Chapter 4, Part 1

Old Original Characters mentioned in this part:

Yavon – the head/founder of Zuranon, the first disciple of Surshana and the first Cardinal of Darkness. He was introduced in the Intermission of my Volume 13.

Clementine – she is mentioned at the end of the Intermission of my Volume 13. Clementine’s corpse had been stolen by Zuranon, who later resurrected her. However, due to the trauma she experienced, Clementine has no recollection of her fight with Momon.

The capital of the Holy Kingdom

As she made her way through the crowd, towards the front of the hall, Clementine couldn’t help but have a bad premonition. Soon she was close enough to overhear the conversation between the two women at the center of everyone’s attention. A barely concealed scowl on Clementine’s face indicated that her premonition was right.

The Draconic Kingdom? Seriously? Traveling there is going to take us two months, she swore as the thoughts raced through her mind.

***

After Clementine’s shocking death in the hands of then-copper-ranked adventurer Momon she had spent over three years at Zuranon’s primary hideout. She didn’t want to do so, of course. But the leader, Yavon, insisted she stays hidden since her actions had antagonized both the Slane Theocracy and the quickly rising Darkness.

Finally, after three years she was finally allowed to leave. She even got a mission from Yavon, the best kind of mission at that, the kind she liked – to kill some girl in the Holy Kingdom. Who would have thought that this, seemingly simple mission would turn out like this?

I had already annoyed Yavon when I and Khajiit got killed by Darkness without accomplishing jack. But now, I can’t even do something as simple as killing a young girl? Clementine was filled with rage, but as mad as she was, there was nothing she could actually do.

She had arrived at the capital several weeks ago and was immediately able to locate her target. Not that it was a difficult thing to do, aside from the Queen, Neia Baraja was probably the most well-known person in the city. Feeling exhilarated, Clementine went to the church of Ainz Ooal Goal – a former concert hall which was transformed into a church for this new religion.

There shouldn’t have been any issues – the girl herself was low level, and any guards she had wouldn’t be able to stop Clementine’s attack. Unfortunately, the reality proved quite different. She saw Neia deliver a spirited sermon, about how Ainz-sama is justice, and that every citizen of the Holy Kingdom had a responsibility to become strong, so as to not burden their savior with their weakness. She also saw the two towering undead monsters near her.

It was a strange sermon, the girl’s speech excited one’s soul, while the monsters behind her sent a chill down one’s back. Clementine couldn’t help but tremble when she saw the undead guards for the first time. The red dots in the hollow eyes scanned the crowd without pause, and she got a strong feeling that the skeletons were just waiting for an excuse to unleash their hatred of humans. But no one attacked Neia, and so the guards remained motionless.

This was a nightmare – the undead were stronger than Clementine, and there were two of them. A normal attack was out of the question. She hoped to strike at night, but the monsters actually stood guard next to sleeping Neia. Her only option was a surprise strike from the crowd. But even this proved impossible. Neia spent most of her day in the church, giving sermons and talking to believers. And when she left, she would do so between the two undead. The citizens also knew not to talk to her at these times and would stand respectfully aside, giving her a wide passage to go through even in crowded locations.

At her wit’s end, Clementine decided that she would make her move in the church, during a sermon. These were the only times when both monsters would stand behind Neia, giving Clementine a good chance of killing her, before they could intercept her. Then, once the panic set in, it would be simple to mix with the rest of the crowd and make her escape.

After settling on this plan, Clementine began to go to the church every day. She wasn’t sure how smart the undead were or if they could remember the people they saw. However, just in case, she decided to slowly make her way to the front. Every day she would stand a little closer during a sermon.

A week later she stood at the front of the crowd, right in front of Neia. The thrill of the kill made Clementine shiver with excitement. Her new stiletto was ready to slip out of her sleeve and into her hand, and she was just waiting for an opportune moment to strike.

Suddenly, Neia removed her visor. She looked at it, and then rubbed it with a sleeve of her shirt as if it was fogged. Clementine judged that this was the best time to strike and already made the first step when Neia looked up at her.

Those eyes!

Clementine finally realized why Neia behaved so calmly, despite the constant presence of the two undead guards. She was more of a monster than the two undead! Those murderous eyes, which would make more sense on a monster than on a young girl, stared at Clementine, instantly stopping her in her tracks. The sheer killing intent of the stare overwhelmed her.

Clementine backed up into the crowd, while those haunting eyes followed her, making her feel like an ant being watched by a bored human who was trying to decide if he should step on said ant or not. It probably only took a second, but to her it felt like an eternity. Finally, Neia put her visor back on, and the terror Clementine felt came to an end.

Drenched in cold sweat, she walked out of the church like she was in a dream. Walking aimlessly down a street, she tried to collect her thoughts.

How are these the eyes of an innocent girl? I’ve killed dozens of people, laughing while I did so, and I don’t have eyes like that! Seriously, is she a monster disguised as a human? It’s impossible for a normal person to have such murderous eyes. Clementine shook her head, trying to disperse the image of the girl staring at her.

She came to the conclusion that she couldn’t kill Neia alone. After reaching this point, she had no choice but to send word to Yavon, and explain that she needed backup. Unfortunately, Zuranon was not an assassins’ guild, so while they had powerful individuals, they didn’t have anyone proficient in assassination. The best they could do was send another magic caster, similar to Khajiit’s power level, to serve as a distraction for her attack.

Who would have known that before her backup arrived, a servant of the Sorcerer King would come to whisk her away to the Draconic Kingdom. Clementine wanted to curse her luck, but there was nothing she could do.

After finishing her sermon, Neia announced that she would be leaving for the Draconic Kingdom and that her assistants would continue to spread the word of the glorious Ainz Ooal Gown, in her absence.

Powerless, Clementine watched as Neia and the servant – a stunningly beautiful woman with an eye patch – stepped into a whirlpool of energy which appeared next to them. After they went through, the energy dissipated, leaving Clementine grinding her teeth in frustration.

Inside the Great Tomb of Nazarick

Ainz was sitting behind his desk in his bedroom in Nazarick. Besides him, there were also a number of Eight Edge Assassins as well as the ever-present maid – one of the homunculus maids called Etoile. There were quite a few stacks of papers on the table in front of Ainz. The recent addition of several kingdoms had nearly doubled the number of documents being sent to him.

Luckily, he was still playing dead, so he didn’t need to actually sign off on anything, like he had to after taking over E-Rantel. Of course, Albedo would still ask for his decision on the more important matters, but the mundane stuff was handled by her. On the other hand, he would spend his time reading the various reports, which were sent to him from all over the place.

There were missives about the reconstruction of the Draconic Kingdom, the updates from the Elven Kingdom as well as new from the Holy Kingdom. Not to mention information from Sebas, who was undercover in the City-State Alliance. However, the most important reports were those regarding the movements of the various Slane Theocracy’s agents and the Re-Estize Kingdom.

Ainz knew that the Theocracy was gathering a force to strike against him, so he would naturally follow any news about their movements closely. The reason he was paying so much attention to the Re-Estize Kingdom was related, but different. Although he had read the report about the meeting between Renner, Blue Rose and an agent of the Theocracy, his true aim was to decipher the plan that Demiurge and Albedo had made for the Re-Estize Kingdom.

It was obvious that despite his attempt to the contrary, Demiurge thought that Ainz was disappointed that it was taking so long to take over the nearby Kingdom. In fact, during their last meeting, the demon had told him that their plans for the Kingdom had changed, and would produce even better results. Since he had nothing better to do, Ainz decided to try to figure out what Demiurge’s plan was.

Currently, he was stroking his chin, deep in thought. The reason for his behavior was a [Message] he has received a little while ago from one of his Elder Liches. The Lich was stationed near the gates of E-Rantel, working in conjunction with the human guards as an immigration official. According to it, the adamantite adventurers’ group Blue Rose had entered the city.

Why did they come? According to the report about their meeting, the Theocracy had told them of their plans, Renner had played along, while Blue Rose members were skeptical. Hmm, during the Jaldabaoth’s invasion of the capital Evileye was already suspicious of me. Could it be? Did she come here in order to confront Momon and confirm her suspicions? Having come to this point, Ainz decided to leave it be, and instead focused on trying to decipher the shenanigans that Demiurge had planned for the Re-Estize Kingdom.

The situation in the Kingdom is quite favorable to us, but how will they go about actually taking over it? Are they hoping to increase pressure on King Zanac until he has no choice but to become our vassal? But if that’s the case then our actions are actually counterproductive. If that was the plan, then we should’ve let them starve, and made our help conditional on them becoming our vassal. Although, doing so would paint us in a bad light. Ainz sighed and scratched his polished temple. As I thought, Demiurge’s and Albedo’s scheme obviously isn’t that simple. Maybe they are planning to have this Philip character merry Princes Renner? If the King Zanac was then eliminated, Philip would become the new king, and as our puppet would do whatever we want. Yes, this seems much more likely.

Satisfied with his mental deductions Ainz leaned back in his chair and stretched. He chuckled at his actions – being an undead, he did not feel fatigue and there was no need for stretching, nor did leaning back make him feel more comfortable. Those actions were just remnants of his humanity.

He was just about to go back to reviewing other reports when he received a new [Message] which once again had to do with Blue Rose. This time they told the receptionist at the Golden Pavilion that they wanted to talk to Momon and asked when he would return. After parading through the Draconic Kingdom, and raising his fame amongst the people, he had returned to Nazarick. He was supposed to officially return to E-Rantel the next day.

Hmm, no, it’s too dangerous, meeting with Blue Rose could be tricky, I’ll have to handle this matter myself. Ainz thought back to the time he spent in the capital of Re-Estize and his interactions with the members of Blue Rose. I didn’t spend much time with the other members, and their behavior seemed fine, but Evileye… Yes, Evileye is the main problem, I’ll have to be very careful when I talk to her. She was already acting suspiciously around me back then. If I slip up and she decides that something is fishy, she could alert other parties and could jeopardize my whole plan for Theocracy.

If Ainz had a face, it would display a dark expression, while his bony fingers tapped on the table’s surface. If things go really bad, I might even have to kill her, in order to contain the spread of information. But, Blue Rose obviously wouldn’t accept such an act, then what should I do? Killing all of Blue Rose is too dangerous, as it would alarm the Theocracy and could easily result in them halting their current plans. I could try to use a doppelganger in her stead. That could work, although it comes with the same problems as killing all of them, should the truth get uncovered. Still, this is the best solution I can think of right now.

After he arrived at this conclusion Ainz decided to have a doppelganger on standby, should he need one when he meets with Blue Rose tomorrow. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and Etoile went to answer it.

“It’s Demiurge-sama,” she reported a moment later.

“Ah, Demiurge. Let him in,” Ainz ordered.

Since he had come to a certain conclusion as to the demon’s plans for the Re-Estize Kingdom, talking to Demiurge could allow Ainz to confirm if his hypothesis. He was looking forward to this conversation. However, after Demiurge entered the room, Ainz’s face sunk, or at least it would’ve if he had an actual face. The reason for this reaction was the person following Demiurge. Looking at her, Ainz couldn’t help but rack his brain.

What is she doing here?

 

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