PSA: Sorry I haven't posted a while, I've been very busy, and will still be for a while longer, hence the short chapter. I definitely plan to continue working on this, and if I don't I will let you know.

Steel and Sorcerers – Chapter 39

After Ainz left, Yotiaru was left on her own in the city. He had said that she should show off her new powers to the people of Japan. This was rather convenient for her, as after escaping the special region during the demon attack, she was probably a fugitive now. If Ainz Ooal Gown hadn't just provided his protection, she probably would've been captured once the government had finished dealing with the demonic incursion. She kind of felt a bit guilty though, since her bad standing with the government might worsen relations between them and Ainz-dono.

''Well, I'd better start trying to improve mine and Ainz-dono's image. Time to find some people to save!'

Since she was currently in the middle of demon territory, she started walking towards an area which had less smoke going up into the sky, following the sound of gunshots.

After a while, she came across a barricade of police cars, with policemen firing with pistols at a wave of demons that was advancing steadily towards them. As she approached them, the policemen panicked. "Hey, what are you doing? Quick, get out of here, run that way!" one said, gesturing behind him.

"Don't worry" she said, drawing her bow. She began unleashing a volley of arrows at the slowly advancing demons, eliminating two in just a few seconds.

"What the…?" There was a brief pause in the police firing as they were shocked by her skill at archery.

"I don't know how you're doing it but keep it up!" they exclaimed. After a couple of minutes there was no sign of any further demons approaching.

Ecstatic at having driven back the demons, the officers came up to her. "Hey, who are you? Where did you learn to shoot like that? And what's that stuff you're wearing?"

Yotiaru smiled internally. She could get used to this. "I am a servant of Ainz Ooal Gown. He granted me these magical items to help us fight off the demons."

"Who's Ainz Ooal Gown?" asked one.

"Didn't you hear about it on the radio? He's the skeleton guy that gave a speech at the National Diet" replied another.

"Oh, right, and those items are from him, no wonder you're so strong. Magic huh. Ah, no offense, I'm sure you were plenty good with the bow before getting those items."

"Don't worry, I'm just happy to help" said Yotiaru.

"Well we'd better get you in contact with the army then, I'm sure they'll need your help. If that's ok with you?"

"Yes, please."

There was a great deal of activity at Yokota airbase, the headquarters of USFJ, and now also the emergency location for the National Diet. Jaldabaoth and his demon army over the last 24 hours had captured an area in an approximately 2km wide radius around the gate. This included the Imperial Palace, Hamarikyu Gardens, Tokyo Tower and the National Diet building. All of these historical landmark buildings had since been levelled to the ground by the demons. Current casualty estimates were in the hundreds of thousands.

Prime-minister Bumio Kishida was now meeting with his top security advisors to discuss the recent addition of Yotiaru to their forces.

"Do you think that Ainz Ooal Gown truly holds goodwill towards us?" asked Kishida.

One of the advisors took a moment to think, before responding. "Since he, or it, comes from an alien world, it is difficult to be sure of his thought process. USJSPECCOM's investigations indicate that the inhabitants of the special region have similar psychologies, and the humans have similar biologies to us. However, Ainz Ooal Gown is a rare sentient undead being, which they lack data on. He seems to be aware of humanity's negative perception of undead, which may be why he chose to sponsor Yotiaru, who can act as his figurehead and spokesperson."

"Actually, I have, or rather had, information about Yotiaru, which suggests Ainz Ooal Gown might not be on our side."

"What do you mean?" asked Kishida.

The man who had spoken was the representative from the PSIA, Japan's domestic intelligence agency.

"Well, do you remember the leaks of the video showing trolls fighting our soldiers in the restricted area of Ginza? The person who recorded that video was none other than Imaga Yotiaru."

"What? That can't be a coincidence can it?"

"She also had a name change, but that was a few years ago and didn't seem to be anything remarkable. Other than that, the reason why she took up spying in the restricted zone in the first place is because she was contacted by China's intelligence agency, presumably since she is half-Chinese. Although, she seemed to be motivated more by her desire to uncover secrets rather than any Chinese patriotism."

"So perhaps it's because of this inquisitive personality that Ainz Ooal Gown chose her?"

"Possibly, but it could also be because she acted against our government. Anyway, what's more disturbing is that a few days ago, not long after the demonic invasion started, we had a major security breach in our databases, leading to a major loss of information as many files were erased, and physical datacentres were sabotaged. Among the data lost is everything, and I mean everything we collected on Yotiaru's affiliation with the Chinese spy agency, so what I'm telling you now is from memory. We suspect Jaldabaoth is responsible, but for him to have such a deep knowledge of computer systems would be… disturbing."

"Hold on, so Jaldabaoth wiped Yotiaru's records clean, and then Ainz Ooal Gown chose her as his mascot? Doesn't that mean they could be secretly working together?"

"Indeed. I'd like to keep this information secret for now though until we can further work out Ainz Ooal Gown's intentions. Now, I believe we all have a meeting scheduled with Ito-san, the current director for operations within the special region? Perhaps he can shed some further light on the situation."

Jaldabaoth, or rather Demiurge, sitting atop the toppled ruins of the Tokyo Tower gazed across the smoky rubble that used to be Ginza and its surrounding areas. All the captives gained so far would no doubt be useful for creating scrolls and the like. With so much material, he would no doubt have to set up a method for mass-production. Ah, serving his master was such a joy.

Speaking of which, Ainz-sama's choice of human to sponsor truly showed his depth of thought. He had chosen someone who both held negative feelings towards the Japanese government and was eternally grateful for being saved from their fate. The aspect of her being involved in revealing the government's cover-ups was also interesting, although the part of her collaborating with the Chinese government wouldn't be received too well. Naturally this was a test by Ainz-sama to see how much his knowledge of how the modern world worked had advanced. The finishing touches on that should be concluding shortly.

Kishida and his security advisors arrived at the secure compound where they would be having the meeting with Ito. After entering the building, they waited for a moment outside the door to the meeting room. The information that would be discussed in this meeting was top secret, so the only other people around were several guards.

"Are you ready to enter?" asked one of the door guards.

Kishida looked around at the other officials, and they agreed. With that, the guards opened the door to the room.

Seated at the end of a long table was Ito, and also- themselves?

Kishida looked at the PSIA representative sitting at the table, then the one he was standing beside. They looked identical, down to what they were wearing. He didn't have a twin did he? Also, seated there was… himself?

"Hey, what's going on?!" demanded the defence minister, who also had a clone sitting at the table.

Ito simply smiled, as Kishida was suddenly assaulted by an overwhelming sense of sleepiness, everything going black as he collapsed to the floor.