made a fist and held it over his heart.
A rumble of agreement came from the rest of the gathered tribes. Sukyu's long tongue hissed briefly and his tail lashed at his back. "So we rescue the captives… whatever our new lord has done, we are safe for the night, the rest of the tribe will sleep, we chiefs will conduct a raid and prove we would save ourselves if we could…"
The rumble went on, and Shasuryu nodded before asking, "How do we get there fast enough? Rororo can't take all five of us."
"That." Zaryusu pointed to the death knight nearest to him. "We have a cart for hauling wood, but this time it will haul us, and the death knight here will pull it. I'm sure that was their intent in giving us more than we needed. The undead never get tired, the undead never feel fear, or need food, or water, or to relieve themselves. I saw one of these once when I was a traveler, they're fast, I never imagined one could be controlled, but since it can be?"
That settled it, "Get the cart!" Crusch snapped at one of her people who scrambled away along with one of the Green Claw tribe, and a minute or so later, a crude, simple wooden cart made of bound up logs cut in half horizontally, bound with oiled vines for rope and with just thick tied sticks with multiple gaps between them was wheeled over. The wheels were not much better than the rest of it, simply logs chopped to make circles with a rough hole in the middle through which a wooden rod had been shoved and fixed in place with tar at either side of the wheels.
"It isn't much," Zaryusu apologized for the cart and went over to rest a hand on the long pulling poles, "but it has only ever had to haul wood before, still, I know it can carry our weight. We won't be comfortable, but that isn't important."
"We. Go." Kyuku mumbled and clambered into the cart, he drew his legs in as close as he could to make room for the others, a swelling of pity ran through Zaryusu as he saw the earnestness of the former genius who threw away his brilliance to become a shield for his tribe.
Crusch and Sukyu followed and did the same, while Shasuryu followed after, and Zaryusu finally did the same. Completely unsure if this would work, he pointed to the nearest death knight. "Death knight… stand in front of the cart.
The lumbering behemoth's heavy feet left deep impressions on the soft ground as it obeyed and stood in front of their transportation. "Death knight, put away your shield and turn around.
It obeyed again, the shield placed over its back, it was now positioned between the two poles.
"Death knight, grab the poles beside you." Zaryusu felt a surge of awe run through his body as the death knight bent down, grabbed the poles that had been angled up when the cart tilted a little from the weight of the five chiefs.
"Death knight, pull the cart out of the gate." Zaryusu gave the order, though he clutched Frost Pain tight against his body while the death knight's long and lumbering steps drew the cart in the direction it had been commanded.
"Alright, I think I've got the hang of this." Zaryusu said softly, the other four looked at him in askance, he could read their very thoughts then, ' Are you sure?'
He looked behind them at the village full of lizardmen from all surviving tribes. ' No matter what happens, nothing will be the same after this, we all worked together, we all cooperated like never before… and now all five of us are going to rescue the captives of a tribe's elders?' It was an exultant feeling that coursed through Zaryusu's veins and gave him a burst of confidence enough to shout the next command at the death knight.
"Run that way!" He leaned forward and pointed, the death knight looked back at him to see the direction he pointed, then the monster began a sprint. The heavy pounding feet were anything but subtle, and the force of the sudden lurch sent Zaryusu flying back hard enough that it was only Crusch and Shasuryu's darting arms that caught him before he could tumble entirely over the side of the cart.
If he could have blushed cherry red, he would have, instead he only laughed sheepishly, before the other chiefs chuckled goodnaturedly in turn. "Thank you." Zaryusu said to his lover and brother. He quickly settled his back against a wooden pole, his tail dangling outside to catch the wind while the cart raced on and on without stopping.
There were no roads, but the path along the lake was well enough worn that the cart was able to make good time without stopping, the tireless death knight moved as if he was carrying no weight at all, giving only the steady thudding noise of its heavily armored feet. A trip that was days for the weak and hours or longer for the strong was cut to a fraction of itself.
The terrain raced by, the dark waters of the lake however were not especially placid. It wasn't hard to conclude why. "Whatever he did, Heketi's army must be moving… I do not envy her." Shasuryu said with grim satisfaction.
"What do you think we will do tomorrow?" Crusch asked the others.
"I think we will fight the frogmen. No, I think we must fight the frogmen." Zaryusu replied to her and put a hand on her own. "We must prove to the Great One that we are worthwhile as a whole, when they return, we offer ourselves to him as an army, to advance with him and fend off the frogmen threat ourselves. If we show that we only need time, and only need help to grow strong, I think we will prosper."
Sukyu fidgeted with his slingshot. "I think this is true, I think if we show that we can fight, we will have more value than if we just crawl to the feet of the strong."
By the time they reached the outskirts of their destination, all had come to an agreement.
"Death knight, stop." Zaryusu said and the death knight slowed to a halt after a few paces. The ground in front was a churned up mess. "An army passed by here." Even in the dark it was obvious, footprints and deep impressions with kicked up earth all led toward the lake. "I know our new Lord has something to do with this… he must."
Nobody had it in them to argue, "So we face a weakened frogmen army… an even fight, is a fight in our favor." Shasuryu said and they hopped out of the cart to look at the remnants of the village.
"We're far enough away that they shouldn't have heard us coming, surprise is our ally." Zaryusu said and dropping low, his breath became shallow, his pulse began to race again, his hold on Frost Pain tightened once more. "Kyuku and I will attack first, Sukyu and Crusch will act in support from the rear, Shasuryu circle around and free the captives while the frogmen guards are distracted. Questions?"
None came and they took position, with Shasuryu rushing wide out of view.
They began to creep toward the ruins, the others at his back, all of them ready to attack and set their people free.
Volume 3 Chapter 33
As though the gods of the lake favored the lizardmen, everything went smoothly. The frogmen that Zaryusu saw on watch were few in number, and those there kept looking away from where they should have been watching. It was obvious why when Zaryusu saw the direction that they looked instead. ' Toward home, whatever carried their army away, has them deeply worried.' That much was obvious to Zaryusu, the remnants of the gate were still standing, put back up by the occupiers or, more likely, their lizardman slaves which had been forced to do the work for them.
Anger burned in Zaryusu's soul, and he wondered if that feeling of hatred, that glare he gave to the frogmen he saw standing with their spears on watch, could be felt. If it was, that might explain why the frogman turned and looked at the shadow of Zaryusu before crying out in alarm.
He sprang to his feet as soon as the frogman shouted, and began to charge. Kyuku sprang up a mere moment later and together they charged at the gate with roars of battle fury, limbs pumping and kicking up dirt into the darkness at their backs, they charged blindly toward the gate. Out of the darkness a rock hurled by Sukyu destroyed the alerted frogman's head just as other shouts came up and the encampment came to life.
Zaryusu, faster without his armor, reached the gate first and slammed his sword into the wood like a club. The gate, weakened and damaged as it had been, collapsed into splinters beneath the blow of the enchanted sword, but as a precaution, he destroyed only one half, allowing himself and Kyuku to take up the space and avoid being surrounded.
Frogmen charged with long spears, but these were not the elites, ' Third rate, the weakest warriors, inexperienced at best.' He realized as they charged to meet him en masse, they came on, too many at once, and got in each other's way.
Two, perhaps more eager, wiser, or braver than the others, used their powerful legs to jump toward the lizardman intruders, but a series of rocks and blasts of magic arrows shot the frogmen down in flight, sending them thudding down where they landed among their own, causing a number of frogmen to fall in a heap.
Zaryusu saw the tangled chaos and rushed forward. [Icy Burst], he called out and the frost damage caused the frogmen to scream in pain, only for him to thrust or slash his sword into their bulbous throats while they trembled in pain.
Chaos engulfed the encampment, the guards one and all abandoned their positions to charge the intruders, while Kyuku blocked the door and began fending off blows, knocking aside spears that failed to pierce his heavy enchanted white bone armor.
Every time the frogmen seemed like they would gain an advantage, the warrior jumped behind Zaryusu and another [Icy Burst] caused a cacophony of screams through freezing pain that he would silence with Frost Pain's point or edge, sprays of blood flew out into the night, while rocks and spells from the darkness behind him kept the fight on the ground where he and Kyuku were at their best.
With their attention focused on the intruders, the frogmen proved that they were green in more than their flesh, they forgot entirely in their panic to properly concern themselves with the captives. Shasuryu clambered over the wall out of view and found only a single frogman still minding the bound elders. ' They're panicking now, but we're outnumbered, sooner or later they'll go over the wall and surround my brother and Kyuku, I have to be quick…' Shasuryu reminded himself and crept through the shadows, the captives watched with desperate silence, one lay dead, bleeding out on the ground, killed to keep the others silent.
The bloody tip of the guard's spear was visible to Shasuryu, and full of hate and wrath, he leaped at the frogman from the back, his arm circling around the front where his hand caught the frogman's bulbous throat. The sharp claws brought a flood of pain and fear to the frogman guard, it struggled viciously, kicking and flailing, dropping the spear as it tried to claw at the fingers holding his throat.
But it was useless, the body of the frogman was already dying as blood seeped through the slick scales of the furious chieftain, the sharp nails digging deeper into flesh until Shasuryu felt sure of his grip, he tightened it one more time and ripped the throat of the frogman out.
The body fell twitching into the dirt, big round eyes stared up at him, confused, lost, seemingly unable to understand what had gone wrong.
Shasuryu ignored the frogman and went to the remaining captives, he took the fallen frogman's spear and sliced the ropes that bound the wrists and feet of the elders in profoundly contorted postures.
They remained silent, sparing a moment to look with pity at the dead of their numbers that died before they could be rescued.
If there was any mercy left in Shasuryu or his elders, it died then. He held the spear up overhead and threw it into the back of a frogman at the gate. The elders were not especially strong, nor were they numerous, but they were angry, and dead frogmen weapons lay scattered about. They charged into the backs of the clustered young frogmen, spears pierced the frogmen's backs as they were surrounded.
A few with either more sense or fear tried to leap free, only to be shot down again by a flurry of rocks and blasts of magic that ripped through their bodies and sent them tumbling down into the fellows they had just tried to abandon.
It was a slaughter after that, [Icy Burst] struck one more time amidst the cluster of frogmen youths, and within it, Zaryusu cut the screams of pain down to silence.
When it was over, the five chiefs stood breathing hard, huffing, puffing, and staring down at the brutal carnage of pierced frogmen bodies and severed frogman limbs, they appeared mere beasts then, not even people. Just hunks of monster flesh with no value at all.
The elders, weary and in pain from their ordeal, began to explain and show off their marks. Cuts and gouges were common injuries, and the eldest of their number said, "We stayed behind to buy time for the rest to escape, they sent out some to chase our tribe as they ran away. We had our clubs, spears, and did what we could. We still killed at least ten or more…" He puffed out his chest, proud of managing that much even at his age, "but they jumped beyond us, surrounded us, and cut many down… they took us prisoner… They cut us, beat us, and made us work. They said we would be worked to death… we have not eaten since we were taken…"
Their bellies rumbled when he spoke, and Zaryusu put his hand on the old lizardman's shoulder. "It's over now, grandfather, all the chiefs have come together, these are dead, and the rest will be soon. There is no reason to show mercy now."
None of the chiefs argued with his words, "Eat your fill and make your way to the Green Claw camp," Zaryusu said and turned to Sukyu Juju, "Chief, we do have to hurry back, but can you remain with the elders and see them safely to my brother's village?"
The yellow speckled lizardman gave a sharp nod of affirmation, "With ease, nothing will harm them unless I am too dead to stop it."
"Thank. You." Kyuku uttered and bowed his head.
A round of hands briefly clasped before the bloody band of chiefs went back to their cart, quietly got in, and made for the last village of lizardmen.
Volume 3 Chapter 34
The empty bed was more than welcome to the weary Ainz. He peeled off his clothing, collapsed onto it, and breathed in the scent of perfectly luxuriant sheets. The faint scent of perfume lingered on as he drifted into dreams. ' Yes… Albedo…' His male virility asserted itself, hungry… wanting… The deep longing for her legs to wrap around him consumed his mind as he slept.
"My Lord! My Lord! My Love!" Albedo's voice in his mind cried out in his dreams, sultry and sensual, rapturous and blissful, the heat of their loins and flesh to flesh drove him farther and farther down the path of desire in dreams.
Ephemeral as a fog, she was on all fours, he held her horns… then again she was on top of him, riding him as his hands ran over her perfect supple breasts, "Yes, your child, I want your child!" She cried and captured his mouth in a kiss, undulating her hips while her wings battered against the air with such strength that they left the bed and coupled in the air.
And then he awoke, a fog of bliss still hung in his mind, as he turned his head left and right, and there was no Albedo. ' A dream… she is a succubus… could she have… on purpose? Does she know…?' He asked himself, and a dread feeling went over him, a raging guilt that sent his arms flopping wide out at his side.
"A dream, a beautiful dream for a vile man… what have I done…?" Ainz wanted so hard to cry that he did. Tears welled up in his eyes, the precious girl, the child of Tabula Smaragdina, "How could I…?"
He knew he shouldn't feel as guilty as he did. It had only been a mere joke in a few remaining minutes of the game. And in that moment, he incurred a guilt that would not leave him. ' She is a demon… demons as a rule, despise humans.' He wiped his eyes, it didn't matter. She was still, in his mind, closer to a daughter, and yet he tainted her. ' If she despises what I've become… Can I even argue? Can she know?' He suspected it was possible.
The thought of telling her was dreadful. Right now she should be working with Demiurge, overseeing the integration of a few surrendered cities formerly of the Baharuth Empire and their surrounding towns or villages into his new Kingdom. The distance was a relief. ' I have to tell them soon… but I'm not ready to face Albedo… to look at her without hating myself… for wanting her, for making her love me… if I'd known what would happen I wouldn't have done it…'
His love for the children of his friends, even though he knew at heart that there was evil in most of them which was not even buried, was all consuming. Of course, that made the guilt over his dream of sleeping with Albedo even worse in his own mind. His heart pounded, his body was in a cold sweat, and he flung his forearm up to cover his eyes and shield himself from the dim light of the bedroom.
"What do I do…?" He asked himself, he couldn't keep Albedo away forever, most of the guardians now knew the truth, all that remained were Demiurge and Albedo, and the next choice was easy. ' Demiurge, the weakest guardian I have, I can easily defeat him… but he is also the most cunning. I'm sure he would have already worked out my change if I kept him around. But I can't keep him in the dark forever, I need his help to find out if there is a way to go back… or to something else perhaps…?'
The possibility was an intriguing one that on its own, managed to briefly set his fears and dread aside, ' I need only to be immortal, I could become anything of that type and that would be sufficient. I have the stats now for virtually anything.'
"Demiurge, I'll tell Demiurge next." He decided, ' Albedo… forgive me… if you choose to do anything… I do want to live… but after what I've done to you… can I even resist… What will happen to your mind when I reveal the truth? That the one to twist your soul has become what you were created to revile?'
He took a deep and weighty breath as he lay on the soft mattress enshrouded in darkness. ' Just a little while longer, that's all I want, just a little while longer before I have to face up to the one I've done the worst to.' He agonized and tried to sleep until he realized he dreaded the very idea of sleeping again.
That he might dream of entwining himself in the arms of his friend's daughter made even the rest he craved, anathema. So Ainz stretched out his hand, opening his pocket dimension, he pulled out a ring of sustenance and slipped it onto his finger.
Energy invigorated his body almost before he removed his hand after putting it into place.
"That is much, much better." He said to himself and slid off of the bed. He put his hands on his head where the fog of lust that consumed his dreams was slowly fading away. The fact that it still lingered beyond rest was telling, and he looked down the length of his naked body. "My son is more awake than I am…" He made the lame joke and went to his wardrobe. Part of him said he should reach for the rope that would summon a maid to attend to his needs, but in that late hour it would mean waking one of his friend's children up, and that had no appeal at all.
' Children need their rest.' He told himself and quickly cast a cleaning spell over his body. "A bath would be nice but… I prefer not to be with anyone right now…" He mumbled as he selected a gregarious crimson robe with black trim along the edges and around the sleeves and running up the center.
' They know… I know… but still… I'm not sure how to be around them all and be comfortable yet… maybe when I've told the last of them… yes… maybe then… or maybe not.' He thought, and the thought haunted him right up until the moment he opened the door to find Shalltear stoically standing guard and said to her, "It's time to go."
Volume 3 Chapter 35
Accounting for the dead took Queen Heketi far longer than she wanted to think about. The dead of the frogmen army were thousands upon thousands, breaches in the line had taken place well out of her sight, the militia, elders, and very young were not fit for the fight. Worse, in a siege, the frogmen's powerful jumping abilities were rendered near useless, and their typical preference for fighting was spears, not clubs.
Made even worse, the undead were armored knights.
Magic casters were few in her ranks and were used to shore up the weaker positions, and even some of those had died in the clashes when the desperate numbers struggle failed and the undead broke through.
Hour after hour they worked, dragging the undead knights out of the interior and piling everything into the lake outside of their great settlement.
Then there was the task of killing their own a second time. Living frogmen gathered the dead and lined them up in long rows while others bearing clubs walked on behind the heads and clubs rose and fell, bashing into the skulls of dead frogmen to ensure that they would not rise as new undead enemies.
The splashing of their legs through the red waters was a constant, weary, broken trudge. Exaltation of victory had given way and been replaced by the grim reality of the toll that victory had taken on the frogmen population.
While many had been able to flee, those who were fit to fight had largely remained to protect their homes, and paid a terrible price.
The few frogmen magic casters capable of healing magic established a single fixed point for the wounded, with priority going to the worst injuries to be brought to them.
The intact living carried the dying in their arms, trudging more than jogging to bear the weight of their comrades to be healed.
Healers did their best under Heketi's own eyes, and yet their mana continued to drain away. And so under the eyes of the Queen, the dying victors became the freshly dead.
They were then dragged by their feet through the low water and laid to rest at the end of the long and growing line of dead frogmen to have their own skulls smashed in turn.
Victory tasted too much like defeat as the rows continued. ' How many, how many, how many?' Heketi asked again and again inside her mind while the survivors took stock of their numbers.
They paused long enough to eat, slowly shoveling mushy animal meat into their mouths, their tongues barely having the strength to dart the few feet away to draw it into their mouths.
When the healers ran out of mana, they resorted to binding the wounds and packing them with moss known to have minor healing properties, good enough to keep the rot and sickness at bay until mana could be restored and another spell could be cast.
Crude leaf bindings were applied around countless bodies at arms, legs, heads, hands, and even bellies.
The wounded who could not move but wouldn't die soon, were picked up and carried by slow moving comrades to be put somewhere safe within a common hut, to wait there for the restored mana of their casters to come and help them again.
It took nine huts to hold the crippled numbers, even packing them side by side with no room to lie down.
Heketi went immediately to the place where the eggs of their common young lay. Chiefs and elite warriors lay in a dead heap where they fought to protect the common futures of their race. She looked down at the common nest, undead corpses yet to be removed, lay piled over one another where they'd fallen to the clubs of some of her best people.
The chiefs in their vine armor were covered in wounds, blood still seeping down into the shallow water. It was a red pool before the unhatched young and already the flies and other insects were coming to eat their fill of her fallen people.
' They were some of my best… I needed them…' Heketi's troubled thoughts filled her with anxiety as a few intact survivors approached and began to drag away the dead. "How are we looking?" She asked reflexively without even looking at the warrior or worker themself.
"At very few, my Queen, at very few." His throat bulged and contracted as he breathed harder, she asked nothing more and allowed him to work.
The metal would be useful at least, but the lives . The clink of metal on metal was suddenly much louder as the pile of metal toppled over. The stripping of the knights paused and her people scattered to avoid injury from the landslide of metal swords and armor. Cursing voices could be heard, and then the splash of corpses being thrown into the deep water to feed the fish. ' Maybe that will provide a boost to our food supply for a little while at least. I suppose this has solved the problem of how to feed all of my people… but this is not how I wanted to solve it.'
Heketi continued to tour the large settlement, stopping to talk with survivors, "Well done, well done…" She said it again and again as she tried to convince herself it was indeed 'well done'.
She went to the huts where wounded frogmen curled up, groans of pain would haunt her dreams for ages. Of that she was sure, but they perked up when she ducked beneath the door and stood over them. "Our young survived, all of them." She said, and they held out shaking, bloody green hands to touch their exalted Queen as she passed and praised their courage.
Weak cheers were feeble only for their wounds, but she could see that they meant it louder in spirit than they made it in reality.
"Don't worry…" She said and wrapped her webbed hand around one stalwart warrior's arm. The unfortunate she deigned to touch had his other arm tourniqueted where it had been severed entirely, he was covered in tears, gashes, cuts and wounds, a testament to his ferocity and an image that was only enhanced where one eye had been severed in half. But with his good eye, he met his Queen's face and nodded. "We will recover, finish the lizardmen, and win the whole of the Lake. We will have a future like none other that you have ever dreamed… I promise you."
She said it, and meant it, and the warrior whispered out, "My… Queen…" He gasped a feeble cheer as best he could from his torn up and half shredded throat, and it was picked up again.
Then she left the hut, visited the next, hoping that she was telling the truth, but no longer sure if she was.
Volume 3 Chapter 36
The return to camp without Sukyu drew immediate questions which were answered by the chiefs who told the story over and over until morning came. Most especially the lizardmen in the settlement who surrounded the victorious chiefs, wanted to know how their family members were treated by the frogmen.
"They were hungry, made to work, told they would be worked to death." Zaryusu seethed.
"They were cut, bruised, stabbed, and some were missing hands, their wounds were left untreated." Shasuryu added with hate in his voice.
"They were killed without reason." Crusch could not even look at her people, only back in the direction the elderly would be returning from while the dawn began to break over the far horizon.
"No more frogmen." Kyuku growled, clenching his jaw so tight that he seemed to be frothing at the mouth with fury.
"We fight, our Ruler will lead us, but we fight." Shasuryu wasn't asking, and it was quickly taken up.
"We fight. We fight. We fight." The lizardmen of the lake were still chanting when the gate opened and the red robed Ainz appeared behind the red armored Shalltear.
They knelt in a great mass as soon as he came into view, bowing their heads, it was Zaryusu who spoke. "My Lord, we followed your will and rescued our captive people ourselves, they will return on their own in a few days escorted by the absent chief, Sukyu Juju."
' My will? What are they talking about?' He wondered from behind his mask. He cleared his throat and ran with it rather than ask the embarrassing question.
"Good." He said succinctly.
"And now we are ready to follow you into battle!" Zaryusu added with a loud exclamation filled with the fresh outrage born from the mistreatment of the elderly.
"That will not be necessary. You are few, the frogmen may have won, they will be weaker, and worn out, but they may still wreak havoc on you…" Ainz warned him, but the lizardmen had only a low and eager growl in answer.
"If you order us to remain we cannot disobey… but we implore you, let us fight." Shasuryu replied, and going from his knees, he descended to all fours and pressed his head into the dirt. The others rapidly followed until there was a sea of green, tan, and speckled lizardmen heads in the soft earth, all of whom said as one.
"Please… let us fight."
Discomfort ran through Ainz' body like wild stallions, for the former office worker. This deference from young and old alike, even if they were not human, made his skin crawl with anxiety and awkwardness.
"Very well." He said and held his staff above their heads, "If you wish to fight however, you must move quickly."
"We can make enough boats to carry all of us in a day or two, my Lord." Crusch Lulu promised, her white tail dancing in the air, she still had not risen to her feet, but Ainz shook his head.
"No, we will not need boats." He replied to them.
"My Lord? Will we use the walking hole as you do?" Shasuryu looked briefly full of dread at the prospect, and Ainz could understand why quite readily.
' To them, it must appear as the tool of a god, some dreadful, and frightening thing, even to the bravest this may be too much to ask… and perhaps another impression will do just as well, if not better… They are proud people it seems. The more impressed they are with my power, the easier it will be to rule over them.' Ainz thought, and cast another spell.
[Maximize magic], [Greater Freezing] . He cast the spell and gestured toward the waters of the lake that were visible from where they stood, and every lizardman's head went up and turned to watch, their jaws dropped as one while the waters of the lake froze over the surface.
The wet blue became a 'dry blue' ice as it swept over the whole and spread out of sight, crystalizing from a liquid surface to a solid one almost instantaneously.
"We will walk. It will remain frozen all the way to the northern area where the frogmen live." Ainz explained, "All you need to do is follow me." He commanded them and stepped toward the lake.
The lizardmen rose to their feet, they grabbed their spears, their clubs, their slings and stones, and followed after Shalltear and Ainz Ooal Gown onto the frozen waters.
Their steps were gingerly at first, rather than bold, but Ainz did not look back to watch them, rather he went forward, the ice crunching underfoot as he took long steady steps away from the village.
Behind him, he could hear the chiefs giving orders and dividing their tribes into groups, creating their battle formation on the move. "You're very merciful to them, my Lord." Shalltear said while looking up at him from his left side.
"Am I?" He asked.
"Yes, my Lord… very merciful… they argued with you, and yet you not only let them live, you give them what they ask for." Shalltear had a little smile on her face that he hadn't quite expected to see.
Even as he was, it was easy to see she wasn't really thinking of the lizardmen. "You're not really talking about them, are you, my Shalltear?" He asked, and she hung her head.
"No, my Lord." She answered, "You see through my thoughts right down to my soul… what I nearly did, it haunts me still… I want only to be good for you and I contemplated an assault on your exalted person… how can I live with that…?" She asked with a low whisper that kept her words between themselves alone.
"Until the end of this task, no more. I promise you relief, my Shalltear…" He said to her and put a hand on her helmeted head. She cast her eyes up at him again when he did so.
"I am unworthy of your forgiveness, your love, but I also can't live without either… Thank you, my Lord, for your mercy on your humble servant." Her crimson eyes shimmered in her pupils, and they walked in silence for far longer than would have been comfortable before.
But as they walked, Ainz was, for once, utterly and supremely at ease.
Volume 3 Chapter 37
Heketi was in her private hut, the privilege of leadership, behind the egg hut where the young of the tribe were held. Survivors who fled the undead were starting to return, retrieved by fast hoppers who shouted their victory over the undead for all the wetlands to hear.
They would trickle in, weary and hungry, over the course of hours yet, but Heketi focused on the matter at hand. With most of the chiefs dead, she still had to take stock of the situation as a whole.
"So how bad was it?" She asked in the bluntest possible terms, the water around her rippled, her body shook with the aftermath of battle still leaving its mark on her. The same was true of the other frogmen who sat arrayed in front of her.
Ripples of water from post-battle shivering drew no comment, not even from the hardest of the surviving frogmen. The malice and hatred of the undead could shake even the bravest to their core.
"Five thousand." The answer came, and disbelieving relief filled her body. "Five thousand dead?" She asked, it was a brutal loss. ' We've never suffered losses like that… but it's survivable.'
The frogman's throat bulged out with deep, gasping breaths, "No, my Queen. Five thousand remaining . Our dead… I counted a thousand at least fifteen times… and that is our fighting force. Thousands more among the tribes are missing elders, and we can't know how many might have been lost to monsters when evacuating…"
Heketi barely heard him, the words were an echo in her mind, her shaking intensified, nor was she alone, if anyone was saying anything, nobody heard it. The final cost of fending off the dead… ' How can so many die in one fight…? It just doesn't seem possible. Will the spirit realm ever glut itself enough!'
"How many eggs do we have… between all tribes?" She asked another young advisor.
"Not that many…" He admitted.
"How many fertile females do we have?" Heketi asked another pertinent question, suddenly every female of their race became more valuable than food.
"Across all tribes, before this fight we had five thousand, after, we think there are two thousand, but we haven't divided the count between male and female yet." The advisor explained.
"Withdraw all females from the fighting, we will add any older males to the numbers. For our attack on the lizardmen, if we wipe them out, then we have years to recoup our losses and a whole lake to spread out over." She gave the order, and there was a decisive and hopeful nod, but pursed, tight lips.
' Do they blame me? No, probably not, we won after all.' Heketi told herself, even while she put the blame on her own shoulders.
"How many wounded?" Heketi asked.
"There are two thousand wounded who have yet to be attended to, they have mostly belly wounds, though they have been packed with pain killing moss and all injuries temporarily treated. The casters need all day to replenish their supply. I took the liberty of asking and they say they can heal one thousand in a week. More if we acquire healing potions." The advisor stated.
"So two weeks… will they survive that long with those wounds?" She asked, ' Every life is suddenly far more valuable…' She thought, knowing full well that hundreds more could die of their wounds before all was said and done no matter the best efforts of her healers.
"Most, yes. A few hundred may die and some show evidence of rot beginning. We will amputate, cauterize, and otherwise stave off death as long as we can to allow the healers time to work… but I fear some of them are so scarred mentally, that they will never fight again." The advisor said as truthfully as he could, and all their eyes went down to the waters around themselves.
"It's bad enough that we must use fire…?" Heketi shuddered, nor was she alone in that.
"It is, my Queen. It is. Fire or death…" Silence followed the answer.
"How could this have happened… how? So many undead, I've never seen anything like it…" A frogman asked.
Heketi had an answer to that at least.
"They were dressed like knights of the Baharuth Empire, so I am sure they're the dead of the battle they lost some weeks ago, but the important question is how they came here, who sent them… and why? Baharuth doesn't practice the abominable art of necromancy… So who does?" Heketi asked the true question and nobody answered.
"How soon can we be ready to move on the lizardmen? We can't wait for them to starve now, our numbers are too close to even, they may be mere animals but they are brave animals, and they have great treasures to help any fight they might be able to muster up." Heketi asked the next most important question, and the frogmen looked around at one another with uncertain eyes.
"My Queen… the warriors are exhausted, even if we rest all day and all night… their fighting spirits need time to mend, we need to recover, they need to recover. Can we let them rest for a week, it will do them good to see another thousand swell their ranks?" One of the six asked, one could even say they 'begged', but Heketi shook her head.
"No, we can't, there is simply no way we can let the lizardmen have a week to operate freely, maybe they turn on each other and hide in their last stronghold, maybe they eat away at their remaining reserves, but maybe they go bold when we go this long without striking at them. Maybe they find we've abandoned the other places, maybe they realize we are weakened. And if they see our numbers have dwindled, assuming they don't already know… then what?" Heketi pressed the point home.
The weight of her argument stilled their tongues, they looked up at their towering Queen and sought a counter to her words, but found none. The same frogman spoke again, "If we allow for the minimum amount of rest, we can attack tomorrow morning if we allow for the remainder of the day to rest and a full night's sleep with good meals as well."
"Then we will do that, set the non-combatants to all essential tasks, including the females we aren't sending back to the fight, the warriors we are keeping will rest for the remainder of the day, feast to the dead tonight, and tomorrow we will wipe out the lizardmen, any slaves we take, we can no longer keep, we are too few, we will sell them to the empire or slaughter them after they surrender. Let them die here, or far away from home, but we cannot share any part of this lake with the two legged animals anymore. The ones guarding the captives that we were going to work to death… send a swimmer to retrieve them. We need everyone capable of bearing a spear to be ready for tomorrow."
"At once, my Queen." The frogman stood and ran to have her orders carried out.
Smaller matters began to occupy her attention for a time, and for at least one hour, it was as if all was normal and a disaster of unparalleled size and scale had not taken place.
Until the screaming began afresh.
Volume 3 Chapter 38
"What fresh nightmare is this?!" Heketi shouted and snatched up her spear, forcing herself, weary as she was, first to rush out of the hut to find her people screaming in alarm. ' It can't be more undead! It can't be!'
It wasn't. Everyone seemed fine, but the cause of their screaming quickly became obvious. Just beyond the breaches in the walls, a thing she'd only ever heard stories about, dominated the water.
' Is that 'ice'?!' Heketi wondered as she looked at the still white ground that had once been the ebbing flow of water. The red bloody surface had become red stained and still, while the rest was either dirty or as white as the purest and most perfect of clouds.
Several of her people were howling and screaming, "I'm stuck! I'm stuck! Please… I'm stuck! Comrades! Help me!" Cries of fear and pain were rampant, and before the cries could rise higher she understood just why.
' The ones working deeper… the water froze around them!' Heketi pointed her spear toward the area beyond the damaged wall. "If you're not stuck, go help the others, when someone unsticks you, go aid them in helping others! Use rocks, spears, anything!" She shouted and rushed out, her powerful leaps carrying her over the wall to find that at least a dozen of her own were flailing about, waist high or worse in the now solid surface of the lake. They pounded with their fists and ignored the breaking of their fingers.
Heketi didn't blame them, frogmen did not fare well in the ice. Around her, to their credit, the frogmen were following her commands, clubs swung down hard to crack at the ice, while others chipped at ice with knives, and enterprising souls rushed out to take up swords that were piled high from the dead humans, and applied those to the task of freeing their brethren.
There was no way for Heketi to tell how many were trapped in the ice, but there were many, and the cruel, cruel cold which would have melted on its own eventually, began to take its toll on those who had the misfortune to be standing in it at the time.
Heketi brought her spear down and smashed through, freeing one of her followers in a single blow. Her heavy infantry were doing the same, but others of more common strength struggled at their task.
Sometimes the scream changed its tune, going to a higher octave when a blow missed the ice and struck flesh instead, adding to the total tally of the wounded that was already too much for Heketi to truly grasp.
But thanks to steady order and quick actions, one became two, then became five, then ten, and the numbers of those helping free the remainder became sufficient that the whole tribe was set completely free of the dreadful substance in a few hours.
"What was that…?" Somebody asked their Queen, to which Heketi answered.
"That was something called 'ice'. I've heard of it, but never seen it up close, the dwarven merchants told me their mountains get this stuff on top of it, but frozen water… Who could freeze so much?"
Nobody answered that either. ' Will I ever get one of 'my' questions answered?' She wondered, and ironically she had no answer to that either.
The luckiest frogmen had only mild burns from the freezing around their ankles, and though they were in pain, they could still move and work, albeit with some wincing.
Others however, had more serious burns all over most of their body, and they were left groaning and in pain, a few unfortunates had hands and feet both frozen into place when picking something out of the water.
Worse yet, when the last tally was told, six more had died, they had been frozen at the head, breaking the surface of the water when the freeze hit. Frozen where they were, their brain could not take the change, and their struggling ceased long before anyone could see they were in danger, leaving them mere frozen corpses waiting to be released.
Heketi mounted the wall and stood above the center where she had fought before and looked off into the distance over the now solid white waters.
Over the distant waters, she could have sworn her eyes beheld 'dots'.
"No…" She whimpered to herself. "No more… just no more…" The whispered plea to the gods went unanswered, and the dots remained atop the frozen surface.
' That is why the waters were frozen. So that whoever did it, could 'walk' here…' The dread of that understanding sent Heketi into a desperate tailspin of thinking.
' We've been getting the evacuees back all day, can they find the strength to run again? How long before those 'dots' get here? What about our young…?' Heketi acutely felt the lack of options open to her in the present moment.
If they fled, survival was uncertain. If they remained, survival was uncertain. If they fought, survival was uncertain. "Fight… don't fight… maybe we can surrender. The lizardmen couldn't have done this, so that means some other enemy has, perhaps I can persuade them to join us instead…" Heketi clung to that thought, they were far away at least, giving them some time to rest.
She looked over her shoulder, "Withdraw to warmth! Eat! Rest! All non-combatants set to rebuild the defenses!"
' Get someone to take the young to safety…?' She considered the order, but then she had to ask herself… how? Where? Carrying so many eggs was impossible, and they would just attract more monsters, and enough guards to protect them all would mean they might as well all go together, and still there was the ugly question of where ?
Behind her, she could hear her people flopping down in various places, it wouldn't be perfect, but it would be something, and in the meantime her non-combatants went about the work process, rebuilding the walls where the undead breached it before, running fresh vines back and forth between trees to create the barriers again.
There was little else to be done, and to her pride, her people were doing all that they could.
So Heketi stood on the wall, and waited.
Volume 3 Chapter 39
"My Lord…?" Zaryusu asked when the distant walls came into view, "We could settle this for you… let us be your sword today…"
It was a bold proposal from the chief who, without thinking and without it even occurring to the others to object, took the front and center position.
"They may be stronger than your numbers still." Ainz cautioned the lizardman at his back.
"You will be behind us, my Lord… let us prove to you we are not a burden. If we run into trouble, it is enough for us to know you will be along to help… plus the sooner we get there, the sooner your august self can tend to more important matters." Zaryusu suggested, and when the lizardman pointed that out, Shalltear turned a hopeful gaze up to her Lord.
Ainz felt that compelling, longing look from his guardian. "Let them handle the bugs, my Lord, you can collect the spoils after." Shalltear pointed out.
Ainz nodded at long last. "Follow them then, let them do the fighting, only involve yourself if there are any champions capable of turning the tide, you are their trump card, Shalltear."
"My Lord!" Shalltear said with pride, and when Zaryusu conveyed the words of their master, a warcry went up from the masses, ready to engage the hated frogmen.
[Fly] . Ainz uttered the spell. "I will be watching over you." He said with godlike charm and began to ascend toward the sky.
"A god watches over us… we must not fail." Shasuryu uttered the admonition and the lizardmen army advanced across the frozen lake, the chiefs falling in on either side of Shalltear Bloodfallen.
"So how will you fight this anyway?" Shalltear asked while the ice crunched under her dainty little feet.
"We chiefs will control the flow of battle from the rear and then go in where there is trouble." Shasuryu explained, clapping his brother on the shoulder.
"Hit frogmen to death." Kyuku punched one fist into the other.
"I will handle the mages and ranged combat in support." Crusch Lulu added.
"So you put some thought into this…" Shalltear admitted somewhat begrudgingly.
"Yes, Lady Shalltear, the lake is not new to war. Though nothing this large has ever happened before." Zaryusu admitted.
"Alright, then…" A delightful thought came to Shalltear, "I will watch, if you run into real trouble, say only 'Long Live Ainz Ooal Gown' and I will help you."
"Long Live Ainz Ooal Gown…" The chiefs chanted with soft reverence.
Above the lizardmen, Ainz watched, with a mix of worry and curiosity. Shalltear was with them, and though it was unlikely, he couldn't help but fear that somehow she might be injured. Imagining her small, frail looking little body in any pain at all, it filled him with anxiety that set his whole body on edge.
' She could likely ruin whole nations without so much as having a nail clipped, and yet I worry over her like a father watching his little girl ride a bicycle without training wheels for the first time.' Ainz could only roll his eyes at his own absurdity.
Still, knowing it was absurd and ridding himself of the worrisome fatherly feelings over his children were two very different things, and he found the worry remained as the distance closed between the forces. ' I could end it all with one spell… but perhaps this is better. Shalltear will gain some experience while the lizardmen will reveal something of their present abilities.' It was comforting in a way, to know he should do nothing, and it helped him cope with his worry over Shalltear's safety.
The distance shrank far quicker than he expected it to, or at least so it felt, and so, he waited.
"To the wall!" Heketi yelled after she'd given her people all the rest that they could, lizardmen were now clearly visible, and her forces still weary and worn down, the mana of her casters was still too low, but her forces obeyed their Queen to the fullest of their ability.
They went to the wall and made ready, some bearing swords taken from the undead, but most stuck with the familiar spears or more recently adopted clubs.
"Lizardmen! Those are lizardmen!" One of her warriors shouted in utter disbelief he bounced up and down, restraining the urge to leap toward the invaders and attack.
"They are… they must be behind this somehow…" Heketi muttered, but at their center there was one very clear figure in red who was obviously not a lizardman. A pale human looking knight with a long lance in crimson colored armor that exudes power.
' That must be the caster responsible… the one responsible for all our calamities… that one must die…' Heketi vowed, but aware of her delicate circumstances, when they came within shouting distance, she tried to negotiate with the stranger.
"Stop there!" Heketi called out, "I'm willing to negotiate!"
The ranks stopped when the armored figure raised her hand.
"Oh?!" The figure had a voice Heketi could vaguely place as female.
"Yes!" Heketi shouted, "Tell me what it is you want, perhaps we can meet halfway!"
"Really?!" The young looking smooth skin in armor shouted back.
"Really!" Heketi shouted, her back erect and spear planted firmly on the wall, she held out her free hand with the webbed palm upturned. "I'm telling the truth!"
"So you really want to negotiate?!" The red knight asked again.
Heketi felt her eyeballs twitch, "I do! I really do!" She shouted back.
Her warriors at her back and at her side were staring up at her, she glanced down at them, she knew that they knew what she knew, ' We are not in a position of strength…' Many were dead, many more were wounded, their eggs were vulnerable, everyone was needed at the wall. ' The lizardmen will not show mercy to us… not now…' Heketi vaguely felt regret at her harsh treatment of the captives and for her promise of eradicating them.
"I have lizardman prisoners at another camp, I will set them free as a token of goodwill!" Heketi shouted the promise.
"No you don't. The lizardmen already killed everyone there and set your prisoners free!" The red knight shouted back.
"I still want to negotiate!" Heketi shouted.
"That's nice." The red knight shouted back and raised her lance with the tip toward the sky. "But I don't!" Heketi felt a chill down her spine as the lance was lowered toward her walls.
Whatever the red knight said to the lizardmen after that, Heketi missed it, but it was enough to get the lizardmen to charge.
Volume 3 Chapter 40
' Negotiate… how silly.' Shalltear thought and felt the army at her back grow tense with anticipation. "That's nice!" She shouted back at the big froglady, "But I don't!" She all but cackled at her answer and lowered her lance toward the wall. "Go on, get even… but leave a few alive as a tribute to our Lord."
Crusch Lulu shouted her orders and her magic casters launched fireballs toward the walls, even from where she stood, it was obvious that the glorious days of yesterday or earlier were gone. They were weakened, weary, and some of those on the wall still had obvious small wounds on their bodies. They leaned on spears rather than standing proudly at the ready, as the big one did.
Flames roared forward, arcing overhead to crash into the walls. Frogmen leapt away from the flames, diving behind cover with their powerful fear-fueled legs.
At her back, Crusch Lulu heard the shout of [Magic Arrow], and frogmen began to tumble from the wall. Frogmen magic casters had yet to respond, but the albino lizardwoman had little hope that this would remain the case forever.
Kyuku bellowed an angry roar and charged ahead, his white bone armor was attention getting in the best of times, and coupled with his angry roaring and furious charge, he drew missile fire from every corner that could reach him before the frogmen realized their spears were just not enough by themselves to draw blood.
The weary warriors of the frogmen were heavy-limbed and slow, but they had the high ground on the walls, and whether Zaryusu wanted to a dmit it or not, he was compelled to acknowledge that they were brave, even fearless. The sound of voices activating warrior arts was punctuated by the cries of slaughterers and the slaughtered, the shouts so loud and ferocious that the sprays of blood were buffeted farther away from the wall than force alone allowed.
The frogmen were clearly much reduced in numbers, and their martial arts had begun to flag, the tide of fighting went back and forth at the low walls, howls, ribbits and hisses of pain or fury went on while the two sides tore at one another.
"Again!" Crusch Lulu shouted and held her hand commandingly out from her body, sending another wave of magical blasts that tore into the ranks of the frogmen on the wall, Some fell down, pierced through and through by magic arrows that hit hard enough to carry their bodies back onto their fellows waiting.
But fearless enemies jumped to take the place of their comrades, regardless of the stones that flew from slings to pierce their brains.
All was chaotic and madness, with no gate to batter down, the lizardmen hacked at the wall or climbed over each other to mount and fight claw to hand, club to club, or spear to spear. The few frogmen to pick up swords found that they were less useful than they hoped, requiring more skill to use despite their greater sharpness, and so they threw the swords down at lizardmen and chose to revert to their spears instead.
Heads jabbed up and down, and the fighting teetered back and forth between the press of both sides until the big one holding the strongest point taunted the ranks of the chiefs behind the lizardmen and bellowed out.
"Behold the chiefs of the lizardmen! They hide while your Queen stands with you! Will you let her die here, protecting your own young from cowards?!"
Invigorated by her projected voice, the frogmen struggled on, the bodies of defeated frogmen falling before the walls, and the lizardmen who died attempting to rise to the top in turn, slowly became a rampart that led up to the wall itself.
And on these dead and dying, the lizardmen began to rise.
Foremost among them, came Kyuku Zuzu, his white bone armor fending off every blow, and his fellow lizardmen began to follow him to the top, his fists deflected blows, his tail lashed with fury. "Kill frogmen!" He bellowed his rage out, snatching spears that missed his body and yanking so hard that the frogmen flew from the walls and fell into the mass of lizardmen whose clubs and spears quickly ended the screams of pain the fallen let out.
Heketi recognized the threat he posed to the wall when her heavies confronted him, and their blows, for all their efforts, seemed to not harm him at all. Kyuku Zuzu's fist came out, and a frogman's head exploded in a spray of blood and brain matter that, ever so briefly, froze stiff all those who saw it.
"Queen Heketi challenges you!" She bellowed instantly before another of her elites could fall.
She didn't run, she jumped, her massive and powerful legs carrying her to soar over the battle area like a bird in flight, and cover her soul with despair at what she saw. The far side of her wall where her people remained was littered with the dead who had fallen to magic, stones, and spears, while the fresh lizardmen had fewer dead to show for it all as near as she could tell.
She landed before the lizardman and snapped her spear down atop the wall, her people cleared the way and the lizardman in white bone armor, and an idiot by her reckoning, held up his fist. "Kyuku fights you!" He bellowed, and the two rushed at one another, his fist was faster than it had any right to be even being martially enhanced, her spear deflected him only by the purest luck again and again, her own martially enhanced body barely kept up.
She landed blow after blow with her free webbed palm, but his bone wrapped armor caught the broad blows, his tail added to the fight, every time he spun she had to leap, to avoid it.
Back and forth they went, a brief truce coming between the two sides for the duel of champions, the Queen versus the Chief, her towering height gave her reach, but his armor and strength was second to none. He stepped on the carpet of bodies as she forced him back away, only for him to advance again threatening to grab her body or her spear.
But such a close fight could not endure forever, and among the chiefs at the rear there was one singular moment of absolute horror when Heketi's spear struck home, hitting the gap in his armor that only barely exposed his throat… her spear opened up his throat, and Kyuku fell backwards, toppling over the bodies spraying a fountain of blood that stained the white bone armor as he tumbled into the now shattered but freezing places in the water with a sickening splash.
Heketi held up her spear, "Heketi strikes down the one lizardman chief with courage!"
Volume 3 Chapter 41
"Damn it!" Zaryusu and Shasuryu cursed in a moment of horror, and charged at once when the lizardmen looked behind them to see if their leaders were truly full of fear, only to see the opposite.
The effect of Heketi's victory was short-lived. Seeing two more chiefs charge at the point of conflict returned spirit to the lizardmen, who made space enough for the brothers to charge up the path of the dead to face the Queen of the frogmen.
But then, quite to the shock of the lizardmen down below, they did the unthinkable.
They jumped inside the wall, avoiding the Queen entirely, and causing an uproar among their own ranks, "Will you let your chiefs take the city alone?!" Zaryusu roared in the moment of mutual horror from both sides as he and his brother resumed the battle as if they had breached the wall by themselves and had an army inside with them already.
The lizardmen of both tribes rushed forward after the pair, and Heketi came to her senses. She turned from the wall and leapt into the interior of the frogman settlement, and staring down the two brothers from her towering height she snapped her spear in front of herself again. It dripped with Kyuku Zuzu's blood still, "One or two or ten of you animals, and I will win still!" She let out a harsh and rough ribbit, and Shasuryu looked up at the monster of a frogwoman, he found it hard to argue.
The fighting grew more vicious as the eldest of the frogmen tried to stem the lizardman tide, and strength began to fail the frogmen at long last.
A ruined section of wall that was nothing but vines that had not yet had wood added to it, gave way when the defenders died and the lizardmen cut their way inside.
The magic casters at the back unleashed the last spell volley in their arsenals, a string of well-timed magic arrows that struck a series of lizardmen in rapid succession, sending them tumbling backwards into the unstruck ones behind and buying a few more precious seconds of life.
With their last spells used, those least fit for battle beyond the very young and very old, charged at the breach with desperate courage fighting with whatever they could pick up, including the broken and fallen spears they had no real experience in using.
Another gout of flame hit the wall at a gap and the oil soaked vines ignited, two frogmen defenders fell backward coated in fire while another segment of wall collapsed, and more lizardmen entered the breach.
' How did it come to this?!' Heketi cried and rushed the nearest of the two, the big sword wielder and the only one she saw using a weapon similar to the knights. He leveled the massive steel blade at her and began to batter at her spear.
' Why can't I cut it?' He wondered as he fought the giant frogwoman, her powerful legs kept her able to press him back, and his brother jumped forward, flashing Frost Pain down at her exposed arm, she jerked her arm back and tried to backhand the lizardman immediately.
Zaryusu felt the blow, and it rocked him back on his heels until he used his tail to stop himself. The lizardmen were over the walls in several places, and atop the wall he saw the flash of white that could only be his beloved, leading the magic casters inward to aid in the fall.
The frogmen's spirit began to break in places, outnumbered, exhausted, and out-equipped, they fled inward, their great hopping strides not half what they'd been before, where they would make their stand. Zaryusu was not sure, but Heketi was proving far more dangerous than he realized. [Icy Burst] . He bellowed out, it was his last use of the skill and he heard the frogwoman howl and thrust blind. It was the chance his brother needed, Shasuryu took it, consigning his pain to silence, he thrust his greatsword home at the source of the scream.
Zaryusu however, had a moment of horrified realization when he heard more than one spray of blood.
The freezing fog faded away to reveal a stark sight, the sword of Shasuryu Sasha had indeed found Heketi, but he had only severed a hand, while her long spearhead had buried itself in his open mouth and come out the back of his head.
"Two chiefs left!" Heketi bellowed at Zaryusu as her people fled to make their final stand near the clutch of eggs, she briefly forgot the curious red knight, and seeing that Zaryusu turned to let his eyes fall on Crusch Lulu, she ribbited with joy, yanked her spear back, and hefted it for the throw.
Zaryusu made the most powerful leap of his life, darting forward and sending Frost Pain into the body of the Queen of the frogmen.
Heketi stood still for a moment, willing her spear to leave her hand, but before it could, Zaryusu whispered, "Long live Ainz Ooal Gown…"
' My turn.' Shalltear thought, and faster than Heketi could have imagined, the red knight appeared before the Queen and reminded her of the unknown and the danger she represented. The lance came out and pierced the Queen's body beside Frost Pain, and Heketi fell with a howl, slowly tumbling backward to land with a crash.
The lizardmen roared in triumph and began the rampage, the battle became a massacre, with lizardmen not discriminating between young or old, their spears found all bodies to be equal.
Heketi struggled to rise, but the lance had her pinned at the belly.
All she could do was scream when she saw the lizardmen reach the huts of the wounded frogmen, the screams of the dying wounded were louder than her own, but she redoubled her cries when she saw the lizardmen head for the egg chamber, "We surrender! We surrender everything! Mercy! Mercy!" The Queen yowled as frogmen became an endangered species.
Volume 3 Chapter 42
' War is ugly… I swear I can smell the blood from here.' Ainz thought as the screams reached the high place where he hovered above the fight. Thankfully nobody could see him vomit from on high, he pulled aside his mask and watched the puke fall to blend with blood and gore among the dead, and waited while the lizardmen slowly won their fight. The magic casters were not particularly effective, but as the New World went, he judged them average, notably they had a surprising number given the relatively small size of their tribes.
Still, he kept his eyes on individual duels to the exclusion of all else, noting the way the two species fought one another, there was no evidence of quarter from either side, anyone wounded was quickly butchered by the other side, both saw it as do or die, but little by little it was evident that the lizardmen would triumph.
However, the big frogwoman, Heketi, he guessed, was quickly capturing his attention, she was utterly stupendous, driving her forces to exceed their limits in a desperate bid for survival, and killing the strongest of the armored lizardmen and the big sword bearer who seemed to prefer his fists until he faced off against her.
When he saw the blue sword bearer thrust his sword home, it seemed it would be over. Breaches were opened everywhere, and the lizardmen were killing every frogman of every age and state of health they came within killing reach of.
Shalltear was then gone from where she had been, and burying her lance in the badly wounded frogwoman, moments later, the big one with the crown of bones upon her head was screaming for mercy and begging to surrender.
' Thank goodness… I wondered if they would ever stop…' Ainz thought, and summoned his screaming demons.
The clouds roared overhead and turned black, a high wind picked up that was so clearly unnatural that even in mid spear thrust, the lizardmen stopped to look and the frogmen in flight ceased to run away.
The heads came screaming down from above, "The Great One says 'enough'! Frogmen lay down arms, lizardmen take surrenders! The war is over, any frogman not on their bellies, will die, any on their bellies, will live!"
Ainz slowly began to descend among the carnage, the longed for surrender had come, and Heketi still howled for mercy that in her fevered pain she did not know had been granted.
She looked deliriously at the red knight, "Spare our lives! Spare us and we are yours… !"
Shalltear pointed up to the sky, "No, you are his." Ainz finally came into view, descending beside Zaryusu who fell to his knees and grasped his brother's body, clutching the fallen chief, he howled like Heketi at the loss.
Lizardmen whose bloodlust had been curbed by the howling demonic heads Ainz used as messengers, began taking up vines and binding the bodies of frogmen of all ages and states of health.
"Shalltear, take a scroll out and heal this one, she is in charge, clearly." Ainz said and pointed down at the Queen whose crown had now tumbled away from her body and into the bloody mire.
Shalltear withdrew both the blue sword and the spirit lance, pulled a scroll of healing from her pocket dimension, and used it on the broken Queen.
"He is your Master now." Shalltear said, "Surrender to him," she pointed up to Ainz Ooal Gown, "the Master of Death, or you will all be wiped out root and branch, and added to his armies as undead."
Wails of horror came up from the frogmen ranks that gave out ribbiting sobs of fear as they realized their final ends.
Heketi, her pain and wounds taken away, rolled over to her belly and then up to all fours, as much as she could, and kept her head low to the ground. "Queen Heketi of the Frogmen Tribe of Allone, surrenders to…"
"King Ainz Ooal Gown of the Kingdom of Nazarick." Shalltear said, and Heketi repeated it.
"Are you… the one who defeated the Empire? The one who raised the army of the dead and froze the lake… mighty Lord." Heketi asked.
"I am." Ainz answered, not trusting himself enough to say more than two words without vomiting again into his mask.
"Then you are strong, and we submit… do what you will with us… but let my people live… I beg of you…" She said, and fell silent.
' Had I known what I was facing I would have surrendered immediately… now look at us, all our work, all my plans… and now we will grind away our days in service to a God of Death…' Heketi cursed her birth, she cursed her parents, she cursed her vision of a united frogmen kingdom, she cursed the war, she cursed her fate and she cursed herself.
But she did it all in the quietness of her mind, and said nothing of the sort to the new King of the lake.
Lizardmen raised up a cheer that was the counter to her despair. "Long live Ainz Ooal Gown! Long live Ainz Ooal Gown…"
And he raised his golden staff aloft, calling for silence. "The lake now belongs to the lizardmen, who will always be part of the Kingdom of Nazarick."
"And… what will you do with us… your slaves?" Heketi asked.
Ainz stepped away from her for a moment, his mind raced for an answer, such was his desperation for something to say, to a very good question in fact, that he sought to buy time. He removed a wand from his pocket dimension and held it over the body of Shasuryu Shasha, and said [Raise Dead] .
Before the eyes of disbelieving lizardmen and frogmen alike he proved himself a God that hour, the true Master of Life and Death, as he stumbled over the answer while Shasuryu began to laugh in his brother's arms.
"I have other lakes. I will move you to one of those, and you will live in peace. You will remain Queen, unless you dare to rebel… in which case you will cease to be at all. Let's see what you can do if you have no enemies to threaten or unite you. Live or die… it is your choice." Ainz answered her, and the few surviving frogmen's mouths fell open as they were handed a new home.
' There was another, smaller lake… there can't be many frogmen left alive now, I will send them there… and see what happens next.' Ainz thought privately.
"We are yours forever…" Zaryusu Shasha promised, and the united lizardmen army knelt as one before the God that granted life to the fallen.
Volume 3 Chapter 43 -Epilogue-
Epilogue
Treating the wounded, tallying the total captive frogmen and egg survivors, and sending the Queen and her people through the gate to an unoccupied lake all took several hours. In the end there were fewer than two thousand frogman survivors of any age, and most of those were either too young or too old to breed. The lizardmen rampage had seen to the breaking of many unhatched frog eggs, leaving only a hundred or so that would not be capable of reproducing for at least fifteen years.
In short, it proved the worst massacre the lake had ever seen. But it was over. The lizardmen had suffered some losses, over two hundred dead and another two hundred wounded badly enough that only timely intervention kept them from dying.
The aftermath of the lizardmen celebration had the King of Nazarick formally oversee the union of Zaryusu Shasha and Crusch Lulu, thus uniting outright, three tribes, while the others made a formal decision to settle together into one grand settlement from which only one tribe, the united lizardmen, would spread from as their numbers grew.
All that took hours more, and Ainz parted from them, taking with them the offered gifts of gratitude in the form of their great treasures, which they swore was the only gift fitting to give a God who gave them victory, the lake, and the lives of two brave chiefs back before the end of the day.
All that meant that it was very dark before Ainz was in his office again, and he only managed to come back when he did by coming up with the impromptu idea of promising to send them someone from his personal retinue to govern and observe them.
And now, he was back, alone with Shalltear.
They were watching through the mirror as the frogmen survivors worked. Heketi proved an intriguing specimen, it was the sole reason she was allowed to survive. "What did you think of the frogmen?" He asked, putting off the 'punishment' a little longer.
"Inferior beings, but they were brave, maybe that will have some value in the future, Master." Shalltear said from beside him.
They were making more of their simple huts around one of the lakes of his land, but they lacked the industriousness he was sure they must have possessed before. It was pitiable in a way, despite their intentions. They moved as if they wore lead over their bodies. Slow, heavy, broken.
"Do you think they noticed the eggs that were missing?" Ainz asked.
"No, my Lord, the lizardmen that got into their hatchery or nests or whatever they call them, destroyed many, a few going missing in the aftermath would be completely unnoticed, assumed to be destroyed in the fighting." Shalltear answered with confidence and preened a little, a tiny smile on her face. "Demiurge is very eager to see what he can do with a few raised here on the sixth floor, and Aura is beside herself with excitement."
Ainz expanded the view of the mirror outward and scrolled the view to the lizardman village. The lizardmen were hard at work, they had energy that the frogmen did not. Boats were hauling the metal of the knightly armor back toward their homes. A look amidst the village showed that they were already working some of the metal into new useful tools. "That is probably more metal than they've ever had to work with before, it should make things far easier for them for quite some time." Ainz commented offhandedly.
"I wouldn't know, my Lord." Shalltear replied more demurely with an area where she lacked experience.
He let her uncertainty pass without comment, the chiefs were in council at the village center, a stone statue was slowly being built in a crude likeness of Ainz himself, as if he were standing amidst the seated circle of leaders. "They're embarking on a golden age, I'm sure of that much, they will prosper under me." Ainz said, more to himself than to Shalltear. But one thought he kept to himself, ' Their brutality in war, breaking eggs, killing the too old and too young… I hadn't expected that. I suppose it was foolish to think a race would act differently than the humans of Earth… but I won't forget it. Discipline will have to be the hallmark of my rule unless I want my Kingdom to go down the same old road of humanity back home.' It was a sobering thought, more than a little uncomfortable. He sought a distraction immediately. "I promised them I would send someone to govern them directly, would you like to try?" Ainz asked the vampire girl.
"If that is your command." Shalltear bowed her head.
"I asked if you would like to." Ainz pressed, looking at her more intently. "You would have to visit them a few times per month and bring their representatives here occasionally, do you think you can do that?"
Shalltear's face brightened, "I am confident I can do that much."
"Then you will go visit both the lizardmen and the frogmen twice per month, pass on my orders, collect any tributes, and oversee them according to my will." Ainz commanded, and then deactivated the mirror. It was done.
"As you command, my Lord." She said, and then her expression became intense as his attention became solely focused on the little Guardian. "Was I… useful, Master?" She asked with shimmering crimson pools in her eyes, and he stood before her, removing his mask so that his face was exposed to the porcelain doll with a monster soul and a sea of love for him beneath it all.
He touched the side of her face and said, "My Shalltear, you were more useful than you could possibly know, that you can live with not caring what I am, as long as I am me, is valued so much that I cannot ever say thank you enough. Even if you had done nothing else, that would be enough for me."
She sniffled a little, now clad in her Victorian dress, she would have wiped her nose if she'd had a handkerchief.
"But I… I still need punishment… pretty please… my Lord?" She said with a sweet and hopeful smile.
He cleared his throat, "Ah, has Demiurge come back, he was going to take a look at the spear Heketi used, to find out if there was anything unusual…"
"Yes, my Lord… he has ah… he actually wanted to present that to you personally…" Shalltear replied.
Ainz put on his mask, and nodded, "He is outside, isn't he?" It was a guess, but Shalltear nodded hastily.
"Send him in…" Ainz shot out with haste, and Shalltear rushed to the door to admit perhaps the greatest genius in Nazarick, clad in his pinstripe suit, his tail lashing at his back.
"My Lord… your time with the lizardman, it was truly amazing." He said with awe as he went down to bend one knee and hold one hand over his chest while he bowed his head.
"It seemed worthwhile…" Ainz said as offhandedly as he could, waving it away as if it had been trivial.
"To have found such an intriguing thing, only such as you could have accomplished so much in so little time." Demiurge insisted.
"Shalltear, my seat." Ainz said.
"Right away, my Lord." She said with a bright smile on her face as she went behind him. He didn't look back, only sat when she said, "Ready, my Lord."
' Why does this chair feel strange?' He wondered until he looked down to see Shalltear panting from all fours beneath him.
"Th-This punishment… it is more of a reward… Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Lord Ainz!" Shalltear breathed out as Demiurge looked on in shock.
"Only the God Creator, the One Who Stayed, could think to use a Guardian as a seat! Truly impressive, my Lord!"
Ainz could barely think for a moment, but Demiurge went on as if nothing were the matter. He drew the spear out of his pocket dimension and held it horizontally before Ainz and pointed out the little rune on the hilt, and then another on the wooden shaft.
"The spear as Shalltear said, had unnatural luck, finding the gap in the armor of the lizardman chief, then finding the other chief in the midst of agony and fog. I had her questioned about it, and she revealed it to be runecraft from the dwarves, the shaft is also crafted with runes for strength, which is why it did not break despite the heavy use. She knew very little about this, but there were a few scattered other pieces of weaker runic equipment among her forces which we have also confiscated."
Ainz nodded, trying and failing to ignore the heavily breathing Shalltear.
"I see, I see." He said.
"So I propose an investigation into the matter, from what the Lizardmen have said, the dwarves trade in this, and are the only ones who can make it. Perhaps if you permitted me, I believe Albedo can handle the integration process for all our conquered lands for quite some time. I would like to personally venture there to find out more. It should help with our concerns over resources if we can find a source of truly cost free enchanting."
Ainz barely registered what was being said, shifting on Shalltear's back. "Am I hurting you, Shalltear?" He asked, awash with shame that he was letting her think this was her intended punishment.
She was shaking her head when Demiurge asked, "Shall I go see to it?"
"I'm going-" Ainz was about to say, ' I'm going to get up' to Shalltear, but he paused when she let out a faint whimper, and Demiurge, believing he had spoken entirely what he intended, jumped to the conclusion he considered most logical.
"I would be honored to have you go with me, Lord Ainz! Or would it be better said that I am going with you?!" The crystalline eyes of the demon sparkled as he stared up at his master, his tail lashed about with wild joy. "A journey with the last of our creators… I am unworthy of such an honor!" The demon cried out in ecstasy.
"Master… may I rub my thighs together a little… you feel so good like this…" Shalltear exclaimed, "Punish me more!"
' Peroroncino…. Why!? Why?! Why?!' He cried out in his mind and out of raw desperation to escape the moment he grasped hold of Demiurge's words.
"Begin planning immediately, I want to be leaving for the Dwarf Kingdom 'soon' and… I need to go prepare as well, right now, yes, right away, not a moment to lose." Ainz said and shot to his feet while doing his best not to look down at the ahegao face he was sure Shalltear was wearing.
Left alone with Shalltear, Demiurge waited until she stood, "Lord Ainz… he seems quite different somehow. Was your trip truly alright… I have been so busy I haven't had time to even see him."
He did not expect the bliss on Shalltear's face to become a mask of wrath when she bared her fangs, "Lord Ainz is Lord Ainz, he is perfect no matter what he is, and if you should ever suggest otherwise, or harm him in any way I will tear off your tail and beat you to death with it."
Demiurge took a step back, and realized a moment later how his words might have sounded, "No! Of course I don't mean it as a criticism, anything he does is right… just different from what I thought… it must be me that is wrong." He said, and Shalltear's face became sweet and childlike again.
"Of course, do enjoy your trip, Demiurge." She said and folding her hands behind her back, she exited the office and skipped all the way back to her quarters humming happily to herself, ignoring the head scratching Demiurge who went off to his own quarters to prepare a moment later.
AN: Why so many chapters? Two reasons.
1. Because volume 7 has been partially sponsored. You can learn more about 'that' at ko-fi dot com /tellingstories or on my discord server.
2. Because my new isekai novel is now out in hardback, 'Scales of Trust' on Amazon, and my other book, a reverse isekai, 'Evolution of a Nobody' is also out, again, on Amazon.
Volume 4 will begin to be released on here next week, so… enjoy.
Volume 4 begins: The Devil's Craftsmen
Sorry about the delay, I had Army Reserve duty and got caught up with things. Anyway, here's the start of Volume 4 in the series, this will be updated weekly going forward, as always, the PDFs are available on my discord, and the progress updates on Volume 7 are available on there too. Enjoy the ride, this is one of my favorite arcs, with Demiurge and Ainz taking center stage in a very different dwarven arc. The Lizardman arc in canon wasn't my favorite, though it was OK and I tried to stay relatively true to the spirit of it. But I loved the dwarven arc.
I particularly think you'll like the ending. Thanks for reading this far, and see you at the end. :)
Volume 4 C1
The Devil's Craftsmen
Nazarick's King paced in his room, attended by only one single maid. Lupusregina Beta. Out of all the battlemaids, he had come to know her the best due to her extended services rendered during his short lived time as Momon. The role was still there, a staff of humans reliably tended to his estate as one of the great lords… but he was often 'away on assignments for the crown' boosting Renner's reputation as well as his own by eliminating monsters before they could threaten the Kingdom.
The adventurer's guild was suffering for his efforts, but the population didn't care. The truth was that his own summons were usually dispatching them and Renner just gave him the credit.
Most of the time when he was required to act in the Kingdom, it was Pandora's Actor that visited. Everything was neatly tied up… and yet he paced.
He recalled the last discussion he had with Blue Rose.
"Pickings are slim now, it looks like if we want to continue to practice our trade we'll have to leave the Kingdom soon." Lakyus said while the peasant maid poured another glass of wine.
"A shame really… not to criticize you Mr. Momon!" Evileye exclaimed and waved her hand back and forth as fast as she could, briefly drawing away from him, "Really what you've been doing for what is left of the Kingdom has been beyond wonderful! So many lives saved… but now our work is drying up, and not just ours, others too."
"Maybe we should start thinking about retirement?" Gagaran proposed and took another deep drink at the same moment as Lupu did. The pair's tendency to try to outdrink each other was a fixed feature of their associations now and so nobody bothered to say anything.
"I know what you mean… but what a shame it is…" Ainz replied as Momon, and his heart was sorely troubled. ' I finally understand those players who wanted only to explore Yggdrasil… adventuring… it is marvelous… marvelous beyond words… and it draws the strong, the ambitious… creating resentment among those is a problem.' He told himself then, and told himself again as he paced in his room. However, the truth, a truth he was well aware of still, was that he didn't want adventuring to die out.
His solution to keeping Blue Rose in the Kingdom at the time had been impulsive… "If you're worried about the cost of living that you're accustomed to, stay in my estate. I'm seldomly here thanks to my work and there is enough space here for you all to have whatever comforts you need."
"D-D-Did you just invite me to l-live with you Mr. Momon?!" Evileye stammered, and Ainz cocked his head down toward the diminutive magic caster.
"We are comrades in the same profession, it's only natural we should help one another isn't it? My status may have changed somewhat but… I am still an adventurer at heart." That much had been a total truth, it felt too right to him, to be out and about, far more comfortable than Kingship.
That encounter ended on a warm note with the most powerful and respected adventurers in the Kingdom being bound tighter to Momon, as both an adventurer and a Great Lord. Now back in Nazarick, he was still quite troubled by how it all went.
Demiurge, predictably, praised it to the skies. "Queen Renner has informed me of all that you've accomplished, we are all in awe of what you've done, binding them dependent on yourself as their benefactor makes them easy to control…"
Fragments of the conversation were lost by Ainz' own sense of confusion at the grandiose proclamations of the demon, and that was still only the smallest part of the trouble in his breast. He went to his desk where the little dagger lay, taken from among Heketi's things, it was a runecrafted item, not unlike the spear she used against the lizardmen. ' I don't want powerful and ambitious people resenting me… Nazarick has no real direct need of adventurers, and if adventurers start fleeing as they lose their livelihoods then they will carry that resentment with them…'
The upcoming trip to see the dwarves teased him, there lay a tantalizing possibility of an answer in there.
Ainz stared down at the little dagger, it had only a single rune carved on it, a rune that as he learned, meant 'Ice', it inflicted cold damage, and experiments by Foresight had them appraise it as 'useful', which was praise enough.
' They're fanatics now… I wonder if that has something to do with adding them to the rosters… will anyone I add to the roster and level up become a fanatic?' It was a whole new line of questioning for which he had no answer again.
Leinas' own devotion was such that she seemed to enjoy the 'tail', a shudder came over him, he felt Lupusregina's eyes on his back. As the first to recognize his transformation, she also spent the most time with him. His idiosyncrasies as a human again were taken in stride.
He traced a finger back and forth along the blade, then turned and tossed it to her, she caught it by the handle with no real effort, "Tell me, Lupusregina, if you were a common human who aspired to be an adventurer, how would you respond to being given that weapon?"
She glanced down at the weapon, it wasn't badly made, steel with an enchantment of any sort was expensive. She scratched behind her ear while her eyes focused on the weapon itself. "A common human adventurer would be overjoyed to receive something like this, My Lord."
"That is also my thought. As things are, driving the powerful and the ambitious away is a process that will only continue… but these dwarven crafts offer a chance at turning that around. Drawing adventurers and would-be adventurers to my Kingdom rather than driving them away from it."
"My Lord?" Lupusregina asked, a quizzical look on her face when she cocked her head, reminding him vaguely of a confused puppy for a moment and prompting a laugh to come from Ainz that took several seconds to stop.
He waved his hand away at her evident confusion, choosing instead to explain, "We shall nationalize the adventurer's guild. I can think of any number of uses for a militarily capable force that wishes to explore, plus I'd rather they go out there spreading my name than spreading dissent. The dwarven runecraft will keep the costs low, and I was planning to see them anyway… perhaps my thoughts of trade should be expanded beyond their original scope…"
Ainz' words trailed off and his pacing, which had briefly paused to address Lupu, redoubled. ' Taking Demiurge might have been an accidental offer, but there is no better place to tell him than under a mountain. He is the weakest, but perhaps smartest guardian. Even before my enhancement I could have handled him… but still, doing so in an enclosed space is better for me.'
It filled his heart with a mix of pain at the prospect of having to fight one of the precious children of his friends, and excitement at planning out a potential fight against a powerful opponent. His parental instincts at war with his gamer inclinations, there was nothing he could do but move forward.
"Has he finished the handover to Albedo for integrating the ceded cities and ensuring the frogmen have what they need in order to rebuild?" Ainz asked, and Lupusregina bowed her head.
"Forgive me, my Lord, but I don't know." She answered in a little voice like she was guilty of forgetting something important at school.
"There's no need to apologize, you didn't know. Go ahead and find out, I should get my rest for now." Ainz said, and the battle maid bowed before departing.
As soon as he was alone, Ainz went to the mirror and moved it over the Draconic Kingdom. The beastmen's advance was once rapid, but it was now completely halted, though through no effort of the human Kingdom, rather that the beastmen had enough 'food'. Ugly a scene as it was, he didn't watch for long. And as if the ghost of Touch Me stood by his side, he heard the whispered words. ' Helping the weak is common sense.' He turned the mirror off, ' I will watch the Queen again instead… so much can be learned from that one…' He reflected.
Ainz cast a spell of watchfulness and looked through the view that let him look at the Queen of the Draconic Kingdom. Seated on her throne, she did not so much as shiver. Her hand waved before her in a slow, graceful gesture as she spoke to her nobles. "There will be no further retreat! The line will be drawn there! You will send either your wealth or yourselves to the front lines, and we will save our nation!"
The guards along the wall tensed up as she spoke, even through the magical view, Ainz could feel the electricity in the air, the energy and the way the woman presented herself as the picture of power… ' Marvelous… utterly marvelous…'
"Weeks of monitoring, practicing her gestures and tone of voice… how long before I can do so as flawlessly as she can?" Ainz asked himself and waved his hand the same way she did.
When the moment passed the Queen spoke again, "Have we enough adventurers to help the army out of its bind? And what about the aid from the Slane Theocracy?"
"Regrettably they are caught up in their war with the elves, all they can send are retired scriptures… the same as they send every year." A red silk clad courtier near the throne replied, he was gaunt and worn, his face clean shaven, but it was obvious the burden of his station was beating him down.
It made the Queen stand out all the more in Ainz' eyes because she appeared to bear it all marvelously better than the others. Her back was straight and makeup perfect. Her white dress hung down to her ankles, and the whole court hung on her silence as much as on her words.
"I see. What about reaching out to the new kingdoms that emerged? The Kingdom of Carne or the Kingdom of Nazarick… both have had substantial military success. Particularly Nazarick." Queen Draudillon said with a hopeful glance at her aide.
"The Wolf Queen and Wolf King of Carne have offered caches of supplies in the form of potions… it appears that is their primary export, but they have yet to establish a formal adventurer's guild and are still 'finding their feet' as the Queen said it, and so haven't the means to send an army to our aid."
"Still, potions will be helpful… it is something. What about the Kingdom of Nazarick?" The Queen followed up without missing a beat.
' I haven't heard anything from them… that is strange…' Ainz pondered that, but had his question answered a moment later.
"At the time, their King was away settling a border affair with the Lake people, the lizardmen and frogmen, and so our delegation left empty handed." The aide answered and Ainz could only sigh at that.
"As a matter of goodwill I should send something… given what I have learned from watching her, I should offer 'something'. Nazarick must always repay a debt, even if they don't know we have it." Ainz muttered as he watched the court play out in front of him. He snapped his fingers, "Yes… I want to have the adventurer's guild nationalized for my Kingdom, I need to draw in talent… I know exactly what to do!" His guildmaster blood was on fire with excitement as he found an answer he could actually easily solve.
It was only the knock at the door which brought him up short.
Volume 4 C2
"Yes?" Ainz asked, briefly worried that he jinxed the moment with his excitement.
Lupusregina spoke through the door. "My Lord, Lord Demiurge states that he is always ready to serve you… but that he requires one day more to complete the hand off to Albedo, if that pleases you."
The door was, like the rest of the rooms of Nazarick, enchanted so that sound would not carry out, while a voice going in would only carry if there was a knock first. Convenient for privacy, which was an understatement, but still insecure, Ainz was glad he hadn't shouted with relief and happiness at his ability to solve a problem.
"Good!" He shouted back, "Have Foresight and Leinas Rockbruise sent to me immediately…" He felt his gut tighten for a moment… "Make sure Shalltear knows to send Leinas dressed for battle and without her tail."
"My Lord." Lupusregina acknowledged and withdrew.
When she was gone, Ainz thought of the other knights, once powerful figures in their own right, they were handily defeated by a much elevated and much better equipped Foresight, and yet they might still be useful.
Then there were the bodies of the dead which hadn't immediately responded to the minor seventh tier spell to raise them as skeletons. They had to have been higher level than the low range intended by the spell he'd cast. ' Something might be made of them too… I thought about returning them to Jircniv but… maybe something else instead…'
A guild needed members, a new organization especially required loyal persons, capable persons. ' I have too few from outside of Nazarick, supplies are a problem, a lack of extra available talent is a problem…'
But loyalty was not a problem for those who were 'turned'.
A knock at the door resounded in three steady blows, "Lord Ainz, your faithful have come at your calling."
' Roberdyck.' Ainz recognized the voice, now a Templar of considerable power relative to the outside world, he endeared himself to other Nazarick denizens by insisting that Ainz was in fact a God.
Ainz opened the door and found all five kneeling outside, not daring to even think of entering his chamber.
"I have an assignment… a mission of goodwill to a neighbor state. The Draconic Kingdom is in a fair amount of trouble with the advances of the Beastman Kingdom. The beastmen don't seem like the sorts of neighbors who will respect boundaries or borders. Moreover, the Draconic Kingdom seems more open to working across racial lines. For that reason, you will travel to her Kingdom and aid her in holding back the beastmen. A token of goodwill from the Kingdom of Nazarick to our neighbors."
"My Lord." They acknowledged with heads bowed.
"You will state that you are from our nationalized Adventurer's guild," he tried not to smile when the five of them immediately got little smiles of their own at his statement, "and that I trust it will be no issue that I have nonhumans in my employ."
Leinas raised her hand and her head, and when Ainz acknowledged her with a glance she said, "My Lord… pardon me… but you said nonhuman s . But should-"
Ainz stopped her, "Your late comrades. I will have them raised and turned. Another vampire and a pair of werewolves should make a flexible enough team. We'll just have to change your faces to ensure you aren't recognized, and equip you in materials of your own. Carry the order to Pandora's Actor, Lupusregina, and Shalltear to see it done."
"As my Lord commands." Leinas said and bowed her head again.
"Have you any other tasks for us while there, my lord?" Hekkeran asked.
"Just one thing… spread word that the Kingdom of Nazarick will be nationalizing our adventurer's guild, providing training and equipment for those who will serve the King with loyalty. Invite them to come to my kingdom, if they wish to become more than mere monster hunters… if they wish to become adventurers ."
He placed special emphasis on the final word and he could all but see the goosebumps rise on their skin.
"We hear and obey… with happiness." Arche said with reverence and a head that seemed somehow more deeply bowed than before.
"Then go, and see it done ." He gave the order, and they stood as one with hands closed into fists still pressed over their hearts, they backed away several steps, and withdrew from his presence. Alone again, Ainz turned back to the matter at hand.
"The dwarves… what kind of people will they prove to be?" He muttered and went over what few documents his subordinates had been able to gather, for over a century the dwarves had largely ceased to take an interest in the outside world. Instead they seemed only to care for their life under the mountain range and nothing more.
But what he did find was more than a little interesting. Runecraft was once exceedingly popular and expensive, but two facts stood out above all else. ' Only dwarves can do it. And the oldest known references to runecraft predate the six Great Gods and the arrival of Tier magic. That means this is more closely aligned to either Wild Magic… or a kind of unique racial skill. The dwarves may be the most valuable ally I could make in this world for the foreseeable future.' Excitement at such a tremendous success was hard to suppress, and alone as he was, he didn't bother to try.
"Ha! What a win… cost free enchantment limited only by time! How is it that every Kingdom hasn't tried to monopolize this for themselves?!" He all but shouted and then it hit him.
He slammed the paper in his hands down and held his hand hard over it as if afraid it might blow away. "Maybe they have… perhaps that is why the dwarves have been so withdrawn for so long? He tried to recall his time as a salaryman and what it meant to deal with recalcitrant potential clients and customers. ' They would always be the toughest to win over… Okay, Suzuki Satoru… this might be the toughest sale of your life… but you can do this!' He tried to tell himself that, but was briefly lost in all the ways it could go wrong, including darker imaginings.
A scene from a very old movie came to mind, The Lord of the Rings, and the scene in which they sought to go under the mountain and found the dwarven hall dark and empty. The threats that lurked hot on the heels of the main characters.
The prospect of shadows and torchlight, the prospect of danger and the unknown, it was all in his head. ' Don't be ridiculous. This will be a very casual meeting establishing trade ties and a chance to get a deeper look into Demiurge's loyalties, nothing could possibly go wrong on something as simple as this… a guide… yes… if I just show up by magic I will appear far too intimidating to trust. But if I go with someone familiar to them? The Lizardmen knew something about this, as they have travelers perhaps… perhaps they would know more.'
The prospect of greater knowledge and a 'friendly face' to present to the dwarves on arrival was far too advantageous not to consider, and it solidified his decision. ' First, a trip to Green Claw Village.' He decided, and releasing the pressure on the document, he turned and walked toward the door of his room, ready to leave.
Volume 4 C3
The lizardmen did not yet have someone permanently appointed to them beyond the occasional visit by Shalltear, Demiurge occasionally visited once or twice to provide them proper supplies, but a more permanent fixture would be necessary at some point. ' Another thing to rectify, but not urgent.' The Lizardmen themselves seemed quite patient about it, content to use the paper provided with lists of supplies used, held, requested, and always sending along words of gratitude for the shipments of food that was supplied to them.
Ainz thought that it might have been because of the lack of oppression, that their growing reverence and response to him suddenly emerging through the use of the [Gate] spell was so uniform. They all at once knelt on sight and shouted for their chiefs.
Zaryusu, Crusch, Shasuryu, Sukyu and Kyuku emerged from a single building as soon as Ainz' name was announced, the many villagers had already prostrated themselves, forcing the chiefs to weave rapidly between their people to make it to the front.
Once there, they lowered themselves immediately, kneeling in submission. Crusch, at a glance, seemed larger than he recalled. ' They're eating better…' Then all Ainz wanted to do was slap himself, she was obviously with child, though not very far along.
"Great One… how may we be of service to you?" Zaryusu asked, as he was in the middle, and slightly forward in line compared to the rest of them, it seemed they had come to defer in his direction for leadership.
Ainz tried not to look too much around at the village, it still wasn't an impressive place. However, it was noteworthy that the stakes were taken up, that there were far more homes, the walls were expanded, and it appeared that there was the faint smell in the air from a smith's forge. Most especially he noticed the beginnings of a statue, a statue of himself. ' Where did they even find a rock that big?' It was upright, and the beginnings of outstretched arms were evident. At a guess it was roughly a tenth of the way finished.
Ainz chose to be brief, "I intend to visit the dwarves and wish to know if anyone here has been to their kingdom who can act as a guide."
Zaryusu bowed his head, "Forgive your servant, My Lord… but I killed the one who knew the way… please… forgive me, but my travels took me among human lands, I know of only one traveler who ventured there, and he is gone."
Crusch immediately began to grovel at Ainz's feet, "Please… My Lord… my husband is going to be a father… it was a duel with Zenberu… one Zenberu himself began. The death was not planned, nor intended to defy any future will of yours. He acted in ignorance… please grant clemency to your faithful servant and his family!"
Ainz paused, briefly dumbfounded, ' I will have to ask Demiurge just what he said to create this terrifying impression in their minds…'
"Have no fear… what is done in ignorance may sting as much as malice, but it still isn't the same. I am a just Lord." Ainz proclaimed and gave a noble wave over their heads in imitation of Queen Draudillon.
"As to Zenberu's death, was he strong?" Ainz asked.
"Very, My Lord. Very." Zaryusu said and reached over to help his wife rise to one knee again, she still shook with fear, but was at least quiet.
"Then he may survive his resurrection, do you have his body?" Ainz asked.
"Yes… My Lord, we had it retrieved and kept it preserved, intending to bury it properly on his own ground again when we expanded that way again in a few years." Zaryusu's words flowed like water, smoothly, and without fear after taking Ainz' words of 'just lordship' as divine proclamation and absolute truth.
"Good, have it brought out here. But before that… congratulations on the pending birth of your child, when they are born, send word of their birth. We have a custom among my people of giving gifts to mark the occasion of someone's arrival in the world, I would like to provide something suitable for such a momentous occasion." Ainz said, it was more offhanded, intended to ease the tension, but from the gasps among the lizardmen which followed he could only conclude that he enacted a new tradition.
' There are worse things than giving them a new pleasant tradition I suppose.' Ainz thought with a mental shrug.
"I… yes, of course, My Lord… what other things do you do…?" Zaryusu asked, and Ainz looked away as memory took him from the present again.
"My friends and I, we would throw parties, those who were dearest to us would come, give their gifts, sing songs, and play games, no matter how far apart we were… those were times of great celebration for us. Birthdays were not just that a person was born, but rather that we were happy they were in our lives. And of course, there was cake, and ice cream…" Ainz shook his head when he caught their lost expressions.
"Types of food, think nothing of it… I have things I must do but… it was good to remember those times." Ainz said with a tender reverence, cradling the memory as if it were a newborn babe.
"Yes… forgive my needless diversion, My Lord. We will bring his body immediately." Zaryusu promised, and the chiefs rose together, the whole rest of the tribe remained prostrated around him. Silence, long and uncomfortable, took over the area until what must have been mere moments later passed and the chiefs emerged carrying the wrapped body of what must have been, in life, a truly impressive figure.
The lizardmen in the way scooted to the side to allow the chiefs to pass, two abreast with Crusch at the center rear, they held Zenberu's body overhead until they came close to Ainz and laid the body of the fallen at the feet of their god to await his miracle.
Ainz held the wand out, and within the sheer cloth, a sudden intake of breath could be heard, like a person who was drowning and out of air just shattered the surface of the water and inhaled all he could at once.
Zenberu's eyes opened wide to find himself staring through the cloth up at a red and white mask.
"I'm… I'm alive?" He asked, his eyes darted around. "Is this the Everlake? Did we all die… did the frogmen kill everyone…? Are you… God?" He asked, though he fumbled a few words, the confusion was clear.
"That depends on who you ask, Zenberu, but you are not dead. The lizardmen were triumphant, Heketi and the frogmen were destroyed and have been relocated far, far away from here and will not trouble your people again. The lake belongs to the lizardmen now, and the monsters that plagued the swamps have been hunted down to the last." Ainz explained the impossible while Crusch Lulu bent over him and ran her finger-claw over the cloth and tore it asunder.
Zenberu emerged as it parted, coming out as if he were a butterfly from a cocoon.
"Then… it is heaven…" He said with reverence… "I-" He stopped when he caught sight of Zaryusu.
"You killed me." Zenberu said with a long, quiet stare.
Zaryusu inclined his head. "I did." Tension rose several notches.
"You fight good." Zenberu praised his victorious rival. "You protected my tribe?"
"We bled together and won, thanks to His Majesty, our King." Zaryusu's reply was clear eyed and he did not turn away from the look Zenberu gave him.
"Good. Then the strongest rule as they should, and I am happy." Zenberu said and turned to kneel before the masked Ainz.
"Then you are my King too, if you will have me." Zenberu said without reservation.
"You're taking all this very well…" Ainz remarked, looking half dumbfounded behind his mask at the ease with which the lizardman seemed to adapt.
"If I am not dead and we're all alive, we must have won. If they credit you, then you must be strong, and I follow the strong. What I don't know, I will find out later." Zenberu said it very matter-of-factly, and it was hard to doubt him.
' Maybe something about the simplicity of just 'follow the strong' makes it easier to accept sudden changes…?' It was something for Ainz to think about at a later time, instead in the present, he got to the point.
"You have been to the dwarven kingdom, haven't you?" Ainz asked.
"When I was a traveler, yes, My King." Zenberu answered. "They were very good to me, allowing me to stay with them when the temperatures grew too cold, and they guided me through safe paths away from the mountain when I left."
' So the dwarves of this world are clearly more altruistic than those in the game, that is good to know.' Ainz pondered that and filed it away for later recall.
"You will act as a guide and take me to them, I wish to open diplomatic and trade ties to my northern neighbors." Ainz gave the order, and Zenberu swayed a little.
"Forgive me… my body… I still feel weak… but at your command I-" Zenberu stopped when Ainz laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Rest for this day, I will retrieve you tomorrow and we will go then. There is a great deal of news for you to catch up on, and I'm sure your people would like to celebrate your return to life." Ainz replied to Zenberu, who lowered his head deeply.
"My Lord is generous…" Zenberu mumbled.
"What other lord deserves their title?" Ainz asked, and when he was gone, a throng of cheers in his name followed, and the lizardmen began to throw an impromptu feast for Zenberu's birthday.
Volume 4 C4
When Ainz returned to Nazarick and went to his office to review the day's work which he would… unfortunately, be leaving to Pandora's Actor and Albedo, he found Pandora's Actor already waiting for him.
"Mein Vater!" Pandora's Actor said, sliding one foot behind himself and extending one hand out while the other clutched at his own breast, "Your servants have spoken of their journey to the Draconic Kingdom, and the delightful Lupusregina turned both Baziwood and Nazami into werewolves, while Leinas acting under Shalltear's direction, added Nimble to her vampires. They are all four equipped and ready for travel. I used the Face Sculptor bonus item to change their appearances… sogar ihre eigenen Mütter would not recognize them!"
Ainz opened the door to his office and walked within. Part of him craved nothing more than to crawl into a hole and die, such was the grandiose Pandora's Actor's over the top behavior and again with the German speaking, brought fresh embarrassment on behalf of Ainz' younger self.
But he forced it aside to go behind his desk instead and ask, "All that is expected, but you wouldn't leave the treasury just to tell me that. So what is it?" It might have been said with a tiny bit of harshness, and yet Pandora's Actor took that seemingly in stride.
"It was requested that someone from Nazarick accompany them, two teams of four, they will be spread out a great deal, someone should centralize control, organize them, and represent the Kingdom of Nazarick to the Queen while managing your subordinates." Pandora's Actor's words were so significant in Ainz' mind that the quill in his hands snapped.
' That's a good point, I don't want to give up control of any of my subordinates… not to such an extent as that at least…' Ainz nodded very slowly. "Of course…" Ainz mumbled under his breath as he ran down the list of names.
"Set Sebas and Solution to it. She will act as his servant as he represents my Kingdom, I can't think of anybody better to represent me to a human kingdom. Besides, what can truly go wrong there?" Ainz asked the question rhetorically and drew out a blank sheet of paper, he began to write on it, recalling the words and phrases he often saw Queen Draudillon use in her official correspondence so that he could sound as official and formal as possible. "Allocate a budget suitable for a royal emissary of Nazarick for them to live on, and be sure to allot a reasonable salary to our adventurers for their wages… enough for them to be as envied as they are admired."
"Brilliant, Vater, brilliant!" Pandora's Actor said, nodding along while Ainz worked.
He took his seal after rolling the document and affixed it into place. Then for added good measure he held his hand over the seal and cast, [Guild Master Seal - Draconic Queen Draudillon], using the spell and binding it to her name to prevent its opening by any other.
"Give this to Sebas, inform him that it should pass into nobody's hands but those of Queen Draudillon herself." Ainz gave the order and Pandora's Actor bent forward halfway before accepting the scroll.
"Thy will be done, mein Vater!" Pandora's Actor exclaimed and then withdrew from Ainz' sight.
' When I have time, I have to put more effort into international relationships, I cannot let my Kingdom be seen as one that is only good at fighting and warfare. Something… something that will showcase our greatness and draw eyes to our artistry and magnificence in other ways… something that will make all nations say, 'I want to be on good terms with the Kingdom of Nazarick'.' Ainz turned over those options in his mind, 'A great tourist event, a fair, a tournament, a peace conference among the nations… so many possibilities…'
Ainz scribbled the ideas down in the margins of a sheet of paper on his desk, adding a few more concepts to the list along the way whenever one came to mind as he did his best to leave Albedo a manageable amount of material. ' What I did to her… how do I live with that? I don't want to be a bad boss on top of everything else…'
The thing he hated most about having a human body was the seemingly constant ranges of emotion over his own actions, the stress, the shame of how he was still hiding what he was from his guardians, guardians who loved and trusted him enough to still carry out his orders. ' Every time they prove my fears were misplaced… I am ashamed I ever doubted them… how do I make it up to them… mistrusting them for crimes committed only in my own fearful heart?'
He clenched his fists, cursed his humanity, his frustrations and his cowardice. His entire body shook as one by one he recalled their loving embraces and patient, loyal reassurances that he was their lord no matter what his body was.
' The last two… Demiurge and Albedo… Albedo and Demiurge…' Again he questioned himself as he repeated their names on a loop. The suspicion that Albedo might have known something would not leave his mind, and yet she remained faithful, quietly away, working hard on normalizing the new city governments to align with Ainz' vision.
' What even 'is' my vision?' Removing slavery was an easy one, he knew enough history to know it was economically harmful, of benefit only to the wealthy, and created a naturally unstable powder keg. The new dark elven settlements were being steadily constructed in turn…
But still he had no real vision other than, ' I want my friend's children to be able to live happily anywhere, and my friends to love the world I create.'
That meant all races had to be able to coexist, and that meant a just system of the sort Touch Me would have approved of, to name but two requirements.
' Albedo seems to have grasped my intent more or less…' He thought to himself as he looked over the one jointly signed off by herself and Demiurge. The sentencing of violent criminals to a life of… ' Farm labor'?' Ainz scratched his head, "I suppose that is better than prison… and more productive too." It was just thinking out loud, but once again buried beneath it all was a great admiration for the brilliance of two of the three geniuses of Nazarick. ' To think they'd use criminals to tend sheep and farm to help increase our material for scrolls and even feed the same labor force… excellent work…'
With that thought, he affixed his seal of approval to the proposal and then let out a long, steady yawn. ' One more night's sleep… then it's off to a nice, quiet visit to the dwarves and see what tomorrow brings… and what dreams may come tonight…'
With that thought, Ainz stood up and stretched, then went back to his room to sleep.
AN: I hope you're enjoying this so far, it's now up to Volume 7 on Discord and patr eon, which is being crowdfunded through ko-fi dot com /tellingstories. (This is how I pay for the time off needed to write) if volume 7 reaches its current funding goal, I'll release the entirety of volume 4 on FFN all at once. (The PDFs are available on my discord and pat re0n if you prefer not to wait and can't afford to support it) otherwise, I'll continue to release a chapter every week.
Volume 4 C5
Dreams of Albedo in his arms taunted and teased Ainz throughout the night, they did so with such thoroughness that when he finally woke up, soaked and sated, he expected to find her lying next to him. With the fog of sleepy confusion on his mind still and he didn't see her there, he reflexively reached over to his other side, patting his hand around and not finding her, a well of supreme disappointment filled him.
Memory began to return with wakefulness.
Memories of everything.
Including his overwhelming sense of guilt.
Guilt for what he did to her.
Guilt for what he dreamed of her.
Guilt for what he felt when he woke up and found her absent.
Ainz rolled onto his back and let his arms and legs flop out, there was no urge to leave immediately, everything would happen at the pace he himself chose to set. He stared up at the ceiling and briefly wallowed in self reproaching thoughts. ' She's the daughter of one of your best friends… and… she is a demon while you, even if you add immortal classes… are in a human body. What did she call humans? 'Lower Life Forms', yes. And her Karma rating is as low as that of Demiurge. His response will tell me a great deal of what to expect out of her.'
He took a very long breath before rising from his bed, he checked the time in the clock on the wall. ' Early, very early.' He thought, as the King, it was his right to call for a maid to serve him, but at an hour such as this? ' No.' It felt too much like a parent waking up his child to do some trivial task for him. ' An abusive parent is not one I wish to be.' And so he threw on his own robe and made his way out of the room. This was something of a magic hour in Nazarick. The 'game' world had a special mechanic for updates, the sheer size and scale of it was such that updates were massive when they happened, and in order to ensure no slowdown in player activities, player made NPCs all had a period of time in which they 'slept' even if by design their race had no need of it. This minimized the processing power needed to perform updates on server wide characters within the many guild bases. What that meant for Ainz at this moment was that with their normal routines going on, it was like being alone.
The halls were empty and so he walked uninterrupted down their great length, his feet echoing off of the stone until he reached the men's baths. The sound of running water reaching his ears was as comforting as the feel of the heat all over his naked flesh and hot water washing away the sweat. A cleaning spell would have served the same function, but it wouldn't have been anywhere near as comfortable and relaxing.
' Do the dwarves bathe much?' It was a pointless question, he abandoned it almost as soon as he asked it of himself and cast a spell of observation to go back to watching the Draconic Queen. She was awake and reading over scrolls. The written language of her kingdom was unfamiliar, but her facial expression was not.
Fear.
Yet a knock at her door and she wiped it away. This was perhaps her most important skill, her back straightened, her arms relaxed, her face became imperious almost to the point of haughtiness, all traces of fear were gone.
She turned the paper over and when a servant entered she gave quick commands to help prepare her for the day and the servant obeyed without a word. It wasn't lost on Ainz that they didn't speak more than needed, the Queen kept her own councel and remained quiet, barely acknowledging the woman when everything was done.
'Reserved' was the word he chose for what he saw of her manner. ' I can't be that with my guardians, or even with my maids… they're not just servants, they're too precious… but I also cannot be a true equal to them either.'
There were lessons to be drawn there that would take time to incorporate, and if he was being frank, ' My feelings towards the NPCs do not apply to anyone else. Even as a human, even pitying the weak creatures and seeing them at their best… They are not the children of my friends. So perhaps that model of behavior would work best on outside subordinates. The 'distant royal' is what they expect after all.'
He continued to watch her for the better part of an hour while washing himself, curiously she did seem to drop her guard among a handful of her closest advisors, and in that respect, she reminded him of how he treated his subordinates. ' But seeing her get drunk as a child and write in crayon for her soldiers… that is certainly bizarre…' It puzzled him, but it was hard not to admire her tolerance for alcohol or her work ethic.
He began to empathize with her, the apparent care she took with her people, the hard work, the struggle to present the image they needed from her in the face of calamity. ' If it came down to it, I don't think she would run away.'
And therein, rose up Ainz' greatest sense of shame.
It hit him like a mountain dropped on his head. ' I'm running away… I'm running away again, and again, and again. Each time I go out to 'personally handle' something, I'm running away from my duties as a King and my duty to my children. I'm like an absent father who is always taking business trips to avoid the needs of my home and family…' The thought had lingered around on the fringes of his mind for the longest time, but was always delaying, always putting things off… sending Albedo and Demiurge away to handle integration, while he himself disappeared on these 'tasks', first as Momon and then as a journeying King.
"Well Ainz, you're committed now, Demiurge and Albedo are the last two true threats, and from those you loved best. When you're finished with that… no matter what, you will become the King your kingdom needs." He resolved himself as hardily as he could, rose from the bath before the quietest hour passed by, dressed, and made his way back to his room.
Very soon after his return, Lupusregina knocked at his door and assisted him in his choice of clothing. "Does My Lord wish to dominate and intimidate, or to present a more peaceful state?"
"This is a diplomatic visit, I wish them to see us favorably rather than fearfully." Ainz answered, and Lupusregina reached into his wardrobe to withdraw a great white robe befitting a master wizard of supreme wealth. It had a trim of golden thread that ran up the center, a cord of gold to bind it at the waist, and a spiral weave at the cuffs as golden as the rest.
"I suggest this, My Lord." Lupusregina said, the playful air that was a fundamental part of her nature was gone. Now she was the perfect maid.
The white was almost holy, almost aglow with its brightness. In short, perfect. "Accepted." He said, and he did his best to relax while she removed the robe he wore while keeping his back to her.
' Draudillon was dressed by several servants around her, but the notion of Lupusregina in front of me while I'm naked is… a bit much. Plus it would be less than Kingly to let her see my blush. But this is something I have to get used to.' He forced himself to think of it like a medical exam, he forced himself to think nothing of it, and though it was not easy, he could not keep his 'son' asleep at the light touch behind him, while she didn't seem to notice.
Only when he was sure his blush faded did he turn around to face her.
Gloves of white came next. He held up his hands of flesh to allow Lupusregina to tug them into place. However as she tugged the last glove into place over his own, she bowed her head and let her slender tan fingers linger. "You plan to tell Lord Demiurge, don't you, Lord Ainz?"
"Yes." He answered and folded his fingers over hers.
"He is an archdevil." She replied, it was the closest any denizen of Nazarick had ever come to being critical of one of the others in a way other than a sibling might behave.
"He is the son of Ulbert." Ainz answered, unable to rebuke her formally, it was still close enough to draw a tiny nod from the beautiful red haired maid.
"He is an unpredictable genius… not on your level of course but… if…?" Lupusregina was unable to complete her question, she closed her eyes and shook her head. "I'm out of line, forgive my foolish words, My Lord." She said and his fingers tightened in comfort over her own unbroken hold on the white glove.
"The Children of Nazarick deserve the truth, the complete truth and nothing less. Even I couldn't keep this secret forever." Ainz pointed out, and another tiny nod answered him.
"If you go… I will chase after you." Lupusregina promised, and then slipped her hands from his grip, folding them in front of her waist, she stepped back to look at her handiwork, then reached for the mask of jealousy. Then with a smile on her face that reminded Ainz of the playful adventurer 'Lupu' in all her winsomeness, she rose on her tiptoes to put the mask over Ainz' face.
"My Lord is prepared for his journey, come back safely to us, I beg you." Lupusregina said with a final clap of her hands that could only be described as 'childishly endearing'.
His heart warmed and beat faster in his breast, "Then inform Demiurge that it is time, we will collect Zenberu and then go immediately."
"At once, my King." Lupusregina said with a deep curtsey before departing the room and leaving Ainz to wait for his Guardian.
AN: Enjoy as this one unfolds. It's 50 chapters long and is as long as a traditional novel at about 80,000 words. :)
Volume 4 C6
AN: So my book, 'Who Endures: Strange Lands' is now on Amazon in ebook, paperback, and hardback. It is one hell of an adventure, so if you're so inclined, pick it up. :) I can't put a link here without the filter getting in the way, but look up that title and you'll see it.
Demiurge arrived alone at Ainz' room, he put his hand over his heart and gave a half bow with his crystalline eyes downcast. "Lord Ainz, it is my greatest joy and privilege to accompany a Supreme Being, most of all your esteemed self who chose to stay with us till the end, on this important mission."
Ainz extended his arm and curved his hand up away from the floor in a 'stop' gesture. "Please, Demiurge, you are the son of Ulbert, one of my dearest friends. While alone in my company you can relax and speak your mind without so much formality." His pose 'Gesture of the generous monarch' seemed to work as Demiurge's tail lashed behind his back, reminding Ainz of a joyful puppy.
"My Lord is generous… I will strive to be more informal from now on." Demiurge said without straightening up from his half bow.
' Another notch in my heart's ledger for the Draconic Queen's inadvertent lessons.' Ainz reflected, even if Demiurge hadn't yet quite grasped the concept, the intent was there and it was well received.
"There is nothing left to be done, are you prepared for the journey?" Ainz asked, and Demiurge straightened up, and folding his hands behind his back he answered immediately.
"Nothing, my Lord. Albedo is briefed on all of my projects and has visited the dark elf settlements, as well as those of the humans, and the criminal elements have been culled accordingly, while your reign is being viewed favorably for the drop in crime and the lower taxes. She is aware of your plan for the adventurers and will see to their ordering as soon as possible. She… did ask me to relay how much she misses you, however." He cleared his throat, coughing briefly into his hand as he uncomfortably relayed his comrade's sentiment.
"Ah, yes, then let's go." Ainz said with haste and cast [Gate] . They then stepped through it immediately and were gone.
Zenberu was waiting at the gate of the common village when Ainz arrived with Demiurge, he carried a pack on his back and he had with him a large walking stick. As soon as Ainz appeared, the Lizardman lowered his face to the dirt. "God of Life and Victory, your servant is ready!"
Demiurge, standing behind Ainz, nodded with approval.
"You can't serve me well from down there, Zenberu, rise. Rise and lead us, you have made your farewells, yes?" Ainz asked, and the large lizardman nodded.
"I have, and I am well rested, I am afraid I am still too weak to fight properly, but I can walk at least. The way is a little foggy, but as we head over familiar ground I'm sure that will change." Zenberu replied with confidence.
"Then we go." Ainz said, and Zenberu asked.
"Will my Lord permit the rest of the village to rise?" Zenberu asked, "Forgive my question but… the fish, you understand."
Ainz looked over his shoulder, the rest of the village was down on their faces in the dirt, and he had not noticed.
He recovered as quickly as he could, "Rise… and serve your King as well." He said as nobly as he could and gave a dramatic wave over their heads.
They rose to their feet, and when Zenberu began to lead them away from the village, the village sent cheers toward their retreating backs.
The adulation of the villagers gave Ainz a warm feeling in his heart.
The great trees and the long trail between them, the morning sun on the horizon, the dew visible on leaves and grasses. The fresh air, so clean that even the idea of needing a mask for it would have been absurd to the people of this world. His body was strong, powerful, easily keeping pace with the lizardman guide, total ease was his.
This was the part that Ainz had come to love.
Mile led to mile, way led on to way, every path they passed by sparked his curiosity. ' What lies that way? What about that way?' And yet even while he wondered, he knew there was no chance of answering it in the manner he wanted to.
Ainz recalled something Bellriver had once said about all his decisions, ' And both that morning equally lay. In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how the way leads on to the way, I doubted if I should ever come back.'
Each path not taken was a missed chance to explore, and each chance lost, a pang he struggled to ignore. His obligation drove him forward after Zenberu, relieved at least that the way ahead was an unknown that could still excite him beyond measure, and did.
For tranquil hour after tranquil hour they trod, with Ainz wearing beneath his glove a ring of sustenance to eliminate his need for sleep, rest, food, or drink to better mimic the undead being which Demiurge seemed to still believe him to be.
But this was not the case for Zenberu, and though he delayed them as little as possible with his needs, by eating and drinking as they walked, and taking the minimum time to relieve himself, sleep still was a requirement.
"My Lord, we should consider making camp soon…" He stopped when Ainz shook his head.
"There is no need for that." Ainz replied, he nearly said, "I will use magic," and summoned a fortress, but as he considered the present company of Demiurge, he thought better of it.
"We will be staying in Nazarick tonight, my home. You will be my guest." Ainz offered, and Zenberu looked at him, open mouthed.
"If that is my Lord's will…" He said, and when Ainz summoned the [Gate], he followed through after his King and the Guardian, yet not without a hesitant look around him at the more familiar world.
' The realm of a God… will I ever see this world again? Even if I do, will it ever look the same?' He asked himself for only a moment before vanishing through the whorling void of impossible magic before his eyes.
Volume 4 C7
Ainz emerged in the throne room which, in his absence, was empty except for Cixous. No sooner than he appeared, the maid gave a deep curtsey, holding her black and white maid outfit to the sides, crossing her feet at the ankles, and bending her knees with her head bowed. "Welcome back, My Lord." She said to him with a smile on her face.
"Thank you but… why are you alone here?" Ainz asked, and the maid spoke without raising her head.
"Lord Sebas ordered that the places my Lord visits most should always have a maid stationed ready for your service at any time. As this is the seat of power for My Lord, here I am at your service."
"Does that mean you are given no days off for rest or recreation at all?" Ainz asked, his lips pursed behind the mask.
The maid all but recoiled, "My Lord!" She covered her mouth with one hand and almost lost her posture, dropping one half of her dress' curtsey pose, she hastily picked it back up to resume her position. "Nobody would dare to think of time away from serving you!"
"Still, that amount of work is unhealthy… I will speak with Sebas about this when I return, but in the meantime, I have a guest, you can see to him as you would myself." Ainz stepped aside to reveal the gawking Zenberu.
' A realm of gods, a realm of gods, a realm of gods… this is a realm of gods… it has to be, there's nothing else… no mere mortals, no beings of this world could create something like this!' Zenberu's warrior heart never quailed in all his brave life, and yet in the company of one who mastered life and death, and seeing the realm which that being inhabited, his spirit had never felt smaller.
The towering high ceiling, the walls with intricate smoothness, and statues that could not have been made by mortal hands. Their perfect smoothness made the river stones he'd seen on his journey appear to be rougher than a craggy gorge by comparison. His eyes beheld the throne, at the peak of steps that fairly dared any fool to climb them, the throne radiated power and its promise, he could not even bear to look for long.
"Zenberu, this is Cixous, one of our maids, she will tend to you tonight while you rest. Return here after you have eaten, bathed, and slept until morning." Ainz gave the command and it was all Zenberu could do to bob his head up and down like a puppet on shaking strings.
Zenberu's entire body was atremble with reverence, awe, and fear, his heart throbbed and ached at the majesty about him, and the God who fed his people seemed all the more godlike.
"Demiurge, Zenberu, I will see you in the morning. I have things to do." Ainz made the cryptic statement, and the archdevil bowed his head.
"Of course, my Lord, of course." He said, and when Ainz was gone Demiurge looked down at the little lizardman.
"Lizardman, your attitude toward your Master is proper, but remember this, you are in his home, and we are all the creations of those he loved best. Disrespect towards any one of them, even one generously assigned to care for you, will be dealt with harshly. I trust we understand each other?" Demiurge stared through empty crystalline eyes, and at that the lizardman bobbed his head.
"I wouldn't even consider it… not in such… a sacred place." Zenberu said in a hushed whisper so full of awe that Demiurge wasn't even entirely sure the lizardman understood he was being threatened.
But it was a good answer either because of, or in spite of that. "Good. Cixous, represent your Master well." Demiurge said with far more kindness.
She politely inclined her head to the Guardian. "Naturally, Lord Demiurge." She said and reached out a hand to gently touch the still awestruck lizardman.
"If you'll come with me?" She asked, and like a lost child finding an adult and instinctively going where they led, he followed after her, his eyes looking at every piece of art as if it were a divine treasure, which to the denizens there, they were.
The maid said nothing to the lizardman as she led him on to the baths, when they arrived he said, "You make lakes of stone?"
It was an understandable mistake, given the sheer size of the baths, but it made Cixous laugh, "You're a funny one, my lord. No, these are not lakes. Just a place where the Supreme Beings and their creations bathe."
"Created… that word… strange way to say chosen." Zenberu remarked as he stepped toward the babbling flowing fountain.
"We were not chosen, we were created, the Supreme Beings designed us and brought us to life to serve their needs. I was created by Lord Whitebrim." The honey blonde haired maid straightened up and brushed her long blonde hair back. "He also designed our clothing," she ran a hand over the smooth fabric, "and our personalities. We were designed as you see us."
"There are others…?" Zenberu asked as the heat of the water engulfed his scales and the filth of his travels began to pull away from his body.
"There were." Cixous said, and at this her head hung. "They disappeared, the great ones, one by one, they went off to some other world where only gods can tread and we could not. The world we knew was going to end… and the one you know, he was The One Who Stayed with us, resolving that we shouldn't be left alone. Many of us believe he carried us to this world so that we wouldn't die with the world of Shi-ti-devs. Those vile beings that chose to destroy all things… and our master saved us."
Her eyes welled up with tears, "Forgive my prattling… but you should know the glory of the one you call your King… there is none more suitable to be our lord, or the lord of this world. We know many stories of many kings, even though we never left our home, and know that most Kings and Queens were very cruel. But our own is merciful and kind, devote yourself to his cause, and the world will be safe for all your children for as long as this world endures."
Zenberu internalized her every word.
"You are not the first our Master has saved. He rescued eight humans and granted them great power, even as we speak they go to work his will. Loyal service is rewarded with prosperity, power, and happiness, remember that, guest from the Lizardman tribes." She said.
The admonition to remember was unneeded, it was impossible to forget, so impossible that even the sumptuous meal he had afterward could not compare, and he only slept at all because it seemed his bed was enchanted to assist him in doing so.
' There is no future apart from service to The King…' It was his first thought when he awoke, and when Zenberu prostrated himself before Ainz Ooal Gown in the throne room again a mere quarter of an hour later, he did so with a deep reverence in his heart.
AN: Thank you for those who continue to support these volumes. Fan funding keeps me able to afford the time off to write stuff, so if you'd like to help crowdfund more volumes, ko-fi dot com /tellingstories is where that happens.
Volume 4 C8
Ainz' dreams of Albedo were no less erotic than before, and the guilt of having them was like a mountain on his heart. So much so, that all he wanted to do was leave the room. His subordinates were ready to go as he expected, little needed to be said, and so nothing was. Surrounded by the finery of the making of the forty-one, he opened the gate and left Nazarick behind again.
They appeared in the same place from which they previously departed and began to make their way toward the mountains of the dwarves. Being away from the place of guilt did wonders for his spirit, not to mention being surrounded by nature in a way that was impossible in his native world.
Memories of home however, were weaker than before. Little was reflected on, except for those bright memories of his forty friends. After hours of hiking over high hills and through thick woods, they emerged onto an open plain from which the view of the mountains became crystal clear. The luminous light of the early day glinted off the dew of the grass making the field appear to be a carpet of diamonds glinting in the day.
The gentle breeze caressed his body, though concealed as he was, he barely felt anything on his skin. Ainz glanced behind him at Demiurge, he searched the archdevil's face, and asked himself, ' What am I looking for in him?' It wasn't long before Ainz realized it.
He was searching for wonder, awe, ' Does he marvel at the beauty of this world as I do? Lupusregina greatly enjoyed the outdoors, and even made friends… in as much as she is able to… could he? Demiurge was designed to be the pinnacle of evil… after the cruel CEOs who wrecked our world… but also loyal to his own… cunning and ruthless, a devil through and through… can something… someone like that take pleasure in this existence?'
Ainz however, had looked too long and Demiurge was not the sort to miss the eyes of his master, even masked, falling on him. "My Lord, can I serve you in some way?"
Demiurge's tail lashed at his back, but his crystalline eyes revealed nothing, nor could they. His voice was smooth as a knife's edge, of a slightly higher pitch, and without any hint of hesitation in anything he said or asked.
"No. No, Demiurge. I was just thinking… how do you think your creator would see all this?" Ainz asked and resumed his walk on the long dirt trail as Zemberu waved back at them, indicating it was safe.
"My Lord, I don't understand, forgive my feeble mind, could you please explain?" Demiurge's mouth closed tightly to await his Lord's answer.
' No, of course he wouldn't understand that question…' Ainz thought and asked instead, "Do you think he would enjoy seeing a world which looked like this? Would he appreciate it, regard it as art… or just a thing to be built on and used?"
As they resumed their walk, Demiurge looked down at the dust and dirt, folding his hands behind his back as he took up position at Ainz' left side. "My Lord… I would not dream to speak for the mind of a Supreme Being… but if I may offer my own opinion… Lord Ulbert helped with the baths and the lake, and when he helped with the baths, integrated nature into the workmanship. I believe my creator would have seen this, found it good, and chosen to use his incalculable genius in such a way as to use it without destroying it."
Ainz brought his white gloved hand up to his chin and stroked it while the stroll went on. "That does sound like Ulbert… but is it also," Ainz hesitated, gauging more about the dangerous archdevil meant for roundabout questioning, and some things could only be sought head on, "your view?"
"I do as the Supreme Beings command of me." Demiurge replied.
"And if you were allowed to follow your own designs for this world, if I had not remained and you had instead, along with Nazarick, have been sent here alone?" Ainz asked.
"The kingdoms of this world are many and destructive, without the supreme will of our lords, of course I would bring down the kingdoms of the many races and put them under one rule, then the world would be better off, break down their numbers a great deal…" Demiurge went on and on, detailing the ways in which he would have punished the leadership of the nations and kingdoms for their existence. As he watched the archdevil and listened to him, it was like hearing one of Ulbert's rants about the corrupt being in charge…
' They get all they do, and what do they do? Bring destruction with it! They ruin everything, all the time, everything, they'd call it a modest proposal to use our blood to lubricate their machines.'
He was all but seeing the top hat wearing, goat-headed avatar of his friend smacking the table and the 'zero damage' indicator appearing.
Nostalgia swept over him as he listened to the horrors Demiurge would inflict if he were given leave to do so, and yet for all that nostalgia, the unbridled torments the archdevil intended were gruesome and gory enough to prickle every one of Ainz' instincts.
The horrifying realization hit him.
' Demiurge intends to do this to humans. I am human… again… for now. I could defeat and escape from him with relative ease… but if he does not accept me, he will never stop trying to destroy me. Other than Albedo, if there is one whom I must… remove… It is the one in front of me now… could I do it? Could I really kill Ulbert's son to save myself?' Ainz asked and his fingers twitched inside his gloves, he folded his hands behind his back and clenched the outer fist tight in the palm of the other.
He was so lost in thought while Demiurge went on that he almost didn't notice when Zenberu stopped walking.
The lizardman was looking toward the mountain right enough, but though it loomed as only a mountain could, he stopped walking toward it. The reason why became evident a moment later when Ainz stopped. The path branched in two directions.
"You are lost?" Ainz asked him, and the Lizardman hung his head and said.
"Forgive me, My Lord. It's been years since I've come this way and I just don't recall exactly which way I went… give me a few minutes, if you please, I will recall, I'm sure."
Demiurge was clearly agitated by the request, "Expecting a Supreme Being to wait y-" The archdevil trembled with outrage until Ainz held up a hand.
"He was not created as you were, had he known he would one day come this way again I'm sure he would have made a point of remembering." Ainz consoled the lizardman, who nodded rapidly under the wave of malice that seeped off of Demiurge.
"I can help you remember," Ainz offered and made a point of keeping himself as the focus of Zenberu's eyes, "I can look through your memory, it is a painless process, though I haven't got the most experience with it, you should be fine."
"As you command, My Lord. If my body is yours, so is the rest of me." Zenberu replied, and the malice of Demiurge vanished like a fog blown away in the wind.
"Then be seated, relax yourself, and I will begin." Ainz instructed, and Zenberu did as he was commanded, sat himself awkwardly on the dust, closed his eyes and took a deep, slow breath.
"I am ready, My Lord." Zenberu said at last, keeping his eyes shut to receive his Lord's magic.
Volume 4 C9
Memory turned out to be a tricky thing. "How long ago was this, it will be easier if I know when it was."
"Four or five years ago, My Lord." Zenberu replied without opening his eyes.
"I see, simply stay relaxed." Ainz instructed as reassuringly as he could, and the lizardman then shifted a little uncomfortably, clearing his throat, he waited.
With the spell in full effect, Ainz began to sort through the mental fog. Everything was a blur, everything was confusion… a gray mist surrounded Ainz, ' If only I'd had practice with this…' Ainz thought with embittered frustration, the more recent memories began to come into view. ' Is that what I really look like?' He asked himself when he got to memories of seeing himself. In Zenberu's memories, Ainz saw himself much taller than he appeared to be.
' If I were more experienced could I shift the view to something closer to the truth? Am I seeing only his perceptions? Or is that all memory is, imperfect perceptions? I have no way to test it, and this may be important one day.' Ainz sifted further, as he did, the deeper he went, the thicker the gray fog around them became. Even drawing closer in his walk through Zenberu's mind, the memories themselves became somewhat fuzzy.
Curiously, his meeting with Zaryusu stood out a great deal, the fight which killed him… Zaryusu seemed much taller and broader than Ainz knew him actually to be. ' So perception influences memory… I should have expected that…' Ainz made a mental note and moved deeper into time, he felt himself all but sprinting past images, village life among the lizardmen was fundamentally dull, but it was oddly tranquil.
A brief morning common meal, time on the lake in their little boats, some combat practice, but otherwise just enjoying life. ' Almost like a vacation.' Ainz mused, live, fish, eat, mate, raise children, die… though the lizardman tribal war proved a brutal thing. ' His tribe lost a third of their numbers… what must that be like… those you grew up with, and then so many missing faces all at one go in just a few weeks…?' What he did next left a feeling of wrongness roiling in his gut.
He watched Zenberu go out onto the lake in the middle of the night, dive into the water, and wail beneath the placid surface where none could hear his pain.
' Was he going out to end his life?' The question hung in his mind, but guilt over invading his privacy farther than he should have gave Ainz pause. He couldn't bring himself to look further. But if Zenberu was typical of the lizardmen, and in this sense it seemed likely, ' No wonder they embraced me so quickly, even if they defeated the frogmen, they would have lost another thirty percent or better of their numbers. Perhaps they would have lost so many that they would have been doomed. One more such pyrrhic victory and they would have been lost.' Pity swelled for the lizardmen, ' To lose so many of their comrades… a terrible thing.'
' Focus, Ainz, focus.' He told himself and pushed deeper into memory.
Finally he found sight of Zenberu leaving a mountain entrance where two dwarves stood guard.
' Found it!' He moved somewhat deeper into time. Drinking. Lots of drinking. Dwarves… all of whom seemed to look alike, ' Are they actually like that? Or is this also perception?'
The dwarves at least seemed to like their beer a great deal. They were also notably big on beards, with every one of them seemingly having a thick one that went down half their bodies. ' Do they have no women, or do their women also have beards?' Idle curiosity and unimportant, but it was a strange thought to have.
Finally he found the moment Zenberu 'entered' the mountain, and the fog of time thickened, the vision weakened, until at last Ainz found himself looking at the fuzzy, fog shrouded outline of Zenberu at the fork on which they now stood, and the direction he took, to the right.
Ainz cancelled the spell, and found himself back in his own mind again.
"I am finished, you may rise, Zenberu. I have what I need."
"Yes, it's this way." Ainz pointed down the path, and Zenberu gave a nod.
"Yes, that feels right somehow… My Lord must be correct." The Lizardman stood up, stretched, and resumed the long steady walk back the way he'd come years before.
Now settled in, and briefly distracted, and perhaps enamored with some of Zenberu's more pleasant memories of daily life in the village, Ainz began to hum a traveling song of the sort once used by Ulbert, it was an almost bouncy little song torn from the pages of a favorite fiction Ainz no longer recalled the name of.
The mountain drew closer and loomed larger with every passing hour, the long walk gradually bringing them to the point where they were at last in its shadow. The terrain became craggy, more gray and less green. For three days they went that way, pausing at night, returning to Nazarick.
And every morning, Ainz awoke from dreams of Albedo's body entwined with his own, with guilt just piling onto guilt.
Finally they ceased to walk straight ahead, a long steady path curved upward along the mountain ridge. The great stone that jutted up from the depths of time, obscured the sun as they ascended, jutting crags on the long winding path that must have stood for countless ages, and yet somehow looked as if they would topple over to crush the lot of them at any moment.
The wind began to pick up, to howl and become cold as ice. Zenberu began to shiver. And it was then that Ainz stopped, and felt profoundly foolish. ' I neglected to think of what taking him out of his natural environment unprotected would be like. I could cast a spell to warm him, or draw an item from my inventory, but perhaps this is far enough for him… at this point we're on a path directly to an entrance. We can do without him now, since I'm a human they shouldn't have the same bigotry that I might experience if I were coming to them as one of the undead…' That settled it.
"Zenberu." Ainz said, stopping in his tracks. The lizardman turned around and seeing the way his Lord had straightened up, sensing eyes focused on him from beyond the mask, he knelt.
"My Lord?" Zenberu asked, his entire body shivering with cold in an altitude high enough that snow was clearly visible on the peaks. Ainz, in his moment of panic, could within mere minutes of 'flight', to escape the pressures of his duties and do something as simple and absurd as taking fresh snow for a home made snowcone.
Ainz improvised as fast as he could, grasping the quickest excuse he could come up with to get rid of the lizardman without seeming like a bad boss for making him needlessly suffer this long before noticing the discomfort. "You bled for your people and froze for me. You have done enough. I permit you to rest within Nazarick as a reward for good service. I will send you back to your people when I return."
Zenberu shivered again, but this time with more excitement than discomfort, "My Lord… I will grind myself to the dust for you if-" He began, but Ainz raised the white gloved hand.
"For now, you will rest, relax and enjoy yourself. Happiness is the reward of loyalty." Ainz promised, and summoned a [Gate] for the lizardman to pass through. "Inform whatever maid you see on the other side of what I have said here today." Ainz added, ' Hopefully they will take that to heart and let me give them more time off.' He didn't consider that very likely but maybe?
"At once, My Lord!" Zenberu stood up, bowed, and passed through the [Gate] .
"Demiurge, let's make the rest of this journey alone. It looks like we're nearly there." Ainz said and looked at the winding path that curved upward along the mountain slope.
"Yes, My Lord. It appears so." Demiurge replied, and they resumed their walk to the peak with only the howling winds for company.
Volume 4 C10
The howling winds might have covered words, but they did nothing to cover thoughts which billowed about through Demiurge's mind with the same whirlwind force that they struck and carried aloft the tails of his Lord's white wizard's robes.
' My Lord has been behaving so… oddly, lately. Ever since his return from Carne… or before that, perhaps before the last day?' Demiurge asked himself that question, and then his prodigious mind began to rush back to the beginning. To the very day of his making, and when first setting eyes on the creator, Lord Ulbert.
Lord Ainz was, in his mind, the bridge between the good of Lord Touch Me and the serene evil of Lord Ulbert Alain Odle, the apex of both, the master of the tomb.
And yet somehow it seemed who and what he was since coming to this new world, seemed different.
' It's like he feels something for the animals here, the various sheep… granted some few have the right attitude, and yet still that can't be why he graces them with such mercy? Can it?' His demonic heart was lost in the chaos of his inner life.
Not least because, ' Lord Ulbert… where did you go? Did I fail you somehow? Did I let you down… was I not good enough? Was I thrown away like the others… did I not perform as you wished me to?'
That string of thoughts tightened itself around the black heart within his breast and it was only, only that one among the forty-one remained behind to see them to their end. ' How his indomitable majesty managed to save their creations is something my feeble mind will never understand.'
Reverence for the One Who Stayed was one of the horses on a chariot team, beside that one ran his doubts about his worthiness to serve, born the day Lord Ulbert said farewell and disappeared.
Beside that one lay his ambition, ' I will prove that I should not have been abandoned… I will devote myself to the last service of the Supreme Beings… if… if I gift to him the world… Perhaps my father watches me? Perhaps he still cherishes his son and waits for me to make him proud?' It was a possibility, a dubious one, a doubtful one, but the mere possibility kept Demiurge, the mighty archdevil, up late on more nights than he would have willingly spoken of to anyone.
Yet in front of him was the last of the team of four horses, Lord Ainz, who remained, trusting in all his servants seemingly without question. ' Never will you doubt me… I won't let you down.' His zeal to prove himself to the vanished Ulbert, his grand creator, was matched by his zeal to serve the last creator to remain. The one to lead all the Supreme Beings.
And yet Lord Ainz was being strange.
It wasn't one thing.
It was many little things, as the undead lord who unleashed his aura of despair, he seemed to stand above all. Even now, he still had something of the divine about him, and yet the little things, the shake of fingers, the total concealment even of his face behind the mask, ' Why?'
The struggle to comprehend this led to blasphemous thoughts, things that he dared not even imagine in his wildest of dreams or most confounding of concepts.
In the end Demiurge found comfort in one thing.
' It is simply all according to his ten thousand year plan.'
That knowledge of the Supreme Being's great masterpiece woven over the tapestry of time filled the archdevil with excitement that transcended and consumed all anxiety every time questions raised themselves in ways he dared not entertain for long.
"Demiurge?" Ainz asked without looking backward at him.
"My Lord?" He asked with a voice of trepidation at the muffled voice of the King.
"What am I to you?" Ainz asked.
"I don't understand, my Lord?" Demiurge said, raising an eyebrow and holding his shaking hands behind his back. Though not affected by the cold, such an intimate question shook him to the core.
"Am I merely your King? Or am I more? To a child, a father is a provider, a protector, a steady guide, a disciplinarian, a confidant, a teacher… many things. Aura is a sister to Mare, but also his confidant, his friend, his comrade, and a guide he listens to. So… what am I to you ?" Ainz clarified his question to the archdevil.
"My Lord… to answer that question in full I must ask a moment's thought for my feeble mind to answer you best…"
Ainz gave a quiet nod, and that left Demiurge in quiet reflection as they rounded the bend and ascended the mountain further. As they went around the bend they both briefly paused upon seeing something unexpected.
Ainz raised his hand to stop the archdevil in his tracks. "That," he said, "looks to be an entrance… but an abandoned entrance. No guards, fallen snow not moved aside… be on your guard, Demiurge." Ainz ordered.
"My Lord… allow me to go forward first and check for danger." Demiurge hastened to say, and when Ainz' warding hand came down, Demiurge approached.
The double doors were broad and carved in a very simple way with simple block patterns etched into a solid stone. These blocks were patterned to look like stacked columns that widened into wider squares at the top and bottom.
The stone itself was gray and likely granite, clearly carved into the mountainside itself. Around the wide gate were great crags that jutted out like teeth from a terrible maw, and from above the once distant snow fell freely.
Demiurge stood in front of the door and put his hand on the surface, the smooth carvings were cold as the icy mountain, but other than their artistry there appeared to be nothing special about them.
Nothing, except a very mild 'seal' enchantment. ' Sealed… sealed with no guards, nobody was planning to come this way again, not for some time.' Demiurge found that reasoning to be simple enough, there was no evidence that anyone passed in or out of the gate at all recently, and come to that, no evidence that the trail was being maintained either. ' Scattered stones would have been swept aside by carts or travelers, even a race who prefer to stick to their mountains won't cut themselves off completely from the outside world. Trade was always a factor, so if not through this gate, then where? And why abandon a gate like this?'
"Demiurge?" Ainz asked.
The archdevil looked over his shoulder, "It is sealed with magic, My Lord. Yet the magic in question is unique. It isn't the standard enchantment. This is an example of Runecraft."
"You can break it, I assume?" Ainz asked rhetorically.
"Easily, the runes comprise a puzzle which require knowledge, but I can break the seal with my own power easily, or simply shatter the gate, it is only granite after all." Demiurge responded with a derisive snort.
"Then do so." Ainz commanded. Drawing back his hand, Demiurge punched the gate, the sound of shattering granite was like thunder over the mountain side and echoed all the way down to the valley below. Chunks of broken stone hurled within and smashed into yet more, smaller pieces as they cracked against the stone.
"Good work," Ainz said with a sharp nod, "now let's go visit the dwarves."
They then stepped inside, allowing the mountain and the darkness to swallow them both whole.
Volume 4 C11
Being engulfed in the darkness was no issue for Demiurge, if anything it was quite cozy being so surrounded by stone that one was nearly 'encased' in it. But behind him he could feel his Master's slowed steps. "Does the mountain not please you my Lord? Should I destroy it for you?" Demiurge asked, but Ainz answered that with a shaking of his head.
Being a high level human meant his eyes adjusted very quickly to the darkness, but it wasn't perfect or instant. Ainz quickly covered for the hesitation, "It isn't that… I'm merely… noticing something odd."
"My Lord?" Demiurge asked, his heart did backflips in his chest, a chance at hearing one of his Lord's insights was invaluable.
Ainz put his hand along the stone wall and began to trace it, searching for something to cover his words he bought time by asking, "Dwarves do not see in the dark perfectly, do they?"
Demiurge shook his head at that, "No… not to my knowledge." Then he gasped, "Brilliant, Lord Ainz! How could I have failed to grasp that this whole area has been completely abandoned!"
Ainz coughed into his hand, ' What?' He caught himself before he asked the question and instead said, "Show me what you have learned." Speaking as if he were a teacher to a student.
"Since the dwarves have little wood and we see no evidence of coal burning, they must use some form of magic to light the tunnels, but there is none here. If there is none here and the gate was completely sealed, it means they took whatever magic items they had here with them. They then abandoned the area completely, though why… I do not yet know." Demiurge said and touched the wall in the same way as his Lord did. ' Please be pleased. Don't let me disappoint the last of them!' Whether it was a plea inside his own mind or a prayer to the Godly father that had abandoned him, even Demiurge himself was unsure of what the thought really was.
He kept his face serene as he spoke and waited for his Lord to answer. "Yes, very good, that's it exactly, Demiurge. Well done." Ainz praised the archdevil, "Continue then, if we follow the path, as this is a mountain we must eventually find the dwarves themselves, assuming they are still alive."
"It was only a few years, My Lord, is it really likely that they were wiped out since Zenberu's last visit?" Demiurge asked, but his Master only shrugged.
"Who can say?" Ainz finally added and they went deeper into the long cavern, the walls were not at all smooth, but they had clearly been cut back a great deal and widened to allow groups to pass through.
' This is not the tunnel that Zenberu saw, there's no way… for that matter his winding path didn't seem the same either… the entrance was much smaller… but I can't go back.' Ainz was now absolutely sure that whatever way they'd come, it wasn't the way Zenberu went when he was here. ' My own lack of skill with memory reading did this… I need a subject to practice on… who knows when this might matter again.' Ainz resolved, and allowed Demiurge to remain in front.
The path carried on for what felt like hours, the stale air of the cave blew gently, but with the gate smashed at their backs, the temperature dropped by at least a few degrees. No one came to inspect the sound of the crash, however. ' Either they have no guards or they're really bad at their jobs. Nobody would have missed that racket!' Ainz felt his pulse start to race, a mix of natural fear and excitement blended together in his heart while he drew deeper and deeper into the heart of the mountain until he heard the vague noise of shouting and saw a light source reaching the wall around a distant corner. Immediately and without even thinking, both cast the same spell. [Signless] . Thus disguising their presence, scent, and sound from detection.
"Worthless layabout! It's fine to be lazy if you're strong, but you're simply too weak to get away with it! How are you supposed to represent frost dragons in battle if you have to waddle to get there?!"
Ainz flinched, and immediately disliked the speaker. Whatever the race, he recognized the denigration from parent to child. "You can't spend all day in there reading books! Get out, grow strong, bully some quagoa or even go frighten some dwarves. Work those worthless wings and flap up to the sky. How will you protect any treasure you get if you can barely move?! How will you even get treasure?!"
It was a rough, roaring sort of voice, far louder than the one in response. It was enough, however, to draw Demiurge and Ainz to a standstill and listen.
"Father, knowledge is its own strength!"
A thunderous echo reached the pair in the tunnel, the sound of a backhand striking a face, a great thud as the one struck fell down.
"How is that for strength! What good did your books do you then?! Did they shield you from pain?! Did they teach you how to stop me?! Did they do anything but provoke me to strike your face and knock you down?! They certainly didn't cushion your landing!"
The sound of scraping claws over stone and heavy breathing carried to where they stood, secreted well out of the way and unable to see around the corner, they could still tell what happened. The one hit was dragging themselves up to their feet again.
"They taught me that you're wrong! The dwarves built this great library of knowledge… they made this city you're so proud of. We just occupied what they built, we made nothing ourselves… who is really strong there, father! We need them, they don't need us!" The voice was smaller, but still defiant.
Another blow landed, and the cracking sound was worse, as was the sound of the thud which followed. There was no sound from the smaller voice after that. Silence.
The bigger, rougher voice sounded again, it was almost like it was spitting for a moment. "Foolish young boy… you're not only no dragon at all… and you're no son of mine. A disappointment, knocked out by a single blow, lie there and think about this in your dreams."
Neither Demiurge nor Ainz moved a muscle during that time, the sound of the retreating heavy steps shook the stone ahead of them, and finally Ainz used a message spell to communicate with the Guardian. " We're going to see the unconscious one… he seems more likely to listen."
" Gladly, My Lord. Absolutely gladly." Demiurge answered before the spell died and they emerged out into the open.
Volume 4 C12
Minutes later, Ainz and Demiurge found themselves staring at a rather fat looking young dragon. ' Frost dragon, judging by the pale blue coloration, and I suppose they have that extra fat to cope with the weather.'
Ainz reached out and touched the unconscious creature at the shoulder, though obviously very young it was still several times more massive than Ainz himself. With a large head that reminded him vaguely of a doberman, with a bony crest, broad thick shoulders and though its body seemed squat at a glance, it did have a fairly lengthy tail.
The creature was also injured. A cracked jaw at the very least.
Around them lay a city that seemed entirely empty of life, and was definitely not intended for dragons.
The buildings were uniformly carved out of solid stone, lighter granite and darker stone that might have been obsidian. Most noteworthy was that the buildings themselves, including the roads, were all carved out of the mountain itself and into a tiered structure that rose up like a pyramid. "What do you make of this city, Demiurge?" Ainz asked of the genius.
Demiurge looked it over with his tail lashing at his back. "It isn't Nazarick… but, My Lord, the dwarves must be excellent craftsmen. They clearly put abundant thought into the organization and management of this place, the construction maximizes living space for the population without needing to take up a great deal of open ground, and they use the open spaces above ground level very effectively. For a lesser race, they use what they have quite well."
It was high praise from the archdevil, and yet Ainz had to correct one thing. "Demiurge, I remind you that we are here with peaceful intentions, so behave with respect to our hosts, even if you must act the part. Conceal your contempt and don't say such things in front of them. Willing obedience is always better than forced obedience."
Demiurge stiffened, his tail froze as if caught in ice, "Of course, My Lord, I understand." The archdevil kept his face serene, and yet as his master's plan unfolded in his own mind… ' Of course… How foolish of me! How could I not see that this was his plan all along! I can't fail him! I 'must' show I understand!'
He gave a half bow with a hand over his heart, "Of course, My Lord, I comprehend a fragment of your master plan now, how foolish of me to not realize that was your grand design."
My grand design?! What is he talking about?' Ainz asked himself in a panic that forced him to put his back to Demiurge and pretended to look over the unconscious dragon youth.
He recovered quickly, "You understand it then… the plan?" Ainz asked vaguely as he could.
"Yes, a fragment only, but still, that inch in your endless ocean of knowledge, I now understand." Demiurge replied with a proud smile spread over his slender face.
"Good… then…" Ainz scanned the area and pointed to an open door, "In there, I presume the young one came out of that room, drag him back inside, we'll converse with him then."
"At once, My Lord." Demiurge replied and as Ainz headed toward the double door, Demiurge grabbed the unconscious dragon's tail and dragged him inside.
The sound of claws scraping along the floor was the only noise other than their footsteps for several seconds as they entered the room. Demiurge yanked the dragon forward, sending the bloated body of the monster sliding steadily forward until he came to a stop at a wooden wall full of books where he hit with a relatively soft 'thud', meanwhile Ainz shut the door behind them both.
The unconscious body remained a crumpled heap while Ainz walked over to it, with the thick stone doors closed behind them there was little risk of being overheard. But still, desiring some certainty of privacy he removed a scroll of silence from his inventory and used it. The third tier scroll was barely worth anything, but still he felt the pang of parting with the magic item as the blue flames consumed it to activate the spell.
"How soon before your farm goes into production, Demiurge?" Ainz asked, and Demiurge had a toothy smile to flash his way.
"As soon as I return. There wasn't much of a criminal element left in E-Rantel, but there were some in prisons in the Kingdom which we can easily acquire for labor and production purposes." The archdevil said with pride.
"Good, I don't want our scroll supply to be threatened." Ainz replied while he removed a healing scroll from his pocket dimension.
"Of course, My Lord. I will redouble my efforts when we return." Demiurge promised. His tail lashing swiftly like an angry cat's at his back. ' Is he unhappy with our pace… was that a warning that he might leave us?!' It was so difficult to get a handle on the mind of the last Supreme Being, but at least there was no cold sweat for now to give away his fears.
"See that you do. I have faith in your abilities, Demiurge." Ainz said, and at his back, Demiurge's heart soared.
Ainz however, could not see that. He stood over the injured dragon, extending one hand over the head, he activated the scroll. It opened, caught fire, and blue flames licked at his gloved hand. It roared without a sound and burned without heat until the scroll was no more. Instead, a gentle whitish blue light engulfed the creature and pulsed like a bioluminous bug for several seconds.
Under Ainz' own eyes, the jaw began to knit back together where it was damaged and the crimson blood that stained the surface of its ice blue scales began to disappear. While the jaw hung somewhat open, it was clear a tooth had broken, shattered into a jagged ruin far different than the curved, knife-like teeth in the rest of his jaw.
That injury too, despite being somewhat older, healed as well.
' I wonder how often the big one hits the little one… probably a fair bit. Now that the spell fades…' Ainz watched the less than obvious take place, other darker scales began to lighten as the spell's effects started to fade away. Thus, he suspected something unpleasant. ' Those were bruises, bruises that ran rather deep. Didn't they indicate that they were parent and child before?' Ainz asked himself, recalling the conversation. That did definitely seem to be the case.
A distinct dislike for the elder dragon settled into his guts. He tried to imagine himself acting that way… to imagine raising a hand to hurt his Shalltear, or his Albedo, or his Aura, or Mare, or Demiurge, or the other children of his friends. The very thought of inflicting injuries on them, it was rotten in his gut. Rot, bile and sick disgust at the very idea.
Thus imagined, a swelling of pity for the youngling at his feet rose up. "Should I wake him, My Lord?" Demiurge asked when the spell faded to nothing.
Ainz thought it over. "No… no, let him rest for now, when he wakes up we will have many questions and many things for him to do. But for now he may rest peacefully."
"As my merciful Lord commands." Demiurge said placidly.
And, in silence,they waited.
Volume 4 C13
Hejinmal woke up to find something unexpected, and it was so very unexpected that for just a moment he was convinced, ' I have not woken up at all, this must be just another part of a dream…' He blinked several times, first slowly, then rapidly. However, each time he opened his eyes, the unexpected things were there, staring back down at him in turn.
' Perhaps I'm dead. What was the last thing to happen… What do I recall? Yes… father was angry… again. He hit me, I fell… then nothing.' The memory returned with its unpleasant quivering within his heart.
' Yes, I must be dead and these two are… who knows? I should ask.' The young dragon thought. It made sense, there was no pain left in his body, no bruises, no broken jaw, if anything, ' I feel quite refreshed.' He realized, and had to admit, ' Being dead isn't so bad so far, and my father isn't here… so that's even better… but then why does the land of the dead look like my room?'
The two staring down over him said nothing, seemingly waiting for him to give some sign of intelligence or aggression.
"Excuse me… good sirs… am I dead?" Hejinmal asked while his heart skipping a beat suggested that he wasn't, but two smaller beings leaning over a dragon made no sense in the normal world.
"No. You are definitely not dead. You were injured, quite a bit actually, but I took care of that." Ainz explained in a nobly sonorous voice, a male imitation of what he recalled the Draconic Queen used when addressing someone counted as a subordinate.
"I see… and… I am a dragon… I didn't end up as something else in another world?" Hejinmal asked and looked down at his limbs, then shook his head, neck and all. "Never mind, that was a stupid question… who would ever think of anything other than a God doing that?" He huffed and cold air spouted from his nostrils.
' You wouldn't believe me if I told you.' Ainz mused with a dry roll of his eyes while trying to ignore the proud way in which he felt Demiurge was looking over at him, with his back exceptionally straight and tail fairly bouncing with happiness.
"So… you healed me… I am myself… in my own home… so… are you not… not frightened of me? Isn't that the norm for small, two legged beings?" The dragon asked.
Demiurge's reaction was such that it caught Ainz off guard. "Mote of dust!" He hissed and seethed while steam rose from his body between the fibers of his fine suit. A wave of killing intent sprang from his body to engulf the young dragon, bringing about… the expected response.
Hejinmal froze, his body felt stabbed by a thousand waves of fiery lances, the small, slender two legged man in a southern style pinstripe suit with crystalline eyes seemed to grow to many times the size of the dragon's father, the sharp demonic face and features loomed inches away and promised death at the end of long suffering for another displeasing word.
There was no other bodily response that Hejinmal could offer but the instinctive, reflexive one.
His bladder loosened and he pissed on the floor beneath himself.
The young dragon cowed like a whipped dog with his head to the floor. "You will speak with respect to the Supreme Being in your presence, or the only noise to ever pass your lips again will be screams…"
"Forgive me…" Hejinmal said in a tiny, mouse-like squeak of a voice.
"Demiurge. The lesson is sufficient." Ainz said with a glance over at the archdevil.
The killing intent vanished as quickly as it appeared. "My Lord." Demiurge replied, solicitous again.
"Forgive my servant, he is zealous about how I am addressed." Ainz said to the now trembling dragon.
"As expected of a Mighty One." Hejinmal rasped out as he gave a fresh look over the pair. As all dragons did, he had a keen eye for value, and the clothing the white clad figure wore seemed to put new meaning to the word 'priceless'.
' A King, perhaps?' Hejinmal wondered.
"I am the ruling monarch of the Kingdom of Nazarick. You may call me 'Ainz Ooal Gown'." Ainz pulled Kingly Self-Reference pose number two, placing his spread open fingers over the center of his chest and giving a very small quarter bow forward with the upper half of his body. "I have come to speak with the Dwarven Kingdom but… I seem to find no dwarves." Ainz pantomimed looking around as if there were nobody to be found, and it did the trick.
"This one is Hejinmal, Mighty One… and thank you for healing me… which I also assume means you have no intention of killing me… so thank you also for that . As for the dwarves, they were driven away from here several years ago by the quagoa and my father, mothers, and siblings… not so much myself, but still, I saw it happen." Hejinmal did not raise his head, but he did look up at the pair.
The one in the white robes with golden trim seemed to be filled with an almost divine light, the most charismatic figure Hejinmal had ever come across, every word and gesture was profound. Had he not been utterly terrified, he would have stood up and begged for orders. ' Could he be more charismatic…?' If so, the dragon could not imagine how. With overwhelming wealth at least, not to mention power, a deadly escort, and his simple presence, Hejinmal was on pins and needles waiting for instruction or to be called into the Mighty One's service, his body shaking more with anticipation now than with his prior fear.
"I see… so they live, but they aren't here…" Ainz breathed a sigh of relief as it covered his clearly wrong navigation.
"Yes, it is as you say, Mighty One… but… I know the way to them… and will guide you… if…" Hejinmal hesitated, they were looking at him intently, it was unnerving, to feel watched from behind a mask, and through crystalline eyes.
"If?" Demiurge asked of the dragon, he watched the creature, fairly daring it to say a displeasing word.
"If you will accept me into your service!" Hejinmal hastily replied. "I can be of great use! I know everything about the quagoa, and most of what you'd want to know about the dwarves! I've read all about their history and culture. I can lead you to their vault where my father and mothers and siblings are…"
"You would betray your family?" Ainz asked, pretending not to have heard the prior incident.
"Family…? My Lord, dragons are held together by bonds of strength, if we can be held together at all. My father has no love for me, his mates, or his children… we're just tools. What could be more natural than a child abandoning a family that mistreats them? If I had confidence in my strength I would have left a long time ago. But I'm weak as far as dragons go so…" He hung his head, "You saw what marks were left on me. I read with glasses, I love books, not fighting… my father is clever, but has no love of wisdom or knowledge unless it makes him stronger. He feels only paternally enough to have not killed me… but beyond that… I am nothing to him. Not to be spoken to unless I am being given orders." Hejinmal felt frankly self pitying in saying what he did, but having never had the opportunity to say it, holding that all back was a bursting dam.
Demiurge listened and felt the world open up beneath his feet as the dragon's life mirrored his own. To be a tool of the Supreme Beings was one thing, that was as it should be. ' But…' He thought back and tried to recall some indication of regard from the one he thought of as Father, God, and Creator all at once, and the last time he saw the mighty Lord Ulbert. The black heart of the demon all but broke in his breast.
' Only one stayed… how am I different in this state… Yes, I am different in body… but in this state… Where is my father? Where is he? Had I uttered Hejinmal's words as my own, what could I say to refute them?'
There was one clear and true answer.
Nothing.
And the abyss of the mountain's depths were as shallow as a puddle compared to the chasm that opened in the archdevil's breast.
Volume 4 C14
Ainz felt his collector's instinct rise up, tingling in his spine that led to chills and a hungry kind of avarice. ' Treasury… Who knows what might be in there… of course I will have to deal with the other dragons, and those were powerful beings in Yggdrasil. But this world seems very underpowered. Caution must be exercised, but still, this is worth it.' He thought, however, the temptation to summon the other guardians… ' No, I don't want to appear weak… especially not now, not before Demiurge.'
Demiurge's mind ran faster than it ever had before, the black abyss of his own singular fear, that he might fail the one who still remained, the one left to give their lives purpose, it seemed to speed his mind up. Like a rock in free fall.
He began to make endless calculations about his Master's designs and desires… ' Obviously he intends to rule the dwarves, they are valuable… but what of these quagoa…?'
His Master, predictably, was several steps ahead of him.
"Tell me everything I need to know." Ainz said, and the young dragon quickly proved himself by obliging.
"My father wants to overthrow the frost giants and rule the mountains. For that, he gathered wives to produce children… and I… unfortunately, am considered a disappointment. But he believes in time that he can create enough of us to drive out the frost giants and secure a home for ourselves."
Hejinmal explained that and one thought sprang quickly to Ainz' mind. ' An army of dragons might be a problem… one rat is bad but easy enough to deal with, but a whole nest is something else again.'
"My father dominated the quagoa people that united under Pe Riyuro, and they act as his will, dealing with the business of gathering treasure and driving out the dwarves. They are their most hated enemies." Hejinmal spoke without hesitation, he might have even been called 'indifferent' but for all that calm, he never once removed his eyes from either his new Master or the powerful servant who seethed with malice just buried beneath the surface.
"What is a quagoa?" Ainz asked, the race not existing in Yggdrasil was utterly unfamiliar.
"A short race about the size of a dwarf, a little taller maybe, slightly hunched with white fur, sharp claws and jaws. They're intelligent, but before Pe Riyuro, they didn't produce much. Their bodies get harder when they consume precious ores, so they used to fight each other… from what I learned from them though, their leader got rid of that old system and put ore distribution into his own hands when he forced their clans to unite." Hejinmal stopped when the white robed figure was holding out a hand palm up.
"How many are there?" Ainz asked.
"Perhaps eighty-thousand spread across the mountains, but they've been gathering here for a long while to attack the remaining dwarven cities, there are perhaps a hundred thousand dwarves remaining. Most of the quagoa are already here, in a few months they'll make the last push and the dwarves will die in their last stronghold." Hejinmal said, and that brought Ainz up short. His hand slowly lowered, and he asked gently.
"When you say… 'here'… just what do you mean?"
"They live just outside of this area, My Lord. They're not allowed into this inner place, only my father and family come this way, but they're not even a half hour's walk on two legs." Hejinmal said it offhandedly, and Ainz turned an eye toward Demiurge.
' Yes… of course… that's his plan… I have to show him I anticipated at 'least' this much or he might be displeased!' Demiurge's mind raced for a solution.
' Quagoa are less valuable than dwarves but… that ability… what if they ate prismatic ore… what if they were 'made' to be loyal…?' Demiurge asked himself and turned a thought toward the dragons, ' Frost giants and dragons might both have their uses, but they must be humbled… both are too arrogant… thrown into dire straits…'
His Master's plan became obvious, so obvious that Demiurge's heart ached with loathing that it took his tiny mind so long to apprehend his Master's profound and deep thinking.
"Of course… Yes. Master I understand your will, if you will go with Hejinmal, I will begin to settle matters here." Demiurge promised and turning toward Ainz he gave a half bow with a joyful smile on his face to disguise the pain that went with his pride.
Ainz felt panic seize his mind, ' Plan? Will?! What is he talking about?!'
But Demiurge was plowing full steam ahead. "You, worm." The archdevil pointed to the submissive dragon.
"I will put a delayed seal on your mind, when you leave this place, you will be forgetting I was with our Master. You will not resist it's placement." Demiurge gave the order and the dragon did not move at all as the palm of the archdevil went down to rest on the scales between the dragon's eyes.
[Aspect of the Devil], [Forgotten Sin], [Memory Alteration] .
There was only the tiniest glow of magic, and it was done. ' That will hold just the 'knowledge' he needs to have. If only I could work with memory as well as my Lord did, to guide us to such a perfect place for his master plan!' The frustration ate at the inadequacy the archdevil felt, but he held his peace.
' I don't feel any different.' Hejinmal thought, but that was not nearly as concerning as the fact that the demon in front of him seemed utterly nonplussed by that fact.
The touch had been almost 'gentle', barely more than the weight of an eagle's feather on his scales, yet from just a touch he could feel the overwhelming power that lay within the being. A caress might become the precursor to a new meaning of pain.
Hejinmal knew it, and from the demon's crystalline expressionless eyes, somehow Hejinmal could sense that the demon knew that he knew it too.
' There are so many scary things in this world…' That was the uniform lesson that Hejinmal gleaned from the books he read. The Greed Kings, the Six Great Gods, and the others, all of them were vastly powerful and smacked around dragons the way adults slapped around children.
"You're going to see my father… aren't you, Lord Demiurge?" Hejinmal asked in a tiny, squeaky voice.
"Yes." Demiurge remarked.
"Then can I ask one very small thing, for which I will be eternally grateful?" Hejinmal held the plea on his tongue until the archdevil, more curious than anything, nodded his head without a promise.
Hejinmal brought one talon up to his own jaw, recalling the last of the many blows he'd taken there, the cracks and breaks, repeatedly having it healed, and asked, "Whether you kill him or not… can I ask you to break his jaw before you're finished with him?"
The request felt supremely 'right' to the archdevil, and in answer to the dragon's question he said a very polite, "That can be arranged."
"Thank you, My Lord." Hejinmal said with a semblance of serenity slowly coming over him at some small promise of revenge.
Then turning to Ainz, Demiurge said, "I suppose you will be taking your leave then, Master. I will be with you in a few weeks."
The panic in Ainz' mind hadn't diminished in the slightest, but it had shifted. ' How can I… no, I can't disappoint him… he doesn't know yet and this may make things easier…' For a moment, a supreme sense of self loathing overtook the man who once called himself Suzuki Satoru. ' If only I weren't such a coward where it counted most…'
He cursed himself, and stammered out, "Ah-yes, of course you understand, Demiurge. I will see you soon…"
Then with that, Ainz looked down at the still prostrated dragon and said, "Show me the way."
Hejinmal then rose up from the stone floor and led Ainz out of the room, leaving Demiurge to whatever his work would be.
Volume 4 C15
Hejinmal and Ainz walked out and remained quiet in their stroll for some time. Ainz couldn't help but feel a little bit claustrophobic within the hollowed out segment of the mountain. The hairs on his skin stood on end as they walked through the empty city.
It was quite beautiful, but notably the glowstones scattered about it seemed queerly placed. The illumination was haphazard at best, casting ample light in some places while being wholly inadequate in others. ' At least my vision is not seriously impacted.' Ainz thought before finally asking as they came to an intersection with no illuminating stones at all, "Why is the light the way it is? I assume these were for the dwarves' usage, but… it seems so oddly placed in so many areas."
"When the dwarves fled the area they took many glowstones with them, but there wasn't time for them to take all, so some were left behind, My Lord." Hejinmal replied, and they fell quiet again.
"Do you know what lies in the dwarven treasury?" Ainz asked, trying to conceal the avarice in his voice.
Hejinmal almost shrank to the stone beneath his feet again, his head at least, hung in apology. "Nobody knows. One of the first things my father did was have me search for a list or inventory of materials within, I scoured the books… It was the only time he valued them as I do. But other than a few legendary runecrafted items, some with four or even five runes, or stories told of more… but other than some specific gear? Nothing, no intact record survives in the capital city. Unless of course…"
"Unless?" Ainz asked.
"Unless it exists inside the treasury itself." Hejinmal answered the question and continued to lumber along.
"My Lord…" Hejinmal asked when they entered a more brightly lit area that revealed a long dark column that lay in the distance, a kind of dwarven highway, really just a narrow road wide enough for two carts to travel.
"Yes?" Ainz inquired. ' It really is impressive what they've done, but I don't like the cold… still, they've done an amazing job using every inch of space. The garden terraces, the well laid out cities… a biodome engineer couldn't have done better.'
"What will you do with me, when you're done with what you came to do here? Will I go back with you, or will you send me elsewhere?" Hejinmal asked.
"What would you like to do, if I gave you a choice?" Ainz asked the big waddling dragon.
"I want to read more books, if I have a choice, I want to go somewhere to do that… if you have a place where I can do that, then I would be overjoyed to enter your service in that capacity." Hejinmal replied, his tail actually 'wagged' almost as a dog's might.
"I think that can be arranged. I will put you under my dark elf twins. Aura tames magical beasts and would be delighted to have your service… Mare is an avid reader. Serve me well, and there will be more books to read than you could read in a thousand elven lifetimes." Ainz could make that promise easily enough, knowing that the Library of Ashurbanipal was in fact a text file dump from every non-copyright book known to human history.
Hejinmal began to trot, even skip, not ahead, but around Ainz, "Would you like a ride, My Lord?!" He asked with happiness overwhelming his heart.
A brief flashback came to mind of sitting on Shalltear, but given that this was a dragon, his innate gamer and adventurous spirit took over, and when the dragon flopped down onto the stone, he climbed on.
"Books, books… unlimited books… happy happy book time…" Hejinmal's head bobbed back and forth as he went on in a sing-song way and began to trot ahead again with Ainz on his back.
' Willing obedience versus forced obedience…' Ainz thought, and recalled the words of Punito Moe about a western ruler, ' What was his name… King Richard the something…'
'… So Richard went off to campaign in Ireland, and as soon as he, the one everyone was afraid of, was gone… everybody rose up in rebellion and brought him down. He ended up dying of thirst, locked up alone in a room.'
' Loyalty, love and loyalty… Fear has its place, but making myself a ruler revered by my subjects is the best way to ensure I rule no matter how strong I or others are.' Ainz reiterated the lesson in his heart, and that turned his mind to Demiurge.
' He didn't get to answer me before… perhaps he avoided it… does he suspect anything?' Ainz asked, but he ruled that out. The looks he caught of the archdevil were closer to worshipfulness, though it felt like more lay there than was evident on the surface.
' This is the problem with the clever ones, you can never tell what's really true about their inner thoughts…' Ainz sighed, his heart was aburst with affection for Ulbert's son, but it was impossible to be unaware of the inner darkness that lay within the Guardian.
Ainz tried to remain neutral, but the horrific and brutal conflict between the lizardmen and the frogmen left its mark, the blood and brutality, the entrails, the screams of horror, the pain… the way the lizardmen rushed through the frogmen homes slaying everyone they could get ahold of.
The retching feeling of vomit coming up was still fresh in Ainz' mind. ' To secure control I have to play these games… I can't be just a conqueror… but it's a sickening thing to do. I'll have to keep Demiurge under some degree of control however. If I leave it to him, who knows what he will do?'
It was easy to drift off into wayward thoughts, they passed through the long dark shadows beneath endless miles of stone sky, occasional lights of glowstones cast their endless brightness over an area only to fade away to nothing minutes later when Ainz left them far behind.
Shadow and stone with bits of light became repetitive, interesting as the architecture was from an aesthetic perspective, and what it told him about dwarven society, it didn't get him what he needed. Nor was it enough to occupy his mind.
' What plan? What plan does Demiurge imagine I've got… since when has there been a plan?! I just thought Runecraft was interesting and useful as a product and wanted to gain control over it… why must they always make me more than I am?!' His fingers shook so hard that he removed them from Hejinmal's back and balled them up into fists to rest them on his own thighs instead.
' Okay… think, Ainz. Think. First… we have to find some way to break it to Demiurge about what has happened. I have to minimize any harm he might do… without ruining whatever plan he thinks I have. I've got to form a friendly agreement with the dwarves. And I've got to do something about the quagoa so they don't pose a future problem for me, or maybe even turn them into an asset. Okay… 'great' now how do I do all that? You've got time to think about it at least.' Ainz felt his fretting diminish as he laid out his objectives in simpler terms, and thought about the blessing of having time to do it. Distant problems were always easier on the mind than present and close ones.
Then Hejinmal curled his neck around to look back at his rider, "My Lord… we'll be at the dwarven capital in a few hours, I hope my jogging for a little did not disrupt your comfort, but when you tensed up a few hours ago I assumed you were impatient."
Ainz snapped out of his reverie, "No… no it's fine." He said with haste, giving approving nod number two, a half nod toward the dragon's face.
But within, despite forcing himself to relax, all he could think was, ' Oh… great.'
Volume 4 C16
Demiurge put himself beyond the sight of his master as swiftly as he could, but when he was out of range of sight, or sound, or scent, when he was sure that Lord Ainz could not be 'aware' even if he had knowledge of it, Demiurge watched them go. A lesser being would not have known why the dragon's words had touched a nerve.
' But Lord Ulbert… my maker… desired a being of boundless ability… serene in evil to better serve their needs…' Demiurge had never once cursed his nature, never once taken anything but pleasure in his own supreme intellect. But watching Lord Ainz disappear into the distance, it was an aching existential horror as if he watched his own maker vanish again, and knowing that wasn't what he was seeing made it no better.
How one's own nature and knowledge created an inventive creature of torture, and now that nature was turned upon himself. He forced his body to turn around, to show his back to the vanished dot of his Lord and the new servant, and yet he looked over his shoulder, even held a hand out, shaking in the dark like one of the prey he'd acquired for scroll production. ' I can imagine ten thousand ways to succeed, why can't I stop imagining a hundred thousand ways each plan could fail?!'
Demiurge gritted his teeth and lowered his hand, then turned away in full, ceasing to look backward into the dark that did not bar his crystalline demonic eyes. Ahead of him lay his destination, his certainty was absolute. ' Pompous beings place themselves at the center of their world, so he will be in the center where the capital lies. It takes a Supreme Being for the world to form around them on its own.' He thought with smug pleasure, the walk was made more pleasant by that thought, and for the time being his grim thoughts and fears could be left behind.
Nothing about the depths of the shadowy mountain troubled the archdevil, the silent buildings did not have the charm of terror filled screams of pain. But what lesser beings would have called 'eerie silence' was grave-like, and brought some comfort to the heart of the archdevil in its own peculiar way.
Between the functional square stone buildings carved into the rock itself lay the widest road, and it was that road which Demiurge followed, there were fewer glowstones in this area than in most, which diminished the admiration Demiurge had for the innovative species' work. ' Their leaders were quick to flee. They had enough time to take the glowstones from this area… they may be useful craftsmen, but perhaps the Quagoa will make better troops once tamed.' The plan was already shaping in the archdevil's mind, each little facet of the stone world which surrounded him filled him with more ideas.
The cool, stale air had a faint whistle to it as he passed by the more narrow alleyways, left alone, it would howl endlessly, the only scream in a dead city devoid of life.
That in and of itself was a curiosity. ' No rats, no bats, none of the creatures I would expect in a place like this… I think it very likely that the dragons have the quagoa act as pest control… that or the quagoa eat such creatures.' He turned up his nose at the thought of eating such filthy creatures. ' I'll feed them better while I'm breaking them.' He promised himself that as he spied the distant great double doors which towered over many buildings.
[Aspect of the Devil], [Invisible Tempter], [Thief of Souls], Demiurge used his skills and hopped atop the walls, it was almost a skipping motion, hopping from building to building until he reached his destination.
The sound of snoring, rough and not that far away, hit his ears. ' Good, they're here.' Demiurge thought and stopped to appreciate the place he was about to break into. A massive building with a curious looking mechanical lock on the front, there was a great double door which he had to crane back to see the top of. ' Overcompensating for something, are we, dwarves?' He wondered and laughed a little, adding the noise of his amusement to the whispering stale breeze.
He took a scroll from out of his pocket dimension, and used it. [Perfect Thief], he said to activate it. Blue fire consumed the hovering paper, and for a few minutes the archdevil had high level thief skills stacked on top of the middling ones added by his imp class. The lock, already more 'interesting' than problematic, was suddenly more like a cube meant to teach a child about shapes by matching objects to holes to fill it. His fingers worked it for a moment, it clicked, and the great treasures of the dwarves, guarded like a jealous lord's harem, were laid bare to him.
He penetrated the untouched space, parting the door and walking within to see what treasures he could find.
The archdevil expected to be disappointed, and he was. There were piles of gold, and copious sacred objects which faintly glowed with power… ' But not a single thing fitting for more than a middling Yggdrasil player.'
On the whole, he looked at this treasury as little better than a water closet.
' Absurd. To guard so strongly, things of such little value, and so little of it, other than their runecraft's unique properties, there is not much of anything worth bothering my Master about.' A bold statement to make if he had not seen Nazarick, for around the room there were stands full of armor of orichalcum, and adamantite, there were enchanted swords, spears, and axes. There were chests overflowing with coins of gold and silver… wealth enough for any ten common kings. But nothing of great worth in his eyes. ' At least they will make nice presents for Pandora's Actor, he's not particular about what magical objects he touches as long as they're magical and he can touch them.'
There was one thing of note… 'Runecraft', the thing his master coveted. There were plenty of well made runecrafted materials, and that was eye-catching because his master said it was. He could also see the one value it truly held above all else, even as a yet to be properly developed art.
' No resources, only time… what a stupid world, to not realize how valuable this is… if this is one of the 'talents', and runecraft skilled dwarves are rare… perhaps we can breed more of them? Perhaps we can select them for their power?' He wondered while picking up a long straight sword which had three runes emblazoned on it.
[Appraise Magic Item] . He cast the spell, and found it was enchanted for bleeding, burning, and pain. His opinion of the dwarves went up another notch. ' Sadistic. I like it.' A little amateurish, but to make a weapon out of pain itself wasn't a bad idea.
[Summon Evil Lord of Wrath] . The smell of sulfur briefly filled the air around him as his summoned servant appeared. A being of stone and flame, nearly nine meters tall with sharp dark stone fingers and flaming wings springing from his back, this was one of his most powerful servants. He was broad shouldered, had a sharp featured jaw, which when opened, revealed a maw of hellfire. From above his burning eyes four horns jutted and curved back behind his head, his thick, powerful pair of legs were as large around as a human body, and a miasma of evil surrounded him like an aura.
But he was not enough. [Aspect of the Devil], [Dominance of the Puppet Master] . Briefly the Evil Lord of Wrath's eyes lost all sense of intelligence, the bright burning orange fires within seemed to fade. But then it burned bright again as Demiurge took control. He moved the body around a little within the treasury, knocking over a few objects, coins, gems, the clattering and tumbling of armor. He chuckled a bit more, the Lord of Wrath's body was stronger than his own, even if it was of lower level, it was purpose built for battle, so it felt quite good to dominate and control the creature.
His sharp ears pricked up a bit, there was a noise in the distance, something heard his laughter and the noise of the treasury. A few of the more delicate objects, such as cloth tapestries, seemed to have broken or torn. ' It doesn't matter, there is nothing here that is a match for the creation of a Supreme Being.' Demiurge thought and with his mood improved, his tail danced about behind him, the metallic sheen occasionally glinting in the light of one of the few remaining glowstones which illuminated the interior and glinted off the many shinies present in the long rectangular room.
"What are you…?" A voice came from out of sight. "You don't sound or smell like either a quagoa or a dwarf. It's been a long time since I've seen a human… but unless they've changed, you don't smell like one of those either."
It was a rough voice, crude, frosty.
The claws of the beast scraped over stone, a lashing tail hit something of stone, the sound of a home becoming rubble echoed off the mountain interior.
Demiurge sat down in the lotus position with his legs crossed and his arms calmly resting on his thighs, fingers touching one another where his hands came close to each other and shut his eyes.
His control was complete.
The Lord of Wrath emerged from the treasury, and his booming, burning voice answered back.
"I am Jaldabaoth… Demon Emperor, the hidden one of the dwarven treasury. I have been asleep for a very… very long time, and now…"
A pause hung in the air.
"I've woken up."
Volume 4 C17
"I hope my Lord doesn't mind, but I've taken you by a somewhat longer route, we're close to the chasm now, there's a secret route that leads toward the Dwarf Kingdom's capital and lets us avoid the usual paths that the dwarves guard. I thought you'd like to avoid the usual fuss." Hejinmal explained and kept his head lowered as he spoke.
"The dwarves don't guard a route to their capital ?!" Ainz half exclaimed, the notion was as absurd as an unguarded guildbase.
"They seem to have forgotten it exists, I found a reference to it in one of their old books, but the quagoa don't know about it, so they and the dwarves have been slugging things out elsewhere as a result."
"You never informed your father?" Ainz asked, his dark eyebrow raised behind the mask.
Ainz could not read the faces of dragons yet, but the voice of the dragon sounded much like a dejected child, and the dragon would not meet his face, though Hejinmal curled his long neck around to look backward at his rider. "The dwarves make books. I never wanted them destroyed." Hejinmal replied with a morose air. "All I want to do is read… my father thinks it's stupid to be obsessed with anything but strength…"
"Being strong is important." Ainz responded tacitly.
"I know, My Lord." Hejinmal said as he trotted onward, his pace slowed as they spoke, though Ainz still rocked about atop the beast in a slow and steady rhythm. "But life is terrible as it is and books helped me get away from that… I can't help but want to be inside those pages instead…"
Ainz felt his affection meter shoot up several times over as Hejinmal unknowingly described the reason Ainz himself began playing Yggdrasil.
"That probably sounds foolish…" Hejinmal mumbled, but Ainz laid a hand on the dragon's flank.
"No. No it doesn't. Nothing lasts forever, and if you pass away having lived happily, are you worse off than if you pursued power and a life you didn't want and died unhappy as a result?" Ainz asked, and Hejinmal's eyes widened like saucers, he brought his head up closer to his Master's masked face.
"You're right… you are a truly wise King…" Hejinmal said with reverence, which was rewarded with Ainz' white gloved hand patting his head.
' I'm patting a dragon's head!' He cried inside his mind, his gamer happiness engaged to new heights, for the moment all stress vanished, even to the point that the aching wish for his friends to see this moment, didn't ruin it.
Hejinmal didn't seem to mind, he returned to watching the way ahead, if anything there was a spring to his step that had him bobbing his head back and forth quite contentedly. ' A King who understands me! My luck has turned!' The young dragon thought with joy in his heart that filled him with energy of the sort he'd never had in his life.
"You were saying before?" Ainz prompted, and that finally brought Hejinmal back to reality again.
"Oh, yes, My Lord… you'll see the long chasm… it's so deep it seems to go all the way down to the center of the world."
"Has nobody ever ventured to its depths?" Ainz asked.
Hejinmal shook his head and neck with vigor enough that it was remarkable it didn't break. "No, if there is any record of that, My Lord, the dwarves have lost it. There have been many expeditions to the bottom, but nobody has ever returned alive. I've read about many hypotheses about why, but nothing going down there ever comes back up."
It was just then that the chasm came into view, a great wide crag, like glass that had something dropped on it, the jagged crag was a bowshot's distance across, and if the interior seemed dark before, then the chasm made the understone realm appear to be high noon on a clear day in Re-Estize by comparison.
Darker than pitch, the inky depths were like an ocean painted black, his explorer spirit grabbed hold of Ainz and would not let go. "Stop." Ainz whispered.
Hejinmal obeyed and Ainz looked back at the hidden route. In retrospect it was little more than a broken down cave hidden by rocks that jutted out at just the right angles to hide it on either side, and far away from any area anyone had any reason to travel.
But the interesting thing was the chasm itself. He approached the abyss, his shoes slapping lightly on the stone, but there was nothing to stop the small echo other than the interior walls.
"My Lord, you shouldn't go too close, you might fall." Hejinmal said in a small voice.
"I can use flight magic." Ainz said, but raised Hejinmal a notch in his loyalty meter for the concern.
He stopped at the edge nonetheless and stared down into the abyss.
The great crag held Ainz' full focus, He took out a lamp from his dimensional storage, a worthless trash item from his beginning days, lit the candle within, and tossed it down the supermassive hole.
He watched, the light pulsed back and forth, in and out from the central wick, the fire bouncing off the nearest wall, and shrinking more and more into the depths.
He listened with care, even holding his hand beside his ear and leaning over the edge with his head tilted to one side.
There was nothing, no sound. ' Nothing… if even 'I' can't hear the noise down there, how far down must it go?'
Ainz knew enough about geology from one of his guildmates to know that this was a truly ancient place even by geological standards. ' This may very well be as old as the mountain itself, and if things form at the same pace here as in my world, then this chasm may be millions of years old.' His breathing picked up a pace at the sheer awe inspiring moment of looking into the deepest depths to the invisible heart at the bottom of the world.
"One of the books I read said that it is bad luck to look into the abyss, they say if you look long enough, the abyss looks back at you…" Hejinmal approached with several hesitant steps.
"If it does, I will make it blink first. My friends and I know what it is to walk an abyss, beautiful, majestic, deadly… and make it known, make it ours ." Ainz said, and straightened up. "I want to go down there, and do it again…"
"My Lord!" Hejinmal shivered and shook his head, "That would be too dangerous to do without an escort that can help you, and I'm useless for that!" He eeped out in a very undragonlike way, and to that Ainz had to laugh.
' How old is he, to speak of something like that… how truly strong…?' Hejinmal asked himself, but could not bring himself to vocalize it. ' What lies beyond the mask?' He dared not ask the question when the King approached him again.
Ainz patted Hejinmal's shaking blue scaled shoulder, "No, I know that. But what an adventure it will be one day." Ainz said not even realizing he'd already made the promise to venture into its depths until he had remounted Hejinmal and they were well on their way to the city again.
When he did realize what he'd said, his conviction crystalized. ' Yes, exploring this is what my friends would want to do… and me too… how can I pass this up?' He asked, knowing he definitely would not.
Hejinmal however, politely and subtly, put them well away from the edge of the deep gorge as they rode on, and the dwarven city finally came into view.
"Hejinmal, fly. We want to give a powerful impression here." Ainz gave the order, and the mount did not even think to question it.
He spread his wings, flapped several times, they bobbed up and down in the air, and then began to go forward, his blue tail batted about in the air at his back drawing them ever closer to the distant city walls.
The light of glowstones laid into the walls came into view, going from little dots to a brighter, but still soft white hue.
The dwarves on the walls went from invisible in the distance, to tiny dots, to moving people as they came into focus.
And as he drew closer, they too finally caught sight of the dragon soaring toward their walls.
Before Ainz could even shout toward them, all hell broke loose upon the walls. Panic seized their souls, fear consumed their hearts.
And the dwarves cried out for salvation to whatever mountain god they worshipped, their stubby bodies rushing too and fro, while a massive bell somewhere out of view called all the city to face what they believed was a coming terror.
' Perhaps I should have remained on the ground.' Ainz thought, and with a gentle push of his hand, he gave a subtle order. At the very slight pressure Hejinmal took the hint and began their descent.
Volume 4 C18
"Are you one of my servants… My memory… fuzzy still…" Jaldabaoth hissed.
Silence followed. "I am Olasird'arc, ruler of the frost dragons and future master of this mountain!" The dragon bellowed back, outraged by the suggestion he might be a servant, the sound of his coming picked up, the crashing became like rolling thunder over the sky of stone.
Jaldabaoth waited, his hand on his head, he waited for the prey to come to him.
When the frost dragon appeared, he towered over the demon, his scales a dirty icy shade, his wings on his back beat at the air to create a hurricane-like wind… and Jaldabaoth was unmoved.
"Yes… I remember… the depths… I came from the depths… I ruled this mountain until the Rune Scholar trapped me…" Jaldabaoth shook with wrath, "But now I am free!" He began to laugh, striking a melodramatic pose, his wings out and arms stretched out toward the stone above. "Free again! But… my army…?" His arms dropped down… "Where is my army…?"
Olasird'arc cocked his head, never having seen a demon before, he wasn't sure what they smelled like, looked like, or tasted like… but the creature under his eyes was clearly quite a bit larger than any other two legged figure he'd ever seen. And a vague memory of hearing demons being described as fiery beings stirred in his mind.
' If he says he's a demon, why argue with him? It's as good a label as any.' The frost dragon thought, it wouldn't matter anyway, ' I will crush it.'
"Father, what is it?" His children and wives had, driven by their own curiosity at the unfamiliar smell, come to see for themselves.
"I must find my army… they too were confined by the Great Sage… tell me… wyrm…" Jaldabaoth looked up at the frost dragon, "Have you seen my Armageddon Evil…? Bring it to me, and you can be my mount rather than my rug. It should be here somewhere in the depths…"
Olasird'arc was torn between curiosity and raw, unbridled fury. He reacted instinctively, raking out the claws of his foreleg toward the insect that had dared call him a mount. "Insect!" He roared, and Jaldabaoth turned into a shredded pile of burning stone.
Or should have.
Instead pain lanced up Olasird'arcs body when the hand of the demon caught him just beyond the base of the claw and squeezed.
"Impudent whelp!" Jaldabaoth roared, yanked forward, then bringing his other arm across his body, he swung it out as Olasird'arc was yanked forward, and kept his promise to Hejinmal.
He cracked the dragon across the jaw with the back of his hand and shattered the bone therein, sending the dragon toppling over with a thunderous crash into the stone.
Pain lanced through Olasird'arc's body as the burning hot stone hand struck his scales and shattered the bones they protected. His mates and children looked on in horror, they scrambled back with the instinctive fear of the strong. ' I have to get back up… hurt this thing… kill this overgrown bug!'
"I asked you a question, big blue wyrm. Where is my Armageddon Evil? And…" He looked around seemingly confused, "We are in a dwarven city, but where are the dwarves… where are their quagoa? I owe them both great pain." Jaldabaoth turned his back on the dragon, seemingly indifferent while the would-be ruler of dragonkind struggled to rise again.
Fearing what might happen if the demon went unanswered, one of the others spoke up, "Dwarves… they were driven off by the quagoa, we know nothing of the scholar or the sage…"
Jaldabaoth looked behind him, his face was fixed, but his eyes reflected curiosity, "The Rune Scholar, the inventor of that hateful magic, Runecraft. And the Great Sage… the first great caster… how can you be so… ignorant…?" It was an almost academic question, like a teacher baffled at the stupidity of a student.
"What 'year' is it?" Jaldabaoth demanded. "What about my enemy, the source of sages, the Kingdom of Nazarick… what about them?"
The dragons, as baffled as they were full of fear, traded expressions of confusion.
Jaldabaoth stared at them as if waiting for the fog of stupidity to lift.
Olasird'arc was on his feet then, and he told Jaldabaoth about it by way of a gust of frost breath towards the fiery demon.
Jaldabaoth whirled on the dragon as it came close. "Eh puh ent ool! I ah Oohliardak!" Olasird'arc shouted incomprehensibly thanks to his broken jaw which hung limp and useless.
To prove his boldness and strength, and by coincidence his foolishness, the towering frost dragon approached, his great height allowing him to look down on the flaming demon below as he hit the creature with everything he had.
Jaldabaoth however, did not linger. He shot forward faster than the dragon's eyes could see, his fist striking into Olasird'arc's leg at the knee and shattering it like glass.
The dragon howled despite the broken jaw as he toppled. "You're bigger than your power, wyrm." Jaldabaoth wasted no time, he stepped on the dragon's leg and walked over top of him, making his way under the horrified gaze of the would-be ruler of the dragon's family until he reached the tail.
He then grabbed it at the tip, and began to swing him about like a club.
Stones shattered, homes became rubble, the thundering noise from before became like that of a raging storm that would never stop, swinging the dragon around, back and forth, shattering Olasird'arc's face into splinters from the sheer force of it all.
Olasird'arc struggled and flailed with his limbs, but the force of the swing kept his entire body stretched out taut, the world of stone spun around him as he grew dizzy, his vision blurred as blow after blow against the rock broke more and more of his bones.
He lost sight in one eye as an outcropping corner caught it and tore the eyeball in its socket. Lightning agony brought a scream of agony as the remaining good eye caught sight of the blur as the demon laughed with sadistic bliss, smashing bones within the giant body as if they were mere twigs. The rest of his clan scattered while the father and founder of the band became a club to be used against them.
"You do make a good club…" Jaldabaoth remarked in passing, blue blood sprayed about, cast off like raindrops to stain the area around him, it was too much for the clan, and without his strength to compel their unity… his three mates and all their children were broken from their stupor and fled, leaving him to his fate.
Jaldabaoth, seemingly bored with the use of the dragon as a club, grabbed the tip of the tail with both hands, spun him around a few more times, and flung Olasird'arc toward the stone above. The dragon body proved to be quite enduring, and between his innate toughness and the force of the throw, he shattered the mountain open.
His broken body sailing far off into the distant night, Jaldabaoth stopped and looked into the great deep. "No! It can't be!" He bellowed out, "Why are those stars there?! Why?!"
The bellow carried off to be heard by the retreating dragon clan, and only when they were well out of sight and sound, did Demiurge pause his act as Jaldabaoth to congratulate himself. ' That will do… I'm sure my Lord will be pleased with my 'opening act'.'
Volume 4 C19
In the heart of quagoa territory, once the heart of dwarven territory, the mighty chief inspected their new harvest grounds. Lizards and other creatures tasty to the quagoa were being raised in captivity for the first time.
' Revolution.' That was the word he heard his people say sometimes as he kept husbanding his people's strength. With food of that sort, in addition to the diet of ores for strong children from capable families, the quagoa grew stronger every year.
' Our numbers continue to grow.' Pe Riyuro thought with great satisfaction as he passed by one of the dwarf slaves that, clad only in rags, groveled when he passed them by to inspect another pen.
This one had bats. Another with a small rodent species. Another pen held actual crops fit for growing inside of a mountain, a delicate moss that took only minimal moisture but turned out to be both tasty and nutritious.
The more distant dwarves who tended the crops did not have to stop their work, but they did pause long enough to bow their heads. None of them had beards.
' Cutting those to shame them turned out to be more effective than I ever dreamed, much like the decision to keep the captives alive to work. It turns out that the humans were right. A good labor force is essential to progress.' He mused but kept the thought private.
Everybody believed these were only his ideas and his alone. ' As long as they believe in my infinite wisdom and foresight, half my power base is secure.' He disciplined his mind again as his escort took him down the line.
The stone road of the once great dwarven city passed between areas that once held houses. Now the buildings were gone, the walls leveled and turned on their sides to create perfect flat surfaces on which to grow crops and raise food. The pasture under the mountain was the next big project.
"In a few more months, sire, we'll have enough food to lay a full blown siege on the dwarven capital, as soon as the last outlying settlements are broken on the other side of the gorge, only the capital will remain. We estimate that if we can keep them confined in their city for a period of six months, then they will start to starve. We aim to have one year's worth of supply prepared before that happens."
Their steady feet fell with their waddling gait, at roughly one and a half meters tall they were not big, even Pe Riyuro knew the truth that most of his people couldn't admit to themselves.
' As races of this world go, we are among the weaker ones, not much stronger than humans, and other than high resistance to cutting weapons, we're not greatly more powerful than dwarves. But we can still win… and we will. Even if we must submit to the dragons for now.' Something had to be made of that, sooner or later.
' I need to have our people bred for resistance to breath weapons and tougher hides against claws… with that and our numbers…?' The chief thought and imagined his quagoa climbing up the body of a dragon, prying open its scales and tearing its flesh out as it flailed while the things he looked down on, devoured him like ants on an injured lizard.
The open area had a clear view for a very long way, the shadows cast by captured glowstones were preferable to the light itself, but the slaves needed at least some light to work. So they granted them a bit, though it hurt their eyes enough still, forcing them to squint in the low light, about that, he did not care.
Some buildings remained on the fringes, and the chief pointed to one of them, "How full?"
They were the biggest buildings on the fringes, turned into impromptu 'granaries' with preservation magic added to hold lizard meat as well as moss and other foodstuffs kept fresh for later use.
"Over half right now, my Chief." The minor functionary replied and wrung his hands together, bending slightly forward in submission, his pulse throbbed with the hope that his chief would be pleased with their progress.
Both of their bellies rumbled at once.
"Would you like to try some of our meat, my Lord?" The functionary asked.
"Yes… yes I would." He said, and at a clicking of his claws a dwarf slave jogged over and prostrated himself on the stone.
"This one begs to know how to please his Masters!" The dwarf half shrieked. The shaved faced dwarf had a criss cross of scars on his face, simply put, he wasn't starved, but he was marked with many scars that proved no magic had been used to heal injuries done to him.
' Broken, well and truly broken…' Pe Riyuro mused with satisfaction. The stumpy ones he kept had a mixed bag of treatment, but all had the rebellion snuffed out of them sooner or later.
"Food, lizards, be quick about it." The functionary replied, and the dwarf popped up to his feet and jogged away, returning moments later with a dwarven made stone box holding many fresh, living lizards. The stumpy dwarf grunted and set it down before them, then prostrated himself before the Masters to wait in silence while they ate.
"We'll sit, and take our time. A good meal shouldn't be rushed, and you seem to be doing well." Pe Riyuro added, and a heavy sigh of relief escaped the subordinate.
… An hour later…
Pe Riyuro was salivating over yet another delicious squiggly lizard. It crawled around on his claws, its tiny legs carried it round and round the hand that rotated under it. The lizard reached the end of the furry clawed hand, jumped to the next one and the chief Pe Riyuro of the quagoans began the process again.
' Always the same game, and yet I never tire of it.' He thought as the little white legs scrambled along in a desperate bid to escape its fate. The legs were starting to slow.
Not by much.
But a little bit.
Some of his saliva dripped past the gaps in his sharp maw and fell to splash on the little white lizard's back. Its milky eyes were useless so it had no idea why it was going nowhere.
Blind.
Blind to its fate.
Blind to the game of its captor.
The little lizard's tail wiggled, Pe Riyuro traced a single finger claw over its back. The frantic lizard redoubled its efforts, scrambling on one turning hand after the other without ever moving an inch away from the hungry quagoan chieftain.
' Almost time.' He thought. This one was near the record.
"One thousand and one." He said in a hoarse whisper.
"One thousand and two." He added as he rotated his hand again. The little lizard's tiny chest was pounding, its tiny head craned up on the neck, it could hear Riyuro breathing over him.
A few feet away from the chief, one of his comrades plucked a wiggling lizard from a box, tossed it into his mouth, and closed his maw, killing the thing instantly. A leg dropped with a wet 'splat' to the stone floor, but the rest of it slid down the other quagoa's throat easily.
"One thousand and three… four… five… six ." Pe Riyuro said and stopped counting. The lizard collapsed on its belly, its legs no longer moving, its chest pounding, but it could run no more.
' One more step… you wonder if one more step might have saved you?' He thought and plucked the exhausted lizard up by its tail. It mustered one feeble wiggle, blessedly blind to the sight of the chief's teeth and maw, it still felt the hot breath wafting over it as it was lowered to be tenderly placed on the chief's tongue.
With no more strength, it lay limp on the bed of flesh in Pe Riyuro's mouth as the jaw closed, crunched into his limbs and rent his flesh asunder. Not even a single muscle moved as the taste of blood hit Pe Riyuro's tongue and the limbs were severed. The little lizard slid down his throat into his stomach while still alive.
It wiggled again, creating a little fluttering tickle in the chief's stomach.
Then it stopped moving and did not start again.
"Delicious." He said and licked the flecks of lizard blood from his lips to savor every bit of flavor.
He might have chosen to indulge in another, but the force of a hurricane wind hit him, nearly knocking him off his feet and the shadows of the city under the mountain deepened. He glanced up and saw the impossible.
Fear.
Fear on the face of dragons that were descending to where he stood.
His blood ran cold, and he could not look away.
AN: To that latest reviewer complaining about, 'checks notes' one extra email with the… what was it… free material, that you presumably have enjoyed for the length of five novels now?
Congratulations. You made my already shitty day, a little bit worse. Thanks for that. Next time you have something that trifling to complain about… try 'NOT' doing that.
This novel took almost two months of writing for four hours per day and totals about 70,000 words. My last Author Note was to celebrate reaching 100 chapters on Volume 7 which is almost 200,000 words in length and has, like this one, comprised HUNDREDS OF HOURS worth of effort. And that 'review' was how you decided to respond, the chapters are too short and the author has ten sentences of his own to say…? THANKS. JFC… between the occasional nasty inbox and this, I think I've had it for a bit.
Maybe I'm taking this too much to heart because it's just a SHIT day all the way around.
Maybe I'll feel differently in a week, but I think I need a break from FFN, too much nastiness lately. I went ahead and dropped two weeks worth of updates for y'all in advance. I'd do more, but I can only put up with so much formatting effort with FFN's shitty system.
Volume 4 C20
Ainz landed his mount, and then patted the flanks of the dragon. "Stay here. Move as little as possible until someone comes out to greet us." Ainz gave the command, and Hejinmal replied with barely any movement of his mouth.
"Yes, My Lord."
They didn't have to wait long, great bells and drums called the whole city to alarm, ' I wonder if they consider this to be 'night time' or early morning?' A minor curiosity of no importance, as he waited and waited while the guards on the wall doubled and redoubled.
The stale air under the mountain was tense to say the least, the dwarves in their masses ready with weapons drawn, while Ainz sat on an overweight dragon just beyond the reach of any non-enchanted armaments, keeping totally silent.
' I wonder how long it will be before they send someone out?' Ainz pondered. It was the more important question by far, compared to his last one. As an undead being, he was fairly sure he wouldn't care, or would have been bold enough to approach the walls himself. But in a human form, his innate shyness asserted itself at the moment of awkwardness.
' The dwarves Zenberu described were friendly… this seems less than that… though he arrived alone and from an expected path. What would I think if a stranger showed up flying on dragonback out of nowhere? Nothing good, probably. I should have told Hejinmal to take the public path, perhaps then I would look less suspicious. I can't criticize him for it, he was trying to please me. At best, I'd be a bad boss if I blamed him now after going along with it. Even if he isn't from Nazarick, I have to set a good example for the children of my friends. Especially Demiurge… given the things he said before.' Ainz reprimanded himself in his own heart and decided to treat the awkward moment between himself and the dwarves on the wall as a punishment.
A punishment for himself for not properly directing his subordinate, and not thinking about what lay on the other side of that decision.
Still the strained moment just kept going.
Avashi Terma, King of the Elves, reclined in comfort while an elven woman with a grumbling belly fed him a grape he didn't really care about. "Are you hungry, worthless woman?" He asked with cold, cruel eyes turned up unfeeling to where she stood.
She gave a tiny nod. Her once lustrous golden hair was now limp and had split ends. He could see every bruise on her body where he'd hit her before. He stretched out, his broad, powerful body lay over the purple couch with the lower half back that let him prop himself up to a half seated position.
"How long has it been since you've eaten anything, worthless woman?" The elf king inquired with seeming disinterest.
"T-Two weeks, my King." She replied.
It was likely longer, she was more waifish now, elven women had become broader and hardier thanks to so many of them having at least some of his bloodline added to them over the centuries. Thus they often misjudged the length of time involved in their own suffering, thinking it less time than it truly was.
' A pathetic fraction of my power… if I want to rule this world, I need something better than these worthless ones.' He felt his loins begin to stir.
"Then will you try harder?" He asked of her, "Entice the King and try to bless me with a strong child… and I'll feed you again."
This one had held out, if he was any judge, isolated in his palace without the light of the sun, or sight of the moon, for almost two months with no food. Her resistance to his advances when he chose her were almost 'cute'. But starvation usually worked.
And it did again as her mouth descended to his loins. ' She held out longer than the last dozen or so… maybe she'll produce something worthwhile.'
That made him think of the child he'd lost. The one taken from him.
The woman of the Theocracy, their 'trump card'. The phrase made him laugh, she'd been tricked, captured, and he'd raped her until she fell pregnant with his child. The fight she'd put up hadn't been a bad one… but even so he made her into a mere broodmare.
Until her rescue. His lips curled up in anger so fierce that he ignored the elf woman with her lips around his rod, ' The child is mine, they really ought to give her back…' The woman was long dead now, and that was a sore point too. ' She should have given me dozens of children… such a waste.'
That made him think of the woman he now had, and his shaft was now ready for her. He wasted no time, she mounted him and did the frenzied mating act while he reclined and did nothing but wait and watch her body's desperate act.
Her stomach rumbled again, and did several more times before he released.
King Avashi Terma pushed her off of him the very next moment after it was over, sending her to land with a crumpled thud on the stone floor. "Now get out, go and try to do something useful with my gift, as I am a generous King I will summon you again… and again… and again… until your cycle ends. If you fail at your task… I see no reason to waste food on you." She looked up at him with absolute horror on her face.
Starvation was a slow and painful way to die. "Regret your stubbornness as you get out." He said, and slapped her as she rose to her knees, sending her tumbling to her back. The angry crack of bone and her sudden cry of pain suggested she was more injured than usual, but the yelp vanished. She scrambled to her feet and ran, leaving only tears in her wake as she was escorted back to holding by a pair of pity filled guards.
Volume 4 C21
Chaos consumed the council chamber of Feoh Ger. "Someone flew here on a frost dragon! They can only be working with the quagoa!" The Forgemaster's meaty fist pounded on the table, his thick lips moved rapidly while he spat out the words. "We should send out guards to drive him away or kill him!"
"You say that, but he is only sitting there, outside of our reach but in sight of our city, and he's done nothing but that, maybe he wants to talk. He doesn't look like a quagoa, does he?" The far more amiable minister of finance pointed out while calmly stroking his thick dark beard.
"No…" The Minister of War admitted. "No, he doesn't. And the dragon doesn't look like one we're familiar with, Olasird'arc is supposed to be much bigger. This one, everyone says is kind of fat. This may be an opportunity instead, a chance to form an alliance with someone else. After the initial panic, everyone on the walls has said they feel nothing like hostility."
"If nothing else, we need to know how they got around the Great Rift without anyone sending word to us. What if there is a hidden passage around it now?" The very practical question had a sobering effect on those at the table.
"So we send someone out… ask questions, see what happens." This suggestion was well received at least, the dwarves nodded with sober appreciation for the needs of the moment for knowledge that they simply did not have.
"Fine, we send someone out, we talk to this one… see what happens." Their eldest member said with a grim spirited smile, "Maybe our luck is about to turn, eh? A dragon comes to Feoh Ger and we're not even frozen or destroyed the moment it does." He let out a laugh that matched the grim smile, and a few of his colleagues let out hesitant and equally dark laughs of their own.
Ainz watched the gate slowly open in front of him, not far, but far enough for someone to come out. Only one did, a dwarf in dark clothing that seemed to be of some sort of leather manufacture, but from what source was impossible to say. ' Not a cow, that's for sure.' Ainz thought while he waited. The leather had a very fine shine to it, suggesting that he was quite an important figure. ' Or does it? How do dwarves dress?' He tried to pick through Zenberu's memories, but what people wore was especially hazy.
' The lizardmen culture wears little to nothing, I suppose this indifference to remembering how the dwarves dress is a natural result.' Ainz gave up on figuring that out, and he nearly dismounted from Hejinmal when he reminded himself, ' No, I can't do that… I have to get used to being a King.'
The dragon mount at least, had not forgotten. With the chats along the way, he knew enough of how to speak of his Master, and with his head held high and neck stiff, that he loomed over the dwarf, he spoke. "This is His Majesty, King Ainz Ooal Gown of the Kingdom of Nazarick, he has come to forge friendly relations of trade with the Kingdom of the Dwarves."
The dwarf leaned back and craned his neck upward, his beard so thick and bushy that it was only the movement of his face that made it obvious. The rest of him was essentially 'hidden'.
"I don't know that Kingdom." He said. His back was stiff, his hands were at his sides, but at a glance Ainz felt the dwarf was 'defensive'.
' Is it that he is immune to my high charisma, or instinctive fear of dragons?' Ainz wondered, and considered it was probably a combination of the circumstances plus the dragon of a known enemy acting at least as a temporary debuff.
"The Kingdom of Nazarick is…" Ainz drew himself up, clad in his white robes with their marvelous golden trim, richly dressed and bearing the aura of absolute authority practiced for so very many hours, he recognized he shouldn't say 'new'. Great kings and kingdoms always stood on a foundation of their ancient legacy.
So, he lied.
"Among the most ancient Kingdoms of the world… once, long ago, all the world knew our glory… but," he tried to think, looking away as if remembering, and his voice filled with emotion, "we put ourselves to sleep to-" He stopped, trying to think of a reason, and he plucked one from a quest in the game, "to guard against the return of great, destructive forces. We were awakened by the coming of invaders to our sacred home, and so we have rejoined the world again." He pointed down at the dwarf with a white gloved hand as if accusing him.
"But you all forgot us."
Emotion overloaded Ainz out of almost nowhere, it hit too close to home, to think of everything that he once loved in Yggdrasil, forgotten, cast aside, left to memory and dust, even the memory of his friends… and a wave of grief burst forth like a supernova.
The rumbling of majestic power from magic more powerful than the dwarf speaker had felt in all his life, was enough that he fell to his knees and felt no pain under the strain of overwhelming awe. But more than that, was the passionate grief and compassion that was carried in that nova that spread from the center of the soul of the dragon riding King.
"I've never met a King… but if you're not one, I'll eat my helmet." The dwarf whispered as the wave of compassion and grief swept over the whole of the dwarven city.
For once in his life, Ainz' confidence was as real as the heart in his chest, over his home, there was never any question, not about what he was, only whether he deserved it or could do it well. But there was no doubt of his station, the burden he bore and which grew with each step forward.
"I am a King. The King of Nazarick, and I have come with friendly terms to reestablish ancient ties with the dwarven people." He stopped and said, "But you are not doing so well these days it seems. If your nation is in need of help…"
A memory came to mind of a salesman he once knew who, on every call, pretended to be surprised to be speaking with an old friend from school, it made them instantly more friendly, they always played along even after forgetting him, and he was the only one to outsell Suzuki Satoru regularly.
"Your people were beloved of my Kingdom, once. Even if you have forgotten it," he turned his hand up so that the palm was out as if offering something to the dwarf, "I would extend that hand of friendship once again."
' I'm getting to be a better actor little by little… a few key phrases from the Draconic Queen really seem to do the trick.' Ainz mentally praised the foreign monarch while the dwarf shot to his feet.
"Please! Come with me! At once, Your Majesty!" The dwarf half shrieked the words with a mix of awe and excitement, his dour attitude completely wiped away.
The guards opened the gates which groaned from the effort, the great double wide barrier to entry became an open invitation. "Make way! Make way for the King of Nazarick!" The dwarf shouted, "Send word to the council! Have a reception prepared at once! Make way! Make way! Make… Way!"
The dwarves seemed to respect the one who shouted, scrambling to attention and following his directions, and when the dwarf shouted, "Render… Arms !" The dwarves bearing swords, spears, and crossbows snapped to attention, holding their chosen weapon vertically to the ground in front of themselves at the center of their bodies.
In this way, under honors, Ainz entered the dwarven capital.
' That went well.' Ainz thought, and kept his sigh of relief confined to his thoughts alone.
Volume 4 C22
The three concubines, as well as the sons and daughters of Olasird'arc landed amidst the farms and spoke with trembling mouths, "Gather the Quagoa, all of them… our nest is lost, a demon has awakened!"
Pe Riyuro looked up at the high faces of the dragons which loomed over him in the past like the clap of doom, and now he felt none of the awe he once did for those creatures. They were trembling, shivering, they reeked of fear.
' I should be savoring this.' He thought.
But he did not.
Because he was wise.
' If something exists that can terrify even dragons, what chance do 'we' have?' The quagoa's greatest chief asked himself that question right away and the answer came to him as fast as it had been asked. ' Less than none.'
But that didn't mean there wasn't knowledge he still needed.
"What happened?! What demon?! Where is Lord Olasird'arc?!" He said it far more strongly than he should have been able to given the rising fear that set his body quivering enough, that his fur shook more than the breeze alone allowed for.
"I do not know." The eldest of the three concubines replied.
"He fled ?" Pe Riyuro couldn't have accepted that. Denial rose in his gut.
The eldest son spoke up, "No. Father was defeated, and the demon threw him… very hard."
"So he hit the mountain wall and-" Pe Riyuro clapped his jaw shut when he was interrupted.
"-went through it. He was thrown so hard that he hit the wall of the mountain, crashed through the stone… he just… the demon threw my father into the air, and if he landed, I know not where."
"Where did it come from…? The Great Rift or…?" Another concubine shook her head at the question.
"No! We saw, the treasury door was open, noises were heard inside, Jaldabaoth spoke of being released from… confinement? A sealed object… something?" She shut her ice blue eyes tight, "It's all chaos now, but-"
"The treasury, something in the dwarven treasury held that… thing ." Another of the concubines nodded.
"Is he coming this way, my Ladies, my Lords?" Pe Riyuro asked of them with dread. ' Something that could kill that dragon… and shatter a mountain side?'
"No. He was asking something about the dwarves and 'their quagoa' and wanting to find something that held his army." One of the… seemingly dead dragon lord's daughters said with a shudder.
"Gather your warriors, all of them. That thing hates you, and dwarves, and we do not know what else!" The eldest concubine commanded.
If there had been somewhere to go, the Quagoa Great Chief would have disobeyed her. He would have gathered his armies, his people… and simply left . But they had no other range. ' We can't fight during the day, we're blind, so we're stuck within the underground. No Kingdom would take in such numbers, we'll be slaves, 'worse' than what Olasird'arc did with us for we would have many overlords rather than merely one. We have to do something…'
So he came to the obvious conclusion. "I obey." He said and whirled on the escort with him.
"Call all our armies back together, everyone. Now!" He roared the order, and the stiff bodied functionary that had been trapped in a state of fear and awe, turned and fled to obey his chief.
Riding into Feoh Ger was something Ainz lacked the descriptives for. The street was indeed clear, which with various dwarves 'had' been using the street only moments before, now standing well out of his way. ' I feel like I'm on a parade… but a parade that nobody expected and don't know who is parading, or why, or how they're supposed to feel about it.'
On the interesting side, it was a remarkable chance to look at how an intact and inhabited dwarven city functioned. The streets were orderly and clean, the glowstones were placed at regular intervals providing a persistent soft level of light, but what he most noticed was the pungent scent of beer.
Beer.
Beer.
And more beer.
While it was clear they had very different types, the foamy smell was everywhere and inescapable.
The dwarves themselves seemed to wear stone tones and darker shades, they had little use it seemed for forest colors or greenery, the brightest color they seemed to wear was a burgundy shade of red, and even that was comparatively scarce.
' Do they not have the dyes to do it, or does it just not fit into their culture?' The question seemed trivial, but one thing the salesman in him reminded Ainz of, was that any detail of a culture could have broad implications, far broader than recognizable to the outsider. ' You should have learned about us before coming with that offensive color…' There was nothing he could say to such an assertion.
' On the upside though, they are in a bad way with the quagoa being aggressive, if what Hejinmal said was true. This may very well be their last real stronghold.' The dwarves did seem to be somewhat more haggard than in Zenberu's memories. ' War weariness perhaps?' It seemed possible.
Riding through the city as he did, it still took quite some time to reach the center, well over an hour in fact, with crowds moving aside, but then strange as it seemed, life resuming behind him before he'd even turned another corner.
' Pragmatic, no intention of wasting time.' The inner office worker told him, and little by little the center of the dwarven government came into view.
It said something about the status of the dwarf acting as Ainz' herald, that the entire council arrayed itself on the steps, half a dozen dwarves in clothing that was slightly less work oriented than the others. At least where manual labor was concerned. They didn't wear overalls or thick, heavy boots. They were barrel chested, and in contrast to the others Ainz saw, a little fat. ' Do their women have beards too, or do they have no women at all?'
He asked the question with some sudden discomfort, Zenberu's memory of their nearly uniform appearances seemed to be more accurate than Ainz expected. Other than the colors of their beards and slight variations among the eyes, distinguishing one dwarf from the next was quite hard.
' At least their clothing is different.' Ainz thought as Hejinmal came to a stop a few paces behind their herald.
Before he could address them, a message came in.
' My Lord,' Demiurge said, ' I have taken care of the most powerful of the dragons and sent the others running, I am prepared to enact the next phase of your master plan, but… it shames me to admit this, I may need to borrow an item from the treasury.'
' Of course, Demiurge,' Ainz replied. While the thought, ' Plan?! Why do they always think I have a plan?!' ran through his mind. ' I am about to speak with the council of the dwarves, I will take lodging here for tonight, then we will speak and I will- I will permit you to explain what you have worked out.'
' Thank you! Thank you, merciful lord!' Demiurge replied with deep relief and a sigh Ainz could hear in his head before he killed the connection.
He then faced the dwarves who were shifting with visible discomfort, "I am King Ainz Ooal Gown, ruler of the Kingdom of Nazarick. I am here to negotiate."
Volume 4 C23
Before them stood the white robed mage, his glorious golden trim caught the light and magnified it all. Like some marriage between the divine and the sun, a light that made the forges loved by the dwarves appear to be nothing more than a dying candle. The urge to kneel rose from the deepest well of their souls. It wasn't lost on any of them that he said nothing, not right away at least. ' Allowing us to take him in, and taking control of the conversation by forcing us to feel awkward… a true King immediately takes control…' Something the forgemaster recalled hearing somewhere long before, and this one took control by silence and presence alone.
When the King of Nazarick spoke, it was only gratitude that the dwarven council felt.
"Negotiate?" The eldest of their numbers asked.
"Yes." Ainz replied with magnanimous king gesture number seven, holding his hand straight out, "Trade is a field every King must cultivate. Forgive me, but it seems you have been without that field for far too long. From what I understand, listening to my mount here," he patted Hejinmal at the base of the neck, "you're in a very bad spot, on the verge of destruction unless I miss my guess."
The dwarves' faces did not darken with anger, but they did redden with shame and they looked dejectedly down at the stone beneath their feet.
' Butter them up a little, make them feel good and they will be more kindly inclined.' Ainz told himself, then said, "Simply put, I'd like to help you. The Kingdom of Nazarick has fond memories of the dwarves, though it seems to have been lost to history… we still remember that you were good partners once. Of course, I am not without needs. But what I want is something it seems you don't value much any longer. I want Runecraft."
That had the dwarves' attention, their eyes snapped up, and Ainz dismounted from the dragon.
His feet hit the ground, and in that moment to one observer, the spot his foot touched became holy.
Gondo Firebeard, like others who watched from the sidelines, heard the King's proclamation of his desire, and his heart flared up like the forge of a smith preparing a masterwork.
' Runecraft?! A mighty King wants my greatest passion!' Happiness soared like an eagle in Gondo's soul, but it was joined by absolute bitterness when he saw the confusion it spawned on the faces of the council, even the forgemaster.
' They don't value my work, our work, our heritage at all…' The despondent thought was not a stunning revelation, but never before their bewilderment had it been so blatantly said in his own head before.
' They were all polite to me, all of them, when I asked for more funding for Runecraft research, when I went on about its great advantages…'
But their polite smiles and offers of beer were just that. ' A disguise for their indifference.'
Had they appeared alarmed, or defensive, had they spoken up and said no, had they had any other reaction than confusion and bewilderment, things might have been fine.
But the last true enthusiast of Runecraft could feel only a sense of outrage at his own people, while by contrast the King in white, won over his loyalty in that single statement of desire.
A legacy of the past significance of Runecraft was that, in every city of the Dwarven Kingdom, near the center of government, one would find runesmiths. And because homes were often passed down from father to son, mother to daughter, the runesmiths continued to reside in the same places as their forefathers and foremothers. For this reason, retired runesmiths who gave up on their craft and grew dispirited, still lived in a part of town where they were present to hear the words of the dragon riding King.
And the Runecraft forging fires were lit in their hearts once again.
"Why?" A stunned face and disbelieving tone among the councilors governing the dwarves solidified the bitterness of the runesmiths.
"Because I believe it has potential." Ainz said, his voice booming out, "Because…" He paused and his mind raced for an answer, the earlier lie came to mind, and he recalled something he could use, ' perhaps the runesmiths themselves are even in the crowd,' he wondered, and reached into his dimensional storage.
The dwarves watched him reach into a black void that appeared a short distance away, and from within he drew a sword with twenty runes. Magnificent beyond measure, shining brightly as if it were drawing the soft light of glowstones to its broad face, a pommel of bright white ore, the runes stood out like jewels.
"Because long ago, you were capable of this . If you still are… or if you have forgotten your arts, I want to see them live again." Ainz' voice carried over the whole open square, and when he finished speaking, he could hear the sucking in of teeth from dozens of people.
' Twenty runes?!' A lost technique had to have done it, Gondo knew that immediately, no one had ever done so many, ' What lies behind the mask, how old is he… where could he have gotten such a thing?'
It wasn't lost on the council members either. "The power of your art is remembered in ancient Nazarick, the bond our peoples once shared when facing great terrors…" Ainz plucked half remembered phrases from his memory of various stories of lost allies finding one another, and nations that stood together against great threats, mostly Yggdrasil lore, but he held the rapt attention of his audience as he regaled them with what he 'knew'.
"… Now that we have awakened from our long slumber… it seems we were forgotten, our kingdom was gone, but now lives again. We have, in a way, returned, and wish to reforge old bonds in case the threats of old should ever reappear again. As I said once long ago, 'We must hang together, or we will hang separately'."
Ainz cleared his throat, "But this is not the place for us to negotiate… should we speak inside?" He asked.
"Y-Yes, of course." The eldest dwarf said, and the councilors stood aside, "But… what of your ah… mount . Will he be fine out here or…?" The forgemaster showed his pragmatic thinking with the question, and Ainz responded.
"He likes to read, if you lead him to a library while we settle terms of our relationship, since it may take some time, I'm sure he would be very happy." Ainz patted his mount with a gentle hand, as one would a pup, leading to bug eyed stares as he showed how tame the dragon was.
"Of course… ah… someone lead him to the library… Your Majesty… ah, join us… join us inside." The eldest of the councilors said again, and they filed toward the door, with Ainz following after them with measured, steady steps which held every eye of every dwarf present there until the doors closed and cut them off.
Volume 4 C24
Jaldabaoth was more than pleased with the response of his master, it took time even for him to explore the vast and now empty city. He left the stone charred black in his wake, dark and heavy footsteps that would mar the stone to the end of all ages. All over the city he walked, and while he left his mark indelibly on the unfortunate place, his summoned demons worked tirelessly. Every scrap of treasure belonging to the frost dragons, every single bit of ore or resource he could find down to the last tenpenny nail was ripped free.
Well before it was even done, there stood a pile of treasure and resources so high that it rose like a mountain under the mountain. He tilted his head back and exhaled a burst of flame along with his satisfied noise. Nearby, the demonic summons tilted the last bowls and baskets into place at the base, the clink of coins and metal ingots, as well as abandoned jewelry, rings, cups of silver and gold, plates and statues, even the coal and heatstones.
' A good haul, particularly with the contents of the treasury.' The [Gate] appeared when he called for it, and the many winged and walking minions began emptying the great open area before the treasury.
The tumbling sound of the materials did wonders for his temperament. ' If I show Lord Ainz what I've done, how hard I have worked, he will realize how much we care… then perhaps he'll never…' He could not finish the thought.
' Foolishness. He's said many times he won't leave.' He thought, ' And if he does, it will be purely our fault.'
Which led back to the dreadful thoughts from before, ' The others don't understand as I do, it means it was all our fault the other Supreme Beings left… we failed somehow, 'I' failed somehow. If only we knew the ways we let them down… but we don't. So we must, 'I' must work even harder for the One Who Stayed.'
When the mountain within a mountain was removed, all the way to the shelves of the emptied warehouses, all cast through to be sorted in the arena and added to the resources of Nazarick, only then did he move on.
Not in search of treasure. But in search of pleasure . ' As Lord Ulbert said, all work and no play is unhealthy.' And with that, he followed the trail of life carried on the lightest of breezes, substantial light filled the area thanks to the earlier hole that Olasird'arc made when he was cast through the mountain to his death or… slow death.
Now it was dark again, and he had somewhere to be. The dwarves and quagoa were still fighting elsewhere. ' I wonder how long the dwarves would last if my master had not seen some value in their one craft? Not long, months, another year?'
It was as difficult to say as it was unimportant, but the quagoa did not offer much value beyond their unique mineral consumption skills. ' Perhaps we can selectively breed the strongest through mineral consumption, equip them with runic weapons and armor, and make a truly useful fighting force. At least useful by this world's pathetic standards.' Demiurge thought more about it, the more it made sense. ' We can't rule everywhere. Local forces are vital for keeping order when spread thin as we are. Have I stumbled upon another part of my master's plan?'
It seemed a likely scenario, the sort of thing only a truly Supreme Being could come up with, and again he sighed, ' I'm so very far behind… if I don't prove myself and at least get a proper glimpse of the summit of his genius, he may leave…'
Demiurge forced the thought back, and instead, he refocused it. The frustration, the rage, the anguish of Lord Ulbert's departure, the impotence and inability to speak. ' Why were our tongues bound back then?! Why couldn't we even speak? We were like statues that moved, silent watchers of greatness… if only I could have told him 'thank you'. If only I could have said, 'father' if only… if only… if only…'
The recriminations rampaged through him all the way to his destination, where one of the last dwarven outposts that still held out against the quagoa.
"Burn!" He bellowed as he came into view, cresting the stone rise and his view of the combatants. He pointed toward the pathetic worms and fire came down from on high as if shot straight out of the stone itself.
Before him, a wall of stone held dwarves who wielded lightning enchanted weaponry, great crossbows and heavy axes. Their thick armor clanked and clattered as they killed or wounded the advancing quagoa, here and there a dwarf fell into the mass of the dark furry creatures where he was torn apart. The armor meant to preserve his life instead preserved his agony, dragging out the moment of his death.
The wall of the outpost was not large, no more than two and a half meters tall, but it was dotted with towers with lightning charged weapons. By contrast, the quagoa came on unarmored, relying on their thick pelts and natural resistances to secure them against damage.
The weight of the quagoan numbers made the outcome a foregone conclusion, with several towers cracked and broken, but it also revealed quagoa foolishness that Jaldabaoth could only feel contempt for. ' Stupid fools, they bit and tore at the stone from their side… the towers landed on their own warriors…'
He chose to punish their stupidity first and foremost, with fires over four thousand degrees incinerating the quagoa in temperatures far greater than their resistance allowed for.
The crashing booms of flame and the dying screams of those whose lungs burned inside their own bodies for just a moment before death blessed them with the end of pain.
Jaldabaoth gave them time to experience the horror and despair of his coming, a towering demon of fire and stone, with great broad wings and a maw filled with undying flames that gouted past his lips with every word he would speak. ' True despair is not mere hopelessness. It is the feeling of hope dying like an infant in its mother's arms…'
He gave that to them, then added his words to the silent moment of raw terror. "You fools may have trapped me once in the long ago… but I am free… and I will make you pay… army or no army… you will suffer !"
He brought his arms up, and then flung them down towards the forces of both dwarf and quagoa alike. The fire streaked toward both, the flame that hit the quagoa cut through their ranks like a dread scythe, leaving only little piles of ashes in its wake. The ball of flame that struck the dwarven wall exploded, and dwarves were sent screaming as the wall burst, hurtling them with such force that they were dashed against the sky of stone to stain it with a deep red that would last until the mountain became dust.
Others simply burned or were crushed by the flying stones that landed on them with a sick, disgusting squelching thump of stone to stone. Fleshy bodies popped like grapes and their armor protected them against death not at all.
Panic set in en masse, the dwarves abandoned the walls and fled for the exit, and the quagoa, realizing they had only two choices… to try to withdraw 'through' Jaldabaoth, or after their enemies, chose the latter option. The rout of the dwarves, the aim of the quagoa, became a shared defeat as both sides fled in the same direction, and neither one cared what race ran beside him.
Not as long as the demon was left far, far behind.
' A good start.' Jaldabaoth thought with satisfaction as he went within to plunder the outpost the same way in which he'd plundered the former capital.
Volume 4 C25
Ainz followed behind the dwarves into their council chamber using the same measured and artful steps he observed Queen Draudillon using when she walked from place to place. Stately and more sure on the outside than on the inside, his rich robes hid the faint tremble of his own anxiety, his mask held back the bated breath from observation. Only the flowing white enchanted garment hid the fact that he broke out into a cold sweat when he thought of the presentation he was about to give.
The dwarves were a burly lot, rather hasty in their movement, their stumpy legs carried them over the smooth floor of the inner chamber with the same speed that little bugs could use to scramble away from a hand about to swat them or a foot about to unthinkingly crush them.
They got into their seats arrayed in a long line at a table where they seemed to work in common. This too was stone seemingly carved out of the mountain itself rather than made elsewhere and carried within. On either side of Ainz sat a number of chairs, but no other desks, presumably for hearing the complaints and entreaties of their population.
Ainz took the initiative, speaking first as he approached, he loomed over them like a giant, and the glowstones on the wall radiated off of the white and gold garment which only added to his almost divine and majestic aura. "As I said, the Kingdom of Nazarick has come to negotiate, you know my desire, trade. I will bring you what you can't produce, and you will provide me with runecraft weapons and armor. If your runesmiths will come to my kingdom, then my prosperity and protection will come to yours."
That caused the councilors to shift with discomfort in their seats, they traded wary looks, but looked up at the masked face.
"Mighty Lord… you could just buy the runecraft weapons from us… why would you want our actual runesmiths to join you in your homeland?" The forgemaster's fingers twitched a little, scraping over the table, and Ainz' estimation of that one went up a notch.
"Because I want a monopoly on runecraft, I want to use it as the foundation for equipping my adventurers at the cost of the state. It may even be used for broader military applications. Therefore it must be produced inside my kingdom."
That led to a moment of silence.
"Forgive me, but… I have to say, you're in a very grim position right now, is it really the time to haggle? I have no intention of kidnapping, harming, or otherwise enslaving or abusing your kindred. I will add as a provision that you may send inspectors and observers to where the dwarves will live and work. That is fair, isn't it?" Ainz asked, holding out his upturned hand and giving a half bow with his other hand on his chest.
"But runecraft hasn't had value in a very long time…" The oldest of dwarves groused, "Forgive me, but this all seems strange."
"You know its advantages, the complete lack of cost other than time, and the ability to lay multiple enchantments on a single object… how could I, a head of state, not see the value in something like that? Plus, you saw the blade from before. Your ancient arts have far more potential than you remember." Ainz promised.
The shifting in their seats, the sound of rubbing leather and fabric was the only one they made for a few seconds as their discomfort collectively grew.
Ainz hammered home the point, "Your numbers dwindle, you are threatened by the quagoa, and even in good times, the mountain couldn't feed very many of you. I offer you safety, I offer you trade in food and resources, and what I want from you in return, ancient friends…" His extended hand closed into a fist and his index finger uncurled so that it pointed at them, "is for you to bloom again ."
It was an electric phrase which froze them in their seats as he assailed their pride with the promise of untapped potential, security, their greed with the possibility of prosperity again, and attacked their fear of extermination with the promise of military security against their enemy.
But the dwarves were a stubborn race, and though they felt the call to offer themselves down to the very core of their spirits, the way Ainz spoke laid bare one more question.
"Majesty…" the head of the effectively defunct commerce department spoke, "How 'old' are you exactly?"
Ainz sighed to cover his panic in that question, his heart raced as he struggled to find something that would cause no controversy and which couldn't be fact checked later to falsify his claim of old origins.
His hand fell away, and he hung his head, "All that I have known, the greatest of heroes and friends, are gone. The stars in the sky I saw the night of my awakening, they too were unknown to me. Everything around me is unfamiliar now, and… you could say that I am from a lost world… I don't even know the full answer to your question… though it weighs heavy on my heart."
' Was that too melodramatic? It's all sort of true… kind of… if you squint and look at it just the right way… I mean I don't exactly have a calendar so I don't even know if my birthday will have come and gone by now…' Ainz put his hand over his mask when he instinctively facepalmed, ' If Pandora's Actor ever saw me pull that… good 'god' no… don't tell me he gets all his behavior from 'me'!'
Then Ainz caught himself, 'facepalming' may or may not have been a thing done there, but now he had to cover for it, ' Sloppy, Ainz. Very sloppy.' He thought and said, "If I want you to trust me, I should show you my face. This body… it isn't the one I began with, it is one of many I've inhabited, and it will be with me for some time." He said, and the dwarf council members leaned forward, their own bodies shaking with anticipation.
' All that is true too… if you count other game avatars I've used, plus the one I was born with, and the skeletal body I had and then lost, and now this one… sure, the most believable lies are true.' Ainz reassured himself and removed his mask.
The dwarves sucked in their teeth in relief. A low chuckle came up from them. "Majesty, forgive us, but the way you spoke we were half afraid you were undead, who knows how that might have gone…" Their eldest said and turned to their military commander.
"We can hammer out the details later, but for now if we want your help… and… can you really help?" The dwarves all stiffened.
"Easily. If the quagoa have not been strong enough to defeat you by now, they're no threat to me." Ainz replied offhandedly while replacing his mask and hiding the flesh and blood face again.
"Then tell him." The old dwarf said with finality, and slumped back in his chair.
The commanding General answered immediately, "We're less than two years from extinction. The population doesn't know it, but we don't have long, our outlying settlements were left to their local defenders. We can't hold any more people, we can barely feed the ones we have. If the bridge over the Great Rift falls then our city will have only one door between us and dying out. In the event of a siege we can survive for a year or two if everything goes perfectly well. If it doesn't, we might not last more than a few months."
"I see." Ainz replied and put his hands on his hips, "Then let me make this offer. Become my vassals, swear loyalty to Nazarick, give me the runesmiths, and I will let no more of you die by quagoan claws."
"Become my forge, and I will be your shield and sword." Ainz promised, "As it was, it will be again, and no dwarf will live in fear anymore."
' Oh god, he 'does' get it from me!' Ainz realized with horror as he pictured Pandora's Actor saying exactly the same thing, in exactly the same way.
Volume 4 C26
"What you ask… that is a great deal… we know little about your country." The hard nosed dwarven elder said with a weighty voice but he could not meet the masked face or clasp the hand which offered salvation.
"Will the quagoa offer you a better deal? And even if you win, can you defeat the dragons? And they are not the only evils who would destroy you. Ancient evils come and go in this world, I offer to share our strength. Are you strong enough to refuse the offer and still stand alone?" Ainz asked of them, and they one and all answered by looking down at the table as if it were quite fascinating.
"Can you… give us some time to think about this?" The forgemaster asked with the utmost humility.
Ainz let his hand fall away.
"That is fair, but remember this… it would be unnatural for me to offer my help for nothing after you refuse me. If I leave the dwarf kingdom with nothing, then nothing of my kingdom will come to the dwarf kingdom in return." Ainz suppressed his inner cringe at his melodramatically deep voice.
' The tastes of this world are bizarre!' He screamed in his head and wondered again if perhaps he was not the one who was strange.
"Let us offer you our hospitality for the night at least… we have wonderful beer and-" Ainz held up a hand.
"Let me offer a gift, a small token if you will, to show my good will." Ainz interrupted and reached into his dimensional space.
"In the long ago vanished world, they also had beer, some of them were old even when I was young. Let me offer you a taste of the past in the hopes of a brighter future." Ainz said, and withdrew three small boxes.
"This one," he held up a can, "is called 'Guinness'. It comes from a people who were famous for their dark brews." He held up another, this time a bottle. "This one comes from another country, called 'Arrogant Bastard Ale', note the cocky look of the demon on the glass." He then held up another, this time a small white bottle, "And this one is called 'Sake'. A personal favorite of mine." He laid the boxes down, by stroke of luck each box held enough for the dwarf council to have one bottle each.
Their noses began to twitch. "We… yes we thank your majesty for his generosity, of course we will make our first toast to yourself… but first we should… yes, we should provide you with quarters." The aged council member said and stood up. He yanked a short rope and from just beyond the door, a bell rang incessantly until someone came rushing inside.
"Gondo?! We were calling for an escort…" The forgemaster snapped.
Gondo pointed down to his feet. "I got feet, I can take whomever, wherever."
The Forgemaster rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever. You know this part of the city, take His Majesty to the finest empty house we have, give him whatever he wants, down to your last beer until it's time for him to talk to us again."
To their surprise, Gondo nodded with such wild enthusiasm that his beard bounced off his barrel chest. "Of course, there's no problem with that!"
Furrowed brows and deep set eyes were turned on Gondo, 'Down to the last beer' was a very serious order, and not one of the dwarves followed eagerly as it might well come down to that. But Gondo didn't seem to care.
"Your Majesty!" Gondo said with a deep bow at the waist.
' This is strange… I was trying to win the council over… Why does this one sound so enthusiastic?' Ainz wondered, but quietly accepted the evident devotion as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Lead on, I am in your care, 'Gondo'." Ainz said, and when Gondo straightened up, Ainz followed after him.
When they were outside again… such as it was while 'inside' a mountain, the fire red bearded dwarf asked, "My Lord… did you really mean what you said about runecraft?"
"Every word." Ainz replied without hesitation.
"Then… I know I'm supposed to take you to where you'll sleep for the night, but if I could ask you… would you like to meet with the other runesmiths? Some of them heard what you said, the same way I did. Word spread from them to the others, and I've gathered them together at a tavern."
"What for?" Ainz asked, he furrowed his brow behind the mask.
"My Lord… we want to come with you. We've got no future here, our craft… our own people don't much care for it anymore. I saw your sword, some, they're not quite convinced yet, a little on the fence, but most of us want to go where we can practice our skills again." Gondo replied, he took a step ahead of the King and turned around to look up at him. Stopping in his tracks he said, "I'm a rune developer, been at it for years trying to find a way to save the art from dying. But it didn't mean anything and now there aren't so many of us anymore in the first place. I was out there in the crowd when you showed that sword… please, just a few minutes of your time…" Gondo was all but begging.
"You've got no idea what it's like, to see something you devoted your whole life to just 'dying off', fading away and threatening to disappear. It looks like you might be our second chance. I'd give my soul for that, the whole damn thing." Gondo insisted with fervency and shaking hands that were clasped like he was praying.
To see someone so devoted to their craft that they would abandon literally everything, it reminded Ainz of how he felt about Yggdrasil and his guild. His affection meter for Gondo went higher than it had since he began his journey and crystalized into resolve. "Alright, I will meet with them." He said and set aside any misgivings he might have harbored before.
Gondo veered off their prior course and led him to walk down a narrow street. While they drew many a look from dwarves before, they were now out of sight of any of them, but it didn't take long to get where Gondo intended him to be.
Gondo flung open the door and shouted before Ainz could follow, "On your feet! Rise for the King!"
And the sound of dozens of dwarves hopping off their chairs hit like the sound of a military formation.
' This is off to a good start.' Ainz reflected as he ducked under the doorway to enter the room with a fresh audience.
Volume 4 C27
Ainz made the most stately walk he could manage to the far end of the room. His rich mage robes swayed around his calves until they came to a slow stop when he turned around and faced the runesmiths.
"Be seated." Ainz said to the assembled dwarves, and when they sat, he asked one straightforward question. "Does your art have a future here?"
The rumble of dwarves was like a distant thunder, their discontent obvious, their faces reddened within the open space around their many colored beards. Some of them actually shook with rage, while others had their eyes glassed over with tears of frustration or despair.
Only the fire-bearded Gondo chose to speak. "No. I've tried to make them see, tried harder than anybody knows or could even imagine." His tense body slumped in his chair, his arms fell out of his lap where they sat and hung dead at his sides like weary fish that had given up fighting the fisherman's deadly line.
"But nothing works." Gondo shook his head.
"Do you want to restore your craft again?" Ainz asked of them, "Do you want to make…" And then reaching into his pocket dimension, he drew again the sword which held them spellbound in the square, "this?"
"Ooohs" and "ahhhhs" came from the dozens of mouths beneath the dozens of eyes that looked with an almost lustful hunger. Ainz looked out over the little sea of bearded faces, and reflexively handed the Yggdrasil sword to Gondo.
"If we follow you… we get to try to rediscover the lost arts that made this thing of beauty?" Gondo asked, and every eye shifted from the blade, to Ainz himself. It was only with the greatest reluctance, and the greatest reverence, that Gondo passed the sword from one hand to another so that each smith of the dying art got to hold it.
"Yes. I will provide you with the resources, metals, food, shelter, clothing, equipment, workspace, all that you need. I've already spoken with your leaders. They are willing to accept your departure, on condition of your good treatment, but they didn't care about losing your craft." Ainz said, and with that he drove the final nail into the coffin of the dwarven runesmiths to remain in their country.
"Will you come with me?" Ainz asked when the sword made its way back to him. He took the blade and opened his dimensional storage to store it.
Gondo's eyes widened, nor were his alone in doing so. ' The sword! If I don't go with him, I'll never see it again!' The thought came not only to him, but to all the runesmiths, and before the pocket dimension closed and the hand of the King withdrew, the dwarves were on their feet again.
"I will!" They shouted with such violent, frantic enthusiasm it was as if they feared there was a time limit on his question.
The next hour to three was a whirlwind of activity as the runesmiths insisted on lining up, and one by one, kneeling before the king and swearing their loyalty.
The first among them was Gondo Firebeard. "I pledge my craft, mind, and soul to your service." He said with his head bowed low.
It was short, simple, pragmatic, and every bit what Ainz was beginning to expect out of the dwarves. He said it with such fervence that when he rose and stood aside, each dwarf after him repeated the same phrase.
When it was finally over Ainz gave them simple instructions. "Get your rest, get the things you need, and get ready to work hard for me."
"Yes, sire!" The runesmiths cried out, and finally began to filter out of his presence.
Gondo alone remained to escort Ainz to his temporary quarters. It was a luxuriously large building, at least as far as the simple, spartan dwarven architecture went. But it was furnished with fine materials, a good, broad bed with a thick mattress, blankets, a single wide black pillow, the same as the blanket.
"I will be in the room just outside your own, Your Highness." Gondo said and pointed to the door nearby.
"I should be fine, but I will call you if I need anything." Ainz said as he stood in the center of the room.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Gondo replied with a broad and greatly relieved smile spread over his face.
Ainz inclined his head in a polite nod, and the door closed behind the dwarf a moment later as Gondo left him alone.
As soon as that was the case, Ainz cast several spells in rapid succession.
[Silence of the Grave], [Hide Presence], [Conceal Greater Magic] .
Each spell briefly lit the air around him, and it was done. When it was, Ainz cast [Message] . " Demiurge, I am ready for you."
The [Gate] opened, and Demiurge stepped out from the whorling void and knelt before his master.
"My Lord." He said with his head bowed, "How goes your master plan?"
' What master plan?' Ainz asked himself with annoyance. "Very well. The runesmiths are mine, and the dwarves are discussing coming over to my side."
The crystalline eyes sparkled on the face of the demon. "As expected of the Last Supreme Being. My own feeble efforts are a mere shadow of your wisdom. In accordance with my pathetic understanding of your grand design, I have…"
And then for the next two hours Demiurge explained the story of Jaldabaoth, the demon emperor, the 'ancient awakened evil', his killing of the leader of the frost dragons, and the chaos he sowed among the dwarves and the quagoa. "In fact, some of both are on the way here."
Demiurge went on to explain his 'missing army' and the clues he left in the ears of the quagoan, dragon, and dwarven witnesses.
"I had planned to use some of the pop monsters of Nazarick for that purpose, uniting all races under the mountain against the Demon Emperor, and thus, in accordance with your masterful plan, put them under you. I will have to thin their numbers of course…"
Ainz held up his hand and went to sit on the bed.
Demiurge stopped. He had a smile on his face that reminded Ainz of a child presenting a project to his parents after working hard on it. Eager for approval, eager for their pride. But to that, Ainz could say very little. ' I can't let him run wild, but I don't want to hurt him either… and if I can keep the quagoa and the dwarves in fear and awe of him, that will bind them tighter to me and prevent future deaths.' Ainz thought about that and let his hands fall limp on his lap.
He considered the former question, what he'd asked before entering the mountain, and changed it. "Demiurge… What was Ulbert to you?"
Volume 4 C28
Demiurge responded to the question in a way Ainz never expected.
Shaking.
Shaking like a frightened and wounded child.
"My father." He said, in contrast to the shaking of his body, right down to the tip of his lashing tail, the archdevil 'spoke' with a quiet confidence. About this, he had no doubts. "My father." He said again, a little bit louder than before. "Lord Ulbert is… was… my father ."
A part of Ainz was surprised, ' Demiurge… Demiurge having a familial sentiment?!' And yet it also made perfect sense as he came to understand what the archdevil said.
Ainz reached out to Demiurge, ' Tell him now,' part of himself said, one hand out, like a lifeline, but rather than take the demon's hand, he curled his fingers to invite the archdevil to step closer. Ainz opened his mouth behind the mask, ready to speak, but he couldn't.
At least, he could not say that.
"Demiurge," he said, and when the demon stepped closer, Ainz asked him, "What do you remember of Ulbert?"
A shaky smile took over Demiurge's face, "My Lord, may I speak freely?"
Ainz gave a nod while suppressing his anxiety at the question. ' When I was an office worker, that never ended well for the one who asked it.'
"I have spoken with all the Guardians many times. We have a habit now, a routine of meeting to talk together as friends and colleagues. The topic of the Supreme Beings often comes up, and I know one thing for sure. Nobody, not even Albedo, remembers more than I. Their memories are fragmentary, intermittent. Mine are complete, or so I believe they are." Demiurge said, his eyes could not change expression, but the luster of them seemed to brighten.
"I remember the hour of my making, when I opened my eyes for the first time, when Lord Ulbert touched my face and showed me to the rest of you." Demiurge said and brought a hand up to his right cheek. "He asked you all what you thought, and you all teased him a little, asking why he didn't make a 'cute girl' like Mare. I didn't know at the time why they laughed. But I remember Lord Ulbert saying I was perfect the way I was."
Demiurge's throat formed a lump, "I was so proud of myself. I remember when the invasion happened, I fought as hard as I could against the invasion, protecting my master's home until the Supreme Beings could gather, and Lord Ulbert had me healed first. It was my proudest moment, and I learned all too well… that everything beyond the tomb is a danger that must be crushed or it will crush my home."
"And I remember when I began to see him less. He spoke of the chance to attend 'University'. Of course, my Master, my maker, my father… would create a universe to oversee… and the waiting grew longer… and longer… and I began to see him less… and less… and less." Demiurge was incapable of tears, but the way his tail stiffened and drooped by turns spoke volumes.
"I held out, thinking he would take me with him. Wondering why he hadn't called on me to help… was I not made for that purpose? But what son can truly know their father's mind? And of course… then came the last day. The last time I saw my lord, he handed you his weapons, all his things, and disappeared. He looked at me once, up and down like the day my eyes first saw him… but unlike then, he said nothing. Then he said goodbye to you, and was gone."
His head dipped. "My father walked away from me without a word, he did not take me with him, he must not have wanted me with him. How I failed, I never knew-"
Ainz moved without thinking, his hand darted out and snatched that of Demiurge as soon as it dropped away from the cheek where it lingered for too long. "No." Ainz interjected. He vigorously shook his head. "Your father didn't leave you because of that, he left you behind because you couldn't have gone where he was going."
"There-" Ainz paused, he ran through ways to say what he wanted to, "There was no way for you to survive there."
Ainz engulfed the hand of the archdevil with both of his own, looking up from behind the mask, he began to see Demiurge in a very different light. "All of us loved Nazarick… but… the other realm, the place we were in when not in the tomb… it made many demands of us all. Even the hands of Supreme Beings can be forced by necessity."
Demiurge could not meet the eyes of the Lord whose eyes sought his. Ainz spoke in a hushed but firm whisper, as he would to reassure a small boy uncertain of his father's love after a punishment, "That is the truth, I swear it on my name."
"That is- that is a relief, Lord Ainz. But that is a great deal even for me to take in… may I humbly ask some time to process all of that?"
"Of course… why don't you go on and explain… ah… what you have worked out about my plan, tell me more." Ainz suggested, and the archdevil perked up immediately, though he did not try to withdraw his hand from the clasping of his lord.
When it was over, Ainz pulled his own hands away and reached into his dimensional storage. From it he drew a little statue of a many armed person bearing multiple pearl sized gems. Its eyes were shut as if in death or sleep, and had a deep bronze shade to it.
"You mentioned the use of pop monsters, but this will serve you better. Ulbert made it. This is Armageddon Evil, able to summon many demons not of Nazarick, and there is a perfect place to 'hide' it as well." Ainz explained and placed the little statue into the archdevil's open hand.
Demiurge looked down at the object and cradled it with folded fingers as if it were a child in his palm, or at least, like a child that was not meant to be an experiment or food. "I am deeply, deeply honored, My Lord." Demiurge said with a quiet whisper.
"Use it to benefit my Kingdom." Ainz replied using noble command voice number seven. ' A special thanks to Queen Draudillon for that one.'
"I will, My Lord." Demiurge promised with a great wide smile on his face which bared his sharpest teeth against the dim light of the room, causing them to gleam like steel knives in the sun.
"Oh, and one more thing, Demiurge…" Ainz added, recalling the absolute barbarism of the battle between the frogmen and the lizardmen.
"My Lord?" Demiurge asked.
"Chastise the quagoa… but keep it… within reason. They will be my people too, even if their pride must be humbled. Massacre is a waste." Ainz put it in terms the archdevil would understand, and Demiurge nodded along.
' Right, so nothing wasteful… so he's saying that experiments are preferable by far.' Demiurge's pride in his master rose. ' Nothing wasted, everything gained. Such wisdom is truly fit for the leader of the Supreme Beings.' Demiurge thought and put the item away.
"Of course, My Lord. Nothing will be wasted." He replied, and summoned the gate to disappear.
No sooner had Demiurge vanished through the gate than a dreadful urgent pounding began on the door to Ainz' room and Gondo's voice rang out.
"My Lord! My Lord! It's urgent!"
Volume 4 C29
Ainz immediately called out, "Enter." And Gondo Firebeard flung open the door with such urgency that it slammed against the wall and bounced back toward him. It missed his face only because the dwarf rushed past as quick as his little legs could carry him.
"My Lord, the quagoa are here!" Gondo half shrieked it in alarm.
His eyes burned with fear,and from outside cries of alarm and confusion began while a great bell began to toll over the dwarven city. The ringing was long, slow, and steady, the deep noise rebounding off the black stone above, coming back down like the sky itself was falling and causing the dwarves to cry out in panic. Their pounding feet were heavy enough to fight back against the noise of the ringing bell above their heads, even from within the stone walls of his room it was impossible not to hear the noise as the city fell into chaos.
Even without seeing them, Ainz was immediately reminded of the village of frogmen, when the lizardmen broke through, smashed the eggs, killed young and old, and would have wiped the entire population out root and branch had Heketi not surrendered when she did.
' All dying peoples are the same… consumed above all things by fear of their annihilation.' He thought, and rising up from where he sat, he approached Gondo Firebeard. "Are your leaders asking for my help?"
"No… not exactly! The army is mobilized but-" Gondo said, then Ainz raised a hand to stop him.
"I will save the runesmiths who pledged themselves to me. But the dwarven council has not chosen to subordinate themselves to me, or even ally, or trade with me. It would be unnatural, don't you think, for me to commit myself, and also my nation to helping another that rejects me?"
Gondo was breathing very hard, but the smooth silken words of the King cut to his core. "Yes… yes, you are right. Of course, you're right."
Ainz put a hand on Gondo's shoulder and looked down at the dwarf, even with his loyalty sworn to Ainz, even with his craft rejected and essentially on the verge of being given away, the dwarf had friends here. Abandoning them would be very difficult.
"It isn't right, and it isn't fair. But when there are many Kings, there are many loyalties. Two masters can't both be served well." Ainz consoled the dwarf as best he could, and the runesmith nodded as the weighty truth became part of his understanding of the wider world.
He then raised his head, a bold move as he had not asked permission, and looking up at his new master he asked, "But couldn't Your Majesty come to the gate, if nothing else you may learn more about the quagoa, and perhaps the council will ask for your help there if they feel the threat is great enough."
"A tad disingenuous, Gondo… hoping to move me or embroil me in the fighting if it comes to it. But… it may be as you say." Ainz replied.
"As expected of Your Majesty, you see through my petty efforts… I beg your forgiveness, it's only that my friends… they're weak, by dwarven standards. If you're their only help, it's just common sense to try…"
He winced when Ainz squeezed the white gloved hand on his shoulder, and a spark lit in the King of Nazarick, an echo of Touch Me's spirit seemed to glow from the dwarf as the words mirrored those of the vanished guild member.
"Very well, bring Hejinmal to me immediately and I will go to the gate." Ainz promised.
"At once, My Lord!" Gondo's face lit up bright as day and he rushed out of Ainz' quarters as fast as he could.
Minutes later Ainz was on Hejinmal's back and the dragon was trotting through the street toward the gate, the bell still rang but the din of the dwarves had begun to die down. The wall, Ainz could see, was lined with dwarves in seemingly very well made armor. The metal gleamed in the glowstones' light and for the moment, it could even have been said to be majestic.
Majestic, except for the very obvious fear. The dwarves held their crossbows, but they held them unsteadily, fingers twitched and feet shuffled, armor rattled where they shook as they waited for the battle ahead.
The streets were all but empty, though other dwarves stood on rooftops, some with rocks, others with swords, hammers, spears, and many without proper armor.
Ainz rocked back and forth atop the rolling shoulders of the dragon, his hands steadily held just beyond the base of the neck. Alone in the street except for Gondo who jogged ahead, he felt the hopeful eyes of the dwarves who grasped for anything that promised some hope of salvation.
' Will this be the day we die… or the day we are delivered?'
Before Ainz reached the gate, the shouting atop the wall became full of confusion, for a moment a sweeping cry carried its way back like a crowd picking up from a lone voice, but when the obvious confusion hit, the noise stopped.
Ainz reached the gate just as the commander descended from the small tower. "Commander, what is it?" Ainz asked, looking down from atop the dragon as he did, it was easy to see the effect on the dwarf.
The commander looked around, past Ainz, nearly frantic, searching for someone to pass the decision on to, and finding no support, his shoulders slumped.
"Mighty Lord, the ones approaching are quagoa, but they are coming 'with' dwarves. They are fleeing together, we thought at first it was some of our own running from quagoa pursuers but… now?" He shook his head, "No, they are very clearly one body, no killing, no fighting… I don't understand."
The dwarven warrior looked up, "I don't know what to do here… it could be a trick, I don't think so, but if it is, we can't let our people out there be slaughtered before our walls." He leaned forward and whispered so that no other would hear, "That would be like confessing there is no hope left…"
Ainz reached up and stroked his chin in thought, "Yes… well… your Kingdom was kind enough to put me up for the night and hear me out despite coming unannounced, perhaps I could repay the favor. I doubt very much the quagoa would attack a stranger, at least not without knowing whom they're fighting. I will venture out, if it is a trap, if they were to attack, then we have a common enemy. If they don't?" Ainz shrugged it off, "We'll see what's driving them to run toward your way."
Ainz didn't wait for the dwarf to answer, instead he patted Hejinmal's neck, "Ascend, and let's go meet the quagoa."
The wings of the overweight dragon sprang out far more majestically than one would have expected given his 'excess' weight, but it was enough to drive an "oooh" from the dwarves who had never seen a dragon before, let alone one's great wide bat-like wings spread in all their glory. The icy blue contrasted with Ainz' white and gold, giving even Hejinmal a moment of nobility as they flapped and lifted him into the air and above the wall.
As Ainz went over the wall and toward the panicked mass heading toward the wall, the commander of the dwarven army followed the King with his eyes up and head tilted back to miss nothing. He etched the moment into his memory and said, "I didn't expect that."
To which Gondo answered by clapping the commander on his shoulder and saying with bright eyes and a bright smile, "What else would you expect out of a True King?"
Volume 4 C30
Atop the dragon, Ainz could clearly see why the dwarves panicked as they did. From a distance, they must have looked like a great many in number, when in fact they were not nearly as numerous as all that.
A small number of defenders, and a small number of attackers, and now all reduced to what amounted to nothing more than refugees.
"Alright, set me down there, Hejinmal." Ainz said and pointed to the ground ahead of the walls of the city.
It was obvious when the fleeing figures saw him, they began to slow, seeing a dragon circling in a slow descent beneath the sky of stone until it touched the ground.
The words of Punitto Moe came to mind, ' Throw something odd and unaccountable in their path, and you may halt an entire army.'
Ainz landed and dismounted from the dragon, he kept his left palm resting on Hejinmal's long neck and waited as the slowing numbers of dwarves and quagoa began to approach far more tentatively, but they did continue to approach.
"Come closer, I won't harm you! My name is Ainz Ooal Gown! I am the King of the Nation of Nazarick." Ainz called out and holding up a hand, he curled it inwardly toward himself, indicating that they should collectively come closer.
Being taller than any dwarf, and so obviously not one, he became a sort of 'neutral figure' to both the dwarven and the quagoan numbers. The scattered ranks continued their unofficial truce and approached on slow steps. Many of them were exhausted, carried as far as they were only by the raw terror that still touched their steps.
There came a point however, when even fear could not carry them farther on their flight. When they collectively stopped well out of reach of the dragon's breath, Ainz took one step forward, putting himself between them and the dragon. "Send forward a representative then, one from each of you."
The scattered numbers began to organize themselves with relative speed, considering most of them had to trudge.
Mutterings and mumblings that were probably words, but which were too mangled by distance and softness of voice ran rampant through both groups until one dwarf and one quagoa shambled forward.
"Sit." Ainz said immediately when they came close enough, and they flopped hard onto their backsides with sighs of relief.
"Now, tell me what has happened? Are you friends again? I heard you were enemies…"
A quagoa face did not reveal very much, but it appeared at least they had the same cockeyed look that most bipedal species seemed to have when confused.
With the representatives seated, Ainz towered even more over both races, "Now, start at the beginning…" Ainz said as gently as he could, but the quagoa's sharp jaw opened and he answered with a slew of questions…
"Who are you… what are you… why are you here…?"
It went on, and though it was the dark furred quagoa who spoke, the dwarf clearly favored the questions, looking up with the same cockeyed face as his counterpart.
"I suppose it is only natural that you should ask that… very well, I will begin, and then await your answers." Ainz said and began his story.
Including the fictional parts wherein his Kingdom was quite ancient, he peppered the story with anecdotes about the Undermountain Empire he once knew there, a cosmopolitan place where dwarf and quagoa shared space freely.
Recalling Demiurge's fabrications, he built them into his narrative, finally pointing to the Great Rift that was formed in a great clash to defeat a terrible demon.
When he got to his description of the Evil Lord of Wrath, both the dwarf and the quagoa gasped, sucking in their breath and trading looks of mutual understanding.
"I can't quite recall his name however…" Ainz touched his head as if it ached, "We slept for so long… some memories… they're bright as day and eternal as a glowstone. Others?" He bent forward a little, "So obscure. Hard to recall, his name… Jald- Jal-"
"Jaldabaoth." The dwarf and the quagoa said it at the same moment, and both groups cried out in fear at their backs when the name of the towering demon was spoken.
"Yes… yes that is the name!" Ainz sharply nodded his head. He stopped then, and stared down at them both, "But… if nobody remembers the things I've said… how can you possibly know 'that' name?"
"That is the reason we ran…" The quagoan warrior said with a dread look up at the King.
Ainz took a 'shocked' step back. "It can't be! Jaldabaoth has been sealed since the Rift Making!"
"You described what we all saw… and if even a quagoa agrees with me… Great King… you defeated this being once before, you say?" The dwarf replied.
"Yes," Ainz replied, "He was weakened enough by runecraft weaponry. And with the enchanted runecraft armor, the armies of both dwarf and quagoa held out while I sealed his army into an object and then confined him in the same way. The last I saw of either, the object holding him prisoner was being locked away, and the object confining his army was tumbling into the rift. It was never found, but with him confined and both dwarf and quagoa watching over the rift, it didn't matter. There were bigger concerns."
"If all of that is so… then how are you here now ?" The quagoa asked, its claws digging into the stone beneath him, gouging it deeply.
"I was awakened, my ancient home was invaded. Now my Kingdom is restored. I can't help but wonder if Jaldabaoth wasn't awakened precisely because we were?" Ainz rubbed his chin in deep thought, and a low grumble of disgust reached both groups.
"Now, it is your turn." Ainz pointed at the quagoa, "Tell me everything you know, beginning with why the ancient union of your peoples was destroyed, if you know it, and all leading up to today."
The quagoa froze like a doe caught off guard by the sudden appearance of a hunter.
The dark furred creature was full of stammering and uncertainty, with little he could say about their history, but Pe Riyuro figured large and got a glowing depiction in the present day when he got up to that point.
And when it came down to the reason for conflict the spokesman made it plain. "We want to rule the mountains, that is all. The quagoa desire to raise our place in the world. Dwarves are in the way, so we're getting rid of them."
"So… if I were to offer the quagoa a mountain range of their own, something unencumbered by dragons or dwarves where they could grow to the limits of their potential…?" Ainz let the question hang, and at that the quagoa snapped his jaw shut and looked at Ainz as if his head had become gold, and the quagoa had become Midas himself.
"A mountain of our own?" The quagoa asked.
"Yes." Ainz replied. "This part of the world has long ranges, and I'm sure I can provide you what you want… if you return to my service, and if your people aid me against Jaldabaoth."
The quagoa nearly shot to his feet, the temptation was great in his eyes, his whole body stiffened like the dead as he explained, "I can't agree to that! I lead only a few hundred warriors! Only Pe Riyuro can…"
"Will Pe Riyuro listen to you?" Ainz demanded and stepped a hair closer to the quagoa, the short being shrunk in fear.
"I-I don't know… My Lord." The quagoa whispered, "Even if he does, the dragons-"
Ainz cut him off again. "If Jaldabaoth is back, and has met the dragons, then there are unlikely to be any dragons left to oppose Pe Riyuro's decision."
He then snapped his pointed finger to the dwarf. "You, there is another way across the Great Rift isn't there?"
The dwarf reflexively nodded. "Yes, yes there is, My Lord." He gasped out in haste.
"Escort the surviving quagoa over it, send them back to their people, let them tell the truth of Jaldabaoth to theirs, as you tell the truth to yours. If Pe Riyuro is wise or alive, then all as it was will be again." Ainz proclaimed, and both looked overtly confused.
"You, quagoa, tell your chief to bring all his people here. Jaldabaoth will be searching for his army of demons. If Pe Riyuro is as wise and canny as you say, he will do as I say. If he is dead, let his successor come. If he is a fool, then you will all die out buying time for the dwarves to prepare for the fight. Life, or death, the choice is his."
Ainz lowered his pointed hand back to his side, he recalled a moment in which Queen Draudillon spoke in anger, how she snapped out her command of "go" to someone who was not moving fast enough from her presence.
"What are you waiting for? The Demon Emperor to catch up to you? Go!" Ainz snapped, and the quagoa shot to his feet.
The dwarf chosen as a representative scrambled to his feet just as fast, and with great haste they scurried to carry out the command of the King. "The rest of you, follow me into the city, you have to tell your people to get ready to resist a demon."
There was not one, no matter how weary, who was slow to follow Ainz' command.
Volume 4 C31
When the dwarven survivors made their way back inside the city, it was at a trudge behind the visiting King. He didn't ride his mount, rather he walked at the head of the little column. When the gates began to groan open, cheers drowned out the noise as dwarves saw the quagoa leave their people alone. The streets were clean again, allowing for the steady, even stately passage of Ainz, Hejinmal, and the dwarven survivors within.
The commander fell in at Ainz' side immediately, "The council has to be briefed… I know they're exhausted but…"
Ainz shook his head, "No, I understand. Just have food and wat- no- beer brought to them where they're going, maybe have some wagons brought, they're clearly exhausted." Ainz replied with a practical nod following his statement.
The commander of all dwarven soldiers was halfway through the process of obeying the foreign King, having procured a small wagon and begun to bring it back before he even wondered why he was taking orders the way he was.
Ainz looked over his shoulder to check on the following dwarves when he saw the wagons approach, and there he saw something unexpected. The people hiding in their homes had all emerged, but unlike his initial passage, they did not immediately go back to using the street.
Instead, they remained quiet and still, soldiers lined up on the walls, put their backs to the rift and faced within the city itself. Thousands of eyes were centered on the visiting King.
' One small gesture can make for one great gain.' Ainz thought, and remembered seeing the way Queen Draudillon had used her white handkerchief to wipe the blood from a soldier's face during a visit to the wounded hospital, the look of utter devotion that followed was one Ainz would not soon forget. So when the wagon came up, he extended a hand and helped the broken, weary dwarves to rise into the wagon one by one.
His pure white glove was slowly dirtied by their sweat and grime, but he showed no evident care for the stains or smell, instead waiting until the last of them was in the cart and a pair of rams began to pull them along. The dwarves looked at Ainz with eyes of the utmost reverence, some had sheens of salty water in their eyes after the help was given. They flopped down where they could, some too weary to even keep their heads raised.
Only when the wagons carried the survivors away did Ainz remount Hejinmal again.
The proud dragon trotted forward behind the wagons with its overweight belly swaying until they reached the council chamber again.
The dwarves themselves already began to dismount on their own, Ainz couldn't quite hear what the commander was saying, but it was enough to urge the survivors to ascend the stone steps with urgent swiftness despite the way they slumped forward. Some had to help one another along the way, but assisted or not, they made it within the great wide doors.
Ainz followed them. The council itself was already quite assembled. They were wide eyed, some of them dressed in their night clothes still, fear painted over their once grousing faces, they waited with fidgeting hands that tapped on the stone table. Some kicked their feet back and forth as if they were going to run away while still seated.
But none of them spoke while the survivors found seats before the assembly. Their military commander, for his part, had rushed through the center aisle and spoke with hushed whispers disguised by the groans of the weary, sweat-stained and stinking warriors.
When he was done speaking, he pointed to the back of the room where Ainz stood standing at the center aisle between the many filled chairs and the door.
Ainz glanced down, the dwarven warriors had uniformly chosen to seat themselves as close to Ainz as they could, and those farther away frequently looked back at the one who left the city on the back of a dragon to bring them back to their homes.
The commander finally made his exit, "Go on," he said, "tell your stories, I'll only be gone a moment."
The dwarves in their many stone chairs nodded, and chaos erupted as the whole lot of them began speaking at once, their exhaustion didn't seem to impact their limbs as they gesticulated with wild flailing and shouted their stories to the council.
The eldest of their number stood up and held both hands out in front of himself and over his head to urge for quiet. "Calm yourselves!" He said in the gruff voice all dwarves seemed to possess. "We can't hear any of your stories if you all talk at once… start at the beginning with…" He scanned the room and pointed to a dwarf at the far corner on the far left, "you. Stand up if you can, tell us who you are, and then tell us what happened as closely as you can."
So it began, Ainz listened in silence while the stories began to tumble out from fumbling dry lips.
The words were halting, punctuated with deep gasps and echoes of bemoaning fear whenever a difficult moment was reached.
"But… then… th-that is when we saw the demon… nine meters tall… a m-monster… he set to killing the quagoa… b-but also us… his n-name. Jaldabaoth. Jaldabaoth…" The dwarf covered his face when he leaned forward and wept.
"So much fire… blood…" The young dwarf whimpered with shaking lips and then said nothing more.
Another took up the story, the flight, the escape, Jaldabaoth seemingly had no interest in them, a few recalled seeing him looking for something, more interested in what lay around him than in actually killing anyone.
The stories matched uniformly, and as the stories went on, the council members one by one turned to Ainz, even with his mask on, they weren't complete fools and sensed by his easy stance and quiet demeanor, that he was waiting on them to ask questions.
"You know something, don't you, Your Majesty?" The old councilor asked.
"Yes." Ainz replied, his now filthy glove was exposed for its dirty state to the council when he swept his hand in front of his body in a decisive chipping gesture to pair with his one word answer.
He followed it up with more, "Jaldabaoth is a very ancient and very powerful demon… from… another realm, you might say. In ancient times when dwarf and quagoa were almost united, we three faced him here beneath the mountain. Your armies bought me time to seal his forces, your runecraft weakened him, and I locked him away."
"Could you be the reason he was awakened?" The forgemaster asked with a sharp look.
"I doubt it." Ainz covered immediately with a shake of his head, "When we were awakened by the invasion of my home, one prompted by the Baharuth Empire, it may be that the seal he was under had already begun to weaken. It was only a matter of time before he emerged again."
The dwarves began a universal grumbling of low anger against the Baharuth Empire.
Ainz mentally sighed, ' Poor Emperor Jircniv, everybody is going to be blaming him for quite some time… the lizardmen, the frogmen, the dwarves and even the quagoa, not to mention his own people. I should go and visit him to establish friendly relations and maybe make amends of some sort with him for making his empire the villain or the fool in this story.'
"Now," Ainz said as he returned them to the matter at hand, "the runesmiths have all sworn their allegiance to me, so I intend to take them to safety. I had hoped for trade and good relations with you at least. However, I can't embroil my nation in a pointless war that puts my people at risk for nothing."
"But-but you said you fought with us in the past!" The Minister of Commerce exclaimed and shot to his feet, his hands held out with palms upturned and shaking. He was dressed in plain white ram's fur night clothes, he even had his little white nightcap still on his head, and the little poofy round top bounced around as he trembled and spoke. "Can't you do that again!"
"I have to live in the present. Not the past." Ainz responded, "I am sorry, but it is best that I go, I will have to fight Jaldabaoth eventually, but I have no army here and we've just recently finished a war with the Empire. It will take time to-"
"What if we offer ourselves as vassals!" The voice came from behind them all, and Ainz looked down over his shoulder to find the commander had returned.
Volume 4 C32
Jaldabaoth watched as the dwarf slave writhed on the table. One of his summons was busy sewing him to a captured quagoa. The yowls and screams of the pair blended together like a musical chorus. "Fools. Fools. Fools. Fools." He said while looking over them as they struggled to resist, tugging against the straps which held them fast. "Your best chance to stay alive is to stay calm and move as little as possible, or that is what the rest of my experiments are showing. Your races have changed so little in the thousands of years since I was last here." He snorted, the quagoa prisoner had at least a little spirit left, it nipped at his hand. Jaldabaoth allowed the nip and laughed when the teeth shattered.
The quagoa howled at the self inflicted pain, he pulled against the dwarf which in turn pulled against him. "Pathetic little animals…" Curiously, the one thing they had in common was that they called for their parents. The beardless dwarf shed tears, the quagoa did not, and yet if it could have, it surely would have.
The pair were joined at the hips in the most literal sense, and with great care their veins were entwined together by magic. ' I wonder if this pair will survive?' He mused and left them to be tended by the summons.
He went over to another table, where a dwarf was fitted with a quagoan arm, while a quagoa was fitted with a dwarven one. This pair however, was not screaming. They were deep in an enchanted sleep to see how conscious pain impacted the surgery.
There were a considerable number of quagoa to work with, but not nearly as many dwarves. Capturing those sent out to raid settlements, and the settlements' defenders and occupants, proved fruitful. ' If only I hadn't moved with such sloth! Surely my Master won't be displeased though… do I have enough that…' He could not finish the thought.
Instead he imagined the words he dreaded, and cursed his supreme intellect that let him make it so vivid in his own mind, " Demiurge, why so few… I thought you were eager to prove yourself… if this is the best you are willing to do then…"
Jaldabaoth killed the vicious horrible thought by slamming a fist down on a stone table and shattering a chunk free with such force that it shattered again when it hit the stone mountain floor. Daylight would shine through the hole in the mountain soon. Putting the quagoa out into that sunlight proved to be a unique kind of torture.
Unique in that unless they were forced to look directly into the light for a prolonged period, they would recover almost instantly.
So to save mana, he made use of it. "Where is my army?! Where is the object that contains my endless host?!" He spent all day yesterday bellowing that at one quagoa after another.
Each one yowled as the light seared and blinded the quagoan eyes.
Each one professed the ignorance he expected.
A ragged, bruised, bloody dwarf hobbled behind him taking notes. He was missing bits up and down one half of himself. Half his head was shaved at the top, all the teeth of the right side of his jaw were gone, he was missing one eye, one nostril severed away, three fingers of his right hand, three toes of his right foot.
He held a clipboard with his remaining fingers in the right hand while writing on paper with his left while the demon dictated to him. "Halfdwarf." Jaldabaoth addressed him, and the dwarf nodded his head as fast as he could.
"My Lord?" Halfdwarf asked.
"If I torture your captured comrades, will I get different answers than I got from the quagoan filth?" Jaldabaoth inquired.
"No, my Lord. None of us know the history you speak of… I swear it." Halfdwarf replied, and immediately when the towering demon with its sparking flame-touched body turned around to face him, Halfdwarf groveled on the stone in abject submission.
Jaldabaoth grunted. Halfdwarf kept his sigh confined to his mind, any sense of relief would be cause for punishment, the cool stone caught the warm sweat as fear drained it from his body.
"I was trapped in that item for at least ten thousand years… that is the only explanation for the stars being where they are…" He hissed, and the dwarf gasped at the statement that didn't really seem directed at him.
"It is… possible that I could have been forgotten after all that time. So where…" Jaldabaoth reached down and plucked Halfdwarf from the floor by his hair, he held the now kicking, flailing, screeching dwarf up at eye level. He locked his burning eyes into that of the fear filled dwarf's face. "Where would you hide something you didn't want anyone to find… or where could it be lost that nobody would stumble over it?!" Halfdwarf screamed, the clipboard clattered against the stone, he reached up and began plucking hairs out of his head until he fell.
' At last I die… no more pain… no more pain…' Halfdwarf told himself with tranquil optimism and closed his eye while he turned so that he would fall headfirst into the stone surface where sweet eternal oblivious awaited him.
Only to land… and find he was not dead.
He opened his eyes when he felt the solid, burning surfaces engulf his body. Jaldabaoth had caught him during his fall. "Where?!" Jaldabaoth bellowed and shook the dwarf.
Halfdwarf's head bounced around so wildly that he couldn't even properly make out the face of the demon which held him fast.
"The Great Rift!" Halfdwarf shrieked "Anything that goes down there never comes back up! Nobody knows what's at the bottom, if it's not with us, or the quagoa, or the dragons, if it is in this mountain it's down there! Down theeeeerrrre!" Halfdwarf shouted with urgent abandon as the fingers closed around him and the heat on his flesh began to intensify.
Then it began to fade, the grip loosened, and he was set down with near gentleness, the massive head of the demon furrowed at the brow and asked, "What is 'The Great Rift'?"
Halfdwarf began to babble, explaining what little he knew about the deep chasm. He knew without a doubt that as long as he spoke, no pain would come. And so he would speak, he would say all, anything, everything. Every legend, every story, what little was known of every expedition's efforts, down to the very last detail.
Anything.
' Anything… at all… as long as there is no more pain…' Halfdwarf told himself, and babbled on, and on, and on…
Volume 4 C33
"You can't make that offer!" The council elder snapped.
"Then you'd better!" The commander snapped back. "I've fought the quagoa since the beginning! I've seen a lot of good dwarves die out there and we're ," he paused, he took a deep breath, balled up his fists and turned purple in the face that wasn't covered by a beard, then he bellowed loud and hard, " losing!"
The council froze. The quiet, patient, steady commander was not done.
"We've been fighting for years, we've lost every city, every army, and every large battle. We're down to the last city and those few outposts far away on the fringes. That's it! Look at the dwarves in front of you! If the quagoa who can defeat us, fled this way too, what does that tell you about a demon emperor?! We've got nothing left! Nothing to bargain with! We need help and we have nothing but our loyalty to trade for it anymore!"
"We need to talk about this more…" The elder muttered, and the commander took the axe off of his back, hefting it in both hands, he walked between the lined chairs of his soldiers and the council instinctively drew back from the armored warrior's advance.
"No!" The commander shouted and slammed his ax down into the council table with enough force that it split and crashed down, stone on stone, to the floor below. "Enough talking! You've talked for years and what has it gotten us!" The commander bellowed out his frustration, with his broken warriors at his back, the rumble of discontent was clear. He leaned forward toward the council members and thrust one pointed finger behind him towards the visiting monarch.
"He's going to leave ! He's going to take the runesmiths with him, he's the only one who knows what we're dealing with! I've been loyal to our people, to this council, for my entire life ! Right down to today! But if you won't make a decision… I will make it for you." The commander hissed and seethed, and the council gasped.
The elder and those who held the reigns of power saw their control begin to slip away.
The commander watched as their eyes widened, but his dark, deep set eyes remained sharp and steady, they narrowed to the width of a blade as he spoke with the broken table and the axe between himself and the council. "All in favor of offering our Kingdom as a vassal to the visiting King and begging him to save our hairy dwarven asses… say aye ."
The council members were quiet, very quiet. The heavy breathing of the weary dwarven soldiers was the only real noise in the great stone hall.
"Aye." The forgemaster mumbled. The others shot their eyes toward him at the far end. "We're alone here. We've got no help, everything we hear now tells us how well buggered we are if we do nothing. I've got my doubts, sure as anyone… but if we've got any kind of chance… it's this."
"You can't be… !" The elder glared down the linen at him.
"Oh blow it out your ass you old goat! We're in trouble! We're losing to the quagoa, the quagoa ran from the demon, what does that tell you about our chances against that demon alone?!" The commerce minister snapped. "Aye." He capped his complaint with the vote, and so it went.
The old councilor looked down at the shattered table, the axe embedded in the ancient stone floor that would leave a mark even when they replaced the table. The moment of the commander's outrage leaving a mark on their history that was truly indelible. The sacred stone held the axe fast.
"Aye." He finally added. The vote passes unanimously. Then one by one the council members descended to their knees save for the elder himself.
"Your Majesty, we offer ourselves to you as vassals, we only ask that you save the lives of your loyal subjects… p-protect us. Please." He said, and then descended to one knee as well and bowed his head.
Privately, Ainz could only thank his lucky stars that wearing the mask became routine. ' Wait… how did this happen?! Did they just… did I…? I was expecting just really good trade terms… They jump straight to offering themselves as a vassal state?!' Ainz could scarcely believe his ears or his eyes. The dwarves who led the dying nation were still shivering, their eyes went up to him and back down to the floor with regularity, their lips were licked by their quick, darting tongues. They glanced at one another several times in the interim, and only then did Ainz realize it. ' Oh, they're waiting for me to speak!' He realized and to buy time to frame his words, he began to walk slowly toward the kneeling rulers of the nation.
When he came within hand's reach he said to them, "I accept your fealty."
It wasn't a grandiose speech, but it had an electric effect on the dwarves who stiffened at once, then breathed deep sighs of relief.
"Will you summon your armies to help us, then?" The Forgemaster asked.
"No, I have another option." Ainz gave the cryptic reply, "And I expect the quagoa will come along shortly begging to surrender in exchange for their survival. Without runecraft armor they're no match for the demons of Jaldabaoth. So to begin with, your runesmiths will need to work constantly to prepare for the coming conflict. Jaldabaoth will be busy for some time, and while he is, you can work."
"Work…?" The Forgemaster asked.
"Yes, your runesmiths, everybody who has ever studied the craft will need to enchant everything they can against low karma beings, with holy magic, and whatever else they can. Even simple runes will do. Every apprentice who quit and every veteran of the craft… do or die. I can provide a few items that will let them work without the need for rest or sustenance, but your whole operation will have to be geared to equip every dwarf and even augment the quagoa themselves to fight. Work together or die together, those are your choices." The stark terms sent shivers over the dwarves who heard him.
In part because of the radical, even absurd suggestion that the quagoa would work with them, but nearly as much also because their 'new King' put so much significance on a craft the dwarves were ready to throw away.
But there was no arguing it now. They were committed, and they knew it.
There was no more time to ask questions of that sort however, because moments after Ainz spoke, the doors opened and various servants began to carry in food and beer as though there was going to be a celebration instead of simply a recovery.
Nobody took a drink or a bite, though they accepted both bowls and mugs, they one and all waited for Ainz to grant permission, their deep set eyes held up to the masked King's gaze. "Go ahead, eat, I have to see the runesmiths, it looks like it will be the last sleep they get for a good while, I hope it was restful." Ainz said sardonically, the dwarves gave nervous chuckles at the joke as he spun on his heel and made his way out of the council chamber with his caster robes fluttering behind his quick and steady steps.
Volume 4 C34
"Guard the others, Quadwar won't be going anywhere." Jaldabaoth laughed, the sewing of the two members of the opposing species was quite complete. Their legs were joined together, sewn tight first with thread and then by magic. The quagoa was missing his right arm, the dwarf was missing his left, and they were joined at the shoulder the same way the remnants of their upper thighs were.
Whatever their names had been before, Jaldabaoth now referred to them as a single being, 'Quadwar'. The two could share one another's pain, as proven when each one howled when the opposite side of the body was seared by a drop of molten lead dropped on each one's cheek in turn.
The pain was great, so great that they each passed out for some time, coming to just in time to hear Jaldabaoth's instructions and listen to the babbling Halfdwarf chatter on and on and on.
The two heads of the single being turned to look at one another, singular hatred for the other was set aside in favor of their singular fear of what more Jaldabaoth might do to them.
More importantly, the things they heard him say… ' Perhaps it tells us how he can be stopped?' The same question echoed in their minds, most of the other prisoners and experimental subjects were moved, but those sewn beings were left largely unwatched, and in Quadwar's case, not even bound as it seemed their tormentors assumed that the two which had become one could not have hoped to escape no matter how they dreamed of it.
"Dwarf… can you move, or are you broken?" The quagoa asked.
"Move or die… I'd rather move… my leg works… yours, quagoa?" The dwarf whispered the response.
"I am quagoa, I do not give up so easily, stumpy." The mealy mouthed and toothless quagoa growled.
"Good… furball… good. We will be alone for hours, but where do we go?" The dwarven half asked.
"My people, they are closer." The quagoa whispered.
"And get myself killed? No thank you." The dwarf whispered in spite of the pain that stabbed all over the side of his face.
"Can we reach yours, thick headed stumpy?" The quagoa growled through his slowly moving jaw.
The dwarf was quiet for a moment, "Fine… Jaldabaoth is worse to both of us than either of us are to the other… we go to yours. But I want you to promise me my life when we get there."
"Would you believe any promise I made, dwarf ?" The quagoa hissed the whisper out a few inches from the dwarven face, each bore the same brand like burn on their faces, and each one's eyes burned just as hot with both hatred and fear alike.
"Just start moving before I change my mind… we might not survive, but I won't give that bastard a complete victory." The dwarf grumbled, and they inched their way off the table, pushing an arm and leg in unison until their one good leg each hit the mountain floor.
"I go first… you follow." The quagoa said as they brought their shared body up to a seated position. The stone was cold from sweat and chilled blood, and some dripped down to darken and stain the gray rock in the dim light let in by the hole in the mountain which allowed the stars to peek in on the horror of their existence.
They glanced around. Most of the other 'experimental subjects' were either asleep or dead, but nobody was making any noise.
"On three." The dwarf said, and the quagoa nodded.
"One. Two… Three!" The dwarf grunted out in a hoarse whisper and the quagoa hopped a leg forward.
"One." The dwarf mumbled and hopped his leg farther beyond that of the quagoa.
"Two." The quagoa gasped and hopped past that of the dwarf.
"One."
"Two."
"One."
"Two."
So it went as they alternated, their slow hop was shaking, unsteady, and they fell soundlessly before they'd made it a dozen paces, neither cried out in pain, each thrusting their good arm out to minimize the pain and impact.
"Bastard… you did that on purpose…" The dwarf hissed.
"As if I would do that during an escape… stupid dwarf… I would happily gut your kind, but not if I had to break myself to do it!" The quagoa snarled back as they lay struggling face first on the floor.
"Push up together." The dwarf said without apology. Outside the mountain there was a roll of thunder and the sound of a billowing wind.
The quagoa grunted, and again they counted to three and pushed themselves up to their knees.
"Me first." The quagoa said and popped one leg forward, then up he pushed until the dwarf got his leg under him again.
"Again. Slower this time, wait until we've got the rhythm, then we can go faster." The dwarf said, and the quagoa listened.
They hopped again, putting foot by foot between themself and the place of their torment. Passing between the shadows of buildings, the area was almost completely uninhabited now, though occasionally they saw cages holding their respective races, they glanced at each other in mutual understanding.
' There is nothing we can do for them…' They read the look across the lines of species, and looked with pity at their own. The quagoa and dwarves alike bore numerous nonfatal but crippling injuries. Similarly, the two sides were chained to each other. Though most of both groups were sullen and silent, those few with any spirit left at all used it to insult their opposite numbers in the same cages.
The noise of their bickering seemed to amuse the few demons Quadwar took notice of, while the smell of the captives masked Quadwar's passing between narrow buildings and down various alleyways until the pair was well on their way out of the city, and headed in the direction the quagoa considered to be the most likely place to find whatever remained of his people.
Far out of view, Jaldabaoth stood watching through one of his familiar's little beady bat eyes as Quadwar made his… or perhaps 'their' escape.
The view was only black and white and offered little in the way of fine details, but it didn't need to be perfect, only 'good enough' and with their wide long gait, it was sufficient.
Jaldabaoth smirked, "Excellent… this should serve my master's plan exceptionally well… run along, Quadwar, run along… or is that more of a 'hop'?" Jaldabaoth asked himself and stroked his chin as he thought it over.
He was still wondering that question when the pair hopped out of view into one of the long tunnels that populated the mountain range. "Oh well, now to 'prod' the dragons and their minions along." He laughed, gouts of flame springing from his open mouth as he did, and called forth another handful of demons to do his bidding.
Volume 4 C35
Demons proved exceptionally difficult to kill. The dragons proved invaluable in that, but Pe Riyuro's worries were not diminished even a little bit. "Have we heard any word from the small expeditions?" He asked of his second in command.
"None, My Lord. No more have made it back, and most of our scouts have not returned alive." His second replied with a dreadful shake of his head. "The ones who have, all report dealing with small groups of demon probes… minor ones… but they are hard to kill."
Pe Riyuro wondered how long it had been since he last slept well. ' Before the demon appeared… but what has it been, a week? Two weeks? Who can say?'
More bizarre than the demons was the behavior of the dragons themselves. The concubines and children of the late dragon ruler, Olasird'arc. ' No snarled orders, just a desperate, fevered cooperation. Seeing their patriarch die must have shaken them badly.'
They had fled too far, too fast, and now the way in and out of the mountain was lost to them. The Demon Emperor's small number of minions had few creatures to rival a dragon, but it didn't matter as long as Jaldabaoth remained in easy reach and the demons could call for his aid at need.
"How many casualties?" Pe Riyuro asked while staring with a grim face down at the little lizard in the tiny cage.
"A hundred and twenty-seven." His second in command answered with his dark blue streaked fur shaking in the light breeze that now blew through the area.
"And did they stop the demon probe?" Pe Riyuro asked, his breath quickened and then stopped as quickly as it had increased while he waited for an answer he did not truly want.
"Yes, My Lord. We killed seven of them, the rest drew back, but again they seemed disinterested in really pressing the fight. If they had?" His second in command answered and his fur bristled with his shudder.
"I wonder if the dwarves are still alive?" Pe Riyuro said aloud, he looked away, wistful for a moment, recalling the time of relatively easy victories, the time of certainty when he believed the mountain would fall into his people's hands one day.
"There's no way to know, My Lord, the more distant scouts have reported the dwarven fortress on our side of the Great Rift is intact, so is the bridge. But we have no way to say what that means for the city, and our scouts have not been back that way in some time." The second in command looked with hungry eyes down at the caged lizard.
"What about food?" Pe Riyuro asked.
"We got a great deal out of the farms when the dragons warned us, but not everything, and we no longer have the space or time to replace what we've lost. But still, we're rationing, priority goes to the front lines for now. Sadly the demons help solve our food problem when they take captives…" The second in command snapped his jaw shut when Pe Riyuro glared at him.
Then the glare disappeared and Pe Riyuro lowered his eyes to the little lizard in its cage where it ran in frantic circles under their eyes.
"What are they taking prisoners for? What does the demon want ? If it were me, then I would have sought servants, the dragons bound us to them, why wouldn't the Demon Emperor do the same? Are we food for them as the lizards here are for us?" Pe Riyuro expected no answer would come his way, and none did.
So Pe Riyuro looked down at the ram skin document again, and ignored his ration.
' Never ending petitions… but none of them are requests to fight the demons on the front line.' Pe Riyuro kept his grousing confined to the inside of his own skull, everybody wanted to fight when there was sure victory… but defeat? Who wants to fight a lost battle, especially one in which you at least 'seem' to win, but still end up feeling like you've lost?
' I'd face desertion if there were anywhere for anyone to actually 'go'.' Pe Riyuro clenched his claws over the tanned skin full of requests from various clans. Two thousand or so did actually try to make a run for it, attempting to find some way out of the mountain by going toward one of the old dwarven gates. A few sent out to bring them home saw demons tormenting the last of those numbers, and then withdrawing from the site of what became a bloody massacre which painted the gray rock red.
' It's like they want us to stay here… do they hate us like we hate dwarves? Why?!' Pe Riyuro tried to think of any reason why demons might have a special hatred for his race, and yet none came to mind.
' So many questions… and no answers to go with any of them.' He thought just as one of their numbers barged in.
The quagoa was one of the lighter furred members, his dark fur painted a shade of gray with a combination of ground up rock dust and mud to help hide him a little better. Simply put, he looked like he badly needed a bath.
He was breathing as if he'd run for hours, he collapsed at Pe Riyuro's feet as soon as he came near.
"My Lord! My Lord we have… we have some thing to see you!" The quagoa's brow-covered eyes were wide with existential horror that spoke volumes about his state of mind.
Moreover, Pe Riyuro heard the way it was said. ' Something? Not 'some' 'one'?' He blinked three times in rapid succession, then demanded, "Explain yourself!" And tossed the list of petitions aside.
"A… I have no words, two heads… quagoa and dwarf sharing a body… th-the thing… the abomination… I don't… but it comes from, ah, it says it came from the fallen dwarven Capital… that it was personally with the Demon Emperor Jaldabaoth and has words that might help us… things it overheard." The runner shivered with mute horror, whatever he'd seen, it had been more than the young runner was prepared to cope with.
"I see… how did it escape?" Pe Riyuro's eyes narrowed with suspicion.
"I-I don't know… b-but My Lord… the quagoa half… it was m-my brother…" The scout stiffened from the tip of his nose to the tip of his toes.
Pe Riyuro gave a low growl of pity, "Go, rest, send… whatever this is, in. If what you say is true then…" He almost promised to help, but set the likely futile promise aside.
"I am sorry." He said with sincerity, and the scout shivered again and withdrew.
It took supreme effort not to vomit when the wretched creature was brought within. One half dwarven body, one half quagoa body, fused together through both common medical arts and magic, both halves had clearly nearly starved, scrapes and cuts were packed with mud and chewed leaves meant to pack injury points. They both had the start of hideous scarring around open parts of their cheeks that had been touched by molten metal. Their arms and fingers showed numerous small injuries or breaks. The dwarf, far from the robust stature normally associated with them, had a pale pallor associated with malnutrition.
Worse, each one was missing an eye as well as the vast majority of the inner leg, the stumps bound inextricably forever.
The stomach of the shared body growled with vigorous hunger when the quagoa head caught sight of the lizard.
Pe Riyuro broke the silence, and did his best not to stare at the ruined version of two beings, though he also marveled that they, or it survived to reach him at all. "You have information for me?" He asked and taking up the box with the lizard inside, he extended it to the quagoan arm.
The lizard was flung into the open maw and wolfed down, but while that was happening, it was the dwarf side which answered.
"Aye… ah do, we do… an here's all we know…"
Pe Riyuro listened with horror as he found the answer to the most pressing of questions, and learned the answer was worse than he ever imagined.
' I need help.' He realized, and asked himself the all important follow up question, ' How do I get it?'
Volume 4 C36
Overnight, the Runesmiths became the most important people in the dwarf kingdom. Gondo's heart sang as he stood beside his only master. "I came up with this idea, your Majesty." He said and waved his hand out to the smiths in the room who stood over the heatstone benches etching in tandem. Instead of one small bench each, a large one was packed with heatstones which had a thin sheet of orichalcum over it. "Before, it wasn't possible to really try this out, but thanks to Yourself…" He looked up at the magic caster King with a smile on his face and tears in his eyes.
"… It can be done."
' What can be done?' Ainz asked himself and almost covered with a lie, but then he paused. ' I've seen CEOs ask questions before… if I'm not expected to know… it's Okay to ask.'
"Could you explain it further?" Ainz asked, "I have no experience as a runesmith ." He chuckled a little as if it was funny to imagine he would, and Gondo laughed with him.
"Forgive me, your Highness. The long bench allows many to work in tandem instead of one alone, and that," he pointed to a little pyramid device with a long swinging metal rod jutting up from the bottom which swung back and forth in a constant steady rhythm, "is my newest invention."
Ainz watched it tick back and forth, there was a constant steady 'ticking' noise from the base which seemed like it would go on forever. Other than that though, it seemed to do nothing, like a clock which ticked without any numbers to tell the time by.
"I call it a metronome. It counts time, see, your Majesty?" He asked, a beaming smile on his face while Ainz looked over the runesmiths, each of them had their little chisels and small hammers, each one hunched over the warm metal weapons, and each one was tapping in time to the metronome.
"The biggest weakness of runesmithing has always been its inefficiency, we dwarves hate inefficiency, living under the mountain like we do, we have to be economical in everything." Gondo explained, and the runesmiths grunted in wordless agreement.
"This doesn't completely solve the problem, but between Your Majesty's marvelous rings of sustenance and with this new process, we can cut production time down considerably. For purposes of efficiency of course we're all doing the same runes, things demons are weak to, and we're limiting it to two runes per weapon, and the same for armor. For armor it will be slashing and piercing resistance, it won't be perfect, but it will minimize the damage we take."
For good measure, Gondo went over to a corner of the room where a pile of finished sets of rune enhanced platemail sat. He reached out and picked up one breastplate and held it up in both hands. "When we have more time I want to focus on covalently bonded runes."
"What are those?" Ainz asked, his confidence going up as he asked the question, the runesmiths wore little smiles on their faces as they worked, hearing a King ask about their craft seemed to please them.
"They don't exist yet. But I've always believed that they could. The idea is to bind runes together like a sentence, thus enabling us to use more runes per item. See, Majesty, runes look to me a lot less like symbols and more like words, like they're part of a language, and if I can just figure out how to tie them together? Who knows, we could make that eighteen rune blade again, maybe." Gondo said with a mix of happiness in his voice and determination in his steady unblinking eyes.
"They are." Ainz confirmed, "In… another world, where runes originated, they were the language of a people which lived far away from me. Coming to this world, it was shocking to find it used this way."
Gondo stiffened. "Your Majesty… I… are you telling me I'm right ?!" The dwarf, it seemed, was capable of a very high pitch to his voice at least some of the time.
He dropped the armor when it slipped over sweaty fingers and fell with a clang and a clatter to the floor.
The other runesmiths actually briefly stopped their steady rhythm. "Gondo was right?" The hushed whisper was one of utter disbelief and awe.
"I'll… leave you to your work." Ainz said, "I need to speak with Hejinmal."
He then made a hasty retreat, but the damage was done, or the bonus was applied, depending on how it was thought of.
When word spread among the dwarven city weeks earlier of their submission to the Kingdom of Nazarick, the one who brought their own alive through the gates and away from the quagoa, their reactions were mixed. But the King who tamed a dragon was increasingly welcomed by the dwarves, and as he mingled among them up to the present, Ainz came to like them.
' They're like salarymen at one of the few companies to look after their workers.' He thought in passing. They were boisterous drinkers, passionate arguers, and he found it easy to mingle among them so much that they soon began to refer to him with reverence when his name was uttered.
So now, when the revelation that Gondo was right spread out among the dwarven population, and it was confirmed by the ancient King himself… the relatives of the runesmiths were treated with great reverence.
The workshop where the runesmiths labored with their tiny precision tools became a popular place for the young to visit. "I want to be a runesmith" was now uttered commonly among the youngest of young dwarves.
Word of the demon spread too, and this flung the dwarves even harder toward the Kingdom of Nazarick, with all kinds of questions constantly being turned his way. What kind of army he had, how many soldiers would he bring, and of course… "Can we really win?"
Ainz answered the same way, with cryptic nonsense which sounded wise. "Do not ask 'can you win' ask 'how can you win' then do that ."
"Ooohs" and "aahs" at his 'practical wisdom' made him ever more popular, as did his frequent gifts of 'beer from his home country' such that many a dwarf drunkenly asked, "Are you just a very tall dwarf from a kingdom of dwarves?"
It was hard not to laugh, and so he didn't resist, allowing himself to laugh with them he answered, "Good alcohol, like a good friend, is highly prized in my country, and we have many thousands of years of experience with both ."
And so, day by day as they prepared for the struggle ahead, the dwarves opened their hearts to their new King.
Similarly, his 'flights' with Hejinmal became a regular part of the routine, the dragon was slowly starting to look more fit. He ate less, though his reading habit was unbroken, there was some muscle definition beginning. "Another ride, your Majesty?" Heijinmal asked when Ainz came into view.
"Yes, they seem to like seeing me do that, for some reason." Ainz shrugged.
"Isn't it obvious, Your Majesty?" Hejinmal asked as Ainz swung himself up over the dragon's back when Hejinmal crouched down to allow it.
"No." Ainz answered.
"It's simple, I'm not as much a dragon as say, my father," his bitter words hung for a moment before going on, "but I am still a dragon. I'm considered untamable, and one of the fiercest creatures. Even if you know I am not… they don't see it that way. So seeing you ride me out beyond the city beneath the stone sky, it fills them with optimism and a sense of security."
"That is what a King should provide." Ainz said, and thought about that more in relation to Hejinmal. "That is what a father should provide. One who doesn't, is no father."
No sooner than he said it, he thought of Demiurge out there, and as they soared to the sound of cheers fading behind them, coming ever closer to the Great Rift, Ainz felt the urge to see the Guardian again.
Volume 4 C37
Demiurge stood up and stretched. He temporarily released his hold on the Evil Lord of Wrath, and allowed the demon to go about the business of harvesting resources. ' Using him to mine was a brilliant idea, even for me. I'm sure Lord Ainz will be pleased.'
Ore ripped from the mountain was steadily transported to Nazarick, thus providing ample material for public works. Further, the mines were walking height, creating a kind of path that would take them north, thus opening a path to both the City States and the northern part of the Baharuth Empire if a secret path of invasion was needed for some reason. ' Caution, my Lord has always prided himself on his caution and preparation, if I show the same trait…'
Demiurge didn't finish the thought, instead he leaned his back against the empty wall of the vault he'd turned into his de facto headquarters. Everything seemed off and yet, everything had never seemed so right either.
It was like unto the two sides of a knife's edge, and Demiurge had to walk the fine center of the blade.
' Was it one mistake that caused Lord Ulbert to look at me the way he did? Why couldn't I even say goodbye? When he made me, he praised me. When he left, he said nothing…' That was the worst part.
There was no point in his life before where Demiurge could say, "Here, I failed." No point at which he could say, "Had I only done this a little better, I would have at least been told goodbye."
With no point of failure, no shortcoming he could find, he could only curse his pride for failing to see the weakness in himself that his father must have seen.
"And yet One Stayed." He muttered and lay back stretched out on the floor, one foot crossed over the other at the ankles, and his arms crossed beneath his head, he stared up at the blank white ceiling.
His look was as blank as the stone, and for a time his busy mind was blessed in its emptiness. The One Who Stayed was different, different in strange ways that even Demiurge himself in his vast wisdom couldn't quite fathom.
' He is always unfathomable… but he even 'feels' different. What is it that has changed? He is more affectionate toward us… more… or just different…' It was enough for him to roll onto his side as if ready to sleep, the wall he now looked at was no different from the ceiling.
He turned his mind away from ugly thoughts that felt far too treasonous or inappropriate. Instead he focused on the matter at hand. ' By now Quadwar will have reached the chief and have learned a great deal, he'll be desperate for allies, and shortly, if they haven't already, the refugees from my first meeting with the quagoa will reach home. The dragons will be desperate for help, and if they go, the quagoa will follow.'
He reached into his dimensional storage and plucked the item 'Armageddon Evil' out of the little whorling black void.
He looked at the little item, it wasn't the final version, having only three arms around the seated goatman. But it was Lord Ulbert's work, a precious treasure of his creator, and now it was his.
Demiurge could not weep tears through crystal eyes, but he could feel the abyss of sorrow as he looked up at it, and if one were to ask him, he might have said that his crystalline eyes shone brighter in such moments.
The little object was more than a holy relic, ' Accepting it from Lord Ainz… it's as if he wanted me to have it, a last gift from a father going somewhere from which he cannot come back. Is that the truth… is that how Lord Ainz was able to bring us here? Were they… were our parents dying for us?!'
The sudden thought shot through him like a bolt of lightning and he shot up to a seated position. "No! No- no- no- no- no- no- no- no- no!" Demiurge's chest began to heave as he wondered if it could possibly be as he imagined. "He didn't say goodbye because he didn't want to go… or didn't want me to know the truth…"
His chest heaved as he stared down at the little item, ' Is that what Lord Ainz was trying to say… what even he couldn't say?!' Demiurge shouted the question in his mind and slapped a hand hard on his forehead.
"The Supreme Beings were sacrificing themselves… one by one… to keep us, their creations alive and to prepare us to come here…" He sounded out the long sentence with great slowness, and then again.
And again.
And again.
"Lord Ainz… he knew. That's what he meant… isn't it?" Demiurge asked the empty room while his chest heaved and unshedable tears built up in spirit if not in liquid form.
He recalled the words of Lord Ainz, the unfathomable being always had layers upon layers to his every utterance. "You couldn't go where he was going" that was more or less what Lord Ainz had said.
"At the time… at the time I thought it meant he went somewhere we simply couldn't exist…" Demiurge muttered as his fingers tightened around the impossible to break little object.
"But in hindsight… that makes no sense . If the Supreme Beings wanted us to be able to go there… we would be able to. They're Gods, of course we could have been modified for the journey." Demiurge muttered on, his words picking up speed as his mind raced on and on and on.
His breathing pace picked up along with his thoughts.
"But there's one thing that would be true for… death . We can't survive 'death'. Even undeath… we wouldn't be ourselves anymore… oh by all the Supreme Beings… by Lord Ulbert and Lord Punito Moe and Lord Bellriver and Lady Bukubukuchagama…" Without missing a beat, Demiurge recited the name of every single Supreme Being of the Great Tomb of Nazarick.
"I'm right… that was how My Lord made the trip… the supreme sacrifice…" Demiurge's mumbling became broken. "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends…"
The words etched on the arena wall and in the throne room took on new meaning. "They're not gone because they loathed us… or because we failed them… they're gone… because they loved us…"
Certainty crystalized like his eyes, and all he could do was kneel, clutch the relic of his father to his chest, and think of the quiet moment he vanished forever.
His black heart broke in his breast, and all he longed for was the presence of the One Who Stayed.
And yet, despite all that he was, all that he knew, all his impossible belief in the impossible wisdom and power of the King over Nazarick.
Demiurge was still surprised when he felt that familiar hand on his shoulder, and heard the voice of his Master asking, "Demiurge… my boy, are you alright?"
Volume 4 C38
Pe Riyuro listened to the mutilated dwarf and quagoa hybrid with the same horror which he looked at it. The dwarf half and the quagoa half took turns explaining everything they heard, and then went through the story of their escape.
"We took the little used ways, we found stalagmites jutting up from the ground which had little dips in them that made them like little bowls. Water dripped from above into these gifts of the gods, and saved our life more than once when we were thirsty. We caught bats and wild lizards, by blocking small holes and snatching them as soon as they thought it was safe to skitter out. We… survived for all those weeks… and now here we are." Quadwar replied.
"So you did… in a manner of speaking… now about putting you back to normal…" Pe Riyuro scratched at his jaw.
"Our organs are melded together." The quagoa head said, "Even if you cut one half off, we don't have a high enough tier of magic for us both to survive."
"So?" Pe Riyuro asked with a shrug. "I'll save the quagoa half.
The dwarven head snarled at him. "Bastard."
"No." The quagoa head replied.
"No?" Pe Riyuro replied and cocked his head in disbelief.
"Both or neither, My Lord." The quagoan head replied, "You need allies… there is only one choice."
Pe Riyuro nodded at that.
"The demons! My Lord, the demons again!" One of the guards outside shouted and chaos erupted again.
Pe Riyuro snarled, "You… two… you… get somewhere safe for now… their probes are getting bolder."
The noise of the dragons' breath from the surviving members of Olasird'arc's family echoed off the great cavern of the expansive mountain interior. Howls of quagoan warriors fighting and dying at the front became cheers as he rushed to the fore.
"Elites! Elites of our people, we will not die so easily! Follow me! Follow me! Follow me!" He bellowed louder than the din of battle, his feet slapping on the stone as he charged without fear, his bright headdress in place, a symbol for all to see as he roared forward backed by the best of the best.
A dozen demons which towered two or three times the height of a quagoa were surrounded and slashing their claws down at the clan warriors, but for every two that died, three or more would claw their way up the demon's bodies, hacking and biting at the deep crimson colored flesh.
They raged and yowled, pain in one was encouragement to the others, the bat wings sent gusts of wind against the defenders, sometimes a quagoa at the back of the demons would claw their way up and pierce a wing, only to be flung free and broken against the rock, tumbling in a moaning heap if they were lucky. Crumpled and forever unmoving afterward if they were not.
Pe Riyuro's elites, the strongest of the strong, intended to be saved for the last assault on the last dwarven city, were now the difference between life and death for hundreds of his fellows.
He clawed his way up the body, barely avoiding a demon talon, his people's resistance against being 'cut' was of only limited use against these powerful creatures, and so he praised the great ores of the gods that he avoided the strike. Though it caught another of his people in the eye and sent the quagoa toppling to the stone floor. The demon's foot came up, Pe Riyuro looked down and saw the quagoa scream as the foot came down and squashed the fallen into mush.
"Bring them down!" Pe Riyuro bellowed when he climbed up to the top of the demon and thrust his claws into the great eye and ripped it out of the socket. He held the red eyeball aloft like a trophy, his people howled their pride in their master and the assault redoubled, the hearted tribal warriors clambered up and tore with violence at the demons with renewed vigor, some using hooks and ropes to tug the monsters down to swarm over them.
Quagoa warriors became red and furry smears on stone, but they drowned the towering demons in quagoan blood, continuing to claw, bite, scratch, and tear at the demons until they were one by one reduced to unmoving corpses.
Dragon's breath proved an effective weapon, slowing down some, freezing them in places, and they themselves attacked in pairs, descending from above, taking a demon up into the air of the open black sky and tearing at them with claws and teeth. The demons seemed to have had some resistance at least, but the flaming maws and icy ones proved the dragons superior at least some of the time, though they took wounds, the dragons at least, all survived.
After the last of the demons perished and their heavy, large bodies were laid out, the dragons simply collapsed with exhaustion wherever they were.
Pe Riyuro considered them the lucky ones, weary as he was, there would be no rest for him. He looked over the sea of death where bodies blanketed the stone so well that the rock floor was hidden in places. Even without a clear tally… ' Hundreds, I lost hundreds against a dozen. We can't go on like this…'
The healers expended their mana every day after that, though the demon attacks were rarely large in number, the dragons continued to take wounds, enough that the quagoan casters could only afford to heal the worst of their injuries as all the rest of the mana was applied to more seriously injured quagoans.
And in each of those days, Quadwar urged him to move, the strange hybrid again and again said, "Go to the dwarves."
But the notion still sickened him enough that Pe Riyuro couldn't bring himself to do it.
Knowing what to do, but being unable to bring himself to do it, became his bane.
A bane that did not abate until the shouts of alarm became shouts of happiness and he emerged from his quarters to find a scout rushing to him. "Survivors! My Lord, we have survivors!"
"Survivors from what? " Pe Riyuro demanded with a furious snarl that mimicked his haunted eyes.
"A raid, one of the raids on the dwarves, they have news… news of possible help!" The scout shouted and flung himself at Pe Riyuro's feet.
"Please, meet with them! Hear them out!" The mud coated scout begged, and in that plea, Pe Riyuro heard the sound of the unthinkable.
' He doubts my leadership. He doesn't trust me to make the right decision anymore…' It was a horrific thought for the conscientious quagoan chief. ' Am I leading us to our destruction by holding back even knowing what I know?'
"Hurry, bring them to me… I will meet with them." Pe Riyuro promised, and the scout shot to his feet and rushed away as fast as his legs would carry him.
Volume 4 C39
"My Lord… My Lord… My Lord…" Demiurge gasped out and did the unthinkable, while down on his knees and still clutching the item, he grasped the white magic robes of his King and pulled himself into them. "He's dead, isn't he? Lord Ulbert, the other Supreme Beings… they sacrificed themselves to save us?"
Ainz stiffened at the sudden outpouring of the normally unflappable Demiurge, but he did nothing to disengage himself from the Guardian, though at even one moment's pressure Ainz understood something else.
' His grip is so weak now… compared to the Guardians, I've become unbeatable… with my phylactery merged with me and my levels as they are… I might as well be the God they proclaim me to be.' Ainz thought and then set that aside to put his other hand on Demiurge's other shoulder. He didn't pull the guardian away, instead he looked down as Demiurge looked up.
' How did he make that leap…?' Ainz wondered, but the truth was, even Ainz had no idea how many of them were still alive. ' I sent an email to all of them asking for one last meeting, and only three came… it could be that they were all gone other than Herohero… and by now, who can say? Death in my world was so routine…'
Ainz choked back a sob as he imagined his friends dying, while never even knowing if they had… and Demiurge immediately picked up on the emotion of his master.
"I knew it." Demiurge hung his head, and it struck against his Master's thigh just above the knee.
"Demiurge… my boy…" Ainz said and put a hand on the dark hair of the archdevil's head and pressed back so that the demon tilted his eyes upward again.
"What happened to the other Supreme Beings… even I can't know that. But I am here… and I need you to know this… I am never going to abandon you all. I would do anything to protect you all from harm." Ainz vowed as only a father could. "I am here, and I never want to leave. Nazarick is my home, and you are not only the children of my precious friends…"
"Lord Ainz…" Demiurge began, but Ainz blew past the words and shot his own out faster.
"You're my children as well. Mine, and I never, ever want that to change." Ainz's voice became a whisper, and his own body shook as a human body wants to do when charged with great emotion.
That, no magic item can disguise and Demiurge could feel the change.
"Lord Ainz…" Demiurge began again, but stopped as Ainz disengaged himself and crouched down in front of the still kneeling archdevil.
"But some things," Ainz said softly, "even I can't control. I can't decide what I am to you, only you can do that, only you can say how loyal you are, nobody can decide your loyalties. Nobody can decide your feelings. Nobody can decide your wants, hopes, or fears, only you. Even if I could do that… I would consider it the most loathsome and vile thing I could do, and so I wouldn't do it."
Ainz swallowed hard and withdrew his hands, bringing them to the sides of his mask.
"I asked you something when we reached this place, you remember the question, don't you?" Ainz asked, holding his hands in place.
"You asked what you are to me…" Demiurge replied in a small voice. "I asked for time to answer… May I answer it now, My Lord?"
"Yes." Ainz said.
"You are The One Who Stayed with us… when we knew the world would end… you were willing to go with us to oblivion. The giver of all good things, our protector, our provider, our leader… you're like… like a father to us all." Demiurge cracked a smile, "Perhaps you should call yourself that instead of simply King. 'Allfather Ainz Ooal Gown'…"
"Does it matter what form I take?" Ainz asked.
"No." Demiurge answered decisively.
"Even now?" Ainz asked, and removed his mask to reveal his chiseled human face.
Demiurge flung himself back to land on his rear and spread his arms out to catch himself, he looked at the very face of what he was designed to hold in contempt, to despise, to loathe and torture and his mouth dropped open in disbelief.
"My- My Lord?!" Demiurge gasped out in shock.
A look of abject sorrow came over the face of his Master as heartache at what he perceived as rejection took hold. To Demiurge's utmost horror, Ainz turned his face away from the Guardian's own.
"During my first visit to the outside world, when I was with Albedo. The item they used… it shouldn't have been effective, not to this degree, but it turned me into this. I am mortal, I am human ." Ainz explained.
Demiurge ran through the information he had from first hand observation and secondary material from the others, and things clicked into place.
"The others… most of them know now, don't they, My Lord. That is why you've been going out with us individually, to test our loyalty and tell us the truth alone." Demiurge guessed, and to that Ainz could only nod.
"Yes… as expected of my Demiurge… you see straight to the truth with only breadcrumbs to lead you home to it." Ainz said with a snort, "If this weren't as unbelievable as it is, and if I hadn't packed you off to other work, I'm sure you would have known well before now."
"Who doesn't, if I might ask, My Lord?" Demiurge asked.
"Out of the guardians, only Albedo and Victim. It will present no issue to Aureole Omega, given her innate humanity. Victim is designed after a human fetus, so it will be the same. The rest of the tomb will be told when Albedo is informed… depending on how that goes." Ainz still did not meet the eyes of his Guardian.
"So I am among the last to know… My Lord… why?" Demiurge asked, and though his eyes could not show emotion as a human's could, Ainz could hear the hurt in the Guardian's voice.
"Lupusregina was the first to know… she worked it out quickly," Ainz tapped his nose and rolled his eyes, "I took her advice on the order of revelation."
Demiurge didn't take long to work out what that meant.
He thought of the order of events, the Guardians he saw, whom he took with him out of the tomb and whom he sent away. Demiurge hung his head again and folded his hands in front of himself, still on his knees, he shook with self loathing. "You chose it based on who was least likely to turn on you… to most ."
Ainz nodded. "You were designed with hatred for humanity because of Ulbert's own frustrations with humans… it was something I always disagreed with him on, and now here I am… a human. Forgive me, Demiurge… but it wasn't about you. It was about me ." Ainz confessed, and the archdevil did not raise his eyes.
"I could never kill any of you, I knew that if even one of you rejected me, I would have to leave Nazarick. I couldn't bear that, and so I chose based on my own… fear, my own now very human emotions. Irrational, I know, but this was not some master plan… this was not supposed to happen. Even I couldn't have planned for things that were literally unknown…" Ainz faced Demiurge again and snatched the archdevil's shoulders.
"I'm sorry. Perhaps I should have told you all at once, but I couldn't bear the heartache if my children could no longer love me as they did! I wanted to draw it out as long as possible! I am the One Who Stayed, but I stayed for those I loved! What was I? If not that?!" Ainz shouted and tears began to run down his dark eyes. "Now you know it all… the truth… the truth as best I know how to tell it… so… my boy… my Demiurge… am I still…"
"The father of us all… as my father would have wanted it…" Demiurge said, and his chest heaved as he flung himself into the waiting embrace of the One Who Stayed.
Volume 4 C40
Pe Riyuro looked out over the little sea of weary faces, the varying shades of fur denoting that not all were as strong as their comrades, and yet somehow they had survived an attack by Jaldabaoth. Not far from them stood a vast number of hopeful members of various tribes. Every fight, Pe Riyuro made a habit of mixing attack forces to ensure each tribe was used to fighting by the sides of the others.
It ensured minimal rivalry and maximum camaraderie, it also spread the casualties out so that no tribe felt oppressed or like they were mere fodder.
Now that meant that thousands of his people arrived to see the briefing and to learn if any of their family members were among the survivors. Even at a glance Pe Riyuro knew the truth. ' Few. Very few will be anything but disappointed.' It wasn't hard to feel pity for their longing.
But as the uniter of the clans there was no way he could allow himself to show it.
The spokesman for the survivors relayed all that they saw and all that they heard. The way Jaldabaoth ignored them to engage in a search of the ruins and otherwise seemed to let them escape lent credence to Quadwar's words.
When the survivors spoke of fleeing 'with' dwarves, a steady rumble of words, vague and unpleasant ones alike, were turned their way.
But it was the moment of meeting with the foreign King that drew gasps of astonishment.
"He rides a dragon?!" Pe Riyuro knew all the dragons by name and, such as it were, by face. As the explanation came out, he realized it could have only been one. ' Hejinmal survived… he must have escaped when Jaldabaoth was killing his father.' The lord of the quagoa had to give that abundant thought, the fact that the foreign king ensured the quagoa survived and let the dwarves go as well… ' He is neutral… if we can broker an alliance with that one…'
Pe Riyuro felt his resistance melt away in his head.
When the encounter was told in full and the last of the few surviving warriors spoke their peace, it was time for a decision.
He stood on a stone that jutted up a foot higher so that he loomed over all his people, and asked, "Were you opposed on the way here, is it safe to travel?"
The quagoa survivors murmured their assent. "We were unopposed, the demons don't seem to have found the way yet, or they haven't concerned themselves with the dwarves… if we move quickly, we can all make it."
That clinched it.
Worried at first about the gathered quagoan clans hoping for survivors, Pe Riyuro was instead relieved. "Survivors who have beaten the odds, one by one, announce your names, greet your families, but don't take long! Hear your Chief! We are going to make for the last dwarven city, we will meet this foreign king and ask his help! The demons want all of us dead, if this King knows what we face as he seems to, then he is our best hope for victory and survival! Gather all the food you can, necessities only! Food, water, ores, nothing we don't need can go!"
He held his breath back for just a moment, ' There's no way we can let the demons know what we're doing, if they learn about it, they'll chase us and we'll be vulnerable. We can't risk that.'
So he shouted the order, "You have two hours to pack, and then… I need All Sires of three adults to present themselves here again."
"An All Sire unit…" The words were carried back, and Pe Riyuro waited with his arms crossed in silence. ' Will they argue?'
He waited. Other than repeating the words, nobody said anything, and no opposition rose.
An All Sire unit was comprised only of quagoa who had living sons, ensuring their line did not die out, they were a suicide unit who would stand and die. To use so many out of all surviving seventy thousand plus quagoa would be a sizable force.
But they were facing demons.
Any other time, the quagoan tribes and clans might have argued.
But not after facing the demons.
"Now go!" Pe Riyuro shouted, and the survivors one by one named themselves and answered the cries of someone from their family who stood in the surrounding body. Quagoans came and embraced one another, having only mere minutes, but Pe Riyuro waited through it all.
' This is my place.' He told himself and watched as the seated survivors one by one were welcomed with cries of relief. In the end, when the last survivor stood and was embraced by his loved ones, the rest let out a cry of despair as hope died in their hearts that their loved ones might come home again.
"Now, enough! Get ready to go!" Pe Riyuro barked the order as only a chief could, so that even the mountain sky echoed the words back to them, as if the mountain wanted him obeyed.
They did, departing to spread the word to all others.
The racket of thousands preparing to flee was noisy in the extreme, and Pe Riyuro could barely hear himself think even when he retreated into his quarters where Quadwar waited for him. The mutilated 'bothling' as he privately began to call it, was pensive and quiet for the most part and kept itself confined and under guard of its own volition, though it would return often to his quarters when it was able.
"We're leaving." He said to Quadwar. "You were right, the survivors told me what they knew, we have to go to… the dwarves ." He ground his teeth in anger. "They had unbelievable things to say… if there were any deviation in what they said I wouldn't believe it… but I can't ignore this. We're leaving in a few hours."
"Good." The dwarven head's beard was looking thicker and fuller, and the eyes had more luster than before, food and water did wonders for both sides. "What about… me… us…" He asked.
Pe Riyuro glanced at the quagoan head, and the dark eyed quagoa returned the look with unexpected defiance. "If the dwarves have a way to separate you and let both live? Fine."
"I suppose you intend to keep us… unobserved?" Quadwar's quagoan head accused.
"Yes!" Pe Riyuro hissed and stepped closer, he slapped the stone on the side of either of their heads and leaned forward to hiss at both. "Of course I do! The fewer who see you, the better. The courage of the quagoa hangs by a thread, every fight sees fewer of us, every fight has fewer charging ahead with vigor, and every fight we have more losses. It's enough to make me think you were let go to spread fear among our ranks! I will not let you be used as a weapon against us now! You will go with us, but you will be hidden until we can see what the dwarves can do to unmake you as you are!"
Quadwar hung both heads.
"We did not ask for this." They said as one.
"I know. This is enough to pity even a dwarf." Pe Riyuro growled out, "But I can't deal with what you asked for or didn't, I have to keep us going or we will all die."
With nothing that could be said against that, Quadwar was silent.
Pe Riyuro changed the subject and probed for any additional knowledge the bothling might have, until his second in command entered hours later and said to him, "My Lord, the All Sires are ready for you."
Pe Riyuro answered with a heavy, exhausted voice as he stood with the slowness of a quagoa several times his actual age, "Good. Then I'll be out in a moment to address them all, for the last time."
Volume 4 C41
"I accept you as you are, no matter what you are, you are father to us all. No matter what your race." Demiurge finally uttered, but looked at his lord with horror, "But… you are mortal so… we cannot let the last Supreme Being die… the human race, no matter how strong, they have many frailties."
Ainz nodded, "I have gained far more power than I ever had, not only to defend myself, and not only to protect my children. But also so that I could find some way to 'change'. Race change items all come with drawbacks. Vampirism, Werewolfism, all other transformations come with drawbacks that range from loss of powers, elimination of my skills, or worse, putting me under someone else's control… now that you know the truth, perhaps you can find a solution."
Demiurge let out a derisive snort, "Me, Lord Ainz?"
"You're one of the three geniuses of Nazarick, yes, you Demiurge." Ainz answered and patted the archdevil's shoulder. "I cannot stay this way, but if you want to know the truth, as much as I loved my skeletal form… it had drawbacks I don't want restored. I can laugh longer in this form, I can feel the unbridled affection for my children and a sense of pride in your accomplishments… I do not want to lose all that. Nothing is suppressed now."
"Then… you want to become something else, My Lord?" Demiurge asked. The Archdevil's mind was already racing as he considered the possibilities.
"Yes, I think that would be for the best." Ainz answered, "It must be immortal, it must be able to contain all the requisite class skills, and it must have the full range of… shall we say… diverse emotional drives."
"I see…" Demiurge said and drifted off to thoughts of the research that would be necessary. "My Lord, we have race change items in the vault, wouldn't one of them…"
Ainz squeezed the hand which held his shoulder. "No. The world item that made up my phylactery would counter any attempt at-" Ainz stopped before saying ' any attempt at changing to a completely new form.'
Demiurge however, was not the sort to fail to pick up on that. "My Lord… you were once… human ? That is why the Slane Theocracy's weapon worked? Because you were human first?"
Ainz sighed, "A father should not lie to his children… yes, Demiurge, yes. Long before I was a Supreme Being… consider the nature of this world, have you never noticed?"
"Noticed what, My Lord?" Demiurge asked.
"Dragonoids, quagoa, vampires, werewolves, elves, dwarves, and every intelligent race of significance you can name other than dragons. All have a humanlike body to one degree or another. All bipedal, all with arms in the same place, the human is the basic body type for almost all intelligent beings. Even slimes like Solution, insectoids like Entoma, and the android design of CZ. So it was with all the Supreme Beings. Humans give rise to all these things." Ainz explained, it wasn't really a 'lie' in his eyes as he said it, it was as close to true as he himself could conclude.
"Of course… you are forbidden from ever speaking of this. But I suppose there's no way to not tell you." Ainz closed his eyes and sighed, "That is why I don't use another race change item, I may be able to fulfill the requirements of an immortal class on my own, but in this new world, that doesn't seem possible so far."
"I understand, My Lord." Demiurge thought, but already his mind was racing ahead on the possible solution, something that may in concert be able to combine into a world item level of magic power, even if only once .
Demiurge slapped his hand over his heart with an audible clap and pronounced with fanatical fervency, "I will work tirelessly to see to your immortality."
"I will trust in you, Demiurge. But remember never to speak of this with the others. There is no reason for anyone to know that the reason I am what I am, is because it is what I was." Ainz replied, and Demiurge gave a nod of understanding to his Lord.
"My Lord's will shall be done, in all the world as it is in Nazarick, on my life I swear I will never say a word of this." He smiled a little, "Forgive me, My Lord, but I can't help but feel a little privileged to be the only one who knows this, even without your order, I doubt I would ever say a word."
Ainz and Demiurge shared a short laugh, and Demiurge began to make far more sense in Ainz's eyes.
' He really is like a child…' The thought was disturbing on one hand, but on the other, it was a relief, the innocent were more easily led and guided, unhindered by reflection, Demiurge would loyally obey any command of any kind.
' No matter what I tell him to do, he will never lose a wink of sleep over it.' He suppressed a shiver and recalled seeing the way a child tormented a housefly he'd captured, plucking at its wings, making it desperately dodge being squashed, unable to escape the torment and fear until the child grew bored and squashed its life out.
To distract himself, Ainz asked the next logical question, "What stage are you on now?"
"My Lord, my repeated harassments of the quagoa have been increasingly prodding, the dragons with ever more injuries, and my last large raid used twelve summoned demons. They're tired, they rely on the quagoa heavily now, and if everything went well, they have all the information to guide them to turning to the dwarves. If everything goes as I intend, they will launch an attack on this place in order to help the dragons escape as they are more valuable in a battle than several thousand quagoa, the rest will run by another route which I have made a point of ignoring. I expect their attack in a few days. Did I… did I execute your will properly, My Lord?" Demiurge asked.
Ainz nodded, "You did… you did very well, Demiurge, I'm proud of you. Now, I had better get back, the dwarves will need to be prepared. Send a small probe of demons to the city to impress on them how serious things are." Ainz suggested. It was a pointless addition to an already masterful plan, and Ainz knew it.
But in his desperation for relevancy, he couldn't resist the suggestion, ' … And it isn't a bad one, it just isn't necessary… The other dwarves have already built up Jaldabaoth to the ultimate evil and the greatest threat they've ever faced. But this would be a chance for their new King and for them to build some confidence, some 'badly needed' confidence at that.'
An easy win was always good for morale, and with that, Ainz rose to his feet with the utmost relief in every capacity. "I place my faith in your efforts, Demiurge, I will see you again when you 'rise from the Great Rift' to greet your 'ancient nemesis' again."
Demiurge gave his lord a crooked smile, and when Ainz rose, he did as well. "My thanks to you, Master, for everything ."
Then the gate opened, Ainz stepped through it, and was gone.
Volume 4 C42
Pe Riyuro stood before his assembled warriors. These were mostly the older quagoa, five thousand strong, row upon row, they sat and waited for their leader to speak. Pride in his people kindled like a fire in his chest. ' They know they are going to die, and yet they don't cry, wail, or run. What a people we quagoa are.'
When he was ready, he addressed them. "There's not a lot of time, so I won't waste words. Brave as you are, you don't need many anyway." Pe Riyuro said and pointed to the largest path into or out of their holding position.
"We're moving, going toward the only possible source of help we can find. But if the demons know, they can cut us off and kill us all. Your job is twofold, keep them from finding out… and make sure the dragons escape. We'll need them in the battle ahead. They can't follow through the long narrow paths we can, so there is only one way out." He clenched his pointed hand into a fist.
"Straight through." He clenched his jaw, "They will fly past, and you will make sure they can. Hold the demons attention, for now at least there aren't many of them. But if Jaldabaoth gets what he's looking for, we'll have armies to deal with. You may be going to die, but you're not dying for nothing, and you will never be forgotten!"
The aged quagoan warriors pointed their claws up toward the stone above and roared their defiance to the mountain for several minutes before Pe Riyuro was able to speak again.
When he was able, he was brief. "Wait until the last of us have passed out of sight, and when we have, half of you head for the old dwarf capital to attack the demons. The other half will guard here and buy time, twenty-five hundred of you should be able to hold out against their small raids for at least a few days even without the dragons."
They rumbled their grim hatred for the demons which was already burning far hotter than it ever had against the dwarves.
"I wish you well…" Pe Riyuro said, and stepped down from the simple stone from which he spoke, and looked over his shoulder. The column of quagoa was already moving.
"Hail Pe Riyuro!" The call went up from someone at his back when he went to join the column of their great retreat. He didn't look back at them, but that did nothing to stop the call as it spread from mouth to mouth.
"Hail Pe Riyuro!" It echoed off the stone walls so often that it was like the mountain cheered him on as he retreated, little by little he was carried by his feet farther and farther from the others. Some would still be packing, somebody would help Quadwar in isolation at the end, and then the suicide unit would act.
The call faded as he moved farther and farther away, his own steps were a little faster than those of the rest of his gathered tribes, passing families and warriors whenever possible until he was at the front where he belonged.
The distant cheers hailing his name were reduced to whispers in the dark, and then they were gone.
There was only darkness.
Darkness and the sound of their trudging, desperate feet.
Hour after hour.
At least the dark proved no obstacle for them, but exhaustion was. Their animals had to be slaughtered en masse, save for the great numbers of lizards in small containers, and every scrap of vegetation they could eat had been harvested except for what had to be left behind for the All Sire unit to live on until they died.
Pe Riyuro did his best to keep their spirits up, chatting with his closest fellow leaders from various tribes and treating it like an outing, telling jokes they pretended to laugh at.
But it felt forced. Often their faces turned away from him.
So Pe Riyuro did what he always did.
He looked forward, straight ahead, and slowly fell more and more quiet, allowing time to slip past him like the faint breeze.
The one thing Pe Riyuro did not expect was just how hard it was to just 'move' some seventy thousand quagoa. The column could only go as fast as the slowest, the very young and very old both required more rest than all the others. The need to eat and drink was also increased, and though that could be done on the move, they also had to stop to relieve themselves. This made the column frequently bunch up as clumps got in the way of others, and there were few good places to relieve themselves anyway.
The wet slap of feet tramping through urine and feces was accompanied by a foul stench that he could only be glad was unable to follow after them entirely. When the breeze from the gaping hole in the mountainside died down, so did the stench.
But still, they carried on over the rocky hills, old mines that connected to other mines, and not all of them were easily traversed.
Under the mountain, there was no night or day, only darkness. And when you can see in the dark, what was darkness but eternal daylight?
And so with no set time or way to mark the passing hours, the quagoa went by the chief's time. When he slept, they slept. When his day began, theirs would also. All hours of all the tribes revolved around the time kept by the cycle of the chief's own life. If he was a vigorous leader with little need for sleep, the rest of the tribe kept the same hours and might complain that they were tired all the time.
If he was lazy, the tribe would often be envied by others, or in serious trouble if more hard work needed to be done. The chief under the mountain was the sun and moon alike, keeping setting the cycle of day and night where neither existed alone.
With Pe Riyuro at the head of them all, they had a vigorous and seemingly tireless chief, one who stepped forward one foot after the other without any sign that he needed or wanted rest.
It was that vigor, that unwillingness to let them falter, that kept them going.
"My Lord, we need to rest." His second in command said with hushed urgency.
It was whispered close to Pe Riyuro's face so that nobody else would hear, but still Pe Riyuro ignored him for another dozen steps before it was whispered again.
And again after another dozen steps.
"We can rest when we've reached something like safety." Pe Riyuro finally whispered back, "It's only been a few hours."
"It's been far more than that!" His second whispered a little rougher. "The elderly can't keep up, the mothers carrying their young can't keep up, and with the food and supplies being carried…"
Pe Riyuro snapped a look at him, "What good will it do if we're caught up to by demons? How long do you really think those we left behind can hold out? Two days? Three? Think about it, fool . They have no healers left, even if they hold out for two days, the demons will notice the lack of reinforcement soon and become suspicious. Demons aren't mere brutes. They'll wonder about the feeble attack, where the dragons were going, why we would sacrifice ourselves to let them escape. When they find our population gone, what do you think they will do?" Pe Riyuro hissed the withering question and glared at the warrior.
To his credit, the second in command did think about it. More importantly, they continued trudging. The weaker being helped by the stronger, until even Pe Riyuro could go no further and they finally collapsed in the largest sigh of relief the mountain stones had ever heard, and fell to a rest from which some hoped never to awaken.
Volume 4 C43
The next few days after Ainz returned from his meeting with Demiurge were busy ones, with none of the three geniuses at hand, Ainz had to negotiate the terms of the integration of the dwarves into the Kingdom of Nazarick on his own.
However, as he sat at the patched up table with his new subjects, he found he had two key advantages. ' My time in sales 'and' as a salaryman in an alcohol heavy environment both work in my favor.' Simply put, they were the perfect people to negotiate with.
He plucked beer in abundance from his inventory and used one of his oldest tricks. "We only drink… when we've agreed on something."
This caught the dwarves off guard, "Will you not simply dictate to us the terms of our submission…?" The aged councilor asked, and Ainz looked at him from behind the mask he was nearly ready to remove and answered…
"No. There need to be benefits for you here, or you will want to leave one day. I want 'you', not merely your mountain." Ainz replied, and unwittingly won over the worried elder in a single sentence.
They licked their lips as they looked over the frosty bottles, eyes as big as saucers, and as a measure of goodwill, Ainz suggested they bring another glowstone into the room to brighten it up.
"Agreed!" They said in unison and each reached for the first bottle before even calling for a stone to be brought.
So he removed the mask, offered up the bottles, and did what salarymen did best, he proceeded to drink the dwarves under the table with one bargain after another. Thanks to the intoxicating effect of the alcohol of Nazarick thick in their heads, they negotiated very lightly.
By morning on the fifth day they agreed. "The dwarves will pay taxes collected annually to the Kingdom of Nazarick. These taxes may take the form of raw ores, or requested finished goods, as well as coins of true weight. The Kingdom of Nazarick will in return establish the security of trade routes, and accept responsibility for the safety of the shipments. Furthermore the dwarves will accept the use of Nazarick labor forces as their King sees fit to provide, and pledge fealty and obedience in all matters of policy both foreign and domestic, with no laws of the dwarves contradicting the laws of His Majesty or the Kingdom without special Royal Decree of Nazarick's throne."
"It will be further provided that the King of Nazarick will act to protect the dwarves using such military forces at his disposal, with dwarves obligated to provide full support in those endeavors, and bear the cost of their own defense, including repaying any debts incurred in addition to annual taxes. Travel may be conducted freely without papers, and the practice of slavery will be barred from use as a penalty. All violent criminal elements, when sentenced, will be dispatched to Nazarick for confinement or disposal such as the throne deems fit."
The more the dwarves agreed, the drunker they got. The forgemaster, when deep in his cups, swaying on his seat, held up the bottle with the devil on the front label and pointed at his new King. "Ahll work real hard for yah… thish the besht beer evah, an they say yah can tell alosh about shomone by ther drinkin. Ahm the besh smith ther ish, an ah canna wait tah prove it!" he hiccuped several times, and Ainz sipped politely while the old forgemaster spoke.
"That's quite a boast." He smirked, it felt good to bare his face for once, and by the time anyone knew, Ainz felt confident that the rest of Nazarick would already be informed and have come round. Demiurge's acceptance touched Ainz's heart so much that the fear was replaced by warmth, and it was matched only by his shame in telling Albedo last . ' I've done the most to harm her, and because of that I've punished her more by trusting her the least… I can't delay long in telling her the truth. Whatever she does… whatever she does… I have to just accept it.'
It was a dreadful thought, and he covered it by answering the Forgemaster's boast and reaching into his pocket dimension. From it he drew a small green knife and a small green ingot. "Do you think you can work this? It's not the best of the ores we have in Nazarick but… so far nobody outside of Nazarick has even seen it."
The Forgemaster still swayed in his seat, but as the ore and the knife slid down the table with a long scraping noise, his eyes took on a professional look that only the master of a craft could attain.
He set down the beer bottle, after chugging the contents which remained with several steady and audible gulps, then picked up both the ingot and the knife. "I… dunno." he looked them both over with a critical eye. He cut the ingot with the knife of the same shade, looked at the mark it drew along the surface, then took out his own blade from its sheath on his belt. Steel at a glance, good steel, he drew a line beside the mark made by the green bladed knife. He frowned, he ran the blade back and forth several times, then set the ingot down and pressed harder, grunting with effort as he tried to mark the ingot with his steel.
"This idn't ahmantite… manatite.. Adamanite… hell you know wha ah mean… but it's strongyer by a lot… even manatite.. Ada… that one, will aleast leave a mark!" He hiccuped again.
"Can ah keep em… maybe work withem a bit, see what I can do?" The Forgemaster asked.
"Of course, and if you can't, and give up…" Ainz set his own bottle down and reached for another, "Come to Nazarick, perhaps we have something to teach you."
"Course… course… ah'd never jus… run off with it… course." The Forgemaster stammered, and then quickly stored both the knife and ingot away again.
He then held onto his smile his eyes, already glassy, went blank and he fell face first onto the stone table and began to snore. There was the faint 'crunching' noise when he hit, and a little blood seeped its way out into view, but the other dwarves didn't seem to notice or care.
"Is he… alright?" Ainz asked, seeing the way the others acted.
"Oh aye, majesty, aye…" The oldest of their council said. "Prolly," he took a long, deep draught, "just a broken nose, it appens when yer a lightweight like im… course it appens to all of us now an again, nothin a little magic can't cure. Now… one las clause ere… then we drink till we sleep an all get broke noses…" He and the remaining dwarves all licked their wet lips, flecks of beer foam was caught in most of their beards, and their glassy eyes sparkled at the final condition.
"No taxes on the trade in beer, production or shipment, an course… ah… one wee lil measure… ah hope ye can fergive… jus… one lil time per year, say… ta mark this treaty… yah send the council a gift of beer from yer home, ye know, jus a cask or two between friends ta show ye friendship to us all…"
"Agreed." Ainz remarked, and the entire council cheered… save for the snoring Forgemaster, their bottles went up and tilted high as their heads went back to drink every drop. It went on, and on, until true to the old councilor's word… they one by one fell forward onto the table and broke their noses as they passed out.
Ainz was finally alone in being awake. ' Dwarves… they're a very interesting people… I probably could have won them over just by trading them beer and then cutting off the supply unless they surrendered.' Ainz laughed at the thought, and then got up to return to his quarters and set himself to sleep.
Volume 4 C44
Jaldabaoth was utterly at peace with his entire world. Though the anguish of his father's passing would always be a part of him, another aspect of himself was at peace in a way he had not ever imagined. ' The words of the Supreme Beings have never been so clear to me before… and now I wonder how I could have so sorely misunderstood them.'
With the entire area thoroughly looted and large quantities of ore obtained, what remained was to deal with the inevitable. His demon familiar, a little winged bat through which he could watch when not controlling the Evil Lord of Wrath, revealed the coming of twenty-five hundred quagoa, or so he estimated them to be. ' Just as I predicted, they're going to launch an initial attack to get their most important assets through and disguise their retreat. An intelligent decision, their leader should be spared so he can serve Nazarick.'
The noise of the quagoas' trampling feet over the stone was lower than it should have been as they trotted along, they were obviously endeavoring to be quiet, the dragons were more successful in that much. Presumably they were flying, as the bat wings fluttered back and forth with a heftier breeze against its body than should have existed underneath the mountain.
' One hour or less.' Demiurge considered, and he abandoned the consciousness of the familiar. His mind was back in his own body where it sat cross legged in the now completely empty vault.
He didn't linger, casting it out to dominate the mind of his subordinate, the Evil Lord of Wrath. The towering demon accepted his Master's will over his own, and anticipating the arrival of the quagoa, he ran back to the dwarven Royal Treasury and shut the door behind himself. The handful of summoned demons put their backs to the path the quagoa would come from, seeming to be focused on the prisoners they kept for experimentation, the dwarves and quagoa were few. But it would be enough to drive the point home about common enmity and propel his Master's narrative.
The 'hour' estimate proved to be off by only a little as the quagoa picked up speed. They roared out their war cries and charged at the demons who turned on the attackers in surprise.
They charged the quagoa with the utmost arrogance, taking the earthbound prey on their own level, their claws sweeping out and slashing through six at a time before the quagoa could get close enough to bite or claw for themselves.
Jaldabaoth however, only listened while the quagoa swept past, and seeing prisoners, freed them indiscriminately without thinking, cutting the bindings of dwarf and quagoa alike and pointing back the way they came.
Here and there, his sensitive ears caught a few words.
"Go that way if you want to live!"
"Slay the demons!"
"Defeat the Demon Emperor!"
And the assorted curses and cries of relief and pain all blended together in a kind of musical harmony of the likes Demiurge never tired of in the least.
The demons 'fell' backward, crushing the quagoa on their back, the prisoners, those who were able, ran for their pathetic lives the way they were told. Their shared suffering was such that they grasped even at an enemy's hand if it promised some small hope of salvation.
Pounding feet and cries of hatred and rage quickly changed as the sound of great dragon wings beating in the air outside briefly drowned out all else.
' Now.' Demiurge told himself, and Jaldabaoth emerged from the vault, bellowing with rage as he realized his forces were under attack, the dragons curled their throats and blasted him with their icy breath, Jaldabaoth opened his body up by squaring off against them and holding out his fiery red arms so that he was easily struck. He laughed at the dragons, "Fools! Fools! You may escape for now, but you can't hide forever! I know where it is now! I will finish off the quagoa myself, and chase you down and kill those disgusting animals you call dwarves! I will avenge my past defeat a thousand fold when I skin you alive ! I will have you healed and skinned and healed again! Your suffering will be without end! So run! Run and enjoy your delusions while I let you have them! You'll know true despair soon enough!" His body was coated with the blue ice of their breath weapon, but if it was strong enough to do anything against him, they didn't see it.
Jaldabaoth charged toward the fray, his body burning through flesh as he came near to it, the quagoan fur burned as easily as oily animal fat, and his 'fallen' demons began to turn the tide. A few quagoa started to flee as if they were chasing after their courage, others redoubled their efforts.
They clambered over the demons in a desperate bid to take down the beings that looked down on them. Their claws didn't do much damage, but they began to topple the evil beings one by one, slaying the summons.
"It doesn't matter if you kill these… I'll summon more tomorrow and come for you!" Jaldabaoth shouted to the ones who ran. He waded into the fight of those who continued the fight, with the dragons gone, and seeing no hope of escape for themselves, they fought with wild abandon.
Slashing, clawing, desperately trying to reach the apex of the demons where they could get at the vulnerable eyes, some became smears when they were thrown against walls. Others became like squashed bugs when demons quashed them underfoot.
Jaldabaoth himself however, only walked and what came near, turned to ashes and blew away in the little breeze.
The numbers of the quagoan invaders began to dwindle faster and faster, several of Jaldabaoth's weaker summons were dead, but it didn't matter, even those who remained could see that for themselves. Jaldabaoth's mere existence determined their defeat, and brave quagoa died screaming in pain and fear when he came close to them.
But there were no other runners.
They fulfilled their oath to stand and die, buying time for the dragons and their comrades to escape to some form of relative safety.
Finally there were only three remaining quagoa, their backs pressed to the wall, they held their claws up in defiance, one leg back, both claws up. More notably to Jaldabaoth… they were all exactly alike.
He stopped close to them, he pointed down at the three dark streaked quagoa warriors with the bright red stripes in their thick fur, "You three… are you related?"
The surviving demons fell in at either side of Jaldabaoth, forming a semicircle which surrounded the trio against the wall.
"Brothers!" The center quagoa shouted and tensed.
"Brothers, are you… ready to die together?" Jaldabaoth's mocking voice met the three, who shifted on their feet but remained resolute.
"That's right!" They shouted and snarled, baring their teeth at their end maker.
"I will spare the one who kills his brothers." Jaldabaoth replied, the three stopped where they stood.
The center quagoa answered for them all. "Not on your life!" He hissed.
"And you two… does neither of you want to live?" Jaldabaoth pointed from one to the other of the triplets.
"Enough to kill you!" Said the left hand brother.
"But not enough to kill each other!" Said the right hand brother.
Jaldabaoth thought that over, his flames began to heat up and spread, the triplets each pressed as far back against the stone as they could, unable to bear the searing heat or the bright white light of the increasingly heated flames.
It blinded them so much that neither the left nor the right knew why they were falling until the pain hit after they fell to the ground.
The center brother looked down by instinct when he could see as the firelight faded to something tolerable and he heard the noise of his brothers' screams.
Each one was missing the outermost leg from their eldest brother in the middle. They clutched at the stumps that were cauterized at the thigh just below the groin, the claws once turned on Jaldabaoth were now turned to grasping at useless stumps.
Jaldabaoth held the missing legs in a single hand.
Before he could say anything, the center of the trio fell clutching at his right eye socket, his left looking up to see Jaldabaoth had plucked it out of his head, having moved too fast to be seen.
The demon threw the parts away to land with weighty thuds and a nasty 'splat' when a leg crushed the eye. He was howling still when Jaldabaoth repeated the act, taking the left eye as well. "My reward for your faithfulness to each other. You are your brother's legs, they are your eyes. I wonder if you'll make it to the dwarves or not. Now go… run… or I suppose 'hop' away before I change my mind and you become ash ." Jaldabaoth laughed as the blinded fumbled for brothers and they for he, then the demon left them alone to whatever end they found for themselves.
Volume 4 C45
The dwarves saw the demons coming long before they arrived, a dozen of them, large red creatures with pointy tipped tails, large bat wings and blood red bodies wreathed in flame.
They were few in number, but would tower over any of them with ease.
The great bell of the last dwarven city tolled again, its deep ring bouncing off the walls calling all the strong to arm themselves and fight, or the weak to hide themselves and stay the hell out of the way.
Ainz was well prepared for this, and by luck was near where Hejinmal lay reading when the dwarves fell into chaos akin to what happened when an anthill was kicked over.
Ainz reached out and put his hand on Hejinmal's head, which dipped down to make that easy for his master. "Hejinmal… it's beginning."
No sooner than the words were out of his mouth than it hit him. ' That was… oh god, that was so edgy and melodramatic… no… Pandora's Actor really did get all this from me?! I can't still be a chuunibyou! I can't be! No! I grew out of that shameful phase!'
It was enough to really piss him off, and Hejinmal steeled his heart as he detected his Master's resolve to fight hardening within.
"At your command, Master… I'm still not much use, but I'll do my best." Hejinmal promised as Ainz swung himself over the back of the dragon's neck.
Without any other outlet for his anger, he turned it on the summoned demons. As he ascended to the sky he shouted down to the dwarves, "You have your weapons! Use them!"
It was the right thing to say, dwarves who panicked froze stiff and looked at what their hands held as if they'd forgotten they had a means to defend themselves.
Their terror turned into resolve as they watched the new King on dragonback ascend above their heads and head the only direction a King should go. Forward . Towards the enemies of his own, he soared beyond the wall, and eager to unleash his temper, Ainz immediately began blasting spells.
[Maximize Magic], [Thousand Bone Lance] . And thousands of bones shot toward the demons, knocking several from the sky as the others scattered.
[Black Hole] . He pointed at a more distant demon, and a void opened up to suck the horrified summon in with a scream of pain.
The dwarves were galvanized by the soaring dragon and soaring King, the blast of icy breath raking over demons and the dread, impossible magic of their new Lord threatened to take the whole on by themselves… and win .
"Come on you lazy bastards! Earn your beer! Are you going to let our King fight them all for us by himself?!" The dwarven commander shouted and it spurred the briefly stunned dwarves to renew their vigor. As demons came toward the walls, dwarves locked their shields as one and held out their long spears, they stabbed and jabbed as claws raked over metal, only for the demons to draw back and seem… confused.
"They have trouble against runecraft! Take heart! You can beat them! You can win!" The dwarven Commander yelled as dwarves below nocked arrows.
"Loose!" he shouted, and struck by holy rune enchanted arrowheads, the demons howled and flailed, they drew back for a spell as the Commander shouted for them again, "Draw!"
The sound of bows being nocked with fresh arrows followed his command, but the demons dropped down to charge the wall directly and avoid the flight.
"Hold!" The Commander shouted and held up his axe over his head.
The demons charged the wall while their King's spells obliterated another of their ranks.
Before the eyes of every living, doubting dwarf, the foreign King became their own as he put himself beyond the wall for their sake while their people held the walls.
The demons struck the line on the wall, and dwarven bodies flew backward to strike the stone buildings, some were unable to move, while others would never move again, and others began to rise to their feet, slowly, but they rose with groans of pain.
Atop the captive part of the wall, the dwarves formed up a fresh line.
"Loose!" The commander's axe came down and the twang of bowstrings echoed against the wall that stood between their families and destruction, their arrows arced up and struck the demons at close range, piercing their burning red flesh and sending some to fall over dead while others howled at the infliction of holy damage.
"Infantry advance!" The dwarves dropped spears and drew their short rune enchanted holy axes. Hacking began as the dwarves locked shields again and faced the demons on both sides.
The Commander watched from below, turning an eye toward the King who still fought six more demons alone while his people struggled against the rest.
It was at that moment that he heard a terrible roar of furious rage under the mountain, "No… it couldn't be…" The dwarves on the wall, and the demons themselves, all briefly paused to look at what fresh nightmare came, not knowing for whom it was bound.
"Mothers! Brothers! Sisters!" Hejinmal shouted with relief at their coming for the first time in his life as the frost dragon clan survivors soared into battle, their claws snatching demons from the air and hurling them to the ground. Able to use their wings, size and breath to best effect in the open area, the crash of demon bodies harder than stone cracking the mountain base made the truth of the origins of the Great Rift obvious to all.
The dragons took a demon each and roars raged loud enough that mothers clutching children could not even hear their children cry right beside their ears.
The ancient walls of the city threatened to collapse from the shaking, but the tide was clearly turning in favor of the dwarves. Demons began to fall one by one, cracking the foundations further, or tumbling into the abyss where none came back up.
Until at last there remained but one embroiled in battle with the King over Nazarick, caught in a close battle between the two, the dragon mount bit and clawed against the demon until a wayward backhand caught his head and tumbled the dragon to an audible and ugly thud.
The watching city and the family of the dragon gasped collectively as the King was left without his mount, grappling the demon and tumbling faster and faster toward the stone until they landed with such force that rocks became dust and shrouded them all.
"Get up…" The Commander said from that wall he'd raced up to, "Please be alright… Please… we need you…"
The dust began to settle with the noise, and as the dust settled, there stood their King, his white robe dusty as could be, but the demon caught in both his hands and held aloft at the arms.
"Now… just… die !" Ainz bellowed and tore as the demon screamed, and its arms were torn from its body.
It fell to the dust, and howled with its open maw one more time before the King raised up his foot and brought it with inexorable decision down onto its skull, crushing it into fragments and ending the fight.
Still… nothing moved. No one spoke.
If anyone breathed, it couldn't be heard.
Ainz approached the fallen body of Hejinmal and put out his hand to touch the unmoving mount. "Hejinmal… are you alright?" Ainz asked in a delicate whisper, breaking the silence that held before the city walls.
Volume 4 C46
The dragons who fled from demons, to fight demons, the mates and heirs of Olasird'arc, approached the fallen of their number, their heads loomed large over the King who rode him into battle. "I never thought much of him…" A faintly feminine voice rumbled while looking down at the savagely cut up body of the young dragon, "but he did well out here today."
Ainz didn't look up from the fallen one. ' This was my doing… I wanted an easy win to boost the confidence of the dwarves… Hejinmal wasn't ready to fight demons, even ones that were not at their full potential.' Guilt tugged at his heart. He didn't look up over his shoulder, "Which of you was his mother?" Ainz asked.
"I." Three voices resounded as they sought to claim the fallen hero as their own.
"It's easy to go into battle knowing you will win. It isn't so easy when you don't know that. He was very brave." Ainz said of the corpse.
The rest of the clan said nothing, there was nothing to be said.
"Brave enough for a second chance." Ainz said, and then removing his hand from the corpse, he plucked a wand from his dimensional storage space and removed a wand of resurrection.
The wand was the length of a man's forearm, and held a red jewel at the tip cut into diamond like angles and set deep into the wood so that only the pentagon shape bulged outward a little.
[Resurrection] . Ainz released the spell, and the corpse sucked in a deep breath.
"Did-Did we win, Sire?" Hejinmal asked without raising his head.
"Would you be alive if we hadn't?" Ainz asked and placed a free hand on the dragon's head.
"N-No, I suppose not… that was a foolish question. Forgive me, Sire. But I saw them and assumed we had all died…" Hejinmal said and looked up at the array of dragon faces hovering near.
"You did… alright, out there, Hejinmal." His eldest half brother said with reluctance.
"Th-Thank you, brother… but then, if we're alive, if you're alive… how did you come to be here?" Hejinmal asked in stupefied confusion and with the swiftness of a sloth, he began to move his limbs.
"That is a… very long story. Your father died, we assumed you had also, but we escaped among the quagoa when our way out was cut off. For some time the two of us fought against the daily onslaughts of demons, until word was brought to us of… I assume… you?" The female dragon who was speaking shifted her gaze from her son to Ainz.
Ainz ignored the beginnings of cheers within the city as the reality hit home and the survivor of the skirmish was seen to move again.
Their first real victory of any sort in a long time, the dwarven spirits were shooting higher than the mountain in which they lived, already Ainz could smell the flow of beer in the distance.
The female dragon that addressed Hejinmal, and then Ainz, adopted the role of voice for the small clan, and began to explain everything they learned from scouts, observations, and survivors who fled to carry word to them.
The full explanation took some time, which bought Ainz time to think as he looked up at the large ice blue frost dragon. "So Pe Riyuro is on his way here… with all his people."
"Except for those who decided to remain to buy time for the others, yes. Jaldabaoth is enemy to us all, he killed our mate… now killed my son, and threatens to slaughter, torture, or enslave us all. I am told you bested him once before, this is true?" She asked and cocked her head at him.
"I did." Ainz replied to her.
"I saw your fight, you held back?" She asked, hesitant but hopeful.
He clenched his fist hard enough to crack his knuckles. "I did. I can't say when Jaldabaoth may appear, but he will come here. I had to be ready and at full strength." Ainz answered, and they nodded in understanding. "But you came hoping for help… and you are not mine, it would be far wiser of me to simply refuse and let you bear the brunt of Jaldabaoth's assault, and then finish him when he's weakened. I can save many lives that way."
"You'd… leave us?" They asked as one, dragons or not, the sight of Jaldabaoth using their patriarch, the most powerful of their number as if he were a mere club, then shattering the mountain with his body and casting him out to his doom was still fresh in their minds.
Ainz waved a hand with dismissal, "Yes, you have no loyalty to me, I can't throw away loyal subjects to assist strangers who offer me nothing, especially if they will actively oppose me later."
The dragons collectively looked down at Hejinmal, and the eldest female spoke again, "My son has been faithful, hasn't he?"
"He died under me, so yes." Ainz said in a clipped and displeased tone and set his hands on his hips, though she towered over him, she felt more as if she were looking up, rather than down.
Her blood ran like her icy breath through her veins, "Hejinmal, what do you think?" Ainz asked.
They looked at the young runt that proved himself in the field of the stone sky, salvation or destruction lay in his talons.
Hejinmal rose to his feet, he was shaky, unsteady, and even his head wobbled a bit on his neck, but he spoke with crystal clarity, "I-I would ask that you spare them with your help, let them serve you and prove their loyalty. You… you gave me a chance, My Lord. Let them have one, the only one I had real reason to hate is now dead. That's enough for me."
Ainz let the dragons sweat for a moment, and allowed Hejinmal to bask in their desperate collective gratitude. Then, as if he was unsure of his decision, he turned his masked eyes from the dragon at his feet, to the dragon overhead, and nodded. "I will kill Jaldabaoth, or at least seal him away. When it is over, you will leave this mountain and fly to the Kingdom of Nazarick where you will be assigned tasks that will let you begin to earn my trust."
He let the moment hang for a moment, then put a hand on Hejinmal, "This one died under me. Do not complain if it takes time for you to raise your status in my eyes."
Ainz learned something new at that moment.
' When a dragon starts to swallow, it takes a very long time for them to finish.'
Volume 4 C47
Jaldabaoth had no reason to rush regarding anything. He even waited a few days to give the quagoa who fled from him a nice head start and plenty of rest. He then summoned a few disposable demons and set out for the quagoan 'stronghold'. ' The survivors should be there by now, as should the escapees, though they probably won't have remained behind. And unless Pe Riyuro is utterly inept he should be reaching my master soon, maybe not in time for the skirmish, but soon after.'
Jaldabaoth had many thoughts of this sort as he trod on through the winding stone paths, tunnels, mining ways, and so on in search of the quagoa who stayed behind to buy time for their fellows.
He could hear them, so many breathing, so many panting in fear. It carried like an infection left with them by those who ran away in fear of him. ' They are the wise ones. The rest… 'foolish courage' is an expression for a reason.'
The demons advanced first, common ones that were weak enough that the quagoa could defeat them, but strong enough that they could inflict horrendous casualties before dying.
The quagoa strategy remained unchanged, drowning the demons in their life's blood by clawing their way up to the top and striking the eyes or open mouths. The insects were brave enough, Jaldabaoth would grant them that much.
The smell of blood filled the stale air of the cave, the desperation of the quagoa in their final hours was a testament to their resilience as a people, the way they hurled themselves on the demons with relentless abandon, pushed to the limit by Jaldabaoth's relentless experimentation with their abilities. They lacked the creativity of weaker races like humans, but did show unique physical resilience and significant amounts of courage.
But now he was satisfied. ' I know enough about them now… and Nazarick needs scrolls…' He thought, and entered the fray, stretching out his hand, and said in a tranquil sort of voice, [Burn] . Those within a three meter space around him had the air ignited in their lungs, and they toppled over, unable even to scream as they died.
The eerie silence of their deaths brought the breaking point, to the eyes of those who did not experience his slaughter technique as he walked into their desperate ranks, it appeared that they simply died by getting close.
An enemy that could kill simply by proximity was a hopeless fight, and yet still some came on, struggling against all odds to buy their own retreating people just one more minute of time between Jaldabaoth and their migrating flight away from their former refuge.
"He can't kill us all!" Some fool shouted from atop a rock while attempting to rally the flagging courage of those who surrounded him.
"Yes I can." Jaldabaoth replied as he lumbered on, an untouchable giant and impossible force of evil unrivaled in their world, or their history, or even in their most dreaded and feared mythologies.
"Just one more minute… hold him for one more minute!" Someone else called out just before they fell forward with their lungs incinerated, he toppled back, staring up at the stones above with the blank and empty eyes of the dead.
' I'll make soooo many scrolls out of you all, feel privileged that you get to experience the joy of serving the one Supreme Being… even if you're not alive to do it.' Jaldabaoth thought and opened his arms out wide like he was going to embrace someone, but all he did was expand the range of slaughter by a fair amount.
"And… now I'm bored." Jaldabaoth said, and beat his great wide wings, sending gusts hard enough that quagoan warriors were bowled over into their fellows farther away, knocking quagoa over in heaps.
Some looked on, disbelief etched on their open mouthed faces. ' Is he… running away?' They wondered, ' Did we… Did we win?!' They asked themselves, until the towering demon laughed and began to fly over their army, immediately their warriors began to die in masses. He flew low over their ranks, his wings battering the still air and carried him over the tops of their heads making their already futile efforts even more hopeless than before.
The area of effect skill, or spell, or whatever he used lost none of its effectiveness as he soared laughing over his dying victims. What remaining spirit they had was left broken with his unreachability. Quagoa began to knock one another over, scrambling, uncaring over the bodies of those they called brother not but twenty minutes before.
They pulled at the fur of others to claw their way over the heads of others, pushing off shoulders to jump as far away as they could from the remaining formation to run for safety after the tribe they were supposed to sacrifice their lives to protect.
This led to a quick end for some, who tumbled back away from their comrades and into Jaldabaoth's radius of death, they too died in silent agony.
The formations became carpets and the routed who fought one another for survival became dead little hills with silent screams displayed in the dark cave to reveal the horror of their deaths to anyone who cared to look.
When it was over at long last, with almost none remaining but the two or three who fled successfully after their kin, Jaldabaoth opened the portal to Nazarick and summoned a few of his servants. A dozen little imps emerged with their bobbing little tails, sharp chins, and dark hair hanging loose behind red flesh, they had a little stoop to their walk and claw-like hands with sharp teeth to match.
"Take the bodies, harvest the skins for scrolls and the meat to feed our beasts… then plunder this entire camp for anything we can use. Leave nothing of even the remotest value behind. Nazarick needs all the resources it can get." Demiurge gave the order while in Jaldabaoth's guise, and the little imps bobbed their heads up and down.
They were not the strongest of demons, but they were very quick and completely obedient, scurrying around like little rats. They carried the corpses two or three at a time over each shoulder, but they organized themselves quickly to conduct their work, transporting the bodies to his farm for skinning, while tearing through every box, barrel, and bag for everything down to a mushy piece of moss that might be consumable.
' It may take hours, maybe even another day or two, but what of it? I don't want to catch up to Pe Riyuro before he reaches my Master… that would ruin the dramatic flourish he seems to love so much, and if he loves it that much, it must be correct. Perhaps I should try to be more dramatic as well, he might appreciate that… a few lessons from Pandora's Actor might help…'
Jaldabaoth enjoyed the process of contemplation by itself while he took a seat on a bloody rock, crossed one leg over the other, folded his hands together and restied them on his thigh, and watched his minions work.
Volume 4 C48
Pe Riyuro didn't hate dwarves like most of his people. To him, they were like rocks that had to be tunnelled through. They were simply 'in the way' that is why they had to die. ' There can only be one King under the mountain.' He recalled the thought when he decided to have the dwarves wiped out. The early success in capturing a few dwarven prisoners and using them to learn agriculture and other useful arts had only solidified his fundamental view.
' They're more of a threat to us than dragons.' Had he ever said that aloud, he would have been laughed at without a doubt, but he was certain he was right. The dragons were stronger, but by the nature of their bodies they simply couldn't 'make' anything for themselves. They 'needed' the quagoa to procure the things they wanted. Even if they oppressed the quagoa, they wouldn't eliminate his race.
But there was nothing the dwarves could not make for themselves, and so the quagoa were not needed. Had they the power to do it, the dwarves would have wiped his people out to get at ores just the same as he'd been doing to them.
So trudging toward his enemy didn't bring up the same visceral hatred that it did for the rest of his migrating people.
When the Great Rift, and the guarding fortress, finally came into view, he was the only one to feel relief. What he knew of the dwarves was that they were pragmatic. ' They need allies, so do we.' He thought, as much to reassure himself as for anything else.
So, he stepped farther away from his people and held his hands up. The fortress was not unimpressive, but it held only a few hundred dwarves, his scouts in the days when he'd been planning the assault had all assured him of that much. ' A result of their steep decline in numbers, no doubt.' He mused, but it was still a fortress and would leave a fair number of dead or wounded even when lightly defended.
The lightning weapons the dwarves used had caused many brutal injuries in the past, ' I wonder how many we would have lost taking it if Jaldabaoth had not come?'
The question would never be answered, which meant, he reassured himself again, ' We're now on the same side, they have to see that, this foreigner must… that offers a chance for reason even if the dwarves decide to be less than pragmatic this time…'
With his hands up as high as he could hold them, the fortress defenders were obviously still nervous. They were shuffling about, and voices filled with alarm carried all the way to where he stood.
But Pe Riyuro did not panic, his breath caught, and he took another step closer, "S-S-Stop right there!" The voice at the top of the fortress shouted.
Pe Riyuro obeyed but shouted back, hoping his headdress would make it obvious he was in a position of authority. "I am Pe Riyuro, ruler over all the quagoa! I want to speak with the foreign King, the enemy of the Demon Emperor Jaldabaoth!"
The dwarf must have been taken aback by this, as he neither spoke nor struck, and for a more than uncomfortable moment, silence held between them.
"All the quagoa are with you?!" The dwarf's pitch went up an octave higher.
"All those still alive, yes!" Pe Riyuro shouted back, he looked up at the high tower, doing his best not to look behind him at the hopeless followers who were only slightly in view. "We suffered terrible losses, but what we have left will fight with you!"
"I-I can't make this decision! W-Wait there, we will send for the King's word!"
"Then let me… and one other, go with you!" Pe Riyuro shouted, ' The dwarves would probably prefer we die without ever crossing the bridge. If I can speak ruler to ruler…'
"A-Alright! Just you and one other! S-Stay there, we'll send someone down now!"
"Hurry!" Pe Riyuro shouted back, slowly lowering his hands as he did. "Jaldabaoth may not be far behind us!"
That sent shouts of alarm throughout the fortress, the ones who thought themselves least likely to face the wrath of the Demon Emperor, now found themselves potentially bearing the brunt of it.
"Bring out Quadwar!" Pe Riyuro shouted behind him loud enough that only his aides could properly hear him.
Quadwar was spared from the horrified looks of his people by being allowed to 'ride' in concealment in one of the few small wagons, more like a three legged wheelbarrow than anything else, carried where he had to be, and riding where he could. Almost none of his people had seen the unfortunate bothling that had somehow survived the horrific experimentation.
' If this doesn't make for a compelling argument, we're all as good as dead!' Pe Riyuro told himself and waited while a few aides rushed the little barrow like wagon over until it was well out of sight of their population at large.
"We will go alone from here." Pe Riyuro said as they fell in at his back and helped Quadwar out of his place and get his feet on the floor.
He looked over his shoulder, "If I don't come back… attack . There's no hope left for us, so let the dwarves be as weak as possible when Jaldabaoth comes for them. There's no survival if we don't make it through this, and I don't plan on us dying alone."
They gave grim nods to their chief and clenched their fists.
The dwarven head of Quadwar however, piped up, "I don't know anything about a foreign King, but my council is smart enough to know the danger, and if they're not, I'll make them see… a look at us…"
The quagoan head spoke, "… And they will clamber to be our allies and dance for the privilege."
"You'd both better be right… I don't want to die at all, let alone in such a stupid way." Pe Riyuro replied, and they began the long awkward walk as soon as a dwarf guide emerged.
The dwarf guide took one look at Quadwar and bent over to retch.
"Jaldabaoth's handiwork." Quadwar answered the vomit with a stoic explanation.
The dwarf fell to the ground shaking, and Pe Riyuro understood that at least, "Yes, that is why we're here, we fight together or die apart."
The dwarf began not a walk, but a jog toward the long bridge over the Great Rift, though its metal cables creaked and the narrow bridge swayed, it held firm.
Quadwar grabbed both sides and made his curious quick hopping motion after the chief, while Pe Riyuro did the same in a slow, steady walk so as not to greatly outpace the crippled bothling.
Reaching the far end took much longer than it would have during any kind of fight, no charge of glory against the last of his enemies, no attack on the gate, no final struggle or moment of triumphant anticipation ahead as the distant gate of the dwarven walls came into view.
' This is not how things were supposed to go!' Pe Riyuro cursed, his people were supposed to dominate the mountain in fact if not in name, grow strong, overthrow the dragons, and one day, range upon range should have been their own.
The fantasy of his youthful dreams was now a shattered ruin, like broken glass he sometimes found in the rich dwarven homes, scattered into countless pieces.
All he could do was pick up the pieces and try to make 'something' out of whatever structure remained, and hope it gave the quagoa a better life than before.
He clenched his jaw while their escort ran ahead shouting unintelligibly, and the gates eventually groaned open.
Pe Riyuro watched a figure emerge, whatever it was, it definitely wasn't a dwarf, far too tall, and it rode on a relatively small dragon.
' That can only be Hejinmal… so he lived after all, I assumed he died with his father.' Pe Riyuro felt at least some relief that 'someone' known to him was approaching. Though most of the quagoa chief's dealings were with the patriarch of the clan, Hejinmal had never been hostile, and they even shared a few favorable moments when Pe Riyuro asked about particular books that might help develop his people further.
Pe Riyuro swallowed as they came closer, the dragon's trot was steady, confident, ' Is that really Hejinmal? As dragons went, that one always seemed to slink around more than anything else…' Doubt crept in, but as he could make out the face better, it seemed to definitely be him, if a little bit fitter than before.
Finally there was no more time to doubt, the white and gold clad figure who towered over him like a monolith was up close. "I am Ainz Ooal Gown, King of Nazarick, master of the Frost Dragons, and King of the Dwarves."
' The voice…' It hammered at Pe Riyuro's soul as if it were authority manifested in sound itself, ' This is a King…'
But determined not to shame himself, he looked up and spoke, "I am Pe Riyuro, Chief of all the Quagoan Clans and… I hope, your ally." He turned to the side and gestured to Quadwar.
"This is Quadwar… a survivor of Jaldabaoth's experiments… and what we will all be if the Demon Emperor isn't stopped."
Ainz shuddered, but didn't vomit. ' Am I being case hardened to atrocities now?' He wondered, that wasn't a pleasant thought, but it seemed likely. But still, the body of dwarf and quagoa had been mutilated beyond all reason, one leg of each race, one arm, both heads on one body and sewn together down the middle.
"Majesty." Quadwar spoke in unison as if they shared a common mind. "We agree with each other, the Demon Emperor must be stopped. Neither of us want this for our people. Maybe it's too late for us… but we're the only 'bothling'. We survived by working together to escape the Demon Emperor's clutches and carry what we knew back to those who would fight him. If the quagoa, dwarves, dragons, and yourself all do as we've done… maybe we can win…"
Ainz looked the pathetic being over, ' I will have to have a talk with Demiurge about this… this is cruel… needlessly cruel… and the fault is mine for not properly containing his worst impulses…'
"It may be that you can be restored, and both survive." Ainz suggested, and both heads looked at him, open mouthed and with wild hope.
"Ninth tier healing magic should do the trick." Ainz proposed, and to his surprise, the bothling answered.
"Afterward. Let the dwarves see us… let the quagoa see us… once we're all together. If a look at me… us… doesn't convince them to fight together, nothing will." Quadwar pointed out insightfully.
"There is one problem." Ainz said, and focused on Pe Riyuro, "I never agreed to accept you as allies."
Pe Riyuro gasped, as did Quadwar.
"If I accept you as allies, the dwarves will always wonder when you will attack them again for control of the mountain. If I harbor you on equal standing, you might try to put yourselves above a race subordinate to me. It would be far more practical for me to simply leave you to Jaldabaoth to buy time for my subjects to strike in return. I am a King, I don't like a decision like that, but I must think in terms of costs and benefits, if the long term cost of an alliance is greater than a short term gain I can have anyway by doing nothing, what choice would you make?" Ainz shrugged before Pe Riyuro.
Pe Riyuro looked away from Ainz to the pitying face of the dragon, turned mount, and struck upon an idea.
"Hejinmal, did your relatives make it this far?" He asked.
"They did." The frost dragon answered.
"Are they living now?" Pe Riyuro asked.
"They are. They submitted to His Majesty as I have." Hejinmal replied, then added, "And as I advise you to do."
Pe Riyuro thought that over, "I thought you were dead."
"I was killed, but I lived." Hejinmal replied with an almost playful snort that expelled a small frosty fog from his nostrils.
"If I offer myself as a subordinate… my people submit to you, Your Majesty… what then?" Pe Riyuro recalled the words of those survivors whom this foreign King sent home. The world of possibility which lay ahead.
"Then you will stay in your part of the mountain until I can find a proper range to give to you as a homeland all your own. Until then, you will provide raw materials to the dwarves in exchange for goods and the knowledge you need to build the civilization Hejinmal has told me you aspire to create. We can work out the fine details later, but you will remain as the chief and be granted the same status as my other citizens." Ainz promised, "Kneel to me, and see your people rise."
Quadwar was not able to properly kneel, but Pe Riyuro could, and did, and wished only that he could have done so faster.
"Normally we would take more time about this… but I don't believe we have that, I need to know everything you know, and your people need to be armed, equipped, and told more of the history you both have lost… and why you cannot kill one another any longer." Ainz said, and then pointed past them to the Great Rift. "Go, get your people, bring them inside the walls, and we will prepare for the final fight against Jaldabaoth."
"As you command, your Majesty." Pe Riyuro whispered and rose to his feet again.
"Good, I will wait for you all within, the gates will remain open, you may count on that." Ainz promised. "Quadwar, come with me, the dwarves should see you first, it should wipe away any doubts they have." To both the shock of Quadwar and Pe Riyuro, the monarch held out a hand to the crippled and mutilated bothling, and helped him to get up on the dragon to ride behind the King himself.
It was a difficult effort, but Quadwar, moved by this compassion, struggled and flailed to leap over the side of the dragon's bowed neck and get into position. When he was, he clung to the white robes with both reverence and desperation.
Then the dragon rose up again, and when Ainz squeezed his thighs lightly against Hejinmal's scales, the mount began to wheel around to return to the last city under the mountain.
Volume 4 C49
The stream of quagoa entering the city of the dwarves brought great dismay, dwarven parents clutched their children, dwarven elders hid themselves away, and dwarven warriors looked with hatred on even the smallest quagoan infant.
But they were silent, silent because they saw what they were fighting against when they saw Quadwar. The mutilated life of both races blended together in a single tortured being.
The city thus gained almost seventy thousand new occupants overnight, and finding where to put them proved a massive undertaking that was solved by their King.
"Warriors all move to live beside the wall, and the quagoa who plan on fighting take the same positions. Any homes left empty can be occupied by a few quagoan families." Ainz suggested, to which the council answered simply…
"Won't that be uncomfortable for everybody?"
"Did anyone ever say war was a comfortable experience?" Ainz retorted, standing before the council. "I can augment your food supplies from my kingdom, at least for some time, but we don't need to do this for long anyway. Jaldabaoth will be here soon, I would like to conduct an expedition down into the bottom of the Great Rift to see if it is possible that the item sealing his armies is at the bottom, if it is-"
The dwarf council immediately drowned out their King with cries of alarm.
"My Lord! Perhaps you could survive a trip to the bottom, but nobody ever has, we have no idea what is down there. Maybe the item, maybe not! But if what is down there is too great even for you, then Jaldabaoth will destroy us all with or without his armies!" The eldest council member had his entire body shivering as if he were freezing, his trembling hands were outstretched as he implored his King, "Don't do that, we know we can kill demons now… let him chance destruction. If he fails, all our problems are over, if he succeeds, we can fend off his armies while you handle him…"
Ainz could only concede on that point. "This is a considerable risk… but very well. If he succeeds, you will face his demon armies, I will handle the rest."
In the few days that followed, scattered survivors of Jaldabaoth's torments, and then the less than handful that faced his assault on the quagoa position, made their way back to the dwarven city.
Ainz' [Gate] spell was used in public for the first time in the city square, and skeletons pulling carts of fish harvested from the frogmen and the lizardmen lake, as well as from the farms in former Baharuthian territory, began to make their way into dwarven and quagoan bellies alike.
While it wasn't rich fare by any means, as the citizens and the quagoan allies lined up in good order for food, the reputation of the King began to grow with every filled belly.
The Dwarven Commander made a point of being seen walking with Pe Riyuro through the city streets, and the quagoa began to marvel at the runecrafted armor they were being equipped with… and in particular developed a fondness for the metal claws that were added on as a sort of 'bonus'.
So armored quagoa became a common sight in the last city, not least because the quagoa refused to take it off, and joint drills began, with the dragons taking flight while dwarven long range weapons were practiced and the infantry of both forces drilled in front of the city.
The seething hatred was not gone, but under the threat of annihilation, it was buried, and a grudging professional appreciation for their differences began to take shape.
Quadwar's public display in the city square was almost constant, anyone doubting the need to cooperate, quickly ceased to doubt it when they beheld the monstrosity. If this disturbed Quadwar, he said nothing of the sort, only telling the story of the escape to whomever would listen to it.
Ainz, of course, drew from all the stories and mythologies he could think of to piece together the story of an ancient past in which the quagoa and the dwarves had lived close to the way they did now, and explaining Jaldabaoth's hatred for them both.
"It was a glorious age, like nothing I've seen in this one… my Kingdom was widespread, our accomplishments… well some of our artifacts seem to have made their way into popular stories and even actual use in the world outside the mountain." He sighed and often looked away from his listeners, constantly stuck thinking, ' Why… oh why am I like this?!' While he continued to 'overact' for reasons that were beyond his comprehension, the races of the New World seemed to absolutely eat it up like a starving man at a feast. Not for the first time he wondered, ' Is there something wrong with my tastes, or theirs?'
But he endured the struggles of those swiftly passing days until a bell over the city began to toll for them all. The cause of the alarm was quickly obvious when the nine meter tall Jaldabaoth spread his arms and wings out, and swept down on the now empty fortress beyond the Great Rift, and smashed it with a punch.
The shattering stones flew far from where they sat at rest, some striking the very walls of the dwarven city where they shattered into fragments before landing as pebbles below.
"Ainz Ooal Gown! He is among you, is he not?!" Jaldabaoth bellowed and flames gouted from his mouth and between the crag-like gaps in his stonelike flesh.
The city was silent but for the bells when the voice of the Demon Emperor rang out.
Within the city, Ainz looked over the sea of faces, "My part has come, it's hard to believe he came alone, but here he is… wish Your King luck!" He shouted and flung his leg over Hejinmal's bowed neck.
"Hail His Majesty! Long may he reign!" The call went up, and Hejinmal's wings beat and the frost dragon rose above the dimly lit city of stone.
"You were right! I am here, Jaldabaoth!" Ainz pointed with a dramatic and showy flourish that made him cringe within.
"Still protecting the weak little insects the same way you always did!" Jaldabaoth swept a hand before himself to encompass the whole, "Worthless animals can't even keep from killing each other! All that you did, and they forgot, falling to their deepest and most vile instincts. Pathetic worms that they are, if we leave them alone, they'll go right back to it again! Why bother with such trash, submit to me, and we can divide the world between us…"
The city was quiet, a way out was there before the eyes of their Savior, a perfect deal, half the world, if it could be managed, it was hard to imagine it would be refused.
Yet it was.
"No." Ainz replied in a soft voice that still echoed off the stone and back to every ear. "A king is a father to his people, they are his children, and he must watch out for them even when they're wrong… that is what you never understood, Jaldabaoth! You could never understand that, because you're a child, just a child with power… you never had responsibility before and don't know how to take it or handle it. So… I must put you down."
"How about we compromise? I'm going down now ." Jaldabaoth taunted, folded his arms so that they crossed over his chest, stiffened his legs against one another, and then folded his wings in front of his body so that they wrapped like a cloak.
He then dropped like a stone toward the rift.
' Demiurge is really overplaying his role… it's… they seem to respond to it… but by god I can't let him spend too much time with Pandora's Actor or who knows what might happen?!' Ainz shuddered at the thought as 'Jaldabaoth' descended into the distant darkness.
Nothing happened.
Minutes passed into minutes.
' Demiurge is controlling the Evil Lord of Wrath… so… if something happened he would have reached out to me for sure.' Ainz thought, and Hejinmal simply beat his wings and waited.
"Do you think… could he be dead, master? Could something down there be stronger than him, if so, everything will be fine, right?" Hejinmal asked, looking behind him to his rider.
"Hejinmal…" Ainz chuckled, "has anyone ever told you that you should never set flags like that?"
"Master? I'm sorry, I don't understand." Hejinmal cocked his head in confusion just as the rumbling began.
Jaldabaoth began to ascend into view, and hordes of demons with him. Mocking, evil laughter rang out from the Demon Emperor as his wings beat at the air and demons of all kinds charged toward the city.
[Gate] . Ainz used the spell himself, and a void appeared before the city gate through which his 'death knights' began to charge, their massive tower shields began to cut into the demons on the ground, hundreds of them locked positions and began to advance.
The demon fliers began to attack the city walls, screaming with wild hunger for blood as they lashed out with claws. Armored quagoans began to leap bodily onto the small demons and tear into them so that pairs would fight like rats. Dwarven archers began to nock and loose arrows without even bothering to aim, flight upon flight enchanted arrows with holy magic and blasts from their lightning weapons doing what they could, began to rip into demonic hordes.
From far behind the city rose the beating wings of the survivors of the frost dragon clan, and they split the air with their roars and soared toward their demonic enemies, their frost breath shooting out and raking above and below as chaos enveloped the battlefield.
"Hejinmal!" Ainz shouted, and the dragon swept toward the demon emperor, [Thousand Bone Lance] .
[Reality Slash] .
[Cord Cutter] .
Ainz spammed his magic attacks, choosing the flashiest he could while Hejinmal frantically raked out with claws, tail and breath to busy the Demon Emperor's limbs and allow his master to fight at his maximum potential.
' I'm going to die again… I can't hurt this thing, it's all I can do to use my frost breath to keep him from burning me too badly.'
The pair clashed back and forth charging like knights with lances over a tournament field, the demon emperor was several times the height of the white and gold cladded King, and yet to those spectators down below one thing was clear above all else.
' The Demon Emperor can't bring him down…' They hurled one another back and forth against the stone, the mountain shook, and loose rocks began to fall as pebbles from above, dragons picked up demons and threw them into the abyss, and howls of pain were as common as dust particles.
"Open the gates!" Pe Riyuro shouted to the commander, "We can turn the tide, we have to keep the wall clear!"
The dwarven commander looked at the headdress-bearing chief as if he were mad, then seeing demons clambering over the top where they got around the dreadful tower shield bearing knights, he nodded. ' Right, we have enormous numbers in reserve… if we keep the walls clear, we keep the demons out of the city… if they get in… if they get in it's all over…'
"Right! Open the gates! Take yours out first, we'll be right behind you!" The Commander bellowed the order, and the gates began to split, Pe Riyuro however was in no mood to wait. "My elites! My greatest of my great! My warriors all, this is it! We do or we die!" He shouted, and he rushed for the gap before it was clear, whether anyone followed or not, he didn't look behind him to see.
They did.
A roar hit his back that would have made a dragon proud, as tens of thousands of fierce quagoas rushed out after their ruler and broke to spread themselves in half on either side of the outnumbered death knights.
As the last of the quagoan warriors made it out of the gate, the dwarven Commander took up the signal horn that hung from his neck.
He took a deep breath, and blew it as hard as he could. "Are you going to let the quagoa show you up before our King?! Attack! Attack! Attack!" And he followed after the quagoas while the reserves poured out of every position and ran through the gate, their runecraft armor glinting in the dim light, the clatter of the thousands upon thousands of dwarves with their long halberds rushing into the fray was at least locally greater than that of the battle itself, when coupled with the thousands of pounding feet.
Ainz had an excellent view of the struggle, the demon army sacrificed some power for numbers, and it made them intimidating, but beatable. With the dragons sweeping low and raking them with breath or claws and the knights creating a wedge supported by flanking quagoa and dwarves on the wings to continue the push back, it was progress.
Bright spells of mines and white flames that might as well have been holy light as far as the watchers were concerned, raked over the Demon Emperor, who pushed himself back to make space to say, "How are your armies holding out like this?! How is this possible?!"
"Runecraft did not die out!" Ainz shouted back, and the charge renewed, ' Why… Why is Demiurge making him so… cheesy! Was he spending time with Pandora's Actor without my knowing, or… no… no… no he couldn't have gotten the idea to act this way from 'me' could he?!'
The thought was briefly broken when Jaldabaoth bellowed, "It doesn't matter! If I take you down, then my next wave will wipe them all from this world!" The charge was met with a blast of frost breath and a brutal onslaught of bone lances, but Jaldabaoth had his arms wrapped around the King and pulled him from his mount.
"Master!" Hejinmal cried out in alarm, and the dragons soaring over the armies of the dwarves and quagoa redoubled their efforts in desperation, the fall stopped the waves of charging demons at least, leaving limited numbers to deal with.
"We've got to help him!" Hejinmal cried out and turning to the backs of the demons, he began to charge with mad courage. ' I'm no warrior! I'm not my father I'm not my father I'm not my father… this isn't what I'm meant for…' He cried out in his head and did his best to let out a properly dragonish roar as he barrelled into the back with claws and breath flailing without much skill to speak of.
Luck however, was on his side as the armies advanced, the death knights and dragons began to be able to hurl flightless demons toward the great rift, and none climbed back up.
The smaller and weaker dwarves and quagoa were unable to do the same, but with their holy weapons they kept the worst at bay while the dragons and death knights did the heavy lifting for them.
The endless waves were gone, though the question of why was in every head as they drew closer and closer to the edge of the abyss that was the Great Rift.
When the last of the demons was hurled screaming below, and the last flying demon fell with torn wings or tumbled to their deaths in agony to land with a sickening thud, there was no battle cry of victory.
Nor could there be. ' Is Jaldabaoth dead?' That question was answered with the cries of battle in the darkness, occasional sparks could be seen that up close, must have been gouts of hellfire.
Then there was silence, and the chill of fate's pointed hand seemed to be leveled at them all as they recognized the sound of Jaldabaoth's laughter.
His hands open at his sides, his wings flapping, his maw, large enough to swallow a quagoa or dwarf whole, came slowly into view while he rose from the darkness of the Great Rift.
"Surrender!" He said, "And I promise you quick deaths… you beat my army… but you forgot one thing…"
He did not leave them wondering long.
' I am an army!' He laughed long and loud at dragon, dwarf, and quagoa alike, "And I cannot be beaten!"
"Get up…" Hejinmal whispered, cut in countless places that would leave many scars if no healing magic was used.
"No!" Hejinmal shouted at the Demon Emperor, though Jaldabaoth tried to appear unharmed, rivulets of burning blood were dripping from more wounds than could easily be counted, though it contributed to his horrifying appearance, Hejinmal could see through the facade.
"You're hurt! He hurt you! You're not a god! You can die!" Hejinmal bellowed out and like it was a call to action, halberds snapped to position, claws struck into combat postures, and the larger dragons wheeled around ready to charge again.
"Fools… if he couldn't defeat me…"
"Jaldabaoth!" The voice in the darkness was like the noise of ten thousand chariots and their horses rolling over a field, and from the darkness came a white blur.
"It's not possible! I killed you!" Jaldabaoth gasped as he was struck full in the chest and sent rocketing into the sky of stone, then straight through into the dark of night, exposing the stars for the first time to those who had never seen them.
"Now that we're out of range…" Ainz bellowed, [Super Tier Magic], [Hyper Nova] .
A brilliant light engulfed their fresh view of the starry night, and a scream came from within it.
"Demiurge, store Ulbert's item." Ainz whispered close to his subordinate's ear as the roar of magic drowned all the world out beyond them.
As the Evil Lord of Wrath's eyes sparkled with his controller's understanding, and all were hidden by the burst of light, Ainz withdrew a scroll of duplication from his inventory and held it over the prototype Ulbert had made. [Duplicate] He activated the scroll, and a useless duplicate appeared in Ainz's open palm.
What Demiurge used to give the Evil Lord of Wrath, the appearance of burning up, Ainz wasn't sure, but it made for quite the dramatic show. The viewing host of the living below brought to a reverential silence when they could see that only one remained alive.
Then very slowly, the King began to descend again, and the ashes of Jaldabaoth came back with him like little black snowflakes.
In his hand, the King held the object Jaldabaoth used, "This will never be used again…" He said, and clenched his fist over it, seemingly shattering the object into pieces, and then burning it to ash with a single spell.
Volume 4 C50 -Epilogue-
Epilogue
Jaldabaoth's howl of anger and frustration as he vanished under the King's magic was drowned out by two things. The howls of the banished demon army as the object summoning them was crushed, and the cheers of the army of dwarves, dragons, and quagoas who had been fighting along the edge of the abyss mere moments before.
Their swords, claws, mauls, and axes were raised as one to the black sky as their collective master descended from above after his victorious battle against the one who would have slain them to the last infant or hatchling of any race.
And when he touched the ground again, one noble foot gracing the stone floor before the Great Rift, the dragons bowed their heads, while the dwarves and quagoa knelt in submission to his will.
"You have victory!" Ainz declared and raised a hand in triumph.
The cheer renewed, but for all the whoops, howls, and roars, there was more to be done.
It took hours to dispose of the dead, casting the corpses into the Great Rift where they were always disposed of, and the healers ran out of mana long before they ran out of wounded, forcing the use of most of the potion supplies and then still requiring the use of more passive 'non-magical' treatments.
However, when it was all over and done, there was still even more to do, but it was the work only a King could perform. Seeing to the peace.
Ainz held both hands over his head then, his fingers out to call for quiet.
"A moment of silence for the dead who paid the price for your lives, and for the peace that is to follow. You are all my people now. Dwarf. Frost Dragon. Quagoa. I will not see war return here again. You were all allies once, in the long, long ago. Now you've fought together again, and I hope you understand why you were allies. Dragons," he pointed to the former concubines and their children, "you are strong, one of the strongest beings alive… but you cannot make much of anything as you are. You need these smaller ones to make your lives the sort you want to live. But now I forbid you to oppress them, so… you must trade ."
"Trade?" The concubines and children asked as one.
"Yes." Ainz didn't avert his stare from their wide eyed confusion. "My Kingdom is growing, that means trade will flourish, people, messages, and goods of the sort you want, will go all over the place. If you slaughter a cow you may eat it today, but it will bear no calves tomorrow. I will put you to use in long range trade and travel. You will take money and goods for what you do, and while you may not take to it at first ?" Ainz smirked and removed his mask, "When you're rich from it, I don't think you'll mind."
"Now to you… Pe Riyuro… you lost many of your people fighting, and lost many on the way here… now control over the whole mountain is lost to you. But your people still have a future. There are many mountains, and I'm sure not all of them are inhabited. You will return to your homes, and be provided what you need to survive… then when I have secured another range, one with no threats to you… your people will be relocated there."
Pe Riyuro gasped in disbelief, ' An entire mountain… a whole one to ourselves…' "Yes, Your Majesty." Was all he could muster out. ' By the god of ores… what if he'd decided to just…' That was a nightmare that would haunt him for the rest of his days, and keep him working such long hours for the rest of his life that quagoan work ethic would become a thing of legend long after his passing.
"Now, to the dwarves, we have our agreement, and I will keep it. The Runesmiths will go with me as we discussed, but they will come back here yearly to show off their work, meet their families, friends, and… spend money… probably on beer." Ainz chuckled a little, and the dwarves collectively shared in his amusement with laughter of their own. "Gondo Firebeard…" Ainz said, and from somewhat farther back, the dwarf stood up.
"My Lord!" He exclaimed, moving so quickly that his helmet toppled off his head and crashed with a clatter to the stone at his feet.
"You kept the craft that saved your people alive. You are the One Who Stayed faithful to your trade, you will lead runecraft development in my country until you retire." Ainz promised, and Gondo let out a squeal of excitement that saw the little dwarf jump up and down in sheer joy.
Around him, other dwarves were looking at him with envy and giving resounding congratulations which lasted until Ainz turned and pointed to Hejinmal.
"You, Hejinmal, will return with me, I will put you into service under one of my Guardians, I'm sure she'll be thrilled to see you. Be good to her, she's a dear child of mine." Ainz said, and Hejinmal bowed deeply, lowering his head to the stone. "There are ample books for you to read, and her brother is an avid reader as well, I think you'll enjoy it there on the sixth floor of my home."
"My Lord is kind and generous, I'm grateful." Hejinmal replied.
"Now… I will stay for one day to celebrate with you, and then I must get back to my home. I have a bigger country to run now, and I can't neglect my work forever." Ainz chuckled and shrugged, and again those around him shared his laughter.
True to his word, the rest of the day was spent drinking heavily by most of all sides, with the dragons consuming entire casks of ale on their own, and the quagoas learning just why the dwarves liked alcohol so much.
When morning came and most of the city was passed out, Ainz opened the gate. Quadwar was quietly carried through by Hejinmal where his body could be studied and potentially healed with both intact with the help of ninth tier healing spells.
The runesmiths were all present with their immediate wives and children, while the rest of their families appeared and saw them off. They hiked through the whorling vortex with contented waves and excited steps, eager to see what future awaited them all, and eager to see the eighteen rune sword again as a fixture on the wall of the promised workshop. A thing to aspire to, a challenge from the past to the future that would never be out of sight.
Gondo was the last of them to enter the void, "You've done a marvelous thing for me, your Majesty. I don't know much about gods, but I promised you my soul, so I guess…" He stroked his rust colored beard, "I guess that makes you God enough for me. I'm yours forever, thank you."
Before Ainz could say "You're welcome". As if he were embarrassed by the outpouring of thanks and the tears that went with it, Gondo rushed through the gate after the others.
With the families gone and the room empty, Ainz made a quick guess and said, "You can come out, Demiurge."
"My Lord is impossible to deceive, even by accident." Demiurge said and gave his lord an affectionate smile, he knelt before his Father, his King and his reason to be and bowed his head. "Was I… useful? Did I do well?"
Ainz gave a quiet nod, "Yes… but… some of your experiments…" Ainz frantically wanted to say, ' I didn't want that! ' or ' That wasn't what I meant!' But it would shatter the perception Demiurge had of him, and yet it couldn't go unremarked on either. Ainz' very human conscience clawed at him.
So he split the difference, "I think they… weren't quite subtle enough. So much pain and torture is just… it's pointless and even gets in the way of accomplishing long term goals… try to be more subtle in the future."
' … Replace blatant torture with subtle torment to obscure the involvement of the Supreme Being from any implications of his connection… of course, how negligent of me!' Demiurge thought with vigorous self recrimination.
But out loud he said, "Of course, My Lord. I understand perfectly."
"Ah… good, let's go through now, there's a lot of work to be done." Ainz quipped, and they stepped through the [Gate] to return home again. Leaving the city, and the drunkards from dragon to dwarf to quagoa to wake up alone and see to his final orders.
When he returned to the throne room, clad in his mask still, expectant faces, tense with watchfulness and waiting, dropped as they relaxed. The Guardians and Pleiades, plus Sebas, one and all awaited him. Only Albedo's face lacked that same tension, she stood at the front, wearing only her normal tranquil knowing smile. They dropped one and all to their knees and bowed their heads. Albedo was the one to address them.
"Welcome back, My Lord, your servants have missed you these long months." She said to him, At Ainz' back sat the stairway to the throne, he glanced away from them, up to the rising stone to the seat of power. "Hail to the King over Nazarick-"
Her words were instantly cut off.
"No." Demiurge said, stopping her with such suddenness that she dropped her jaw, the bare beginnings of impossible wrath in her bright yellow eyes, which was shared by the others. Demiurge saw their faces, from Sebas to little Mare… nothing was worse than defiance like that.
He cut them off and said, "My Lord… the Throne of Kings awaits you… our Allfather. "
Demiurge's words sent a wave of shock through the guardians. "Cocytus, you said once before that 'King' was too small a title for our mighty Lord. During my journey I found the right one. This land has Emperors, Kings, Queens, Pontifexs and Princes… but the titles of others would only diminish our master. I propose a proper title… who he truly is, to us, and to all those in the world who fall under his rule."
"Allfather… Allfather… Allfather…" The quiet title was whispered among the guardians as they tried it out.
The words formed slowly on their tongues as Ainz ascended the stairs and turned around to put his back to the chair.
"Hail to the Allfather, Ainz Ooal Gown!" The cry began with Demiurge as soon as he knelt in his place among their numbers, and when he bowed his head, the others, from Lupusregina who knew first, to Albedo who knew not, the cry of loyalty filled the throne room, filling the white robed Ainz with equal parts relief and very human anxiety.
When it finally stopped, he looked down to Albedo and said, "Your report, Albedo, I'm sure we have a lot to do."
"At once, My Lord." She said with a smile.
… Months Earlier… Roble Holy Kingdom…
Neia Baraja sat alone in the darkness far too close to the demihuman border for her liking. ' If they hadn't caught you letting those demihuman infants live… you wouldn't be here wondering when demihumans were going to murder you…' She told herself and poked the little fire that offered the only light other than the stars above.
Whether she was telling the truth or a lie, she wasn't sure. ' You'd probably be here anyway, father's curse again.' She thought and ran her fingers over her vicious eyes, briefly closing her eyelids while sparks crackled below her little stewpot.
From a practical perspective, starting a fire while scouting this far in the wild lands alone was stupid. Stupid and dangerous. But Neia was past caring, squire or not, she had no bonds that would call others to help her. ' If I'm being abandoned on an assignment like this, I might as well have a hot meal before the end.' She reasoned and then opened her eyes, stuck a wooden spoon in the little pot, and took a sip. The flavor of rabbit and wild vegetables was sharp, but not half bad.
But any thoughts on the quality of her meal were dispelled when she heard a cry overhead and saw a massive object sail past through the dark and land with a thunderous crash not far away.
"What in the name of the four?!" She exclaimed, she quickly smothered her fire, snatched her bow up from beside herself and ran through the trees and bushes as fast and quietly as she could.
The dark leaves smacked her face and roots 'threatened' but failed to trip the adroit squire. She avoided things around her as best she could, her scary eyes at least good for seeing somewhat better than average in the dark.
She came close to the noise of the crash when she heard the sound of an agonized groan.
Almost 'blubbering', ' Whatever it is, it's alive, and it's in pain…'
She nocked an arrow and approached the noise, and then gasped when she saw a frost dragon on its back.
Covered in burns, with a multitude of broken bones, a clearly shattered jaw, agony filled its single, hopeless eye.
Neia's heart raced in her breast, whether it saw her, or smelled her first, she didn't know, but when it saw her nocked bow it immediately spoke.
"Don't… kill… h-elp -help me." It begged, it looked away after meeting her eyes. "Please… begging you… help me…"
Neia lowered her bow, the thing looked so damn… sad . She glanced back the way she'd come. ' None of my own people for a hundred kilometers at least… no demihumans either… Neia… you're being stupid… he's a dragon, he'll eat you for sure…'
"Please…" It begged again while looking at her upside down.
She put away her bow. "The four must truly hate me… but what else is new." Neia mumbled and put away the arrow in her quiver again. She then put the bow on her back and sighed.
"Alright… let's start by setting these bones… this is going to hurt… but first… promise me you will not eat me." Neia said, and the dragon stammered.
"Olasird'arc promises on his name… won't eat savior…"
"That'll have to do…" Neia said with resignation, her shoulders slumped briefly as she contemplated the likely end of her life after the dragon recovered, if it did. ' This is stupid, he's a dragon…' she thought, but all the rest of her saw was a broken mass of pain, weakness, desperation, in need of help. And so she clambered up to the broken leg to get started. "I'm no healer, and any healer I could fetch would just report you and have you killed, so I'm going to have to do this the slow way. Setting the bones is going to hurt like a demon's fire… are you ready?" She asked when she reached the broken leg.
The dragon gave a quiet nod. ' If you only knew.' He thought as the human grabbed the bone, activated a strength enhancing martial art, and got started.
Volume 5 C1 -Unholy Kingdom-
The One Who Stayed: Unholy Kingdom
Volume V in the series 'The One Who Stayed'
Neia went up to check the frost dragon's leg again, standing on so large a creature's belly had become shockingly routine these last few weeks, ' Or has it been months?' She wondered. Scouting the wild areas away from the wall had a way of making time lose all meaning. "Does it hurt?" She asked her 'patient'.
"Not as much as it did. Not nearly as much." The dragon growled out, his pride was keeping him from being totally truthful, but with only him to talk to, she'd come to gradually understand what truly underlie his words.
"It's a lot easier to take care of you if you just tell me straight." Neia critiqued the monster and patted the splinted section.
"It's never easier to let go of my pride as a dragon." Olasird'arc replied with a wince and a growl.
"Uh huh." Neia replied, "Well it looks good, but I'm not ready to take off the splint yet, now I'm going to check the other injury sites. I'm going to have to go farther afield if I want to get enough herbs to pack those parts, so I may be late getting back. Would you like to eat now, or wait?" She asked, and the dragon rolled slowly onto his side so that his legs were laid out facing in the same direction.
"Now is better." He said.
"As long as it isn't me, I've heard from some women that it feels great to be eaten, but… I don't think this is what they have in mind." Neia laughed at the ribald joke, but the dragon only looked down at her with curious eyes.
The fearsome eyed human's sense of humor was terrible and confusing by turns, but over the weeks of her caring for him in secret, he came to appreciate it as something familiar . The way his middle son tried to make jokes with his brothers. The humor of the outcast.
While he had little enough pity for his foolish son, ' He's probably dead by now, and so are the rest of them… my whole clan… gone.' The realization still hit him harder than he expected. Though it was strange enough to see something of the young male in a human woman.
Even in his way of seeing her, she had vicious, evil looking eyes that left a shudder just to look at them, and yet she was clearly very weak relative to himself. ' Not that it has stopped me from needing her, though I can't very well say it.' He thought as she went out of view and returned with a large haunch of venison over her shoulder.
"I'm going to have to hunt for more of this on my way back. This is the last of my supply. Thankfully the game is pretty thick around here, the only real danger is demihuman bands. Will you be okay on your own for the night?" She asked. Curiously, she sounded genuinely worried about him.
The broken dragon opened his mouth, his tongue snaked out, snatched the haunch of bright red meat and drew it into his mouth a moment later. He chewed it three times and swallowed with an audible gulp.
"Yes. My breath still works, even if my wings don't, and I can't stand all the way." Olasird'arc responded, and then waited while she grunted and pulled herself up his body to check out his broken wings.
"The stitching has come loose, are you scratching again?" She rebuked the dragon and he hung his head a little bit at the open statement of his weakness to that cursed itch.
"It itches ." Was the closest he was going to get to an admission.
"If you want to fly again, you'll have to put up with it." Neia quipped and began to tighten the thin threads she made from a replacement bowstring.
Her nimble fingers were accustomed to this now, a few parts of his wings were already healed, but others were slower, the knitting of the leathery skin didn't come along as well when he kept using one of his good legs or even rocks on the ground to rub against the injuries.
The dragon grunted under her, Neia's fear that he might eat her when she was no longer needed was now largely abated. ' At worst he's more likely to just fly off and leave, but it would be nice to say goodbye to him.' He was the closest thing she'd had to a friend in a very long time, which was strange enough given that if they'd met under different circumstances she was quite sure he'd have made her into a snack. ' Then again, I would have tried to kill him too, so… who am I to judge?'
She shrugged that thought off and kept her footing as sure as possible. "Don't be such a baby." She said when he winced.
"Wings are sensitive!" He insisted.
"Well I'm sorry, but I can't get you a healer. I swear, men of every race, you're happy to charge into battle against whole armies of demons and the gods know what else, but one little injury when someone is around to nurse you back to health, and you all turn into giant babies ." Neia snorted and kept the stitching going under the rocking of the body under her feet.
Her nimble fingers got the job done again, practice had improved her considerably, and she flopped down on her butt and then slid down the length of his ice blue scales to land adroitly on the ground with a little finishing hop at the end.
"Okay, just don't move around if you don't have to, I'll ah… handle cleanup when I get back. At least there's a creek nearby." Neia didn't look at his face when she said it, and there was no answer the dragon could give for that embarrassing necessity, not even a grunt of acknowledgement.
She beat a hasty retreat, disappearing into the woods beyond the clearing he made when he landed. Broken, shattered trees were still scattered about, though much reduced now as she made a point of using them for firewood.
The hours passed in dull boredom. "That leaf makes one thousand twenty-seven. That leaf makes one thousand twenty-eight. That leaf makes one thousand twenty-nine. That leaf makes one thousand thirty-one… oh wait… I miscounted. I'd better start allllll over again… again ." He said in a monotone and began counting the leaves for the fourth time in a row.
' I keep sabotaging myself.' He thought with annoyance, he'd never once lost count when it came to his hoarded treasures. But counting that was bliss, and this… was not.
The sun made its slow passage across the sky, and in the shadows when the darkness took hold, the dragon could see the watching eyes of creatures that longed for him to weaken or die. Wolves, bears, even small monsters that wouldn't trouble even a common beast. Even a barghast or two had its smell reach his nose.
But his human's scent was far enough away that he could no longer detect her. ' Unusual.' He thought. She didn't tend to stray far from him, not since she'd begun to treat his wounds.
' Has she gone to report my presence?' That question he'd asked himself more than once, hostile humans were not much of a threat except for a rare few heroes. But they could be brave, relentless, and he was still not especially mobile. ' Surviving a demon emperor, only to be killed by petty humans, what a twisted irony.' The former clan lord of great aspirations mused, and relaxed.
He no longer believed she intended any harm, ' If she did, why feed my great self, why split and bandage my limbs, why sew my wings, why… clean me?' So, the thought of what she 'might do' was quickly set aside.
More interesting in his mind was the fact that she was alone out in the wilderness, her clothing was obviously a uniform, though not one he knew until she named it for him as part of the Holy Kingdom. Her answer when they began talking had been, "I'm a squire, and because of my skill with archery, hunting, and scouting, it's my job to go out into the wild areas where demihumans sometimes slip through. If I can kill them, I do, if I can't, it's my job to bring that information back to my superiors."
"It sounds dangerous." Olasird'arc had said, and her answer struck a nerve.
"It's a suicide mission. I got sent out here as a punishment for a terrible crime." Neia admitted with a snort, raising a hand before he could ask. "I let some demihuman children live. They were weak, pathetic, crying little things, I killed off the rest, but I tried to let them run away. I got caught. This is to teach me a lesson, 'Never show mercy to anything that isn't human'."
"It didn't take, obviously. More fool me." She'd said and sewn up his wings.
She didn't speak much about her time with the paladins, and he hadn't asked except to almost demand to know, "How are you still alive?"
Her answer was self deprecating. "My father is one of the greatest archers in the country, my mother is one of the greatest paladins in the country. They've been teaching me since I was old enough to walk. Though I could have been more studious, and I'm not really exceptional, I worked very, very hard anyway. Though I never was able to make them proud, I practiced, and I'm at least passable in some ways. Good enough at least that I can stay alive out here."
Olasird'arc had his doubts about this, her being alive alone meant she was probably better than she herself believed, but he let the matter pass as she didn't seem to enjoy it.
That led to weeks of idle hours when she wasn't away, passing the time in chatter with nothing else to do. Unable to move, he couldn't bark orders at someone who could just walk away. So, unthinkable as it was, he spoke to her as a peer.
Now she was gone until sleep took him, and when he awoke… Neia had still not returned.
However… he was not alone. He could smell them, almost 'taste' them. ' Demihumans. A fair number.'
Albedo was practically prancing to her master's room. ' My lord has a pe-nis, now I can have his bay-be!' She sang the little song in her head and wore a bright smile across her face. Weeks and weeks of work had gone into uniformly imposing new standard laws on the lands acquired from the Baharuth Empire. Then more with Shalltear's help understanding the Lizardmen, and then even more with Demiurge's aid regarding the dwarves and the surviving quagoa.
Then there were the diplomatic matters, the Wolf King and Queen of the Kingdom of Carne were requesting vassalage that blended independence with subordination.
The Re-Estize Kingdom's new Queen, hearing about the possible integration into the Kingdom of Nazarick, was quick to compete, but at least that one was intelligent on a level that rivalled even Demiurge.
Then there was the Baharuth Empire… ' Their emperor is well above average intelligence, but the loss of his army and his knights has him scrambling.' She thought, recalling the petition for a peace conference to prevent any more 'misunderstandings' from causing international conflict in the future. ' More like, 'If I don't solve this I may lose both my throne and my head.'
Still, he showed self awareness, and it seemed possible that the Baharuth Empire might look for a similar outcome just for the sake of avoiding a civil war.
Then there were the two teams sent under Sebas to the Draconic Kingdom to help fend off the Beastmen invasion. The Slane Theocracy's retired Black Scriptures were there too, and one of their Cardinals, a former Black Scripture himself, had reached out to speak of joint operations for 'the security of all those who wish to live in peace'.
On top of that was the adventurer's guild to be established, the work never ended.
But all that was secondary, her master was summoning her to his own chamber, making all the weeks away, both for himself and for her, utterly worth it.
' Should I enter his chamber naked? Or maybe with just an apron?!' The books on this subject in the Library of Ashurbanipal had been appallingly contradictory, some offering even the absurd advice that a woman treat her would-be lover coldly and withdraw from him. ' I'd have burned those if the Librarian hadn't reminded me that they were not written regarding the seduction of supreme beings.'
Still, her frustration had not lessened, and so she wore her typical white with the spider web top that exposed ample cleavage, the memory of his first touch of her breast was still something she teased herself to nightly, an invitation to more. ' So much more…' And she longed to do it all.
Her wings fluttered with anticipation, her entire body on pins and needles as she pictured his hungry eyes guiding hungry hands over every perfect curve.
She knocked, "My Lord, you summoned me?"
"Come in, Albedo." Ainz said from beyond the door, she entered, took one look at him and dove at his feet.
"My Lord! My Love! I've missed you! I've missed you more than I can express!" The emotion burst forth from the deepest recesses of her heart, so long away from him, she'd bottled it all up, and now here he was.
"Should I just undress here? Or would my lord prefer to simply tear my clothing away?" Albedo's voice was going to a steadily higher pitch, and Ainz could feel the tension and desire alike rise in the room and in himself.
He was sitting at his desk which meant that Albedo had him essentially cornered. His familiar sense of shame and guilt for changing her, washed over him again. If he'd been honest with himself he could have overtly acknowledged that was part of why he held back on telling her the truth. Her rejection of him would hurt the most precisely because he'd already wronged her once and in a horrible way.
"Albedo, I have a task for you." Ainz said, and the Overseer of the Guardians did her best to keep her disappointment in check when she realized he was not about to ravish her utterly.
Instead she focused on the pleasure to be had in serving the One Who Stayed. "My Lord." Albedo lowered her head and pressed a hand to her breast. "I stand ready to obey."
Ainz threw his plan out of the window immediately. Her excitement at the thought of sex was, admittedly thrilling to a certain part of him. However, his sense of responsibility for his friend's child still troubled him greatly, and there would be far too many opportunities if he took her to the Baharuth Empire for a conference.
So, flailing for an answer he grabbed the nearest thing he could think of, far from home, busy still, and a way to keep her engaged while testing her faithfulness in him under any circumstances.
"I'm sending you to the Holy Kingdom." Ainz said, "I want them brought under our sway."
Albedo was briefly caught by surprise, "M-My Lord, so far away?"
"They border the Slane Theocracy." Ainz remarked. "You remember them, don't you?"
Albedo stopped, she did, and the old rage came back again. Nigun was still alive, though very much wishing he was not. ' That man dared have others strike at my Lord! My Love! They sought to cause him pain!' Outrage at the very thought coursed through her blood like burning acid.
"They make a habit of interfering in the affairs of other countries, and other than Baharuth, they are the strongest and oldest human nation. Their war with the elves continues to progress, and I believe they are holding back, trying not to appear too strong, disguising strength as weakness." Ainz was making things up out of whole cloth, thankfully behind his mask, and in his red and black robes with their heavy draping cloth, nothing gave him away.
"I see… Yes, My Lord. And they probably know or suspect that you were involved in the incident with the Scripture." Albedo concluded, "So you want to have them surrounded from every side before plunging the knife into their hearts once and for all. That is wise, very wise."
Ainz seized on her imagined understanding, "Ah, yes, yes that's it exactly. You must bring them into the fold by whatever means you deem fit. I will join you when it is… time to play my part."
Albedo's head raced faster than hurricane winds as her brilliant mind flew through all the realms of possibility and how to bring the nation under his sway with the greatest alacrity.
"What resources am I permitted to use, My Lord?" Albedo asked as multiple realms of possibility opened up.
"Whatever you need. I don't wish to rule ruins however, so try to keep the destruction to a minimum. No decimating the population." Ainz said and, unsure of what else to do, he reached out and put a black gloved hand on Albedo's head. "You can do this, I have the utmost faith in you."
Albedo's heart sang songs of victory as he gave her his faith, his trust, and a personal assignment that would see him come to her side in time.
When he drew back his hand she sprang to her feet and bowed deeply at the waist, her words filled with the greatest joy and happiness, eager beyond the ability of her voice to describe, she all but shouted.
"Hail to the Allfather, Ainz Ooal Gown, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, God of Gods… and my deepest, deepest Love. I will see you again in a few months, and count the hours until then."
"Ah… see that you do, Albedo." Ainz said with all the dignity he could muster. ' That buys me some time but… how can I tell her?' He asked, and no answer came.
When he slept that night, only heady dreams of being enfolded into her arms kept him company, and like his waking hours, they too deprived him of the answer he sought.
Volume 5 C2
"Damn them." Olasird'arc growled, they remained prowling in the periphery of his vision, the stench of their bodies in his nose was impossible not to notice, but with freezing breath instead of flame, there was only so much he could do to keep them at bay.
"Come out and fight!" He bellowed.
"No!" Someone shouted back.
A crude arrow flew out of the woods and struck his scales. It pinged off, useless, but it inflamed the temper of the dragon. He tried to move, his limbs were stronger than before, but he was hobbled, and he had to worry about reinjury.
"Then go away! My-" Olasird'arc started to shout, then stopped, ' Friend? Comrade? Nurse? Caretaker?' He wasn't quite sure what to call the curious squire that treated his wounds fearlessly under his eyes where most would have struck him down. "Partner, will be returning soon, and when she does, the woods will not hide you!" Olasird'arc bellowed. ' Better to boost her reputation a little bit for intimidation.'
"Partner? Everybody knows dragons don't have partners! You're lying! You're tough, but we'll keep shooting, keep nicking away, and then we'll have dragon meat for weeks!" The voice came from the beyond, and a crude spear with it, which bounced off Olasird'arc's nose.
"I do! The Huntress of the Wilds! The Terror Eyes, the bow-mistress so feared by her own kind that they cast her out to hunt the monsters they dread!" Olasird'arc pumped the squire up with titles and latched onto a story she mentioned, "She slew your brethren wholesale, sparing only children to carry the tale of her work to you so that you would know not to come south into her domain! You must be beyond mad and desperate to attack me now!" The dragon laughed at them, and the demihumans out of view were quiet.
His sharp hearing caught bits of what they said.
"There were… some children who came north, who spoke of a short woman with horrific eyes who used a bow and killed all before her with such ease that nobody could draw close enough to even strike back…"
"They didn't mention a dragon… Hey you, dragon, how'd you get hurt?!" The demihuman shouted back.
"Ask my partner!" Olasird'arc made the answer utterly nebulous, and the demihumans grew quiet. Slaying a wounded dragon was one thing, doing so while the one who wounded and tamed it was still around was another thing entirely.
They withdrew, but he could smell them even if he couldn't hear them.
They remained around him all morning.
They remained around him all afternoon. Skulking, out of view.
Occasionally a few emerged, they would fire a few arrows, throw a few spears, or come into view to draw his breath only for him to take a blow from somewhere else.
Scratches emerged, they targeted his unhealed wounds and his eyes. ' Given enough time, an ant can kill a lion, as long as the lion can't move or fight properly.' Olasird'arc cursed his life and ill luck.
The moon was still high in the sky when he smelled fire.
The demihumans were shouting, and there was the faint smell of a human in the air.
He heard the twang of a bow. A shriek of horror pierced the darkness.
The twang of the bow came out several times, the smell withdrew, the demihumans were up in arms, the whole camp besieging the wounded dragon was thrust into chaos.
Their numbers dwindled. A shriek pierced the night and the smell of burning flesh lit the air. A burning deer ran through the woods, smoke leapt up wherever they ran, the camp was churned into madness out of view, and the bow twang went again, and again, and again.
"I told you my partner would come back!" The frost dragon shouted into the night, "and 'she' has not had her strings cut !" He bellowed as the little tribe fled back north again.
Most of them, stoked by fears of being hunted in the darkness, broke and ran, vowing privately never to venture south again.
One however, was not so fortunate.
Olasird'arc watched as his 'partner' emerged from the burning woods dragging a wounded orc by the neck. She cast him down at the space between them as the flames continued to light up the darkness and block the moon with smoke.
"I caught one." Neia said, and pointed to the back of his knee where an arrow went through and through.
Olasird'arc took a long look at her, seeing in the dark proved no obstacle, and as humans went, it was a good, 'fearsome' look. Her armor was darkened, her face painted with shades of black mud, she had accented her eyes to give her naturally terrifying eyes an even more enhanced look, her limbs were cloaked with a improvised woven leafy 'garment' of sorts with woven moss wrapped around to make her blend in to the environment. ' No wonder they couldn't see her. Most would use magic but… most 'look' for magic too. Clever.'
Before then, 'cleverness' as a form of strength had not occurred to him, and yet between the burning deer to create chaos and the natural way she hid herself so that she seemed to come and go like an ephemeral demon was clearly enough to turn the tide.
"Is he for me to eat?" Olasird'arc asked.
"If you want." Neia said, though her face went a little greener than the bulky orc when he said it. "But I was hoping he would consider an apology and a promise never to return." Neia added.
"Yes! I'm sorry! Let me apologize! We were just hungry! We were desperate! Things are bad! Clan wars, hunger, we were driven south, there was nowhere we could go! We couldn't let our children starve! You have to understand! We were desperate!" The orc was musclebound in principle, but a closer look revealed he was clearly leaner than he had once been, his belt was tighter, his body was shaking in pain.
She nocked an arrow and drew back her bow, putting it to the square of his back.
"Please! I have a family ! I have a wife! I have daughters! If I die, they'll suffer! Let me go! I'm sorry! I just wanted to save them!"
The orc was begging, pleading, he rolled onto his back, his arms out, tears in his deep sunk eyes, "I'll leave! I'll never lead my people back here again! I promise!"
"You're their leader?" Neia asked, her bow relaxed a little.
He gave a tiny nod.
' Pity got me into this damn mess…' She cursed herself, killing when necessary was one thing, but this was different.
"The gods must truly hate me." Neia muttered, and relaxed the draw on her bow.
"What is your name?" Neia asked.
"To'Raven." The orc answered.
"Can you walk, To'Raven?" Neia asked.
"Hobble." He answered.
Neia crouched and yanked the arrow out the other side of his injury. "Hobble home, To'Raven. Bless the day that the loathed of the gods was moved to pity, and… a word of advice to you. When you cross back to your homeland, don't fight fair next time. Your daughters depend on winning, not honor."
"Y-You're letting me go?" To'Raven asked with disbelief and looked at the dragon behind his head.
"If my partner doesn't mind?" Neia said, running with the dragon's identification of their status.
Olasird'arc wasn't sure where she was going with what she was doing… but he grunted along. "He does not smell good to eat."
"Then yes, you can go. Some of those deer probably died, gather their meat, avoid the flames, and… oh, wait," Neia glanced at the dragon, "could you?"
Olasird'arc made a quick guess at her intent and blasted out his frost breath as hard as he could, sweeping the trees and killing the worst of the spreading fires.
"Tell the others what you've seen here, To'Raven." Neia's eyes loomed over him. "Spread the word to other tribes, do not come south, unless you wish to be hunted."
To'Raven began to roll up and stand with terrible winces, "Your enemies will know your face, before you even know their names. Thank you… for my life." He muttered, and began to hobble away.
When they were alone, the dragon spoke to her, "Why spare him?"
"I'm a soldier, a paladin, a squire. I want to protect my people, but I don't want to be a murderess. He wasn't my enemy, his hunger was. He'll go north, live or die, and if he lives, he'll tell others what happened here. I'm despised by my people because I look like I loathe them more than I do. Considered an outcast among my order because I don't have the same overt hatred of demihumans that they do. But, in combination, those two things mean I can create a useful reputation. As long as I'm smart, and don't encounter anything that is too much for me, I can protect my people without having to put up with them, and maybe both sides will be a little better off if we're not always trying to kill each other."
"You don't hate them?" Olasird'arc asked.
Neia shrugged it off and wiped her face clean of her improvised makeup.
"No, it wasn't demihumans that didn't want me, it was my fellow humans. They sent me out here expecting me to die, but I don't plan on dying, and I've still got a job to do." She said and glanced in the direction the orcs were fleeing. "So does he, and that's all there is to it. I'm sorry about the delay in getting back to you, by the way. I had to take the long route to avoid them and gather some supplies." Neia explained as she went to check Olasird'arc's injured limb.
The sun was just creeping over the horizon then, giving her a better view of what had taken place in the night.
"Supplies?" Olasird'arc asked.
"Yes, I needed something to put the deer to sleep, so I had to find a particular plant, grind it into paste, and then hit them with it. I had to do the same with some flammable plants, make some improvised rope to tie to them, and… well it's not easy, but once I had them going it was just a matter of a normal hunt. Only the prey was two legged. Orcs are not good in the forests, they're plains and hill dwellers, I had a natural advantage and they were spread out. Kill a few sentries with stealth to get inside their lines and the chaos was inevitable. Attack, retreat, attack again somewhere else. Fear did the rest. Fear is a powerful, powerful weapon if you know how to use it." She said and reached into her pack.
"I got what I needed for your wounds, you'll be able to walk again in probably another month, two at the most. And as long as you can keep from scratching, you should be able to fly by then too." Neia said, a little bit sadly.
"Good… that is all… did you learn how to do all that in your training to be a squire?" Olasird'arc asked.
Neia shook her head, "A little, but the Nine Colors library had a lot on wilderness survival. I got access to their books and read all about what plants do what, the pictures helped, plus how to make the stuff that I did. I also got to study some of the strategies of generals in the past. One of them used oxen with burning tails to create a rout among his enemies. I didn't have oxen, so I used deer. Not as dramatic, but it worked." She grinned a bit.
"Hmmm, is that so?" Olasird'arc asked rhetorically and thought that over.
Hoburns was a proud city, not as old as Kami Miyako, nor as large as Arwintar, but a proud and prosperous city nonetheless. The throne room epitomized this, with bright white stone columns beneath a great high ceiling, the white throne of the Queen was polished so much it might as well have been made of light.
But the Queen was not happy. No…
The Holy Queen was aghast when she heard the report. "That is… expensive."
"Yes, My Queen, but the border guards report an increased need for drills in times when the demihumans do not invade. In the past, long periods of peace typically were followed by large scale invasions, we must be at our peak. Their invasions are cheaper than the training because at least after that we can plunder the dead to offset the costs, and we don't have to pay those of our own who die." The minister said with a grimace.
The Queen shifted on her throne, "Don't speak like that! Every life is precious! I want a Kingdom where nobody will cry, and what greater sorrow is there than the loss of life?!"
The minister bowed his head and stepped a pace away from the white throne.
"Next, we've had a string of nasty cases of corruption among public officials, corruption isn't really that uncommon, but a number of these cases were very prominent and involved important people."
"What kind of corruption?" Queen Calca's perfect lips formed a thin little frown.
"Bribery, mostly. But blackmail and worse has become a serious problem too. Temples were especially hard hit. Two mistresses have come out in public and accused high ranking priests of a number of crimes, including pilfering temple funds for personal use."
"Outrageous!" Calca's slender fingers closed into fists.
"My Queen, this is worse than outrageous." Kelart Custodio said from off to the left side.
The Queen was brought up short. "Kelart…?" She asked with a more gentle voice than she used with the minister a moment ago.
"My Queen, these have been coming out constantly for some time now, people are no longer going to judges, order has been breaking down, the Southern Holy Kingdom is taking issue with these scandals saying they don't want to send their funds North to be 'squandered'. Some of the Paladins rode south with Remedios, about collecting withheld funds only to be immediately rebuffed. And when I say 'rebuffed', I mean she stood at some gates blustering and then started riding back without a fight because they had children inside the walls. We look weak… and your rule has not been the most favored by the South…"
Kelart reached out to rest a hand on Queen Calca's arm, the Queen remained still, quiet, unsure.
"Are you saying… we're facing civil war?" Calca barely breathed the word past her lips, the very idea was unthinkable on so many levels. "Why don't we just send the demihumans word that we're throwing a feast, then?" The caustic criticism caused Kelart to withdraw her hand.
"My Queen… I love my sister, but… her idealism is often in the way, perhaps consider sending someone else… we can't let the lesser nobles become emboldened." Kelart warned, and Calca stiffened.
"I want a Kingdom of Justice, where nobody suffers, how can I get that if I attack my own people?" She looked sideways at Kelart.
"Majesty, how can you not ? We love your ideals, that is why we're here, but there is simply no way you can fulfill those ideals if the nobles and the churches turn against you, and no way to do it if the commoners don't trust you." Kelart closed the hand that touched the queen before, making it into a fist and holding it up.
"Majesty… Highness…" She said in a hushed, desperate tone, "If the people think the judges are taking bribes on the decisions of their cases, then the people will stop going before the courts for their disputes. They'll instead turn to murder, banditry, intimidation, theft, and more. If the people think the guards are criminals, and worse, if they're right, then the guards will just become well armored thugs either in people's minds or in fact. Either one is bad. If the south cuts us off, how will we maintain the wall that keeps the demihumans of the Abelion Hills out?"
That had everybody rendered quiet. With the Theocracy's long war against the elves over more than one hundred years in duration, the Abelion Hills had a freehand against their neighbors.
Invasions from beyond the wall had been fought off in the past, but at great cost and it required the strength of north and south alike in order to achieve that end. Divided, apart from the vast well of southern manpower and materials, the less populated Northern Holy Kingdom's bulwark would be critically weakened.
As the Holy Queen, Calca had the obligation to keep the relationship between North and South secure, as well as keep her own more immediate domain solvent and incorruptible. If the South chose to not support her, she would be Queen in name only, and likely either herself, or her head, would be removed.
"Announce an official inquiry into the activities of the judges and priests, a formal 'official' investigation, we will stamp out corruption at the root and branch from our Kingdom." She gave the order, and Kelart gave a courteous bow to her beloved Queen. Her hair fell aside when she did, and the radiant and beautiful golden haired Queen briefly caught her breath with envy. Many had whispered that the Queen and Kelart were engaged in a torrid affair… something both laughed at in private. In truth, Calca just had a professional appreciation for the woman's effortless beauty. Calca's use of magic to enhance her beauty, not to mention her vigorous use of cosmetics, was less widely known outside of the palace. But because of her familiarity with it, she knew when someone else used none. So she appreciated and envied Kelart's effort-free presentability.
"Now, one more thing, wasn't there?" The Queen asked.
"Yes, my…" Kelart coughed in her hand several times, "sister, sent a report that in the more wildlands, hunters have reported the sound of roars, painful ones. The word 'dragon' popped up a lot. There was a massive fire out there as well, it burned quite a bit of woodland and then just… stopped. The few rangers who go out beyond the wall to speak with the few 'semi-friendly' demihumans, have said there are all kinds of rumors going around out there. She wants permission to investigate the region with some of her best."
"Remedios is very closely connected to my values, if she wants to investigate, I'm sure it is purely in the interests of the common good, let her go," Queen Calca asked. "We all know she wouldn't do anything to bring harm to my people. What could go wrong?" Calca asked, and when nobody argued, she gave Kelart a nod of approval, and the order was given.
Volume 5 C3
Albedo sat in the public restaurant, her seat outside was relatively comfortable as far as things went. A simple metal chair with a temporary cushion provided for comfort, the tea they served was passable enough. The food was garbage, but even disguised with magic she was sure no one here could pierce, she still wasn't willing to blow her cover with an outburst about the horrid fare that the Holy Kingdom considered high class.
What interested her more was watching the judge's wife as the doppelganger approached her. They had high charisma by nature, and their passive mind reading let them tailor themselves to their targets. This one had gone a step further, and learned her preferences before deciding on his appearance.
He was her ideal appearance, Albedo covertly targeted the woman. [Aspect of the Succubus], [Lilith's Hunger] . She could smell the woman's arousal within seconds, the judge's wife, a prim looking woman of younger years, honey blonde hair and still supple frame, wore her hair up in a bun. Without really thinking about it, she undid the security of her hair and let it tumble down her back.
The chaste and devoted wife was trying to disguise the fact that she was rubbing her thighs together while the doppelganger agent sat across from her. A few subtle touches, and if Albedo had asked about her husband, ' I doubt she'd even remember his name.' She laughed a little and watched the doppel rise, hold out his hand and whisper down to her.
"Come with me to fulfill your every wish…"
' Faithless humans… have they any idea how to seek any desires but their own?' Albedo asked herself and watched the pair leave. The eighth couple today, next would come the investigators, and more priests. Corrupted by the urges of their illicit lovers, they would sell their integrity for coins to buy the things their lovers wished.
Albedo stood up, left more money on the table than the meal justified. She began to walk down the street, the evening hours were charming enough at least with the moist air that blew in from the distant sea.
The buildings were mostly of wood, but stone structures were not uncommon either, even at a glance Albedo could see that the city was, as human ones went, a thriving one. More notably, they were 'fit' specimens of their race, no doubt a result of their strongly military culture, the enduring threat of the demihumans was never far from their minds here in the north. As a result, a life of readiness for war was the norm.
That at least she found to be a somewhat admirable quality. It was at least enough to make it less repulsive to her than the degenerate Re-Estize Kingdom.
She reached the temple soon enough, the last priest had been caught in a torrid affair and was removed. This one would suffer the same fate eventually. The temple was a large square structure with an angular rooftop, the stone steps led up to double doors of solid oak patterned in the armor clad shapes of the Great Gods. ' Players.' Albedo realized, and by the look of them, if the armor was true to life, not even the highest ranking players.
' Gods… what a joke.' She opened the door and went to the penitent booth. A little investigation revealed the times when the priests would be available, and a little more told her when the head priest would be present.
A merchant man and wife of some significance attended here, both of good name. As many did… Albedo sat in the booth. [Aspect of the Succubus], [Curse Item], [Secret Desires] .
At her levels relative to humans, it was extremely unlikely that anyone would ever know anything was amiss, and all that would happen anyway was the pursuit of desires… regardless of the destructive cost.
The priest opened his side, revealing a screen that revealed only the outline of a person on the other side.
Albedo's eyes however, were far better than average. He was a young man, meaning he must have been impressive enough to rise so high before his thirties. He had dark hair and a slender build, but his back was straight and his voice was strong.
"Unburden yourself, the gods forgive all." He said. Out of a mere whim, she chose to put him to the test. ' Let's see how impressive he really is!' She thought, and changed what she was going to say. Albedo's hypnotic voice passed from her lips to his ears.
"Voice of the gods, ear of the gods, there are… so many things I wish to confess to the one I love. He feels astounding guilt over what he did to me. My beloved… he took me in when my father abandoned me, he… became everything to me, sacrificed everything he loved for me, to stay with me and… and my younger siblings. But now…"
"Now?" The priest asked, a deep well of empathy packed into the tiny word.
"Now I want to love no one else but him, he is the man of my dreams, my everything and my all… I want to give myself to him, my body, my innocence, my heart… and yet he holds back. He feels like he's done something wrong, something unforgivable, and even though I can see the want in his eyes, he refuses me. What should I do?"
The priest was quiet.
"Dear child of the gods… there is no sin in desire alone, even the gods had wants, needs, longings. If he has never mistreated you, never manipulated you on purpose into loving only him, then his guilt can only harm you. Help him to understand, you are an adult, a woman making her own choices, and whatever happened before, you know, you understand, and you love him despite it. Help him to understand that you can 'both' be happy, and embrace your desires in pursuit of the happiness that all children of the gods deserve. Only be good to one another, trust one another, rely on one another, and the gods will bless your union. A man so noble that he would care for a child that is not his, and whose greatest guilt is only that she came to love him in ways he did not expect, is a rare man, and a woman who would recognize that value, no less so. Love, be happy, and may you have many, many children."
The curse that Albedo held ready to repeat against the priest on the other side was not unleashed.
The last priest had rambled on about purity, two others at smaller temples condemned her Lord as a manipulator and told her to flee. But this one… got it . Though she couldn't explain about settings, and how his moment of whim was not intended to be expressed as it was, he understood her love for her Master in a way that the others had not. And more than that, he offered a practical solution for how to approach him, to help him end his guilt.
"Evil for evil, good for good." She whispered the words too quietly for the priest to hear, the philosophy of her Master, and she chose not to curse this one. But she would leave no useful tool unpicked up. A foil to the corruption was needed, someone who could pick up the pieces.
"I'm sorry?" He caught the noise of her words, but not what they were.
"Nothing, listener of the gods, I have one more thing however, a thing a good priest should know… what you do with this knowledge I leave to you.
"Yes…?" He asked, confusion evident in his voice.
"Corruption spreads like unchecked vines throughout this city, the judges' wives, the judges themselves, the public officials, bribes and skimming are frequent, which pay for the fulfillment of greed and lust. Your predecessor was one of those, but he is not alone. If you want to serve your people well, be prepared for great and terrible hardship to surround you." Albedo warned him.
The priest was silent. "I… I know we've had a great many incidents but-"
"No, priest, you know only of the ones who have been caught . The fools who were sloppy, it is worse than you can begin to imagine. So bad that I venture that you are the last honest man." Albedo said, restraining her corrupt and bedeviling smile. "Good luck to you, priest of the Great Gods, from one of their daughters, and one who would be one of their lovers."
Albedo then stood up, opened the door, and walked out, leaving the priest confused, entranced, and sweating in his booth, fear of tomorrow sinking into his guts that did not abate even long after the penitent booth was reoccupied a dozen more times after her going.
Volume 5 C4
"How are the legs… and wings… feeling today?" Neia said as soon as she sat up from her bedroll.
"Good." Olasird'arc answered as he usually did. But then he did what he didn't usually do, he flapped his wings. "I can't stay aloft for long, but they're strengthening. And landing…?" His head and long neck swayed back and forth. "I probably woke your nearest city when I tried."
"Right, the roar… well at least things are quiet now." Neia said as she got up and pulled out a roll of improvised bandages, "We haven't had any incursions for weeks. I even ran into a scout, I got them to take off, of course, but things have been generally quiet. Give me a moment here, I'm going to have to change your bandages and check the injuries again, sorry, I can't do it without climbing on you." She set the bow aside and quickly got to work after her usual apology.
The broken dragon waited it out without criticism, and his tongue darted out to snag a haunch of venison. Cooked meat turned out to be fairly good, and while he savored the flesh that practically melted on his tongue, the little human worked. Her fearsome eyes had served as one of her most potent weapons in the incursions that ventured south, her combat skills however… ' That is hard to measure, 'good' by their standards, but by no means a legend. But brave and resourceful, and she uses that to close the gap.' But the expression that seemed always to rest on her face, the narrow eyed look that said, 'you are an insect' promised a well of power that simply didn't exist. And so those survivors, the children, and the badly wounded which she allowed to go back home, always carried the tale of the Dragon and the Archer with them.
"Can you believe the last group?" Neia asked with a laugh, "What kind of name is that? 'The Dragon and the Lady'? At least you're identified correctly. I like 'The Dragon and the Archer' better."
"Are you… not a female? I thought only the women of your race had breasts?" Olasird'arc asked, suddenly confused and curving his neck to look back around at her.
It was no coincidence, he was sure, when Neia tapped the leg a little too hard and made him wince. However, she laughed it off, "You're right, but nobody in my entire life has called me a lady, and I'm considered repulsive, so I prefer to think of what I 'do' rather than what I was born as."
Olasird'arc wasn't always clear on inflections, but having heard the bitterness in his son's voice, he recognized it now in the one nursing him back to health.
But to him it didn't make sense. "You're repulsive?" He looked her up and down in a fresh appraisal, "Other than your eyes, you could be like most any other human as far as I know."
Neia nodded, "That's the point. These," she pointed at her eyes with her fore and middle fingers, "are considered ugly. Human men don't consider murderous expressions to be attractive. Not even in a job centered around slaughter." She snorted, "Go figure."
Olasird'arc let the matter drop and there was silence while she tended to his wounds, and then she hopped off. "I still can't believe it though, who brings their people south… just to ask for one duel? I got absurdly lucky that the stone spitter had an oversized mouth for me to put an arrow through."
"Clever." The dragon acknowledged.
"Everything has a weak spot, you just have to know what it is, and that's part of the job out here. Reading, writing, people don't sing songs about literacy, but it is far more important than anyone thinks. All the wealth you dragons like, is made possible by the keeping of records and the writing of reports. Gold isn't mined from the ground, but from ink and paper." Neia remarked in passing and dusted off her hands.
"By the way…" Neia began as she started up a small fire and set herself to making a little pot of stew, "Assuming you don't plan on eating me after you're healed," she looked up at the dragon whose head loomed over her, "what's next, after you're better, I mean?"
Olasird'arc growled, "You are too short to make a morsel, let alone a meal, plus you bathe too little out here to taste good, and I'm sure you'd give me indigestion. Have no fear, I have no plans on eating you." The dragon reassured her, and at that the blonde human blushed a little.
He wasn't about to say he was grateful, or that he'd come to like the brash, brave little archer, but he made his point nonetheless.
"I don't know. My home is gone, my clan is dead, the Demon Emperor has likely claimed the whole mountain by now. I can find another range, another female to mate with, I pin her, we copulate, and I begin again." The dragon said with some discontent. "One day perhaps we take the whole range as a united people."
"Unity is a source of strength…" Neia responded quietly, "said the exile." She laughed at herself and stirred the fire, sending sparks abound.
"What of you?" The dragon asked in his low, rumbling voice.
She shrugged. "This kind of scouting job goes for several months at a time, you'll be well healed before it ends, so… I say goodbye to you, keep roaming the wilds until my time is up, hope I survive, and go back to my people. Serve out my life with the Paladin order, distress my father, disappoint my mother, and eventually die in some pointless war keeping safe people I've never met and who I wouldn't and who wouldn't like me anyway." She laughed it off like it was an old private joke.
The dragon however, did not laugh either at or with her.
"It all seems kind of pointless sometimes, doesn't it?" Neia finally asked.
"Pointless?" Olasird'arc asked.
"Yes. All that effort, no unity, no real peace, and in the end?" She brought up her hand, snapped her fingers, "and then someone comes along and erases everything you accomplished in a minute. Forgive me for saying this, but I can only be glad that the Demon Emperor did not come here, we'd be in truly dire straits if he had."
"I suppose." Noncommittal, short, but sufficient answer for her.
"Have you ever thought of working with other races?" Neia asked tentatively.
"I had quagoa servants, little furry things, intelligent but primitive, weak. They were essentially slaves, kept because they had some uses." The dragon replied.
"Oh," Neia scratched her head and looked down at the ground, "I've never seen that practice, but slavery doesn't sound that bad. Somebody takes care of everything for you, gives you food, clothing, shelter, and you just have to do normal work, do as you're told, that you'd do for too little to live on otherwise? It's like normal work but safer."
"Clearly you haven't seen it before." The dragon laughed at that.
Neia had no idea what he meant by that, but before she could ask, she felt the dragon stiffen.
"We have company coming." Olasird'arc whispered, and without hesitation, Neia reached for her bow.
Volume 5 C5
Albedo sat across from the official investigator and let the filthy insect touch her arm. She kept a smile on her face and resisted the urge to rip his hand off, tear his arm from his body, and beat him to death with it. "Really?" She asked, "How fascinating, you must be so very important."
The Crown Investigator, a chubby man with three chins, beady eyes and a stick up his ass, chortled heavily. "Yes, yes, it's a filthy job but we must keep the Kingdom incorruptible. I take great pride in my work."
"I'm sure you do." Albedo whispered in a dusky voice, her eyelids fluttering, "Sadly my heart belongs to another, a man of supreme wealth and greatness, only someone who rises to the heights of society could truly catch my eyes. Your work is important, but of course you're so underpaid, underappreciated, undersupported, and nobody gives you the respect you're due for your status…" Her honeyed words wormed their way into the man's heart, and she could practically read his thoughts as his deep set eyes darkened.
' She's right… I'm letting myself be used for nothing, everybody else gets rich, I try so hard to stop it, nobody cares. I've got no woman, no proper respect… it's only money and power that brings happiness, and I don't have enough of either… maybe if I just… just for the minor cases brought to me, looked the other way for a cut of the profits…? Just enough to get what I really deserve… it's not like it'll hurt anyone seriously…' His jowls flapped about as he shuddered with frustration and outrage.
Albedo propped her head up on her hand, her chin in her palm, elbow on the table and watched as the doppelganger approached, disguised, to Albedo's near disgust, as someone very close to Shalltear in appearance, the official investigator was hooked. ' In hours he'll be balls deep, in a day he'd sell his clothes for another taste, and by evening tomorrow he'll sell the favor of his office. So much for the official investigation. All I'll need to do is make sure a few 'leaks' about corruption get out.'
She stood up, "Excuse me," she said, resting her fingertips on the table and giving him a respectful half bow, "I have something else I must do, I hope that information was helpful to you."
"Y-Yes, it was." He nodded rapidly and gestured to Albedo's chair as the disguised overseer vacated his presence. Within seconds the doppelganger agent was tittering at his touches, utterly bedeviled, and before Albedo was even out of sight, she heard the official proposing that they go back to his quarters to 'talk' and offering to take her shopping.
' With the information I've provided to him on my successes, the investigators will know whom to take bribes from, the corruption and its high cost will deepen, prices will go up, trust in the courts will decline, everything is going according to my Lord's masterful plan.' Albedo laughed as she sashayed herself out of view, opened the gate, and went to another city to repeat the process.
Albedo stepped out of the Gate and into the city of Wenmark, one of the greatest cities in the Southern Holy Kingdom, with over half of their mines for adamantite, orichalcum, and mithril. It was situated at a large lake at the end of a long river, and it smelled wonderfully of absolute misery and despair.
The trade in elven slaves captured by the Slane Theocracy and sold to their sister Kingdom, almost always led the captives to Wenmark where the demand for back breaking labor was greatest.
The mistreatment of the elf population was worse there than anywhere else, and that was obvious right away. Though to Albedo, it was simply unimportant, what was important was how easy it would be to undermine such a delicate balance. ' My master said to minimize losses, which of course means those who will never properly accept his rule, they can be removed.' Nothing in her mind was less likely to accept the rule of the Allfather than a group of fanatical human supremacists. If they couldn't even accept elves, they would never accept frogmen, or lizardmen, or dark elves, or the many other races that were being brought into her Master's Kingdom.
But first… she had to explore a little. Walking the streets of Wenmark, she saw little to recommend it.
The ores and wealth it promised was considerable, but the humans were especially disgusting. She watched as they swaggered around sneering at barely dressed elven slaves who walked bowed or chained, menial laborers taunted them and, at lewd hotels, elven prostitutes hawked their master's wares from the bedroom windows where they plied the trade they were sold into.
It was the cleanest human city Albedo had yet to see, it had the most wonderful scent of despair, misery, and vice that a succubus could ask for. And yet as her feet clicked over the stone, she could not have felt more disgusted with it all. A crisis or two would be all she needed to bring things to a head, and then it would not be long before… ' Yes, my Lord, my Love, you will join me again… how I long for you… ache for you… to show you… to shower you with my affection… if I can only show you… we'll be so happy…'
Albedo barely noticed where she was walking while she thought, until she found herself in front of what amounted to human luxury, a place called 'The Golden Roan'. ' I suppose I need a hotel while I'm here… this will do.' Albedo mused and looked her reflection over in the glass. Her high class outfit was of woven green and golden silk threads, practical for walking or riding, her shoes were boots that came up to the tops of her calves, her shoulders had a simple crimson cape pinned into place for use in ill weather, even at a glance, she screamed 'money'.
She approached the front desk where a spindly human stared at her for a little too long, mesmerized by her radiance. "I need a room, not for long, just for a week or two." She didn't wait for an answer, she simply produced a handful of gold coins from her coin purse and dropped them on the table without bothering to count them. The clerk's eyes were drawn to the clinky coins and he licked his lips several times in rapid succession.
"A luxury suite, of course." He said and snatched a key from behind him as fast as he could. He rang a bell and a moment later a young half elven boy emerged from a nearby door, he wore iron chains at his wrists and his hands were calloused, but his blonde hair was well cared for and his face made up like a girl would be.
"I have no luggage, just show me to the room." Albedo said with disinterest.
"Th-This way, mistress." The boy wheeled about and hurried to the stairs.
Minutes later Albedo was in a luxuriously decorated room, thick mattress, clean bedding, even a private bath of stone. ' Pathetic. Nothing compared to home.'
Her thoughts were interrupted when a knock came to her door. ' Room service, no doubt.' Albedo realized.
"Enter." She snapped, and a nearly naked elven woman of long golden hair opened the door, closed it behind her, and knelt in deference.
"Mistress, my name is Illyana, the elf designated for the services of this room. Tell me how to please you."
' Oh how convenient, they've provided me with a source of information.' Albedo thought with a tiny smile on her ruby lips, her human guise was quite beautiful to behold, and it clearly threw the elf girl off a little, causing the blue eyed thing to sneak quick glances at her latest guest.
Albedo's succubus pheromones wafted over the slave, fogging her mind and confusing her senses, setting her both more at ease than ever, and also more anxious, all at the same moment. "You can tell me everything I want to know, slave, that is what you can do." Albedo said with a little laugh and sat down on the edge of the bed in reach of the female elf.
She put a hand on the woman's cheek, drifting it under the chin, and tilting her face upward. "Tell me everything… and then… then I will be pleased, and if you're good, you will be too, I think."
Volume 5 C6
"Humans?" Neia guessed.
Olasird'arc let out a low growl, "Yes."
"It's not time for my relief yet, that's for sure. But then again… I, or rather 'we' have been very successful… they could be coming to investigate." Neia frowned very deeply, "Victims of success, how ironic. I'd better go meet them." She put her bow over her back and then a hand over Olasird'arc's scales.
"You're not ready to fight yet, I'll go out, confirm that I'm fine, just really lucky, and send them off for the next few months. If they see you…" Neia let that statement hang.
"I'm sure I can handle a few paladins." Olasird'arc laughed a little at the idea of it being difficult at all.
"No, if this is a team coming out into the wilderness… gods above, I can't lie to you." Neia rolled her eyes, "Listen to me, I told you months ago, me coming here was a suicide mission. I'm still alive, and I'm sure they know of it, nobody else would come out this way except in force, that means higher than average paladins. And those will kill you on sight, most might not be strong enough to do that individually even if you're weakened, but as a group? Ants can kill a lion if the lion can't properly fight back."
"It's fine." Olasird'arc replied, "Just go get rid of them."
"I'll try ." Neia said emphatically, "But if they come closer than your breath's greatest distance, fly away out of sight."
Olasird'arc hesitated.
"I spent too much time taking care of your scaly ass to see you die, alright." Neia said with a half bitter laugh, "I haven't had even one real friend in my entire life, and you're the first one I'd have the arrogance to apply that title to. I'd rather not be responsible for getting you killed." Neia patted the scales again, her narrow eyes transfixed up at the face of the frost dragon.
Olasird'arc was quiet still, unsure of what to say, think, or do, he gave his head a slow and steady nod. "I can fly well enough to escape them, I'm sure."
"Good. Then I'll go out. See you soon, Olasird'arc." Neia winked up at him, gave a fragile smile, and ventured out of their clearing and into the woods again. She began at a slow walk, then a jog, and then a dead sprint, disappearing almost soundlessly into the shadows and quickly moving out of sight, sound, and before long, her smell was gone.
Neia rolled her eyes as she jumped, snagged the tree limb with both hands and pulled herself up to the top. ' Dad was right, I should have become a ranger.' She laughed to herself and jumped from limb to limb, seeing the Paladins in the distance, she almost had to laugh at them. ' Clumsy idiots, all that heavy armor in the wilderness, sure you can stop bowshot, but you might as well shout 'here I am'.' The archer took a slow and steady breath, catching them off guard was dangerous, but also for the best.
The more they believed she could do this on her own, the less likely they were to investigate.
So she made her way around them, their stupid swords were out and hacking their way through to make paths that would lead people right to them. Just 'why' this was considered a suicide mission began to make perfect sense to her. ' They're treating it like fighting in the open, any half decent demihuman scouting party could follow their trails and finish them off.'
She drew her bow when she caught sight of their backs, nocked an arrow, and putting power into her shot, she loosed and let it strike the ground in front of them, the ground erupted in a hail of dust, clods of earth, and rocks that peppered the party of paladins. There were two dozen of them, and even at a glance most of them would have been easy prey.
"Stop right there and identify yourselves!" Neia barked authoritatively from her position in the distant tree. "I am Neia Baraja, huntress and scout for this region! Nobody is supposed to be here for months! Explain yourselves!"
The Paladins were waving their hands coughing and hacking up the dust, wiping the dirt off, a few had scratches on exposed faces from the flying rocks, but the more combat ready among them quickly whirled on their feet, among them a voice identified herself.
"I am Remedios Custodio, head of the order, and you will present yourself squire !" Remedios shouted in outrage, wiping dirt from her face.
Neia felt her blood run cold and hot at the same time, ' Remedios?! I know that name!'
She had to doubt it.
"Remedios Custodio?!" She shouted well out of view, "Why would she be here over one little squire, and with this many paladins?! Let alone inept ones!"
That got them mad. "Inept?! How dare you, squire ?! Don't you see our uniforms?!"
"Uniforms can be faked, for all I know you took them off paladins you killed, and nobody has given the passphrase yet! The next one to speak without giving me that, gets an arrow in the throat!" Neia shouted back.
Remedios blustered, her face turned red, ' How dare this little…' She was about to start screaming in outrage before a hand came to her shoulder.
"Ma'am, she's right." He whispered.
"Three seconds, and then I start picking you off, and I know these woods better than you!" Neia shouted.
"Dawn's Hope!" Gustavo shouted into the woods.
Neia was silent. ' Okay, they're legitimate.' She admitted and put away her arrow.
"Alright, I'm coming out!" She shouted and hopped down from a different direction than they were facing a few seconds later.
The lot of them whirled, startled and dismayed as the little blonde squire landed silently among the greenery. She rendered a sharp salute with her hand over her chest. "You're all here very early, and far more of you than there should be. Why?" She asked with dismay.
Remedios stalked over to Neia and looked down at her with vicious anger, "You insubordinate little bitch, do you have any idea what you just did?!"
Neia nodded and looked up at the woman, "I protected my assigned territory from interlopers, bandits exist and hide out here, and sometimes demihumans, I'm just following orders, ma'am. I'm sorry if I upset you, but I had no way to know it was you."
"And your 'inept' commentary, squire ?" Remedios snarled down at her.
Neia pointed to the trail. "You led me right to you, an obvious trail, plus you're all in full armor, it's very noisy, and it stinks of oil and sweat. Plus your clothing is all bright steel and white." Neia touched her improvised material. "A blind orc could have known you were coming from ten bowshots away, and none of you are properly armed for fighting out here. A longsword in the woods is just asking to get it caught in a tree. No bows, no casters, forgive me, but 'unprepared' and 'inept' aren't that different. You die out here if you're not prepared."
Neia's face was placid, Remedios's face was turning an angry red when Gustavo approached beside the commander.
"Is that the reason for your success?" He asked, "Why you're still alive?"
"Aren't I supposed to be? You wanted this area secure, so I range all over these woods, hunt down the demihumans that try to make it through here, and keep the region as safe as I can. That's what I'm doing… Sir." Neia answered.
"Where's your proper uniform?" Remedios asked, "Have you no pride as a paladin?"
"I got rid of it, of course." Neia replied, "Colored my armor, got rid of the white tabard and everything else that helped me stand out, pride that gets me killed will get other people killed too."
Remedios saw red. "That is Her Majesty's insignia! The insignia of our nation! You… threw it away?!"
"It's just a thing, Ma'am. My obligation is to win, not to show off." Neia answered.
"And the rumors of a dragon's roar out here?" Gustavo asked.
Neia snorted. "Rumors abound everywhere, even when there are no people to spread them, go figure, Sir." She shrugged at the Vice Commander's words and he gave a dull nod.
But Remedios was still glaring at her. "Arrest her."
"Ma'am?!" Neia and Gustavo exclaimed at once.
"And go find me that dragon! Anyone who would casually cast off Her Majesty"s colors would ally themselves with any kind of twisted evil to save her own worthless skin! Arrest her! Arrest her and search these woods!" Remedios bellowed.
Neia's estimation of her one time idol was dropping like a stone.
Two paladins approached, and grabbed Neia's arms. She didn't resist, but she looked at the commander with disbelief. "I'm protecting my country! You can't do this!" Neia shouted and shook in their grip.
"If you were sent out here, you couldn't be trusted and we were better off without you, if you're still alive, you must be working with the demihumans, and if there's a dragon, I'll bet you're with that too. I know about you, squire, soft, soft on demi-trash, letting evil live, of course you'd strike a deal to save your own skin!" She hissed with contempt.
"I'm protecting my country! Aren't we safer?! How can you do this to me! I'm just doing my best!" Neia bellowed her outrage as paladin's took off deeper into the woods.
"Ma'am, there's no evidence she's done anything…" Gustavo gently pointed out, his rough face looked haggard, he had bags under his eyes and just appeared 'tired' while Remedios' smug look of angry self righteousness filled Neia with revulsion.
"Look at her." Remedios said point blank and grabbed Neia's chin hard enough to draw a cry of pain from her, she held the little squire still, "She has evil in her, even you can't help but see that. How can it not be obvious?! She wants to kill us."
"No!" Neia shouted as things went from bad to worse and two paladins forced her down to her knees. "I didn't do anything! I'm just doing what you said to do! Protect my country, protect this region… I'm loyal! You can't do this to me!" Neia howled, but her anger and frustration only made her look more terrifying, her narrow, vicious eyes glared about her as if promising a swift death if she was released.
"Must I shut her up myself?" Remedios snapped, and backhanded the squire with a mailed fist, knocking Neia clean out of the grip of the pair holding her down.
Neia began to lose consciousness, and in the distance, heard a dragon's roar, then out of the corner of her eye, she saw the beating wings of her friend in flight. "I told you!" Remedios shouted, and Neia grunted as she felt her hair yanked back she grimaced as the Commander crouched down, "You'll die painfully for this, traitor . You should have hanged for ever letting demihumans go. But working with a great predator of humanity like a dragon? We might just resurrect you just to hang you twice ." Remedios hissed and smacked Neia's face again, sending the squire entirely into unconsciousness while Olasird'arc flew to safety.
Volume 5 C7
Albedo sat primly on the bed while the kneeling elf told the Guardian Overseer everything. Had Albedo not disguised her demonic nature with magic, her wings would have been fluttering with excitement.
The elven woman was beautiful as a statue carved with beauty itself in mind, a perfect representation of elven beauty at its greatest height, with almond eyes of bright blue, golden hair that hung to her waist, the pale skin of one who lived indoors and seldom saw the sun. It was a little different than the normal wood elf light tan, but was easily explained by her occupation.
Her long ears twitched as she spoke in the melodic way of elves, and secured to her ears were little golden hoops attached to tiny silver chains that passed beneath her taunting excuse for a dress where they obviously ended up attached to the nipples beneath the cloth.
At the very least the demon woman had to admire the human's taste in enticing clothing. She made mental notes to have something similar fashioned for herself, but her chief focus was on the matter at hand.
And what she found was… ' This one knows everything I need.' It was almost laughable.
She raised a hand with her palm out to stop the babbling elf woman. Illyana immediately snapped her mouth shut.
"How could you possibly know as much as you do?" Albedo asked with a terse little smile that was only vaguely polite and threatening at once, just the tightest movement of the corners of her lips and nothing more, spoke volumes. "How could you know how the economics of the city flow, its important people, its politics? Are you not a mere whore, one of the many playthings of the wealthy?"
"I am, Mistress." Illyana confirmed with a bow of her head, but she looked up at the mistress she was assigned to and had a tiny little smile on her face when she said. "But many men don't know what a tongue is for, so they babble. They think talking to me is no different than talking to a dog, but they forget my ears," she flicked her fingers against the long tips, "work fine, and so does my mind. I remember everything. And I will never forget. Never."
Illyana's bitter hatred was a beautiful thing to behold, Albedo's general loathing for humans saw no challenge in the elf woman on her knees, and who clearly shared that loathing to her core. ' She probably assumes I'm a foreign spy… which is true, if a great underestimation.'
"You're not the least bit curious about why I'm asking these things, slave?" Albedo cocked her head a little.
Illyana shook her head. "My absolute loyalty is to whomever rents the room I am assigned to, until the guest checks out and a new one arrives. My task is to please you in any way you desire." Illyana explained with lowered eyes, but when she finished she asked, "My Lady, you are dressed so richly, forgive my impertinence, but… have you never had a personal slave to attend you as I am set to do?"
Albedo thought that over, it was a complicated question, the maids of Nazarick were technically under her, as they were under Sebas, and he was under her. But they were not directly responsible for her care and had never taken that role.. After a brief thought, Albedo shook her head. "No, slave, I never have."
Illyana took that bizarre statement in, and chose to explain. "That is one of my 'functions' aside from any pleasures you wish in the bed, I will attend to your every single need, think of me as your secretary, baggage girl, personal maid, and… when it pleases you, your whore."
"I have no use for the last of those." Albedo answered with a brusque wave of her hand, and said, "Instead you will guide me around this city, you know it very well, I assume? Show me all the places you spoke of, including the houses of the great leaders of this place. Serve me well, and you will be rewarded."
Illyana's face was very neutral when she said, "I am not permitted anything of my own, but thank you for the sentiment, reward or not, I will obey. Another day of life is the only reward I can accept, Mistress."
Albedo's smile became cruel and cold when she looked the kneeling woman over, "I think my Master would be disappointed with me if I didn't do a little better than that. Now, lead me out and show me everything you've seen on your little outings."
"Withdrawing from humans. How absurd!" Olasird'arc snarled as he left the noise behind, where exactly he planned on going was beyond even himself. He had no plan, perhaps by some subtle inclination to return home somehow, he flew to the north east, toward his mountain range. His wings ached within an hour, everything felt sluggish, but he remained aware enough to recognize things. Even if he'd never seen it before, he knew the wall that barred the path between the Holy Kingdom and the Abelion Hills. It was a towering wall of white and gray stone, as old as the Holy Kingdom itself, where five men could walk abreast across the top, high towers every ten meters held ballistae and catapults. It was not impregnable, but no one tribe alone was going to get through it. More than that, the bulk of the Holy Kingdom's defensive budget had to have gone into maintaining it. The encampment on the human side was more like a fortress city, nothing would get through that with ease.
Down below, Olasird'arc saw the humans scrambling when they caught sight of him. They were like ants from his great, soaring height. A few of their numbers tried to fire arrows, but the projectiles arced and fell to the ground again without ever coming close enough to even consider dodging. Under other circumstances he might have retaliated anyway, but for now… ' I need a place to land…' Somewhere they wouldn't chase him.
Then he spotted in the distance, a long range of hills amidst deep valleys, where he saw no tribes or evidence of movement, ' Nobody on the north side wants to live close to the wall.' He concluded, and made for the possible safety of the place. With the sea not that far away, he could think about supplying himself with food while his body healed the rest of the way, but he was not looking forward to landing.
But it couldn't be helped, the vast green beneath promised at least a soft place that wouldn't hurt too much if he came down gently and went to his side. He did his best to do exactly that, the cries of the humans on the wall became distant and then even that great cacophony vanished into silence even to his sharp hearing.
The wind was at least cool against his scales, though not as comfortable as the mountain city he left behind, there was something to be said for the great open space of the endless horizon, and it was with some regret that he left it behind, beginning his slow descent to the ground again. His wings were spread out as far as they could go to catch the air and slow his touching down. Even with his best effort however, no sooner than he touched the grass than pain shot up his still splinted legs and he let out a roar of agony so great that the earth around him trembled with the force, and then tremored beneath him when he flung himself to lie on his side.
He closed his eyes against the pain, and remained unconscious for a long, long time, until he was awakened by a familiar smell far closer to him than it had any right to be.
Volume 5 C8
Soreness wasn't an uncommon feeling for someone living in the wilds, cozy beds, perfect temperatures, warm blankets, those were a running joke among the tiny handful of those who survived wilderness duty. It was a common mockery that at least when they died out there, they wouldn't wake up sore.
But that soreness was usually in her back, or in the crick of her neck, or all over during cold winters. But the only time Neia ever remembered waking up with sore arms was in training with her bow. It was such an unusual state to wake up in that she briefly wondered what was wrong, tried to move, and found she couldn't.
Her eyes flew open as the most dreadful fear came over her, ' Have I been captured by demihumans?!' The thought shot her to total wakefulness, and with that wakefulness and the flying open of her eyes, came memory.
' No, I've been captured by my idol… damn. That was the worst day of my life… so far.' She sighed and forced herself to relax. She heard the rumble and bumps below and felt the steady forward motion with it, and one look at the covering overhead, and she knew she was in a wagon. The cheap tan covering was the sort commonly used by the Paladin order to hide the contents from outsiders or hide outsiders from the contents. ' So I'm a prisoner… and unless I've been out for more than a week, they brought this with them as far as they could, then carried me back to it. I was assumed guilty from the start…' It was a bitter realization that spoke volumes of her standing with the Paladin Order.
"I could write to my parents… they would understand, wouldn't they?" Neia was talking to herself in a tiny whisper and staring up at the fabric while she worked her wrists against the ropes. Her hands were bound at the wrists and her biceps and triceps bound against one another, contorted into the shape of chicken wings, lying like that for hours left her with a constant ache. ' I could probably snap the ropes, but they're expecting that.' She listened outside and tried to move her feet, those were secured with heavy chains, making snapping the ropes useless.
She tilted her head back just to look at… nothing. ' It would just tell Remedios that I'm awake and resisting.' The pain in Neia's jaw was starting to return, ' I think it's cracked.' She realized, and when she tilted her head to the side to look at… again nothing, just the blank wall of the covered cart, she felt the bruise on her face and sucked her teeth in with a wince.
Even to her own mind it was curious to Neia Baraja that she felt no real fear, if her own order were against her, what chance did she have at a trial? Even if her parents used their influence, what good would that do? ' Would they even try?'
The question fed into the one thing she did feel.
Regret. ' I'll never be able to make them proud of me after all… how… unfortunate.' The cart rolled and bumped around under her, jostling her against a few sacks of useless supplies. ' Idiots, carting all that around, how mobile do you think you can be?' Contempt and frustration with her Order raged like fire in her blood.
' Didn't I work hard enough?! I kept people safe! I did my job! I-' She aborted her raging that was taking shape in her head, ' By their reckoning, I didn't. Nits make lice, I let children and pregnant women go, I didn't execute everyone, and I should have killed the dragon. By their thinking… the failure to murder is treason, and treating Olasird'arc is the same as aiding the enemies of humanity.'
Children, the pregnant, the wounded pleading for their lives, every Paladin that was not a monster knew that moment of empathizing pity seeing children wailing for their parents, a little one rocking the body of someone who died with her arrow in their heart. Most would have felt something for the small ones.
' But they put them down anyway.' Neia understood why they did it, and that alone. ' I might have gotten off light, a slap on the wrist, or at most discharged.' But Olasird'arc was as good as a death sentence.
' So this is how it ends for me. Serve and protect my nation, make mother proud, make father acknowledge me… to death by hanging if I'm lucky, or death by the sword if I'm… less lucky.' That was enough to shudder.
Neia saw someone die that way once. A soldier who sold patrol route information to demihumans, bound upright to a stake, and then pinned to it by having a rusty sword shoved through his belly and into the wood. A strong swordsman would be used so that it would come out the other side, and then the end would be heated and bent so that it couldn't be removed from the stake. It was said that anyone who could walk off the handle side and survive for a day would be pardoned. ' Nobody ever does though, if the blood loss doesn't kill you, the infection will, and that is if you don't just stay pinned upright to the stake to expire in the elements.'
Neia closed her eyes, she couldn't feel remorse for what she'd done. Not for any of it.
' But mom, dad… will you even be able to look at me?' That question made her swallow hard, depending on where she was being taken, she might find out the answer to that very question. ' Probably not to Hoburns, could it be to the fortress itself? To the wall?'
She looked up at the thick canvas and tried to guess her direction based on the direction of the scraps of light that made it within.
Neia didn't sit up, she didn't want to give away that she was in fact awake. Going to the wall was the worst possible situation. It had the only city in the area, all the villagers, all the little towns, they were only there to support the fortress city which was only there to support the wall. Nearly everybody was a veteran of the wars against the Demihumans or descended from somebody who was.
Though Neia hadn't been there personally, she struggled to imagine any kind of a fair trial among them.
' But do my arms really have to be sore the whole damn time?' She asked while working and twisting the ropes, whoever tied them had used a lot, but hadn't been especially good at it. ' The weakness of not taking many prisoners, you don't know how to handle them.' Neia snorted at the half joke, the ropes burned against her wrists from their tightness, but the one to bind her clearly mistook 'tight' for 'secure'.
Her constant work continued to loosen the amateurish knot until she had her hand loose, and then used her free hand to undo the remainder, the slack rope let her unfold her arms and droop them underneath. ' At least now I'll ride in comfort.' Neia thought and then reached for a sack, pressing her hands, she felt the hardness of a large quantity of dried beans. She tugged it over, sat up just a bit, and put it under her back. She then folded her hands behind her head and stretched out.
Reaching the fortress would take a few days, her 'escape' from her bonds would be discovered eventually. But then again, Neia felt no fear, only bemusement. ' The look on the Commander's face when she sees me just relaxing against these beans with a smile on my face and giving her a little wave, it'll be worth the slaps I'll take for it.' She rubbed her shoulders deeper into the sack of beans, ' This really is comfortable… somebody should make a chair or something out of this stuff.' She thought, and yawned as quietly as she could to wait for the inevitable.
Volume 5 C9
Illyana scurried along at her Mistress' left hand, though it was a relief to wear less scantily clad material than usual, today being breaches and a simple roughspun shirt that made her skin itch, the human woman she was obligated to serve proved to be a swift mover. The pace of her long striding steps never slacked even for a moment, every motion had purpose and reason behind it.
Today she scurried along with her hair waving in the breeze as the room occupant took her out on a shopping expedition. "Souvenirs for some friends of mine. Where can I get them?" Albedo made the abrupt command and Illyana rattled off the names of several shops who made fine trinkets like toys, tea sets, and more.
From there Illyana had to move as fast as her legs could carry her, staying just at her lady's side, pointing which way to go, and then the noblewoman, as Illyana now assumed her to be, would abruptly turn the indicated direction without another step and Illyana would have to practically run again.
It was an hour of this before Albedo stopped and with her hands on her hips asked Illyana, "Why don't you move faster, slave?"
Had Illyana detected any hint of rebuke, she would have quailed, but it sounded more curious than anything, and so she chose to show the woman. "It's the 'elf-gait', my lady. We're trained to run or walk with small steps. They put manacles on our ankles with chains too short for proper steps, and leave them in place almost constantly for decades until we naturally move like this." She explained and went back and forth several times in front of a surprised Albedo.
' Innovative method of control at least, but still… impractical.' Albedo snorted with contempt and brushed back her long hair with a flip of her hand and tilted up her nose. "Stupid of them, how are you supposed to move quickly to perform your tasks if you're not allowed to move quickly ?"
The slave hung her head without answering.
"Humans are absurd." Albedo muttered under her breath and her eyes caught a large store front, it had a number of fine silk garments, large hoop dresses of the sort favored by Shalltear. ' If she likes it, I've got something good for a colleague. If she doesn't, she's annoyed and I've annoyed a rival for Lord Ainz' love, there is no losing there.'
"Come with me, you'll be carrying this also." Albedo said, and Illyana hefted the bags strung over her shoulder with an audible "oompf" and said, "Yes, Mistress." Before scurrying after her and quietly filing away the 'human' comment for later.
That 'later' came when Illyana stumbled with her legs half dead, carefully placing the dozen fabric bags from high end shops onto a chair, and then collapsed onto her knees, grateful for the carpeted floor which caught her fall. "Mistress, shall I draw you a bath, or do you prefer to remain alone again?" Illyana asked when she was able to raise her head.
Albedo herself simply breezed into the room, but the offer gave her pause and she looked over her shoulder. ' Why not, I've never had someone bathe me before. I might as well indulge, I won't be here much longer.' She nodded. "Go ahead." The overseer replied, while she much enjoyed the baths of Nazarick, the idea of a personal attendant for that purpose was a novelty.
Out of idle curiosity Albedo watched the way the elf woman moved, the little steps she took did have a peculiar kind of grace to them, the way she walked on the balls of her feet, the well trained roll of her hips, as a succubus, Albedo was compelled to admit, the woman had her charms. ' I suppose that is why she is kept at a high class establishment… at least, high class as human filth goes.'
The woman began to work the stone tub, her slender arms pumping steadily at a silver pumphandle until warm water began to gush into the stone tub, she grunted a little with the effort but soon found her rhythm.
When the tub was nearly filled, Illyana went to a nearby counter, bent over, and pulled out a small clay pitcher from a cabinet beneath it, she then turned and poured a few round-looking beads into the water, and then replaced the pitcher again. When she was done, Illyana stood perfectly erect with her hands folded before her waist and gave a half bow, "If it pleases the Mistress, the bath is prepared."
It was a small, subservient voice, and Albedo acknowledged it by approaching her with her customary long, confident stride.
She was almost caught by surprise, however, when the elf woman reached for Albedo's clothing, she only stopped from a negative or violent reaction by the fact that the slave moved so naturally it was clearly part of her routine.
The initial thought, ' How dare she think to touch me?!' Vanished beneath the practical understanding, ' For this, she must.' And so she waited as the elf undressed her completely and folded the fine silk garments over her arms, she went and hung them up.
Illyana then undid her own clothing and let it fall crudely to the floor, kicking her clothes out of the way and then walking past the Lady of the Room to the tub itself. She assumed a crouched position as a footstool, and waited.
Albedo had to forcibly stop herself from blinking as she made mental notes, ' Would Lord Ainz enjoy it like that? Oh, the utter bliss of having him do such a thing… oh yes… yes… yesssss!' She nearly gushed her excitement from her loins before she found sense and approached the crouched woman.
She took a step on Illyana's back, then as the woman slowly rose up to all fours to bring Albedo in line with the top of the tub, the disguised demoness stepped down into the waters.
Illyana said nothing the entire time, she simply went back to the cabinet, pulled out a long scrub brush, a bar of green soap and began to lather it up in the water.
Albedo realized almost immediately what the beads had been, little oil droplets, they made the water fragrant like roses and ran smoothly over her skin whenever it touched her.
The slave, for her part, went directly to work, drawing Albedo's full curious attention as the act of bathing her was dutifully performed.
The elf showed no shyness or demureness whatsoever, nor did her eyes show any improper thoughts or feelings about what she was doing.
Ever the supervisor in spirit no matter where she was, Albedo chose to praise her, "You're very good at this." She said and sighed with bliss as the elf woman held up Albedo's foot at the ankle and scrubbed between the toes.
"Thank you, My Lady, I have had abundant practice in this room over the last hundred years or so, perhaps longer, it's hard to remember sometimes how long it's been." Illyana remarked without breaking the neutrality of her face.
"I see." Albedo said with indifference.
"May I ask… what are you, My Lady?" Illyana posed the question as she filled the bucket to use on Albedo's hair.
"What?" Albedo demanded in an icy tone.
"Mistress, you're not human, so… what are you, if I may ask?" Illyana's voice remained mostly neutral, but that touch of curiosity could not be kept back.
Albedo looked at the woman while quietly contemplating whether or not to end her life. Only her doubt about how the elf figured it out stayed her hand.
"What makes you say that, slave?" Albedo asked in a deathly quiet tone.
"The way you spoke of 'humans' earlier as if you weren't one." Illyana acknowledged, "Remember what I said, Mistress?" She touched her ears again and then resumed washing the radiant woman.
Albedo actually laughed, silvery, charmingly, beautifully, the peels of it bounced around the walls far more than a natural sound should have. "I see what you mean, slave, I see what you mean. You're right, I'm not human. But why would you be mad enough to ask that, do you have a death wish, elf?"
"Why you're here has nothing to do with me. Other than my fellow elves, there is nothing in this city that I care about. Do whatever you want, while you are renting this room, you own me and my only loyalty is to you, Mistress." Illyana was very matter-of-fact in saying it, and Albedo gave that a long silent and thoughtful moment.
"I see." Albedo said with bemused understanding as the elf ran a warm soapy cloth over Albedo's ample breasts, "Then on my last night here, I'll show you the truth."
"Thank you, My Lady." Illyana replied and then asked, "Would it please the Lady tonight for me to demonstrate my other skills on her body?" Illyana asked it as a matter of routine, but in the last week the woman had refused her every time.
This occasion was no different. "No, there is only one body I desire." Albedo answered, leaning back in the bath and sighing with longing as the vigorous scrubbing began on her thighs. "But perhaps you can tell me something about how to please him, you were professionally trained for that, weren't you, elf?" Albedo asked.
"Yes, Mistress. Everyone who works here is." Illyana tightened her lips a little at that, but then answered plainly, "If there is some method of bedroom game or pleasure we don't know, it isn't good enough to bother with. But if it pleases you, tell me what kind of man he is, and I will tell you how to ensure he is lost in the pleasure only you can bring to him. Or so he will believe." Illyana answered, and felt the woman melt under her touch.
"Very well." Albedo answered, though she tried to keep her face neutral, a smile slowly crept over her face, "I will tell you all about my beloved, The One Who Stayed, and what kind of man is my everything ." And then that excitement filled her voice as Albedo went on and on about her favorite subject, letting the slave do her best to keep up with the torrent of words until after the water lost its warmth.
Volume 5 C10
Olasird'arc raised his head and stared down at the orc. "I know your smell." He said, and huffed out a puff of cool air from his nostrils that blew like a fog over the unmoving orc.
The orc male went down to his knees. "I know your everything. Your partner showed me mercy. She showed my mate mercy. She showed my children mercy. I repay mercy." He said and slapped his open hand over his chest hard enough that it made a loud clap.
"How?" Olasird'arc asked.
"You are hurt. Your partner, no magic. The humans would kill you. We have magic, we can heal you faster. But… you will not eat us, yes?" The orc asked.
Olasird'arc raised his head and sniffed the air. There were other orc smells nearby. "No. Heal me, and help me, and I will not eat you." Olasird'arc replied, "I give my oath as a dragon."
The orc grunted. He then turned his head and gave a long, loud series of hyena-like barks and an old orc wearing a number of small bones as a necklace, and carrying a staff with a fist sized blue gem wrapped tightly amidst knotted wood as if it grew that way, came close. "Heal the dragon."
Olasird'arc lowered his head and rested it with his cheek against the ground and waited, the pain of his landing still hadn't subsided.
"Where is the Mad Eyed Archer? The Forest Spirit Woman? Has the Merciful Guardian died?" The orc asked.
Olasird'arc cocked his head, "Why would you ask that?" Olasird'arc asked, the magic wafted over him, his body briefly glowing white, and his wounds began to heal again. "And those names… I know her as Neia Baraja."
"She has many names north of the wall now. Few humans spare our lives, those who do, we remember. We must fight, but though many humans tell lies, we too love our children, and prize them. Orcs, stone spitters, snakepeople, others, give names to her. The snakewomen call her 'egg mother' for sparing clutches and letting survivors leave with their young. Stone spitters, 'stone child' for giving a rock each for her hunt survivors to protect themselves from monsters on the way home, on the promise that they retreat and not harm her people as they leave. I never thought to meet her myself. Never thought to see she who heals dragons with my eyes, nor receive her gift of life. Now you are here and she is not. What should I think?" The orc shrugged.
"She was taken by her people." Olasird'arc replied, "I left at her request when I heard her folk approach.
"Then she is dead, and you have not seen her body." The orc's piggish face looked down at the ground. "Your loss, I hope, was not too great. She was a worthy enemy in our eyes, the Mad One and her mercy will not soon be forgotten."
"Why would she be dead?" Olasird'arc asked with a faint growl under his breath.
The orc looked up at him, "Because death is the penalty for helping any nonhuman beyond the wall. We have sometimes known their scouts from the wall to come to us, to trade in knowledge or goods, though whether they are allowed, we do not know. But we learn from them of human laws. To show us mercy is a great crime, to heal you, a dragon, how much more so? She sentenced herself to death when she did not kill you. A painful death, a slow death, we will hear her screams from here."
Olasird'arc had always taken it as his due that others should serve his will, anyone he could compel into his service, he bound them there. There was no reason not to, and there was no reason to care about them as they would have abandoned him if they could have, even his own children remained secured to him largely out of fear of disobedience.
It had not occurred to him that the human that spared his life was trading away her own by her own volition by doing so. It left a taste in his mouth he did not care for.
But something the orc said caught his attention. "Why would you hear her screams from here, orc?"
"The stake death is on the wall. They will bind her there, pierce her belly with a sword and make it face the hills, that way we hear the scream until they die. It takes many hours, sometimes days. I once saw a man last for a whole week. My eyes are good. I saw they used cold water to keep him awake. That… that is no way to die. The stronger you are, the longer it hurts." The orc did not bother to suppress his shudder.
Olasird'arc let out a long, angry, even possessive growl as if someone threatened to steal his hoarded treasure. "They will, will they?"
"If there is more, we don't know. But we hear that, learn that, and see that. That is more than I like to know." The orc answered. "Now you are healed and your partner is dead, you will keep your word, not eat us, yes? Where will you go?" The orc asked, taking a single unsteady, uncertain step backward.
"Yes. You are safe. As to what next…" Olasird'arc let that sentence hang as he thought the matter over.
"You could stay with us, you are strong, many would follow your strength. That we fought once," the orc shrugged, "many fight, they are enemies by name or need, that is all. We have no hate for the one to spare us."
Olasird'arc thought that over thoroughly and a plan began to form. "Does that apply to the Mad Eyed Archer?"
"Yes." The orc nodded. "Great hunters are needed by all tribes, orc, zern, and others. Since she began the hunts long before she took to the wilds, some of those she spared now have mates and children, and a life debt none thought to repay. If she is here, and does not fight, she will be treated as a great warrior and revered guest."
Olasird'arc's muscles rippled with strength again, his body stretched out, his legs extended and claws scraped deep gashes over a few rocks as he dragged the sharp edges toward himself again, his tail lashed and he tested his wings with a flap that drew him to an upright position like a great peak compared to the tiny orcs on the ground at his feet. "Then keep a watch on the wall, orc, and inform me when she is brought up there. What is next for me, is that I will get my partner back . No one will take from Olasird'arc Haylilyal."
The orc went down to one knee and bowed his head, as did the mage which healed the dragon. "As you command, Mighty One."
Volume 5 C11
Ainz sat in his office, but for once he wasn't reading reports or scrambling to find some kind of busy work. ' Thank Ulbert for Demiurge.' The archdevil proved to be quite capable of handling everything in Ainz' stead with a few specific general orders, and with the regular use of undead who needed only a single supervisor each, the most important internationally recognizable project, a complete system of roads, continued apace.
' Although some communications from more distant kingdoms have expressed dismay at the use of necromancy, nobody has used overly harsh language. '… concern for the wellbeing of the citizens of the Kingdom of Nazarick… properly appreciate the danger of the undead…' The only real concern is the Theocracy's. '… violating the very tenets of the six and the sanctity of life…' Religious motivations are especially dangerous, I'll have to keep an eye on those.' Ainz thought and shifted to another letter.
Ainz read through it silently, then, unable to help himself, he read it out loud. The parchment, not paper, indicated the significance of what was being written. Parchment was harder to produce than paper unless you used magic, and this had been made by hand, without magic, making it more exclusive even with the imperfections that magic did not leave behind. The tan document had flowing silver ink written in the script of the Re-Estize Kingdom, a script Ainz didn't really care for. ' Japanese is easier.' He thought and read it to himself.
" Dear Momon,
I write to you today with a trembling hand, for weeks you have been away, and each time I go to your manor, Lupu tells me that you are gone on business. I feel like a foolish girl, each time I step to your door, knock, and find you gone… I have faced countless enemies, trials, for longer than you can imagine, and yet I am more afraid of looking foolish and desperate to you than I am of being foolish and desperate in a fight for my very life. Lupu is… always hospitable, but very much herself, she drinks with Gagaran and teases us both as virgins. She says she is a 'mimidoshi' which evidently means she knows a lot but is kind of a virgin too… which I admit surprised me so much I wondered if you preferred men… even I must acknowledge her beauty…
But I ramble… I ramble on foolishly beyond words, largely to keep back from the edge, taking a leap that I know may change everything… will… will you work with me? Join with me on a quest… it may be dangerous, but I will feel better by far at your side than I know how to say… My sisters are busy, and I need help.
With deepest hopes,
Evileye"
Ainz set the letter down. "Right, I've been away a lot from Re-Estize, this letter reads a lot like a love struck girl who couldn't quite bring herself to say something emotional. What a wild thought that would be." Ainz rubbed his cheek. "I'll send Pandora's Actor, I should station him there permanently, make it his mission to research magical items and go on quests in search for unique ones."
He scribbled a quick note and looked over to the corner where CZ waited. Out of all the Battlemaids, she was one of the easiest to be around in a human body, given that she was essentially an android. ' They've all accepted you so far… only Albedo remains, and she is the most dangerous in more ways than one…' He reminded himself and snatched a piece of paper. He wrote his orders to Pandora's Actor and held it out.
"Take these instructions to Pandora's Actor, he is allowed to act within his discretion in the role of Momon on a long term basis, he should focus on forming good relationships with other adventurers, a good reputation for the team, as well as research and categorize novel magic items. Pay special mind to Blue Rose, they're too important to alienate and should be thoroughly won over." Ainz explained, and the blank faced battle maid curtseyed.
"At once, Lord Ainz." She said, accepting the orders, she departed at once.
"Oh, and send in Demiurge, there's the 'other matter' to attend to as well." Ainz added and went to the next letter, he barely heard her acknowledgement as he went on to Albedo's report.
"Corruption… how very Albedo, of course the supreme Guardian Overseer, the finest of bureaucrats, would choose to topple a kingdom through corruption… and really… sex ?" Ainz muttered under his breath, then sighed, ' Succubus, of course.' He thought. The high level doppelganger summons were well adapted spies from early in Yggdrasil's days, used for trying to scout bases before attacking them, both against NPCs and other players. They were rendered useless by the highest levels, and they normally had a short lifespan, but like death knights, doppelgangers summoned using bodies didn't seem to expire. Or if they did… ' None have yet.' Though their intelligence seems to vary based on how smart the corpse was…" Ainz wasn't quite sure what to make of that, but at least they were useful to Albedo.
He shifted a little in his seat, the notion of using even a summon that way made him uncomfortable, it felt vaguely wrong even though they were only summoned creatures using a corpse as a reagent. ' Is it technically necrophilia?' He wondered, and that made him feel worse.
' No more questions, Ainz, good god! No more questions.' He promised himself and focused on the specifics at hand. ' This is a very… very unexpected request from Albedo… I never imagined she'd do this but… I don't want to be a bad boss.' He told himself and stamped his authorization for it, and everything else she asked.
He just affixed the stamp to the document when there was a knock at the door. "Lord Ainz, you summoned me?"
' Demiurge.' Ainz realized and sat up straight, "Come in."
Demiurge opened the door, closed it behind him, then with three long steps he approached, knelt in front of the desk in the private office, and bowed his head.
"My Lord?" Demiurge asked with the deepest of reverence.
The crystalline eyes of the archdevil revealed nothing, but as if the demon was his own son, Ainz could feel the depth of affection and devotion exude off of him like heat from a winter flame. It was all he could do not to stand, descend, and hug the archdevil. Demiurge's belief in Lord Ulbert's passing and sacrifice had left him as emotional as a child who lost his father, and it left its mark on the archdevil in peculiar ways. His brutality in punishing Olasird'arc before flinging him through the mountain, and in his almost benign treatment of Hejinmal afterward suggested some unusual growth.
But now there was business to attend to, and Ainz could ask it of no one else. "About my… status ." Ainz said, and Demiurge bowed his head even lower.
"My Lord, yes, after abundant research and questioning of the Theocracy Scripture captives, the spell they used seems to have been imbued by a world item. I know of only one world item capable of that feat, and we don't have it." Demiurge explained, his frown deepened. "Neither does the Slane Theocracy. According to my best efforts, the founders of the Holy Kingdom took some items from the Theocracy when they broke apart, and it may be that they have it. However, I don't believe they do." Demiurge clenched his hands into tight fists.
"Why not?" Ainz asked.
"Because they were repeatedly invaded by demihumans, and in Albedo's study of her target, she saw no evidence that it was ever used to protect themselves from the disastrous invasions. While it is possible, I just do not believe it is there." Demiurge shook his head, "Even pathetic humans wouldn't hold back in those circumstances." Demiurge concluded with a vigorous denial and a shake of his head.
"I see." Ainz said and folded his hands together.
"But there is still an option, My Lord!" Demiurge hastened to add, "We have low tier race change items useful for far weaker beings, I believe that if your esteemed self were able to make use of Wild Magic, the power of that item could be boosted to allow you to become whatever you wished!" Demiurge's wolfish smile returned.
"All it takes is a mass sacrifice of followers of a wild magic user, and it just so happens that there is a wild magic user in charge of the Draconic Kingdom. Sebas, Solution, and the Eight are coordinating the driving back of the Beastmen Kingdom. I have taken the liberty of ordering them to take mass prisoners, and I am setting them all to work on my Happy Farm producing scrolls for the Kingdom until we're ready to make use of them." Demiurge's smile grew ever more broad, "It's a far kinder fate than they would get as things were going."
Ainz gave a slow nod, ' Farm work and scroll making aren't that bad… and they would have died in battle anyway… plus… I don't want to stay this vulnerable. I may be the most powerful being in the world now, in war or in magic, but I could still choke on a cherry and die. Most paths to immortality offer too many drawbacks or threaten the loss of independence. This does seem a viable option…' Ainz thought it over, and then nodded to his subordinate.
"Very well, continue with that plan, Demiurge. I will have to address this with the Draconic Queen at some point when things are under control, but for now… just ah… keep up the good work." Ainz said authoritatively and Demiurge almost blushed.
"Of course, My Lord, of course!" He stood up, bowed, and backed away until he had to turn, open the door, and leave Ainz to his work again.
"Return to undead… or something else? Or just render this body immortal… so many choices." Ainz thought to himself and then reached for the next document, putting tomorrow's decision off for another day, and reading through another progress report from Albedo instead.
Volume 5 C12
Neia's face was swollen. Pain thudded through it. ' It was still worth it.' She thought to herself when she recalled the stupefied face of Remedios Custodio when Neia waved from the back of the wagon. Now she had chains on her wrists secured in front of herself, and the Commander of the Paladin Order had been fuming for days over being made to look foolish.
' My face didn't help. Most of them would just 'toss' me food, and not very well either.' Neia acknowledged the unending truth that her face looked filled with hate and loathing for whomever was looking at her, but for the moment at least she was past lamenting it.
There was no real reason to lament anything, ' You knew the price you'd pay the moment you lowered your bow, now you're going to pay it.' The unutterable sorrow and fear in that broken dragon's eyes, the sense of absolute loss, she still could not help but pity it.
' I made the right choice.' She knew that much, the wagon was still rolling and rocking underneath her, and now there was only one real fear left. ' If my mother and father are stationed here… what will I say to them? Will they understand? Will they forgive me?'
Neia had no idea, but that question haunted her at every waking and every sleeping hour. But every now and then, she turned her thoughts to her patient, her partner, her friend. ' He got away at least, hopefully he is alive and this wasn't all for nothing.' That was an ugly thought, though she didn't regret saving his life, even now that she was facing the price, the idea that it was all for nothing was like the taste of ashes on her tongue.
All the stale bread and lukewarm water in the world couldn't have gotten rid of that taste.
Outside, Remedios was shouting. "Remedios Custodio here with a prisoner, Neia Baraja, traitor and collaborator."
Low rumbling anger pierced the fabric of her confinement, and a moment later the draped tan fabric overhead was yanked away with a flourish to leave her exposed in full view. "Booo…" Judgement came down on her from the stone walls, more than a few echoed it, some in uniform, some in work clothes, but the words 'traitor and collaborator' were muttered with great loathing, and a rotten tomato struck her in the face from above.
It hit her swollen cheek with a wet 'splat' and the flattened remnant landed on the wooden cart.
"Shut up!" Neia bellowed and turned her eyes up to the wall, "Shut up! I'm no traitor! I'm no collaborator! I protected this country you bastards!" The injustice got to her and vitriol poured out of her mouth, she shot to her feet, rattling her chains, "I hunted the wilds, slew the demihumans you incompetents let slip through! I lived and did my job while you sit here guarding against an invasion you pray will never happen while I fight the invasions that do ! Go to hell! I just did what I thought was right! How dare you all judge me for it!"
A heavy blow to the back of her head sent her falling to her face, but her fearsome stare had reached them even if her words had not. As she slipped into unconsciousness, she heard a few muttering, "Put down the monster…"
She woke up hours later in a stone cell, a pile of straw and a moldy blanket tossed nearby, her uniform and armor were long gone, instead she wore what amounted to nothing more than a sack and some chains. The stone was cold under her feet and she could see the moon through the bars on the high window.
The breeze was slowly cooling, ' It'll be autumn soon, I've always liked autumn.' Neia reflected and sat on the floor, drawing her knees up to her chest, she touched her cheek. The bruise was gone, somebody had healed her while she was unconscious.
The stone at her back was as hard as it was cool, she wrapped her arms around her knees and stared at the other wall without really seeing it.
Hours passed alone in the dim and the dark and the dank. A wooden bowl of water that had a wet piece of bread soaking in it sat nearby. She had no interest in it.
But her ears took everything in.
And that was why she heard the door and a pair of voices whispering harsh words to a guard. It clinked open, then shut, and swift, heavy feet approached. ' Why am I surprised?' Neia asked herself when she heard them drawing near.
She saw them out of the corner of her eye, even in the dim light of a distant moon she couldn't have failed to know them. But they had the added benefit of a torch which they stuck onto a sconce on the opposite wall and grabbed the bars as soon as they came close.
They clanged with the mailed fists striking at them, and Neia scrambled to her feet to rush the bars herself. "Mom! Dad!" She shouted and stuck her hands through the bars. They drew closer, allowing her arms to hug around the backs of their heads and put their arms around her at her back.
"You came!" Neia exclaimed and when the embrace broke, she stood, as did they and she wiped her fearsome eyes of previously unshed tears.
"Of course we did!" Her father said, looking down at her with eyes like those of his daughter.
"How could you think we wouldn't?" Her mother said with a fragile smile on her face, "You're our daughter… no matter what… of course we would come… but tell us… is it true?"
"Please, just tell us the truth." Her father implored, his hands folded into Neia's own, the metal between his fingers and her flesh was not enough to keep back all warmth, and Neia savored what she felt.
"I'm not a traitor! I'm not a collaborator!" Neia swore, "I promise, I swear on the gods! I… yes… yes I spared some demihumans, and a dragon too… that much… I don't deny it! But they were hurt! They were helpless! Just little ones calling for their mothers and fathers… they're no different from us and I just…" Neia didn't lower her head, she felt no shame, instead she leveled her eyes at them both, "I did what I thought was right, every time. That's all."
"A dragon, though?" Her father asked.
"He was broken, in pain… he asked for help. Helping the weak is common sense, isn't it?! Isn't that what you taught me?! Help the weak! Be brave! Isn't that what a paladin is supposed to do!" Neia exclaimed and shook the bars until they rattled and dust came down.
"For humans, to protect humanity." Her mother reproached her, "How could you help those… creatures?"
"I'm a creature to most humans, mother ." Neia reminded her, and her mother and father both reared back as if they'd been slapped.
"Take a good look at me… a good, long look at me. What do you see?" Neia demanded of them both, her face caught in the light of the flame, shadows danced around her evil unblinking stare.
"My daughter." Her father said, "A daughter I've always been proud of…"
Neia bit her lip but said nothing even as her heart broke at his words.
"By all the gods… I never really realized just how much like your father you really look…" Her mother said and put a hand on Neia's face, she ran a thumb around the shape of one of Neia's eyes, and Neia nodded.
"If I'd been born a man, maybe this fierce look would be admired, respected, but as a woman? It made me ugly, it made me look spiteful, cruel, evil . One look at me and I'm judged badly before I say a word or do anything at all. I'm sorry, dad… it isn't your fault…" Neia said and took his hand, removed his armored glove and kissed the top of his hand. "But I never ever fit in anywhere. So of course I took pity on broken things… they're no different than I am. Demihumans, dragons, they're people too ! We live the same, bleed the same, die the same . I don't hate them as much as I'm hated by the people who sent me out to die."
"Neia, I didn't know! They didn't tell us you were getting sent out to the wilds!" Her father said, a shimmering in his eyes was matched by that of his wife. "We'd have done something if we'd known…"
"Done what? Sent some other unfortunate to die in my stead? I made my choice, and I survived out there. You have no idea how often Demihumans actually got around your walls one way or another over the years. I hunted so many to their ends, using every trick in my arsenal, and now look what I get for it? Another month and we might have even had a dragon ally to guard the wilds, but that's over now. And who will they send in my stead, huh?! Some unprepared fool they want dead. That's our Order. Our Order wanted me dead and sent me out there to die, now I'm being slandered and executed for how I survived."
Neia spat in the stone. "I'm glad that uniform is gone. You were both right, it never suited me."
"Neia, my daughter, my precious girl… I'm sorry we weren't there for you… I'm sorry… but we're here now!" Her mother insisted and reached through the bars, drawing her daughter as close to her as she could. "We'll get the best defense we can for you! We won't just let you be killed… I… I don't agree with what you've done. But you've always been different… different than me, different than your father. Different from everyone else, and I'm so sorry I never understood that." Her mother said and slid her shaking hands up Neia's sides to run her hands through her daughter's golden hair.
"We'll do something, think of something… maybe we can get it knocked down to a-" Her mother stopped when Neia put a finger to her mother's lips.
"Dishonorable discharge? Thrown out like trash? Take away my honor, my pride, shame our family name?" Neia asked quietly.
"At least you'd be alive." Her father said, "I have only one child, and you can't be replaced… I know I was… distant, but not because I wanted to be! I always thought we could make up for lost time, but if you die we lose it all! There won't be any more time, I'll never see what kind of woman you become… I'd rather die in your stead." He whispered roughly, his teeth ground as he looked down at the stone and spat on it in contempt.
Neia stepped back from them, slowly letting their touches slip away, withdrawing from the torchlight. "You've said in minutes what I've hoped for all my short life." Neia said and let her hands fall at her side. "I know what they'll ask me to do. They'll ask me to recant, to publicly proclaim my hatred for demihumans, for all nonhumans. They'll ask me to express remorse, regret for every act of healing or mercy I ever gave to anyone. But I'm not sorry. I'm not and I never will be. Frankly, I'd rather die ." Neia gave a weak smile at her parents.
"Thank you both for coming, but I won't bend here, I won't apologize, and I will defend myself on my terms. We both know how that will go, and I'd rather not see it happen. Just do me a favor, and don't watch. Also, if it isn't too much trouble, slit my throat that night so I don't suffer for too long. I love you both, now please… just go." She wiped her eyes again as her parents reached through the bars to her again.
"Remember me as I am, and that I died bravely. For any way I failed you, I'm sorry, and I'm sorry for making you suffer now. I love you both." Neia said, and stepped back to the far wall where she took up her moldy blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders. "Go." She said, and their arms fell away from their grasping stretch to hang limp instead.
"I was never not proud of you… neither of us were ever anything but proud of you… but we just thought you should have done something different." Her mother said, and her father nodded in agreement.
"I know. Maybe you were right, but so much for that, I'm… tired, I'm going to get some rest, I'll see you at the trial. I love you." She said, and watched as they left her alone. When the door closed out of sight, Neia grimaced, kicked over the bowl of water and drenched bread to see the bowl shatter into splinters at the wall and the contents fall with a splash and wet plop to the stone floor. She then lay down on the old straw, curled up, and tried very hard to fall asleep.
Volume 5 C13
Having someone attend personally to bathing her proved to be more than pleasurable, and the slave in her service proved adept at her task. More than that, Illyana seemed to know more about the bedroom arts than anyone that the Guardian Overseer had ever heard of. How to set shy men at ease, how to entice them to talk about themselves and guide them into revealing what they liked or didn't like. When to be direct and when to be subtle. The elf poured out a wealth of knowledge over the Overseer that was matched by some instances of 'Role Playing' as Albedo talked about her beloved Ainz.
It led to Illyana eventually asking… "Is he an actual God? Can he really do all that you say? This isn't a trick to mock a lowly whore, Mistress?"
To that Albedo could only laugh, "He is a God of gods, he and his many friends, they once hunted gods like the human six for pleasure and trophies, and he will someday extend his power and majesty over the whole of this world. And yet… he's also shy because he so fears letting us down, making us sad, or worrying that we might get hurt. He's my love, I was designed to love him, it was put into me, created as much as my beating heart… if only I could help him see…"
Illyana gave a sympathetic nod, "Love can be a difficult thing, Mistress, and no love is harder to endure than that between a servant and the one they serve. The danger is highest for the most powerless, but as you're powerful… treasured… and he already loves you, you may succeed. I wish you well, and I'll tell you what I can…"
Conversations like that were common, and lengthy, with Albedo drawing out every ounce of knowledge from the practiced courtesan in between their outings where Albedo learned the intimate layout of the entire city. The cries of pain, the public auctions, she breezed past them with utter indifference, but they did offer a useful tool in principle that she didn't even have to do any work for.
And the precise, orderly nature of the city would make it even easier.
It was on one of these outings that Albedo took note of the sewers, but somehow the lake itself she knew was largely very clean. This prompted her to ask Illyana a question, "If all of the waste of the city ends up in the sewers, how is it that the lake is so clean?"
"Mistress, the sewers don't lead to the lake." Illyana explained as she scurried beside her Lady. "Newly acquired slaves are set to sewer duty and public works until their sale, and I was down there once, the lake isn't where the river ends, the river runs beneath the city, and once on a journey with someone who rented me as entertainment for a trip, I saw the refuse and waste enter the sea. The river resurfaces at some point and it all washes out into the world's ocean."
"Marvelous." Albedo replied and stopped in her tracks, "We're going back to my room, slave. I've now gotten everything I need."
Albedo walked unmolested past guards and citizens alike, in her radiant disguise with her silky hair hanging down, her expensive green and black outfit, the only thing that would have done more to scream 'wealth' was if she rode a stallion through the city. Yet though she drew appreciative looks enough that even those busy beating offenders stopped to stare with want at the sultry beauty who walked like a goddess among mortals, she barely deigned to notice them at all.
Back at the hotel, Albedo wasted no time.
More than three months of work, her doppelganger agents from city to city were corrupting the incorruptible, the population was losing faith in their judges, and there were increasing numbers of people turning to acts of violence instead of the law to avenge themselves.
Grifting was slowly filtering back to Nazarick, boosting the national revenue, and now she had what she needed here.
She led Illyana into what passed for a luxurious hotel room and pointed to the middle of the room. "Go, stand there." Albedo commanded, and the elf obeyed.
"Strip off your clothes, slave." Albedo gave the order, and Illyana did as she was bade. Clad in what passed for 'concubine labor clothing', the 'high class whore' apparel was silk for the sake of whoever might touch her rather than for her own comfort. But it was an opaque blue that matched her eyes, done as a single double wrap that slit at the thighs, which barely covered her below the waist, and exposed her belly and contained her breasts only if she was careful how she moved.
Only a pair of straps at the shoulder kept it on at all, and so commanded to remove it, she pushed the straps away and the fabric crumpled to the floor in a heap. She stepped out of them and kicked them away. ' I'd begun to think she had no interest in her own sex, I suppose it was inevitable though. Nobody stays in this place unless they want skills like mine.' She was resigned to what she considered to be ahead, but knowing this woman was at the least an enemy of this city, a vicious gratitude settled in her gut. ' My reward, another day of life. But what I wouldn't give, even life itself, if I could watch this city burn.'
"Get on your knees." Albedo commanded, and Illyana again obeyed.
"Do not move an eyelash. I will return." Albedo gave the imperious order. Illyana immediately disobeyed and dropped open her mouth when she saw, of all things, a hole open up in the air, a whorling vortex of shadows and purple lightning.
Albedo stepped into the shadow and was gone, it shut behind her, leaving Illyana to stare at the space and wonder, ' Am I deluded? Have I been fucked to madness… is this… has any of these last few weeks been real at all? Is this all some kind of a dream?!'
Her life passed before her eyes, and yet for all her shaking anxiety at the display of magic, the elf intuitively knew this was beyond the ability of any mortal she ever heard of, Illyana remained on her knees.
What her Mistress was doing, where she'd gone, the elf could think of no answer, even asking the question begat more questions on top of the last questions until her blonde head was left dizzy and dismayed.
She blinked her eyes, ' Is this it? Is this all there is for me? Is she coming back? If she does, anyone who can do that… Why is she even here? What was the point of having me? And if she's done, am I done too? If she is a spy, it's far more practical to just kill me to keep me silent. Another day of life… what a reward…' Her bitterness and tears rose up like bile from within.
' I'm so tired of all this… what's the damn point, just to out live whatever guest I'm there to service and pretend it matters? I almost don't mind dying by the hand of an enemy of this city… though given a choice I would prefer to see it burn. Maybe the whole country, that would be nice. A land with no humans, or at least as few as possible, they breed like rats though… but what a dream that would be…'
Illyana was so lost in her reflections that she almost didn't notice the vortex open again until her assigned Mistress emerged.
"Now then," Albedo said and put a finger on Illyana's nose, "You said that as long as I was checked in at this hotel, you gave your loyalty entirely to me? You belong to me, obey me, no one else? Am I wrong?"
Illyana felt the chill in the beautiful womanly voice, and so the elf swallowed hard, "Yes, My Lady. As long as you are listed here, I am yours to do with as you please… but… there is a fine if you kill or mutilate me… the owner… his policy is… 'you break it, you buy it'. The fine is very high though, so it doesn't happen to many." Illyana clamped her mouth shut to stop her rambling, the piercing blue eyes she stared into began to change and a smile formed over the woman's face.
"Perfect." The blue became gold, the round irises became vertical.
"Then now, it's time to show you the truth, slave." Albedo said and glanced out the window, the sun was already beyond the horizon and the night was slowly covering the city again.
Illyana's body froze, wings emerged from the back of her Mistress, and horns from the woman's head, her already shapely and near perfect figure… became more so.
"A demon… a demoness…" Illyana mouthed the words, and Albedo inclined her head politely.
"Not even a scream." The succubus said with a little laugh, "You are well trained." She deigned to touch the blonde hair atop the servant's head.
Illyana said nothing, she could say nothing, her eyes were transfixed on the otherworldly beauty before her eyes, from the ample bosoms that could only belong to some ancient fertility goddess, to her lantern-like glowing eyes and even the soft looking dark wings at her back that fluttered like they were laughing. Everything was entrancing.
The subtle scent of female pheromones affected the slender elf before she knew it, the Mistress was enticing, beautiful, though Illyana had never cared for the touch of her own sex, she knew immediately that if the succubus wanted her, ' I'm all hers…'
But Albedo had something else in mind.
She reached into another void that appeared in the air, and cast something at Illyana's feet.
The elf snapped her eyes down at it, it was clothing, black and white, a dress. "A maid outfit?" She asked rhetorically, more than a little confused.
"M-My Lady, they won't sell me to you…" Illyana began, and the silvery laughter of Albedo's voice cut her off, her breasts bouncing lightly with every chuckle.
"As long as I am checked in here, you are mine. As I'm never checking out and this hotel will simply cease to be, along with a fair part of this city, you will remain mine. Of course, my Master's rules require you to 'choose' to go with me, 'choose' to serve me. But do you want to remain here?" Albedo's laughter began and tapered off almost as fast as it began.
The demon pointed down at the garment, "Put that on, Illyana, and become 'my' servant, serve me freely in my home as my secretary and personal attendant, and no human will have you ever again. Call it a reward for your good service. My Lord always insists on some form of reward for work, other than more work."
Illyana's hand darted for the black and white outfit as quickly as her hands could move and began to scramble to put it on. "A very wise choice, Illyana." Albedo said to the elf as the garment was affixed in place and bound the sash at her back into a bow.
"Now, one more thing." Albedo said and her hands moved faster than the elf could follow, she saw only a blurring of motion, felt nothing, and then to her shock… heard the little 'tink' noise of pieces of her metal collar falling apart and landing on the floor.
"You are free from humans, and will serve me hereafter." Albedo answered the wide eyed unspoken question while the elf touched the little metal fragments with trembling hands, not daring to pick them up to look at them, lest they reform and wrap themselves around her throat again. She swallowed hard and one hand touched the part of her neck she hadn't been able to feel with her finger tips in centuries.
"Gladly… with my eternal gratitude…" Illyana whispered like it was a prayer, then looked up at the radiant, smug looking demoness and asked…
"My Lady, but how will you destroy this city? And what of the slaves, the other elves?" Illyana asked, wide eyes looking up at her new liege.
"Conveniently enough, most of your kind live in a few locations, it's relatively easy to spare those, and if they have any spines at all, they'll take advantage of the chaos to work all kinds of havoc on the humans who live here when the chance comes." Albedo answered, "Now take my hand, and come watch your wish made into reality."
"As My Lady wills it." Illyana said with breathless and violent hunger in every word.
She then reached out her hand, and clasped that of the demon as the wings spread wide and she was pulled with her toward the waiting window.
Volume 5 C14
[Aspect of the Demon], [Banshee Cry] . Albedo used her skill, opened her mouth, and an echoing wail came from past her lips and shattered the glass out onto the grounds below, a wail of unearthly loss and despair went out, carried over the city, and from where it was heard, no laughter carried on. And for some, it would never come again. Illyana, standing close enough to be within the safe zone, still covered her ears, folding them in against her head and briefly held her eyes tight shut until the demon's quick action startled her eyes open again.
Albedo carried the new maid up, holding onto the dangling elf's hand, her wings carrying her higher, higher, and higher, up far above the city. She raised the girl up by her arm so that they were eye to eye, the dangling elf was breathing hard, her stare going from the ground far below, to the golden eyes of the demon she was now bound to serve. "Do you know why I am going to destroy most of this city, Illyana?"
Illyana's head shook rapidly back and forth. "N-N-No!" She eeped out.
Albedo's smile was inhumanly broad, wide, wild with hunger as the scents far below carried up toward the heavens. "Because even though this city of despair is sweet to my senses… it has no place in the world the Allfather wants to make. By his order, I will not kill more than I have to, but a crisis is necessary to further the ends. This city's elites, their free humans, and the elven rebels that will likely rise, combined they will throw the Southern Holy Kingdom into chaos. They will plead with the North, and the North, beset with corruption of my making, will have no help to send. Thanks to you, I know where every goat of a man and sow of a woman of importance in this city lives. I know where their soldiers are, where their weapons are, and the details of their city down to the last hair on the last ball of their highest nobleman. If you wanted revenge, you're getting it now. How is that in exchange for your soul?"
"It's yours!" Illyana spat the words with the utmost sincerity, "Just let me watch… then do whatever you want with me until I'm dead, then after that, too!" She urged and ignored the painfully tight hold as she hung there in the demoness' grip.
"Of course… as far as they're concerned, the city will just have had a very 'natural' disaster, but it's all the same to the dead." Albedo remarked, then held out her hand and pointed toward the ground. Specializing in area-of-effect attacks, plus having a vast array of them at her disposal, she knew exactly what to do and plucked a rare item from her pocket dimension. At first glance it was a simple rock, a simple stone, but when she held it in her upturned palm, it began to grow. "Mistress… what is… what is that?" Illyana asked of the little growing hunk of granite.
"A weapon of my God, my Love, and his friends. The Stone of Gjoll. And refer to me as 'Lady Albedo' from now on." The Guardian Overseer commanded, and Illyana watched with confusion as Albedo cast it toward the sky, rather than at the city itself.
Her confusion vanished as quickly as it began, and dismay replaced it when her sharp elven eyes saw the stone multiply many times over, Albedo's hand remained outstretched, and then her hand came down in a violent chopping motion.
The rocks came down, no longer mere stones, they were a meteor shower of stones that went down so fast that they ignited in the air, burning white as they smashed into the wealthy districts, ironically because the slaves slept in basements, cellars, cages, or other 'accommodations', they were largely spared. While those living in large rooms on upper floors were pierced, burned, or crushed. The barracks of soldiers were made of great stone, but against stones that when combined could bind even Fenrir, they may as well have been mere sand structures. They collapsed, and from many such buildings there were not even any screams.
Fires caught as wood was struck and spread, the dry evening air caught sparks and carried them about, the screams, few at first, redoubled. Albedo held her hand out, and the stones vanished, replaced by the single one again, which she again cast into the air. The process of showering stones resumed, striking the middle class district, where the stones pierced the ground to reach the sewers below, fracturing the carefully structured walls that kept the city from collapsing on the soft ground. Albedo's innate bonuses to area of effect attacks only made the damage worse, and the ground began to shake like stones jostled in a box.
Illyana watched with fascinated eyes as the center of the city began to subside, and then, "By the gods of elves and men…" She whispered as the howls tripled down below, and a majority of the city began to cave in, falling into the dark waters of the river to be swept into the darkness, drown, and find their rest along the bottom or out to sea.
Albedo repeated the strikes twice more in such rapid succession that to those down below, it seemed like one prolonged event, the screams, the pleas for divine intervention, all in vain.
Far below, Illyana watched as desperate casters running through the darkness tried to use their shielding magic to stop the stones, only to be crushed or find themselves pierced when they were unable to stop such forceful impacts. The light of the fires and their loud crackle were quickly followed by the rise of smoke that closed in on the hovering pair.
' It's burning, it's burning, the dark city burns bright at last… wherever this one takes me, for the rest of my life, I go. My fondest wish, my deepest longing, I will give her anything she wants, anything she asks. I will work tirelessly for her until I'm ground into the dust!' Illyana vowed and began to laugh, and laugh, and laugh in the midnight hour until the smoke reached them both and she began to cough. Tears ran down her eyes that were more from the sheer joy of her wish being fulfilled than from the smoke.
"My work is done here, we return to the Northern Holy Kingdom to check on progress, and prepare everything for the Allfather's grand entrance." Albedo said, and the gate opened far above the city. Before the worst of the chaos could begin, Albedo returned the stone to her hand and tossed Illyana through the whorling vortex.
She took one last look down below, then snapped her fingers. "Ah, how could I forget!" She laughed at herself and dove for her hotel room. She landed on the carpet where Illyana's cast off garment lay, picked up her bag of souvenirs, and for good measure added one final touch to her carnage. [Aspect of the Demon], [Weight of Sin] . The hotel began to shake and rumble, by the time she was out the window and heading toward the waiting gate, it snapped like toothpicks, leaving those within, not even time to scream as they understood the fate of their city was coming to them as well.
' There, now I've never checked out.' Albedo chuckled as she passed through the gate, eager to see what state of things waited for her on the other side.
Volume 5 C15
Had there been any tears left in her to shed, they would have fallen as happy ones. ' They love me… they actually love me!' Lingering questions, doubts, an anxiety she long feared she would never see removed, all gone in one single minute. In the midst of the prison walls of stone and bars, with no window she could touch, her heart still sang.
Neia knew as well as anybody what the purpose was behind these shoddy conditions. The smells of the moldy blanket, the old, dank straw, and the confined space, plus the rusty chains that chafed her wrists and ankles.
' The authorities want to break me. They will fail.' Neia told herself and glared at the stone wall, in front of her, daring the rough cut rocks to challenge thoughts.
"I got everything I ever wanted tonight. They're proud of me, they love me, and I'll at least die on my feet. That's better than a lot of people get." Neia spoke quietly to herself, her stomach growled and she put a hand over her belly. "I do kind of regret kicking that bread away though." She mumbled with a bit of mild annoyance.
But that was nothing to her compared to the raw happiness of finding out that when it came down to it… ' My parents really do care…'
That thought kept her warm even in the increasingly uncomfortable prison as the days and nights rolled on in cycles of bread and water, while Neia waited for a trial that she had little real faith in.
"You can't be serious? There really was a dragon?" Calca asked, raising her eyebrows in shock, a chill came over her at that. The danger dragons posed to humanity was no secret, it seemed beyond impossible for one to be in the wildlands.
In front of her knelt Remedios Custodio with her head deeply bowed, "Yes, my Queen, we attempted to kill the beast, but the traitor must have warned it to run if she didn't come back."
"A dragon… ran away, flew away?" At Calca's side, Kelart Custodio frowned. "That doesn't sound right."
"We questioned the collaborator along the way, she freely admitted to helping it." Remedios's face was dark and burning with righteous anger. "Worse, the collaborator was sent to the wilds as a punishment for showing mercy to other demihumans in the past."
"So is she a traitor, or just a sympathizer?" Kelart asked, her arms crossed in front of her waist.
"There's no difference there sister!" Remedios clapped back, "Nits make lice, mercy to their children today brings them back as warriors tomorrow! They should all be destroyed!"
"Remedios." Kelart bit her sister's name off in retort, "You know better, some people look with pity at children of any kind, not everybody can be as… zealous… as you are."
Remedios furrowed her brow. It sounded like praise, but not quite. ' Why won't anyone see, these rules are there to protect all humanity. We have to kill them all or they will kill all of us. Anyone who won't do that is not one of us, but one of them.'
The angry hateful thought burned in her mind alongside her annoyance with what seemed… in a way she couldn't quite grasp, like backhanded praise.
"They're supposed to be!" Remedios exclaimed and lowered her head again, "The traitor is being confined in the fortress while we convene for a trial. Her parents are there… have they sent letters?"
Calca looked up to her left, Kelart nodded. "They have, my Queen, I took the liberty of reading them. The sorts of pleas you would expect from parents for their child. 'She didn't mean to do it', 'she thought she was doing the right thing', 'she's innocent' and pleading for your clemency."
Calca, for once, did not have a beautiful expression on her face. The long white dress with the blue crest of her house on her ample chest was close fitting enough that it did nothing to hide the heavy, thoughtful breathing of the Holy Queen on her throne.
"I want a Kingdom where no one will cry, if I show no mercy to her then what kingdom do I have?" Queen Calca asked.
"A just one! A safe one! My Queen, I love your mercy, your justice, but if we hadn't gotten there we would have a dragon loose in the Northern Holy Kingdom!" Remedios gasped the words out in one desperate breath, and murmurs of agreement went around.
"I can't show mercy here… can I?" Queen Calca asked rhetorically.
"My Queen, she flaunted the law, if the law can be flaunted, you can be flaunted. If you can be flaunted, we no longer have a ruler even if you're on the throne." Kelart advised, and Calca bowed her head.
"Her parents are important people, aren't they?" Calca asked, "I know the name 'Baraja' from somewhere."
"With respect, majesty, what does it matter? The collaborator is still a collaborator…" Remedios trailed off at a rare fierce look from her sister. ' Who cares what her family is?! She collaborated, she sheltered our enemy, let her die like the traitor she is.'
Kelart answered the Queen's question. "Pabel Baraja is a member of the Nine Colors and one of the greatest archers in the Kingdom. His wife is a paladin due to retire soon. Both have impressive records."
"I see…" Queen Calca frowned. She sat in reflection for a moment, "Have them 'gently' confined until after the trial is over. Investigate them for any similar actions, and if nothing is found… if we have to execute their child, force them both into quiet retirement far, far away."
"As you command, your majesty." Remedios answered, "And, about the trial…"
Calca's orders were immediate. "Conduct it as fairly as you can. The Baraja house may be of the most minor nobility, but nobles are nobles. The soldiers at the wall are probably biased, so select a handful of noble sons and daughters from here, take them with you to the wall, they should be incorruptible and offset the bias from any soldiers you have on the jury."
"At your will, Majesty." Remedios replied at once.
When the Commander of the Paladin Order was gone Calca looked up to her dearest, closest advisor and asked, "Why do you think she did it? Do you really believe she intended the Kingdom any harm?"
Kelart shrugged her shoulders, "I can't say. Pity to break the heart is a dangerous thing, to the one who stays their hand and to the one behind them whom they're supposed to protect. My sister isn't very bright, but she is right about one thing. Non-humans are dangerous to humans, kill them today or they will kill you tomorrow. It is strange though, I checked the record of the accused as soon as we had her name, it was quite impressive too, she's on path to be a true successor to her father. Not many hunt the wildlands and survive for long, but she was out there for months alone except for her check ins. Most people who go out there for any length of time, they become zealous demihuman hunters, almost as vigorous as Remedios. This one, though, didn't." She shrugged again.
"You never can tell with people, I suppose." Kelart added as if that settled the matter, and as far as the crown was concerned, it did.
Volume 5 C16
Illyana looked around when she landed, she was immediately filled with anxiety when she fell into a heap on the floor and found that Albedo had not followed behind her. Relief however, was not long in coming. No sooner had she managed to get up on all fours, then she heard the calm and stately steps of her Lady walking past her.
"Lady Albedo… where are we?" Illyana asked.
"Kalinsha. An important city in the Holy Kingdom's northern half." Albedo answered, "I have business here."
"Business?" Illyana asked, her head a fog at the idea of a demon doing 'business' of any sort.
Albedo only made a cryptic smile down at her servant. "Yes, the Roble Holy Kingdom is going to be dearly in need of outside help soon, and when they are, you will see the one I Love, in all his greatness and glory."
"I am eager for the day, Lady Albedo." Illyana whispered with reverence. She got up and moved behind the demon woman, "How may I serve you in the meantime?"
Albedo pointed to a pile of documents which sat seemingly waiting for her on a nearby dark wooden desk. "Sort through everything, search for any hint of anything useful. Any disturbances, any problems I might exploit."
Illyana bowed deeply at the waist, "My Lady, I obey." She took her short, scurrying steps over to the desk, yanked the chair back, sat down, and began to read through the stack.
Albedo, for her part, sat at a table and waited while doppelgangers periodically entered the room to provide personal information on their progress. Illyana paid close attention with one long sharp ear while her eyes went from item to item until something of merit caught her attention.
"Lady Albedo, here is something." She said and stood up from where she sat. She approached the demon, knelt, and held the document out to her. "A squire, a scout working in the wildlands, charged with treason and collaboration."
Albedo took the document and asked, "Why is this important?"
"My Lady, her father is of the Nine Colors, even I've heard of Pabel, and her mother is a paladin too. They are of low ranking but, thanks to her father, a well-known noble house. The details of why she is charged… perhaps something can be done with that?" Illyana's tone was speculative at best, but as Albedo read it over she glanced up, "Go retrieve me something to drink, I'll read through the rest of it."
"As you command." Illyana answered, Albedo crossed her legs and let one arm drape over the back of her chair while resting her other arm on the table and reading through the document. ' Having a personal secretary is going to be a good idea after all.' She didn't really pay any attention to the elf woman's departure, instead she focused on the information provided. Illyana had good instincts, it seemed. ' I can blow this quite out of proportion, oh you unfortunate Neia Baraja, blessed are you who may serve the Supreme Being with your life.'
Albedo wore a pleasant smile on her face that remained there still when Illyana returned, "My Lady." The elf said and knelt and held up the tray with the porcelain white pitcher and a silver goblet of deep red wine.
The Guardian Overseer took the cup and drank half of it in a single long draught.
Illyana stood up and moved to her Lady's side. "Was I useful, My Lady?" Illyana asked.
Albedo answered immediately, "Yes, very much so. That squire might be just what I need. I am mildly curious if she is guilty though."
"I'm not, My Lady. She is a human, I have no doubt that she would have tormented me like all the rest. She's guilty of being human, that is guilt enough to deserve to die." Illyana replied with a silken vitriol.
"Perhaps, but you're right, it doesn't really matter whether she did anything against the law or the nation. It only matters what we can make people think, and how I will use that to draw my beloved into my arms to tell me how proud he is of all my hard work." Albedo said and held out her cup.
Illyana held the tray with one hand under the center, picked up the pitcher, and poured another cup. "Yes, Lady Albedo." She answered with devotion and smiled contentedly as her Lady drank, the memory of the burning city still lingering behind happy elven eyes.
The memory lingered every day and night for weeks, as the long work went on.
Pabel sat outside the cell where his daughter was confined, he was seated on the floor, largely because she was as well. A half rotted old wooden chair sat neglected a few feet away, and Neia listened to the rough hewn man with rapt attention.
"The trial will begin tomorrow, our… our request for clemency was declined. Her Majesty will not hear the case herself, and you're to be tried by a group of lesser nobles and a minority of soldiers from the Order." Pabel explained, but his wavering face bucked up into a smile.
"On the good side though, evidently you've built up quite a reputation, for weeks since word of the accusations against you began, stories about your exploits have been everywhere." Pabel held a hand through the bars, and Neia took it in both of her own, her fingers rubbing around his warm skin.
"Dad, I'm not famous, or at least… I haven't done anything I deserve to be called 'famous' for." Neia denied it, but then cocked her head, "What are they saying?"
"That you beat a frost dragon in single combat and forced it to serve you. That you were using a dragon to help protect the wilds and keep demihumans out of a broader stretch than any lone scout has done for a hundred years. That your reputation is so widespread among the demihumans that many refuse to come south until you die." Pabel couldn't keep the broad smile of parental pride off of his face as he recounted those and other stories that Neia knew were absurd on their face.
"Dad, I didn't beat the dragon, he landed here already wounded, I was just taking care of him." Neia shook her head, ' How ridiculous can stories get?!' She asked herself, and answered, ' Very,' in her head, a moment later.
"So where is mom… why isn't she here today?" Neia asked, changing the subject.
"She is… being herself." Pabel said with a sigh and slumped forward a little while still holding his daughter's hand. "You know her temper."
"Yes. I know." Neia said, unable to look at him for a moment.
"Don't be like that, she only wanted what was best… she just had a hard time saying it." Pabel offered the gentle rebuke to his daughter, but tightened the grip of his hand with a little squeeze.
"I can only be like me. And I know what you're saying, I know it now . But she's liable to cause more trouble, you know how stubborn she gets when an idea settles in her head." Neia answered her father, and he laughed.
"She reminds me of someone I know." Pabel laughed in spite of the stone and the bars, and Neia flushed red as she realized he meant her.
"I guess." Neia reluctantly acknowledged. She then took a deep breath and let her father's hand slip from hers as she withdrew a little beyond his reach. "Dad, listen, I want you to do something for me. I want you to take mom, take mom and go . I know what I asked you before… but forget that. Whoever is supposed to scout the wildlands is probably dead by now anyway, offer to go check on them, ask for a few days away. I don't want you two here for this."
"I refuse." Pabel answered immediately. "You're my daughter, I left you alone too many times when you were growing up, I wasn't the best father, even though I wanted to be. But I won't fail you now."
Neia cracked a little smile while she struggled to keep back tears. "You're a better father than I knew, there's no talking you into leaving me now, is there… no, no of course not." She answered her own question. "Don't worry, I'll do my best when the time comes. Go on, get some rest, I'll do the same. See you tomorrow." Neia said and ended their time together.
When she stood up, so did he, they embraced through the bars, she breathed in the scent of oiled armor, soap, and linen, then on tiptoe, she kissed his brown bearded cheek, and let go.
They parted in silence then, the door clinking shut just as Neia lay down on the straw again and pulled the moldy blanket over her to try to sleep for at least a little while before her 'final battle'.
Volume 5 C17
Calca sat alone with Kelart in the private council chamber. The rectangular table had enough room for ten, but holding only the two of them, they sat close by each other, with Calca at the head and Kelart at her right hand. ' It's things like this that make people think we're having an affair.' Kelart thought, but didn't really care. ' Perverts see sex everywhere, even where it isn't.' She idly twirled a brown lock of hair around her finger as she tried to stay focused.
The radiant Holy Queen smiled encouragingly and sat with her back straight and regal. "Go on, you were saying, Kelart?" Her lilting voice like a soft caress between them.
Kelart cleared her throat, coughing into her hand, "Yes, yes of course. Your Majesty, we've prosecuted fourteen judges for corruption, and seventy-five guards for extortion. And that is just this week alone, but 'most' of the accused are acquitted. Not all, but most."
The Holy Queen's smiling face became deeply unhappy, "So many… how can the corruption be so thick as that?"
"It's worse." Kelart said, "You asked for the good news first, My Queen, that was the good news. The bad news is that a meteor shower hit the city of Wenmark, most of the city's important people were killed, roughly two thirds of the city collapsed or burned, and the prison and slave population have escaped. According to this, they're marauding all over the region, destroying mining communities and more. The Southern Nobles are withholding taxes to pay to put them down, and we can't pay for everything we need in the North without their support."
Calca's frown became deeply saddened, "So many people… and now bandits on top of it all? Dispatch food aid and some of the reserve raw materials south, but do it with an escort of a thousand Paladins. They're to send the taxes back, but also to help hunt down the prisoners that have gone so wild. We cannot have a perfect kingdom with bandits and corruption!" She declared with a small fist slamming on the stone table at which they sat.
Kelart bit her lower lip for a moment, "I know, Majesty, I know. But we also can't have one while we're short of funds, and we can augment those funds if we take a… harder stance, here in the North."
"A harder stance?" Calca asked, her brow furrowed and her little fist relaxed, she took a deep breath, "You're talking about Emperor Jircniv's methods, aren't you?"
"A purge, yes." Kelart answered, "We know who is guilty, but they buy their way out of guilt with money they got in bribes, theft, or worse. We've had a dozen murders in Hoburns itself, each of those arrested said some form of, and I quote one of them completely, "There's no justice for me unless I take it."
Calca's body shuddered. "Anarchy, that way lies anarchy. A-Alright. Send soldiers south and recall Remedios to Hoburns. I will let her carry it out."
Kelart went very quiet. "My Queen, I love my sister, but she is… well she's stupid ."
"Kelart!" Calca exclaimed, her eyes flew wide at the blunt insult.
Kelart hung her head for a moment, her hands fell in her lap, "She is. I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but while she is zealous, strong, and incorruptible… She has the brain of a hamster that has taken one too many blows to the head. If you set her to this, she'll do it. All she needs to know is that it is your justice, and she'll carry it out, that is how much she believes in you."
"Are you saying it's foolish to believe in me?" Calca asked, unsure if she should feel hurt, insulted, or outraged.
Kelart leaned forward and slid her hands over the table to touch the fingers of her Queen. She said in an almost desperate urgent voice, "No, never . I wouldn't be here if that were the case, but she'll go too far and never realize it. She can't be trusted to act on her own."
Calca closed her vibrant blue eyes, let out a snort and gave an affirming nod as she came to a conclusion.
"She won't be. You can control her, can't you?" Calca asked rhetorically, it wasn't really a question.
"Yes." Kelart answered the question regardless of whether it needed to be or not. "I will… I will go personally."
"Then go, and may the gods favor you." Calca said, and Kelart stood up to bow with deep reverence for her treasured Queen.
"Till my return." She said, and departed, leaving Calca alone with her hopes.
Olasird'arc lay in one of the many low valleys of the hill region, well out of sight of any paladins. The orcs were serving as his eyes and ears in the south.
Presently, an orc youth knelt before him, barely above child age, some of the young adults were volunteers in waiting and watching the distant wall. Many had a first hand experience with the Mad Eyed Archer, and the dragon suspected some volunteered just to get a glimpse of a memory in the present.
"My Lord," the orc said, "Seen nothing on the wall, but the human outriders who come outta the stone to trade, we speak to them. They tell things they know."
"What do they say?" Olasird'arc asked, his tail undulating behind him while he listened to the little green creature, his head moving ever closer so that his eye was near its body.
"They trade lil stories, gossip an stuff but the trials' 'morrow." The young orc explained, but this left the frost dragon with questions.
"They are your enemies, but you… speak with them?" He asked, unable to keep the sliver of doubt from his voice in the form of a low growl.
"Sorta." The orc scratched its butt and tried to think of how to answer, "They got outriders, come check things b'yond the wall, little trade, stuff hard to get, see what's goin on out'ere. They not friends but… we trade stories. Learn a bit, us close to the wall try an warn em about anythin real big happen'n here an in eschange they don't come out'n 'ttack us."
It made a sort of sense. Humans, as near as he could tell, had no history of invading the Abelion Hills, but the reverse wasn't the case. It stood to reason that the humans would have a group that goes out past the walls if they would keep scouts in the wildlands as a precaution against small groups.
"Do you know how long their trials last?" Olasird'arc asked.
The little orc frowned and shook his head, "Nosir. No idea."
"Then watch the wall, orc." Olasird'arc gave the order, and the orc stood up.
"Yessir, ah, also, the stone spitter chief wants to seeya, 'kay?" The orc asked, and Olasird'arc nodded, "Send them to me."
Volume 5 C18
Albedo sat luxuriating in the cart beside her elven servant. Today she wore a blue and white shirt to show the colors of the Holy Roble Kingdom, with a flowing ribbon design around her breasts to accentuate and entice, while her smaller servant was clad in men's travel clothing of black and green pants. Illyana picked at them as she drove the horse cart full of supplies to be sold in the Fortress city at the wall.
"You will be surrounded by humans, Illyana," Albedo cautioned the slender elf, "but you belong to a superior demon, do not forget that." The disguised succubus remarked while looking down beside her 'wagon driver'.
"I will not, Lady Albedo." The elf woman said in a quiet voice. "Humans are the real demons." She said in a quiet whisper.
Albedo didn't bother with that, the Fortress was coming into view. It was far from the 'only' such installation, but it was the largest and the strongest. The road was broad and meant for the marching of an army, the cart they drove was not the only one going to or from the place, but of the ones that did, almost all were marked with the official emblem of the Holy Kingdom, and almost all were driven by armored soldiers.
The Fortress stabbed defiantly at the distant sky with its great towers, like many spears of stone that dared the gods on high to strike down those who lived below. The trees were far more abundant than Illyana expected along the roadway, and the birds that chirped both in and out of view were numerous. For a moment it was like being home again. She could have been a farmer again, taking her goods to market. If it were not for the thick bearded humans, she could have fully immersed herself in the illusion.
They took no real notice of her, though they turned up their noses whenever she caught sight of them looking at her ears. Still, Illyana kept her jaw clenched and hatred quiet as the Fortress and the wall loomed ever larger and they drew ever closer.
Her breathing quickened when the halberd bearing human approached from the gate and addressed the soft faced Albedo, ironically her training in the brothel made her so excellent an actress that she was able to disguise it with a bored expression, tired from a long stretch as if the journey had been far longer than it actually was.
The approaching soldier brought his halberd to a guard position and looked up at the women travelers. "Papers?" He asked, and Albedo reached into her pocket to remove the trade authorization procured from a doppelganger who seduced the merchant guild leader. The guard unrolled the paper, looked it over, and nodded. The papers rustled as he rerolled them and extended his hand back up to Albedo with the long end of the documents out.
She took it and put it into the pouch at her side, "What are you selling?" He asked, his halberd relaxed with the butt on the ground rather than at the ready for use.
"If you're selling that," he pointed at Illyana, "we don't allow non-humans here, too dangerous."
Illyana flinched where she sat, but said nothing and averted her eyes from the human.
"No." Albedo took it in stride and jerked her thumb over her shoulder, "Beer from the Kingdom of Nazarick, as well as jerked meat, rice, wheat, and a handful of imported tools we had left over from our last stop. I have a use for this one." She pinched Illyana's ear, "So she is not for sale."
Illyana whimpered a bit at the sudden pinch, but otherwise kept her peace.
The soldier smacked his lips. "Beer, you say?"
"I do say." Albedo winked down at him, "They're getting quite a reputation for beer quality now that they've started setting up national breweries, since the Allfather is the only one who is licensed to produce or sell it, quality control is key, it's a matter of national pride. Trust me, you'll love it."
"Ah, well… Well, go on then!" He said, his face split into all smiles and the portcullis came up again. "Follow the path till you get to the merchant area, show them your papers, they'll let you set up a booth, tent, or what have you, but no permanent structures. Temporary only."
"Understood, soldier." Albedo replied with a friendly smile that sent a flutter through his heart while she imagined tearing it from his chest.
The chains clinked and the smell of oil and bodies that could have stood to be washed more often, reached their noses. The smell of horses and unwashed dogs, as well as the manure of both, became more common too, and both Albedo and Illyana wrinkled their noses at that.
The hustle and bustle of the Fortress was like any city Illyana had ever seen, except for one difference. Nearly everybody was uniformed, and there were relatively few women. Tabards of the Holy Kingdom, flags, and painted shields were everywhere. Even workers who didn't have armor on were dressed in a practical uniform fashion of forest shades that would be useful if they had to flee into the woods.
Crates of supplies moved and columns of soldiers marched over hard packed earth.
She found the area he meant, it had a few dozen tents in various shades, most put up signs to indicate what they were selling. They were simple things, an anvil for someone with metal goods, and for additional guidance, they had a small rack with various tools in place and even a sharpening wheel. Albedo watched a soldier hand the merchant a copper coin and a sword, immediately the broad shouldered metal merchant got to work sharpening it for him. A few tents over, a sign that was nothing but a wooden board with a pair of crudely painted breasts on the front said all it needed to. But if it hadn't, a pair of women dressed in Holy Kingdom Tabards, sandals, and nothing else, beckoned with come hither looks, sultry smiles in order to entice customers to their wares.
Illyana made a point of not letting her eyes linger on that scene as a soldier undid his belt before he was in the tent and followed an auburn haired woman into the tent.
At another tent there were various sweets on display, a matronly older woman held them up and shouted that they were ready, behind her, a graybeard was busy stirring a stew pot and shouting, "Stew in a minute, try the wife's goods while I get ready."
In front of them all stood a spindly looking fellow who stood so stiff and rigid that Albedo had to wonder, ' Is he capable of unclenching his ass enough to take a shit?'
He held an official looking clipboard and flicked a thin mustache at a wayward fly as if he had a cat's whiskers on his callow face. Albedo dismounted from the cart when she came close to where he stood with a bored face that bordered on frowning and discontentment.
She approached, her feet kicking up a little dust that didn't rise above the ankles of her knee high boots, she yanked the document from her pouch and stuck it out to him in a no nonsense fashion. "My papers." She didn't smile at this one, and he didn't look at her, he only took the document, unrolled it, put it on his clipboard, stamped it, and handed it back to her.
"Set up next to the whores, and remember there's a tax on leaving here with unsold goods, so don't do it." He said while pointing toward the prostitutes. One of them began to play a lyre, and the other began to dance, her garments were of peasant origin, but had clearly been cut and modified for a different kind of practical application.
A crowd began to gather to watch the performance.
"I don't think that will be a problem, but… what is the tax if we did?" Albedo asked with a cockeyed look.
"The unsold goods." He said bluntly and then went back to looking past her as if she weren't there.
' I didn't realize my corruption efforts had been that successful, there's no way that is a real tax.' She half laughed but pretended to frown at what he said and got back into her cart. "Drive." She said to Illyana who cracked the reins and the cart wheeled over to the nearest place staked off by the whores.
"Get the bar ready." Albedo gave the perfunctory order and got in the back of the cart to relax while Illyana dragged the barrels over with steady grunts until they were at the edge of the back with their spigots facing out.
The whore finished dancing with the dying music and watched the pair work. "Hey, you're not whores are you? Because it's not fair if you got to sell beer too!"
Albedo glared at the green eyed woman, "No." She said with an icy stare, "There's only one man I desire, anything less than he is unworthy. Mind your business insect ."
The auburn haired woman was nonplussed. "I was just being friendly… you sell beer, we sell… other refreshments, the two go together really well, nothing better than what you've got before they have what we've got!" The woman laughed with glee as if she'd said something very funny, but it had Albedo's attention in a far more serious fashion.
Something Illyana had said about wine to set the mood. She glanced at the former elven prostitute and asked, "Is that whore there," she pointed at the bold dancer woman who picked up a painted wooden sword and began to twirl with it like she was the whirlwind, casting her hair and arms about when the music picked up again, "correct?"
"Sort of, My Lady, but she put it a little crudely, I can explain it better when we have more time, if it pleases you." Illyana said as she began to unload crates to create a ring between the beer supply and where her customers would order.
"Hey!" The auburn haired girl tossed the phony sword into the air, tilted her head up, and caught the edge in her teeth without slowing her spin. She stopped only slowly, allowing the sword to fall from her teeth and into her waiting hand as her leg swept out behind her. "My name, lady, isn't 'That Whore'. My name is Skana, and I only do this for fun when I've run out of the rest of my produce to sell."
Albedo snorted. "Whore, Skana, it's all the same to me."
The auburn haired girl shrugged. "Prudes, go figure." She mumbled and gave a sultry smile at a passing soldier, forgetting the offensive merchant and going back to the business of pleasure.
Volume 5 C19
Albedo tended the improvised bar with a welcoming smile on her face. The 'bar' such as it was, was composed of crates and barrels with a simple flat board on top of it at each of three sides. At her back, Illyana attended to protecting the money and quickly washing out wooden steins and cups for reuse.
Attempting to use her for all tasks proved too great a burden, using her at the bar proved that the humans on the border would not respect an elf.
So Albedo calmly slid a big mug over the wood to the latest customer and asked, "So are you going to watch the trial? I can't believe how secretive everything has been, it's like they're trying to hide something." She said and unleashed her pheromones against the utterly defenseless male.
The unwashed soldier in the off-white tabard in front of his armor frowned a little, "You think?"
"Sure, a single soldier puts down a dragon, befriends it, can you imagine how helpful that would be in protecting the border from the demihumans? But you know who doesn't get credit? The Holy Queen, the Paladin Commander, the nobles… think about how corrupt things have been lately. Do you really think it's a coincidence that the Baraja girl, a member of an important noble house, is on trial at the same time as all the other things going on? It's a plot," Albedo rested her chin on her hand and her elbow on the bar. "Don't you think?" She asked.
"It's such a shame nobody will do anything about this, they'd rather you die by the thousand rather than give someone else the credit for anything." Albedo empathized with the scruffy looking Paladin, he took up his mug with a troubled expression on his face and mumbled something incomprehensible before he walked away.
Behind her, Illyana quietly marked another line on an unlabeled wooden board.
The soldier downed his mug and started chatting with three others served several minutes earlier. Albedo's sharp demon ears caught every word, and what she heard made the smile on her face quite genuine.
"… The lady's got a point. A big trial for the Mad Eyed Archer's successor, a dragon tamer no less, right at a time when there are allegations of corruption in the government itself? Come on, she's being set up."
Lust and alcohol-addled minds conjured up stories of their own, and the dragon taming daughter of the Mad Eyed Archer had her legend grow with every cup.
And it continued each night as those chosen for the trial came in. Albedo exploited it to the fullest.
As soon as the first of the nobles came in with their array of retainers and tagalongs, she and Illyana were prepared. Her pheromones lured men and women alike, and within an hour she was posting a sign…
[Reserved for nobles from sundown to gloaming] .
With their fine steeds and vibrant themes of blue and white clothing, all of which had some variation of the national symbol and their family crests prominently emblazoned on their expensive silks and linens, they were the picture of privilege and status. Their retainers walked with the confident swagger of those who knew that their service to the powerful bought them license to act out.
They were the young, the arrogant, the proud, the destined for greatness, and despite the divide of both species and origin, Illyana and Albedo found common ground in their mutual loathing for the lords, ladies, and their retainers.
But they were useful.
Illyana worked quietly out of view, for good measure and extra protection for herself, she hid her ears by wearing a scarlet scarf that held them tightly against her head and layered so that the outline of her ears would not be visible and so not to create instant hostility toward her presence.
Albedo however, pressed the point home. She made a show of her swagger and swaying hips, casting favorable glances at the nobles and laying down frothing mugs while giving pitying eyes to those who eagerly waited in the wings for the chance to give her their hard earned money.
And when the nobles finally filtered away to avoid socialising with common soldiers, she put a soft looking hand on the few crates she set up as seating areas and said to each one, "Forgive me, but the Lords and Ladies here to judge one of your fellows demanded primacy for themselves. It's so unfair, you do the fighting and the dying, like that lone Paladin in the wilderness, and yet you cannot even drink until darkness because they don't want to see you. Strange that they're also the ones to judge you…"
She made it rankle… day after day…
Night… after…
Night.
Neia had no idea how much time really passed for her within the isolated cell, though her father came for her frequently, and her mother came almost as often, all she could do with herself was 'wait'. The chains on her wrists chaffed, her hair became bedraggled.
Neia lowered her nose toward her armpit and took a sniff. She smelled. ' That's not good. My nose should be dead to the smell of my own body, and if I can smell myself, I probably reek to the heights of heaven.' As it couldn't be helped, she simply 'waited'.
The clinking of the door was the only thing that made her shift her gaze from the blank rough wall and over to the string of bars between her and the promise of liberty. Her knees pulled up to her chest, Neia's mind turned toward her patient, ' If Olasird'arc died then I'm sure somebody would have told me.' She reached down to the bread in the bowl of water and took a bite of the soggy black stuff.
It was flavorless stuff not meant to be enjoyed, just to delay starvation. She chewed a little and let it slide down her throat just as her visitor came into view.
"Hello, traitor." Remedios was glaring down at her with a face filled with hatred and loathing. Her smooth and youthful face was marred by the upturned sneer.
"I'm not a traitor, or a collaborator." Neia spat back and gave a long steady look at her order's Commander.
"You helped a dragon, you spared the lives of demihumans. That's evil." Remedios said and put a hand on one of the bars, she squeezed the iron enough that it began to bend inward under the grip of her fingers.
"Did they offer you gold, silver, or were you so easily bought that you did it for coppers?" Remedios asked.
Neia looked at her former superior and gave her a slow shake of her head, but said nothing. "Someone like you, would never understand. Now what do you want, Remedios?"
"To watch you hang. That's why I'm here, to collect you for your trial. Stand up." Remedios gave the order and Neia slowly followed it.
She stretched when she was on her feet, letting out a satisfied groan when the chains swayed over her head when she put her hands up high and arched her back. "You came yourself, not the guards?"
Remedios showed no pleasure at the passive observation. "Just get out here." She gave the brusque command and waited while Neia obeyed, approaching the door when Remedios opened it up. "Vicious little bitch." The Paladin Order's Commander muttered and put her sword to Neia's back as soon as the squire stepped through the opening and faced the exit.
"Let's get this over with." Neia spat onto the stone and walked toward the exit of the prison.
When she did, it was to sights and sounds unimaginable to her.
The fortress city was like a single living organism… and yet now it was silent as if the whole place had simply 'died'.
Lining walls, rooftops and what passed for streets, the greatest bulwark against the Demihuman invasion was packed with people, and yet Neia's sharpened senses barely detected a cough.
' If this is how it's to be, then so be it.' Neia told herself, straightened her back, and strode with steady, military steps over first the stone, and then the hard packed earth. The shame of her shoeless feet, the pathetic prisoner sack that served as her garment marked to identify her as a captive, she wore her naked skin and rough sack like badges of honor.
' I've looked worse in the wilds.' She told herself, and kept her eyes forward as full plate armored soldiers fell in at Remedios Custodio's back and their halberds came down on either side with tips to her throat so that even one hesitant step would bring blood into the air.
Albedo watched with smug satisfaction as all her rumor mongering and skills turned a better than average huntress of the wilds into a legend that needed the tightest security to guard against. ' She looks the part, I'll give her that much.'
Neia walked without missing a second, her chains rattled as she moved, and when she came closer to the place of trial, where she could see the stand where she was to be secured, with iron bars affixed to heavy stone, itself set tightly into the ground, a double box of wooden seats where the nobles and a few soldiers stood waiting for the judge, it was, in a word, ominous.
Or should have been.
But her heartbeat was steady, ' I was never going to have a quiet end.' Neia told herself and smiled, ' Though I didn't think my last battle would be one quite like this, it could be worse.' She would have shrugged, but chose instead to keep her shoulders squared while the drums began to play her approach and summon the judge into position.
When she reached the place she was to stand, a shaky handed guard whose armor clinked with his nerves, secured her pliant and relaxed hands to the iron crossbar that would keep her from escaping, and to Neia's surprise, Gustav Montagne approached and stood behind the judge's podium.
Remedios, for her part, stood directly behind Neia with her sword out and the tip pressed against the prisoner's back.
"The Trial of Neia Baraja, will now begin!" The judge called out, and the drums ceased to beat, restoring silence until he said, "Let the prosecutor begin the Questioning."
Volume 5 C20
Neia stood soldier-like in her place. The crossbar where her wrists were secured had a dual purpose, it kept the witness, the accused as it were, confined. But it also allowed those in terror of their lives to hold on to something to keep them on their feet.
It was not lost on them that Neia did not grab the bar, rather she stared up at the Judge, the Vice Commander with his swarthy, rough sort of face, rounded a little with age but still leathery in a way that befitted men who lived their lives at war or readying for one.
He gave her no look of pity, but when he looked at her, he looked longer than he needed to before banging the gavel.
A young officer approached the open space, standing in the center between jury, judge, accused, and all those watching, he spoke with the clarity of voice common among those born to lead. "Humanity lives on the brink of death, the strength which holds humanity from falling into that black precipice has always been that we stand together against those who would destroy us. Demihumans, beastmen, dragons, and monsters… these are our natural enemies. To render aid or comfort to any of these is to commit treason. The defendant has been known to commit this offense in the past to demihumans, and now to have repeated the same sin during her corrective assignment. She refuses to learn from her mistake, and as a result she placed the entire Kingdom at risk of a dragon attack. Ladies and gentlemen, I submit to you that there can be only one verdict for this crime, not only because the defendant is guilty."
He made a dramatic pause and held an accusing finger stretched out toward Neia, "But also because the penalty of death is the only way to spare us from her deepening corruption ."
Neia's chains rattled a little, she turned her eyes to his, and he immediately put his back to her and walked away.
' I never got to meet with my advocate… how fair is that?' Neia cursed her ill luck until she realized the judge was looking down at her.
"Well?" He asked.
"Judge?" Neia asked, glancing up at Gustav.
"You will be defending yourself, did nobody tell you?" He asked, briefly baffled.
Neia's jaw dropped for an instant before she recovered. "Forgive me, but no… nobody was willing?" She asked the question and got no answer, ' No, nobody was allowed.' She cursed. ' I've never been a public speaker… ugh, I wonder if anybody else has ever had to just wing things like this before…?' She cleared her throat to center their attention on her.
She took a deep breath, gathered her thoughts, and then addressed them with an enthusiastic, even performative voice befitting a stage actor in a dramatic moment. "I am accused of treason and collaboration. But to be clear, I never took pay for what I did. No orc, goblin, dragon, nothing ever paid me for what I did, or didn't do. I hunted with squads before, and alone later in the wildlands, and I took many, many demihuman lives. Even my persecutors don't deny that I have an exceptionally high success rate."
"Objection," the prosecutor spoke up, but looked only at the judge, "we are not here because of the favorable parts of her record. Her past successes are not at issue, only her greatest failures are material to the case."
"Sustained." Gustav banged the gavel and turned to Neia, "Please stick to the matter at hand."
"As you command." Neia answered with a bow of her head, the sack she wore was itchy on her skin, but she ignored the urge to scratch, and instead continued to speak. "It would be useless to deny that I spared some lives, I felt pity for them. An orc mother-to-be who clutched her belly and begged me not to shoot her, that she only came looking for food and didn't hurt any of my people. A wounded stone spitter child whose father died by my hand, all he wanted was to live and desperately tried to protect a corpse… A snake woman and her mate fleeing wounded from a monster that wiped out their tribe, with nothing in their arms but the eggs they could save, not even weapons to fight us with? Yes, I spared lives. But not without reason."
"And the dragon?" The judge asked pointedly.
"He was weak, helpless in sight of my bow… I… yes, I spared him. I tended his wounds to nurse him back to health." Neia answered, and a rumbling went up around her.
"And don't you think you should have killed it?" The prosecutor asked.
"No, he was weak, I'm a Paladin . Protecting the weak is supposed to be common sense for us, isn't it?!" Neia demanded of the whole courtyard, the whole fortress. "What's the point of protecting humanity just to make us into monsters ourselves?! I didn't do any of this for coins, I did it because I got to sleep at night. I did what I thought was right… how can I apologize for that?" She asked in a small, quiet voice that still somehow echoed off the far walls where soldiers stood in quiet observation.
At the judge's urging, Neia told the story of her hunts, and began the story of her tending to Olasird'arc with setting down her bow when he asked for his life. She spoke of him with affection that struck the fortress as beyond bizarre, and yet she never flagged or even noticed that they found it odd.
What she also did not notice was the intensity of focus that came her way from Albedo.
' Lord Touch Me spoke like that… how could she have come by the words of a Supreme Being?' That… that troubled the Guardian Overseer.
"… And that is what happened." Neia said when she finally finished recounting the events in question.
"I only ever did what I thought was right!" She added again, "How are we supposed to have a Kingdom of Justice if we slaughter others for daring to exist?" She demanded to know, but silence answered her.
And then, she shouted, bellowed, even roared out in defiance of their silent judging eyes, "They're people too !"
"They're people too…"
"They're people too…"
"They're people too…"
The echo of her self condemning words rang off every wall and filled every ear.
Gustav was looking down at her as if she'd grown a second head, he didn't even bang the gavel.
Not far away, Remedios stood with arms crossed, smug and satisfied, ' That will get rid of one more threat to humanity.'
Neia, for her part, was barely minding the chaos that grew up around her words, humans sparing wounded or young demihumans was not unknown, but it was an 'open secret' that was never publicly, let alone proudly proclaimed.
When the judge came to his senses and began to bang the gavel, the prosecutor approached, though he could no longer meet Neia's eyes, he was able to speak with force and asked, "And how would you have made amends if the dragon had responded to your kindness by rampaging over the Roble Holy Kingdom?"
"Olasird'arc would not have done that." Neia bit back, "We… we were friends."
"Yes, such good friends that he left you here." The prosecutor mocked her, then turned his face up to the judge, "Your honor, enough has been presented, the accused convicts herself by her own words."
"Had you all not screwed everything up, we might have had a powerful ally here to protect us, to help us!" Neia shot back without waiting for permission to speak, "Imagine how we could thrive if we had a dragon to help ward the border and the wildlands, now… you put us in danger. Not me." Neia spat the words like they were frozen venom meant to chill the blood before death took hold.
But Gustav again pounded the gavel. "The jury may deliberate until morning. Court is now out of session… Unless the accused would like to plead for mercy from the court…" It was almost a plea of its own, a lifeline, tossed to the drowning in dark waters, Neia heard it. Neia saw it.
Neia swam away from it, kicking it back in her wake.
"I will not apologize. Olasird'arc was weak, so were the rest I spared. I am a Paladin, I protect this country, I fight for this country… how dare anyone tell me I'm wrong for applying our stated ideals to all, no matter their race. I said it before, I say it again now. They are all people too . Do what you're going to do, but I will never say I'm sorry." Neia shot back at the judge, and Gustav could only shake his head with pity.
"Return the prisoner to her cell until the verdict." The judge said with a heavy spirit, and once again she walked with sharp metal points ringing her throat and a sword at her back all the way back to her cell.
She entered, then turned around to see the halberds poking through the bars in case she attempted anything. Remedios held the door and looked at her with contempt, then slammed it shut with a growl of disgust.
"No more food or water for you tonight," she said while locking Neia in the cage-like structure, "there's no sense in wasting it."
"You're a petty one, but have it your way." Neia said and went to lie down on the straw. She interlocked her fingers and lay on her back with her head in the palms to look up at the ceiling. "Get out, I'm not going anywhere." Neia spat at them, and the heavily armored paladins flinched enough that the clink of their armor reached Neia's ears.
Remedios said nothing, she only stared, and stared, and stared as she was ignored.
Until Neia's stomach growled three hours later. Only then did Remedios make a noise.
She laughed.
She laughed, and left Neia alone.
Volume 5 C21
Illyana was drinking a thick dark beer, compliments of her generous Lady Albedo as a reward for her hard work, and while most of the time her Lady said little more than orders, this was an exception.
A practical exception wherein Albedo grilled and teased every detail of the use of alcohol in seduction. They were alone in a tent enchanted for silence, but it only prevented sound from getting 'out' and not coming 'in'. Which meant that the wild lustful cries of the green eyed prostitute the next tent over carried through easily, a kind of musical accompaniment to Illyana's explanation.
"… Use too much, and you can ruin the experience, but a little bit, it makes men bold, especially if they are naturally shy." Illyana explained, and Albedo formed a little frown.
"Does it have a higher effect on the shy then? That makes no sense." Albedo said, and her displeasure did not vanish when Illyana shook her head, bouncing her golden hair around.
"No, Lady Albedo, it provides the shy with something they desperately need." She leaned forward, and Albedo reflexively did the same despite having hearing good enough to have heard a butterfly whisper to her.
She took a sip of the dark bitter beer and whispered, "It provides them an excuse . I've seen many human women present themselves as demure, despite being as full of lust as…" Illyana jerked her thumb toward the side of the tent bordering the whores just as the green eyed one let out a cry of orgasmic bliss, "that one." She snorted, "Men, human men, try to present themselves as bold and powerful, pursuers, hunters, but many, or maybe most, are not. They need a little liquid courage." She took another deep draught, gulping down half the pint and then put a hand on Albedo's thigh.
"You're so beautiful… I just, I want you, I want you so much it hurts, I know it's wrong, but I don't care…" The elf leaned forward to kiss the Guardian Overseer, and then stopped, the disguised blue eyes of Albedo returned to their vertical slit yellow. The elf reseated herself and before the Guardian could even properly process her outrage at the bold maneuver, "Forgive me, Lady Albedo… this beer seems to have gotten the best of me, it's very strong."
It clicked for her. Albedo understood, "I see… so they fear rejection, and this lets them pretend that their failed effort was not their fault, but that of the alcohol…"
Illyana's worldly eyes beheld the besotted woman whose disguise returned her irises to the false blue. "Yes, My Lady. And it lets them act in such a way that they won't ruin what they have with someone they care about if it goes poorly. That, of course, can hurt too… I loathe humans, but some of those who perform in my line of work, have pursued lives as mistresses to wealthy patrons. They play at love, hidden away with any of their paramore's children, 'play' though, sometimes gets far too real. My Lady, from what you say, the man you love cares for you in a very specific way… it will not be easy to change it."
"But you will help me." Albedo added.
Illyana didn't care if it was a request or a command, she nodded. "I will put forth my utmost for my Avenger." She glanced toward the tent entrance, "If more humans thought of my race like the one they're trying, maybe things would be better. It makes me wonder what would have happened if she'd come to Wenmark." She snorted with derision, "Probably nothing, what could one squire of the Paladin Order do?"
Neither of them really noticed that the loud whore had stopped being loud and brashly opened their tent as if it were her own, "Hey, prude girl, elf girl," she held the tent flap high overhead, the moonlight at her back glinted off the sheen of her auburn hair, "I'm sorry to bother you two love birds, I know you're closed and all, but I could really use a drink. I'm drained." She smacked her lips… "So is she, but still." She let out a ribald, even vulgar laugh.
Ever quick on the opportunity, Albedo played her role to the hilt, "It will cost you three times the usual price for after hours. Also, it isn't prude girl, I'm just selective." She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, "My name is Albedo, and you will remember it."
The icy voice stabbed deep and the green eyed whore stiffened. "Right… ah, just teasin a little, it's all in good fun you know…"
Illyana worked with quiet diligence, putting a mug under the tap and pressing the lever to fill a large wooden mug while Skana fumbled with several silver coins to lay down without getting too close to the icy eyed Albedo.
"So, that was something today, huh, do you think they'll kill her?" Skana asked with the casual indifference of the uninvested.
"Do you care?" Illyana asked when Albedo remained silent. For a few seconds only the slow trickle of beer made noise in the tent.
"No, I don't know her, so I can't get that interested, I'm a peasant from a little village, I've never seen a demihuman, or even an elf. Honestly this is as far as I ever go from home, so it's really hard to care what happens to one pissed off minor noble in a backwater. I guess she's brave enough but, what good is that in the end? She's probably going to die." Skana shrugged, "It's better to enjoy life as much as possible for as long as possible, let the rest of the world go its own way." She accepted the mug from Illyana, but looked uncomfortable with the vicious stare.
"What?" Skana asked.
"You get to do that, people in my position, don't. Or didn't." Illyana answered, "Nobody ever asked me. If I stayed there, nobody ever would."
Skana looked briefly shame-faced, her vibrant green eyes briefly looked away, "Sorry."
"Why are you so certain she'll die?" Albedo asked, redirecting the moment, her eyebrow raised in brief curiosity.
"I've slept with half the men and women on the jury, and men aren't the only ones who don't know what their tongues are for." She scratched her back and arched with an almost brazen advertisement of her scantily clad flesh. "Anyway, their purses are a bit heavier than when they first got here, and they've still got all their stuff, minus a few ounces that they'll boast of as buckets, so unless they're secretly playing whores too… what'd they sell?" Skana let the words hang and gave a shrug as if it were obvious.
Albedo thought that one over, ' Several of those are having affairs with doppelganger agents, their spending is deep, but I didn't arrange for this, so who did?' Albedo wondered, and immediately ruled out the judge, ' He seemed sympathetic.' There weren't many other options, but one was immediately obvious.
"Whore." Albedo said and pointed to the prostitute who held the pint up high with her head tilted back, she gulped it as loud as she did quickly, draining it to the last drop before holding it out.
"Another. Also, Skana." She said, correcting Albedo and then drew out five more silver coins which she laid down on the crate in between each other, then handed back the mug.
She wiped her mouth with the back of her arm and smacked her lips. "Damn, that's Nazarick Kingdom stuff? I might have to pay that place a visit one day."
Illyana took the mug and began to fill it again.
"I'll give you all the beer we've got left when it's time to go, and this cart, on the condition that you don't leave until we're ready." Albedo said, ignoring the correction while the prostitute tilted the mug back and began to chug it again with loud, steady gulps.
Skana wiped her mouth again, but rather than ask for another, she asked with narrow eyes, "Why?"
"I'd just like you to tell your story after the victim is executed, that's all." Albedo replied.
Skana shook her head, then stamped her foot on a hoe leaning nearby, the wooden handle shot toward her face only to be caught in her hand. She twirled it around in a blur of motion as if it were a weapon. The dark hair and blonde hair of Albedo and Illyana billowed lightly in the false breeze. "No thanks, Lady. I look pretty impressive with wooden swords and things like that, but it's all just dancing. I'm not really a fighter, if some pissed off nobles get exposed, I'll be lucky if I just sit in a dungeon for the rest of my life. Then what fun can I have?" She shook her head with vigor and then slapped the farm implement seamlessly back into the place she'd picked it up from, killing the breeze her whirlwind of motion created.
"Just think about it. We can't possibly sell all these things, and think how long this much beer would last you, and you could sell your other tools to your neighbors, who knows what you could do with all that money. They really aren't very likely to find you." Albedo pointed out, and she watched the temptation fill Skana's eyes.
"You'll get my answer by whether I'm here or not." Skana said, but licked her lips and eyed the barrel where Illyana stood, "But one more sure would show me you're serious." She shook the mug a few times and handed it over to Illyana.
The elf filled it up and handed it back to a hand that remained outstretched, fingers twitching with anticipation. Skana downed the mug and slapped it down on the crate. "Thanks for the beer, elf girl, prude girl, I owe you one."
Volume 5 C22
Neia lay on her bed of straw until she fell asleep, she was lying on her bed of straw after she awoke and the sun began to rise. She remained lying on her bed of straw as the minutes passed and became hours. Still nobody returned for her, nobody gave her food, nobody gave her water. Her parents didn't come for her, and that was somewhat unfortunate at least.
' I would have liked to see them again, but we said everything that should have been said, slitting my throat to spare me pain will be the last act of kindness they can give.' Neia lay back and covered her eyes with her forearm, blocking out all light from the already dim cell that got too little light.
Outside, she could hear a great deal of noise and shouting, but she couldn't say what it was, not really, the noise buried itself under more noise, and it was hours more at least before she saw a dusty Remedios Custodio return.
"It's time, traitor." The brown haired woman said with a look of the utmost contempt, her head tilted back, her eyes cast down, her steady gaze offering no hint of human warmth or empathy.
Neia rolled over on her side and stood up while Remedios fumbled with a set of iron keys. "So, now I know what evil looks like, I won't forget it when I move on to the next world." She folded her hands behind her back and stood with her feet shoulder width apart.
"Evil? No. I'm 'good'. You let the enemies of humanity live. How can you be anything but evil yourself?" Remedios asked with icy hate.
Neia's steady, unbroken gaze didn't waver, and for the first time in all her life, the young archer put every fiber of her vindictive anger into that stare, and savored the moment the Paladin Commander shuddered.
The door slid open with so much force that it ripped away from its moorings and cracked against the stone wall before falling to the floor with a clatter.
"At least you can't garnish my wages for this, bitch ." Neia laughed at the red faced and flustered Remedios and began walking toward the door.
The ditzy idiot kept her sword at Neia's back, but it was unnecessary. The squire of the Paladin Order walked as if she were out for a stroll after services at the temples, the open areas were populated, and the heavily armored Paladin Order guards fell in around her the same as before.
She watched the world around her with great indifference, instead each step seemed to be a trip back through time itself, from her first steps and the embrace of a mother and father that she now knew loved her beyond any doubt, up to the final moments.
Each moment of her life seemed to be relived, the good and bad alike. The drums of the soldiers that picked up to mark her steps until the securing of her wrists at the stand as had been done before, only added to the moment.
Vice Commander Gustav Montagne pounded his gavel, and glanced down at the little squire. "Before you hear the verdict, do you have any words for the court of this nation?"
"I have words… if I may, though they're not for the court." Neia made the request as a polite statement, and Gustav inclined his head toward her.
"Proceed." He replied.
"Mom. Dad. Maybe you weren't perfect parents, but you raised me to do my best, and that's all I tried to do. I did what was right as I knew it. I protected the weak, no matter what they were. I put my life down for the first friend I ever made, and what a friend he was, that's what it means to love the ones you love. So I'm not sorry for what I did, I never will be, for what little time that means for me now. But I am sorry to leave you this way." Neia said, and watched the court writer copy down her final words.
The Vice Commander looked at her as if she'd gone mad. "Did someone tell you the verdict?"
Neia laughed in his face, she looked up at him, threw back her head, and laughed like a barking mad fool who made a fart joke. "This is the Roble Holy Kingdom! Guilt was a foregone conclusion!" Neia spat in the dust.
It rankled and a few rumbles went up where she could be heard, and she was heard as far away as there were ears to hear her.
"Ah… the verdict?" Gustav flushed red in competition with Remedios, but whatever retort he had in mind, he buried while the noble in charge of the jury stood up.
"On the charge of treason, we find the defendant, Neia Baraja, guilty. On the charges of collaboration, we find the defendant guilty." The noble sat down to silence.
The Vice Commander looked at them as if they'd gone mad, his eyes swept every juror. ' No evidence that she took money or treasure from anyone, or offered any information or took anything for her aid, was ever presented. How did they find her guilty of collaboration…?!' He stiffened while the smug looking lot of nobles and soldiers played with the contents of their pockets or purses, little nervous gestures as if they expected him to question their verdict openly.
A dreadful suspicion came over him. He felt the eyes of the squire questioningly looking up at him. It was as if she were saying, ' See, what did I tell you?'
It was a punch to the gut, and with the knowing smile of his commander staring back at him from behind the defendant, a leap of intuition that one day earlier would have been broader than a great wide canyon shrunk to the distance of a single step. ' You didn't.' He thought with horror.
The gavel in his hand took on the weight of a castle, his fingers around the wooden handle felt as if they were on fire, his soul commanded of him to drop it, let go. ' Call this into question… call for an investigation… but who will the Queen set to investigate…? The one behind it.'
It was raw frustration and bitterness that gave him the strength to just carry on, but the pity he saw for him in the evil eyes of the woman whose life hung in his hands, he knew without a doubt, ' That will haunt me to the day I die.' He raised his gavel up and slammed it down. "The defendant is sentenced to the penalty of the stake and the blades, to be carried out at sunset in one hour on the wall!"
' Poor fool.' Neia thought with a generosity of spirit that caught even herself by surprise, ' I was condemned the moment people took a look at me, I was twice as condemned when I explained myself, and three times as condemned when I had the misfortune to have Remedios Custodio as a superior. But my suffering will end soon, his though? His is just beginning.'
The crowd was sullen, no cheers, no cries of triumph, no vindictive calls, just sullenness and silent acceptance.
The stake was erected while Neia watched from far down below, the view would let her see far out over into the lands of the demihumans. ' I wonder what it's like out there? It must be a difficult place to get by, all of them constantly at odds with one another, the survivors I spoke with always talked of vicious wars. I wonder…' Neia barely noticed when she was unlocked and made to walk under the eyes of the Fortress toward the stairs, ' Are any of the ones I spared, still alive?'
' Did I make any difference to anyone at all?' That answer's absence left her wanting, but she was oddly comforted by knowing it would not be a mystery for long, the bell tolled to call any absent to come and watch the traitor's death.
The stake was twice Neia's height, and thicker around than her waist with space to spare. Remedios's sword at her back threatened evisceration, and while walking along the wall Neia saw a young boy far down below running with a series of rusty old blades bundled under his arm. Even from where she was, Neia could see the red stains on the old and uncared for metal.
Behind Remedios came six heavily armored paladins, their halberds at her throat, their faces hidden by their heavy helmets, their metal covered bodies gleaming in the slow declining light of the sun. They would have been more impressive if they didn't flinch whenever she looked at them.
Her wrist manacles were undone, Remedios's sword tip pressed tighter to her body, from somewhere down below, wails reached her ears.
' Mom, dad… I told you that you shouldn't come watch this.' Neia felt a welling of sorrow in her breast as her arms were yanked sharply back and secured again at the wrists behind the wooden post.
She glanced up at Remedios, "Can I ask something from you?" Neia said with gentle calm.
The Commander of the Paladin Order stood in front of her and looked down at Neia with suspicion in her idiotic eyes. "What, traitor?"
"When you run the rusty swords into me, make it quick, pin me by the heart." Neia asked, the wails were growing louder, closer.
"Are you afraid?" Remedios sneered.
Neia shook her head, "No. My parents are down there, I don't want them to hear."
Remedios was briefly taken aback by this. Even taking a step away from her and looking at her with fresh eyes before she shook her head again. "You're afraid of pain. But it won't do you any good, you're going to scream."
"Oh I'm sure I will scream. Everybody screams when you stab them in the guts. But I won't be afraid. I just don't want them to suffer because of my choices. Please. I'll be dead either way, just give me this for my years of service." Neia pled.
Remedios seemed to think it over until a young page boy huffed and puffed his way over to her and held out the first rusty blade.
The wails of her parents became shouts of anger, from down below, Neia could hear the sound of fighting.
She held the sword aloft, a single sabre, a sharp tip still in place, but the rest… ugly, almost ruined, and gave a wordless answer to Neia's plea.
She drew it back and then thrust it forward into Neia's guts.
Neia let loose a blood curdling scream that echoed out over the demihuman lands. In the distance she could see a dot appear. The demihuman lands were beautiful, stark and with many hills that seemed to stretch far beyond the horizon. The sword in her guts pinned her to the stake.
Her vision blurred, but she saw Remedios take another blade from the page, a young boy whose face became white as a sheet while he watched the Commander work.
This one was a short sword, thick, vicious, and rusty as could be. Remedios thrust it home close to the other, and Neia's howls of agony threatened to cross the world.
"Let her go, you bastards!" Neia heard her father bellow, his violent eyes, the harbinger of her own, was enough to put fear into those who barred his way, and she heard the sound of her mother's sword coming out.
Neia's screams could not be formed into words. ' Go back! Get away! You can't help me now!' She wanted to scream, but her screams became burbles of blood that ran down her face and dripped over the pathetic excuse for clothing to drip down to her bare feet and pool around her toes on the gray stone of the wall.
She tried to look back, she tried to focus, she tried to struggle, but only felt the edges of the blades tear into her organs further. She recalled having heard that before, of people using their impalement to open up new wounds to die faster and end their suffering.
However, all she wanted to do was warn her parents to stop.
All, that was, until the distant dot became obvious. Neia began to do the unexpected then.
She straightened up as best she could, and began to laugh. "Olasird'arc, you sonofabitch…" She garbled out through the blood of her wounds as he loomed larger and larger.
Others began to see, she felt the change in the air, a dragon in flight was graceful, beautiful, and terrifying. His lashing blue tail, his leather wings, his massive maw and imposing body. A roar split the air and stilled all thoughts of violence.
Whatever Remedios might have been, Neia never once thought the woman a coward, but the page boy ran immediately, the soldiers guarding her ran next, dropping their halberds and sprinting for the steps, several falling off the edge and dropping down screaming to their deaths.
But Remedios did not run, she snarled, drew her holy sword, and as the dragon came close, she let out a battle cry. "For the Holy Queen and for our Kingdom!" She bellowed out, the swiping of the dragon's claws as he slammed home left her no further time to scream her defiance or even strike as she was sent flying far, far away. For a moment Neia had a brief memory come to mind of the night she saw Olasird'arc come crashing down to the ground.
She saw his mouth coming down, the stones of the wall smashed like grains of sand struck by a towering ocean wave, and his terrible maw closed around her. ' Eaten instead? I didn't see that coming… his breath… it's very cool…' She thought as she unwittingly offered her blood to his tongue.
She lost sight of all else then, and all she could do was wait for whatever would come next.
Volume 5 C23
"Even I didn't see that coming." Albedo muttered under her breath as the broken meat that was once Remedios Custodio went sailing away from the wall, the dragon… seemingly ate the prisoner, and then left as if he was only there for a quick bite to eat. The stones of humanity's defenders crumbled with ease that would have made her laugh had she not been maintaining her cover.
Illyana, she saw out of the corner of her eye, looked with wonder and awe as the titan-like strength of her human oppressors, once so impressive to her, crumbled like a little sandcastle kicked at by a child.
Out of the corner of her other eye, she saw the whores get away from their tents, a great many were frozen in fear, but those who ran away showed very good instincts as blocks of stone came crashing down, turning some unfortunates into red stains in the dirt.
Arrows flew from bows before the dragon had gone even twenty meters from the wall, but their aim was between hasty and bad, earning a mix of praise and contempt from the Guardian Overseer. ' Adept effort, but poor execution.' She thought as people around her scattered. As a test, her own passive area of effect resistance seemed to translate to a curious kind of 'luck' wherein stones that should have headed toward her instead seemed to land away from her instead.
' The New World is really a very interesting place.' She kept a bemused smile on her face that didn't vanish when Illyana took cover behind her, crouching down at Albedo's back and covering her golden hair with her hands.
The whole of the event took a mere minute or two, and then it was over, and Albedo's mind began to race with the possibilities, and how much faster this would mean her master would come to join her.
Olasird'arc did his best not to do any harm to the squire in his mouth, and as he flapped his wings away, he tried to ignore just how good she tasted. ' She must have magic in the blood…' He thought, and recalled her mentioning her ability to imbue mana into her arrows for some nasty effects on those she hit with it. ' Of course she does.' He realized, and tried to speak, albeit somewhat muffled.
"Ah am a lawttle late, but yahl be fawn. Jus trah naht toh move." He said and looked behind him. The arrows fell far short of him, and though his sharp eyes saw that they were loading ballistae, they were in no way prepared to hit the small target he was rapidly making of himself.
Whether they finished loading or not, he wasn't sure, but he caught sight of no giant arrows, and so he concluded they hadn't bothered to shoot.
He landed out of sight beyond a distant hill as soon as he was able, and lowering his head to the ground, he opened his mouth.
The first thing Neia saw when she opened her eyes, other than the top of the inside of a dragon's mouth, was that there were several orcs rushing over and picking her up by the stake to which she was still bound.
Her body was starting to feel cold, ' I'm dying.' She knew the signs, without a caster, she wasn't going to last long, Remedios should have pinned her with only one sword and allowed her to expire over time, but she had used three. Worse, vital organs had been pierced and then more damage done during her rescue. She'd seen demihumans die like this, pierced, bleeding out, some spoke of how cold they were.
Out of pity, more than once she had covered the dying with a cloak so that they would not expire shivering. A pointless gesture, ' But now it is my turn.' She thought and looked up at the orcs that laid her down on the ground.
"The caster is coming." Olasird'arc growled down at her when he raised his head up again.
Neia spat out blood from her mouth and gave him a weak smile. "It's enough that you came back for me. Nobody ever did that before." She said, but her body had begun to shiver. "It's cold in me. I'm glad you got away. But unless you've got a potion under those scales…" Neia said, and then her eyes, which had been closing, popped wide open as Olasird'arc raised his foreleg and then put a claw to it, then sliced open his armored body. Blood as white as snow gushed out and for a moment Neia feared she might drown in it. Already cold, for a moment Neia was utterly freezing, and then…
' I'm not cold anymore? Am I dead? Did I die…?' She asked, her eyes could see nothing, but the sense of freezing and chills were utterly gone.
Then she felt something else.
Her strength returning. But it didn't feel like her normal strength.
Everything around her was white as if she were surrounded on all sides by glowing lights, but they were fading, her numb limbs were getting their feeling back.
She felt the swords being pulled from her body, and opened her mouth to scream into the light, but she couldn't hear the screams she was sure she was making.
Neia felt utterly disembodied, a will, a mind, but no 'body' to contain it. Only the ghost of pain and agony clawing away at her, but rapidly weakening.
Then even that was gone, and the light that engulfed her began to fade. She could hear the chattering voices of others again, "I don't think she will need the healer after all." She recognized Olasird'arc's voice, the sound of relief that would have been easy to overlook before.
"Isn't she human?" An orc was speaking, an orc whose voice she knew.
' I spared that one.' She realized, ' I am now where he once was, but Olasird'arc is here, so maybe not. So many questions.' The rational part of Neia's brain was working again, and it was confused.
"She was . But I doubt her fellow humans would count her as that anymore. They're very finicky about these things, or so she has told me. Even distant elven ancestry is held in contempt." Olasird'arc remarked, "Her life is saved, but the life she had is now gone forever. I am afraid she will never be able to go home."
As the light faded away to nothing, Neia opened her mouth to speak, everything felt… utterly sublime. "What… what did you do?" She asked and opened her arms, the bonds which held her fast, snapped like toothpicks.
"I gave you some of my blood." Olasird'arc said in a grave, quiet voice which Neia could not pin down as far as what it felt like. "I couldn't say if it would work or not, but as you have at least some magic in you, I thought it might. And it did. It didn't work quite how I expected, but it did work."
Neia pursed her lips and looked down at her hands where the chains dangled uselessly. The light tan she had on the skin there was gone, her bare feet were the same. Like her body had not been kissed by sunlight before, but with a very light bluish white hue.
Her fingers felt strange too, a bizarre impulse came over her, something she could not explain, and when she focused on the tips, she saw the once normal human nails, extend, curve, like vicious claws. Small, like an eagle's talons.
"Ah… this feels strange… very strange." Neia whispered, and felt the breath on her hands, it was cold as a winter's chill.
"Your hair has changed also, it's now very white." Olasird'arc added and Neia's hands darted up to grab at loose strands and pull them a little away from her head so that she could see the strands out of the corner of her eyes.
"I… am… what happened… exactly what happened…?" Neia asked, confusion as a whirlwind in her head, she reached up to her mouth and touched her teeth, they were not all like tiny knives… but a few, very much so.
"I do not know the word for it, Neia Baraja, but if I had to name it, I would call you a dragonid." Olasird'arc said, leaving Neia struggling to work out just what that meant for her, before the reality of it all hit home. She sat down on the stake she was meant to die pinned to, the rusty swords lay at her feet on the ground as if they had been cast down in surrender.
' Mom… dad… ' Had there been anyone else, she would have named them in her thoughts, but there wasn't. Only them, and when she looked back, the wall and the fortress were obscured, hidden by the hill, but even out of sight, she knew the truth. ' I can't go to that side anymore, I'll be killed on sight, not just as a traitor… but as… a demihuman? An enemy of humanity. My home. My life. My family… I just barely got the latter back, and now it's gone forever.'
She missed, through the tears that fell, that those orcs that gathered nearby, led by the big one she spared once before, all began to kneel.
Volume 5 C24
Neia never counted herself as one much for tears, what of those she had in her childhood were few and far between. These were fresh, new, and raw. But like the tears of her childhood, she ran out of them very quickly, wiped her face, and tilted her head backward to look up. Olasird'arc's body had all but curled around her in a horseshoe pattern, his head looming large up above where she sat.
"Thank you. For saving my life, I mean." Neia said, "I'm sorry about the trouble." She added, "And for my reaction just then. I was just thinking of what I left behind."
"Regretting your choices?" Olasird'arc asked neutrally.
"Not for a second, but I can still regret the cost. There were only two back there I cared for, and now I can only hope they're alright, and I doubt I'll ever know. But still, I'm alive, and that counts for a lot more than I can say." Neia answered abruptly and stood, the orcs remained on bended knees, "But why are they kneeling to you?"
"They're not." Olasird'arc answered, "They're kneeling to you. You spared two sons, a daughter, there are three living nieces and nephews, and more recently," Olasird'arc stuck out his foreleg and held the razor claw above the head of the orc that Neia recognized, "spared this one."
"I am Thalren of Red Mace. Chief of this tribe. Those others he names, kin from other orc tribes, Huntress of the Wildlands, our huts are in your debt." The rough voice held none of the fear that touched him once before, and things began to fall into place for Neia when Olasird'arc explained.
"The pregnant women, the wounded?" She asked.
"Some were kin to chiefs, others, kin to others, Huntress of the Wildlands. In battle, you are revered enemy, here, now, we may repay our debt with loyalty instead." Thalren explained, "I failed as chief, I offered your comrade rule, he says he also is a failed chief."
Neia felt her ears start to ring.
"You are no more human, no more our enemy. If you will be our chief, Great Warrior, we orcs will follow you." Thalren raised his head and blinked his eyes.
Neia still heard the ringing in her ears at the overwhelming offer. But as it faded, suspicion replaced it.
"I assume your tribe is in trouble." Neia framed it as a statement rather than a question, and there was a rumbling among the numbers that continued to assemble and take position kneeling in their places.
"Yes. Always trouble. In last generations, we could raid the wildlands by going through secret paths in small numbers, take food, and return. We did not need to fight you long, we could even hide whole tribes of our women and children, to keep our warriors fighting fast and hard with nothing to protect. You prevented much of that, and so when the wars began, we did not fight as we once did. It is hard to fight and defend." Thalren explained himself and Neia found herself nodding along with sympathetic understanding.
"So your tribes have faced some unexpected defeats, and hunger…" Things clicked completely into place as Neia spoke to him, the wider implications of her actions and what it meant for this place well away from her duties gnawed at her conscience a little bit.
"I understand, so you want the one who defeated you, to lead you to victory instead… demihuman pragmatism is something I've always agreed with…" Neia half said to him, and half said to herself.
With nothing at all behind her to go home to, and no other place in the world she knew of that she could live without being hunted or killed, there lay only one remaining question. "Olasird'arc, will you stay with me, and help me here? Is there somewhere else you want to go?"
"My home was taken, I have no treasures, my mates and children were surely slaughtered by the Demon Emperor, there is nowhere for me to go." Olasird'arc answered her, and Neia immediately put a hand down on the claw that she found close by.
As she did so, she noticed something else, it was barely noticeable, but it almost appeared as if her skin were 'tiled' or more like… ' Scales?' She touched the back of her hand, looked closer at her arm, it wasn't quite the same, but it was almost marble-like smoothness, the roughness of her tough skin was almost gone.
' So… there is more coming… maybe?' Neia wondered and part of her mind wanted to scream out in frustration that she was no longer herself, but she refrained. ' He saved my life, I thought death was going to be the consequence, I guess in a way, I was right.'
Every part of her body felt stronger than she'd ever known it to be, and that for the warrior within, brought elation despite the cost, but even that was nothing compared to the tidal wave of sympathy. The bereft look on the defeated dragon lord that brought her bow down, had her tend to his wounded and nearly dying frame months before, remained burned into her memory.
"Alright. I'll do it." Neia said and stood up. "Neia Baraja, Paladin of the Holy Kingdom, is dead. I can no longer serve the Holy Queen. I have no people behind me, so… I accept the people in front of me, but I can't displace a faithful chief."
She approached the kneeling orc chieftain and put a hand out to him, his porcine features and recessed eyes were the opposite of beautiful in her mind, but the depths of desperation that lay in his face revealed that his situation was worse than he suggested. His body shivered under her cold winter breath. He took her hand and pressed his snout into it.
"Frost, you are like frost to the touch and to the eyes." He said quietly.
She laughed a little, drawing curious eyes up to her, it was hard not to let the bitter noise leave her throat, "I'm not laughing at you, Thalren, only remembering. Because of my face, I was sometimes thought to be frigid, an 'ice queen' in temperament, now my body fits the name. I simply find it funny is all."
"The Queen of Frost." He said, but not mocking, he said it with reverence, not mockery.
"Only Queen or King is over chief. You are now Queen of Frost. Life debts of orcs will be repaid, I will call all orcs of the hills, all know Wildlands Huntress, if she leads as Queen of Frost, bearer of dragon's blood, rider of the dragon's maw, all orcs will follow if it means salvation from death."
"It has a good sound to it, 'The Queen of Frost'…" Olisard'arc answered.
"Better that than death." Neia answered and withdrew her hand and put it to the pathetic moldy sack she wore as clothing, "But… I need something better than this to wear."
Nobody could argue with that.
Volume 5 C25
Skana sat in front of Albedo and Illyana, three days had passed since the apparent consumption of the convicted criminal. Bits and pieces of Remedios Custodio were still found amidst the rubble, while the chaos of the sudden attack and the disappearance of the woman set to die at the stake led scores of people to wild speculation, including some of the young nobles who convicted Neia.
The auburn-haired girl scratched her back and leaned against the chair, rocking it back and holding herself at the nearest crate with her foot. "Look, I'm not used to working with or for anyone. I work for myself, always had, just enjoying life, you know… but can I be blunt with you, Albedo?"
The disguised demoness inclined her head and kept a small trace of a smile on her face at the brash way the human spoke to her.
"The blunt truth is I'm bored . Don't get me wrong, the sex is great, and there's still a farmboy unusually loyal to his wife that I haven't been able to play with, but I'm just… bored . There's no point to any of it, rut, harvest, rut, harvest, sometimes the other way, and once a year come out this way, sell off a few things, have some fun, dance, make some extra money, then go back and do the same thing again. You know, it's just plain pointless. Even drinking with the same old people is not as fun as it used to be. One more joke about sheep and I may kill myself." She laughed and held out her hand for Illyana to pass her a big frothing mug.
She inclined her head in politeness in thanks to the elf, who still looked at Skana as if the peasant had a second head whenever she was polite.
"But anyway," she took a deep draught and wiped her mouth, "that crazy stuff with the dragon was…" She hesitated, grasping for a word.
"Terrifying? Scary? Horrifying?" Albedo supplied the words to her that the humans around them used in the aftermath.
Skana's green eyes lit up like emeralds, "The most exciting moment of my entire life ! It was like twenty orgasms at once from the best skilled girls' tongues or the most enduring stallion I could ride! If I work for you, will I get more of that?!"
"You might have to practice with your sword a bit, but yes. However…" Albedo leveled a hand at her, "Your loyalty will not go to your Kingdom anymore. It belongs to me."
Skana didn't balk at that, "Pffft," she said and rolled her eyes, "Oh no! I won't be doing what the fat tax collectors say when they come and confiscate most of our goods. Oh no! I won't have to throw myself onto the dick of a fat noble to keep him from meandering into our village and picking out some of our more innocent girls, woe is me whatever shall I do…"
"Are you ever not sarcastic?" Illyana asked suddenly, offended on behalf of her smiling Lady who seemed on the verge of barking out laughter or exploding in anger.
Skana thought it over, tapping her finger against her cheek and looking away, "Sometimes, like when I'm asleep. Look, elf girl, Illyana I mean, I'm a peasant, folk like me don't get a future any better than you get. We pop out kids, scratch the dirt until we get crops, then some big headed so and so who can only get it up when a girl lies to him about how big it is, comes along and takes most of what we make. Yeah our Queen is supposed to be nice and all, but I've never seen her, and she's never done anything for me. I have no reason to say no when Miss Albedo here is offering me the time of my life, money, and maybe… I don't know, something a little bit bigger than dirt scratching and more lewd sheep jokes from pervy old men."
Illyana pursed her lips, silenced by the brash peasant.
Albedo however, had more to say, but before she did, one thing remained crystal clear in her mind, ' This is a thrillseeker, a woman of passions, but no purpose… give her purpose… and I may have a very potent weapon in my hands as far as these lesser creatures go.' All thoughts of sending her for baptism were erased in an instant, the chance of breaking that nature that made her useful was far too great.
Instead Albedo made a different decision, and began by asking her, "What are your remaining clients saying now?"
"About the devouring… or escape… of the prisoner? There are all kinds of rumors. A lot of them lewd ones, like suggesting that she screwed the dragon and made him fall in love with her… there's even an artist who made a bit of money sketching copies of 'what that might look like' and selling them off. Some people think she was eaten, that she was a meal he was being deprived of. Others think she was rescued by the one she rescued first. Me, I think the last part."
"Why?" Albedo asked and Skana took another long drink before answering.
She smacked her lips and said, "Simple, I've never screwed a dragon and can't figure how that would even work, and that's an awful lot of work to come pick up some unwashed meat, so I doubt he would come back all this way to get a snack. So, I think he came and rescued her, not many customers to talk to now though. After that, most of the nobles skedaddled off back to hug mommies skirts, flip up the ones of the maids, and get daddy to tell them how brave they were for existing in the proximity of unexpected danger." All three snorted at the same moment in common contempt.
"So you agree." Skana said, and both Albedo and Illyana nodded.
Skana finished her beer and watched the way Albedo relaxed.
Albedo's smile broadened when they found that common ground. "Tonight, I'm going to properly introduce myself to you, Skana. And when we're done, I'm going to provide you with substantial funds, and you will work in Hoburns, you will run whores, spread rumors, and do everything I say. Do this for me, and all the delights in the world will be yours, and more than that, your fellow peasants will be better off at the end of it."
"There should be gambling too, and drinking." Skana added, and Albedo did a brief double take.
Skana filled in the gap, "Vice makes vice, that's what the priests say, and given how many of them I've gotten to start gambling after getting them to give up celibacy? Oh yes it is very true. You can make a lot of money when you combine drinking, gambling, and sex together. Then I can spread out whatever you want to whomever you want."
The confidence in the whore was almost 'off putting' that she seemed so certain, but as Albedo thought it over, she recalled the way Eight Fingers operated. Hilma was still alive, and asking her about how that business ran, or even sending her to the Holy Kingdom to assist the new local agent seemed like good ideas.
"Fine, I will send you help in order to pull this off, make ready to leave tonight." Albedo answered.
"With the beer?" Skana asked, licking her lips at the remaining barrels behind her new employer.
"With the beer." Albedo answered, and Skana spat in her palm and thrust out her hand in answer. A bright smile on her face matched with it.
"Illyana, you do this part." Albedo said, looking at the hand and entirely too certain about where it had last been.
"My Lady." Illyana answered, spat in her own palm, and grasped that of Skana. To the auburn-haired whore she said, "I look forward to working with you."
Skana winked, "Same. For some reason I can't help but think we'll get along wonderfully."
Volume 5 C26
Night fell over the damaged fortress, cloaking the whole damn thing in an inky black, shadows from the lost sun were made darker by the obscuring walls and towers. Many places therefore were rendered darker than dark, like walking through caves despite being outdoors. Skana however, wasn't the least bit disturbed by this. She kept the wooden sword at her side, her dancing with the false blade to entice men of vigor to lie with her also helped her to beat off those who might think they could get the goods without paying. Beat one into a whimpering mess, a good kick to the face so they know they lost, and by then, the ones who might win preferred easier prey.
That did not make the peasant woman less wary. Unwariness was how far too many women, whore or common peasant, ended up with a child on her hip one day with no idea who the father was, and only a bitter memory to recall him by.
But seeing Gustav Montagne sitting on a yet to be cleared away stone and staring at the judge's podium was strange enough that the peasant girl set aside her caution and approached the minor noble. "Is something wrong, Commander?"
He glanced up over his shoulder to see a peasant woman standing at his back. "Everything, nothing, what does it matter now?"
"It probably doesn't, but you sitting here is really strange." Skana remarked.
It wasn't lost on Gustav that even being curious and approaching of her own accord, that the attractive peasant with the wooden sword still stayed at his back and out of arm's reach, whether in spite of, or because of his status as a Paladin, he couldn't guess and didn't really want to know.
"I suppose, but I made a really bad decision, for all the wrong reasons. Now a good soldier, a hero by some accounts, is gone. My Commander is dead, and so are a whole lot of others." It was the night that made him talkative, the night and his heavy burden, and the alcohol she could have smelled on his breath if she came around to face him.
"That's a shame, but you got a promotion out of it, isn't that what you wanted?" Skana asked, and though he'd turned his face away from her again, when she said that, he yanked his head over his shoulder and stared at her with fury.
Skana took a step back.
His anger flared, then faded. "You really think we're all that corrupt? Is that how all peasants see us?"
Skana laughed at him, "Why shouldn't we? Do you know what taxes are on peasant farms?"
"No." He answered.
"They take a specific part, nine out of every ten stalks go to the lord, and that's no matter how good our harvest is. That's why I got started whoring, one bad harvest, a lot of pretty ones have stories like mine. We won't have enough to eat, so we take some of our own part 'to sell' in town, then sell ourselves for a few nights to make the rest up to the lord in coins. I'm lucky, I'm pretty and relaxed, I never put much into that nonsense about special firsts and never wanted a husband. Lot of peasants go home weeping when they find out how much that spot of blood sells for." She laughed at him again and shook her head.
"Paladins, common soldiers, lords, wealthy merchants, it's all the same to us, as far as we're concerned, you're corrupt until proven otherwise. We're a whole lot safer when we think that way." Skana shot out at him.
It hit like an arrow to his heart. "That is sad." He said with a hangdog expression out of her view.
"Yeah, well try living it. At least I'm free in spirit, and I can have a great spot of fun on the way. So… Commander, you actually feel bad about doing something bad… hey at least you're evil with a conscience." Skana drew her wooden sword and tapped it against the judge's podium, or what was left of it. The battered structure which had many fragments broken away by fallen stone, toppled with a crash into the dust.
"What if I don't want to be evil at all ?" He asked her without rebuke, his eyes drifted to the fallen podium.
Skana just kicked the thing once in the side, a part of it broke off and slid away. "What am I, a priestess or something? Join the side that isn't, I guess, or make one if it isn't there. But whatever you do, don't just sit there, any other woman with sense will think you're waiting for prey or something, they might wander off into darker places to avoid you, and then?" Skana shrugged, "One more mouth to feed next year for her. G'night." She said, and backed away from the newly minted impromptu Commander and went back toward her intended destination, sheathing her joke of a sword as she did so.
She patted the wooden toy of a weapon when she reached the tent of her new employer. Her whore clothing was gone, she wore instead a simple black and green shirt and pants set with some comfortable work boots. Her auburn hair was long and bound into a single braid down the center of her back, and it danced with the vigor of her steps when she unceremoniously opened the flap to the merchant woman's tent.
"I'm here, Albedo." Skana said with a playful smile on her face and a polite nod to the elf woman who was scratching a quill over paper by candle light, using a crate for an improvised table.
Illyana looked up, "Hi." She said with gentle courtesy toward the brash human peasant.
"Yeah, hi, uh, where's Albedo." Skana asked, "I'm ready to go, I split the profits with my partner, we're parting company, I even sold her the wagon and everything."
"Nobody to say goodbye to, you won't miss home?" Illyana asked with a skeptical look wreathed in shadows cast by the tall white candle.
"My mother." Skana said, "But she'll be fine, I've made a lot of money with my games and she never once approved of it. But she never minded spending what I gave her either. I left her with enough to get by without me, and I don't want another fight about how," she took on a sneering look and mimicked an angry old woman's voice, "nobody ever loves a whore, what'll you do when you want to get married and have children!" Skana rolled her eyes at that.
"I don't need goodbyes, and I don't need the nagging." Skana quipped, "Now… Lady Albedo is where?"
"Here." Albedo said and stepped close behind Skana's back, she covered Skana's mouth with a hand harder than steel, put another arm around her waist and began to squeeze.
Skana flailed, reached for her weapon, and began to swing it backwards over her head, only to hear it crack, then shatter against Albedo's skull, and yet the grip didn't lessen. The peasant whore tried to call for help, and as she felt the flesh of the woman's hand go into her mouth, Skana bit down as hard as she could. The flesh gave, but only a tiny bit, and there was no evidence of any pain inflicted by the attempt.
Illyana, to Skana's dismay, did nothing, she only continued working without pause as if nothing untoward were happening at all.
"You actually have good instincts." Albedo remarked in a casual kind of praise, "Using your sword, striking at the head, biting my hand, not all your tumbling with the boys has been of the sexy sort." She laughed while the peasant woman's struggles continued, if anything, they increased. "Your stamina isn't half bad either, for a human."
The praise did nothing to slow down the captive whore's resistance. ' I wonder how long it would take before she wears herself out?' It was almost amusing to think about, and yet Albedo felt the instinctive supervisorial loathing for wasted time.
"Listen to me carefully, Skana. I've taken you this way to avoid any trouble, I am going to release you. My servant there will hold up a mirror, and when you are calm, I will let you go." Albedo lifted the woman up and whispered into Skana's ear, "Do you understand me?"
Skana nodded and ended her struggle, though she wasn't what Albedo would have called 'relaxed' by any means.
Illyana picked up a small oval mirror and held it aloft in both hands, Skana's eyes widened.
The merchant woman had wings springing from her back, horns from her head, and vertically slit bright golden eyes.
"Demon." Skana said. It was muffled, but Albedo recognized that she had been correctly identified.
"You're calm, good, now to be precise, I am a variety of demon called a Succubus." Albedo said, and sensing that Skana had no intent to scream, quite the opposite, the woman relaxed completely, Albedo removed her hand and set the peasant down.
Skana turned around and looked Albedo up and down, she shrugged, "A demon of lust is probably the best thing in the world for me to serve, so I'd say I struck gold with you."
"This doesn't bother you? Not at all?" Albedo asked while her mood went from pleased to baffled by the reaction.
Skana shook her head and looked up at the demoness. "No, I know, I know, the six gods and all that garbage, what have they done for me in all my life? Or for centuries? I've never met them, and for all I know men just made them up. Besides, demon, human, orc…" She glanced at Illyana, "or elf. There's power and those without it, money and those without it, love and those without it, what's it matter what you are as long as you've got what you want or the way to get it?"
"Are you sure you're a peasant?" Albedo asked, and Skana with her vibrant green eyes met the yellow of her Lady and said, "I'm a peasant as sure as you're a virgin. We're a pretty practical lot, long as we get by, what else is there but the fun we have along the way? Not much worth dying over out there."
Albedo barely restrained her blush at the blunt assessment of her inexperience, but the quick and practical mind, not to mention her indifference to anything that might have set others running or calling for the guards, made her useful.
"Good, then if you have nothing else to do, help Illyana pack up, you will sleep when the work is done and then be gone in the morning." Albedo instructed, and Skana without another word, walked over to the elf, bent over a box, and got to work.
Volume 5 C27
Neia did not much care for orcish armor as it turned out. She ran her hand up and down the front, it was bulky, not fitted to her form, but at least she did like the green. It was boiled leather with metal woven through straps bound by leather strands, simple to make and would only stop a common weapon at a glance. The pants belonged to one of the tribe's women, and predictably it was far too wide in the hips.
The bow was good, but not great. The sword was a jagged looking thing with a hook tip, this she was used to fighting against. The arrows were not spectacular, but orcs were far more widely known for their close range fighting than anything else.
But what was important wasn't what she wore at that moment. Rather what mattered was that word of the Huntress of the Wilds was being heard by the other orc tribal leaders.
"I was not a General among the humans, I was not their chief, nor their Queen. I was a paladin squire sent to die, and I lived. I lived because I understood how stone spitters, orcs, and others fought, moved, and lived on the move and used that against them. Demihumans invaded my Kingdom several times, and yet always you were pushed back. Why?"
The question hung in the air.
"Many demihumans are stronger than humans, faster, or can fly, or produce great and exceptional warriors that anything less than our great heroes cannot beat. But still the Roble Holy Kingdom stands. Still the wall stands, and you fight among one another out here, why?" Neia reframed the question again, the frosty breath was something she was still getting used to weeks later, but the strength that came with her still slowly changing body was a delight.
Stones cracked in her hands and became powder, and in close combat tests against the orc warriors, she proved herself vastly superior to multitudes at a time.
Still the orc tribes were silent.
Neia chose to answer for them. "Discipline. Discipline and preparedness. You rush in to fight, kill, and then… think you've won?" Neia asked them and shook her head. "How far can you go without food or water? What about shelter from the weather? You don't work together, not as tribes, not even as a single tribe. You fight as individual warriors, all demihuman tribes do, thinking that a step forward is the same as having won, when you're just walking to graves very far from home."
The rumble of the orcs who had lived without food for far too long even one time, let alone more, confirmed her words for the rest.
"If you want me to lead you, I will do it. I will teach you to fight as the Paladins do, not only on the field, but before the field. We aren't looking for glorious battles, but ones we win with ease. There is, however, a condition." Neia said and raised her bluish white hands to quiet the new rumbling among her vast audience that sat at the base of the hill from which she spoke.
"The tribes will not disband afterward. The old ways are done . I will be called Queen of all your tribes, and you will settle in common, fight when I tell you and not before, build what I tell you, and give me all your loyalty. Give me everything, and I will give you victory, or my life." Neia vowed.
Thalren stood up from where he had been seated cross legged and listening. "Frost Queen has won many fights. Taken many lives. Spared many lives. This one is great warrior, and Thalren follows. Thalren obeys."
Most seemed agreeable, but another orc stood up, a big, beefy looking green skinned figure with biceps the size of Neia's head and thighs like tree trunks. He snorted, his deep recessed eyes were sharp and brown and full of anger, his body was tense, his arms crossed in front of his naked chest. "And if not? I am Golgola of Green Fist. We have never had Queen of anything. Mighty Huntress yes, is mighty. But to stay together? This is not our way. We will fight with you, but no Queen, no King, stays over all for all days after war."
"And how has that been working out for you this year, Golgola of Green Fist?" Neia asked rhetorically, "My hunts killed many orcs, my time in the wildlands almost ruined you all here when you could not bring your women and children to safety, or sneak south to hunt for extra food. Now orcs are weak. Your old ways worked before, but not everything is good just because they were always so."
"Golgola is loyal to the old ways." The stubborn orc proclaimed.
"Are orcs born with maces falling from their mother's wombs?" Neia asked the bizarre question, and Golgola was not the only one to look as if the tranquilly asked rhetorical question was insane.
"No." Neia answered it herself. "Someone invented it, and it became popular because it was a good weapon. Would Golgola of Green fist run into a fight bare fisted when the mace was new, or would he use the mace because it is better than one fist alone?"
The orc appeared stymied, dumbfounded, as near as she could read from his heavy breathing.
"Discipline and cities are new weapons. Discipline makes many small ones into a single great one. Cities let you make many things a tribe alone cannot. If Golgola and Green Fist refuse to join us, both may go." Neia pointed toward the way they'd come from. "But they will serve the rest, as I use you as bait for your enemies, and when you are dead, we will avenge you, and the old ways will not care that you were loyal to them any more." Neia warned him as best she could.
But it did little good, he only fumed. "The old ways made us strong! We keep our lands and cattle, we rule the hills, the days are hard, but if we trust the ancestor's ways we will win again!"
Neia shook her head and pointed to the way out of the little hill region. She watched him start to walk away, and many, if not all of his tribe went with him. Olasird'arc lowered his head beside where Neia stood and whispered so quietly that she alone could hear him. "He does not believe you."
"That is his second mistake." Neia whispered as the tribe departed, she then asked, "Have you circled the area, will this place do?"
"Yes. If you want to build a city here, there is no place better, seven great hills offer excellent view of the area, the land between hills is fertile, and smaller hills make excellent points of choking." Olasird'arc answered.
"Choke points." Neia corrected him, then nodded, "Thank you, my friend."
Olasird'arc let out an approving growl, "You figured this place would do, didn't you?"
"I suspected," Neia admitted, "it made it the best place to have this gathering, now, when I've got them fresh and they can 'see' progress being made instead of weeks or months getting everybody together."
They waited in silence, when the last of the Green Fist left, Neia asked, "Will anyone else refuse me?"
One and all, they rose from a cross legged position, and then bent a knee to her.
Thalren was the one to begin, "Hail Queen of Frost! Queen of Orcs!"
Neia looked up at Olasird'arc, "Who said anything about being only the Queen of the orcs?"
"None. But maybe wait on explaining that until your first victory." Olasird'arc advised, and they relaxed as the cheers went up and washed over them both like a great storm.
Volume 5 C28
Queen Calca Bessarez' wail carried beyond her chambers, it carried beyond the hall which led to her chambers, it carried down the stairs and into the throne room where nobles sat or stood according to their station. Worried faces and grim, clenched jaws were everywhere. Eyes darted about with uncertainty, and nobody could or would speak. The wealth and power, the pomp and status of their bright mottled clothing, the bright white of the priests who conveyed the will of the gods, all was silent as the grave.
The wails of the mourning Queen carried out the window and down to the very streets of Hoburns, drawing the eyes of the population with dread to the place where their monarch let her misery ring out.
She was not alone at least. Kelart Custodio sat on the royal bed with her, they shared the mourning embrace as closely as if they were kin. Kelart's tears were quiet, her sobs choked, her body shook in time with that of her Queen as the weight of the death of her sister settled on her shoulders and bent her with their weight.
"How could this have happened?! How?! How?!" Calca asked with dismay.
"My Queen, my sister could be restored to life, we just have to wait until…" Kelart stopped.
"-They've found enough parts of her to do it." Calca said, "But what if they don't?" Her eyes fluttered as she tried to blink back tears that blurred Kelart's face.
"Then we do our best without her. Remember all we have are the initial reports of what happened… nobody could have foreseen that a dragon would attack the wall. How could they have?" Kelart asked, "The whole thing sounds like something out of a drunken bard's feverious dream."
Calca nodded. It was an analogy she agreed with, Kelart however, was not through, "But my Queen, there's no sense in worrying like this, not until we know more, the South is screaming for aid after the disaster at Wenmark, they're withholding taxes, the Paladin Order's Vice Commander has to be confirmed to the new role at least temporarily… and the rumors are getting worse. And what makes them worse is that they're true."
Skana sat in the office in Hoburns sipping the best beer she'd had in her entire life, the doppelgangers in front of her chose to take on the faces of some of her former lovers for today, and that made it weird. Skana winked at the one to come up first, she smiled up at the beautiful face, and called him by the name of the long dead young man. "Sami, did you spread the stories in the salons about what happened in Wenmark?"
"Of course, my love." He said, a lying smile on his face that Skana fluttered to recall when the doppelganger reached out and stroked her cheek, "Anything for you."
"Exactly like that." Skana said with a titter and a delighted little smile grew much larger. "Just keep it up, I've gotta admit… I feel kind of bad about using Illyana's stories of the Golden Roan to stir some outrage, kinda feels like I'm using her, and I kinda like her. But…?" She shrugged, "The brutal truth might be for the best. Keep the women pissed off at home, and even if they're elves, some things are more likely to strike home for womankind in a way that makes them see the Kingdom less positively."
"Of course, of course… but after ?" He asked and arched an eyebrow just like the real Sami used to do.
Skana felt a brief well of sadness and put her hand over the one of his which touched her cheek, "If I still wondered if he was alive, I would enjoy that very much, but it's just too bitter to think about now. But thank you for letting me see his face again."
The doppelganger returned to his faceless state and picked up the address that Skana scrawled out for him.
Albedo watched from out of Skana's sight, standing in the doorway at the back, it was remarkable and amusing both at once. The human seemed to have no real fear of the monsters that could mimic those they loved best in the world. If anything, Skana treated everything as a novelty to be embraced with an almost reckless abandon, to the point where she neglected to ask for any form of payment some days. The lack of bigotry against non-humans was a winning point in Albedo's eyes, and even if the auburn-haired girl was no genius, she showed an aptitude for administration and surprisingly enough, she was literate.
"Where did you learn to write?" Albedo asked on the evening of the third such day watching the vicious little rumor mistress scribble down talking points to play up. From what she knew of the peasant population, almost none could even write their own names, so writing these things made her all the more a curiosity.
Skana's smile never left her face, despite her cheeks being stuffed with lamb which Illyana prepared. Nor did she hesitate to speak with her mouth full. "Eashy, I lohcked good stories, bard came through the villahge and said he got em from books." She swallowed the oversized bite and took a deep drink of a wooden cup full of wine and then said, "So on a trip to sell stuff I straddled a merchant and offered him the ride of his life if he'd just teach me how to read and write. Mom didn't think much of that, said it was a waste but… I enjoyed it. I'm pretty good at it too." Skana's face beamed with pride as Illyana took her seat at the table.
The elf woman was far more demure than Skana was comfortable with, though it was difficult to blame her, and the sweet temperament made her very pleasant outside of ribald and vulgar humor of the sort Skana tended to favor. So, she toned it down a little when the elf joined the pair at last.
"Anyway, as I was explaining to the doppelgangers earlier, Gustav drunkenly confessed that Remedios made sure that the trial went her way. The crazy bitch on the wall must have rubbed her the wrong way somehow. When it makes its way through the women's groups like the salons and the tea houses, it'll reach the more active women in merchant and adventurer guilds. Get the wives, the whole thing comes crashing down. Kinda like a village that way." Skana chuckled a bit, and Illyana asked…
"How could you possibly know that?"
"A city is just a big village, idle people talk, and the men of this country are kind of dense about that. They don't put women in charge of much, so they create a lot of idle women who become backroom power brokers and gossips. It happened all the time in the village, and I learned a lot from the people who would pass through my home. We may not look like much, even us pretty ones. But put us all together, and there's not a lot we don't hear from somewhere, and nobody ever listens to the little three…" Skana raised her fist, and one finger at a time with each of the things which followed, "A woman, a peasant, and a whore."
"Are they that stupid?" Albedo asked, almost not believing that she could be so lucky as to have such an easy mission.
"Yes, Miss Demoness, they can be." Skana answered to confirm her dry, scathing criticism.
She stabbed her knife into a hunk of meat and began cutting it down to a smaller piece, "Maybe it's not as dumb as openly saying that non-humans are people, at a trial where you're charged with that as a kind of crime… but still…" She shoved a hunk of meat in her mouth and while she chewed she said…
"Pwetthy dumb."
Volume 5 C29
"Do you know what the real problem is with magic?" Neia asked of Olasird'arc while she walked beside him along the training grounds where the orcish warriors were forming a shield wall. The shields were fairly crude, but by stroke of luck, the wide rounded shields they favored would make for an adequate wall if they were formed up properly. A wooden base with a sheet of steel over the front and a grip in the center, it did require a little modification.
Neia had a strap added to the far side through which the arm fit, and the hand grip moved to the opposite side allowing for far more versatility of movement, and the first of her changes were embraced by her new people.
"No, what?" Olasird'arc asked as she spun and kicked at the shield wall, her foot connected, and the orc grunted with pain, but he didn't fall. He was held up by a column of orcs behind him, each one bracing the one in front. Their shields held overhead to provide a turtle shell-like protection from missile fire.
The arrows clattered and fell, bouncing off of the shields, and Neia landed a punch at another orc who showed his face, shattering his teeth. "Better the shield than you!" She snapped, and though he grunted in pain, he wore a now less toothy smile and raised his shield up. ' Orcs have a high pain tolerance.' She acknowledged about her warriors.
She then looked up to Olasird'arc again and continued to walk the line. "It's easy. It's so easy that everybody wants to use it, they love it so much that when they have it, it's all they use. Do you know why I was so good at hunting orcs, and stone spitters, and snakepeople, and whatever else slipped into the wilds?"
Olisard'arc looked down at the white haired woman, "I'm guessing you'll tell me."
Neia chuckled, "Yes, I will. It's because I had no magic to use for that sort of thing. My ability to put mana into my arrows for a deadlier shot is… or maybe 'was' the only thing I could do. So I had to hide myself in other ways, learn how to use mud, moss, leaves, dye, paint, and the environment. That's the magic of nature. Nobody ever looked for that, they always tried to find signs of magic use. And that is how we'll win the first fight."
"You know I could just simply use my breath and claws to give you an easy win." Olasird'arc pointed out, and Neia stopped walking, she craned her neck to look up at the dragon and put a hand on his scaled limb.
"I know, but I have to establish credibility as a Queen. If people think my only strength is you, they will never listen to me. Besides, they need a win to get their confidence back. And if they win using the things I teach them, they'll embrace the new ways with the fervor of a religious convert."
Olasird'arc gave a low growl of acknowledgement, "You thought this through." He said and watched a group of orcs trying to push through a shield wall.
Neia patted his scales, "We're small, we're weak, we're short lived compared to dragons, but that means we have to work harder, not that we can't improve. We have to think, use our minds, and plan for anything. Paladins are taught leadership, and encouraged to improve ourselves continuously. This is how we… how humans, I mean, survived as long as we did."
Olasird'arc thought that one through while they finished the inspections.
Healers in the aftermath took care of the injured, and Neia went over the training results with the assembled tribal leaders. They sat cross legged at her feet while she sat on the rounded upper half of Olasird'arc's vicious claws. "You are no longer 'just' tribal leaders." She explained patiently, "you are my field commanders, one day perhaps even 'Generals', and now that you're aware of the power of unity, I want to make something else clear."
The various orc leaders looked back and forth at each other, their puzzled faces met, each one unaware of what their new Queen intended.
"Would it help if you had a few hundred, or a few thousand long range warriors to help guard your wings?" She asked, and the orc's recessed eyes became sharper, more beady.
"Yes, but orcs, we don't have good bows. Not good arrows. We fight close." Thalren punched one fist into his palm with an audible smack to emphasize his point.
"We're going to get that support from somewhere else." Neia answered.
The orcs laughed, "Humans will not help orcs."
"I mean the stone spitters." Neia said point blank, and they stopped laughing.
"They are your enemies, but they are your weakest enemies. They don't fight as well up close as you do. Combined? We will have two hands to one. I intend to attack." Neia said, "Just like when I was the Huntress of the Wildlands, I was always on the attack, defense may win a battle, but it will lose a war." Neia said to them, while they rumbled and grumbled a bit, "I don't want to fight them again in ten years, this is not going to be war as demihumans have ever known it. Not one of plunder, not one of simply slaughter or a cattle raid. You will learn to fight as humans fought, it's why they have a wall and you don't."
Thalren bowed his head first. "Huntress gave me life. Let us feed and flee. Gives us good shield knowing. Shield wall is strong, she is strong. We obey."
It was the endorsement Neia needed, several of the orcs affectionately caressed the crude but now improved shields that leaned against their bodies. The new grip style proved popular, with the shield bash being the cause of many an injury that kept the healers low on mana that day.
Neia stood up, "Then rest for now, my people., We begin again tomorrow, and select scouts to watch the Green Fist and the path to the nearest Stone Spitter village."
The meeting broke up after that, and the sun slowly disappeared over the horizon, leaving Neia alone with Olasird'arc, "Will you go to a tent or a hut?"
Neia shook her head. "No. I will stay with you."
"That will be fine." Olasird'arc said and watched the dragonid lie down with her back against his foreleg.
' I wonder if she will grow wings, or if her skin will continue to harden until it is like scales? Will she grow a tail?' Open questions, all of them, and the only answer he could come to was, ' Time will tell.'
Her strength was already far in excess of what it was before, which from what he gathered of the demihumans thus far, was vital to her future.
And strangely enough, he felt somehow it was vital to his own.
Volume 5 C30
Calca paled when Kelart said that. "What do you mean… ' it's true' ?"
Kelart sighed and took her Queen's hands. "My precious Queen, my wonderful Lady," she came as close as she dared, so close that she could feel the breath of life coming past the lips of the radiant and beautiful blonde royal. "My sister and I have always been devoted to your ideals. Please believe me, but ideals are not a system of government, and there have been… times when it appeared someone would escape justice. Someone who might be a threat to your rule, who might make your people cry. When that happened, I knew that my sister, always for the greater good, would take action."
"Action… like bribing a jury? Blackmail a jury? Murder?" Calca's eyes hardened.
"Even I can't say for sure, my sister was very tight lipped even to me, but her belief in the absolute justice of your rule was such that she would do anything to ensure it was successful. I know how she is, a scout who let demihumans live, who openly called them 'people', is a dangerous and disruptive element no matter what her reputation." Kelart bit her lower lip while she felt the bright eyes of her Queen searching her face.
Calca's hands were shaking in the touch of Kelart, "How many times…?" The Queen finally asked.
Kelart's jaw tensed, "My Queen, how many times were the guilty looking like they might escape justice? Yes, it was wrong… but it was for the greater good of all humanity, please understand that."
"And why wasn't I informed?" Calca demanded, her voice becoming more regal, the shaking fingers stopped, her eyes hardened, she was not the beautiful idealist in that moment, but the hardened Queen who so excelled, that her own brother, who could have had the throne, deferred to her.
"Because it would wound you." Kelart rushed the words out, she tightened her hold on the warm hands of her Queen, "As long as you were 'uninjured', you would continue to work without stopping, always making us better. Always making us stronger."
"You intended well, but I have no doubt that this is the root cause of the corruption that has begun to rot us from within." Calca shook her head with an almost violent energy, "No more of that… when Remedios is resurrected, I will speak with her alone."
"My Queen…" Kelart tried to speak, but the Queen's sudden glare shut her down.
"Go, have the resources gathered that we need to help the South, but make sure you collect whatever taxes you need to, Gustav will join you with reinforcements to ensure that taxes are collected without incident." The Queen gave the order, and for a moment Kelart was still.
"Go. Now ." The Queen's voice hardened like her eyes, and the Kelart stepped backward with a deep bow.
"At once, my Queen." She said, and withdrew from the royal presence with a heavy, aching heart.
Gustav rode along at the head of the column, for this they chose the more circuitous route, it carried them through the Wildlands and the peripheral villages that eked out a living on tiny farms, harvesting wood, herbs, and other things from the forest. Such small places should have been easy prey for demihuman raiders.
But one thing was common, they almost all had low walls, nothing dramatic, but spike tipped logs that surrounded the few dwellings in the area. When Gustav asked, the answer was the same, "The Huntress had some captive demihumans help us, and let them go in exchange."
Learning that 'The Huntress' had been sentenced to die on the wall and been 'eaten' by a dragon, left the occupants of those little villages to turn their backs or outright boo the paladins until they rode on.
' What have I done?' He asked himself, in twenty years service, the new commander could not recall ever having been 'booed' or had a peasant show their back to him.
But the more he gathered stories about what went on in the Wildlands south of the wall, the more he felt he made the single largest mistake of his life. He tightened his hold on the reins of his horse and kept his eyes facing front.
' You were just following orders! Just doing what you were told! The squire was found guilty! You were just doing your job! That's all! There's nothing to feel guilty about!' Gustav raged at himself and his conscience, but the agonized screams of the woman on the wall haunted him night after night. The wails of her parents as they tried desperately to get to her. And knowing beyond question that the trial had been a sham.
It made every denial in his heart burn as if he were the one pierced by the swords on the wall. In his heart he accused himself.
In his heart, Gustav pronounced himself guilty.
In his heart, he sentenced himself to life.
' Never again. I will never do that again! Damn the orders! I have to live by following them, and I don't know how to live with this!' He argued with himself as he recalled the peasant girl's quiet night time admonition, her indifference, her scolding, her outright mockery of everything he believed and held to be true, and she could have been said to epitomize it all in that she simply wouldn't stand close enough for him to reach her.
Once he understood that, a lot of things fell into place that he never considered. Now that he was aware, he noticed that almost none of the younger peasant women that had to live in those villages would emerge from their homes while he or his soldiers were present. Old women, men, and young children were all they ever saw. The only exceptions were when a young woman expressly sought a lover or two.
' So this is how we're really seen. Cheers when we're defending them, but suspicion behind every set of eyes, and, worse,justified.' The recognition of the reality he was long oblivious to set him on edge, making him hypersensitive.
"My Lord, why are we taking the long road back to Hoburns?" One of his subordinates asked.
"Because I said so ." Gustav snapped and the young soldier fell silent at his side.
He could feel the young man's flinch and hear it in the way the shining burnished armor clinked as he stiffened his back.
Gustav relaxed and sighed, "Because I wanted to see something of the work of the one we ordered killed. That's why. And because I had a lot of thinking to do, Remedios' remains won't rot in the preserving cloth, and I needed to know what I'd really done back there."
"I see." The soldier said halfheartedly.
But Gustav could tell from the young man's voice that he clearly did not see, and the provisional Commander of the Paladin order was fine with that. ' I hope he never does.' The Commander thought at once, and relaxed into the rocking motion of his steadily walking horse, and tried not to think of anything else for just a little while.
Volume 5 C31
"Sweat on the training field saves blood on the battlefield." Neia said as she watched her orcs take up their positions. A few days was all they had, and it wasn't much, but she noticed something important about tribal warriors as they crawled on their bellies on top of two hills while a third group made camp openly on another. Fires lit up the night on that one, their presence was obvious, just as it should be.
Tribal warriors grew up training, but it was a matter of routine over discipline, and individual excellence was carried forward to an absurd degree. Exposed to unit discipline for the first time, they only ever responded in two ways.
With an almost religious conversion like fervor that had them begging for more time in the line…
Or…
They rejected it completely, preferring to stand only for themselves and their own strength.
She lay on her belly atop the quiet hill and watched while the unit disobeyed orders and lit up fires for cooking. Thalren crawled over to her, and watched the little group do as they always did. "You knew." He half accused.
"Do you think I can make the whole world dance to my tune at will?" Neia asked and hummed a few bars to emphasize her sarcasm. "No, I just gave them an order and let them make their own decisions. They dismissed my worries and warnings, and that is on them. At least there aren't many, and this will be a good object lesson for the survivors."
Thalren waited, the rest of the more compliant tribal members waited, and true to form it did not take long for a group of Stone Spitters to find the outlying orc position.
The air was warm over Neia's skin, privately she wondered, ' Is this because of my body's change, or was it always like this?'
The tribe of stone spitters surrounded the hill, unaware of the orcs who lay on their bellies on the more distant position. The orcs on top of the surrounded hill reacted with the indiscipline which Neia knew typified tribal thinking. A chance for personal glory, status, and the proof of one's strength trumped any amount of reason. They began to taunt the stone spitters to come up, and the stone spitters, with their big, broad bodies, dared the orcs to come down.
It was almost like a mockery of real battle, taunts and bravado, everyone working themselves up and denying their private fears.
Neia looked over to Thalren, "Carry word to the rear, remember, I want as many stone spitters captured alive as possible, so do not engage their… what passes for an army. Ride to their settlement, capture it while they're here. I will see you after."
The orc chief grunted and crawled away, not daring to stand up until he was descending the far side of the hill, and leaving his Queen to her plan.
Stone spitters continued to trickle in over the course of the evening, and all she did… was wait.
Thalren's host of orcs rode like mad over the hilly landscape. Their small cavalry force was augmented by orcs who specialized in martial arts that enhanced strength and stamina, allowing them, for a time at least, to keep pace with horses, and in this much at least, it was possible to get to their destination.
The stone spitter settlement they targeted was the most important in the area, having the oldest legacy, the strongest warriors, and the prickliest of reputations, they negotiated and fought viciously, and were the greatest of the relatively weak stone spitter numbers.
They were also completely unprepared for the attack of Thalren or his orc forces arriving with the coming of the sun. The tribe was not even properly awakened when their watch caught sight of the coming attack, and by the time he did… [Orc Blow], [Lesser Strength] . The martial art enhanced his range and power, so when Thalren threw the little club, it split the skull of the watch before he could raise the alarm. The wall of the settlement was low, and the cavalry force put their horses up to it, then simply jumped up to the lightly guarded position, breaking in with battlecries that brought the whole settlement into chaos.
The fight was as short as it was brutal, the ranged stone spitters were scattered among their little earthen huts, and with no rocks ready, they were quick to surrender, with the bulk of them herded into the center. In total there were, to his surprise, over four thousand families.
The chief of the stone spitters was dragged before Thalren, he shuffled along, his great bulky wide body and thick muscles a testament to his experience, and that it took three orcs to handle him and draw him close proved his strength. Still, he was cast down to his knees.
Stone spitters had unusual faces, two eyes, but no real 'nose', just a small dot-like hole with a flap over it that opened and closed. Their mouths were round and funnel-like, with lips largely absent, in his view. They were hideous, their bodies ran the gamut from gray to brown stone colors, and they had thick, long fingers well suited for collecting stones and breaking them down into ammunition for later use.
"You are chief here?" Thalren asked.
The stone spitter grunted, "No. I am chief's son. My father is chief, he is away dealing with your people who come to our land. When he returns, you will die."
' Not the chief, no, that makes sense. He would go with his warriors. Still, impressive figure, he probably would be a good chief one day.' Thalren thought and nodded, then crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"My Queen is dealing with your father. If you are lucky, he will impress her." Thalren retorted, and the eyes of the stone spitter widened as a human's might have.
"Your Queen?" He asked.
"Huntress of the Wildlands is now Queen of Orcs. Her people cast her out, no longer wanted her. She is ours now." He said with pride.
"Father was nearly killed by the Huntress. We lost twenty spitters to her, not many kill spitters from afar. Are they mad?" He asked, aghast at the idea of dispensing with an effective warrior. "Or are you lying?" His eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"She was sentenced to die for her mercy. She is here now, bearing dragon's blood in her veins, you will see, as will your father. She will be here soon. Then when he surrenders, she will be Queen of Stone Spitters." Thalren replied with gusto, and the various orcs cheered while the stone spitters could only sit, confused, concerned, and full of doubt.
When the sun was nearly up, Neia rose and went to give orders to the rest of the orc tribes. A core of them held the hill as rallying points in the event of a problem, the rest however, made the long circuitous route to positions just barely out of stone spitter range.
The stone spitters were still caught up in the drama with their 'captive' orcs atop the hill. Twice each side had tried to take the other, and twice both sides had retreated. ' It's no wonder humanity survived, too many of our enemies keep brains in their biceps.' She rolled her eyes and waited for the light to come up. ' If Thalren did his part, this will go smoothly.'
The rising sun brought horror to the stone spitters' camp, which suddenly found that there were thousands of orcs on either side of the hill, and orc banners raised on the hills beyond.
The orc drums began to sound, and Neia mounted up a horse to ride over the open ground toward the stone spitters' camp. Her orcs at her back were watching her with worried faces, her hands held high overhead, she bellowed out.
"Queen of Frost, Neia Baraja, comes to treat with the Stone Spitter chief, if he does not come out, then I will come to him in my manies!"
The stone spitter dismay was evident, a non-orc was unexpected, the titles even less so, and it was not long before the call was answered with the arrival of a stone spitter of considerable enough size that he was eye level with her even while on horseback.
He had a long, heavy gait that threatened the earth beneath his feet and carried him quickly to her place between the two forces.
"I know you." He said when he came close, "You look not the same, but I know you." He said with surprise. His step became careful, or perhaps simply 'polite' without the swaggering bluster of a tribal chief.
"I'd have a hard time forgetting someone your size." Neia said with a cocky little smile on her face, "Things have changed, and I'll spare you the details. Those are my orcs up there, and I'm not going to let you kill them."
"Orcs and stone spitters fight, it is how we always were. They are here, you are here." The chief clapped his meaty hands together. "We fight."
"If you believed that, you wouldn't have come out to talk." Neia said and pointed toward his home. "Go home, and I will not attack, fighting here, far from where your women and children can see you, this is not a glorious end. Go back to your village, if you can fend us off from your walls, your women will be proud, your children will admire you, and you will gain great fame." She appealed to his vanity at every turn, and she could see him getting puffed up as he imagined the victory celebration.
But he was not a complete fool.
"You will strike our backs before then." He said.
"I give you my word that no member of Rock Fist will be harmed while leaving this hill. We will follow you to your home, but until you face my army, we will not hurt you. Is the word of the Huntress not good?" Neia asked and opened her arms at her sides.
He groused a little, but gave a small nod. "Yes. Huntress spared my son. I must trust the word of the life giver."
"Then go. Take your people home, we will fight, if you wish, when you face my army at home." Neia said, and they parted ways.
The passage of time was tense, and lengthy as the orcs formed up in a long, broad line to give the impression of greater numbers than they had, the stone spitters continued their withdrawal from the hilltop, grateful at least not to be surrounded or ambushed, and she could feel them relax with confidence as they drew closer to home.
But Neia's smile lit up like the sun in the sky when their shouts of consternation went up, once they saw the orc banners raised over the walls of their home.
Neia rode forward again. The orc drums began to resound. "Chief of Rock Fist, your home fell in the night to Thalren, inside, your families, your children, your future lies bound beneath my warriors weapons. True to my word, there would be no battle until you faced my army. You are 'facing' them now."
The orcs who occupied the village stood up along the low walls, leaving the stone spitter forces trapped between their own walls, and a much larger army of orcs, most of whom were fresh and ready to fight.
The stone spitters formed themselves up into a circle, warriors darted their eyes left and right, unsure of what to do, where to go… their courage hanging by a thread.
"What are your terms?!" The stone spitter chief shouted back.
"Call me your Queen, and your families live, you live, give me your loyalty, lives, armies, and become one. Bury your enmity, and help me seize all of the Abelion Hills! Kneel, give me your oath, and I give you back everything I now have taken, or have the power to take. Rule on, but in my name." She yelled back over the distance.
The moment hung, tense, uncertain, one stray rock, and a massacre would begin… ' Don't be a fool…' She prayed to the gods she no longer loved.
And then he emerged from among their numbers, jostling his way through, the chief crossed the divide and went down on one knee.
Neia rode over to him, remaining on her horse, she held out the back of her hand. "Chief of Stone Fist is yours, Stone Fist is yours. Queen of Orcs is Queen of Stone Spitters. But… Do you truly want it all?"
The sheer scale of her ambition was not lost on him, or any of those who heard her speak openly of it, the breadth of it all brought home the infinite possibilities. But there was also the immediate concern of not being wiped out.
"Yes." Neia said, "Things are changing in this world, my former home, it isn't home anymore. If I have a new people, I want the best for them, and for that I have to stop the things that hurt them… I spared your lives in the past, so you may trust me now. I will never betray those who have not betrayed me. Come, let us go into your village, feast your lives, let me toast your courage and honor, and lay out the future I have in mind."
He kissed the back of her hand, then when she clasped his and hauled him to his feet, she gestured toward his village. "Stone Fist word is good." She shouted, "Open the gate!"
Prickled by the praise, and relieved to be alive, they headed toward the village where Neia planned next on how to more fully win their hearts before changing their world again, and behind all that… she planned her next campaign.
Volume 5 C32
Demiurge stood beside Lord Ainz while going over the current reports from Albedo, his hands folded behind his back, he didn't look at the documents, having already vetted them before bringing them to His Majesty's attention. All that he said of their contents was recited perfectly from memory.
This wasn't necessary to his duties, but Demiurge wanted his eyes in only one place. ' On my late father's dearest friend, the One Who Stayed… who gave up everything to be with us… father left us with the greatest care we could have asked for…' It still brought a crystalline tear to his eye, thinking of the final moment of Lord Ulbert's existence.
Faced with that, His Majesty's humanity only mattered in that Lord Ainz' mortality was a potential problem. A problem for which a solution had yet to be found. At least… a solution that was presently viable . And every day mattered in the eyes of the archdevil. Each morning he awoke, he feared that some frailty of his Master's present form, his surrogate 'father's' form might have caused his death.
Even for the genius that he was, there were unknowns. Nothing was more dangerous than the unknown.
So his crystalline eyes lingered on his Lord as he spoke.
"Has she left lipstick prints on every report?" Ainz asked as he paused his reviews and looked through the papers, their rustling noise punctuated by Demiurge's bemused chuckle.
"Yes, My Lord." Demiurge responded with an affirming nod and a casual glance toward the bright red shade in a top left corner. "It seems she is concerned that if she doesn't put it on all of them that you might think there is a limit to her love for you."
Ainz relaxed against his chair and sighed, he was unmasked in the privacy of his office, and glanced up at the seated Demiurge, unafraid to bear his face to the boy he loved as a son. ' He is my child now. No matter what kind of monster he is, he is mine, and I can never let him down.'
"Tell me something, Demiurge. How do you think she will respond to knowing what I am?" Ainz asked, and at that, Demiurge stiffened a little.
"M-My Lord, even I can't know that… forgive my ignorance, but Albedo is unpredictably passionate. She is a demon. So she may hate you. She loves you, therefore she may love you despite your humanity. We are all unquestionably loyal to the Supreme Beings, so perhaps you will be rendered neutral in her eyes, with indifferent loyalty. I simply cannot guide you properly without knowing her inner workings more clearly." Demiurge's hand tightened into a fist behind his back.
Anxiety at being unable properly to answer his Master ate at his guts.
Ainz waved it away. "I understand… but do you have a guess, however imperfect?"
Demiurge bloodied his lip with a bite. "My Lord, I believe she will love you absolutely, as I do. As we all do who have come to know what you now are. Her desire for you is absolute, she aches for you, and when we returned from the Dwarf Kingdom, I made a point of speaking with those who had to attend to her. She visited your bed many nights when she could, and I have heard from others that she was heard quietly weeping when she was alone."
' I did that to her. Every bit of misery and pain she suffers through now because of my cowardice, my insecurity, my-my 'fear', is tearing her apart inside…' Ainz felt a supreme wave of human guilt washing over his body and he leaned forward to put his head in his hand, he restrained any further visible show of emotion and took a look at the paper on his desk as a distraction.
That caught his eye, however. "A new kingdom?"
Demiurge nodded. "Albedo's manipulated hero figure, Neia. It looks like Olasird'arc survived and had quite the adventure over the months since I threw him out of the mountain. Somehow he connected with her and they've been wreaking havoc ever since. According to the last few reports, she's so far taken over the Orc tribes, forced the Stone Spitters to knuckle under, and beaten a Spidan champion to death, the expansion is getting serious, six different types of demihumans have been conquered outright and two more have joined her voluntarily. This 'Queen of Frost' is getting close to the tribes with three of the strongest demihuman champions."
"Do you think she will win?" Ainz asked.
Demiurge rubbed his chin in thought, "It is hard to say, we have only Albedo's doppelgangers to go on and the Queen rarely engages in direct battles. She conquered the Zern by taking their King hostage and then forced the tribe to relocate to her capital."
"She's human?" Ainz asked.
"No, My Lord. She was ." Demiurge said and related the story as he heard it.
"A ruler, former human or not, who doesn't hate non-humans, would be useful, especially given the state of the Holy Kingdom. Remove the three champions that may bar her way if they display hostility to her rise." Ainz ordered, and Demiurge gave an enthusiastic nod.
"Of course, My Lord, you want to balance us against the non-human hating factions of this world." Demiurge said and he suddenly understood. ' A grand coalition of the non-human factions. The dark elves, the lizardmen, the dwarves, the frogmen, the quagoa, and now in the far west, the growing demihuman Kingdom of the Abelion Hills. Together we will have half the region's population under our sway. Combine that with friendly relations and a complete takeover of both the Kingdom of Carne and the Re-Estize Kingdom, plus a crippled Baharuth Empire and a dependent Draconic Kingdom? We will have it all in one sweeping blow. Assuming Albedo is successful in the Holy Kingdom, my Lord will have it all.'
"Should we reach out to them as a trading partner? They're building a city now, some support might accelerate the new Queen's success." Demiurge asked, and Ainz thought it over.
"Not yet. But monitor the situation." He said, and flipped to another page.
It filled his heart with relief not to have to think about Albedo for a moment, to just be able to relax and put it off, though he knew it wasn't going to last for much longer as the Roble Holy Kingdom continued to spiral out of control.
"What is your impression of the Holy Queen?" Ainz asked, and to that Demiurge answered bluntly.
"Vain. Intelligent, but not enough to be a threat, well meaning enough to be actively harmful. Dreadfully naive, but resourceful and an able organizer. She rules because she's the best on a short list of choices, My Lord. She can stay or go, and our long term plans remain unchanged after the civil war begins. For now it seems Albedo will keep her alive only because her naivete makes her predictable. Between Albedo's useful pawns and the growing anger of the South and the mistrust in the North, it won't be long. After that it falls to you, My Lord, to determine what will be done with them all."
"I see. And what of my… situation ?" Ainz asked.
"I still believe that wild magic may provide the solution, but there are only so many sources of that." Demiurge replied, "The Draconic Queen may be of help here, as our teams have now brought the Beastman Kingdom's invasion into check. Pandora's Actor however, has requested that in his capacity as 'Momon' that you send himself, Lupusregina, and Blue Rose into the Draconic Kingdom as well. It seems he wants to spend time in the company of 'der kleine Vampir'. He has grown infatuated with her."
Ainz thought that over with a mix of fascination and dread. He groaned internally at his chuunibyou past, but there was also a sense of paternal relief at seeing a bit of growth in his creation. ' I didn't think he had that capability… I can't very well stand in the way, and it could even be beneficial…'
He nodded. "Approved. If they have nothing else going on in the Kingdom, spreading Momon's name farther can't hurt."
"I will pass word to him at once, Master." Demiurge said and bowed his head, then relaxed to simply enjoy the company of the One Who Stayed.
' I'm the luckiest one in all the world.' Demiurge thought, and listened with glee as his Master asked for his input again.
Volume 5 C33
Remedios opened her eyes to find Calca at her side, but the Paladin found herself unable to move. Calca's eyes however, were wet with tears and her fingers trembled when she stretched out her hands to surround the fingers and palms of Remedios. The Queen's soft royal fingers, untarnished by manual labor, caressed every callous with loving affection. ' Her hands are so hard… so strong…' Calca marveled at the strength that lay there, and the hours upon endless hours that strength represented. ' All done in my service.' The Holy Queen reminded herself, which made Kelart's revelation all the harder to bear.
"You're alive." Queen Calca finally pushed the words out of her mouth and Remedios thought that over for several long seconds.
"I-I died?" She asked.
"You did. A dragon killed you and ate the one you were executing." Calca explained and Remedios turned her head to look straight up at the stone gray ceiling.
"Yes… yes I remember, I had just put a third sword in that bitch to make sure she couldn't 'walk off' and then… there was chaos, noise, her parents were trying to get to her… what happened to them?" Remedios asked.
"They were arrested and put into a dungeon." Queen Calca replied and looked away, "I was thinking of pardoning them… they may have been wrong, but they only wanted to save their child. Who wouldn't have done what they did?"
"I wouldn't." Remedios answered instantly. "Demihuman lovers, allies of non-humans, traitors… they're in the way of your vision. They're a problem that only death can solve. If even my own sister did what the traitor did, I would put the rusty sword into her belly myself."
Calca closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When Kelart had informed her of what happened before, the truth was in her heart of hearts, Calca didn't believe it. Remedios, bribing a jury? Threatening people to force their hands, corrupting justice in pursuit of it seemed so absurd.
But now, hearing her say she could have executed her own sister so callously? Queen Calca's faith was shaken. "Is it true, then? What your sister says?"
"About what, Majesty?" Remedios asked, looking at her beloved Queen again.
"Did you bribe the jury? Threaten them, to make sure you got a guilty verdict?" Queen Calca asked, and for a moment, she had a flash of doubt. The innocent, confused, even baffled look on Remedios' face, with her wide and guileless brown eyes, it seemed so utterly impossible .
"Some." Remedios admitted. "I bribed the nobles and threatened the soldiers."
Calca's heart almost broke.
"Why?! I thought you were dedicated to me, to my ideals…?" Queen Calca's hand tightened on that of Remedios, but the overwhelming strength difference between the two made it impossible for anything but a gentle pressure to be felt by the one she held.
Remedios's dull eyes held those of her bright eyed Queen. "Of course, your Majesty… that is the point. Now I know the noble families to be purged, as well as the soldiers never to promote, and we get rid of a traitor who made herself a threat to the Holy Kingdom, all in one go."
"You can't… you can't ever do that again… I… I'm lost here, utterly lost." The Holy Queen brought Remedios's hand up and cradled it between her breasts, "I put so much trust in you, and in your sister… and now I learn that both of you, the pillars of my rule, my sword and shield, were corrupt too? What am I to do now?"
"How am I to fix this?" Calca asked with desperate urgency, and Remedios, lost, asked the only thing she could.
"How long have I been dead?"
"About three months, it took a long time to find enough pieces of you to be confident of resurrecting you." Calca said, relieved at least for the moment to have some small distraction.
Remedios tried to sit up, Calca released her hold on Remedios' hand, and put her palm on her beloved Paladin's chest just above the slope of her bosom and pressed her down. "No, you need rest. The caster said you'd need weeks of bedrest and you would have lost a lot of strength. You'll need to restore yourself. I understand, you want to work, but you can't now. That is an order from your Queen." Calca gave the command in her royal voice, and Remedios relaxed with a small half grunted noise.
Calca's hand came away from Remedios and rested on her lap, she gripped the fabric of her white and blue royal garb and said, "A lot has happened since the incident at the wall. Gustav Montagne is now the acting Paladin Commander, both he and your sister are in the Southern Holy Kingdom. A rebellion has begun under the elven slaves that used to reside in Wenmark, they've captured several small cities along the western half, and have taken many hostages. The Southern nobles have refused to pay their taxes, but have accepted the aid for the Wenmark survivors. Here in the North, the tax shortfall has forced us to cut many services, and…"
The Queen shot to her feet, turned around, and spread her thumb and forefinger across her forehead, she let out a sigh while putting her other hand on her hip. "We have riots. My official investigators fined a few, prosecuted them, and sometimes juries are bribed, or threatened… and only about half of the guilty are convicted."
Remedios slowly, with great difficulty, turned her head to the side to look at the back of her Queen and answered her, "Evil has to be destroyed, of course. The greater the evil, the faster it must be destroyed. The greatest evils, non-humans, have to be killed outright. Before they can kill us. The second greatest evils, their allies and human collaborators, come next. Then after that, human evils, the corrupt, the criminal, the murders and worse. They all have to die. If we just kill all the right ones, your kingdom without tears will become reality."
Remedios' lips formed a smile, a tiny, small little smile, it was sluggish, it was like fighting her way up stream in a raging river, but she managed it.
"When I'm on my feet again, when I'm strong again-" Remedios began.
"Who else?" Calca demanded without turning around.
"I'm sorry, Majesty?" Remedios asked with a sudden loss of her smile.
"I asked, who else ? You couldn't have done this on your own, not you. Who else was involved in your… crusade ?" The Queen demanded.
"Oh, a great many paladins, ones I know I can trust, oh and your brother." Remedios replied as if she were talking about the weather. "I guess we didn't go far enough though, but don't worry, we'll fix everything for you, Your Highness, and then the Holy Roble Kingdom will be made great again." Remedios turned her head toward the ceiling again and sighed with contentment.
Queen Calca didn't turn around still, instead she simply said, "Rest, for now, Remedios. I'll send someone to look after you, everything will be alright."
And with that, the Queen left the room.
Volume 5 C34
Skana practically danced through the street, almost prancing as she went through the shops. In her coin purse were a mix of silver and gold coins that totalled more than all her lifetime of earnings combined before she met her Lady. "Albedo is the best, oh Albedo is the best, Albedo is the best best best best best in the whole damn world!" She sang the tune to herself and shook her ass back and forth when she bent over a fruit stall to buy fruit that actually had no blemishes or evidence of rot on it.
It was expensive, but for once that didn't matter. She bought a fresh pair, then two more besides, one for Albedo and one for Illyana, and walked with a cocky, happy, bouncy strut back down the street. Seducing the priest was easy, seducing him where his wife could catch him in the act was easier once she made that enticing. And then Illyana's use of the doppelganger to get the wife to try to murder him… and get caught, was even easier.
It confirmed one thing in Skana's mind. ' Most people are really terrible when you get down to it, Gustav had someone murdered in a fixed trial, Remedios bribed and threatened jurors, is there really not one honest person in this cursed Kingdom? The priests screw their flock, the flock turn on each other over lust, greed, or jealousy… I guess I'm no better, the gods know I'm getting paid well for all this… but still.'
The promise Albedo made to her lingered in her mind. It assuaged Skana's moments of conscience when she watched people destroy themselves. ' If they were only decent in the first place, they wouldn't fall into these traps.' She told herself, and regretted nothing very much.
So despite the occasional pang, she waltzed back into their makeshift headquarters munching on the delicious, soft, juicy fruit. The sweet flavor of the soft flesh as it molded itself to her lips and gave itself up to her hunger was a delight she longed for for far too long. And now it was hers, in her very hand, she sucked the juices from every nip and nibble that exposed more beneath the skin, and arched her back, tilting her head back, Skana let out a moan of bliss at the succulent taste of that which had long been beyond her reach, and now was hers to indulge in whenever she wished. "Mmmoah, sooo good… I want more…" She said and looked with a pang down at the pouch which held the other two plump, ripe fruits. But she steeled her resolve to deliver them to her companions, and lingered to finish her own.
When it was reduced down to the core and the little stem, she tossed it into a refuse bin and entered the building. She wiped her mouth with the back of her arm and sashayed into the door where her much praised employer waited, and tossed a pear to Albedo, then took out another which she tossed to Illyana.
The pair caught her offerings, "Okay, it's done, I wish we had more doppelgangers, but it's all fine, the wife was as enthusiastic a seducee just like her pervert husband, and the doppelganger I have did everything just well too."
Illyana was devouring the fruit as if she'd never eaten food before, tears were running down her face as she did, and Skana watched with the deepest sense of pity that she was capable of. Every gift Skana gave to her, the elf girl cried over as if it were a fortune. Every bite, every nibble, every flavored drink. ' What did they do to her… what did 'we' do to her…?' It was so impossible to imagine the beautiful sylvan woman being harmed, that knowing she had been, only made Skana resent her country more. And more. And more.
And with it, the months of work made her dislike humanity itself.
Albedo did not say 'thank you' when the pear was offered, but she did eat it in front of Skana while she worked, which was a kind of thanks in and of itself. Eager to distract herself from the pathetic happiness of the elf woman, Skana looked over to her working Lady, the demoness and herself seemed like night and day at first glance.
But their common ground, their passionate natures, their diligence, it made the demoness easy to work with, predictable, and trustworthy. Though it was clear Skana was looked at as a useful inferior, that was a familiar state for the peasant woman. ' When am I not, after all?' She reasoned, and within those limits, they got on quite well.
Which was why Skana felt comfortable speaking up when Albedo's quill went down. "My Lady, the Lord you serve… Can I ask some more about him?"
That was always a winning opener. Albedo would go on for hours about him if given the opportunity.
The demoness' face brightened, her vibrant yellow eyes glowed and went wide, her wings trembled with happiness that bordered on orgasmic bliss. "Yes of course, ask, ask human!" She rubbed her hands together and spun to face her tool.
Skana sat cross legged on the floor and asked, "Is there anything he can't do?"
Albedo thought it over, on the one hand it seemed blasphemous to suggest that this was the case, to say there was something beyond him, struck her as wrong. On the other hand, it was also obviously true. Even among the Supreme Beings he was not their most powerful member.
"I suppose," she said diplomatically, "there are things he couldn't do, though perhaps if he wished or had reason, no- yes, he could learn to do them or gain the power to do them."
"Like… change the race of someone?" Skana gently pressed.
Albedo shrugged, "He can already do that, it's child's play to do that on say, weak creatures like you."
Skana spoke very gently next, treading as lightly as she could, "Then… I know you're offering me great rewards already, and've given em, really, it's great, and I'm thankful… but, is it possible for me to ask for that?"
Albedo stopped and pursed her lips. "Why?"
"I don't really like humans much anymore. I didn't really mind when it was all in good fun, but this, and… that?" She inclined her head toward Illyana who was devouring the pear's core right up to the stem.
"Can I… I don't know, could you turn me into a succubus or something? To be honest I'm just not comfortable in my own skin… after we're all done, I'll stay your servant if you'll have me. Just, I don't like being in a body that reminds me of all the terrible stuff that is just… yah know, far too easy to get people to do. Lot of awful, and I don't wanna be part of it. I'm assumin you haven't planned on killing me after we're done, course. And if I'm right, well I'd like to leave not just this Kingdom, but this body as it is. Can I ask for that?"
Albedo let out a silvery, beautiful laugh, and when Illyana heard the request, she stared at Skana in disbelief.
"You'd give up your humanity?" The elf woman blinked her blue eyes slowly, opening them and leaving them wide as the human she worked with gave a sharp nod of affirmation.
"Yeah, I mean, I didn't do anything to you," Skana said and rubbed the back of her head while looking down at the floor, "but a lot of my kind did. I like this job, I like working with Lady Albedo, I don't want to leave it, and if I'm going to work with you, I want you to be able to look at me without disgust or fear. An… I don't think you ever will, not as long as I look like this. So it's a fair trade, call it… call it a present. One less human in the world, that's not so bad, right?" She gave a fragile smile to the slender elf, and Illyana only stared at her as if the human's race changed right in front of her.
The moment was so very intense that it was several minutes before they noticed the noise of rioting outside.
As they listened to the riots for several seconds, one more thought came to Skana's mind that filled her with bliss as she imagined wings on her back, steel for fingers, and strength of the sort she loved in lovers and loathed in brutes, ' It would be nice… to have some real power all my own too…' She looked again at the pitiable Illyana whose body already began to tremble in fear of human hatred and anger. ' Never. Never will that be me.' She vowed, as the riots went on.
Volume 5 C35
Albedo's sneering contempt was on full display when she heard the riots in the streets. The Overseer of the Guardians held discipline in the highest regard, and the rioting human animals in the streets were rendered lower than low in her eyes. The corruption and self interest that brought things to this point, she understood. But when she approached the shutters, flung them open to clap hard against the walls and poked her head out to see the chaos for herself?
That she could not comprehend beyond contempt. Peasants, filthy beasts that they were, ran wild, they threw torches against the walls of the public buildings, while the public officials ran screaming from the crackling fires and the billowing smoke coughing and staggering, if they waited too long, found themselves subjected to the nonexistent mercy of the mob.
Shouts of rage on grimy, torchlit faces twisted human visages into masks of monstrous fury, no longer seemed to be 'people' in the traditional sense. Illyana whimpered and rushed into a corner of the room, crouching and hugging herself with her knees pulled into her chest, she rocked a little back and forth and shut her eyes against the noise of human hatred.
Skana however, rushed to join her Lady at the window and looked out. Her Lady looked down at her and said, barely audible above the crowd, "It seems you did better than you planned. This shouldn't have happened for a few more weeks."
The peasant woman didn't answer, she looked down the street where an official in a dark judge's robe was dragged screaming onto his back, he had a loud shriek, almost like a woman's in its shrill high pitch, and then he was out of sight.
She couldn't hear the sound of his death or pain after that, but she could see the bloody fingers and hands of peasants armed with knives, clubs, or just their bare, angry hands.
The great horn of the castle blew and city garrisons meant to protect the population emerged from their positions, the clink of metal and the clip clop of horse hooves from cavalry was distant, but growing.
The mob however, was in no mood to argue the matter. From the window Skana saw a rock hit a soldier's unguarded face, and he fell in a spray of blood and teeth before being dragged flailing backward by his squadmates, who lowered their halberds with a single snapping motion and began to advance.
Skana saw enough, she leaned back in, while Albedo began to laugh. It sent chills down the peasant's spine, like listening to a child laugh as it poked at a wounded animal.
"My Lady, why are you laughing?" Skana asked when she glanced back to see the terrified elf in the corner who now had her ears covered to keep back the noise.
"Because this is going far, far better than I expected. You can't hear what I can, human. To you…" Albedo leaned back in and closed the shutters, she turned to face her servants while Skana sat by the elf and drew her into a close embrace, "it's just noise, shouting, incomprehensible calls for blood." She tapped her ear and said with a broad, monstrous smile, "But my demonic ears can discern things you can't, the guards are too few, the Holy Kingdom keeps the bulk of its fighting forces and mages in the north. They're not prepared to fight here, not like this. Hoburns is going to fall into the hands of the mob and whoever leads them."
"And the doppelgangers?" Skana asked, suddenly thinking of those playful creatures and what fates they might suffer out there.
Albedo shrugged, "They will blend in with the mob, stoke their resentments, and since they're at least a bit better than average strength and come with a few combat skills, they should speed things along considerably."
Skana sighed with relief, "Good, thank you for reassuring me, My Lady." Illyana ceased to rock, instead she was only breathing hard, and allowed herself to relax in the comforting embrace of her companion.
"You're worried about them?" Albedo asked, "They're only summons." She cocked her head and looked down at the seated human.
"They're still mine… yours… ours… whatever." Skana said abruptly, "I don't much like my own kind anymore, but my mother is still my mother, my village is still my village. The doppelgangers are nice to me, they work real hard, summons or not, they're loyal, and even when they got no choice, that's still worth something. I don't want bad things for them, you know?"
Albedo gave a slow nod of understanding. On the ledger of her heart, Albedo took a piece of chalk and marked Skana's name in the 'do not kill' side, with one final tally.
Unaware that she'd saved her own life with loyalty to minor beings of Nazarick and not merely to the collection of coins for her idle pleasures, Skana pressed her forehead close to Illyana's ear.
"It'll be alright, nobody will hurt you, okay, everything will be fine, Lady Albedo won't let anyone get you, nobody will touch you, never again, okay? You understand, I won't let them, she won't let them. You're safe in here, you're not the one they want, I promise. I always keep my promises, okay, do you understand?" Her repetitions and whispered, calm, quiet voice into the twitching elven ears, and the tightness of her grip, slowly let the elf woman start to relax.
"My Queen, we have to move!" The captain of the guard, a behemoth of a man shouted as he burst into the room with his wide hazel eyes filled with a mix of fear and anger alike. He didn't bother to kneel or even salute, instead he rushed forward and took the Holy Queen by her wrist, only for her to pull back.
She yanked her hand free, "Gotsa… what is it?!" She demanded as she heard the horn blow outside.
"A riot, the rioters have overrun multiple guard posts, we can hold the castle for now, but it won't be long before they bring up a way to scale the walls! We can't hold them back forever!"
Outside there was yet more shouting as nobles and knights rushed to and fro, panic setting in among them.
"Where do you propose that we go?!" She demanded.
"Kalinsha has one of the largest garrisons in the Kingdom, and there are forts along the way, you'll be safe there, we can return and retake the city later!" The commander of the Palace Guard reached for his Queen again, but she stepped back.
"You're suggesting I flee ?! That I run away and leave my people to-" She snapped her mouth shut when he shouted at her.
"Kill you!" He snapped, "They will kill you, and that's if they don't do worse first . We can't hold them back, and you don't have the means to fight that many with your magic, my Queen we must get you out, as long as you're alive you can reclaim the city! If you stay, I stay, if I stay, my guards stay, if we stay, we all die ! Our lives are in your hands!" His face was sweating, it was broad, had the faint beginnings of a brown beard, and his broad body, she knew, rippled with muscle beneath his armor.
Gotsa was an adventurer in his prior career, and one of considerable skill, but he could be swarmed, they could get past even him as a wall of meat, and he had to sleep, eat… he could not be everywhere. If he was worried…
"I won't leave anyone behind!" Queen Calca snapped. "We go together. Someone get Remedios, she's helpless, and whatever happens I won't leave her to die!"
The courage of the Queen as she stood ramrod straight had a calming effect on the guard and all those nearby who heard her. The resolve of the white-clad radiant Queen was beyond words.
"My Queen." He breathed the words like a prayer to the gods and began barking orders.
"Gather everyone in the courtyard!" He shouted out the door to the nearest trembling and fearful guards. "The whole palace leaves, down to the last child and scullery maid! Nobody gets left behind, by Order of Her Majesty!"
If there ever were disloyal thoughts in those who heard his command, such thoughts were murdered by those who held them in that moment as word spread, while fear was widespread, the chaos settled into swift decisive action by the certitude of the unbowed leadership of the Holy Queen.
She walked the halls with steady, unhurried steps, "Make sure you take enough food, forget the flour, only take meat, vegetables, and fruits, we need all the space we can make." She said to a matronly older woman whose shaking limbs unthinkingly held a flour sack in the underfloors.
Minutes later, Calca touched the shoulder of a trembling guard outside who held nervous, neighing, nickering horse reins and listening to the roar of fighting outside as the riots went on.
Screams from those caught outside could be heard every now and then, the once proud status of 'public official' became a death sentence in the hands of the mob. Fires were so high that even beyond the high walls, she could see the flickering orange lights and sparks that licked at the sky like hungry dogs.
The smoke rose from multiple points around the city as fine homes were set to the torch.
"Don't be afraid, young man." Calca said with a serene smile, "The gods will look after us, and if it comes down to it, I won't let them have those who have given me their lives… you'll see tomorrow, I promise you."
His lower lip trembled at her kind and gentle words, and he shook his head, the clink of armor as he forced a fragile smile down at her, to have so slight and fragile looking a woman promise to protect him both shamed and hardened him at once.
"My Queen, w-we will get you out. Don't worry." He said to her, vowing in his heart of hearts that none would lay a hand on her except if she should offer them her touch as she now did for him.
The wagons and carriages were plentiful, and where they were lacking, the horses were many more. The vast palace of the mighty Holy Kingdom was well provided for, even with its large staff of nobles, peasants, and soldiers alike, and so there was space for all in the impromptu column.
But the loudest voice of all, was so loud that it could even be heard among the cacophony of the riot beyond the walls. Archers up above had their bows out and began to fire, but still shouting, oblivious to the danger, was Remedios Custodio.
"Damn it, put me down! I can settle this myself!" She howled as Gotsa hurried outside and ignored her protests, she was slung over his shoulder like an undignified sack of potatoes, potatoes that were vigorously protesting the way they were carried.
"Queen's orders, so shut up!" He barked, and still Remedios howled with outrage.
She missed seeing Calca as she shouted at the captain of the guard, her arms and legs wiggled uselessly as she was thrown bodily into a wagon where she landed in a crumpled heap between several servants.
"Is my brother secured?" The Queen demanded, and Captain Gotsa answered immediately, this time approaching and kneeling in her presence.
"Yes, My Queen, anybody left in the palace now is hiding from us ." He said and bowed his head.
Queen Calca put a hand on his head, "Well done, my Captain, now we can go. Call the guards from the wall, and sound the retreat, let the rest of the city guard follow after us."
Calca then went to her ornate blue and white carriage and waited while the footman opened the door and allowed her in. She was seated before the horn trumpeted again, the orders understood by others, the guards on the wall began to run down the tower steps and hop into wagons near the rear as the column rolled out.
The gate opened, she couldn't see, but heard it, the steady groan of metal as the portcullis went up filled her with dread that had her heart racing in her breast. ' How could this have happened?!' She asked herself as she heard Gotsa blow his command horn and the knights in front of her snap down their lances, the column began to roll out at speed, and Calca peaked past the blue curtains of her carriage to see the chaos outside.
Here and there, to her horror, some of her soldiers, men from the front of her column, peeled away and were engaged with the mob, swords sprayed blood and limbs, hammers split skulls like melons, now and then she saw a horse fall with a whinnying scream as it and the rider were brought down by a lucky spear thrust. The soldiers who fell, did not get back up.
Still, they rode on as precious space was bought in blood and lives as they raced for the exit.
Hate-filled and twisted, dirty faces flashed past her, there and gone in an instant, but they were so many… so very many that it was like they were all one person. Here and there she caught a glimpse of a public official being hanged, screaming for help that wasn't coming, a man fell burning in the street, and the rioters merely went around him, her carriage bounced as it hit a bump. Part of her knew exactly what that bump was, and Calca immediately bent forward and vomited on the dark floor of her carriage, adding a foul smell to her sense of fear and despair.
' How… how… how can this be?!' She asked again as they made it out of the city and the countryside opened up before her on the long road to Kalinsha.
But no matter how long she stared outside, no matter how long she looked out of the window and back at the burning capital city, no answer came to her, and that only made everything worse .
Volume 5 C36
Albedo rarely chose to act herself, at least not directly. Not unless she had a particular target which she could trust to no other. But with the riots still in full swing two days later, she knew that if she sent her servants, they had a high probability of not coming back. With the doppelgangers stretched thin guiding rioters, and herself unwilling to permit her two mortal servants into Nazarick until their work was done, she chose to gather a few supplies herself.
This proved quite simple as the doppelgangers rose to positions of leadership in various factions of the coalescing mob.
She held out a painted rock with the inverted symbol of the Holy Kingdom. "Rations for three." She said when she reached the window of the thoroughly sealed building. There were peasants in lax stances wearing bloody and battered armor clearly not meant for them. They leaned against the wall holding halberds, pikes, spears, with no particular rhyme or reason to who was stationed where.
Albedo glanced out of the corner of her eye, some of the peasants who walked with exceptional swaggers in their steps showed why, the looted houses of nobles resulted in slapdash torn up fashions to intact dresses, but with almost equal brutality…
Hatred and revenge were worn as skirts.
Women who participated in the slaughter, seemingly eager to display their bloody hatred of the corruption they saw in the heights of power, went an extra mile beyond their menfolk. Seen worn in the form of the scalped heads with long hair still attached and sewn into a form of twisted dresses. Long silken strands of golden hair, auburn hair, once part of beautiful or well adorned women of high status to display their wealth, were now reduced to a fashion statement.
Bodies of slaughtered officials were still not cleaned up as the mob began to make the final pushes on the last soldiers holding out in isolated corners of the city.
The scent of blood and pride was such that Albedo couldn't help herself. She took in deep, happy breaths, inhaling it through her nostrils and not even bothering to suppress the excitement of their decadent corruption and what it did to her nethers.
The peasant responding to her request was hard pressed to do anything but stare at her while she was distracted, a few howls of pain in the distance brought fresh tingles to the demon, and somewhere far away, cheers meant another victory for the mad mob.
' Fools. Mere animals, they have no sense of control, they need the Supreme Being or they will never be worth anything at all.' She snorted and recalled the animals that dared strike her Master in the past. ' Fools leading fools, killing fools, doing foolish things…' As she thought of her longed for Master, her heart ached.
For month after month, she worked alone in the Holy Kingdom, her steady progress went back to Nazarick in the form of reports, each of which she kissed and caressed to leave her scent behind. So many nights she lay in bed and sought his mind in the night to give him the only thing she could.
A blissful dream. Yet not once had he summoned her to his bed. Even though she knew he now had a male member and could have her as a man could have the woman he loved. Yet still he hadn't expressed a desire to lie with her.
The train of thought brought her to the depths of despair, her eyes filled with tears, all the world ceased to be as she struggled in her heart to find peace and patience. ' My beloved… my precious Lord, you wanted me to love you above all others… why won't you let me show you…?' She asked with hopeless, silent longing.
After months of work, despite him being a mere 'gate' spell away, she had not been brought home.
The thought that troubled her most was… ' Does he think he made a mistake? Am 'I' a mistake?! Could he actually not feel for me what I feel for him? Am I not desirable in his eyes at all?! Was changing me a form of torture designed to make me suffer for some slight he has yet to reveal? Did I fail? Am I unworthy… am I supposed to love, and not be loved in return?!' Thinking any one of those thoughts guaranteed the rise of the others, and it in turn made her oblivious to the world around her.
She mechanically took the canvas bag of supplies and left the area to go back to her headquarters. She didn't notice that the peasant working there began sobbing uncontrollably, or that those who passed near when her thoughts overwhelmed her, sat beside the street and fell to the same sobbing that was trapped inside her own mind.
When she returned to the shared space, she tossed the canvas bag to Skana, whose bright smile vanished immediately. "My Lady?" She asked, her eyes filling with empathetic tears as Albedo's sorrow became her own.
"Are you… thinking about him again?" The peasant asked, she set the bag down, ignoring the growling of her belly and allowing Illyana to quietly approach and take the supplies to start working with them.
In any other circumstances, Albedo would have snapped, "Mind your place, insect!" or "What business is it of yours?!" or even lashed out with violence. But with none from Nazarick to speak to, not even the vampire whore, and any request to return home feeling wrong while her work was unfinished, there were no others.
However, as she looked the auburn haired peasant over, her bright, shimmering green eyes, so full of guile with her own kind, were guileless with her, empty of anything other than loyalty and devotion. And it didn't hurt that what Albedo wanted was to converse with a woman who might understand.
"Why hasn't he summoned me to his bed? You know our magic can take me home in an instant, he could have me for a night and return me here without missing even a meal. But here I am." Albedo said and flopped down in a chair before resting her arm on the table and drumming her fingers. The sounds of agonizing deaths in the distance and the previously observed proof of atrocity rendered meaningless in the face of her unfulfilled love.
Skana sat on the floor at the feet of her Lady, without thinking, Albedo sat her feet in the human's lap, and Skana moved not an inch. "I've dealt with a lot of shy men, either they think they're doing something wrong, or they like their own sex, or they're insecure, or they're not attracted to the woman, or their male parts don't work right. I guess… the last doesn't apply huh?"
Albedo was torn between bemusement and outrage before settling upon bemusement thanks to the rueful smirk formed by the thin, lipped human female.
"And he likes girls, you know that much, right?" Skana asked and removed Albedo's white sandals. As she began to massage the feet of her Lady, Albedo wiggled her toes and nodded.
"Yes, I can say that with confidence." The Succubus had no doubts on that front, he touched her in the ways of one who felt desire, want, and hunger. She had no doubt of his preference. Even when he had only a skeletal body, he was very clearly fond of the opposite sex.
"So… either he's insecure, not attracted to you, or he thinks he's doing something wrong." Skana snorted at her words, "My Lady is a succubus… beautiful… desirable… anyone capable of lust… they would trade their souls to have you in their arms…" She began to breathe a little harder and worked her fingers with greater vigor into the soles of her Lady's feet, bending and twisting them using all her skills to make the attempt at relaxing the demoness, a pleasing one.
Albedo did not miss what Skana said, or the throaty noise of want in another woman, but chose not to indulge it directly, "You're very observant, human."
"Thank you, My Lady." Skana said and cleared her throat as she brought herself under control.
When Skana was successful, she went on, "So that means he is either insecure, or he thinks he is doing something wrong. If he's insecure, you'd need to make him confident, praise works well for that, and maybe he is… even great men, especially great men, can be uncertain. The very fact that they 'are' great, means they're observant enough to think about how they could be better, when that's what they're like, they can worry about not being better, you know? But I kinda doubt that's the thing… maybe, maybe it could be too… but if I can guess, it's cause he thinks he's wrong."
"How do you conclude that peasant?" Albedo narrowed her eyes down at the former prostitute, dancer, and sometime merchant.
"On account of you're here, a long way away. Like," Skana grimaced as she tried to think things through, and moved her attention to the right foot of her Lady, "like sure magic can get you back quick, but you 'are' still far away, okay? So people put bad temptations as far from themselves as possible so they don't give in. There was a girl I was chasing once, she was married, but she wanted me and I wanted her. But on account of her being married, she avoided me. She went with her husband to town even though most wives stayed home. She worked on the far side of the fields, at village festivals she wouldn't drink in sight of me. Didn't work though." Skana said with a smug grin on her face and a lascivious licking of her lips.
"How did you get her?" Albedo asked with morbid and lewd curiosity both at once.
"There was a rumor I seduced her husband, it wasn't true, but she got real angry about that and came to my house. Now I didn't, I didn't like her husband, he used to hit her when he drank. I got standards, you know? But she still didn't like that, and she had a big black eye where he hit her when she confronted him. I took care of her black eye, said I'd never do anything with a man what does that kind of thing to a person they're supposed to love. I got her cozy, comforted her, told her it was okay to want to feel good, once she didn't feel it was wrong, we kissed and we liked the taste… that's how it begins, always with a kiss." Skana licked her lips and let out a little pretty laugh.
From behind her, she heard the soft voice of Illyana, "What happened when the husband found out?"
Skana looked over her shoulder at the sylvan woman who steadily stirred a stewpot over a crackling flame, the human's face became grave and serious. "He beat her up pretty bad. But then, something funny happened." Skana scratched her head, "he went out hunting one day and then just… didn't come back. It's right dangerous in them woods, you know. There's wolves, bears, who knows what kind of monsters. Never did find his body neither, like he vanished into thin air." Skana snapped her finger and her face became all smiles. "Maybe the gods didn't much like him beating on his wife and took him for judgement, for all anyone else knows. I took care'a the wife though, got her back on her feet when we couldn't pay for a healer to come out to the village, and she was my woman for bout a year before she got another farm boy and a kid from him after that. So I guess things worked out." Skana's enjoyment of recounting the story seemed all but boundless, but Illyana had a little frown.
"Weren't you sad when she got another person and left you?" The elf asked, and Skana shook her head a little, and looked back down at Albedo's feet while she finished working on them.
"Nah, not really, I started whoring around that time, and we don't get those pretty endings, besides, I can't even imagine what kinda person I'd want to settle down with." She chuckled with derision, "They'd have to be one in a bigger number of people than I can name, like… one ina kingdom, for me to even think about it."
"I see." Illyana said and ladled stew into bowls which she brought over to the table. She bowed her head to her demonic savior while laying it down within the demon's reach. "Though my fare is simple, I have given it all my devotion, My Lady. I pray that makes up for my lack of refinement."
She then handed a bowl down to Skana. "Here you go, enjoy," she said with a gentle little grin before going and retrieving a third bowl for herself.
"Anyway, Lady Albedo, if the only real problem is he thinks he's wrong for wanting you, just get him to see that he's not. A little liquor, sweet words, and show him that the real wrong is not being happy. That's like… the worst wrong ever. Let it, and this world'll take every bit of happiness away and leave you sad all the time, so show him how happy you both could be, an that it's alright, and he'll be yours."
Albedo quietly reflected on that and the trio ate in silence thereafter, with none really looking at the other.
Volume 5 C37
The Queen of Frost walked over the field of battle, or what she was fairly sure the histories would describe as a battlefield. But the truth was… ' This was a massacre.' The bodies of the bafolk were more numerous than she expected. Their powerful leaps made them vulnerable to arrows, and spat stones, while their preference for spears without shields made them easy prey for the tight formations of the orc tribes.
The Green Fist survivors that she used as bait would be incorporated into her Kingdom, with their chief and his core of supporters dead, for good measure Neia intended to break up the tribe into subgroups of others, ensuring that they would blend in like blood on fox fur and disappear as they assimilated.
Ahead of her, across the field, the last holdouts of the bafolk were rallied around the Grand King Buser. "Thalren?" Neia said as her formation spread out in the crane wing formation to surround the last position of the goatmen.
"Yes, My Queen?" he asked, rushing over to kneel before her.
"How are they holding out this long? Are my soldiers unwilling to get close to him?" Neia asked, the bodies of most of the bafolk were in clumps and clusters, their tribal warfare led their people into danger for glory, which made them easily trapped and killed off, and ironically drawing other glory hungry fools eager to prove themselves, to the same end.
He looked up at the white haired woman with her ice blue eyes, her talons were extended out and the light of the day made her off-white, almost blue skin gleam like an angel. "My Queen, he has the Sunder skill, he destroys weapons when he hits them, it makes him very difficult to approach, also his bodyguards are powerful warriors, and they have a small hasty fortification of carts to help keep us from getting too close."
"I see." Neia said and looked over her shoulder, her own bodyguards were now comprised of notable warriors from multiple races. Vijar Rajandala's Zoastian cavalry proved an effective flanking force when properly anchored by infantry, and Neia's promise of securing his lands and a position of authority over other beastmen… along with a reminder that he was stuck on the ground while Olasird'arc, her Magelos, and her Pteropus were not, sealed the deal. Greatness or destruction was an easy choice, and with each race having some vulnerability she could exploit… Day by day, her coalition grew.
But the Bafolk resisted. Surrounded, shot by stones, having poisoned darts dropped from above, arrows launched at them, and the orc hordes with iron discipline surrounding them, and still Buser would not give in.
And now the field was filled with dead bafolk, perhaps half the united tribe, not counting their pregnant females, their old, their young, and the few warriors who made it back to the Grand King's position. With this victory, what remained of the Abelion Hills would almost surely fall into her hands.
The smell of blood was thick in the air, and Olasird'arc's shadow swept over Neia's body before she saw it begin a slow, circling descent. The last holdouts of the Bafolk were some two kilometers away at their encampment, too far even for her to hear the fighting.
Neia rubbed her head where she felt the ridge still forming. ' His blood isn't done with me, more and more, I'm losing what made me human, how far will this go?' She asked, at once ashamed of the twinge of unhappiness at losing what she was, and grateful, even proud, for what the frost dragon did for her.
When he landed at last, she held out a hand, and touched his scales. When she was a human, it felt cool to the touch, but now, it felt more alive, 'warm' in its own way, while others like the orcs, their flesh seemed almost burning by comparison.
"I checked the area beyond, for some reason, the last three tribes have fallen into chaos, they won't be sending aid to the bafolk, no other warriors are in sight, he stands alone." Olasird'arc said and Neia caressed his face.
"My friend, thank you." She said, and meant it in every way she could, "If you don't mind, could you carry me to the last stronghold of the bafolk? I'll see Buser myself. With this, assuming the last don't pose a problem, we should be able to open up trade with the Dark Dwarves and even the Dark Elves. That trade will bring unimaginable wealth in goods to my new Kingdom. There's only one real obstacle left, and I'd like to remove it myself if I can."
Olasird'arc lowered his head to the ground and allowed the Queen of Frost to climb up and sit behind his head, the pulsing power of her dread giving eyes had only grown since her transformation, and as such, carrying her felt proper.
Though he could not explain her uncommon luck . As he took off into the air and her army continued to march toward the last holdouts to ensure there was no escape or shift of fortunes, he thought that over.
' While not all her luck has been good, it's all come out in her favor again, and again, and again. The sudden disappearance of several demihuman chiefs and champions creating conflicts that weakened her neighbors before her coming is almost like a divinely given blessing. I wonder if she is holding out information from me?' He considered it a near certainty that the Queen of Frost had somehow arranged for the deaths or disappearances of several champions, but from his own time as a ruler he knew better than to outright ask about it. ' Even if she did, she would deny it, even to me.'
Her mention of the Dark Dwarves and trade had him curious as well. ' The dwarves I know are master builders, craftsmen of notable skill, in retrospect forcing them to unite with the Quagoans would have been much, much wiser.' It was another failure of foresight in his mind that brought great bitterness to his heart. Perhaps it would have changed nothing when he was confronted by Jaldabaoth, but there was no way to know now that the past was past.
He turned his mind to the task at hand, keeping his eyes sharp and on the lookout, from up above, the creatures fighting so urgently below were mere ants, behind him he could already hear the crows coming to feast on the dead from both sides. ' Birds are the winners of every battle.' He thought with a sense of irony as their calls to their brethren grew louder as ever more joined in the feast which Queen Baraja and King Buser provided to them.
Up ahead over a low rising hill, he caught sight of the improvised fortification. A ring of thick carts protecting multiple tents, the bafolk warriors fought from what passed for improvised high ground, protected by cart walls, at a single entrance the largest of the goatmen fought with vigor.
Weapons shattered and Queen Baraja's warriors would fall back to be replaced with others. Taught to preserve their lives rather than throw them away, they withdrew, albeit reluctantly, to the mocking calls of the Bafolk King.
Instead he found himself dealing with a newly thrust spear, and his wearying bodyguards struggled to hold the line.
Olasird'arc was quick to make a suggestion, "Should I use my breath on them?"
"No," Neia shouted over the wind that battered and roared against her body. "I think I can handle this one myself. It looks like the stories are true, he really can sunder weapons, but that seems to be his whole routine. Go ahead and descend into the camp, I'd rather take their last warriors alive if I can."
As the dragon's shadow alerted them to his coming by its darkness sweeping over them during the light of the fading day, both sides paused to look up.
Neia couldn't help but notice the bright green armor. ' I really like that armor…' She thought at last when Olasird'arc touched ground with an earth shaking roar and the Queen of Frost leapt down from his back.
"Grand King Buser!" Neia called out, "The battle is over, your army is defeated! Submit, and you and the rest of your people will live!"
She held out a hand to allow him to come and offer supplication.
He turned to face her, in the moment that her army seemed to cease its attempts, a brief respite was his, and his warriors took it gratefully, allowing their spear tips to lower to the ground.
The goatman let out a steamy snort from his nostrils, "I have a better idea! You submit to me ."
"You're not in a position to make that suggestion." Neia said as the two crossed the open ground between each other. He looked like hell, he'd clearly been using his 'sunder' skill a great deal, he was breathing hard, and despite his bravado, he was in far from the best shape. By contrast, Neia was breathing easy, relaxed, rested, and it showed.
"Huntress of the Wildlands, Queen of Demi-humans… you did defeat my tribe, but as long as I am on these two hooves," he stomped them on the ground and huffed again, leveling his sword at her, "I will never submit to you, a crossbreed of human and non-human, a creature of muddied blood, rejecting you was the smartest thing the humans ever did."
Neia narrowed her eyes, the fullness of her fiery gaze, the icy hatred, the raw loathing and murderous intent poured out of her pupils and into the face of the demi-human that stood twice her height and dared insult her being.
"Then that is all there is to say, Grand King. When I kill you, I will spare your people and make them mine, then they will become greatness, and you will be forgotten." Neia spat cold spit into the churned up dirt, and without another word, the Bafolk King charged.
Neia's bow was out and she put mana into her shot, the arrows loosed faster than she had ever used them as a human, but the Grand King's sword flashed out, batting most of them aside, he ignored the explosive burst of mana and the pathetic damage it caused. ' Archers are easy, get in close and…'
The pain hit his throat, though he didn't see what caused it until the blinding flash ceased to effect his eyes, the Dragonid Queen had gone on the offensive, when his sword batted away her arrow, her talons came out and she jumped into his arms like a child eager to embrace her father.
Only instead, her talons dug into the fur and fleshy hide where the armor met his neck, and her mouth, he caught a glimpse of it before it clamped down on the flesh at his cheek, tearing and rending so that his blood knew the touch of air, he howled in pain, dropped his sword, and grabbed her small body with both hands to tear her away.
The sharp fangs of her teeth carried his flesh and blood with it, as did her talon like fingernails, but little by little, he pulled her loose and threw her back. She spat chunks of him into the ruined ground between their feet, and she drew her bow again. Mana infused arrows pricked like pins as she began to run.
Blood pumped out, and he snatched up his weapon to attack one handed again. But without a ranged weapon of his own, he was forced to run or leap… and he was weary. She led him on a chase, her laughter mocking him and driving him to charge with ever greater recklessness. The pin pricks that hit his limbs began to slow him down, and he started to take them seriously. Avoiding or deflecting them until she ran out of arrows and threw her bow aside. It slid along the bloody ground and the two charged at one another.
Her talons raked along his body as she came in close, inside the reach of his sword, his great size made a massive target, and it was difficult to use his sword. But he still had his other hand, and while droplets of his blood scattered and splattered about, he bore the wounds until he finally got what he sought.
He grabbed her wrist, squeezed it tight enough to draw a snarl of pain from the Queen of Frost, and hauled her bodily off her feet so that she dangled, hung by her arm above the ground.
"You are mine!" He shouted as he held the slender little dragonid aloft, but her pulsing horrifying stare never wavered, he raised his sword overhead to bring it down and cleave her in two at the shoulder.
[Lesser Strength], [Fortress], [Dragonskin] . Neia activated her martial arts, her other hand went up and snatched his sword arm at the wrist and held firm. Then her talons closed in on the tendons, pierced the nerves… and tore them out.
Sudden agony shot through the Grand King, and he released his hold on her in shock. No sooner than her feet touched the ground than she jumped into his chest again, gripping his throat with her fingers facing opposite directions, she pierced the flesh, and tore it open.
The Grand King of the Bafolk, toppled backwards not with a roar, not with a bellow, but with a disbelieving gurgle. Confusion filled his once fierce eyes as his life's blood poured out into the dirt, and with its departure, he died at last.
Neia rose. "The Grand King Buser has been slain by Neia Baraja, Queen of Frost. Surrender, and your lives will be spared!" She announced as the drums of her larger force became far more audible, and the little ring of wooden carts was further surrounded from the outside.
The stillness of their disbelief continued for several seconds as the fallen giant of a Bafolk was simply stared at by those waiting for him to rise up to his hooves again.
But as he failed to rise and the moment stretched out, one by one the bafolk cast down their spears with anger and disbelief, or let them simply slip from their fingers in despair. They made a low bleating-like noise of mourning as the world they knew ended, and a new, unfamiliar one began.
Thalren made his way into the remnants, while the orcs bound bafolk prisoners in thick ropes for the Queen's final judgement, and knelt before the Queen of Frost. "Majesty, there's nothing left but Bladers, the Vah Un, and the Spriggans. If we send word for peace, give good promises, they will submit. Champions or chiefs are dead there, they will destroy themselves, they know this. They will not fight you."
"What about the bafolk settlements?" Neia asked while the last bafolk warriors were led out of sight after being bound.
Thalren thought that over, and while he did, Neia crouched down, picked up the armor at the shoulders, and began to haul it off the fallen bafolk champion and chief.
She set it down, shimmied out of her more crude chainmail armor, and then slid Buser's green colored armor on instead. She felt it conform to her body as only magic armor could do. ' Yes, that feels right somehow, like I belong in this.' Neia thought and sighed with contentment.
"They have almost no one left to defend, we show captives, they submit, we show Buser's head, they swear loyalty. They cannot stop you now. You are Queen of Abelion Hills." Thalren said with a reverential, hushed tone that fairly compelled him to his knees.
"No… we will give it a better name. The Abelion Hills is a name humans gave it, they don't and won't respect it as its own Kingdom if we keep the name they gave us." Neia shook her head, "That is the way of humans, to name it, is to own it… sort of. This will be…" Neia thought about it and picked up the sword once held in Buser's hands, she rested it on her open palm and looked down at the long weapon, it had taken many lives, that much she was sure of. Many lives from many demi-human races over the years of war.
"We will call this land, where all demihumans may belong, 'The Kingdom of Demalbion' and it will be a haven for non-humans. We will make it strong, we will make it great. And nobody will take it from us ." Neia said, and hearing her words, the army began to cheer while the birds continued their echoing calls of approval, feasting with glee on the gift of death from the Queen of Frost.
She handed the sword off to Thalren, "Keep it, a gift to commemorate your hard work for me, first of my demihuman followers. This victory wasn't mine, this was ours, all orcs, stone spitters, and the rest, deserve praise for this day."
"My Queen…" He accepted the gift of the blade with reverence, bowing his head, and then raising it up overhead, his large maw opened and his deep set eyes filled with devotion, he bellowed out his praise.
"Kingdom of Demalbion ours! Frost Queen ours! Victory, ours ! Hail Frost Queen! Hail Kingdom!"
The call went up, and as it did, Olasird'arc nudged at Neia with his snout.
"You're off to a good start." He said under his breath.
"Aye," she said, glancing back to meet his eyes, "but any good sword arm can build a kingdom, the hard part is ruling it."
Olasird'arc, recalling the loss of his own and the very limited progress he made despite years of effort, did not disagree.
Though it didn't make either of them enjoy the moment of triumph and cheers any less before they went to finish the last remnants off… one way or another.
Volume 5 C38
Gustav Montagnés stood looking at the ruined village, smoke still rose up from the ruins which the elves left behind, the bodies were in a sorry state of affairs. The wrath of the slaves had been turned on men, women, children, old and young. All of them bound to stakes, all of them filled with arrows.
"They turned them into target practice…" He said while Kelart stood at his side.
"The same as the last four villages." She said while her soldiers cut the bodies free to let them crumple into dead heaps onto the dirt.
"At least they aren't hitting towns yet." Gustav said with a grimace, a few paces away several soldiers were busy digging a mass grave to dump the naked bodies of the villagers into.
"Yet." She retorted, "It won't be long. They collapsed the mines, remember, those employed a lot of very strong slaves, if they keep at it, they'll have enough strength to hit towns soon, and we're hard pressed to stop them. We can't guard everywhere, but they can raid anywhere ."
"It was a mistake to let the South engage in this trade with the Theocracy." Gustav said and spat into the bloody mud churned up by fighting, bleeding, and recent rain. "We just brought our enemies home to us, and now look."
As if to follow his own orders, he looked at the broken and toppled shells of what used to be human peasant huts. They were blackened from fire and mostly toppled, only the skeletons of the homes remained standing, if anything at all. In a few cases, only the door frames. The crops were burned in the fields, and if he were to take a guess, many were taken as well for the elven rebels to eat.
"So how do you think they did it this time?" Kelart asked.
Gustav pointed to the distant fields, "I would guess that they started a fire in the fields, got people to come running to put it out, and then hit the village and the young rushed to douse the fires at the same time. Divide them both, kill them both. That's my guess anyway, since some of the bodies in the fields had buckets with them."
"We need to catch them." Kelart pointed out.
"Alright," Gustav said with scathing sarcasm and a steady unblinking glare at the advisor to the Queen, "let's just chase the elves into the great forest, that will surely have no drawbacks whatsoever. It isn't as if they don't have centuries of experience in combat in those conditions. And when we get there, we can cut our own throats and create a flood of blood to drown them all."
She stared back at him and flicked back her long chestnut brown hair, "Fine. Point taken."
Gustav slumped at the shoulders with her concession, he heard the thud of a body being tossed into the hole. Another thud followed after it.
"If we can't catch them… maybe we can… I don't know? Confine them." He pointed out, "If we establish a series of forts and keep patrols outside the forests we should be able to minimize any damage that they can do and slowly wear them down."
Kelart thought that over, forts were not expensive, the elves did not have massive armies, and all they needed to do was protect the villagers and deter elven attack. It made sense. "I'll bring it up to the lords who have land around here."
It took weeks of haranguing the local lords and explaining that they would have to prepare some security responsibilities of their own… along with one arrogant lord's slaughtered expedition into the forest, to convince them that Gustav and Kelart were correct.
But little by little, forts began to appear and the Southern Holy Kingdom's peasants were taught how to man and defend them, along with each being provided with a dozen or so trained soldiers to help man and maintain these small positions.
Further, the mounted knights of the various lords began to ride out on the fringes to look for elven activity.
Mines continued to fall, places that had any sizable elven slave population suffered attack.
But the troubles began to drop off.
Which is why Gustav and Kelart toasted their success in the dining hall of a local duke, their feet propped up on the table, leaned back with contented smiles. The problem was not completely solved as the elves still held the forests, but the threat was removed nonetheless.
The frothing beer was a tad warm on the tongue, but the mug was big, heavy, and above all, full .
They drank deeply and faced one another, Gustav's face was flushed red beneath his bushy brown beard as he said in an almost festive voice, "Now all we need to do is get this tax situation taken care of and we can head home, they should have no further issues paying what they owe to the Crown, and if they object at this point?"
"Then they're just in rebellion, and we'll need to use the force we brought for show." Kelart responded, her face was more serious, her lips drawn into a thin line after consuming a deep draught, and then split into a smile, while it was possible, and she considered it more likely than Gustav did, she didn't think it much more likely.
Until…
"Do you think Kelart and Gustav have gotten word of what happened yet?" Queen Calca asked.
Her brother sat opposite herself and beside the bedridden Remedios.
Days of travel over open roads were peaceful once the capital was out of sight, though the plumes of smoke continued to be a blight against the blue sky in the eyes of the Queen. Now, safely in Kalinsha, they had the security of an armed force, walls, a more stable and loyal population, and Gotsa was leading a force to reclaim the capital. A force that Remedios doubted was enough.
"It's hard to say, My Queen, but the mob will surrender on their own, I'm sure. They have to, they don't want to risk harming-" Remedios snapped her mouth shut as she spoke when Calca's brother interjected.
"Shut-"
"Up." He spat at her.
"Not everybody believes in my sister's sense of justice as you do, Remedios. They don't value human lives as you do, and that is how we ended up in this mess in the first place!" He slammed his fist on the table where he sat, and Calca jumped a little in her seat.
Casponde's long, rich blonde hair was not in its finest state at that moment, the stress had clearly gotten to him, and when he saw his sister's reaction, he forced himself to relax. "Sister… I'm sorry, but as much as I share your beliefs, we simply can't avoid the reality in front of us! Our brothers are scattered all over the place, the royal family isn't united, the South is withholding taxes, and now we've lost the capital, while the army that could easily retake it is engaged with events in the South. I still can't believe the elven slaves are demanding a separate homeland for themselves in the South."
"Enslaving them was a mistake, they should have been killed instead." Remedios chimed in again.
Calca wrung her hands in her lap, "It's all this corruption, I don't understand it… but… but I don't need to, do I?"
"Sister?" Caspond asked, she snapped her eyes up to her brother's, their clear family connection never more obvious than then.
"I can't do things the way I did them… Emperor Jircniv had a problem with lazy and corrupt nobles, he got rid of it by getting rid of them, we can do the same. My soldiers, people who gave their lives to me, died saving my life and getting me out. We're going to retake the capital by any means necessary, and then conduct a purge. Every single official in the Northern and Southern Holy Kingdom, every single noble family, without exception, will be audited. Every single corrupt individual will be purged . The labor lost in the South with the rebellion of the elves will be replaced with them ."
"My Queen-" Remedios opened her mouth, and kept it open when Calca, with tears in her eyes and one fist clenched, slapped her across the face.
"This is your doing also! Kelart told me the truth! And you go and confirm it! And you too, brother ! What point is there to a kingdom of laws that has no laws that the rulers respect?! Bribing juries, blackmailing judges, threatening people with lives in their hands?!" Remedios rubbed her cheek as if she couldn't believe the stinging pain and the Holy Queen raged on.
"The one you had condemned had a good reputation for protecting people! For saving lives, maybe what she did was wrong, but that clear corruption rubbed everybody the wrong way! What did you think was going to happen?! How can I be trusted by the people when you act in my name to show that I can't be trusted?!" The Holy Queen spat the words out with such violent anger that spittle flew from her lips to land on Remedios' cheek, and the resurrected paladin could only lay there and take it.
"I was trying to protect people too…" She said in a small, childlike voice, "Sympathizers with the demihumans are too dangerous to leave alive. Spare one today, they'll kill tomorrow. Non-humans have to die, it's that simple. There's no other way for us to be safe, there's nothing fair about a human child dying by a demihuman claw, so there can be nothing fair about getting rid of the ones who help demihumans."
Calca sat heavily in her chair with an audible thump. "We're going to set all this to rights." She said and pointed at Remedios, "And you are going to help me, and you are going to follow my orders in both letter and spirit . Do you understand me, Remedios Custodio?" Calca seethed with outrage, recalling the soldier dragged from his horse and the hate filled peasant's eyes as a spear pierced the mouth of the valiant warrior. ' So much suffering, brought down by people with no real sense of justice… I have to fix all of this… but… I'm going to need help to do it. I can't do it all on my own.' The Queen cursed her ill luck, and Remedios gave a slow nod.
"Yes, My Queen… my sword is always yours, I swear it."
"That's a start." The Holy Queen said, and then rang the bell to call for a servant, at that moment, all she really wanted was a strong drink, her capital may have been denied her, but a drink at least, would not be.
Volume 5 C39
Gustav and Kelart listened with alarm.
"What do you mean that Hoburns has fallen?! Hoburns can't fall ?!" Kelart shouted as she shot to her feet.
Gustav's hand reflexively went to his sword, but he held his fist tightly clenched around the hilt, the leather squeaking in the tense grip of his slowly twisting hand. ' It's us that let this happen, we did this, our corruption, our attempt to do good by way of evil… they lost their faith in us, and what is a Kingdom if not the faith of the people in it?!' He cursed himself while sweat formed on his brow, his heart pounded and ached, his eyes squeezed tight shut as he heard the woman scream in pain as she was murdered atop the wall.
It was no longer an execution in his mind. ' It was murder, I had her murdered, I knew it was wrong, I knew Remedios had done something, the peasant knew, everybody knew, and while looking into the eyes of my Commander, I pronounced the sentence… maybe she would have been found guilty anyway, but maybe not? Nobody can know now…' He was lost in his guilt and dismay while Kelart continued to shout at the page boy who knelt and relayed the message.
"Forget the taxes, we have to get back to Hoburns now !" Kelart exclaimed and put a hand on Gustav's shoulder to bring him back to reality.
He nodded numbly. "Is… the Holy Queen, is she alive?"
"What about my sister?" Kelart asked, then a half a second later, "And the Prince?" She added belatedly without a glance at Gustav, her eyes riveted on the kneeling, trembling boy in the blue and white uniform with the royal crest on the center.
"A-All alive when word was passed to me, f-fled to Kalinsha, I I-left while they were on the r-road, the Queen commands that the Royal Army return to the capital city and take it back f-from the m-mob, My Lady." The boy stammered a lot, his youthful face a deep red flush of uncertainty at their reactions.
"Right… right of course, thanks be to the gods." Kelart sighed and rested a hand over her heart. "Then we need to go, we can't waste an hour, Gustav, how quickly can you get the army ready?"
"Within the hour, but… we shouldn't ignore the funds, the damage to Hoburns will be enormous, we can't forget that. If we do, we'll just invite the same riots again when the army leaves. And I can promise the Southern Holy Kingdom will find an excuse not to pay while Hoburns is damaged." Gustav pointed out.
Kelart frowned and rubbed her temple, forcing herself to calm down, "Fine… fine, we'll leave a sixth of the army to collect what we can while we take the main force back. Nobody will want to spark an outright rebellion over this."
"You're probably right." Gustav noted, "Not with the ongoing elf problem."
With that said and done, they got moving. "See you at the head of the army in an hour then, this is going to be a long road back." Kelart said with dread.
A dread Gustav shared.
Albedo listened to the doppelganger with glee in her heart. The Royal Army was relatively undermanned, being composed only of the garrisons of Kalinsha and other fortifications in the immediate area. She shivered, her wings trembling with excitement, her yellow eyes bright at the faceless doppelganger that explained what was sighted from the walls.
"Can the mob fend them off?" Albedo demanded, cutting to the heart of the matter.
"Yes, My Lady, but it is likely that they will draw on other garrisons, and they may have powerful heroes whom the peasants cannot fend off without our help. What should we do?" The doppelganger asked, cocking his head to one side, even from down on one knee he could not resist a dramatic gesture or tone of voice, exaggerating the question greatly and spreading his arms out as if to embrace the Guardian Overseer.
Albedo was now used to their over the top performances, ' Perhaps Pandora's Actor behaves as he does because of his race rather than by design?' Albedo wondered but had no certainty behind her thoughts, at least being used to it now, she no longer rolled her eyes. "It's time for the city to fall, we need the tipping point. How far away is the Royal Army headed by Gustav and Kelart?"
"Three weeks." The doppel answered.
"Help the defenses hold until then, after that, cause their collapse, but in the days before that… make the Royal Army angry. Make them angry and frightened, and make sure word of what is done because the Queen lost the capital, is carried south."
The doppelganger exclaimed his devotion with an elaborate act of rising to his feet to make a deep, sweeping bow, "Of course, My Lady!"
When the doppelganger was gone, Skana and Illyana approached, "So ah, My Lady?" Skana prompted and when the pair knelt, Albedo nodded her acknowledgement.
"Yes?" Albedo asked, resting the side of her head in her palm while her arm was propped up at the elbow on the table.
"What's going to happen up on the wall?" Skana asked with a brief, wary glance out the window to the distant stones where the mob still patrolled.
"Some mild atrocities, this city is going to fall, and be reminded that this is a Kingdom, they don't get a choice of ruler. The few surviving government officials and soldiers will be slaughtered in front of their comrades, painfully, to provoke an attack and retribution. With that," Albedo snapped her fingers, "the corruption of this Kingdom will be thrown into the flames and extinguished. The Southern Holy Kingdom will rise in rebellion out of fear of the Queen as she will become, and a new world for this land will be born in blood and pain."
"Humans die, lots of them… right, Lady Albedo?" Illyana asked, licking her lips and still darting nervous glances outside.
"It may not be 'lots', but by the end of it, let us just say that the humans will regret their mistreatment of you and your kind, Illyana." Albedo chuckled with malice and the elf prostitute cast herself at Albedo's feet with her arms outstretched and her forehead to the floor.
"I never dreamed that I would live to see my race avenged, not even in all the years of my lifetime… but in barely half a year I have seen… or will see, all of that and more… I'm yours, for your bed, for your sustenance, for your service, for all the years of my life, no matter how old I live to be!" Illyana cried out with sobs of joy that wet the floor. Her golden hair lay scattered about, and Albedo glanced from the elf to the human.
"Aren't you going to rededicate yourself to me?" The demoness asked with a bit of bemusement at the quiet prostitute, and Skana turned her eyes from the window and back to her Lady.
"My Lady, I'm a peasant." Skana reminded her mistress, she smirked up at the demon, "I don't say a lot less somebody wants me to, but what I do say, I mean. I can say it twice, but it won't mean more on account of I meant every word the first time. I'm your woman, course… if you do want the bed, you'd be the prettiest girl I've ever slept with, demon or not." She winked and gave her Lady a lascivious lick of the lips, and at this Albedo could only draw a hand down her face and groan.
"I am not very fond of humans… but of all your traits, never knowing what you will say next at least keeps you from being absolutely dull ." The demoness giggled a bit. "For now though, we wait, and we watch."
Volume 5 C40
Two weeks, and still the city had not fallen. Two weeks, and only dispatches had come her way. Two weeks, and order was still not restored. "Pull some of the soldiers back from the wall and reinforce the capital." Calca said with some reluctance.
Remedios looked at her with alarm and began to struggle in her bed, "My Queen… the demihumans might invade." Her deep and staring eyes did not have the desired effect on the Queen.
"They haven't been united in over a hundred years, as long as that remains the case, we don't need to reduce the numbers for long, just enough to take back the capital. They lack discipline, unity, and order. As long as nobody gives them that, we can quickly right the situation here and then…" Calca frowned, "I believe some of the penalties involved with rioting can be modified… if they like fighting so much, let them serve at the wall. Every peasant caught with weapons or wounds from fighting, will be sent to the north east to the border with the Abelion Hills. That should increase our numbers more than we need."
Remedios relaxed, she ceased trying to sit back up. "My Queen," she grunted a little and inched herself up on her pillow. It was thickly stuffed with goose down, the blankets were linen and the mattress thickly stuffed with cotton, it was the finest place to rest that the Queen could have given her. Yet the restored Paladin was constantly agitating to rise and train to regain her old strength.
"And we're going to the capital, my brother and I both." Calca informed her paladin, and Remedios tried to rise again.
"Then I need to go too!" Remedios insisted, only for Calca to lay a hand on her chest and push her back down by force.
"No, Remedios. No. You are not fit to fight, or to protect me, or for anything right now but breathing and getting better." Calca's eyes shimmered a bit and she choked a little as she spoke, "Just be patient, you'll be up and about again before you know it."
Remedios struggled against a hand that was not much stronger than a young child, ' I should be with my Queen… not here! Damn it! Damn the dragon, damn the bitch, damn the demihumans and their sympathizers… this is all their fault! I was just doing my duty and what did I get for it… damn them all!' She cursed and looked away from her Queen and back up toward the ceiling.
"Yes, your Majesty." Remedios acknowledged, and Calca slowly stood up.
The Queen was quiet for a moment, then another moment, and then another, until Remedios finally slightly turned her head to face her Mistress and asked, "My Queen, is there more?"
Calca nodded, she remained mute and folded her hands in front of her waist, her lips twitched and moved as if she was about to speak, but could not get out the words. Finally, she took a long slow breath and said, "I have been a fool. I was the Queen because Caspond didn't really want the throne, and because he thought I would be better fit for it than he or our brothers. I was the Queen because I was loved, and I loved our people. I was driven by my ideals, my dreams of a Kingdom where nobody cried, where everyone was happy, and now look." She gritted her teeth and sucked air audibly between them.
"My capital falls to a rioting mob, the South withholds taxes, elven slaves rise in rebellion, and even my paladins no longer trust in my justice. I must own my part in all these things, I am the Queen, therefore the gold coin stops in my palm." Calca raised her hand and closed all but her pointer finger into a fist, and leveled the remaining finger at Remedios.
"But you, my brother, your sister, also have a hand in all of this. I was 'handled'. I put too much faith in all of you, even though you believed in my ideals, you corrupted them at your whims. Kelart and Caspond's tolerance of the slave trade in the south… I was assured 'slaves are too expensive to treat poorly' and that they would live lives that made them grateful to be here rather than in the Theocracy. But if that were so, they wouldn't be slaughtering my people and rising in revolt. You, corrupted my laws to convict whoever you wanted… you won your trials, but at the cost of having nobody trust them anymore. You executing the Huntress of the Wildlands led directly to the assault on the wall by the very dragon she saved . Making things worse, her family… one of the Nine Colors, has abandoned us. He and his wife sent formal letters of resignation and castigated us over what happened to their daughter. I can't even apologize because they've disappeared!"
Remedios's eyes opened in alarm, "My Queen I was only trying to-"
Calca would have none of it. "Shut up." The Queen commanded. "Your Queen speaks." Calca shook her head, "I put too much faith in people who lacked it themselves, how can I expect people to press my ideals if they won't follow them? If my ideals can't work without destroying them entirely, they don't work at all . When all is said done, you will answer for what you've done. Perhaps if I had known more, the dragon might have become an ally, our northern border could have been easily secured. Perhaps the Huntress was right. Perhaps if we treated the demi-humans with some kindness, we would not always be enemies. Perhaps if I had seen the condition of the elves, I could have ended their suffering… but I knew nothing, trusted everyone, and now… here we are."
The rant ran out of steam, and for a moment the weary Queen's shoulders slumped and her accusing hand fell away from where it pointed. "Rest, Remedios, you will get the chance to work my will again, but when you do, you will not be doing so as the Commander of the Paladin Order. And you will follow my orders, or you will wish you had."
The Queen's furious tears of anger never left her eyes, as if those too had been drained of energy, Remedios could only lie there open-mouthed and in disbelief as her beloved leader spun on her heel and left the paladin to lie impotent in bed, barely able to believe, or even process, what had just happened.
Queen Calca's carriage arrived with pomp and ceremony at the siege of Hoburns, trumpets, drums, and cheers came from her soldiers, her banners on full display. The mob rule of the capital was so audibly alarmed by her coming that Calca could hear their cries of consternation before she even set foot on the ground when her carriage stopped.
She emerged into the crisp air of late summer that promised a cool and gentle autumn ahead, her eyes followed the activity of the camp around her, a command tent sat a few feet away, and when her first foot hit the ground, Gotsa was already in front of her and down on one knee. His big round head bowed before her, one hand on the hilt of his sword and his other closed into a fist over his heart. His armor had many dents and scuffs, and had obviously been repaired a few times.
"My Queen!" He said in a gruff, confident voice, "Welcome home."
Calca had to smile a little bit at that despite the grim situation. "I'm not exactly 'home' yet, am I, Commander?"
"Nearly, My Queen. Nearly. We've almost breached the walls in several places, and we've had some successful assaults, we've also repelled several attempts to sally out here and stop us directly." He laughed a brutish laugh, "They won't try that again."
Calca tried not to think of the cost of life and blood that lay behind his laughter, and instead turned her eyes up toward the walls, "Do I have any supporters left inside?"
"We asked about that, Majesty." Gotsa said and his lips went tight and drawn across his face. "We did lose some people as prisoners when we were pushed back from the walls, and we believe that some of the common bureaucrats and a few nobles may still be alive. They've hinted about it to us, but there is nothing certain."
" Hinted ?" Queen Calca emphasized the word, "Exactly what do you mean?"
"We asked about it at our first parlay," Gotsa explained, some of the vigor gone from his voice, "they said, 'it would be a shame if your arrows found the wrong marks'. I take that to mean that they were threatening to use hostages as shields against our arrows, so, per Your Majesty's policy, we prioritized the lives of the hostages and have used no archery unless we confirmed that there were no innocents there who could be harmed."
"That must have made fighting difficult." Queen Calca remarked in a passive voice of regret, her eyes went down, "How many soldiers died for that policy, I wonder."
"Paladins and knights are supposed to protect the innocent, Your Majesty. Nobody has complained but…" He swallowed, "I would be lying if I said it didn't make fighting harder, many times we could have suppressed their archers, but did not because we couldn't confirm that no hostages were present."
"That is my fault too…" Queen Calca straightened up, her blue eyes became like steel, "I'm changing that policy, I won't sacrifice the loyal this way, I won't hobble my army or my administration any longer. If they use hostages, they use them, and we will save whom we can… it's better than not saving anyone ."
"As my Queen wills it." Commander Gotsa answered with confidence.
' Just like that,' Calca thought with dismay, ' he abandons my ideals, no fighting, no argument, no debate. Just… the Queen's Will be done. Did anyone truly believe in them… or was I really all alone in trying to make them real?' In that moment, a profound sense of loss hit the Holy Queen, her heart broke in her breast and it was all she could do not to weep openly as if she were watching a precious child of her own body die in her own arms. A part of herself was dead, and nothing could bring it back.
Volume 5 C41
Kelart and Gustav rode side by side at the head of the army, the pace of the horses was steady and strong, their hooves stomping the hard packed earthen highways while their heavy infantry made the march behind the long lines of cavalry. The taxes seized from many of the noble houses were only begrudgingly given up, and far behind the army came the wagon trains of collected coins, grain, and other vital goods intended for resale to support the throne.
At least no word had come of overt hostility, but the reality of the situation was not lost on Gustav or Kelart. Where once the peasants might have openly praised the passing paladins and knights of their beloved Queen, they now just quietly kept their young and comely women out of sight, and now the peasants openly backed away or simply glared at the passing royal army.
"We seem to be less popular than we used to be." Gustav made the neutral observation while only looking at Kelart out of the corner of his eye. Kelart in her magic robes made for a compelling and noble sight. Her long brown hair, the sharp features on her face, along with her steady eyes could unnerve others with a glance and one could all but feel the magic from her.
The only immediate response to his statement was that she tightened her grip on the reins of her white horse, and glared down at those who glared back at her in turn until they looked away and went sullenly back to work in whatever field they were in. Raising and striking their hoes into the earth, a routine older than the Kingdom itself.
Finally she spoke to him, "We can fix this. We just need to purge the corruption out of the Kingdom and do what we can to restore the trust of the people. It may take time, but it can be done, Commander."
Gustav kept his eye on her while still watching the road. "Will you be including yourself in that purge? How about me? Your sister?"
Kelart glanced over to Gustav. "What do you mean?" She asked innocently, her eyes completely removed from the road then.
Gustav could not look at her further while he spoke, "Nevermind." He muttered.
"No. Not nevermind Commander. Speak ." She hissed the order through gritted teeth.
"You remember what started all of this. It was the trial of the Huntress, yes there were a lot of rumors, stories, and corruption events before. But that was the brick that broke the donkey's back. The story of the Huntress of the Wildlands was probably exaggerated, but with her public trial, her reputation went all over the place, and everybody knew it was a sham . I know it was a sham. And I know my former Commander made it that way." He whispered the accusation at Kelart, who sat mute on her horse.
"The Mad Eyed Archer's daughter, the child of one famous paladin and one of the Colors, first sent to die, then given a show trial after a record of survival and success where most just disappeared never to be seen again? What was your idiot sister thinking?!" Gustav hissed back at her, his anger palpable, he yanked his head toward her and glared at her as she had glared at peasants before.
Kelart remained mute.
Gustav however, did not. He hissed his complaint and let out his fury with every word, "I was the judge at that trial, I saw Remedios' face. I spoke with one of the whores who screwed her way through the jurors, there's no way I believe you didn't know what your sister was up to. She's too stupid to act on her own, she's just smart enough to know she needs other people to think for her, and to take credit for other people's work."
Kelart finally slumped, the heat left her eyes, "You're right. I did know." She acknowledged. "I had a hand in… not everything, but a lot. I was trying to keep Roble from harm, we used corruption against the corrupt, I never thought it would turn on us this way…"
"Fool." He snarled at his senior, and she did not retort. "Every ounce of blood here is on you… and me for going along with it. Maybe if I'd declared a mistrial due to corruption, maybe none of this would have happened. So, what happens when we're done?"
Kelart shook her head. "Only the gods know that, and perhaps the Holy Queen." She was resigned in how she said it, and sluggish when she raised her hand to point ahead, "There it is, Hoburns, and from the looks of it, the issue of who is in charge has yet to be settled."
It was an understatement, even from a distance the fires were obvious, plumes of smoke rose from fires that couldn't be seen behind the great towering walls, more noteworthy, they rose from multiple points around the city, which in Gustav's experienced eyes meant, ' Heavy fighting in multiple positions… that can't be good.'
It took another half a day to reach the city with the bulk of the royal army, and no sooner than they reached the area that alarms went up from inside the city walls.
Commander Gotsa met the pair shortly after the noise of the city went up and the numbers of people on the walls began to increase. He bowed to the pair before they dismounted, but remained quiet while Gustav bellowed orders over his shoulder.
"First Bannermen, see to the main gate! Second, see to the Western wall! Third, see to the Eastern wall! Fourth, see to the Northern wall! Establish reinforced positions by nightfall!"
"Haruh! Haruh! Haruh!" The paladins and knights on horse and foot alike raised their lances and banners as they cheered, and the nobles commanding each army began to move their units into position.
The camp as Gustav saw it, was in good order, ample space between tents to avoid mass targets, more tents than were needed in order to provide the illusion of greater numbers, and the onagers were well out of reach of easy reprisal from the walls. Various hulks of ruined rams sat at different intervals from the gate, but the fact that there were multiples indicated that the commander was acting with aggression.
The soldiers who marched by were in good order, with clean if sometimes damaged armor, and even without looking he could see that Gotsa's armor had battle damage. ' Leading from the front, good.' Gustav reflexively approved of the big bear of a man and descended from his horse to extend his hand.
Gotsa clasped it, "Sir, it's good to have you and your army here." He glanced up at the still mounted Kelart, "And your magic, Lady Custodio." He added with a polite bow of his head.
She returned the gesture, "At least things are in good order… but why hasn't the city fallen yet, Commander Gotsa Habin?"
"Because the mob organized itself and has, much to our surprise, been steady in their resistance. We simply didn't have the numbers we needed." Gotsa didn't wince at the use of his full name as a tiny rebuke, he knew quite well that he'd done all that could be done, though he straightened up a bit when he replied. "They'll fall with or without you, but we're also trying to minimize the destruction of the city. What's the point in taking it if all that means is that Her Majesty becomes Queen of the Ashes?"
"Good point." Kelart answered with some chagrin, enough that she chose to dismount her horse and make a sort of apology, "I'm sure you've done all that you could have done under the circumstances, I didn't mean to sound so critical."
He shrugged it off and gave her a friendly smile from behind his bushy brown beard, "Think nothing of it, now that you're here, perhaps they'll surrender."
Albedo watched from her window as a few hundred prisoners were dragged through the streets, judges, minor nobles of various houses which hadn't fled the city fast enough. Some public officials, guards, soldiers, watchmen, and others.
Their clothes were tattered and torn, dirty, unwashed, and every one of them was worse for wear. Some were limping, all were bound together with ropes, chains, and wooden poles that ran alongside their heads. Worse, they were blindfolded, most were sullen and silent as the mob hurled abuses at them.
Others however, were not quite broken. "Curse you all! Peasant trash! Don't you know who I am?! I have connections all over the South! You trash eat the food we send you! You trash have your weapons because we pay for them! You dare do this to me?! May the demi-humans feast on you all! We should have let them kill this whole worthless region!"
It did nothing to endear him to the crowd.
But Albedo, watching as she was from the window, began to laugh, "Oh this is marvelous. There were Southern nobles here… of course there were… this is Hoburns, they would be close to the crown."
Albedo's laughter was grim like the cat looming over the canary, she licked her lips as hungrily as one as well, watching as the captives were dragged to the towers and hauled up the stairs, stumbling, falling, bruising, cursing, and screaming when they were struck by hate filled peasants driving them like cattle.
"My Lady, what will be happening to them up there?" Skana asked as she approached the window to stand beside her Lady. Illyana for her part, still refused to come any closer to the noise of human hatred and rage, putting herself into the corner, but Skana, unable to restrain her curiosity, was drawn to the demoness and the window like a moth to a flame.
Albedo looked down at the bright eyed girl, "Painful deaths. The city will fall tomorrow, and when it does, we will not be here. I have no intention of engaging in combat with these worthless ants."
"So where are we going?" Skana quipped as she watched the prisoners being positioned where they would be visible to the attacking army.
"To the Southern Holy Kingdom, it won't be long, just a few days, enough time to spread the word of the atrocities allowed to be visited on Southern nobles in the North, the weakness of the Holy Queen… from there?" Albedo chortled with delight as if she heard a hilarious joke.
"From there," she held her belly to hold back her laughter, "we will visit the wall again."
Skana nodded, "My Lady, your rewards, I cannot thank you enough for them, but can I kinda ask just one more small thing?"
"You can always ask ." Albedo emphasized and turned her attention from the screams that began on the wall.
"My village, it's not a bad place, sure some of the people are dumb, stupid, bigoted, foul smelling, sticks in the mud with no sense of fun whatsoever-" Skana began listing off their flaws until Albedo cleared her throat.
"The point Skana?" Albedo demanded, and Skana blushed a little at the reproof.
"But on the whole, they're alright, I mean, they don't 'deserve' to die, is all, I know we can't always stop this kinda stuff but… if it isn't too much trouble, could I ask that the common folk not be made to suffer too badly? I mean, I'm one of 'em, and I'm useful, right, My Lady?" Skana pointed out.
Albedo gave that a moment of brief reflection, "True. But it won't be up to me, it will be up to the Queen of Frost."
The answer was cold comfort to Skana, who returned to sit beside the quiet elf woman.
"Have they gone mad?!" Queen Calca shouted as the prisoners on the wall began to scream. Peasants standing behind them began to beat the nobles, judges, and officials with heavy whips, clubs, and flails. Blood spattered about, bones snapped before the disbelieving army of the Holy Queen, but it was not lost on them even in a state of dismay, that lethal injuries were avoided.
The point was suffering, it was a point of no return. A message, a gauntlet thrown down before the royal house. Soldiers snarled and clenched their weapons as they recognized their comrades either by face or by status given their tattered remains of uniforms, and saw them crying out in agony for mercy that their captors were unwilling to grant to them.
Commander Gotsa Habin approached the Holy Queen and then, stepped in front of her, putting his body between her and the hideous sight so that he obscured her view of the wall like a mountain.
"You don't need to see this, Your Majesty." He said quietly.
"Why?! Why would they do this?! How could they be so cruel?!" Queen Calca choked out as she listened to the voices of agony and pain continue to rise.
Gotsa, unfortunately, had an answer. "This is the ugly side of war, this is a statement that there will be no quarter, no surrender, the defenders intend to fight to the death."
Queen Calca vigorously wiped the snot from her nose and tears of anger from her eyes, "Get out of the way, Commander. I should know what I'm dealing with, for better or for worse…"
"My Queen-" He started.
" Now . Commander. That is an order ." Calca said with the iron of royalty in her voice, and with some reluctance, the mountain of a man stepped aside, the bright blue eyes of the once beloved Queen stared at the twisting faces and the sprays of blood. The whole event took minutes, but it felt like hours to the Queen, and to those atop the wall who endured the revenge of those whose names and faces they never knew before that hour, felt like years.
One by one, the torment ended, and some nameless peasant who meant nothing to anyone, gave a swift kick to one of the beaten, broken, bleeding captives, and sent him plummeting off of the wall before moving to the next prisoner. Thud after thud followed. The noise continued with such regularity that the falling bodies were like the sticks used to beat drums, and the noise was that of a warrior's march, until there were none left to kick off, and there were no captives left to torment or to kill.
When it was done, and the silence stretched out like the inside of a grave, Calca walked to the command tent where Kelart and Gustav sat speaking, trying to ignore the distant cries until they stopped.
When she entered, they rose to their feet and prepared to kneel, but the ice eyed Queen shook her head and waved it away. "Forget it, I have only one order." Before they could ask for it, she gave it to them, "Tomorrow, when you attack, and you will attack, anyone found with a weapon is subject to immediate execution as a traitor. Anyone who does not immediately surrender, is subject to immediate execution as a traitor. Anyone found inside my palace or with plundered treasure, is subject to immediate execution as a traitor. Am I understood?"
"Y-Yes… My Queen." They said at once, and then said nothing more when she wheeled about and left them behind.
Volume 5 C42
Neia stared at Thalren in disbelief. "You can't be serious?"
"Aye, I am." Thalren said with a grim face, his broad mouth beneath his thick round protruding porcine nose, was turned down at the corners in a frown.
"The humans on the wall are specially nasty now, don't know where they got 'em, but they put some bodies on display. Buncha different types… guess they warning us." Thalren grunted.
Neia stopped dead in her tracks, the dark dwarven supervisors were teaching some of the orcs how to build stone paved roads, while the spriggans were planting rows of trees to guide the path. From atop the hill where she now stood, she could see the edifices of buildings beginning to rise and with her dragonid hearing and sense of smell, she could detect the growth and fast paced activity of the first 'industrial metalworks' of her Kingdom. The demihuman tribes were still reticent about working together, she could see they tended to stick to their own groups.
' But the power of unity isn't lost on them. Never before has there been a single united Demi-human alliance of this sort, past invasions were of isolated tribes and those were hard enough for the Holy Kingdom to fend off. A single united Kingdom?' Neia pondered what that would mean for the Roble Holy Kingdom if such a force invaded, it was difficult to imagine that the land would survive such an invasion. ' I wouldn't want to be on that side of the wall if it happened.' She suppressed a shudder and rubbed the side of her head where the small horns of bone were just beginning to emerge, each inch a reminder of her lost humanity.
But it mattered less and less to Neia as the days passed by and her city continued to grow. The brutal display of contempt for non-human life was a warning to her in particular, or so it felt. That was what concerned the Queen of Frost. ' They must have worked out what's happening here, though I can't imagine how… no, some kind of magic would account for it.'
' I still need to establish a court system and rule of law that isn't dependent only on strength, and to do that I need a firmer unity than I have right now…' She turned her eyes away from all the construction and toward the distant wall, it was such a large and imposing structure that its mere existence discouraged most demi-humans from invading the Holy Kingdom.
Having seen it up close from the other side, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, ' That is the point. As long as it stands, it's a mark of human supremacy, domination, and security. It is there to tell us 'we can do what we want, and you can't beat us.' More importantly, it was the truth.
Neia folded her hands behind her back, Thalren just looked at her, waiting for judgement. "The wall has fallen before, but back then, it didn't have the fortress city there to support it. If we prepare properly… with a little help… we can take it. With luck, that will give us a position of strength to bargain from."
"You would kill humans?" Thalren asked rhetorically.
"Humans tried to kill me first. Twice ." Neia pointed out, "and if they got a chance, other than my parents," Neia put a hand on the green armor over her chest, "they would definitely try again. I'm not a human anymore, and not a squire anymore, now… I'm the Frost Queen, Mistress of the Kingdom of Demalbion. My duty is to that, not to them ." She answered her first follower.
"Then what do we do, My Queen?" The orc chief asked.
"Call the dark dwarf foreman to me, tell him I need to see him about some siege equipment, and summon the chief of the Bladers. I need to know how he feels about night battles… and the Pteropus chief, I need to know how much their strongest fliers can carry." Neia gave the order and he pounded his chest twice with a mailed fist.
"Yes, My Queen!" He grunted.
"We'll have to teach them a harsh lesson about the value of life, but when it is over… we should have both a Kingdom of our own, in the truest sense of the word, and peace that no stupid paladin bitch will dare to breach." Neia said, more to herself than to anyone, and went to inspect another project.
"The atrocity was terrible, you have no idea, the Holy Queen let them execute every captured Southern noble as well as her administrators and soldiers…" Skana whispered with hushed tones to the rapt tavern audience.
They were the fourth one that day and the ninth one in the last two, and even without seeing them, Skana knew beyond a doubt that the doppelgangers were busy spreading the word like wildfire elsewhere.
Flames from candles licked the air and cast dancing shadows that made the green eyed Skana appear all the more fierce. Using every oratorical skill she acquired in telling stories, she relayed the word of the collapse of the Northern government, from among the crowd of the upscale tavern, nobles and merchants listened with expressive eyes and open ears.
Skana's stomach didn't even rumble when she smelled the stew reaching its state of near perfection. "The nobles, they defleshed, the officials, they lashed, I only barely made it out of there myself." Skana touched her hand to her chest where the fine silk garment rested. The feel of the expensive scarlet cloth was such that she made the gesture purely for the pleasure of touching it again.
With her hair neatly brushed and bound behind her, and her lips painted red and her cheeks touched with rouge, she appeared every inch the wealthy daughter of a well-to-do merchant. "My friends and I hid in the sewers the whole time, sneaking out at night to grab food, and…"
On and on the story went, the lurid pictures she painted of the brutal indifference of the Holy Queen to Southern lives and the horrible deaths that met those who resided in Hoburns were laid out to haunt the dreams of those who heard the green eyed woman speak.
When she was done, Skana accepted a few free drinks, some sympathetic hugs from those who believed she was of their class… and then she made her exit. The door shut behind her and she ventured out into the night to rejoin the Lady Albedo.
Illyana shouted into the dense forest, "Do not shoot! I am an elf!" She heard nothing, her ears twitched, the foliage and trees were so thick and plentiful that there were no shadows to speak of, only the solid sea of night through which she moved. "Do not shoot! I am an elf!"
Still she heard nothing.
"I am Illyana, once a whore of Wenmark! Please do not shoot me! I come with words of my Savior!" She announced again into the empty night and stepped forward. Despite a long life in the dark city, she still remembered the art of the silent step, and not even several human lifetimes surrounded by stone could tear her away from her love of the deep woods, no matter what borders those woods lay within.
Her feet fell noiselessly over leaves that should have crunched, she avoided branches that she should not have been able to avoid, only her occasional words shouted into the nothing would alert anyone to her coming.
The signs of elven presence were clear to her piercing eyes even in the dark, invisible even in broad daylight to the clumsy humans that might have thought to pursue them into their own ground.
So, forward she went, until a voice finally shouted back.
"We see you! You are safe, come this way!" It was a soft, but urgent and insistent voice.
Illyana followed it until she found herself in the midst of a clearing, in the high branches, a number of elves sat clad in mixes of human peasant clothing and leaf-woven materials. A few wore animal skins and furs, such as wolves, bears, and others.
They were well fed, which was different from when they were in bondage, but they were also armed, which was a vast difference. Many were armed with bows, some with captured swords, their faces were hard and often scarred over from the abuses suffered in mines or within the private hells of the ruined city.
It was also noteworthy that those with bows had them drawn and arrows aimed at Illyana.
She kept her hands up and slowly sank to both her knees. "I am one of you! I swear!" She cried out.
"Then explain your clothing?" An elf atop a branch said and hopped down, he landed on one light foot and approached, he was towering, broad bodied and thickly muscled.
Even at a glance it was obvious he was one of the Elf King's get. Not that the bastard would have cared about the fate of his son.
He pointed a finger down at her, "You're dressed in fine clothing, like one of the collaborating house whores that would see one of us lashed for the reward of a honey cake. You're well fed, and I haven't seen you, any elf that isn't with us by now should have been dead a long time ago."
Illyana looked up the length of his arm and held his gaze with her own, "I was a whore, one of the slaves bound to serve at the Golden Roan in the wealthy district of the city. I am dressed this way," she touched the black and white garment, "because I serve someone else, the one to send me to you. She's not a human, but a demon, and more importantly, she is the demon who destroyed Wenmark."
Voices buzzed at that. "A meteor shower did that, and an earthquake…" He began to say, but stopped when he saw Illyana stare at him like he was an idiot.
"I was with the demon when she did it, she used her Master's scroll and some power of her own to destroy the city. I gave her my soul in exchange, my life, my everything… and now she sends me to you, or are you so great a fool you believe that the quake and the meteors came together by chance?" Illyana hurled the contemptuous denial at him like a rock, and he grew quiet.
"Say we believe you, why are you here now?" He demanded.
"Chaos is about to consume the Holy Kingdom, my Mistress is offering you a choice, there is very little chance that you can form an elven homeland in the forests here, even if you could, there is no way it could last, but there is a place you'll be able to go, and soon, if you're willing to work with others who are not elves." Illyana promised, and seeing the bows slowly lower and the tension in the strings go lax, she lowered her hands and began to breathe normally again.
"What would we have to do… to get land for ourselves?" He asked with a tightly furrowed brow.
"Kill humans." Illyana said with a gleeful smile.
It was matched by the others of her race almost immediately.
Volume 5 C43
Revenge is as common as fire in war. When the peasants on the wall tormented and executed the captive nobles and officials en masse and tossed them dead or screaming to their deaths down off of the wall, the soldiers of the Royal Army were incensed beyond reason.
The very next morning before the break of dawn, a general assault on the whole city took place, the magic casters shot balls of flame or strikes of lightning at the defenders, the onagers hit walls and towers and fired indiscriminately.
The crashing noise and thunderous echo of destruction covered the screams of the dying, and smothered even the roar of battle mania from the massed army of the Holy Queen. A ram with twenty soldiers was crushed by heavy rocks brought up just for that purpose, only for soldiers on tall ladders to take the position, the spray of blood and the toppling of severed limbs rendered the act futile when the gatehouse fell and the groaning chain of the portcullis coming up allowed the infantry and cavalry alike to charge into the breach.
The leaders of the mob rallied their resistance again and again… only for the heavily armored knights to charge into the massed ranks with lowered lances and skewer several like shishkabobs on the wooden stakes and to shatter the limbs of those who were too close to the flanks of the heavy armored horses.
Butchery followed, and through it walked the Holy Queen. She followed her soldiers on foot under the shields and security of the commander of the royal guard, Gotsa Hadin, his soldiers, and Kelart Custodio. The bodies of the dead required her to step over those in her path, but bit by bit, block by block, she drew ever closer to her palace. Here and there a knot of people surrendered and were bound by knights, but her orders on the whole, were followed.
Sword bearing peasants or those who carried the plunder of fallen soldiers from before, were executed out of hand. The once loving eyes of the Queen were turned to ice, and as an inexorable force of nature, her army rolled forward, capturing one building, one block and one square intersection at a time.
Until at last, she reached the palace and before her eyes, Gustav Montagnés charged into the doors as soon as they splintered open. The smell of feces, innards and blood was thick on the once white stones of the pavilion before the palace, but the memory of the torturous ends the mob subjected her followers to kept the sickness of the slaughter at bay.
' I was only velvet before… Now I must be an iron fist in a velvet glove… I can never allow this to happen again. I can still love my country… but it must learn never to rebel against me again…' Even days later, that thought lingered at the back of her mind.
As did her recollection of sitting on her throne again and looking out at the last corpses of those who fell trying to keep her from her rightful place.
Now… weeks later…
The peasants watched something else take place.
The city's population was dramatically depleted, but to ease resentment and deflect blame, both from herself and the survivors, she laid it at the feet of the corrupt officials. Standing on the dais before people she was still sure must have been with the mob at least in name for a time, she looked down where the nooses swayed back and forth and shivering officials jibbered mindless protests.
"The crimes against the Royal family were great, but would not have taken place were it not for the corrupting influences of those who forgot that they served me and that they served you! Therefore all common folk currently held on charges of treason, are pardoned… and the true guilty will now be punished!" Calca called out to the crowd, which stood stunned as the captives held in the dungeon awaiting execution… were brought out, had their fetters removed, and simply… walked away free.
But before they could cheer, she leveled a hand down from on high at the former officials, including minor nobles.
"For the crime of accepting bribes for the judgement of cases… you are sentenced to be hanged. For the crime of extortion for protection, you are sentenced to be hanged. For the crime of treason against the crown by way of the abuse of your office, you are sentenced to be hanged. For the crime of…"
The death sentence pronouncements went on as gibbering officials were marched up to the scaffold, had the nooses put around their necks, and then were kicked off the little stools on which they stood a moment later.
Necks snapped, bodies swayed, and one by one, two by two, eight by eight… The purges continued.
Only when, in the Queen's judgement, every official in the capital was either cleared or hanged, did she call her remaining council together into a private office.
She folded her hands together on top of the smooth polished dark wooden table as Kelart, Gotsa, Remedios, and Gustav shifted with discomfort in their seats. Her smile was seemingly sweet, small, and polite.
But a hard edge lay beneath, evident by the tension in her hands. "The corruption that crippled the capital is removed, new officials are being trained from the survivors, and things are improving." The Queen said but her ice filled eyes did not show any sense of relief.
"But the reality is that our nobles failed us severely, the Southern nobles failed to provide both the aid and the taxes we needed, and this poses a serious threat to everyone and everything. The corruption of our officials, includes our nobles. Therefore I intend to send out an order for every noble household head or firstborn son to present themselves here in Hoburns along with seven years of financial accounting from their estates. Any failure to appear will be considered treason. Am I clear?" The Queen said it with the quiet calm of resolve that was more common among veteran warriors, and it left the table briefly struck dumb.
"My Queen-" Remedios began.
"Good, no questions." Queen Calca cut Remedios off without mercy. "Keep the army ready, if the South rises, we will have to go and deal with them. Every failing noble will be utterly purged, every disloyal element, purged. The nobility of North and South failed the Kingdom completely, and that failure reached its tendrils all the way to this very table!" Queen Calca pressed her forefinger against the wooden surface, pointing down at it and glaring at her assembled council.
"What lies ahead will not be easy, but it will be a renewal of our Kingdom when it is over. You are now dismissed. Prepare your armies and offices for fighting, I intend to end this quickly, at any cost." The Queen said and stood up, inviting no further words from any of them.
They rose, one and all, mute, humbled, hopeful, horrified, all at the same time.
They swallowed involuntarily, and bowed to her as she made to leave. "My Queen."
They said as one, holding the bow until she left them behind.
Volume 5 C44 -Epilogue-
Epilogue
… One month after the Great Purge began in the Roble Holy Kingdom…
Ainz sat behind his desk with Demiurge near at hand, the stack of reports was higher now, and yet he found himself able to get through it, in no small part because of the company he was keeping. That, and the occasional unwritten report was a welcome relief, a relief and a distraction. "How are the two human children? Arche's sisters… Ureirika and Kuuderika?" Ainz asked when they took a brief respite from the ceaseless reviewing of new information.
Demiurge's smile was far more broad than it should have been when it came to what he counted as inferior races, and recalling what the boy, for so Ainz thought of him, had done, that made the Allfather more than a little suspicious.
Demiurge pressed his glasses against his face with his palm, "My Lord, the two continue to progress under Fluder's tutelage, their loyalty to Nazarick and yourself as the savior of their lives is drilled into them every day. In their eyes, you are a God. They do ask if their sister will stop adventuring after she settles into marriage, however."
' That wasn't quite what I meant, but… that does explain his happiness, but perhaps that would be the foundation for a larger plan, to take in orphans from various wars and raise them with absolute loyalty to my Kingdom and myself. Get them early and in only ten to twelve years I have a supremely loyal force that is educated and ready to work at anything I need.' Ainz made a mental note of that idea, then thought better of it and scribbled it down on a piece of paper at his side.
[Orphan raise loyal srv] . It was just a quick reminder, but out of the corner of his eye, Demiurge caught the scribble, and in one moment his mind was spiralling into possibilities. ' Yes of course, we can raise orphans as loyal servants to run the bureaucracy while we take our time with the undead corps of servants for the broader control of the land around us… it is utterly genius.' Above that lay another document that mentioned the reformed adventurers guild. ' Of course! That can't be a coincidence, he asked about them to prompt this very line of thought! Our adventurers of the future could be identified in childhood and trained from infancy to become a loyal core of adventurers, fanatically devoted to The One Who Stayed…'
Ainz however, moved on while the archdevil's plans continued to spiral into ever broader implications of the years ahead.
"And how are the two teams doing in the Draconic Kingdom?" Ainz asked.
"My Lord, the four former Imperial Knights are slowly gaining strength and experience with their new bodies, Leinas made some mention of being rewarded with a 'new tail' from Shalltear, but I'm afraid I am not clear on the specifics. But they are all holding their positions and keeping the beastmen at bay. The adventurers of Foresight are proving fanatically loyal, the priest, Roberdyck, openly proclaims you to be a God and preaches your name to those they rescue. Their considerable power seems to have plateaued, and I am currently researching level cap restriction breaking." Demiurge shifted uncomfortably on his feet and looked away from his Master. The lack of knowledge on just why their limits were reached, clearly bothered him.
Ainz held out a hand to the archdevil, "Demiurge, the entire reason you research is because you don't know, if 'I' knew the answer, I wouldn't have you working these things out. Seek the answer, and know that I trust you to find it, you, my boy, are capable of more than you know."
The Allfather removed his hand and the Archdevil bowed his head. "As you say, Allfather, but I am not less vexed."
Ainz chuckled, "That is true for all of us." He said, "But how do they perform?"
"Foresight and the Four, My Lord," Demiurge said as he returned seamlessly to the subject, "are competing with another in prisoners taken and rescues achieved, while they have not ventured against the cities taken by the Beastmen, they and the other teams you have dispatched are allowing no further ground to be taken. Pandora's Actor, Lupusregina, and Blue Rose have been establishing themselves as well, and both teams are rapidly approaching a 'tie' with the others." Demiurge explained, "in addition, both Queen Renner and the Wolf King and Wolf Queen of the Kingdom of Carne have asked your permission to send reinforcements to their 'sister Queen' Draudillon."
Ainz nodded, "Make it so. Have them establish a system of forts and further tie down the beastmen, and send out additional adventurer teams of gold rank and above. The time will come when I will have to test the beastmen myself, and perhaps, as you suggested earlier, find a use for the Queen's wild magic."
Demiurge's sharp featured face lit up like the sun at the possibility of his work coming to fruition.
"Now…" Ainz shuffled through the papers on his desk, "The dwarves and the quagoa?"
"My Lord, the false history you so cunningly created has taken root in their mythologies, and while hatred remains over more recent history, the struggle against Jaldabaoth and their service to yourself in common has forced them to set it aside. The dwarves are slowly repopulating their old capital, and the runesmiths have had a great many children since the restoration of their craft. It seems any time they visit home, they come back with new names of dwarf women on their lips. Also, Gondo's work continues to bear fruit now that he has the time and resources he needs, as a result we have equipped our most important teams with runecrafted equipment and are ready to start expanding to common adventurers and military recruits from the local populations. In particular the former dark elf slaves."
"Right… them, and the lizardmen and frogmen…" Ainz muttered as he refreshed his memory.
"The Lizardmen control of the lake and forest, together with Shalltear's occasional resource contributions, has them preparing or rebuilding multiple settlements as far as the border with the Baharuth Empire. Including the former frogmen capital." Demiurge explained and gave his master a little smile. "Shalltear made sure to tell me to let you know how grateful she was for the opportunity to personally attend you."
Ainz coughed into his hand, "Yes, well… that is to be expected, and she did well."
"Yes, My Lord. And on that note, the frogmen population has begun to bounce back in their new home, and they are even sending out small trade resources using Hejinmal and his family as short range couriers to the Kingdom of Carne." Demiurge smirked, "You were wise to spare the dragons, My Lord. Who else would think to use them as couriers to speed trade?"
' Not me.' Ainz thought with dry annoyance and a smidgen of worry about the false credit attribution. ' Why must they always credit me? If it ever comes out that something they thought was me, wasn't me at all, what can I say?' He kept the sigh of worry at bay and shifted the subject again.
Albedo's correspondence stared up at him from the stack… and so he shifted from his shift, instead thinking of the new 'Queen of Frost'.
"This… Queen of Frost, Queen Baraja, what are your thoughts, Demiurge?" Ainz asked.
"Above average intelligence, but not a genius, still she is clever, using the spider people to create steel strong silk for construction as well as sale to the Dark Dwarves was inspired. Now that trade is opened up there she has imported many experts from the Understone Empire to help build her capital and has reached out to the Dark Elves for a mutual treaty of defense against Theocracy incursions. I took a look at her 'capital' recently." He said, glancing at the mirror of remote viewing.
"It wasn't much, I take it?" Ainz asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Not as such, no, My Lord. But… It is interesting. The dwarves build underground, but also above, creating a tiered surface city, a series of bridges along the seven hills, and an undercity. With total control over the hills and mines and fertile fields, within a handful of generations they could be a true civilization on par with anything we have seen thus far." Demiurge admitted, leaving out just how little that meant compared to Nazarick.
"I see. So someone we can work with." Ainz mentally sighed and reached for the document containing Albedo's correspondence, the lipstick impression in the corner and the faint scent of her perfume filled him with both desire and guilt. At night his dreams were filled with lust for her, it consumed him so often that he delayed his resting hours far more than he should have, and it kept him at times from thinking of anything else for longer than he could admit even to himself.
"So it's done, then." Ainz said with a grim face. "The South has declared independence from the North due to the 'defunct administration, corrupt government, and the violent purges. That can only mean one thing…"
Ainz went to the next page. It was what he expected.
' I, Holy Queen Calca Bessarez of the Roble Holy Kingdom, send greetings to our Royal Brother, Allfather Ainz Ooal Gown of the Kingdom of Nazarick. While it distresses us to write of dire things, dire times demand we must seek the aid of our fellow man when threats arise. Our Southern Kingdom has risen in rebellion against our rightful rule, and to that end they have sought the aid of our national enemies, demihumans under the fell rule of the Queen of Frost, Neia Baraja of the newly founded Kingdom of Demalbion. Beset from all sides, we cannot endure this trial alone. If you would send but a fragment of your mighty host, it is our belief that we may survive this trial by the gods and restore our nation to its proper glory. We call upon you as a lover of law, righteous rule, justice, and security, to come to our aid in this time of need. If you should avail your esteemed nation of this request, what is within my power to grant, even if it be my very hand in marriage, is yours for the asking.'
~Holy Queen Calca Bessarez
"Hmm, thankfully this did not pass through Albedo's hands, or there would likely be no Holy Queen at all." Ainz remarked offhandedly as he read through the brief letter.
He flipped to the next document, true to expectation, it was from Albedo. Ainz bit his tongue to the point of drawing blood.
' If it pleases My Lord, my work has reached a stage of development suitable for your intervention, I plead with you, my Master, to come and see the fruits of my labor. This Unholy Kingdom is ripe for your rule, sickened by corruption, weakened by strife, anyone who offers peace, they will embrace. Anyone who gives them justice, they will revere. Anyone who promises safety and can deliver it, they will love as a father. All my work has led to this moment, if I predict it properly, you should receive correspondence soon, or you may have already, from the Holy Queen pleading for your aid to salvage her Kingdom from complete collapse. I can only hope and pray that my work satisfies you, and that you will find favor in the loving servant's most abject devotion to your will. Until then, I await your deepest pleasures.
With eternal love,
Albedo'
Ainz swallowed, "Time is up. I have to go. Demiurge," Ainz said and stood, "I leave my Kingdom in your hands, I… I must go to Albedo, you know what that means."
Demiurge immediately knelt.
"My Lord… if she refuses you, if she cannot bear your form… only let those of us who treasure you, follow you wherever you go, we don't need a Kingdom, only our King . Only our Allfather…" The archdevil vowed, and Ainz could only rest his hand on the dark haired boy's head.
"You are my beloved children, and whatever happens, whatever she does, I must accept it as the price for all my sins… but if I have to leave, if I must go… I will not tell you that you cannot go with me, I can promise you that much, my boy." Ainz answered as only a father could, and when the gate appeared, he left Demiurge behind in the office, both of them silent, both of them going to their own tasks, and both of them were…
… Hoping for the best.
Nor were they alone in that.
-End Volume Five-
Volume 6 C1 -Sacred Unions-
… Before the Holy Kingdom's Purge…
"Are you serious?" Neia asked from her throne. The chair she sat on was carved of stone, but it was crude, rough, and had for its seat nothing but interlaced wicker strips, however… The wicker strips were provided by all the demihuman tribes under her command, and composed of multiple layers each of which was laid over the other, it made for a surprisingly flexible and comfortable cushion beneath her. The throne sat in the frame of what would be her castle, the residence was being built around her while she governed, with the honor of supervising the various sections handed to the various tribal chiefs.
Despite most of them in her eyes being at least somewhat evil, Neia found it surprisingly easy to get along with them after the Bafolk chief was killed in battle and his people spared any further suffering.
The throne was carved around her from a stone on which she sat, an act which the building of the castle now mimicked, providing the 'founding myth' she knew tribes were so very fond of. ' In time, the building of the castle around the Queen will be a fine national myth. If my descendants are overly tall though…' She kept back the private laugh at her own expense, regrettably Olasird'arc's blood had not made her any taller.
But all that was mere background noise, in front of her knelt an ogre, not especially intelligent, they were at least easily swayed as long as she made sure they were fed. "Yuh, got visit guy, human, says south comes."
It was a somewhat garbled message, but Neia understood the gist.
' A Southern delegation, of course it could be from the Northern Holy Kingdom, but I doubt it…' Neia pursed her lips and furrowed her brow… "Bring him in." She said at last.
' I wonder if we caught him by surprise with all the building here?' Neia almost laughed at that and reached up to scratch the slowly emerging horns on her head, the itch made her grimace a little, making her expression all the more fierce when a human came in escorted by two spriggans bearing long spears crossed at his back.
Their glowing green bodies pulsed with life, the tendrils of wood wrapped in green vines which trailed behind them had an ethereal beauty to them. Neia recalled that they yielded to her on the promise of control over the timber industry and harvests, and that they could supervise the planting of trees along every road she laid down to make up for the break in nature.
' Easy win, and a good one.' She reflected as the human approached in front of the towering spriggans that looked down from three heads higher than his own. He wore steel armor and, to her surprise, a red tabard over the front, one that was clearly wrinkled. A dead giveaway.
"You're from the Southern Holy Kingdom, aren't you?" Neia said without waiting for a response as the human knelt in front of the Queen of Frost.
"Yes, Your Majesty… how did-" His full lips stopped when she interrupted.
She pointed to the tabard, "That is wrinkled, but not dirty. That means you kept it protected but not out, Northern Holy Kingdom people only wear blue and they're foolish enough to keep it on display at all times. Let's not get lost in the forest now, tell me what you want, man of the South."
He flushed a bit, he was a broad figure with a military build to him, he had a scabbard but no sword, meaning it was confiscated, probably by one of her guards. His lips moved a little, her brusque approach a novelty, his deep brown eyes searched her face.
"You are the one in charge?" He asked as he looked her up and down.
Neia's talons clicked one after another over the stone. "I am the Queen of Frost, yes. That makes me the one in charge. You didn't come all this way to ask that question. I'm also very busy, so… your reason for being here, Southern nobleman?"
He shifted uncomfortably where he knelt. "The Southern Holy Kingdom is rebelling against the North. We want your help."
"How did you even know there is a 'we' here who might hear you out?" Neia asked and glanced around the open space of the still 'open air' castle. Demihumans large and small bore blank expressions.
"The North took a few captives, one of our people talked to some, we heard about the rise of a central authority here… I happened to be a bit of a gambler." He explained and could not hold back a smirk from his thickly bearded face. "And it looks like it has paid off."
"We'll see, human. You say the South is rebelling, what has that to do with us? We're busy building a Kingdom here." Neia began tapping her foot and rested her head on her fist with her arm upright on the armrest of her throne.
"The Holy Queen butchered our people, she showed no care for our lives, she let our families be slaughtered and turned on her own population-" He snapped his jaw shut when Neia straightened on her throne.
"The Holy Queen is still Calca right?" Neia furrowed her brow and looked at the Southern noble with incredulity.
"The one who condemned you to die, yes." He pointed out, and smiled inwardly when he saw the ice blue eyes flash with brief anger.
"Assuming I believe you… what of it?" Neia asked, "I live here now, I'm no longer a human, I'm no longer a citizen, I'm no longer anything." She tried to mask her thoughts, but she shifted a little, removed her head from her fist and sat up straighter, stiffer.
"Your parents are human, aren't they?" He asked, and the hand Neia was resting on the armrest dug into the stone, the talons piercing the rock, she nodded. "They are."
"They were imprisoned by the Holy Queen on suspicion of treason, shortly after your… escape." The nobleman pointed out, leaving the sentence dangling in silence between them.
Neia frowned in spite of herself, she gritted her teeth. "Were they?"
"Yes. Of course, if you care nothing for them or the people you used to defend… with your permission I will take my leave, Your Majesty." The nobleman bowed his head and waited.
He did not wait long.
"I didn't say that." Neia retorted, "But what do you propose I do?"
"Seize the wall, invade the Northern Holy Kingdom, aid our rebellion. There are tens upon tens of thousands of you, and between us both, the Royal family will have to submit." The nobleman proposed.
"Why should I trust you, even if I agree with what you want?" Neia inquired, and he suppressed a smile of delight at the way she said it.
"Because the Southern Holy Kingdom has no interest in ruling the North, we want only to rule ourselves, they are a buffer between you and us, if you seize the wall, then the wall becomes a buffer between you and your western human neighbor. The Slane Theocracy is near to your border isn't it?" He pointed out, "Don't you think it likely that at some point they and the Holy Kingdom would both turn on you? They won't just sit by while you build a real demihuman Kingdom. Demalbion will be destroyed before it can even begin."
Neia began to rub her chin, "You make an excellent point… I will… present terms to my western neighbor. I will see what they say about turning over my family… see what manner of relations I can establish."
"As Your Majesty wills it." He said and bowed his head.
"Stay in a guest home, our quarters are still crude for now, but you may reside here until I have an answer." Neia promised, and waved to one of the Zern along the wall. "Xin, see Ambassador…" Neia let it hang.
"Astraka." He said with pride. "Duke Astraka."
"Yes, take the Duke to our best available quarters and provide him with whatever he requires." Neia gave the command, and as the human was led away she looked over to her left.
"To'Raven, I have an assignment for you." Neia said and the big orc put himself in front of her and went down on one knee to listen to her instruction.
To'Raven did not shake with fear. Not again. ' I have fear, no more now.' He told himself, and felt it was the truth. At his back were six orcs and a wagon of goods, steel spat rope that was selling well among the Dark Dwarves, made by the spider people, furs from various monsters, as well as herbs rare in the Holy Kingdom that were more common in the Abelion Hills.
As a single wagon, it was not even a caravan, and not a single one of the orcs was armed. They wore fine tunics as far as it went, befitting the status of 'merchant' as they understood it. Black leather clothing suitable for casual use, open vested in the orc style to show off their big, broad chests, and some golden medallions which bore the crudely shaped face of the Frost Queen.
To'Raven glanced behind him one more time as they came in sight of the wall. The guards up above were already crying out the alarm as he raised his hands.
"I come for peace! Frost Queen sends with words! She sends with gifts! Offers of trade to neighbors!" The outcry seemed, if anything, to send the humans into an even greater frenzy.
At least they weren't shooting him yet.
' Yet.' He thought, and waited.
"Go away! No demihumans allowed! One warning is all you get, monster, and then we shoot!" A high pitched squeaky voice of an obvious battle virgin shouted down at him.
He craned his neck to look up at the top of the wall, "I am ambassador! I come for trade! For peace! Only Holy Queen can say no! Kill me, we have war! Frost Queen and Dragon will be angry! We let you see, we are not armed! Only goods and sealed letter for Holy Queen alone!"
It seemed to shake the confidence of the voice, as a moment later it shouted back, "Wait there!"
He did not envy the young man, ' Always unhappy to have confusion. Always push up to someone else. Easier. Much easier.' He thought, recalling the times he pushed hard questions up to his own father until he was the chief of a tribe himself. ' Thalren was right. Frost Queen is good for orcs.' Her promise to care for his family if he should die, filled him with confidence and courage that had failed him before, when her arrow was at his back and he was bleeding on Holy Kingdom ground.
So he simply sat in the cart and waited, the other orcs took their cue from him and sat down on the ground around the cart with him.
They sat for what felt like hours, but must have been less as the sun was not high in the sky when the gate began to open and some plate mail clad paladins trotted out, they were twenty strong and moved to surround the wagon. Their metal gleaming in the light of the day, they lowered their lances so that the tips were each pointed at orc necks, three or four to each, the orcs remained calm and quiet.
"You better explain yourself, orc ." A human said from behind his helmet.
"Did. Frost Queen rules orcs, other demihumans too, she wants peace, no war. Sends me for peace words, a letter for your Queen from ours. Offers of trade. Agree to terms, we will not fight on any tomorrows." To'Raven explained, and the human raised the visor of his helmet.
"Do you take us for fools?" He demanded, incredulously moving his lance away and shaking it, his legs trembled so much that the horse all but cantered away, unsure of what he actually wanted to do.
It stopped when his free hand took hold of the reins and tugged lightly.
"We do not take fools, only what I say." To'Raven answered with a firm nod and held up both his hands beside his big round head. He snorted through his porcine snout, "I say truth, Holy Queen and Frost Queen do not have to fight. No killing. Peace. Maybe she say yes, maybe she say no, but only she say? Or are you Holy Queen wrapped in metal?"
To'Raven snorted, and the other orcs began to laugh, so, against their will, did several of the paladins whose lances with their sharp metal points, began to waver.
The paladin however, turned purple with anger. "We will inspect your… wagon… then escort you to someone higher, you'll be their problem then…" His voice cracked at the end, and To'Raven grunted.
"Then look, I speak true, nothing here, only peace offer." To'Raven said with an emphatic nod, and raised his head when the tip of the lance pricked at his throat and forced his chin to rise to escape bloodshed.
"Go on. Inspect the wagon." The nameless paladin barked, and two dismounted to begin the inspection.
' First problem… done.' To'Raven thought, mentally breathing a sigh of relief, and waiting with patience to move on.
Volume 6 C2
To'Raven and his little group of orcs could have been happier. The glares of humans reminded him of mere pale shadows of the Mad Eyed Archer who became the Queen of Frost. Arrows nocked in bows followed their every step, and his arms, like those of his companions, remained high overhead until they were led into the fortress itself. The door shut behind him, the cart of goods remained untouched, none of the humans seemed to want to touch it, as if fearing it was 'infected' with one of the many diseases that costs so much mana to treat every year.
' At least they not steal it.' He thought as he was guided forward up a long series of winding stairs and then down a long stone hall. The building itself was an impressive reminder of the advanced nature of human architecture. ' Humans build. Lots. Frost Queen wants us to build too, ours like this, one day.' He felt a swelling of pride in his breast as he considered that, even now, his brethren and the other races of demihumans were building the castle literally around their Queen and her throne.
The long sense of troubling inferiority, that they had not built as humans had, was being stripped away under the proof that they could do exactly the same or perhaps even better. The Dark Dwarves that served as supervisors were also acting as teachers, and his own son was showing aptitude in the task. ' We too, will build great.' He kept the thought to himself as he stepped through a ray of light from the outside that shone against the stone wall, briefly casting his shadow before he passed through it.
Finally he came to a door wide enough for one to pass through, thick oak and painted with the blue insignia of the Holy Kingdom. His 'escort', a sizable human of broad frame made only larger by his thick plate armor, went through first.
To'Raven followed, but to the surprise of both the escort, and evidently the human behind the desk, he stopped six paces away and went down to one knee with his arms crossed at the wrist and resting on his knee.
When the escort stood beside the one seated at the desk, To'Raven got his first real look at the figure, he was a wisp of a man with gray hair and a fading white beard that was immaculately well kept. A wrinkled face and balding head, To'Raven mentally made him the equivalent of an elder in an orcish tribe.
"You-You know our ways? How?" The old man asked, his eyes widening just a little.
"Frost Queen teaches us." To'Raven said, the old man looked up at the escort, and the escort down at the elder, they both gave a tiny shake of their heads.
To'Raven chose to clarify, "She rules orcs, and all demihumans. We have Kingdom. She seeks what she say is, 'Peaceful Coexistence'. Offers trade to humans, sends these things as gifts." His deep, rough voice did not endear itself to the humans, and both frowned in front of him without attempting to hide it.
The smell of their sweat hit him a moment later.
To'Raven sensed their hesitation, their quiet looks stretched out the silence as they struggled to find a question to ask, "She once human. Mad Eyed Archer. Huntress of Wilds."
They gasped at once. The elder whispered her name. "Neia Baraja… is alive?! "
To'Raven nodded. "She lives. She rules. Months of war, all are hers, she is Queen, from wall to Dark Elf Plains, and she offers peace to old home." He reiterated as the smell of their fear of a united Abelion Hills filled the room.
"It's a trick…" The escort hissed.
"No trick." To'Raven promised and shook his head. "Queen wants peace. No killing. No more. Send me to human Queen, I have offer with gifts. She decide, not you, human."
That shook the elder out of his silence. "Fine. You will be escorted to the capital. They will decide what to do with you there… orc ." The old man spat the name of To'Raven's race like a curse.
"Then To'Raven goes, send men. Oh, and Queen have saying for you, if no peace." The orc snorted with anger as the elder gave a nod and waited for the message.
"I still feel the swords."
To'Raven let that hang in the air, with all it entailed, he rose to his feet. "I go?"
The elder briefly rubbed the whitening beard and gave a hasty nod. "Go. Send him on."
When To'Raven was gone, and the escort with him, the old master of the keep immediately drew quill and ink and began to write everything the orc said, as it had been said to him. He then rolled the paper, pressed his seal over it, and rang the bell for a messenger to come into the room.
The slender young boy took one look at the white seal and gasped.
"The white?" The beardless youth gasped. "I've never… not in three years…"
"I haven't either, not since I was where you are." The elder said, "But this is that high of a priority. Get word to the capital as soon as you can, I don't care if you have to enchant a horse and run it to death, get this there in days! Not months, not weeks, make it days!"
"S-Sir!" The boy replied and took the white sealed paper in his hands as if it were a snake he feared might bite him.
Neia sat in the middle of what was going to be her dining hall with a young goblin boy acting as an attendant, the table at which she sat was long, done in the human fashion, but it had a unique feature added by the dark dwarf designers. Each section was independent of the rest, and that section came with a hand pump that could be raised or lowered according to the needs of the diner. This allowed races of all sizes and shapes to be seated comfortably according to their body's dictates.
In attendance at that moment aside from the orcs, were zern, goblins, trolls, stone spitters, and others. Every tribe of the demihumans had their chief in attendance, and with good reason, as the special guest, Duke Astraka, was present and seated close to the Queen.
The young of other races were similarly serving their counterparts, ladling soup into bowls or various forms of meat onto trays.
The dining hall was far from complete, with only a few feet of wall established, even with magic, it was slow going, and when she saw the way the Duke looked around, like he was trying to find something nice to say that wouldn't ring false, she took pity on him. "Your home had to be built once, too. I realize this is not a marvel or a wonder, not yet. But it is ours, and it will be great one day." She said and took a long draught of beer, she idly reached up to scratch the place where horns were growing still. She now knew they were growing 'up' at least, though they were not very large yet. ' I hope it's not too large, that could get uncomfortable when it comes to doorways…' She thought when she removed her hand from the itchy area.
"Yes… of course. I'm sure it will be remarkable." Astraka said, coughing into his hand while the little goblin boy put a plate of bread beside him for his stew.
"But," he said as he took up a chunk and dipped it into his stew, "do you simply not believe me about our offer? Or are you hoping for a better deal from the Northern Holy Queen?"
Neia wiped her mouth and slammed the wooden mug down, "I want one thing." She said while holding one finger up and toward him, "Prosperity for my Kingdom. I don't get to play with idealism, and I don't have a reason to enter into a war that won't offer us anything but trouble. If I can get it by peace, I would prefer that. If not? We have a bargain."
Duke Astraka took that in, "So your trade envoy?"
"A test." Neia nodded as she saw the light of understanding forming in his eyes, "And a convenient excuse to keep you here for a little while, so that you can learn about the demihumans the way I have." She smirked a little and then reached behind her to scratch her back.
"I don't understand." Astraka said and held out his mug for the goblin child to refill.
Neia pointed to a giant sized catman creature with large protruding fangs coming up from his lower jaw, he had a great double headed axe on his back and was steadily chewing on a massive haunch of meat. "That is Vijar Rajandala, when I went to take his people into the fold," she chuckled, "as a human I doubt very much that I could have beaten him, we fought four small skirmishes. Each time they came out, I ambushed and captured the lot. When I reached his tribe's home he came out to challenge me in person, do you know what he said when we met?"
"What?" Duke Astraka was now intrigued, the smile on the dragonid face was almost wistful, his brown eyebrow went up and without realizing it, he leaned forward. At the far end, Vijar ate with gusto and chatted idly with a four armed creature Astraka could not quite place, and took no note of the conversation between the Queen and her human guest.
"He asked what I'd done with his people. His first concern was for his tribe, that was all he cared about, when I told him that I had taken them prisoner and that they were being treated as guests, he didn't believe me. So, I had them brought out, when he told me that I couldn't use them as hostages for the rest, I told him I wasn't, and I let them all go right then. When they went back to their families, I offered to fight him myself to spare both our people suffering, and that was when he gave in."
Astraka quietly took that to heart. The very human sentiment of the catman creature was all but unthinkable. But it didn't 'feel' like the Queen was lying. "He is one of my most trusted followers now. These are all my people, they accept me as I am, something no human outside of my own parents ever did." Neia laughed a little, and some of the table paused to glance her way to see if they might enjoy a joke, she shook her head, and they went back to idle chatter.
"I won't treat you as a prisoner, Duke of the South." Neia promised, "You are a guest, I will test the North, I sent a trusted chief of my people there, who I know will not betray me. If they fail, I will help you, but they will get their chance, everybody deserves a chance. Till then, please enjoy my hospitality, get to know us in all our crudity, and see the potential of our Kingdom. Then, you will go home safely, I give you my royal word." Neia said with a smile that might have been charming were it not for the ice filled terrifying expression on her face that chilled his blood even to look at.
"I… yes, I will accept your hospitality." The Duke said, "I have brothers at home, a family, I want what's best for my country. I suppose… for now at least, that means getting to know yours."
"Then, in the spirit of optimism… a toast?" She asked, and when he bowed his head, she stood and raised her mug, he began to stand, and within the span of a breath the rest of the table began to imitate the Queen of Frost.
Volume 6 C3
Information was so easy to gather when you had the people who were expected to carry it. Conveniently enough, the guards were from the same place. She flapped her wings from on high, and then, faster than any of them could understand what was happening, she descended with her bardiche, swung, and the heads of the humans toppled with soft thuds to the empty road. They rolled in the dust, the minds within the skulls looked around in utter dismay. The knights in their helmets, she couldn't see their faces, but their eyes were visibly wide, the messenger, a young boy, seemed more uncomprehending.
It was as if he was wondering, ' Just what is this? Why am I in the dirt? Why is my body falling? Did I have an accident? Am I alright? Is this a dream?' Albedo landed beside the horse and stopped it with a hand before it could panic. The body of the messenger boy slumped and fell into the dust near the head.
"It's easier for you. Be grateful." Albedo said to the head of the boy, who watched in horror and confusion as he was picked up at the ears by a faceless figure that had only three holes where mouth and eyes should have been.
He then saw his own face appear in front of him. ' Is that what I really look like…?' He had the strangely calm thought while he listened to the blood drip down to the dust and stared at his crumpled corpse a few feet behind where the doppelganger stood.
The woman, radiant beyond measure, seemed to be in charge. "Mimic the rest of them, this is your assignment until the collapse. When the demihumans hit the wall, make sure they succeed." He understood the horrifying implication of her words, and he tried to scream, his lips moved, but with no lungs, no air, nothing happened, and his eyes began to close just as he saw more of these faceless creatures come into view.
Albedo picked up the message with the white seal, ' Their methods are so crude… it'll be easy to replicate this… even my human and elf pet could do it if I give them the proper tools.'
She rolled her eyes, cracked the white, and read it.
The bodies she opened a gate for and threw them in, they would land in Solution's room, she was always hungry and wasting the corpses was pointless. Then the armored doppelgangers and the messenger rode on, and all was as it should be save for the blood in the dirt that would wash away with the next rain or blow away when it dried into the dust.
Then, Albedo was gone.
To'Raven and his band were more at ease on their carts than they had been. The detention at the fort was less time than he expected it to be, and he breathed a sigh of relief when the wall was at his back. He glanced over his shoulder.
"Something wrong, orc?" The human asked.
"Yuh, thought I'd die there. Glad I live." To'Raven replied.
"Then why'd you come, if you were worried about that?" The human on the horse beside the cart asked and cocked his head.
"You hide your face, we cannot speak." To'Raven said and huffed, focusing instead on the road ahead.
The human's armor clinked when he shrugged his shoulders and he raised his face plate.
"There, now?" The human knight had a lance in one hand, and a long straight sword at his side, his horse was big enough to steamroll anything less than a champion grade fighter, and To'Raven had his doubts that he could have easily stopped the beast at full speed.
"Frost Queen say come, I come. She gave life to me, life to mate and children. My sister, is mother because of Huntress' gift. Spared many of my tribe. Orc life debts… powerful." He grunted the answer as if it were self explanatory.
"You're a chief?" The human asked.
"One of many." To'Raven replied, "Orcs, many tribes. Now Frost Queen makes all to one tribe. Chiefs now warleaders and sage speakers. One Queen. One true chief." To'Raven replied, the human rocked back and forth on his horse, seemingly at ease, but the orc felt he'd struck a nerve as the human's hand tightened on the reins of his big brown warhorse.
"We kill your kind, orc, you'd be wise to go home, back to your family, and never come again." The human said without looking directly at the orc he was escorting.
To'Raven was quiet for a bit, there was only the clip clop of hooves over dirt, but he felt his fellow volunteers looking at his back, if he said to go back, they'd follow him. The human's advice was the safest choice.
"No." He said at last and let out a thick orcish snort. "I know danger. Fear. Frost Queen will care for family. Kill me, we be avenged. Peace is her want. Someone go first, we," he turned at the hips and smacked his big green fist over his big green chest, "brave enough to try. You? We see."
The human was quiet for the rest of the day after that.
Hours brought nightfall and the humans set up a camp with speed and orderliness which… noticeably kept the orcs confined to one tent in one spot in the middle of their escorts.
The days and nights were the same, the travel periods were short, the orcs were confined to roads that kept them away from human settlements, and that became obvious fairly quickly. But eventually he found the high walls of another human city. "Where are we?" He asked his escort.
"Kalinsha, you'll draw some uncomfortable looks… but make no sudden movements and you should be fine. We're going to take you to the woman currently in charge of you, she should have gotten word of your coming." The escort said and began to tense a little.
"Is that bad?" The orc asked, "Is it not better if humans know orcs come?" He asked.
"Normally, but… the former head of the paladin order is prickly, her name is Remedios Custodio, and she's currently in charge of… certain things, dealing with your kind would be one of those things." He answered, "Just… word of advice… orc… you really want to succeed, go home to your family, see your brats grow up… don't piss this one off."
"Thanks for advice, human. I hear. I try to follow. I want to see home alive." To'Raven said and tensed his grip on the reins a little more as the noise of the iron gates rising in front of him reminded him all too much of a dragon's maw accepting prey that offered itself for devouring.
Remedios tapped her fingers on the desk. She glared at the paper in front of her. ' I'd forgotten how much I relied on Gustav…' She thought with reluctance, her unofficial demotion was entirely technical, her loss of strength after dying, the fact that he was doing a good job in her place… and the Queen's both relief and displeasure at once… it made things confusing.
' A kingdom where nobody will cry… that's the dream isn't it…? That's what I worked for, why is she mad at me for doing what I did…? Okay, so technically that was a human, but justice belongs to the wronged, not to the traitors and criminals and demihumans and…' She shook her head, it felt like something was amiss, like something was wrong, like there was a shadow just out of sight or an item just out of reach.
Everything felt off, like an itch that couldn't be scratched… she continued her anxious tapping, willing the paperwork to disappear while it remained defiantly under her eyes and waited for her to actually do it.
That anxious stalemate between her work obligations and her stubborn resistance to things she should have only had to take credit for, left her grateful when there was a knock at the door.
The heavy thud gave her the excuse she needed to tear her eyes from the hated paper and focus on something else, "Yes, what?!" She snapped.
The door opened. A young boy poked his head in, a page, "Vice Commander… an… orc is here… the escort needs permission to take them to the capital… to… to meet with the Queen…"
"What?! An orc within reach of Her Majesty?!" Remedios's blood ran cold at the very idea, letting that happen would be the same kind of collaboration that bitch had been guilty of. She thrust her finger toward the boy, his face went white before she could even speak.
"Order them all executed at once!" She hissed. "Then send me their escort to explain themselves and how they dare bring a band of orcs into our Holy Kingdom!"
The boy slammed the door so fast he almost hit his own head as he pulled it out of the way of her verbal tongue lashing, and rushed to deliver the orders of Remedios Custodio.
Volume 6 C4
To'Raven glared at the humans who surrounded him. Their faces were hidden by their helmets, their halberds were lowered and held in steady hands, the orcs who joined him shot to their feet, but he did not. His companions immediately protested, "We come from Frost Queen! For peace between us! What have we done?! What have we done?!" Their arms were opened as if in friendship, their eyes darted back and forth, they set themselves to each other's backs.
To'Raven however, didn't move from where he sat except to look over his shoulder. "Pipe down. They kill us now. No way out of this." They quieted, and he turned his eyes toward the one human he would recognize even with a helmet, the one who rode beside him up to now. "Is there, human?"
"No." The human who spoke sounded almost… regretful, his head shook very slowly within his helmet. "No, there isn't. Lady Custodio is the ranking officer on site, security of the city falls to her, and these are her orders."
"Take off helmet, human." To'Raven said with a low growl, "Let me see face of man who kills me."
The human hesitated, then slowly raised his halberd, rested it against his shoulder, then with both hands, removed his helmet and dropped it into the dust where it fell with a clatter.
"Good." To'Raven said, "Calm, human. I will not fight, no point, not here. This was risk orcs took by choice. We not run from death." He slammed a fist against his chest and twisted to face the human warrior, "But To'Raven dies on his feet!" He jumped down and landed with a thud into the dust and took a step forward so that his torso was pressed to the tip of the halberd when it snapped down to the ready.
He growled and raised his chin, giving the human a downward sneer of his lip around one tusk. "Go on. Kill." He said, and the rest of the little band of orcs, descended from the wagon and lined up in front of it, not far away, other humans paused to watch. His companions didn't see them, but To'Raven glanced around.
"Humans! Chief To'Raven of Orcs dies here! Chief To'Raven comes for Frost Queen, for peace with humans. With gifts for human Queen! You cheer, I see smiles…" And he was right, he recognized the contentment on human faces, the pleasure in the deaths of demihumans, some were already joking, the crowd was growing with his outcry, heads of shorter folk bobbed and jostled for space, the smell of unwashed human flesh reached him, and it was as unpleasant as he expected.
He continued, "But Frost Queen will come. She will avenge! She will punish! When city burns, and you flee, remember… fault is yours! You did this!" He spat into the dirt and glared at the human in front of him, the nervous hold of his hands on the halberd, the uncertainty about his orders was obvious, for a moment he wondered, 'Are they going to let us go?'
Then one of his companions howled and doubled over as one of the knights of the humans, overcome by the moment, shoved the blade into bare green flesh, the others followed, and screams of pain were followed by the noise of falling bodies, the smell of blood and the stink of ammonia from those who had never taken a life before.
To'Raven snarled at the human who rode beside him, "Make it quick. But remember… human… my courage not rare beyond wall. I am last here. First… of many."
The human knight slowly raised the halberd up to the throat of To'Raven, and with one swift gesture, he shoved it into the orc throat. To'Raven tasted his own blood on his tongue and felt the hot wetness of it as it ran out of his throat and down his chest, he stood as long as he could… then felt his body weaken, wobble… and fall. The falling sensation began with the darkness, and for him, they both went on without stopping.
Queen Calca's sense of frustration grew as she signed off on yet another hanging. Kelart watched the way the Queen dabbed the ink, a few too many times, the way she signed the document was with a rushed flourish instead of her careful artistry. Her fingers were white from the force she applied to holding the quill, more than one snapped and lay discarded in a nearby waste bin.
"Your Majesty…?" Kelart asked with a gentle touch of her hand to the Queen's shoulder. "Are you still worried about my sister?"
"And a lot more." Queen Calca said and set the quill down, she rubbed her forehead, "Giving her a temporary rule over one city's military security while she recovers her former strength is supposed to be a balm, how can she make any serious mistakes? All she has to do is sign things for the soldiers, and train, and send reports that everything is fine."
"But?" Kelart prompted and pursed her lips, then when the Queen said nothing, she answered her own question. "You're worried she'll mess things up somehow?"
Calca gave a small nod, "I know she's your sister, but I can't help feel ill at ease. Nothing ever happens that far from the border, but still." She took a deep breath and then let it out just as hard. "I swear, it's almost a relief to be doing… this." She ran her hand over the stack of papers, "I had no idea my country had become so corrupt… but at least it's been bringing the population back into line. Having corrupt nobles to blame is a big help… but what about the South?"
"A lot can be said there, Your Majesty…" Kelart said, swallowed, and began to explain.
Illyana ran like the wind and savored the feel of the way the air caught her hair and lifted it behind her. In her hands was a bow of excellent quality. Perhaps it wasn't as good as the ones her people made, but as she made the leap, nocked an arrow, and fired it so that it pierced a disbelieving human's throat, she had to acknowledge the Southern Holy Kingdom made good gear. The human toppled in the darkness, falling on his side into the dust beside his campfire.
The other human travelers shot to their feet, having not even seen her until she made her absurd leap into the range of the light, then vanished into the darkness out of sight of their poor vision.
They shouted and shook with fear, dressed for travel, they were of peasant stock, and hauling nothing more than wood and animals, pelts, meat, and other useful parts intending to sell them.
An arrow pierced the belly of a bigger, rounder, old peasant, and he reached down to grab the shaft before he fell backward howling and trying to fumble through blood slick fingers to draw it out. More to his pity and pain, he succeeded, from where she was in the darkness, Illyana could see the anguish on his face. He was only injuring himself further, he would scream for a while yet, but the others? She shook her head.
He would scream alone among his race.
The last two fell with arrows in their right and left eyes respectively.
She walked out of the darkness and toward the other elves who assisted in the raid. "Do you believe me now?" She asked, "I killed humans just as you asked." She didn't wait for an answer, instead she went on, "Now, put these on display," she raised her voice to speak over the screaming human, "put these on display," she shouted as his screaming went higher, "and…" She swore, his screaming became a wail like that of a banshee, she drew her arrow in less than a breath, loosed it without looking, and pierced his brain, ending the noise. "As I was saying, put these bodies on display. There aren't enough of us to take castles, and I don't think we should attack forts… but how well will they function if they can't use their own roads without big escorts?"
"We do this… will we get somewhere safe?" The towering elf asked of her. He had a hard edge to his voice, like he still wasn't sure he believed it.
"Yes. My Lady doesn't lie to her servants. If we make things bad enough here, the South will come to us, because they will need help. All we need to do is make them desperate for us to stop, and wait for them to have a use for us." Illyana said and slung her bow over her back. "Look at it this way… the way North is narrow, right?" She asked, and the other elves reluctantly nodded, the space of land that joined North and South was so small that only the city of Yannana held sway over it, and one single wall could be held by a few companies. "So… we wait for them to go to war against the North, then we get Southern escort there when they invade, after that?" She shrugged and went over to the stewpot where the food still sat bubbling away. She flipped away her golden hair with one hand, grabbed the ladle and brought it up to her lips. Not far away, the horse nickered and whinnied, but they ignored it, and with slow, uneasy steps, approached to enjoy the generously provided food of their victims.
She slurped some onto her tongue, the rich vegetables and meat in a thick brown broth was an explosion of flavor only enhanced by the smell of herbs. 'Whoever cooked this should have done it professionally.' She thought and handed the wooden ladle to one of her companions.
"After that?" He asked, looking down at the blue eyed elf woman.
"We make contact with someone else our Lady promises will help us, and put ourselves under them instead, with the promise of land of our own, which should be easy to attain, everything will work out… for once… at least for us." Illyana said and smiled while they took turns over the black metal pot until it was quite empty, and their bellies quite full.
Volume 6 C5
Astraka watched the orcs compete against the trolls, they used the severed head of a thief, and what they 'did' was kick the head around in a curious form of sport. The thief had long hair, so it was used to sling the head around and throw it from one player to the next, with the other team trying to intercept it. Curiously, nobody could take more than two steps as near as he could tell before they were forced to throw it. The sport required abundant teamwork, and leaders emerged very quickly.
Shouts, sweating and swearing were the norm, but when one side got the severed head to the far end of the field and threw it past the meaty hand of the one guarding the goal, cheers went up from those who watched.
"How are you finding our sports, Duke Astraka?" The Frost Queen asked as she walked silent as death up beside him.
He jumped in his skin before turning to look down at her, the chill breath she emitted wafted over his skin, setting his hairs standing up on the back of his neck, but he answered with calmness at least. "It is… something else." He said as an orc and a troll left the field and a stone spitter and spriggan took their places.
Neia nodded politely and glanced up at him with her hands folded behind her back, his comment was neutral, but she felt, held a note of intrigue. "It's a team building exercise and a display of the power of the law. Steal from your own, end up as sports equipment. A little harsh perhaps," she shrugged, "but these are the days that must be harshest of all. In addition, these games I helped make provide an outlet for their energy and competitive spirit. It helps me find the leaders in their numbers and builds bonds without body counts. I can't use the Holy Kingdom's ways on so many different types of people, so this," she swept a hand out in front of her, "is how I've adapted."
The human nodded again, it was disconcerting, those last few weeks, watching the castle rise and grow slowly around the throne of the Queen of Frost. Seeing the dragon go out to sea and return with enormous deep water animals to provide for massive feasts and an abundant supply of oil from them which he had to envy.
The dark dwarf furnaces blazed without stopping, the building went on day after day, hour after hour as the first true demihuman city in the Abelion Hills began to rise.
Questions whirled in the head of the broad shouldered warrior noble, his hands were held tense in front of him, but so many things came to mind that he was unable to ask any of it before a spriggan approached them both and went down to one knee. "My Queen… news." The voice of the creature 'crackled' almost like the wooden body had a fire within, the green glow that came through the cracks was so filled with magic that Astraka, despite having no affinity for it, couldn't help but notice.
The head of the spriggan was not at all human, despite the face having eyes and mouth, though it was the whole jaw that moved, not lips, the head itself was elongated upward giving an impression of even greater height, and the thing was nearly as tall as the Queen even when kneeling. It had no 'muscles', but the wooden limbs were bulging like thick tree limbs on a great old oak, and it smelled slightly of grass wet with morning dew. Green leaves sprouted here and there, and trembled despite the lack of a breeze. Before spending some time here, that trembling would have meant nothing. But now, after weeks among the demihumans, Astraka sensed something was amiss by it.
"Go on, Astraka is our guest and if I have to send him away over this, he should at least know why." Queen Baraja replied and reached behind her to scratch her back. The horns growing out of the side of her head must not have itched, or so he concluded since he never saw her scratch there anymore, they were rising up to a jagged shape that crested just over head height, and were as pale as the rest of her body that he could see. The Queen's words allowed his body to relax despite the spriggan's tension, and he flashed an indulgent smile toward what he 'assumed' was a particularly big male.
"To'Raven is dead, my Queen, and so is his party."
Neia took that in, she closed her eyes and a chill cloud of fog took form from her breath. She accepted what he said… seemingly well, then asked, "How?" She tensed her body visibly, "Was it the Queen?" Neia asked, and the spriggan shook his head.
"No. The riders say Remedios Custodio is the one who gave the order. In my time in the forest near the wall, we sometimes treated with the riders in peace, they have never lied to us." The spriggan's voice was heavier than Neia expected.
' Did he know To'Raven?' She wondered briefly and then set the thought aside.
"Has his family been told?" The Queen asked, and Astraka had to restrain himself from raising a brow at the compassionate question. When the spriggan again shook his head, the Queen nodded. "Have them brought to me, I will tell them." Her hands went behind her back and one fist closed tight into her other, more relaxed palm.
"Go." She said to the spriggan and turned away to face Astraka instead. "You will be leaving us now, I have a task for you. Abide by it, give us control of the wall, and we have a bargain, human."
The Duke stepped back, her eyes were a constant source of anxiety that made it easier for him to look at the demihumans themselves instead of her, but now, trapped in their violent pull, they threatened the beating of his heart with death by sheer terror. Still, he mustered his courage and opened his mouth to speak.
Nothing came out, the words died in his throat.
The Queen of Frost didn't wait for him to catch up to his fleeing will, "I assume you have an excuse to be in the North of your kingdom… even if nobody knows you're here with me, perhaps an isolated hunting lodge? A loyal relative?"
Duke Astraka nodded.
Barely.
"Then when you go back," the Frost Queen drew a hand from behind her back and rested the palm on his shoulder, and despite him wearing pauldrons on his shoulders, when her talons clicked against the metal, the flesh beneath felt no safer, "you will be my voice. You will tell them that my messengers broke into your cabin after finding it by chance while they avoided human patrols, and told you to convey a message to the Queen on my behalf."
Astraka finally found his voice, "Shouldn't you just send her messengers directly?" He coughed and tore his gaze away when her ice blue eyes hardened further.
"They already killed one group of messengers. I will not risk another. I have my justification for war right now… but I don't believe the Queen was involved, or even knew of it. So let her have a chance to atone. Tell her that if Remedios Custodio's head is not sitting on the wall in a fortnight as a punishment for the unjust execution of my envoy, I will come over and put it there myself."
Astraka shivered as he contemplated what he was facing, a full blown demihuman invasion was the stuff of centuries old nightmares. ' Did I make a massive mistake…?' He wondered, but as it was… ' I'm committed. I turned traitor just by being here… there's no other option now but to see it to the end…'
"I-I, yes… yes, I'll do as you ask, Queen Baraja… I swear it. She will refuse. But I will carry your message." Astraka vowed, and Neia's hand came away from his shoulder and lowered to become an offered hand.
"Before I was a Queen, back when I was a human… I was a soldier, Huntress of the Wildlands, the Terror Eyes, the successor to the Mad Eyed Archer… but still, just a soldier. I offer my hand in that spirit."
Astraka furrowed his brow, "They say the first King was a lucky soldier, I suppose it's true of Queens too." He looked down at her hand, wavered a moment, and clasped his into hers. "I'll see you on the battlefield."
Neia looked away, tilted her head up, and whistled.
"I'll provide you with an escort past the wall, from there, get going, pass my message by magic or horseback, but I won't be giving the Holy Kingdom a lot of time. So don't waste it, and don't waste the time of the South either." She instructed as a magelos approached. "Get him home." Neia said without giving him a chance to respond. "Oh," she added, "and try to get my parents to safety, I don't want them used as bargaining chips against me when the Queen learns who I am."
Astraka bowed his head, and departed.
Volume 6 C6
Ainz felt his heart pound in his chest when he looked at the [Gate] in front of him. His eyes darted up and down the whorling vortex, the proof of magical skill beyond anything he'd yet to find in this world.
' In retrospect I should have been more concerned about using it the first time, I had no idea it would actually work after all. After things have settled down, I need to put Demiurge onto investigating the laws of magic…' Ainz thought, briefly glad to distract himself from his more immediate concern, which came roaring back an instant later.
' When I step through, I will see Albedo… it's been quite some time, she is the last Floor Guardian… revealing myself to the others, the common maids, the other Area Guardians, that will be easy compared to this. This is the hardest of all tasks… if only I hadn't done that to her…' The guilt weighed heavily on his soul.
He could not help but think of Shalltear and her urgent desire to be with him, the longing for an intimate touch that he just couldn't give to her… and knew without a doubt it was a thousand times worse for Albedo.
He swallowed, removed his mask, and wiped his face. The dreams he had of her only exacerbated his anxiety. He rubbed the ring on his hand against the glove which sheathed it. Nominally with it on, he needed neither sustenance nor rest. But his all too human spirit screamed for it anyway. "You've put this off long enough, she's probably wondering what is taking you so long. Do it!" He ordered himself, replaced his mask, and stepped through the [Gate] .
Albedo stared at the space waiting for the gate again, and again, and again, and again. ' How long… How long?! How long?! How long?!' Her heart fluttered and pounded by turns while she waited for her beloved Master to appear before her. How many months since she'd seen him? How many nights had she lain alone and reached between her thighs to think of his body on top of her own, and all the things she craved to do with him and him alone?
' A virgin succubus is so… absurd.' She thought in wry moments of self awareness, yet her busy work, his absence, and the reticence of the only man she desired had kept her innocent.
But this was the day and the appointed hour he would reappear, and all her work and the work of the useful tools she'd found for her use… the elf slave, the curious peasant merchant, even the turned human in the north, all brought them to this moment.
The Holy Kingdom was ready to explode in civil war, it would take only one more push to make it happen.
Albedo wrung her hands, only her natural total control over her body kept nervous sweat at bay. ' Please… please appear… I can't take it anymore…' She felt like a bowstring drawn with an arrow nocked and ready to loose, but the powerful archer that held it neither relaxed his hold nor let her go. Her every fiber stretched to the point of breaking and despite holding on as best she could, she could bear not one more moment.
The whorling vortex appeared a half a moment later.
The crackling of power and magic held its pattern, the endless swirling, her beloved on the other side… half a world away, and yet he was also only one step from her, and all she could do was wait.
Her heart rose into her throat when he didn't immediately appear. Her bright eyes focused, stared at the vortex, "Come on… Come… please… appear… appear…" She felt that longing that had been stirring for months in her breast become like a tornado and tears welled in her eyes. Though she was fairly sure her Lord didn't know she knew, the fact that he was now 'fully male' at least was something she was aware of.
' I thought before he'd found a way in order for us to… but then why leave? Why not let me stay with him at night and work during the day…? Why keep me so far away from him…?' She wondered that far more often than she liked to admit, and the answers all terrified her.
Worst of all was the possibility that… ' He doesn't want me.' Only slightly worse was that… ' He enjoys my suffering…' That made her weep more than once, that he put abiding love in her only because he wanted to enjoy hurting her by not returning what he made her offer up to him with every fiber of her being.
She recalled in detail the moment it happened. Watching her God erase part of herself, the urgent wanton sluttiness her maker had built into her mind, it was surreal. ' I might be the only Guardian to have seen how they make us how we are…' It was a great privilege, like a child in awe of seeing a new life born, he took away part of herself, and then…
' Just like that, he wrote a new part of myself… an abiding and deep love for him and him alone… the way it exploded in my heart the very moment his work was done, the final act of true creation in Nazarick, and it was inside of me and me alone… I thought I was so blessed… but how long has it been, and I am still empty…?'
She swallowed hard, trying not to work herself up, her wings spread out in all their glory, for this meeting she even wore the clothes she wore in Nazarick, the white dress with the golden spider web over her breasts, a perfect look for their first meeting after so long apart.
And still the void lingered, and she found the limits of the control she had over her body. She could keep the sweat at bay, but her bright yellow eyes were overwhelmed, tears pooled like a pond which she swiftly wiped away so that they wouldn't blur her vision of his coming.
A footstep came through, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Even though his foot touched the floor like anyone else who might walk along anywhere, such was his aura of command that he seemed to float, at least to her eyes. Like he was naturally above the world, his flowing robes and majestic air was every bit what she recalled and then some.
She tried to speak when the void vanished behind him. She opened her mouth to say, ' Welcome, Master. I can't wait to show you what I've done.' Her mouth closed. Nothing came out.
She opened it again as her arms opened like her wings at her side, she tried to say, ' Welcome, my Lord, to your next conquest.' Though whether she would have meant herself or the Kingdom or both even she couldn't have said.
Again her mouth closed, the moment hung between them.
Albedo broke.
"My love!" She cried with wild desperation and cast herself to her knees directly in front of him, her arms and wings wrapped around him at the thighs and she buried her face in his flowing robes and began to shake her head back and forth. "I've missed you… I've missed you! I've missed you! I've missed you… so much… I wanted you here for so long… thank you… I couldn't have waited another day… it was torture !" She did not, could not, close her mouth. The words tumbled out like water past a bursting dam, casting stone with wild abandon.
Ainz, for his part, froze. The reality of it all hit him with the force of a volcanic eruption. ' All this time,' He thought while she buried her face in his robes and lost all control over herself, ' I was thinking of myself and my own fears… this is what I left her to suffer… the child of one of my best friends… I knew she wanted me but…'
All that entailed, the longing that ate at her, the way it frustrated her, how she must have wondered why he sent her to work so far away and made her stay there to get it all done… guilt raged through him with the force of a typhoon storm.
As conflicted as he was, there was one thing Ainz knew. He loved them all. ' They're my children… and I hurt one of them…' The realization hit him like a punch in the gut, and all he wanted wasn't a kingdom, or an empire, or even his friends.
' I want her pain to stop… I don't want her to hurt…' That much he knew beyond any reason or doubt, and his hands with agonizing slowness, went around her to hold on to her back, which he began to stroke.
"I'm sorry, Albedo… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to do this to you…" He said, and that was all he said, over and over, until she could look up at him again.
Volume 6 C7
The Queen of Frost sat on her throne holding the sheepskin scroll, paper was still in short supply unless made by magic, and very few could use the simple spell for it since there had been no real need before. ' They spent so much time fighting each other that practical things for a civilization just didn't matter… Now here I am changing all that, I shouldn't be annoyed but…' She scratched at her now more ample bone horns, ' I am.'
Her pale frost blue skin caught the light of the day and she contemplated it for a moment when she looked away from the scroll's contents. The blood of Olasird'arc had truly marvelous and widespread effects on her body aside from healing what should have been fatal wounds.
Neia was anything but displeased with the result. Stronger, faster, able to compete with monsters that were unthinkable for anything less than Remedios herself, the hybrid form the Queen of Frost now had was an absolute joy. She scratched her back, ' But damn it itches a lot… I wonder if I'm growing wings too…' That was a pleasant prospect at least.
She refocused on the scroll, the prospect of an alliance with the South was more than a little tempting. ' I need more knowledge to build a proper Kingdom… The Dark Dwarves are helpful, but they are very few and passage through Dark Elf plains is both time consuming and expensive. I still can't believe I managed to get the Demihumans to even consider something important beyond personal strength.' She snorted at that, the power of unity had been on full display from the first time she incorporated a non-orcish tribe into her forces and managed to start bringing the smaller groups into line.
One by one and two by two the others fell accordingly, some by hook, some by crook, others by blade or dragon's breath… but now united, they were still learning to work together.
Being of somewhat minor noble stock, Neia knew better than most people that the past invasions of her homeland by Demihumans had all failed for one simple reason.
' No discipline. None. Every tribe for itself.' She recalled the lesson she learned that they hadn't truly intended to teach her, and as she looked at the scroll she knew the unvarnished truth. ' If I do invade again, I will do what nobody else has done before. Barring something unforeseen, I will win. Demalbion has discipline, they are now coming closer to being like a fist, not just twitching fingers acting according to their own will.'
A pang struck Neia's heart, for years of loyal service, they'd still turned on her at the drop of a hat and tried to kill her. Yet it was her home. That was her Kingdom. She still felt an ache in her heart for the people she would drive before her if her army went west.
The scroll she held contained the list of units, numbers, and mustered supplies. One suggestion for augmenting their supplies had been very straight forward. "We could simply eat humans."
Neia recalled shooting that one down immediately. "If we do that, after we win, we will have every human nation, maybe even the elves, bearing down on us from as far east as Baharuth. The humans would never allow a new empire like the Beastmen to rise in the west. And with the Kingdom of Nazarick making waves in the east, I don't like the idea of potentially antagonizing them too. No. We will capture humans, but we want legitimacy, to exist, to grow strong, and more enemies is not what we need to get there."
It settled the matter for most of them, it was simply too sensible, underestimating an unknown threat is how most of them ended up hammered into unity under her in the first place. A mistake nobody wanted to repeat with unknown powers and a united human crusade that they could bring down on themselves.
' I wonder what would have happened,' Neia thought as she contemplated the numbers she was preparing to bring to bear, ' if they had invaded while united under someone with a far more brutal outlook than mine? There is an unpleasant thought if ever there was one.'
She rolled up the scroll and set it aside, then took the next one. By now as she reckoned it, Astraka should be delivering her warning to the Queen, and when he went south, the Queen of Frost had no doubt his rebellion would begin in earnest whether the demihumans joined him or not.
' Foolishness.' Neia cursed, for all the bard songs of war and its glories, Neia knew the truth. War was work, hard work, dirty work, ugly work. More than once she held her arrow over the prone body of a demihuman whose spirit she sensed remained unbroken. One that she knew would kill her if she let him up, and released, leaving only shock in its eyes before it died beneath her. Others, the fear and panic, the wailing of children who fled a loss in war, only to find themselves hunted again by Neia's own shadowy and seemingly insatiable bloodlust… as far as they could tell.
' Now I'm on the other side, what a world this is.' She rolled her ice blue eyes at that and unrolled another skin to read the contents, new officers and noncoms were selected based on various performance evaluations. Personal power took a secondary position to leadership and command capability, but as a concession to culture, Neia made one clear exception.
The status of 'Champion of Demalbion' would be accorded to tournament victors and top performers, with those who achieved that state, regardless of their race, all put into one single unit directly under her royal command. ' Duels are for display. War is for winning.' Her private thoughts of that line still not revealed in full, it concentrated the bulk of Demihuman combat power directly under her control.
They served as her bodyguards at the slowly rising palace, and would serve as the tip of her spear when it came time to take the wall.
That thought hit her like lightning out of a clear sky. ' I'm already thinking they'll force me to go to war… aren't I?' She was. She knew she was. The fanaticism and fearfulness of the Holy Roble Kingdom would leave her with no other choice.
' I'm the most powerful woman in the Abelion Hills, I have a Kingdom and all the tribes are under my command. My dearest friend is a dragon, he's like a brother to me. And despite all of that… despite leaving everything behind, even my parents… I still find myself without a choice, instead being subject to other people's stupid decisions.' Neia balled up a fist and slammed it down on the armrest of her throne.
A few guards glanced her way from where they stood at the still incomplete walls, the sharp teeth she now had were bared in a snarl, but she waved their looks away and dropped the scroll to take up another from the pile on the little round table beside her throne. ' There's still so much to do…' She thought, and forced herself to focus again.
Volume 6 C8
Queen Calca listened to the words of the Duke who knelt before the throne. "Say that again." She whispered the order as soon as he finished speaking.
"The Queen of Frost, first Queen of the Kingdom of Demalbion, ruler of all the tribes of the Abelion Hills, demands the immediate beheading of Remedios Custodio of the Roble Holy Kingdom as punishment for the execution of the peaceful trade envoy. If this demand is not met, she promises to come over the wall and claim the head herself."
"Who the hell is this Queen of Frost?!" Queen Calca gasped out the question with a rising pitch.
"She is a dragonid, once a human." Astraka explained, while keeping his head bowed before the royal throne and swallowed hard. "After I was captured from my estate and taken east, I met her. She was named 'Neia Baraja' and said that when she was still human she was referred to as the 'Huntress of the Wilds'."
That had the attention of Calca, Kelart, and Gustav all at once, they stiffened as if they had all been turned to stone. Gustav's armor clinked once and then made not a sound.
"She's alive." Gustav whispered.
"My Queen," Kelart said, brushing back her long brown hair and glancing down at the seated royal in her vibrant white and blue gown, "this could be a trick."
"A trick?! You can't be serious! I was there . I saw what happened. A dragon took her away, and went into the Abelion Hills! It only makes sense that the creature did something and…" Gustav clenched a fist, "this is the result."
Calca remained quiet. Pensive. Her face was flint. She looked at neither Gustav nor at Kelart, only down at the kneeling Southern nobleman.
"How," the Queen finally asked, "did she come to be 'Queen'?"
"Understand, I was only a captive, taken with the intent that I gain knowledge and convey her words to you as someone that would be heeded." Astraka said, adapting and improving upon the lie the Frost Queen suggested to him, "But I did hear that she used her fame among the orcs as her foundation, and then expanded from there. She brought her knowledge of our home with her when she went east, and that was enough to let her make a new Kingdom."
"You admire her, don't you?" Queen Calca demanded, her advisors gasped at the suggestion.
Duke Astraka didn't deny it. "I am from a warrior line. I admire those who win when they have no business even living."
Gustav gave a reluctant grunt of acknowledgement, though his fists behind his back tensed enough to make his burnished steel armor clink a little and the noise of his leather gloves tensing was impossible not to notice.
"My Queen… she's my sister ." Kelart said, her eyes blinking, "If what he says is so…"
"You know it is. Even if we knew nothing else about what happened, you know it is." Queen Calca said and turned her head to glare up at the woman, "Your sister has cost us again, badly. What am I supposed to do, go to war for her after she executes the peaceful trade envoy of a sovereign nation?"
"But-" Kelart began, and Calca balled up a fist and slammed it down on the armrest of the throne.
"Be silent ." The hardened Queen's beautiful face was rendered more beautiful in her anger. Her lips tight and eyes flashed with fury. "You thought nothing of ignoring the plea from the Mad Eyed Archer, a member of the Nine Colors for his daughter's life, and now the one you were so quick to suggest be left to die, has an army at our gates, or nearly! And you want me to spare your sister for yet another violation of customs?! We stuck her out there so she could do nothing else to make things worse, and now… now she's got us on the brink of war!" Calca roared the words with anger she didn't know herself capable of.
The months and months of trouble, corruption, destruction, the evacuation and reclamation of her capital, and realizing how much was the fault of her own naive belief that others held the same ideals she did… Calca closed her eyes and took a long, slow breath, forcing herself to calm down and looked away from Kelart.
The toll it all took on her soul was almost beyond measure, and yet she could not stop now. "Obviously we can't go handing over our citizens' lives at the demand of a foreign power, even if it risks war. But… if Remedios did do this… and she did, I don't doubt it, we have to take some kind of action. If we don't, even if they were demihumans, we don't want the reputation of killing off envoys left and right. No nation will be comfortable dealing with us then, and who knows how that will hurt trade?" Calca asked the rhetorical question, and though Gustav relaxed, Kelart did not. Not fully.
"My Queen, what do you suggest?" Kelart asked, barely restraining herself from panicked breathing.
"We send an envoy over the wall, someone the Queen of Frost won't kill. Buy time, offer to have Remedios whipped on the wall or something… something that will satisfy diplomacy without leading us to war, and that will leave her with her life." Queen Calca's face tensed further.
"I don't like this. No more than you do." Calca said and reached out to take Kelart Custodio's hand. "But how many more have to die?"
"My Queen, what about your beliefs… your dream… a Kingdom where nobody will be sad or cry…" Kelart whispered the words like they were to a dying relative.
"You know the answer to that ." Calca said, her head hanging as if in mourning, "Maybe it died before it was born, and I was clinging to a corpse with all of you humoring me. Maybe it died on the wall when we tried to execute a hero for the crime of mercy. Maybe it died when my Kingdom became so rife with corruption that my city drove me from its walls. Whatever the hour of its death… it is dead . I have to do the best I can with the Kingdom I live in, not the one I wish I had."
She raised her head and faced the kneeling Duke. "Return to the Southern Holy Kingdom, take my brother with you. If this fails, I want to ensure he is safe."
"My Queen." Duke Astraka said and rose to his feet, he began to back away, fully ignored now that his business was done and the Queen turned her attention elsewhere.
"Gustav, you will go beyond the wall as my envoy to the Queen of Frost. Plead for peace, make the offer to her in person, perhaps she will not kill you at least." The Queen suggested.
"I was the judge at her trial, it seems more likely she would kill me than not." He frowned and bit his tongue. "No, I'll go. I can think of no one better for this than myself, I will pack my things and leave at once… and if I perish… I perish." He said, and privately thought, ' And it will be no less than what I deserve for my part in what happened… not stopping that sham of a trial will be a regret that will not let go, not till I'm gone from this world… if she kills me… that is just the gods rewarding me for my cowardice.'
He gave a slow nod of resolve and smacked his fist against his armored chest.
"Wish me well, My Queen." He said.
"Come back safe, Gustav. That is an order." The Queen said and he could not keep back a smile from her, even if her own was tiny and forced, she remained a golden and radiant beauty that naturally drew out his every protective wish.
"I will do my best, My Queen." He replied and lowered his salute.
"As will we all." Kelart added with an anxious swallow.
"So will we all." The Queen added, and watched the Paladin Commander's back as he left them alone.
Volume 6 C9
Skana threw back the wooden mug and drained the brew to the last drop. ' About now, Illyana has probably racked up a few hundred dead at least, if I'm to judge by the size of those escorts leaving town, damn dead fools. Almost as dumb as the ones who go flailing about the woods looking for her and her people.'
Skana ran a hand over the smooth green silk shirt and over her long black pants. Her disguise varied from place to place. A mistress to a wealthy merchant, wearing slightly lewd attire, a novice merchant in her own right, or a wife or daughter to some far off nobleman in a distant part of the Southern Holy Kingdom. It changed every time, and her clothing with it, from the nubile exotic to the demure and ladylike modesty. But the story was always structured the same way.
"It was such a terrible thing to see so many Southerners cut down, and what did the Queen do?"
She was careful to always just ask open-ended questions, letting the listeners fill the answers in themselves. Their outrage, coupled with the drinks she plied them with, it always sparked lively talk. ' Scum. If they had one ounce of real loyalty to them, or even gave a damn about finding out whether or not any of what I said was true, they'd not fall so easily towards rebellion. Pathetic fools.' The addiction to anger made them seek out reinforcement to confirm it, from each other, or from the memory of imagined slights that were nowhere near as great as they imagined them to be when they needed something to feed their hunger for righteous wrath.
' One ounce of decency…' Skana thought as she slid the mug over the bar to the bartender, a skinny old man with an indifferent look and a practiced hand, he caught it without looking and tossed it into a barrel full of water at his back. It landed with a splash before Skana was gone.
The woods were easy to find both night and day, and leaving the town without being seen was almost as easy as finding the woods. The auburn haired girl's bright green eyes caught the light of the moon and glowed like the eyes of a cat, a little cheshire smile swept over her face. ' I love my job.' Skana thought with a silent titter of breath in the cool night air, the demoness' instruction had worked wonders in their months of time together. From the tumbling and forms, to the occasional fencing with the doppelgangers, Skana's always lean dancer-frame was now tight as a drawn bow and her skills with a sword, once little more than for showy dancing to entice the hungers of strong men, were now sharper than real swords themselves.
She jumped as soon as the guard on the low stone wall passed out of view, her body easily cleared the fifteen feet of stone and she landed quiet as a cat's paws on the other side.
Normally her departures from various locations would be to bring Illyana word of some prize ready to leave a town or village, but on this occasion… ' Mistress will be summoning us back…'
It left a thrill in Skana's gut that made her every step lighter as she loped over the open ground, silent but aware, until she reached the woods the road went around by many miles. Of course, 'here' was the dangerous part.
She began to whistle and hold her hands up as much as she was able, tangled amidst the trees and bushes in the shadows. The night, even given a deeper shadow by the canopy of green overhead, posed no real obstacle to the now experienced agent of the demoness, but the deep growth that served as the shield of the elves was quite effective at slowing Skana down.
She whistled the signal tune until she heard someone whistle back. "Bold of you to whistle back." She called out into the dark.
Illyana came into view from on top of a high branch, her feet shoulder width apart, a bow slung on her back and her golden hair flitting lightly in the breeze. She rested one hand on the trunk of the tree from which the branch grew and smiled down at her from a stone's throw away.
"You'd know, my friend, you'd know." Illyana gave a mirthful smile down at the first, and thus far the only good human that she knew and hopped down from branch to branch when the mirthful smile was returned to her.
The former prostitute crossed the distance between them, her feet crushing the soft grass and crunching the fallen leaves under her high booted feet and embraced her comrade tightly breast to breast. Where Skana smelled of fermented beer and hot stew, Illyana smelled of grass and autumn breezes. The elf woman kissed her comrade's cheeks in contented greeting and then they stepped away from one another, if only by a forearm's length and clasped their hands together at waist height between one another.
"I take it my information helped?" Skana asked with an arched eyebrow.
"Very much so." Illyana said with a sharp, affirming nod. "Come see."
She turned and held Skana's hand while leading the woman through the trees toward the deepest part of the elven encampment. Other elves, some towering hulks, others even more slender than Illyana herself, gave begrudging, welcome nods to the human visitor. There were no more narrowed looks in her direction at least, though Skana still did her best to give warm smiles and waves to one and all.
She did however, hold Illyana's hand a little tighter, which brought a squeeze back her way, it was hard for the peasant not to be nervous still, the naked hatred of her race by the elves was a constant source of anxiety. The fate of elf women in Wenmark was something Skana acutely understood, and more than once she wondered, ' Will they turn on me the same way…?' The idea of bearing the brunt of their hatred for humanity left her trembling more than once when giving out information.
Her very existence, ' Only barely tolerated.' It still made her swallow hard, even if she was tolerated, and trusted, if not loved by those Skana sought to help. It left the human woman all the more in awe of Illyana's resilience and strength.
"Here we are." Illyana said offhandedly, oblivious to the admiring look the human woman gave to her back. She swept aside a curtain of leaves sewn into thick dark cloth to reveal a composite cage made out of metal, with heavy wooden logs secured to chains which were in turn bound to the wrists of human men, women, and children.
"We made a quick raid on Wenmark and recovered some of the 'iron jewelry' that they used to decorate us with." Illyana said with a cheery voice while her and Skana's eyes swept over the dozens of humans in fraying and dirtied fine clothing.
"I'm not sure they appreciate the irony. But even so?" She tittered a bit and let go of Skana's hand, and instead pulled the slender auburn haired human toward her at the hip, a tight little embrace that was a little tighter than it needed to be.
"H-How many were you able to get?" Skana asked without looking at the smiling elf. Instead she looked at the human captives, minor nobles and merchant guild members caught on the road, lured out by one of Skana's stories or whose travels Skana had learned of in advance and alerted the elves to.
"Almost all of them." Illyana acknowledged, one or two broke free and we had to kill them, but otherwise?" She laughed a rich, silvery laugh, "Everybody you warned us about. When the time comes and we reveal that these are still alive, we should have no trouble negotiating with the South for our way out of this hellhole."
The humans in the cages looked at Skana at first with pity, thinking her a captive, but as they heard the conversation, their faces all turned to anger, children, young ones as small as four or five, clung to their parents and cried. Older adults shook their chains and shouted at her, "Traitor! Traitor! Traiiiiiitor!"
"You'll be hanged for this! Drawn and quartered! Flayed alive! Burned! Torn limb from limb!" The promises of her dire fate rained down on Skana, and Illyana held her a little tighter.
"Can we… go and talk elsewhere?" Skana asked, doing her best to ignore the dirty faces and twisted anger of those trapped in the crude iron cage.
"Of course." Illyana said and dropped the curtain back so that it cut off the humans' view of her again. "This way." She said, and led Skana away and over to a large tree around which a high wall of sticks was jammed into the earth and then secured by dried vines, sat to offer some degree of privacy. There was no gate. Illyana simply let go, and jumped over to land on the other side.
Skana followed, and there she saw a bed of woven grass over which lay the fur of a slain brown bear, which Illyana promptly lay down on after tossing her bow onto a nearby hook hammered into the tree. The elven woman crossed her ankles and put her hands beneath her head then turned slightly to face her companion.
"Okay, we can talk, what's going on? Is something wrong?" Illyana asked, and Skana sat down cross legged beside her.
"Yes, I guess. Do you… do you hate humans? Still, I mean?" Skana asked.
Illyana's eyes widened a little. "Of course I do."
"Me?" Skana asked and closed her lips tight.
"No. You're alright on my scrolls." Illyana answered, "There probably aren't ten good humans in the world at any given time, I'm lucky enough that I finally met one who cared enough to help me. I doubt I'll ever meet another."
Skana searched for words to say while Illyana reached out, plucked a blade of dying grass from the soil and put the upper end of it in her mouth to chew. "I'm not going to hurt you, Skana. If that's what you're worried about. I hate your race, I can't help myself, even if I could stop hating humans, do you know how many human men, and even women, have hurt me over the years? Even if I got rid of my hatred, all that would leave me with is fear… would you rather I have that instead? That's all I've got, hatred or fear. That's all any of us have had for longer than your lifetime."
Skana hung her head. "I'm sorry for what my people did to you. I have no right to tell you how you should think or what you should feel. It's just, I care about you, a lot. It stings to think that when you look at me-"
Illyana sat upright at the waist before the sentence could be completed, and put a finger over Skana's lips. It was enough to stop the peasant from speaking, the light pressure might as well have been a steel bear trap, holding her mouth closed as it did.
"It's for the best if you don't finish that sentence, Skana. I'm an elf whore . Nothing good ever comes of a human getting involved with me beyond business. I like you too, a lot, a lot more than I thought. You put yourself out for me and… I see how some of my people look at you. It can't have been easy, I know, I was on the other end of that among your race. For you to stick with us, help us, risk getting caught… you're bold, and I'm proud to be at your side. To call you friend . But that's all."
Skana flushed red in the face until Illyana's finger came away, and she forced a laugh, throwing back her head and leaning back with her palms flat on the dying grass blades. "Did you think I was making a love confession… oh no, no no… I understand, it's just… I wanted to confirm that you and I were okay. I saw how you looked at those human prisoners, and-"
"Oh, of course." Illyana interjected with a laugh of her own, "What was I thinking? Well pardon me while I blush at my misunderstanding…" Which she did, and then patted Skana on the side of her knee, "Yes, we're just fine. The things I feel about humans are very… generalized. I don't have any ill feelings toward you… so… now that's out of the way, just for safety… just in case, why don't you lie down here with me while we wait for Lady Albedo to summon us. A little sleep before the [Gate] opens would be great."
"Right, I'm… I'm safe with you." Skana answered and lay down while Illyana did the same, they snuggled up close, scooting in to press and share the warmth of their bodies with one another, and quietly drifted off to sleep.
Or pretended to at least.
Volume 6 C10
Ainz allowed Albedo to lose herself in the moment for far longer than he knew he should have. And yet? The time to think was so vital that it couldn't be helped. ' What have I done? What have I done to my precious Albedo…? How could I have not understood what I was doing to her while I was trying to ease myself into things… I should have told her first, whatever the consequences for it…'
His heart tore with the ease of wet paper and with the pain of sensitive, intimate flesh under rending claws. "Albedo…" He finally said, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" His voice, muffled by the mask, might have disguised the change from undead to human. But it did nothing to disguise the sense of remorse which came through with every word. His hands ran over and over through her dark silk hair and down her upper back.
Albedo being on her knees did nothing to stop their shaking, but when her Lord spoke, she managed at least to raise her head and shake that back and forth in turn. "No, no my Lord. My Lord's will is perfect and right, I shouldn't act this way… if it is my Master's wish to withhold his love for his servant, then I have to endure it. I was created to serve you, where you want me to be, I must be, for as long as my Lord wills it." She sniffled and wiped her nose, but kept her eyes up on him and added, "But I did miss you so very… very much."
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…" Ainz repeated as if she'd said nothing at all, "You worked so hard for me, and I didn't know how much I was hurting you… you're the precious daughter of a dear friend… I would never want to hurt you."
The simple statement that she was 'the daughter of his dear friend' lanced through Albedo's heart, a brutal, piercing dismissal of the way she loved him, and from the core of herself that was opened up by that piercing strike, out fountained words she had uttered a thousand times in her own mind.
"No! I'm more than that, my love! So much more!" She cried out, "I'm not a child! I'm a woman in love ! Love I want to give to you and you alone! Love you chose for me, as a woman, not as a daughter!" Her words were frantic, blunt, bold, and they rained down on Ainz' resolve like vicious blows, not because of what she said, but because it opened up his overwhelming sense of guilt.
A memory stirred, distant now, but present nonetheless, of a powerful executive that wanted the pretty wife of a junior worker and so threw an office party. Though the man Suzuki Satoru had not personally seen what took place, the story made the rounds. A little white powder in her drink, got her away from her young, naive husband and alone, and the executive had his fill of her, only to discard her when he was done.
A special loathing existed in his mind for that executive, though now as Albedo's powerful hands pulled at his robes with teary eyes he was hard pressed to distinguish himself from the one who used the employee's wife. It wasn't lost on him what happened. Divorce and two suicides thereafter. Ainz' one excuse… ' I didn't know what I was doing when I changed her! It was just a final joke…'
Now he faced the punchline… a sobbing mess of a desperate girl who only wanted his love, and an overwhelming guilt at what he'd done to her.
And all he could do was say, "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. This was all my fault… all my fault…"
"Lord Ainz… please… please! Just a little bit of your love, even if for just a little while…" She began to pull at the fabric of his robes, and the moment changed.
She wasn't pulling herself to them, or them to her, or even himself to her, rather she was drawing herself up to pull his robes away to expose his body.
"Albedo!" Ainz exclaimed with a heart now pounding with shock and fear as much as guilt, "Get hold of yourself!"
Her pheromones filled his senses, the dreams of twilight hours came to mind to mingle with his panic, his alarm, his dismay, his guilt. He grabbed her wrists, though she was a level one hundred warrior which his former build could never have taken in a struggle, now… having far surpassed his old limits? He gripped her wrist and held her fast. He stopped her cold, though his aroused manhood still gave in to her wiles, he could still easily overpower her.
"This is because of you… your will, isn't it, my love?!" She cried out with an agonized catch in her voice as she lost all reason, her wild beauty in her slender frame which was by design meant to entice beyond measure.
Only his doubt about how she might react to his humanity kept his sense of control at bay, "Albedo, my body, I have to tell you-"
"I know, my Lord! I know the truth!" She shrieked the words and resumed drawing herself up, he fell on his back, more out of shock at her words than by the strength of her body. "You are a man… a whole man now! I've known for months! Longer! Since before you went to the Dwarves!" She shouted, and he froze, shock enveloped him.
' I was so careful to keep her at bay… and it was all for nothing… she knew?! She knew and I-'
Ainz' realization ripped apart what was left of his resolve.
' I tortured her for nothing.' His human heart wept a sea as she pulled his robes away and exposed his naked chest, she straddled him then and pulled her dress up over her head.
She cast the gift of her creator into the corner of the room with the utmost contempt, the wooden floor of the expensive room might as well have been filth to her before that hour. But in this moment, Albedo considered it to be the same as sacred ground.
Her breasts heaved as she tore away the sash that bound the undergarments which concealed his manhood, and with a swipe of her fingers she tore the cloth away, they were panting, both of them for different reasons.
Only his mask remained. For a moment Ainz thought she was going to tear it away, her hands were slow as glacial ice to his high level body, he could have stopped her. He had no doubt about it, ' What did you expect?' He asked himself, and her hands found the edges of the Mask of Jealousy.
Then they did nothing, they didn't tear it away, Ainz relaxed himself. "My Lord… may I… May I see?" It was a question as out of the blue as a lightning bolt on a cloudless day.
"You can never go back, if you do." Ainz said and brought his hands up to hers, his shaft was still responding to her pheromones, overwhelming heat rose from both their bodies.
"I can't bear it… I can't…" She said, and in that moment of rare clarity she asked, "All the others saw… haven't they?"
Ainz had no will to lie to her. "Yes."
"Am I so unworthy… cursed…?" She asked, coming for a moment, back to herself, perhaps due to his own seeming lack of response to her actions. "Of course… look what I am about to do…" The naked succubus hung her head in shame and then drew her hands away to cover her face as if she had a mask of her own.
"This was supposed to be beautiful… this was supposed to be beautiful… this was supposed to be beautiful…" She choked out the words and began a soft, whimpering cry, her body still straddling his own as the depth of her crime, attacking a Supreme Being, settled into her head.
"My Lord was right not to trust me… to exile me…" She said, as she now came to consider her 'assignment'.
"Albedo… Albedo no… No… No… No…" Ainz said and reached up from under her to grasp her arms and pull them away from her face to expose her weeping yellow eyes and her trembling ruby lips.
"Listen to me… let me tell you…" Ainz said and began to relay it all to her, the moment of the change, his concerns over the loyalty of the denizens of Nazarick. "I suppose I must blame my own human heart for being so irrational. As if my friends' children would ever be anything but loyal… it was a stupid thing for me to fear, but I feared it anyway."
Albedo gave a weak, fragile smile. "This truly does explain much… but, your mask, may I, my Love?"
Ainz allowed her hands there again, and this time he did not stop her from pulling it aside.
"My Lord is… handsome." She said and touched the cheek of his face, a little dark beard stubble bent under the light touch of her fingers. "I knew my Lord had all his manly parts restored, but not that he was human."
A spike of alarm shot through Ainz' heart for a moment until he saw that her smile did not vanish, instead growing only stronger. "I should have expected as much out of a genius." He admitted, and his head rolled to the side to look away from her, "It seems so obvious now, I should have come to you first. But I-" He reached up, not for her heaving breast, but for her own face.
"You're my friend's child… What I did so thoughtlessly, it was wrong. Your feelings, you told me once it wasn't a problem. That is true for you, but not for me… how can I do what you want when it isn't what you were meant to be?" His face twisted into a mix of confusion and pain, his eyes welled up with tears.
"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry, My Albedo… but please… rise, put on your clothes. I can't. We can't . I can't ." Ainz said a little more firmly.
If she had pressed on, his resolve hung like a fraying thread, he would have relaxed, and let her do as she wanted. "I'm here now… let that be enough… please." He urged.
She gave a quiet, submissive nod and rose from off of him. His robes were not truly off of his body, only cast down, as she rose and went to obey him, putting on her dress again, he rose himself and began to close his robes as if nothing at all had happened.
But it did.
She had her back to him while she dressed, and shameful though it was, he could not help but look.
So Albedo caught his eyes when she ran her hands through her hair, pulling it from out of the confines of her dress to tumble down her slender curving back.
She lingered there a moment, sharing the eye contact from across the room, and then folded her hands demurely in front of her waist before saying, "My Lord, my servants should be ready soon, if it pleases you, we can begin to go over our plans for the last push before this Kingdom is doomed to fall into your hands."
"Ah, yes… yes let's do that. Go ahead, Albedo." Ainz stammered for a moment as he fixed the mask back over his face and then followed her over to a waiting table with two comfortable looking chairs just begging to be used.
Volume 6 C11
"An envoy from the Holy Kingdom?" Neia asked the messenger, her brow furrowed and she leaned forward. Her back itched, she reached behind her to scratch the protrusions that were beginning. ' Just like with the horns… how much of 'me' will be left by the end?' It was a half held thought of no real consequence to the Queen of Frost. The messenger was a bafolk, one of the survivors after killing the Grand King Buser. ' I suppose there is something to be said for the demihuman reverence for strength. Killing him solidified my reputation… they have no idea that when I was human, I was nowhere near as strong as everybody thought.'
She let out an exhale that cast out the fog of her breath, a cool autumn air wafted over some of her exposed skin as she contemplated what to do.
"Yes, My Queen. And he says you know him." The bafolk knelt in the fashion of his people, with a hoof always moving and ready to jump. They were fantastic jumpers, a thing she kept in mind for when she went for the walls. His statement however, caught her ear.
"I do? Did he give a name?" Neia's ears pricked up.
"He says, "Gustav Montagnés, Commander of the Paladin Order."" The Bafolk huffed, a sign of contempt at the long title.
Neia however, shot to her feet with such force that she nearly toppled her throne. "Gustav?! Are they mad?!" She snapped. While not well known to her as a person, she knew what he used to be. And she would never forget the moment when last they saw one another.
When he saw her sentenced to the sword and the stake.
' They're either insane, or this is an insult… or an offering. Is that what this is?' Neia wondered, ' Could they be offering his life in exchange for Remedios Custodio?' That thought made more sense than simple madness.
Regardless, she had to respond. It had been some time, even knowing it would take a fair bit for Duke Astraka to deliver his message, and even more time for him to get home and start his own rebellion, so if nothing else… ' Sending him is legitimate, one way or the other.' Neia reasoned, when she'd shot to her feet the guards lining the wall stared at her, their weapons tensed, but she shook her head. "Call for Olasird'arc, it's time we make an impression on the Holy Kingdom."
The bafolk rushed to obey, and Neia clenched her sharp talon tipped fingers, clicking the ends together as she took a slow walk out of what was rapidly becoming a growing palace. The wall was nearly complete, with one marvelous design feature she insisted upon that would be the last one to be added. A magicine mechanism that would open the roof to allow Olasird'arc to join her. ' A home isn't a home if your friends can't come in.' She reflected as she turned her eye toward the distant horizon as soon as she passed through the doors guarded by both a spriggan and a nagina.
' It's still strange to think of having a dragon as a friend, for that matter, having 'any' friends is a novelty.' She mused and cracked a smile at the slow rising sun. It was a nice feeling, some of the chiefs of the demihumans, she'd come to like more than she was willing to admit. They had a directness to them that made their company enjoyable. They said what they meant and meant what they said, and as long as she treated them with respect and was willing to risk herself for them, they were loyal.
' I can't ever go back.' Neia came to understand, there was nowhere else in the world she could belong, not really. ' Humans would never welcome me as I am, and didn't even want me when I was one of them. What are the odds of any other monarchs ever really giving a damn about a demihuman, unless they're one themselves?' She asked the question rhetorically and half snorted, the rumors carrying her way about the distant Kingdom of Nazarick tickled at her brain, but it was difficult to credit those very much.
Even if it were true, they were far away, and it was unlikely she would ever meet the ruler there.
' I have enough to think about right here, right now.' Neia thought as the shadow of Olasird'arc covered her body when he passed over her and began to circle closer and closer to the ground near where she stood.
"Neia." He said, and then let out a rumble of amusement, "Or should I say, 'Frost Queen'?" He asked.
Neia put a hand on his massive snout by the nostril, she stood just to the side of it, in full view of his single, giant eye, "Just call me your friend, that's good enough." She said and tapped his nose, "And also call me ready to go, the envoy will be at the old outrider posting, I'm sure of it."
"Outrider posting?" Olasird'arc asked.
Neia nodded, "Yes, for all our enmity, some trade has always taken place between the wall and the demihumans, not a lot, mind you. But those scouts that were there did come out this way to find out what was going on sometimes, and they built up some good relations at least. Good enough that they have a few designated areas where they could generally rest without being immediately killed. I've never been there, but I know what to look for from word of mouth."
"Then let's not keep them waiting, perhaps their surrender will be brief." Olasird'arc said with such a serious voice that Neia almost took it seriously until she realized it was his way of joking.
Her face split in laughter and she smacked his nose with her palm again, "Oh come on, you!" She quipped and rushed past his head and bounded from the ground, off of his foreleg, and up onto the back of his neck.
The broad white wings of the frost dragon battered the air, causing nearby trees to sway, rock and threaten to come up by the roots before the dragon's rising body grew too distant.
Soon they were well aloft and soaring through the air, the wings beat and tail lashed until the great dragon could simply glide ahead on the currents of the air.
Neia pointed to a little cluster of trees covered with white petals native to the Abelion Hills, they were long, slender things at the trunk, but burgeoned at the top like mushroom heads, broad around, and always grew in threes. The great white flowers gave off a powerful smell, and from them hung white vines of exceptional thickness, with length enough for several paces worth of length to coil on the ground.
"Land there." Neia said, and Olasird'arc looked behind him to see where she pointed.
"I smell nothing." He said, "Even from here, I should detect some hint of human."
"You wouldn't." Neia said, "Those trees hide everything within them. Goodness knows why, but it makes a perfect hiding spot for wayward humans. Or at least a few of them." She answered, and understanding her reason, Olasird'arc began his slow corkscrew descent to the ground again until Neia dismounted with a flourishing leap.
She wasted no time, stepping ahead of the dragon so that she was in his field of fire if he should use a breath weapon. "Gustav Montagnés! You wanted the Frost Queen! I am here! Come out!"
Silence.
She called out again. "Gustav, I promise I am not here to kill you! The gods wouldn't blame me if I did! Nobody who knew what you did would hold me to blame for killing you! But I swear on the lives of my parents, I am not here for that! You wanted a meeting, you came to me! What is it you want?!"
Gustav rested his back against the slender brown tree trunk and rubbed his forehead, "I don't want to die." He said, his heart quivering in his breast when he heard her call out the second time. Shame swept over him as he recalled the screams of the woman out there, how easily he condemned her to an agonizing end, and that even the traditional 'chance' was denied to her.
He swallowed and rubbed the sweat out of his brown beard. "I'm not armed!" He shouted from within the cluster. "I came alone to parley on behalf of Her Majesty!"
Silence met him. ' Of course she said nothing, she already knows.' He realized.
"Please, come sit beneath the Peace Trees! I promise I mean no harm!" He shouted again.
"This time! You mean no harm 'this time'! I have not forgotten the last time we met, Gustav Montagnés!" Neia retorted.
"I'm sorry!" She heard him shout. And that brought her up short, her suspicion, her doubts, even the slow burning hatred, all stilled. "I'm sorry for what I did! Please! Sit with me and let me say it in person!"
"He won't come out?" Olasird'arc asked, bringing his head close enough to Neia to whisper to her.
"The tribes also consider those sacred, they won't damage them because the flowers are so useful in alchemy… if I'm truly 'one of them' a truce is always honored beneath the Peace Trees." Neia explained with a backward glance.
"I'm coming in!" She shouted. "Remain seated, human ." She spat the last word to make a point, and trod forward over the space between herself and the white curtain of flowery vines, her taloned hand reached out with agonizing slowness and began to push them aside, against all reason, her heart was pounding in her breast. ' Get over yourself, he's no match for you anymore. You can handle him even if he ambushes you.' Neia told herself and swallowed the lump in her throat, her body braced for a sudden attack, instead…
There he was. He was kowtowing, on his knees, his forehead pressed to the grass and hands by his head. "I am truly sorry for what I did! I… the trial… the trial was a sham. A sham . I was blind, and when I could see, I was too afraid to challenge it."
"If you want forgiveness… forget it." Neia said and walked past him to sit at another tree, her back pressed to it, her legs crossed in front of her, and her palms sat upturned on the sides of her knees.
The scent of the flowers was thick, and everything swayed back and forth lightly in the breeze, as if the trees were waving goodbye to some distant and retreating friend.
Gustav got up, went to the tree closest to her, and sat in the same fashion as she.
"I do want forgiveness… Neia Baraja. But I don't deserve it. For what it's worth, what I did will haunt me until I die, which…" He raised an eyebrow, "I hope will not be in the next few minutes?"
The way he asked it was so… odd, that Neia laughed. A thick, rich laugh that made her slap her knee several times until she got herself under control and shook her head at his question. "No, you will not die today, Gustav Montagnés. But depending on how you answer, a great many may in the weeks ahead."
Her face became grave, serious, and his relief, though it swept through him like a wave, was short lived.
"Do you hate us all so much now… would you really turn on your Kingdom, your people… your parents, your home?" Gustav asked, or rather, implored, his back straight against the tree, he bowed his head, but kept his eyes roving over the dragonid Queen.
Her hair was as short as he recalled, but it had become an icy blue, while her skin was as pale as a corpse, but with little blue lines in spear shapes that suggested her flesh was now more like scales than skin. Her eyes were the same as he recalled, right down to the raw terror that seemed to hone in on him and command his bowels to loosen. The horns that jutted from her head thrust forward and up at a slight angle toward her forehead, and her ears had a distinct 'point' to the ends that were absent from humans, and the lobes were gone from them.
She was briefly quiet in response. But when she answered, it was slow and sonorous. "No. No I don't hate the Queen, or the Holy Kingdom, or the place of my birth. The gods know you all gave me reason enough. You sent me on a suicide mission, I gave my life to my kingdom!" She hissed and smacked her hand over the green scale armor at the breast, "I devoted myself to my duty ! I hunted the wildlands and survived ! Then I was killed for it! The gods know I have reason enough for hating you all. Not one of you gave a damn about me. Where was my relief?! Where was my resupply?!"
"I… I don't know." Gustav muttered, and was no longer able to meet her eyes.
"There was never any, not for me, or for anyone. That suicide mission was there to get rid of troublesome elements in the ranks in the most efficient way possible. If you had all just listened to me, then Olasird'arc might have been happy to rule the wall and could have been the greatest security our Kingdom had ever known! Instead…?" She jabbed her talon down at the space between them.
"Here we are! This isn't about hatred, Gustav ." Neia emphasized. "Your stupid leaders killed To'Raven, one of my tribal chiefs, one of the first to submit to me. Someone whose life I personally spared. And he was a peaceful envoy!" She hissed the rebuke out at the human and closed her finger back into a fist.
"I could love you all to death, and nothing would change about the fact of what happened to him. You killed a Royal Envoy, a peace expedition, you know what that means! I know it was Remedios Custodio behind it. And I'm giving you a chance to avoid war because I know the Queen wasn't the one to give the order. I want Remedios's head on that wall!" Neia jabbed her arm out with her talon extended toward the direction of the divide between peoples.
"If it isn't, I will invade, take your wall, capture Remedios, and put her head up there myself!" Neia bared her fangs at her former superior officer, strangely enough, despite the fact that he was a fairly big man compared to her, she felt very much like she was looking down at him.
"The Queen," Gustav finally said, "is not willing to give up her loyal, if misguided servant. She offers a personal apology to you, and to have the former Paladin Commander publicly whipped atop the wall where you can see for yourself that she is punished."
That gave the Frost Queen pause.
But not for long.
"She killed an entire envoy, and you expect me to be satisfied with her continued life, and an apology after she receives the kind of pain we give to a soldier who shows up drunk to duty?" Neia furrowed her brow and gave a slow shake of her head.
"No, Gustav. No." Neia answered. "Think very carefully about this, the Northern Holy Kingdom has been decimated by demihumans before, but it has always triumphed because the demihumans did not work together. That has changed. I am forging a true nation out of them. I know my homeland intimately, I've been in some of the fortresses, don't think I can't or won't use that against you all to bring this to a quicker end. If I go over that wall, I won't be as destructive as the demihumans before me… but I promise you, the Roble Holy Kingdom will never be the same again."
Gustav raised his head.
Meeting the narrow, vicious eyes of the dragonid before him, he mustered his courage, and said only…
"If."
Volume 6 C12
"Goddamn demihumans, demonic curses, trash and scum, pests, slaves, and plagues…" Remedios mumbled under her breath while she rocked back and forth on the horse as it meandered on the long road back to Hoburns. The capital of one of the great human kingdoms, it was not as populous as Kami Miyako, or Baharuth, but its history was rich and strong. The one blight, its border with nonhumans and the inability of her Kingdom to properly cooperate with the Slane Theocracy to purge the Abelion Hills.
The thought occurred to every ruler to come to the throne for the past hundred years. ' We have them surrounded… if only we could invade from both sides…' On paper it was a sound strategy, but even for all her dimness, Remedios saw the one fatal weakness.
' Some of the damn demihumans are inordinately powerful, and one of their heroes could stop a unit cold.' The thought wasn't far away, and it kept her up more than one time at night. The one great fear was paired with that one great failed hope.
That one day the demihumans might find true unity and invade. Now, if the message that had her on the road read true, she was going back to Hoburns precisely because that was happening.
' Kingdom of Demalbion, and of all things… 'her'? The traitor?!' Remedios looked over her shoulder, a prison wagon rolled on behind her and she clutched her cloak a little tighter to her when the autumn breeze picked up.
Inside were the parents of the traitor that became the Queen of Frost. The ex-member of the Nine Colors, the Mad Eyed Archer and his wife, a former paladin of great renown. Remedios let her horse slow down and shifted it to the side, allowing the horse-drawn wagon to roll forward and catch up to her. She sat up a little on her horse and looked into the window. The couple was asleep.
They looked worse for wear, clad not in the honored gear of Holy Kingdom warriors or nobles, they now wore prison garb with bright yellow Xs marked on the front and back, the woman resting her head on the shoulder of her mate, and him resting his head on hers.
' It's hard to believe that they could be the parents of a traitor and a monster…' Remedios acknowledged that much, privately. A bruise, ugly and dark, swelled up half of the face of Neia's father, a blow Remedios recalled giving in vivid detail when he got in the path between Remedios and his wife.
' I was just following standing orders… kill demihumans who cross the border… What's the problem? They're all supposed to die, we just tried… tried to execute someone for letting nonhumans go… how long ago now?' Remedios tried to recall and could not. It all blurred together.
And yet reading the letter she received from the Holy Queen, it couldn't have sounded more displeased if the woman had been swearing at her.
Worse… as Remedios looked away from the chained sleeping prisoners she unconsciously put her hand on the pouch that held a different letter from her sister giving special advice to ensure that the couple remained completely unharmed, and that one was… ' Alright, I'm not very smart… She's always been the smart one. Fine. But I've never felt so talked down to as in that letter… what did I do?!' She wondered that over and over again.
And still found no answers, no matter how much she thought it over, all the way to the gates of Hoburns before her train of thought shifted to something else… the simple happiness at seeing her Queen. At least 'that' brought a smile to her face.
"If." Neia retorted, her hands upturned the same as Gustav's, resting on her knees. "That makes a fine retort for the history books," she narrowed her terrible eyes at him, "But there is no confusion here. That 'if' depends on whether or not I get justice for what was done to my envoy. Take your 'if' Commander, right back home with you. If I am not given her head, I will take it."
Gustav Montagnés clenched his jaw, tried to meet her eyes, and despite all his vast experience, quickly failed.
"That's the only justice there is in your Kingdom." She hissed. " You taught me that! If I don't take it, I will never get it."
"And what of the innocent people you'll kill trying?" He practically pleaded and barely kept his hands rooted in place. "You were a protector, you hunted to save them, are you going to kill them just as easily? Your own parents are in that number! Will you kill them too!" He shouted, and that got a reaction.
Neia stiffened, her head went back as if struck and the back of her head caused the springy tree to sway wildly for several seconds. "Are you threatening them?" She finally asked, her open left hand twitched a little, causing the talons to click when they touched one another.
"Would it help if we did?" Gustav asked only half in seriousness.
Neia was surprisingly pensive, looking away from him for a moment. "I honestly don't know. I should say 'no of course not, go ahead and kill them if you want', but I genuinely do not know how I would respond to someone taking hostages to use against me. All I can say is… I love my parents. But they taught me to do my duty, and what I thought was right. If I sacrificed my people for the sake of hostages, I don't think I would deserve to be here. I guess… if you want to hurt them, you can. But if you do?" Neia asked rhetorically, placing emphasis on the word he used before to dare her.
"I remind you I will have far more hostages than you, and if my former Kingdom kills my family, there will be no reason left to be kind. Now, are you authorized to give me Remedios' head or are you not?" Neia demanded once again.
Gustav denied it with a shake of his head. "No. We can't just give up a citizen like that. She can be punished severely, stripped of her rank, her honors, and beaten to within an inch of her life."
"But not one inch more." Neia finished, and he nodded his assent.
"Then we are done here. The Queen has made her choice. Pass my words to the Holy Queen then. The quest for justice is waged in a long dark night, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Whether she sees it with me or not, is more up to her than I. Now…" Neia stood up and pointed in the direction of the wall, "get out of my Kingdom."
Volume 6 C13
Ainz sat across from Albedo, her eyes still puffy, with red cracks that were proof of her previous tears as she laid out the events as her dopplegangers and local agents had informed her of and guided. When she reached out her hand to him from across the table, he accepted it, even squeezed it a little bit.
"So you enhanced the corruption already rotting from within, you stoked the fires of rebellion in the South by helping a slave insurrection begin, and using a home grown agent to help push a narrative of resentment toward the Queen for her actions, and put agents at the wall to let the Demihumans in when they invade… does that summarize everything?" Ainz asked, while trying desperately to focus on the business of Kingdom breaking, but he could not turn his face away from Albedo's, the longing in her bright eyes, ' Longing I put there,' he reminded himself, ate at his conscience.
"Mostly, My Lo- My Lord." Albedo replied, "I did leave off your actions, privately helping the new Queen in the Abelion Hills. The elf servant I took has also been taking hostages from humans for some time, a bargaining chip to use later. My Lord did instruct that casualties should be as few as possible, and I admonished both my servants to remember this." She smiled with a faint sense of pride.
"I admit, for lesser beings, they have proven useful," her proud but fragile smile remained, though her head bowed a little, "My Lord's admonition is now well understood. And now that the human Queen has sought my Master's aid, how will he respond?" Albedo was not one of the three geniuses for nothing, and recalling her own argument with Shalltear over who would be Ainz' first wife, it was easy to conclude a likely outcome for the Holy Queen and the Allfather.
But she would not, could not, bring herself to ask, "Will you marry her?"
That did not stop Ainz from seeing the question in her eyes.
It was a punch in his guts. ' I'm still a virgin! I can't… I don't…' He didn't really know what he was mentally protesting, but from a practical level, a part of him that did stay rational understood why Albedo was thinking it. ' Political marriages to unite Kingdoms were common enough in my own world, I shouldn't be surprised by them here. Plus it would fit my instructions on minimizing casualties… but no… no, no, no, no, no.' He suppressed the shudder which would have rattled his body with nerves, and to cover any sweat from rising on his brow, he ran his gloved hand over his forehead.
Putting the mask on would have been for the best, but somehow, despite it sitting just inches from his hands, ' It feels wrong to hide my face from my Albedo now… and I can only think it would hurt her if I did.' And that was even worse. Hurting her was the single worst thing he could imagine doing at that moment, the very notion made him want to retch like his first sight of battle, watching the lizardmen and frogmen in their final clash.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them. "I will… render her some aid. Our runecraft weapons are making their way into the hands of my nationalized adventurer's guild, and our teams in the Draconic Kingdom are performing so well with them that Queen Draudillon has expressed an interest. A shipment of weapons and armor… on credit, will help our financial situation and our reputation with our neighbors."
Albedo's body relaxed perhaps more visibly than she intended. ' Of course he wouldn't marry a human, what were you thinking?' She asked herself the question in an almost mocking fashion, it was some relief that she thought, ' The only reason that even occurred to me is… is how I feel now… if only I could make him see me as the woman who loves him… not the woman he… he 'broke'.'
But 'how' she was at a loss.
At least at that moment, she could savor his touch.
So she refocused on the matter at hand. "Then, My Lord, when will you respond to her request? It has been a fair while, hasn't it?"
He nodded, "It has. But she isn't desperate yet. The truly horrible thought that the Kingdom of Demalbion and the Southern Holy Kingdom would join hands against them, I doubt has even been considered."
"I see. And when they clearly have, My Lord?" Albedo asked.
Ainz made a wild guess, ' I was making up all that… It's too confusing! What was I even saying… I got so lost thinking of Albedo…' He brought a hand up to his chin to hide the obvious motion of swallowing hard, "Then I will respond." Ainz made his response as vague as he could, and quietly hoped she would fill in the blanks before quickly following up, "Do you have any plans for the Queen of Frost?"
Albedo's smile became heartfelt, loving, and she squeezed his hand again, "My Love… My Lord's wish that the world be a place where we can all be happy and safe… it means if we don't wipe all others out, they have to be willing to share the world with us. The Frost Queen tolerates other races, treating them all equally under her rule. She will further My Lord's will if she is well handled."
It was easier to agree than to argue, and so he nodded.
The silence stretched.
Both filled with thoughts they didn't, couldn't speak aloud.
"There is the possibility of you being caught in all this." Ainz finally said, breaking the tight air between them.
Albedo let her little smile grow, "I know, My Lord. The doppelgangers are effective, as are my home grown tools, but have no fear, nothing here has a chance of defeating me."
Ainz recalled a raid in Yggdrasil where a guild used a proxy to undertake a specific action, disguising raiders as pop monsters for an ambush… ' They got caught precisely because they used that World Item, an item nobody else had…'
"I know. But you realize that your strength will inevitably expose us, using the [Gate] spell where the wrong people can see it, knowing as most eventually will know that it is ours alone, and only we can be so strong…" Ainz trailed off, and Albedo nodded immediately.
"Of course, Master. Of course. If I am exposed, I will simply fake my death. Let them wonder where I come from, and I will rejoin you at home that very night. My 'body' simply disappearing." She sighed, her own thoughts on what that meant, very different from what she knew him to be thinking.
She could still feel his arousal like a pounding drum, a man's wants, a man's needs, ' But he won't accept me…' The bleeding in her heart was such that the thought of faking her death at least brought some relief. ' How am I supposed to live with this now… at least before…' She dared not progress to the word 'hope' but it was not far from her mind either.
"Ahem," Ainz interjected in the long quiet reverie and broke his touch from Albedo to reach for his mask, "Are your servants prepared?"
Albedo kept a smile plastered on her face and pushed herself away from the table to stand up. "I will summon them at once, My Lord." She replied with the greatest depth of enthusiasm she could muster.
Volume 6 C14
Queen Calca wondered if she would ever feel 'tranquil' again. Her peaceful thoughts and confidence had been drowned in the blood of her own citizens when she was forced to flee her capital, and then even more so when she was forced to take brutal measures to reclaim it. ' Getting my brother out of here was sensible, if something does happen with the demihumans, there's no guarantee I won't be killed. And if that happens, somebody has to carry the royal family on or the whole country will fall apart.'
Her appearance retained its usual beauty, her hair properly brushed and makeup both magical and benign were all done to perfection, and her dress a vibrant blue and white, the royal colors in all their glory.
And thanks to magic, the bloodstains on her palace were all wiped clean as if they'd never been there at all.
But that didn't set her at ease. At the far end of the hall stood Remedios Custodio, her head down, sensing the anger of the Queen. In the past, Calca would have risen from her throne and called her over. In the past, Calca would have smiled brightly and even embraced the woman with such public vigor that rumors of a sexual relationship between her and the former Paladin Commander were once widespread. The same was still whispered about her and Remedios' sister, Kelart. ' Perverts. Humans are perverts.' The thought came and went as the next man presented himself and knelt down.
He bowed his brown haired head, holding his helmet cradled in his forearm, "… And so I swear to uphold and defend the Roble Holy Kingdom, its Queen, and all the heirs of her body for as long as my line endures."
"Then rise, Marquis Delunes Albens. First of your house, first of your title, first of your name." The Queen said when he finished reciting his oath.
He was the sixth of the noble houses to rise to status that day. ' I wonder if I've purged more useless and corrupt nobles than Emperor Jircniv El-Nix, yet?' She wasn't entirely sure, but it was a distinct possibility. Every hint of corruption was met with a complete purge of the entire household, while those members allowed to live, all thrust into newly commissioned 'Dirty Battalions'.
It rubbed the Queen the wrong way, ' It seems so unfair still… to destroy a whole house because of the family heads or heirs… but Kelart is right… Gustav was right…' And that made her even sicker about it all, leaving them around would be permitting the bad behavior to continue, but punishment served as a warning to the rest, and this… putting them into units with the most dangerous assignments, where they were more likely to die than survive, risked next to nothing for the Holy Kingdom and helped keep the troublesome elements in one place. ' As an added benefit, if they think there is a way to regain favor and status, they will at least work hard.'
But it still stabbed her heart.
' As soon as I abandoned my ideals… everybody else did too. Did 'anybody' believe in them as I did? Were they just keeping quiet and humoring a stupid hopeful girl's fantasy while everybody just did whatever they wanted when I wasn't looking?' As the noble finished a speech she wasn't really listening to, the next one stepped up.
' Just get through this day's worth of ceremonial oaths, and I've got a whole new Northern Holy Kingdom to run… barely any of the old ones are still around, and I'll have to turn some attention to the South… or maybe have my brother do it.' She thought, and turned a sharp glare briefly to the waiting Remedios.
' Let her wait her turn. She has a lot to answer for… and 'waiting' is the smallest penalty she can pay for this.' Calca told herself, and began to administer another oath to another nobody who was about to become a somebody.
After the meeting with Gustav, the Queen of Frost made haste back to her capital, landing with her customary flourishing jump from Olasird'arc's back and striding with steady steps toward those waiting to attend to her. "Rally the army!" She bellowed. "They want a war so damn badly?! We'll give them one that will never be forgotten!" Neia held out her hand and a young orc servant rushed to throw her bow into her hands. She raised it overhead and listened as the cheers of the demihumans went up around her.
"Send word to the villages in your homelands, and muster our supplies, I want to be gone within the week ." She bellowed with fury. ' They have my parents… they killed my envoys, people whose lives were entrusted to me… damn them… they want to say "if" to me?!' Her ice blue eyes flashed as she recalled the pain of the blades shoved into her guts to impale her to the stake.
' I already know the answer to 'if'. It's time they learned it. Astraka should be ready by now. I wish… oh how I wish I could see Remedios' face when she finds out her country is being invaded from two fronts… and that it is entirely her fault.'
The itching on her back became much, much worse, and Neia felt a vague, tearing sort of pain, her thoughts, savage and full of wrath, were briefly subsumed by the pain as she felt the protrusions widen and rip away the hybridized flesh scales on her back.
She couldn't see it for herself, but even without seeing it, she knew. ' Wings.' Her body shook with agony as if giving birth as her skin and scale nature tore itself apart to remake a part of her into something new. She clenched her teeth to keep back screams of pain, and saw droplets of blood and flesh drip with wet plops down into the grass near her ankles. Neia's eyes shut tight so as to not see, her legs shook at the knees, and down she fell, striking the ground with a thud, crouching forward, her breasts heaving and a scream torn away under the dismayed eyes of her followers.
And then they sprang free, her appendages, with a fabric like noise of a sail catching the wind, her wings sprang into being, twice as wide as her body was tall, still dripping blood that fell down like a red drizzle of rain into the grass and dirt, the Queen of Frost continued to breathe hard and looked up and over her shoulder.
They were firm looking things, with fingerlike bones running down from a long curving one over the top, and each segment filled in by a leathery dark surface. Neia reached out to touch it, her trembling fingers caressing the unimaginable. It felt vaguely like skin, but also not quite. ' More like skin with thick calluses…' She thought, and while still breathing hard, she looked over to Olasird'arc.
"H-How do they look, partner?" She stammered.
"Dragon-like." He answered, which she took as high praise.
' Can this be real… am I dreaming, dying on the stake still and this is all some mad delusion to a dying mind?' Neia had to wonder, but while she wondered, one instinct was pounding through her veins as surely as the rooting instinct ran through a newborn.
As she began to rise, she tensed her legs, and jumped, her wings began to beat with the steady rhythm of a wardrum, the roar of her people below, in an instant louder than thunder, quickly began to fade as the Queen of Frost sought one single desire, a desire known to all those with wings from the very moment they first spread.
' I want to touch the sky.' She thought, and stretched out her hand to do exactly that as she rose, and felt she could rise forever.
Volume 6 C15
Intermission
Being a high priest in Hoburns used to be… simple. The youthful priest felt very much the old man just then, stooped and weary, he still chuckled a little. 'Day after day I'd hear confessions, little sins, the trivial things people felt comfortable revealing when their conscience bothered them… always though, I could smile a little, sympathize, knowing that their big sins were never as big as people thought.'
It seemed so naive then. So… 'innocent'. The word was only reluctantly thought of while he sat down to eat a hearty meal of thick stew and fresh baked bread with a hunk of cheese. He was alone in his office as had become his habit. The warning the young woman gave to him around a year earlier proved to be more accurate than he ever imagined. 'The lying, the adultery, the corruption and destruction…' He hung his head over his food and prayed to the gods for mercy to be had on his Kingdom.
So much went so wrong, and the only relief became his rituals.
He flung himself into his duties in the temples with the fervency of his passionate youth, daily preaching on the steps as well as before the altar to the gods. 'We must renew ourselves!'
He thought, and shouted it in a moment of inspiration, his body tingled as if the words themselves had come from some divine agent. "We must renew ourselves!"
That had distant and absent ears turned to him, arms open to embrace them as a grandfather would his children and grandchildren, "We must become new, let the old ways pass and renew our Kingdom in the midst of strife, as a mother births her child in pain, so our Kingdom is in pain and we must bear it to birth something new…"
'The gods spoke through me… I wonder… if it were not for that woman, would I have been mindful of so much going so very wrong?… Could she have been one of the gods? It is said that their agents sometimes walk the world to test mortals, did she choose me?' He ate his food in silence, and contemplated what to say to yet another building crowd that waited for his message. 'No, not the gods' message. A goddess, one of our goddesses, gave me a warning for my message of love, I was tested, and found worthy… I have to work hard, and help my Kingdom be worthy too.'
Queen Renner sat beside her consort on the throne, a letter in hand which she was hard pressed not to smile over. "Lord Momon and Lady Evileye are making a shockingly effective team, wouldn't you agree, my dear Climb?"
She handed him the letter and he accepted it with the same reverence he always did, as if it were coming from a goddess. He did, however, refrain from pointless praise for her choice of words, and simply read it for himself first. She wasn't wrong. "That entire area is completely clear of monsters now… your father… he'd have been so pleased." He bowed his blonde head in memory of the old man.
"Yes… he would have." Renner remarked and lightly caressed the knife. It was only pure chance that she hadn't had to kill her father herself, but Climb didn't need to know that. 'If he'd lived and stood in the way of Climb and I…' She clenched her perfect jaw and disguised it with a smile that lit up the room. The throne room was empty for the moment, the first to rise every day, the Queen and her consort built a reputation for hard work that spread favorable views of them to the entire population. 'The Queen works hard for us.' A frequent refrain heard in a number of street corners and taverns.
The final destruction of Eight Fingers and Six Arms between Re-Estize and Baharuth left little but a scattering of thugs that were themselves running scared and had nowhere to call a safe haven but in the isolated wilderness.
"My love… didn't you want to settle the orphans there?" Climb asked.
Renner nodded and pointed to the map she had painted on the wall. "That's right. Every person who adopts a child orphaned in the last ten years of wars will get a plot of land. Every adventurer who achieves the rank of Mithril or higher will be entitled to a minor lordship over the new villages and towns, and the stronger the adventurer, the more land they get to rule… that should completely change the character of our country."
"For the better, my love, for the better." Climb grinned as he pictured talented adventurers flocking to Re-Estize for a chance at the nobility. 'It should give us at least some further status with the Kingdom of Nazarick… gods know we need it.' He thought, and reached out to hold the hand of his beloved for the last few quiet minutes alone before the throne room filled with people again.
The Wolf Queen eased her body down over the shaft of her Wolf King. He never blushed anymore when making love to her, in part because of her vigor, in part, Enri thought, because he could never forget how close they came to dying once when sharing their embrace.
Nfirea was never going to be a warrior, but his body was stronger than she'd ever known it, and as she slammed her body down against him, he met her thrusts with urgency of his own, and his hands held her naked hips with such ferocity she was sure he would leave marks. Not that she minded.
Not before.
Not during.
And not after, when, at last sated and warm, they got up and threw on their robes.
The 'castle' for the Wolf King and Wolf Queen was barely worthy of the name, really being little more than a motte and bailey for now, but with the rapidly rising population of people being resettled from the Draconic Kingdom, the growing demihuman population, including Enri's goblin army, ambitions were high and even still, they seemed in reach.
The robes they wore were silk, rare, yes, but a gift from the Allfather of the Kingdom of Nazarick and emblazoned with their chosen crest and colors.
They should have, or could have, summoned servants, but both still enjoyed doing things for themselves. And so they walked the hall of their inner sanctum with confident contentment, sweaty hand in sweaty hand, down to the dining hall where, to their surprise, the former 'Swords of Darkness' sat drinking.
Lukrut raised his mug from where he sat leaning back with his feet on the table, it was overflowing with frothing beer, "Hail the Wolf Queen and Wolf King, may they howl every night… as they did just a little while ago!" He gave a bawdy grin that would have made Enri and Nfirea blush a year or more ago.
Tuare however, still blushed from where she sat near him. She smacked his thigh, "Lukrut! Manners!"
He managed to blush a little himself. "Sorry, love." He said.
"Sorry, my butt." Ninya muttered from behind her own frothing mug.
"Now, now… the Queen and King are here, we should at least show we have some manners around the people we're supposed to guard." Peter muttered, where Dyne simply looked as innocent as he could, and at Enri's guess, hiding a knowing grin behind his big, cherubic face.
"For people who are supposed to be guarding the place… you are all conspicuously not doing that." Nfirea said, unable to be really bothered by their absence.
"The goblins got it tonight." Lukrut explained, "To Brita!" He said, and Enri immediately understood.
"To Brita!" The rest of the Swords of Darkness raised their mugs and drank. Tuare sat quietly while Lurkut and his companions finished their mugs, and when they did, Tuare got up and curtseyed to the Queen.
"My Lady, you must be hungry, or thirsty, can I get you something… you should have called for me…" She said with a little flush to her soft face. She'd filled out a great deal since she'd come to serve the newly established Kingdom, and was now quite the beauty, though one glance showed that she seemed to prefer the company of Lukrut above all others, she still had her hand on him, though now at the shoulder, and was very, very close to where he sat, almost rubbing against him.
Enri shook her head, "Maybe we'll get used to servants doing things eventually, but it's just not me yet, or my Enfi. Just point me to the beer and the biscuits and we'll join you for the next round. At least for one." She said, and Peter cocked his head.
"Just one?" He asked after the unusually low number.
Dyne, Lukrut, and Tuare each pointed to the mugs and the open barrel in the corner, along with the basket of biscuits, and while going to them, Enri answered.
"The Council of Elders wants to discuss the next big project. Thanks to His Majesty's magic we can do much more than we ever dreamed, and thanks to the influx of people from the Draconic Kingdom, we have the people to do it all. It's just a matter of building what we need first, and there's some disputes that need us to resolve them."
"Oh, that's not fun." Lukrut said with a shiver.
"No, but it's honest work and we're glad to do it." Enri said and passed a full mug to her husband before getting another one and dunking it into the barrel for herself.
Nobody was going to argue with that.
Volume 6 C16
Appointing the last round of new nobility took most of the day, and when it was finally done, Queen Calca rose to her feet. "Empty the damn hall." She said with icy calm, her radiant beauty, once seen as so very soft and demure, was now likened to a radiant vampire.
She then leveled her finger at Remedios Custodio in the corner. "My private council hall, with the- them. Now." Calca hissed the command and did not wait for the obedience to which she was entitled. She walked with long strides, her feet clicking over cold stone as Kelart fell in behind her with a very lowered gaze and only a darted look at Remedios to ensure the woman was following orders.
That she looked was enough to snap Remedios' head back in dismay as if she had suffered a physical blow, her mouth dropping open, ' What did I do wrong?!' She wondered as she left the room, grabbed the two she'd kept under guard just outside the hall, and dragged them stumbling behind her. Their chains were short at wrists and ankles, making long steps all but impossible, but Remedios found no room in her heart to give a damn.
' If they birthed a traitorous monster, what does that say about who they are? I never did like his eyes anyway…' She thought as the pair grunted and pulled back on the gray metal chains to try to buy time to keep up.
Fortunately for Neia's mother and father, they did not have far to go.
Remedios entered the room beyond the heavy oaken door and yanked the chain so that the pair stumbled in and nearly toppled, avoiding it only because Neia's mother hit the side wall instead. Remedios closed the door and turned to face her Queen, only to find, to her dismay, a mask of wrath.
"You idiot !" Calca yelled and pointed at the pair that was struggling to rise upright. "Are those who I think they are?!"
"My Queen?" Remedios asked, furrowing her brow, "These are the parents of the traitor, Neia Baraja. They tried to interfere in the execution of the criminal, to help her escape."
"They're her parents, you idiot!" Calca shrieked in outrage, "Of course they tried to save their child's life! How could you be so… I don't even know where to begin!" Calca's voice became exasperated and she flung herself down in the leather seat at the head of the short table and began to rub her forehead.
The older couple looked at Calca with silent questioning faces, they were rough looking folk, the male of the pair having a threatening expression that Calca might have taken offense to if not for her foreknowledge of who he was and how he naturally looked.
"Undo their chains at once !" She commanded, and a stunned Remedios began to fumble through her belt for the set of keys, the human prisoners held their wrists up, but still remained silent.
"I'm… sorry about your poor treatment. That was never my intention. I ordered that you be brought to me, nothing more." Calca said, and the couple looked down as their chains fell away.
"Well?! Your Queen has spoken! Aren't you going to say you're grateful?!" Remedios demanded.
Kelart, however, interjected. "Remedios… shut up ." She hissed. "Do you have any idea what you've done ?!"
Her sister snapped her mouth closed for a moment while the chains fell away to clatter on the floor. "I-I just… I don't understand?"
Calca rubbed her forehead as if her head hurt a great deal. "Lord and Lady Baraja, please, sit." While the couple, who shared a brief glance of uncertainty with one another, obeyed, Calca could only give out a groan of frustration.
"Alright, I will help you understand, Remedios." Calca replied. "First, your trial of the woman, Neia Baraja, was corrupt. I know it. Kelart knows it. Gustav knows it. As it turns out, most people knew those trials couldn't be trusted… except me for the longest time. You taking her to trial intending to kill her, that is bad enough. It will take years of work to undo the corruption you had a hand in spreading."
"Majesty, it was all for you!" Remedios protested, "I saw the guilty get away with crimes, they got in the way of Your Majesty's justice so I-" She pursed her lips, then finished through gritted teeth, "made sure they didn't anymore."
"You framed our daughter and then tried to kill her !" Pabel roared a father's outrage, his features twisted with anger, it was only his wife who held him back, her hand grasping at his wrist before he could leap to attack the Paladin.
Remedios did not flinch from the accusation. Instead she said, "Your daughter was guilty . She spared a dragon, she spared demihumans, she spared the enemies of humanity. She had to die."
"And you failed to kill her." Calca pointed out with such sharpness that both fell silent. "Now, thanks to you she has become the Queen of Frost, and has united the entire Abelion Hills into the Kingdom of Demalbion."
Remedios began to tremble, dense as she knew herself to be, a united Abelion Hills was a worst case scenario. "I-"
"I'm not finished!" Calca hissed. Caught off-guard by the Queen's statement, Neia's parents sat mute.
"Yes. Your daughter is alive. The dragon who took her was the one she saved, but… she is changed ." Calca emphasized.
"A human… in charge of demihumans… how can this be…?" Pabel asked while his wife shook her head in denial even while her eyes welled up with contradicting relief.
"She is no longer completely human. Dragon's blood has changed her, and evidently…" Calca briefly hesitated about whether to say it, given the myriad of ways knowledge came her way, but resolve settled in her heart, and she began to explain to them, and to Remedios, what she knew of the events beyond the wall.
The rise of the Frost Queen, her partnership with the dragon, the conquest and consolidation of power might have been vague, but it was like a shadow, they knew the shape and outline, if not the details of the events as they happened.
Remedios turned white as a sheet.
"And that brings us to the envoy ." Calca snapped.
"I-I-I…" Remedios began to repeat.
"Remedios… shut up ." Kelart rebuked her sister while the parents of Neia Baraja sat mute, their mouths opening and closing like fish underwater.
"The envoy you killed was from a now united Abelion Hills, do you get it, you killed a state envoy!" Kelart snapped, "The Queen put you there so you couldn't cause any more trouble while you recovered! What were you thinking?!" Kelart yelled at the pale paladin.
Remedios put her left hand over her armored chest and leaned forward toward her Queen, "They were orcs ! Demihuman monsters! I was following the law! Demihumans are to be killed on sight! Those are standing orders!"
"It was a marked envoy, identified as such and allowed through our gates, it contained an offer of peace . By killing them, you may have dragged us into a war with the entire Demihuman population." Calca rested her hands one over the other on the table, her fingernails dug into the wood hard enough to scratch it. "Do you have no sense whatsoever? How could you think I would have encouraged you to do that?! I could have had them killed myself if I wanted! You should have sent them on their way, maybe with an escort, but still! You don't kill messengers!" Calca snapped.
Remedios' hand fell away and her head bowed. "I'm… I'm sorry. I just did what I thought you would have wanted… Demihumans are evil… traitors are evil…"
Calca ignored the apology, "The Queen of Frost sent word that she would not be satisfied by anything less than putting your head on a spike on the wall where she could see it. She stated that if I refused, we would have a war on our hands. Now tell me, Remedios… can we win… can we win against the entire Abelion Hills, led by the Huntress of the Wilds who knows our country like the back of her hand?"
Remedios opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. Then opened it again. "My Queen, I was only trying-"
"Can we win?!" Calca screamed at the Paladin, and Remedio became utterly still.
"I-I don't know." She replied, "I'm sorry…"
Calca pursed her lips and spoke in a soft, icy voice, "I sent Gustav to negotiate with her, offering to have you whipped to within an inch of your life and stripped of all your honors, status, and position instead. If the gods are willing, I can save your life."
Remedios' head snapped up, "My Queen-"
Calca's small fist pounded on the table, rattling it from one end to the other. "This is for all your past service and devotion, but it's also because if I give you up, I might as well abdicate right now. I can't just kill my own people on the orders of a foreigner or a… I don't even know if I can call her a traitor. Not after everything."
"Is that why we are here, Your Majesty?" Pabel asked and put his arm around his wife to draw her closer to himself. "To be hostages against our child? Or… or are we to be simply killed…?"
"If we're hostages so that you can finally kill her… you might as well kill us both now… I'll never, we'll never cooperate… not with that!" The soft voiced defiance of the mother of the Queen of Frost offered no hint of compromise, and at last Calca relaxed, at least a little.
"Hostages… maybe. If it will work, if I can spare my people by trading you to her… I'm sorry, but yes, I will do that. I don't want a war, I hate war." Queen Calca said with disgust that twisted her mouth as if she were about to retch for a moment.
"But for now you can consider that you're here for your own safety. It won't be long before Gustav either succeeds or fails, maybe he already has, and when he does, it won't be long before people know who the invader is, assuming she attacks. What will be done to you then?" Calca asked the question rhetorically, but their drawn faces showed they understood her meaning. Someone would kill them just for being Neia's parents.
"Besides, I can't be sure you won't betray us to her, I can't kill you, I can't punish you, I can't let you go, and you have some use alive." Calca snorted, "It's a problem… One I can only solve by confining you here in Hoburns for now. I'll see that you're well treated, and if things end well with your daughter… perhaps I can send you to her. For what it's worth… I meant what I said. I'm sorry. I truly am." Queen Calca said, closing her bright and fury filled eyes.
Pabel set his jaw and clung to his wife just a little more tightly, "We were loyal… this is our reward?"
"No." Calca said, her eyes welling up, "Are you going to force me to say it…?"
The elder of the Baraja's remained quiet.
"This is how it has to be!" Calca finally answered with a half shout. "I don't want things to be this way! I just wanted a just Kingdom of happy subjects where nobody would cry! But this… !" She shot to her feet and slapped her hands down on the table, "This is what I have! It isn't fair . It isn't right ! But it is how things are for now at least. After it's over… if I'm alive, if we all are… I will make things as right as I can. You have my word !" Calca said and raised her arm to be level with Remedios.
"And you… are confined to your quarters in this palace until I call for you again. If you want to make up for what you've done, if the Queen of Frost does come into our lands, you had better be prepared to die fighting to protect our people… because a lot of them are going to die first to protect you entirely because of you ! Now get out!" Calca snarled the words out, and with Remedios' heart swelling with outrage and shame in equal measure, the disgraced paladin slunk out of the door.
"Kelart… Provide suitable quarters for the Barajas, set them under 'gentle' guard. And get them a change of clothes." Calca said with a calmer air, and unable to think of anything more to add, Kelart, who felt the rebuke of her sister as if it had been on her as well, could only say…
"If you two would please come with me…" And then headed for the door on slow steps that allowed time for the couple, lost in their own thoughts about the course their child's life now took, to follow on slow and heavy steps.
Thus leaving Queen Calca alone with her thoughts at last.
Volume 6 C17
Gustav's heart was tight in his chest, he could barely breathe, the eyes, those narrow, vicious eyes so filled with fury, the same as the day he let her be lashed to the post to die. ' I couldn't tell her, I still hear her scream at night… I couldn't talk her down… maybe I didn't have a right to. Maybe this is what we get? Maybe this is divine retribution for our corruption. If it is… it is fitting. I'd have offered my own life if I thought it would do any good.' And yet he was afraid to die, and though he told himself he would have done it… he could have anyway and hadn't. ' Don't blame yourself, only a mad fool offers their life on the mere hope that it may possibly save someone else…'
He shook his head from atop his mount, he was days away from the wall and on his side of it again, making him safe. And yet the chill still swept over him as if those eyes were lingering on the back of his head.
' Next time I meet her, I have to try to kill her.' That was an ugly thought, ' Could I?' He wondered? The Huntress of the Wilds had the greatest senses in the Holy Kingdom, rumor had it that she knew danger was coming from so far away that she had time to prepare a hundred traps before her prey came within a hundred yards. Her former skills as an archer… She was also the only one who could imbue her arrows with mana, making her uniquely deadly at a great distance. ' And that was before her… metamorphosis.' Gustav gulped, before her present state, he was confident he could have beaten her up close, but now? There was no way to know.
He looked around him on the road, seeking answers among the autumn blooms of the trees, while most plants began to die in autumn, a handful had one final bloom, fruit trees and flowers that would fall to the ground the day before the first snow, the flowers would provide the bedding of the fruit, the snow would cover both, providing water, and when the snow melted the fruit would sink into the mud, the fruit would shrivel into a fertile seed, and a new tree would begin to grow.
Countless poets had written about it over the years, though Gustav never paid much mind to poetry, it was something he liked at least, like a last defiance of the winter before it came.
His horse clip clopped along the road and Gustav saw no reason to hurry it at the present, a messenger would have already raced ahead to Her Majesty, and he had no desire to face her, or Kelart, or Remedios. ' What about the South… the issues there are ongoing… will they support us if we are invaded…?' It was hard to imagine that they wouldn't. The demihumans were always the traditional enemies of humanity.
' Whatever happens now, it's out of my hands, all the world's a stage, and as for my part, whatever happens… I think I must have played mine very poorly…' Gustav weighed and measured his character, found it wanting, and recalled the words of the peasant whore who mocked him the night after the trial, who taunted him about her role in its corruption by simply playing with the nobles.
' She may very well have just brought us all down… one peasant… no… I can't hold it all on her, I did nothing. One judge, one peasant… one paladin fool… it doesn't take much to bring down a Kingdom, does it?' He acknowledged the truth of the rhetorical question, and her following words about… ' What was it… if the side you want to join doesn't exist… make it? Or something like that, wasn't it?' He couldn't clearly recall her words, but taunting as it might have been… even if he remembered it wrongly, that was the gist, and she had a point.
His eyes leveled ahead of himself, and he patiently began to contemplate what kind of side that might really be, and wonder if it could truly be done.
Duke Astraka stood in the path of the door while the Prince looked at him in disbelief. "You can't be serious?! You want to overthrow my sister?!"
"No, but she left us little choice. Do you know how many of our people died in the capital because of her? Then she demands more taxes from us on top of it? Absolutely not. Wenmark was destroyed, the elves rose in rebellion, and yet she has sent nobody to put them down… she sent tax collectors but no support. The South does not want to defend the North any longer." He said with a quiet calm. "If the gods wills it," Astraka folded his hands behind his back and inclined his head, "she will simply abdicate and acknowledge you as the rightful Holy King. You will then be released to take your place, on condition that you grant us immediate independence."
"You don't want to defend the North?! The North defends you, you blistering idiot!" Caspond blasted back. "What will you do about the Demihumans if they come through the North?!" Caspond demanded to know, and contrary to his expectation, Duke Astraka simply shrugged.
"Trade with them, I suppose. I lost more of my family to humans than I ever did to demihumans. I've already spoken with the Frost Queen, and she is really quite… reasonable ." Astraka pointed out, and then went quiet, allowing that to sink in.
"Traitor! You were supposed to bring me South to ensure my safety!" Caspond bellowed and tried to shoot to his feet, but the magic chair would not allow him to move.
"And safe you shall be." Astraka said and gestured with one large meaty hand to the luxuriously appointed quarters. "Right here in the tower. Under constant guard. You have a fine bed, will be fed according to your station, provided a servant, even bedmates if you want them, boy or girl, we're not fussy about that kind of thing here in the South. But you will have to wait while we deal with the issue of your sister. After that…" He waved toward the door, "We will let you go, and if you want to make war on us, remember… it wasn't the South that betrayed the Frost Queen. She will make an excellent ally against any Northern aggression for… however long dragonids live at the very least."
"Bastard!" Caspond bellowed and kicked and flailed hopelessly in the chair which held him fast.
"Don't bother trying to get out of the chair, it won't let you up until I close that door from the other side, after that… you're free to move around and I will send attendants to you." Astraka promised and folded his hands behind his back again.
Caspond relaxed and narrowed his eyes, "Do you really expect to get away with this?"
Duke Astraka seemed to contemplate that for several long seconds, searching Caspond's eyes for something only he might see, before at last he answered.
"You never get away with things you don't even try to do, Prince Caspond. And this is something we- I… have to try. Goodnight." Duke Astraka remarked and left the room, closing and locking the door behind him, ending the magic that held the Prince stuck and allowing him to stand up again.
Volume 6 C18
Illyana woke up with the peasant girl clinging to her, the soft feel of steady breathing caressed the elf's sensitive ears, causing the nearest one to flick about periodically.
Despite waking up, for a long time Illyana simply didn't move. There was no need, and that felt best of all, the fur was soft and faintly tickled where it touched bare skin, and above in the tree, birds were already starting to chirp.
The sun had not yet fully crested on the horizon, that much she could be sure of given that it was still almost pitch black. She glanced out of the corner of her eye to the sleeping human woman and realized something quite unexpected. ' I didn't have any nightmares last night… what an unexpected thing…' It was a wondrous thought, though her more candid reasoning quickly became, ' At least I don't remember any nightmares… which is basically the same thing…'
The human woman must have started to cling to her arm at some point during the night, ' Needy girl.' Illyana pondered, though without criticism. After so long together in what remained dangerous work for both of them, though in differing ways, she'd come to realize that for whatever reason, Skana had an insatiable need, not for sex, though it was often presented as such, but to be near someone.
Illyana's blue eye pierced the veil of the dying night with ease, and she reflexively glanced toward the rickety fence she built for her privacy. Her ear flicked about again, no elves breached it. Though she would never tell Skana, the truth was that their hatred for humans ran much deeper than Illyana wanted to admit. ' Especially with the Elf King's progeny… what they would do to humans if given the chance…' Her own hatred for humans wasn't much less than theirs, but this one at least, she liked. This one at least, was on her side and took risks for her people she hadn't thought any human ever would.
So she let the clinging continue and simply lay there, staring up at the canopy of dying green shrouded in shadow that would itself die soon, and waited for the human woman to return to life… and tried to ignore it when the auburn haired girl began to snore, rather than to wake.
How long it would be before they were presented with that absurd magic again and brought to report to Lady Albedo, Illyana had no idea, only that it was close, and so Skana should, following a particular point, be with her. Given the nature of the Southern Holy Kingdom, that necessitated that Skana hide among the elves.
When she awoke and found Illyana simply stretched out languidly on her back, and herself clinging to the elf, she blinked away the sleep, let go, and immediately shot up. "I'm sorry! I ah… 'cling' in my sleep for some reason." Skana admitted and inched away.
Illyana gave a silvery laugh, "It's fine, I noticed, and you're alright. It's just an arm, and," while still on her back, she raised them up toward the sky, stretching them out, "I've got two, I can spare one for a friend for a few hours."
"Hours?!" Skana exclaimed and looked up at the trees overhead, the canopy was so thick only a few bright spots on the ground revealed it was daytime, at least where she was lying.
"Yes, hours. Don't worry about it, nobody is going to do anything today, you're our only link to the outside world, and you're stuck here till we're called back to Lady Albedo." Illyana said and crossed one ankle over the other. "So relax." She said, and then chuckled, "Humans, you're a funny lot. Always in such a damn hurry."
"Well… ah… things… we have to get things done and all…" Skana pointed out, flushing a little in the face, the elf woman only smirked.
"Maybe it's because of our long lives, but we see no reason to rush things that will happen whether we hurry or not. Your race is such a frantic lot that it's a wonder you ever relax over anything." Illyana mocked the woman, but rather than argue, Skana lay back down beside her.
"My mother always said I was lazy, maybe by human standards, I kind of am. I mean, I will work hard for something I want, but the rest of the time… why stress? But you all make me look industrious." Skana chuckled a little in a self-effacing way and stretched out.
"I will take that as a compliment." Illyana graciously said, and let out a long, slow yawn, one immediately matched by Skana herself.
So they relaxed that way in amiable silence until finally the smell of stew from somewhere close by, hit their noses. Their stomachs growled at the same time and with the same thought, they sat up.
Finding the food was easy, a hulking behemoth of an elf whose body was crisscrossed with burns and scars over his bare torso and back, was standing over a large iron pot, nearby, several smaller elf women were holding their hands out, and a pulsing blue glow was passing from where they crouched, to the pot itself.
Skana looked at the scene, and then up to Illyana. "Cooking without fire. We don't want the smoke to give us away." The elf explained, and Skana nodded several times.
"Right, right, that makes sense." Skana said before the two took up wooden bowls from a waiting stack and then got into line with the rest of the forest band.
"You know, I always heard that elves were vegetarians…" Skana said while the line inched forward. "I guess that story is total shit."
Illyana looked over her shoulder and laughed, "Have you had meat?! Who in the world wouldn't want it?" She licked her hungry lips, and those elves near enough to have heard Skana's comment, and Illyana's retort, began to laugh as well.
Skana had the grace to blush, "I'd never even seen an elf before, how was I to know? All I knew was what I heard in my village." She scratched her head, "Wait… does this also mean that elves don't hate boats and can actually swim after all?"
Illyana rolled her eyes. "Yes, we can swim . But… No, we don't like boats. We're forest people, we're bound to the earth, a large body of water breaks our connection with it, so… we tend to avoid boats. There will probably never be an elf pirate. I can promise you that." Illyana said with a decisive shake of her head that bounced her long golden hair wildly about.
"Huh, so… you don't actually sink in the water… go figure…" Skana shrugged, and blushed when several elves face palmed ahead and behind her.
"What?!" She exclaimed, "I've just never seen elves… all kinds of stories get around… how am I to know the truth unless I ask?"
It was fair enough, and brought some rumbling agreement that at least felt more bemused than annoyed, and it prompted Illyana to sigh in exasperation, "That's fair… but still. I can't believe the stuff you human peasants make up. We're not dwarves, those sink when you toss them in the water. Now come on, it's our turn." Illyana stepped forward and held out her bowl, a generous helping of meat and vegetables filled her bowl nearly to the brim. She stepped aside and waited for Skana.
The human woman put on her biggest and friendliest smile for the stone faced behemoth, and he dipped the ladle into the heaping pot… only to pull up little more than broth.
Skana looked down at it as the watery brown substance filled her bowl like a taunt. "Ah… humans need food too…"
"Don't care." The cook remarked.
"But…" Skana's stomach rumbled, "I'm on your side… I'm helping you…"
She felt a hand on her shoulder, slender fingers squeezed, "Share mine." Illyana said, and gave a tiny tug that was enough to get Skana to walk away, though not without a backward glare at the giant of an elf.
"I told you," Illyana whispered when she led the human well away from the other elves, "my kind does not like your kind. You are alive only because I know you and I explained everything. Otherwise, they'd have never believed you, let alone let you in."
Skana looked down at her watery bowl, and at the one Illyana held that was heaping with thick chunks of meat and fresh veggies, if she needed proof that Illyana told the truth, that was it. ' I'd starve in here if they only gave me broth… they'd really let me starve…'
To a peasant who knew failed harvests and high taxes, who felt the rumbling of her belly on many a cold night, there was no greater sign of hatred than leaving someone starving, and no greater sign of affection, than sharing food.
Illyana began plucking chunks of meat and vegetables deftly from her bowl and plopping them bit by bit into Skana's, expecting a mere piece or two when the broth first splashed at her wrists, but the elf woman did not stop until her little pale fingers were dipped into her bowl and she'd transferred almost exactly half of the contents of her bowl into that of her companion.
"Th-Thank you…" Skana stared down at the bowl, her fingers were now soaked from the overflow of broth, and she set herself against a tree to lower herself to a seated position on the ground.
"You'd do the same for me." Illyana replied with a little smile on her face which Skana could not see with the bowl tilted up at her face, slurping as much as she could.
"You sound awfully sure about that." Skana finally said, her lips and chin stained with broth, she wiped it with the back of her silk sleeve, "I'm just a spy, a seducer, a liar, and a traitor to a bunch of my own people… you've got no real reason to think I'd do as much for you."
Illyana stretched out against the tree, her own dining was slower, while Skana shoveled the food into her mouth, Illyana took one bite, one chunk at a time, chewed, and swallowed before finally answering…
"I'm pretty sure you would."
Any further conversation was killed when the [Gate] opened between them.
Volume 6 C19
' So this is what it's like.' Neia thought as the world disappeared below her, those who towered over her became like tiny ants and the world itself seemed to both shrink, and grow larger than it had ever been before. The chill of the air could not touch her, the high winds far above the ground below were like a gentle breeze on her skin, and it wasn't until she stopped after passing through a cloud that she wondered, ' Why did I just do this? How did I know I could do it…?'
There was no clear answer to the former squire, she turned her eyes toward the distant wall, far out of view even from where she finally hovered, somewhere beyond, there, where her parents lived. ' Or at least, I hope they're alive… would they… would they accept me now? As I am?' That was an unpleasant thought. ' Before my death I finally learned that they actually loved me… what a horrible thing, if they could look at me now and feel only hate…'
It wasn't a pleasant thought, nor was it an impossible one. They all grew up with the same teachings, 'Non-humans are evil. They must be destroyed or broken so as to never threaten us. They are the enemy…' In her darkest moments in the midst of hunting them, Neia believed it too, when they were striving to kill her, or some peasants were fleeing a demihuman raid and required a rescue. Seeing their burned out homes and bodies…
But other times, an orc mother clinging to an infant, begging for her child's life, a father saying he wanted to see his son again… a starving, hungry body that lost its former strength… a dragon who just wanted to live… it taught her how alike they all really were in the end.
' One side of the wall or the other… life is life, and we all want to keep it…' She thought, and closed her eyes again, picturing the faces of the only humans she loved, or who she now knew, had ever loved her. It sat in her gut like a rock, wondering what reaction they would have if they could see her now.
' There is only one way to find out… and that is to get them myself… if they're alive. And if they are not… if they are not?' Neia wondered, and her fist clenched far tighter than she expected that it would. The severing of her last true tie to her old home, and part of her, a tiny fragment, knew the truth. ' That thread is the only thing holding them back from slaughter… if they choose to cut it…? On their heads be my actions.'
She then began her slow descent, her wings flapped slow and steady, held out to keep the fall relatively slow and easy, her body spiralling back down to the ground again, she did her best to land beside Olasird'arc, though when she hit ground and folded her wings in instinctively, she stumbled a few paces before looking at him with questioning eyes.
"The instinct of young dragons… to taste the sky. A call to fly." He said to her, "Though it typically doesn't hurt to open wings for the first time."
Neia swallowed and shuddered, "That part hurt but…" She looked up at the sky, "it was worth it… for that ."
The evening with Albedo was far more intense than Ainz had ever anticipated, and for reasons he did not ever expect to deal with. ' At least she's fine with me being 'human', but all she wants is to be with 'me' and I can't… it would be easier if her loathing of humans extended to me… at least then she wouldn't be in any pain…' He trailed off the thought, and if he were honest with himself, he only half listened to her.
Until she got to the end. "And this brings us to the exit strategy, with the Kingdom in chaos and at war, I have no doubt that someone as intelligent as the Holy Queen will realize something else is at play here, and to that end, I am arranging for the Slane Theocracy to take the fall. The doppelgangers are mere summons, so they will be captured and reveal Theocracy involvement, with a goal of creating a far more militant Kingdom that would take action against the Demihumans of the Abelion Hills and take the majority of the casualties before they interjected and swept over the whole region themselves."
Ainz didn't pale, he was too surprised to do even that.
"You sound certain," he said after a long minute, "why would they believe that the Theocracy would take such an action, and what about Wenmark, your destruction there was far greater than their magic could manage." He pointed out.
Albedo's morose face became brighter when she answered, "Master, I used falling meteors and a quake, they will think these merely natural events, and that it merely gave the Theocracy an opportunity to capitalize on."
As he thought about it… ' She's right. This could work. The Slane Theocracy is the greatest potential threat to my domain… they accept no other races beyond humanity. I can't let them remain diplomatically strong.'
He swallowed, but kept the noise to nothing, "Y-You did remarkably well, Albedo, I'm… very proud of you. I'm sure Tabula would offer all his praise to you."
Her face became bitter, twisted, "He would offer only trash in my eyes." She spat out, and then lowered her eyes when she saw the open mouthed shock on her Master's face.
"Forgive me for speaking out of turn of a Supreme Being, Master…" She folded her hands onto her lap and kept her eyes downcast.
"Albedo." Ainz only said her name, almost like it was a prayer. "What is it…? How could you say that about your father…"
"What can I say about a father who abandoned me… and worse… abandoned the man I love?!" Albedo exclaimed with sudden passion, leaning forward across the table, she held her hand over her ample chest, covering where her demonic heart beat. "He hurt you by leaving, they all did. You are the only one left. The one who stayed, the last, your-" She paused, ' love… heart… future…' a thousand words of affection and desire ran through her from the tips of her toes to the top of her head, but unable to bear rejection a second time, she said only, "praise, is the only treasure I can hope for!"
Ainz took that in, so much came to mind, but his courage died, his will died, and instead he looked away from her and said, "I should meet your subordinates, are you finished with them here, or have they more to do?"
"They have only one task left… and then they will be fit for their reward." Albedo answered, and opened the gate as Ainz donned his mask and stood from the table.
Moments later, a pair of women came rushing through the magic of the gate as if they thought nothing of it, and immediately went down to their knees before Albedo.
"Welcome back, my servants." Albedo said and put a blessing hand on first the elf, then the human, and then stepped aside to gesture to her master.
"This, is the Lord you serve, Allfather Ainz Ooal Gown, ruler of the Kingdom of Nazarick." She had the brightest of smiles on her face, and spoke with such passion and enthusiasm that neither woman could doubt the demon's words.
Both Illyana and Skana prostrated themselves reflexively, bowing their heads and pressing them down against the floor after they bent at the waist, hands cast forward in submission. "Lord of our Lady!" Illyana was the first to cry out her obeisance, "We are your humble servants!"
"Raise your heads." Ainz said in an offhanded way, and slowly the pair went up to their knees.
' By the gods…' Skana thought with dismay, he seemed… utterly… holy. An aura of divine majesty radiated off of him as if he were a god, her bright green eyes beheld the Allfather and every fiber of her being cried out for her to beg for his orders, her body shook with almost religious ecstasy and basked in his presence, and at her side out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Illyana felt the same or nearly.
"Only such a Lord, could command our Lady…" Skana whispered under her breath, and while she wasn't sure if the robed man heard her, it didn't matter, he acknowledged her with a nod.
"You were promised rewards for your service, were you not?" Ainz asked, trying to speak with a gentle voice, but their reactions, wide eyes, shaking, over the top responses at the very least, ' Either my level one hundred charisma is at work, or Albedo has told them enough to make them afraid.'
Which exactly it was, he was unsure and could no longer ask, so he focused on the immediate, and what he could ask.
"I-I was promised that I could act as Lady Albedo's personal servant… ah-a secretary in her home, to attend her as my one and only Mistress…" Illyana replied, stammering all the while, and flushing bright red in the face.
"Acceptable." Ainz replied succinctly. ' It hadn't occurred to me before, but she doesn't have any truly 'personal servant' to look after her needs, in retrospect I should have thought to assign her a maid or… agh, I should see to the same for every guardian with abundant responsibilities outside of their floors alone.'
"And you?" Ainz glanced from the elf to the human after privately filing that thought away.
Skana's bright red face did not regain its true color, ' My wish, it seems so shallow and worthless now…'
She hung her head, shamed about herself for the first time in her life.
"I-I was offered wealth. Lots of it." She said, and she could sense his disappointment in his answer.
"You will have it." He replied to her, "As well as a suitable home after this for all your… loyalty ."
"Th-Thank you… My Lord." Skana said, but could not raise her head again.
He looked away from the kneeling women and over to Albedo, "Begin the last phase of operations. And then send them to Nazarick when you are done."
"As My Lord Commands." Albedo said and bowed in his direction until the [Gate] appeared again and he vanished through it once more.
Volume 6 C20
"Do not say a word." A beautiful voice caressed his ear and brought Astraka's eyes flying open.
' Assassin!' He wanted to cry out, but he found that, though he could blink, and he could move his lips, only a whisper emerged beyond them.
"You're good looking, for a human, I mean." Illyana said and stood up over the paralyzed Duke. His eyes widened further, he tried to speak louder.
' An elf?! I thought we'd have to take care of them before going North but it shouldn't have been that hard, how did one get in here?!' He wanted to demand answers, but again, he was whispering so low that he couldn't even hear himself.
She seemed not to mind, "You're probably wondering how I got in here." She said and put a finger over his lips, "Just say I'm a magic caster with high stealth skills and leave it at that, it doesn't really matter. What does matter is that you now know I can get to you. Blink if you understand how important to your future that is."
Astraka blinked.
"Good, it's the same reason you can't really move much." Illyana made the cryptic statement, then asked, "May I sit?" She didn't wait for an answer, but instead pulled a chair away from a nearby table, drew it to his bedside, and sat down as if it were her own.
"I know you think you have to 'deal' with my people, before you can go North, but I'm going to offer you an alternative, a better option. Wouldn't it be convenient for you if you had the finest scouts, rangers, woodsmen, and archers in the Kingdom? Don't you think that might provide an excellent advantage over the Queen?" She asked, his widening eyes told her he understood.
"Good looking, and smart, aren't we a winner in life?" She chuckled at that. "So I can skip the market pitch and jump straight to the offer… Wenmark is dead. Everybody who owned us is dead. We will never be owned again. If you try to put us down in the forests, we will hunt you all, it won't be months, it will be years trying to finish us, maybe you succeed, maybe not. But by the time you do, if you do, the Holy Queen will be too powerful for you to handle. So I propose an alternative. We will join with you, considering only Wenmark and its surrounding communities to be solely responsible for what was done to us. We will take the front, and harass the Queen's forces, this should give you a mighty edge in the opening stages of your war. All we want in exchange is a home of our own. Let the elves have the deep woods, prohibit enslaving us, and we will never trouble your race again."
' Is she… is she serious?' Astraka wondered, she sounded like it, he searched for a downside. Elven slavery was a nasty institution and he knew it. Useful in Wenmark and the surrounding areas, but as the recent tragedy showed… more trouble than it was ultimately worth. He still recalled how sick he felt on a trip to the grim city as a young man. He could never quite grasp how anyone could do the things he saw being done to women. At least torture was 'clean'.
' She must have been one of those, no elf this beautiful would have remained untouched in a place like that… her request makes sense, it costs nothing, and if I control the labor force that reoccupies the mining districts and rebuilds Wenmark…' The possibilities unfolded in his mind, and the answer crystalized in his head with such obviousness that he could see that she saw it in his eyes.
"Hmpf, is that 'empathy' I see in there for me?" She asked and patted his cheek, "You're not all bad, I suppose, but do we have a bargain? Squeeze your eyes tightly shut if we do." Illyana instructed, and he did as she said.
"Good, my elves will be following the wooded paths north, we still prefer to avoid your kind. When we see your army pass Yanana, we will do our part." Illyana promised, "And remember… if you betray us, at least one elf can come to you at any time, and take your life." She said, and stood up.
She then took up the blanket and covered him at the head saying, "Don't worry, the poison will wear off, it's really even better stuff than I thought." Illyana then went to the window, allowing him to hear her steps so he would think she was leaving that way.
Then when the [Gate] opened for her, she skipped through with glee, and found herself again in the room in the Northern Holy Kingdom that served as their headquarters.
"How did it go?" Skana asked as soon as Illyana returned. The green eyed woman had a warm little smile on her face from where she sat at the table still scribbling out the 'clues' that would suggest the Slane Theocracy was behind some of the corruption and upheaval in the Holy Kingdom.
Illyana approached, gave a gentle hug to Skana when the woman stood, and then sat down opposite her companion to explain. "Very well. He has no idea how I got in or out and thinks I'm just really good at getting in and out of places. Duke Astraka was quick to agree, and I don't think we have to worry about being betrayed… all that we have to do now is-"
Skana interjected with a casual wave and a most dismissive airy roll of her hand at the wrist, "Fight your way across the Holy Kingdom while being hunted by Queen Calca's entire army, hoping you're not betrayed by Astraka, and reach a wall meant to stop entire demihuman armies, while hoping the Queen of Frost joins the war and will also accept your entire population into her new Kingdom and not be as bad as or worse than the humans… is that all? How hard can that be?"
Illyana snapped her jaw shut. "When you put it that way…" The hand which had been reaching for a quill, stopped, hesitated, started to move again, then stopped as worries began to replace her earlier enthusiasm.
' No…' Skana realized what a damper her cynicism had just thrust on the enthusiastic elf, and her mind raced against her mouth to try to fix it, Skana's face brightened with an envious smile, "Things will be fine. Your people will make it, they'll get across the whole damn Kingdom, they'll meet the Queen of Frost, she'll see their potential, their strength… she'll want them as her citizens… she'll take them in… your people will be safe in the east. They'll have farms, and grow crops that will make Demalbion the envy of east and west, north and south… and you'll go back with our Lady, serve her faithfully, be safe and happy forever after. Everything will work out." Skana insisted, and it was enough for the elf woman to smile back.
"And after all these miracles come to pass, and it's all said and done, what will you do?" Illyana asked, and the auburn haired woman leaned back in her chair, her neck resting on the top of the backrest, staring at the ceiling.
"If you want the truth, I honestly don't know. It wasn't until I knelt before a living god that I ever realized how… empty, my wants were. I like sex. I like drinking. I like dancing. I'd be lying if I said I haven't enjoyed all this… in a strange sort of way. But I've never in my entire life done anything that wasn't really for me or for my own enjoyment… with all this over and more money than I know what to do with? I guess I'll buy a big house in a city, get some servants to boss around and…?" She shrugged. "Do nothing, I guess? It seems kind of pointless now that I say it out loud." She straightened her head and glanced at her companion.
"Do you think maybe you could visit me sometime?" Skana asked with a twinkle in her eye.
"If I'm allowed, I definitely will." Illyana replied with a bright faced smile that wiped away the growing sense of emptiness in her friend, at least for the moment, and they returned with quiet studiousness to their work, until the doppelgangers returned to do the same.
… Weeks later…
Gustav stood in private council with the Holy Queen. His burnished armor did nothing to hide the sting of his failure which he felt in his guts, it was written all over his face. "You failed, didn't you?" She asked, it wasn't said with rebuke, more as if she were a loving parent who knew from the start that their child had set their sights too high.
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty." He answered.
"There is no need for an apology now, Commander Montagnés." She shook her head, "I knew it was probably futile, I had… hopes. But hope is something I can't rule by. That is why I had the army mustered while you were gone, we're still weeks away from full readiness… but we won't be caught completely off our guard by a nightmare."
Gustav took a half step back in dismay, such a measure was expensive, high risk… and exactly the right thing to do. She seemed to take no notice of his dismay, her fingers rapped in a steady rhythm on the table at which she sat, "All the new nobles I appointed are eager to prove themselves, they're not complacent. They're not yet corrupt, and they won't have much time for corruption… for better or worse, the foundation for our Kingdom's future lies with how we handle this war."
"Majesty… I'm sure you're right…" Gustav said, certain at least that he was speaking the truth, and he turned a thought to the last conversation he had with the Queen of Frost. "What will we do with Pabel and his wife?"
Calca's hard eyes became harder, her fingers stopped drumming, her other hand stiffened on the armrest of her burnished dark wooden seat. "If she wouldn't have avoided war because we have them, they would not make good hostages overall… but I intend to keep them alive, and treat them well… like guests who can't leave. Remedios delivered them with a bruise on her father's face, which I had healed, and I won't have another hand laid on them. Gustav… our best hope here is survival. And that means I do not need to create long-term grudges. I can't stop from using her family, but I think I can ensure that she won't mistreat our people out of some desire for revenge, as long as they are kept alive and unharmed. They're leverage for after the war, not before it."
She cleared her throat, and Gustav did the same, he kept back his private thoughts, ' This version of Calca is far more sensible than the old one… but I will miss that starry-eyed loving belief… that absurd idealism that we could really make a perfect kingdom… we killed it, all of us… and now there are two Queen of Frosts in our part of the world… and having one of them is the only reason we'll survive.'
He was proud of her, he pitied her, he wanted the old Queen back and couldn't wait to see what this 'New Calca' would do next. A whirlwind of thoughts and emotions rampaged through his mind, and it all came together in a single thought. ' I have a job to do.'
Whatever his Queen was about to say next was cut off when Kelart burst into the room without knocking. She was panting, breathing hard, her eyes wild and her hair in disarray.
"The Demihumans?!" Queen Calca exclaimed and shot to her feet at the same moment that Gustav turned to look at the sudden disturbance, his hand instinctively going for the hilt of his sword before seeing who it was.
Kelart rushed within, slamming the door behind her, "No, Your Majesty! It's the South! The Southern Holy Kingdom has declared themselves for Caspond, and they have invaded. Yanana has already fallen, towns and villages are being abandoned and pillaged. They demand that you abdicate the throne immediately!"
Queen Calca's jaw set tight as she took that in. "How could things get any worse…?"
"Give me that wall!" Neia bellowed from where she hovered in front of her horde, her wings batting slowly to keep her bobbing aloft, her sharp-taloned finger pointed the way ahead, and the humans who looked down at her from above looked on in total horror.
"Correct me if I am wrong, partner, but isn't it customary to catch the enemy by surprise?" Olasird'arc asked from where he stood beside her while the demihumans rushed past.
"Yes. But their vision isn't especially good. I want them to know I'm coming for them, I want them to break, run and spread the word. They can't do that if they fall all over themselves and die in the dark. There's a time for shadow and stealth, and there's a time to really put on a show… this is our opening gambit, and there's no better time to create terror in their minds." Neia answered without looking up at him, "Now, are you ready for your part? They'll be in arrow range soon."
"Ready." Olasird'arc said to the dragonid, ' Was she like this when she was fully human? She sounds… dragonish.' He wondered, her fearsome gaze, steady, unflinching, focused on her goal above all else, it was hard not to favor such a person, and when she gave the nod, he rose aloft and sped toward the wall.
His icy breath swept the top, the cries of humans went up in alarm as the dragon brought death from above, ice swallowing up bodies and stopping hearts in chest after living chest. The few who loosed their arrows, forgot their demi-human targets, and the pathetic steel points bounced off his naturally armored skin.
From her place at the rear, Neia looked on in disbelief as she saw the unthinkable happen.
' The portcullis… is opening… they're opening the gate… is it a trap?!' She wondered, ' Or do we have unknown allies over there…?' The Queen of Frost wondered, there was one certain way to know for sure. She took off as fast as her wings could carry her, the bow on her back still waited for use in its custom leather sheath, she shot between the lines of her roaring warriors, and saw… humans killing humans.
' Allies… we have allies!' She cried out in her head with mental elation and rushed back through the way inside. She let out a dragonid battle roar and pointed to the way within, though many of her own were already climbing the walls and toppling stone, many more were waiting their turn, and the option of an easy way in was not to be ignored.
Orcs, spriggans, nagas, trolls, bafolk, and countless others barrelled through, and like a dam that burst above an unsuspecting town, the courtyard was flooded.
The tens of thousands of soldiers who held the fortress were still pouring out of their positions, charging forward and howling for blood.
Neia took a man by the throat, ascended into the air, her sharp ears heard his gurgle, his limbs flailing about, his weapon dropped far below, the roar of battle rose like the noise of a storm, the smell of blood and less noble fluids filled the air. The wind raced by her chilly body, and the Queen of Frost got a good long look at the warrior of her former homeland. He was young, barely a man. And his terrified eyes were filled with the realization that he was about to die. His struggle to escape her grip became a struggle to hold on, his legs tried to wrap around her, his hands grabbed at her arms and wrist, but he was easily batted away.
Part of Neia screamed at herself over what she was about to do, but down below, her people were fighting, dying, and pressing the humans to the breaking point.
"Goodbye." She said, and let go, watching for only a few seconds, he screamed, hands and legs flapping about trying to find something in the empty air to grab onto, some lifeline that didn't exist, she winced a little when he landed. He hit not the ground, but a clump of his own people, his body shattering and dying instantly, and leaving several other humans equally dead or seriously injured.
Neia then angled herself down, and dove back into the fray, heading for the gate that held the army in and prevented escape. ' They're near breaking… give them a way out, and it's over.' She knew without a doubt.
The side gate was less well guarded now, the breach point having drawn the most violence to it.
Not even twenty yards away they were packed like apples in a barrel, but where she landed at the door, there was nobody. At least, not there. Neia folded her wings in and began to go up the stone steps, the noise of the outside hiding the echo of her footsteps, she wound her way up to the top where the wheel could be found, along with the crew meant to man it.
A single oaken door stood in her path at the top, a troublesome obstacle a lifetime ago, her talon tipped hands went back, then thrust forward to dig into the wood, they sank in as if it were soft and moist, she then gritted her teeth, and tore it away from where it sat, casting it down the stairs behind her to tumble and splinter out of view before it came to a stop.
The little skeleton crew meant to defend the interior of the gate immediately went for their swords. They were not front line soldiers, and wore only leather armor or banded mail, though they carried short swords ideally for their confined space, they were ill suited for war in the same way as paladins or even squires.
Neia charged, her hand caught one at his wrist, she twisted, snapping the bone and cutting off the scream by thrusting her other hand into his throat. The blood poured out like a fountain as she spun and droplets hurtled about before letting go of him, sending the dying unfortunate as a missile weapon into his charging companions. They tumbled like the little wooden pins used in nine pin bowling, a pile of tangled and struggling limbs.
She approached them before they could dislodge themselves, slashed her talons out, and a spattering of blood on stone brought stillness to the room. The dragonid Queen then went to the wheel that controlled the portcullis, a large metal piece with multiple handles meant for two grown men to move, and with her newfound strength she began to do it herself.
The chain was on a long cylinder which she could see rotating, confirming her success, it went up, and up, and the wrapping of the chain became thicker and thicker, until she pulled and felt it stop. On the wall beside her was a long metal rod, which she took with one hand and shoved it into the break, a series of aligned holes that would stop the chain from going back down.
"Now one more thing." She said to herself and went to a spot where a large horn stuck out, meant for signalling the soldiers, the experienced Kingdom warrior knew them all by heart. She puckered her lips, and blew the retreat.
She then looked out the little arrow slit to see the result. The horn's triple bellow drew the eyes of both sides, and between both the call to retreat and the easy 'escape route' she just offered… the wavering men of the Holy Kingdom broke…
They broke and ran, some casting aside swords and shields, others making desperate valiant last stands of their own, only to be overrun… men died on their bellies as demihumans jumped at their backs, others died when they stumbled, fell, and were trampled by their own people…
Neia forced herself to watch. ' This was your country…' She told herself, and with a bitter snarl she said aloud, "Was."
And watched with unblinking blue eyes until there were no humans left within, and her army began to cheer their victory.
Volume 6 C21
"Attack!" Neia bellowed the word and her advanced guard charged the lightly fortified position. "Remember, take captives! Lots of captives!" She added the instruction to the horde, the orcs and spriggans, she noticed, were the best about that. Less so the bafolk, spiderfolk, nagafolk, and others, however the rock spitters were little tested. They remained behind, forgoing glory for the sake of easy victory. Their stones flew overhead and forced the human archers to remain behind concealment and either fire blind or get hit.
Using her knowledge of Holy Kingdom archery doctrine, her rock spitters now used a system of rotating fire, drilled day after day, they kept up a volley that surpassed the rate of the humans, and because of her time in service, she knew where the archers were likely to be placed at 'most' of the fortifications they encountered. Olasird'arc remained at the back, watching with quiet curiosity as the dragonid in her forest green scale armor hovered over her army and barked orders left and right.
Unable to fire accurately, the human fortification, which should have held out for hours or even days except against exceptional enemies, was instead overrun in minutes by her advanced detachment, her flying column was outnumbered, and yet it didn't matter. ' What could they have done to my country if someone wanted to use them for slaughter…?' She shuddered to even think of it, and then slowly descended to the center of the little fort.
She strode through the bloody dirt where a small cluster of humans died in a last desperate stand, and approached her detachment leader. "My Queen?" Nasrene said and gave a little half bow while her group of elite magelos bound the trembling human captives with spider silk.
"Yes, Nasrene?" Neia asked, pausing in her walk toward a group of wounded humans, she glanced up at the towering demihuman.
"Is it necessary to spare so many? Will this not cause trouble to guard such numbers?" She asked, the question's implicit meaning, though unspoken, was ' should we not execute most of them?'
Neia folded her wings against her body and shook her head, she reached up to scratch at the white bone horn that rose up to a tip at an angle just beyond and above her forehead. "Not really. Are you saying your people can't handle them?"
The white blank faced being shrugged all of her multiple arms at once. "Not at all, My Queen, but so many are a challenge to house, feed, and guard. If we kill half, we can feed the rest the meat of their comrades, or our own forces, and this will all be easier. Unless… your Majesty has some… sentimental reason for not wanting to slaughter humans?"
It wasn't phrased as a criticism, the Magelos Queen's hands opened as if to say 'it is nothing' but it wasn't.
Neia fixed the woman with a long, steady glare. A silent war, the child of the Mad Eyed Archer, bearer of his gaze and augmented by her now dragonid nature, brought down the hammer of fear on the one time ruler of one sixth of the Abelion Hills, until Nasrene looked away.
The smell of human urine at the unspoken threat wasn't lost on anyone, but only after the demihuman leader had turned her face from the quiet threat, did Neia Baraja speak. "The humans will be bound by oaths and hostages to their good behavior to not escape their captivity. Send them back to the Abelion hills and set them to working for us, they will finish our construction projects under the guard of our elders and young, while supervised by dark dwarves. They will be fed from the food they grow for themselves, and when the time comes, we will trade their lives for concessions from either the Holy Queen… or the Holy King."
The white fleshed demihuman felt her heart race as she understood what just happened.
"Never accuse me of sentiment when it comes to humans. They betrayed me. Ruined me. Tried to kill me ." Neia approached the white faced female, though she had to look up to meet her eyes, her wings popped out and after a beat or two they were eye to eye. The frost breath wafted over the Magelos of near legendary status, and she whispered, "Undermine me again, Nasrene, I dare you."
"No insult was intended… My Queen… your… generosity to my people is worthy of our loyalty…" She tried to walk back her words, but the Queen of Frost would have none of it.
"See to all the human captives. If you are so worried about their escape, you will be in charge of ensuring that they don't. You will be responsible for defending the wall and establishing the prison work camps beyond it to build up more of our towns. You will not take the easy route, the strong make long roads, the weak make short ones, and the dead make none . Am I understood, Nasrene?"
It wasn't 'technically' a demotion. In theory one of the most powerful Demihumans had just been put in charge of a great fortress and a massive project.
In practice, to a population who built their names on glory and strength, she had been relegated to a rear position to where success would bring glory to her Mistress, and her name would barely be mentioned in stories that spread about the conflict ahead.
"Vijar!" Neia called over her shoulder when she approached the hastily working magelos who were busy binding the wrists of their human captives even faster than before as their Queen's eyes fell on them.
A towering catman swaggered forward, cocky and confident, he had his nose a little turned up when walking past the ruler of the magelos and knelt before the dragonid, waiting for her to turn around to face him. Neia glanced at the mighty demihuman, he was ruthless, but absolutely loyal to the wellbeing of his tribe, her return of the captives she took, 'before' any fighting, won him over almost immediately. ' I'm sure that if I permitted him to consume humans for food, he would think nothing of it, but of the great powers, he is one of the greatest. As good a left hand as To'Raven.' Neia turned to face him.
"Vijar, you will take the lead position in the attack on the next city, exercise caution and seize the outlying villages and towns first, remember, minimize casualties. Captives can work, captives can be bargained away. Take special care to seize their councilors and artisans… but as for their aged, their young children? Those who flee will consume supplies and most of them will be worthless in a fight. We have lessons to teach the Queen, and this Kingdom, am I understood?"
"Yes, My Queen… but why their artisans and councilors?" Vijar asked, his head cocked to one side very much like a confused dog who saw something odd and unaccountable.
Neia however, was prepared for his answer. "Do you think fools built the wall that kept the Abelion Hills at bay for hundreds of years?" She exaggerated a little, but it made her point. "Strength comes in many forms, some ways you are great, others, they are. The humans split their warriors from scholars and scholars from warriors. That makes cowards their thinkers and their fighters, fools. Taking their best and wisest men and women, and making them ours means we can have strength and wisdom both. And I need both to make our Kingdom. Or do you want to be beholden to the dark dwarves for everything we need?"
Had it been a more foolish commander, Neia might have simply barked the order that it be done, or glared in silence until fear brought obedience. ' But I have to get them all to understand me… willing obedience is better than forced obedience, and if they all support my long term plans, they are far more likely to succeed.'
So instead, after explaining herself to Vijar, she simply watched him with dispassionate curiosity as the wheels turned behind the whites of his eyes until she saw understanding dawn. The sight of the castle rising in their new capital was no more lost on him than any, and it was that, she was sure, that reached him.
"It will be as our Queen commands. Prisoners will be taken, the elderly and young allowed to flee. Our Kingdom will have its workforce." Vijar reiterated and rephrased her instructions, and left to tend to her orders.
' Another obstacle overcome…' Neia thought with satisfaction, while not far away, the funeral pyre for the dead began to send smoke up into the air, letting everybody know for many miles around, that the Frost Queen had struck.
Volume 6 C22
There was a time when Calca thought every cheer was genuine. There was a time when she believed her people loved her as one might a mother. But now when she sat on her throne and listened to the cheers for her army outside?
' The South has declared for Caspond… or independence… how nice of them to give us an option. The Demihumans are invading… and I don't believe for one second that those are coincidences. The South sold us out to the Queen of Frost.' The grim thought was paired with her doubts, ' They're cheering because we're not killing 'them'.'
Her face was a mask of flint, devoid of expression or happiness, she lifted her eyes to look at Kelart when the slender brown haired woman put a hand on her shoulder. "Let Gustav do his work, My Queen. And let my stupid sister do the one thing she is actually good at."
It was the most withering praise Calca had ever heard in her life, about anyone. Between her words and the presently unkempt hair of her advisor, it spoke volumes about where her head was at. "You had the army raised, that was the foresight we needed… the soldiers of the South are not as good as ours." Kelart squeezed the Queen's shoulder when she felt Calca shiver a little, "Gustav can beat them. And demihumans are formidable, but so is my sister, in this at least."
Any further conversation in the otherwise empty throne room was ended when a boy rushed in, breathing hard, he wore a pageboy cut, hair trimmed near to his ears, and he could not have been older than ten. His brown eyes were big enough to draw notice, and he was of very slight build. More notably, he was well dressed in colors not of the Holy Kingdom. A tabard over his white uniform bore the insignia of the Kingdom of Nazarick.
Calca and Kelart tensed at once as the boy rushed in and knelt before the throne, his eyes went down as he rested his arms over one knee, "Queen of the Roble Holy Kingdom, His Majesty, Allfather of the Kingdom of Nazarick, has heard your call for aid and sends his answer."
She felt her throat tighten, words wouldn't come out, though she couldn't say it to Kelart, the Holy Queen's doubts about what to do were such that abdicating seemed like the best possible answer to save her nation.
The messenger boy waited for her orders, but though her lips moved, no words came out.
Kelart folded her hands behind her back beside the throne, and after clearing her throat said, "The Queen will hear the words of her Royal Brother of the Kingdom of Nazarick."
The boy reached into a brown leather pouch and withdrew a scroll, rather than hand it over, he unfurled it and, holding it tightly open at the top and bottom, he read out loud. "His Majesty the Allfather hears the plea of his Royal Sister, and sends aid to her in this dire time. Within days of the receipt of this message, Her Royal Majesty will be given five hundred sets of runecrafted armor and weapons with which to equip her elite soldiers."
Calca found her voice immediately, "Runewhat?"
The pageboy seemed prepared for this, as he lowered the scroll and raised his eyes to her and said, "Runecraft is a means of creating magic items at no material cost, Your Majesty. It can only be made by the dwarves who live under My Lord's service."
"No cost magic items?!" Kelart exclaimed before her Queen could truly comprehend the implications, "I… five hundred sets…" She furrowed her brow.
"Sh-Shall I continue, My Lady?" The boy asked.
The Queen nodded.
"In addition, our Allfather has offered to render his personal magical aid to ensure your success. As to compensation for his efforts, this can be discussed at length on his arrival with his shipment of material aid." The boy then rolled up the scroll and bowed his head before extending it toward Kelart.
The advisor stepped away from the throne and accepted the document, her footfalls audible on the stone in the otherwise silent chamber until she ceased to move when she was again at Calca's side.
"Then… I await his Lordship's arrival with great anticipation." Calca said after a moment's hesitation. She then glanced up at her advisor, "Kelart, join me in my quarters."
Then looking at the young boy as she rose to her feet, "Go to the kitchens, eat your fill, then return to your Master… but warn him of the danger of the demihumans… we have not yet gotten a handle on them."
"Not to worry, My Lady." The boy beamed up at her, his bright, soft face took on a cherubic blush with a contented smile, "I am very good at not being seen, and nothing can harm my Master." The doppelganger kept quiet his inner laugh, and made his retreat as quickly as the Royal left the hall.
Kelart's feet moved like those of a jig dancer at a peasant festival, her eyes were wide as saucers as she followed after her Queen. Never that the long haired priestess could recall had Queen Calca Bessrarez moved so quickly in her castle, except the one time she was forced to flee from it.
Calca did not wait for Kelart to catch up, nor did she wait for the guards at the door of her quarters to open the room for her. She walked in, grabbing the knob herself to walk past and leaving it open for Kelart to close when she followed.
As soon as the Queen and her comrade were alone, Calca rushed to her makeup counter with the towering oval mirror. An enchanted item, the mirror could show her both the front and back of her head without needing to be moved, making it easy for her to do her hair herself or to see a servant's progress.
She snatched up a brush made of wyvern bone and pricklebeast spines and began to draw it through her hair in swift but practiced motions. For a long time neither the Queen nor Kelart spoke, the Queen only gave a steady swallow and a gulp.
Kelart raised and lowered her hands several times to help her Queen with the long flowing golden strands, it was a common routine for them both, but now it felt different.
"May I help, Your Majesty?" Kelart finally stumbled out the words, and the Queen stopped in mid brush.
"Yes." Calca answered succinctly, but rather than hand the brush to her best loved servant, she said, "I offered to marry the Allfather. You know this, don't you?"
Kelart gave a little nod. Her lips sealed tight as a drum, the Queen could see the nod in the mirror and resumed brushing.
"I don't know anything about him, not really. His magic is powerful, he is tolerant of other… creatures? Beings? Races? At least tolerant enough that the Slane Theocracy has taken issue with his Kingdom in private. They even reached out to me to sign off on a joint letter of condemnation… which I refused, of course." Calca answered and a little smile formed on her face that twitched a little, but held. "That was for the best, I doubt he would come to our aid if we had condemned his practices. But as long as he is a good King to his people, it should be fine… right?"
"R-Right, Your Majesty." Kelart answered, but Calca heard the hesitation. She looked over her shoulder, away from the mirror.
"You don't approve?" Calca asked.
"Your Majesty, demihumans have always been our enemies, anyone friendly with them is someone we should at least be suspicious of." Kelart pointed out.
"It was humans who tried to kill me, and humans whom I fled from, who drove me out of my very capital, remember. It wasn't demihumans." Calca said rhetorically.
"The demihumans are invading because one of us killed a royal envoy… the elves are rebelling because we kept them as slaves… from the moment the Allfather took his throne, what little I have heard has suggested a wise King who got all races to agree to his rule… while we have only made enemies inside and outside of our borders." Calca added, her voice bitter and frustrated, she threw her brush down to the floor where the bone clattered on the stone and skittered away.
Kelart moved to fetch it while the Queen sat, but the ruler of the Roble Holy Kingdom did not sit in silence. "He is wise, at least… but if I marry him for the sake of peace, for help ending the danger to my people? I will need to produce an heir for us to unite the two Kingdoms, and I-"
"Oh." Kelart said when she picked up the brush and returned to her Queen. Rather than give back the brush, she began to attend the long golden strands herself.
Queen Calca had no experience in intimacy, rumors of the lust between herself and her Queen were thoroughly false, and Kelart was sure that rumors of dalliances with her sister and the Queen were equally so.
"My Queen… I realize what this means for you, but you won't be expected to leave the Holy Kingdom… and it was always going to be necessary to have an heir for the Throne…" Kelart said, and Calca answered…
"I know this. I've considered various candidates before, high ranking Southern nobles, even Theocracy cardinals, but knowing it, and being prepared for it are not the same. Do you… know anything? Vigorous Kings tend not to want to wait till wedding nights…" Calca blushed just a little at her cheeks and Kelart stared down dumbly for a moment as the question sank in.
Worldly enough not to blush, and only caught off guard enough to slow down in brushing, she cleared her throat, "I… do know a few things, I will tell you what I can."
Calca pricked up her ears, and listened in earnest for every scrap of knowledge the masterful caster held on an entirely different sort of magic than either usually used.
Volume 6 C23
A dozen humans of Queen Calca's army were riding on light, young horses. Far from being the most heavily armored scouts, they wore little armor, favoring speed and maneuverability. They were scouts, wearing leather helmets with only a little metal sewn into the lining to offer some protection. The road they marched over was simple hard packed earth, funding for paving it was simply never available.
If anyone asked the nobles why not, the answer would always be, 'Peasants don't need to travel that much'. But it made the going much slower for soldiers who did, not that the nobles gave that any real thought before.
The humans carried bows and short spears, good enough for defense, self provision, and intimidation if they encountered any of the usual hostile elements.
The elves smiled from the shadows, happy in their good fortune. These soldiers left a village behind not long before, nobody would come for them for some time.
Six elves nocked their arrows, drawing their bows so slowly that the creaking noise of the bending wood was almost nonexistent.
"Are you going to let them have you again?!" The giant bear of an elf bellowed, and the marching humans turned their heads toward the sound of his shout…
Arrows flew from the wilderness and pierced the eyes of the armored humans. A second flight of arrows was in the air to pierce the eyes of those who survived the first volley before they could even open their mouths to shout.
Bodies fell over, dead without ever knowing what killed them or why.
"Search them!" The largest elf barked, "See if they have any information, then take any food, arrows, or anything else we can use, then leave the rest behind."
He barely needed to utter the command, some of the smaller elves rushed out to do as he ordered, their feet silent as the distant rising sun as they ate up the ground under their rapid steps.
Nobody expected to get more than a handful of extra arrows out of it…
And of course…
Some satisfying payback on the way to the east to meet the Queen of Frost.
And that was plenty.
Ainz held his head high, the messenger he dispatched in the form of a young boy was one of his doppelgangers, cheap summons, their loss in the event of death was fairly meaningless. ' In no small part thanks to that girl and her teacher. Sebas found someone very useful in her. The Baharuth Empire's magical research was more than a little noteworthy, with means of scribing scrolls quickly… though at some cost in animals, it offers great potential for the future.' And so the use of doppelgangers to simulate the 'Royal Procession of a Visiting Monarch' went smoothly, nobody was the wiser that it was almost a total fiction and Ainz was in fact spending most of his time in Nazarick.
' It should reach demihuman ears before long, and in accordance with my plan… Albedo's plan…' Ainz corrected the thought and paused for a moment to let his heart find its rhythm again, ' They will set out to capture me or disrupt me… finding a few scraps of runecraft to spark their interest…' Ainz looked at the mirror of remote viewing, he couldn't read lips, but the doppelganger attendants were explaining the Kingdom of Nazarick's view of nonhumans, that much he was sure of.
' Another path that may worm its way to the ear of the Queen of Frost.' Ainz considered, and looked over his shoulder when he felt the gentle touch of Albedo.
He immediately stopped caring when he saw that her yellow eyes, bright as the sun, were dulled and wet with pools of tears. "M-My Lord…?" She had weak knees, they were clearly shaking, the hand she put up on his shoulder was the only thing holding her up. In her other hand she held one of the letters dispatched to him…
Ainz knew what it was. ' The request for aid from Queen Calca.' The document included an offer of marriage.
"My Lord… is she… are you… if it pleases you so much, I don't have to look like me! I can be her ! I am a succubus! I can be anything you want me to be!" She half cried out, half whimpered, [Aspect of the Succubus], [Object of Desire] . And then 'Albedo' was not Albedo. Instead the slender blonde, the radiant and beautiful Queen of the Roble Holy Kingdom, Calca Bessarez, was in her place. A perfect likeness, she smiled a tiny bit.
"You see… I can offer you endless variety… I can be anything… everything… as long as I am in your arms…" She dropped the paper while he turned to face her, and wrapped her arms around his neck, rising up on her tiptoes to almost hang off of his body. "I don't care if I am me or not… as long as I am yours ."
"Albedo… that isn't… yes, she offered but…" Ainz felt sweat spring to his face, part of him wondered if he should call for guards, or restrain her before she lost all reason. ' Nobody knows I've come back yet, but if I- no. I can handle her myself if I must. Privacy is such a rare thing… I should have sent her away again.'
Never did he hate himself more than when he had that thought. "Albedo," he tried to speak again, "The Queen doesn't know me. I do not know her. She offers me marriage for diplomatic purposes… to unite our Kingdoms rather than to lose her own… I-"
"If my Lord did not find her beautiful, this would not have worked." Albedo whispered, "I can only appear as…" She let the statement hang, her Lord's shaft was obviously speaking its own truth, undeniably, from such close proximity.
"It is true." Albedo said those three little words with the quiet voice of someone who has been condemned.
"Am I not beautiful enough as I am… My Lord? It isn't for me to criticize your desires but… tell me how I failed you-" She begged to know until he took her by the wrists and disengaged her gently from his grasp. She did not resist as she was set down, nor did she step closer when he stepped away.
"Albedo…" Ainz tried yet again, grasping for words that no level of wisdom could ever have offered, he threw off his mask so that she could see his face, "You're the child of a dear friend… I should think of you like a daughter! I can only let myself love you that way! And I do! I love you all… my precious children…"
Albedo did not shrug off the illusion of Calca's body in place of her own, "My Lord's manhood does not see me that way." It was hard, even at that moment, not to smile a little, she licked her lustrous ruby lips as if contemplating a fine meal.
Ainz could hardly have denied it, much as he wished to. "Albedo… I can't…"
"Will you be… with…" Albedo started to ask, then stopped, her knees gave out and she went to the floor. "Will you have her then?"
Ainz' mind raced, ' I'm a virgin damn it! I'm not prepared for this kind of thing! This is worse than when she and Shalltear argued over who would be the first wife!' He screamed it in his head as he tried to find an answer.
He went to her and put his hands on her cheeks, "Albedo… I love you in levels that no numbers can measure… but I am a King. I will never love the Queen, whatever happens, it is all for the sake of making a world my children can be safe in, and a world my friends would be happy in."
"I can never be happy, and never be safe, if I am not nestled in your heart." Albedo said through shimmering eyes, it was strange to hear it in a voice he knew had to be Calca's. "A God such as you… every woman you desire, as many wives as you like… have them all, even if it includes that flat chested lamprey. But let me be one of them…"
The words of the priest came back to her, "I would feel this way… no matter what happened before the end and our new beginning… none of it would matter… please, My Lord… My Love…" The heart of the succubus raced like a fireball over a battlefield, ' If I can just make him understand that what he did was meaningless… if he could just see that…'
"Albedo… leave me to my thoughts… I have to prepare to meet the Queen…" It was an excuse in his own mind, and not a particularly good one. The succubus however, accepted his words.
She got up to her feet, and said, "My Lord… when you meet her, and are alone with her, you will be a man with a woman, she will have… certain expectations. If I-I have to accept this, by your will, I do. She is only a human toy and will die, while I endure forever. But the most important thing will be that first kiss. She will appraise everything about you at that moment. Tender, gentle… savage… brutal. Are you selfish or giving, a creature of lust, passion… reserve… she will judge my Lord without even thinking about it."
Ainz had no idea what to expect her to say before leaving, this though, wasn't on the list of possibilities. But the instant she drew herself up, he saw the why of it. ' She is my advisor, still, the supervisor of all the Guardians, effectively my Prime Minister. Her job… is to help me in everything, even in things she doesn't like.'
He nodded along with her, and tried very hard not to think about the impassioned dreams he was sure to experience again if he slept in his bed that night.
She walked toward him, it was a sultry walk, even though it was barely two or three steps, it might as well have been a runway. Then she was in front of him, rising on her tiptoes. "I am Queen Calca Bessarez… ruler of the Roble Holy Kingdom. The key to easy dominion over millions of humans. I have offered my body to the Allfather of Nazarick, I will be his wife, and give him title to my Kingdom to save it from destruction. But I don't know him. I know nothing of his character, his will, his strength… in his first kiss, I will know more than in an hour of conversation. Now… kiss your Queen…" Albedo whispered in a dusky voice, her pheromones dialed up to eleven…
Ainz put his arms around her, using his strength to raise her up just enough on her tiptoes, he brought his lips to hers, and let them part. He did not act the part of the aggressive, savage conqueror, but rather as the novice explorer of a new land, growing bolder with familiarity, savoring the warmth, heat, and taste of another person, the sound of deep breaths coming from both, until the moment passed.
Albedo was the one to break the kiss, and he allowed her to do so, barely realizing what he'd done until she stepped away, just out of reach. The face of the foreign Queen was a mask of professionalism. "As expected of my Lord. Do it just like that, and she will see you as she should. Now… as you will it, I leave you to your thoughts."
Ainz touched his hands to his lips as if he could not believe where they had been, and held them there for a long time after Albedo was away. ' Did I… what have I done?' He asked himself, unsure of even how he should have felt about the moment, while absolutely certain about how he did feel.
Albedo's return to her room went by the most unused paths. She was able to easily avoid interacting with anyone at all, making it back to her quarters unobserved by any and she closed her door as stealthily as she could so that nobody would have even that light click to know she was there.
She rushed into her inner chamber, the place where no maid was allowed to go, and flung herself down on the bed, her legs and arms spread out, she gazed at the ceiling above. "My first kiss…" Albedo sighed, and lay there all night unsure of whether to sing or cry or give in to her lusts until sleep came at last.
Volume 6 C24
Gustav formed up the line with practiced ease, he knew better than to arrange a fight where the elven archers could be brought to play. ' Importing elven slaves was just asking for trouble… we won't make that mistake again.' The death toll they'd taken on his scouts was not worse only because the elves were few and scattered over a wide range.
Over the weeks of scouting, Gustav learned one thing with certainty.
' If my scouts return alive, the enemy is not there.' And so he guided his forces on a long path around the elven dominated forests that made up the southern half of the Northern Holy Kingdom, and sacrificed the villages and small towns to potential pillage in order to get around the armies of the rebels.
How many died because of his decision… ' Could all this have been prevented if I had just annulled that damn trial then and there?!' Perhaps not, ' The South might still have turned on us, but I would be facing the rebels with a hundred thousand paladins instead of twenty-five thousand…'
It was the one advantage that Queen Calca had over both sides. The Northern Holy Kingdom's paladins were all loyal to Queen Calca, himself, and Remedios. ' In that order though?' That, he suspected, was the true reason why the Queen hadn't simply had Remedios killed. Soldiers were not much for politics, ' Kill their own… you're the bad guy. It's that simple… fuck around and find out…' He recalled the phrase a crude soldier once used about demihumans probing the forests.
The one conflict in it all, he knew was going to come up hard and fast when the truth came out. ' When they learn that the Huntress of the Wilds became the Queen of Frost… when they learn the trial was a sham to kill a hero and Remedios was behind it?' That was the worry which kept him up at night, and as he trotted in front of the forming ranks of the army of the retainers and militia that made up most of the Northern Holy Queen's forces, he still couldn't get rid of his worry.
Allowing demihumans to live 'was' forbidden, but anyone who looked into the eyes of a mother of any species that was just trying to protect its young, or a dying father trying to rise one more time to buy time for its own to escape, knew the pangs of pity for the other side… and more than one had given in and let someone flee at one point or another.
' It's only a matter of time… and what then?' Gustav asked himself just as one of his warriors rode up atop a large warhorse of mottled brown and white and shouted…
"We're ready sir! All we need is your order!"
"Not yet… let them make the first move." Gustav pointed toward the hill a fair distance away. "They'll try to take that, I'm sure, and when my ambush hits…"
He wasn't wrong. [Long Sight], he used the martial art from his scouting days and, true to expectation, a cavalry charge was racing for the hill, the Southern rebels thinking to seize it before Gustav realized his mistake. Hundreds of horsemen, they had a more gentle slope on their side, Gustav couldn't keep back a little smug grin from behind the steadily growing beard.
He was sure his officers couldn't see what he could, they had their banners raised, horses pawing at the dirt on the open ground, ' Win this, and the Southern rebels will quickly realize we got around them, take out this little army, and their supply lines are cut!'
'Little' was a relative term, his army was twenty-five thousand strong, filled with combat veterans, with over ten thousand paladins backed up by experienced squires and augmented by militia that underwent rigorous training required in all Northern Holy Kingdom towns, villages, and cities. By contrast, the Southern Holy Kingdom host that held this field wasn't even the main army, but it was thirty-five thousand strong and was responsible for the resupply of the main host.
' If I could have bypassed it too, I would have.' Gustav reflected while he watched the fools charge toward his trap, the way south was simply too narrow, with a Southern city in the way that he would have to besiege… but with the resources he could take here, he was confident it could be done.
With his magically enhanced vision, he saw it, his smile broadened, archers sprang up from where they lay on their bellies concealed by green cloaks to hide in the grass. They loosed their arrows with such speed that five volleys were in the air before the first one struck a mounted man or his horse.
He couldn't hear the screams of horses or men, but he saw their mouths part, the fear, confusion, pain… horses tumbled screaming, tripping those behind and causing a cluster that struggled to undo itself under withering archery fire.
"Now… sound the advance." Gustav said, and the long horn blew, the drums began to beat, and his army began to advance over open ground before his unfortunate enemy could get a true grasp of just what happened.
The other side's drums boomed, but the first step forward was hesitant, their lines were not clean, they held big shields, larger than those typically used in the North, and mostly round, rather than the more standardized teardrop shaped shields used by the more professional northern forces.
Gustav's smile still hadn't faded, he looked over his shoulder, "Call for a half step, and bring up the archers, tell them to fire when ready, but target the wings, and then call our own to a halt."
The flags were waving moments later and the marching of his soldiers' feet began to slow down. The archers went ahead and, on the surface, it appeared to be madness, like he was offering them up for easy slaughter.
But the ambush unsettled the other side, and the remaining cavalry did not take the bait.
The halt blew when the first arrows sailed through the air.
The whistling, screaming noise of the arrows was replaced by the screaming of the first men of the South to fall down. By the third volley, it was happening.
Soldiers of the Southern army began to push themselves against their own line, each man trying to get behind the shield of the man next to him. The lines began to bunch up in the front ranks.
"Stretch out our line, spread the mounted paladins out!" Gustav barked his order and only watched for a moment as the horsemen obeyed the signal flags and went from clusters of twenty or thirty deep, to being only two, giving the appearance of a much larger force to the oncoming ranks of the South.
The arrows continued to fall, the screaming was now audible, and the march of the South was slowing down.
Whoever functioned as the commander must have been giving orders of their own, because they brought their archers forward into range and began to target those of the North.
' It won't do much good, with the archers spread out, we're aiming at clusters, they're… not so much.' And true to form, most of the arrows landed in between the spaces made by his soldiers.
' Next up will be magic, let the casters duke it out as they see fit, we only need to buy time.' He told himself as he watched the infantry continue to cluster at the front. The big round shield's promise of safety proved so tempting that the officers who moved back and forth to give orders had only the most limited success in stretching the line out again.
The first fireball arced over the lines from the South, it had very little chance of hitting anything, and it didn't. ' More for morale than anything, to show they're fighting…' Gustav realized. He didn't know much about magic, but he knew it cost mana, and that would take time to replenish, nothing short of certain types of undead could cast fireballs indefinitely.
His own mounted mages trotted out on the wings and waited.
"Now." Gustav drew out his sword, and a flag wave brought the archers to quickly fall back between the spaces of his heavy infantry. His sword came down, and the cavalry began to charge. Heavy armored paladins were demons in the battlefield, their heavy horses could trample a dozen men before they would lose momentum, their lances could easily kill two or three before snapping if they were lucky, and the men themselves wore over seventy pounds of metal over their bodies, faceless behind their helmets, they were not going to fall with ease to anything less than a monster.
With the front line clumped up, the heavy paladins had an easy time of getting around the confined lines, and the last desperate counter attack of other mounted men from the South was smashed like a glass window hit by a rock.
The lighter cavalry of the South tore like wet paper under a knife, the smaller horses unable to present a true obstacle, those who survived the clash and who did not fall in a tangle of broken bodies and blood, wheeled their horses away and ran… and not back to their own lines.
The horn blew again, and the heavy infantry began a faster advance, the magic casters went with them, fireballs began to arc back and forth between the two hosts, Gustav's bodyguard sounded his own horn, and the elites, most of whom like himself had at least one piece of magical equipment, headed for the center.
With the Southern lines clustered up and wavering, fireballs consuming men and horses, and arrows striking pain, death, or fear into those who had never tasted battle before, the conclusion was decided before Gustav's lance could find a target.
The teardrop shaped shields of the heavy infantry proved maneuverable, lighter weight, and effectively blocked most blows. The bigger, heavier round shields were useful in formation, but in inexperienced hands they got in the way of their own wielder, obscuring their vision and leaving the lower body vulnerable, while also being heavier and more tiring even to lift.
Screams and blood both filled the air as swords went up and down, maces spattered gray brain matter over green grass, and the noise of dying voices calling out for divine aid covered the noise of any orders or will.
Set on their heels and lacking the same experience, discipline, or equipment… the Southern army began to fall apart.
Gustav could not see the first men run, but those who felt the pulse of battle as surely as they felt the sweat on their brow and running down the crack of their ass, knew exactly what was happening.
Gustav's sword pierced the throat of a young man holding a bright steel sword, it didn't even have blood on it. The moment slowed as if it was by the way his battle senses guided him, he saw the blade in fine detail as if he'd made it himself.
No nicks, no scratches, fresh, clean, new, unstained…
And it fell from nerveless fingers to land point down in the dirt beside the body of the battle virgin Gustav had just pierced. The young man looked up at the sky, his mouth not even moving in a prayer, his dying thoughts a silent wondering about how this could happen to him .
The look was familiar enough to all veterans. ' Every young man sees himself as the hero of the story, not one of the countless dead whose bodies pave the road that heroes walk over. It's always a surprise…' It was an afterthought, meaningless and empty now, and the current head of the Paladin Order simply pressed on, taking the battle virginity of countless figures whose bright blades would never be sheathed or drawn by their owners again.
Until he stopped. The last holdouts began to break and run, the thunderous noise of metal armor and thud of heavy shields being thrown away, the calls to flee replaced all enthusiasm for a fight, and just like that…
The fighting was over, all but the cleanup. ' If we can conscript more into our ranks, fine, the ones we can't, maybe hostages, maybe bodies, we'll see… but this is a fine opening blow to those treasonous bastards.' Gustav thought, taking a cast off banner of the south, he wiped his sword and face clean of mud, blood, and sweat, and savored the cheers of victory that followed which drowned out the cries of the wounded and the dying as if they were not there at all.
Volume 6 C25
Remedios stared down at the demihuman, a spriggan scout, it towered over the tallest humans, its limbs flailing about, two or three grown common men were struggling to hold it in place. Their heels dug into the dirt, and still it dragged them as it pulled its arms against the ropes.
' Stupid. They should have used metal chains, they shouldn't have dropped their guard when the light left its eye sockets… they fell for the trick, but won't fall for it twice.'
She held the torch down from where she sat on her horse, and jammed it against the spriggan's face. It howled like a banshee as fire caught, and fell back, staggering until it landed on its back.
It beat against its face with its hands, only to spread the flames, the humans who held it in place lept backward with cries of alarm.
"Help! Put it out! Put it out! Please put it ouuuuut!" The spriggan screamed and rolled as it tried to beat out the fires, only spreading them instead. The being of wood and magic, once vigorous and aggressive, was now a pitiable thing struggling for one second free of pain.
A soldier from nearby was bearing a bucket of water, brought from the fire pit where his meal was cooking, he was youthful, strong, and Remedios furrowed her brow, ' Stupid too. It'll just fight again. Let it burn more.' She thought and held out her hand, "Stop. Let it burn a little more first."
The soldier looked at her with dismay, mouth agog, while the spriggan screamed, "Mercy! Please have merrrcyyyy!" it howled the drawn out plea as it pounded the licking orange burning tendrils with its leafy hands.
Half its face was gone and its brown limbs charred before Remedios lowered her hand. "Now."
The soldier had a cold sweat on his face that caught the fading light of the sun and made him almost reflect the light of the dying day. He rushed the last few steps forward and tilted the wooden bucket over the fallen spriggan captive, the water splashed down over it like a tiny waterfall, and the spriggan ceased to struggle as the last fires on its body were doused away.
Remedios cantered her horse over to where it lay, panting and moaning in pain. As demihuman races went, Remedios knew that spriggans were not the most malicious, nor were they common… but they blended in well with forests, had abundant natural magic, and as such made excellent scouts and could easily sabotage roads or other passages between settled places.
Catching this one was only possible because her paladins were exceptional. She dropped the torch and held the holy sword over the prone creature, "You will tell us what we want to know."
The spriggan huffed, and puffed… but said nothing as the humans flipped it over. When they bound it, the creature spoke.
"Others?" It said.
"We need firewood. You will talk, or join them." Remedios answered, and the spriggan howled like a wolf.
"No! No! No! You didn't! You couldn't?!" It shrieked.
Remedios looked away. "Bring me another torch!" She shouted.
"No! I'll talk… no fire… no more fire… please no more fire…" It begged, its body relaxed, the dark burns made darker by the damp soaking of water, it could only whimper in fear when it asked, "What do you want to know…?"
Calca stood in front of the door and glanced up at the two towering guards who held position outside of it. They were so large she sometimes wondered if they didn't have some nonhuman ancestry. They bore shields and long swords, as well as a spear each. All of what they wore was runecrafted, the enchanted equipment from the foreign king arrived the previous day and Calca quickly outfitted her best and most loyal to create an elite guard unit under her direct command. Tests with the gear against regular knights and paladins showed that it made every man worth at least five on the weak side, and far more on the far end.
' I must get more of these.' She told herself again while standing before the oaken door with bands of metal binding it shut in multiple points. Breaking out would not be impossible of course, but even for the Mad Eyed Archer and his wife, it would be loud, obvious, and offer ample time to recapture them.
But the couple remained, checked on every day, fed every day, given ample wine to drink. Nothing strange was ever reported, not from the time of their capture.
"Let me in." Calca said after holding her breath for just a moment.
The guards did not question her, rather they took position, one ready while the other worked the door. He then entered alone, the noise of voices, rattling chains, nothing Calca could quite make out, though she knew what was happening.
The guard returned a minute or two later and swung the door wide from within. The quarters were luxurious, if not massive, a small window let natural light in, a good meal of hearty steak sat half finished on the table along with bowls of thick stew, a half finished bottle of good wine sitting between the couple.
Were it not for the fact that they were seated and chained to their chairs so that they could barely move, it might have looked luxurious.
The hair of both Pabel and his wife had lost its color. They had, despite Calca's best efforts, seemingly aged twenty years in mere months since their daughter's near execution and… return.
Neither the Mad Eyed Archer nor his wife met the eyes of the Queen.
"Leave us." Calca said to her guards.
The door shut and they were alone mere seconds later, and the Queen sat down. "Do you want news of your daughter?" The Queen asked.
Their dull eyes brightened and their heads snapped up to look at her.
Calca pursed her lips. "She has taken Vasa, Esha, and Fospo. Along with all the surrounding territories in the east. Do you want to know how many humans have died since she took the wall?"
The eyes of Neia's parents welled up, their fists clenched where they sat. Queen Calca clenched her own fists in turn. "Your daughter's invasion has killed over twenty thousand people… not to mention there are countless prisoners… her army is marching on Kalinsha now… if she takes Kalinsha…" She bit her lip, "It has one of the largest populations in the eastern part of the Holy Kingdom."
"What do you want from us?!" Pabel hissed, "Do you think we can talk her down?!"
"Are you just trying to torture us more… this is our country too !" His wife glared at the Queen, "We didn't ask for this!"
"Tell me something… anything I can use to defeat her!" Calca leaned forward and rested her hands on Pabel's knees. "I'm just trying to save lives!"
She did not understand right away when Pabel laughed. "My daughter… she's not human anymore… by your laws, our laws… that means she's not a person anymore. Anything you do to her is not only lawful, but the more brutal it is, the more justified it is."
"I… I don't understand your point." Calca said.
His wife's steady glare was broken, "Let me tell you a story… my greatest shame…"
The Queen sat back and held herself ramrod straight to listen.
"Many years ago, when our daughter was a child, she told a boy she liked him, he called her a monster and ran away. According to most of the boys, my daughter was ugly and evil looking… because she looked like him." She tilted her head toward her husband, "On a man, that face is fearsome, bold, powerful. On a girl? She might as well be deformed. After struggling to be liked and accepted by the others, she came to me and said how frustrated she was, and she was mad at her father for her looks. So…" The mother of the Queen of Frost swallowed, her body trembled a little and she looked down at her chained hands, "I beat her… I dragged her to the door, and I beat her raw, I beat her where everybody could see her, until she could barely move. I love my husband… and I couldn't bear what she had to say. I didn't even try to understand her frustration, what she was going through. I was single minded, and do you know what that got me for all my efforts, Majesty?"
Calca's eyes widened, her own pride in her beauty was such that the struggles of the Huntress of the Wilds cut her to her core. She shook her head.
"She never made a sound after the first cry of surprise. Not one. Not when I slapped her face, not when I picked up that damn stick and bruised her from her behind to the bottom of her calves. She just took it and wouldn't look at me… I think that's why I beat her harder… I wanted her to say something, to scream, to cry, some response to show she understood… she seemed so strong that I hit her worse than I would have if she'd just cried right away." Pabel's wife began to weep a little bit, but after gulping several times, she went on.
"She didn't speak to me again for days, maybe weeks, it's hard to say… she never talked about it again, she never said that about my husband, her father again… but a part of her, I killed, and something else was born. She never complained about anyone tormenting her, she never asked for my help, or anyone else's, she never told another boy or girl she liked them… I failed her. But from that failure, came something else… something unbreakable."
A note of pride touched the voice of the mother of the Queen of Frost, "She threw herself into her training, so much so that even though she was still barely a child, with just a little help from my husband, she earned the right to try for a place in the Paladin Order. That unbreakable thing was her stubborn will, she would never… ever quit when she was sure she was right. I made her silent, but she made me pay for it too. She didn't call me mother again until she was due to go to trial… when I finally told her I loved her." Her bleary, teary eyes stared with the promise of violence at the Queen.
"You want my help to defeat her…?" She spat onto the carpet, "If she's got a demihuman army at her back, there's only one way to do that. Make her change her mind. Give her what she wants, and make her realize that she doesn't need or want to fight you anymore. She won't give up anything for me, or my husband. She won't stop unless she's killed, and I don't think you can do that. Not anymore!"
"I just want peace… to save lives…" Calca pleaded as the mother's story came to an end and the woman became sullen again.
"My wife… she's right." Neia's father replied, "You want us to give you some strategy or tell you some weakness she has that you can exploit. Even if we knew one, we wouldn't tell you, not even for the sake of the Kingdom. We'd trade ten thousand Holy Kingdoms to have her back, safe and well again!" He spat and gritted his teeth.
"If you want to beat her, get her to beat herself or change her mind, because otherwise, it doesn't matter if she's alone and you wipe out the whole Demihuman army and her dragon. She'll fight by herself. She went to die on the wall because of… what she believed in. Do you think someone like that stops just because they're alone? She was alone before, and that meant nothing." He laughed heartily, and shook his head.
"Queen Calca, I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can offer you. Not for twenty thousand dead humans, or two hundred, or two million… but even when she was a relatively weak human, she was an immovable object. Unless you've got an unstoppable force… you will break." Pabel went quiet again, and stared at her for so long that Calca was compelled to look away.
She did not tell them thanks, nor think to ask, as she intended, about their treatment. Their words were like ice around her heart, and, like ice, it hardened her resolve regarding the coming visit of the Allfather of Nazarick. More than anything else, she was resolute. ' I will have my unstoppable force. No matter what.'
Volume 6 C26
Ainz' arrival in Hoburns drew instant attention. The ink black carriage with its magnificent red and golden trim pulled by massive sleipnirs, and the dual lines of soldiers on horseback ahead and behind in gleaming bright armor taken from Nazarick's own treasury were quick to draw the eye. As an added measure, he doubled his escort to include soldiers in runecrafted gear, making the spectacle diverse to the point of being awe inspiring. His banners flapped in a breeze that wasn't there, enchanted so that they would always wave, it was pure indulgence… but it had an effect as the carriage rolled through the streets.
The soldiers of the city looked down at their own armor, steel for the most part, and touched it as if it just occurred to them that their pride in their equipment was misplaced.
It wasn't until, at every block, the herald announced that the Allfather of the Kingdom of Nazarick had come to throw back the threats to their lives that the cheers began in earnest.
Ainz looked outside the window of his carriage, extending his powerful, thick arm to wave to the population. His escort for this mission was made up totally of humans, ' Going in with undead would have been more impactful, but probably counter productive for now… to make the world that my children can thrive in in safety, I must ease everyone forward…'
Cheers became more genuine and more frequent as word spread faster than the carriage rolled, and though the guards of the city did their part in keeping the roadway clear for his procession, it was really the people that Ainz was interested in.
They were rather dirty, most of them, but they were adequately fed if not overly so, but their numbers were lower than he expected given what he knew of the population. ' I did specify that casualties should be kept down… but then again, even Albedo can't control everything. Humans have an abiding love for killing each other…' He recalled the brutality of his world and it only compounded his resolve. ' I will do whatever it takes… my children will live freely one day…'
His nerves still got to him as the distant castle loomed, it towered over Nazarick in size, at least 'above ground' though he doubted it was much larger given how much of Nazarick was below.
The great spires of the castle rose to spear-like points that seemed to stab the sky, even with magic to account for some of the work, Ainz couldn't help but be impressed. His mouth made a little 'O' as it loomed ever larger on the long road within.
He couldn't help but think, ' If I were undead still, I doubt I would care much for this… I don't miss that emotional dampener, not even a little bit… even for the difficult things. When Demiurge works out how best to 'resolve' this little problem, I will have to specify just what needs to change and what needs to stay the same.'
Finally he reached the long straight stretch that would carry him into the inner courtyard of the castle.
The last portcullis ground its way up with a steady clinking noise even he could barely make out, and then he was within. The carriage came to a stop and his servants, acting by rote as if they'd done it for a lifetime, moved to open the door and allow him out. They were boys of lesser nobility, tokens of Re-Estize whose families were looking for a chance at settling some of his vast unclaimed lands. In this they demonstrated their superior knowledge to the Wolf Queen and Wolf King of Carne, who hadn't thought of such methods of diplomacy until it was done. ' Still, they were quick to respond by offering to contribute to the buildup from their massive forest harvests…' Between the two human nations there would be years of work and profit ahead.
But these… These were Re-Estize noble youths, most under the age of fifteen, but still gifted in poise and prepared to represent their houses well.
Their short hair was cut off at the ears and their clothes embroidered with thick padding at the shoulders to create a mild bulge which made the bright red and black dyed fabric 'pop' more to the eye.
They wore white leggings to protect their skin from dirt, and short brown leather shoes with brass buckles, all polished to a shine.
Ainz gave them a polite nod as he descended from the carriage, and the boys blushed bright red, their faces beamed with bright smiles even while they bowed to their master.
From atop the steps, Kelart and her escort gasped as they watched him look at his servants while he spoke to them, they were hasty thereafter, and he began to make his way toward the red carpet that was rolled from the center steps all the way to stop just in front of his feet.
' He speaks to them, looks at them… nods to them…?' Kelart observed his curiously familiar behavior toward his servants, and her head began to race. The human king of Nazarick was a truly towering man, head and shoulders above herself, and though he wore the robes of a caster, and carried a golden staff in hand which even from where she stood, she realized was worth more than a king's ransom, that all felt like it was merely surface adornment. He drew the eyes by presence, and they could not let go.
Her breath began to quicken as he came closer, his steps were slow, measured, every inch a King, which set his earlier behavior toward his servants even more at odds than before in her mind.
When he put a single foot on the base step leading up toward the wide open double doors, she shouted, "His Majesty! Allfather of the Kingdom of Nazarick! We bid you welcome!"
On either side of the steps stood a row of servants in bright blue and white garments holding long brass horns, they put their lips to the small ends and blew, trumpeting his arrival to alert the whole of the palace within to the coming of the foreign King.
Kelart gave a deep bow to the lord, in part out of respect, but in part because the moment she looked at his face… ' My God…' She'd thought, ' It's like being in the presence of a deity who has come for tea…'
She swallowed when bent forward, his chiseled jaw and bright, sparkling eyes seemed to look into her very soul.
"Thank you for the welcome… Kelart Custodio, isn't it?" He said, and Kelart struggled to get her breathing under control.
"Y-Yes, My Lord." She said as she slowly straightened up and pushed her freely tumbling brown hair back behind her again.
"Pl-Please, let me take you to my Queen and tell me of your journey…" She spun on her heel and led the King through the hall. "Please pay no worry to your servants," she said when she saw him glance over his shoulder, "the people I left behind will see to their comfort."
He nodded once and kept quiet. ' Don't say something stupid, you prepared for this, Ainz, you studied protocol from Draudillon, dignity and reserve… just don't forget that.'
' A man of few words… truly as a King should be…' Kelart's already high estimation of the man went up even further, ' And yet he has the common touch, his servants appear to be eager to attend him, not merely going through their duties by fear or by rote.'
"The journey," Ainz said, cutting off her thoughts, "was uneventful, thanks to the demihuman trouble we took a circuitous route… I admit I was somewhat disappointed. I have heard a great deal from your people about the Queen of Frost. Is it true she was once a human?"
Kelart pursed her lips as shame welled up in her soul.
"It… It is, Your Majesty. But I would, if it is acceptable to you, prefer to leave those questions for my Queen to answer, the story is a long one, and I will not lie to you, it is not our proudest tale."
"I see." Ainz said, "I have asked something insensitive in a difficult time, I trust that bowing my head is apology enough."
He then did exactly that, Kelart looked at him and blushed a deep shade of red. "Your M-Majesty! I'm merely an advisor to the Queen I… I shouldn't be bowed to by a King."
Panic rushed through Ainz when he realized the misstep, his heart and pulse raced, but so did his mind as he sought to cover for his error in protocol. "We are alone, and a King has wounded your heart. What kind of King does not apologize for that?"
It was a nonsense phrase, really, but the effect on Kelart was immediate, she stopped walking, turned, and bowed to him once more.
"You are everything I hoped a King might be… my fears are greatly eased by knowing you even this much, My Lord." Kelart said with a sudden appearance of tears in her eyes.
"Lady Custodio…?" Ainz whispered as if someone might overhear.
"I love my Queen. I have always loved my Queen…" Kelart said, it was almost a whimper, ' Why am I saying this… I barely know him… I shouldn't…' but the words tumbled out anyway.
"Her dreams, her ideals… I gave up everything I believed in to help her, because I believed in her most of all… did things I shouldn't have done, and some of my mistakes have hurt her badly… but more than happiness for my Kingdom, I want happiness for my Queen. Forgive my tongue, Your Majesty, I shouldn't speak of this to you… but for some reason I cannot help myself." She grabbed one limp dangling arm with one hand and forced herself to straighten up, though she could not meet his eyes. "My Queen is innocent… of rough things… She knows nothing. I feared what that would mean for her in the… the time ahead."
Part of her wanted to say more, ' I'm giving her up to you… I'm letting go of stupid desires for the sake of tomorrow…' But she had at last caught hold of the tongue that betrayed her will and cut off her words before she revealed the true nature of her love for her Queen. ' I wonder if he will have worked it out anyway… I said too much…'
Ainz cleared his throat, "I… see. You have nothing to worry about, but we should not keep your Lady waiting, should we?"
"Oh- Oh, of course!" Kelart exclaimed with such dismay that she practically jumped out of her skin when she jerked herself around to put the King at her back again as she led him toward the throne room.
When they reached the throne room Ainz was unsurprised by what he found. The layout for most throne rooms seemed to be more or less the same as he observed in other Kingdoms. The throne at the far center, nobles lining the sides where they could speak among one another, standing only, nobody seated, they were dressed in a fashion somewhat more subdued than the servants, though blue and white colors were a running theme in doublets, pants, and dresses that flowed down to the ankles…
"The Allfather of the Kingdom of Nazarick, comes to the Queen of the Roble Holy Kingdom!" Kelart called out, and a single loud drum followed her words, and then as Ainz approached the throne, the rest of the room gasped as Calca, clad in a dress slit to the thigh, stood up from her throne. The blue lining around the white came to a point at the base of her throat and the royal symbol embroidered in the brightest hue of blue immediately drew the eye to her chest.
' A breach of protocol if ever I saw one. Queen Draudillon never stood for her visitors, nor did anyone else.' Ainz recalled and felt his confidence grow just a little bit further, it spoke to the nature of her situation.
"The Queen welcomes her guest with pleasure." Calca said in a birdsong-like voice. Ainz felt his magic detection ring suddenly go off, a faint warmth on his finger, and for a fraction of a second, he hesitated a step. ' Right… she is known for using magic in cosmetics…' He recalled and took the remaining steps without hesitation until he was before her throne.
"I am honored by your hosting me." Ainz said as the Queen raised her arms and held them out toward him, she didn't descend from her place, standing up was breech enough.
"You are too kind, Lord of Nazarick." She said with a resounding echo, "If it pleases you, we have prepared a banquet in your honor…"
Ainz kept his face as neutral as he could, recalling his life as a salaryman and looking at what he expected based on his observations of other Kingdoms. Jumping straight to a feast was uncommon at best, the only time he recalled it… ' Yes… when Solution and Sebas took our teams to the Draconic Kingdom… dire straits… just like when a business or a department is in trouble, they jump quickly to the social event to build bonds rapidly…'
"I would be delighted to sample all that the Holy Kingdom has to offer." Ainz said, and mentally smacked himself. ' That might be taken the wrong way…' He thought, recalling what Albedo said, and the contents of the letter requesting his aid.
Only then did the Queen descend from her throne and offer out her hand for the black and red robed mage king to take, her fingers slipping into his own with grace and delicate motions, contracting only slightly and raising her eyes to meet his face, she flashed a charming pearl white smile up at him that was framed by ruby lips that could only be done with the aid of magic enhanced lipstick.
He nevertheless went with the moment… and hoped for the best.
Neia looked at the empty town, "This is the third one. The fields are burned or cut, and nothing of value remains… they're just… gone ." She said and looked over her shoulder to the rest of her initial guard. "They knew we were coming…" She concluded, her wings snapped out with annoyance, her teeth gritted, "It doesn't matter, they have to feed everyone they keep from capture… and there's only one place they can go."
"Kalinsha." Vijar said as he came closer.
Neia nodded. "Exactly. That city can hold everybody, but I don't believe their scouts caught us… have any of our scouts not returned?"
"A clutch of spriggans, My Queen." He said in his rough sort of way, she heard his talons scrape over his palm, Vijar, she knew, had grown fond of spriggans. They let his people rub against them, and they would often scratch their fur, making for a kind of quiet ecstasy that though Vijar wouldn't say he loved, she often found him engaged in.
"That's it then. If it is Remedios they sent to deal with us, I have no doubt she tortured the Spriggans for information, and probably got it. She thinks nothing of doing terrible things to nonhumans and humans alike." Neia remarked her palm opening and closing, scraping talons over scales to create a light scratching noise like nails over a chalkboard.
"I see." Vijar said with a quiet growl underlying his words.
Neia looked over her shoulder to the giant catman, she glanced up at him, her ice blue eyes and frosty breath hit him with the full force of a winter's fury. "Burn the town. Take your time, turn the whole thing to ash . It will slow us down, but I want them to know I'm coming."
"And then… Kalinsha?" Vijar asked.
Neia laughed, "No… no not at all. That was my plan, but if Remedios is so eager to give us a free hand out here, we'll take it. She, and probably the Holy Queen, are thinking I'm going to just take the cities and move on, why should I play into their hands? We're going to draw the bitch out, burn every single town and village on the way to Hoburns . We'll see how she likes holing up there when her precious Queen is in danger."
"She won't like that, I take it?" Vijar asked.
"No, no she will not like that at all." Neia said, and began to bellow out a laughter that spread from her, to him, and to those much too far away to know why they were laughing.
Illyana handed the last paper over to the doppelgangers operating in Hoburns, hours of writing and approving writing from the doppelgangers left her weary and drained, she slumped forward with her head on her forearms and expelled a large exhausted breath against the shiny table, fogging it briefly just as the last doppelganger closed the door behind it.
"No wonder she had us doing this, huh?" Skana asked with a sparkle to her eye as she looked at the weary elf woman. "Beer? Wine?" She asked and Illyana looked up and nodded while keeping her sharp-featured head resting on her slender arms.
"Yes… I swear, they may be good seducers and talkers… but they have no idea how to write things that make sense… editing… that's what they call this… I don't know how people manage it." Illyana rolled her eyes with a groan. "And ah, yes, wine. Thank you." She said and watched with still-steady disbelief as the human woman went, without complaint, to the little enchanted cabinet that kept their drinks cool. Skana bent forward and bounced alternating back and forth on her feet and hummed while she rummaged.
It was strange still, to see a human lift a finger for her. A wondrous thing, even. ' Maybe because she's a peasant… maybe because she's just… so free-spirited…' Illyana turned the curious thought over in her mind, Skana was easily the most free-spirited person she'd ever seen. Always quick with a song, a joke, or a quiet flirtation, she seemed to care nothing at all for anything but pleasure, and accepted Illyana without any hint of reservation.
"Hey… Skana?" Illyana said with a hesitant look that went first away from the auburn haired woman with her head in a cabinet and then toward her again.
"Yeah?" Skana asked as she got out a bottle, then saw Illyana's face, and reached in for a second.
"How come you didn't tell His Majesty everything… you had more than money on your mind… I know you did. So… why?" Illyana asked, and to her surprise, Skana did not meet her eyes, rather she set the bottles down on the floor and put her head back in the cabinet to search for another bottle.
"Because the first thing… m-money… it's all I really wanted." Skana did not pull her head from within the cabinet, though from where she sat, Illyana could see the woman's arms were no longer rummaging. "The rest… I just felt like if I said what else… he'd say I was a liar… it was really like meeting a God. I c-couldn't say anything else…"
"You don't mean that." Illyana said as Skana finally emerged and pulled out a third bottle, and then took up the first two and approached the table.
The shapely oval face of the human woman still bore a smile, but after months and months with her, almost every day, Illyana knew it was just plastered on, it didn't come from within.
"Sure I do." Skana said, shifting it to a smirk as she set the bottles down on the table one by one and went to fetch cups. "I'm a greedy, selfish peasant, I love pleasure, sex, dancing, singing, that's all I want to do and all I've ever done. I like being me, it's a great grand party, all of it, and then we die. Why pretend otherwise?"
Illyana sat up in her chair and was quiet while Skana poured into cups of stone, listening to the sloshing red liquid fall into the gray ornate chalices, she held her hand out to accept the first cup that her companion poured, then waited until Skana had poured one of her own and sat in the opposite chair.
"Then why haven't you sold us all out?" Illyana asked, and Skana's bright green eyes briefly widened.
Illyana focused her bright blue on the human, "I'm not a human. Neither is our Mistress… you'd be a heroine of your country, gain wealth beyond measure, a noble title… sell us out, send me back to hell… you should have no loyalty to either of us… but here you are."
Skana looked down into her cup and dipped her finger into the red liquid, twirling it around a little, "I couldn't do that to you." She blinked her eyes almost too fast to follow. "I like to party, to do all those things but… that doesn't mean other people's unhappiness means nothing, ya know… it's just-"
"Some things are worth more than money?" Illyana gave a knowing smirk to her companion.
Skana laughed and removed her finger from her cup. She took a long drink, drained it and then held her cup out and picked up the bottle to refill it.
"You tricked me. Sneaky elf." Skana's chuckle was matched by the smirk on Illyana's face which grew noticeably larger.
"See, you're not so bad. You don't have to pretend to be loyal to only yourself, that's just… silly." Illyana said and let her own gentle laughter fill the space between them before she finished her own cup.
"I guess. But it's true also, serving something is just not my style, it never was. I get what I want and move on, that's what I know, and it's why I've laughed a lot more than my mother ever did, I'm just… happier, being on my own. Cut and run when things get troublesome and move on, we all get the same end, so why live harder than I have to?" Skana asked and drained her cup.
"So… if all you care about is pleasure…" Illyana raised a golden brow at the human and asked another question, "How come you haven't made a pass at me. I know you have played with women before."
Skana did not blush, instead her face became very grave, her smile and laughter were gone and her eyes actually shut, if not tightly, a heavy breath came out and her hands shook a little. "Because my race is why you ended up where we found you… I admit, you're beautiful… I like you… but nothing I could do with you would ever make me other than just like the ones who made you live in a nightmare. Even I've got standards."
Illyana took that in and looked down into her cup. "Are you telling me you actually feel… guilty ?"
"Little bit." Skana answered in a clipped sort of way, spitting out her words. "I can't really tell what's fun for you and what's going to make you cry… and I don't want to make you cry. You too pretty for that, you get me?"
Illyana nodded a little, "Layers upon layers, with you, Skana. Layers upon layers." The elf reached over and tousled the auburn haired woman's soft strands, then sat back and held out her glass, "Top me off, would you?"
Skana's eyes went very tight for a moment, before the touch on her head passed, and she nodded to her companion before reaching for the bottle again to tilt it out over the waiting cup of stone.
Volume 6 C27
Remedios' frown sat on her face in the command building as if it were part of the architecture itself. She hadn't smiled since burning the last spriggan scout. ' At least those demihumans make good firewood.' She glanced at the crackling fire, the head was still burning, the eyes were empty, but the sparks of the fire burning within, the little tongues of fire that made their way out of the eye sockets, gave the impression of life where there was none.
She felt a warmth in her spirit that had nothing to do with the flames themselves when she glanced at the burning kindling which had once been a living spriggan. But the reports she was looking at in the highest tower in Kalinsha, those vexed her.
' Why isn't she attacking? She 'needs' this city. I have a ballistae ready to deal with her dragon, I've got supplies enough for a year long siege… but why isn't she 'here'?!' Remedios stood up from her desk with such force that her chair toppled back and slammed to the floor, her hands tense on the surface of her desk, she went to the larger map on the wall.
The glow stones cast white light about the room. She folded her hands behind her back and stared at it, placing another criss-cross set of lines on the map where the next plumes of smoke rose up. ' Another village, she's burned thirty of them this week, and a dozen towns… but the casualties are very low… what is she 'doing'?!' Remedios asked herself, and struggled for an answer just beyond her reach.
She thought back to the moment on the wall, shoving her sword into the guts of the treasonous bitch. ' I should have done what she wanted, if she'd gotten a quick death this wouldn't be a problem now… but she deserved a slow end… that's the whole point of that kind of death! An example to others about treason!' Remedios exclaimed inside her own mind and her mailed fist shot out and struck the stone. Her fist pierced the rock and sank halfway to the forearm, scattering stone chips and chunks around her.
"Damn it." Remedios hissed, "I need to know what she's doing… we've fortified the cities, but if she keeps burning towns and villages then that will crush morale… I need a win, even if it's a small one we can magnify…"
She blinked, the words were so obvious . "I need something to rally people… I don't even have to win, I just have to 'do' something…"
She reached for the bell and rang it several times, calling in one of her aides. He entered, his face drawn and thick with worry, his beard less well kept than she would have liked, he snapped a salute of fist over heart, without the prewar crispness she preferred.
"Gather a battalion, we're going to launch an attack." Remedios said, and he immediately stiffened up.
"Ma'am!" He barked his enthusiastic reply.
"Nothing large, but we need to put these animals to the test." Remedios replied, "Now go, make sure they're ready to go by morning."
"Ma'am!" He said again, and departed, leaving Remedios with a smile on her face despite the sight of another distant plume of smoke rising far, far away to kiss the distant sky.
Ainz did his best to move with the music of the Holy Kingdom, his hand held on Calca's waist as the woman moved to the sound of the music, following his lead, she kept her eyes fixed up on his. ' Thank goodness I was lucky enough to watch a ball in the Draconic Kingdom. If I hadn't seen that, I might have learned nothing… but still, am I doing this right?' Ainz wondered.
Queen Calca seemed to sense his uncertainty as he darted his eyes to look at others as they moved to the noise of the fife and the stringed instruments.
"You're doing fine, Allfather Ainz." Calca whispered to him. "You were not expected to know our dances… you can relax with me."
Ainz felt the hint of tension in his hands that he thought he'd hidden, melt away under her gentle smile when he looked down at the Holy Queen. "Thank you… I am afraid I am not a gifted dancer." It was tempting to lie, but he thought the better of it.
"I would never have guessed." Calca said, her right hand was up against the side of his chest, he was too tall for her to reach his shoulder easily. Her other hand was held on his waist, her words had the echo of sincerity, her eyes warm and kind. "But even if I had… you come to help us, we would be cruel and foolish both to make fun of you for trying what is new to you."
"That is more cynical than I expected from your reputation." Ainz said quietly as they slowly twirled away from the center.
The dance of the Roble Holy Kingdom was a particular spiral like process, while the Queen was the center at the start, the whole whirled out slowly until that which was at the center was eventually out on the far edge. No couple was dancing 'alone' but rather the whole court danced as one, and it was now that they were on the outer fringe that they could speak with quiet candor.
Calca's smile, once warm, trembled and became bitter. "You know what has happened… my idealism died the day my people came to kill me… I know better now. My dreams ruined waking lives… it brings me to where I am now. I hope," she looked away from him, "that this is not a problem."
Her words carried a great deal with them, he couldn't have missed it if he tried. His heart skipped a beat, Albedo's work was responsible for much of that, he was sure. ' I'm the villain in her world, and she doesn't know it…' He felt vaguely ill, but the events of the past left him hardier than before. A part of him ached for the woman in his hands.
' They would do the same to me… she worships the four… she would have killed all my children…' He reminded himself, but with her vulnerable smile up at him, it was hard to picture such cruelty.
"My Kingdom… you know about it?" He asked as the music slowed to a stop.
When the music died, servants who lined the walls doing nothing made their exit, and then the nobles moved to the walls instead while a long table was brought in and chairs were laid out.
Before she could answer, Ainz asked, "Are we expected to make a speech, or can we speak privately?"
The Queen said nothing at first, she simply looked around and gestured to Kelart.
It wasn't lost on Ainz that Kelart was watching alone from the wings, her eyes unblinking, her hands wringing in front of her waist.
When the Queen called her over, Kelart responded with swift clicking steps over the stone, but before she could even ask what the Queen wished, Calca put her hand on Kelart's cheek and said, "Handle the speech for me… mind the feast… I am going to speak privately with the Allfather."
Kelart gave a tiny nod, put her hand up over the back of Queen Calca's, gave the fingers and thumb one small squeeze, and when the last of the table was assembled, she went away without a word to the head of the table.
"We can go, please, follow me, Your Majesty." Queen Calca said with a whisper and put her back to Kelart, taking Ainz's arm and leading him out of the ballroom, he walked beside her in silence, passing guards who watched one by one until they were out of view and ascending a long spiral staircase which forced them to walk much closer together if one was not going to fall behind the other.
Calca's hold on his arm tightened, and Ainz did not let go to step behind her, the only noise was their gentle steps on the gray stone, and Calca's own breathing which had grown slightly louder as they drew closer to her private quarters.
The quarters were unguarded, which was reason enough for Ainz to think something was amiss, but he said nothing as Calca opened the door and stepped within. She closed the door with one swift motion and locked it as soon as they were alone.
When they were alone, Calca looked up at him, her eyes were a mix of anticipation, her body was pressed back against the door as if she worried she had not locked it.
"I know of your Kingdom." She finally answered the question he asked minutes earlier. "You treat demiumans as equals to humans, you rule over dwarves, lizardmen, some mole-like creature I don't remember the name of, and dark elves. More than that, you somehow have peace. Yes, Your Majesty, I know of your Kingdom." Calca's eyes never waved from his own, she put her hand behind her back and the sound of metal sliding over metal resounded as she bolted the door shut, ensuring total privacy.
"This isn't a problem? You worship the four, don't you?" Ainz tried to focus on what she said, not her increased breathing and the tenseness of her body, they remained several feet apart, he did not come closer.
"If it saves my nation… demons would be welcome to have farms here." Calca said with bitter frustration, she clenched her jaw, then spoke again, "My eyes are open… the elf rebellion is our fault. The demihuman invasion is our fault. So much of what we did, only made enemies, and what has our faith brought us but more conflict and misery?"
Ainz didn't answer her, he instead took a step back, and let her take another step forward, her bare leg exposed with one long stride of her own. "My brother is a pawn of the South, and I don't know whether he is willingly so or not. My temples mostly support the policies of Remedios that plunged us into this mess in the first place. I meant what I said, I offer you my hand in marriage, my Kingdom as my dowry, if you will only save it ." She answered him.
"Your laws… demihuman equality, if it stops demihuman destruction, I will make them our own." Calca said and reached behind her back.
' Is she reaching for a weapon… a wand… this is…' Ainz struggled to catch up, his body was responding to her, the low voice she used was steady as that one long thigh baring step. He moved another pace back.
"Calca-" Ainz began, his eyes darting around the royal room, he took another step back as she stepped forward.
"My people are dying out there… I'm more cynical than I was, I know what that sounded like. But We are the Queen, and We have our place for a reason." Her voice became powerful, certain, she took a long step forward. "The Barajas, the mother and father of the Queen of Frost, refused to tell me their daughter's weakness, if she has any. But they told me how to defeat her anyway, even if they meant it as a mockery."
The Queen's strides picked up the pace and Ainz's heart thudded in his chest, her hands continued to move behind her back, "My Kingdom needs a new direction, a new way of doing things, a new future or we have none . Your gifts, your presence, show me what that is!" Queen Calca exclaimed as Ainz fell back on her bed to land on the thick, broad mattress with its bright shining fur blankets.
What Calca was doing was evident a moment later, her dress fell away, exposing her naked flesh beneath. She stood there, naked as the day of her birth, exposed to his eyes as Ainz sat up. She made no move to touch him, nor did she make any attempt at hiding any inch of her body from his eyes. She let him look, her breasts lacked the abundance of a succubus, but her skin was pale as cream but for the little pink nipples ther rested at the peak of her bosom. Her form was as shapely as a violin, curving in a gentle slope at the hips, her sex glistened a little in the light that came through the window as she anticipated what she brought him to her bedchamber for.
He sat up straight, nor was his back the only thing to straighten upright, he was briefly at a loss, his mouth went dry, his lips moved, her eyes looked away.
"Does… does my body not please you? Am I… not to your liking?" Calca asked, her mind waged a silent war with her hands, they moved to conceal herself from him, and she forced them back away, leaving them to tremble at a stalemate with an unspoken insecurity.
"Is it- Is it that your Lordship is like me?" Calca asked, a tiny and reticent voice came out where a powerful one had been before.
"I-I no!" Ainz stammered and half shouted, "I-I, er, that is… you are beautiful… but… what do you mean 'like you'?" The question at least would buy him time, and he mentally suppressed a sigh of relief.
"Meaning you prefer your own sex." Calca explained, and 'that' brought a blush to her face, though she did nothing to cover up. "No," she said a moment later when she saw his arousal poking against the fabric of his dark robes, "that isn't it."
"You are one of those sorts…?" Ainz asked, in his exploration of the New World, little was written on the subject except for one thing, ' The strong are expected to produce children, and so too are royalty, meaning-"
' Oh.' He realized.
"I see that my Lord understands." Calca's voice became a little more confident, a little smirk on her face as some of the previous insecurity fled with the obvious rise of his manhood.
"Kelart." Ainz guessed.
Calca approached and put a hand on his robed shoulder, seated as he was, their height was nearly equal. "Yes. But nothing ever happened. Nothing could. She is my servant, and her family is from peasant stock, so no matter how high she rises, a servant is all she could ever be. As long as I rule that is how it is, and my brother, no… nobody else in this Kingdom, is fit to rule. Even when I was a fool, a naive fool… it was because I wanted what was best for all… that is still true, if I leave the throne to anyone else, they will do only what is best for a few . So… I am trapped… We are the Queen, and so We must be until We die." Her use of the royal We, he picked up, was her formal expression of office.
' Not just one person, but all persons…' He realized, and it was difficult not to admire her in that moment, he was lost in that thought to such a degree that he did not notice she was pulling his robes off of his arms.
It set them on a common ground that Ainz had not considered, "If My Lord is not of that view then…" Calca brought her face close to his ear so that her cheek was pressed against his own as the falling robe bared his torso, "we have a bargain to seal between nations, as only Kings and Queens can do… lie with me… lie with me and make us one ." She said in a dusky, throaty voice, then brought her face back and before he could say anything more as he opened his mouth, she pressed her lips to his, capturing them in a kiss.
' I've never- I don't know, but wha-' A thousand thoughts began and died in a second, and ten thousand thoughts died in two, her hands moved over his body, tearing his robe away, the throbbing of his body and its hungers left him gasping when the kiss broke, she was pressing him down toward the bed, and for an instant all other worries and fears melted away to nothing as the warmth of her skin and her breath began to mingle with his own with her body's intimate touch.
' Shut up, Ainz.' He told himself and did his best to remember what lessons he learned from Albedo, in order to seal this bargain well .
Volume 6 C28
Astraka sat in his command tent and listened to the scout report, unexpectedly an elf. He knelt before the Duke, ignoring the human guards as he made his report. "… And that is what I found, Duke Astraka."
"I see, so they did get around us… they must have ranged very far, we will have to extend our lines… but if they don't want us to bring our own supplies, we will have to take their own." Duke Astraka remarked in an offhanded way.
He then looked to the guard at his right hand, the command tent was what one would have expected, a fine chair for the leader, nothing for the rest, a wooden table that could be assembled and disassembled with ease thanks to its mobile legs, a map of the immediate region, and tan fabric from which a few glowstones hung from small strings to light the dim room. "Give the elf enough for three days' travel and send him back to his unit."
"Three days…" The guard asked, half dismayed at the command, his hand tensing around his halberd.
"He may have to take a circuitous route to get back alive." Astraka explained while he stood up.
The elf raised his eyes in shock at the evident generosity, "Th-Thank you, My Lord."
The elf was gone with his escort a moment later. "Get the army moving." Astraka said, "Pack up camp, and put the word out to the other commanders, we're going mobile now, no more large encampments."
His guard, true to form, was also a senior leader in his own right, and the metal of his expensive helmet clinked as he took a step back as if to withdraw from the order. "My Lord, are we not going to open our supply lines again?"
Astraka shook his head. "And face Gustav Montagnés in open battle? With tens of thousands of paladins and squires? Absolutely not . Our army isn't seasoned enough for that. The North is a hard place, Count Richan, a very hard place. Demihuman incursions, year round training, we haven't a prayer against the army they can leverage against us. Not as we are. That is why I went to the Queen of Frost for help. Giving up elven slaves, opening up trade, these are minor concessions for victory."
"Sire…" Count Richan was a vigorous, powerfully built young man, broad as a farm boy and a talented warrior with dark brown hair and hazel eyes, and a long confidant of Duke Astraka.
"You heard me, Richan." Astraka said, "The slave rebellion proves we can't hold them, we should have just used short term criminals or even paid workers… keeping elf slaves around just so the mining magnates could keep their labor costs low… How many hostages do the elves have to keep us 'honest' now?"
"Many." Richan remarked and drew his lips tight across his face.
"Exactly. Getting them back will seal the deal with the rest of the nobles, remaining friendly with the elves for when they abandon us-" Astraka laughed when Richan's mouth opened and no sound came out.
"Of course they're going to abandon us. We enslaved their men, raped their women, used them like toys, I have no doubt at all that they'll go over to the Queen of Frost as soon as they can." He pointed at the places on the map the reports came from. "They're ranging farther away than they need to in order to support us, I thought at first it was because they didn't like humans, but look at the path they're taking." He traced his hands along the paper, "Directly to the Queen of Frost… well… indirectly, but nonetheless they will intersect if nothing changes. When they do, we'll lose our scouts, but I think we will get back their hostages."
"Duke Astraka… perhaps you should be the King, not Prince Caspond…" Count Richan said it with a smile, but the Duke shook his head.
"No. I'm not interested in Kingship, I want only what is best for my country, and Queen Calca's rule… it is proving a poor fit for all of us, North and South alike. If she concedes to her brother, I'm happy to go back home and rule in peace for the rest of my life." He said and stretched his arms out once. "Now, get us moving, we're going to start hitting towns for supplies, Gustav may have cut off our supplies, but he can't go south, it's far easier to defend than to attack, meanwhile we can go everywhere. He's expecting us to try to take that position back, instead… I'm going to move on Prart. Take it by surprise, and all the supplies they have, and then go east. Let him chase us down if he wants, we'll be long gone by the time he realizes what I've done."
"My Lord is as clever as ever." Count Richan's grin was big on his face and his steps were quick, long, and confident as he left the tent to give the Duke's orders to the army.
Kelart watched her Queen depart with the foreign King, and inside the breast of the second most powerful woman in the Roble Holy Kingdom, a heart tore in two. But she kept her face stoic, stern, and strode on steady steps as measured as any dancer's until she was at the head of the table. "Matters of state keep the Queen occupied with our King," she said while standing ramrod straight and holding aloft a crystal goblet of dark wine. She smiled brightly when eyes turned to face her while her own torn open heart turned to ashes in her breast.
Her hand raised the crystal chalice and held it out as the nobles both new and… the few surviving old, raised their own and stood on their feet, "We drink to the new future of our nation, from the ashes of this war will rise a phoenix, and may we all rise with it !"
"May we all rise!" The noble men and women of the Holy Kingdom, many of whom came from the senior ranks of the military, and others from the wealthiest merchants, all shouted their toast in unison, and meant it.
' My Queen… I hope he is gentle with you… as I would have been… and treasures you… as I would have. I hope-' She killed the thought, screeching in pain like a madwoman in her own head, stabbing the thought over and over again, she could not wish for him to love her Queen, or for her Queen to love him. ' It was never going to be.' She told herself, and began struggling to let go, like a drowning woman clinging to a rope, and deciding she would no longer try to pull herself to safety… only to find that she was tangled up in it and couldn't let go even if she wanted to.
' It will all work out… for the Kingdom… for the Kingdom… that's what matters…' The brown haired young caster told herself, and told herself, and told herself, crying inside while holding her crystal glass so tightly that it cracked between her fingers as she, and all of the other nobles new and old alike, got thoroughly drunk. Slumping over their tables or under them, for very, very different reasons.
"Come on… let's get you to bed." Illyana said to the thoroughly drunk human. She rose, a little unsteady on her feet, but compared to Skana, who slumped forward with glassy eyes and swaying back and forth in her chair, she may as well have been the most graceful of dancers.
"How're you shober… sober?" Skana sounded out the question and let out a little hiccup. "I knows we drank same shtuff."
"I've been drinking liquor since before your great great great grandmother first got into some fermented apples." Illyana said with a silvery, slightly drunken laugh. "An elf could even drink a dwarf under the table by the time they're my age."
She went over to the pretty human companion, stood beside her, and then crouched down, "I'm not as strong as you are, so I'm going to have to walk you." Illyana explained while Skana nodded along. She put one of Skana's arms over her shoulder and then put her arms around the woman's waist, then stood her up on her feet. "Just try to walk with me as best you can."
Skana did as the elf wanted, she tried to move her feet, "No fair… cheatin by bein sho long livin… could drink you unner the table ifn I had time… jus time…"
Skana's glassy eyes fixed on the elf as they walked, or rather, staggered into the bedroom of the expensive suite, "Sorry… real sorry…" Skana mumbled as the elf got her over to the bed and flopped her down.
"For what?" Illyana asked while she began to undo Skana's boot laces and pulled them off the woman's feet and tossed the brown leather to thud down on the floor.
Skana abruptly lurched and vomited both the earlier meal and the wine out onto both herself and the bed.
Illyana sighed, and Skana said it again, "I'm sorry… I'm sho sorry…"
"It's just vomit, it's nothing I haven't seen or… made before." Illyana said with a good natured laugh before going over to where the the washbasin sat and dampening a cloth, she returned and wiped the brown fabric over Skana's face and then wiped up the vomit stain off of the fur of the bedding as best she could, ignoring the chunks of half digested meat and bread and the foul sour smell before dumping them into the chamber pot.
She wiped her hands clean, Skana was still repeating the same three words when Illyana returned and began to undo the laces of Skana's vomit stained shirt, "Come on, stop apologizing for… whatever it is, and let's get you taken care of."
Skana's body was hard to the touch, harder than Illyana expected. The drunken woman cooperated as much as she could, "Come on, I'm not going to leave you soaking in your own vomit all night." Illyana said and slowly pulled the steel-like arms out of their sleeves, "How on earth are you so… strong?"
Skana laughed, "Dunno. Dancin. Play fightin… shwords, pretty good… got mish Shalbedo to show me shtuff when you were out… hurt like 'ell…"
"Oh." Illyana replied, it seemed strange for a woman who so proudly and often proclaimed she cared for nothing but pleasure. "Was it… for fun or…?"
Skana shook her head and flopped back on the bed, heedless of her bare breasts heaving with every deep breath, "Cause I like you…" She said, and drifted off to sleep, leaving Illyana behind with more questions than answers.
"Strange girl…" Illyana laughed and recalled how many of her past 'clients' were thoroughly drunk, and how to treat them. She rolled the human onto her side and ignored the sound of snoring when it began to cut like a double headed saw through a tree trunk. ' Alright, so I won't sleep great tonight, at least 'I' won't have a hangover in the morning.' She managed one more laugh at herself before running her hand over the glowstone by the bed, and plunging the room into darkness before drifting off to sleep beside her companion.
Volume 6 C29
Albedo refused to cut off the mirror of remote viewing. A tiny part of her was annoyed with the human that was on top of, underneath, and alongside the Supreme Being. Their limbs entwined in a state of steady lust slaking hunger.
The human, she sneered at, appraising her as a woman appraised competition, and tilted her chin up in arrogance the Queen could not see as Albedo found the woman wanting. ' Perhaps not bad as humans go, but nothing compared to my divinely given perfection. And I require no makeup or artifice.' Albedo chuckled while the woman cried out as the Allfather found his rhythm.
That… that was what caught Albedo's eye more than anything else, what pleased her Lord, what he desired, what he wanted, what were his habits. At first glance, he seemed so uncertain, his touch went out toward her as if he was a child afraid of touching fire. As if it might hurt him, his eyes wide as if he had never seen naked femininity before. ' I would think he was a virgin… but that's impossible. For our Lord to have never had such bliss… it's unthinkable.' She shook her head hard enough to make her ink dark hair dance, her wings trembled, her hands drifted unthinkingly over her own body as she imagined her own hands as his.
The beings of Nazarick were not bound by the petty human concerns of monogamy or fidelity, the Supreme Being was Supreme, and could do as he liked. This woman as Albedo saw her, was no threat. ' I will be perfect forever… her life will end in the span of a breath compared to my immortality.' So it was nothing to the demoness that embodied the word ' lust '.
Only an object lesson in what her Lord liked, but it did provoke the question that still haunted Albedo's mind. ' How to get him to see me as more than the child of Lord Tabula Smaragdina?'
She moaned, her mind at once on her lustful self explorations while she watched her Lord claim a kingdom in the bedchamber of the embodiment of it, but also on the dilemma that lay beyond.
Albedo's hips undulated and her pheromones increased, it was only her desire that this all be private to her that kept her from screaming when the woman did. ' If My Lord was innocent… he is a quick study…' She teased her mind as she teased her body until at last her Lord finished claiming the Roble Holy Kingdom, for so she saw the act, the Queen of that country lay limp and satiated.
But Albedo was only beginning. And there was only one place she wanted to be when she finished, she whirled on her heels and hastened to the bed of the Allfather of Nazarick, the only place in the world she wanted to be, except in the arms of her lord.
Queen Calca lay in the arms of the man she prepared to call her King, her arms trailed over his chest, his heart was still racing there, she tilted her head to look up at him. For all her prior innocence, she knew a look of guilt when she saw one.
"My Lord?" She asked with a whisper, her other hand pushed against the soft bear fur so that she sat up on her side, sweat ran down her bosom to fall on his skin when she leaned over him just a little. "Is something troubling you?"
"Many things." Ainz said, only for his eyes to widen a little when she laughed.
"You're not feeling… like you took advantage of me, are you? Or that you were taken advantage of…?" She raised a brow as if to say, ' I know you enjoyed it if that was the case…'
Ainz only looked at her while he tried to frame words for something he could not fully explain even in his own mind.
His left hand came over and pressed her wandering fingers down so that her palm was flat on his slick chest. "Ainz… I trust you don't mind if I call you that now…" She smirked a little, fairly daring him to mind.
He shook his head.
"Ainz, if that is the problem… I am a Queen, you are a King, this is how such things are settled, we each gain something for our people. This is a bloodless victory for us both. Maybe I dreamed of a life with my Kelart but-" his eyes flicked away from her face, and she cut herself off.
"Oh… ohhhhh… that isn't it, is it, Ainz?" Queen Calca asked, her little rosy smirk became a tiny frown, her hand pressed a little harder over his heart. "You are like me, aren't you… not that other way… I mean in that there is someone else you love?"
Ainz turned his eyes back to her face, their lustrous hue as bright as a cat in the dark. "H-" he started to say and then said nothing.
"Call it a woman's intuition. Tell me about her… is she some peasant in your Kingdom… or the illegitimate daughter of a noble…" She chuckled a little, "Or is she not even human?"
Ainz shifted a little under her touch.
It was Calca's turn for her eyes to widen. "Not human… This explains a great deal…" The human Queen looked away from him and then sat up, she faced the distant door and set her bedmate at her back. "This is a political matter. I don't expect you to love me. I-I doubt I will even see you often after you have done what you came here for." Calca said and slumped forward a little, her hands in her lap.
"But still… This is a surprise. So… will you at least tell me something about her… I shared my secret, will you let me wonder about what kind of woman has captured the heart of my King?" Calca asked, but still did not face him.
Ainz's heart raced faster and faster as she riddled out his private thoughts, and at least a large part of his sense of guilt. His hand came out, he rolled to his side, hesitant at first, she didn't look back at the noise of his rustling, not even when his hand pressed against her upper back and began to rub up and down.
"She is-" Ainz snapped his mouth shut.
"Go on… if she is not something to be ashamed of… at least we can confide in each other." Calca encouraged him, and turned to the side, sliding her legs against the edge of the bed and taking the hand that was caressing her back.
"She's the child of one of my dearest friends." Ainz replied in haste, throwing the words out faster than he could stop himself.
"He does not approve? Or would not if he knew?" Calca pressed, a sympathetic voice matched by finally looking down at where he lay.
"If I am being honest… I don't know. He is gone… long gone… I hoped I would see him again after he left, but it's been too long… I just can't believe he's returning now. She was left in my care, like all the others. My comrades, they left their children behind, and their children became mine, and now?" Ainz snorted as he vented for the first time.
Calca lay back down on the bed then, inching close to him, so that their faces were close enough that she could feel his breathing caress her cheek.
"Now she is an adult… beautiful, and in love with you… and she's from noble stock, I assume, but you see only the child?" Calca guessed, and the truth lanced through him like sunlight piercing night.
"Yes… but there is more…" He said, the weight of his action pressed on his chest and forced the words to flow off of his tongue. "I did… something terrible to her…"
Calca frowned, "You didn't molest her, did you…?"
Ainz violently shook his head, so much so that his loose dark hair whipped audibly against the sheets. "No!" He insisted, then closed his eyes, "Worse."
"Worse?" Calca frowned a little and kissed his forehead. "Go on, if I'm to be your wife… I'm to be a more intimate confessor than a priest."
"Magic… I am capable of magic of the sort you can't even begin to fathom… magic beyond even what your gods could use…" Ainz admitted, and Calca only held her tongue. The story of the battle on the Katze Plains had long since reached her ears, and all investigations of just what spell or even tier of spell he used, had come up empty. ' What did they say…? Even the most wild stories about the gods had nothing like this…'
"You don't believe me?" He asked.
She put an arm over his body, he was so warm,she inched herself closer and pressed her lips to his, the kiss she gave to him was long, deep, passionate, and she rolled him on his back and herself over top of him, pressing her breasts to his chest, and only then did she break it.
"You are the most powerful magic caster in the world," Calca said with confidence as she arched her back over him and then straddled him at the waist, "but I just pinned you." She gave him a playful wink and let out her little gilded laugh at his surprised expression. She then put a hand on his cheek and said, "Magic comes in many forms, and this is one of them. We researched your spell, the one you used at the Katze Plains against Baharuth, and we found nothing like it in even the wildest of our stories that even the priests consider mere myths. If you tell me it is greater than the gods… I am prepared to believe it."
Ainz's body relaxed under the Queen, she lay herself down on top of him, pressing her ear over his heart to listen to its beating. "So… what has this to do with what you think you've done?"
Ainz went on, "In a… particular place at a particular time, some kinds of magic could be done, and just as easily 'undone'. She was with me, and I… no words exist for this, but I used one of those magics on her. It was a mere whim, something I thought would never matter because I could immediately undo it. But then… the magic, I guess I could say it died, it was sealed away, perhaps that's the better way to say it. But either way, it is gone and even the gods couldn't unlock it again."
"You made her love you… didn't you." Calca's words were not said as a question, more like an accusation, and Ainz accepted it as such.
"Yes. I took who she was, and made her something she wasn't, and I can't fix it. I was entrusted with her care, and I destroyed her." Ainz put the back of his hand over his eyes, "I did a terrible thing, and compounded it by putting distance between us that tortured and tormented her, I was a selfish fool… and I don't know how to make it right, I don't think it even can be made right…"
Calca took that in, and listened to the rapid, jagged heartbeat. If she had any doubts about the truthfulness of her future husband, they died with what she heard inside his chest. ' The power of a god… and the foolishness of man… what a combination…' Calca thought and began to kiss the place where his heart lay, pressing the warmth of her lips there again and again.
She was fairly sure his hand was covering up quiet tears, she wanted to see, wanted to know, her eyes looked up his length from where she kissed the flesh over his heart, more than once her hands inched forward along his side, ready to take his wrist and pull it away. Part of her was sure, ' He wouldn't stop me, even though he can.' But pride was prickly, and her own heart felt near to bursting in her breast.
"I killed my first horse." Calca said out of the blue.
"What?" Ainz asked, "I… I don't understand?"
Calca rushed her words, pushing herself up against his body so that she hovered over him. "My horse… when I was little… Father gave me a beautiful horse, I loved it very much. I would spend hours brushing her mane, feeding her, she had a pure white coat, and bright, big eyes… most horses are actually stupid, did you know that? This one though, it was smart, I could see it thinking, if you know what I mean… I did everything with her, I wouldn't even let our servants wash her or rub her down, she was my greatest treasure. I took her out a lot, I practically grew up in her saddle." Calca laughed at the pleasant memory, then fell quiet.
"I… I took her out one day though, I was riding with one of my father's retainers. We went far, far out of the usual range. I think I was mad at my father about something… something inconsequential now, or it must have been, since I don't even remember it. But because we rode so far, and it was to an area I didn't know well… we ran into trouble. My father's retainer warned me it could be dangerous but I was so mad I didn't listen. A rain came on, really hard, fast, we tried to find shelter… and then near a river, part of the channel broke, and my horse fell in. My retainer, he grabbed me off of the saddle and saved my life. But my horse?"
Calca shook her head, "I saw her screaming whinny while she was swept away in the current. I struggled in the retainer's arms, but he held me tight and put me in front of him on his horse and got us away from the river."
"That was an accident." Ainz pointed out. "You did nothing wrong."
"If it was just me not listening to my retainer, maybe I would agree." Calca said with a quiet, childlike voice. "But after the rains stopped, I demanded that we go look for her, and now that I was out of danger, he was obedient. He raced down the river, and we found her an hour later, she was battered, bruised, broken, bleeding… broken tree limbs ran through her body like wooden spears… she was just flailing in the now damp riverbed. Just screaming the way dying animals do, kicking around like mad, trying to get up, but she couldn't." Calca said and paused to wipe her eyes, she let out a loud sniffle and swallowed with a deep gulp before going on.
"She was suffering… hurting so badly, I wanted to get a healer, a caster… I tried to tell the retainer," Calca clenched her fists and turned her knuckles into a deeper shade of white, "but he asked me, 'for her, or for you?' and at first I wanted to scream at him. But then I knew what he meant. She was dying… She was suffering… I could send for a healer, but there was no way one would make it in time. We didn't have any potions, I didn't know any herbalism and neither did he… so… I held out my hand, he gave me his sword." Calca held up her left hand, "It was big, compared to me. A knight's longsword doesn't weigh a lot, but they're big, and I'm sure I looked ridiculous, tramping through the mud holding a sword, I went around behind my horse, put the tip to her chest where I was sure I could hit the heart between her ribs… and pushed."
Calca swallowed, "I loved her, and I destroyed her."
"My… she… isn't a horse." Ainz pointed out and let his hand come away from his face to come up and brush Calca's tears away from the corners of her eyes.
"No, My Lord. But while you did do something bad… you're not taking responsibility for it either… you said it yourself, you put her at a distance and all it did was torment her… if there is no cure, nothing you can do to change it back… isn't it kinder to embrace it? You can't kill her like I did my horse… but you can make it right by accepting what's in her now." Calca pointed out, and patted his cheek.
"You may be the most powerful man in the world, but when it comes to the heart, you're a fool." She said, but she said it with a forgiving smile as if she expected as much.
Ainz took all that in, "I thought-" he finally began, but she again cut him off.
"I think I like you, Ainz." Calca said, and tittered a little, "That is a relief, I admit I was worried I wouldn't. But you thought wrong. There's no need to finish that sentence. Now… that we like each other… Can you manage a few more times before we sleep? I keep feeling like we're being watched… and it feels naughty… I kind of like it. Silly though, isn't it?" She laughed a little and took his manhood in hand to slip into her folds again.
Ainz sighed as he felt the tight embrace of her body again, and shared in her amusement and then in their mutual enjoyment… until just after she drifted off to sleep when the thought came to mind, ' The mirror?!'
' But what are the odds,' he wondered, 'that Albedo was really watching?'
Low, he was sure, and thus reassured by lying to himself, he drifted off to sleep, and in his slumber, he felt black wings and arms as soft as silk and stronger than steel, embrace him, and Albedo's voice was in his ear, "Make love to me…" She urged, and his night began again through dreams.
Volume 6 C30
The smell of smoke was thick in the air, but despite that, Neia stayed a ways back from the flames, if anything, much farther than she needed to, over near Olasird'arc. "So," she said, looking up at her companion with a playful smile, "I guess not caring much for fire goes with the rest of," she waved her hand up and down her body, "this?"
"Yes." He remarked in his rough sort of way, had he been human, or even demihuman, he might have shrugged as if to say 'you're not missing anything'.
"I stay alive, get stronger than I dreamed, and get to fly… but I don't like fire anymore…" Neia tapped a taloned finger on her chin and looked away in a mockery of deep thought, "Yeah, fair trade." She lagged and smacked the dragon on the talon. "I really can't thank you enough, but with all that said…" Neia looked past the burning husk of an empty town, "why isn't she chasing us yet?"
"Could she not have figured out your plan?" Olasird'arc asked.
Neia frowned. "She is an idiot, but even if Gustav is off fighting Astraka in the west, my line of march should be obvious… oh… wait… no… she really is that stupid." Neia smacked her face with the palm of her hand, "If Gustav were with her he would have worked it out. Anyone else, even if they figured it out, nobody would want to actually tell her and risk making her mad."
"So… what will you do?" Olasird'arc asked.
Neia thought it over, "Standard practice for the Holy Kingdom is probing attacks, so she will probably send out a battalion sized element to the rear somewhere, using Kalinsha as the headquarters. It was stupid of me to think she would be smart enough or bold enough to predict me… even if it was obvious."
"Couldn't it be some clever stratagem?" Olisard'arc asked, "My… son, when he was alive, read a great deal, and talked often about cunning little folk who used strategy as a replacement for physical strength."
Neia put her hand on his talon, Olasird'arc seldom spoke of his former life as a mountain lord, but bits and pieces she picked up from him while tending his wounds had teased out something of a story. "I'm very sorry for your loss… I'm sure he died bravely. I'm sure they all did."
Dragons, as she knew of them, did not have the same depth of bonds that humans felt, but in those moments when Olasird'arc spoke of them, she felt sure she heard some bit of contentment in his words. "Think nothing of it, they were… this world devours weakness. The Demon Emperor has the mountain now, if they are lucky, they are dead. If the rest of us are, Jaldabaoth is content with just the mountains."
Neia cleared her throat, "We can only hope… but no, Remedios is an idiot, there's nothing clever about her, but stupidity can be unpredictable. Still, if she doesn't have scouts coming in, then beyond our little 'smoke signals' she's blind. That means she'll follow doctrine and try to probe us." She brought her fingers to her lips and blew a shrill, high whistle.
"Vijar!" She shouted, and the giant sabre-toothed catman emerged from amidst the smoke of the burning town, caught in his light grayish blue fur were chunks of wood and other debris, but no blood. His broad dual headed ax was resting over his shoulder as he swaggered out, his ears twitching while the thunderous noise of a crashing and collapsing building came out behind him.
"My Queen?" He asked, his thick dark lips drew back as his jaw opened, it gave him a peculiar looking 'smile' almost that Neia was sure couldn't have been the same meaning as it would have on a human's face.
"The bitch hasn't chased us yet, so I think she'll send out a group to try to grab us by the tail and give us a tug. Take some of your best, lay an ambush and…" Neia hesitated, ' Get it together… this is necessary… there's nothing different about killing humans than anything else…' She told herself, and then said, "Don't worry about survivors… at least not many." She said, and then explained her intent, leaving the giant catman's tail dancing behind him.
"Your Majesty… I will carry out your will… but…" He reached down and took his tail in hand, "would they really pull this?"
Neia's stern face fell apart into laughter as the catman stroked his long furry tail. "Vijar… just go, and come back alive… if you do encounter Remedios herself, be careful." Neia's face managed a brief moment of seriousness at least, "She is an idiot, but an extremely dangerous idiot."
Vijar gave a slow nod and let go of his tail, "My Queen's will be done." He said, and left them behind.
Gustav sat in his command tent, or what was 'now' his command tent, formerly belonging to the unfortunate enemy commander. Hours after his victory, he recalled his elation, big smiles, drinks all around from the southern stores of beer, even a feast. Now? Days later? ' My scouts aren't getting anything and the Duke hasn't made any attempt to come and rout me out of his supply lines. What is he thinking?!'
That left a vexed frown on his face and he stared at the map, willing his enemy to appear on it. "Where is he?!" General Gustav Montagnés' voice bellowed out and his fist went up, then down on the table hard enough to splinter a chunk off to spatter down in the mud that coated his feet. Outside, thunder rolled on, ' Rain again… this is the third day in a row… I 'hate' this part of the Kingdom. I swear…' He swept his fist out, opening it just in time to take the mug of beer in hand, it sloshed out, some wetting the cloth map, some landing in the churned up earth, the rest… he guzzled and then wiped his beard with the back of his hand.
' At least no new supplies are making it north, I can be sure of that…' He thought with some satisfaction, taking the fight into the south with the river cutting through Yananna and the fortifications standing defiantly… It rubbed him the wrong way. ' But what can I do… I could take the city but I would lose thousands by doing it…'
He got up and went to the keg, more Southern stuff, outside, soldiers were busy milling about, he could hear the clinking armor, their idle chatter as they went about their duties to prepare for the inevitable fight. The mug filled rapidly when he pressed the lever, the dark amber liquid had a rich smell that had him smacking his lips before he got a second taste. ' The worst part of war is the dying, the second worst part is the food, the third worst part is the waiting, and the only good part is the winning.' He recited the old mantra his mentor once gave to him.
' Crazy old coot.' Gustav grinned a little and raised a mug to the otherwise empty tent, "Here's to you old man, wherever the gods sent you." He drank deeply, dead for at least ten years, the old man's wisdom was useful many times over, having won battles against superior forces more than once by way of cunning and trickery, ' And he was a total card cheat…' Gustav recalled the time he caught the old gaffer hiding a card up his sleeve… only to be undone by the card hidden in the old man's boot.
Gustav put a hand on his belly and laughed before taking a deep drink, and as the beer ran down his throat, he stopped laughing. "The old man would never attack me here… waiting for him… with an inferior force. So… maybe Duke Astraka wouldn't either… then where…?" He cursed his lack of scouts and threw the mug down into muck after draining its contents.
It splashed down and was thoughtlessly kicked away as Gustav hunched over the map again, thunder rolled on outside, and was quickly followed by the noise of a downpour. "Where would I go if I was him… no… I can worry about that later…" Gustav rushed to the flap of the tent and poked his head out, one of the white clad guards that would be recognized as one of his personal escorts whirled around and saluted with a metallic clang of mailed fist against armor.
"Sir!" The soldier snapped out the words, but Gustav barely slowed to return the salute. "Go get all of my senior officers, and tell them to first get their soldiers to pack up, we've got to be ready to move, and quick, there's no time to lose!"
"But sir, the storm!" The soldier shouted over the thunder.
"We're paid to deal with storms, soldier!" Gustav bellowed, "Now go!" Gustav then ducked back into the tent when he was satisfied to see the soldier begin to run, splashing through the rain to convey orders.
With that done, Gustav returned to the map and tried to think of where his enemy might have gone. "Where are you hiding, you clever son of a bitch?" He wondered out loud, and searched the quiet drawing for the answers as if they lay hidden within.
Volume 6 C31
Ainz' eyes fluttered, his lashes batting fast as a butterfly's wings, something felt strange. Good. But… he looked around, ' This isn't Nazarick…' The furnishings were, by old world standards, marvelous, intricate ornately carved wooden dressers, a glass mirror, oval shaped with golden trim with a white ivory carved and stool in front. ' Makeup counter, I don't have a makeup counter… oh… wait…' The feeling grew more intense, he heard a faint 'slurping' noise.
His eyes flew wide and he lifted the blanket to find the Holy Queen's mouth between his legs, focused on his manhood. "Good morning." She laughed at the dumbfounded, open mouthed, wide eyed look on his face and sat up, flipping the fur blanket off of them both.
"Some of you woke up before the rest of you, and I'm told that this is the best way to make sure a man wakes up happy." She gave a teasing little smile and stretched out with her arms over head while still kneeling at his side, her hair snapped out once at the sharp gesture and then tumbled down again.
"G-Good morning." Ainz stammered, and Calca's smile disappeared, becoming a little more serious.
"Are you… how do you feel? It was your first time too, wasn't it?" She asked, and Ainz' face blazed a bright red. "I thought so." She patted his chest reassuringly and said, "It's okay, nobody will hear it from me. Everybody has a first time, and you were mine too, it wasn't what I expected, but it wasn't what I was afraid of either." She said with an arch little grin on her face.
"Ah, yes, well…" Ainz rubbed his face and looked away while trying not to respond too eagerly to the way her hand was moving up and down his shaft. "I-I thank you. I wanted us both to enjoy it… I didn't know you were… that way I mean and if I had-"
Calca arched her back and laughed, patting his chest with her unoccupied hand again, "You would have refused me?" She gave him an arch look and waved that hand up and down the length of her naked, shapely form.
Ainz' blush intensified again just as it was fading. "Ah, well, it's just…"
Calca shook her head, "We are the Monarchy, we must produce an heir to the throne and protect our people. If it were not you, I would have likely ended up having to marry Duke Astraka to end his civil war and secure my status and then throw back the Demi-humans, if we could even manage it as one united Kingdom… I can't begin to guess about that…" She pursed her lips, her hand had continued to work his manhood while they spoke.
"You're a good King, that's good enough. We don't have to love each other, just our children, when you go back, and leave me behind after everything is done… if you can love your woman without loathing her for it, do so. I won't mind. Just make sure we prepare this Kingdom for everything it will need. All else to me… just doesn't matter." She then covered his mouth in a kiss, straddled him, and they groaned together as she was filled again.
How long their copulating might have gone on was questionable, hours upon hours, perhaps most of the day, but they were prevented from it after some time by a steady knock on the door.
Calca ignored it at first, rocking back and forth atop her chosen mate, raking her nails over a chest that may as well have been iron, but the door continued to thud with the pounding from the other side. "The Queen is occupied!" She finally yelled.
"My Queen! It's important!" Kelart's voice, muffled as it was, came through the other side.
Calca's face transformed in that instant, her moment of pleasure became almost instant heartbreak, her lips were shaking like leaves in the breeze when she looked down at the King, her face a quiet plea with her eyes darting from him to the door and back again.
"Go." Ainz said nonchalantly as he could manage, ' This is all a bit much for me anyway…' He told himself and waited while the Queen went and threw on a robe and rushed to the locked door.
Ainz pulled the blanket over himself to conceal his nakedness while the Queen bound a pink silk robe tight at the waist and pulled her hair out from within the confines of the cloth.
She undid the latch, took a deep breath, and opened the door just enough to allow Kelart into the room.
Even from where Ainz sat, ' She smells like a winery.' He barely kept his hand from covering his nose, but Kelart, seemingly aware of the situation, her hair unkempt, her clothing somewhat disheveled, made her urgency clear.
"Forgive my appearance… Your Majesties…" She said, blinking back tears as fast as they could form, "I would not trouble you with my lowly presence or appearance during an affair… of state… but one of our investigators found something…"
"Found 'something'?" Calca asked as the flushed look of lust faded from her face, she glanced back at Ainz, who only shrugged, she then looked back at Kelart, who added…
"Your Majesty, purging all the corruption has taken a great deal of time… and even after hanging the nobles, that still left all their documents… some of our… our findings recently, they've pointed to a single source." Kelart swallowed as she won the war against her tears, "The Slane Theocracy. Here is a brief summary of some of the lines of evidence we have found. Bribes, currency exchange notes and more, this is just what we've found 'so far'. The truth is, once we started finding it, knowing what to look for, it just kept piling up. Including evidence of a safe house in this very city… we're sending guards out there now."
Calca accepted the document and began to go through the quick summaries of findings as they were laid out, though reading did not stop her from objecting. "But… they're a Sister State… why would they…?" Queen Calca's words went from the force of a flood to a dying trickle almost as quickly as they began. She glanced over to the Allfather in her bed.
"No… no, no, no, no, no, no, no…" Calca uttered and shook her head violently back and forth. "It can't be, it can't be…" She almost shouted.
"What can't be?" Ainz asked without rising from her bed.
"It's you ." Calca whispered with her mouth open and staring at Ainz as if he'd grown a second head.
Volume 6 C32
Skana woke up to find her shirt and boots missing, and an elf spooning against her back. "Did we…" Skana touched her forehead, it was a mild pain, her memories… blurs of each other, like beings made out of fuzz with no features, flashes, a second here, a half a minute there, but it was inconsistent. One thing that stood out, ' Right, she cleaned me up… that's why my shirt is missing, and my boots are off…' She closed her eyes.
' She really is a good one… it's hard to believe she actually hates humans.' Skana reflected and stroked the hand that was draped over her side. ' She probably put me like this so I wouldn't choke if I threw up again… helluva way to go, choking on my own vomit while passed out drunk.' She rolled her bright green eyes at her own foolishness, and then smiled a little while stroking the hand that held her fast.
"What a damn fool I am…" Skana whispered under her breath.
She was answered immediately. "How do you not sound like you have a massive hangover?" Illyana asked, "And were you thinking of doing something dirty with my hand?"
Skana almost jumped out of her skin. "How did you-" She began, but Illyana sat up and wiggled her long elven ears.
For good measure, the elf pointed at them, and her little smile got a little bit bigger, it made the woman radiant beyond measure, her eyes had lost the gray and listless look they once held and they were bright as the afternoon sky, "Did you forget?" Illyana asked.
"Right… elf senses." Skana chuckled and then pressed her forefinger against her own forehead, "And human liquor tolerance. It's a little fuzzy, last night I mean, and I have a tiny little throb, but it's nothing for me. You elves may be able to 'become' hard drinkers over centuries, but you've not got our natural talent!" She said and sprang to her feet, she reached down to grab her shirt, then put both it and her boots on while Illyana laced up her own.
"Do you think the doppelgangers are okay?" Illyana asked when she straightened up.
"They're summons so… most likely they've faked their deaths… or are those real deaths… do the same ones get summoned every time…?" Skana wondered and scratched her head with a quizzical look, "I don't know much about magic…"
"Right… they probably just disappeared and didn't get caught at all, but that should mean we've got some time on our hands until our Lady comes back…" Illyana reflected out loud and flashed a winning smile at her companion.
"So…" She went to the purse that was left dangling on the edge of a chair and fished around within the black bag, "Why don't we treat ourselves?" She pulled out a handful of coins, then froze. The smile vanished.
"Illyana…?" Skana asked.
"Did you hear that…?" Illyana asked with a dreadful whisper, "That's a lot of armor out there…?"
The elf woman's naturally light skinned face paled further.
Skana shook her head, but went to the window saying, "It's probably nothing, the ruler of the Kingdom of Nazarick is here… it could be about that…?"
She opened the shutters and looked out the window, and immediately she knew that wasn't it.
Outside, groups of steel clad soldiers with long pikes were blocking roads and corners in both directions, a wagon full of them, plus men on horseback were drawing to a sudden stop just out of view, even her human senses could pick up the noise of their shouting.
"There's a chance it's not for us but… this place was supposed to get found… just not yet… not yet… we should have had days !" Skana squeaked out, Illyana was already trembling, her lip quivering.
"No… no… I can't go back… I can't… I can't ever let it happen again…" Illyana was frozen, her breath was quickening into a frenzy, her happiness melted away, she dropped the clinking golden coins from her fingers.
They clinked together on the wooden floor. Skana looked at her companion, and rushed to face her. "Listen to me!" She snapped, and brought her hand up. When Illyana didn't respond, Skana did the only thing she could think of, she brought the hand down across Illyana's face in a slap, snapping the elf's face to one side.
Illyana's eyes cleared up, she touched a hand to the place where the palm print was already reddening her pale skin. "Listen to me!" Skana hissed again, "You're going to get out of this! Just keep an eye out the window! Keep an eye out, and take the chance when it comes! You'll be fine! Call for our Mistress, nobody knows her, nobody will have seen her… just call for her as soon as you're safe!" The shouting was audible downstairs as patrons, guests, and workers alike grew alarmed beyond measure.
Skana rushed to the wall, snatched up her sword, and then rushed back to Illyana, she dragged the elf to the side of the window, "Just watch!" Skana gave it as an order, Illyana's hand still touched the place where she'd been slapped, and then one instant later, Skana pressed her lips to those of the elf.
The scent of fall apples and fresh spring, the feel of warm summer breezes, she took it all from the first intimate contact with her companion, tasting her lips and holding her arm around the woman for one tight, fierce embrace.
She then charged for the front door, flinging it open as loud as she could, then charging toward the steps with a bellowing fury.
"Fuck you! Fuck the lot of you! Blasphemers!" Skana roared the accusation that would surely be remembered the moment she saw the knights coming up the stairs, one swift kick, they tumbled down, caught off guard by the sudden aggression, they were frozen in the moment her foot connected with the face of the man in front.
Down they tumbled like dominos of steel, their arms and legs a tangle, their weapons clattering and clanging, Skana ran over them as if they were the stairs, jumping the last few steps and landing with a dancer's grace on the bottom floor.
A knight charged her before the rest of his companions realized they were even under attack, and activated [Lesser Agility Boost], [Greater Grace] . They were not the most potent martial arts, but they did enhance what Skana was already good at. Her sword danced like a bee in the air and quickly both the knight's eyes were gone before his lumbering strike could even recover after she adroitly avoided his first failure.
His companions came to their senses, and Skana had the balls to laugh at them, she kicked a table over, grabbed a chair of wood with her free hand and flung it into the face of another, sending another trio down into a pile atop the screaming blind man who clutched at the place his eyes used to be.
"So long, losers!" Skana shouted and ran not for the door, but for an open window, she dove head first through it and rolled out into the street, coming up on her feet, she cursed out loud when she saw the rest of them. ' That'll buy her time…' Skana thought and began to run, they chased after her, men in heavy armor were not the fastest, but the horses, ' Those won't be but a few seconds behind me.' She looked over her shoulder, heavy armor or not, they were strong, her legs pumped until the guards ahead, intended to cut off both sides of the street, made their advance. "Alright you bastards… You want me?! Come and get me!" Skana shouted and picked up a stray bit of horse manure, she flung it into the face of the man nearest to her, then darted off toward an alley.
They lined up four abreast, and advanced down the dead end. Skana looked at the wall ahead, then on either side of her, not even any crates. ' I could go up top but…'
"Fuuuuck." She cursed, ' If I do that…'
She whirled to face them, teeth bared in a snarl, "The gods curse your stinking country…" She hissed, spat into the muck of the dank alley, and charged the advancing four. Her sword darted out, deflecting the jabs of their long pikes, at least as best she could, four more fell in behind the first, and raised their pikes up to shoulder height, then four more behind those, raising their pikes up to head height… a wall of steel points were inching toward her, little sharp jabs she could turn aside individually, became multiples.
Her shirt ripped open and blood began to run down her breast, ' Please have gone… please… please…' Skana prayed to nothing, as there was nothing left that she believed in, her eyes welled up and she blinked her tears of anger away, she yelped as her arm took a gash from a thrust and switched to her other hand to use the sword again.
The knights murmured, and Skana's predatory smile returned, ambidextrous folk were both dangerous and rare, she caught a knight in the eye again, but no sooner did he go down than the one behind took his place and she was forced farther and farther back.
She glanced behind her, the rear wall was closing in, the blood loss from a dozen wounds was taking its toll. She stepped several paces back, then held out her sword as if she were going to hand it over, the knights hesitated, doubt etched on their faces as her vigor and defiance seemed to simply vanish. Skana snarled with fury and shouted, "Okay, fine! I heard this line as a girl and I always wanted to say it!"
"Surrender!" One of the knights called in that brief space of time.
"Your mother should surrender you shiny polished shit!" Skana yelled and ran to the wall, using all her acrobatic skill, she planted one foot on the wall, pushed off, caught the nearest wall with her other foot, and flipped head over heels toward the lot of them with her sword held in both hands, back arched, legs back, and howling, "You'll never take me alive!"
The pikes of those raised aloft are what caught her… alive… until she sank on them. The metal pierced her armorless body like a knife through butter, the weight of her own flesh ensured she was completely impaled, it tore through her chest and came out her back, and then brought her down to lie on the filth of the alley, the knight dropped his pike, his fingers shaking, the groaning of his comrade at his back was fading as a unit magic caster healed him.
"Sh-She's dead?" He asked, his commander smacked him on the back of his helmeted head with the palm of his hand.
"Your pike is through her heart." He said and gave the limp body of the auburn haired woman a nudge with the toe of his boot. "What do you think, idiot?"
"So… who do you think she was?" The soldier asked as he crouched down to draw the pike from her body with a sickin squelch and the sound of tearing meat. The commander nudged her corpse over from its side onto its back and looked down at the hollow, vacant eyes.
"I don't know, who can say? We'll probably never figure that out, but she sure sounded a lot like Theocracy to me. They're fanatics over there… probably from one of their intelligence scriptures. Maybe Agante or something…" The commander muttered.
"Secure the area." The commander shouted, trying to disguise the nervousness in his own voice while he pushed his way between his clustered comrades and sped without quite running, out of the dark alley and back into the street.
As soon as Skana ran out the door, Illyana rushed to grab a cloak that would hide her appearance, she then rushed to the window and watched, there was no further noise coming her way, the clatter and chaos, ' She can't be…' Illyana thought and shook her head until the corner of her eye caught sight of Skana in the street.
' No… no she can't! She can't be!' Illyana whimpered but kept quiet, the loud distraction of her companion drew everyone's attention, but for just a moment, Illyana thought, ' She's going to leave me behind!' The human hurled manure at the nearest guard, and that frantic fear that pounded through the elf woman's chest was turned to a heart rending silent wail when she saw that, rather than 'away' Skana turned down an alley they both knew had a dead end.
The guards followed, save for a few who took positions to keep the traffic at bay, but they faced the wrong direction. The rest were after Skana. ' Stay safe!' She begged the gods, and with nobody looking in her direction, Illyana climbed out the window and with one deft jump, caught the overhanging roof, she hauled herself up as silently as she could, and began to run, leaping from rooftop to rooftop.
She stopped and flicked her ears up, secure in the certainty that nobody was around, and listened.
' Come on… you can jump up here too, you might need a little help from the walls but… I know you can do this…' Illyana went to her knees and bowed her head, she clasped her hands together. "Please… please gods… any of you… hear my prayer… sav-"
The prayer died in her throat, Skana's shout and curse of final defiance died in a half scream that became tomb silent.
"No… she's not dead… she's not… she should have made it…" Illyana whispered her defiance of the world's truth, then scrambled to her feet, turned, and ran as she listened to the distant guards talk about Skana as a corpse. ' She stayed down there to keep me safe up here… why… no… it's not fair! It's not fair! It's not fair!' She wailed in her mind and touched her lips where one last frantic touch had come and gone, and she did not stop until she was across the city and able to hide in another alley. She found a place in the dark, an old barrel behind a shop, she snuck inside, pulled the lid of the barrel over top of her head, and wept quietly in the darkness until the sun finally began to set.
Volume 6 C33
"Me? What do you mean, me ?" Ainz asked, his heart began to race for a very different reason, he cocked his head, "You're joking… aren't you?" He flashed a doubtful smile at the pair, but Calca shook her head.
"No, Ainz… all of these are dated after our refusal to condemn you for your treatment of nonhumans, we wouldn't sign what they hoped would be a joint statement of nations that would pressure you into extermination or subjugation… and I can only think that this was why… they wanted a government that would take a hard line against any kind of demihuman tolerance."
Ainz relaxed, his heartbeat began to slow and he looked down at the fur blanket over his lower body.
Queen Calca held the paper back out to Kelart, and Ainz said, "I am sorry for our part in all this…"
"Your part?" Kelart asked with a sudden surprise on her face with blinking eyes that tried very hard not to look at the naked King, even covered up.
"Yes, it seems your… unintended friendship with us, your… neutrality with our policies must have caused some concern in some quarters…" Ainz said and rubbed the light fuzz of unshaven hair on his jaw. "I-I suppose your analysis must be correct… as expected of the Queen." He cleared his throat and asked, "How does this change the future for you…?"
It was a telling question, one that set both Calca and Kelart on edge, the brown haired caster took a step toward her Queen and without thinking, put a hand on the small of her back when the Queen faced Ainz.
Calca's eyes fell away from him and down to the floor. Her hands folded together in front of her waist, then, as absent of thought as Kelart, both hands went up toward her belly where her palms pressed softly against the cloth and toward the flesh beneath.
"M-My Queen?" Kelart asked, banished emotion roared back in her eyes as a war waged in the mind of the woman who embodied a country.
"It doesn't." She finally answered. "We can foil them, uncover the proof we need, but even so… I doubt that Astraka will lay down his arms so easily, and even if he does, what about the Queen of Frost? If we aborted everything we planned… everything we did up to now… she remains a problem. Even if all of those things are solved… What then? It won't be 'fine'… suppose we fight and defeat the Frost Queen… we weaken the demihumans, the Theocracy finishes the elves, they then use their elite units, which are better than ours, to finish our weakened enemy… where will we be then?!" Calca exclaimed, and Ainz moved, not out of the bed, but to the side of it, bringing his legs over to one side and covering his lap with the fur.
He held out his hand to the Queen, her eyes were filled with righteous anger as she deduced the possibilities of years in seconds. ' She truly is a gifted Queen… put this way, the Theocracy were fools not to do just this.' He reflected and mentally downgraded his estimation of the Theocracy government several rungs by the time she came away from Kelart and instead took the hand of her King.
"I will be your Queen, as I have promised. My people will be your people, and yours, mine. I will-" She looked away from Ainz over her shoulder, toward Kelart, who gave a subtle nod.
"I will force the temples to accept nonhuman equality under the law, offer trade to the Demihumans, free passage to the east or west… this will leave only one thing to worry about from Demihumans." Calca sighed as she ran out of steam.
"My sister. Remedios." Kelart admitted, and then her time standing as stiff as a statue in the background, came to an end. She approached the King and Queen, and went down to both knees. "She is my sister!" The advisor emphasized. "She may be an idiot, a fool, a moron, a thundering incompetent, a-"
"Is this going somewhere…?" Ainz interjected, Kelart's eyes blinked like mad as she began to lose her battle against the tears she'd struggled to hold back.
"Your Majesties… please… I beg you for her life! Must I lose everything ?!" She choked the last word out, "I have no family left… I know who she is, what she is… what she has done… but please… please don't take her life!" Kelart begged and lowered her face to the floor with her hands cast forward.
"How many have already died for her?" Ainz asked with pity, and bending down, he placed a hand on Kelart's head.
"My… husband to be… Ainz… Can't you think of something?" Calca asked in a tiny little voice devoid of her earlier fire, her hand came to Ainz' shoulder. "My Kelart has suffered enough, and… I feel very strongly about Remedios. She has done some terrible things… but at least some of those are my fault, my folly."
Ainz straightened up and began to drum his fingers on his thigh as he thought the matter over, "The Queen of Frost is the one she offended, I am not the one who needs to be convinced. Granting her far more than she asked for may help, but from what has been said, the death of her envoy is the true cause of the war."
"Then offer me instead!" Kelart shouted, snapping up straight to her knees, "Offer my life for my stupid sister! If the Queen of Frost will accept me as a substitute, then we can end all this. I-I don't mind dying for my family… even if she is stubborn and pig headed."
Neither of the royals said anything. "You could strip her of her honors, confine her to a monastery forever, at least… At least then she would get to live! She'll never change but… I don't want my elder sister to die… she genuinely believed what she did was right." Kelart ran out of more steam than Calca had moments earlier, and began just repeating herself… "Please… please… please…"
"There… may actually be a solution here." Ainz said at last. "However… you would have to give Remedios Custodio up to me ."
Calca and Kelart darted their eyes toward the Allfather.
"She may not be happy, but I can promise her life at least. I can't promise however, that the Frost Queen's response to either this or to Kelart's offer will be favorable." Ainz words were said with reticence, and both gave him questioning looks, but Ainz said nothing more than, "You will have to trust me."
And remained quiet until their heads bowed and they accepted his offer.
"I give you… my Remedios… save her life if you can, and I will be forever grateful." Calca whispered, while Kelart could say nothing through her quiet weeping.
Volume 6 C34
Albedo sat in the temple confessional, finding the right time to meet the right priest was easy for one of the three geniuses. He made no secret of taking his place, settling in on the cheap wooden stool, he cleared his throat and said, "I'm sorry I'm late… I hope I haven't kept you. I speak for the Principle Movement now, and there are often questions after."
"The what?" Albedo asked, raising a brow he couldn't have seen through the little wicker screen that divided them.
"Principle Movement… we're trying to purge the corruption and criminal elements within the city by exposing it to the authorities, helping the crackdown and the royal investigators. I began it some time ago and it has taken flight since." He said with a hint of pride in his voice, "It's all thanks to one curious visitor who warned me and opened my eyes…" He was briefly wistful, then chuckled a bit and sighed. "Never mind, please, how can I counsel you? Will this be a confession? Should I just listen… what would you have of your priest?"
"We met before, Priest." Albedo said as she filed his words away in the back of her mind. "Only briefly, perhaps you recognize my voice?" She asked, he gasped from the other side.
"Good, you do. The man of whom I spoke, I had my first kiss with him, he accepted it," Albedo lovingly caressed her lips and suppressed the moan of desire she wanted to let free, "but he wouldn't take it further… I think he is close, but he is also different from the man who I once knew." Albedo could feel his quiet uncertainty, and she searched for words that would hold meaning for him, ' He is human… and change is a very human thing, isn't it?' She asked rhetorically, and when he cleared his throat to speak, she fell quiet.
"I understand, I think. The way you described him, between before and now, I admit, he sounds inexperienced with women, afraid he might hurt you, perhaps as much, if not more, than he already has. He must care for you very deeply, to be his own obstacle to happiness within reach." The priest said with a pitying sigh. "Nothing I can tell you is a magic spell, but you love this man who cared for you after your father vanished… Yes, even though it has been so long, I have not forgotten your story… It moved me. If I had a sure answer, I would give it. But what I can say is… you would have loved him no matter what, am I wrong?"
"No, you're not." Albedo instantly shot back, she inched closer to the screen that divided her from the priest, her breath quickened, but she kept it quiet.
"Make that clear to him, show him that what he did, in the end, did nothing. If others care for him as deeply, as must be the case, show that you're different only in how you want to express it." The priest advised in an almost forlorn voice, his hand touched the wicker as if to reach through to offer her comfort, his palm flat against it, he added, "If there is no more… I wish you the luck of the gods, and blessings to fall on a happy union."
Albedo thought over what he said, ' The man has a point… every one of us loves our Lord, any one of us would give our bodies, hearts, anything to him… I'm no child anymore… if I ever was. Perhaps… a slight change is in order.'
Then she rose to her feet. "You've performed a great service to me, Priest." She said with an imperious look down at the divide between he and she. "My Lord's will is to give evil for evil, and good for good. We will not meet again, but all debts are repaid by his will."
The priest was rocked to the core by the power of the woman's voice who washed over him, stunned to silence by its perfection, he heard her leave the booth, and part of him craved to do the same and have a look at her. ' No… this works because we are never known to each other… I must stay true to my vows.' He clamped down on his impulse with iron resolve, and waited out the rest of his shift in patience.
When Albedo departed the booth, she made her way out of the temple, the design of the interior was nothing significant, mostly empty, wasted space, long benches for sitting and an old stone altar on which the small statues of their gods waited for veneration. ' Fools. Venerating dead stone while a living god walks our world.' She thought and restrained the urge to spit or smash the false idols, and forced herself to walk outside again.
The day was coming to a close, ' By now my Lord has mated with that human female.' She almost had to laugh at that, ' If she knew of all that has led to this moment… oh, the beautiful irony. But still, she is at least a useful pet for My Lord. And perhaps that helped bring down his barriers.' Albedo stood at the top of the temple steps and looked over the quickly dying light of the city, Hoburns was a bustling place in spite of everything. People passed by on horseback, in carriages and even more on foot.
Most seemed anxious, hurrying on small steps, eager to get where they were going as if fearing some danger was near. ' With two invasions, I'm not surprised.' She thought and the smile spread out across her face, remaining there as she chose to walk to her destination.
The darkness fully set in over the city when she reached the inn she'd been staying at, then stopped when she saw guards moving in and out of the entrance and milling around in idle chatter nearby.
' Did they really catch on that fast? I didn't expect a deduction about where to look until we were gone…' Albedo thought, slightly impressed, ' They must have a few competent people in this pit.' She made a mental note to find out the source of the deduction, and then approached to speak to a guard, ' Let's see what I can learn.' She decided, and approached one of the guards in a way men were born to notice, with a sultry roll of her hips with every step and a most inviting smile.
Illyana couldn't count the hours hidden in the barrel. The minutes blurred together, and she huddled against herself, her arms wrapped around her knees, her head resting in the space between, struggling to keep her silence. Her struggle was only partially successful. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" She whispered the words of apology to the dead, while marveling at it at the same moment. ' How many were there? Twenty? Thirty? More? She fought them all to let me run… I should have stayed with you… her… should have stayed…'
Words of that sort came out in whispers, whimpers, thoughts, and tears without stopping until she detected the change in temperature. The cooling night, it was followed by an even greater deepening darkness.
With this, Illyana silenced herself, listened for anyone nearby, and sensing nothing, punched the top of the half rotted old barrel and popped it off. It clattered to the stone and unwashed muck of the alley, but at that moment the noise was no problem. Illyana put her hands to the top, pulled herself out and landed on the damp cold stone, she crouched, listened, tilted her nose up to sniff the air, her ears flicking around, she grew quiet. ' You can't undo this… but maybe my Mistress can!' Illyana encouraged herself and wiped her nose and face on the back of her cloak's sleeve. She covered her head with a hood to hide her ears and dashed out of the alley.
There was only one thing she needed. She made her way through the streets as casually as she could, the bustling city still had people either working or leaving their work, drinking or lazing about. It was a very 'living' place, but nobody paid any mind to one hooded woman out of many.
Indifference and neglect was her ally, and Illyana exploited both to their fullest, pausing periodically to let her sense of smell guide her, she wandered into the commercial district and searched until her eyes spied what she needed. Like most buildings, it was made of a mix of wooden boards and stone, and not really built to stand the test of time.
This one though, was finer than the others, a reflection of the cost of its goods as it had an actual large glass window, and the sign hanging over the door was finely painted and multicolored, not just a crude black drawing of an anvil or other nonsense.
It was a portrait of a series of scrolls sitting upright in a cauldron. A magic shop. More importantly, Illyana could see that the lantern outside was snuffed out, and it was dark inside.
Fear thudded through her heart as she walked the area several times, the bustling of people made it easy for her to go back and forth. She had to stop every now and then, rest against a wall, wait for those who saw her, pass by, and then go the other direction while nobody realized she was watching the place or its neighbors.
The few other shops shut down one by one, their owners blowing out their lantern lights and locking their doors.
The buildings were all close together, but every few shops or so, a small alley ran between them to allow passage for pedestrians to cross from one street to the other without taking the long way around. This offered her the opportunity she needed.
Illyana walked into one of the narrow passages and looked to her right, the rear of the shops were visible, some with private entrances, many with rubbish bins outside. She put her hands around herself, hugging her body and clenched her eyes tight shut. ' Skana… if you can see me… if you can help… please… one more time… I need you…' She prayed that the spirit of her companion would offer her aid, and then she began to dart from building to building in the back; it was narrow, barely enough for someone her size to even manage. But each building offered concealment from stray eyes on the main street.
Her nose guided her to the shop that would have potions and scrolls, the faint odor of on site work was far thicker in her nostrils than it would have been in those of a human. She crinkled her nose in disgust at the odor, but carried on until she reached the back.
Breaking in proved far easier than she expected, it had a rear entrance, but the door was old, and the latch for the lock was half rotted. She took out her dagger, jammed it into the little gap, and pulled like a lever until the old wood splintered, and she could pull the door open. ' Mind the window.' Illyana told herself, her breathing was shallow and as quiet as possible, but her pounding pulse and racing heart told her it had the noise of a hurricane.
She dropped to a crawl that kept her behind the counter and then set her back to it. On the wall was a long series of small cubby holes, each filled with scrolls, each with a little wooden name plate to identify what was where.
Illyana's keen elven senses had no problem reading the names in the dark, and she quickly found the scroll she sought.
She rose to a crouch, darted her hand up, snagged the single, costly roll of paper in that particular cubby, and pulled it down as fast as she could. She dragged herself on her belly over the rough wooden floor, ' Stay calm, you're almost out, almost… just get back to the street…' She told herself again and again, and then… before she knew it, she was.
In the little used byway between the two main city streets, she was just another person, one of many. A smile of sheer pride was on her face when she tucked the scroll away into her pouch, and she wore that smile all the way to the nearest isolated alcove she could.
Then she yanked out the message scroll, used it, and reached out to Albedo. ' Mistress… !' She cried out in desperation, the emotions of the day boiling over, ' Something terrible has happened!'
' Calm yourself, Illyana, I am at the inn now, the guards just informed me of their raid.' Albedo's voice came back with the same strength and confidence that brought Illyana such constant reassurance.
' I understand, My Lady… I am safe but Skana… our… my… she…' Illyana struggled to keep from bawling as she relayed the story, and when it was over, Albedo answered her.
' Then there is only one thing left to do, and our work is done. We will recover her body, but I will leave that to some of our other tools. Your work here is done, meet me behind the great temple of the city, and I will take you away from here.' Albedo gave the order, and then the connection died as it was cut.
With her Mistress' orders received, Illyana began to walk.
Volume 6 C35
Astraka watched the panic on the walls of Prart with grim satisfaction. They were scrambling like mad, and he couldn't blame them, after all, nobody… nobody expected him to go this far north. ' They thought I would go for Hoburns, or they thought I would turn around and deal with Gustav. They slept… and now I've woken them up… and there's nothing like an army at the gates to wake someone up quickly.' He raised his hand, and lowered it before him as if he were swinging an axe.
Most of his army was still not in position, but he intended to compound their fear and horror. The ballistae, scorpions, and small catapults were readied and fired from wherever they were. Astraka whistled as he watched the sharp straight flight of the giant arrows, the round stone launching ballista, and the long high arc of catapults.
' Speed is armor.' Astraka recalled the phrase of his mentor and shouted for the lines and ladders. ' Sloppy.' He admitted to himself as warriors scrambled to follow the sudden orders. Thankfully, the walls were thinly populated, the hour was late, most of the city's protectors would be drinking or eating. ' Catch them now… they're unready, if I wait to form lines they'll be twice as strong…'
His soldiers were following orders, the alarm bells were going off all over the city, the steady and unbroken clanging noise was drowned out by the screams of the population. The stampede of humanity ran all over the long roads, somewhere, some soldier was shouting at his commander that they were under attack, somewhere, a civilian of some sort was shivering in fear and disbelief.
The long lines of soldiers bearing high ladders rushed past on all sides, the impact of stones and long arrows on the defenders was notable, they 'froze' briefly with each impact. ' Garrison…' He thought, but each time they froze, it was only for an instant before they returned to their tasks when each rumbling strike ended or each shot went overhead to crash down into the city below.
Howls of pain were carried through the air, some from his own as the first ranks came near to the top of the ladder and were forced to fight against clusters of defenders. A man fell screaming from the top when the line he was on was cut and then went silent when he landed with a thud.
He was not alone, others fell from their line as they scaled the wall, only for more lines to replace them. A ladder began to fall back as men holding a long wooden pole pushed it away, the men high up cried out, they begged, they pleaded, their voices carried even to where Astraka sat on his horse, and he watched.
Mercy was not coming from those on the wall, the ladder fell, some clung to the wood, others jumped and tried to grab the air, praying to the silent four gods that a hand would come out and catch them.
Some fell screaming and clutching at broken legs, others did not scream at all, and a few rushed to the next ladder to attempt to climb again.
But the scarcity of defenders and the suddenness of the assault gave Astraka the edge he needed. For every ladder that fell and every line that was cut, four or five more remained in place and his soldiers roared out their courage as they fell on their outnumbered enemies.
More and more were taking ground, swords went up and men fell down, the scent of blood grew thick enough to reach his nose, and his household banner rose atop the wheelhouse.
Wails went up from the city, the noise redoubled, the gate began to grind open as his soldiers did their work. ' My conscripts and militias might not be worth much… but my household troops… they are a whole other matter.' Astraka's smile of pride spread wide on his face and vanished when he drew his sword and raised it overhead. "Cavalry!" He shouted, "Charge!" His squire blew the horn to sound the cavalry charge, and he stormed toward the entrance, it was more open to his entry than a whore starting her shift.
The cavalry came first, but behind him he could hear the noise of drums calling for the infantry advance, and out of the corner of his eye before he entered the city he could see those who had been climbing ladders, descend and follow the easy path into the city.
His sword slashed out at a half dressed soldier with a slightly drunken look on his face, the blade cut across the unhelmeted head, and then his body smashed into the charging horse, he fell thudding and bouncing away.
Astraka didn't see him again, there was only one destination. ' Take the royal governor, and the whole thing falls… what could possibly be easier?'
And their soldiers charged on against the flimsy, unprepared defenses.
Vijar watched the battalion of Holy Kingdom soldiers on the march, ' Our Queen was right… they're on the road, and just the way she said. Horsemen at the front, archers in the middle, infantry at the rear.' The spriggan scouts kept a close watch from the forest, playing to their strengths, they kept well out of view and reported only through animal noises, avoiding the use of magic that most assumed got their brethren caught before.
He continued to watch while the humans made camp, daylight creatures, they slept in the darkness that many of his demihumans thrived in.
The camp was orderly, tents went up and formed a circle, horses all confined to one place near where their riders slept, soldiers took evenly spaced watch positions that all covered each other and set fire stakes at a distance that would illuminate movement.
' My Queen's point is well taken… order… discipline, these are weapons too…' Vijar reluctantly admitted, thinking back to his people's customs Everything was haphazard, chaotic and resolved with blows that slowed progress down. It was hard not to think of her other innovations… ' A trio of elders chosen at random to judge, and none know which is which but by writing…' The various elements of her judgeship held the bloodshed down, and fewer deaths meant more workers, more warriors, and more magic casters spent more time in training… the rising castle and the city around it… ' Why tower above a mere warrior or two when we can tower above nations?!' Her speech won many over, and there were some who wanted to tear it all down.
He let out a low growl, raised his axe, and waited. The human numbers declined as they slipped down into slumber, the spiderfolk were doing their part, and the nagani were ready to do theirs, stone spitters lay crouched and ready for the first volley, angled to create a funnel…
And then he felt the hand, carapace-like and smooth, touch his back. He let out a monumental roar, and the stone spitters sprang up, their rocks were not very large, but shot at high speed, and humans howled like wounded wolves as they went down.
From there the spriggan casters shot up, rather than fireballs that would provide light to the humans, they used water spells and doused the flames to plunge the humans into the darkness.
Vijar charged into the camp, bellowing war cries that ripped through the courage of lesser men, the disciplined ones in the human ranks quickly tried to form up lines in the dark, their forms, gray and white to his night eyes, were more successful than he would have thought.
"Where are they?!"
"How many?!"
The orcs and the zern fell in on the left of the camp, hacking and dissolving whatever they could, the noise and shrieking of warriors kept the humans off balance, and Vijar's blood sang with joy as he got to do what he did best.
His axe sliced through a human neck and sent it spinning away into the darkness, the body falling as a lump to the dirt before he moved forward to the next group.
Light began to fill the camp as paladins used spells to give them the means to see… a fireball soared out into the darkness and a hissing scream of an unfortunate snakeman was joined by the smell of roasted meat and another lump of dead flesh joined with the earth beneath their feet.
More hits along vast parts of their line of camp, the disarray grew only worse, soldiers fumbled with shields in the dark, struggled to find comrades, the order was broken, and discipline with it.
Even still, Vijar's advance seemed like it took forever, humans began to break ranks, and flee. The noise of armor retreating replaced the noise of armor advancing, while the sound of screams of fear replaced the noise of humans barking orders and humans shouting challenges to their enemies.
' Without their discipline… this is easy…' Vijar thought as he watched the ranks begin to break and run through flames, men abandoned their comrades in their desperation, leaving bonds of friendship and blood behind in an effort to save themselves.
The battle… with the sprays of human blood flying through the air and limbs sailing into the night like tumbling bugs flicked away, had become a massacre.
"Secure the survivors!" He bellowed as the noise of fighting slowly began to die down, the groans of the wounded, human and nonhuman alike, were plentiful. ' Even at night, at a disadvantage… they made us pay a price for victory.' He reflected on that while cleaning human blood off his ax, wiping the red stains away with the banner of the Holy Roble Kingdom.
"Plunder their camp, and make one of our own… short rest only, then we get moving, we have a Queen to join! And a capital city to take !" Vijar roared his cry of victory and savored the smell of fear off the human captives as crude bonds were formed from tent ropes and stakes, and the demihumans began to divide up the winnings from their victory. The humans lay slumped forward, many bleeding, heads bowed, while stakes were hammered down into the dirt. It wouldn't offer 'good' security, but under watch, the humans would be slowed.
A few screams reached the 'new' camp, coming from deep in the woods, as humans were reminded why they shouldn't venture there without weapons.
' Now for the next part of Her Majesty's plan…' Vijar let out a low, vicious laugh as he trod on thunderous footsteps with his tail lashing behind him when he passed the defeated soldiers.
While Neia did not enjoy fire like she once did, its warm orange tongues licking the air, its vibrant little sparks briefly defying cold and the air before their lives were snuffed out, she did find that she still liked hot food. She sat around the center of her camp and tore at a haunch of roasted venison with her multitude of sharp teeth. ' This body makes meat eating even easier, and it tastes better too.' She licked the juices from her lips and listened to the zern prince tell his story. Xee, as she'd come to call him, was something of an amorphous blob, but he had a sly, understated sense of humor that never failed to bring a smile to those who took the time to listen.
"… So then she said, you think you're slimy? Hold my beer!" He said and the mixed array of forces fell to laughing… Neia's wings beat a little harder when she chuckled and she slapped her knee repeatedly before holding her other hand out when a stone spitter approached to hold out a mug of pillaged beer.
"Your Majesty?" He said, and she gave a grateful smile to the stone spitter that probably looked more fearsome than she meant it.
"Thank you." She said, tempering his sudden freezing in place as if he'd done wrong. After he heard her words, he bobbed a little in the way his lumpy, stone-like race often did when they were happy, and withdrew.
Neia turned back to face the other chiefs and princes who made up her current retinue, the chatter was amiable, and went on and on as the dying of the last embers returned night's dominance.
… It happened so suddenly that Neia didn't even notice it. She went quiet during the next round of laughter from the array of demihuman races, for just a second, their faces, bodies, all seemed to have melted away in her eyes. It was just like… ' It's like what I saw with the others, the paladins, the squires, even village trainees. They were like that with comrades… wait… do I have…'
' Do I have comrades?!' She cried out inside her head, her body snapped straight and she stared around the flames which, one by one faces lost their variations of laughter and fell quiet, staring at their now silent Queen with eyes that went into various modes of concern, from wide, to narrow according to their race.
"Your Majesty?" Xee asked, "Is something amiss?"
Neia snapped out of her daze and vigorously shook her head, she drained her mug, tilting her head back to take every bit of amber dark liquid into her throat then dropped it and bit another haunch of meat away, anything to hide the expression on her face.
Chewing audibly she mumbled out, "No! Everything is gweght!" She exclaimed, using the stuffed face and to disguise the emotional tone and hoping the fire hid her happy tears.
"In fact…" She said when she had control of herself and swallowed a large chunk, "I would say this is perhaps one of the best days of my life!"
Before anyone could ask just why on earth their Queen would call a common meal around a fire in the midst of a military campaign of revenge… 'one of the best days of her life', they were interrupted.
"Neia." Olasird'arc said, his broad, long head rose from where he lay curled up nearby, his long neck allowing him to loom above her with ease, he didn't address her by title, nor did she ask.
She looked up at the dragon and gave him a fang filled toothy grin, "Yeah, Oli?"
He winced. "No. I refuse that nickname. If you must shorten it, shorten it to 'sir' I understand that is a respectful term at least. 'Oli' makes me sound like one of those performing clowns that humans use to entertain their offspring."
Neia chuckled, "No problem, Olasird'arc, what is it?" She asked, and he winced again as she refused his chosen nickname. From anyone else, it might have been a horrendous breech worthy of turning them into a meal. But her hands had cleaned his body, her fingers sewn his wings, her bleeding body scavenged for things to nurse him back to health… and now his blood was in her veins. So he confined it to a mildly annoyed flinch.
Finally reaching the matter at hand.
"There are people coming. Stealthy, and they do not smell like any race I know." Olasird'arc rumbled the words out, and the whole campfire froze.
"Are they close?" Neia asked.
"In the camp, though even human gods only know how… and their gaze is fixed on you ." He muttered.
"They could be the servants of the Queen's new ally… but if they're not hostile, or if they are… wait, let them come to me." Neia whispered, and when she relaxed, so too did the others.
Volume 6 C36
Neia took another bite out of the meat and stared at the fire, the soft flesh of the deer melted in her mouth, and she made a point of making it obvious how good it was. "Mmm, by the dead gods this is the best meal I've ever had!" She exclaimed into the night, "Mmm, mmm… mmm… and there's so much of it…"
She tore another chunk away, the ones who hid themselves, now that Olasird'arc's nose had caught it, she felt the eyes on her even if she couldn't detect them. It was hours into the night and still they hadn't made a move. ' They don't feel hostile, so… what are they waiting for?' She wondered, and picked up the mug she'd dropped, the rest of her party went along with her exaggerations, picking up her cues.
"Who knew that food could taste this good!"
"The beer… if humans make this, I'd be glad to trade with them!"
"Oh, the stew… !"
Neia was just dropping her mug into the dust and smacked her lips with gusto when the noise hit from where nobody should be.
A growling stomach.
"You're caught." She said to the empty space on top of one of the multitude of crates scattered about. "I know you're there, your stomach gave you away, and so did your smell. You might as well give in."
"Shit." The empty space cursed, and whatever spell or skill was active, vanished. On the empty crate sat a slender elf with his face painted with black and green stripes, a black and green striped shirt, and pants to match. The elf held his hands up as the demihumans shot to their feet, "I'm not here to fight!" He shouted in a booming, half panicked voice.
"Wait!" Neia snapped, and her companions halted in midmotion, her hand went out palm up, and she stood up from her seat on the old log. She faced the elf, "Always eat before getting close, spells and skills, they do a great deal, but I don't know any spell that can take care of all the other stuff 'and' silence a growling empty belly. Still, you got very, very close to me, and that has my attention. Whether that is a good thing or not…" Neia turned the full force of her gaze on the elf, and let him tremble as he filled in the end of that sentence himself.
"I- yes, I think you'll be pleased… My name," the elf stammered, "No, that doesn't matter, ah, I was living in Wenmark, the city was destroyed, I was a slave, like all the elves there… we rebelled and got free, made a deal with Duke Astraka, he's your ally, right?"
Neia grunted, "Yeah, he is. What of it?"
"He's also a human, from the Southern Holy Kingdom… We don't really like them much… ah, he's not so bad, as humans go, I mean. He's dealt honestly with us, but we got hostages of his people too, so he has to. But when everything is over, what then? We won't go back into chains… and we can't trust the Holy Kingdom so…" The elf lowered his eyes, unable to meet the vicious eyes of the dragonid Queen.
"I see." Neia answered when she finished his unspoken words on her own. "You're hoping to move into Demalbion, we're not humans, and we need labor, you want to…" She stroked her chin, "I guess it isn't really switching sides, more like you want to be under new management… is that right?"
The elf's bright eyes sparkled when his face rose up to meet hers again, "Yes, Your Majesty!" He went down to one knee and bowed his head. "Accept us as your subjects, all of us. Give us land of our own to farm, give us equal standing in your Kingdom to all your other subjects, and we will be loyal for as long as we live."
"How many of you are there… exactly?" Neia asked as she thought over his request.
"Men, women, and children… including some half elves… we number some fifteen thousand, but-" He cleared his throat and raised his head to exclaim, "We have no elderly! No one you would call a burden! All of the adults and young are strong, and our very young, they will be!"
Neia's stomach immediately knotted up. ' There's only one good reason that there would be 'no' elderly among their people…' The disposal of useless tools, Olasird'arc's remark to her that she had clearly never seen the slave institution before, came back to mind. ' Perhaps he was right, and even though that is a lot, there is abundant land, including some from tribes that never saw reason…'
She settled on her decision with ease.
"Agreed. You bring your fighters and scouts over to my army, swear eternal fealty to me, release those of my ally you hold as hostages, spend two years working, learning, or teaching in my capital, and every elven family of two or more will be given an omnidirectional bowshot of land to farm in some of our unoccupied lands. Unmarried individuals will get half that."
"Then we are yours. The Wenmark Free Elves are your subjects, your servants, for as long as the Kingdom of Demalbion endures." The elf made his vow as sincerely as he could, his voice clear, even sonorous, the nervousness gone with the promise of a future.
"How long will it take you to bring your people this way?" Neia asked, skipping any ceremony and jumping straight to the point.
The elf blinked, taken aback, he hesitated, looking up at the night sky while he thought, "Weeks. We have been ranging farther from Duke Astraka as the days have gone on, but we are scattered, and we stick to the forests to avoid humans and trouble."
"Fine, communicate my acceptance however you do, and get your noncombatants to the border, we'll send word to take them to the capital as free citizens, get the rest into my army, ready to fight." Neia gave the order to the nameless elf, "But before that…" She pointed to the deer roasting over the flame… "Are you hungry?"
The elf's stomach growled again, and he blushed sheepishly. "I will remember that the next time I need to sneak somewhere."
Neia chuckled and answered, "See that you do."
Astraka looked over the lines of prisoners bound up in chains and being shuffled beneath his eyes while he sat on horseback, his armor was stained with blood and dented where he'd been hit multiple times. His face was sweaty and in general he, like the rest of his soldiers, looked a frightful mess. ' If I ever have this moment painted, I'll have to leave out some of these details.' The thought cheered him as he watched the people of Prart kneel to him as he trotted away.
The horse's hooves made a steady clip-clop noise while he rode to the center of town. He guessed from the clouds overhead that the rains were moving in. ' Gustav is probably still getting drenched near Yanana, expecting me to show up and stop him. By the time he realizes he's been had, I'll have taken two more minor cities and be on my way to Hoburns. Almost like chess… save I must take the Queen, and then we can have a King.'
It was a warm thought that ran through his breast as he contemplated that. Already he could see the Queen descending from his throne to kneel, and then an unpleasant thought came to mind. ' The Queen of Frost might just decide to take her head… she has betrayed her nation… Beheading the Queen is not a step too far beyond that… and if she does, we'll have enmity for centuries no matter what else happens. Perhaps I shouldn't let her near the surrender… better the Queen be gone as a fool, not as a martyr.'
With that, the Duke dismounted his horse, stepped over some yet to be disposed of bodies, and entered the building that would host his temporary headquarters for the next few days.
Volume 6 C37
"So there was at least one agent, and she was killed." Ainz summarized the report and made a conscious effort not to shift in his seat at the table with Kelart and Calca. He set the document down and folded his hands together, interlocking his fingers and holding himself regally still.
"Yes, exactly." Kelart said, setting her copy down, "She had some skill with a sword, and gave nothing up directly, however…" She stopped to snarl and her fingers shook with fury, "the things she said, cursing us in the name of the Six, and other insults, they were very, very much things the Slane Theocracy would say."
"I see, were there any others?" Ainz asked, and Kelart frowned. She began tapping one finger on the table in a steady rhythm.
"No, My Lord… there is evidence of others living there, but they appear to have fled, questions for the staff revealed at least one other figure, a woman of dark hair. Dark hair is most common in the Slane Theocracy. It isn't unheard of elsewhere, but combined with what we know, it is indicative." Kelart explained and cracked her knuckles.
"It is compelling…" Calca said in a subdued voice, still holding her document in hand, her fingers tracing over the letters as she read them over and over again. She looked away from it at last and over to Ainz.
"We are not married yet, but the nature of this information… It means very well that we may wind up in a war with the Slane Theocracy, possibly soon. They have a history of meddling in the affairs of other countries, and without any guilt about how violently they do it." She warned her future husband, to which Ainz answered…
"I know. I interfered in such an attempt at meddling in the Re-Estize Kingdom a few years ago, I destroyed one of their 'scripture' units, they identified themselves as the 'Sunlight Scripture' before their deaths. Their goal was the death of Gazef Stronoff, and they were trying to ensure the defeat of the Re-Estize Kingdom by the Baharuth Empire."
The two women gasped, Kelart even sucked in her teeth and her eyes grew wide as saucers at the bold claim.
"We have our own… private information sources in the Slane Theocracy, we couldn't find out what happened to that scripture. You're saying that you-"
"Correct." Ainz answered, ' Should I have said that… no, it's minor enough information 'now' and should enhance their trust in me.' He reasoned, "I obviously expect that this will be kept secret, but you should know at least, we have already clashed with them once, and they regretted it."
"I-I see… then if it comes to a fight?" Queen Calca smiled over at her consort, and blushed when he looked her over and gave her an approving nod.
"I will support you, but it doesn't have to become a fight, if they see reason and adapt." Ainz pointed out.
"They're fanatical human supremacists. They will never accept your reforms, Your Majesty." Kelart replied with a tightening of her lips.
"Is that so?" Ainz asked the rhetorical question and let it hang.
It had an underlying question, one the two leaders of the nation picked up on.
"We were founded on the same ideals, but we have to be more practical." Queen Calca replied, if she sounded a little defensive, Ainz chose not to make an issue of it. "Demihumans are a threat, but we do have stories of good ones, and I for one have only ever cared for fair and good rule… no Demihuman has ever tried to kill me in my home ." She said and squeezed her eyes shut tight for a moment.
The insurrection still rubbed her the wrong way, and Ainz reached over to her without thinking and patted her thigh, she relaxed and inched her seat closer to him. "We will make your reforms happen, We promise you, as your wife and your ally."
The voice of the Queen was one of imperious command, as if to speak into existence in reality, that which only existed as a thought.
Ainz could already foresee it, his children able to roam the whole world without his fearing that they would be hated or loathed for their mere 'being', and with the Queen's resolve, she went up another notch in his eyes.
Any further conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door.
Kelart glanced at her Queen, and when Calca inclined her head, Kelart barked out a sharp, "Enter!"
A servant opened the door, entered, and knelt. He wore the armor of a soldier, but far from the elite guard, the smell of oil and metal was heavy on him, as if he'd cleaned up before coming to see them.
"My Queen," he said with a slightly high pitched voice, "the body of the spy has been stolen… and those guarding it were killed."
Calca immediately snapped her question, "Was there anything to indicate who took it or where they went?"
"A sewer was found broken into, footsteps underground led to a hole just large enough for two or three to pass through outside the walls on the east side, near the Theocracy's Embassy. Also, a knife blade was broken off in a guard's skull… it was retrieved, it had a jagged edge and a sharp curved tip at the end." The guard explained, and both Kelart and Calca spoke at once.
"Theocracy." The pair said, and when Ainz looked from one to the other with questioning eyes, it was Kelart who spoke to explain.
"That type of blade is standard for their covert operations, if we needed more proof that this was their work, we have it." Kelart rubbed her thumb and forefinger back and forth against the outer bridge of her nose. "A new enemy, we have Astraka in the west, Neia in the east… her lower lip began to tremble.
"If only my sister hadn't-" Kelart cut off her words and looked away from her Queen.
"Damn her." Kelart cursed under her breath.
The look she gave to the Queen, and what Calca herself had said to Ainz the night they lay together, he took initiative and looked at the soldier, "You may go."
The young man beat feet to leave as fast as he could and shut the door behind him, nobody noticed if he saluted or not.
Who Kelart blamed for Calca's marriage and seemingly losing her forever was not lost on him, and pity stirred his heart. The broken look on Kelart's face was so very much like Albedo's, ' Am I so cruel as that… maybe… but I- I don't have to be…'
"Kelart." Ainz said with a voice of resolve, drawing her eyes to him, he didn't wait for her acknowledgement, "I will not be residing here, and the Queen will not be joining me in my home… it's simply not feasible. As I am gone, of course there will be 'concerns' in some quarters about what happens when the King is away." He cleared his throat and tried, unsuccessfully, not to turn at least a little red.
"If you were to ah… keep my Queen 'happy', I would not complain. She and I have a sort of 'understanding' about certain things that need not concern you. Mind her for me ah… obviously permit no other man into her chambers, a favor to this foreign King, ah… you understand?" Ainz's statement was off the cuff, improvised, but it had their immediate attention.
"You- You would not object? I-If I were to 'mind' her fidelity to ensure the legitimacy of any heirs to the Kingdom…?" Kelart asked the question as if she were dying in a desert and wasn't sure if it was a mirage offering her water, or a real person.
"No. I would not. I trust such a burden is not too much for you, and that the Queen is not 'insulted'?" Ainz turned his focus to Calca, whose face became a bright red as Ainz essentially offered them both a blank check in their arrangement.
"N-No! Of course rumors would be abound, and it would hurt diplomacy and our bond if- if it were rumored that I might have cavorted with a knight, or a lord, or a paladin, and passed an heir off as yours by deception… but someone to eh, guard my virtue, would alleviate those rumors before they even begin! And I can promise my Lord that any heir to the Roble Holy Kingdom, will spring from him alone!" Calca's insistence was as certain as the sun, and the near crying face of Kelart became something else.
Before his very eyes, it wholly transformed from borderline broken, to such elated wide eyed happiness that her whole body began to shake with joy. "I will do everything in my power to ensure My Lord is satisfied with the sanctity of the Queen."
"I will put my faith in you both." Ainz said, studying their faces with great interest, the shining light in their eyes, brown mirroring blue, their smiles, broad, genuine, the polar opposite of the sorrow and mourning looks of misery and loss… the dull listlessness that tainted Kelart and which he wondered if Calca hid, vanished in an instant. ' Albedo.'
He only thought of her name, nothing more.
But nothing else was needed.
A few human prisoners sat around, limp, waiting, watching as the victorious demihumans plundered everything in the human camp, some of their fellows were clearly unconscious, some from pain, others from simple exhaustion.
But a few watched, the simple small tent stakes used to hold them into the ground were nothing, if anything, it was sloppy, effective only because their wrists were bound behind their backs.
Shaba was one of those men, his wounds looked worse than they were, a head injury bled a great deal, and he pretended unconsciousness, the heavy blood coating on his face gave him the appearance, with a little acting, of a man half dead.
The demihuman guards watched him the least, while he watched them the most. His legs and arms remained intact, and though his heart raced in his chest, he kept his breathing slow and shallow, watching with one eye cracked while the demihumans took whatever they wanted.
' An attack on Hoburns, on the Queen herself?' He shivered, it was unthinkable, ' I have only one thing I have to do… carry that word home… but how…' He wondered, until he saw a demihuman hand bottles of liquor to the stone spitter guards watching over him and his friends.
His broad chest tightened to keep his face from smiling. The two guards tilted back their heads and began to drink, regardless of their duty.
First one bottle, then two, and as the camp activity declined and demihumans wandered away, slept, or otherwise occupied themselves, he bided his time.
Shaba's body was tense each time he whispered, "Pst… when I say go… we go, no questions, no time, just go, and follow where I go… pass it on."
The liquor kept flowing between the guards, they began to sway, their big, robust bodies and speech both began to waver, until the pair simply 'fell' like trees cut by angry woodsmen, crashing down onto their bellies just as a cloud moved over the moon.
"Go!" Shaba hissed, ' They can see in the dark, but they're not expecting me, or the rest of us to run… if we can just reach the woods, some of us might make it back to Kalinsha to warn General Custodio… we can't let the demihumans reach Hoburns!' He cried out in his head, and then pumped his legs as fast as he could, the other human prisoners yanked their wrists up and ran as well, the demihumans were sloppy, securing only wrists rather than legs, and so it was several vital seconds or more before any demihuman even noticed they were gone.
The prisoners' holding area was close to the edge of the camp, the woods came closer and closer, his legs were already tired, ' Curse the day… so heavy… if only I had rest!' Shaba whined, but kept his legs pounding the churned up earth beneath his feet, the other captives acted as he did, those who were able to move, at least.
The alarm went up, he could hear the roars, they rang in his ears, the cries of 'prisoner escape' and then at his back, a cry as a human was hit in the back, snapping his spine and sending him screaming onto his belly in the dark.
Nobody bothered to help him. Another rock shot past Shaba's head, the breeze and whistle it carried, ' That will haunt me till I die…' He heard a burst as a skull shattered from the impact of another stone, the sickening crunch of bone and brain matter, followed by the thud of another body that none of the prisoners would, or even could have helped.
The woods were drawing closer, so much closer. ' Just a little bit more!' He cried out as he heard two more voices scream at his back.
What for, he didn't know, he looked over his shoulder, they were clutching their legs and rolling in pain as the demihumans caught up with them, he turned away, ' Nothing you can do… just run, run and don't stop! Don't look back! Just get to Kalinsha…' he thought, and dove into the deeper darkness of the forest, out of easy reach of the larger demihuman foes, and he began to pray to the gods…
' Please, oh please don't let it be too late!'
Volume 6 C38
Gustav grimaced all through the rain, he grimaced while watching his soldiers tramp through the muck, through watching them hug their cloaks more tightly to their bodies, and worse than that, he grimaced while dividing up his forces. ' Five thousand men here to keep up the illusion for any Yananian scouts that we're still in our position, the more of us they think there are, the longer they will wait to reinforce Astraka.'
It took most of the day, and soldiers were forced to sleep in the mud or share the few intact tents that night, but in the morning they were able to go.
' If I were him, I would go for some place with abundant supplies, and that means a city, it has to. And the nearest city with ample supplies is Prart. It's a guess, but as good a one as any.' He considered the gamble he was taking, and his shoulders boughed forward, heavy with the weight of his decision, his brow furrowed and his hair, once vibrant and bright, felt and looked whiter in his eyes with every passing hour.
' Is it better or worse if I'm right…?' Gustav wondered that too, the grimace on his face held fast as he conducted the forced march, his soldiers ate while they walked, paused to relieve themselves, and marched again. "March till your feet drown, then march some more!" A commander yelled somewhere at the far end of the line.
Camp was grim that night, no tents, only bedrolls, and in that, Gustav joined his men.
He lay on his back, covering his face with one thick blanket to protect himself from the rain, but all it did was press soaked cloth over his face after a few minutes. His bones were soaked, his boots were little pools, his clothing was drenched beyond reason, his body shivered and he could not keep his cough or sneeze at bay, not even in his sleep.
Only the fact that he endured with his soldiers, kept them willing to suffer it in turn. Thus, the forced march went, covering twice the normal distance in a day and never once hearing from a scout, Gustav finally found out the answer to his question from days before.
' Worse… definitely worse…' He realized when he saw the banner of the House of Astraka, a steel sword over a steel shield on a red banner, fluttering above the city's battlements. His officers gasped or cried out in alarm when they saw the same as himself.
Thunder still rolled overhead, but at least, damp as everybody was, weary as they were, and horrified as they were, gallows humor was not gone from the old General. "Well," Gustav said with a nonchalant shrug that concealed his mute horror, "At least we won't fight in the rain."
Half hearted laughter from the men who considered themselves half dead, went up among the ranks before the great bells tolled within the city of Prart as they realized that Gustav Montagnés' army had caught up.
Illyana knelt on the floor in Nazarick next to the body, she hadn't left that spot in the throne room in days. Her arms held the corpse of Skana as tightly as if it were a baby needing to be cuddled. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry." The elf wept over the corpse, her hands caressed the limp hair, even the magic used to prevent decay could not make the body seem alive. Illyana's hands shook as if she were caught in a freezing winter, the limp limbs of Skana could not embrace her in return, but it didn't stop Illyana from her fumbling attempts to wrap them around herself.
"You shouldn't have done that, you shouldn't have… stupid Skana… why would you do that… why?" She kissed the forehead, the cheeks and the dead lips as softly as she would a sleeping lover she didn't wish to awaken from her dreams. Her hands were stained with dried blood from the wound she touched again and again, trying to will it away. "Humans don't do this for elves… it's not… I hid, I let you go out there and I hid and I'm sorry…"
The days of her ceaseless mourning made it almost routine, she knelt there, indifferent to her own filth as her Mistress left her to attend to other matters. The throne room was little visited by anyone in the absence of their Allfather, and so she remained undisturbed for the duration as her belly growled and shrank, her tongue dried and her lips cracked and bled.
Undisturbed in the tomb that was, until Albedo completed her affairs and returned to find the elf still clinging to the body of the young woman. "Have you remained with her all this time?" Albedo asked with a downward glance at the pair.
"I-I can't- I… is there nothing we can do… Mistress? Isn't our Lord a God… can't he do something for her… anything…?" Illyana asked with a catch, tears flowed down her cheeks to land on the corpse and roll over clammy, lifeless flesh or wet the dried blood that still remained on the once fine shirt.
Albedo thought it over, her Lord's credo came to her, ' Evil for evil, good for good. And she was useful… perhaps she will be useful again?'
"I will permit you to beg for her life, when my Lord returns. If he chooses it, something might be done with her, though just what, even I can't say." Albedo answered, and Illyana gave a tiny pathetic nod.
"I-I understand… I will do anything my Lord wills…" Her lower lip trembled, and she clung a little more tightly to the corpse, and kissed the cold forehead, "Just wait… just wait a little while… one way or another… things will work out." She promised the corpse, and held still.
Albedo let the elf linger there and rolled her yellow eyes, she reached into her pocket dimension and pulled out a ring, she tossed it to the elf, "Put that on at least, you can't beg for her if you die of hunger or thirst!"
Illyana caught the ring in one hand, her ears went down as she opened her palm and looked at the little silver thing with the bright blue crystal pulsing with light on the surface. "Mistress?" She asked, her voice cracked, she cleared her throat and asked again, "My Lady? What is it?"
"It's something I'm lending you to wear while you wait. You're useless to me until this is resolved, I'm sure. Wear it and stay alive until you can beg for her life, I won't be needing you for some time yet regardless." Albedo said with crisp abruptness, and Illyana hastened to slip the ring on.
"Understood, M-My Lady." She stammered out, no sooner than it was on, than her pangs of hunger and thirst, her physical exhaustion, all were gone.
"I'll wait here for as long as you command. Even if it is another thousand years." Illyana vowed, her voice a little stronger than before, she tried to give a fragile, hopeful smile up to her Lady, but Albedo was already gone about some other mysterious business, leaving the corpse and the woman alone again at the base of the Throne of Kings.
Volume 6 C39
Shaba's youthful face was a mask of scratches, his body was covered in filth, his pants were shredded, and most of his armor was gone with the exception of his chestplate and gloves. His wrists at least, were loose. ' Did anyone else make it?' He wondered as he staggered out of the woods and looked behind him.
Everybody got their hands free as far as he knew, but most, ' Captured again, I think, or killed, but they didn't chase us into the forest where the Huntress used to rove… no wonder either…' The occasional roar or growl, a scream in the night, and a human voice going quickly silent… ' In there, we are the prey… I might just be the only survivor…' He gulped and staggered forward, hunching his body ahead a little, using the impulse to 'fall' to help carry him ahead. His arms swung limply, and his breastplate became a burden as the warmth of the day began. ' If I stop moving, I'm gonna die… I know I won't get back up again.' Shaba told himself, and using his fumbling, nearly dead fingers, he worked the leather straps that held the front and back together, and the armor fell apart, front and back landed on the ground with a quiet thud, and he stumbled further on.
How long he was moving, what day it was, what hour, none of it meant anything to Shaba, he only struggled on in the only direction he knew, until at last he came within sight of his goal. ' Kalinsha… I-I made it !' He realized, his eyes filled with tears and he wiped them away so that his view of the city would be clear and that clarity could give him the will to go on just a little bit further .
He heard the noise of distant guards after what felt like another hour, but which was truly more likely to have been minutes. The gate opened, horses began to charge out, light armored cavalry, Shaba's legs seemed to know the truth, ' I-I made it… I'm going to live…' He began to laugh as he fell into the dirt and then down onto his belly, his arms failed to prevent it, and he laughed on as the taste of dirt hit his tongue, he didn't care. It was the dirt of Kalinsha, which meant, ' I'm safe…'
He grunted a little as two soldiers got down from their horses, and together slung him over the front of one of them before remounting and riding back toward the city.
His purpose though, that was not lost on him. "Frost to Hoburns… Frost… Hoburns… stop her…" And then he fell into unconsciousness, swallowed up by the blackness he longed for, in safety.
"Vijar says the mission was a success, so now… we have a job to do." Neia said with a sly grin spread over her predatory face. She hunched over the map and pressed her finger down on a position. "Kalinsha is here, if we take that, the whole of the Holy Kingdom is open to us, if we capture Remedios, or kill her, then we deprive the Holy Kingdom of one third of its real power relative to us. They still have mages and paladins of some note, but we have champions that can match them."
"And the Kingdom of Nazarick?" A wary voice came up.
"Questionable." Neia pointed out. "I've heard fantastical stories, but so far he hasn't brought soldiers, only weapons and armor, as best as we can tell, if he engages, it will be in person, but he seems content to remain in Hoburns to protect the Queen."
"Then why," Xee asked, "would Remedios come after us?"
"Because Remedios loves the Queen above all others, she wouldn't even trust her own sister to protect Calca. That means she must chase us down, we would have already had her, but she's dumber than even I believed." Neia reached for a cup of wine and took a long, steady drink.
"I see… and Kalinsha?" Xee pressed.
"I will leave that to Olasird'arc, Vijar, and a handful of you. Seize it, and I will join you afterward. If I capture Remedios, I've got what I want, I'll gut that bitch on the wall, slam her head on a pike, and who gives a damn after that? Astraka should have no problems finishing whatever is left of Calca's country then, and we'll get a new trading partner out of it. If anything, he will probably want us out of the war so we don't start claiming land beyond the wall itself." The Queen of Frost pointed out, her wings trembled with excitement and her eyes sparkled in the light of the glowstones.
"You all will receive written orders in the next few hours, just equip your armies for everything you need, and let's get ready to finish this. And if it doesn't finish it… then… it's all their fault now, isn't it?" Neia asked and glanced around at her comrades, a warm, happy, predatory smile filled her pale face with light, and they nodded with enthusiasm before they broke up their meeting.
"How the hell could he be here?!" Astraka bellowed, "He shouldn't have figured out where we'd be for at least a few more days?!" He threw his bronze cup across the room where it crumpled against the stone and fell with a noisy ringing to the floor where it rolled until it stopped in a corner, droplets of red trickling out onto the stone in the slight slope of the room.
"You did say he was 'Gustav Montagnés', My Lord." An aide replied gingerly, and Astraka's temper began to cool at the reminder.
"I did say that… didn't I. He must have conducted one hell of a forced march, or figured out my intent some time ago… still, this is a siege battle and the South will send reinforcements right up Gustav's ass if he lingers here…"
"But can we hold out until they arrive?" One of the heavier armored lords asked the question from the far end of the long table, and at that Astraka did not make another sound for several minutes.
"I would prefer it if we had the help of Demalbion, but I am compelled to say," he folded his hands together, they tensed, turning the knuckles white inside his gloves, "I do not know. And Duke Astraka does not fight battles he is not sure he can win."
Murmurs of confusion and approval alike went up and down the long row.
"Then… What do we do?" Astraka wasn't sure who asked the question, but he didn't care.
"We escape, let him lay siege to a nearly empty city, and then we go on to take another. If I had to guess, I'd say Gustav undertook forced marches to get here, his soldiers are worn out, he can't possibly be ready to take the city, and even surrounding it at this point is too much. He can't risk scattering his forces when we can sally out and attack them piecemeal." Astraka said with a casual smile on his face.
"So we leave in the morning, My Lord?" the same person asked.
"No, tonight . We can undertake our own forced march. We leave a small core unit behind to just buy time, while we take the bulk of our army and supplies out of here and on to the next target. Remember, we need the Holy Queen to submit to our demands, we don't need to occupy every city, just Hoburns. I'm sure Demalbion will be along soon before too long, and even Gustav can't handle both armies alone." Astraka said and smacked his leg with satisfaction.
"Get them ready, select volunteers willing to buy time, assign some if you can't get enough, but we leave by midnight! Gustav will not entertain the idea that we have abandoned the city until we're halfway to Hoburns! By then it will be far too late! Now hurry !" Astraka barked the order and stood up, ending the gathering on a high note, his subjects and staff agog at the bold move.
"Hoburns?! They're going after the Queen?! They can't get me so they go for her?!" Remedios' shriek was more than outraged, ' They lost… they lost but… 'all' is not lost… we know where they're going… of course. She 'hates' me, so she… my sister, the Queen… and of course, her traitorous parents… of 'course' Hoburns is what she wants…' Remedios cursed and swore and kicked various objects around while her staff remained still, heads bowed and standing without saying a word, their hands folded in front of their waists.
"We move out immediately, her little fires tell us where she's going… we'll catch up with her, kill her, and end this threat from beyond the wall!" Remedios pronounced with wild, wide fanatical eyes, spittle lingering on her lips.
"Can we beat demihumans in the field?" The question came up from one quiet, timid little voice, and Remedios snapped her face to the doubter.
"Of course! We've been killing that trash for centuries, they've got no real discipline, no unity, they think only of how strong they are personally. Put a knife in their backs and they die like everything else. Now hurry!" Remedios yelled at them, and kicked her chair against the wall where it shattered into kindling, the attending group of a dozen paladins nearly jumped out of their skin at her violent reaction… but bowing their heads, they obeyed her will and departed.
The march took the vast majority of her army out of Kalinsha, ' I know what I said… but even so… even so… a demi-human army is nothing to laugh at. My best bet is to duel the bitch myself, put her down, and the whole thing will fall apart.' Remedios told herself and, smugly reassured, she set her soldiers to a forced march, following the path of destruction. Ruined villages, burned out forts, the smell of ash and ruins, and not a little death, became an endemic family of odors, where there was one, so too were there others. Small forts meant to protect travelers held only naked corpses burned to nothing, and draped over wherever they died. Others bore the banner of the Frost Queen, her blue claw on a white cloth, a mockery of the blue and white of the Roble Holy Kingdom.
Remedios burned those to ashes whenever she found them.
The long line of her soldiers on the road were secure against the monsters of the deep woods, that much she could rely upon, ' Nobody goes in there lightly, not unescorted unless they have a death wish.' Remedios recalled, and recalled with annoyance that the one who should have died out there, survived.
The nights brought only silence, nobody came near her, nobody dared, Remedios glared into the flames, ' Next time, Frost Bitch… I'll 'burn' you at the stake, you'll miss the fucking swords… you'll beg to die 'again' and again. I won't spare you… you'll survive our fight, and wish you hadn't… then we'll wipe out your broken army, finish the traitor, and I'll get my Queen and my sister to muster the whole damn Kingdom to go into your 'new country' and burn it to 'ashes'. Then… everything will be as it was… my Queen will forgive me, my sister will forgive me… and we will restore the greatness of the Holy Kingdom.'
The fantasy played out in the flames like some charming vision of the future, the memory of Neia's screams as the swords pierced her body, her kidney, her liver… her stomach, a trifecta of the worst stabbing pains Remedios knew to inflict. The least a traitor deserved.
It was those thoughts that kept Remedios slumbering soundly, a smile on her face at night as she dreamed, cozy in her bedroll for the few hours that she needed before she awoke her army and they set out on the march again. The path of destruction set Remedios' teeth to grinding, a stark contrast to her restful nights and sweet dreams, but each step drew her army closer.
And closer.
Until the slow moving demihuman army came into view. ' The dragon is gone…' Remedios sighed with relief against her will, ' Those animals have no real loyalty, much like this bitch, so I can't say I'm surprised he's abandoned her… still I thought her army was a little larger.'
And that… that set Remedios' teeth grinding to redouble, her hold on the horse's reins to tighten, and her heart to pound for reasons that were obvious even to her. ' Where the hell are the 'rest' of them?!' She asked herself, and scanned the hills and plains where the demihumans were marching at some ten thousand strong.
Volume 6 C40
' I still can't believe she left. The Queen was right, threaten what they have to protect, and you can lead them where you want.' Vijar thought with no small amount of glee. He could feel the saliva already forming, he may not have been permitted to use humans as an actual food source… but they kept so much of it there… ' We'll feast for days' . He stuck out his tongue and licked around the outline of his mouth and waited.
The column of soldiers seemed to stretch from the city to the far horizon, an intimidating sight to be sure, with soldiers on foot and horseback in gleaming bright armor, ' But what was it she said… the long line makes it seem like there are more than there really are. It's a common strategy to hearten the soldiers and intimidate their enemies.'
"They really do put a lot of thought into war here…" Vijar mumbled under his breath, it was reluctant admiration, and on reflection, he considered, ' Perhaps that is how they've held out for so long despite being weaker…'
It heightened his loyalty to his Queen, if anything, ' With their knowledge and our strength? Demalbion will stand at the pinnacle of the world one day…' The city before his eyes with its high, proud walls, like the many soldiers in expensive armor sparked his envy, kept his eyes focused on both while he reflected on the cluster of villages he lorded over before.
From the eyes he felt behind him that all stared at the same things, he could feel he was not alone.
The urge to simply 'attack' was pounding in his chest, thrumming in his blood, but he held back, he waited. He had his orders.
He obeyed.
Night settled in, and still concealed in the distant woods, his forces waited.
It took days for his reinforcements to arrive, and during that time, they watched, counted the guards, learned their shifts, how many were on the walls when the others slept, and waited for the signal.
That 'signal' was Olasird'arc. The dragon swept down from above out of the clouds, his silhouette visible only for an instant when set against the moon, no roar, no bellow, no beastial fury. Without those, Vijar realized something, ' Dragons are known for their fury and power, but when I watch the way it moves? Graceful. Like the way a fish swims through water.'
The broad body seemed sleek, the broad wings battered the air into hurricanes and the tail undulated, serpent-like at his back in deliberate motions, and just as the cries of alarm were going up from the city, the dragon hit… hard. His claws raked over the wall, his body slammed against it, his tail lashed out and smashed against the proud walls of Kalinsha, human guards tumbled to their doom, falling screaming to the ground and buried amidst the rubble. Their dying screams hidden by the crashing noise so that they may as well have died in silence for all anyone knew.
The walls crumbled in multiple places, gaps large enough for a dozen or more to walk straight through appeared and opened up multiple ways into the city.
His first part done, the dragon jumped away, his wings beating at the air with force enough that several more armor clad soldiers fought desperately, leaning into the wind the dragon made, gritting their teeth or clawing for something to hold onto… and most failed, falling backwards to die on the open ground, landing on the road inside their city. Their brains dashed against the stone before Vijar could even call for the attack.
When he did, they moved at a quickstep, not at a dead run over such distance, but their pounding feet were so many that the noise they made was a warcry unto itself, the alarm in the city went up in earnest. The warning bells were calling soldiers to battle, but their cries, Vijar could tell as he drew closer, were few.
More common were the cries of terror, he detected what he now knew of as the cries of human women and children, and the cries of men who had no taste or experience with battle. ' Brave… but foolish.' Vijar thought to himself as the desperate line of humans in armor lined up in short, deep rows to try to hold him and his forces back from the paths they now had into the interior.
The human paladins were shouting the names of their martial arts, some of the squires on foot were doing the same, arrows flew overhead and fell behind him. He smelled demi-human blood, and heard demi-human cries of pain as the volleys of the human archers continued to exact their price.
The pace picked up, the quickstep became a charge, the light jog became a dead sprint, and Vijar's axe came down, chopping not flesh, but wood from a long pike. His free hand grabbed another, lifted it, and with it, the man who held on and would not let go. His terror stricken face was clearly visible to Vijar in the darkness, a bright light made it even easier mere seconds later as more magic was brought to bear…
He brought the pike down in a low, sweeping arc, knocking humans out of their formations and opening the way in.
A paladin in polished armor charged into the gap, "Rolani of Kalinsha will not let the city fall!" The paladin cried out, and drew out a glowing white sword as he lept toward Vijar.
"Kalinsha will fall, let it or not!" Vijar snarled and blocked the blow of his challenger, he hooked the sword in the inner curve of the axe and gave it a pull, only to freeze. The human did not budge. "Strong." Vijar remarked.
The human didn't seem to care for the praise, he pulled back, and for seconds the two were locked in a tug of war, straining their bodies and grunting it out as the fighting went up around them, swarms of demihumans filling the gaps and taking on the badly outnumbered humans.
The tug of war was broken when the sword was twisted and pulled away, and the two circled one another, each more wary of the other, they darted in at once. Vijar played to his height, bringing the axe down toward head, shoulders, and torso.
But the human paladin, augmented by his martial arts, was avoiding them with the artfulness of a sparrow avoiding a hawk, striking back, playing to 'his' height, and attacking Vijar at the waist, thighs, and calves, places difficult to defend.
Vijar snarled as pain scored his body when the human drew first blood, the noise of humans around him was nearly gone, and at a glance, he could see why. ' This paladin is the last one here…' He smirked, the demihumans around him were already storming through the rest of the city, fighting was clearly thicker farther away as the undermanned garrison tried to create choke points to make stands.
' It won't last…' Vijar chuckled and leveled his axe at the Paladin. "Your city is already in the hands of the Queen of Frost, human. You are beaten, even if you are still alive."
They were circling one another, the face of the paladin was twisted in wrath, he held firm, without trembling or fear, raising his white blade up to his shoulder and pointing the tip toward Vijar. "Even if that's true, that doesn't mean you'll live to enjoy it!" The paladin spat, and the little white glob made ripples in a puddle of mixed human and demi-human blood, and as if it were a signal mutually agreed upon, the pair charged again.
The sword parried the axe, the axe parried the sword, the armor of the paladin took blow after blow from the axe, denting, cracking, and Vijar felt the wounds pile up on the thick hide of his body as his own blood stained his fur.
There was no breaking apart, no retreat, the two stayed in striking range of one another, ranging back and forth, the lone combatants still present at the wall itself, the noise of fighting receded farther and farther away from where they stood, the screams of the population dying down as people died or hid.
Fires began to spring up and paint the night with smoke enough that the full moon was hidden from view as if by all new clouds.
Until at last Vijar failed to avoid a deep slash that cut into his thigh and brought him down to one knee, giving them for the moment, equal height.
The human paladin brought his sword up for the finishing blow, and Vijar dropped his axe and dove forward, under the guard, and grappled the human, catching him in an embrace, and landing a bite down at the joining of the paladin's neck and shoulders. His teeth crunched through the armor, and the coppery taste of blood and the sweet taste of flesh filled his mouth as he closed his jaw, and then pulled back, tearing the wound open and fountaining blood over Vijar's face and body, spasming for a few seconds as the body's life ran out, before the catman let go, and dropped the paladin into a heap on the ground.
He swallowed what he took from the man's flesh, and licked his lips. ' They do taste good…' Vijar thought, and then attempting to take one more step, he fell forward and crashed to the ground beside his opponent, unable to move again.
"Prart… has fallen?" Calca gasped with dismay, "H-How? Gustav went out and-" She stopped her sentence cold.
"Is he dead?" She asked the messenger.
The court was filled with the new nobility, the last word they had of Gustav was a victory that cut off the path of Southern reinforcements, the expectation of a decisive battle to bring down Astraka, and end the invasion before any more damage could be done.
"No, my Lady. I come from his army," the kneeling messenger said, "he is besieging Prart now and has Duke Astraka trapped inside the walls."
Sighs of relief went up. But Calca's voice was not among them, she looked over to Kelart at her right hand beside the throne, "Astraka has a reputation for martial cunning… he must have avoided General Montagnés somehow… there's no certainty that he won't again."
"Your Majesty… you're not saying what I think you're saying, are you?" Kelart's hand went out reflexively to touch the Queen's shoulder, her fingers giving it a subtle squeeze.
' No wonder the rumors went up, that looked flirty even to me… and I was a virgin until only a few weeks ago.' Ainz reflected on his newfound sagely worldliness for a moment, his mind again turned to the absent Albedo, she hadn't reached out to him, but he could feel her hidden hand nonetheless.
"Yes." Calca answered with fierce determination, her slender hand forming into a fist on the throne, "We have a substantial host here, and can raise even more. I want to go and reinforce General Montagnés… we can put this runecraft equipment to the test!"
Ainz felt his heart practically sing, ' Nobody actually putting that to use has been a little frustrating… how can they want more of it if they don't really see it in action?'
Still, he glanced over to the Queen from where he sat at her left hand, "Calca, that is still dangerous, especially if you don't know what you're marching into. I will go with you, you called me here hoping for my magic, so let me use it, at least this much."
She seemed at war with herself, her eyes darting back and forth from Kelart to her husband-to-be, and even down to the floor at her feet. Excess dependency on a foreign king for combat support was a dangerous thing for a monarch, but her doubts seemed to vanish over the passing seconds.
"Yes… I-I will accept your help, whatever you can provide me… Ainz." She said, and gave him a smile that showed her pearl white teeth, and stretched out her left hand to cover the back of his right where it sat on the throne she had added to the great hall.
"Then I have something I have to do… some magic to use…" Ainz said and rose to his feet, he towered easily over the tallest of the nobles there, and in his mystic robes, he exuded power and authority. But inside, he had one clear determination above all else. ' I must get this finished… and go home. There is something I must do.'
"Join me in your quarters when you're ready." He said with urgency, and made his way out of the hall before anyone could even ask.
"Mages." Calca and Kelart said at once with a chuckle, and Calca sighed when Kelart squeezed her shoulder one more time before the Queen stood up and began to identify nobles to lead her forces.
Volume 6 C41
"The problem with people who go by the book, is that other people can read it." Neia said while her demihumans went down the far side of the hill. In principle, she erected hasty defenses in the form of crude walls the moment the distant army of Remedios came into view.
Their 'by the book' response was to hole up for a siege on a hill, and by contrast, the opposing army to besiege it and starve the enemy out.
However, what Neia actually did was erect the crude wooden walls to hide the fact that her army was going back down the other side.
The broad wildlands of the area were Neia's backyard for far too long, and taking her army through it was easy.
Remedios did as Neia predicted, her worn out army spent most of the day erecting a camp at the base of the massive hill and getting ready for a siege, they were still not done when Neia lost sight of them.
"She be there long, huh?" One of the young orc attendants asked her, and Neia could not keep her smile from being smug.
"Oh yes. It takes a long time to establish one of those camps, then she'll have to lay smaller defensive positions at each side of that giant ass of a hill, and only 'then' will they start to scout it. They won't figure out that it's empty for some time, and by the time they've figured out we've gone back toward Kalinsha?" She rubbed her hands together a little. "I won't pretend I'm not enjoying taunting that bitch… the dead gods know she deserves it. I'm sure she hated every second of that chase, seeing my banner everywhere we burned out, and I'm sure Vijar has captured Kalinsha by now anyway…"
It left a warm feeling in the heart of the Queen of Frost. She could easily picture Remedios kicking over a fence in a fit of tantrum and temper, taking her anger out on her own people, screaming at scouts to find where Neia went. ' I wonder how many the elves will kill before word gets to her… probably a fair few, those have been showing up in dribs and drabs since their representative made his first appearance.'
The demi-human army had no real trouble with forest beasts, not in numbers and knowing where to go, and being aware of the easy paths to take over the range of territory, Neia led them back to Kalinsha in short order.
The whole of her army cheered when they came within sight of the city, the blue claw banner fluttered proudly in the breeze above every tower, and demi-humans patrolled the walls with confidence and pride in every step or slither.
The yelling and happy dances were proof of their victory and helped their spirits take flight. Neia spread her wings out with a snap, "Ready the ambush, I'm going to go meet with Vijar and congratulate him!"
She took flight without another word, her army's cheering alerted the city, and so she was quickly spotted, she reached back behind her and scratched an itch on her lower back, and wore a contented grin as she sailed over the walls and headed straight for the administrative center. As she drew closer she made a mental note while looking at the open wall, ' I need to make sure I have an upper level entry to my palace so I can enter or leave by air.' She finished the thought and landed with a snap of her wings at the base of the steps of the building.
Seeing the Queen of Frost, the pair of bladers went down to their knees. "My Queen!" They shouted, and Neia handwaved their formality away.
"Yes, it's me, yes, we all made it." Her mood still at a peak, she flashed a winning, if fierce, smile toward the pair at the door. Behind her, she felt a few humans glancing at her, no, staring. She felt their fear, their hatred, their dread and loathing.
But Neia did not look over her shoulder to dignify it, "Just get the door." She said, and the bladers did as she bade, opening the thick brown oaken double doors, for her, and not closing them until she was several paces within.
The most convenient thing Neia found about Holy Kingdom fortifications and administrative buildings was their consistency. Whether you were in Prart, Hoburns, or Kalinsha, the layout was always the same. Nobody could ever be transferred somewhere new, and claim to be lost if they'd been in one of them somewhere else.
So Neia found it easy to reach the main office of the building, she walked past the blader guard, opened the door, and opened her mouth to greet Vijar… only for her mouth to stay open.
"Halisha?" She asked, stopping in mid step as the former king of the stone spitters snapped to attention. His long white hair hung freely around his greenish stone-like body, his eyes were hidden as always, and for an instant he said nothing.
Neia filled the gap, "Where is Vijar?"
Halisha darted his eyes left and right as if to search for an escape, and counted his blessings that they weren't visible to his Queen, before finally speaking up.
"My Queen, we have victory!" He tried to put enthusiasm into his voice.
Neia would have none of it. Out of the three great chiefs, Nasrene, Vijar, and Halisha Ankara, Halisha was the one with the greatest penchant for sadism. While he showed concern for his own, anything 'not' his own, was fair game for pain. It wasn't an endearing quality in the mind of the Queen of Frost, but his strength and courage made him useful as a fallback to Vijar.
"I can see that. Is Vijar in? I need to know our losses, Remedios will probably do a forced march all the way back here and I want us to be ready." Neia pressed the matter, and Halisha's broad shoulders slumped.
"Vijar is dead. A paladin killed him, though he also killed the paladin. I am sorry, My Queen." Halisha's rough gravel voice didn't convey much in the way of empathy, but as Vijar was 'one of theirs' Neia picked up some of it anyway.
"Our losses were few, we lost three hundred, and slew ten times that number to take the city. Olasird'arc is away responding to Nasrene's request for ocean beasts to help feed the many prisoner laborers." Halisha explained further, and Neia went quietly to the nearest desk, pulled out a chair, and sat down, her happiness evaporating like water poured onto a blazing flame.
"The one to kill him, was he skilled?" Neia asked the rhetorical question, already sure of the answer.
"Very." Halisha acknowledged.
Neia felt her heart tear in half. ' I never had comrades when I was a human, now I get them and I lose a comrade 'to' humans?! If there are gods out there, when I die I have to ask them why they loathe me so much?! What did I do?! Why?!' She raged in her head while keeping her voice calm, her frozen breath came out in a steady flow, frost settling over some of the objects on the desk, and they slowly began to crystallize within accumulating ice.
Neia finally stood up, "Prepare for a fight. When Remedios gets here, thinking I've taken the city, I will challenge her to a duel. If she accepts and I win, I will let her army surrender. If they do, we've won the east and we can take the prisoners home. But if we fight, and I lose ? Do not surrender. She will have you all tortured and killed. Do whatever the hell you want to them, I don't care. Just protect our Kingdom by any means necessary, do you understand me, Halisha?"
"M-My Queen?" Halisha counted himself a male of great courage, but the breath that came from his Queen was painful to be near, and the icy fury in her eyes, as if Halisha had taken Vijar's life himself, iced over his heart and killed the flame of his courage. Only murder lay in his Queen's eyes.
She went to the wall, backhanded it, smashing through the wood and stone, and scattering the debris outside, "There, that's better." Neia muttered, her wings spread out, and she took off again as fast as she had arrived in the first place.
Halisha sat on his frozen chair, unable to truly follow orders until the terror that froze his soul over, finally began to melt away.
Volume 6 C42
Having Nazarick find where Astraka was going proved even easier than Ainz expected, Demiurge expertly used the mirror of remote viewing and relayed the information to his Master with a joyful heart.
By the same token, dispatching a doppelganger as a messenger using a [Gate] spell from out of sight proved just as easy.
With that done, Ainz went to Calca's private chambers, ' I suppose they are to be mine as well… sort of.' Ainz thought and shivered, ' I wonder if Peroroncino ever had sex… if he did, maybe that is why he was so obsessed with it…' The feeling of her slender, strong thighs clasped to him, the arching body and shapely curves, the passionate kiss, and roaming hands as she gave herself over fully to his touch…
' No wonder overpopulation became a problem back home… who wouldn't do this as often as possible?!' He thought ecstatically and caught sight of a stupid, goofy grin on his face in the mirror. He put his hand over his forehead and dragged it down to his chin. "Calm down, Ainz. I know you're new at this but still!" He swore under his breath and thought back to his many dreams of Albedo's body entwined with his, the prior night, indeed many prior nights, his dreams were more intense than ever. In the past, it had always been merely her 'body' but the last few?
He recalled her face hovering over his, drawing in for a kiss, her whispered words in a throaty voice, ' I love you, and no matter what you'd done, I'd have loved you anyway…'
The words lingered still in his mind, though his own sense of guilt was still present, thinking back to his confrontations with the guardians and the battle maids… ' They all know, and nobody cares, I'm just The One Who Stayed, one among their creators, would it really be different in Albedo's case…? Has she really been right this whole damn time and I've been too dense to see it?!'
He had his back turned when the door to Calca's chambers opened and she entered alone, locking the door at her back, she gave him a little winsome smile and a rare demure look half away from him, half toward him while reaching her hands behind her back. "I see you know our customs."
Ainz said nothing for an instant, ' What the hell does she mean?!' He wondered, but not for long.
"I really am impressed, you must have learned everything about us, to learn that it is customary for royalty to enjoy a night of… lovemaking, before riding toward a battle." Calca's hesitation on the word wasn't lost on him, but she didn't hesitate in the unbinding of the back of her blue and white dress, nor did she hesitate to step out of it when only her long golden hair concealed her breasts from his eyes.
"Calca," Ainz said impulsively as he reached out to touch her, his hands fell to her hips, but her hands went to remove his robes, "you don't have to pretend with me."
She smiled a little bit up at his face, ' Objectively, he is the single most handsome figure I've ever seen, I can hardly believe he is a magic caster and not a warrior. If things were different? If I were different?' She contemplated as his robes fell away.
"Maybe not, but it feels good to pretend sometimes, and I'm used to pretending. Kelart and I have loved each other for a long time, and we've both played pretend. So… let us 'pretend' together for a little. Close your eyes, Allfather of Nazarick." Calca said and rose to her tiptoes. She didn't wait for him to obey, but put her fore and middle fingers above his eyelids, and dragged them down, closing his eyes for him.
"Now… pretend I am the woman you love more than anything in the world, and I will do the same. Though… you might have an easier time than I. Anything can go wrong in a war… we're lucky the Queen of Frost hasn't already taken Kalinsha or reached here… so for now, because anything might end us both for all we know? Let's pretend for a little while, and be happy." Calca said in a throaty voice, and with his clothing fallen to the floor, and the warmth and heat of her body pressed against his own, he had no will to refuse her.
' Albedo…' He thought, and kissed the Queen as they tumbled back into her bed, neither of them even once opening their eyes to end the game.
Not until morning at least.
They were awakened by a steady knock at the door, still entwined together, bodies slick with the proof of the previous night's passionate embraces. It was Calca who pushed herself up and put her hand to his chest to shake him awake.
"My Queen… Allfather… we are ready to march!" Kelart shouted from outside the door.
Ainz stirred with only a little prompting, her hand on his chest, for a moment he wanted to whisper Albedo's name, but his eyes fluttered open in time to see the golden cascade, and not the inky black, and he knew the truth. ' The game of pretend is over…' He told himself with an ache in his heart that he hadn't expected, and then forced himself to sit up.
"Very well!" Calca declared loud enough to be heard. "We… we will require a bath first, and then we will go."
"I have taken the liberty of having the bath prepared in advance, Your Majesty." Kelart replied in a more subdued voice than before.
Calca sat up beside the man who would be her nation's new King. "All I ask," she said quietly, "is that you never do anything against her, if ever you grow jealous, as some men do, come to me. Do not hurt her."
"I promise. I swear it on my name." Ainz declared as emphatically as she requested, and they were quick about preparing themselves. The baths of the Roble Holy Kingdom were nice enough, simple large open pools, rounded rather than squared, and the water was not a hot spring, but rather just water heated by enchanted rocks that lined the stone pools.
But as a man of Japan still, Ainz found it more than refreshing, it was down right reinvigorating, and he felt his entire body relax into the water while the attendants scrubbed him. ' When I was a skeleton, the slime bath was suitable, but now that I have flesh, nothing beats hot water again… and there is something to be said for having an attendant!' He groaned as the servant at his back scratched and scrubbed at Ainz's broad back. ' I can't use the maids for this but… perhaps I could acquire a few from outside of Nazarick for this?' It bore more thinking, but it was unimportant in the moment, he chose to simply enjoy the echoing noise of the splashing water and the sound of the scrubbing brushes grinding against his skin.
It was nothing if not regrettable when the servants stood back, their bodies clad in white bathing robes that clung to their wet skin, bowed, and said, "The Allfather is now clean."
Within the hour he was on horseback, trotting to the front of the ranks of five hundred runecraft clad soldiers of Queen Calca, and another hundred of the soldiers of the Kingdom of Nazarick, armed in Yggdrasil equipment… nothing top tier, but raising them to heights they could never have dreamt of before, and with them all, several thousand soldiers and paladins clad in the equipment of their Holy Kingdom.
Queen Calca was already waiting for him at the head, and her face was neutral, no smile nor frown, no looking around, no waving to the public. She wore a white breastplate armor painted bright blue with the symbol of her house in the center. Her dress, no longer formal, was something of a 'war skirt' with many metal bands secured to leather that hung loose around her thighs. Without even guessing, Ainz recognized that what she wore was enchanted, and unable to think of what else to say to the stone-faced Queen he asked…
"What spells are on your equipment?"
That made her smile a little, she raised a golden eyebrow at him, "Always the caster, aren't you Ainz?" She asked, and he gave a polite smile in return before replying…
"Professional interests don't change much."
"Another thing we have in common." She acknowledged and put a hand on her 'war skirt'. "These are enchanted for luck, and my breastplate," she gave the center a little tap, "is resistant to piercing damage. If I take any blows at all, this is where it will be, where I am best protected."
"Clever." Ainz acknowledged, and he meant it, smarter players from Yggdrasil used similar tactics, maxing defense in one thing, and then doing everything they could to ensure that attacks would target that. It was considered a risky but advanced strategy for self preservation, and mostly used by support players.
The horn blew at their back and they began to lead their little force out of the gate, Calca's face lost its pleasantness and became grave again, some of the color gone from her cheeks, and a barely disguised tremor to what skin of hers was visible, Ainz was sure he was the only one who could see them. He leaned toward her ever so slightly and whispered to her as they passed beneath the portcullis, "Don't worry, everything will be fine, trust me."
"What did you do?" Calca asked, equal parts curious and commanding, her big blue eyes fixed on her future husband.
Ainz only gave her a knowing smile, "I told you to trust me." He then winked at her, and a breathy little laugh passed her lips, she inched her horse a little closer to his own.
"Alright then, keep your secrets." She said, and some of the color returned to her cheeks as they rode on.
Volume 6 C43
Remedios' arrival back in Kalinsha led to her howling like an angry she-wolf, "How?! How?! How?!" She demanded to know as if anybody had the answer, "She got around us and captured it… no… No, that was why her army seemed so small! Damn it!" She swore again, her hands grabbed at her dark brown hair and pulled, threatening to tear it out in clumps.
The walls were manned with demi-humans, and even at a glance it was obvious, ' There are a lot of them… and worse, there are people in there…' Remedios cursed and clenched her hand around the sacred sword, one of the Kingdom's treasures, listening to the ringing bell of the city and the noise of various demihumans taking up their battle positions, her pulse raced and her blood burned inside her. The vein in her forehead throbbed, her face flushed red with fury.
Worse… ' They've got all those provisions… everything we stored, not to mention all the people I spent all that time evacuating… everything we tried to keep them from, and just like that, they have it! We don't have enough supplies or equipment for a siege, but even I know if I try to withdraw, they can just chase me down…'
In a word, it was bad, and Remedios knew it was bad.
Her brow furrowed as she tried to slog through her emotions to reach for the hopeful safe ground of solutions.
But that was brought up short when she saw the least likely thing in the world. ' Is that… her?!' Remedios did a double take, it seemed impossible, but from atop the wall of the city she saw a single winged figure jump down and land in front of the gate.
"Remedios!" Neia roared, her voice filled the air as if it came from a dragon's own maw, "Remedios!" She called out again across the long divide between the two.
"Remedios! You killed To'Raven! I sought peace, you asked for war! Are you happy now you've got your way?! A handful of orcs and I have your wall, your city, tens of thousands of humans building my city and my Kingdom! Was that the trade you wanted?!" Neia yelled the taunt back at her one time idol.
Remedios fumed.
"Should we massacre you?! Remember the wall? Or does a red stain on a stone remember that much?!" Neia taunted her again, and Neia smiled at herself. ' This is so damn petty… but… I can't help but enjoy baiting this bitch…' She briefly mused.
"You can't win! But how about I give you a shot at what you really want?!" Neia offered with a proud cry that was celebrated by the cheering of her demi-human army within the city.
"Come and get me ! A duel! I win, your army surrenders! I lose, well I'm sure you know how it goes!" Neia stretched out her hand and made a small 'come hither' gesture.
"Or are you afraid?!" Neia shouted out again, "Afraid to fight someone who isn't tied to a post ?!"
She could feel the hate boring through her from where she could see Remedios on her horse.
' If she does nothing, her army's fighting spirit is as good as broken, and they're already in a bad spot even without knowing about my ambush.' Neia could only smile with contentment and fall silent then, she waited, and waited.
The weight of the moment hung thick in the air, the army arrayed before fallen Kalinsha was the majority of the army in the east, anyone would be hesitant about losing it…
"Don't forget, we've still got your mother and father!" Remedios shouted in a blind rage.
Neia winced. But fired back, "And I've got thousands of mothers and fathers… So what will it be?!"
Remedios winced and seethed, "A duel then!"
"Agreed!" Neia walked closer to Remedios' lines, stopping at the halfway point between the two.
Remedios began to trot her horse forward, it cantered without fear, seemingly oblivious to the possibility of its death, ' Poor dumb animal.' Remedios briefly sympathized and patted the horse's powerful pure white neck as she closed the gap between herself and the Queen of Frost.
She stopped when she was twenty paces away, her armor gleamed in the light, the tripointed symbol of her Majesty stood out prominently on her chest, her armored legs and arms looked no stronger than anyone else's at a glance… but Neia knew the truth. ' She's monstrously strong, always has been, but then… so am I.'
Neia bared her teeth, the sharp fangs replacing the ones she had what felt like a lifetime ago.
"You always were an animal." Remedios said as she put her helmet on her head and took up a straight stance holding her broadsword in front of herself. "All the dragon did was reveal what was already there."
Neia clicked her talons together and brought her wings in, "I am what I am because you made it so… this is all your doing, Remedios." She said while drawing an arrow from the quiver on her back. "This however, is the last time you'll be doing anything."
The martial arts of both were activated so fast that nobody on either side was sure who was saying what.
[Greater Agility Boost] .
[Fortress] .
[True Flight] .
[Lesser Strength] .
[Flow Acceleration] .
[Lesser Hardening] .
[Ability Boost] .
Neia loosed her arrows as fast as she could from her position, but Remedios was batting them out of the way with her sword, a cry of bloodlust in her throat, her eyes fixed on her prey, the armies of both commanders cheering their side on, but neither champion heard or saw anything but their own opponent. The arrows came faster, and Remedios began smacking them out of the way with her open hand as she closed the killing distance.
She felt a sting in her knee as an arrow she failed to notice struck her squarely in the center, but she didn't even slow down, ' So close!' Remedios cried out in her head as the promise of dragonid bloodshed loomed large in her mind.
Neia avoided the strike, diving away, drawing more arrows, and loosing them as fast as before, striking at Remedios' arms and legs, the Paladin screamed out her frustration, "Stop running!"
Neia only fired more, [Boost shot] . She said, imbuing the arrow with some of her mana, the infuriated Remedios went to bat the arrow out of the way like before…
To her, it all seemed to take place in slow motion, her brown eyes widened, the arrow was glowing, coming at her like a shooting star, her sword swept out to stop it, only for the arrow to go past. She felt it impact her helmet, and howled with pain, she saw the sky as she began sailing backward, her hand still clenching her sword, her body arched as her helmet was sent flying, a crumpled, broken mess that rolled far, far away from the fight.
The demi-humans' cheers only egged Remedios on. "Damn you!" She shouted when she felt the ground thud against her back and she finally slid to a stop.
Neia's smile of triumph when her arrow hit, died on her face when she heard Remedios curse. ' Adamantite helmet… it has to be…' She thought as the woman stood and dashed toward her with rage fueled speed, the sword of the former head of the Paladin Order rose in a slash that would cut Neia from thigh to throat if it were allowed, and the dragonid Queen jumped backward, releasing her bow. The sword cut through it, severing the string and the arch in one strike.
A simple thing, merely a tool, but it belonged to Neia, and Remedios had broken it. The two could almost not believe it occurred, Neia stared down at it, dumbstruck for just a moment as Remedios picked it up and held it aloft like a trophy.
Her soldiers cheered, while Neia's rumbled and raged.
"You think you disarmed me?! No… not even close !" Neia snarled and charged forward.
"It doesn't matter! You're dead either way! Holy Strike!" Remedios yelled and white light struck with Remedios's gesture of her blade, the pure white of the whitest cloud surrounded and hid Neia from view. "That's it for you! It's over! It's over for you, you animal !" The paladin shouted, and then, as cheers went up from the humans and moans of horror from the demi-humans, Remedios took a step back in horror, for she heard…
Laughter.
"Really? This is your trump card? That barely hurt at all!" Neia said and charged out of the light as it began to shrink and fade away, emerging from it as if she were born there, Neia's wings batted and drew her forward, Remedios began to swing her sword like mad, and Neia swung her claws, they batted against one another, deflecting blows, ducking and dodging. Neia kicked at Remedios' legs, particularly at the knee she struck before, sending Remedios briefly down to the injured knee, she shouted her taunt. "Kneel to the claw of the Queen of Frost!" Neia mocked.
"How did you not die?! You're evil!" Remedios shouted the question and shot up, using her forehead to strike Neia's nose and sending a spray of blood down to the ground. ' She burned villages and towns, destroyed the wall, invaded our country, she has to be evil?!' Remedios's mind went nearly mad from her confusion.
"No, I'm not. And I never was." Neia said as she and Remedios straightened up. "You can fall knowing that you were wrong!" Neia hissed out, wiped her face, and flew. Her wings carried her close to the woman, and Remedios' sword went up, and then came down to end it all. Neia caught Remedios' hand at the wrist, got her own feet under her in the nick of time, between the strike and stopping it… they were both stopped cold.
The ground burst around them as they sank into it with the force of the blow, it felt as if the world cracked, Neia felt herself sinking down to one knee.
Remedios was smiling, wild, fanatical, she put her other hand on the sword, "Kneel before Her Majesty's symbol, animal… and it will be a quick death this time!" Remedios grunted out.
They shook, the struggle held them both fast. Both armies held their breath as they could feel the fight coming to an end.
Neia stared up at Remedios, focusing the natural terror of her eyes on the woman, "You have… t-terrible breath… Remedios." Neia huffed, and it was such an 'off' thing to say, that Remedios said nothing back to it.
Her eyes widened however when Neia looked up at her and said, "But mine… is worse !" She then exhaled, breathing frost into Remedios's face, the freezing breath began to blister the skin, turning it red, cracking it, breaking it, burning the paladin with cold in her eyes, nose, cheeks, and even inside her mouth.
Remedios howled at the sudden pain, tilting her head back, and Neia used the leverage of the momentary lapse to clench her taloned fingers onto Remedios' finger, ripping several of them free from the hand, the sword tumbled away to embed itself into the ground.
She then jumped toward the staggering paladin, and jammed her talons into Remedios' eyes.
The pain lanced through the paladin, tearing away the world of sight and leaving only the world of pain. She used her good hand to land a punch at Neia's torso, and it staggered the Queen of Frost back, but the pain and blindness were still present in the Paladin.
Neia clutched her body for a moment, the bruises and cuts she had were all like shattered glass that was on fire, her ribs, ' I think she broke six of them…' The Queen of Frost realized, and clutched the injured place, she closed her hand up, and began to punch in return, her blows hit like hammers against Remedios' face, the sound of crunching bones followed every strike as blood stained the scaled fingers of Neia's hand, and the Paladin finally went limp, falling onto her back.
Neia swayed once, ' I think that might have torn more than I thought… internal bleeding… this isn't good…' She told herself, but raised her fist into the air. The demi-humans watching cheered the victory loud enough that the sky itself might have gone deaf from the noise.
Neia's wings sprang out wide as she turned to the humans, she grabbed the limp and bloody head of Remedios by her brown and now very wet hair, and held the woman up, "Surrender! Or join her!" She then began to beat her wings, and flew back toward the city, a tiny groan from the unconscious woman revealed that life still hung by a thread, but Neia had what she wanted.
' I have my target, my prisoner, and my prize… at last!' She thought with glee, and wondered as a mere afterthought, what Remedios' army would do, but to it the thought was added that… ' It doesn't matter, I've already won.'
Volume 6 C44
Gustav found it very hard to believe the message that he received days before, indeed it seemed almost impossible, but then the more he thought about it… ' The more that seems like something Astraka would have done, hell it's almost the same thing as he's already done once before…'
So he launched a tentative general assault on multiple positions, and found soldiers made of straw and only a handful of real soldiers, a mere fragment of the whole army. ' They could have held out for weeks, maybe months with what they had on hand.' Gustav thought and cursed himself, his soldiers thought him a military genius who had won three battles in a row, they felt invincible.
But after days on the march since then, ' I only feel like a fool chasing a ghost, every time I think I'm going to win, he's tricked me. He has fewer quality soldiers, almost no paladins, just militia and household soldiers, but so far he's taken Prart, delayed me by I don't even know how long, killed almost all my scouts… I look like I'm winning, but feel like I'm losing, and I'm chasing this bastard all the way to Hoburns…' Gustav's self recrimination never stopped.
But it was hard not to admire his enemy as well.
' At least he has to take the roundabout ways, I can cut him off, there's no way he's expecting that I'll have caught on to him this soon…' That much, Gustav could satisfy himself with.
Forced marches over the main highways would give him a massive advantage, letting him cover twice the distance, and for good measure, ' Buying up wagons and horses to race our soldiers ahead didn't hurt either…' It made his forces more mobile than ever, and it was this choice that, on his sixth day, brought him his greatest surprise.
A messenger.
"A missive from the Holy Queen." The young boy with the short hair said and rendered a quick salute. He wore the light metal studded leather armor of a messenger in wartime, his cheeks were flushed, but as he'd ridden in one of the carts, it wasn't from exhaustion.
' Very young, still nervous.' Gustav accepted the message without comment and opened it immediately.
' On the road to Hoburns… blah blah blah… things I already… oh…' Gustav read it and skimmed the familiar material before seeing the last. ' The Holy Queen… and the Allfather are going to intercept him… they want to keep him back from the city…?!'
It was brave.
It was foolish.
It was…
' Just like the Calca I remember…' His eyes misted over briefly, her devotion to her subjects, ' It's not gone… buried under anger, bitterness, and unfortunate pragmatism… but not gone… she wants to keep them safe.' The seal was genuine, that much was for sure, and given the last message he received revealed Astraka's deception, he couldn't bring himself to doubt it now.
The army marched as hard and fast as they could to catch up to the only place that Astraka could likely be intercepted. A crossroads between multiple locations, it had a few towns, ample supplies, and more importantly, an old road little used anymore that an army could easily use to take itself straight to the main road and then up to the very gates of the capital.
' Now if only we make it in time…' He prayed to the gods, and watched as another wagon raced away with another load of foot soldiers to join the Queen.
The Roble Holy Kingdom's mightiest military arm was not easily broken, not even by the defeat and possible death of Remedios. Unsurprisingly, it did hesitate. Neia could not hear the sound of mass surrenders or weapons falling from fingers that lost their nerve. She heard only her own voice hissing in pain as the healer held his hand to Neia's chest and the dim blue light began to work as the [Cure Wounds] spell took away her pain and restored her flesh to itself inside and out.
When that was over, she went to the window, ignoring Remedios for the moment and allowing her subordinates to guard and bind her as they saw fit.
From that window she could see out over most of the city, and beyond the wall to where the Holy Kingdom Army dithered.
They were wavering… unclear… uncertain… ' Go on… give it up…' Neia cursed them, begged them with prayers to gods she no longer believed in. She held her hands tightly behind her back and glanced over her shoulder, "Halisha, you lead them."
"My Queen." The stone spitter said and left her presence.
' They're not going to give in.' Neia knew it probably before the paladins did, ' And there is no way they'd just let us leave, not with Remedios… they have to be broken.' She wiped a tear of anger from her eye, her wings trembled at her back, she reached down and scratched an itch on her lower back, near her tailbone.
' Damn it.' She hissed, a short while later, the gates were opening, and her army was marching out.
The human army arrayed against the city shouted their answer as one, "If you want us as prisoners, come and take us!"
Neia went to the table and snatched up the horn which sat on the desk, and took flight out of the 'improvised' door she'd made in a fit of temper.
Her wings beat at the air and carried her aloft, the little curved horn came up to her lips, and hovering above the city, both armies, and the world itself, she pressed her lips to it and blew. The hidden soldiers were deep in the wood, they would take time to respond, ' But that's fine. Just fine, it's better if the battle is already joined.'
The humans hesitated, but it seemed that whoever was in charge decided that it was related only to the army in front of them.
The stone spitters began their part first, and human archers did their best to match. The lack of shields was a weakness for the demi-humans, one Neia privately resolved to correct, but they compensated by having those with the thickest hides and largest bodies up front, ogres could easily handle arrows at that range.
Most would barely feel it, here and there an orc, or a zern, or a blader, or a stonespitter fell.
But the cost was light, and the humans had numbers on their side.
Watching from where Neia was, she could feel the flow of battle like it was the flowing of her own blood, the beating of her own heart, the breathing of her own lungs… it was part of her. The commander after Remedios might have had a bold spirit, but arrayed against tens of thousands of demihumans, his spirit was flagging.
The occasional screams came up from both sides, and Neia's beating wings kept her aloft, out of reach, and watching. ' My bow… I wish I'd thought to bring it…' She mentally cursed Remedios again while she waited for one side to break.
The drums of the human army went up first, and the pikes snapped down in perfect unison, a wall of steel points. In spite of herself, pride swelled Neia's heart for her former people, her anger, her hatred, her resentment, it melted away under what in that moment was a shining beacon of human potential. The humans began their advance, stepping forward as a unit to use their discipline as they always had, against demihuman indiscipline.
Only to receive the shock of their lives after the second drum of the human army, when atop the wall, Neia's own drums beat.
Orcs and bladers formed up in tight ranks, long spears of their own ready to use, the various races of her army, moved as units, squads, companies, platoons, from above, it was like watching squares shift.
Her sense of pride shifted as the two sides began to draw closer, the mounted humans began to charge towards Neia's bafolk and other great running races, the charge was, for the first time in memory, being met by an orthodox countercharge.
The clash sent screams of all races upward toward the sky in unison, blood and bone trampled underfoot, horses falling with dying whinnies, and paladins whose training was worth years of investment, died before shedding even a drop of blood. Every man or bafolk who believed themselves to be the main character in some grand epic, died in an instant of shock or confusion if they were lucky. Or feel screaming, bleeding out and wailing, clutching at severed or shattered limbs.
On the fringe of the forests, Neia saw motion begin, the elves that had come over to her, along with some small contingents of the army she split up in her distraction… ' And now they're right behind the humans, the whole right wing…'
The elves initiated the ambush with arrows, while the rest of her people began their long, loping runs.
The arrows fell like a rain of steel into the midst of the far right, paladins and squires fell, shock etched on their faces as they collapsed into the churned up ruined earth and tried to see what had bitten them from behind.
Wails of shock went up all along the right flank as the steel rain went on and on until the soldiers on foot crashed into the backs of those who could not fight both sides at once. Blader champions severed entire bodies apart at the waist, while ogres began to smash those who had become entangled with their own people and could neither advance nor retreat.
' Now… it's over.' Neia nodded and closed her eyes. "Press on, Demalbion! Press on, left and center, for the right has victory!"
Heartened by the cry, or horrified by it, the spirit of the humans began to break up…
With nothing else to do, the Demalbion Queen dove toward the fighting of the left flank, barrelling into a paladin and tearing out his throat, sending him gurgling and spasming on the ground.
The fight was short and quick after that, the humans began to fragment, the right wing was demolished, and from there the whole line was rolled up as the victorious Demalbion demi-humans began to mass over the rear of the rest of the long line.
And the trickle of a rout became a flood.
Neia paid little mind to that, whatever Halisha chose to do in pursuit of the finishing blow was an object lesson that in Neia's mind, ' They very much deserve everything they fucking get!' The burned husks of the spriggans turned into firewood remained foremost in her mind, and she let her demi-humans drive off the rest.
Queen Calca sat on horseback beside Ainz and watched Astraka form up, "We're badly outnumbered, is this really going to be easy?" She asked, and Ainz nodded along.
"You liked my little surprise with Gustav, didn't you, Calca?" He asked rhetorically, and she gave a rapid, enthusiastic nod.
"Magic like that, nobody could ever get the drop on us again, it was amazing!" She said with a rapid bobbing of her head, out in the field, some of her regal demeanor seemed to have relaxed, she rode closer to him, and as the battle loomed when Astraka's army was spotted, she remained even closer. She seemed only to be truly at ease when they were alone in the tent, her body would relax, and she would lie on their field bed with him, holding her body against him as if in search of warmth, even if they were not mating, though why she was so ardent, she hadn't said, nor did he ask.
The drums and fifes of the Southern Holy Kingdom's nobles, marked time for the opposing army as they lined up for the fight, "They won't resist long, I promise you." He said to her, and Calca tried to force a smile.
"I'm no coward, I won't run… but if I'm never in this position again for the rest of my life, I won't shed any tears over the bards not singing of my battlefield valor." She let out a little nervous laughter through trembling lips, but Ainz only winked at her.
"This won't be a battle. Or not much of one." He said, "Go on, sound the advance and wait here, I will follow the bulk of the army, do my part, and let Gustav do the rest afterward."
"Gustav?" She asked, and again he only winked at her.
She sighed and turned to face the drummer, "Go on." She commanded.
The drums went up, their thunder from the ground outdoing any thunder to come from the sky, and the soldiers of the Kingdom of Nazarick, by all appearances ordinary humans, formed up in a single 'V' formation with one champion at the front, a mere hundred men, began to march.
At their right and left flanks were two long lines of two hundred and fifty men each, all wearing runecraft armor and bearing runecraft weapons.
Beyond them were squares of hundreds, a mix of paladins and squires bearing the common equipment of their station.
Ainz waited, and began to follow behind the army, aligning himself with the 'V' whose point was toward the Southern Holy Kingdom's center. He cantered his horse forward and cast his first spell. [Greater protection from arrows] .
This was a gamble, but from his recollections of Punitto Moe he guessed that the archers would target his center with the curious looking soldiers and thin lines to create a breach.
The steel rain came down from Duke Astraka's host… and hit the dome that was centered around Ainz, then bounced away, falling uselessly to the ground.
Another flight, and another, and another, more feathers were in the air than in a flock of birds, and yet the falling rain of steel continued to be repelled.
On the far wings, the cavalries began to charge, but his infantry and those of the Holy Queen ignored it and went forward, the horsemen would taunt one another for a time before engaging…
Then the champion hit, clad in Yggdrasil gear, bearing a long bardiche, it was really just 'trash equipment', but the bright purple and red hues of his soldiers, whose looks suggested that they were merely for ceremony, quickly became a source of horror. This 'trash gear' drops from the days when the guild was made of level sixty members, might as well have been gifts of the gods.
They began to rip through the center, sending bodies flying away with mass enhanced strength, batting horses end over end as if they were merely kicking babies out of the way. The runecraft lines were the next to meet their marks, and though they didn't do the same… each man was worth five or ten by comparison.
' What the hell is happening?!' Astraka cried in alarm as he watched a soldier sail overhead as if he'd been thrown by a giant.
"I don't know!" One of his aids shouted with a cry of dismay.
Another man went screaming overhead to land end over end, rolling like a stone until he stopped both moving and screaming after tumbling another thirty feet.
"What the hell is this?!" Astraka moaned, he saw the writing on the wall, somehow. ' They brought something we never dreamed of to the fight… all the planning in the world, I could never win against this, not in a thousand years!' He yowled like a wounded cat in his mind as his soldiers' cries of pain were compounded more and more.
"It might be that mage! They have a caster in the back…. If we target him, my Lord… !" The aide cried out, his face drawn and eyes wild, his hand shaking as he pointed toward the robed mage on horseback.
"Fine! Signal the cavalry! Get them to target that man! It's the only chance!" Astraka steeled his heart and put on his helmet, he grabbed his horse and mounted up, "Have them follow me, if I fail, perhaps they'll succeed!"
He didn't wait for the aid to answer his orders, nor did he look back to see the flags waving and giving the signal to the cavalry to cease their skirmishing, nor did he stop to see that those were obeyed either.
Astraka held out his lance and charged ahead, the thin lines of the soldiers in strange equipment had one weakness, and that was that they were thin, and thin lines naturally spread out as people found foes to fight, they separated, split.
"Damn him…" Astraka cursed, he guessed that mage was the reason the arrows weren't working either, ' Can I get through with a horse?' He wondered, but believed so as the infantry ahead of the mage seemed to be able to be engaged… if not killed.
The thunder of the horses hooves were heavy on the ground, a rolling thunder given by the earth under its hooves to warn anything in front of it to get out of the way.
Even full grown ogres could fall to the charge of an armored warhorse, Astraka narrowed his focus, he charged between the ranks of men on foot, avoiding coming within striking distance of their strangely effective weapons. A lifetime of training went into this… and he did his best.
They raced past his vision as he went between them, going around the V took a little longer, but after a brief and perfect loop, he was facing his enemy. Strangely, despite being mounted, the caster in the white robes did not run away.
Instead, he dismounted from his horse. ' Is he going to cast a spell… no, it's fine, don't think about it!' Astraka told himself and spurred his horse forward, ' Just get close enough to stab them and that's the end of any caster!' He told himself, but the caster didn't seem inclined to run.
Astraka gritted his teeth, the caster was truly massive, nigh seven feet tall, and even more broad than he looked, ' Should have been a warrior.' The passing thought came to mind, his lance lowered, aimed at the heart of the heart of his troubles… he shouted out a battlecry, "For the Holy Kingdom!"
He sucked on his teeth, bracing himself for the impact.
But there was none, faster than his eye could truly see, his lance was batted aside as if it were nothing, and the hand of the caster came up…
He had only a moment to realize what happened, as he tumbled forward, he saw that the caster had grabbed and held the throat of his horse. Not even one inch of ground was lost to the warhorse. ' No… it's not possible…' Astraka's conscious mind told him as he sailed, flailing his limbs about end over end until he hit the ground and rolled into the grass of the battlefield a dozen feet from the caster who became the bane of his existence.
Ainz squeezed the throat of the warhorse, it tried to whinny, and couldn't. It tried to kick, but it couldn't rear up. His hands held it with ease. He squeezed, and held, and squeezed… until the animal fell with a thump at his feet. He turned around, walking toward the fallen man in the exquisite armor, shockingly enough, the man was alive. The warrior, ' No, he must be a noble, the commander.' Ainz realized. The commander was scrambling to his feet, reaching for his sword, breathing hard, Ainz raised his hand and leveled one finger toward the sword wielder.
[Mass Effect], [Aura of Despair Level One] . He released the skill, and the aura began to emanate over the battlefield, dark smoke rolled outward from his body like a plague, sweeping over man and beast, cavalry that had been charging at him, froze, fell, and trembled with terror beyond all reason.
"Do you surrender?" Ainz asked of the man in front of him.
The sword fell from nerveless fingers, the body of the man who could only have been Duke Astraka, shook like he was a child, afraid of the dark all over again, and he fell to his knees.
The aura spread from person to person like an infection. Some few had courage enough to run for their lives… but most only froze and fell to their knees.
"I surrender." Duke Astraka said in a childish whimper.
His was the most dignified of the lost, across the field, others cast themselves in obeiscant positions, faces down into blood slickened mud and begging for their lives.
Far, far out of reach, more drums could be heard, ' And that, unless I miss my guess, would be Gustav.' Ainz thought and breathed a sigh of relief that his prediction had been correct.
"Secure the prisoners, treat the wounded, and prepare to go home !" Ainz shouted to the army of the Queen, and the cheers went up from one end of the field to the other.
Volume 6 C45
The prisoners taken at the Second Battle of Kalinsha were far more than Neia anticipated, though the demi-humans hadn't much cared about human wellbeing or 'surrenders', the value of prisoners was something Neia emphasized often enough to keep them at least willing to capture the wounded as long as they didn't run.
Every wagon in the city was confiscated, and more from the surrounding abandoned towns, all to send her captives back into her Kingdom. But she did one more thing in secret.
A single horse dispatching word to Hoburns, to let the Holy Queen know that Remedios Custodio had been captured. ' If she's not willing to negotiate peace now… I will just have to burn down the whole damn Kingdom… I really don't want to do that, but what else is there?' Neia wondered, Astraka's alliance with her was one purely of convenience, his promises seemed genuine, but even if they were? ' Would the 'Holy King Caspond' keep those promises on the throne?'
She had no way to know for sure. And all things considered, ' She really did want what was best for her people… even if she didn't always know what that meant, that makes her more reliable…' As Neia contemplated this, she went to enjoy a feast, certain above all else, that at least now the war would take a predictable course.
Kelart stood in front of the Holy Queen's throne, she declined to ever sit there, even if she was technically in charge while the Queen was away, her eyes far too often turned to wondering how her lady was. Going after Astraka was a dangerous and bold move, which she made sure to spread word about. "The Queen does not want to endanger the city! So she goes to fight the traitor herself and end this threat!"
It saw Calca gaining new heights of popularity not seen since before the time of troubles had begun. A Queen who put her body between danger and her people, that was what Kelart longed for them to see. ' That is what she is. That is why I love her so. She's that kind of woman, not six times in a thousand years do we get a monarch like that anywhere in the world.' Her heart swelled again within her breast, and it held that great size until the moment the sweating, weary messenger rushed in without so much as a word or a gesture, he fell stumbling to Kelart's feet before the nobles and the throne and held up his scroll.
"Kalinsha has fallen to the Queen of Frost! General Remedios Custodio has been captured! The Frost Queen sends terms of peace!" He gasped out every word, struggling to breath, his fingers shook and the scroll with them in his unsteady hand.
"The army?" Kelart forced herself to ask.
"Wiped out… I… I was one, what was not captured is dead or fled… she now has most of the east…" He gulped several times, and Kelart's fingers trembled in horror as she accepted the scroll.
She opened it, slowly, and found a ring Remedios wore, still on the severed finger. "No…" Kelart tried to deny it with a tiny word, but the ring and the finger it was on, refused to disappear. The flesh was wrapped in a little preserving cloth, making it not only fresh, but… ' it's still warm… if I remember my lessons, that means the body itself is still alive, but no healing spell has been cast on her…'
There was only one mad thing Kelart could think to do… she closed her eyes over the finger, and the scroll, and pointed to a series of nobles one right after the other. "You five will run things as a council until the Queen returns, I have something I have to do."
Kelart left the room without a word, shoving the letter and the finger into the hands of the nearest noble, who took a step back as it was pressed into his chest and he dropped with a gasp of disgust and horror, the finger rolled away a little until the signet ring came to a halt.
Nobody moved to pick it up.
Kelart went to her private quarters, where she kept all her mystical gear, her magic items, her scrolls, even a few expensive crystals. She threw on her rings, her cloak, a necklace with the fly spell, everything that enhanced her magic. She then raced to the private quarters of her Queen, she'd been there often enough to know what she needed. The most important files of the Kingdom were kept closely guarded… but with the Queen's signet ring, she could access them with ease.
The papers were where she knew they would be, a sealed box built into the floor, everything she had on the Slane Theocracy's involvement, orchestration of the conflict, and including their evident desire to use the demi-humans in their plans. ' My only hope… is that she doesn't hate us yet…' Kelart swallowed hard and took out a copy scroll, the blue flames went up over the stack, and each one became two. She borrowed a small box, packed the copies, and returned the rest.
She then rushed to the balcony her Queen's room held, and whispered the command. [Fly] . A faint blue aura engulfed her as the necklace activated, and she shot up into the sky and began to head east. ' He must have run a horse or two to death to get to me, and then half run himself to death besides… but with flight magic, I can get there in hours, not days… sister… please… please be alright!'
It was a bold move, a desperate move, and Kelart knew it. ' With Remedios captured, our army shattered, the wall and Kalinsha taken, and her brother a hostage too… even 'when' she beats Astraka… What choice is there? But this one wants only one thing… my sister's life. A life that was bargained for already…'
The air was cold so high up, the world seemed so very small, the landscape raced underneath and every second seemed like an hour, her teeth chattered, and as the necklace began to run out of mana, a crystal kicked in to boost it, holding Kelart aloft.
So it went as she made her way to Kalinsha, it was pitch black, ' Curfew I suppose, assuming she hasn't just slaughtered everybody.' Kelart reasoned, but as she descended, she noticed the lack of birds and the lack of the smell of decay, at least outside of the battlefield, where a handful of demihumans were still at work digging graves for the nameless and numberless dead.
Birds were still out picking at the feast of flesh that war had given them, and the smell of blood was thick in that area still. But Kelart had only one aim, where one light clearly shone, in the administrative center. And true to her hopes, the Queen of Frost made it easy to identify where she worked by virtue of having an oversized hole in the wall.
She shot inside like she'd been launched from an arrow, landed, rolled and popped up to her feet only to see the Queen of Frost already springing up from behind the desk where she sat writing something.
The dragonid woman still had, to Kelart's surprise, some very human features. She still had hair, although it was whitish blue, she still had a human shaped face, slender arms, strong legs, and she wasn't particularly tall. She even had a human woman's bosom still, and a human woman's curves, though neither were exceptional in terms of feminine charm. Her face, Kelart noted, was as fearsome as rumor said, and a murderous rage seemed to sit there at all times.
The dragonid opened her mouth and made ready to spring into attack. "Don't call the guards! I'm not here to fight!" Kelart shouted, raising up her hands, and then falling to her knees.
"I'm here to beg!" She said, and the dragonid stopped, her mouth closed.
"Beg?" Neia asked, her brow furrowed. "Who are you? How did you even fly this far…?"
"My name is Kelart… Kelart Custodio… you have my older sister in your custody… y-you sent me her finger." Kelart lowered her eyes and pressed her forehead to the ground.
"Please give her back." She said as if asking the floor.
"If you need revenge for what she did… and I know what she did… I am a Custodio. You can have my life in exchange! That should satisfy you, shouldn't it?!" Kelart pleaded, her brown hair tumbled over the floor, and she felt the staring ice blue eyes fall over her.
"Remedios' sister… yes," Neia rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "Yes I've heard of you, supposedly you're a prodigy, even a genius mage, am I wrong? Personal advisor to the Queen, and rumors, well I'm sure you know those…"
"My sister!" Kelart half choked out.
Neia rubbed her forehead, "You are brave… you'd really offer your life for me to release her? I want that bitch dead for what she's done, and even if I were willing to accept your life in place of hers, that's just asking for trouble. I'd be much better off killing both of you and calling it a day."
"You're bluffing!" Kelart guessed, rose up to her knees to glare at the scaled body of the dragonid Queen.
"I am? Nobody has ever accused me of that before." Neia retorted and went to take the chair out from behind her desk, she flung it gently across the room. "You came all this way, you might as well sit to talk to me."
"Th-Thank you." Kelart said with hesitation, and got up on shaky feet to seat herself in the chair.
"Yes, you are bluffing… if you did that, I'm sure that your parents would be killed in retribution. You don't want that." Kelart pointed out.
"They're humans, what makes you think I care about humans anymore?" Neia asked, keeping her face as straight as she could while she sat on her desk, crossed her arms, and studied the subject in front of her.
"You allied with Astraka, meaning you listened to him rather than kill him outright, I don't believe you hate us all… and if I'm wrong?" Kelart said with confidence, she raised her chin to bare her throat. "Kill me right this second… but if not… about my sister…"
The moment hung, Neia clicked her talons together and then let out a sigh, "Fine, you're right, I don't hate all humans… not that I like many of you anymore… This was my home once after all. But still!" Neia insisted, "Remedios killed an envoy, an official party! And she was left alive! Maybe I could kill you instead, but more than that, To'Raven was my friend !" Neia snarled and jammed her talons into the wood, gouging out chunks of the desk as she curled the talons into her fist. "He had a wife, and children, little girls! I spared his life for their sake and then…" Neia leveled the accusing finger at Kelart, "Your sister who you love so damn much, killed him. Killed him for being an orc! For daring to share the same world as her, he was there for peace! I wanted an end to all that strife, I could have forgiven what happened to me ." Neia put her hand over her chest, "I am clearly better off for it, thanks to Olasird'arc. But your murderous bitch sister doesn't get to go off and live a happy life after what she did to my people! Killing you would only mean something if she felt guilty about it. But she won't will she?" Neia demanded.
"No… no, she won't… she'll blame you." Kelart said with quiet resignation. "She never was one to accept responsibility for her own failings… She loves our Queen, and me, and our country. She's not all bad!"
"Tell that to To'Raven! Tell that to his children! Tell that to all my dead warriors!" Neia hissed.
"I have no intention of sparing your sister. And I won't accept your life in exchange for hers, it would be meaningless to me, and meaningless to her . I will let you go this one time, because of your courage, and because I can respect the compulsion of love to lay down your life for your friends… there's nothing I've ever found that is greater than that. But I can't just give you what you ask." Neia answered, and Kelart was quiet.
"What if-" Kelart finally said and reached into her pouch, "there is a lot more to all this than you know?" She asked, and held the box out to the Queen.
"Do you really think the contents of this box will make a difference?" Neia asked with a frown and a doubtful look that seemed more confused than anything in Kelart's eyes.
"That is for you to judge, Queen of Demalbion." Kelart said, "I can only promise you that every word in there is absolutely true, on my life, my sister's life, my Queen's life, and my future King's life, I swear I am not lying to you."
"I will look, but I promise nothing." Neia answered and opened the box to find the stack of documents.
"I ask nothing more." Kelart said, and folded her hands together to wait while the Queen of Frost began to read.
Volume 6 C46
It was a long, long night for Kelart. She felt trapped in the chair, watching Neia Baraja read through everything that implicated the Slane Theocracy in trying to instigate a civil war, and even used Remedios Custodio in order to start a fight between the three sides. When Neia set the last paper slowly back down into the box and sealed it up again, she sat staring at Kelart like the brown haired caster had grown a second head.
"Even if all this is true, Remedios Custodio is still the one who made the choice." Neia pointed out. "Nobody compelled her to do anything."
"Yes, but my sister is an idiot." Kelart pointed out, "I love her, but she's a narcissistic, self important, quick tempered, brutish thug of an idiot."
Neia cocked her head and reached behind her back to scratch the itch around her tailbone again, "That has got to be the strangest defense for anyone that I have ever heard in all my life." She snorted, "I don't doubt that it is true, mind you. But nonetheless, it is strange. Perhaps you're right, but still, it was her who did it."
"But with this information-" Kelart began to speak, but Neia raised a scaled hand to stop her, holding her palm up, she shook her head.
"We may have a common cause, but the fact of Remedios' actions cannot be overlooked. I am sorry, but she must pay for what she has done."
"What if she faces a different punishment? The Allfather of Nazarick promises one that he says will satisfy you, while also sparing both my Queen and I the heartache of losing her." Kelart proposed, and that gave Neia pause.
"You really believe he can make an offer like that? I've heard some things about him, some very interesting things. If you want the truth, I like what I've heard, but even if you say that, how can I know he will meet that standard?" Neia asked the question as if she were asking the time of day, Kelart, despite her circumstances, began to feel more at ease.
At ease.
And bold.
"You can't, not unless you're willing to talk peace… you've won a great victory, Your Majesty. But I promise you if the Allfather turns his magic your way, all that you've accomplished will be erased." Kelart said with calm certainty, and it was enough to make Neia consider her words.
"You will not see your sister leave here today… but I will… hear from this 'Allfather' myself . I will meet with your Queen, the Allfather, and Astraka to negotiate an end to all this… but if it fails… do not forget we have many more prisoners of your side than you do of ours." Neia said with a long, deathly stare that drilled into Kelart's soul.
"As a… gesture of good will then, can you at least heal my sister…? Her wounds, they must hurt." Kelart urged, her hands coming together, folding like a prayer.
"So did mine, and she laughed when she shoved the third sword into my belly." Neia said with an icy hiss.
"You've won your victory here, taken my family, the only family I've got, please… you're a Queen… show your mercy. If you won't spare her life, then let me have her wounds instead. Let her time be without pain." Kelart pleaded, and Neia gave a deep sigh of exasperation.
"There's no need for that, by the dead gods if anyone hears this they'll think I've gone soft. I will have your sister healed, you've got the proof she's been captured, that's all we really needed. And I will tell her that her wounds are healed out of respect for her sister's courage. Now unless there is more? Get out of my city, we'll settle on an exact location and meet in two weeks time, until then, I promise on my name that we have a truce."
Kelart rose to her feet, bowed, and left the way she came, a little more hopeful than when her day began.
It was two days later when, prisoners in tow, and to the cheers of the population, that the Queen, King, and General Montagnés entered the city with their thousands upon thousands of Southern Holy Kingdom prisoners.
Kelart, for her part, waited patiently in the throne room, a smile on her face and already down on one knee in front of the throne to await the chance to personally welcome them back.
The fanfare was at least audible from where she waited, and in her mind's eye she could see the people cheering her on, restoring to the heart of the Queen something of what she had lost when first forced to flee her own capital.
The purging of the corrupt, the disposal of the old nobles, standing in between her city and an army coming to take it, these things made all the cheers as far as Kelart could tell, genuine and warm.
And so despite her less than completely successful meeting with the Queen of Frost, those small successes and the cheers she now heard, restored her as well.
When the Queen finally entered the throne room, it was like seeing her again for the first time. Calca's face was radiant, a joyful smile on her face, her arms open as if to embrace each and every noble and servant present like they were long missed family.
"Rise, rise Kelart! We won! We won stupendously! Marvelously! It wasn't even a battle!" She went on and on, rushing ahead of Ainz to go and embrace her closest confidant, the two clasped biceps and kissed one another's cheeks in welcome, each one's hands squeezing a little more tightly than might have been proper, but which each person politely ignored, at least in public.
"I knew you would, Your Majesties, but I have news, please, may we speak privately?" Kelart asked, her bright toothy smile faded away to show the gravity of the matter, and with Kelart's fading smile, Calca's faded as well.
"Private council chamber, now." Calca commanded, and without running, but still at a swift pace, her seemingly tireless feet went straight toward the way out of the public eye.
Ainz pursed his lips and followed the two, Kelart held the door to the council chamber open a moment later, waiting for Ainz to enter before closing and locking it against intrusion.
"Now… what happened..?" Calca asked, and then her face went pale as she learned of the Frost Queen's destruction of the vast majority of the eastern army, the fall of Kalinsha, and the capture of Remedios Custodio.
But when Kelart described her actually going to Kalinsha, Calca shot to her feet, whirled on the woman, and slapped her hard across the face.
Kelart held the site where her Queen struck, her eyes wide up at Calca who shouted, "How could you risk yourself like that?! Are you insane?! Did you lose all reason?!"
"She is my sister !" Kelart cried out, rubbing the reddening cheek and almost wilting under her Queen's angry eyes.
"And you're-" Calca stifled what she was about to shout and replaced it with, "and I could have lost both of you! What if she had chosen to kill you both! What if she had chosen to hold you both hostage?!"
"But she didn't!" Kelart exclaimed at the furious and focused Queen whose bright eyes were like steel digging into the younger Custudio's heart.
"I've given up enough over the years without doing anything about it! I couldn't just let her stay there… wounded… bleeding… missing her fingers and who knows what else, and just do nothing ! So I took a chance! I know, Your Majesty… I shouldn't have… I know you would have forbidden it… but she's my only sister… despite everything… I couldn't leave her like she was…"
Calca's heart broke under the wilting face of her advisor, her hand came out again, and gently moved aside the one that rubbed her cheek, "My Kelart… I'm sorry… I just… what demi-humans have done to humans… and if they had both of you? I'd never get over it, I know it's selfish, and I'm sorry for my reaction. But you can't risk yourself like that… so many have already died, and what you did was nearly suicide!" Calca said and gently stroked the place where her palm print now showed.
"My Queen… My-" She looked over to Ainz, as did Calca, and when he gave a quiet subtle nod and looked away, Kelart stood and leaned close to whisper, "My Calca… you'd have done it for me, I had to do it for her…"
Ainz cleared his throat a few moments later, ignoring what went on in the semblance of privacy, and waited until he heard them reclaim their seats.
"So now she hasn't moved her armies and offers peace talks. Obviously she doesn't know that Astraka is a prisoner, but that will be a helpful surprise." Ainz pointed out, and neither one opposed what he said.
"Does anyone oppose negotiations?" Ainz asked the question more or less rhetorically, and true to his expectations, they both answered…
"No."
"Then we make arrangements, and settle this once and for all." Ainz replied at once.
"Agreed…" Calca said and slumped in her chair, her ease with them was open and her sigh both heavy and relieved at once. "I just want this to be over… to get back to a time of peace again."
"I believe we all share that desire. And perhaps one figure's presence might help that process along…" Ainz asserted but met their questioning looks only with enigmatic silence.
"Alright, keep your secrets." The two women said at once.
"Again." Calca added, and let out a little silvery laugh that sparked a smile on Ainz' previously even expression.
Volume 6 C47
A week and a half of negotiations back and forth led to a final decision on a precise destination. An open field between Hoburns and Kalinsha, exactly halfway there, with each side providing seating enough for the other as a trivial act of good faith.
"Is it really a good idea to bring her parents? She might not react well." Calca asked of her husband-to-be.
"If she falls apart over their presence, this won't work anyway." Ainz suggested, and then added with a raised finger, "And it shows that they were well treated, we will be acting in good faith to show that for fact, letting her see and speak with them."
"Maybe so." Calca paced the bedroom a bit, "I never liked holding them hostage anyway, it felt so… criminal. Degrading. Underhanded even."
"I suppose, but that is how politics works, I've had to tell myself that many times since I ascended the throne, and," he chortled a little, "I'm glad I still don't like it."
Calca put her arm around his waist and stilled her pacing. "Me too. But really, dragonback?"
"Trust me." Ainz said again with an enigmatic smile down at the slender Queen.
"Al-Alright. I've never flown before…" She reminded him.
"The tricky part is not falling." He pointed out, and she laughed while shaking her head.
' At least people can laugh at my jokes… nobody laughed when I was undead!' He thought with relief, and they made their way outside.
The carriage holding most of their delegation had gone out days before, taking their time while Ainz waited on his chosen conveyance, and now it was here, and it was time to go.
They made their way outside to find a fit, robust young frost dragon. "I'm ready to go, My Lord!" Hejinmal said while practically pawing at the ground.
Thanks to Aura's help, he was now in much better shape than before, and even enjoyed flying as a dragon should have. Ainz put his hands around Calca's waist and lifted her to sit just behind his neck, her hands darting over his for a moment, but not offering resistance before he got behind her himself.
"Warn a lady next time." She said, but then grabbed his wrists to hold on for dear life, tensing as she was about to fly.
"My apologies, it was just clear that you needed help." Ainz replied and bowed his head behind her, bopping the top of hers just a tiny bit with the base of his chin.
"Hejinmal, let's go." Ainz commanded before she could retort, and the wings sprang out, beat, and the dragon began to ascend.
Calca was glad she chose her warskirt for the journey, given how she straddled the neck of the dragon, her breath caught in her lungs as she watched the ground grow larger and the people grow smaller down below.
The appearance of the small dragon caused consternation amidst people when it first arrived, even forewarned, the gasps, ooohs, and ahhhs… and the occasional scream of alarm as it swept in low toward the city, were just a further testament to the power of the monarch they were now joined to, and anticipation for the marital date between the two grew ever greater.
Calca began to squeal like an excited child receiving a long awaited gift as the dragon began to accelerate, her hair lifted and flew behind her, and she let go of Ainz' hands to grab on to the ridges along Hejinmal's neck and lowered herself as if to pilot him.
"This is the best thing ever !" She shouted as the dragon began to speed up, she shrieked with happiness as she watched the world race beneath her, moving past with the speed of a crossbow bolt, over a day of riding even with enchanted beasts was accomplished in not even a quarter of the time. The carriage Ainz dispatched previously was spotted on the long road below, and up ahead they saw the meeting place, and ahead… in the air, a distant, very large dot, a dot that began to descend almost at the same time Hejinmal did.
"We're nearly there, My Lord, My Lady!" Hejinmal shouted over his shoulder, and his speed began to slow.
"Take your time, we should arrive when they do, and I believe we're a little ahead." Ainz said and patted the hard blue scales.
"At your command, My Lord." Hejinmal answered, and obeyed.
True to his expectation, the two began to descend on the agreed upon place almost in the same minute.
Both however, focused so much on landing properly that neither looked up until they had.
It was Olasird'arc that did first.
"H-Hejinmal?!" He shouted, his neck bending up as the Queen of Frost dismounted from his body.
"You know this one?" Neia asked, putting her hand on his neck while Ainz and Calca dismounted as well.
"Father?!" Hejinmal shouted back, his neck arched the same as his father's did as he realized who spoke with him.
"Father?! I thought your family was dead?!" Neia exclaimed.
"Dead?" Hejinmal asked.
"I thought they were… how could anyone have survived Jaldabaoth…?" Olasird'arc stammered the question, and Hejinmal's tense body relaxed.
"Through this one's power." Hejinmal said and pointed a claw at Ainz.
Neia looked at Ainz with narrow, doubtful eyes, but without asking any questions, Hejinmal began to answer them, he told his father everything, from start to finish, up to and including the final battle at the Great Rift.
In turn, Olasird'arc spoke of what happened after his crash landing in the Holy Kingdom, the human who tended him, her near death, his rescue and how he saved her life, and pointed out Neia beside him.
"So you… actually made 'friends' with a human?" Hejinmal asked.
"I think of her as more like a… pesky little sister." Olasird'arc said with a wry, deep chuckle that made Neia cross her harms and huff.
"I didn't expect to be part of a family reunion today." Neia said with a roll of her eyes, "Still," she looked up at the dragon, "I'm glad for my 'big brother' here. Thank you for saving his family, Allfather Ainz Ooal Gown." Neia said and gave him a bow of her head.
"It seems that it goes both ways, you saved the patriarch of my servant's family… at great risk to yourself." Ainz offered out his praise freely, but Neia gave it a hand wave aside.
"First I helped him because he was in a state of weakness, he needed it, and helping the weak is just good sense. Then… it was because he was my friend, just like with To'Raven, when you love your friends, you lay down your life for them, that is the highest devotion of all. It's the same reason I made myself Queen. They're my friends, or my friends' children, and making things safe for them is what a ruler is supposed to do. Or am I wrong?" Neia asked, her face briefly wistful when she rubbed the neck of the dragon beside her.
Ainz' eyes widened as she thoughtlessly quoted his guild, himself, and one of his oldest friends as if they were known to her, despite her face, his 'affection meter' began to max out. "No, no you are not wrong… Queen of Frost Neia Baraja." He said from across the open space between them.
"I'm glad we agree… Allfather Ainz Ooal Gown. But please, my title is a long one… since we're supposed to make peace, why don't you just call me 'Neia' until we decide whether or not we're enemies?"
"Then… you should also call me Ainz." He said, "And this," he gestured to the Holy Queen, "I'm sure you know, is Calca Bessarez."
"Your Majesty." Neia inclined her head with a polite bow.
"Given the situation… call me 'Calca' also… and for what it is worth, I say again, I am sorry."
Neia shrugged off the apology. "Your reputation is that you wanted to be a good Queen. There are worse ambitions."
"I know about you, more, I mean, from your records, sent to die, an outcast, we checked with your old comrades… and they didn't see you as one… my country, your country, wasn't kind to you, and I am sorry for that too." The Queen said with a bitter frown on her face.
"A village embraces a child, or the child burns it down to feel its warmth." Neia replied and continued to idly stroke the neck of Olasird'arc. "Maybe that is what we have here, I had nowhere else to go and now… here we are? But I also know the rest of it, the Slane Theocracy, their conspiracies and attempts to use us both ." Neia fell silent as the noise of carriages approached.
Servants disembarked from both sides, rushing over with a half table each, and chairs enough for them all.
As they worked, Neia said, "I hate to ask, but I sent word to Astraka already, and have not heard back, still he should have gotten my message by now, if necessary, could we wait a day or two?"
"He is here… He was defeated at the Battle of Western Hoburns, and is now a captive." Ainz said, and Calca pointed to the carriage where Kelart emerged, holding a chain that secured three people at the wrists. Astraka, and Neia's parents.
Her eyes narrowed, "You beat him… fine… that changes very little… but you also bring out my parents… to what, torment me?" She hissed.
Calca answered by walking over to Kelart, and holding out a hand after a few whispered words, accepting a key. The Holy Queen went to the two paladins, and unlocked their manacles. "Go." She said, "Go to your daughter." The golden haired Holy Queen waited while they stared at her and rubbed their wrists, "What are you waiting for, I said 'go'." Calca said again and pointed over to Neia.
Neia looked at them both, her wings out, she touched her horns as they came closer, small steps, hesitant at first…
"Mother… father… I know I look different," Neia said and ran her fingers along the horns and over her almost imperceptibly scaled face, "but it's me… it really is, it's Neia…"
Her eyes welled up.
"Is it… I heard but…" Her father whispered, but Neia began to speak.
"You came to me in the prison, two years ago, you flung your arms through the bars and I held you through them, you told me you loved me, and it was the first time you ever said it. It was the happiest day of my life… and when I was being executed, while I was screaming and Remedios Custodio was shoving the swords into my body, you fought to get to me, to try to save me…"
"It is you…" Her mother whispered, and like that the dam burst and they rushed across the space between, her father and mother embraced her, wings and all. "Whatever you are… you're ours first…" Her mother kissed her daughter's cool scaled cheeks, and her father the top of her head.
Neia squeezed them both until she felt them wince. "I wasn't sure what you'd say… I'm an animal now in this country's eyes, or a monster to be put down… I wasn't sure how you'd answer… I'm so glad…" She buried her head in between them, and they kindly ignored the light poking of her horns when she did.
"The laws are changing." Calca said while that went on. "Part of my marriage to the Allfather. By his laws, all nonhumans are considered lawful citizens, equal in the eyes of the crown. Our nations will be one. We will be his people, and his people will be mine."
Neia stepped back from her parents and looked at both the Holy Queen and the Allfather with new respect. She touched her parents' shoulders and said, "Please, step aside, I have to work now, but… if you want to stay with me, I will make sure you live comfortably in my new homeland."
They nodded quietly and moved aside, letting lingering touches fall on her body and trail away till they could move to her side of the circle.
"That is heartening." Neia wiped her eyes, her fangs did nothing to make her appear friendlier, "But there is more… As you know, I have captured Remedios Custodio, and I intend to behead her for her crime and put her head on the wall where she tried to kill me. But Kelart," Neia gestured to the woman who stood aside, holding Astraka's chain while the sullen Duke looked on, a spectator who thought not that long ago believed he would be participating, "says you can do better."
Neia sat at the small round table in the middle of the open space, using a chair provided by the Holy Kingdom, while Calca sat at a chair provided by Demalbion.
Ainz did not sit, instead he crossed from one side to the other, "The condition is that she lives, and not be tortured, however…" Ainz came closer, and Neia tensed, "May I?" He asked.
She nodded with some reticence, and he leaned in to whisper. As he did, she kept bobbing her head in agreement, and when he finished, her face was completely neutral, but she said at once…
"His Majesty… Ainz' solution is agreeable. I will turn her over to the Allfather, assuming we can agree to all else." Neia agreed, and when Ainz went to Calca and sat beside her, she looked up at him with curious eyes.
"It's only as bad as she makes it for herself." He said, and left it at that.
"Now, my… ally. Duke Astraka, what do you plan to do with him?" Neia asked.
"The normal penalty for treason is death on the wall." Calca replied.
"You don't have a wall." Neia pointed out.
"You don't intend to give it back?" Calca replied.
"After killing Remedios on it, I planned to dismantle it, as she is going with the Allfather, I will jump straight to that. I will utterly destroy the border wall, down to the last brick, it's good building material, I could use that." Neia said with a pragmatic, confident smile on her face that made her wings shiver with Calca's consternation.
"We have many prisoners," Neia said matter of factly, "Including many nobles, exile Astraka to my country as a penalty, along with his family, assuming your brother is unharmed, and I will return those nobles in a fortnight."
Calca pursed her lips, "He takes nothing with him. Not even the family crest, they will be erased here."
"Only essential travel items and personal effects, nothing significant to their house or history, no weapons, insignias, or banners. He and his family come to me as poor travelers, refugees." Neia offered.
"Agreed." Calca said at once. "But what about the many other prisoners you've taken?"
"If you are willing to feed them on the return trip, I will let all of those who want to go, come home. Take your time about it, months if needed." Neia suggested, then began tapping a talon on the wooden table, "But don't be surprised if some of them refuse. I have a lot of open land, and even with the elves, I still haven't got enough for it all. Some of the humans might want to remain to farm or work, I've had them treated as well as I could under the circumstances. I can't say how many people that will matter to."
Calca's mouth shut tight for a moment and she looked up to her future husband.
"And the matter of the Theocracy?" She asked, "Since you know everything?"
"They're going to be a problem for me, I am willing to engage in an alliance against them if necessary, on one condition." Neia insisted, "Free trade and free movement across borders, and that we have suitable reparations for the harm your servant did by causing this war. The care of your captured population was costly, even if we had a use for them, and your war set me back years."
"You pillaged our dead, did you not?" Calca remarked with frosty blue eyes. "Surely the weapons and armor they carried was enough."
Neia thought that over… "Fine, deduct that from the cost of feeding our captives, and…" She sighed, "Fine, exclusive rights beside the crown to buy from the old Wenmark mines, I understand those were profitable, and we will pay fair market price, we need minerals while we get our own mines going in earnest, and that should be enough."
Calca thought that over, and then answered, "Agreed, we'll have prisoners enough to do that labor for some time, we'll sell you whatever we don't need, on the condition that no demihuman under arms comes over our border, and that we get the right to try them if any crimes are committed."
"As long as we get the same consideration regarding humans." Neia answered instantly.
"Agreed." Calca answered.
The negotiations went on for some time beyond that, and more than once, Ainz was frankly bored, but when the sun finally was starting to set, three copies of an elaborate treaty were written, read over, and provided to each country in their own written language, and signed by all three nations.
"Will you have a hard time settling things in the South, Calca?" Neia asked.
"No, Astraka was the driving force, with our war with you over, we have paladins, and you know better than anyone here that no other force in the nation can stand up to those. Their household troops and militia are no match for us. I should have the whole matter settled in a few weeks, chances are they will surrender outright when I bring fifty thousand veteran paladins to the gates of Yanana, and then one brief appearance per city… there may be some fighting, but with that marvelous runecraft equipment, we can't lose." Calca had a healthy smile on her face, but the Queen of frost looked at her cockeyed.
"Runecraft?" She asked.
Ainz snapped to attention when the opportunity presented itself. "A marvelous cost free form of enchantment, all it takes is time."
Neia looked at him with renewed interest, "Is that so… and it works with any weapon?" She asked, and he saw the hint of greed in her eyes that he'd seen on many clients who smelled opportunity.
"Yes, I understand you were an archer, but… I don't see a bow?" Ainz pointed out with a half rhetorical question.
Neia let out a regretful sigh, "It was broken at the Second Battle of Kalinsha, another thing I owe Remedios for."
"I see…" Ainz said, "Then… as a token of friendship, let me offer you something to mark the new peace between us all, and the profitable trade relations I'm sure will come between us all."
He reached into empty space, and before all sets of wide staring eyes, he pulled out a marvelous bow, bones of some once majestic beast, inlaid with gold and runes that though barely visible to the naked eye, coursed with power. "This is called 'The Ultimate Shooting Star Super. A gift from my Kingdom, to yours."
Neia stretched out her trembling hand, the bow pulsed with, she almost thought 'power' but it was more. ' Destiny.' She thought. Every inch of her longed to shoot it, ' This is the most beautiful thing I've seen in my life…' She gasped, "I can feel it… it calls to me… like I was meant to bear this bow…" She looked at Ainz with focused, certain eyes, the terror she normally projected, was turned to a detailed study of the towering human King.
"You are no ordinary man. Don't ask me how I know, maybe we knew each other in another life, maybe many, but somehow, I know there is far more to you than even what I am seeing here… come to my country when my capital is built. Let me call you 'guest', let me call you 'friend', and let me repay you for this wonderful gift."
Ainz was briefly taken aback by her intensity, and he held down the sigh of relief that he was sitting.
"I would be pleased to do so… I admit… this is all beyond my expectations. Had we not fallen to fighting, perhaps we could have been friendly from the start." Ainz pointed out.
Neia and Calca gave dissatisfied grunts. "We have the Slane Theocracy to thank for that." They said at once, and eyes popped open to stare at one another briefly across the table.
"We will show our thanks to them one day." The Queen of Frost replied, and stood from the table as the last of the daytime sun died on the horizon, bathing them in the last of its orange glow.
The Allfather and the Holy Queen rose in turn with her, and each holding their copies of the treaty in hand, they crossed to the middle, and shook hands.
"I think I speak for both of us," Ainz said as Calca and Neia broke their handshake, "when I say that we will be watching your rule with great interest, Neia."
"I look forward to showing you what we can do and… thank you for returning my parents… I feared what you might demand for them." Neia added.
"We got what we wanted already, an end to the fighting, and your friendship." Ainz replied, and Neia chuckled at him.
"I had to lose my humanity to find comrades and friends, and now the two humans I fought against, I find I'm friends with, this is the strangest of worlds, but I wish you both well in it." She looked over to Astraka, her ally, and inclined her head. "A good life awaits you when you return to me, Neia Baraja repays her debts."
Olasird'arc looked down at the Queen of Frost and said, "I'd like to remain here, to catch up with my son."
Neia answered promptly, "Of course, I'm sorry you ended up on opposite sides, even without knowing it. I can fly back to Kalinsha and arrange things on my own, just bring my parents with you when you come back."
"We're going to ride a dragon…" Pabel stammered.
"Only once. As a favor to her." Olasird'arc pointed out, but neither one was about to complain.
Neia turned once more to the pair, "Ainz, Calca, we'll meet again, and without any hostility next time."
"There is a saying from a vanished people in a vanished world," Ainz added, and when both women looked to him he said, "after the war, make alliances. The war is over, I have given you a weapon, that token should mark the end of the old ways, and the beginning of something new."
"I don't know what lies ahead, but at least we have some of the same hopes. Peace and safety for my friends and my people, on her side of the wall when I lived there, on the other side when I went over there, and now both. Good luck, all of you, next time we meet… may more beer than blood, flow."
The trio waved and traded the promise, and Neia's wings popped wide, beat, and took her off into the air again, back the way she'd come.
"That went better than I expected." Calca replied, "I didn't think I'd like her, she seemed so familiar somehow… and I'm glad we met her, even if I didn't care for the situation."
Ainz put a hand on her shoulder, "It is funny that way, but as am I. We should return to Hoburns soon, the carriage should hold us all."
"Sire?" Hejinmal asked.
"Speak with your father if you wish, then return home to Nazarick. You can arrange a larger reunion later." Ainz gave the order, and Hejinmal bowed his head down to the ground.
"Thank you, My Lord." The young frost dragon replied, and with that Ainz, Calca, Kelart, and Astraka returned to the carriage again, and turned it around for the journey back again.
Volume 6 V48
The first matter attended to on the return to Hoburns was the public marriage of Ainz Ooal Gown and Calca Bessarez, given the wartime situation and the still unsettled matter in the Southern Holy Kingdom, only a week was spent in preparation, and it involved an elaborate feast and abundant alcohol provided by the crown to the entire city.
Decorations were plentiful, bards sang praises to the Gifting King who offered victory to faithful allies.
And on the night of the wedding's end…
Ainz joined Calca in her private chambers, "You're leaving tomorrow, I assume?"
He nodded, "I have been away from my affairs for some time, I can't leave them forever."
"And the woman you love, she is waiting for you there?" Calca asked as she undressed again.
"She is." Ainz answered as he did the same.
"And you are…" She hesitated, he came close and touched her cheek.
"I've learned what I needed, and then some. I have done a lot wrong, as a man, as a King, some couldn't be avoided, but what could have, all I can do is make up for it, you were helpful in that." He said to her, and she covered his hand with her own.
"Promise me something… I know how it is with men and the women they love, I'm not the fool I was, but will you keep your word with me?" Calca said without meeting his eyes, though she did rub the back of his hand with her palm. "The child I bear, ensure that this throne is always theirs, theirs and those of all the descendents you live to see, as long as they're worthy of it. Typically… the first born of a King gets the whole of his rule, but I see it in you, you have eyes for only one, and you won't deprive her child of that. But don't deprive our child of this, this will be his country, his home… never take it away."
"I promise you, as long as the Bessarez blood endures, and so do I, that one of them will sit on the Throne of the Roble Holy Kingdom." He said as they lay down slowly on the bed.
"Then tonight, we make them." She whispered into his ear, and began to do as she said.
Ainz was up and ready before dawn, he placed a small kiss on Calca's forehead, a twinge of guilt touched him for his role in the chaos of her Kingdom, ' I was a fool, but I was right, in the long run, for all the harm, this will create the best possible world for 'all' my children.' He told himself, and cast the [Gate] spell at once, stepped through it, and was gone.
The rest of his retinue would leave on their own, the empty carriage receiving abundant adulation as it made its long journey home.
When he stepped through the other side and back into his throne room, he found Albedo waiting for him, and a small, slender elf that was clutching a body.
Even without asking, he knew it was the one who died. "Have you… been here this whole time?" He asked, forgetting all formality in dismay at the scene.
"Myself, no, my Lord. I have of course tended your holdings." Albedo remained formal, but he could see her body twitching, itching to dive at him as if they were alone. "But this one… tell your story." Albedo gave the order, and words rushed past the radiant elf's lips.
"She gave up her life for me, to let me be safe… I didn't even know she loved me until then… I… didn't know I loved her either… not till I saw what she did… please… master… she wasn't truthful before… it wasn't just money that she wanted…"
"She didn't like being human! She didn't like how people were… she wanted to be something else… but she felt bad about saying it, like scum next to you… please… if there is anything I can offer… even if I have to give you my life in exchange… Can my Skana be restored?"
Illyana clutched the corpse a little tighter to her body, and Ainz looked from her to Albedo. "Have a maid take them to Demiurge, just make sure he knows that neither are to be harmed."
Illyana's face lit up bright as the sun when Albedo pulled on a nearby golden silk rope.
"When it's done, join me in my quarters." Ainz said and coughed several times, clearing his throat, "We have… something to discuss."
Albedo's face fell, "I-I understand, master." She said in a small voice.
Demiurge stood over the brown haired human woman. "So, Remedios, is it? My my, you are an unusual one."
Remedios didn't answer, those under paralysis generally didn't.
"You're so unusual in fact, that you earned a punishment that only a Supreme Being could have conceived." He said and patted her cheek with light, almost tender slaps.
The dense idiot only gave off an aura of confusion. "We're not allowed to torture you, or kill you, but… you will still suffer on your own, and it will be all you that does it to yourself. Can you believe it?" He asked, and watched as she struggled to shake her head.
All she managed was a tiny wiggle.
"Now… let me ask you this, would you prefer we start off by turning you into an 'elf' or a 'ratwoman'?" Demiurge inquired.
Though she couldn't do much, he could feel her eyes fill with horror even while the expression remained unchanged.
"Just kidding!" Demiurge said with a playful voice, "You won't get a choice, we have no idea what transformation will be permanent, so who knows what you'll be spending the rest of your life as. But given that you despise everything but humans for some absurd reason, I believe you'll be plunged into your own personal hell no matter how long it takes, or what you end up as, wouldn't you agree?!'
She tried to scream, to move, to shake her body, and when her body was covered with fur and he showed her what she looked like as a ratwoman, her screams became mouse-like squeaks. "Now, off to the frozen prison to see how long this takes before it wears off, maybe we'll try an elf next, you like those, don't you?" He asked and called for a maid by pulling on a rope before wheeling the table she was bound to, over to the door. "Just kidding, don't care either way, we'll just see what happens, all for the greater good, of course." He said, and when Entoma entered and took the cart away, her wailing squeak quickly faded away.
Before he even had the time to get bored, CZ Delta entered carrying a very dead human and an elf woman following closely behind. "What is this?" Demiurge asked the blank faced battle maid.
"One raise dead, not as a human. One who gets it as a reward." CZ said in her clipped fashion, and for a moment Demiurge's face was disappointed.
"Oh… well it's fine, I did need to perfect that routine anyway." He pointed to another smooth metal table on wheels. "Put the body on there and bring me more scrolls. I'm almost out."
"Yes, Lord Demiurge." CZ said, and flopped the limp body on the metal table with a loud clang, and said to Illyana, "Wait outside when you're done. I will take you to Lady Albedo's room when I return." She then made her exit.
Illyana fidgeted, sniffles still going while the curious slender demon in the pinstripe suit fiddled with various mana crystals and stuck them on various places of Skana's corpse.
"What a-are those for, Sir?" Illyana asked.
"Data." He answered with cryptic indifference.
He then held a scroll over Skana's head and said, " [Morphomancy five change status wood elf] ."
Before Illyana could process what he said, the scroll burned up with mystic blue flames, and the body began to change. Then with another scroll in hand, [True Resurrection] .
Skana shot up to a seated position on the table, green eyes and wild hands flailing in a defensive position.
"Feisty, the most responsive one yet." Demiurge said offhandedly, "I'd say that works." He added and went to pick up the blue crystals that flew off her body and clattered to the floor.
"Skana!" Illyana replied and wrapped her arms around the woman, embracing her all over again.
"Illyana, I was… the soldiers… what… I feel different…" She caught a glimpse of herself in the polished steel pieces around the room, "My ears… my- my skin…"
She was cut off from speaking further as Illyana laid a fierce kiss against her lips, that was something Skana was more than ready for and familiar with melting into, but all kisses must break, and when at last they stopped to breathe again, Skana asked… "Can someone tell me what's happening?"
"You were dead, but now you're not. You were a human, now, thanks to my genius, you are an elf, and probably permanently, but I can't be sure about 'that' until you've lived at least one elven lifespan." Demiurge explained, preening contentedly, "My first thought was to turn you into a catwoman, or an angel, or even a demon, but given the circumstances, knowing you came from a human supremacist nation that enslaved elves by the thousand, the irony was just toooo delicious."
"I-I'm an elf…" Skana said, and Illyana cupped her cheeks and turned the former human to face her.
"I didn't make that decision… I know how your race feels about my kind, most of them… and-" Illyana stammered out a bit, until Skana's eyes brightened and she pressed her lips against those of her partner in espionage, it was long, lingering, and her tongue delved and dueled with the former prostitute using her considerable experience as both a wanton amateur and a professional, and when that kiss broke, leaving Illyana wide eyed and quiet, Skana answered…
"If I'm with you, I'll be happy being anything. But where do we go from here, our work is done, I assume?" Skana's eyes would not move from where they remained locked on the woman she loved.
"I vowed to serve Lady Albedo for as long as I live. As she hasn't gotten rid of me, I assume she accepts that, and as she chose to let me beg for your life… I'm sure she'll have enough work for us both." Illyana suggested, and then she took Skana's hand and helped the woman down from the table.
"I hope so." Skana said emphatically.
"I'm confident she does." Demiurge said and pointed to the door after laying his crystals out on the counter along with many other implements that had a wide variety of uses, most of them not at all nice. "Now go wait outside until CZ returns, I have work to do!" He snapped in annoyance, and put his back to them before they were even out the door.
Neither woman let go of the other's hand for hours thereafter.
Ainz stood outside the door to his room, his heart pounding in his chest. ' She's probably naked in there, or ready to jump at me… or both… I can't avoid this forever… I did this to her… I have to face up to it… go on in you coward… you said you were ready!' He sighed at his self-defeating thoughts, ignoring the voice in his head that kept him avoiding her for so damn long, he pressed the door to his room open, and found…
Albedo, sitting on a chair, hands folded demurely in her lap, legs closed, eyes down.
He closed the door as quietly as he could and approached her.
"Albedo." He said, and touched her beneath the chin with his forefinger, then gently raised up her face so that her golden eyes were up to face him.
"Master." She said.
"A lot happened out there, didn't it?" He asked. "You did very good work, and I am very proud of you."
She nodded, her heart sang at the praise, but broke at the paternal tone of it.
"It was for you." She said succinctly, without outburst.
"And it was for all of you. A world where all of my children can live happily and safely, where nobody will want to hurt you." Ainz said with his hand roaming her cheek.
"I saw everything… My Lord. Your time with the human Queen, Calca." Albedo jumped straight to the subject, "I didn't care that you mated with her, and I don't care if you produced a child with her, you are a God, our God, the whole world is yours, and you can do as you like." She swallowed, her golden eyes pooled.
"But I do not love you as a child. I am a woman, a demon succubus woman, but a woman, and no matter what you did the day the second world ended, I would have loved you anyway. That is the truth ." Albedo said emphatically and she took his hand at the wrist and drew it away, she folded his fingers in like a fist and kissed his knuckles.
"We can't lie to you, ' I' can't lie to you. So you know that what I'm saying now is absolutely so… don't you?" She almost begged him to know, a tiny crack in her voice as she asked for him to understand.
"Albedo, I can't undo what I did, and I can't erase my sense of guilt for having done it… but I can… well I got some experience with the nature of a woman's heart, seeing what absence of a loved one does, what it means… and I took what I did to hurt you, then made it worse, and I'm sorry." He replied to her, she opened her mouth to speak, but his forefinger came out from his fist and covered her lips.
"The truth is… I've dreamed of you almost every night, and…" he almost mentioned his and Calca's 'pretend' time, but thought the better of it and said, "and the truth is, I'm in my own way… I don't know how long I'll be human, or what I'll be next. I've been a fool for years now, since the change, I feared they wouldn't accept me for what I was, and you most of all. And because of that, I pushed everyone away, my own fears did that. But I was obviously wrong, nobody cared, nobody… I was in my own way the whole time, and now if you can accept that I'm sorry for all of that… and how I am, and how I will be one day…?" He trailed off then he crouched down, took a breath, and then lurched forward to capture her lips in a kiss.
Their hearts beat in sync with one another almost immediately, their tongues dueled and explored one another as he dreamt many a night, only their clothing got in the way of what was to come, and both hastened to remove every scrap of fabric in the way without breaking the locking of their lips, Ainz' hands moved faster than they ever had in battle, and one thought thrummed through his mind as they flashed faster than the eye could follow.
' I don't want to keep her waiting anymore…
Volume 6 C49
A month and a half after the departure of the Allfather, Calca lay in her royal bed rubbing the slight bulge beginning on her belly, beside her in the bed, Kelart began to rub it with her, but it was an absent gesture. Both were reading different documents.
"So the last Southern Holy Kingdom holdouts have given up… promising to limit their sentences to two years in the mines if they abandoned the nobles, versus fifteen years if they didn't, certainly did the trick." Kelart remarked offhandedly.
"Yes it did, Gustav finished the last of them with ease, and it looks like he found my brother alive, none the worse for wear either, just bored out of his mind and hungry for news. I doubt he'll want to visit the South any time soon, but other than that?" Calca shrugged, "I'm just glad he's alright."
She picked up another document, "Have you checked to see the latest runecraft orders? My husband is giving us a discount… but it's still costly…"
"I did, I offered to trade in materials, it'll cut back a little bit at first on what we sell to Queen Baraja, but with the extra labor that won't be long, we might even be able to sell her more before long, if anything, even with the runecraft purchase, we're going to be exceptionally rich." Kelart pointed out.
"Speaking of, what about the repatriations of our prisoners?" Calca asked.
"Most of them are coming back, but there's now a lot of empty land. Frankly speaking, since the demihumans during their invasion actually 'killed' a lot of the monsters in the forests, we should be able to expand with ease for at least the next five or ten years. Don't tell anyone I said this, but we should have had them invade years ago!" Kelart laughed at her own joke, but Calca did not.
"Many died." The Queen replied, and Kelart lowered her eyes.
"Dark humor for dark times." She apologized to her Queen.
"Times aren't dark anymore, they're getting brighter every day." Calca replied, and Kelart nodded.
"Alright, but still, I'm just saying that it cleared up a lot of problems that our old system didn't… we've got room for new nobles, new merchants… and the guild has a dozen petitions for contracts, and we have some heroes to raise up from the adventurers guild and from the military." Kelart pointed out.
"Well and good, but we should turn an eye toward the leadership in the Principle Movement." Calca pointed out, "At first I admit I thought of them as busybodies, but they've genuinely done some good acting as the public conscience. The founding priest even had words with Gustav about the venture south."
"Oh?" Kelart's ears pricked up, "About what, do you know?"
"The priest went to Gustav with concerns about how the peasants and innocent people of the South would be treated, and Gustav said a woman he met on his darkest day told him, 'If the side you should be on doesn't exist, make it' and that he wanted to be on the side that could sleep at night. They're fast friends now and as a result, the Principle Movement sent volunteers with the army to help with relief efforts. Principle… it's a fine thing when carried out, most of the time." Calca looked out the window for a moment, mustered up her courage, and then asked…
"Are you… okay with what happened to your sister?" Calca asked, and squeezed the fingers of her lover.
Kelart looked out the window where the sun was barely peeking over the distant horizon, "Remedios made her own fate… if she tortures herself until she learns something… that is her choice. Even I couldn't save her from that, there's no worse suffering than self loathing. Maybe eventually… she'll come back to us better, and if she doesn't? She did worse to many more."
"That's all that can be…" Calca whispered, "The same goes for the Slane Theocracy."
"I won't forget their role in all this." Kelart growled and set aside the paper she was reading.
"Nor I." Calca hissed. "But for now…" She winked at her advisor.
"Of course… before anyone else is awake…" Kelart suggested with a little teasing smile on her face.
"Did you forget the ones who work on this floor now?" Calca asked archly. "My husband's 'security', his guards and maids, are right outside."
"Keeping everyone else away from us. Thank you His Majesty . Those loyal summons will keep all rumors at bay, after all, who would believe that the King would tolerate a private consort for his Queen under his own Royal Guards?" She let out a playful giggle and went to wrap her arms around her beloved Queen again. She savored the sound of the gasps of pleasure that followed, and there was no need for any of it to be silent thereafter.
Astraka knelt with his siblings and parents before the throne of the Queen of Frost. "Welcome, my allies… welcome." Neia stood and held up her arms, her tail lashed, catlike and content at her back, she was still getting used to it, but there was no more itching, and so she assumed her transformation was complete. But it clearly threw Astraka for a bit of a loop as he kept staring at it.
"Yes, yes I have this now… that should be the end of things though… I'm still getting used to it myself." Neia said as she descended from her seat, her voice echoed off the finished walls of her towering palace, between the human labor and Nasrene's diligence, everything had come together flawlessly.
Astraka cleared his throat as if to apologize, but Neia didn't give him a chance. She put a hand on his shoulder and said, "In the South, you were minor nobles, far from the throne. But you supported me when other humans did not. And as luck would have it, I need human nobles specifically right now."
All of the family's heads snapped up, Astraka's, his father's, mother's, and two other young men who appeared to be Astraka's age.
"You see," Neia explained, "while most of our human prisoners are going to be going home, about ten thousand or so have chosen to remain. It would be best for now at least, if human subjects had human lords, and there is a fair sized swath of land I can divide up amongst all three sons. Of course I know you will need wives, but with that in mind I have reached out to the Kingdom of Nazarick, asking that they send brides worthy of great lords on par with the old ones of Re-Estize. Assuming of course… you don't object?"
"No!" All five shouted at once, and their reticent looks were all but gone.
"I thought not." Neia said with a chuckle of satisfaction.
"Neia," She turned when she heard her father's voice, "you aren't scaring anyone again are you?"
She rolled her eyes, "No, father, they're just excited. Have you heard back from the elves yet, has mother gotten them settled?"
"Yes, she has, they're in the forests in the north east and will deal with her for all their needs while you help them get started. And I've just about finished dealing with the Dark Dwarves, they're ready to move on to the next area now that your capital is well enough established. Have you chosen a name for it?"
"Tovijar. After two of our heroes." Neia answered immediately.
"That's a good start, Neia, and I'm proud of you." He said, and Neia didn't even try to hide the beaming on her face when she turned back to theAstraka's family.
"Now, let's get you settled, trade needs to get laid out, and I'm giving you all the bricks from the old wall between nations, you can use that to make all the roads you need, until you run out of course… but that'll do for a start. Wouldn't you agree, Astraka?" Neia asked, and it was clearly a rhetorical question, giving the rare broad, fangy smile on her face and her happily lashing tail.
"Of course, Your Majesty." He answered anyway, without a doubt in his heart.
"Just one more thing before we get going to get you settled too, wait here." She said, and walked outside to find Olasird'arc waiting at the base of the palace steps.
She waved to the dragon with a sincere smile still held on her face, and she used her wings to gently flutter down above the stairs until she was eye to eye with him. "So, are you sure about this?" She asked.
"Yes, my whole clan survived, and the Allfather has set aside a mountain preserve expressly for our use, I do have an obligation to them." The frost dragon replied. "Thank you, though, for saving my life." He said.
"And thank you for the same," she said, and put her talons to his snout. "I never imagined this life, but I can't imagine trading it for anything, even as much as it hurts… It's a good one. Demalbion will thrive, and I hope you and your family come often to visit." Neia said, and the dragon inclined his head toward her.
"We will. But what is next while I'm gone?" He asked.
"More trade programs with the dark elves, dark dwarves, and humans, including the more distant Kingdom of Nazarick, you know… I think if I'd lived a different life, I could have loved him like a father… but a Royal Brother is a good fit too." Neia said, "I like him, a lot more than I thought, and the way his power grows, after we're established, perhaps I'll offer to become his vassal, it certainly beats fighting him. That one wasn't meant to be beaten." Neia shook her head with absolute confidence in her words.
"Then I wish you well, and when next you call for Kings and Queens to gather, the Lord of the Mountain Top, will come and call you little sister with pride." Olasird'arc promised.
"Then best of luck to you." Neia said, "I won't say goodbye, I hate goodbyes… let's just call it… 'Till Next Time'."
"Till next time, Neia." Olasird'arc replied, he then turned, batted his wings, and took off to the east.
Neia watched him until he was fully out of sight, even to her eyes, and a voice down below called out to her.
"My Queen!"
Neia looked down to see Nasrene holding a wooden board with papers affixed to it, and she slowly descended to the ground again.
"Yes, Nasrene?" Neia gave the chief a genuinely warm, if fangful smile, ' She really did a marvelous job out here… keeping her as my personal attendant was a damn good idea, I needed a secretary, even if she is a little more ruthless than most.'
"I just wanted to say…" she cleared her throat, "Remember also, the Slane Theocracy."
Neia turned her gaze to the Southeast. "Yes, I do." She said, and looked up at Nasrene and added, "Just like that, and say it to me every morning, and every evening before we finish for the day, until we've taught them that humans are not as supreme as they think they are."
"As you command, Your Majesty." Nasrene replied with a little half bow, and fell into step just behind her Queen.
Neia looked over her shoulder as she climbed the steps on foot, behind her, buildings of wood and stone lined orderly streets, trade was taking place in orderly fashion with standardized coins, strong guards were keeping order, and judges selected by the clans themselves were solving disputes without decreasing her population. The shining sun shone down on the whole country, and beyond the great city, beyond even the distant green farms that her eyes, and not many others could see, there lay a vast open land waiting on her vision of the future.
She turned back toward the palace, "Now come along, we've got a lot of work to do.
Ainz woke up in the morning with Albedo still entwined in his arms, still joined at the waist, and their warmth mingling like the hot embers of a fire that was just waiting to blaze to life again.
She felt him stir, and rolled over to face him.
"Will my love be going anywhere today?" She asked.
"No." He said with a broad Cheshire smile, "I'm staying."
-End Story-
Volume 7 C1 -Bloody Crown-
Jircniv sat alone in his quarters. Other than the bed, the only things upright was the desk at which he sat, and the dresser on which the broad mirror sat secured. His elbows were on the desk and his head in his hands. A few strands of his once beautiful head of hair fell away and his body was shaking.
Beside his arm sat a stack of petitions, half of which were unread. His eyes were covered by his hands, ' I don't want to read them… I don't…' Jircniv thought. He'd tried several times, but it was harder and harder to do his job well, and now?
' If only I'd listened to the foreigner's request! If I hadn't fought that battle?!' He cursed the fell fate to overcome his Empire… the financial disaster of losing so much territory, the loss of the slave population of dark elves, and then…
' The damn frogmen and their raids on top of everything else… no sooner do I manage to scrape together the funds to raise some soldiers to deal with it, then I find out that the damn caster has already done it! The raids stopped but my border with that bastard has grown!'
At his right sat other documents, also unread. The Emperor didn't need to read them to know what they were. Mutiny reports.
Every unit assigned to go to the border shared with the Kingdom of Nazarick had mutinied. So he stopped trying to send units, the result was that bandits and thieves, necromancers, and other undesirables essentially took over large swaths of territory.
' And even getting rid of the damn useless nobles didn't work… no scapegoats were enough…' He cursed as he recollected the dreadful day he realized it was only a matter of time.
When a group of nobles objected, openly, to his face, in the throne room itself, it was not because they objected, but because when he said to his guards, "Escort them out of the palace!"
They hesitated to obey.
' Now there's nothing left to do.' He thought while he listened to the fighting outside. He took up one last piece of paper, a letter from one of his last remaining supporters. This letter, he read.
' My Lord, as per your instruction, I have hidden away your concubines and their children. From my own stores, I provided them with sufficient funds to live in comfort for the rest of their lives in various towns in the far flung reaches of the Empire. When things have died down, I will move them west over the mountains, where they will be safe. Each of them is accompanied by a knight who will act as their guardian while pretending to be a husband. This is the best I was able to do for you. Thank you, for your trust, and for what you tried to do for the Empire. None could have anticipated the sorcerer's power… may it comfort you that history will vindicate you at least, and may the end be without pain.'
There was no signature on the letter, but Emperor Jircniv knew who it was.
He stood up from his seat, swaying a little as anxiety and hunger made his body unsteady. The chair fell over, but Jircniv neither bothered to right it nor really noticed the clatter of its fall. He took the letter to a nearby candle, its dim orange glow was the only thing to cast light over the room. The noise of the rampaging conflict in the coup was growing closer.
From a single cacophony of noise, a symphony of chaos, he was beginning to catch a few words. Jircniv closed his eyes and held the letter over the dancing little flame. The paper caught and the fire rose up over the page, consuming the precious words that those he once enjoyed were safe. The flames licked at his fingers, the heat began to caress his skin, the little tip of the fire drew closer.
His heartbeat was slow, a preternatural calm was settling over him as he saw the last scrap of ink be consumed by the flaring light. The heat kissed his skin, despite the fact that every hateful treasured word was gone… ' Until this paper is gone entirely, I will not be satisfied.' He told himself, and so he held on.
His hand shook a little as the fire ate its way upward, he held on as the pain sent waves of shivers up and down his body, his soft fingers seared, but his face never changed, not until the last scrap was released to be consumed and the brief brightening of his room faded again. The candle was alone in lighting the dark chamber of the Emperor, and his eyes fell on a chest left to him by his grandfather.
It was over a hundred years old and predated the Empire as it now was. It was painted with the golden griffin across the top, the symbol of the El-Nix household, and was of dark, polished wood. The finish was so bright that when Jircniv approached the chest, even in the dim light of the candle, the wood served as another mirror, reflecting his wrinkled face and almost completely bald head.
The chest was passed from father to son, and father to son, and had not, as far as he knew, ever been opened. There was only one admonition, ' Open this in your darkest hour.' The instructions came from his father the day he ascended to the purple, and as the din of fighting grew closer, Jircniv thought, ' There could be no darker hour than this one, except perhaps my last, and I doubt I'll be able to open it then.'
So, with a weary hand he reached for the chest and broke the seal, it opened with a quiet creaking noise, and Jircniv's sense of curiosity rose to the forefront despite his sense of despair. In the chest sat only a few items, none of them remarkable.
A straight razor, along with a hermit's clothing, ash stained, dark, and old. Complete with sandals of leather, a small coin pouch, and a knife. ' So this was his intent…' Jircniv thought, and with a bitter sour taste in his mouth he muttered, "Not that I have much hair left to cut off…" But nonetheless, with the advice of the long dead man laid bare under his eyes, a sense of Jircniv's former self came back.
' I don't want to die.' He realized, and reached for the items that offered some small hope of saving himself.
The Allfather let out a grunt of bliss as he felt his essence flow into his beloved Albedo. She clenched her thighs tight against his body, the overwhelming strength of the succubus would have shattered the body of almost anyone else in the world.
But for him they gave a loving squeeze paired with her orgasmic scream of ecstatic bliss. She fell forward, pressing her heated ample breasts against his chest, and she began to nuzzle her face against him. "My love…" Albedo whispered and kissed the side of his face, "Do you want to get out of bed… or just stay here?"
"Stay." He said, and Albedo tittered as she nuzzled against his cheek, her hands roaming over his body wherever they could, exploring him as if they had not been lovers for over a year, but instead had only just come together for the first time.
"But we can't." He said with no small regret when he put the palm of his hand to her cheek and brought her lips to his. The kiss was soft, tender, like the fall of a butterfly's wings against skin, a far cry from the ravenous passion of the previous hours. "We have work to do, the Kingdom can't run without its guiding hands."
Albedo gave him a tiny, teasing smile, "I will be ever at your side, My Lord." She said and slung her long slender legs off of his body to stand beside the bed, she brushed her hands through her inky dark hair, straightening it down her back and batted her wings twice, hard enough to blow the remaining covers off of the Allfather and knock them unceremoniously to the floor, leaving the naked body of the King there as a feast for her eyes.
He rolled his eyes at her playful act and stood up after her. Heat rose from the sheets in testimony of their prior passions, but after rising from the bed, they settled their minds to the business at hand. Albedo went to the silk rope on the wall and gave it a quick, sharp yank to summon a maid.
The Allfather, for his part, waved his hand and without a word, cast the cleansing spell he needed to remove any sweat, grime, or filth from his body. "Albedo?" He asked, holding out his hand to offer to do the same, but she gave a winsome smile back.
"No, My Lord. I would rather carry the scent…" She laughed when he rolled his eyes again, then approached. "As My Lord wills." She said with mock demureness before the common spell did its work.
Within the hour they were in the throne room. The Allfather Ainz Ooal Gown sat on the Throne of Kings, Albedo standing at his right hand, her sneering contempt only barely suppressed by the plastered-on smile that would have made a practiced whore proud. Her hands folded in front of her waist while at the base of the long steps a human petitioner made his plea.
The petitioner, from a noble house in the Baharuth Empire, was dressed in a dark, flowing garment with golden fringe and tassels dangling down the center of the chest. Flamboyant to the point of gaudy, Ainz again wondered, ' Is my sense of fashion the strange one?' Everyone else took such gaudiness in stride or even admired it. This one seemed to have that in common with everyone else.
Ainz blinked and forced himself to focus on what the kneeling representative had to say, rather than what he wore. "… So if it pleases the Allfather, we would be grateful if you would intervene in bringing peace to your neighbor… Since the Emperor died, we hoped for a true peace to return, but the one that led the overthrow has died as well. Now… Argland threatens us. The Theocracy makes demands of us. Bandits raid cities now, not just towns or villages, while alliances and Kingdoms beyond the east are marshalling soldiers… only the Kingdom of Nazarick has refused to kick our wounded body-"
"And you were hoping that our gracious Lord would see fit to salvage your corpse?" Albedo asked, her sharp tongue stung the nobleman enough to cause the man to flinch and lower his eyes down to the floor beneath his feet.
"Albedo." Ainz remonstrated her with nothing but a word.
"Forgive my outburst, My Lord. He asks much, and offers nothing. I couldn't restrain my temper in the face of such insolence toward your generous person." Albedo answered with her eyes given only to her beloved, before turning her eyes to the visiting minister.
"I trust that a bowing of my head is a sufficient apology?" She asked, and gave it without waiting for his answer.
The minister rushed to agree, stammering out his words in his haste to keep up with the byplay at the throne. "O-Of course yes, yes I understand, I was clearly wrong… but we do not offer nothing!" He half squeaked the last word, "The nobles are raising armies… we're on the verge of civil war, if you could lend us your strength…"
"Then you would offer us consideration?" Ainz guessed as the noble visitor trailed off under Ainz' steady stare. "It's true you aren't offering nothing, but what you want isn't my army. What you want is stability, and nobody in your declining Empire is going to be loyal to me, particularly given our history. Settle on the strongest as best you can, and when that one rules, some accounting can be made between everyone in the arena of nations."
The pale faced noble turned bright red, his mouth opened, his eyes were so wide that Ainz wondered if they might fall out of the man's very head.
"We… Yes, of course, the Allfather of Nazarick is truly as wise as we have heard… His plan is… brilliant, and to have come to it so quickly on hearing our troubles… I am in awe of your mighty mind…" The noble was rambling on his praise until Ainz cleared his throat.
The noble took the hint and rose to his feet, he bowed deeply, arms spread out like the wings of a bird, he bowed far forward, then rose and began to retreat without showing his back to the Allfather until he reached the towering double doors that reached the high ceiling of the dark stoned throne room.
Alone again for the moment Albedo said with a charming smile spreading slowly over her face, "That was truly a brilliant plan, My Lord. I am in awe of your foresight."
"Thank you, Albedo. Now I believe we have an emissary from Demalbion waiting next, don't we?" Ainz asked in haste, "Go ahead and summon him." He added before she could reply.
As Albedo reached for the rope to ring in the next entry, Ainz racked his brain wondering, ' Plan?! What plan?!'
Volume 7 C2
"That is what he said." Baron Valdati said to his fellow nobles. The greatest men and women of the Baharuth Empire were gathered around a council table, none of them looked down when they heard the words The Allfather passed to them through their chosen emissary. The reason none looked down was to avoid seeing their careworn faces, a few wanted to avoid seeing the continued whitening of their hair, or the patches on their heads where it was starting to fall out. The lines on their faces, the crows feet at their eyes, and their own fear reflected back at them. The fine council table was a constant cause for torment.
"To the strongest… it does make a peculiar kind of sense, doesn't it?" Duke Habastria said while she fanned her face in a failing attempt to stifle the heat of her body in the midst of the worst stress of her life. Her white and gold clothing hung loose around her body and her limbs alike, the tassels on the arms waved like leaves in the storm while she desperately waved her hand near her face.
"It does." Count Avastrim remarked, "The legions are diminished, but still formidable, at least compared to most of our neighbors… The late Bloody Emperor built them well at least. With his children gone, there's nobody to prop up from the Royal Family even as a figurehead… so either we settle things the old way, or the Empire ceases to exist."
"Then let's do it, now, before we're invaded and everybody is too invested in fighting with armies to take a chance on champions!" Viscount Castelash insisted, his jowls flapping as he rushed out his insistence in an almost piggish squeal of fear.
General Shanash chimed in the moment the Viscount finished his urging, "I can vouch for the remaining legions, they are desperate for strength, and nobody wants to fight a civil war and a multipronged invasion, if you will the Empire 'To the Strongest', then they will swear their oath to the victor. But I would strongly advise that we limit that to combat strength alone, no magic. The Empire is still a martial place, and after the last dealings with magic, and the fact that Fluder abandoned us, nobody will trust a simple caster."
There was a general rumbling of agreement, and within the hour, the draft of the document was made and signed by all members of the council, with copies made and dispatched to every corner of the empire… and beyond.
' To the strongest… What a brilliant suggestion…' The General considered, reflecting on the advice of their dreadful neighbor, and was forced to conclude, ' Only the wisest could have divined such an ornate way of avoiding war while forging an alliance that would more easily secure the peace thereafter…' It was almost enough to let his aging heart stop the frantic beating that consumed him for months, and let the wrinkled old general sleep soundly for the first time in a long time.
Brain Unglaus stood triumphant in the small arena of Tovijar, the capital city of the Kingdom of Demalbion. It wasn't much, barely more than boards in a ring with crude chairs and raised benches, but beyond the little space stone structures, the building blocks of a much larger and majestic one were starting to rise in the distance. In a few years it would rival Arwintar, but for now this was enough for him. His katana raised high overhead, the stone spitter lay prone on his back, defeated like the rest.
In the stands, in what passed for the royal box, the Queen of Frost was politely applauding his victory. Brain grinned and took a bow, stepping back from the broken opponent.
' Leaving those idiots was the best thing I ever did.' He reflected when the crowd of both demi-humans, elves and even a few humans cheered him on, the bandits he once led were now almost certainly dead, having failed to detect the change in the winds of power giving rise to the new Wolf Queen and King of Carne, or the ascendance of Crimson Queen Renner.
Now, thanks to his foresight… he grinned and snatched a coin out of the air which was thrown from the Queen's own box. ' I'm getting rich, and I get to do what I love to do best…' He thought and made another deep bow to the dragonid Queen, Neia Baraja.
Demalbion was a shockingly cosmopolitan place, with former prisoners of war from the Roble Holy Kingdom having accepted offers of farmland of their own as opposed to lives as mere serfs working somebody else's property… but also demihumans of races Brain never heard of, and elves who traveled freely about the region without so much as a care. ' A naked virgin could walk from town to town with a bag of gold in each hand and arrive in safety.' That was the Queen's boast, and it was steadily proving true, with everyone prone to violence either brought into the national army, turned into a gladiator… or killed by the former two groups.
The applause began to die as the Queen stood, her wings opened wide at her back, the universal call for silence, while a herald stood at her side.
"Let it be proclaimed on this day, that one year hence there will be a tournament in the grand arena of Arwintar. The prize, rulership of the Empire itself! The throne of the Bloody Emperor shall pass to the strongest, be they man, woman, demi-human, or even heteromorph… the legions shall obey. All nations and peoples are invited to bring their champions. All those of ambition are invited to go and fight for themselves. Let the strongest rule, and all the rest of the world, follow ."
Consternation went up in an instant, demihumans, elves, and humans set to gossiping and jabbering, but the blue haired Brain Unglaus only heard one thing.
' I could… finally… 'finally' prove myself to be the very best to ever carry a sword… How could I say no to that? Empire… a throne… that's nothing… nothing compared to this!' He sheathed his blade and began to shout with childlike glee.
Nor was he the only one, at his back, gladiators waiting for their turn to fight for the praise of the crowd were cheering as well, and the Queen snapped her wings in and out once, creating a noise like the crack of a whip.
"Further games are cancelled… warriors and gladiators… you have training to get to… a throne awaits, and a story your children will tell long after you are gone, whether they're in a palace or not. Go… go and have your dreams!" Her wings cracked like a whip again, and the cheers redoubled as the Queen of Frost gave her permission to all the big dreamers to follow their desires to whatever end they were carried toward.
Queen Calca lay on her back in the royal bed, her hair, once golden blonde, was now white as an old woman's, though the rest of her body didn't match, she still moved very little. The cause was suckling at her breast, the son of the Allfather, dark of hair, and with a powerful wail when the little wiggling child was displeased, he was the spit and image of both his parents.
"So that's their solution is it?" Calca asked, her voice sounded weary, still weak despite so much time having passed, Kelart put a sympathizing hand on the shoulder of her lover.
"It is, and a good one I think." Kelart acknowledged, "I wish it waited a good twenty years though, I think Aurelion here might be able to win it when he gets older." She didn't laugh, it wasn't a joke.
Birthing the boy had nearly killed the Queen, leaving her in a coma for months from which no magic could awaken her, and when she did, most of her skill with magic as well as most of her body's strength was lost. Even now, she was only slowly regaining what was hers, as if she'd died and then resurrected.
It was for that reason that Kelart's hand lingered longer on the arm of her lover than was truly proper, even alone, as they were conducting the business of ruling the Holy Kingdom.
"Perhaps he could…" Calca said, caressing the top of the boy's head and cooing down at him. "But I pray he never has to take such a risk… still, what will we do?"
Kelart knew what the Queen was asking. What was her husband planning to do, and to that end, Kelart pulled out a document, a letter from the Allfather. "Your husband states his intention to provide a champion of his Kingdom… and to also attend the event in his capacity as the head of state. He invites you to join him and bring the Crown Prince."
A smile formed on the Queen's face, the little corners of her mouth rising like the sun on a spring day.
"Calca… I know that look. You know you can't bear another… it would kill you…" Kelart said, and the Queen shook her head and said…
"I know, my love, I know. But it will be nice to see him again… to see him hold our son again. I am still permitted sentiment as a Queen, and I admit I'm also a little curious. I've never met the woman he loves, I sometimes wonder about that, what is she like, is she pretty? Is she charming? Witty? I can't help but envy her a little, though I hope that one day, if they have children, that our heirs won't be at odds with one another."
"We can only hope, Your Majesty." Kelart advised and held her arms out to accept the baby. He'd ceased to suckle and begun to nap in his mother's arms. Calca let him go only with reluctance, and waited for the slender brown haired magic caster to join the Queen in the royal bed after laying him down to sleep. "We have a little time before the rest of the castle is awake…"
"Then let's not waste it…" The Queen whispered and blew out the candle, opening her arms to receive her lover again.
Keeno was pressed up against Momon as close as she could be without sewing her skin to his, while she normally would use the excuse that the guild hall was crowded, today it wasn't. So she just said nothing and pressed herself against him while Gagaran and Lupu continued to talk shit and slam back to back beers.
"Face facts, red. You may be top heavy, but that's it, you can't keep up with me!" Gagaran grinned in her oafish way, showing off all her teeth and vigorously wiping beer foam from her lips before slamming her tankard down.
"You say that, virgin, but I was born loving the brew, while you only adopted it. Besides, I spend time drinking while you try to seduce virgin adventurer boys, I'm more experienced!" Lupusregina quipped back. The nickname of 'red' suited the redheaded cleric who partnered with Lord Momon, given that the strands of fiery red hung in two braids that went far down her back, and yet despite what should have been a liability in battle, only Keeno was able to give the cleric a run for her money.
Lakyus and the twins sat drinking quietly while watching the battle of booze and wits between the two adventurers while discreetly ignoring the way Keeno kept touching Momon, above the table, and they suspected 'beneath it'.
"We're going to attend the tournament, Lord Momon." Keeno said, then asked with a mooning gaze up into his deep set eyes, "Are you going to participate?"
"Possibly. At the very least I plan to attend. How could I not?!" Momon made a grandiose dramatic gesture, waving a hand out toward the ceiling, "To see such a show is a chance that comes not once every hundred years!"
Pandora's Actor played the role to the hilt, and his chief audience, Keeno, ate it up. "Why don't we all go together, you don't have to decide if you want to compete or not until the last day, and then you'll already be there after you get a chance to scout out the competition." Keeno suggested, batting her eyes up at her idol. "The journey would be more comfortable together…" She said and tried to make her voice at least a little bit seductive.
"Y-Yes, of course." Pandora's Actor answered, the sudden question and open invitation to more was the most blatant of the little vampire's acts of 'affection'.
He readjusted himself a little, and the vampire beamed up at him with bright eyes that he knew lay behind her mask. She could hide nothing from him, and nothing from the intelligence gathering abilities of Nazarick who plumbed the depths of her past at his urging.
Pandora's Actor's mind raced, ' She must be afraid of being far from me for long… and perhaps it would be a pleasant experience… I don't have to do anything here for now… and accompanying them as assets of mein Vater is vital…'
"When did you want to leave?" He asked, and allowed Keeno's hand to linger on his thigh.
The Elf King slapped the woman with the back of his hand, she fell off of him and down to the floor. "Move faster, wretch!" He bellowed, and she immediately lay prone and arched herself to draw his seed into her. She was weeping, but as long as she obeyed the command, how much she cried did nothing to distract her king after he'd had his enjoyment.
"My King…" The guard at the door uttered, his face stained with tears after watching the King defile his wife while he was on duty protecting the man, shame washing over the elven warrior that he was sure would never wash away from either of the pair.
"What is it?!" The elf King snapped.
"The Slane Theocracy has pulled back, if we make an attack now rather than attend, we can reverse the whole war…" The guard tried not to look at his wife. It was the third time he tried to distract his lord from the woman with this news, and each time it failed.
But having spent himself several times, the King finally chose to listen, his massive, towering body was almost monster like, broad and thickly muscled like a human berserker, his centuries of rule went unchallenged no matter his propensity toward violence and the violating of his own people's women.
"She will probably be there…" The King grunted, thinking of the child he created with the last trump card of humanity. ' And probably, there will be other strong women… Maybe my own race is a total failure… maybe I should try the women of other peoples…' The thought was a pleasant one.
He glanced down out of the corner of his eye, the woman turned her face away while she lay there, her eyes falling to her broken husband.
"No. I am going to attend… you weak trash can do what you like while I'm gone, try to make something useful for me… but for now… one more time before I get ready to leave…" He said, and the guard only muttered…
"Yes, My Lord…" And closed his eyes while his wife whimpered at the renewed invasion as the King assaulted her again.
Both husband and wife had only one thought in their minds… ' Please… please let him die…'
"So you still have not found a solution, Demiurge?" Ainz asked with no small disappointment.
The archdevil knelt in front of the raised desk of the last Supreme Being, "We have had 'some' success, My Lord. The one called Remedios has thus far been turned into a ratwoman, a catwoman, an elf, an orc, and others. She has a strong proclivity toward suicide however, taking her life quickly after any transformation… It keeps Pestonya quite busy, however when she dies, she reverts back to human. This is proof that the transformation is temporary. Our standard race change item… it is simply too weak for your Lordship… and with a world item incorporated into your body, we simply don't know what will happen. Please, forgive this unworthy failure…" Demiurge's voice became miserable, his face downcast, his hands trembled on his knee, his body stiff and anxious both at once.
"It's fine, if we had the answer it wouldn't need to be researched." Ainz explained, "Continue your efforts, I am sure you will be successful one day soon, my Demiurge."
"My Lord!" Demiurge exclaimed in a half squeak and half relieved cry. He rose to his feet and retreated out of the inner office, allowing Albedo to breeze past him with only friendly nods of acknowledgement.
"Albedo, you've heard?" Ainz asked and set down the quill as if he'd been writing when she entered.
"The tournament?" She replied, a broad toothy smile on her face, "Yes, My Lord. Your plan has come to fruition, and of course I had all potential key players watched. There are some interesting potential candidates, nothing we cannot easily defeat, but we will require more than a battlemaid for the strongest of these fights, particularly to defeat the spear wielder from the Slane Theocracy."
"I see, so do you propose to enter the fight yourself then?" Ainz asked while she approached to stand beside him.
"If it is my Lord's will, I will fight all the demons of hell at once, naked, with only my breasts as weapons… but," she took his hand at the wrist, "If my King is asking my opinion, I wouldn't choose to risk his child." She said and put his hand over her belly.
It was with speed even her eyes could not follow, that he was on his feet and capturing her lips in an impassioned kiss.
Volume 7 C3
"We're in a real bind here." Raymond stated point-blank to the Black Scripture's extra seat.
Zesshi sat across from Raymond, the butt of her scythe on the floor, she idly spun it like a child's toy top, whirling the massive blade faster than even his eyes could follow.
"So what?" She asked, "I'm supposed to be your 'secret weapon', you know, 'humanity's trump card' and all that. Are you really prepared to expose me to the public?"
"No. We want you to go in disguise, an anonymous competitor, and win the throne." Raymond leaned forward and slid his hands along the surface of his desk, "I wouldn't ask you for this, but with the Kingdom of Nazarick's pro demi-human stance spreading, we 'need' to counterbalance them. Otherwise?" He let the statement hang.
"I have no interest in ruling a Kingdom, let alone an Empire." Zesshi said point blank, her face turned sour, "Not a chance."
"Would you do it as a favor to me?" He asked, "Please?" He added when she said nothing.
Zesshi's shoulders slumped. And Raymond felt a wave of relief wash over him. The others could not have gotten this far, he was sure of that. Old as she was, Zesshi was barely a teenager in terms of elf years. She was driven more by her desires than anything else, though close on the heel of her emotional wants was her sense of camaraderie with the very few she knew closely. Her friends, which included him, and it was why she listened to him now.
"Fine, but on one condition." Zesshi answered, and Raymond straightened up and fell quiet, focusing all his attention on her.
"You make sure my father attends, I don't care what lies you have to tell or what you have to do, but you do everything in your power to give me this chance." Zesshi demanded, and Raymond immediately answered…
"I'll use every spy at our disposal, and pull every favor I can with the others, but we'll make sure he has every reason and chance to go. If he does though, the rest is up to you." Raymond warned and held out his right hand.
Zesshi took his hand in hers and squeezed it just enough to remind him of her strength, "That will not be a problem, Raymond." She said and got up to her feet. "He'll pay dearly for making me." She added, and left the Cardinal alone.
Ainz sat on the throne of Nazarick with his guardians arrayed on one knee before him. Behind them knelt Sebas and the Pleiades.
Behind them knelt the 'home grown' team of power-leveled humans once known as Foresight. Behind them knelt the defeated and resurrected team once known as the Imperial Knights.
The only guardian not below was Albedo, who stood at his right hand with her fingers interlaced together at her waist and her bright yellow eyes looking over the arrayed weapons of the Allfather.
"Before we begin," Ainz proclaimed, "I would like to hear your reports. Shalltear, we begin with you."
"Yes, My Lord." She said and rose to her feet, "The Frogmen population is growing again, and we have two settlements established, with room and numbers for two more. Heketi has requested that when the next generation comes of age that some of her younger generation be formally allowed to join the Allfather's army. She says her soldiers will make the finest amphibious soldiers we could ask for."
Ainz chuckled, "I'm sure she's right. Plan for it in the long run."
"Demiurge?" Ainz asked as Shalltear knelt, and Demiurge rose to his feet.
"My Lord, the Dwarves and Quagoa continue to," he cleared his throat, " find more evidence of their shared past, and it is deepening ties between the two. I have started using mind control magic to ensure disputes are settled fairly, and under my legal system, the race of everyone involved in a civil or criminal suit is kept secret from the ones deciding punishment, every jury is made up of equal numbers of both races. This has kept arguments and grudge-driven violence down. The Quagoa are now integrated into dwarven society, and the dwarven numbers are growing… Many children are being born to runesmith families as a result of your incentives. They have only one complaint."
"Oh?" Ainz raised an eyebrow, it was still strange to bare his human face to all his subjects, and though it was a relief, a wave of shame washed over him once again, ' I should never have questioned the love of my precious children… never.' The hurt he did to Albedo was no doubt the largest, but it troubled him more than a little to think that he might have done the same to the others.
Demiurge seemed not to notice the thoughts hidden behind Ainz' eyes and went on, "Yes, My Lord. The runesmiths are so successful, that there… simply aren't enough dwarf women for the rest. They're complaining about the lack of available mates."
"Oh." Ainz felt a little blush rise to his cheeks and brought a hand up to rub his cheeks with thumb and forefinger to hide his embarrassment. "Ah… we won't curb the favor toward the runesmiths, but will limit them to one wife. However, reward each dwarf woman who marries, with a long term stipend that increases with each child. Their population was so decimated by the war with the quagoa that this will be necessary for at least a few generations. I suppose it isn't good for there to be only a small number reproducing anyway, even if they do have useful talents… is that all?"
"Yes, My Lord. Otherwise all is well." Demiurge said, and knelt down again.
"Sebas?" Ainz inquired.
The Butler of Steel rose to his feet and with a little half bow he said, "My Lord, the Beastman Kingdom has lost control over seven tenths of what they took from the Draconic Kingdom, they now have only two cities, and our teams have rescued almost all of their human stock. Hunger runs through their ranks and we have taken many beastman prisoners."
"Have they explained their invasion?" Ainz asked, and Sebas bowed his head again.
"Yes, My Lord. Famine. They produced too many of their own numbers and didn't have enough 'meat' to feed everyone. Starvation ran wild and their invasion was meant to stave it off." Sebas explained, "Now with victory near, the Draconic Queen has sent word that she offers her hand in marriage to secure My Lord's claim to her Kingdom."
Ainz didn't have to look up to his right to know that Albedo tensed just a little, but what she said was a surprise. "If it pleases My Lord, I will visit the Draconic Queen to make arrangements. In a few generations, per our Lord's plan, you will have a scion of your line on every throne. Powerful and loyal, your Empire will be a family business that our children will govern for you… just as you desire."
' When… just when did 'that' become the plan?!' He wondered, but more concerning was her statement about 'arrangements'. ' I've grown very fond of Draudillon, I learned so much about Kingship from watching her in crisis…' So he asked, "What arrangements do you intend?"
"Only to explain her place in the Allfather's world. I assume the arrangement with Draudillon should match that of Calca, putting your heir on the throne as a guarantee while you rule from here?" Albedo asked, and Ainz lowered his head as he wondered…
' How did this happen?!'
Albedo, however, took his lowered head to be a nod of acknowledgement. "I will visit her soon then, as Our Lord wills. Sebas, do you have more?"
"Nothing of consequence, My Lady." He said, and knelt again.
"Albedo, how are things in the Holy Kingdom?" Ainz asked, filing away her earlier words for later thought… and perhaps a little panic.
"My Lord, your son is healthy and the Queen continues her slow recovery, it hasn't stopped her from governing, in part thanks to Kelart and Gustav's assistance. Our doppelganger agents keep her court free of corruption, and most of what was destroyed has now been rebuilt. Trade is growing between them and Demalbion, and a surprisingly friendly correspondence takes place between the Holy Queen and the Queen of Frost."
"Oh yes… Demalbion…" Ainz nodded and thought back to the curious young dragonid that united the region.
Albedo took that to be a question, and chose to answer it, "The Queen of Frost has built roads that stretch all the way to the border with the Dark Elves, the Dark Dwarven mountains, and the Re-Estize Kingdom. Trade and travel are slowly beginning to flourish as a result. Our agents, however, have noted one oddity."
"An oddity?" Ainz asked.
"Yes, a member of the Black Scripture of the Slane Theocracy has been spotted coming and going over the border." Albedo frowned, "He doesn't seem to be doing anything. He just hunts, eats, and naps, he takes lots of those, then goes home again. From what we have been able to determine from investigating some of his favorite spots, he's been at it for years."
"That is… extremely strange." Ainz said and drummed the fingers of his right hand on the armrest of the Throne of Kings. "Keep an eye on it, but do nothing."
"As you will it, My Lord. Now about the Kingdom of Carne, the Wolf Queen and Wolf King have announced the royal pregnancy and the coming birth of their first child. The heir will be born in the spring of next year. The Alchemical genius leaves governing to his Queen and has announced several breakthroughs in his research into new healing potions and even the possibility of a new mana potion."
Ainz gasped, ' A mana potion! I've encountered none of those since coming here… if we monopolize something like that and keep it secret, our magic casters will have a potency we could only dream of… depending on how effective it is.' His mind raced and he answered immediately, "Support that effort above all else, the only rival priority will be morphomancy advancement for my own… situation."
"As My Lord wills it." Albedo said, "Now I believe Pandora's Actor has news about the Crimson Queen of Re-Estize?"
"Yes, mein Vater!" Pandora's Actor popped up to his feet and stretched his hand out in a grandiose gesture, one hand on his breast, the other raised toward the Throne of Kings, "Mein kleiner vampir is in love with Momon, such is her passion that she shocks even myself, and I know not what to do! She wishes to travel with me to Arwintar, I beg mein Vater's wisdom, as through her I am bound to the great adventurers of all these human nations!"
"Pandora's Actor… that is hardly news of Re-Estize…" Albedo gave him only mild reproach as she caught the tiny shake in his dramatically extended fingers, but Ainz put a hand out to cover Albedo's and shook his head.
"No, I am his father ." Ainz said with finality, "I was that, before I was the Allfather."
The faceless doppelganger's hand on his heart closed into a tight fist at Ainz' words, and quietly held silent while the Lord of Nazarick considered what to say.
"A bond between you two would be good for my Kingdom, it would bind everybody who reveres her, and Momon, to the Kingdom they're part of, which will mean a bond to the Kingdom of Nazarick. However, I am a father before a King, and I don't want to bind my children to anyone that won't make them happy… do as you think best. If you like her, savor her. If you do not, then refuse her and remain professional. Only you can decide what is best, but remember… a Kingdom is a family business, and whatever comes of your union, I may have to use you both for the good of the whole."
"Mein Vater's wisdom is beyond price… I thank you. I will consider your words."
"Is there anything more?" Ainz asked.
"Yes, mein Vater. The Crimson Queen and her consort have conceived a child as well, also due in the coming spring. Knowing as I now do that there is a crop of royals rising up, might I suggest, mein Vater, that we establish a common school for such children, that they grow up together for part of every year of their youth? Thus they will be bonded tightly to you and to any offspring you produce, and to one another in turn?" Pandora's Actor made the suggestion as if it were nothing, but Ainz and Albedo traded a glance at one another.
The utility of such a project was too great to ignore as the power of Nazarick continued to spill outward over the surrounding nations, and if it took a few years to prepare, what of it?
"Yuri Alpha," Ainz said, and the maid rose to her feet, "You will select the ground and undertake the project, Mare will assist you with everything that you need. I want it built and ready to host the children of power within five years, including a full staff of trained maids and teachers in every conceivable subject."
"I would be pleased and privileged to bear this duty, Lord Ainz. Thank you." She said, and curtseyed with dainty perfection.
"Now… my… situation." Ainz finally said and turned his eye back to Demiurge.
"My Lord," Demiurge said and kept his head bowed where he knelt, "we have had limited success with our test subject. Remedios Custodio routinely ends her own life when we transform her, which is not a problem, we simply restrain her when we want to see how long it lasts. However, the only success we have in extended transformation is if it is done after death. A true race change for you… I fear we will need a world item in order to affect the outcome in the way we need."
"Then search for some." Ainz commanded, "Search the libraries of human nations and beyond to search for a morphomantic World Item in their legends and lore, and we will go from there."
"As my Lord commands." Demiurge answered and fell silent.
"Now… all that remains is the matter of Baharuth." Albedo pointed out, and all eyes, already focused on Ainz, became far more intent.
"Who will be our champion, My Lord?" Albedo asked as the silence stretched out.
Volume 7 C4
There was no one clear choice for the Allfather of Nazarick.
He sat on his throne, free of his mask, free of his burdens and fears of rejection, though he doubted he would ever be completely free of his guilt, Albedo was happy. He himself was happy. ' And another child on the way…'
That thought was never far from his mind, and it posed one worry that he was not readily free from. ' Being a good father… to my son, and to my daughter… wait… why am I so certain it will be a girl?' Those emotions slammed into him like a train striking one of the unfortunates of his homeworld that flung themselves in front of the tracks. It was very rare that he missed his skeletal body… but the supreme swelling of worry blended with affection was enough to make him long for his limiter for the first time in a very great long while.
The immediate problem was whom to dispatch. ' I suppose I could have had the Baharuth Empire practically for the asking… but the issue of loyalty without their oaths being a given… I can't be sure that wouldn't be a problem. Perhaps I made a mistake in the refusal before… Oh well, I can make up for it now by participating in the tournament they 'thought' was my idea.'
The only issue was that there were a multitude of good options. While some were out due to their existing burdens… Shalltear had the frogmen and the lizardmen. Demiurge had the dwarves, Sebas and his teams both handled the Draconic Kingdom, Pandora's Actor and Lupusregina managed the issue of the Kingdom… Calca was loyal but… ' I need to set someone to watching over them there… Perhaps Entoma or Narberal? I can't help thinking I should send CZ as an ambassador to the Queen of Frost… I don't know why, but something tells me that they'll get along well.' Ainz thought and then rubbed his chin as if deep in thought.
Cocytus was an obvious choice, he was a warrior without peer, but he was also a heteromorph, and humans would have a difficult time accepting him. The trouble was, almost each one he considered shared that same drawback, and the more like a human the choice was, the easier everything would be. ' I do need to send someone to watch over Calca and our son… Cocytus might enjoy that, and when they see his devotion to protecting and teaching the boy, that might help soften some of the antiheteromorphic sentiment. His fixation on honorable combat would also help out with their warrior class. Yes, that's perfect… !' Ainz thought, and hot on the heels of his former idea…
Another idea struck him for the tournament.
' Of course… how did I not think of her immediately!' He wanted to smack himself in the face.
"Call Aureole Omega to the Throne Room." Ainz gave the order, and within minutes, the lovely porcelain doll-like form of Aureole Omega entered the throne room.
She was dressed as a shrine maiden, red and white robes with long hanging sleeves, and short, straight black hair that hung just a little lower than her ears at the sides, and with a long ponytail that hung down her back. A girlish smile plastered firmly on her face, she skipped into the throne room with the fervor of a joyful young girl who was happy to see her father return from work. Her final skip brought her to a kneeling position at the base of the throne and her right hand came up to her small chest just over the heart. "Allfather, you called, I came."
' Can I send someone to fight who is just that… cute?' He asked himself, she acted like a girl just barely into her teens, and sounded the part to boot. ' She 'is' level one hundred. I see no reason why not. There's very little that should pose a threat to her in this world as far as I've seen.'
His resolve settled, he explained the nature of recent events, and held a hand out toward her, "You are chosen to fight for the Kingdom of Nazarick, win an Empire in single combat. Defeat the world's champions, and establish our Kingdom as supreme."
Aureole Omega raised her hand and gave him a playful smile which flashed her pearl white teeth, "Is that all, My Lord? I'd be overjoyed to do this for you. Are these fights to the death or…?"
"It is my understanding that the Arena of Arwintar presently prohibits battle to the death. However, it is possible that this will not be the case for these duels." Ainz pointed out, "Their instructions about it are… curiously lacking. Perhaps they figure anyone should come to the arena willing to die if they want to win an empire for themselves?"
"Okay!" Aureole piped up, she made small fists just in front of her chest, "I'll fight real hard and kick their butts!" She grinned and punched the air.
The gust of a breeze followed, and Ainz' royal robes rustled a little at her action.
"I'm sure you will." Ainz said with a gentle little look, "But remember I prioritize my children over any amount of land. If you do face defeat, you may surrender to save yourself and I won't scold you."
"Thanks M'lord, but no worries! I won't lose! It won't even be a contest!" She punched her fist up in celebration, the broad smile still filling up most of her little round, soft face. She was the opposite of a warrior in every way.
"When do I leave, m'lord!" She asked, she was already starting to bob and bounce a little where she knelt, filled with energy, vigor, and an eagerness to get started.
Ainz had to laugh, thick and rich, his voice rang out over the whole of his mighty hall. "Not for weeks, we'll just be taking a [Gate], so we have no need to hurry. Familiarize yourself with some of the customs of Baharuth so that you don't disgrace yourself, but otherwise consider this your 'free time' to enjoy yourself before your big…" He sought just the right word, as happy as she was, it didn't seem like 'fight' was quite right. Then it hit him, "your big debut . Make it a good show, Aureole Omega."
"Course, M'Lord! I'll do my best!" She exclaimed, and nobody, of course, questioned that.
Evileye sidled up next to Momon, the campfire was crackling away, and for the moment they were alone. Lupu, Gagaran, Lakyus and the twins were off testing their skills as hunters. But the vampire had only one prey in mind, and hunting that would not take her even an inch away from where she was right then.
Momon took off his helmet and sat it between his feet, his hands were a dark brown tan, as was his face, and he looked deeply into the flames as if lost in thought.
"Do you… like camping, Lord Momon?" Evileye asked.
"Just Momon. We're traveling companions now after all." He flashed her a pleasant smile and then added, "I do, actually. I used to spend a great deal of time alone, people in my position tend to do that, so a large outdoor world to explore, that pleases me. The evening warmth, a crackling fire, a fresh kill roasting… simple pleasures like that are far removed from the petty concerns of a court. Adventure is far preferable to games of power and politics."
"I… I couldn't agree more!" Evileye gasped, every word of his sounded so… so damn noble, "I'm not too close, am I?"
"I'm comfortable here, if you are." He said, and glanced down at the masked adventurer.
"Y-Y-Y-Y-Yes of course I'm comfortable I… of course. I'm always comfortable next to you." Evileye said and then realized just what she'd said, she sucked in a deep breath. She cringed back and waved her hands rapidly, "I… that's not quite what I meant, I just meant you're marvelous company and I enjoy being with you… but not that way, just that we have so much in common and I… will shut up now." She groaned and put her hands beside her head.
"I'm glad I'm wearing this mask! By the six gods I didn't think I could blush this much! How embarrassing…" Evileye moaned.
Momon eased himself down from the log he sat on so that he sat on the ground with his legs stretched out, it gave her something closer to an even look at his face. "It's fine, mein frau… all is well, I won't say a word to the others. You're the most enjoyable company too."
Before she could say anything back, Gagaran's voice reached them through the dark. "Just because I used a hammer and you used your crosier, does not make you a better hunter!"
"No, giant virgin, but actually hitting with mine while you missing with yours, sure as hell does!" Lupusregina said in a singsong sort of way.
"I didn't miss, I crushed its spine." Gagaran said, coming into view as a giant shadow in the trees.
"Yes, but you were aiming for the head, and 'I' actually hit what I was aiming for. Don't try to pass your shoddy work off as equal to my perfection !" Lupu giggled while the giant woman fumed down at her.
"We got cock for dinner! Who wants a nice big cock? It's a little veiny and red in some places, plus the big oaf kind of broke it in the middle, but if we give it a good rub it should be fine if we swallow it hot… why is everybody looking at me that way?" Lupu asked, looking around with a sweet smile at the blushes that were on every face as the others came back into view.
Gagaran groaned, "Lupu… for the thousandth time it's called a cock atrice . You don't shorten it to 'cock'. Please."
Deep sighs of relief went up while they closed in on the campfire dragging the monster behind them and crashing through the trees with every step.
A few hours later after a round of eating and drinking underneath the endless sky, when one by one they went to their bedrolls and Gagaran was at last alone with Evileye the giantess asked in a little whisper, "So… did you do it ?"
Evileye let out a frightened "eep" and whispered hoarsely back, "Gagaran!" She then deflated, her shoulders slumped under the long stare of the big square headed oaf of a sister. "No… nothing. I need more time…"
"It's a long road to Arwintar, so you've got plenty of that." Gagaran encouraged her and gave Evileye a slap on her shoulder. "G'night, shorty, and good luck tomorrow." The giant of a woman yawned and stretched her arms out and stood up.
"Yeah, yeah you're right, thanks… I'll take the first watch, you get some rest." Evileye said and watched her friend disappear into a slightly undersized tent that left her feet poking out as far as her shins, and a moment later snores began in earnest. Alone at last, Evileye looked into the flames and listened to the dark, her eyes, she knew, were glowing bright in the darkness, but hidden by the mask she wore, it was impossible for any of them to know. ' I so want there to be more… but when he knows…?' The rejection loomed in her heart like a wolf lurking around their camp. Fear of how her sisters would react kept her quiet for years, how much more impossible… and necessary, would it be with a defender of humanity like Momon?
' I want more… but how can I have it… if he'd kill me for existing?' Evileye asked herself the question, and even if she did feel weary before, she could not have slept after thinking about that, and the thought stayed with her clear till morning when her companions began to stir again.
Volume 7 C5
Calca approached the carriage with Aurelion in her arms. One pace back at her side walked Kelart Custodio. They were clad in dresses of blue and white with the bright symbol of the Roble Holy Kingdom on their chests. It wasn't lost on Gustav that the pair were dressed to match, but it was only because he was aware of the closeness of the pair that the meaning of their matching dresses was clear.
The carriage, a large golden rimmed and white panelled conveyance, was drawn by four white horses whose flanks were painted with the insignia of the royal house in a bright sky blue. Atop the carriage, pennants of the same waved in the breeze. He held the door for the trio and allowed them to pass.
"Paladins! Form! Up!" He shouted each word alone, and from their places a dozen mounted men in full runecraft armor began to canter into place, three at the front, three at the back, and three to each side.
Gustav then got in behind them, his own armor didn't clink, runecraft armor for whatever reason, seemed to be quiet, at least his own was. Unlike most, he preferred scalemail over plate, trading a little defense for a lot more maneuverability and greater endurance. Over his armor he wore a tabard to match their own.
In the time since the civil war and the invasion by the Frost Queen of Demalbion, the Holy Kingdom engaged in a period referred to as 'The Grand Renewal'. The Principle Movement's relentless and incorruptible crusade against crime and injustice, backed by the crown, made the once nearly toppled royal family more popular than it had been in generations.
So when the carriage rolled out over empty streets, it was to the sound of stupendous cheers. With Calca's older brother acting as the regent for her in her absence, there wasn't one mind in ten thousand who doubted the secure future of the Holy Kingdom. Not least of all thanks to the trade ties with the Kingdom of Nazarick and the growing… ironically friendly relationship with the demihumans to the East.
It still struck Gustav as if it were all some strange dream. "Are we really going with… her ?" He asked, glancing out the window as the city rolled past the thronging.
Calca's arm was out the window while she waved to the people, her smiling face in all her radiant beauty was at its best.
It was Kelart who answered for the distracted Queen while she attended to the affection of her admirers.
"It's the practical thing to do, Gustav, you know that." Kelart said and crossed her arms in front of her chest. She snorted, "I know you're still not fond of their types but-"
He cut her off with a snort of his own. "No. That's not it. Don't forget, I had a hand in making that one what she is. Being around her is a reminder of the worst mistakes of my life. Maybe she's let go of her resentment toward me, I don't know, but even if she has, I haven't stopped resenting myself ."
The shame on his beardless face was obvious, he could not look at the woman to whom he spoke and his hands formed meaty fists that were tense and tight. "It'll be a long time before I let myself grow a man's beard again… it's a small penance, keeping it cut, but it's not nothing at least."
When the carriage rolled out of the city at last and the gate began to close behind them all, Calca turned her gentle face toward Gustav, then reached over and patted him on the knee. "You worry too much. A lot of harm was done by everyone, and we've all tried to get past it for the greater good. Things are going fine, all we have to do is keep them going that way, and travelling together with my…" Calca coughed a little into her hand, "Royal Sister… may seem strange, but it will go a long way toward showing both our peoples that we're united in our desire for peaceful coexistence."
"I suppose, but this will still all be lots easier to deal with when it's not just us. At least we don't have someone personally fighting in this tournament… Do we?" Gustav asked at last, and Calca gave him a long, steady look.
"Thank you for volunteering, Gustav." She gave him a sweet little smile as he flopped against the back of his blue fabric covered seat.
"I should have known. But… Your Majesty, you aren't actually expecting me to win are you?" Gustav asked, "I'm no hero of legend…"
"No, just put on a good show, a reminder that our Kingdom is nothing to mock, that is all we ask of you." Calca said to him with an indulgent air, "Do well, and make us look good."
"I can do that, at least." Gustav said with confidence, and relaxed as the pressure eased off of him a little.
The Queen of Frost sat on her throne and listened to the kneeling elf woman, she was a stunning jewel, one of those from the Southern Holy Kingdom's darkest cities, and acted sometimes as a liaison every now and then between the peoples close to the border and the Kingdom of Nazarick's trade envoys, and her concern on this occasion was a particular project of Neia's.
"… So you see, Your Majesty, the elves of your country are deeply concerned that your road will cut through their forest a great deal and disrupt their natural growth. The large road you envision will cut wildlife off from one another, stir up monsters, and make it difficult for my people to perform the tasks you yourself set us to. I realize that the merchants of Re-Estize and Demalbion would both profit from this road… but I beg you to reconsider its course."
"Illyana," Neia said with a weary sigh, "I understand and appreciate your concern, truly." She held out her talon tipped hand, "Go on, rise. After your people endured so much hardship, it must feel like you're being taken from again. I hadn't realized this road would disrupt so much…"
She looked over to her left as Illyana stood up, "Nasrene, how much time will be added to the journey if we shift the road 'around' the outskirts of the forest?"
The white monster's four arms whipped out pads and quills and immediately began to calculate numbers, the sound of scratching tips on papers was the only thing in the expansive hall of the royal palace of Demalbion's capital of Tovijar, until the secretary and advisor of the Queen of Frost finished her calculations.
"Your Majesty, on foot it would add roughly one week, but on a carriage or horseback it would add roughly three days." Nasrene's calm approach was completely neutral, and her blank white face revealed nothing to the elf or the Queen.
"I see. Well we were looking to relocate people to the area… if we build one small town on the outskirts of a road we can afford a diversion of that sort and add a new opportunity for profit. Plus the elves need a new avenue for trade anyway." Neia answered more to herself than anything, and only then recalled that Illyana was present. "That will be our compromise, the road will circle the forest the long way, but we have excess humans waiting for land, and the diversion will belong to them. I realize your people have an aversion to humans, but as a further compromise, not one of them will be from the South where your people suffered so much." Neia offered, and Illyana deeply bowed her head, her golden hair tumbling wild and free before her.
"Your Majesty, I am sure all those I represent will be truly grateful for your understanding. There is only one more small thing… the matter of the monsters, if you establish such a town, surely some will be displaced and invade our space…" Illyana trailed off when she saw the fang filled smile of the dragonid Queen.
"That I already considered, I think I'm allowed to be a little bit selfish at least, and I will have those minor monsters relocated to an area closer to Tovijar that I want to turn into my own private game reserve. When I was a human, I used to love to hunt and it would be good to have that time again." The Queen of Frost kept the grin on her face, it was hard not to, the prospect of an escape from her endless duties was far too wonderful to ignore.
"Thank you again, your Majesty." Illyana answered, and when the Queen waved her hand to brush it aside, Illyana departed.
An hour later, Illyana was kneeling beside her lover in Albedo's office.
"It went as expected, My Lady. The elves let me speak for them, they remembered me well as it turned out, and the Queen of Frost met their needs. She may be a tyrant, but she seems to balance the needs of each race as fairly as she can. If there were any doubt remaining that she would treat fairly with His Majesty's representative, there is none now."
"One less thing to worry about, then. And Skana, were you able to work out anything about the phantom napper?" Albedo asked, and at that the former human female flushed a little red.
"I've found all his favorite places, just like you told me to, My Lady. But there's no objects, no magic items, just the occasional arrow and a few bones from hunted meals. If I may speak freely, My Lady, I have a theory." Skana said and chewed on her lower lip for a moment.
"Go on." Albedo commanded.
"My Lady, I lived my whole life… as nothing but a selfish, lazy human. I lived only for pleasure, happiness… and occasionally… lots of occasionally… sex. And drinking. And sometimes both." She grinned a little sheepishly, "I think that's this man too. I truly don't believe he is doing more than what he seems to be doing. He naps, he eats, he hunts, he sometimes drinks. He's been avoiding any contact with dangerous demihumans, and any demihumans for a very long time. If he hated them, you'd think he'd at least pick fights. My personal belief is that this man from the east is just powerful enough to be confident, but all he really wants is to have a good time. He can't do it at home, so he goes somewhere else… there ."
"I see." Albedo said succinctly. "We'll put this to the test then, see that the Queen of Frost crosses paths with him during a hunting trip of hers, and what happens then. If he's hostile, we can eliminate him, and if he's not, he may be useful."
"As you will, My Lady." The pair said with uniform devotion.
Volume 7 C6
For the Queen of the Roble Holy Kingdom, time was ephemeral, and it was as easy to see the road ahead as it was to see through a single gossamer weave. The road rolled on and the scenery changed. The road, once so damaged by the demihumans during their rampage, was now fully repaired. ' Thanks in no small part to harvesting materials from the wall. It was fortunate that the Queen of Frost was willing to 'share' such as it were.' Numerous homes and expansive repairs were made from the resulting dismantling of the structure.
As a result, the road was intact and her carriage ride was smooth, the trees thickened as they passed through the wildlands once kept as the territory of 'The Huntress' turned Queen. With the sun high in the sky it should have been bright as day on the road, but thanks to the thick green foliage and overhanging branches, the shadows cast in places made the carriage pass through a night like darkness, sometimes for dozens of yards at a time.
"Do you think monsters are a concern here?" Queen Calca asked as she peered into the shadows of the deep wood. A cold trace of dread ran up the spine of the city woman, the mysterious chaos of the thick woodlands acted as a natural camouflage to the life she was sure watched just out of view.
"I doubt it, My Queen." Kelart answered, but she set a slender hand protectively and reassuringly on the knee of the ruler of the country, "During the Demalbion invasion, the armies of our enemies used the forests extensively to hide their movement, as a result many of the monsters were wiped out. It will be years, maybe decades before they are a threat to us again, and maybe never if we start development of settlements early next year like we plan."
Calca relaxed a little and put her hand over the one which rested on her knee, she took a little breath and, perhaps heartened by her lover's words, she put her head out the window to feel the wind racing over her skin and help her see the far horizon. The world opened up like a marvelous canvas, the endless blue of the sky and the endless world beyond seemed to meet at some distant place toward which they were racing. With the wall missing, there was nothing to bar sight of the foreign Kingdom except a few scattered ruins. With the wall gone, the fortress which guarded its widest point was gone too, and with the fortress gone, the buildings around it were either gone or fallen over. Either destroyed during the fighting, or destroyed for new materials, or simply… tumbled due to weather and neglect, or picked over by scavengers from either side of the border.
Calca drummed her fingers on her other knee, and Kelart could only laugh while Gustav drifted off and began to snore. "Are you that eager, My…" She looked at the sleeping Gustav, his mouth hanging open as his head lolled back against the corner of the carriage, sure that he was asleep, she said, "… my love?"
Calca picked up her son out of the little carriage adapted crib and rocked him in her arms, "It's time for my son to meet his father… of course I'm excited. I may still be a little shaky on my feet, but with things as they are, it can't be helped. And that's the part that makes me nervous. I've known since the start that he was deeply in love with someone else. I have no doubt she'll be there."
"No doubt. But still!" Kelart squeezed her hand over the knee of her Queen. "You bore him a son. It nearly killed you. No man can forget that. Not if he's worthy of an heir."
"The child of the less loved wife… I've heard so many stories of that going wrong. What if his other woman wants my son set aside? What if she demands he not pick my child up? What if he favors her child so much it hurts the one we share? What if- what if I made a huge mistake…" Calca asked and caressed the boy's face, he yawned a little, little mouth wide and little body wiggling in his slumber.
"Somehow… somehow we'll make things work. Don't think like that, we'll do everything we can, you, me, Gustav, the whole Kingdom if we have to." Kelart promised with breathless urgency, and kissed Calca on the cheek with the gentleness of a butterfly landing on a flower petal.
The growing war between tension, nervous excitement, and anxiety began to end as her companion put forward the promise of support, and Calca began to relax again, savoring the quiet moments as the carriage continued to roll onward.
Weeks after negotiations were finalized and the Queen of Frost received word that the Holy Queen was on her way, the hour was finally upon them.
Neia stood at the edge of the grove, her own carriage was more or less needless, given her ability to fly, but there was more at stake and both Queens knew it. For that reason, the Queen of Frost was ready to make a show of peaceful intent by traveling with her former foe across national borders to observe the struggle of champions.
Neia, for her part, traveled with only a handful of guards, two elves, two orcs, and a blader to drive the carriage. As she looked at them there, riding atop horses purchased from the Holy Kingdom, it was difficult not to feel a sense of pride. They were bedecked in fine armor of blended steel and orichalcum with a trace of adamantite, a mere strip or two over vulnerable places to stop a potentially lethal slash, but like everything in Demalbion, efficiency was key.
However, aside from the slow growth of her industrial scale mining operations to harvest the vast untapped resources of the region, the truest pride she felt was in their readiness. They were still, moving only their eyes, their ears, pricked up and keenly listening for threats even when it seemed safe.
For the elves this was expected, while the orcs with their traditional arrogance gave way to serene confidence tempered by caution. Ready for danger when it seemed safe, and gone was the lazy contempt of those who wrongly believed themselves invincible.
Neia's keen ears caught the sound of rolling wheels and she turned her head to face the source of the noise. True to her expectation, the racing carriage and its escort of horsemen approached like thunder brought to ground. The beasts were magnificent, each one half again as tall as a full grown man, with muscular flanks and broad, powerful bodies. The paladins themselves were no less impressive, clad in runecrafted armor burnished to a shine, Neia felt her covetous instincts rise as she saw it loom larger with every step of the hooves of the horses. ' As much as I love my bow… who wouldn't want more of that stuff?'
The carriage began to slow as it drew closer, and the horses began to slow to a trot to match, but nonetheless they made excellent time and within a few minutes of seeing them, the carriage slowed to a halt.
Neia watched as Gustav exited, though he refused to meet her eyes, that was unsurprising, instead he kept his eyes focused on the carriage itself. He opened the door and pronounced with his back stiff and eyes up to watch the Queen's descent, "Queen Calca Bessarez! Ruler of the Roble Holy Kingdom!"
"And I, her Royal Scaliness, Queen of Frost, Neia Baraja, greet my Royal Sister." Neia laughed at her own self effacing humor, and it was at least enough to bring a smile to the slowly moving Queen.
To Neia's eyes, the Queen was worse for the wear, her steps were slow and she was being assisted by Kelart as well as Gustav. Her face was radiant and bright, but her hair? Gone was the honey blonde, and instead was a bountiful white golden shade, still youthful in its lustre and life, it was nonetheless no longer the color Neia recalled.
But the warmth the Holy Queen exuded was no less.
In one arm the Queen held her child, a sleeping boy, and on her face, the contented smile of a mother pleased with what she bore. "You know," the Holy Queen remarked as she came closer to the Queen of Frost, "some would say it's undignified to be humorous instead of formal when royalty meets."
Neia inclined her head in acceptance of the benign critique, "And I would say they should relax a fair bit in a small gathering." Neia gave the Queen a toothy smile, her tail waved lazily behind her, and she extended her hand to the human Queen.
Calca took it, and Neia, with gentle care, only lightly closed her hand around the porcelain skin. "It's good to see you." Neia said sincerely, "If you want the truth, I was half expecting you to skip this meeting, given our history."
Calca waited until the Queen of Frost released her hand, ' Her scales are so… smooth.' The Queen of the Roble Holy Kingdom thought abstractly before answering, "It's because of that, that I can't. I loved… no… I love Remedios… but I am the Queen." Calca said with iron resolve. "The things she did were directly responsible for nearly toppling my realm. The hand you played in her… whatever fate she now has? If I let her actions go, I might as well throw all our books of law into a bonfire. As to the dead between us? We both suffered loss. It's our job to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Neia inclined her head to her counterpart. "You're the Queen my former home deserves, at least now." She said and drew her lips up in a smile that barely concealed her teeth. "Your son by the Allfather… may I see? I won't ask to hold him, I'm just curious."
Calca looked between the dragonid and her boy, a mother's instincts warred on her face before she relaxed with a breath, "If you want to hold him-"
Neia immediately denied it, shaking her head vigorously enough to bounce her loose hair around behind her head, she replied, "I was ugly enough that I made children cry when I was still a human child myself. If he were to see me as I am, I think he'd cry all the way to Arwintar. I'd just like to see, that's all."
Calca felt a sympathetic wince in her soul, that anyone should think of themselves that way… but she offered no hollow words of comfort, she instead merely honored the wishes of the Queen of Demalbion and moved aside the little blue cloth that obscured her son's face and part of the little mop of dark hair on his head.
"He looks perfect." Neia praised the Queen and gave her a winsome look, "I'm sure he'll be a fine man when he's grown up."
"I will do what I can to make him so." The Queen responded, and then with that, Neia gestured to her own carriage.
"Should we get going, it's a long way to Arwintar." The Queen of Frost folded in her wings, retracting them against her back, and with that, they were ready to leave on the long, long journey to the north east.
Volume 7 C7
Zesshi squinted under the sun. "Is it supposed to hurt like this?" The half elf asked and hopped into the carriage. She took one look at Raymond's obviously painless expression and frowned a little bit. "No, no it isn't, is it? I really should get out more."
"There's nothing out here worth seeing." Raymond replied and crossed his arms while glancing out the window of the dark carriage. He drew the curtains shut as Zesshi pulled the hood down behind her back.
"If you say so. But even I get bored hiding away in that treasury as just an 'extra seat'." Zesshi crossed her arms and snorted with derision.
Raymond crossed the other set of dark curtains and then lightly touched the glow stone next to himself to create light for the two of them. The soft white glow was standard for the treasury, so he asked, "Is this better?"
"Generally dark, small, enclosed, with nothing but something old to look at? I don't know about better, but it is normal ." She winked at him and brushed the dark side of her hair back a little.
"I'm about one third your age." Raymond pointed out with a bemused little smirk, "So unless I'm holding up a mirror that you're looking into…"
"Hmpf, age is relative. I'm a half elf," Zesshi said, "in our terms, I'm barely a middling teenager, meanwhile you're ancient ."
"Ouch." Raymond pretended to wince, then spread his arms on the back of the high seat of the carriage, "So, games aside, here's what lies ahead, it will take us most of a month to get there, so we're going to stop as little as possible. I'm going to take care of everything on the way, you're the one doing us the favor after all. So why should you have to do anything but that?" He asked rhetorically and as reasonably as he could.
"That sounds fair." Zesshi answered with an agreeable nod. "So would that make you… my servant, old man?" She winked, and to her surprise, Raymond actually nodded.
"If that's how you'd like to think of it. I'll take care of everything, you can just wait in here or in our rooms along the way, we'll camp between cities and towns, and if you need or want anything along the way, just let me know and I'll make sure we get it." Raymond replied, then he leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees.
"The sunlight will take a lot of time to get used to for you, and we don't want you struggling, so you do need to spend some time outside, get used to the environment. I've been to Arwintar and to the arena, it's a big city, and a big arena, both are vastly larger than Kami Miyako. There's also a lot of people who are scammers, hucksters, frauds…"
"Okay, I realize that you're using words but… what are those ?" Zesshi asked, pursing her lips together in a little frown.
"Like thieves, but they steal from you in different ways. They use cleverness and cunning to trick you into handing over your money, and they're all over the place. I have more experience with those and how to spot them, so…" Raymond coughed, cleared his throat and straightened up, "just let me deal with everyone we have to interact with along the way."
"Fine." Zesshi shrugged and looked toward the window as if she could see out of it. She couldn't, the curtains were far too thick and far too dark, but her ears caught the noise of voices. People were up and about in earnest, but her ears caught every word. She reached up and touched them. ' My father's ears…' She cursed the sense of hearing she got from him. ' A part I got from my mother's rapist.' She drew her hand away, took her hair and moved it to cover her ears again.
"Most people won't be that interesting anyway, if cardinals are any example." She chuckled at her own joke, and Raymond laughed along with her.
"I guess we can be a little stodgy sometimes. Especially lately." Raymond acknowledged when his laughter faded away. "Not that I blame the others, we've been losing influence since this Ainz appeared. Now there are two demihuman friendly countries and we're practically surrounded, and it looks like the Draconic Kingdom will be added to that list if they keep slipping into the Allfather's sphere of influence…" He sighed and rubbed his temple. "It gives me a headache though."
"How's that? You're not dying on me now, are you?" Zesshi asked, she wore a smile on her face when she asked, but also leaned forward a little when she said it.
"No more than any normal human." Raymond answered with a shake of his head, "No, it's the others." He said as the carriage finally began to roll forward and leave the city after it rocked a little with the carriage driver climbing up into place outside. "I'm as worried as they are, but some of them are just about frothing at the mouth over this issue. Dominic wanted to launch a crusade against Demalbion… but we haven't even finished-" Raymond briefly closed his lips, "finished with the war in the south, yet."
"I know, hopefully my father lives long enough for me to get to face him in the arena, where I can end his life for good." Zesshi's jaw clenched and for several seconds, neither said anything.
Perhaps eager for an end to the silence, Zesshi was the one to break it, "So when he proposed invading Demalbion, what did you say?"
"How do you know it was me?" Raymond asked, blinking back his surprise at her guess.
"Because you're practical. Nobody would want to fight two wars at once. Even I know that much." Zesshi said with smug confidence and sat with her back straight, fairly daring him to say she was wrong.
He didn't. "I asked him what army he planned on using in Demalbion. He sputtered for a few minutes and said we should just use you and the scriptures, then fight a holding action against your father." Raymond said, and cringed in his soul.
' I can't tell her what he really said. I can't tell her he said, 'Use the half breed spawn with the scriptures.' Raymond tensed his jaw and fought back the wave of anger that rose again when he remembered those words spoken against his Zesshi.
Zesshi's lips tightened the same as Raymond's did and she narrowed her eyes, "If that had happened, I would have refused to go. I'm patient because I have time to be. But I won't be put on hold for every little problem. Having me nearly killed my mother, and raising me nearly destroyed her. The least I can do is avenge her. I won't play second fiddle to politics over every upstart demihuman with a little bit of power."
"And here I thought you wanted strong opponents." Raymond remarked more evenly, glad for a semi-shift of subject.
"Not if I can't have a child with them. The Demalbion ruler is a woman." Zesshi snorted and crossed her arms, "I know I'm a little sheltered, but even I know better than to hold out hopes of a child that way."
Raymond didn't bother to suppress his shudder. "You're like a daughter to me, please do not put that image in my head."
Zesshi smirked, just a little bit, "Just three minutes ago you pointed out that I was older than you. Pick a seat, Old Man."
They shared a laugh that filled the carriage, and onward it continued to roll.
Brain walked the road with a smile on his face and a spring in his step. The road east was a good one, and whether he cared much for them or not, the Slane Theocracy knew how to provide security for their territory. The journey to Arwintar would have proven impossible at his current pace, at least in the time he had before the tournament. However, the swordsman had no intention of missing out on the chance of a lifetime, so each night while it was cool, he ran at a sprint that put horses to shame, slept for several hours before dawn, then walked while he ate and drank.
He took another bite out of a hunk of bread held in his left hand. The warmth of the day was such that he couldn't bring himself to hurry, it didn't bother him at all when the carriage raced past, there was no reason to rush, not until nightfall at least.
Boredom wasn't really a problem for the swordsman, after all, the prosperous human Kingdom had an abundance of travelers on the road. There was always a merchant to chit chat with, or a young man or woman setting out to make a name for themselves in the world. At high noon he found himself intersecting a young man with a cheap longsword at his side and a young woman in the robes of a martial artist. She had a tabard over her head that hung down her front and sharp blue eyes full of pride and confidence. Her dark hair was bound in a ponytail behind her head, and the young man occasionally tugged it playfully.
The young man, for his part, had short brown hair and wore no armor except for a breastplate over his dark blue shirt. ' At least that red headband on his head will keep the sweat out of his eyes.' Brain thought and tried not to mock the pair on sight. Exactly what they were was obvious to the former bandit. ' Village friends off on an adventure, ready to change the world… but probably die on their first assignment.' He felt a range of emotions then, looking at the pair. His own departure from his village, the enthusiasm to rise to the top, a kind of innocence he held onto for far longer than most because he was not confronted with loss or defeat for so long. But his heart panged for them as well, as most such people died before they even got their first adventure, and most of those who did, didn't survive the adventure itself.
Brain liked the pair immediately, so when they came near and saw his single sword, conversation was inevitable. "Off an adventure?" The young man asked while he looked Brain up and down, sizing him up.
"No, I just walk up and down the road holding this sword all day every day." Brain said with a little smug look down at the warrior. The young monk, or so he assumed her to be, broke out in a laugh at the sarcastic answer, but rather than let it continue too long, Brain chose to answer them seriously.
"I'm actually on my way to Arwintar to fight in the tournament. I've had a lot of adventures, but this is the one where I'm hoping for a real challenge. As for you two," Brain looked them both up and down, "I'm guessing you're novice adventurers?"
"Yep! My name is-" The warrior jabbed his thumb against his breastplate and started to speak, but cut off when Brain held up a hand with palm facing the young warrior and shook his head.
"Nope, no names, not in this business. Chances are we'll never meet again and if we remember anything, it'll be what we are. So I'll just call you 'Warrior'." Brain said and pointed to the young man, and then to the young woman and said, "I'll call you, 'Fighter' and you can just call me 'The Greatest Swordsman in the World' How's that sound?"
The pair sputtered and tried to speak for several seconds, but after trading the sort of glance at one another in a silent conversation which was only possible through life long friends, they shrugged it off and nodded. "So… you're really good?" Warrior asked, and Brain could only smirk. "I've tested myself from Re-Estize to Demalbion, and I've only lost one fight in all my life. I'm not sure if I'm at the peak now or not, but that is what I really want to know, so it's off to the tournament."
"Wow." Fighter said and clapped her hands together, "Maybe you could give a few lessons to my friend here," she put a hand on Warrior's shoulder, "We're heading toward the northern part of the Theocracy, there are goblin slaying quests up there that should make great practice before we try for the really hard adventures."
"Goblins, huh." Brain nodded, "I suppose I could show your friend a few things. They may not look like much, especially the wild ones, but a sword in the gut from a goblin hand will kill you as easily as a sword from me. Don't ever go in cocky, demihumans, even the lower intelligence ones, haven't survived this long in human lands without reason."
"I guess, but they are just goblins." Warrior said and tapped his sword, "I've chased them off before."
"Famous last words." Brain remarked, "But if you want, I'll teach you a bit when we stop at the next resting grove. I'll be leaving you tonight though."
"Resting groves are at all the major intersections, right? That's what my dad said, and he used to be an adventurer." Warrior replied with the question and looked down the long road, squinting his eyes in the hopes of finding such a grove was close.
"More or less, every now and then there's one without it, but the fruit trees are so easy to grow and so abundant that you can expect to find them at nearly every one." Brain explained, "Just remember the traveler's code and don't take more than you need right then. You'll be badly punished if they catch you pilfering."
Conversation flowed like that for a few hours until they found just such a grove, two roads intersected, one curving its way toward some distant northern hills, while the other continued onward. A cluster of trees sat at each intersecting corner of the road, thin things, no bigger around than Brain's own waist, but tall as an ogre, the branches spread out to create abundant shade, though they were bowed with the weight of various fruits. Apples, pears, and more.
"Alright, Warrior, show me what you've got." Brain said and took up position in a clearing among the trees. As the young swordsman charged across the distance, Brain swept his sword out, cut an apple from the branch, and began to fend off the young man while crunching on the sweet golden fruit.
Warrior let out a fearsome battle cry that was… not at all fearsome to the veteran, and Brain continued to munch as the wild swings came on. ' He's an undisciplined young man, but there's potential.' Brain thought as he batted aside another wild swing while Fighter simply sat beneath the shade and watched.
After several minutes, Brain targeted and led the boy toward a tree… and a wild swing buried the edge into the trunk. As Warrior struggled to pull it free, Brain thrust at the young man's fingers, jabbed at the thumb, and the sword fell from the young man's grip and thudded into the grass. "Boy, any opponent fiercer than time is too much for you to be confident about killing." Brain remarked, the apple wasn't even down to the core, so he crunched another bite, chewed, and swallowed. Warrior fell to his knees, sweating, breathing hard, and looking down at the blade on the grass with utter disappointment.
"Let me give you a few pointers," Brain suggested, "Your instinct is good, you want to be on the attack, but if there'd been more than one, even if the other was half as good as I, you'd be dead. You were too obvious, and you didn't use the environment. The best thing you both can do? Stop at the city nearest to where you want to go, trade labor for some lessons from some of the retired warriors who live there, and then in a year or three, go out and face off against goblins."
"But… I don't want to wait." Warrior mumbled.
"Maybe not, but the dead wait forever, trade some time for success, both of you. Monsters may kill you both, but they may also do a lot worse before that, so go when you're ready or die when you get there." Brain said and took a few quick bites of the apple before tossing the core just outside of the grove.
That brought silence to his short term companions, and while they mulled that over, Brain looked off in the distance and watched the sun begin to set. "Alright, Warrior, Fighter, good luck." Brain remarked, "And if you hear of a new emperor in Baharuth with a handsome face and blue hair, come and see me after your first success." He waited for no answer from the two, he only sheathed his blade, and took off at a run, leaving the pair to whatever fate they found for themselves.
Volume 7 C8
Cerebrate reclined in his seat in the carriage and watched the little girl half run, half stagger away, her tears running down her naked body until they fell off her bare skin and into the grass. That wasn't the only fluid to run over her skin, but as he lay back, satisfied and at ease, he couldn't find a reason to care one way or the other. His only regret… ' I wish I had more cocks… enough to do that to every little piece of candy in this whole rotten Kingdom.' That thought disrupted his happiness a little and he reached down to stroke himself.
' There'll be another village tonight, and then another, and then another, all the way to Arwintar.' That eased his rising ill temper a little bit, the promise of so many sweets along the way almost made up for the complete loss of work.
' When I win the throne and I'm the Emperor, I'll have a fresh one with every meal.' His tongue lolled out of his mouth as he filled his head with fantasies and approached his peak of pleasure.
But the truth beneath that pleasure was that a sea of bitterness roiled without end. ' That bitch, that bitch… fired without so much as a thank you… I was supposed to get the Queen for myself… a night with a royal slut child… I was so close…' He finished, and wiped his hand on the clothing the village girl left behind before running back to her family. There was always a villager with a child to trade for a few hours, and that ensured no trouble followed his amusements.
But nothing completely burned away the hatred he felt for the Kingdom he would be passing through soon. ' Kingdom of Nazarick…' He cursed the name and glared out the window of his carriage, the warrior teams they provided were second to none, and rendered him redundant. ' Whoever imagined an adamantite ranked adventurer could be made needless?!' He wanted to howl in his frustration, without even lust to distract him, he reached for the bottle and began to swig down what was left of the wine.
But that same resentment brought up a sense of caution about his earlier thoughts. ' Maybe it wouldn't be wise to try to buy one there… I'll be passing through the Kingdom of Carne, they're not officially part of the Kingdom of Nazarick… yet… better safe than sorry.' Cerebrate thought, and drank the last of the bottle, bitter that he reached the bottom without passing out, he ran his fingers through the scraggly brown beard and licked his fingers to savor just one more drop, before he closed his eyes and tried unsuccessfully to sleep.
Ainz pressed his lips to those of the sleeping succubus and watched her eyes flutter open. This was one of their favorite games. She wrapped her arms around his body, and then her wings as well, and drew him closer. "When do we leave, my love?" Albedo asked as he moved entirely on top of her. Her golden eyes took every inch that they could.
"Not for a while. I'd like to take a carriage rather than a gate, so we will go sooner than we otherwise would, though." Ainz answered and breathed in her heady scent.
"A carriage?" She asked, her curiosity piqued. For at least a moment that curiosity pushed aside her desires.
"Yes. In the First World, travel was not something most of us did, we each had our own… realms, and came to the Second world to meet and explore a new place and create… Now here in the Third World…? I'd like to take my time and see everything. There is no hurry, is there?" He asked and placed a hand over her belly, leaving the question unspoken.
"No… none. But if we're taking a carriage, then there is something I'd like to ask." Albedo said, and delayed his question by pulling herself up to plant a kiss of her own on his lips and duel with this tongue for several seconds before she lay back again and licked her lips to enjoy his lingering flavor.
"I'd like to ask that you bring Calca here, into the heart of Nazarick to show off your son." Albedo said with a cocky little smile.
"Are you serious?" Ainz asked, he froze suddenly and shifted to lie beside her on the bed, games and desire briefly forgotten.
"Yes, there's a ritual of the Roble Holy Kingdom she will have to undergo, and there is no place better for it than here." Albedo replied, "I'm sure you already know all about it, but I'm certain she's anxious. I think that is part of why she sent that letter informing you of her intent to travel with the Queen of Frost. She knows of your love for me, and fears for the fate of her son after I send out the announcement of my pregnancy. Poor little human." Albedo laughed, "So naive."
' A ritual?' Ainz thought and racked his brain, his anxiety hit him like an old world train. His immediate instinct was to nod along, and his head even started to move. As did his lips, prepared to lie and pretend he knew what she was talking about.
But he stopped himself. ' No.' He told himself, ' I did so much harm to my children, pretending and lying… and I wounded Albedo the most…' That old grief washed over his soul for a moment and carried away his intent at pretence, when it was gone, he answered her.
"What ritual is this?" Ainz asked, and Albedo rolled on top of him.
"Silly me." Albedo tittered out, "Of course a Supreme Being wouldn't trouble their minds with the rituals of lesser creatures. It's the Paternitius Declaratius, where Aurelion's life or death will be decided. Ordinarily this would be a perfunctory thing, but I think she fears the outcome since I am now carrying an heir to you as well."
It was several minutes before Ainz could say anything at all to that, as he could not bring himself to break the kiss he gave to her next.
The Queen of Frost chose a scenic route over which to guide her counterpart, and their carriages rolled on uninterrupted for long stretches of time, pausing only to relieve themselves, eat, or sleep. And when they slept, Neia insisted on providing the best hospitality they could manage.
It was under these conditions that Queen Calca followed Queen Baraja into the heart of a full blown demihuman town.
"This isn't Hoburns," Neia said by way of apology, flashing fierce fangs in as friendly a smile as she could. "We're still growing here, only my capital city is really established. Everything else is just towns and villages, like this place." She waved her hand around the mix of stone and wooden buildings. Curiously, unlike human construction which tended to square off, the buildings in towns were single story and focused on length rather than height. They were long oval shapes over which wood, metal, or even occasionally stone rooftops went.
"I see." Calca said and rocked her son in her arms, he laughed a little bit, heedless it seemed, of the pounding in his mother's heart. Demihumans of all types occupied the town, from orcs to zern to ones that Calca couldn't have named if her life depended on it. Four armed creatures with straight, slender bodies which seemed almost totally faceless but somehow knew where they were going. Every part of her body cried out in fear of retribution, the reflexive fear of demihumans and the violence they might do to her or her child was a part of her character.
Her host however, seemed oblivious, and that made Calca's sense of shame all the worse. Her companions were tense, but none had sweat on her brow that the Queen could see.
It was then seeing a human that caught Calca most off guard. "Humans?" She asked without thinking.
Neia turned around to face Calca, "Oh, yes I should have mentioned that, forgive me, Royal Sister." Neia bowed her head, "I assumed you knew that a number of humans chose to remain behind, I was offering free land to anyone willing to work it for five years, and made that same offer to all my prisoners of war. Most of them went home, but some, a few thousand at least, chose to remain behind."
Calca was quiet as she followed the Frost Queen to a large wooden door. "They're full citizens, of course." Neia added hastily, "I put them all under the Astraka house for their greater ease, but there's just so much land that a few like that one," she waved a hand toward the direction the human vanished into, "go off on their own. Some stake claims and mine, some farm, but they're all my people. As long as they obey my laws, they're mine."
Calca thought that over, and her own emotional response to it. "I see." She repeated herself and followed the Frost Queen into the building. It turned out to be larger than anticipated, though save for the slug-like creature behind a counter, it seemed like any other town inn. Wooden floor, a bar at which several different demihumans from goblins to elves drank, and a curious looking dwarf with dark skin and a black beard, drinking and talking.
"Room enough for all of us, and my guards." Neia said and the innkeeper seemed to shiver as if he were excited.
"Of course… did you bring your own dead to eat or shall we serve you some of our dead, Your Majesty!" The innkeeper shivered all the faster as he spoke, but his question turned Calca's face faintly green.
Neia looked over her shoulder, "Zern. They have odd dining habits, and odder ways of speaking, there are no people on our menu." The Queen of Frost chuckled, and a collective sigh of relief went up from Calca, Kelart, and Gustav all at once, as well as their guards, and some of those following Neia.
'Venison stew if you don't have any cockatrice." Neia said, "And beds suitable for humanoids."
"At your pleasure, Your Majesty!" The zern innkeeper began to slide away immediately, and while he did, a thought came to Calca that she did not like at all.
' If my reaction to demihumans is normal, and my husband's kingdom is more welcoming… we'll fall behind, sooner or later… we have to push change like she has… I can't just wait for time to ease things or we'll get a very bad reputation!' Calca rushed from thought to proposal with no time to speak of.
"After we return to our homes, Queen Baraja, we should see about moving some demihumans into my country." Calca suggested when Neia accepted the key and walked toward the far end of the building.
"We should?" Neia asked without a backward glance, doubt didn't need to be on her face for Calca to hear it in her voice.
"Yes. I'm settling the wildlands now, or rather, we will be soon. A handful of demihumans might help ease some of the past tensions between our peoples." Calca proposed, her steps quickened to put her at Neia's side, and from her side when they reached a far door, she saw a look of doubt in the dragonid eyes.
"No demihuman has ever lived in your Kingdom without being killed for being there." Neia said and reaching up, she put a hand on Calca's shoulder, the guards at Calca's back tensed, but the Queen of the Roble Holy Kingdom held up a hand at her side to stop them from responding.
Neia noticed both happen and sighed, "See? I like you, Queen Bessarez, you're the monarch the Holy Kingdom deserves, but you're asking me to put the lives of my people on the line to improve your home's future prospects. I can see no benefit to that for me or for Demalbion's people. If I send a few hundred demihumans to live in human villages, I'll get back corpses. I'm sorry, sister. But I can't do what you want." Neia said and shoved the key into the iron lock, she twisted it open with a click and then withdrew it to hand to the Queen.
"Sleep well, and we'll travel onward tomorrow, having to go around the lands that will murder me and my escorts will be… time consuming, so we have to start early. But at least the company will be good." Neia said and squeezed Calca's shoulder gently once, then stepped aside.
"S-Sleep well, Queen of Frost." Calca said, and entered the room with her escort at her back, leaving Neia to go to her own quarters for the night.
Volume 7 C9
Out of all the Cardinals, Zesshi knew and trusted Raymond the most. He'd always dealt straight with her, and in her rare outings in the darkness to remove some threat, he was her constant handler and guide. Whether because of that or in spite of it, he always behaved more gently with her, treating her as if she were the child of a dear friend, and though it grated on occasion, it was hard not to trust a man who showed care like that. Particularly as she lacked any father of her own beyond the one she wanted to murder.
So, over the years, she'd come to begrudgingly look up to him in a way. ' If Dominic told me to stay in the carriage, I'd have told him to drive it up his ass.' The half elf snorted when they rolled up to a village, and then right through it.
The next few days passed that way, they camped between villages under the night sky. Curiously enough, they seemed to be taking turns being 'ahead' of a man who ran at night and slept during the day. It was such a regular thing that she ticked off the days by his sweaty smell when he loped past them, and it was a full week before Zesshi realized, ' I'd never been outside this much in my entire life…' The stars were twinkling the same as they did each night, a haunch of meat was roasting on a spit over a crackling fire, and the fruit trees at their backs waved gently in the breeze.
More notably, a forest loomed close, and it called to her blood like a siren. ' I've never been this close to it for this long…' Zesshi set her back against the tree and looked up at the sky, the branches were wide-set and offered a clear window to the beyond. "Say, Raymond, what are those stars anyway?"
"The stars are stars… how am I supposed to answer that?" Raymond chortled while he turned the spit, he glanced up at the sky reflexively when she asked. "If I asked you what a half elf was, how would you answer that?"
"Saying they're born half of rapist-animals." Zesshi answered, and Raymond's brief laugh died in his throat.
' She's not really wrong, but not quite the way she thinks.' His conscience gnawed at him, there were a lot more half elves from human violence than the other way around, a secret that was kept from her for her entire life. ' I could tell her, but… how would she respond to that?' There was no good answer, and so he kept turning the spit and held his tongue.
The smell of the meat was flavorful and rich, he held a hand up over it and tilted a little container of salt over the cooking flesh.
"But seriously, I'm asking what they're made of. Are they diamonds?" Zesshi asked.
"No… the Gods' wisdom told us that they're actually giant balls of gas, each one bigger than the whole world many times over, burning billions of miles away. Supposedly, many of them actually died a long time ago, but their light is only just now reaching us." Raymond explained and Zesshi whistled appreciatively.
"Sounds like a folk story or something." She said, "But a neat one."
"It sounds like total bullshit."
A blue haired man said as he approached, veering off of the road. Zesshi sniffed the air, "You're the man who's been running past us over the last few days, aren't you?"
"Given that you just took a whiff, I'd say that means it's been too long since I've bathed." The blue haired man laughed with a self deprecating look, lifted his arm, and sniffed. He pretended to wince. "Yeah, too long."
"You don't have to have good senses to know that much." Raymond said, his hand quietly slipping within his Cardinal robes to palm a dagger, "What do you want?"
"Nothing really. My name is Brain, and I couldn't help but smell the food… again, and," he put one hand on his stomach, it growled at them like a feral beast, and Raymond relaxed, "I was hoping I could ask for a bite. Traveler's hospitality and all that."
An unwritten rule of the road, to help travelers in distress, 'Feed the hungry traveler' was a commandment that even demihumans were said to have embraced.
It didn't hurt that travelers were always armed, and the best way to keep a sword sheathed when a hungry belly was present was to put bread in one hand and cheese in the other, or so it was said.
"Sit. Share the fire." Raymond said and when the blue haired man set his sword down on a log and sat, the Cardinal took his hand off his knife.
"Thank you." Brain said, and took a seat. "My name is Brain, Brain Unglaus."
"I've heard of you." Raymond said immediately, "But aren't you from Re-Estize, what are you doing here ?"
"Oh, I'm on my way to Arwintar. I was in Demalbion's capital city when word came of the tournament, and it's a bit of a run for me to get there in time." Brain tossed off the sentence like it was nothing.
Both Raymond and Zesshi stiffened when he said it, Raymond however was in the middle of handing over a chunk of cheese, and such was his surprise that he dropped it.
Brain darted his hand out and caught the chunk before it could hit the grass, "Hey thanks, but try not to drop it in the grass!" He smirked a little, only the smallest upturn in his lip exposed it in the light of the fire, and he brought the cheese up to his mouth to take a bite. It fairly melted in his mouth with a savory tartness that slid over his tongue with the smoothness of water going downhill.
"Demalbion? You were with the demihumans?!" Zesshi asked with sudden curiosity.
"You're not serious?!" Raymond demanded. He'd stopped turning the spit when Brain spoke.
"Yeah sure." Brain said and casually chewed on the tart yellow chunk. "I'm a free sword with no master, I go where I want, and Demalbion is friendly to travelers who want to show their talent. Their Queen is utterly mad for talent. She said anyone who comes to her domain offering to use their talents in peace can expect to be rewarded as handsomely as they would be in the Kingdom of Nazarick or better. There's a bit of a rivalry between those two it seems like. I'd go to the Kingdom of Nazarick, but I still have some history in some of those areas that I'm not quite sure is settled… so I went west."
"That's a lot of walking." Zesshi remarked.
Brain shrugged while Raymond frowned. "Maybe, though uh, old man, you might want to start turning that spit again. I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything, but you two probably don't like burnt meat any more than I do."
"Shit!" Raymond cursed and resumed rotating the spit when he saw the char forming on the section of meat closest to the flames.
"You're welcome. But yeah, I've spent my whole life traveling. I've been to the Elf Kingdom, to the Draconic Kingdom, to Re-Estize, Baharuth, the Roble Holy Kingdom… no home means nothing to tie me down, all I've ever done is test my sword." Brain said and slid off the log to rest his back against it instead.
To Zesshi, who had never traveled at all, Brain was like some strange, unfamiliar creature, she looked at him with utter fascination.
"I went to Demalbion to fight for prizes in their arena, it isn't much, but they're building a lot, and I thought it might be neat for the first arena champion to be a human traveler instead of a native of the region. Plus I was just curious about what it was like there. I go where I want, and nobody can tell me otherwise. It's a nice life." Brain remarked and stretched out his legs.
"So why go to Baharuth, the life of an Emperor doesn't sound like it would appeal to you." Raymond asked, the man was so outgoing and gregarious that it was hard not to like his rakish easy manner, and against his will, the Cardinal was curious.
"Nah, it doesn't. I figure I'll win the tournament and just hand it over to whoever came in second. I'll settle for a token payment of gold coins to wherever I am next. The throne doesn't suit me. I'll probably just pay off a bounty on me in Re-Estize, if there is still one, or the Kingdom of Carne, if it's there instead, and then go back to Demalbion."
"Demalbion, not the Theocracy or the Holy Kingdom? Not a human nation? Don't you have some loyalty to humanity in you?" Raymond's religious instincts took over for a moment, but Brain only laughed.
"You're a religious man alright, but no, not really. Listen old timer, I've been all over the place, I've had goblins, elves, dark elves, humans, orcs, and you name it, host me, fight me, and work for me… and lemme tell you this, the average person of every one of those races is a coward. Not one in twenty wants to pick up a sword and die. But I've seen strong ones who are brave because they're strong, and weak ones who are brave because they have something to fight for. From where I'm sitting, they're all bad and all good in the same ways. Just different flesh from one to the next. Like whatever human male raped her mother to make her," he inclined his head toward Zesshi and gave her an apologetic bow of his head, "no offense," he added, then finished, "I've got no real reason to favor my own kind over any other. There's only two sides where I stand, the ones who'd help out, and the ones who'd shove a knife in my back over a pair of boots."
It was a rant if ever there was one, and Raymond didn't much care for it. He sliced off some meat and handed it to the blue haired swordsman. "Here… that should be enough to hold you, and not to sound inhospitable, but I think you'd best run… I'm not in a sociable mood all of a sudden."
"Yeah, fine, old man. No offense meant, just how things are, you know?" Brain said, "Thanks for the meat and the cheese." He said, taking a strip of roast meat, he wolfed it down, snatched up his sheath, and bowed to his hosts.
A moment later, he was running again and was quickly out of sight.
It wasn't until he was gone that Zesshi said a thing, with far better eyes than Raymond, keeping her eye on the retreating dot in the darkness far longer than the Cardinal did, and she was still watching him vanish while she asked…
"Raymond… Why did he assume that it was my mother who was an elf?"
' Shit.' Raymond mentally cursed, and dropped his knife into the dirt at his feet when his fingers fumbled after her question.
Volume 7 C10
The carriages of the Queens rolled through the winding roads of Re-Estize, and little by little, as the guards blended together in their rotations of securing each other's charges, the two groups began to grow more comfortable with one another.
"They're coming along nicely, aren't they?" The Queen of Frost asked while she cradled the infant son of the Holy Queen of Roble and the Allfather of Nazarick. She tapped his nose with the tip of her taloned hand and drew a giggle from the boy. His hands closed around the rounded part of her talon and tugged. Her hand moved with his pull. "And your son has quite a grip." Neia added, drawing her finger away to avoid accidentally harming him.
"They are, and he does." The holy Queen gave a radiant smile to her counterpart. "Your suggestion of drinking contests between the two groups and breaking up the rivalry with duels… it was a good one."
"Thank you." Neia replied and held the swaddled infant back to her opposite number.
Calca accepted him into her arms with the greatest care, and asked, "Is that how you united the Demihumans?"
"Wouldn't you like to know." Neia gave a fangy smile at the Queen as if she were holding some closely guarded secret.
"Yes, actually." Calca said matter of factly and glanced over to the circle of soldiers where a bare chested orc and an equally bare chested paladin rolled around amidst the cheers of their comrades.
"Okay, sure." Neia said with a rough laugh, "That was part of it. Demihumans aren't all that different, they just live harder lives. A strong individual may gather a lot of followers, but there are lots of strong individuals, if one treats you like dirt, go to another who behaves better. So even the worst of them have limits unless they want to rule a kingdom of one. I used my reputation and knowledge to win more than duels, I won battles, then offered the losers a future and integrated them into my army. Plus, we had a common enemy." She gave a long, lingering, though wrathless look to the Holy Queen.
"That makes sense… so now that all that is over?" The Queen asked.
"Now we build up, things have already changed. Demalbion is getting stronger all the time, new mining operations are just the tip of the mountain. Thanks to the dark dwarves we've hired, we'll be building up our artisan class for years to come. No more need to steal and pillage to gain wealth. We'll create it ourselves ."
"Demihuman merchants wandering through the Holy Kingdom." Calca remarked, "If somebody had said something about that five years ago I wouldn't have believed it. We barely believed they had merchants at all."
Neia nodded, "I thought the same way, but they did have a very small merchant class, but it was never secure enough to thrive. With your permission, Your Majesty, I'd like to make formal contact with your most important merchant… Tinamok, I think, was his name. I want to formally integrate our merchants into the international guild and he seems like just the man to go to for it."
The cheers went up and the two Queens paused to glance at the source of the noise, the human was over the orc and was steadily bringing fists down against the orc's big snout.
"We can arrange for a meeting, but it will have to be in Hoburns, and you'll have to bring along some of your merchants, plus you'll need to have a few humans among them." The Queen made the offer, and faster than she expected, the dragonid who sat across from her on the log, gave a sharp nod.
"I expected terms like that, we'll bring samples of some of our finished goods too, and perhaps you should invite your husband, after all, he will effectively be ruling most of the places we expect to trade with. Plus I'd be lying if I were to say I wasn't hoping to meet him again… a human eager for the unity of all kinds… It's almost unthinkable. If things had gone differently?" Neia sighed, "I might have headed for his Kingdom on my own just as a nameless squire."
"He's proven persuasive in that regard." Calca acknowledged, decidedly overlooking her own past point of view, "Though it hasn't hurt that he's got magic power nobody has seen in centuries. The priests in my country are wondering if he's a player ."
"You mean a full blown god? I'm not surprised." Neia answered, "He may very well be."
"Don't tell the Theocracy that, you know how they think of these things, they're so dogmatically entrenched that even the word of a god might not change their minds." Calca snorted and then began to coo to her infant as his breathing settled into a sleeping rhythm.
"I know. And sooner or later, we'll trade words about that. Hopefully that is all we'll trade, but only time will tell." Neia answered and when the smell of rich stew reached the seated royals, she crudely licked her lips. "Enough serious talk for now though, shall we eat?"
"Yes. Yes, let's." The Queen of the Roble Holy Kingdom answered as the bowls were brought over and a cheer went up, a bloody and bruised orc stood with his fist raised high in victory while the paladin huffed and puffed as he was helped up by his friends.
"Elves are so… gross." Cerebrate muttered as the little one lay curled up holding the place where he'd used his favorite weapon on her. This one was only a half breed, but still, she had those ears . ' The body stays young at least, nice, fine bones, but their faces tend to have that angular look, and the ears are ugly and wiggle when they're scared, like fucking deer looking for danger.' Part of Cerebrate resented the coin he'd spent on her.
And regretted what it would mean for his travels. ' After I leave the Theocracy, I'll have to take side roads to avoid suspicion, maybe dispose of her part of the way there…'
That was another upside to his purchase, if he used it up, it would mean less to him to get rid of it.
He took a bite of his stew. Venison, deer were plentiful, and the meat had a rich, succulent flavor… but still, the lack of spices was a problem. He frowned down at the bowl. ' Since the Kingdom of Nazarick's policies, trade has slowed down a lot, the last three places didn't even have salt to spare.'
Meat without spices was still meat, but while he looked down at the cheap wooden bowl of broth, meat, potato chunks, and a few other ingredients, he couldn't help but find it bland .
"Owie… it hurts… why won't the bleeding stop…" The half elf girl whimpered, more to herself than to him. Her golden hair was a tangled mess now after her brief, futile struggle before she became a limp, groaning doll, which in turn became a weeping lump of sweaty, dirty flesh.
' That's it!' Cerebrate snapped his fingers and the little frown on his face turned upside down. "Slut girl, get over here, and be quick about it!" He snapped his fingers again and pointed to his feet.
He saw the way her dull eyes sharpened and widened with fear, and she got to wobbly feet with the greatest difficulty and slowness, and walked with pain filled, shaking steps, her legs kept apart to avoid more pain between them until she all but collapsed in front of him. "M-Master?" She asked.
Cerebrate held the bowl under her chin right eye. "Cry into this, I need salt."
The callous indifference was worse than cruelty, and she quietly began sobbing again, tears running over the rim of the wooden bowl, until he drew it back from her, stirred, and took a bite.
' A little too much salt.' He thought as he put the wooden spoon into his mouth and glanced at the kneeling half breed. "What? Go clean yourself, you stink." He said and pointed toward a river just a little off to the side of the road where Cerebrate's makeshift camp sat.
"I smell like you…" She accused him and looked up at him with bitter, hate filled eyes.
"Bitch!" He snapped, and the fist of the knight connected with her face, she howled in pain as she was snapped backward and sent flying, crashing and bouncing over the dirt and grass.
"My eye… my eye… my eye…" She whimpered as she clutched at the injury.
"Just clean yourself up, it's a long journey ahead and you're not getting back in my carriage while you stink ." Cerebrate hissed.
A few yards away, the carriage driver, a human of the Theocracy, watched the scene with a mix of disinterest, curiosity, and disgust. Cerebrate didn't think anything of the servant, neither loved nor loathed, as long as he drove, it was fine. ' Even if he says anything he shouldn't in some other country, so what? There'll be no proof to be had.'
Content with this reasoning, Cerebrate ate his meal in peace while the weeping girl kept saying, "My eye… my eye…" And staggered out of view and toward the river.
Layali clutched her injury as she staggered away from the monster. When she moved her hand aside, she felt her eye come with it. Being only sixty-seven, she was still a child, but she'd seen enough injuries to know what this meant. ' My eye is taken out of its socket… it's bad… real bad… and the rest…' The abuse of her kind was nothing new, but until this one, nobody had shown any interest in her that way.
' But that's all this one wants… there's nowhere I can go… no parents… nobody will help me… this is a nightmare… I'm living in a nightmare… why… for what?' She whimpered quietly as she sank her body into the river.
' Clean, I have to get clean… wash him off, wash him out , I have to get clean…' She grabbed a handful of sand from the embankment and began to use it to scrub the blood and dirt from everywhere on her body.
Layali sank deeper into the water, she scrunched her toes into the soft ground as the cool waters rushed around her and raced away. The one good part of traveling with the monster who called himself Cerebrate was that she could see the long horizons. ' The world is so much bigger than I thought… so much bigger…'
The water was up to her nose, one hand clung to the agony filled eye socket while the other struggled to clean herself off… minute after minute until an hour passed and her flesh was raw and red and the scrapes of the raw scrubbing grew worse and worse.
' I'm still not clean… I'll never be clean…' Laylali whimpered and blew bubbles in the water as she screamed into it when that realization hit.
Her good eye darted around, searching for somewhere, anywhere, but intuitively she knew the truth, ' There's nowhere to run… got nothing, nowhere… no one…'
She recalled briefly the day her mother passed away, her body buried in the field she toiled over. The elves who worked with her didn't mourn her, and the words of one of the older slaves came back to Layali now as she sat in the cool water of the river, listening to its endless babble as it raced far, far beyond her view. "We don't mourn, because her problems are over. Nobody will harm her now."
' That's the place I can run to… where even the monster can't follow me…' Layali removed her hand from her eye, and it fell dangling down against her cheek, still hanging on to the red retina and dripping blood into the water that was swiftly carried away and disappeared into the current.
The half elf took one more deep breath, lowered her face under the water, it picked up her eye and pulled it to float on the surface of the water to create a bizarre moment when she could see both clearly and a blur both at once in two different directions.
The water rushed over her head, she curled up beneath it, dragging the dangling eye down under water with her, and began to scream once more into the water.
Layali's screaming went on until the bubbles stopped, and she didn't feel the water beginning to carry her away.
Volume 7 C11
Zesshi was less than happy with Raymond's half answers to her questions. ' That human wasn't 'joking'. I've had enough idiots try to joke with me in the last hundred years to know that. He was very naturally speaking his mind. He truly believed my father was a human…' In all the years she'd known Raymond he'd never once told a lie to her, not as far as she knew.
As the carriage rolled on, Zesshi's doubts intensified, he had trouble meeting her face when she looked at him for too long. His eyes would dart toward the carriage window, or out into the woods or open fields.
Night and day retreated in their turns, and the quiet that settled over the travelers held while Zesshi privately asked questions she did not like. ' I accepted his answer at first, camping between villages so I don't have to deal with idiots, and having things brought to me that I wanted or needed. But the more I think about it, the less sense it makes. It'd be a whole lot easier if they just brought stuff while I was closer to where the stuff was…'
And it was this line of thought that had Zesshi do something she hadn't done before.
Raymond fell asleep eventually, as was inevitable, after a brief meal that was as quiet as all their meals lately.
And when he was deep into his slumber, Zesshi looked down the distant road that wound over the landscape. The great endless river cut all the way through the known world, its many lakes, ponds and streams were found throughout the Theocracy, not to mention the other border nations. Not for nothing did the most important road in the Slane Theocracy run close to it, so that any traveler could always have a place stocked with fish to catch, water to drink and a place to bathe.
The river's noise was a quiet and steady babbling, rolling over rocks and occasionally added to by the noise of a jumping fish. Shallow in some places, very deep in others, it was a popular spot with good reason. ' That stranger… Brain, I can just ask him directly, but we haven't seen him in days. I don't believe he's that far ahead, not a chance. We've been slowing down to avoid him, I know it.'
She smirked, ' But there's no way he'll be so far ahead that I can't catch up to him. Then he will answer me, one way or the other.'
She took a long, slow breath, lowered herself into a sprinting start position with one leg back and one knee up to her chest and began to activate her martial arts. [Greater Sprint], [Greater Agility Boost], [Quickstep], [Flashstep] .
Zesshi's muscles tensed, and then she sprang into motion like an arrow loosed from a bow, down the seemingly endless empty road which ended… somewhere Zesshi had never been.
Brain sat by the waters of the river just past a village. Supplies were easy to come by there, though he knew he could have had a room, but the journey to Baharuth was a long one, and camping was both free and comfortable.
He glanced back the way he'd come, the carriage he'd been leapfrogging on their respective journeys still hadn't passed him, not again, not in days. Not since his dinner with the human of the group. ' I wonder if they're alright?' He snorted at the absurd question. Even a casual meeting told him that the pair were powerful, ' Maybe even stronger than me?' He wondered about that with a casual little smirk on his face while he carried the small pot down to the river. He waded into the cool water so that it was roughly three-fourths of the way up his boots and then took his sword away from his back.
He stood stock still and stared down into the babbling clear water, he dipped the pot just below the surface, filled it, then set it on a nearby rock against which the waters of the great river broke.
In the place where he stood there was a small bounty of reeds amidst which insects buzzed and darted about in the endless search for food or mates or both. They served as prey, Brain knew, for not only spiders, one of which was busy wrapping a captive dragonfly in its web, but also for the fish.
The wiggly scaly things might not have been all that smart, but they knew where to find food.
So all he had to do was wait until they accepted his leather boots as part of the landscape and pick the perfect one for his pot. His sword came up, ready to vanquish the slippery foe to feast on his corpse.
Or that was the plan. His sharp eyes caught something else, something familiar. ' Is that… is that a corpse? A child's corpse?' He wondered and a brief moment of pity moved his heart.
Being a bandit at one point, he'd slain travelers and their guards, his search for the perfect technique to best Gazef Stronoff had carried him everywhere that fighting could be found without binding himself to anyone. But killing children was just… pathetic, or perhaps sad . He wasn't sure what word to use, but murdering them was something he avoided.
The body was naked and badly bruised. His sense of pity redoubled, but Brain did nothing. ' What's the point of burying it? Eaten by worms? Eaten by fish that eat worms? Then it's just fish food with extra steps.' He tried to look away.
Then he looked back. ' You can at least watch it go.' He told himself. ' It's as close to a funeral procession as it's going to get.' So he turned again to watch the body pass.
His head turned as it drifted along on the current… it carried her close to him, he lowered his eyes to look down at it. He had no aversion to bodies, even when it came to those of people he didn't think should be killed in the first place. He kept his sword up, waiting for the body to drift by so he could stab the fish. ' Mutilated ears… elf or half elf.' He realized. ' That explains the nakedness, girl or boy, there's some foulness out there… disgusting.'
Layali felt it immediately. She snapped her head up and gasped for air as once again her attempt at drowning herself failed. ' Why can't it just kill me?!' She screamed that in her head a thousand times it felt like, every time her body expelled the water and her head involuntarily went up to gasp for air.
Only this time she didn't think that.
She didn't think that because she found herself staring up at a blue haired human holding a sword up over her body.
The half elf screamed, her only eye flew wide as she struggled to get her feet on the bottom of the river so she could get away, but all she did was splash water about in a useless effort, drenching the human thoroughly.
For his part, as soon as she snapped her head up and screamed, he fell backward, his heart racing as he staggered closer to land. "Undead!" He shouted with the natural human revulsion for corpses, and when he found solid ground he leveled his sword toward her.
It was his cry of "undead" that gave the girl pause as she struggled to get out of reach.
Layali began panting, she looked at the sword in his hand, ' If drowning failed… that will do.'
She caught her breath and when she moved a little further away and found some small purchase for her feet under water, she whimpered and said, "I'm not… not undead. I'm just… please… lord human… kill me . I… no… I don't care if you have to do something to me, or if I have to do something to earn it but please… just kill me…" She whimpered and clasped her fingers together beneath her chin in the fashion she'd seen humans use when praying.
"Kill me." She begged again. "I don't wanna live… I can't take it… and I can't drown… I don't know why… but I just… I can't drown . Please… in the name of your evil gods… kill me…" She began to quietly sob, "I can't go back to-" She bit her lip, "to the tear drinker…"
Brain slowly understood what the girl was saying. ' One of those… a pervert bought her, tormented her, used her… she tried and failed to kill herself…'
Covered in welts, scratches, marks, Brain held up a hand to stop her from saying anything, she fell silent. He cocked his head, listening. Layali pursed her lips and did the same, pain throbbed all up and down her body. ' Does he hear something…?' She knew some humans had extraordinary abilities… Perhaps he was one?
She waited, and he seemed satisfied. He sheathed his sword. Most of her face was a mess, one eye was missing, only an open socket remained, ' Even if she doesn't drown, if nobody does anything then she'll get sick and die soon, elves may be a bit more resistant to disease than we are, but with enough time she'll just die of exposure, infection, starvation, some wild beast will get her, or more humans. She's already dead a thousand ways…'
' It would be a mercy to kill her.' He told himself.
"Your master isn't here." He said at last.
"Doesn't matter… if not him, someone else… just…" She blinked her eye.
She put a hand over the socket. "I just don't want to be hurt anymore… please if you have any kindness for even a beaten dog… kill me and let it be over!"
"You're asking me a favor, and you want me to come all the way over there to do it?" Brain asked and pointed at the river between them. "And you've soaked me." He pointed to his soaking wet shirt and pants. "A fine time to ask for favors…"
Layali's mind raced, his indignant voice seemed to lack any evident malice, a first in her experience.
He pointed toward his campsite. "I don't have any potions, but I have some herbs and oils that will deaden all the pain while you heal. If you insist on dying, I'll lend you my sword later… but the least you could do is make up for the trouble you've caused me." He pointed down into the river.
The fish were all long gone, and water was still dripping from his arms, face, and hair.
"If I do it tomorrow, or today, you're just as dead… and…" He waved his hand up and down her, "you're not my type."
She looked down at the water to see her reflection, with shattered nose, broken teeth, mutilated ears, a missing eye, and abundant bruises, that much she could believe.
' It's not like I have anything to lose… and I might find a quick end… even if it's by borrowing his sword while he's asleep… What's a few more hours?' She asked herself, and when she reached her answer, she took one step closer to the drenched, blue haired human.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Layali, master…" She answered and prompted him.
"Brain. Brain Unglaus." He answered, and waited while she approached.
Volume 7 C12
Ainz enjoyed the comfort of his carriage, while there was a great deal to be said for instant teleportation or the gate spell, the truth was, ' They're for when you're in a hurry. What could be better than being able to take my time and see this marvelous world…?' The Allfather thought as he looked out the window to watch the rolling hills, the trees and the endless green pass by beneath the everblue sky.
In Yggdrasil there were players who eschewed leveling beyond just what they needed to do to play or go to some areas, they cared nothing about guilds except to cooperate for exploration, theirs were unique organizations that 'most' dismissed as just 'tourist guilds' and their members dismissed as mere 'sightseers' who didn't understand the game.
All they wanted to do was explore.
' I understand them now.' He thought with a pensive look outward. Even as a skeleton, one single look at the box of jewels he found himself in and he couldn't help but marvel at the pristine nature of this world.
"Is something on your mind, my love?" Albedo asked and put her deceptively delicate hand on his knee beside him.
"Not really." Ainz answered with a little half smile, "I was just enjoying the trip. I wonder how the Kingdom of Carne has changed since it began."
Albedo cocked her head, "Has my lord not seen my reports?"
"I have." Ainz replied, "Immigrant dark elves who wanted to be far from Baharuth, resettled refugees from the Draconic Kingdom who are afraid to return to their old homes, a handful of elves who wanted to be far from Roble, and some dwarf contractors. It's a bustling place."
"My friend Bukubukuchagama once told me about an ancient curse from a place called China, it said, "May you live in interesting times." I certainly couldn't argue about it then. But maybe it's not a curse, not if you're on the right side." Ainz said and watched a farmer exit a distant cottage with a hoe over his shoulder.
The man was fit, well fed, broad shouldered, and his clothing was free of patches. ' We're in Carne's territory now… 'my' territory too, or it will be once all the niceties are taken care of.' The proposed treaty did have one curious clause. ' That as long as a descendent of the Wolf King and Queen sits on the throne, their land will never be combined with Re-Estize again.' He recalled the condition, it oozed bitterness even to read it.
And it was something he understood, a curious government grew up quickly during and after the rebellion. While they had a King and Queen, a council made up of village elders handled the daily affairs and the role of the monarchy was to make decisions involving any two or more villages, towns, or cities. Their goblin army was unbeatable, but small, so the firstborn son of each house was expected to perform militia service and random conscription or volunteers provided forces for common enforcement of laws while those who chose to volunteer or were 'volunteered' were always stationed away from the bonds of home that corrupted the will to enforce laws.
' All in all, it's a fairly good system. It isn't without its weaknesses, but it works well for a local kingdom with a significant force to support it. The undead labor program is going slow though…' Ainz felt a tiny squeeze on his knee that would have shattered the bones of a normal person. He snapped out of his reverie and glanced over to the source.
Albedo was sliding next to him, pressing her side against his arm, "You're thinking about work, aren't you, My Lord?" She turned a smile upward, it was a knowing look, her vibrant, sunlike eyes gleamed in the light of the day which flowed into the carriage windows.
"What happened to enjoying the trip?" She asked with a tiny, silvery and perfect laugh.
It was strange to hear her speak like this still, even after all the time that had passed… At the beginning it was, even lustful, all about ensuring his wishes were fulfilled. She never questioned anything, never contradicted him. Now she could tease him about his wandering mind and bring him back from his flights of fancy. Often Ainz thought to ask the radiant demoness what brought about her change of view, but each time the question was on the cusp of being asked, he drew back. ' Better to let her just 'be' and to enjoy the change.'
Ainz put his hand on Albedo's knee and squeezed back, it was a quiet, small change, a nothing gesture, but just being able to do it had his heart quicken and grow in his chest. But even that quiet contentment whose only music was the steady sound of rolling carriage wheels was touched with another concern. ' Demiurge's efforts with polymorph and morphomancy spells have had very limited success… nothing sticks without killing the target. This all happened because I had a world item as part of my body… that much he could say for sure, but that makes anything else questionable at best. A world item to counter a world item, but I really don't want to use one of the ones we have…'
That was an ugly prospect, even if they were supposedly indestructible in Yggdrasil, the same might not hold true in the new world. ' What to become is the least of my worries if I can't change at all. The scripture item wasn't as useful as I hoped it would be.' His thoughts were again interrupted by another squeeze on his knee, and then he felt a small tap on his shoulder. He looked down again, Albedo was relaxed against his body, her eyes were closed and her breathing was regular. ' She squeezed my knee to bring me back before she fell asleep…' He sighed and put his arm around her so that she could sleep that much closer to himself, allowing her head to rest against his chest when he adjusted his position a little bit.
And Ainz smiled as she dreamed.
Volume 7 C13
' That priest was a lucky find.' Albedo reflected for the thousandth time. Since the Roble Holy Kingdom had fallen into Ainz' hands and the Holy Queen into his bed, Albedo returned there many times. The movement against corruption headed by said priest was thoroughly effective, and it was rendered more so by the aid of Albedo's shadow demons. Accidents happened to the corrupt, some were injured, some were killed, some were only humiliated. But it was now a growing cultural belief that divine retribution punished the corrupt who were not punished by the state or the temples.
As a result, the priests were a busy lot, but only one of them had Albedo's attention. ' That one, wise in the ways of love…' Whenever she visited the Holy Kingdom in disguise to speak with her agents, or to deliver Skana and Illyana somewhere for some task, she stopped by the temple to visit the young priest again.
"There is power in a simple touch that needs no mana to work, love doesn't need to be hammered, only gently tended. It isn't a sprint, it's a marathon." Every time she visited, she picked up something different from him, and the results were manifesting before her eyes. Sometimes he threw in a short story or anecdote of some romantic thing, the latest of which was her little sleeping ploy to recreate his story of two lovers traveling together.
' I didn't mean to actually fall asleep!' She wanted to cry out as soon as her eyes fluttered open and she realized that the carriage had stopped, the sun was down, and she could hear the heartbeat in Ainz' breast again.
Every fiber in the created being that was Albedo screamed at her for being a failed servant who slept while her master was awake, her hands, her feet, her whole body tensed as she prepared to gush her apologies.
She stopped as soon as she saw his face. "Welcome back." He said to her and kissed her forehead, "The reception is delayed, but that's the point of being a King. They abide by your schedule, not the other way around."
For the first time in his life Ainz felt a rush of gratitude toward the imperious bosses of his old world who thought nothing of keeping their subordinates waiting. ' Without them for an example, I might have felt the need to wake her.'
Albedo sat up, an excited blush on her face, "So… we have a little time, My Lord?" She had a sultry look on her face and swung herself over his lap.
"We do." He said, and didn't object when she began to move her nimble fingers over his clothes.
… Earlier that day…
Queen Enri Emmot-Bareare wore her finest garment, a gift from the Queen of Re-Estize herself who was famous for both her kindness and her wardrobe, made of golden silk. It was straight, but with a wider base for free movement of her legs while being firm at the waist.
Her husband wore no weapons, but he did wear the armor given to the village by the Allfather of Nazarick himself. ' We can't produce quite what they can, not yet… but we are growing…'
Her thoughts, like her curtsey, froze when the door of the carriage opened and the Allfather leaned forward and put a finger to his lips. Behind Enri and her husband, an array of trumpeters, legions of admirers, and other dignitaries from various cities and towns were gathered and all had open mouths ready to cheer… but when Enri's hand went up with a sudden order to stop…
Not even a single toot echoed from the horns. For a moment, fear and dread pounded through the hearts of those who saw her gesture. The Allfather pointed to Enri and Enfi, and curled his finger toward himself.
She came close with slow, steady steps. ' Whatever it is, I will support our village's savior…'
Her heart went from pounding with dread, to fluttering the moment she came close.
"I don't want to wake her, she's fallen asleep." Ainz mouthed the words, and Enri's heart melted. His pregnant wife, asleep against his chest, and he refused to leave the carriage so that she could continue to sleep and share his body's warmth.
She felt her husband's hand come to her hip in a gentle embrace and give her waist a little squeeze as if to say, ' I wouldn't move either.' And her heart melted more for the man she loved.
"May we pass by and bow before going inside?" She mouthed the words and pointed to the residence that was to be her home.
"If they can be silent." He mouthed back, "I'll come in when she is ready."
Enri slowly closed the carriage door, then her feet swept her over from place to place, she moved faster than she had even over the battlefield that won her people their independence from Re-Estize. She whispered her instructions and had them quietly passed on, and Nfirea, seemingly reading her mind, planted himself a few feet from the carriage and pointed at his feet where he stood.
The whispers were swift, the servants dismissed, and within minutes, men and women of power and station accustomed to striding with loud confidence into every hall, crept like thieves in the night, taking care that every step be silent and not even a pebble should roll to make a noise.
Only when Enri raised a hand and gave her husband thumbs up did he return to the carriage, open the door again, and waved for the first nobleman to step forward to bow to the Allfather and his mate.
Enri watched them pass by with awed faces, it wasn't a magnificent scene out of some grim battlefield where fortunes were won or lost and the fates of men and nations were settled. But standing before the carriage door in all its magnificent wealth, each man and woman who looked within saw for themselves why the Allfather refused to move. The radiant Albedo, her belly only just barely beginning to show, had a contented, beautiful smile on her face as she slept. The Allfather's arm lay protectively around her body, her wings fluttering ever so slightly. The expression on his face, so very serene, content, his rugged face was regal toward them, but after every nod, his eyes went back to her as if to say ' I didn't wake you, did I?' to the sleeping mother of his unborn child.
The royal couple of the Kingdom of Carne understood completely, but for those accustomed to power and for whom marriage was a mere convenience to advance family interests, the term, 'romantic love' was redefined and ignited in their hearts.
The obviousness of his love for his mate, such that no affair of state would be allowed to disrupt her rest, matched only by his evident protectiveness over her and the child she bore, was witnessed by one after another, after another, after another, who came to pay their respects.
After the last were gone within and only Enri and Nfirea remained close to the door, the couple paid their respects again. "We will wait up." The King of Carne mouthed, then winked at the Allfather, he suppressed his wince when his wife pinched his hip, but Enri could not suppress her own confident grin before she echoed the sentiment.
They closed the door again, and left the Allfather and his mate in peace.
Volume 7 C14
When the naked halfling approached him, Brain stepped back out of the water and went to where his meager possessions sat. Her walk was more or less bow legged, and the signs of just what kind of abuse she endured was enough to sicken the former bandit. ' Even I have some standards… but I guess there is always someone worse.' He thought and when she came closer, he reached into a pouch left sitting beside an old log to remove a small vial. He held it out, and she stood still, just out of reach.
It was pointless, but she refused to move even though he could have come close and snatched her up in an instant if he wished. Finally he sighed, crouched down, and putting the little cheap vial on the grass, he flicked his wrist and rolled it over to her. It bumped gently against the top of her foot after rolling up her toes, then rolled back down where it came to a stop a few finger widths away. "Rub that on your wounds, it will take away the pain."
She crouched down as he reached into the pouch again, and from it he pulled another small pouch. A little brown thing bound shut with cheap twine, he lightly tossed it so that it too landed by her feet. She instinctively shrieked and fell back, then froze stiff on the ground. Her breath caught and then she began to hyperventilate, ready to cry again until she realized he hadn't moved.
"It's just the herb I promised, ground down to nothing. Put some on your tongue, it will prevent infection." Brain said to her, and with her one good eye, she looked at him with suspicion.
But he said nothing, instead he only went to the log and sat down to wait to see what she would do.
Her hand moved with great slowness, and her eye never left him. "Humans here play trust games… tormenting us, making us think they're not bad, just so it hurts more when they turn on us… I won't lose to you. I won't play. All I want is to borrow your sword and get this nightmare over…"
"I'm not from this country." Brain said, "I was born there." He pointed north, "In a village in the Kingdom of Re-Estize."
"Oh." Layali replied and when he politely looked away, she began to smear the sticky solution over her injured body. It smelled foul, but he was right. ' The pain… it's gone…' The stuff in the vial was green as leaves or grass, its wet stickiness made her shiver, its smell, all the sharper thanks to her sensitive nose, made her gag. ' But the pain is gone… so it's worth it.' She thought, and then untying the little herb pouch, she took a pinch of gritty ground plant and placed it on her tongue. ' Infection… bad way to go… quick is better.' She told herself and then retied the tiny pouch.
"Here." He said, and took a cloak up which lay on the grass and threw it to her. "It's not sized to you, but at least you won't be naked."
It landed in a heap at her feet. She crouched down, picked it up, and wrapped it around herself, to call it oversized would have been an understatement, the brilliant blue dragged on the grass well behind her feet, laying like a little blue puddle of clear water on the ground.
Her belly rumbled.
"You hungry?" He asked, and his own belly rumbled in turn. "Me too." He said without waiting for an answer. "You scared the fish away though."
"I'm sorry my attempt at suicide was an inconvenience." She said with a flat, empty voice.
He shrugged. "It's fine. They'll be back in a few minutes."
"How do you know?" she asked, glancing toward the river that failed to kill her.
"I've run the length of that river as far as the Troll Kingdom in the east and as far as the world's ocean in the west. I know how the fish who live there 'think'." He tapped the side of his head with one finger. "In the meantime though," he reached into his pouch and took out a little round golden fruit, "here, you've got most of your teeth left, right? Eat this." he said and rolled it across the grass to her.
"Y-yes. He only removed the ones… in the way." Layali said and blinked her eyes before going down to pick up the little fruit.
Brain felt a vague sick knot in his guts at her foreboding statement. Her jaw was somewhat askew too, even talking had to have hurt before applying the numbing agent. ' Maybe I should just go ahead… if I don't, what happens then, we're still in the Theocracy, nothing good will happen to her here…'
She stayed on her knees but took up the apple and began to tear off pieces of it with her bare hands and shove pieces into her mouth.
' On the other hand, it's not that far to the Kingdom of Carne… they're friendly toward nonhumans now… and traveling alone is dull.' Brain thought and while she slowly chewed he said, "If you really want to die, I don't have a right to stop you, but if you go the same way I'm going, I can leave you in Carne. They're friendly to nonhumans there."
Her brow narrowed, the one good eye blinked at her with accusing doubt. "That can't be real. You're just going to sell me."
"Slavery is banned there. There's nowhere to sell you, and I don't have time for that anyway, I've got somewhere to be." Brain retorted.
A twinge of curiosity touched her. "Where, Master Unglaus?" She asked.
"I'm going to Arwintar for a tournament, I'm going to fight for the throne… not that I really want it, I just want to test myself." He answered, unable to resist grinning as his imagination carried him to the arena.
Her breath quickened, "My… former master, Cerebrate, is going there."
"Cerebrate." He said and spat into the grass. "I'm familiar with him."
"Y-You are?" Fear began to fill her until she saw the raw contempt in Brain's eyes. "He's n-not a friend of yours?"
"We've met. It wasn't a friendly meeting. Let's just leave it at that." Brain said.
"So you… you'd be fighting him?" She asked.
"Probably." Brain answered and got up. "The fish should be back now, I'll catch one big enough for us both. If you're going to die anyway, why die hungry, am I right?"
She watched his broad back withdraw as he descended down the riverbank.
"Are you better than he is?" She asked with sudden, wild hope in her left eye.
"I was, the last time we met." Brain answered and raised his sword up, waiting for the fish to come close to his boots again. "Who can say about this time?"
"So… if I go with you… even past Carne… I might- might get to watch him die?" Layali pressed the question and watched his sword strike down into the water, there was a brief splash, and then he held his sword up to show off a massive fish half the size of her body, wiggling and trashing on the blade.
"I don't know if it's to the death, but if it is, sure, there's a chance." Brain replied offhandedly and brought the gasping, wiggling fish over to where he made camp.
Layali thought about it. Death was only a few hours away if she wanted it… ' But then… what if he's telling the truth, what if there's somewhere I can live? What if I kept going and got to watch Cerebrate die…? Or… what if this one is just like him and is just waiting for the sun to go down…?'
Depressing as it was for her to think about it, the phrase, ' What's one more time?' Came readily to mind when it was weighed against the possibility of revenge, or at least the chance to see her tormentor die.
"I-I… what about this?" Layali said and wrapped the cloak tighter around her body.
Brain looked up at her while he beheaded the fish and began to cut away the scales. "Get me a potion or pay for a healing spell, give clothing, a cheap knife, something good enough to end my life and let me carry it. Give me food and water, and I'll handle the little things. I know how to make fire, cook food, let me travel with you. Let me travel with you to watch Cerebrate die…"
Brain frowned a little and set the fire to the spit to roast the fish. "I thought you said you wouldn't trust me?"
"That's what the knife is for. So I don't have to. You may be lying… maybe… maybe you'll do it too… maybe you're just waiting for me to trust you so it'll be worse. But as long as I've got a way to die, I don't need to trust you. I just need to trust me . I don't know why the river didn't kill me, but I'm pretty sure the knife will."
"Probably a talent, it happens. I've heard of a guy who could walk a few steps on water, another who could instantly tell how hot something was, even one who had a useless ability that always let him know who was about to fart. Maybe your body just 'rejects' drowning?" Brain half guessed, and half asked.
"Maybe… I've never heard of that… but… it doesn't matter, are you taking me or not… Master Unglaus ?" Layali asked.
Brain thought it over and impaled the fish on the spit, he began to turn the stick, watching the smoke drift and briefly hug each piece on the skewer before rising up into the distant sky and disappearing. ' She's not asking for much, and I am kind of bored. She might slow me down a little, but I can easily carry her if I have to hurry, or just leave her somewhere if she's a problem.'
He searched for a downside, and didn't find one.
"Deal. You can come with me." He answered.
Layali didn't say thank you, instead she just asked, "What, no promises not to do what he did… no protests about how you'll be nice to me?"
"What's the point of a promise you wouldn't believe? If I'd do that stuff I'd certainly be willing to lie about it. If I wouldn't, you won't believe the promise anyway." He shrugged off her question again, and Layali thought it over.
She then approached him, and took the spit in hand, allowing a moment for him to remove his hold over it, and she began to turn it in his stead.
Volume 7 C15
Layali licked her fingers clean of fish juice, the succulent, savory flavor of the smoked meat drove her tongue mad with delight, but her remaining eye never left the blue haired human who ignored her while he laid out his bed roll. He was shirtless, and that revealed that he was at least, what he seemed. He had a warrior's body, muscle ran all over his limbs and his torso. A few feet away, his shirt lay drying in the sun.
"I don't have one for you." He said while removing his boots and laying them at the head of his cheap sleeping roll.
"So I can share with you?" She guessed. ' He is the same.' She had the thought, but then he shook his head.
"Hell no. That would be uncomfortable." He pointed to where his shirt lay drying in the grass. "It should be dry from when you drenched it. You can use that."
"Oh." She said, then asked, "The sun is still up, why are you sleeping now?"
"I run at night when it's comfortable, and rest in the afternoon. Plus it's safer during the day than at night." Brain answered and laid himself down, resting the back of his head on the toe end of his boots as a sort of pillow, he promptly fell asleep with his arm laying limp around the sheath of his sword.
With nothing else to be done, Layali doused the remnants of the cookfire, stowed the remaining equipment into his pouch, and then went over to his shirt. The oversized cloak of his was a good enough blanket, and with nothing else for it, she lay down on the fabric after briefly touching it. ' Smells like a human…' She thought with revulsion, even inadvertently washed and dried, it still had his smell, but it beat the bare ground at least, and so she lay down herself and went to sleep.
Zesshi was well away from where she left Raymond when she hit the first divergence. That was when she realized she had a problem. ' Shit! I don't know how to track anything! Other people always do that for me! And I don't know where anything goes… who knows where all these roads go…?' She scratched her head, her fingers running through her black and white hair while she thought it over. One road went right, one went left, and the other went toward a river bend in the distance. ' Which way is north… I know the blue haired guy said he was going to the tournament… and Raymond said we'd pass through Carne and Nazarick… but which way… ugh… great job, Zesshi. Great job… you're on a straight road, you haven't left it, and yet 'somehow' you've managed to get lost!'
' Okay, stop and think… at least there's nothing in the world… that you know of, that is a threat to you. And he's not running away from you, he's not even really in a big hurry. So just run down each road and see if he passed through. There's not that many blue haired humans with katanas running around… wait… are there?' She wondered, and realized she had no idea. ' Ugh, you have 'got' to get out more.' She told herself, shrugged, turned toward the road on her right, and took off running again.
More than once Cerebrate looked toward the river with some bit of regret for his lost toy. ' I'd have had to dispose of her soon anyway, still it would have been nice to get at least a few days more use out of her before I cross the border… in retrospect taking the long route would have just been a bother.' He knew on some level he was just talking himself into dismissing the probable drowning, but the loss was still a bother.
The first real distraction he had from his annoyance was a sign written in two languages. Curiously, rather than wood, the sign was a large stone slab secured in turn to a pillar half the height and roughly the width of himself. The slab was a simple rectangle, and though he couldn't read the top half, he could read the bottom and concluded that they were dual writings of the same thing.
"You now enter the Kingdom of Carne." He read the bottom half which was inscribed in the language of the Slane Theocracy. ' The upper half must be written in the language of Re-Estize.' He concluded and stuck his head back into the carriage window to watch the world roll on.
' Forming a new kingdom is busy, chaotic work… I wonder…' He licked his lips and felt the stirring in his loins, the reputation for order which was spread by the ones who essentially took his job in the Draconic Kingdom was probably exaggerated. ' New creates chaos, new wars, new cities, new kingdoms, new work, new anything creates new opportunities…' That was the lesson he took from his tutors, and for that reason he sought out chaos brought on by newness and danger. Because there, a talented man could get away with anything. ' My swordhand is worth more than any whelp's whole body… and it's about time I remind this whole shitty world of that fact… I can't wait to get to Arwintar…'
Ainz was the first to descend from the carriage before holding his hand up, allowing Albedo to take it and accept his courteous but needless help to descend to the waiting stone ground. A tiny hint of anxiety still struck her when her Lord did these things for her, but one of the many lessons of the priest was, ' Love is not just large and grandiose gestures, it's made up of a thousand little acts of kindness, accept them with grace and return them in the same spirit.'
And so she accepted the meaning of his actions, and let him help her down without protest, her delicate little feet planted on the ground as close to him as she could manage, and only then did she see the growing castle that was, if not ready yet, going to be quite impressive when finally completed. Various towers were rising with scaffolds of wood surrounding them, where laborers under dwarven direction during the day would set down stone intended to stand for centuries.
The main building was in fact built in part from materials drawn from the remnants of Enri's old home, with simple timbers standing out in stark contrast to the rest of the more ornate building. "They work for your glory, my Lord." Albedo said and put her arm around his waist, "As they should."
Ainz gave a mute nod, in a way she was right, but there was more that Albedo couldn't see, ' Maybe she never will, but I do. This is pride, real pride in their work. They're glorifying themselves too, making something to stand so that the heirs that haven't even been born yet will one day marvel at.'
The front entrance was made of large, thick stone blocks arrayed in a broad fashion that essentially walled the courtyard on one side, while at the center lay a large double door of thick ironwood laced with strips of metal for practical defense.
The door groaned as the goblin guard forced one door open, and from within emerged the familiar royal couple. "You didn't think we would leave you to walk in alone, did you, Your Majesty?" Enri asked with a little sunny smile that all but lit up the dark of the evening.
"Please, come in and make yourselves at home." King Nfirea said with a sheepish face when he tried to sound a little more noble than he was.
It was charming, in a way, and Ainz bridged the gap, taking the first step toward the pair, and matched step for step by Albedo.
With her masterful intellect paired with her physical perfection, the winged succubus embraced her role as wife of the Allfather and the charmer of the pair, returning a radiant smile and bending slightly forward when Enri made the same gesture.
"How far along are you?" Albedo asked, and winked.
Enri gasped, and Nfirea's brief blush became proud, his back became a little bit straighter, and while Enri remained briefly stunned by the deduction of Ainz' mate, he answered. "About four weeks."
"Congratulations. When will you make the announcement?" Ainz asked and held out a meaty hand, which Nfirea clasped a moment later, the squeeze was amiable, and Enri recovered the power of speech to answer for herself.
"After the tournament in Arwintar, with so many attending from so many places, I was hoping that we could make this into an opportunity to create peace. After that war with my old Kingdom… I know one thing, that I don't want to send my son or daughter out into that." Enri raised her head when she straightened, "For my children to be safe and happy, that's all I want."
"That is why you are well suited to be Queen." Ainz answered as his affection meter maxed out for the young woman, "Now, should we go in, or do we just stand here talking in the darkness?" He asked and chuckled a little bit, prompting similar responses from the others.
"Yes, this way, Allfather." The Wolf Queen said and fell in to Albedo's right as her husband fell in on Ainz' left, and then they guided the couple toward the castle of the young kingdom.
Warning
The Elf King and Cerebrate are characters in this story. If you know Overlord, you know what that entails. While there will never be direct references or pornographic descriptions, when such scenes take place you as the reader ARE on the periphery of events. If this is a problem, then a chapter that begins with Draudillon or the elf King or Cerebrate, might best be skipped. Do what's best for you.
Volume 7 C16
Layali watched the blue haired human eat without much in the way of manners, he cut the meat, he stuffed it in his mouth, he chewed, he swallowed, and that was that. Then afterward, he licked his fingers clean. "What, you said you were hungry, right?" He asked as if she were dense, and the vague revulsion at his shoddy manners transformed into dismay.
"You fed me earlier… Lord Unglaus." She answered, but he shook his head.
"No, that wasn't enough, besides, it's a long way and if you want to come with me then you need to be strong enough to make it. Go on, tear off a strip from the spit." Brain answered with a dismissive wave and lay back again.
Layali looked at the smoked fish, ' It could be a trick.' She briefly wondered and watched him drift off to sleep in the middle of the day. Her belly rumbled, the little angry knot in her underfed stomach shoved away her other fears and doubts, driving her to tear off a chunk from the fish and shove the cooked white meat into her mouth.
There was an explosion of flavor on her tongue that was far, far removed from the crude gruel and scraps she'd lived on for most of her life, and she fumbled with the fish meat to tear away more, and more, and more, shoving it with almost violent aggression into her mouth where she sucked the juices out before mashing the meat to a pulp, chewing it, and swallowing it down her throat.
She pulled and pulled at the skewered meat, her eye no longer really seeing the source, only her juice coated fingers whenever her hands darted out to tear more away. "Sho good… shoo….goooood." She mumbled, her jaw ached still, and she had a vague sense that she might have swallowed one of her teeth.
But the things Lord Unglaus gave to her kept the fiery agony from rising, replacing it with a dull and constant ache, allowing her to at least eat.
So eat she did, darting hands out faster than a frog's tongue, each bite she said to herself, "Jush won moar…"
Until her hand came out and found only a wooden stick, slick with fishy juices and the tattered clinging remnants of what should have been two meals at least.
Her eye widened with the existential horror of realizing what she'd done. ' I ate all the food…' That dread at having consumed it all, hours before she felt sure… ' I'd have fallen apart. But… What can he do to me that hasn't been done? And he's going somewhere, if he kills me it'll be quick, and at least I won't die hungry… there's nothing left to hold onto so… who cares?' She asked herself and lay to rest wrapped up in the far oversized cloak he'd given to her.
She squeezed her eye as tightly shut as she could, and listened to him promptly fall completely asleep. She frowned a little bit, groaned, and yanked the cloak over her head. Layali was immediately shrouded in darkness, the feel of her breath on the cloth came back to her, along with the faintly fishy smell of her last meal. She crinkled her nose a little and turned her head to the side.
Despite her protests to herself that she didn't care what he did when he woke and found the remainder of the meal gone, there was a knot in her gut that had nothing to do with food and would not go away. ' I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. He'll probably just kill you, that's what you wanted anyway, dummy. Like he said, at least I won't die on an empty stomach.' She then quietly cried herself to sleep, with his thick cloak catching every salty tear.
She woke up when she felt a blunt poking at her shoulder. "Hey, you're alive, right? Are you dead?" The poke happened a few more times, it wasn't rough, but it rocked her back and forth. "If you're dead I'll need that cloak back."
Layali's single eye fluttered open and she drew the cloak off her head, "I'm… I'm not dead."
"Good, then let's get going, the sun is going down." He leveled the sheathed katana toward the orange glow of the setting sun, he then reached for a small pack and began stowing items that shouldn't have fit within it.
"You've got a magic item? Can it… hold anything, everything?" Layali's eye fixated on the unassuming little brown pack and the pouch on his side.
"Not you, I can't do living things, and no," he said as he tossed the bedroll in, "not everything. These are small items I won at a tournament in Demalbion. They are magic, they cut weight and store more than their size. They're hardly legendary. But it's good for a wanderer like me." He tossed a few remaining odds and ends within, and then started walking toward the road.
"Are you strong enough for a light jog, at least?" Brain asked and looked the girl up and down, "How is that herb sitting with you, is there a lot of pain?"
"You're- You're not going to ask about the fish?" Layali asked when he tossed the spit into the pouch where it disappeared.
"I assume you ate it." Brain answered with a thick, sarcastic look and raised a blue eyebrow, "I always thought elves were supposed to be pretty smart. Did you just leave it out for a wild animal or something?"
Layali's heart skipped a beat with his dismissive tone. "No! Yes! I mean… yes, I ate it, but… aren't you mad, master Unglaus? You told me to have some and I ate it all! Aren't you going to hit me or something?!"
Brain shrugged. "Nah, it's just a fish, what do I want an old fish for? We'll catch another when it's time to rest again, I'll catch it, you cook it, sound fair?" He asked, and she felt her jaw fall open and winced at the pain.
' Is he… serious?' She wondered, it felt that way, but he frowned a little when she winced.
He reached into the pouch at his side and drew out the smaller pouch that contained some of the herb. "Here." He said and tossed it to her, "Use another pinch, we're almost a day from the nearest little town, or maybe village, no… more of a town, and I'd like to get there by sunrise."
Layali failed to catch the pouch, it hit her belly and fell into the grass, and as slow as if she were walking against water, she stepped toward it and crouched down. Her single eye never left the blue haired swordsman as she gingerly reached out, took the pouch, removed a little of the bitter herb and placed it into her mouth. She resecured it, tossed it back, and after a few minutes he said, "Now?"
"Yessir." She said and drawing up his cloak, she began to walk.
The cloak was so large it dragged along the ground, and Layali struggled to hold it up, following behind Brain for several minutes before he turned and noticed her struggle. "What are you doing, girl?" He asked, and she glared from her one good eye for a half second before lowering it to his feet.
"Trying not to get your cloak dirty, sir." She answered, while burying the thought she feared to voice, ' So you don't take it away from me.'
"It's just a cloak, and the river is right there." He pointed it out as if it were obvious, which it was. "If it gets dirty, it gets washed, so who cares, not me? And enough of this master and sir nonsense, I'm not a lord or a king or an emperor… Just call me by my name. Brain. I'm a commoner and a wandering swordsman, that's all."
Layali relaxed her hold on the bunched up fabric that was starting to hurt her hands to grip so tightly and let the fabric fall to drape on the road. "When we get to town, I'll pay for a healer, and we'll see about getting a horse under you, this will be way too long of a trip at your pace."
The offhand way he said it all continued to grate upon and dismay her to such a degree that she couldn't truly meet his eyes, not even while she only had the one to use.
All she did was nod and follow him, and for some time there was only silence.
"It's boring to travel with someone and say nothing the whole time, huh?" He asked, it was a rhetorical question, but Layali felt the need to answer anyway.
"I never traveled until Master Cerebrate bought me. I never liked anything he had to say… so it's fine either way… Brain." She replied to the swordsman, and in return, he was quiet.
Layali couldn't quite pin down the feeling she got from him just at that moment after her answer, but when he said nothing, she chose to elaborate. "But you did feed me so… if you want to?" She shrugged inside the cloak.
It was growing darker by the minute, but he seemed to brighten up a little bit, "So… what can I ask that won't trouble you?"
"I don't know, so… how long have you been a wanderer?" Layali asked, at that point, she did have a genuine curiosity, from the little he'd said it sounded like some time at least.
"I don't really know. I've been doing it for so long that time just runs together." Brain answered her and scratched his head, he looked up at the stars that began to wink down at them from the sky and added, "I think I was about twelve when I left home."
"Wait, really?" Layali felt a twinge of doubt, but he nodded.
"It's a funny story, actually." He turned and held out his sword. "I stole this. I was about twelve, and a merchant passed through my village with a bodyguard, the guard left it unguarded, and me being… well… me, I took it."
"And you ran off?" She guessed, only for his mouth to open and laughter to come out.
"Oh by the gods, no! I got caught . I'm a terrible thief, I guess. But the guard had a sense of humor, a mean one, and said," Brain cleared his throat and took on a menacing voice to say, 'Little boy likes to play with swords, these are men's tools, you want it, boy, you show me you can use it.' then he smacked me with the back of his hand and knocked me into the dirt."
Layali tried to picture this large, broad shouldered human being smacked around, and failed.
"He took up another sword and told me to defend myself as a man, or die as a thief, he was a big, round oaf, with a nasty brown beard and beady, mean looking eyes, and unlike most guards, he had plate armor, meanwhile there I was, village boy with nothing but his stolen sword. I didn't even want to take it. I just wanted to borrow it and whack some tree limbs and pretend to be one of the thirteen heroes."
The laughter was gone from Brain's face, "I think he just liked killing, and I was the first excuse he had in a good while, the noise attracted people, and the next thing I knew it was a trial by combat… I'll spare you the details, but it turns out, I lived." Brain's face began to return to life.
"So you won." She said, and he rolled his eyes.
"Do I look undead to you…?" He trailed off.
"Layali." She answered, deadpan.
"I don't have much use for remembering names." He said as if he were apologizing, but not apologizing. "I'm not with people long enough for it to matter." He added.
Brain cleared his throat and finally answered, "So yeah, I won. It turns out I had a talent, the merchant hired me on the spot in place of the dead man, I sold off the guard's stuff to pay for a few incidentals, and left home the next day. I never went back. I was lucky too, because most of the village got drafted for a war and not many came home, or so I heard. I've been wandering and refining my talent ever since."
"So you've never lost a fight?" Layali asked, and Brain snorted.
"Just once. Against the Royal Head Warrior of Re-Estize, Gazef Stronoff." Brain answered, "He barely edged out a victory, and I've wanted a rematch ever since. Sadly, that'll never happen, he died in the revolution that established the Kingdom of Carne."
"Was he… a friend?" Layali asked and stepped a little closer to his back.
"No, not really, just a rival to overcome on the journey to the peak." Brain replied and added, "But I admit, we shared the same contented expression when we were fighting… rivals sometimes clash almost like old friends, we share common ground, the same struggles. Sometimes the man you kill might be closer than a brother, if only you were shoulder to shoulder instead of face to face."
"That's sad." Layali answered, "Killing someone like that… like killing one's family?"
"It's what the gods gave us, to fight, to kill, till we're all dead or strong enough to survive." Brain answered with fatalistic indifference.
They fell quiet for a while, neither having the will to converse again until the low wooden walls of a town came into view, lit up by the handful of torches moving along on their steady patrols.
Volume 7 C17
"Hold the cloak tight. It's not quite dawn and they won't be able to see what you are, so since you appear to be a child, just run with whatever I say, we should be able to get in through the gate without a problem. Once we're through we'll go to an inn and I'll arrange for a healer." Brain said as the low wall came closer with every step.
Layali gave a quiet nod, the town ahead loomed large in her eyes, ' Walls, I've heard of those… so that's what they look like when they're not around a building.' She thought and stepped a little closer to the back of the swordsman.
"Whoser!" A rough, crude and weary sounding voice came from the top of the low wall. One look said that the town was fortified against bandits, not real threats. He was wearing boiled leather armor and carried a spear as slothfully as any of the bandits Brain once led. The 'guard' was leaning against it like he was an old man and it was a mere walking stick, and he had a crude growth of dirty beard to match the rest of his slothful appearance.
"Brain Unglaus, I'm traveling with my daughter, and I'd like to stay at the inn!" He shouted up at the guard, a man next to the sorry excuse for a guard was carrying a short sword in a sheath, and no shield.
' If I were a gambler, I'd say it's probably rusted.' Brain mused, but the sword bearer did have a torch, and he tossed it over the side of the wall to land near Brain's feet, proving he was accurate at least. The glow of the flickering light in the predawn hours before the sun rose illuminated Brain and his companion, who were quiet for a moment.
"Whatta you want?" The spearman asked, "Whas yer business?" He asked as if Brain's answer were inadequate, which perhaps it was.
"My daughter was attacked by… a monster." Brain answered, ' That's even true.' He thought, and went on, "I need to pay for a healer and, if possible, I'd like to buy a horse."
Layali bristled when the blue haired human referred to her as his daughter, but realizing it was a lie to get in the walls, she went with it, allowing him to continue the deception.
"Yeah… yeah fine, you got money to spend, you can spend it here, but if you head'n north toward Carne Kingdom, don't go thinkin to stick around here long. Move on quick, we don't like vagrants. Spend yer money and get out ." The crude guard commanded, and glanced to the sword bearer.
The bearer disappeared from view while Brain said, "Aye sure, we'll be quick, gone by nightfall."
The noise of a large wooden plank being lifted and dropped with a thud, came from the other side, and a moment later the gate opened outward on one side.
Brain didn't say anything, he only headed for the gate. Layali grabbed the cloak near her throat and pulled it tighter so that the hood wouldn't come down, and just above the waist so that she could be sure that it wouldn't expose the nakedness beneath.
The ground was cool to her bare feet at least, and not so bad to walk on, but no sooner than she entered the town than she was assaulted by the stench of humans and their animals.
The way was open at least, with few people about at so early an hour other than guards, but with the multitude of buildings of simple wood and rough, crudely cut stone, Layali realized that this was larger than any village. ' It seems so large…' She looked up at the tops of single buildings that looked more like one building stacked on top of another, most of which had staircases on the outside which led up to an elevated side door.
"How many people live here…?" She wondered out loud, though she hadn't intended to ask, Brain answered anyway.
"A few hundred, maybe a thousand made up of multiple different families." He said, and she gasped from behind him.
"So many?" Layali wondered aloud, ' He's got to be lying, there's no way that many people could live in one place.'
"Somewhere in that range, this is just a town though, and not even a really big one, cities can have hundreds of times as many as the largest town. Kami Miyako is the third largest human city after Re-Estize and Arwintar, and it has over one hundred and fifty thousand, or so I've heard." Brain explained, and Layali's mind whirled with both disbelief and raw, unbridled terror.
"Please… please take me inside… take me inside somewhere… please… I'm begging you…" She said. Her body felt stiff and she had to shut her eye and follow him by the sound of his steps. "So many humans…"
It was hard not to pity the quivering little thing at his back, "We're going to an inn now, just keep it together for a few minutes. It's been some time, but I've passed through here before and it's just a short walk from the gate." He answered as gently as he could.
With the promise of relative safety, she quickened her steps, ignoring the pain in her feet to let them carry her past Brain himself until his own pace picked up to match her.
On quick little steps he led her forward until he pointed to a swinging wooden sign with a bed on the face of it which swayed a little in the morning breeze. "Right there, just stay at my back and I'll get a room upstairs."
Layali couldn't speak, her jaw was shaking, as was most of the rest of her, save for her feet, which she took the utmost care to mind, reaching the door a step ahead of Brain, she froze. ' Humans will be in there.' She shivered, his hand went over her head and beyond her to press against the door. It swung open to reveal a host of smells of smoking food and frothy beer. But it was largely empty on the lower floor. There was just one obese older peasant with a bald head and a scar on his cheek who was busy washing out some wooden mugs when the bell above the entrance tinkled and its ringing drew his deep set dark eyes.
"Brain Unglaus, it's been a few years." The obese old peasant said with a gruff, cheery voice.
"Oddball, what are you doing here?" Brain exclaimed, briefly taken aback enough that he withdrew a half step.
Had the swordsman not sounded so pleasantly surprised, Layali felt for sure she'd have turned and run out of the building.
"Moved, course. Figure there's money to be made on travlin' types like you, what with the new Kingdoms to the north… kinda surprised you remember me, even if'n you don't member my name quite right. It's Odd val, jackass." The obese old peasant said with a cheerful cherub smile.
Brain felt the little hand of the elf girl come behind and touch him on the lower back, it drew away instantly as if it burned her to touch even the shirt he was wearing, but he sensed the question behind it.
"This is my daughter, Layali, and Layali, this is Odd ball, he has a very unusual talent… he remembers everybody's face and name, even if he hasn't seen them for years. He grew up in the same village I did, though a few years ahead of me." Brain explained, and the old man looked down at the girl like he was studying some rare specimen.
"Bit shy to be your kid, huh Brain?" He asked when Layali moved behind Brain's back again after briefly looking past the swordsman. For a moment the air was tense.
Then it was gone and he perked up before Brain could come up with a suitable lie, "But hey who says kids have to take after their folks, still I find it hard to believe you ever stroked anything but that sword of yours. You want a room, yeah?"
"Yeah, and some food, and I need a healer and a horse." Brain explained, "I'm headed to Arwintar for the tournament."
"A healer, you look alright, somethin get the best of you?" Oddval came around the side of the bar with steps faster than one would have expected of someone so round.
"Not for me." Brain said, "She got attacked by a monster, it's gone now, but it messed her up pretty bad."
"This isn't a one horse town, Brain, but it is a one healer town, and he's gone, went out with a party to fend off a bandit group what holed up in the hills, they been gone a couple days now." Brain frowned.
"Listen, I got a poultice, if I apply it the right way, it'll slow down the healin' and keep her from gettin' sick. No charge, for old times sake." Oddval suggested.
"Slow it down ?" Brain asked.
"Yeah, how long ago she get hurt?" Oddval asked, he was already reaching for a pouch at his side.
Brain felt three taps on his back. "Three days." He answered.
"Damn, surprised she's still alive, she's tough as you, that's for sure." Oddval added and let out a low whistle. "But listen, you let somethin' get healed natural like, that scar or wound, it's part of yah, an' then normal healin' magic is as useful as a broken dick in a whore house, get me? That's why I've still got this beauty mark'o mine." He traced a finger over the scar on his cheek. "Gotta slow it down but can't let her get sick, now you want my help or not?"
Brain thrust out his hand. "Sure thing." He answered.
"Nah, you don't know how to use it, I applied lotsa this stuff to drunken brawlers, ain't like a potion or just straight herb there, boy. Here-" Oddval casually flicked the top of Layali's hood back. "Now where's she-"
Layali couldn't scream, the meaty hand flung back her hood and exposed her elven features, her face, her hair, her mutilated ears, and the injuries that peppered her body.
"Brain…" Oddval whispered, "This ain't no daughter of yours…" his deep set eyes couldn't widen much, but the surprise on his face mirrored the raw terror on Layali's. Brain's response was instant, he stepped close to the old man and covered his mouth.
"Okay fine, she's not my daughter Oddball. She washed up from the river, I didn't do any of that stuff to her. She's just following me north, I'll drop her off somewhere safe, and just want her healed up real quick, now… you're not going to shout, are you?"
"Mm-mm" Oddball said through muffled fingers and shook his big round head back and forth. Brain stepped back, releasing his hold, and the old man gasped.
"Wash your hands, boy, they taste like stale fish." Oddval said and spat into the water where the mugs sat soaking, briefly forgotten in the moment.
"So, do I need to move on, or?" Brain left the question hanging, the hood stayed down and Layali shivered like a leaf.
Her missing eye seemed to stare into his soul, her jaw was dislocated at the least, broken at worst, her ears severed down to stumps of themselves like a mockery of humanity, and even at a glance it was clear that it was no ordinary monster that did it to her. "No… no. I got a room, you got lucky, Brain. If I'd been from round here?" The obese man shook his thick head, "Place ain't got much soul for anythin that ain't all human, you know? But I'll help you out… gotta hide her up in your room though."
"Yeah… thanks Oddball." Brain said with a sigh of relief.
"Don't worry about it, now here… girl, I'm gonna have to touch you a little, but I swear it ain't gonna sting much, sorry about the stink." He said and pulled a small clay vial from his pouch. He put the cork in between his teeth at the side of his jaw and tugged. It came out with a pop and then he dipped a chubby finger into the top. "Gonna be quick, so just be patient, kay, Layali?" He asked, his voice lost some of its gruffness, and having heard what the old man had to say, she nodded, and though she remained stiff she did not move.
His finger came away coated with a black jelly like substance which smelled foul and was flecked with little dots of white and green. He rubbed it around her eye, and put his finger partially into the socket, though he moved with care, she still whimpered a little.
"There's… there's more, ain't there, girl?" He asked with an ache in his gut.
She gave a tiny nod, "Let me get you to your room." He said, his face turning an ashen gray, "We'll do this there."
He led the way up creaking stairs, and with trepidation and terror still swelling in her heart, mind, and gut, Layali followed behind Brain.
He opened the door to a room, unlocking a crude wooden door, "Only one bed, sorry." He said and patted it, "Sorry, but I need you to show me what been hurt…" He trailed off when the one eyed halfling simply pushed the cloak off.
"Gods above!" Oddval gasped and slammed the door at the myriad of injuries he saw.
Layali stared at him in silent accusation.
"Weren't a normal monster, but it's a monster alright… you ain't gonna like this but… I gotta know how to apply it, what'd he do…?" Oddval's fingers tensed around the clay vial until he felt it crack.
"Used me like I was a woman… or like I was a boy." Layali answered and stared down at the floor.
"It was Cerebrate." Brain said, barely more than a whisper, "You've heard about his reputation, he did this to her. She's coming with me to watch me kill him."
"Make it slow if you can. I ain't an elf lover or nothin', but damn I never seen nobody do even this much pain to a dog… 'kay little miss, I gotta put this everwhere he hurt you, I'll be careful, but you don't wanna get sick, or heal the wrong way."
"Just be quick." Layali said, and Brain went to the bed and held out a hand, she took it without thinking and climbed on to lie down and look up at the ceiling. "Just pretend you're somewhere else and close your… eye, it'll be over quick." The old peasant promised.
"I know how to do that." She said numbly and closed her eye to wait for it to end.
Volume 7 C18
Layali's breathing became shallow as sleep came over her, she never heard the old man cast his spell, and when Oddval was sure it had taken effect, he finished his work and wiped his hand on his shirt before turning to Brain. "You get a chance, you kill that sonofabitch." The old man's deep set eyes had lost their mirth, becoming coal dark and hard. "Back when I was a boy and I set off to be an adventurer, I seen monsters. I seen bad things happen to good people, bad things happen to bad people, an' bad things happen to people what just had no luck a'tall. I seen dead kids of all kinds in a year, 'for I had my fill an came home. I know'd that life weren't for me long 'for you were born. But ah ain't never, not in all my born days, seen anythin' like that ." He pointed to the sleeping half elf, and watched while Brain covered her with a blanket.
"Whatever done that, that's a monster somebody gotta put down. You do that, you drink and sleep for free ever' time you come to my place." Oddval hissed out. "Kinda monster do that to any kinda kid?" He shook his head, "Hard to believe she still livin' an' breathin'."
"I know." Brain answered, "She somehow survived at least three days in that river, I guess she could be lying, most grown people couldn't have lasted even one. But somehow she made it for three?" He scratched his head beneath his blue hair and said, "If nothing else, she's tough. Poor thing. Listen," he glanced at her again and then at the old man, "I'm short of money, is there any chance-"
"None." Oddval answered. "Even a cheap horse'll cost about thirty days wages for this place, and I ain't got that just sitt'n around. And the healer? I didn't wanna say this round her, but he'll know what she is when he heals her, an' that'll make things hard. This is the Theocracy, you be lucky if he don't report ahead… you want my advice, buy a potion. Cut the priest out."
"Great." Brain said and a little smile formed on his face, "Can I-"
"Nope." Oddval answered, "The priest took em with him after the bandits. Thing is, they shoulda been back days ago. Folks're gettin kinda worried, you know? There's talk of sendin' for a garrison."
"How long will that take?" Brain asked, his smile turned upside down.
"A week, maybe two. Less you wanna leave her like that…?" Oddval trailed off, it was a rhetorical question and Brain immediately shook his head.
"What kind of bastard do you think I am?" Brain stiffened his back at the mild hint of an affront.
"Nah, guess you could go out there yourself, probably get a potion as a reward. But… guess you don't got clothes for her?" The old man asked.
"No, of course not." Brain clipped his words short, "All I had was my cloak."
"I see… listen, I brought some old stuff with me, down in the basement, I gotta finish gettin' ready for my customers, but listen, you go down there, go through some of them old crates, maybe my grandkids left some clothes behind. Probably musty, and a bit patchy in places, but she needs some shoes and somethin' to wear."
"Thanks Oddball, you're the best." Brain answered and glanced at her. "How long will she be asleep?"
"Most of the day. She's young, maybe under a hundred years, hard to say with half elves, but for some reason they seem to have more vulnerability to magic… not that I knew that many of 'em… but still. Yeah," he rubbed his double chin with his thumb and forefinger, "yeah, most of the day is about right."
"Right so… rescue the priest, maybe get a reward and a potion, find your grandchild's clothing, and be out of here soon." Brain repeated the list, and then asked, "Can you bring up some food for her? She hasn't eaten much, and I'd rather she not go down there on her own."
Oddval clapped his hand on Brain's shoulder, "Maybe you are her pappy after all, eh?" He chuckled a little and Brain pretended to wince under the ex-adventuring peasant's meaty old hand.
"Nah." He shook his head, "I'm just taking her somewhere, and she's going to keep camp for me…" He looked at her sleeping face, her one good eye, the other a mere socket smeared with black poultice goo as dark as the inside of the eye socket was raw. "Plus she's tough as nails to survive this long, she's got some old injuries that I don't think this magic will get rid of… I guess I feel a little bad for her, and it's no trouble for me, not really."
"Uh huh." The old man said with a snort, "Whatever you've gotta tell yourself, but… she is a kinda cute kid, or would be, if she weren't all banged up."
"Yeah, I s'pose." Brain said, "Now about the food for her?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'll bring it up during my off time, just get going." Oddval said and they went outside, leaving Layali to sleep in peace.
She woke up to see the sun setting through her open window, for a moment she woke with horror, crying out, "I didn't mean to oversleep!" And shooting up to a seated position, breathing hard, she looked around and realized, ' I'm alone, the human is gone.'
The first thing she noticed was the smell of lukewarm stew, and beside it she saw a few pieces of cheese, fruit, and a strip of lamb which had obviously gone cold, but which was well seasoned. The next thing she saw was a set of clothing sitting on the same table where the food sat waiting for her.
The clothing reminded her of her lack of it, and her first instinct followed quickly, her hands went to her body to check, ' Did they… he do anything?' She asked herself, and found no evidence of anything except for the goop the old man referred to as a poultice.
Suspicion tainted her quite thoroughly, ' The old man knows magic. I was tired… but not that tired.' She yawned, her mouth gaping open, and the pain was only bearable because of the material the human used to make it so. Still… She furrowed her brow, ' Humans don't do things without getting things in return, so… what is he, or what are they getting?'
Layali could think of nothing offhand. ' The gods know I'm so ugly now that even the elf king wouldn't want me.' She thought with matter of fact dismissal, though it did sting a little, ' At least he's not interested in me.' That made for the unpleasant consideration, ' Maybe that's why he wants me healed? So I'm pretty again.' She shuddered. ' I need a knife.' She told herself when she stopped shuddering.
She then slid off the bed and, putting as little weight as she could on each step, inched her way over to the table. She sat and snatched up the slice of cold lamb and tossed it into the stew to warm it up again.
She then began dunking the bread and cheese into the brown broth and swirled them around before shoveling them into her mouth with no semblance of good manners to be had. The flavor assaulted her senses and even the dull ache in her jaw was not enough to dissuade her from finishing it as fast as she could. It felt like mere seconds before she was tilting the wooden bowl to her lips and rubbing her fingers over the inside to shove one last bit of broth over her tongue, and then licked the bowl clean.
With that done, she set the bowl down with slow reluctance, looking at the two meals she'd turned into one and willing there to be more. But there was not, so she let go of the wooden dish and plucked a stray splinter from her hand before turning to the clothing left for her.
' Old.' She thought and plucked at the moth eaten green fabric, there were holes in various places, some of which were patched, some of which weren't. ' This isn't really a shirt, it's more like patches sewn together.' She thought, and the smile spread over her face, larger than she'd ever had. ' This is the finest thing I've ever worn!'
She was grateful in that moment that at least her arm was numb, but did her best to touch it as little as possible, slipping the arm through the sleeve and drawing it up before putting her head through the hole at the top, then sliding her good arm up inside the shirt and successfully putting it on.
The rest was no more comfortable, but at last she slipped her feet into shoes, and gave herself a look over. Her whole body ached enough that she immediately went on tentative steps and laid herself down on the bed. Just to wear what she had, crude, hand-me-down clothes that smelled of moths and touched with dust, riddled with multicolored patches that outnumbered the original cheap green dyed fabric and themselves often having small holes… still felt good. Good enough that in spite of herself, Layali smiled a little and closed her eye with contentment.
Evileye poked at the flames, ' I was a villain. I was a disaster. I was a Princess. I was… I am… a hero. Will being all those other things matter to Lord Momon? I can't… I can't not tell him. I just can't.' She thought, and yet she feared to do so. The sparks leapt up from the fire and winked out of existence in the cool air. The others were gone, but given the way her sisters, and Momon's partner, Lupu, were teasing at her taking a chance, she had the distinct expectation that he would be sent back to her soon.
Lupu's most recent taunt touched a nerve.
"Meh, what good is it to be in love if you're not going to do anything? That's like having a cake and not eating it, that'd be dumb, the whole reason to 'have' cake, is so you can eat it. Course if you don't actually want him, I'm his partner, always at his side, maybe I should…" And then the radiant red haired cleric gave out a silvery laugh and sashayed away, leaving Evileye fuming.
' Would she really, though?' Evileye wondered, the curious relationship between Momon and Lupu was one she never dared truly broach. ' Sometimes they seem like they're almost… siblings, or childhood friends. But when she talks like that, could they actually be lovers?' That thought kept the vampire sleepless more than once. ' If I don't say anything, if I don't do anything but blush behind this mask, what can I expect? He can't even read my face, but if I show my face, my eyes?'
That too, brought its own turmoil.
' I'm a vampire, he's human. Maybe even a godkin. A valiant defender of humanity, a peerless defender of justice… and a bit of a dramalord.' She added the last part with a tiny smile of her own. He reminded her of Lakyus, prone to dramatic gestures and grandiose statements.
Had he not had the power to back them up, it would have been a mockery, but as it was? They inspired, in part because his power was so obvious and his reputation so widespread.
' If he knew what I was, would he slay me? Would my sisters?' Evileye shivered even to think of it. It was telling to her when she thought of either end that she was equally disturbed by both possible rejections. ' You've got it bad, Keeno, really bad.' She told herself and felt her long still heart threaten to start beating again, just so it could skip with anxiety.
' I have to tell him, I don't have to tell them. I want… I want him. I want him. Is that so bad? I can't give him children but, so what? If he wants a child, let some other woman carry it. As long as I can have him… but can I at all?'
The answer was a plain and unilateral 'no', not without telling him the truth, not without taking off her mask and opening her eyes.
' No man will remain with a woman whose face he's never allowed to see.' She looked down into the fire and poked it with a stick again. ' I have to tell him. Whatever happens, happens. I've fought for a lot of stupid things in my life, risked myself for everybody else more times than I can count. But now it's time I did something for myself! What's the point if I can't be happy too?! Why shouldn't I be?!'
Evileye did all she could to mentally fortify herself just as she heard Momon come crashing through the woods, there wasn't an attempt at being subtle, nor was there a need for it.
He emerged into the firelight and said, "Mein Fräulein, they said I should come and keep you company, that they are better at scouting than I, and they are right, I fear!" He slapped his armored chest as if he were wounded by their words, but the twinkle in his eye told her it was more amusement and he was being performative.
"It's fine, please, join me… Momon." Evileye said and 'almost' gestured to the log opposite herself, but instead she patted the mossy space beside herself, inviting him to sit with her instead.
Momon obliged and took off his helmet, he sat it between his feet and looked into the fire.
He felt Evileye's gaze turned upward and looking at him. "Is there something on my face?" He asked and touched his cheek briefly.
"No!" She eeped out, "I was just thinking how impressive you looked."
"I am but myself, I think that is a good thing, but there are others greater than I by far, my father, for example." He said, and winked down at her.
It was only then that it occurred to Evileye… ' I really don't know anything about where he comes from, his family…?'
But he sounded warm, content to speak of the man, and so Evileye felt safe asking, "What was he like?"
"What "is' he like, mein Fräulein." Momon answered, "The greatest of all beings, powerful beyond all words, gentle, generous… His greatest wish is for the happiness of all his children. So powerful is his love for us all that he was willing to leave us if we needed him to. The greatest caster and the greatest warrior this or any world has ever known, or ever will, the paragon of-" Momon went silent, snapping his jaw shut.
Never in his life had Pandora's Actor cursed his performative nature, his love of drama, or his love of his creator. Yet all he said in his gushing affection could only lead to one singular answer in the mind of the little vampire about who his father was.
Nor did she miss it.
"You're the son of the Allfather of Nazarick… aren't you? You're Ainz Ooal Gown's son…" Evileye guessed, and when Momon stiffened involuntarily, she knew she'd struck home.
Her mind reeled beyond all reason. On the one hand she counted the Allfather's friendly policies toward nonhumans to be a good thing, as was his general defense of humanity and promotion of order. On the other hand, his ruthless crushing of Baharuth's army led directly to the near collapse of the Empire, and his intervention left a Demihuman Kingdom of dubious intent forming in the Abelion Hills.
"I should not have said what I did. I must ask that you keep it secret." Pandora's Actor said, leaning over her slightly to whisper the request.
' It does answer a lot though… there's a strong resemblance, and that kind of power doesn't just spring from nothing.' Evileye felt some degree of comfort at least recognizing one mystery was resolved, only to notice another compounding it.
"Siblings, you have… brothers and sisters?" Evileye asked, and Momon groaned and wiped his face.
"I do. You know one of them. Lupu's true name is Lupusregina, she is the child of another… we are many, the children of the One Who Stayed, united in our devotion to our father. Hence his name, the 'Allfather'." Momon explained, and Evileye connected the dots, it explained Lupu all too well.
"They're not all human, are they?" Evileye pressed the question gently, she reached up and touched his face, "You can tell me, you can trust me with anything ."
"Why do you ask that?" Momon allowed her touch, but he was more interested in the wild guess that was right on the coin.
"Because of his policies. He rules numerous nonhuman races. Dark elves, wood elves, dwarves, I've even heard of lizardmen and frogmen, not to mention others. It's just sensible that he'd be this way if his children weren't human." Evileye felt the certainty of her rightness crystalize when Momon was silent in return.
"You are right." He finally answered, free briefly of any grandiose gestures, natural if not relaxed, he was stiff, but not aggressive or demanding of her silence, and so Evileye felt emboldened.
She sidled up a little closer, so that her leg was against his. "Do the undead have a place in your father's world? What are they to you?"
Pandora's Actor was still mentally cursing his foolish slip of the tongue, but he heard her question, and knew very well why she asked. "Have you seen vampire quests in the adventurer's guild?" He asked in return.
"No… now that you mention it I haven't." She replied, and then asked… "Why?"
"Because they were found and relocated. A few, I'm sure, were killed, but father's will is that all who accept the social contract should be allowed to exist." Momon said with a hint of pride tinging his voice.
"The what now?" Evileye was briefly at a loss, ' What do merchants have to do with any of this…?'
"Social contract. What father calls the agreement among intelligent beings to reside together as a community. Simple guides such as that the higher your status, the more that is expected out of you. That you may do as you will if you harm none, that a mutual respect should exist between those who live together, for each other's lives and possessions." Pandora's Actor explained, and Evileye turned it over in her mind like a curious object of uncertain use.
"So the vampires he found?" Evileye pressed.
"Sent to the Kingdom of Nazarick's far flung corners, border towns made up of multiple races, the newly built areas. They live normal lives there and sometimes buy blood from others when the impulse comes to feed. Or so I have learned, I have yet to go there myself." He said, and Evileye knew one thing for sure…
' I have to see it. I can't say anything to him… not yet. Not until I see how he really reacts staring a vampire in the face… I've waited this long, what's a few more weeks?' She thought and said, "I have to see it. Would you mind if we diverted our traveling path a little? We can still make the tournament in time…"
"Ja, mein Fräulein. I would be honored to show my father's home… but your sisters?" He asked.
"I won't say anything about where you come from, but… when we get to the town, present them with the truth, if they feel they can't go in, let them camp outside the walls. If they promise to behave, I trust them to keep that promise." Evileye said, then asked only a gentle, small, "Please?" before falling silent.
Pandora's Actor gave a little bowing of his head which served as a nod. "Then we will go. We will pass through the dwarven mountains, there is a road we can take, it will save some time. Then you will see my father's work, and know why we revere him so."
He then took up the stick Evileye was using a moment ago, and stirred the sparks from the orange and red glowing fire and watched them drift up toward the stars, dying on their journey up, and the pair enjoyed an amiable, but eager silence until the others returned.
Volume 7 C19
' Ugh, maybe I should have stuck with Raymond.' Zesshi rolled her eyes at her own impulsiveness, but when she looked back the way she'd come, she refused to turn around. ' No. I will see this through. I want to talk to him, I won't be talked over or talked down.'
"Who are you kidding, you're being stubborn, Zesshi." She said to herself. In the far distance she could see a small village, impoverished prosperity, in a manner of speaking. Her effective eyesight let her see the distant crops, enough that she could be sure that even if they had very little, they had enough.
She ran hard in that direction, her feet ate up ground like fire ate dry grass, and little by little the village grew larger in her eyes until she could see the heads of various people poking up amidst the fields of wheat, their bodies rising and falling in the endless rhythm of the farmer's dance.
Her ears pricked up when she heard them singing, ' That's a nice noise.' She mused and slowed down to listen.
"Oh- raise that ho and bring it down
Harvest food to feed our town"
"Our kids grow up and we grow old
But farmers' tools they'll always hold!"
"The gods look on and laugh all day
While I swing and swing a-way"
"Cuz crops may stand and crops may grow
But not one stalk with-out my ho"
The depth of the voices indicated that they were mostly male, but there were a few women among them. Zesshi hummed the music, it was a contented, rollicking tune that set the rhythm of their actions and probably made the work go faster.
It was hard not to like it, and Zesshi's slow pace let her hear it go on and on until she was spotted heading toward the village and someone shouted. "Traveler!"
For just an instant she thought it was a sense of alarm, women rushed into houses, and children with them. ' What did I do?' Zesshi wondered and pursed her lips into a tiny frown until she saw the women emerging again with a multitude of baskets, followed by young children carrying more of the same, they lined up by the road and began to wave at her with wild enthusiasm, their arms flapping faster than a hummingbird's wings as they tried to get Zesshi's attention.
' Do they honestly think I don't see them?' Zesshi wondered about that for a moment and then shook it off when she recalled what Cenna once said to her about villages. "Everybody there is a merchant when it comes to travelers, some of them would sell their own kids for enough money."
Zesshi counted that an exaggeration, ' Only elves do that kind of thing, it's why they have to be kept down.' She recalled her answer to him, and the laughter that followed, the dark haired Captain was prone to laughter, and never took much very seriously. ' If it were up to him, we'd all just take naps, drink, and chew sweetbark all day.' Though why he found her statement funny, she still didn't know.
"I never did ask him what was so damn funny…" She mumbled and recollected the mouthwatering flavor of the sweetbark he gave her right after he laughed, and just before he walked away.
"Great, now you want sweetbark… and Cenna is on yet another one of his vacations." Zesshi mumbled to herself and resolved to see him as soon as she got back to Kami Miyako again.
When she came closer, the peasants added words to the gestures, they wore decent enough clothing, simple laced up shirts for young boys, single piece dresses for women, and boots for all of them.
"Hi, welcome to our village. Would you like to stay the night, I have an extra mat you can borrow?" An older woman asked, "I'll even throw in an evening and morning meal for two silvers."
"Nonsense, I'm sure she just wants to move on, Miriam." A younger woman with chestnut hair said, "But I'm sure I don't see her carrying any supplies, so perhaps she'd like to buy some fresh fruits and vegetables. I can sell you some jerked meat, of course it'll be a good deal at a silver for a basketful." She held up a large woven basket packed with brightly colored fruits of various sizes, along with green, leafy vegetables, bright orange carrots, and long strands of yellow Zesshi didn't recognize.
' I have no idea if those are good prices, but I do get the feeling I'm about to be robbed.' Zesshi thought, and looked down when she felt a little tug on the long hair that hung behind her. She looked down to see a small boy and girl with bright grins on their faces holding up a pitcher of water in both hands, when Zesshi looked inside she saw various cut lemons floating around.
"Buy some lemonhelp water!" The pair shouted in sync.
"I'm afraid I don't have money." Zesshi said, "I'm looking for someone though, did a man with blue hair and a katana pass through here?" When Zesshi asked, the little sea of happy faces became crestfallen.
"No… nobody like that. You're the first visitor in days but-" An old woman was speaking, and then fell silent, the wind picked up, and Zesshi felt it flow over her face and lift up strands of hair enough that it exposed the half elven ears she otherwise concealed.
"Mongrel." The old woman hissed, "Get out."
As soon as the word was hissed, the mood soured, the faces went from crestfallen, to hateful. "Mongrel…"
"Mongrel? I-I'm from here." Zesshi said, her black and white eyes blinked back the dismay she felt at their sudden hostility.
"Mongrels be mongrels no matter where they be from." The chestnut haired young woman said and spat in the dirt at Zesshi's feet. "Beat it, we don't want your kind around here."
"But- the one I'm looking for…" Zesshi looked around at those who glared back at her, not one friendly face in the little crowd.
The old woman who offered a place to stay was the only one who didn't look hateful, instead she was only relieved and Zesshi made to finish her sentence directed toward her instead.
When the old woman saw Zesshi's face center on her, she screeched and spittle flew from her wrinkled lips out of her toothless mouth, "Thanks be to the gods I didn't dirty my mat with mongrel touch… I'd never be able to rent it out again. Get out before we drown you like your father should have!"
Zesshi feared none of them, even bare handed, killing them would have been easy. "I'm a soldier, I help defend this country, how dare you speak to me this way!" Zesshi snapped at them and cracked her knuckles.
"Go way!" The little ones with their lemon water shouted, then tipped over the jug they carried and dumped it against Zesshi's leg. The cool liquid had a faintly acidic smell to it, and Zesshi raised her hand overhead.
"Little rotten bastard!" She snapped.
"It's violent! Call the watch on it!" One of the women screamed, and Zesshi lowered her hand to back away.
' If I go too far…' The lessons imbued within her from the earliest years of her life, to be careful not to harm weaker people around her, stayed her hand.
She backed away again, then turned and ran. ' At least he didn't come this way… I'll go try a different road… but what was wrong with those people? What even 'is' a 'mongrel' supposed to be?' She wondered before mumbling under her breath, "Zesshi, you have got to get out more."
The Elf King gored the woman underneath him, rutting like a bull in heat, his supremely powerful fists held around her throat, threatening to snap her neck if she relaxed herself even a little. She didn't move, only laying there and waiting until he was finished.
It did not take long, it never did, for the cruelest of kings, it wasn't a matter of pleasure, though he took that as he could, but about creating strong children. Something his people did very little of. "Get out, get out and go try to make something worthwhile." He snapped and got up, being encamped on Theocracy territory wasn't something he worried much about, the chance of being caught was minimal, the chance of being caught by something that was a threat, he dubbed 'impossible'.
His golden tent, much like the golden hair that tumbled sweaty and loose down his back, stood out. ' Founding that worthless Kingdom was a waste of time for so long, the only 'real' success was from that human female, if I can find more like that one at the tournament, I won't even need these worthless servants any longer.'
That last thought was at least partially a lie, any King needed servants, but the world was a big place, ' I can always replace them.' He shrugged off the thought and waited while the husband of his last plaything brought the King's preferred green robe. The cloak keeper stood on a stool while the King put out his arms, with a grunt of effort the cloak keeper stretched out on his tip toes and slipped the sleeve over his lord's left arm, then did the same with the right.
Tears blurred his eyes as he listened to his wife's feet withdrawing to their quarters. The humiliation of attending the one to abuse his wife was at least a familiar one, and one in which he had expansive company. ' Serve or die… some days… the latter would be better…'
It was an old thought, but rarely followed up on by the elven population which remained hopeful that one day someone might rise to bring down their tyrant.
"Have the cook prepare me something that isn't trash, and send me his wife while he's cooking." The elf King commanded, his cruel, piercing blue and purple heterochromatic eyes at least, couldn't be seen from the back. The cloak keeper went to the lord's front and reached up to his waist to begin binding the robe shut.
"As you will it… but… may this humble one beg a question?" The cloak keeper asked. ' This is it, this might be the end for me…'
The fist of the King did not descend to splatter his head, this was the safest time to ask him anything, just after he'd finished using someone, and the nature of the situation was odd enough that curiosity replaced hostility for just a moment.
"What?" He asked, and the cloak keeper kept his head lowered while he bound the royal knot of the robe.
"Your Majesty has always wanted strong children, and we have all heard your will about the tournament, but we wonder why you fear to begin on the journey there?" The cloak keeper shivered, but again the heavy fist did not splatter his head.
"Who says I fear?" The elf King said with quiet wrath.
"None," he answered, which was true at least, "but we note that you avoid the many humans along the way, and instead prefer the safety of those who have already failed you in their worthlessness."
In any other circumstances, the elf King considered, ' I would crush his brain in his skull, but… now? He has a point… Stealth doesn't suit me, and there are many chances along the way, why waste time with their wives when there are so many I haven't tested yet… why should I wait to take that empire as my prize?' The thought set his loins to stirring.
"Forget the chef and his wife, we're moving out tonight, there is a village only a few miles ahead, yes? We will go there and I will find out if the successful brat's mother was a fluke or not."
"As Your Majesty commands." The cloak keeper said, stepping back, he bowed and stared down at the ground, his eyes trembling around the edges while suppressing the mad laughter, over his successful manipulation of the cruel King. ' We are spared… our wives are spared… let the humans pay the price, they deserve nothing less.' He told himself, though that did not completely rid himself of the twinge of guilt he felt when he thought of what their Lord would do all the way north to Arwintar, to all manner of unsuspecting peasants.
He then straightened himself when he had his face under control, and backed out of the tent until the flap closed in front of him again. "The King wants us to head to the nearest human village, he has chosen 'other' targets for himself.
The guards who stood outside the tent holding their bows at the ready looked at the cloak keeper with brief awe, "You-?" He cut the question off.
"I did. Our wives are safe for now. Those of humans?" He shrugged, "Let them deal with him." The cloak keeper answered, and the two elven warriors almost fell forward as they embraced the servant, their tears of happiness stained their cheeks and his own as they held one another fast in their unexpected sense of relief.
"Hurry and get ready. I… I have to go and comfort my wife." The cloak keeper said, and hastened away to follow the sound of quiet weeping.
Volume 7 C20
Ainz sat at the table, it was far from the most luxuriant of things, even at a guess it was only slightly more expensive than what a modestly successful merchant could afford. Though it had a smooth shining polish, it was unadorned by precious metals or artistic designs, flatly put, it was nice but only one jump up from common, unique and noble only in that it was long enough to host the whole assembly.
The same went for all the furnishings, the chairs were polished and cushioned, but devoid of unique artistry, the tapestries were locally made, and a somewhat 'crude' representation of peasants learning new skills rather than masters at work.
There was however, one thing which set the hall of the Wolf King and Wolf Queen apart.
On the far end of the hall there was a crackling fire, and, up above, many windows allowing the room to be flooded with light during the day. Along the wall, as the evening was settled, there lay many candles which bathed the room in a dancing shadow, casting an orange glow. The smell of roasting meat wafted into the room from where it was being prepared, almost as though one's own mother was preparing the evening meal only a few paces away.
That was the spirit of the hall of the Kingdom of Carne. Home . The whole feel of the place was one of familial intimacy, and, at the head of the table, the Wolf Queen and her husband rose to their feet. Their cups held aloft to the sea of guests, Enri's smile was a glowing warmth, given to each one who sat near or far from the head, Ainz couldn't help but think it was as if his own mother were about to toast him.
"To a short fight, a long peace, and all our bright futures." She said it simply, it was no elegant speech. But while she said less than a great orator might have, she meant it more.
And so when the rest of the table echoed, "To a long peace and bright future." It was hard for the most cynical of lords or ladies to not mean it, at least in that moment.
' If this is the tenure of their rule, they will be popular monarchs, and not just here.' Ainz made a mental note, and settled in to enjoy both the meal, and the next few days while the other leaders arrived to journey onward to Arwintar as one.
The long journey carried the delegation of the Holy Queen and the Frost Queen over fine rolling countryside, through peasant towns, and to small castles, their stops along the way remained amiable, and between the two along the way, the dragonid and the human sought to resolve a thousand petty disputes of trade goods and the flow of travel.
Sometimes they were successful, at others the pair could not quite agree. It was during one such evening that they returned to a commonly broached subject from their letters, but not asked in person until the present in the country home of the Re-Estize royal family. "How are my humans doing in your Kingdom?" Queen Calca asked.
"Well enough." Neia answered, her tail dancing at her back. "I have had some trouble with a particularly tenacious poacher not far from my capital whom we suspect is human. But that should settle down once I've made it my private reserve and bought the area from the ones who own the land now. Other than that? They do fine, the land is good for farming and their produce under Duke Astraka is feeding a great many people."
"I suppose it helps that they have a human lord." Calca said with a twinge of frustration when she looked away from her counterpart.
Neia sat back in the chair and reached for her goblet. "Bigotry is a problem on both sides of the border." As Calca's words were as close as she could come to a true apology, so too were Neia's as close as she could come to conciliation.
"It's almost enough to make a common enemy desirable, to help erase the past." The Holy Queen remarked and reached for her own goblet while her son fussed a little in her other arm.
Neia said nothing, not right away. When she spoke it was with quiet iron in her voice. "That may sound nice, but there lies the difference between you and I, Holy Queen. You spent your life in the palace far removed from the common soldier. I was a common soldier. War is work, ugly work filled with filth and fear. A thing like what you say is the stuff of nightmares. May its horror never come."
Calca looked away, chastened, down at her son who fussed briefly, then she drained her cup in a gulp and brought her infant to the breast to feed him and said, "I did say almost ."
"That you did." Neia said and finished her cup with a brief swig to pair with her concession.
"Almost what?" Queen Renner asked when she entered the room, prompting the pair of royal guests to rise to their feet to greet their host.
Zesshi's sprint went down to a jog, not for want of energy or strength, but because for the first time in her life she could actually 'enjoy' the sheer size of the wider world. Within mere hours of her departure, she repeated herself. "You have got to get out more, Zesshi!" But what she once said with irony, she now said with conviction. The wind and the trees, the grass of the fields and the babbling of the river called to her… and when she passed through a clutch of trees, pausing to take from some of the hanging fruits, their wide trunks and high boughs called to her.
' My elven side asserting itself…' She realized, and clamped down on it with loathing that roiled in her gut. Without thinking about it, she slowed to a walk and reached up to change her hair, ensuring that her ears were covered. ' If only she'd let me cut them off…' Zesshi thought, recalling her childhood. ' I was just trying to cut the rapist parts off…' Her answer to her mother had earned her more hugs than swats when the one time guardian of humanity yanked away the knife from her daughter's hands.
She recalled vividly the frantic way the valorous woman ran her hands over Zesshi's in the wash basin, removing the red blood from every tiny finger. The trembling, shaking hands of a dedicated parent lived long in Zesshi's mind. ' I haven't thought of that in years…' The half elf realized and tried to put it from her mind as she drew closer to the distant town.
' Maybe he's here… maybe not. Either way at least I can say Raymond is probably worried.' Zesshi's brief reflection on her traveling companion troubled her to no end. ' To him at least, I can say 'sorry'. But I have to know, and he's hiding something.' Zesshi's certainty was coupled with a dark distaste that came out in the way she clenched her fist as the town loomed closer, the walls were pathetic, and the guards even worse than the walls.
But as it wasn't an enemy position and the gate was now open, she walked right up to it just as a young couple set out. They wore bright, cheerful smiles and waved to her with enthusiasm. He had a rough, peasant beard that wasn't quite well trimmed for want of a mirror, she wore a simple single piece dress that flapped a bit in the breeze, and both carried polished walking sticks worn smooth by time, and packs on their backs with patchy bedrolls up at shoulder level. "'Scuse me, have you seen a blue haired swordsman with a sword come through here today?"
They stopped to look the odd figure of Zesshi up and down, and briefly traded a look with one another as only married couples could, asking without speaking.
"Nah, sorry lady, haven't seen anyone like that, but if he's smart he'll be leavin' here same as us, so you prolly goin' the wrong way." The taller male uttered with a brief shudder.
"Uh, why?" Zesshi asked and looked away from him and toward the town, a bit dirty and crude, it was no Kami Miyako, but there was no obvious danger to prompt their eagerness to leave, nor did she see signs of fear on the pair.
"The Kingdom of Carne, miss, ain't you heard of it? They lettin' nonhumans settle in there, an' I don't mean as like… living tools, I mean like," he shivered, "' people' . So we sold everything an' we're goin south. The border's just a hop, skip, and a jump away, goblin neighbors? Can you imagine? Course there's others, but… lotta goblins there I hear. People go up there to trade, come back with all kinda stories. None of 'em good, so we travlin' south to be safe. Lot of us are. Anyway, hope you find your friend, miss, but like I say, he smart, he's goin south where it's safe."
"Right…" Zesshi suppressed her frown, but before she could say anything else another voice carried down to her.
"Hey! Somebody ask about the blue haired guy?" It was a gruff voice, but a little dubious.
Zesshi stepped away from the couple, who took that as their cue to leave, and then she craned her neck to look up at a spear bearing guard. "Yes, you know him?"
"Nah, don't know him, but I know of him. Not many folk have blue hair, and even fewer carry just one sword and no shield… mite odd he was, traveled with his daughter, he asked about where to stay, if that's your man, he went for the inn thataway." The guard leveled his spear toward a side street, and Zesshi nodded.
"Thanks." She said, but the answer sounded wrong. ' He wasn't traveling with a child. Couldn't be… but then, the guard up there has a point, not many people look like that.'
Zesshi thought it over for a moment, ' I guess it can't hurt to look.' She resolved and with a confident and hopeful spring in her step she made her way in the direction the guard indicated.
Her feet slogged through no small amount of nasty muck, the smell of horse manure tainted the air and blended with the smell of unwashed bodies. The noise of squelching feet coupled with the babble of humans going about their business created a cacophony of noise that was equal parts unfamiliar and unpleasant to the long-isolated Zesshi. Her nose crinkled a little as she suppressed the urge to gag before entering the establishment that was marked as an inn.
' You know that thing you said you should do?' She asked herself.
' Get out more?' She answered her own thought.
' Yes, if most of the world smells like this, forget it.' She answered herself again.
' Agreed.' Zesshi agreed with herself and then approached a large, obese-looking man who slid a wooden mug across a long smooth wooden bar and directly into the waiting hand of a patron.
He looked up when the bell above the door rang. "What can I do ya for, miss?" He wore a gap toothed smile and had a grandfatherly manner about him that reminded her of an older Raymond.
It was enough to bring a little smile to her face when she said, "I'm looking for… a friend of mine. Blue hair, curved sword, fit looking man, know him?" She asked.
"Brain, sure do. He's stayin' here but I'm 'fraid he's not in just now." The old man answered and Zesshi brightened up.
"Oh, do you know when he'll be back?" She inquired, and the old man shrugged.
"Nah, hard to say, he went out after a group of bandits, tryin' to get some money fer… some things, you know, travlin' needs." The old man clammed up just a little, it was a subtle thing, his smile went a little smaller and his words more hasty, he also ignored or didn't hear someone slapping the bar demanding another drink.
"'Venturin' ain't an easy line of work, it'll pay alright, so he went out to make some quick coin, I can leave a message for him for you, give it to him when he gets back, if'n you like." The old man offered and his smile brightened again, though it hesitated to spread out as far as it previously had.
"Can I wait in his room, I really need to see him, or wait here?" She asked.
"Nope. 'Fraid I can't have people loiterin' about not buyin' nothin', an' ah ain't got no rooms anyway." He added the last part with such haste that even knowing she was inexperienced, it felt like a lie.
"I see… Okay then, ah, just tell him he had a visitor and ask him to wait for me down here." Zesshi said, and the old man's eyes never left her as she removed herself from the building.
' He didn't mention the daughter… what's going on here?' Zesshi felt the same sense she had with Raymond, that something was being concealed, hidden away. Her senses tingled as if she were about to enter a fight, and she closed the door gently behind her.
For once Zesshi felt a measure of gratitude for her elven senses and began to walk around the side of the building. The lower half was clearly a tavern, but that obviously meant that the rooms were on the upper floor. The sinking squelch of her boots would have given her away had it been the middle of the night, but as it was, nobody thought anything of the noise of one person just walking around minding their own business. ' Ugh, my hair… it's probably a mess at the bottom now… great, one more thing to dislike here.' She cursed and tilted her head up to search out the smell.
While no bloodhound, her senses wouldn't miss him if he were concentrated somewhere.
It took some walking around, but then there it was, an open window and the leftover smell of her brief dinner guest.
Zesshi looked to her left and right, people were passing by, but nobody was watching, nobody was listening.
So she jumped, her powerful legs sent her rocketing up to the second floor and with one brief pull at the window sill, she hauled herself inside, rolling once over the floor she came to her feet with a little bounce.
There, lying on the bed was a young girl, obviously a half-elf. She lay on top of his cloak, holding it tight against her body, and lost her grip the moment she saw the intruder.
For one brief moment Layali and Zesshi's collective three eyes were frozen and locked on one another, and then Layali opened her mouth to scream.
Volume 7 C21
Layali felt her entire body go stiff, her lips parted, ' Nobody good ever sneaks in through a window?! Who is this?! Is this a slave catcher?! Did Master Cerebrate send a slave catcher after me?! No! I won't go back! I won't!' The scream remained locked in her head and she flung herself off of the bed, while she didn't have a knife, she had a spoon.
She began weeping out of her good eye and jabbed the handle side of the spoon toward her empty eye socket. ' If I can just hit the brain it'll be over quick! No more pain! No more Cerebrate! I guess I'll never know if Brain kills him or not… I'll just have to hope.' All those thoughts ran through Layali's mind in the time it took to draw the end of the spoon toward her eye socket, while her good eye squeezed shut against the pain to come and also closed off her view of the white and black haired intruder.
Which is why it was a shock when she felt a hand on her wrist, it closed around her with relative gentleness, but it was as immovable as any mountain.
Layali had no more will to scream, instead she only tugged and pulled, "No! I won't go back! I don't want to live if I have to go back! Please! Please don't take me back!" She whimpered, pleaded, and pulled herself wildly about before she thought to stab herself in reverse.
She slowed as if she were running out of breath, the woman, for that much she was sure her captor was at least, still hadn't said anything, and so the little half elf girl relaxed.
She looked up at the woman, met the heterochromatic eyes with her one good one and said, "I'm not going back." She then slammed her head forward, ' If I caught her off her guard…'
Layali didn't get to finish the thought, faster than should have been possible in her experience, the woman's other hand came up and caught Layali at the hair, keeping her from the coup de grace.
That finished the last of her will, Layali felt the hopelessness of her efforts, her knees went weak, her final strength fled, "For god's sake don't do this… human scum… seen you all pity dogs… at least put me down too!" She whimpered out and trailed off with one final plea, "Please… slave catcher… don't take me back to my master…"
Zesshi smelled the thick salve on the girl's flesh as much as she smelled the fear on the little wounded creature, the half elven extra seat of the Black Scripture knew the smell of fear like bees knew the smell of flowers.
She also knew the smell of blood, and the signs of injury, and this one… ' She has a lot of them… and… a slave catcher? What even is that? Why would a slave ever run away from… no, look at her… stupid. She didn't do this to herself.' Zesshi concluded that quickly enough and crouched down.
"Be quiet." The older half elf said to the younger, "I'm like you!" Zesshi whispered, and that, if it didn't stop the girl's cries, at least kept back any chance she would scream and ended the struggles.
' Like me?' Layali's doubts rose, but she dropped the spoon which clattered to the floor a second later.
Zesshi brought the girl's hand over to the white hair and brushed it aside, revealing Zesshi's own half elven ear.
Layali gasped, her breath heavy as it wafted over Zesshi's face and smelling of stew. "Who-Who are you?"
"I'm looking for someone, someone who was in this room. I suppose he did this to you?" Zesshi asked. ' Strange, I didn't get the feeling he was that sort but, who knows, maybe you never can really tell?' She wondered privately.
Before Layali could answer, the little click of the door being opened reached both half elves and caused their ears to prick up. ' Gouging out a child's eye is… meh, I've put down real monsters for less.' Zesshi whirled on the door and before Layali could say or even properly think, Brain was entering the room.
"I'm back, I've got a-" Brain had no time to react, the fist that came for him was loaded with killing intent.
And yet for all that, he sensed one thing for sure, if she meant to kill him, it would have been faster, it was meant to cause him pain. But that relative ease had nothing on him. He dropped beneath it, dropped a satchel in hand down to the floor and drew his sword all in one motion.
There was no time to use martial arts, not for either of them, and while Brain was armed he could see the invader was not, and yet it didn't seem to matter. His sword flashed out leagues faster than he felt it ever had. "Layali, make a run for it!" He hissed out the words as fast as he moved his sword.
' I'm not going to win.' He realized. Her hands casually deflected his sword as if they were unbreakable adamantite. ' Your sword is worthless again… you were so proud… so damn proud… you wanted to try in the tournament, what a joke…' He recognized the half elf woman, and between mocking his futile efforts he wondered, ' Why is she after me? Or Layali… slave catcher… I've heard they use half elves for that… never seen one… must have been looking for this one. Cerebrate could certainly afford it.'
Brain cursed his ill luck and watched the woman deflect his best efforts without even bothering to strike him down, and worse, she kept herself between Brain and Layali. Like she was taunting him.
The small half elf was frozen, unmoving, paralyzed, the way she was when she first met him. ' Poor thing… poor thing…' The blinking of the one good eye and hollow brutality he found in her ruined frame could have moved a stone to pity, how much more so a living man? And in that moment Brain's feet went faster, rather than carrying him away in flight, his sword carried in arcs that the woman in front of him still deflected, and yet it felt as if he were climbing to the peak he'd longed for since the age of twelve.
' One quick look at the top before she kills me…' He vowed and began to mutter martial arts under his breath.
' Not bad. He's an adventurer through and through, that much was so at least, but he's still trying to get at the girl more than he is trying to kill me?' It was a curiosity to Zesshi, and she chose not to activate any martial arts of her own. ' He's on par with a Windflower scripture, or maybe a Sunlight Scripture… no… no he's on par with Clementine at least.' Zesshi pondered and allowed him to drive her back, his foot nudged the satchel he'd dropped before, and out of it rolled a little blue potion, the noise of the thick glass caught Layali's ears, and looked down to see that it bumped against her foot.
"Stop!" She cried all of a sudden, snapping out of her fear and silence induced confusion, blade and open hand stopped cold. Layali crouched down and picked up the potion. ' I've seen these… the humans, they used this on their own kind… he really brought me one?' She felt a tear escape her eye and clutched it to her chest.
"It wasn't Mr. Brain who did this to me… please… if you're like me, don-don't hurt him…" Layali said and put a hand on the hip of the half elf. Zesshi cast a doubtful eye down on her. "It was Master Cerebrate…" Layali whispered and retold the story while nervous fingers fumbled at the little brown cork on the potion.
When Layali got up to the part where Brain had helped her days before, Zesshi's hands lowered slowly to her sides, and Brain sheathed his sword.
"So you're not a slave catcher?" Brain asked.
"No, of course not." Zesshi frowned, "Why would you even think that?"
"I've met Cerebrate, for one, and for another, it's pretty common to use half elves for it. Nobody cares if they die, they get better at it over a long period of time, and you can hold their parents or children hostage to ensure their good behavior. Plus, elf or human, there's always somebody at the bottom who would sell out their own blood for the price of a honey cake, or a little power over the rest. It's kind of common to use the half breed sons of slave mothers to chase after their own kind. The Theocracy is a… practical sort of place."
Zesshi's frown deepened.
"What are you even doing here?" Brain demanded as he crossed the space between them both and took the potion from Layali's nervous fingers and popped the cork before handing it back. He crouched down, "Drink it all." He said to her, and she gave a little quiet nod before bringing the vial to her lips.
"Where's your… escort?" Brain asked, and Zesshi crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"Somewhere behind me, or ahead of me, I don't know. Raymond will find me sooner or later, I'm not worried about it, I'm here to talk to you, something you said, and given what else you've just said… I'm not a complete idiot, but I'll ask anyway. Why did you assume my father was a human?"
"You chased me for days on end over the gods know how many miles just to ask me that ?" Brain asked, aghast and sat with a heavy thud into the nearest chair.
" Answer me !" Zesshi hissed her demand, and Brain cocked his head when he looked at her as if the half elf were some alien creature from a far off land.
"Ask her." Brain said and pointed to Layali whose body was straightening as the magic began to take effect.
Zesshi looked down at the girl, and this time Layali didn't hesitate to speak.
"Because it's what happens in this nightmare country." Layali spat back, and Zesshi, having seen the brutal wounds on the girl, found no way to question it. She felt as if the ground fell out from beneath her feet, and all she knew began to fall with it.
"Queen Bessarez, Queen Baraja, I'm so glad you've made it to my estate." Renner said with a demure curtsey.
"Queen Vaiself, it was good of you to host us." Calca said with a curtsey of her own.
Neia inclined her head and gave a little half bow, "As am I, thank you. I've heard quite a bit about you and your rule from the few travelers who have ventured over into my domain."
There was the slightest hint of critique in Neia's words, nor were they wrong as few merchants proved willing to cross the coastal border even for the sake of profit, fearing some harm would come to them.
Renner accepted the criticism with the most courteous of little smiles, "I'm sure you will hear a great deal more as my merchants become more bold and we look to expand our commercial enterprises, for example I'm considering a national trading company intended expressly to serve the crown's needs. Something that will ease our dependence on private merchants and hopefully lower the price of goods. A source of such supplies right over the border would be a welcome one."
The effect on the Frost Queen was immediate, Neia's general lack of subtlety compared to the more experienced monarchs made it impossible for the dragonid to completely disguise her response, the whites of her eyes expanded, and her fang filled smile grew just a little with them. Mostly however, the concept Renner laid out caught the Demalbion Queen's ears.
' That would be a good idea, I've been reliant on the scant trade and expensive services of the Understone Empire, but those dark dwarves just don't need much… and the dark elves don't produce much but raw materials. The Slane Theocracy shut their border and very few are still willing to go to the Southern Holy Kingdom… a national company could go a long way toward supplementing my budget.' She felt her head ache a little and resolved immediately, ' I'll delegate it to Astraka.'
The headache began to fade and the Frost Queen relaxed, "You have a lovely estate." She offered the praise with rather more warmth than before, and Queen Vaiself claimed a seat, which in turn allowed her guests to reclaim their seats as well.
"Thank you, it belonged to my late elder brother, Prince Barbro. He was a mean, nasty boy and he became a corrupt, nasty man, but at least he had good taste." Renner said and held up an empty cup that sat on the table as if it had been just waiting for her arrival. Seemingly out of nowhere a servant approached bearing a bottle and poured it for her.
"Still, he was your brother, and that is not an easy loss. I'm sorry. I have no siblings, but if losing friends is hard, losing family is worse." Neia suggested, and both Calca and Renner had to suppress the urge to raise their eyebrows.
Neia had enough wit about her to recognize their silence for what it was, "I was a soldier who got lucky. I'm not born to the purple so… excuse me if I don't have the most queenly demeanor about some things." She bowed her head and when a cup was poured and slid toward her, she took it and waited until Calca's was similarly prepared.
"Perhaps a little… frankness, is what we all need?" Calca suggested.
Renner cleared her throat a little and pressed the matter at hand, "About tomorrow, now that we're all gathered, according to the schedule we'll be leaving after breakfast and going toward Carne to meet with the Wolf Queen, Wolf King, Queen Draudillon, and the Allfather. From there we travel in a long procession to Arwintar to observe the proceedings and watch the tournament unfold."
"So nothing has changed… That's good, it means everything is going well, between all of our escorts, this will be the safest traveling experience in history." Calca said, and then cocked her head when the Queen of Frost laughed.
Neia waved her taloned hand back and forth as the laughter rang beyond her ability to suppress it. "Forgive me, forgive me." Neia said, "It's just that in my old life we'd have said you were going to trigger a flag with a statement like that. It's nothing, I'm sure we'll be fine, but I do wonder what they'll say about all this when it's over. After all, when in all history have so many monarchs traveled together for anything other than war?"
That jerked both of her counterparts back to their youthful lessons in history, and vainly they sought for an example, until they gave up.
"You make a fair point, perhaps this really is the beginning of something remarkable for the peace of the eleven realms." Queen Renner acknowledged and began to reevaluate her initial appraisal of the dragonoid Queen. ' She has the subtlety of a mace, the manners of a common soldier, and the look of a predator… but at least she sees farther than the nose on her face. I can work with this.' She told herself and raised her cup in a toast.
"To lasting peace." Renner proclaimed.
"And prosperity with it." Neia added a section of her own.
"For us and the next generation." The new mother could not help herself, and added something of her own.
They drank deeply of the rich dark wine after that, several times, before it was time to rest for the next day's journey.
Volume 7 C22
Zesshi could not remember having ever been knocked down. Not by anyone. But the little half elf child's words were a heavier blow than that of any monster. And like anyone caught in a desperate circumstance, her first response was to deny it.
"You're lying… you've got to be." Zesshi accused, her heterochromatic eyes glared daggers at the girl until she moved behind Brain and hid from Zesshi's view.
"Why would you even suspect that?" Brain demanded, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Your father was human, wasn't he?" Zesshi stared at him as if he'd grown a second head.
"No… no he wasn't, was he?" Brain guessed, his mind raced while the silent half elf girl stared at him, watching him come to the only feasible conclusion. "I've heard stories about the Elf King… you're one of his children, aren't you?"
"The first half elf he made." Zesshi answered, " Humans rescued my mother. Humans protected and raised me. Humans promised me revenge… elves-"
Brain interjected, "Are just like you. I've traveled almost everywhere, and that includes the Elf Kingdom. I went anywhere there was somebody I can learn from and lemme tell you something… Elves are his victims too."
Brain felt the young half elf put her hands on the back of his shirt, her little hands balling up into fists. "Explain the girl." Zesshi said. It was a pointless diversion of a demand, but she couldn't help herself.
"Driftwood?" Brain said, and Zesshi looked, for a moment, very confused, she scratched her head, and only when she saw the girl poke him in the side with her finger did he elaborate.
"I found her in the river some time after we parted ways." Brain explained, "Layali, come out, she's not a slave catcher, if she were, we wouldn't be talking, besides, anyone that good wouldn't be hunting slaves."
Zesshi accepted the praise with a polite nod as the girl moved beside the human again, "Thank you, while you weren't a challenge for me, you're one of the strongest opponents I've ever faced. On par with Clementine, a former member of our strongest scripture, or better."
Brain's rugged face wasn't one to blush, but he did sigh with relief… "All I want is the peak, looking at it now, knowing how far away it is, had you not said that, I'll be honest, the gap between us would have broken me. I'll rest easier for your praise." He looked down at the girl, "Layali, why don't you tell her…"
"She's dangerous, scary… do I…" Layali began to ask, and to her surprise, Brain crouched down to her level and said, "She's ignorant, somehow, tell her how you ended up traveling with me, and start at the beginning ."
The half elf's newly restored pair of eyes grew wide as she understood the emphasis of his words.
' The beginning… everything…' She blinked both of her eyes as she understood what was being asked of her, but there the woman stood, waiting, a half elf like herself but worlds apart lay between the two. ' If she doesn't believe me, what if she turns on us again? Brain can't beat her, this is our only chance, I'll 'make' her believe me! That's our only chance to come out of this alive.'
The look in the large human's eyes was hopeful, encouraging, unblinking. "It'll be alright." He said to her, and resolve steeled in her heart. She looked at the well dressed woman in her fine travel clothes, and it was hard not to feel disgust for her ignorance as much as for her evident wealth.
"I was born on a farm, I think, about ninety years ago, my father was my mother's owner…" Layali began her story, and Zesshi sat down to listen.
"I saw the children my father had with his human wife, those children were loved. I saw him read to them, play with them, talk with them. They were his brood, his heirs, his family. I was just an increase of his wealth. I knew they were my half siblings, but I was never allowed to play with them, and they never played with me. But they were allowed to hit me if I was 'bad'. Maybe because I was his, at least I didn't spend as much time out in the fields as the others…" She clenched her little hands hard enough that she shook, though rage or pain could have both accounted for it, the squeezed shut eyes denied Zesshi any chance to guess which it was.
' Maybe both?' The half elf wondered.
"Lucky me. I got to take care of the house, I picked up toys I wasn't allowed to play with, washed clothes I never got to wear, and followed his wife around as a servant when she had visitors. My father thought of me as an asset, but otherwise I was nothing, just a servant he got for free. He joked with his grandson that when he bought my mother and made me, it was 'two for the price of one.' It always made them laugh. It made all of them laugh. I hoped I'd live to see the old man die, but somehow he's still around. My mother, he gave to his grandson, and I have a little brother now as a result. The old woman is still around too, and if her husband and his other children thought of me only as an asset, just a tool that works? She thought of me as proof of her husband's infidelity, and since she couldn't punish him, she punished me. And when her grandson's wife moved in and he made my mother carry a new servant… I can already see the hatred in the next generation… going toward my baby brother. He'll live like me…
The reason for Lialah's tight shut eyes was manifesting when little shimmering tears made their way out despite her effort at hiding them, "I got sent out to the fields more often in the last year or two, planting takes a lot of work, and the lash stings a lot, I'm too small to beat like they do men and women, but they have little paddles full of holes, and use that on the ones my size if we don't work fast enough. That was when I met Master Cerebrate… I was busy pulling weeds, and a stubborn one wouldn't come up. The overseer saw, said I was too slow, and he made me grab my ankles… and he rolled past while I was taking my licks… he bought me on the spot… I thought I was in hell, but that was just a nightmare. What Master Cerebrate did… that was hell… please… please don't make me talk about that…" Layali finally ran out of steam. She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood and little choked sobs began to make their way past her pursed lips despite her best efforts.
"Layali, cover your ears." Brain said with more gentleness than she expected, she nodded a little bit and plugged her ears with her forefingers.
"Why'd you have her do that?" Zesshi asked, looking down at the little half elf and seeing the increasingly red face deepen.
"Because I saw all her injuries, and I doubt she'd want to hear them recounted." Brain explained. "When I found her, I thought she was dead…"
The story did not improve from there as Zesshi listened, the litany of injuries, down to and including the intimate ones, left the heterochromatic half elf stunned into silence.
When it was over, Zesshi's hands folded together in her lap and she looked down in shame. "I didn't know. I really didn't know."
"How? Aren't you from this country?" Brain asked when Layali went to sit beside him on the bed. He looked at Zesshi with his face drawn in disbelief, and the half elf nodded.
"I am, but I don't get out much, skills like mine make me humanity's trump card, so they put me in charge of the treasury and only… bring me out… only bring me out when they need me… dead gods!" She suddenly exclaimed, her head snapped up, startling the human and younger half elf into nearly jumping out of their skin.
"What?!" The two cried and looked around for a threat that wasn't there.
"They knew . They all knew ." Zesshi hissed, "The Cardinals, the Pontifex Maximus… they all knew. Raymond knew… they kept all this from me, all this time."
She balled up her fists tight enough to whiten her knuckles and gritted her teeth. "I never really believed the whole, 'chosen of the gods' nonsense from the priests. Just let me kill my father and that'll be good enough. But I never thought…" Zesshi glanced at the half elven girl and recalled the empty socket where the newly restored eye shone brightly, and the look of abject terror on her little face when Zesshi entered the room.
"I thought I was coming to you for answers, human… no… Brain . But it looks like all I found were a lot more questions." Zesshi pinched the bridge of her nose and looked down at the floor.
"So you intend to go back?" Brain asked, ' I don't like the sound of that, Raymond is the name of one of the Cardinals, she talks about them all like she knows them, that would mean 'that' Raymond, is 'the' Raymond, and if something she says gets her ire up towards…' That train of thought did not need more baggage. Brain's mind flailed for a solution while he listened for her answer.
"I don't know. I think yes, I'm going to slap him till he talks, I want to know what else I don't know, but should." Zesshi frowned deeply, her foot tapped faster than grains of sand dropping through an hourglass.
"You could come with us!" Brain jumped at the answer and did his best to ignore Layali's gawking. "I'm a traveler, I know the way to where you're going, you can see things with your own eyes and not through some filter the cardinals want to force on you."
Zesshi almost took a step back, "Are you serious? I almost killed you."
"That's a Tuesday, to me." Brain laughed and tapped his hand over the hilt of his sword, "Hardly something to hold a grudge over, and it was just a misunderstanding. Besides, I'm betting you don't have any money and know nothing about fieldcraft. If you don't want to eat garbage, steal, or make a bloody mess of yourself, and get lost a thousand times a day… I'm your best option."
Zesshi furrowed her black and white brow at him. "What do you want?"
Brain shrugged, "Promise to help look after this one until we drop her somewhere safe, give me some lessons, and take direction when it's time to lay camp… we'll call it even. I've got enough money to fund the three of us."
Zesshi thought that over, the blue haired swordsman wasn't wrong, far from it, but he made very unpleasant, very true points. ' I don't even know how to start a damn campfire…'
"Fine, you win, Brain, we have a bargain. When do we leave?" Zesshi asked and thrust out her hand for him to shake.
Volume 7 C23
Queen Draudillon could have been happier. ' I can't believe the Theocracy refused to provide an honor guard. How petty can you be? Oh sure you can pass through our country, but the gods forbid we should exercise some diplomatic etiquette.' She stewed on that while she dipped her bread into the broth. ' I should have asked the Allfather for an escort just to spite the Theocracy.'
That was a thought that kept her warm several nights in a row. The tent in which she now stewed and ate was large and round in the fashion of Draconic Kingdom royalty, just like the rest of her kingdom, everything was extremely mobile. The rods that held the tent into place, as far as Draudillon knew, were used nowhere else in the world. Rather than separate pieces held together by rope, each one was held together by linchpins that allowed it to be folded or secured, and the tent itself was one large piece that was held into place against the rods by only a few leather strips.
For furnishings, the Draconic Queen looked, by her own estimation, far more spartan than any of her fellow royals, except for perhaps the newest Royal house to appear to the west. She had a simple wardrobe which held a single enchanted gown meant for formal occasions, and the rest were clothes meant for travel, and even one enchanted for combat. ' Using that would not end well for me, but it's better than nothing.' She thought, and drummed her fingers on the table.
Even her table, while expensive, was a modular design intended to allow it to be quickly broken down and moved. It was little more than stakes secured to polished wood in enough places to hold it up, with each metal stake able to be folded up underneath the surface, which itself could then be folded in half and loaded into a wagon.
' A culture of retreat… the shame of it all…' Draudillon despaired, ' All my efforts, even being willing to sleep with that disgusting monster of a man, and in the end my nation is on the brink of salvation because of a foreign ruler taking a liking to me. Though I have no idea what his letter of gratitude was about…' Draudillon took a bite of bread, that at least was kept fresh and warm through magic, the flavor of the broth blended with the soft interior and the crunch of the crust was enough that she held it in her mouth rather than simply chew and swallow.
And while she savored the meal, she turned her problem over and over in her head. ' The Theocracy is as powerful as ever, but the new ruler to their north, the Allfather, makes them look like a petty tribe of goblins. The power of the Kingdom of Nazarick spreads like spilled milk over a table, and I'm in their ruler's good graces… somehow.'
"He married the Holy Queen…" She muttered under her breath and glanced around, she was alone in this private space at least, with guards outside, and gave voice to her thoughts, "… but he's taken a different one to rule, if I 'had' to, I suppose I could offer myself as a third… my Kingdom is basically hostage to his good will. He has already shown a willingness to negotiate a vassal status… but what secures the most benefits? Competing with the Allmother and the Holy Queen wouldn't… no, no I will not do that!" She shook her head.
' Joining the Allfather as if I were some harem girl supplicant instead of a Queen is unthinkable!' The Draconic Queen set the idea aside, the assault on her Royal dignity seemed ever more distasteful, regardless of all other factors at play. "I will represent my domain as a peer, with dignity, and if we succeed in joining lands, it won't be that way." Her private resolve stiffened and steeled, the man's letters were all business, and as such, it was hard to find out much about him from that. Which only left her more curious at least, ' What will it be like to meet face to face? For that matter… the same goes for the rest.'
Except for a Cardinal or two, Draudillon never met the royals of the other Kingdoms, and as such, going to see them face to face was a first which the lonely monarch was eager to have.
This train of quiet thought left her distracted in the extreme, which was why the voice seemed so distant at first.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty you've got to run for it! We're under attack!" A male voice shouted, his wild, panicked face lit up by the stones that glowed from where they hung in the tent, casting shadows about the isolated royal quarters.
"Attack?! Beastmen, here?!" She cried out and shot to her feet.
"No! No your majesty! It's elves !" He shouted, his mouth was still open when an arrow appeared in his mouth, it pierced the back of his head and came out between his teeth, shattering them and sending the little white calcium bits flying in all directions. The barbed head of the arrow lodged a handspan out of his mouth, its tip directly pointed at the Queen herself.
His eyes went wide with shock, he stood for a moment, his halberd fell from his hand to land with a soft thud, and for just a moment he tried to reach up and grab the arrow as if he could pull it free.
He never got the chance to try, he toppled forward, his armor clattering for an instant, the cries and screams of her guards rushing to defend themselves from the enemy in the darkness was so heartrendingly familiar. ' Just like the attack when I was touring the front… fear, death…' The smell of blood was as thick in her nose as her thoughts were in her head.
She let out a bloodcurdling scream of her own in shock and rushed to her dresser. Just like almost everything, the Queen's daily wear was modular too. She yanked two strings at the shoulders and the whole dress fell instantly away.
' Got to hurry, got to hurry! What are elves doing here?! Why are elves attacking us?! The Draconic Queen wailed, enemies at home, enemies abroad, ' Is there nowhere in the world that is safe for us?!' She screamed her frustration and yanked up the pants, slipped on the boots which immediately laced themselves, and flung on her shirt, its laces secured themselves as well, and then she snatched up her enchanted dagger and ran for the exit from her tent.
Outside, all was chaos, fires rose from a dozen tents, and arrows cast shadows that vanished in an eyeblink, coming out of the darkness and striking human warriors dead where they stood. The sound of ladies in waiting screaming and the noise of crying horses was matched by the voices of calm direction as those who could walk through war like common people walked through parks, gave their orders and brought order to the madness.
"Aim where the arrow that killed your kin came from!" The stark order carried to the archers, and every time a human fell, more arrows went toward where the arrow came from. The darkness was so great outside that Draudillon couldn't see ten feet beyond the fires, but her quick mind noticed that at least sometimes, an arrow didn't come back from the same place. ' We're getting a few…' She thought and rushed toward her horse.
' Running away? Coward.' She cursed herself and watched as an elven warrior came in close and began to fight with a human warrior. More and more of the long eared warriors were making their way into her encampment, the difference between them was such that they were almost like different races of elves. Some were large, towering, muscular and broad. Others were the finer, slighter sort who looked like sprinters.
Being so far away, she only heard a little about the Elf King, but his habit of raping women to produce children was widely known, and the brutish description she had, however vague, fit those larger elves to perfection. ' His children… if they're here… oh gods above… no… no! No! No! No! No!'
The realization struck the Draconic Queen with abject horror, ' This was no accident, they found us, they probably realized who we were… and he's… after me…'
The assault on the Slane Theocracy's trump card was a story she'd heard once before, during a meeting with Cardinal Berenice over the issue of aid against the beastmen, and in that meeting she learned that a powerful warrior was born as a result. The Cardinal's promise that humanity's trump card was far from gone…
Meant nothing to her at that moment except to tell the Queen what was intended for her.
Her feet raced over the ground, the grass bending beneath, occasionally she jumped over a body while trying to ignore the screams that decreased in number with every passing deadly minute. An arrow whizzed past her ear, cutting off a lock of her white hair and piercing the rump of a horse, it toppled over, neighing and kicking its legs as it told the world of its pain.
"Got you!" A voice behind her said and she felt a hand on her shoulder, but the Queen grabbed the dagger at her side and thrust it behind her, she felt the soft resistance of flesh then the wetness of blood on her fingers, she lost her grip and the blade fell away. She instinctively looked back and saw the slight looking elf staring at her with dismay on his face as he went to his knees and toppled over.
' I need a horse!' She cried, then shrieked as she saw the danger too late, diving to the damp grass, a charging horse showed no care that she was even there. The rider, if he saw her, didn't recognize his Queen or didn't care.
An arrow pierced his throat out of the darkness, and the horse ran on without him.
The cries of her people were almost gone, ' I've got no way out… there's no way I can escape on foot…' The Queen realized, and did the only thing she could think of.
She shifted her form to be that of a child, her enchanted clothing shifted with her, and with that, she rushed to the nearest tent, ran inside, and hid herself, holding her knees to her chest, she hugged them against herself and prayed. ' Gods, please don't let him know about me, please don't let this be how I end up… please, protect us all…' It was far too late for that.
And when she heard the draw of a bow behind her, she felt another prayer go unanswered.
"I know you're there. Come on out. You can't hide from my ears, I can hear you breathing." The voice of the elf was lyrical rather than cruel, and if she had to put any word to it, the Queen would have said he sounded… pitying.
' Damn the gods… damn them all.' The Queen thought, and raising her hands, she stood up and turned around to face her captor.
Volume 7 C24
When the last of the fires began to die the sun was beginning to rise, and the survivors of Queen Draudillon's party were herded together, the elves that were used to herd the humans together were of the larger variety, such was their size that even without her transformation into a child sized version of herself, the Draconic Queen would have had to crane her neck to look into the faces of the elves.
"Move along." The elf closest to her said and pushed her along using the curve of his bow as if he were prodding cattle along, she stumbled a little and fell against a trudging lady in waiting. Clad in their fine dresses as they were, they never stood a prayer of escaping. Their heads were bowed, though they darted them up now and again to glance around like deer searching for danger between drinks of water.
The soldiers of Draudillon's band were one and all wounded, and none of them lightly. Their armor clinked as they were dragged by the elves or helped one another limp into place. The screams were gone, and for one brief moment, a span of time as short as the passage of the rising sun's light from one inch to the next as it went higher above the horizon, the Queen thought the elves were healing the wounded and that was why the screams stopped.
That notion was erased when, as she shuffled into line with the herded women, she saw an elf shove a captured pike into the throat of a human soldier on the ground.
The wet noise of it sinking into flesh and tearing open the throat, the gurgles, the noise and smell of fear, foulness, and blood made the Queen grab her stomach, bend forward, and retch up her previous meal onto the grass.
She coughed and spit as the acidic taste of her stomach fluids only made things worse, a puddle of brown and half chewed meat and bread lingered under her eyes.
"What about the walking wounded, do we heal them or…?" Draudillon turned to look at the source of the voice, a cluster of elves stood nearby, they were covered in dirt, a few were wounded, but the casters' glowing hands were changing that. They wore light armor, mostly flexible chainmail or banded mail, leather with metallic strips at vital places. ' No wonder they're so fast…' She thought, and the importance of the question hit her while she continued her coughing, drowning out the clinking of chains as she and the other whimpering, crying women captives were forced together.
"You know the King's orders. He has no use for men . Just make it quick." The big elf said, and a cry of alarm came up from the male captives who overheard it, they began to shout incoherently, but the clutch of elves in conversation a few paces away from the Queen only drew their swords and made to walk toward the bound and wounded human warriors.
' You can't!' The Queen thought, and then, she said it out loud. "You can't do that! They surrendered!"
The elf in charge, or so she assumed him to be from his orders, and from the silver tree with its multitude of branches painted on his chest, a stark contrast to those who took orders, who had progressively fewer branches on similar paintings, stopped. He gave a look down at the white haired child and said, "I don't know who told you that, little girl, but just because someone surrenders, that doesn't mean they can't die." He laughed, as did those elves nearest to him.
Draudillon's face flushed red and she shook her head, "No! They surrendered so they could live! It'd be barbaric to kill them!"
"A child's innocence, eh?" The towering elf said, and for a brief moment, to the Queen's dismay, a hint of pity passed across his face, it became drawn, drained, and utterly weary. When it seemed he was at his lowest point he put a hand on her head, and she immediately shook her head to cast it off. He withdrew his hand and said with a deep frown, "Child, they're the lucky ones here."
He then looked to the swordsmen to his left and right, "Go on, make it quick."
"No!" The Queen shouted, and shouted again, and shouted again, and yet for all her cries, they were as useless a shield for her people as their flesh was when the swords thrust down into their hearts.
The captives fell with soft thuds, sent to their graves by the music of the weeping survivors, Draudillon's host of maids and ladies in waiting.
Naive as she might have been, enough so that she felt a fresh urge to retch the already empty stomach again when she beheld the empty, disbelieving eyes of a dead young knight… even she knew what the elf meant.
And with his unstated and clear pronouncement, the captive women of the royal house lost their order. At Draudillon's back a maid fell to her knees, threw her face into her hands, and sobbed.
In front of her, a maid dropped down, picked up a broken arrow and made to thrust it into her own throat, her jaw clenched, her eyes steel, "Fuck you! I'd rather die!" She screamed, her spittle flew far enough to strike one of the elven warriors as a final act of defiance. The woman's slender arms had probably never borne the weight of a sword before, the blood and filth on her black and white maid dress with its many frills, was likely the dirtiest she'd ever been. Her green eyes flashed with hate where once Draudillon remembered only soft demureness and grace.
Before the elves could stop her, she drew the broken wooden shaft of the arrow against her throat and shoved the jagged tip in one side and out the other. Blood fountained out of her lips as her mouth opened in a gasp of pain, the flow of red liquid spurted out over the green grass with such weight that the little blades bent in submission to her will.
The maid fell to her knees before the nearest elf could reach her, she yanked the shaft free and flung it toward the elf that rushed to stop her, the useless stick struck his armor and fell to the ground where it snapped and sank into the ground when he stepped on it.
"Fhock… yough…" The crude phrase was likely something she'd only vaguely heard while listening to soldiers, rather than in the hallowed halls of the dignified royal house… but it drove the point home, and she fell forward, her body seizing up as a caster came running over and the elf caught her at the shoulders.
Queen Draudillon froze as shock swept over her at the sudden action, that was the only self murdering act of defiance, most became sullen, some shook and trembled, some froze stiff and stared vacantly at nothing, others wept with varying degrees of volume… the caster came near.
"Come on…" The Queen mouthed the words, but the truth was, ' I don't even know what I want to happen…' She could only watch as the elven warrior lowered the corpse to the ground, and the caster gave up.
"Another lucky one." He muttered, then reached into a pouch, took out a key, unlocked the woman from the line which held the others, and then stepped away.
"Aren't you… aren't you even going to bury the dead…?" The Queen gasped, then fell silent as the elf glared balefully down at her.
"You're dead too, you just don't know it yet. She did though."" He nudged the dead maid with his foot, briefly tapping her shoulder, then shouted his orders. "Get them moving, we need to rejoin the King as soon as possible."
Draudillon stood rooted to the spot, the heavy stench of waste and fear was like a mountain on her shoulders, and when the others began to trudge when their chains were tugged and sword tips leveled at vital organs and closed in on those who wouldn't move, she still could not bring herself to take a step.
Not until the chain was yanked and the biggest elf barked out, "Move it!"
The Queen stumbled as she was torn away from the hell of her once luxurious encampment, and she took one brief look back at it as it faded behind her. ' The other monarchs will wonder where I am… the Allfather, the Holy Queen, the Frost Queen, the Re-Estize Queen, we were all going to go together from Carne… when I don't make it, questions will be asked. All I have to do is survive… survive and wait for rescue…'
As the scene began to shrink at her back, she saw the first crows land and begin to peck at the flesh of the dead, she turned away, unable to watch further, and trudged onward the way she and the others were prodded.
Volume 7 C25
The Queens of three countries set out together the following day, the dragonid Queen of Frost Neia Baraja, the Holy Queen Calca Bessarez with her firstborn son in her arms, and the first ruling Queen of Re-Estize Renner Vaiself the First. While all three carriages went together, the monarchs themselves chose to ride in the same one at the center to avoid boredom.
As they rode and chatted idly, one thought was not lost on Queen Renner, ' A concentration of political power like this hasn't been seen in all six hundred years of our history… before that, who knows, but even in legend, I don't know of any instance of a gaggle of Queens traveling together for anything.'
She gave voice to her thoughts after seeing the quizzical looks on the faces of her colleagues when she fell silent, and after she said it, Neia's tail twitched a little. "After the dust settled," Neia said, "and I had time for other things, I started gathering stories about the past in the Abelion Hills, their history as it turns out, goes back quite a bit further than six hundred years. However, most of it isn't written down, instead, they have detailed oral histories scattered about the various tribes."
"How is that different from just 'legends'?" Calca asked with a curious glance down at the twitching tail. ' I wonder what it's like to have one of those. 'That story about the slutty lizardwoman maid who had tails put to all kinds of uses…'
She forced the thought aside and focused on what the dragonid had to say.
"You'd think that, but no, there is a difference. The obsession with power isn't just about survival, but about being remembered." Neia explained, "All the demihuman tribes I've brought into the fold had a class within the population who were untouchable, I don't mean that in a bad way, I mean they were sacred, they're called Rememberers, like a combination of storyteller and historian. And these figures would remember the greatest champions of the tribes. After I united them all, I had all these 'Rememberers' brought together at the capital, had them compare notes, and I found something interesting."
"Interesting?" Renner prodded, she leaned forward without thinking about it, the genius of Re-Estize and her hunger for useful knowledge couldn't resist the temptation the dragonid Queen of Frost freely offered.
"Yes, all their stories more or less 'lined up', something that should only be possible if they preserved their tales accurately. You'd expect stories to change over time, I've seen that happen a lot. Hell, that happened to me . I was never as powerful or dangerous as I seemed, but people told stories about me that grew with time. But these? These were consistent, and there were a lot of demihuman tribes with a comprehensive history that goes back over eighteen hundred years. Well beyond the recorded time with the rise of the Six Great Gods."
"And just… nobody knew this?" Calca became a little bit skeptical, her doubtful look and raised eyebrow vanishing only to caress her son's cheek when he cooed a little.
"As far as I can tell, no. Even in the Abelion Hills themselves, the tribes were generally not talking to each other much, except for their handful of merchants, and nobody bothered with a timeline. I managed to cobble one together from references to the positions of various stars. It's a great deal of work, but I've been having the various Rememberers put together a more detailed history than anything I think any Human Kingdom currently has." Neia's sharp toothed smile would have been fearsome if she hadn't appeared so self satisfied, holding her taloned hands folded over one another in her lap with one leg crossed over the other.
"I'd be interested in seeing this when it's finished." Calca and Renner said at the same moment.
Neia inclined her head toward each of them in turn, "It's easier to have more copies made than to write the first one. I'm having one made to present to the Allfather as a gift at the conclusion of the battle for the Empire. If he's intent on ruling demihumans and humans alike, he should understand the forces that shaped us all."
"I see… is there… or, no, are there any references to advents in those stories?" Renner asked, and at that Neia shivered.
"Multiples. The Six Great Gods were not the first as we previously believed. Some happened among the demihumans, and some happened far, far to the east. It makes me wonder if these things happen all over the world. Some of them, like the Demon Gods, are disastrous, some of the others…?" Neia crinkled her nose a little, "There was one who was notorious just for having as much sex as possible, supposedly and I can't confirm this, he traveled from the east over the Long River and screwed his way to the other side of the ocean. Part of the folklore is that the white gleam on the water when the sun strikes it is ah… leftover from his… never mind." The dragonid shuddered, "Anyway, there were some among the demihumans and there were others much farther away than we ever knew, every hundred to one hundred and fifty years before the Six Great Gods, but that's only an estimate. The ones a lot farther away, who can say?"
"I see… that is interesting." Renner thought that over, her mind racing like mad, ' He did come out of nowhere, perhaps the Allfather is one such occurrence?'
Reaching the mountains took less time than even Keno anticipated, with Lupu's sense of smell proving even more effective than the twins' tracking or Keno's hearing. Night after night the little party encamped, and again and again the vampire princess was left alone with the heroic knight. ' Every single time I want to tell him, I hesitate!' Keno clutched the sides of her head in her hands and shook it back and forth in denial. ' Nerve wracked idiot! You're not some helpless girl out of a fairy tale! You're Evileye! Woman of legend! A hero among heroes! You're acting like some love struck puppy!'
That was the most frustrating part about it. Shadows danced all around her as the fire reached for the distant stars, the trees were behind them now, it was the open plains before the base of the mountain, in the morning she knew they would reach the Dwarf Kingdom, where they planned to stay for two days of sightseeing and relaxing before moving on, but for now, they had the stars as their blankets and the soft grass for their beds. The swishing noise of wind over grass provided a comforting steady noise to sleep by, all was perfect… ' Perfect to just tell him… just tell him and be done with it!'
But it wasn't that simple, and she knew it. While rumors reached her that the Allfather was slowly introducing undead labor to reduce the burden on the living who did the most dangerous work such as mining, or the most back breaking work like farming, it was still only rumors. And while those same rumors said that vampires could live openly as long as they abided by a social contract. ' What would I have to sign on to for that… and would I, could I even?' Keno wondered about that, ' I've lived behind this mask for so long, nobody has seen my actual face for over two hundred years.'
And that ache was a familiar one, hiding her history, her name, everything she was from those she loved best, ' Now here I am, maybe this would be easier if I had never been a villain. Maybe it would be easier if my teammates knew the truth, then at least I'd have some practice coming out from behind the mask…' Vampires could not shed tears of salty water, if they wept at all, their tears were red, a few drops of blood to streak their cheeks… and in hundreds of years of life, Keno recalled doing so only once.
Now, every time she was near that magnificent hero and felt herself on the verge of confession, she felt the urge to weep all over again. ' I want him! I love him!' The thought came to her each time she lay down beside her friends and pretended to sleep.
She watched his chest rise and fall when he took off his armor, revealing that magnificent physique and his rugged face which was mooned over by many a young besotted dreamy eyed girl once they saw it.
He seemed to sleep so peacefully, and this occasion was no different, he grunted and groaned like any normal man at the end of a long day's travel and stretched out in his bedroll with his armor close by, Keno as was her custom, took first watch, and though her ears sought out danger, her eyes were only on Lord Momon.
Lupu was sleeping next to Gagaran, and in the strangest way possible. For whatever reason, Lupu's favorite sleep position was curled up and surrounded by people. ' Such a strange woman…' Evileye thought and turned an eye in that direction, Gagaran's snoring should have driven the red haired beauty mad, but if anything, Lupu seemed to enjoy the noise almost as much as she enjoyed taunting the barbarian-like mountain of a woman.
Lupu's brutal tendencies weren't lost on Keno, who could smell the blood on the woman from a bowshot away or more, and it was not lost on her that no amount of violence ever seemed to trouble the cleric. ' A dark soul beneath a beautiful face.' Evileye's sense of justice as a defender of humanity was nowhere near that of Lakyus, but even so, such casual bloodshed from a cleric was unusual. Unusual enough that she kept one eye on Momon's partner at every turn.
' If she's with him… and of course they do work marvelously together…' Keno's troubled mind turned it all around in her head and it never failed to bring confusion, and always at the center of her thoughts was her one fixation.
' Lord Momon…' She thought again, and inched her way along the flat stone on which she sat, drawing closer to where he lay. He was always a little bit apart from the others, not much, but it felt like the distance between a performer and his audience, just enough that each could observe and share space with the other, without getting too close. ' What created that distance, has he been hurt before…? Is he just afraid of injuring those who are so much weaker than he?' That too was a possibility, the strongest of the strong sometimes had to struggle to keep from injuring ordinary folk, and that just made him all the more noble.
She leaned over to look at his sleeping face from another angle, the squared jaw and the faint beginnings of a dark beard that usually began when men ventured out into the field too long and shaved infrequently, the heavy lids that fluttered a little with his dreams, ' I could disappear inside those arms…' She thought to herself.
"Whatcha thinkin about?" Lupu said and stuck her head beside Evileye's ear to whisper in a dusky, bedroom voice.
It was only battle discipline that kept the vampire from screaming in shock and leaping into a combat posture to face the smug, radiant faced cleric.
Volume 7 C26
Zesshi's departure with Brain that night turned out to be more pleasant than she expected. He paid for a sack full of hardtack, dried meat, and other minor travel supplies, and they were on the road an hour after sunset.
"So have you really traveled as much as you say you have?" Zesshi asked when they were well out of sight of the town. The bright stars overhead were beautiful in their own way, their constant twinkling down from above in defiance of the darkness below was almost enchanting.
"Yes, I really have." Brain answered with a crooked little smile on his face, "Does it seem so strange to you?"
"Yes." Layali and Zesshi answered at the same time, and at that Brain could only shrug.
"When you've got nothing but a dream you can carry at your side, there's nothing to hold you back." Brain said with a spring in his step. "All I want is to be at the peak, and if I can't be there, I want to look at it."
"And how does…" Zesshi glanced down at the little half elf, "she, fit into that? Do you usually just pick up random runaway children?"
Layali looked up at Brain's back, he didn't look over his shoulder that time, instead he answered as if she weren't there, "I'm just dropping her off somewhere, she can travel with me to Arwintar, I'll kill Cerebrate, and then take her somewhere safe, and that'll be that."
Layali was quiet when he said that.
"Somewhere like where?" Zesshi asked and fell into step beside him.
"Maybe the Kingdom of Nazarick, or the Kingdom of Carne. They're both peaceful places, there's got to be some place that would take in a kid too stubborn to die." Brain said it with a firm sense of admiration in his voice. "We'll stop for a day or two and check out a few places on the way." Brain added, "Anyway, other than not wanting to get lost, since you're with us anyway, what are you hoping to see out here?"
"I… I don't know." Zesshi frowned, "I always assumed elves were the evil ones, I never thought about it the other way around… maybe if I see more of the world, I'll know what I'm looking for. Maybe I'll even find it at the tournament." She guessed and gave a shrug.
"So what were you even supposed to do there? When you win, I mean? You don't strike me as the sort to play Queen." Brain asked, the road crunched underfoot where their feet met hard packed earth, and for several seconds that was the only noise around them.
Zesshi shrugged, "Hand over the Baharuth Empire to the Slane Theocracy, I suppose. They'd put a council in charge, maybe a puppet ruler, I talked about that with Raymond sometimes. They're worried about the growing influence of the Kingdom of Nazarick with its 'pro nonhuman' stance. I guess they figure having that empire at their disposal is the best way to counter the influence of this 'Ainzolgon…' or whatever his name is."
"Isn't that like… a secret or something?" Brain cocked his head at her as she spilled out the secret as if it were a discussion about the weather.
"Do I look like I pay attention to that sort of nonsense?" Zesshi asked with yet another indifferent shrug.
"I guess not." Brain matched her 'shrug for shrug'.
The chatter was amiable to the point of nonsense until the sun began to rise and they reached a bend in the long river. "We're near Ikari city, the farthest northern city of the Slane Theocracy." Brain explained and pointed across the river, a stone bridge wide enough for six men to pass abreast lay minutes walk away. "If it were just me, I'd stop in the city, but since you and Layali are here, I recommend we bypass it."
"If you think it's best, you're the guide, but if we have time, I'd really like to see it." Zesshi said. The city wasn't visible from where they stood, but she looked where he pointed anyway. "We can just hide my and Layali's ears to be safe, and I promise I won't cause trouble, I just want to see."
Brain scratched his head and looked behind him to where Layali stood, the small half elf was shivering as if she were cold, "You're not- not going to get rid of me, are you… Brain? If we go there, I mean… not going to… not going to sell me, are you? I'm carrying your bag, just like you said…" She held up the little sack of food that he'd given her to carry as her 'job' after leaving the inn, it swayed a little as if pushed by the breeze.
The blue haired swordsman crouched down and looked at her little trembling face. With both her eyes intact, she was a pretty young thing, and it was hard not to be moved to pity. "No… no I'm not." He answered her and put a hand on her head, "You're a good porter, and I told you, you can stay with me till Cerebrate is dead, that was the deal, and Brain Unglaus always keeps his deals." He tussled her hair and she settled down, expelling a sigh at his reassurance.
He pulled the hood up over her head, "We'll make camp here for now, then resume this evening," he looked back over toward the older half elf, "Zesshi, time to earn your keep, let me show you how to make camp, and Layali, why don't you get the bedrolls laid out, then I'll catch some fish for us. After that, maybe you can show me something else I've never seen before. That arena match looks a lot less certain now, and I'd rather not die if I can avoid it."
Zesshi snorted, "I'll show you what I know… but we're both fighting in it, so you'll face me again. Aren't you worried I might kill you then?"
Brain paused mid step away and turned to look at the half elf, he held a hand up to his mouth and yawned, "Are you really going to fight for the Theocracy still?"
That gave Zesshi pause.
And while she paused, Brain went on, "I might die, but then, you might be the only one there who can beat me, and after what you're going to see in Ikari city, I don't think you'll feel like fighting for the Theocracy. But even if you do… if you show me the peak, I'll surrender. I don't think you'll kill me without a reason, and I'll wager the peak on that."
' What in the world is he expecting me to see there…?' Was the only thing Zesshi could wonder while he and Layali began to direct her on how to make a campsite.
Queen Draudillon stood shivering in line. Arriving at the encampment of their captors, any doubts about who was behind the attack on her party were wiped away by the first handmaiden's scream when she was taken within the tent.
She stood in the same long line as the others, their chains bound them together so that none could run without the others, and elven bows, spears, and swords promised to make that impossible.
A woman's chains were undone, and then a pair of towering behemoths of elven males each grabbed her at the biceps, she kicked, her scream pierced the air, "No! No! Don't! Take your hands off me! Please!" The maid shrieked as she was bodily carried toward the golden tent and then thrown through the flap. The elves who hauled her along looked vaguely disgusted, but a sense of relief was about them at the same time. They moved like golems, hollow and soulless, mechanically moving but not really understanding the meaning of what they did.
' There's no way they don't know…' The Queen told herself as she took another step forward.
Inside the tent, the steady slapping of flesh against flesh was audible between the woman's long screams. "No! Take your hands… ple- no- augh… it hurts… it hurts!" The woman screamed within, none of the ones before her emerged, and none of the ones to go in made any audible sound that the Queen could hear.
' Are they even alive?' She wondered, this time she was close enough to hear the elf king's vicious and brutish grunt of satisfaction, and the woman within, one of Draudillon's many attendants, was as silent as the grave, just like the others.
There were eight more in front of her, and the elves who guarded the tent entrance seemed to know what the silence within meant… they approached and grabbed the next woman in line, and the shrieking futile pleas began again…
A nightmarish assembly line which produced weeping, silence, and shame continued until at last Draudillon found herself the only one remaining. Her body was sweating enough to turn the fresh sea salty, ' No… me too…' A part of her was ashamed of her selfish thought after having borne even distant witness to the suffering of her surviving people and the deaths of her small band of escorting warriors, and yet at that moment the overwhelming thought was a fear for herself, shame or no shame.
The pair of elves stood at her shoulders and traded a glance at one another, "A child?" One said to the other.
"He said 'all' and it's this one or my daughter, sorry… little girl, this isn't a choice, this is a lack of options." The behemoth muttered, and prompted by his words, the other elf began to work the manacles as well, the metal clinked and fell away, and Draudillon immediately attempted to run.
Her muscles tensed, her feet sprang forward, and she shrieked, her arms outstretched, her face red, free of any chains or impediments for the first moment since her capture, she made a break for it. ' I can't go in there! I can't go in there!' She wailed in her head, but before she made it even two steps she felt the heavy body of an elf on top of her, she fell with a thud to the ground, the wind knocked out of her and his great weight on top of her small body, she began coughing and heaving, choked half sobs coming out of her mouth, the tight muscles of the powerful elf clung around her body like ropes of flesh.
"Just stop struggling! It'll be easier!" He grunted and picked her bodily up, she was not walked like the others, but carried, her feet kicked at his iron like abdominal muscles, she sank her teeth into his arm, and though he grunted when her teeth left their mark on his flesh, he refused to release her. She scratched and clawed and bucked against him, arching her back, trying to push herself free.
"You're going to have to kill me!" She howled, and then he proved her words a lie when he simply tossed her in through the tent flap.
The fabric caressed her skin like a lover before she flew past and landed with another thud on the ground just inside the tent. She tumbled over and over, and could feel the promise of future bruises where she hit until she came to a stop and found herself staring up at an elf almost twice the size of any of the others.
A mountain of lightly tanned flesh and blonde hair that tumbled down his back, supreme arrogance on his face in the form of a sneer that she doubted ever left him.
The whole tent stank of sex, and now within, she could hear faint moans from those who entered it before her.
They lay curled up on their sides, tattered remnants of once good clothing scattered about the royal's private space, and those whom he had brought to him now wore only tears and flesh. Bruises were obvious where he'd beaten the more recalcitrant into submission, and they either looked at nothing with now vacant, hollow eyes, or they looked at their Queen with pity.
None had the strength to properly move. The King of the Elves reached down and grabbed Draudillon's hair at the base of her skull and picked her up so that she was hung by her hair several feet off the ground. She howled and kicked and swung, struggling to free herself. "Let me go! Let me go!" The Queen shrieked, but the elf king, naked though he was, showed no sign of desire that was obvious in naked men, nor did he seem to care or even notice the pain in the Queen's eyes, nor did he seem to hear her words.
"A child? I can't breed you !" He snapped and dropped her at his feet, she fell in a heap and clutched at her skull. "Useless… useless servants…" He cursed and began to mutter something in a quiet fury. "I might as well dispose of you…" He said and balled up a fist.
' By the gods, this is… this is it…' The Queen thought and looked up with horror as he struck a monk's combat stance with one foot back.
"Wait!" A voice cried out.
The elf king, not used to being interrupted, stopped his swing and looked over at one of his new playthings. "You interrupt… I should kill you for that…" He spat, literally, and the spittle struck the woman's cheek and began to run down her skin over the red mark where he'd slapped her at the start of his use of her.
"She's the daughter of Queen Draudillon, on her way to join her mother at the tournament, you can trade her for time with the Draconic Queen! The Draconic Queen is the granddaughter of a Dragon Lord… she might give you what you want!" The servant cried out, her wide green eyes darted between the white haired Queen in disguise and the towering naked King of the elves, and it worked enough to give their captor pause.
' Someone like that… forget 'time', it will give me the chance to capture someone powerful… someone who might give me a useful set of brats…' He thought, and lowered his fist.
"I don't care to keep useless whelps around…" He muttered, it wasn't 'quite' an argument, but it was something of an objection.
"Hostages aren't useless, O King of elves… and… and she can help look after your… everybody… she can work…" The servant objected, and the King lowered his fist the rest of the way, his combat stance ended a moment later.
"I suppose…" He leveled a finger at Draudillon, "Go, fetch some water, and help my new toys survive, it's a long trip the rest of the way, don't make me speak to you again, understood?" The Elf King growled down at her, and Draudillon bowed her head and nodded, then slowly rose to her feet, and scurried for the tent flap as fast as her legs could carry her.
' If we survive this… that woman, she will be given the highest honors I can give to any hero in my Kingdom…' The Queen thought, and prayed to the gods that she would not hear the sound of flesh slapping flesh again as she was made to obey.
And again her prayers went unanswered.
Volume 7 C27
Ainz found himself enjoying the next few days in the thriving Kingdom of Carne. Though he could see that Albedo's eyebrow twitched at being surrounded by so many of what she counted, 'lessers', that was mitigated by her chance to be in Ainz' company for hour after hour.
' I wonder if she's even listening to the guide?' Ainz asked himself, and tightened his hold just a little, their arms were linked as they walked, the Wolf Queen and her King themselves acting as guides for the pair, with the former adventuring team, the Swords of Darkness, acting as their bodyguards and walking on either side and at the back of the visiting royal couple.
"… Thanks to Your Majesty's aid we've expanded our farmland a dozen times over, and thanks to your provisioning we're able to sustain our population while our harvests grow to compensate. And of course our debt for the weapons and armor that were provided to us will continue to be paid on time. I realize our wooden structures are not exactly grand…" Enri waved a hand over toward the crudely made wooden structures, and her husband quickly chimed in.
"… But these are only temporary, place holders really. As we import stone from the dwarves, we'll put more permanent structures in place, we've budgeted for the next five years, and my projects on alchemical production and my personal experiments are finally bearing fruit. I tested my purple potion on some wounded soldiers and it worked perfectly. Your majesty will be getting those shipments soon…"
This was an area where Albedo did have some work related interest, and she perked up at that, "So you have actually improved on your magical processes?"
"Yes, Lady Albedo, we've made great strides, but they come in leaps lately, it turns out some of the elves had their own techniques for refining some plants, and by combining their blending methods with ours we are yielding better results than I ever dreamed by ours alone. My… my grandmother would have loved to see this…" He looked away wistfully for a moment, then perked up and added, "I doubt we'll be producing red potions any time soon, but we are making progress, and our wild and growing city will be something even the greatest Kingdom will be proud of."
"Are you sending anyone to the tournament?" Ainz asked, he spoke a little louder than he normally cared to, but the growing and expanding city was filled with a cacophony of noises from hammers, saws, and other tools. Goblins seemed to make up most of the labor force, but a handful of his loaned skeletons could be seen doing some of the work as well, hauling heavy loads back and forth. In addition, some lamias used their natural climbing ability to ferry loads up the taller structures to enable the construction to progress, with scaffolds being more like ladders that stronger races could use to move materials without effort. A number of ogres redoubled those efforts, and as such it was obvious that the boomtown of Carne would be rapidly expanding for some time to come.
"The Swords of Darkness want to go to provide an exhibition and show off your gifts, so they will be going, but in addition, my Goblin Champion will be going as a competitor." Enri explained, she looked over her shoulder and gave Ainz a little smile, "I've warned him to be careful, but it seems men of all races simply can't resist a chance to show off their manliness, even if it means taking a drubbing with a stick." She gave Albedo a knowing look, and at that the succubus could only chuckle and cling a little closer to her lord.
"They are… irrepressible, and that is part of why we love them." The matronly voice of the pregnant succubus was rather more gentle than her usually icy tone, when it came to subtle praise of her Lord, it seemed she was far more indulgent towards those she might not otherwise have looked twice at except to crush.
Days of such tours, dinners, and toasts within the rising palace and within the rapidly expanding heart of the Kingdom of Carne were halted only by the arrival of the three carriages in the courtyard.
The blue and white of the Roble Holy Kingdom, the blackwood of the Kingdom of Demalbion, and the gold and red of Re-Estize slowed to a halt at the newly built palace gates in perfect sync with one another, the bodyguards, human, elven and orcish alike, and their drivers, came to an equally slow halt and never parted from their positions except in the synchronized performance of their duties.
The first driver descended from the carriages as the royals and nobles of the Kingdom of Carne and the Kingdom of Nazarick came out to welcome them, and an honor guard of mixed races from elves and goblins to humans and lamias lined the way toward the palace. A new carpet rolled out, pushed by two children no more than eight and clad in fine silk clothing, their little hands batted and pushed at the carpet until it came to a halt in front of the first carriage.
The Holy Queen was the first to emerge, her dainty step falling on the thick red just as the two children stood and moved aside so that they were stiff and at the ready with arms at their sides at the right and left of the carpet they just rolled out.
Being the hosts, the Wolf King and Wolf Queen took the lead, with Ainz and Albedo following at their heels, the Allfather and his mate towered over the hosting monarchs, and so kept steps short to avoid any mishaps.
As the Queen stood at the far end and waited, her driver returned to the top of the carriage and drew his forward to allow the next one to move into place.
The orcish driver wore polished armor that glinted in the sunlight rather than simple dress clothes, a reflection of the martial heritage from which he came, though he moved with the same certainty as any servant of royalty. His thick green fingers clasped the handle of the carriage door and when it opened, the Queen of Frost emerged and descended into the light of day. Her tail lashed a bit at her back, and she was clad in green armor over which was painted a dragon whose claws clutched a series of arrows. At her back a half tabard hung from about her neck, too narrow to be called a cape, it still fluttered a little in the afternoon breeze. Her talons clicked as she placed her hand over her heart and inclined her head with courtesy toward her approaching hosts.
Her carriage too, moved forward, and then the Queen of Re-Estize emerged, clad in a broad, crystalline-like gown that might as well have been made of snow for the purity of its whiteness, it caught the light and glinted even more than the pale skin of the Queen of Frost, and the Golden Queen gave a deep curtsey in turn.
When the royal couple from the Kingdom of Carne came close, the Wolf King spoke, "Normally we'd be doing some introductions for ourselves but, I understand that you have a far more important introduction to make, Queen Bessarez, so why don't we do that first?" Nfirea said, and as if he'd rehearsed it, he stood aside to allow the Allfather of Nazarick and his wife to step forward.
Calca felt her heart pound in her breast, ' Please… please… Please don't let this go wrong…' Jealousy over lovers was not unheard of, nor was betrayal of a wife in favor of a lover, nor betrayal of a lover in favor of a wife… and it was always possible he would reject their son. ' He might deny fatherhood, he might have been pressured by the mate he loves…' The long buried fears of the monarch remained buried, coming out only in the faintest tremble as the now, white haired beauty stepped forward.
' His beloved, she is radiant… like someone carved by the gods to the vision of perfection…' Calca thought of Albedo, and though her own confidence in her beauty was never lacking, it was at this moment, challenged by the pregnant winged woman at the side of the Allfather.
"Husband." Calca said, raising her eyes to meet his rugged features, clad as he was in magnificent black and red robes befitting a monarch, "When you were last in my capital, we were husband and wife every night, many times, and for many hours, and when you left to return home after saving my Kingdom, you left another blessing behind." She shook her child in her arms just a little, rocking him back and forth, she crouched down and laid her swaddled infant at the feet of the Allfather of Nazarick, then straightened up and hid her fear behind a mask of dignity.
"I name you as the father of Aurelion. I was with no man before you, I was with no man after you, as my companion, Kelart Custodio, and your own royal guards, can attest. This is your son. This is our son. I swear on my life, he is the trueborn son of Ainz Ooal Gown and Calca Bessarez, the true heir to the Throne of the Roble Holy Kingdom, and a Prince of both my home and the Kingdom of Nazarick." Queen Calca said while putting a hand over her breast, she made a little half bow, then straightened again to wait for what he might do.
Volume 7 C28
The Allfather was briefly stunned to silence when the Roble Holy Queen, his Queen, his first, lay the infant at his feet. A mop of dark hair on his head, the newborn giggled a bit, its little meaty arms and legs flailed aimlessly, kicking the blue and white swaddling cloth away from his body. The little thing smiled up at him, and its arms stretched out as if aching to be picked up. 'Yes, of course… the custom… if I don't accept him…' The grim and brutal legacy of acceptance, at Ainz' best guess, was a holdover from before what passed for the modern era, when a fatherless child was almost certainly as good as dead. 'Still, leaving them to die? Were things so desperate?' He asked himself that question, not for the first time, and grimly acknowledged that yes, they must have been. Now, six centuries later, his son was laid at his feet to accept or reject, and the mother's eyes darted around pleadingly with a pounding heart between himself and Albedo.
Ainz felt every bit of the pressure on him then, more so than before any fight, sweat sprang to his human flesh and once again he missed his undead body. But doing his best to maintain his dignity, he pushed back the sleeves of his robe, knelt, and scooped up the child in his hands. "My son, Aurelion Bessarez Ooal Gown, the child and Prince of two Kingdoms."
Even though Ainz could not hear the command mantra, but as he raised his son aloft, with tiny kicking legs and a little drool dribbling out the sides of his pinkish baby lips, he could still feel it. And moreover, he saw the effects as the nobles of each Kingdom knelt, and heard the effects as the armored knights struck the stone with their armored knees. Every head bowed and every knee bent, and then before Ainz could even consider calling a halt to it, or telling Demiurge to cease, it was over. 'Demiurge… I should be cross with you for that but, but I just can't be.' Ainz thought, and watched as the assembly slowly rose to their feet, including the baffled visiting Queens. 'Queen Baraja looks cute when befuddled, it's hard to believe she's regarded as so fearsome looking.' He thought in an almost fatherly way, and then he touched his son's face, caressing it with the back of two fingers. The boy turned in that direction, revealing an intact rooting reflex. 'This is more terrifying than the time that raid happened against our guild and I thought we might lose Nazarick…'
"His place is secure." Ainz said, making sure to lock eyes with the Holy Queen, "I swear it on my name. Aurelion is my son, and he will be the eldest brother to all my future children, beginning with this one." Ainz promised, and laying Aurelion back in Calca's waiting arms, he placed a free hand on the belly of the Allmother of Nazarick where his second born grew and waited to enter the world stage.
Calca closed her eyes, brought the infant up to her face, and nuzzled against him, stopping only long enough to mouth a 'thank you' in return.
With the tension gone and confusion fading as each man and woman found their own private excuse for their impulsive act of deference to the young Prince, Ainz the Allfather chose to shift to another subject as fast as he could. "I was expecting the Draconic Queen to arrive before you, did you rush to beat her?" He cracked a little smile at the trio, and they traded glances at one another before the Frost Queen chose to speak up.
"Allfather, I traveled all the way here with my Royal sister, your wife and son. We didn't hurry at all so as to better enjoy the trip. When we arrived in Re-Estize at the country estate of Queen Renner, we had to wait almost a day for her arrival. When we left, we took our time in coming here to ensure the Wolf King and Queen, and your esteemed self, had time to relax and prepare… I'm not clear on the true distance between this place and the Draconic Kingdom capital, but even if she left late, she should have arrived some time ago, even accounting for the Theocracy's pettiness in mandating a circuitous route."
"I planned this route myself, Allfather." Queen Renner said with a little frown forming on her face and an unthought glance in the direction of the far off border that hid her annoyance with her Draconic Kingdom counterpart. "It was my intent that she arrive before us, and to make these calculations I recreated the protocols of the Draconic Kingdom's royal routine down to the finest knowable detail." Renner's white gloved fingers curled into small fists. "Even if they had a delay of some sort, My Lord, everything they use is modular, intended for quick repair and movement, right down to their carriage wheels, it is unthinkable that the Draconic Queen would arrive late ."
Renner's body tensed as she felt the outrage of a plan of hers going awry, and even worse for being in the presence of those whom her place on the throne depended upon. ' This is an outrage! An outrage!' She contained the urge to breathe deeply, scream and howl, she suppressed the revealing of her twisted face behind the mask of beautiful innocence, and covered it all by placing her hand on her cheek and tilting her head in that adorable innocent way that made large brutes instantly protective over her.
"I hope nothing bad has happened to cause their delay." Renner finally said as if it were an impossibility. ' Something had to have happened.' She said in her own private mind, but it caught the eye of the sparkling golden eyes of the Allmother. An unspoken understanding existed between the two, each obsessed with their own lover in such a way that all things had to be perfect, wordless discussion could pass in an instant in a single look.
' You made no mistakes? You are sure?' Albedo said with a look.
Renner dropped her hand away from her face. ' Never. This is too important… all five Queens should have been present, I calculated every route…' Renner swore without a word, and to her relief, the succubus didn't seem to doubt her.
' Then something unforeseeable must have happened.' Albedo concluded, and when Renner turned her face to her companions instead, it was as good as acceptance of the demoness' conclusion.
Before Renner could speak, Neia's wings popped open with a snap. "I can fly faster than a carriage, why don't I fly south and have a look?" Even not being a genius on par with Renner or Albedo, the dragonid Queen of Frost could feel tension as if before a battle as surely as she could feel the air brushing her cheek.
Still, the impropriety of a Queen conducting a personal search made some of the more established nobles give her doubletakes as if she were mad. But the Wolf Queen was peasant born and quick to agree. "Excellent idea, we can send out riders behind you in case support is needed." Enri said and glanced at her husband, he quickly raised a hand beside his head and curled his fingers toward his palm several times to call for a servant.
An armored man clanked over at a light jog, halberd tight in his grip as he approached the assembled royals. "Send out two companies of wolf riders to the border." Nfirea said, and the guard quickly bowed his head.
"At once, sire." He said, and made his retreat.
Neia however, didn't wait. "Then it's settled." She said and with one brief moment of raw tension, she jumped toward the sky, her wings caught the air as faces reflexively turned to follow her motion, and seconds later she was soaring out of view.
Volume 7 C29
Queen Draudillon knelt beside the woman on the grass within the Elf King's tent, only two days, that's all it took. The woman who lay there was catatonic, her eyes stared upward at nothing, her mouth open, her breathing labored. Her ribs were bruised, her thighs had large hand prints on them, and blood trickled down them. The Queen did her best however, soaking the cloth in the bucket, she began to gently pat the woman down. "It'll be okay." The Queen whispered the lie to her maid.
This one, like the others, had kept utterly quiet about Draudillon's true identity, though whether they did so out of loyalty or simply not believing it would matter, she no longer knew. The water splashed into the other empty bucket when the small form of the disguised Queen wrang it out in her hands. The water thudded and thumped within, and in a way, Draudillon felt a spike of envy for the woman. ' She's utterly unaware of what's happening anymore…'
Not so for the handmaiden that lay grunting and crying under the King not far away. Draudillon did not look over her shoulder to see how the maid was doing, she knew already. The pleading stopped at least, as did the resistance. It meant marginally less pain if they didn't fight back. The Queen reached down when she saw the catatonic maid begin to twitch as the cries of her comrade went a little higher and the sound of slapping flesh grew louder with it as the monster of a monarch reached closer to the end.
"I'm so sorry, this is… this is all I can do for you." The Queen whispered and shut her own eyes, but then set the cloth down and covered the broken woman's ears, it kept the sound out well enough that the twitching seemed to stop.
"Gwahhhhh…" The Elf King grunted, stood, and then using his foot, he shoved the human away so that she rolled like tumbleweed toward the fabric wall of his tent. Slender arms and legs flailed about as if they were part of a mere corpse, until the woman stopped and rolled back onto her belly again.
"Clean that one up too, Seedling." The Elf King grunted out to Draudillon, who found the will to glare at him with hate filled eyes that he chose to ignore, or didn't even bother to notice.
But the name wasn't lost on Draudillon, she got up and went to the used up husk of a woman and crouched down at the shoulder, despite having a child's body at the present, Draudillon retained her greater than average strength. So she put the woman's arm over her shoulder and one arm under the woman's chest, and hefted her up, then dragged her around, drooling into the grass, until she could lay the woman beside the one the Queen had just been tending to.
' Damn him… damn me… damn the elves… damn whomever spawned this monster… at least the beastmen only eat us…' The Queen cursed in her heart as she took up the wet cloth and began to clean the woman off with the herb filled water. The foul odor of sex and blood was somewhat diminished by the pungeant concoction, a 'gift' of an elf in the King's party.
' Use this, the healers will run out of mana, and if you don't want them to die while waiting for the healers to recover, you will need it…' The memory of his words were not lost on her, and whether he said them and acted out of pity, or whether he was just hoping to keep the King away from other elves, Draudillon was no longer sure.
She no longer wrinkled her nose at any smell, no matter how foul, she simply went about her routine, kneeling between the two maids and wiping down their wounds with the foul water tonic in the hopes of keeping them alive. ' I can't protect you… I'm useless, I'm a useless Queen… I've failed my every duty…' She hung her head and wiped away the foul leaking fluids, struggling to suppress her own tears of rage and the shaking in her hands that would only make her more useless if she gave into it.
"My Lord, we're ready to go." An elven warrior said, rushing into the tent, "We will cross into the Kingdom of Carne soon, and taking the roundabout route if we hurry, we will reach Arwintar in around one month."
Draudillon's heart leapt into her throat, ' Arwintar… the Kingdom of Carne? I was supposed to meet the others there, if I can somehow get word to the others…?" The Draconic Queen allowed the warmth and light of hope to fill her breast, then it burst like a soap bubble against a spearpoint. ' No, none of them would bother. The Allfather has never met me, he wouldn't know my face unless he saw a coin from my country, and even if he did, why should I expect he'll do anything? Why would any of them? There is no hope… the gods are dead, and there's no chance now…' The Draconic Queen thought, and quietly listened while she resumed her almost hopeless attempt at caring for her broken servants.
"Useless trash… Why so long?" The Elf King asked, and the guard, despite being a behemoth in his own right, could only hang his head before his king.
"Your Majesty's orders were that we stop daily so you can… ah, take liberties, with the captured human women, and your majesty refuses to use any of his power to drive us faster…" The guard replied, he cast his eyes pityingly toward Draudillon, but before he could utter a single word, the Elf King snarled and 'stepped'.
Or that was how the Queen thought of it, one moment he was moving one foot forward, the next he was in front of the warrior, and the warrior's head exploded in a spray of blood, brain, and skull fragments which spattered over the Elf King's naked body, parts of the tent walls, and over Draudillon and her charges both catatonic and unconscious alike.
She shook with a start and suppressed a scream when she felt and saw the spray of a life destroyed in a single blow, and the Elf King lowered his fist. "Useless trash, daring to tell me it's anyone's fault but his own, their own, weakness… "
The Elf King snarled, "You, Seedling," the golden haired brute snapped his bloody hand down toward Draudillon and pointing a finger out at her, "drag the meat outside, then tell the others to get this tent together, I'll use my power to make up for their incompetence this time."
The name sent a shiver down Draudillon's spine, ' I know what he intends for me when I 'grow', if he knew what I really was…' She nodded with mute submission and scurried to the corpse that fell with a thud, landing in a seated position with its back against the tent. She grabbed his wrists and began to drag him away, backing out to the light of day that at least one elf would never see again.
Volume 7 C30
"What do you think you'll see in Ikari?" Layali asked while Brain snored.
The white and black haired half elf chewed quietly on the smoked fish that her 'guide' made earlier.
Camp fare at least was not unfamiliar, ' Though doing all this myself sure as hell was… not bad though, kind of fun and it beat the boredom.' Zesshi thought until the little girl spoke to her. A few feet away, Brain lay sprawled out with his arms and legs open and sticking out from under his cloak. He scratched his stomach in his sleep, and then Zesshi chose to answer, "I don't know. I just don't. The truth? Maybe? But I think I'll find something different than what I've always been told. Everybody I've ever known has been keeping things from me, so… just whatever they've been keeping back?" Zesshi had braved vampires, tentacle monsters, cyclops and demons, but while she stared down every danger without worry or fear, looking at the little half elf's face was too much. ' That empty socket where her eye had been… the hopelessness on her face when she saw me…' It wasn't pleasant to think about even now.
"Hmpf." Layali retorted and crossed her legs. "Everything is terrible, our King sells our people as slaves, or the Theocracy takes us as battle captives and makes us slaves, or we're born from a slave's torment or desperation or… there's nothing good out there, Miss Zesshi… nothing. Brain says he'll take me somewhere safe. But that's just a grave."
Zesshi frowned, "I don't think he plans on-"
Layali gave a bitter chuckle, stifling Zesshi's words in her throat, "I don't think he does either, that's the twisted part. He was supposed to get horses for us, he didn't. That means whatever he did to get that healing potion, it wasn't enough, and he didn't buy that much food either… so he spent almost everything he had on him, just to buy me a healing potion. I don't think he'd do that if he wanted me dead."
"So why…?" Zesshi let her words trail off as the little half elf poked at the dying embers of their afternoon fire with the burnt end of a stick.
"When I met him I wanted to die. We… kind of had a deal. And he said he's going to kill Cerebrate, I want to live to see that. But when he drops me off somewhere? I won't last ten minutes when he's out of sight." Layali promised. "Got no family left, got no friends left. Got nowhere to go. No mother to go back to, at least not one who can look after me, and even if he's telling the truth about 'safe places' where we're passing through, what is there for me but more farm work?"
"So why tell me this?" Zesshi asked while the little blue eyed elf stared hatefully at the dying embers that one by one winked out, their glowing red reduced to dead black remnants or gray and cooling ashes.
"Because you don't care if I live or die. Because I want someone to remember for a while at least, even if they don't care. Because I can't tell him." She pointed her stick at the sleeping swordsman. "He's kinda rough, he doesn't say much, and when he does he sounds like he doesn't care about anything, but…" She gave a little half smile at the snoring blue haired man, "I don't wanna miss anyone, and I don't want more nightmares. There's no future for me awake, and only nightmares when I sleep… even when Cerebrate is dead, even when the master who sold me is dead… they'll still have me. How'm I s'posed to be free of all that, especially all by myself again?"
Zesshi listened to the small girl's rant, "Is it really… that bad, for others like you, I mean?"
"I've never been to a city, but I hear stories from the ones who end up on farms. The elves do the menial work, and the cities have the great farms, the latifundias, huge estates with thousands of slaves working fields for miles around. Or so they say. If those farms work like my home? You'll see a lot more like me and you ." Layali said and touched her half elven ears.
Even by Zesshi's standards, the subject was grim, and so she sought a distraction, and instead asked, "How did you survive? Brain said you must have been in that water for days."
Layali looked down and dropped the stick, "I dunno. I've just always been kinda tough? One time some of the master's children were throwing rocks at me when they were small, they let me dodge… but I wasn't very good, and I was tired. I got hit in the head a bunch, broke my nose, and some bones. I couldn't work for a long time, but I healed. When I got put out in the field eventually, I got hit a few times, I always healed. I just… heal . It just takes time. Like I said, I guess I'm just hardy ." She spat into the last of the embers, the hiss of steam came up as the last glowing embers faded to black, " Lucky me ." She said, and then looked over to where Brain slept.
"I'm going to sleep, okay?" Layali asked, and Zesshi nodded along, unable to think of anything to say at all. Though she watched as the half elf went to where Brain slept, and slipped under half of his cloak, closing her eyes to the lullaby of his steady snores.
Queen Draudillon wasn't sure what in the world the Elf King was talking about until after he was dressed. That process by itself was almost a degrading parody of attending to royalty. The Queen's own servants attended to her body by dressing and bathing her, but it was a quiet, dignified affair, almost like a dance or a religious ritual.
But the elven women who acted as the Elf King's body servants were clad in a mockery of clothing, merely golden cloth near the shade of their skin that hung down at the front and back, he kept them nearly bare, and such was the ease with which they moved, avoiding even a look up at him, that it was clear this was routine. They moved footstools into place on which they stood in order to drape his golden and green robes, and still had to rise to their tiptoes and stretch out their limbs to get clothing onto his shoulders. ' A true monster in every way…' Draudillon reflected.
Her own servants looked at her with either maternal affection if they were older, or adoration if they were younger. Their gazes were pure and certain. ' They trust… trusted me, now look at them…' Draudillon all but wept as she watched while other young elven women approached and took up the battered human captives with a surprising degree of familiar gentleness and carried them out of the tent.
The women lay in the arms of their bearers as if dead, only the light of life in their eyes still indicating that they were not gone in body even if they were gone in spirit.
The looks of the women who attended their King were fearful and anxious, they moved with nervous fingers that paradoxically drew the process out even as they tried to rush it. The reason behind the raid became ever more evident. ' Trying to spare their own women…' It was a very ' human' thing to do, to put the burden on someone else to spare one's own loved ones.
It turned her stomach to sympathize with them as she now did, and Draudillon's hand drifted over her stomach, she pressed her hand there, willing the sick feeling to go away.
When it was over, the Elf King pointed at her, "Seedling, get out and get into the cart with my things."
"My lord." Queen Draudillon bobbed at the knees and rushed out while the elves took down the tent. That much at least went quickly and Draudillon found that the cart she was to climb into was a little too high off the ground for her small body. A hand stretched out to her, it was that of an elven woman.
"Come on, climb up…" She said while Draudillon looked up with a little frown on her face. "Do you want him to see that you're not in when he comes out?" The elf asked, and Draudillon thrust her hand up to accept the offered help.
The elf woman pulled and Draudillon grabbed the edge with her other hand, put her knee up, and hauled herself into the back. It was a broad cart pulled by four slender looking horses. The cart was made up entirely of women, some were her fellow humans, they lay silent and unmoving, staring up at the endless sky thinking nobody knew what.
Those seated were elves, and they lined what was essential storage chests turned into benches.
A few of the women there were showing the first hints of pregnancy, and given the way various elven warriors looked at them, with absolute shame etched on their own faces, and resignation on those of the showing women, paternity was either in doubt, or undoubted for the wrong reason.
It only urged the disguised monarch on, she sat on the floor near the closest, and youngest of her servants and drew the woman's head into her lap. "I'm sorry…" She said down at the once sunny faced young woman, who made no response.
"Hold my hand, child." The nearest elf woman said, and held her hand out again.
The way she said it with such urgency, Draudillon accepted it, and it was then that she saw the lumbering elf king approach his horses.
She couldn't hear what he said, but he laid a hand on the rump of each horse in turn and muttered something, then the horses glowed like white gold in the sun, one by one, and only then did he depart and vanish inside his carriage with one quietly weeping companion letting the door creak closed behind her.
What he'd done became evident when the horses and carriages and wagons all lurched forward and began to race at breakneck speed, bouncing over the grass, their hair was snatched up by the wind and carried high into the air behind them, and what was a breeze became like a gale wind that prevented all conversation for hours before the horses finally began to slow down.
When they did, and it was no longer necessary to cling to anyone, the same elven woman said down to her, "Don't worry, child. You won't be of child bearing age for years, you're safe at least until then… and maybe the chance will come for you to escape."
The Queen looked down at the barely moving husk whose head still lay in her lap.
"What about them?" Queen Draudillon asked.
"What do you think? They'll have his children until they die… our King is obsessed with this… we don't know why. But he is… they'll get used to it. They'll survive, whether they want to or not, that's up to them. Some… some they don't. Just do your best for them, and try to survive as long as you can, child…"
It was unexpected to the Queen, to hear pity from people her Theocracy neighbors referred to as enemies of humanity, even the warriors who slew her people and carried her and her servants… ' I hate them, but I pity them… dragged down into the same shit… if I still believed in the gods, I'd be praying for a drink…'
She thought.
But she didn't.
Because she had no more beliefs than the emptiness that stared up at the sky in the eyes of the woman in her lap. ' How far have we come…?' She wondered when the glow of the horses finally faded away and the rattling of their wagons finally became a more gentle rumble.
Only one answer came to mind, ' Far enough that it's even less likely we'll be found by anyone who might even consider a rescue.'
Volume 7 C31
Ikari City, one of the largest and the northernmost city of the Slane Theocracy, it's high walls blocked Zesshi's view of the horizon, and even though she had no doubt that she could smash the stone with ease, it was still impressive. She tilted her head back to look up and saw disciplined soldiers marching over the walls, and after joining the main road, the foot, wagon, and carriage traffic increased exponentially.
People of all stripes of wealth went through the same gate. It wasn't as large as the one Zesshi knew from Kami Miyako, but it was still a towering, imposing thing meant to project the Theocracy's power on any potential northern invader. The thick gate had bands of metal running over it in multiple places, so many crisscrossed up and down the front and back of the door that Zesshi briefly wondered, ' Why not just make the whole door out of metal and be done with it?'
The idle question meant nothing to her and she set it aside when Brain leaned toward her, "Hood up, cover your ears."
Zesshi and Layali quickly did as he said, with the fading light of the day, weary travelers hadn't noticed, but unwilling to chance it, the trio entered with their true natures two-thirds concealed.
"You there." A guard said and pointed toward Brain and his companions, the weapon wasn't held stiff in hand, if anything the burly steel clad guard seemed quite relaxed, though Layali tensed and moved to stand behind Brain, he answered with easy calm.
"Yeah, me?" Brain said and put his hand on his chest.
"Yeah, random check, come over here." The guard said, and Brain glanced down at Zesshi and then reaching back, he put his hand on Layali's head, he pinched the fabric of her hood and pulled it forward a little, then approached.
Brain approached, and his companions followed, crossing the half a dozen steps to where the guard stood, he motioned to a wooden door, "Just go through there and answer a few questions, no big deal." The guard yawned and covered his mouth with one hand, then without really paying any mind to the trio, went back to watching the crowd.
"City security is important." Brain said when he felt the pair looking questioningly at him, and to set the example, he reached for the handle and opened the door without hesitation, walking through it with the calm and easy swagger of somebody totally in control.
The inside was like any other security checkpoint Brain had ever seen, and he glanced back at the pair who remained cautious about this unfamiliar circumstance, "Relax… my love, this happens all the time when I travel, it's the sword, they're a little cautious, with good reason, because keeping cities safe means knowing why people are armed." He said and flashed a good natured, boyish smile at Zesshi who took a step back at his sudden moniker for her, almost throwing her hood back to say 'something' until she saw him wink.
She relaxed, and he approached the small wooden counter. An old man with a beard that came down out of view below the counter at which he sat, had a book open in the middle, and on the pages Brain could see columns for 'name', 'purpose', and 'status'.
The old man's fingers had visible calluses at the tips and the reason why was immediately obvious when quick as any swordsman, the thin and bony fingers snapped up a quill and ink from below the counter and set it on the desk. "I swear," the old man grumbled, his leathery face shaking with both age and annoyance, "they always do this right before I go home for the night…"
"Young men teasing the old is a story older than you are, old man." Brain said with a chuckle, and the old man wagged the feather quill towards Brain in return and said…
"Yeah, but when I did it at their age it was funny ."
The old man might have been annoyed, but the youthful recollections of his own past seemed to set him at ease, "Alright. Anyway, name?"
"We're the Unglaus family. I'm Brain, this is my wife Sasha, and my daughter Layala." Brain answered, gesturing to them both, "They… don't get out much, they're a little shy, please forgive them."
The old man grunted, "And the reason you're here?"
"We're going to Arwintar for the tournament, I'm going to win and become the emperor and give my family the life they deserve." Brain said with the smug pride of a liar sure he wasn't going to be caught.
"Ohhh, former soldier, I'm guessin'?" The old man asked.
"Uh, yeah, yeah I used to be in the Theocracy army, I was a pretty good swordsman-" Brain began, and the old man laughed, cutting him off.
Flecks of spittle clung between the old lips as the old-timer's laugh went on, "You and every man with a sword that I've seen pass this way… you know how many folk are goin' up that way now? You got as much a chance of winnin' that thing as I do." The laughter and mirth faded away as the old man took down their information, his hand flying over the paper, the noise of quill scratching over ink stood out while the oldster went on. The remaining questions were brief and to the point, and when the old man was done, he waved his quill at Brain again and added…
"Want my advice, take your pension, go buy a nice farm and settle down somewhere, don't drag your family halfway across the damn world just to watch you die." His voice became kinder as he gave his advice, but Brain shook his head.
"I'm sorry, but I've got to try." Brain replied, and the old man's shoulders slumped.
"Can't say I didn't warn you, good luck." The old man said and set his quill and inkwell away beneath the counter, "Tell the guard outside I left, will you, don't want him tryin' to rope me in for another."
"Will do, old-timer." Brain said and headed for the exit.
When they made their way out of the gatehouse, left the guards behind, and were blended into the slowly dwindling crowd Zesshi asked point blank, "Wife? Daughter?"
Brain didn't look at her when he shrugged and replied, "What should I have said? I'm traveling with a runaway weapon and an escaped slave? It was just the easiest thing to do to get out of that situation."
His sarcasm was so thick that it made Zesshi briefly flinch more than any blow ever had. "Point taken." She answered, and at his right hand, Layali actually laughed.
"If you really want to see things here for a few days, I'll find some work. I have enough left to pay for a cheap inn for the night, and we have our own food, but I'd rather not spend our stay here in the streets. That is a lot different than camping for… reasons that won't come to me just now." Brain added, but neither Zesshi nor Layali were listening with more than half an ear.
For both, it was a new experience, and for both, very different reasons. ' All that time in Kami Miyako and it never occurred to me just how big a city really was… so many people…' She thought privately. It wasn't lost on her that people were going indoors and leaving places of business, meaning that it would be even more crowded tomorrow, and almost totally empty when night settled in completely. ' I only ever really left in the middle of the night or bundled away in a carriage with the curtains drawn. I had no idea what was out there…' In the past, Zesshi considered that just 'normal', but now?
' Another layer in their long deception, hiding me away so I wouldn't see the truth for myself.' Zesshi's thoughts were thick with betrayal as she recounted the line of people who worked with her who hid her away so she wouldn't see her own country. ' Did my mother really let them take me? Or did she have a choice? Was that a lie too?'
When she saw the first full blooded elf, a male, its ears cut to half their length and clad in a gray tunic, barefoot and walking the streets picking up discarded waste, then everything became open to question.
Volume 7 C32
' You never know what to expect tomorrow.' Neia thought as her wings carried her far out of sight of the other royals. ' Suddenly I'm glad of my aversion to dresses. A royal upskirt would have been a little undignified even for me.' She chuckled and relaxed her body, allowing her wings to do the work with the wind.
The world opened up far beneath her, going from oh so small, to ever so endless, and even mighty monarchs became motes of dust caught in the sun. ' What would it look like to see it from the vantage of the stars? Would the whole world be just like them?' She wondered and put the city farther and farther at her back.
' What a useless thought.' Neia said to herself and focused on the matter at hand. In her brief association with the Golden Queen Renner, Neia came to some very definitive conclusions. ' That one is dangerous, maybe not for war, but she's smarter than she lets on, and she's already shown she's plenty smart. If she really did work out a time for Queen Draudillon to arrive with us all, I have to believe she'd get it right.'
The more Neia thought about it, the more it concerned her in an abstract sort of way, her eyes narrowed and her tail lashed behind her in the chill winds of the sky. ' If she were just behind schedule I should have seen something by now…'
But there was nothing, not on the Kingdom of Carne side of the border at least. The Long River was the de facto border between Kingdoms, and when Neia saw the blue approaching, she began to rethink herself. ' A monarch crossing into a border nation uninvited is exceptionally bad manners, and the Theocracy is already on bad terms with Demalbion. Of course… there's a human monarch on the line… Do I cross the river? No demihuman that I know of has ever crossed into Theocracy territory without a war beginning…'
The river was growing larger and larger before her eyes, the shining white of the reflected sun giving way to its natural blue.
' Do I go over… screw it, yes. I do. Whatever happened, they might be in trouble, and I can just offer an apology if I get caught, they'd have to be damn fools to object to someone going out to help their neighboring head of state.' Neia reasoned, and batted her wings ever harder, propelling her faster and faster until she shot across the riverbanks to the other side and into the land of the Slane Theocracy.
Chills ran down her spine of the sort she hadn't felt since the day Remedios Custodio thrust the first sword into her guts. The icy feel of looking at someone who hated her to the very depths of her being. The memory of that tearing feeling of her flesh opening up, like torn burlap as the blade entered her belly and came out her back, and then the next, and the next in violation of the traditional form of execution. ' Walk off that if you can.' The whispered words she heard even over her own screams, the noise of her parent's cries as they struggled to rescue her, and the feel of a dragon's maw closing around her and being carried away, limp and nearly dead.
' May that bitch be suffering still.' Neia cursed, now, just as then, she felt that hate come down on her as if the land and sky below and above hated her presence.
The chill didn't vanish, but Neia had become accustomed to it and tried to think instead of what she knew of the area from what Renner and Calca had said. ' Ikari is to the west, that's probably that dot over there…' far ahead, she saw the ground become golden, ' Wheat fields, the Latifundias of the Theocracy.'
Neia tried to think like a monarch, ' What would a Queen do… she's not like me, she was born on the throne… so… shit.' Neia rubbed her forehead and scratched the horns, ' If I ever have an heir I'm going to have to make sure they're raised with the children of the other monarchs because… god dammit, what do I know about that?!' She cursed her lack of experience and switched tack when she couldn't come up with anything.
' Suppose she was a soldier… actually maybe that's better, she'd have an escort, and want to make it on time, so… going to Ikari wouldn't happen, she's not taking a tour of the Theocracy or even of Carne, she's on her way to Arwintar with a time to meet up with the others. Especially the one who lent her the soldiers she needs, that isn't the time for a power play… so a more direct route…' Neia considered and tilted so that she was soaring southeast, following smaller roads that offered a more direct route.
It took considerable effort, the sun's steady passing went on and on as Neia followed a persistent flight pattern, weaving back and forth in search of some island of evidence in the sea of green grass below.
It was a wheel that first caught Neia's attention. It lay on a small hill, onto its side, she began to circle the area, on the other side of the hill, a broken wagon lay toppled on its side, the source of the lone wheel. Beside the carriage lay a corpse, as Neia came closer, it was obviously human. She landed, several crows were pecking at the body, his eyes were gone, that was obvious, he lay on his back three arrow heads pierced through his chest, and broken arrow shafts lay scattered beside his corpse. He wore servant's clothing, or what was left of it. White and black, and was, or had been, very young when he died.
Neia crouched down, waving her hand and scattering the crows that had been enjoying the meal his body offered them. They didn't go far, they hopped around in the grass just out of reach, their beaks open and the caws that came at her sounded almost rude.
As if they were saying, ' You're interrupting our dinner!'
Neia ignored their 'rudeness', and touched her finger to the arrowheads. ' Almost like the arrows of the dark elves to the east of me but… not quite.' She thought. All three shots were lethal and all passed through the back and between the ribs to emerge out the other side, ' Spectacular aim.' The Frost Queen praised the skill of his killers, and then she walked back along the path, though she could have flown, it felt 'right' to follow the track as she had in her scouting days.
Her feet bent the grass as she followed the way the wagon had come, until she went around another low rise after a dip in the ground and found the point of origin.
The fire was long gone, but a lot was burned, wagons lay toppled over, a carriage of obviously royal make was hacked to pieces, the tent poles still stood in places, while the surviving fabric clearly survived only because the blood that stained it impeded any of the flames from spreading.
What had been pools of blood were gone, in its place was only damp earth and red stained grass. Birds of various types were obscuring the dead, and there were multitudes of those. The cawing became worse and the stench of death thick in the air, Neia's tail danced behind her, it was a familiar scent, almost comfortingly so despite the pity she felt for the unfortunates.
' Now I know why they were late…' Neia thought as she knelt by the body of a guard. An arrow pierced his throat. The arrowhead was taken, only the shaft remained.
She began to search in earnest. ' The Queen? Is she dead?' The carriage was burned, and not far away… Neia paced over to a larger cluster of crows and found a slew of toppled over corpses. "Execution." Neia mumbled, her soldiers, and the humans, had both killed others this way. Dead on their knees, the humans were toppled forward.
"The tents were up, so they were still encamped… so… where are the rest of them?" Neia asked herself out loud, as she went from point to point and corpse to corpse, finding only one woman among them, and that one had a broken shaft in her throat, with no evidence an arrowhead had been on the end of it. ' The Queen's party should have had a large number of female servants… surely they didn't abandon her? Oh… right…' Neia felt faintly green despite her hardy constitution.
"There's only one reason why bandits would do that… and it's probably why this one killed herself. I wonder if they know they took the Queen of the Draconic Kingdom?" Neia shook her head, answering her own question.
It wasn't until she found the corpse of an elf that things grew complicated. The eyes were gone, just as all the rest, he was a towering, hulking figure. His body was torn open in places by the birds, and flies were buzzing about his face and other open wounds, maggots already crawling about, but in spite of that, the cause of death was clear. He had a broken spear sticking out of his gut, an arrow lodged in his eye, his hand was cleanly severed and at least three sword wounds pierced his side, several other human bodies lay around him, all in full armor and with their heads smashed or limbs severed. ' He must have been a terrific warrior once…' Neia inclined her head with respect for the dead, and then with grim purpose, she drew a dagger from her belt and severed the dead elf's ear from his body. She then cut a strip of cloth from the tabard a guard once wore, making sure to get part of the insignia of the Draconic Kingdom, and after wrapping the ear up in the cloth she launched herself skyward again.
' They will not be pleased to hear this… I daresay even the Theocracy won't be happy to learn it.' Neia thought, and then set out for the capital of the Kingdom of Carne again as fast as she could fly.
Volume 7 C33
Evileye grasped her chest reflexively and rolled her eyes at herself behind her mask, ' Why am I still grabbing my chest when I'm startled, it's not like I can get a heart attack.' She reproached herself and relaxed, hunching over while the red haired beauty slid with the smoothness and silent grace of moonlight over water to put herself in front of the diminutive masked caster.
"I… a lot of things? I don't know, just… things ." Evileye answered and folded one hand into the other.
Lupu looked up at the sky with wide eyes and an exaggerated, open mouthed and empty headed look on her face, she put a finger on her cheek just at a dimple and replied, "Oh, things. Are you also thinking about… stuff ? And what about that other thing… or… maybe…?" She giggled and took on a lecherous look before pointing at the sleeping Momon, "His thing, little pervert girl?" She giggled again as Evileye sucked in her breath and shook her head so rapidly in her denial that Lupu briefly wondered if the short adventurer's head would go flying clean off of her shoulders.
"No! Nothing like that! And hush, you'll wake him!" Evileye hissed.
"Oh? You're not?" Lupu scratched her cheek with one finger and looked away, briefly curious it seemed, in how she cast her eyes from Evileye and back toward the sleeping Momon. "I guess I should tell him you're not really interested in him then… he did wonder why you looked at him… I suppose I could just tell him not to think about that at least. It'd be better for us to travel together without such ah… misunderstandings ."
' Why do I imagine her wagging a tail right now?' Evileye asked herself and shivered with dread, anger, and general frustration. "No! Don't tell him that !" She hissed at the fire haired cleric, "I-"
Lupu's nose came close to her all of a sudden, dreadfully close, looming over Evileye's personal space, and the radiant woman seemed a dreadful mix of erotic and predatory, her nose audible in the way it sniffed at the vampire adventurer, Evileye raised her hands to the cleric's shoulder's and gently pushed her back.
"Too close. Give me some space, okay?" She asked, and Lupu sat down at Evileye's feet and crossed her legs.
"I can smell it, you want him. I'm a mimidoshi, I can tell a lot more than you think, even behind your mask. I see you watching, and I tell him every time I catch you." Lupu said, her jesting manner gone, the face was hard as carved stone.
"You do?" Evileye eeped out in a tiny and mouselike voice.
"I do, he's my partner out here and I have to watch out for him, you never know who might be a problem." Lupu said, and Evileye relaxed just a little, such a close bond made the often bizarrely fearsome cleric infinitely more comprehensible.
"So… what?" Evileye finally asked.
"So you should tell your friends before you tell him." Lupu jerked her thumb toward the sleeping Momon.
"Tell my friends… what, they already know I'm in love with him…" Evileye stopped her words dead, but the silence didn't last long.
"No, tell them you're a vampire." Lupu replied.
"I could never tell them that." Evileye slapped her hands over her mask where her mouth was as soon as she spoke, and in one instant after having been thrown so completely for a loop, she was rushing through her options about how to keep Lupu silent.
Almost as importantly, she wanted to know, ' How… how did she know?!'
Lupu leaned back, appearing as non-threatening as someone with her monstrous skills could reasonably look, her palms rested flat on the ground just a few inches behind her and her legs stretched out. "It's not hard with a nose like mine." Lupu reached up and tapped her nose. "You can hide a lot of things with magic, you can hide your face, your aura, disguise your body temperature, all sorts of stuff. But there's one thing you can't hide, at least not from me." Lupu began to titter again as a disbelieving Evileye leaned forward to learn what gave her away.
"For… reasons, I know what a vampire in heat smells like, and that isn't something many spells cover up. I wonder if all vampires are perverts…" Lupu mused aloud as Evileye burned with shame at Lupu's revelation.
"Please… tell me you're joking…" Evileye begged.
"Nope, that's it." Lupu's smug grin burned as much as anything else, and Evileye fell silent.
"You know if this gets out, I'll be an outcast… stripped of my guild status, my plate rank… and that's if I'm lucky. I might be killed… if they can find people strong enough to kill me… or is that why you're telling me, Lupu, you plan on killing me." Evileye's voice dropped an octave and she glared at the woman from behind her mask, shame giving way to threatening anger.
But to her surprise, Lupu barely moved except to shake her head, "Nah, I just like screwing with all you idiots and seeing what you do. Ninya started a rebellion that ended up putting the Wolf Queen on the throne. The Swords of Darkness became royal guards, the Wolf Queen became kinda slutty. Screwing with people doing stupid things is sooooo much fun, like poking at an anthill and watching them scramble around all confused."
Evileye felt very much the idiot, and did not like it. She kept her glare behind the mask, "I haven't done anything."
"That's what makes you dumb. You did nothing with your team, you've spent years of their lives lying to them, and you think you can muster up the guts to 'confess' to Momon the Black the things you haven't been able to say to them for years?" Lupu began to laugh so hard that she made no noise at all and struggled to speak out loud for several lengthy seconds.
"Oh boo hoo, a rank and status… whom are you kidding, pervert girl . How do you see this playing out for you? You keep the secret long enough and maybe they won't care? Or you keep the secret long enough and they die, then you don't have to worry about getting caught? It's kinda pathetic, if you think about it, you know? You bleed, fight, risk your lives together, I've heard stories of you folks, from the big oaf to your tiny self, it's kinda… dumb, you still wearing that mask, hiding this big secret so that the people you love won't try to murder you, or throw you away like trash after all you did for em. Loyalty ain't really your strong suit, eh?"
"They… we… what do you know about it?" Evileye stammered, "We've bled together many times, we fought to the death, we saved each other more times than I can count…"
"And yet here we are. I know what you are, and I don't care at all, it only matters to me what you can do, and what you do do. But with your only… family right? That's how you said you were? You're terrified they'll hate you if they actually know the real you. Maybe you're a coward, maybe they're trash, but it's sure fun to watch you struggle to do what we both know you haven't got the guts to do. If you can't tell them, you damn sure can't tell Momon." Lupu pointed an accusing finger up at the vampire girl.
"You want me to keep quiet, here's my price. Tell them. And only then do you get the right to tell Momon and ask my partner to have you and do pervy things together. Lord Momon shouldn't screw cowards who are afraid of their own families. That, I'm sure of. But don't tell me your answer pervert vampire girl… I'll know your answer by what you, and they do." Lupu lay back and then slowly began to curl onto her side.
"What if… if they try to kill me?" Evileye asked. Though whether she meant that to go to Lupu or not, even she herself was unsure.
"Meh," Lupu paused and let out a deep yawn, "they go to their own personal hell, and your problems are over, either way, I'm sure I'll get a kick out of watching you twits." She chuckled and closed her eyes to fall asleep at last, leaving Evileye awake and more uncertain than ever.
Volume 7 C34
Queen Draudillon's routine became the stuff of nightmares. In the morning she would bear water from whatever well the elven casters managed to conjure up, hauling buckets over to the place where the Elf King kept his female prisoners, she found the most efficient thing was to put a bucket on each end of a stick and carry it over her shoulders across the back of her neck. The stick bobbed steadily back and forth, sloshing the cold water around, and at first she would reach the harem tent with each bucket half empty from spills.
But after several such efforts she learned to time each step with the bobbing of the stick, and in this way she kept the water from spilling most of the time. Once there, she would bear a bucket within and wash the bodies of elf and human alike, taking care that the cloth she used was wrung out frequently to ensure the blood she had to wipe clean was not merely 'spread around'.
The second bucket she would use to ladle into cups for them to drink, and when this was going on, after helping the women of both races to dress in their sorry excuse for clothing, a healer would arrive, cast his spells, and leave before the magic even finished. He was as broken as the rest of them, a slender elf, ears drooped and his body stooped as if he had carried many burdens over his life. His eyes were glassy, distant, and his golden hair hung limp and unkempt.
None of those within the tent confines seemed to look back at him, and no words were traded, he simply ensured they all remained alive, healed their wounds, and left as silent as a golem performing a preset routine.
After the confined women were washed, given water, and healed, a guard would typically appear and select a handful… and Draudillon would silently grieve that she hadn't enough hands to cover every set of ears as she listened to the sound of flesh slapping flesh again. ' Does he do nothing else but eat, drink, and rut?!' The Queen screamed inside her mind as she held her hands over a set of ears.
The elves around her looked at her with pity, even the elven women took a moment for her more than once, "Here…" One said, and offered her an extra slice of bread on the morning of the fourth day. "You're working hard, you need to keep your strength up or you'll waste away."
Queen Draudillon accepted it in both hands, her belly rumbled while she looked at it, and then with shameless abandon she shoved the bread into her mouth and wolfed it down. It was stale, crude, dry and flavorless stuff, in her desperation she didn't care.
"I'll never let it happen to me." The Queen said, it wasn't a thank you to the elf, but the golden haired woman nodded as if it were, she then let out a bitter laugh.
"If that were true, you'd have already ended yourself, child. You want to live, the same as me." Slender, soft fingers ran over Draudillon's cheek, "A word of advice, make the best of a bad situation, find a good husband, and make the best of your bad luck in life. Even if anybody looks for you after they find that party, even if your mother wants you back, our King is unbeatable. Whole armies fell to him when he first came to us, there's nobody in the world capable of defeating him. You're his plaything till he's done with you, maybe then he'll send you back, demanding your own mother in exchange. Abandon hope and just stay alive, it's what we all do."
"Whole… armies ?" Draudillon looked up at the elf in disbelief.
"Yes." She said and motioned Draudillon to sit, the noise of the elf king's grunting not far away was like a drum to the Queen, but the elven woman seemed to treat it as mere background noise, no more significant than the noise of chirping birds, simply part of the world.
Around them, camp life continued the way it had for the last few days, elven warriors practiced, prepared food, and some could be seen occasionally comforting a weeping wife, but they were all merely mechanical motions, like their souls had long since left their bodies.
Draudillon sat on the log and wiped her brow, sweat wasn't something she was used to yet, but it was slowly becoming her new normal, and she was almost grateful for the chance to sit and learn something. ' Perhaps there's a clue here I can use to foster our escape…' She wondered, and the elf concubine shook her head as if she could read Draudillon's mind.
"Two thousand years ago there was no Kingdom of Elves, we were all just scattered tribes, even I don't know all the details, but our current King simply 'appeared'. It was said he showed up out of thin air in a fishing village by Crescent Lake. That's all we had back then, just forest villages, we would come together to trade goods or form marriages, war was rare and our population was small. The humans back then served us, they were weak as a race, and needed protection from the others, making us who didn't eat them into an ideal source of safety. But when the elf king appeared in that village?" She shuddered.
"He conquered it immediately, he killed everyone who refused to kneel, and the story says he took every woman of child bearing age in a single night in order to break their spirits. In order to save their women, the men formed the first elven 'army' and attacked another village. The King still did things himself then, he had to in order to ensure victory. He then repeated the process. Those who didn't kneel and obey, died. The women became his, and the survivors became a larger army that went out to conquer more places to spare their own women from more of the same…"
"So it didn't take long for him to build a Kingdom like that I guess…" Queen Draudillon suggested, and the elf woman nodded along.
"No, not long, human. Not long. But word spread and half the forest allied to try to stop him… there was a great battle on the lake when they attacked the place where the village lay. We don't much like the water, but it was hoped that he might like it less and they could drown him… but according to the stories, he simply went from boat to boat, smashing them. Arrows couldn't pierce his flesh, they just bounced away, swords broke against his body… he only laughed and killed those who came for his life. In the end, after only a few weeks, every tribe surrendered… and he had a kingdom-sized harem. He forced all the tribes together to settle around Crescent Lake, and we've expanded since then. Back then we had few children and over centuries. But since then? We must have many, not only with him, but within our families to 'spread the pain' around…"
"You… you have children just so…" Queen Draudillon shivered as the weight of the elven nightmare hit home.
"Don't judge us too harshly, child… if we didn't, if we had only a few, those would surely die. And if we had none, there would be none of us left at all. The humans we had with us back then, fled, preferring the monsters who would only eat them… I sometimes wonder if they weren't wiser than us." The elf concubine shook her head, "I'm sorry for what our warriors did to your people, and I'm sure your mother must be very worried about you. But please understand, he brought only a few of us with him, too few, and our husbands, fathers, and brothers are with us… they were sure we would all die on the way… offering him some other sacrifice, it was the only thing they could do. The gods condemned us all the day they sent that monster to our world… all we can offer is to let him devour parts of us all, or we'll be swallowed whole individually."
The Queen felt a little bit of her growing hatred die as the woman explained, ' A whole army… it's worse than I thought.'
It didn't stop her bitter words from coming out in a retort, "That doesn't make my servants feel any better… they're husks of themselves…" Draudillon hissed, "How are they supposed to go on like this?"
"They'll start talking in a day or two, some of them at least, the ones who don't, they might die. Some just waste away, but most… they learn to live with it. Humans… You may not be a strong race in body, but you are flexible, adaptable, and stronger in spirit and mind than you know. They may never be the same, but most of your people will live… and maybe he'll want to take more humans along the way, and offer your people some relief."
It was a knife in the gut to Draudillon when the twisted attempt at offering comfort… worked .
' I've never hated myself more than at this second…' The Queen thought and the concubine offered out a hunk of cheese.
"Go, take care of your people before we move, bring them food, and pray you age slowly." The Queen snatched up the raw yellow chunk and shoved it into her mouth, stuffing her child-sized cheeks with the stale flavor and chewing without looking up at the one to give it to her.
She then went to the cook fires and began ladling crude stew into bowls to take to her waiting servants. ' How close are we to Arwintar… maybe… maybe when I get there, when we get there, I can get word to the other monarchs and offer them… anything… anything at all if they just end this living hell!' The Queen thought as she hauled buckets and bowls over her shoulder to feed her people again, grunting after every step from the heavy weight on her weary, pain filled shoulders.
Volume 7 C35
Neia saw the wolf riders nearing the border and ranging out in all directions… but notably, that border was one place they did not actually go to. They seemed unwilling to cross the river. ' The Wolf Queen has a real sense of propriety, I thought she was a woman of action, but they're minding the border like it's the Wall back home…'
This adjusted Neia's view of her fellow novice monarch, both for the better and for the worse. ' On the one hand I can trust her more, but on the other she's less reliable in the wrong situation… which I may now be in.' Neia thought and again reconsidered her decision to cross the border, she clutched the wrapped ear tighter in her fist. ' She'll go straight to the Theocracy with this, and who knows what they'll do?'
The twinge of doubt was harder to get rid of, crossing the border without the rulers of a country knowing about it or requesting their permission… ' They're bound to find out sooner or later, and even if they don't, they'll accuse me because I'm an animal who betrayed humanity for power… or so those few scouts and spies we've captured have revealed. What a narrative, it's not like 'I' started it all.'
She cursed her ill luck in success and soared onward until she saw the lights below, the sun descending on the horizon with darkness visibly racing toward her. Despite her prior worries, Neia couldn't help herself. She batted her wings as hard as she could and kept her body streamlined, minimizing wind resistance and racing the darkness toward the rising castle of the Wolf Queen.
The Queen of Frost slammed into the ground a few feet from the guards, hitting hard enough to crack the stone and descending to one knee with the force of the impact, the guards stiffened and reflexively readied their polearms until they saw who it was as Neia rose to her feet.
"I need to see the others, now ." Neia turned the force of her dread inducing eyes on the pair, and after only the briefest glance the one on the right reached for the door and opened it and said to her…
"This way, My Lady."
Neia's tail lashed behind her as the darkness swept over the ground past where she'd been standing moments before, night descending on the Kingdom of Carne, she followed the guard within. It was her first glance at the interior tastes of the monarchs of the young Kingdom. ' They really like pastoral scenes.' Neia thought as she followed the rapidly walking guard, his feet were not quite at a run, but only barely below one, and it gave Neia just enough time to appreciate the difference between this place and her home.
Adorning her walls were paintings and statues of great heroes, scenes of battle and victory, but here? Farmers and open country, nothing to speak of regarding their recent war for independence. ' I'm not quite sure what I should think about that…' Neia acknowledged her own confusion as she was finally led into a single room composed of large cut stones, devoid of art, it was clearly a meeting room. However, instead of chairs, the long wooden table of very simple design had only long benches on either side of it. ' It looks like something I'd find in a peasant house.'
That at least had some appeal on practical grounds, and Neia's view of the Wolf King and Queen went up another notch.
"Please wait, I will fetch them right away." The guard muttered without raising his eyes to meet her own and he was gone before Neia could respond.
Neia's heart ached just a little at that, with her extraordinary senses as a dragonid she could feel his fear of her, feel his dislike, feel his reflexive mistrust of her. ' The same as everywhere else… as soon as I'm done, I can't go home fast enough. I miss the company of my demihumans.'
She gripped her left bicep with her right hand and looked down, ' So tired of that, it's been barely any time at all, but I don't want to get used to that feeling again.' Neia thought and forcibly ripped the thought away when her sharp ears caught the noise of approaching feet.
"You found something?" Ainz asked immediately as the curved door swung open, he ducked beneath the entrance and approached Neia who turned up her head to meet his eyes.
"This. Unfortunately. This." Neia said and tossed the torn cloth on the table. Enri, Nfirea, Renner, Albedo and Calca lined up on either side of the Allfather, and when all their eyes honed in on the cloth, Neia unwrapped it, casting aside the corners and revealing the severed elven ear.
"The cloth came from one of their banners, you can see part of the insignia there, from the Draconic Queen's coat of arms. The ear I severed from the body of one of those I found at the scene. They were attacked at night, I found bodies, lots of bodies, the whole camp was burned and destroyed and had been for a fair while. The Queen's own carriage was a ruin. My guess is some runaway elven slaves attacked, I've heard stories about runaways massacring travelers. I dismissed it as human propaganda, but…?" She shook her head, "I suppose it's true this time."
Ainz had to suppress his utter outrage, and found it to be impossible. His face twisted in anger, ' Draudillon?! The Queen who taught me how to be a King?!'
He spoke with great icy slowness, sounding out each word as if he were carving it out of stone. "Her body. Did. You. Find. It?"
"No. In fact there was only one woman's body out of them all, a maid of the Queen who I assume committed suicide." Neia almost took a step back on her heel, as did the Golden Queen, the Holy Queen and the Wolf King and Queen. The obvious wrath of the Allfather caught them off guard.
"I see. Then she might still be alive." Ainz suggested and turned to the rulers of the Kingdom of Carne. "You have a Theocracy ambassador here, do you not?"
"Y-Yes, of course. In fact I was just informed a few hours ago that one of their Cardinals arrived a few hours ago, I met him briefly, he seemed amiable." Enri answered with haste.
"I would count it a favor if you would intercede with him, explain the situation and tell him that all our nations would be grateful if he would allow a multinational force to investigate rather than relying on their own forces alone." Ainz said, and privately thought, ' I will repay the debt I owe to her, even if she doesn't know I owe it.'
"Ah, yes, of course, I can send word to him at once that I'd like an urgent meeting." The Wolf Queen stammered out.
"Then do so. I will have some of my humans brought for the effort, if she's there, she'll be found." Ainz said, and the monarchs began to file out as quickly as they'd come.
"You, Queen of Frost, Neia Baraja," Ainz said as Neia made to follow them out.
"Yes, Your Majesty?" Neia answered at the sudden drop in his previous wrath and the almost gentle way in which he spoke.
"You have done me a favor today, and taken a great risk, one day I will repay that favor." Ainz promised, and then made his exit before the Queen of Frost could reply, she only left the ear behind on the burned and bloody scrap of cloth, and made her way out as well.
Volume 7 C36
Finding an inn proved relatively easy. Innkeepers, lettered or not, knew that travelers would be looking for a place to stay soon after coming through the gate. The city, such as it was, was mostly comprised of stone, which Brain recognized as being similar to that of the mountains that bordered Re-Estize, even this close to the border, that was a fair distance. ' Doesn't matter, it's not like I had to do the work, I just have to climb the steps they made.' He thought and went up the short row of stone steps that led to a thick oaken door. He swung it open and went inside with his companions following close behind.
The smell of cooking meat and vegetables at once assaulted their noses, it was reinforced by the smell of warm beer, and the noise of idle chatter from Theocracy citizens. A mix of servers in low cut black dresses with white frills along the base carried trays back and forth in and out of a back room with a steadily swinging door. Curiously, the door never seemed to stop, the servants came and went without having to pause for one another in either direction, as if they knew one another's rhythm.
"Good sir, madam, young lady!" A cheery voice rang out that briefly broke the din and caused Brain to turn his head in its direction. A lumpy looking fellow with rosy cheeks, wisps of hair on an almost bald head, and a smile on his face, waved at them with enthusiasm.
He stood in another room which was divided by a large window on which a counter sat with a large open book, quill, and ink just waiting to be used.
"Welcome to the Warm Bed Inn, master, I assume you'll need one room and two beds?" The portly fellow said with an indulgent smile as he appraised the pair at his back.
"Ah, yes, yes I will." Brain said and suppressed a wince when he felt a sharp pair of fingers pinch him covertly in his side and twist.
"Is everything alright, sir?" The portly keeper asked when he heard the light change in Brain's voice that the warrior couldn't quite conceal.
"Yes, everything is fine, just fine, it's just a little travel weariness, you know. Heh…. heh heh…" He blushed a little, smiled weakly, and rubbed the top of his head when he felt his flesh twist again in Zesshi's pinching grip.
"Ah, if you say so, m'lord, ah… that'll be three small silvers for two days, a copper for the bed warming service if you want it."
Brain felt the twist one more time and then it was gone, the pain faded quickly but he could feel Zesshi's glare up at the back of his skull.
Brain pulled out his pouch and took three silvers and laid them on the counter.
"What's the bed warming service?" Zesshi asked from behind Brain.
"Oh, we have one of the crop ears warm up the bed for you with their body heat, we get a mighty cold wind through here on some nights, and a warm bed is very welcome, I truly recommend it." The innkeeper explained, "Don't worry, both are thoroughly washed first."
"No, that won't be necessary." Brain explained while Zesshi quietly took that in.
As they went up the stairs behind the innkeeper after he swept the coins into his waiting palm, Zesshi asked, "What's a crop ear?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, yes, ah, those are the elf slaves, they're usually called just 'crop ears' for short, probably because this is such a big farming city. We've got more Latifundias than Crossroads, the only place with more farmland than us is Wheaton… appropriate name if ever there was one. Anyhow, they get their ears cut off about halfway down before they're put up for sale. I got two myself, kind of expensive, but a good investment since it keeps my labor costs down." He explained as the wooden steps creaked under their feet.
"I think, yes, I would like that service, dear," Zesshi said with a slightly scathing tone to get Brain's attention, "give the man two coppers when he leaves us."
"Sure… sure." Brain answered with a dismissive wave of his hand. ' This will end well.' He told himself with sarcasm and followed the innkeeper to the door, the key rattled as the old iron lock was clicked open and the older man showed them within.
It was a simple, clean room, two beds on opposite walls, not overly much space on either one, with simple gray sheets and a hefty and very thick overstuffed pillow that smelled faintly of goose.
Brain withdrew two copper coins and slipped them into the pear shaped innkeeper's meaty palm, accepting the small iron key in return, the innkeeper added, "I'll send them along shortly, meals are available until sixth band after dark, but after fourth band it would be made by elven hands." The innkeeper pointed to the black and white banded wax candle on a wooden shelf, and then with a polite half bow he said, "If there's nothing else?"
When no one spoke, he straightened and left the room.
When the door closed, Zesshi and Layali pulled their hoods back and Brain asked, "Why did you ask for that?"
"I wanted to see them." Zesshi said matter of factly and strode over to the nearby table, she pulled the chair out and sat down. She lightly drummed her fingers on the table while Layali walked over and sat on the bed. It squeaked under her and sank a little, she began to bounce herself lightly up and down while Zesshi explained herself.
"I want to see what I've really been protecting for all these years, so… a day or two here, I should be able to see something of how the other half of myself lives. It doesn't sound good so far, but I need to see with my own two eyes." Zesshi said and closed a tense fist, she glared at Brain as if he were guilty of something himself. "I already understand I was lied to… but how much… how much?" She whispered, "I need to know."
"Crop ears… by the six…" Zesshi whispered and touched her own slightly pointed ears with a shaking hand.
"That does sound painful…" Brain took a step away from her and then turned to sit on the bed on the far side of the room.
"You have no idea how much, human !" Zesshi bit off the words, and he looked away from her.
"Were you…?" He started to ask, then thought the better of it and closed his mouth.
"No! But for the first years of my life my mother raised me. I saw the way she looked at me, how her hands shook when she bathed me and washed my ears, she couldn't even look at them, because they were my father's… I was too young to understand then exactly why she was that way. All I knew was that bathtime stopped being fun whenever it came time to clean that part of me. She got very sad, and wouldn't talk to me for hours after that… I was little, and thought that part of me must be bad, she was all I had, so I wanted to make it better…" Zesshi's snarl twisted with remembered agony, and Brain held up one hand.
"Wait, you don't have to say." He said, but she went on.
"So, one day, while she was out, I took a knife and I tried to cut them off myself, not completely, but I was going to try to carve them into a shape like hers ." Zesshi snorted, "She really was a black scripture, she rushed over, snatched away the knife, spanked my ass, and then took me to a healer. I told them what happened, and not long after that I was taken away from her to be raised by the temples and the leaders of the Black Scripture."
"Ohhh… and so you know…" Brain struggled to find words to say, and it was a losing battle, all words escaped him.
"The ears of an elf are an erogenous zone…" Zesshi explained, and Brain cocked his head.
"A what?" He asked.
"Touching them is very sexual… they're extremely sensitive, it would be like mutilating that, on you." She said and pointed between his legs, his face drained of all color.
"So, I want to know the truth, all of it, no matter how ugly it is… then I can decide what to do." Zesshi said and wiped her eyes clean of the sheen that began to form on them.
"And what will you do, if it's as bad as you fear?" Brain asked the salient point, and Zesshi's shoulders slumped.
"I don't know… leave? Leave and never come back? Maybe go to the tournament, win, and rule as an empress who is hostile to the Slane Theocracy? I just don't know… but that's immaterial until I have the truth, whatever it is." Zesshi said just as there was a knock at their door.
Volume 7 C37
"I must have some of the worst luck in all of the Slane Theocracy." Raymond cursed, he was slumped over the table of his room, a mug of cheap ale at hand. ' One sentence. That was all it took. One. Gods. Damned. Sentence. And then she had questions…' The Cardinal slumped back in his chair, snatched his mug, drained it into his open mouth and then with a furious snarl he threw it at the wall. The sour flavor of the cheap stuff burned down his throat, and the mug shattered against the wall, scattering a rain of wooden fragments around the floor where they wobbled and slid to a stop when they ran into a wall, the chair where he sat, or disappearing under the bed on the far side of the room.
"Damn it all!" He hissed and slammed his fist on the table, it broke in half and thudded against his legs where he pushed it off to let it too fall to the floor with a dull thud.
Guilt rampaged through him, and not for the first time, he hung his head as shame mixed with anger. ' It's for humanity's sake. I'm not allowed to feel guilt. I'm not allowed to act on my conscience… there's larger stakes than one man's soul!' He tried to reassure himself, for all the good it did.
"Zesshi…" He muttered her name under his breath as if it were a prayer to a god, as if merely saying her name would make her appear before him, he thought back to their first meeting, her arrogance, her seeming indifference to everything around her…
"You look nice today." He said, unsure of what else to say when he saw the black and white haired woman enter the training hall.
"Whatever." She said, and shrugged, "So you're the new handler?" She asked and pulled the absurd scythe off of her back, "Let's see what you've got. Prove yourself, and I might even let you screw me."
Raymond went back on his heel at the blunt phrase, his face turning bright red, and the indifferent mask broke out into a smirk, "Shy one, that's cute." She said and leveled her scythe. "Come at me. Let's see if you can do any better than the last four."
The training hall of the Black Scripture was a massive thing, easily the size of a larger temple, it had numerous small environments set up for various exercises, from small buildings to practice clearing an area, to some phony woods meant to practice hunting in the wilderness.
But Zesshi and Raymond were using a simple roped in matted section. ' She's killed past handlers just by accident, so be careful…' The warning of the Pontifex Maximus came back to him from when Raymond got the assignment, and now facing against her, he couldn't see how.
Literally.
She moved so fast he didn't see her, one moment she was there, then she was gone. He dove out of the way by pure instinct and drew out his knife, the noise of destruction behind him when her scythe impacted the ground where he'd been and the stone shattered, he spun, sliding his back foot around and then pushing off to go on the attack.
Zesshi looked down, almost cutely befuddled at the fact that she struck nothing, the scythe was held in one hand, and she winked at him when she caught sight of his approach. "You really are a black scripture, aren't you?" She asked rhetorically and came up to meet his charge, his blood racing and his narrow, focused eyes seemingly fully intent on shedding her blood.
"Oh, spirit, good, even some of the black lose their will with my first strike, as a reward, I'll fight you at your level!" She said with mockery, she was a short thing, slight by comparison to Raymond, but her mockery was, in his eyes, immediately well placed.
He began using every trick in his arsenal of experience, and she batted away every strike, constantly on retreat, but it was she who was in control of the flow of the fight despite the fact that it was he who was on the offensive. ' It defies reason!' He exclaimed in his head and began using his martial arts.
She used none of her own as his strength doubled and speed went up with it. Raymond counted himself to be the best in the world with the long knife. Able to cut the wings off a wyvern before it noticed they were gone. His knife was so sharp that those he killed seldom even felt the pain of their deaths.
And yet here, this heterochromatic girl who appeared no more than a preteen girl, was keeping him struggling to match her with no effort at all? ' This defies all reason… I know she's supposed to be 'her' daughter, but this is madness!' He gritted his teeth, and Zesshi smirked again.
That was the grating thing, and the young man's pride could bear no more. One thing he could do, though he'd pay a price for it… Raymond drew on his inner spirit, not for long, but enough that it would shave somewhere from seconds to days off of the end of his life, and for one instant, he might as well have been a godkin. Blood spurted through his pores, wounds opened up, and everything about himself was more than doubled itself…
"The hell?!" Zesshi snapped as his grim and bloody smile came over his face and his hand moved faster than she was prepared for. Her lowering herself to his level, left her sloppy. His knife was already past her guard where she'd teasingly allowed him to be.
He grabbed the lightly held scythe by the bar and pushed it down, and his knife came in…
She moved her head, still easily avoiding the blow, but on the black and white sides of her head, holding her hair bunched up, were two curved and slightly armored pieces held only by leather strips. His knife struck the leather strip that held one of them fast, severing it away and causing her hair to fall loose.
She went from playful to serious in that same moment, she dropped her scythe, hit him in the sternum, and he tumbled head over heels over the mat, knocked the ropes down, and kept going clear into the wall. Raymond felt himself fall, halfway forward, hunched, coughing up blood, and in front of him she stood, breathing hard but clearly not tired.
Her narrow eyes leveled at him, the scythe was dropped to the floor with a crash and she was rushing to fix her hair. "Damn it!" She cursed, and he saw why.
"A… A half elf?" He sputtered out, blood blurred the noise, but she understood well enough and stalked over to him.
Slumped and on his ass, the slight half elf towered over him. "My father is the elf king, that's why I'm cursed with… these. Got anything to say?"
Raymond raised a shaky head, it was still wobbling a little, and he cracked a smile, revealing that he'd lost a few teeth during his tumble and said, "You look nice today."
He didn't see what she did after that, though he remembered the feeling of her scooping him up to take him to be healed up.
' Gods above, it's been over twenty years since then… and has a day passed that I haven't gone to see her? She never did admit to killing her past handlers on purpose… and maybe she didn't, but I wonder if any of them ever found her secret, and took a heavier blow than they could have survived as a consequence of their reaction. At least the one that Clementine accused of raping her was no loss…'
He left his memories behind and when the knock came, he rose to his feet and went to answer it. ' She'll be at the tournament, I know she will. She can't resist the chance to fight someone strong, and then I can…' The thought died, what to say to her, how to explain himself, he had no answer still. ' I'll find some way to talk to her, I have to.' He said, and swung it open.
"Cardinal Raymond?" A finely-dressed young human boy said, he wore bright red clothing, a formal doublet and vest over a white cotton shirt with the strings tied up to just below his neck, and a little round hat over his mop of blonde hair.
"Yes, are you from the King and Queen?" He guessed.
"Yes, you're being called on to attend an ur-urgent meet-meeting, M'lord, my Lord and Lady w-want you to hast-hasten, as a human Kingdom's wellbeing is on the line." The boy said in a formal style that sounded not at all natural, he clearly struggled, fumbling over his words along the way, but getting them out eventually.
[Lesser Stamina Boost] Raymond activated the martial art, and he was for all intents and purposes, sober. His constitution shooting up and thus reducing the effect of the alcohol, it was a shady trick many a scripture member used in the past. ' Especially the washouts who couldn't handle what we had to do…' He dismissed the moment of pity for those and said, "Lead the way, boy." Then shut the door on his way out as the boy did exactly that.
Volume 7 C38
The trip from the inn to the palace was brief, but even had it not been, Raymond felt himself too distracted to notice, ' What could possibly be the problem…'
Lots of things ran through his head, the Allfather immediately topped the list. ' Could he have chosen to declare war on another human nation?' If that was the case, that nation was simply finished . Raymond remembered the sight of those beings the Allfather summoned, and the duel of the champions, a handful of unknown humans armed with equipment better than what he considered divine class, and the Four Imperial Knights were simply annihilated.
What to think of such a man was a subject of great controversy amidst the Slane Theocracy's leadership. ' Is he a defender of humanity? Is he a literal god come again to lead us into prosperity? A devil in disguise, a false savior?' Even Raymond himself was unsure, but among the more rabid anti-demihuman factions of government, Ainz was the clearest threat to human supremacy since… ever.
To Raymond however?
He felt the knife twist in his gut on the way to the palace when he saw a goblin walking beside a human while an ogre exited a door the size of a barn, and none seemed to think to strike the other.
His carriage stopped, and though he couldn't quite see why, the tail of a naga was clearly visible, at least, and a series of small children rushed past. For just one moment he felt himself ready to leap out of the carriage, his hand went to the knife he always carried at his side. ' I have to protect them!' He screamed in his head, and then the carriage lurched forward and the naga came into view. It wore a vest of bright blue with glow stones adorning the sleeves. ' It's… controlling wagon traffic?! It was minding their safe crossing?!'
He stuck his head out of the window to watch the impossible vanish into the distance, part of him all but prayed for it to attack, but the naga did not, it simply took position at the intersection of the street again, and waited.
He clutched his head as cut after bloody cut ran through his memory. "It was for humanity." He said to himself over and over until he reached the castle and the carriage stopped again.
The boy who brought him, opened the door and Raymond emerged with a single quick hop, skipping the step and any of the usual pleasantries, he rushed toward the door where a pair of goblin guards holding long halberds simply opened the door for him and held it until he passed them by, evidently expecting him.
' It was for humanity!' He said and rushed onward until he reached the entrance to the throne room. A dark elf guard, slight of build and wearing runecraft armor, stood in his path.
Raymond stopped, the guard met his eye, "Before you go in, you should know, the Queen of Frost is present. You are urged to control yourself."
The Cardinal stiffened, and the guard gave a slow nod. "That was why I was to warn you. Are you prepared?" The guard asked with a more gentle, but almost stern tone.
"I pledge to take no aggressive act." Raymond said, and the guard reached for the door and opened it for him.
Far from a number of guards and courtiers, the throne room was almost empty. The Wolf King and Queen sat on their thrones, and at either side of them stood the Allfather and Allmother, ' She's not human… Just like they said…' He thought as he noted the wings, but her hands folded protectively over the bump where her baby was, just as a human mother might, and everything about her was divine class in its radiant beauty. She stood close to her husband, and inched a little closer when Raymond entered.
The Golden Queen Renner, bearing her marvelous crystalline like dress so that she glowed with an almost angelic light, the Holy Queen still held her son, the firstborn son of the Allfather and heir to the throne. Her countenance was nigh unreadable. If she was angry or fearful, even Raymond could not say.
Then there was her . ' The traitor to humanity… the Queen of Frost…' It was his first time seeing the dragonid Queen up close, and if it were not for a few features, the horns, wings, and tail, she still appeared human. Slightly pale, and with Raymond's sharp eyes he could tell that her flesh had changed from the natural softness of human flesh to become closer to the soft armor of a dragon's body. When he met her eyes, a chill ran down his spine. Unlike the other Queens, this one was wearing military equipment, the armor of a demihuman she'd killed, according to reports.
The Allfather himself put a protective arm around the waist of the Allmother when she inched closer, he was a tall, powerful-looking man, dark haired and square jawed, he radiated power and charisma. No sooner had he shifted his eyes from the dragonid to the man than every fiber of his being called out to listen to, and even obey, the royal before him.
But the first words to be uttered snapped Raymond out of his trance. "Queen Draudillon of the Draconic Kingdom was attacked and kidnapped, taken on your territory." The Wolf Queen said, and Raymond's mouth dropped open.
"We would never do such a thing!" He insisted, and Enri inclined her head toward him as soon as he protested.
"We know. But it did happen. Based on the evidence, it appears some runaway slaves are responsible, you have many elven slaves, and I've even had the occasional runaway show up here ." Enri leveled the words at him with only the slightest hint of accusation.
"Yes… I know the Pontifex Maximus has urged you to send them back as it's created a disruptive element… a place to escape to means that some will try to escape that otherwise would not." Raymond pointed out, "If some escaped slaves did do this, I assume you are prepared to take responsibility?"
Enri bristled a little at his almost benign way of accusing her in return. Her fingers tensed on the throne, "If I were the sort to lay blame, I'd think it would be with the ones who created the situation in the first place. I've heard 'stories' about what goes on in your country, if you would change your policy, you wouldn't have this problem in the first place. If you make your work into a nightmare, why are you surprised if people try to get away from it?"
Raymond bristled a bit. "It was that or kill them, what else can we do? We've been at war with the Elf Kingdom for over a hundred years, and even before that the Elf King was trading away his own people… and we need the labor, the more bodies in the field, the more men we can field."
"Bodies. Not 'people'." The Queen of Frost replied to him unasked, "Thousands of elves now live in my country, refugees from Wenmark, the stories they tell of the horrors of their city life chill even my blood, and my blood no longer runs hot at all."
Raymond shivered, "I've heard of that city… but we are not Wenmark… what kind of fool would mistreat… no, we're getting distracted, what is the evidence even that it was runaway elves or that it happened at all?"
The Wolf King held out a hand and tossed the wrapped up cloth to the floor at Raymond's feet, the ear rolled out and the partial insignia was obvious. "I see… wait… if this happened on my country's land then how…?"
Raymond crouched down and picked up the ear in one hand and cloth in the other, and searched the faces around him for answers.
"I found it." The Queen of Frost answered, and a number of eyes fell immediately to her.
Neia's shoulders slumped, "Look I'm just not that good of a liar, that takes people skills, and do I look like I ever got the chance to develop many of those?" She asked, it was grim, self effacing humor that caught them off guard, especially given the nature of the moment. "I crossed your border when I didn't find her on our side. I'll apologize if you want me to, but there wasn't time for formalities, not with a fucking Queen missing."
Raymond was quiet, and suppressed his revulsion at the hypocrisy that came out of his mouth next, "You crossed our border without our permission?"
"The Theocracy should be familiar enough with that practice." Enri pointed out to him.
"I don't know what you mean." Raymond lied smooth as silk, ' The Sunlight Scripture died not far from here.' He thought and dropped both the ear and cloth back down to the floor, he folded his hands behind his back and squared his shoulders. "The Slane Theocracy has only ever acted in the best interests of humanity."
It was a noncommittal answer, and they all knew it.
He shifted tack and added, "Where were they found? Are you sure they were taken and not killed?"
"By horse it would be about three days from here, but that's an estimate, I don't ride much anymore." Neia said with a snarky little smirk on her face and a beat of her wings that wafted air toward him and briefly disturbed the neat brown hair on Cardinal Raymond's head.
He rubbed his beard, "Has there been a border crossing since then? Or any high quality goods mysteriously showing up in the local market?" Raymond asked.
All eyes turned to the Wolf King and Queen.
"We don't know… but why?" Nfirea replied with the question in return, his eyes obscured by the hair that hung down in front of his face.
"Find out." Raymond answered. "If these were escaped slaves, then they were running north, toward you . And if they really did attack the Queen's retinue then it's unthinkable that they wouldn't plunder it and sell the goods to support themselves once arriving here."
A round of steady eyes met the Cardinal with new respect, but he didn't notice, he was stroking his full beard from cheek to chin, "I just don't believe it was slaves though." He mumbled.
"What?" Neia said, affronted, "Are you calling me a liar? I cut that ear off a corpse." She said and flashed her fang filled snarl at him.
Though her eyes were such that he couldn't truly meet them for long, he shook his head, "No, I am willing to accept that… but… why take them?"
"Why else ?" Neia hissed at him, and the room, save for Raymond, collectively winced.
"I was once a field warrior, and so were you, weren't you, Queen of Frost?" Raymond asked.
"I… I was, yes, why ?" Neia answered, slightly discomfited by the unexpected common ground.
"I ventured out alone or with a small group for days, weeks, or even months at a time, and when I was in that position, captives were not on my agenda. Were they on yours ?" It was half accusation, half simple statement of fact, phrased as a question.
"No… no. Point in fact, they weren't. When you're out like that, you got no way to keep captives, no place to hold prisoners, you've got to keep moving and prisoners are a cross between danger and hindrance… ohhh…" Neia felt the realization dawn on her like the rising sun.
"They've got nowhere to take them, can't keep them, definitely can't sell them… even if they wanted to do that, they'd just leave them behind, dead or not." Neia reached the conclusion that Cardinal Raymond wanted her to, and silence returned to the room, though far, far more respectful than before.
"The Elf King took her." Raymond said without a single shred of doubt dropping from his tongue.
Volume 7 C39
The bed warmers arrived at the room not long after, and Brain kept his face carefully neutral when they passed through the doorway. They came in 'dressed' in a most peculiar fashion. Which is to say they were wrapped from head to toe in muslin cloth, it wasn't see through but it was easily the strangest garb Brain had ever seen.
"Why're you dressed like that?" Layali asked, and Brain immediately looked back at her and saw that, to his relief, she had her hood up to hide her ears, Zesshi had clearly done the same, and the child's question clearly was one Zesshi wanted answered as well if he were to judge by the raised eyebrow.
"So that our body heat will warm your bed, little mistress, without our skin having to be on it, some humans find our touch to the cloth they sleep on to be… undesirable." The male slave said, his voice was deep and he was of slight build, taller than the female at his side, he was at least clearly well fed, and the wrap around his body kept his eyes uncovered, though his mouth was concealed.
Only one other part showed, and that was because the cloth around it was not as thickly wrapped.
The cropped ears on them both, the way the fabric was wrapped around their skin was tight and practiced, it didn't take long for Zesshi to realize why the ears were visible. ' So everyone can see it for themselves.' A faint shiver was concealed by the cloak she wore, but the memory of her own knife slicing into her ears was still the worst pain she'd felt in all her life, and seeing the proof of the practice lit a spark of disgust in her heart that would not die .
All her other questions were forgotten, though the pair were well fed, they kept their faces down so that their eyes never met even Layali's. "If there is nothing else, little mistress?" The elven male asked, and she mutely stepped aside.
The pair went to each bed and simply lay themselves on each, arms and legs spread out, and they silently stared at nothing, pausing only to move the pillows aside, they looked at the ceiling without a word to each other or the guests who paid for the room.
"Let's… go out for a little while." Brain suggested, shifting with some discomfort on his feet.
Zesshi glanced over at the two servants of the inn, they laid like corpses. Utterly unmoving, dull and disinterested in all things. ' The living dead.' Zesshi thought as more questions were silently answered, it made her think back to her own private resolve. ' No child of mine will be so weak that they can ever have this done to them… they will be like me, strong… strong is safe… weak is…'
She saw Layali inch unconsciously closer to Brain as he reached for the door, and then she nodded, playing along, "Of course, dear, why don't we go have something to eat."
The faint noise of a rumbling belly from Brain's bed sent a twinge of pity through her when she saw that the slave did not move or speak at the little rumble, and then the trio was out the door and on the way out.
"I told you." Layali said as Zesshi fell in a step ahead of her, "Nightmare… I didn't know about that stuff, but… they're the lucky ones I'll bet. They got a lotta the big, giant farms out here, the latifundias, if they're like the village farms, the slaves get drafty cabins shared together, an' people like us, or humans, work as overseers."
"They'd trust half elves to…?" Zesshi asked.
"A slave is a slave, if it's half human, they might offer a few benefits to help the overseers, a little extra food to sell out their mothers. Or maybe to save em, what do I know?" Layali shrugged, but contempt dripped from her every whispered word.
Zesshi nodded along, ' Their mothers, huh… sure, of course. By the dead six how could I have ever been this stupid…?' She asked herself as they emerged out into the street.
"I don't much like passing through the Theocracy." Brain admitted, "It's just got this miasma of…" He rubbed his scruffy and presently unshaved chin, "I don't know, anger, maybe, to it. Like they're angry at the whole world and it's eating them up."
Zesshi took that in and instantly, instinctively retorted, "With so many nonhumans ready to-" She cut off the statement, her shoulders briefly slumped, she felt the piercing eyes of the little half elf girl on her and recalled the empty socket that stared back at her the moment they met. ' Do you blame them?' seemed inadequate now.
She swallowed uncomfortably and pointed toward an establishment that had the savory smell of roasting meat with a small billowing pillar of smoke rising toward the sky. The establishment was clean of dirt on the outside and built of many stones, rather than the more common brick that was used in the modern age.
A single arching door opened to the front and people dressed in fine clean clothes, men in black and white, suits more common in the south and women in big, billowing dresses entered one by one, before which they were greeted by a well dressed half elf who bowed deeply to every one before waving them in.
"Smells good, should we eat there?" Zesshi asked.
"Sure, if you've got the coin for it." Brain snorted, "I don't have enough money for that place… but… I can probably afford a place like that tomorrow if your heart's set on it… no, we'll have to go somewhere else, but you're not going to like it." Brain said and then turned around and crouched down in front of Layali.
He put his hands on her shoulders, and when she didn't flinch, but rather, focused, he said, "Listen to me, I can bring you something back, the only ones in our room right now are elves, you'll be safe there." Brain explained, and the little half elf frowned.
"It's just food." She said, "I've seen animals slaughtered for food before, it's not like they're going to serve elf flesh," her grim humor was followed with a snort, "even this country wouldn't do that ."
"It isn't the food that I'm thinking about. Just… trust me, alright? Can you do that for me, just this once?" Brain asked, and she gave a tiny nod then stepped away from his touch.
He let her slip away from his hand, she then took two steps back, turned around, looked over her shoulder once, and rushed back to the inn.
"So what's so unpleasant about the area around a place to eat?" Zesshi asked while Brain watched Layali depart, he watched the girl until she disappeared back inside the building, then turned around and started to walk.
"You wanted to see more? Listen, we're only staying tonight…" He rubbed the back of his head, "I just don't like it here, I'll get some work tonight, and we'll leave tomorrow, in a little while you'll see why. Just keep your head cool."
Zesshi kept one eye on him as they strode the streets, "It's probably still going on." He muttered, "This is a big city after all and the war with the elf kingdom is going better…"
"This one was a battle captive taken by the Holocaust Scripture themselves!" The voice rang out around the corner, and a male voice shouted in pain. "He hasn't been sent to the breakers yet."
"Scum! Filth!" The male voice shouted from out of sight, the sound of a crack, and a male scream followed.
The mumbling of the crowd was audible after that.
"What the-?" Zesshi's question hung when she followed Brain around the corner and saw the auction block on which an elven male stood, battle scarred and with defiant eyes, he was one of the bigger sorts that made up a fair number of the elven population and which Zesshi had occasionally seen brief glimpses of.
"This way." Brain said and took her arm at the bicep, he gave her a slight tug when she stood stock still, and when she looked in his direction he pointed to a ramshackle booth with dried strips of meat hanging from hooks and swaying in the breeze.
"A public auction. Ikari doesn't do a lot of these, most of the slaves in this city are public workers, but they do sell some to private companies who run the latifundias or the mines farther away." Brain said it in the quietest voice he could as the bidding went on.
"The kinget is a big one, and he's not broken, the city won't take him, so he's probably bound for the mines. If they can reach the reserve price, which they will." Brain pointed out.
Zesshi uncharacteristically allowed herself to be lightly guided away, though she kept her head almost swiveled entirely backwards to watch while she listened to what Brain had to say.
"These spots are big entertainment for the lower classes, so we can get cheap food here, but I'd rather be gone before he's sold." Brain made his whisper rough and swift as he reached a booth.
"Family strip. With cheese." Brain said as soon as he was in front of a spindly unshaven and unwashed man with a gap toothed smile and a hunched back.
"Whassamatta her, eh? She never see a sale b'fore?" He asked Brain while watching the way Zesshi held still, transfixed.
"Five silvers medium."
"Five silvers large."
"One small gold…"
The bidding went on.
"No, she never has." Brain explained, "Sheltered upbringing, you know, her father was very protective of her, I guess." Brain said with a shrug, Zesshi tensed.
"Mhmm… Well, you have a good one, the ores'll go up 'morrow if you want a real good show." It was an ugly laugh, and Brain answered with a fragile little sly grin, though he snatched the meat and cheese away a little harder than was quite neighborly.
"Sold!"
"Zesshi… let's go." Brain said, and gave her arm a little tug.
She was rooted to the spot. "You called that one a kinget… what's that? He looks like an ordinary elf? Just… bigger than usual."
The elf began to struggle on the stage, some members of the crowd got up and began to leave, faint queasy looks appearing on their faces as Zesshi watched them wander away.
"No! You can't! You bastards… you mother fuckers!" The elf shouted as two more humans of considerable size put their feet behind his knees and forced him down.
"Kinget, it's a common word, it means 'King's Get' don't you know who he looks like?" Brain asked, his hand held her bicep a little tighter.
"No… why?" Zesshi asked, her mouth open, her heart began to race when she saw the auctioneer approach with the knife.
"You've never seen a painting of the elf king? King's get, kingets, are his sons and daughters, or at least the ones who look most like him. No other elf produces sons like that ." Brain whispered.
"So… wait… kinget, king's get, his sons… so he's the elf king's son?" Zesshi gasped. ' My… my half brother?' Zesshi realized as the male elf on the high wooden platform howled as his ears were quickly tugged taut, they wiggled as if to carry him away like wings, but nimble practiced human fingers closed on the tips and with a few quick saws, the flesh was cut away and half of each ear discarded.
The male howled loud and long enough that it was as if he was intent on dying by tearing out his own throat with the cry of pain, his eyes twisted and seeking help that wasn't there.
' My brother… I have a brother… sisters, lots of them… the King, of course he does it often… how did I never see this…' Zesshi gasped, Brain was tugging gently on her bicep, whispering something to her, but she heard none of it.
The world that opened up beneath her feet before into an endless dark, now burst into flame inside her mind.
[Quickstep[Flashstep[Greater Agility Boost[Windspeed] Zesshi muttered martial arts that Brain had never heard, and then for a moment he was by himself, Zesshi's sleeve was torn off in his hand. His eyes snapped to the stage.
' She's going to get caught?!' He thought in a moment of panic, his pulse pounded for just a moment, on stage he saw the briefest of a blur, the humans who had already begun to slap manacles on the elf male, exploded in a spray of blood and innards, heads tumbling down into the streets below, and the elf himself was gone.
The crowd barely had time to respond with a scream of surprise that became horror and fear as blood spilled over the gray stone and stained those nearest to the stage. The crowd fell over itself to flee with cries of alarm that spread far beyond the public square.
"The'ell?! What'appened, an' 'ey you, where'd yer wife go ey?!" The stall merchant snapped out and leaned over the edge, "All that blood, the fu-"
" Damn it!" Brain cursed, his sword was out and thrust into the merchant's mouth and out the back of his skull, then sheathed again an instant later.
A look of surprise on the dirty, filthy face as he staggered back against the stone wall of the building behind him, he fell to a slumped position. The surprise never left his face, and trickles of blood began to run out of his mouth before Brain took two steps more.
From somewhere else far away as the crowd ran screaming in all directions, Brain heard the sound of cracking, breaking stone.
The blue haired swordsman took off running, screaming in horror, "He killed the merchant, he's killing people, it's a rampage! A kinget awakened!" Brain screamed, and watched the panic spread as the armored guards of Ikari City began pouring out of their gatehouses well out of view and patrolling city guardsmen began to take up positions with practiced skill meant to stop advancing soldiers… and instead putting their skills to use stopping a riot.
Brain worked around that easily enough, he rushed into a nearby alley and hopped from one wall to the next until he was on the roof, his feet pounding over stone and wooden rooftops alike until he was clear of the riot entirely, and then he simply hopped down into another alley and emerged into the city street.
He caught sight of a stooped old man with a cane, one hand folded against the small of his back, and a scraggly unkempt beard of snow white on his face. "What's going on?" He asked the old man who stared at the distant noise of the widespread panic.
"I dunno… somethin' about a slave uprising or somethin'? Prolly nothin'? One goes mad an' people do dumb stuff… nothin' to worry about young man." The old man gave Brain a toothless smile and began to hobble away, the light tapping of the old man's walking stick made noise like the steady clicking of a mechanical clock, and with that relief, Brain made for his inn with steady and reassured steps of his own.
' I wonder if she's coming back?' Brain mused, and to his surprise, he found himself hoping that she did.
Volume 7 C40
"The Elf King? Why?" Ainz asked the question and cursed himself immediately. ' So much for appearing all knowing.' He at least confined his self derision to rolling his eyes mentally instead of physically.
"Allfather," Raymond said and a deep purple rage came over his face, "the Elf King is obsessed with one thing and only one thing."
"Rape." Neia hissed with loathing. "It's all he does. You could burn his kingdom down around him, and he wouldn't even stop thrusting into his latest victim."
Raymond shot the Queen of Frost a surprised look that briefly overrode his anger.
"I grew up in the Holy Kingdom, Cardinal, we're as devout as the rest of you, he was an example of why demihumans needed to be put down . We heard about him at least a few times in various sermons and in training." Neia answered with an angry lashing of her tail.
"You're not wrong." Raymond said evenly after a nod from the Holy Queen confirmed the truth of the dragonid monarch's claim. "But not wholly right either. He wants strong children. That's why he does it, he's obsessed with creating strong children with which to rule the world. So far, most of them were failures."
"Most?" Albedo asked pointedly.
Raymond kept himself relaxed while cursing his loose tongue, "Yes, a few champions in the past appeared among his children. Nothing compared to the more powerful human champions, but still, he tries." Raymond said without missing a beat. "My guess is that he heard about this tournament in Arwintar, learned about the Draconic Queen, and used the opportunity to murder her guards and snatch her up. She is a descendant of a dragon lord after all. It's possible he might be hoping she'll succeed where other women ah… failed ." He finished with an awkward silence that spread over the room like spilled milk over a table.
"Then she'll be in the Elf Kingdom?" Enri asked, a light shiver in her voice as she contemplated the fate of her sister monarch.
"Whatever is left of her." Albedo guessed, only for Cardinal Raymond to shake his head.
"It might not be all bad for her, the Elf King is lazy, sloppy, and frankly an utter moron. He thinks of nothing but his wants from one moment to the next, he never plans ahead further than his next rut ." Raymond pointed out, "The Draconic Queen isn't her grandfather but she has the power to shift her being to the body of a small child. If Queen Draudillon is an exceptionally quick thinker, she might be able to disguise herself. Female or not if she is too young to bear children, the Elf King will just treat her as a servant until she's old enough in his eyes."
"Then we must investigate the Elf Kingdom and find out where she is as quickly as possible and demand her immediate return if she is there." Ainz made the statement with such offhanded casualness that he didn't notice for several seconds that he was being stared at by the entirety of the throne room's occupants, save for Albedo, who beamed at him with pride that glowed like holy light on her face.
"Do I have something on my face?" Ainz asked and touched his cheek.
"Ah, no, but… you say that as if it's no trouble, it took our best agents weeks to simply scout the outskirts. The Elf Kingdom isn't as densely populated as any human Kingdom, but it is a vast wilderness with several small cities, many towns and villages, and the great city of Crescent lake. How do you plan on your agents slipping in, and what will you do if she is there and he refuses to hand Queen Draudillon over?" Raymond felt his heart racing in his breast as the bright eyes of the Allfather seemed to look into his very soul.
"My magic is supreme. I have means of scrying beyond the tenth tier, and agents that… if the elves had things to match, would have never allowed your best operatives to get a toe beyond the border. As you say, it will take time, but it can be done and it will be done." Ainz answered, he thought back to the endless hours staying up late at night, watching Queen Draudillon struggle over the bottle of alcohol, focus on her work for just a little bit longer… the way her face masked all her pain before she went to be turned down again in a plea for help… her brave face when she ventured to see the soldiers on the front lines…
' She set the example I've tried to follow. I owe her a debt I can't repay or inform her of. If she is alive, I will put her back on that throne.' Ainz vowed, but said aloud, "And as to what I will do? I am not going to ask him to return her. I am going to inform him that she will be returned, and if he refuses, I will destroy him." Ainz said with a preternatural icy calm, and Raymond was forced to ask…
"Why would you go so far, you're talking about declaring war over a monarch to whom you owe nothing?" Raymond asked while his mind whirled. ' Is he a god? A saint? Is that why the places he touches with his rule are beyond the impossible in their peacefulness?'
Ainz closed his eyes and took a deep breath, shaking his head while he rubbed the skin just above his eyebrows. "I am the All father. Father to All . Not to one, not to a few, not to one or two. I am father to All . The Queen of the Draconic Kingdom is a worthy monarch, and she will make a worthy vassal, all who submit to my rule, as she was negotiating to do, are entitled to be protected as if they were my son Aurelion himself."
' Good save, Ainz.' He told himself when he was sure he got his facial muscles under control again.
' He's a god… that was like listening to some divine pronouncement… I should have seen it when he went out of his way to avoid bloodshed against the Baharuth Empire… or when he enticed them with the idea of a tournament to avoid war and save lives… I'm in the presence of humanity's divine protector… and yet…' Raymond cast his eyes toward the nonhuman wife of the Allfather, she wore on her face the serenity of a joyful and proud expectant mother, while near to her stood a dragonid, a former defender of humanity who still had humans which she defended…
As he stood there, taking it all in, the monarchs in front of him seemingly forgot his presence as they began to offer to render aid in support of the Allfather's wishes…
"I have fliers who can glide well over the Elf Kingdom's lands, higher than their bows can shoot, I can lend them to the effort if you like." Queen of Frost, Neia Baraja offered. Raymond's head began to hurt and he put a palm to his forehead.
"Husband, we have some elven scouts still living in our lands who are loyal, they could easily slip over the border…" Holy Queen Calca suggested.
"Goblins aren't human, so they should be able to enter comfortably. I can lend my assassins and spies to the effort." Wolf Queen Enri made the offer as her body shivered a little from a lack of the same control that more experienced monarchs had over their physical responses.
' It can't be.' Raymond tried to deny what he was hearing, but that did nothing to stop them from speaking, nor himself from hearing what he tried to deny.
"I can… I can grant you temporary letters of visitation, to let you pass through our borders for official business. Let it not be said that the Slane Theocracy did nothing when a sister state was in danger." Raymond offered, and that briefly stilled the reality warping conversation that was plaguing his mind before his very ears.
"Thank you for your contribution, Cardinal. Have copies brought to us immediately and send word to your people to permit our agents crossing without an inconvenience." The Wolf King said, and then added with a raised finger, "In triplicate, with your personal seal."
"Paranoid?" Raymond asked with a sardonic tone.
"Cautious." Nfirea replied succinctly.
"It'll be done…" Raymond said as the meeting finally drew to a close.
Volume 7 C41
Queen Draudillon wiped the sweat from her brow as she hauled yet more buckets into the harem tent, thankfully the Elf King seemed to listen to her at least a little when she said, "If you don't spare them at least a little rest, they'll die before they can bear you anything ."
That paused his constant mounting of her maids, and now the Queen was forced to struggle to tune out the sound of a weeping elf woman and the sound of flesh against flesh on the other side of the thin fabric. ' No wonder they suggested coming for my people… theirs were suffering too…' It was hard to hate them like she had. She grunted as she trod the final steps and set the buckets down, dropping the wooden pole from off of her shoulders and crouching down beside the brown haired young woman.
"It'll be okay… it'll be okay, everything will be fine." The Queen whispered in her childish voice as she leaned over the young maid and began to apply the herb soaked waters to the cuts and bruises and other marks of cruelty.
The Queen's hand no longer trembled, and she no longer doubted that she was lying to the servants she was now bound to serve. ' Can they even hear my lies anymore?' The Queen wondered, the sound in the next tent was registering less at least. The other traveling elven women registered it not at all.
"Here, let me help." A feminine voice reached Draudillon from over her shoulder, she looked behind her, one of the elven concubines, and one visibly pregnant, albeit not by much.
"Can you?" Draudillon asked and looked her up and down.
The woman nodded, her ears twitched, "He hasn't touched me since I conceived, it's the only time he stops except to 'switch'. I have strength enough, and you bring us water enough every day to use on ourselves instead of just your people, it's the least I can do for you, child."
Draudillon hesitated. "They're my responsibility…" She whispered and stroked the cheek of the woman who lay limp on her back, staring at nothing. The woman's head tipped to fall on her cheek.
"You're too young to bear it alone, let me help, I promise I won't hurt them, I'm not a monster, and we have more experience with this than you do." The woman urged, and Draudillon finally gave a quiet nod.
"Just… just be careful with them…" Draudillon urged, and without another word the elf woman began to assist, holding up arm by arm, leg by leg, helping to move the maids and court ladies and assisting in their care.
Draudillon cradled one in her lap minutes later and tilted a cup of herbal water against the woman's swollen split lips.
"Move your finger up and down the outside of their throat to help force them to swallow." The elf woman said, and then as Draudillon looked at her, dumbly, the concubine put two fingers beneath the woman's jaw and began to gently rub her fingers up and down from the start of chest and back up again.
"This way they won't die of dehydration or starvation, you can feed and water them more until their minds recover… trust me, I know." The woman added, and Draudillon nodded.
"Th-Thank you." She added, and as she began to lay the broken woman back down on her mat, Draudillon's heart leapt into her throat, as she was laying the woman's arm down, she felt the hand squeeze hers. It was weak, barely there. A toddler could have shown more strength, but the slight pressure of flesh against flesh was present.
The Queen of the Draconic Kingdom took her eyes directly to the wounded woman, and there was, however small, the spark of life and light to be had in the soft brown pupils.
"M-M-More? Th-Thirsty. Hu-Hungry… please…? Nightmare? Dream?" The words were hesitant, confused, lost, but the wishes were clear enough.
"It's… it's a nightmare… just keep your eyes closed and wait, and it'll be over before you know it." Draudillon promised, "Just don't think, don't open your eyes, and wait for this all to end, let me do everything…"
"My-" The woman let out a faint smile as she was about to speak, and Queen Draudillon rushed her fingers to the woman's lips.
"Hush, just rest… all nightmares end, it's going to be all right." The Queen choked out the words and swallowed hard, a lump made of tears went back down as she tried to suppress anything that might give away her lie. "Let me get you food, I h-have some water here, but I'll get you something more to eat… i-it isn't much but it will fill you up, just stay there." The Queen got to her feet as the maid closed her eyes.
The pot full of boiled mealed oats was bland and flavorless on its own, however the elves who prepared it had taken to adding scouted fruits and honeycomb to the mix to add flavor. Paired with dry bread that would soak up the moisture, it wasn't bad.
Draudillon ladled a bowl and scurried back to her patient, almost sliding to her knees in her haste, she dunked the dry elven bread into the grayish white and yellow stuff and stirred it around.
"H-Here… I got food… let m- let us help you." The Queen said, suddenly noticing the tension in the tent, and instantly knew why. The sound of the Elf King's rutting ceased.
The elf assisting her got up, moved behind the human, and after hooking her arms under the maid's armpits, she hauled her up to a seated position resting against the concubine's body.
The maid stirred a little. She tried to move her arms and legs, and they only… twitched. "M-My arms… m-my legs?" The maid whimpered.
The concubine spoke up, "The King is a monk, if you fought him, this was his punishment to you… you will regain control over them in time, but how long, we can't say. It is different for everyone, just… let your Lady take care of you…"
Draudillon held the bread out when the maid's jaw dropped open, the Queen placed a small bite on her tongue. The maid was weeping a little as she tried to chew, and while she did, the Queen poured water splashing into a little wooden cup. "H-Here. Drink… drink it down, it's good for you… the healers will come by to cast spells, but if they run out of mana it will take too long, this will dull the pain." Draudillon promised, and when the woman swallowed, the Queen held the cup to the split lips and slowly tilted it up.
The maid began to cough and her chest spasm, her lips twisted and she sucked them in over her teeth to try to stop her hacking. "B-Bitter!" The maid said after the coughing fit had passed.
"I know… it's easier to bear if you're not aware when drinking it, but it is necessary." The concubine said with sympathy, "You get used to it. If we get to Arwintar in the next day or two, maybe my husband can get us some things to make it more bearable, but for now… just drink it slow."
"I want to wake up… oh gods… I want to wake up…" The maid began to weep as memories came flooding back.
"Me too." Queen Draudillon said in her tiny, childish voice, "Me too."
Volume 7 C42
' At least the big oaf stopped flailing.' Zesshi thought when she finally began to slow her pace. Behind her the city became smaller, though hardly a dot, no pursuit was either likely yet, or likely to find them even if they'd begun. ' And none of them saw me, I'm sure of that.' The half elf stopped and dropped the behemoth of an elf, from off of her shoulder, and to her relief he didn't try to run or fight. His resistance to her taking him up to carry, died as soon as they were outside the city walls.
He landed and touched his ears, blood dripped from them still, the veins and nerves that made them so sensitive had done nothing to stop either the flow of blood or pain to her half sibling, as his shaking hands testified when he ran the fingers back and forth over their newly cropped shape.
"They really took them… so it's not just a rumor… those… those monsters…" He grunted and gasped, but suppressed his dismay and his pain when Zesshi said nothing, and looked down at her at last. "Who- Who are you?"
"How many of you are there?" Zesshi demanded and crossed her arms in front of her slight chest.
"What?" He stared dumbly from his almond eyes, whatever answer he was looking for, a question phrased as a demand wasn't it.
"You. How many? Kingets. Sons and daughters of the Elf King?" Zesshi clarified her question, and the sheer absurdity of the question gave him further pause.
"Lots. Like… one in eight of the population, s'posedly, I don't really know, nobody does, but a lot." The behemoth answered, and Zesshi felt her knees grow weak.
"My… brothers and sisters then… do they… do they all end up how you did back there, when they're captured, that is?" Zesshi asked, but dread roiled in her heart like oil spreading out over a fire.
"Yuh, I guess? Talked to some of the others, but the Theocracy, they got a lot of us now. I passed through a bunch of cities on my way here, can't go that long without seeing one of us, brothels, fields, mines, houses and such… why? Who are you an… and what was all that? Why'd you save me?" He demanded and crossed his own arms, a trail of crimson trickling over the length of his arm before a single drop fell into the green of the grass at their feet.
"I'm your half sister… and a citizen, no… a weapon of this country. Or… I was ." Zesshi explained. ' So this is what they've kept from me… brothels… mines… fields… menials of all kinds. They've been lying to me, lying to me for a hundred damn years!' Even sheltered as she was, Zesshi was not unaware that some people preyed on the powerless. ' That instructor who raped Clementine was like that… strange how I was the only one to believe her. No wonder she ran off, but she was crazy before that anyway… but if that'd happen in the Black, where else? Raymond… you have some serious explaining to do when we meet again.'
Zesshi shook her head to remove herself from her stupor, "Listen to me," she said when she looked up at the brute, "North of here is the Kingdom of Carne, if you can make it there, you'll be safe."
"Which way is north?" Her big brother asked and looked around.
"No idea. But…" Zesshi answered, then thought it over. "Brain, my traveling companion, he knows where it is, and we've been traveling steadily in that direction." She looked around and then leveled her arm out and pointed toward the distant horizon, tracing her finger from the city and toward another big bend in the far river.
"So… you're my little sister… half sister… one of so many… thank you." He answered and touched his bloody ear again, "I… I'll see you, I hope. I'd better get going, I suppose you're not coming with me?" He asked in a deep, regretful voice.
"No, I need to get back to my companions, nobody saw that it was me, so that shouldn't be a problem, all you have to do is keep moving, good luck…" Zesshi held out a small hand and it disappeared inside of the enormous grip of the towering, broad shouldered elf, "big brother."
"Same to you, little sister. Do you have a home somewhere that I could come see you at?" He asked, a gentle smile over his smooth lined face.
"Yes, I-" She stopped. "No. No… I don't have a home anymore… I just realized that… I can't stay here anymore… what the hell am I supposed to do…?" She wondered about that with no clear answer. ' I've got no friends now… no place of my own. Just… where the hell do I go?' She asked, and the big elf put a hand down on her shoulder.
"You're strong, don't worry, the strong always find a place in this world, and if they can't, they've got the power to make one. I hope we meet again, and if we don't, I'll be forever grateful for my wandering little sister." He said and wiped the blood away from his arms, then with that, he turned and took off at a dead run.
Zesshi lingered to watch him go. ' I… shit, I didn't even ask his name.' She looked at the city again and it took her big brother out of her line of sight. "I need to go back… maybe… maybe I should have gone with my brother instead, but he knows this place at least as little as I do, and he's not going to go all the way to Arwintar."
She thought it over, ' Plus… I'm sure they're waiting for me.' That brought an unexpected little smirk to Zesshi's face that was entirely pure, even without being together very long, Brain proved himself a pleasant and amiable, even charming companion who could brush off her brusqueness, while Layali was just… ' Damn cute when she doesn't have that deathly look on her face…'
The pathetic girl pulled at the faint heartstrings of Layali's fellow half elf, and whether she wanted to admit it or not, she thought, ' I'd actually miss the girl a little.'
With that, Zesshi began to make her way back, though she took her time about it.
When she did return, the city guard was doubled, with figures along the walls and in particular, at the hole in the wall which was steadily being repaired by various masons working by torchlight. Their backs were bent about their labors, notably, they were all human.
The flames licked at the air, held up by multiple heavy looking guards, ' They're clearly taking this seriously, magic would make this easier, but they must be worried he'll come back and want to save mana for a fight…'
An understandable, practical, and needless response. The guards were equally useless. She used her martial arts again to boost her speed, and she was over the wall before they knew anyone was there.
The grousing of workers having to labor into the night, slapping down stone after stone onto mortar to fix the hole Zesshi left for them, gradually retreated at her back as she advanced toward the inn.
Nobody noticed one more pedestrian walking the street in the daytime, much less so in the darkness as people either returned from work or were going out drinking. The noise of abundant carousing came from various establishments, the smell of food and beer was accompanied by the sound of laughter and bright yellow lights out of more than one building.
Out of the most idle curiosity, the half elf stopped at one as she passed it when she heard the noise of a stringed instrument and a fair and feminine voice ringing out with a drinking song.
Zesshi looked at the place, it didn't have glass windows, but it did have a broad bay window with heavy shutters that were held open to allow air to flow freely. She stood close to it and looked inside. Humans were gathered at various wooden tables, and a single song followed along with that of the woman who stood on a very low stage playing a tune.
"The beer she makes your will so strong…
But that don't help that big ole dong
So buy it time with a drin-king song…"
"She'll show you the way to go home!"
"Hey!"
"She'll show you the way to go home!"
"Hey!"
"But if it's not up she'll leave you a-lone!"
"Nay!"
It was high spirits inside with mugs of frothy beer waving around as rough workers flirted with pretty young women, gap toothed smiles and big, lecherous grins that might have been off putting anywhere else, were there cause for people to relax more fully as they sought out whatever they truly wanted…
So… Comrades.' Zesshi thought, and thought about her fellow Black Scripture members, ' Can I really count those as comrades? We never did anything together. I'm literally 'the extra seat'. The closest one to that outside of Raymond is Cenna, the Captain is usually quick to offer to let me go on one of his little outings… now I'm wondering where he actually goes every year.'
When the camaraderie of the various common humans in the big tavern, their raucous laughter and crude humor and general happiness was put right up in her face as it was through the window, Zesshi couldn't help but put a hand on the sill as if to leap over and join the crowd within.
The brushing of the air against her ears beneath the hood was what stopped her.
The ears twitched beneath her hood, and her hand tensed enough on the stone sill that her fingers gouged tracks in the gray stone.
' I have no comrades here.' She thought, and turned her face away to return to the inn.
When she reached her room and knocked on the door there was no answer initially. She knocked again, still nothing.
Finally Zesshi said, "Layali, it's me." And the rapid sound of small feet scampering over the floor sounded through the door.
The lock turned, the door opened, and Zesshi slipped in before Layali pushed the door shut and locked it again.
The half elf trump card of humanity looked around the room as if Brain were hiding from her. "Where's Brain?" She asked as Layali yawned and went back over toward the bed.
"He said he was going to get work." She stretched out and lay on the bed, the 'warmers' were long since gone, and she snuggled beneath the blanket with her head on the pillow. "So this is what it's like to have one of my own… never had it before… it's nice." Layli murmured.
"What, a room?" Zesshi asked.
"No… never had a bed." She yawned again and began to fall back asleep.
Zesshi pursed her lips while she watched the half elf sleep, and thought of the relative opulence in which she was able to live when not minding the treasury. ' The difference between she and I… it's just power… that's it…' The treasury guardian's fingers formed into fists as she began to wonder how those who treated her with respect, would treat her if all her power was lost, or if she'd never had any at all.
The answer was steadily running north still. ' I'd be like the rest of them. I"m not 'one of the good ones' I'm a trump card, to be discarded when used and managed when not…' She cursed and snarled until she saw the half elf begin to quiver beneath the blanket as if Zesshi were disturbing her sleep.
"I… I'm going to find Brain, maybe earn some extra money with him…" Zesshi said, unsure if the girl heard her or not, she left the room behind.
Volume 7 C43
The mountains of the dwarves loomed so large that even craning her neck all the way back Evileye could not see the peaks. Clouds drifted by and the endless snow kept the stones forever buried. The wind swept down over the stones and brushed against the bodies of the party and cloaks were either clutched tighter to the bodies of the travelers or billowed backwards like they were going to be carried away. Gagaran, Lakyus, the twins, Lupu and Momon immediately clutched the heavy cloth closer to their bodies.
Evileye however, did not, not right away. ' Shit!' She cursed when she saw that the others did so, they shivered a little in the snow chilled wind of the mountains, but for the undead, what was the coldest wind? Nothing, just another breeze. She clutched the thick red cloak to her body and pretended to shiver like the rest of them.
"Are your clothes not enchanted against the cold?" Momon asked the party, and Lakyus shook her head, her teeth chattering just a bit.
"N-N-No… magic items are expensive, our gear is enchanted against cold wounds, but against e-e-everyday weather? N-N-No, it's n-n-not. S-Simple comfort is-is-isn't worth it…"
"Betcher second guessin' that choice now, eh?" Lupu said with a chuckle. The cleric's own nature as a werewolf provided natural resistance to weather such as this, and she couldn't help but feel more than a bit smug, stretching out and letting her cloak billow and flap behind her for a moment.
"How come you're so damn comfortable?" Gagaran asked, shivering like a leaf but without Lakyus's chattering teeth.
"I'm used to a lot worse weather than this, we haven't even climbed up that thing yet. Adamantite adventurers, huh? You'd fight a dragon and call it a day, but a little nip in the air and you're all shivery and want nothin but a warm beer and a hot fire… which actually does sound kinda good… let's go." Lupu said and pointed toward the top of the mountain.
"Go where?" Evileye asked, "Do you know the way?"
Every head collectively turned toward Lupu and the red haired cleric shrugged and said, "If you plan on pointing dramatically, you do not have to point in the right direction." She cackled and laughed and the entire party raised their eyes to the sky and groaned with exasperation.
"But yes, I do." Lupu added, "The path is overgrown, but it's this way."
"How do you know, evil cleric?" The twins asked at once, they wore their typical blank expressions, but they had a tiny hint of curiosity in their voices when they bestowed Lupu with their new nickname for her.
"Simple, dwarves dig deep, but they always put their entrances up high. This is the only path going up, and dwarves tend to build 'around' nature. Kinda like elves that way I guess." Lupu said with a shrug. ' Okay, that was bullshit, but easier than explaining that I can smell them on the path here.'
She flashed a V for victory sign at the two who traded questioning looks at one another before they gave a collective shrug.
"Go on, evil cleric." The pair said, and Lupu took the first step on the hard dirt path. The dirt crunched underfoot and with nothing else for it, the group wandered their way upwards along the long and winding path.
Evileye held herself back behind Momon as they went upward in a single file. The freezing wind got worse as they continued the steady ascent but, much to the relief of the party, there were 'alcoves' dug into the mountain side with thick oaken doors. Not large by any means, but large enough that they could all sit down. The walls of these alcoves were coated with a shiny dark substance that reflected the light of the embedded glowstones which were embedded in all three sides.
"What is this stuff?" Momon asked and removing his glove, he touched it and rubbed the smooth substance between his fingers. It was smooth and had the faint odor of wood.
"Sleepseed oil." Lakyus answered, "It's used for insulation in some places, it helps hold in the heat, not much gets through it, I've heard some tribes even use it to harden vines which they turn into armor… but that's way, way far away from here, or must be because I've never seen it myself."
"Hmpf, interesting…" Momon said, and sat down with the others.
Whatever it was, it worked, the heat of their bodies began to rapidly warm the alcove.
"Clever of them to use it like this, making a safe rest spot for travelers." Evileye said and inched closer to Momon.
"Yeah, no need for body heat close by, or even another person." Lupu said with a smarmy little grin on her face when she shot Evileye a look, the vampire girl stiffened and inched no closer.
"It says a lot that they provide these." Lakyus said as her body relaxed when warmth began to return comfort and feeling alike to her limbs. She rubbed her hands together to accelerate the process while she spoke, the chattering of her teeth was gone, and she sounded much more herself. "They must be really looking to be more open, that explains the influx of dwarf goods on the market."
"So you think they'll welcome outsiders?" Gagaran asked with a downward glance at her leader.
"Probably. You don't think so?" Lakyus looked up beside her and the square-headed behemoth of a woman thought it over.
"I dunno, I mean, people who hide themselves under a mountain can't exactly be the most neighborly… you know? I'm just not hoping for too much, better not to get our hopes up about a warm welcome." Gagaran answered with a blank expression, but otherwise, she gave it a relaxed half shrug.
"The Allfather supposedly rules there, he's supposed to be very open minded, I think we should be more than optimistic. He's alleged to be a genius of magic, some even say he's like a god. And if he's really capable of the spells I've heard he uses, then he's no different than one." Evileye countered her 'big sister' immediately, but Lakyus was quick to throw in as well.
"A god? I don't know about that, and I've heard he's actually using undead labor in some places, the undead are vile, disgusting creatures that have to be put down… using them, consorting with them? I've heard he's very impressive, but I think it's better to be cautious. Anyone who tolerates necromancy is deeply suspect at best." Lakyus said with a sharp nod, and Evileye went silent.
She felt herself deflate completely. It wasn't the first time her beloved sister had said something of that sort, a priestess of the Water God, Evileye knew all too well the stance her sister had toward the undead as a whole and necromancy in particular.
Lupu's eye was on her, Evileye could feel it even though she wasn't looking. ' Tell them? How can I tell them… how do I reveal something like this to people who have helped kill my kind for so long…?'
She had no idea.
None at all.
But as she felt Momon's warmth so tantalizingly within reach, Evileye knew, and resolved, one thing for sure…
' I will find a way.'
Volume 7 C44
Raymond finished writing the letter, though he did so without his usual flourish. It was slow, even sluggish, with the occasional quick jerking motion as his anxiety ramped up again before he could force it back down. ' Fighting vampires is easier… I'm going to have to explain this to my colleagues.'
That was going to be a chore without end. ' Berenice is reasonable enough, but Dominic is rash, hot tempered, and doesn't see much beyond the present. Ginedine will get past this as I frame it as a matter of law. But Maximillion? Not to mention the Pontifex?'
The whole matter was a combination of dread and frustration. ' If they'd just listen to me then everything would be so much easier…' Raymond cursed their stubborn heads, each one headed a different scripture, and so each brought with them the experiences and perspectives of that scripture's purpose.
' But none of them are the Black.' Raymond thought with great pride. The best of the best, the strongest of the strong, more cunning than the Holocaust Scripture, more stealthy than the Windflower scripture, more loyal than the late Sunlight Scripture… ' Nobody can beat the Black. You'd think being in charge of them would have lent my words some weight when I came back from observing the destruction of the Baharuth Empire's army. But nooooo!' He rolled his eyes at their responses.
"He would have to have the power of the Six."
"He would have to be a God himself."
"You must be mistaken."
Only the fact that Thousand Mile Astrologer was watching and made an identical report, changed their minds. ' The Allfather is, if anything, even more impressive. But he hasn't claimed to be a god. Then again, did the Six ever claim it either?' Raymond ran through every line of the Book of the Six. He memorized it years before, and… no, they hadn't.
He rubbed his forehead, ' What are you doing, Raymond? Just running over pointless things in your mind. Trying to distract yourself from the real problem.'
The demihuman, the traitor to humanity, being treated as a peer by the other human monarchs was bad. ' That would have been unthinkable even three years ago. Has everyone forgotten that?' He wondered, and it brought him to the thing which was worse… for his conscience. ' Goblins riding into our border, entering the Elf Kingdom in search of a missing human monarch? Demihumans searching for a missing human monarch?'
The ground might as well have been shaking beneath his feet. And as he finished the last letter and heated the wax to affix his seal to them all one by one, his fingers had a tremor to them that was not there before.
' Zesshi… gods above I wish you were here… are you alright? Are you lost? In more ways than one?' The tap, tap, tap noise of wax dripping down on the cream colored paper kept time with his thoughts, and he brought his seal down onto the first letter, marking it as permanently as a tombstone.
The enchanted sealing wax cost a fortune to prepare, but now that his mark was there, it wasn't going anywhere.
' That poor girl… if the human she went with reveals what we've kept from her, and he probably has… What must she think of us? Of me? Twenty years I've been hiding the truth from her for humanity's sake… now she finds out my country isn't that different from a whole Kingdom of Elf Kings…' He shivered.
' It was that or wipe them out…' The old thought comforted him more than once, whenever his conscience nagged at him about the all too human terror, fear, and pain on the faces of the elves, he told himself again and again, ' This is the kinder fate, at least they get to live.'
But never once did a moment pass that he didn't flinch when he saw a half elf other than Zesshi.
"There's no other way." He told himself again and put his head in his hands and elbows on the table. "There's no other way!" He shouted to the empty room. "There's not!" He shouted again.
His mind betrayed him.
It carried him back to the hateful stare of the crop eared elf woman he saw on the street, arm held firmly by a human man, together, but hardly a loving couple. She remembered him, and though he denied it often, he remembered those he captured on his missions as the war went on. ' I never touched them…' He told himself, but the hateful glare of the elf woman back at him as he rode past in his carriage, and the growing belly she sported, did not trouble his conscience less.
He brought his fist down on the table, shattering it in two and knocking it down to the floor hard enough that the two halves broke again on impact and his letters scattered and floated about the room until the weight of the wax carried them to slide along the floor.
"Damn it!" He grumbled as he looked at the mess he made.
He went about the room bending over and picking up letter by letter authorizing entry and passage through the Slane Theocracy unobstructed, and informing all military authorities that even nonhumans were to go unmolested for the duration of their task.
When it was done, he went to the small rope his upper class room was equipped with and gave it a tug, somewhere on the far end a bell was ringing which would summon a servant that would send word that his authorizations were ready, in turn another servant would be sent from the King and Queen that would pick them up, and then that servant in turn would bring the letters back.
Roundabout as it was, the niceties had to be observed.
' I could just take it myself, but going uncalled for would be bad form.' Raymond thought with a small hint of annoyance before he went to his bed and lay down, he set the letters on the nightstand beside him and picked up the Book of the Six. Its passages often helped quiet his troubled mind in his darkest hours. The feel of the pages, the weight of them all, it wasn't a thick book, but the pure white leather cover always felt good to hold. Raymond quietly recited the words within to himself until a servant appeared at his door.
Young, as most of them were, he took directions well and was gone after no more than a few words.
He went back to reading until a surprisingly short period of time later there was a knock on his door.
"Enter." Raymond said, and his face twisted in a mix of shock and dismay, it was the dragonid Queen of Frost who entered his quarters.
"You've got letters for us, good. I half expected you to worm out of it somehow." Neia said with respectful nod, her tail undulating behind her as she drew closer to where he lay.
Raymond sat up instantly and slid his legs off the side of the bed, setting his book down on the pillow as he rose up.
"You? Not a servant?" He asked.
"Is that what passes for a question in your head?" Neia chuckled, shamelessly exposing her sharp and predatory teeth.
Raymond shook his head hard enough to cast off the dismay, "What I mean is, why are you here?"
"To pick up these." Neia said and reached for the stack.
"Why are you here and not a servant ? There's protocols…" Raymond retorted and pursed his lips into a disapproving line.
As she began to read over the letter on top, she answered him, "I was a soldier before, a scout, a ranger, if you want to think of it that way. I worked on my own, when you work by yourself, your protocol becomes, 'Does something need to get done? Yes? Then do it.' and that's all. You expect different out of a beast ?" She snapped at him in a thick, sarcastic voice with a condescending smirk.
"Just take them and go. They're all there." Raymond answered with a wave of his hand toward the door, refusing to take the bait she offered him.
"Without checking them? No way. I don't trust that you wouldn't set up my people, or Enri's people, to be killed." Neia said and kept her eyes roaming over the paper before moving the top letter to the bottom and reading the next in the stack.
"The traitor to humanity worries about treason? I shouldn't be surprised." Raymond retorted and stood up, he went to a small countertop and walked behind it, from down below he drew up a large opaque green bottle with a narrow lip and a big round body over a flat base.
"Traitor to humanity?" Neia said without looking at him as she read over the letter. "It was humanity that betrayed me first, human . I was loyal. I was faithful. I protected my country when it threw me away to die, my only crime was keeping what I thought were supposed to be virtues. Virtues like mercy to the weak, kindness to the poor, sacrifice for a greater cause. I believed all that, and I lived it, right up until the moment that bitch's sword was shoved into my guts."
Raymond popped the cork on the bottle and took out a metal flagon, he poured the red wine himself and took her words in silence. "You say that, but you also invaded your former country, abandoned your humanity, and killed… how many humans?"
"By my estimate, seventy thousand humans died in the war." Neia answered, "And thirty thousand demi-humans. But it could have been much more." She admitted, "And I didn't abandon my humanity by choice . This," she waved a hand up and down her dragonid body, "was a consequence of dragon blood being used to save my life after Remedios tried to kill me. A side effect, I guess. I do like it though, the wings are nice." She popped the wings out to their fullest span to show them off, and even reached out a finger to stroke their fine firm leather.
Raymond took a long draught of his flagon and retorted, "So you killed more than you protected." He answered, though he filed away the rest of what she said for later consideration. ' So our conclusions about how she came to be this way were all wrong then…'
"Only after they started it." Neia shot back, "I sent peace envoys, I wanted to start up a peaceful trading relationship, instead my envoys were murdered and their heads put on spikes on the wall. What should I have done? What would you have done in my place? Don't answer with a lie, Cardinal. We both know the truth."
Rather than lie, he said nothing.
"Even a beast can love her own." Neia added.
"What about your human slaves?" Raymond answered back with a flash of anger, "You kept and enslaved tens of thousands more after the war ended."
Neia snorted and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Who told you such a lie?"
"We have our sources, we know that large numbers of prisoners were taken, and a lot fewer went home afterward. Did you just kill them instead?" Raymond snarled at her with sudden fury.
Neia's glare bored into his skull, as if she were looking through him, "I. Have. No. Slaves." She bit off each word like she was gnawing on hardtack and the silence stretched between the pair.
"So, like any beast you just killed them all." Raymond glared back as best he could, the unmitigated evil in her eyes loomed like an angry dragon, ' If I just killed her… wait, so if she did that, why offer to help now…?'
He was just starting to wonder that, when she denied that as well. "No. After the war ended, I had a lot of farmable land and not enough people to till it, so I offered every prisoner of war their own plot of land if they would stay, and I put them under the former Duke Astraka of the Southern Holy Kingdom. I suppose you could call him my 'minister of human affairs' if you needed a title for it."
"I don't believe you." Raymond answered and poured another drink, "One rules the other, one kills the other, there's no way humans and nonhumans can live side by side like that… no way. There's not."
"You're repeating the same old lies I heard my whole life." Neia barked back, "But where the hell do you think you are?!" She yelled at him, "You had to have seen it here, outside your damn window if you care to look!" She pointed her free hand to the window, the talon at the tip of her finger raking the air until her arm trembled with rage when it came to a stop. "Demalbion is no different. I don't hate humans… I was born one. I didn't ask for this, I didn't ask for any of what happened! But things got complicated, and we found a way to make them work afterward! Same here, I guess. Your faith is nothing but lies and hatred! Hatred and lies! It doesn't have to be that way! It doesn't!" She almost screeched it, her wings shook with fury and her tail lashed behind her as her arm slowly lowered to her side.
Raymond looked toward the window where she pointed, approached, and drew the curtain over it without thinking, darkening the room a little. "You're lying." He said again, "This place is a fluke held together by the desperation that made it into a country. In a few years the demihumans will be rampaging and killing humans again, that's how it's always been."
"Send someone to my country then. If you won't believe me, if you won't believe the very eyes of Queen Calca, send an envoy to tour my homeland and see for yourself that I don't lie." Neia said to him, and after a deep breath, she calmed. "I pity you."
"I'm sorry?" Raymond said, unsure if he understood her properly, he returned to the bar and poured himself another drink.
"I said, I pity you. You're not that different from me. A defender of humanity through and through, you've been in danger countless times and come through it all. You killed and fought battles and lived to tell about it, and now here you are, a man in middle age… you've done so many terrible, awful things, haven't you? But you live with it because you're convinced you had no other choice. That there was no other way but the way you chose." Neia said and shook her head, "But all that's going to change, Cardinal . Someday soon, sooner than you think, reality will hit, and all the guilt you're hiding from behind the shield of 'necessity' will crush you beneath it when you find out it was all a lie."
She turned and headed for the door, tail lashing behind her and snapped it shut.
Raymond looked at the curtain enclosed window, and reached for the bottle to top off his flagon again.
Volume 7 C45
After the first of Queen Draudillon's people spoke it was like a dam burst, the rest began to speak not long after. At first what passed for speaking was instead steady sobbing, but even that, the Queen was grateful for. "Drink." The small Queen said and held the cup to her maid's lips. The bloody split was wiped clean to ensure the young woman wouldn't be forced to taste her own blood in the water she drank.
The woman's head rested in the Queen's lap, and near at hand an elven woman was applying a wrap to that same maid's black and blue bruised up thighs.
"Maj-esty?" She whispered as if she couldn't believe it was her Queen hovering over her. The diminutive red haired woman swallowed the water, her bright green eyes wide open and alive at last.
"Yes… don't worry, I've convinced him that he needs to leave all of you alone for… for a little while." The Queen said in a quiet little voice, "It… it was th-the best I could do… buy you time…" The white haired Draudillon shivered throughout her body, "I'm sorry, I let you all down… I failed you…"
"Majesty… your majesty… you stayed with us…?" She whispered and reached up a disbelieving hand to touch the cheek of the Queen. There wasn't one servant in the palace that hadn't grown up with the Royal line, and yet somehow it was still not believable to her that her Lady was present.
"Of course… I can't abandon you…" Draudillion answered, she gave the strongest smile she could, but it was fragile, weak. "Drink. You'll need your strength."
The woman choked on the water she was given, it burbled past her lips and ran down the sides of her warm, flushed face. Draudillon patted the woman's back until the maid regained control, then tried to give her water again. This time it ran down the woman's throat instead. "Ahh… it stings…" She rasped out.
"It can't be helped." The elven attendant said with a tender touch that didn't linger on the bruised flesh longer than it took to wrap it. "The King has been using his mana to make us travel faster, he's rougher on us… punishes us, when he has to do any work himself. The magic casters with healing magic drain their mana quicker, so we… we must make do with herbs for now. I'm sorry."
The woman's ears twitched, and the maid gasped, "Elves… right, the fight… they, we were taken…" It slowly returned to her, Draudillon could see it behind the woman's eyes as she came back to herself.
"Where are we now…?" She croaked.
"Most of the way toward Arwintar, my husband is one of the wagon drivers. He says we'll reach the city tomorrow." The elven woman answered, "A human city… I wonder what that's like…" She said, and all three wondered the same thing. ' I wonder if there's a way to escape?'
Ainz held his son in his arms as Calca straightened her dress, concealing her breast after having nursed the boy. Aurelion was sleeping soundly, and at their side stood Albedo, the delicate looking and radiant woman who was as beautiful as she was obviously inhuman. The Allmother's wings batted a little bit, and then she spoke. "You say you wish to see the place your son will spend part of his life?"
"I do, Allmother. I do. He is the Prince and, not that I would ever doubt his father's magnificence, but what mother wouldn't rest easier if she saw for herself?" Queen Calca answered, and then asked two more questions, "Is it really possible to be there immediately? And… more importantly, do you truly want your own child to travel with mine?"
"It was my husband's idea." Albedo answered with a flippant wave, "He says they are going to be siblings and shouldn't be parted from one another. His wisdom is transcendent, so it must be right. I do see some advantages to it, but… as a concession to me, the time apart will be three months rather than six, alternatingly."
Calca put a hand over her breast and sighed with relief, "Three months isn't so much, and if that travel is truly instant, it can be longer or shorter and we never need to be more than a few seconds away…"
"Exactly. It would be cruel to make them spend most of their lives apart from one another, and Aurelion's siblings should grow up knowing the whole of the lands they will help to govern." Ainz chimed in while rocking his son a little, "Long ago, my dear friends Bukubukuchagama and her brother, Peroroncino, used to argue often, but it was always done with love and affection. They cared much for each other, and it showed even when they fought. I can only hope that Aurelion and his little brother or sister are as fortunate."
Ainz's obvious nostalgia and enthusiasm for his past friends caught Calca off her guard, it was only at that moment that she realized, ' As much as I like him, as much as I revere him as a King and the one who saved my country, as much as I enjoy him as a lover and am thankful for him as my child's father… how much, or how little, I really know him… I didn't know that until just now. I thought of him as just a foreigner who rose to power, but he had a whole lifetime before the throne… I want to know more about him.'
"These, friends-" Calca began, but Ainz didn't notice.
[Gate] He cast the spell and a whorling vortex appeared in front of him.
"When you pass through this, you will be in my home. It was built by my friends and I over the course of some wonderful years. You will see almost no humans there, but don't be frightened, none will harm my wife." Ainz promised, and when he held out his free hand, Calca took it as Albedo clung to his arm, and they stepped through the vortex as one.
"What in the name of all the gods…?" Calca looked around, disbelieving, a great tree stood in the distance, an endless sky, a perfect breeze, a lake shimmered in the light of the sun, the water lapped at the shore, and not far away a forest stood tall, thick, and strong, like the children of the great tree coming to gather. A pair of small dark elves were splashing each other in the water while a frost dragon wearing, of all things, glasses, lay curled up like a dog and napping, snoring in a steady fashion that made it sound like a cat's purr, but ramped up to a low thunderous rumble.
The noise of splashing water and shouting children was only made more idyllic by the sheer absurdity of seeing the dragon lying there asleep. "A… my husband… is that a dragon wearing reading glasses, or some kind of illusion?" Calca asked, she brought a hand up to her face and rubbed her eyes one by one and gave her head a vigorous shake, and yet the absurdity was still present for her to see.
Ainz and Albedo laughed at once, drawing the eyes of the dark elf children who waved happily from the waters and rushed to the shore, casting waves about in their eagerness to reach the quartet to join them.
"Heijinmal, come here." Ainz said, and the dragon's eyes snapped open at once.
"M'lord!" The dragon said and scrambled over to where Ainz stood waiting, the dragon bowed his head low and when Ainz held out a hand, the dragon pressed his head upward against the downturned palm.
"Heijinmal, this is my wife, Queen Calca of the Roble Holy Kingdom, you remember her from the conference where we found your father again?" Ainz asked.
The dragon turned toward the Queen, and she gasped.
"Your… your control over it- him, was permanent?" Calca asked, though her voice was calm, even regal, her eyes twitched as the impossibility was presented to her.
"Heijinmal isn't under a spell, Holy Queen." Albedo said with pride and extended her hand in a gesture toward the dragon's lowered head. "Heijinmal is a loyal servant of the Kingdom of Nazarick, grateful to the Allfather for his assistance in saving his family and himself."
"I- can that be true?" Calca looked with wonder at the creature just as the dark elf children reached them and knelt before the Allfather.
"It is, My Lady, and I am grateful to My Lord for all his help. I serve as one of Lady Aura's mounts." Heijinmal replied with no small pride. Though he couldn't 'grin' it was hard not to note the enthusiasm with which he spoke when he kept the scales of his head rubbing against the palm of the Allfather.
"That's why he's not fat anymore." Aura said with a large, childish grin on her face.
"S-Sister. It-it's mean to say that, don't be rude!" Mare answered with a sideways glance and clenching the staff he'd snatched up from on the shore, water dripped off their bodies, and Calca took a closer look at them.
They wore one piece clothing of dark blue with numbers across the chest, but notably the clothing was tight to the skin and seemed to have stretched in a way unfamiliar to her.
Noting the way she glanced at their clothes, Aura added, "This is a gift from Lord Peroroncino to our creator, Lady Bukubukuchagama." She picked at the clothing, drawing it away from her skin and letting it go so that it snapped back with a wet 'fap' noise against her body. "He called it a 'school swimsuit' though we don't exactly know why his sister was mad at him over it… she bonked him on the head with a tree… we like them."
"They're… very nice. But… creator? Like a parent?" Calca asked as her mind spun.
"K-Kind of. But we were 'created' by magic not by ah… h-hugs." Mare explained.
"I-" Calca began, and Albedo cut her off.
"With the exception of a few outsiders invited here for special purposes, such as yourself, Queen of Men, all the beings of Nazarick were spoken into existence by the Supreme Beings…"
"Spoken… but… Husband, is this true?" Calca asked and turned to Ainz in part to escape the contented serene expression of the one radiant winged woman.
"It is." Ainz explained.
"You served gods ?" Calca stammered.
"No, Queen of Men." Albedo said and shook her head. Calca felt her racing heart begin to slow down in relief even as her mind continued to roil in confusion.
Her wings popped out wide and her arms went out as if to embrace the human Queen, her smile glorious as she said, "He ruled gods."
Volume 7 C46
Calca looked from her husband to their child, from their child to the kneeling dark elves, from the dark elves to the Allmother, and from the Allmother to the dragon. "C-Created? Ruled gods… this…" Calca felt her knees weaken. "I need to sit." She said as her legs began to shake and their ability to support her became doubtful.
She went down swiftly, barely catching herself with one hand. "You were… created by magic?" She asked of the twins, who nodded at once.
"And y-you, his other wife…? That is why you are so perfect…?" Calca asked, turning her eyes to Albedo.
Albedo preened with pride and put a hand on her own cheek, leaning into tilting her head into the touch, her wings fluttering, "Yes, I was created by Lord Tabula Smaragdina, conjured from thin air to serve this place. One of forty-one gods, whose work created everything you see here, including us."
"Only a god- in… in the stories of the Six Great Gods, the 'players', as they called themselves, there was a servant who called itself a created being… just one. You're telling me that this…" She looked around the tranquil paradise outside her husband's home, but before she could speak, Ainz corrected her.
"You are inside, Calca. Underground." Ainz said with a tender touch to her shoulder.
"But- But the sky? The wind?" Calca asked as her heart pounded like a drum.
Ainz smiled with wistful memories passing through his mind as he looked around the idyllic scene, "My friends and I made it. Blue Planet was the architect, Bukubukuchagama made the forest, her brother made the lake, I did the wind, if you wait carefully, you'll notice the smell of honeysuckle begins, it cycles through the smells of various flowering plants, to nothing, and back again. My dear friend Tabula did the sky… all of us did something, all of us created someone."
"You… created someone… not a golem, but truly living- a living being?" Calca squeaked.
"Yes, I suppose you could think of him as my son. He's a bit dramatic, and for some reason he cannot stop occasionally speaking German, but he is… growing into himself, you could say." Ainz said and forced himself not to cringe, instead keeping his expression steady and sure.
"You have another son… and didn't tell me?!" Calca said with dismay, "Shouldn't you tell your wife something like that?!" She exclaimed, and then she felt the stare in the back of her head.
"You are learning it now… I would have said something sooner, but how do you tell anyone any of this?" Ainz asked and shook his head while he shrugged, removing his hand from her shoulder. "Oh, by the way dear I created someone out of nothing and my other wife was created out of nothing too…" Ainz said it teasingly, and Calca blushed when she realized his point.
"Even if I said it, until you saw this place, would you have believed it?" Ainz asked pointedly, and she lowered her eyes.
"No, no, probably not. However, I reserve my wifely right to be miffed." Calca retorted, cracking a teasing little grin back at him. "So… what happens now? If everything you say is true… and I can't doubt it, not having seen both this place and your magic firsthand… what am I but a human… an… an insect. Even a Queen is nothing when set against a god…" The teasing smile became fragile as she lost her will to maintain it, and it was Albedo who spoke up.
"That, per my Lord's will, falls to you. You may keep it secret, or you may announce his godhood to your whole nation. You sacrificed much for him to bear Aurelion."
Sparked by Albedo's words, Calca touched the snow white hair that replaced the once golden blonde, which no cosmetic magic seemed to work on, things fell into place which previously were insensible. ' His birth, no wonder it was so hard… I… I birthed a Godkin…'
"I will… I will keep it secret for now… I need- I need time to process this…" Calca said and again looked at the little elf twins, such perfect looking children…
She drew her knees up against her chest and put her arms around her legs, "I don't know how to think, how to feel… I suppose it explains your indifference to my Kelart and I… I thought I was just lucky." She chuckled wryly, "I suppose I was."
She snorted after that, "I think… I think this makes me happy. It means my son, our son, will be strong. It means unlimited power will protect him, it means my country will be secure. I can't find a downside here except… except that I am only a human. I can never be the peer, the equal of a god. A few minutes ago I was convinced that you were just like me, a powerful monarch and magic caster… now I find out… the impossible."
"Are you going to be alright?" Ainz asked of her, and offered out their son in both hands.
She took the boy, who stirred only a little until he was nestled against his mother's breast.
"I-I- Yes, I will be. This is just going to take time…" Calca promised, "But… I want to see the rest of your home… the truth is, I can hardly wait."
Brain's eyes adjusted to the darkness almost immediately. Ahead of him he saw the gate of the manor, and from the shadows he watched while the guards patrolled in silence. They were few in number, though they were well armed, with platemail armor, good spears, and short swords at their waists just in case the spear was inadequate. ' If I could manage it, I might get good money for their gear.' He chuckled at the thought, he'd heard stories of thieves and bandits so skilled that they could strip their victims naked without them even being noticed.
He counted it a load of hogwash, but it was always amusing to think about, for the dedicated swordsman however, there was only one way to work. He watched the guards for hours to be sure they wouldn't be replaced, and then he acted. [Perfect Aim[Acceleration[Lesser Agility Boost] He used the martial arts with confidence that there would be none to counter him, there were two things he could always count on with the Slane Theocracy. The first was that their strongest fighters never worked for private citizens, the second was that neither their private citizens nor the guards they did hire were exceptionally worried about being robbed. It was a security theater, little better than a stage play to a skilled thief, and barely better for a skilled swordsman.
Brain took a step forward, then was gone from his position, and two heads spun away into the darkness, and the bodies of two guards fountained blood out of their necks, spasmed, and fell into a clanking heap where they died.
The drops of blood his sword acquired flew off out of view, and he sheathed his sword. He reached for the corpse and rustled around in the pouch on the body's waist until he felt the outline of the metal key. ' Idiots.' He thought, and snatching it into his fumbling fingers he lit out for the door, the guards were few enough that he felt no real worry that the bodies would be found.
' They're even less vigilant than those stupid bandits I used to lead, at least we rotated shifts so that somebody would notice if a corpse was left behind. These just walk the same paths… ugh, it's almost professionally offensive how sloppy people are.' Brain thought and slipped into the house when the lock clicked and the door opened.
If it was dark outside, it was pitch black inside, but he breathed slowly and let his body adjust until it might as well have been daylight. While he was no master thief, moving quietly was something he could do reasonably well. His feet carried him padding slowly down a long dark hall of burgundy stained wood, on the wall hung priceless paintings.
Brain passed them by.
On pedestals of marble stood priceless vases.
Brain cared nothing for those.
Instead Brain went down the stairs, keeping his feet close to the rail so that his weight wouldn't cause the creaking that tended to come from walking in the middle.
' Predictable.' He thought as he reached the upper floor, that was the thing about Theocracy homes, while the poor tended to be quite variable, the higher up you went in society, the more uniform it became until only the most mild differences remained in actual decor. The dining hall was his destination, and as he expected, it was a large, cavernous room, laid on the lower floor with the space dug into the side of the earth with windows arcing up so that the morning and evening sun would flood the room with light from an upward angle as if the diners were being blessed by divine light.
As it was, the moonlight cast its glow within, and Brain made straight for cabinets along the wall, glassed in as they were, he could see his prizes. Spoons, knives, and forks of pure silver, each one alone had to be worth fifty coins just for the artistry behind them.
More importantly… ' Nobody can possibly trace them.' He thought with smug confidence as he snatched them and tossed them into his traveling pouch. As a bonus, these residents, to his surprise, had several sets of gold utensils… "It's my lucky day…" He muttered while holding a spoon up to the moonlight. Only for his breath to catch at what he saw reflected in the curve of the spoon.
A slender half elf walking into the dining hall.
' Zesshi? What the hell is she doing here?!' He wondered with alarm and throwing the spoon into the pouch, he spun on his heel and made for the windows.
Volume 7 C47
"This is the Library of Ashurbanipal." Ainz said as Calca gawked from where she stood behind him, he waved his hand out expansively, and her eyes nigh bugged out of her head.
"How… this has to be a hundred times the size of the Great Library of Kami Miyako…" Calca gasped.
"More like one hundred thousand times." Albedo said, holding her hands affectionately over her growing belly, a smug little smile was traced over her face that made her demure stance a total lie. "The library is so large that it can't actually hold all the physical copies inside of it, most of them are stored in dimensional space and have to be accessed by going to the Librarian."
"Dimensional… space… so these…" Calca gawked and after an uncomfortable, uncertain look at Ainz that was met with an approving nod, she approached an enormous wooden bookshelf with a rolling ladder secured to a rail and randomly plucked a book.
"A fragment of the combined knowledge of all of First World. The world of the Supreme Beings, our creators." Albedo answered at once.
"What are these symbols… letters?" Calca asked as she looked at the cover. It was green and showed a furious looking blonde woman with an outstretched hand toward a helmet which in turn sat on the butt of a strange looking spear-like object.
"Yes, letters, that is Japanese, a language of First World. It's a fictional novel about a young woman who goes to war in yet another world." Ainz replied, "The library has fiction and nonfiction works, all maintained by Titus Anneaus Seccundus, a skeleton mage who keeps it all organized."
"Undead… so that is how you, I see, of course you would understand such things." Calca said just before the cold air struck the back of her neck.
"My Lord has summoned me, and I must appear." Titus said in an impassioned flourish, and a melodramatic gesture having one hand pointed up and another on his chest.
Calca stiffened. "He's behind me, isn't he?"
"Yes." Albedo said, and held her arms out reflexively.
Without thinking, Calca handed her child over to the Allmother and turned around, her mind raced to prepare herself for what she would face. ' He won't hurt me, he won't hurt me, just remember that…'
She was still repeating the self reassurance when she found herself looking at the skeletal chest of the undead, and raised her eyes to meet his own. The face was nonexistent, though a pair of horns on his head quickly caught her eyes. She gave him a once over, more at ease now thanks to the presence of her husband, and noticed the hooves instead of feet. ' Whatever he was, it wasn't human.' She realized instantly, but more notable to the magic casting Queen was that his adornment was clearly almost all magic items. Rings on his fingers, a robe that gave a light that would have been plenty to read by in the dark. Curiously, nothing about him screamed, violence, if anything, it was like being around just another library patron… albeit a bizarre one. ' Almost like it was just an illusion…' She thought with surprising rationality given the equal absurdity of her circumstances..
"Titus, this is Queen Calca of the Roble Holy Kingdom, she is a guest here and should at all times be treated well and given whatever she asks that is within your power to grant." Ainz said, and Calca crossed one foot in front of the other, and bent at the knees in a polite bob.
"Pleased to meet you." She said, keeping her natural fear of the undead at bay with a lifetime of royal manners.
"Welcome… to my workspace… where all the knowledge of the First World resides within my care…" Titus answered and swept his right arm in front of his waist and bowed deeply.
"First… World… the world of the Supreme Beings… so… husband, you came here from… from another world?" Calca asked, turning to face the Allfather, her husband, again.
"I did. The same realm your gods came from, by the same means they did." Ainz said, though he kept it vague, allowing her to draw her own conclusions. ' She is handling this much better than I expected her to. It must be the fact that magic exists… just about anything can be dismissed as 'great magic' if you don't understand it.' Ainz mused and then added, "Titus will teach our son reading and writing when he is with me. He was designed with an educator's passion of books and literature of all kinds."
"So Aura will teach him animal handling, Mare will teach him about plants, Titus about literature and writing… these are fine subjects, husband, but…" She pursed her lips as Aurelion stirred in Albedo's arms.
"Calca?" Ainz asked.
"My husband, my country has a strong warrior heritage, we have had to be in order to survive against the Abellion Hills, we are the only country to train all its fighting age population in how to do battle. Even our peasants are drilled every week from the time they could walk. This is also how we managed to break away from the Slane Theocracy. With all that he is to be taught, you haven't mentioned his sword master." Calca asked, "We have our own but… surely you wouldn't neglect that ?"
Albedo began to chuckle and looked up at Ainz, "My beloved, she should meet Cocytus, we wouldn't want her to fret over this for long and spoil her feelings about her visit, would we?"
It was a playful question, and Ainz sensed the mirth Albedo had within her over Calca's constant stunned expressions as she was taken from one marvel to the next.
' Still, she is more tolerant of my… liaison with the Holy Queen than I expected out of her, even if concepts like fidelity are alien to demons, she 'is' a demon and I expected more malice out of her than I've seen… what exactly was she doing in the Holy Kingdom that had her decide to favor its Queen? And for that matter, I expected her to want to wipe out all of the priests, but she let that one not only survive, but thrive when it came time to cleanse the corruption.' Ainz briefly got caught up in his thoughts, not speaking for a moment, only pointing to the exit and saying "Follow me." to his wives.
' The elf couple she keeps as spies, the priest she backs, she is a negative five hundred karma being. True, she brought the nation to its knees and ultimately sparked a civil war and invasion, but she did nothing more than she needed to. Is this in response to… me? To what I've become?' Ainz asked himself, and failed himself in the same moment, unable to quite grasp for answers he knew had to be there.
He was still wondering when leading Calca through the portcullis and out into the sands of the Arena where Cocytus stood battling a Greater Fire Elemental.
Calca stared and put herself in front of Albedo, blocking her child and the unborn heir from potential harm, and watched a battle out of myth take place before her eyes.
The insectoid creature had four weapons out, two were guarding against blows, two more were striking the creature which roared with every blow. The fire elemental was the size of a fortress wall in height and broad as four wagons, flames licked the air around it like leaves blown upward by a breeze, its long limbs lashed out again and again, steam rising whenever it struck against the insectoid creature's guard.
She instinctively screamed and raised a hand to call forth her most potent magic. ' I must protect-' Her desperate thought was called to a halt when her husband's hand closed over her wrist and yanked it up.
"No! It's just a training exercise, you're in no danger." Ainz exclaimed, and an instant later, the insectoid monster undertook a series of rapid blows that saw the creature howl, fall to the sands, and fade away to nothing.
His hand was firm, commanding, and for an instant, alarmed. The insectoid creature was approaching, Calca's heart was pounding in her breast, which rose up and down with hard, heavy breathing.
"Forgive me, I should have told you, training takes place down here against things people, normal people, have no chance against, but they're no challenge for the created beings of myself or my friends." Ainz said and gently released his hold over her wrist. "Had you attacked, you would have created 'agro' on yourself, and the creature might have lashed out at you."
"My. Lord. Have. I. Disturbed. You?" Cocytus asked as he came near and lowered himself to a kneeling posture. His weapons disappeared back into their dimensional storage save for the one in his upper left hand, a large glaive which had its butt pressed into the sands.
"No, Cocytus, I am merely bringing my wife to introduce her to my son's sword tutor." Ainz said, and Cocytus briefly shivered.
Calca looked at the insectoid creature, he was icy blue, everything around him felt 'cold' and yet she felt no hostility from him to speak of. Far from it, when she heard Ainz say 'son' the creature, despite having no human features, had an air of supreme happiness about him.
"C-Cocytus… is it safe for me to touch you?" Calca asked and took a tentative step toward the creature.
"Of. Course. I. Do not. Harm. The unarmed." Cocytus said, and the woman's hand, shaky as it was, came out and touched his mandible, her skin was warm and soft, had she tried to touch him elsewhere, he doubted he would have felt her do so. But that was a little more sensitive than most of his body, and so he couldn't not notice it.
"You were excited when my husband mentioned teaching my son, weren't you? Am I wrong?" Calca asked in a motherly voice, her bosom still heaved as her previous panic induced reactions were slow to fade, but her voice at least had none of the previous fear.
"I. Am. I. Want. Him. To. Ride. On. My. Shoulders." Cocytus said, and Ainz glanced at Albedo, who in turn reached out and squeezed his hand.
' How long has he wanted this?' Ainz wondered privately, just as surprising, Calca seemed to take to the ice insect warrior almost immediately.
"I was brought up around warriors, martial men of vigor, honor, courage. I can always tell when those virtues are present in someone else, and I know you will be a wonderful mentor and teacher to my son. I would be proud, proud to have him ride on your shoulders, Cocytus." Calca said and straightened up.
The Queen straightened up and turned around to face her husband. "This settles it, even if nothing else did, this tour would have. My husband, I need your help. Allmother, I would ask the same of you, Queen to Queen, wife to wife, mother to mother."
Clad in her dignity, her back straight and hands at her sides, Calca was every inch a line of rulers that stretched back centuries, wrapped up in the flesh of one single woman. A regalness and resolve settled over her more potent than any mere rich clothing could ever offer.
"With what exactly?" Albedo asked at the unexpected and yet ungiven request. The Queen putting herself in the path of perceived danger to the unborn heir, and of her own child, ratched Albedo's view of the human monarch up several inches on the measure of monarchs.
"Another revolution. My experience with the Queen of Frost, the elves, the children… or… no, the 'created beings' of this place… I'm no fool, even if I haven't the cunning of the Golden Queen. Everything I see tells me that my country's isolation from other races is going to end even faster than I thought. I had thought to make it slow, with only limited integration and association with Queen Baraja's merchants over the next few decades… but I see now that this isn't going to work. It just can't, power by nature can't be contained forever. I want my nation to lead the way, not be dragged along kicking and screaming into the future, nor even taking tentative tiny steps and drifting ahead. If we don't lead, we will fall behind, and my throne demands better of me than that!"
"So you want… what, help bringing nonhumans into your country?" Albedo asked, the steel expression in the Holy Queen bordered on fanatical.
But to her surprise the Holy Queen denied it. "No, not just that, I want them to be part of my country, to be seen as part of my country. The old religion, the old ways won't allow that. We need new ways. We need a new God ." She said, and that hand of hers that Ainz so recently clasped, rose and leveled itself at Ainz.
"Him. The whole world needs to know what he is, and our reward for it, is a world where all our children will grow safe and happy. The world where my son would have to despise his sibling for the half blood they will bear, must die ." Calca said with iron finality.
And for the first time since she had first watched the Holy Queen from the mirror in Nazarick, Albedo looked at the human Queen with something else.
Respect.
Volume 7 C48
Zesshi watched as Brain made for the window, ' Oh, how cute, he thinks he can run away.' She suppressed her laugh and chased after him. ' He must not recognize me, it was very nice of him to come rescue the slaves of this house I suppose, but he missed a whole bunch of them in the basement…' She dropped down into the sprinter's posture with one leg to the chest and one back, her fingertips barely touching the floor, she smirked. ' I'll give you a ten second head start.' She thought, and counted them down.
She watched as he cracked through the glass, scattering it inside and outside and disappeared from view.
' Ha, this isn't the open countryside with you having a long headstart… you haven't got a prayer!' This part… this part felt good, a good feeling she needed after watching her brother run away, and learning what she had only hours before. ' You're just distracting yourself…'
A part of her mind whispered to her, but she crushed it down and finished the count…
"Three.."
"Two…"
"One…"
"Go!" She whispered and followed him through the glass, she went at a dead sprint without using her martial arts, and the ground raced beneath her feet, she jumped from the ground up to the tallest building she could and searched him out. ' Oh come on Brain, I have to be the world's worst tracker, I nearly got lost on the way back to a city I could see… and yet I can still find you like this.' She rolled her eyes, he was running down the street faster than normal eyes would be able to follow, and in a way, it was almost impressive. ' You'd think he really… wait he's not, is he?' She wondered, and raced ahead of him.
' He must not realize it was me.' She thought as she dropped down around the corner he would pass by, her ears twitched as she picked up the pace and position of his footfalls. The stone cracked a little with the force of them as he ate up the ground.
Zesshi smirked and… stuck out her foot.
She felt him impact her foot with force enough that anything less than himself would have snapped a bone, yet he only tumbled forward, arms flailing only for an instant before he caught himself and the faint noise of metal on stone tinking and tanging as he hit the rock around him. He pushed off the stone with one hand and flipped forward to land on his feet, then his shoulders slumped and without turning around he said, "You caught me, Zesshi. But what were you even doing there?"
Zesshi put a hand on his shoulder, "That's a funny way to say it." She chuckled, "I didn't expect to see that your 'looking for work' was actually you going out to rescue slaves. There's more to you than I thought."
Brain stiffened, ' Is she… serious?' He asked himself.
"Uhh… what?" He tried to think of what to say, but the mind blowing absurdity of her assumption caught him unawares, and he slowly turned around to look at her.
"Don't give me that, I came back after getting my brother out and Layali said you went out to find work, I'm not a tracker, but you have an odor of oil and sweat on you that… well, it makes you stand out for a while." She smirked up at him as if proud of herself, and Brain responded glumly…
"So I stink."
"Ah, no. I guess that wasn't quite the way I should have put that, it's the oil you use to take care of your sword, very distinctive stuff. If you had a magic sword I doubt I could have found you since then you'd smell like everybody else." Zesshi said and calmly put her palm over her face. "Gods, I'm bad at this."
Even given the gravity of the moment, Brain couldn't help but laugh at the awkward young half elf.
"Just so we're clear, you don't believe I'm running around sniffing people, do you? I'm not a pervert." Zesshi insisted, putting her fists on her hips and straightening up, staring daggers at him as he laughed.
"No, no, not at all." Brain said.
She kept staring.
"No, really, I promise, Zesshi." He said, clutching at his gut as his laughter came to a halting stop at last.
"Good." She crossed her arms in front of her chest, "I just, I found you there, and saw how you went down to the lower floor, the slaves were another level down, I came to you a few minutes later when it was obvious you got lost, then you mistook me for a guard and… here we are."
Brain kept his mouth shut for a moment. "I see. Ah… don't make a mention of this to Layali. Let's go back. Oh, and… don't try going out to do that yourself."
"Why not?" Zesshi asked. "I'm a lot stronger than you are, a lot faster too."
"Because…" Brain's mind raced until he could think of something to say, and when he did he put on a serious face and after putting hand on her bicep he said, "Because if I die, somebody will have to take care of Layali. Somebody will have to put her somewhere safe at least, yes you're strong, but anything can go wrong, and when things go wrong in the field, they go wrong fast and they go wrong hard . There's no need for both of us to risk ourselves when we're only a few days from the border. Let's just go back, take off in the morning, and forget this night ever happened."
Zesshi thought that over, ' If there were something around here that could hurt me…' But what he said echoed the sentiment of the only humans she ever listened to, Cardinal Raymond and Cenna Tachoni… so… she inclined her head to him.
"Fine, we'll do it your way." Zesshi promised, and Brain sighed with relief.
She took a step to leave and when he didn't follow, she looked back, "Are you coming?"
"Just… give me a minute." He said and winced, "Your leg did a number on mine. You run along."
"Okay, but… if you take off your boot to check the wound, be careful, it looks like some idiot spilled a bunch of forks and knives around here, you're lucky you only scattered them and didn't land on them." She added.
"Heh, yeah… uh, go ahead, I'll join you shortly." Brain replied again and began snatching up the handful of scattered treasures and stowing them away again as soon as he saw she was well away from him.
' At least she didn't actually 'do' anything.' Brain thought as he put the last dinner fork into his pouch and headed back to the inn. ' That could get ugly, fast.' He shivered, recalling the easy bloody mess she made at the slave auction, he was still seeing it in his mind when he closed his eyes to sleep at last.
Volume 7 C49
The next morning they were gone after the sun was barely up. "I thought we were s'posed to travel at night." Layali said with a yawn, rubbing the sleep from her eyes without any further complaint as they made it out of the gate.
Brain suppressed a sigh of relief glancing over his shoulder as if to address her, but the truth was, his eyes went to the walls, the guards made their rounds as usual, and no one seemed the wiser. ' Maybe the bodies haven't even been found yet?' He wondered, but then answered Layali.
"We need to make up for some lost time, so we'll be walking longer today. It's normally about three days travel to the border, I'd like to make it in two." Brain said and Layali pouted a little.
"Will we at least stop to fish… I want to know how to do that." She said, and then added, "We did have a deal."
"Fishing isn't wise for you, at least not out this way." Brain replied with a firm shake of his head.
"Why's that?" Zesshi asked from his side. Her hands were folded behind her head, with the road empty in the early hour and the sun just barely on the horizon. She kept her hood down to enjoy the feel of the air and the first warming rays to touch her face. She was the picture of casual cluelessness in his eyes.
"Because further downstream they get rid of river monsters, but this close to the border, where the water is wider and deeper, some still show up. A little girl would make a quick snack for one of them." Brain answered, and Zesshi was very quiet, as was Layali.
"So… monsters?" Zesshi said with a tentative glance at the open horizon, "Are they common close to the border or just in the river?"
"I usually see a few, it hampered trade a lot, or so I'm told, but since the Wolf monarchs took over and built the Kingdom of Carne, things have been improving. They have… well, they were building forts out that way before, about every twenty miles or so. The workers said they were going to put soldiers there so that every traveler would have a fortified place to rest, and could respond quickly to monster threats. They will probably spawn a lot of villages in a few years." Brain explained, and Zesshi scratched her head.
"So… what do villages have to do with that?" She asked.
Brain looked at her cockeyed, "Are you… being serious right now?"
Zesshi frowned deeply, "I don't get out much." She reminded him.
"Right, sorry." Brain sighed, his shoulders briefly slumped, "Villagers aren't all that strong as a rule, so they flock to safety, a military fort is the perfect place. Plus the fields there are fertile, good harvest land, soldiers make good husbands… usually, and since soldiers get paid, it's easy to sell things there. In five years they'll have dozens of villages all over the place and probably a few towns to boot."
It didn't stop there, for hours, Brain explained to the very differently sheltered and isolated pair how things worked in the 'real world' outside of the bubbles they knew. He was peppered with questions, and laughter was frequent, sometimes from the absurdity of their incessant questions, sometimes from their own misunderstandings of his answers… and sometimes he threw in a joke to make them laugh.
It was almost a shame when their hoods went over their heads to hide their ears.
"We won't reach another town until tomorrow." Brain said when the sun started to go down, and when he looked back over his shoulder again, he saw that Layali's steps were slower than they had been. ' She's very strong for someone her size and age… but all this walking, it's probably getting to her… she should have said something.' He thought, and then said, "But let's stop for a few hours at least, I'm… getting a little bit tired, and a lot hungry."
Layali's face immediately brightened up and she pointed to a small bend in the river along which the road ran, "Perfect, right, Brain?" She asked with a sunny smile that struck him as completely at odds with the desperate and agony filled child he plucked from the river. The extra food was doing her good, she was filling out more, and the scars were gone. In a word, he couldn't look at her without thinking ' cute' .
"You're catching on." He said, and gave an approving nod in her direction.
They veered off the road and Brain tossed his bag to the grass, Layali immediately got to work, but before he could offer to assist, Zesshi turned on him.
"Now to start keeping my bargain, swordsman. A little training from the Black Scripture might help you out quite a bit." Zesshi's wolfish grin emerged and she looked almost childishly predatory, her hood came down and she drew her hair out from beneath her cloak to hang loose at her back.
"Fine, but you don't have a sword or any other weapon." Brain replied as he took his sword out of the sheath and took his position while Layali began to work.
"I don't need one." Zesshi replied, "You can't cut me."
From any other, Brain would have found that insulting, but from her it was the plainest truth. He spared one glance at the young half elf girl, "Don't get too close to the water, no matter what you see there."
"Alright, now come at me, swordsman!" Zesshi said as soon as they saw Layali step back from the babbling noise and set out their bedrolls in place.
Queen Draudillon stood beside the elf king holding the pitcher of wine, he seemed to be in good spirits for the moment, his cup came out to her, and she stepped onto the stool then filled his cup for him, then stepped back down again.
"At least you are not as stupid as my other children." The Elf King said with his broad sneer down at her.
"Thank you, my lord." Draudillon said, keeping her eyes cast down. The reason for his praise was that she placed a stool nearby so she could stand on it and reach his cup, rather than expecting him to lower it to where she could reach without assistance.
He snorted, "Hardly a compliment, my children are such useless creatures… how am I supposed to dominate the world with such useless whelps?" He asked the question while a stone faced male helped his wife to her feet, and walked her bruised and worn out frame out of the tent. They didn't look at their King as they departed, though they cast a hopeful look at Draudillon as they left.
In her time with the elves, she'd become adept at comfort, care, and tending the injured, and there were always injured needing tending. The women doted on her, and the men looked at her with a mix of pity, regret, and gratitude when their wives and daughters were treated by the seemingly gifted hands of the human royalty.
She said nothing in response to their glance, nor did she answer the King.
"I asked a question, whelp." He snarled from atop his throne.
"I don't know, My Lord, you can't… I suppose?" She replied, and he did a double take down at her.
"People do not tell me 'I can't' girl. You live after saying it only because you haven't birthed me any whelps yet." He snapped.
"My Lord asked me how he could do it with useless children, is there a way it can be done with the useless?" Draudillon answered, putting a confused expression on her face, and it mollified the elf King almost instantly.
He rubbed his thick, broad chin with his thumb and forefinger. "Perhaps you're right… if only I could get the bitch back… and if only her bitch mother was still alive…" He groused. "They really should have at least returned my property."
"M'lord?" Draudillon asked, and when his cup was presented, she stood on the stool again and poured more wine for him.
"You wouldn't know, I suppose. A hundred and twenty years or so ago I captured a human champion and took her in my bed. She was stolen back, bothersome enough, but she did bear a whelp who seems to have developed some power." He clenched his fist, "She's mine. She's mine and she was stolen from me."
"Is… is that why M'lord chose to come for me and my people… since it was a human that bore his lordship a useful child?" Draudillon asked of him, and he narrowed his eyes down at her.
"You're a smart one. When you're old enough to breed, you might actually produce something useful… I should take more humans after all, maybe that's the missing key… maybe my own kind are even less useful than I thought." The Elf King pondered, and unable to keep from doing so, she met his eyes, they pierced through her like a sword of concentrated evil, and in them she could see his plans for her.
The wailing, the broken, hollow eyes he would replace hers with, the futility and hopelessness of the life he planned for her. ' Is this a power of his… a magic… or my own dread-filled imagination?' The Queen wondered, and in desperation, she lashed out at him with a question to distract his thoughts.
"My Lord, I've heard it said that you appeared from nothing and made the Elf Kingdom afterward… is that… is that true?" She asked with childish awe imbued into her voice.
That much, he fell for, and he gave a rough, cruel laugh, slapping his hand on the armrest of his seat.
"No, that is a stupid story. I came from another world, it was dying, and I felt a magic darkness close around me, and then I was… in this one. In the old world, I was nowhere nearly as strong as I am here, but even then, the strong could not kill me. Every time I died, I was restored and my Kingdom was mine again as if nothing had happened. Even the powerful were powerless." The Elf King laughed, "My strength could not be contained, the prisoners they sought to rescue were always in my power again, and still linger down below my home, beneath the Great Tree."
"Powerful beings… on par with… with yourself?" Draudillon felt a wild hope run through her veins. "That seems impossible, I can't believe it, I don't believe it." She pressed as her pulse raced.
He glared down at her, "Guilds, not single figures. The Wild Ones, the Farwalkers, the Lords of Rivendell, and Ainz Ooal Gown…"
Draudillon gasped, "The Allfather of the Kingdom of Nazarick?!" She squeaked out, nearly dropping her pitcher, and it was the Elf King's turn to be confused.
"What are you prattling about, brat?" He demanded and reaching out, he grabbed her cheeks at the joint of her jaw and squeezed.
Tears of pain sprang to her eyes. "The King… the Kingdom of Nazarick… his name is Ainz Ooal Gown…" She slowly pushed the words out through her lips, and he released his grip.
"Nazarick…" The Elf King thought that over, he recalled the battle where they bested him, the words that floated through the air when they had him down on all fours.
' If we can beat him this easily, do you think we're ready to take on that dungeon you found Nishiki? What was its name? The Great Nazarick something?" The birdman figure asked another dressed in all black with a strange mask with an obnoxious tone of happiness.
The memory passed and the elf King released his hold on Draudillon's jaw and demanded, "How do you know about Nazarick?"
"It's… it's the Kingdom to the north of the Kingdom of Carne… ruled by Ainz Ooal Gown, a caster of great power…" She rubbed her jaw and asked, "H-How does My-" she recalled the pain in her jaw and said, "How does My Master not know of it?"
"I don't care about anything that doesn't get me what I want, brat. The affairs of other trash lands are nothing… or were…" He said, and privately mused to himself, ' They took me down once, but that was before the gods of that world gave me the upgrade, choosing me above all others to bestow with the power I should have always had… the ones that spoke of it named themselves Nines Ooal Gown… but that could change, and one man could take the name of a guild just as I named my Kingdom after my title. I thought revenge was denied to me… but maybe I will get more out of this than I ever dreamed.'
"Nazarick… here… Nines Ooal Gown must have succeeded… were they always one man though, or a guild… could they be a threat… no not anymore… but the caster… I will crush him… then let him live and watch as I break his women…" The elf king muttered under his breath, but Draudillon caught every word.
The Queen felt the elf King's mix of anger and euphoria rising beside her, and she stared down at the floor in abject terror, her limbs shaking so much that a drop of wine sloshed out of the pitcher and onto the grass. ' Please don't notice I spilled it… don't hit me…' She loathed herself for such a weak thought, she loathed herself for her fear, she loathed herself for her failure, and she loathed that she could do nothing but endure.
But the seed of hope at his dismay was planted with it. ' Nazarick has more to it than I knew… if they're from the same world as this monster… maybe their representative can kill him.' She prayed, not to the gods who she considered to have abandoned her and her people, but to something else. ' Ainz Ooal Gown… if you are a god from another world… please… save us… don't leave us in the hands of this monster…'
"Are the humans ready for mating again?" He asked her out of the blue.
The Queen snapped out of her prayer and said, "If they were warriors, maybe, but… but no, they're mere maids, and a few courtiers… they're not speaking yet."
A flash of guilt ran through her that she was condemning someone else, but it was ameliorated by the knowledge that her first duty was to her servants, and so she kept a straight face throughout her answer.
"Tell the guard outside, whoever it is, to bring me his mate, then, and be quick about it." The elf King snapped, "And you… come back in an hour to drag her back to your tent."
"Master." Draudillon said numbly, bobbed at the knees, and made to leave his presence again.
Volume 7 C50
The Queen of Frost was seated across from her counterpart, the Golden Queen Renner. Of all the nobles Neia met, this was the only one to raise the hairs on the back of her neck. There was nothing concrete about it, the Golden Queen always wore the most serene and sweet expression on her face, and she was always polite. But even now, sitting opposite the woman and listening to her speak, Neia felt like a serpent was winding its way about her body. ' I could easily kill her, and yet I can't help but feel like she's looking to devour me.' Neia thought, as her counterpart went on about establishing trade networks that would span the 'western passage' and link the Holy Kingdom, Demalbion, the Dark Dwarves, the Dark Elves, and Re-Estize all together at a single location.
Neia, predictably, proposed a city location in her territory to act as the central meeting place of the various nations, while Renner proposed a site farther north in Re-Estize.
With no obvious resolution available, they tabled the matter and the Queen of Frost poured wine for herself and slid the bottle slowly across the table to her opposite number.
"Why did you ask that we meet without servants?" Queen Renner finally asked as she poured her own goblet with some annoyance obvious on her face in the form of a small frown.
"Are you having trouble lifting that bottle, Queen of Gold?" Neia asked with a playful teasing smile that bared just a hint of her vicious fangs.
"Not at all, Queen of Frost, not at all. I'm just not used to doing common work for myself." Renner retorted.
"I understand, not all of us were born with power handed to us, some of us… we had to come by it by other means… If you really need a servant, I'm sure you have someone you can trust to be discreet, who you will take responsibility for if it comes to it." Neia answered and glanced at the door, inviting Renner to summon one.
Renner settled her temper. ' Of all the royalty I've encountered, this one is the most frustrating! The peasant woman from Re-Estize is easy to predict, all goodness and concern. Her husband, all academic. The Holy Queen, so devoted to the growth of her nation, but no real head for violence… but this one…' Renner grated naturally against her, from a notable if not wealthy noble house, the common squire turned Queen was a mix of absolute barbarism, bad manners with no real deference toward protocol… and a sharp but direct manner that made her both predictable… usually, and uncontrollable. ' Worse, she has no direct obedient loyalty to the same master that the rest of us do… not yet.'
In short, the crude dragonid could not be reigned in readily.
"It's fine, whatever you wanted to discuss privately, it must be important if you expressly asked that we meet without servants. So, what is it?" Renner asked, choosing to be direct at last.
It was the right choice, Neia raised her goblet, as did Renner, and the dragonid said, "To the safety of our sister monarch."
"May she be found alive and well." Renner responded, and they drank the rich dark wine until all of each goblet was left empty.
"Now down to business," Neia said and straightened up, her wings spread wide apart, giving an almost demonic air to the dragonid, she then answered the Queen of Re-Estize by saying, "the old religion is a problem, and it has to go."
Renner pulled her hand away from the goblet to ensure that she didn't knock it aside when she was jerked upright in shock. "The faith of the six… of the four… you're serious?"
Neia gave an emphatic nod. "I am. I grew up in that faith, I know what it says, and they will not change. Not the worst elements of it, even if they abandon the practices, the seeds of conflict will always be in the pages of that damnable book. One day they will sprout into weeds that will choke the peaceful fields we hope to cultivate and harvest."
"You're saying that because- " Renner started to say, and stopped when the narrow, violent eyes, the full force of the dragonid's nature was turned on the Golden Queen.
"Because they call me an animal, yes. Because they call my subjects animals to be butchered or enslaved and worked to death. Yes, that is why I say it. Am I wrong?" Neia asked, and the dread look was gone, the 'I will murder you here and now' eyes were turned away from their piercing state and she held her hand out across the table. Renner slid the bottle across to her again, and Neia refilled her goblet before sliding it back.
"No… no, you're not." Renner answered, but the question came to mind that had to be asked, "Why come to me first? Why not Calca, you two seemed to get along well. Why not Enri and N'firea? Why not the Allfather?"
"Calca will have the hardest time making any changes, she relied on the purity movement to help cleanse the corruption of her Kingdom, which is made up of mostly young priests. Challenging the temples is hard, and despite the progress we've made, humans and demihumans are slow to cross the bridge to one another. She's out." Neia shook her head.
"The Allfather has no temples to the six or the four, and has many nonhuman subjects, but he is away right now anyway. The Wolf King and Queen are reactive, not proactive. Decisive, but they aren't the sort to take to change unless others do too, besides, they were raised with the faith. I don't know how they'll respond. But you?" Neia asked rhetorically and took a long draught, she smirked at the blank faced golden Queen. "You're about as faithful as I am when it comes to the six." She snorted with derision, "You have no faith."
Renner looked down into her wine and, taking up a crust of toast, she stirred it slowly around and watched the ripples move against the sides of the silver cup. "That's quite an… accusation." She said.
Neia's smirk went nowhere. "That's why I asked for just the two of us to meet. Let's be plain with each other, my country is surrounded on all sides. You're to the north east, the dark elves and dark dwarves are to the east, the Slane Theocracy is to the southeast and the Holy Kingdom to the southwest… what isn't already the Allfather's, is in his path, and given what happened with Baharuth, that seems like a bad place to be. He'll set his eyes on my country, and I can't stop him, and the truth is, I don't think I want to."
Renner felt her dismay compound itself as the Dragonid confessed what the Re-Estize monarch knew only a few considered. "He'll make a good emperor, that much is clear, and I plan to offer up my Kingdom as a province formally when we reach Arwintar, at the same time, an empire will need an official religion, and it can't be the faith of the six. A new religion is needed, something to focus the faith of every people, which won't set mine, or the other nation's nonhumans on edge." Neia gave her answer and for a long moment, Renner sat in silent contemplation.
"This will raise the ire of the Slane Theocracy." Renner remarked.
"So will the existence of my Kingdom. They're sitting back, waiting for Demalbion to just 'collapse' thinking that I'll be challenged and killed, and for the demihuman tribes to tear each other apart again. But that won't happen, it was possible… once, but not anymore. They've felt the power of unity and won't forget it again." Neia promised and drained her goblet just as Renner began to drink from her own again.
"I'm going to offer my Kingdom in private, and in public I'm going to propose Emperor Worship as the new religion." Neia said it matter of factly, and Renner stiffened.
' Did this blunt instrument come up with… by the purest and most absurd path possible… the same idea I did for uniting the various kingdoms…?!' Renner turned introspective, looking down at her empty goblet, unsure of whether to worry that she was slipping, or be even more impressed that the Allfather or the Allmother or Lord Demiurge might have planned things out to such an extent.
"If you do that, you will be a target, sooner or later they will send someone to kill you." Renner pointed out, and begrudgingly she acknowledged the courage of her counterpart when the Dragonid closed her wings around herself and nodded with the serenity of the damned.
"I know. It's possible that I'll die, that they'll send a champion I can't defeat, but if they do and I've died a martyr to my population's wellbeing? They will rally behind the Allfather, and with his power to back them crush the Theocracy. I will be avenged, and all my people will be safe. Do you know the motto of the Rangers of the Wildlands?" Neia asked in a small voice.
"No… no I don't, I don't know what those are." Renner answered, her mind clamping down like the jaws of a hungry beast on its prey, when presented with the chance for new knowledge, no matter how obscure.
"Those are the ones appointed to hunting the old wilderness near the border with what used to be the Abellion Hills. It was a suicide mission, but a vital one. Anyone appointed to that was responsible for searching large scale threats, putting down minor ones, assisting the lost, all kinds of things. But the demihumans got in often enough, not to mention the local monsters, not many survived. At least not more than a few weeks anyway. The motto because of that was, 'One soldier dies, one nation lives.' Even now, I still think that way." Neia said with grim determination on her face.
"So, I'll make the proposal publicly, if the other monarchs accept it privately, I will bear the brunt of their ire, the brunt of their conspiracies. They will have a much harder time reaching me than they will you. Will you support me, or will you not?" Neia demanded an answer, and the Golden Queen did not delay in her response.
"I support you. The faith in the six served its purpose, if it is one thing the present day now shows to us, it's that their usefulness has passed." Renner stood, albeit somewhat shakily, to her feet and extended her delicate hand to the dragonid.
Neia stood in turn and took it, exercising care to not cut the Golden Queen's hand with her talons. "Good. I'm glad we can agree… but before you go, I'd suggest sitting for a little while till the effects of the wine wear off. The Golden Queen shouldn't be seen staggering back to her room now, should she?"
She then gave a hearty laugh when Renner slurred out a somewhat drunkenly…
"Shnoway."
Volume 7 C51
"How long have we been in here?" Lakyus asked when she woke up with a yawn. Her body and jaw alike stretched out, as one by one the rest of their companions awakened in the dim light of the chamber.
"Time has no meaning in caves, graves, or combat." Evileye said as she pushed herself off of the cavern wall with one hand and up to a standing position. "And this," she pointed up with one finger and spun it in a circle, "is just a tiny cave."
"At least it's warm." Gagaran grunted as she stood up in turn.
"Open the door carefully, because it's not going to be warm out there, if we open it too quickly, we'll freeze a whole lot faster." Evileye said, and Lupusregina laughed.
"What's funny, evil cleric?" Tia and Tina asked, looking up from either side of the red haired woman.
"Nothing, this is actually a grave matter and should be treated as such." Lupu said, staring directly at Evileye and saying nothing until the twins shrugged it off.
Gagaran ignored the exchange and went for the door, cracking it open and shutting her eyes as freezing cold air blasted her in the face. She pressed her shoulder to the heavy wood and forced it to open further when the howling wind began to push back. "Wow… it's… bad out here…"
"No, it's the path. The wind has nowhere to go, so it rushes down here and the door acts like a sail, catching it and trying to close the door." Evileye said, and Gagaran grunted and looked back at her.
"That's just 'it's bad out here' with extra steps." Gagaran replied and grunted as she pushed harder. A collective shiver passed over the group as the freezing wind came in like an invisible flood and drowned them all in its icy grip. Flakes of snow were cast about, spinning in tiny tornados until they came to rest here and there.
"I guess… ah, anyway, we should go." Evileye said and hastened for the exit, rushing past her comrades before they could say anything.
They filed out and began to tramp their way up the mountain path, the gale wind of blinding snow assaulted them, and the distant horizon showed only the barest hint of light which was fading fast.
"It will be dark soon, maybe we should have stayed in there longer." Gagaran shouted as she clutched her cloak in one hand and leaned into the wind, blocking it with her body to make it easier for those behind her to follow, while Momon took up the rear to mind that nobody fell behind.
"No, we're close!" Lakyus promised with a shout she wasn't sure that Gagaran heard when her words were taken by the wind even to her own ears.
But whether she heard or not, Gagaran continued to walk the long path upward as the temperature continued to drop. Snow crunched underfoot as their feet sank into the white carpet again and again.
"Allow me to help you." Momon said from behind her, and Evileye almost jumped skyward.
"Help… me?" She gasped.
"Your steps are small, and this will speed us up, we should not leave your comrades in the cold too long, nor should you use any magic or power, we do not know what lies at the end of this path, only what we 'should' find." Momon said, and when he held out his hand after giving his impeccable reasoning, she slowly put her hand into his palm.
' So large…' She thought, her heart inflamed with desire, in no small part because she knew his strength lay in far more than mere appearance. Recalling the sight of the unconquerable warrior demolishing everything in his path, her lifeless heart threatened to begin beating in her breast again.
Though what help he intended was unclear until he drew her close to him and picked her up so that she was now seated on his forearm.
"Cling to my neck if you need balance, I will carry you the rest of the way." Momon said, her legs against his torso, she followed his suggestion about where to put her arms. ' Bards of the world, I was wrong! Heroes do carry their maidens through trials against danger, foes, and the very world…'
For the first time in their lengthy sojourn, Evileye wished that part of their trek, the hardest part thus far, and likely at all, would go on forever. His heartbeat seemed so alive, his body, so warm, she could feel everything even through his heavy armor, thanks to her vampire senses that told her where the veins and vitals were.
She rode that way, happily, for three more hours until at last Gagaran shouted over her shoulder, "It's just ahead! I can see a light!"
They picked up their pace then, kicking the white carpet off the mountain side and leaving a path behind them that was filling up again as fast as they made it, until at long last the light was visible to all, and a great wide gate of stone doors, carved into the very mountain itself, became visible.
Gagaran touched the door, and it slowly began to groan its way open, pushing away the snow, and leaving the way in open.
Light immediately struck them, shooting out in the darkness as the glowstones cast their illumination on the party. "Welcome to the Kingdom of the Dwarves!" A voice called out from within, drawing every eye to him.
The hearty voice came from a dwarf who sat at a stone table with a blank paged book and an inkwell with its quill at the ready, his chair was of pale wood, and his beard was fiery red. He had deep, dark eyes, and pale, pinkish lips poked out just beyond the beard itself. "Are you visiting for business or pleasure?" He asked and reached for the quill to take down their answer. "Oh, and… is the child alright there? It's very cold out…?" The dwarf's pink lips turned down in a tiny, concerned frown.
"Child?" Lakyus asked, and the party turned around to see how Momon was holding Evileye.
"Ah… y-you can put me down, Momon… ah, thank you…" Evileye stammered, and where Gagaran and Lakyus struggled to hold in their laughter, Lupusregina did not even try to stop herself, she grabbed her belly with both hands and laughed without stopping for several minutes straight.
Calca's pronouncement, or request as she'd made it, did not end the tour. Far from it, after suggesting a finish to her exploration of his home, she was quiet for a time, except to ask questions about what she saw, most of which left her more convinced than ever, ' I married a god… I birthed the child of a god… Aurelion is a godkin…' Part of her wanted to laugh at herself, ' I accidentally married a god and didn't know it. How will I explain this to Kelart?'
The sheer absurdity of it all was almost incomprehensible to the point where she had to frequently stop and rest herself against the wall as the reality made her dizzy, her husband was ever solicitous of her, holding out a hand to catch or steady her, or help her to right herself again when she was ready to move on.
"My… husband," Calca said after struggling for words, "Could I by chance meet the one you intend to send to the arena for the competition?"
Albedo gave a low, sly chuckle, "It won't be a competition, only a coronation and submission."
Calca looked at her 'sister wife' with a mix of confusion and somewhat frustrated admiration. Though direct interaction was scarce, Calca quickly determined two things. ' She loves the Allfather with all her heart… and she is the string puller of countless puppets. She and that… one, Demiurge…'
The Holy Queen's naivety was gone, her innocence a distant memory, neither of the two, despite appearances of politeness and civility, was kind by nature. ' A thin veneer of both conceals cunning minds on par with the Golden Princess or better, and a ruthless nature befitting the right and left hands of an emperor.'
Sometimes as they walked, she looked over her shoulder as if looking for her past self, the part of her that believed in kindness and love as the only form of loyalty. ' How wrong I was. I must be loved, but I must also be feared.' She reminded herself, and studied the winged woman for clues that might further help with the rule over the Holy Kingdom.
This desire to understand how to ensure she was feared, drove her question about the combatant her husband would select, and Albedo's answer led her mind spiralling into the variety of plots the right hand of the Allfather could have concocted for the clash ahead.
Ainz activated the message spell and connected to Aureole Omega. ' Aureole Omega, teleport us to your location.'
' Of course, Lord Ainz.' She answered in the sweet and high pitched voice of a growing young girl.
Ainz took the hands of his wives, and in an instant later, they were gone.
And then they weren't.
Calca blinked her eyes rapidly as if she were startled to wakefulness and found herself standing in a green grove with what appeared to be a circle of trees before her, pink blossoms tumbled down endlessly, drifting as gently as snow on a windless day. Curiously the little pink petals never seemed to pile up, they simply 'vanished' after renewing the thin satin like carpet on the green of the grass.
In the center of the trees a young woman with dark hair which tumbled down her back, clad in a white and red garb, was bent at one knee and her head was deeply bowed. "My Lord, and my Queens." She said, her voice drifted as gently as the pink blossoms themselves, and Calca felt it in her bones, chilling her to the core.
Without knowing how, perhaps by her exposure to monster after polite monster, she knew she was in the presence of great power. Though she dared not give it voice yet, not without a closer look. She took a bold step forward without waiting for her husband or for Albedo to say anything. She then took another step, and another and another and another carrying herself into the midst of the trees where her face and hair were caressed by the satiny blossoms before they fell away. She was then standing in front of the young girl, "Raise your head." Calca said in the way of a born royal, and the girl obeyed. In her right hand was a slightly curved wooden practice sword with the tip pressed down into the ground beside her calf, and when the girl looked up, Calca felt certain.
"You're… human aren't you?" Calca asked breathlessly.
Aureole Omega cocked her head. "Yes, my Queen, I am."
"And… you are also a… a created being?" Calca asked as her heart skipped a beat.
The young girl leaned slightly to the side to look past the Holy Queen, and Ainz gave a tiny approving nod of his head.
Aureole looked up again at the Queen, "I am. One of the forty-one created my sisters and I to serve as Nazarick's defenders until Second World came to an end, and our Allfather brought us to this one rather than leave us to die and return to First World."
Question piled atop question in Calca's mind about these 'other worlds' but it only reconfirmed the godhood of her husband in her own mind.
"And are you really strong enough to win against the champions you'll face in the arena?" Calca looked at the young human girl, she didn't seem like much, but looks, looks she knew were deceiving.
Aureole laughed, "My Lady, I will have already won, without even raising my sword, it won't even be a contest."
"Husband," Calca said with reverence and half turned away, she felt her mind ablaze within her head as she considered the ramifications of everything she'd seen, heard, and learned, right up to the present moment, "can you tell me what she means?"
"No, not before it is time." Ainz said with a cryptic smile that hid the true thought he held in confidence…
' Which will be the same time I've found out myself…'
Volume 7 C52
Renner, as it turned out, could not hold her liquor. ' I suppose even the most brilliant mind can't calculate everything.' Neia thought, in trying to keep pace with the military veteran so as not to disgrace herself, Princess Renner's best efforts only revealed that she was in some ways, quite innocent.
"Whas the bucket?" Renner slurred.
"You're going to need it." Neia said when she came back into the room and slapped it down on the floor between Renner's feet before returning to her side of the table and reclaiming her seat.
Renner appeared only confused. "Whersh Climb?" She looked around as if he should be there.
"I assume back home managing your Kingdom." Neia said and poured herself another cup. "You've… have you ever had a drink before?" The Queen of Frost asked, and Renner gave small, slow nods, which seemed to be the best she could manage.
"Yesh. One. An with water… idn'this that?" The Golden Queen slurred.
Neia felt her jaw drop. "Who waters down their alcohol? Oh by the gods we're getting rid of…" The Queen of Frost began to click her talons on the table as she drummed her fingers there and said, "I was going to say you owe me one, but it looks like I owe an apology instead. It never occurred to me that you'd be watering down your wine…"
"Climbshnot here… oh… shome… yesh…" Renner's waving head tried to focus on her opposite, "Wheresh yer Climb?" She drunkenly slurred while Neia slowly drank.
"I don't have one." Neia answered.
"Cause yer shougly?" Renner slurred.
Neia neither winced nor changed her expression. "Yes." She said and snapped her mouth shut.
"Theyreall shtupid ." Renner slurred back with contempt.
' Is this her being… nice? Is the Golden Queen a 'nice' drunk?' Neia wondered, before hearing 'the burp'
A kind of a half gulp and burp noise made only by the intoxicated about to vomit, her cheeks were full, and then she leaned forward, head over the bucket, and hurled the contents of her stomach into the wooden container. A very noisy 'Bleaaaagh…' sound went with it, and then the noise of faint spitting for several seconds.
Two pale, perfect hands slapped on the surface of the table one by one, and the Golden Queen began to push herself back upright again. Neia set her cup down and asked, "Are you feeling a little better?"
Gasps of heavy breathing were her answer for several seconds more, and the Golden Queen flung herself back against the chair so that her neck arched over the back and she was looking straight up, her hands fell away from the table and hung at her sides.
"Yeah, you'll be fine, just… give it a little while longer, I've seen this a thousand times, though I didn't expect you to be such a lightweight." Neia said, and Renner, without looking at the Queen of Frost asked…
"Whashit like… to aschually kill schomone… you done it… lotsh… right?" Renner asked.
Neia's mouth formed a deep frown. "I did. And… if you want to know? The first time is awful, but it gets easier until it's routine. But it's not something meant to be enjoyed. I still don't like it, and I hope to never have to do it again."
Renner's head bobbed in what might have been intended to be a nod, but it didn't come back up. "I… I shink I can walk, long as you help me… nobodyll schnow I drunk…"
"Fine, let's get you to your room for now…" Neia said and coming around the table, she took the Queen's arm and helped her to her feet, and then slipping herself so that they were arm in arm, she began to walk the Golden Queen step by step, back to her room.
Thanks to the late hour, only one or two persons were about, and those were quick to bow their heads, and so did not see the slightly drunken look on Renner's face. All they saw was two royals walking together in private conversation.
Neia closed the door behind themselves as fast as she could, and walked Renner to the broad four poster bed. "You'll want to sleep like this, just in case." Neia stated, and as she helped lay the Queen down, she rolled Renner onto her side, she then went to the corner of the room, took the chamber pot, and laid it on the floor beside where Renner's head lay at rest on the pillow. "I think you left everything in the bucket, but… just in case."
Renner mumbled something unintelligible that sounded like it might have been gratitude, and then Neia began to beat her wings, raising her feet slightly from the floor, and carrying herself to the exit in silence so as not to disturb the young Queen. The faint sound of snoring hit Neia's ear before the Queen of Frost could even leave the room.
' So that's what she's like when her guard is down.' Neia thought, and made her way back to her quarters.
Back in Renner's room, eyes closed, popped open. Steady snoring, stopped. The Queen who was laying down, got up and went about removing her dress, laying it carefully aside for servants to tend the following day before climbing smoothly back into bed and getting under the covers. Wide, staring eyes looked up at the ceiling, and the Golden Queen relaxed herself saying, "So… that's what she's like when her guard is down."
She then yawned, and began to think of Climb again before drifting off to sleep.
A day later, Queen Draudillon watched from her place in the wagon as they rolled into the capital city of the Baharuth Empire. Arwintar was bustling with life, vigor, and activity in general. The population walked with swift steps, horses cantered past with the riders barely noticing anything, and carriages clattered about as they went to and fro down busy streets.
She immediately compared it to the cities of her Kingdom, what was left of it, and a burning anger settled in the pit of her stomach when she craned her neck to look at the spires of tall buildings, the proud architecture of ancient stone and the sturdy buildings that lay lined up side by side. ' It's not fair! If we didn't have the beastmen to the east of us, we could have this too!' She thought and looked down at the manacles on her wrists. She was chained beside the same pregnant elf woman who assisted in the care of the human and elven victims of the King, who was in turn chained to someone the King had not 'finished with' yet.
There was no way for just 'one' of them to run. The woman to Draudillon's right leaned down at her, "Don't let him see you angry, child. Don't ever let him see that. Be passive, be silent. Don't think you can escape just because you are here among other humans ." The woman said with a bitter snap.
It brought Draudillon out of her reverie and brought her to look up at her long eared comrade. "Why, there's a tournament of champions here, anything could happen, if I can get word to one of my country's allies…"
"They're a long way from here, child of royalty." The woman said reprovingly, "Naive girl, nobody else is rushing to be here, this is the first year of guaranteed peace in forever, and nobody is rushing to end it. The 'month' has been drawn out, I'm sure of it. The royals of all nations may come here as you've said, but they will not come looking for war. They'll treat this like you did, as a gay, joyous holiday. You said yourself, didn't you, that you were going to join with them, meet your mother, and all come together?"
Draudillon began to tremble. "But the city… Baharuth won't…"
"They're in no position to fight anyone now, not with their fate hanging by a thread." The woman whispered.
"Then… my maids… my attendants…" Draudillon made neither statement nor question. It was simply words of despair cast out into the uncaring world.
"Maybe when your mother arrives… at least you can go home… if she'll bear the price. But nobody will fight for the elf King's 'leavings'… I'm sorry." The woman whispered down to her, and then wrapped her arms around the white haired Queen in disguise, and comforted her as best she could until the carriage finally rolled to a stop in front of a gated and towering estate.
Volume 7 C53
"Again!" Zesshi shouted at Brain from her position, after the unbeaten swordsman was beaten once more. He stood up, held his sword out, and charged.
Moments later, he was down clutching his balls and Zesshi was holding her hand down to help him back up.
"I'll… need a minute." He gasped. "That's… dirty."
"Fair fights are for morons and duels." Zesshi said with a cocky smirk, "Raymond actually taught me that one."
"Raymond… the Cardinal you were traveling with?" Brain asked in a tiny voice while he tried not to wonder if his balls were swelling up or not.
"Yeah, him. Funny thing, I'm three times his age, at least, but you'd think he was my father from the way he acted." She chortled, and Brain took her hand and got up to his feet with her pull.
He hunched over, the tip of his sword piercing the grass and clinging to the hilt to help him stay up, his other hand rested just above his knee. "You're… a half elf, so don't you mature slower…?"
She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "If you're going to say I'm flat, I'll kick you in the balls again. For real this time."
Brain laughed at her glowering expression, "N-No, I mean, you're like a teenager in human years."
"I'm human." Zesshi said, and at his long steady look, she couldn't meet his eyes. "Half… the half that matters, the half that raised me, kept me, took care of me when I was too young to feed myself… if I'd been left with my father I know what he'd have me doing."
"And if you'd been born with no more power than her?" Brain inclined his head toward Layali where the girl was setting up the small cook pot over the little fire pit she'd dug. "What do you think humans would have you doing?"
Zesshi shivered in spite of herself. "It's not like that, Raymond is my comrade, my handler… he'd never… besides, my mother chose to keep me, she never treated me like Layali's father treated his daughter.."
"Then she was quite a woman." Brain said as he pushed himself up straight, "But you know Layali, and you saw the auction and the public servants in Ikari, do you really think it's that different for most living in powerful houses? I've been in enough to know it isn't. Your mother might have loved you, maybe to Raymond you really are a comrade, but you're not a full human, and if all the elves and the rest were gone tomorrow, you'd be expendable too." He took up position again, and then Zesshi froze his blood.
"I know it's not different, I finished your work for you when you got lost in that estate, I broke all the chains in the basement and told the slaves to get going… why are you looking at me that way?" Zesshi asked, and his face was drawn and it went several shades paler.
"Did you see them leave?" Brain asked.
"No… why?" Zesshi replied, and his shoulders slumped.
"Did you tell them the guards were dead?" He pressed.
"No, just that it was safe to go out, as long as they made for the hole in the wall, I mean the repair people were looking tired, they weren't going to finish, so it would be unguarded and open till morning. Why?" Zesshi felt her annoyance start to rise and tapped her foot. "What's with the questions?"
' They're dead then. Fuck.' Brain thought and took a deep breath, and exhaled as if relieved, "Oh, never mind then, it's nothing."
Before Zesshi could prompt him any further, a scream caught their ears and both snapped their eyes toward the sound, Layali was clutching, clawing at a stray root, and tugging at her leg was a long blood red tentacle that wrapped itself all the way up to her thigh. "Yeaaaaaaghhh… help! Help meeee! It hurts! It huuuuurts!" She squealed in pain, her eyes wide with fear.
Even before he could move to rescue her, he realized what happened. The iron pot lay tumbled on its lips nearby upside down, the stick had an obviously large knot on it. ' She must have thought to put water in the pot by holding it on the stick… damnit…'
Zesshi and Brain moved at the same instant, but where Zesshi went for Layali, Brain went for the water. "Don't!" Brain shouted as she grabbed the girl in one hand while grabbing the tentacle in the other.
He hit the water with a splash, his sword burying itself into the eye of the monster he could see undulating down below. Zesshi's strength ripped away the tentacle, and he could hear the tearing of flesh for only an instant before her piercing wail drowned out even that, and a gushing of blood turned the water and grass red.
The creature went slack, and Brain yanked his sword like a fishing rod, drawing the pierced creature out of the water and throwing it over his shoulder and far onto dry land where it wiggled and flopped. It had a large body, and multiple long tentacles that flopped and slapped around on the grass and dirt, a large hawkish beak, and sharp teeth gleamed in the light off of many cuplike sections of its tentacles, the eye was shut and bleeding, but the creature wasn't dead.
"Zesshi! Go and finish it! I've got her!" Brain shouted, and seemingly without thinking about it, the half elf shot forward, her fist smashing into the soft bodied creature, its tentacles wrapped around her, but unlike Layali, it couldn't pierce her flesh, nor could it keep her body under control. She punched, and punched, and punched into the long body of the creature, ignoring its pathetic slaps and attempts to cut her skin… the ground shook beneath her feet from every blow as she pounded the thing until it was limp red mush laying at her feet, oozing blue blood onto the grass.
"Damn it!" Brain hissed as Layali clung to him and screamed as he sloshed out of the water and picked her up from where Zesshi laid her. ' A thigh wound, if it got her calf that would be painful but…' Blood fountaining out of the wound revealed the ugly truth.
Brain knew from experience that wounds to that artery were lethal, it took only a minute or two for full grown adults to bleed out, a child? He mentally gave her mere seconds to live. "I'm sorry!" He said and put his hand over the bloody wound to try hopelessly to staunch the bleeding. A chunk of flesh was missing, and the blood soaked through his pants and shirt as he struggled to close the wound. "Get some herb!" He shouted at Zesshi, who rushed to his pouch.
Layali felt cold, Brain's face, normally utterly passive, indifferent, or occasionally somewhat sly, was suddenly full of worry. ' I'm dying… I'm finally dying… this is it…' She caught a glimpse of how much of her blood was on him. ' He jumped at that monster without a second thought… a human… like when… he fought Zesshi when he thought she was a slave catcher… I…' She blinked back tears and fought the pain enough to keep back the screaming.
"We're going to put you to sleep! That way you'll heal and it won't hurt!" Brain said, his hand was hard, calloused, but it held the wound down with incredible strength, his arm was beneath her back and wrapped around so that it held onto her opposite shoulder.
"Lying… you're lying… I'm dying… I'm sorry… I tried to listen… I just wanted to help…" She whimpered. "I'm scared… I thought I wanted to die… thought I did… but I don't wanna… not like this… thank you for takin care… takin care of me…" She rattled out.
"Damn it, Zesshi! Hurry up with that herb!" Brain shouted over his shoulder just as she came on.
She held four different bottles in her fingers, Brain snatched one out from between her fore and middle fingers, shoved the lip into his mouth, bit down on the cork, spat it out, and then held the substance under her nose.
Layali's eyes were instantly shut, but as he held the herb concoction up to her nose, his hand came away from her thigh wound and Zesshi saw the injury for herself.
' I… I killed her.' Zesshi whispered, as Brain slowly let Layali slip from his grasp and laid her down on the red stained earth.
Volume 7 C54
Evileye followed the path the dwarf led her on, though it wasn't likely she'd get lost, nor any of them for that matter as for the most part, it was a straight shot. The walls were lit periodically with crystals, and though the caves were not exceedingly high ceilinged, forcing Gagaran and Momon to almost crouch for long stretches of their walk, at least it was always wide enough for them all to pass through.
"The first city isn't that far… kinda the only city though, doncha know, we had a right hard time with the quagoa for some good long years… but that's kinda past us now, an ye know we doin pretty good now. Specially thanks to them special tools the Allfather went'n gave us." Their guide said as he ambled along as casual as could be.
"So… a war?" Lakyus asked.
"Oh aye, it was, an what a war it was, killin each other for a right long time b'fore the Demon Emperor showed up and smacked them quagoa right down… course he came fer us too, an even them dragons… gave us all a right hard time." Their guide replied, "We still not on our feet yet, but we still a right hospitable folk to those what come in peace and all. Specially if'n you're gonna trade an spend money." He looked over his shoulder, and Evileye caught the glint of anticipation in his eyes.
"So… when we get to the city, where do we go? We need a place to stay." Lakyus explained, and the dwarf escort was quick to answer.
"My cousin started the first inn for travelers in the capital, so I'll be takin you right there, we got no formal 'customs' office yet fer folk on the move, so for right now things are right easy doncha know. Just sign up like you did at me boss's front desk, an I'll get you where you can stay. My cousin'll explain the rules, an… if'n you're interested in tours, well, my big sister just started a company fer that too, runs it outa my cousin's inn… an if'n you fancy a drink, well my da, his tavern is right across the street, an gives a discount to those what stay in his nephew's inn. First drink on the house, best mushroom beer in the Dwarf Kingdom." Their escort's job, in Momon's eyes, expanded by leaps and bounds.
' My father used to speak of things like this, intertwined family businesses… drawing everyone to work together so the whole house prospers… my little vampire… no wonder… Vater, I shall work your will!' Pandora's Actor thought as the epiphany struck home.
It didn't hurt that, much to his surprise over time, he'd come to like the insecure little vampire who'd been hiding her identity for so long. She was passionate, occasionally a little dramatic, and at once both shy with her feelings and unable to keep them bottled up, as if her diminutive height just could not hold them all. Brave and charming, and powerful enough to compare to a weaker Pleiades Battle Maid, it was easy to see why she was regarded as a hero of renown and living legend.
Even as they walked farther into the bowels of the mountain, she stuck closer to him by just a hair more than was truly needed. But they didn't speak to one another, instead their dwarven guide talked on and on about the war against the Quagoa, about the coming of Jaldabaoth, and the coming of the Allfather… the rescue, the discovery of truly ancient history.
"… So according to our findings, from what we've uncovered down in the trench, thousands of years ago the Allfather ruled over this region, and the dwarves and quagoa were one cosmopolitan civilization until a demon lord showed up and, fearing the union of quagoan muscle and dwarven artisans, forced us apart. The Allfather sealed the Demon Emperor, but the cost was that he too was cast out of the world, until… well, there's a lotta speculation still… but me, I think we broke the seal ourselves on accident, well, us and the Quagoa, prolly you know, had one o'them blood seals, when there were few enough of us… he got out again… lot of us on both sides think that… so we right nice to each other now… the Quagoa got promised their own mountain, a homeland of their own when one comes into the Allfather's control with no occupants…. But till then? Meh, we learnin to live together peaceful like."
The dwarf finished the recitation, and Pandora's Actor briefly had to catch himself, keeping the grin at bay. ' Demiurge mein guter Herr, your talent for tale telling might do more to bring submission than all the armies of the world.'
They then rounded a corner where a glow cast itself against the broad wall, and there was a collective gasp of awe from the traveling party.
They emerged above city height, the path seemingly carved to come out in such a place that they had the finest of all possible views before winding down into the city itself. The buildings were all carved into place, just more parts of the mountain itself that weren't removed, the streets cut smooth and lined with glowstones, the soft white light cast shadows in every direction, giving the gray stone city a patchwork look like a curious painting, and every person therein was adding their own part.
"Welcome to me home, the greatest stronghold of the Dwarves, the heart of the mountain, and the source of all the runecrafted weapons in the world… at least until we get them other cities goin strong again… she's quite a site, idn'she?" The dwarf wore a proud, massive grin amidst his beard as he extended his hand out over the stone rail left in place, encompassing the whole of the city in his hands.
"It's… I've never seen anything like it…" Lakyus gasped, "I can hardly believe what I'm seeing…" The spires were few, but the high towers were plentiful, the dwarves economized on space with exceptional skill, each building could be reached from above, walking along the rooftops as if it were an upper road with ladders conveniently laying about in places, and most pedestrians seemed to prefer that, while the carts and goods carriers held the roads.
"It is somethin, the Dragon Prince Under the Mountain, he might show up if you wait all that long, Olasird'arc is his name, he has quite a few interesting stories to tell… an his children an wives are still here…" The guide said as they began their slow descent down the wide path that would carry them into the city.
"You've got… dragons, living here, and in peace I assume?" Lakyus pressed, her eyes scanning the underground horizon for danger.
"Aye, but they not dangerous to us, no 'ny more doncha know, they're right friendly… kinda… well mebe not friendly… but right polite, an real smart. The big'un, he's gonna be, if'n you can believe me, a judge on quagoan and dwarven disputes, him bein impartial and all. An his wives, his sons… they handlin goods transports. Seems some Southern Queen heard about our dragon residents and drew up a thing on how to carry lots a goods with ease, showed it to one of our runesmiths who went down there on business, an now?" He laughed, "Dragons gonna be carryin mail an trade goods all over, spread'n runecraft at first, then growin to crops an all kindsa things. That just got announced a few weeks ago… slip me a few coins an I can probably sneak you in to get a look at the containers we makin fer this here project." He rubbed his fingers together, and every hand went into their pouches to draw out a silver before they'd taken five steps more.
Volume 7 C55
Brain looked down at the girl who was by his knees, her body was still, he no longer held his hand over the wound. "I killed her. You said 'don't' and I didn't listen… I've never… I was trying to save her." Zesshi said from over his shoulder.
Brain didn't look up at her. "You didn't know. You couldn't have known what I even meant. It was an accident, just bad luck. This kind of thing happens every single day. Just don't think about it. Don't think about it at all and it gets a whole lot easier."
"Don't… you mean forget what happened?" Zesshi asked, aghast, "How… she was just a-"
Brain looked over his shoulder at her, "A runaway slave that died by a monster. You think she's the first one? There's a reason most don't run away, there's a reason most don't make it. There's a reason beyond just the half elf slave catchers… it's because close to the border, the monsters ironically enough, help keep the prey in ."
"I didn't know…" Zesshi said in a tiny voice.
"Yeah, I know, there's a lot you don't know." Brain retorted. "That's for damn sure."
Zesshi's eyes narrowed, going from the girl to the kneeling swordsman.
"What the hell does that mean… I'm sorry…" Zesshi demanded, and then kept her eyes on the pale body.
"We'll get her over the border and bury her there." Brain said, and with a trembling hand, he brought his fingers over her eyelids and began to close them. "I can do that much for her."
"Brain… you… might have to wait on that burial." Zesshi said, her eyes widening ever so slightly.
"What do you mean?" He asked, his eyes following the half elf warrior as she came around to crouch on the opposite side of the fallen girl.
"She's not dead." Zesshi answered and pointed to the trickle of blood that was still oozing from the wound.
Brain snapped his eyes to the ugly gash in Layali's thigh. He took a close look, tearing away a clean part of his shirt, he shoved the cloth into the wound, wiped the blood clean, and sure enough… a very slight oozing of crimson continued to dribble into that spot.
"Get my pouch!" Brain barked the order as if to one of his old idiot bandits, but Zesshi, far from showing umbrage, quietly did his bidding, though she moved with all the speed she could muster, so it was back in his hand before he could even finish extending his arm to take it.
He thrust his hand within after tearing open the drawstring and yanked out a needle and thread, and under Zesshi's confused but intense eyes, he began to sew the wound shut. "What are you doing?" She asked as his bloody hands flew up and down in a constant undulating motion like a swimming serpent.
"Sewing the artery closed. Somehow… somehow she's not dead, if I can close this fast enough… Zesshi, take my sword, rub your hands on it fast enough to heat it like a glowing fire poker." He gave the command, and eminently confused, she carried out his instructions. Her hands closed over the flat of both sides of the blade and began to rub.
Nothing happened at first, nothing at all, but gradually the metal warmed under her hands, the heat began to build and grow, she moved her arms faster and faster, but kept an eye on what Brain was doing.
Then before she knew it, the metal was glowing red as a torch in the pitch darkness, and Brain's bloody hands stopped moving.
"It's done." Zesshi said, and pulled her hands away.
"Good, bring it here!" He ordered, and Zesshi carried his blade to him, the skin was sewn shut but the gash beneath was clear.
"Slap the hot part on it, right here." Brain said, pointing to where the sutures held the wound more or less closed.
He looked at the face of the unconscious girl, "It's a good thing you're not awake, or this would hurt like hell." He said, and Zesshi did as he said, slapping the metal against the girl's skin, the sick smell of burning flesh rose up instantly as the hot metal connected with it, and Layali's unconscious body spasmed involuntarily in response to the pain.
Brain leaned back with a sigh of relief, his hands caught him against the grass so that he leaned against the strength of his arms. "That… that was something." He said.
"What was… what was the point of all this?" Zesshi asked, furrowing her black and white brow down at him, and then stabbing his sword into the soft ground before putting her hands on her hips.
"That's how you treat wounds when you've got no potions and no magic caster." Brain explained. "She'll have that scar for the rest of her life, just like the other ones the potion couldn't get rid of, but if she doesn't die of shock from the burn, or blood loss from that wound… she'll survive. She's far tougher than she looks."
His face turned pensive. "What?" Zesshi asked.
"Yeah… she is a lot tougher than she looks… impossibly so… she should have drowned in that river, died of her head wound, gotten infected through her eye socket, been torn up inside from what Cerebrate did to… everything. Not to mention the broken ribs, arm… and I've seen grown men die of that exact wound in a minute or two." Brain's mind raced.
"You think she's got a talent?" Zesshi asked.
"It'd be the craziest talent I've ever heard of… but she's got no business being alive without it. The wounds certainly happen but… they just don't kill her. Maybe… maybe if we did nothing at all, she'd still survive if she just had time to heal." He shuddered, "That sounds like some sort of personal hell, no amount of pain would end it…"
"Maybe you're right… but on the other hand…" Zesshi rubbed her chin in thought, "She could do a lot with it, survive a lot… a lot of learning hurts, and potentially the process of learning things the hard way can lead to death. If she doesn't have to worry about that?"
Brain's face went pale all over again. "Listen to me, Zesshi… if she survives this, if we're right… the wound wasn't as bad as she thought. It looked worse than it was, we stopped the bleeding and sealed the wound, do you understand me? She has no power, she has no talent or gift, she's just a girl who got lucky more than once. Tell her nothing else . "
Zesshi looked down at the unconscious girl, she'd begun to breathe visibly, though still unconscious, ' The herb, if it weren't for that, maybe she'd already be awake… how does somebody just… reject death, that way?' There was no clear answer, and the truth was, Zesshi knew without a doubt that if there was a reason, some way to know, she wouldn't be the one to find it.
And as to Brain's instructions… he put a hand out to her, grasping her still burning hot hand as if it caused him no pain, even though it must have, "Promise me. If a place like this learns about her survival of injuries like that, about her simply 'not dying' they'll tear her little body apart to find the answer. They'll torture her, not because they enjoy it, but because she's not human, so they don't care, all that will matter is finding out how to capture that talent in magic form. Do you understand me?"
Zesshi wanted to protest. But having seen the crop eared slaves in the manor, having seen the way her own brother had his ears sawn off just to break his spirit, having seen the wounds on the girl herself… She had no room left for doubt.
"I won't say a thing. It wasn't as bad as she thought, she just had to be unconscious for you to help her." Zesshi promised, and meant every word.
That finally allowed Brain's body to relax, he allowed himself to lie on his back with his arms and legs splayed out, the stink of blood finally noticeable in his nose, he said, "You can't cook, I'm guessing?"
"No… no, I can't. Raymond always did the cooking." Zesshi said, and Brain chuckled like a man half mad.
"Okay, I'm drained, so it's time you learned. Go grab the monster, chop him up with… whatever is left of my damn sword… and I'll talk you through how to cook this one. Luckily enough, this particular monster is delicious if you know what you're doing. A little chewy, but a lot of flavor." Brain turned his head to the side, resting his cheek in the grass, and Zesshi went to follow his instructions, taking out his sword, and finding it largely reduced to slag.
' Great… now I need a new sword. Oh well, worth it.' He thought with indifference, and gave a genuine smile of relief to Zesshi's back.
Volume 7 C56
Calca's tour of Nazarick was brought to an end only by the sudden delivery of a message. ' Allfather, the Theocracy Cardinal kept his word, I picked the letters up myself last night and have left them in the council chamber where we all last gathered. I sent a message to my homeland to send flying scouts over the southern border of the Slane Theocracy as far as their coast. I'm about to meet with the Wolf Queen and have already spoken with the Golden Queen. If you intend to dispatch agents, you have the means to do so now without any repercussions that will hurt your Kingdom.' Neia's voice in his head was surprisingly firm, formal, a far cry from the passionate way in which she usually spoke, as if something troubled her enough to leave her reserved.
He answered immediately. ' I was right to enter into a treaty with you, Queen of Frost. You are what I expected, through and through. My wife is with me, and we will return immediately. I will send my agents to investigate everything we can.'
Neia said nothing back, she simply killed the link between them, and that was that. He filed that away for later and looked to Calca who was sitting across from him at the table in the Nazarick bar, both hands on a cup of juice… her sixth one, and a wild, joyful look on her face.
"Such flavor… how is it even possible for anything to be this good…?" She asked, "Even for a god… this is a bit much." She said, and while Albedo could only look smug, Calca added, "I'm only slightly exaggerating."
"Be that as it may, we have things to do. The Queen of Frost dispatched a telepathic message, it's time to send our agents south, Cardinal Raymond came through, and that means we have all we need to search for the Queen… but also, we need to move on regardless. The road to Arwintar is long and we've already remained longer than intended." Ainz pointed out, and the Queen frowned only a little, it was more of a tiny pout wherein she understood the need to leave, but looked reluctantly at the juice.
"That… portal, gate, you called it, we could be there immediately." She replied.
"Yes, but we would not be seen . And establishing the peace among our nations in the eyes of others will help establish their sense of security. Many of my subjects are former slaves from the Baharuth Empire, others are humans, others are heteromorphs, seeing you pass through with me will quiet concerns in some quarters." Ainz suggested, and Calca reluctantly bowed her head.
"I know, but still… who wants to leave paradise when they get there?" She asked with a wink.
"That is why I am so reluctant to leave his bed." Albedo added, giving a taunting smile at the human Queen.
Unsurprisingly, Queen Calca took it well, "A sentiment I can readily understand. The experience was not what I expected." And then as if to make a peace offering to the woman who ruled beside the Allfather she added, "I look forward to introducing my son to his sibling. The two halves of the Allfather will make for a remarkable team, like nothing this world has ever seen."
Unable or unwilling to argue with a sentiment that praised her beloved, Albedo ended the verbal duel before it could truly begin by rising to her feet. Calca finished her juice and set the cup down on the table and followed suit, and in turn Ainz did the same.
[Gate] He cast the spell and the vortex appeared before them, they were gone a moment later, leaving the bar virtually empty again.
Enri gasped for breath as she lay beside her husband, her limbs limp, almost jelly like, her bosom heaving and slick, and Nfirea wore a thoroughly happy look on his face and put his hands behind his head, sitting up on his pillow, he crossed one ankle over the other beneath the sheets.
"It's good to be the King." He said, and Enri turned her head to look at him with a sly little smile.
"Because you get to have sex with the Queen?" She asked in a voice that said that had better be the answer.
He didn't disappoint her. "Yes!"
"So… what was that… it was… how?" She gasped.
"A new invention, the Allfather's support for my potion research has been very generous, and while doing research into the alchemy needed to create a stamina potion using a simple chronomancy spell, the sort meant to make someone a few seconds faster… we accidentally…"
"Husband… skip the details." Enri reproved him, and he flushed a little red.
"Right, I'm sorry dear, ah, basically it adds stamina for that, in particular. It didn't do what I intended it to do, but I think this will be very well received. We'll have to retain a state monopoly on it though, if we do, I'll bet our treasury will never run dry." He smirked further, and Enri blushed, less than she used to, but still it was there.
"A very sensible idea… Wolf King… " She said after drawing herself up to his ear, she nibbled at his earlobe and he chuckled just a little bit in return.
"Are you sure I should stay here? It would be a shame to let this just sit around." Nfirea replied and held the bottle up and gave the white potion a shake.
"It had better just sit around while I'm gone." Enri laughed, "I won't be gone very long at least, before you know it I'll be home. Besides, somebody has to run the Kingdom."
"I suppose, and I would miss out on my research too…" Nfirea said with some reluctance… "I'll use a message scroll immediately if I get word about Queen Draudillon, but you know the Slane Theocracy will not be happy about this, even with Cardinal Raymond's blessing."
"You ran an alchemy shop, so field complaints like they're angry customers." Enri replied, "You can do this, my love. They're not going to start a war over something their own side authorized us to do. Just prioritize the Queen's life over all and they can't complain. Now… how about one more round, the others are probably back by now and getting ready to go, and I don't want to be the only other Queen with no heirs present or on the way when I get there."
Nfirea reached for the bottle, "As you wish, my love." He said, "But maybe have the baths made ready now so you won't be delayed too long?"
She rang the bell while he consumed the potion, and could barely restrain herself long enough to give orders to the maid before she could leap astride her husband one more time.
Volume 7 C57
Enri stayed long enough to watch her goblin wolf riders racing away from where they formed up. The goblins were clad in their light armor, dark dragonskin leather with loose caps of the same material, with long thin lances at the ready. The wolves were the size of ponies, and their large pink tongues lolled out, panting as the Wolf Queen gave her orders. Ten across and five deep, they formed up in ten squares, making for five hundred in number.
Their lances carried pennants showing her national flag to diminish the appearance of hostility at least some and give them a more 'parade like' appearance when they moved as groups.
Enri, predictably enough, made her instructions brief. "… So then locate and secure the Draconic Queen, or if she is dead, her body, and return her to the safety of the international body, and… if you can, her maids as well. Save everyone you can."
Raymond watched the order being given out by the Wolf Queen. ' Such an… absurd name… for such a soft soul.' He thought, and he should have held her in contempt for it.
But he couldn't. ' Save everyone you can… that's the ideal we all began the priesthood with, that's the ideal we all chose to strive for when we trod the path of the Scriptures, to become Cardinals and lead the nation…' It was a bitter draught to see a peasant in royal garb who could give such an insane order with a straight face. She meant every word, he could hear it from the very core of herself.
' When was the last time I sounded like that?' He wondered while the liquor pounded against his brain, and he watched from his high place on the balcony of the hotel set aside for state visitors, but still apart from the nations that had, somehow, become so close that they were traveling companions. He put his hand to his head as if he could rub away his hangover. ' Years of flapping on about 'the good of humanity' how many villagers like hers did we destroy in pursuit of the greater good?' The destruction of the Sunlight Scripture, he knew, took place not far from here.
' At least I can say I told them that mission was a bad idea. We should have just killed the weak king and let them fall apart in the next invasion. That idiot Barbro wouldn't have lasted a year.' Raymond groaned at a particularly painful moment and watched the wolf riding goblins raise their lances and cheer for their Queen.
The sound of hundreds of wolf paws slapping the stone was like the noise of steady rain, far different than the thunder of horse hooves, but even at a glance he knew for sure that those wolves would cause a bloody mess if they came up against opposing horsemen.
' Lying to Zesshi was for the greater good too… and for hers… but will she still see it that way? She has to know the truth by now…?' He asked himself that while hoping the opposite. ' Knowing her she's sure to be on her way to Arwintar… which means my best chance of finding her is to go that way myself.' That wasn't the first time he'd thought it, and again he wondered if he was just trying to convince himself or not. ' If she went with that wanderer, who can say what she's doing? The gods know she'd get lost in her own house if she weren't careful… and naive, sheltered as she is… gods… please hear my prayer…' Raymond said and knelt to the empty air, he lowered his forehead to the floor and lay his hands on the floor with palms upturned above his head to receive their blessing.
"For all my life I've followed your teachings… protected humanity… but now… I see a beast, a traitorous beast… and she sets demihumans to save a human… She tells me that her humans are her people… and if she lies to me I cannot see it. I see a mere peasant turned Queen, and she sends goblins to save peasants from the monster of the elf Kingdom… and the girl I have known since I was a mere boy… I fear she is wounded in her heart and in pain… I fear the consequences of my lies, and that I will lose my friend, my comrade. Never in my life have I uttered a selfish prayer, I was given all the gifts I ever needed… until now. Please… tell me what to do! Give me words that will help her to understand! Strengthen my faith! Show me that I am deceived by a fever or a spell or the damned lies of a powerful mage! Show me I am not wrong!" He shouted the end of his prayer into the floor as he prayed for wisdom and guidance.
Outside, he could hear the clatter of carriages, and the cheers of humans and nonhumans alike as the monarchs resumed their shared journey to Arwintar.
They rolled past him moments later, but he couldn't see it. Not with his eyes closed and his head down.
But if the gods gave any answer, he couldn't hear it. If they were listening, they gave him no sign. If they cared, it seemed they didn't know how to show it. Silence stretched, minute became minute until a full hour passed him by, until his body ached from the uncomfortable posture, and Cardinal Raymond rose up again.
' Arwintar…' He reminded himself as he put the failed prayer in his past and pushed himself to his feet. ' I can't do anything else here, whether the gods answer me or not, this is not the place I need to be.'
And with that, he went to make preparations to leave, uncertain about what he would find as he went on.
' As long as I find Zesshi… my… Zesshi, I can live with almost anything else…' He told himself, and hoped to the gods the trip wouldn't make him into a liar…
Volume 7 C58
When Layali woke up, her first emotion was shock. ' I… I woke up? Was that a dream?' She reached down to her inner thigh where the memory of the pain began. She felt the ridge of a burn mark and sat up with agonizing slowness. The soreness of the rest of her body was there, and when she looked down, there it was. It was dark around her, but the glow of the fire made it obvious. ' I… I was branded… he… he branded me?' She thought with horror, and the rest of her memories began to return as the fog of sleep began to lift.
' No… no something else… why there… and…' She fell back into the cloak that separated her from the ground. The memory of the swordsman jumping over her, his sword piercing the water while Zesshi ripped the creature apart with her bare hands, returned in earnest. ' Rescued… they rescued me. Right, I got too close… the mark then…?' The burn mark where the tooth tore her open was different. She looked down the length of her right leg, she recognized sutures easily enough, and some places were wrapped in stinking bandages that smelled like the herbs she knew Brain carried.
"You're awake." Zesshi said from behind her, and Layali rose up to look, Zesshi sat munching on some pink, chewy looking meat. A few feet away, Brain was sprawled out and snoring.
"I… yes, yes I am… what, my thigh? My injuries… was it all real?" Layali asked with wondering eyes while Zesshi's fingers picked at the food in her little wooden bowl.
The heterochromatic half elf nodded while she chewed on another bite. "Yes, you've been asleep for the last two days. You weren't that badly hurt, but it did put a toxin in you that kept you unconscious for some time. Fortunately the monster was large enough that… well," she held up a morsel between two fingers, "would you like a bite of him ?" She smirked, and Layali's stomach growled with violent agitation.
The younger half elf put her hand on her belly and sprang to her feet, then winced… "Ow!" She yelped, and her leg almost gave out.
"Be careful, you'll pop your stitches. Brain seemed to be pretty good at those, but I have no idea how to fix them if they pop." Zesshi explained, and Layali gave a tiny nod that ended up more as a wince.
"I… yeah, I will…" Layali said, and Zesshi stood up, approached her, and handed the girl the bowl herself.
"Eat up. There's plenty, Brain is a pretty decent field cook. I tried, but…" Zesshi shrugged, "He swore I was going to burn the water."
Layali gave a weak smile at the weak joke, and plucked a fragment of the pink meat into her mouth, it was as chewy as it looked, but as she ground her teeth over it, the flesh began to dissolve and the flavor, savory and sweet, began to spread out over her tongue. She shoved several more pieces into her mouth, stuffing her cheeks like a chipmunk and saying, "Ish good."
Zesshi went to the spit and cut a few more pieces of the tentacle free, dropping them into another bowl and reseating herself cross legged on the grass.
"So… it wasn't that bad… I got… I got real lucky then. That thing was going to kill me." Layali said, looking down at the remnants of the creature that now served as her food.
"Luck was with you, that's for sure. Maybe making up for the bad luck of meeting Cerebrate, so don't worry, you've got a lot more good luck due to you after that." Zesshi said. It was meant to be encouraging, but Layali began to tremble at the name and tears began to quietly run down her face.
"Please don't say his name… I don't want to think of him, of it, of those days…" Layali said in a tiny, broken voice.
Zesshi looked down into her bowl, "Sorry." She said abruptly. "I'm not that used to talking to people, till this trip I don't think I've spoken to anyone other than Raymond, the Black Scripture members or other Cardinals for the last… thirty or forty years, maybe since I was younger than you. I don't really know much about being… gentle, with words. I'll try to be more careful."
Layali sniffled a little and took another bite, she chewed on the stuff for several seconds before asking, "Was it hard to work with monsters?"
"They're not monsters." Zesshi said, and Layali only looked back at her in turn.
"They're my comrades… my… I don't know, Cenna is my friend, some of the others, I think. Raymond, the old man has been with me for a long time…" Zesshi's mind whirled with possibilities. Old rumors came back to mind.
' The other runaways' or ' The deserters' or ' The Washouts' as they'd been derisively termed, warriors, casters, rangers and spies with scripture level potential who ran away and quit. Zesshi recalled an old conversation with Cenna, the Black Scripture captain after one went all the way through training and then just 'vanished' on his first mission.
"Traitors and abandoners… leaving you all with all the work, they really should be hunted down with more vigor and punished." Zesshi had said.
Cenna, with his loose dark hair cascading down his shoulders and his long spear on his shoulder, only shrugged. "Some do that, but they're the crazy ones."
Zesshi recalled her frown, "Which? The deserters or the ones who chase them?"
Cenna gave a slightly bitter laugh, "Both, in a way. You wouldn't know because you only go out after monsters, but things get… complicated, out there in the field on the regular missions. It's not always that simple, yeah we should follow orders and all, but the ones who can't? Nah, they got their reasons, and the only ones who really want to hunt those hard, are the craziest of the crazies. You ask me, a lot more naps, screwing, feasting, and a lot less bloody and complicated missions'd make everything a whole lot better for everyone."
"But, aren't you supposed to chase down a pair… like a week ago?" Zesshi asked, aghast.
"Yeah… Kirak and Shanda ran off on a mission and got sighted somewhere near the border. Gosh… I hope they haven't moved on, it would be a shame if they did and I couldn't pick up their trail again… I'll get right on it… after my vacation." Cenna answered, and meandered off, leaving Zesshi scratching her head.
When she set the memory aside, and found herself looking down at the patched up little half elf, Cenna began to make a lot more sense. "They're not… monsters, they're just… they do what they know… same as me… only… only I guess I didn't, and don't, know much." Zesshi bit her lower lip as she acknowledged, with great reluctance, her own ignorance.
"But they do… don't they?" Layali pressed. "They've gotta, to tell you what to do…"
"I… it wasn't ever bad, working for most of them, some yes, and they kept those away from me. Raymond was my handler, and has been for more than twenty years, closer to thirty, probably… I watched Cenna go from a godkin scrub to the rank of Captain. I came up with Time Turner's code name… they wouldn't…" Zesshi felt the words start to die on her tongue, ' act like Cerebrate' was what she'd intended to say.
But what could she say when confronted with the proof of what they all defended. ' My brother's screams as they cut his ears… that's going to stay with me for a long time… and how many other siblings do I have out there?' Zesshi wondered, and her mind staggered at the possibilities.
"Thank you for saving me." Layali said as the awkward silence stretched out.
"It's no trouble. Monsters like that are nothing but ants to me." Zesshi replied, then reaching into her bowl and finding that her fingers touched only emptiness and wet juices, she brought it up to her mouth and began to lick it clean. "By the gods that's good stuff." She licked her lips and went to slice off more pieces for herself, and when Layali moved closer to the roasting spit, Zesshi cut off a few pieces for her as well.
"So you're stronger than Brain by a whole lot, I guess." Layali asked when they sat back down again.
"Yes. If he's a hill, I'm a mountain." Zesshi answered it honestly, and glanced over at the swordless swordsman who snored obliviously a few feet away.
"Could I get that strong?" Layali asked with a tentative and hopeful look when she raised her eyes like a pleading puppy dog.
"As him? Maybe. As me? No, I was born this way." Zesshi replied, and then said, "But if you get as strong as him, there's not many you'd have to be afraid of. Who knows, maybe you even have a talent for some weapon or another and just don't know it yet."
"So… when I heal, can you… maybe teach me a little?" Layali asked, her eyes fluttered hopefully, and Zesshi answered immediately.
"I'll show you what I know, but be careful."
"More so than around water, I promise." Layali said with her hand over her heart, and resumed chewing with a smile on her face.
Volume 7 C59
Contrary to all expectations, the city under the mountain was warm, like late spring or early summer in Re-Estize, and with the soft glow of the lights, it was like a sunrise from every direction. Their guide, true to his evident form already, was quick to point out places where his family could profit from the visitors… though he didn't put it quite like that.
"Doesn't it get hard to sleep with lights in every direction?" Lakyus asked when they reached a fork in the stone 'road'.
"Oh no miss, see it's mornin now by our reckon'n." The dwarf ambled along and pointed to a soft light coming from yet another tunnel ahead. "See we got some lights what are on all the time, an others, they glow only part of the time, it's night when we say it is, day when we say it is, an we like it right fine just that way. Prolly we get a whole lot more work done than you long legs." He chuckled, "Now, you wanna see how we be buildin these things, I'm takin you, but if'n you wanna see somethin real neat, it's on the way with only the slightest diversion."
The dwarf stopped and held his hand out to the group.
"And what if it's not? What if we pay you and we're not impressed at all?" Lupu asked with a taunting grin on her face.
The dwarf chuckled aloud, "Aye miss, that's fair, tell yah what, if'n nobody in yer little gaggle o'friends is impressed, I'll refund everybody."
"And what if it's just me who isn't impressed, gonna keep 'my' money?" Lupu taunted the dwarf, catching his weasel words, and causing him to reassess the red haired woman again.
But not offer a full refund. "Well lass, I got'ta take you all along anyway, sooo… think of it as just you payin for the happiness and thrill of your dear travelin companions, and who would say no to that?"
"You're a sly one, aincha?" Lupu asked, and the dwarf only winked.
"Ahm just a dwarf makin his way in the world, thas'all, now we goin'ere or noht?" He wiggled the fingers of his outstretched palm, and Momon finally sighed and reached into his pouch and shelled out a silver for every member of the party.
"Lead on, master dwarf." Momon said.
"Aye ah'd be happy to, but you don't have to call me master dwarf, yah can just call me Tagrim, me friends, they call me Tagrim the Just. Or 'Taggy, if'n we been drinkin a bit much."
"Alright, Tagrim, lead on." Momon said again, and the dwarf shoved the handful of silvers into his pouch where they clinked together against the others.
"Oy now this is somethin special, now nobody do nothin, ahright, I don usually show folk this, but you're a brave lookin lot." Tagrim said and took them down a narrow side passage that forced them to walk single file. "Watch yer heads, long-legs. This is'n active mine. An it ain't sized for you folk. Well, maybe you two," he pointed at the twins, "an yer little girl there."
Evileye fumed. "I'm not a child. I'm an adventurer."
"A short adventurer." Lupu pointed out.
"Our shorty." Gagran said with a taunting grin, and promptly smacked her head on the stone, which broke when she hit it. "Ow!" She said and rubbed her face.
"Like ah said, it ain't sized for you folk. But no worries, it's not the deep part we goin to, it's over here, then we'll head back to the main path an I'll show you the mailbox." Tagrim warned them again and then distracted them with gabbing, it seemed he had a gift for it, and it kept them engaged until they entered a great, wide opening.
"Undead!" Lakyus shouted and immediately sprang to the attack. "Turn undead!" She bellowed.
She hadn't been wrong, there were dozens of skeletons at work swinging pickaxes in a steady and tireless rhythm, hauling the broken stone into carts and pushing them down a wide corridor off the area they were working in.
"What're you doin! Don do that, lady!" Tagrim shouted as the golden light swept over the skeletons, and they vanished into nothingness, their tools falling to the stone with a loud, echoing clank.
"Whadja do that for?! Are you crazy, lass? Those're city property! Ah ain't payin fer that! How'm I s'posed to explain it meself?!" Tagrim was shouting then, stamping his foot on the ground and gesturing wildly at the place where the skeletons were working.
Lakyus looked at him, dumbstruck by his reaction. Instead of the thanks she was expecting for protecting him from monsters, he was raging. "I… they're undead, undead are evil at best, mindless animals or natural disasters at worst… I just took care of them like the vermin they are… I what?" She asked as he raged on about the expense of it all and the cost of transporting them and so on.
"Those undead, them skeletons, were leased from the Allfather! The savior of our people ye long legged, short brained idjit! Them's right expensive doncha know?! They work in all the dangerous spots an keep our folk alive an free from harm! Oh aye the tunnel doctors don't get much work anymore, but we haven' had a damn tunnel death in the last two years thanks ta them… an you went and made a bunch of em vanish!" The dwarf crossed his arms and began tapping his foot.
"You're payin for those, I hope you know that, ah sure ain't… not cause a one dizzy idjit…" Tagrim snapped.
"But- But- But- they're dangerous… I'm a priestess, I'm supposed to put down things like that." Lakyus protested, while Evileye mentally shrank behind them all.
' She doesn't know what I am, she doesn't know what I am, she doesn't know what she's saying, she doesn't mean me. It's okay that she thinks that, if she knew what I was…' Evileye tried to tell herself, but as the blonde priestess of the water god went on trying to defend her actions, Evileye's protests to herself felt more hollowed out than the mountain in which they now stood.
"Ah don't care. You destroyed city property an you're gonna have to pay for it. We gonna have to order more to replace what was lost, an we gonna have to pay for the ones you destroyed, since they was leased ." Tagrim said with matter of fact indifference to Lakyus's protests.
"Uh… maybe this isn't the right time to ask this but… where do the bodies come from? Some of those were human, but a lot weren't." Gagaran asked and cast her eyes about as if she expected more undead to show up at any moment.
"Oh, well a bunch of em came from war, dead frogmen, dead lizardmen, dead human warriors… all in all, we lease about ten thousand skeletal workers doin projects as far away as the old capital, the Allfather gave us generous terms, an we give him first sale rights on all state owned mines." Tagrim's anger vanished when he briefly ventured into a subject of which he was clearly proud.
Lakyus's jaw fell open in horror. "Ten thousand undead beneath the mountain… I heard a bard's horror epic that started that way once… and it's real ?!" She gasped and shivered.
"Aye but it's fine, they's easy to control, they got no brains, no will, they just follow orders, never tire, never ask for a raise, never take up the extra beer… leaves us free to do a whole lot more with our time, an we're happy… now you gonna argue, or you gonna agree to pay? If'n you refuse, fraid I'll have to call the guards to arrest ya." Tagrim promised, and Lakyus slumped at the shoulders.
"Fine… I'll pay for them… but can we… keep this discreet?" Lakyus asked as she ran out of steam.
"Aye, twenty gold large if it's from the Kingdom of Nazarick, fifty gold large if'n it's some a them old Re-Estize ones. What'll it be?" Tagrim stuck his hand out again.
Lakyus sucked in her teeth at the sum. "I don't carry that much… but," she reached to her neck and pulled out the adamantite tag identifying her status, "this is my security, I'll draft a letter authorizing you to draw that much off my account in the Adventurer's Guild in Re-Estize, hold on to this plate until you've been paid. Deal?"
Tagrim frowned, "I'll need an extra five for the delay and the risk and the interest."
"Done. But let us never speak of this again." Lakyus retorted.
"Fine, but you gotta promise not to do that no more either when I get you to the mailbox site, I know we got some undead down that way." Tagrim replied and began to lead them back the way they'd come.
"I… I promise." She said, but slowly. "Just don't let those creatures come too close to me.
At her back, she had no idea that Evileye's heart was tearing in two.
Volume 7 C60
The estate that Draudillon found herself entering was indeed fit for royalty, but she didn't fail to notice that there were no carriages or evidence of habitation in any of the estates around it. ' I guess the Bloody Emperor's reputation was based on truth.' How many nobles he'd exterminated to consolidate his iron grip on power was the stuff of legend. However, notably he'd always taken care of the estates the dead left behind. Now those estates would hold the royal parties of those who brought champions to compete over the throne the Bloody Emperor left behind, or those who came to simply watch the events unfold and hobnob with their peers.
' Deals will be struck, ties will be forged… and I'm… going to be pouring wine for the monster abusing my maids… disguising myself so he doesn't use me too…' Draudillon's sense of loathing could not have gone higher than it was, but it could linger. For him, for herself. For her bad luck.
She hefted the luggage that was handed her and scurried after the other servants of the King, the beastial, towering elf stood watching with indifference as his pregnant concubines struggled to bring his things into the estate alongside their cowed and broken husbands doing the same.
Draudillon, at least, bore the lowest expectations of physicality. It was the advantage of his contempt for all others being weak: he had no idea of what anyone could actually do.
So, after she made her way within, she went straight for the parlor after dropping off the things she carried into the kitchen. She had one hope and one hope only. ' Please be like home, please be like home, please be like home…' She prayed with desperation that she would find what she sought.
The parlor wasn't bare. In fact, the furnishings were exactly where their late owners left them. They were even dusted and clean, and though the wall-length bookshelves were empty, the tables, chairs and rugs all sat waiting to be used.
However, for the Queen, there was only one thing her eyes were seeking.
' A fireplace!' She almost fell to her knees and wept. ' It's not much… but it's a chance.'
It was a strange sensation for Ainz, to be riding in a carriage with both Albedo and Calca. ' If the rules of D applied to reality, and my personality could never grow from where I was, I'm sure I'd feel perpetually awkward about now.' He thought with almost wry bemusement. Which wasn't to say that there was none.
However, it was made easier precisely because Calca herself saw her arrangement with him as fundamentally transactional, and as a former salaryman, Suzuki Satorou could understand that. Her true love was Kelart. As for himself, ' We just happen to get along quite well, but she'd have acted the same even if she despised me… but it is nice that we understand each other as well as we do.'
Calca's relaxed air in his company was what made it easier, their son nursed quietly when he woke up, and in the meantime she chose to engage in conversation more with Albedo than himself. "Have you picked out a name for your child yet?" She asked of the Allmother, and Albedo's eyes lit up as they always did when the discussion of the child arose.
"Chagama if it's a girl, Goan if it's a boy." She said as the noise of the carriage continued to rattle outside, they could feel the ascent of the carriage as it rose over a low hill, and its descent pulling them back against their seats as they went down again, outside, the noise of hooves carried on as their mounted escorts acted as bodyguards for the royals of five nations.
"Lovely names." Calca said with a little smile spread over her face. "I hope it goes easier for you than it did for me. I'm afraid I can bear no more children. Aurelion's birth nearly killed me, some said it did."
"Is that so?" Albedo asked, her curiosity piqued, "So your hair?"
"It's not a fashion change, no dye, this is just… what happened." Calca said, and Ainz did a double take, jerking his head away from watching the scenery pass by out the window.
"I guess now I know why. I was birthing the child of a god… I did hear that in legends, back when the six were among us, they lost their women and children in childbirth, except for a handful of great warriors or powerful mages. Thankfully I'm one of the most powerful casters in the Holy Kingdom, and I had the help of Kelart and my court magicians to help as well. Otherwise, Aurelion and I might not be here." Calca finished, and Albedo leaned backwards in the seat.
"I suppose that means we can't just have my husband marry the Queens or Princesses of different countries and put all his children on the thrones." Albedo said with a tittering laugh, at which Calca quickly joined in.
"No, no I suppose not. That would become… complicated. Since I have my Kelart I am obviously not one to care, and Kings are generally not much for fidelity, let alone gods, the legend of the bird god made that clear enough." She chortled a little, "What a story that one was, but others wouldn't feel the same."
"The what?" Ainz and Albedo asked at once, leaning forward with sudden interest.
Calca cocked her head, "The legend of the bird god… a silly story told by bards to entertain lewd male nobles. Supposedly in a land far, far to the east that was cut by the Long River, a birdman god appeared who began a cult devoted to pleasure and sex of all kinds."
"And this… birdman, did he have a name?" Ainz asked intensely.
"No… at least not that I've ever heard. Maybe he did when the story was first told, but it was an old story before my Kingdom was born, the bards might know more if you're interested in music history, all I know is that it was passed around by someone on a pilgrimage down the Long River, chasing after his god… there's a story there too, but it's not as lewd." Calca explained and when her son began to snooze, she set him in a small rocker secured to her wide seat and began to rock him back and forth.
"I've never heard of this before… nobody ever sang that song when I was in Hoburns." Ainz pointed out, and Calca shook her head.
"No, you wouldn't have, my husband, it's sung to entertain drunkards in happy times, and the days when you came to my Kingdom, we were lost in darkness. But there are plenty of stories like that, of gods passing down the long river to sail off into the sea and never return." Calca said as she reclined. "I found those interesting as a girl, most young people do, but nobody takes them seriously, they're just old myths."
"I see." Ainz said, and then wearing a bemused face he asked, "Would my wife indulge her husband, and sing a few bars?"
Calca tried to glower at him, but when he blinked his eyes a few times, her glower fell apart and she relaxed.
"I can deny you nothing, however lewd." She chuckled a little at that, and began to recite.
"Birds of a feather they flock together
Birdman with feathers he fucks forever
The arrow he loosed from bow so strong
Hard as his cock and twice as long
He'd hit his targets every day
With countless women he proudly lay
Pale of skin
Full of lustful sin
The birdgod's schlong would always win
Lost from the forty-one
Always hard and never done
Happy to sleep with any-one
Tits for his pillows and lips for his feast
Could no one ever satis-fy that beast
Hungry to sate his wounded soul
He turned to the use of his hungry pole
Hole in a heart that bent at the waist
Eater so hungry, he wanted a taste…"
Calca rolled her eyes, "It gets worse, but I'm afraid I don't remember more."
' If that's not Peroroncino, I will eat my staff.' Ainz thought, but he kept his thoughts to himself on that matter, speaking only with a glance to Albedo.
Albedo felt his eyes on her and answered with her glances, ' I will gather up every bardic story I can find… a clue, at long last a clue!' She realized, and added another tally in her heart's ledger for the unlooked for gift of Calca of the Holy Kingdom.
Volume 7 C61
Layali watched Zesshi drift off to sleep after their chatter was done, the woman never did properly answer the young girl's questions, and Layali was clever enough to notice the oversight. ' For someone so much older than I am, she's really terrible at lying. Maybe that's a good thing.' Layali thought, the sewing up of her wounds made sense, the wraps made sense, but the burn mark on her thigh that had a fleck of metal against it, stuck in place like a splinter until she herself plucked it out? That made no sense at all.
Layali glanced around their little camp, Brain's sword was in place, ' He used that to kill the monster, he's never without it.' She told herself, but then did a double take. ' It's not in place. He keeps it nearby, it's several feet away, he always holds that tighter than my owner held my mother…' It didn't occur to her to feel disgust at her analogy, it simply 'was' and so it also 'was' when it came to Brain and his attachment to that sword.
She approached the scabbard and took the hilt in hand. ' No way.' She thought, and drew it.
The sword was all but gone, only a broken off fragment remained that made it more like a knife with a long hilt than the sword it had ever been. ' Where's the rest of it?' She wondered and began to meander about the camp, though she didn't come 'too' close to the water again, she saw what she sought. The darkness was no meaningful impediment to her vision at such a short range.
There on the bank was the mangled, broken remnant of a blade that had been touched by heat like a smith's forge.
It was little better than molten sludge now, bent and ruined. She took a long look at the blade, then down at the wound on her thigh, then down at the blade again and back to her thigh. ' He gave up his sword, he must have heated it somehow, that's why… he didn't brand me… but without his sword…' Layali's eyes filled with tears of bitterness and happiness alike.
Having walked this far already, she could only guess at the distance he'd come before now, half the world, for all she knew, and now she looked at the ruined blade tossed away like garbage, the hilt alone, and a scrap of stuff broken off and resting now in her hand as a mute testimony to what was thrown away. She put the fragment back in its place, sheathing the pathetic remnant of the sword again so that it still appeared to be whole. Then she returned to her place at the little campsite and lay down to stare at the blanket of stars in the sky until the sun rose again.
It was morning when the others got up, but Layali had not gone back to sleep. Her eyes were open when the sun began to shine again, and when the others began to rise. "We need to get moving." Brain said as soon as he was up. He went about breaking down the camp with practiced efficiency, and to Layali's surprise, Zesshi went about the same process as Brain, but without asking for directions. ' He must have taught her while I was unconscious.' She realized, and seeing how quickly they worked, she tried to do the same, only to find they both ceased to work as soon as she moved.
"No. You'll rupture your stitches." Zesshi pointed out, "that thing had a lot of teeth." She pointed to the firepit where, thanks to the light of day, she saw the gray teeth which blended in with the ashes. Ugly, vicious, serrated things, they were like small knives, and she couldn't help but remember the way they stabbed into her body in a dozen places so recently.
Layali's hand touched one white bandaged spot and she shivered involuntarily. "Al-Alright, I'll try not to slow you down too much, if I fall behind…" She began to stammer out, but Zesshi waved it off.
"No, I'll carry you and we'll go at a quick jog. Brain said there's a town not far from here, and before you know it we'll be over the border." Zesshi said and after they shoved their goods into his pouch, the older half elf approached and knelt in front of Layali with open arms.
"I won't drop you." Zesshi promised with a wink and an encouraging little smile, and the young girl hobbled into reach of the embrace.
Layali felt the warmth of arms around her, and recalled the ferocity with which the taller halfling tore apart the tentacles of the river monster. ' Overwhelming strength…' She thought, and wrapped her arms around Zesshi's neck.
"Alright, let's go, I'll need to stop to buy fresh herbs and… other things, and then we'll move on." Brain said, and with that, they took off at a steady, constant jog.
Layali winced a little at first as Zesshi's 'jog' became rather faster than the word was usually used to mean and her wounded limb bounced around, but it ceased when she wrapped the legs around Zesshi's waist to steady herself, and when the wincing stopped, the pace picked up.
Layali looked down and watched with disbelief as the dirt became a brown blur beneath her feet, and out of curiosity she turned her head to try to catch sight of Brain who set the pace in front of them both. ' He really is strong…' The young girl thought, and the breadth of what he could have done versus what he chose to do, hit hard. Contrasting Brain against Cerebrate was a study in opposites in her mind, and the more she thought of it, the more she realized, ' I don't want to leave Brain…'
The prospect of being left somewhere safe after he successfully faced and killed her former tormentor, held less appeal than it did before. And as that train of thought continued, she had to wonder… ' Where could he even leave me that would be safe…? An orphanage? Nobody gives a shit about children with no parents.' She mentally sneered at the very idea, having heard the gossip about adults who died and how their estates were divided up without regard for heirs whenever possible.
' Would it be so bad to just… wander with him? I can keep the camp for us, maybe not help him fish… for a long time, but otherwise. I'll be able to walk properly again soon, I can work when we travel. I don't need much… just some food and maybe a bedroll. If he teaches me what I need to know, I don't see why I should have to leave at all. I'll suggest it again when we stop to rest again.' Layali began to privately catalogue the advantages of staying with him, martialing all her wits and talents for the inevitable moment of confrontation when she would have to say to him, "I don't want to go."
She was still at it, though was running short of ideas, when the low wooden walls of a border town appeared in front of them.
Volume 7 C62
The unexpected discovery of Peroroncino's possible existence in the world left Ainz with a divided mind, and it stayed that way for quite some time, leaving him pensive and quiet in the carriage. ' From far to the east… far to the east, what they call 'The Long River, flows across the continent. But if Peroroncino came west, the river flows out to sea, and I'm sure there are other continents out there. Should I send agents to the east to learn more? Or to the west where he was supposedly going? And how long ago was this? Perhaps he found what he sought and went back to the east again.'
Ainz comforted his inability to make a decision by instead focusing on two things that 'might' have helped along the way.
His servants were sent racing over the border with the Slane Theocracy to search for any sign of the missing Queen and 'hopefully' catch her before she was returned to the Kingdom of the elves and a profoundly ugly fate… and at the same time the more covert agents were set to gathering bardic stories, myths, and legends that offered any clue to the past presence of his missing friends.
' I should focus everything on Draudillon… but… there's no way they've made it back to the Elf Kingdom this fast unless they are expending significant magic, and that will make them easier to find. So a few hours here and there searching out stories can't hurt.' Ainz resolved and thought about it more. ' It's easier to find information if the sources of information belong to me.' That much was so obvious that he almost dismissed it until he considered its implications.
' Being called a god… that wasn't something I intended. But are they wrong? The ones they call the Six Great Gods were obviously players. And what is a god except something too powerful to stop, whose will is always obeyed? But I'm just a salaryman… I don't know the first thing about being a god.' Ainz rested his chin on his hand and stared out the window. ' Everything is moving so fast. I'm sure Albedo and Demiurge think this was all part of some deep plan of mine. Good luck talking them out of that, Ainz… even if I could, who benefits when a child loses faith in a father, or a wife loses faith in her husband?' It was a question that made Ainz resolve to be silent on the matter, and, despite his shifting discomfort with the idea of being the center of a religion, it did have one clear advantage.
' The old religion will always hate the ones I love. It has to go. Replacing it does need to be a priority at some point, whatever they planned for the Baharuth Empire and bringing it under our control, the aftermath will give me some breathing room and we can focus on Kingdom Building.' The train of thought led him to the 4X games of his earlier years before he engaged in MMOs.
' What do Kingdoms need? EXplore, EXpand, EXploit, and EXterminate… so we've got a good handle on what is around us. And we're expanding relatively peacefully all things considered, marrying Calca did more than Albedo's actions alone. We have ample resources to exploit, and there are only three who might be called enemies. The Elf King, the Slane Theocracy, and the Beastmen Kingdom. In a 4X game I would need armies, but this is different. With the Elf King in his capital, he can simply be 'removed' by a sufficiently powerful assassin. The beastmen are no threat and are all but routed. The Theocracy… is unpredictable.' That was both the weakest of the three and the one that worried him the most.
' They had players, which means possible world items, and New Worlders have no class or level restrictions on using anything.' That was what worried Ainz the most. ' Avoid war.' Became his own mental policy, and the carriage rolled on. The chill of fear he felt at the possibilities of world items being used on his children, could have been called cowardice. But he turned his eye on his sleeping son, and unthinkingly put his hand protectively over Albedo's pregnant belly, and didn't care what his feelings were called then. ' Better a coward who doesn't mourn than a brave man who does.'
Caution became the order of the day, and he quietly came to one clear conclusion…
' The Slane Theocracy's ways won't go out in a blaze of glory, they'll die confused, dismayed, and with a whimper as they're strangled.'
Draudillon was on all fours in the room assigned for the Elf King's harem, a scrub brush under both her hands, and she vigorously rubbed the vomit, blood, and inglorious fluids from the wooden floor. Her white hair tumbled around her and danced with every violent back and forth motion.
All of her maids were now talking again, and many were now reliving the nightmare, and vomited up their meals. Unable to keep up the lie about their not being well, the Elf King began calling for his 'human toys' again.
The Queen gritted her teeth, shut her eyes, and put her anger into the menial work assigned to her. ' If Grandfather appears at the tournament, maybe I can get a message to him? But then, he wouldn't interfere for my country, would he really help me with this?' Draudillon had her doubts. The only ones to respond to her call for aid in the past were the Slane Theocracy, and more recently, the Kingdom of Nazarick.
And if she had to pick the one more likely to aid her now, it wasn't the former. ' Their aid was self interest pure and simple… retired scriptures helped, but they could have done so much more…' That bitter thought never left her, not once, not even while gritting her teeth and writing out letters of gratitude for what aid they had sent to her people.
"I'm sorry… my lady… I didn't mean to vomit…" The weeping blonde woman was a viscountess, the bruises on her breasts were gone thanks to the elven caster's magic, but her mental pain kept her lying there shaking long after the physical pain faded away.
"Don't worry… it'll clean right up… I'll take care of you, I promise… I promise." Draudillon replied, giving the limp woman what the Queen hoped was an encouraging smile. "We're bound to be rescued, the five nations participating in this, they'll find out, they'll make the Elf King let us go. Everything will be alright. We just have to hold out until then." The Queen hoped her words didn't sound as pathetic as she believed they did, but she had no time to gauge it before she heard someone say…
"Princess, the King summons you." Draudillon snapped her head around to look at the one to speak, she no longer thought to refuse. The last time she sent word to the Elf King that she was occupied, the bastard came and took two himself, dragging them out by their hair and saying, 'Come get them when you're ready.'
The Queen still felt the guilt gnawing at her for that. So she rose to her feet, lowered her eyes, and followed the guard down the hall to the King's private room.
The guard left them alone, and Draudillon sank to her knees in front of the towering monster. "You, whelp, tell me what you know about this… place." The elf King's perpetual sneer never left his ugly face, his demand was enough to get her to raise her eyes and answer…
"I've never been here, My Lord, but I can tell you what I've read about it, if that will please you." The Queen replied, then lowered her eyes in a servile manner.
"I saw no slave markets on the way here, just tell me where I can have more things bought." He demanded, and Draudillon bit her lower lip.
' Of course that's what he wants, it's what he "always" wants.' She mentally cursed, but said, "My Lord, the Empire was forced to give up its slaves after being defeated by the Allfather, they were all resettled in towns on the lands the Kingdom of Nazarick claimed by treaty."
The Elf King ground his teeth and growled so much that he began to foam at the mouth, but Draudillon hastily added, "However, houses of prostitution are plentiful, I'm sure you can ahhh… satisfy yourself." The truth was, Draudillon had no idea if she was right or not, but it was a reasonable guess given the nature of cities.
The perpetual anger on his face looked like it might start to fade, and the Queen took another leap of faith to suggest, "But perhaps My Lord should evaluate the competition? There are many fights, exhibitions, leading up to the first day, aren't there? Perhaps… perhaps a look at those might warn your noble self of any potential threats to your… plans ." She phrased it with the utmost care, avoiding the thing he would never believe, a threat to his life. And instead suggesting a threat to his daily routine.
"You aren't an idiot, whelp. After I've got your mother, maybe I'll have some children who aren't idiots for once. Now get out, and tell the guard to prepare a carriage, I want to visit the arena at the next bout." The Elf King commanded, and Draudillon rose to her feet, bowed, and withdrew.
' He said almost the exact same thing to me before… it's like he has to say it… what is 'wrong' with him…?' She shivered, and kept shivering all the way back to the room where her maids and ladies waited for her tender care and promises of hope she herself had doubts about.
Volume 7 C63
They reached the town before the sun set, but it was still late in the day before they made it through the open wooden gate. As security went, it was fairly pathetic. The wall was little more than cut logs sharpened to points at the top, the guards were well equipped, but few, and the height of the logs that formed the wall was such that anyone with martial arts could have cleared them in a single bound.
But it was good enough against common bandits and most weaker monsters.
The streets were unpaved, but the buildings ranged from stone to brick to wood, with a few homes that were taller than the walls themselves, denoting the 'wealthy' members of the local township.
The odor of horse and animals was thick and carried on the breeze, leading both Layali and Zesshi to cover their noses. Brain couldn't resist, "Smell that air!" He laughed, and the pair groaned behind him as he led them to the nearest inn.
The unpaved roads were more like wide paths along which people walked, and thanks to the lack of recent rain, at least it was packed hard and was easy enough to walk through. The people they saw were mostly dressed in cheap breaches of black or brown cloth with laced up shirts, and those were carrying farming or fishing tools, and weapons enough to fend off any river creatures.
Some carried axes or wood from the nearby forest, while others carried animal carcasses slung over their backs from a successful hunt.
It could have been any town anywhere, and all Brain wanted to do, was leave it. ' Just a short stay.' He told himself as he opened the door to a building with a cheap wooden sign hanging overhead that had the crude outline of a mug and a bed flapping back and forth in the breeze.
A portly innkeeper stood behind a table and shot to his feet to speak to them, he wore an apron around his substantial gut and a cheery smile on his chubby face. "Welcome to Home Sweet Home." He said, and Brain approached the fellow with an equally false and measured good cheer.
"Hi, my wife, daughter and I need a room for… a while, maybe the night, do you have space?" Brain asked, and the innkeeper's jowls flapped as he nodded up and down.
"Course, course we do, ah, but what with folk passin through to go to Arwintar, the prices are a little higher now… an I can't compromise on them. Cost'll be nine silver per person." The innkeeper said, and Brain sucked in his teeth.
"Are you a bandit, or an innkeeper?" Brain asked with a frown, and the innkeeper's cheery demeanor vanished.
"The price is what it is, bandit or no bandit." The rotund man answered back, and Brain gave a look over his shoulder at Layali's leg.
' I need to rewrap that, I need more herbs… I need to get horses… and a new sword… at least the monster meant we're okay on food for now… fuck!' Brain mentally cursed and then gave a slow nod. "Fine, show them to the room, I'll have to go… sell a few things, where can I do that? I'll pay you when I get back." Brain promised, and the innkeeper thought that over for a moment.
"Round the corner there's a store, mostly sells gear to travelers and whatnot, but they buy most things if they think they can resell it." The innkeeper promised and moved out from behind his table.
"Brain, what are you selling?" Zesshi asked, but he shrugged.
"Just some things. Don't worry about it, just get Layali's bandages unwrapped, I'll be back soon." He promised with a reassuring wink.
"F-Fine." Zesshi muttered, and when the innkeeper walked past them, Zesshi followed to the room.
The floor creaked under every step, and she felt Layali cling tighter while wrapped around Zesshi's body, the footfalls of the innkeeper bowed the cheap wooden steps each time, but they never gave way under his weight.
She followed him to a crude, dark wooden door that had clearly seen better days, it was chipped and rotting in places, having never been sealed against the elements, and even beneath the door Zesshi could feel the draft caressing her feet and denoting the open window within.
' Camping is nicer.' She thought, but waited while the innkeeper unlocked the door with a rusty iron key and opened it to reveal the room within.
It had only a single bed, a rough, unrefined table, a single chair, and no wardrobe or place for clothing. Its only amenity was a single smaller table on which a half burned black and white candle sat with a pair of sparking stones.
The innkeeper held the key up while Zesshi went within and placed Layali on the mattress. The 'bed' creaked more beneath her, and the noise of straw rustling within revealed immediately what it was made of.
"I'll be holdin the key till your husband gets back. If he doesn't have the money, you leave or I'll call the guards." He said, and unsure of just what to do in this situation, Zesshi simply answered him…
"I'll… make sure he's successful."
"Don't leave." Layali whispered from behind her and reached out to grab the cloth of Zesshi's dark shirt. "I don't want to be alone." The young half elf bowed her head, and her tiny voice reached her taller counterpart, but Zesshi turned, took the small fingers that gripped her shirt, and removed them.
She crouched down in front of the girl so that she was looking up into Layali's face. "It'll only be for a minute, the door will be locked so nobody can come in. Just be patient." Zesshi said and brushed the girl's golden hair aside, "Okay?" She asked.
Layali gave a tiny little nod.
The innkeeper, to his credit, waited, until Zesshi went for the door, and true to her instructions, when they were both on the other side of it, he put the key in the lock and turned it with a click.
"Just around the corner?" Zesshi asked when she reached the front door of the cheap establishment again.
"Yeah, can't miss it. And hurry up. If you two abandon your kid here, she's an employee." He said, and Zesshi had no idea whether or not he was joking when she left the building or not, and was almost afraid to ask.
' Is this really what I've been defending all this time?' She wondered, recalling the mockery and abuse of the mob when her half elven heritage was seen, the public abuse of her own brother, and everything between and after… she felt a roiling sense of disgust in her guts when she rounded the corner and approached the store.
At least the innkeeper had told the truth, it was there, the door was open, and Zesshi could even see Brain standing at the counter.
' Spoons… forks… knives?' She asked herself as she saw him dump them onto the counter.
Rather than follow her first instinct, to go in after and speak to him, she paused to listen, remaining behind the door.
"… Listen, these are all solid silver and solid gold, check it, make a little cut, but only if you actually plan on buying, because if you mark them it'll be harder to sell elsewhere." Brain said while he stacked the utensils according to their type.
"Yeah, and how'd you come by em?" A rat faced skinny man with hard, beady dark eyes said as he held a fork up and brought it close to his eye.
"What's it matter?" Brain demanded, "That's my business, your business is buying and selling, well I'm selling, so are you buying or what?" Brain demanded, the drumming of his fingers on the counter stopped and his hand went flat enough, fast enough, to give the sound of a slap that left the rat faced shopkeep briefly startled.
"Listen, I don't much care for your attitude… yeah, I'll buy, but it won't be true value. I gotta move this stuff, you know, and then so'll they. I gotta make a living here." The rat faced man had a wheezy, nasally, whiny voice, his palms rubbed together with nervous energy, and Brain only stood silent to draw the uncomfortable moment out.
When the beady eyed man's gaze began to dart around, Brain finally spoke, "I need two horses, medicinal herb, a new sword, and enough money for the inn for the night. Can you do that or not? And I'd like some money left over."
"Ah hah, a heh, eh, well… yes and no… I got herb, and I got two horses… adventurer, his friends died, survivor sold the horses, got em at a good price, I'll sell em to you, deduct the price from these things… didn't sell no sword though, and while I got em, I won't discount that… see, ah, you'll have enough for the inn, but not much else after that. Maybe a few copper left." The rat faced shopkeep's smile came and went and came again, his tongue darted in and out of his mouth to lick his lips like a lizard tongue, "So… whatta you say, traveler? You can't sleep on these, and the next place you might sell em is days away at best, and you don't got more money for herb do you, or horses… it's this or nothin… you want or not?" The shop keeper's smile spread out as Brain's silence stretched.
"Fine. But… where can I find good work, around here?" Brain leaned forward as he asked the question, "It's important that I find… good work, I'll be gone very early, so I don't need much work… just a bit."
"Ahh heh, ah, well if you're willin, big house, center of town. Mayor lives there, lots a money, lotsa work, you know, an ah, hard drinker." The shopkeeper answered, and then swept the flatware off the counter where it tumbled with a noisy clatter into an open basket on his side of the counter.
"Great." Brain perked up, "Give me the herb, horses, and money for the inn, and I'll make sure to forget this conversation ever happened." He drew his hand away from the counter, and the rat faced shopkeeper began to chuckle.
' What the hell?' Zesshi frowned from where she stood, ' Work huh… something about that all felt… wrong, felt off…' She rushed back to the inn, through the front door, and before the innkeeper could rise she said, "He's just behind me, he'll be here in just a few minutes."
The innkeeper relaxed, a bright, cheery smile on his face, "Well then, go on back to your room for now."
"The key?" Zesshi asked and held out her hand.
"Oh, none of the locks work anyway." He chuckled, "Just head on up."
Zesshi's mouth dropped open, but he'd already stopped listening and paying attention to her, instead he was heading toward a bar on the far side of the room, she didn't linger to see what he did there, she only hastened back to where Layali sat by herself with a false belief in her own safety.
Volume 7 C64
Zesshi felt an unexpected sense of relief when she entered the room and found that Layali was still where she'd been left. The heart in Zesshi's breast had quickened for a moment when she touched the rusted iron handle of the door, and began to slow as soon as the small girl came into view. ' So the locks don't work… marvelous. What a place.' Zesshi thought, but covered her thoughts with words.
"Lie down on the bed, I'm going to remove your bandages." Zesshi said, and Layali wordlessly obeyed.
Zesshi's fingers deftly undid the knot just above the girl's ankle which held the wrap in place, and with slow and steady care, after raising the injured leg in one hand, she began to unwind the bloodstained white cloth.
"How… how long till you leave me behind?" Layali asked, looking up at her caretaker with luminous and fearful trembling pupils.
"Don't worry about it." Zesshi said after a few more turns around the girl's leg. "We're still a long way from Arwintar, Brain will kill your tormenter, and then you'll be put in a nice place and everything will be fine."
Whether a 'nice place' existed or not that would take her, Zesshi had no idea, but it seemed like the right thing to say.
"No, he won't… he… he doesn't have a sword anymore… and it's all my fault… it's all he's got and I took it away from him… he can't fight without that…" Layali began to whimper a little, and her little childish eyes filled with tears. "He can't fight, can't kill Cerebrate… he can't fight in that tournament… he's traveled all this way and I ruined it! I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to! And I don't want to be left behind!" She began to weep. "Why're you even taking care of me if you're just going to get rid of me?!"
The girl wept, her words, all over the place; her fears, scattered, but Zesshi had to ask.
"How do you know about the sword? I tossed that away." Zesshi replied, then corrected her, "And I'm the one who messed it up, just so you know."
Layali rubbed the snot from her little button nose and laughed, "I might have known, you're bad at stuff… lotsa stuff… I saw where you tossed it, I thought it was funny Brain didn't sleep with his sword like he did every night so I looked at it… An then… then I looked around, you didn't toss it far enough, saw what was left of it…"
Zesshi's face turned red. "Damn it!" Her ears drooped a little, "I heated up his sword to help seal your wound, but I went too far with it, and the damn thing just kept getting hotter, it was… it was ruined. Brain was busy with you so I… when he said just toss it away, I thought he meant literally. So I tossed it where I figured… but you did."
Layali laughed in spite of herself, and then shut down, staring up at the ceiling while Zesshi resumed the process of removing the bandage until it was gone and all her wounds were exposed again. Zesshi lowered Layali's foot onto her thigh so that the young girl's leg was elevated, and looked over the many marks. The bleeding was gone and they were looking better.
"I'm… I don't know the answer to your question." Zesshi said at last. "I just… I can't stay in this country anymore. I don't know where to go, I don't have a home anymore as far as I'm concerned. In a way, I'm just like you."
Layali gave a long hard look at her. "Nuh uh. You're strong. Real strong. You can do whatever, nobody can say no unless you let em. I'm the opposite. I can't say no unless people let me… nobody wants to feed me… I go hungry… nobody wants to protect me… I'll die… Cerebrate finds me again… or someone like him… all I can do is cry… if nobody helps me… I don't wanna die anymore… I don't wanna be alone either! There's no nice place for kids nobody loves! I'm going to die out there, and lucky means it'll be quick!"
She went back to her quiet weeping, "So why're you taking care of me if you're just gonna let that happen later anyway…? I already took Brain's dream… took away his sword…"
"He'll buy another…" Zesshi answered, and snapped her mouth shut at the girl's dismayed expression.
"I saw a magic sword once… I was… I was serving in my father's house, a merchant was visiting, super important man I guess, and… he offered my father the chance to buy one. A dozen platinum coins…" Layali said, her face bitter and twisted.
"I can barely believe Brain didn't just… get rid of me over the potion, let alone the sword…" Layali pursed her lips, and Zesshi only cocked her face slightly to one side.
"Potion…?" She asked.
Layali pointed to her eye. "When we met… he was gonna buy a horse then, he had plenty of money, went out to rescue a priest… but we've got no horse, do we? So… he spent it all… or nearly all, on a healing potion for me… maybe the priest found out I was a half elf, or maybe potions just cost that much… but I've… cost him a lot… getting rid of me… it makes sense… it makes sense but… it makes sense but… but… but… I don't wanna be left behind…"
She cut herself off, and said a swift "shhh. Don't say anything. Please." Layali pled, and closed her eyes.
Zesshi's ears twitched, the steps out in the hall could have been anyones, but then… ' No, the pace… that's how he walks… hmpf, I never thought about that before.' The half elf wanted to sigh at her own ignorance being removed yet again, but instead she focused her eyes on the girl lying on the bed pretending to be asleep.
Brain entered the room and held out bandages and some cheap clay bottles sealed with white wax. "I have what we need, good… she's asleep. This stings and I'd hate to make it hurt."
Zesshi nodded along, "Yes, she was in pain, but exhausted, I guess." It was true enough at least.
"Good, now let me show you how to do this." Brain said, and began the slow process of instruction. Zesshi's nimble fingers fumbled a fair bit… "Not so much, it doesn't do any good to overuse it on the same spot, you just want it to be over and just barely around the wound, we don't have to drown the bandage."
Zesshi turned red faced again and again as he taught her how to do field first aid without magic, and little by little her fingers fumbled less as they went along.
And while they worked, Zesshi chose to address him on what Layali brought up. "So, do you really plan on leaving her somewhere?"
Brain raised his eyes from Layali's face to look over at Zesshi who was steadily massaging the injured muscle of Layali's legs to help it loosen up. "What brought this on?"
"I was just thinking, you and I both know you can't 'win' at this tournament. Not with me there, so… are you really okay with just dropping Layali in an orphanage somewhere?" Zesshi asked, and Brain thought that over.
"I was actually hoping to find a family to foster her. There are former elven slaves in the northern part of the Kingdom of Nazarick. A lot of families there, they're dark elves rather than wood elves… but still… if I explain things, I'm sure someone would take her in." Brain suggested.
"Why not keep her with you?" Zesshi asked, and tried to ignore Brain's sigh.
Brain looked down at the sleeping girl, his thumb wavered a little, but he brushed aside a bit of stray golden hair to reveal the eye that had once been missing. Without looking at Zesshi, he spoke to her, "I can't. I can't take care of a kid, I don't know the first thing about how to raise one. I've barely managed to keep this one from dying. Besides, I'm a human, the only thing she knows about human men is that they either don't care about her, or want to hurt her. She'd never want to stay. And more than that, I'm not a good man, Zesshi. She'd grow up on the road and learn nothing a girl should learn, by staying with me. I'll find somewhere good for her, a nice house, some good people who want a child, and I'll make sure she's safe. That's all I can do. Now drop it."
Zesshi abided by his wishes, and didn't ask further. But she didn't move either. Nor did she forget what she'd overheard. Brain came and went from the room, bringing a meal, and saying, "You two take the bed, I'll be fine on my bedroll on the floor."
The half elf didn't argue, and Layali did not break her act of pretending to be asleep. ' She's really good at that…' Zesshi noted in the back of her mind, and did her best to copy the act when darkness set in, and waited for Brain to leave.
He moved with silence that would have been the envy of almost any member of the Black Scripture, but it was no match for Zesshi's senses, her ears twitched as she followed after him. The buildings of the town were not overly large, nothing compared to Ikari, but there were enough multistory buildings for Zesshi to follow him with relative ease from a distance.
' Not a good man, he says…' She thought while she watched him hop over the low wall to the mayor's estate. ' He's going to go and set more slaves free.' Zesshi never had the best opinion of the idea of 'heroism' for heroism's sake, most members of the Black Scripture felt the same, but there were those, like Time Turner, who genuinely felt the need to protect the weak 'because' they were weak.
While her own views hadn't changed much, it was hard not to admire the conviction of action. And so, she followed him, though not within… and then it hit her. ' I… I haven't seen any elves in this town… no half elves, no full elves… and if some of them were in that house…?' She jumped atop the roof of a building and stared into the darkness, watching through the glass as Brain began grabbing objects of silver and gold and throwing them into his magic pouch. Cups, plates, flatware, small bowls…
The estate had a multitude of windows to let in natural light, and she watched as he went from room to room, pilfering what he could cram into the pouch, until he seemed satisfied, and left the way he came.
The whirlwind of emotions grabbed Zesshi harder than the tentacles had previously grabbed Layali, and she jumped down to where he stood, grabbed him by the throat before he realized she was there, and with a running start that lifted his legs from the very ground, she jumped beyond the low walls and through the night air.
"Zeschi… Schwat are you doing… can't… breathe…" He gasped as he flailed in the dark until she landed with a thunderous crash to the ground well outside the town and slammed him bodily to the ground, knocking the wind from his lungs and sending him into a spasm of coughing and choking, unable to rise as she glared down at him.
"You're no… rescuer! You're a common thief !" She shouted down at him with her fists clenched and her body trembling with outrage.
In a disconnected sort of way that reminded Brain of the moment of his defeat by Gazef Stronoff years before, he was keenly aware of everything around him. And like that moment, he felt an unusual kind of calm, despite his coughing and choking as he struggled to rise, and spat out…
"Fuck… you… Zesshi."
Volume 7 C65
"Fuck… me? You're a common thief… you weren't there to rescue any elven slaves… just to… to rob somebody." Zesshi landed a kick to Brain's side, rolling him a few feet before he came to a stop and rose to all fours.
"Yes… fuck you…" He grunted as he grabbed his side. "I told you, didn't I? I'm not a good man. But fuck you for judging me for it… who the fuck are you to turn those accusing eyes on me? I'm a common thief, fine. I've stolen lives and property, but you protected people who stole souls, so don't you dare look at me like that…" He rose, shaking, to his feet and glared at her.
The happy go-lucky mirth was gone from his face, "I do what I have to in order to survive. I hadn't planned on doing any stealing on this trip, but there were… unexpected expenses." He said and rubbed his ribs. "Gah, damn I think that's cracked…" He mumbled as his fingers probed the place she'd struck.
It hit Zesshi what he meant, ' Food, medicine, lodging… the things we needed… I needed…'
"So those… forks and things… when you, did you even mean to… were you actually going to release those slaves?" Zesshi demanded, searching his face for the truth and doubting whether she could find it if he hid it, or see it even if he gave it.
"Of course not, I don't hate them." He gasped out… "Fucking bitch… that hurt…"
"What do you mean…?" Zesshi glowered at him, but a rising dread was seeping into her gut.
"I was going to keep this a secret… never tell you… never wanted to tell you since… I've gotten to like you. But they're all dead or severely punished and returned to their masters." Brain gasped, his knees were buckling, but he held fast, wanting to stay up at least a little longer.
"No… I, they should have been able to get out easy… sneaking out the front in the morning or…" She protested, but when she saw the pity in his eyes, she said no more.
"Have you never learned how to put information together?" Brain gasped in frustration. "Okay, fine, I'll treat you like the stupid child you seem to be. What did Layali think you were when you first met?"
"A… A slave catcher." Zesshi answered, a shiver of disgust passing through her bones when she said it.
"What do you think is the penalty for a slave killing their master, or for an elf killing a human at all?" Brain demanded, his eyes boring into the black and white eyes of the half elven idiot in front of him.
"I… I guess, death…" She answered as her skin began to tingle.
"And what do you think people will believe when the slaves you broke the chains of are found gone, or even if they're not found gone, maybe they never left, what do you think will be said, huh?" Brain felt his knees give out and he fell down hard against the ground, but his steady stare never left the half elf.
"That… that they murdered them." She guessed.
"Or… that your brother did. That he came back and killed two humans as revenge and broke the others out. You used superhuman abilities, nobody ever saw you, they assume his power awakened… and just whom will they call for that kind of event you stupid girl ?!" Brain spat blood into the grass, and fell forward, catching himself with one hand and holding his ribs with the other.
"Scriptures…" She whispered.
"Which ones… to deal with an awakened Kinget?" Brain demanded.
"The Black. My… my unit." She answered… her knees began to weaken and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.
"Will those give a shit about mercy?" Brain demanded, wiping bloody flecks from his lips and casting the red aside.
"No… no they won't. They put down threats… and the slave catchers…" She couldn't say more.
But Brain could and Brain did. "They'll be out in force to catch the elves you let go in order to keep a rebellion from happening. Runaway slaves with human blood on their hands and an awakened kinget leader… what a story that will be. They're all dead ."
"I didn't…" Zesshi whispered, "I didn't want that… I wanted… he was my brother… they were hurting him… I didn't even know I had a brother… then as soon as I did… I saw him being… I just acted…"
She could no longer see Brain's face, her eyes were far too blurry. "I steal to survive… and I stole so we could get Layali out of here… I won't get to fight in that tournament… it'll take years to find a replacement sword on par with the one you destroyed… I'm… I'm okay with that. She doesn't know, she doesn't have to know. I'm just going to get her somewhere safe, murder Cerebrate, andput Layali somewhere where she can grow up, and then…" He spat blood again, and it landed beneath Zesshi's gaze.
"Then I can move on, I'll find a battlefield or something and get a cheap one, and build back up again. Sorry I'm such a disappointment, and I'm sorry about what happened… but I never said I was a hero, and if you'd just asked me for advice, I'd have told you what not to do… and now neither of us can undo a damn thing." Brain said.
"They… they might have made it…" Zesshi tried to protest.
But Brain had had enough. "Don't be naive! Haven't you wondered why we haven't seen any of them? Because they've already been caught or killed. Half elf slave catchers are a copper for a dozen, a new one gets made every time a noble gets a gleam in his eye, and a place like Ikari, with their big latifundias and their large population… yeah, they'll have hundreds of those either working there or operating independently. Everyone you tried to save… they're dead or wishing they were, being interrogated about your 'awakened brother' unless he's already been caught and killed too."
Zesshi said nothing more, she began to weep, worse than Layali had earlier, the totality of her complete and utter uselessness, and the depth of one betrayal after another came crashing down on her all at once.
"God damn it." Brain mouthed the word when he saw her fall apart in the moonlight, and he was reminded of something he'd forgotten. Because of her race, and perhaps in part because of her sheltered life, she was the equivalent of a human fifteen or sixteen year old girl, a child in her own right, with everything that came with it. Parentless, controlled, and utterly lost.
' Great. Now look at what you've done.' He told himself, and, though he was sore and bitter about her earlier judgment still, he had to wonder if he'd gone too far. With that in mind, he approached, inching himself closer to her, and when she all but fell forward, he caught her, and embraced her as he would have Layali. "You didn't mean any harm… and I'm sorry I disappointed you… I'm not what you thought I was, but that's not your fault… you didn't know any better. Nobody taught you any better, any different…" He said that, and many other things as he tried to reassure her.
He wasn't sure how much good it would do, knowing that her comrades would be hunting down her brother, if he was even still alive… and that everything she tried to do had come to naught. But Brain did his best, staying with her and stroking her back until the crying finally stopped.
Volume 7 C66
Zesshi took a long time to settle down, and Brain had to wonder how many martial arts she used, when he looked back and saw how distant the town was, after worrying briefly that something or someone might interrupt them there with the racket she made. But settle down she did, and when she did, she disentangled herself from his embrace with only the softest touch to avoid injuring him again.
"Are you alright?" She asked when she saw him wince.
"Ahhh…" Brain gasped when she spoke after touching his ribs. "I think you broke some bones, but nothing that won't be cured by a few weeks of an herbal wrap, or a potion, or a spell. But I can't pay for those other things until I sell off my 'findings' at the next town. I'll be sore for a few days at least, but it's nothing I can't handle. I've been through worse. Don't worry about it." He croaked out and then sat back on his heels.
"So… now what happens? Are you leaving? Are you going to turn me in, report me for the murder of those guards… what?" Brain asked and rested his now free hands on his thighs while Zesshi sat on her heels in turn.
"I… I'll just get lost again… mess things up… by the gods I'm so… stupid . Like you said, I'm a stupid, stupid girl… I don't know what I'm doing or what's real anymore… nothing is what I thought and everything's all messed up…" Zesshi looked to and fro, then lowered her eyes to the blood stained grass.
"I shouldn't have said it that way, I'm sorry, really. You're naive, innocent, you never could have known what was going to happen." Brain offered consolation, and his arm twitched as if to raise it and touch her again, then he thought better of it and kept it still. "You're not stupid ." He groused, "You're just naive and you meant well… you know better now, and won't make that mistake again. You'd be stupid if you repeated it. And who knows? Maybe by some dumb luck a few got away?" Brain tried to offer a smile, but it died after a twitch of his lips.
"I hope so." Zesshi replied with a glum voice and a frown, "But… at least tell me one thing."
"What?" Brain asked.
"Tell me your real story…" Zesshi asked of him and Brain couldn't help but laugh.
"I think I said, I was a peasant with talent, that's all. I found a sword, won a fight, left home and never looked back." Brain's smirk formed all on its own, "There's no tragic backstory of a bandit attack and my power awakening, there's no hero tutor who guided me and died saving my life. I picked up the sword and was better than everyone. The only thing to happen that was bad was one defeat at the hands of Gazef Stronoff… I set out to surpass him… joined a group of bandits that tried to rob me, took charge, and for a few years?" He asked the question rhetorically and snapped the fingers of his right hand.
"Things were great, we targeted nobles and wealthy travelers, and spent money in villages, that kept them real cooperative for a good long time, they even sheltered us a time or two, hiding us when patrols came looking. We did so well that the Six Arms made overtures to us. Then they were wiped out and I buggered the hell out of there." Brain explained and then said with a little winsome smile, "I told you, Zesshi. I'm not a good man, I'm a robber, a thief, and as you saw with those guards, a murderer. I just have standards is all, I rejected the Six Arms, and it might have come to a fight, but after they were destroyed, I ran for it alone."
"You… ran?" Zesshi asked, she struggled to wrap her head around that, looking him up and down as if seeing him for the first time.
"Yes, whoever killed Six Arms was far too strong, the bandits I was with chose not to go with me, and I'm pretty sure they're all dead now. It turned out that the Six Arms was wiped out by Momon the Black and Lupu the red-haired beauty. There's no point in losing a fight, and I was no match for that, so I made the right call." Brain explained, but to that Zesshi had to ask…
"Who are those?"
"The strongest man and woman team in the world, look I only heard a few of their feats, but when we get over the border to the Kingdom of Carne, ask about them. They're very popular out that way. So… anyway I've just been on the move ever since. I make… made a living with my sword when I could, and stole to stay alive when I couldn't. It isn't that I like stealing, I just have no other skill. I can fight, and… fight… Oh and also fight. Did I mention fighting?" He asked, cocking his head and giving her a wink.
She let out a stupid laugh that at least temporarily erased her drawn and sorrowful look.
And when her amusement died, his little sly smile did too. "So that's it, wandering ever since, on my own, like always." He said, "Till Layali, and then you."
"No comrades… ever?" She asked.
"None who stayed alive." Brain replied, "Some were glory hungry fools, and some just died heroes, and some became enemies, which has the same end. Either way, it's easier if you don't get attached."
"So… that's why you're leaving Layali somewhere? So you don't get attached to her? That's why you haven't asked me to stay when this trip is done, even though I have nowhere else to go either?" Zesshi asked, her eyes were so big and innocent that Brain could barely believe she was the one who said all that.
' Okay, so maybe she stumbled into the right conclusion.' Brain thought, but he chose not to say anything against it. Though it did briefly cause his heart to freeze in his chest. Instead he gave a phony sigh and just said, "It's what's best, I've got nothing I can offer, and by the time we get there you'll be fine on your own and know all you need to. Just let that go for now… the point is… I mean, you asked about me, that there is no point. You want to know what kind of person I really am? I'm a selfish swordsman and that's the end of it. Now you haven't answered me yet." Brain demanded, and Zesshi was quiet.
"I-I won't say anything. Nobody in this country would listen to a halfbreed anyway. Just, no more of it, alright? For the rest of the journey to Arwintar, no stealing." Zesshi asked, and Brain frowned a little.
"What I stole won't last long." He pointed out.
"I know, but it won't need to." Zesshi promised, and when Brain opened his mouth to object, she leaned forward and put a finger to his lips. "Hush. Just let me do something, something that I can't mess up."
Brain nodded, his lips rose and fell in the groove of her finger and he uttered a muffled, "Fine… now let's get back, Layali is all alone, what if she wakes up and we're not there?"
Zesshi's smirk was a source of confusion when she dropped her hand away and stood up, she held out her hand and when he took it, she helped him to his feet. "Race you back?"
"With broken ribs?" He asked.
"Don't run on them?" She suggested with a playful shrug.
He took off running in response, and Zesshi followed hot on his heels.
Volume 7 C67
Days on the road saw numerous assemblies of the population, the Kingdom of Carne's population expanded shockingly close to the Kingdom of Nazarick, and a few towns were even springing up. Ainz recalled the state of things when he'd first appeared, village after village destroyed by Theocracy soldiers disguised as knights… as a result, villages tended not to come too close to borders unless there was a fortification to protect them from harm. But there were no forts to be found except for a handful that existed for travelers along the roadways.
It was a ringing endorsement of the Wolf King and Wolf Queen's faith in the Allfather, and the result was an eruption in farmland that rivaled the most fertile places in Re-Estize.
For this stage of the journey, Enri's carriage took the lead, allowing her the honor to put the peasants in good spirits, and many gathered along the roads to wave or bow or kneel and pay their respects. It wasn't lost on Ainz how diverse their reactions to the Queen was when she leaned half her body out the window and waved at them with both hands.
Her smile was bright and wheat golden hair trailed beside her in the breeze stirred up by the rolling carriage, the peasants whooped and cheered, proving her wild popularity, while the Swords of Darkness rode close by with proud expressions on their faces every step of the way. ' Even Lukrut, for all his ludicrousness, seemed to have taken things seriously…' Ainz noted, but kept his focus on the reactions to, and 'of' the Wolf Queen.
She clearly didn't care 'how' they paid their respects to her, she had no sense of royal decorum… Ainz tried to imagine Calca, or Albedo, or Draudillon or Renner, or even Neia, doing this, and he simply couldn't picture it. ' But it works for her.' He thought of Enri, her youth, sunny disposition, and her obvious love for her population shown through her clear and obvious return of their adoration back to them had paid off in a rare sort of way.
' Her children might not have her casual air, but for a very long time I think I'll find the rulers of Carne to be very plain spoken and open faced people… I think I'll like dealing with them.' Ainz reasoned, and made a mental note to put additional funds into trade development with them before integration was completed. ' A little of their mannerisms would do a world of good for the stiffnecked natures of some of the others… then maybe I could relax just a little more.'
He knew it was a selfish thought, but he didn't have it in him to care. Not about that.
The carriages switched places after crossing the border, putting the Allfather's in the forefront well before any crowds came into view. Albedo, of course, had her own view on the matter. "Hmpf, she should have always been behind our Lord, that is where all creatures belong, behind him or beneath him." She had a rarely revealed viciousness about her at that moment which was the opposite of the calm and matronly woman she portrayed herself as most of the time.
And in that, Calca believed she saw a glimpse of the real self beneath the mask. It chilled her blood to see it, and the unspoken question came to mind again, ' Exactly what race is she?' The wings made it certain that Albedo was not a human, but with so many races in the world, and perhaps even more in the confusing panoply of the 'Second World' and 'First World' the possibilities were endless.
But that mask dropping moment provided an answer the Roble Holy Queen never expected. ' The Allmother… she is a demon… a true demon in the flesh…'
She would still need to ask to be sure, she didn't believe her husband would lie to her about it, but the asking was merely to confirm what the Holy Queen was now absolutely certain of.
But how to ask… and how she should act having gained that knowledge, were very different things.
Thankfully her husband saw fit to answer.
"Now, now, Albedo." Ainz patted her thigh and the demon immediately calmed herself and wore her mask of sweetness and light again, "If we give them the little things, we gain the large things. Especially if what we give them increases what we gain."
Again Ainz cast a silent thought of gratitude toward the missing Queen of the Draconic Kingdom, by now agents and spies and search parties from multiple nations would be scouring the Slane Theocracy and rushing toward the elf Kingdom itself. But none would accomplish as much as his own agents, of that Ainz was sure.
' Demiurge will have set demons to scouting for her, demons that even the elves wouldn't have a chance at seeing, not to mention the Hanzos… wherever she is, we will find her.' Ainz felt the certainty in his gut, and trusted it enough to relax as he watched the scenery pass.
The crowds which gathered began 'mostly human' and Calca waved with polite, reserved dignity, as did Albedo and the Allfather.
But as they went from village to village and town to town over the next few days, there was a change. "Dark elves?" Calca asked.
"They are former slaves from the Baharuth Empire, brought here to help settle the vast empty lands between cities." Albedo explained without looking away. The carriage bumped a little, "Oh and… the roads aren't finished yet, but they lay a few miles every day in exchange for certain… considerations, on their taxes."
"Paving… everything?" Calca asked, and Albedo acknowledged her question.
"Yes, roads are the lifeblood of a Kingdom, good roads mean ample trade and travel, it's how talent moves from place to place and it makes a kingdom prosperous. In time there will be a single continuous road from the tip of the Southern Holy Kingdom, all the way to the most distant border of the Baharuth Empire. Our husband has a slew of plans, nay, a mountain of plans for the reshaping of this world!" Albedo said with an almost wild expression as she opened her arms expansively.
"Plans? Husband?" Calca asked, and picked up her son to cradle him against her bosom, her eyes narrowed just a little, "What is she speaking of?"
"Project 'Utopia'." Ainz answered.
"U-to-pia?" Calca sounded out the unfamiliar word. "What is that?"
"In literal terms, the word means 'nowhere' but it has another meaning. It refers to an imaginary Kingdom in which perfect and rational governing takes place, an ideal state-" Ainz ceased to speak when tears filled Calca's eyes.
"Where everyone will be happy, and no one will cry…" She finished the unspoken words of an ideal she hadn't dared to dream of since the day she had to reclaim her capital city from her own angry population. "I'd… I'd almost forgotten my own dream… tell me everything, and how I can help make this Utopia 'everywhere' instead of 'nowhere'."
' And just like that… she is his, down to the core of her soul…' Albedo thought with a welling of admiration for her master. Though he couldn't rewrite others as he had rewritten her in the final hour, he somehow changed those he touched, and made them his with nothing more than words.
" How glorious is my Lord, and how lucky I am to be by his side…' Albedo thought with joy, and the carriage rolled on, with dignified waves to the cheering dark elves who rushed to gain a glimpse of their liberator in the flesh.
Volume 7 C68
The journey out of the town went smoothly, in no small part due to the fact that they now had horses.
Layali rode in front of Brain on the horse, nuzzling her back against his chest, and when he said, "You try." and put the reins of the horse into her hand, a squeal of childish excitement no different than what he would have expected out of a human girl, left her mouth.
"Now this is how you do it." Brain said while he, seemingly without thinking, put his hands over hers and began to talk her through how to control the horse.
As the noise of the horses' hooves kicking at the dirt resounded as a steady scratching thump carried on, kicking little clouds of dust behind the trio, Zesshi watched out of the corner of her eye. For all her now acute self awareness about her own foolishness and ignorance, this she could understand in a way that neither Brain, nor evidently Layali, could.
Zesshi understood it, because she had the same moment. ' Just like when my mother taught me to ride…' Though decades had come and gone since she'd been Layali's age, and the woman Zesshi called mother had herself passed away many, many years before the present, the memory was as fresh as when it was new. She could still smell the grass, the somewhat pungent odor of the horse, still feel the wind and her mother's guiding hand over her own.
' Some of my last really happy days… if only I'd known it…' Zesshi reflected, and watched the girl with a mix of envy and pity.
"So this is how you make them canter… keep your back straight…" Brain said and pressed a hand to Layali's lower back. "Head and eyes straight forward, shoulder's back, that's how you ride with pride."
Layali did her best, though her fingers tightened around the reins maybe more than they needed to, the soft leather scrunched in her little grip, she began to pretend, the empty road was lined with cheering crowds, and herself, she was not a slave, or the doll of some brute, she was 'Princess Layali, the warrior princess on the way home from another of many victories' and then, 'Gladiatrix Layali, who won her thousandth victory in the arena, riding past her many admirers…' She felt her smile grow as she played at her little game.
"Good, just like that." Brain said to her, "If you're not rushing on horseback, you should always ride this way. Never ride in the spirit of defeat, shoulders slumped or looking down. Always look ahead, always straight as a saluting sword. Keep that feeling, never let it go." Brain's voice dropped to a whisper, his breath barely had the power to brush over her ear. "That's what the worst will try to take from you if they can, never let them have it, and you'll always have something, no matter what else they do to you."
"Brain?" Layali asked and tilted her head back so that her eyes were looking straight up into his face.
"Nothing, just hold on, we're going to go at a gallop now, so lean forward." Brain said, and as he leaned forward, so did Layali, and when they spurred the horse forward, the wind smacked Layali in the face, it picked up her hair and blew it wildly about behind her, spreading out on either side of the adult acting as her teacher. Beneath her when she looked down, she watched the ground become a blur, and the horizon when she looked ahead seemed to both draw closer, and open up to become endless both at once.
As she looked in each direction, the distance shrinking, the way ahead growing, Layali cursed her own cowardice. ' I want to tell him I want to stay… I don't want to be left behind… I want to ride forever…'
And the thunder of the two horses went on.
Skana and Illyana sat opposite one another at the table in one of the private offices of Nazarick. "Our lady's cunning knows no bounds." Illyana said with a wiggle of her ears.
Skana twitched her own in turn, a little game between the lovers that they'd played since Skana's return to life, but the words of Illyana were as true as they were serious. "You're not kidding, sure there's nothing wrong with a little covert work… but you just don't get the same experience… and those morons are letting us basically wander free. We could map the place down to the last blade of grass and say it's because we wondered if Draudillon might have been turned into the roots beneath it." Skana snickered with a bit of malice as she got into her work, sorting out one piece of material after another.
Arrayed in front of them both, those 'materials' were lists. Lists of important people, lists of homes and residences of those people, maps of villages and towns the dispatched agents of the Kingdom of Nazarick were already compiling. The doppels put under the command of Albedo's agents had explored not even a tenth of the landscape, but they were like bits of sand blown out of the palm to scatter into the wind.
Each place they landed, they were just one among many, and in their search, however earnest it might have been in truth, they picked up more information besides, all of which was being compiled for later use. Skana's quill flew over the paper as she transcribed key details, boiling down masses of information into key points, while her lover took a more leisurely pace about it all.
When Illyana noticed the almost frantic pace of her lover, she reached a hand across the table and covered the ink stained fingers with her own. "Relax." She said, and when Skana looked up at her and away from the paper, Illyana smiled a little. "There's no reason to hurry, you're not a human with the lifespan of a mayfly, you're an elf, and according to our mistress, the time for bringing the Theocracy down is at least two years away before we even begin. Maybe four, depending on what they do about the demihumans. It won't fall even one day sooner if you work yourself to death."
Skana let go of the breath she didn't even realize she was holding, and a little silvery laugh followed, "It's funny, I never worked hard in my life until I met Lady Albedo, or you, and now that I've started, I can't stop… you're right, I should relax a little, we'll get it done… I just-"
She stopped when Illyana squeezed her fingers a little, "It's alright, I understand. Their time will come, we just can't hasten it, like water carves a channel, slow, steady, and constant, and we'll cut our way through to the end."
"Are you sure you're not just trying to get me to conserve my energy so I have more to spend on you tonight?" Skana winked a bright green eye at her mate, and Illyana looked straight at her when she replied…
"I'm doing exactly that."
And with thoughts of the night to come, they returned to work.
Volume 7 C69
The second of Queen Draudillon's maids to die, died in the arms of her Queen.
"I tried… I tried… I tried…" The maid whispered as Draudillon dragged the woman's limp body down the long hall, her feet on the smooth wooden floor squeaking steadily until it drew the attention of some of the elf King's other attendants and they emerged out of the rooms where they worked and came to assist.
The Queen was so focused on the limp frame of the barely aware maid that she was unaware of the others until three elven women hefted the injured maid up at her legs and shoulders, and began to carry the woman back to the common quarters themselves.
"Th-Thank you…" The Draconic Queen whispered and scurried after them, taking her servant's hand as the seemingly mute elves did what kindness they could.
"I know you did… I know you did… I know, and… it's all right." The Queen whispered as close to the woman's ear as she could. Just what the woman meant, the Queen had no idea, but it didn't matter. Reassurance, no matter what it was for, was all she could offer to her people anymore.
Her dress, a gift of one of the elf maids, was a pathetic and patched up remnant of what was once very fine clothing. It was also practically 'pink' after constantly being washed from being stained with blood. The dress was loose around her waist and allowed her easy freedom of movement, and sleeveless, which was unusual, but the practicality of that became obvious after her many times doing what the women in the elf King's harem referred to as 'fieldcare'.
When they lay the woman down and Draudillon made to step away, she felt the woman's hand grab at the hem of the Queen's 'new' clothing, and the descendant of a dragon lord could only turn to meet those empty, hopeless, wild eyes again. "I tried." The maid mouthed again.
"I know." Draudillon whispered, "I'll get water… clean you up… it will be-" The Queen opened her mouth to speak, and it became a scream as the maid rolled herself over, and by the power of pure will, gave a stumbling rush to the fireplace, braced herself, and bashed her head against the stone. She fell back, the headwound spraying a red rain out through the air to arc across Draudillon's face and clothing.
"No! Not another one! Not another one!" The Queen shrieked and rushed to at least try to arrest the maid's fall, for all the good it did. "Fetch the healer!" The Queen wailed and pulled the maid's head into her lap.
The elves in the room rose to their feet, but none of them made to leave, nor did a guard rush in.
"Are you deaf?! Go and get the healer!" Draudillon cried, "Hold on! Just hold on! I'll take care of you!" The Queen commanded. "I forbid you from dying! You're sworn to serve me! You're not allowed to die on me! Please… don't leave…" The Queen's voice began to dim as the maid's disobedient dying continued unabated, the royal fingers, bloody and slick, slipped over the injury and she tried to pinch the gaping wound closed.
"Why aren't you helping her?!" Draudillon looked up and around as the elven women slowly surrounded the pair, and began to sway side to side, and hum a mournful dirge.
Close to Draudillon's side, the pregnant elf whose name… Draudillon could not bring herself to ask, and who had not offered it despite their time together, placed a hand on the Queen's shoulder, and quietly sang.
In the ever summerlands where no cruel touch abides
A seamless world where no woe betides
Where maiden's dreams of love grow strong
And there never is a mourning song
Rest ye angel, to freedom fly
Safe in death, in thy grave, lie…
The Queen barely registered the rest of the song as she came to understand.
' A death ritual… an elven death ritual…' The Queen realized as the spraying blood became a trickle, they hummed onward, their lyrics sung again, and again, and again. ' I can still save her!' The Queen thought, ' Even if they won't!' She made to rise, and the elf concubine's hold on the Draconic Royalty tightened.
"She's not dead!" The Queen shouted, spittle flying from her mouth as the elf women went on and the flow of blood began to diminish as there remained less and less to lose, a puddle of crimson spread out over the floor, rapidly expanding to the size of a small rug.
"Will you take her freedom, child? She could bear no more… now she is free. This was her choice, it is the choice that many make when they can bear no more of our King's cruelty. Honor her choice, or force more suffering on her." The elf asked, and Draudillon's lips curled up in a snarl of defiance until, as she darted her face up to the elf, she saw a river running down her eyes that were a mirror of the Queen's own.
"You are one of ours, so is she… this is all we can do… nobody can defeat the King… except her way. She beat him… and now she is safe." The elf woman whispered, and then moved her hand away as the tension fell away from Draudillon's body.
"She is still here, will you send her away without your voice to guide her to the land of endless summers?" The elf woman asked, and Draudillon began to sway back and forth with the others, the few human women who could rise, joined in the ring, and even those who could not properly move again, rocked back and forth where they lay.
First Draudillon, and then her maids and court ladies, picked up the lyrics as best they could, and uninterrupted, they sang their sister to the afterlife, never stopping, not until the maid's blood stopped flowing and her heart stopped beating, and her victory over her tormentor was complete.
When it was finally over and the last note faded, the Queen said to the ones who gathered, "Thank you… but we also have customs… we… we cremate our dead so that they can't be devoured by beasts… denying our own monsters their victory. It sends them skyward, away from all harm found here down below… will you help me gather what I need?"
"Of course, little Princess… that will be easy." The matronly elven woman stroked Draudillon's hair as if the Queen were merely another child among many.
"I hope so… I'll send her to the gods… and hope she is received." The Queen said, and lowering her nervous, fearful hand to the still wide eyes, she steadied herself, and closed the eyes of the dead for their eternal rest.
Volume 7 C70
The elf woman was true to her word. ' Please let this work.' Draudillon thought as she stood in the rear of the estate. The survivors of her party and her unexpected comrades were gathered around a pyre of stacked logs constructed criss cross with a wide gap beneath. In this way the air fed the fires, and the height of the burning material, which elevated high enough that in her adult form the body would have been at chest level, ensured that the flames would shoot higher than any cookflame.
She held a torch in her right hand, "Born of the dirt of the world, we ascend to the sky and escape all things that would harm us." The Queen projected the power of her status in her voice, clear and unbroken, she wavered not a bit in her final duty to her subordinate.
One thing the Queen had added however which was not part of their rituals. The cloth wrap was streaked with pitch. The sky was mercifully clear and the day's warmth was mild, not far beyond the walls of the estate she could hear the hustle and bustle of the people of Arwintar who passed their days unaware that a living hell existed within arms reach of them all. The Queen touched the torch to several loose straws that would draw the flame deep within the pyre, and then shoved the torch underneath.
The flames roared to life almost instantly, and the Queen waited. ' Please let this work. Please.' She thought again, clasping her small hands in prayer as the smell of wood began, and the flames caught the pitch tainted wraps, and the body was engulfed in flames.
A roar went up that was redoubled from the first light, and black smoke rose, slowly reaching toward the sky where it would surpass a dragon's flight.
' Arche and Sebas told me that they were agents in Arwintar, close to this very spot before the war began. Even if the Allfather isn't here yet, there's no way someone isn't paying a mind to what happens in the capital when the entire Empire is on the line. Somebody will be watching, somebody will see this and wonder what is happening… all I need is for them to watch… if they just watch this place… I can get a message out.' Draudillon's thoughts ran faster than a wild horse, and she bit her lower lip hard enough to draw blood, watching the fires rise, listening to the crackle of breaking wood and trying to ignore the pungent, foul smell of burning flesh.
' It wasn't for nothing, even if she didn't know it.' The Queen told herself, ' We're getting out of here. All of us.' She looked around at the various women, elf and human alike, and said again to herself, ' All… of us.'
Raymond's carriage fell behind the others by design. He departed hours after the other monarchs did, and when he left, he left in silence with no ovations or honors or interest in them at all.
His only company other than his array of hidden knives, was a bottle purloined from the place he stayed, which would no doubt be tacked on to the invoice sent to his embassy.
The carriage clattered along, and he could only rest his cheek against his fist, and his elbow rested against the edge of his carriage window. He looked out the window from the corner of his eye to watch the scenery pass. His mind drifted like a leaf in a slow moving river, aimless and without direction of its own.
A few things however, he could not avoid. ' Is she okay?' He wondered about Zesshi, the girl was utterly… lost when it came to anything to do with reality. ' That's our fault… she can't even make a campfire, not unless she remembers the things her mother taught her… and that's our fault too.'
His carriage carried him onward, racing at a swift pace that kept the scenery changing, which was a small blessing to have as it kept him from turning an eye to the bottle nestled beside him on the thickly cushioned seat.
It was large and green with a fat body and a long neck shaped like a swan's neck, curving to a downward curving neck, and a small bottom side the size of a dessert plate.
It was also more tempting than it should have been.
"You're just depressed. That's not what drinking is for." The Cardinal told himself, but he couldn't keep from worrying. ' Zesshi is the strongest being in the world… or was… but she's also a young girl in her… her body's terms. A sheltered girl who lost her mother… damn it! The more I say it, the more we sound like…'
Raymond didn't care for the direction of his thoughts, and so he turned his eyes away from the bottle one final time, refusing to look at it and instead focusing on the scenery, sweeping through village after village with barely a pause.
But oh, how his pulse raced and demanded that he pause. ' Is that… are those…?' He asked himself, and he couldn't deny his eyes, there were goblins tending the fields beside humans, and skeletons bearing water or swinging hoes up and down in an endless, tireless cycle.
Instantly the urge to rush in and slay the monsters rose to the fore, destroy the skeleton, protect the human… but time took its toll on his impulses, and instead, he pressed his face to the glass and watched with disbelief.
' It's one thing to see it in a city when there are guards to keep order… where there is power… but this is a village. A village… ! Not a sword to be seen!' The former Black Scripture agent had seen men and women crack before in the field, strong, mighty figures, champions of humanity with the potential to grow even stronger… and they cracked under the weight of the atrocities they were compelled to commit.
A goblin tribe fleeing enslavement by orcs… slaughter them to the last infant.
A vampire hiding itself away that hasn't harmed anyone, they may someday, so they must die.
An elf who slew their master and escaped to try to form a rebellion… rebels against order were not needed in the Theocracy.
' I was so proud of myself… pushing through my doubts… pushing through… everything, doing my duty… washouts and failures… I couldn't hate them, but… I was so glad I wasn't one…' Raymond thought as he raced past, watching as a goblin accepted a waterskin from a human farmer before distance put the pair out of sight.
"Fluke. It's a fluke." He told himself, but unwilling to look further, lest he witness more 'flukes' he grabbed the red velvet curtain and yanked it shut, plunging the interior of his carriage into, if not total darkness, then into a dim red light which washed over everything within until the sun set and the carriage driver knocked on the door to say…
"We have reached an inn, Master. Would you like a room?"
Raymond looked outside the door of his carriage, the driver's cropped ears caught his eyes.
"You're not the driver I had yesterday…?" He half asked as he looked past her and toward the two story wooden building. "I had… a young boy?"
"Yes, master, you did. The embassy sent me instead, I was… acquired, by your butler, and sent after you shortly after you left. I arrived yesterday with instructions to act as your personal aid." The elf replied, her back stiffened ever so slightly, and at that, Raymond felt his lips turn down a little.
"Why?" He asked, his hand tensed around the neck of the bottle.
The elf's face was the neutral mask he'd seen on slaves since birth, but now he wondered, ' What lies behind it?'
"I have only the butler's word, but… if it pleases you, master, I can put together what I heard and what I was told into an educated guess…?" The driver's feet inched a hair farther away from him, had he not been of the Black, he might not have noticed it in the dim light, but it was there.
"Go on?" He said as he looked the driver over.
"Master, the day I was purchased, I could hear your butler say he needed to buy someone 'completely broken in'. And the day I was dispatched, your colleague, I believe the master's name was Dominic, instructed me to be dispatched immediately so that, 'no human could be infected by heresy'. I believe that I was dispatched because I will stay silent, refuse nothing, obey you completely, and not have any beliefs of the six tainted by foreign ideas."
It was all said with stiff formality, enough so that one would think she bore no resentment toward his kind at all.
"And… are you?" Raymond ventured.
"Master?" The elf asked, cocking her head.
"Broken?" He asked.
She sank to her knees then with her eyes downcast, holding the carriage door open with her back, though she winced when she did it, it was otherwise a seamless motion.
"To nothing, master. Nothing at all. I will obey. I ask only that you do not hurt me as I do my best to carry out your will." It was said as if she were announcing the time of day, with not a single break in her neutral face.
"Dominic…" Raymond rolled his eyes. "Of course he would be the one…" Then a thought came to mind, he furrowed his brow, "By chance, did the boy who drove before, make mention of informing the others of the fact that I was now traveling alone?"
The woman paled. "I… It didn't occur to me to ask, My Lord… I didn't know you had a companion…" Her neutral mask broke a tiny bit as her lips quivered, but there was no other sign but that and the color draining from her pretty, sharp featured face.
Raymond waved it off, letting out a sigh, "No, it's fine, you couldn't know." He said, though privately thought, ' That will not go over well.' Then he glanced at the inn again, it was rather larger than he expected it to be, with a large stable off to one side. "I suppose I should stop for the night…" He let out a long, slow yawn, which the elf did not repeat, though she bit her lip to keep it back.
"Go ahead and stand up." Raymond said without looking at her and stretched his legs as she rose, "That was a very long ride… but… if you're going to be with me the rest of the way, it will be awkward to just refer to you as 'girl' or 'slave' the rest of the way to Arwintar. What should I call you?"
"Master can call me what he wishes." The woman replied, and unbidden, she went to the back of the carriage to take down a large suitcase, which she hefted on her shoulder with surprising ease given its size and weight.
' The boy would have struggled with it.' Raymond noted, and cracking a smile he said, "I think 'What he wishes' is a tad cumbersome… just give me your name."
The elf stopped dead, and looked at him for several seconds before cracking the ghost of a smile. "Master jokes." She said, flatly, "but if he wishes my name, my name is Nua."
"Nua, then." Raymond replied, and asked, "Why do you not put that on your back, it would be far easier than on your shoulder."
The elf woman's neutral face returned when she said, "If it is master's wish." She then tossed the bag up just a little and snapped her arms out in time to catch the straps onto each shoulder, and carried his luggage behind him, suppressing the wince as she walked.
Volume 7 C71
Arriving at the next town on horseback that evening, Zesshi and Layali nevertheless took the precaution of raising their hoods so that they would not be observed by those who passed them by as anything else but mother and child on horseback and riding with husband and father. And with Brain's hood down and his obvious humanity, nobody thought to question the other two.
However, he didn't take them straight to the nearest inn, instead they went past it. "Just wait here." Brain said as he dismounted after their horses came to a stop.
"Zesshi… what's he doing…?" Layali asked with a furrowing of her little golden brow.
"I… I don't know." Zesshi asked.
Brain, for his part, after dismounting his horse, ventured into a nearby alley, the buildings were of relatively inexpensive wood, but treated to be weather resistant, and with thick straw bales bound together and secured to sloped rooftops to ward off the rain and hold in the heat.
A low rumble ran over the sky above, suggesting that was more necessary than Zesshi initially believed. She heard the clinking noise of Brain's pouch containing his stolen goods, and she was reminded again of those whose lives she may have ended. A tiny sliver of hope clung stubbornly to her heart. ' Please be okay… I never had a brother… I hope I didn't get one, just to get him killed right away…'
She thought about whom they'd have sent after him, if she were still around, Clementine was an easy guess, but rumor had it that she was dead. ' Cenna, maybe… he's weaker than I am, but still the strongest of the others. Wait, he vacations around Ikari, hunting there… and this would be that time of year…'
Her heart crashed. ' There aren't many who could defeat him…' She cursed her naivete and clung tighter to the reins while she listened to Brain's hushed voice from just out of sight.
"This is all I've got, Toombs, and I can't get more. It's worth twice what I'm asking. You can move this easy and make a hefty profit." Brain said to the vicious runt of a man in filthy cloth.
"Yer goin soft… Brain…" The hunchbacked little man said between toothless lips. "Too soft, you got more, I seen em. Thems is girls, thas always got value…"
Brain dumped the clatter of stolen plates, forks, and knives as the first drops of rain began to fall and land on their heads. "Don't say that." Brain said it as an order. It was not a request. He stuck out his hand. "You've fenced a lot, and you know I bring you good stuff, what I gave you last time had to be more than the rest of what your Re-Estize Rejects brought in for the whole month. Just shut up, take the stuff, and give me the coin so I can beat the rain."
"Awww, c'mon. You sound like you need the money, since things tightened up in the north, ain't much traffic here but the occasional runaway slave. How about I give you what you're askin, just… give up the small one up there, had a guy come through here not that long ago, lookin for one bout that size, bet if I sen'm word, he'll come back for a pickup…" The hunchback rubbed his hands together.
"What was his name?" Brain asked, his eyes went very narrow, and he kicked aside the stolen goods, which clattered against the wall, the weasel's tongue licked his own lips several times.
"Ah, Cera-somethin, bate. Cerabate, he ah… friend of yours… friend of… hers?" The weasel winked and leaned to the right to peak around the corner where Layali sat.
' Cerebrate?' Brain asked himself and answered instantly, ' Yes. He just suggested selling my Layali to Cerebrate?!' He saw only white in his own eyes, like the flash of sun piercing the dark and striking his pupils, his fist lashed out and hit the hunchback in the gut.
The fence went sailing back into the corner of the wall, cracking through the wood and tumbling head over heels until he was stopped by crashing into several stacked barrels which toppled over and shattered.
Brain however, was on him before the hunchback could ask or even understand what was happening. A snarl of animal fury on Brain's face, his fist rose and fell, and bone after bone crunched and cracked, the rain began to fall harder, and within seconds, the hunchback ceased to move.
"Shit." Brain said, and spat down at the filth at his feet. A few scattered stolen goods were carried along, and now the pieces littered the path of the hunchback's beating. The glob of spit landed on the hunchback's face just below his eye, running slowly down into the muck of the alley, its passing accelerated by the slowly increasing pace of the rain that was now soaking Brain's hair and threatening to get worse.
"I need to get her out of the rain…" He muttered, and then crouching down, he lifted the brown cloak and snatched the coinpurse away from the hunchback's belt. "You should have just taken the stuff, Tooms." He mumbled and rose to his feet above the corpse. "A deal's a deal though, the trash I brought is yours, maybe your corpse can use it. But I'm through ."
Brain turned around and walked back the way he'd come, a roll of thunder ran louder overhead just as he emerged from the alley again and found two expectant faces turned toward him.
"Brain? Are you-" Layali asked before he interjected.
"I'm fine, I was just ending an old partnership on… bad terms, I suppose they'd be… or good, depending on the way you think about it." He said and tossed the coinpurse into the air, and snatched it out again so that they could hear the jingle just before the thunder rumbled again.
"Come on, we'll stay at the inn tonight, and head out in the morning." Brain said, taking his horse at the reins, and leading it toward the small building not far away.
"Okay… yes, that would be nice… I don't like the rain…" Layali said, and when lightning cracked across the sky, she flinched visibly, "or lightning… I hate it… please… let's hurry." She said with a constant darting stare at the darkening sky.
Zesshi put her hands over the girl's ears and said, "You won't hear a thing, I promise." Then she pressed down, and Layali relaxed, not hearing another sound as Brain took Zesshi's horse by the reins as well, and guided them both back toward the inn.
Volume 7 C72
"Is this how I do it?" Ainz asked, glancing at the Holy Queen as he tried to settle his son just right into his arms, the little thing was small, squishy, and so delicate that Ainz felt a terror in his heart that no enemy in the New World had ever given to him. ' I'll break him!' He told himself as his heart palpitated in his chest, but to his relief, the Holy Queen with a patient and slow touch, helped him move his arms and hands just a little.
"Good, like that, now relax. He won't bite, and he won't break from just being held." Calca said, and then leaned back against the bulging cushion of the couch.
The Holy Queen kept an eye out on the demon as she helped the husband they had in common, but a sense of relief came over her as the mother to be watched with a careful eye to see the way her husband learned to care for the infant. Tiny arms and legs kicked about, and little gurgles came out as the child smiled upward at his father.
' If my mother, if my friends, could have seen me now… what would Bukubukuchagama have to say about this? Father of nations, father to the children of my dear friends, and now father to my own bloodline… two of them soon…' He considered and reached out a finger to wiggle in between the infant's hands.
Aurelion grabbed for the finger with a baby's giggle and seemed to smile larger when he caught it.
"He's coming along fine. And he's got quite a grip for a child of his age." Calca said with no small amount of pride, going so far as to stretch out her arms across the back seat when she straightened up. "What a King he will be, one day. It makes me wish we had a prophet, or at least an evangelist around."
Ainz's mind jumped to the familiar RPG job classes. "Those are rare, aren't they?" He asked.
"Oh yes… very ." Calca emphasized, "We haven't seen either since the Six Great Gods appeared. One of the founders of the Slane Theocracy was an evangelist who gained prophetic powers. They wrote a book… but they wrote it in an unknown language and nobody in the Slane Theocracy can read it."
Ainz perked up, "Could you perhaps write some of it, maybe I would recognize the way it looks."
Calca shook her head, "No, I'm sorry, my husband. There is only one copy and they've had that locked up since before my nation appeared. It's said that the one who wrote it intended it to be read only by another of the same fate… a pitiable thing, since their prophet came to a bad end."
"What sort of a bad end?" Ainz asked, looking up from his son to focus on the curious bit of history.
"Suicide." Calca said, "Prophecy is a powerful thing, too much for one mind. The theocracy's crown of wisdom bearers become catatonic and die young trying to read the future together, and usually failing. For one person to do that? I can't imagine the pain, the stories of those days say that the prophet's brain was supposed to feel like it was on fire every time he saw something new. The Dragon Lords are longer lived than we by far, they could probably say more, but they take a dim view of talking to humans much. Except for the pervert."
"The pervert?" Ainz chuckled, "I doubt he's that much of a pervert." He added, ' Not compared to Peroroncino at least.' Ainz added privately.
"He transforms himself into various races to have sex with their women… In fact he's the grandfather of Queen Draudillon. But even he doesn't say much to outsiders, not without a good reason." Calca pointed out.
"I see." Ainz remarked, while leaving off his private thoughts… ' I see that rescuing Draudillon just became an even higher priority.'
Raymond allowed Nua to do her job and check him in, and waited for her to guide him through the sea of tables within which, to the Cardinal's dismay, included more than just humans… again. Big mugs of ale with big foaming heads dripping down were raised in cheer and consumed with loud smacking lips. To his right, a human male and an orc male were busy armwrestling, grunting against one another while a female of each race stood by their mates and cheered them on. The human woman… was buxom, but rippled with muscle and had shoulders almost as broad as those of her husband, with close cropped hair and leather armor, a steel sword strapped to her side. The orc female might have been a green skinned sister, with large tusks and deep set eyes, they pumped their fists and cheered on the competitors.
Raymond almost stopped, going to a half step briefly to watch, but when the creak of the stair caught his attention he remembered himself and followed his slave up the stairs.
Nua walked with the steady trudge of those for whom time meant nothing, just one more step, but it carried her forward to the landing and then up the second flight until she was moving along the length of the second floor hallway.
She stopped at a door, slid an iron key into the lock and opened the door. As was proper, Nua entered first, and when nothing happened, Raymond followed. "I will unpack your bag, master." Nua said in the even, indifferent voice of one who was merely doing her work.
Raymond gave a half nod to her as he looked about the room, a single bed lay with white cotton sheets and a single long pillow across the head against a dark cherry stained headboard.
A chest of drawers, if not the finest, at least smooth and stained to match the bed, sat nearby as did a single small square table with a black and white banded candle sitting there waiting for use.
All in all, cozy but not luxurious, was how he thought to describe it. Nua, for her part, walked straight to the chest of drawers, opened his case, and began to store the next day's clothing. But when she got to his combat gear and spare field equipment, she paused. "Master… What do I do with this? Do I store it at the ready or leave it packed?" She reached down and held up the armor, though she only pointed down at the weapons with her free hand.
Raymond raised an eyebrow, "You can… lift that, with one arm?"
"Yes, My Lord. I've been worked hard, something like this is easy. If it displeases you, I will set it down immediately!" She added and began to crouch down to put it carefully back into place.
"No, it's fine…" Raymond insisted, and the slave paused at a half crouch, clearly trying to think of what to do, he said…
"You can put it back, I won't need it here, at least not tonight." He said, and it was with a swift gesture that Nua laid it back into position just as it had been. Not many can handle that… with the countermanding weight penalties to increase my other abilities, I've seen hardened adventurers who couldn't pick it up.'
She closed up the case and then slid it beneath the bed, then closed the drawer too, before going in front of him and kneeling again with her head bowed. "Is there… anything more, or should I retire to my place to sleep tonight, M-My lord?"
Raymond understood what she was asking, but a puzzlement struck him that, thanks to his curious and inquisitive nature, had him looking around the room again as if he'd missed something. "Where? There is no other room."
She studied his face for longer than was comfortable, her sky blue eyes seeming to search every whisker of his brown beard. "Is my master joking, again?"
"No." Raymond answered and scratched his head. "It seems a normal enough question."
"Has my lord never traveled with one of us before?" Nua asked, she spoke with a slow, metered intonation, her eyes still searching over his face for any hint of anger or taunting from down where she knelt.
"No, I haven't." Raymond answered with a shake of his head.
"Then, master, I will be sleeping outside, underneath the carriage, if you have no intention of ascertaining my… compliance, then I will return to sleep outside." Nua replied, her face unchanging and betrayed no hint of neither happiness nor unhappiness.
' If she were a gambler, she would be the best.' Raymond considered, then added, "When was the last time you ate something?"
"Yesterday, my lord, before coming to drive your carriage." Nua answered. Her belly rumbled, but she ignored it as if it hadn't.
Raymond frowned deeply. "You should have said something. Why didn't you?"
"It's not my place, master. Your comrade ensured I understood I would be attending to a Cardinal, one of the pinnacles of human authority. If you wish me to starve, I starve. Eat, I eat. What you command me to do, I do. You are the chosen of the gods, I am two legged sheep… as he put it."
Raymond drew his fingers over his beard and let out a sigh. "That does sound like something he would say… his scripture always was that way…" Raymond muttered while he absently looked away from the kneeling elf, her hair was nearly shorn to the scalp, a thing he'd seen before, but couldn't quite place, but it was also a fresh cut.
"So… I suppose that means he is responsible for your hair?" Raymond guessed.
Nua bowed her head and without thinking, she reached up to touch it. "It is as you say, master. It was much longer before he put me to the test."
"I see…" Raymond replied, a faint hint of disquiet nestled itself at home in his gut. "My comrade is… more firm than I. More formal. He is the product of his scripture. I come from the Black, we're stronger, and more flexible. If you're hungry, say something, if you have food and you're hungry, just eat."
Nua looked at him again. "You won't… punish me for that, my lord?"
"No." Raymond replied, his expression as stony as hers was empty.
"Then… thank you, my lord." She replied, "I am hungry. But I have no food to eat. If it pleases you, I would like something."
Raymond's belly rumbled, and he put his hand over it. "It seems… Nua, that my belly agrees with yours." She didn't laugh, and his attempt at it died on his lips, he cleared his throat and said, "I'd rather not wait for you to bring me anything. Come with me."
"Yes, master." She said, and when he exited the room, she followed. The lower floor was a large public area, and the smell of roast and stew paired with fresh baked bread was enough to set both their bellies rumbling again.
Not far away he heard something new, the tune of a bard playing a lyre, and a bawdy drinking song being picked up with it.
"Drink goes up and cock goes down,
The will is tall but it makes you small
But drink and drink till you forget
How you made the girl upset!
She hoped for a sword and you said nope
Just laid there while you pushed a rope…"
It was lewd, it was bawdy, and the lyrics grew ever more so as the song went on. Raymond glanced over to the source and shut his eyes immediately. An orc, an elf, a goblin, and a human clad in miners clothing, complete with rock dust and dirt, were swaying around a table and singing along with a dark elf bard.
"Blasphemy." Raymond tried to tell himself. But he could only mouth the word, while his body bounced a little and he hummed the tune. ' This is an exception. This isn't how things really are. Maybe it's a plant to fool me. There's only one road, the dragonid could have collaborated with the Allfather to stage this for my benefit, knowing I would be here.' He told himself, not opening his eyes until he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Forgive the noise." A soft, lilting woman's voice said. He looked up to see a pregnant dark elf with a radiant smile on her face. "They're a noisy lot, but good hearted and they won't cause any trouble, they've been on this kick about dwarven drinking songs ever since they came back from the mountain with pockets full of silver to spend."
"I… I see… they- they worked with the dwarves, did they?" Raymond asked, a twinge of curiosity coming out in the way he darted his eyes from them to the elf woman.
"They did, the dwarves are short of labor still, so they've been paying more than usual to help expand and meet the demand for ore… well, so those lot say, I'd rather stay away from the mountains personally. Now, ah…" The pregnant elf looked from him to where Nua stood stiff and silent. "Can I get something for you and your wife?"
Nua and Raymond gasped deeply at the same moment. "She's not my wife, she's-" He paused, doubting that the truth would go over well.
"I'm his servant, driving his carriage." Nua explained in his stead.
"Oh… oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to presume, it's just that a lot of couples travel this way now that the roads are safe again." The elf woman said, a little blush on her face.
Before Raymond or Nua could respond to offer forgiveness, a burly human with short sleeved brown shirt laced up to the neck and a white apron wrapped around his waist appeared at the dark elf's side and put an arm protectively around her.
"Chatting up the guests again, love?" He asked and leaned down to kiss her cheek.
"Just a little, honey, just a little." The dark elf woman said with a touch of aplomb and a slightly deeper blush that turned her cheeks a more mild shade of pink than before. "They had a few questions is all… oh-" She looked at Raymond and Nua and put a hand on the man's chest. "This is my husband, he cooks here, all that food you smell, that's his masterful work."
"It smells… marvelous." Raymond said as he felt his body go numb. He glanced at Nua out of the corner of his eye, she still stood stiff as a statue, her face neutral, but he could feel her uncertainty in the way she glanced down at him again and again, each time the question was clear. ' Will saying the wrong thing lead to pain?' So she was choosing to say nothing.
"We'll have two bowls of rabbit stew and a side of bread, and… your strongest bottle of wine to go, and two ales." He said, and when his belly rumbled he had the perfect excuse to be rid of them. He put a hand on his stomach and asked, "Please hurry, I'm going to die of starvation, I swear it."
He wore a charming, gregarious smile on his face, and it was enough that the couple suspected nothing.
"Course, this is our place after all, and nobody leaves here hungry, or stays hungry here for long. I've got a fresh batch that should be ready right now." The male of the pair said and squeezed his wife at the hip, drawing her a little closer to himself and prompting her to inch even closer of her own accord. "We'll see you right in a handspan of seconds. Come along, love, let the man spend time with his-"
"Servant. Only his servant." Nua said before the misunderstanding could repeat itself.
"Oh, right… I just assumed." He said, until Raymond handwaved it away.
"A common mistake." Raymond added, "Now… how about that stew?" He asked again, and the couple turned around to return to their duties.
When they were gone, Raymond focused his attention on Nua, "Sit. And when the food comes, just eat."
"Yes, my lord." She replied, and sat in silence to stare down at the wooden table, her hands in her lap when she was seated, though she shifted about with some discomfort.
"You can talk." Raymond said, "It feels awkward for you to just sit there staring at the table while we wait."
"What would it please you to hear, my lord?" Nua asked, and Raymond let out yet another sigh.
' How many more of those will I have in me before we get to Arwintar?' He wondered. "Just… whatever." He answered. "If you'd rather not say anything, then just… just stare at the table."
"Thank you, master." Nua answered and resumed staring down at the table.
The dark elf waitress returned to the table just as another song started up nearby, one even bawdier than the last.
"Bugger off ye lads ye won't be gettin laid…
An the sooner ye go home, the sooner we get paid!"
"Is something the matter?" The dark elf asked as she laid a big wooden bowl in front of them both, along with a platter with a long piece of fresh baked bread between them. She looked with concern at Nua, and then at Raymond again.
"No, it's just been a long journey." He said, then added, "But one more thing, she neglected to get a room for herself, do you have another?" Raymond asked.
The dark elf's pearl white teeth showed when she smiled at the question, "Yes, we do have one more room open."
"She'll be by to collect the key to it after we're done eating." Raymond said, and ignored the stunned look on Nua's face that briefly broke through the neutral mask.
"It will be ready, enjoy the food." The woman said and sashayed away with a spring in her step, and when they were undisturbed at their table, Nua sat looking down at the stew as Raymond reached for the bread.
"Am I… this isn't a trick?" Nua asked.
Raymond twisted the bread and it tore with a crack, small crumbs fell away to land on the smooth wooden plate as he broke the bread between them and then held out half to her.
Raymond gave up for the present. "Your master is ordering you to eat." He said, and with that, she accepted what he offered her and began tearing chunks off and dipping it into the rabbit stew.
Her eyes lit up, and nearly filled with tears as the flavor exploded in her mouth. Decorum was forgotten by the hungry wood elf, and she tore into the meal as if it was to be her last.
Raymond ate more reservedly, but as he watched the elf tear into the food he wondered something else, ' How much did she eat, and what did she eat, when she last ate at all?'
As another song began to pick up, he turned to watch the bard and his enthusiastic patrons, and this time he couldn't close his eyes, and he dared not look away, because if he did… ' I'll be watching her eat… and I don't… I don't think I want to do that.'
Volume 7 C73
Lakyus said it first. "By all the gods…" Her eyes widened with a kind of existential awe.
"There's a… hole… a hole in the goddamn mountain…" The priestess of the water god muttered.
"Aye, about a dragon sized hole, doncha know. See that there hole," he pointed to the gaping mass through which the stars twinkled bright as day, "was made when Jaldabaoth, the Demon Emperor, swung Olasird'arc around by his tail an flung the big brute through the stone.
"But that…" Evileye said, and then whispered [Fly] casting her spell, she rushed to the stone gap while their guide shouted behind her.
"Hey! There's a rope ladder tour my uncle gives, you go up there, you're gonna have to pay for it!"
But Evileye didn't care, she rushed up to the stone, hovering at the edge of the gap, she stretched out her arms to their maximum span and pressed herself against it. She then flipped herself so that she was facing the stone, her arms still extended it. Then again so that she had her back against it. She did it again and again until she'd measured the full thickness of the blasted away granite, and then through the gap she went to look down the mountainside.
"Impossible…" She muttered as she scanned the stone and snowscape outside and saw with her own eyes the giant blown away fragments of rock which had tumbled down the side.
She descended again to land beside their dwarven guide. "That is forty of my wingspan at its thinnest point… you say the demon emperor… threw a dragon through the rock?"
"Aye he did, an that dragon, he landed all the way in the Holy Roble Kingdom, wouldja believe he came back an tole us some stories, he survived the fall, got nursed back to health, had quite a story to tell about someone he calls 'little sister' she's the Queen in Demalbion now if'n you can believe that." Their guide said with a cherubic little smirk amidst his thick and bushy beard.
"The Queen of Frost? These aren't just tavern stories…?" Lakyus asked.
Gagaran scratched her head, "What's the big deal, the demon emperor must have been strong to do it but-"
"Try past two hundred." Evileye interjected, and both Gagaran and the twins sucked in their breath. "If I were to appraise the strongest thing I ever fought by myself, it would be one hundred and ten. The strongest as a group, maybe one hundred and twenty. Jaldabaoth must have had power at least on par with a greater demon god. And possibly on par with one or more of the Six Great Gods."
"Thas what plenty of us roun here say, but the Demon Emperor is dead, very very dead. The Allfather kilt him in single combat while us, the dragons, and the quagoa held off his armies… turns out we had a lot more history than we thought… you really wanna know, my second cousin has a play he puts on for tourists an such, an he makes a helluva good story out of it. I can give you a discount, but it'll still cost a little." The dwarf guide added, but then pointed a stone's throw away. Water was dripping down through the gaping hole in the mountainside, which was caught and run through a wheeled contraption that was attached to a rotating rope which in turn, close to the ground, spun a belt made of many woven wooden slats. Dwarves and quagoa lined the slats and were performing many repetitive individual tasks.
"We gots a coupla these things ready, but over there is the finished product." He pointed to several long metal containers ranging from the size of a small carriage, to longer than four carriages. Each metal container was secured with woven metal straps with leather curved loops folded on the top of the containers.
"That there belt, that's how we make em, see how they lay down that frame of wood? We secure the metal around that, weld it all into place, then pull the wooden frame apart from the inside after its all secure, then the parts go back and we repeat. It's a sharp design based in part on the ideas we got from the Draconic Kingdom. Right smart for long legs." The dwarf guide said, or at least in part 'grumbled'. "Anyhoo, we fastened them cables around an secure it at even intervals an the dragons slip their wings through them loops, with that they can fly damn near anywhere an carry anythin. Iron ore, finished goods, even everyday mail. Fact is, the plan is to use this here spot as a central launching point for the entire mail system of the Kingdom of Nazarick and the nations what come under'em. Course the Allfather's gotta bring in the rest of them dragon folk, an a lot of em are right stubborn. But they'll come around when there's coin to be made, an there's a lotta coin to be made."
"The Allfather… beat that thing that did… that?" Lakyus asked. She ran through all the stories she knew of the six Great Gods, including Surshana… and found nothing. Nothing on par with throwing a dragon through a mountain, let alone beating something that could do that.
"What… is the Allfather exactly?" Lakyus asked as she furrowed her brow, the cargo carriers and the means for making them were suddenly no longer of interest to the priestess.
"Well, lot of us, we say he's a god. He's an ancient bein at least, locked himself away fer thousands a years in some other world to keep Jaldabaoth back… till the demon got unlocked when Dwarf and Quagoa started killin each other. So he come back an took down the Demon Emperor for good an now we both work for'im again. It's good business, and god or no god, thas good enough for me. You wanna know more, I got a wife who wrote a book about it, it'll cost you a few silvers to get a copy though, more'n a few if you want a limited edition signed copy." He grinned and licked his pudgy lips while rubbing his right thumb and forefinger together.
"I… I think we should head back, and get some rest for now, this is… a lot for me to take in." Lakyus said and rubbed her forehead, there was sweat there despite the cold breeze blowing in from the gaping open hole. She wiped it off with her sleeve, and looked at Momon and Lupu. "You two agree, right? That this is a lot to take in?"
"Yes… yes, it is." Momon smacked his chest with a hard dramatic gesture that echoed off the walls around them, "Knowing what I know, I want to know more, and… if possible, we should strive to see the Allfather together when we come to the tournament. Only this way will we know if his presence lives up to his legend."
Evileye inched closer, practically leaning on Momon before she found, to her annoyance, a smug looking Lupu had put herself in the way just in the nick of time.
"Yes! Yes, we must know! Perhaps… perhaps he has some way to suppress the curse of my sword before it drowns me in its desire for bloodshed!" Lakyus said with equal drama, slapping her palm around the hilt of her blade.
' I keep telling you, you dizzy bitch, I do not want your soul! What am I supposed to do with it anyway?! I'm a damn sword, put the pointy end into the other guy, or use the edge of me to cut them in half, and I'm happy! Just please… please stop being such a chuunibyou!' The sword cried out, despairing in her mind.
' Lies! You won't have my pure, innocent, and holy body for your foul machinations! You won't trick me, brute!' Lakyus cried out her retort, and she felt the soul of the sword 'shudder' in response.
' Hentai! You're such a damn hentai!' The sword cried out, and then fell silent.
Lakyus gave a deep sigh of relief and wiped sweat from her brow again, "I've fought him off again… but… to suppress him forever… maybe the Allfather has a way?"
"We'll find out when we get there… for now, master dwarf, take us to our rooms." Gagaran interjected with haste, her eyes darting back and forth between Momon, Evileye, and Lakyus. ' Great, three drama queens… how have we lasted this long?' She wondered, and they followed their guide back the way they came.
Volume 7 C74
The return to the inn was peaceful, though their dwarf escort was quick to point out opportunities to see more if they had the silver, but even he grew quiet when he realized that his 'audience' had more or less turned their thoughts inward.
The stone surrounded them like a grave, and the wind swept over their bodies and chilled them like the same for a fair bit of walking before the many caverns broke the gale up into nothing but a light breeze.
The inn itself was a functional, square building with steps carved into the side of itself, like the rest of the buildings under the mountain, the building was carved out of the stone therein, and so was rooted to the spot.
The glowstones were starting to wink out by then, and the busy streets they once saw were now almost empty. Though a few of the white furred quagoa and a handful of dwarves were still out in the open, the only real noise they heard when they reached the building came from nearby taverns.
"Just out of curiosity," Momon asked when they were about to enter the building, "why are the taverns kept apart from the inns, in Re-Estize, and elsewhere, the inns usually have dual purposes."
"Oh, thas how we keep monopolies from happening. No one place can do too much, keeps em from drivin everybody else outta business doncha know. If we let the innkeepers serve food and drinks, not many would go to the places that only do food and drinks. No business can do so much that they destroy all the rest. It keeps our prices a little higher maybe, but it means more work goes around overall, an if that cuts the burden on the state since they don't have to support folk with no work… so much the better, amiright?" The guide said and, despite the fact that Momon's hand was already on the door, the dwarf reached out and opened it anyway.
They were immediately greeted by a blast of warmth that stopped the party dead, "Heatstones. There's one on every floor to keep guests comfortable." The guide explained and led them to the front desk. "Got a few more for ye Broki," he jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the adventurers, "set em up nice, big spenders."
The dwarf behind the desk might as well have been a twin, with a fire red beard and a twinkle of greed in his eye. "Aye course, c'mon folks I got a room for each of yah."
"Is that necessary, we don't mind sharing some space." Momon suggested, and the innkeeper chuckled.
"I guess if you want, two to a room, well… three." He said, and before they could ask, he was out the door and leading them up the stairs embedded into the outer wall of the structure. "Here for you two." He handed a single key to the twins, "You want another key, that costs extra."
"It's fine, evil innkeeper." They said as Tia accepted the key, he smirked when they disappeared within.
He ascended to another level, handed a key to Lupu and said, "This for you and the big one."
Lupu grinned and snatched up the key, she held it aloft where Gagaran could see it and said, "C'mon roomie, -su, we'll get settled in before we go drinking!"
Gagaran's grin was almost as wide as her face. "You read my mind." She said as they entered the room.
The innkeeper ascended one more floor, "Now, this'n here as got a bed big enough for you two and your daughter, here. The stone is right thick, lotsa privacy, but maybe send the wee one down to one of the others as a sitter, eh? There's no privacy 'inside' the room." He gestured to the masked Evileye. "Also, there's still only one key still, less you pay extra, but if you do, don't let your little girl wander around, we not far from the gorge and she might fall in if she gets too close."
"Ah… I'm not their daughter." Evileye gasped, "I'm an adult."
The dwarf rubbed his fiery beard and looked her up and down, "You sure? I thought human children were about our size an you-"
"I'm an adult!" Evileye snapped and stomped her foot.
"Not convincin…" He muttered.
"Don't mind our daughter." Momon said, "We shall take the room."
Evileye's mouth dropped open at Momon's words, but he only accepted the key, opened the door, and went in with a blushing Evileye and Lakyus following on his heels." The innkeeper left them alone, and the little vampire slumped with a defeated sigh.
"Short girl problems…" She muttered.
"It was easier to simply go with it." Momon said, "You and Lakyus may take one bed, I will take the other."
Lakyus's blush began to fade, and for once she envied Evileye her mask. "For a moment I wondered about your intentions, Momon." She said with a little sly laugh, "I've heard of what happens between male and female adventurers who journey together… sometimes they reach distant destinations with more people than they started with."
Evileye's red face deepened behind her mask at Lakyus's attempt at humor, and to his credit, Momon chose to laugh at it despite the blonde priestess's awkward delivery.
"I suppose that is why you formed an all female party?" Momon asked, and Lakyus looked him up and down as he sat himself on the bed and rested his arms on his knees.
"Part of it. Women and men in dire situations… things happen, passions run hot… the Greed Kings supposedly destroyed each other fighting over the one woman in their number. So… generally, we avoid mixing too much. Adventurers… we run more independently, they're harder to control, and things can get out of hand with people like that." Lakyus explained, and when she sat on the bed nearby she said, "I am surprised you and Lupu never had anything happen between each other."
"She is more like a little sister than anything else." Momon explained with a shake of his head, "Nothing like that would ever happen with her."
"So… no plans to settle down, you're one of the Great Lords of Re-Estize, don't you intend to marry, establish a dynasty, anything like that?" Lakyus teased him, and Momon smirked, while Evileye sat silent, a rush of gratitude came over her for her sister's innocent questions which often plagued Evileye's own mind.
"I have met court ladies… they lack fire, passion… I wouldn't choose to marry someone with whom I had so little in common." Momon answered, "No more than you would, I assume."
Lakyus chuckled, "You've looked into me, have you?" She asked.
"Of course, if we are to work together, we should know something of one another, you're the child of a noble house, joined the priesthood and abandoned marriage talks to become an adventurer. Settling down into a life with a dull lord whose biggest adventure is watching a hound tear a fox to pieces, it doesn't suit you."
"No, no, it doesn't." Lakyus replied and flopped herself backward on the bed, and when Evileye sat beside her, she without thinking, reached up to pat the short woman's back.
"But the priesthood alone would have given me an exemption for marriage if I wanted it. I chose to adventure because… when I was a girl, I was touring our holdings when I saw a group of adventurers for the first time. They were quite a band, at least in my young mind… they'd just killed a vampire… it was plaguing our lands, it had killed several of our young women and it was trying to use those women's undead bodies as minions to turn young men… a death spiral was the goal… to turn a whole village… adventurers protected my people. Not the priests, not soldiers, not even my father. Adventurers… I saw one of the survivors they rescued from the vampire's lair… hollow eyed, hopeless, body streaked with blood… I knew two things then. I wanted to be an adventurer, to do what they did… and that the undead had to be destroyed."
"I see. But what of undead that are not evil?" Momon asked, and Lakyus shot straight up and stared at him with almost disbelieving eyes.
"That can't be real. Skeletons and zombies are like natural disasters… brainless destroyers. The smarter undead, liches, vampires, they harbor hatred for the living… they're like animals that have gone rabid and have to be put down ."
Evileye felt the stroking of her back, which had been a comfort… and ceased to lean into it, as it transformed in her mind into a dagger in her flesh.
"Liches… I know what you speak of, but intelligent undead do not have to be so compelled. I have heard stories of undead living openly in the Kingdom of Nazarick. They work, live normal… if more nocturnal, lives, and accept only what is given willingly." Momon said, and Lakyus looked down at the floor.
"I'd have to see that to believe it, but even so, they're predators, the God of Water demanded their destruction in every story that I know. Landfall, one of the greatest villains of old, destroyed so many lives before she was brought down… when I was little and started chasing hero stories, I often imagined myself as one of the heroes on the quest to finally slay her… driving a sword into her heart and saving the people. A good vampire?" She snorted, "Naive, at best they'll play the part, and then when the chance comes?" Lakyus drew a finger across her throat, "You're just food… that's what we are to them, just food… and who loves their food as they would a mate, sibling, or friend?"
Evileye felt her heart tearing apart in her breast throughout Lakyus's rebuttal, and hearing her beloved sister blast the twisted story of Landfall… calling her, knowing or not, a predatory animal… it clawed and raked at Keeno's spirit, in the past, it was dismissable. ' She doesn't know, that makes it okay… if she knew, she wouldn't really think that…' The excuse ran through her mind again, but Lupu's taunts wormed their way into Evileye's mind, and when her excuses for Lakyus came up again, Lupu's voice rang in Evileye's mind.
' If she wouldn't really think that if she knew, then you'd have already told her.'
Evileye sprang from the bed so that she was standing straight up, whirled on her sister, and screamed, "Shut up! You don't know anything! I do! I do! I do love you! I love you all! Stop saying that stuff! Just stop it! Please just stop it!" She screamed at Lakyus through choked sobs, grabbed her mask, and flung it at the wall so hard that it shattered into fragments before falling to her knees and covering her face in her hands. "Stop… it's too cruel… just stop saying those things… I can't take it anymore…"
Volume 7 C75
"Damnit." Evileye cursed as reality hit her after her mask was broken.
Lakyus's eyes followed the mask, and her confusion and alarm over Evileye's sudden outburst was redoubled as the magic item was smashed. "God damn it!" Evileye muttered when she felt Lakyus's hands on her shoulders.
"Evileye… what… what was that? Why'd you say… do… all that. I know you love me, I wasn't talking about you, I meant the-" Lakyus stopped her words when Evileye's hands dropped down into her lap.
"Look into my eyes, and tell me you love me, sister ." Evileye said as her face came up and the blood red pools were laid bare for the first time.
It took Lakyus a moment to understand what she was seeing, but when the realization dawned and shimmering beautiful blood red pools were laid out before her in their undeniable state? She flung herself away from Evileye, pushing aside the gently resting hands, and drew her sword.
The priestess of the God of Water raised her sword to the guard position, "You were turned?!" She said with anguish as she looked at the kneeling figure, her sword wavering as she slid one foot back, ready to launch her attack.
"No… No I was this before we met… I've been a vampire for over two hundred years… the mask… it hid it… but I don't want to hide what I am from you… I love you… I love you all… I'm just tired of lying… I want to be myself with the people I love… what's wrong with that?" She asked, her fingers shaking, she squeezed one hand over the other to hold them still.
"A bloodsucker… a predator ? A monster that feeds on the lives of humans?" Lakyus asked, "How many did you take under the guise of our protector?"
"None!" Evileye shouted back. "I never killed anyone in the time I've been with you! I was one of the thirteen heroes, damn it! Feeding gives me… benefits, but I don't have to do it! I don't have to! I can live without blood and haven't had any in I don't even know how long! I'm your sister on the battlefield! Haven't I always been there with you?! Haven't we fought together?! Slept together! Drunk together?! Played games together?! How can you doubt me just because of these…?" Evileye ranted and pointed to her blood red eyes.
Lakyus's battle stand didn't waver.
"Momon… get away from her…" Lakyus said with a slow, measured voice of instruction.
"You make too much of it, Lakyus, sit down." He said as if the room was not as tense as a taut rope and pointed, not to the bed again, but to a chair at a small stone table.
"You can't be serious… she's a vampire… she was turned somehow… somewhen…" Lakyus looked at Evileye, the vampire hadn't moved.
The priestess's eyes filled with tears that blurred out the creature in front of her. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry it happened to you… I'll set you free…" Lakyus said.
"Lakyus." Momon said more sternly, "Lower your sword."
Evileye rose to her feet. "You're my sister. You're my sister, and I love you more than anything. I wasn't turned recently… I've been this the whole time, you just… you didn't know it. I kept it secret from you because I had to… but I don't hate humans. I never did, and I would never… ever hurt you." She stepped toward the priestess.
"Evileye, stop." Momon said, "She's not in her right mind… she needs time."
"No." Evileye said and rubbed her little button nose with the back of her hand. "Lakyus," she stepped closer, "It's me. I'm your sister, your friend… you've always trusted me… we fought undead together. We've protected even demihumans sometimes… you know me…"
Lakyus's sword didn't move. "Stop. Just stop right there." The priestess demanded.
"Lakyus… I'd give up anything for you… but this has to stop… it has to… I-I want you to love me for who I am, no matter what I am… not because of who you thought I was, what you thought I was… is that so hard… search your heart… please… see me as you've always seen me… please. I can't live with the lies anymore." Evileye put her hand up to the sword of darkness. The tip was before her eyes, looming large enough that it obscured Evileye's view of her sister.
The tiny hand moved the sword tip, not away, but tracing over her face, a tiny cut of the sword tracing its way down as a red streak over the little vampire's face.
"You're my sister." Evileye insisted as Lakyus, who clenched and reclenched her hands around the hilt of the blade, constantly shifting her feet, neither swung nor thrust the blade, but nor did she pull it back.
Momon rose to his feet.
"I'm not using any power on you right now, am I?" Evileye asked, "You still have control. My sister just cut my face, see?" The vampire said and traced a finger over the streak and held it up. "I'm not fighting you, I can't fight you, I won't."
"Lakyus, Evileye, you're going too far." Momon insisted.
"No, Momon… this has to get settled… this is between sisters, it's none of your business what happens." Evileye insisted.
"I'm sorry…" Lakyus said again, she didn't stop Evileye from moving the sword, though it wobbled and wavered even without the vampire's touch.
"If you want to kill a vampire… this is where you need to strike… you know that." Evileye said, "It'll be painless and quick." She said as she put the tip over her heart. "You're my big sister… I'm your shorty… please… please understand I can't help being this, but I've been this as long as you've known me. When you hugged me, you hugged my undead body. When you slapped my back and said I was all heart… that heart had already stopped beating over two hundred years ago… but whether it beat or not, it still loves all of you…" Evileye said, sniffling a little, she inched closer so that the tip of the blade depressed her skin just a tiny bit.
"I knew what you were. A noble girl running away from a life she didn't want. A big oaf who loves booze and virgins to hide her insecurities about being different… two assassins who fell in love with the life of adventure, and care too much about you to kill you even though that was their mission. Now… now you know me, all of me… can't you just… the gods are wrong… I'm… I'm me . Not just a monster. Look past what they tell you… and I'm waiting for you on the other side of your blade… put away your sword…" Evileye said with a little smile, "Hug me like you always have…"
"Sister… my sister…" Lakyus wept, "You'll always be my sister… and I love you more than words can say."
Evileye's arms went wide apart. "I know."
"I'll hug you… one more time… and set you free." Lakyus sobbed, and as the words sank in, the so did the sword as Lakyus pushed the tip into Evileye's flesh, tearing it open with almost no resistance. Lakyus rushed it forward so that it emerged out Evileye's back, and then released it with a sob, catching the vampire before she could fall, and wrapping her arms around her, the fell to the stone floor with a thud together. "My sister… my sister… my sister…" Lakyus wailed and rubbed the body as the bright red light in the vampire's eyes began to grow dull and empty as the second death claimed her.
"I'm sorry… I"m sorry…" The priestess wailed and kissed the cheeks and forehead of the body as it gave up its final spasms. "I set you free… it's all I could do for you… I'm sorry… the gods will be done… you're at peace… it's all I could do for you…"
She lay with the body of her sister, sobbing her tears onto the face of the unmoving corpse, oblivious to the presence of Momon.
"You fool. You stupid, stupid fool." Pandora's Actor said as he looked down at the body. ' This would not be, were it not mein vater's will…'
And with that thought, and a lingering look down at his 'little vampire' he sat down to wait for the inevitable… which did not take place for hours, until what he assumed was morning, and there was a knock at the door and a frantic voice called out, "Lakyus?! What's wrong in there?!" And Gagaran's shoulder began to slam home.
Raymond left the table without Nua, though she made to rise when he did, he held a hand up in front of her. "Stop. You're still hungry." He said. "Have some more." He raised his other hand and the dark elf woman appeared again.
"My servant is still starving, though I'm stuffed." He said, putting on his most delightful smile and lightly tapping his stomach, "Bring her as many helpings as she wants, I'll pay for it with my room in the morning."
"As you wish." The waitress said with a warm light in her eyes before she made her retreat.
"When you're done, get a room and go to sleep. I will see you in the morning." Raymond gave the command, and Nua bowed her head to him.
"As you command, master." She said, and watched him leave her behind. It wasn't until he was completely gone that Nua felt able to relax. ' So he wants to play with me. Hmpf. Idiot. Humans are evil monsters. I won't be fooled again.' She told herself, and she remained for two straight hours, eating her fill of bowl after bowl, the memory of the scrap of old bread, most of which she'd vomited up, and watery stew with nothing but old vegetables and no meat to be had… faded away as it was replaced with the fresh experience of hot, delicious food.
When she left the table at last, retrieved a key to another room, and made her way upstairs, she took a lingering look at his door. ' In another time… I might have been so grateful to be with someone good… I might have tried to make them love me… a lifetime ago… still… he does look a little like him.' Nua took a deep breath and then slowly let it out. ' Don't be fooled, he's been dead for centuries, and if he weren't, I'd kill him myself. For now… just survive and don't give in.' She told herself and then went to her own room to go to sleep.
' Don't act like you've got only a skosh of sense…' She thought as she closed her eyes on the bed. ' He's a Cardinal… the definition of evil… you won't… be fooled again…' She thought, and drifted off to sleep under the influence of the first full belly and safe bed in the last hundred and fifty years.
AN: Fifty chapters left to go. This story turned out to be 240,000 words so… it's kinda large. I may be a while before I come back to uploading to it. If you really can't wait, well the finished one is on Discord and p8tr30n. But it's a real chore uploading and formatting to FFN. (Why they don't let us schedule things, I have no idea). Thanks to those of you have enjoyed the story so far, but I'm going to be busy working on 'Who Endures' Book 9, for the next few weeks, and as a little souvenir of this project, creating some printed versions just to put on my bookshelf. In addition, I'll be going to some cons in April, Lexingtoncon, Bowlinggreencon, and Frankfortcon, where I'll have a booth or table, and be selling prints and signed copies of my original work. As hard as it is for me to believe, I'm actually starting to make a career as a writer, my original stuff is selling, my p8tr30n is growing, and the last few projects of crowdfunding put me into the top 5% of ko-fi project owners. So, a con is the next logical step for growth, and you won't believe the quality art that's being produced for me. I'll post it on my author Fbook page as the final drafts are done. If you happen to go to those cons, stop by and say hello. Anyway, thank you for reading. Once this novel is posted all the way, I will come back to FFN periodically to post finished novels and to complete yet to be finished series. So just, until then, relax and enjoy the ride.
Volume 7 C76
When he went to bed, he almost regretted not lingering to speak with her. The slave was all but mute, and he'd given way to the awkwardness he felt between them and left her behind. ' I had questions…' He recalled the absurd ease with which she hefted his armor. ' She had no business being able to do that.' Yet she had. ' Was she a soldier before we harvested her ears?' He had to wonder, and that curiosity kept him wondering more and more. And down below, the singing of the miners carried on, and combined with that curious nature of his, sleep was kept at bay for far too long.
Well rested or not, Raymond got up in the morning before the sun rose, the long habit was so ingrained that he didn't even use the banded candle alarm. That device, if he were to call it that, was ingenious. The bands of the candle each took one hour to burn through, and each one was a separate piece held to the one above and below it by small wooden picks, thus allowing one to add or remove time as needed. With this was a small strip of fabric that held round metal balls, with a lip that could be placed between the layers and pinned in place.
As the layers burned down, eventually that 'lip' between layers would fall away, and with it, the metal balls would tumble free and the noise of their falling to the floor would awaken the sleeper. Raymond however, made no use of it, instead he simply got up, went to the common baths, cleaned himself up, and changed into his clothing for the day.
Only when he had completed this routine with the hour still very early, did he go to Nua's room.
His hand went to the knob and turned it, then he froze. He released his hand, and knocked. He waited for the noise of her waking and rushing to see what he needed. But there was nothing, not a sound.
He knocked again. ' No slave would last long if they were so heavy a sleeper.' He thought and opened the door. The bed was made, everything was clean. ' Did she stay here at all last night? Did she run away? If I lost 'two' on this journey, I'd never hear the end of it.' He cursed and then stopped.
' If she ran away now… would it be worth it to chase her… who could blame her?' He asked, recalling the loving affection between the innkeeper and his wife, and the noise of the miners as they enjoyed music and beer…
' Like a child tasting candy for the first time… of course she ran away.' Raymond thought, ' I wish she'd waited a little at least…'
"I suppose I'll just have to hire a coachman… but before that, I suppose I need to make sure she didn't steal the damn horses." He mumbled and took the stairs down to the now empty main floor and went out the door with a yawn. ' Maybe she slept underneath the carriage after all?' He wondered as the cool morning air brushed over him.
It was the sound of a loud splash and the noise of an empty bucket being dropped to the ground that jarred him from his thoughts. ' Who would be washing anything at this absurdly early hour?' He wondered, and followed the noise around to the side of the table where a stone well stood.
There he found her. The darkness was no real impediment to anyone in the Black Scripture, it might as well have been daytime as far as he was concerned. Her clothing was folded neatly on the ground a few feet away from her, an empty bucket by her feet, and her naked body drenched in water from head to toe.
' She came out here early to avoid being seen.' He realized, but to his surprise, she heard him as well.
On some level, he should have felt at least some desire, save for the very small strip of metal around her neck, she was nude, her body was statuesque in a word, and despite what had been done to her golden hair to ensure her mutilated ears were always exposed, she had the form of a lean, athletic woman and long, slender, coltish legs.
But he could feel not even a hint of desire, nor did he even truly notice the rest of her for what his eyes took in. "Your back…" He whispered while she, caught off guard, alternated between wanting to turn her back to him and knowing she wasn't supposed to show such disrespect.
In the end she compromised by turning to the side. "Master! I wasn't running away! I… I wanted to be clean so I didn't stink and…" Her hands went up and down as if she wasn't sure what to cover, until he caught his senses.
Raymond sucked air through his teeth, "You've been injured… show me your back."
She let out the tiniest mewling noise, but her feet inched around in rotation until her back was bare to his eyes. He stepped closer, up and down her flesh were deep scars, ridges like some mountain range of nightmares that left almost none of the original flesh from her shoulder blades to her lower back. Her arms went up to her chest and covered herself, even though he couldn't have seen it.
"By the six…" He said, it wasn't just old injuries, there were ample new ones, but not so new that she could have gotten them last night. He looked down on the ground for the bandages she should have had, and found none. ' No… she never smelled like herbal potion… I'd have noticed that.'
"When did… when did this happen? I didn't do this to you?" Raymond demanded, his hand came up to touch the gash in her lower back that showed signs of starting to heal on its own, and then thought the better of it and drew his hand away.
"I'm aware of my ugliness, master. I will not forget it, I promise." Nua apologized for her wounds, and though he couldn't see her face, he knew from her voice that the 'neutral mask' was there again.
"No, it's not that…" Raymond said.
"Has my lord not done this to countless elves? Or has my master not at least seen it?" She asked, glancing over her shoulder.
"No… no, I'm with the Black Scripture, or was, I worked outside the city dealing with monsters mostly, and… no, no I haven't. Doesn't it… aren't you in pain ?" He asked as she inched a little farther from him, and her muscle movement caused the injured place to expand and contract only a hair, briefly letting him see how deep the scar would run when the wound finally healed.
"As I said, master. I am broken. You will not need to repeat the recent lesson, I promise." Nua could not completely suppress her shiver when she said it.
"Then… the recent marks?" He asked.
"Your comrade tested me, as I said. Twenty lashes, and a knife test, and I passed… master." Nua explained.
"Knife… test?" Raymond asked but it was more of a distraction to buy time for his mind to process what he was seeing.
' Dominic wouldn't do this… he couldn't have.' Raymond told himself and tried to picture it… only to succeed with ease. ' Yes… he could. He easily could.'
"For elven bodyguards… I am to drive you, and… protect you if I must." Nua explained.
"You can fight?" Raymond asked, his mind reeled under the assault on his senses, from the smell of blood, from what he saw before his eyes, from what he imagined, and from what he heard from her own lips.
"No, master. It is my job to die if I have to." Nua explained, and a memory tickled at the back of Raymond's mind, a long discontinued practice. Some humans used elves as bodyguards, training them not to fight, but to get in the way of any blow in order to protect their master's life. They got better lives, generally. But if their owner died in an attack, the elf that failed would receive an agonizing death. ' That practice fell out of favor over fifty years ago at least…'
"Master… if you don't intend… something else, may I dress?" Nua asked, and Raymond blinked his eyes as he snapped out of his daze, he'd all but forgotten her nakedness in the face of everything else.
"Yes… of-of course. But… why weren't you healed?" Raymond asked.
"Potions cost money and if they used herbs I would have stunk." Nua explained matter of factly while she began to wiped off the water and put her clothing on again. "What value is a little pain for me if it is an expense in coin or comfort to you to fix it, master?" It was a rhetorical question, one she wasn't expecting an answer to.
"And… why didn't you tell me you were injured… why not use the bathhouse here…?" Raymond asked, and she blinked her sky blue eyes at him.
"Because master is a Cardinal. It wouldn't please you to know that an elf bathed in the same water as people, and it wouldn't matter to you if I was injured unless it kept me from work. I can still work, so it doesn't matter. So I came here to clean the wounds myself… I didn't know My Lord would be up so early… if it pleases you, I can have something brought to punish me with." She said it all with such eerie calm, without any pleading or begging, not since she'd asked him the first time not to hurt her if she worked hard.
' She might be lying…' He tried to tell himself, ' Maybe she is rebellious and that is why Dominic beat her the way he did…' Again the image came to his mind of Dominic bringing the lash down on her flesh over and over… and it was far too easy. ' A test… it sounds like something he would do…' Raymond had to concede that much.
"Nua…" He said, and she went down on her knees and faced him again.
The faint orange light of the sun was starting to rise.
"Master?" She asked without looking up at him.
A thousand words went through his mind, and Raymond discarded them all. "Stand up, we're going to go to the apothecary and get you a healing potion."
"At this hour, my lord… I'm sure they won't be open." She answered and looked at the horizon as the light crept toward the well where he stood.
"I'll make them open. Just get dressed and come on." He said, and Nua rose to her feet to obey, and when she was dressed, she followed him to the stable.
Volume 7 C77
"Didn't it hurt your back to be seated in the coachman's chair for all those hours?" Raymond asked as they approached the carriage.
Nua began to climb up when Raymond reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. She froze.
"Of course, master. But what does that matter?" She answered without looking back or letting go of the handle to pull herself up.
"Wait." He said, and went to where the horses stood pawing at the ground with their hooves, and he undid one from the carriage, slipping its bonds and then taking the reins in hand.
He drew it away from the carriage and swiftly mounted it. "I don't need a saddle to ride, do you?" He asked.
"No, sir." She replied, but when he held out a hand, she was already moving to mount the space behind him.
"It matters." He said, answering his earlier question. "I will have words with my comrade when I return."
"It isn't necessary, master. My body has always healed before, it will heal again. And again. And again. Don't bother if it will create a rift with your… friend ." Nua said while resting her hands on her thighs, and Raymond chose to ignore the way she referred to Cardinal Dominic.
"We'll go slow to minimize the pain." Raymond promised, and he felt Nua's breath waft briefly over the back of his neck.
"Maybe you are an innocent one…" She said it so softly, that if he hadn't been a Black Scripture, he wouldn't have heard it.
"Innocent?" He asked, and he felt her legs tense against the horse and drive it to go faster. He reined it in with a quick yank and she relaxed her hold on the mount.
"Nothing, master. I didn't mean anything by it, I promise. It's just… My Lord seems to think…" She hesitated, her words halting until Raymond cleared his throat.
"Go on." He said, "If I've given you an incorrect impression, I should be the one to fix it."
Whatever he said or however he said it, it seemed to set her at ease as he felt her breath against the back of his neck again as if she'd let go of one she was holding back.
"Master, you don't have to pretend to be nice to me. It's a lot easier if you're not. Then I'm not always waiting for the other shoe to drop. You don't have to pretend to care, you don't have to pretend my pain matters, whatever you're going to do with me… just do or give the order… I know you're good at pretending, but you don't have to with me, I already know the truth." Nua said it with such casual exasperation that he was silent for a lengthy time, the hooves of the horse thudding on the ground as they made their way through the town in search of the apothecary shop.
But Nua noticed one thing, the horse wasn't turning around.
"What is the truth… and how do you know I'm… how did you put it… good at pretending?" Raymond asked without looking back at her, his fists tightened around the reins, but he gave no other sign of distress or anger when he asked.
"Must I answer that, master?" Nua asked while he quietly scanned the sides of the empty street, searching the buildings for the shop she needed.
"Yes." Was all he said.
"You saw the pregnant dark elf with a human husband, you saw them in love, and you were kind and polite to her. But you're a Theocracy cardinal. By your teachings, she is not just an animal, she's a potentially dangerous animal. Something that has to be killed or controlled… like me. And the get in her belly? I know where you get your slave catchers and the middle rank of slave labor. You played nice… but if she were in your country, you would have her sold and not lose a minute of sleep. So… you are a skilled pretender, my lord. When I lived in the house of Aalon, I accompanied him to many plays and never saw an actor who was your equal."
Raymond took that in, in silence.
"I'm just doing my job." Raymond replied with a bit of a defensive air about him. "Trying to protect humanity."
"I'm sure my lord is a very good human." Nua said, and the words were hollow to his ears.
"I'm not… planning, anything. I'm not trying to get anything from you, or being kind for some ulterior motive. I'm just not as bad as you think I am." Raymond replied.
"As master says." Nua replied to end the conversation.
"I'm not." He insisted.
"As master says." She replied again.
"I'm really not." He insisted again.
"I believe you, master." She reiterated.
"You're lying to me." He retorted while his face flushed red.
"I will say what you tell me to say, tell me what you want me to believe, and I will say it, My Lord." Nua replied.
"I want the truth." Raymond groused between gritted teeth. His eyes darted furtively back and forth, ever more eager to just find the shop.
"I don't want you to hurt me, so what truth will help me avoid that best, master?" Nua answered him abruptly.
"The real truth, Nua. The real truth. What you'd say if I weren't… I don't know." He said and his body slumped forward a little.
"Master… may I ask something?" Nua asked, and he caught sight of her out of the corner of his eye when she leaned to the right and looked at him in the side of his face.
"Yes." He replied, still looking on either side of the dark and empty street.
"Was it hard to pretend they weren't an abomination?" Nua asked, and Raymond felt his heart skip a beat. "I ask because when they appeared, I expected you to show… something, of what you should have. I'm sure your comrade would have raged at them both. But you didn't, even though you both believe that there's no place for her or her child in this world. I was just thinking it must have been hard to pretend."
"No… it's… it's different." Raymond asserted, "For the Black… we deal with the… the hard things, monsters, real threats… I've seen lots of unusual things… that was new. But it's a strange world. But they're probably just a plant, people put here for me to see, not a real couple. Just paid actors to influence me, corrupt my mind."
"Of course. As master says." Nua replied, and he felt his anger grow at her passivity.
"You don't know anything." Raymond said through clenched teeth. "However old you are, you don't know anything. We didn't start this war… we didn't ask for the gods to choose us, we didn't attack your country… your country raped our champion… my grandfather was a friend of hers, and she never recovered from what your kind did. The child she bore, my grandfather, and my father, have helped raise, and she passed into my care as her handler when I joined the Black. Even that girl… she's damaged too… a lot of harm was cast in the wake of your king's lust. And in my first encounter with elves… your kind massacred one of our towns…"
"We didn't ask for him as our King." Nua said, "He hurts us too… all the time… everybody knows that, anyone… everyone… he's a monster. So… why me? What did I do? I never met a human till I was forced to… I'm not bad… I never hurt anyone… I swear, master. I swear I'm not rebellious, I've never hit a human, never threatened one… I mix good potions, I saved human lives… I even loved… two of you… what does any of that have to do with me… why did our King's rape of your champion have to ruin my life…?"
She fell silent. "Forgive me, master, I speak out of turn. I abjure all the blasphemy I've just spoken."
Raymond answered by pointing ahead and to the right. "There it is. We'll get you healed properly with a potion."
"Thank you, master." She said as they drew close and he brought the horse to a stop.
Volume 7 C78
Raymond dismounted the horse sideways while Nua slipped off the back end, they landed at almost the same moment, and it was Raymond who went to the door. "It's closed, master, as I said."
"I'll just pound on the door." Raymond said and raised a fist.
"My Lord… I… realize that for some reason you are trying to be kind." Nua said, and then walked to stand between him and the door. "But I ask you, please do not disturb the person within."
"Why?" Raymond asked with a little frown.
"Because when we return, I will have to go back to Master Dominic, and I'm sure he will ask me if I… caused any trouble. I can't lie, no more than I can hope to run. I'm sure that he would beat me severely for having a Cardinal wake up an apothecary at the cracking of dawn." Nua answered, her face didn't crack, but as he looked into the depths of blue that were her eyes, and recalled the brutal treatment she received already as a 'test', it was all too clear that whether Dominic would have or not, she believed he would.
"Didn't my butler acquire you?" Raymond asked with a little frown on his face.
"Yes, My Lord. Master Dominic had him buy me as it was your butler who would best know the sort of slave to meet your preferences, but he used Cardinal Partouche's funds… by law of the Theocracy, I belong to him and am only loaned to you." Nua explained, and suddenly…
Raymond felt like he was being examined, searched as she looked at him, though what she was searching for, he couldn't say.
But, her point was compelling. "I see… then… we wait here after all." He said, and Nua moved out of the path of the door.
She seemed to relax then, her back was not quite so stiff and she didn't go straight to her knees, though she kept a side eye on him while keeping her hands folded in front of the waist of her coachman's pants, and her eyes mostly down at the ground to wait in silence.
The silence worked on Raymond's nerves. "Are you bored, Nua?" He asked.
"I am accustomed to waiting, master. I idle well." She cracked a little smile, "You have to, if you're going to make potions."
"You did mention something about that, didn't you?" He asked as he stroked the brown of his beard.
"I did, yes, sir. I'm very good at it, I even saved my master's life once when he got sick by getting elf's blood into his eye." Her little smile grew further, "Beautiful boy he was…"
"You loved him?" Raymond asked.
"Surely master would be bored by the pointless stories of a mere clothed beast." Nua answered as the smile slipped away. "He's been dead for over a hundred years now I suppose, it hardly matters anymore."
Raymond fell quiet at her words, watching the way she shifted on her feet. "I was in love once… a long time ago… in human terms, no more than an eyeblink to you, but to me, a lifetime."
"Oh, master, did you marry her?" Nua asked, and though her face had not changed expression much, the upward inflection he caught at least imitated interest, so he continued.
"She was a trainee for the scriptures, and no, we didn't marry… we never got the chance… she- we were on an assignment, final test. It was supposed to be easy, at least by our standards. But… an ambush. Your people got bold, and have some strong fighters of their own. She remained behind to buy us time. I never saw her again… at least, not all together… we found a few pieces hung from trees when we went back with reinforcements." Raymond looked down the empty street, dust blew past in the breeze and the first doors began to open.
"I-I see. I've heard of that, one of the men who bought me, bought me to punish me for his wife's death, as if I had something to do with it. He just… he needed someone to take it out on." Nua said, and Raymond looked back at her, cocking his head.
"Then those?" He asked, she knew of what he spoke.
"No… he had me ready… bound with arms open, I heard the whip behind me, I was… I thought that was the end for me. And he just fell sobbing to the floor. I heard the whip fall, and he ordered me cut loose. I was removed from his house that day and sold again the day after. Human or elf… even a two legged sheep knows it is hard to lose a loved one. I still say a prayer for that one… he could not have been all evil." Nua took a step back and looked at the upper floor. "Someone is awake, there is a light, master."
"Good." He said and pursed his lips. "Is it bad?"
"My lord?" Nua answered the question with a question, and he touched his back.
"If it pleases master so well to know, yes, your servant feels as if her back has been set on fire and has felt that way since I left. I keep it clean, and the well water was very cold. That numbed it for a time, and I found a few wild herbs to numb it for a little while. But yes, My Lord, I am in agony." The blank look on her face was so empty that he would have thought she was in no pain at all.
' Except I've seen those injuries on recruits, and how they were made to howl like wounded dogs.' Raymond recalled, and asked, "Have you used a martial art of any kind to limit the pain?"
"None, my lord. It is death for an elf to use a martial art." Nua answered.
"Do you know any that would dull your pain while we wait?" He asked.
"I do know… one." She admitted, albeit reluctantly and darting her eyes around as if afraid someone would hear.
"Use it. There's no reason for you to suffer." Raymond replied, and Nua lowered her eyes.
"You command my death, my lord." Nua responded. "Is master under the impression that Cardinal Dominic il Partouch will care if it was by your order?"
Raymond was about to argue when she added, "Would it please my lord if I began lying to humans?" She cocked her head at him, for all the pain she must have been in, it wasn't pain which cracked her mask, it was… if he had to guess, bemusement.
His mouth closed and he mumbled, "You know the answer to that, Nua. You know the answer to that."
She inclined her head and said very clearly. "Yes, master ."
The door to the shop opened several minutes later, and as soon as the door swung wide to receive customers, the old man within took a stunned step back to find people already at the door of his shop.
"I need a healing potion." Raymond said at once.
"We have blue, white, purple, and green. The greens, thems the cheap ones, made outta herbs." The old man shuffled around, and stepped aside to admit the pair into his shop. He was stooped with age and thinning white hair sat loose on his head, wrinkled muscles were few on on his boney arms, but his voice, cracked with age as it was, was confident.
"It'll heal most wounds, though if'n they infected already, it's a bit of a coin flip, but I can spike it if you need. The white… mostly stamina stuff, new to market, but it has some healin properties… don't wanna use it on no open wounds though, it increases the blood flow a lot . Ahh… meant fer healin what ails men… mostly… if that's yer problem…"
Raymond flushed red and coughed into his hand, "No, no it's for her." He jerked his thumb toward Nua, who did not laugh nor change expression.
"Ah gots some blue then… good fer healin most things, but it ain't quite as quick an if'n there's infection? Nah, won't do fer that. Is it a new injury or old one what ain't closed up?" The old man asked as he finally shuffled himself behind the counter.
Raymond looked around, potions lined the shop on a multitude of shelves, the odor was overpowering to the point where he saw Nua had already covered her nose and pinched it shut. Hazes of various colors hovered above a few unsealed potions, pots, and bowls that sat overtop small glowing rocks, and in front of the old man, a mortar and pestle sat with herbs still in it not entirely ground up yet from their original plant basis. ' I wonder what those are for…' Raymond thought as he looked at the little green mass of pulp.
"It hasn't closed up, it's deep, unhealed, but it doesn't seem to be infected." Raymond said, and the old man squinted at Nua as if he couldn't see her clearly.
"C'mere miss, lemme have a look, I might need ta make one special…" The old man put a hand behind his back and slowly turned to the open path around to the back counter and waited.
Nua glanced at Raymond, and he nodded, granting permission.
She strode around the path, put her back to him, and raised up her shirt halfway in the back. "Good gods!" The old man gasped… "What th-"
"A monster got me, sir." Nua said, and the old man shuffled to the back wall.
"Purple then… is normally about ten gold coins fer this… but I'll give it to yah fer five on accounta thems some bad marks an ah don't feel right bout gougin the injured. If yah cain't pay… there's a form yah can fill out, it'll charge the Kingdom for it."
"I can pay." Raymond said as he thrust his hand into the pouch at his side and began to slap coins down on the counter. The old man took the purple potion from off the shelf and going to stand in front of Nua, he held it up in hands that shook from age. "Go on, drink it down, lass. Is foul stuff. But it'll do the job."
She opened her lips as he looked up at her, and allowed him to pour it over her tongue himself. He was right, it was foul, her hands shivered at the urge to reach up and stop him, but his pleading, barely functioning eyes all but begged her not to stop.
She swallowed until the bottle was tilted all the way up and not a drop remained.
No sooner did he pull it back than she coughed and hacked, spasming a little as it settled in her stomach.
Then the pain was gone.
But she felt something else, the breeze that came through the front door, it caressed her ears, and she felt them twitch. She reached up, her mouth opening, a sense of raw elation on her face as her quivering fingers caressed her now intact ears.
She wiggled them up and down at the side of her head, her face lighting up like a child being given a puppy as a present. For that moment, Raymond knew one thing for sure, ' She is… beautiful, beyond words…'
Then her face met his, the elation held for only a moment, frozen in time that seemed it would last forever, but rather than endure, it broke like a mirror, she clenched her hands around both her ears, and began to sob as if no joy had ever touched her face.
"What's going on?!" Gagaran shouted again, her shoulder cracked the door, one more hit, and Pandora's Actor was sure it would shatter.
He sat at the table, seemingly numb, one hand on his leg, one arm resting on the table surface, and then the door shattered and Gagaran came barreling in, reaching for her weapon and searching for danger.
Nor was she alone, the others were right behind her, and their eyes instantly went to the bizarre scene, Lakyus clinging to the body of Evileye, wailing and sobbing into the face of the limp girl, sword still piercing the late magic caster through and through.
Over and over Lakyus just kept shouting, "I'm sorry… I"m sorry… I'm sorry…"
"What the hell?!" Gagaran screamed and dropped her hammer, it cracked the stone floor before it fell over, but before it did, she was pulling Lakyus away and shaking Evileye's body.
"What happened?! Momon! Lakyus! What happened?!" The faces of the twins went pale white, their kunai out in hand, searching for the danger that took their companion.
' True professionals down to the bottom of their souls.' Pandora's Actor praised them privately, but when Lupusregina followed the others with her hands folded behind her head, she showed no sign of pity.
"It's obvious isn't it- su." Lupu asked, and the trio to enter the room snapped their attention to the red haired cleric.
"She told Lakyus the truth, and Lakyus killed her for it… like a good… lackey, of the temples." Lupu chortled at her terrible pun.
"The truth?! What truth?! Lakyus… your sword… that's your sword… why's it in her body?! What did you do ?!" Gagaran shouted at Lakyus as the woman, rocked back and forth as if she were still holding Evileye's corpse.
All the priestess said was, "I"m sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" On a loop.
"Thatcher friend there," she pointed to Evileye, "was a vampire'a course. -Su" Lupu said, and Gagaran snapped up, twisting and bringing a massive, meaty fist toward Lupu.
"Now's not the time for jokes!" She screamed at her drinking companion, but her fist never connected. Lupu's hand came up and with her palm open, she stopped the blow as if it came from an infant.
"That's no joke, cept for her thinkin she was doin Evileye a favor, that's a helluva joke, -su." Lupu said, then with Gagaran still staring, still in position as if she would bring her fist the rest of the way if she could, Lupu stepped in close and backhanded Gagaran across the face, sending the giant woman spinning off and hitting the wall face first.
To her credit, Gagaran was quick to start to rise, her face was red and her nose bloody.
"You're not lying, evil cleric?" Tia said in a quiet voice, her kunai lowered a fraction.
"Nope. I found out, -su." Lupu said and tapped her own nose with her pointer finger, "Evileye could hide most things, but everybody forgets the nose. Check her eyes if'n you don't believe me, or just wait for this one to come back to us, -su." Lupu pointed to the still rocking Lakyus, and Tina, being the closest, approached Evileye's face and lifted her eyelids.
"R-Red. They're red…" She said in stone silence.
"The gods said… the gods said… the gods said… I had to… I had to… I had to… abomination… the undead are abominations… evil… she was cursed, I freed her from her curse, I made it stop for her… I did what I had to do, I did, I did… I did…" Lakyus said while staring blankly ahead at nothing at all.
"She can be… brought back… she can be, right… right Lakyus?!" Gagaran shouted and half staggered over to the crazed priestess.
"Bring her back!" Gagaran screamed as she got in front of Lakyus's face. "Bring her back! Give us back our shorty!" The giant woman howled, her meaty fist connected with Lakyus's face, and it snapped the woman out of her daze when the back of her head connected with the stone floor.
She bounced off the stone and whimpered, "I- I can't."
"What do you mean you can't ?! You can't?! Or you won't ?!" Gagaran said as she straddled Lakyus's face.
"The sword… it locks away the souls of those it kills… I don't have a way to destroy the sword. But… even if I had some way to get the souls out, and even that would take magic on par with a god ? Evileye is… was… an undead. I can't bring her back, not with a mere fifth tier spell! She's dead and there's nothing I can do about it!"
"You bitch! I don't care! I don't care if she was sucking blood out of Momon's cock! She was our Shorty! You give her back to us!" Gagaran bellowed, her fist connected down with Lakyus's jaw again… and again… and again…
"You'll kill her!" Tia and Tina shouted after several blows which Lakyus didn't even try to defend herself against, and Gagaran fell to shouting and wailing, thrashing about as she was pulled away.
Down on the floor, Lakyus's face was a mass of pounded meat, but she made no other noise, as if accepting her death.
Pandora's Actor cast his eyes between them, and simply… waited… as if he too were in shock.
"Ya know… I guess you could blame Lakyus, given that she killed her friend pretty good, -su. But you ferget one big ole thing. Lakyus' just a lac key, the ones who really got her killed are the ones who oughtta pay, am I right, -su?" Lupu asked.
Her eyes pierced the madness of Gagaran's for a moment, though the thrashing continued, it was less, allowing Tia and Tina, who still struggled to hold Gagaran's arms with both of their own, were able to look at the red haired cleric too.
"I mean, you all follow the Six, right? You know you'd have to kill yer friend too, don't you? But here you are, you wouldn't? Apostate much do ya, -su?"
She smirked, "Or do ya just hypocrite all day long, hypocritin around and playing about?" She chuckled as the giant woman's eyes darted about.
"The ones who made Lakyus do that, why it's the Slane Theocracy. They're the real problem." She gave a full shoulder shrug with her arms out, "You know, how they taught all that stuff to priests, you think Lakyus'd do that all on her own, betray her best friend, her sister if it weren't for her gods ? Nah, -su."
"The faith of the six made her kill Evileye, poor Lakyus is a victim too… lookie how she is… she's just a shell now… not much left in there." Lupu went over to where Lakyus lay just staring up, empty and broken at the ceiling, and the red haired cleric waved her hand up above Lakyus's vacant eyes. She whistled downward.
"Yoohoo, anybody home? I've got a package for Evileye, it's friendship power straight from the gods… oh, no? You don't want to sign for it, Lakyus? Okay, I'll just take it back and dump it into the gorge, -su." Lupu said and straightened up.
"I… I… no…" Gagaran stopped struggling, and the twins released her. "Y-You're right…" She looked down at the bloody, broken face of Lakyus. "I… I can't forgive you. I won't. But… but you're not the only one to blame… I can't bring myself to kill you. But there are a whole lot more at fault than just you…"
"What… what about her body…?" Momon asked, his eyes welled up.
"She… she was in love with you." Gagaran said, "Did- did you know that?"
"I did… and… and I," he slapped a hand over his chest, "I was going to ask her to marry me at the arena! I knew what she was, but I didn't care…" He proclaimed and the trio that remained 'aware' could only hang their heads.
"She never told us… never told us anything. I can't blame her." Gagaran said with a broken voice and quavering lips.
"Do you know where my estate is in Re-Estize?" Momon asked.
"Yes… I do." Gagaran and the twins nodded together.
"There is a garden there, a little grove of trees, she loved flowering trees, I will bury her in the middle of the circle. Let me… let me take her back, while you-"
"Avenge her." Gagaran snarled.
"I hope you live a good long time… Lakyus… because when I'm done, you will be the last priestess of the water god." Gagaran growled out and crouched down to pick up her hammer.
"We'll come see her… when… when we're ready… Tia, Tina… are you with me?" Gagaran asked.
"Yes." They said, and though they sheathed their kunai, they kept their hands over the hilts.
"Go then… I… I will see to everything else, take care of everything with the dwarves, and… bear her body to what would have been our… our home." Momon said, then added, "Hurry, with the noise you made, someone may come by soon!"
That spurred the trio into action, and they were gone.
Lakyus remained staring up, utterly catatonic at the feet of Pandora's Actor.
"Such a shame… I liked them all so well, even this one. I thought for a time she might even overcome her prejudices, and act out of love for her sister." He said when he was sure the trio were long gone, and nudged Lakyus's broken jaw with his boot.
"Meh, that one… with the old gods… no. That's got no place in the Allfather's world, she's so messed up she thought killing her was love for her sister. Now may I, -su?" Lupu asked, a broad, cruel smile on her face.
"Just make it quick." Pandora's Actor replied, and Lupu's fist came down, smashed into Lakyus's head, and splattered the skull and brain matter across the floor.
' Shalltear. Open a gate, and send in Pestonya to clean the room, und beeil dich, meine Schwester.' Pandora's Actor said when the message spell connected.
' Yes, of course.' Shalltear replied, and the void opened up. Pandora's Actor and Lupusregina Beta waited only a few seconds before Pestonya emerged through the gate.
"Do hurry, I hear people coming. Were it not for all the mining noises so close, I think someone would have come before now." Pandora's Actor replied.
"I got these." Lupusregina said and hefted the two corpses over her shoulders where they lay limp as sacks of potatoes. Pandora's Actor drew the sword out of the corpse and began to run his hand over it.
"A spirit truly lies within and… it seems he is singing for joy." Pandora's Actor said, "What an unexpected thing." He then vanished through the gate while the maid worked magic of her own at his back.
He stepped through the gate and found himself in front of Demiurge in his work room. "Marvelous!" The archdevil cried with almost childlike glee, clapping his hands together as Lupusregina flopped the two corpses onto two metal tables, creating an echoing clang about the room and spattering bits of blood here and there when she did so.
Demiurge's boyish grin spread over his face, "Thank you both, ever so much. I have some wonderful ideas about what to do with these, could you stay and help, perchance, or do you have things to do?"
"Things to do." Pandora's Actor repeated back to his comrade and laid the sword down on the table beside Lakyus's corpse.
"I see… well, it can't be helped, it's fine. Two down, three to go, just… keep an eye on them, discreetly for now, and bring them to me when they're ready." Demiurge said and put his back to them as he began to cut away the ruined clothing from the corpses.
"Of course, but… Demiurge?" Pandora's Actor said before departing.
"Yes?" The archdevil paused and glanced back at his comrade.
"Mein kleiner Vampir, I care for her. Do not forget, and return her to me… as she should be, when you are done." Pandora's Actor said, and Demiurge remained quiet… then gave a slow bow of his head to acknowledge his comrade's feelings.
"The rose may be wilted, but this petal can still be yours when I'm done." He promised, and with that, Pandora's Actor and Lupusregina walked out of the lab without another look behind them.
Volume 7 C79
Zesshi noticed early how many advantages she had over her companions, but there were three she intended to use now. The first… she glanced to her left. Brain was asleep on the bed. Layali curled up beside him, using his sword arm as a pillow. ' That girl… he has no idea… he thinks she still hates him.' Zesshi wondered if she should inform him of the small half elf's tantrum, but not for the first time, she thought the better of it. ' All my instincts are wrong, so why would this one be right?' She remonstrated herself and slid her legs off the bed.
Layali, thankfully, had gotten into bed with Brain after the human fell asleep, after lying in bed with Zesshi for a brief period at least. The child's warmth and affection were more welcome than the elder half-elf wanted to acknowledge, and when asleep, the picture of the word 'cute'.
The urge to pat her head came up far more often than Zesshi could quite understand. But now they slept, chests rising and falling, the soft sound of Brain's steady snoring, and not without cause, Layali's breathing was synced with that of her human guardian.
It was Zesshi's ability to go without sleep that she counted on first, and it held true. As the pair slept, she slipped out of bed, dressed, and slipped out the window, her black and white hair caught the wind and danced at her back. Thanks to being right at the border, Zesshi had at least one thing she could be confident about. ' We have an agent here.'
That was the second thing she counted on. ' Some member of the Agante at the least…' She thought, though the agents were under Cardinal Dominic's command, any scripture member could call on them in the field or when traveling and the agents were obligated to respond if it could be done without blowing cover. The half elf tried not to frown as she searched for the tallest possible building.
She couldn't pinpoint just why she didn't like them, but… dealing with them always left her looking over her shoulder. She spied a building of sufficient height and with a few quick leaps beyond the limits of humanity, she was at the top of the roof and sat down with her legs stretched out and leaned against the thatching of the high roof. The straw was old, a little moldy, and damp, but it was soft and tightly bound at least.
She then puckered up her lips, and blew. To most of the world, the whistle she let out was meaningless. Either dismissed as noise on the wind or an idle passerby. But in fact, it was no mere whistle. They were directions on how to find her.
She repeated her instructions again… and again… and again, before she saw the hand come over the top of the straw, then a hooded and cloaked figure scrambled up to join her. "Did it… have to be up here?" He asked in a hoarse whisper.
"If I knew where you were, it wouldn't have to be." Zesshi said without moving as the Agante field agent moved to seat himself at her side.
"Name?" He asked and took out a piece of paper and a quill from within his cloak.
"Scythe." Zesshi responded with her weapon identification and brought her knees up to her chest. She rested an elbow on her knee and then her head against her fist, then looked the agent over. He wasn't much to look at, but then, that was usually part of their disguise. ' Probably even his 'struggle' to get up here was a lie.' She thought.
"Need?" He asked as he scribbled down her name.
"Send an urgent message to Cenna Tachoni, Captain of the Black Scripture. Tell him I need a few things, and to step on it, or I'll tell Raymond his little secret." She wore a little smirk on her face, and the Agante wrote as she instructed, but then paused to ask…
"What secret?"
"I have no idea. But Raymond told me that everybody has a secret, so one day I used that line on Cenna to get him to pick up some things for me, and he did it. So now whenever I need a favor, I just say that. Knowing him, he's probably just taking extra naps or something." She laughed, but the agent did not.
If anything, his shoulders slumped and he grunted at her answer. "Fine… what do I say you need?"
It didn't take long for her to go over it all, and when she was done and he was about to go, she cleared her throat. He was halfway to his feet when he glanced back at her. "Yes?" He asked, his eyes roving over her one more time.
"Was there anything said about any escaped elves going over the border lately?" She asked, and the agent shrugged.
"No, some were picked off by slave catchers however, and the one responsible wasn't as strong as people thought, the Windflower scripture cornered and killed him at the river." The agent replied with an off handed shrug.
"The Windflower… not the Black?" Zesshi asked, raising her black eyebrow up an inch.
"No. I sent the request myself but… rude. Very rude." The agent clenched a fist at his side, "It doesn't matter, they're all dead now anyway."
"You said the others were captured…" Zesshi's hands began to shake as her hope that Brain was wrong was dashed apart like glass dropped on rocks, shattering into countless pieces.
"They killed two of their master's guards as they escaped. The few young ones will probably be simply resold, but the adults? By now their heads are on pikes ." The agent spat onto the straw, "Anything more, or are we done?"
"Yes, we're entirely done . Get that message to Cenna, securely, by tomorrow, no one else is to know about it." Zesshi commanded and turned the full force of her anger on the agent, the flashing in her eyes promised an ugly death if she was denied, but if he understood the threat, he showed no care for it.
"Understood." He said, and clambered back down the way he'd come.
"Damn." Zesshi muttered, and stayed on the rooftop to think until morning began to break.
Nua killed her sobs almost as soon as they began, the old human that gave her the potion, briefly distressed, shuffled back away from her. "Are you, miss, what's wrong…
She turned around to face the old man and put her hands on his shoulders, forcing a happy smile on her face, she said, "The pain is gone, old sir. That's all, thank you… that… pain, has lingered for what seems like forever, and now I'm whole again thanks to you… for the rest of my life, however long that is, I'll be grateful." She flashed him a radiant smile and when he held up a clean rag in a quivering hand, she accepted it, let out a nervous laugh, and wiped her face. "I'm sorry for the outburst, old sir."
"Nah, salright, pain's no fun. Go on an, have a day, an avoid them monsters less you got some armor on next time." He gave her a toothless smile and shuffled out of Nua's way, allowing her to circle back the way she'd come.
"Thank you for treating her." Raymond said as Nua went past him, still touching her ears as if she didn't believe they were really there. "In my home… not everyone would have."
The old man snorted, "Glad I don't live there then, we neighborly here. S'better that way."
Raymond put his back to the old man and left the shop, and found Nua kneeling out of the old man's view. "Forgive my insult to your friend, master… the monster comment… I… I just had to explain it to the old man. If he knew how I really got it, it might have caused trouble for you."
She didn't meet his eyes when she spoke, and he had his doubts that she was truly sorry about the description of Dominic as a monster. But he grunted his acceptance. "Just, just get on the horse with me, we'll go back, I'll pay the bill and we'll be off again." Raymond commanded and when he got on the horse, she followed his orders.
"Master?" She said after a few minutes of silence.
"Yes?" He replied, a cold discomfort going up his spine as he guessed what she was going to bring up.
"Are you… are you going to cut them off, yourself?" Nua asked, "If-If so, we should wait until we're far away from here. It is very painful, and even if you gag me, I might be heard very easily. I don't think this place would respond well."
The cold settled in on Raymond's spine, a tingle ran up and down his body. "It's very painful, is it?" He asked her, "I've never seen it done, not that I can recall at least. Is your back all better?" He asked the question out of the blue, clunky as it was, and prayed to the gods it distracted her a bit at least.
"It's done without magic, and they saw them off, elf ears are tough, but very sensitive, when you cut me, you'll need a knife, and to either bind me or have someone hold me down… even the most broken elves… we respond by instinct to protect those. It isn't a choice. They're very sensitive, and… it's intimate, only a lover touches them…" As if she sensed his discomfort, and as if she wanted some form of revenge, Nua went on as if she were an instructor.
By the time she was done, his face was ash.
"And yes, my back is better. Thank you for the potion, My Lord." Nua said it as an almost 'afterthought' given her previous description of what she expected him to do with her when they left the town.
Their departure proved very easy, he handed Nua the coins for the payment and while he hooked up the horse to the carriage again, she ventured inside, paid the bill, and packed up his things. She emerged a few minutes later with his case on her back and trudged over to the rear of the carriage.
Raymond was already inside and felt it rock with the weight of his things being added to it, and she then opened the door to ask him, "My Lord, are you ready to leave, do we require any further supplies?" She stood stiff and formal, holding the door with one hand, the other folded behind the small of her back, and her eyes down at his feet where they 'belonged'.
Raymond however, could not find it in himself to look in her direction, he stared straight ahead and said simply… "Drive. And… find a… a comfortable place."
"Master." Nua said, then shut him within, and he was alone. He folded one leg over the other and rested his hands on his thigh as the carriage lurched into motion and he listened to her crack the whip over the horse to get them moving.
"Just make it quick." He muttered to himself. "You've killed more than you can count, you've wounded even more than that, what's a few quick slices… she'll barely feel a thing if you do it right, nobody is better with a knife than you are." He told himself.
He uncrossed his leg and set his foot flat on the floor.
He glanced to his right and left, the light was streaming in, he yanked the curtain closed, and the carriage closed in around him like a prison.
He put his hands at his side, pressing into the stuffed red cushion of the seat.
"She's just an elf… why're you getting so worked up about it? This happens a hundred times or more a day in the Theocracy, more than that if you count the half elves…" He didn't really speak the words, he only mouthed them. "You're just doing what the gods demand. A few quick cuts, then it will be over."
He crossed his legs again and put his arms on the back of the seat. "If it were that bad she'd beg me not to, like when we first met… she'd ask… or… plead. Or she'd… she's driving my carriage, she could have run away…" He still couldn't verbalize it, but his silent conversation continued as the carriage rolled on.
"She must have done something to Dominic to deserve what he did… that's how her back got hurt, that's why her ears are healed… this is all her fault." He told himself and uncrossed his legs, he shifted on his seat and then pushed himself into the corner where the seat met the carriage wall.
"She's probably exaggerating. I mean they're just ears, so what if elf tradition makes them something that important, and maybe it doesn't? She's probably lying about that to save herself a little pain. It's just a few quick cuts on the orders of the gods…" He muttered at last, giving voice to something.
"Elves have been killing my friends for generations… why shouldn't we have a little revenge… it's not like she'll die. It's a fraction of the pain her people have caused…" He lay down on the cushion and looked up at the ceiling of his carriage. "I'm even letting her pick the place, most wouldn't even give her that much…" He let out a weighty breath.
' It's no worse than what Zesshi tried to do to herself.' He told himself, recalling the story of Zesshi trying to sever her own ears, he stopped the thought dead. ' No, she didn't succeed, did she. She tried and failed.' He recalled, and the slave's claim of the kind of pain it caused, gained substantial significance.
He heard the downpour begin, the rain battering the outside of the carriage, though there was no lightning flashing, the thunder's rumble was steady at least. For a little while, the noise of the rain helped deaden his mind.
He reached to the slat between himself and his driver and slid it aside, "Are you alright out there?" He asked.
"It's just rain, My Lord." She answered, her voice raised to cover for the noise that surrounded her and the rain that was drenching her.
It didn't last, the rain came and went in only a handful of minutes, a mere flashstorm.
He ran out of time to think about it when he felt the carriage begin to slow down. He opened the curtain and looked outside, it was still overcast with thick gray clouds hiding the blue sky, but the morning fog was gone and the rumble of thunder was now very far away. One look told him that nobody was around for miles, and there was a small cluster of thin trees waving back and forth in the breeze as if beckoning them over.
The carriage rocked as she dismounted, he felt it sway back and forth, and then she was at the door, standing there holding it open. "There, my lord." She said, pointing toward the trees. "We will not be disturbed. There is no one around for a very long way." Her stony expression showed no emotion at all, a far cry from her previous waxing and waning between elation and despair. Water ran down her face still, and her clothes were soaked.
As he descended from the carriage, she held out the whip she used on the horses. "You will need this." She said, and when she met her eyes, it was he who looked away after taking the whip from her hands.
She squared her shoulders and began to walk in front of him like an unapologetic prisoner toward his execution. Her back was straight and her steps were measured. The grass bent and fell away in the path of their steps, the grove of trees was a fair distance away, but neither she nor he broke the rhythm of their steps, though the steady squelch of mud did not stop marking time for them.
She moved within, her hand caressing the pale gray bark of the trees, she looked up and down the trunk, and Raymond had to wonder, ' What is she thinking now… wishing she was home? Wishing she was far away from here?'
Puddles were abundant, though she made a point of avoiding them. She went down to her knees and bent her head forward. "May I… have something to bite down on, master?"
' It's no worse than branding cattle… it's no worse than branding cattle…' He tried to tell himself as she reached up and with delicate slender fingers, began to caress her ears for what was to be her last time.
He went to the nearest tree and drawing out one of his knives, he severed a part of a branch. He could feel her watching out of the corner of his eye while he stripped the bark and knots away from the wood and cast them aside.
"You are skilled with a knife, master." Nua praised him, and at that, she sounded even genuinely admiring.
"It's my primary weapon, monsters never expect a human to want to get close, so I do. The unexpected is a potent weapon." He replied.
"Mmm…" She said and fell silent.
"I'll try to make it hurt as little as possible." He promised.
She looked up at him with her eyes wide as blue stars, and opened her mouth without speaking.
He put the improvised gag between her teeth and she shut her jaw on it, biting down hard.
Her breath quickened when Raymond stepped behind her.
She was not the only one.
"Your people have been killing mine for generations. I lost more friends than I can count to your King and his armies…" Her breath was muffled by the gag, but he could feel her panic rising.
"The gods themselves demand this. Not me. I'm just their instrument… I don't hate you personally… I just have to…" He said, and he could feel her body tense.
He recalled her words, that she would fight, the whip she gave to him was still folded under his arm, but it fell into the mud when he reached out to grab her left ear.
She began to scream into her gag, her eyes popping open, she fell forward into the mud and threw her hands forward, but an instant later, she realized he hadn't touched her at all.
She rolled over, looked up, and he was stiff as if a paralysis spell had caught him and held him fast.
He was looking down into the puddle at her side, and, sensing the danger was at least briefly past, she pushed herself up to her knees and looked as well. ' Something dangerous, a treasure or something?' She wondered, and caught sight of what stopped him.
From where she was, covered now in mud and kneeling beside it, she could see both their reflections staring back at them.
Raymond's knife began to quiver, and he shoved it back into his sheath. "This… isn't the right time, right place… I-I just healed you after all and… it doesn't seem fair, you just got an injury healed, and it was expensive." He felt a lump in his throat, he swallowed it and smacked his lips.
"We- We shouldn't take time for this anyway. We can… we can do this later. The gods don't give a timetable… I can… we can wait until we're on our way back, after we're done in Arwintar." Raymond said, and Nua's ears began to wiggle up and down.
It was… cute, arguably.
She stood up, spat the gag into the puddle where it landed with a splash, and turned around.
"As you command… master ." Nua said to him, the fear and panic she must have felt were gone and the empty voice returned, her face was as blank as ever, and it was anything but thanks that she gave to him.
"I will clean the carriage at our next stop, master." She said after he returned to his seat, he said nothing as the door closed him inside again, and only when the carriage began to lurch, did his body begin to shake from head to toe as it had on the day of his very first life or death struggle.
Volume 7 C80
' He didn't cut me.' The thought ran through Nua's mind on a loop as she drove the carriage on. Her ears wiggled up and down still, and more than once she reached up to touch them just to confirm they were still there. ' Why didn't he cut me?' She asked herself that question every time she felt the wiggle or felt the tip of her ear.
' If he weren't a friend of Cardinal Dominic, and if he weren't… a Cardinal, I'd think it was conscience. Or… pity.' She loathed the word, but against it she felt confident that she was secure. ' Monsters have no pity. Even if he does… even if he leaves them intact this whole time, when I'm returned to Cardinal Dominic… they're gone again.' She cracked the whip well over the horses, urging them to quicken their speed. The overcast sky was slowly changing and the sun was breaking through in places, and as the hours passed her clothing began to dry, the mud on her clothing began to fleck away rather than drip, and she brushed her hands over it in places to cast it aside, back down to the road below and leave it behind.
' What was he thinking when he stopped… all he saw was our reflection in the puddle.' Nua asked herself that question too, and thought back to the man who bought her with violent intent who couldn't go through with it. "That one wasn't all bad…" She murmured and watched the horses race ahead toward the far off horizon. ' I have to understand him, the more I understand, the safer I am from harm.' His fondness for knives was a point she made special note of. ' That is some common ground at least, even if I don't get to use them for the same things…'
' I'm not going to thank him for it…' She clenched her teeth at the very idea, ' I'm a whole elf now… for the first time since I was a girl… I'm not going to thank him… if he wants me fawning all over him, praising him for not being evil… he's got another thing coming.' She cracked the whip over the horse again, and the carriage lurched forward again as it picked up speed.
' You're driving angry, Nua… you shouldn't do that.' She told herself, but didn't slow down.
The wind picked up her short hair, and tears of anger formed when she reached back and touched it. Her long hair was one of her few vanities, it made her stand out, marked her as beautiful in her own mind, and it marked her status. Only skilled elves who did work on matters like potions or the arts, had long hair.
Now hers was shorn to what felt like nothing, a mockery, cut like a human boy's.
"Why have we picked up the pace?" Raymond's voice carried through the slat, and Nua's body went briefly tense.
"Master, we lost time with the… aborted ceremony. Now that it's dry, we can make that up… if it pleases you, I can slow down?" She said, but the slat only closed with a snap.
Raymond sat back.
' She's upset.' He thought, ' Oh my, a clairvoyant aren't you?' He asked himself with abundant sarcasm.
"She's an elf. This is just what has to be done. Don't beat yourself up over it." Raymond told himself in a grumble that was not really even words and moved to the other side of the long seat.
' Zesshi is half elf… you never wanted to mutilate her.' He felt his conscience say.
' She's different.' He argued back.
' Is she though? You've seen half elves with their amputated ears. Would you do it to Zesshi if she lost her power to stop you?' He asked himself and knew the answer.
' No. Never. But this one… Nua, she's not a half elf…' He told himself this, but the horrified, fear filled, eyes… so blue that the sky seemed pale, so deep and endless like an ocean, and they'd become like glass when his hand reached down to grab and twist her ear… the knife in his hand, the familiar grip was always a comfort to him. The way she quivered at his feet and tried to crawl away while looking at him as if he were a monster…
Now the knife might as well have weighed more than a mountain. He couldn't bring his hand to touch it.
And that single glance at the puddle that caught both their reflections. Her stretched out body, slender, lithe, the flash of scar tissue on her back from wounds so long ago healed over that the potion did nothing, and himself, standing up and stretching out to take her for the harvesting.
' In all my years… I've never had to do that… if I'd been a young priest and had to… could I have continued?' He asked himself, and it was a sullen ' No.' That came back at him in his own head.
Even those who stood on the block were certified as priests, it was a 'cardinal duty' on par with the significance of a child's baptism.
' And here I am, a Cardinal, risen through temple ranks and Scripture ranks… the pinnacle of power other than the Pontifex Maximus… and I can't slice a pair of ears because… why?' That was the question that vexed the leader of men.
' Is it because she's beautiful?' He wondered. Many men kept elven mistresses, and there was a long tradition of tragic plays… however underground they might have been, everyone had seen at least one, of men and elves who fell in love across the divide.
Still the warnings in such stories were seldom adhered to. ' Nobody would resent me if I were to purchase her from Dominic and bring her into my house…' The thought died in a heartbeat.
' She would.' He knew immediately, though her mask was more perfect than one worn for a masquerade ball, the beginnings of his understanding of this one was that, even if she complied. She would hate it.
She would hate him.
It would be an act.
A lie.
Done to spare herself pain.
' I don't want that. Not any of it.' He pondered the problem further.
The words of the Queen of Frost came back to him. ' Did she curse me? Am I under some kind of a curse…?' At first glance it didn't seem likely. ' Demihumans though… they have strange powers sometimes… at the next town I'll disguise myself and visit a priest, I'll have myself checked.'
He glared at the slit, on the other side of the wood of the carriage, the elf drove on, oblivious to his murderous thoughts.
He couldn't see his driver. Not her radiant, beautiful smile that spread out over her face like the sun rising over the sky. Not the golden hair that, even shorn like a sheep, swayed like wheat in a breeze. Not that expression of wonder when pain stopped and her thin, perfect lips when awed relief overtook her.
' This would be so much easier if I hated her.' He told himself. Like the monsters he'd slain for the murder of villagers. Or the band of elves he slew in revenge for taking the woman he loved, away from him. ' If I return her with her ears intact… I'll gain a reputation for softness. If she stops being afraid of me and it shows, that would be worse. I suppose I could just tell Dominic she's his property and it's his job, but it would still raise uncomfortable questions.'
It led his brain back to something else. ' She was trained as a bodyguard…' It got his curiosity up. ' She fears dying very much… fears pain very much… how good can she be…?'
Therein lay the answer. ' She'll betray me. Or abandon me. Or… no, even I can't blame her for that. But what if she does something truly cruel to a human when given a chance? Then… then maybe I can do my fucking job…' He told himself, and swallowed the bile it raised in his throat when he thought of grabbing her ear and starting to cut.
Volume 7 C81
The horses underneath the trio were moving at a swift clip as they reached the last bridge that led from the Slane Theocracy and over into the Kingdom of Carne.
For the next few days, they traveled in peace, Brain would often put a hand on the hilt of his sword as if it were still intact, and Zesshi would instruct him in some forms of unarmed combat used in the Slane Theocracy, a blend of elven and human martial arts which put him on his back on a nightly basis.
Layali giggled often at the silly faces he made as they practiced while she cooked. And when they slept, she curled up beside Brain. Zesshi slept less than they did, but as she lay close at hand, she pricked up her ears.
"Don't leave me." Layali whispered while Brain snored. But he said nothing.
On their fifth night in the Kingdom of Carne, Zesshi sat upright while Layali babbled her plea to the sleeping swordsman.
Layali immediately tore her eyes away from his face and rolled over to face the sound she heard when Zesshi sat up.
"Come here." She whispered to the small half-elf, and Layali pushed herself up and took the two steps she needed to be directly by Zesshi. The bright eyes of the little half-elf were darting to and fro, she didn't sit down, her feet shuffled as if she'd done something wrong.
"You know why he's going to put you somewhere, don't you? It won't be safe to keep you with him." Zesshi whispered. She didn't have to say it, Layali's hand went down to where the burn mark from his heated sword, still sat.
"I… know. But I don't care." Layali said with a child's stubbornness. Her tiny hands balled into fists. "I don't want someone else! I want Brain. I want Zesshi! I don't want to go some other place! What if you think they're good, but they're not, then you leave and they're mean again! What if I don't like them? What if they die! This whole fight thing, it's to stop a war… what if it doesn't work and I'm stuck in a war… someone'll get me again, I know they will!" She insisted in a tiny squeaking voice.
Zesshi scratched her head and she let out a tiny breath to look down at the girl's feet. "Me, huh… I'm no mother figure, Layali. You know what I want? I want someone so strong that they can utterly defeat me, that way I can have a child so strong that nobody else can defeat them. I'm just a weapon thinking weapon thoughts, nothing more, it's what I do."
"Nuh uh. You ripped apart that monster that was trying to get me." Layali protested immediately, and Zesshi couldn't help but smirk a little when Layali's smile grew despite the pools in her eyes. "You made him into a delicious dinner." She and Zesshi both licked their lips, she wasn't wrong about that much.
"That's pretty weaponish, though." Zesshi pointed out, and Layali's smile turned upside down.
"You got nowhere to go… right, so… if you stay with Brain, I can stay with both of you… right? I'd be safer with you two than anywhere else… right?" Layali asked, her hands clapped together, fingers interlocked in front of her chest as she said, "Please… pretty please… I'll… I'll let you pat my head every day."
Zesshi let the girl take her hand and put it over the golden strands, and it was irresistible, she tussled the girl's hair, but said to her, "There's more to it than safety. How will you live? Brain can't do this forever. Even I can't, even though I can do it longer. You need a home. I understand what you want… but you need to prepare yourself for this… don't torture him, it'll be hard enough as it is. Now please, go to sleep."
Layali hung her head, returned to Brain with two outraged stomping steps, curled up even closer to him than before, and stubbornly squeezed her eyes shut as if Zesshi had said nothing at all.
' I must hate her.' Raymond told himself that again and again while he failed and failed over the few days of travel which followed.
She obeyed him completely and without question. Ate when he said, and what he gave to her. Slept in the room he paid for, and answered when he spoke to her. But nothing more. She moved like a shell, a shadow, and watched him far more closely than he thought possible.
Nor was she the only one doing the watching.
Too frequently he recalled the warning of the Dragonid Queen that his country's ways would catch up to him, and it was that fear of being under her curse that put him where he now was.
In front of him stood a temple to the Six Gods, it was a small place, but old. Rough stone walls of granite, but the steps and floor were smooth as unbroken glass. "Wait here… slave." Raymond said, and pointed to a space a few feet away from the stairs. He couldn't look at her when he said it, when he tried, the memory of that beautiful face twisted in terror when he drew his knife, brought bile and shame up to his throat.
"Master." She acknowledged and went to stand a few feet away.
' Here… here I will feel the touch of the gods… here… here I will be whole. The curse the Frost Queen put on me can be lifted, and I can… do what I need to do.' He told himself as he ascended the steps. He removed his shoes and set them beside the great double door, then he walked in through the door and looked around. A few benches, all of smooth granite, a thin blue carpet that was bare in places where feet had worn through it over the passing ages. A handful of windows open to the air cast light within, and a crude altar sat at the far end of the temple where a hunched over pair of figures worked tirelessly to clean it by hand. ' Just like home.' He thought with bliss as the timeless ritual was repeated before his eyes.
He approached, his feet lightly clapping against the stone and sending out a small noise to alert them to his coming.
He waited with patience until the hooded pair straightened up and a man's voice said, "Phew… that is not going to get easier with age."
The speaker turned around while a woman's voice laughed at his side, "Go ahead and tend our visitor, I'll take the offerings to the back and join you shortly."
"Of course, love, of course." The man said and flung back his hood to reveal a youngish human male with auburn hair, full lips and brown eyes with a roundish head and an all in all 'boyish' face.
"You are the priest, yes?" Raymond asked, and the priest immediately did a half bow with his hand on his chest.
"Yes, I am. Tomen is my name, priesting is my game. Well, mine and my wife's, and this is… for this lifetime, our temple to the divines." He had a broad grin that was so infectious that even given the gravity of the situation, Raymond couldn't help himself.
He found himself immediately liking the young man. "What can I do for you, my good sir, have you come to worship, for marriage, or something else?" Tomen asked in a sonorous voice that made Raymond wonder if he could sing.
"I'm afraid… I was exposed to… to a monster, and it cursed me. I… I can't feel the touch of the gods anymore… I tried to enact a rite… a… a harvesting rite, and I felt nothing but loathing… I couldn't carry on. But I can't detect the curse or remove it from myself." Raymond explained, and Tomen's open, generous expression became grave. The smile ran away from his face and he put his arms out to clasp Raymond's biceps.
"Not to worry, my wife is a fourth tier caster, she specializes in monster curses and poisons, she used to be a healer in the north before we met." He explained and then turned to one side to gesture to a back room. "We have a place for this, a few crystals we keep handy, gifts from our dwarven neighbors, hold mana and let her punch up her spells a little. She can't do a fifth tier spell yet, maybe in another hundred years or so… but she can make a more powerful fourth tier one." He tried to give an encouraging smile up to Raymond, and the Cardinal walked with him without hesitation.
"Now, tell me about this monster, I'm particularly talented when it comes to identifying varieties, believe it or not," Tomen tapped his slightly protruding belly, "I used to be an adventurer. I wasn't the highest ranked, only Mithril, but I was our party's resident expert in monster powers and varieties."
Raymond began to relax further, "She was… powerful. A very powerful demihuman, a dragonid. A human who gave away her humanity for the sake of power… she… I don't know how she did it, I never heard her cast a spell, but the viciousness and violence in her eyes, I could see she must be the one… and now… now here I am, a priest of the six, and I feel like I'm delusional."
"I see, quiet casting… and a dragonid mage… that's no small thing. Rare too, talk about bad luck. Still, the good news is that I've never heard of one that could use higher than sixth tier, and those are vanishingly rare. Even if we can't remove your curse, we know who can, and at the very least we can identify it." Tomen promised as he opened the oaken door and ushered Raymond inside.
"That is a relief. A very great relief." Raymond sighed with relief, the room in which he found himself had three crystals, fragments really, not large enough to hold full spells, they were still relatively scarce items to find in a place like this. "The dwarves gave you those?" He asked. Though he'd never met a dwarf, their reputation came immediately to mind, ' Money-grubbing misers who would hold back a rope from a man hanging off the cliff, if the man couldn't pay to rent the rope.'
"Not in my lifetime, this was centuries ago, it seems the priest who worked here cured a traveling dwarf merchant and refused payment, so when the merchant returned home, he sent these anonymously with no way for the priest to return them." Tomen explained, and Raymond chortled.
"If it was anonymous, how do they know it was him?" Raymond pointed out the hole in the plot of the story, and Tomen answered…
"Because the dwarf showed up about fifty years later asking if they liked his gift, by then it had been so commonly used for helping to heal curses… and the original priest was long dead, that nobody wanted to return it." Tomen chuckled. "They finally reestablished contact with us not that long ago actually, they pass through now and then making maps, and apparently they still remember this place."
"Hmpf. Exceptions prove the rule." Raymond muttered under his breath, but wasn't in the mood to argue.
"Now, let me get my wife, just sit tight." Tomen gestured to a polished wooden chair and Raymond sat there with his back to the door.
He didn't wait long. He felt their presence behind him, and the glow of magic after the softly spoken casting of the spell [Identify Curse] [Detect Magic[Detect Curse[Identify Item[Diagnose] The woman at his back ran through spell after spell, with the light blue glow of magic surrounded him with its warming light.
Then it faded away and the woman's voice reached out to him, "There is no curse on you. No magic, not even a trace of it."
Raymond lumped forward. "Then why… why can't I do my job? Why did I hesitate…?"
"What were you trying to do?" Tomen asked and approached Raymond's back, he placed a hand on the Cardinal's shoulder and gave it a brotherly squeeze.
"I'm… from the Slane Theocracy. My colleagues sent me an elf to act as my attendant and bodyguard. I had her healed from an injury, and the potion's unintended side effect was that it restored her ears. I was going to harvest the parts commanded by the gods… but she… she looked at me. I saw us reflected in the waters of a little puddle nearby, I-I couldn't do it. What else could it be if not a curse?" He asked and looked over his shoulder just as the woman threw back her hood to reveal the ears of a dark elf.
Raymond sucked in his breath, a mix of pity and hatred warred on her face, she glowered at him, her still outstretched hand had begun to have tremors and she stepped back from him as if he were a monster. Her husband stepped slightly to the right so that he was in between her and Raymond.
"There's nothing sacred about it. That's not a rite, that's a mutilation ." Tomen hissed the words through clenched teeth.
Raymond spoke in a hushed whisper as if he were witnessing some horrid conspiracy, "A dark elf… in the temple of the Six? The ones who chose humanity…"
"We don't believe that here ." The dark elf spoke with the crisp snap of a matron, her shaking hand became an accusingly pointed finger. "What you feel isn't a curse, scion of cruelty. I can tell you what it is, and may it burn you like fire."
Raymond's eyes opened farther, almost bulging as the dark elf dared to reprimand him, a human and a priest of the gods. But her claim to knowledge stopped him from shooting to his feet.
"Empathy." The dark elf priestess said.
"Empathy…? You're not serious…?" Raymond rose to his feet and put a hand to his forehead, he kept his back to them to hide his face and looked up toward the ceiling.
"Yes." The dark elf priestess replied.
"We believe that the gods did not choose humanity, that this is a perversion of their truth. They chose the just, the kind, the good. Search the book, your 'rite' as you call it, your 'harvest' is not mentioned even once. But you still think it holy because you were told that it was." Her finger shook but never wavered from his back.
"But she's-" Raymond was immediately shut down.
"Alive." Tomen said, his hand came again to Raymond's shoulder. "Alive and breathing, every bit as much as you or I. And intelligent too… isn't she?" He asked and forced Raymond to turn around, he clasped Raymond's cheeks in his hands and brought his forehead to Raymond's own even though he had to stand on his tiptoes to do it.
The cardinal could feel the sweat on Tomen's brow, "I would throw you out of here… cast you out of this sacred place right now… except I believe my wife. I trust her judgement… so I will give you a moment. Tell me, priest to priest…" Tomen urged, and Raymond batted the smaller man's hands away.
"It can't be… yes… she's intelligent… beautiful… such a lovely voice and… those beautiful eyes, I've never seen such blue, not even in the sky itself… she carries herself so firmly and… even when she's afraid… there's a dignity to her I can't look away from…" Raymond said and with a snarl he turned and kicked the chair, sending it flying into a wall where it shattered into fragments and clattered to the floor.
"She's an enemy of humanity! We've been fighting her kind for over a hundred years! Empathy ?! She's evil !" Raymond yelled with such virulence that when Tomen looked at him he could see clear to the back of Raymond's throat.
Tomen's wife stepped back and her husband got in the way of any view of her.
"It must be a curse… some magic that makes me doubt myself… lesser priests than me carry out their duties… she's not human, so how… how could I feel… bad for her, if she had the strength, she'd kill us all… I know she would… elves are evil." Raymond said, but the power was gone, his knees were shaking and the rest of his body followed hotly after them as if he were shedding the fear of his first fight to the death.
"You need to leave." Tomen said with icy finality and turned to the side, pointing toward the door, "You're scaring my wife and I won't have that. I want to help you, priest. I do. But I will not do so at her expense."
Raymond calmed himself, smacked his lips, took a gulp of air and gave a numb nod, "I… yes, I'll-I'll go."
"I'll show you out, I can do that much." Tomen replied as his wife all but fled, though as Raymond passed from the back room to the hall of worship, he heard the dark elf hiss at him like an angry cat.
As they made it to the door and passed from beyond its shadow and out into the light of day, Tomen grabbed Raymond's bicep one more time, Raymond look up at him, stopping in mid step.
"One word of advice from… priest to priest." Tomen said, and Raymond waited for him to speak.
"I don't know this elf, maybe she is evil, maybe she isn't… elves are people just like us, they're capable of good or bad… but one thing I know, it's a whole lot easier to hurt someone if you've convinced yourself they deserve it, even if they don't." Tomen said and Raymond yanked his arm away from the man's grip.
"Thank you." Raymond said, and began his descent down the steps.
Nua was waiting where he'd left her, her eyes downcast and hands folded in front of her. "Did the priest relieve you of your curse, master?" She asked.
Raymond said nothing when she spoke, he looked her up and down and said, "Just get the carriage."
A tiny murmur followed, "Yes, Master."
As she left, he saw an opportunity. ' She's evil. I'll prove it, I'm not wrong.'
Members of the Black Scripture learned many arts, some were trivial, some were powerful, but what made the Black… the Black, was that they used even trivial arts to maximum effect. ' Cause a landslide with a pebble…' The motto of his instructor came back to him.
He waited… the streets of the town in which they were, were busy to say the least. Horses, carriages, the everyday routine of busy life went on without stopping.
He could hear his own carriage approaching from the side street where Nua left it.
She hopped down with such lithe gracefulness that even he couldn't hear her land when her feet hit the ground.
Nearby, a human child began toddling across the street, no more than five, he almost sprinted, or what passed for it before falling on the ground with a wail.
Further down the way, Raymond watched a horse spring away from its master, it came tearing down the street, berzerk, enraged, its hooves like thunder from the ground, gouging out the earth with its hooves. Raymond reached within his cloak to grasp the hilt of his favorite knife, but one eye was on the slave.
' Enemy of humanity… Show your hand.' He prayed to the gods… his fervent longings cast up to the highest heights of heaven.
Nua however, had her eyes cast on more worldly things. The child's mother screamed, her hands clawing at her face when she realized her child toddled away, and the danger that bore down on him.
She rushed from her position by her master, her feet chewed up ground faster than he thought the slave could possibly move, diving forward, her arms caught the boy at his shoulders, and she went down to a tumbling roll head over heels several times with him tucked into her chest before she came to a stop as the horse barrelled past. Dusty and dirty, but none the worse for wear, she rose to her feet, and found herself confronted by the terrified eyes of what could only have been the young boy's mother
The woman was a head shorter than Nua, and embraced her like a sister, she grabbed Nua's shoulders, rose to her tiptoes, and kissed the slave's cheeks again and again. "Thank you… thank you… thank you… my boy… he's all I've got left… you saved him… thank you… you're a hero… A hero…" She fell to bawling and shivering as Nua gently disengaged herself, trying hard not to lay a hand on her, the slave backed away.
"It's fine… it's fine… just… have a safe day…" The golden haired elf gave the little boy a wiggle of her ears in his direction, and now out of reach of further gratitude, Nua retreated to the sound of wild thanks and murmurs of approval.
Raymond's face was drained of blood, pale as a ghost, he said only, "Get in and drive." The words were so small that she barely heard them, but whether she did or not, she knew what he wanted.
They reached the inn and Nua followed her master within, the simple building was of wood with the beginnings of stone expansion, workers were laying down blocks while others were laying down mortar. He yanked his eyes away from the construction. A dwarf was standing on a crate while an elf held out documents that must have been plans, and not far away more elves worked on what must have been gardens while orcs and goblins laid or carried stones alongside humans. Perhaps the worst was seeing ogres bearing the largest loads, great lumbering brutes… and no one ran.
' This place…' Raymond shivered while breezing past the front desk and up the stairs, he moved so quickly that Nua had to almost run to keep up with him.
When he opened the door for himself he stopped and said, "You're coming in with me."
"My Lord." She answered, and though he felt her eyes on his back, he said nothing more, only entering and going to sit on the nearest chair.
He drummed his fingers on the table, faster and faster, they were the only sound in the room, he stared at the wall near his bed, the drumming grew louder, faster. Nua glanced at him, she held her hands in front of her waist, then folded them behind her back, then she went to stand at his side… and shuffled her feet before moving away.
"Just kneel there." He pointed to the place in front of himself, out of reach by several feet. "You're annoying." He groused.
She obeyed, sweat on her dirty forehead ran down her cheek, she looked down at his feet and folded her hands together in her lap.
"Why did you save that boy, slave ?" Raymond demanded, barely moving his lips.
Nua didn't raise her eyes. "I don't understand, master. Did I do something wrong?"
"You could have been killed." He answered her, his fingers drumming faster.
"I'm sorry replacing me would have inconvenienced you, master." She replied without raising her eyes, but her pulse began to pound as she felt his focus land on her at last.
"Look at me, slave." He commanded, and she finally looked up.
When he saw those endless blue, the way they danced even when frightened and uncertain, he almost lost himself for the moment and then clenched his fist hard enough to hurt his palm with his fingertips. "Why? Tell me why you did that!" He snapped at her, and she flinched without leaving her knees, briefly closing her eyes to brace herself to be hit.
"He was a human." Raymond said to her, and she inclined her head to acknowledge it.
"He was. But I don't know what kind. And… and shouldn't he get to find out? If you saw a dog in the street, wouldn't you help it, master?" Nua asked, she was no longer able to hide her quickening breath as she felt the danger in the room rise.
"He's your enemy, isn't he?" Raymond snapped again, avoiding her question, but to his surprise, she shook her head.
"He's just a little boy, I never knew him, he never hurt me." Nua replied, blood seeped out of his palm and between the tight clenched fingers of his fist.
"I-I didn't think, I just saw he was going to be crushed and, I don't know. I've never hurt anyone in my life, but I knew it was going to be bad so I just… I reacted. I just think… thought he deserved a chance to… everybody deserves a chance… I've known good humans… a few. Maybe he was a good one… I hope he will grow up to hate my kind, but maybe he won't, probably not… this place," she looked around the room as if she could see the whole country, "like something out of a children's story… I haven't felt hatred from any of them. Not once."
She became sullen, reaching up to touch the collar around her throat. "If your slave displeased you, master, I apologize for doing so."
If there was remorse in her words, he couldn't see it.
"You're an enemy of mankind." He declared. But she said nothing.
"Did you hear me?" He asked.
"Yes, master." She answered.
He resumed drumming his now bloody fingertips on the table.
"Say it." Raymond commanded.
"I am an enemy of mankind. She obediently repeated.
She braced herself, closing her eyes, waiting for him to hit her as she felt his fury rise and the bloody fingertips made wet slapping noises against the table.
It didn't have the effect he sought, he deflated, slumping in his chair. "I don't care what the priests said. I have to be under a curse." He growled, her ears twitched and caught his eye.
"Master? Why?" She asked, a twinge of curiosity.
"I know what I have to do… but I…" He stood, drew his knife, and reached out as if to take her ear.
She broke position, scrambled back and pushed herself against the wall, her arms spread out and feet kicking against the floor, her head shaking back and forth so much that her twitching ears slapped the wall.
Sweat soaked dust dripped to the floor as her breathing went wild and frantic.
He sat as soon as he saw her eyes. "I can't." He uttered, "I'm supposed to hate you, to look at you and… I just… can't . If I could only-" He flung the knife down into the wooden floor where it pierced to the hilt and remained upright.
Nua slowly relaxed, though she was breathing hard, her flailing came to a gradual stop.
"M-Master… may I speak freely?" She asked. Her mind screamed at her to shut up, but she couldn't.
It was like a mockery from him, worse, a worse form of cruelty, ' At least if he'd cut them off it would be over now! As it is… it's like some twisted torture to drag it out!' Her anger built and carried away her reason on its tide as she spoke.
"You've got it backwards, master. If you really want to hate me, you have to hurt me first . That's the nature of your kind . First you hurt someone… then you find a reason to make it okay, you hate them because you hurt them, because you know you're wrong and you hate yourselves for it!" She hissed the vitriolic words and glared at him, verbal viciousness fell from her tongue without end.
"If you just start beating me and abusing me, you'll hate me plenty in a very short time… because it beats the alternative!" She snarled at him, and he shouted back in return.
"I'm a cardinal! You're my enemy! You were born my enemy! This should be easy ! It's a routine rite performed all over my country by lesser men of the gods than I! You hate all my race and would burn my country to the ground if we didn't keep you beneath us!"
Nua's eyes became icy as she looked at him, "Sometimes… I do feel that way. I loved one man… and after I gave myself to him… my first true love, he laughed at me, and had me cut to pieces up and down my back so I'd spend the rest of my life as an ugly mess ! That was how I learned of 'the Game'."
She stepped closer to him, turned about, and raised her shirt to show every one of her scars. "Even that potion didn't fix it all! Do you want to add to them?!" She shouted and yanked it down again. "The second of your kind I loved… gave me my happiest days, but then his wife found out he loved me… forced him to beat me… and then I was sold to a farm where the child I'd have born him was forced too early out of my body… Yes, master…" She spun to face him again, "I sometimes hate all of you… and I wonder why you hate us so much. You can't do without us, we make your slave catchers, harvest your food, nurse your spawn while you sell ours. But not always… I know not everyone is bad… some have been… very kind. Here, if you want to make it easy, I hate this… taunting, far more… the constant threat is worse than the act itself!"
"You'd help a wounded dog I'm sure of it, but mutilate me for daring to exist? I'll do it myself if it'll just stop this agonizing waiting! Better my hand than yours or Dominic's!" She crouched down and yanked the knife out of the wood, grabbed her left ear to pull it tight, and brought the edge of the knife to her flesh and began to saw.
"No!" The word escaped his lips and before he knew what he was doing, Raymond had her wrist in his hand and yanked it back from her ear before she could sever her connection to her people. He twisted her wrist away and slapped the knife from her grasp to skitter along the floor.
"This is what you want! What you're trying to want!" She shouted an inch from his face, as he released her, the momentum sending her staggering backwards over his bed.
"Don't! Just… don't…" He quieted down, he was breathing hard despite the fact that he wasn't nearly tired, his eyes wildly darting over her and searching for injury as she pushed herself off the bed.
"I… I don't want you to be hurt, I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" He gasped, and Nua began to look him over again, appraising him up and down as if seeing him for the first time. A tingle ran up and down his spine, and she began to relax.
"Now I understand… I had you all wrong." She began to laugh, her hand dragged down the length of her face as she sighed and laughed even harder. "How… how did a man like you become a Cardinal of the Slane Theocracy?" She asked, ignoring the deep frown that once would have set him on edge.
"I thought you were the purest form of evil… but you're not. You've just been playing evil your whole life… and if you can't even beat me the way your friend did… you're not good at playing it." Nua told him without a hint of apology.
Volume 7 C82
The suicides stopped just as the elder elf said they would, right after the fourth day.
The rest endured. Queen Draudillon's routine went on as it had for what felt like a lifetime… with one change. She carried the wood to the fireplace in the women's quarters of the estate and stacked it neatly into place. The heavy wood was a burden she was now well used to, having hauled water and wood and the limp bodies of elf and human alike since the day of her capture.
The elves around her, seemingly taking pity on her as a human child, helped her often, taking most of the wood and letting her pretend to struggle more than she did so that if the elf king saw her, he wouldn't think her to be very useful. ' Small favors.' She told herself as she crouched down in front of the stone fireplace and taking up the spark stones, she cracked them together near the tinder.
A little spark jumped out, caught, and roared to life, which she then crouched over and gave her breath to in order to make it stronger. It rose as she expected, and she cast the tinder into the wood. Her pulse raced and goosebumps rose on her skin.
' If one of them figures it out…' She thought that a thousand times. Thankfully, no one had, not yet. They lay about, mostly listless, occasionally looking over a book they found somewhere, though most seemed disinterested as it was written in a language they couldn't read.
She reached for the chain that hung down at the fireplace and gave it a pull. ' Thank… you… Solution!' The Queen praised the monster to the stars as she pulled… and released… and pulled again.
Though she couldn't see it, the Draconic Queen knew that her crude signal was rising in a steady pattern… -.. .-. .- -.-. - -. .. -.-. -.- ..- . . -.
Or if it were written, 'DraconicQueen'.
' If they see it, they'll know I'm here, there's no way they're not wondering where I am by now, it's just not possible!' Draudillon told herself while sweat sprang to her brow and ran down her face. She wiped it clean and pretended to tend to the fire, casting more tinder from the bin, and then poking at the logs, sparks flew up from the burning wood and the fire danced around like mad.
This much, sweating and weary, filthy and broken as the Queen felt, with her frequently on edge nerves, her pounding heart, when she watched the flames at work, she had one thought occur again and again.
' Maybe I'm going crazy. Maybe I'm just desperate, but when I see the fire move… It's like the flames are dancing just for me.'
Illyana looked at the document in her hand, her eyes of blue scanning it several times in a row. "This is very strange." She said in her lyrical way, it prompted Skana to look up, her ears flicked up and down for a moment.
"You broke my rhythm, you know that once I get started, it's hard for me to stop, and harder to get going again when I can." Skana said, a little tic jerked back on the left corner of her mouth.
"I know, but I'm not sure what to make of this or how to sort it, here, take a look." The elf slid the paper across the table to her lover and partner, and Skana set her own aside to take it up and read for herself. Her eyes moved across the page, and the tic stopped as her annoyance did.
"That is strange. Funeral pyres in the middle of Arwintar? And what the hell are smoke dots ?" Skana asked, her incredulous stare found a blank faced audience in Illyana.
"Maybe they mean 'smoke signals ' I suppose?" Illyana suggested, "The doppels intelligence is random, and we don't have our best ones in Arwintar now… barely anything, really. It could be that some enemy has moved in. They've pinpointed the source but…" She rolled her eyes, "As you can see, the doppel who submitted this one… they aren't the smartest. They didn't write the pattern down, so if it really is smoke signals like they use in the Draconic Kingdom, we've got nothing to compare it to."
Skana slid the paper back across the table and crossed her arms, she looked down, her chin pressed against her chest as her brow furrowed in deep thought. "Almost everything we have is either helping rebuild the Holy Kingdom… helping influence the Kingdom of Demalbion, or scouring the Slane Theocracy for the Draconic Queen… we just don't have the intelligence resources to work in Arwintar…"
"So you think we should do nothing?" Illyana asked, her vibrant blue eyes were blinking rapidly as she waited for an answer.
"No, no we shouldn't just ignore it. They pinpointed the place, that's a good start. I guess we can take two or three doppels away from their assignments just for a little while. Just till we find out who is there, and have them record these 'smoke dots' and see if there is anything to it. In the worst case scenario all we lose is a few doppels for a few days, in the best case scenario… maybe some threat has moved in and we catch it early." Skana suggested, and Illyana nodded along.
"I'll… get on that right away." Illyana said and snatched a blank piece of paper to write up the orders and make the request of the Allmother for the reassignments.
"Illyana." Skana spoke softly and leaned forward on the table, stretching out her hand across the divide, her lover instinctively reached out and took the offered hand. "Stop worrying. Lady Albedo is good to all those who work hard for the Allfather, if you're doing your best, everything will be fine."
"You're right… I worry too much." Illyana said, squeezed the loving hand, then pulled it away, picked up the quill and began to write again, albeit slower this time.
"Is Raymond insane?!" Cardinal Dominic roared in outrage as he waved the papers in his hand while standing around the table with the rest of them.
"No, now sit down and shut up." Cardinal Berenice snapped at him with a glare. "The Draconic Queen is our ally . She went missing on our land. She probably went missing because you were so insistent that she had to take the long way, and that put her into danger. You just had to be petty, didn't you, Dominic ?" She slapped her hand on the table like a mother angry at her child, and her comrade only glared back at her.
"She deserved worse than that. Aligning herself with the northern heretics…" He said and crossed his arms in front of himself.
"Not to interrupt, but regardless of his reasons, he did what he did and we can't undo it." Maximilian pointed out, and at his side, the wizened old Ginedine nodded in turn.
"Whether we like it or not, goblin riders and flying demihumans are roaming over our lands, and whether we like it or not, they are searching for someone who must be found. All we can do is use our soldiers and scriptures to help them in the search." Maximilian opened his arms as if to embrace the idea, and then they 'slumped' away. "I don't like it any more than the rest of you. If they would have only sent humans it would have been different, but… it is what it is. What do we do about it?"
"The real question is… what can we legally do about it?" Ginedine pointed out, at his right arm a law book floated in the air, and at a gesture of his hand it floated to his front. "There is simply no way they could have known that she went missing on our land without coming here themselves, and more importantly, they never sought permission to do so. Raymond himself acknowledged this must have been the case. We can't undo what's been done, but we can capitalize on how." The old man's crusty smile was enough to bring silence even to the fiery tempered Dominic, and the outraged Cardinal of wind sat back down to hear his colleague's words.
"We've ignored the Kingdom of Demalbion… or rather… not ignored, but… we haven't paid the mind to it that we should have. Who really thought those beasts could create an actual kingdom? I thought they'd fall apart in the first year after they stopped fighting the Holy Kingdom." Ginedine pointed out, and the other cardinals nodded along in sullen agreement.
"But they haven't, and their Queen seems dead set on continuing. They're putting a lot of work into 'helping' the blasphemers and heretics of the north. After Zesshi wins us the Baharuth Empire, we'll have enough resources to bring the pain to that upstart. If we ally with the Holy Queen, we can pinch the monsters between us, and… there are even humans there, perhaps we can turn it into a new human Kingdom." Ginedine pointed out.
"I see… learn how the monsters do things based on their searches, maybe start scouting their lands… disguise some as Re-Estize merchants, and use this time to prepare to destroy them after everything is settled down?" Maximilian guessed.
"You're forgetting one thing." Berenice pointed out, "The Holy Queen married the Allfather of Nazarick, she even bore him a child. Do you really think he won't take an interest in what happens? This could rapidly spiral out of control."
"So… what? We do nothing?!" Dominic snapped. "No matter what we do, it could go wrong."
"No, she has a point, what's more, there's questions about the Allfather's bloodline and history… Dominic your own Agante have reported as much." Ginedine asserted, and the Cardinal grumbled.
"Nonsense whispers." Dominic asserted.
"When has a dragon ever spoken of its own defeat, and we had it from Remedios' own lips what happened with that girl." Maximilian pointed out. "This may be another Godkin line. We still don't know enough about Lord Momon…" Maximilian answered his colleague, and Dominic became sullen, his frown deep set, and wrinkles appeared on his face.
"We're not saying do nothing, but the Queen of Frost can't simply be 'crusaded' against like we're doing with the elf King. She was smart enough to make a favorable peace with her enemies. I say we scout more, we learn what's going on there first hand and not just through one or two Agante disguised merchants, plant some humans in her territory… maybe even goad the dark elves into a war with her… it may take time, but we want to win, not just fight !" Berenice said and slammed her palm on the table making a sound like a thunderclap.
"That sounds like a lot of waiting." Dominic complained. "We shouldn't wait."
"Sometimes you have to wait to eat, or you get a cold, raw meal." Berenice said to him.
"We can do more when Zesshi hands us the empire, with another twenty-thousand soldiers, we can easily finish off the elves. The elf king will die, and we'll have all the slaves we need to expand our farms, and within a few years we'll have enough food to sustain a campaign and crush the Queen of Frost ourselves." Maximilian added and snapped his fingers as if it were already done.
"What if we launched an attack on the Queen of Frost while she was on her way back? She'll have only a few guards, and without her, the… creatures will fall apart." Dominic suggested, "We can still do the rest, but it will be a much easier campaign. With no friendly Queen on the throne, the Holy Kingdom and the Kingdom of Nazarick will not likely be willing to send people to die for the beasts and monsters.
"That… isn't so bad an idea… let's look into that one further." Ginedine gave a slow nod, "Her violating our borders is reason enough for retaliation… legally speaking. But we must not act too rashly. Or we could lose everything."
Dominic didn't need to be told they were talking to him with that, he knew it, but though he wore a sullen mask on his face, inside… he could only grin. ' I got my way after all.'
Volume 7 C83
"Pretending to be bad…?" Raymond asked when she looked him over again for what he was sure was the third time.
"Yes…" Nua said, she took a half step… hesitated… then strode toward him. "Pretending. Go on. Beat me. Hit me. Slap me around… Ray-mond ." She said his name, dripping it from her tongue. "I just used your name without calling you 'master', at the very least you should be…" She walked away, snatched the horsewhip from the corner and thrust it toward him. "I know the position, Ray-mond ." She said and went to the wall, he was frozen, staring down at the whip that his fingers unconsciously closed around when she placed it there. But her nimble fingers unlaced her shirt and cast it aside at his feet.
Her hands went to the wood, spread just a little more than shoulder width apart so that her back in all its vicious history was laid bare. "Ray-mond." She said it again. "In the Slane Theocracy I'd be lashed till I fell to my knees for such… disrespect as using my master's name without his title. If you're not just 'playing' at being bad… then prove it."
He stared down at the whip, then at the crisscrossed map of scars that ran up and down her body. He could picture it 'clean', how smooth it must have been, she was pale there, for a wood elf, which marked her as someone who worked indoors a great deal. ' She's right… I should. This is… this is how it is. She's a slave who disrespected me…' He told himself with an empty hollowness to his thoughts even while he looked down at the lash in his hands.
He looked at the trail of marks, like a wild mountain range of ugly flesh, jagged, broken and grown over. ' She's just… daring me to add more. Is she insane?'
' No. No she isn't.' He realized. Her breathing was slow and steady, calm and without fear now, far from when he stood over her with the knife in his hand.
"I-I don't want to." He said, staring down at the whip.
"Am I not chattel ? Am I not rebellious chattel that dares to disrespect you, a superior human, Ray-mond ?" Nua provoked him further, his name dripping from her tongue, she didn't break position. "Aren't you called by your gods to punish me? Maybe you prefer to blame a curse nobody can find? Maybe call someone else to do it if you can't." She spat onto his floor.
"I'm the enemy of mankind." She repeated the words he commanded her to say.
"I'm the enemy of mankind." She said it again.
His breath began to quicken as she spoke. "Be quiet." He said in a small voice, his eyes staring down at the whip and then back to the slave.
"You told me to say it! I'm the enemy of all mankind!" She shouted it back at him, looking over her shoulder at last.
"Shut up!" He yelled at her, "What are you playing at?! Why are you doing this?! Do you want me to beat you bloody ?!" He roared back at her and flung the whip down at her feet, it skittered across the floor and stopped at the wall, streaking her spit with it until it came to a thudding stop.
"No, Ray-mond !" She spat his name like a curse. "I want you to stop playing games !" He was struck by the steel of the blue in her eyes as ferocity like a warrior met him. "You're telling the truth… you don't want to! But why! This isn't a master not in the mood to discipline his property . That's what you're trying to tell yourself! I hate hypocrites… at least Dominic was honest." She spat on the whip and whirled on him, heedless of the fact that she was naked from the waist up, she took long, bold steps, and raising her hand, she struck him across the face as hard as she could, snapping his head to one side. "There!" She snapped at him and looked him square in the eye.
"Now… tell the truth. Why don't you want to?! Why aren't you picking up that lash?!" She yelled an inch from his face and pointed behind her, breathing hard and tears of rage in her eyes.
"Because you're… because… because you're beautiful… I… I don't want to hurt you, isn't that enough?!" He snapped and stepped back away from her. "Isn't that enough?! Most elves in the Slane Theocracy dance for joy about that!" He threw up his hands and grabbed his thick brown hair.
"So you want to fuck me." She crossed her arms in front of her chest and stared at him with neither desire nor fear in her eyes, her feet shoulder width apart, it was he who blushed and she who showed no mercy in her steel blue eyes. "So just tell me, you won't be the first person an elf woman has pretended she didn't loathe. I've got your number now, Ray-mond . No games. No obfuscation, no hiding or disguises… You know I know…"
"No! It's not that! I-I just…" He closed his eyes, his hands fell together between his knees as he fell back into the chair, he didn't look up at her. "It's wrong! Alright! I saw the way… the way you looked… I didn't see what I've always seen… your race… you're just background to me, you always have been. I had none of you growing up, traveled too much to bother owning any, I never cared for brothels… I'm…" He chuckled, "Even the others all say I'm addicted to my work."
"So you never had to actually hurt one of my kind before…" Nua stepped away and turned her back to him, she began to pace and lowered her eyes, she closed them and inhaled deeply through her nose, placing thumb and forefinger over her forehead as if it ached. She exhaled as heavily as she inhaled, "This… explains a lot . You really have been just playing at evil… an… innocent, like I first thought before you first reached out to mutilate me."
She noticed how he winced when she used the word 'mutilate' so casually. "So… I suppose that means you're not just going to screw me either…" She said and turned a side eye to him.
"No… I've never had an elven mistress before." He said, raising his face to look at her as she paced back and forth on steady steps.
"We have a different way of describing our place in that arrangement… usually." She said with a scathing voice that dripped sarcasm like acid. He could only look down again in answer.
"So… what do we do now?" She asked him as she came to a dead stop.
"You can start by picking up your shirt and putting it on." He said, managing a chuckle when she looked down and realized she'd been so caught up in the moment that she'd forgotten all that she'd done to provoke him.
"Damn it!" She cursed and bent down to do as he said. She started to lace up the front of her shirt while facing him, and he had the decency to look away from her while she did it.
"I meant other than that… am I still just a dangerous animal in your eyes, Ray-mond ?" She asked him, he said nothing, she came close, crouched down so she was beneath his lowered gaze, and reaching up to touch the other side of his cheek, she gently pushed him center face so that he was looking at her again. "Am I your enemy… like you said… do I deserve to suffer or die… do you really believe it… can you honestly say… those scars are well placed…? The truth. Please. No more games. It's just me, when you take me back to your country and give me back to Dominic, there's nobody I can tell, nobody will believe me even if I did… but while we're alone… do you want me to beg?"
"No." He muttered, he tried to tear his gaze from hers, and couldn't.
"Then tell me." She whispered her urgings, her fingers quavered against his cheek while her eyes searched his own.
"No… no, you don't, you aren't… it's… I'm sure you couldn't have deserved whatever was done to put those there. I tried to convince myself. I failed. If the gods are testing me… I failed." He said and resting his elbows on his knees, he held his head and stared down between his feet.
"Maybe you didn't, maybe you passed. Maybe you're one of the few in your country to ever pass." Nua answered, "But… what will you do with me now? Send me back? Back to Dominic…?" She swallowed the lump in her throat and felt it settle in her gut.
"I… I don't know. I'll… I'll talk to him." Raymond looked away from her. ' If it weren't for that… I could just… but then she's as good as dead.' He mouthed a slew of coarse words as two blue seas hovered just out of view, he could feel that staring, wondering at him.
"You'll stay… stay with me." He cleared his throat and forced himself to look at her, "You'll stay with me for now… I'll work something out."
"Right… right…" She rose to her feet, and it was her turn to look away.
"I suppose… you're not all I thought. I will address you as I should in public. But when we are alone…?" She asked the question and he answered her, it was softly said, but it was said…
"You are Nua. I am Raymond." He then rubbed the cheek she'd slapped earlier and actually let out a laugh, "And Nua has fast hands."
He then enjoyed the way her smile lit up the room.
After which Raymond stood up and said… "Come with me, we've got somewhere to be."
"Let me do that." Layali shot out the words and rushed on the longest steps she could take, to seize the spit away from Brain before he could stick the meat on it. Her little hands snatched the spit away, but the meat was out of reach… until she jumped up and took it from his hand.
Brain didn't resist her actions, he allowed her to take both from him, "We had a deal." She insisted in her indignant little girl pitch, and she impaled the flesh on the long wooden pole and then slapped it down on the stakes holding it over where she would light the fire and put her hands on her hips. "There. Besides, I've gotten better than you at this." She said with a cocky little smile and a sharp nod that fairly dared him to argue.
"I don't know about that." He dared to venture.
"Hmpf." She turned up her nose, "Zesshi, what do you say, who is the better cook?"
Zesshi dutifully extended a finger and pointed to Layali. "Definitely you." She tried not to mimic the girl's smirk too much, and Brain ran with it.
"Fine, fine. Who am I to argue with the only two girls around? I know that's a losing game if ever there was one." He made a dramatic show of throwing his hands up at the sky and letting out an exasperated breath as they laughed, and went about setting up camp.
The bedrolls were laid out in short order, and while Layali completed her final tasks and saw to cooking their meal, Zesshi continued her instruction of the human swordsman.
Sweat flew from his hair as it was cast off, or ran down his face as the half elf effortlessly pushed him beyond his limits. The black and white hair trailed high in the wind as their speeds accelerated far beyond what Layali could follow. Brain's broken sword lay cast aside as he learned something of 'hand to hand' combat.
He tumbled backwards and slid to a stop, gasping for breath after Zesshi's fist connected to his solar plexus. He gasped and held the injured spot. The prior injuries she'd inflicted on him… they still ached, though he didn't reveal it, he went limp as she approached him. "You're getting a little bit better." She said as her hand extended to within reach of him.
He tilted his head back and waved off her hand while he chuckled and gasped at the same moment. "Give me a minute." He said while he rubbed the spot she struck. "That'll leave a bruise." He said before adding, "I may be improving, but I'm just plain better with a sword."
"You got a couple of hits in." Zesshi contradicted his self-criticism as he rolled himself over and pushed himself up to his feet.
He grunted when he was still on all fours, "Only because you let me."
"True!" She acknowledged as he got all the way up, then leveled a finger at him, "But, that would always be true. I'm… unique. And I limited myself to the skills of some of my country's… I mean, the Slane Theocracy's, finest. You're nowhere near on par with Cenna. But you might be around as fast as Raymond, and he trained Cenna. He used to be, when he was younger, one of the most lethal members of the Black Scripture."
"Raymond… your handler, the one you were with before, the old man? That old man?" Brain looked at her with cockeyed incredulity. "I figured he could fight some but… that guy?"
Zesshi looked back the way they'd come, "Yeah, yeah he was. He called me pretty after I put him on his ass when we met. He was younger than you are now, but he and Cenna were the ones I knew best… the others… comrades sure. But those two I could always count on. He was a vicious and savage killer when he had to be. I remember this one time, we were hunting down a vampire that had taken a few villagers… just a training exercise for me, but he captured the vampire, beat it to a bloody pulp, and then skinned it till it told him what he wanted to know. When it came to looking out for his own… you'd think he was a literal demon. But to me? He was always asking if I was okay, if I was happy… he was like a father or uncle or something. I liked that."
"You're young…" He said, and she put her hands on her hips to stare at him as if he were an idiot, "as half elves go, that is." He said and she relaxed a little, "It's not that surprising he'd take on that role without thinking about it. It happens in villages sometimes too, I saw it growing up before I left."
"Say, your family never objected to you just… leaving?" Zesshi asked as she thought that over.
"The dead never object to anything." Brain said, "Let's call it quits for now, since we'll be in Carne tomorrow, I want to be well rested. I'll need to buy some supplies and see if I can find somewhere suitable for Layali."
The half elf girl froze, except for her mouth, her lips quivered a little as she mouthed her objections, "But… but… you're going to Arwintar. And… and you were going to face Cerebrate and…"
"You're still coming with me that far." Brain promised, he went over to where she stood, her arm moving and turning the spit as smoke from the fire rose up and shrouded the meat. The smell was enough to make Brain's stomach growl, he tussled her hair and said, "I know some things just have to be done. But if I can find somewhere safe for you there, I won't have to wait until the last minute."
"But-" Her eyes began to well up.
"It's what's best." He said, and she hung her head.
"Is the food almost ready? It smells fantastic." He tried to form a bright smile down at her and rubbed his stomach while licking his lips.
"Y-Yeah, I tried something different with those spices you gave me." She perked up. ' If I just do enough for him, then he won't leave me.' She reassured herself and forced a grin to her face as she raised up to her tiptoes to encourage his continued tussling of her hair.
Volume 7 C84
"What are we doing here, my lord?" Nua asked as they stood in front of the orphanage. It wasn't a large building, being only two stories and made of logs sealed together with pitch. But it was wide and deep.
"Getting your… replacement." Raymond replied.
Nua stopped dead. "You're… you're going to let me go?"
"For the carriage. You will ride with me." Raymond replied without looking at her a second time.
"I-I understand." Nua replied to him and lowered her eyes, "But… how will an orphanage help?"
"They have no slaves here, but because of how many were killed in the Allfather's war there were many orphans. The frogmen slew large numbers of border villagers, the knights left behind wives and children, a great many of their young ended up here or in places like it." Raymond explained to her, and watched the dawning light in her eyes. He went on, "When they get older, they're released from the orphanage, and there's always ones who struggle to find work."
He reached the door and pulled it open while Nua followed behind him. The floor was of varnished wood, and the door opened to a wide entryway with a single desk at the center where an aged human woman sat scribbling something on some papers in front of her. When Raymond and Nua entered, she set the quill into her inkwell and looked up at him. Her hair was short and gray and done in a tight bun, her features were wrinkled and her hooked nose was distinctly crone-like. "Name and purpose." She said, clearly by rote.
"Raymond and Nua. We're here to acquire someone." Raymond explained.
"Are you looking for a boy, a girl, and for what purpose? Do you have a farm, do you need a wife for you, a husband for her, or are you seeking an apprentice for your craft? Be specific please." She folded her hands together and though he couldn't see it, he could hear her foot tapping beneath her thick wooden desk.
"Ah, a driver for my carriage." Raymond almost stammered the words but he cleared his throat, "Boy or girl will be fine as long as they're old enough to look after themselves when not driving."
"I see… do you want a labor contract then?" She asked, "Something long term?"
"I want no questions, but in addition…" He answered with a shake of his head, "Some experience is preferred, but not vital, Nua can train them."
"I see. Very well, I can select a few who are about to be removed from here." The old woman replied and pushed herself up from the desk. "Please wait where you are, I will bring out the most promising."
She took up a walking stick that leaned against her desk and carried herself down the hall and into a door large enough for one single person to pass through. They heard her muffled voice, and Nua's ears twitched a bit before she went completely stiff at his back. He could feel her eyes on him, and her unhappiness.
There was no chance to discuss it as the old woman emerged again, this time she had three young people in tow. They were young humans, two male and a female, Nua noticed, and they shuffled out behind the old woman with eyes downcast and with small, shuffling steps. They were clad in relatively cheap clothing, simple brown shirts and pants that must have been white once, but had faded to gray. Their hair was closely cropped to their heads, though not completely shaved, and was uniformly brown. Their shoes were not in the best condition, being simply leather strips nailed into wood with laces over the top to hold the two wrapping sides together.
Notably, they were at least 'personally' clean. "These three are due to leave tomorrow, but you can have one or more of them today. However, there is the matter of…" She held up her withered hand and rubbed her thumb, fore, and middle fingers together, "coin. You see caring for children is such a… 'costly' enterprise, and we do so want the best for them even after they leave us. So… expenses must be paid for."
Raymond looked the trio over. "You, girl. What's your name?" The cardinal pointed to her, she raised her eyes.
"Sylia." She said and snapped her eyes back down when she saw his stern countenance.
"You, boy?" He asked and pointed to the young man to her left.
"Soren." The boy muttered, he too darted his eyes up and then back down again.
"And you?" Raymond spoke to the last.
"Lores." It was a slightly deeper voice, but only just.
"Triplets?" He asked as he looked them over.
"Yessir…" The bigger of the trio uttered. "Father died in the war… mother died after… lost the farm… debts too big… ended up here."
"I see." Raymond muttered. He rubbed his beard, "I planned on only getting one… but I budgeted more for this journey than I needed. You three were farmers, you say?"
"Yessir…" Lores answered.
"Which of you can drive a carriage and work with horses?" Raymond asked the most pointed question, and scanned the trio, Nua stood still, silent.
A well of pity rose in the elf to watch the three young people considered as they were, almost like livestock themselves.
"I… I can, sir. I was the best at it." Sylia's hand went up with a hesitant half gesture as if she wasn't sure whether her answer was wise or not, her eyes darted left and right, but she hastened to add, "I-I was the best at it, I drove the cart at least, never a carriage, and I know how to take care of horses real good, they like me." A smile more fragile than glass formed on her face and then fell apart under the weight of Raymond's steady examination.
He looked past them toward the old woman, "I'll take all three. And tell me where I can purchase some farmland on our way to the next large city."
"Ah, Peronia is two days travel from here by a swift carriage ride… the land there is very good." She said and watched as his hand vanished into his pouch and three gold coins emerged.
"That's each." She said and licked her lips.
"No, it isn't." Raymond retorted and held the coins out.
She snatched them away, her mouth opened for a moment, and then spoke to the trio. "You're his problem now." She said, and the trio lowered their eyes to his feet.
"Follow." Raymond replied and as they followed with a steady trudge, with Nua taking up the rear position he said, "Lores, Soren, how quickly can you acquire a pair of horses and a cart if you have the money?"
"Ah, two hours, sir, maybe less if we don't haggle." Lores answered, his voice going deeper as his confidence went up.
"Good." Raymond drew out a handful of coins from his pouch, "Go purchase a cart and two horses, and supplies enough for the five of us, but see that there's ample remainder." He then turned to Sylia, "You, Sylia, go with Nua, show her what you know and take instructions from her as needed. Be ready to drive my carriage by the time your brothers get back."
"Yessir…" The trio said, and Raymond stood aside to watch as they followed his instructions. Nua kept glancing back at him as she led the girl over to the carriage, confusion etched on her face while Raymond stood with seeming indifference and waited.
Lores proved to be less than accurate, he and his brother returned within the hour, and Nua presented herself to her master just as they pulled up in an old cart drawn by two young horses. The creatures snorted and pawed at the ground, and Lores patted several sacks behind him.
"Sir, we've got enough food here for a good long time." Soren spoke for his big brother and Raymond pointed to the carriage.
"Nua, get in. Sylia, drive. Lores and Soren, follow, we're following this road all the way to Peronia."
When they were alone inside the carriage Nua sat across from him and crossed her arms. Neither spoke until the carriage lurched forward, after which she spoke. "So, let's talk, Raymond."
"Yes, let's." He said and slapped his hands down onto his knees. "You don't like what happened there." He guessed.
"It may not be a slave auction but… if you'd asked for them to be stripped and show their teeth, I think the old woman would have done it ." Nua answered and narrowed her eyes, "First I want to know how you knew, second… why all three? And the extra horses, and all those supplies? Are you planning something lewd with that girl?" She raised her golden brow at him until he leaned back in his seat.
"Because we planned out my path of travel long before I got here. So of course we investigated the local laws and issues… orphans are a problem between both the Kingdom of Carne and the Kingdom of Nazarick, both wars made a lot of orphans. And they end up in places like that. These are actually fairly nice, these are at least fed. They end up getting 'adopted' for money, or taken on as 'apprentices' but it's really just cheap labor. They work farms, they work for smiths or… whatever. I suppose I should be impressed that these places do as much as they are. But at the end of the day, children with no parents are a commodity."
Nua looked at him long and hard, her eyes never blinked.
"I'm not endorsing, this, only telling you how it is." Raymond said after the stare lingered for too long, the carriage bounced around a little as Sylia showed her 'skill' might have been slightly overstated.
"So…?" Nua prompted.
"I'll keep Sylia as a driver for the duration and you'll be more of a personal attendant. In Peronia I'll buy a farm and let the brothers work it, on the way back, I will leave Sylia with them, if I don't return in a few years, I'll tell them the farm is theirs." Raymond said and glanced out the window to watch the distant lands pass by.
"So… you're letting them go." Nua answered.
"Of course." Raymond said as if it were self-evident.
"But not me?" Nua asked. Her crossed arms tightened.
"No." Raymond replied. "They're humans from a foreign country. You're a slave of Cardinal Dominic Ihre Partouche."
Nua took that in with great calm. "So… you're going to give me back to Dominic. You know what he's going to do to me. You know talking to him won't stop it."
"Maybe I can buy you from him, tell him I've grown fond of you. He might laugh, but I don't think he would mind." Raymond pointed out.
"What if I don't want that? What if I don't want to end up as… I don't have a future there, Raymond." She asserted with an edge to her voice while she ground her teeth.
"I'll treat you well, I have only humans in my employ… but you know I won't hurt you. I won't force you to do anything." He tried to reassure her, but she inched away from him on the seat.
"You're making me go back." She said pointedly and he nodded.
"Of course I am. I-I have… a favorable view of you." He said and shifted a little under her withering stare.
"Lucky me." Nua dripped the words from her tongue. "I'm so well loved by my master that he'll keep me as his personal pet so his friend doesn't make me scream. You could just… stop the carriage and let me go…"
"I'm not going to do that." Raymond said, "What kind of monster do you take me for?"
"A monster… for letting me go?" Nua asked. "What are you talking about?"
"If I release you, you're as good as dead ." Raymond said, and the cold silence thawed as the fires of confusion warred on Nua's face.
"Why do you think Dominic sent a broken in elf?" Raymond asked her and then leaned forward, "Because you're easy to hunt outside the Theocracy. Wood elves are found in only a few places, and you may hide well in shadows, but not in populations. If you run, the Agante will hunt you down, or the half elves will. If I try to tell them you're dead?" He pointed to the collar around her neck, "He'll know you're still alive. Why do you think you never hear of high placed elf slaves just making a run for it, or betraying their owners? Enchantments like this are rare and expensive… but for the ones who attend cardinals directly? You can expect it."
"So… so I'm…" Nua's face paled.
"It's worse than you thought, yes. I'm sorry… the best I can do is make sure you don't go back to him… after that, once you're in my house? I can… I can make some kind of an arrangement. But you are still leashed to Dominic whether you're with him or not." Raymond said and looked away from her. "I… I am truly sorry."
"What if I tried to appeal to one of the leaders we're going to see?" Nua asked, then shook her head at her own question. "No, no nation is going to start a conflict over one woman. I'm alone… completely alone." She whispered.
"No… no, you're not. I'll- I'll protect you… it's the least I can do after I- after I- after the things I tried to do to you… I'll never forgive myself for that… never, not if I live to be ten thousand years old…" Raymond said to her with a pallid expression of utter horror as his own memories tore at his conscience.
"I'll believe it when I see it, Raymond." Nua said, though her crossed arms relaxed a little.
"If I could do anything… do you have any ideas?" He asked, half in accusation, but to her credit, Nua looked him in the eyes to answer…
"No. So… for now, I'll play my role with you in public and in private we're what? And don't say 'Raymond and Nua'. You know that's not what I mean."
"Just think of us as colleagues… for now?" Raymond suggested, and Nua gave that a slow, measured nod.
"I can accept that. On one condition." Nua said, and Raymond waited for her to name it.
"Teach me how to use that knife." She said, and Raymond quickly nodded in assent to her wishes.
"Consider it done." He said.
Their travel after that was swift, with the drivers operating in shifts, they reached the city of Peronia in the Kingdom of Nazarick, acquired a good plot of land with a small hut… in need of some repair, lay waiting, and in short order, two brothers were left behind with horses and supplies and watched their sister drive the carriage away.
"Do you think they'll worry about her?" Raymond asked as he looked out the back window, the two boys were already beginning to work with the supplies they'd acquired from Raymond and their lingering eyes became far more fleeting and then stopped entirely long before his carriage was out of sight.
"No. They assume you're sleeping with me." Nua answered without a smile on her face.
"Oh." He answered while keeping his face completely blank.
"They believed me completely when I told them so." Nua answered with her face just as blank as his.
"So… now what?" She asked and began to look out the window.
"The carriage has a scribal kit under the seat. We'll be meeting with the other national leaders today to get an update on the search for the missing Queen Draudillon. I'm sure my colleagues are furious at my decision to let nonhumans roam my country, but…" He almost laughed, briefly tightening his lips together to stifle it, "I also know that they had no better ideas on how to salvage the situation… especially since they were mostly at fault."
"How's that, Raymond?" Nua had to ask, her curiosity piqued at the rare insight into the decisions of those who ruled her personal hell.
"The Draconic Queen was distancing herself from us politically, trade terms were tightening to become more favorable to her country than to ours, and they were no longer selling land to our nobles." Raymond explained, but Nua only stared blankly.
"Right… you wouldn't know." He muttered, "Our nobles used to buy and trade Draconic Kingdom land in the… danger zones. Places that could be farmed, and more importantly… rented. When the beastmen invaded, we would buy it up cheaply, when they went back, we would sell the land for a profit to those who were desperate for a place to farm, or more commonly 'rent' it for high prices, and the nobles would trade it among themselves like currency."
He watched Nua's eyes spark with understanding. "I see, so it kept… a lot of money flowing west into your country's hands, I'll bet."
"Money that helped pay for the war against your people. And that flow has begun to dry up. The Draconic Queen 'borrowed' a lot of money from the Allfather and bought some of it, a lot more she simply 'cancelled' the sales to our nobles, and it hit our national purse strings hard . Things got petty and our council in its wisdom… namely Yvon, Dominic, and Maximillian, decided that if she wanted to travel through our lands, she had to do so on a path we specified which was… very roundabout. I suppose it put her in the path of the elf King."
"Do you think they were hoping that would happen, to get rid of her? Maybe even told him where she was?" Nua asked, and Raymond was for a brief time, still.
"I-I doubt it. If they did, they didn't tell me about it. Dominic controls the Agante secret police, but even as rash as he is, he wouldn't do that. No, no definitely not." Raymond concluded, "Sometimes things just have unexpected results, and this is one of them."
Nua raised a brow, clearly skeptical, she didn't press the matter, "I suppose…" She let the thought dangle unfinished and looked out the window of the carriage. The city was the definition of 'booming', with countless figures going to and fro, most notably with construction and farming equipment, but there was no shortage of commercial goods loaded on wagons, the smell of animals and large numbers hung in the air and caused her to wrinkle her nose.
She shut the curtain with a snap of her wrist. "I swear… if I were ever to run a city… I will put public baths on every city block, and require that animals be washed at least once a week." Nua pinched her nose for emphasis, and it drew a laugh from the cardinal.
"I suppose I would too if I had your sense of smell." Raymond answered, "But it won't be so bad, the main estates are in the city center and we're meeting in one of those.
"You're really not worried I'll just… ask for asylum? That I'll throw myself at their mercy and hope they take me in… maybe in exchange for information?" Nua asked the cardinal who sat across from her on the far side of his seat.
Raymond's deep brown eyes found hers, "If you really think they'd do so… I won't even object. I'll let them take you away without a fight, without a single word of protest. But after that, you'll always be hunted. The Agante are trained from birth for their work, they're not scripture members, but they're dangerous spies and killers. They've kept the dark elves disunited for generations and murdered every heretic they've ever found. Maybe you'll be safe… I hope for it. But you'll always be wondering if the merchant you buy from has poisoned your food or if a knife is coming at you in the dark."
Nua didn't shiver. "I understand… I'll… play my part. For now at least." She replied, "But you have to promise me again… you won't let Dominic have me… I haven't… emerged… been myself… for over a hundred years. I'd forgotten how good this feels." She slid across the seat so that they were closer to one another, leaned forward and grabbed his thighs, her nails digging into his skin between the fabric. "I can't go back to the way I was… I'll kill myself before I do."
"Dominic will never lay a hand on you again." Raymond answered, he covered her hands with his. "You asked if I'd have helped a wounded dog, and I didn't answer you then. The answer is yes… and if I'd do that…? I'll help you."
She closed her eyes. "Now… let me get into character." Nua said, and Raymond watched, almost 'feeling' the change in her as her body posture shifted in subtle ways. Before his eyes.
Before long they were entering the small noble estate and were led to a large double door seemingly carved out of a single piece of wood.
Nua stood one pace behind him to his left. "Master." She said when she saw his side look at her, she graced him with a reassuring little smile. "I've attended meetings of the powerful before, I know proper etiquette. I won't shame you."
"That wasn't what I was worried about, Nua. Not at all." Raymond answered, "But thank you for saying that."
Aurelion slept in his rocker, with Calca's hand slowly pushing and pulling. The little bassinet was fit for the Prince of two Kingdoms, carved out of one giant dragon's tooth the curve was nearly perfect. The inside of it was lined with silk with down stuffing and tiny, hand carved springs to make for great comfort. His blanket and pillow were no less luxurious, and unsurprisingly, he slept like it.
Gustav Montagne stood at hand as the child's personal bodyguard as the royals sat in the manor of a dark elf lord appointed by Albedo herself. The estate was relatively new, being in a 'new city' established for those dark elves and other slaves liberated by treaty with the Kingdom of Nazarick, countless dark elves and humans dwelled in the area, with numerous buildings rising up even two years after the great victory… or debacle, depending on preference.
This estate held numerous treasures that, at a glance, Ainz suspected were lifted from the former masters' homes, the nobles Albedo appointed, he himself had largely rubberstamped, trusting to her judgement, and given the orderly nature of the bustling city, she seemed to have been right.
Their host made himself scarce, and the totality of the royal party of five nations sat at ease with one another, waiting on the sixth.
The double door swung wide and Raymond entered the room, the other monarchs stood until the elf at his back approached his chair, drew it out, and pushed it beneath him so that he could join the others.
Nua's scribal kit was out and ready, as were those of other Kingdoms, and Albedo rose to her feet.
"Now that we're all here… we have something." The radiant Allmother said and slid a stack of documents to her left. It passed from one pair of hands to the next until it made its way back to her with only one copy remaining.
Raymond looked down at the document, skimmed it, then leaned back and handed it to Nua. "That will go straight to the Cardinals." He said in a hushed voice so as not to interrupt his counterparts.
Nua accepted the document without question. The scribal kit she carried was a simple device, a strap looped over her neck and a small box that curved on one side that rested against her waist to keep it flat, within the box a scribe would carry ink, quills, paper or parchment, and other materials to be brought out at need. The side of the box held small tight 'cups' into which the inkwells and quills fit snugly to allow repeated access to the box for fresh paper.
She stored the document within and laid a blank sheet down to begin to write as Albedo spoke.
"A few days ago our servants in Arwintar took notice of a column of smoke rising within the center of the city, and some of our more 'astute' observers noted the smell of burning flesh. A funeral pyre. Of course we had them inquire about who lived there, as we should offer condolences to any noble family in the city while we are present… only to find it was occupied by, of all things, a delegate for the tournament." Albedo let them take that in, and scribes for various Kingdoms began taking their own notes in turn.
" Elf delegates." Albedo said emphatically.
"But… the elf King wouldn't send someone there, and how could he reach it that fast?!" Calca objected.
The room focused their attention on Raymond.
"He wouldn't… but he might go there himself ." The Cardinal said and crossed his hands together one over the other on the table. "That monster loves only one thing."
"Rape." The Frost Queen hissed the word like a curse.
"Yes. But he doesn't do it for no reason… he wants strong heirs, the last time he ventured outside of his country it was to kidnap one of our strongest warrior women expressly to force her to bear his child." Raymond explained, and Ainz perked up.
' This sounds very… familiar…' He thought and began to rub his jaw.
"Other than that, he never leaves his Kingdom, capital, or even palace." Raymond's hands tensed, "It is… possible, that we… we all made a grave mistake." The Cardinal cleared his throat again, "This 'tournament' will no doubt have many warrior women, a temptation like that would be too much. The elf King may have taken Queen Draudillon, but if he did, and I believe that is what happened, then she isn't in the elf Kingdom."
"She is in Arwintar… you think she's in that estate, don't you?" Queen Renner guessed immediately.
"Then that is where we go to rescue her and her surviving party." The Queen of Frost rose to her feet as if the matter were settled.
"Wait, Queen Baraja." Ainz said and held a palm out, "My wife asked a pertinent question, one that the Cardinal hasn't answered."
Neia stopped, and slowly, reluctantly sat.
Cardinal Raymond exhaled a loud breath and said, "This is a state secret that you're asking me to divulge."
"You want us to rescue your ally. We should know what we're up against, or will you put the Queen at greater risk, Cardinal ?" Albedo pointed out.
"Do you not have authority to determine what your neighbors should know?" Ainz asked. "You were endowed with the right to represent your nation's interests weren't you?" He asked, and Raymond felt his spine tingle with the Allfather addressed him. The foreign monarch's voice and manner, everything about him was almost seductively appealing, entrancing… like he was the perfect monarch…
"You're right… the elf King is a monk. A monk of supreme power. We rescued our own from him only by way of distraction, no attempt at assassination has ever worked. We can't pierce his skin, he's shrugged off spells that have killed monsters that guilds rated ninety to one hundred or more. You wonder how he got to Arwintar so quickly? The most powerful monks we have can imbue their energy into a living thing for a few minutes… but the elf King can do it for hours . If he imbues energy into horses then they can run at full speed for an extended period of time, if he does it frequently?" Raymond snapped his fingers. "He'll arrive anywhere he wants, quickly."
The cardinal swallowed. "This information must not leave this room. Speaking to… some of you, is something every fiber of me tells me I should not be doing, let alone revealing this. If my comrades ever learn what I'm about to say, I'll be disgraced, cast out, and possibly even charged with treason. Even though I'm empowered to speak for my government, this won't be overlooked. I'm putting my life in your hands as a leap of faith…"
"With two nonhuman rulers?" Queen Baraja asked, her wings spread a little as if to emphasize her inhumanity, and whether intended or not, the Allmother did the same.
"Must you rub it in?" Raymond asked, "I have… had time to think. It doesn't matter what, not now. What matters is that the only lawful heir to the Draconic Kingdom's life is at stake. Now can I trust you or not, Frost Queen?"
The delegates cast their eyes about at one another, and one by one they answered…
"You can."
"And he appears to be a god… on par with one, at least." Raymond spat the words out, "He produced one child of great power, more powerful than our most powerful godkin. This is not possible unless he is like the Six. An elven God… part of why we progress so slowly with the elves is because we do not actually want to fight him. "
"Could you draw a portrait of him?" Ainz said as he leaned forward. "What is the elf King's actual name, does he have one?"
"We assume he does, but we've never heard it, he only calls himself the 'elf King' and nothing more." Raymond answered the question, "As far as drawing him? I'm not much of an artist, but I can try ."
He held his hand up and Nua wordlessly removed a blank piece of paper and handed it to him along with a quill already dipped in ink.
Raymond's hand flew over the paper, the scratch of the quill was quick to the extreme, and when he was done, he blew gently on his work and gave it a quick nod of approval. He handed it to the Golden Queen who passed it around until it reached the Allfather.
"You sell yourself short." Ainz said as he looked down at the portrait he'd been given. "It's not half bad, I never thought I'd see this face again."
"You- know him? How?" Raymond asked, and for a moment the Allfather said nothing.
"He came from the same place your gods came from, if the relics you have are any indication." Ainz answered him without really thinking, he was recalling the battle with the elf king when the guild was young, he was so lost in thought that he said nothing and did not look up until Albedo's hand touched his shoulder.
"My husband?" She asked, and Ainz cleared his throat before setting the paper down.
"You put your life into my hands to help rescue the Draconic Queen, Cardinal Raymond. I won't forget it. So… in that spirit, one secret for another. I'll tell you how I know him, and where I know him from. What you choose to do with that information, I leave to you."
"Settle in. This is quite a story." Ainz added, and looking around to the various secretaries he added, "But they must leave."
"Not mine." Raymond replied. "She does not leave my side."
Nua took one step closer to him, and for a moment, as the other secretaries filed out, a battle of wills, weighing and measuring one another's intents raged between them.
"It's like that, is it? Very well." Ainz said, and took a deep breath to begin.
Volume 7 C85
Ainz looked away as if deep in his memories, recalling the stories of his guild days, "The elf King, as I said, is not of this world. Nor am I. I am… from another world, beyond the one he came from. My friends and I used his world as a kind of… hunting ground. I believe the ones you refer to as 'players' are like me, like my friends. Though they must have been weaker if they chose not to kill him. My friends' creations and mine, refer to that original world as 'first world'. We would travel to the second world, a world of first world's creation… it was a place for us to play games. To hunt, to explore what each other made… we waged battles and forged bonds… second world, it was the happiest time of my life. Traveling worlds, it may seem strange to you, as it was to me when I-" Ainz briefly swallowed his heartache before he chose to incorporate Demiurge's story into his account.
"When I first found this world in the most ancient of times… before we sealed everything away… protecting this world from the evils of its own making. In this 'second world' the elf King as you call him, had a kingdom of his own, and my friends and I… the nine of us, killed him." Ainz explained, and Raymond felt his body become as stone.
' The spell, the spell he used… it makes sense, perfect sense…' Raymond realized as he began to put the pieces of the puzzle together. "You said you killed him, was he… resurrected?" The Cardinal's mind ran faster than an arrow loosed from a bow, and Ainz answered him…
"No. He could not be permanently slain. Once killed, he would revive again after a set time period. He has been killed many times." Ainz explained, and despair briefly washed over Raymond and Nua alike.
' We'll be his playthings forever…' Nua thought, her stoic eyes held steady, but without thinking about it, she put herself a hair closer to Raymond when the thought came to her.
"No. That was in Second World. He can be permanently killed here ." Ainz said and pressed his forefinger against the table to reference the New World. "More importantly, I can kill him."
"Are you… perhaps… a god?" Raymond asked.
Calca and Albedo's backs stiffened at once and Albedo's wings spread out to their maximum extent. With the impassioned voices of offended royal women they rebuked the Cardinal by almost shouting, "Of course he is!"
The table waited after that, it wasn't hard for even Raymond to know why.
' They're waiting for me to erupt. Waiting for me to start shouting about blasphemy and that I was expecting him to deny something so outlandish. But…' The Cardinal's thoughts were busy ones, agitated ones, he began scratching on the surface of his hand as if it itched.
"You may be. My whole life I served the Six. I did it to protect mankind, because it was the only way… the only way I knew at least. But we know the Six came from another world, and that others, the Demon Gods, the Greed Kings, they came here from somewhere else. Another Player, another God ? It isn't beyond possibility." It was almost a relief to acknowledge the buried truth that at the least, a new god was a possibility.
"If you are a God, you're different from the ones I know. My own loathe the undead, except for the death god, you use them as tools. My own… they protected humanity. You… you protect…" Raymond's body felt weak, if he'd had to stand, he couldn't have managed it, he looked over his shoulder to the elf who stood close at hand, "you protect more ."
"The greater the God, the more he can guard." The Queen of Frost answered.
"So you believe him to be a deity, then?" Raymond as the Frost Queen.
"I've never met a God." Neia answered, her vertical slit pupils hidden briefly by a blink, "I don't know if I'd recognize one if I did. I only know that I protect my people as best I can. I have a lot of types of people. Humans, elves, orcs, goblins, snake people, dwarves, and more, so many more. The Allfather has the same… a more natural alliance than one with his Kingdom, I can't imagine. If it takes calling him a God to secure us, I'll go with that. And if he can accomplish it? That's good enough for Godhood as far as I'm concerned. If someone else wants to argue the point, let them show up and do it."
"A lot of words there for 'yes'." Raymond muttered, and the Frost Queen flashed a fang filled smile in his direction.
"Okay, then 'Yes.' I suppose I'm starting to think that way. Nothing else explains what I've seen." The Frost Queen drummed her talons on the table, but otherwise fell silent after giving him her answer.
Raymond took that in, "I saw your power at the Katze Plains. I wondered then if I was seeing a new God rising in the world. But this is still a lot to think over."
"There's time enough for that. But for now, we need the Queen rescued. Thankfully the elf King is as dense as he was in Second World. Albedo," Ainz looked up to his right, "send a distraction to the elf King, and have the Queen removed to Nazarick at once."
"Wait… no… plan? That's it…?" Raymond asked, snapped out of his reverie by the abrupt order, his eyes wavering from Allfather to Allmother.
"I was created to be the ideal administrator, so of course I can handle something as simple as a minor rescue." Albedo's feathers ruffled just a little, which led to Raymond's eyes goggling.
"You're a… a golem ?" He gasped out the word, only for the 'pregnant golem' to laugh uproariously, putting a hand on her ample chest she tried to regain control over herself.
"No, silly human . I'm a living being, not some petty golem, my creator was one of the forty-one, whom my beloved lord led . Each of the forty-one supreme beings created living things to serve them, I am one of those beings." The unworldly beauty of the winged woman beside the Allfather was all too believable in what she said.
' A God.' Raymond thought the words, and it grew ever more likely in his mind.
"So then… what did you want to meet with me for, why are we gathering at all?" Raymond asked as he regained his mental footing.
"First, our agents will be collectively withdrawn from your country." The Golden Queen said at once.
"Even my Goblins." The Wolf Queen added when Raymond glanced her way.
"But there's another problem." The Frost Queen said, her lips drew thinly across her face, and Raymond felt his heart pick up its pace just a little.
"The things our… agents, have seen of your country. The treatment of your slave population, the stories about it are spreading through our ranks. And more than that, by your own admission, the Draconic Queen's capture is on your country's head. It wouldn't have happened if you had properly guarded her, or even just permitted a more direct route." Calca quipped.
Raymond sat silent, there was nothing he could say, all his theology, all his training, all his apologetics and defenses… he looked over at Nua who stood so close he could smell the fragrance of her hair, it was forgotten. It fell away in the memory of her desperate terror when he was grabbing for her ear to make the cuts that would mutilate her very identity.
"What do you want?" Raymond asked the question without any hint of a diplomatic flourish.
"A change in policy for your country." Ainz answered for the lot of them.
"I can't do that. I'm here to represent, not to rule." Raymond protested at once, he opened his hands out to stop his scratching on the skin and spread them out in front of him, "You know this, you all know this."
"But you can tell your comrades." The Wolf Queen pointed out. "Things will carry on for now, but send word home while you're here, and please understand, when we return to our respective nations, our relationship with your country will change. Mine will be the first to make that happen, I promise you." Enri's eyes were hard and fixed on the Cardinal, the lingering question on her mind… ' Did he authorize the slaughter of my village… is he one of the ones who made that happen?' Just sitting close to him, she longed to claw out his eyes, but this, this was a start at least.
"I will… have something drawn up." Raymond said and pushed himself upright, giving himself a few seconds to steady himself he then said, "Nua, come with me, we're leaving. There's nothing more to be done here." The Cardinal then gave a polite half bow with his hand over his chest, and left them behind as he exited.
"I think that went very well." Ainz remarked when the Cardinal was gone. "Now Albedo," Ainz said when no one ventured to disagree, "See to the Draconic Queen, and afford her every courtesy of Nazarick until I arrive to speak with her myself."
"At once, my love." And with that, the table rose as one.
Volume 7 C86
Draudillon sent up her smoke signals yet again. ' I can only hope somebody is watching.' The heat of the fire was such that she turned her face back and forth, her arm ached with exhaustion and with pain from the fire's close proximity.
But she endured. The sound of low moans… that weren't there, drove her on. Her fears, her imaginings, her dread and regret took physical form in the sweat on her brow and the ache in her limbs.
But the hidden Queen kept it up, watching the brief billowing again and again. "Draudillon. Here. Draudillon. Here." She did it from multiple fireplaces around the estate.
But for days… nothing changed.
"Tend the fire, whelp." The elf King said when it started to diminish.
This was his new favorite way to taunt her.
"Yes, master." The Queen said and rushed to the little wood bin, she struggled to hold as much as she could, teetering around on her small feet, leaning back to keep it from falling. ' My toe hurts…' She thought, sure it was bleeding from where a log landed on it minutes ago.
She crouched down and began heaping logs on the diminishing flames. "Not that way. You need practice." The giant elf said from where he sat.
"Yes, master." The Queen said and got to all fours to place one log at a time into the ornate fireplace. She could feel his eyes on her. ' If I weren't disguised… would I have ended my life?' She wondered about that, four had done so, not counting the one to die the day of their capture.
The question haunted her nights, and she began to shake as if his eyes had the piercing power of the sharpest blades. ' Please…' She prayed, ' Someone… please…'
"You'll give me many strong children when you grow up, whelp." The elf King grunted the statement, "I can feel the magic welling inside you… I prefer fighters more, but I'll take a useful magic caster just as quick." He licked his lips.
"Are any of your mother's whores carrying yet?" He asked, and Draudillon dropped the log into place with a thud.
She shoved some tinder into place to rekindle the flames and began tugging the flu at once.
"I-I think maybe, master? I-I will ask… it is hard to tell with humans this early, I can use magic to find out if, if it pleases you." She said as she went up to her knees and continued to send her smoke signal into the air.
The heat was scalding her hand as she held the metal rod, unlike the one in the women's quarters, this one didn't have a convenient chain, the lever was close to the flames. ' I've got to call for help!' She cried out in her head as sweat began to pour down her forehead and her arm from the effort.
"I see… that would be good." He groused, "There's no sense losing any whelps until I know if they're useful or not. Fine, have the magic casters check the stock."
"Yes, master." The Queen kept her eyes down and repeated the smoke signal words, "Draudillon. Here."
"Why are you doing that, whelp?" He asked her as she continued the process.
"Air, master, the fire needs more or it will die." She hastened to answer, "I can stop, if master wishes, but the fire will start to die." Her eyes remained on the floor, and he seemed to consider her words.
"No. Keep at it, a burn on your hand is nothing, it isn't your hands I need." He chuckled and licked his lips, looking directly at her face as he did it.
"I will, sir. I will." The Queen replied until the shouting reached her.
The elf King's face changed, she could see it out of the periphery of her vision, his lustful thoughts went to the only other emotion he seemed to know other than anger… contemptuous annoyance.
" Useless trash, what are they shouting about?!" He snarled.
"Undead!" The screams came up just as the noise of a distant wall caving in rang out over the estate.
"You! Whelp! Get back to the harem… my guards are so… worthless !" The elf King spat on the polished floor, and as towering as he seemed before, even though he grew not an inch, he seemed somehow… 'more so'.
The Queen didn't argue, she shot to her feet and sprinted, her little child sized heart pounding as fast as she could make it as her bare feet ate up space over the shining polished floor until she was at the safest place in the estate… unless the elf King wanted someone there. She rushed past guards who were streaming in, their shouted voices went up, and suddenly the true malicious genius of the elf King… in this one thing at least, was obvious.
The elven warriors took up position in the hall, drawing bows, the noise of the curving came out all at once as they acted in sync, those who bore swords brought them to bear beside shields…
They were not guarding the elf King's harem, they were guarding their wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters. Nobody would suffer or die for the elf King, but for their own… ' That malignant monster…' the Queen cursed as she ran down the hall, the warriors made sure she had a path clear before closing up the way behind her with their bodies so thickly barring the way that when she looked back, she saw nothing beyond their ranks.
"Worthless!" The elf King's booming voice came out as his fist smashed 'something' the sound of a great shield fell with a clatter and a howl of hatred went up before he destroyed some form of creature out of her sight.
"What's happening?!" Dozens of voices, human and elf alike, went up from the great open chamber.
"The undead, somewhere…" Draudillon answered, and a wail of horror went up.
"We're in hell! From monster to undead, how can this not be hell ?!" The elder elven woman cried out, and without thinking, she reached down and grasped Draudillon in her arms, whirling the 'young girl' around to protect the little human royal using her own back to do it.
Which was why Draudillon was the first to see it. The whorling vortex appeared within spitting distance just as the elf King's distant bellowing cut off another undead scream.
From within the void stepped a face she knew. Gray faced and squared, regal to the point of perfection as servant or ruler alike, dressed in his fine butler's clothing. "Queen Draudillon, we have received your message and have come to retrieve you. I trust you have no objections?" Sebas said as he took a very gracious bow.
The elves looked at the 'human' with a mix of fear, relief, and suspicion, eyes darting about, sweat sprang onto every body… "The Queen isn't here… her daughter is… and I won't give her to someone who just-"
The matronly elf who clung to the Queen in disguise stopped speaking when Draudillon whispered, "Let me go."
She disengaged herself gently from the elf woman, and her body, her curves, her bosom and body from head to toe, returned to her proper age. "Lord Sebas. It's good to see you, I have no objection but one… I will not go alone."
"I'm afraid I have no time to argue, my lady." Sebas replied.
Gasps from the elven women were many as the child became a woman before their eyes, but Draudillon did not give them time for questions.
"Then you have no time to say no, they are mine . All of them. They go first, and I follow." She said and met the face of the Butler of Steel with stern resolve.
"You are the Queen I remember… so be it. If they refuse, however, we go alone." Sebas answered.
Draudillon made her address to the harem very brief. "Sebas is a friend, a good one, and he is our rescue. I've tended your bodies, your wounds, fed and washed you… I know I've hidden my true state… but please, trust me… go through that gate and we will never be reachable by that bastard ever again…"
They rose, they hesitated, staring from the gate to her and then to Sebas and then to one another. "The distraction will not last much longer." Sebas pointed out.
"If you want to still be here when the elf King finishes off those death knights… stay behind." Draudillon reported, the humans who knew her best and who were familiar with Sebas by sight if not by name, were already rushing toward the vortex.
That set off the rest, and a stream of elves began charging the gate as fast as they could move, streaming around Sebas and Draudillon until they vanished from view.
The elf warriors turned as soon as the noise of it all hit home, and Draudillon pointed to them, "Do you want to explain to him how you lost all your women?" She asked.
Thus did the elf King's methods reveal their weakness. No one wanted to deliver the news, it was as good as capture, and the elf warriors followed after their women, looking behind them as they trudged like captives rather than ran like the liberated, and they too, vanished into the void.
"Now I will go with you, and I hope I will see your master soon." The Queen said as she stepped beside the Butler and bent her arm at her side, he linked his arms with hers as if escorting a lady to a ball, and vanished into the gate.
It closed at their backs, leaving the crackling fire with nobody to warm at all.
Volume 7 C87
When the meeting was over and the ranks were thinning as they prepared to move on to the next leg of the journey, Ainz reached out to put his hand on Calca's shoulder.
"Husband?" She asked after taking up their son into her arms.
"Queen Draudillon will be in my residence shortly. She might appreciate the comfort of a human woman, depending on what the elf King has done." Ainz suggested, and with that the Queen couldn't disagree.
"May I bring Kelart and Gustav with me? They worry, I know they do." She suggested, and though his first thought was to deny her, looking at the white hair that tumbled down her back and Aurelion in her arms, he relented.
"They may. Maybe it will help if she sees more humans." He suggested.
And so minutes later after summoning the pair, the small party emerged through the gate into the throne room.
Recalling the lessons of Queen Draudillon who did her best to be regal at all times, he ascended the stairs to the Throne of Kings. Albedo followed, but Calca did not. ' The protocols of royalty…' Ainz had the thought come and go before he took his seat, and Calca stepped aside, though she remained near to the stairs that led upward.
"Kelart?" Calca said as her lover and closest advisor fell in at her right hand and Gustav fell in at her left. Kelart's long brown hair swayed at her back as she accepted the wiggling crown prince into her arms. He giggled a little and smiled up at her, and the magic caster of renown returned the expression, dangling a few wiggling fingers above his face.
Aurelion grabbed them and squeezed. Kelart winced and yanked them from his grasp as fast as she could. "Ouch!" She whipped the injured hand around as if to shake off the pain. The Allfather, Allmother, and Calca all looked in her direction, but Kelart only let her smile become a little fragile.
"I'm fine, he's just… much stronger than he should be at his age…" She winced again and put the two injured fingers into her mouth and briefly sucked on them to help dispel the pain and draw blood flow back into the extremity.
"Husband, perhaps Cocytus should stay with him in my Kingdom." Calca suggested, "If he can-"
"Break… I think he broke them." Kelart winced.
" Break the fingers of adults at this age, how long will it take before he is an unintended threat to everyone around him?" Calca asked.
"That is… acceptable. I think Cocytus would enjoy that role a great deal." Ainz said and stroked his chin as he thought it over. "For now though…"
He paused and cast his message spell, summoning Pestonya and various other maids.
The dogmaid appeared within minutes, and went straight for Kelart. [Cure light wounds] She said, her maid dress bounced around at the base still, the result of the haste of her coming, and the white healing magic glowed over the injured cast.
"Much better… th-thank you." Kelart answered, keeping her eyes on the young prince. ' I must get used to this. I must. The nonhumans are taking their place at our side, I knew this with the others, and I saw the way my Queen treated Queen Baraja… we're never going back to the old ways…' Kelart reminded herself, and then her thoughts went still as, mere moments after the other maids assembled themselves with demure postures and heads down on the opposite wall, the gate opened up.
A stream of people poured through like water loosed from a tap that was turned immediately to high, human women, followed by elf women, followed by elf men… the noise of their thudding feet as they came through crying or crying out, filled the throne room. Their eyes darted in every direction like frightened deer who heard noises from many directions.
The whorling vortex remained open, and finally the expected pair emerged.
Sebas, arm in arm with the stately white haired Draconic Queen.
At once Ainz was struck with admiration for her regal demeanor, her back was straight and though she was dressed in what amounted to no better than a pauper's rags, and that strained against her flesh, threatening to tear away and leave her in nothing at all, she entered as if Nazarick were her palace.
Her head and eyes straight, Sebas escorted her around the throng, her presence and ease had a slow ameliorating effect on the elves and humans alike, and they began to quiet down. Cries became murmurs and fear became awe as they took in the towering and expansive room. The smooth dark columns, the obsidian throne and the figures up above, the bright lights that hung from on high and the rich red carpet that led to the distant double door. A few who still stood on that long crimson carpet began to scrunch their toes over it to savor that soft, comforting feeling.
But the Draconic Queen had eyes for only one. ' I never needed to see his face to know who he is. There's nobody else in all the world who has access to that spell.' The Queen told herself as she found herself centered before the throne. At her left she caught sight of the one she knew must be Queen Calca, and her companions.
' Am I captured, or rescued? A captive ruler can be made to give up everything at a single word…' It was a fleeting thought, but one she crushed quickly. ' I am a Queen. I will always be a Queen. Even if I'm cast down into the dirt… I will not shame myself.' She then crossed her feet at the ankles and as Sebas released his hold on her arm, her hands went out as if to grasp a royal dress instead of the mere air that was there and she bowed her head to the throne. "Thank you for the rescue, Allfather. I'm truly grateful."
"Queen Draudillon, please, raise your head, you are a guest in my home." Ainz said, but then tilted his head up to indicate the others, "And… they are?"
"My Lord, the Queen would not leave without those she deemed 'her people'. That is the cause of our coming after the rest." Sebas explained, putting his hand over his heart and giving a half bow, "If this displeases you-"
Ainz dismissed it with a wave of his hand and cut off the beginning of an apology. "No, it's fine. A handful of extra mouths is nothing."
The others finally came to their senses and rushed to make enough space for themselves, the clamor was brief, but seeing the way Draudillon behaved and hearing the title she gave to Ainz, they knew well enough what to do.
They bent the knee, descending to the floor with heads low and one knee up with the other back.
"You are safe." Ainz said, and a few began openly weeping in the kneeling ranks below. He gestured to his maids. "You will abide here as my guests, attended to by my maids, they will afford you every courtesy as the people of my good friend, Queen Draudillon." He then turned his eyes to Sebas. "See to their temporary 'comfortable' quartering until things in Arwintar are resolved."
"My Lord." Sebas answered, and with the firm organization of an experienced manager, he sorted them into groups, assigning several to each maid before they were led out.
With the rest gone, Ainz took more notice of the Queen herself, the clothing she wore looked to be sized for a child and left little to the imagination. "Queen Draudillon, we will have you provided something more… appropriate to your status. But first, are you… fit to carry on? Will you conduct the journey you intended to Arwintar with the rest of us… do you wish to return to your home, or to remain here for a time and… recover from your ordeal?"
It took some seconds of silence before the Draconic Queen understood what the Allfather meant. And to realize the implications of her transformation and the impact it had on how she appeared. She resized her body to that of a child. "I disguised myself this way, Allfather. It seems the elf King has no lustful interest in children, and I told him I was the 'daughter of the Queen' on the way to join my mother."
"Clever." Calca remarked from where she stood, "Very clever."
"Thank you, Queen Calca." Draudillon said with a wan little smile in the direction of her counterpart. "It was effective enough, I was turned into a servant, but I remain unmolested otherwise… The same is not true for my people… I lost several to suicide and the others… they will never be the same. I failed them all."
"Bad luck. But that is all, royal sister." Calca asserted and approached to place a hand on Draudillon's shoulder. "You had no way to beat that thing ."
"No, no I didn't. But he has to die for what he's done." The royal wrath of the now freed Draudillon was hotter than the burning sun. "He has to die, he has to pay…"
"He will." Ainz answered her. "He has attacked my ally, and a nation engaged in talks of subordination to my own. That is an act of war."
"My Lord you can't mean to…" Draudillon felt Calca squeeze her shoulder again.
The Draconic Queen felt the other hand of Calca touch her other shoulder, and the gentle breath of the white haired woman caressed her ear when the Holy Queen leaned in close, "Let the will of God be done, royal sister."
Ainz used his message spell again, and quietly held until, to Draudillon's surprise, a nervous looking girl holding a long wooden staff ran into the room.
The little girl clutched the staff as if afraid it would fall out of her hands if she relaxed, and she was, in the Queen's view, the picture of loveliness, soft features and wide eyes, heterochromatic, blue and green. A white skirt flapped about until she came close to the throne.
"L-Lord Ainz, wh-what can I do f-for you?" She asked.
"Mare, the elf King has committed an act of war against our Kingdom. Go seize his home. Take his kingdom away, and make yourself King in his place. And…" He scratched his chin, "Try not to cause 'too much' destruction, we don't want it to be hard to rebuild."
"My husband… what about the Slane Theocracy, they are also at war with the elves." Albedo asked and put her hand on his thigh, her lust rising to new heights as her Lord altered the world at a word before her very eyes.
"I suppose they should be treated 'temporarily' as allies." Ainz muttered and again he used his message spell. ' Just try not to cringe.' Ainz told himself.
Minutes later the melodramatic voice rang out, "Mein Vater! I come at your command!" Pandora's Actor made a dramatic wave of his right arm while putting his left hand to his chest. "What services can I render to thy eternal glory?!"
Ainz felt himself begin to groan, but as the yellow uniformed Pandora's Actor strode in with a supremely confident air, his cape billowing at his back and clad in a uniform that Ainz still thought, ' Looks really cool…' it seemed to impress the Draconic Queen if the lingering look she gave was any indication.
"Step-son. How good to meet you." Calca said and approached to grasp his hands. And briefly embrace the Treasury Guardian.
"And you, step-mother." He said, the three holes that passed for eyes and mouth made no expression, but his words were clearly more than warm, as was the gentle return of his embrace before she moved aside to allow him to present himself and kneel before the throne.
"You will go in the disguise of a human, to Kami Miyako. Inform them that we will join their war on the Elf Kingdom until it surrenders." Ainz answered, "I'm sure Mare can take care of it within a few days. I doubt the elves will resist when they learn that their King is dead."
"And when it is conquered, Vater, what do I tell them?" Pandora's Actor asked.
"That it is now a province of the Empire of Nazarick and that hostile actions will result in extermination for anyone crossing the border under arms." Ainz replied to his son.
"My Lord, the border is very large, perhaps something to guard it after the victory?" Albedo suggested, and Ainz rubbed his chin,
"Mare, when you leave, take Aura with you, her tamed beasts should be able to secure the border. Oh, and… use your dragons… oh and bring Heijinmal to search for books to add to our collection, it may take longer, but arriving on dragonback should impress the situation on the elves of Crescent Lake."
"M-My L-Lord, of course, y-yes." Mare shifted uncomfortably before rising to his feet.
"My Lord, perhaps I should see to the Draconic Queen myself, and to provide quarters for the Holy Queen's party. You… rest in your room, I will come tend to you afterward." Albedo suggested, and Ainz felt the hunger in her eyes despite the comportment of her voice.
' I wish I'd looked at her flavor text more closely, I'm starting to think Tabula put 'tease' in her settings.' Ainz thought as her wants began to inspire his own. She enjoyed the 'buildup' a great deal, and though he was certain she had no lustful intent toward either Calca or Draudillon, being a succubus, Ainz was fairly confident she would play out thoughts like that in her own mind before returning to pounce on him herself.
"That is an… excellent idea." Ainz said and clapped his hands together the way he'd seen Draudillon do when matters were settled. "Then let it all be done." He said, and when he stood up, so did Albedo, and those present began to enact his will.
Volume 7 C88
The arrival in Carne was unremarkable. "It's a busy place." Zesshi said as their horses clip-clopped on through the street. The main road was paved, but the noise of construction, despite being distant, was thunderous.
"Yeah." Brain said a little louder than he needed to, while Layali who rode in front of him, covered her ears. "It'll get quieter when we get into the middle of the city… this is happening over a lot of the places we're going to see. I can find some work for the day pretty easy, though we don't need it just yet, I'd rather have a nest egg just in case."
"You won't need it." Zesshi answered him.
Brain glanced over Layali's head. "I'm sorry?"
"I said, you won't need it." Zesshi repeated herself, "I asked you for a favor, and assuming my friends are as reliable as I think, today I fulfill it."
"A favor… what are-" Brain stopped when the memory tickled his mind and he raised his blue eyebrows, "You mean that thing about trusting you with something you would… not make a mistake about?"
"I said 'not screw up' but… yes, thank you for putting it nicely." The half-elf was quiet until they made it deeper into the city and the noise began to die down, the buildings were a mix of wood and stone, but more importantly the place was thoroughly, absurdly clean, and filled with all manner of different races going around seemingly indifferent to one another. Had there been anything left of her old views, they would have died halfway down that street.
When it was quieter Zesshi said, "We haven't been together all that long… not really. But you did more for me than you had to… I'm grateful for that, even… to know the hard things. So I'm going to pay you back, and pay for the rest of the trip to Arwintar."
"And… how will you do that exactly?" Brain asked the question, and Zesshi's face became smug, her nose tilted slightly into the air.
"I'll have you know that being a Black Scripture member pays very well. And I never spend a damn thing. So I used one of my connections to reach out to a friend who will do things without letting anybody know." Zesshi's smug look didn't vanish when she finished speaking, and she waited for Brain to show gratitude or surprise or… anything positive.
"And… how do you know he will actually be discreet, or that your way of reaching out to him will be discreet?" Brain asked the question as gently as he could, but he absentmindedly rested his left hand protectively on Layali's back.
Zesshi could only frown at that. "Why wouldn't they?"
Brain looked at Zesshi and asked, "How much did you request?"
"All of it. I mean," she scratched her head, "I figured it would be easier if I just had my wealth moved with me so we could draw what we wanted, and it'll be routed through the merchant guild halls."
"Zesshi… you used a government contact… didn't you?" Brain asked, he tensed his legs against the flanks of his pale horse, and true to his unfortunate expectations, Zesshi answered an offhand…
"Yes, of course. How else was I going to make the request? It's a long way to Kami Miyako for me to just shout, you know." She gave him a playful smile, and Brain could only say, as kindly as he could.
"Zesshi, thank you… but I wish you hadn't done this. I can find honest work here and there and we can sleep outside a little more, it hasn't-" He stopped before saying 'hurt us yet' as he recalled the piercing shriek Layali gave out when she was struck by the monster. "Never mind… just… don't reach out to them again. Promise me." Brain insisted, he leaned over slightly just when her mouth opened to object.
She closed her lips. ' It's just a message from me to Cenna, what's the problem?' She wondered, and watching the way he slightly winced when he breathed, she recalled the violent kick she'd given to his chest, and answered him, "I promise. I won't contact them again."
"So… what're we doing, anyway?" Layali looked up between the two of them.
"There's a guild I need to go to, if Cenna did what he's supposed to, then I have some things waiting for me, if not here, then at our next stop, either way, our whole journey to Arwintar is covered and everything will work out." Zesshi answered with a tiny reassuring smile down at the tiny half elf.
Far from giving a return smile, Layali went rigid and clung more tightly to the horse as if afraid she'd be pulled off of it. "If we need money, I can work. It's not like I don't know how, I served my father's family and siblings for a long time. Besides, wherever you put me… I know how it goes." She said as she stroked the mane of the pale horse. "I won't be their real daughter, so I'll have to work and earn my keep. Even if they're nice… they won't want me for long if I won't work so…"
Brain and Zesshi caught each other's eyes. In this they agreed, ' It won't be so again.'
The common thought ran between the two, and Brain patted Layali's head to quiet her before she went on too long. "No, that's not how it will be. If we can't find a nice family… we'll find a safe institution, I hear the ones in the Kingdom of Nazarick are really good."
"I'll even leave some extra for your care, I can afford it." Zesshi said, "You'll get good food and a bed of your own, no more monsters coming after you. It'll be fine. I'll pay enough to give you a good life growing up, and Raymond told me they were even offering apprenticeships to promising children, so you'll have a guaranteed job when you get older. This… isn't the sort of life you should have. Just wandering aimlessly with no security? I don't know much about the outside world but, that much even I can see." Zesshi said, and tried not to look down at what she knew were tears of frustration in Layali's eyes.
Volume 7 C89
Queen Draudillon soaked in the hot bath, it was the first hot water she'd had since her capture, and by itself it would have been considered a paradise. Not far away, the wife of the Allfather held up a dress suitable for royalty. The bright yellow eyes and their narrow vertical slits made it obvious, even if the wings hadn't, that Draudillon was dealing with a nonhuman, and one she felt sure held great power.
The dress was white with green ruffles that ran in a spiral around the base, but ended in ruffles beneath the chest that were of bright red and shaped in the fashion of a bouquet of roses which, thanks to their shape, would offer some degree of modesty. "This." The Allmother said, and Draudillon, wasn't about to argue.
' Even if they'd put me in a maid outfit, given what I was wearing before it would still be an improvement.' The Draconic Queen thought when she gave her nod of consent.
"And we have some glass shoes as well that will pair nicely with this." Albedo added, and again Draudillon gave a contented nod. But the Queen's mind was elsewhere.
"Will that really be all it takes to conquer the elf Kingdom?" Draudillon asked, and Albedo for her part, only laughed.
"It's overkill, if anything. But since you bring it up, you know I'm not here about clothing, don't you, clever Draconic Queen?" Albedo asked, and Draudillon raised her arm out of the water to rest it on the side of the stone tub. The splashing noise was her only response for several seconds until it faded away and she answered.
"Yes. Yes, I do. Our negotiations are different now… and things are worse for me." The Draconic Queen said and a bitter, harsh laugh cascaded around the room. "I didn't think they could be, back when I realized your support teams were the only thing keeping me from being overrun and the Theocracy's lukewarm response to chastise me, only made me more dependent. But now? If he chose to just add me as a third wife, as he took Calca, could I find grounds… or means to object? My reputation as a monarch will have been ruined by my captivity. Everybody knows what the Elf King does, and my Kingdom looks weaker than it ever has before. I daresay I'm worse off than Calca was when her Kingdom was crumbling and the demihumans were invading."
"You're more plainspoken about your situation than I expected, human." Albedo replied to her and went to stand beside the bath. "My… husband, the Allfather, for reasons that are entirely his own and beyond my understanding, has shown you considerable favor. He considers himself 'indebted' to you for something. Only his wisdom knows what. And unlike Calca, I know enough about you to know you would take advantage of that if you could. To wheedle concessions out of him… but I am his mate, his truest love, and that means knowing when I must protect him from himself ."
"So you wanted to talk, woman to woman rather than monarch to monarch." Draudillon supposed, and the pregnant monster gave a very broad smile that again put her outside of humanity.
"You catch on quickly." Albedo remarked. "The Golden Queen gave in to protect her love for her… King. The Holy Queen gave in to ensure her people could rebuild in safety. The Frost Queen… has yet to give in, but she will… for the security of her dreams. The Elf King will simply die and the rule of the Baharuth Empire will be 'ours'. The dwarves and quagoa gave in for salvation from the Demon Emperor and the frost dragons out of awe of the Allfather's power. The Wolf King and Queen gave in because we helped them win their war, and the elves will be outright conquered before the rule over Baharuth is decided. Now your Kingdom survives because of my beloved's generosity. So… what do you offer to keep it?"
"Does he desire my hand in marriage? If that is still mine to offer, and it seems to be, then-?" The Draconic Queen let her statement hang when the monster beside her shook her head.
"I and my compatriots first thought this was his goal, to put his heir on the throne of every nation. But it seems this isn't the case." Albedo answered, "Try again."
"What does he want?" The Queen asked, she tried not to notice the way the Allmother stared down at her as if she were something to be devoured.
" That is the right question, Draconic Queen." Albedo's smile returned as fast as it previously fled. "You will accelerate the negotiations by offering him everything he wants. If he suggests something, accept it. He is a god after all."
"A god…" Draudillon sighed and splashed water into her face, more to hide it than to clean it. "I prayed to the Six, and they refused my call. If they cared anything for us, I couldn't see it. My women died and the elves we're called to despise, sang their spirits to the beyond… the followers of the six neglected to aid my nation… and at my lowest… I prayed that the Allfather would save me… I called for him, not for the gods… and here I am." She wiped her face clean and raised her eyes to meet those of the monster. "My Kingdom is his Kingdom. My people are his people. Tell the Allfather, that if he grants his eternal security to my land, I and all my heirs will be his most loyal vassals. I will even offer my child's hand in marriage to one of his heirs to secure the bond."
"You have no children." Albedo pointed out. "It's easy to offer what you don't have, human."
"Then we will arrange a marriage for me, to someone of significance, someone who will benefit my Kingdom and that of the Allfather… one of his champions, or a champion of an allied house. We will make this possible." Draudillon said, and in spite of herself and her natural contempt for the 'average' human… or perhaps because she knew that Draudillon's lineage included nonhuman ancestry, the Allmother felt a begrudging regard for the woman's decisiveness.
"That will do." Albedo answered her counterpart, "Enjoy your bath, we will leave in the morning, and we will have a carriage ready for you, and an escort suitable to your status."
"I will… and… give the Allfather my thanks." Draudillon said, though if Albedo heard her before leaving the room, the Draconic Queen could not be sure, as Albedo said nothing in response.
Zesshi dropped the pouch on the table in their hotel room. It landed with a decisive clatter and a clang of coins, drawing the stare of both Brain and Layali. The black and white haired half elf put her hands on her hips and tilted her chin up. "See, I told you. We'll live in luxury all the way to Arwintar. Unlike Cenna, I was never allowed 'vacations' so this will be the first time in my life I've gotten to see what that's like. He always seems to enjoy it."
Brain lifted his gaze, "This is- great, and all." He said, looking down at the thick brown leather purse that was strained to the limit to hold all the coins. Even if they'd been mere coppers, he had no doubt that it would be a substantial sum, and somehow he knew, ' Those are not coppers in there.' However, he remained reticent. "But, what if something happens?"
"Oh, this is just what I was able to take out, the guild will send runners ahead informing the next leg of the journey that we'll be passing through and how much remains for me to draw on. Or so they said, I don't really know how it works… Raymond tried to explain it to me once but," she scratched her head while keeping one hand on her hip, "I don't really get it. Look, all I know is that the shiny stuff buys us what we want, and the shinier it is, the more it is worth, and we've got a lot of shinies. So relax."
"And what's that behind your back there?" Brain asked.
Zesshi turned a little red in the face, "I… had this flown here, if you want to know. Raymond has my weapon, and… I have no idea if I'm going to see him again. I still plan to fight, so I had these sent for me to use." She tapped one of the sheaths slung over her back. It rattled a little, "So… nothing for you to worry about."
"I see. I see." Brain deflated completely, his shoulders slumped and he sat down in the chair. "Good… that's, that's great." He said and tried to fake his smile up at Zesshi, and did a bad job of it even by his own reckoning.
"Oh, fuck! I'm bad at this…" Zesshi said and flopped down in the chair. "I lied." She said when Brain and Layali's eyes popped open in surprise at her sudden response.
"Here, I told Cenna both were for me, but they're not. One is, but the other one… it's for you. He probably had Time Turbulence fly out here, and probably called in a few favors too, but just like I hoped, they were waiting for me when I arrived." Zesshi said and thrust out a scabbard toward him.
Brain took it in both hands by reflex.
He stared down at the sheath, even that seemed inordinately expensive. "Is this… enchanted?" He asked, noticing the clear lightness despite the weapon within.
"For blade sharpening, it keeps the blade always ready for use, nicks and cuts are not a problem, sheath the sword and it will come out new again." Zesshi answered, and Brain took a look at the hilt. Wrapped with red leather from some unfamiliar creature, and with a long curved guard to protect the bearer and skid a connecting blade away, Brain's whole being called for him to draw the sword.
"It's… enchanted, isn't it?" He asked, his eyes welled up.
Zesshi's grin was as childish as it was genuine. "It is. Improved slashing damage, I noticed how you tend to favor slashing over thrusting, so… it's like it was made for you."
"I-I-I don't know what to say." Brain closed his left hand around the sheath and began to draw the sword with his right hand, the blade itself was a light shade of lavender, a blend of orichalcum and adamantite. He held it upright and let his eyes explore it with the same fascination that some men did with their lover's bodies. "This is… beautiful… I just… I've never had anything like this… nobody has ever given me anything . Let alone anything like this…" He spoke with breathless awe while Zesshi watched with her elbow on the table and her chin resting on the upright palm of her hand.
"So… you like it?" She asked.
"I-I do. Th-Thank you… I don't- I don't know what else I can say." Brain whispered as his eyes went up and down the sword's slight curve.
"So… you got a new sword… does that mean… you can fight again?" Layali asked and inched closer to him.
"I… I suppose it does." Brain stammered as if he'd briefly forgotten the entire point and been lost in the captivating moment of receiving the sword itself.
"Then… then does that mean you'll like me again, enough to keep me… does that mean I can stay…?" Layali asked and reached her arms out for a hug.
As soon as she spoke, Brain sheathed the sword, set it down on the table and turned to pick her up as fast as he possibly could.
Volume 7 C90
"Layali, you know that's not it." Brain said, and the little girl fell silent, she put her head against his chest and just listened to his heartbeat, his arm went around her back and he stroked it until she fell asleep there.
When Layali was asleep, he continued to stroke her back and put his free hand back on the sheathed blade. "She knew, didn't she, about the damage my previous sword took? That's why she's not been sleeping well, that's why she asked what she did a little while ago?" Brain asked, but it was a needless question.
"Yes." Zesshi crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I didn't toss the slag far enough, I guess. She must have found it, I didn't think she'd go close enough to the water to find it, but she must have."
"You explained things to her, right?" Brain asked, his hand unconsciously moving up and down the length of the sheath.
"Yes, but she's a kid, more of a child even than I am… not that I'm a child or anything but… a lot of things are still, I'm just inexperienced, in some ways and in others she's more experienced than me but I tried to tell her. I've seen a lot of monsters, and I know the world is dangerous, if you're going to travel, there's always the chance… look, I told her all this. But she's fixated, doesn't want to leave even if it's what's best." Zesshi dropped her arms to her side and let out a little snort. "She even suggested I stay too. I mean, she's right, I've got nowhere to go, but what do I know about being a mother figure? Mine has been dead for decades and I mostly remember her looking sad whenever she looked at me. Even though she tried… I'm so messed up I'd breed with a monster if it just meant that a child I had would be strong enough that they'd never go through what my mother did. What my… what my siblings evidently still do ."
"Zesshi…" Brain shook his head, "That's not messed up, not as much as you think. A strong mate is as safe as anything can ever be. A strong parent too, for that matter. In all my travels, I've seen plenty of times when people wished their parent or mate was stronger, never once did I see someone wish, or be glad, that the other was weaker. Maybe you take it to a little greater an extreme than most… but then you are extreme already, just by being you." He smirked a little at her, and she smirked back in response to the teasing taunt.
"Getting a thing for me, Brain? Is that how former bandits and human swordmasters flirt with warrior women?" She didn't force the laugh, but nor did she dive into the humor when his boyish grin grew.
"Nah, nothing like that, besides, I can't beat you, not even with this." He tapped a hand on her gift to him. "Besides, you're pretty, but far too innocent, I think I'd feel bad about corrupting you no matter how good it felt along the way." He laughed when the half-elf turned a furious shade of red.
"It's not my fault. I just don't get out much and everybody around me is so… weak . I'd probably snap them in two. That doesn't make for good seduction, even I know that much." She snapped at him with mock anger.
The brief attempt at flirtation fell away when she said, "But… back to her… we shouldn't look for a place here, it will just upset her for the rest of the trip, plus it is still way too close to the Slane Theocracy. She'd never feel safe, they even made incursions this far a few years ago… so we should go farther north, to the Kingdom of Nazarick, there are some towns along the way, Raymond showed me on the map that he said were sizable."
"You can read a map?" Brain asked, and Zesshi's blush returned.
"No. But I know what town pictures look like and he'd drawn our route, he said we'd be taking the main roads the same as the other leaders. If we do the same, we can stop at a town just before the city of Peronia, that's about the halfway mark. I'll bet we can find somewhere there, a farm, a good orphanage or something." Zesshi suggested, and Brain got to his feet still cradling the half elven girl.
"Okay…" Brain said as he put Layali down in a bed far larger than she needed. "But let's… not talk about that for now. I'd rather not think about it."
"Me neither…" Zesshi answered, "Me neither."
"Master is worried." Nua said as she held the door to the carriage open.
Raymond said nothing as he got in, and nothing as Nua followed.
He said nothing at all until the door was closed behind her. "You were right. They said nothing. They condemned your country for its actions, but let you walk out of here with me, thinking… no… they let you leave with a slave in tow."
"Nua." Raymond said and put a hand on her knee. "You know I-"
"I know." She said to him and put her hand over his own, "But they don't. For all they know you do to me every night what Dominic did to make sure I was broken… playing pretend to hide myself behind a mask is… exhausting, now that I've stopped, I don't know if I could do it again. So… what will you do?" Nua asked of him, and Raymond drew back his hand.
Nua's references to the fire-tempered Cardinal were always a sore point that stuck in Raymond's guts, though she never spoke of anything directly, the ugly wounds she had spoke of a truly sadistic streak and a deep seated hatred for elves.
"I will write a letter… they'll have to be eased into this, little by little. Berenice and Ginedine… maybe I can convince them. The old man is intelligent, extremely so. I can probably argue him down on practical grounds. Berenice is a somewhat motherly woman. She can be fierce, and coldly practical, but give her a choice and she'd prefer more peaceful coexistence, and she might make concessions to get it. Maximilian… I don't know, he is fixated on the law. He was once a judge and he's the Cardinal of Darkness. He could go either way. Yvon, he and Dominic see eye to eye far more often. Then there's the Pontifex Maximus, Necran Adama… a man less suited for politics, I've never met. This is going to be an uphill fight no matter what."
"Then shall we begin, Raymond?" Nua said and opened up her scribal kit, she set it on her lap along with the quill and ink. "Tell me, master, what will I write, that will set my people free?"
If she seemed beautiful before, when he looked up at her again, she was positively radiant then. He threw open the curtain of the carriage and flooded the enclosed space with the light of the sun just to watch the way the light played with her short, golden hair, then he cleared his throat and began to dictate the first of what he knew then would be many letters, while the carriage rolled steadily on toward Arwintar..
" To my friends and comrades… the days ahead will challenge us all, but to understand that challenge, let me begin by telling you the things I have seen with my own eyes…"
Volume 7 C91
Demiurge looked down at the corpse. ' So you were a woman of legend .' He thought, "What an absurd way to die, killed by your own friend." The archdevil held little enough pity for the dead creature, but disloyalty offended him on a deeply personal level.
The 'friend' or what had been her, lay on the next table over. The mush of her head and brain matter lay where an intact head would have been in life, it made resurrection marginally easier if more of the corpse was present. But so far he'd raised neither of them from the dead, or 'undeath' as it were.
Instead, because of their strength, and their diverse physical tendencies, he'd been conducting experiments with mana flow. ' Tier magic is so close to what it was like in Yggdrassil, but there it… it just had none of these properties, it just 'worked'. Here though?' The thought was a blend of exhilaration and intimidation.
' I've learned so much from Remedios… but I'm missing something… even if our lord doesn't use this… the possible applications are boundless.' Demiurge began to pace beside the preserved corpses. "Maybe…" He looked down at the body of Lakyus, "Maybe the base form matters more than I thought, what if I added another step… and what if…?" He looked toward the door of his lab. Somewhere out there, the Draconic Queen, a rare Wild Magic user, was slowly reaching the conclusion that she had no future unless it was under the Allfather's thumb.
' Wild magic… may be the key.' He considered it more, and more… but then gave it further thought… ' I need more souls though… more followers, her kingdom just doesn't have enough… but then… the beastmen do . I suppose one more trip would be worthwhile… and I get the feeling the Draconic Queen won't be feeling particularly merciful anytime soon. Perhaps we can see how strong her Wild Magic can be… do what we did with Arche and her companions…'
The thoughts and plans spun on in the archdevil's mind, for possibilities that seemed to go on and on without end…
"So can you really beat him?" Brain asked the question of his traveling companion the following morning.
"It's that or a fate worse than death." Zesshi answered him when they were well on the road again.
"I don't want Zesshi to die." Layali chimed in, for the moment she rode on the front of Zesshi's horse and leaned back against the chest of the heterochromatic half elf. "So you're not allowed to." She insisted with the kind of seriousness that only a small girl could muster.
"Understood." Zesshi answered and patted the top of Layali's head. "I'll just have to win then."
"And if you win the throne, what then?" Brain asked.
The breeze blew on, and the long dangling hair of Zesshi's was joined by the rest of her long strands, the sun was beaming down with only the most distant of clouds which carried the southern storms to the far north. The horses clip-clopped along and for a fair time, Zesshi didn't say anything.
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to." Brain said and bringing his hand to his mouth, he coughed into it, clearing his throat and hoping to have cleared an awkward moment.
"I don't know." Zesshi finally stated, "I just don't. I was supposed to hand it over to the Slane Theocracy like a present, something they could use to crush the last resistance of the elf Kingdom. But I can't do that now, and I won't. With my father dead and the power of the empire, there'd be nothing to stop the Theocracy from overrunning the whole region… things like… what happened with my brother, and those others… they'd never end. I don't want that. But I don't know how to rule anything."
"How would you like it?" Zesshi asked him.
"Like… the Empire… the throne?" Brain pointed at his chest and looked at her half openmouthed, "You're not serious?"
"I'm not 'not serious'. You know a lot more than me, I'm just a warrior, I fight, and that's all… I can't do a damn thing… I don't want a throne. If I win, I'll give it to the next most powerful survivor, maybe I'll offer to guarantee their spot on it… of course… if somebody beats me, and offers to make me the Empress, that's different."
"That's something you really want?" Brain asked, "To just fight and have strong children?"
"I never really thought of anything else, not really." Zesshi answered, "When you're a scripture member they really only want you to do two things, fight and screw. So it's all they taught me."
Brain inched his horse closer to Zesshi so that they were side by side, "Is that why they took you from your mother?" He asked her, and it was her turn to drop her jaw.
"I-I never thought of that… I… by the balls of the gods…" She lowered her eyes to just watch the road pass beneath her horse. "I… they said it was for my own good, that she was getting too old and I had too many special needs as a…" Her eyes stung as she the realization hit her.
"Bastards… they wanted me as a… and they were always trying to get me to lie with Cenna… they took me away from my mother, let her die without me… so they could raise me for that ?! I really was a card… to be used and discarded when they were done…" Zesshi lost herself in her own thoughts, ' Did Raymond know… no, no he couldn't have known that much, plus I heard him talk about me… whatever else he's done, he does care about me, he wouldn't have kept that from me…'
"You're just like my mother, in the end…" Layali said and put her little hands over Zesshi's, "Not human… not a person. Just a tool. I'm sorry, really sorry… I didn't like it either…" The little girl's tiny voice was utterly sincere, and she twisted herself halfway round to swing her arm around Zesshi's slender frame to give the elder half-elf a hug.
They were silent for a while, Zesshi, with great delicacy, put her hand on top of Layali's head and stroked it a few times, she couldn't say how it felt for the little former slave to actually pity the pinnacle of power. But when she felt her heart tear in half at Brain's unexpected and unimagined observation, the little embrace… put a few stitches at the tear.
' Maybe… maybe we don't have to give her up…' The trump card thought, playing her cards close to her chest as they rode onward to the north, and without thinking about it, both Brain and Zesshi spurred their horses at the same time, and chased after the northern horizon on the endless road ahead.
Volume 7 C92
"Damn it!" The elf king bellowed and raged, he was breathing hard, his chest rising and falling, it wasn't exhaustion, but fury that drove him to punch the ground again. "Somehow that whelp was behind this… I know she was! My other cunts are too useless… I should have broken that trash in, breeding ready or not!" He howled his rage and kicked his foot against the fireplace. The stones shattered into powder, foam formed around his mouth as his fury rose to ever greater heights.
' Trash nation. Trash people… everything is trash, they should lick the dirt from my boots to show their gratitude that I let them serve me at all!' He stalked around from place to place and recalled the feeling of magic, and the familiar array of creatures that appeared out of nowhere on his grounds.
' Gate magic… and undead minions… the same as that time.' His anger hadn't abated but the stirring of the memory stopped his destructive rampage. Around the estate there were broken walls with elf King sized holes through them, wooden chips and shattered stone… and not even any of his guards remained. ' This is how they rescued those hostages… so many did the same thing after that… force me to fight somewhere because of my pathetic servants, then swoop in and take them before fighting me… if I ever find this mysterious Gaym Gyde… I'll torture them to death…'
' I know the Nines are behind this… that whelp, she mentioned an Ainz Ooal Gown… it must be the same.' The elf King growled and stomped around his 'designated area'.
' Soon enough the next area will open… then… in the arena, new hostages, new prizes… new mates to make into mothers… maybe that stock will enable me to take this world. Then… then at last I can live as I should.'
' It's strange,' Draudillon spoke privately to herself as she strode down the long hall of Nazarick behind the maid. ' When I was a captive of that monster, I wanted two things. To keep my people safe and to avoid being violated like they were. Now here I am, I'm not a prisoner in fact, but I could be made so at any time… but I'm worried about neither what will happen to my people, nor that the Allfather would act like the elf King. What a difference context makes.' By simply speaking as a guest in the beginning and having his tacit agreement in calling it 'hospitality' the exact same situation was flipped entirely on its head.
' And yet despite all of that, my heart is still pounding the way it was when that elf leveled his arrow at me.' She rubbed her forehead and followed patiently behind the maid.
"Can you tell me anything about the Allfather?" Draudillon asked, "What is he like in private, what can I expect, how should I behave?" Draudillon asked, and the fire haired maid spun on her heel and giggled.
"Oh, he's going to assault you, oh yes. He's going to be so rough with you, oh, you poor powerless…" Lupusregina cracked up and began to laugh uproariously at the Queen's paling face. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Lupusregina waved her hand back and forth, fanning herself as if the laughter heated her up too much. "You just reminded me of somebody I met once that pulled similar faces. No, no, nothing like that will happen."
Queen Draudillon stopped in her tracks. "Is that true?"
"Yes, you have nothing to worry about, as long as you do three things, Queen Draudillon." The maid held up three fingers between the two of them.
"First," she lowered one finger, "show that you will treat all beings the same. He loves us all very much, if you want to survive, show that you'll make a world we can be safe and happy in. Second," she lowered another finger, "submit yourself to his will. He is no mere King -su. He is a living God . Master of the forty-one, this world is his, and there are only two types of entities in it. Those who will help to hand it to him… and the dead over which we tread… or feast." She licked her lips and her animalistic hunger became more obvious. Draudillon took a step back by sheer instinct, and the maid's demeanor shifted back to the quiet, demure servant it was a mere moment ago. "And third," she lowered her final finger, "Work hard."
' So like Albedo… monsters under the rule of a King who can command monsters, who can steal under the nose of the elf King, who can slaughter armies or save nations… no matter how clever I am… I can't win if I'm on any side but his…' The truth Albedo dangled out so politely was driven home with this simple maid revealing a shadow of her monstrous self.
"Then lead on." Draudillon said, straightening her back and stiffening her resolve.
"You humans… never tire of ya, you know. Always such a worried lot, always frantic." Lupusregina put her hands behind her head as she led the way, "It's kinda funny, my sister, Solution is the one I get along with the best on account of we always tell the total truth. It's not cause we're nice, we're not. It's cause that hurts you folk the most, an yah hide from it, even though yah need it far more than yah know. Face the truth, or get crushed by it." Lupusregina giggled as she recalled the way Lakyus's skull was crushed against the stone, and the broken, shattered souls of the three survivors of the now wilted rose.
"So… what're you goin in there to do anyway, or is that none of a little maid's business?" Lupusregina asked when they reached the King's bedroom.
"Add my kingdom to his. Unconditionally, even if I must go with it." The Queen answered as Lupusregina knocked.
The Draconic Queen could hear the noise of voices, but not what was being said, though a moment later words 'Allow her in' came through clearly enough.
Lupusregina opened the door and closed it behind the Queen, ' That was easy… but I wonder where those fallen petals landed… prolly right where they were s'posed to.' She told herself and went back to her duties again.
"Selki? Shorla? Mazaor?" Acolyte Ja'ness asked of the darkened room. "Why is it so dark in here?" He asked. One of the few pleasant things about the harsh training of priests in the Slane Theocracy, was that at least you never had to fear being in the dark for long. There was always somebody in the monastic school who was reading something, even into the wee hours of the morning.
While a storm raged on outside, with howling winds and rolling rumbles of thunder that caused trees to bend over almost halfway, the indoors was always dry, and warm… relatively, and lit .
But now there was darkness. ' Come on…' He told himself, then said it. "Come on, this isn't funny. We're not first years . Say something, light a candle, we've got studying to do and the head priest's note said he'd be here in an hour." Tall and slender, Acolyte Ja'ness was one of the more graceful students, and… generally prone to some degree of sloppiness when it came to being on time, a fact that annoyed most of his peers.
"Look, I know I'm late… again, but there was a good reason this time! There's no need to prank me!" He shouted into the big, dark room. ' Hiding under their desks waiting to scare me or something… jackasses.' He grumbled, the noise of a wet slap like his foot hit a puddle resounded under his feet.
"Come on… I don't want to mop in here…" He grumbled as he flailed in the dark in search of a sconce on the wall. He found it quickly enough and fumbled with his hand, tracing his fingers over the bronze outline until he knew which way it went, and followed it up to find the soft feel of the wax candle.
"You're late." A voice said in the dark, a woman's voice. "We were supposed to be gone an hour ago."
"Maris, or is that Avis? I'm sorry… I was…" Ja'ness held his finger up to the candle wick. [Spark] he cast the utility spell and a tiny spark jumped from his fingertip to the wick and cast the dancing yellow light around him.
He opened his mouth to scream, nothing came out.
Strewn about the room were corpses, blood still dripping from their bodies where they lay slumped over. The dripping blood pooling on the stone floor, at least twenty of them. Ja'ness fell to the floor and began to back away, "No! Ahhh… what the fuck… what the fucking fuck?!" He fell to panting until his body stopped going backwards, his hands felt wet, as did the back of his pants, he raised his hands to look at them, his palms were red, and the blood that stained them, cold.
He craned his neck up to find himself looking at a giant of a woman.
Lightning cracked against the sky outside, and two more figures, twins, came in through the windows. "We got the others, evil mountain." One of the pair said.
"Evil mountain, you were supposed to be done. Why is he alive?" The other asked.
"He was late." The mountain of a woman muttered, she then shoved her leg forward, giving him a swift kick and sending him skittering through the blood. She reached behind her and took out a large hammer from off of her back.
"Why… for god's sake… why… I-" Ja'ness cried out, ' I can't die here… I was supposed to become a scripture member, and a cardinal… I was supposed to be the one who stayed at the top of this nation… I can't die here!' He screamed inside his head, and screamed out loud a moment later as he rolled over and tried to scramble through the blood-slick stones, splashing droplets about as he made to flee for his life.
Gagaran's voice cast hatred like archers cast arrows and slingers cast stones, "Ask your gods when you meet them!" She roared with her half mad eyes alight brighter than the candle light or the lightning itself… and brought the hammer down on the last acolyte's skull, smashing it to mush just as he elicited one last scream.
With that, Gagaran reached up, licked her thumb and forefinger, and then closed them over the last candle, leaving the slain corpses for others to discover.
"Come on, the Slane Theocracy has a lot of priests, so this is only the beginning. We don't want to waste time while it's still easy." Gagaran said, and with that, Tia and Tina fell in behind her, heading toward the door the acolyte had come in through. "Right. Evil Mountain."
"Right."
The twins uttered, and left the slaughter at their backs.
Volume 7 C93
Zesshi crouched down over Layali as the fire crackled nearby, and covered her with a small blanket. The bouncing flames seemed to dance to music only they could hear, spurred on by Brain's continued poking at the embers. Sparks jumped up as if they feared his touch and died in the open air after a fraction of a second's life, and a light breeze blew at his blue hair, caressing his skin and adding comfort to the dark of night.
"She's asleep." Zesshi said after returning to him.
"I know." Brain replied to her without looking in her direction.
"How? You weren't checking her and she's not snoring." Zesshi asked, furrowing her brow at him.
"You wouldn't have come over here if she weren't." Brain replied, "Now spill it. We've been on the road for days, and galloping for half of it and you've barely said ten words. Give me whatever speech you've been comprising in your head and get it over with."
Zesshi stiffened and blinked, and then her shoulders drooped a little, "Damn it! I can kick your ass from here to Arwintar still, and yet somehow you see through me like I'm a clean glass window."
Brain shrugged off the praise, "You're an innocent, it's that simple. But I don't know exactly what you were going to say so… say it."
"I don't like the idea of leaving Layali somewhere." Zesshi spat the words out in haste, and Brain never stopped looking into the flames to address her.
"And I don't want her to end up wandering the road alone at her age, or being eaten by a monster… so, what do you suggest?" He asked pointedly. "Even if you stay with me and we can, between the two of us… mostly you," he acknowledged with a begrudging shrug, "can handle anything the world throws at us… what then? Can you teach her anything other than fighting?"
"No… I can read and write… I can do simple numbers. But I-I never had much of a head for the rest and they never bothered to teach me anything more." Zesshi clasped her hands together and rested them between her knees.
"I can read and write some, but again… just like you, fighting is all I know. Say we teach her to fight, and that's all she knows how to do. Even with that 'ability' of hers… or worse, because of it… what's going to happen to her? She could become an adventurer, or a soldier… and just bear wound after wound after wound… I've never seen a talent like hers… and it makes me scared for her. At least if I take a sword to the brain, my suffering will end . I don't know what can kill that girl… so… a safer life… get her a merchant spot, an education, a farm…" Brain insisted.
Back and forth they went, getting lost in their discussion until…
Zesshi stopped speaking, she looked past the blue haired swordsman. "Layali… why are you up… put that down, don't play with that…"
Brain turned around to look, Layali was awake and had Brain's sword in hand, she drew it from the sheath, and alarm swept over her face. "Layali… what's wrong?!" Brain shouted, "Don't!"
The firelight cast its glow over her body and made it abundantly clear something was wrong. "Brain… Zesshi… what's happening?! Help me! Please!" She asked, her hand was shaking as if she were fighting against the blade, "I'm not doing this!" She screamed as it was drawn across her throat. "No! I don't wanna go! I don't wanna go!" She howled as red began to run away from her throat as it pumped out.
Zesshi and Brain reached Layali at almost the same moment, the blade fell away from nerveless fingers and Brain kicked it away as he caught her fall.
"Don't worry! You'll be fine!" He shouted, he knew the truth, ' She will be fine… but we can't cover this up!' He cursed as Zesshi slapped a hand over the wound.
"Squeeze it tight!" Brain snapped, "I can fix it… but Layali," he said as he looked into her eyes, "this is going to hurt!"
Her eyes were full of fear as he rose away from her, leaving Zesshi to cradle her back and holding the little half elf against her. "It'll be fine." Zesshi promised, "Brain knows what to do, he always does, just… be okay, just know that you'll be okay." Zesshi promised as Layali spasmed and shook.
"I don't like the cold…" Layali whispered.
Then Brain was at her side with needle and sutures in hand. "A little fieldcraft… you'll be good as new with a little food… just be patient and bear the stings… Zesshi, hold her head back, I need her taut and not moving."
Zesshy grabbed Layali beneath the chin and forced the girl's head to tilt as Brain instructed, and he bit down on his tongue while he began to work. This time his fingers moved with smooth, practiced ease.
"Owie… it hurts… it hurts a lot… I don't like this…" Layali said and kicked her little legs about while she clung to Zesshi's arm as tightly as she could.
Blessedly, it did not have to be endured for long, "I'd rather not burn there, so… Layali, lie down on your back and look up at the sky and don't move till morning.
"What… happened?" Zesshi asked, "Why did you do that… what were you thinking ?!" Zesshi demanded of the girl, and Layali's eyes pooled over, blurring the young girl's view of her elder companion.
"I-I wasn't, I didn't… I heard you all talking, and I thought… I can fight, I… I wanted to pick up the sword, try some poses like you and Brain do… and then the sword… the sword made me do it!" She sniffled and reached up to wipe her nose, only for Zesshi to bat the girl's hand away with a slap and then wipe it for her.
"No, no moving." Zesshi insisted, and Layali lowered her arm to her side on the cool grass.
She then reached for the dropped blade, "Stop!" Brain snapped and kicked it away, allowing it to tumble off into the darkness.
"What was that?!" Zesshi snapped.
"She just told you. The sword made her do it." Brain quipped and pointed after it, "That was a cursed item."
"Bullshit! You didn't die, you didn't injure yourself!" Zesshi glared, "And I don't own any cursed items!"
"You should know as well as I do, Zesshi, that the more focused you make a spell, the more powerful it becomes. The same goes for curses. I'm not a half elf, or any kind of elf, so I'm guessing it wasn't going to work on me at all. But maybe they made it cursed only to half-elves. Or maybe they made it cursed only to the descendants of the elf King, to make it even more potent. You definitely qualify, and she might too." Brain pointed down at the limp Layali. "Either way… that was meant for you ." Brain insisted, and Zesshi felt her fading pulse roar back again.
"But I… I got this from Cenna! He's my friend! He wouldn't try to have me killed like this! He wouldn't! I know him!" Zesshi yelled at Brain, but he could see the way her body shook, it was just denial, the ugly truth was clear in her eyes, she just couldn't face it.
"I'm sorry. But this is why I told you not to do this, don't reach out to old friends, old contacts, former comrades… what you did looks a lot like treason… and I'd say they decided they had to get rid of you. And if they didn't have anyone strong enough to kill you in person… your own hands would be good enough." Brain said, and crouching down, he took a little herbal water and held it to Layali's lips.
"Have some of this, the sleep will help you heal." He promised, her eyes were still bright as the stars above, and she gave a quiet little nod to him and allowed it to carry her to sleep.
"He's my friend… he's my closest friend in the Black Scripture except maybe Raymond… We fought together, drank together, and other than Raymond, he was the only one who would come see me in the treasury. Raymond lies to me… my country steals my mother away from me… my friends… my friend tries to kill me… what do I have left…?" She asked him point blank as the weight of it all hit her.
"I'm here… Layali is here." Brain said and led her back to the flames, he rubbed her shaking hand and, placing the other on her back, he gently sat her down.
"If Layali didn't have that talent… she'd already be dead, and I… I nearly got her killed, just because I didn't listen… because I just… fuck… I screwed everything up… I screw everything up… Why can't I do a damn thing right?!" She looked at him through glistening eyes. "Why're you even still with a screw up like me…"
"Being around people I like is pretty rare, so… I figured I should enjoy it while it lasts." Brain tried to smile at her, "Layali, she's not your fault, they tried to kill you, she got caught in the middle…"
Zesshi accepted the words he offered, then added, "You've been… a wonderful companion… thank you. You have more patience than… than I could bear… I'm sorry I've been such a burden."
"You haven't been, and don't forget you did save Layali's life before. Don't be so hard on yourself." Brain said and put a hand on her shoulder, he gave it a squeeze and for a few seconds she said nothing.
"Brain." She finally spoke.
"Yes." He replied to her.
"Don't say anything, I just… I don't want to think right now… just to feel something else." She said, and before he could say anything, her lips were locked on his and he felt her pressing him into the grass, her fingers flying faster than the eye could follow over his clothing and hers alike.
Volume 7 C94
Experience is a great teacher. And over the course of his wanderings, Brain had spent his hard won coin on professionals of many stripes, from those who knew the way of the sword, even if it meant only to learn one single technique, to those who mastered dancing on their backs. It was the latter whom Brain drew knowledge from when Zesshi kissed him, she was forceful, almost violent, and tears were stinging her eyes when she did it.
What she felt was not unknown, and what she wanted, what she sought in his arms, was clear as day. So he returned the kiss, he let his hands work her clothing as hers did his, and when she grasped his manhood, he was already prepared for her.
There was no talking, not with words when she wrapped her legs around him and sought release. But her naivete, her innocence, was obvious again. Without a word, his lips spoke to her. Without a noise, his tongue instructed her. Without a swordsman's grip, he held her.
And Zesshi proved herself to be a quick study and an enthusiastic student as the minutes compiled themselves into hours and the slick sweat of their bodies commingled. "Ahh-ahhh-ahhh… right- there- yes, just like that…" Zesshi gasped as Brain's sword-calloused finger teased at her clit. Her body rose and fell against him, her eyes shut tight against the world as bliss engulfed her and that now familiar shaking overtook her and caused her toes to curl and her eyes to roll back into her head as her back arched to meet him.
She couldn't speak when his lips captured hers in a kiss and their tongues dueled in a battle with neither a winner nor loser and she felt his body's iron within, even having never been with anyone before, the warriors of the Black Scripture were a rough lot and not shy with their words. She had word of mouth enough to know what was happening, and in her fevered, ravenous state she embraced it, tightening her inner muscles around his shaft and clinging to him as if he were a lifeline and she was near to drowning.
She arched herself one more time and gushed her desire over his flesh, heard him groan and felt his arms tighten around her body, the scent of their mingled desires filled her nostrils as she felt him erupt within her… and they collapsed.
She landed on him, their chests both heaving, it was he who pulled her down onto him, so that she was on top and they were still joined at the hips.
For perhaps a minute, heavy breathing was the only thing close to language that they had, and Zesshi felt weaker than she ever had, allowing herself to rest entirely on his chest. His hand went down her back to rest lightly on her ass, and a little trace of a smile formed on her lips. "So, are you a gentleman to let me rest on top… or is that the pervert's way of getting to grab my ass again?"
Brain laughed through his heavy breathing and said, "Both works. But are you okay? Are we- okay?" He asked and turned his head to look up at her when she rose over him just a little.
"Yeah… yeah, we are… I just… I wasn't planning that, but knowing that Cenna tried to have me killed?" Zesshi looked away, "I never expected that out of him."
"To be fair, maybe he didn't. Maybe what you requested, never even reached him. You didn't go to him but to someone else. Maybe they set it up." Brain suggested it tentatively, she could see on his face, the way his eyes moved away, that he wasn't sure about that and was just trying to make her feel better.
It made her heart melt just a little, but even if he didn't believe his own words, to Zesshi? ' That makes sense, the Agante don't work for the Black. They work for Dominic. Raymond had words with him over me before. What was it I heard him shout? 'The good of humanity includes what is good for her, and if I have to say it again, I won't use words!'
Nobody short of her mother had ever argued on her behalf before, and it secured her absolute trust in Raymond for the next twenty years and some. ' I could easily see Dominic, maybe the others too, deciding to get rid of me if they thought I was betraying them.' She considered it, and found it more than probable.
"So… us?" Brain asked.
"Are we different people?" Zesshi asked, and Brain cocked his head at her.
"So yes, we're fine. You didn't do anything I didn't want…" She smirked a little, "Very much the opposite actually."
"Practice makes perfect." He wore that boyish, cocky little smile and a tiny part of it infuriated her, but in a good way that left her feeling something she hadn't felt in a long time. Playful.
"Pervert." She said and crossed her arms, she felt his manhood inside her begin to stiffen. "What am I going to do with you… ahhhh!" She began rocking her hips back and forth and then her arms came out and pinned him at the shoulders, her hair tumbled away off either side of her back. "Let's play- a game…" She whispered as she began to work his flesh with hers.
"The one who finishes first, makes camp for the next two nights." She suggested.
"I'll… take that bet." He said, and played 'dirty' to win over the course of another hour until she clamped her teeth down on his shoulder to keep back her screams as he claimed victory, and finished within only seconds later.
He felt her bloody him by clawing at his back and breaking the skin on his shoulder, and didn't care.
"I win." She said when they finally separated themselves and Zesshi stood up to stretch, and reached down to poke at the slowly dying fire. The orange glow briefly roared to life and illuminated her glorious form, the black and white hair swayed a little in the breeze, particularly the long single strand that always danced even when there was nothing to stir it. Her breasts were far from large, but they were supple, like ripe peaches. Her long, slender legs were far more powerful than they appeared, and her half elven ears twitched still from the attention he'd paid to them.
"I don't feel like I lost that." Brain said as he rolled over and rested his ear against his palm and his elbow on the ground.
"I know enough to know that if a man has sex, he never feels like he's lost." Zesshi smirked, "I suppose I'll make camp for the next two days, a deal's a deal. And when we get to town…" She looked over at Layali, the little half elf still slept on, the bandage around her throat would require an explanation. "We'll say goodbye to her. If the Theocracy learns that their attempt failed… and I stand out, so they'll learn it for sure… she might get, no, she will get caught up in another attempt. I don't want that."
"Me neither. But Layali will object." Brain pointed out.
"I know." Zesshi answered and crouching near the fire, she hugged herself, "Things were simpler before I left."
"Welcome to the world. It's a mess out here." Brain said while he put his clothes back on.
Zesshi looked over at him from where she crouched before seating herself, "What, no sage advice? No, 'it gets easier' or anything?" She demanded.
"No, nothing. And if you want it easy, stay alone. That's what I've always done. As soon as you add more to the mix, things get messy… pleasantly sometimes." He said, his eyes roaming her bare skin again and that boyish, cocky, infuriating smirk returning and causing her to remember her present nudity.
"Gah! Pervert!" She snapped and held out her hand, he laughed, picked up her clothing, and handed it to her. She snatched it away and put her back to him to get dressed, though when he sat beside the fire with her, she didn't move away, instead they watched the flame until it turned to ash, and the small half elven girl, until she woke up with the rising sun.
Volume 7 C95
When Layali woke up, she didn't move a muscle. Her eyes blinked and she stared up at the sky, memories of the previous day descended on her like an avalanche, and she had only one question.
"Why am I alive? I cut my throat… I cut my throat and I'm alive. Why am I alive?" The small child demanded of them both.
Brain and Zesshi traded a glance, Layali turned her head only just a little, enough that she was able to see them directly and not only out of the corner of her eye. Her relief was colored by her own fear of the unknown, and her small frame seemed even more vulnerable now that she was confronted with something she had no answer for.
"Do you know what 'talents' are?" Brian asked.
Layali furrowed her brow, "No."
"So you've never met anyone with them?" Zesshi asked.
"I mean, I knew a boy who was a good player with instruments. A girl who could sing, a couple who were good at dancing… but that's not what you mean, huh?" She asked.
"No, no it isn't." Brain closed his hands together in front of himself, "Talents are things people are born with, not everybody, but some. Some are useless, there was a man I knew once who could place one foot on air and walk on it like it was solid ground… but that's it. He couldn't go any higher or move any faster. It kept his feet dry, at least. But it was a mostly useless trick. Others are very useful. I was born with a sword talent, I never had to practice to master any technique, I even surpassed the man who defeated me. I was just born gifted. And another, he was able to breathe underwater. And now… there's you. You… can't die."
Layali had only one thing to say to that. "Brain… Did you hit your head?"
"He's being serious, Layali. You should have bled to death in seconds last night. That was a clean cut with a sword enchanted for bleeding damage specifically from cuts. You should be dead. And with the monster before… that tore open your femoral artery. That kills grown men in less than a minute or two. And from what Brain says about your condition when you met… any one of your injuries should have killed you long before he found you." Zesshi insisted, then approached the girl and put a hand on her shoulder.
"So why am I still bandaged, why am I not healed?" Layali demanded to know, doubt clouded her eyes, and Zesshi exhaled deeply.
"We said you can't die. Not that you heal quickly." Brain replied to her and followed after Zesshi, he went to the opposite side of her, crouched down and took her hand. "The body will always try to repair itself, even with fatal injuries it will try to fix itself until it dies. But yours… doesn't die. Poison from that monster, head wounds, drowning, stabbing, slashing, infection, internal…" He shut his eyes as he recalled the tearing of her tiny body that Cerebrate had done, "Internal tearing, all of these failed to kill you. Essentially… your body will more or less always be able to fix itself. I don't think you'll regrow limbs but… a bone break, a torn artery? A cut throat? All you need is time. Your body will mend the bones, reconnect flesh, filter poison, and make more blood."
"I…" Layali stopped speaking as soon as she began, horror settled in on her eyes. "Then… if I had remained with Master Cerebrate… then he could have…"
Zesshi covered her lips with two fingers. "Don't think about that. He won't survive much longer. He's not anywhere near here and will never get you again."
"But if… if anyone else, if anyone else gets me… I can't even escape by dying… this isn't a talent… this is a curse !" Layali shouted at the dawn, her eyes going back from one to the other, and the next question occurred to her. "Why'd I do that… I didn't… I wasn't trying to die… I swear!"
"A cursed sword. It was a trap." Brain explained, and if Layali's eyes could have gotten bigger, they would have.
"A trap meant for me. Whether it's targeted to half elves, or whether it's targeted toward the elf King's descendants and he's your grandfather or something and we really are family… I don't know. But it was meant to make me commit suicide and you got caught in the trap, the moment you drew that sword… so this… was my fault. I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't be, but I'm glad you've got this talent or… or you'd be dead now and it would have been all my fault… is that selfish of me…?" Zesshi asked, and when Layali looked at the shimmering eyes of the half elf, she couldn't find it in herself to be angry.
"Kinda… but the good kinda… I'm glad I'm not dead now… but this?" She put a hand to her throat, it was painful to talk, "If anyone gets me again… please… don't let anyone get me… don't… if anyone gets me I'll never get away… if I hadn't got in that river and Master Cerebrate hadn't been in a hurry… he'd a got me and I'd have all that pain an I'd still be his an no way out no way out no way out…" Her arms went up as the existential horror came back to her, now coupled with the knowledge that death was not a path of escape for her, it made it all the worse.
Brain clutched the girl into his arms and looked past her shoulder to where Zesshi rose to her feet. ' The Theocracy wouldn't think twice about using a nonhuman child to get to me. They wouldn't think twice even if she were a human, for that matter. Even I know that much… if we want to keep her safe, we can't keep her at all.'
Draudillon entered the chamber of the Allfather with her heart throbbing in her breast, in all her life she'd never entered the bedroom of a man, and given the circumstances… she couldn't even pretend she was entering it as an equal. With her eyes closed, she briefly imagined him as a libertine, waiting in bed, perhaps a bottle of wine poured into a pair of cups, his fingers curling and summoning her to save her nation… as in some of the worst novels she'd ever read.
Or as the tyrant, the villain ready to reveal that he was behind the invasion of her country, the puppeteer and she was merely dancing on the strings he pulled before he cut them.
Or as the cold bureaucrat who demanded she prove her country was worth saving and he had no interest in her as a woman at all… that was arguably the worst, as it left her with no leverage at all. It also seemed closer to the truth than she wanted to admit. Albedo's dismissal of a royal marriage seemed utterly final, and the battle maid monster hadn't even suggested offering herself as part of the bargain.
When she opened her eyes, she found something far more ordinary at work, the Allfather was at a stone desk. It had a hinged panel that came down to offer ample space to write, but clearly it could be just as easily closed up. There was a small statue of a raven carved out of obsidian sitting on the top, just where the panel would connect when it closed up, and a handful of documents remained near at hand. His eyes were roaming over one paper, and to Draudillon's surprise, his wives were standing nearby.
"It's done." Ainz said and affixed his seal to a paper. He handed it to the Holy Queen, who leaned beside him and affixed her seal in turn.
"My husband, my lands are yours, and my people are yours. Our Kingdoms are now one in every way." Calca clutched the document to her breast as if it were a child that desired embrace, she arched her back and closed her eyes while turning her face toward the ceiling.
"That was so, the moment you married him. This just seals the trivial details." Albedo pointed out, and Calca opened her eyes and gave a little smile at the demoness.
"Royal sister, in the theater of my birthplace they have a saying, 'The play is not over until the last gasp, nor is the song till the last note.' What it means is that until then, anything can go wrong, and frequently will, and at the worst possible moment. Now there's nothing left but the prosperity to come."
"Should I have visited at another time…?" Draudillon asked as she watched the scene play out before her.
"Now is as good a time as any." Ainz answered with a polite wave toward an empty seat, while both Calca and Albedo stepped out of the line of sight between the Allfather and the Draconic Queen. "We had negotiations to settle after all, though I'm surprised you want to do them now, you've been through so much, if you want to wait until after the elf King is dead…"
"No." Draudillon insisted, and steeling her resolve she said, "If I could offer myself in marriage, as Calca has, I would do so. You wouldn't be the first emperor to make wives out of the women of many nations… but you're… different. Things are different, circumstances aren't the same…"
She sank to her knees. "I'm in no position to negotiate. My reputation is ruined, I couldn't even protect my maids from the elf King. My country likely wouldn't exist at all if it weren't for the aid you already gave me, and even the clothes I'm wearing are given at your discretion." She lowered her face to the floor and cast her arms forward. "We are yours to do with as you please. There is no need to negotiate. My country is yours, I surrender. I surrender and beg that your divine mercy fall on your servants in the Draconic Kingdom."
"You are not a prisoner here, Draudillon." Ainz said while his mind scattered to the winds. ' What just happened here?' He asked himself as the Queen he so admired, cast herself at his feet. "You are rescued."
"The Allfather is gracious." Queen Draudillon's voice was a little louder, it had to be as she refused to raise her forehead from off of his floor. "I pray that graciousness extends to my homeland. But while I am not a prisoner in name, the truth is plain for me to see. Negotiations are pointless, and I am no longer willing to play games, to pretend I have leverage that I do not. Tell me what you want, and if it is mine, then it is yours."
Ainz looked down at the one offering herself as a supplicant, even as she was, it was difficult not to admire her, her voice never wavered, and though she must have been frightened, she didn't so much as tremble.
' Why hasn't he said anything…?' The Queen wondered, she could feel his eyes on her. "My people… they're hard workers, great artisans… when the beastmen are gone, we will raise monuments to your glory in every city."
"I don't care for monuments… I prefer to be known for the peace of my rule." Ainz explained, though he kept his voice as even as he could, he reached for a blank piece of paper and handed it to her.
"Just… write what you believe should be on there." Ainz said, and Draudillon raised her head, when she saw it, she shot upward, took it, and rushed to the desk where he sat. Calca moved aside and watched the Draconic Queen with a mix of sympathy and curiosity in her chest.
' I half expected him to jump at the chance to add to his harem… as women go she may not be as beautiful as I, but she's not without her charm… almost on par with my Kelart.' The Holy Queen's mind turned to her closest confidante, who no doubt lay strewn out on the bed they shared, waiting for Calca's return.
Here in Nazarick, nobody cared what they did, it was the freest either had ever been in all their lives, and they reveled in it completely.
Draudillon however, didn't share the same comfort, at least not as Calca could tell. ' Poor woman… even rescued… it's still a defeat. To surrender so completely as if she'd lost a war to him… well, he is a good ruler, it could be worse. I wonder who he'll arrange for her to marry?' The abstract thoughts came more naturally to the Holy Queen than they once did, and she caught sight of the Allmother looking in her direction.
It felt as if her mind were being read, or perhaps, as the radiant Calca's eyes held fast under the Allmother's stare, ' We're horses on the same track…' She realized, and their thoughts aligned to one another so well that at the same moment, with the same dispassionate smiles on their faces, they watched as the foreign Queen scratched quill over paper.
"There." Draudillon said. "The Draconic Kingdom surrenders unconditionally to the Allfather and the Kingdom of Nazarick, the Queen binds herself and all her heirs to the service of the House of Ainz Ooal Gown, and recognizes his Godhood without question or reservation."
The Queen reached for a small blade used to slice wax seals, pushed the tip to her thumb until a bright red drop appeared, and then after replacing the tool, she squeezed the thumb to bring more out. She then pressed her thumb to the document just beneath her signature.
"By the custom of my Kingdom, I bind my word by my blood, you are my god. You are the master of my life and my lands. Command me." Draudillon replied, and went to her knees at his side.
Calca and Albedo glanced at one another again, in one fell swoop the Queen who had nothing to bargain with, put herself as the first Kingdom to acknowledge the divinity of the Allfather. With the date on what passed for a treaty, it wouldn't fail to be recognized. Not unless royal honor came into question.
Ainz affixed his seal to the document in return, while privately wondering, ' What… just happened here? Did she just call me a god?' He took a slow breath and hoped he looked majestic when he took 'Kingly understanding gesture number three' and placed his hand on Draudillon's shoulder.
"Rule well, that is my command. And for now… get some rest. If you are ready, tomorrow we resume the journey to Arwintar. If not, you can remain here and I will bring you by [Gate] when the time comes."
It was soft words that followed, formal and quiet, the Queen of the Draconic Kingdom said, "No, my lord… if your servant's title is still her own… then it is her wish to travel with the others, even if she must depend on your largesse to carry her again."
"Then we'll have a carriage ready with the others." Ainz promised, and removed his hand to allow the Queen to stand.
When she did, Calca said sweetly, "Welcome to the winning side."
"Th-Thank you." Draudillon said as she made her way out.
"Husband, if there is nothing more, I believe my Kelart is growing impatient." Calca licked her lips without noticing that she'd done it, and Ainz chuckled.
"I believe Albedo is feeling the same. Go on." He said, and Albedo chuckled as Calca made her exit, the door closing firmly behind her, leaving the Allfather and Allmother to fall into an embrace in private.
Volume 7 C96
"Master." Nua said when the door was open to their room, he turned around to see it click shut with her fingers on the handle. "Raymond," she added, "Did you want to write more letters today?"
"I do…" He said and pulled the seat out from the desk for her.
Their journey was more winding than originally planned, with stops at every village and town that he might have breezed past before, and there he was driven to question every priest and priestess, every human and, to Nua's delight, nonhuman in his path.
With the barrier in his heart lowered at last since their confrontation, it was as if an obstacle were removed that let him see the wider world. Whenever he wasn't looking, she watched him ask even common people with an almost childlike wonder.
It was almost a chore to keep up with him, ' That's a Black Scripture for you… even at his age.' Nua considered it often, and now in their room, it was time to transcribe what he'd seen and learned.
He was halfway through the letter when she stopped scribbling and he stopped talking. "Nua, is something wrong?" He asked.
"Raymond…" She said, and lowered her quill, she thought for a moment and then looked him square in the eye, "Master," she chose the title and it caught his ear, "Is it really wise to write about the belief in the Allfather's divinity? The rule of the Six has been firm… a god that doesn't mark humanity special, but treats humans, elves, dwarves… all as equally in service to him… you know as well as I do that this won't go over well."
Raymond inhaled deeply, reached for a chair and dragged it over to where Nua sat. He planted himself sideways so that he was facing her where she worked, the desk was ornate, polished dark wood, with fresh banded candles ready for use with clean sparkstones in their dish to make the wicks light with ease. It also came equipped with scribal materials, stationary, fresh ink, and a series of quills that preserved the materials brought with them.
The rest of the room contained a single large bed, a wardrobe the height of the ceiling, and its own bath access with a pump. With expensive sheets and service on call, it was what Nua expected a head of state to stay in. And yet when he sat himself down to face her, she could only think of him as naive .
Till he spoke.
"You're right." He said.
"You're crazy if-" She stopped.
Her ears wiggled up and down, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"I said, you're right." Raymond repeated, he exhaled and held out his hands, not to take her own, but to offer the ones he had.
She looked down at them, they weren't large, being only a little bigger than hers, nothing about Raymond was truly massive. Though he had square shoulders that were fairly broad, and a tight, solid body that paired well with his well tended brown beard, still, putting her hands into his seemed less than ideal. ' It's never ended well.' She thought, and cursed herself, as his hands began to withdraw, she took them and let his fingers close over her hands without complaint.
"And that's why somebody has to say it. I doubt it will be long before one nation or another decides to openly declare him to be a God. He certainly has the power of one, and that fact may draw a lot of people to yield faster… before they're destroyed." Raymond's lips went tight, his face was blank and though Nua searched it, she could read nothing.
"Raymond… what are you thinking?" She asked with a tentative lean forwards as if she expected him to whisper.
"Do you know what I see in my nightmares, Nua?" He asked, "What I've seen since I… I don't know… since you slapped some sense into me?" He tried to smile at her and reached up to rub his cheek, but she neither smiled nor laughed in return.
"I see revenge. I see a nightmare crossing the horizon, east and west, and there's nowhere to go. All our decisions, guided by our sense of divinely given superiority, and bringing down wrath on us that we cannot placate. Too late to change, all we can do is die, and all we can feast on is our own hubris. Sometimes… sometimes I think it happened. That this is all a dream. What if things went differently and we… this sounds insane, doesn't it?" He asked and brought a hand up to rub his temple.
"No, not as crazy as you think, Raymond. I understand, you want to start the discussion now, because you're afraid it'll be too late if you wait." Nua said, and far from the elation he expected, her face grew serious.
"If you do that, you know they'll come after you. The same ones who you say will come after me if you let me go… if you… send me away, they will try to kill you." She stood up and leaned forward, placing her hands on his shoulders, then moving them to his face. ' His beard is softer than I thought it would be…' She thought, but kept that to herself when she said, "These are the people who hunt my kind. Who take the children they made with us and turn them into hunters of the siblings who run, or into domestic servants to serve legitimate heirs. They're the people who… who did what they did… to my back… the ones who made me ugly forever because they got a thrill out of it for a few hours… they'll kill you if you take this too far." Nua pronounced her warning without pulling any punches. "You understand that, don't you?"
"I know they'll try ." Raymond said, and reached up to take her wrists in his hands, he pulled them away from his face. "But I rose up through the ranks of the Black Scripture. Not the Windflower, or the Sunlight, or the Grey or the Agante or the Holocaust. The Black. We're the strongest of the strong, we have all of the godkin bloodlines. I didn't rise to the top just because I am a good administrator. I fought with the best of them. Even if the Agante were decked in some of our best equipment, anything less than a squad of them is not a threat."
"Still, you're risking your life… out of some love of your country… that's pretty… impressive." Nua acknowledged but he shook his head.
"No, not just for my country. In those nightmares I spoke of, I see the cause… and I see…" He reached behind her back, and though he didn't touch the vast ridges that made up the marks of more than three human lifetimes, he felt her stiffen and take his arm. He swept his hand up and down without touching them. "I see that. I see your face twisted in pain and I wonder what kind of monster could do that… and it's me. I was going to mutilate you… it was your face that stopped me first, I didn't see an elf, but a person. What if it had only been your back that I saw and there'd been nothing to move me to… what did you call it? Empathy…? I could have been a monster… I suppose… I still am."
He dropped his hand away, his body went limp and he looked up at the ceiling. "But I don't want to be. I'm trying… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry for what I almost did, and what I might have done, and what I've helped to keep alive for my whole life… for my ignorance… for my lies to the girl I love like a daughter… gods, she'll never forgive me either. How do I make up for this? How does my country make up for this if I succeed?"
Nua raised up her hand and slapped him across the face. Though she sensed that he could have easily stopped her, he didn't, and she lowered her hand while he touched the struck place and looked at her questioningly. "I'm sorry." She said and placed her hands on her lap. "Would you like to hit me in return? Or will you forgive me?"
"I don't want to hit you, but… what was that for?" He asked as he rubbed the spot some more as if he weren't sure it had actually happened.
"Will you forgive me? I was wrong and you didn't do anything… and I'm sorry." Nua said again, and he nodded.
"Just don't do that again. It may not hurt, but it's the principle of the thing." He said, and she inclined her head.
"I can forgive you… Raymond. For what you almost did… I can forgive you… for the things you've actually done to me… I don't know if I will ever think well of humans in general. I'd rather avoid you all if I can… not that that's possible," she groused a little, "but for what you've done, seeing what you're trying to do… I can forgive you. But there's a lot of things we'll never be able to make right. Not you, not me, not if all the world came together and worked with sincere hearts. It's just too late for some folks and that's that. You didn't make me ugly… someone else did that, and they'll never be punished for it, they died a long time ago. I'm just their living memorial, so I can't forgive you for it, you didn't do it. But if you're… if you're going to try to help my people in the here and now, I'll take the risk with you."
"What do you mean?" Raymond asked, and Nua's brief twisting of disgust when she spoke of herself vanished when she said, "You planned to send these copies to your comrades. But if you really want to go a step further… send them everywhere, to governors and bards, to temples and merchants. Tell them everything you saw, everything you learned, and everything you now believe. About nonhumans, about the Allfather, about home for you… everything."
"You really think that would be effective?" Raymond asked, he couldn't help but doubt it. "The Theocracy has always been a very 'top down' organization."
"If you want to shake a tower, the base is the only place to do it." Nua answered him, and then took up her quill again.
"New paper, we'll return to that letter afterward, I want to start something else." Raymond said with sudden iron in his voice.
"Master." She said with a touch of irony, and moved a blank sheet into place and held her quill at the ready.
"Before we begin," he said, "let me be clear… what happened… it was brutal, cruel and wrong… but…" He cleared his throat.
"But what?" Her blue eyes narrowed a little as the words dripped out.
"But none of you is ugly, no, not even that." He said, and her tongue was tied as he began.
"On the treatment of the elves and the monstrous injustice of our past and present, oh people of the Theocracy, I present to you a case study… a servant given to me for this journey, and what we have done and allowed to be done…"
He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "Now, tell your story." He said quietly, and though water dripped on the paper as she wrote, her quill never slowed, not from one page to the next, for hours.
Volume 7 C97
"Maybe elves are gross, with those ears and all… but at least that one stayed 'cozy'." Cerebrate muttered. "What do you think?" He asked his last victim as he held him beside the river.
The boy said nothing. That was a consistent trait of the dead on which Cerebrate could always rely. He kicked the corpse of his last victim over towards the river, and it tumbled down the hill, rolling like a log until it hit the slight incline, flew over it, and splashed down into the water.
' He didn't cost much at least.' Cerebrate thought of the coin lost on it, but it was very little. ' Just the cost of saying I was hiring an apprentice. I suppose this is at least easier than it was in the Draconic Kingdom… Draudillon's contempt for me, so thinly veiled, if only the Nazarikians had shown up another year later, I could have seen that precious face turned to one of pain, from contempt and hate, to anguish and terror…'
But that chance was gone. All his prey along the way after having lost the elf trash to the waters had taken a fragment of his anger toward the Draconic Queen, with him to their final resting places. Disguising his work was easy, claws to hide stab wounds, or toss them into the water, or find a creature and throw the dead meat to it to be eaten. For a day or two he stayed while the searches were done, the bodies were found and the victims mourned, but nobody ever suspected murder. And when he 'adopted someone' saying he wanted a young apprentice… nobody ever asked for anything to prove it.
He watched the body drift down river, bobbing and floating, and Cerebrate felt nothing but a vague hint of satisfaction that he'd gotten away with it again. His charming, radiant smile that won over those who didn't know his preferences, spread over his face and he gave a large farewell wave to the corpse as it bobbed around a bend and finally out of sight. He turned around and looked ahead, in the distance, not but one, or two day's travel if he took his time, the city of Arwintar loomed large. "Maybe I should have kept the carriage… but no… after having to dispose of the driver when I bought a human… just too much trouble…" He shrugged off his own words and his thoughts turned almost pensive.
' I may not be able to have the same fun there, but then, I don't need to. Even if I don't win, I'll put on a show and spread my fame here. I'll find some easy work with some lazy fat noble and then I can indulge to my cock's content for the rest of my days.' It was a warm, savory thought that caused the knight to lick his lips, rub his hands together, and he walked to his horse with a spring in his step and a song in his heart, ready to set out on the last leg of his travels.
Journeying into the Baharuth Empire's lands proved far easier than Ainz expected, their military patrols were almost entirely absent, and what fortifications there were to be seen were almost unmanned. A twinge of guilt lodged in the pit of his gut. ' I killed them as painlessly as I could… it's not my fault they chose to attack after losing the duel… they should have drawn back, they should have negotiated…' But the screams of the dying touched his soul nonetheless.
Though experience had hardened him to a degree, having slain his way through Eight Fingers and their martial artists in Six Arms, not to mention the many quests as Momon to crush Zuranon or other various monsters… and the brief 'demon war' under the mountain… this Empire was still his first.
And the first never left him.
Especially now that he could see the aftermath of the empire that lost faith in itself and in its emperor. ' I wonder if I would have learned as much from watching Jircniv as I did from watching Draudillon? Maybe so, perhaps we would have become friends, even?' Without an answer for himself, he set the question aside. ' When we have a ruler installed, I will make sure to treat this place more gently for a while… of course there is still the matter of rebuilding the Draconic Kingdom… and the Slane Theocracy may still pose problems. Plus there are the Dragon Lords… Still though, this is a large step forward.'
"My lord?" Kelart asked while holding the royal heir, and he turned his attention toward the Queen's lover.
"Yes?" He asked.
"You seem distracted, are you well?" Kelart asked, and Ainz raised one dark eyebrow.
"Merely thinking of the future. Even when this is over, there are still challenges. Some of our reforms have only the bones of structures erected and will take years to bring into being. Others will be easy, and there are so many challenges ahead that it boggles the mind." Ainz spoke with the same formal address he'd heard Draudillon use a thousand times, and it had the desired effect.
Kelart caressed the infant's face, "I understand, but you will have many fine servants and loyal, gifted children to achieve your goals. Calca told me about what happened with Queen Draudillon, her country may not seem it, but they are a clever people, resilient and strong willed."
"You say that like you know about them." Ainz stated, but it was more a prompt, and Kelart treated it as such.
"My- My sister and I, we went there to help fend off the beastmen once, it was training for us, but Remedios and I saw a great deal there. It's a fine place…" She trailed off and looked from the infant to the infant's father. "How… how is my sister, is she s-suffering?" Kelart asked and blinked her eyes several times. "Is she… dead perhaps?"
"I believe she is well, her suffering is largely self-inflicted." Ainz remarked, that was a thing about which he felt no guilt. ' If she had the power, she would slaughter my children. Anything that happens to her, I care not a damn about.' He thought, but kept that thought to himself, seeing Kelart's brief distress.
"I-I see. She was always her own worst enemy… she abided by the law for so long, but she was so stupid… she just never understood its limits, and raged at them. I never imagined she would go so far… but thank you for what small mercy you could give her. I'm grateful for that, she may have been bad, but she's still my sister." Kelart answered him, and when he held out his arms, she put the small boy into the arms of his father.
"Is that why you asked to ride with me for a few hours?" Ainz asked, and Kelart bowed her head.
"It is. And also this… my Queen… she cannot bear you another child, I know she hasn't told you, and… she wouldn't. But birthing Aurelion, it nearly ended her life. So, I'm asking you… I beg of you… don't… don't seek more children with her. If you do, I'm certain she'll be lost to us, lost- to me." Kelart pled. "I felt more… secure, when I assumed you intended to bring Queen Draudillon into your house, but when Calca told me what happened, I knew I had to speak with you. To birth the child of a god is a dangerous thing, nobody had survived it until my Queen in… ever, as far as I know at least. At least not a child with awakened powers or potential. That's why we split with the Slane Theocracy. A Godkin was in love with a woman of Calca's ancestry, and the woman refused, leading to a schism that formed the Roble Holy Kingdom. She was popular among us and everybody knew that to have that man's child would be the death of her. The Theocracy insisted, and so parted ways after swiping some of the treasures."
"Treasures?" Ainz asked, his collector's instinct was on fire the moment she said it.
"Yes, the Slane Theocracy has some of the weapons of the Gods, powerful items that are said to alter the very world itself." Kelart explained and then asked, "Forgive me, but I'm sure that… after things happened, I disclosed all these things, does my lord not recall?"
"There was a near library to go through." Ainz chuckled, "I'm sure they're still sorting through everything, even for a god, good help is hard to find." Ainz graced her with a lordly smile and Kelart turned her face away.
"I see… if it pleases you, I will tell you what I can recall, but, please, it weighs on me, my Calca?" Kelart pressed the matter, and Ainz ran a finger over his son's forehead.
"I'd say she already did it right the first time. There's no need for her to bear another." Ainz said without looking her way, and out of the corner of his eye he felt sure he saw her loyalty meter reach maximum in an instant.
"Thank you, My Lord, now let me tell you what I can recall about what lies in the Theocracy Treasury." Kelart said, and began to regale him with what the stories said.
Volume 7 C98
The next few nights after they first lay together, Brain and Zesshi did not sleep with the fire between them, however nor did they lie together as lovers. They might have, but on her first night of recovering from her neck wound, as Zesshi lay out their bedrolls and placed his and her own side by side, no sooner had Layali gone to sleep than the small girl shot up to a seated position, bawling and crying out.
"It won't stop! It won't stop! It won't stop!" She flailed with her eyes wild and wide, her little arms reaching for nothing and breathing hard, and when she realized she was fine, she looked over toward where Zesshi and Brain were rising and said, "Can I sleep with you… I had a nightmare…"
"Yes." The two said without hesitation, and they inched themselves apart while Layali got up, holding her bedroll in her arms, and flopping it down between the warriors before sliding herself down into it again. She then reached over and took Brain's arm and flopped it over her chest, before repeating the Process with Zesshi's, and said with a sniffle, "Now I can sleep."
' If only we didn't have to tell her… it wasn't that long ago that she was suicidal… she didn't want to live and had nothing to live for… death was her final escape from harm and we had to take it from her…' It was hard for Brain not to feel guilty about that, and his resolve grew to make sure she was dropped off safely as soon as possible.
For the next few nights, Layali slept between them when she slept at all, and she remained closer to them than usual. On the fourth day when they saw the town growing larger in their view, she looked up at Brain who rode behind her, and over at Zesshi who rode at his side, she said…
"Please."
That was all.
They didn't have to ask her what she meant.
They said nothing at all.
The horse's hooves were the only sound between the two, neither Brain nor Zesshi felt much like speaking, nor could they look at her, so they looked ahead.
An hour later when they could hear the noise of the bustling, growing town, Layali pressed herself back against Brain's chest. " Please." She begged and her hands grasped the mane of the horse hard enough to turn her fingers white.
They rode in through the gate unopposed, and again neither of the pair had an answer. Brain clenched his jaw, and out of the corner of his eye he could see that Zesshi was preparing herself for the same thing, her jaw set and fingers tense around the pommel of her horse.
"I don't want to." Layali whimpered. "I don't want to… doesn't that matter… it didn't matter to Master Cerebrate… but I thought it mattered to you… please… please…" She whispered.
"Brain… Zesshi… don't make me…" She asked again.
The orphanage was a fairly obvious building, a sign with a picture of a child next to a house.
Brain slid off the back of his horse, and Zesshi dismounted. Even to themselves, their movements were stiff, and bodies felt heavy, they moved sluggishly while reaching for her.
"No! I won't go! I don't want to be left here! I don't like this place!" Layali shouted and clutched the white hairs of the horse's mane between her fingers. "I don't! I don't wanna!" She screamed as Brain pulled her from it. He clutched her against his chest while Zesshi bound the horses outside.
"I'm sorry… but this is just too dangerous… the ones who came after Zesshi will try again… you'll get hurt, maybe worse… I'll… I'll come back." Brain promised as he whispered into her ear, but the little half elf barely understood.
Her tiny fists and slender legs swung with fury. "Don't!" She cried out as Zesshi came close and stroked her head.
"It'll be okay… you'll get good food, we'll leave them with money to take care of you, plenty, you'll be all right, and we'll bring you Cerebrate's head on our way back… but… I'm hunted. Hunted by dangerous men, I got you hurt already, badly… I can't do anything…" Zesshi said, though her lip quavered as she said it.
"Be momma!" Layali screamed as she tried to fling herself back out of Brain's arms when she realized they were carrying her toward the door. "Brain can be pappa! I don't wanna not have either again! Please don't make me go! I don't wanna be here! I want Brain! I want Zesshi! I'll tend camp and cook and everything, just lemme stay!" Her face was red and tear streaked well before they made it through the door, but she lost the power of speech when she came in, and was reduced to choked sobs.
A matronly woman behind a desk in the open area, who had a cane leaning by her side, stood up when Brain and Zesshi entered. "What can I do for you? Are you dropping one off? Is she yours?"
Her voice immediately caused Brain and Zesshi to look sideways at one another, her face, lined with wrinkles and her hair grayed and done in a severe bun, was not made warmer by her business like expression.
"Yes. No. I mean… I found her… we've been taking care of her but… things happened, and I- we… we can't anymore." Brain explained while Layali's tears ran down his chest straight through his shirt.
"I see…" The old woman said and pursed her lips, "Would you care to make a donation then, if it isn't poverty driving you to leave her here that is."
"Will it go toward her care? We want her to be treated well." Zesshi said, and taking Layali from Brain's arms, she squeezed the girl once.
"Yes, of course." The old woman insisted, and Zesshi reached into her coinpurse to draw out a handful of gold coins.
The old woman sucked in her breath and the whites of her eyes grew when she saw the small fortune in the palm of the half elf.
The coins clinked as they fell into the old woman's hands and then disappeared into her own coinpouch.
"Alright… do you wish to say goodbye to the child? You may do so if you wish, but we recommend it be quick and that you leave immediately, a clean break, you know, it makes it easier for them to accept their circumstances." The old woman added.
"I'm sorry, goodbye, I thought we could take you to Arwintar at least… but it's too dangerous, you will get hurt…" Brain said and kissed her forehead. "I'll finish Cerebrate for you, I promise."
"If there were any other way… but I won't let them use you." Zesshi insisted. "I'm sure someone will pick a cutie like you up quickly, and you'll have a bed, and a roof, and an education, and food every day, and you won't have to worry about… about me screwing up anymore…" Zesshi blinked back tears as the old woman reached out and slowly enfolded her arms around the small half elf as Zesshi and Brain relaxed their hold on her.
"But… but I want you ! I want you to be momma and papa… I want you ! I don't want anyone else! Nobody else'll want a half breed! I don't wanna go unwanted! I don't wanna be here! Please! I love you… please don't leave me!" Layali began to howl as the old woman pulled her away while her arms flailed around, stretching out to grab for the two who let their arms slip away.
Layali wailed and kicked, "You'd, ugh… better go… this won't get easier if you… ah… stay…" The old woman said as she wrangled Layali like she'd done it a thousand times.
The elder pair retreated, backing away, their faces broken and red, they made it through the door and shut it just in time to cut off one final wail. "Momma! Papa! Come ba-"
"We did the right thing… she'd only suffer if we kept her… she'll understand that when she gets older." Brain said as he made his way back down the steps.
Zesshi put herself at his side, the screams were already diminishing behind them. ' I won't stop hearing those for a long, long time though, if I ever do.' She reflected, and then asked of Brain, "Maybe you're right. But am I supposed to feel this shitty about it?"
"If a man like me can… I expect so." Brain replied when they reached the horses.
They mounted the white steeds, and Brain reached down to grab for Layali, and found that she wasn't there.
"Right…" He murmured, and with that, they rode on in silence.
Volume 7 C99
Thanks to the use of magic, the arrival in Arwintar came far sooner, and trumpets blasted the announcement through the air as the delegates of nations began to arrive. The streets of Arwintar were open and empty, but lined with throngs ready to watch a royal procession. Soldiers, knights of the nation Ainz previously annihilated, now lined up to honor the formal delegates, and the population, perhaps ignorant of just whom they were cheering, simply enjoyed the relief and an impromptu holiday began in earnest. The cheers of the crowd of commoners drowned the trumpets, and the royals put out their hands and waved to the onlookers.
"Why did you choose to ride with me?" Neia asked as she waved out the window, though she kept her eyes on the royalty across from her.
"I feel safer with you." Draudillon replied matter of factly and kept her hands in her lap.
"Well, I like that… thank you, but… why ? We've never met, I don't know you, and I can't imagine what we have in common." Neia responded as the carriage wound its way down the long road, the noise of the clattering wheels was inaudible due to the cheering, but with a combination of acoustical design and a little magic, the carriage riders could always converse with ease.
"I heard about you." Draudillon replied. "They say you accepted thousands of elven refugees."
"I did. A little over ten thousand, they said, but I suspect the real number is about double that if you include the half elves and the ones that were born in my country." Queen Baraja kept up the waving, but now intrigued, she turned her vertical pupils squarely on the human Queen.
"Is it because we both have dragon blood in us?" She asked.
"That- That may be part of it. But… it's more. The refugees, they say you took them in as citizens… you're the mother of a nation that never existed in this world… and… and that you used to be a worshiper of the Six." Draudillon found it harder and harder to look at the dragonid Queen, she kept her eyes on the floor between them, but she addressed her reasons as best she could.
"Yes, that's right. I was charged with the capital crime of 'not murder'." Neia barked out a rough laugh when she said it, and it was enough to cause the Draconic Queen's heart to skip a beat.
"So you were lowly, rose to power, rejected the gods, waged war against your nation, and built one of your own… and now you bear the blood of a frost dragon and accept everyone in peace if they come to your country in that spirit… is that right?" Draudillon tried to put a fierce expression on her face, but in the narrow, vicious eyes of the Queen of Frost, it was difficult at best, and she felt her effort waver almost before it began, despite her prior claim.
"I suppose you could put it that way, you make it sound more heroic than it really was, though. The truth is I betrayed one set of beliefs for another that I held at the same time. I couldn't choose both anymore, and now here I am. A lot of innocent people and a lot of guilty people are both dead, and now I've got a Kingdom. So, why don't we come to the point, what do you really want, Draconic Queen?" Neia asked and held out her taloned hand upturned as if to accept an offered gift. Her tail danced at the tip and her wings twitched ever so slightly.
"My line is not entirely human either, I assume that's at least in part why you're so… generous with your time?" Draudillon chose the words with care, and the Dragonid Queen's tail lashed about sharper than before. But she didn't answer the question.
"I'm sure by now you know that I've surrendered to His Majesty. My Kingdom is his, and my heirs are bound to his service… when I have them. But right now, you are still independent, you haven't given him your fealty, only your friendship, but you're not stupid, you know that can't last, no matter how good your friendship is, it's the nature of Empires to grow, and you will either surrender, or clash again." Draudillon emphasized and leaned forward toward the Dragonid Queen, who in turn, paused in her waving to rest her arms on her thighs and lean forward herself.
"You're going to suggest something uncomfortable, aren't you? If you're going to propose marrying me… I doubt I'm your type. I was hideous enough when I was a human." She chuckled a bit at her self effacing humor, but the Draconic Queen didn't let it last.
"No, not me. After a marriage is arranged for me, I'm sure I will have a child very quickly, it was so for both my mother, and hers. As you are the founding Queen with an unknowable lifespan, I'm sure you will choose to marry soon as well… and when you have a child, and I have a child-" Draudillon let the proposal hang in the air, and the fangs of the dragonid Queen were bared as her lips parted.
"You want this to bring me into the… I suppose it will be an Empire when all is said and done, if we're not calling it that already. If you want the truth, I've already communicated privately about the possibility… it will take time to get the demihumans on the wagon with the idea of worshiping a god. But I'll bring them around. I can give a pretty good speech when I want to. So… this is to secure future peace… and earn you a little favor with your new master…" Neia leaned back against her chair and crossed one leg over the other.
The dragonid Queen evaluated the proposal, reciting what she saw as the benefits, "I can see the advantage here… my country integrates with ease, I retain power that nobody can challenge, and I have some security against the Slane Theocracy, plus I don't have to worry about any pesky misunderstandings with my enormous neighbor. We just bide our time and build. You know, Queen Draudillon," Neia said and let a little smirk form, "I think I'm going to like you. You think ahead… me… I'm not so great at that, I try, but… well, let's just say I'm fit to rule demihumans. It helps to keep a few friends around who can keep me grounded."
"So, is that a yes?" Draudillon asked.
"It is. Yes. Assuming we have children of the opposite sex… and that their introductions go well, dragonid blood will unite with the blood of the Dragon Lords within a generation… assuming of course… I find somebody worth marrying who isn't repulsed by my face. I've been told it's scary looking." Neia said and leaned closer, "Are they right?"
Draudillon had to suppress her shudder when it loomed closer, "It is… a very rare face. You should take pride in it." The Draconic Queen answered, and the Queen of Frost leaned back in her seat again.
"The diplomatic answer always means the worst answer is true… but maybe my children will be luckier than I in that department. Now with that out of the way, relax and enjoy the ride, it appears we've arrived for the 'scrub matches' all the nameless ones looking to make a name for themselves before the big names begin. An emperor's chair brings out every bumpkin with a sword, I guess." Neia chortled and gestured to the drawer beneath the seat. "Go ahead, take out wine and glasses, we'll share a drink the rest of the way, and toast to our bargain and our future prosperity."
Draudillon moved swiftly, her hands flying out to snatch out all that she needed, her eyes eagerly looming like saucers on the long missed wine.
Volume 7 C100
"How long do you think it will take for copies to make it all over the Theocracy?" Nua asked after the messenger left with the bundle of papers.
They were alone in the inn, only a day or two from Arwintar after taking relays of horses to make up for lost time, and as with the other places of residence, this was the finest room available, complete with a workspace and even a small stock of wine bottles.
Nua was seated at the table, her ears twitched uncomfortably, her fingers picked at the smooth varnished wood while Raymond dealt with the messenger and sent him on his way.
"I don't know. If they use magic to make copies and leave at the same time… a few months? Maybe less. But," he straightened with his arms at his sides and bowed deep at the waist so that he was looking straight down at the floor, "thank you for letting me use your story. That can't have been easy."
Nua looked away when he bowed to her, the bed lay on the far center of the room, large and comfortable looking, her own was in the room beside his, she averted her gaze to look at the wall between her room and his. "It wasn't… but if you're willing to risk yourself, your reputation, maybe your life, so am I. It's hard to believe any human would do that for us… even the good ones… they might help one of my people, but to dare to challenge the totality of Theocracy Doctrine?" She finally looked at him, and she had to laugh, "You must be insane."
She stopped laughing when he winced at the noise and took a step back, his hurt look was almost childish, but she had no doubt it was genuine. "We need that kind of madness, maybe if we had more of it, things would go to shit less often. So… what now? When we get to Arwintar, do you look for Zesshi?"
"I don't know… how do I make amends to her… how do I make this right? How do I make anything right?" Raymond asked.
Nua picked at the table some more, bits of the thick varnish got stuck under her fingernail and she pulled her hand away to pick the crinkled stuff free. "You say that like I know? This is nerve racking enough as it is. When my story makes the rounds over the Theocracy, I'll be lambasted as either deserving everything I got for being a sinful elf who didn't know her place, or a slutty elf who wanted what I got, or a snake of an opportunist out to increase my own status by playing the poor pathetic victim. I'm going to be the most hated woman in the Theocracy, and I have no doubt that I'll have more targets on me than an archery range."
"None of that is true about you though… you know that, I know that…" Raymond said and approached her, he held out his hand to allow her to take it, but she didn't, and he slowly let it fall away to lie awkwardly at his side.
"Do you really think this will be effective? Maybe I shouldn't have said anything, maybe you could have just used some arguments or-" She sighed and went back to picking at the table with her finger.
"A story convinces more people than any argument… it's true that a lot of people will say terrible things… and there is some risk, but there are enough examples around them… at least in the cities, that people will start talking. The underground plays will spread it, and maybe, just maybe… we can start to shake things up." Raymond said with the hopeful trace of a smile on his face.
"Just to be clear… you're not doing this just over Zesshi, are you?" Nua asked, "I'm not saying I think you are, but you can't blame me for asking."
Raymond sat down at the table across from her, looked her in the eyes, and said, "No. I won't lie to you, won't tell you this isn't part of my thinking. She's precious to me, and I overlooked her elven side, in part because she wanted me to, and in part because I wanted to. But this is about more than her, a great deal more."
"I can't believe I'm saying this but… I'll take your word for it." Nua said and stood up, she looked toward the closed door. "I'm going to my room, this has been a long day and I'm tired, I want to sleep."
She rose to her feet and the familiar chill came over her until he said gently, "Goodnight, Nua. I'll see you in the morning."
She walked to the door with her head held high and though she could feel his eyes follow her, she never broke her pace and never hesitated. She opened the door, closed it behind her when she passed beyond the threshold, and left him behind.
' It won't be that long before it won't be safe for either of us to be alone at night… when all those letters reach various places… still,' she thought as she closed and locked the door behind her as she peeled off her clothing, ' I think he's overthinking how effective it will be. No matter how vividly I describe the pain, no matter how I talk about a wounded heart, or despair, or the things I saw, most humans will just dismiss it and say, 'it's only an elf.' but then again… I've been wrong before?' Nua thought and pulled down the sheets to climb into bed. She lay on her stomach and brought the pillow under her cheek.
And with that, she fell into a deep and dreamless slumber.
When morning came she made herself ready, binding her hair into a braid behind her back, and briefly, as had become her habit, took a lingering look at her ears in the mirror. Whole and intact, it was a miraculous thing, her fingers traced over them just once, and she wiggled them up and down just to watch them move.
Then she was gone, breezing to Raymond's room and knocking on the door. "Here." He shouted through the barrier, and she turned the knob to find it open as it always was.
"You're going to have to get into the habit of locking that, Raymond." Nua told him in no uncertain terms. "If you want to play with fire, I'm certainly not going to stop you, but part of my…" She paused and pursed her lips, her eyes became like steel before they softened toward him, "purchase reason, was to act as a bodyguard for you. How was it he put it…" Nua looked away and in her best imitation of Dominic's smooth voice she said, "So you can read, write, mix potions, order a house, and take a hit… and," she shook it off, "it doesn't matter what else he said. The point is you're going to start making things harder on me if you stay reckless."
"I suppose." Raymond grumbled. "Now why don't we go down for breakfast at least…" He said and made to stand up.
"Absolutely not." Nua said and sharply shook her head. "I took the liberty of ordering breakfast for you when I checked us in. We'll eat here where I can keep an eye on you, and 'then' we'll leave."
Raymond did a brief double take and intuitively sat back down. "But, I like being out in public."
"And I like you- I like you being alive ." Nua said and cleared her throat, she put her hands on her hips, "I swear, I think half the reason the human lifespan is so low is because you all have death wishes."
Raymond rolled his eyes, "Half the reason I was so eager to go on this trip was to avoid all the old protocols, I thought it would be like being in the field on missions again, not like a damn prison." He said back to her with exasperation, their sighs came at the same moment, and the laughter did as well.
When it finally died, Nua went and pulled the chair out for him and pointed to it. "Sit."
"You're enjoying this." Raymond accused her lightly.
"Many years ago I ran the household of one of my masters, and they relied on me for many things. I ordered their servants, ensured their books were kept, and even taught their son how to make potions so that he could one day become a great magic caster. Other than matters of politics and faith, I was closely listened to and could speak my mind. I was actually happy there, it felt like I was treated like a person. I suppose this is kind of like that, so yes… yes, I am enjoying it." Nua said and pushed the chair in as Raymond did as she said.
"So, what happened?" Raymond asked, and Nua's energetic face fell.
"It ended badly. That's how those stories always end." Nua said and left him to go to the door, she opened it to find a servant bearing a silver tray, his hand up and ready to knock.
"Thank you." She said, took the tray, backed up, and closed the door before the young man could say anything. She returned to the table, set the tray down, and removed the silver covering to set it aside.
On the tray was some simple mealed oats, a small pitcher of milk with a cup, a cup of tea with sugar cubes stacked in a porcelain bowl. A portion of eggs with two slices of bread with a pat of cream colored butter.
"And your food?" Raymond asked pointedly.
Nua looked at him dumbly.
"What?" He pressed.
"I have eaten with you all of once. Why are you asking me now ?" Nua asked of him with a hand on one hip while the other rubbed her forehead.
"It just occurred to me that you could eat with me?" He said with a casual sort of air, taking his eyes away from the meal while still reaching for the bread.
"Raymond… you… I think you are a good man." Nua said and put her hands behind her back, she straightened and put her feet apart, her pose, in Raymond's mind, would have made a scripture member proud. "I think you played a bad one, and just didn't know it. I think, I think you don't look at me the way your people, your gods, say you're supposed to any longer. But this?" She moved one hand back and forth, pointing between him and herself, "No. You tried to mutilate me… I know it was you who stopped you, that you couldn't go forward with it… but it will be a long time before I can sit and eat with you as if we're friends. So please, if what I want really matters, don't press me to do anything I'm not already doing."
Raymond pursed his lips. "I'm sorry." He said after a moment and looked down at his meal. His appetite was gone.
"I can forgive you, I do. But that doesn't mean I can forget, or be comfortable with anything other than what we have to do, not for quite some time, and maybe never, I just don't know. If that's a problem…"
"It's not. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you." He answered her and said nothing more.
Nua let the moment hang, unsure if he had more to add, then said, "Thank you… I mean that. I'll eat on the road, finish your breakfast and we can be off." She perked up, "I have to admit, I'm looking forward to seeing the arena in Arwintar."
Raymond took one bite of his bread, chewed, and swallowed, then set it down. "I think I'm done. My appetite is gone." He said.
"Eat." Nua said.
"But-" He started to object.
"Raymond. Eat ." She said more emphatically. "If you really plan on taking on the world… do so on a full stomach at least." She said more softly, "I don't mean to sound cruel, if that hurt or ruined your appetite… it's just that there's a lot now, things for me to… to deal with. I appreciate the spirit of your offer, and you need food whether I accompany it or not. So eat ."
"You really did run a household, I swear." He got some of his humor back and chortled a little before reluctantly finishing his food, though whatever flavor it had, he experienced none of it.
"Drink the milk." Nua instructed.
"I don't like milk." Raymond returned back at her with a mistrustful glare as she poured a cup and held it out.
"It won't be long before I'm going to have to start taste testing everything to make sure you're not poisoned. I happen to like milk, and if you don't drink it, I won't get any." Nua pointed out.
"I could just buy it for you, you know." Raymond suggested, still giving the milk a baleful look.
"That sounds like a gift… permit me to refuse. There was one once, he was fond of gifts, but they were never given with a good heart… given that I am not a free woman… not until I can be sure I won't be hunted at least, I'd rather not. So drink your milk." Nua pointed at it again.
Raymond picked it up and began to drink, then stopped. "Wait, poison?" He asked, "You don't really think anyone would-? You do. You do think that." He said when he beheld her drawn, grave expression.
"I do. Even if your friends wouldn't, it's a big country, merchants, the big latifundias are not going to like anyone threatening their business. And you're a former Black Scripture. But you are also human, and you can die. You know as well as I do that there are no magic items that can protect against every poison, and I'll bet it's not hard to find out what ones you use. So, in a few weeks I'll start tasting your food." Nua crossed her arms in front of her chest and gave him a long, lingering look down her nose, almost daring him to argue.
"But you could die." Raymond said as if it weren't obvious while he, with some reluctance, drank the foul white stuff he loathed.
"You can replace me." She said, and that gave him pause.
"You don't mean that." He said as he pushed the empty cup away.
"Of course I do. Just buy another. Or just 'hire' an orphan… in as much as what you did to get those three constitutes 'hiring' that is. It doesn't matter. So what?" She asked while they walked to the door.
"So… I'd rather you not die?" He said, his pitch going up a little as if it were a question.
"Me too, but you're a Theocracy Cardinal, one who might actually do some good for once. I'll work to keep you alive even if it kills me, if that's what it takes to end the nightmare of your country." Nua declared with a resolve that left no room for argument, and Raymond gave up.
AN: Well that's 100 chapters, 25 more to go, will probably do those tomorrow, I've got to work on 'Who Endures' book 8. Honestly this change still surprises me, it used to be so much fun to upload stuff, I updated daily not just because I had time, but because I enjoyed people's reactions, good and bad alike sure there was the occasion piece of human trash trolling along, but it was still fun. But it's become a tiresome chore where I now wonder what complaint I'll get next. 'Your chapter is too short.' (That one took four hours after a twelve hour work day) 'I didn't like that you posted an AN chapter' (Well fuck me for not being your goddamn waiter and just disappearing after dropping content at your table) or 'I'm stopping because character did…' (OK, you could have just 'stopped' why did I need to know that, do you think I'm going to rewrite it for you?)
I do want to say thanks to the ones who have enjoyed the story, offered constructive criticism, or otherwise expressed themselves like or dislike, in an adult fashion without any narcissistic entitlement. I've got nothing but appreciation for you. :) I'll be back periodically to update unfinished stories to completion until I've finished the storylines I intended to write. There's one more volume due to finish out 'The One Who Stayed' but that one will be a discord and p8trr30n exclusive until it is written to completion. The same goes for my other yet to be returned to stories. After tomorrow, see you again in about six months.
Volume 7 C101
Layali held her cheek and fell immediately silent, her tears stopped flowing, though they still pooled in her eyes as she looked up at the old woman. The woman's hand was raised, ready to slap a second time. It jerked a little farther back, promising that it would hurt more if Layali made a sound.
"Good. You're smart enough to shut up. Pain is a great teacher. Suffice it to say, child, that you will learn a lot here, one way or the other." The old woman said and with agonizing slowness the hand came down, left and right folded together in front of the woman's waist.
"While you are here, for as long as you are here, you will be expected to work, to learn, and, if you know what is good for you… to make yourself… wanted . There is always a call for young labor, apprentices and such, for one trade or another. You were very lucky, the ones to drop you here paid for your care, so that means you'll get twice as much food as the rest, and new clothes instead of old ones." The old woman frowned when Layali said nothing.
"You can thank me now." The old woman added expectantly.
Layali looked down at the floor.
"I was speaking to you, child." The old woman said and drew her hand back.
"What do I call you?" Layali mumbled and looked behind her at the door.
"Lady Grel." The old woman said, her fingers twitched, ready to strike.
"Thank you, Lady Grel." Layali mumbled.
The hand lowered… "Better. It needs work, but it's a start. Spare the hand and spoil the child. Now follow." The old woman took her cane in hand and began to walk down the long hall, her cane tapped the floor and created a cavernous echo out of the emptiness, air blew down the passageway that raised goosebumps on Layali's skin, her ears twitched as she looked left to right. The doors were plentiful, but that was not what caused her ears to twitch.
Silence.
Occasionally broken up by someone saying, "Faster."
Then more silence.
And the doors… ' They've got locks on them… on the outside?' She looked at the bolts and noticed where they were placed.
She recalled the house of her master, her father… ' The locks on every room were easily accessible to him, but I was too small…'
The locks here were vertical, and went from the top of the door to the short horizontal top door frame, completely beyond her reach no matter what she did.
On the outside of every door there sat a banded candle burning down and casting light over the floor and sending her shadows scattering in every direction as she passed beneath them.
The tapping of the old woman's cane and her steady but slow footfalls became a cause for Layali to wince. ' The one thing they can't do is kill me…' She told herself, but it was a cold, cold comfort that clasped her heart as the old woman stopped at a door. She drew a key from around her neck and rose on her tiptoes to unlock the bolt which held the door shut.
She came down, stepped back from the door after jiggling the bolt open, and smacked her cane up to the wall beside the brass sconce holding the banded candle. "The candle has four more hours to burn. You will work until then. The door will be locked until that time, after that you will be fed. While you work, the speaker will teach. Can you sew?"
Layali whispered, "Y-Yes, a little bit, L-Lady Grel."
"Good." Lady Grel's dour frown lessened a little, though it was no smile, her cane lowered until the tip tapped the floor again and she reached for the door.
She turned the knob and swung it open.
Layali did not step forward.
In front of her were long tables, row by row and end to end, and at each table sat a stool, on each stool sat a young girl around her size, all of them wearing old, worn out brown clothes. Simple laced up shirts and skirts that were little better than bolts of cloth with laces sewn into place where the two ends met. As to shoes, some had them, others did not, those who did, wore shoes that were little better than leather nailed to untreated wooden bases. At the head of the class stood an equally old man who, for the dour face Layali could see, not to mention his matching cane, might as well have been Lady Grel's own brother.
Every girl who sat on the bench was busy working, with needle and thread over cloth. When the door opened, their eyes met hers just as hers met theirs. It was a familiar look. ' When I was in the river… away from Cerebrate, before I knew I couldn't die, but was already dead…'
A chill went down her spine, the girls who worked were not starving, but to call them well fed would have been false. Their legs and arms were thin, a far cry from the health Layali now exhibited thanks to the copious amounts of food she'd gotten used to. The looks they gave her ran from hateful to pitying, and they did not last long.
"I have another one for you Hazeh. She can sew some," Lady Grel said and looked down at the top of Layali's head, "or so she says. Put her to work, her clothes will be waiting for her and the others can show her where to eat and sleep."
The one called 'Hazeh' took a look at her and motioned to the tables. "Back to work!" Hazeh barked at the girls who briefly paused, and pointed to an empty stool. "Fine, Grel, fine. Do I need to mind the boys for you?"
"No, that won't be necessary. Just don't fall behind, it would be a shame if we did, and had to… oh say, cut rations again because we simply couldn't afford enough." Grel said with an eye toward the tables.
Layali's indignation rose like a fire in her belly. She'd seen the sum paid to take care of her, a fortune in a single hand, working in her father's house taught her things… and there was no doubt in her mind what was happening. The working girls sped up, but Layali whirled on Grel and stared up at her with hate filled eyes. "You liar ! Momma and Papa paid enough for you to feed me and everybody here good food for years ! You're a bad one! Just a greedy, evil person!" She searched her memory for any words that would do, anything that would convey her contempt and disgust the right way…
Finally she found them. "Fuck… you !" She screamed it with such virulence that it was as if time stopped dead, mouths fell open in shock from the youngest, smallest girl, to the old man and Grel herself.
"You ungrateful trash ! I was being nice using only my hand because I thought you were smart! But I see you need the cane !" Grel hissed.
Layali however, felt tears of rage burn in her eyes and hissed back with the same hatred, "If you lay one hand on me… when momma Zesshi and Papa Brain come back… you'll wish they only killed you! They killed a monster to protect me, then we cooked and ate it ." She licked her lips, "It was delicious."
Grel took a step back from the girl, and for just a moment, she believed.
The unbridled conviction in Layali's eyes was hard to doubt.
But experience taught the old woman otherwise.
"Stupid girl! Nobody ever comes back! You're here till somebody picks you to work for them. You're here because you were a burden . Because they didn't want you. Because they didn't need you! That's why everybody is here, and that's why you'll be here until we're done with you!" Grel hissed, raised her cane, and pushed the tip against Layali's chest, sending the small girl staggering backward until she fell.
"You're wrong!" Layali shouted, not hearing Hazeh approach over the sound of her crying defiance. "You heard them! They left me to keep me safe! Because it was dangerous! They'll come back for me!"
The withered hand of the old man grabbed her by the back of her neck and squeezed, briefly cutting off her power of speech. She grunted as she was slammed down over one of the tables under the watching eyes of the other workers, "You will learn respect! Spare the hand, spoil the child!" Hazeh shouted, and his own cane struck Layali on her backside.
"You will not speak to adults that way! You speak when spoken to! We are your parents now and we will teach you… you'll learn… you all learn!" He shouted and brought it down again and again with a resounding smack against her behind.
Layali yowled once before she found her words. "They'll kill you! I'll tell them what you did and they'll kill you!"
Lady Grel only laughed, "Foolish girl, if we ever see them again, we'll eat our canes."
Layali stopped screaming profanities and threats after a few more such strokes, but she glared at the old woman until, huffing and puffing, exhausted by his age and effort, Hazeh let her go.
"Now sit ." He said and pointed to a stool again, "And sew. The others will show you, and do not let me hear those tears." He snapped. "Children need discipline, and that's not worth crying over."
With nothing else she could do or think to say, she set her jaw and, though she winced when sitting at the table, she did, then picked up a needle and thread, and started to work.
Volume 7 C102
Layali kept her head down and her fingers moving, the silk fabric she was working with was nice enough at least. It was soft to the touch, but her bottom ached, she shifted on her stool while the old man droned on. "It is always important to listen to your elders, as adults we have seen more, know better than you do, and our guidance, firm though it may seem, is always for your well being…"
Even having never been to a 'school', Layali recalled serving tea to her human half siblings while they were being taught their lessons by their tutor. As 'education' went, the difference was clear enough to the cynical half-elf.
The smell of little droplets of blood from needle pricked fingers was thick to her sensitive nose, but she did her best to ignore the scent and focus on her work.
"Faster." Hazeh said, and cracked his cane over his desk with such force that the class all but jumped out of their skin.
Layali however, did not. ' I have your measure now.' She did speed up, but even though there was a burning, thudding pain on her behind and it hurt to sit, it was nothing compared to the tearing of monster flesh, the feel of a sword across her throat, or the battering of Cerebrate or the waters that carried her to the man she now called 'Papa'.
The hours passed her by, the old man's droning voice became as much background noise as the babbling river she'd spent so much time in and beside. She ignored him while her deft little fingers worked needle through cloth, and a little game formed in her mind. ' It's not a needle piercing red cloth, it's my sword shedding blood, fighting back… and winning…' She worked and worked, every plunge of the needle through red fabric felt like another victory until the door opened.
"Time to eat." Lady Grel said two older children with dirt streaked faces where bruises were already starting to form, wheeled a cart into the room. They were young males, and walked with a limp, hobbling on sprained ankles, their eyes down, and their clothing obviously a size too large for them both, and torn in places.
The cart they pushed held a potato, an apple, and a small hunk of cheese that had seen better days.
Layali felt her belly rumble in spite of the pitiful fare, but beyond her focus on hunger, she focused on what she saw. In front of some children… the cart pushers simply slapped down a potato. In front of a few more, they slapped down a potato and an apple. Almost never did they add the cheese.
The girl seated beside Layali leaned over, "The ones who get the cheese met quota." She whispered, "The ones who get the apple and potato, have people paying for em. And the ones who get only a potato? They got nobody."
Layali watched as single potatoes were made the norm, and waited her turn.
The cart finally made it to her table, and a potato was slapped down in front of her by a dirty hand. The boy reached for the apple, and Hazeh cleared his throat.
The young boy looked at Layali with pity, his hands already shaking as he looked over his shoulder to the old instructor.
"That one is a discipline problem. If she behaves, she can start getting her apple when the bruises are gone." He tilted his chin up in the air and looked down her nose at her, his beady eyes were focused like a hunter on his prey. ' Test me.' He seemed to say.
Layali glared back in return.
She realized then what he wanted. She stretched out her hand and took the brown oval lump, and holding it up to her mouth, she took a bite and began to chew.
Only then did he turn away and bring his cane down on his desk again. "You have five minutes to eat, then you will sew for two more hours before you sleep again."
' Patience. They're coming… I just have to be patient… they won't leave me here.' Layali told herself, and when she finished what passed for her meal, she returned in silence to her work.
Brain's limbs weighed on him like lead, and from the look of it, so did Zesshi's. They moved with slow steps as if half dead when laying camp. They barely spoke, only little by little did the work get done, and it was well into the night when they lay their bedrolls down.
"You forgot to cook." Zesshi said as she pulled the cloak over her body.
"It's Layali's job to do the cooking." Brain replied while looking up at the stars.
"Layali's not here." Zesshi replied without turning to look his way.
"I know that." He answered her while watching the twinkling lights in the distance.
"So why didn't you do it? You know I'm hopeless at that stuff still…" Zesshi asked him and rolled onto her side to look at him.
"Because it's Layali's job to do the cooking. And she's not here." Brain said, his voice was more hollow as a drum and soft as a whisper, his eyes blinked several times and he added when Zesshi said nothing more, "And would you have eaten if I had?"
Zesshi poked at the ground with one finger and for a few seconds at least she was unable to say anything. "No… no, probably not. I just don't have my appetite anyway."
"It doesn't help that there's no fire to cook with." Brain pointed out.
"That's-" Zesshi closed her mouth when Brain finally looked her way and said…
"Layali's job."
"You're sure we did the best thing?" Zesshi asked and looked back down the road they'd traveled by.
"Given what's already happened? She'd be dead twice over if she didn't have that talent. If we kept her with us, how long will it be before we have to protect her from the Theocracy? How long will it be before the Agante take her hostage, or she gets injured by a monster…?" Brain said it in as pragmatic a fashion as he could, but he wasn't looking at her when he said it. He was looking down the same road.
"Is something bothering you?" Brain asked, "Other… other than the obvious, I mean."
"Just… look… I'm a screw up. I fucked everything up for you, her, and me, and more besides, from the moment we started traveling together… I'm… I'm sorry." Zesshi said, it wasn't her first such apology, but the way her lips were moving, he could see she had more, her eyes went from him to the road and back again, and she went on, "So I didn't want to say this, but I don't know."
"Don't know what?" Brain raised one eyebrow and lowered the other while she exhaled a deep breath as if she couldn't hold it in anymore.
"When I was living in the Theocracy, before I started hiding these," she ran a hand over her left ear, "I would get 'looks' from humans. Sometimes disgust, sometimes hatred. I didn't know what they were at the time, but now that I do, I recognize them. But the looks I got from the Cardinals, even way back before the current crop were even born, was different. They looked at me like… like people looked at the elves we saw being auctioned off. Like I was just useful to them, do you know what I mean?"
Brain shook his head, "No, not really, I've never been really useful to anybody before."
"Well, there's a look for it, and now that I think about it… that woman was really focused on the coins I gave her, she didn't ask anything about Layali, she didn't even talk to her while we were there." Zesshi pointed out to him, and Brain's brow began to deepen as a frown spread over his face.
"So… what are you suggesting?" Brain asked.
"I don't know. Maybe nothing, but… I think we should go back, we can take a closer look at the place, we don't have to let her see us, just look, if they're treated well then we can rest easy. If not?" Zesshi let the statement hang.
Brain partially drew his sword, then sheathed it loud enough that the snapping noise was accompanied by a burst of air that moved his hair and hers alike. "That's a good point. I don't know about you but… suddenly I'm not nearly as tired as I was. Should we head back now or do you need a minute?" Brain asked, but before he finished speaking Zesshi was already up and rolling her bedroll.
"Are we going, or what?" She asked, and for the first time in hours, Brain's eyes lit up as he moved to follow her lead.
Volume 7 C103
They were halfway back to the town when Brain asked, "Suppose we get there, find out it's not what we expected and take her back, we still have the same problem that made us leave her there in the first place."
Zesshi thought that one over, she scratched her head and swept her air back before looking in his direction and saying, "I kind of have one idea."
"Wait, really?" He asked and blinked several times in the darkness.
Her lips formed a somewhat chastised pout, "You don't have to say that like it's impossible… and if you laugh I'll slap you."
"I wouldn't dream of it." He said while suppressing a chuckle, "Not after knowing the way you kick." He rubbed his ribs and made an exaggerated wince.
"Right… sorry, I just- no… no excuses. I judged you after you've helped look after us. As strong as I am, I have no idea how to live on my own." Zesshi's face was blank when she said it, but of all the things he knew about her, she wasn't prone to saying things she didn't mean.
"Thank you… again. But it's fine, I've largely healed, I heal quickly, I'm lucky that way." Brain said to her, and then after clearing his throat he pressed, "Your idea?"
"Oh… right. So the Slane Theocracy is a very 'formal' kind of country. Raymond used to complain about it, so did Dominic… it was the one thing they both agreed on. They treated representatives and rulers very differently from individuals. Burning and destroying a village was one thing, but it's a longstanding rule to not target diplomats. Heads of state… maybe, but that's a rough one, especially if it will hurt them." She saw his mouth form a wide 'O' shape and the trace of a smile formed on her face as she saw his understanding dawn.
"So… actually try to win the tournament and… take the throne?" Brain's mind began to spin as Zesshi explained.
"Sure, if I'm the Empress of the Baharuth Empire, they probably wouldn't dare to strike at me unless they had no other choice. Targeting Layali would also be out of the question, she's nothing to them, they have a snowball's chance in hell of working out her origins or that she'd have a lifelong grudge against them. And they can't afford to be the cause of the Empire's complete collapse. So… all I have to do is win, and who in the world can hope to defeat me?" Zesshi asked with a smug upturn of her jaw.
"That… could work, it might actually be a good idea." Brain thought it over and began to rub the faint blue scraggle of a beard that was starting to form on his face.
"Was it necessary to put it that way?" She asked him with a pointed stare that robbed her face of its smugness.
"Maybe not. But hey, maybe it's the first of many?" He winked, shrugged, and she coaxed her horse close to him, then bopped her shoulder against his, sending him tumbling to the ground.
He rolled immediately to his feet and she added, "Having sex with you was 'also' my idea… although… I guess it was only a pretty good idea." She taunted and cantered her horse ahead.
Brain's laughter followed behind her as he remounted his horse and quickly caught up with her again. "I suppose I had that one coming. I can practically hear the women of the world saying, 'Yes, you did.' and who am I to argue?"
"The person who maybe wants a repeat performance?" She asked him.
"I assumed that was a one time thing." He replied and for a moment she was quiet about it.
"You were my first." Zesshi said, and all the mirth was gone. "I always assumed the first time I did it would be with someone stronger than me… I always assumed… gods… how fucked up am I?"
"Zesshi?" He asked and leaned a little closer.
"My mother was humanity's trump card, before me. The strongest of the strong, but my father still took her and forced her to have me. I used to look at myself and see the parts of my father… and how I hated him. I dreamed of the day I could kill him. But I suppose I just always assumed that I'd have my mother's life… right down to its worst part, having me. That someone would defeat me, and I'd have a child, just like she was defeated, and had a child. I never realized how… screwed up everything is. My handlers over the years, except for Raymond and my mother, always encouraged me to 'have strong children'. The handful of Godkin we have, they're encouraged to sleep with lots of women… Cenna has cut a wide swath in particular."
She tightened her hands on the reins of her horse, "I just assumed it'd be… but then that night when we-" She inhaled heavily and then let it out. "I never thought it would be something I enjoyed . It never occurred to me that I'd- I'd like that person."
"Your country failed you bad ." Brain said with a glare in the direction of the Theocracy.
"Maybe so. Maybe so." Zesshi answered him, turning her eyes in the same direction as himself, and they rode on in silence until the town came into view.
Brain however, had his mind on other things. ' Empress Zesshi Zetsumei… it does have a nice ring to it.' He turned his thoughts to that, and then pictured Layali in the clothing of a princess. ' She'll be safe there, she'll have a good life, she'll have everything a girl could want… Zesshi is unbeatable.'
The more he thought, the better it sounded, ' I'll miss her though… her and Layali… once they're Empress and Princess, there's no way I can stay. I was wrong before, this is what will be for the best.'
Layali took one look at her 'bed' and immediately missed Brain's cloak and the grass. The wooden frame was more like termites hugging one another to hold it together, cracked and full of holes, she had to wonder, ' Will this even hold me up?' A look around the room where thirty other 'beds' sat around suggested that, no, it might very well not. Some of the beds were collapsed at either the head or the feet, tilting them down one way or the other.
The blanket was worn thin and clearly cut from a larger horse blanket, it had rips and holes aplenty, and was badly frayed along the edges. Worse, it was thin, offering no real security against any chill if and when that hit.
As to her 'mattress' there was none. The flat frame just had straw heaped on it, and a bundled set of straw served as a pillow. ' Home sweet home. Even my f- no… Brain is papa now… even the man who made me, gave us better than this.'
' At least they had the sense to split us up between girls and boys, old and young…' She thought as she bent over the bed and began rustling the old, dry, golden straw around to make it into something comfortable to sleep on. Recalling her life on her creator's estate, there'd been no real privacy to speak of and it wasn't uncommon to hear moans in the darkness as two tried to find some pleasure amidst their bleak existence. So life's most basic mysteries were long resolved in her mind and she had to acknowledge that Lady Grel, if she was indeed in charge, had at least some sense.
Again the thought came to her to run. ' But where?' She asked as the noise of the lock outside clicked shut. The door was in good shape, and the one window was very small.
If there was a way out, it wasn't apparent. ' Zesshi would just slap the door apart with the back of her hand and boom, that would be that! Brain would… I don't know, cut it in half with his sword… probably.' That made her smile sadly, and she got into her bed of straw. She curled up on her side, rested her head on what passed for a pillow and pulled the rough, scratchy rag of a blanket over her body. Her curled form became tight as a ball and her eyes squeezed shut to hide the enclosed room. The noise of the others was dying down and snoring quickly followed.
' Come get me… please come get me… I don't wanna be here…' Layali said in prayers to a god she couldn't name, and repeated it until she finally fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.
Volume 7 C104
It was late in the morning when Brain and Zesshi rode into town again, and as such, the booming activity of the place left Brain optimistic.
"Why are we pulling in here?" Zesshi asked as Brain steered his horse toward a tavern. "I'm not really thirsty, or hungry."
"Me neither, but before we go over there…" He closed his mouth and dismounted his horse, while he secured it to the hitching post outside the building he went on, "I was so damn… so damn set on making sure she was safe from what I was worried about with us, I didn't stop to think about what a place around here could be like . I just… I assumed it would be better, and that what you paid would be enough to give her a good life."
"We both did." Zesshi said with compassion as she got down off of her horse and secured it beside his own.
"But I am supposed to know better… but maybe I was wrong." Brain clenched his fist and pointed to the tavern. Like most of the buildings they'd seen, the exterior is fairly clean, which was in its favor, the door was propped open, and inside Brain could already see people working. "If I was, we'll find out here. The orphanage is close by, chances are people who work around it, stop here to eat or drink. We just have to be 'discreet'. Follow my lead." Brain said and adopted a calm, almost stately stride he entered the tavern and went to sit at the bar.
Behind it stood an orc woman, her tusks were bared in her version of a smile, "Hiya." She said and flipped two mugs over her head from behind her back, they landed squarely in front of Zesshi and Brain and before the pair could say anything, she had a barrel on her shoulder and pulled the tap. A stream of dark beer began to slosh around in Brain's mug, and without missing a beat or spilling a drop, she did the same with Zesshi's.
Then just like that, she yanked the tap free, corked the barrel, and sat down. "Name's Tamah, welcome to my place and enjoy the beer, that'll be two coppers each."
"Uh, but we didn't-" Zesshi began, but Tamah, who was as shapely as any radiant young human woman, and buxom in the way that orc women tended to be, with broad shoulders and a pine green skin, would have none of it.
"Nah, this is my place. It's better if I tell you what to drink. I always know, just trust me. You don't like it, I'll give you each four coppers." Tamah said and rested her forearm on the bar. She gave them a wink and waited.
Brain ran with it, the mug was simple wooden slats sealed with black tar, but the foam was a creamy tan and he could smell the fermented mash. He snatched up the mug, smacked his lips together and tilted it back to start drinking.
Not to be outdone, after one more lingering look down at the brew, Zesshi brought it to her lips and drank. It was thick, rich, with an oaky flavor that ran smooth down her throat and filled her empty belly with a stuffed, warm feeling.
Brain reached into his pouch and dropped four coppers between them. "You know your stuff." He said, and Tamah gave a porcine snort.
"I've been workin on the job for years, and my papa was a brewer, and his father 'fore him, an my momma was the same. Used to do this stuff out in the Abelion Hills way back when, and my family still got brewers out there, brothers and sisters… so that right there," she pointed two fingers at their now empty mugs, "is generations of orc beer making."
"So how'd you end up out here?" Brain asked, "We're a long way from Demalbion."
"When things opened up, we wanted to branch out, figured the White Tusk name ought'ta be known everywhere. I'll pit my name against any brewer anywhere, man, elf, even dwarf if it comes down to it. Anywho, I take one look at some'n, and I know what they need to drink. An you two, you ate nothin, so you need somethin for to fill you both up, an what tastes good goin down." She had a twinkle in her dark eyes when she spoke, as if it were her own children she spoke of when she talked of her work.
"Well it holds up, that's for sure. I understand the need to expand, but I'm surprised to see you here alone." Brain remarked and looked around, she clearly wasn't alone, a pair of waitresses were speaking to people at two different tables… but behind the bar, there was at least only herself.
"I mean, with the orphanage nearby, you could probably hire someone to work where you are right now and then you could spend more time making this magnificent stuff." Brain tapped a finger on the mug, and Tamah's demeanor slipped a little.
"That's where I got my waitresses over there." The orc woman pointed to the busy servers, they wore simple dresses that came down knee length and were simple green and white patterned, coming up to straps over their shoulders.
"I don't do that now though… bad business really. Don't much care for em." Tamah said, subdued and briefly focusing her eyes on the two honey blonde women.
"For… orphans, what's wrong with orphans?" He asked and slid his mug back over to her.
"Nah, kids is fine, it's the place they at, right nasty business. You want my advice, if you lookin for a kid just this side of a slave an just knows to follow orders, that's the place for you… them two told me about it when they got here…" She inclined her head toward the pair. "Beatin up little'uns, an makin them do some right backbreakin work… you wouldn't think it, but there's a lot of money to be made off'n the kids." Tamah reflexively got up and filled both their mugs again.
"So you don't do business with them?" Brain asked as he put down four copper coins.
"Nah, some do. Farmers do, sometimes smiths, folk who need labor or apprentices… and every now and then a traveler picks up a kid. Sometimes it ends up good, like… not that long ago someone bought all three kids-" Tamah stopped when Brain and Zesshi spoke at once.
"Bought?" They said, before Brain asked, "Like they're slaves?"
"Yes'n no. Labor contracts… but they might as well be slaves. They can't read it, an nobody asks em if they want to sign. They were lucky though, since all three went together. Most times, they get split up." Tamah explained, then asked, "So… how far'd you two come from anyhow?"
"Really far." Zesshi answered.
"And really, really far." Brain answered.
Tamah scratched her, "Right then, listen… it's just not a great place, they don't eat much, the old folks who run it, I don't let'm in my bar, but I can't do much, the mayor makes his money supplyin the place, an there's not one kid in there who's got anyone who gives a shit covered copper what happens to em. My advice, don't have anythin to do with anyone who works there, because they'll do anythin for a silver."
"Nobody does anything… aren't there crimes involved here?" Zesshi asked, and Tamah couldn't help but give a low chuckle. She set both her green hands on the bar and stood up straight.
"Listen honey, them kids in there, they were mostly street kids, criminals. The mayor, he's an upstanding citizen. If a street kid tells someone it's rain'n, most folk'll look up just to be sure, even if they outside gettin wet, and they'll clutch their coin purse tight while they check. Nobody'd believe em, an even if they do, what of it? Shut the place down an put em on the street? Shut down the mayor, his business, lot of folks lose work and end up homeless as them kids… so… they let it pass."
"Right, that… I could see that… but what if… I know places like that take support like, people who travel and can't bring their children." Brain suggested, and Tamah only pointed to her waitresses who had moved on to other tables.
"They got a potato and one piece of fruit to eat, not much else. Their folks never came back for em, from what I hear tell, nobody comes back. The Empire may not be here anymore, but this new Kingdom… well some money has come out this way, it's safer to travel, but nobody doin nothin any different. An again, even if they did? Lotta them kids's the kids of folks who fought the new King. Who's gonna stick their neck out for those an risk him gettin mad over it?"
"A good point." Brain said as he polished off his beer and set it down, he stood up again while Zesshi drained her own and said, "Only a mad fool would stick their neck out for everyone. But… maybe doing so for one isn't such a bad thing."
Tamah looked at him with questioning eyes, but he only smirked, drew out a silver coin and flipped it from his finger to land on the bar directly in front of her. It wobbled audibly until it came to a stop, but by the time she looked up after snatching it away, the pair were gone.
"That's an odd couple there." Tamah muttered and flipped the coin behind her into a waiting jar, and then set about clearing what was left behind.
Layali stood in line, her 'good' clothes, those acquired for her by Brain and Zesshi, were gone when she woke up that morning. Her belly rumbled, but there was an order to the day, that was clear. In her arms sat a folded set of somewhat serviceable clothing, a little bit better than what she privately called the, 'potato class' of orphans.
However, she wore nothing, none of the girls did, instead they were lined up in front of the well. The sound of a splash came out from ahead of her. A squeal, the noise of a 'thwack' of a cane… a muted cry that made Layali's nerves stand on end. Then a minute or two later a drenched but clothed girl scampered into view to stand in line with those who went before her.
"Next!" Lady Grel shouted, and Layali took one step forward. The creaking noise of the wheel made her cringe away until a hand went to the small of her back, forcing her to stop.
The squeak of the wheel, the squeal of the girl and the desperate, but short flight to the next line, it all seemed to go on, and on, and on.
Finally it came her turn, the old woman was clad in severe clothing, a long dress that hung down to her ankles and was buttoned up to her throat, a scowl on her face. Her cane smacked the rusty wheel. "Turn it, draw the bucket up, you don't expect an old woman to do the work for you, do you, you spoiled little brat !" She snapped down at the little half elf.
Layali stepped aside, set her clothing on the ground, and endured that deep frown and disapproving look on the wrinkled face. She then stood on top of a stool placed beside it, and began to grunt as she pushed. It fought her as hard as it could, the rusted wheel's resistance kept it from going at more than a snail's pace… but rendered stronger than average by hard labor and long travels, she progressed.
Turn after turn, rotation after rotation, the round stone well gave up its water.
"Hurry up, hurry up!" Lady Grel snapped, but Layali saw the little twitch in the corner of the woman's eye.
' She wants to provoke me…' Layali knew, it was a familiar twitch to her, seen often in the eyes of her creator's human wife who did not care for the trysts of her husband with the 'stock'.
So Layali played the game, she kept turning the wheel until the bucket rose within reach.
"Now dump it on yourself, we can't have you stinking all day!" Lady Grel snapped, and Layali grabbed the bucket, hefted it over her head, and tilted it over herself. Ice cold water from within the earth washed over her entire body, stabbing her like tiny pinpricks for a moment.
She stifled her cry, but not her shiver. "Get dressed, brat! Then get in line with the others! There's work to do!" Lady Grel spat, and Layali rushed herself into the patchwork clothing and scurried as the others had before her.
The rough clothing scratched at Layali's skin from head to toe, but when she reached the line, she stayed as they did, hands in front of her and eyes down, waiting to be called on with the other twenty or so before her.
Splash… crank… cry… and thwack… were the only noises she heard for the next half hour until it was done… except for the growing rumble.
She brought hand up and touched her belly, pressing against it, the big meals, near 'feasts' that she'd grown accustomed to with Brain and Zesshi seemed years behind her at that moment. ' But they fed me… those things happened… they love me… they tried to protect me…'
The high walls in this back area at least protected what modesty she still had left, and boys and girls were bathed separately, but nonetheless it was a relief to trudge away from the ugly routine.
' I wonder where we eat?' Layali thought and followed the others, but when the hallway was the same, she closed her sky blue eyes. ' I'm not going back in there, this is all a dream…' She tried to tell herself while she passed through the door frame and found herself at another stool, with a bolt of fabric and other materials ready to sew.
However, mercifully, there was also a bowl.
' Food!' At the promise of it, even in the form of an empty wooden bowl which, when she looked at it, could have been cleaner, her belly gnawed at her like a wild beast. The dry taste of potato was like ashes in her mouth, but even that would have been preferable to the tasteless air she practically bit at just in the hopes of eating something.
Two limping young boys hobbled in, this time pushing a cart with a large bellied cast iron pot. Though the young boys, being skinny as they were, and clearly injured, struggled… they did make progress.
As one pushed, the other scooped, and the thick wet plopping noise of gray looking gruel went into one bowl after another.
Layali began to shift on her stool and reached back to rub the bruised part of her bottom, if she avoided moving much, that hurt too, but between that and the promise of food? Remaining still was a battle she was losing.
Finally they reached her. "Half for that one. She's disrespectful." Hazeh said with stern reproof.
Layali looked up at the two boys, and watched the gray lumps fill barely a quarter of her bowl. Her stomach seemed to be biting at her, she clutched it with one hand and without thinking she held up her bowl.
"Please… please can I have some more… I'm so hungry!" She pled with angry tears in her eyes.
"More? Brat! You need discipline more than you need food! Hazeh, are you going easy on these whelps?!" Lady Grel snapped from the end of the aisle where she stood waiting for the two serving boys to finish.
"Of course not!" He snapped and began to hasten forward, his cane slapping the floor with every heavy step.
All around her, Layali saw heads go down to their tables and every child's hands folded over the back of their heads. ' No!' She wanted to scream, but no words came out, the young boys hobbled back to press themselves against the wall.
"Try to disgrace me… you'll learn who is in charge here little girl!" Hazeh reached out and grabbed the back of Layali's neck and forced her to bend over the desk. Her bowl went flying away and clattered to the floor. Her belly rumbled again, but it could not drown out Hazeh's voice. "I'm in charge here! Not you! You do what I say do!" He barked, his cane went up, her eyes went wide.
"Maaaaamaaaa! Paaaapaaa! I want maaaamaaa! I want paaaapaaa!" She yowled and screeched like a banshee.
Lady Grel stepped in front of the table, her hands folded in front of her waist, a prim and perfect pose as unmoving as stone. "We're your parents now!" Lady Grel snapped with a disapproving look down her nose.
"The hell you are!" Like twin battle cries uttered in unison, so thunderous that it carried through door and through wall… just before both were smashed inward into splinters and rubble.
Volume 7 C105
Hazeh didn't truly have time to process it, his eyes saw the rubble, the dust and splinters, but before he truly understood what was happening or why, he felt himself choking. His feet kicked at empty air, and his own body's weight held him inexorably against a hand of steel.
He gurgled and gasped, his own hands came up to claw at the one to hold him there, but prying those fingers free proved to be an exercise in futility. "What… were… you… doing… to… my… daughter !" Brain bellowed the final word, and shook the feeble man like a rag doll.
The cane, he'd dropped, and it landed on the table, Hazeh's fingertips teased at it, sought it out, urging it closer. "Can't… breathe… hurting… me…" He choked out, beyond him, he could see a woman with black and white hair who, in crude terms, was busy kicking the shit out of Lady Grel.
"You were supposed to look after her! Is this what you thought we meant?!" Brain bellowed up, his face a twisted mask of wrath and fury, he twisted at the hip and slammed the old man's back down against the table. It shattered from the force and Hazeh gasped and coughed as any remaining wind was knocked out of his lungs.
Layali jumped against him and wrapped her arms around his waist, various small heads came up to watch the impossible scene. Brain put his arm down over her shoulder and against her back. "Did he hurt you?" Brain asked, his eyes going from Layali to the old man.
"Uh huh… bad… it hurts to sit, an they were going to make us work for them, all day long, and they made me dunk freezing water on me, an they took my things and they made me sleep on a busted bed and old straw and all they fed me was one potato! I hate this place and I wanna leave!" She shouted it all and began bawling… Brain only glowered down at the figure that still hadn't formed words.
Not far away, Zesshi, having heard Layali start to bawl, raised her foot and stomped… hard… on the woman's elbow.
The crack was audible, as was the cry of pain. "You were paid a fortune to take care of her! And this is what you do?!" Zesshi snapped and brought her foot down on the knee of Lady Grel.
"Which hand did he use to hit you?" Brain asked, and down below, Hazeh felt the eyes of a reaper of the battlefield looming over him.
"That one…" Layali pointed to the right hand of the old man. Other than Zesshi, he was sure nobody saw his sword move, only the act of returning it to its sheath.
Hazeh blinked his eyes, slow confusion followed, he brought his arms up to guard himself, "Don't-" The plea died in his throat when, after holding up his arms to protect himself, he saw that his right hand was missing and a stream of blood was coming out.
"That means he used the other hand to hold you in place…" Brain stomped his foot down on the arm that still had a hand, pinning it to his chest.
Layali could not see what he did when he crouched down, but the audible crack of snapping bone after snapping bone was enough to make her wince… even if not one wince had pity to it.
"We're taking you out of here… I'm sorry we left you here…" Brain said, ignoring the broken, howling figure who would not be moving again for quite some time.
"My hands… !" Hazeh's voice was beginning to fade.
"Layali… bind the hand, I don't want him to die. Not yet." Brain said when the old man began to fall limp.
Quick as a whip she took a pair of scissors, cut the cloth she was expected to work with, and began to bandage and bind the hand to cut the blood flow off.
Brain put his boot down on Hazeh's neck, the pressure was light, but terrorized eyes bulged with the dread that the pressure was coming. "Do you have any idea just how thoroughly you've screwed yourself?" He asked when Layali rose and went back to clinging to Brain's side.
Gurgles were Hazeh's only answer.
"That," he pointed to the half elven woman who was dragging Lady Grel over, the old woman moaned and tried weakly to protest, but with Zesshi's hand on the end of her hair, dragging the old woman across the floor was easy, "is Zesshi Zetsumei. She's an official representative from the Slane Theocracy, and you've just beaten her daughter ."
Even the groans stopped as the fear redoubled. "She has direct ties to their elite forces, and when they find out what you've done?" Brain's voice rose an octave and he put a little pressure on the old man's throat, then lifted it away as the thudding and slamming and desperate flailing of a broken hand and a handless arm slapped against his boot.
"But it's their way to give their prey a head start. We're leaving, and we're taking her with us, and you… as soon as we've finished business in Arwintar, you're the next business." Brain hocked his spittle as loud as he could, and then spat, hard, directly into Hazeh's eye.
"How'd you do that?" Zesshi asked while she put herself at Brain's side.
"What? You've never hocked one on somebody before?" Brain raised an eyebrow at her while Zesshi's hand unconsciously drifted to stroke Layali's head.
"No… no, I haven't… tell me how." Zesshi almost demanded.
"Hork it back through the nose, like breathing really hard so it's at the back of your throat, then spit it all out at once." Brain explained.
"Can I try… momma?" Layali asked and looked hopefully up at Zesshi with big, puppy dog eyes.
"Please do." Zesshi answered with a wink, and the two half elves began. 'Gagghghk' like noises went up as they tilted their heads back, and then two large wads of mucusy spit arced through the air to land on the face of Lady Grel.
"You'll live. Long enough for us to chase you… and I'll be reporting this place to the King of this country." Zesshi said with icy hate as they squirmed on their backs.
Countless small faces looked at them with a mix of fear, hope, confusion, dismay… but the pair had eyes only for one.
"It's terrible here… can we just… leave?" Layali pled, "I don't wanna be here anymore."
"Yes, we're leaving." Brain said and picked her up in his arms, she was warm to the touch, and with the danger clearly passing away and reunited with the pair in safety… she began to tremble like a leaf as her adrenaline rush wore off.
Her face began to redden as she was carried out and she began to cry with tears of happiness. "They said you wouldn't come back… they said they were my parents now… I didn't like it… I knew you'd come back…"
"We never should have left…" Zesshi acknowledged when they descended the stairs. "How long do you think those two will run for, once they're able to move again, that is?"
Brain rubbed his chin and scooched Layali a little higher up so she could hold her arms around his neck. "I would say… the rest of their lives, just at a guess. And that will do. Still it's strange that nobody interrupted us."
"Probably the noise." Zesshi said with a dismissive shrug, when they reached the place where their horses were tethered.
"Shouldn't that be the opposite?" Brain inquired, he set Layali on his horse, inching her up toward the mane and taking care to place her as gently down as he could.
"Not really, once when we raided a vampire lair, I 'interrogated' a vampire minion for a good while, his screams didn't draw any attention. Raymond told me it's because they were used to screams. That place was probably used to all kinds of ugly noises and anyone who heard it, assumed just one kid snapped and put up a fight."
"Convenient for us at least, it'll be hours before anybody realizes anything is wrong unless the kids in there say anything… but still, we should pick up the pace, we still have a tournament to get to and even if it is going to run for weeks, I'd rather not miss it all." Brain gave a wolfish grin to the half elf, "I look forward to seeing how I do against you next time. Maybe I'll even win!"
Zesshi threw back her head and laughed, "That'll be the day." She said, wiped tears of laughter from her eyes, and without a word, they spurred their horses and began to ride north as fast as their horses could carry them.
Volume 7 C106
The golden wheat-colored wood of the great hall was filled with light, the sun streamed in through great glass windows, and the wood gleamed like an angel's halo. In the center of the hall was a long table holding the delegates of great nations. The Dragon Lords of Argland, the Oligarchs of the City State Alliance, the delegates of the Minotaur Kingdom, the Ogre Kingdom, the Wyvern Kingdom, even the Devor Empire, the nation of beastmen who thought all those at the table to be food themselves, had someone present.
Ainz seated himself between his wives, with Albedo to his right hand and Calca to his left. Beside Albedo sat Draudillon, and beside Calca sat Neia. At Draudillon's right hand sat Enri, while at Neia's left hand sat Renner.
The seats were still filling up when Raymond arrived. At the door the crier, a young man with a black and white butler's suit, who stood stiff with feet shoulder width apart, one arm folded behind his back, and one hand holding the door open, called out the new entry. "Cardinal Raymond Zarg Lauransan of the Slane Theocracy!"
Some eyes turned to meet his, some did not. But the moment his name passed the crier's lips, Raymond felt one pair very keenly. ' Queen Baraja.' Her baleful stare was the only one he felt that was truly full of hatred.
The Cardinal braced himself and tugged on the white and golden robe he wore for the occasion. Nua's words lingered still in his ear, ' Make allies for yourself .' She'd given that advice while she assisted him with his clothing, her deft and practiced hands performed each task to perfection, leaving not a wrinkle or loose binding.
' If only she'd come with me?' He thought, but her refusal came again even though he insisted her presence would help. It was still unclear to him just why she refused, but her simple question shut him down, ' Are you going to command me?'
He refrained, and let the matter drop.
So, alone he entered and with stately, long strides as if he were a nation's King, he entered the hall and chose his seating with care. He sat down beside the Golden Queen Renner.
Neia's eyes lost a hint of her hostility.
"Cardinal, so nice to see you here." Renner said with her glowing smile.
"Yes. Here ." Neia said, robbing his choice of seating of its subtlety.
' Subtle as a club to the face, that one.' Raymond briefly mused, but answered, "Thank you, it was a hard road but… I made it. I'm here ." He said emphatically, though his eyes fell longer on Neia than they needed to with Renner.
It seemed at first he would have to spell it out for her, until Renner put a hand on Neia's thigh and squeezed. Neia's eyes went to the source of the touch, and then back upward to Renner.
The Golden Queen gave the tiniest of nods.
Then the hostility of the Dragonid Queen that felt like her talons tearing into his flesh, began to fade away. Raymond watched Neia's expression change, the deep frown became a thin line on her face and she asked…
"I heard you were traveling with a slave the rest of the way here. Where is it ?" Neia searched his face for answers, her question a… somewhat feeble attempt at being subtle.
"I see I've had tabs kept on me… I suppose that's unsurprising, but if you want to know, I have none. If you doubt me, come to my quarters and meet her for yourself." Raymond retorted.
Neia rolled her eyes, a strange thing to see when they were vertical slits, and said, "It's so much easier to be subtle in warfare…"
"I'm sure you'll be fine, you just need practice." Renner answered and gave Neia's leg a little pat as if she were praising a student who was trying ever so hard to grasp a difficult lesson.
The burst of laughter that came from Raymond's mouth was utterly and completely genuine, it took him by surprise, and the pair looked at him as if he had done something amusing that they hadn't quite caught.
"It's nothing. Let's just say that… you, Queen Baraja… had a point, and now I'm here." Raymond replied and took a deep breath. "Now, I see Draudillon is here, tell me what happened… I should greet her properly after the meal and I'd rather not look foolish."
His face grew pale as the story was relayed, and slowly darkened. "The elf King is here… I pray that whoever he faces first in the arena is not a woman. Have they released the names of the opponents due to face each other first?"
"The smaller rounds began yesterday, just exhibitions mostly, small name fighters or no name fighters… but the elf King should be up against whoever wins those fights in a few days… out of all those, forty-one are women." Renner explained, and her pitying eyes blinked repeatedly, "They train publicly to build excitement, one of them exceeds all the others… she's certain to win, and worse, she has a child with her to watch her fight."
"I see." Raymond answered as against his will the grotesque scene came to mind. The brute's triumph, and then her horror as she realizes the defeat means so much more than she first knew… "I should warn her… where do they practice?"
"The common grounds around the arena, as she draws a crowd with her displays of strength, you'll find her very easily. Someone tried to warn her already, but it did no good." Renner said, and Raymond fell to thought.
"I will think of something." He promised, and shifted his attention to the head of the table as the council members stood up at once and servants began to wheel in carts laden with food and drinks on platters of silver and in goblets of gold. ' I'll go at sundown… and hope for the best.' He told himself before resuming his focus on the gathering of nations.
When Raymond entered the room he found that Nua had already laid out a meal for him. It was fairly simple fare, a roast haunch of venison with a small helping of brown sauce resting over it, a side of mushrooms and a hunk of fresh baked bread, the whole thing was steaming hot. One bite was taken out of each portion.
"I've tested the food, Raymond, it's safe to eat." Nua said, and then pointed to a stack of papers beside the dish. "Also, these came for you. I opened them of course, and ran my hands over the paper, nothing was poisoned."
For a moment her eyes lingered on the papers, and Raymond's lingered on her, a depth of sadness was there that seemed to have pushed aside the anger that normally seethed just beneath the surface. "Thank you… I suppose you won't be eating with me?"
"No." She replied to him, "I've already eaten. I ate before I tested your food and opened your letters."
"I-I see." He said and took a seat. "Is there anything of interest?"
"Yes. You have letters from all of your comrades… it seems your correspondence reached the Slane Theocracy and hit many places, and it is still spreading. They are outraged at your blasphemy. Demanding you return to explain yourself. In addition, there is a letter, from Berenice, warning you to take care when you do come back. A string of murders, no… slaughters have taken place over the course of the last few weeks. All targeting priests and priests in training of the Six Gods. It's gotten bad enough that they're conducting a joint operation of the Agante and Black Scriptures to bring the murderers down." Nua, curiously enough, didn't seem mirthful about that in the least.
"I see… I don't have much time, I need to get changed and go to the arena." He said and explained the arrival of the elf King and his intention.
Nua pursed her lips and crossed her arms. "Absolutely not."
"I'm sorry?" Raymond asked.
"I said, 'Absolutely not'." Nua gave the order again, "Do you have a death wish ?"
"No. Why?" Raymond asked.
"Because these letters arrived Raymond. They arrived here from the Slane Theocracy not even three weeks after they were sent from Peronia, it means the Slane Theocracy got directly involved in making sure this communication got here fast. They might have used flight magic to bring them, but if they did that, they could bring assassins too. What if they think you're behind those killings?" She demanded an answer, and his mouth opened and closed like a fish without saying anything or making a sound.
"I know, it's absurd, but it doesn't need to make sense to be believed. You only got one letter of warning. Either the rest don't care if you die or think you're involved. I can't act as your bodyguard effectively in a place like the training grounds, not by myself I can't." Nua shook her head, "Not at that hour at least… we'll go in the morning if you insist. And besides, if the woman you're talking about is the one that all the gossip happens over, the one called Shizi, then she won't be there now anyway. She leaves to spend time with her daughter and husband in the late afternoon."
"Oh… I see…" Raymond sat at the table and began to pick at his food. "Tomorrow then. But aren't you going to your room now?"
"I cancelled it. I'm sleeping here." Nua answered, he snapped his head up from the food on his plate.
"Come again?" He asked.
"I'm sleeping here." Nua said it again, "If that correspondence can reach you, so can people, and right about now there are a lot of people who will want you dead. It's time for the second half of my duties to begin, keeping you alive."
He looked her over again like it was the first time, she was a lithe, solidly-built elf, her ears were presently lowered and a sour glower on her face that was somehow still beautiful now that her golden hair was longer than it was when they met. Her steady stare promised him he wouldn't win an argument, and she remained silent, almost daring him to argue.
"So you're serious… about protecting me?" He asked her and she gave an instant sharp nod.
"You're the best chance my race has had in years. I'm not going to lose you to some stupid lawful sweet idea of saving a young woman… who isn't even in danger yet." Nua shook her head with vigor, casting the golden strands of hair about. "Not happening. I'll take you there tomorrow, and I've dismissed Sylia, given her enough money to go back to where her brothers are and even expand their farm. So I'll be driving you again."
"And… where will you sleep?" Raymond asked, he turned his eye toward the large bed, and then back to her.
"With no window here, the only way in is the door, so I'll sleep against that. If they kill me, you'll wake up." She said matter-of-factly.
"I'm not going to ask you to die for me after-" He stopped when her fingers covered her lips.
"You're not asking. I'm not asking if you want me to. I'm telling you this is what I'm going to do. You're the first truly good human I've known in I don't know how long… even those who I don't think were all bad… even those stopped short of good. A human willing to put their life on the line for my kind, to help us even at the cost of his friendships, his status…? I can barely believe you're even real. I'm definitely not going to let anything take you away."
"You're hard to argue with." Raymond said succinctly and began to tear into his food with her smug and cocky grin growing by the second and shining down at him.
Zesshi raised her hand above the waist-high post. While various other would-be combatants were doing their best to show their skills, it was no question who drew the most eyes. "Smash!" The crowd shouted, and Zesshi brought her fist down.
The ground shook, rumbling beneath their feet like a stormcloud overhead, and the post was gone. Her fist came up and her hands went to her hips, applause followed, the post was buried in the ground and a light cloud of dust began to settle around Zesshi's feet.
"Shi-Zi! Shi-Zi! Shi-Zi!" Her newfound fans began to chant her assumed name while the sun rose ahead of her.
The grounds on which she stood were wide open, punctuated occasionally by training posts and heavy weights, practice weapon racks lay near at hand, and many a broken implement lay cast off, while young servants rushed replacements out almost as fast as the old ones could be shattered.
"Who wants a quick exhibition?" Zesshi asked, "Just a few blows, I promise I won't hurt you!"
The crowd stepped back a few paces, and despite a few envious glares from the other fighting women, none stepped forward to volunteer.
"I volunteer!" A hand went up from the crowd, and a gasp went up, and the crowd parted to reveal the madman.
Zesshi's face went pale. "You…?" She gasped as the middle aged man took a step forward. His formal robes were gone and in their place was something she hadn't seen him wear in years. Training attire. Close fitting leather gear, complete with his standard knives.
"Shizi?" Raymond asked and cocked his head. "That's the name you went with? And you didn't even bother to dye your hair?"
It was then that her surprise twisted into a wrath, at his back was a collared elf. She stepped into view and looked over to Raymond, her mouth opened to speak.
"Sonofabitch!" Zesshi bellowed and charged.
Volume 7 C107
Brain brought the sword down on the iron post, it split down the middle, and the two halves fell with heavy thuds into the sand. A round of cheers went up from spectators, and he said, "Bring me something harder!"
"I got somethin harder!" Someone shouted from within the crowd.
Brain put his hand beside his mouth and called out, "You don't qualify, I also need something larger ! And something that can last more than a minute before it goes down!"
"Ooooooohhhhh." The crowd took in the verbal burn, and the applause redoubled.
"You're not half bad." A dark haired woman said as she approached out of the crowd, "You should make the finals with ease."
"I plan to." Brain said and pointed toward Layali, "She expects nothing less than my best."
Layali beamed from where she stood a few feet away, leaning against an unused post.
"A half elf daughter? No, you're human, right, so she's older than you even if she's still mentally… mostly childlike, right? Adopted?" The dark-haired woman asked, her white and red robes were of a curious and unfamiliar cut to Brain, and though she had a girlish voice and appearance, the fine hairs on his body stood on end as she came near.
"Plucked her from the river, she's been with me ever since." Brain said, though he smiled broadly and went to pat her irresistibly adorable head, the young woman only barely moved out of his way in time to keep from him bumping into her. It wasn't lost on him that she swept her leg away to move, a combat gesture rather than a common avoidance.
Layali's smile was enormous when the hard hand of the blue haired human ran through her strands of golden hair.
But he could feel the crackling of tension.
"You're risking a great deal, there's no requirement to spare your opponents in this tournament. You could very well die, then what happens to her?" The young woman replied.
"My… lover, she'll look after her if I die. Besides, it's not like this is certain death." Brain said, but he felt the way Layali tensed, "Everything will be fine." Brain replied, the crowd, seeing that the replacement equipment was slow in coming, began to disperse, but the young dark haired woman didn't leave with them.
The little girl crouched down, picked up a bowl with a wet rag in it, and held it up. "Clean your face, papa." She said with a child's insistence, and Brain obliged, picking up the rag, he began to wipe the sand from his face.
"So… who are you anyway, and why do you care?" Brain asked without looking behind him.
"Aureole Omega, you could say I'm an… interested party, I'm always curious about who deserves to live or die, and who actually does either one. I don't get out much… the truth is, this is the first time I've seen the outside of my home in… ever. I've spent my whole life protecting something." She answered, her radiant smile was almost cherry-like thanks to her red lipstick, her small angled face with its high cheekbones was the picture of loveliness, a young girl on the precipice of the final step toward womanhood.
"Hmf, sounds like my companion, but you can't be from the Slane Theocracy, if you're as strong as you hint at, she'd know you." Brain half accused her.
Aureole Omega noted the hardness with which he said the nation's name. "You don't care for the place, do you?"
"They hurt my Layali, they hurt my lover, of course I'm not fond of them." Brain retorted and looked over his shoulder.
"So… you're strong?" Layali asked, picking up on Brain's deduction.
"Strong enough to give strength or take it, and protect everything that is my lord's." Aureole Omega replied with a whimsical little smile, "You have a clever mind, Brain Unglaus, I hope you can handle opponents tougher than iron posts, and ones who can hit back. I'd like to see you there at the end."
"That's… polite of you. Where did you say you were from?" Brain asked as he dropped the wet rag back into the bowl.
"I didn't, but I'm from the Kingdom of Nazarick." Aureole Omega remarked, and then after giving a polite little half bow, she walked away.
"Papa… could you… my master… master Cerebrate… was he really strong?" Layali asked.
Brain felt the impulse to lie, every fiber of his being said to do the same thing, but instead he crouched down and put his hands on Layali's shoulders. "Yes, he was. I beat him before, but he was strong… and yes, he may be stronger now than I was then. But I'm stronger too. I'll beat him again, and kill him in front of your eyes, and then he'll never hurt you again, I promise ." Brain said and with great gentleness he squeezed her muscles.
Raymond's throat felt a lot harder than Zesshi remembered as she made her jump. "You bastard! You lied to me! You spent all our time together lying to me!" She screamed her frustration without looking, the roar of the wind was as loud as any storm as her leap carried her far beyond the crowd, far above and beyond the buildings, and towards a garden she hadn't known was there.
Even had she not been filled with wrath, the noise compelled yelling, and Zesshi raged at Raymond from the moment she grabbed his throat to the moment they landed on the soft green grass. She flung her arm down, and a heavy, agonized thud followed.
Zesshi looked down, ready to give him a good kick. Only to find…
Not Raymond. ' The slave?!' She exclaimed in her head and looked down at her own hand as if it had betrayed her.
"I was sure I-" Zesshi looked down where the elf woman spasmed as she coughed.
"You- can't- kill him." The woman lying at her feet was still spasming and coughing, but she was rolling over onto her belly, the blades of grass bent beneath her, the dew of the morning gleamed like diamonds that she buried under her body as she tried to move herself so that she could rise.
"Are you insane?!" Zesshi snapped. "What did you do?!" Zesshi shouted down at the elf, "The only reason you're alive is because I wasn't trying to kill him! Kick the shit out of him… sure. What were you thinking?!" Zesshi stomped the ground and the trees around them shook, casting leaves loose to drift down around them.
"Body-guard. I'm… his body… bodyguard…" Nua spat a glob of saliva down to water the grass as she tried to push herself up to all fours. "I won't… let you… hurt him." She lifted her head and turned to look sideways up at the half elf.
Zesshi's eyes went very narrow. "A slave trying to protect her master… are you insane?"
"N-No. He… he wants to help… free us…" Nua retched and after one loud 'gulp' noise, vomit shot past her lips and splashed over the grass.
"Lies! He was like a father to me, and he spent the last twenty-some years lying to me about everything I thought I knew!" Zesshi crouched down, ignoring the smell, she grabbed the short, blonde hair and yanked Nua's head up, her heterochromatic eyes burned with wrath as she looked into the shimmering blue of her unintended victim.
"You're wrong!" Nua's shout of defiance was followed by a shake of her head that tugged against her skull, it stung, but she ignored it. "Look at my ears! They're whole! I lived in the Theocracy most of my life! We're normally 'clipped' quickly. But I'm whole ! Would he leave me that way if he were lying?!"
Zesshi paused, her eyes darted to the intact ears, that much was true. "If he were dedicated to lying, yes." She answered almost immediately. "He's a Black Scripture, anything goes."
"Then search me! If they didn't fall out, they're still inside my pouch!" The elf shouted, and winced as Zesshi released the elf's hair and her hand darted for the pouch which was still secured to her belt.
She felt the familiar texture of paper, her fingers clamped down like steel and yanked it out. "What is this?!" Zesshi asked, shaking the papers she crinkled in her hands.
"L-Letters." Nua said and wiped her mouth. "Letters of outrage from the Cardinals themselves!"
Zesshi frowned and took a look. The hands of their authors were obvious enough. From Berenice's flowing script where she never broke her stream of thought, to the angry dots of Dominic's frequently broken quills whenever his temper got the better of him. It wasn't hard to accept them as genuine at least.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Zesshi snapped and clenched the letters in her fist, she shook them above the elf woman's face, her eyes full of disbelief at the words she'd read.
"A change." Raymond said from her back. "Don't hurt her, Zesshi, she was just trying to protect me." He said, his arms open, his hands open, his palms empty.
Zesshi whirled on the source of the voice, no sooner than she did so than she felt arms wrap around her legs. It didn't qualify as a tackle… but the elf hung onto her for dear life. "I'm not letting go!" The elf shouted as Zesshi looked from her to Raymond.
Zesshi's lips pursed thin as he took slow, easy steps closer and the elf tightened her grip. Breaking it would have been easy, but it wasn't lost on the extra seat of the Black Scripture that doing so might well injure her. So she stood.
"You want answers… you deserve them, just please… don't hurt Nua. She was trained as a bodyguard before that fell out of fashion." Raymond explained, and Zesshi's eyes narrowed.
"You expect me to believe that they used to train elves to fight ?" Zesshi demanded.
"No. To die. She was taught how to interfere, get in the way, to sacrifice herself for her master or the one her master set her to guard. She used her martial art before coming with me… that's how she was able to push me out of the way. She knew you were a threat before I did. Just promise you won't hurt her." Raymond pled as he came almost within arms reach.
"A martial art… bodyguards… so an elven meat shield… and these ?" Zesshi glared and shook the letters again, in front of Raymond this time. They flapped in the air, and to her surprise, he lowered his eyes away from here.
"The fruits of penance. I've been writing letters home, the things I've seen, the people I've met… her story." He pointed down at Nua who still clung tenaciously to Zesshi's legs, digging her fingers in and unwilling to let go. "To every public venue, every temple I know, every school of law or theology I can name, and… to all my comrades, including to the entirety of the Black Scripture. It did not go well. But it did go as I expected." Raymond said, and then he descended to his knees.
"Raymond-" Zesshi cut off her own words when he pressed his palms to the grass and slammed his forehead down to the ground.
"I'm sorry. I truly did think of you as a daughter… and I was trying, really, to protect you as much as the rest of humanity. I tried to balance it all, and left you-"
"Ignorant! Useless! An incompetent stupid fool who got her own brother killed, along with a bunch of others! And now you have the gall to say you're sorry?!" Zesshi raged at him, "All you ever taught me was to fight! I nearly got my little girl killed because you all never taught me anything !" She raged at the humbled human Cardinal and when she raised her leg to stomp her foot, the force sent the elf bouncing away.
The crack of a bone barely reached Zesshi's notice in the midst of her fury, "I trusted you! You more than anyone!" Zesshi raged at him, her teeth bared like a wolf, "You can't make this right ! No matter what you do, the harm is done !" She stalked over to him, her hand raised up, he didn't move.
He only said…
"I know."
Out of the corner of Zesshi's eye, she caught the motion, not directed at her, it would have been a near blur, but the half elf could see it clear as the sky above or grass below, or the unmoving man who was prostrated at her feet between earth and sky.
The elf was over top of him, her arms at his shoulders, the left forearm clearly broken, white bone piercing through her flesh and red blood staining the grass. "You… can't…" Nua gasped, her teeth clenched against the pain. "I don't… know everything. He did tell me about you… a lot. Please… don't do this… you'll regret it… and we will regret it…" Nua bobbed her ears up and down to make her point, and Zesshi recalled what Brain mentioned about the fate of servants whose master died by murder at the hands of an elf…
She forced her temper down. Her jaw relaxed, the elf at her feet was breathing hard, despite Zesshi's words, the one called Nua clearly did not believe her.
"Why are you even here ?! Why did you even come to see me?!" Zesshi demanded, and as she snapped out those words, it seemed to calm the elf, and her body visibly relaxed, as did that of Raymond.
"I didn't know it was you I was coming to see." Raymond said, "I promise. I mean, I suspected when I heard the ridiculous name you chose for yourself, and the hair color. But the 'husband and daughter' thing threw me off." The cardinal said as he rose slowly to his knees.
"I came to warn… you, that your father is here." Raymond said, and when he felt Nua's body wince, he glanced to see her broken arm, he immediately reached for his traveling pouch. "Nua, your arm." He gave the order and, albeit reluctantly, she extended it and allowed him to push the bone down back into her flesh. "We'll get a healing potion on the way back, but this will dull the pain." He said and began wrapping a green, herb streaked bandage around the injury. "You shouldn't have done that for me…" He muttered, "She's not wrong."
"I don't care!" Nua glared up at the half elf, "She'd have ruined everything for a moment of childish revenge! Don't you think before you act?! Are you stupid?!" Nua berated the half elf, who took a step back by sheer reflex under the first verbal assault on her person since the village, and one far more personal than that.
"He lied to me! He and his whole country! They used me!" Zesshi shouted back, balling up her fists, but her rage devolved into confusion when the elf whose arm was being wrapped, burst out into bitter laughter.
"Oh, I know enough about you to know how you were used . I'd trade places with you in a heartbeat!" Nua snapped the fingers of her other hand, "Spoiled brat, you're the lucky one, and you should know that by now! And know enough to think before you act !" Nua barked and then hissed as Raymond began to tighten the bandage. "I'm sure you've got reason to be angry, but not to screw up everything for the rest of us! You kill him, who speaks to the Cardinals?! Who tries to reform that hellhole?! Who tries to reform the faith of the Six?! We'd be lucky if your petty tantrum didn't result in a mass purge of us in retaliation!"
Zesshi's mouth opened briefly to deny it, but then… she thought of all she'd seen… what she knew… she could not. ' It's all too easy to see someone like Dominic trying to get someone even more radical put into place… shit. She's right.' The realization killed the rest of her will to anger.
Then it hit her, "Wait, my father is here ?!" Zesshi's wrath returned with a whole new target.
"Yes, the winner among the women champions will enter the bracket after the first eliminations of the men, the elf King will be their first opponent assuming nothing eliminates him." Raymond explained and slowly got to his feet, fending off Nua's attempts to help him rise by gently pushing her hands away.
"I see…" Zesshi crossed her arms and faced the pair. "I'll thank you for… what you seem to be trying to do, Raymond. But… I don't think I want to see you again. I can't really look at you… maybe someday, but you had a hand in letting everything happen, and hiding it from me. I plan on winning the throne, and I will not be a friendly ally to your country the way your comrades hoped."
"I… I understand." Raymond lowered his eyes, "But let me ask something of you, something not for my sake."
"You can ask ." Zesshi answered, though her body notably tensed at the coming request, her feet shifting ever so slightly before she squared herself again in front of him.
"Take in Nua, when you win. I… admit I'm curious about this man and… child, you seem to have taken up with. But if they're more than just a cover for you… she can help. She's held every job you can imagine and has been a great help with me. If I take her back to the Slane Theocracy, I have a good idea what Dominic will do to her, and there's no way she'll be safe in my house even if I can keep her. I have my doubts that she'd even be safe for the rest of this trip. Please?" He asked.
"Raymond, no !" Nua snapped at him, her head yanking over to him, but he had eyes only for Zesshi.
"They're more than a cover… you probably guessed it was the swordsman we met… and you're right… the girl, someone he found, she's a half-elf like me but… with a life closer to hers." Zesshi indicated Nua with a nod, and Raymond seemed to shrink at the implied horrors and the rebuke they carried.
"If she's not willing to stay with me, I don't think I can force her, and I'm nobody's 'mistress'. Convince her and when I win, I'll take her on. A parting gift for the man I used to think of like a father. Now… get out of my sight, we're done ." Zesshi said, then straightened, spun on her heel, and walked away from them both.
Volume 7 C108
"There's a lot of them here, evil mountain." Tia whispered to Gagaran.
"And no sign of evil guards." Tina added.
"They're not that stupid." Gagaran replied, "How many places have we hit… how many priests, how many monasteries…?"
"They can't guard everywhere, evil mountain." Tia answered, but Gagaran shook her head. "I don't like this. I don't like this at all."
Ahead of them stood the long house which housed the acolytes and novices. On the grounds around it stood a great field of flowers, so many types that Gagaran could not name even one in ten of them. ' I doubt even Lakyus would have recognized them all.' Anguish ripped through her heart, ' Why hasn't she… where is she…?' Gagaran bemoaned, in spite of her anger, her face twisted and lip quivered, her body shivered as she tried to think, remember, and forget, all at the same moment. ' How could you?!' She asked for the thousandth time as she recalled the blood red eyes of their Shorty, still and tranquil in death.
That such a cruel end could come to her little sister sparked the hatred for the faith that killed her, all over again.
The vibrant field of flowers of every shade swayed back and forth in the steady billowing breeze, but the trees which surrounded it stood strong and steady, offering excellent concealment from any danger.
But Gagaran still didn't like it. Her twisted face became a tight set jawline, and her large meaty hand clasped the branch of the tree behind which she hid.
"We wait." She said at last, "We can beat any common guards coming our way, but after the swath we've cut, they'll be sending stronger ones. They may already have, and this… this is far, far too quiet."
"Will you just attack, already, I'm getting bored ." A voice came out of the darkness.
"The fuck?!" Gagaran jumped backward twenty yards, trees shattered in her wake until she slid to a stop just before the crashing noise ended.
Tia and Tina jumped into the shadows and vanished without touching so much as a green leaf.
A long, low whistle which had an upward change to the pitch, replaced the crashing noise. "Hmpf, was that really necessary?" The hidden speaker asked, "I'll have you know I like trees, and I'm not at all fond of seeing them destroyed by big oafs."
"Come out here where I can see you, and call me an oaf ." Gagaran snapped and brought her hammer from her back to a guard position in both her hands.
"Fine." The voice said and a spark caught an unlit torch, bringing it to life, and from out of seemingly nothing a young man with ink dark hair appeared, his face wreathed in shadows and flames, he was a good looking figure, younger than Gagaran by a few years at a glance and clad in black and silver plate armor.
"Who're you?" Gagaran asked, her instincts screaming at her to get away. ' Nobody should be able to avoid Tia or Tina's senses… nobody…"
"I'm the man whose vacation you have interrupted." The young man said as he approached with steady, fearless steps.
A pair of Kunai came out of the darkness, he batted them both away with one swipe of his spear, the metal objects pierced the ground to stand upright. "Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to get time off? The sweetbark trees will be at their peak of perfection soon, and instead of being over in Demalbion, I have to come all the way out here and hunt you three down. That's a massive inconvenience and I'm very cross with all of you."
"That's a long name." Gagaran said, and repeated his entire statement to him.
He stopped, cocked his head, and then broke into a boyish grin as he realized it was a joke.
' I've got to buy time.' She said and began uttering the various martial arts she knew by speaking with her jaw clamped shut.
"Very funny, almost funny enough, but… not quite. No, not quite enough… I guess I should give you my name though. If I'm going to kill someone anyway, it costs me nothing to be polite. Or that's what Raymond has always said." He shrugged and leveled his spear, "I am Cenna Tachoni, Captain of the Black Scripture, and the strongest of the Godkin… well, except for one, and she might not count. It depends on how you think of it really…" He paused and scratched his head, "Do you think awakened children of the Elf King count?"
"I-I'm sure I don't know." Gagaran's heart pounded like a horse's hooves, she activated every martial art she knew, and when four kunai came out of the darkness and they too were batted away like buzzing mosquitoes, she could still feel sweat beginning to form on her skin beneath her armor.
"Oh… well it doesn't matter anyway. You've already delayed my vacation, all that really matters is that you haven't got a chance, so the question is, do you want to die quick and clean, or quick and dirty?" Cenna asked, and the weight of his strength crashed down on her, like eyes looming over her and promising death, like a baby bird caught in the eyes of a hungry serpent, for that instant, Gagaran could not move.
When it cut off, Gagaran whispered, "Run."
"Evil mountain?" Tia and Tina spoke both at once.
"You heard me. Run ! I'll hold him back for as long as I can!" Gagaran shouted.
"Nope." Cenna said and put his spear on his shoulder, he tapped it there and shook his head.
"What do you mean, ' Nope' ahh… Cenna?" Gagaran asked, eyes darting around in the dark for a solution.
"I mean I can't have that. I really can't. I don't really like the priests much, and I mean I really don't like them. But I'm afraid I can't have you killing them just willy nilly. So you have to die here." He said and when two dark bullets emerged out of the shadows, he simply ducked and avoided them both.
"What if… what if we ran in the direction you're going on your vacation…" Gagaran grasped at straws, but it seemed to strike a nerve.
"Go on…" Cenna said with a polite and deferential wave of his hand toward the mountain of a woman.
"We'll 'run' in the direction you want to go on your vacation in… and you 'chase us' that way. Then… you have good reason to just 'leave' when you're… finished ." Gagaran licked her lips, she could feel it, almost see it, the casual way that power seemed to crackle invisibly around the human in front of her.
He rubbed his chin and gave it some thought. "I suppose there's no downside to it… plus I'll be far enough away that they won't want to wait for me to come back and explain it…" Finally, Cenna nodded and snapped his fingers. "Deal. I'll even let you put up a good fight, your friends can run west, toward Demalbion, if I feel them veering off to go elsewhere, I'll tell them to raise you from the dead just to punish you for their deception."
His spear snapped down in front of himself into the ready position.
"You heard him! Go!" Gagaran shouted into the dark.
"Evil mountain!" The twins shouted.
"I said, go ! We knew this was going to happen sooner or later! Just go! Let me deal with this one and I'll rejoin you when it's all over." Gagaran slid one foot back into the battle position, ready to charge.
"A woman after my own heart, it's a shame, I might have liked you if things had gone differently." He shrugged, and felt the two in the shadows retreat.
Gagaran launched herself forward, she gave her hammer a swing downward, and the spear bearer put himself beneath it, his black spear overhead, the ground shook beneath them both as she put all her weight down on him, her teeth clenched.
"I. Won't. Let. You. Hurt. Them…" Gagaran gritted the words out, the torch the spear wielder once held still glowed from its place on the ground where it dropped, the fire began to spread out, catching on the grass and clawing its way toward the trees, climbing them like a winding snake before lighting them like giant torches being carried by the world itself.
The flames became an inferno and the heat promised to punish their bodies if the pair lingered on.
"I know." Cenna said just loud enough for him to be heard over the ever rising cacophony of the crackling, raging fires.
He then dropped one hand away from his spear and it came out, striking Gagaran in the guts and sending her flat on her back. The fire kissed the fragments of exposed flesh, but before she could scream, Cenna grabbed her ankle, spun, and flung her away, she bounced end over end, arm over arm, scattering sparks out of the woods and into the field of bouncing flowers maintained so lovingly by acolytes over centuries.
Cenna charged after her, but 'slow' allowing her time to rise up, he noticed that her hammer remained locked in her hand, and a fragment of admiration for her warrior spirit. She spun on her heel and swung the hammer wide, he ducked and slid, grinding flowers into the ground beneath his knees while the sparks started fresh fires in a dozen places that spread out to join together in a conflagration.
Smoke spired up into the dark sky and the orange glow lit up the area for miles around, he avoided her, ducking, weaving, flipping over her, again and again, she failed to land a blow while he struck her body with quick, rapid strikes that pierced her armor as if it weren't even there.
Blood replaced creamy flesh at her shoulders, thighs, calves, and finally her face. "I won't let you!" She shouted at him again and redoubled her efforts, "Gaaaaaaahhhh!" She bellowed and her hammer rose and fell, rose and fell, rose and fell again and again as she came at him from angle after angle, his spear blocking a blow only to have to block the opposite end a moment later.
"I won't die so easily! You won't take my sisters! I won't let you! Not another one! Not another! Not another!" She wept bitter tears and pounded away against her foe.
"I know." He said, and when she slowed down only by the slightest hair…
His spear thrust into her throat.
The taste of blood shot up over her tongue and ran down past her lips. The blurring tears in her eyes ran down into the red, dripping and commingling on the ground.
The conflagration's spread and reached them at last. Fire hissed on the ground when her bloody tears touched and extinguished the tiniest dot of burning flowers.
Gagaran's hammer slipped from her grasp and fell into the fires.
The heat that began to hurt… stopped hurting, her body… ' I feel so heavy…' She thought, her eyes looked down the length of the spear to the black haired warrior's face. He had one foot back and one bent at the knee, his left arm back and his other still held fast, one handed and at the end of the spear, her body still held upright.
' I never had a chance…' Gagaran acknowledged, ' But I can buy them a few more seconds…' She told herself, and rather than fall, her now free hands, with agonizing slowness, grabbed the spear, and she yanked herself forward.
Cenna's eyes widened with brief surprise, the lumbering mountain of a woman lunged along the length of his weapon, her neck passing through and through as her arms came out again to wrap around his body.
"Not… so… easy…" She gurgled her words out, spurting her blood all over the face and front of her killer as she used the last of her strength and began to squeeze. "Crush… crush…" She tried to say, but it came out as only a gurgling moan.
Cenna released the spear and allowed her the final effort, he waited until the last strength fled her dying corpse, and then with great gentleness he put her down into the bed of burning flowers. "You were one hell of a fighter. If they'd sent less than me, you might have had a chance." He said, and drew out his spear from the hole it made in her throat. He swept it out in front of him, scattering her blood away to hiss into the fire that turned night into day.
"I suppose I can go just a little bit slower… one more parting gift." He said as her hair caught and began to scorch her flesh.
He then turned, hopped to the top of the building, and leapt well beyond the reach of flames to begin a light jog after the two remaining murderers.
The body was charred black by the flames when the pair of hanzos grabbed it and dragged it through the gate. They emerged in the lab of Demiurge, and when he pointed to a metal slab, the invisible hanzo swung the body back and forth between them.
"Heave… Ho!" They shouted, and the thunderous clang of heavy flesh and metal upon metal rang out through the room.
"That's another one. And I'm making such marvelous progress with these…" Demiurge said and pressed his glasses against his crystalline eyes. A tiny, cruel smile spread over his face, "Keep an eye on the others, let them wreak havoc for a little longer, even if it means you have to distract the hunter, the fewer priests the Slane Theocracy has, the easier the Allfather's plans can be brought to fruition."
The hanzo's made a pointless show of bowing, and made their retreat back the way they'd come.
"Now," Demiurge clapped his hands together and rubbed them with a dragon's greed while he approached the charred corpse, "let's see what we can make out of you ."
Volume 7 C109
"Do you want to attend the early fights, Ainz?" Calca asked as she set their son down in his cradle.
"Not particularly." Ainz remarked from where he sat beside Albedo. She held a fork up to his mouth with a small hunk of meat on the end, and one hand beneath to catch any juices that should drip off. He managed to keep from blushing at her smiling face, opened his mouth, and allowed her to feed the bite to him.
"Oh, well if you don't wish to." Calca said, lightly touching the cheek of their now sleeping child.
"Though if you like, we can have Cocytus tend to Aurelion and go. But the only one of the others intending to visit the first day is Queen Baraja." He chuckled, "She tried to convince the Golden Queen to go, and Renner said it was 'too sweaty' for her liking."
Calca had to titter a little, holding one hand up to her lips, "That does sound like her. But it's good that the two of them are getting along so well. Harmony among so many nations is so rare, we need space to breathe."
"I couldn't agree more, of course once we've brought the Baharuth Empire into the fold, that will make things far easier. With those vast resources at our disposal a truly massive Empire from the borders of the City State Alliance in the east, to Argland in the north, the Elf Kingdom in the South, and the Southern Holy Kingdom in the west, and of course, the Draconic Kingdom in the south east, is feasible. We just have to deal with them." Albedo said and sliced another piece of meat free of the whole, then stabbed it with a fork and offered it up to Ainz.
Calca left her son and strode to where the pair sat, then reaching for a pitcher, she poured it into a silver chalice, then taking it up in both hands, she offered it out to Ainz, he took it without hesitation. "Have the elves already given up?"
"Almost without a fight." Albedo answered, "Aura and Mare simply demonstrated that there was no hope of resisting, and now 'King Mare the First' is on the throne. Right about now, Aura should be on her way by dragonback to Kami Miyako, or…" Albedo paused and touched the dimple of her cheek before looking away, "I didn't tell her to go right away, knowing her, she's probably having the elves bring her examples of the local beasts for her to tame. But that will be fine, a few days, a week, when they visit Kami Miyako, there will be peace there as well."
"What about the Elf King? Does he know his Kingdom has been taken from him?" Calca asked as Ainz drained the chalice, and without thinking, the Holy Queen refilled it.
"Not yet." Ainz answered, a slightly vindictive smile forced Albedo to pause in her romance play plan number seven, 'feed the lover'.
"I'm allowing Queen Draudillon to inform him, from the dais where we will be standing, when he has taken his position in the arena. He will find out in front of everyone that he is the King of nothing. And if he tries to strike, I will finish him myself. If he doesn't, he'll die on the sands. He will not leave this city alive."
Ainz leaned slightly forward, took the meat from the fork, and then brought the wine to his lips. He chewed and swallowed before adding, "I will have a world where all my children can be happy, and what threatens that world, must be removed."
"As the Allfather wills it." The mother and mother-to-be said in unison, and, briefly caught off guard, they met one another's eyes where each saw themselves reflected in the other, smiles small and thoughtful spread out, but neither said another word.
Instead, Albedo cut another slice of meat, Calca refilled the wine, and they ensured that the father of their children ate and drank his fill.
It was easy. Layali slipped a little herb into the cups of both Brain and Zesshi that night, and waited for them to fall asleep. Neither were especially talkative. Not from the time they left the arena, nor all through the rest of the afternoon.
She lay in bed on the other side of the room, the pair had fallen asleep beside each other, but neither had shown interest in more than that, even without her interference, Layali could tell they were distracted by troubles of their own, troubles which made them exceptionally tired.
When she was sure they slept, Layali curled up tighter one more time, terror thrummed through her veins, her body felt taut as a freshly drawn bowstring. Her small fingers clenched into fists as she clutched the sheets. They were the softest things she'd ever touched, the blanket over her kept her so warm… she closed her eyes…
' I can't lose them… I can't… I can't, I can't, I can't. Not again.' Aureole Omega's warning lingered on in her mind, and though the night was dark and fear of being alone without the pair again haunted her greatly, she slowly slipped the thick crimson blanket off of her body and planted her feet firmly on the floor.
She'd kept her clothes near at hand just for this purpose, and thanks to her mother's senses, the darkness was no real obstacle to getting dressed.
Clad in her travel clothes, she slipped out the door and headed for the stairs, leaving her momma and papa behind her, but even though she could no longer hear their snoring. The stairs she descended were of golden wood and polished smooth with a vibrant red carpet running down the center and a high rail that Layali had to reach up to hold onto. She descended the steps as fast as her feet could carry her, every step causing her shadow to dance in the candles that flickered overhead.
Her breath quickened as she made the double turn to reach the ground floor and rush to the desk at the front. She reached up to the surface and tapped her hand on it. "Hello?" She asked, then stepped back so she could see over the top to where a young human woman of chestnut hair done in a ponytail behind her head, sat with a warm smile plastered on her face.
"Yes, young lady?" She asked in a lilting, lute-like voice, leaning forward so as to not loom too large over the little Layali.
"Ah, is there an Aureole Omega at this place?" Layali asked, "It's important."
The woman gave a gracious smile and said, "I can tell you she is here, but I can't give out her room number, but if you'd like to speak with her I can send someone to ask. It's late though, are you sure she'd be willing?"
"I think so… tell her… tell her it's a matter of life and death, and who gets either." Layali replied and began to chew on her lip, her eyes darting around a little.
The woman behind the golden colored wooden counter furrowed her brow just a little and pulled a red silk rope which hung by her right hand.
A moment later a young boy dressed in green from head to toe approached her. The woman scrawled a quick note, handed it to him, and he was gone.
It was not a long wait, the boy returned, nodded, and the woman pointed toward the hall. "Room forty-one." She said, and with a tiny bob of her knees, Layali rushed for the room as fast as she could without actively sprinting.
Despite not sprinting, Layali was breathing hard and felt herself to be on pins and needles when she reached her slender arm up to knock on the door. Her knuckles rapped against it, and she heard the click of the handle turning to allow her within.
The black haired woman was there just as Layali recalled her to be, prim in dress, straight in posture, but with a delicate and almost playful smile on her ruby lips.
"What is it you wanted to see me about?" Aureole Omega asked, then gestured to a chair not far from where she stood.
"You said you can give power… but… that was… was that like, training or something or… more?" Layali asked.
Aureole Omega let out a girlish little giggle and bent forward with hands on her knees so that she was close to Layali's face. "Why, do you want power little one?"
"No… I don't want mama or papa to die… and there's some bad and powerful ones here… and, if you can keep them alive… I want you to. You said you came from the Kingdom of Nazarick, so… s'at mean you represent them or… you just from there?" Layali pressed and kept her eyes up on the pretty, pale face.
"I speak for the Allfather in all my actions." Aureole Omega replied.
"So… if he got somethin really important, really good, would he… protect my momma and papa…?" Layali inquired.
"I suppose." Aureole Omega said, then straightened up, "That's not really why I'm here, but… then again, he might qualify…"
"What if… what if someone has the power to not die." Layali asked, her heart threatened to leap through her throat, but she kept her voice as steady as she could.
"That would be something the Three Geniuses would very much like to see… such a person could ask almost anything for a chance to study them. Do you know such a person, little girl?" Aureole Omega asked.
"Bring me a knife, and I'll prove I do." Layali replied, closing her eyes, and bracing herself to prove what she knew. ' This is for momma and papa… be brave, it's easier than what Cerebrate did.' She told herself, and when the blade was in her hand, she got to work.
Three hours later, Aureole Omega was more than convinced.
Volume 7 C110
Layali shivered in place and watched the dog-faced woman work. "Just relax, woof. This has only the smallest sting, our master always keeps his word, woof woof." The curious woman was dressed in a maid outfit befitting her race, and other than her frequent little woof noises, she seemed every inch an ordinary woman.
"I know you said, but it's still scary seeing my blood come out…" Layali said as she watched another jar fill. There were multiple samples of skin, hair, and blood taken from her for the crystalline eyed man's use, though what he planned on doing with it, Layali had no idea.
All he'd said was ' study' . And all he asked was, 'Will I have regular access to the subject?' And that was that. The chair on which she now sat was at least, very comfortable, and other than the brief sting of the leach, and eerie sight of it being drained into a container before being reapplied, she felt no pain at all.
And the snacks… She reached for the little round object the other maid referred to as a 'sugar cookie' and shoved it into her mouth where the flavor exploded, Layali's cheeks puffed, and the taste made her want to weep for joy as her heart danced in her chest.
"Cute." The maid holding the snack tray said, and applied a sticker with a number on it, directly to Layali's cheek. It seemed almost like a compulsion, but the straight faced maid with the silver tray seemed to be showing some kind of affection.
For hours, other than the frequent use of leeches and the frequent taking of samples from her, to include an application of crystals and various harmless spells that had a wide array of effects… including making her grow cat ears at one point… she was treated like she imagined royalty must be.
She chewed her cookies and kicked her feet back and forth, then reached for the tray held by the one called 'CZ' and took a cup of rich looking red liquid. She looked down at it, "This isn't blood… right, miss CZ?"
"No. It is called 'fruit punch', the supreme beings say it is a popular drink with children." CZ answered, and Layali brought the silver cup to her lips and tilted it up. The flavor assaulted her senses and she began to gulp deep, audibly, and drained it to the last drop… save for the red ring of it that formed around her lips. "It's soooo goood!" She squealed with excitement before another child entered the large, cozy bedroom in which her 'contributions' took place.
This one dressed in red and black, she carried a parasol over her shoulder and moved with the dainty grace of a royal lady. "How is it coming?" The pale, perfect child asked of the others.
"Well. She is comfortable and happy, and we have nearly all the samples we will need before returning her. Woof." Pestonya answered and gently pried another leech free.
"So pretty…" Layali whispered at the doll-like existence that was Shalltear Bloodfallen.
Shalltear gave a dainty blush and said, "So observant." Then added, "Demiurge asked me to take a small sample through my own skills. Then after we're done, we'll then seal away any unpleasant memories again, and take her back to Arwintar."
"You sealed my memory? Wait, is that why I can't remember coming here, just talking with Miss Omega and then being here?" Layali asked and furrowed her brow, "I don't know if I like that."
"We've been ordered to treat you with the utmost care and gentleness as a contributor to the future of the Allfather's realm. So, we're sealing any memory of the last few hours that is unpleasant. You will remember the snacks, the treats, the cozy chair, the warm room and dessert… then you will be back with the ones you call mama and papa and know that you kept them safe. Doesn't that sound nice? It's only a few minutes, and you forget things all the time anyway, this is no different." Shalltear said as she approached and handed her parasol to Pestonya.
"I still don't know…" Layali's lips scrunched left and right as she thought that over.
"Trade for more ice cream?" CZ asked, and Layali began to bob her head up and down like mad.
"Yes, please!" She squealed.
Minutes later, she had what she wanted, a heaping cream colored bowl filled with multiple scoops, she shoved the spoon in over and over again, licked up every bit of the chocolate syrup, and sucked on the cherries until she squished them with her tongue.
"Okay… a deal's a deal. Do it, if it keeps mama and papa alive and together, I'll do anything." Layali said, then her eyes went wide as the pain hit.
The porcelain doll was on her, the feel of teeth clamping down tore through her body, and her eyes began to close.
… Then Layali's eyes flew open and she shot up in bed. Her head all but spun around as she tried to recall where she was. "A dream, all a dream? What…? No…" She reached down to touch her arm, and the flavor was still on her tongue. "It was real, but then… I think I'm forgetting something… what was it… what was it…?" She put her hand to her forehead and looked down the length of the warm blanket that rested at her waist. "No… it doesn't matter. I got what I wanted, that's all I care about now." She mumbled and got up out of bed to stretch.
On the bed, Zesshi and Brain were still asleep, so she went to where they lay, climbed in, and curled up between them both. ' Just a few more minutes…' She thought, and closed her eyes one more time before they all had to be up.
"Come at me!" Cerebrate snapped at the trembling youth in front of him. The sands of the arena were warm, but while they were dry around Cerebrate, the young man was rapidly drenching the sands in sweat. "Come on! Do you think I have all day, you coward ?!" The adamantite adventurer scowled, another pathetic boy who was 'the best in his village' borrowing his father's old army sword and coming after the throne… ' He's the fourth one this morning.'
None of the first four had adequate armor, but even if they had, they lacked adequate training.
"Fine!" Cerebrate shouted and strode forward against the young village boy with his sword clenched tense in nervous fingers… the sure-handed Cerebrate slashed only once when he came within reach, the jugular was severed… and the young boy died to the sound of boos from the crowd.
' What I wouldn't give to have met that one when he was about nine years younger…' Cerebrate mourned as he swept his sword out to scatter the blood and turn the brown sands a rusty red.
"Village trash should not be here !" Cerebrate's booming voice went out to the crowd, but more importantly, to his opponents waiting in the wings.
"Do I have to wipe out a village worth of village idiots before I get somebody that lasts more than one damn swing of my sword?!" Cerebrate thrust his sword into the sands with the tip down and crossed his arms in defiance. "Pathetic! Just pa-thet-ic !" He snapped as the young boys who worked in the arena ran across the sands, grabbed the young man's corpse by the ankles, and dragged the limp body away.
"Bring me something worth fighting, and you will be entertained!" Cerebrate shouted at the booing spectators of many nations, then snatched his sword up by the grip, sheathed it, and left his position to wait for his turn to come again.
Volume 7 C111
"I should have figured it would go that way…" Raymond drew his hand along the length of his face and let out a heavy sigh. "I'm glad you were there with me, but I'm sorry about your arm… really."
"You're an idiot, Raymond." Nua answered him and fell in at his side.
"An idiot?" He asked and cocked his head to look at her.
"Yes. Maybe she was telling the truth, maybe she really is done with you, but I don't think it's that simple. I've been around humans for a long time, you can be some of the most dishonest people in the world, and sometimes for the dumbest reasons." Nua looked back the way they'd come, in the direction Zesshi had gone.
"I have no idea what you mean?" He asked of her, and Nua looked in his direction again.
"That was a killer, and she left you alive, maybe it was because I got in the way, but I'm nothing to her, she could have killed me easily. All I did, really, was prompt her. Not even that, really. She left us both alive, and even offered to do you a favor, not that I'll let you take it. You're stuck with me, Raymond, whether you like it or not." Nua replied and, much to his surprise, she reached up and put a hand on his shoulder.
"I admit I harbored some doubts, doubts I didn't even know I held until I saw you bend yourself to her… she's a half elf, I doubt anybody has ever done anything like that in front of her. But you did. You did. I'm not letting you throw your life away, and I'm not letting you get rid of me, and if you want my opinion, she won't either. She loves you still, even if she couldn't say it. Or… that's what I think, anyway." Nua said and gave a sad smile to him, her hand squeezed his shoulder, and when she saw his eyes, she saw the mist there and knew exactly what he needed.
"Now, how about we go get good and drunk, huh, you and me?" She suggested.
"Are you offering to share a table with me at last?" He asked her, and the silence went on as she thought that over in the privacy of her own mind.
"Yes. But it would be best if it weren't public, you're dressed like a Cardinal of the Theocracy." She said and pointed toward the way out of the park area that would carry them in sight of the general public again. "Once out there, and until we get back to the hotel, I will be the deferential and humble slave again."
Raymond almost began to nod by sheer reflex. It was now a familiar routine for them both, but this time he stopped in his tracks.
"No." He said.
Nua took one step farther than he before he spoke, then turned around to look at him, her ears flicking back. "What?"
"I said, ' No' ." He answered and put his hands on his hips.
"Your arm got broken saving my ass. You put yourself between me and a Black Scripture member capable of taking on dragons. I'm done with this stupid game . I'm done pretending for the sake of image, done pretending out of concern that an Agante assassin might be investigating. I've been writing these letters out to my country advocating for change, and I'm supposed to walk around pretending things are the same, that you're the same? No. No more. No more, no more, no more!" Rayond leveled his hand at her and pointed one finger at her chest.
"You are Nua." He slapped his other hand over his heart, the clapping noise causing birds to take flight in fear at the noise, their twitter ringing out over the isolated pair, "I am Raymond. Not 'at the hotel' not when we're 'alone in a carriage'. Always. Always ." He moved his finger to point to the space beyond the high trees of the public park.
"Out there, in the tavern, in the restaurant or in some divinity-be-damned council hall speaking with the Kings and Queens of other lands. I won't even pretend to treat you… that other way anymore! I'm finished! Finished! Finished and I don't give a damn who knows it!" He yelled, and lowered his arms to his side before exhaling deeply.
Nua's eyes became misty on their own. "It's… It's nice to meet you… Raymond."
"It's… it's nice to meet you too… I guess… in a strange way…" He rubbed the back of his head, "I'm sorry for yelling, I hope I didn't go too far there."
"No… no you didn't, you did surprise me, but," her ears bounced up and down happily, "I was glad about what the surprise was. Even if it's meaningless as long as this is on me." Nua said and touched the collar secured around her throat. "As long as I have this, I'll never be able to escape Dominic, and I can't defeat the Agante, let alone the scriptures, so…"
Raymond reached out, and to his surprise, Nua only raised her chin, she allowed his hand to come to her throat to feel it, "He did a number on this one, didn't he." Raymond mumbled more to himself than to her. "Most collars aren't enchanted at all, they're basically just practical things. But for people meant to serve as bodyguards or close attendants of the powerful, there's always extra security. But this ?" Raymond asked rhetorically as his fingers ran along the rim, he stepped closer, his other hand went around her throat where the metal was secured into place. "He went the extra mile with this one."
"Raymond?" Nua asked, her breath was quickening, he was so close.
"Turn around, please." Raymond asked in a quiet voice.
Nua rotated her feet slowly until her back was to him, her head bowed to give him access to the back of her collar, and her heart pounded as Raymond touched her hair to move it aside. "That evil sonofabitch…"
"Raymond?" Nua asked for the second time, he was so close that she could feel the breath that gave life to his words.
"Identify Magic." Raymond said, and a moment of gratitude came over him that Nua's back was turned so that she couldn't see him wince.
"Raymond, please… what is it?" She asked.
"Promise me you will be calm." Raymond said.
Nua swallowed, "I'm always calm, except when I'm angry, or scared, or- never mind… I promise I'll stay calm." She said.
"Your collar wasn't just welded shut at the lock in the back. That unbelievable bastard put a tiny gem fragment in it." Raymond explained, and the Cardinal took a deep breath. "You're taking that well."
"I don't understand, what's the problem? We both knew I was never going to be allowed to be free. I'm meant to be a possession for as long as I live, a gem fragment doesn't change that." Nua said matter of factly and then turned around again to face him.
"It does, when 'the rest of your life' can be ended at any moment. There's a spell in that fragment meant to kill you when it's activated. You were…" Raymond put his hands to her cheeks and wiped away the streaks from her earlier emotional moment. "It's supposed to burn you alive."
Nua reached up and touched the ring around her throat. "So… am I safe here or… what?"
"I have no idea." Raymond replied, "I'm not a magic caster, I can't tell you much about these things beyond what they do. I don't know if it's meant to be activated if the collar is removed, or if it's meant to be just activated if you get defiant or… I just, I don't know." He swallowed hard.
"So, for all we know, some Agante caster could just point at me, activate it, and I burn to death in the streets?" Nua shivered and sweat sprang to her skin. "No… not like that… I don't want to die like that… Is there anything, maybe, that we could do?"
"There is one thing working in our favor, for some reason Dominic hasn't done it, maybe he can't from so far away, maybe he has to do it himself, or maybe he's just preoccupied… maybe… maybe this was meant to control me . Maybe he sent you to me thinking I'd come to like you. Use you as political leverage over me… or maybe not. I don't know. But there is one place we can go that might be able to help." Raymond swallowed again as dread swept over him.
"Tell me." Nua said, "This is my life, if there's something that can be done…"
"The Allfather is a peerless magic caster, the greatest in the whole world, if anyone could break the spell, he could." Raymond suggested.
Nua hung her head. "Then there's nothing that can be done."
"What do you mean, nothing?" Raymond demanded, his brow furrowed.
"He's a foreign ruler, and you've heard the same things I have, some people already consider him to be the 7th God. I wouldn't be surprised if the others aren't already preparing their official proclamations, if you go to him-" Nua stopped speaking because Raymond had already started walking.
"We're going to the arena to meet with the Allfather, if he's not there, we'll go to the residence where he's staying, it won't cost me anything to ask for his help." Raymond said to her without giving her a chance to argue.
For a moment she was dumbstruck, and when she saw he was serious, she rushed after him, putting herself at his side again to see if there was anything at all that could be done. Or if it could be done, 'would' be done.
But inside, despite her steadying eyes, her heart pounded. ' I have to prepare to die. There's no way he can offer anything valuable enough to get a hostile King to help him with something like this… no way at all… I'll just enjoy what time I have with the first truly good human at my side in a very long time. At least it'll be quick when it happens, that's better than a lot get, and that will have to be enough for me.' She told herself, and as she looked around the bustling city, even depressed as the place was, as tense as it was, with the great park at her back and the vast buildings around beneath a sky that went on forever, she had to think, ' At least it's a beautiful day out.'
Volume 7 C112
Queen Baraja handed the empty cup to the Allfather as they watched the match unfold. The Allfather accepted it and held it out for the servant to fill, he took a sip, and handed it back to the Queen of Frost, who drank in turn. The same cup made the rounds from one royal to the other until it was empty again.
"It's a nice custom." Ainz said offhandedly to the dragonid. "Did you come up with it?"
"Yes and no." Neia said with a sardonic little smile that bared the tips of her fangs. Down below, sword swung against sword and the clang echoed up above, but as the combatants were mere novices with overinflated opinions of their skill, few took real notice of them. "Back when I was on suicide duty hunting the forests of the wild for the incursions of demihumans, I didn't have much on me. Just one bowl and one cup to eat and drink with. So when I took captives and showed some mercy, I would share my bowl and cup with them when sending them back the way they came. Unbeknownst to me, the orcs mistook it for a gesture of good faith and started doing it among themselves, and other tribes took it from them… but really I just didn't have anything else to offer but what I had on me." Neia chortled a little as if she were recalling fond memories, which in the Allfather's eyes, she must have been.
Calca however, visibly winced until Ainz put his hand on her back, the mistreatment her nation leveled against the Queen of the Demihumans was weighing heavily on her still. When his hand touched her back, she looked over to her husband and gave him a little wink before reaching over and placing her hand on top of his.
"Do you think Cocytus will be impressed with anything he sees today?" Calca asked, glancing over to her husband's other wife who sat at Ainz's right hand.
"I don't believe so." Albedo said with a shake of her head, "These are not impressive specimens even for humans. We won't see anything impressive until these are weeded out. At least it won't take too long, even against each other, most don't last a minute even when they survive."
A scream began and was cut short, the roar of the crowd went up, and a body fell down without even a thud.
"When does the elf King fight, Divine Lord?" Queen Draudillon asked, her eyes were glued to the sands, to the blood, and her thumb was up to her mouth with her teeth chomped down on the nail. "I'm going to face him soon, I want to see him… I need to see him before he dies…"
"Tomorrow. Tomorrow. After the final round of preliminaries for men and women of the nameless, the winners will face off against ranked adventurers who have shown up. And the elf King- no, the elf Peasant, will be here then. He's expressly asked to fight the woman champion from today." Albedo answered.
Draudillon began noticeably shaking, "The woman champion… he- he- he's going to… right there, in the arena… in front of everybody…"
"No, he won't. The elf Peasant will never rise to the occasion again." Ainz promised, "It's already been arranged."
"My god, my god, I will never forsake you." Draudillon whispered and lowered her thumb, she put her hand to her face and briefly covered her eyes as if hiding it from the daylight, then lowered it again. "Forgive me, friends, comrades… things… after everything settled, it seems it's all catching up to me."
Much to the surprise of those present, the vicious eyed dragonid reached out to touch the woman's forearm, her talons only touched enough to draw the Queen's eyes toward her and she said, "I know what it's like, to feel everything is against you, to be hopeless and in pain. Even when you're saved, it's hard to accept it. I still feel the swords sometimes when I sleep. Just do your best, you'll be alright."
"Th-Thank you." Draudillon said, and the dragonid's talons came away and the shoulders of the small Queen went up in a shrug.
"For what?" Neia answered as if she'd neither said nor done a thing.
Any further conversation was interrupted when there was a knock at the door to their private box.
A guard opened the door, "Lord, Ladies, Cardinal Raymond of the Slane Theocracy wishes to see you."
"Send him in." Ainz answered without looking back, striking royal dignity pose number nine and focusing on what lay ahead, indifferent to interruptions at his back.
"Allfather." Raymond said as soon as he entered. "I need your help."
Ainz stood up from his seat, even after a few years of this, it was still odd to be taller than most. But he did his best not to look awkward as he came around from his throne.
To his surprise, and the surprise of the others who turned to look, Raymond went down to one knee and bowed his head. As the representative of his nation, he was at least nominally the equal to any royalty, yet there he was as if he were a subject.
The elven slave at his back seemed no less shocked than the royals at the breach of protocol, but she quickly followed suit to fall to both of hers as well.
"Help?" Ainz asked, he glanced from one Queen to the other, and they did the same to one another, confusion, canted faces, and suspicious narrowed eyes were everywhere from the Wolf Queen to the Golden Queen. From Dragonid to Draconic, and from Holy to Demon, knowledge of the Cardinal's purpose was lacking.
"Yes. This is Nua… she is… was… is…" He beat his fist down on the stone floor as he went forward, and he relayed everything. From start to finish, from her arrival, to the very moment he presented himself at that moment.
"So now you want my help to remove the collar, without killing her." Ainz asked.
"That's right." Raymond replied, "I've been quietly praying to the Six to remove her collar, all the way here I prayed and prayed, and they wouldn't answer me." He tilted his face up, his trimmed brown beard still had flecks of dirt from his humbling himself to Zesshi, and a wet spot of blood from tending Nua's injuries, but his eyes were a haunted and confused thing, the pupils expanding and contracting as if a light were brought closer and taken away and then returned again. "I've been a faithful servant all my life, to all the Six… I carried out atrocities in their name to protect mankind, everything they asked of me, I did, and never… never did I ask a thing. I even helped manipulate a girl I love like a daughter… and now, now I ask this one single thing, a trivial thing. Help one captive slave escape a torturous death before it's too late. And what have they said?! Nothing ! I call on them and they don't answer me, I can't feel them as I did when I was young, and the spell is in a crystal laid by one of our Godkin casters… I can't break it."
"But because I'm the most powerful magic caster in the world, you've come to me." Ainz deduced.
"Yes… Allfather." Raymond said, "I don't know what I can offer you, I don't have wealth, and because of my letters, I won't have the same political clout that I did. I can-"
"Give him your soul." Queen Draudillon said, and broke from her position. "I called on the gods too, the same as you, but they didn't answer, they left me as my maids wept and their bodies became empty, living husks. They bled while I cleaned them and took care of them, and while I bowed and scraped for my life and did my best… the elves helped me, and the gods who supposedly chose me, they did nothing ." She hissed the final word with the utmost contempt.
"Give him your soul, your loyalty, and all the faith you used to give to those dead statues and dead words. Then maybe he will consider it." Queen Draudillon's interjection was pitiless and full of spite.
Nua's hand went up to her collar, she swallowed hard and felt the lump press against the inside face of the metal.
Raymond looked over to her. And Nua down at he, for a moment he could envision it all so easily, a single moment, her face caught by surprise, her golden hair wreathed in red and orange as fire spread over her body, her lithe, slender, scar riddled back engulfed in flames, her scream swallowed up as the flames burned even inside her lungs, the swelling inside her body as fat boiled and exploded through her very skin. ' Dominic… you bastard…' Raymond thought, and cursed the man he called a comrade.
He took a slow, deep breath, and using the prayer he offered to the Six with every step on the way to the Allfather, he all but shouted the prayer, lifting it up to the Allfather of Nazarick, "Divine lord, your servant calls on you for clemency, the punishment for my sins is more than I can bear, and now one innocent of all my guilt is being held to suffer for my guilt. I beseech you, I offer my soul to you. Save her, and I repent of everything I have ever done, and will spend my life atoning for it, no matter the cost!"
Nua paled as she watched the cardinal give up his faith. ' I'm going to live?' She realized and closed her eyes.
Ainz put one finger to the side of her collar. [Dispel[Greater Break Item]
The cracks began almost immediately, like tiny thuds of tiny pounding hammers, it spread around the gray metal, and quickly accelerated, twisting, spreading, and then…
It shattered into particles of dust.
On the sand below, a cry of pain died with its maker, the roar of the crowd went up, and the breeze that blew through the daias, picked up the dust of Nua's shattered collar and carried it away to fall into the arena's sands, or be scattered all over the world.
"I'm… free ?" She whispered. "I'm free?" She said it a little louder, it was a more serious question, her hands darted up to her throat, they moved over the span of skin she hadn't been able to touch for almost two hundred years, her eyelids went wide apart, her vibrant blue sparkled like sapphires caught by the sun, her body began to tremble as the understanding hit her and she felt the two inches of skin that had been kept away from her, her fingers went all around her throat from front to back as if she could not truly believe it.
"I'm free?! I'm free?! I'm finally free?!" She jumped to her feet and screamed it for all the world to hear. She shouted loud enough that she hoped the Slane Theocracy itself could hear her. "Do you hear that you bastards?! I'm not yours anymore! I'm free and I'll never be yours again!" She laughed and began to dance as if there were music playing, as she had not moved since girlhood, the ringing bells of her voice were matched by priceless tears of happiness before she approached her liberator, though she didn't kneel, she lowered her gaze and put her hand over her heart. "Name anything I can do… anything, and I will do it for you, my god of liberation."
"He traded his soul for you." Ainz pointed out, "I only carried out my side of the bargain, but if you insist on doing something for me…"
Nua bobbed her head up and down, "I do." She said while Raymond slowly rose up to look at the now collarless elf.
"The elf Kingdom has now been conquered by my subordinate, tomorrow the former King of the Elves will be killed. I need an ambassador to the Slane Theocracy to ensure they withdraw their soldiers from all contested zones and negotiate the return of any stolen lands. Perhaps it is… petty, but an elf would, as we said in First World, really 'stick it to them'. Also, you would have to negotiate the return of all prisoners of war taken in the last one hundred and twenty some years-"
"I'll do it!" Nua said with a gleeful ecstasy in her voice.
"You… conquered the Elf Kingdom?" Raymond asked, dumbfounded.
"Yes. I sent two of my servants, it took a few weeks to convince the elves of our power, but they've surrendered now. The taking of Queen Draudillon offended me, I took it as an attack on my Kingdom, as she and I were in negotiations which were to be concluded on the journey here. Now the elf King is a homeless peasant." Ainz said, and Raymond's mouth opened and closed with no words coming out.
"I-I have no words. For everything… but… what do I do now?" Raymond stammered out, his words like driftwood which moved without aim, all direction lost and with no safe port in the world's storm.
"Warn your country, because they've run out of allies, and they're going to run very short of labor." Ainz said, "Now, unless you'd care to watch the match with us, you can go." Ainz extended the invitation, pointing to the rail, and then to the door.
"I… I'll go. I have a lot to- Nua will you?" He asked.
"Yes, I will." Nua said, then reached for his hand, and headed for the door, almost dragging him behind her.
Volume 7 C113
' Was that Raymond's…?' Zesshi wondered when she looked up at the daias, the shouting sure sounded like him. The half elf couldn't help but hope it was. ' Maybe I can find it in my heart to forgive him… eventually. Not yet, but maybe someday.' She told herself as her opponent squared herself off on the sands.
"So… we doin this'r what bitch?" Zesshi's opponent asked.
Zesshi glared at the woman across from her, at face value, the woman held a clear, even enormous advantage. She towered over Zesshi by a head and a half and was twice as broad, her muscles rippled and she wore very little, a wrap chains around her waist that hung like a dress, and a criss cross strip of metal across her chest which was similarly secured at four points with links of chainmail, but her belly was exposed to reveal her as a wall of muscle. Her arms and legs were larger than most men's, and her hair was cropped short at the top. Her fine, high features and exceptional chest size were the only obvious proof of her womanhood… until she spoke, at least.
"Yeah, yeah, it's fine. I was just thinking about something." Zesshi said and drew her sword.
"Whatever, I don't care. Just try to entertain me." The behemoth of a woman said, and slid her foot behind her while drawing out a sword from across her back which was almost the length of her body's height, and holding it in front of her with both hands.
"Nope." Zesshi said and yawned, "I have no interest in entertaining you. I have something to do, you're a chore, nothing more, and what's more, you're only going to be a bore." She stopped. "I did not mean to make that rhyme…"
"You arrogant bitch !" The woman snarled, her fists clenched around the hilt of the sword, and after activating a slew of martial arts in a row, the woman charged, the crowd held its collective breath.
Zesshi dropped her sword, slapped the weapon away, and before the behemoth could properly understand why she lost her grip on her sword, Zesshi's right hand struck her square across her face, straight into her ear and sending her bouncing away over the sands until she slid to a stop, smashing into the distant arena wall and going limp.
Zesshi then waved to the crowd, smiled at them, and gave a bored yawn, openly and obviously covering her mouth with her free hand before picking her sword up and walking out.
' It's hard to believe that one was an unknown, she looked pretty impressive… no match for me of course but then… what is?' Zesshi wondered as she left the arena behind.
With that victory, her position the following day was certain, ' Tomorrow I will get to face him, at long last, the man who ruined my mother's life… my life… strangely enough though…' Zesshi stopped dead in her tracks, it was evening now, ' How long have I been walking?' She wondered after the thought occurred to her, the hustle and bustle of the once proud capital was diminishing, though people were plentiful still, the nature of it changed. People were now in taverns and sitting outside the quick eateries, sizzling food on outdoor food stations filled the air with smells that were admittedly quite good, savory meat and sweetened vegetables, a thousand little tendrils of smoke rose in the air.
' Strangely enough… All I want to do is go back for Brain and Layali… he will fight Cerebrate soon, as well as beastmen and any number of other ranked warriors who have come for the prize of an empire's throne. He might die out there. Cerebrate might even kill him.' The thought seized her heart, and the warrior returned with heavy feet to the room all three of them shared.
' Never get attached… good advice…' She thought as she recalled the words of the solo swordsman she'd encountered on the road that day. ' A little late for that though.' Zesshi added to the thought when she opened the door and found Brain down on his knees lacing up Layali's little boots.
"Mama's back!" Layali shouted with glee. Her smile spread over her face and as soon as Brain stood up, the little half elf rushed to Zesshi and hugged her at the thigh with her head tilted back and looking up. "Can we go eat, I'm hungry!"
"That… that would be very nice." Zesshi said and ran her fingers through the golden hair of the little half elf.
When Zesshi looked at him, he read her youthful face like a book. Her black and white eyes, perhaps because they were opposites, were so full of expression, and after traveling the breadth of nations, he could nearly read her thoughts. "Let's go, why don't we grab something at one of the little stands here, it doesn't need to be anything expensive, and it's a nice day out. Plus there's a place I'd like to see, if it's still around that is."
"It-It is that. Okay, we'll go." Zesshi said, and reached for the door that she'd just passed through moments ago.
Brain approached, he held out his arm, and she slipped hers into the crook of his elbow, it was a very small gesture, a nothing, really. Compared to her, he was weak, she could snap him in two with minimal effort. Even though he still carried a sword that was cursed expressly to harm her, Zesshi knew she could crush him.
Yet despite that, as they walked out with Layali running ahead of her, it was hard not to think that it was him holding her up. ' Why didn't I think about this seriously until now… there's a very real possibility that he'll die.'
She was quiet and reserved as the evening wore on, they sat around a stone ring where a trio of cooks rushed around flipping and slicing meat and vegetables with the artful skill of any swordsman, their flashing blades like thrusts, cuts, and parries bounce the metal off the stone with the very lightest of 'ting' noises before coming back around again, they moved from station to station in a circle, taking turns with each dish without missing a beat.
As every cook was dressed the same, moved the same, and even looked the same, she quickly became enthralled with the show, as did Layali, who watched with open mouthed awe as knives and skewers were flipped about. "Dinner and a show, I haven't seen this in a few years." Brain said with a winsome smile.
"You've seen this, papa?" Layali asked.
"It was actually my idea." Brain said, and the trio stopped what they were doing, each one caught their knife at the same moment and turned to face him.
"It is you! I thought so!" The trio of chefs said all at once, they stabbed their knives into blocks of cheese to keep the blades ready, and approached where he sat and leaned across the stone counter to hug him. Brain chuckled a bit, but accepted the excess of affection.
"Wait, really?" Layali asked.
Brain nodded, "Sort of."
"Sort of… look at this guy eh?" The center chef said, stepping back and waving his arm toward Brain, smacking the man to his right. He twirled his handlebar mustache, and as if they were prompted, the other two did the same. "So humble. Yah little girl, me an my brothers were workin here, not doing a whole lotta business, an this'n here, he says to us, 'you're so good with those knives, you should make a show out of it, an Louie here says, 'Show us whatcha mean, eh?' and then Rouie over here says, 'Shuddup an let the man show us' an then I says, 'Bothaya shaddup an let the man work…' so he does a few little flips with his knife behind the counter, a few people sit down to watch while he makes a few quick dishes, then says since we triplets an'all, if we all worked together we'd make a really good show… now here we are a few years later… an we're packed every night! Your money's no good here Mr. Blue, you eatin free, you ana your family!"
"Why you talkin like we don't know that Doui? Mr. Blue always gonna eat free here! You sit there an enjoy the show, you get our best, you, your wife, an if'n you get ten more little'ns, they eatin free too!" Rouie added.
"Ten, nah, even if'n it's a hun'ed more, he still eats free, he save the family business in five minutes…" Louie quickly topped his brother, and it might have gone on longer, except that Brain coughed and interjected…
"You know, I'm thankful for the sentiment, but if you don't do something fast, what you're working on is going to burn."
"Shit!" The trio shouted and scattered to their stations to resume the display.
"You've known somebody in almost every place we've been, except for that one town." Zesshi said with wonderment, and when Brain's smile broadened, she asked, "Wait, you knew her too…?"
"No, but I knew her family back in Demalbion. They asked me to look in on her without saying anything, we just happened to also need some information, and I had originally planned on stopping by there on the way back." Brain said offhandedly and Zesshi slumped.
"You've seen everything, haven't you… by the tits of the goddess… I never really realized how isolated I'd been till you… everything out here that I've missed seeing…" Zesshi became subdued, and Layali inched her seat a little closer to her.
"True, but you're free of all that now. Better late than never, right?" Brain said enthusiastically as the trio preparing food slapped three heaping wooden bowls of shredded meat and vegetables down in front of them, along with three matching wooden cups.
"There you goooooo! Eaaat uuuuuuupppp!" The trio struck a pose with one hand close to the bowls and one hand up and back as they harmonized their invitation to eat into what was almost a song, and Layali began to clap passionately with a glowing smile on her face.
The dining went faster than Zesshi intended, in part because Layali practically dove into the food, and the enthusiasm of the place was infectious. The only thing to interrupt her train of thought, was thinking, ' That little sticker Brain put on her cheek… seems to make her somehow 'cuter'. How is that even possible?'
All in all, she found it to be the perfect evening. When the food was gone right down to Layali insisting upon, and carrying out, her desire to lick all three plates clean of every scrap of meat juice, they got up to leave.
Layali stretched out her little arms and legs, and said, "Carry me. I'm sleepy."
Unable to resist, or eager to give in, Brain reached down and picked her up at the waist and bent his elbow so that she was sitting on his forearm and had her arm around his neck.
Zesshi put herself on the other side and walked with her arm crooked in his, and Layali was snoring before they even reached the door to the room. "She had a big day today?" Zesshi asked in a quiet voice.
"Yes, I took her to a park and let her run around and play. She was a little shy around the children since they were all humans but… I think… I think she's going to be okay. It may take a long time still for her to… to move past things, but she's young, resilient, and strong. And killing Cerebrate for her is probably going to be a big step forward. Nobody has ever been punished for doing anything to her before… Now that's different, she feels a little safer. That's… that's the way forward, I think." Brain said while Zesshi got the door and let them both into their shared room.
"I suppose. But what do I know? What haven't I screwed up since we started traveling?" Zesshi asked and turned to lock the door while Brain went to the small child's bed and drew back the covers to tuck her in.
"You're learning, that's all." Brain said with his back to her, "You'll be fine, I made my mistakes when I started traveling alone, and you haven't made the same mistake twice… except with cooking, that needs a lot of work." He chuckled a little and went to her. "Everything will work out." He promised and put his thumb to her cheek. "Don't be hard on yourself, you're strong, you're not stupid, and you're free, that makes you a lot better off than most people, all you need is experience, and there's plenty of time for that."
Whatever Brain intended to say next, he never got the chance.
Zesshi lunged forward and covered his lips with hers, she was forceful, urgent, dueling his tongue while her hands were in a frenzy at removing his clothes. He did the same, their boots ending up in a disorderly heap on top of which the rest of their clothing was quickly intertwined.
Brain fell back on the bed, that alone broke the kiss, and she was on top of him in an instant, her hands grasping his shaft, she pinned him beneath her and impaled herself to his hilt, gasping at the sudden pleasurable 'full' feeling as her body stretched. She gave a low moan, arched her back, and began to rock back and forth while his hands ran over her contours.
' He might die.' The thought was still there in the back of her mind, and that would make this their last hours together, so she made the best of them, allowing his every intimate touch, her nipples became hard little pebbles, and when he pulled her down, she gave in, her black and white hair cascading freely around them both like a shroud that still mocked the idea of privacy, but enhanced their intimacy. His mouth found her small breasts and his tongue played over them, circling and teasing them before he began a gentle suckle punctuated by the occasional love bite.
When her mouth demanded his again, he freely gave the kiss she craved, and the duel of tongues that neither could lose, before he turned his attention to her left ear. Electric bliss shot through her body as he nibbled, blew, and licked at the part of herself she hated most, turning it into a thing of beauty.
How many times she came to a shivering climax while sliding back and forth along the length of his manhood, she lost count, but she knew each time he rose to completion and filled her again with the proof of his want for her. Naive as Zesshi knew herself to be, some things seemed so naturally intuitive as to be beyond doubt.
A man might lie with his lips, with his kiss, or with his touch. But a man's cock was never able to lie, his want was undeniable, his urgency, unshakable, and the inner embrace her body offered it, was desired like the thirsty desired water.
When their urgent couplings finally ended, and steam rose from the sheets to bear witness to their mating, she rested her head on his chest in silence.
Her hand went up and down his side, and she looked at the shut, locked door, and over at the child's bed where Layali slept on.
"You don't want me to fight tomorrow, do you?" He asked and rested his hand on the small of her back.
"You know the answer to that." Zesshi whispered back and tilted her head so that she looked up at him.
"Why haven't you asked me not to then?" He pressed.
"Because you'll do it anyway, the same as me." Zesshi answered him, her hand moving to his cheek, she held it so that he faced her. "You said it yourself, I'm not stupid, I know you'll fight, you want Cerebrate dead for what he did to Layali, and you won't be satisfied unless you kill him yourself."
"And I called you naive…" Brain chuckled, but Zesshi did not.
"I'm serious." Zesshi said.
"And you're right. So thank you for not asking, let's just… enjoy this while we can, and let tomorrow take care of itself." Brain said, the sheets rustled as he put his hands on her hips and brought her over top of him again.
"Just do your best." Zesshi said as she reached for his shaft.
"At everything, it's the only way to live." He said with a seducer's cocky smile up at her, and at that, she had to smile back, before lowering her lips to his to claim them again.
Volume 7 C114
"Dead?" Tia asked and looked over her shoulder.
"Dead." Tina said and looked back over her shoulder at her sister.
Around them lay the corpses of a hundred priests, acolytes, and monks, a field of white robes stained red, confined in a single building.
"Very dead." Cenna added to their answers as he strolled through the door, he let out a low whistle as their eyes shot over to him. "Mighty impressive. Nothing of value was lost, really, except for my time. You two gave me one hell of a chase."
Their eyes turned to the window. "Don't bother. There's no way out. I had this trap laid for you, even Time Turbulence can't get through that." Cenna said and picking up a rock, he threw it at the open high window, the empty air of the great cathedral 'rippled' when the rock struck, and dropped back down to crack and roll over the stone floor of the house of worship.
"You used priests as bait, evil spearman?" Tia asked, her kunai dripped blood as she turned to face him.
"I did. I don't like priests. Every one of them I've ever seen get a look at Zesshi has called her a halfbreed, an animal, or worse. They charge an arm and a leg to heal arms and legs, and make people thank them for it. Using them as bait was probably the best use they ever had, since I at least got to get even with them for all the shit they've pulled over the years." Cenna said with a shrug and tapped his spear on his shoulder.
"Evil mountain is dead, then?" Tina asked, pursing her lips tight when she asked.
"Yes, it was a clean death, and she was very brave." Cenna said, politely bowing his head in her memory.
Tia and Tina put up their Kunai into the guard position and slid their feet back against the nearest corpses, ready to rush.
"So… you want to go down fighting… fine, that's not surprising. May you have better luck in the next life," Cenna said and lowered his spear, snapping it into position in front of himself, "and not interrupt anymore vacations."
The joke fell flat, he shrugged, and charged. They moved as a perfect mirror to one another, evidently ambidextrous, their blades went from hand to hand and they drew two more besides, his eyes however, followed not their hands, but their shoulders. The tiny subtle motions gave away their intent, and his spear was faster than they could ever dream. ' Adamantite ranked without a doubt, a credit to common man… how unfortunate it is to waste them this way.' He thought, and allowed them the dignity of a continued struggle. Cenna's footwork was flawless, he danced atop the corpses as they struggled to get around his guard, disappearing and reappearing out of shadows, in and out of the moonlight, a torch fell from the wall and landed with a clatter as its pitch landed on the robes of a priest and caught, sending flames up within the room.
The trio broke apart briefly in an unspoken truce. "How fitting, your friend died amidst a burning garden of flowers, you die amidst a burning garden of corpses. Red blooms all your own." Cenna said, and the twins inclined their heads in silent approval.
"But, since none of us are fireproof, why don't we end this?" He asked, and it was clearly not an offer, merely a demand given as the fire spread from robe to robe among the corpses of the dead faithful.
They jumped forward both at once, soaring above the spreading fires and above the sea of corpses, they thrust as one, a perfect team to the end, but his spear smacked both aside, then with dexterity impossible for most, he struck them both in the backs of their heads as he went past. No sooner than Cenna landed than he used a burning corpse to brace himself and flipped backward, and while they were recovering, he rotated and shoved his spear through the back of the red ribboned killer.
The other never said a word even though she saw her sister fall, instead she only rushed him, grabbing the spear, and attempting to drive her kunai into his ear.
Tia tasted blood on her throat, looked down, his hand was level, and pierced her throat. His handsome face was expressionless as his fist closed around her spine.
She lived long enough to feel him pull, rotate, and fling her into the stone wall.
It shattered, sending her corpse tumbling out into the night air.
"Gathering up all these priests in the name of protecting them all sure was a pain, and Dominic will be pissed… but that's just a bonus. I suppose I owe you one…" He said as he walked to the hole in the wall, he put one hand on the broken stone and ducked underneath to exit the building and approached the corpse. "You should be with your teammate, your sister, and if I leave you out here, Dominic will want to parade your corpse around like a trophy. I don't like that." He said and looked down at the corpse, the eyes were staring up at the stars, the pools in her eyes that must have been tears, couldn't fall, they were trapped in the now hollow stare like tidal pools after the sea withdrew.
"You didn't say what you wanted done with your corpse, but this is what I assume you'd want, if it's not, you can correct me in the afterlife." Cenna said to her, then securing his spear across his back, he crouched, picked up the corpse beneath her knees and back, and carried her back to the hole in the wall.
The flames were roaring already, and glass shattered somewhere as the heat caused it to crack and burst.
"Rest easy. This won't hurt a bit." Cenna said to the body, then tossed her close to where her sister lay. "There." He said to himself and walked away from the raging conflagration in the dying temple. "Now just one quick word to the local Agante signalman, and I can finally take my time off, and just in time to catch the sweetbark at its best." He licked his lips, and left the fire behind.
Amidst the tumbling stone, the hanzos moved, throwing aside corpse after corpse to select the pair they wanted. Thankfully the pair were small, and even though their skin was charring and eyes were melted and hair was aflame, that made them easy to identify.
The gate opened seconds after their call, and they were in Demiurge's lab again. "These are the last two, right?" He asked, and the Hanzos all nodded.
"They are." The leader replied.
"Marvelous, I'm ready to try to resurrect them. If I'm right, a woven spell bound up in spiritually connected beings can enhance the power balance of the mana infusion post morphomancy and create some greatly enhanced champions… Evileye was the one obstacle since she was already undead… she should become a zombie, but if I do the curse transference before the morphomancy and resurrect her before it expires… if I'm right, she should be fine… but then… Pandora's Actor said he was fond of her so… something suitable to his tastes… yes… I know just the thing."
The hanzo's left the archdevil behind, he hadn't really been speaking to them anyway, only prattling on about incomprehensible things, they on the other hand, only wanted baths, and that was what they went to take, leaving the archdevil laughing happily behind the closed up doors of his work room.
"This can't be right?" Dominic's hands were trembling around the document. "It can't be." He repeated.
Necran Adama, Pontifex Maximus of the Slane Theocracy, seldom attended meetings of the Cardinals, but he did today. "It is." The Pontifex said, his aged face broke into a gap toothed grin. "The war is all but over. They sent that to me three weeks ago, and ever since then our scouts have been reporting dragons flying overhead, unbeatable monsters fending us off from the elf Kingdom, and giant, earthshaking explosions visible from far, far away."
"But-" Dominic frowned.
"You've been so caught up chasing the priest slayers with your Agante and borrowed Black Scripture that you haven't paid attention to anything else. We tried to get you to show up to the meetings, we tried to send you updates, but you just wouldn't listen. You must learn to control your temper." Berenice critiqued him with a click of her tongue at the end, but whether Dominic heard her or not, none of them knew.
"We of the Kingdom of Nazarick do declare the war upon the Kingdom of the Elves for their egregious treatment of our friend, the Queen of the Draconic Kingdom and her entourage, and will regard in like fashion in this matter, the council and government of the Slane Theocracy, for it's duration. Furthermore, we warn that encroachment on captured grounds must be granted by due authorities of the Kingdom of Nazarick wherever our banner shall fly…" Dominic read it aloud and then crumpled the paper in his hand before throwing it onto the table.
"And you're telling me he's already won ?!" Dominic demanded.
"No. There are still a few outlying areas, or so the envoy says, but they're in the hinterlands. I'm telling you the war will be over before the tournament ends." The Pontifex said matter of factly.
Maximilian drummed his fingers on the table. "So, what does this mean for our supply of slaves? If we're not taking prisoners of war anymore, that's going to really skew the market."
"We can still use half-elves. If we make a lot more of them, it may take time, but it's faster than waiting for a full blooded elf to grow up, and there are a lot of slave catchers we can use if we just take them… we might have to build more fortifications to cut off escapes on the borders… but as long as we're slow, we can still gain the stock we need." Yvon pointed out.
"Don't be disgusting, Yvon." Berenice said with a sour face.
Ginedine kept his face neutral, "If they really do occupy it, that is… a problem. You realize the larger issue, don't you? You really think the acquisition of new labor is the problem?"
"It isn't?" Dominic asked with a furrowed brow.
"No, not at all . We 'could' potentially replace wood elf slave labor with dark elf slave labor after all. Their plains are just to the north, they don't have large settlements, they're horse people, if we start moving in and building cities, we could expand all the way to the mountains if we took it slow." Ginedine pointed to the map on the wall, "The problem is that we are surrounded. The Holy Kingdom has married itself to the Kingdom of Nazarick. Re-Estize is now a vassal state. If what we're told is true, then Queen Draudillon was rescued by the Allfather. She's basically his puppet. Demalbion was never going to be our ally, the Kingdom of Carne… we almost burned down the Queen's village and murdered her family. They were directly rescued by the Allfather." As he stated each Kingdom's name, he moved his finger to point to it on the map, and it slowly became clear to the others.
"We are surrounded . Encircled by enemies on all sides, and thanks to Raymond's letters, we now know that Zesshi has abandoned us." Ginedine pointed out.
"We don't actually know that, he didn't say it directly." Berenice pointed out.
"He gushes over her like she's his daughter, but not one letter has mentioned her. She's gone and if something had happened to her, he'd have said that, his very lack of mention tells us she's turned traitor." Ginedine snapped out the statement with ironclad certainty. "Face facts, we are encircled by our enemies, and we can't count on the use of the Baharuth Empire's might any longer."
"Zesshi is probably already dead." Dominic said with a bored, bemused look on his face as he finally pulled the chair out and took a seat. "I intercepted her communication with Cenna and sent along her request… but it was… tainted. She'll take her own life for us."
"And… what about Cenna?" Berenice demanded, "You know he thinks of her like a sister, not to mention the other Black Scripture members, they won't take kindly to you having her killed if they find out."
"Who here is going to tell them?" Dominic asked with a shrug and a smug sneer on his face, his curled lip held as his piercing eyes found one person after another, and each in turn looked away.
"Raymond's letters are making the rounds… it looks like he had the story copied a lot, there are underground plays going on all over the place now. 'Aalon and Nua' actually got performed in a public park before the watch shut it down." Yvon cracked his knuckles, "And the 'Horrors of House Hodge' are such that their current heir is having to spend a fortune to keep his reputation from being completely ruined by association."
"We'll tell him to stop. Or just silence the elf cunt." Dominic snapped.
"That's your fault, Dominic, you sent her to him." Maximilian accused, "What were you thinking !"
"He was too fond of Zesshi! He actually considered her to be human !" Dominic slammed his fist on the table. A spiderweb of cracks spread out from his blow when his fist connected, "I figured if he had a pretty one that was compliant that it would only be a matter of time. Then he'd see eye to eye-"
"You're disgusting." Berenice spat the words at him and crossed her arms. "Elf or no elf, that is disgusting."
Dominic glowered at her, and her gaze did not avert. "Disgusting." She repeated in defiance.
"It happens every day, so what? We're the ones chosen by the gods. The rest are lucky they get the privilege of serving us. Raymond should have seen that, he was soft on Zesshi and I didn't want him going soft while going through those heretical Kingdoms. I didn't think he'd become a heretic himself! We should have sent another representative. He was a poor choice." Dominic defended himself until his glower became sullen.
The Pontifex then spoke up, more reasonably than Dominic, he said, "Regardless, the cat has escaped the bag and we can't catch it to put it back in. For now we'll just ban all plays and books that show the elves as anything other than villains or labor, and hope the fad just passes away. We can use criminals to help supplement the labor. And… I have an idea about what to do regarding Demalbion, the beginnings of one at least. But… they're so new, they may fall apart on their own. I'd rather not chance it just yet."
"So we've got nothing. For all this, we've got nothing." Yvon demanded with a weary sigh.
Volume 7 C115
"I'm free. I can hardly believe it. And… of all things… I suppose I'll have to report to him soon, to arrange travel to the elf Kingdom… and…" Nua sat at the table while Raymond went about busying himself with nothing in particular at his desk.
"Yes… in a few days, you'll be bound for your old home, and I'll probably be hunted by the Agante, not that they'll have much luck." Raymond said with a smirk earned over a lifetime of victories.
Nua frowned, stood up, and approached him, she reached down and took his face into her hands. "You really did it, you set me free… if I'd told him what you almost did, Cardinal or no, if I'd… how did you know I wouldn't ask them to do anything to you."
Her sky blue eyes searched his face, and she felt the goosebumps rise beneath her fingers, "I didn't. But… if you wanted to make me pay for what I'd done, what I was going to do… I couldn't refuse. You had a right to hate me, I've never been the good man I thought I was, not until recently, and nothing done in so little a time can make up for everything before it. An end by your word or your hand… how could I have said it would have been undeserved?" Raymond asked the question just as he'd asked it of himself.
"But… your gods, your faith… even your country, not to mention your life…? Isn't that extreme? Don't you…" Nua didn't get to finish.
"Not even a little." Raymond answered. "I won't live a long life, I've always known that, even by human standards, I put myself at risk too often, tempted fates, gods, and monsters for all my life. I'm lucky I made it this far. Anything beyond the day I'm living in, that's a gift. Every day I wake up, it's a surprise to me. You're worth it… even if I never see you again after you leave… I've got no regrets."
"You realize, you know more about me than anyone ever has… I've never… never spoken of some of the things I've said to you. I needed to say some of those things. And… thank you for these, even if they weren't given back on purpose…" She said and wiggled her ears up and down. "Being cut off from my very race… it was hard. I'm finally whole again, in every way…"
"I'm… glad. I never knew they were that significant." Raymond replied and tried to look away from her. She held him fast.
"Have you never… touched one of my people before?" Nua asked.
"No, other than- no." He insisted.
"Not even… when you were younger, like… revenge?" Nua asked with care, "If you lie to me Raymond… I will know. The truth. After my people killed the woman you loved and put her mutilated corpse in a tree… what did you do ?"
"Do you… really want to know?" Raymond asked.
"I do. I really do. You know everything about me now… and that's not fair… I can't promise I won't think differently of you, but before we part ways, I want to know what kind of man… what kind of man you really are…" Nua said while her heart began to thud.
"When she… died, no… when we found what was left of her… I was angry. I ran from my unit, not 'away'… but I went on the hunt. I stalked the woods and killed some of those elves who had been hunting us. I might have been killed then too, but I was rescued, pulled out of danger… then I went back to the city. And I…" Raymond swallowed the lump in his throat.
"I got drunk. I crawled into a bottle laced with black dust, and I practically lived in it for a year… maybe more." Raymond pursed his lips. "Do you know what black dust does… What makes it so dangerous?"
"I know about it, the trade is almost nonexistent in the Theocracy though… messes with the head, it creates hallucinations, feelings of pleasure… one of the lords I used to serve, about a hundred years or so ago, he baked it into cakes to enhance the pleasure of sex." Nua acknowledged, and when she slid her arms around his head, he explained…
"More than that… it… it takes away who you were, who you are. It… it can even take memories. I diluted the stuff with liquor, and drank until I- I forgot her face. I forgot her face and I still can't remember it. I remember all the things we did, all the things we shared. But the sound of her voice, her face… I erased it… her."
"So… when I leave, and we're parted, what are you going to do? Are you going to erase me?" Nua asked, his head was warm to the touch, ' No… he… he is warm…' She corrected herself.
"No… I made that mistake once, I don't want to forget this, to forget you… and I can't get lost in a bottle… I have work to do, I have to undo what we've done, I have to save your people from my country and my country from itself. When you leave… I'm going to get really… really drunk. But when I leave, when I go back to my homeland, I'll be sober and sharp as my knives, ready to work again. I can promise you that… Nua." He said with resolve and looked up, but not for long, as she crouched down.
"I've never done this before. Not even with Aalon. I loved him. But he was after all, my master's son, and though he was shy and reticent, I could see he thought of me as… as his . If I'd been less naive then, if I knew what lay in store, I would have been repulsed." Her body quivered as she took Raymond's wrists in her slender fingers. "But you're different. So different that it's hard to believe you're even human."
Raymond's mouth opened, "Nua what-"
"Shhh… I want to do this while I'm brave enough." She answered and their lips snapped shut at the same moment, her ears moved up and down once more, and she brought his hands to them.
"I've never… never offered that touch to anyone before… after they were taken, there was no way for me to give it… they were gone… so… you're my- my first." Nua whispered and lowered her eyes as blissful feelings caused her body to shiver, adding ecstasy to her tight strung nerves.
"Nua, I- I was going to-" Raymond whispered, everything in him told him to pull his hands away, to yank his fingers away like they would burn if he let them linger, but he couldn't, he didn't.
"No, you weren't, you couldn't. I thought maybe… but you couldn't. If that were all, I would have put your hands there now… but this is my choice. I'm free, and I want this before we go our separate ways…" She closed her eyes and shivered as the ecstasy built in her body. "Do they… feel good to you?"
"Yes… like silk, with the give and warmth of rising bread and yet… firm, smooth…" He couldn't stop his stroking motion, and she tittered while looking down.
"Like rising bread, you know how to make a girl feel special… I've never heard that one before…" She chuckled a little more and she could feel his blush.
"I… I don't know how to say…" Raymond started and Nua kept her ears fixed in his hands when she looked up at him.
"You don't say . You just act . Like this." Nua said, but as she brought her head towards him, he was doing the same down toward her, their lips locked in a kiss as they rose to their feet, they didn't 'remove' clothing as tender lovers, but tore it apart, her hands ripped away his fine robe as his fingers tore away the laced up shirt to expose her breasts, and he brought his lips down to feast on them, they stumbled toward the bed, and she shouted as he landed on her, "Kiss them! Kiss them!"
With a human woman he would have thought something more, but with her, he knew she meant what she counted to be far more intimate, and brought his lips to the tip of her left ear, her entire body bucked underneath him.
To his surprise, she was far stronger than he thought, and it was only being entwined with her that kept him from being cast away, he nibbled, licked, and traced his way over her left ear, and then went to the right. "M-My neck… kiss my neck…" She angled her head to expose her naked throat, and he kissed the place where her collar once lay. She moaned and roamed her hands over his body.
He was, despite his years as a human, clearly a hardened warrior still, muscle ran up and down his length, every inch of him was hard, save for his lips, which he pressed to her with loving firmness and hungry passion. Her breasts crushed against his chest as her legs hooked behind his thighs and her hands went to his broad back to dig into the skin there.
She began to tease at his shaft, her own body already prepared, slick, wet, and wanting, his beard added to the way he felt, like little bristles teasing at her sensitive skin.
He wasn't within her yet, but the promise from them both was there, the way their bodies came closer and closer to connecting… "Nua… Nua… Nua…" He gasped out her name each time he felt her nether lips press to the head of his shaft…
"Now… tell me… I know it… so tell me…" She moaned, "Say it… Please!" Whether it was a request… or a plea, or a want or a desire or an urgent need, he knew exactly what she meant the moment she said it, no matter how he denied it…
As if he was dying, every single instant from first meeting and first pity, from his first shame to his last bliss and regret, passed before his eyes, and he couldn't deny it to himself any longer.
"I love you!" He shouted it, and she drew him in, slowly at first to savor the feel, she called out…
"Again! Say it again!"
"I love you… I love you…" He cried out as he felt her body engulf him to the last.
He couldn't say it again as her lips captured his and they began to rock back and forth, driving flesh to flesh in nature's oldest dance and strongest magic…
Before her eyes, as before his, every moment passed as well, ' When did he love me… when did I love him… was it when he turned against his friends… his country… his gods… was it before… was it the moment he sold himself to set me free…' There was no answer to those questions that she'd asked herself as the memories replayed until they became only distant background in the primal dance and ecstasy drove her away, he treated her most sensitive places with both hunger and affection, drawing himself out of her to take his mouth on a journey through the valley of her breasts and down to her quivering sex, his lips parted hers and latched and his tongue teased and taunted before his lips latched onto her clit, and her back arched and her cries woke most of the hotel before she grabbed him by the hair on his head and yanked him back up to her mouth and forced him to silence her.
When at last she felt him draw near to the edge, near to a climax of his own, she slammed herself against him as hard as she could, tightened her body's hold on him, and whispered breathily into his ear, "Do it…"
He groaned, his warmth flowing into her drained him more than a hundred battles, he began to relax, resting on her chest until his manners returned and he rolled off of her.
"A gentleman to the last." She laughed and wiped her forehead clean of sweat.
"Heh… hah… is this really the time for laughter?" He asked.
"There's none better. Now… come a little closer, let's get some sleep, there's a lot to do tomorrow and we both need to be well rested for it." Nua said and inched herself closer so that he was spooning her. She pulled his arm on top of her like a blanket, and they lay that way until sleep took them both.
Volume 7 C116
Zesshi woke up early, before Brain, before Layali. The sun wasn't even up, the stars were still visible. Her skin felt a tingle, a pull urging her somewhere… she dressed in silence, taking only an extra moment to put on her sword, then ventured out. Her body felt light, ghostlike, and though she walked one foot in front of the other, it felt more like she was gliding, an airy call to her form, guided by the prickling tingle on her skin and telling her when she was going the right direction.
Down the stairs and down the hall, she was alone, a light fog over her mind that, though it didn't keep her from her awareness, made it all more dreamlike, distant, as if she were watching herself and operating her own body as if it were a puppet.
' Whose door is this?' She wondered when her hand went up to shoulder height and knocked.
"Come in, I've been waiting for you." The soft voice within said, and thus invited, Zesshi reached for the handle, opened it, and passed through to the other side.
The tingle in her skin faded away, and the distant foggy feeling went with it. "What… why am I here?" Zesshi reached up to her head and touched her skull through her strands of thick black hair. "What was that."
"It's [Shrinemaiden's Call], and I am a shrinemaiden. I can maiden any old shrine I like, and priestess so hard I'd convert rocks if I wanted to." She gave a silly grin and a wink to the half elf, and Zesshi cocked her head.
"Say what now?" Zesshi asked. "I'd better go."
"Layali wouldn't be happy if you did, I'm Aureole Omega, by the way." The red and white clad girl bent slightly forward at the waist, but Zesshi froze, her hand squeezed the metal handle, crushing it in her grip.
"What do you know about my Layali?" Zesshi asked through gritted teeth.
"That she loves you very, very much, and is terrified that you'll die out there, she's terrified for both you and her 'papa', Brain." Aureole Omega said, and Zesshi's hand on the door handle began to relax.
"She offered a great deal to me in exchange for my help, a very great deal. And now I'm going to fulfill my part of the bargain." Aureole Omega added.
"Bargain?" Zesshi asked with a steady stare.
"Yes. Bargain. All you have to do is stand there, and then all you have to do is say nothing." Aureole Omega promised, and drew out her wooden sword.
Zesshi stood still, braced and ready for an attack, but instead the curious maiden withdrew by a step, then two, and then a faint hint of musical notes began to play from somewhere, the shrinemaiden's feet began to move in a complex dance, her swaying hips, hair and rising feet moved in a multitude of pirouettes, and then… it was done.
She rose to her feet, and gestured to the door. "There, you can go." Aureole Omega said, "I doubt we'll meet again for some time, and I'm sure you've got questions, but those can wait, just trust me, you'll understand what happened here, soon enough."
The woman's hand came up and her fingers wiggled out of sync in a curious sort of farewell wave, and Zesshi, unsure of what else she could even do in such a situation… left the room the way she'd come, and made her way to the arena.
Why she didn't go back to Brain and Layali was something she couldn't quite answer, the chill of the early morning air, the fog amidst the darkness, the world itself concealed its emptiness from her. Though the temperatures were nothing she couldn't handle, nonetheless Zesshi rubbed her biceps with her hands, her long hair dangling and dancing behind her, every step carrying her ever closer to a lifetime's wish, and nobody was there to see it.
The chilly morning left goosebumps on her skin long before she reached her destination, and at such an early hour, nobody was at the arena either. Even though it took plenty of time to get there, not so much as a guard was present. ' I suppose that's no surprise, who is going to steal used practice swords and hunks of wooden or metal men? There's nothing here of value until people show up.' She told herself as she walked beneath the great high stone arches.
Her footfalls echoed as the darkness became pitchlike, hidden from the stars with only the breeze at her back to keep her company, the breeze, and her thoughts. ' How many years has it been?' Zesshi tried to recall as her foot tapped along the stone until she reached the sands. ' I was younger than Layali when I promised my mother I would kill my father. I'm sure of that. But how much?'
As she tallied the days of her more than hundred year lifespan, the years back became a blur, her isolation from the world made so much of it blend together Zesshi had to wonder, ' What if I'm older than I think I am?' Nobody had celebrated her birthday after she was removed from her mother, not until Raymond became her handler.
' What a ridiculous sight that was.' She chuckled a little as she went to take position on the sands as if her father were already there. The hard bitten Black Scripture head, carrying a lemon cake, and Cenna, handing her the little cube with different colors on it. ' How many times did I play with that stupid thing, and I never once got close to solving it.'
The years of revenge fantasies punctuated by monster hunts and living in shadows never weighed on her before, but now, having been out in the world, and traveling with Brain and Layali, she knew… ' I can't go back to that life. I can't, and I won't.' She told herself, the other thoughts that troubled her began to fade away with fresh resolve, and though she still had no idea why she'd come all this way at such an early hour, she was content to wait and watch the stars. Her eyes turned up to watch the passing of night until the sun began its slow march across the sky.
The crowd began to fill the arena shortly after first light, the sea of faces and cacophony of voices was enough to make her ears twitch with mild annoyance. ' Humans are loud. Very loud.' Notably though, there were some 'non' humans in the mix, foreigners who came to watch a historical event. On one level it marked the significance of the duel in the eyes of the world around them, on the other it also marked the weakness of the empire in its current state that it would allow races normally considered 'dangerous' to enter without argument. Beastmen, orcs, even a few trolls took seats. ' I suppose that means there will be stronger races fighting today now that the scrubs are all gone.' It was a passing, dismissive thought, there was only one thing Zesshi wanted, and it would likely prompt the other fighters to put down some extra coin on reinforcing their groin armor before they faced her on the sands.
As if the floodgates opened, the seats were quickly filled, but Zesshi had eyes for only one spot before the match began.
She scanned the crowd, and then saw them. Brain was holding Layali on his shoulders and they were waving down to her ecstatically. He had his broad, charming, roguish smile on his face, and it only then occurred to her… ' I can't remember the last time I objected when people thought I was his wife…' Not in any of the stops since they were in the town with that cursed orphanage.
It wasn't, to her mind at least, an unpleasant thought, though he was weaker in combat, he was stronger in his understanding of the world, and he lavished affection on the little half elf that had effectively become a daughter. ' If I met someone stronger, would I want to leave?' The question stuck in her mind while she waved back, the sick and twisted answer she came up with was, ' Like my mother, it wouldn't matter.' The sense of herself that others considered twisted, a seeming willingness to mate with anyone who could defeat her, was laid bare as she tried to imagine herself willingly walking away from them both.
' I've just been playing a game with myself, pretending I would be 'consenting' when I've just been finding a way to cope with the nightmarish reality of my mother's life… her nightmares, her reticence when touching my ears… 'oh, I'll have the child of any male who can defeat me… when I really just assumed I'd go through my mother's experience…' It was a grim thought, and not the first time she held it, but as she watched the couple waving from the stands and she tried to imagine someone defeating her, and then walking away from the two… she couldn't.
' No way.' She told herself, and with a smile on her face, she waved back at them both. ' I'm not going anywhere.' She resolved without any further doubts, and waited.
The elf king loved the sound of his walking. The world shook when he strolled to relieve himself, his foes quaked when he yawned. His will was their dreams and his rhythm the dictate of the lives of those who were lucky he let them live to serve him.
Around him the stone of the arena quaked, he did nothing to disguise his footfalls, nothing to soften his step, and if the stone fell? Then that was just a consequence of their pathetic efforts at building things that were impressive.
The light of day opened up to him when he stepped onto the sands, the very first of his opponents would be a woman, that was his instruction. ' A lucky woman who will bear my child, and I will make it right then and there on the sands. A sound slap of my hand, and when she falls, I will have her.'
The annoyance he felt at losing his servants and toys was still grating, insulting, and above all, a mystery that taunted him because of its familiarity.
' Just like that time… the Nines came to me to take my prisoners and used undead to distract me before setting them free… then…' The memory of dying, blacking out, then waking up again and his prisoners back where they were, but not the same… ' So strange… but I never forgot them…'
He ignored the words of whatever bothersome speaker was up there, barely responding other than to raise his fist when his title was used, until…
"No! He is not the elf King! He is the elf Peasant ! He has no kingdom now!" The voice of the shouter was tantalizingly familiar.
' The whelp? That brat… no, her mother?!' He licked his lips, the Draconic Queen was the one he wanted to breed. He whirled and faced the stands and there she was, an adult woman, ripe… and not bad to look at. He felt himself harden with desire, but her words brought only confusion.
"Do you remember me, elf peasant ?!" She shouted from the stands, and 'shrank'.
"Tricked?! You tricked me?! How dare you?!" He bellowed, the brat wasn't the daughter, but the woman he sought!
"Your Kingdom has fallen! It is now under the reign of my Lord, Ainz Ooal Gown of the Kingdom of Nazarick, father to All and master of nations!" She shouted down at him, and the name caused the elf King to freeze even in his anger.
"You might know me by another name!" A man shouted from beside her, "I beat you before, I and my friends. I'm sure you heard it… I'm sure you heard someone say 'Momonga!" a towering man in rich royal robes shouted.
The elf King processed it all. ' He took my kingdom, he took my servants… it has to be him! Momonga… Nines… perhaps it was Ainz… it's all him! Him! Him?!' The elf King bellowed and jumped from the ground with a roar, leaping toward the daias where his prey had gone to hide, his arms stretched out and fingers grasping ready to close around his stolen plaything.
Draudillon's heart sang when she watched the shock on the elf King's face, his dismay, his disbelief, his rage and confusion, at her left stood her Lord to whom she had surrendered herself and her people in trust of all their security.
And true to the predictions of the master of Nazarick, her god, the elf King reacted with violence. His leap brought cries of fear and shock and awe all at once to the crowd.
But then… the elf King was unable to land. Ainz's arm was outstretched, his fingers were closed around the elf King's throat. The behemoth of an elf was every bit as large as Draudillon remembered, but now he dangled helplessly.
And Ainz's kingly voice projected out for all the world to hear. "You don't. Do that. To my servants!" His free hand was… slapping. Just slapping, back and forth across the elf King's face as if he were slapping a misbehaving schoolboy who had gone too far with his bullying ways.
The elf king gurgled and raged, his face was turning purple and his hands clawing at the Allfather's wrists. "You don't. Do that. To my friends !" He bellowed the words and continued the assault, every single slap cracked like thunder as the elf King's face began to bruise and bleed, and before the sight of all nations, the elf King was simply… flatly… bitchslapped until his strength was gone.
"Now go down there and die !" Ainz yelled, and raising the monstrous elf up, he flung his arm down and sent the body to crash into the sands and shake the whole of the arena.
Silence befell the whole of the site, the elf King appeared to be alive, but… groaning.
Finally a speaker's voice called out. "As the injury was not sustained during an official duel, it is the ruling of the arbiters of the tournament that the elf King should be healed and allowed to fight!"
As if that had been the question… but nobody seemed inclined to question it.
A healer approached over the sands at a steady jog, cast their spell, and turned to flee before the injured would-be combatant could rise.
"You're having a bad day, father ." Zesshi spat as the elf king began to get to his feet. That made him pause and look at her, he had many children, but none that he knew of looked like her.
"You are…" He began and she confirmed it with a nod.
"You kidnapped my mother from the Slane Theocracy. You ruined her life, and now I'm here to make you pay. You will not enjoy this, and I won't be done quickly, but it won't matter, because you will not survive." Zesshi hocked her spit the way Brain showed her, and launched it past her lips to land directly in his eye.
He snarled and wiped it away, casting the fluid down to wet the sands.
"Bitch… daughter or not, you're going to breed me strong children… and they'll know their places, and they'll give me the world!" He bellowed his furious proclamation, but though the crowd was muted and horrified by the bellow, Zesshi was nonplussed.
"I am not your prey. You are mine ." She said and drew her sword.
No sooner than she did so, than power raced through her veins, far more than she'd ever felt in her body before. The former Elf King used every skill he had and Zesshi could feel him activating them all…
' So slow.' She thought, it seemed absurd on its face. His arm sailed past her as she stood aside, she looked down at it, watching it move like molasses running downhill. ' I wonder?' She asked herself, and reached for his fist. She opened his fingers, and then bent two of them backwards, snapping them at the bone.
She broke two more, then the last. Then spun behind him and slashing her sword, she struck his achilles tendons.
Then all was at a normal speed again, and he shouted in pain as he stumbled and fell to the sands.
"Pathetic." Zesshi said, and kicked him in his ass, sending him tumbling head over heels and heels over head in a steady roll that stopped only when he cracked the stone wall of the arena.
The crowd was on its feet, cheering as the self proclaimed villain was being demolished.
"I owe you a lot of pain, you sonofabitch!" Zesshi shouted and sprinted over to where he lay.
She yanked his golden hair and put her foot on his back, she heard the crack of bone within as he struggled, his arms could not however, reach behind him well, nor could he twist under the pressure she was applying.
"Bitch!" He hissed, she took her foot from his back, and swung him by his hair back the way he'd come, tumbling over the sands and battering his body with the ground itself.
She chased after his tumbling body, and did not allow him to come to a halt a second time. Her hand snatched his ankle, and she began to swing him like a club. She watched his teeth scatter as they were knocked out of his head, sent flying like little white pearls to disappear in the sands as his fearsome face became a bloody ruin. Her arm swung him cleanly overhead, back and forth, back and forth, as if the world were a drum and she a drummer.
His left arm was the first to break, with bone tearing through flesh, his right quickly followed.
"Not yet! It's not over yet!" The cheers of the crowd were muted, so he heard her words and felt the blow when her fist connected with his crotch, blood fountained out of his mouth, mixed with the foul taste of vomit, and to his horror, her fingers closed around his manhood and… tore.
She held his favorite toy above her head like a trophy, dripping blood and pent up fluids to the sand, he finally cried out in pain.
"I suppose this is going to end quicker than I hoped… but… all good things must come to an end." Zesshi said as he lay broken at her feet. If there was a bone in his body that wasn't turned to powder, she wasn't aware of it.
"Since you like 'splitting legs open… let's see what all the fuss is about." Zesshi said, and before he could protest, she dropped his manhood, stomped on it, and grabbed his thighs with her bloody hands. Her fingers were worse than steel as they dug into his muscle, and she began to pull them in different directions…
The first tear was audible only to she and he… but then it was clear… obvious, and heard by all as his body was torn in half at the thighs, he had enough life and air left for one single scream, and it was done.
The elf King was in two pieces, torn ragged and unevenly from thighs to chest, a ruined mess only barely identifiable as once having been a man at all.
"My mother is now avenged." Zesshi said to herself, ' And so are the rest of his unfortunate victims… there's only one enemy left. The ones who are keeping my family members as slaves…' She turned her eyes up to the daias, the Allfather's power was obvious beyond measure, and yet he hadn't chosen to compete. ' The woman, the priestess or… or shrine maiden, she did this to me… even as strong as I was, I was never 'that' strong… what did she do? What did Layali offer her…?'
With the cathartic sense of peace settling over her with the end of a lifelong desire, the mystery remained and some concern with it. ' Why would they help me? They don't know me… so why?'
It was a question that demanded an answer, but it would have to wait, for now… she had somewhere else to be, and two people waiting for her there. And with that thought, she walked away from the lumps of meat she left behind, giving an apologetic nod to the unfortunate foursome who rushed past her to clean up the mess.
Volume 7 C117
"Can I look now, papa?" Layali asked, her eyes were still concealed by Brain's hands, but she stood with barely concealed patience, her fingers over his thumb, trying in futility to move his hands aside.
"Not yet." Brain said, "When your mama gets back." He answered, and though he could feel her pout, he only pursed his lips and waited patiently while the runners shoveled the remnants of the 'elf peasant' onto the wooden sled and hauled it away.
All that remained of the former elf King was bloody sand that other fighters would step on and scatter around, or wash off their bodies and down the drains in the baths of the arena's undercroft.
When Zesshi returned, Brain removed his hands from Layali's eyes. "Very impressive." He said, "Were you always that strong?" He asked her and silently thanked the gods he did not believe in, that her kick to his ribs had not exploded his body.
"No." She frowned, "It's like… it was like opening up my potential, I think… I think I tasted what my peak could be like. It was definitely me, but me… unlocked ." She said in a reverential whisper.
She turned her thoughts back to the morning's events and watched as the next matches unfolded, a large, brown, armored troll entered the arena, on his shoulder he carried a great club the size of a tree and with a single solid iron ball at the head, a grip made with so much leather it had to have taken up the skin of an entire cow.
He shook the ground around him as he walked, "Troll Prince, Gaka!" The troll announced himself, and clad in scale armor over his arms and torso, and with a metal 'skirt' of banded bars hanging down around his legs secured to a metal belt that went up to his bellybutton, it was hard to doubt his title.
The trolls in the audience cheered as his opponent entered the arena.
A ligerman, broad and white furred, great jaws open to show off that his teeth were capped with jagged metal above and below. His tail lashed at his back, across his chest he wore a breastplate of white, and to his thighs were strapped interlocking greaves through which bits of fur still stuck. His mane bunched around his head, and though he towered half again over any human and was twice as broad, he was only two thirds the height or width of the troll Prince. "Razen'mah! Devorian Champion, cousin of Timnah, champion of the Tlalmok!"
The handful of bejeweled beastmen in the crowd cheered their champion, and glared at the trolls, who glared back with the same ferocity. The Troll Prince raised his club above his head, and the ligerman raised both his fists, their roars drowned out the cheers of the crowd.
They paced themselves at a distance, and when the signal came, they charged at one another. The ligerman was clearly a monk, while the troll clearly a paladin and the two began throwing martial arts back and forth. The troll proved quicker than should have been possible, rolling away from the ligerman's thick fists and slashing claws, and charging in, arms pumping back and forth to leap toward the ligerman.
Razen'mah, unable to escape fast enough, brought up both his hands and caught the mace before it could connect, and sand blew up in such a quantity that it was impossible for anyone not up high to see the clash which followed.
But it could be heard. "Gwaaaaaaahhhh!" The shouted chorus might have been a duet of music as the two clashed in perfect harmony, the Troll Prince used 'smite' again and again, only for the monk to use his 'tranquility of water' to avoid each blow and create great gaps, holes, in the sand from the force of the scattering blows.
Razen'mah's fists came for the areas exposed by the armor, forcing Gaka on the defensive where it was hardest… down below. His metal armored 'skirt' good for swings but bad against jabs, as soon as the first blow connected and the Prince brought back his wounded thigh, the struggle began to change.
The troll Prince, for perhaps the first time in his life, faced an opponent that was too fast for himself and could pierce his thick hide, worse, his great height worked against him, he had to bring his club down farther and faster, and the ligerman had plenty of time to avoid blows and come back in again.
The crowd was on its feet, roaring and cheering, human, elf, dwarf, orc, nobody cared anymore, it was the bloodlust and vigor of battle and it was on every head young and old as the champions struggled to find a way to overcome the other.
The two finally split with the ligerman springing back out of reach of what might have proved a killing blow, and the troll was slow to raise his club.
The two were breathing hard, chests rising and falling, gulping air and their bodies shaking with the tension, sweat was dripping down the thick troll hide.
The mace did not continue to rise, and Razen'mah did not charge in. It was a brief, unspoken truce. "Trolls can fight like beastmen." Razen'mah breathed out.
"Beastmen can fight like trolls." Gaka answered back.
"Ready?" Razen'mah asked and rose up.
Gaka nodded and raised his club the rest of the way. "To the end this time." He suggested.
"Yes." Razen'mah answered, and the pair charged again, a bellowing roar of warriors brought the pair close, and the seemingly wild blows began again, the ligerman monk's blows seemed at last to slow just a hair, and in that moment, Gaka did the unexpected.
He used his free hand to grab Razen'mah's mane and haul the ligerman off his feet, his mace coming up and ready for the killing blow.
Then Razen did the unexpected, he swung himself up to the arm which held him, locked his legs around the bicep, and arched himself, snapping the arm at the elbow.
Gaka howled and lost his grip, and Razen'mah dropped, crouched, and jumped to the staggering giant troll. His jaw closed over the troll Prince's face, and he bit down. The thick skull cracked, and the Troll Prince fell limp. Razen'mah raised his fists and roared as red blood dripped from his teeth before he pointed to the limp form.
"He lives. He will fight again." Razen'mah said, and the roar of the crowd redoubled as they found a favorite.
When Razen'mah was gone, and the crowd had gone silent, and when the Troll Prince was healed before he limped away in defeat, it was a human who entered the arena.
"Gustav Montagne of the Roble Holy Kingdom!" The head of the Paladin Order raised his sword as he entered, and cheers went up, the light glinted off of his white and blue armor, his broad body and perfect stance made him appear the epitome of paladin ideals. But within, he could only feel his heart pound. ' A good showing to restore our dignity as a nation, that is all we need.' He told himself, and sheathed his blade when the roar of the crowd faded.
And his opponent entered after, "Cerebrate! Man of no country!" The knight shouted his name, but Brain didn't need to hear it, neither did Layali.
She wet herself immediately and began to cry, "Mama… papa… don't let him get me… please don't let him see me… please don't let master get me again…" She whimpered and blubbered and rushed to hide behind Brain and Zesshi.
"That's him, is it?" Zesshi asked with gritted teeth, her hand went behind Brain to stroke Layali's back. "Don't worry, he won't survive much longer. He won't. We won't let him. He'll never touch you again."
"No, he won't." Brain crossed his arms and glared at the knight, "He dies today." He squared himself in front of the little half elf who wept into his back.
Volume 7 C118
Gustav faced his opponent, drew his sword, and the pair began to clash. Gustav fought as a Paladin, with broad, heavy slashes, his emblazoned cloak flapping in the breeze behind him, while Cerebrate fought as a knight, with more straight thrusts to force Gustav to withdraw.
They circled one another in battle pulses, coming together for an exchange of blows, their armor fending off what their swords could not, the clang of metal on metal was the only noise there was between the two as the crowd picked sides for their favorite.
Calca bit her lip and without thinking, reached for her husband's hand, he squeezed it. "I shouldn't have brought him. I shouldn't have told him to do this. After everything we went through-"
"You disrespect his choice?" Neia asked from where she stood, her hands folded behind her lower back, her tail danced in time with the blows, she didn't look at her counterpart, but the rebuke was obvious.
"Queen Baraja." Ainz quipped, "He is a loyal servant to your ally."
His rebuke to her rebuke did not move the dragonid Queen.
"That is why I say it, Allfather. None of you can understand what is happening down there as I do." She said with icy calm as she watched the sword narrowly miss Gustav's eye and leave a bloody streak on his cheek instead. He backed away and wiped it away with a growl before he renewed his struggle against Cerebrate.
Neia looked over to Calca then and said, "You may have given the order, Holy Queen, but I knew Gustav. He's the one who sentenced me to die. To you he was a friend, to me, first he was a commander, then he was an executioner. He knew my trial was corrupt, but he looked me in the eye, and sentenced me to die in that horrific way. He listened to my screams and did nothing to save me. When you rejected my parents' plea for leniency, I forgave you because you were ignorant of the true corruption. I can never forgive him though, and that's why he's here. Because he can't forgive himself."
Calca paled, "But I issued pardons, for everybody who confessed their crimes and made restitution… we've been rebuilding our homes, our Kingdom, making things right… the Purity movement, Gustav has worked closely with the priests since we embraced it!"
"Do you think that means anything to someone who lived on principle their whole life?" Neia asked and waved toward the sands of the arena. "Yes, he's going to do what you said and enhance your nation's reputation, but he's going to atone too. I've seen it on enough faces to know the look. His quietness, from the very start of our journey I had my suspicions. But this removes all doubt."
The wounds on Gustav were starting to add up. His ear was gone, one eye was shut, and though Cerebrate had his marks, it became ever more obvious that Gustav was at a disadvantage that was only growing.
Cerebrate seemed to be waiting for a concession, and drew back an extra step.
"You can't be serious?!" Calca cried and shot to her feet. "Death?! That's… that's stupid! We need him! He's our friend, the head of our Paladin Order! I didn't want him to fight to the death! Just showcase our strength!"
Her voice began to rise in pitch and she rushed toward the rail, her fingers closed over the ledge, she leaned over, "Give in! Your Queen orders you to concede!" She shouted, but over the noise of the crowd there was little chance that she would be heard so far down below.
If he heard her, he ignored her, and charged against Cerebrate again.
Ainz was quick to follow his wife, rising to his feet and putting hands on her shoulders as if afraid she might tumble over the edge.
Swords flew back and forth and, now that Queen Baraja pointed it out, it was obvious. It wasn't that he was reckless, it was that he was heedless, his strikes were flawless, but his care for his own injuries and the preservation of his own life was completely gone, and when he landed a blow against Cerebrate's chest after a dangerous gamble and sent the knight of the Draconic Kingdom tumbling backward, he squared himself off, revealing the multitude of wounds to his face, and trailing blood into the dry sands to soak them through and through.
"The resolve of the Holy Kingdom cannot be stopped by anything but victory or death! Get up, Cerebrate!" Gustav shouted it like an order, and Cerebrate complied.
"You're insane!" Cerebrate accused his opponent, leveling his sword at Gustav, with both mean breathing hard, he spat into the sand and said, "You can't win. I got you twice in the gut! I don't even have to kill you, just hold you off and you'll die!"
Gustav grinned, his pearl white teeth stained with his own blood, "That's why you're afraid! Because we're not! We don't know the meaning of fear anymore!" He proclaimed and leveled his sword at his side, and with a thunderous battle cry his feet carried him forward over the sands toward his waiting enemy.
"Fuck… he's suicidal…" Cerebrate muttered. [Knight's Charge] he used one more martial art, and sped toward his enemy, a direct charge was a knight's best weapon, and Gustav seemed to have played into it. Still, ever cautious, Cerebrate watched for trickery… and found none.
His sword sank into Gustav's guts for a third time, their shoulders crashed together with a clang of battered metal on battled metal, and Cerebrate felt the man fall limp.
Gustav looked up to the daias where his Queen stood, her face was clear to him, or so he thought, ' I wonder if I'm imagining it… no, she probably is distressed. I've been part of her life for as long as she's been on the throne, if not as close as Remedios… but this is how it has to end… the reputation of my Kingdom… Nobody will think us weak now… with my death, our names are made. And… fuck, this really does hurt worse than I thought…' Gustav groaned and felt his body thud down to the ground.
The roar of the crowd went up, and his killer stepped out of view. With Cerebrate out of the way, the sun smacked Gustav's eyes, blinding him to the blue of the sky, there was no rest of the world, and he could no longer feel the sand beneath him, nor the weight of his body.
He then closed his eyes, and opened them no more. ' Job well done.' He thought, and that was that.
Volume 7 C119
Nua's heart immediately raced and her eyes snapped open when she awoke to feel the hand on her breast. ' No!' She cried inside her mind when she felt her nakedness and the form of a male body nestled against her from behind. Then it all came back, the sleepy fog of dreams lifted like the morning haze, her eyes eased close again, far slower than they opened a moment before. ' Am I…? Was that a dream too?' She asked herself, and reached up to touch her throat to find her collar was gone.
The skin there wasn't exactly smooth, the long years of wearing leather and metal against her, sometimes loose enough to be forgotten, sometimes so tight that every swallow of food reminded her of her status, but now… it was gone.
' He kissed my throat, a human, it was two humans who saw me set free… I never would have imagined that. And my… yes, all that really did happen.' She interlocked her fingers with his and closed them together, then felt his body stir against her own.
"Good morning." He said to her, and she made to roll onto her back while he gave her space, Nua half expected a lecherous face, the existential dread of finding a second Lord Hodge came up… and then was gone, there was only care on his face, his rough brown beard framed a tender smile traced out of his lips.
"Are you… okay?" He asked, and she relaxed, inching herself closer to him, she put a hand up to his chest and traced her palm over the skin there.
Her ears gave him a teasing wiggle, "I am, and so are we… but before we go any further, there are two things I need to know."
He kept silent, waiting in expectation.
"Last night, I know you… you felt by touch what I've always kept hidden, the entire point was to make it so ugly that I'd prefer to be on my back… so ugly even some overseers pitied me and were… relatively gentle in their overseeing me. I can never get rid of it. It's part of me now. If you really want me to… to stay with you, before we have to part and I speak for the Allfather, and maybe after when things are peaceful, I have to know you can look at me without revulsion. If you can't, nothing about last night changes, I'll remember it happily. If you can…" She sighed, "Fuck, I'm just rambling." She cursed herself and flung the blanket aside and rolled to the left over onto her belly so that the entire back of her body was exposed.
The flesh ripped up and down her back had become just what his touch told him, mountains and valleys of bulbous, ridged scar tissue. Nua lay her head on the pillow and looked away from him, toward the door to the room.
"Even Aalon didn't like to look at this." She said in a still, quiet whisper, "Most of it… Hodge did, most of it. But not all. No, not all. I was always good, I never fought, I just wanted to be happy, this is what made 'him' happy. Now this 'art' of his, is his legacy." She said, and groaned, "I'm rambling again… fuck."
She felt his hand on her back, his fingers spread open, tracing over each ridge and valley where flesh and bone had once torn open, only to heal with slowness and pain.
"Raymond?" She asked, and then closed her lips, when she felt his. His lips kissed a ridge over her back, and then the valley beside it.
"You don't… wait…?" Nua's ears went down, "You're not one of those perverts who get off to the grotesque, are you ?" She asked.
She felt him laugh as he straddled her lower body, it shook the bed a little, and another little kiss came down to another mark. "No. No, I'm not. But this is just an unkissed part of you, an untouched part, whether it is here, or not here, can be taken away and renewed, or is yours forever, it's part of you now, so of course-" He stopped, and kissed another spot.
"So you don't mind them… I admit I'm- I didn't expect this. Not even tears, or sympathy or-?" Nua's ears went down again, "I'm not sure how to take that."
"I've got a fair few myself, I was a Black Scripture, and scars mean strength, scars mean you survived . We of the Black don't mind scars. I'm not a pervert, as you put it. But this-" He traced his hands over her hardened flesh, "Is strength proven. And for the rest, would you really want that, from anyone, especially from me?" He asked and flopped beside her again.
"No, I suppose not." Nua said and rolled away so that she could face him. "But, as much as I'd like to stay and enjoy you more, you were sent here to watch the fighting in the arena and learn about whoever would become the new Emperor, not to lie in bed all day drinking wine and being debauched."
Raymond laughed when her ears wiggled in opposite directions of one another, a crude imitation of thrust and counterthrust. "I suppose not." He answered, "We'll go and observe, and when the time comes?"
"We go our separate ways, for a little while at least." Nua said and put her fingers over his lips just as they began to move, their eyes bound each other as if by magic. "But whether we meet again or not, I know I want to. However, there was the second thing." She added a second finger to the covering of his lips.
"The man you call a friend, he is a monster. It wasn't even about enjoying what he did, for him, it was a religious duty to make sure I was broken. He will never let your country change, not as long as he lives. Kill him. Kill Cardinal Dominic. Give me his head on a silver platter, so that there is only one man alive who knows my body. Will you do that for me, human who says he loves me?" Nua asked and brought her lips close to his, dragging her fingers down from his lips to allow him to speak again.
' No Cardinal has killed another Cardinal in six hundred years… does she know what she's asking me to do?' He wondered, but he could see in her eyes that she did.
"Are you asking for it as a wedding gift?" Raymond asked.
She was silent. "Your faith prohibits you from marrying me." She argued.
"I gave away my soul already." Raymond answered, and then pressed, "Or do I ask too much?"
"Even by human standards… that is… hasty?" Nua felt her breath cast every word with the haste of a stone from a sling.
"If I'm going to go as far as that, there is only one reason good enough, and life is short, maybe even shorter than usual for someone in my, no… our positions. So, your answer?" He asked her.
Nua gave a tiny nod, then covered his lips with hers and ruined their plans to leave bed quickly.
The fights went on and match after match, though few of the bouts were lethal, Calca saw none of them. "I let this happen. I shouldn't have brought him, he might have planned this from the very beginning."
"He didn't just die, he died for something." The Wolf Queen came over to her and put a hand on Calca's shoulder. "He sacrificed himself to promote the strength and will of your country."
"And what a promotion it was…" Queen Draudillon remarked, "No set of cheers has been as big as that one, not yet… he helped you avoid my fate, be grateful to him."
"Grateful?" Calca asked, looking up and casting an angry gaze toward the Draconic Queen.
"She's right." Albedo acknowledged, her hand lingering over her swollen belly, "Before, your son would have been the scion of a broken Kingdom rebuilt by a charitable marriage. People from as far away as the Beastmen Triumvirate have come here to fight and watch and before their eyes, your man showed that his homeland produces stubborn, worthy warriors. If not for his sacrifice, people who spoke of your Kingdom would only speak of it as a broken place that barely survived a war against itself, whose soldiers would surrender to save their lives. I don't believe they'll speak poorly of your country now."
Ainz remained studiously quiet, ' So much to learn still. So much to learn.' He kept his sigh confined to himself and did the one thing he could think to do. He agreed with the others. ' They do sound right, I think.' He assumed, and finally found his voice. "They're right." He said.
"As our lord no doubt knew." The Golden Queen added in. "Sad as it is, it had meaning." She reached up and dabbed her eyes with a little white cloth, appearing to all those present as if she were a distraught young girl mourning the sorrow of a friend.
"He could be restored to life but-" Ainz shook his head.
"No, he wouldn't want that. Being satisfied with the end of your life, knowing that you went out for something you valued, that's a good fate for a warrior, a good end, a good death." Neia argued, "Maybe honor him instead, give him a statue, or a holiday. I've been toying with the idea of creating a holiday in my Kingdom, a few of them really, now that things are settling down. Or name a beer after him and make it free to all paladins." Neia smacked her lips at that suggestion, and it was absurd enough that a tearful laugh followed the dragonid's idea.
"I will give you what you need to build a statue in his honor, if that is what you wish." Ainz offered, and Calca went quiet as she thought it over. "I-I'd like that, and I think he would approve of that much at least."
Brain felt a vague tingling in his body, a steady 'pull', weak, but persistent, as when Layali wanted him to go somewhere or see something. "I'll… be right back." He said, and tussled Layali's hair. He then leaned over and kissed Zesshi on the cheek and was halfway away before realizing what he'd done.
' I wonder if she's blushing?' He felt a giddy smirk come over him, despite having made love multiple times, it was little things that seemed to throw her off.
He was a hundred paces more before he wondered where he was going. ' Am I being controlled? Compelled? No… no I'd know if that were the case. That kind of spell feels very different, I feel different.' The tingle seemed to guide him on, prickling over his skin when he made a wrong turn, until he found himself reaching for a door to an isolated room deep in the undercroft of the arena.
"It's open. Come in." A young girl's voice relayed, and though he closed his right hand around the hilt of his sword, he turned the bronze handle of the oaken door and entered the room.
It was what one expected of a room meant for trainees to prepare, wash, and recover. Fountaining water flowed from the stone in a constant pace like a slow moving river, its babble echoing everywhere, from pillars and benches to walls and back again.
Sweat and blood mingled in places that were not as well cleaned as one might have hoped, and it frankly smelled like sweat and fear inside the room.
In front of him stood a young woman in red and white, with a wooden practice sword at her side and a girlish smile on her face. "Hi, I'm glad you made it." She said and waved a hand as if greeting an invited friend.
"Wait, I know you. Did you," he touched his hands together, feeling the tugging, tingly sensation there, "did you call me here?" Brain asked as the fog lifted.
"I did. You might say I'm a… a friend of Layali's. Or you might say that I'm the woman who will give you everything you want in the world, or you can call me Aureole, if you like. Will you listen, or will you draw that thing and have me demonstrate to you that it is useless without my help?" She asked, waving a relaxed hand toward where he still held the hilt of his blade in a tense grip.
He removed his hand.
"I'm listening." He said, and her smile lit up, she clapped her hands together before replying.
"What a marvelous decision, you can have your heart's desire… in exchange for your soul, your loyalty, and your everything, give what Layali and Zesshi have already given, and you will get back so much more… or refuse, and then… you know." She asked, while his brow furrowed in thought.
Volume 7 C120
From deep within the undercroft they could still hear the cheers of the crowd as the elimination rounds went on, but Brain heard them only as mere background noise, his eyes were focused instead on the woman in front of him. "What do you know about my Layali?" He asked, his eyes narrowed dangerously, but he kept his hand away from the hilt of his sword.
"I know she can't die, but she can bleed, she can suffer, but she will always heal." Aureole raised her hand to stop him before he could speak beyond sputtering denials. "She revealed it herself, she made a trade, an offer, to let herself be studied gently by the greatest minds in Nazarick, and in exchange we would ensure that her 'family' would not only remain safe, but together."
"Why are you telling me this?" He asked through gritted teeth, "What did you do to her?"
"We had her hold crystals to absorb her mana, took flecks of skin, some strands of hair, oh and we gave her ice cream, cookies, we did take blood samples, but it was no more than a pinch, just a needle. If you ask her, she'll be eager for her next visit because we promised her a way to make ice cream drinkable." Aureole giggled a bit, her youth obvious, and bemusement disarming, Brain still had goosebumps on his arms, but he relaxed nonetheless.
"The sticker on her cheek?" He asked as the realization hit him.
"From one of our maids, she finds Layali to be very cute." Aureole explained, and Brain relaxed enough that he went to a nearby stone bench and sat down.
Aureole Omega followed and sat opposite himself and went on. "You may die fighting Cerebrate, it's her greatest fear. What I'm here to offer you is not the throne, which you care little about, I'm offering you two things. The certainty of victory in avenging her, and something else." She leaned across the space between them and whispered, "A glimpse at the peak. I can unlock your potential, you will have your victory. Then follow me to my homeland for a few hours each day. You've heard of our team's work in the Draconic Kingdom, I'm sure. We shattered their limits in days, and all we ask for is your soul. Give your devotion to the generous God, Ainz Ooal Gown as the others have, and we will show you the way to heaven, not after death, but in the here and now."
"How do I know you can do what you say?" Brain asked, his suspicion mounting by the moment.
"Because we did it with Zesshi already, though she will weaken back to her current state, unlocking her potential was only temporary. But after your fight with Cerebrate, if you excuse yourself, we will make a permanent change. The unjust limits you've always had," she snapped her fingers, "gone, just like that."
"So Zesshi's performance…" Brain rubbed the faint blue stubble on his chin, then raised his face again to look at the young girl before him, "I'm still more concerned with what will happen to Layali. I don't like the idea of her being used for experiments."
"Nazarick bargains hard," Aureole Omega said, then reached out to take his hand in hers, "but our word is our bond. We will leave no marks but sticker stains, and she will be given every comfort. And I remind you, we have the power to simply take her if we wished. But she came to us, she made a deal. That I'm here and talking to you now should tell you that we're keeping it."
"Will you ever 'stop' using her?" Brain asked with the steady stare of a protective father.
"Even I don't know what will happen, but," she squeezed his hand, "I can promise that our discovery process will leave her unharmed. Also, she will be among the most protected people in the world, especially as the child of 'close supporters'." Aureole said with a playful upturn of her lips.
But suspicions still clouded Brain's thoughts, "You're offering me a lot here, and in my experience when something sounds too good to be true, it's false."
"Hmpf, Zesshi didn't even ask questions of me. You're a hard one." Aureole put her hands into her lap and looked down in a pout.
"She's an innocent still, in a lot of ways, she's used to taking direction and just going with the flow. I'm used to following only my own whims, and I'm used to people lying to me." Brain said with a casual shrug.
"Hmpf… then a taste. I will give you a taste that will last through your fight with Cerebrate. So you know what is possible. When you win, if you want what I'm offering, come see me again in this place. The Empire will be yours, Layali will live as a princess, you will promote the deification of our lord, and we will keep you and all your descendants secure for as long as you are loyal, and yes, your true potential, your promise as a swordsman, will be given to you in exchange." Aureole said and stood up, "Take it, or risk dying in front of your daughter's eyes, making all her work for nothing."
"Damn, you sound priestly enough… fine, do what you're going to do." Brain groused as his nerves went on edge again.
Curiously, there was no 'spell' instead the red and white clad maiden simply danced, gracefully sweeping her wooden sword in circles, her flowing robes fluttering about, for a moment he wondered, ' Is this all some sort of twisted joke?'
Then he felt it, like a locked door in his mind being opened for the first time.
"Hmmm, now that's interesting." Aureole remarked offhandedly as her dance came to an end, "You've been a busy little bee, haven't you? It looks as if you had a few levels already in you, just held back by your body's limitations. I wonder if you'll get to keep those…?" She shrugged as Brain looked at his hands as if expecting them to be different.
"Go, face your enemy, and I will see you again soon." She said and pointed toward the door.
Brain left in disbelieving silence, everything about his body felt lighter, stronger, the tingle was gone, and unable to think of what else to do, he simply walked out without a word.
"Comes to see a beautiful young lady in private, has her dance for him, and leaves without so much as a farewell? How rude." Aureole said when the door shut, then laughed at her own joke and took her seat again to wait for his return.
Brain blinked when he saw the sun stream through the little gaps in the cavernous opening beyond the undercroft. ' The sun is in the wrong place. No, it's setting. How long was I down there?' He wondered, the fog on his mind was entirely gone, and the previous hours now felt like a dream-like experience, recalled through mists.
It was the sound of his name that drew his attention.
"Brain Unglaus versus Cerebrate!" The call went up, and the crowd began to rumble.
"Shit, I don't want to be late." He cursed and set all other thoughts aside and passed through into fading light of day.
"We've seen some incredible matches here today, beastmen, trolls, elves, humans, orcs… warriors of all kinds come to battle for the throne of an Empire, and now we bring two adventurers together, they are the only humans to last this long! Now only one of them can carry humanity to the top!" The crier exhorted the crowd, but Brain had eyes only for his prey.
Cerebrate looked frankly bored, until his face lit up. He leveled his sword across the arena, it appeared to the crowd as if it was being leveled toward Brain himself, however as Brain followed the direction, it pointed toward Layali.
He'd seen her.
He'd seen her, and Brian could see that Layali knew she'd been seen. She began to weep and cling to Zesshi's leg.
Brain's heart ceased to pump blood, it felt instead as if he was pumping pure, unfiltered hatred through his veins. ' If someone told me a year ago I'd be killing a man in an arena to avenge one little girl, before the eyes of her, my half elf lover, and a crowd of beastmen, trolls, and the gods know what else, I'd have laughed, bought them a drink, and asked them to tell me another tall tale. But right now… this is my dream. To see her smile again, and to see him twisted in pain at my feet.' Hatred settled over him like a shadowy cloak, and the power of his presence, made tenfold by the curious actions of his benefactor, drew Cerebrate's attention away from Layali.
"What, you know that little cunt?" Cerebrate asked when he saw the way Brain looked at him after spying the look between the abuser and the abused.
Cerebrate stopped and held a hand to his mouth, "Oh no, wait! You're why she's alive… I thought for sure I lost her, sorry I popped her cherries before you could get to her, but hey a secondhand sheath will still hold a sword!" He laughed, but Brain did not.
Cerebrate could feel the murderous intent, and turned to put himself sideways toward Brain while the blue haired swordsman took his position. "She's just a half elf with no family, don't get so upset, I won't even contest ownership, keep her, dispose of her, what have you, elves are kind of gross anyway with those pointy ears and all." Cerebrate knew he was rambling, but couldn't stop himself. His calm front was a facade.
"Come on, Brain, you don't really think I'm the same as I was, you got lucky before, and I left you with more injuries than I had. It won't go the same, you know it, just put up a good show, and I'll let you down easy, no need to get upset over getting a half grown gash before you." Cerebrate said and leveled his sword ahead as Brain drew his own in turn.
"She has a family." Brain said, "And right now, her father is going to kill you, her mother is going to watch, and she'll sleep well for the rest of her life when the worms are eating your corpse."
Cerebrate took a half step back, his face registering his surprise with the widening of his eyes and his mouth briefing forming a stunned 'O' shape before he regained his senses. ' Is this idiot serious?'
It was very clear that he was, as Brain said nothing more, he only began activating his martial arts.
"Fine, I'll kill her father in front of her, maybe her mother later, and she'll beg for death before I'm done." Cerebrate taunted before using his own martial arts. ' That ought to set him on edge.' He told himself, and when the signal came, he dashed forward. [Knight's Charge] He used his final martial art, ' I'll end it-'
Cerebrate never finished the thought, Brain was gone.
The arena shook for fifty paces in every direction as Brain grabbed Cerebrate's wrist, snapped it, and then flung him down to the sands.
The cry of pain did not get to leave his lips before Cerebrate felt his elbow snap, his knee turn to powder, and his foot go sailing away, while Brain's sword ran with blood when it was held overhead. "This is the end. You hurt my daughter, you humiliated her, you made her want to die, and there's no forgiveness for that." His sword came down again, and the scream finally left Cerebrate's mouth.
"You. Never. Should. Have. Touched. Her." Brain bellowed down at his prey, it was not a man, it was a lump of meat, offensive meat to be disposed of. Each word was punctuated by a flawless swing of his sword, no blow was lethal, it just 'shaved' away at flesh.
Cerebrate tried to roll over, to crawl away. ' My sword?' He wondered and saw it lying there, just out of reach.
"How can you use your sword without any fingers?" Brain asked, and while Cerebrate wondered what he was talking about, his fingers fell away from his outstretched hand to land like little sausages in the sands.
"You don't get a warrior's death, Cerebrate. No honor, no glory, nothing like that…" He stood beside the groaning warrior and with a casual thump of his boot, rolled his daughter's tormenter onto his back.
Brain then thrust the tip of his sword into the sand, straddled and squatted down over the limp figure, and began pounding his fists into him again and again. Ribs cracked and broke, Cerebrate lost the power to moan when a brutal punch across his face shattered his jaw and sent it sliding away from his body, leaving a half malformed face and eyes of wide eyed horror.
"Rot in hell." Brain snarled, raised his fist one more time, and brought it down into Cerebrate's nose, the sickening crunch of bone and flesh was the only noise to be heard as it all gave way beneath the impact of Brain's hand.
The brain beneath became a lump of mush, and Brain stood up, viscera and brain matter dripped from his fist, which Brain raised in triumph.
"I think… they had history." The crier shouted, "Emphasis on 'had' history." They added, allowing for a somewhat feeble laugh as Brain snatched up his sword and walked away from the corpse, and back to enjoy the rest of the day with his family… after one, brief, stop.
Volume 7 C121
When Cerebrate died, Queen Draudillon felt a weight lift from her shoulders that she'd forgotten was ever there. "That is a profound relief, but how could he lose so easily? Cerebrate was a powerful adamantite-ranked knight. It's hard to imagine he could be torn apart like a village novice."
"Husband, are you behind this?" Calca asked, not with suspicion, but with admiration in the way she looked at him.
"He has the whole world on strings." Albedo said with pride and took his right hand as Calca grasped at his left. "Yes, per our lord's plan, that man is one of ours. Or at least he is now. You know of him?" Albedo asked the two Queens.
She didn't wait long for an answer. "Brain Unglaus is a wandering swordsman, he travels from place to place searching for ways to refine his technique, he sells his services to get by, or trades them in exchange for new techniques. He visited my country several times, as warriors go, he is impressive, but until that," Calca said and pointed toward the ruin of flesh being scooped up into a corpse sled, "I didn't know how much so."
Draudillon's face became dark, her jaw set as she answered, "In my country he worked with our elite teams to drive out the beastmen, he left after coming to blows with the late Cerebrate. Evidently," she cleared her throat and shifted on her feet, "he walked in on Cerebrate… using the child of one of the refugees, they fought, and when I didn't punish Cerebrate because I needed him to fight the beastmen, he left."
She let her eyes linger on the bloody meat of Cerebrate that was being hauled away, leaving nothing but a red stain in the sand as his memorial, she avoided looking at her fellow monarchs then, and added, "I suppose he never forgot his grudge. Brain Unglaus was not a good man as I recall him. He was a thief, a sometime murderer, we even suspected he had a small group of bandits waylaying some of our supplies at one point… but we could never prove it. It just happened to stop when he was hired. But I suppose even he had standards enough to be repulsed by Cerebrate."
"I see." Ainz said, "Desperate times, desperate measures." He kept his answer short, it wasn't exactly approval, but Draudillon nodded along as if it were.
"At least it's finished." Draudillon said and breathed a sigh of relief, she reclaimed her seat, and waited for the next match to begin.
"I swear by my blood, my soul, my blade, that I will give true faith and allegiance to the Allfather of Nazarick, and his heirs, until there is nothing left of me to give, or until I am released from my vow by the authority of his line." Brain gave that oath without hesitation mere hours before, and since that time he'd followed her through a vortex in the air, then obeyed every dictate of Aureole Omega without question.
Giving the final blow to impossible monster after impossible monster, then standing in a circle that made his entire world go white, blinding him completely for several seconds before he could see again… but after each session he felt his body grow leaps and bounds beyond its former state.
"How is this possible?" He asked after shoving his sword into a fire elemental's dying body.
"This is Nazarick." Aureole Omega said as she led him down the hall again for another session of 'the white'.
"That doesn't really explain it." He said when he fell in beside her.
"It does. You just don't know it yet. But one day you will understand. The Holy Queen understands, the Draconic Queen understands, the Golden Queen, the Frost Queen, the Wolf Queen, and of course, those others we've chosen to elevate for one reason or another, they all come to understand. 'This is Nazarick' explains every mystery you can imagine here." Aureole patted him on his lower back, "This will be your last session, when it's all over, you will be allowed to meet your benefactor in person, all of you. You'll also meet your new peers."
She chuckled a little bit when Brain asked, "The other elevated warriors?"
"And people say I am naive." Aureole answered, then shook her head to refuse to answer his question when he silently cocked his head at her, choosing instead to walk in silence.
The last session of The White came and went, and before he could ask anything more, the whorling vortex appeared and she pointed toward it. "I'm sure they're waiting, do hurry." She teased and gave him what she thought of as a gentle push, but which made him stumble through to the other side.
He looked around and found himself in the room he shared with Zesshi and Layali.
Before he could wonder where they were, the door opened, and Layali rushed over to jump into his waiting arms. "Papa!" She cried with happy tears. "Thank you! I knew you could do it!" She squealed and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.
"You didn't come back after the fight." Zesshi said, then added, "You had a little tingle, did you?"
He inclined his head toward his lover, "I did, and I'm glad I did. But let's not worry about any of that now, we won't have to fight for a few days, we should enjoy ourselves. This is both of your first times in Arwintar, let me take you to some of my favorite spots."
It might have been a distraction so blatant even Zesshi could see it, but with Layali blinking her big blue eyes and pulling her pouty face in Brain's arms, and Brain evidently unwilling to say more, she caved. "Fine, I swear, is there anywhere you haven't been?"
She couldn't keep the envious look from her face when he said, "The farthest I've gone was the Devorian border. The Minotaur Kingdom may not look all that fondly on humans, but they like money as much as anyone else." When he saw her envy he added, "Don't worry, there'll be lots of time for you to see the world, we'll finish up here, and everything will change for the better, I promise."
Zesshi didn't know if she could have argued, but when he went to the door and reached for the handle, she knew she didn't even want to try, so she reached the handle before him, and opened the door for them all
Volume 7 C122
Nua watched as the tournament proceeded onward, warrior after warrior fell, some perished, others did not, and many withdrew after seeing whom they would have to face. For three days, contestants were eliminated, with, to the disbelief of the crowd, included Razen'mah, who fell before the wartroll champion of the Baharuth Empire, who in turn fell before a nameless armored knight who refused to show his face, who in turn fell to the heterochromatic half elf.
"There are some scary people out in this world." Raymond remarked when the knight yielded to the half elf. Their clash resulted in shaking of the majority of the arena, and to his dismay, more than once, Nua prepared to dive over his body to protect him from debris if it should start flying.
"Yes, there are." Nua replied as the final match was announced. "That blue haired human was a surprise, what do they call that, a dark horse in the race?"
"Yes, that's it." Raymond replied and watched the two take to the stands. Down below, he listened to a small shouting out…
"Go mama! Get papa! Go papa! Get mama!"
"So they're a couple… I wonder if they get along?" He chuckled a little bit at that.
"They must, or she wouldn't be cheering for them both. I've taken care of many human children in bad marriages, and they almost always pick a side, if she didn't, it's because the couple is on the same side. That should make things even more interesting." Nua said with a wolfish smile on her face.
' There's a predator inside this elf, just begging to come out.' Raymond thought as he watched the expression on her face change ever so subtly. ' She's taller than the average human, and with that build, and even I rarely heard her coming, with the right training, maybe she would have been great in the Agante, if she'd been human. Or maybe she could rise within a scripture… the gods know she's harder than a coffin nail, I wonder what I could do with her if I gave her a little training with a knife.' It was a pleasant thought, tumbling with her to see what she could learn, though he forced himself to tear his thoughts back to the moment when he imagined doing so in the nude. ' Pervert.' He mocked himself, knowing she would mock his thoughts if he voiced it.
Zesshi looked across to where Brain stood facing her, "You did a lot better than I expected." She said, not really listening to the crier recollecting their victories, not far away, surviving opponents became spectators to the last remaining combatants, but she noticed none of them.
"And you did every bit as well as I expected." Brain replied to her with a respectful bow of his head. "Now here we are, the last two, one of us will win the title of, 'the strongest' and that will be that. What will you do then?" He asked, paying no more mind than she to the crier's building crescendo.
"I don't know. I barely know how to run my own life, let alone an empire, but I can give Layali a better life than I had, and that's a place to start." Zesshi said, "And you, will you go wandering again?"
"Sort of." Brain replied and drew the longsword Zesshi gave to him, the red blade presented itself to her, edge first.
"I see." She answered, "So that's it then." She drew her sword, and they heard the booming signal ring out over the arena.
She barely stopped his sword in time. She blinked, he winked, and mouthed, "You have beautiful eyes."
"Sonofa… how did-?" There wasn't enough time for her to ask, his sword came down from overhead, and she raised her blade up to guard against it…
Pain hit her knee as he forced her down to one of them, sand flew up in every direction and the rumbling began in earnest.
"How… did you… do… this…?" She grunted out the question as their blades pressed against one another, edging back and forth as strength contested against strength.
She frowned when he mouthed something to her again. ' What in the world is 'power leveling'?'
He winked and jumped backward, and for a moment they were a cacophony of voices as they pronounced their martial arts and summoned every skill they knew.
They rushed one another across the distance of the sands, clouds of the brown and bloodstained stuff sailed like waves of water behind them, rising in their rushing wake, until they reached one another, crashing like bolts of lightning in a duel.
Their blades moving with such nightmarish swiftness that those who could see the motion, saw only well enough to know they were missing sight of most of them. Afterimages and reflected light casting clangings of metal against metal and rumblings of the ground that spread to every wall of stone.
The ground beneath them began to sink as clash after clash continued to scatter the sands away, the rumbling went harder and louder, until, to Zesshi's shock, their swords cracked, broke, and the two blades sailed past each other's heads.
"Impossible…" She whispered at his knowing grin. He raised his fist in front of his chest.
Her heart raced with glee as she finally accepted the truth, it was a fight worth having. Her fists came up like his, and they cast aside the broken remnants of their blades, the crowd was on its feet, the cheers grew louder and louder as their punches and kicks flew back and forth at close range, their battlecries came into harmony, her hair flew wild and beautiful to behold in the eyes of every man and woman of war who ever loved ferocity and power in a single form.
His steely eyes and shouts of battle fury inspired envy and desire in those who loved the clash of strength and will, their hearts beat in time with one another as Layali cheered them on from the corners of their eyes, bruises began to rise on their flesh, but neither one could fall, pain was dulled by the arts they both knew…
Before Brain's fist came in just a hair too fast, she felt it strike her cheek, and Zesshi watched the ground pass beneath her as she sailed away to roll over the sands.
The roaring of the crowd began to fade, dying by the time the last fleck of bloody sand fell back down from its previous skyward assent.
' I can't believe it… I just… can't believe it… I… lost?' Zesshi asked herself with wonderment, out of the corner of her eye she saw his hand come down, offering her a hand up.
"Hail to Emperor Brain Unglaus the First!" The crier shouted, and the soldiers, warriors, and citizens screamed themselves hoarse.
Brain however, held his other hand aloft, calling for an end to the silence before those on the high dias of Kings and Queens could even rise to their feet to acknowledge him.
Zesshi took his hand in hers, and hauled herself up when he braced himself. She grunted and rubbed her cheek where his fist connected, and before she could speak, she watched Brain fall.
Volume 7 C123
Brain's heart felt like it was ready to explode as he went down, sank to one knee, and said, "All my life I've wandered alone, ever since I was a boy. That won't change now as an Emperor. I'll wander all over the Empire to see that it is what it should be, what it could be, and make it the kind of place our daughter will grow up happy in. Join me. Be my Empress, and we'll wander the Empire, and our neighbor states, together."
Zesshi's brief panic when he began to fall to one knee, redoubled when she realized what he was asking, and that he still had her hand and could no doubt feel her rushing pulse. "You can't… you can't just catch a woman off guard like that!" She squeaked out.
"Just say yes, mama!" Layali shouted, breaking the stillness of the disbelieving crowd.
"I'm getting there! Obviously the answer is yes! But I can't have your papa thinking he can just take me by surprise like that! It sets a bad precedent!" Zesshi exclaimed and yanked him to his feet.
They kissed, passionately, even violently as if engaged in another duel.
And the roar of the unexpecting crowd began again.
"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Empress!" The crier shouted, and the crowd took up the call as if it were a religious chant, swords, spears, fists… all echoed the refrain.
Up above, the royalty around Ainz stared at him in dismay, save for one. "But… you appointed Aureole Omega, you… I don't understand…" Calca's voice was full of questions, but Albedo was quick to stop the curiosity with a silvery laugh.
"You're still a novice at this game, I suppose." Albedo said with a winsome smile when her bosom stilled and her heady laughter died. "When our Lord decided upon Aureole Omega, I of course perceived a fragment of his plan, though I had to explain it to her first. You see, the Kingdom of Nazarick is new, its power spreads far and wide, but this can only create more fear since so few of our people are known anywhere. His master plan goes all the way back to the winning of our first outside champions, by recruiting those of this world to his side, our master has ensured we have 'ambassadors' of a sort. People with ties to new lands who will set those peoples at ease. If we had sent Aureole Omega to fight, she would have won, but who knows her? Such ignorance creates anxiety. But by recruiting famous names who are well known or recognized, Fluder, the Four Knights, the adventurers, Momon, and more, we make others comfortable with our dominion."
"So Brain Unglaus… he wasn't yours from the beginning?" Draudillon asked.
Albedo's smile was inhuman in its breadth across her face, "Precisely, we made him one of ours, he will rule, and slowly make the Empire comfortable with us again, if it takes a generation to forget the lost war, so what? We have time." She gave a dismissive wave and turned her head to watch the new royal couple hold up the new 'Princess' and announce her as such by raising her overhead together and calling out her name.
"But you had this all planned, all the way back from the beginning, from the moment the tournament to decide the strongest and win the throne was even suggested?" The Wolf Queen asked, looking straight at Ainz.
Ainz's mind was racing as he tried to grasp how Albedo came to the conclusion that she had, recalling the day of selection he muttered out loud, "It won't even be a contest."
One and all, save for Albedo, they gasped as the significance of Aureole Omega's words hit home.
"What?" Ainz asked when the gasp went up. "Did I say something odd?"
"No, my lord, you have only astounded them with your foresight, as expected of my child's father." Albedo said and put his hand over where her child grew.
"His intention to wander the Empire while governing might be a good one, at least at first, settling them down and making them comfortable, consolidating power… but that is still potentially dangerous." The Queen of Frost remarked. "I had to do the same when my rule began after the war, and every now and then I still had to put down trouble."
"That too has been arranged." Albedo said with a smirk.
She raised one finger to call for a moment of silence until the Gate opened.
Through it came five figures familiar to only two of those present.
Renner, for once, was caught entirely unawares. "You didn't…?" She snapped her jaw shut in disbelief.
The five were clad in white armor and cloaks taken from the treasury of Nazarick, and they knelt when Ainz stood and faced them all.
"They're not quite themselves, at least not as they were… Demiurge has improved them somewhat." Albedo said as she moved aside to allow the other royals to look the arrivals over. "They're not exactly human anymore, but… they can look like their old selves, and that's all they need. A few more famous names to set the common people and nobles alike all at ease, and protect our new ally ."
The woman in the center drew her sword and pressed the tip to the stone, bowed her head, and as the others put their hands over their hearts and lowered their gazes in turn, she spoke. "Lakyus presents herself to her master, her Lord Creator, crusher of the cursed blade, and true lord of this world, tell me, tell us, what commands will you give to your Unholy Roses?"
"She and the small one are still a bit melodramatic." Albedo critiqued offhandedly. "But having a few extra greater doppelgangers around has made Pandora's Actor extremely happy, and of course, that is what our master wants, for all his children."
Glad to know the answer to at least one thing, Ainz immediately agreed saying, "Yes, it is. That is exactly what I desire. Now, perhaps we should go meet with the new Emperor and Empress, and celebrate their coronation before we acknowledge them and secure the Empire's stability, or does anyone have anything more?" Ainz suggested, and when there was not he looked down at the face of Lakyus. ' A pity she had to die, but she couldn't adapt as she was, and she's fine now at least.' He acknowledged to himself, his heart skipping a beat when he realized how little that meant to him despite having at least briefly been comrades.
"Come with us." He said to the Unholy Roses, and the royals who found themselves within his sphere, and led the way out.
Volume 7 C124
The coronation was a whirlwind of activity that surpassed any battle either Brain or Zesshi had ever experienced, with the soldiers of the Empire who were stationed in Arwintar personally marching their new Emperor to the palace directly from the arena. Crowds lined the streets as the impromptu parade began in earnest, cheers and shouts went up as Lords and Ladies of the nobility began to fill the streets.
For Brain as much as for Zesshi, it was a dreamlike and surreal scene, while riding on their shoulders between the two, Layali seemed to be beyond excited, waving her hands, laughing and smiling with excitement as people professed their loyalty to the new royal family.
The smell of alcohol was thick in the air as casks of ale and wine alike were cracked open and vendors began to turn it into their busiest of business days.
The sun's descent continued at their backs and vanished as, on the steps of the royal palace, the crown of Emperor and Empress was placed on the still bruised up faces of the royal pair. The priest, an aged man clad in white and gold trimmed robes, intoned a prayer as all those near enough to see or hear, knelt and vowed their allegiance.
Zesshi leaned over to Brain as the white robed man continued to drone on using words she had no real interest in. "You know I pulled my punches… right?"
"I know, you were used to me being weak. Now you know you don't have to anymore." He whispered back to her and held out his right hand in front of Layali. Zesshi cracked a little grin and took his right hand in her left, and with a gleeful and somewhat disruptive shout, Layali laid her hands over both of theirs to join in the gesture.
A roar went up when it was over and done, and the pair entered the towering halls of the mighty palace at last, escorted by a handful of guards, who led the trio to the throne room.
"Your seats, my lord, my lady." The full plate armored guard said and held his salute until the Emperor and Empress somewhat awkwardly returned it and claimed the golden seats.
"Now what?" Zesshi asked him as the guards took their seats/.
"I don't know, I've never been an Emperor before." Brain said and looked to the nearby guard. "Do you have any advice?"
"Ah, yes, my lord… ah, the council of course is happy to assist, and also, there is someone they call 'the scholar'." The guard cleared his throat and with somewhat jittery fingers, raised the cover of his helmet to speak.
"The scholar?" Brain asked and shrugged, "Why do they call him that?"
"Because nobody knows his name… when the council started to govern, they had trouble, until letters came from a monastery, the signature bore only the name, 'the scholar', offering all manner of advice, including the suggestion of seeking the Allfather's help in securing stability." The guard bit his lip and waited to find out if he'd pleased the powerful Emperor and Empress, but Brain had another question.
"Why is it that he is anonymous… why not come here himself?" Brain pressed, "I've never run an Empire before, but it seems like it might be easier with a little help on hand from a competent sort of guy."
"My Lord, I know only what I have heard, but apparently the Scholar refuses to leave the monastery, in part because… strange as it may sound, the party sent to retrieve him states that he is utterly ashamed of his baldness, and has only bad memories of the Capital, which he blames for causing his condition." The guard explained, and Brain rubbed his chin.
"I see… I have to admit, I'm curious, I'd like to meet this 'Scholar'." Brain said and looked at his betrothed and their daughter. "Should that be our first trip?"
"It's as good as any." Zesshi said and rubbed her hands together, "This is a big empire and we have to see it all."
"Forgive me my Lord, my Lady, but the Allfather and his entourage of allies and client Queens, along with the delegation from the Slane Theocracy, should be here shortly, should we prepare something for them or…?" The guard swallowed audibly and looked nervously toward the entrance.
"Yes… yes, do that." Brain said, giving his first order as an Emperor, "We can prepare for our journey tomorrow."
All Zesshi had to do however, was look at him after that for him to read her thoughts in a look.
' You're going to explain everything, the woman, the power, what Layali did… no more secrets after that last one.'
He nodded toward her, and they settled in to greet the assembly of power.
"Emperor Unglaus," Ainz said, placing his hand over his chest, "I am Ainz Ooal Gown."
Of that, Brain had no doubt, he had met men with charisma before, people who just naturally saw others fall in at their backs and follow them. He had seen men of terror who inspired loyalty and awe, and he had seen the dignity of kings in even the lowest slave.
But the human before his eyes all but glowed with presence, ' So this is the man I gave my loyalty to… the one who made the trade with Layali and gave me my heart's desire, all my dreams old and new.' Brain thought and rose to his feet.
Brain stood up as one by one the Queens of the surrounding Kingdoms introduced themselves in turn.
"And I am Raymond, Cardinal of the Slane Theocracy." Raymond said when his turn came. "I don't suppose you remember me, do you, Emperor Unglaus?"
"Brain Unglaus, and my soon to be wife, Zesshi Zetsumei." Brain said, introducing themselves with a squeeze to Zesshi's hand. "And yes, I do recall you, Cardinal, though, forgive me, you look tired, are you resting well?"
Raymond pursed his lips and answered, "It has been a mixed experience since we last met."
"Our daughter, Princess Layali." Zesshi said, putting her hand on the girl's head. She then looked at Raymond's face, and the way he glanced from Layali to herself and back, "Of course, Raymond may not need an introduction toward me but…"
Layali winked up toward Ainz and mouthed the word, ' Icecream?'
The Allfather held back a chuckle at the girl's priority, though he gave her a subtle nod that had her immediately become a trifle antsy, shifting a bit on her feet.
The new Empress crouched down beside Layali and raised a hand to point at the Cardinal, drawing the child's eyes toward him, "Layali, you can think of that man as a grandfather. He used to look after me, before I… grew up out here and found you."
Raymond's pursed lips began to curl upward, shakily, awkwardly, but they did, and he leaned forward toward the new Princess. "I'm not sure what to say now but… Princess, everything will be fine, whatever happens next."
Layali looked at Raymond with some reticence… then up to her mama and papa and asked, "What's grandpa talking about?"
"Layali, if we work hard, by the time you're old enough to get it, you won't even need to understand." Brain answered.
Nobody intended to argue with that.
Volume 7 C125 - Epilogue-
Epilogue
… Three months after the coronation…
"The Elf King is… dead? Are you serious ?!" Dominic exclaimed with a mix of glee and horror alike.
"Zesshi beat him to death in the arena. It was the most brutal killing I've ever seen, except for maybe the one of Cerebrate by the new Emperor." Raymond said to those who sat around the council table.
The cardinals around him rumbled with a mix of emotions, and for several minutes Raymond allowed them to continue before he cleared his throat.
"That is the least of our concerns, the Elf King's death was always a given, we'd been promising Zesshi that since her power first manifested and she was enrolled in the Black. Sending her there was fulfilling our promise, unfortunately, it backfired. She learned the truth, and she's more than a little angry with our country. I tried to warn you in my letters before I even rushed back here, but based on what I've seen on the way since, you haven't listened." Raymond looked at them reprovingly, one by one, compelling their sullen silence.
"So?" He demanded.
"The Draconic Kingdom has cut off all trade with us." Berenice acknowledged. "So has the Kingdom of Carne, the Kingdom of Re-Estize, the Baharuth Empire, the Empire of Nazarick… as they style themselves now, and the Roble Holy Kingdom. Demalbion has never been a trading partner, but we've sent overtures to King Mare of the Elf Kingdom, and their ambassador is waiting to join us now."
"Speaking of the elves, Raymond, you still haven't explained what happened with the slave I sent to you. That animal was exceptionally expensive, and you came back without it." Dominic made a sour face and put on his perpetual frown.
Raymond kept his face carefully neutral. "Personal matters can wait until the end of public business." He said, and the others gave sage nods when the leader of the scriptures nodded to the guard at the door. "Go ahead and send the ambassador in, we should get this done."
The guard opened the door, and Nua walked through it, clad in the green and white silk clothing of a royal traveler, with her pants running into high brown leather boots and a black cloak shimmering in the light that shone through the tower window, her hood was back and her ears danced up and down the moment she caught sight of Raymond.
"I am Nua Calen Aiwenor, ambassador from King Mare the First, here on matters of trade, will you hear the words of the Elf Kingdom?" She asked, keeping her face neutral and her lips tight when she saw Cardinal Dominic seated at the far side of the round table.
His eyes bulged in outrage and fury, his fingers closed into fists when he looked at her, and she let her lips turn up ever so slightly at the corners, turning his face red in the process.
"Go on, Ambassador Aiwenor." Raymond said benignly as he claimed his seat again.
"The elf Kingdom is now a vassal of the Allfather of the Empire of Nazarick, while the then Kingdom of Nazarick called you allies in the brief skirmish against the elf Kingdom, he and King Mare have both expressed disappointment that the prisoners of war have not been returned to their homes. As such, all trade is prohibited between the lands of the elves and the Slane Theocracy. We demand the immediate return of all elven captives taken since the war against the elf King began, and furthermore, we propose and expect that a program of repatriation will begin the return of all slaves held in bondage within the territory of the Theocracy, to begin within one year and to take no more than seven years of implementation."
Dominic's mouth opened to shout her down, his rage ready to fly off of his tongue in a torrent of hatred and vitriol, it was only the kick of a foot to his ankle that stopped him.
"I am afraid we can't comply with that." The Pontifex Maximus answered, "We depend on the labor of the elves, despite the… writings of our comrade here, even if we wished to do what you're asking, we simply can't. The elves plow our fields, harvest our crops-"
"I'm aware." Nua answered, "I remember. But the rest of your neighbors are telling you that if you continue to insist on doing as you've always done it is going to get very expensive. No more wheat from Re-Estize. No place to take Theocracy coin, no place will receive Theocracy products, you may lash our backs to make us work, but nobody wants what you produce. How long will you last then?" Nua made the practical point, and except for Dominic's red face, and Raymond's serene, but serious expression, the others turned a pale shade of gray.
"We still refuse! Your kind belong at human feet! That hasn't changed! The will of the gods is perfect and must always be followed! Get out! Go back where you came from before I take you and show you again that you should never defy humanity!" Dominic's temper exploded, but Nua met flaming face with eyes of flint.
"If you try it again, what happened to me will happen to your entire country. I promise you." Nua said without averting her gaze. "I've said my peace, delivered my message, "Cardinal Raymond, would you see me out?" She asked, and Raymond got to his feet to do exactly that.
The arguing was audible all the way to the bottom of the stairs as they left.
Layali looked down at the stump where her leg had been, strangely enough, there was no pain. The crystalline eyed man seemed indifferent to her one way or another, and she finally asked him, "What's the point of this, Mr. Urge?"
"To see if your leg will start to regrow. The same as when we had your eye removed yesterday." He said as he used various chronomancy spells on her and studied the flow of blood and mana alike.
"Oh." She scratched her head. "I guess it's fine as long as I don't have to remember and there's no pain… and… I'll remember the ice cream and stickers, right?"
"Yes, as always you will remember the good parts." He said as she reached up to touch her eye, trying to recall what she had completely forgotten.
"Is this really helping?" She asked him from where she sat on the metal table.
"I believe so, I'm closer than ever to finding out the secrets I need to ensure the success of our experiment on our lord. And when it is complete, he will be immortal, unkillable, and unstoppable, instead of simply unstoppable and slightly immortal." Demiurge explained to the precocious, curious half elf child.
"Well, alright then, as long as there's ice cream and it doesn't hurt, I guess it's fine, but how long do I have to hold these crystals in my hand, my arms are getting tired, Mr. Urge." She pouted a little until he said…
"Just until I've removed your arms, we'll put them back when I determine how long it takes for the mana to stop flowing after they're removed." He explained, and Layali sighed with relief.
"Good. Mama and Papa are taking me riding, and then we're going to see the Bald Scholar, so I'll need my arms after we're done here." She said, and waited patiently for the experiment to end.
Cocytus held the soft toy sword down to the infant in the cradle. The young boy's hands went for it immediately. "Is that a gift from CZ?" Calca asked when she entered arm in arm with Kelart.
"Yes. I. Think. He. Likes. It." Cocytus answered when he looked over his shoulder at the two.
"I'm sure he does." Kelart gave a little grin up at the insectoid guardian. While at first his settling in had been uncomfortable, the warrior made a name for himself among the martial soldiers and lords alike within the capital, and quickly became a fixture in court life for his manners, valor, and reverence for the honored dead.
"But how long will it be before he can really use one?" Kelart asked, and Cocytus answered by letting go of it when the infant had it, then watching the small child begin to swing the little plush toy around like wild.
"When. He. Can. Walk. We. Begin." Cocytus answered.
Calca reached down and poked the boy's nose, "And magic, as soon as he can talk. The children of Ainz Ooal Gown will be a force that causes the whole world to tremble in awe. I'm sure we'll be very proud of them all."
As if he agreed with them, the baby began to laugh.
Queen Draudillon looked down at the array of elves kneeling in front of her. Newly ennobled, they constituted the ranks of those who shared her time in captivity with the elf King, and as such, they knelt in fine robes befitting formal occasions. Embroidered with the dragon logo of the Draconic royal line, silver on bright blue in practical designs that could be quickly secured or shed, and which would protect against the elements if one had to leave in haste without proper preparation.
"Who suffers beside me is my brother, my sister, my shield and sword." The Draconic Queen said, "and as such I know I can trust you to carry this out. While you have been given towns and lands in the east of my Kingdom, I trust you will not forget your mission."
"My Queen." They said in unison. "We will run slavenapping operations all across the eastern Theocracy, we will bring them here and settle them in our lands, far from their oppressors' reach, and never show mercy to the whip bearers who must die along the way."
"Very good. This is for your people, my people, and myself. The Slane Theocracy caused a great deal of suffering to us all, and for that, we will pay them back . Now rise, go, secure your homes, and then get to work."
"My Queen!" The elves said as one, and rose to carry out her orders.
The push and pull of body against body went back and forth for hours as Zesshi reveled in her lover's embrace. He too, savored the feel of her fingers clawing at his back as they tumbled over a bedroll the size of the royal tent in which they slept. As 'The Wandering Crowns' enjoyed the feel of the air wafting through the mesh screens, so also did they enjoy the feel of each other's hot breath and the taste of each other's heated skin.
It was only when they came to a climactic release together that the urgent motions slowed, stopped, and they lay entwined in one another's arms at rest.
"I like living like this." Zesshi said, tracing her hand over his chest.
"Most Empresses do." He said with a cocky smile, she bonked his nose gently and replied…
"I mean the traveling, I've already seen so much, but now I know how little even that much is. I hope we can live like this for a good long time."
"I do too, it'll be a long time before we have to settle into one central place at least." Brain suggested, "Being seen, swapping out ineffective nobles for effective ones, stamping out any remaining criminal elements… at least we're on good terms with the lizardmen, and trade in fish for goods is helping make things better along the border with the lake. Being Emperor and Empress may be a lot of work, but it does have its benefits."
"Like the way our little Princess is thriving?" Zesshi suggested. Nor was she wrong, they both thought of the way Layali was learning to handle a sword, not to mention her court etiquette was much better than that of her parents, and she returned from Nazarick every week, happier than before.
"We still have to make the Theocracy pay." Brain remarked, "That country put her in Cerebrate's hands, I won't be happy until they've paid a heavy price for their hand in all of this."
"Nor I, and I have to know the truth… did Cenna have a hand in the attempt on my life, or not? Other than Raymond, do I have anyone there who-" She would have said more, but Brain silenced her with a kiss that devoured her lips before her emotions could get the better of her.
"Don't think about that right now, think about something else." Brain whispered into her ear and gave it a little love nip.
"Like how I have a husband, a child… and maybe another along the way?" Zesshi winked.
"Are you?" He asked, blinking as he was caught off guard.
But she answered with a breathy whispering moan, "Not yet, but as you've helped me with so much already, I was hoping you'd help me with that too." She suggested and reached for his shaft with her nimble fingers.
"What kind of husband would refuse a request like that?" He asked, and did not keep her waiting. His lips fell over hers, and they set to the task with all the vigor it deserved.
Cenna stretched out under the white flowering trees. The scent, at least to his nose, was fair to good and with his arms crossed under his head, he let out a steady groan of comfort. "Gahhh, that's better." He said to nobody at all. The long vines hid his presence, and the shadow cast overhead was thick enough to create a comfortable shade from the summer sun. At his side sat a bow worth more than a prince's ransom, as well as a spear for serious defense if it were needed. On his body was a simple ashen gray cloak with streaks of black, green, and brown that served as camouflage. But there was nothing to be worried about. Not that he could tell, his hunt was successful enough that a few beasts sat wrapped in wild preserving vines, waiting for him to roast them after what he was about to do.
His favorite part, to be precise, or so the smile on his face said. One foot crossed over the other and he gnawed idly at the sweet twig in his mouth while he waited to drift off to sleep and nap for hours. The sweet twig was of a peculiar variety of tree only found there in the Abelion Hills, it was his second favorite part about his 'hunting expeditions'. 'And they think I'm hunting out in the woods near Ikari. Ha!' He laughed at that. The monsters in the Abelion Hills were few, which was the point. A little hunting and a lot of laziness, that was the real point.
The demihumans who occupied the region were now fairly tame, they moved in larger groups, but more predictably as fixed paths were laid down and fixed settlements were forming. 'They wouldn't believe it back home, but it really is turning into a kingdom over here.' He thought and yawned deeply, he could feel himself starting to doze off and thought about the shock he faced when he first saw actual humans, but strangely enough, they appeared to be neither frightened nor abused. 'They won't like that in Kami Miyako.' He snorted. Nonhuman and human enmity was a staple of their religion and politics, the two groups getting along was almost as big of a threat to the state as war itself. But for Cenna? 'Pain is pain, dead is dead. Maybe something better will come of all this, like a longer nap for me.' He smirked, spat the sweet bark stick out of his mouth when the tip lost its flavor, yawned once more, and fell asleep.
He didn't know how long he lay there, but when he awoke, it was instant. The pressure above caused the tree he lay against to sway, and that was all it took, because the scent it carried with it was very much like a dragon. The noise hit next, he could hear the beating wings, but the thick cover of the flowering trees and the dangling vines obscured his vision. 'It doesn't matter how far I can see if I've got things in my way…' He mentally cursed, the sound was slowing down, coming closer.
He reached for the spear that lay beside his hunting bow and took it into practiced fingers while he rose silently to his feet.
"Alright, poacher, you've got some nerve hunting on the private reserves of the Queen of Frost… now you've got a choice, either I come in there, or you come out!" A voice called from beyond when he heard the blades of grass bend as the interloper landed.
'That doesn't 'sound' like a dragon…' Cenna thought with confusion in his mind. It was far, far too feminine.
But one thing he knew, if he went out, a fight was probable, if he waited, it could be avoided. The peace trees were known to be sacred, even as far away as the Theocracy, and as such… he chose to wait, but not in silence. "Why don't you come in?! If I go out there, I'll have to fight, and this is my vacation damn it! I have no bloody intentions of having it ruined by killing the royal piss pot carrier of some purple assed noble!"
Neia fumed. Her pale face didn't blush as much as it used to, but the scaled skin turned a shade darker. 'Nobody has talked to me that way in… a damn good while… sonofa…' She took a deep breath, her tail lashed behind her, but going into the trees and committing violence would not be acceptable. "Listen here you pig sticker, I'll have you know my ass is not purple, at best my ass is an off white with shades of blue from the scales! And I'm no piss pot carrier! I'm the damn Queen of this country, and you're on my land hunting my private stock!" She snapped, "Do you have any idea how long it took to clear out the monsters that tasted terrible from this area, and restock it with the kind I liked?! A long time and a lot of work! Now get your ass out here and your Queen may show some leniency as a gesture of respect for at least being good at poaching!"
She huffed, and frost chilled the grass in front of her, a drift of white that melted under the summer sun almost as soon as it settled.
'The Queen? Okay… this is different… kill her, and I may solve a real problem before it begins… or start a war… but also… my vacation would be ruined. Shit!' Cenna cursed.
"I'm no subject of the Queen!" He shot out in frustration, only to immediately cover his mouth.
Neia heard the words and the slap of skin over a mouth, human skin was a little more malleable than that of orcs or goblins, and other races didn't smack a hand over their mouths when they said something they didn't mean to. 'A human? From the Holy Kingdom?' Neia was now intrigued.
"You're a long way from Hoburns, human, it was only a few boar and a cockatrice… come out from the peace trees, and I promise I will be lenient… I'll charge you for the cost of your stolen stock and send you back to the Roble Holy Kingdom alive." Neia said more diplomatically, she opened her hands as if the one hidden within could have seen them, and took a step forward.
Cenna laughed involuntarily, "That would be a problem… damn it… listen… I'm armed, but I'll set down my spear… but come inside and I'll explain myself."
Neia frowned, "Are you running from something? An exile from the civil war? That ended years ago, how are you only here now?" She asked, and the voice within cleared his throat.
"It'll be easier if we talk where I know I won't have to kill you. I think my vacation is probably already ruined… I'd rather not make it worse with some unplanned regicide." Cenna called out as calmly as he could, but a playful lilt hit his voice anyway.
Part of Neia knew she should have been furious by the implication of regicide, but his voice was so playful and his attitude so nonchalant… and his obsession with his time off was so damn disarming, it was difficult for her to feel any real anger.
"Fine, I came all the way out here already, what's twenty more paces?" Neia said back, and walked to the trees, she pushed her way through the dangling white and found a black clad man of slender, athletic build. His cloak was different from the rest of his clothing, designed for simple magic-free camouflage, but his bow and spear, not to mention the rest of his clothing, it all screamed wealth and status. He was seated cross legged with his back against the tree, and she did the same, her tail lashing behind her as she went, her wings folded in, and she cleared her throat.
"Queen Neia Baraja of the Kingdom of Demalbion. And you, poacher?" She asked, gesturing to him with an open hand, palm upturned and talons clicking.
"Cenna. Cenna Tachoni, Captain of the Black Scripture of the Slane Theocracy." He inclined his head, and waited for the Queen to leap to her feet and call for her guards, only for her to instead cock her head, raise her brow and ask…
"Did you hit your head? Are you quite well, human?" She asked, and he tapped his skull several times.
"Seems fine to me." He smirked. "You don't believe me?"
"No, but if you share that meat, I'll forget about this, cook it, and we can eat together. At least after we share a meal, I can promise I can't kill you. You'll be an official guest." She pointed out, her finger leveled at the delicious looking haunch of monster meat.
"That's a hell of an invitation… how can I say no." He said so dryly that Neia wanted something to drink just by hearing it.
"You can't, it's good to be the Queen." She smirked, baring her fangs.
"We've got to start somewhere." He said with a shrug, and got up to his feet, and taking up his kill, he followed after her.
"As before, everything falls into place again." Ainz said as he walked the hall of Nazarick with the available Guardians in tow. ' I have no idea how, but it worked out exceptionally well, so I can't very well complain.' He thought to himself.
"Ja, mein vater, but one thing I must ask, have I permission to join the Wandering Crowns to further court mein little vampire?" Pandora's Actor asked.
"You still call her that, even though she's-" Ainz stopped, "Never mind, I won't ask why. You may. She is still 'herself' after all?"
"Ja, and believes I have always been Lord Momon. When I revealed myself to be your son, she was both surprised and pleased." Pandora's Actor explained, though he added, "Lakyus however, her shame is immeasurable. She weeps at night and pleads for forgiveness in her dreams, and in the morning she pleads with her sisters. Whether they forgive her or not, I," he clutched his heart melodramatically, "I pity her, but do not also! If the love of sisters be as great as-"
Ainz cleared his throat to cut off the dramatic guardian. "Time will tell, some things shouldn't be lightly forgiven, no matter the reason. But yes, you can go. Take a few magic items with you if you like."
"My beloved, I know you were set on going to the Throne room, but… if it is not too much for me to ask, could we call… no, not Pestonya… she and Yuri Alpha went to investigate the matter of our orphanages after Emperor Unglaus's complaint… yes, Lupusregina Beta, and could you join me, it seems it is time for you to become a father." Albedo said, and Ainz stopped in his tracks, though Albedo was showing considerably, he'd thought it was early nonetheless.
"Now?!" He exclaimed as his blood ran cold. ' All that time with my firstborn, asking how to do things, watching how Calca and Kelart did things… and somehow I'm as nervous as before.'
"If it pleases my lord," Albedo said and put her hands over her belly, "I suppose I could try to hold them in until it's more convenient, but I don't know how long I can manage." She looked at him with a hopeful smile, one that looked almost amused at his surprise.
' Now, but I assumed that… no, I've been thinking in terms of humans. But elves are a little longer than humans unless they're half elves, orcs are faster, it's not like I know how long a half demon child should take…' He thought and cursed himself for his foolish preconceptions.
"Yes, now, right now!" Ainz exclaimed, and all thoughts of the throne room fled from his mind, and they did not return to his head for the hours of waiting, nor for days after the first moment he held his firstborn daughter, nor, unexpectedly, his secondborn son. His mind was elsewhere, and there was not anyone present who would have had it any other way.
V75 Intermission-The Best Vacation Ever
Cenna stretched out under the white flowering trees. The scent, at least to his nose, was fair to good and with his arms crossed under his head, he let out a steady groan of comfort. "Gahhh, that's better." He said to nobody at all. The long vines hid his presence, and the shadow cast overhead was thick enough to create a comfortable shade from the summer sun. At his side sat a bow worth more than a prince's ransom, as well as a spear for serious defense if it were needed. On his body was a simple ashen gray cloak with streaks of black, green, and brown that served as camouflage. But there was nothing to be worried about. Not that he could tell, his hunt was successful enough that a few beasts sat wrapped in wild preserving vines, waiting for him to roast them after what he was about to do.
His favorite part, to be precise, or so the smile on his face said. One foot crossed over the other and he gnawed idly at the sweet twig in his mouth while he waited to drift off to sleep and nap for hours. The sweet twig was of a peculiar variety of tree only found there in the Abelion Hills, it was his second favorite part about his 'hunting expeditions'. 'And they think I'm hunting out in the woods near Ikari. Ha!' He laughed at that. The monsters in the Abelion Hills were few, which was the point. A little hunting and a lot of laziness, that was the real point.
The demihumans who occupied the region were now fairly tame, they moved in larger groups, but more predictably as fixed paths were laid down and fixed settlements were forming. 'They wouldn't believe it back home, but it really is turning into a kingdom over here.' He thought and yawned deeply, he could feel himself starting to doze off and thought about the shock he faced when he first saw actual humans, but strangely enough, they appeared to be neither frightened nor abused. 'They won't like that in Kami Miyako.' He snorted. Nonhuman and human enmity was a staple of their religion and politics, the two groups getting along was almost as big of a threat to the state as war itself. But for Cenna? 'Pain is pain, dead is dead. Maybe something better will come of all this, like a longer nap for me.' He smirked, spat the sweet bark stick out of his mouth when the tip lost it's flavor, yawned once more, and fell asleep.
He didn't know how long he lay there, but when he awoke, it was instant. The pressure above caused the tree he lay against to sway, and that was all it took, because the scent it carried with it was very much like a dragon. The noise hit next, he could hear the beating wings, but the thick cover of the flowering trees and the dangling vines obscured his vision. 'It doesn't matter how far I can see if I've got things in my way…' He mentally cursed, the sound was slowing down, coming closer.
He reached for the spear that lay beside his hunting bow and took it into practiced fingers while he rose silently to his feet.
"Alright, poacher, you've got some nerve hunting on the private reserves of the Queen of Frost… now you've got a choice, either I come in there, or you come out!" A voice called from beyond when he heard the blades of grass bend as the interloper landed.
'That doesn't 'sound' like a dragon…' Cenna thought with confusion in his mind. It was far, far too feminine.
But one thing he knew, if he went out, a fight was probable, if he waited, it could be avoided. The peace trees were known to be sacred, even as far away as the Theocracy, and as such… he chose to wait, but not in silence. "Why don't you come in?! If I go out there, I'll have to fight, and this is my vacation damn it! I have no bloody intentions of having it ruined by killing the royal piss pot carrier of some purple assed noble!"
Neia fumed. Her pale face didn't blush as much as it used to, but the scaled skin turned a shade darker. 'Nobody has talked to me that way in… a damn good while… sonofa…' She took a deep breath, her tail lashed behind her, but going into the trees and committing violence would not be acceptable. "Listen here you pig sticker, I'll have you know my ass is not purple, at best my ass is an off white with shades of blue from the scales! And I'm no piss pot carrier! I'm the damn Queen of this country, and you're on my land hunting my private stock!" She snapped, "Do you have any idea how long it took to clear out the monsters that tasted terrible from this area, and restock it with the kind I liked?! A long time and a lot of work! Now get your ass out here and your Queen may show some leniency as a gesture of respect for at least being good at poaching!"
She huffed, and frost chilled the grass in front of her, a drift of white that melted under the summer sun almost as soon as it settled.
'The Queen? Okay… this is different… kill her, and I may solve a real problem before it begins… or start a war… but also… my vacation would be ruined. Shit!' Cenna cursed.
"I'm no subject of the Queen!" He shot out in frustration, only to immediately cover his mouth.
Neia heard the words and the slap of skin over a mouth, human skin was a little more malleable than that of orcs or goblins, and other races didn't smack a hand over their mouths when they said something they didn't mean to. 'A human? From the Holy Kingdom?' Neia was now intrigued.
"You're a long way from Hoburns, human, it was only a few boar and a cockatrice… come out from the peace trees, and I promise I will be lenient… I'll charge you for the cost of your stolen stock and send you back to the Roble Holy Kingdom alive." Neia said more diplomatically, she opened her hands as if the one hidden within could have seen them, and took a step forward.
Cenna laughed involuntarily, "That would be a problem… damn it… listen… I'm armed, but I'll set down my spear… but come inside and I'll explain myself."
Neia frowned, "Are you running from something? An exile from the civil war? That ended years ago, how are you only here now?" She asked, and the voice within cleared his throat.
"It'll be easier if we talk where I know I won't have to kill you. I think my vacation is probably already ruined… I'd rather not make it worse with some unplanned regicide." Cenna called out as calmly as he could, but a playful lilt hit his voice anyway.
Part of Neia knew she should have been furious by the implication of regicide, but his voice was so playful and his attitude so nonchalant… and his obsession with his time off was so damn disarming, it was difficult for her to feel any real anger.
"Fine, I came all the way out here already, what's twenty more paces?" Neia said back, and walked to the trees, she pushed her way through the dangling white and found a black clad man of slender, athletic build. His cloak was different from the rest of his clothing, designed for simple magic-free camouflage, but his bow and spear, not to mention the rest of his clothing, it all screamed wealth and status. He was seated cross legged with his back against the tree, and she did the same, her tail lashing behind her as she went, her wings folded in, and she cleared her throat.
"Queen Neia Baraja of the Kingdom of Demalbion. And you, poacher ?" She asked, gesturing to him with an open hand, palm upturned and talons clicking.
"Cenna. Cenna Tachoni, Captain of the Black Scripture of the Slane Theocracy." He inclined his head, and waited for the Queen to leap to her feet and call for her guards, only for her to instead cock her head, raise her brow and ask…
"Did you hit your head? Are you quite well, human?" She asked, and he tapped his skull several times.
"Seems fine to me." He smirked. "You don't believe me?"
"No, but if you share that meat, I'll forget about this, cook it, and we can eat together. At least after we share a meal, I can promise I can't kill you. You'll be an official guest." She pointed out, her finger leveled at the delicious looking haunch of monster meat.
"That's a hell of an invitation… how can I say no." He said so dryly that Neia wanted something to drink just by hearing it.
"You can't, it's good to be the Queen." She smirked, baring her fangs.
"We've got to start somewhere." He said with a shrug, and got up to his feet, and taking up his kill, he followed after her.
On their way out, Neia's curiosity got the better of her and she asked, "Even supposing I believed your crazy lie, why would the Black Scripture Captain be here of all places other than to kill me? Even if I accept the possibility, to announce himself would be just absurd. Our nations are not exactly on friendly terms, you know. I'm an animal after all." Neia pointed out and searched the boyish face of the human for hatred, violence, or deception when she described herself in their terms. She found only bemusement.
"I guess that's fair, I didn't believe you were the Queen until your royal scaliness walked in." Cenna replied with a shrug.
"My Royal what?" Neia half demanded.
"Well you're right, it doesn't look like any of you is purple…" Cenna looked her up and down like a bar patron checked out his waitress., "but you do have a bit of scaliness. Not much though… still looks like skin to me."
"Are you trying to pick a fight?!" Neia demanded and crossed her arms.
Cenna stretched out his legs and put his hands behind his head before shaking it. "Nah, I just don't really have a filter. No offense, Majesty. And as for what I'm here for, like I said, vacation. I get a month off per year and I come out here to hunt… mostly for good places to nap and for more of the sweet bark trees." He licked his lips, "Great stuff, though I do hunt a little… 'I' was here before you. So you're more of an interloper than I am."
Neia's mouth dropped open, revealing her sharpened predatory teeth. "You have got to be kidding me…"
He shook his head again, "No, really." He cocked his head and looked her over again, "You really are the Queen here, huh? They'd probably tell me to kill you, but…"
"But?" Neia asked, clicking the talons on her hand as she held her tongue.
"But if I did do that, it'd probably spark a war with my country, and I'd probably never be able to vacation here again… plus the sweet bark trees are good building material… if the Theocracy invaded, they'd chop them all down, they'd be gone in a year or three if we won, and we'd be ruined if we lost… I'd miss those." Cenna reflected in a quiet, gentle voice and yawned again.
"Are you saying you aren't here for my life, and wouldn't take it anyway because… you like sweet bark and naps?" Neia blinked, "Are you just…" she held up a hand as if to stop him, but in fact stopped herself to take a deep breath. "I'm on the verge of talking you into at least trying to kill me just because that kind of laziness is… by the dead gods… I'm at a loss for words." Neia dropped her hand, threw back her head to look up at the white flowering on the branches above, and began a long, rich, hearty laugh that heaved her chest, made her wings spasm, and went on for so long that her diaphragm began to hurt.
Cenna only smirked. When she finally stopped, he asked, "So I guess you're the workaholic sort, minus the occasional bit of hunting?"
She pounded on her chest several times and nodded in assent, "I'm the Queen. Of course I work long hours, I'm building a Kingdom to last, and that means setting deep roots."
"Hmpf, I actually believe that. I was vacationing out here when you got started building. Back home the cardinals think that killing you would destroy your whole country. I, however, have come back several times since then. Maybe it was true once, but not anymore. Even if we got rid of you, they'd just pick someone else, or just turn your country over to the Allfather and we'd be worse off. But… politicians never believe people out in the field."
A light of camaraderie at long remember frustration came into her sky blue eyes and Neia smacked her knee with her palm, "Tell me about it. When I was still a human, I had to fight harder to warn politicians about the danger ahead than I did to actually fight the danger itself! Then if I won, they said there was nothing to worry about, and if I didn't, it was either that I didn't give them enough warning or it was my fault for having to withdraw without victory."
Cenna completely forgot in that instant that he was looking at the Queen of Frost, the monster whose invasion had destroyed an army of humans and taken a massive human city, and destroyed a hero of humanity, as the Theocracy placed the blame, and instead it seemed like she was just another soldier like himself, used to being out on her own and then explaining herself to people who didn't understand what she was trying to tell them.
"So… nameless soldier who claims to be the Black Scripture Captain…" Neia finally said with their sense returned, her tail lashed behind her again, more playfully this time, "Suppose I at least accept that you're from the Theocracy and offer to return you there, provided you share with me the meat you've taken, and that it gets prepared at my palace instead of out here in the field. Consider yourself my guest, and then we will send you home again afterward."
Cenna raised one finger, "I have one condition." He said, "That you do not make it an 'official' deportation. No informing the Theocracy, just drop me at the border."
"I haven't negotiated with anyone since the war ended, or not much at least." Neia retorted and raised one finger of her own, "But on one other condition, that the next time you choose to 'vacation' in my country, you come to inform me of it. I will issue a personal pass to use my private reserve. It's the least reward I can offer for having made me laugh today, twice, no less."
"You still don't believe I am who I say I am?" Cenna asked, "That's a bit rude."
"So is poaching, but here we are." Neia retorted, and their briefly serious faces melted away after holding steady stares at one another without blinking until the unlooked for staring contest began to devolve into chortles of laughter again.
"But what to call you next time…" Neia rubbed her chin… "Ah yes… I know." She clicked her talons together, and shook her head while she stood up, and he looked at her questioningly.
"Next time you come here." She admonished him and held out her hand to offer to help him up. He accepted it, and popped up to his feet at the light tug she gave to him, her talons, notably, were used with care and did not leave a scratch.
He went over to his pack, threw it over his shoulder, picked up his bow and spear, and followed the Queen out of the trees just as a mixed party of humans and orcs in full armor arrived on both wolfback and horseback.
Neia raised a hand to stop them before the thundering hooves and panting wolves could draw too close. "Everything is fine, our nameless friend here will be a guest in my home for a few days, 'then' he can be deported."
Cenna grinned at the mixed party and gave a congenial wave without any hint of hostility, and the party relaxed.
For the next few days after riding back to her palace he was wined and dined by the Queen, and the pair traded stories of their exploits in the wild.
"So is it true that you actually brought down a dragon?" Cenna asked on their final night dining alone at a table in her great hall.
"No, that story is a pile of fewmets." Neia answered.
"Fewwhats?" He asked.
"Dragon shit. Dragon shit is called fewmets." Neia explained, "I didn't bring it down, he landed already wounded, I was supposed to kill him, of course…" She sighed and looked down into the cup of red wine, "But he said 'Please'. He asked for my help, he was in pain, his spirit and body shattered into pieces, his eyes were haunted, everything about him was just… lost. I couldn't do it… so I nursed him back to health over the course of several months until I was caught, tried, and sent to be executed for it. You know the rest, now, this is the result." She took a long swift drink and then filled her cup again.
"I know the feeling. Being part of the Scripture, hunting threats to people was what I did, but sometimes the threat wasn't a real threat. Just some dumb beast driven out of its hunting range. Most monsters are just that, more dangerous animals."
"Like me?" Neia asked and batted her wings pointedly toward him.
He shrugged at that, "We haven't fought, but… I'm not some temple priest who hasn't been far from the four walls of a city. I've seen elves just trying to get their families to safety, or a vampire that even begged me to kill it so it wouldn't kill anyone else. Things out in the field, they get… complicated, the 'enemy' isn't always an enemy, and 'evil' isn't always evil. That's why I can sit here with you and not say you're just some beast, like most of the priests would say." He finished off his own cup and held it out just as she finished pouring her own. She moved the bottle over to refill his own cup and they propped their feet up on the table.
"I suppose that's so." Neia said and raised her cup. "To pleasant complications."
"I'll drink to that." Cenna answered, and when their cups were drained he said, "I have to leave tomorrow, you know."
"I have somewhere to be, I won't be able to send you off, and I don't like goodbyes, so just to get it out of the way I will answer with, 'Till next time.'" Neia replied, "I'll have an escort take you to the eastern border and give you a good horse to get the rest of the way home, nameless Theocracy citizen."
"I keep telling you, my name is Cenna." He answered.
She looked at him with a long, lingering stare of her piercing blue eyes until he sighed and gave up. "Fine. 'Till next time." He said, subdued.
They parted after that, going to their separate rooms.
Cenna reached his door, opened it, and then after stepping within, he began to close it, only to stop just a hair before it was to seal shut. 'No.' He thought, and opened it enough that it was just a crack open, enough to be obvious if one looked, but gave the appearance that someone intended to close it. 'Just in case.' He thought, then stripped and got into the bed, pulling the blanket of thick fur pelts over his bare chest, and waited, staring at the ceiling until he fell asleep.
Neia, for her part, reached her quarters and found guards waiting for her arrival. Two bladers, their natural armaments made them ideal security, she glanced up at them, "I will not be sleeping tonight, you two may take the evening off."
"That's our Queen." The taller blader said with pride, "Always working hard for us." They bowed deeply, and left.
Neia stepped within, then shut the door so that only a crack was open. 'What are you doing, Neia? You barely know him, you don't even know his real name… just his crazy story… but he's formidable… and good looking, and he hasn't flinched even once when you've looked at him… who cares, he's leaving tomorrow and will probably never come back… just have some fun for once in your life…' She reassured herself, then cast aside her clothing and laid herself down in the bed to wait and see if he came to her, she was still waiting when she fell asleep.
True to form, she didn't see him off, she only left instructions to have him escorted back before she went off on errands of her own, and tried to forget her disappointment. 'You should have known better.' She told herself, and went back to her constant work routine as if nothing changed at all.
She didn't think of him much for another year, her work went on without stopping. New towns, new villages, and shepherding the growth of trade with animal produce and budding industries established around them, and even the slow and tightly controlled rise of a cosmopolitan small city at the crossroads of several trading areas on the long road between east and west.
She didn't think of him much that was… until a guard at the door approached her throne and said, with a most confused look on his face, "Your Majesty, a human in black and bearing a long black spear has come for an audience, he says you are expecting him. He calls himself 'Cenna Tachoni,' and says you promised him access to your hunting preserve… should I send him away?"
Neia's face brightened on her throne with a great big fangy smile, "Where is the ass?!" She exclaimed and clapped her hands, "See him in!"
Cenna entered the great hall and before he could even greet her she shouted, "There! There is the ass!"
His dark eyes blinked and he ran a hand through his hair and groaned, "That's what you put on my pass, isn't it, Majesty?"
"You're damn right." Neia quipped, "It's the least I could do." She said with a smirk, he rolled his eyes and began to laugh.
"It's good to see you again, Your Majesty." He replied.
And so it went, a repeat of the year before, she took him hunting, and to her surprise, she enjoyed her first nap in years.
Again on their last night, each left their own door open for the other, and each one slept while waiting, only to sleep again with nothing happening but dreams before they parted ways.
For three years this went on, and in Neia's eyes, the curious warrior's visits became her own time of rest, until she named his annual arrival the first official holiday of her Kingdom, when no work would be done at all that wasn't absolutely vital, so that everyone in the Kingdom could enjoy a few days of ease in the sun.
Back home in the Slane Theocracy… the growing prosperity of Demalbion did not sit well. But Cenna gave it no thought until the day he was summoned.
It wasn't his first time in the chamber of the Pontifex Maximus, far from it. Each occasion had one singular purpose. 'What fresh threat to humanity requires its champion?' From anyone else it would have been an arrogant thought, but as the leader of the Black Scripture, he knew very well that there was only one other who could claim the title of humanity's trump card. He knocked on the heavy oaken door, and the rough voice of the old man called out to him.
"Come in."
He opened the door and found the old man stooped over a scroll, he gestured to the seat across from him, and Cenna flopped himself down in the chair, resting his spear on his lap, he asked point blank, "So what'll it be this time, old man? Did a vampire have a baby with a barghast and give birth to some chain fetishists' sparkly wet dream?"
The wrinkled sunken cheeks of the gray old Pontifex did not express surprise well in the best of times, and as it was, the old man only groaned. "No, Cenna, please… be serious for once." He pointed to the scroll on his desk. "We can't wait for Demalbion to fall apart on its own anymore, this is a copy of a treaty between them and the Allfather of the Kingdom of Nazarick, goodness knows how the animals in the west have managed to not kill each other for the last few years, but if they start trading in high quality weapons, we'll have a real problem on our hands. I need to, no…" He leaned forward and said with a hushed tone as if he feared to be overheard, "Humanity needs you to go to the heart of that cursed country, and kill the Queen of Frost. Kill Neia Baraja and dispose of her body. I know your usual vacation time is coming up… but that happens to fall at the same time as some kind of holiday over there… you can take your time off after she's dead. Just go in, kill her, and get out before they fall into civil war. Then you can come home and hunt to your heart's content for a month."
"Do you think you can take her alone?" The Pontifex asked, his thin lips formed a tiny frown.
Cenna barely registered the question.
"You'll start a war with them, a war you may not win." Cenna said, his face losing all color.
"Nonsense." The Pontifex replied abruptly, "Their warriors are strong, but in the end even the strongest and smartest are only beasts, they're held together by force. Strike the shepherd and the sheep will turn on each other. They'll rip their own kingdom apart and that will be the end of it. Perhaps we can even help the unfortunate humans there turn it into a new human kingdom."
I don't need help." Cenna finally replied, ignoring the mangled metaphor. "Anyone less than Zesshi would just be in the way." He then stood up and gripped his spear tight in one hand. "I'll leave now."
"No request for more vacation as a reward? No objections about already being busy? Are you feeling alright, my boy?" The Pontifex asked.
"No, yes, I'm fine. Like you said, this is important, right?" Cenna asked.
"Correct, I'm glad you're taking this seriously." The Pontifex almost sighed in relief while Cenna departed on silent feet.
"Good luck!" The old man called out, only to receive no response from the Black Scripture Captain.
Three weeks later he heard the familiar call beyond the great double doors of Neia's palace.
"Where is The Ass?!"
And when he entered the great hall filled with now familiar faces, many of which he counted as friends, she stood from her throne and shouted, "There is the Ass!"
Cenna's dark thoughts evaporated as he went to the throne and stuck out a hand. They clasped forearms as they always did, she took care not to use her talons, and though she didn't know it, he took care not to use too much strength.
"Welcome again, mysterious stranger, have you come with more stories of captaining the Black?"
Cenna plastered a smile on his face and barely kept his hold on the spear loose.
"Yes of course, but those can wait." He replied with a smirk plastered on his face. "I was hoping for a hunt first."
"A hunt? That's oddly energetic of you. But I don't mind, our holiday began three minutes ago." Neia replied and looked over to Nasrene.
Her secretary rang a bronze gong, and a cheer went up as all duties were suspended.
As the cheers went on and Neia stepped farther from her throne and closer to her friend she said under her breath, "You made a lot of hatred against humans start to die off when you became the reason they all get vacations." Neia chortled a little, only half kidding, and then walked past him, slapping him on the back.
She was several steps past him when she realized he wasn't at her side, but was instead still standing back and looking at her. "What?" She asked, turning to face him, "is something wrong?"
Cenna forcibly shook his head, "It's nothing that can't wait, let's go."
"Al-Alright then, Ass." She said with a wink, and held in her sigh of relief when he smiled at her stand in name for him.
Within a few hours on the preserve, they'd bagged two large boars, and each carrying one of them, they made their way to a familiar spot. A spot Cenna chose himself.
The Peace Tree grove where they met. "Something is up with you." Neia finally said after they walked in silence for a full hour straight. "Normally you'd have told a dozen jokes by now and given me a half a dozen unbelievable stories."
"Yeah… yeah something is." Cenna said as he placed one foot in front of the other in a steady trudge. "But it can wait until after we've… well… maybe it can't wait… maybe I can't." He muttered under his breath, trailing off into an unintelligible mumble.
"You haven't even suggested going back for a nap… are you dying or something?" Neia asked, she tried to plaster a smile on her face, but he didn't laugh.
"Wait… is that it…?" Neia asked, her bright blue eyes opened like saucers, "I can see if our healers can do anything…"
"Stop it." Cenna finally said, then added, "Please. No, I'm not dying."
"Oh, well good. I don't have a superabundance of friends, and I'd hate to lose one, even if I don't know your real name." She said just as they reached their destination and Cenna dropped his boar.
"Neia," he said as she set hers down, "Why don't you believe me? How can you still think I'm not who I say I am?"
"Because it's hard to picture, I guess." Neia replied with a half shrug, "Besides, like I said the first time, it's just absurd to think of the Black Scripture Captain showing up in my Kingdom just to chew on sweet sticks, nap, and hunt."
"When you put it that way… I suppose it is a tad extreme. But then, what do you think I am?" Cenna asked while Neia prepared the fire pit, her claws gouged out the earth easier than twenty shovels, and while she worked she said…
"I'm surprised you've never asked, I always assumed you were some spoiled rich noble with some talent for combat." Neia replied, "I admit my first thought was 'Theocracy Spy' but no, that you are not."
Cenna let out a weary sigh, 'That does sound like me.' He reluctantly acknowledged.
"I see…" He snapped his spear down into the guard position, "Then there's no way you'll believe what I say next unless I prove it to you first." His voice became tight, professional, and his eyes narrowed like he was focusing on a target. "Queen of Frost, Neia Baraja, I am Cenna Tachoni of the Slane Theocracy, Captain of the Black Scripture and first among Godkin. I challenge you to a duel here and now."
Neia looked up from where she stood at the firepit and frowned, "You're serious, aren't you?"
"I am." He answered, "There's no way I can convince you unless I beat you first."
"If you insist." Neia answered with a shrug of her own.
He picked up a rock from the ground, "When this hits ground, we begin?"
"Agreed." Neia answered, her white eyebrow still up. He could see she wasn't taking him seriously. That would change.
[Agility Boost] .
[Ability Boost] .
[Lesser Strength] .
[Fortress] .
[Deft Hands] .
[Steel Grip] .
Neia's eyes widened as he used seven martial arts. "If that's how you want it." She said and clicked her talons together.
[Agility Boost] .
[Ability Boost] .
[Fortress] .
[Strength of Ancestors] .
[Quickstep] .
He tossed the little gray rock into the air, both their eyes followed it.
It struck the ground, and Neia's wings carried her forward instantly. her talons came down, his spear caught them, and to her dismay, the spear did not break.
He spun it, she went flying backward, folding in her wings, she landed, flipped back, and came again. 'Always be on the attack, keep them responding…' She wasn't even consciously thinking of the lesson, only applying it.
But his spear flicked away her every slash and thrust as if they weren't there, he never gave an inch of ground, he only grew faster, her slashes and grabs were like those of a raw recruit, her tail lashed out, and he blocked it too, and that told her the truth.
'He's holding back his speed… I haven't met my match in years… I'm a damn dragonid! And I'm stronger than I ever was!' her heart raced and her strikes picked up speed again, and yet it seemed to mean nothing, his spear spun and the butt cracked across her jaw, she felt the bone crack as she staggered back. [Dull Pain] . She said and touched her jaw, the pain vanished, and she came again while he waited to receive her. His facial expression never changed, his body never slowed, and every time she picked up speed, he did so, and did more than she.
"How is this possible?!" She hissed, [Limit Break] ! She added the martial art and redoubled her speed, but the black haired spearmen didn't even bother to use the same, the spear moved faster than she could sense, or even predict. The butt hit her in both her knees, her chest, her shoulders, and then finally at the center of her forehead.
Neia sailed backward, her back arching as she saw the orange light cast by the setting sun, and she felt the ground as she slammed into it with all her falling weight.
Then he was over her, her hand went up for him to help her up, but to her horror, it was not his hand that swung out to take hers and bring her up, what hovered over her breast was the point of his spear.
"I am Cenna Tachoni, Captain of the Black Scripture, among the strongest of the strong in humanity, the living descendant of the Six Great Gods. Do you believe me now, Neia?" He asked, the spear wavering only inches above her body. Her joints ached, her head hurt, but there was no denying it.
"So… it's true. I didn't see that coming." Neia answered and lowered her extended arm to the ground where it fell limp.
"Now that you believe me, I can tell you. I've been sent to kill you, Queen of Frost. The Slane Theocracy demands your head, you've unbalanced the whole damn world by starting a demihuman Kingdom here, and they won't ignore you anymore."
"Was it always the plan? Was it all just a lie?" Neia asked, looking up at him from on her back, her entire body limp as she sought the face she wished had joined her many a night before, to see hovering over hers in a night of desire. Her heart began to tear in two, but she held her face steady, ' I will not let him see me weak!' She told herself. ' Not if I'm going to die!'
"No." He answered instantly. "All that was just coincidence, we met by chance and became friends by chance. None of that was staged or faked, it was real, all of it."
"I see." She answered, the tearing in her heart stopped, but it wasn't lost on her that his spear had not moved away from her. She went on as if it weren't there. "That's a relief. You're one of the only friends I've ever had, and definitely one of the only human ones. I'd hate to think I was lied to all this time." Neia said and wiped the blood from her lip before allowing her arm to fall down again.
"Alright then, go ahead and kill me. I can't beat you, I came out alone with you, there's nobody for hours around who could help me, and besides, I may not have many friends, but I have always laid down my life for the few I had. If you need my life, and care more for the Theocracy than for me… take it. People like us always come to violent ends, and there are worse ways than dying at the hands of one of my best friends, and the only man I ever loved. Just make it quick, and without pain if you can manage it… Cenna." Neia said and closed her eyes.
Her heartbeat was slow, steady, her blood didn't race and her breathing didn't quicken, 'It's just like going to sleep… one quick sting and it's over. A pity about all the deaths that will follow on this though. He can beat me, but I doubt they have anyone that can beat His Majesty Allfather, and there's no way this won't be traced back to the Theocracy.'
She waited. She felt the spear hovering over her breast.
She felt his eyes lingering on her still.
'This must be why he wanted the Peace Trees, that part must have been true, he really was my friend… if I had to kill him for some reason, this is where I'd have picked it too. But still, it's a shame to die a virgin, never knowing what that's like… I guess I'm not dying completely without regrets… but in my short life, I was a daughter, deeply loved. I was a warrior, I was a legend, I was a General, I was a little sister to a mighty dragon, and I was a Queen. It's been a good run, even if it is ending here…' Neia smiled in spite of herself.
"Wait… so you really think I'm going to kill you? And I'm seeing how you'd react if that were the case? If I'm an ass, you're an idiot." Cenna said and threw his spear point down into the dirt beside her so that it embedded into the soil and sat up erect as a flagpole.
Neia's eyes fluttered open. "Wait… what?" She asked.
"Are you deaf too?" Cenna snapped and put his hands on his hips, his shadow cast over her entire body. "Of course I'm not going to kill you. You'd have really let me do it?"
Neia remained on her back, but now confusion was etched on her face. "As I said, if my friends need my life, it's theirs for the asking."
"Yeah, in a fight, damn it! Woman, you do not take your commitments lightly… no wonder they see you as such a threat." He rubbed the back of his head and looked away more than a little sheepishly. "It kind of puts my lazy ass to shame… but wait… did you mean that other stuff?"
Neia's face became a kind of ashen gray, but she refused to deny it. "Yes. Every visit from the first one on, I left the door to my room open and the way unguarded, hoping you would join me."
"I left my door unlocked and open too." He, unlike her, could blush, and did.
"You expect the Queen to come to you? You are an ass." Neia snapped up at him.
"Excuse me!" He said with indignance, "You expect a visiting foreigner to just waltz up to the Queen's bedroom thinking there'd be no guards and he could just go on in like some sort of stalker?!"
"It's not stalking if I want you in there!" Neia argued.
"It is if I don't know it!" He yelled back, aghast.
"So I'm supposed to stalk you and be the creeper Queen, is that what you're saying?!" She shot back.
"It's not creeping if I want you to come in! I left the door open for you!" He shouted.
"Are you completely senseless?! What did we just say not fifteen seconds ago?!" She shot back again.
"Well, what do you want? I couldn't read your mind!" He stamped his foot, and the trees wavered twenty paces away.
"Can you read my damn lips?!" She demanded.
"What?!" He exclaimed with his eyes wide as her breathing picked up.
"Get down here, Cenna! Is that a clear enough signal, you ass?!" She shouted back up at him.
"Yes!" he said, and dove to shut her up with an impassioned kiss and an embrace that proved decisively that he was who he said he was.
' What the fuck am I supposed to do after this…?' Cenna wondered, and lost track of the question as he started to enjoy the talons raking his back.
Series End-
So that's that. Thank you to those who did NOT make it a chore, and kept the joy pf creation and of giving, alive. And as always, thank you to my sponsors who paid for the time off work to write all of this.
If you want Volume 8 which is where the series is meant to end… the pitch for it is on ko-fi dot com /tellingstories where it is up for crowdfunding, along with volume 9 of Who Endures. (Crowdfunding pays for my unpaid time off from work to write)
There's a lot left for me to write of course, but it'll be quite some time before I come back here to post it. My thanks to those of you who made this fun while it lasted. If you want to read new chapters of new works, my p8tr30n is /tellingstories, my ko-fi will get regular updates, and of course my discord readers get new content almost every day. (If you have trouble getting in, let me know, we use two factor authentication to keep the bots out, and it sometimes fails, it's as simple as me giving you a role though, and you'd get in)
In addition, I put all my original works on Amazon with an option to read for free on Kindle. So enjoy.
Titles:
Evolution of a Nobody
Evolution of a Nobody: Bad Dreams
Who Endures: Strange Lands
Who Endures: Trust and Betrayal
The Strongest in the World
Countdown
Scales of Trust
Vol 8 possible story:
Volume 8 will feature the Slane Theocracy in the post tournament period, surrounded by hostile nations with no possible allies, no trading partners, a collapsing economic system that is abhorrent to all, and show them struggling with the challenges of a changing world full of people hostile to their previously enticing beliefs. Demalbion's rise spawns an attempt on the life of the Queen of Frost, the elf friendly Draconic Queen and the Wolf Queen of the Kingdom of Carne are both happy to harbor runaway slaves, severely damaging the ability of the Theocracy to feed itself, and Ainz turns his eye on the last real opponent…
While the nations of humanity and nonhumans alike independently and openly declare the godhood of the Allfather of the Empire of Nazarick. With a seventh god, or fifth, is added to the pantheon who declares the common law of shared submission to a single throne regardless of heritage or race, the holdouts of the Theocracy will struggle valiantly as insurrection from a long buried enemy begins to stir.
Thanks for reading to the end! And if you're not on those platforms well… see you again in about 6 months or so with Volume 8. :)
Till then, wish me luck!
Vol 9 of Who Endures:
The war against the beastmen and all of Mict'aratz looms large, with Nua preparing herself for the worst of the worst, and trying to save the world she has come to love, from everything that threatens to destroy it.
Vol 8: Darkest Before Dawn C1
The One Who Stayed: Darkest Before Dawn
Book VIII in the series 'The One Who Stayed'
"It's good to see you again, Nua." Raymond said when they were alone after the fifth such visit in as many years. Her ears wiggled when he spoke, giving away her happiness despite the neutral face she tried to hold.
The neutral mask broke into a little smile, "I can't pretend with you, can I?" She asked him and looked up the long, winding stairs that went up to the tower. "They won't overhear?" She asked.
He shook his head, "Magic noise suppression."
"Good." Nua said and put a hand on his chest. "Do you still… about me, us?" She asked.
"I'm loyal to my country." Raymond said and covered her hand with his, "But that means something else to me than it used to. I don't want to see it destroyed."
Nua looked down at his feet, "How many?" She asked.
"I got three more out this week. That brings me up to a hundred since I came back from my last trip. Not many but… but it makes a difference to them." Raymond said to her, and she pursed her lips.
"That fits. Then I'll tell you something that you don't know yet. Two somethings, actually. You're saving my people, so I'll try to save some of yours." Nua replied to him, and Raymond cocked his head.
"What is it?" He asked, his intense eyes almost melting her heart even to feel locked on her.
"Your Black Scripture Captain, he disappeared, am I right? Or am I wrong?" She asked him, and his deep eyes widened at the question.
"Yes, you're right, he was sent somewhere by the Pontifex Maximus." Raymond answered as they drew close to the door at the base of the steps.
"He is about to become the King of Demalbion. I'm going to be attending his coronation soon." Nua said, and went still while she waited for the news to sink in.
"So he was sent there to-" His teeth clicked as his jaw snapped shut.
"The Queen tells us they've been friends for years . When he got the order to kill her, he went off and seduced her instead. She's making him the King, you've lost the most powerful members of the Black Scripture. You've got Zesshi to the north, and Demalbion and its territorial ambitions to the west."
"Territory?" Raymond felt ice grip his heart.
"The mountains, get your people away from those, you're going to lose them. Even I don't know much, but start moving that population away from there as much as possible, open up new farmland and offer it freely to Feron residents, do something, or you'll have a massacre on your hands. That's all I can tell you." Nua said, and then leaned forward and kissed him hard on the lips, he returned it, reaching up, he stroked her ears and felt her shiver at his touch.
But just as she was the aggressor, she also cut it off, pulling back before things could go farther. "I need to go. You be careful, I don't want to lose you." Nua said and Raymond answered with the same conviction-
"The same to you. Even coming here as an ambassador is dangerous." He pointed it out, and she shrugged.
"At least this way I can leave, before, I couldn't. Till next we meet, Cardinal Raymond Zarg Lauransan." Nua said and patted his cheek with one calloused hand before she opened the oaken door and strode out into the light of day. He watched her until she got into the waiting carriage of green and gold, but followed it with his eyes until it was well out of sight, and only then did he close the door, turn around, and head back the way he came.
Aalon ascended the mountain pass with ease, his vampiric limbs carried him without even the slightest hint of exhaustion all the way back to his mountain hideaway. The elves atop the wall who guarded the pass, drew their bows and aimed at him. He did a little flip, landed on his feet, and bowed with one arm out and one folded in front of his waist as if he were a performer.
He could hear the strings and yews relax when he was recognized by the means he used to entertain some of the liberated elven children and set them at ease after their radical change of scenery.
"Father!" The elves shouted to him as he came closer, and he waved with a contented smile on his face until he reached the broad wooden gate. "Did you have any luck?"
He knew what they were asking about, "Still nothing." Aalon admitted as he walked under the shadow of the gate and back into his home. ' Perhaps Nua died a long, long time ago.' It wasn't the first time he'd had that thought in the last hundred and fifty odd years, but even so… ' I can't stop looking for her. I just can't. Even if she never forgives me, I just can't stop.'
A young raven haired woman dove into his arms, she bared her fangs to him when she smiled up at his face, "Father, welcome home." She said, her delicate hands traced around his back, squeezed, and then drew away after her embrace was briefly returned.
"Thank you. I managed to get a few more, they can be picked up in Feron this week, but it's starting to cost more." Aalon added and put a hand on top of her head the way he had when she was young, "Be a lamb and negotiate twice as hard when it comes to iron sales."
She tittered a little and rose up on her tiptoes into the pat upon her head, "Father, you're so silly, you really need to pay more attention to what's going on out there. There's an iron shortage now, we can demand a premium for ingots without any effort whatsoever." She answered him and went back down on to the balls of her feet, "Just relax, everything will be fine, the elves will keep any iron poachers out the way they always have, and when you're ready, and they're not?" Her red eyes pulsed with bloodlust.
"That's my girl. Now what about the Demalbion representative? Did we get what we wanted?" Aalon pressed, and she snapped her fingers and gave him a sharp, decisive nod.
"In spades. When we're ready, we'll just tell Feron that the mines ran dry, I doubt the Theocracy will be able to do much more than station some soldiers along the mountain base when the 'invasion' of the mountains begins." She answered, and again there was a warm glow of satisfaction in Aalon's gut.
' I've got myself a lioness who can both think and fight, when all is said and done, I know who I can leave in charge.' He thought with confidence, and then followed her into the only mountain elf village in the world, his earlier disappointment comforted by the promise of progress, and an end to the Slane Theocracy.
Neia extended her hand to her mate. Cenna took it and allowed her to pull him up from the bed. "How long do you think it will be before they assume I'm dead?" He asked of the dragonid Queen.
Neia shrugged, "I'm not from the Theocracy but, that depends, do you just get things done and go home or are you the sort to spend a lot of time planning it all out?"
He cocked his head and stared at her silently.
"Right. Dumb question." Neia rolled her eyes at herself, "Anything that gets between you and your rest and relaxation is to be discarded or destroyed. So it won't be long."
"No, not long at all. Just remember one thing." Cenna said and as he rose to his feet he put a hand on her shoulder, "I will help you but I want my comrades taken alive . From Time Turner to One Man Army."
Neia's fearsome gaze wasn't able to soften much, but he felt it in her expression regardless. "If I can, for you, I will. I won't ask my people to die for them, but if your friends can be ensnared safely? I'll do it. Their lives will be my wedding gift to you." She put a hand up to his cheek, her tail swayed low behind her, Neia's eyes welled up, "You chose me . Nobody… absolutely nobody in my entire life has ever chosen me over anything or any one . So of course, for you, I'll try to accomplish the impossible. I even reached out to the Allfather to ask for help. It will be our first joint forces operation. Our scouts, mages, and of course, 'I' will be the bait, and several of his elite teams. When it succeeds, and we wed, he will perform the ceremony, and then I will bend my knee to him." She laughed at him when he stared at her.
"You wanted your friends at your wedding, now they will be, though they might not be dressed for the occasion." Neia teased him and wiped her eyes, "Chosen over a whole country, you know how to make a woman feel appreciated, that's for damn sure." Neia added and rose on her tiptoes to embrace him. He returned it, and let her topple him back down into the bed one more time.
' We can start the day a little late… royalty has its privileges.' He thought, and stopped using the head he no longer needed to focus instead on the one he did.
AN: Just an intro chapter. I'm currently working on another novel that I've been hired to write, the sequel to 'What Masks Are Made Of' which is only available on p8tr30n or Discord, but will be uploaded to FFN after it is completed. I'll write more TOWS periodically, but it will only be on p8tr30n and discord for a couple of months while I finish working on stuff. Business of living, you know how it goes. If you really just can't stand the wait, join one of those. But I just don't enjoy uploading to FFN the way I used to, the fun was kind of sucked right out of it. Anyway, enjoy the story.
Volume 8 C2
Alain Beaumon of the Time Turbulence stretched his legs out against a tree, his arms folded behind his russet brown hair, his small tophat tilted forward so that the brim shielded his eyes from the sun. A little straw of wheat rolled back and forth with his shifting jaw. "The Captain isn't much of a leader for us to go to all this trouble for him… but then again?"
"Then again?" Cedran asked while wiping the enchanted white cloth over the shield in his lap, a regular but needless routine, the enchanted equipment would get rid of dust on its own… but still he wiped it down with an enchanted cloth that would have made any smith drool over its ability to polish with minimal effort. His tree trunk-like muscles were tense, and his intense focus on his equipment belied his discomfort with their surroundings.
"Then again, that's what I like about'im, you know?" Alain plucked the straw from his mouth and rolled it between his fingers.
"You're weird." Quaiesse said, floating down from above as gently as a feather. "Nothing around us, at least not that I can see." He added and ran a hand through his short golden hair.
"Well, think about it." Alain twirled a finger through the long strand of brown hair that hung past his shoulder, his green eyes sparkled with the warning of impending humor. "I'm comfortable right here, right now it's a bea utiful day, the sun is shining, all is right with the world-"
"Except for the traitor to humanity holding our captain prisoner." Beaumarchais of the Divine Chain added, his hand twirled a handspan of his long chain, his dark eyes searching elsewhere despite Quaiesse's insistence that they were alone on the open grassy plain before the Demalbion border.
"Right, that," Alain acknowledged, "but, like, nobody nowhere has got to tell me to just sit back and enjoy this, right? Just the cool breeze and a few good friends and-"
"A lethally dangerous mission against a monster strong enough to beat Cenna and keep him prisoner… oh yes, it's oh-so-marvelous." Corwin Amber, the Strongest Human, laid the sarcasm on thick and drummed his fingers on the blade of his giant ax.
Alain pursed his lips and cleared his throat, "And the constant tendency of my comrades to interrupt my thoughts." He retorted, then went on saying, "-and a good meal to go with it." He gestured to the bowl holding the remnants of the rabbit stew made by Tenjho, who still worked the spit while they waited for the others to rejoin the group. "But now here we are, about to go and risk our lives… it's fine for the Captain," Alain hastened to add and put his left hand on the swirl patterned rapier that lay at his side, "but they ask us to do all these wild things all the time… it seems to me that 'leadership' is just a way of getting people to do shitty things that you'd never waste your time or risk your life on unless somebody got you to do it."
"Inspiring." Tenjho grunted. He stopped stirring long enough to look over at the lazing Alain, "You're saying leadership is shit?"
"No. I'm just saying it gets you into shit and maybe the whole damn world would be better off with fewer leaders and more R ." Alain retorted.
"And you are the one in charge?" Sasala asked, tapping his staff on the ground while he walked toward Tenjho and extended his now empty bowl. "How did that happen?"
"Because I know Cenna better than anyone, and our Captain was never one to take stupid chances." Alain retorted, "Besides, our astrologer says that he's going around with only a handful of demihuman guards, he's not being tortured, hell she said he's smiling . If he's in trouble, I'm the Allfather."
"She could be tricked, you know." Sasala of the Mystic Will, the third seat of the Black Scripture, implied. "You could just try to take this more seriously than you are."
Alain dropped the straw from his hand and down to the green grass, his eyes focused intently on the third seat, "I take this very seriously. I'm thinking like the Captain does, trying to get inside his head, why do you think Tenjho here is so willing to take the time to make big meals and is slow to clean up after you slobs? I'm thinking like he thinks, that's how we'll figure out what he's up to."
Every eye of the present Black Scripture seats snapped over to him and then lowered in apology. "Sorry…" Was mumbled from many mouths.
The uncomfortable silence kept anyone from eye contact until Cedran spoke up, "So… do you have any ideas?"
"Well, yeah, actually." Alain answered, "Ignoring the possibility of illusion… since we can always just say it's possible, the Captain could probably easily beat his guards, but he's not. Thousand League Astrologer says that he was laughing, smiling, eating big meals and he's been seen chatting amiably in the company of the traitor of humanity at some of their building projects. He's even been seen dueling high ranking demihumans. None of that should make sense except… if he gave his word he wouldn't try to escape."
"You're joking . Why make a promise like that?" Quaiesse asked and slapped the trunk of a tree, snapping it in half to fall on the ground, his eyes narrowed, "That's sounds a lot like treason ."
"Don't be so sensitive, Quaiesse, not everyone is your sister, that's not what I mean." Alain answered and with the oddity of his theory, the scripture seats began to drift toward him to hear him out. "What I mean is, before the dragonid was… that, she was a soldier, and a damn good one if the intel we got was right. I'm thinking that she beat him and made a deal to make him more comfortable, Cenna gives his word not to run off, and she gives him freedom of movement and plenty of creature comforts. It's the sort of deal a soldier would take, and it's the sort of deal Cenna would take . He's too important to just kill . She probably wants to trade him for some concessions or to embarrass the Cardinals or the Pontifex Maximus… what I'm saying is…"
"That this is a great big waste of time, that we're sent out to risk our lives for the Captain, when he's in no danger… that the only real danger is to the reputations of the idiots who sent him out there alone against something he couldn't beat." Loren of the Long Lance, sixth seat of the Black, finished the sentence and stabbed the tip of his weapon into the grass. "Sonofabitch…"
"Yup." Alain added to the consternation of his comrades. "We're going out to risk our lives for someone who is in no real danger, to die for the stupid decisions of fuckalls. That's what I'm saying, and knowing Cenna… he figured it out pretty much the same. So?" Alain waved a hand toward the pot. "Finish off the stew and take your time, the border will still be there tomorrow, the Captain will still be fine tomorrow, and we can still throw our lives away tomorrow if it comes down to it. What's one more big meal but a little more enjoyment before we get caught up in all that leadership we're always hearing about." He snorted with disgust, then stretched out his arms, picked up the dropped bit of straw and began to chew on it again while the rest of the camp finally, visibly relaxed a little.
Emperor Unglaus and his Empress stood outside the monastery door, the wisest monk in the empire waited within. "Do you think he'll see us today?" Zesshi asked. Her hand closed into his, though she didn't squeeze, while Brain was far stronger than he'd ever been in the past, it wasn't unknown to her that his victory over her in the arena had been determined by the aid of a God, and so she was gentle in the way she held him in her grip.
Brain however, didn't hesitate to squeeze her hand, the walls of the monastery could be easily breached if he chose to use force, and if he wanted, the wise monk could have been dragged out and carried bodily to Arwintar to be thrown down at the feet of the Emperor and Empress… but such a use of his power set the Emperor on edge.
The monk's insistence on answering only by letters, acting only as an advisor to anyone and everyone who asked, was also bizarre. "I don't know… but we've come every year since we took the throne… it's been a very nice holiday every time, and I haven't minded that much." Brain said and turned an eye toward Princess Layali, she was clad in silks gifted by the Allfather of the Empire of Nazarick, bright greens and blues in ruffled patterns, and enchanted against all manner of harm… but it came with one other feature, a little blue ribbon that bound her hair close to her head… attracted butterflies.
They batted their wings around her, alighted on her hand, her cheek, her hair, all she had to do was stay still and their brilliant colors would shroud her like a second set of clothes. Her shining face and bright eyes, together with her gentle and giving nature, made her a popular princess in Arwintar, and the affinity for butterflies seemed to only add to her enchanting mystique.
So it barely bothered Brain or Zesshi that the scholarly monk whose letters often guided imperial policy behind the scenes, refused to meet anyone face to face to give advice.
It was just one more mystery.
"I couldn't agree more, but I can't help but feel a little affronted." Zesshi answered while they waited for the wide wooden gate of the monastery to open for them again.
Brain inched a little closer to his wife's side, ' I can't help but think that before all the things with us happened, she'd have just broken down the walls and called it a day… at least she's mellowed a little with time.' He thought and squeezed her hand a little tighter.
"I'm sure it's not personal, remember he's refused to meet with anyone . It's not about you, and it's not about what you are ." Brain promised her with a whisper that caused her half elven ears to twitch a little when his warm breath caressed her skin.
The gate finally groaned its way open and the royals and their escort strode within. The brown robes of the monks hung loose around their hands, their hoods were down and they bowed deeply to the Emperor, his wife, and the Princess.
The bows held until the gates closed again, and the serious faces of the aged grandfatherly monks broke out into smiles as Layali made herself the ambassador of the royal family. "Hi uncle eyebrows! Hello uncle Long Nose!" Her childish innocence and familial pet names for the old men resorted in a sea of smiles, her utter sincerity in her affections made her almost like a mascot in their eyes. Having no children or grandchildren of their own, the Princess wormed her way into a void in their collective hearts that many denied existed until it was filled.
"My Emperor, Empress… welcome, welcome." The abbot of the monastery said as soon as he emerged, his bushy white eyebrows framed deep blue eyes that still sparkled with intelligence, his frail arms were wide apart and revealed the blotchy skin common to old men. He hadn't the ability to kneel much any longer, but his words spoke for him. Unlike the others, he wore a pure white robe passed down for centuries from the first Emperor of the Baharuth Empire.
"And of course, welcome to you, Princess Layali," he said with an indulgent pearl white smile when the little Princess pursed her lips up at him and showed him the side of her face to let him kiss her cheek. "Welcome, that's a wonderful outfit you're wearing, you look beautiful."
Layali brushed her hands down the dress to smooth out its ruffles for a moment to show the little sparkly bits hidden except when one walked just right and it caught the light. "It's a gift from Lord Demiurge of Nazarick, picked out by the maids as a reward. They always give me nice stuff to show they're glad I help them with things."
"I see, so are you their ambassador then… that's good training for a Princess, when you're the Empress one day, you'll have to deal with many different peoples… the Empire will be lucky to have so well-trained a ruler in command." The abbot said, and Layali put a forefinger to her dimple before she looked away in thought.
"I guess it's kind of like being an ambassador, I just help them with things only I can do, and they say thank you with nice things afterward that are good for me and good for papa and mama's Empire. Didja like the Lotso fruit we got? That was me." She beamed when his mouth dropped open and he looked at the Emperor and Empress.
"It's true." Zesshi said, "We mentioned an interest in growing some since those big red things are so," she licked her lips, "juicy and filling, and good for a cough too, she goes over, and when she comes back, it's a signed treaty agreeing to hybridize some just in our land for the next five years with cheap deals for the peasants for the next eight. I guess the Allfather has a thing for making small children happy."
"Remarkable." He said and scratched his bald head, his wrinkled face lit up, "It's usually a bit of a strain on the conscience to say the next ruler is really talented, but I'm glad to know I don't have to lie about it now. The Scholar, he has a saying about this…" The abbot cleared his throat and did his best to imitate his fellow monk…
"Empires rise because of talent, but not every son is as good as his father, and when empire's fall, it is because of those inevitable lapses of talent, the inescapable problem of inherited rule, that goes on from one generation to the next." The abbot said and then scratched his cheek, his face flushed a little red, "Not to say anything negative about your Majesties, of course. It's just something he said about the Empire's history. You can always trace a collapse to an idiot unfit for his job."
Brain rubbed the lobe of his left ear between thumb and forefinger, "Well, it sounds true but… I'm no scholar. Just a lucky-" Zesshi interrupted and cleared her throat.
"- very lucky swordsman." Brain finished and his wife smirked a little and tilted her chin up with smug appreciation of his added praise.
"That, My Emperor and Empress, describes the first of all Kings." The abbot said, and then he turned to the side and waved his way toward the gray stone walls that made up their home and place of work, "Now, if it pleases you, I'll take you to the Scholar's door, the Princess can go play if she wishes, we have new horses in…" He dangled out the possibility, and Layali looked up between her parents.
"Yes." The two said, and added again at the same time, "But be careful!"
It was needless, while Layali could be injured, even grievously… as her body evidently rejected death, and healers were always on hand, any problem… wasn't.
Which did nothing to stop either from cautioning her.
"I'll be careful!" She promised, unsure even for herself whether she was lying when she took off at a run toward the stables.
Volume 8 C3
Dominic Ihre Partouche wore a heavy frown on his face while he sat 'alone' in his office. "How seriously should I take this, Yarvin?" Dominic asked of the elf at his side.
Yarvin closed his eyes and took a deep breath, whenever his master asked him a question, it merited the most sincere answer. Dominic waited, after a lifetime, he knew Yarvin's answer would be well thought out, and having shared every scrap of paper and report with his boyhood servant, he had high expectations.
Yarvin finally opened his eyes and set the glass of wine on the desk, two fingers width away from his master's grip. "Master, I say this with the understanding that it in no way implies any desires of my own. I have been with your family since I was rescued from the Hodges, and I will never, ever leave the service of your house. If they wish to take me from here, they will have to drag my corpse from your side."
"I know, Yarvin. I know." Dominic answered the elf in a gentle voice he never used for any others of Yarvin's race and took up the glass. In the office of Dominic Ihre Partouche, there was one difference from all the rest of the estate. Every room of the house had a whip on the wall, though they never needed to be used, their presence was reminder enough. None of the elven servants defied the master of the house. But the wall of his inner office had no lash on display, ready for use. The walls had only art, paintings, and the occasional award from his service years. There was no implement of violence or control, and there was no need, because no elf was allowed within the office except for one.
"Master," Yarvin said, "I believe you should take this very seriously. The nations all around us are offering a safe haven to runaways. Years ago, the Draconic Kingdom depended on us for their survival, now they turn up their noses and rely on the forces of the Allfather. King Mare's forces keep all raids by would-be slave takers at bay without any success. And the traitoress of the divine has taken the Captain hostage. Even Zesshi has turned on us." Yarvin crouched down and put his hand on Dominic's lap, it was an unthinkable act from any other elf, but from Yarvin it was as natural and comfortable and welcome as that of a favorite uncle to his nephew.
Dominic nodded, in a few lines, Yarvin summed up half their problems. "The other scriptures were sent to rescue him and kill the Queen of Frost. If they succeed, the whole of their little pseudokingdom will collapse. When it does, everyone will see that those really are just slightly intelligent beasts… they'll see… they have to."
"Master, did you hear what you said?" Yarvin pressed with a quiet voice, his luminous eyes no longer blinking at the unthinkable.
"What?" Dominic inquired, caught off his guard by Yarvin's quiet intensity.
"Master, you said, if . If they succeed." Yarvin pointed it out, and Dominic sucked in his teeth.
"I did… didn't I." Dominic's dark eyes shut for a moment and he tried to imagine failure. It seemed impossible for the Black Scripture to fail, but if they did? The world lay out before his mind's eye as if he were Thousand League Astrologer, not over distance, but time as the implications came down on him.
' The black, defeated or captured, all our best weapons gone, they're equipped with treasury weaponry, we'd lose so much. We have no allies left, even with our army being strong as armies go, we can't defeat every surrounding nation and impose our will. Not without champions on par with theirs, and the Allfather's forces are at least as strong as our best, and he is vastly stronger than…' The path of war laid out before Dominic Ihre Partouche, Cardinal of the Theocracy, he saw the fields of Wheaton burned to cinders, Kami Miyako starving as the Kingdom of Carne simply moved its armies just over the border and occupied the vast Latifundias and set the elves free by force. Ikari's Iron Governor couldn't hold back a nation by itself, the distance between the two places was short, and the Wolf King and Queen were now experienced and well prepared for war.
The Elf Kingdom under King Mare was a de facto province of the Allfather so no new slaves could be captured from there officially without war, a war Dominic tried to imagine winning… ' I can't… I can't picture a victory, not without all of humanity united against him and even then…' Dominic lowered his eyes, set his glass down, and then rested his now heavy head into his hands. "Even if we succeed in getting the Captain back… and killing the Queen of Frost, there's no getting us out of this, is there? We're going to have to do something drastic."
"You mean to abide by their demands?" Yarvin asked.
Dominic tugged at his dark hair, "I think… yes, sort of. Right now they're demanding prisoners of war be returned, since the war is over. How many slaves does that make?"
"Master, in the last one hundred and twenty years of war, the Slane Theocracy has taken thirty thousand-five hundred-seventy-two prisoners of war from the elf Kingdom. They mostly work in the large latifundias around Wheaton and Ikari, but a substantial number serve in… other capacities. Small farms, crafts and trades." Yarvin answered immediately.
"And if we were to do as the elf Kingdom demands?" Dominic asked.
"Then the wheat would lie unharvested in the fields." Yarvin answered at once. "The Slane Theocracy would either starve or…"
Dominic swallowed the lump that put into this throat, his fingers tightened their grip on his scalp, "Or we would have to force humans to do it. We would have to make slaves of humans… or we would have to start importing food. Tonnes of it. We would lose our main export to the dark elves and become an import nation… dependent on outsiders and…" In that moment, Cardinal Dominic il Partouche, saw worse than the death of his nation.
' If we died in a fiery glorious fight to the end… the light of our memory would inspire mankind for generations and ensure humans would one day rise again. But this… this isn't a glorious warrior death. This is an old man's gasping pathetic whimper… and what if we refuse? How long before the other countries arm the elven slaves and start a war?' The more Dominic thought, the worse things looked, the demand that the prisoners of war be returned was as good as a demand that the Slane Theocracy ruin itself. And that was without considering the next likely demand.
' The release of all the elves…' Dominic looked out of the corner of his eye toward his side where Yarvin still crouched. "I cannot help but think, Yarvin, that when we began to take the elves, the ones to do so… they were fools. They decided to ride a tiger, and never wondered how they would let it go or get off of it when they got where they wanted to be. If we release the slaves, we will have to make slaves of our own, no human would willingly do work that has been labeled as 'slave work' for this long. We will destroy our economy and make ourselves a low, dependent nation… our pride… cast down into the dust… everything will be ruined. And if we don't… we may be ruined anyway."
"Master, you're wise, hot tempered, but clever, cunning… there has to be an answer… Perhaps if you called a few of your comrades together away from the burdens of government? Have them for dinner, drink with them, speak to them the way common people talk politics in the market. Away from the burden of decision, maybe they will be more creative too?" Yarvin suggested, and Dominic took a heavy breath.
"Yarvin, this isn't just you trying to find some way to get me to relax a little, is it?" Dominic asked, politely overlooking the true statement about his temper.
Yarvin stood up and poised himself as the regal butler he'd been for over a century, "Master, I'm sure I would never think of that as my motivation… it is merely an added benefit ."
Dominic snorted and straightened up, resting his back against the leather center pinned against the dark wood. "Then yes, invite the other Cardinals, tomorrow if they can make it, there's no work then, so maybe… just maybe we can navigate ourselves through the thicket of thorns without bleeding ourselves dry."
"I'll have the invitations prepared at once, Master." Yarvin said, bowed, and made his way out of the private study of the Cardinal.
Volume 8 C4
Neia awoke feeling the hand on her chest. ' How… dare… he!' She wanted to roar, until the sudden outrage woke her all the way up, and she felt the hard body of her lover nestled against her, her tail wrapped around his leg and his obvious maleness still nestled where she remembered from the previous night. She smirked a little, ' For just a moment I thought I was back at some camp in the Holy Kingdom and someone got bold with me…' Her eyes shut with sluggish contentment and she pressed herself back against him again.
' It feels so good to… sleep in.' She corrected her own thought before she could venture down the path of lewdity and do something to awaken Cenna, his body's warmth contrasted with the coolness of her skin, and she grabbed the arm draped over her chest and drew it down over her stomach… stealing some more of the blanket as she did so.
Neia smirked a little, the large bed easily had room enough for a half a dozen people, but they lay together in the center of the thick mattress, surrounded by stuffed pillows that would very definitely need to be washed or cleaned with magic when they finally did rise.
Of course, though her eyes were shut, her mind was racing ahead to the duties of the day. ' Today we have to capture his friends… by the dead gods I hope I don't have to kill any of them…' There was a dour thought. Her promise to try to preserve the lives of the Black Scripture was made in sincerity, ' But so much depends on them. Even if he plays his part, will they act for him or the mission?' Neia had no idea, and if he was being honest, she was more than a little certain that Cenna didn't know either.
Her heartbeat was slow as a snail's crawl, but it quickened to that of a person running at high speeds when she imagined the worst case scenario. ' The Black Scripture, dead, their bodies strewn about in front of us, Cenna's face twisted in anguish, and looking at me with those beautiful deep eyes filled with hurt and accusation… I could protest, but if I fail, would even I believe myself?' She wondered about that, and her body lost its lazy languidness, her claws dug a little into his arm.
"Did you have a nightmare?" His hot breath carried the whispered words into her ear.
"Yes." She whispered. It wasn't much of a lie, but it wasn't quite true either, as it was the waking sort of her own making.
"Always the worrier." Cenna's voice was smooth except for the slight groan as he pushed himself up on his side, casting back the thick black blanket. "Relax, I know my friends, my comrades, like nobody else. Remember," he said and patted her thigh, "I was right about who they put in charge, and right about what they would do. Plus they're operating on the latest maps that Thousand League Astrologer can give them. They'll go the way I said, and they're no match for what will be waiting for them."
"I just don't want you to turn on me…" Neia said and when his hand went up to her shoulder, she covered it and looked back at him, "I'm a Queen, and I have dragon's blood, so naturally I'm very greedy. If I lose you-"
"You'll burn down the Slane Theocracy?" He guessed.
It was a joke, but her ice blue eyes showed no sense of humor. "No… maybe… I-I honestly don't know. I've never loved anyone before. It wasn't that long ago that I wasn't even sure my own parents liked me. If this goes wrong and your friends die-"
His fingers became a vice on her shoulder and she felt herself falling backward into the soft mattress, her eyes barely had time to widen, nor shed any tears of fear or anxiety, he was on her then. His mouth at least, covering hers in a kiss. Her lips which were parted in surprise, remained parted for his welcome, if unexpected touch. He kept the kiss going and tongues dueling for a full minute before he broke it and sat up again.
"They make their choices. All I'm giving them is a chance. You can't blame yourself, and I can't blame you, if they don't take it. I promise." Cenna said and squeezed her shoulder, " I pro-mise." He repeated the phrase with slow emphasis.
Neia relaxed, and when his hand came away from her shoulder she sat up again. "Thank you." The Queen of Frost said, sliding toward the edge of the mattress, "Then we should get going, it's just about sunrise now," she glanced toward the window where the light of the false dawn was just beginning to peep over the horizon, "and there is still a lot to do. It was nice to sleep in for once, I can't remember the last time I was able to be so lazy."
Cenna snorted, "Sleep in, she says. It's only been about four hours."
"Like I said, we slept in." Neia said and went to a dresser, "We should take a quick bath, but we've already overslept and we're probably going to sweat in a little while anyway, so we'll do it when we get back," she leveled a clawed finger at him when the smile spread over his face, "don't even think it, pervert . I mean a real bath."
He didn't have the sense of shame required to blush, but he did have the shamelessness required to give her an exaggerated and crestfallen look, like a puppy looking at a treat placed just out of reach. It was impossible for her to feel infuriated with him. But she did remain focused on the matter at hand. "We'll get a bath after we return, get you into your 'captive' attire, and go get ready. With any luck, the only Black Scripture member not with us will be Thousand League Astrologer. At least for now."
She said and reaching into her wardrobe, she tossed her own clothes onto the bed, and then reached into the newer dark wooden wardrobe, filled with clothing made for Cenna and tossed him his Black Scripture clothing, the only thing missing was his spear, which sat in the weapons rack beside the bed, just in front of the bow given to her by the Allfather.
"These are my regular clothes." He said, then asked, "Do I need the spear?" Cenna asked while they began throwing on their clothing.
"Of course they are. And as far as they're concerned, you're my prisoner. And as for the spear?" She shot him a long stare and said abruptly, "Not if you're right." Neia answered.
When Cenna finished securing his boots and yanked the laces tight, he went to the wooden rack, and grabbed his spear before following the Queen of Frost out of the bedroom and into the dim hallway of her castle.
AN: This is up to chapter 29 on P8tr30n and up to chapter 28 on discord. In addition I'm working on two other novels, 'Evolution of a Nobody' (Volume 3) and 'Family of Blades'. Also, to celebrate having sold over 500 books on Amazon, I've put a bunch of my ebooks on sale for cheap. To find my author page on Amazon, just search for one of my most popular books, 'Who Endures: Strange Lands' and it'll come right up. Thanks for your support. And if you're wondering when I'll resume updating on FFN regularly? I'll post all of volume 8 of TOWS on here when I've finished writing it. Volume eight is 'intended' to be the end. Though I might do a side story set in the draconic Kingdom.
Earlier today I did a short vignette of Ainz and Albedo coming to the New World alone a few years after the start of the first canon volume, kind of liked it, might revisit that after this one is over.
Volume 8 C5
King Mare I stood fidgeting on his feet. At his left and right were two young elves who looked down at him with the reverence used to look up at living gods. Their busy hands were fussing over his royal robes, cut from the remnants of the former elf King's clothing. It was flamboyant to say the least, with bright green ruffles and flowing so that it hung loose around his slender arms and legs, every step sent air rushing up against bare skin.
The one difference was… the clothing in which he was dressed, included a skirt rather than pants. Though the skirt wasn't quite as short as he liked, it was a small concession to what seemed to be 'fashionable modesty' among the elves since the death of their last monarch.
"A-A-Are th-th-the invaders d-dead?" He asked without looking at the advisor behind him. The elf out of view was old by elven standards, having the first hints of gray hair on his head, his build was surprisingly good, now that he'd stopped missing meals.
It was true for every elf Mare came across. ' Even though they had lots of food, they were skipping meals out of stress or they were trying to make themselves unappealing to the former King. Everyone is looking better now. I hope Lord Ainz will praise me.' He thought contentedly, while he held no special love of the wood elves, or anyone outside of Nazarick, his passive indifference, juxtaposed against the cruelty and contempt of the late elf King, made him a veritable god-saint in their eyes.
"Yes, My King. But the survivors lived to confirm that they were in fact acting entirely on their own, hoping to make a quick profit selling captured elves on the slave markets. They were not affiliated with the Cardinals at all." The advisor promised, and it was a promise he could make with confidence. ' After seeing them eaten alive from the inside out until they confessed everything, I doubt very much they could have kept any secret, no matter how loyal they were.'
"G-Good. C-Cut their bodies into six p-pieces a-and nail them to wood, p-put the head on a spike, m-make them sp-spreadeagle. Th-then p-put all that on the pa-paths the hu-humans would use. M-Mkay? A-And ma-make sure there's a sign. S-So everybody knows wh-what they did." Mare's stutter, contrary to expectation, didn't weaken his words in the slightest. Instead when he looked back with his luminous eyes, they seemed to be like a monster's looming from above. "I-I can't b-burn the c-country. Bu-But they ca-can't think th-that is okay t-to do."
"Of course, My King." The aged advisor bowed deeply at the waist, and the young women attending to the King giggled contentedly. The new King's policy of absolute brutal and lethal retribution toward attempted slavers was a popular one.
"An-And did th-they get anyone?" King Mare asked.
"A few isolated individuals close to the border seem to have gone missing." The minister said with a cough, "No more than a dozen."
King Mare took that in, in silence. "Wh-What is the na-name of the hu-human Cardinal wh-who is not fr-friendly, b-but will listen?"
"There are three. Maximilian, Berenice, and Yvon. Cardinal Raymond is a reformer, Cardinal Dominic a militant, Ginedine is an unknown. Maximilian, Berenice, and Yvon are the least friendly that are still reasonable. Why, My King?" The minister asked. "Am I to draft a letter for you?"
"N-No. But I w-will be g-gone for a f-few hours." Mare said.
They never got the chance to ask where he was going, the portal appeared, and he stepped away before the attendants could even finish properly dressing him, and he was gone.
Berenice smoothed out her blue dress, it was striped to disguise her plumpness, with white ruffles running vertically from her breasts down to her feet, her short hair done in a bun and her mirthful eyes turned critically toward herself in the mirror. ' I still can't believe Dominic invited us to dinner.' She thought to herself for the hundredth time. The stodgy ball of fire wrapped in flesh was not known for entertaining in any context, and yet… here it was, an invitation.
The mystery of his actions kept her mind active and whirling with ideas, most of them less than pleasant, but all of them distracting.
So distracting that she had to blame those for why she missed the little elf boy who spoke from behind her before stepping into view of the mirror. "So, you're Berenice, right?" He asked.
She all but jumped out of her skin, he was a beautiful child by any standards, blonde hair, tan skin, heterochromatic eyes and a big, toothy smile which matched the chipper voice. She leveled her hand down with palm out, ready to annihilate the child. "Who are you, I don't own any elves… and if you're looking for h-" She stopped, he was too well dressed to be an escapee of any kind. One look at the pants and vest, and she could identify that they were rich with magical properties. Plus, he'd asked her name.
"I-I am Berenice, yes." She confirmed while narrowing her eyes.
"Good, my brother wants to see you. He says you're smart and reasonable. So you're coming with me." The boy commanded with that same gap toothed grin.
' Rude to order his elders…' She was about to rebuke the child on those grounds before she saw him make a fist, and then the world went dark. She felt herself fall, and her body scraping along the floor.
"Don't worry, you're going to live, he just wants you to see something." The elf boy said, before she lost all consciousness.
She awoke later… much later, she thought. It was morning by the look of it. "Wh-Where… wh-who…?" She held her head and her eyes popped open as the last memories came back to her.
Her wrists weren't bound, and in front of her stood two dark elf children. "Good, you're awake, take it away little brother." The elf boy said to the… girl?
"Th-Thank you Au-Aura." The girl said, clutching a wooden staff in her hands and shuffling her feet.
Berenice became ever more confused, her eyes darted around her, she was standing on an unfamiliar cliff on a long mountain range, snow seemed to fall constantly, the gray stone covered in white, down below was a near endless land that was no more familiar than anything else.
"Y-You're f-far from home. I-I am K-King Mare the First. Ah, I brought you h-here to s-see something. A-And b-before y-you ask. I'm a boy ." He said, and the Cardinal looked at the pair with open mouthed disbelief that stunned her into silence.
"Y-Your humans- th-they took a d-dozen elves as sl-slaves. W-We're at p-peace an-and the-they didn't d-do it for y-you. But still!" Mare's eyes seemed to grow larger than the mountains as his killing intent crashed down on Cardinal Berenice. "The-they belong to Lord Ainz!" The voice was a whispered squeak that sounded more like the roar of a thousand angry dragons in her head.
"Y-Your country is gonna s-stop it! An-And I want them b-back! Understand?!" Mare shouted while squirming against his wooden staff.
Berenice's mind raced and jumped to the only question she was sure of. "Where are we?"
"Ah, a long way away. I ch-chose this place b-because nobody lives h-here." Mare answered.
"So… why does that matter?" Berenice jumped at the next easy question to ask.
"So y-you can see wh-what I'll do to your c-country i-if I don't get back th-the stolen o-ones." Mare straightened, turned on his heel, and leveled his staff at a mountain top.
Before Berenice could ask, a wide circle appeared over the top, followed by another, then another, then another… until nine circles of vibrant blue circled the mountain peak.
"Greater area of destruction. World disaster!" He cast the spell without a stutter, and a single bright blue beam shot down from one circle to the next.
For a moment, there was nothing, ' That was disappointing… after all that build u-' Berenice's thoughts came to a screeching halt when the detonation happened, seemingly from inside the mountain itself. The explosion rocked the world, or so it seemed, snow was scattered and rocks the size of small castles flew in every direction, smashing into the ground in every direction.
Worse, the rocks were so hot that the gray became white and they began to melt and the hiss when they struck the snow below reached her ears like a cheering crowd.
"I-If I don't h-have them b-back un-unharmed, w-with the cul-culprits in on-one week, I w-will do that to Ka-Kami Miyako. A-And y-you have to st-stop the humans from do-doing that again. A-And if a-anyone h-hurt Lord Ainz's th-things. Y-You have t-to give u-us th-the off-offending hands t-too!" Mare said in a squeaky little voice, he held the staff close to his chest, and the incongruity between his words, actions, and mannerisms were such that Berenice's head began to hurt.
The blast of heat and air from the ruined mountain, which was now nothing more than a crater amidst the great ranges, either made it the most convincing illusion she'd ever experienced, or it was real.
"I-I'll see what I can do." Berenice promised as the chill in her heart settled into place that was worse than the cold of the mountain heights.
"G-Good. S-Sister, can you take her back home?" Mare asked, "I-I have things to do b-back in Crescent L-Lake."
"Yeah, yeah. Sure thing, little brother." Aura said with a snap of her fingers and a cocky smirk. The gate opened a moment later, and Berenice felt the unbreakable grip of the little elf girl on her wrist yank her bodily along toward the vortex, worry rising in her breast as the Cardinal contemplated the existential horror of the circumstance a handful of greedy slavers put their entire country into.
' I will have to be very convincing.' She told herself when the elf girl vanished and she was left alone in her room again, the snow already starting to melt and fall off her dress while the memory of the last few minutes seared itself like a brand into her brain, never to be forgotten.
Volume 8 C6
"… So, I'm sorry, I just don't know for sure." Calca explained to the demoness.
Albedo hid her disappointment behind the cup of tea she sipped as Calca explained what she knew. "They're so secretive, I shouldn't be at all surprised."
"That's true, when our nation broke off from theirs, things were tense, the treasures we got were few and none are recorded to have been 'world items' I'm afraid." Calca gave a slight shake of her head and glanced out the window, Albedo unconsciously mimicked the gesture, and for good reason. Out in the courtyard the Allfather was tumbling with his three children, Albedo's twins and their slightly older half sibling. His laughter was rich and seemed sourced in some kind of existential happiness that Albedo couldn't quite understand, it came out every time he looked up at the sky as if he couldn't really believe the world existed at all.
"He has quite a laugh." The Holy Queen said with quiet appreciation, "It's hard to believe he's real, sometimes. Most Kings… most nobles… their children are mere tools. Happiness fleeting and rare, love, a secondary consideration. The family is a mere engine of security. But him? He doesn't see them like that, does he?"
"No. No he does not." Albedo rose and smoothed out her dress, she went to the window and looked down, Ainz knew his wives were on the upper floor, but in moments like this she was sure he wasn't paying any attention to her, his whole heart, his whole mind, everything about him was focused on the moment. Calca's estimation of noble families rang true, it fit the stories she knew as well, of the kings and queens of Yggdrassil. ' Evil to their own children… unthinkable. Do what you will to things with no purpose, but to your own? Even this world's rulers aren't as bad as the ones there, no wonder our Lord chose to remove us from that place. But this place, Calca is right about that… so many in this world are worth so little more than mere maggots, or less.'
"They're a lucky trio… but if I could ask, Albedo, why are you looking for something like that ?" Calca asked and rose to her feet, she stood beside the demoness, the only one in all the world she'd ever met who could be said to be more beautiful than she without question. It rankled less now that Calca knew that the Allmother of the growing Empire of Nazarick was created by a vanished God, but still, putting herself beside the Allmother, the Holy Queen couldn't keep at least a tiny pang of jealousy at bay.
"Why do you ask why I ask?" Albedo asked with just a glance out of the corner of her eye. Calca's hand rested on the glass window and her eyes were focused downward, Cocytus, their bodyguard and the children's instructor in the first lessons of the sword, could be heard offering shoulder rides to the toddlers, his halted, muffled voice was so familiar now that Calca could have read his mandibles even if she hadn't heard a word out loud.
"Because he is my husband. Because I care about him in ways I never expected to. Because he is my friend. Because he is the father of the only child I'll ever have. Because he is my King. Because I am loyal to the man who cut the rot from my country and secured us peace with the Queen of Frost. Pick any of those. Pick all of those. They are all enough on their own." Calca said with the voice of the truest of born royalty, assured in her rightness and undoubting in her straight posture, she didn't flinch from the silence of the demoness.
Albedo was sizing her up, Calca could feel it, the way the side eye went up and down, searching for something, analyzing something that Calca couldn't see herself.
It wasn't the first time the demoness had done that, most of their interactions seemed to include some small test before a gift or revelation was given out. Calca resigned herself to the fact that Albedo's protective nature of Ainz would never truly fade much, if at all. So she waited and focused on the scene down below.
The voice of Aurelion was loudest, he was the eldest of the trio, and quickest to claim the prize of the shoulder ride.
The smaller two waited their turn by climbing on their father's back and playing 'horsey'. What might have been undignified to the point of impossible for any other King must have seemed as right and natural as anything else to their father. Albedo made her choice.
"Because he was not always that ." Albedo answered and inclined her head toward Ainz. "He became human thanks to a Theocracy spell confined to a mana crystal. I can only conclude that they have a hidden world item."
Calca felt herself be shaken to the core.
"What was he?" She dared to ask.
"An Overlord, a race of ultimate undead, capable of using necromancy that surpassed your Surshana." Albedo answered at once, her decision made, she held nothing back and explained the story as she knew it from Ainz himself. "They made him this, and made him vulnerable. You've suggested more than once that he is a god. An astute observation, Calca. Because you were right. He is a god. A god confined into a mortal body by trickery while choosing to save a few lives on a whim and testing his power in this new world where he brought us to save us from destruction. For years we have experimented, and for years we have failed him."
A lump formed in Albedo's throat that she couldn't hide no matter her best efforts, "I failed him. Everyone failed him from the very first day we got here. Making him happy has been… has been how I have made up for it. Giving him children, helping him to rule what a God should rule by right."
Calca held her tongue even though she had to bite down on it to keep it from wagging, the pain shot through her mouth, but the bite was effective.
"We have experimented on many things, but no change is permanent, most don't even last for hours, a few last for weeks, but they're all impermanent. If we knew just what the Theocracy did, that might offer a clue to ending his vulnerability to time, to… simply choking. There was a half elf girl whose contributions offered some insight in regeneration, but nothing for transformation. We can keep him young with the apples of Idun, but what if they should perish? What if they're stolen, what if they stop working? A thousand things can go wrong. Up to and including him just choking on a bite!" Albedo held her hands behind her back and squeezed one fist inside the other enough to make the thin black leather gloves she wore groan at the pressure she applied.
"You… you want to restore him to being an undead?" Calca asked and tried without success to picture Ainz as a skeleton or zombie-like creature.
"No. He will not go back to that, I've accepted as much. My King enjoys this too greatly." Albedo tilted her head toward him, Ainz was rounding a circuit with his two younger children spurring him on with their heels.
"But whatever he might become, we can't fix this as it is." Albedo added, "So, do you have any ideas at all?"
The unspoken ' or are you useless' hung there regardless of whether or not it was said, or even intended. Calca bristled a little, despite their friendly arrangements and even comradely state that had evolved over the last few years, when Albedo thought of things to be done for their husband's sake, there would only ever be two categories. Useful and useless.
Calca's bristling didn't last, instead she formed her lips into a very small, knowing smile. "I do, actually."
Albedo's heart skipped a beat.
"Say it." She breathed the words like a holy prayer.
Calca crossed the tea room to a bookshelf and drew a copy of an old red leather bound tome from among the tight packed numbers of others. "There are stories of the old gods, beings that traveled over the long river from the far east, other than the six we know." Calca said and brought the book to the table where their tea sat waiting. The Holy Queen reclaimed her seat and set the book in the center.
She refilled the cups from the little white and gold trimmed pot and gestured to the opposite chair again.
Albedo sat in the slender carved 'ladies chair' designed for the dainty of frame, with its slight cushion on the back and on the seat itself and accepted the cup with only the appearance of interest in its contents while she sipped. She waited, that's all she had to do, when Calca got going, she really got going.
"Some of these gods told stories about 'campaigns' of another world that turned beings into gods. One became a god by sacrificing a million lives in his name… but was immediately killed by another outraged god. Another became a deity by the mere act of being worshiped by enough people. Supposedly a King of the Gold… whatever that means, was widely worshiped and had great power. But he never really became a deity. Or if he did, it didn't stop him from aging as our gods did." Calca said and rapped her fingers on the surface of the book.
"This book is the only one of its kind." The Holy Queen said.
Albedo looked down at it, the red leather cover was thicker than it should have been, and seeing the critical yellow vertical slits of Albedo's eyes, Calca put her fingernail under the leather cover and peeled it away to reveal the words, "D Player's Handbook & DM Guide Compendium, 5e".
"Why have I never seen this book?" Albedo asked, a mix of wild hope and outrage warred in her heart when she asked. "We were promised access to everything."
"And I gave it." Calca said and pointed to the bookshelf. "It has always been right there. I can only assume that the ones who tore through our library didn't think to see if we kept books anywhere else ."
Albedo began to calm, but as if she didn't notice how close Calca came to the demon's outrage, the Holy Queen continued. "Whatever happened to our husband, I can't answer, perhaps the crystal was tied to a world spell? Maybe it didn't work as intended because of who the Allfather is or what he was? But if he ascends to true Godhood, if he is acknowledged as a God by the whole of the Empire of Nazarick, maybe that will have the desired effect? At least well enough that he can make whatever efforts you're trying to accomplish more potent?"
Albedo quietly marked down Calca on the very short list of humans she had in the ledger of her heart of the humans whose lives she would never take. "Then we make it official? We declare him a god and our problems are over?" Albedo asked.
"If only it were so simple, Albedo." Calca sighed and flipped the book open. The spine cracked with age and the Holy Queen flipped through several pages. "A declaration by the player or NPCs under their control shall grant no bonuses. Only a campaign level event ordered by the Dungeon Master can result in low level deification, and only if prerequisites are met."
"What does that mean?" Albedo demanded, her fingers closed into a fist in her lap, but to her relief, the mystery vanished.
"I sat through lessons with this book, every would-be Queen or King does. And from what my tutor taught me, it means that the World itself has to acknowledge him, he has to do something that forces the world itself to change, that seems to be what a Dungeon Master is… another term for the world itself. Goodness knows why it's so obscure, but…?" Calca shrugged, "The old six were said to be close. Maybe an Empire is a start? Maybe if his worship is encouraged, the world will give him what you're talking about." Calca suggested, and her stern, squared shoulders slumped a little bit, or rather, 'relaxed'.
"I don't know. This is only a clue, a possibility. There's no certainty, but he should be praised as a God, even if nothing changed because of it!" Calca exclaimed, "He should be!" She repeated.
Albedo relaxed further as her understanding grew, and though she didn't say anything, instead choosing a quiet sip of tea while Calca made her declaration, the demoness could not have agreed more.
AN: Hope you've enjoyed. I've been busy with other projects lately, I released the fifth novel in my series 'Who Endures' on (rhymes with blamazon), and finished writing another original sci-fi story 'Adopted by Humans' featuring an alien dogman who lives as an exchange student on Earth with a human family. Very wholesome, found family stuff. 'The One Who Stayed' is one is still going of course. You can find more on my author discord. I'd post to FFN more often but honestly? I just don't enjoy it like I used to. Some of the complaints are just obnoxious.
'Gasp, a full length novel has two or three sex scenes, this is porn!' or 'They can just use all their power and do X' thus robbing the story of all action, plot, and character development. Obviously I do love feedback, even when it is a critique. It's just not fun to post knowing the bitching will come in. Who wants that? Of course some things just aren't to some people's tastes, but it's super weird in a fandom with a walking fetish vampire who screws her vampire brides, a horny succubus virgin who literally tries to rape and peep on the skeleton MC, and where the webnovel version of Shalltear turns Arche into a lesbian sex slave. Are we reading the same series? :D Who let the prudes in?
I'd probably still put up with all that just for the sake of people who really do enjoy it, but between that and my obligation to write commissioned and original works it's just harder to find the time for FFN. Of course, if you have enjoyed this story and want to support it as it continue on dot com slash tellingstories is where you can do that. Advance chapters go to both that and discord.
Volume 8 C7
Alain Beaumon took the first step over the border. The others were at his back, he knew that beyond question. His fingers closed with trepidation over his sword. It wasn't his first time over the border with the Abelion Hills, it was far removed from that. But this was different. Despite the protests of Necran Adama that the demihumans couldn't possibly have organized in any significant sense, field operatives like himself and the rest of the Black knew better.
Behind him, Cedran held his shields in his hands as tight as Alain held his sword. He could read Alain's thoughts as if the back of Time Turbulence's head were an open book. ' If that were really true, they wouldn't be raving about the traitor to humanity and all her various mischief.'
Stepping over the border seemed like nothing, one patch of grass was underneath their feet, they splashed through a creek so small that a human child could have spat across it, and when grass was beneath their feet again they were in another country.
But ten feet of grass and a treeline might as well have been another world. The air felt different, and each of them as they crossed felt the swelling anticipation in their chests as their heartbeats quickened, sweat stung their palms and their every sense went on high alert.
Quaiesse did his part when the last of them crossed, he leaned forward and raced ahead of his comrades, his narrow eyes darted left and right, his short blonde hair whipping wildly in the wind. In moments like this, running alone without his comrades, this was the only time he missed his sister. ' Clementine you idiot. Why did you run off that way? This is so much faster with two people than with one.' He asked the question as if he didn't know the answer. But whether he did or not was irrelevant, he raced for fifty bowshots to the southwest, then round in a crescent that carried him a further thirty out, and then rounding over a large hill which would let him overlook a demihuman town. Then it would be back to the line after having validated that there was no danger, or removed it, or found a way around it.
The Abelion Hills region however, had one more thing he liked. A thing he liked so much that every now and then, away from the others, he would indulge in. The pale trees of an almost honey golden shade swayed back and forth in the gentle breeze, the leaves were thick and ran in a rainbow of shades that from above, put the finest painters in the Slane Theocracy down to mere novices by comparison. But the real gem… Quaiesse stopped at one. "Just a quick breath." He told himself and closed a hand over a very tiny branch that protruded off of a larger one. The little branch snapped off, he plucked away the leaves and dropped them to the ground and then shoved the small stick past his thin lips and put it onto his tongue.
There was an explosion of flavor in his mouth, ' Sweetbark trees are the best!' He told himself, that one little branch would last most of the day and it wouldn't be obvious to his comrades that he had one. He closely guarded the secret of the sweet trees with their explosive honey-like flavor and the long time that could be spent just suckling them for their sweet inner juices.
' The others would never let me live this indulgence down.' He had to chuckle about that one, ' If they only knew.'
The area around the demihuman villages was mostly empty, the villages themselves however, one by one, he saw they were rapidly becoming towns, complete with low walls that controlled entry and exit, and worse… ' Those are stone spitters there… and snake people over there… Meggidians over there… different quarters, but all in the same town?' He kept himself downwind and out of sight, and made sure not to look at any one figure directly, keeping his eyes unfocused to take it all in and not let anyone get a sense of being 'watched'. He moved on quickly, his skin crawling as he watched the orderly comings and goings over an unpaved but very clearly well maintained dirt road with defined borders taking it west toward the Holy Kingdom and north toward the forest.
When he finally reached the tall hill however, he hit his first real snag. ' A tower? A stone tower, not one of those crap wood things knocked down by a stiff breeze and a bronze tag adventurer's drunken swing of a mace.' He wasn't exaggerating. The tower had a wide base in a circular shape that grew somewhat narrower at the top. Four snake people guarded the top, each looking in a different direction, each holding large recurved bows… another new and dangerous thing to see as they'd never used those before.
' That tower has to be fifty meters tall, good stone too, and worse…' He looked around for a possible source, there was none, at least not close by. ' The nearest quarry is a long way from here. The stone had to be shipped.' Quiaesse forced his sense of discomfort down from his throat and shrank behind the low hill before he could be spotted. ' Snake people can take presence in from the air, but if what they say is true then just the taste of a human's presence shouldn't draw their attention, not too much. But we'll have to navigate around that.'
The answer was obvious, the winding track that ran between hills were little traveled and he saw no road between the two areas yet. ' From there we can hit the forest and camp in the Peace Trees before we move on to the capital… and save our Captain's life.' Or so Quiasse told himself.
His return was more roundabout, and he found the party of Black Scripture just where they should be, split on opposite sides of a break in the woods, each one so well concealed that their fastest member could barely see any of them. ' If I can barely tell any are there, then nobody else can see them at all!' It was a prideful thought and it set his other concerns briefly at bay, a short moment's respite before he said, "We're going to take a different route. The risk of being seen is too great otherwise."
A slew of idle grunts answered him with acknowledgement and asked no questions of their comrade, they only followed their skillful scout and assassin, slipping silently behind him and racing along the hidden paths they would need to use to get them as close to the capital of Demalbion as they could without risk.
' Wait for us, Captain Tachoni! Wait for us!' They thought, and raced on silent feet toward whatever the gods had in store for them.
AN: Hope you've been enjoying this, I had it on temporary hold while I worked on some other projects, but it's back up and going again, albeit slower than before while I work on my new novel 'Ghost in the Cloud' and get the other novels ready for publication. If you want PDFs of my work then you can find it on my discord server for free, or if you'd like to help me write full time, it's on my patr30n at /tellingstories.
Volume 8 C8
Brain and Zesshi waited patiently while the monks dusted off the chairs that sat at an angle facing the Scholar's door. They were comfortable things, carved of a soft elm and polished to a shine, with a stuffed leather cushion against both the back and the seat, complete with leather wrapped armrests to make them just right. The two chairs sat unused outside the door for the last year, as they were reserved for the use of the Emperor and Empress of Baharuth to better pass the time.
Time spent talking through the wooden door.
"Welcome, Emperor, Empress." The voice said from the other side. "You've been well, I hope?"
"Yes. We have been, thank you." Brain tried to make his voice as noble as the one on the other side, Zesshi's hand on his thigh a moment later got him to relax tension he didn't know was there. The voice on the other side chuckled a little.
"Please, be at ease, Emperor. I am but a door to your eyes and who would ever worry about a door's thoughts?" The Scholar said congenially, and Brain discreetly coughed into his hands.
"Given that I sound more at home boasting in a tavern… and that there's someone a lot smarter than me on the other side of that door? I would." Brain said openly, and the voice within chuckled gently.
"Your Majesty is Your Majesty. I am but a humble monk, you brought peace to an Empire on the verge of war, unity to disunity, and wealth to the poor. My Lord and Lady, if you both sounded like drunken tavern hobos, the Empire would still be better for what you have done." The Scholar offered his reassurance, and it was the turn of the royal couple to laugh.
The silence held after that for several seconds before the scholar spoke again. "May I assume, My Lord, My Lady, you have come to ask me to leave my place and come to the palace?"
"Yes." The pair said at once from their seats.
"Ruling is hard." Zesshi admitted, "There are… complications. Rumors fly between us all, the Kings and Queens of kingdoms… we don't know how to respond."
"Rumors of what kind?" The Scholar asked, the note of interest high in his voice and feet within shuffled a little closer.
Brain cleared his throat and began to explain, "The deification of the Allfather has been talked about for years, in the Holy Kingdom there are several different priestly sects that have already put up shrines, and the Lizardmen at the lake have had a statue up to him for worship since he saved them from the frogmen. But the rumors are going wild now. At our last dinner with Queen Renner she asked about whether or not we had any temples acknowledge him. She smirked when we didn't know."
Zesshi clenched her fists, "That little know-it-all is far too cocky for her own good. But she'd never ask a question like that, not unless-"
"Unless she knew something you didn't." The Scholar finished when Zesshi's words stopped coming. "And now you want my advice about what to do?" He asked rhetorically, their silence was his answer.
"If the gods are good for anything, it has to be to provide wealth and strength to their followers. If they can't do that or won't do that, then it is only common sense that we adopt a god that can and does. Why shouldn't you abandon the six and choose the one if the one is better than the six, and the one is here while the six are not?" It was so coldly pragmatic that Brain and Zesshi traded a glance at one another as if to ask…
'Is he really a monk of the gods?'
"Th-The temples may not react favorably." Brain tentatively suggested.
"If you do nothing because somebody will be unhappy about it, you'll never do anything. Do the temples have the strength to stop you?" The Scholar asked.
"No, not if they were a thousand times stronger." Zesshi answered, "But-"
"Then let them be offended. Make a few examples if they respond badly, but remember… if you do declare the deification of the Allfather, any opposition can be squelched by calling on the power that annihilated forty-thousand imperial knights and slew all four of our greatest champions in one hour." The Scholar pointed out, "If anyone makes trouble, you've identified trouble before it begins, consider incorporating the temples into the apparatus of the state. The priests appointed by you, loyal to you, and paid by you. If you were to end the cost of healing magic that they now impose, you would have the people behind you, and who is left to rebel but powerless old men?"
Brain and Zesshi leaned forward at the 'door's' revolutionary advice, coldly pragmatic, it solved every concern of theirs almost immediately and with minimal risk to all their hard work.
'Genius. Pure, unadulterated, genius.' The Emperor and Empress shared the thought at once, goosebumps rose on their skin when the cold practicality was laid bare, when it was over and The Scholar was finally finished speaking, the voice beyond the door took a deep breath and concluded, "That is what I suggest."
"Are you sure you won't consider coming with us? You know if we did as you suggest, you would be under our authority and we could simply order you then, to come and join us in Arwintar." Zesshi said it pointedly and the Scholar was quiet for a long moment.
"If you do that," he finally said, a note of sadness drawn like sap from a tree, slow, steady, and seemingly eternal, touching his voice, "then you command my death, Empress. Leave me here, let this be enough."
Brain and Zesshi were both silent, The Scholar's words never sounded so grave in their ears. 'Is he that afraid of leaving here?' Brain wondered, it certainly seemed to be the case. But there was no evident reason for it to be found.
Before either of the royal pair could ask more questions, they heard Layali's voice come muffled through the door. "Hey momma, papa! It's the old man from the painting! But he's bald!"
They heard The Scholar shoot to his feet and whirl on his heel, "How did you get up to that window?!" He shouted with a mix of confusion and fear.
"Standing on a horse out here!" Layali exclaimed, they could hear the mischievous smile even if they couldn't see it. "Hey, how come you turned white… are you sick?"
The Scholar's voice seemed to lose all life. "No." He said, "I am dead. I am dead and you have killed me."
Before they could say anything more, the sound of locks and latches being undone reached the ears of the Emperor and Empress, and within, Emperor Jircniv muttered…
"We might as well get this over with."
AN: Yeah, I know, it's been a while. Honestly, I got burned out dealing with FFN. One too many shitty people being shitty. A while back I went from enjoying upload day, to finding it a chore after a string of negative behavior in comments and messages. But I stuck with it. Then one day it was the straw that broke the camel's back. Some fuckwit felt the need to say, 'I'm unfollowing this because there were two notifications and one of them was an author note. Now I don't begrudge him or her the unfollow, that's their prerogative. What got me was the that entitled little fucktard felt the need to make sure I knew they didn't want anything but what I could give them. All I heard was, 'Give me my free shit and fuck off, how dare you try to engage with people" and while I knew that person was not emblematic of everyone, it absolutely killed my ability to enjoy uploading on FFN, and that enjoyment never came back. It still hasn't. I already launched a literary career as my writing outlet, even hit the top 20 on Amazon for a couple of novels for a short time, I'll have twenty books out by the end of the year, uploading to FFN was simply something fun for a community I loved. But that feeling of enjoyment in FFN is still not back. Even right at this moment, this is a chore, I used to delight in looking at comments and hearing what people thought, even when they were critical. But now? I haven't looked in months. I'm going to go back to uploading this story to completion, bit by bit. But once I've marked the last of current stories complete, I don't honestly know if I'll ever upload anything new to FFN again. Side note, you know, somebody on my discord server ran the numbers, and across all my FFN accounts, my total wordcount totaled roughly 5% of all Overlord content on FFN. I thought that was kinda neat.
Anyway, obligatory mention, author discord invite code is on my author page. Also check out some of my stuff on Amazon such as 'Who Endures' or 'Boozehounds' or the increasingly popular series 'Adopted By Humans'.
Volume 8 C9
Berenice stood outside the estate of Cardinal Dominic, she was alone, her body was still shivering as if she were back on that mountain top. Off to the side, the carriages of the other Cardinals stood parked with footmen waiting for their masters to emerge for the journey home. 'I'm the last to arrive.' She realized, it wasn't a surprise. 'I did take the time to get those orders out… those have to be found… the only question is how to convince the others…' She felt the lump in her breast as if it were ready to leap up to join the one already in her throat. Cardinal Dominic's estate was the largest out of the six of them, and it was a running joke among the other five that it had to be in order to hold his temper.
'This will not go well… that stodgy curmudgeon's temper and his stubborn hard head are enough to drive the gods themselves mad…' She bit back the insults on her tongue and walked up the six long steps of stone to the front door. It opened before she even reached it and she saw the charmed face of Yarvin, the familiar slave of the Partouche family line.
"Welcome, Mistress Berenice, may I take your coat?" Yarvin said with a deep bow with his arms outstretched for her to drape it across.
"Yes." She said and removed the dark half coat that rested on her shoulders, she draped it across his arms and he quickly moved to hang it while he addressed her further.
"The others are in the dining hall already, my Master is keeping them all quite entertained, the meal has been held back pending your arrival, but the wine is freely flowing tonight, so please do not hesitate to ask… I daresay that Master Maximillian and Master Yvon are competing with Master Raymond in that department."
"Not Ginedine?" Berenice asked when Yarvin took position three paces in front of her and began to lead her down the long corridor that led to the dining hall. The first hints of music began to reach her ears, and Berenice almost missed a step. 'Music? In Dominic's house?!' She wondered about that.
It seemed impossible, the fire tempered man was not prone to smiling around anyone, not in all the time Berenice could recall knowing him had she seen it happen even once. Yarvin seemed to be the one to smile for him. She followed the slave without complaint and answered with her usual courtesy, the questions Yarvin cast her way, but she didn't really pay attention, and she was fairly sure he didn't either.
It was a polite nicety that well trained slaves performed to keep visitors to large manors from being in uncomfortable silences while they went from place to place.
Even if she did pay mind to what Yarvin was saying, or intended to, the truth was she was still seeing that mountain shatter again… and again… and again. Replaying in her mind on a constant loop that she could not cut off. 'What could that one do to Kami Miyako? Even the elf King. No… even Zesshi couldn't have done that!' Everyone knew that King Mare was powerful, and that he was openly a loyal servant of the Allfather.
'Was what he said a bluff? Is the Allfather behind that? Even if it is a bluff, do I dare call it? And if he carries it out, our country is finished! Even if he can only use that spell once a week, once a month… once a year, or even once a decade… his transport spell puts him out of our reach in between those times… and we can't survive without our cities. The demihumans can just move into whatever ruins and…' She stopped walking and stopped thinking as Yarvin reached the double doors that arched twice his height and pressed the right one open with the flat of his palms. He stepped aside for her to allow entry and announced, "Cardinal Berenice Nagua Santini!"
As banquets went it was an intimate affair. Necran Adama wasn't in attendance, the Pontifex Maximus was a notorious eccentric who refused invitations that took place on holidays at or after dusk.
The table was relatively short, having space not for dozens, but for in fact only ten, four to each side and one at each far end. The white sheet over the table was silk, and a blatant display of power and status, if not wealth. The display of 'wealth' came more from the attendants.
Cut eared elven slaves walked with eyes downcast bearing wine or silver trays with small appetizers meant to enhance the actual meal. In the corner, a quartet of four elven men played instruments as only masters could, centuries of experience behind them, they strummed their lutes and harps and only subtly added their own voices, a gentle breeze like hum that might have almost been words, but were not.
They were dressed in formal attire, the women in skirts that rustled when they walked and were slit at the thigh to show bare legs while still maintaining decency, the cloth they wore was gray, though those acting as direct servers were clad in black and wore white gloves so that their hands would never directly touch the bottles, glasses, dishes, or food meant to be consumed by the humans present.
Yarvin reached the chair meant for her which sat beside Raymond, and pulled it out. "Your chair, My Lady." He said, and as she lowered herself into the seat he pushed it forward so that she was directly up to the table.
Dominic sat at the head and stood up when she arrived. He raised a glass to her without hesitation, though his face was struggling, it seemed he was attempting to form a smile, like he'd never tried to use the muscles of his face to turn the corners of his lips up. "Welcome." He said as she tucked her napkin into her lap.
"Thank you, Dominic." She said, and before he could say anything more, "I met the new King of the elves two hours ago." She said it so fast she almost got ahead of herself.
Even the musicians ceased playing, every elf stopped moving.
Dominic looked at the elves around his room, "Everyone out except Yarvin." He said, their feet carried them silently out of the room, a rushing flood of footsteps and backward glances that were a mix of wild hope and abject fear born of their last king.
"What?" Dominic demanded again. "Please repeat that."
"I met King Mare, he had a demand, and if we don't meet it, we're going to die." Berenice said, and began the lengthy… and unbelievable explanation.
AN: Well it's the new year, I hope you're enjoying it so far, I had put volume 8 on hold for a while while doing a commissioned piece, but I'm going back to it again. I successfully published 20 novels in 2022, so if you're looking for new reading material, search for 'Adopted By Humans' which is one of my current series, and you'll find all my other work on my author page. You cana lso find new artwork, stories, and complete novels on my at dot com /tellingstories.
Volume 8 C10
"The Black Scripture members move quickly… I'm impressed." It wasn't a reluctant admission to make for Neia Baraja. Sitting on top of Olasird'arc's back wasn't necessary given that she had wings of her own. But there was no way the dragon would allow Cenna to ride alone. The frost dragon was particular about that kind of thing.
"They're the best humanity has to offer." Cenna said with pride, his arms were wrapped around the slender waist of the Queen of Frost, her leathery wings were wrapped around her body, and they proved far softer to the touch than the Captain expected. 'They're very tough things, but soft too…' He avoided any metaphorical comparisons and inched himself closer to her.
Neia's tail wrapped around his waist behind her, though there was no real fear that he might fall off, it felt good to do. The way his eyes held even the back of her head, the fearless look, the look free of judgment, fear, disgust… it still felt strange to her, and Neia's heart skipped a beat when he inched closer to her body, her tail tightened its hold a little. A normal person would have been snapped by the force of the hold, but for him it was no more than a tight blanket.
"I'll do my best… I promise." Neia said again as they watched from within the clouds. The hour was close, the forces of Nazarick were ready to deploy. The forces of Demalbion were waiting outside the next known resting place which Cenna revealed, a cluster of Peace Trees that were generally avoided by demihumans in the past since combat was prohibited there. 'How ironic that the humans made our own peace into a weapon against us… before there was a true 'us' at least.' She reflected quietly until she felt Cenna's arms tighten around her and his hot breath on her ear.
"You don't have to say that, I know you will. I know. Whatever happens next is entirely up to them. They can't win, they'll know they can't win, and I'll explain everything to them. If they choose to fight or run after that, you are not to blame." Cenna promised, and Neia's rapid heartbeat calmed a little.
Her anxiety wasn't completely gone, there was little doubt in her mind that her ally in the Allfather had forces that could crush anything the Slane Theocracy could field, but even so… 'The swordsman's chance… even with every bit of intelligence Cenna could give me, what if one of them is holding something back?!'
That prospect filled her with dread, 'I haven't even revealed everything I can do… nothing tide turning… as our first duel showed, but even so, I held it back. To know the hidden things that we keep back to save our lives is more intimate than sex. So he probably doesn't know everything… please… please… if there are any gods at all who love me… please don't let this go wrong. Please. I can't bear to watch his heart rip apart, don't make me kill his friends.'
Neia recalled many great and terrible dangers in her short life, many an ache that would never really go away, and now the only fear she had in her mind was… She released her hold on Olasird'arc, grabbed Cenna's wrist, brought it up to her lips, and kissed the back of his hand without a word.
He said nothing about the unexpected gesture, he just allowed her to make it, and then to place his hand back where it was.
"We can't go the usual route." Quaiesse said point blank when he returned to his friends. "They have towers up that we can't get past. I wouldn't be surprised if they had forts not far from their towns either."
A round of curses went up from the present members of the Black. "So what do we do? We can't abandon the mission. The Captain may not be hurt, but you all know Cenna. He doesn't do well sitting still, he wouldn't survive in captivity." Beaumarchais said and tightened his grip on his enchanted chain weapon.
"There's another way, we take the long way around, but it will carry us toward the Peace Tree campsite. If we get there, we can sleep for a few hours and then hit the palace of the traitor at night." Quaiesse promised, and for good measure, he snapped a twig and began tracing the path over the ground in the grass.
"We still can't be sure he's being held in the castle. It's just that he's seen a lot there under guard." Alain pointed out and put the tip of his sword to the dirt, he began marking places around the castle. "He could also be held in locations close by that he's also been seen going into and out of. He's also been seen in the company of… humans. Two of them. You can guess who."
"The Mad Eyed Archer and his wife." Corwin guessed. The strongest of humans drummed his fingers against his tree-trunk like thighs, "As guards? Or…?"
"Handlers would be my guess." Alain suggested, "From what Thousand League Astrologer said, they're treating him in a very friendly way, downright affectionate to him in public even. She doesn't know how to make heads or tails of it."
"Could they be as strong as the traitoress bitch? Like it or not, she bested Olasird'arc, a living, breathing, frost dragon. No ordinary human could do that." Corwin added the question, and for a moment there was silence.
Demihumans ran the gamut from very weak to monster level strength, their heroes were often stronger than the human counterparts, and though the blood of every Black Scripture member ran hot with a desire to test themselves against the very best, that their captain's life was on the line colored it all. Facing multiple demihumans and possibly humans that may have been on par with themselves while also rescuing one of their own?
It cooled the hot blood a bit.
"No." Alain said at once, "They're impressive, but no more than weaker adamantite heroes, not heroes among heroes. My point is that we want to make sure of where he is before we break in."
"Fine, we take the roundabout path, we scout the area with magic and try to get him out without being seen, I get where you're going with this, Alain. We'll avoid fighting if we can." Corwin, the Strongest Human, said and put his hand over his heart, "I promise."
When the rumble of agreement went up, they began to run again, with their scout at the head, Alain behind, and then each of the others in single file behind them.
AN: I hope you're enjoying this story so far, it's up to chapter 35 of volume 8 on dot com / tellingstories. Interestingly, my literary career is really starting to take off. Adopted By Humans reached #65 on Amazon and #1 in three different categories, it's been reviewed 38 times and has an average rating of 4.7 stars. Also, I recently released 'Who Conquers: Ruined Hearts' which is reworking 'God Rising: The Cult of Ainz' into an original work, and will carry the story all the way up through to 'The Trial: Journey's End' Now… before you say, 'you can't do that, Atheistbasementdragon wrote that! Well… I can actually do that, because I am atheistbasementdragon, and if you don't believe me, come to my author discord and ask me about it. Anyway, to those who have supported me along the way, I say thank you. After I've finished telling all the stories I have going, I do still plan on dropping off FFN, but that will be quite a while yet. I figure I don't want to leave you with unfinished works, and I'll keep them up even after I go. I hope the new year, and those that follow, treat you well.
Volume 8 C11
'You worry too much. You're clinging to him like he'll disappear if your tail relaxes even a little.' Neia reprimanded herself and tightened her heels into Olasird'arc's neck to spur him forward. In the thick clouds and gliding as they were, they made no sound and wouldn't be seen, but thanks to her dragonid eyes and Cenna's Godkin lineage, observing proved easy.
"They're doing just as I expected, we can go and wait for them." Cenna said and tightened his hold on her waist just as she relaxed her tail a little bit. 'After this is over, whatever happens… good or bad… hold her tight.' Cenna told himself, it was a strange thing to see someone so dangerous be so nervous. 'She was less afraid when the tip of my spear was over her throat, right then, she appeared almost peaceful, like she was tired and ready to fall asleep.' It was just at that moment when it hit one of the strongest men in the world, that the Queen of Frost never spoke of her life before becoming who she was in the present. Nor did her parents, all he knew of her in fact came from the briefings given to him from the Pontifex's files.
And with that realization, came the overwhelming desire to know more. 'I want to know everything… what forces in this world could possibly shape a woman like her, who could tend a dragon's wounds with such devotion that it called her his sister, that would first defy a nation, and a being called by some to be a god, before building one of her own… such a woman is going to be my wife? I might have to take fewer naps if I'm going to be a worthwhile husband to someone like that!' It was a moment of almost reverential awe to watch as the dragon took them out of sight, even without seeing her fearsome eyes he could feel them boring straight ahead, readying herself for whatever lay ahead.
'Have I done the same?' He wondered about himself, his own nature was no mystery, not to him, 'Happy go lucky, good times, good beer, sweet bark and naps with the occasional hunt… I betrayed my nation for her and I'm about to betray my friends… no. No! I've already done that, even if she captured none of them, everything I said without a thought is enough to neutralize them or ensure their deaths at any time by picking fights they can't hope to win! I've just been assuming that things will go the way I want them to! I've always assumed that!' By contrast… he recalled her meeting with the Allfather's representative, the careful choosing of who among her demihumans would be the best fit, the endless discussions and negotiations when the slender man from Nazarick wanted only the 'bodies' of the Black Scripture.
'I thought of nothing, I just assumed, assumed, and assumed some more. If she'd given in to the demon in glasses, what could I have said or done? If he'd played hard, could she have refused? I wasn't even in the room when she negotiated a trade… what did she agree to give him in their stead?! I assumed something simple but… oh my gods… I never even asked!' Cenna never once in his life cursed himself, born lucky and superior to almost everyone he'd ever met in combat, the best without even trying, and the weight of the world now crashed down on his shoulders while he stared at the back of the head of the dragonid.
There was no way for her to know the content of his thoughts at that moment, and for that, Cenna Tachoni was more than grateful, and in no small way, worried about what lay ahead. 'They will surrender! They 'have' to surrender! There's no way for them to win!' He told himself that repeatedly, and reached behind his back to rub the handle of his divinely given spear, the familiarity comforted him while the dragon went on.
Neia disengaged his hands for a moment and parted her wings. "Now hold tight." She said and before he could ask why, she jumped, Cenna reflexively held fast to her waist, and dangled so far above the ground that his heart pounded instinctively out of the fear of such an absurd height.
'Even I might not survive a fall from up here!' He thought and felt her body wince when his grip went a little tighter than she was comfortable with. However the Frost Queen didn't tell him to relax, instead she only floated down well out of view while the rest of the Black Scripture passed through a cluster of trees.
The air battered at his body in ways he didn't know air could do, the freezing cold was negligible when he could think of something else, but now that he was being hit full in the face and descending toward a ground that just kept getting bigger, his blood threatened to freeze as it never had against even the coldest of undead monsters.
When she finally came close to the ground, Cenna released a breath he hadn't known he was holding and put his hand to his chest, he leaned forward, bending over a little so that he was almost eye to eye with Neia and said, "If we could never do that again, my dear… that would be great."
She chuckled a little bit and said, "So I've been told that some dragonids mate on the wing, I'm guessing you wouldn't be interested? Supposedly the beating wings can make small hurricanes if the mating pair is strong enough."
Cenna tried to picture it and he looked at his wife-to-be with blatant desire etched on his face, she practically preened. "There, that perked you right up." She clapped him on the shoulder then spun on her heel to put him at her back, put her fingers between her lips, and gave a long, shrill, sharp whistle.
"Why yo-" He cut off his indignation with a stark, gallows humor laugh while the demihuman teams came into view. Tribal leaders, the strongest of the strong… and now the most loyal of Neia's followers, came into view.
"My Queen!" Hectowaizes Ah Ragara loped toward her, his massive lion body encased in intricately carved orichalchum armor, his thick, based adamantite tipped lance held ready with the point skyward. He lowered himself to one front knee and bowed his head. "Your forces are assembled and I have drilled them relentlessly, whether the humans arrive at the cave and are taken on entry, or are taken at their departure, the decision is yours, but the result will be the same!"
Neia's General brought his lance front and center to his body and close to his broad built human torso. Out of all the demihumans Neia knew, he was one of the easiest to relate to, a soldier and a leader through and through. 'Beating him was a narrow thing, if I hadn't beaten him by out maneuvering him and needed a commander of his caliber?' The unpleasant thought of a prolonged war in the Hills was a bitter taste on her tongue even though it hadn't happened.
The Orthrous tribal leader gave her a wink of his eye as if he could read her thoughts, and she… winked back. 'If I am ever killed, he is the best chance to ensure my Kingdom endures after I am gone, and if I have an heir to pass it on to, then he will be one of my heir's finest tutors.' Neia could almost see it now, a strong young son, winged and willful, the blend of his father and herself, it felt more like a vision of the future than an idle moment of imagination.
But one way or another, she had little time ahead to consider it. Behind the General stood his closest aides, the eldest heirs of the other tribal leaders. "You have a right to live. Kill if you have to. But if you can take them alive, do it. That is all, take your places." Neia snapped the order out, and watched as the small groups made for the Peace Trees. The hill nearby, unlike other hills, had an empty tomb within, the burial place once belonged to a now disinterned chieftain from a time when they ruled this place, and the entrance to his burial chamber, cut into the earth itself, still lay exposed from where it had been dug.
"So do you know anything about this place?" Cenna asked with idle curiosity.
"A little." Neia said and waved toward the dark entrance. "Just that he was incredibly rich and was buried with his wealth. Unfortunately he made the mistake of being 'famous' for his wealth, so his burial mound was barely over his head before his tribe was attacked, scattered, and his tomb looted by a neighbor. They're gone now, the orcs still tell the story of the Greedy Chief and how his love of wealth destroyed his people. If you ask me, humans could have benefitted from that story." She snorted and walked toward the trees with the others.
"Supposedly this grove once went up all around the mound, his idea to keep anyone from 'doing violence' to his body. What a stupid idea, I'd imagine at most they just 'gently plundered' his greedy corpse and were very gentle with every chunk of gold. Now all that's left is this large grove here." She gestured to the thick dangling white strands which swayed in the breeze. "I guess we should thank him, his stupidity and greed gave us a grove of trees that inhibits detection. The perfect place to hide from those who aren't expecting us." She snapped her fingers and her claws clicked when she did it.
"And remember, I only promised I would try." Neia added one more time as they vanished within the strands.
"I know." He assured her as best he could, resting a hand on her back before they all fell silent and waited to spring the trap.
AN: I hope you've enjoyed this one so far, I'll upload again in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, if you want to read something wholesome/fun/science fiction, feel free to pick up part of my new series 'Adopted By Humans' on Amazon, about an alien anthropologist living on Earth. Very 'found family' stuff there. The fourth novel comes out in a few days. Or the related series 'Boozehounds' set in the same Universe, but following an alien space pirate crew's shenanigans as they traverse the galaxy in a never ending quest to keep their ship's bar stocked in their war against sobriety. Also, if you do pick them up, do leave a review, it really helps with the algorithm!
Volume 8 C12
Tenjo Tenghe, Heaven & Earth, concealed a frown behind a mask. The white tendrils of cloth that were perpetually wrapped around his forearms were dyed gray, while his red clothing was dyed the color of charcoal. His green hair pressed flat against his head beneath a helmet that was almost skin tight.
The unfamiliar route set the fine hairs on his body to standing on end. 'Danger… you'd think I'd be used to it by now.' He rebuked himself for the feeling of being cowardly as he ran after the others. His primary weapons, his fists, were clenched white knuckle tight and the fingers cracked with anticipation of violence.
The green grass swayed in the breeze, the trees did the same, and it was easy… so easy, to forget where they were. 'None of the others seem to feel this way, so why me? What's wrong with me? Why am I the one who is afraid?' The monk class fighter asked himself and stared intently at the back of the Divine Chant, she moved with the lithe grace of an elf ranger or assassin, one could forget that she was a magic caster of great power. Ahead over her was the loping pace of the third seat, the man who shouldn't be. A full blown Surshana worshiper who blended necromancy with the healing arts to create horrible deaths or almost godlike miracles on the battlefield. His purple robes dark enough that they needed no dye to visually obscure, he easily kept up the running pace, keeping his long wooden staff secured to his back as he raced ahead.
'I wouldn't feel this way if we were taking the usual route.' Tenjo told himself the lie, knowing it was a lie, but it was so comforting to the tension in his body that he kept telling himself the same thing and the land changed around them, open field to forest and back again, in any other circumstances he might have called this place beautiful.
But somewhere ahead… 'Who knows what these animals have done to the Captain! Have they tortured him? Healing magic hides wounds easily enough? Who knows what a traitor to humanity might do to a champion of it? Even if we rescue him, will he ever be the man he was, again?' Tenjo's recollection of the man came fast as their sprint, his charming, boyish smile, always whimsical, even playful.
Like he'd never lost the boy in himself when he'd become a man, last to volunteer for work, but the first to jump in to protect his friends, and first to celebrate them all making it back alive… 'A man like that doesn't rise to the top for nothing…' Tenjo could practically feel the hearty clap on his shoulder, and the squeeze that would catch the eyes of Heaven and Earth, the little nod of reassurance that came without words. 'It will be fine.' He seemed to say.
And Tenjo's heart burned with fury at the ones who took his Captain away… and at himself, for daring to think of himself. 'How could you? How can you think of yourself at a time like this, how can you think of turning back now…?' He hated those impulses, and judged himself guilty for having them. In the courtroom of his heart, Heaven and Earth cast on himself a judgment of 'guilty' and sentenced him to death by rescue. 'Rescue him or don't come back… that is all there is to it!' He resolved just as they broke out of the trees. Their next waypoint was close.
The distant Peace Trees were in view, and the burial mound of an ancient orc before it, the swaying of the trees were like beckoning hands, calling the Black Scripture to safety in a place that even today, few demihumans lived. 'But if we don't bring down Tovijar and the Kingdom of Demalbion, how long will that be the case? How long before they put up a wall of their own and forts to support it and sneaking over the border will be impossible?' The thought came to Tenjo late, 'The others probably already thought of it… that's probably why the Captain was sent to kill the Queen of Frost… and of course I'm the last to wonder… always the last…' He closed his eyes and clenched his already tight fists, tighter.
"Come on!" Alain said and stood outside the entrance of the burial mound. His right arm raised and finger pointed within, "Get inside, we can rest for the night."
The column slowed to a walk at last, Tenjo didn't need to look at Alain to know that their titular leader in the absence of the Captain would be the last one to enter. He wouldn't go in until the others did. 'At least I'm safe for the night.' Tenjo told himself when Alain followed behind him, watching for danger at their backs, and with his own selfish thought came a wave of loathing that remained with Heaven and Earth long after he stretched out amidst his comrades and stared up at the dirt roof meant to shelter the dead. It kept him awake and wide eyed and staring at nothing well after the rest of his friends began to snore.
So he was the first to respond when the shrill whistle and thunderous shout reached them all.
"Alright, come out and surrender, and you'll all stay alive!"
It was a woman's voice, clearly, but Tenjo knew right away that she wasn't alone.
He jumped to his feet and struck a combat pose with right foot back and his fists raised, one forward ready to block, one back and ready to strike. The others were rising to their feet, they were crowded in the little 'safe house' combat was all but impossible. They'd just get in each other's way.
Cedran jumped to the entrance and lay his shield in the way to block any incoming fire while those with longer weapons rushed to flank him, their magic casters went to the back of the formation, and Tenjo looked all over the ancient burial sight as if he'd never seen it before, searching for a way out.
'We could blow it up, I think. But if we did that we'd hurt each other a hell of a lot and then where would we be? We're trapped like rats!' Tenjo cursed himself and his situation, he cursed the Theocracy cardinals for their short sighted decisions… his eyes and head darting everywhere even down to his feet as if the world might open up and swallow them all… but no one spoke except for the one outside.
"We know who you are, you're the Black Scripture. And you're here to take back Captain Cenna Tachoni… and I'm afraid I can't bring myself to let you have him. Surrender and come out, and I personally guarantee your lives!" The woman's voice called out again.
"Who are you that we should surrender? Your mother should surrender!" Alain shouted into the dark corridor that led out to their unknown adversary. It was a play for time while his casters sought some magical solution, and a lame one, but it brought an unexpected response.
"I'm the Queen of Frost, Neia Baraja, and with me now is your comrade, Cenna Tachoni. Along with us are the most powerful demihumans in my Kingdom, you are surrounded on all sides, there is no escape, and I'm trying really hard not to kill you. Please, in his name, give yourselves up." Neia shouted within.
"Bullshit! How do we know he's with you!" Alain retorted and waved his hands up and down to still the bustle of dismayed voices from the other Scripture members.
"Because I'm talking to you, Alain! How's that for an answer! Come on out and give yourselves up, it'll be fine, I promise!" Cenna's voice came to them as a light in the darkness, and no amount of shushing gestures or noises could calm the team down.
"Don't worry! We're here to save you! We're going to find some way out of this… we're the Black Scripture, damn it! We won't fall to some ugly monster turncoat!" Cedran shouted down the hall.
"I'll thank you not to call my fiance ugly, you muscle headed mountain with mush for brains!" Cenna shouted back.
"Fiance?!" The burial mound shook with the force of their shouts and a cascade of dirt granules rained down on them all.
"It's a long story!" Cenna shouted back defensively. "Listen, I'm going to come in, we have to talk face to face. Just me! No one else!" He shouted back, "Everything will be alright as long as you don't lose your heads!"
"The hell you are! They'll kill you!" Neia shouted at him, certain that they heard her and not caring either way. She put her hands on his shoulders, her eyes wide and wild, "They can call me whatever they want! I don't care! You walked away from everything for me! Who knows what they'll do to you if you do convince them you're telling the truth!"
Her eyes were typically narrow, vicious looking, soft gazes and lingering devoted looks were all but beyond the fierce dragonid that looked up at him with wild urgency, her claws digging into his shoulders would have ripped a normal man to shreds, but to him they could not have been a more welcome touch.
"Neia." Cenna said and gently grabbed her wrists, drawing them away from their hold over his body, he shook his head. "They're trapped. Every spell they can use can only hurt themselves worse than anyone we send in. The hill is surrounded, and I'm Cenna, one of the strongest men in the world. Strongest of the Black Scripture's regular seats. Plus they're my comrades, I can talk them down… just trust me."
Neia relaxed, but only for a moment, she whirled on the entrance and bellowed within, "Saving your hides is my wedding gift to Cenna! If there's no wedding… there's no wedding gift!"
The dismay within that her words caused, made it impossible to understand what any within were actually saying, but doubt and disbelief were evident enough.
Cenna vanished into the long curved tunnel and Neia raised her hand to hold it beside her head, "I hate to deprive you of glory, my followers… but those who stand and wait, serve me just as much as those who lead the charge. I will never forget who came to me today. Never." Neia vowed as her eyes welled up.
"Send the message to Nazarick, if the Allfather's subordinates are as loyal as I think, we'll have just the right backup to ensure everything runs smoothly." The Frost Queen gave the order without hesitation, and behind her she could hear the noise of the scroll burning up.
The 'gate' spell was as impressive as she expected. The whorling vortex of energy and darkness, a beautiful and impossible sight, instant travel greater than any teleport magic her education informed her of. 'If this were used for armies… logistics would never be a problem again. There'd be no point in worrying about supply lines, your warehouse would be as close to the battlefield as anywhere.' The implications of that spell were not lost on her, 'If we'd continued to fight him, how long would we have lasted with just this spell alone at his disposal?' His withholding it as a trump card revealed more about the nature of the Allfather than she previously knew, and Neia's estimation of him as a King went up. 'Revealing it now that we are growing closer as nations friendly to demihumans was the right call too. Using it to help us now that we know he could have used it to hurt us and held back instead?'
The more she learned of the Allfather, the more she found his thoughts aligned with hers, as did his approach to international relations… he wanted to build. And as they were both building nations, it only made sense that they would be natural allies.
'So, whom did Lord Demiurge recommend, I wonder?' Neia pondered the question with detached mental curiosity even as her heart ran a marathon in her breast as if it were racing toward her throat. 'I negotiated for the best, so what will that get me?'
A young girl, no older than thirteen or fourteen from the look of her, stepped into view at the top of the burial mound. As young girl's went, she was quite out of the ordinary, pale skin and eyes that could only have been vampiric, clad in thick blood red armor and bearing a long strange looking lance with a bulbous crystal just above the grip.
"Hello." She gave a polite wave of her lance, "I am Shalltear Bloodfallen. The Allfather said there was a bargain struck for quite a rare prize. Now, what am I to do to gain My Lord's praise?" She asked, she could already feel the warmth of Lord Ainz's hand on her head.
"If no one emerges from there," Neia pointed to the mound entrance, "in the next few minutes on my signal you're to capture everyone alive. If you can."
Shalltear cocked her head to one side, at first she was expecting an undead, but down below, she could feel the living even through so many feet of earth, and the vibrations caused by the shouting was tingling at her skin even within her heavy armor. 'How interesting… and ironic.' She thought and then turned her lance down to stick the point into the earth.
"At your signal, then." She said and waved her hand dismissively before resting it on her hip. 'Lord Ainz is sure to praise me after this… but what in the world could Demiurge want with that one?' She pondered as she looked down at the hybrid of dragon and human that stared intently into the darkness, her heart bursting within a cool frame, her blood racing in an unmoving body… 'Oh well, it doesn't matter. As long as Lord Ainz pats my head and praises me, I'd bring Demiurge anything he likes.'
AN: I hope you're enjoying this so far, I had a wee bit of a pause while I worked on some things, a lot has happened since my last update. I lost my job, sadly… or not. And as a result I'm now writing full time. I recently released the 4th novel in the series 'Adopted By Humans' finished the 5th novel, and have done a kicksstarter for the 6th. Look up 'Adopted By Humans VI' if you're curious about how that is going. If you want more chapters, faster, well you can support my p8Tr30n on pat re on dot com /tellingstories. I give away novels there for free. Of course if you want your own novel written, feel free to reach out to me. So much more could be said, buuuut, I'll cut it short for now, thank you for reading, and have a great day!
Volume 8 C13
Captain Cenna Tachoni walked with his hands spread out as if to embrace his old friends, his fingers scraped along the soft dirt walls and sending granules tumbling down to the hard packed earth which crunched underfoot.
"I'm here, I'm here and I am me." Cenna said when saw the oversized shield of his comrade. He kept his arms out and finger wiggling a little against the walls of the grave, tumbling little bits of dirt, all the way to the point where he was just out of reach of the Divine Chain. "See? Cast whatever spells you need to to confirm I'm not controlled. Then ask your questions. But make it quick, they won't wait forever."
The tingling feeling of magic, and its faint blue and golden glows as the spellcasters of the Theocracy's finest scripture inspected him in every way they knew, washed over him. And Cenna only stood firm and patient, his reproving face fairly daring them to doubt him further.
"It could be some higher magic that I don't know…" The Divine Chant said, only for Cenna to rebuke her with the words he prepared for this exact moment.
"Then why bother checking at all? You can always say that!" Cenna snapped back at them. That closed a few mouths before he said, "I'll make it quick, I've been friends with the Queen of Frost for years. All my vacations where you all thought I was out hunting near Ikari? Since I was thirteen years old I was visiting here. I befriended the Queen by chance not long after her takeover of the region and ever since then I've been her honored guest. After Necran gave his order… things happened and now I'm going to marry her. This is my country now."
"Then the humans seen in your company?" One Man Army shot the question out.
"Other than the Queen's parents? Mostly friends of mine I've made over the course of my visit. There are around fifteen thousand humans and even more elves just living here. Like I said, I've been coming here for a while." He laughed, "Funny story, for the first few years of my visits, Neia didn't even believe I was who I said I was. She just labeled me 'the ass'." Cenna's laughter was hard enough that he had to wipe away a tear, "I'm telling you, I'm fine."
"You… you betrayed the Theocracy? Humanity?!" One Man Army gasped and his hand reflexively went for his stilettos. Quaiesse Hazia Quintia had flashbacks to his sister's treason, his heart raced and he stared in shocked disbelief, only the hand of Alain on his shoulder kept him from drawing his weapons.
"No." Cenna said with a shake of his head, "If anything I'm hoping to save both. I can defeat the Frost Queen, and Necran believes that means they'd fall apart. But I'm telling you, I've traveled here, I've spent months here, I know the demihuman tribal leaders, and they're all prepared to swear allegiance to their greatest General if anything happened to her. They've felt the strength of unity and they will not let it go again. All I'd accomplish is giving the military to the greatest commander they've had in centuries… and I know he would simply turn his Kingdom into a province of the Allfather's domain after a brutal punitive campaign. Imagine a hundred thousand demihumans rampaging over the Slane Theocracy."
A collective of grim swallows went up. "Our cities-" Cedran was about to protest, but Cenna did not give him the chance.
"Wouldn't last a week. The elven slaves would happily open the gates for them, leave the fields of their masters… they don't even have to fight us. Just march around our country picking up slaves and harvesting our own crops. Neia laid out the plan to me the night of my proposal. If anything happened to her, Demalbion would hold us responsible… rightly as it turned out, seize our fields and our workforce, and then just starve our cities into submission, and if we did manage a fight, the next King was going to turn the country over to the Allfather on the condition of two hundred years of sanctions against us. Surrounded on all sides, no food… no workforce… forget two hundred years. We would be selling ourselves into slavery for food in six months."
"But that- that's diabolical…" Divine Chain shivered while Tenjho clutched the side of his head as the vision of the nightmare unfolded behind his eyes. City turning on city for food, entire populations selling themselves or their land to neighbor states just to feed themselves. 'Even with all of us, even without the Allfather's help we couldn't fight everybody.'
"And it's never going to happen." Cenna promised and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I love her. I'm going to marry her. I'm going to become the King here, and my wedding present from my wife is you. Or rather, your lives. You are guaranteed life and liberty… within this Kingdom at least, until the Theocracy sees reason."
"Wait… what?" Cedran rubbed his forehead, "We're-"
"No, not slaves, before you say it. Prisoners yes… but she's willing to parole you around the Kingdom, as long as you understand that your good behavior decides whether or not she invades the Slane Theocracy. You will be more like guests. Instead of assassins and invaders. Unharmed, alive, even keeping your weapons and… hopefully… attending my wedding. And when the Theocracy knuckles under, if you want to go home then you're free to do so." Cenna promised, then held out his hands with palms toward the ground and urged them with a gentle downward wave. "Now lower your weapons and come out peacefully. I promise, I won't let anything happen to you."
There was quiet amidst the trapped Scripture… then the shouting erupted all at once.
"Cenna! What will it be?! I hear shouting! Are you alright?!" Neia's shout of alarm reached his ears and he stepped back to shout in return at her…
"They're talking it over! It's fine… Nei-Nei!" Cenna shouted back.
"I do not consent to that nickname and you will never speak it again!" Neia shouted back, he could feel her face burning bright red even if it couldn't properly do so anymore, but out of the corner of his eye, he watched the effect it had on the shouting Scripture members, a few even ceased their arguing to stare dumbly at him over the use of the absurd nickname of the Queen of Frost… and her response to it.
"We have to be rational!" Alain shouted despite the distraction, "The Theocracy is on the line here!"
Through so much piled earth, they never heard the spell.
[Mass Hold Species] Shalltear said, directing her spell down at those below.
And the Black Scripture of the Theocracy, the cream of humanity's crop, the strongest of the strong and the greatest champions they could field… froze, toppled over, and landed in a heap having not even the ability to close their mouths to keep the dirt off their lolling, limp tongues.
"That was taking too long." Shalltear muttered from atop the hill and waved to the dragonid Queen, "Okay, go get them, nobody is moving. The spell will wear off between a few hours and a few days depending on how strong they are, can I do anything else for the Allfather's ally?" She gave a sweet smile down at the dragonid, who mutely shook her head before managing.
"No… no, that's plenty… thank you." Neia said, and waved her hand forward toward the entrance to the ancient grave. "Go get them, but… be gentle." She said, and her demihumans moved forward to obey.
AN: Thanks for reading so far, I'm working on a new commissioned piece and I'm about to publish the 5th novel in the Adopted By Humans series. If you're in the need for a wholesome story of found family stuff, give it a look. Alternatively, if dark fantasy is your thing, well try, 'Who Conquers' also on Amazon.
Volume 8 C14
Jircniv felt the weight of the world rise from his shoulders, as soon as the Princess recognized him. There was nothing to do for it however, he didn't even bother to curse his last scrap of ill luck. His feet in his rough leather sandals scraped over the stone floor and he sat down on one of the few pieces of furniture he had, and when he sat, he sat with his feet open, back straight, and hands relaxed over the dark wooden armrest. In short, he sat in the regal manner of a monarch born and bred to rule.
"I'll be damned." Zesshi said as the door swung open, her left hand came out and held it ajar to permit her and her husband to enter.
Brain let out a long, low whistle. "That's my line." He said when the whistle died.
"No. You can have that 'I'll be damned' or the 'whistle' but not both ." Zesshi retorted and the pair rolled their eyes in opposite directions from one another when they stepped within and the door was finally allowed to swing closed with a click as final as a prisoner's manacles.
Jircniv raised his eyebrow, "You two are not what I was expecting. I admit I often wondered what you looked like, and this…" He waved his hand up and down at the couple in front of him, "isn't it."
"What did you expect?" Zesshi asked, her eyes narrowed in on him, her hackles rose as she waited for the bigotry of man to come at her again, Brain's hand closed in hers and it was his gentle squeeze that kept the Empress's words and temper bound inside herself.
"I was expecting some… I don't know…" The former scratched his bald head as he looked the blue haired swordsman up and down, the broad shoulders… the sharp gleam in his eye… the full head of hair which the former Emperor could not keep from envying. And then his wife, heterochromatic eyes and hair alike, her lustrous hair seemed to dance at her back, constantly in motion as if pressed by its own private breeze. Their royal garments were more like 'dress up' really, and the way the royal pair moved, it was obvious the both were more comfortable in, ironically 'less comfortable' clothing. "I suppose I was expecting people more rugged, deep frowns, scowls. Something."
It was Zesshi who verbalized the sly grin on her husband's face. "Every reason we had for that is dead or declining toward it fast. We have no reason at all to be unhappy or scowling."
"And like you said," Brain added with a casual shrug that would have fit in within any barracks in the Empire, "lucky soldiers, something like that?"
"I did say that, didn't I?" Jircniv said and after lowering his eyes once to the floor he let out a second sigh, "So the conditions for this were always the same for me, victory conditions, that is," he cleared his throat and looked up at the Emperor and Empress, "I remain alive until I die of old age. Since that is no longer an option, my victory condition is a swift and painless death. You both won your status by the sword," he gestured toward Brain's katana, "and you're armed, so if it isn't too much to ask, could you make it quick and painless? No beheading, I saw that done once and the beheaded man blinked and moved his mouth like he was trying to speak for almost two straight minutes. That seems like a kind of private hell. One quick thrust into my brain should do it." Jircniv closed his eyes and relaxed, then waited.
And it was because he closed his eyes that he didn't see that the Emperor and Empress looking at one another with abject confusion etched on their faces.
"Why exactly?" Brain scratched his head through the thick of his bright blue hair, "You're the former emperor, not a sneak thief or anything…?"
Jircniv's eyes flew open. The confusion on the faces of his replacements was bright as day, his fingers tensed on the armrest, but only for a moment. His lightning quick mind was already racing as he reevaluated his victory conditions.
"I can see my face in the back of his head!" Layali giggled from the window, and in the moment where her parents blushed a little bit at her unintended mockery, Jircniv settled on the answer most likely to meet his 'new' conditions.
"Why because I hid my identity, of course. It's sort of implied that I'm lying given that I never announced myself to either of you." He said as if it were obvious and then coughed into his hand, "Besides, I didn't end on a popular note, so being seen with me might not be the best thing."
They were trivial offenses, 'nothing' offenses really, but the former Emperor did his best to keep a straight face while he waited for the chance their novice expressions would provide to him.
"Those don't seem like terrible offenses to me…? Zesshi?" Brain asked.
"I guess things were a little harsher than I thought before… that just doesn't seem like things to kill over…" Zesshi snorted, "Stupid too, if the person you're supposed to kill is good at something."
There it was. Jircniv kept his face passive and his tone lightly questioning, "I see, so then Your Majesties intend to pardon me for everything, and leave me with my life?"
"I don't see why not, you've been helpful the last few years." Brain answered impulsively. "Alright, you're pardoned for everything, you have the word of the crown."
Zesshi was only a hair slower, "It would be kind of a waste… but are you sure you won't come to Arwintar? I guess you not going makes sense now but… now we know." She said and clapped her hands together as if something were wordlessly settled.
"If a new face could be arranged, I'd be more comfortable with that." Jircniv said, ' As if something like that could be done, an illusion won't do since that can be broken, and then I get to stay here secure. I can probably even get them to keep quiet. Victory achieved!' He thought and suppressed the urge to crow when the new royalty looked briefly disappointed.
"Oh that's easy!" Layali shouted from the window, "Mr. Demiurge knows how to sculpt faces, he's been practicing a lot, I'll bet if I asked a favor they'd give you a new face! It might cost me an arm and a leg, but it's okay because they always give 'em back, with ice cream!" She laughed and licked her lips, and Jircniv cursed himself.
' I spoke too soon… but then again, a new face is total freedom…' He realized and snapped the unexpected opportunity up. "If you're sure, then… yes. Yes, I'll go back, all I need is a new face and a new voice to go with it."
"That's easy!" Layali promised. Jircniv didn't need to see her to know she was smiling. Still, he resisted turning around despite his curiosity, the girl had long been just a voice through a door who asked a bombardment of questions and slid jelly candies through the door slat in exchange for answers.
For the longest time he considered her a way to just pass a few hours a few times a year, and never had he seen more than her back when she walked away, and that only at an angle that the door slat allowed.
And since he dared not turn his eyes away from royalty to satisfy his curiosity, he turned his mind to another question. "Do you know what she means with that 'arm and a leg' talk, Majesties? What kind of work does she do over there?"
AN: I know, it's been a while, I've been busy with paid projects, but I want to try to do at least one chapter of it today or tomorrow.
"We have no idea. But she always comes back happy and if anything, healthier than before, and usually with some fine reward for herself or the Empire. So we can't really object." Zesshi said, and when Layali's smile became smug to the elder half elf's eyes, Zesshi added, " Much ." Before Layali dropped out of sight to avoid any further questions and landed on the ground beyond the wall of the former emperor's room.