Hello Scrolls and Nazarins, with another chapter of my fanfic The One Who Came Back.

Remedios has an enlightening conversation.

With you

The One Who Came Back

Chapter 75: Conviction

Demiurge was not at all pleased with his own performance. His creator had made him to be a master strategist, someone who would be dozens, if not hundreds, of steps ahead of any opponent, capable of predicting events based only on scant information. But he had failed to foresee several crucial points in his lord's Plan.

Not only that, his master had to intervene directly on some occasions, even imposing the fact that he would be tested over time, just as Cocytus had been when dealing with the lizardmen. But, in his case, the Supreme Being would create situations where quick adaptation was necessary; the vassalage of the Empire was an example.

Now Demiurge did not know at which point these plan alterations would generate the most probable changes. He had been preparing for these situations since they lost control in Re-Estize. Although he was not working directly with Albedo and it was her responsibility for the Re-Estize scenario, both could not anticipate the events that followed because of the human Philip. But his master, even knowing how incapable the human was, still kept him. The actions of the complete idiot chosen as a puppet resulted in an unplanned move that led to the fall of the kingdom.

Such a thing could not occur under his responsibility, and yet Demiurge had already committed two faults. The first was not seeing the potential of Neia Baraja. To him, the squire was a pawn who would serve as a vendor for the runic arts, chosen only for her audacity to interrupt his master's audience with the Holy Kingdom's group. To his surprise, his master not only kept her as his own squire but also resurrected her during the invasion. Her purpose only became clear when everything was almost over. Her devotion spawned a new religion that now predominated among the population.

Underestimating the importance of humans seemed to be a recurring theme: Philip, Neia, and now Remedios. During the events of Jaldabaoth's invasion, the paladin was considered an antagonist, serving as an unbalanced opposition to the Sorcerer King's aid. After the invasion, she was discarded. Demiurge thought she would no longer be useful, as she practically entered a catatonic state. His intention was to use this madness in a future attempt to assassinate Neia Baraja, but with her eventual "death," that line of the Plan was abandoned. This was his second fault.

Due to the state of degradation of the burned corpse found, it was not possible to confirm her identity, much less suppose that Remedios would fake her death. The body would be examined later, but it was not a priority. However, when it was stolen and then destroyed, it was assumed that only a study object had been lost, nothing valuable.

The Arch-Demon, by order of his master, sent every available Hanzo and Shadow Demon to investigate the mysterious group that dared to meddle in Nazarick's affairs. These had not yet been located, but, to his surprise, another thing was found in the southern lands. After discovering that the tension imposed on the southern nobles was bearing fruit earlier than expected, it was necessary to understand what was causing this acceleration. An unknown commander was pressuring the nobles, strategies were being implemented efficiently and diligently. Demiurge needed to know who this commander was, and after days of investigation, he discovered, to his surprise, that Remedios Custodio was alive.

This new failure almost drove the master strategist to take his own life. This was unacceptable. He went directly to his master's office and requested an audience.

"Excuse me, Ainz-sama, I have something to report."

"I was expecting this, Demiurge," said Ainz, finally getting a verbal report instead of piles of paper.

"So you are aware?"

"'Aware of what?' Yes, I am already aware of several events, but let's be more specific, which part of the Plan are we talking about?"

"The one concerning the Holy Kingdom."

"Hmm, a bit more specific."

"About the southern lands preparing for a secession war earlier than expected and having a new commander."

"Ah! As I thought, after everything that happened with the paladin and Neia, I imagined something like this would happen."

"So you already knew, Ainz-sama?!"

"Of course, Demiurge, I know everything." 'Better pretend to know, it seems I won't get more direct information than this and I still have much to do before heading to the Elven Kingdom lands.'

"So, my lord, this failure in my analysis..."

"Is irrelevant."

"But, Ainz-sama, I made a terrible mistake."

"Can you correct this mistake? Was there really a mistake? If this mistake does not exist, then no fault was committed. Just learn from the difficulties that arise and be sure that mistakes are not repeated."

"You are very merciful, Ainz-sama. With your permission, I will take my leave."

The Supreme Being merely signaled with his hand.

'I am sure I missed something here,' thought Ainz before turning his mind to the trip he would make with the twins.

...

Although his master had dismissed his failure and minimized his guilt, Demiurge did not forgive himself. Everything had to be perfect; there would not be a third time. So, for that, he needed to:

Manipulate the paladin's mental state. The report about Lakyus talking to herself had given him some ideas.

Organize a place of worship for Jaldabaoth. This would be easy, just decorate a strategic point with an ancient theme with the help of Fluder, the Empire's mage.

Finally, implant a map somewhere that would reach Remedios's hands.

After discovering that the Theocracy was responsible for Shalltear's death, it was obvious that that kingdom would fall. The survivors would seek refuge in the most probable place, which would be in the Southern Holy Kingdom, and they would take with them what they could.

To place the map among the material studied by one of the theocratic scholars, make it noticed and then given the proper importance to the point of being kept among the treasures in just a few days, required surgical precision. Logically, if the Theocrats did not take it, there would be at least twelve other ways for the map to reach the paladin's hands.

Now, the human had discovered that it was not with her sister she had been talking to for the past few months, as planned.

"You were destroyed."

'My body was destroyed, demons don't die, we are banished or sealed, you know that. Oh noble Paladin!'

"You monster, how dare you desecrate my sister's memory."

'Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you needed someone to talk to.'

"Despicable creature. STOP USING HER VOICE!"

'Is this better?' said a male voice very politely.

"I will destroy this place, bury any sign of your existence."

'That would be such a waste, so many memories, so many deeds done, just to be forgotten.'

An energy glowed and then all the lights came on, revealing the mosaics carved into the walls, many depicting the rise of creatures that should have immense power.

"The Evil Deities, you were one of the Evil Deities!"

'They always called us that collectively, rarely does anyone remember that we were separate beings, I was a king among them.'

"You were the Demon King, but the name Jaldabaoth was never mentioned in any holy book."

'My dear, I'll tell you a secret, never tell your real name to a demon, just as we never tell ours. You know, names have power. At the time, I was the Demon King and ended up with a hole in my chest. In my last incarnation, I was Jaldabaoth. Maybe in the next coming, I'll choose something less flashy. Do you have any suggestions?'

"Damn you! Stop talking as if we were friends."

'But I thought we were! What sadness, what ingratitude,' said the voice in a disdainful tone, 'look that I saved your life several times, my dear, and if it weren't for me guiding you, you would have been freezing for months in those mountains.'

"You planned to lure me here, you've been manipulating me all this time. What do you want, demon!"

'I want your help, Remedios Custodio.'

"Help? I will do everything to destroy what remains of you, this map, this sword, this temple..."

'I need you to kill the Sorcerer King.'

Remedios choked at hearing the last sentence.

'Hmm! It seems I now have your attention.'

"The undead wizard, you are really enemies!"

'We had never met before. He is an older being than I am and remained sleeping for ages.'

"But he came to fight... to destroy you."

'I think he got resentful when I stole his maids and made them mine.'

"You stole the maids, YOU STOLE THE MAIDS! YOU AWAKENED THE DAMN UNDEAD WIZARD!!"

'Maybe yes, maybe no, maybe it was just time for him to finish his nap. We will never know. But now I would like you to do me this little favor.'

Remedios now believed that it was Jaldabaoth's fault the undead wizard emerged, another stone to be added to the account the demon would pay.

"I will not make any pact, demon."

'I just want you to kill the Sorcerer King, Ainz Ooal Gown.'

"Why would I do that?"

'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.'

Remedios knew that demons were arrogant and their wounded egos made them quite vulnerable.

"You want me to finish your poorly done job."

'I underestimated him. After wearing him down for months, I thought I had killed him. Instead of fully recovering from our first fight, I wasted my power destroying this kingdom while he hid in the demi-human lands.'

"You couldn't even defeat the Thirteen Heroes," she said, looking at the demi-human skeleton.

'The humans? They were not just thirteen, but my mistake at the time was giving too much of my power to that sword. Splitting my strength with the weapon was not the best strategy, at least until now. I want you to take the sword, use it to destroy the Sorcerer King's servant and dominate this kingdom. Soon he will come to you, and with this weapon, his end will be guaranteed.'

The paladin had her doubts, but the weapon emanated power. When she approached and grabbed the hilt of the sword, it was like holding the weight of the world. When she tried to pull the blade, it did not move.

"I thought you wanted me to use this thing?!"

'Hmm! Maybe it is too heavy, maybe you need a little more help. You know, my mask also carries power, it strengthened the Demon Maids.'

"And controlled them. You want to use it to possess me, like those lunatics who tried to summon you did."

'Maybe they would have succeeded with a strong body, but I'm not ready, not yet. Maybe in a century or two, but you're not afraid, are you? The knight of the roses fights daily with the demon in her sword. Is she stronger than you? Maybe I should look for her?!'

The demon was provoking her. It was logical that she was stronger than Lakyus. The girl was not even half of her.

Remedios gathered all her conviction and picked up the mask, but before putting it on, she took a look at the demi-human face. The skeleton seemed to smile at her. When she put on the blue and gold mask, she felt electricity run through her body. A gust of wind extinguished the torch, the magical lights went out, and everything went dark. But then, her vision became blurred and everything seemed clear.

"Night vision."

'Among other things. Let's try again, together. Now take my Bloody Sword.'

Remedios Custodio, the Fallen Paladin, did not feel any sign of possession.

'Maybe the demon is really very weak,' she thought.

Then she approached the sword and grabbed it by the hilt, pulling it from the stone with just one hand. The blade, which seemed to be made of bone, was larger than the human, and a large eye opened on its side, as if it were a living thing, a monster whose cursed power emanated and dripped black blood.

The blade shrank when placed in its sheath. Upon doing so, Remedios said nothing, merely heading for the exit.

'Aren't you forgetting something?'

Remedios stopped and turned to the altar. She looked with conviction at the jar containing the head of Kelart Custodio.

"My sister is dead," she said, leaving.

...

Author's Note

Hello, about all this information that Demiurge spoke, he got everything from Fluder, The wizard is over two hundred years old, he lived during the time of the Evil Deities and probably in all his years of life he studied a lot about them.

Although Demiurge manipulates this information to link the existence of Jaldabaoth to the Demon King, he cannot distort it too much as he still has survivors from that time, Fluder, Rigrit and the Platinun Dragon Lord.