A/N: To answer moose3333, I don't think a harem would work in this fanfic. For one, I don't think that Albedo would be that open to Suzuki finding another woman. Remember how harshly she argued with Shalltear in the first episode? And she keeps doing it throughout the series. She only agreed to share Momonga in the original series since Shalltear was from the Great Tomb. She would most likely not be okay with some random girl sidling up to Suzuki. If Suzuki showed interest in such a girl, Albedo might allow it for a while- but sooner or later that girl would mess up somehow and she would most likely kill her for some transgression like she wanted to do with Nigredo and Pestonya when they tried to save those children from being killed.

On the other hand, I don't think that Suzuki would want to date another woman. No one is as beautiful or as loyal as Albedo is- and as it is he must feel some guilt from changing her settings so he would consider it a betrayal to Tabula to date someone else. Not to mention Suzuki is extremely paranoid- it took him so long to open up to Albedo. He'd view any woman trying to get close to him as having some sort of ulterior motive.

Anyway, this isn't supposed to be that kind of story so sort of moot point.

Suzuki finished signing the last set of documents. The documents were arranged in four piles for ease of reading.

The first pile consisted of reports regarding Carne Village. Most of these were regarding the Ignonick Farm- an endeavor that was growing splendidly which greatly pleased Suzuki because it had been his own original idea.

The second pile consisted of reports from Necropolis itself which mainly involved the various construction projects they were undertaking around the city. It also detailed the procurement, delivery, and storage of corpses. These were mainly of Beastmen from the aftermath of the fight in the Draconic Kingdom against the Minotaur King's army, and they were used by Suzuki to create undead.

The third pile was the largest- it consisted of reports from the new Six Arms and the Eight Fingers regarding their operations. It was this stack which was the highest, and also the one which Suzuki understood the least. The fact of the matter was that by now, the Eight Fingers was de facto controlled by Suzuki, which mean that a sizable portion of the Kingdom of Re-Estize was under his command. And this only cemented Suzuki's belief that he was unfit to rule a country. Given that Prince Barbro, next in line was deeply indebted to the Six Fingers, the time when an entire country's affairs would land up in his lap seemed to be not so far off on the horizon. He mainly delegated this pile to Albedo, who was thankfully more competent than he was in dealing with them.

The fourth pile was one of the smallest, but it did require a good amount of his attention. It included documents from people such as Camula and Fluder and mainly involved details on magical experiments and any new information on magical items that had popped up. No news on a Divine or even World Item had emerged, but Suzuki still wanted to keep his ear to the ground regarding that. Also, Camula's descriptions of outside countries were worth reading, as well as her knowledge on experiments regarding creation of Lesser Vampires. Perhaps one day she would ascend to the third tier and be able to create such entities herself.

"And that concludes the reports for today..." the Elder Lich said.

Suzuki had originally wanted to give each of them a name, but he had quickly created so many of them that this was near-impossible. As it was though, the Elder Liches did not seem to mind at all.

Granted, this made Suzuki feel rather bad. He was essentially running a huge corporation where most workers were not paid at all, had no individual identities, had no time for breaks, got no vacations, and had no benefits at all. Of course, those workers were undead, but it still made Suzuki a little ashamed of himself. He was essentially running a Black Company amongst Black Companies.

But, today's work was done. And as usual at this time, there was only one thing on his mind.

An Elder Lich deposited a chest onto his desk. It was enchanted against both thieves and divination magic, but given that it was only an item from this world, it would not stop anyone who was even moderately skilled in either of those categories from Yggdrasil standards.

The chest had also been shifted through various locations before being brought here in order to throw people off its scent. What was in it then? Drugs? Gold? A powerful magic item?

It was a magic item, though granted it was not something made for combat.

Suzuki opened it and his heart skipped a beat. "Suzuki-sama!" Albedo cried out from the adjoining room. She was getting impatient...

Suzuki ran into the room, handing over the chest to Albedo.

The room had been changed since Suzuki's term as 'mayor'- it was now almost perpetually lit up by scented candles, and fresh rose petals littered the floor. Suzuki and Albedo no longer used the brothels run by the Vampire Brides anymore.

Suzuki's heart began to race as Albedo took the chest and retreated behind a corner. Granted, she would have had no problems at all if Suzuki wanted to peak in on her, but Suzuki found it more tantalizing to wait.

Inside the chest had been clothes made in a specific way. That is to say, it was a fetish outfit.

Suzuki had already done it with Albedo dressed up as a maid, a schoolteacher, a secretary (that one really reminded him of how terrible a boss he'd be considered in the real world, given he was also banging his secretary in both that scenario and in the real sense), a knight, a nurse, a police officer, a bunny girl, a nun, and a waitress. These were all standard male fantasies however; this one was a lot more personal to Suzuki.

Back in his old world, he had done a bit of history research during his chuunibyou phase. During the Neo-Nazi Euro-Arcology wars which occurred over twenty years before his time, there had been a lady SS officer who was rather attractive. Needless to say, at that time the Internet was filled with as many horny retards as it is in current day. People began making lots of 'rule 34' art about her, and making memes such as 'She annexes your heart first, then your country.'

Suzuki didn't even remember her name, but did note that she was very pretty. It had been this deep dive into Neo-Nazi history that had inspired him to create Pandora's Actor.

Albedo walked into the room, wearing a black Neo-Nazi guard uniform. Granted, it was certainly not an exact uniform- for one no real military uniform would ever be as revealing as what Albedo was wearing. Also, Suzuki had drawn the designs for it entirely from memory so it was not exactly perfect but still...

"Heil Mein Fuhrer!" Albedo said while extending her arm. No, that wasn't a proper Nazi salute, but that didn't matter to Suzuki. Albedo's legs just looked so perfect in those black stockings and miniskirt, while her vest revealed jus the right amount of cleavage.

Normally, during their romps Suzuki would eventually tire before Albedo, but the two of them went at until the crack of dawn this time.

Marquis Alexander woke up to loud knocking which roused him from his slumber.

"Whoever it is, cut it out!" he screamed.

There was some respite- but then the knocking continued.

"Gods damn it all!" he shouted, hoping that whoever it was would be smart enough to stop.

Apparently they weren't. He forced open his eyes, vowing to rain down terror on whichever servant it was who was bothering him at this hour. He stumbled across his room, which was littered with bottles, in the dark, until he yanked the door open.

"Father, what have you made of yourself?" a voice inquired. The Marquis instinctively shielded his eyes- the light looked blinding to him. He then squinted and saw the figure of Alexios Fohle Bartinet Clovis, his eldest son and heir. The boy took after the Marquis, and would normally not be here, but instead would be managing some of their territories closer to the capital.

"Ugh..." Marquis Alexander said as he grimaced. His head was pounding.

Alexios pinched his nose. "Gosh... you stink!" Perhaps he and Clarisse were the only ones among his children who would dare speak like that to him.

"Whatcha you doin' here?" Marquis Alexander said, slurring half the words.

"Your entire estate is in disarray, Father," Alexios said, pushing a bottle towards the Marquis. "A tonic for hangovers, drink it, get dressed, and let's talk."

Marquis Alexander wanted nothing more than to slump back to his bed and crash down on it, but his throat burned from thirst at this point. He took a sip of the tonic and immediately spat it out. "What is this thing- bottled sewer water?"

"The best medicines taste bitter," Alexios said. He then sighed, and waved away the butler standing behind him. There was no way that something like this could be left to the servants. He would have to do this himself.

No one said being an Heir was easy.

It took around two hours, but Marquis Alexander was finally somewhat respectfully dressed and sitting in a private room with a chair. Alexios had ordered food to be brought in here- he didn't want to take his father to the main dining hall where the rumors regarding his behavior would be cemented as facts.

His father wasn't eating anything, simply staring off into the distance.

"What has happened to you?" Alexios asked.

"Suzuki Satoru," his father said bitterly as he slammed a fist against the table. "Your sister! Dead! And all of our prospects down the drain! All thanks to that man!"

"Father, please relax," Alexios said. A maid walked in, carrying a tea set. "Here- your favorite." He then frowned as he looked more closely at the maid. She was quite beautiful, with long flowing green hair, though he had never seen her before. He would have definitely have remembered who she was if she had been here earlier.

Come to think of it, his thought process was derailed as something began to dawn upon him. Most of the staff in the manor had been replaced with entirely new people. When did that happen? His father didn't have the cognizance to make those kinds of decisions right now, and he wouldn't have suddenly changed the staff before marching off for war earlier.

A man like Alexios would've normally never noticed something like that- servants were akin to furniture for most nobles. But, he had grown up in this manor and knew most of the staff from his childhood, back when the distinction between social classes had not properly set in for him.

"What is it? You was sayin' something?" Marquis Alexander asked as Alexios paused.

"Yes," Alexios said as the maid poured tea for the two of them. "Did you suddenly change the staff for some reason?"

Marquis Alexander blinked. "I haven't noticed any new changes like that."

Alexios sighed. "Whatever then, I'll speak to the Head Butler later. But, we need to talk about what to do next. Our coffers are running dry, and the widows and children of slain soldiers are in distress. I would like to open up our coffers to spend something on them, but they're nearly empty unfortunately due to the war. We are going to have to deal with quite a bit of discontent from the peasants, and given that Clarisse is gone, our expenditure to keep our territories clear of monsters is going to increase-"

"Do I look like-" Marquis Alexander burped, "-give a damn about peasants?"

"No, but we have to keep them somewhat happy," Alexios said. Many of the soldiers who had died had been conscripted and expected to return home to work the fields by now. Without that extra labor force the harvest was going to be short- not to mention that the loss of the professional soldiers who had gone with his father meant they were less equipped to deal with bandits and monsters. Not to mention the peasantry would be far more likely to engage in an armed rebellion if they knew that the professional army was weakened. "I would say that our best move for now is to bring Clarisse back."

Marquis Alexander's eyes widened. "What?"

"I've talked around, and I believe that there is an adventurer party within the Re-Estize Kingdom who can help with bringing her back. Our country and Re-Estize are not at war, so as long as the proper amount of money is offered, then they should agree to bring her back," Alexios said. "I've even talked to the Queen herself, they're willing to fund resurrections for the rest of the team so long as they agree to work for some time to pay the sum back. Having her around would help us negotiate with other nobles- and her presence would discourage any rebellion."

"There is one thing I must do first," Marquis Alexander said, taking a sip of tea. Alexios noted something odd- the Marquis did not have his usual ring on his finger to check for poison. He must have been very inebriated if he no longer did even that- it should have been second nature to the Marquis by this point. Alexios did not have such a ring given how expensive one was, though his food would usually be tasted in his presence. Since he had limited the number of people to come into this room, the usual tasters weren't around.

Whatever. The odds that this tea of all times would be poisoned was miniscule. Alexios had bigger fish to fry. "What?"

"I have to get rid of that bastard," Marquis Alexander said. "I tried to kill him once- he slipped past that Sleipnir trap I laid out for him thanks to that damned woman, but I won't let that upstart magic caster rise any further." He took another sip. "I've heard words of a cabal of assassins by the name of Ijaniya. Descended right from one of the Thirteen Heroes themselves. The cost is a bit high- but there is a baron eager to marry one of your nieces, and willing to pay a handsome bride price." Now, as his plan began to emerge he became far more animated and cognizant of what he was doing. "We'll use that money to secure a loan to pay off the Ijaniya in order to-"

His words stopped right in his throat as he suddenly slumped over onto the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

"Father!" Alexios screamed and called for help, only to feel sharp pain as something was driven into his bosom.

He looked down to see a dagger, and that was all he knew before he collapsed.

Marquis Alexander, however, was not dead. He was simply paralyzed, being unable to move most of his limbs, but being fully aware of what was happening to him.

The face of that girl entered his visual face. She was one of the maids... he thought at least. He couldn't fully remember who she was.

That face though... it was the face of a monster. Not that of a human. She picked up a knife- and plunged it into his stomach. It wasn't a knife meant for warfare- it was a simple steak knife, so she had to stab him multiple times. She then laughed- her eyes which were as blue as sapphires were as cold as the winter wind itself.

Marquis Alexander was left like that, as the acid from his stomach began to slowly leak out into the rest of his body, slowly dissolving it. Whatever had been put in that tea made him helpless to move- but acutely aware of what was going on with him as he died.

The maid walked down the hall, her final task complete. She was humming to herself, as the Elder Liches began to light the mansion ablaze. Her heart was racing- not from what she had just done, but in anticipation of what was to come.

It took her a while to reach the courtyard of course, this was the house of a noble equivalent to one of the Five Great Nobles of the Re-Estize Kingdom. The house was not nearly as big as her own home though. She had spent several months here, with everything leading up to this moment. Soon, this house would be nothing but ashes, though there was still one request that she had from her benefactor.

A figure on horseback descended from the heavens- no, it wasn't a normal horse, but one with two horns. The maid had not seen a monster like that, though perhaps her friends within Blue Roses would know of what it was.

"Albedo-sama," Princess Renner said and bowed her head. She had gotten quite used to the motion during her time acting as a maid employed within Marquis Alexander's household.

"Did it all go smoothly?" the world-class beauty atop the Bicorn asked as she dismounted.

"Alexios refused to take the tea, so we were forced to take him out through other means, but yes, aside from that, all has gone smoothly," Princess Renner said.

"And? Are you finally ready?" Albedo asked.

Renner reached into the folds of her dress, hands trembling. Would she be judged worthy after what she had done?

The box she took out crumbled in her hands, revealing a single seed. It was as large as the pit of an apricot, and the color of clotted blood.

There was no limit to Renner's happiness. The reason she had done all she had done, to gain the favor of the noble here, was so that she could unlock the contents of that box. Even now, she wasn't sure what had caused her to suddenly be worthy of its prize. Was it the fact that she had betrayed someone she had 'sworn loyalty to', in other words, Marquis Alexander, someone who she was supposed to serve?

Then again, it could be something else. The Eight Fingers had slowly infiltrated this mansion, and many of the new maids were woman that Princess Renner was allowed to 'rescue' from the brothels, and she had placed them here while telling them that they would be safe. She had listened to their sorrows and woes, and assuaged them that they could live without fear in this faraway land known as the Draconic Kingdom. Climb had been quite moved by her performance as she convinced many of them to take her up on the offer.

She had just finished poisoning all of them before she had gone to deal with the Marquis.

"Ah, to become a demon, one must betray one close to oneself," Albedo said. "The requirements in this world still are not clear though... can one sacrifice one's family even if one does not love them? What does it mean to be 'close to oneself?'"

These musings would normally have merit for the Golden Princess, but she could not hold out any longer. She swallowed the Fallen Seed in one swift motion.

She had expected the process to be painful- but it wasn't. Granted, it felt odd to feel stubs grow on her back, stubs that should grow out to form wings soon enough but there was no pain, just a general sensation of uneasiness as her body changed. A normal human also would've felt their heart gradually darkening, but for Renner who had always been a demon in all but name there was no such change.

"Thank you, Albedo-sama," Renner said.

"It looks like it has went well with you," Albedo said. "Your skin is a bit darker, you'll need to apply makeup to hide it. And here is a magic item that will help keep your wings from view."

Having to put on makeup would annoy Renner a bit, but she had already been accustomed to dyeing her hair green and washing it out later for this mission, so at least she wouldn't have to deal with that anymore. Magical hair dye and makeup existed, and they would greatly simplify the process.

"Is there anything else to report?" Albedo asked.

"I would have a request, if that is fine," Renner said.

"What is it?"

"That man- Marquis Alexander, while I was in his service, he delighted in molesting me," Princess Renner said.

Albedo looked absolutely bored and shot her a look that said, 'What do you want, a medal?'

"If he is to be turned into an undead, could he be turned into a sentient one under my care?" Renner asked. "I would love to torment him even in unlife..." She wasn't sure if the undead, if sentient, carried the memories of their prior lives or were 'the same person' so to speak, but she didn't really care.

"It is possible I suppose," Albedo said. After some consideration, she said, "I would want something in return though. I want to know if you can have a child with that boy Climb... with him still being human. Consider it an experiment of sorts."

Perhaps someone else would be miffed at being treated like a science experiment- like a cow being kept around to breed a better line of cattle. Renner however, was elated. She had no problem with the order on principle, and it meant that Albedo had more use for her in the future. It had always remained a possibility that Albedo would strike her down at one point. She was a demoness after all, and the extent to which her word could be trusted was always in doubt. It would not have been odd for Albedo to strike the princess down when her use was up. For now though, it appeared that she could take Albedo at her word.

Not to mention, this meant that in a while, she would be able to feel Climb's caresses over her. Unlike the advances of that Marquis, these would be welcome. So what if he had to be human for a while... on second thought, it would be more fun to play with him as a human. Once he became a demon too, he would probably end up losing the innocence she so loved him for.

"That will be all," Albedo said. She snapped her fingers, and Renner understood that it was the signal to wait until a Gate could be opened.

Albedo mounted her Bicorn again, going closer to the flames. The fire in front of her could not compare to the flame lit in her heart.

That insect... he had tried to kill her master- and the man she loved! He was an idiot for the way he had done so, and Albedo would've loved to cleave his head in two right there on the spot. However, that would have led to various difficulties. To take him out without leading to massive repercussions was a project that had taken some time.

But now, their takeover of his estate was complete. His second son, Carlos, had been killed in the war. The third son, James, was one of their co-conspirators. Unlike many third sons (the image of that idiot flashed briefly in Albedo's mind) he was not wholly unqualified- given that his father was a Marquis he had been granted some measure of education. If James had wanted, he could've lived a relatively comfortable life in the small estate his father had decided to give him.

Such a thing was wholly unpalatable to James, who had eagerly betrayed his family in order to inherit the title of Marquis. That man could've well become a demon had Albedo deemed him worthy, but he was just an unremarkable human who had a heart of coal. There was no need to waste something precious like that on him.

An Elder Lich brought out the corpse of the Marquis before it could be burnt too badly by the flames. Albedo saw that he had been stabbed in the stomach- good, a painless death was far too good for him. She would've liked to have impaled him, but she would make do with ensuring he had his share of torment as an undead. She usually did not bother with what maggots did after being turned to undead, but the Marquis would be in for his own share of torment once he would become a Lesser Vampire.

Granted, there were still things that she needed to do regarding this estate. The peasantry were still discontented- and would be blamed for this fire and 'rebellion', but once a couple of villages were razed down in retribution, things would more or less settle down. Their puppet would be placed in charge of this land, and it would serve as an excellent site for her master to demonstrate the efficacy of using undead for labor. Not to mention the large amounts of grain eventually produced by it would be sent to the Shredder in Necropolis to convert into Yggdrasil gold.

She beckoned an Elder Lich over so that it could use the Message spell, asking for Suzuki to make a Gate at her location.

"Did you get it?" Louise asked.

"Yeah," Phillip replied, taking out the piece of meat neatly wrapped in piece of paper from inside his coat. He had to be careful not to let it stain his clothes, but the several layers of packaging had prevented that from happening.

The two of them, after two weeks of being delivery boys had decided that it was not enough to satisfy their ambitions.

They felt that they could earn money elsewhere- but didn't want to give up their jobs. As such, they had resorted to skimming off the top so to speak. They would take a small amount from each shipment of Ignonick meat and hide, and after a few deliveries would sell the extra on the black market. It was not enough for Enri to notice, but the two were starting to get greedy and taking more and more, and the theft would soon become apparent.

Tonight though, they had simply chosen to partake in some of that delicious meat for themselves. Normally their dinners on the way to E-Rantel would consist of lumps of bread, but they had constructed a fire some distance from the road. This was done so that they would not easily be caught in case another carriage stopped by.

The two of them were not too afraid of monsters given that they had not encountered any up till now, and were in rather cheery spirits.

"Man, this stuff smells so nice," Louise said as the meat began to heat up. "No wonder it sells for so much."

"Yeah," Phillip said, his mouth watering. "Got any booze?"

Louise chuckled. "Come on man, BYOB sometime, you know? What have you been doing with the extra cash you're getting?"

"Uh... well," Phillip said and shrugged. With him, as with many people, it was easy come easy go when it came to money. Whores, alcohol, clothes, etc. drained his cash as fast as he got it.

"Anyway, I'm in a good mood so..." Louise said, taking out two mugs half-filled with beer. "It's not the best quality, but good enough I guess."

"Thanks," Phillip said, gladly accepting the mug. He did not gulp it right down as was his wont for quite a while, but rather savored every sip. He was not in the position where he could demand booze whenever he wanted.

"So," Louise said. "How's it going with trying to court the Duchess?"

That was the nickname Louise had given to Albedo- whether she was a real duchess or not (unlikely that she was, given that she only had one name, Phillip thought).

"Urgh, you know, I felt that we were getting along at first," Phillip said. "But... I haven't seen her in a while. This job kinda sucks man, it might pay better than others, but we're still not... y'know, making any real progress here."

Louise nodded. Yes, the job did give out respectable pay, but unless they chose to live like misers, they would never be able to save enough money to be able to afford to do something like start their own businesses. They would only ever continue to drive carriages like this. That was why they had turned to stealing some of the goods, but even then given that both of them were rather loose with their purse strings this would also likely not land them anywhere more respectable in the near future.

The two of them continued to talk until, "Hey, did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"I think there was some rustling coming from those bushes."

Phillip turned his head and blinked. "Um, Louise, yeah something seems off about- AGGGHHHHH!"

A colossal shape came out of the bushes. It was hard to make out what it was under the fire of the camp, but as it shifted the huge mound began to take definition. Especially as it crawled closer to them.

"Dragon!" Louise screamed, immediately scampering away.

Phillip was a bit slower to react- and when he did, he reacted in true Phillip fashion. He grabbed a rock and chucked it as hard as he could at the dragon.

To his absolute and utter surprise, this actually seemed to have an effect. The beast suddenly scampered back, and then when Phillip yelled at it, retreated into the shadows.

"D-d-d-" Louise tried to get out, his teeth chattering. "Did you seriously just chase it away?"

"I think so," Phillip said, who was pinching himself to make sure that this wasn't a dream. "It was blue right, so that means its one of those Ice Dragons, right, I think?"

"I think they're called Frost Dragons," Louise said. "But, why is one here? I thought this area was supposed to be safe!"

"We should tell the Adventurer's Guild," Phillip said. "Hey- the company's owned by Suzuki anyway right? He should deal with something like this."

The two of them agreed that it was too dangerous to keep camping there, and decided to eat the pilfered meat half-cooked and set out for E-Rantel even in the pitch black darkness.

Phillip did find something interesting before that though.

As he examined the bush where the dragon had come from- which had been swept aside thanks to its huge mass, he saw that it had dropped two things. One of them was a book- quite odd. Did dragons read? Come to think of it, had that dragon been wearing glasses? He had assumed at the time that it was a trick of the light, and he was just seeing the firelight reflected from its tapetum or something, but now he wasn't so sure.

The second was a dagger. It emanated a certain magical aura, and as Phillip looked at its blade he saw three letters carved into it. He didn't recognize the characters at all, so it was likely some sort of foreign language.

Whatever it was, it seemed moderately valuable. He could sell it for a nice price probably. Looking around, he saw that Louise had already scampered off, so he pocketed both items.

The most disappointing thing, Phillip thought, as they took their carriage onwards even in the night and constantly looked behind them (that was just how scared they were) was that he had just chased off a dragon- a legendary creature! And yet, no one had seen him do it aside from Louise, and so, no one would believe him if he told anyone. The 'loot' he had gotten didn't seem to be anything remarkable, and one would not be able to tell that it was from a dragon. He could've just found the items lying on the ground, after all.

He sighed as he daydreamed of girls flocking to him as he regaled his story of vanquishing a dragon to them.

A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! The tale of Phillip The Dragonslayer will continue next chapter.