Raphtalia's eyes flickered open as a sliver of light shined on her face. She felt groggy as she looked around to see she was in the wagon with no one around. It was strange that she had woken up here, of all places. The wagon always made her queasy, and she couldn't remember why she decided to sleep here.

Before she could think about it more, her eyes widened as she realized she must've slept through her shift watching the camp. She hopped to her feet and opened the wagon flaps to the rising sun that blinded her.

"Ah, Raphtalia. Good morning. I hope you slept well." Her eyes adjusted to see Momon greet her.

"Oh, good morning." She looked around to see that they were already picking up camp.

"I can't believe I slept through everything! I'm so sorry."

"You're alright. You deserved a chance to sleep in for a change. You went out like a light when you fell asleep." She was relieved that he wasn't upset at her for missing her shift, but what he said meant he was there when she fell asleep.

"Yeah, about that… Momon, do you know how I got here last night? I remember giving you that jerky and then... I woke up. I don't remember how I fell asleep." She grabbed her head in confusion, to which Momon nodded understandingly.

"Ah, that. Well, last night, I had some sleeping herbs drying out before you came into the wagon and forgot about them. You must've inhaled them accidentally when entered the wagon. You passed out shortly after you gave me that jerky. It was completely my fault. I apologize." He bowed slightly.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I was just confused, is all. But… I fell asleep? I don't remember feeling tired." She shook her head.

It would make sense if she fell asleep without realizing it. Yesterday was quite eventful. She must've pushed herself harder than she thought, with those herbs being the final straw that caused her to pass out. It made sense. She was just overthinking things.

"By the way, who covered my shift on watch?"

"That was me. It was the least I could do. I was the reason you missed it, after all. It also gave me some time to reflect on some things." He smiled as he said so, and she felt a bit relieved.

She had been worried about him since yesterday, as he had been isolating himself from them more than usual. But it seemed Naofumi was right; all he really needed was some space to clear his head. She was glad he got over whatever the voice gengars made him hear, but she still wished she could've helped somehow.

While she was caught up in thought, someone called over.

"Hey! Momon! Did you get the-"

Raphtalia looked over to see Naofumi calling out to them. As soon as he noticed her, he stopped what he was going to say to Momon to focus on her. He continued to walk to them and approached her with scrutiny.

"Raphtalia, you feeling alright? Any weird feelings, pains, or anything?"

"Not really. I-I'm a little tired, I guess, but other than that, I'm fine. Why?" Momon sighed.

"I told you she'd be fine. It was just some herbs my kingdom uses for sleep medicine." Momon spoke up as Naofumi finished looking her over.

"You told me she passed out suddenly. Herbs alone generally don't knock people out cold by being in the same room as them. Of course, I'd be worried about side effects." Raphtalia smiled at Naofumi's concern.

"I'm alright, Mr. Naofumi. I promise." He seemed skeptical but sighed and let it go.

"Fine. But Momon, don't leave herbs that can knock people out just by walking by without warning us first!" Momon held up his hands.

"Alright, that's fair. I'll be more careful next time." Naofumi gave a firm nod.

"Good. Hah, now that that's dealt with let's get out of here. Maybe we can finally start making money once we get Filo's clothes."

"Right." Raphtalia and Momon agreed as they continued packing up.

It didn't take the group long to load up and be ready to return to the capital. Raphtalia still felt that last night's situation was strange, but she decided to just forget about it. After all, everything worked out in the end.

In the middle of a conference room, a round table with dozens of occupants sat around it. Most were human, wearing expensive dresses or suits, and some were donning unique cultural gowns. The others at the table were demi-humans wearing similar attire. An older man stood at the head of the table and rose from his seat.

"And that concludes this meeting. Tomorrow, we will discuss the details of the deployment of the Cardenal Heroes between our countries. Of course, only once they have completed rooting out the corruption in your country, Queen Mirellia." She smiled, ignoring the glares she received from the other rulers, and bowed respectfully.

"Of course, I appreciate everyone's understanding on the matter and hope to move forward from this unfortunate situation." A demi-human scoffed, scowling at her with restrained hatred.

Everyone groaned as they began to disperse from the round table, including Queen Mirellia. She headed towards her room, and once she looked around to ensure she was alone, she gave a hearty sigh.

'Finally, it's over. These meetings wouldn't last long if Siltvelt stopped demanding that I force the Shield Hero to join their cause. It shouldn't be my fault if he refuses to meet with their envoy. Hah…' She couldn't help but rub her temples at her migraine.

For the past few weeks, Queen Mirellia has been stuck in meetings with neighboring kingdoms, trying to prevent an all-out war. However, this has been difficult as they blame her for her idiotic husband's actions. Her Shadows have reported that other countries have even made assassination attempts on her. But finally, she has gained political sway with the other world leaders to prevent war.

During all of this, however, she received nothing but bad news from her Shadows. The Church continued their schemes, trying to monopolize her absence and manipulate her first daughter, Malty. Her husband continued ignoring her orders regarding the Shield Hero and Momon and then had the audacity to ask to see Melty because he "missed her".

If that wasn't enough, those reports were not as stressful as the vague ones she received about Ainz and Akumu. Ainz rarely left his cabin and only interacted with the shadows to request more books. The cabin continued to expand with undead workers working 24/7 on it's construction. She attempted to infiltrate the cabin multiple times to see what he was up to, but none of the shadows returned.

Meanwhile, his knight, Momon, continued influencing the Shield Hero party. She hoped the Shield's bias against royals would work in her favor and prevent Momon's direct involvement in his party. Unfortunately, it did not.

Akumu, on the other hand, was nearly impossible to track. Cities across Melromarc reported dozens of missing persons, dug-up cemeteries, and similar vivid nightmares, but no attacks. She wasn't even sure if this was him, as they were so sporadic.

What bothered her so much was she didn't know what Ainz wanted. They could do nothing to stop him if he wanted to take over the county. So, if it wasn't that, then what? Was he really trying to go back home? But then, how did he arrive here in the first place?

This is what made him so frustrating to her. Unlike all the other nobility and rulers she has dealt with in the past, she couldn't discern his true motives behind his actions.

"Hello, Mother." As she was mulling over her frustrations, a young girl with purple hair and a beautiful dress approached her with a graceful bow.

"Ah, hello, dear. I assume you have finished preparing for your trip back home." She raised her head and smiled reservedly.

"Yes, my escort told me today that the preparations are ready, and I'll be heading out tomorrow morning."

"Very good. Ensure you see your father as soon as you get there, Melty. Try your best to make him see reason."

"I will, mother…" Melty looked at her face with concern.

"Are you feeling alright, mother? You seem pale." The queen waved her worry aside.

"I'm fine. It's been a long day, is all. Don't worry about me; I need you to focus on your trip back to Melromarc. I'm relying on you to deal with the issues with your father and the Shield Hero, alright?"

"Okay. I'll make you proud."

Just as she was about to leave, the queen opened her arms to her. Melty looked around nervously, ensuring no one else was around, before embracing her tightly.

"I know you will." They both smiled.

The embrace was brief before they went their separate ways. The queen continued down the hallway until she reached her bedchambers. As she entered, a familiar silhouette faced away from her, looking down on the city below.

"Alhoon…" The undead mind flayer turned its head to face the queen and gave her a bow.

"Queen Melromarc, I hear your meetings with the other world leaders are proceeding smoothly. And you did so without giving up a single asset of your own. Impressive." She scowled at his praise.

"I assume you are not here to congratulate me on my progress. What is it you want?"

Alhoon had only met with her twice before. The first time, he made her aware of and eliminated Akumu's assassins. The second time, he warned her not to attempt to spy within their log cabin base again or lose more of her Shadow agents.

"Straight to business then." Alhoon's polite demeanor vanished as he looked down on her.

"Lord Ainz has finally grown tired of waiting for your presence and has decided to end the agreement made with your shadows when the next Wave of Catastrophe begins." The queen's face went pale as she heard this, though she desperately tried to hide her panic.

"Is your lord going to break an agreement between our two countries?" Alhoon's face shifted to what she could only assume was a mocking grin.

"The agreement never specified how long Lord Ainz would be bound to those woods and has waited far longer than expected when the deal was made. It is you who has abused and taken advantage of my lord's precious time." The queen knew what her shadows agreed to, and leaving a monarch to wait weeks for an audience was unacceptable.

"Is your lord not immortal? Surely, I could implore him to wait a few more weeks after the Wave. While I've made progress with the council, I still have many things that must be resolved before I can return to Melromarc in person. If he desires more knowledge about this world or any other request, I'm sure we can come to an agreement."

"Queen Mirellia, my lord's decision is non-negotiable. His presence will be required during the next Wave. If you return to Melromarc before the wave, you may ask him why this is, but that is all I can say on the matter."

The queen's mind raced as she tried to determine the reasons behind all this. Was he trying to leave? Does he have an alliance with the monsters that come through the Waves? Once again, she didn't know enough about him to speculate accurately.

As she struggled to think, a wave of fatigue came over her. She knew it was from the back-to-back meetings, political debates, and all the reports she received from the shadows, but she thought she could hold out until she was done here.

"Your body's temperature has been rising since this morning." Alhoon hovered over her and held out a vial filled with a purple substance.

"Lord Ainz once knew a human ruler whose stress took a terrible toll on his body and provided me with this to assist you if required. It will alleviate your sickness."

She looked at the vial with suspicion before forcing herself to drink it. Her exhaustion vanished instantly as Alhoon gave one final bow before opening the balcony window.

"A word of caution, if I may." She gave him a nod to continue.

"You understand the Three Heroes' Church plan against you and the heroes well enough. But they will only grow in power and zeal over time. If you are not there to keep them in line or remove their power, they will cause your country's ruin." And with that, Alhoon flew into the night sky.

The queen frowned at his warning. If Ainz or Akumu revealed themselves during the Wave of Catastrophe, the church would have her husband, daughter, and the people's backing in fear of what they might do. Her kingdom would quickly become a Theocracy without her presence.

After Alhoon's departure, a shadow jumped into the room and kneeled before the queen.

"My lady, are you okay? Do you need to lie down?" The queen softly sighed before smiling.

"I'm fine. Relieved, actually. I knew Lord Ainz could've ended the agreement anytime, and I'd been working nonstop to prepare for it. But now. I finally have a deadline, and it's far more reasonable than I was preparing for."

"Why not have Princess Melty contact him? Surely-" The queen scowled at the suggestion as she held her hand up to stop them.

"No. Melty doesn't have enough experience to deal with him. Nor does she need to know about his actions and possible plot within Melromarc. All she needs to know is the Sorcerer Kingdom wants an audience and has envoys stationed in Melromarc." The shadow lowered her head.

"Of course, my lady. I apologize for the comment." The queen nodded as she looked down at the empty vial in her hand.

'What kind of "person" is Lord Ainz? He and his subordinates look like monsters from hell's depths, yet… The actions he makes depict an intelligent and respectable ruler. It could be a ploy, but with his supposed strength, why would he resort to these methods?' She shook her head before getting caught in a loop of speculation again.

'Hah, I guess I'll find out when I meet him.' She looked back to the shadow.

"Contact the army and have them assemble three companies of dragon riders. They must be ready to move out when the next Wave hits and positioned around Melromarc to reach the Wave's location within an hour, no matter where it appears."

"Right away, my lady." The shadow vanished from the room as the queen took a deep breath in and out and went to her desk, which was filled with documents.

'There are so many issues I must handle here, but I'll have to rush through it. The risk of the church taking advantage of the people's fear and turning Melromarc into a Theocracy is far too great. I have no choice but to return home before the Wave begins.'

Author's Note:

Alright, update time:

First, I meant for this chapter to be released earlier, but I got the flu before I finished it, sad.

Second, I'm working on a short story right now. It will not revolve around Overlord or RotSH, nor will it have chapter releases. I'm planning to write it to completion and release it all at once. The short story will just be a little project I have on the side; I will prioritize this one.

Lastly, I'm thinking about writing a second long-form story. I've had ideas, but none of them really held my attention or were actually feasible to write, apart from two I'm currently thinking of. Most have been Overlord crossovers, but I've also thought about an Overlord OC story, very original, I know. This one may slow down updates. But, we'll see what happens.

As always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you in the next one.