章 496: 5
Chapter 5 - Plans set in Motion.
A week had passed since the events in Carne village, a very busy week for Nazarick's denizens. The first glimpses of the new world have been seen and now it was time to prepare for further exploration. The next day, after returning from the first event outside, Ainz spent the remaining charges of Endless Strive on the Pleiades' maids and additionally, for reference, used one charge on a homunculus maid named Increment.
None of the six Pleiades' maids showed particularly noticeable progress right away. Ainz had given them an order to hone their already existing skills for now. Even after daily exhausting sparring matches with Peros, their power didn't grow as fast as Ainz hoped. Increment, on the other hand, showed rapid progress in her cleaning abilities, now outshining the rest of the homunculus maids by a wide margin. Ainz speculated the cause may be because of her starting at level one. As an additional experiment, the maid was training to wield a sword. Her progress in a combat-related area wasn't as fast. Even so, she gained at least some rudimentary skill in sword fighting.
Both Peros and Ainz himself hadn't grown in power to any noticeable degree, despite both learning new magic and abilities. With that, Ainz concluded that individuals with a low power base can be trained up much faster if their potential is increased, but he and the other upper-level Nazarick denizens would have to work long and hard to see any noticeable change in their overall power level.
Peros enjoyed the task of training the Pleiades immensely. Not that they could keep up with him. Most sparing matches ended with him wiping the floor with the poor battle maids, even with their excellent coordination. At first, they were stiff and overly formal with him. He didn't mind it too much and just countered it with an easygoing attitude and playful taunts to loosen them up. Lupusregina was the most receptive and after a few days got casual and even forgot to use proper honorifics from time to time. Yuri harshly reprimanded her in private, for her careless attitude, more than once.
Peros himself actively trained to fight in close combat with two swords as his preferred weapons of choice. Average length, slightly curved blades worked great with his speed and agility-based combat style. Additionally, following Ulbert's advice, he had learned invisibility and short distance blink, giving him the ability to perform extremely dangerous surprise attacks. In a strange 'karmic' irony, Lupus ended up ambushed most often with either tickles or slaps on the butt. Lupus was known for doing similar pranks on her sisters and the homunculus maids. Peros singled her out, mostly because he liked her the most. He already had considered adding her to his collection. Lupus tried to get her revenge a few times, but Peros could hear her sneaking up with little effort.
As much as Peros just wanted to train and goof around, he didn't neglect his new role and was selecting members for his strike team. Solution and Lupusregina were the prime candidates, as they both had stealth-based abilities. Although they couldn't be included in a permanent roster since Ainz had already made plans for Solution to accompany Sebas on a mission.
One more thing Peros was occupied with was being a moral support for Shalltear, who was in a droopy mood, because of her loss to Albedo for Ainz's attention. Peros tried to convince her that Ainz may, in the future, take a second concubine or even wife, but it wasn't much of a consolation. He had noticed how serious the situation was, because each time he visited Shalltear in her sanctuary, the vampire brides just looked at him with pleading eyes, as if begging to do something.
Bukuma, meanwhile, was spending most of her time in the library. She read on military history and tactics out of necessity for her new role but quickly realized that she found the topic fascinating and now was reading and memorizing book after book. At one point, she had spent about 30 hours non-stop in the library, and only direct orders from Ainz to take a rest stopped her from continuing.
Another thing she worked hard on was her offensive abilities and control over them. She planned on joining Ainz on the adventurer's mission, so the ability to regulate how much force she used was a must. The first days were rough. After another intense training, the arena walls were splattered with the blood of summoned creatures. She struck most of them with such force that besides splattering on the walls, there weren't any other remains. After a few days, Bukuma got the hang of it and even performed non-lethal attacks on the much weaker creatures.
Tabula just spent all his time in his newly set up laboratory. He didn't even attend meetings unless someone came and basically dragged him to the conference room. What vexed the others was the fact that he had taken almost all the live prisoners Nazarick had. Tabula performed race change and ability boost experiments on them. Some of the test subjects went insane and were unusable in his experiments anymore. Despite how engrossed he was in his work, a nagging feeling that he was forgetting something remained.
As for Ainz, his primary goal was to prepare for the adventurer's mission. The first problem arose in his current spell set. The weakest attack spell he knew was Dragon Lightning, a fifth-tier spell. He learned from the captives that tier three was considered the limit for a regular human. Anything above that was considered gifted or possessing a talent. Tier five was used by some of the world's strongest adventurers and there was only one known human in the current age able to cast tier six spells.
Thus, he had to learn spells from first to fifth tier, now having the need to pose as a talented mage, not just as a walking god. With no spell limit present anymore, learning an additional sixty spells wasn't hard. Most were elemental spells varying from first to the fourth tier, mixed in with some low tier utility and buff spells to give the illusion of assisting his teammates in need. His vastly improved intellect let him memorize and utilize low-tier spells almost immediately.
Healing and light-based magic were different, though. The moment he tried to use them in his Overlord form, they caused pain. The higher the tier was, the more intense the pain got. After a few days of practice, the pain while casting the third tier Heal was tolerable. The problem could be circumvented by using either his demon or his human form, but over time he wanted to solve the problem by learning the doppelganger race fully and using partial transformations during the casting. Ainz also learned resurrection spells but hasn't tested them.
Another test was to find out if he, as an undead, could summon and control an angel. It was impossible in Yggdrasil. He tested it by summoning an Archangel Flame. Once summoned, the angel seemingly didn't care that its summoner was undead and showed the same absolute loyalty as any summoned undead would.
A few days after returning from Carne, Ainz faced another problem. He had left Nazarick in a hurry and forgot about Rubedo, who he had appointed as his bodyguard. No one had noticed that something was off right away since Rubedo spent her time mostly in her room. After not seeing her for a while, Albedo went to check on her and found Rubedo staring at the wall and not responding to her.
Ainz went to talk to her immediately but Rubedo was devastated because he left her behind. She considered herself a useless failure who was not needed, and Ainz had to promise her she would accompany him on the next mission if she could pull off the role of a gifted human girl. It was one of the rare cases of Rubedo's face showing emotion when she heard that and promised to learn how to act human.
Ulbert was busy with the first steps of an extensive intelligence network. One of his top spells, tenth-tier Mass Demon Summon came into play. Ulbert could use it about three times a day and was able to restore all the required energy naturally. The first few times he used it to summon hordes of shadow demons. Each spell cast gave about a hundred of them. The shadow demons by themselves were only level 25 scouting units with little combat ability. Their main strength was blending in with the shadows and being almost undetectable. Over time, Ulbert wanted to have eyes and ears on every important person in the world, so it was crucial to accumulate servants capable of performing tasks he needed to be done.
The next part was proper spying units with more diverse abilities. Unfortunately, Nazarick had only about twenty doppelgangers. Ulbert, of course, could just use the summoning scrolls to get more, but using them costed money. Nazarick's library held hundreds of thousands of various summoning scrolls, varying from simple goblins to the very high-tier summons, like overlords, dragons, and devastator demons. Additionally, the treasury held about two hundred fifty times more money than it would require using every single summoning scroll. Knowing how stingy Ainz could be, Ulbert decided to not use them unless it was necessary. For now, he had to hope Tabula would find a way to create more of them.
Ulbert decided to summon large quantities of succubi and incubi demons as a substitute. First, they had basic shape-shifting abilities that could be used for infiltration, and second, because of their nature, could be used for seducing and blackmailing important political figures. In addition, Peros had pestered him to summon at least one for him. What's more, Bukuma had asked for an incubus as well. She heard her brother had requested a succubus and wanted something for herself too. Ulbert couldn't help being amused at how similar both were, despite both denying it. He also planned to keep a few for himself. His now more bestial nature reminded him more and more each day about his needs, and he wanted to solve it before it grew distracting. Ulbert didn't care about a deep relationship like Ainz and Albedo had rapidly developed, or making harems like Peros or Bukuma, but he wasn't the type of person to deny himself various pleasures when they were readily available.
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Ulbert stood on a platform dedicated to demon summoning, located on the 7th floor, Demiurge's domain. With him were Demiurge and Yuri, looking intently as Ulbert performed the mass demon summoning. It could be used to either summon just an army of random demons, or a certain number of specific ones. Ulbert was doing the latter and 46 demons appeared, both succubi and incubi. All except one kneeled right away. The last one just looked around curiously and then addressed Ulbert in an uncharacteristically casual manner for a summon.
"Oh, hey. You are Ulbert, right?"
Unfortunately for her, the moment she spoke about it, Demiurge was already in front of her, grabbing her by the neck and lifting her while almost growling.
"You dare speak to a Supreme One in such a disrespectful manner!"
Shock and panic replaced her casual demeanor as she dangled in the air, unable to breathe.
Ulbert looked at the scene and then said, "Demiurge, let her down. I will question her myself. There is no need to act so rashly. Besides, doesn't she remind you of someone?"
Demiurge put the succubus down and she kneeled right away with her head down, her arms shaking and tears silently dropping to the ground. Demiurge realized that while he was holding her, he hadn't noticed her striking resemblance to Albedo. The same yellow catlike eyes, same horns, and long black hair. Unlike Albedo, who looked like she was in her early twenties, this one was a bit more mature and looked to be in her thirties by human standards.
Ulbert just decided to deal with the rest of the summons first and addressed Yuri.
"Yuri, send these three to my quarters," while pointing out three succubi that had caught his attention, "Send the remaining females to Peros and the males to Bukuma for them to pick what they like. Send the rest back to Demiurge for further instructions."
Yuri bowed and replied, "Yes, Lord Ulbert," and then led the demons away.
Ulbert then returned his attention to the remaining succubus. Although it surprised him a bit, his now superior memory even included the events from before the new world, remembering a particularly strange conversation with Tabula. When Albedo was created, Ulbert had asked Tabula where he got the inspiration for the looks, and Tabula had replied that it came from his succubus wife named Mariposa. Ulbert, of course, asked from which game she was, thinking that it was simply a game character Tabula was particularly fond of, but Tabula replied that it was his spiritual wife from the astral realm. Ulbert then had written of it as just delusions of Tabula who was rather eccentric even back then, but now it made much more sense seeing the one kneeling in front of him.
"Rise and tell me your name." Ulbert addressed her.
The succubus slowly stood up with a tear-stained face and replied, "M-My name is M-Mariposa L-Lord Ulbert."
Ulbert smiled a bit creepily, driving Mariposa in an even more panicked state, and contacted Tabula right away.
{ Hey Tabula, you owe me one! }
{ Ulbert, what are you talking about? }
{ I just summoned your wife by accident. }
There was no reply, but two seconds later Tabula teleported right next to Ulbert. He saw in what state Mariposa was in and just hugged her, saying,
"Mari, you found me!"
She hugged him back a bit, shaking, and after a while, Tabula broke off the hug and addressed Ulbert.
"What did you do to her?"
"I did nothing. In fact, I recognized her almost right away. Demiurge went overzealous when she addressed me too casually for his liking."
Demiurge was kneeling already as he spoke. "Lord Tabula, Lady Mariposa, my sincerest apologies for the trouble I caused."
Tabula just sighed. He had already guessed what went down and was just happy Ulbert resolved the situation without Mariposa getting hurt. However, it was Mariposa who spoke next.
"No, no, it was my fault entirely. I was the one not addressing Lord Ulbert properly." Demiurge's aggressive reaction had given her a rude awakening and realization of what kind of beings inhabited Nazarick. The last thing she wanted was to make its denizens hostile to her. Especially knowing the immense power difference between her and a floor guardian.
"Tabula, just in case, resolves this situation fast. Inform Ainz and Albedo to give her an official status so no one harms her by accident," Ulbert suggested.
"Yes, that would be for the best," Tabula responded, then took Mariposa's hand and added, "Come, dear. I'll show you around."
Ulbert and Demiurge just watched for a moment how they walked away, and then Ulbert remarked.
"Looks like this place is getting more interesting with each day," to which Demiurge just nodded silently.
Once out of view, Tabula asked Mariposa,
"Are you ok? Did they hurt you?"
"No, Ul... Lord Ulbert stopped his servant before he could hurt me."
"You are already calling him lord."
"Shouldn't I? Will I be safe if I address even you improperly in front of... them?" Her tone showed she was terrified of Nazarick. Tabula could clearly see how afraid his wife was of his home.
"I guess it's safer for now to use all the honorifics, let me explain the hierarchy here."
While touring Nazarick, Tabula had contacted both Ainz and Albedo and explained the situation. He explained how things worked in Nazarick to Mariposa while they both visited various locations. She listened carefully, not wanting to mess up even the smallest things in fear of what would follow. Tabula had, of course, explained Nazarick's hierarchy and reverence, he and especially Ainz were hold in.
Mariposa walked beside him, and with a polite bow greeted anyone they passed. Tabula, in his usual manner, was too invested in his explanations, and for the most part, didn't respond to the greetings. His wife came to the quick realization that he was just as forgetful as he was on Earth, and she resolved to be his assistant, hoping to be accepted in Nazarick.
After an hour of walking, both Tabula and Mariposa arrived at Ainz's office, where he and Albedo awaited them.
Mariposa kneeled right away and addressed Ainz with a strained voice. She prayed to not do anything wrong, as the presence of her 'daughter' Albedo made her more fearful. She had helped Tabula design them, and they called them their daughters jokingly, but she had no idea how all this had happened and what kind of beings Albedo and her sisters were.
"Lord Ainz Ooal Gown, it is an honor to meet you. I wish to apologize for the incident I caused with my summoning."
"Rise. There is no need for the wife of a dear friend to act in such manner in front of me. I welcome you to Nazarick and call me Ainz."
Mariposa rose saying, "Thank you Lord Ainz." She remembered Momonga, or now Ainz. When Tabula played Yggdrasil in the past, she often looked through his eyes and shared fond memories. Momonga, she remembered, always appeared friendly and caring, and one of few people who actually listened to Tabula's extended ramblings about the topics that he was invested in at that time.
Tabula then spoke, "We didn't come here only for introductions. I also wanted to ask you and Albedo to find a place for my wife in Nazarick."
"Of course, Father. After some discussion with my be... Lord Ainz, we decided to give her the same status as an area guardian. Will that be enough?"
Tabula nodded in response "Yes, thank you, my daughter," and then added "Albedo you must know that that I didn't create you and your sisters alone. As I'm your father, Mariposa is your mother to the same extent. I think you can see the resemblance to yourself and your sisters in her."
"Mother!? With all due respect Father, I will treat her as your wife but there is no connection between her and me."
For a moment, Albedo's face twisted in disgust, but she returned to her usual smile right away.
"That is very understandable, lady Albedo. Even if I was involved in your creation it was more as an inspiration. But I hope to, at least, have a chance to form friendly relationships with the daughters of my husband," Mariposa spoke in a quiet voice. Tabula cared for her deeply but often was too oblivious of situations in front of him. Albedo wasn't her daughter. She was something monstrous, wearing the same face Mariposa had. The face and tone were gentle, but Albedo radiated clear disdain towards her.
Seeing her father's pleading look, Albedo gave in and replied, "Of course, I have no reason to reject that." She could see fear in the succubus's eyes. The little succubus, parading as her father's wife, knew her place, and for now, it would be enough.
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It was another meeting of the Lords of Ooal Gown. Due to how busy everyone was, they had agreed to gather twice a week to discuss important topics. Everyone, besides Tabula, was present a few minutes early and started to discuss among themselves who would go pick up Tabula, who most likely had forgotten about the meeting. To their surprise, Tabula arrived on time with Mariposa in tail, who promptly bowed and addressed them properly and then told Tabula,
"See, they are waiting on you as usual!" He just sat in his seat as Mariposa closed the door and left.
Ainz, as usual, opened the meeting.
"Good morning everyone. Let's start with the main topic. The king of Re-Estize has sent an official invitation to accept his gratitude for our assistance in Carne. I would like to hear your input on who should go as our representative. I personally think to go myself and push back the adventure team plan for another time."
"I don't think you should go on the first visit; you are our leader after all," Ulbert responded adding, "We would seem too eager to please if the leader of Nazarick just shows up right away. At the same time, we can't just send someone who is in terms of rank far beneath, like an area guardian. So, I think it must be either one of us or a floor guardian."
"But who then? Who cannot lose their temper if they say or do something unreasonable? I don't want to start an introduction to this world with a burned-down city if some noble snobs us!" Ainz shot back.
"My choice would be between me and Bukuma," Ulbert suggested.
"So, you think you will keep a calm demeanor if they start making demands?" Ainz asked him with suspicion in his voice.
"If they turn out to be the same type of assholes as the CEOs from our old home, which is quite possible, I prefer to make them suffer slowly, not attack like some kind of animal. Bukuma, how about you? Can you pull off the role of our representative?" Ulbert asked.
"I could, but if you want to go instead, I'll just go with Ainz in the adventurer team."
"Ulbert, I will entrust you with this. I prefer Bukuma to come with us on the adventure mission. There is still a chance of other players being around in hiding and I rather go with a tank than without one." Ainz finally said.
Peros spoke up next, "About this adventure team, it will be Bukuma, Ainz, and I right?"
"I was thinking about taking Rubedo and maybe one of the Pleiades with us," Ainz responded.
"Rubedo? You want to take our secret weapon with you?" Ulbert interjected.
"She didn't take well to the fact that I left her behind when we saved Carne. I gave her the position of my personal bodyguard after all."
"But can she pull it off? Rubedo is basically a golem if I remember correctly?" Bukuma was the one to ask.
"I hope so. She acts reserved, so unless someone provokes us into full-on battle, I think we will be fine."
"Ok. I guess there is no harm taking her with us then. Let's just hope no one gives her a reason to go all out. Who of the Pleiades should we take with us?" Bukuma asked again, seemingly satisfied with Ainz's reasoning.
"I was thinking of using our original human looks as a disguise, and with that, Narberal would fit just fine."
"Why our original looks? Wouldn't we stick out among these European-looking people?" Peros asked.
"Yes, but we know far too little to blend in. If we look foreign, we can easily make a cover-up story that we just came from distant lands and don't know local customs. It will give us an excuse to freely ask about even the most basic things. And on top of that, we will try to rise in ranks quickly and that will raise suspicions about our origins, anyway." Ainz answered.
"That actually makes a lot of sense," Peros responded, a bit impressed.
Tabula, who was just listening to this point, spoke up, "If it's not too much of trouble, I would like to get samples of local fauna and materials for alchemical work. If we think in the long term, we can't just rely on Nazarick's supply no matter how immense it is. Also, if possible, some local scholar or alchemist in our employ would help to streamline the usage of said materials."
"I'll keep that in mind and try to arrange something," Ainz replied.
"Thank you for considering it."
"There are a few more things I want you all to be informed about," Ainz continued. "First, I will send Sebas and Solution to Re-Estize to pose as wealthy merchants. Their task will be to infiltrate the merchant and nobility circles, gather information, and sell Nazarick's trash items to acquire local currencies. Also, I'm sending out Shalltear to hunt bandits and lowlifes that reside between cities in hopes of capturing someone with martial arts abilities and to gather test subjects, alive and dead."
"Anyone opposed to that?" Ainz asked, but no one opposed the idea. It was getting increasingly clear to anyone present that their views on human life had changed greatly. None of them were disturbed by the idea of killing anymore.
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Just two days to appear before the king of Re-Estize. Ulbert put every other project aside and was preparing for the upcoming event. He needed to learn etiquette and practice mannerisms. First, he went through gestures in his natural form and was deeply satisfied with how sophisticated he looked. For now, going to the human kingdom as a demon was out of the question. It would work if he wanted to intimidate and dominate them, but that wasn't the goal, at least not right away.
Ulbert had taken one of the doppelganger rings from Ainz. Appearing as a human would be a logical choice, but that didn't mean he couldn't pick a form reflecting his current mindset. Recalling an old movie where a man sold his soul to a demon called Mephistopheles, Ulbert decided to copy the looks of the said demon in human disguise. Walking up to a large mirror, he transformed. A man with jet black hair, dark grey eyes, and a style of facial hair named after the same demon decorated his face. Seeing the result, Ulbert smirked at his reflection in the mirror. This was a perfect look for his mask.
Facial expressions took some time to adjust. Most of his smiles looked too sinister, but with some practice, he could pull off a diplomatic smile.
After some discussion with Ainz, he decided to take four Hanzos as his bodyguards. The Hanzos were a stealth-type monster dressed in a traditional ninja outfit, thus hiding his inhuman nature well. He decided against just using a gate directly to the royal palace, which could cause panic and possibly some other unforeseen problems. Albedo instead prepared a carriage for him, pulled by two horses.
There weren't any horses in Nazarick but luckily Aura, as a beast tamer, had the ability to summon basic horses. Albedo suggested using bicorns, but they stood out too much.
Two days later, he was fully prepared to represent the Lords of Ooal Gown. Everything was already set up for him in the early morning. He wanted to use a gate some distance away from the capital, and his time of arrival was planned around noon. After a quick breakfast and dressing up, Ulbert got in the carriage and cast Gate.
The carriage drove through the gate and appeared on an unpaved road surrounded by green fields. The capital was about an hour's ride away. Ulbert opened the window and inhaled deeply. This was only the second time he had been outside. The warm morning sun and green scenery provided an enjoyable ride. Still, it had to come to an end when the walls of the capital slowly came into view.
Getting through the gate itself wasn't too much of a hustle, as apparently, all the guardsmen were warned about an important guest coming and he passed through the VIP entrance. As soon as his carriage was inside the city, the smell hit him, Ulbert closed the carriage window and just watched through it. The scene was horrible. Filth and poverty were everywhere. Ulbert cast Remote Hearing to hear what people were talking about, and their hatred for his rich and extravagant carriage was noticeable.
These people hated nobles, who had not only left them to rot but were taking most of what they had as taxes. Ulbert got curious about one person, though. Many spoke in high tones about someone called the Golden Princess. Apparently, she was the only one trying to improve the situation of the impoverished. From managing to outlaw slavery to giving money and food to those who needed it the most.
Ulbert recalled the idea from Demiurge to create a farm for experimentation and resource gathering by using humans and other species deemed unworthy to serve directly. He had shut down the idea, but now seeing this, he realized that, with some modifications, they could create a prison camp and give hell to the nobles, who were responsible for keeping their own subjects in such abysmal conditions. Ulbert didn't particularly feel sympathy for the masses, but his human side still reminded him how he used to live back on Earth and old ugly memories tried to come back.
Ulbert started to notice that, the closer you came to the royal castle, the wealthier people started to look. Even the streets were paved. This angered him even more. The rich were living decent lives, and the rest were left behind. He despised the leaders of this country already, but he planned to put up a show, anyway. For now, the goal was to set foot in this world and see who to ally with, if anyone.
Finally, the carriage reached the castle's gate and one of the Hanzos went to talk with the guards. After some waiting, he was led through and finally reached the castle, where he was greeted by the head butler of the castle and led deeper into the castle.
The tension in the throne room was palpable. Although it was secret only to Gazef, most of his troops consisted of various spies and informants to the nobles, both from Re-Estize and other countries as well. At this point, everyone had heard about the Carne incident. A new mysterious force of seemingly powerful people had emerged from the forest of Tob, and not only saved Gazef and the village, but decimated one of the Slane Theocracies' Scriptures. Considering how powerful the Slane Theocracy was, they didn't bother to reply to the demands from Re-Estize to explain themselves.
King Ramposa III was awaiting the guest, a bit nervous. He had a hard time believing what Gazef had told about his encounter. To Ramposa's right sat the crown prince Barbo and to his left second prince Zanac. Last, next to Zanac, was sitting Renner, the third or so-called Golden Princess. Most of the nobles had shown up as well. Everyone wanted to use the situation in their favor. The emissary of this new organization, calling themselves Lords of Ooal Gown, may even stir up a delicate and unstable balance of power in Re-Estize, shifting power in either the noble or the royal factions' direction.
Finally, after a tension-filled wait, a butler opened the doors announcing,
"Presenting Lord Ulbert Ooal Gown!"
A man came in with an elegant bow, flashed a charming smile, and said,
"Thank you, on behalf of the Lords of Ooal Gown, King Ramposa III, for the invitation. I have been chosen to represent our organization in front of the fine people of Re-Estize."
He was dressed in a fine black suit, fitted for nobility. A dark cape was over one shoulder, decorated with golden lining. He wore a top hat and his fingers were covered with jeweled rings, a walking staff with a large gem on top in his hand. He carried himself like a born noble.
King nodded and responded,
"Thank you for coming Lord Ulbert Ooal Gown. On behalf of the Kingdom of Re-Estize, I want to thank the Lords of Ooal Gown for assisting us in the protection of our citizens."
"It was our pleasure to be of assistance."
The nobles were shifting nervously. Even though the forest of Tob wasn't strictly Re-Estize territory, no human nation had taken claim for it either. It was considered inhospitable because of the sheer number of monsters residing there. A faction of seemingly extremely wealthy and powerful people resided there with no oversight. A powerfully built man in his fifties, with a scar-covered face known as the leader of the noble faction, Marquis Boullope decided to address it right away.
"If I may, Lord Ulbert, what is the legal status of your house? You present yourselves as nobles but none of us have even heard of it."
"As for now, we are not a part of any nation. Our leader, Lord Ainz Ooal Gown, has decided to show us to the world. We have no plans to request joining any kingdom at this time, as for now, we are not well versed in the current political climate of the world."
"You should be honored to join the kingdom of Re-Estize and serve us!" Crown prince Barbo spoke in a somewhat pompous manner. He was getting annoyed that this man posing as a noble had the audacity to speak to nobles as if he was an equal.
Ulbert's face twisted in a more sinister grin as he replied, "Well, of course, we will eagerly await your recruiters and tax collectors at the door of our humble home."
There it was a pompous moron who had openly disrespected him. It wasn't hard to notice how most of these overly privileged morons were looking down on him.
The prince was fuming. This stranger dared to make fun of him in front of all the nobles of Re-Estize. He got up and took out his sword with the full intention to strike down the man who dared to insult him and his kingdom. A wave of incredible malice hit him and everyone else present. Barbo's knees buckled, and he just slumped back in his throne. Despite his bravado, he was a coward at heart, and the aura Ulbert radiated almost made him wet himself.
However, Ulbert had activated his aura on the lowest possible level. He didn't want to kill anyone, after all. Princess Renner was impressed by how this stranger outplayed her stupid and pompous half-brother so easily. And unlike the others, she basked in this dark aura with joy that she could barely hide. For just a moment her facade pleasant smile slipped to a more sinister one and at that moment her and Ulbert's eyes met in acknowledgment. They both were wearing masks and neither of them knew what was behind the others.
Ulbert had dropped all pretense of pleasantries, twisting his face into a sadistic sneer said,
"I see you think of us as peons to play with. You are badly mistaken, young prince! I shall take my leave now, and report to our leader about this event. We will still be open to negotiations but will not be looked down at."
With that, Ulbert left the throne room. No one dared to get in his way as he walked out of the castle with a casual stride. Some guards and maids fainted near him as he walked. After a few minutes of walk, he got back in the carriage, cast the Gate spell, and disappeared from the courtyard. Only then did the entire palace sighed in relief as his horrific aura dissipated.
Everything went pretty much how he expected. The first thing Ulbert did after his return was to order Demiurge to plan the 'Happy Farm', as he now saw an apparent need for it.
The king was holding the bridge of his nose. He was one step away from denouncing prince Barbo as crown prince. Marquis Boullope was aware of what could happen right now. He was also angry at the prince, his son-in-law, but he was not about to lose his opportunity to be in control of the future king, so he addressed the current one.
"My king, this entire exchange seemed intentional. For all we know, these Lords of Ooal Gown might not even be from the forest of Tob."
Marquis Raeven, the unofficial leader of the royal faction hated to admit it but Boullope was right. He knew Boullope was just trying to save the idiot prince's status, but even then, if Barbo would lose the status of the crown prince, it would most likely lead to civil war, so he just added in.
"I would have to agree with Marquis Boullope in this case. An unknown force just popping up in a place where no human lives, seems unlikely." As a careful and calculating man, he had done everything to keep the fragile balance between factions, to avoid civil war and keep the country together.
The king finally looked up and responded,
"You both make good points. For now, the only thing we can do is to see where those names show up again and respond accordingly next time." He then turned to Barbo, addressing him.
"And you, my son, as future king, think before you act. This provocation might have been unnecessary."
Ramposa intentionally called him the future king. Making the opposition doubt Barbo's position was unwise, even if he himself was not happy about the idea of leaving the country to his eldest son. Zanac was much more capable as a politician but lacked political support to claim the throne.
Barbo replied grinding his teeth "Of course father, I apologize for my outburst." He was humiliated in front of all the nobles. He swore to himself that when he became king, he would find them, and he would destroy them.
When everyone beside Gazef had left the throne room the king slumped down on the throne and let out a sigh.
"I'm too old for this." He then turned to Gazef and asked.
"Gazef, tell me honestly. What you think of these Lords of Ooal Gown?"
"There is something incredibly dangerous about them. I couldn't help but feel unease near any of them. As grateful as I am to them for saving my life, I can't help but think how strange their appearance in Carne was."
"Indeed, it is strange. The last thing we need is more enemies," Ramposa said more to himself than Gazef.
‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›
Meanwhile, Ainz, Bukuma, Peros, Narberal, and Rubedo were preparing to pose as adventurers. Everyone, besides Narberal, needed to change appearance. Ainz also concluded that they couldn't just use their usual gear and needed to tone it down to about level 30 rare items. For them, level 30 rares were trash items but in the new world, they would be equipped as elite heroes.
Ainz changed into a form resembling his old self - Satoru. He planned to use the name as well. He dressed in a black robe with grey linings and a hood partly covering his face. For a weapon, he took a mithril staff decorated with a lightning gem. He also equipped a ring that hid his power in case someone had the ability to read power levels. In fact, all of them needed to wear such a ring.
Looking in the mirror, he only now fully realized that he wasn't Suzuki Satoru anymore. This face now was just a disguise, nothing more. Usually, it would be a maid who would help him dress, but for the last few days, Albedo had taken over that role. Her jealousy had scared off the poor homunculus maids, who now were permitted only to clean Ainz's quarters and nothing more. Seeing Ainz's somber expression in his human disguise, she asked,
"Is something wrong, my love?"
"This is how I looked once."
Albedo looked at him, a bit stunned. None of the guardians knew much of their creator's past, so she did not know Ainz was once human or at least had a human shape. Albedo loved him, no matter how he looked. She came closer, gently touched his face, saying,
"I like this face, but nothing comes close to your magnificent skeletal form."
Peros used his old looks and name as well. On Earth his name was Itsuki. He wore leather armor covered in dark metal plates, with twin enchanted swords and a longbow. Although it didn't really matter, his gear was enchanted with speed and agility boosts. While looking at his old self, he realized one thing. It felt like wearing a mask; he was more Peros now and Itsuki was just a memory of his previous life now gone.
Bukuma did the same, returning to her past self, named Akari. Same as Peros, she felt a bit strange looking at her old self. She quickly pushed any lingering memories of the past away and geared up. Bukuma was wearing a dark grey full plate armor with a matching medium-sized shield. She took the helm as well but didn't put it on for now. As for weapons, she chose a broadsword to go with a shield and a claymore as a two-handed option.
Narberal didn't have the slightest clue what she was supposed to do, so with Bukuma's help, she chose rather simple pants, shirt, cloak, and a simple fire enchanted sword. To not confuse the poor maid, Bukuma just shortened her name to Nabe, as Narberal had a bit of a hard time getting into the role and address the supreme ones by their fake names, not to mention calling herself differently. Nabe was supposed to be Satoru's apprentice.
Ainz gave Rubedo a doppelganger ring and turned her into an unassuming looking sixteen years old Japanese girl. He was afraid if she stood out too much, she would start getting attention from men and freak out and that could end the entire operation prematurely.
Same as Narberal, Rubedo had her name shortened to Rubi, and she was dressed in thick dark leather armor and equipped with two long daggers. Rubi would pose as Peros's apprentice.
They started the journey just outside of E-Rantel. The first stop was a jeweler to sell a gem or two for local currency. Ainz was adamant not to use Yggdrasil coins in case someone would recognize them. Right away, they were getting stared at because of their unusual appearance, but Ainz had counted on that. What he didn't plan for was all the unwanted attention Nabe would get, her stunning beauty enticed men a bit too much. Nabe silently growled after a few catcalls and Bukuma was doing everything to keep her calm, at the same time being a little bit envious that Nabe was the one getting all the attention.
Bukuma or now, Akari was a cute-looking woman in her late twenties. In any other situation, she might even be the center of attention, but next to Nabe, who was designed by a manga artist to look as beautiful as possible, Akari just blended in the background.
Despite all the commotion, Ainz managed to find a jeweler's shop in a trade district and sold a small-sized ruby for four gold coins. He exchanged them for silver and copper right away, the gold being only used in the trade of very expensive items. Their next stop was the adventurer's guild, and they found it without much of a problem by asking a few locals for directions.
It was already evening when they finally entered the guildhall and were presented with a problem right away. None of them could read the local language. Of course, Ainz could take out the translation glasses from his storage but taking them out alone would attract too much attention. For now, they would play up the 'we are the foreigners' act and chatted up one of the clerks, a rather young woman with a pleasant smile. Ainz had noticed that all the clerks were similar. Most of them were young and decently attractive, and pleasant to talk to. He noted that whoever was in charge had the right idea because if someone raised their voice and yelled at them, they would just come off as an asshole, thus keeping the front end of the guild rather calm.
After inquiring about the registration fee, he asked the clerk if she could fill the registration sheets for them. They were from a faraway country and haven't had learned the local writing yet. The girl looked at them a bit strangely, but since she saw that all of them had rather exotic faces, it made sense that they simply hadn't learned it yet and their rather expensive equipment promised at least a decently powered team. She took two extra silver coins for her help and filed in all the required information. She also explained all the guild rules and that they all could register as one team for extra recognition. Ainz declined the offer, stating that they would like to get some experience first.
While they were sorting formalities, comments about the women on their team from other adventurers weren't exactly subtle. When they finally got all the documentation sorted and received their bronze plates, it was already late evening and they took the clerk's recommendation of going to a rather cheap inn that specialized in service for lower-tier adventurers.
It was easy to find as the inn was only five minutes walking distance away from the guild. Ainz took the lead and went in. The place smelled of sweat and stale beer. He regretted coming in right away but managed to keep a neutral face. They had to keep the appearance of humble heroes, after all. Ainz approached the barkeep and asked about the pricing of rooms.
All eyes were on them now. Five exotic-looking people, all clad in expensive gear. A muffled chatting, speculating about them, could be heard. The leader was deduced right away. The caster in a dark robe carried himself like one. It was a tradition to test newbies, but the newcomers looked powerful and the usual culprits who were sober enough just decided to avoid a potential beating or in the worst case getting crippled.
"A new team huh? Five copper for a single bed in common rooms or one silver for a room with two beds. My advice kids: take the common room to establish contact with other adventurers." the barkeep, an older, rather fat man with a stained shirt, greeted them.
"We will take two double rooms," Ainz said while putting down two silver coins.
The barkeep just let out a condescending grunt, took the coins, and said, "Last two doors on the right, breakfast is two coppers extra for each."
As they started to move, a buff guy with an iron plate tag stuck his leg out to block the way. Ainz lightly pushed it aside with his own leg and the guy jumped up and started to shout, clearly picking a fight. The other inn patrons looked with interest. The guy was clearly drunk and didn't see the risk of picking fights with the wrong people.
"Hey! What's the big deal hitting me like that!?"
"You were blocking the way." Ainz calmly responded. Starting a fight with some drunks wasn't the best way to advertise themselves, but at the same time they couldn't just give in, it would make their team seem weak.
"Oi, you hurt my leg. How about you give us those pretty girls of yours for the night and we might forgive you." followed by the laughter of his friends.
Satoru was prepared to just knock him out, but to his surprise, Rubedo was already between them and grabbed the guy by the throat. The inn got silent instantly. It was not every day you saw a small slim girl lifting a grown man by the throat with just one hand. For a moment, she just wanted to kill the guy for attacking her beloved master but recalled that Lord Ainz had trusted her to act according to plan and present herself as a hero, so she just tossed the guy aside.
He landed somewhere behind them with the sound of a table breaking and shattering glass, and then a woman's shocked scream followed right after.
Before they could even turn around to look at the results, a red-haired woman was in Rubi's face holding a broken vial and shouting in an angry voice,
"You dropped that guy right on my healing potion! Do you have any idea how long I saved up to buy it? I had to skip meals and avoid drinking for two fucking months. You better pay up or there will be trouble."
Ainz stepped in right away, knowing that Rubedo would not handle it properly. Narberal was also reaching for her sword but stopped when Bukuma put her hand on her shoulder and quietly told her to wait.
"Our apologies, but these guys over there started the conflict. It is only fair if they paid for your loss," Ainz pointed at the remaining iron plates who were sitting quietly around the table, heads tucked in their shoulders.
"Look at them, those drunks haven't seen a gold coin in their lives. You, on the other hand, dressed in that fancy robe sure can afford to pay for it."
Ainz was getting annoyed at the red-haired woman. He couldn't figure out if she was brave, stupid, or was just betting on the fact that they wouldn't hurt her in front of people. He concluded that the safest bet was just to give her a healing potion. Ainz took out one of Yggdrasil's minor healing potions from his pouch and handed it to her, saying,
"Here, a healing potion. This will make us even, right?"
She went wide-eyed and looked at the potion for a moment, then almost inaudibly mumbled, "Red..." took the potion and just said,
"Yes, we are even," and left at a rather brisk pace.
Satoru noticed her reaction and send one of the shadow demons after her immediately with the instructions to report what she does with it.
Then they finally got out of the curious glances and gathered in one of the rooms.
Narberal was complaining about the room right away.
"This is filthy and disgusting. The supreme beings should not be offered such inadequate rooms."
"Calm down Nabe, we will not stay in cheap rooms for long, but until we rise in ranks, there is no helping it." Ainz tried to calm her down.
Peros just said to Ainz "That redhead was a feisty one: small, cute, shapely body. I hope we meet her again. I would love to take her out for a drink."
Bukuma interjected, "Thinking with your dick as usual, brother?"
"Oh, don't be a hypocrite, you were eyeing the good-looking guys as well in the guildhall." Peros spat back.
Ainz just chuckled internally, despite what they both thought, they were basically the same: both perverts, both running after the first thing that fancied them and then calling each other out for it.
They decided that the girls would take one room and the guys the other. Ainz half expected Narberal to protest, but Narberal just didn't want to find out how Albedo would react if she spent the night in the same room as Lord Ainz. Rubedo, on the other hand, protested a bit that she should be near Ainz as his bodyguard, but he just calmed her down saying that she would be in the room right next to him, and with her senses, would know if she needed to come to help him.
Ainz and Peros sat down in the filthy bug-ridden beds when Ulbert contacted Ainz.
{ Hey Ainz. The diplomatic mission went basically the way as predicted, they wanted to take us under their heel. }
{ You didn't burn down the capital, I hope? }
{ Of course not. I'm a sophisticated gentleman. I basically taunted them to come and find us and scared them a bit with my aura. }
{ Not the best way to handle it, but seeing the overall state of the cities, I can guess I would not want to be near those arrogant assholes too. }
{ Don't worry, Ainz. I already have a plan to infiltrate the kingdom from inside and keep tabs on everything with shadow demons. I even found a perfect first candidate to put under our thumb. }
{ Great news, Ulbert. But I think we will need to build a dummy Nazarick somewhere deep in the forest, to have a reason for retaliation if someone manages to find and attack it. Also, put some protections in Carne village, it would be a shame to just lose our first foothold. Can I entrust you with dealing with both of those tasks or will you be too busy? }
{ No worries. I will borrow Aura and Mare to scout the forest for a suitable area and to oversee the golems and the demons working on the construction and send someone to Carne for covert protection. I think Lupusregina will be the right fit for that job. }
{ I see you have everything under control. Take care, Ulbert, and best of luck. }
{ You too Ainz. }
‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›
A blond woman, scant in rather revealing chain mail, decorated with countless adventurer plates, crept the dark streets of E-Rantel. A simple dark brown cloak made her almost invisible during the night. She had lost her pursuers some time ago. The Slane Theocracy didn't take kindly to deserters, but on top of that, she had stolen an artifact on her way out. She moved towards the graveyard. Her fellow Zurrernorn members would hide there.
She wanted to drag some passer-by into a dark side street and slowly torture them, but there was no time to play for now. She effortlessly got past the guards guarding the wall surrounding the graveyard. E-Rantel as a fortress city had an immense graveyard and thus spawned undead regularly. Guards and regular patrols through the graveyard were a necessity. The main problem with the undead was that once enough of them were in one place, they would spawn more and more undead on their own, and progressively more and more dangerous ones would spawn among them.
She didn't have to worry about them though. There was only one skeleton on the way to the crypt, and she destroyed it with a single blow from the mace she carried.
Looking at her, one would get the impression of an adventurer with a bad taste for armor. It really didn't leave much for the imagination and with her slim and proportional body combined with a beautiful face and purple eyes, she seemed very out of place in the gloomy graveyard.
She entered the crypt to find someone in particular.
Descending deeper, saying in a somewhat creepy sing-song voice.
"Kajiit... where are you hiding... Clementine wants to playy..."
An aging bald man dressed in a dark robe came out of the shadows. It was hard to tell his age, he looked sickly and almost undead. Clearly cautious, he put up a defense and addressed her.
"Clementine, what are you doing here? You are supposed to keep your seat in the Black Scripture!"
"Oh, it was so boring, just sit around and sit around, no fun, no killing." The blond girl replied, swinging her head from side to side. Then she took out a small box with a delicate crown inside and tossed the box to the man.
"Here Dale, I got this for you."
"You know I don't go by Dale anymore. What is this? The Crown of Wisdom!? Out of all the things, you stole this worthless garbage from the Theocracy? You know no one can use it without losing their mind."
"All the fun stuff is guarded by that elf bitch, and she is a bit too much even for great old me, so I had to take what I could."
"And what will we do with it? we don't have anyone who can use it."
"There is a boy with a talent to use any magic item here in E-Rantel, going by the Name of Nfirea. We just snatch the boy, make him use the crown and you get your undead army, easy."
"Why are you doing this Clementine? Since when do you care for my goals?"
"So much carnage, so much killing. I may even stash some for later and your little show with the undead will cover all my tracks, so win-win for both of us."
"You are insane, you know that."
"And you love me for it, don't you, Kajiit. Just start preparing everything for your little ritual and I will go find the boy." Clementine finally said with an overly wide and creepy smile and started walking out of the crypt, swinging her hips in a rather seductive manner. She loved to tease the old man, especially knowing that he would never get a hot piece like her.
Kajiit just shook his head. That girl was never fully normal, but lately, her bloodlust and insanity were ramping up. He at least had a coherent plan: make an undead army, gather enough negative energy to turn himself into a lich, and start the ritual of death to turn E-Rantel into a city of the dead, which he could rule over for eternity.
With a sigh, he returned to the other Zurrernorn members and resumed their work on reanimating the dead. No matter the outcome of Clementine's appearance, securing control over the graveyard was the priority.
Bonus Story - Catching up.
Mari was lying next to Tabula in their luxurious bed. She was stroking his tentacles slowly. Tabula seemed very satisfied. Mari, on the other hand, was a bit vexed. When she was mad at Tabula for something, usually for very justifiable reasons, her usual tactic was to fuck him while draining his energy till he was beyond exhaustion, then leave him in bed for a few hours, and berate him while he didn't have any energy to resist.
Unfortunately, now in his new form, he had monstrous amounts of power and energy. She was draining him non-stop, and it couldn't even scratch the surface of his immense energy pool.
She finally hit him in the chest and slumped on a pillow with a pout saying,
"It's no fun if I can't even punish you anymore."
"Dear, I apologized to you about 100 times already. You know you were away for the last two weeks of my life on Earth and after that life has been so frantic that I..."
"Yes, yes, I know, I, the so-called love of your life, fell into the background. I owe a favor to a freaking traveler now."
"Who? What do you mean?"
"The same being that guided you. He inserted me in Lord Ulbert's summoning ritual, so I could get to you. I now owe him a favor and with what I have heard of travelers, they don't really care about lesser beings like you and me. We are just chess pieces in their grand games."
For some reason, a vision flashed in Tabula's mind of a large chessboard and the same man that guided him into moving pieces at his leisure. He saw himself and people around him as pieces on a board and nothing more.
"You think he has malicious intent towards us?" Tabula asked her.
"I don't know, there isn't much knowledge about them. Only that they stand above infernal lords and are not bound by the rules of the universe."
"Mari, everyone is bound by the rules of reality. What could they have possibly broken to be considered above the rules?"
"Great mother Lilith once told me to avoid them at all costs because even she would not be able to stop any of them. The strange thing about them is that they just appeared in their full forms without an origin point."
"So?"
"That means they either broke the law of causality and rewrote reality or, what's even worse, they came from outside."
"Why would coming from outside be even worse and what do you even mean by outside, I don't recall you mentioning it before?"
"I and many others don't talk about it because usually, no one comes back from outside, and those few who did, came back with shattered souls and nonsensical claims. I talked to such a being once, and it just repeated something about blasphemous flutes."
"That is disturbing indeed. I'm sorry Mari that I didn't come after you. If I meet him again, I will ask to owe him a favor in your stead."
"You are sweet, but I think that might be his plan, seeing how much more powerful you are now, I don't think he is after me."
Tabula wrapped his arm around Mariposa's waist, pulling her closer and went into deep thought. In what kind of game was he now involved? Mari laid her head on her husband's chest, sharing his unease.
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