Inside the secret chambers of the Slane Theocracy, a meeting was taking place. The Six Cardinals, the Pontifex Maximus, as well as the heads of the Executive, Legislature, Judiciary, and the military (the Grand Marshal) were gathered there.
It was a rare occurrence for all of them to meet like this, but these were not ordinary times.
The reason they had gathered was to discuss one thing- the rise of the new power to the west of their country. They had met like this several months back, to see how they could potentially aide the Holy Roble Kingdom, however at the time their resources had been limited as the Black Scripture had been sent on another mission and they could not give much more than thoughts and prayers to the Holy Roble Kingdom. A lesser Scripture would've just been cannon fodder before the might of a magic caster who could wield a Death Knight, after all.
Normally all that ignoring a problem would do was to make it fester and then become worse the longer one ignored it. Such was common sense- yet this failed when it came to the matter of the Holy Roble Kingdom. Overnight it seemed, the matter seemed to have entirely resolved itself. The Death Emperor was dead, the Holy Queen had been found, and the demihumans were retreating back to whence they came.
In other words, it was all too good to possibly be true. And yet, they could not deny what so many independent reports and witnesses told them.
"This... Ainz Ooal Gown character..." the Cardinal of Air said. "He seems to be a strange fellow." That was a huge understatement.
"Three names? Is he one of ours?" the Cardinal of Water asked. All people in the Theocracy followed a three-name system that was different from the Empire's and Kingdom's. A commoner from those places would only have two names. Ainz did not appear to be nobility- but at the same time, he didn't appear to be anything. A thorough search of various records and registries revealed no one by that name- meaning it was an alias. Because the chances that someone of his power had just appeared without the Theocracy getting a word of it was almost zero, unless he came from extremely far off on the other side of the continent.
"No, I don't think so," the Cardinal of Air replied. "His appearance does not match any known adventurer."
"Are the rumors true?" the Cardinal of Light asked. "Is he... an undead?"
"He has not set off any undead reactions," the Cardinal of Darkness said.
"Was not Surshana and that girl able to deceive such methods of divination?" the Cardinal of Light asked.
"Yes, though from what reports say, people have seen his face," the Cardinal of Darkness said.
"It would seem odd for him to not be human, or at least humanoid, given the aide he gave to the Holy Roble Kingdom," the Cardinal of Earth chimed in.
"Unless..." the Cardinal of Darkness said, "this whole thing was a ruse for him to gain control of the Holy Roble Kingdom- no corpse of the Death Emperor was found, correct? Who's not to say that this strange magic caster and him are not one in the same?"
"The Death Emperor was burnt to a crisp, and only ashes remain," the Cardinal of Air said. "That is the official story- though I cannot see what he would have to gain from orchestrating something like this... the Holy Roble Kingdom is hardly a heavyweight when it comes to influence or power. Not to mention that his actions are not befitting of those of an undead that hates the living." The Holy Roble Kingdom was considered by many to be a backwater within the Theocracy; a distant unemployed cousin to the Theocracy. And yet suddenly overnight the Holy Roble Kingdom had turned from a mewling kitten to a roaring lion- as if that proverbial unemployed cousin had won the lottery and become a multi-millionaire overnight.
"Still, he is a necromancer," the Cardinal of Darkness said. Necromancy was forbidden in the Theocracy, at least, openly so- some old members of the Black Scripture had been necromancers, though they were told to not showcase their abilities in public. Not to say that the Cardinals themselves had any problems with necromancers- that lady of the Thirteen Heroes was one, and she had cooperated with them multiple times in the past.
"It seems strange though that the narrative on undead within the Holy Kingdom is changing," the Grand Marshal said.
There was a reason that people universally feared the undead- most of them were not intelligent enough to control their instinctive urges to hate life, and of those that did have some frontal lobe activity, did not care to reign in their hatred. At best, perhaps one could run into an Elder Lich that might- just might, be willing to negotiate temporarily. And even this arrangement was entirely one of convenience and mutual benefit.
There were only two undead in recorded history that could be said to be friendly to humans- one was Surshana himself, and the other was the vampire of the Thirteen Heroes. And Surshana was remarkable in other ways.
As such, a fear of the undead was like a fear of venomous snakes- common sense, in other words.
The Holy Roble Kingdom should have known this and yet... while it wasn't as if they looked upon undead favorably, the Temples were no longer taking such a harsh stance against them either. That necromancer had appointed his undead to guard their Great Wall which was met with only token resistance from the Temples of the Holy Kingdom.
"Can they truly feel safe knowing that undead are guarding them?" the Cardinal of Fire asked. It was like letting the proverbial fox guard the chicken coop.
"Ultimately, they do not have the manpower to maintain the wall in their current state otherwise," the Cardinal of Air said. "And the draft was never popular with the populace- there are those that defend it, but no one wants to be sent into practically the wilderness to possibly die or be maimed. Given that, it seems easier to just let a powerful hero handle things."
"One who surrenders security for freedom deserves neither," the Cardinal of Light said. "Eventually, this will come to bite them back as their populace is not as well-trained as it used to be. And are the other rumors I hear true- they've started distributing blasphemy... like this?" He held up a written report. Apparently some idiot in the Holy Roble Kingdom had decided to write a romance story between a vampire and a human woman. If such a person had lived in the Theocracy, they would have been executed without delay, but it seemed the Holy Kingdom had been content to simply imprison them.
Not only was the concept of the story itself ridiculous, but the Cardinals who had perused it had all felt that they were losing braincells with every single sentence they read. The Cardinal of Light had not heeded most of their warning and tried to read three chapters all at once- he had ended up coughing up blood before he finished and had been forced to stop, and someone else who had tried to do the same had an aneurysm and had to be healed with magic. The entire work seemed to be the fruit of a lunatic's mind.
"Almost no one actually read that story other than us and a few other religious officials, it seems, as it was never released to the public," the Cardinal of Earth said. The entire reason that all of them knew about it was because it was so odd that it was immediately brought to the attention of the Temple authorities. Though, if people were even writing such things, that did seem to mean that attitudes to the undead had shifted at the very least ever so slightly. "What of other talented individuals in the Holy Roble Kingdom? I know many of them died, but is there a chance we could rope in any of the survivors if need be? Like that female paladin?"
The Cardinal of Air smirked. "Ah, she would not abandon her country even if it was being consumed in hellfire, not to mention there is another issue with that- this necromancer, Ainz, has a hold on her."
"What kind of hold?"
"The strongest hold a man can have over a woman."
There were raised eyebrows at that. "She loves him? A paladin and necromancer together..."
"Strange as it sounds, multiple sources have confirmed its veracity."
"Well then, regardless, there is little aid we can offer the Holy Kingdom- and I see no reason to antagonize this Ainz person. Perhaps... based on his power... if he were a godkin... no, we keep strict records of such people... unless one slipped through..."
Ultimately they reached no conclusion regarding a definitive plan to deal with Ainz, and chose to let him be for the moment.
"Moving on to our next topic of discussion.. the Re-Estize Kingdom..."
Their plan to assassinate the Warrior-Captain had succeeded though it cost the lives of many Sunlight Scripture members, and the Empire was bolstered in its attempt to conquer the Kingdom. Jircniv's strategy was impeccable, and it was only a matter of when rather than if the Baharuth Empire would take over the Re-Estize Kingdom.
The Cardinal of Fire smirked. "It seems the Re-Estize Kingdom is quite desperate if they are turning to such measures..."
From the report they received, the Re-Estize Kingdom had approached Ainz with the proposal of marrying off the Golden Princess to him. It was said that when the messenger told Remedios about this proposal, rather foolishly thinking that Remedios was just some secretary, Remedios had thrown the man out the window without hesitation. However, she had been kind enough to heal all of his broken bones afterwards.
"Then again, their desperation is understandable, as it is likely only interference from that necromancer that could save the Re-Estize Kingdom right now..." The nobles of that country had realized, only far too late, how much of a mistake they had made in allowing the Warrior-Captain to be killed. They had detested him for his commoner status, but allowing him be killed off was the equivalent of cutting one's nose off to spite one's face.
The meeting then turned to some more minor concerns before concluding.
