Chapter 2, Part 2

After Zesshi was revealed to be a half-elf, Liel had remembered where she had heard the description of the girl. It was from the elf king when he told them who to look for during their mission. It’s just, based on his words Liel thought that the girl was a prisoner or a slave of the Slane Theocracy. Because of this contradiction in expectation and reality, and the speed at which events transpired, Liel didn’t realize it sooner.

While Zesshi told of her past, Liel was in for another surprise. Apparently, the elf king had violated some woman from the Slane Theocracy, and Zesshi was the product of that vile act. The king’s action wasn’t much of a surprise, nor that a child could be born from such a union. What was surprising was that the human woman had been rescued.

Elf King was powerful, it was very unlikely that the Theocracy would take on the risk associated with rescuing his prisoner if it was just a commoner.

Could she be related to the Cardinals? But then, why would the king be interested in a woman like that? Liel thought of the king’s personality and desires. The king is interested in strong females and had been trying to create powerful offspring, though to no avail. Going with that, this woman must’ve been very powerful, enough so that the Theocracy felt it was worth it to rescue her. A child born of powerful parents, it explained Zesshi’s power.

She continued to listen to the two girls, but she wasn’t able to learn anything else. Still, the information she now had was definitely something the Elf King would want to know. But should she actually [Message] him? Liel agonized for a while.

She had developed a certain level of attachment to Mare. Also, the dark elf was powerful, because of how she behaved Liel had acted as a sort of big sister to the panicky girl. Should she inform the king of what she witnessed? It wasn’t hard to imagine what his actions would be once he learned of a powerful female, especially an elven one.

She spent the night thinking of this and that. In the end, though she was an elf, and the king was the one she served. While she felt bad for Mare, Liel knew what she needed to do.

***

The beastmen had apparently never thought they could get attacked without the smaller camps, which formed a vanguard, noticing. With few guards and completely unprepared, it wasn’t even a fight. Momon and Nabe cut through the camp like a tornado, while the fighters of the Slane Theocracy crushed any resistance the beastmen tried to mount.

The beastmen were strong. They were used to easily overpowering humans. The sight of a few humans cutting down their brethren like nothing sent them into a panic. In the ensuing chaos, the beastmen abandoned their camp and tried to flee. They were chased down by the Draconic Kingdom’s army.

Momon slaughtered his way to a tent at the center of the camp, where the beastmen general was located. Momon entered the tent – empty. He quickly exited.
“Look for the beastmen general, he should be in this camp!” Momon bellowed. “Nabe, use [Fly] see if you can locate him.”

The general was the main reason he attacked this place. After giving his orders Momon continued to look for the general, while occasionally fighting the few beastmen who have chosen not to flee. He quickly noticed a small group of beastmen trying to flee in an organized manner. He wasn’t the only one though, two members of the Slane Theocracy group had stopped their retreat, while a host of fighters from the Draconic Kingdom had surrounded them

Momon rushed to this group. He quickly identified a tiger beastman whose armor looked more impressive than the rest.

“If you surrender and tell me everything I want to know, you won’t be executed,” Momon told the tiger beastman, after stepping forward from the human encirclement.

“A human making threats? Unforgivable!” One of the beastman roared as he attacked Momon.

It was cut in half with a flick of an arm.
“I will have the information I desire. Now, will you surrender or do I need to kill most of you?” Momon asked.

The ferocious looking tiger beastman looked around, hoping to find an escape route. He resembled a cornered beast. Unlike a feral beast though, he possessed an intellect, the surrounding humans weren’t much, but two among them were strong enough to hold them off. And the dark warrior who came forward was beyond powerful, in front of his strength all they could do was run.

“You won’t kill us if we surrender?” The beastman asked.
“I will spare you. But the people of this nation, whose relatives you have killed and eaten might not,” Momon replied.
The beastman scowled, showing his fangs. Still, such a proposition was better than being cut down here and now. If they surrender, there might be a chance to escape too.
“Then we will surrender to you, Dark Warrior,” the beastman addressed Momon and tossed his weapon forward.

The beastmen were captured and tied up, as the human army took control of the camp. Nabe had returned and informed Momon that she was unable to locate the beastmen general. Momon was going to question the tiger kin he had captured when all of a sudden a great commotion arose from a certain part of the camp. He could hear people yelling, but it wasn’t clear what was happening.

When he came over the situation became apparent. The humans who had been captured and used as food had been kept in this part of the camp. They had already lost faith, Crystal Tear had attacked this camp and had almost taken control over it before being defeated. And with that defeat, the hope of those captured humans had been crushed.

Now that they had been freed, some were crying, some were laughing. From happiness? From madness? It was hard to say. They were free, but how many had been eaten? Would they ever be able to forget the nightmares they had witnessed?

While the general look of these humans was pitiful, the reason for the commotion which attracted Momon’s attention earlier was something else. One of the freed humans had grabbed someone’s sword and stabbed several of the captured beastmen before he was restrained.

“My wife! My daughter!” The man moaned as he tried to shake off the people who had grabbed onto him. “I will kill every beastmen there is!” He screamed.

“I sympathize with your plight, but we should keep them alive,” Momon said as he approached the man. “Killing them now might deny us the ability to exchange them for other hostages. Are you willing to accept such a responsibility?”
“Who are you?” The man asked, still struggling to break free.
“I am Momon, the one who led this army to save you.”
“Then, you will deny me the chance to take revenge on these beasts?” The man screamed.
“Only the strong can be virtuous. But you? You are trying to use the work of others to fulfill your own desires. We will keep the beastmen alive, in case we need them,” Momon said.

“What do you know?! I was a guard captain at Decoza. I begged my wife and daughter to flee to the capital, but they refused. When the beastmen breached the city wall, we tried to hide. But they found us, we were cornered, I fought them off, but there were just too many. And as I fell, they took my wife, my daughter… they made me watch. They made me waaaatch!” The man yelled half mad.

Momon looked at the man thoughtfully before speaking.
“Such is the unfortunate fate of the weak. When confronted by someone more powerful, all you can do is holler at the sky. If you had someone strong to protect you, this wouldn’t have happened.”

After his speech he turned around and walked away, leaving the former guard captain to sob in his sorrow.
“We must do what we can to save this nation,” Momon addressed Kraus, who had also come over.
“Of course. Then, shall we question the beastman you’ve captured?” Kraus asked.
Momon nodded, and they walked to the tent where the captured tiger kin was held.

The captured beastman proved surprisingly cooperative.

“I am Gor, the chief of the Bloody Mane tribe,” he told them. “I was left in command after Pel, the lion kin in charge of this army wing left this encampment.”

“When did he leave? And why?” Momon asked.
“Late last night, a messenger came from Decoza. He didn’t explain why he was needed,” the beastman quickly responded.
“Then who’s in that city? Who leads this army?”
“That would be the two minotaur brothers, Norum and Mantapo”
“Which one is the warrior?” Momon asked.
“Norum. He was staying at Decoza earlier, so he’s probably the one who ordered Pel to go there.”

Hmm, the timing is really lucky, Ainz thought.
“Why did the beastmen army stop advancing?” He asked the question which he was most interested in.
“I don’t know. Pel ordered us to halt, and just hold our position. Not that we complained, we already had enough fo… ahem, we did what we were told,” the beastman changed his words after catching the looks the humans were giving him.

“I see. Then, why did the beastmen invade this nation? I understand this is highly unusual, as normally invasions would be limited to small raids,” Momon continued.

“We beastmen live in tribes. Some tribes are stronger, some are weaker, but there is no leader. If we need to unite, the tribe chiefs will form a War Council. But this had changed a few years ago. The minotaur brothers, the strongest among us led their tribes to conquer and unite the rest of the beastmen. After this unification was complete they declared an attack on this human kingdom.”
“So, it was the minotaur brothers who instigated this war? Is there someone above them?” Momon pressed.
“Could such a being even exist? The minotaurs are the ones in charge,” the beastman responded with conviction.

Afterward, the beastman was escorted away. Only Momon, Kraus and a representative of the Draconic Kingdom’s army remained in the tent.

“Then what shall we do now, Momon-san?” The representative asked.
“I would like for you to take some

men and rout the smaller camps which are now at our back,” Momon motioned to Kraus. “I will remain here, in case the minotaur warrior decides to counter-attack.”

After the two nodded and left the tent, Nabe entered.
“What do we do now Momon-sasan?” She asked. Her continuous slip-ups in trying to call him sama before correcting herself still annoyed Ainz, but apparently, it couldn’t be helped.
“The timing seems rather strange. We must capture the minotaur brothers to get our answers.”

That evening

Several people gathered in the command tent. Momon and Nabe, several men from the Slane Theocracy and several of the commanders of the Draconic Kingdom’s army.

“We have successfully wiped out the beastmen from here to the capital, but it’s not enough. We must continue with our offense and liberate the city of Decoza. Doing so will inspire the army, and there might be more captives we can save,” Momon announced. “Does anyone have any objections?”

“If there are no objections then tomorrow morning we will attack. I and Nabe will scale the wall and open the city gates from the inside. Once the gate is opened and the rest of the army can enter, we should be able to overpower the beastmen.”

“With your power leading the offense, I believe it will be a simple matter, “Kraus smiled.
“Tomorrow we will take back our city,” one of the commanders clenched his fist.

In the palace of the elven kingdom

Useless, why is everyone in this nation so useless? The Elf King wondered for a countless time.
“Enough, I can’t take your whining anymore. I get it, the Theocracy’s army is strong and you are a bunch of weaklings. Why you would think I’d care for such worthless lot is beyond me,” he told a female elf who knelt in front of him. Although she was one of his concubines, he felt nothing toward her.

“Your majesty, please. We cannot possibly hold them off now that the Holocaust Scripture had joined the war. If we continue like we have, we will only suffer more loses,” she pleaded, refusing to give up.
“Good, maybe such suffering will awaken your powers, you useless bunch,” the king snorted in contempt.

Suddenly the king’s relaxed state was replaced by a somewhat focused look.
“Leave me, now!” He ordered the elf, who quickly left, sensing a note of anger in his voice.

“Speak,” he commanded the elf who had just contacted him via [Message]
“Your Majesty, this is your servant Liel. I was a part of the group which was sent to get captured and to spy on the Theocracy from within,” she reminded the king.
“What do you want?” The king asked. Probably going to beg me to rescue her. Such a useless race.
“I have located the half-elf woman you had spoken of.”
“You what? Where is she?”
“She is in the Kami Miyako,” Liel responded.
“Ah, the capital of Theocracy. Do you have anything else?” The king responded disappointed. The fact that his daughter was in the capital wasn’t hard to guess.
“Yes, your Majesty. I am currently in the capital as well, acting as a servant to an envoy of the Sorcerer Kingdom.”
“Never heard of it,” the king said dismissively.
“It is a new kingdom which was recently formed. This envoy is a female dark elf. During her stay at the capital, the girl you spoke of ran into and attacked this envoy,” Liel continued to explain.
“So, now that envoy is dead, what are you telling me this for?” The king asked in annoyance.
“I apologize, your Majesty, the envoy is not dead, she was able to stop the attack.”
“She stopped it? How old is this woman? Tell me everything.”

The king’s reaction was exactly what she thought it would be. It was rather upsetting, he cared nothing for the elves and only paid attention to his own desires. Was she doing the right thing? Liel wondered for an umpteenth time. Mare was a good girl, and she liked her, while the king was a vile man.

Still, she was just a regular elf, betraying her king was a step she just couldn’t take.

 

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