บท 72: Secret
I took a glance across the solemn faces of the ones present. It felt like I gave them the most important mission to date and honestly, it wasn't incorrect. I had the feeling that this would make or break me in the most literal way. Life or Death. It hadn't been long since I finally became invincible in this world. Quite ironic that a threat from outside was now about to arrive.
"Does everyone know what to do?" I asked even though I didn't give any concrete orders. Of course, I told them to watch for a fissure in reality, but what did this entail? Fortunately, they weren't just incredibly fuckable, but I ensured that they at least knew their field as best as they could.
First I looked at Sueko to which she immediately stepped forward to speak. "I will return to Kalinsha and use Flora's Embrace Vial to grow a World Tree's seed that will lock onto Yggdrasil's aura when it appears. With this, even if a new fissure appears at the end of the world, we can at least get a general direction."
That... was indeed better than what I had imagined she could do. In fact, I didn't even have a concrete idea of what she could grow and what effect it could have to help me with that. The only direction I had in mind was something like the space dao fruit to seal off the space of this planet and hinder Yggdrasil from entering.
On another note, if she could truly grow a World Tree wouldn't that mean we could create an entire reality?
"If you grow a World Tree seedling it won't allow Yggdrasil to use it in some way, right?" I asked since it would be quite problematic if we grew something that would make its arrival easier. Fortunately, she didn't even have to think about it before shaking her head negatively.
"No, it won't be a seedling of Yggdrasil, but just that of a new World Tree or at least a seedling that would have the potential to grow into a World Tree. Beyond my care and the divine properties of the Vial, it would take more time to grow a full-fledged World Tree. With the material I have, I can only grow lesser World Trees that are unable to support Worlds on their own and the time would also take decades or even centuries. Of course with enough care, the right soil and a certain amount of star, sun, and moon shine in the rotation of-"
"Right." I interrupted her while raising my hand as I could feel that she would dive too deep into this topic. Usually, I would let her talk about her passion and I would like to hear more about it for future applications -despite its apparent limitations-, but we needed to discuss the others' plans as well. "That sounds like a good idea as long as there isn't any risk. I will leave it to you then."
She happily nodded at my words and took a step back as my gaze landed on her older sister, who was standing behind Fubuki. "I will have my spies across the Dragon Kingdom, the Holy Kingdom, and the Slane Theocracy watch out for something." She had spies in the Slane Theocracy, that was news.
"And I will mobilize the followers of your religion to work with them and spread out as a form of pilgrimage," Fubuki added to her point. Compared to Sueko their options were limited to the regular items on them and the connection they had built since arriving here. Of course, not everyone could have items that transcend the ordinary to the point of fooling reality itself.
"That's good," I answered with a nod... I still couldn't get used to the fact that I had a religion and followers. To be honest, I had been too scared to investigate what she had truly created. I heard of churches and some out-of-pocket traditions to worship the lust part of my angelic existence.
The fact that she had been this successful with recruiting almost all of Kalinsha and creating multiple churches in numerous cities across the kingdom was already a feat worthy of praise. Not to mention the rising religion in other kingdoms. If it continued like this I would have created the number one religion in the world. Even if I hadn't revealed that I was an angel, this religion would have taken the number one spot in the World either way.
Yuri was the next one who stepped forward. "I will have the other Pleiades look out for anything of interest and have our human resources in the Re-Estize Kingdom pool toward finding more. We should also coordinate with your followers and Aneko's spies, that way we will be able to cover every nook and cranny."
"Very well. Before Ainz makes it public, try not to reveal anything to the others too much." Although there might be a possibility that Lupusregina or Narberal had already taken my side, I wasn't sure about them yet, not to mention the other Pleiades' with whom I hadn't had much contact until now.
"I understand." She answered heavily. Despite trying her best to keep calm, I could tell that this task weighed heavily on her. I wasn't sure whether it was because of the need for secrecy even in front of Ainz or the importance of the task, or perhaps it was both. Either way, this wasn't easy on her.
"Just try your best. No matter what the result will be, I am glad to have you on board." The undead dullahan blushed and suddenly found the ground incredibly interesting.
"Yes, my mast- Your Majesty." My lips twitched slightly but opted not to tease her now.
My eyes turned away from her before landing on Tatsumaki. With a hand on her left breast, she bowed lightly as she began to speak, "I will make sure to prepare the stage with Demiurge. By the end of the week, I will be able to be 'liberated'."
I nodded but didn't comment on it as this would also need some input from my side as well, which meant I had to talk with the devil again.
Afterward, my eyes finally landed on Albedo. Before she could say anything, I rubbed my thumb across the back of her hand. "I will rely on you to oversee everything and coordinate everyone." I took another cursory glance at everyone to make sure they were listening. "She will be in charge if I am not immediately available."
"Thank you for your trust. I won't disappoint you." She answered solemnly, while deeply gazing into my eyes. There was a determination in her yellow eyes that was so strong it startled me slightly, overwhelming me with the emotions that were overflowing in them.
"I know you won't," I answered, though before I could indulge in this feeling that was welling up in me, it was interrupted by a snort. My eyes snapped toward Tatsumaki, who was looking at my wife with a sneer on her face. "Anything you want to add Tatsumaki?" I asked as I felt some anger rising.
There was no one allowed to slight my women, especially not my wives and especially especially not Albedo. It didn't matter if you were a level 100 Esper secret weapon. "No, it's nothing." She waved off my question while looking at me as if we were in on some inside joke only the two of us would understand.
"Alright then, let's get to work," I announced causing the women to salute. As Tatsumaki made her way toward the door I stopped her, "Tatsumaki, Fubuki, and Albedo you stay. I have something to discuss with you." The maids bowed before leaving without saying a word.
"Tatsumaki, sit down." I pointed at the far-off seat at the other end of the table.
She sat down as she was told, but not without a comment, "Tatsumaki, huh? Why so formal after just a few years of being grounded." As she said this, she gave Albedo a condescending look. Although her voice was haughty, there was some shame and guilt in her words that were undetectable to the others.
However, this didn't change it from being strike two. Albedo wanted to say something, but I raised my hand to stop her, though it wasn't because I favored Tatsumaki, which Tatsumaki interpreted my action as. "That's right, how about you keep your mouth shut you-"
"Tatsumaki!" I shouted out and the house trembled as my voice sounded out as if it feared my outburst or resonated with an equal anger. The esper had a stunned look on her face and fear was creeping into her, while Albedo and Fubuki looked over at me surprised as well. "I won't have you insult my wife in My house. If you do it again or even look at her wrongly, I will make you suffer." I wasn't one to speak harsh words to the people of Nazarick when I wasn't fucking them and I certainly didn't scream or threaten them. However, some lines just shouldn't be crossed.
"C-come on, Azazel! It's just us. I already heard that Fubuki had been addressed as your wife, so we are all in on it, right?" She answered though there was a light tremble in her voice, revealing even to the others that she wasn't as confident as she revealed herself to be or at least she was pretty rattled by my shout.
"In on it?" I questioned as I stared her down, "Do you think we have an inside joke moment right now? Am I laughing? Do I look amused?"
"I- ah- no you look furious, my lord." She bowed her head and she clenched her dress underneath the table.
"It's because I am fucking furious... Tell us, what secret of mine did you discover?" I directly asked, not in the mood to poke around and dance around the subject.
"I- my lord should I..." She glanced at Albedo and Fubuki, making me frown heavily.
"Didn't you think the two were in on it? Why hesitate now? Spit it out."
"I-it happened when I was coincidentally passing your bedroom when this house was first gifted to us to live in. You thought you were alone and had been inspecting the bedroom." I had a faint memory of this, but she certainly wasn't part of it.
"I-I heard what you said, 'I could have never imagined I would be married to a succubus.' We had heard that your marriage was arranged by the Supreme Beings, but everyone just saw how happy you were in public. That night opened my eyes to your interactions with Albedo."
...Fuck. I internally sighed as I glanced over to Albedo, who was donning a melancholy expression, wallowing in memories. I squeezed her hand reassuringly, which caused her to smile. "This was before I fell in love with you and when I was still frustrated. You know that, right?"
"Of course, darling. You don't have to explain yourself. You were completely validated in how you feel. In fact, hearing this makes me cherish what I have now even more so." She raised my hand to her lips and kissed it endearingly.
I couldn't help myself any longer and swiftly stood up, lifted her head, and gave her a kiss. Softly touching them to taste her soft and luscious lips. After the quick peck, I sat back down again only glancing at the glistering pink lips before turning my attention back to the petite esper.
The shock in her eyes made it clear that she didn't expect our relationship to have developed to this point where I would show affection to the woman whom I was forced to marry.
"Sorry, continue." I waved my hand, causing her to wake up from her stupor.
"Right." She coughed lightly while glancing shortly at my two wives since she clearly thought I had her retell it mostly for them. "Also because I was granted some control over the secret backyard area, I had been able to tap into some of the functions of the house. I was able to listen in on the many things you have said in privacy, which was where I learned your biggest secret-"
"Nee-san!" Fubuki gasped in shock as she heard what her older sister admitted. To be honest, that did stump me as well. Didn't that mean everything I ever said in this house had been heard by her? Wait, wasn't her knowledge about my 'hate' of Albedo the big secret that caused her to go to jail?
My mind wandered as I thought about the things I had said. Most of them were improvised rants about Albedo to get into the role of that hateful character. I guessed that made it clear why she thought it would be fine to slander Albedo even in public. If I had truly resented her, I wouldn't have said anything to dissuade her. Perhaps she only expected me to say something to keep up appearances.
However, those rants weren't something I had truly meant and since I had already spoken with Albedo about it, it wasn't an issue. The only thing I was worried about now was what she heard me say besides those rants since they were certainly not the only thing that slipped out.
The haughtiness around Tatsumaki had long disappeared, only glancing at me for approval to continue her story, which I gave with a nod. As for whether she revealed that I was a human? That was impossible since it was something I had kept deep in my thoughts even when I thought no NPC should be able to hear me.
Even when I actively projected my thoughts into commands to speak with the game world, this information was something I didn't deem safe to reveal. If someone truly heard me and figured I was a human hijacking this body, I would have been done for the moment we entered the New World.
Of course, I had my weak moments and my bedroom certainly heard more things I wouldn't have dared to utter in any other hallway of Nazarick. "I knew it was wrong to listen in on you, but I couldn't help myself, I just wanted to know more about you. Of course, I knew I had to confess my crimes when I heard about your secret."
"Do you remember your words when you confessed to me back then?" I asked, making her look over to Albedo again before she lowered her head.
"Yes, my lord. Is-is it truly fine for me to say it?" She cautiously asked, which made me wonder what kind of person she thought I was. How was our dynamic? We seemed to be rather close in her memories, but how close were we? In the beginning, she always looked down on Albedo and almost exclusively on her but not on her sister.
Did that mean we were close enough that we almost ended up together? Was that her settings? Or was she just hostile to her because she 'knew' I disliked her having her around?
"Tell me, am I a man who likes to repeat himself?" I simply asked to which she opened her mouth in protest.
"N-no, I- That's not..." Her mouth audibly shut as she started to panic. A breath later, she calmed down again. "No, my lord. You are not." Seemed like she took that more harshly than I intended it to be, but I wouldn't clear up the misunderstanding since that wasn't important to me now.
"Then go ahead." Even if her words revealed something I would have liked to keep under wraps, Albedo and Fubuki were the ones firmly on my side. If I couldn't trust them with this, it would just make me unreasonably paranoid. There was no one more loyal than those who had loyalty written into their existence and besides I could just deny her words.
To be honest, it wouldn't have been a problem to have Aneko and Sueko here as well, but I wanted them to start their missions already.
"I know what you truly are." She started with barely above a whisper and I instantly knew that these were the exact words she had uttered in her memory, "I know that you aren't so different to the Supreme Beings, to the players." The words caused the hair on the back of my neck to rise. Fortunately, no one could read body language to the same degree I could. Even something like that wasn't noticed by anyone even if Albedo looked at me curiously, seemingly having picked up on the change in the atmosphere, but not being able to pinpoint it.
"I heard you speak about them." She continued. "You spoke of them with contempt, looked down on them, and despised them for not being able to exert the same influence they have. Robbed of the chance to create as they do since you were stuck into this body. 'If I had been in your shoes, I would have made Nazarick the number one guild and populated it with thousands of NPC of all kinds of realities.' You ranted about them robbing your control, 'I should have been the one standing in Hermorah's place. Why was I reborn into an NPC instead and not into their world like it was supposed to go? Isn't that how it normally happens, with me being a player and creating my own NPCs? Why did I have to be stuck in this place while these other MCs were able to create whatever they wanted?!' These were your words and I knew that the Supreme Beings had imprisoned you, so here I am-"
...Dang, I forgot about that outburst- Well, not like I remember it now clearly, but certainly it wouldn't be a one-time event since I had fantasized what I would have done if I wasn't so limited with my influence and space at that time. All kinds of women of different anime shows, and games would be running around in Nazarick now.
"When I told you that I knew of your plans... You imprisoned me before I could reveal that I was on your side. I had already planned out the entire coup to instantiate you as the current sovereign. Of course, after being locked away I realized that you must have misunderstood my words as threatening or even confronting you. However, I soon realized that this wasn't the main reason why you imprisoned me. The actions since arriving in the New World have also proven me right."
'Actually, I never talked to you before in the game.' Of course, I didn't say that, but it was true. According to her, the timeline should be something like this: Tatsumaki being my secret weapon -> me getting married to Albedo -> we get a new house -> ranting about Albedo -> spying on me in the bedroom -> ranting about the Supreme Beings -> reveal and then imprisonment.
That should be the overarching events with Fubuki joining either during that time or after she was imprisoned, though that wasn't really important.
"Do tell me, why else do you think I sent you to the Frozen Prison?" I was rather curious about what reason her mind had come up with.
"I-it's b-because..." She started sobbing slightly and it kind of made me feel like I was bullying a defenseless girl. She glanced over at her sister and her lips thinned slightly as if the fact pained her. "You loved Fubuki and thought I was trying to blackmail you into marrying me."
What in the K-drama did she think happened? Who the hell wrote that into her settings??
"Like you always said in private, you wanted to be free to choose and do whatever you wanted to. Someone forcing a choice on you was something you couldn't allow, so you sent me away."
Albedo gasped first in revelation and then empathetically sighed at the esper, making me glance over at her with a raised eyebrow. "The start of our marriage had been of a similar misunderstandings. Perhaps if this hadn't happened, you might not have wanted to clear our misunderstanding when we arrived in the New World" She explained, causing me to remember that I had done my best to speed up resolving our issues. Not because of any background but because I was horny and wanted to spoil her.
Either way, this had been rather informative. Even though that wasn't really what had happened since I had never met Tatsumaki before her release, it still gave me the timeline of our history. It meant that Fubuki and Tatsumaki had been around since we 'moved' into our house.
It truly was convenient that the same circumstance, me loving Fubuki, had been the reason for the misunderstandings with Tatsumaki and Albedo. Fubuki squirmed awkwardly in the chair as we spoke, not daring to make a pieps. Of course, she was embarrassed and happy at the same time.
"This was indeed part of the reason, why I sent you away." I turned my attention back to Tatsumaki, who had teary eyes and looked like she was about to cry, something that I had to rectify. After all, I didn't want to make her sad, but firmly bring her to my side. I certainly couldn't let her develop a depression or some resentment and jealousy toward her sister.
"However, another part was to protect you." I began, gaining the attention of the three women as I finished the excuse formed inside my mind since she had told me that she revealed her spying to me. "We had only been granted access to the house in the Royal Backyard and if you were able to spy on me without me noticing then..."
Tatsumaki's eyes widened at the realization hit her, "Then the Supreme Beings would have also known what you have said."
I nodded firmly at that. Albedo and Fubuki also realized the implications of this. If that had been the case the Supreme Beings knew of my 'contempt' and my 'true' nature. "Yes, the moment you revealed the knowledge of my words, I realized that they might know as well. It was the reason I hadn't let you explain yourself since I could still turn it into you trying to stop or confront me about it. Since they already knew what I thought there was no need to drag you down as well."
"M-my lord!" She called out profoundly touched by my words. Her expression quickly turned into a solemn one as she stood up. "No matter what would have happened or what will happen, I will die by your side. I don't have any desire to live a life without you!"
"Well said, sister," Fubuki added with fire in her eyes as their gazes pierced into me. Albedo comfortingly rubbed my shoulders.
"I will have to side with them this time my dear." She said gently and a smile on her face.
"Alright, alright. Enough. Don't worry, I won't let you leave my side when I need you." I responded to their conviction. It seemed like this was a good step forward to integrate Tatsumaki into my group.
I coughed lightly, "In the end, I had been wrong about them knowing what I had said. Tatsu do you still have access to the house listening function?"
Her face lit up at my way of addressing her, "No, Azazel. Ever since you have restricted it, I haven't been able to hear anything."
"I-" 'didn't restrict your access', was what I wanted to say before stopping myself as I suddenly knew who had what access and where to. It was quite similar to the ability to mute the rooms, I knew it instinctively as if I had done it for years already.
Aneko and Sueko were able to hear nearly every time they were addressed, which made sense since they were maids and had to be able to respond when being called. Albedo's access had been quite high since I allowed her to enter this house whenever she wanted, which I didn't specify directly.
I remember clearly only telling her that she could do that and didn't specify these access rights. Did the house manage its own access? I shook my head, setting it aside for now.
"As I said they didn't know about my words about them-"
"Is it true?" Albedo suddenly interjected. "Are you like them?" This was the first time, she had questioned whether something I said had been the truth.
I smiled at her. "Yes, but I am also more... Even in the privacy of my room, I don't lie. Of course, some of my opinions have changed since then." It was truly strange to think about it. At no point in time had I lied since coming to this world. Of course, I omitted information or even words in a sentence and was incredibly vague or misleading with my answers, but I didn't lie.
Even when Ainz asked me whether I was an Archangel I didn't lie when I denied it. After all, in my heart, I was still human and if we were talking about physiology I was already so much more than a conventional Archangel as I had a literal World Tree growing inside me.
To be honest, I was rather interested in seeing what my status would say about my race. I was fairly certain that I had gained some new levels in something else that was beyond the angelic races. Of course, with the loose definition of what I would pass off as the truth, I would never lie even if I wanted to.
My words seemed to satisfy them. I guessed they were quite happy that I was truly like the Supreme Beings. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to idle any longer. Some things needed to be done as quickly as possible. "You three should get going, I will go talk with Ainz."
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A/N: Hello there. I have some unfortunate news for you. On the first of April, I won't be able to upload a chapter as I am not at home during that time, so I will take a break next week and come back the week afterward. Hopefully, you will still have a nice easter. See ya guys.
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