Chapter 2, Part 2

Old original characters mentioned in this part:

Liel – the elven slave which served Mare when he visited the Slane Theocracy, and later accompanied him to the Elf Kingdom after Mare was kidnapped.

Elyvon – The former Elf Kingdom and current scroll material 🙂

*****

Cerlia woke up at dawn. She didn’t actually know what time it was, but like for most of the elven slaves in the barracks, waking up at dawn had become a habit. She wasn’t sure what was worse – going through the day with nothing to look forward to, or these few minutes after waking up. During sleep, she was free – free to imagine anything she wanted. The reality was much more cruel of course, and this little bit of time, just after waking up was when the cruel reality would crash her dreams.

There was little time to contemplate such things though. She soon heard the steps outside and the gates being opened, followed by a raspy voice of some guard.

“Get up you swine! Anyone not out in two minutes gonna catch a beating!”

It was the same line that greeted them every morning for the entire three years that Cerlia been there. Not that she cared, if anything, having the same thing happen to her day after day only made it easier to get used to her new life. It were the unusual events that broke the monotony and served to remind her of her position. Like the time when one of her bunkmates, Liel, was taken away in the middle of the day and never returned.

Cerlia tried to ask the head guard about Liel, but all it got her is a slap in the face, which wasn’t that bad, considering the guards hated to be questioned. Still, she had been gone for almost two months now. Whatever Liel’s fate was, it was unlikely Cerlia would ever see her.

She got off her bunk and put on her boots, wrapped herself in some old clothing and looked around. After making sure all of her neighbors have gotten up, she walked outside. In front of the barracks, the female slaves quickly formed into a line.

After the two minutes were up, the head guard began to yell the names off of the list in his hands. Everyone was present, and so the attendance went without an issue.

“Alright, looks like you are all here. Today, I’ve got a surprise for you,” the guard spat on the ground.

Cerlia cringed, she hates their so-called surprises.

“Could they be taking us to wash up?” Whispered someone nearby.

Ah, yes. That was one of these “surprises,” Cerlia thought.

Once a month they would be brought to a nearby lake and allowed to wash. Of course, the guards made sure to enjoy the view and sometimes would even partake with the prettier slaves. However, that had already happened recently, so this must be something else.

“Yep, I’ve got some great news for ya all, not that you swine deserve it,” the guard continued. “Shut up!” He yelled to stem the rising murmurs.

After casting a ferocious look up and down the lined up women he continued.

“In accordance to the peace treaty between the Slane Theocracy and the Sorcerer Kingdom, you lot are hereby declared freed and will be escorted to the former Elf Kingdom. So, be sure to thank the Gods for your good fortune, you filthy heathens,” he announced.

It took a few moments for his words to sink in before the crowd erupted. Some of them screamed their lungs out, others collapsed crying, yet others, like Cerlia, just stared at nothing, their mind completely blank.

Freedom? They were freed? Just like that? Her mind spun. And what was that about some Sorcerer Kingdom? No, more importantly, what will I do now? Are my siblings still around? Cerlia had given up on ever seeing her family again – it was easier to cope with her circumstances that way. But now, all of those repressed emotions flooded into her brain.

“Anyway, you’ll have plenty of time to deal with your emotions. What I need you to do right now is to get into those carts behind me so we can haul you filthy elves out of here,” the head guard shouted.

The elves began to get into the carts. Those who were especially caught up in their emotions were helped by a shove from behind – courtesy of one of the guards. Soon, they were ready and the carts began to move.

“Don’t get too excited just yet, we’ll still be together for another day or so until we reach the border,” the heard guard spat before he mounted a horse and rode ahead of them.

Escorted by mounted guards on both sides, the procession of former slaves slowly pushed forward. Their slow speed gave the elves plenty of time to discuss things. Some were still crying, others excitedly discussed their hopes to reunite with their families and friends. Yet others had engaged in speculation.

“Could it be they are just playing a cruel joke on us? And are actually taking us to a slave auction?” A petite elf with short black hair asked.

“They sure aren’t above such a thing, but all of us?”

“Yes, selling everyone seems unlikely,” someone else chimed in.

“And what was that about “former Elf Kingdom?” He made it sound like the Elf Kingdom was no more,” the black haired girl said.

“Yes, he said that the peace treaty was between the Theocracy and some Sorcerer Kingdom, not the Elf Kingdom,” Cerlia said as she recalled the head guard’s words.

“Anyone knows what this Sorcerer Kingdom is?”

However, all of them shook their heads. Many of the elves have been captured long ago, while others simply haven’t heard about the new nation – there were more important things to be concerned with on the front lines. With plenty of questions but no answers, the animated discussions continued for the rest of the day and into the next one. They still didn’t have any answers, but at least the speculations made the time flow faster.

A few hours after midday their procession made its way to the border. There was no town here, but looking ahead the elves could see that a temporary camp had been established here. There was a whole bunch of tents and they could see a large crowd ahead. It looked like a large number of elven slaves with some human guards surrounding them.

Looking around, they saw several other processions, similar to theirs, approaching this checkpoint from other directions. This naturally gave voice to a commotion among the women – the guard told the truth, a large number of elves had been freed and were now being moved to the border of the Elf Kingdom.

Once they got close to the crowd of elves and the guards, the carts stopped.

“Stay here until we are called,” the head guard shouted at both the slaves and their guards.

The women looked all over their surroundings, but the crowd ahead blocked their view of the elven side of the checkpoint, while all they could see nearby were similar groups of carted elves, at whom they looked quite eagerly, even waving to some of the ones they knew. These waving and shouting even added some jubilation to their situation.

Slowly, the crowd ahead had mostly cleared out, and someone ahead yelled for their procession to come forward. The carts began to roll forward and the elven side finally came into Cerlia’s view. Shocked gasps were the sign that the others have seen the same thing she has.

A dozen hulking monstrosities. Clad in black, spiked armor with red, vein-like patterns, a rippled sword in one hand a huge tower shield in the other, the thing that struck her the most was, naturally, the half-rotten visage visible under the helmet. The empty eye sockets made her feel like these hulking monsters were just waiting for the elves to come closer before they would all be slaughtered.

“Calm yourself, they mean you no harm!” Someone yelled in a loud but tired voice.

Cerlia realized that she was so caught up in the monsters’ appearance that she missed the main figures – several elves who stood next to an undead magic caster – an Elder Lich. Such an unusual union made left her so confused for a few moments she couldn’t even form a coherent thought.

Everyone knows the undead hate the living and meeting one would result in nothing but death, yours or theirs. So, how? How can they just stand there, seemingly paying no attention to the undead monsters next to them? Cerlia’s mind raced.

But as she looked closer, she realized that although the others were trying to act casually, they were still shaken by the presence of the undead, both the elves and the humans. In fact, the only one who acted naturally, and showed no signs of worry was an elven female who stood closest to the human side.

“How many in this batch?” She asked, in a voice that Cerlia found somewhat familiar.

“Twenty-five, here’s the list,” a human replied while handing her a sheet of paper.

“Alright you lot, line up over there,” the head guard shouted at the confused women.

They got out of the carts and lined up next to the group of humans, who apparently were the officials conducting the transfer of the elves to the other side. An elf began to read the names off of the list he was handed, and one by one the former slaves crossed over the border. After he was done, the elf handed the sheet to the Elder Lich, which added it to the stack of papers already in its bony hands.

Cerlia, as well as the rest of her former slaves, had already recognized the woman who was acting as an official on the elven side – she was Liel one of their companion who had been taken away less than two months ago. She had recognized them too, waving to them with a friendly smile. However, there was no time for her to explain what was happening.

“Liel-sama, with this batch, there will be over five hundred,” a male elf next to Liel informed her.

“Alright, I’ll go oversee the transfer, you handle things here until I return,” she replied.

Liel walked in the same direction as the women who just crossed the border, which Cerlia used to walk over and ask her a few questions.

“Hi Liel, can you explain what’s happening over here?” Cerlia managed to squeeze out, despite a couple of towering undead monsters walking behind the other elf.

“The Slane Theocracy began freeing the elven slaves, and this is the checkpoint through which they are funneling them,” Liel said.

“I get that. I meant why is this happening? And what’s with those undead monsters?”

“Hmm, a lot had happened, the gist of it is the Elf Kingdom is now part of a nation called the Sorcerer Kingdom, which uses the undead as the guards. That idiot Elvyon had also been replaced by much more capable rulers,” Liel explained.

“But… how? And how did you end up here?” Cerlia couldn’t understand how all of this could happen so quickly.

“I am sorry, there is no time to discuss things right now. Once you are in the capital, you can get a better explanation,” Liel cut her off, as they made their way toward a large gathering of former slaves.

Cerlia joined up with the rest of her group while wondering how will so many people be moved to the capital. And why the capital? While it clearly had the resources, it would make more sense to set up a center closer to the border. After all, moving large numbers of people, while providing them with everything they needed was a major logistics issue.

Liel meanwhile walked over to a male elf in an impressive looking armor and motioned for him to proceed.

“Listen up!” The male yelled. “We will now open a portal to the capital! Once instructed, you will go through it!”

Liel used [Message] to contact the other side.

“Shalltear-sama, we are ready to send the next group through.”

“Ugh, alright,” the vampire on the other side grumbled before ending the [message].

A few moments later a shimmering portal appeared near Liel, and the former slaves were directed to go through it. The elves were, understandably, cautious about going through it, but they had little choice in the matter, and after nothing happened to the first few, the rest went through without causing a scene.

After going through it the elves found themselves standing in the central square of the capital. They were surrounded by armed guards on all sides, while about a dozen people stood in front.

“Welcome home!” One of the elves yelled, and the surrounding guards shouted “Welcome home,” back.

“I am sure you have many questions, and we will answer them all. For now, can you form up into the same groups as you were when you crossed the border? We will verify your presence and then address all of your concerns,” the same elf continued in a loud voice.

Forming up into lines had become a habit for all of those former slaves, so even though their minds were distracted, they still lined up with little effort. Once they did, the same elf yelled a name.

“Kalel?”

After getting a response, he handed a sheet of paper to a nearby elf, who then approached this Kalel, and asked that whole group to follow him. This procedure went on as one group after another was led away. The main square had become fairly empty by the time Cerlia’s group were called. As they followed the elf in charge out of the square, they walked near the front of it, where all of the officials stood. There, Cerlia noticed something she missed in all the commotion when they went through the portal. With half a dozen undead monsters as the background, two women sat in exquisitely crafted chairs, next to a table with some refreshments.

One was a young, silver-haired girl with a rather large bosom, dressed in an out-of-place purple evening dress. The other was a female elf with blonde hair, wearing a white with gold vest and a white skirt. As she walked near them she caught a bit of their conversation.

“… boring. Seriously, why am I even doing this?” The silver-haired girl was apparently complaining.

“Weren’t you complaining about being cooped up in Nazarick with nothing to do?” The elf replied.

Before Cerlia could make any sense of what she heard, her group was led away and into a nearby building. There they were all seated, and their attendance had been taken again. After verifying that everyone was present and that no one else joined their group, the elf in charge begun to answer their many questions.

Inside Ainz’s office on the ninth floor of Nazarick

Albedo stood respectfully in front of Ainz’s desk. The undead mage himself sat behind it, while constantly receiving various updates from his subordinates. Even though he was back to Nazarick, Ainz was far from being bored. The Theocracy had begun to release the slaves, while the Sorcerer Kingdom began to deliver large amounts of grains to them. There were also resources being moved to the Draconic Kingdom, as well as a group of dwarven craftsmen to help rebuild the cities destroyed by the beastmen.

And behind it all, the Slane Theocracy was weaving their scheme, though their effort was akin to an ant crawling in his palm. Still, he needed to keep an eye on their actions as well. All in all, it was a rather exciting time for Ainz, all things considered.

“Was it wise? We are spending a lot of resources,” Albedo bowed respectfully.

“Ah, just a temporary expenditure. Besides, we should recoup most of the grain we are giving to the Slane Theocracy when we take over,’ Ainz said with a smile if his skinless skull could smile that is. “The Draconic Kingdom needs quite a bit of resources, but it couldn’t be helped – they need to rebuild. I am not interested in ruling over a pile of ruins.”

“Of course, Ainz-sama. For our part, Demiurge and I had made certain… adjustments to our plan for the Re-Estize Kingdom. As a result, our need to provide them with food supplies will soon come to an end,” Albedo said, her wings trembling from excitement.

“I, look forward to your hard work.”

Our need to provide the Kingdom with food will come to a halt? How? They are still far from self-sufficient, having suffered too many losses from their fateful fight against me. Just what are the two of them planning?

Ainz thoughts were interrupted when Albedo leaned over the desk and pointed at one of the papers in front of Ainz.

“Um, Ainz-sama, what is that?” She asked.

“Ah, that. I got curious after hearing about it and had Mare draw the weapon that the half-elf he met in the Slane Theocracy uses,” Ainz said after looking at the picture Albedo pointed.

Albedo didn’t say anything, but rather looked at her master expectantly.

“It’s Death’s Call, a rather well-known weapon. Quite a powerful one too,” Ainz said, a hint of nostalgia in his voice. “I should warn the other guardians about it.”

 

 

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