Ainz walked over to the balcony. The city had been pacified, and now was quiet- though this silence was different from the silence that permeated over the city before. While earlier, it had been quiet because the screams of the innocent were silenced immediately only to be interrupted occasionally by the sadistic laughter of demihumans, it was now quiet because the oppressors had been slain and the people of the city were sleeping safe in their beds knowing that a powerful protector watched over them.

Someone walked up behind him.

"What are you thinking of?" Remedios asked.

"Nothing," Ainz said.

"That's a lie."

"What I mean to say is that it's nothing important."

"Anything from a man like you is important. Please, tell me what it is."

Ainz did not reply, but instead offered her his hands. "I want to go see the sky tonight- it looks beautiful even from here, and will seem all the more radiant closer up. Care to join me?"

Remedios did not hesitate to leap into his arms, while he carried her bridal style, or like Superman carrying Lois Lane up higher and higher above the city until all that was left of it was a small cluster of lights near a river.

The air was cold, but Ainz muttered something and now Remedios did not feel the change in temperature at all.

"Please, take your mask off," Remedios asked. "We are high up enough that no one will see you."

Ainz obliged, revealing his still-skeletal visage. "Have you decided yet?" Remedios queried.

"About what?" Ainz asked. He pretended to be clueless, but he knew deep down exactly what it was that Remedios wanted to ask him. There was only one choice that he had to make now that mattered.

"About whether or not you..."

"...I still do not know," Ainz said truthfully.

The stayed there, above the clouds, for a full minute, not talking at all as they merely took in their surroundings.

"The stars are beautiful tonight."

"Though not as beautiful as you."

"I'm flattered, but that will get you nowhere with me."

"Umu? I thought all women appreciated compliments."

"And I do so too, but I can see through your transparent attempts to deflect from the conversation."

"...would you believe me if I told you that I was human once before?" Ainz asked her.

"I already suspected it," Remedios said. There were multiple times while speaking to him that she got the feeling that an undead couldn't possibly have acted or spoken the way that her Ainz did. Remedios could think of Ainz as one of 'the good ones' in regards to undead but in truth she had suspected that he was something else entirely.

"I see," Ainz said. "Perhaps you do not know this part though, but I come from a land that is far away from here. There, the people had scorched and poisoned both the land and the sea. You couldn't even walk outside without the air poisoning you. My parents died when I was barely ten." It was a sad story, though no sadder than the stories of thousands of people within the Holy Kingdom now. "I would never want that to happen to your world. If it were I, I would keep these stars and collect them as treasures to adorn upon a crown to lay atop your head."

Remedios didn't really understand flowery language very well, but assumed that this was a great compliment. "I would take whatever you give me happily. And whether you choose to go back or stay as you are, know that I am yours regardless."

"The only thing that makes me hesitate," Ainz said. "Is the fear that changing back into a human will make me weaker. I have trained for a long time in this body, and I might lose some of my power if I were to change. And that scares me- it scares me that I might lose the ability to protect you and what I care about above all. Who will save this kingdom when the next Death Emperor arrives? Should I not prepare for that day? I do not know if I can regain the power I will lose if I will turn into a human."

Remedios nodded. "I would have said earlier, that power gained through evil was not worth having, though seeing what you have done, I now think differently. A path may lead into the night, but it might still be a safe road to walk upon. I only wished that you didn't have to walk it alone." Remedios wanted to help Ainz, but knew that the gap between their strengths was insurmountable for one such as she.

"How did you do it so easily?" Remedios asked after a while had passed.

"Slay the Death Emperor?" Ainz asked her.

"No, forgive me for those spiteful words I threw at you," Remedios said. "After what I had said, I feared that I had lost you forever."

Ainz shrugged. Perhaps it was due to his undead nature, but he didn't hold any negative emotions towards Remedios because of that, no longer feeling the slightest sting when he contemplated those earlier words. "I have already lost nearly everyone I cared for. When you said those things- I was never angry at you, just saddened that I had lost yet another person dear to me. Once you had come back, well, I'm not going to let something like a tiny grudge get in the way of my happiness."

Remedios thought that there was no way an undead could have a heart so forgiving- no, her Ainz truly had the heart of a saint!

Silence passed between them again.

"I wish I could stay like this forever."

"Indeed, to be like this, gazing at the stars."

"No, to be like this, gazing at you."

Despite herself, Remedios blushed, to the point where the redness touched even the tips of her ears. Though, she would later deny this and say that this only happened because it was her body's natural response to the cold.

"Can you promise me one thing then? Will you protect the people of this kingdom, much as you protect and cherish me in your arms?"

"Of course. That I promise, whether I will be human or undead."

"Your heart is that of not only a human, Ainz, but that of a true hero, and that is all I need to know. Regardless of what your outer appearance is like."

The two of them then began to descend when Remedios started yawning. She then wandered off to her bed and fell asleep. A bed that was also Ainz's bed, though he did not need to sleep and so never lied down on it. As it was, even if they wanted to... they couldn't.

Ainz took out the Seeds of Yggdrasil from his inventory and looked at them.

A choice had to be made, clearly. And when would he make it? When Remedios was old and had already passed away?

If this was just the game of Yggdrasil he would've taken the chance without hesitation. But, could he really risk the concept of growing weaker? He was uncertain if he would be able to gain those levels, skills, and spells back that he would lose. He couldn't exactly 'reset' to earlier save file if things when wrong now then, could he?

If his friends had been here to have his back, he would've been fine with doing it knowing that he would be safe.

But here he was, alone, with a decision that had to be made.

An impossible choice.