"That was fun," Ainz muttered as he lay in bed. Azazel and Ainz had a long conversation about the future plan with the Lizard tribe during which the prince had rebuked him several times when he proposed ideas of exterminating the entire race. Of course, he had only asked these things to test him, but the result eased him nonetheless.
It showed that he had a mind of his own and wasn't afraid to show it. He was seeing similar behavior from the other NPCs that had good karma and were faced with something that went against their goodheartedness. Of course, they weren't expressing themselves as actively as the prince did but still Ainz realized their discomfort in some of the things he had mentioned. Them speaking up their mind was a great step toward a less stressful relationship as their 'boss'.
Obviously, Azazel was still as polite as always when he denied several extreme stances, but he had a laid-back attitude that, to a certain degree, made him feel like he was back in the game, talking to one of the other members of the guild.
That feeling got even stronger when he corrected Ainz on several things pertaining to healing spells and what happens during the process. Something about the soul projecting its image to the vessel through it is tethered to reality, making any severed limbs remain in the world because the soul didn't recognize it as its own once it was unrecognizable from its previous appearance. The way he described it made him almost wonder whether he had experimented by chopping a guinea pig's limbs off and healing it over and over again, not that he the angel would do such a thing.
Either way, the main point was that he had refuted and lectured him about magical theories that obviously went over his head, only to then kindly explain it to him after Ainz spoke up about his confusion. At that point, he wondered whether the prince knew how clueless he truly was, though in the end, he couldn't be sure.
After all the prince had ended his lecture with, "Thank you for pretending to be oblivious to these basic magical questions to strengthen my foundational knowledge..." When Ainz tried to convince him, he just laughed it off as if he was making a joke, so he just dropped it. Although he had failed to come clean about his clueless nature, this could count as him sowing the seeds for a future conversation.
Ainz turned to his side and looked at the closed door of one of the guest houses the village had prepared and wondered where Narberal was. Initially, he thought she would wait in the room, but she was nowhere to be found when he returned. Now it was already morning and she still hadn't shown up. Weird. What did she do the entire night?
Ainz slowly stood up, figuring that he had waited long enough and could already take a look around the village before everyone else woke up. He hadn't had the time yesterday as they went straight toward Azazel's group. He opened the door and saw that the first sunshine was already appearing. The surroundings were still comparable dark, but some of the villagers should have woken up soon if they hadn't already.
He started to walk through the village, his armor clanking slightly as he walked. As he surveyed the impressive progress the village had made in this short period of time. The houses looked sturdier and the roads were better maintained. During his inspection, he happened to come across Narberal and Enri, who looked like they were having a pleasant conversation.
The sight stunned Ainz as he rarely if ever saw Narberal smile directed at a human. Even if the human had done something extraordinary, she would either see them as a threat or just not have the urge to kill them. He knew of her disdain for humans, so seeing her opening and happily conversing with one was a strange sight, to say the least. Something must have put her in a terrific mood.
"Hello, you two. Woken up this early already?" He asked as they came closer. Enri hurriedly bowed politely when she saw him approach and Narberal adopted her usual polite manner, though the smile on her lips didn't vanish and hung around.
Ainz observed Enri, whose eyes seemed to be glowing. Her eyes had a certain spark to them that made him think that she was in high spirits or extremely excited about something. It was a rather stark contrast to her physically tired look that belied the glow in her eyes.
"We didn't have any sleep," Narberal answered with a happy smile, while Enri froze and her face turned red before politely excusing herself and running away. The entire scene made Ainz tilt his head in confusion.
"What was that about?"
"As a human, she probably wants to catch up on the sleep she missed. It must have been difficult for her weak body. It is already admirable that she was able to take it this long." Just when Ainz wanted to follow up with a question, Neia, the scribe from Azazel's group appeared and waved at them, or more specifically Narberal, which she returned readily.
He could accept one human that garnered Narberal's goodwill, but Neia, whom she just met? There had to be something more to it, especially since Neia also had that same spark in her eyes. "Yo. I figured you were already up." Azazel suddenly greeted, while some other villagers also walked out of their houses, greeted them politely before going on with their day.
"I should probably prepare for our trip." Narberal suddenly said before she bowed and left as well. Ainz pondered for a moment before remembering that she would accompany Azazel to the cave and 'investigate' it for any magical secrets. Azazel smirked slightly as he watched Narberal leave, whose ears were surprisingly red.
"Did you sleep well?" Ainz asked perfunctory, fully knowing that the angel didn't need to sleep to rest just like the undead. However, he did remember that sleeping was the angel's hobby, something Ainz envied him greatly for.
As expected, Azazel responded with a big smile on his face, though his answer was surprising. "I didn't sleep, but the night was really pleasant." Ainz weighed the options, but in the end, he refrained from asking what pleasant thing he did in the night as he had the feeling that he didn't like the answer, so instead, he changed subjects.
"Do you know why Narberal gets along well with Enri and Neia? Enri and Neia also seemed rather tired and looked like they were about to collapse." The angel's smile grew even bigger with that question.
"Yes, I do know." Azazel started. "They probably share a bond now that they are fuck buddies."
"..." Ainz was able to hear the words and understand the individual meanings, but somehow his brain lagged behind in deciphering the meaning of the sentence. "What?" He intelligently uttered after a moment of silence.
"They are now fuck buddies, I mean they were both fucked by me last night, which was probably why the two were also so exhausted. They couldn't handle my dick for the entire night even if they shared it with Narberal and Lupus. And unfortunately for them, I didn't let them rest for too long after each round."
"...Aaaaah... Lupusregina was there as well..." An emotional dampener later, he was able to calm down again. "...Don't forget about Albedo's feelings." Ainz just remarked, not knowing how else he could get away from this topic, hoping that the angel would take the hint and change the subject.
Azazel's eyes seemed to glimmer with a light and for some reason, to Ainz, his gentle smile looked like a smirk. "Naw, don't worry. I recorded everything and sent it to her. She will be thrilled to see me have fun." Ainz's emotional dampener kicked in again.
His fist was raised just short of hitting Azazel before he dropped it to his side again. 'Damn, I want to punch him so bad.' Ainz thought as he took several deep breaths to calm his instincts to strike the ikemen.
He can't help it. It's not his fault they had made him like this. In fact, it was Ainz's fault for not disallowing the other members from changing Hermorah's vanilla NPC. Without it, the subsequent changes to the other NPCs wouldn't have happened either. If it weren't for them changing him, they would have had a wholesome prince instead of a Casanova!
"Do you want the recording as well? I can send it to you. Don't jerk off to it though, that would be weird." As soon as Azazel finished his hair roused from the wind hitting his face as the palm from Ainz almost reached his face. The emotional dampener once again saved the prince from being smacked.
The prince looked at the retracting palm with a smile. "That's what I did to them as well, though I slapped their ass instead," Azazel explained unprompted.
"Are you doing this on purpose?!" Ainz hollered attracting the attention of several villagers.
"What do you mean, Ainz-sama?" Azazel just tilted his head in confusion, making Ainz sigh again as he repeated 'It's not his fault.' in his mind several times over. He shook his head, feeling tired even though the day had just started. He almost hit his beloved friend's son twice for being the way he was created. Something about his words just infuriated the skeleton wizard.
Ainz turned around and walked away, ignoring the angel's inquiry. On his mindless walk, he came across Nfirea, who looked like he hadn't seen sleep for days. He had dark rings under his eyes and a conflicted expression donned his face, making Ainz wonder what he had gone through-
"You alright, Nfirea?" He asked as he approached the young man who didn't see him coming at all as he was deep in his thoughts.
"Hmm?" The potion maker raised his head and looked at him. One eye peeked through his hair.
"You don't look well." Ainz carefully and worriedly stated, making the boy smile wryly.
"It's nothing." He shook his hands in denial, but the lie couldn't have been more obvious. They then decided to walk side-by-side with no clear destination in mind. "Momonga-san... have you ever done something that you know you shouldn't have and liked it even though you should hate it?" The young herbalist suddenly asked, clearly having something specific in mind that he didn't want to share.
"I do," Ainz said after careful deliberation and thought. The moment he had landed in this world, he felt it. The game he spent so much time in and should have ended was now extended and he was ripped out of his life and thrown into a new one.
Although he longed for his friends to be by his side, part of them was still with him in the form of their children, their NPCs. Maybe he should yearn for his life as Suzuki Satoru, but he felt like he could regain those glorious and happy days from Yggdrasil.
Ainz looked at the sky as he thought about trying to find a way back, but there wasn't really anything that would wait for him there. His friends had their own lives and he wasn't the same person he used to be.
Only if they changed as well, could they accept one another, and even then it wasn't guaranteed that everything would be fine. The conversation with Azazel had shown him how dramatically he changed. It was quite ironic that the angel-NPC was more human than he was. He also clearly remembered how apathetic he felt when he killed the soldier to save Enri and her sister or how satisfied he was when he killed Clementine.
They were all things he should hate or lament about, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He would do anything to preserve what he had even if it meant stepping over bodies. To protect what he held dear was his top priority even if they disagreed on it. "Maybe we should hate it, resent that the present isn't something else, but I believe it will be a happier and more fulfilling path if we embrace the things we have instead of longing for something that won't happen."
Of course, that didn't mean he would give up on the slim chance that his friends had arrived in this world with him or maybe would in the future, but he didn't want to cling to something that most likely wouldn't happen. Ainz looked over in the distance toward Azazel speaking to one of the paladins.
After the novelty of a new world slowly faded, he just felt lonely and lost when he arrived in this unknown world, so much so that he sought something out there, an eventful adventure, even though he had everything he needed close by, his family, his friends were by his side.
"Indeed!" Nfirea suddenly exclaimed, making him remember that it was the boy who caused him to think about it more deeply. "It isn't weird and it is better than the alternative of not having any contact with her at all! I'm not a pervert, this is natural."
"..." Ainz felt like he had steered Nfirea into a dark future.
...
"And then Richard grabbed them at the collars and threw them out of the restaurant. Honestly, it was hilarious to see the look on their faces!" I finished my tale of some hooligans that caused some trouble at the Hearthstone Restaurant only for them to be completely humiliated.
Ainz snorted slightly. "Seems like you have gotten used to the city." I nodded at his response.
"Yeah, it's quite interesting and the people there are friendly and welcoming, at least generally. There was this Mythril adventurers group that wanted to cause some trouble, though I was able to convince some of their members to drop it... Perhaps I should visit the girls, they must already miss me." I muttered the last sentence, though I was loud enough for Ainz to hear it.
I saw the knee-jerk reaction to slap me over the head, but he kept his cool with his emotional dampeners clearly supporting him. Honestly, it was really satisfying to tease him like this. I glanced over to the other people coming along on this trip back to the cave. This little visit was only for Ainz and me to meet up and have a chat. I was also able to get to know Enri a bit 'deeper' and managed to visit Lupusregina like I promised I would.
Now that I had brought the paladin group with me, I needed to think of an excuse for how Nazarick would benefit from it. Of course, I already thought of some ideas, but I wasn't really satisfied with any of them. Luckily Ainz hadn't asked yet and it didn't seem like he was too interested in the answer. Not surprising as he would rather talk about what we had experienced in the few weeks we went out as adventurers.
After a moment we closed in on the cave and the atmosphere grew tense, at least for the humans in our group. We knew that there wasn't anything devious in there or any lethal trap, but we still pretended to be on guard. As we entered the cave my mind was on last night, to be more precise the connection my domain had established with Neia and Enri.
Their souls had submitted themselves to me and I could sense that I could bestow blessings to them. I could even raise their levels if I wanted to drain a significant portion of the energy I had accumulated for the domain. I had slain many foes and the domain's energy just directly translated to experience points, explaining why I could forcefully raise their levels.
Though I could also give them some blessings in the form of skills, giving them out would cost me a lot of development in my domain, so I instinctively rejected the idea. I wondered what would happen if they developed naturally, it should be beneficial for my domain's growth, right?
Obviously, the idea of summoning an angel and forcing them to be vessels had crossed my mind, but they were just too precious for me to do that. I didn't need much support from angels at the moment anyway.
"... we can activate the teleportation again." Narberal finished her explanation in an indifferent tone directed at the paladins. It was an explanation that we had come up with. It was a feasible one if some scholars decided to question it. Not that anyone would as this would be a 'top secret' only we would know. I shouldn't forget to threaten the paladin and make them swear to keep it secret as this might give the queen a valuable strategic benefit.
Whether they would keep their word was inconsequential, not that they would know. After a moment the cave started to brighten up with the spell again and we appeared in the other cave again. It was now time to say goodbye. I walked up to Narberal and hugged her tightly. "It had been nice to see you again. Take care you two." I said before the paladin group and I stepped toward the entrance of the cavehall.
"Make sure to visit me in E-Rantel," Ainz said as he waved.
"Will do."
"See you, Azazel!" Narberal waved like a schoolgirl saying goodbye to her crush before they disappeared in a dazzling light again. I turned toward the group of humans, who were waiting for my decision.
"Let's go look at that demi-human camp." Considering the fact that we weren't too far away as I had chosen this cave because of its proximity to ensure the validity of the decision to investigate it instead of heading toward the camp, we only took an hour to get to our destination.
Although the others didn't seem too rested and doubts were in the back of their minds, they continued to follow my command as the 'professional' of the group despite them being closer to demi-human-exterminators from their years of experience to eradicate any camp that might pose a threat to a human settlement.
After seeing me 'collude' or rather accept the presence of the demi-humans they spent so much time hunting down, of course, they had some doubts about my character and relationship to the other race. Fortunately, the halo of my appearance, reputation, and previous interactions with them quelled any thoughts of disobedience.
My strength, my connection to some unknown higher-up inside the paladin order, and me being a 'wandering paladin' were also attributes that would prevent any of them from thinking it would be wise to go against me, deep inside the enemy's territory. Even if they grew to suspect me, I had the entire way back to convince them otherwise.
It would be rather easy as this group was 30 percent female and those would easily become my mouthpieces to convince the others. Who knew, perhaps they would even praise the fact that demi-humans were able to live with humans-
Just as the thought came to mind, I knew how I could steer this to benefit me. I looked up and was able to sense the camp of demi-humans. On my sign, they came to a halt. "The camp is just ahead, Neia will scout the situation. We will act according to the situation." I said in a low voice as I surveyed the paladins, who were tensing up from my words. Neia nodded and disappeared into the woods.
As I was directing the positions of the paladins, the quiet tone I used made them even more vigilant, thinking that the enemy was within hearing distance. We laid low, ready for any attack as we waited for Neia's return. As the minute passed the paladins grew more tense, though as the professionals they were, they weren't cowering or panicking.
There was a calm that they had cultivated through a life in deadly situations. The more nervous they became, the sharper their focus was. The queen had truly given me some exceptional veterans. Although their individual strength was lacking and they appeared to be rather narrow-minded, they seemed to be able to handle any crisis.
Perhaps, I should make them my paladins and see the effects of my domain on their bodies as well as witness how the theoretical ideas would come to fruition. There was always a gap between practice and theory. Only after using it for real could I be excited about my capabilities.
There wasn't even any doubt whether I would succeed. To turn a low-level paladin into one of my minions would be as easy as turning my hand. It was only things I was worried or ignorant about that needed my full attention and careful planning.
If I was more brazen or knowledgeable, I would have gone to Albedo directly and connected her soul to my domain, but a level 100 being regardless of whether they were min-maxed or not represented the very limit this being was able to achieve in their life, coupled with my unstable quasi-divine domain and the limited experience and knowledge made turning her risky to say the least.
If one didn't consider the edge cases and unknown variables, it would be the death of any scientific endeavor. Suddenly a bush rustled slightly, making the paladins quietly point at it with their swords. Neia stepped out of it before approaching me to tell me about the camp. Roland smiled wryly as the leader of this paladin group, he was actually ignored by their squire.
"My Lord, there are around 80 to 90 demi-humans. Most of them are equipped with weapons. There are also resources that look like they were freshly attained. There..." She hesitated for a moment before thinking about something, "There is also a small group in chains... also demi-humans from another race..."
Neia then went on to detail the races that made up the group. One was dominating the numbers, but there were a bunch of others mixed inside, which made it clear that they were forcefully recruited. Their bloody appearance also indicated that they had just finished fighting.
I nodded slightly. They were just done battling against a competitor and now made slaves out of the loser, not something that surprised me. Roland's eyes widened slightly at the number of demi-humans. They were 40 more than what the report said.
A number approaching 100 was difficult to win against with the 8 paladins that were likely physically weaker than the demi-humans. It would require each of them to fight 1 against 10. Not something ordinary people could do against a physically superior race.
Even if they had a couple of levels on them, they would still barely get out alive if they focused on escaping. Luckily for them, they had me on their side. Their guardian angel.
"I will initiate the attack, try to flank the group, and kill anyone that tries to escape." They should be able to handle 3 or 4 on their own, so I should be good to start off by killing half of them and then assisting them to take their enemies out. I should also see whether I could power-level Neia. Now that she was mine, I wanted to see whether I could make her stronger more quickly.
...
Queen Calca Bessarez looked at the letter that was given to her by Roland, reporting what they had encountered during their first journey together with Azazel. Her brows furrowed as she finished the letter before her hand held her chin in thought as she thought about the reason for his behavior.
They coincidentally came across a cave with a teleportation trap inside and appeared close to a village that housed demi-humans. Instead of eliminating them, they were able to visit a village that seemed to coexist with these demi-humans. Of course, Calca wasn't ignorant of interactions between races, but usually, those were the exception, not the rule, and certainly not in a human kingdom.
After they had stayed the night in that village, they went out and found some demi-humans that were expanding their forces and swiftly dealt with them except for some prisoners. Although this all seemed like a coincidence or misjudgment, she couldn't help but see a hidden message Azazel had left specifically for her.
In thought, her hand drifted to the choker with a heart emblem on it, feeling the smooth texture of it. Sometimes she just stared at this accessory and thought that it fit her even if it contrasted to what she normally wore.
Just thinking about this personal gift from Azazel made her all hot and bothered. She closed her eyes and shook her head. Just as he had said, being in the vicinity of him had already altered her feelings and thoughts. Even though they hadn't met after that meeting, she couldn't help but yearn for him, for his touch again.
He warned her to keep contact scarce, so she wouldn't be affected, but it was already too late. Now all she could think about was him. But how could it be wrong to be in his vicinity? How could it be wrong to fall for him, to want him to do unspeakable things to her body? So what if she was corrupted by these thoughts-
No! She shouldn't be thinking these things about this divine being. She shouldn't think about how he pulled her on the choker before bending her over her desk only to fuck her into a teary mess, but here she was with her hand drifting to her nether region-
"I heard you got news from Azazel?" Kelart asked as she burst into the room, interrupting her before she could perform a sacrilegious act. She glanced at Kelart, who looked eager to hear from their angel. At least, she wasn't the only one suffering, longing for an untouchable being.