Several Years Earlier...

The crisp breeze rolled through the hills, setting the blades of grass dancing to a soundless tune as if in a fanfare for the approaching group of people.

Alexandrios Custodio emerged from the carriage. It was quite fortunate that they had not been waylaid- for anyone who wanted to waylay them, that is. If some idiot had attempted to try to steal their grain, they would have found themselves missing their heads within seconds. He was the son of a wealthy merchant, who, during his mandatory service on the Holy Kingdom's walls, had found himself to be quite skilled with the blade. Enough so that there were only a dozen people who could claim to be able to beat him. If one were to consider adventurer ranks, he would be a platinum ranked adventurer at the very least.

"We're here!" he called out to the two girls huddled within his carriage. One of them bounded out immediately, tasting the fresh air and running around as if she had taken a kilogram of sugar. This girl was his eldest daughter, Remedios. At the tender age of eight, she had the boundless energy that such children did.

Her younger sister peered out of the carriage. Some might think that Kelart was a very shy and introverted girl, though this was just because when juxtaposed with her boisterous older sister, she would not doubt appear such relative to her. She was also currently shaking her head at her older sister's antics.

With that said, it wasn't as if Alexandrios necessarily thought bad of Remedios's energy- if anything, her swordplay was quite promising- to the point that he was considering having a formal tutor hired for her (he was thinking of his older teacher, he was retired, but Alexandrios had the feeling that after seeing Remedios's skill, he might change his mind).

With that said- "Remedios, don't get dirt all over your pants!" She had staunchly refused to wear a dress, saying that it would hinder her movement. Some might worry that such behavior would affect her marriage prospects later on in life, but if she could exceed- no, even be equal to him in fencing, he would be happy enough. As it was, he had no doubt that Kelart would have no difficulty finding suitors- she was quite studious and knew more theology than even he did at the moment.

How it was that one daughter had turned out to be such a musclehead, and the other a bookworm- he didn't know. His late wife had said it was an enigma as well.

Remedios was swinging her practice sword around with a speed and precision that defied her tiny frame. Alexandrios turned to Kelart, "Keep an eye on your elder sister, will you?" Normally it should be the other way around, but Kelart had a knack for keeping Remedios out of trouble.

The village they were visiting was surrounded by a ten-foot wooden wall. There was a makeshift watchtower and a ditch dug out in front of the wall. It was hardly the fortress that was the Custodio manor, but one could hardly expect any more from a tiny village.

"Please wait here while I announce myself, and don't wander off!" the last words were directed at Remedios, who nodded.

Given the constant threat of demihuman invasion, these defenses were the minimal precautions one had to take. This was not the Kingdom of Re-Estize where villages could afford to be lax. He did not want to alarm them, so he approached them first on his own.

"Hail- traveler! What brings you here?" a voice from the watchtower said.

Alexandrios looked up, not getting a good look at the figure due to the glare from the sun. "Hail! I am Alexandrios Custodio- and I bring grain with me towards this village after I heard of the shortage!"

There was a pause. "Thank you traveler, but we cannot lie... we do not have the coin to purchase any-"

"-ah, there is a misunderstanding here. I did not come her to sell grain- this is surplus from my land that I wished to distribute among the ailing villagers of the Holy Kingdom."

It probably took a moment for the man to understand that Alexandrios was saying that he was giving out the grain for free. Two minutes later the gates opened up, and he was being ushered in by an elderly man who was likely the village head. He looked at the carriage, and then smiled. "Ah, good sir, thank the Four that you have arrived! We had been forced to ration food but... we have ran out of everything yesterday. We were going to organize a hunting party, but there seem to be dangerous demihumans in the area. Two of our farmers were found mauled, and Lucy's child is still missing. We called for the Paladin Order... but they're unlikely to get here before next week."

Alexandrios scratched his chin. He had heard of the grain shortage, but not about the demihumans... he felt confident enough in his sword skills to be able to take on your ordinary rabble of goblins and ogres, but some demihumans were stronger than others and had special skills that needed other specialized skills to effectively counter, and some had trained themselves in the way that men also trained- making them doubly dangerous. He was not an adventurer, and did not feel confident enough to go barging around the wilderness looking for the monster himself. "Ah, I'm sorry, but I really can't offer any help on that end..." They could hire adventurers, but your run-of-the-mill village would lack the necessary funds to do so. And by this point, they would not arrive any earlier than the paladins if he were to offer to pay for them.

"Oh, no good sir, we weren't expecting help on that end... but your grain is greatly appreciated," he said.

"Ah, yes," Alexandrios said. "We were hoping to stay in the village overnight, and then depart in the morning." He had also brought a tent, if worse came to worse, they had to camp outside- though if the villagers made them do so, then they would no doubt be considered little better than savages who did not know how to exhibit hospitality in any way or form. One may even say that they would have lost all favor with the Four had they done so.

"Of course, of course, ah- just give me a moment," the man said.

Two hours later, he was in the fanciest house in the village (which he had a suspicion belonged to the village elder), sipping a cup of tea while sitting in one of the only three chairs in the whole house. The tea leaves were his own, a personal favorite of his imported from the Empire of Baharuth, while the hot water was generously supplied by the people of the village via what was likely their only stove and little remaining firewood.

"I trust the accommodations are to your liking?" the elder asked.

"Yes, yes, no issues there," Alexandrios answered. He then paused and frowned. Where were his two daughters? "Ah, I hope my children aren't causing you any trouble."

"Oh, not at all," the elder said. "As a matter of fact your son is quite energetic- he decided to help us chop up some firewood!"

Alexandrios frowned as he was about to mention that he didn't have a son- but then realized who the man must be talking about.

"It was quite a sight to behold- we didn't think that he could even lift the axe, but he managed to fell a tree faster than anyone else could," the elder said.

Alexandrios sighed- it was one thing to come to this village to help them out via donating grain, that was fine, but for a child of his to stoop to manual labor like that... he would need to put an end to it. They had to maintain their family name's dignity, after all! She couldn't be seen doing basic chores like some base vagabond.

"I told you not to do it, sis," Kelart said to Remedios. Kelart was buried in a book detailing the invasion of the country by the Srasch, a demihuman species that could use camouflage. Although she had not turned her gaze from the text, she knew that Remedios was sniffling from the sounds that she was making.

"But... but... it looked so fun!" Remedios said. The way the axe moved- she could instinctively see the best way to swing it- and although she was more used to swinging a sword than an axe, it still had been a neat experience for her. "And Pa doesn't mind when I swing a sword, how is this any different?"

Kelart shook her head. "Sis, look around you. Only big men are doing stuff like that."

"But... but... I'm stronger than most grown-ups!" Remedios protested.

Kelart sighed- she was only five years old, but even now, her sister's antics bothered her to no end. How could Remedios not see what was so obvious?

Kelart was interrupted by Remedios snatching her book out of her hands, with a wide smile on her face. Kelart groaned, that smile... that always heralded that her sister was about to do something stupid.

"I know what we should do!" Remedios said. "There's a big monster in the woods that people are scared off... let's go find it!"

Alarm bells went off in Kelart's head, out of all of Remedios's dumb ideas, this had to be the dumbest by far. "Sis- we ca-"

"And once we beat it up, Pa'll know that I'm just as good as anyone else!" Remedios said.

"Sis, Father wasn't angry because he thinks you're weak he-" Kelart got no further as Remedios had already bounded off into the woods.

She looked around with a helpless look on her face- the two of them had been playing under the shade of a peach tree just outside the walls of the village- though the peaches had long since been plucked. She turned- she needed to tell her father, but on the other hand... Remedios was rapidly disappearing from sight.

"Wait up sis!"

Kelart knew that they were in a lot of trouble now. She was sure they had gone too deep into the woods half an hour ago, but Remedios was not paying attention. "Sis, it's going to be dark soon!" Kelart was not particularly scared of the dark, but for a child to be lost in the woods after night... it was no short of a nightmare.

"Don't worry! I can get us back!" Remedios said. Somehow, she had not tired at all while Kelart struggled to keep up.

Kelart then paused. "Sis, do you hear that?"

"Hear what? There's nothing around."

"Yeah, what happened to the bird noises? It's really quiet all of a sudden," Kelart said. She had read many books before, but none about the wilderness- she never thought that something like this would happen. As such she was completely out of her element.

"Ah..." Remedios said, scratching her head, trying to think. It was an expression that Kelart didn't see on her face too much. But then, Remedios saw something- a flash of movement through the trees.

Remedios didn't have much combat experience, but her instinct was screaming at her that something was wrong and she grabbed Kelart.

All the well she did so, because a claw nearly missed gouging out Kelart's stomach.

Remedios, for all her talk of bravery and proving herself, nearly froze. The beast was something that Kelart recognized- a manticore! A scorpion's tail erupted from the body of a lion thrice the size of a normal one, and it glared at Remedios with feral eyes brimming with hate.

Remedios at least had enough sense to draw her practice sword- though it seemed little more than a toothpick before such a creature. It was not cowed in the slightest as it approached.

"Kelart, run!" Remedios said.

"Sis-" Kelart's voice was cut off by a glare from her sister.

"It's too strong," Remedios said. Her instinct told her that, and so she knew it was true. "Run as fast as you can. I'll... distract it."

Time seemed to come to a standstill as the manticore approached. The magnitude of Remedios's stupidity dawned on her, and just how outclasssed she was. She had always imagined herself dying in a brave last stand like the heroes in the stories her father told her... but she now wondered how it was that such heroes felt at the time? Were they as scared as she was? Did their hearts also pound like her's did?

She readied herself into a stance her father had taught her a hundred times- it was good while facing humans, but how well would it fare against a demihuman?

Everything was suddenly so clear to her- as if her vision had been enhanced. She thought she could see the individual hairs on the manticore's fur, she could hear its breath, she could see its talons and fangs, and above all, the point of its stinger.

"[Martial Art- Fourfold Slash of Light]!"

The manticore hissed, arching away from the blow, but it could not do it in time. So engrossed had it been in dealing with Remedios that it had not noticed the killing intent behind it until too late.

Alexandrios's main blow had cut off its tail, its most valuable asset, and the other three strikes had been aimed at its neck, chest, and abdomen. Any of the three could have dealt a fatal blow, but it had swerved away at the last second. Though it would no doubt die of those wounds eventually, 'eventually' was an unacceptable time frame in a battle of life and death.

The severed tail twitched and lunged at Alexandrios, as if it still had a mind of its own, and Alexandrios swatted it aside. The manticore lunged at him during this exact moment given there was now an opening- and he was without armor or a shield! But as Remedios cried out, so did her father- "[Martial Art- Fortress]!" His left arm caught the blow, and though the claws sank in, they did not tear it off or cut deep.

With his other hand he took advantage of this moment to lop off its head. It's tail now also finally stopped twitching.

There was silence for a moment. Before Remedios could thank her father- before she could point to the still-bleeding cuts on his left arm, he went over to her and punched her squarely in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her.

Remedios had been yelled at by her father countless times, but this had been the first time he had actually hit her. Her younger sister was crying even as she cast [First Heal] on him, the strongest healing spell she knew, which did little to heal the deep cuts- they would have to visit the temple later. Healing them would likely end up costing more money than they had spent in bringing the grain here.

After Alexandrios had given Remedios an earful along with a fistful- yelling at her about how irresponsible and braindead she was, he had then spent some time consoling Kelart, who had mostly gotten off scott free (though this didn't stop her from apologizing over and over) before he got up and took his blade again.

"There is an important lesson I need to impress on the two of you," he said with a grim voice. He led Kelart by the hand towards a small cave and motioned Remedios to follow, and from within it he retrieved five Manticore cubs, each no bigger than Remedios's arm. They had their eyes sealed shut as they were likely currently blind at birth, their claws had not formed yet, and their tails were merely tiny stubs without stingers. They looked more like overgrown rodents at this tage than manticores. "This is why you were attacked- it was a mother defending its children from you two, who wandered too close to its nest." He took a hard look at Remedios and at Kelart. "I've taught you many things over the years, but if there is one thing that I want you to take to heart-" he then stabbed each of the defenseless cubs, killing them and dropping their corpses at the two girl's feet. "Monsters and demihumans are always a threat to humans. And the only good demihuman... is a dead one."

He then showed them the skeletal remains in the cave of the manticore's prey- which while they did include wild beasts, also included human bones. Including the remains of what was clearly a young kid.

Present Day

Remedios's mind went back to that day so long ago. She had been unable to save her sister that day- and she had failed to protect her from the Death Emperor, despite promising herself at that time that she would do whatever it took to save her younger sibling. She had vowed to herself at that time to grow strong- to grow strong enough to defend all the ones that she cared about. She had vowed that she would never again shed tears. That was why she had become a paladin. And when she had taken the mantle, she had vowed to defend the Holy Queen. She had failed at that task too.

Looking back, it seemed like her life was nothing but an endless string of failures.

Before that undead... she was as helpless as that little girl before that manticore. Only her father hadn't been there to save her.

She ran, not even knowing exactly where she was going, when she came upon him.

Beyond the drawbridge leading to the inner sanctum, standing there in the frigid morning air as if manifested into existence by her thoughts- it was him. Her enemy. That undead that had caused her and her kingdom so much grief.

Her hand went to the crystal that Ainz had given her, and she knew how to use it the moment she touched it. It would summon an undead with power beyond her wildest dreams. Victory would surely be in her grasp if she used it.

But... one of the few times in her life she ignored her battle instinct. She could win if she used it, yes, but it was an undead. A foul creature. A godless being- one that she was sworn enemies with. A creature that was malevolence incarnate.

She couldn't use it- and with that thought she tucked away the crystal and raised her blade.

Using the crystal would be an admittance that her justice could not prevail, something she would never budge on.

Yes, she would smite this evil herself- she did not need a stronger evil to defeat it- she would defeat it with her own purity and light! She felt energy rise within her- perhaps, like the fairy tales of old, her passion would unlock some secret strength, allowing her to fell this enemy once and for all!

"For justice!" she screamed as she lunged.

She barely got three steps in when her enemy called out, "[Death]!" and she fell to the floor, lifeless.

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