Chương 499: 8
Chapter 8 - Bloody disaster.
Being left in charge of Nazarick wasn't as taxing as Ulbert thought. Not that he ran things, anyway. Albedo was the one doing all the administrative work and Demiurge oversaw the spy network. Still, there were many projects and duties to attend to.
One of such tasks was the influx of prisoners Shalltear had provided. Most were bandits and lowlifes, but there was also a group of sex slaves the bandits kept for entertainment.
Ulbert had an experiment in mind before anyone else got their hands on the prisoners. This was the perfect opportunity to summon a special class of demons called inquisitors. It was a level sixty demon with a slim grey form covered in an elaborately decorated dark robe with its face disappearing in darkness under its hood. Their specialty was information gathering, interrogation, and mind probing. Their fighting ability was lacking compared to a level sixty battle-oriented demon, as they were comparable to only about level forty in their pure fighting power.
Ulbert could only summon about eight of them with a single cast of 'Mass Demon Summon'. For now, it would be enough. Once summoned, Ulbert tasked them with sorting out all the prisoners by the severity of their crimes. Anyone considered innocent was to be put aside for Ulbert to decide what to with them.
It was no surprise that every single bandit was guilty of at least one serious crime. About two-thirds of the slaves were no better. Backstabbing for preferential treatment and even intentional cruelty towards their fellow slaves were much more common than Ulbert expected. He ended up with seven slaves considered innocent, even by the inquisitors' standards.
Now it was time to decide what to do with them. Ulbert could just kill them and store the bodies for later use, but it just felt like a waste. Employing them in Nazarick was out of the question as most of its inhabitants either hated or ate humans. The realization came that there would come a time when communication with humans would be a necessity for many of Nazarick's residents so a controlled environment with some humans would provide a proper training ground.
A village of humans and even demihumans would be constructed on the sixth floor of Nazarick. Not only could he train his agents there but a long-term experiment to see if humans could be trained to accept heteromorphs without fearing them could be done there.
With a clear plan in mind, Ulbert went to visit the innocent prisoners. While walking, he came to realize that he needed an assistant. Ainz as leader got Albedo to organize things for him. Demiurge was far too busy with his own duties. For now, he put that plan aside to deal with the prisoners first.
Each one of his three personal succubi had distinct personalities and one of them was orderly and liked to organize things in Ulbert's personal quarters. With a bit of training and a proper suit, she could become an excellent assistant. He reached the cell where the innocent prisoners were held, lost in his own plans. The guard's formal greeting snapped him out of it.
All seven innocent slaves, gathered in one cell, away from the rest of the prisoners and with the demon guarding the entrance, awaited their fate, shaking in absolute terror. After all the abuse they went through, they just ended up in the same hell with their abusers, naked in a cold cell awaiting whatever torture was planned by these monsters.
Monsters interrogated them, forcing them to confess anything they knew. Some over the years of abuse had forgotten their names and even that came back instantly in the presence of the dark-robed horrors. They huddled together trying to ignore the demon guarding them inside the cell. Some had previously been heavily beaten and all of them were starving as even in this hell nobody bothered to give them any food.
Then the door opened, and a goat-like demon came in. The guard stationed inside kneeled right away in his presence. All seven slaves mimicked the guard and kneeled as well, shivering in fear. The demon smiled a terrifying smile and spoke.
"My inquisitors found all of you innocent of any crimes! With that, you will not share the same fate as the rest of the humans."
Ulbert inspected the slaves while he spoke. All decently attractive women from late teens to mid-twenties, some were clearly beaten by the thugs that kept them as slaves. They feared him, yet he knew they would do anything he told them to do without hesitation. It tempted Ulbert to see how truly innocent they were. An experiment in corruption, so to speak.
"I will grant one of you a decent room and a warm meal. Choose among yourselves. You have one minute."
The women just blinked and sat unmoving for a while and then two of the eldest ones pushed the youngest forward, quietly telling her to accept the gift. She looked up at him, shivering, and said with a barely audible voice,
"Please lord, give them at least some food, I will do anything."
That was an unexpected turn of events. No arguing, no throat cutting, just trying to think about the others in the group, even at their own expense. His inquisitors truly did a magnificent job picking out the innocent ones.
Ulbert leaned in, gently grabbing her face with two fingers and asked,
"Why would you sacrifice yourself for them? Why any of you would do that?"
She tried to speak while having a panic attack.
"Because… because no one else cares for us, we… we try to…"
"Interesting choice." Ulbert said, stood up and then turned to the guard and gave the order. "Bring all of them to the sixth floor. Inform Aura and Mare that these women are to be housed in a clearing by the lake. For now, provide them with clothing, food and tents."
Leaving the details to his subordinates, he moved on to the next step. Demiurge got the first picking for his farm, with ten males and five females as most of the prisoners were male but some of the more conniving female slaves fit right in among them. After that, he informed Albedo that the rest of the prisoners were for free picking to whoever needed them.
Remembering that Tabula had already requested more live test subjects, he contacted him.
{ Hey Tabula, we got live prisoners. You can come to take some. But if you take all of them again, I swear to Ainz I will blow up your laboratory. }
{ Thank you for informing me. I promise to restrain myself and not take them all. }
{ Good to hear. }
After dealing with the prisoners, the next step was to get an assistant, someone capable. Ulbert teleported to the summoning area and looked through his available summon list. Until now he had used his Mass Demon Summon only on about two percent range of its full potential, mainly because without a body to house a summon, they costed about 20 times more.
Unfortunately, a regular human body simply wouldn't do for a top-level summon, namely archdemons. Then again, he wanted to use more of his mana pool to see how it would affect him.
Ulbert took a deep breath and started the tenth tier summoning ritual. The ritual drained about half of his impressive mana pool and a figure appeared in front of him. He was an average build man dressed in a butler's suit with shoulder-length blonde hair, black eyes with red irises and a pleasant smile on his face.
He bowed and spoke.
"Lord Ulbert, Melibourius at your service. It's an honor to be chosen by you."
"I hope you don't mind me calling you Mel. You will be my personal assistant."
"Not at all, my Lord."
"Excellent, let's go. I will show you around and explain how things work in Nazarick."
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Shalltear was seeking prey for a few hours already. Not counting a few hermit camps, there were no more prey in these woods. She was ready to give up and return to Nazarick when she sensed an approaching group. This one was different, more powerful than the cattle she had provided for her masters.
With her three followers behind her, she walked in the direction of the newcomers. She met them after twenty minutes of walking.
Thirteen figures emerged and Shalltear saw them in gear she recognized: humans clad in players' gear. Just like the ones trying to invade her home so many times. Unwittingly, she let out a quiet snarl.
"Players!"
The captain of the Black Scripture heard a name associated with his gods. This vampire called him and his unit by the race of higher beings, that of their gods. Her angry expression made the captain cautious, making him address the vampire in a polite tone.
"Greetings! We represent the Slane Theocracy, but we are not of the players' race. Some of us are a direct descendant of our gods who were players."
Shalltear's blood boiled but she kept her 'Blood Frenzy' in check. She was alone against thirteen humans of unknown power. These aren't the cattle her vampire brides tore apart. A vague sense of danger from them unnerved her. With desperation to not disappoint her masters once again by dying, she played it safe and responded with a polite curtsy.
"Shalltear Bloodfallen, servant of the supreme beings. Why have you approached me?"
The captain had to stop his hands from shaking. This vampire, this petite girl radiated power beyond that of Zesshi, the extra seat of the Black Scripture, most powerful servant of the Slane Theocracy. He gave a hand sign to Kaire behind his back to be fully prepared to use the artifact at any moment.
"We seek the Lords of Ooal Gown, do you know them?"
With no idea how to respond or what to do, Shalltear looked for a way out of this situation, revealing no information. Lord Ainz trusted she would not compromise Nazarick while on her mission. With no other options, she responded with a question.
"Why do you want to find them?"
"Their leader is a human and we seek diplomatic relations on behalf of our country."
The bastard called her beloved Lord Ainz a human. All her polite demeanor dropped as she couldn't stand such insult.
"You lower life forms dare to compare a supreme being to yourselves. Lord Ainz is not a pathetic human. He is much more than what your worthless minds can understand!"
Her response served as the spark in a powder keg they all sat on. The twelfth seat of the Black Scripture leaped at Shalltear with a scream,
"You blasphemous monster!"
The moment he reached the attack range of Shalltear, Heaven and Earth got torn in half at the midsection with a powerful strike from Shalltear's lance that had materialized in her arm in the blink of an eye.
Kaire activated the Downfall of Castle and Country in panic to stop the monster. Shalltear, sensing the imminent danger, charged her. The captain and the eighth seat got in the monster's path on instinct. Shalltear hit the captain, sending him flying and feeling her mind clouding rapidly, blasted the old woman through the man with a shield in front of her.
The captain hit a nearby tree and collapsed on the ground. Moments later, he got up feeling intense pain from the hit and observed the aftermath of the brief battle.
Lady Kaire was twitching on the ground with Divine Chant trying to heal her. The remains of the eighth seat were scattered around the area and the monster stood unmoving. The other two vampires were killed by his team and the blue-haired man, clearly enthralled by the vampire now just looked around confused. Seeing the bloody scene around him, the man just fled screaming.
The captain coughed up blood as he took slow steps towards Lady Kaire. His broken ribs poke at his lungs with each step. Divine Chant cast heal again and again, on the old woman with no effect. Shalltear's curse spread through her, and Kaire died moments later.
Divine Chant stood up, shaking in anger, and prepared to cast holy lance to strike the vampire.
The captain let out another bloody cough and stopped her.
"Nr. 4, stop. You will just get killed."
"Why are you defending that fucking monster? she killed three of us!"
"Lady Kaire failed to give a command to the monster. If you attack, she may retaliate and just kill you."
"You want to just leave it here?"
"We have no choice. We must go back home. I will take full responsibility for this… failure."
The captain didn't ask Divine Chant to heal him for now. Pain felt like a justified punishment.
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Albedo sat in her office performing her daily duties. Then a notice came up, and she checked the message. A status change in Nazarick's personal list. She opened it right away, and her eyes widened in shock. Shalltear Bloodfallen now showed hostile status towards Nazarick. This was far too important of an issue, even for her station.
{ Lord Ainz, we have an emergency. Shalltear Bloodfallen has betrayed us! }
{ What!? Are you sure? }
{ Her status shows she is hostile towards Nazarick. }
{ Send five doppelgangers immediately to our position. We are coming right away. Inform Ulbert and Tabula. }
Ten minutes later, all the Lords were gathered in the conference room. All stared at the personnel list silently. Ainz already ordered both Nigredo and Aureole Omega, youngest and most powerful of the Pleiades to find Shalltear with Remote Viewing. Both specialized in reconnaissance and remote area scouting.
Peros couldn't bear the silence anymore, breaking it with a mumbled, "She couldn't have. She is loyal. Something is wrong."
Ainz responded to him, "Peros, maybe she was unsatisfied with something?"
"Besides losing you to Albedo, no and even then, she just wanted to prove herself extra hard."
The situation felt weird to Ainz. He also didn't believe Shalltear would go rogue just like that. With the report from Aureole coming in, he didn't have time to speculate. Shalltear was found in a clearing standing still.
Ainz opened a portal right away, and all five of them went through it. Peros pushed through the others and went closer to Shalltear asking.
"Shalltear, what happened?"
She didn't respond and just stood still. Peros walked closer but stopped when Ainz shouted.
"Peros stop, she looks mind-controlled. There is no telling how she will react if you go too close."
This situation was bizarre to say the least. As a powerful undead Shalltear should be immune to all mind control effects.
Tabula cast a few detection spells from a distance and confirmed that Shalltear was indeed mind controlled, but whoever had done it gave her no commands.
Ainz took out a special ring from his storage. He had only one, and it had only three charges of a specific super tier spell - Wish Upon the Star. In Yggdrasil it cast randomly one of two hundred super tier spells, but now Ainz instinctively knew he could just pick one as a wish. Without hesitation, he cast the spell to break mind control.
The spell activated, Ainz felt it, but Shalltear still stood unmoving. In that moment, if he would still be in human form, his face would have turned white. With a shout,
"Everyone back to Nazarick, NOW!" He walked through the still open portal with the others following quickly, with Ulbert releasing fifty shadow demons to patrol the area and Bukuma dragging her brother through the portal.
Once back in the conference room, Ainz slumped in his chair and stated,
"This is my fault. I should have known."
"What is your fault?" Peros asked in anger.
"Peros you know the answer, a world item controls Shalltear." Ulbert responded, just as worked up.
"There is only one way to release her," Ainz said with a pained voice. Even in his undead form, anger and guilt ate him.
"NO! I will not let you kill my daughter!" Peros roared and slammed his fist on the table, cracking it in its entire length.
"If you dare lay a finger on her, I will kill you!" Peros said a bit more quietly and stormed out of the conference room with a visibly broken hand.
Ainz just sat in his chair. His Emotion suppression worked constantly, but even it could not force down the guilt he felt. He had failed his best friend; he had failed Shalltear, and he had failed Nazarick.
"I will go talk to him." Bukuma said and left the room as well.
Bukuma found Peros siting by the lake and staring in the distance. Aura and Mare watched him from a distance, not daring to go closer. Bukuma sat down beside her brother silently. He didn't react to her presence.
After a while, Bukuma finally spoke.
"If it was Aura or Mare in her position, I couldn't do it either. Hell, I don't think I can go kill my niece even if you said it was ok."
"Is there any other way?"
"I don't know, brother. If anyone would know it is those three."
"I can't just let her stand there for eternity imprisoned in her own mind... that would, dammit why did it have to happen."
"Maybe Ainz has a plan. We have various methods of resurrection."
"And if it doesn't work?"
There was no answer from Bukuma. She just pulled her brother closer in a side hug.
Peros sat in silence for a while. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't just blame Ainz. All of them knew about world items. He had to admit it was his own fault just as much. But to kill his own daughter in hopes they could resurrect her was a choice he didn't want to make.
Peros stood up, wiping his tears from his avian face and then said to his sister, "Let's go. I need to see this through, there is no other way."
Both teleported back to the conference room. Ainz wasn't there. Tabula sat in a meditative state, and Ulbert was holding his forehead with three fingers in deep thought.
"Where did Ainz go?" Bukuma asked.
"In the treasury, getting all the world items to give them to us and the floor guardians. He is stepping down from the leader's position, you know." Ulbert answered.
Both siblings just responded with a shout,
"What!?"
"Ainz thinks he failed us all and that Ulbert would be a better leader." Tabula said in a calm voice.
With the situation getting worse by the minute, Peros' frustration grew even more. With a muttered,
"He is not getting off this easy, we need him," Peros teleported to the treasury to confront Ainz by himself.
A moment later, he appeared in the treasury with Pandora's Actor politely greeting him with his usual theatrical bow. Peros, not wanting to deal with him, took off his ring of Ainz Ooal Gown and tossed it to Pandora while saying,
"Here, keep this for me."
Peros took off his ring for one simple reason. They set the treasury up in a way that one could only get to the entrance with a ring of Ainz Ooal Gown but once you go deeper, golems attacked anyone with the ring equipped.
Peros found Ainz in the deepest part of the treasury, carefully taking world items one by one and putting them in his inventory.
"Giving up just like that, huh?" Peros asked, his voice low and dangerous.
Ainz just remained silent and took another world item and put it in his inventory.
"Ainz, fucking say something!"
Ainz turned to him with the dark flames in his eye sockets more intense than ever.
"What do you want me to say? That I messed up? That I believed my own bullshit and thought I was a great leader? Or maybe I should just lie to you and say we can definitively bring Shalltear back after we slaughter her!"
"Yes, something. You are our leader, dammit. If not you, who will keep all this together?"
"I DON'T KNOW!"
Ainz's answer stunned Peros. He sat against the vaults wall, lost in what to even say back. Ainz took the last world item and sat next to him. They sat silently, not as Ainz and Peros, but as Satoru and Itsuki. Two humans in a situation far over their heads. This wasn't a game anymore, actions had real consequences.
"Look, Peros, I will do everything I can to bring her back."
"You think we can resurrect her afterwards?"
"Nazarick's revival system should work, every other system works just fine."
They sat silently again until Peros spoke.
"We really need to get out shit together…"
"Yeah, that we really need to…"
"So Ainz, you will seriously give the leader's spot to Ulbert?"
"I don't know, in any case, I shouldn't be leader anymore."
"With Ulbert as leader, we would go in some kind of fucked up shit in no time, like organ harvesting or concentration camps. We need you on top whether you like it or not."
"I hate it when you make sense."
"Sometimes even I have to. We can't treat this like a game anymore, can't we?"
"No, we can't, especially me. I need to step up and not fail any of you again."
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Ainz now had the task to give a world item to each of his friends and the floor guardians and to bound each item to their souls. While giving out items, he noticed a strange thing he had not realized before. Each world item was almost specifically tailored for each receiver, as if some force planned it beforehand. Even the one he planned to give Shalltear, the 'Mantle of Crimson Queen,' gave the impression of being specifically made for her, an artifact with a one charge of Mass Charm per day.
The preparations to kill Shalltear wasn't easy. Four against one was not even a fight, but to find the will to do it was a different matter entirely. This time they had to kill one of their own.
Peros, Aura and Mare watched from a distant hilltop as Ainz, Ulbert, Tabula and Bukuma approached Shalltear's unmoving statue.
Shalltear stood no chance of winning. Her clouded and confused mind didn't understand why they would attack her. She just knew she had to fight back and kill them. Shalltear made vicious attacks while screaming in anger and confusion. Bukuma held her off while Ainz, Ulbert and Tabula blasted her with spells.
Shalltear desperately tried to get past Bukuma to land a strike on the three casters but her defense was impenetrable. Her life force chipped away with each strike and she felt her death approaching. Driven close to death she shouted with tears in her eyes, "Why are you doing this!? what I have done wrong!?"
All of them froze. Seeing one of their children in such a state was too much. Bukuma got sloppy and now barely fended off her panicked attacks. But before any of them could strike the last blow, an arrow pierced her heart from behind and disintegrated her body in an explosion. Peros couldn't watch her suffering anymore and needed to finish it.
Peros put his bow away and let his hands fall. He just dealt the final blow to his daughter. Both Aura and Mare stood by his sides. Bukuma had ordered them to be with his brother during the fight to give him emotional support. Peros felt each of them taking his hand in their hands and Aura said,
"Lord Peros lets go home. Lord Ainz will revive Shalltear soon."
There was an unshaken belief in Aura's voice that Lord Ainz could fix all this. Peros found a strange solace in her conviction.
The three of them were the last to arrive in the throne room. Ainz and Albedo operated the necessary control panels already. Pandora's Actor had prepared the gold needed for resurrection. When using the guild NPC resurrection function, gold was a price to pay and in Shalltear's case it was five hundred million Yggdrasil coins. such an amount could crush the world's economy, but Ainz paid it without hesitation.
Everyone in the room looked at the process while holding their breaths. The piles of gold slowly turned into liquid and assumed the shape of a petite girl. The golden form wrapped itself in pale skin as silver colored hair rapidly grew out of her head. A naked Shalltear now laid on the ground. She opened her red eyes and took her first breath.
Albedo nodded at Ainz that Shalltear's status was back to normal and Ainz quickly wrapped her tiny frame in a cloak. Shalltear sat up and looked around, confused.
'Why are all the supreme ones and all the floor guardians here? Why was I naked moments before?' she then looked down and let out a screech.
"My boobs are gone!"
"Oh, that's Peros' daughter alright," said Bukuma with a relieved chuckle.
Albedo, however, was having none of it.
"You have caused the supreme ones such pain, and this is all you can think about?"
"Enough, it wasn't her fault," shouted Peros and picked Shalltear up. None of the floor guardians dared to speak up while Peros carried her away.
Ainz then addressed everyone.
"Shalltear has done nothing wrong. It was me who sent her out on a hunt. And it was me who didn't consider the possibility of world items existing in this world." Before anyone could protest, Ainz rose his hand adding,
"As a leader, my duty is to watch over you all, and I failed that duty. So, I am asking you all, do you still want to trust me as leader, or should I step down?"
Ainz hoped that someone would say something, tell him he needed to atone, but no. The floor guardians kneeled one by one and pledged to work even harder.
Ulbert, Tabula and Bukuma took their seats one by one, and Ulbert motioned for Ainz to take the central throne. Even they didn't stand against him.
Ainz sat on his throne as dark flames exploded out of his eye sockets. With a voice full of anger, Ainz spoke.
"Someone has attacked one of our own. We will find who did it and repay thousand times for this transgression. Each of you, including Sebas, are now bound to a world item so such attack can never be repeated."
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The captain of the Black Scripture finished his report before the cardinals. The situation was grim, he hadn't failed a mission so badly before.
Yvon, the Cardinal of Light, asked Captain,
"This vampire, this servant of the Lords of Ooal gown, you say she alone may be more powerful than Zesshi?"
"Yes, your excellency, I believe so."
"Captain, it is critical that Zesshi does not find out about this. She must operate under the assumption that she is still the strongest. More conflict with these Lords may spell doom for our country and humanity."
"I understand. My unit and I fought a powerful vampire that was weaker than Zesshi."
Yvon then handed him a box and said, "We will put the holy artifact in the vault for now, please bring it there and notify Zesshi about the events."
The captain bowed deeply and left with the box in hand.
Next, they got through Thousand Leagues Astrologers report about the vampire. The report was short, same strange interference, no clear intel. She picked some details of the fight and then both vampire and interference were gone, leaving behind a scorched battlefield.
The Cardinal of Earth, Raymond remarked, "They retrieved their servant. In my opinion, we are dealing with a very careful and calculating group."
Dominic, The Cardinal of Wind, spoke next. "Could it be that none of them are human? The captain mentioned the vampire snapped the moment Captain called their leader Ainz Ooal Gown a human."
"That makes them even more dangerous. Unlike the Greed kings who conquered the world with brute force, they may choose to spread their power like a poison from the shadows." Yvon just said with a grim expression.
The captain slowly walked to the vault, the most guarded place in the Slane Theocracy. Zesshi Zetsumei stood guard there. She as usual leaned against the vault's door, playing with her Rubik's Cube. A pointy ear poked out of her hair as she turned to look, and she immediately covered them with her hair again. The captain avoided looking at her ears, last time he did it costed him a broken nose.
Zesshi, daughter of the former extra seat product of rape, hated her eleven heritage. A century ago, the Elven king kidnaped her mother and raped her until she got pregnant with his child. The Theocracy retrieved her before she gave birth, and it was the beginning of the century old war between the two nations. After the birth, Zesshi was taken away from her mentally broken mother who could not take care of her and she was raised by the cardinals as she grew up without knowing a familial love.
Ever since they first met the captain found her rather attractive. She hadn't aged a day and still looked like a teenage girl. One side of her hair was white, and the other black, opposite mismatched eyes combined with pale skin gave her rather exotic look.
Zesshi looked at the captain for a moment, saw him carrying a box and then turned away, asking with a bored voice, "New artifact?"
"No Zesshi, Kaire is dead I need to put the holy artifact back in the vault."
"Old crone finally kicked the bucket?"
"She, Cerdan, and Heaven and Earth got killed by a powerful vampire in our last mission."
"Male, stronger than me?"
"No, female, I don't think she was stronger than you, but she came pretty close."
Zesshi had mentioned to the captain her two life goals before. First was to kill her father and second was to find a male stronger than her and carry his child, not caring about looks, personality or even species. Hearing that the vampire was weaker than her she lost all interest and just stepped back from the vault door so the captain could unlock the door and put the artifact inside.
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Clementine was in hell, or in a place she could imagine as hell. Dragged in this place by a man of incomprehensible power. She had angered that man and now was paying the price. The first thing the bloated monstrosity, left to torture her, did was to violate her with sharp objects causing pain she didn't know existed, both vaginally and anally. Clementine screamed until she tore her vocal cords and could only let out muffled rasps.
Then they healed her, and it began anew. Before each healing she was skinned alive, and her organs and meat taken out and fed back to her.
The second day, her already unstable mind broke and she convinced herself that this was a justified punishment from gods. She listened to the ramblings of her torturer and picked up the names of the gods she had offended.
Clementine prayed to the new gods, and to Neuronist's annoyance, sung self-made hymns in their glory off-tune between the screams. How much of time had passed she didn't know or care. All she cared about was whoever gods listened to her prayers. Clementine now welcomed torture as atonement for her past misdeeds.
She always listened to what her torturers spoke about as they always discussed the gods, and Clementine wanted to memorize even the smallest things to make a new gospel.
The gods were furious, heretics have harmed the daughter of one god, mind controlled her forcing them to kill and revive her. Clementine knew the one artifact in the world that could do that. She spoke out between her screams.
"This… sinner… knows... heretics… who… harmed… daughter… of… god."
Neuronist told the demon, who skinned Clementine at the moment, to stop and motioned for the dog nurse to heal Clementine prematurely so she could articulate her confession. Even the smallest chance that it wasn't just a bluff was worth investigating. Once the nurse healed Clementine, Neuronist ordered her to speak.
"Heretics, lapdogs of false religion, Slane Theocracy, holy artifact, the Downfall of Castle and Country used in the past to stop evil gods." Clementine spoke in a hectic and almost incoherent manner, but it was enough. Neuronist ordered to stop any torture of Clementine for now and reported the news to Albedo right away.
Clementine prayed loudly for an hour. She squirmed in religious ecstasy. A sinner like her might help the gods to punish heretics. A beautiful maid appeared in the torture chambers and informed Neuronist that the Lords wanted to question Clementine.
For the first time in days, they released her from her chains, and she fell on the ground. The maid picked up Clementine's armor from a demon and said with a polite, dignified voice.
"Come, we need to make you presentable to appear before the supreme beings. It would be rude for you to make them wait."
Clementine nodded, got up and walked right behind the pale-faced maid in a metallic dress, despite her exhausted state. The maid led her to a small preparation room and explained how showers worked. What amazing things her gods could create. Clementine showered, put on her armor that was cleaned to a shine, and followed the maid once again.
A throne room, grandiose beyond her belief, came into her view. She had little time to wonder, as mere moments later she was standing before five thrones. Five gods sat on them.
Yuri Alpha knelt and tried to push the woman in a kneeling position, but before she could the blonde woman prostrated before the supreme beings with a ragged breath.
A feint smile appeared on Yuri's face. At least this human knew her place before the supreme ones.
A deep voice boomed through the throne room,
"Rise and tell us what you know."
Clementine slowly rose. To even gaze at the gods was more than a sinner like she deserved. The one who spoke sat in the central throne. The highest god. Dark flames burning in his eye sockets pierced her very soul. She felt like the personification of death itself looked down at her. With a shaky voice, Clementine started to speak,
"Yes, oh almighty one, this sinner knows."
An avian looking god interrupted her.
"Stop with the ass kissing and get to the fucking point."
That tone, realization came that he was the one who defeated her. A mortal man did not defeat her, a god did. The god of death spoke again
"Patience Peros, let her speak," he then motioned at Peros and added, "you should speak quickly however, your fate is in his hands."
Clementine gulped and spoke rather rapidly, with a shaky voice.
"Yes, of course. While I was a member of the Black Scripture, I found out about a holy artifact that could even let its wearer control everyone, even the gods, called Downfall of Castle and Country. A woman named Kaire was its keeper, but she used it only at the command of the Cardinals, leaders of the Slane Theocracy."
"Do you know where this artifact is kept?" asked a goat like god siting at the right hand of God of Death. Clementine reasoned he was the second highest in status.
"If not deployed, it is in the sacred vault."
"Come closer and think of that place," spoke the God of Death and Clementine walked closer with careful steps. She stopped within the touching distance and kneeled before him. He touched her forehead with his finger for a moment and muttered something.
"I know where the vault is now. What of the girl guarding it?"
"Zesshi Zetsumei, the strongest godkin of the Slane Theocracy."
"A godkin, how strong is she?" asked the God of Death.
"I don't know. Her power is so overwhelming compared to mine that I can't tell."
"Compared to me, is she stronger or weaker?" asked Peros.
"Both of you move faster than I can follow and can crush me, like the bug I am."
"Thank you, you have been very informative. Peros, what shall we do with her? She is your prisoner, after all." spoke the God of Death.
"She helped us greatly, so I don't know. Keep her around, maybe reward her?"
"How do you want to be rewarded for the information you provided willingly, your freedom perhaps?"
Clementine was still kneeling right before the God of Death. They wanted to reward her, a worthless sinner for such an insignificant help. They were more merciful than she could have imagined. She shook her head and said,
"No, not freedom. My deepest wish is to serve the gods with all my being."
"You want to serve us?"
"More than anything." Clementine answered with an ecstatic voice.
"Hmm, Yuri, could you please coordinate with Albedo to put this woman on Nazarick's personnel list and find her a place to stay?"
"Of course, Lord Ainz."
Clementine felt beyond thrilled. The gods permitted her to serve and now she even knew who three of them were. She still needed to figure out who between the goat like god and the eldritch looking god was Tabula and who was Ulbert.
Clementine asked questions to the maid called Yuri while following her, but she wasn't very talkative.
‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›
Peros just left Shalltear's sanctuary and walked towards the conference room. He had explained to her all that happened yesterday and Shalltear didn't take it well. Seeing her a crying mess, begging to be punished for something she wasn't even guilty of, was harder than shooting an arrow through her heart, delivering the killing blow.
It was the second day in a row that she begged to be punished and Peros tried to convince her that neither he nor Ainz blamed her for anything. While Peros walked to his next destination, he came to realize he had to come up with some bullshit punishment to put her mind at ease.
A short while later he walked in the conference only to see that everybody else was waiting for him. To his surprise, even Tabula was on time. Peros quickly sat down and Ainz started to speak.
"Let's start with a key topic right away. We know our enemy and only need to decide on how to retaliate."
"What to decide?! We burn that country to the ground," Peros interrupted him.
"Destroying that country will only make them look like martyrs, we need to do much more." Ulbert stood up starting a speech.
"We will destroy their name, their culture, their religion. We will turn the entire world against them slowly and methodically. When everyone hates them with a passion we will come in and rid the world of them as a favor. The first thing we should do is take away their artifacts and make them doubt their own religion. I have sent scouts inside the Theocracy and will make a proposition on how to do it in the next few days."
"I'm in favor of Ulbert's plan. If we just plain destroyed a country without a visible cause the world would see us in the same light as the so-called Greed Kings from a few hundred years ago and I, for one, prefer to avoid such reputation." Ainz said, getting nods of approval.
"Ulbert, we will wait for our plan, then. Taking the world items away from them is our number one priority so include that in your planning. For the next thing, the bodies of the Swords of Darkness are now on the fifth floor for safekeeping until we found a way to resurrect them. Tabula, I want to work with you on ways to perform resurrection no matter the conditions of a body."
"I have some ideas, and we can start testing them when you have time, Ainz."
"Excellent, oh one more thing Tabula, we got you a helper. Doppelgangers posing as our adventurer team is escorting him to Carne Village."
"You have my thanks, Ainz. I will start preparations right away."
Ainz prepared to finish the meeting when Peros spoke up.
"Hey Ainz, we need to punish Shalltear or at least come up with something that sounds like punishment."
Ainz looked at him, confused. Why would Peros out of all people want to punish Shalltear?
"What? Why do you want to punish her?"
"I don't want to punish her, but I can't convince her she has done nothing wrong. So I want to make up some kind of punishment to make her feel she has atoned for what, she thinks, is her failure."
"Makes sense, but I will leave that to you. Knowing what you wrote in her backstory she will like most things normally considered a punishment."
Peros sighed and said, "Yeah, that's on me."
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Five doppelgangers posing as adventurers escorted Nfirea to Carne. After his grandmother's funeral, Nfirea inherited all her property. It mattered little to him; he felt lost with no relatives and almost no friends. One of the teams he befriended was dead, so he clung to other one.
Satoru had promised him work for his masters and Nfirea jumped at the opportunity now, being alone and afraid for his future. The doppelgangers with instructions to pose as heroic and emphatic, tried to console Nfirea with some success. Satoru's team, now called 'Darkness' in memory of their lost friends, was his saviors and being called the younger brother by them made him feel safe when they were around.
The road to Carne was safe this time, and they reached the village in the evening. Enri was very surprised to see Nfirea so soon again and greeted him with the enthusiastic shout,
"Enfi you are back already?"
"Hey Enri, yes, I'm moving to Carne."
"Moving, but where is granny…" her smile disappeared from her face.
"Granny is gone," Nfirea says with a shaky voice.
Without hesitation, Enri jumped on the cart and hugged Nfirea. With her parents killed not that long ago, she knew how it felt to lose someone close.
While Enri distracted Nfirea, Satoru ordered his team to start unloading Nfirea's belongings and bringing it all in one of the empty houses.
Both walked to Enri's house to talk. Nfirea felt comfort in Enri's company, but both felt awkward in private. He wanted to confess, to tell her how he felt, but as always, words just didn't come out.
A loud shout quickly interrupted the scene.
"Sneaking off to make babies?" as Lupus appeared right next to them.
Enri let out a yelp, lost her balance on the small chair she was sitting and fell. She grabbed Nfirea's arm mid fall and hit the floor with him on top.
"You want me to watch, oh how lewd!" Lupus continued to tease them while cupping her cheeks.
"Lupus, what are you doing here?" screeched Enri, while Nfirea rolled off her, red faced.
Lupus took out a blue orb and waited for Nfirea and Enri to stand up and then said,
"Lord Tabula wishes to speak with you, Nfirea," and handed the blue orb to him.
Nfirea took the orb, it shined a bit, and a deep guttural voice spoke to him.
"Greetings Nfirea, my name is Tabula Ooal Gown, and I will take you as my helper and maybe in the future, even as an apprentice, if you show potential. My deepest condolences for your loss. For now, take a rest and mourn. I will send equipment and materials soon."
"Thank you, Lord Tabula."
"One more thing, if you want to contact me, just hold the orb and speak."
With that, the orb stopped glowing. Lupus slapped Nfirea's shoulder hard and said.
"Welcome to the team, kid. Let's see how long you will last."
Side Story 1 - Lost.
Brain ran through the forest. Just a few hours ago, he was a mercenary, the strongest there was. Now his memory was hazy: a battle with a vampire, humiliating loss, those beautiful red eyes.
His mind came back to him only to awaken in a midst of a bloody carnage. Realization that monsters beyond his comprehension existed shattered his world view. He always wanted to be the strongest. This was his only goal in life. Now knowing he would never get even close, there was no purpose in life anymore.
Brain leaned against the tree and sat down. He was afraid, hungry and exhausted. 'So, this is how a victim would feel. Those women in the cave, slaves, I used them. I am no better than that beautiful monster. Why is she still in my head, shit, why do I long for her?'
A restless sleep overtook him, and his nightmare filled rest began.
He was small, running. A tall figure clad in crimson towered over him, laughing. Brain had to escape, he had to run away from the towering monster. The forest was covered in dark mist, with tall trees emerging as he ran. Laughter resonated around him as he ran. When he looked up, he saw two red eyes in the sky following him.
"There is no escape, you are weak, you are nothing." Voices boomed around him, laughing, taunting.
Nowhere to run, none to ask for help. Alone, small in a deep, dark forest.
Brain awoke with a scream. After a moment, memories came back, and he realized he was still in the forest.
It was nighttime now. Seeing no other option, he followed the stars to get outside of the forest. After a few hours of walking, he finally reached the road. A faint light in the distance promised an Inn a place to rest and eat. Brain had enough money on him to live for a while, but it mattered little.
Warm food and drink gave little solace and the few prostitutes the inn owner employed didn't look like objects of desire to him anymore, just other victims of this world.
The next week was no better. Going from inn to inn, nightmare filled sleep and ever dwindling money. His goal was the capital. Maybe amongst the crowds he could disappear and maybe those red eyes would not see him anymore. That was all that he had left of his resolve to just hide away.
Side Story 2 - Living in the house of Gods.
Clementine woke up under the tree she was sleeping on a simple blanket. There was no difference in temperature between night and day on the sixth floor of Nazarick. The highest god had let her stay and serve in his house - The Great Tomb of Nazarick. His lover, however, the overseer Albedo, was one of the scariest beings she had ever encountered.
The other two were Demiurge and Shalltear. All three direct children of the gods, if one could call them that. More chatty denizens of Nazarick had explained to her that everyone in Nazarick was created by the supreme beings, forty-one in total. Only five remained behind to take care of Nazarick.
Clementine now was aware of how weak she was when compared to the real creations of gods. It mattered little to her as long as she could serve.
What she didn't like, however, was being put in same level as some worthless whores. Some slaves rescued from bandits. She, together with them, lived by the lake and was given the task to cultivate edible plants.
Clementine quickly distanced herself from them and lived under a tree and not in the tents provided. She got up and rolled up her blanket. Next was a short swim in the lake to wash up and then work on a field near the tents. A test of humility perhaps. After all, she attacked gods out of arrogance and ignorance.
With her superior strength and stamina, she did her daily share of fieldwork in a few hours and then left to visit the colosseum in the middle of the sixth floor.
It was always busy, and some days she got glimpses of gods in training. As long as she didn't bother anyone, she could just sit and watch.
During one of these days, she found a sparring partner, a giant silver furred beast called Wisey. She was stronger than Clementine, but not by much, and Clementine's martial arts skills helped her to fight to a standstill. Clementine knew she could not harm the beast, as Wisey was a pet of the floor guardian Aura.
Their daily sparing matches had an unexpected consequence as Aura had taken interest and sometimes watched them fight. And then a god noticed her once again.
One day, Lord Peros sat next to Aura and watched her and Wisey spar. Seeing him with the corner of her eye made her lose concentration, and she got hit in the chest by Wisey's tail, making her stumble backwards.
When she opened her eyes, Peros was looming over her. She rolled to side and prostrated before the god.
"Stop with the worship bullshit and get up." Peros said in an annoyed voice.
Clementine got up but remained in a half-bowed position, not daring to gaze at the god's face.
"What kind of skills are you using while fighting?"
"Skills? Those are martial arts abilities I know, Lord Peros."
"So, you know martial arts. You will teach them to me."
Clementine's brain short-circuited. A god just asked her a mere mortal to teach him something. Her legs wobbled as she stuttered.
"T-t-teach y-you?"
"Yes, teach me. Is there a problem with that?"
"N-no, I will try my best."
"Good. We will start tomorrow morning."
Once Peros left, Clementine dropped on her knees and recited prayers of thankfulness. The god had given her the noblest task possible, to teach him.
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