After ensuring that Seraphim wasn't going to attack in the middle of Ulbert's debut, Ainz Ooal Gown began to move.
The first thing that they started to do was that all 41 of them would comb through all of Argland, to both ensure that there were no Seraphim spies hidden anywhere, and to trap the entire peninsula with anti-divination traps.
Most forms of anti-divination items were usually temporary. Those that weren't temporary were almost always related to a guild base or extremely weak. What Ainz Ooal Gown were deploying in Argland was of the extremely weak variety.
Simply put, Argland was a fairly massive peninsula. If Ainz Ooal Gown wanted to ensure that nobody could peer into the country, it would take hundreds of extremely expensive and rare materials just to craft what would probably be only a week's worth of defense. They simply didn't have that.
Instead, they would just create an inconvenience.
The anti-divination items they were using were called "Cloudheads." A simple 4th tier item that forced divination to see clouds when they try to look into the area.
The way divination worked in Yggdrasil was that you would usually punch a coordinate into a textbox, or, if you had the option, you could have a map in front of you to press where you wanted to see. Vagisilious and Nubo had a map. In the new world, it could also be used on instinct if you knew where you wanted to go and could reach it.
Their 10th tier divination spells usually automatically countered anti-divination protections that were under the 8th tier. However, Cloudheads had a slight asterick to it.
When you used spells that countered anti-divination on Cloudheads, the clouds would disperse and let you see what was previously clouded.
When automatic counters were used, it would instead send your vision to the skybox.
God knows why it did that. When Nubo inquired BigStall about it, who then asked the person who coded that item, BigStall came back with the answer of "He forgot why."
For some reason, the developers kept it that way for the entire 8 years that Cloudheads existed for. As such, they were fairly popular as a cheap but effective stalling tactic against divination.
It was easy to bypass the inconvenience. Either manually counter it, or just cancel the divination and reuse the spell.
The mana cost for doing so wasn't nothing to scoff at. It might take a few percentages off of your mana total for repeating this once or twice. But the radius of the Cloudheads were fairly big, and you couldn't stack anti-divination items as a balancing mechanic. It was never an issue to go against Cloudheads because the usual answer was "Oh, that's annoying. Let me just go again."
Argland, however, was different.
The peninsula would require hundreds of Cloudheads to properly hide the entire landmass. If Seraphim wanted to try and guess where Nazarick is, they would have to take days or weeks just to try and break through every Cloudhead.
Which, if they did that, the Cloudhead would just break, letting Ainz Ooal Gown know to place down another Cloudhead. This might not affect them, but there is a chance they'll recheck the same place thinking it was somewhere else which would really annoy them if it happened.
Of course, it wasn't something they could do forever. While the materials to craft Cloudheads were cheap and Nazarick had them in abundance, that didn't mean they could do so forever. At most, they could likely craft enough Cloudheads to hide the entirety of Argland maybe two or three times after the first.
The simple hope was that this war between Ainz Ooal Gown and Seraphim would end before they would run out of supplies to keep Argland hidden.
Of course, there was the scenario where Seraphim doesn't fall for the bait, and the sudden hiding of Argland spurs them into checking everywhere but Argland. But that was a risk they would have to take to divert their attention.
After the Cloudheads were all deployed, they would begin their other plans. But that, for now, was not Nubo's problem.
Standing next to Momonga, Nubo idly checked to ensure that Vagisilious and Ulbert didn't get jumped immediately after their debut.
After a few moments of looking at them, Nubo comments, "Oh, it looks like Vaggy and Ulbert got together. They went into an alleyway and started groping each other while furiously making out together."
Momonga's jaw dropped.
A full second passes.
"WHAT?!" Momonga shouted, completely caught off guard.
He expected it would happen, but definitely not today. However, Momonga figures that they were probably just waiting for a good time to be alone together.
Simply shrugging, Nubo responds, "Eh, they just got off stage. They earned their break. I'll message them in 30 minutes anyways. Anyhow, it's time to go look after potential spies, yeah?"
Momonga had to be calmed down by 3 consecutive uses of his emotional suppressor before he could answer, "...Yeah. Uh, you just wanted me to stand here to spam Detect Message every second, right?"
Yep, he would just ignore that for now. He'll talk to them later.
While Detect Message could be easily countered by higher variations of the message spell, it was a highly useless thing to take on a skill tree considering that message's free upgrade was the game's built in messaging feature. Something that literally couldn't be countered because it was an in-built mechanic.
While speaking to the other person was nice, if an actually important message needed to be sent and hidden, the in-built texting feature was just better because there was no way to look into it.
A shame that such a thing did not exist in Apotheosis.
As Momonga began to spam his Detect Message, he asked, "So, just curious, do you think we're actually going to root out all of their spies today?"
The angel jokingly responded, "Hah. If Seraphim sent only three, maybe!"
The simple fact was, they could only really guess at who the spies are in the country. Vagisilious's initial estimate from her own line of work put it at around 100 if Seraphim really wanted to be thorough. But she also guessed that it might be around 10 if they were all concentrated at the higher levels of government instead of being placed all around Argland society.
The only hint they had was that Seraphim appeared in this world 10 years ago, so people who lived in Argland for longer than 10 years were unlikely to be spies.
But obviously, at this point the majority of the Argland population is filled with people who weren't here for very long.
So, they eventually narrowed it down to humans who had been in Argland for less than 10 years. According to the records obtained from the Primordial Dragon Lord when he returned the day before Ulbert's debut to specifically check those records, that was about two thousand humans.
Still a large number, but it was more bearable, especially compared to the 5 million residents who live in Argland.
So, about 10 players would comb through the more interesting people of those two thousand. Namely those that had businesses, friends with people in high places, people who had a talent, and people who had family heirlooms.
That was still about 200 people, but it was still doable.
Of course, checking all those people wasn't his or Momonga's job. Instead, they were to simply wait and ensure that no group gets ambushed by Seraphim while they do their respective duties.
It really should've been Vagisilious's duty to do this, but she managed to weasel her way into a 30 minute break with Ulbert.
At the very least, most of the city wasn't doing anything important as they were going to spend the next hour or so just getting out of the coliseum.
…Which would be the perfect time to escape.
Nubo internally grumbled, ready for a long 30 minutes without the divination player specifically built to keep track of people.
Josef Alzabedi lived in the Argland Council State for 52 years and he could confidently say that this was the busiest week in its history.
As one of the two human representatives in a country that did not hold any love for humans, he had to break his back to work to ensure that the human population in Argland didn't needlessly suffer.
Now that Ulbert Alain Odle was here, essentially turning the state into his own, it became much more difficult to ensure that humans weren't caught in the crossfire.
As the main demographic of the Holy Kingdom, humans were looked down upon by most of Argland as the race being coddled by the angels. Obviously the humans living in Argland are different, but many didn't see it that way.
Now that war between Arlgand and the Holy Kingdom seemed certain, the fate of humanity hung on a tightrope between survival and destruction.
As he was pondering how to best spin his way out of this mess, Josef's partner, the other human councilor, Leinas Rockbruise entered the room.
At half of Josef's age, Leinas had racked up a record that was just as impressive as his. Namely, she was known as a protector of justice amongst the people. Her strength was able to rival and exceed many of the other demi-humans, which she used to protect the weak.
Even her arrival was worth praise. She immigrated from the Baharuth Empire a month after the Holy Kingdom took over. Upon her arrival, her sheer strength and charisma stopped the conflict between demi-humans.
…Well, half of that was because those demi-humans hated humans more than they hated each other. But what was important was that she was able to get them to stop fighting each other.
Her dark-gold gear with her yellow spear she called "Fragmented Memories," she was easily amongst the strongest in this nation. Something that allowed her to make great strides amongst the human population to vote her in as one of the two human council members.
Really, Josef could sit down and praise her in his head all day, but he had a conversation with the woman herself had to attend to.
"Leinas!" Josef cheerfully greeted, standing up to shake her hand, "I didn't see you at Ulbert Alain Odle's Arrival! Where were you?"
While most council members chose to stand next to their counterparts for the ceremony, Leinas was curiously absent during the whole thing. It was odd, considering that essentially every place that could be stood upon in the coliseum was filled earlier today.
In fact, it actually took a full hour to get out of the coliseum.
Leinas neutrally hummed as she took his hand, "I chose not to get involved in that whole mess. Far too crowded."
"Ah, it would've marred your beauty to be so close to other people, then."
"...Sure, you can believe that."
Chuckling, Josef moved back to his seat, "Thank you! I must confess, I feel a tinge of disappointment now that the Six Great Gods are no longer so great, as the one who defeated them stood in front of us. But to be able to see Ulbert Alain Odle in the flesh… It was a truly unique experience! You should've been there."
The two of them were the followers of the Six Great Gods, originating from Slane's foundations. These years, those who followed the Six Great Gods usually followed the Seraphim, who claimed to have sent them as their first followers.
Within the Holy Kingdom, that was the accepted truth. Outside of it, it was commonly believed that the Seraphim were lying to make themselves sound more impressive. However, their power was real so there was nothing they could do about it.
"I'm actually here because of that," She said, displaying the slightest amount of regret.
This confused Josef. Leinas never had that tone of voice, or at least in his presence, anyway.
"What's wrong, Leinas?" He questioned, ready for the worst.
Leinas took a deep breath, "I would like to-"
She didn't finish her sentence as the door behind her was opened.
A particularly beefy birdman with white and yellow feathers entered the room. Behind her was a short human with short white hair. Josef doesn't recognize her.
The human population in Argland was low enough to where, as long as they lived in Drako Urbo, he should've been able to recognize most people, at least by their appearance. So where was she from?
But the birdman spoke first, "Excuse me for interrupting whatever conversation you two were having. My name is Peroroncino, one of the 41 members of Ainz Ooal Gown."
Josef's heart drops.
Since the week began, Josef has become extremely familiar with all of the various terminologies used in the Cult of Ulbert Alain Odle.
The 41 members of Ainz Ooal Gown, the group closest to His Majesty Ulbert Alain Odle, was one of those terms.
His bad luck did not stop there.
The short girl spoke up, looking fairly unimpressed at the sight of the two councilors, "And I'm Orphea, another one of the 41 members of Ainz Ooal Gown."
So, two unheard of yet legendary figures in mythology have appeared right in front of them.
Josef didn't know whether to call that bad luck or an act of fate.
Clearing his throat, Josef took the stage asking as kindly as possible, "Hello, my lords. It truly is an honor to meet you… What could bring such trusted members of Ainz Ooal Gown to the humble abode of us human citizens?"
With a swift flick of Orphea's wrist, a dark, starry circle appeared below the two human councilors, terrifying them into stillness.
"I'll put it simply," Peroroncino said, looking not too concerned about the well being of the two humans in front of him, "One of you works for Seraphim, don't you?"
The accusation gave rise to a deep indignation within Josef.
Ignoring the vast difference in power between the two parties, he defiantly told the members of Ainz Ooal Gown, "The Seraphim have done nothing but make lives worse in their goal of human supremacy. Do not insult either of us by insinuating we would accept deals from them."
To be honest, Josef didn't know if he would live after his statement. In the comforts of Argland, it always seemed obvious that the strong would not devour the weak. But against these hidden figures of legend… They did not abide by the same rules he did.
Lightly nudging Peroroncino's leg, Orphea commented, "He seems fine. But the other girl…"
"Do not slander her name like that," Josef immediately defends with great resolve, "She is a woman of great honor. She would never betray our country- no, our people like that!"
To even think Leinas would betray Argland for Seraphim was a laughable thought. Only a fool who did not know of her would say such a thing. That was the truth!
"I…" Leinas lightly spoke up for the first time since Peroroncino & Orphea walked into the room, lightly gazing at her two captives, "Thought I would have more time before this."
…What?
"What are you talking about, Leinas?" Josef could hardly even think of where she was going with this.
Even Peroroncino looked a bit curious, "I would like to inform you, we kind of just walked in and accused you with no evidence. You could say that you're innocent and I would probably believe you."
Leinas did not look convinced, "You know that isn't true."
With the look of an amused animal, Peroroncino returned back, "Of course. I just wanted to see how you would react."
Orphea rolled her eyes to the notice of no one, "He would've. You're a pretty lady, you know that, right? Peroroncino is weak for them. I would know, I'm one."
Caught off guard by the entire exchange, Josef had to ask, "Wait. What exactly are you accusing Leinas of?"
With a sigh, Orphea walked up to Leinas. A small tendril came out of her fingertip, sleuthing through Leinas' armor until it came back with…
Wasn't that one of Leinas' family heirlooms? Something she called a jade abacus?
"We caught you, well, not you specifically, sending messages with someone so far away from here it could only be Seraphim," Orphea summarized, showing the jade abacus off to Peroroncino and Josef, "I remember these. You squeeze them a bit and they notify whoever was holding the other half of this. Not very useful back then, but I guess it has a use here. Probably to tell Seraphim who to message, yeah?"
He has never heard of anything like that. How could that be true? Why would Leinas ruin her long career by collaborating with the enemy? To what purpose?
Josef couldn't voice any of his questions before Orphea continued, "Obviously, they must've forgotten to tell you about the basic countermeasures we can employ against this. Oh well, you're our enemy. I don't really feel bad for you."
"This can't be true…" Josef whispered, not believing his ears.
Peroroncino turned to address him, "You're obviously innocent, dude. Sorry about this whole thing. Actually, Orphy, can you just let him go? I don't think he's gonna do much now."
Wordlessly shrugging, the stillness that engulfed Josef disappeared. The sudden release of his body sent him to the ground.
"Oops, my bad," Orphea apologized, "I guess you're one of our citizens now, so it's rude of me to do that."
This… Wasn't happening…
Peroroncino then turned to Leinas, "So, anything you want to say for yourself? Maybe Josef will take your final words to the public or something."
How could Leinas be a traitor? That wasn't a possibility. They must be wrong.
"Deny it, Leinas!" Josef desperately shouted. How could his fellow human friend be wrong?
This was not how this was supposed to go!
Leinas briefly stared at her friend before turning directly towards Peroroncino, stating, "When I was young, a curse scarred half my face, paining me every day for years. The Seraphim were able to cure it, and I owed them a debt I could never properly repay. I have gotten the message out. You are here. As long as I have done my duty to the Seraphim, I am content with my life."
"I respect it," Peroroncino said, all facade of intimidation gone as the casual attitude of the birdman leaks through, "I'll be honest, I think your life is going to suck a lot after this. My friends aren't really the nicest bunch, I'd say. I'd really just advise you to give up everything you know."
"You know I won't," Leinas blankly said.
"Shame."
Josef did not say another word as Leinas was taken through a portal to who knows where.
All he was left with was the sinking feeling that things were not going to change for the better.
Scrambling to gather his basic necessities, Nigun was in a panic.
He had arrived at the coliseum thinking that it would be a great moment to foment doubt within the foolish minds of the demi-humans he had been forced to parlay with for the past five years.
…However, a scenario such as this… He never could've expected it!
Ulbert Alain Odle, the one even the Six Great Gods once feared, back in the flesh!
As the thought grazed his scattered mind, he began to pack his things faster.
What a disaster! The Lord of The Underworld Ulbert Alain Odle himself! He had gripped tightly onto his jade abacus, the only way to contact his masters, for the past 10 minutes. But no one had gotten to him yet!
What was going on? Was the revival of an ancient demon not of the utmost priority?!
Suddenly, a message grazed the border of Nigun's soul. His panickedness was erased and replaced with relief.
His saviors had come! They needed to know what happened today, and to help him evacuate immediately!
"Lady Mary!" Nigun instantly recognized the presence on the other side of the message spell, "You must help me! The worst case scenario has happened!"
"Huh?" The youthful voice of the head nun sounded out from the other side, "Can you calm down for a second? I can't understand anything that you're saying."
Nigun caught his breath. It was getting out of hand, but that was justified for a demon god had just descended right in front of him!
"In Argland," Nigun began, leaning into his table for support, "They have successfully summoned him! It's that blasted demon-"
Nigun would not be able to finish his sentence. The message spell was interrupted by someone else.
"Ah ah ah, that's no good," The shadow of death said as it loomed over Nigun, the elf-like golem amused at Nigun's panic, "It wouldn't help you much, but it's the principle of it, you know? I can't have you getting the word out or else it'll look bad on me."
"Who-who-" Nigun stammered, not understanding what was going on.
Another voice came from beyond the door, "Dang, Nishiki! You're fast! Save some for us, right?"
The now named Nishiki called out to the voice, "My bad, Tigris! Your demonic appearance would've just scared the guy to death anyways, and we need him alive."
The footsteps approaching from outside stopped, "Ah, you're right. You do that, then."
He didn't know what was going on. It felt as though he failed his mission. Did he fail? Would the Seraphim smite him down for failure?
Nigun didn't know, and that terrified him.
Nishiki simply hummed, "I guess I'll just put you unconscious and send you off to Otanabetabeki's NPC, then."
He did not have the privilege of having another thought after that moment.
Quaiesse Hazeia Quintia seemed to be a fairly well adjusted individual despite his circumstances. Or at least, that was the people's assessment of him as they were writing his file.
Truth be told, they were only here to interrogate him because he fit the specific demographic they were searching for. Humans who immigrated in the last 10 years. Which was why the duo of BigStall the robot and Wasewaru the male siren walked into the postage office where Quaiesse was the boss. Coincidentally, he was behind the front desk.
The man with a blonde bob on his head didn't look that surprised as he greeted, "Ah, you must be one of the mythical members of Ainz Ooal Gown who are working on Ulbert Alain Odle's behalf to root out Seraphim spies. My name is Quaiesse. I believe you're… BigStall and Wasewaru?"
With the raise of his brow, Wasewaru asked, "Oh? Is word spreading around already? You seemed ready for us."
"It has been a hectic hour, as you may know. Many people are dying to send mail about who they just spoke to," Quaiesse said nonchalantly, "I've postponed my business and waited for whoever wanted to talk to me from your group. I understand your suspicions, though. My background raises eyebrows frequently."
BigStall recites what he remembered from the papers, "You're here because you were exiled here for your sister's crimes, correct?"
Nodding, Quaiesse confirmed, "Indeed. See, my sister ended up murdering many people and ended up being caught by the angels. I've known about her… Tendencies for murder for a while, so I was exiled based on the fact that I should've been the one to keep her in check."
Wasewaru thought that sucked. To be exiled based on the crimes of someone entirely separate.
BigStall hummed, "Ah, that sucks. In that case, you're probably not going to be fond of them sticking you all the way out here then, right?"
Quaiesse nodded, "Of course. My life was better back then. But all I can do is use the cards I'm given… Anyhow, is that enough to clear my name?"
Wasewaru nodded, "Yep. We have a lot of people to get through today, so we're only doing a quick skim. We might be back later, though."
"That's fine by me," Quaiesse said, unconcerned about the idea, "Good luck. I will be rooting for your victory over the false angels."
The two players thanked Quaiesse for his time and soon left.
Meanwhile, he sighed a huge internal sigh of relief and patted himself on the back.
Placing down a Cloudhead, Otanabetabeki whined, "This fucking sucks."
His partner, Garnet, who was only with him because Punitto wanted everyone to go in pairs, readily agreed, "It so fucking does."
With that, the cycle goes on for another term, teleporting to another location.
They've been at this for an hour already. Nubo said that the peninsula was roughly multiple times the size of Neo-Tokyo. As it turns out, he was right.
Neither of them have traveled much around the city, even when they attended all of Orphea's parties that she invited them to. But such a scale simply couldn't be comprehended by elementary educated idiots like them. It was as though the land would just continue infinitely.
"When will our suffering end?" Garnet said on the edge of combustion as he placed another Cloudhead.
Saying what everyone was saying, Otanabetabeki said, "I hope it's soon."
With that, they teleported again to place another Cloudhead.
In the middle of a conversation with The World Director, now named Aldous Huxley, Eyesee was interrupted by someone needing to message her.
Considering the current topic was the politics between the pacifist know-nothings that created most of their problems and the genuine sensible people actually getting things done, Eyesee easily dropped the topic to answer the message.
Accepting the call, the first thing she heard was Mary, the head of the 50 Nuns project, nervously asking, "Um… Lady Eyesee? I believe something has happened in Argland. We've lost contact with multiple of our agents."
Argland? They were aware that Ainz Ooal Gown seemed to have a following there. Apparently, the country now completely submitted to Ulbert Alain Odle after their NPCs wrecked one of the strongest dragons in the country.
…Ah, Eyesee gets it. They took Argland as their base of operations and began to root out spies.
"I'm on it," Eyesee assured, cutting her off as she looked towards the direction of Argland.
Kami no Toshokan was situated fairly close to Argland so she was about cast out her divination all the way to the peninsula-
Only to end up with her head in the stratosphere.
"Huh?" Completely baffled why she was high up in the sky, she canceled her divination and tried again.
Falling for it twice, Eyesee's brain finally recognized, "Wait a minute, Cloudheads?"
That annoying anti-divination item that did nothing but stall for a few seconds…
Did they seriously cover the entire country in Cloudheads?
Trying again, only to hit another Cloudhead as she tried to reach anywhere within the country, she did confirm that yes, there were Cloudheads all over the country.
That was going to be annoying… Nobody had created an NPC with divination classes for roleplaying purposes. It was just her and Elynas who could attempt to clear it out.
There were a few items and skills that destroyed multiple groups of anti-divination items at once. But those were hardcoded to only go up to, say, 5 at a time. If Ainz Ooal Gown really did want to be that petty…
Eyesee loudly groaned, hating what seemed to be her near future.
Whoever was in charge of planning this had better decide a frontal assault was easier than figuring out if Nazarick was inside of Argland or not.
Bonus Story:
The Other Side (Ulbert's Introduction in the PoV of the outsiders)
Since he was a pup, Alain's mother would tell him tales of the great Ulbert Alain Odle, Master of Nazarick, Leader of Ainz Ooal Gown, The Demon God, and The True Savior of The World.
When he was just a boy, Alain's father would lay his life on the line to defend the integrity of Ulbert's name against those who claimed that the Six Great Gods were the ones who had the last laugh in the end.
His faith had been tried and tested over the decades. Each day carried no sign of their God's return. Every day the other religions would mock that which was carried by tales written by mortal hands. Many couldn't withstand the existence of the Seraphim on this planet, and lost faith in the powers that were once fabled to rival the gods.
But standing in the middle of Argland's only coliseum, the wolf demi-human could only laugh at his long, 70 year past.
He had been rewarded for his devotion. Ulbert Alain Odle was real. Their power was real.
The old order was about to shatter, the Primordial Dragon Lord was only the first to fall. Even the dragons around him accepted that Ulbert Alain Odle was real, their comrade beaten by a mere minion of his.
He had prayed for this day to come, and here it finally was.
"People of Argland!" Alain's voice boomed out with as much as his body would permit him, "Much has happened since the Cult of Ulbert Alain Odle last met! The Primordial Dragon Lord, Euryalus Joukahainen, has fallen to the Black Dragon from Nazarick! And the Deer of Nazarick, has revealed Nazarick to the world!"
Briefly, Alain regrets the fact that they could not ask for the names of those mythological figures that graced their world before they left. Then, he is giddy that he is even able to have that thought.
Holding up the Grimoire of Ulbert Alain Odle, Alain gleefully shouted, "It is without a doubt! Our faith has been awarded! The Great Master of the Underworld, Ulbert Alain Odle, is real!"
The entire world shook with the cheers of both the old followers, who had similarly awaited their entire lives for such a statement, and the new followers, brought to the light by the unmistakable evidence of his existence.
In the crowd, Alain could see every single man, woman, and child who had once scorned the name of Ulbert. He could name every single head of every other religion cheering Ulbert's name.
But within his soul, Alain could not hold any of the previous hatred he had in his heart for them.
To be so at peace was the privilege of the mighty and just. Now, Alain could finally count himself as one of them. After all, he was right.
With a satisfied grin, Alain joyfully stated, "Yesterday, many of us were enemies. But today, I welcome you all as friends! We are all now devoted to the cause of Lord Ulbert Alain Odle, and the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick!"
This time, Alain did not even bother to look at those whom he once only hated in the past. There was no need for judgment on this day.
Calmly placing down the grimoire on the table in front of him, he replaced it with a golden chalice. One of his ancestors created it in the image of what was the best depiction of Ulbert Alain Odle at the time.
Alain wished that, one day, he would be able to see Ulbert Alain Odle himself critique this depiction.
"And so, let us all share a prayer!" He shouted out, holding up the golden image of Ulbert Alain Odle high into the air, "To His Majesty, Ulbert Alain Odle, we will devote everything to your everlasting reign over both Hell and this world!"
Argland prayed to His Majesty's name. Alain felt completely in tune with the world. He had done everything he wanted to do as a child. Bring this world to Ulbert Alain Odle…
Suddenly, people's attention turned towards the sky.
Enticed by the whispers of his peers, Alain lifted his gaze.
There he found a fairy floating gently throughout the arena.
Instantly he knew why everyone was captivated by the new presence. For it was the very same fairy from the fable of Ulbert Alain Odle..
There was a faint hope in his heart. He knew that this fairy's presence could only mean one thing.
Alain felt his entire being tremble as the fairy calmly landed before him.
He could not utter a single word, for what could he say in the presence of what he could call a god?
With the experience of a divine being the fairy threw both her arms out, creating a massive summoning circle in the middle of the coliseum.
His skin wanted to erupt into flames but the spirit willed itself to stay still.
He had waited his entire life for this moment. He will not die before his eyes could lay upon his God.
Fire erupted from the middle of the summoning circle, causing lava to jump out at every living being nearby. But he knew that he would be safe. He would be rewarded for his faith.
Then the moment finally came. Something he could've only ever dreamed of.
Ulbert Alain Odle has descended onto this plane of existence.
His majesty was more radiant than any depiction could ever represent. His holy figure, despite being only a fraction of the size of the coliseum, engulfed it in spirit.
HIs royal garb looked nothing like the ancient depictions, however, it suited him so naturally that Alain understood perfectly his sense of style.
He felt a grain of envy that the bafolk are able to share a similar race with Ulbert Alain Odle.
With every step, Ulbert Alain Odle shook the coliseum with the weight of the star until finally he spoke his very first words.
It felt as though he was in a dream, to be able to live to see this moment after all this time…
"Hm, all of your heads are quite high right now."
Instantly Alain's head dropped to the floor, for his God demanded it.
"Lord Ulbert Alain Odle…" Alain's voice was in total awe, his entire body trembling at Ulbert's presence, "I never thought that I would live to see this day… To see your godly providence!"
Those words of his did not even scratch the surface of what he wanted to convey. No words could.
He did not even notice that he had long since dropped the chalice that was previously in his hand. But such a thing did not escape his master's notice.
With the utmost grace, Ulbert calmly leans down to pick up the chalice of his image, his long tongue licking up of what remains in the cup.
Then, after he was done, he simply stated, "Your language mocks my liberated form, for I answer to no godly will," Casting a flame spell that instantly burnt the golden chalice to ash, sparking fear in Alain's heart, "And your practices to honor me are pathetic. It is truly a shame that you think what is done in my name is enough."
Did he not serve out his God correctly? Had he erred in some way?
Was he not as faithful as he thought he was?
"I'm sorry, Lord Ulbert Alain Odle! Please, teach us the proper way of honoring your liberated name!" Alain begs, desperate to honor his God as he wished.
This was his life's purpose. If he could not fulfill it, then he had no meaning. He would be nothing without Ulbert Alain Odle.
Simply putting his hands behind his back, His Majesty sternly answered, "Hell is a place where all are placed equally upon the altar of sacrifice. If you want to gain my favor, you should've made this place a place that mirrored Hell itself. You should've demanded for your upper class to elevate you all to their level, or dragged them all down with you. Action is the only thing I respect."
As the audience began to quickly make their offerings, all Alain could do was to find where he went wrong. How could he, and all previous followers of Ulbert Alain Odle, miss this command?
Then, it clicked within his head.
His war with the lesser gods!
How could he be so foolish? The war between Ulbert Alain Odle and the Six Great Gods were not merely the tales of a war in heaven, something that mortal beings could never aspire to…
No! It was an example they should've followed!
Their enemies weren't the gods, but rather all those who held them down in life! The upper class of their society! The other races who believed themselves superior!
To fight time itself! That was what it meant to be truly liberated in Ulbert Alain Odle's image!
Before Alain could show His Majesty of what he had learnt from his wisdom, Ulbert Alain Odle addressed the crowd who had so rudely spoken before him, "I don't recall giving you all the permission to raise your heads or speak."
It was as though life itself silenced itself. He could not even hear the movement of the dragons anymore.
The only noise that existed in this world was the sound of Ulbert Alain Odle's existence.
Then, the fairy finally chuckled, soothing the lands with her beautiful voice, "Ulbert, you don't have to be so… Cruel, you know? It's fine to have a little mercy in your life."
The dialogue between Gods had begun.
With a cold stare, Ulbert Alain Odle retorted, "Vagisilious. You are under my control, are you not?"
The name of the ancient fairy… Alain never would have thought that ancient mystery would have been solved so easily!
"You merely contracted me," Vagisilious corrected, surprising everyone with her so casually going against His Majesty, something thought to be suicide, "I am free to do as I please. That is the only rule in Hell, yes?"
Ulbert Alain Odle simply agreed after a slight pause, "Hmph, you are right. Fine, then, I don't mind sparing these mortals."
Sparing these mortals…?
It was only then that Alain realized that Ulbert Alain Odle intended to kill them all for their ignorance. Only to be saved by Lady Vagisilious.
It was a fate Alain did not deserve. He should've been killed for his ignorance if His Majesty Ulbert Alain Odle called for it. He would have offered his own head himself if given the opportunity.
Seemingly happy with the agreement, Vagisilious lightly bowed before Ulbert Alain Odle as he turned to the crowd, "You may raise your heads."
As all of Argland turned to their master, Ulbert Alain Odle raised his hands and announced, "In my infinite benevolence, I have deemed this city to be molded in my image. From now on, Drako Urbo shall follow my name alone. Nazarick will set you free. I will set you free."
His heart lit with euphoria as Alain realized that they were all given a second chance. To serve the great Ulbert Alain Odle. To wipe away the shame from the heretics calling themselves Seraphim.
To be whole again.
Alain was brought to tears as he praised the great one's name. This was the greatest day in his life, and nothing would ever be close to it.
As his tearful gaze brought him the majestic gaze of his god, he turned towards his subordinate, "Let us depart. There is much to be done."
Vagisilious snapped her finger, creating a portal that would soon take them away from here.
Before the two left, Alain shouted out, "My Gods! I will do everything in my power to aid your grand mission!"
He did not know if they had heard him before they left.
…But Alain knew that he would honor his life by sacrificing himself for them no matter the answer to that question.
AN:
I made a Discord Server for myself a couple of days ago. Fair and Balanced Incorporated.
If you were scared away by Ashurbanipal's captcha system, my server doesn't have that.
So if you want to talk to me, suggest ideas for Time Capsule, read the chapters before they're published and whatnot, you can join my Discord server.
ZPrVHumQJv is the invite code.
If you're on Ashurbanipal already, then unless you read more than just one of my works, it's probably fine to stay although I'll probably get less active there.
But I will be able to ping you if you don't want to speak up in the server. Auto-roles are so nice.
As a bribe, I have dropped some ideas for more Yggdrasil content like the first 8 chapters of Time Capsule. I will write them, uh, at some other time. Probably before the next Time Capsule update. Pinned in #time-capsule
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This chapter was a bitch to get out lmao. Today is the 1 year anniversary of Time Capsule, when I wrote it in like 2 days and uploaded it at like, 11:32 PM lmao.
I still kept my habits up because I wrote most of this chapter in 3 days despite knowing I was going to upload it on the 18th. I only finished this last night at 5 AM before going to sleep.
So, 1 year. I think this fic will make it to its second year, but not its 3rd year before being finished. Not guaranteed, we still have a ways to go. But we'll be good.
At least, if I don't start any new fics, that is…
Speaking of which, I went back and counted...
Time Capsule has 20k words worth of Author's notes.
To put it simply, lmao.
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Next chapter certainly won't come until late October. I've got a bunch of things on my plate that I'll have to clear through before coming back to this.
As for what the next chapter will be? Eh, it might be on the shorter side, actually.
Until we meet again.