He could not bear to see her like this. After a few hours of watching Shalltear curled up and crying in her bed, Pero stepped out of her room to calm down himself. No matter what he said she would not listen. In her own mind, Shalltear was the worst traitor of all time and didn't deserve to be forgiven, and the same intense loyalty every NPC of Nazarick had was now Pero's worst enemy.
"How is she?" His sister Buku asked, noticing him enter the room. And she was not the only one. The rows of vampire brides that weren't on patrol routes stared at him with pleading expressions. Shalltear was back in her sanctuary, but very few of her subjects had seen her.
Pero just shook his head and walked over to sit next to his sister by the table. The vampire brides watched the pair, standing still like statues, unsure of what to do.
"You think you can leave her alone for a short while? Ainz wants a plan to deal with Slane Theocracy for what they have done." Buku asked.
"Just burn that place to the ground. You didn't see what she tried to do!" Pero choked.
"What do you mean? I know she blames herself but-"
"She… she tried to kill herself by tearing her own heart out."
"Are you sure you can leave her alone? I can stand in for you and message important stuff." Buku offered.
"I'm not sure. I don't even know how to help her." Pero admitted while pushing his talons into his right palm. A habit he had developed in the last few days, almost self-inflicting.
Buku tapped her lips with her thumb, shifted around her seat, and after a moment of silence, spoke. "I think she should resume her duties as floor guardian."
"You want her to work!?" Pero screeched, aura flaring.
"She feels unworthy to be in Nazarick right?" Buku ignored her brother's outburst, tapping her fingers on a nearby wall.
"Yeah, but-"
"Then forcing her to work will show we still trust her, especially since she is our first real line of defense. What's more, Ainz should be the one to issue the order, to reinforce the hierarchy of Nazarick," Buku raised her index finger to stop Pero from protecting her and continued. "Think about it, Shalltear attacked Ainz, so it is his trust she needs to see the most, and she feels unworthy because she betrayed her original purpose of defense, so let her regain that crucial role once more until she's more mentally stable."
Pero glared at his sister, hating to admit that she was right once again. "Ok… let's try that."
"I'll go talk with Ainz then. Keep an eye on my niece meanwhile," Buku stood up, ready to leave.
"Give me a heads up on what you decide to do about Slane."
"Sure."
It was just the three of them meeting in Ainz's office. Pero was with his daughter making sure she didn't try doing anything drastic, and Tabula was actively working on Kaire to make sure she didn't die of old age or escape into insanity. Information was key, and they had just kidnapped a potentially vital source of it. Once Tabula was done, Demiurge would have his fun.
During the last few days, Ainz, Ulbert, and Buku were embracing their leadership positions more than ever. The time for cautious optimism was over. The world had shown hostile intent towards Nazarick and they needed to repay the favor. Nazarick, despite its mental wounds, still had its sharp blades and strong shields.
"So Pero pretty much wants to burn the whole thing to the ground," Buku was one to start, sighing. She was performing both her and her brother's duties by not only communicating with Cocytus to be up to date with the progress of the military expansion but also dealing with Pero's servants. Choosing casual clothing over her plate set, she was leaning back into the sofa with a tired expression.
Ulbert, on the other hand, exuded his usual scheming confidence, sitting at the edge of a chair with his back straight as a plank and resting his hands on the walking stick he used as an accessory. It was clear he had ideas and wanted to tell them all about it.
Ainz was the last one present in all of his regal attire, and as the guild meetings went, both guards and maids had left the room. Complete privacy was needed. With Buku relaying Pero's wish for the rapid eradication of Slane, he once again returned to that pervasive thought of making the religious nation suffer as long as possible before ending its existence.
"No, no we should make them suffer. Quick destruction is too merciful of a fate. We should make them suffer, nice and slow. We start by destroying their religion, then their culture, and finally their legacy, making them look like xenophobic bastards who killed everyone that wasn't part of their cult," Ulbert voiced his opinion.
'Huh, that sounds exactly like the plan I was about to propose. Could some outside force influence our reasoning? I should somehow confirm this.' This could be just a coincidence and his natural paranoia making connections where there were none, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
"Buku, what do you think of Ulbert's proposal?" He asked.
"To be honest I wanted to suggest the same thing. If we are tormenting that old crone for eternity, then the rest of those bastards should suffer as well. Though at first, I wanted to agree with Pero," Buku confirmed his suspicion.
'It was outside influence! But the plan is sound. I will agree to it for now and look out for more such influences. I will have to consult Tabula on the matter if it repeats.' Ainz decided to just go along with it, given that if an entity could influence them this deep in the guild then they were quite strong. Best not to alert them for now.
"Then we will make them suffer. Ulbert, can I entrust you and Demiurge to work out a long-term strategy?"
"Already on it, boss. I even took the liberty to interview Clementine about everything she knows regarding Slane. You won't believe the things I found out, worth more than a gold mine."
"Go on." Ainz, as always, ignored his friend's theatrics. Ulbert was the chuuni of the guild and couldn't help himself but to play the role of the evil mastermind any chance he got. He was also the best at playing roles if push came to shove, but that was for another time.
"They know who we are, and they are scared shitless. You know why?" Ulbert took a dramatic pause, getting an eye roll from Buku. "The six players who created their religion were part of that invasion from when we were at our peak in the game. They left a diary retelling the events. You know what they call you?"
"Just get to the point!"
"The Ruler of Death. They think you are the worst monster that exists and even Gods fear you because you were the one to use your world item on what remained of the invasion at the end."
"And how is that relevant?" Ainz asked.
"Come on. You've gone into history as the big bad. I'm envious, you know. I wasn't even mentioned in their sacred texts. But that aside, there are no players left, but did fuck their fair share of locals and produced kids left and right like rabbits. So some of them are quite strong, at least by this world's standards. Apparently, the two strongest ones weren't even guarding the old bitch."
Ainz glared at Ulbert, his flames growing more intense while Buku slumped deeper into the sofa. He wanted information, and they were working on a limited time frame until the rest of Slane discovered their captive missing.
"So onto the practical part. We already knew they had a vault with all kinds of interesting stuff, but considering that they had one world item, there could be more and the woman simply didn't know. The vault is guarded by a half-elf girl, which alone is a strange fact."
"Why is that strange?" Buku's curiosity peaked, head perking.
"She is the only elf in the entire country who isn't a slave. From what Clementine revealed it was enough to just peek at her ears to get a hostile response, and that girl is the strongest fighter in the entire country. You know what her nickname is?" This time Ulbert didn't pause but answered his own question right away. "Zesshi Zetsumei. And I mean exactly that, not Certain Death in the local language."
"Do we have an estimate of her power level?" Buku inquired, perking up.
"No. She is far stronger than anyone else and Clementine called her an ancient beast no one could ever best. Though she supposedly looks like she is in her mid-teens. My guess is she is still very young by elven standards and can have a lifespan of up to millennia. So how about we raid the vault, stomp her into the ground, and implant some ideas in her mind to start seeing her handlers as oppressors."
"She might be too dangerous to be left alive," Ainz commented.
"Possibly, but that is where Tabula comes in. Did you know he devised a spell that lets its user remove both power and abilities from an enemy who is too weak to resist?"
"Why did he create something like that?" Buku demanded.
"You can go ask him yourself. I don't want a two-hour lecture." Ulbert retorted, chuckling.
"I'll ask his wife. She likes to chat. So, boss, are we going with Ulbert's plan?" She flipped her attention from Ulbert to Ainz.
"That is a good start. But I want everyone to wear world items and have both anti-death and anti-timestop items."
"Give me a few days to map out the vault area and plan a distraction. Would borrowing Rubedo for that purpose be an option?" Ulbert inquired.
"Why do you want her exactly?"
"She is our only angel that is strong enough to cause a ruckus."
"I could try to summon a seraph or even a metatron." Ainz proposed, only to get immediately shut down.
"Are you mental!?" Buku exclaimed. "A max-level angel can kill you easily and don't give me that 'I gained two levels and my weakness towards Holy has lessened' bullshit!"
"Everything up to cherubim has shown no signs of hostility. Though the summoning spell often fails. I will need to summon them eventually." Ainz retorted in kind.
"Not a bad idea, but maybe leave that after we make sure Slane can't threaten us anymore. For now, can I use Rubedo as a distraction while we assault the vault?" Ulbert steered the conversation back to his plans.
"Yes. Just make sure she has ways to retreat if things grow heated. As strong as she is, there still are limits." Ainz agreed.
"Of course. I wouldn't want to lose our strongest weapon. If that's all I'll go do some planning." Ulbert stood up and stretched.
"Unless Buku has anything then I think we're done for now." Ainz turned his head to look at her.
"No, I should go as well. Cocytus wants to finish up with the frogmen today." Buku also got up, stretching her back. "We have enough frog legs to open a French restaurant chain since, unlike lizardmen, those big-mouth morons simply do not know when to surrender. Oh, that reminds me. Should we leave some alive even if they continue fighting till the end, or just kill the entire species?"
"Maybe keep a few alive just in case. I would prefer to not genocide entire species in the first month of our expansion, and Tabula could always use more test subjects." Ainz replied.
"Got it, boss. If nothing else helps we'll slam some collars around their necks."
Once both his friends left Ainz could enjoy a small moment of silence before returning to his duties. In those moments of peace, he could feel a vague call from something beyond. Some sort of angelic force was trying to get his attention, but he didn't know how to track down the source as of yet. Just another thing on his bucket list as a leader.
Editing by aidan_lo.
Proofreading by Saphire_Drake, clagan, Lightflan, aidan_lo, LionLover, NuggetLover, x4x, and KieraKieraARTS.
Link my discord server (https://discord.gg/WmGKVU3XG2)