A Vulpine Spanner in the Works

by Ten-Tailed-God

Believing that Momonga was the only Player remaining in YGGDRASIL at closing is an impossibility. What would happen if another Player, one not influenced by a guild of monsters arrived in the New World? Not all heroes are human, and not all monsters are skeletons. Sometimes, what one needs to change the world isn't great strength but instead trickery.

20. Chapter 18

A Vulpine Spanner in the Works

Chapter 18: Dracula Is So Out of Fashion

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[Ninya]

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"Could you make me a new outfit a little bit like yours?" I hesitantly asked Kashia. The moment I did, her eyes widened in surprise before she instantly answered without hesitation.

"Of course, Ninya!" She said with a lot of happiness before pulling me into one of her warm, but crushing, hugs. "How could I ever refuse such a heartwarming request from my adorable little student?"

I guess it was dumb of me to think that Kashia wouldn't want to do so. I couldn't help but smile at the thought. She does care for me after all. Enough that even her goddess mother told me so as well as requesting that I call her Grandma.

That was also another topic which was strange to swallow. Kashia is not human. Even if her disguise was flawlessly realistic, it didn't change the fact that she had tails and ears under it. And beyond being what Grandma had called her race, kitsune, she was also a demigoddess.

That did make me wonder if Kashia was a demigoddess due to having a mortal father or if deities in general started as demigods until they attained enough worship. Could that be why Kashia had come to this land? She did say that her homeland was split into nine different territories that were each ruled by multiple deities.

Could it possibly be that there had been too many gods and too little worshippers for her to ascend into godhood? It must be a lonely life, having to leave your home and family to become stronger.

Maybe I should try helping her? Grandma did offer her assistance as well. My only reservation about doing so was admittedly selfish. I'm afraid that if I help her, I could possibly lose her.

"Come and stand up. Ninya. Let's get a good look at you so that I make sure to do this right." Kashia said as she pulled me up from my chair and moved us to an open space in the cabin.

She then let go of me and backed away to get a better view of me. "Now, kiddo, any specific customizations you want to your clothes or do you want your clothes to be exact replicas of mine?" She asked while turning in a circle to give me a good look at her clothes.

Some parts of her outfit I really liked, such as the unique design to her dress. Other parts made me a bit hesitant though. For instance, I had absolutely no idea how Kashia was able to move about so easily in those tall heels. I know for certain that I would easily trip and fall while trying to replicate any of the physical activities that I'd go through normally on a job.

Additionally, her dress was extremely revealing with how high the cuts on the sides of her dress went up to her hips. I also didn't feel that comfortable with showing as much cleavage as Kashia did. I think that I'd like sleeves for my dress.

The last two changes that I'd prefer is to have a cloak with my outfit and for my clothes to be green.

I made sure to tell Kashia of my thoughts on the matter which earned me a laugh and nod from her. "I guess I can admit that my style might take a bit to get used to. That, and you'd definitely need practice if you wanted to wear heels as tall as mine. Still, one custom magical outfit coming right up!" She announced before throwing a spell at me.

One moment, I felt the air on my naked body, the next, I was clothed once again. When I looked down, I got a good view of the outfit that Kashia had given me.

I was covered in an emerald green dress made of what seemed to be silk which was edged in gold that was reminiscent in design to Kashia's. My sleeves comfortably hugged my upper arms while becoming looser towards my gloved hands.

A forest-green cloak was clasped to my neck with an emerald brooch that had an unknown spell circle inscribed upon it.

At my waist was a belt which hung to an angle that was already equipped with a sheath to hold the stiletto acquired from Clementine along with a few pouches that I could tell already had a bit of weight to them.

Looking downwards towards the skirt section, I took note that it barely teased a hint of skin of my upper thigh while the rest of my legs were clad in emerald green boots lined in gold. I did notice that there was a slight wedge to my heels, but not enough to be an inconvenience.

"I believe that this is some of my finest work to date. Take a look for yourself." Kashia remarked while pointing behind me. I turned around to see a full-length mirror which held the image of an almost unrecognizable reflection of myself.

If I had been told a few weeks ago that I'd look like one of those pretty noble girls today, I'd have thought the person crazy. Yet now…

I found Tuare at my side with a reassuring hand on my shoulder. She then leaned down and spoke into my ear, "You might not think it the truth, but I think you look very beautiful right now."

"You really think so?" I asked while continuing to gaze at my reflection.

"I know so, little sister." Tuare replied with absolute sincerity. Then, I saw Kashia join Tuare and I as she stood on my left side.

"You know, an up-and-coming beautiful mage like yourself needs some type of epithet. I think that 'Ninya, the Emerald Mage' has a nice ring to it. What about you?"

I felt my eyes misting a little as I looked in the mirror at the three of us together. It almost looked like a mother and eldest daughter taking the youngest out shopping for new clothes.

Wrapping an arm around the waists of both, I gave each of them a one-armed hug. "Thanks, you two." Tuare wrapped her arms around my shoulders while Kashia gave my left shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"You know, Tuare, I've no doubt that we'll soon need to worry about our little Ninya dealing with packs of boys begging her for attention." My face quickly turned red at Kashia's teasing.

"Kashia!"

Then, I spotted Tuare's eyes meet Kashia's with a conspiratorial glint. Following this, a sly smile filled her face. "And then our little Ninya will need advice on what to do when meeting a boy she likes."

"Tuare!"

"After that, she'll be indecisive on what to wear during her dates. We'll definitely need to help her out." Kashia added. I felt like steam might begin blowing out of my ears at this point.

"All of that will lead to picking out the perfect gown to her wedding." Tuare finished, making me want to melt into a puddle on the floor in embarrassment.

"Don't worry, Ninya. Your big sister and I will be there every step of the way to coach you on. And if you really need help about certain activities, we'll be there to give you any advice you need."

"By the gods…" I said why trying to hide my face with my hands. The teasing laughter of both women echoed throughout the room. I couldn't believe that I had to hear my mother-figure and older sister talk about things like that to me.

I was only saved from further teasing when Meepo made his presence known to us. I couldn't put into words how thankful I was for his timely interruption.

"Excuse me, Mistress. But Meepo has something for Tiny Mistress." Meepo stated while I pulled my hands from my face to look at the little kobold approaching us with an elegant staff that seemed more like an art piece of immense value than a tool of magic that I guessed it was. Meepo then walked in front of me before holding aloft the staff with both hands like a squire might offer a knight their sword.

"Meepo spent time crafting this special-powerful magic stick as a tool that Tiny Mistress may use instead of the subpar-boring stick that she was using before." The red kobold stated while still holding the staff to me.

"Th-Thank you, Meepo." I said before carefully taking the offered staff from his hands and getting a better look at this beautiful object. While a rich brown wood made up the main shaft of the object, it was hard to distinguish if the wood was the base of it or if the silvery metal that wove itself about the wood was. Along the entire length of the staff, multiple lines of runic carvings in a language that I couldn't understand flowed across it, almost like they had naturally been part of the staff instead of being carved into it. The moment that I touched the staff, the runes flashed red before settling to a soft green.

The bottom of the staff ended in a diagonal tip of metal while, nearing the head of the staff, the silvery metal expanded into four prongs that wrapped around a ruby sphere that glowed with a soft crimson light. On each of the four silver prongs sat a pair of emeralds that stack on top of each other which seemed to contain lightning within their facets.

"Meepo, this is a very beautiful gift. I can't thank you enough for it." I said in appreciation.

"No need to thank Meepo. Meepo is proud to create such an object for you. Special-powerful magic stick is enchanted to bond to its wielder. None can use but you, and it comes if called. Also, shiny jewels can contain spells that Tiny Mistress can cast if you push mana into them. Some of Meepo's greatest crafting!" The kobold craftsman stated with a smile.

I knelt down to Meepo's level and gently set his gift down next to me before pulling him into a hug. "Thank you very much, Meepo."

"You are welcome." Meepo answered with a wagging tail. I smiled and nodded before breaking my embrace with him and picking the staff up and standing once more.

"Now you are looking like a professional and powerful mage. Ready to take a walk around town for a bit? We have to make sure that you are able to walk around comfortably in your new clothes since I'd like to make sure I eyeballed your measurements correctly." Kashia said, making me suddenly feel a little self-conscious about what other people might think of me.

"Are you sure? I mea-"

"Ninya, you're thinking too hard right now. I think that today would be a good exercise in building up your confidence." Kashia interrupted before looking at Tuare, "What do you think?"

Tuare gave an amused smile in response before replying, "I think that would be a marvelous idea, Kashia."

"Tuare, Kashia, what are you two talking about?" I asked with some worry. I felt extremely betrayed as both women didn't say a word before they locked an arm into either of mine and started marching me out the door. "Don't I get a say in this?!"

Both women looked at each other and then down to me before simultaneously answering, "No."

There was nothing I could do to resist them as both were much stronger than me. We exited the cabin's doorway, then we went through the doorway of the sanctuary and Meepo closed it behind us with a wave. Now we went out the door of our room and started marching down the stair until we entered the main tavern of the inn. I did find it a new experience to hear my heels echo on the wooden floors like they did, but that just made me realized that it would just draw more attention to me.

I felt a little thankful that the tavern wasn't filled with patrons yet, but I did spot a few people here and there who gave the three of us some interested looks which made my face heat up. What made it worse was when Kashia and Tuare led us over to Morgan who was minding the bar. His eyes flicked up to study the three of us before his eyes focused on me in particular.

"Afternoon, Kashia, Tuare. Who is the third girl with you? She looks familiar." The innkeeper asked while cleaning out a mug.

"Oh, happy that you asked! You have already met her before, but just to refresh you, this is Ninya." Kashia answered while patting my shoulder with her free hand. Morgan raised an eyebrow at this.

"Huh, I did peg you for being too girlish for a boy. Guess I turned out to be correct. Doesn't really explain how you managed to either hide your long hair or grow it to that length since the last time I saw you." He then noticed that both women were holding my struggling arms to my sides. "Is there something going on with you three?" He asked while pointing at my struggling arms.

"Kashia and I felt that Ninya needed some help to build up her confidence since this is the first time that she's gone out dressed like this. So, how do you think my little sister looks?" Tuare asked with an innocent tone.

Morgan snorted in amusement before he finally answered, "She looks very nice in her clothes. Have fun on your day out." I could easily tell that Morgan was both telling the truth and humoring my sister since this was probably the most entertainment he's had all day.

I was just surrounded by everyone betraying me today!

"Come now, you're Ninya, the Emerald Mage! You shouldn't be afraid of a few compliments. Own your amazing appearance with pride." Kashia stated which made me want to shrink into my cloak.

"Ninya, the Emerald Mage, huh?" Morgan hummed curiously.

"Of course. I have decided that Ninya needs a new epithet to go along with her new appearance. Therefore, Ninya shall now be known as Ninya, the Emerald Mage." Kashia answered which caused Morgan to chuckle.

"I'll make sure to remember that. See you all later, Kashia, Tuare, Ninya, the Emerald Mage." My eyes widened as I realized exactly what Kashia had just done. She guaranteed that any adventurer that came by would know to call me by the name that she had given me since Morgan probably had the most interactions with adventurers in the city outside of the guild!

"It was good to speak with you, Morgan. I'm sure that Ninya, the Emerald Mage would tell you that she appreciates your compliments if she could find the words to say so." Kashia finished before she and Tuare turned us towards the inn's exit and had us all walk out together. It was as we exited the building that some sunlight reflected from my staff into my eyes, making me realize that I was essentially carrying a beacon in hand that would make sure to draw everyone's attention to us.

And from the looks that the three of us were getting, it was definitely working.

From there, Kashia and Tuare took me in a random direction and just had us start walking. It was a few minutes into our walk that Tuare finally spoke up, "If we let go of your arms, do you promise not to run?"

"It's a little too late for me to run, Tuare." I simply answered.

"Good enough." Tuare said as both she and Kashia finally let go of my arms. With a deep breath, I did my best to bury down my embarrassment and followed the pair.

As we continued our aimless journey through E-Rantel, Kashia and Tuare chatted with one another about random topics, making sure to involve me while doing so. I felt a little thankful for the distraction since it helped me to ignore the embarrassment and nervousness that I felt. But, as time went on, I started to grow at least a little used to the attention we were receiving.

I was thankful that Kashia was walking with us because I knew that she was taking most of the focus from Tuare and myself just due to how beautiful she was. Yet, even with her acting as the main shield from people's looks, I found quite a few boys who would take glances at me. I didn't exactly know how to feel about that. There was a mixture of embarrassment, curiosity, pride at looking good enough to stand out next to Kashia, nervousness, and a myriad of a few more emotions that I couldn't put into words.

"So, Ninya, since we've been walking around for a bit, how are your new clothes fitting you? Any areas that are too loose, too tight, chafing?" Kashia asked.

"Not really. The clothes you made are very comfortable to walk in. I'm actually surprised how comfortable the boots you made for me are. Usually, it takes days to weeks of walking around before I can comfortably break a new pair of boots in. But these boots feel like I've been walking around in them for years." I answered truthfully.

"That's good. I'll make sure to create a few extra outfits for you as spares. While the materials I conjured to make your outfit is extremely durable, it never hurts to have spares just in case."

"You know, Kashia, if the adventuring career doesn't work out for you, I'm positive that you could make a fortune as a magical seamstress." Tuare joked. Kashia simply tapped a finger against her chin in thought before shrugging to my sister.

"Possibly, but I doubt that I could handle the clientele that would typically show up to any business that I establish."

"Shame." Tuare said with an exaggerated sigh, "Well, speaking of shops, do you think that it is time to head to Nfirea's pharmacy so that Ninya can collect her reward?"

"It's been about an hour or two at this point. I'm sure that Nfirea should be ready by now. You up for it, kiddo?" Kashia asked me. While I was fairly certain that Kashia's question wasn't really a question, I think it's best for me to just get this over with. Besides, this was my decision to have this new set of clothes made for me. I need to just be confident.

"I'm ready, Kashia." The disguised demigoddess smiled and nodded at my answer.

"Good choice. Now, how about you lead both Tuare and I over to the pharmacy. You know this area better than the two of us due to living here longer and we're a little lost right now." Kashia said, making me glance at her from the side of my eye in suspicion.

"Alright. Follow me, I know a quick way to get there." I said, while considering what Kashia's game might be right now. She was smart enough to not get lost easily, so I knew that she was trying to test something from me.

So, taking the lead, I guided Kashia and Tuare through the many twisting streets of E-Rantel. Even if there were a few things that I could feel insecure and unconfident about, knowing where I was going in this city was not one of those things.

The current section of E-Rantel that we were traversing through was known for being a residential district of the middle-class. In this section of the city, you were less likely to have your pockets picked or need to look over your shoulder at all times for threats.

That didn't mean that you could just let your guard down since no one was completely safe in this district. A few muggings did happen here along with cut purses.

One thing I have learned while exploring all of this city was that criminals had a preference on who they'd usually go for; the weak and uncertain. The best way to avoid being characterized like this was to walk with confidence and purpose.

Since I was leading our trio right now, I needed to set an example. I had purpose due to knowing the route we needed to take, but my confidence needed work.

Ignoring how I felt at any of the stares I was getting, I walked with my head held high and my posture straight. It was just people looking at me, that happens every day to any person. I just needed to relax and treat this like any other day.

While I continued to lead us, I could hear Kashia and Tuare whispering behind me, but when I turned around, both conspirators gave me pleased smiles.

"What are the pair of you plotting now?" I asked as we turned left onto the main street to the merchant district.

"Plotting?" Kashia asked with a teasing tone before shaking her head. "No, Tuare and I were just talking about how we noticed your demeanor became a lot more confident than before. That's a good change compared to how you were acting earlier."

"We're happy to see you becoming a confident young woman before our very eyes." Tuare added, making me slightly blush.

"Oh. Thank you…" I said simply, not knowing what else to say.

It was a little while longer until we finally arrived at Lizzie and Nfirea's pharmacy and, with a slight moment of hesitation, I pulled open the door and entered inside with Kashia and Tuare following after.

We spotted Lizzie behind the counter of the shop whose eyes widened before giving a large smile at seeing Kashia. She quickly got out from behind the counter and rushed up before Kashia and embraced her.

"Thank you for protecting my grandson! I don't know what I would have done if he had been taken. He's all I have left in this world." Lizzie said with grateful tears in her eyes. Kashia simply gave Lizzie a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder.

"You are quite welcome, Lizzie. Family is irreplaceable, so I'm glad that I was able to keep yours together." Kashia answered meeting the elderly pharmacist's gaze. They seemed to have an unspoken conversation with one another before they gave each other a nod.

Lizzie then pulled away with a few laughs while wiping away the tears from her eyes. "Look at me, acting like an elderly crybaby in front of my business partner and new visitors to my pharmacy." Lizzie joked as she got a good look at all three of us.

"Actually, Lizzie, you only have one new visitor to your shop." Kashia corrected while patting me on the shoulder. "You've met Ninya, here, plenty of times before."

Lizzie's eyes studied me owlishly, causing me to feel a little self-conscious. Then she gave me a warm smile. "Indeed, I have. You were only here a few days ago and I had you pegged as a feminine-looking boy until Nfirea told me otherwise today. Also mentioned that some weird magic had caused your hair to grow out. Look at you now, though. You look pretty enough that I'd be tempted to introduce you to Nfirea if he wasn't already in a relationship."

"Thank you, Lizzie." I replied bashfully.

"You're welcome, dear. And I'm not just blowing smoke in your face since you and your team helped to protect my grandson." I only smiled in reply.

"Wait, so did Nfirea manage to get with that girl Enri he told me about before?" Kashia asked with interest, causing me to look at her curiously.

Lizzie gave a laugh before answering, "He certainly did. Wouldn't stop cawing about it after telling me about everything else that happened." She then gave a furtive glance around the shop before looking back to Kashia, "Between you and me, I think he did a little more than just confess his feelings to little Enri."

Kashia and Lizzie then looked over to me. "Hey, kiddo, when you were escorting Nfirea, did you happen to notice anything odd during your time in Carne Village?" Kashia asked. I took a moment to recall two things that stuck out.

"Well, he did take a long time acquiring ingredients with Enri. About an hour or two. After that, I'm not exactly sure where he slept during that night in the village. I know that my team and I rested at the inn, but I don't know about Nfirea." I answered.

Lizzie started laughing after hearing my response and I looked at her with some confusion. "What's so funny?" I asked.

"It should only take 20 minutes to load up a wagon since they know what our usual order will be." Kashia burst out laughing as Lizzie said this.

I had a small giggle as I came to the realization that the two older women had. I guess that Nfirea and Enri had some repressed feelings to sort out. I only wished that they had chosen a slightly better time to do so since being watched by squads of goblins was not a pleasant experience.

After we had calmed down a bit, Lizzie's eyes flicked over to Tuare. "So, I can assume that you are with these two. Who might you be, miss?"

"I'm Tuare. I'm Ninya's older sister. It's a pleasure to meet you, Lizzie." Tuare said.

"Appears that all the girls in your family were blessed to look pretty." Lizzie remarked.

"That's very kind of you to say." Tuare replied.

"Well, kindness is one of my good traits. Helps to bring in and retain customers. Still, I doubt you're just here to listen to this old woman ramble and give compliments. Your other friends have already stopped by for their rewards. Nfirea is in the back whenever you are ready to see him."

"Thank you for letting us know. Ninya, how about you go pick up your rewards while Tuare and I talk with Lizzie."

I didn't exactly trust Kashia and Tuare to be alone with Lizzie after sending me away, but there wasn't much I could do about it, so I went past Lizzie's store counter and headed through the doorway to the back area of the pharmacy. It was there that I found Nfirea hunched over a table that was loaded with flasks, beakers, and a myriad of other alchemical devices that I didn't have a name for.

He seemed very deep into his work as he didn't even notice my footsteps on the wooden floors. I called out to him in an effort to get his attention. "Hey, Nfirea." I noticed his body slightly flinch as he was pulled out of his concentration before he turned around.

"Hello, Ninya." Nfirea then paused for a moment as he examined me before adding, "You certainly look different. Did you just get those new clothes after I left?"

"Yeah, Kashia made them for me with her magic."

"That certainly is convenient. They look nice on you." He said quickly before reaching under the table of his alchemy tools and pulling out a satchel that he handed over to me. After taking it from his hand, I opened the satchel and was unable to control my eyes widening in surprise at the amount of silver coins inside with a single gold coin resting on top. I looked up to Nfirea with some hesitation in taking this large of a reward. And he gave something similar to the others as well?

A person could likely live a very comfortable life if they didn't overspend with this amount of money.

"Are you sure about giving this to me? It seems like too much." I asked.

"Please, Ninya. You, your team, and Kashia saved my life from a horrific cursed fate, and through that, saved this entire city from being annihilated by an army of the undead. Even though Kashia did most of the work, I know that she won't take a reward from me. So, I'm going to reward your team for both fighting with all of your might to protect me, and as a reward to Kashia by proxy. Thank you for everything." Nfirea finished while holding his hand out to me.

I gave him a nod and shook his hand in return.

He then gave me a smirk and added, "Besides, Grandma and I are getting closer to cracking the method of making a substitute Blood of God healing potion. Once we do that, we'll likely never have to worry about money again."

Both of us shared a good laugh at that before it was finally time for me to leave.

"Thank you for the generous reward, Nfirea. Hopefully, you'll hire the Swords of Darkness again if you ever need help." I said as I began to leave.

"Like I told Peter, your team will be the first I go to if I ever have a job to be completed." Nfirea answered before he turned back to his table and started mixing ingredients once again. I, on the other hand, made my way back to the storefront where I saw Kashia chatting animatedly with Lizzie while Tuare laughed.

Feeling a little worried at what the three of them might have been chatting about, I continued walking towards the three, the sound of my boots managing to draw their attention.

"Hey, kiddo. How'd it go?" Kashia asked. I held up the satchel with a smile.

"Very well. Nfirea was extremely generous with his reward. It's almost a little overwhelming, to be honest. I've never seen a reward this large in my entire career." I answered.

"The largest reward you earned in your career so far. As you and the others get stronger, you'll be able to take on greater missions with even larger rewards. The only place to go from here is up." Kashia said while patting me on the head.

"Then I'll just treat this as a good starting off point." I answered.

"Good girl. Now, I think we should get going. Daylight's burning and all." I gave her a nod and then looked to Lizzie.

"I guess that I'll see you around again soon enough. Adventurers are always in a need for potions, after all." I said, making Lizzie give me a wide grin.

"I like the sound of that, Ninya, the Emerald Mage." The moment that Lizzie said that, I couldn't help but groan in embarrassment.

"Don't tell me that Kashia and Tuare got to you as well?"

Lizzie simply shrugged in response, "Trust me when I say that it's not a bad moniker to have. I've encountered more than a few adventurers in my day who ended up with horrible titles. Argoth the Flinching, Yavima the Unsure, even Gulman the Directionless have all been adventurers who ended up with names that hurt their careers. The fact that your teacher came up with a simple enough name that won't hurt your reputation is quite a boon. Especially with her spreading it around like she is."

I… I could see her point. Still, did Kashia really have to promote this name in such an embarrassing manner?

"…sounds reasonable." Was my only answer.

"Seems like Tuare and I have managed to tease Ninya enough today. It was good to see you again. I hope your research into that potion is going well." Kashia said as she began pulling Tuare and I out of the shop.

"It is. You'll be the first to know when we make a breakthrough. Come again soon!" Was the last we heard as we closed the door behind us after exiting the shop.

As we walked away, Kashia leaned down to me with a smirk and whispered, "Don't worry, even after you become a famous adventurer known throughout the land, and you'll likely be so busy with all of the quests and people that you'll need to deal with, just remember one thing. You'll still be my little Emerald Mage. Okay, kiddo?"

"I won't forget, Kashia." I whispered back. She gave me a wink in response before straightening back up and I felt a massive sense of happiness from that.

The three of us spent a longer time walking around the city, enjoying each other's company and I spent the time showing Kashia and Tuare the different shops, food stalls, and locations that I thought were the best in the city.

I had so much fun that I barely even noticed the sun dipping in the sky.

---

As I carried the satchel containing the very generous reward that Nfirea had given, I thought about the events of today. While there were definitely a few hiccups, as well as Kashia and Tuare forcing me out of my comfort zone, I actually had a lot of fun today.

It was nice to just wander around with those two with no real destination in mind. It made what would normally be an average journey into family outing, something I had been starved of for years.

I would like to have more moments like this.

Yet, as we walked, I felt a strange pull inside me to my left. When I looked in that direction, I found myself looking at the building of the Magician's Guild as I then felt another small pulse come from that building again. I also realized that Kashia wasn't next to me anymore.

Looking behind us, I found my teacher a few feet behind us, her pace slowed to a crawl as she also gazed at the same building I did. Something was slightly different about her and I quickly took notice that her eyes had changed.

While a similar gold to the eyes I saw last night, they were noticeably different. Her gold eyes last night were angry, inhuman, and primal; I saw only the inhuman and primal parts that remained. Now, there seemed to be a want in her eyes that I couldn't tell what it might be for.

I turned back and went to Kashia, which got Tuare took notice of, before grabbing Kashia's hand with mine so that I could get her attention. She turned those golden eyes to me which no longer seemed like gold and more appeared like twin suns only blemished by her pupils that had become vertical slits.

"Kashia, are you alright?" I asked with a little concern. She smiled at me and her eyes reflected a maternal warmth upon me.

"Of course I am, my little Emerald Mage. Why? Is something the matter?" She asked in a voice that was both hers, but also something else. Something more beyond her usual sultry tone. Something animalistic.

"You just seem a little out of it right now. I just wanted to make sure that you're feeling okay." I answered. The gold in her eyes slowly receded to orange as her pupils rounded themselves once more.

"Isn't it the adult's job to worry about the kid instead of the other way around?" Kashia asked with that playful tone of hers that I'm used to. Yet, I could see a bit of worry within her orange eyes, along with the small ring of gold that remained on the edges.

"Usually, but sometimes the kid gets to take a turn." I answered with a soft smile.

"I'll just have to try and not worry you in the future then." She said before tousling my hair and putting her arm around my shoulders. We then walked over to rejoin Tuare. "I'm fine, my little Emerald Mage. You don't need to worry about me because I'll have enough worries about you in the many years to come to fulfill the quota for both of us." She then gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze which made me feel a warm sense of safety that I didn't want to end.

Yet, that feeling was partially marred by what I knew happened earlier. I don't know what it was that I felt from the Magician's Guild but I know that it had some effect on Kashia. I needed to get to the bottom of it because if something could change Kashia like that, then I knew it was dangerous.

I also knew that I could not let Kashia get near the Magician's Guild in the meantime. And I also needed help. If there was something so powerful to affect a demigoddess, then trying to stop whatever this thing was needed to be dealt with quickly. I needed a plan for this, but I think I need to find a way to infiltrate the Magician's Guild, if only to find out what may be going on inside.

I had a while to think of what to do, but while the three of us were walking, I, along with Tuare as well, took notice of how Kashia seemed to be breathing harder. Her chest rose and fell with a faster pace, and her eyes seemed to continue to flicker with gold.

Oddly enough, Kashia's face had also seemed to redden and I could feel a bit of heat radiating from her body with how close I was to her. What was happening to her?

"Hey, Tuare, how about you and Ninya head back to the inn. I'll catch up to you both a bit later. I need to take care of something." She said, her voice slightly shifting slightly between normal and animalist tones repeatedly. When I looked over to Tuare, she didn't seem so much concerned as she was understanding. I didn't understand why though.

"I see, Kashia. Will you be alright by yourself or would you like some help?" Tuare asked.

"I'll be fine, Tuare. No need to worry about me. I'll be fine." She answered before pulling away from the two of us and walking away with a wave. I then looked over to Tuare after Kashia disappeared into the crowd.

"Tuare, do you know what's going on with Kashia?"

"I think it's that time of the month for her. She probably just wants to be left alone for a while." Tuare answered, making my eyes widen. I don't how I didn't notice that while Tuare did? But that didn't explain everything about today.

For part of it, why did she seem to react so dramatically to whatever that pulse from the Magician's Guild was? Could that just be due to her demigoddess nature or was it something else? I need to know because I am worried for her.

---

[Kashia]

---

Day 13:

Last night was definitely very unpleasant for me. After having spent the day with both Ninya and Tuare, we just had to accidentally get near where all the magical nerds had started worshipping me, sending me into a frenzy that had been hard to control. There had been someone I had really wanted to go see after that frenzy had afflicted me, at least until Ninya had managed to pull me out of it.

My little Emerald Mage was certainly a life saver for me or maybe an amazing blue-baller. The moment that instinctual side of me took notice of Ninya, it transitioned to a more maternal mindset that allowed me to get myself under control for a while longer.

I know that Ninya definitely noticed something wrong but I'm not exactly certain on what. What I do know is that on the way back to the inn, I could barely control myself any longer and had to leave Ninya and Tuare to head back to Haven-Lake so that my copy could make an ice-bath for me.

After spending multiple intervals of jumping into the bathtub, freezing my tits off, jumping out, getting hormonal, and jumping back in, I managed to push the instinctual side of me into the back of my mind once more. After that, I went back to my room at the Hero's Respite and went to sleep.

Now, I awoke with a yawn and stretch of my arms and tails while dispelling the illusion around me to hide my true sleeping appearance. I took notice that the usually smooth fur on my tails was quite frazzled. I wish I had the time to groom them properly, but it wasn't exactly a good idea since Ninya and Tuare could come out at any time.

So, after reapplying my [Kitsune Illusion], I reequipped my clothes and got out of bed. Just as I did so, I heard a knock at my door. Taking a sniff of the air, I noted that the scent of the person outside the door wasn't from anyone I was familiar with. Who could this possibly be?

"Just a moment." I said as I walked over to the door and pulled it open. What I found was a young man in a cloak with an impatient expression on his face. "What can I do for you?"

"Miss Blanc, Guildmaster Pluton has requested your immediate presence at the guild." The young man said, impressively keeping eye contact with me as he said this.

"While I'm not saying no, did he mention any reason as to why he needs me there immediately?" I asked while crossing my arms.

"No, ma'am. Whatever he has to say is for your ears only. I only know that he just requested for you to come to the guild immediately." The messenger answered.

"Fine. Give me a few minutes and I'll head on over." I answered. Whatever Pluton needed was probably big, at least, considering the last time he requested to see me involved guild politics.

"Sorry, ma'am, but I can't stick around to escort you to the guild. I need to deliver my message to three others." He then gave a quick bow before rushing down the hall and out of my sight.

Now, that is quite curious. What could possibly require multiple people, myself included, that could only be told in person?

Just as I was about to close my door, the door to Momonga's room opened and the metallic clang of armored footfalls filled my ears as the tall, dark armored form of Momonga stepped out of the room and walked over to me.

"Morning, Momo. Anything I can do for you?" I asked. Trailing after him was Narberal, or Nabe as Momonga wanted me to call her while in her adventuring persona.

"Hello, Kashia. Can we talk inside for a moment?" Looking back into my room at the door to the sanctuary, I figured that I had a bit of time before Ninya and Tuare woke up. I also could easily teleport to the guild so that gave me 20-30 minutes before Pluton could get impatient.

"My door's always open to a friend." I answered as I pulled open my door, stepped aside, and gestured the pair inside. Momonga paused for a moment at my response before he nodded and stepped in while Narberal cautiously followed after. Then, I closed the door and led them to my table which we all took a seat around.

"Last night, one of my subordinates revolted against me." Momonga stated, causing my eyes to widen as I tried to consider if the NPC did so due to disagreeing with one of his decisions. "From what I can currently piece together, some form of mind control has fallen upon her, at least from what it looks like. But that should be impossible."

Thank God that it wasn't just a regular revolution, or at least what Momo thinks it might be. Still, "Why would mind control be impossible?" I asked.

"Shalltear is a vampire. An undead like her shouldn't be able to be dominated by any normal mind control. I can only assume that there must be someone who has the ability to cast spells of a high Tier or that another Player is involved."

The moment that Momo said that, I became worried. "Fuck. We are in trouble. I've been dealing with the Magician's Guild of E-Rantel for the past few days. From what I have learned about them from being this kingdom's highest official authority in magic, 4th Tier spells are the highest that their skilled mages can cast. 5th and 6th are achievable for the absolute pinnacle mage, but beyond it is considered to be godly. We are either dealing with an impossibly strong individual inhabitant of this world which is probably impossible, a group that poured their magic together to mind control your NPC, or a Player that is hostile and finally decided to make a move." I reasoned out.

"That is what I'm afraid of. My subordinates are currently looking for her, but they've been ordered not to approach if they did find her. I wanted to alert you about this in case you might possibly know any information that could be helpful and because you are both a Player and an ally. If I and NPCs are being targeted, you could be under threat as well." I smiled at the decision he made to even tell me about this.

"Thank you for informing me, Momo. I know it was probably difficult for you to reach out and tell me about this. I appreciate the sentiment." I said with a smile. "While I don't have any useful information at the moment, I'll inform you immediately by [Message] if anything comes up. Don't be afraid to contact me if you need any further help. We Players have to stick together, after all." I then held out my fist to the armored skeleton.

He looked down at it with a slight pause before looking at his own hand. Then, he made a fist and bumped it with mine. For a moment, I noticed that green shine of his curse taking effect before it faded away once more. Wonder what that was about?

Curse aside, I did find it a little amusing how Narberal watched our interaction like a lost puppy before she looked down to her own fist.

Momo then stood up, and Narberal ended her silent contemplation as she joined him. "I appreciate your help. Try and stay safe since we still have an unknown enemy out there."

"I wish you the same. I have to go wake my girls up before heading to the Adventurer's Guild for some meeting. I'll try and do some digging for you after I take care of that." Momo nodded after I said my piece and the pair left my room after that.

Getting up from my chair, I headed over to the sanctuary and went inside while contemplating what this all meant along with a few other things that I knew which I hadn't shared with Momonga.

Loki had told me during our meeting that Players had come here before, and usually in batches. This meant that either some Players had managed to stick around for however long in this New World before we showed up, or they may have left some things around that the inhabitants here could have used.

And that was if it wasn't just another Player that had also come with Momonga and I to this world.

I would prefer if it was just another Player that we had to deal with instead of some group or organization of people who had the abilities or items of a Player from YGGDRASIL. One person was easy enough to handle, an organization was an entirely different beast.

In addition, this was also making me a bit paranoid about my friends being targeted by some asshole who would want to get to me through them.

Guess I'll have a good use for those kitsune bodyguards after all.

Still, I could worry about that after I dealt with whatever business that Pluton needed to talk to me about.

With no further ado, I opened the door to the cabin and found Ninya and Tuare still sleeping in their beds. The only one up was Meepo who had been busy making some tea in the corner. When he noticed me, he quickly became excited until I put my finger to my lips.

Motioning him over, I knelt down before whispering, "I need to head to the Adventurer's Guild immediately today because my presence was requested. Let Tuare and Ninya know where I went because I didn't want to wake them up."

"Meepo will do as you ask, Mistress." The little kobold whispered back.

I patted him on the head and thanked him, causing his tail to wag. Then, taking one last look at the two girls sleeping in their beds, I left the sanctuary and contacted my copy with [Message].

"Can I resummon you right now?" I asked.

'Sure thing, Boss.' She responded, making me end [Message] and recast [Replicant], summoning my copy in front of me.

"Woah, that was pretty heavy. I'm not looking forward to us having to possibly fight another Player in this New World." She remarked.

"Neither am I. The collateral would be catastrophic if done near any inhabited areas. We also can't be sure if it's not this world's inhabitants doing it. For now, increase security around Haven-Lake, summon higher leveled kitsune, and put some hidden bodyguards onto my team, Tuare, Nfirea, and Lizzie."

"Got it. Beef up security, call some bigger muscle; protect your friends, your boyfriend, and your kids. Am I missing anything else?" She parroted back with a cheeky grin. I didn't feel like arguing so I shook my head.

"You've got your orders. Now, go." She gave me a two-fingered salute before teleporting away.

With that matter handled at the moment, I then teleported myself into the alley near the guild and walked out before heading into the building. Thankfully, due to it being the early morning, barely anyone was here, so I made my way over to Pluton's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in." The man's voice answered. Opening the door, I stepped inside before closing it behind me. I was greeted to a serious expression from Pluton Ainzach.

"I hope, from the extremely serious expression you're giving me, that I'm not in trouble for anything?" I asked while walking over to take a seat at his desk.

He shook his head and gave a wry smile, "You are not in trouble. Normally, today would be one to celebrate, considering that you're being promoted past the platinum-plate that I promised and up to mithril-plate." He then slid a turquoise green metal plate attached to a chain across the table which I picked up. Then, I took off the silver-plate necklace I was wearing and replaced it before sliding my former plate back to the guildmaster who took it.

Raising a question eyebrow, I asked, "Not that I'm complaining, but why am I being promoted to mithril-plate instead of platinum?"

"I've known and been friends with Theo for a long time. He says things exactly as they are and never exaggerates. Count me very surprised that he sends me a letter the day that all of you get back saying that you need to be promoted immediately to adamantite-plate. Theo wouldn't lie to me about this, nor would he stake his reputation on giving anyone an adamantite-plate recommendation."

And it looks like Theo is already trying to get his goddess promoted in her side gig. That is just adorable with how he's trying to get my favor.

Pluton twirled the silver-plate in his fingers for a moment before gazing at me once more. "I trust Theo with my life, and if it was just up to me, I'd likely give you an adamantite-plate, following a test or two." He said with a smirk, "But such a decision takes more than just myself to allow. In the meantime, I'm giving you a mithril-plate to tide you over. That's what leads to me calling you along with the leaders of three other mithril-plate teams that we have on hand."

"What's so important that you need three mithril-plate teams along with myself to hear it?" I asked with a sneaking suspicion.

"While I won't say everything until the rest of the teams arrive. I will tell you that it involves a vampire that ripped its way through a few adventuring teams last night." Oh, fuck.

I stood up from the table immediately, much to Pluton's surprise. "I'm fairly certain I know the identity of the vampire you're talking about. One of my friends has been hunting her for a while. Would you mind if I brought him in?"

"Certainly! Who is this vampire and friend of yours?" Pluton asked with rapt attention. Since Momo's vampire wasn't exactly in control of her actions, I felt that I should try to keep her real identity hidden as a kindness.

"Her name is Bathory. My friend, while technically still a copper-plate due to being new to this country like I am, is probably one of the strongest people in this city. His name is Momon." I answered.

"I see. If it's your recommendation, then I'll allow him to join the meeting." Pluton agreed which gave him a nod of gratitude from myself.

"I'll be back in a little bit." I said before leaving the office and then the Adventurer's Guild entirely. Ducking into an alleyway, I then sent a [Message] to Momonga.

"Hey, Momo, it's Kashia. I think I've got a lead on your vampire issue if you can come down to the Adventurer's Guild for me."

'Thank you for alerting me, Kashia. I'll be there in a few minutes.'

"By the way, to get our stories straight with Pluton, your vampire's name is now Bathory and you've been hunting her for a while. Try to make something believable with that." I added.

'I will.' He answered before our connection ended. Walking back to the front of the guild, I waited outside for a few minutes and did some people-watching. I made sure to take note of the adventurers entering the guild along with their plates.

Most were the usual copper to gold-plates, but I spotted a few platinum-plates that arrived and finally, two mithril-plates that entered the building.

That's two down, one more to go.

My game of people-watching was cut short when I finally spotted the large form of Momo's black armor, red cape, and the hilts of two massive blade on his back. And if he was there, my eyes looked next to him to see Narberal obscured in her brown cloak.

I waved over to the pair and got their attention. Another minute, and the pair stood before me.

"Lucky us that I got promoted when they needed mithril-plates to hunt a vampire." I remarked.

"Indeed. How did you manage to get promoted to mithril-plate already? Nabe and I are still stuck at copper right now."

"I'll leave my answer at horrible and embarrassing shenanigans and end it with that." I replied, not wanting to regale him in the tales of my plans backfiring in my face repeatedly.

"I was hoping for a bit more than that." Momo said slightly downcast before the curse washed over him for a moment.

"Well, try to cheer up. The guildmaster, Pluton, already considers me to be extremely strong. I spent a bit of time in there being your hype-woman. He's probably going to let you come on whatever mission he has planned. And, if you do well…" I trailed off with a grin.

"We're liable to be heavily promoted." Momo finished. "Excellent. No reason to waste standing out here then." I then lead the pair inside with me and towards Pluton's office. "By the way, how do our adventurer personas know each other?"

"Let's go with former partners." For some reason, I noticed Narberal's eyes widen as a slight blush filled her face before she looked away from Momonga and I. What? Did she find adventuring partners to be strange? "We split after you went hunting for the vampire, Bathory, and I wanted to explore the world."

"I can work with that." Momo said in agreement as I opened the door and let him and Nabe in first before following after.

"Excuse me, but I believe that you're in the wrong place, copper-plate. We're having a meeting that you aren't invited to." The cocky voice of a man with short, dark hair and eyes stated.

"I invited them with Pluton's permission." I said, coming to the pair's defense.

"Really, the eye-candy of the Swords of Darkness is here as well? Guildmaster, I thought that this was supposed to be a serious meeting? Why are a bunch of copper-plates here?" The man demanded while I narrowed my eyes at him.

See how much eye-candy I am with my boot up your ass.

"Igvarge, enough. You do notice that Kashia has a mithril-plate, just like us, correct?" A stout man with long blond hair stated while pointing to the plate on top of my chest.

"Really? She's only been here a few days and is already at mithril? What favors did she have to perform for that?"

"I would prefer it if you did not insult my comrade. We have come here for a serious reason, not to waste time arguing about inane issues like rank." Momonga interrupted as he took a step towards Igvarge, making his extreme height all the more imposing.

"And what business does a copper-" Igvarge was interrupted as the door opened behind us and a tall man with trimmed light-brown hair stepped in.

"Apologies for being late, guildmaster. I'm here for the meeting as representative of Sky Wolf." The man stated as he walked around Momo, Narberal, and I and took a seat.

"Now that you are all here, we can finally begin." Pluton stated.

"We still haven't been given an answer for why the copper-plates are here." The prick demanded, making me roll my eyes at how he couldn't read the room. It also amused me to see that Momo had to subtly make Narberal sheath her slightly drawn sword.

"You'll know in due time. Kashia, Momon, and Nabe, take a seat." The three of us did so and Pluton continued, "Last night, a subjugation mission on a cave of bandits was performed by a group consisting of multiple adventuring teams. By all rights, it should've been a simple mission. Unfortunately, it turned out that a vampire had already killed the bandits inside and turned its attention to the adventurers outside. The only known survivor managed to escape and alert us about this after the vampire slaughtered his allies." Pluton stated with a dour expression.

"A vampire… If it managed to arrive at E-Rantel, then a single one of its bites would be enough to start dominating the city." The stout adventurer stated in horror.

"Guess that this is why you needed to call all of us mithril-plates here together." The man from Sky Wolf remarked.

I noticed Igvarge grin at hearing this, "Sounds like a mission worthy of our talents." He said with a brazen attitude.

"And if the three of you and your teams try to fight her, all of you will die." Momo stated, dragging everyone's attention to his armored form.

"How do you know this?" The stout man asked.

"I know for that same reason that Kashia brought me here. This vampire is known as Bathory, and I have spent many years hunting her down after she killed my family and drained the blood out of every last person in my city." Momo answered which caused the three mithril-plates to lose a bit of the confidence they had.

"But if that's the case," The stout man began before reasoning out, "then you will definitely need our help to take this Bathory down."

"As it is, the only people in this room who could take on Bathory and win are myself, Kashia, and Nabe. The rest of you would only get in the way. Besides," Momo then reached into his cloak, and I got to watch the sleight-of-hand trick he used to pull a crystal from his storage space. He then placed the crystal onto the table which I took note to contain an 8th Tier spell inside of it that I reasoned to be a divine spell of some sort. "This crystal contains a spell of the 8th Tier. I attained this after many years in the hopes of using it on Bathory."

"Are you serious? That is impossible." The Sky Wolf leader said in awe.

"Of course it isn't real! He's obviously lying in an effort to take the glory of killing this vampire for himself!" Igvarge stated angrily. Guess it was my turn to play Momo's wing-woman.

"He's telling the truth. I can confirm that it is an 8th Tier spell from where I'm sitting. I can also confirm that Momon is right when he says that none of you would make it out alive if you were to fight Bathory besides us." I said while leaning into my chair and crossing my arms.

"Bullshit."

"Then how about we put it to the test? If any of you are able to stand right now, then Momon, Nabe, and I won't argue against your inclusion." As I said this, I weaved my invisible tails onto the shoulders of the three mithril-plates.

"Lady, you must be m-" Igvarge to push himself out of his seat and go off on us when he noticed he couldn't stand. "What the hell is this?"

I simply inspected my gloved hand before taunting, "What's wrong? If you want to join us, then just stand up." I made a mental note that the stout man didn't even try while Sky Wolf leader gave a small effort before giving up. Only Igvarge tried until exhausting himself.

"What kind of magic trick did you just pull?" The man asked.

"I pushed down on you with a light amount of force, the bare minimum that would be required to withstand one light blow of Bathory. She would not hold back, unlike myself." I then released my tails from the three and let them mull about my statement in thought.

"I, Moknach, as leader of Rainbow, will concede to the demands of these three and withdraw from the mission." The now named Moknach stated.

"As the leader of Sky Wolf, I, Bellote, will also withdraw." Bellote said with a hint of disappointment.

Igvarge simply glared at me before answering with gritted teeth, "Kralgra will stay out." He then stood up from his seat before stomping to the exit, but not before whispering to me, "This isn't over, bitch."

"Seems like it already is." I replied. Then, he stomped off and slammed the door behind himself.

"If we have that now settled, there is only one thing I'd really want as a reward for this job." Momo said while pocketing the crystalized spell.

"And what might that be, Momon?" Pluton asked.

"I want myself, Nabe, and Kashia to be promoted to orichalcum." The armored skeleton answered, making me smirk.

"Aw, seems you really do like to help out your friends." I remarked while knocking my knuckles against his chestplate.

"I like to see those who aid me be rewarded appropriately." He answered quickly.

"If the three of you survive and return," Pluton interrupted us with a slight wrinkle of his mouth, "we'll see about your promotions."

---

After being told of where to head to by Pluton, Momo, Narberal, and I got going. I told Pluton to alert my team of my departure since Momo and I didn't have time to waste. Leaving a vampire of YGGDRASIL alone was asking for a whole lot of people to get killed without any chance of fighting back.

To maintain our cover, the three of us quickly made our way out of the city through the gates and walked a bit further until Momo took the lead and made us walk to some sight-obscuring trees. It was when we got there that I laid eyes upon a beautiful woman with long dark hair wearing a slightly revealing white dress with some gold highlights and gloves.

Everything about her seemed completely human if one were to ignore the black feathered wings near her hips, the bone-white horns that curved around her head like a crown, and the slitted pupils in her eyes.

Her scent told me two things: she was a succubus and she was quite…horny.

Still, what I found a little odd was how hostile her yellow eyes were when they looked at me.

Next to her, standing quite meekly, was a dark elf with blond hair and heterochromatic green and blue eyes. They wore a white and blue outfit with short white skirt and a tiny green cape. What I found odd was that they elf was actually a boy, even if they looked and dressed anything but. In his hands was a crooked wooden staff.

Unlike the woman, the boy looked extremely nervous to see me and did his best to try and hide himself behind the woman. Wasn't that just cute?

I saw then that Momonga finally dropped the adventurer disguise of his to reveal his large skeletal form, garbed in black and purple robes while a crimson orb rested within his ribcage. Giving him a smirk, I dispelled my illusion and relished in the freedom of my tails and ears.

"Kashia, these are two of my other subordinates that are Nazarick's Floor Guardians. The succubus is named Albedo while the dark elf is named Mare. Albedo, Mare, this is Kashia Blanc, otherwise known as Fox13itch." Momo introduced us, which didn't do anything to lessen the hate that this woman had in her eyes for me.

"Pleasure to meet you, Albedo." I said while holding my hand out to her. She chose to ignore my hand, and me entirely, to focus on Momo.

"Lord Ainz, are you certain that this woman must be involved? Surely, we can handle Shalltear without her insignificant help." She said, trying to look down on me which was a bit of an achievement considering that I was a few inches taller than her. I couldn't help but have an amusing idea as I leaned over and shoved my chest into hers before I smirked. I just knew that this would get under this succubus' skin.

"Insignificant, huh? Seems like I'm bigger." I remarked while comparing us. I noticed that she was grinding her teeth at this point as she gave me a smile that could barely contain her rage.

"Just because you have my Lord's favor doesn't me-"

"Albedo, enough!" Momo ordered which seemed to flip her mood like a switch as she suddenly became remorseful while gazing at Momonga's robed form.

"O-Of course, Lord Ainz. I did not wish to upset you." She apologized while bowing deeply to the walking skeleton.

I gave Albedo a side-eyed look before focusing on Mare who was still standing behind her. I leaned down and held out my hand to the dark elf and gave him a smile. "It's nice to meet you, Mare." Mare seemed hesitant, but eventually he decided to return the handshake with a nervous smile.

"S-Same to you, M-Miss Blanc." At least he was a lot more polite than Albedo. I still had no idea what I had done to earn her ire, but I'd have to keep an eye on her.

"Tell me, Albedo, have you managed to acquire Shalltear's position?"

"Yes, Lord Ainz. We have managed to find her." Albedo said before looking down to Mare, "Mare, go ahead and show Lord Ainz."

Mare's ears flitted upwards for a moment in shock at the attention before he regripped his staff, "R-Right." He said and cast a scrying spell to reveal a grassy plain where a pale girl in a black Victorian dress stood still. She had silver hair held back in a ponytail by a large ribbon. Her appearance might imply frailty if not for the massive lance in her hand that was as large as, if not larger, than herself.

I did find it quite odd that she still wasn't moving, even as we watched her. Could something about whatever mind control was affecting her have gone wrong in some way?

"Thank you for showing me this, Mare. You may return to Nazarick now as we will handle everything from here." Momo said in appreciation which made Mare slightly blush before he looked down at his feet.

"A-As you command, L-Lord Ainz." He then teleported away and I finally decided to ask something that had been on my mind since I first saw the dark elf.

"So, Momo, did one of your guildmates have a thing for traps or something?" I asked, drawing Momo's attention and Albedo's continued hatred.

"Well, Mare, as well as his sister, Aura, were both created by my guildmate Bukubukuchagama. She had a bit of a constant rivalry with her brother, Peroroncino, which got translated into the NPCs that she decided to create. But, considering how her brother also created Shalltear, it could be possible." Momo said with a little uncertainty.

"Strange, but I'm not in any position to judge, all things considered." I remarked. Considering that I have a kobold that is overprotective and speaks in the third person, another kinda-sorta NPC who was named after a pun, a copy running about that lacks any inhibitions, and everything about the character that I made myself as. Yeah, definitely no place to judge.

"I see." He said, considering my words. Then, he decided to get back on track, "Let's go to Shalltear. I would like to deal with this issue as soon as possible."

"You're the one taking the wheel on this, Calcium Efficiency Man. Ready when you are." Momo gave me a nod and took ahold of a blushing Albedo before both teleported away, with myself following right after.

A moment later, and the three of us were standing before the tiny vampire, which made the oversized weapon in her hand look all the funnier. One thing I did take note of was how her eyes were completely unfocused, making her look less like an unliving person and more like an organic machine.

One thing I did note was that the end of her lance reeked with hours-old human blood. I was able to trace the scent of said blood to a dark colored patch of grass that went off to the south. Could that have been an adventurer that had managed to survive her rampage or was it someone else?

What I did know is that a battle had occurred near Shalltear, considering how she was standing in a small barren crater that had hints of dried blood from at least three different humans.

"Shalltear." Momonga said in an effort to get her attention. Yet, the vampire didn't react. Not even a little twitch. Something had definitely fucked up with whatever mind control was cast on her.

"Shalltear! You won't even say a word in defense against your betrayal?! And now, you dare to disrespect Lord Ainz by ignoring him!?" Albedo accused with a growing anger.

"Lady, it's obvious she won't speak because something fucked up with the mind control that was cast upon her." I said to Albedo in an effort to prevent her from getting angry at someone who obviously could do nothing in her own defense but stand there.

"You have no right to interf-" Albedo began before Momo interrupted her.

"She's right. From the evidence of a battle here, it appears that Shalltear fought whoever it was that put her under this mind control. Something most likely happened during this and she was left without any orders." Momo theorized as he looked at the surroundings of this battlefield.

"I can confirm that at least four different humans were attacked by her. The scents of three of them, all men, have blood trails that end in that crater, likely meaning that they were completely destroyed by her. One blood trail, from a woman, goes from her lance, to that spot on the ground," I said while trailing my finger for Albedo and Momo, "and continues going south from here. Either that person survived being impaled but was in critical condition or the group they were with took the body with them."

"That is a good sense of smell you have." Momo complimented, pissing off Albedo in the process which amused me to no end. Momo then put two fingers to his temporal bone and was quiet for a few moments before he lowered his fingers and spoke again, "I alerted Demiurge of this. He'll send some of his people to investigate the area south of us."

"Still, while we know that it was a group who assaulted Shalltear, it doesn't change the fact that she is still stuck in this state." Momo thought aloud before he looked at his skeletal hand and contemplated. Then, he spoke once again, "I was hoping that I wouldn't be forced to waste this, but it seems that I have no choice." He rose his hand up and I was able to get a good view of a very specific ring that he was likely talking about, a silver ring with three gems embedded upon it in the shape of shooting stars. Welp, better him wasting his stuff than me.

"What is it that you are speaking of?" Albedo asked with curiosity as she looked at the ring on his hand.

"This is the super rare item, Shooting Star. With it, you can use the Super Tier magic [Wish Upon a Star] three times before the item becomes useless." Momo explained, making me wonder how much knowledge did NPCs actually have of YGGDRASIL's game mechanics?

"Super Tier magic?" Albedo asked with a hint of amazement.

"Is this the first time you've seen it?" Momo questioned externally like I was internally.

"Yes. I know that it is a supreme magic that surpasses 10th Tier spells, but they are only possible by the Supreme Beings like yourself." Albedo answered. I really couldn't help myself when she said this as she just made it too easy.

"So, wouldn't I be considered a Supreme Being in your eyes, considering that I can also cast Super Tier magic?" Albedo's eyes widened as she looked at me like I pissed in her cereal.

"You could never be categorized in the same level as a Supreme Being like Lord Ainz. To think otherwise is absolute arrogance and insanity." She replied tersely as she tried to avoid upsetting her boss. I could tell that if Momo wasn't here, she'd be screaming at me right now, and that made it all the funnier.

"As I was saying," Momo interrupted, "Super Tier spells can be considered something akin to skills. They have a daily use limit, long cast times, and there are no methods to reduce the cooldowns of the spells once cast. There are, however, methods to shorten cast times, such as this ring, which also nullifies the XP cost that is typically required for casting this spell." As Momo said this, he activated the ring, causing a massive magic circle to appear.

What I found interesting about his casting of the spell, unlike when I cast it a few days ago, was how I could now see all the inner workings of the spell from the circle it produced. It utilized an exchange principle as its core rule. Sacrifice your knowledge and time, in this case it was XP, to transform reality, with the greater a sacrifice allowing for larger changes. Except, this spell was hardwired to sacrifice the gem of the ring, an artificial compacting of XP, instead of the user's XP.

Neat. Though, that did make me wonder if I could try changing the rules of the magic circle for something else that wasn't as costly? Now, I realize that I'm probably going to end up like one of those magic nerds at the Magician's Guild if I start trying to spend all my time testing and creating spells and spell theory.

"Now, ring! I wish to cure all of Shalltear's status effects!" Momo stated, which made me slightly leery at the wording of his wish. When I made my wish, I tried to be exact in case reality treated demands with a more literal viewpoint than whatever the wisher might actually want. Momonga, on the other hand, decided to wish for a cure to all status effects. Reality could possibly interpret said wish as vampirism being a status that needed to be removed.

I could only say that it was his funeral for not thinking it out.

But, as I continued to watch the spell circle release greater and greater amounts of mana, I noticed a clash. An equivalent way to describe it was, normally, [Wish Upon a Star] is like a sports car smashing through the walls of reality like they were made of sheets of tin foil. This time, that tiny sports car tried to smash through a wall of hardened steel and crumpled under the pressure.

Something had been hard-coded into reality as unchangeable and the spell broke upon trying to change it, causing the entire magic circle to crack apart and burst away into motes of mana that was absorbed into the air.

Momo and I were a little shocked as we shared a glance and thought the same thing. Only one reason would prevent a Super Tier spell from working: The effect on Shalltear was even greater than Super Tier.

It was World Tier.

"Albedo, come to me!" Momonga ordered, causing the succubitch to rush into Momo's arms as he teleported the pair of them away. I just remained where I was as I took the time to investigate the area.

My sense of smell picked up no traces of any humans in the area, besides the dried blood I already knew about. Additionally, the fact that whoever used this World Item on Shalltear hadn't given her an order yet told me that they likely weren't here anymore. With the World Item Seed of Yggdrasil on me, I didn't have to worry about being affected by any other World Item due to the immunity it provided me.

With a slight smirk, I felt it would be a good time to set some [Foxfire Detonation] traps around the little vampire in case she became hostile. As I did so, I sent a [Message] to Momonga to see how he was doing.

"You holding up alright, Momo?" I asked.

'No! Shit! Fuck!' He didn't speak for a moment, and I assumed that his curse quickly nullified the massive amounts of anger and frustration he felt. 'Shalltear is under the thrall of a World Item. I don't, and I don't believe that you, have a spell, skill, or item that could negate the effect of it. There's…There's only one way that could possibly fix her.'

"You'll have to kill her. I'm sorry about that, Momonga." I consoled the man. While I didn't know the full relationships that he had with all of his NPCs, I could tell that this was eating him up inside. Enough so, that he managed to break through his curse enough to emote about it.

'Thank you, Kashia. I just…she's the creation of one of my close friends. Aside from him, I probably knew the most about her strengths, weaknesses, and abilities. And now, the only way to possibly fix Shalltear is to kill her and hope that resurrecting her nullifies the mind control. And if that doesn't work…'

"Then you possibly lose one of the connections you have with your friend." I finished for him. "As I said to you before, this is your rodeo. I'm here to help if you want it. All you need to do is ask."

'I need to acquire a few things from my base, as well as give out some orders to my NPCs that are outside without proper protection. I remember seeing a cliff nearby where Shalltear is.'

I looked around the area until I spotted said cliff that he was talking about. "Yeah, I see it."

'I'll meet you there in 20 minutes or so at that location. I need to deal with Shalltear myself as she is my responsibility, but could you…'

"You don't need to ask, Momo. And just for you, I'll even waive my normal commission when working with a guild." I joked, which earned me a small chuckle that cut off after the curse took hold.

'See you soon.'

With that, the [Message] ended and I took the chance to set up a few more traps along with [Perimeter] to tell me if any came near. Then, I teleported to the top of the cliff that Momo spoke of, conjured up a white plastic lawn chair, and sat down to wait.

As a way to pass the time, I started juggling a ball of [Foxfire] between my tails with the goal of trying to make my movements look majestic as fuck. I figure that I might as well have a party trick or two when I have to start dealing with a bunch of religious nerds more often.

Though, I doubt I looked as impressive as any of my tail movements could express, considering the chair that I was sitting in. At the very least, it motivated me to try a little bit harder to compensate.

Soon enough, the smell of death that was Momo, along with two differing smells of dark elf; One from Mare, and the other was an unknown, arrived behind me. This was followed along with the sounds of their feet hitting the grass which my ears picked up.

Looking over my shoulder, I gave a wave to the three and stood up from the chair before dispersing it. The first thing I noticed was that Momo was wearing a rough-spun robe of what I assumed to be brown burlap. Next to him, was Mare who gave me a nervous wave. Next to Mare, was a dark elf that looked similar, but opposite to him. She, had rougher blonde hair, and wore a white vest and pants over a red shirt. Even her eyes, which while sharing the same coloring of heterochromia, were opposite Mare's.

"Hello Kashia, you've already met Mare, but this is his sister, Aura." Momo introduced, while I gave the small dark elf a smile.

"Nice to meet you, Aura."

"Wish it were under better circumstances." Aura replied with a nod. Then, I focused back onto Momo once again. He took my silence as acceptance to speak once more.

"Aura, Mare, we shall part here. I'll go on ahead with Kashia. You two make sure to scout the area for enemies that Kashia didn't find. If the enemies you encounter outnumber you, retreat to Nazarick and inform me immediately."

"I understand." The twins answered.

"Make sure that you actually retreat. The pair of you are an important part to my plan. And, the World Items you hold are important treasures to Nazarick that are too important to be lost. Consider them as more important than your lives if you must make a choice." Momonga order which caused me to raise an eyebrow. I know that World Items are important, but they're just kids, Momo. This seems to be a little much to be foisting upon children.

"Come on, Momo. Try not to scare the kids so badly, your appearance makes it easy enough as is." I said to the lich before looking to the dark elves, "Don't you two worry. I'll make sure your Bone Papa makes it back safe and sound."

"Bone Papa?" Momo questioned.

"Better than Bone Daddy. The connotations alone are worrying, especially considering what you answered to me about certain creators." I said while motioning my eyes to the twins. Momo was silent for a moment before he picked up my meaning.

"Oh…I get your point." He said awkwardly. Then, he walked over to me before whispering. "By the way, Kashia, would you mind removing whatever it is that is preventing yourself from being scried at the moment? I was barely able to convince my Floor Guardians to let me fight this battle myself. Them being unable to see the fight might cause them to ignore my orders due to overprotectiveness."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes before I visibly unequipped Hidden Existence and replaced it with Corrupted Denial, a ring that would boost my unholy and negative resistances since that was the damage type typically used by undead races.

"I'll do it for now, but I'm putting it back on after the battle's over. A girl has to have her privacy, after all." Momo nodded in agreement, then, the pair of us jumped down to the bottom of the cliff, our inhuman bodies preventing any damage that a normal person might suffer. From there, we started walking towards Shalltear's position.

"Since you're the raid leader for this, what should I know about before we end up fighting Shalltear?" I asked.

"She is probably one of the strongest of the Floor Guardians. She was made to be a DPS tank that could sustain herself against enemies by healing through damage. Additionally, she can reverse damage from a single attack three times a day. She has the normal undead vulnerabilities, but utilizes equipment to mitigate it. Along with this, her magic resistance, combined with her ability to heal from attacking or killing enemies makes summons against her a pointless endeavor and renders my build extremely suboptimal to fight her with."

"I'm not worried about her magic resist like you are since my passives can punch through it. I'm more worried about the self-heal and damage reversal that she can perform. Anything else to be aware of?" I asked, already contemplating a few spells in case my first idea didn't work out.

"She has the ability to summon familiars for attack along with the skill [Einherjar]." Momo answered.

"Your guild really cooked up an annoying perpetual motion machine for everyone to deal with." I remarked.

"Well, the main point of her was to send her into a crowd and get invaders to waste their skills and mana on her. If she could defeat all the invaders, that was a bonus." Momo said with a nostalgic tone that become sad near the end.

I patted him on the arm as I ducked under a tree branch. "It isn't easy having to put down someone you care about, is it?" I asked.

"No, it really isn't."

"While I might not know exactly how you're feeling, I did have a similar situation occur." I said, deciding to dredge up old memories that I preferred to not think on.

"You did?" Momonga asked, shock evident in his tone.

"You know, back home in the US, the area I lived in was known for cheaping out on the water pipes and filters we used. You were liable to be drinking more lead and chemicals than water on a given day. My dad, he used to save a quarter of his paycheck to buy me clean water. Would spend what he was able to on cheap filters for himself. The man was a hero to me, but too selfless for his own good. Eventually, the lead and chemicals caught up to him and left dad in a state of near total organ failure."

I couldn't help but grimace being reminded of him choking on blood and screaming in pain.

"We couldn't afford a hospital, and I couldn't watch my dad suffer as we waited for him to die. Best I could do for him was crush up a bunch of sleeping pills into my water and give it to him. Then, I just sat with him until it happened." I concluded with a dulled tone while stepping over a root.

"You didn't need to tell me this if it would upset you." Momonga said as he broke off a tree branch in front of himself before tossing it aside.

"I've had years to move past that event. Barely hurts like it used to. You though, even with that curse of yours, are hurting right now. I just wanted to let you know that you aren't alone in this." I answered him with a grin. He was quiet for a bit after I said this, then, he spoke again.

"In Japan, my mother was an amazing woman. She worked three jobs to take care of us since my dad wasn't there. If I was sick, she'd spend all her time possible in between her shifts taking care of me before running off. Even when she should've spent the time resting, she'd instead be home, making my dinner and asking how my day went."

I saw Momonga flash green before he continued, "I vividly remember the last time I saw her alive. She came back home, more tired than usual, but then she went to make me my favorite dinner and asked, 'How was your day, Suzuki?' I didn't even get to answer her before she collapsed from a heart attack. Died before anyone could show up."

"Our parents really didn't deserve to have been born on Earth." I grimly remarked. "Seems that Earth did one thing really well: burn through good people."

"Agreed." Then, Momo asked me something that I didn't expect, "What was your home like when you grew up?"

"That's a little hard to explain. I mean, we lived in a polluted hellscape like you did, though I guess I could say that the area I lived in had a nice close-knit community that tried to help each other as much as they could. I remember that the Hernandez family hosted a cookout on our apartment's floor once a month or so. Too bad that they ended up dying during a home invasion. Cookouts stopped after that."

"Interesting."

We didn't get to continue our chat as we finally arrived in the grassy plain once more where Shalltear was still standing, having not moved an inch since we last saw her.

"Guess reminiscing is over." I remarked as I stopped us at the edge of my traps. "Before I left, I put down enough traps around Shalltear to make this place a crater. Be careful on getting too close."

"Much appreciated." Momo said. "At least I can focus on aerial traps and not use up too much of my mana."

Then, with a smirk, I cast [Mana Font] onto the necromancer. "So, about your mana usage, just pretend like you don't have one for this fight." I told him. He looked at me with a cocked head before testing it out and casting [Triple Maximize Magic: Aerial Mine] repeatedly in the air around Shalltear.

"Huh, that is different. What buff did you use on me?"

"[Mana Font]." I answered while casting [Law of Planar Movement].

"That spell fell off meta years ago due to it being too much risk to focus efforts on enhancing a single caster while taking other casters out of the fight. Why are you using it?" He asked curiously.

"I have more than enough mana to not give a shit about it siphoning some from me, among other reasons. For now, just go wild." I answered. That seemed to remove Momonga's reservations as he started dropping a hell of a lot more traps all around Shalltear. When he was finally finished, he started casting every single buff he had on himself. I found it a little adorably silly that he said that names of each spell he cast, something I started to not do since I got here.

But, since he was buffing himself, I felt that I should follow with all the buffs that I could think of. [Energy Immunity: Fire], [Energy Immunity: Negative], [Harden Steel], [Life Essence], and a few others. By the end of it, Momonga was looking at me with his unreadable skeletal face.

"Okay, seriously, how much mana do you have?"

"Enough."

He sighed in annoyance before turning his attention to Shalltear. "Our best bet is to hit her with our strongest attacks to start with, simultaneously. If she has any form of resurrection, that will likely cause her to burn through it. From there, I can utilize my class skill in combination with [Cry of the Banshee] to get around any death protection she has." He then gave me a serious look, "You'll need to leave the area by at least 100 meters to avoid it. I'll give you a signal for when you should."

"Sounds like a plan, Davey Bones. Let's take her to your locker."

"R-Right…Fox…Lady…" I appreciated Momo's attempt at a nickname. Fox based puns are a lot harder than bone puns.

"We'll have to work on that." I stated before holding my fist out to him. This time, he picked up on it and bumped back. At least that's some progress we're making.

"Ready?" He asked. I gave him a thumbs up before preparing [Grand Catastrophe]. In exchange, he upped the ante and started preparing a Super Tier spell. I couldn't help but feel a little put off as he had multiple minutes of cast time to go through as both of us were surrounded by a magic array in the form of a sphere that consisted of the Super Tier spell he was going to cast.

And, from what my mind was telling me, the spell was [Fallen Down]. That would do quite a bit of damage, but there were other Super Tier spells that were better at it. All I could assume is that this spell was the most damaging one that he had added to his character. Probably the rest were things more fitting to the necromancer build he had been going with in YGGDRASIL.

"My plan has slightly changed with the fact that mana levels are less of a hinderance right now. But, overall, my main goal is to burn out Shalltear's mana and abilities before taking her out. If we can do so before the second stage of my plan, then that is also acceptable." As he said this, he pulled out a few sticks that I knew to be cash shop items.

Following that, he reached into his inventory and pulled out a white band that he wrapped around his wrist. Pushing a few buttons caused the item, which I now knew to be a watch, to chime out in the voice of a young girl, "Big Brother, Momonga! I'm setting the time!"

I couldn't help but glance at the skeleton with a questioning eyebrow raised.

"Is there something you want to tell me about that?" I couldn't help but ask.

"My friend, Bukubukuchagama, is the one that made this watch and set it for me. I've never been able to mute it, unfortunately." Momo quickly answered with a hint of embarrassment in his voice. He has some really weird friends.

"Right. Anyway, how much longer till your spell is finished?" I asked, changing the topic.

"A few more moments." He said, causing me to tap my foot impatiently on the grass. Just when I was about to ask him again, he finally gave the word, "Now!"

Finally.

I fired off [Grand Catastrophe] as he fired [Fallen Down].

A moment later and the entire area before us was filled with white. I tried to make sure to angle my spell so that it didn't go to far off into the direction of any population centers that I knew of, but when the light faded, I couldn't help but widen my eyes in surprise.

In front of us was a massive crater that was carved into the ground by Momonga's spell. While the area was quite wide, taking the grassy field up to a few yards from the trees, my spell decided that that level of destruction wasn't good enough. It had carved a massive trench through what used to be a forest, now just a ravine, before going a little further in the horizon.

"Holy fuck. I did not expect that when casting this spell…" I remarked.

"Seriously, Kashia. How much fucking mana do you have?!" A flash of green occurred before he stated, more calmly, "I'm still being affected by [Mana Font] right now and you should be running on empty!"

"A whole lot more."

He then turned his attention to the crater, and I followed to see Shalltear crouching on the ground, now garbed in a crimson armor with a pair of white, feathered wings that left only her face and some of her hair on display.

"That hurt a lot. I even had to use my resurrection item to survive." Shalltear stated with a bloodthirsty grin. Then, her crimson eyes fell onto Momo, "Lord Ainz, if I didn't know any better, I would think that you're trying to kill me!"

I couldn't help but feel a little disturbed at how she was waving off a near-death experience so excitedly. She did understand that she would've died, right?

"Trying implies the chance of failing. I am going to kill you." Momonga stated.

"Then I'll get the chance to kill a powerful man, such as yourself, with my own two hands! I'm excited to do so, Lord Ainz!"

"Interesting. Why is it that you still refer to me as Lord Ainz when you are no longer under my control?"

"Come now, isn't it obvious? You're still one of the Supreme Beings. Referring to you as anything less is the height of arrogance." Shalltear proudly proclaimed, making me really wonder how sane NPCs actually are. She is supposed to be our enemy right now, yet she is treating Momo like he's God even after claiming she was going to kill him.

"Who is your master, Shalltear?" Momo asked. I was quite curious about this as well.

"It's obvious, my master is…" She trailed off in confusion as her eyes flitted back and forth in thought. I could also hear her whispering to herself, "Ainz is my beloved master, or do I feel like this because I'm compelled to? No, I must stay here to counter and destroy any who attack me."

"Seems like the person who cast this mind control spell never took command of it. Really seems to confirm that Shalltear ended up killing or horrifically maiming the caster when it happened." I thought aloud.

"Lord Ainz, who is this woman that interrupts us?" Shalltear asked as she finally took notice of me.

"She's an ally that agreed to help me in this endeavor. That is all you need to know." Momo replied.

"Well, it doesn't matter who you bring or what your reasons are. Since I've been attacked, I must destroy the both of you." The armored vampire reaffirmed before readying herself into a stance and taking off in flight towards us. At least, that was the plan until she slammed into Momo's first aerial trap, launching her back to the ground.

"I see, so you put traps into the air to prevent my flight. As expected of you, Lord Ainz." She then charged us from the ground and stepped onto one of my traps, causing an explosion of blue [Foxfire] to cover the area and fling her back to her original position. "What is this? These flames deal holy damage?!"

"That's one of mine. The entire area is a minefield, both on the ground and in the sky. You're not moving anywhere right now." Shalltear simply glared at me before standing up once more. I didn't give her a chance to recover as I fired off a [Foxfire Annihilation], filling the entire crater, and a little bit of the ravine, with more blue flames, causing Shalltear to screech in pain as her health went down.

Momo and I heard her shout, "[Greater Teleportation]!" To no effect as [Law of Planar Movement] prevented the spell from working. As the flames cleared, I also took note that she had a look of sheer rage directed at me now.

"[Maximize Magic: Gravity Maelstrom]!" Momo shouted as he raised a hand in the air as a ball of black, magically concentrated, gravity grew in his hands before he threw it at Shalltear. Unable to avoid the damage, she crossed her lance in front of herself and lessened the hit onto her body. She was still standing by the end of it, which was all she needed as she quickly activated a skill.

"[Summon Household]!" She said, causing a multitude of vampire rats, vampire bats, and vampire wolves to swarm out before charging at us. I quickly understood her plan as the familiars began triggering all the traps leading over to us. I couldn't help but smirk at the quick thinking, especially because the traps all being triggered blocked our line of sight with the vampire.

A second later, and a white lance of holy energy shot through the flames and impaled Momonga, causing him to cry out in pain. My eyes flicked back to the crater as the flames of my traps finally began dying down, revealing smoking rock and a wall of earth.

That was too obvious of a target.

My ears listened for footsteps, but what really triggered my sense of danger was the smell of vampire that came from what looked to be smoke at first as it came closer. Momo also picked up on the suspicious smoke getting closer to us.

"Smoke?" He asked to confirm as he readied [Astral Smite], a spell made to hurt ethereal beings, or in this case, temporarily ethereal.

"Smoke." I confirmed and joined him casting my own version of ethereal punishment with [Inari's Astral Hunter]. From my spell, a ghostly fox burst out rushing towards the smoke while Momo's spell launched a lance of energy that rocketed into the smoke. My fox quickly joined in biting onto the smoke, causing the smoke to coalesce into the armored form of Shalltear, except she was smirking.

That was when I noticed something, I couldn't hear sound coming from the crater. An impossible absence of sound. Little shit cast [Silence] near the end of the explosions earlier. I flicked my eyes back to the crater and noticed a bleached-white copy of Shalltear less than four yards from us.

Pushing Momonga back with three of my tails, I used six more to block the copy as its lance slammed into my shield of tails. My boots skidded on the ground as I was pushed a few feet back. "Bitch, please." I said with a glare as I stabbed my three unoccupied tails into the ground as support while my six flung the [Einherjar] copy a few feet back to give myself space. If that lance of the copy's had hit me, I would've been in for a world of hurt.

Then, I fired a rapid barrage of [Grand Fireball] from each of my tails, using each explosive impact of the spells to fling the copy further away. At the same time, I glanced over to see Momonga cast "[Wall of Skeleton]!" To create a bone wall between himself and Shalltear as her lance stabbed through it. The point of which was a few inches from Momo's face.

Then, he shouted, "[Maximize Magic: Reality Slash]!" Causing a bright blue blade of magic to cut through the wall of bones and bisect Shalltear in a massive gush of blood, at least, it would've if her skill hadn't activated and caused her blood and innards to get sucked back into her like reversing a movie. It was grotesquely fascinating to be honest.

Looking back at the copy, I noted that it was having a difficult time standing up, so I cast [Jaws of the Earth Dragon], sucking it below ground and buying a few seconds so that I could pay attention to Shalltear. Going all in, I fired an array of nine [Foxfire Lances] at Shalltear's side. She took the first one in her left arm before noticing the rest of the lances. She allowed herself to get hit two more times, using the force of each lance that hit her to push herself off her feet and a few yards away from Momonga. The remaining six, she used her wings to spin herself out of the way of most of them before taking one final hit in the leg and crashing back into the crater.

She was huffing up a storm as she used her lance to push herself into a standing position. At the same time, her copy barely managed to pull itself out of the ground nearby and moved over to join her.

What surprised Momo and I was when she pulled her lance out of the ground and rushed at her copy before repeatedly stabbing it. I was almost going to consider Shalltear to have gone insane at this point if it wasn't for the fact that her HP was going up.

"Team killing is viable now?" I asked aloud.

"It is now. Be thankful that she doesn't have a method at the moment to replenish her mana." Momo replied.

"[Force Explosion]!" Shalltear shouted, aiming the spell at me for once. A quick snap of my fingers and I cast [Counterspell] negating the spell. I took notice that her mana was also beginning to get really low. A second later, she threw another javelin of light at Momonga who took it with a large grunt.

"[Reality Slash]!" Momonga announced as he fired off another blade of energy, cutting through Shalltear. And, once again, her body stitched itself back together. Helping Momo out, I fired another array of six [Foxfire Lances] from my tails at Shalltear. Peaking at my mana, I noticed that I was dropped down to half of my capacity from all the spells between Momo and I we were casting.

Looking back at Shalltear, I noticed her slash once of my fiery lances with her lance, punch another one with her bare fist, causing a bursting of blood from the armor of her gauntlet, duck under and then dive out of the way of the third and fourth lances, and kick the fifth lance away. The final lance pierced its way through her sternum, leaving a hole ringed by a glowing molten blue. Then, she finally used her last damage reversal to fix the hole I put in her.

"Seems that Lord Ainz and you are putting me through my paces!" Shalltear remarked with a heavy breath and a massive grin and she looked to Momonga, "I've never felt more alive than I have fighting you! My only question is why you haven't used up any mana throughout this fight? I've used up most of mine, and even with her large reserves, that woman has gone through almost all of hers. Why has yours not gone down at all?" I couldn't help but smirk at how she still couldn't tell that her information on my mana amount was a complete lie.

"You can blame the woman for that. She's been feeding me her mana since the fight began. That also means that I haven't used up a single resource during our battle, unlike you. At best, you can likely use up one more of your [Purifying Javelins] before running out of mana completely. By then, you'll need to approach either of us from melee distance." Momonga answered as he readied another [Reality Slash].

"As expected of Lord Ainz. You always have such amazing plans!" She then launched another javelin at Momonga and flew at me with her lance ready. At the same time, Momo fired off another blue blade at her as I used a tail to block the javelin and cast [Foxfire Annihilation] at Shalltear while eight of my tails readied themselves to intercept her attack.

She didn't get close as the [Reality Slash] bisected her. Her crimson eyes widened in shock as she let out a final, "Lord Ainz?" before a wave of blue fire engulfed her. When it had finally cleared, Shalltear was already turning into ash on the ground. The only thing remaining being the charred remnants of her armor. I ended [Mana Font] on Momonga once it was confirmed that she was dead.

Following this, Momonga silently walked down the crater towards Shalltear's armor and pulled up her helmet. He used a bony finger to try and rub some of the charring off of it before his shoulders slowly slumped and the green glow covered him once again. Then, he picked up the armor remnants along with the lance and stored them away before walking back up to me.

"It's over. Shalltear is dead." He said to me, almost trying to confirm it to himself. "I'll head back to Nazarick immediately to hopefully revive her. What will you do?" He asked, the imposing tone he typically used now gone, and in its place was just an emotionless voice.

"I'll probably check on a few things on my end and camp it out till morning. Do you want to meet at the tree line we met Albedo and Mare at, then head into E-Rantel together with Narberal?"

"Yes, that will be best." He turned to leave, but I stopped him by grabbing him by the arm.

"Do you want to talk about this?"

"Right now, not really. Perhaps later." I gave him a nod at that. Big guy likely wanted to cope in his own way for a bit to process everything that happened.

"Alright. Have a good night then, see you tomorrow." I said before patting him on the shoulder and walking away. After an actual life or death fight with risks to me for once, I just wanted to rest for a while.

Taking off the ring Corrupt Denial, I replaced it with Hidden Existence and teleported back to Haven-Lake.

---

[Albedo]

---

That fucking bitch, thinking to speak to and touch Lord Ainz like that! It took everything I had to restrain myself and not rush over to my Love, even after he promised to come back to me alive. But I stayed true and put my faith in him, and it was rewarded with his survival along with the defeat of the traitor, Shalltear.

Now, after that battle, all I can do is process everything that I saw of what the fox slut can do. What I found infuriating is how she didn't even call my Love by the name that he wanted us to refer to him by, Ainz Ooal Gown. Instead, she was able to call him Momo.

Momo.

As if she was his lover giving him a pet name. That should have been me! And then there were all the other names she kept on giving him, each breaking my heart further and further. I know what my Love has ordered, to leave her be, but I know that she is just a snake in the grass. A man-stealing snake whore.

I just need to find a way to deal with her, in a way that my Love would understand and fully support.

That is why being able to see how this slut fights is so valuable.

"Demiurge, Cocytus," I began, calling my fellow Floor Guardians' attention upon me, "based upon what you've seen, how would you rate Kashia's abilities?" I felt revulsion from even saying her verminous name.

Cocytus placed a hand under his mandible and thought, then he finally answered, "She has fast enough reactions to block swift attacks and react under pressure. It also can't be doubted that her tails are likely the strongest part of her body. From the way that she used them to continually block attacks against herself, I would assume that the rest of her body is quite frail in comparison."

"Additionally," Demiurge added, "Lord Ainz's remarks about her mana are quite apt. With all the powerful spells that our Lord cast, along with the spells that Kashia utilized, anyone else in all of Nazarick would have run out long ago. If I had to assume, from the way that she continually rebuffed Lord Ainz's questions about her maximum amount of mana, I believe that she fights while obscuring her mana to throw her opponents off guard. Personally, I'd like to study her body to find out why that might be. Sadly, Lord Ainz has said to not touch her."

"I can understand why. Lord Ainz wishes for her to join him. The devastation from her spell [Grand Catastrophe] would made conquering this world simple. Point her at a country as an ultimatum and let her destroy entire landscapes if they disagree. Anyone would be a fool to refuse Lord Ainz's generous offer of servitude." Cocytus said, which made my hands slowly tighten into fists.

"And if she were to refuse Lord Ainz's offer to serve him?" I asked.

"I'm not sure. While he likely does wish to acquire her power, I feel it could be more than that. After all, our Lord spoke to her of his past, something that he has never done for another before. I believe our Lord has feelings for her." I could feel my eyelid twitching as Demiurge said this.

No, my Love didn't have feelings for her like that! It's all part of his plan. Obviously, he plans to lure her by appealing to her emotions. Then, once he has her where he wants her, he'll finally capture her! Strip her of her dignity! Chain her to his throne as his pet! She was clearly an animal, so it was simple enough to treat her as one.

Still, I doubt that Demiurge could understand my Love like I could, and even were I to explain it, he'd likely remain doubtful. No, the best course of action was to lead him to the proper course of my Love's great plan. This all started by dealing with the fox slut.

"I've no doubt that if Lord Ainz does have a plan for, Kashia, you've done proper investigations into her." I asked to Demiurge with a smile.

He smirked while pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "Of course. I have sent some of my best spies to investigate and give me detailed reports on Kashia Blanc. Recently, they informed me of a pair of humans that she has taken a great interest in."

Ah, Demiurge, always a reliable and dependable colleague. "Humans, you say?" I asked as I felt my grin grow larger.

"Indeed, Albedo. A girl named Ninya and her older sister named Tuare. From what they've noticed, it almost seems like Kashia treats them like daughters. With especially fond reactions around the younger girl." I now know exactly where to start when dealing with the fox slut.

"Demiurge, of our doppelgängers within Nazarick, which would you say are the strongest and most undetectable to most methods of discovery?" I asked.

"I could compile a list for you within a few hours, but why do you ask?"

"Well, obviously our Lord wishes to get closer to Kashia. What better way than to replace one of the sisters with one of our own that could convince Kashia of our Lord's greatness while also being able to interrogate the sister that we do have? We can always let the sister go after erasing her memories once we have what we need, considering how our Lord wishes to not upset her." Oh, I'd let her go alright. Neuronist always was dying to have new people to play with.

Even better, I'd make sure that the girl, probably this Ninya, didn't get to die. Maybe I'd throw her to Shalltear after a while. Then, after my Love finally brought this fox slut to heel, I'd show her all the fun that this daughter of hers has been having.

"This sounds like an intriguing plan. No doubt, Lord Ainz has already considered it and has been waiting for one of us to already take initiative and enact it." Demiurge considered, much to my delight. Then, he said the words that were like music to my ears, "I can have a roster of candidates for you to meet with by tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, Demiurge. Excellent work."