After the War chapter 6
Ainz took a small sip of tea as he went over the papers Ulbert had just presented to him. Lately, their talks had become a daily occurrence as more and more data streamed back from Earth to the New World.
The demon God himself sat on the sofa opposite to Ainz with his usual subtle smirk decorating his face. As usual, all maids and bodyguards were ordered to leave. The only ones present in the lavish office were him, Ainz, and Albedo.
In this particular occurrence, Tabula had found a particularly influential demonic cult that consisted of many politicians, high ranked military, and intelligence members. The absent-minded God of Wisdom, befitting his character, couldn't actually be bothered to do anything with this information and just dumped all his findings on the first target he could find; namely, Ulbert.
"So you plan to go there and just take over the cult?" Ainz asked. Getting their foot in the backdoor of most power structures of the Earth surely would give them a much easier time to take control of the world. Of course, the open invasion was planned either way, but why risk a devastating war if there are more subtle options?
"It would solve a lot of problems, don't you think?" Ulbert said in a casual tone.
"Didn't you plan to eliminate the entirety of the elite once we take over?"
"Priorities change. If they are useful, we can keep the competent ones around. As for the rest… they don't need to know their fate just yet." His goat-like face twisted in a sadistic grin.
Just as Ainz was about to respond, a message from Pandora's Actor came in. { My Lord Creator, I found something. You need to see it for yourself. } His tone sounded uncharacteristically anxious.
'Creator? Pandora had not called me that in a long time.' He clearly had discovered something disturbing.
"We will have to cut this short. Pandora has found something that seemingly requires my immediate attention." Ainz said, standing up.
"Let's go see it then. If it's important it will concern all of us." Ulbert said and stood up preparing to accompany him.
"I guess you are right." Ainz said and opened the gate to Pandora's location, which was somewhere in Tokyo. He quickly walked through it with Albedo by his side and Ulbert following just behind them.
What could be described as a rather typical programmer's office came into view with Pandora sitting behind the computer in a human form. He looked up and said with a shaky voice. "Ah, Creator! Lord Ulbert and Albedo came here as well. I would have preferred to show this only to you, my Creator."
There was none of his usual theatrics. Instead, he wore an expression of deep concern and anxiety.
"What did you want to show me?" Ainz asked. 'This is…' he then noticed the company logo on the wall. 'Oh no… he found… How could I have overlooked this!'
Pandora meanwhile turned around one of the monitors as Ainz's worst suspicions come true. It was a screenshot of the throne room of Nazarick.
"Creator, is this true?" Pandora asked, his voice breaking midway.
Ainz looked at Albedo who stared at the screen, confused about what was going on. He would have preferred if she didn't know the truth, but it was too late. "Yes. You did find Yggdrasil in its true form."
"Beloved, what is going on? What do you mean Pandora found Yggdrasil? I thought it was destroyed!?" Albedo asked, her voice growing more frantic with each word.
"I was under the same impression until I started to explore this world's culture. Yggdrasil is nothing more than a game, a collection of data stored on servers located in this very building. What we were was just a small collection of digital data that can be looked at even now. The supposed end of the world's end was nothing more than the creators of Yggdrasil shutting off the servers." Pandora explained.
{ Ainz, what the hell are we doing now? How the fuck did we manage to overlook this possibility? Why the hell did they keep all the data? } Ulbert messaged Ainz.
{ It is too late to hide it. We will have to come clean to them and hope for the best. } Ainz messaged back in a calm tone. The emotional suppression worked like a charm even in this situation.
{ Are you sure? Albedo seems on a verge of a complete breakdown. }
{ We can't hide this anymore. Believe me, I would have preferred they never find out. }
"Ainz, please tell me this is some kind of joke?" Albedo said as she looked at the picture of her in a half-finished state. Her past self didn't have any wings or horns and was dressed in very generic underwear.
"I'm sorry we didn't tell you before, but…" the words were nearly stuck in his throat. "We were afraid of what would happen if you knew."
Albedo walked closer to the monitor and gently touched the screen with two fingers. She then audibly snarled and threw the monitor against the wall.
"Albedo, I…"
"What am I?" She asked without turning around.
'You are my wife, my bellowed wife, and the mother of my daughter.' The words remained unspoken.
She turned around with tears in her eyes. "What am I?"
It was Ulbert who stepped forward, pointing at the second screen, which at least for now has avoided Albedo's wrath. "This doesn't matter. The day we arrived in the new world all of us were reborn as something much more! You know damn well who you are! All of us do. I don't give two shits about who I was before that moment and neither should you!"
Albedo looked at Ulbert with a fearful expression and then turned her gaze to Ainz in a wordless question.
"Ulbert is right. It doesn't matter who we were." Ainz said, taking a step towards her. "You are my wife, you are the guardian overseer, you are the Empress of the Empire of Nazarick and you are the Goddess of Love and Family."
Albedo looked down, lost in thought, and then asked. "Is all the history recorded in that machine?"
"About ninety five percent of server data is still available." Pandora said. "But if it doesn't…"
"Pandora's Actor! Find everyone who ever crossed Nazarick. Find them and kill them and after that, destroy everything. Every last piece of evidence needs to be eradicated. The rest of the NPCs don't need to know!" Albedo said with a calm voice. She then looked up, facing Ainz once again. "My beloved, do you agree?"
"If we are to hide our origins then the rest of the guild needs to be informed to keep their mouths shut, and on top of that we will need to erase the memory of Nazarick from thousands, if not millions of people." Ainz said.
"It shouldn't be too hard, I think. I'm sure Tabula can cook up a spell to erase the memory of Nazarick, and I can make players keep their mouths shut. They can't blabber about the details with a magical contract." Ulbert said.
"Then it stays a secret. Pandora, carry out Albedo's request."
"Compris my Crea…Father. I will prepare the list of our enemies and work out the details on how to covertly eliminate them all." Pandora stood up and saluted.
"Oh, and be prepared to get some local helpers. I have a social group in mind." Ulbert said to Pandora, as Ainz opened the gate back home.
The moment the gate closed, Ulbert said. "Well, I'll be off. You two probably need some time together." and teleported away.
Ainz silently sat down on the sofa and Albedo sat down beside him, leaning on his skeletal frame. After a moment she said quietly. "Even if it was just a game, you still cared about Nazarick, about us?"
"Nazarick was my home. There was nothing else in that world for me." Ainz responded softly.
"So, the others chose to live their miserable lives over the game world; we, for them, were nothing more than entertainment." She half asked half said it as a statement.
"I know it's hard to understand…"
"I understand. All our sense of the grandeur of how great our creators, the Supreme Beings, was nothing more than an illusion. Both you and I were created when we arrived here. I wish… I wish I didn't know that."
"I'm sorry." Ainz said as he put his hand around her shoulder. "If you want, I could erase that memory."
"No! When I became your wife, I agreed to carry all the burdens together. Even if the truth is painful, I can't let you hide it from me." Albedo said with a hint of anger in her voice. She leaned in even more and rested her head on his shoulder.
She was not mad about the truth, as shocking as it was. In a sense, the past didn't matter. She knew what she was now, and that was enough for her ego to withstand the inadequate origins of not only her, but what she previously thought were the Supreme Beings.
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As usual, the bi-monthly meeting of the Order of the Smokeless Flame happened at an undisclosed location that only its top members were aware of.
The order's leader, Ipsissimus Bhelhatt, waited for the rest of the members to take their seats around the long table. All, including him, were dressed in gray hooded robes that hid most of their faces. He, of course, knew who they were, but their identities were hidden from the lower-ranked members of the order, not only for possible sabotage from the outside but also infighting.
The spacious room was lit with two hundred lamps shaped like candles. At the end of the room stood the altar to their patron, the demon called Telgorah. For two and a half centuries the order had steadily grown in power. But even this power was not enough to prevent what had happened to the Earth. Too arrogant were his predecessors to notice the consequences of humanity's actions.
Telgorah had warned them, and they still didn't heed his advice. Now they all paid the price with even something as simple as walking on the grassy field, a luxury only the upper class could afford.
Once the last member of the order had sat down he started to speak. "Welcome my brothers and sisters, today we…"
He was rudely interrupted by one of the order's members pointing at something behind his back and saying with a shocked tone. "What is that?"
Bhelhatt turned around and saw a strange dark surface in front of the altar. 'What is that? Some sort of manifestation? We didn't even perform the ritual. I am not in the proper state to see something like that!'
He couldn't wonder for too long as a bipedal goat-like figure stepped through the rippling darkness and said. "Greetings ladies and gentlemen. I am Ulbert Ooal Gown, the God of Trickery."
Bhelhatt stood up and gasped. "How did you manifest?"
"Oh, you are under the impression that I'm not physically present." Ulbert cackled and took a step forward. He took a single golden coin out of his inventory and flicked the coin to the table.
The nearest cult member carefully touched it and said. "The coin is physical."
Bhelhatt quickly composed himself and then asked. "For what purpose have you come to us? We have not called you."
"You will have the wonderful opportunity to help me and my allies take over the Earth and establish us as not only its physical rulers, but also as Gods that are worshiped."
"We have no intentions of helping some forgotten God to rise back up. Even if you can manifest for a short time it doesn't mean we will blindly worship you!" Bhelhatt said in a dismissive tone. He waved his arm and added. "Be gone!"
Ulbert's expression twisted into a snarl as he waved his hand over the arrogant cult leader and silently cast a pain overload on him. "I didn't ask what you want or do not want to do."
The man instantly fell to the ground and let out an inhuman scream. The rest of the group remained in their seats, not daring to move or talk. Ulbert extended his hand as black bile started to pour on the ground. It started to take the shape of a humanoid figure that slowly stood up as horns sprouted from its forehead and the black muscular form grew dark red skin. The male demon was the very image of a traditional demon.
"You!" Telgorah pointed at Ulbert. "I didn't ask to be physically summoned here nor agree to your terms."
"Ainz was right. It would be easier to use you all as resources. Arrogant morons." Ulbert remarked with a tired tone and then unleashed his aura upon them.
"This will not… You have no… Right to claim Earth." The demon said with a strained voice.
Ulbert ignored his statement and concentrated more of his aura on the demon specifically as the cultists clearly had gotten the message and were prostrating before him.
"Enough! I yield!" Telgorah screamed and went for his favorite trick and turned into a beautiful naked woman. "You can have me."
"Divine light!" Ulbert cast a spell on him.
The demon fell to the ground once again, screaming in agony while Ulbert said in a calm voice. "You think a simple demon like you will have any effect on me? My butler is more powerful than you!"
"Please!" The demon screamed. "I will serve, I will serve. Stop!"
Ulbert continued to torment Telgorah for a good minute before he stopped. "I can replace you with someone more reasonable at a moment's notice, and I know damn well that Gods have abandoned this world. Only mid-tier demons like you remain here."
Bhelhatt, meanwhile, had gotten out of the shock that the intense pain caused and while prostrating before him asked with a strained voice. "What is your will?"
Ulbert grinned in satisfaction and said. "One of our own, Pandora's actor, will come and give you instructions. You may have some uses, Senator Miller." He then turned to the demon who had reverted back to his male form and was kneeling before him. "As for you, you will consult Pandora's actor on all topics related to non-physical matters concerning Earth, is that clear?"
"Yes. Thank you for the opportunity to serve." Telgorah said.
With a sense of a job well done, Ulbert could return home. Pandora was more than capable of taking over from here. Of course, some of the cult members could be transformed into something more than humans but that can come after they are sorted out into competent, useful, and the rest.