Fluder was missing.
Jircniv didn't want to admit it. After all, he had always gone off on his own after hearing something interesting, only sending a letter back after a week depending on his progress.
But now, it's been much longer than that, and there's been nothing back from him.
He should've alerted the Seraphim about his most powerful mage being missing, but his gut told him that could've been a bad idea. After all, Fluder has often cited his concerns over their protectiveness of magical knowledge. After a decade of it, he may succumb to his old age and ask something that couldn't be taken back.
So, all he could do was wait for any signs of where his old man could've gone.
Lying down lonesome in his golden cage, he took a sip of his wine.
As he drank, he thought to himself that it might be better to declare a rebellion than to waste away like this. After all, if the Seraphim were going to depose him anyway, it would be better to die like a king, and not a peasant.
It wasn't the smartest thing to do, but what could he do but struggle against the chains he could feel so clearly on him?
At least, perhaps, the "Puppet Emperor" could feel how it feels to be free, for one day in his life.
Suddenly, the door to his room was knocked on.
Not caring much about who was knocking, he loudly said, "You may come in."
The door opens, showing Fluder and two other people with him.
Wait, Fluder? That wasn't Fluder. That was…
Someone much younger than Fluder, but…
Was it Fluder?
"Jircniv, it's me, Fluder," He said, confirming his doubts, "I'm sorry for leaving without notice, but it was for a good reason."
Now, he was very curious about the current situation. How did he look so young?
"Fluder? It's been a bit," Jircniv sat up, a tinge of curiosity in his voice, "Tell me, who are these two people with you? Perhaps the reason why you've lost quite a few years?"
Fluder looked at the woman, who was a short, white-haired girl in a rather gaudy, what he would say adventurer's gear.
The woman simply gestured toward Fluder, allowing him to speak.
Jircniv's eyes narrowed. Why is Fluder deferring to the woman? Who is the other man?
"Jircniv, I am here to inform you that I am no longer working under you," Fluder bluntly said, surprising him, "I have found someone who is willing to teach me everything that the Seraphim forbade me to learn. In exchange, I have given everything to them, and they have reversed my aging to ensure I will be able to serve them for eternity."
Caught by surprise, Jircniv openly gasped as his mouth fell in awe.
Not only did Fluder happen to find someone more talented than himself, but also willing to teach him?
No, not just more talented than him. But just as powerful as the Seraphim? No one else could reverse age so casually.
Who are they?
"Gramps, that's… That's outstanding!" Jircniv earnestly praised.
Really, he was happy for him. Sure, it was technically probably going to get them both killed for consorting with people the Seraphim likely won't like, but at least one of their dreams was being fulfilled.
But he had to ask anyway, "So, who is this person you are being taught by?"
Fluder was about to speak, but the old man behind the two of them stood to the front, silencing Fluder.
The man introduced himself, "My name is Liberta, in the evening of my life. I have chosen to guide Fluder on the path to becoming a mage, so that he may become a more useful asset to us in the future."
Mulling over the information given to him, Jircniv figured that of course there was a string attached.
Though, what did "evening of my life" mean?
Then, Liberta continued on to introduce the woman, "This is my creator, Lady Orphea Scarlet. She has chosen to come here in order to help convince you to our cause."
His… Creator?
Orphea raised an eyebrow, "Your creator? It's true, but saying it out loud like that feels weird. Just call me your master."
"Very well, master," Liberta quickly corrected.
Jircniv didn't know how to respond to that one, so he went back a step, "So, what cause did you want me to be converted to, then? I fear that what you are about to say may be… Controversial."
The two men looked to the woman with the highest authority in the room, and she seemed to sigh.
With a shrug, she simply said, "I guess I'll explain it. We're part of a guild named Ainz Ooal Gown. We're trying to overthrow Seraphim in order to free the people that they're brainwashing. We're hoping you'd be receptive to keep governing after we take over instead of trying to fight us."
Ah.
Well.
Jircniv feels as though he's stumbled into something he only wanted to hear about, not participate in.
Of course he had a distaste for the Seraphim. After all, being a puppet emperor wasn't something he did with gratitude in his heart. But even so, his people are happy, safe, and fed. How could he deny that opportunity to them?
But, to hear that the rumors of brainwashing in the other districts are real and that they're likely coming for him next after Re-Estisize…
They call it peace. Was it false?
Jircniv couldn't take Orphea at her word when she says that Ainz Ooal Gown wanted to free them, "How do you know that their brainwashing, as you call it, is a negative? Freedom is wonderful, yes, but you could easily argue that peace is better."
Orphea countered, "Is it peace when you are forced to follow only one way of thought? That kind of order is tyranny. Not to mention that Seraphim themselves paint themselves as gods, when they're just humans dressed up as gods."
Caught off guard, Jircniv replied without that much thought, "Now that's absurd."
"Is it?" Orphea challenged, "After all, Ainz Ooal Gown and Seraphim come from the same place. We can see through their lies."
While that was quite the tall tale, and a very fascinating story if true, Jircniv quite literally has no means of verifying it.
He would like to accept it as truth. To believe that the reason behind the gods' decisions was because they were human. That his wasting away was because impure humans were fasting a noose around his noble neck.
But he has seen them in person. How could they be anything but gods?
"A fascinating tale. I do not believe it," Jircniv said, earning the anger of her two subordinates.
"You dare question my master, you fool?" Liberta coldly insulted.
Fluder nodded along with Liberta, "Jircniv, you must see that what she says is the truth…"
The woman herself simply sighed, "Quit it, you two. It doesn't really matter if he believes it or not. All he has to do is to accept the offer of working for us."
The two calmed down and bowed their heads in reverence.
So, they really believe it, huh?
Jircniv could respect a leader who did not care what their subordinates believed. So he gave a rather generous response.
"Although I am sympathetic, I'm afraid that it would be quite obvious to the Seraphim that I would be plotting something," Jircniv informed them, "I am known as the puppet emperor by my people. It would not be a surprise to see me try to break free of my strings."
Orphea positively hummed, "Well, it's not like you have to do anything. We don't expect you to be able to. We just need to have some people who are willing to work with us when we do overthrow Seraphim."
Well, that gave him the possibility to deny any connection with this Ainz Ooal Gown if someone showed up asking, but…
"Why are you confident that you'll actually be able to overthrow the Seraphim?" Jircniv asked, curious to hear how these fellow humans are planning to take down the gods.
If the answer she gave him was actually feasible, then Ainz Ooal Gown may be the correct horse to bet on.
Orphea hummed in thought for a moment before answering, "Well, we're going to pick them off one by one. Then once they've lost a bunch of their people, we're just going to fight them. It's really not that complicated."
…And his interest is gone.
"Are you so delusional that you think you can fight against the Seraphim so easily?" Jircniv disappointedly asked, his hopes dashed.
Ignoring the glares of the two subordinates, he looked to Orphea who had a sly grin on her face, "Delusion? The truth sets you free, Jircniv. I know what we're getting into, and I think we can handle it. Trust us, and we'll give you back everything and more."
Promising the sun…
"Well, I would like to see the truth, then. Show me one thing that will help you fight against the angels," Jircniv said, not expecting her to be able to do it.
Orphea took the offer, "Sure. I'll call my friend over, and in a single look, you'll understand."
As Orphea raised her hand to her head, Fluder spoke up, "Jircniv, I have seen the peak of magic, levels that you and I couldn't dream of… I know this is hard to believe, but it is all true!"
Jircniv wanted to accept his words, but he covered it with skepticism, "I believe you. But I want something from her. Not you."
"Then follow us to the abode of Ainz Ooal Gown, and all of your suspicions will be lifted!" Fluder tried to convince him, before Liberta stepped in.
"He is not yet on our side, Fluder," Liberta calmly said, "We are not fond of letting our enemies into our domain."
Orphea then spoke, "Cut it out, Lucifer's coming."
Lucifer?
A moment later, someone spoke from behind him, "Yeah? Who needs convincing to join us?"
Turning around…
An angel. Lucifer.
Perhaps he looked different than the other angels he's seen, but he was still without a doubt an angel.
At first, he thought it was a member of the Seraphim or perhaps one of their followers. But if Orphea had called him here, then he obviously wasn't.
Which meant…
"You turned against the Seraphim and are aiding Ainz Ooal Gown against your former comrades?" Jircniv guessed in shock, not expecting angels to betray one another.
But humans… Yes, they would betray each other like this.
Lucifer blinked, "Yep. Definitely what happened."
"I see… Then your plan must have merit," Jircniv concluded on his own.
Yes, in fact, Lucifer may be the leader of this Ainz Ooal Gown. After all, what other being could show Fluder the depths of magic he claims to have seen?
In fact, being a traitor with so much confidence, could it be that Lucifer is one of the most powerful beings from the Seraphim? After all, he would not try to betray them if he thought he could win.
Yes, that is what was likely happening.
In that case, Ainz Ooal Gown was most definitely the horse worth betting on.
Jircniv bowed before Lucifer, "Your majesty, I was in doubt whether Ainz Ooal Gown could ever succeed against the Seraphim. Seeing your presence here assures me that the era is about to change in your favor. I would like to work with you all in ensuring that the new order will be in your favor."
Lucifer looked toward Orphea, who simply shrugged, so he said, "Good… Good… Orphea, I'll let you handle this one."
With that, Lucifer left through another portal.
Orphea sighed, "Well, that's just how he is, so Jircniv, here's what I want you to do."
"Yes?" Jircniv eagerly looked forward to what he could do to help free himself from the grasp of the Seraphim.
"Continue as you've always have. If you notice something or someone strong that you think we can recruit, we'll give you a scroll with a spell on it that sends a message to one of us," Orphea explains, making him nod his head, "And if you have to talk to one of the Seraphim members or their underlings and they ask you about us, just tell them that we came here to ask you to join us."
Looking a bit surprised, Jircniv asked, "Why? Would it not be better to stay silent on the connection between us?"
"They can read minds, so we're trying to gamble on them thinking it's unnecessary because you're telling the truth," Orphea said, making him understand, "Explain how we came here with Fluder asking you to join, explain how I'm speaking as though I'm thinking you're on our side now. Tell them that even if they disposed of you, we'll just find someone else to do the job because, well, we are. You know, all of the things that could get you through a lie detector spell."
"Do they exist?"
"Pretty sure they do," Orphea confirmed before moving on, "So, when we come out of the shadows, you'll come out and publicly support us, trying to make sure your kingdom doesn't collapse. Tell them about Seraphim's lies and so on. We'll be spreading some propaganda throughout the Holy Kingdom to make sure people will hear about it before you say it."
Nodding, Jircniv then asked, "So, I understand my role… But, would it be possible to see what Fluder has seen? I am quite curious about the peak of magic."
"Not right now," Orphea said, disappointing him, "But in the future, we can probably find a time when it's possible. We have no idea where all of the members of Seraphim are so we're trying to play it safe."
Well, that was fair. Jircniv still hadn't proved his loyalty in any meaningful way yet, so he was unlikely to be privy to such information.
With that in mind, he simply asked, "Then, may I ask for your reassurance that, when your coup goes off, I will be free, instead of being controlled by you?"
"We haven't reached a total consensus on that yet, but it's looking like we're going to stick mostly in Argland," Orphea said, "You'll be on your own, unless you ask for help."
That was probably the best deal he could ask for, so he accepted, "I see. Then will that be all?"
Orphea nodded, sticking her hand in a small portal that appeared next to her, "Yep. I have the message scrolls right here. Thanks for your help, Jircniv."
Then, the master of the group turned to Fluder, "You can talk with him for a bit if you want. We'll be outside."
Fluder bowed in appreciation, "Thank you, Lady Orphea Scarlet."
As the two left the room, Jircniv amusedly said, "No longer working under me, huh, gramps?"
Even if he looked a century younger, that wasn't going to stop Jircniv from calling him his gramps.
Smirking in response, Fluder simply said, "Why, it's true. We are now equals, although I believe, if I am to live up to my master's expectations, that I will play a much bigger role than your own."
"Your master has a master," Jircniv pointed out, "You should've just learnt from her."
At that, Fluder turned somber, "I do wish, however, Lord Liberta tells me that I would not understand anything that she could teach."
Well, that made sense, he supposed.
Jircniv did miss their casual conversations during the small time he was gone.
But now, it was back to business.
"So, Fluder, do you really think that Ainz Ooal Gown is capable of taking down the Seraphim?" Jircniv earnestly asked.
He had turned from a doubter to a believer upon seeing Lucifer. But even so, it was still difficult to believe that this sudden guild had the means to coup the ruler of this land, especially when they were near god-like entities. Even if Orphea's claims were true, they were human inside.
…Which, he didn't catch it before, but essentially meant that Lucifer was partly human too, wasn't he?
Fluder easily chuckled, "If you have seen what I have seen, you would believe it too. Their power… It is magnificent! Jircniv! They have reached the pinnacle of magic, the 10th tier!"
Jircniv blinked in surprise, "The 10th tier?"
Fluder excitedly nodded as he recalled his experiences, "Yes! In fact, using this mysterious canvas I later learned was named the Open Canvas, they allowed me to use those powerful spells for myself for a short while! I felt so powerful, Jircniv! For just a few minutes, I could use it! The pinnacle of magic!"
"That's…" Unbelievable. Incomprehensible. Legendary.
In the end, Jircniv couldn't continue his sentence.
With a big grin on his face, Fluder told him, "So that's why, little Jir! That's why I believe that when they say you will be free, you truly will be! They create and share miracles!"
How comforting to know.
Jircniv sighed, "Then it would not be good to keep them waiting, yes? I will see you later, gramps."
Fluder nodded, turning around to leave, "See you later, Jir."
As Jircniv was left alone to contemplate the conversation just now, he could feel the skies darkening.
It was about to be a very hard time for the world. Fluder didn't mention it, but he could feel the malice in Liberta and Orphea. They were not heroes, nor did he think they would pretend to be if asked.
In short, he was offered to sacrifice the peace and order of the world in exchange for freedom.
It was not a very noble exchange, nor was it the most rational choice.
But for a man who has never known freedom since he was a child, such an opportunity could not slip by him.
Orphea wanted to meet up with Luci*fer after the meeting, but apparently the guy had a funny idea about pretending to be a member of Seraphim to random people, so he declined meeting them for now.
It feels like something could terribly backfire on him, so Orphea was all for it as long as he didn't get himself captured or killed.
Walking down the streets of Arwintar, the capital city of Baharuth, Orphea reminded herself of what the purpose of this visit was.
The first objective, which they just completed, was to check and see if they could recruit anyone from the higher-ups. They managed to pick up the puppet emperor, so that was a success.
The second objective is to get Fluder to the magical academy so they could both rob it and see if any aspiring mages want to defect to Nazarick.
The mages weren't very useful themselves since a lot of them are young and unlikely to accomplish much. But Nazarick did have an abundance of old gear that they never got around to selling due to the amount of manual labor they would have to go through to sell it all.
It was never going to kill any of the Seraphim members or NPCs, but it might force them to be distracted by it. Worst case scenario, their natives can fight against Seraphim's natives and they can cancel each other out.
The other reason that Ainz Ooal Gown wanted an army of native mages was… Well, it would be cool.
In fact, that was the primary reason. The whole placing of old gear on them was just a convenient excuse to have an army of mages.
But hey, if it works, it works.
Meanwhile, Fluder was asking Liberta about a bunch of magical things she didn't really understand.
Orphea also didn't really care to understand it. After all, a lot of her mage spells helped her punch things harder. She was more of a monk than a mage.
Fluder has tried to ask her a lot of things, but every time she falls back to the excuse of "You wouldn't understand."
She fears the day she's actually going to have to try and teach him something.
As they walk towards the magical academy, Fluder asks Orphea, "Lady Orphea Scarlet, if I may be so bold…" Orphea gave him the permission to speak to her, "Considering the Seraphim have been stifling the advancement of magic for a decade, I believe that it is possible for us to turn the academy into a base of operations within this kingdom. I believe many of the teachers and many of the students will have the capability to keep silent on this topic, if someone with so much magical knowledge were to teach them…"
"Can such talentless rabble be trusted with distracting Seraphim?" Liberta questioned with skepticism in his voice, "I doubt they will be fooled by it."
Orphea decided to quickly teach Liberta something, "Players don't play that optimally, Liberta. Everyone has an off day, and if the day we attack happens to be an off day, then they'll get distracted by our minions and be picked off. Even if they find this place, we can turn it into an ambush. There's no real loss on our side."
Liberta bowed in understanding, "I see… Yes, thank you for the explanation, my lady. I will support this endeavor laid out by Fluder."
"Good. Liberta, you handle it, then," Orphea quickly pawned off the responsibilities to her creation.
She thought it sounded good, so she was fine with however Liberta wanted to carry it out.
"As you command, master," Liberta obediently said, before asking, "Is it fine if I bind the souls of those who swear fealty to us to me?"
He can do that?
Well, he is a warlock, Orphea must've given the spell for that at some point.
She just, uh, has no idea what spell that is. She really didn't pay attention to what spells she gave her NPCs that were under level 80 because they were really just there for decoration.
"Go for it," Orphea replied, fine with the idea of binding souls.
Well, the worst case scenario, Seraphim will just end the magic academy and then Ainz Ooal Gown would have to bring them all to Nazarick.
Best case scenario, they have a cool base in Baharuth plus some mages they can send at an enemy in level 100 gear.
Now that she thinks of it, a lot of them would probably struggle even getting to tier 7 magic. Even if they have level 100 gear, they can't do anything to someone with basic magic immunity…
…Well, she'll have to tell them to focus on getting a tier 7th spell as fast as possible in their teachings, then.
But that's for later. For now, she just wants to check out the magic academy.
Entering the academy, they were immediately assaulted by the gossip of the student body asking many questions about the group.
"Wow! Who is that girl? She looks so cute!"
"Huh, those clothes on that guy… They kind of look like Paradyne's, don't they?"
"That old guy looks wise, do you think it's a special teacher?"
"Maybe they're with the other wizard who came here 10 minutes ago!"
"Wow, maybe there really will be a special lesson today! I'm going to stick around!"
It was nothing new to be whispered about to Orphea, so she ignored it as she followed Fluder into the academy.
Walking with purpose, Orphea asked Fluder, "So, is there any sort of secret stash of magical items in here? Or was the dust the only good thing?"
"Anything of value was taken long ago by the Seraphim," Fluder said, leading them to the library, "However, in the back of this library, I have saved many of the old texts surrounding the old legends such as the 13 heroes, stories from other older and wiser mages. Even some of their own writings. I believe some of it may be of use to you."
Orphea didn't really care about the lore of this world they ended up in. After all, their first priority was winning the war against Seraphim. But on the off chance that the writings had some useful nuggets of information, she allowed it.
"Alright, that's fine with me… So, Fluder, you're going to try and rope the teachers into our group, right?" Orphea asked, following Fluder into the aforementioned section of the library.
"Yes, I am," He said, grabbing the aforementioned records for them to read through.
"Then what are we doing, if you had to say?" Orphea curiously asked.
Fluder paused for a moment, before saying, "You would both be with me, so you may show off your divine wisdom and power to the others to cause them to defect to us."
Well, she was going to have to get used to being used as a showboat, then.
Thinking of what spell could adequately show off her power and make them bow, Orphea decides to just take off her mana suppressor.
It was unlikely anyone from Seraphim would be there to detect it, anyhow.
Liberta spoke up, holding up the book he had in his hand, "Lady Orphea Scarlet, I believe this is the record of one of the members of Slane, written by one of their scribes."
Looking at the older version of Liberta, Orphea simply nodded, "Right, right. Be sure to take a look at it and see if anything noteworthy is said. If it isn't written by one of the members themselves, then it's unlikely to have anything useful."
Liberta opened his mouth to speak, but then he seemed to realize something before nodding in understanding, "I see… Your wisdom never fails to impress me, Lady Orphea Scarlet."
…The heck did she do?
Well, either way, she had to show off some of her magic and try to get a bunch of rowdy students on their side. She should prepare for that.
For a bunch of intellectuals, everyone here seemed to hate entertaining the notion of Seraphim being the bad guys.
The two of them were asking a few people every now and then about what they thought about Seraphim, and suggesting that they could be evil or something But people really didn't want to hear it.
To be fair, Orphea probably wouldn't believe it either. After all, angels were usually the good guys, which is why it's a shock when the angels turn out to be evil.
That being said, Ainz Ooal Gown was made up of a bunch of monsters, and they, at the very least, the NPCs, were evil too. So… Who's really winning, here?
Liberta openly scoffed at their surroundings, the lecture hall quickly filling up with people who were here for the special lecture that was announced half an hour ago.
"Thoughtless apprentices…" He silently remarked, and she kind of agreed.
Though, maybe Liberta is being influenced in his age by how fast he's dismissing these students. Maybe there really is a gem in the mud here.
It's interesting to see how all of the different segments of Liberta were all identifiably the same people, but with enough characteristics to make you think otherwise.
She really did cook up someone interesting back in the day. She didn't even know how she did that.
If anything, she's interested to see how Liberta is going to form the next segment of his life in Apotheosis, considering there's no longer any game to constrain him.
She's just very curious on how it'll turn out.
Her thoughts are interrupted by the lecture starting.
On stage, Fluder took the podium and announced to everyone, "I am Fluder Paradyne."
Considering that he was an old man a few days ago, but was standing as a young man, the crowd erupted with confusion, whispers, and curiosity.
None of the teachers on stage refuted his words, because they had all been informed and have been shown Orphea's powers behind the scenes.
So, the reborn headmaster continued, "I have been granted an opportunity by someone much more powerful than I. A mage that held mastery over the depths of magic…"
At this point, Orphea started to tune out the speech.
After all, she was a CEO of a megacorporation, once. She really didn't care about hearing people's platitudes towards her or her guild.
She vaguely registered the sound of another person walking in late, but didn't bother looking in their direction. It was just another student, most likely.
As she was about to doze off, Liberta silently nudged her.
Surprised that the evening form of Liberta would do that, Orphea looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
He pointed towards one of the open door.
Orphea looked in that direction, finding someone wearing some sort of witch's hat and a cloak.
Briefly, she thought about wanting to make a witch NPC, even though Tokino's human form already taking that niche. But what's better than 1 witch? That's right, 2 witches.
Looking at the guy, who ended up yawning and revealing what was under his cloak…
Yeah, no, that was Yggdrasil gear. She recognized that right away. Level 96 divine and legendary gear. She could tell they were mixing and matching some set bonuses because the human guy was wearing a wizard's hat and cloak but underneath he was wearing what looked like 3 different sets.
If Orphea recalls correctly, those sets were part of a Yggdrasil gimmick set that involved wearing as much gear with low set-piece requirements as possible, then be able to activate buffs or spells from those set pieces before switching into a more well-rounded set of gear.
Looking at the human man, who looked like a slightly above average Japanese man, Orphea figured it was probably a Seraphim member in a terrible disguise.
No clue who it is, though.
Turning to Liberta, Orphea whispered to him, "Message Nubo or Vagisilious and tell them a Seraphim member is here. After, message Lucifer and tell him I need help. He should still be in the area."
Liberta nodded and immediately got to work messaging them while Orphea silently walked towards the suspected player.
Just based on the gear he was wearing, he was a mage.
While Orphea wasn't a dedicated mage-killer, she could still beat the shit out of him before he had a chance to fight back.
The player obviously didn't realize that Orphea was there, as he let her sneak up on him.
Then, Orphea grabbed his neck from behind.
"Huh-?!" The player turned around to see who had grabbed him, only to realize the situation he was in, "Oh, fuck me."
He wasn't quiet, so people began to turn to look at them. But Orphea wanted a more private conversation so she told him, "You're coming with me to talk in private."
Surprisingly, he went along with it as she dragged him out of the room, Liberta silently following.
As soon as they got somewhere somewhat private, the player immediately asked her, "Why the fuck are you here?!"
"Why are you?" She retorted.
Both of them were whispering to not attract any attention, but their glares were piercing each other through the building.
Knowing that the Seraphim player was on the back foot, Orphea reminded him of his place, "I'm a monk, I can beat the shit out of you before you can try anything. So, what's your name? I'm Orphea, if you didn't know."
Recognizing that she was right, he relented, "I'm Toruto."
Yep, she did not recognize that name. Definitely one of the Seraphim members that didn't go on the Yggdrasil forums that often.
Moving on, she asked, "So, Toruto. Why are you here?"
"Why are you?"
"Should I kill you now and save myself the hassle?"
Toruto tightened up a bit as he struggled to find an answer, "Ah, well… Look, Principality forbids us from killing each other, right? Do you want the wrath of a World Champion on you guys?"
Orphea remembered the deal and reminded him, "Permanently. He wanted us to not permanently kill each other by forbidding resurrection. If I just kill you and forcefully resurrected you, we would have no issues."
Gritting his teeth, Toruto conceded the point, "Tch, fine. Look, I'm here on somewhat official duty. We were told to root out any of your spies anywhere we can find him. But I'm just here because I have an interest in learning the actual magic behind our spells. I was going to ask around if there were any developments, but there obviously aren't any because we actively discourage it. Then this little thing caught my attention and here I am."
That all lined up with Orphea's knowledge. Of course they knew about Ainz Ooal Gown sending in spies, and of course they were probably going to go to the magic academy. Trying to learn the magic behind magic was noble, but she didn't really care.
But if he was here on official duty, she didn't think that Toruto would go alone, so…
"Who did you come here with?" Orphea questioned, her grip on his neck tightening.
Toruto paused for a moment, before saying, "Some guy named Zeety, with weird spelling. I don't really know him that well."
Shit, where was he, then?
Orphea turned to Liberta, "Tell Lucifer that he needs to watch out for him."
"...Lord Lucifer will not contact me back, my lady," Liberta informed with a regretful voice.
What?
"Dude, who are you?"
This situation is fucked.
Luci*Fer awkwardly laughed, scratching the back of his head.
This situation is soooo fucked.
Seriously, he was just having a good time, having a break, and messing around with people pretending he was one of the 72 Lords of Seraphim. After all, nobody actually knew their names.
But then an ACTUAL SERAPHIM PLAYER SHOWS UP!
Nervously replying, Luci*Fer tried his best, "Oh, come on, man, you don't recognize me?"
The other player, a warrior, by the looks of it, tapped his angelic chin a few times before replying, "Uhh… I'm sorry, I don't. There's like, 70 of us, and I can't really remember that many names or faces, especially when we're always changing them with the Seeds of Yggdrasil."
Wait.
Holy shit.
Is it working?
Pressing his advantage, Luci*Fer chuckled, casually telling him, "It's okay, dude. I have the same issue too."
The other player nodded, "Yeah… Well, again, I'm Zeety. Who are you?"
Fucked.
This situation is so unbelievably fucked.
Lightly kicking the ground, Luci*Fer hummed, "Well, who else could be as handsome, smart, and strong? You surely can recognize me through the Seeds of Yggdrasil."
Zeety blinked, "Uh… Qwerty?"
Luci*Fer snapped his fingers and pointed right at him, "Exactly! I'm Qwerty! How could you forget?!"
This situation is fucked.
Eventually, Orphea decided to put his trust into Luci*Fer. He can get himself out of that situation himself. After all, her friends should be coming this way soon.
Toruto chuckled, thinking he had regained control of the situation, "Heh, if Zeety has him, then I think it's for the best if we both retreat, yeah? After all, even though your hands are on my neck like this, I can still get away. Our fight would cause too much collateral damage and you wouldn't hurt the civilians, would you?"
"I'll be honest, I don't care about them," She plainly replied, holding on tighter.
He looked briefly surprised for a moment, then he scoffed, "I should've figured that the evil ass guild had some evil ass people."
She shrugged, "I suppose. Now, you're going to be coming with me."
Toruto immediately denied it, "Absolutely not. But I don't want to have to fight you right now either. So here, I'll tell you what. I'll give you some nice bits and pieces of information, and you can leave with that. How's that sound?"
Orphea narrowed her eyes and answered, "Why don't I just beat you up and take you back, and have you answer all of our questions back in Nazarick?"
It really was that simple. There was no way Toruto could win a fight at this distance, and there wasn't much he could offer them that couldn't just be forcefully taken away from him from Nazarick.
Knowing this, Toruto raised a point, "Quite frankly, Orphea, the longer you stay, the worse it is for you. Every moment we spend squabbling here is another moment that another Seraphim member could be alerted and sent here."
Turning to Liberta, she asked him, "Who's here? Do you know? Can you ask Vaggy or Nubo?"
Liberta immediately answers, "They have found Lord Lucifer, but they are hiding in the shadows waiting for a moment. They have disabled teleportation and message spells in the area, waiting for you."
If the divination user of Seraphim were to notice it, then that'll cause a fight that Ainz Ooal Gown really didn't want to take right now to occur.
With that, Orphea conceded, "Alright, fine, tell me something good and we can call it a draw today."
Smiling, Toruto said, "Alright… In the Azerlisia mountains, there's a base that was part of the Dwarf Kingdom not too long ago that belongs to us now. In that base is a prison holding a bunch of people that our pacifist faction decided to keep alive instead of killing. Most of them aren't really strong, and a lot of them are just native traitors… But they're there."
Great, that was almost useless. They could make anyone strong with the Open Canvas and some spare gear, they probably didn't need anyone from the prison.
Still, at least this puts another place that Seraphim will have to monitor to make sure Ainz Ooal Gown doesn't invade there.
Before Orphea could respond, Toruto had a disgusted look on his face as he remembered something to mention, "Oh, and a few of our guys are… Well, evil ass rape people. So some of the women there are locked up for their own good, honestly."
"What the fuck."
"I know."
Well, that was awful to know. Good to see that people are terrible no matter the planet.
Getting the image out of her head, she then asked something more important, "Okay, but what was that part about the pacifist faction just now?"
It should've been a throwaway line, but Orphea was curious now that Toruto mentioned that there were some bad people in Seraphim.
"There's a hardliner faction and a pacifist faction," Toruto carefully said, "Some of us are okay with murder, some of us are not. That's all there is to it, got it?"
That was most definitely not just all there is to it. But Orphea decided that the knowledge that Seraphim was split in 2 was good enough, so she let go of his neck.
"Then let's all get out of Baharuth without a fight, got it?" Orphea said, already walking away, Liberta followed.
They were going to grab Fluder, and then they were going to run.
"Tch, yeah," Toruto said, taking a different direction as he flew away.
The situation changed drastically, it seemed.
As Toruto found his squad flying just outside of the city, standing off against a few members of Ainz Ooal Gown, all he could do was sigh, annoyed.
Judging from the numbers, it was a 5 against 5. At least they were evenly matched.
He had lied to Orphea and said he only came with one person, despite coming in a squad.
He had hoped that maybe that Liberta person would transmit that there were only 2 people from Seraphim in the city and come underprepared.
Perhaps it had worked, as it looked evenly matched, but it wasn't as favorable as he wanted it to be.
Flying to his squad, he immediately got the attention of his squad and started saying, "Look, they know we're here, they've disabled messaging, yeah? We have to bounce now they know we're here and- Who the fuck are you?"
Toruto was fairly decent at remembering names and faces. After all, despite having the Seeds of Yggdrasil, most of their members only liked changing between 2 or 3 forms at most. Toruto himself was disguised as a human so he could check out the academy without wasting a scroll.
So seeing the fallen-esque angel floating as though he was one of them confused him.
Recounting the number of people, he came with a group of four but this was a group of five…
"Huh? That's Qwerty, right?" Zeety, the dumbass, spoke up.
Toruto immediately recognized what happened, "No the fuck he isn't."
Apparently, his entire squad is just as dumb as Zeety because they apparently thought that Qwerty would actually choose to look like that.
So, in reality, it wasn't a 5 against 5. Once Orphea arrived, it would be a 5 against 7.
Just as he thought it couldn't get any worse, it did.
"Now!"
On instinct, Toruto immediately conjured a shield using a silent spell to protect him, paying off as the ghost's paralysis spell harmlessly bounced off of him.
His other teammates were also able to block the attacks heading their way as they all got the idea and started retreating.
Activating all of his armor's set bonuses, he pulled out his cash shop item that allowed him to instantly changed gear and broke it.
Now in his level 100 generalist set, he turned around around to cover their escape, "Wall of Judgement!"
A wall of holy fire erupted in front of him, preventing Ainz Ooal Gown from following unless they wanted to take damage from the fire.
Which, apparently, they did.
Orphea flew at insane speeds, ignoring the damage she just took as she raised a fist at him, "[Depth of Abyss]!"
Getting punched directly into the gut with abyssal power, he was knocked far away in front of his allies.
But if that was enough to put him down, he should've just quit Yggdrasil.
Hazel took notice of the knockback he took and got an idea as he casted, "[Shared Senses]!"
Kawaii-Ocha figured out the plan as she took out an engineering weapon out of her inventory.
Which was immediately taken away by the half-golem rogue that appeared out of nowhere as Orphea hammered her down to the ground, subsequently sending them all down as well.
"ZEETA!" Toruto shouted out in annoyance as he casted a silent version of negate knockback to stabilize them.
Zeeta, the tank, immediately aggroed Orphea's senses onto himself as their rogue, Luku, stabbed her in the back.
Ainz Ooal Gown's samurai immediately saved their comrade from Luku as the fake-Qwerty chanted, "[Heavenly Arena]!"
From the floor up, a bird-cage was forming around them.
Knowing they were done for if the trapping spell was able to form, Toruto countered it by pointing into the sky and chanting, "[Sword of Alfheim]!"
His hands turned into vines as it flew into the air.
The ghost player suddenly flew right where the Sword of Alfheim was trying to go, conjuring a shield.
Fortunately, Toruto had a set bonus for that.
Activating it, his spell ignored his shield and went right past it.
Managing to get his hand out of the radius in time, the Heavenly Arena detected something was blocking the spell and failed to form, destroying the arena.
Out of annoyance, the samurai sent a slash that cut off his Sword of Alfheim, but that was fine.
The blood-man mage-tank had Kawaii-Ocha on the ground with his foot, but Zeeta was able to knock him off after a moment before Orphea came in to punch his face again, landing a black-flash.
By that point, Kawaii-Ocha had managed to pull out a spare engineering weapon.
Someone had used a sniper rifle to shoot at her hand, but she was able to maintain its grip on the trigger, firing right at Ainz Ooal Gown's frontline.
The knockback from the explosion threw them almost a mile back collectively due to their shared senses. Thanks to it, they managed to throw themselves out of the teleportation area.
As they ended up on some random hill, Toruto immediately casted a Gate spell back to Kami no Toshokan.
With that, their brief skirmish came to an end, far too close of a fight for their liking.
"Lucifer! What the fuck was that shitty ass Heavenly Arena?!" Suratan, the ghost player, complained to him as soon as they recognized that Seraphim had gotten away.
Despite being mostly a support mage, he still managed to get Seraphim's rogue on his knees through several movement inhibition spells, so he saw himself as above blame on this one.
Luci*Fer's only defense was, "Dude, that situation was so fucked."
Which was only a somewhat fair argument to make.
"We needed more DPS," Warrior Takemikazuchi, the samurai, claimed as he sheathed his sword, "Orphea and I couldn't put down their tank in time."
Eating Yoipesuto's healing food, Orphea agreed, "Yeah. Yoipesuto, I'm sorry to tell you, but you really should've picked better damaging spells."
Yoipesuto, the jellyfish chef, annoyedly told them off, "Oh, stuff it! If I wasn't here, you wouldn't be playing half as recklessly!"
Bellriver, the gibbering mouther, just sighed, "Look, all of our problems could've been solved if we had more people. It just so happens a lot of us are doing something else and we were caught at a somewhat bad time."
Genjiro, the half-golem rogue, nodded, "Yeah. We did good, but Seraphim definitely knew how to get themselves out of that situation outnumbered. Maybe Bellriver should've focused on that wizard guy, but I didn't expect him to have something to counter the Heavenly Arena either, so I think there wasn't anything we could do in that situation."
As they headed home to report their skirmish, they were filled with the determination that, next time, they would not let them go so easily.
AN:
I love not following scene outlines. I just love things like "They had the entire conversation in the lecture hall" and "Ainz Ooal Gown lost because they hesitated too much" not being what I write because I changed my mind while I'm writing it.
But anyways, I'm on the journey of writing 100k words in December. It's December 6th as I'm finishing this so, even with the fact I have 5 other fics to write, it's pretty likely you'll get 3 updates this month if I don't fail my goal.
Also, big Orphea focused chapter and like, 0 mention of Peroroncino? Huge win for independent women.
[Yeah, well, chapter 31 is like 9k words in as I upload this. It's more likely that I'll upload that chapter on Christmas or next Saturday, and next chapter comes early in January.]
[I also finished this like, on December 7th. It's the 21st now. Huge W for people who occasionally check in on my channel or server on Discord.]