Chapter 5: Change in Heart

Since days, Ainz had left the city of E-Rantel and returned to Nazarick. And it wasn't a relief in the slightest. Again, he had the NPCs on his tail everywhere he went. It wasn't necessarily a cruel thing, but when it was only him and Narberal, he had peace. But he couldn't leave them like the others did. For them and his memories' sake, he would stay and continue to do so.

Just as a portal opened before the throne, Albedo bowed until the entity ruling over her entered the sacred halls. A scaling undead Overlord came through, looked at her and motioned her to stand up. She obeyed, and he returned to sit on his throne.

"My Lord." She addressed him with the utmost respect and love.

"Albedo." He returned her gesture with a simple word. She wanted to expect more, but the Supreme Being decided against it.

"Has everything gone smoothly within the tomb so far?"

"Everything is as it should be, my lord." She replied him with a soft tone, presenting her work to him in a short sentence.

"Good. Now that I returned from my short adventure, I will place someone else to play Momon." He told her, but she didn't seem to follow his words properly. "So let me introduce to you Pandora's Actor!" He opened a gate on his right side, and through it an entity entered, clothed in a classic military suit. Albedo quickly noticed the mask the being had. It was simple. It only had three holes. Two for the eyes and one for the mouth. But she wondered if this entity even had a mouth and eyes, and this simply was a cosmetic feature.

Ainz only went into embarrassment as he saw how Albedo studied Pandora's Actor. "Cmon, he isn't that bad." Just as he said that, the Doppelgänger made a fluid motion and posed towards him in a rather old-fashioned way.

"Mein Führer! Mein Gebieter!" There he went, making many other positions of respect towards him, and Ainz was overwhelmed with green light surrounding him. He couldn't understand what went on in his mind. He tried to talk to him to let these weird motions aside, but his programming was definite, it seemed. But at the end it was he who put these poses in his programming, nobody else.

"I take back what I thought. What will Albedo think of him?" He glared back at Albedo to see her with an almost unknown gaze. He couldn't identify what she thought thus far.

He cleared his throat and began introducing him to her. "Albedo this.. this is Pandora's Actor. My.. Only creation."

The Doppelgänger turned to her and bowed again. "A pleasure to meet you, Guardian Overseer Albedo!" Again he made those ridiculous moves Ainz couldn't stand. But they did not take aback Albedo.

"Likewise, Area Guardian of the Treasury." She replied, his greetings with a formal response.

"Good. Now that this has been done, let me tell you how Pandora's Actor is involved. As you know, I have created a persona called Momon, but I cannot always be Momon. Now Pandoras Actor here will replace me for most of the time, playing as Momon the Black. This allows me to even appear at the same place with him when some have gotten suspicious. Do you follow?"

He explained it to her, and she listened as if he told her a story from legends. Yet that was how every NPC listened to him. Nobody was getting bored or was not interested in his words. If some NPC were so, it would be blasphemy.

"Now I understand it. Brilliant, my lord! As good as any plan you make."

With her approval on the plan done, he thinks it is time to let Pandora's Actor back into the Treasury. He wouldn't want to keep him around for any longer, or he would break his Emotion Surpressor sure enough.

"If this has been cleared, you can leave again for the Treasury, Pandora's Actor." He motioned to a free space behind his creation and a gate appeared again. Before he entered it, he hit the same positions a second time.

"Then I say goodbye to my creator! And the beautiful Overseer Albedo!" Pose after pose, word after word, until he finally left.

"If something can kill me, then it is this guy hitting this stuff for hours in front of me. I'd rather leave existence than see my failure as an NPC creator than experience this discomfort. What did I think back then?!"

"Now that you met.. my creation. What do you think of him?" He asked, hoping to receive a clear answer of her feelings towards his creation. He wanted to know how other NPCs felt about him.

"He is your creation and such made perfect. He seems genuine and loyal to you. That is all that matters in this tomb." She said, with no hint of sarcasm or a lie. Ainz was trying hard to sniff one out, but it seemed she was talking seriously.

"Please don't think this is perfect!" He thought about how to repair this error in haste. "Albedo, we created all inhabitants of Nazarick to have flaws, as someone who had none was no more interesting than a snail. Thus, you can live like you do now. With no flaws, nothing would be special, not even me." He told her carefully, but as he told the last part, she got upset for no reason he was wary of.

"But, my lord! How can you not be perfect? You are the last Supreme Being, the ruler of Nazarick!" Almost crying from hearing such a thing from her master made her almost fall to the ground. Yet Ainz accompanied her worries with a simple laugh.

"Let me explain it, Albedo. In reality, nothing is perfect, but the pursuit of it certainly is. You can always be better, and I would be a fool to think myself perfect. Wouldn't you like me to be even more powerful, wiser, or stronger?" His explanation was somewhat changing the mindset Albedo had since today. And she certainly wishes for Ainz always to be stronger.

"I would never stop to wish such things for my lord! But I think I understand it now. We all should think to better ourselves and be able to look at our past self and be able to see that we grew mentally or physically. Thank you for telling me, my lord." Astonished by her fast thinking, Ainz was surprised to see an NPC acknowledging his words correctly.

"You caught onto it quickly. Then you know what to do from now on." He stood up from his throne and made a gate on his right side. For the last time, he turned to Albedo and told her goodbye for the moment.

"I will leave for my office. If you have something urgent that you need to tell me, message me. Until then, make sure anyone in Nazarick shares your thoughts, which I just told you."

"Of course, my lord." With that done, the Overlord left the throne room and entered his office. It was cleaned to the molecule. Everything was shining with a divine purpose to serve him. He felt somewhat frightened by that cleanliness. He thought how long the maids must have had to clean this room, but something told him it wasn't done in a short time.

"Goodness."

He looked for the staff he left behind in the office, but there where it should be was nothing more than air.

"What?"

He looked around, trying to find any clue to where his staff went. But shortly after, he found it to be behind where he appeared.

"There you are. Did I put you here? I could've sworn I left you aside from the office table. Maybe I forgot about it. Nevermind!"

He called the staff to his hands and the instant he motioned for it, he felt it in his grasp. He felt the powers of the staff, immense and frightening at the same time. It was strong even before it was a world item, but now it was something more. Yet he cursed his undead nature that removed this pleasure seconds after.

"I could look at this staff for ages. To think of the time we spent to create it… It was certainly worth it and I wouldn't let it be taken away. But wait. Now it's indestructible and only I can wield it.. Should I use it more openly? I mean, with it, nobody could really hurt me even when I get surprised. And when I get low HP, I will automatically get teleported to the throne room because of its ability! It's only logical to always have it on my side. So it's decided."

In another place, a place where religion was put on the highest order. Six people with the highest authority in their realm stood in a row. Behind them was a window portraying a religious symbol with different colored glass. It was built like a church, and inside it were 7 people.

"You may report your mission, Captain of the Windflower Scripture." A bearded man, about in his mid-forties, spoke in an authoritative tone.

"Very well. Everything went well, but not flawless. We captured the former Black Scripture member Clementine and eliminated Khajiit of Zuranon." A man with blonde hair and dressed in a uniform fit for a magic caster focused in stealth, told the six figures while bowing all the time.

"Yet there is something else you found there? Is that right?" The same man asked the captain a question he knew the answer to. But he wanted to hear it from him personally.

"You are correct, Cardinal of Earth. They used a boy, somewhat between the age 12 and 16, for their ritual. As we know, Clementine had stolen the Crown of Wisdom from the Theocracy, and it was for the purpose of using it on the boy." As he said that some cardinals had unbelief written on their faces. As if they didn't believe what the man said. "It seems the boy has a talent that allows him to use any magical item, regardless of power." Disbelief grew upon the cardinals as some shocked visages appeared in their rows. But usually they could keep their emotions in check, and so the surprised looks on their faces disappeared in mere seconds.

"Is this true, captain?" Another cardinal with red robes asked the man. It could be heard in his voice that he was curious, but mostly in disbelief of the captain's words. Such a talent was rare to find after all.

"It is the truth. The boy has been inspected multiple times to be sure, and it seems his talent is legitimate. Yet his mind is lost because of the crown. He is but a doll now."

The cardinals seemed impressed by his findings, if they were real. It would certainly raise his reputation for his more than successful mission.

"Such a person would be an important figure in our state." The Cardinal of Wind said.

"Indeed, with his talent, he could be of great use." The Cardinal of Light followed.

"Of that we are sure. Then, captain. For your last order today, you may send the boy to the specialists so they can heal his mind, but not his memory. Whatever life he once had, it ended when he put on that crown. Everything clear?"

"Yes, Commander." The man left the room, closed the door, and went on to do his given task. Now the cardinals could speak in private.

"This must be a gift from the gods, Raymond." Berenice, the Cardinal of Fire, said to disturb the silence.

"Indeed, it is. And I have something to propose. For the time being, I will be the guardian of the boy, guiding him on his path of servitude to the six great gods. If that is acceptable." He proposed a rather sensitive matter, as all cardinals thought of taking that boy under their wing and so collecting all the glory that would come with him. But Raymond had genuine thoughts about guiding the boy.

"If there are no problems with that, then I shall take it as a yes." Nobody would say a word, as they knew Raymond was way in front of them with plans about the boy. They already theorized if he had already organized his training, but that was too much to plan in such a short time.

"Then do we all agree that the boy will be put under standard training before he enters one of the scriptures as a disciple?" This showed the other cardinals he had already planned for the boy. Their thoughts were confirmed. Slowly, the hands raised, and the decision seemed definite. The boy would be trained, no matter what.

Now the sun was almost leaving the face of the earth to enter the underworld. Not everyone believed that, but it seemed the most logical explanation for their time. Yet the sun did not go down just once, but many times until the boy would slowly wake up. First, he could feel his muscles, then his eyes. Yet he didn't open them for the time being. Only later, he tried and see his surroundings. The first thing he saw was a wooden ceiling. He turned his head around to see himself in a room surrounded by wall yet no windows. He could see there were other people with him in the room. And as soon as he moved to see in front of him, a woman raised her finger at him and many men, armored and ready, came and held him tight.

He experienced high levels of shock. They held him everywhere and he couldn't move a bit.

"Dont move too much! It will feel better soon!" The woman told him and came closer with a sharp injection. She held his arm firm and stuck it in. He could feel a slight pain where it hit him, but as soon as she injected the liquid into his limb, he felt the stress and anxiety go away. He calmed down and inhaled big breaths.

"See! Everything's good now!" He looked at her and saw a smiling face. Now he could see clearly who she was. A fair-haired woman with blue eyes, dressed in a rather uniform-like robe. "Oh, I'm Elise if you wondered! And I'm here to help you get to shape!" She told him as if she could read his mind, but the boy was still confused. The woman quickly gestured the guards to let go of the boy and go back to their posts. She didn't want to frighten the young man no longer.

"Where..Where am I?" He asked Elise.

"You are in the compartments of medicine, to be precise. You got mortally wounded, but we could save you somehow!" Trying to cheer him up, she made it sound like it was something good, but it only gave the boy more questions.

"But, I don't remember anything until now. Why?" He asked. Yet he should remember something, as he could speak and think. If he would remember nothing, he would simply react to happenings around him.

"Thats because you suffered a lethal head injury. Made you lose all of your memories. Tragic, but you are alive and that's what counts!" Rather energetically, Elise pronounced her last sentence. But the boy still wasn't looking better.

"Then who am I? Or who was I?" He asked her. She didn't expect this, and had no answer for it.

"Well, we don't know really, but what we know is that you're gonna have a great life here. I can guarantee you that! You know why, because you have a talent!"

"A talent?" The boy asked, confused. He did not know what she was talking about.

"Ah yeah, figures. Everyone possesses a talent since birth. And yours is pretty impressive, I was told. So we couldn't lose you at any point." He understood the talent part, but not why it was so important.

"Ok, I see you're still confused. Well, dont worry, we will meet someone who will teach you all you need to know and give you a new name at the church!" She told.

"A new name." The boy thought. He didn't remember his old one or everything from his past, so he had no other choice but to follow. "What is a church?" He asked her.

"A church is a place where we worship the six great gods. There is the God of Fire, Earth, Wind, Water, Life and Death. It is because of them that humanity, we, have survived so long! "

The boy listened carefully to her words. It seemed these gods were pretty awesome.

"Now let's get ready. We don't want to keep anyone waiting." She went to the back of the room and opened a closet. From that, she removed some clothing, which she brought to him.

"Here! Put these one before we go." She offered him the clothes, but he didn't know what to do with them. Only later she realized her mistake.

"Ok wait, I'll put them on for you." She motioned him to stand up and slowly she removed his old clothes and put the ones on reserved for him. Now he wore simple boots, pants, and a shirt. Yet the most intriguing clothing was the robe he received. It was brown, simple but with great quality.

"This is the robe you received. It shows your in the guardianship of Earth." She explained briefly, as if she could really read his mind and see what he wanted to ask.

The boy didn't know what that meant, but he was sure he would soon find out. As she made him ready, they left the room they were in. Then they had to walk through a lot of corridors until he finally saw the surface. The first thing he noticed was the sun. And as he looked at it, his eyes hurt.

"That is the sun. It gives light to the day, and the moon brings light for the night." She told him when she saw him staring into the floating inferno. "And it's not healthy to look directly into it as well."

He took her advice and instead looked at the surroundings. Before he could ask, she already tried to explain.

"This is a house, a place where people stay in. And this here where we are right now is a road, this is where we walk." She pointed at the things she was telling him, and he seemed to slowly understand them. "Cmon, let's go to the church now."

They both went on to walk the road, surrounded by houses left and right. The boy saw many people, but he looked only at the most outstanding ones. His mind printed every feature he saw for them to not be forgotten.

They came near their target, as they could see a tower before them. It was as tall as ten of these houses beside him.

"What is that?" He asked.

"That? That is a tower, a very tall building that rages into the skies. And this one is the Tower of the Six, surrounded by the six churches. You'll see!"

He knew now what a tower is and what a church is. An improvement for him. But he was somewhat lost even when he didn't feel it. As he never truly knows what not being lost is.

Near the tower, six smaller but equally great buildings began entering his vision. "These must be the six churches." He thought and was right. You could enter one of the six churches where your main god was, but in the middle, there was an opening where all churches are combined, right under the tower. There it was where the cardinals would stand for ceremonies and such. Just as the boy wanted to enter the closest church, a hand stopped him.

"Nah, sorry. We have to enter the Church of Earth. Come."

He followed her to the correct church by passing many others until she finally made a turn to the right. She opened the huge gate, and he entered the halls. It was beautiful. The architecture was a pleasure to his mind and he couldn't understand why. But there, he saw a figure in the distance, standing on a heightened platform.

"I welcome you!" A masculine voice called out. He focused on the man, he was dressed in weird clothes and bore a hat of sorts. He guessed this man was to give him his name?

"H-Hello." He turns around to see the door closing, but Elise was not behind him. Rather, waiting outside or maybe even completely leaving. Now he turned to the man again.

"Dont be afraid, come." The man gestured to the boy. He obliged for the moment and came near him. Now he was infront of him, yet not of the same height. Some stairs still separated the two. But the boy didn't know if he should come up or stay there.

"I am the Cardinal of Earth, Raymond Zarg Lauransan. And you are here because you will be under my guardianship and receive a name from the gods, which I will give you. Are you ready?"

What a question. Was he ready? Did he know what ready was? Nothing was sure, but he simply nodded.

"Then come before me."

The boy did as told and climbed the stairs. He didn't know what was going to happen or why this was happening, but he had no other choice. Or so he thought. Right before him, the cardinal gestured him to stop.

"Now, kneel on one foot. Simply lower yourself that your left foot rests while the other keeps you up."

The boy followed the instructions and somewhat made it possible. He could see how the man prepared an object with a sort of liquid inside it. He opened the bottle and put some on his finger. Then he came closer and put his finger on his forehead. The boy remained still.

"I bless thy with the water of the gods! May they guide you through pain and pleasure." He formed six stripes on his forehead. The boy guessed they were for the six gods.

"With this blessing, I call upon the gods to gift you a name. And that name shall be… Helin Gaillard Lauransan! A new member of the theocracy!" He proclaimed, yet the boy only remembered his name, or tried to remember it. It was long and difficult to pronounce.

"Now, Helain Gaillard Lauransan, I will guide you so you may not be confused as you are now. You will become a hero, a person who saves others from death, just as you were saved and brought back to life. This is your duty from now on, your duty towards humanity!" The boy only looked at the man in awe. Somehow, he felt those words deep in his heart. He looked up at the cardinal with an expression of confidence.

But as Ainz looked up, he only felt pain, yet happiness as well. The golems of the mausoleum would never stop to put him in a trance. He remembered the times as if they were yesterday. But now he could do nothing more than think about these years.

"Wait, I wanted to do something just now!" He broke free from his trance and teleported to his office. He had long planned to look at what Shalltear was doing currently, but never found the chance. He had to go all around the tomb to look upon matters he had to solve but didn't understand. That's why Demiurge was the kind of man he messaged the whole time.

"Now let's see what she's up to." He uses a scroll, yet the mirror remained black. Nothing happened.

"Could it be? But she's an ally? Wait. So anti divination attempts on allies still count as an attack? So not even that works. Huh."

Now his plan was in ruin. But he really wanted to see what she was up to.

"Maybe I can just scry on one of her Vampire Brides?"

He tried again and threw a scroll in the air. This time, a picture appeared of a cave entrance.

"So they are inside. That means Shalltear is as well." He quickly caught on to what was happening. She was invading a camp where one had martial arts. He only hoped she would control herself. "I won't look what's happening inside, or I'll trigger her anti divination. Better to watch from out here."

He kept looking around as a blue-haired man exited from another entrance. His look on his face was of a terrified man that has seen the bringer of death. It could only mean that Shalltear was responsible for this. Minutes later, still nothing happened. Until a group of what he guessed were adventurers arrived. Then, just for a quarter of a second, he saw a blur coming towards them. For him, it only meant one thing. He quickly removed his vision towards the skies, where the clouds laid. From there he could only see dots, but any closer and he would trigger her anti divination. He didn't know it had a range, but he guessed it could maybe work if he looked from up here.

"That was close." He thought, but then he recognized another group in the far west. They were at a plateau where he could see them, yet surrounded by only trees.

"Who are they?" Questions after questions came up. He was worried if they knew of Shalltear, but didn't count on it. Then he saw it. A red dot moving towards them. He thought of it to be Shalltear and was almost ready to close the connection until he saw a yellow light appear. It formed a line and after it hit what was supposedly Shalltear, it disappeared in a huge light.

"What?! No!" He shouted. Ainz tried to get closer, yet the mirror shattered as soon as he tried. Shalltears Anti-Divination activated, which meant she was still alive.

{Lord Ainz?} Surprisingly, a message arrived in his ear from Albedo.

{What is it?} Ainz asked.

{Shalltear has rebelled against us.} She told him, and it only confirmed his suspicions.

{I know. Call all the guardians to the throne room.}

Far away where it had happened, the humans responsible only looked to see the sky shatter for a moment.

"Someone had spied on us? But I didn't notice!" One member said.

"That is not important now! We have to bring Lady Kaire to safety!"

discord . gg / h6cpJ5d3xh

Join the discord if you want to help progress my stories, give feedback or just for fun!

Another chapter! But I will skip somewhat the plot with Shalltear and let Ainz only briefly fight her before he deletes her out of existence, only to revive her later. I don't want to repeat the og events so it's going to be different where Ainz will fight Shalltear with his divine set of items and staff.

If there are any grammar, mistakes tell me. I didn't really look this through, so it could be possible.

Questions

-waluigiwah and TheOneBehindTheVeil Asked: Why didn't Ainz take the Temporary World Enemy to create unlimited amounts of items?

Damn, that is something I have been thinking about a lot. But I would break the story if I would allow this to happen, so Im gonna level this. There is another ability which removes the need to fuel spells like [Gate] or [Control Amnesia], so he could take that perk and become a World Enemy for an unlimited duration as it could count as a spell which drains mana constantly until it is deactivated. Meaning= Ainz could become a World Enemy permanently. And as I have stated that these abilities are not to be used in game normally, so they weren't really nerfed to the point for the public. So everything that's in the promt is happening, and if there is no counter to as example: Lets one create any item at the equal cost of mana. This means every item can be made, no limits there, as there haven,t been any limits implemented.

But why he didn,t take World Enemy is because 1. In the game he took one because he thought it didn,t matter and the game would end. 2. The next ability was somewhat the most logical for him to be able and create more [Leaf of Yggdrasil] to be able to add more abilities 3. The third ability was chosen because it was something really unbelievable that the cap could be removed and he had to take it as it would enable endless possibilities for him. The next ability, he will chose will not be the world enemy one, but some else that could improve his daily life.

-Ainz227 Asked:

1. What does Ainz [Create] ability really do?

Let's make this clear. The devs thought this to be an ability one could use to get an item at the cost of mana. Yet the would probably nerf that to only legendary class items or lower, yet they didn't because these abilities weren't even gonna be used in-game. So Ainz can now create anything he wishes. But until now he just created things he knew about. Things he doesn't know about are in his reach, but he has to imagine its appearance, effect, cost, everything and that will be the equal amount he has to pay with mana.

2. Will Ainz give Divine Items to NPCs?

He will. Sometime.

3. Can he use XP to create items?

Isn't that a somewhat backwards progression from mana? I mean you can regenerate mana, but not xp so I find unreasonable to use xp for it. I mean, he could fill up his mana with a wish upon a star, so it's possible indirectly.