Seeing the stars slowly fade out to give way for a new sunset, the Overlord put his royal attire back on and walked away from the windows.
"Foire, I'm heading out to pick Shalltear for a meeting. You may follow me to the Graveyard if you wish."
The maid suddenly perked up, trying to hide a slight bit of fear.
"O-Of course my Lord! I love the Graveyard! I'll follow you every step of the way!"
"Umu, we'll be departing now. [Gate]"
The maid held tight to Ainz's robes as the consuming vortex ascended from the floor, she really was trying not to show her apprehension visiting such a spooky place.
'Fufu, she really is a bad liar. I wonder if it was Herohero or Whitebrim who made her this way…'
This time, Ainz chose to bring the two of them straight to the entrance of the Adipocere Chambers. Besides the convenience, Ainz felt Foire might pass out if she had to walk through all the second floor.
'At least she stopped shivering. Let's see how things are going on the inside now.'
Opening up the frilly curtains with a regal wave of his arms, Ainz was met again with the lounging of vampiric brides, now less surprised than the first time he announced himself, but still respectfully eager to serve.
Instead of the tiara-wearing bride that usually addressed him, this time the bob-haired one came to personally greet him.
"I bid you welcome, Overlord-sama. Lady Shalltear is currently available in her quarters. I will summon her if it is your wish, or perhaps you have come to grace us for another reason?"
Ainz had learned better not to flinch by now. He was used to the devotion of the Floor Guardians and the Homunculus maids, but the Ero workers Peroroncino and Shalltear set up here were another hurdle entirely to overcome.
"I appreciate the warm reception. It's good to know Shalltear is in good health, but it would be more appropriate for me to visit her personally."
He could hear the lewd chitter-chatter coming from the other brides already starting in the back. 'Man, this makes me feel less like a king and more like I'm picking up my girlfriend from school and all her students are gossiping about it.'
"If that is the wish of the Overlord, we shall not intervene." The bride lowered her head before continuing speaking. "However, we can make room for the maid accompanying you if you desire."
Ainz thought about it, not even noticing Foire flinch behind. 'Hum, a maid being attended by other maids? Well, it might be a good break for her, better than having her stand outside doing nothing.'
"Sure, please treat Foire here as a guest for me, I'd appreciate it."
"A-Ainz-sama!"
Her despair fell on deaf ears as the brides were already carrying her off, laughing as they did while others arranged a tea table for them all.
"We'll give her a treatment worthy of a servant of the supreme one."
"Umu. By the way, what happened to the other bride who addressed me last time?" Ainz remembered her well, a golden tiara with ruby jewels and long flowing hair that extended to her bosom.
The vampire bride in command flashed an odd reaction at that, a smile trying to hide her confusion at the question.
"Oh, as far as I know, she is waiting to be respawned by the daily POP system after serving Lady Shalltear last night."
"Oh. Umu, I see. I'll head to see Shalltear now."
'Right, Shalltear is like that towards her concubines. I should be happy I could match up with her strength after all.'
"As you wish, my Overlord."
Without looking back to see the desperate pleas of a certain maid that was being "cared" for by the vampire brides, Ainz head on to see the future queen once again.
It didn't take long for the two to meet again.
The Vampire had adorned herself beautifully once more, no longer disheveled or scruffy, Shalltear once again was in her prime appearance.
"Lord Ainz!" Shalltear slowly fluttered in front of the Overlord.
"It's been just one night, but it feels like it's been a lifetime since I last seen you~"
Ainz did not know what to expect when he went to meet Shalltear again, but seeing her so happy…
"It's good to see you too, Shalltear. You look dashing."
He extended a bony arm behind her, pulling her for an unnatural hug. It prompted a cute squeak from the true vampire.
"Ah!" She held her head high again, trying not to feel overwhelmed as she stared into the Overlord's face.
"Is- Is my second-time with you coming, Ainz-sama?"
…
The two undead went suddenly silent, both feeling a calming aura wash over them.
"N-No, Shalltear. I'm calling all Guardians for a meeting soon enough, and I wanted to come pick you up myself."
"A-Ah! Of course!" Shalltear's face flushed, she remembered how her Lord lovingly ushered those words into her ears after bedding her.
'He was telling the truth. My Lord really cares for me that much…'
"So." Ainz motioned a cough before extending his skeletal hand. "Would you join me in the throne room, Shalltear Bloodfallen?"
Her face lit up at his proposal. It spoke much more than an invitation to lounge together, or even to bed her.
This was…
"Yes!" She held the proposing hand with both her arms, bringing herself closer to a hug the Overlord didn't expect.
"This Shalltear Bloodfallen will be by Ainz-Sama's side, forever and ever!"
It was like the 'Happy endings' she read in some of the novels Peroroncino had left behind for her. She never expected she would get to live it herself.
'Peroroncino-sama… Even if you left us, thanks for creating me to stay by Lord Ainz's side…'
Ainz thought at first he was only prolonging this hug for Shalltear's sake, but before he knew it, his bony arms had tightened himself around her.
'Peroroncino-sama… This is good, isn't it?'
The Overlord looked down to Shalltear's face once again, wiping a tear from her teary-eyed smile.
"I'm happy to hear that, Shalltear. I truly am."
'Maybe things won't feel so lonely now…'
"Here, I'll give us some time."
Shalltear didn't know what Ainz planned, but she continued holding onto him until she no longer had the option.
"[Message]"
"[Aureole Omega. Please notify the Floor Guardians in thirty minutes time that I'll hold a meeting in the Throne Room. You can notify Sebas too, tell him to bring the Pleiades.]"
"There we go, we have some extra talking time now."
Shalltear was surprised. Ainz-sama did that so smoothly! And all of that just for them? She almost forgot it meant he wanted to talk more.
"Sasuga, Lord Ainz! Are you sure you can change your schedule so suddenly...arinsu?"
She only got a chuckle from the Overlord as response.
"Don't worry, it's all part of the plan."
'Yeah, that same thousand-year plan Demiurge is convinced I have, right.'
"Well, never mind that." Ainz suddenly opened a [Gate] to outside the first floor. "Why don't we take a walk around the graveyard? You can tell me all about your duties keeping the security up."
Shalltear beamed up, back to her usual dignified self. "Of course! It would be my pleasure to accompany you, Ainz-sama!"
Without even looking back, Ainz left the Adipocere Chambers behind holding hands with Shalltear.
'I wonder if she remembers the player invasions. There were a lot of times a player wandered alone into the Tomb and I had to gank them with Shalltear on the second floor.'
The Overlord smirked inside his head. 'I guess I wasn't as alone as I thought I was.'
The Frozen Wastes, a dignified title for the Fifth Floor of Nazarick. The endless expanse of glacial wastes was a treacherous journey for any unfortunate to cross it. The endless horizons of blanketed white snow, the chilling frost that crept deep into your bones, and if not for the environment itself, the beings within could provide a far worse fate.
Patrolling with his Frost Virgins, the insectoid Cocytus marched outside the Snowball Earth. He hadn't any duties to attend to by the Supreme One, but one his subordinates had a message from another landmark of the floor.
"Cocytus-sama, lady Nigredo beckoned that you meet with her."
The warrior's mandibles clacked. It was not often the other inhabitants of the Fifth would address him like this. Not due to incompetence or dishonor on their part, of course, every member just had their own reserved tasks that rarely required his supervision.
'Nigredo. Is. Albedo's. Sister. I. Can. Only. Imagine. She. Must. Want. To. Hear. From. Her. Again.'
Cocytus wouldn't know Nigredo's part in her sister's banishment, but that revelation was only an eventuality now. There were other things preoccupying the vermin lord's mind at this moment.
'Sisters. Siblings. Even. With. The. Rest. Of. The. Guardians. I. Still. Am. An. Outcast.'
It was true. These feelings weren't foreign to Cocytus, he had wondered time and time again why he felt strongly about carrying the heir of Ainz-sama in his back. He knows his place in Nazarick, he was forever thankful for being created by Lord Takemikazuchi, but a part of him still wandered wistfully…
'Were. Those. Feelings. Given. To. Me. By. My. Creator?'
'A. Warrior's. Bond.'
'The. Honor. Of. Raising. A. Heir.'
'The. Duty. To. Protect. Your. Family.'
There weren't many other insectoids in Nazarick, at least of his caliber. Entoma was the closest comrade in physiology he had acquainted with, he still remembers her masked stare as she delivered the words of Lord Ainz after Cocytus' first failure on subjugating the Lizardmen. He also remembered his silent fury after hearing she'd been stricken down in battle in her assault on the capital.
'To. Not. Be. Able. To. Protect. A. Comrade. In. Battle…'
A heavy sigh of frost was exhaled from the frozen god's mandibles. He was not even assigned a part in that mission, he had no reason to feel shame for it, but being the living sword of the supreme one, being unable to protect his troops once left a scar on his ego.
'I. Won't. Let. It. Happen. Again.'
Those thoughts could be put to rest as he finally made way into the Frozen Prison. His destination laid at the furthest end of the corridor, Nigredo's room.
Cocytus didn't think much of the other inhabitants there, most were prisoners left to the torturers to handle, he didn't belong in their interrogation, nor was he eager to break the will of any fallen soldier.
However, someone else would steal his attention, if only for a moment.
"Wow…Has my executioner come at last? I almost wish I could have fought someone like you instead of that little druid."
Turning his head to the side, the vermin lord came face to face with Antilene, who he knew as the Half-Elf who met an unfortunate end trying to execute one of the strongest floor guardians, Mare Bello Fiore.
'Deceit. Really. Is. A. Powerful. Weapon.'
Cocytus didn't have any reason to entertain the half-elf prisoner, in fact, he would be wasting time from his current goal by doing so. But there was something about her choice of words that struck a chord with the insectoid warrior.
"I'm. Not. Your. Executioner." The vermin lord fully turned himself to face Antilene, assuming a dignified stance of a warrior from Nazarick. "Lord. Ainz. Has. Not. Ordered. Anything. Of. You. Yet."
The temperature of the prison cell lowered further between the two as Cocytus released his frost aura, but for the girl who had been hanging by her cuffed wrists for the past few days, nothing really seemed to impact her, except...
"...Really?"
She seemed almost disappointed, disappointed at the news that she was in fact not going to be executed.
"...Does. That. Bother. You?"
The god-kin simply tilted her head to the side, expressing a bemused bummer of someone bored out of their mind.
"...It does, actually." She lowered her head, expressing genuine emotion, bitterness. "I achieved the goal of my life, well, one of them at least."
She remembered stomping Decem out of his misery after finding his wretched form outside his castle, a phantom of a smile forming on her lips for a second.
"But after that? I'm only a weapon for the Theocracy. I spent my life looking for someone stronger than me, and this is where that got me."
"It wasn't even that good of a match…" She murmured under her breath, not caring anymore if Cocytus was listening to her or not. For all she knew, the Theocracy might be only smoldering ashes by now.
But again, her words held more meaning for Cocytus than she would ever have intended.
'Only. A. Weapon…'
Cocytus, too, could say he was a living weapon of his master. Yet that didn't bother him, what separated the two of them?
It should have been obvious, but for someone like Cocytus, there was only one way to understand the resolve of others.
"Do. You. Regret. Being. A. Weapon?"
Antilene perked her head up, not expecting the superior being to actually care for what she was saying.
"...It was never my choice. It's how I was raised to be. I don't know if something else was ever in the cards for me, but at least I would be fighting others for my own sake, and not for the Theocracy."
"...I. See."
'So. That's. How. It. Is.'
The two stared each-other off for the next moments. In Antilene's mind, she was ready to return her eternal punishment of waiting for an execution that never came. What happened next, however, defied all of her expectations.
The massive being that faced her suddenly lifted his weapon. The crystalline halberd had been the first thing she noticed when the vermin lord had walked by her, and now it was being swung directly to her head.
Or at least, that's what she expected to happen.
She didn't even get to brace herself as her bottom hit the icy ground with an undignified thump. It took a few moments for her to realize her head had not been split-off from her body, and the halberd had in fact hit the chains that held her cuffs in the air.
"Show. It. To. Me." Cocytus was an imposing figure towering over her now, but instead of executing her like she had been expecting, he offered something to her.
Holding an unassuming Katana by it's blade, he extended the weapon that she could hold it by it's hilt. Her mind had been running on overdrive now, trying to connect the dots of what was happening around her.
"You. Said. You. Would. Fight. For. Yourself." He exhaled a triumphant wave of frost towards the limp girl. "Prove. It. To. Me."
'And. Then. I'll. Learn. From. You. Too.' In truth, Cocytus didn't know what overtook him, if it was his wish to see her warrior's spirit for himself, or if he wanted to honor her desire for a good match. He would only learn by exchanging blades with the Half-Elf God-Kin.
Antilene felt a sudden surge of adrenaline course through her. It didn't matter if this was a trap. It didn't matter if this was a blunder from her captor that would let her escape. For some reason, she wanted to prove herself too.
A big smile formed on her face as she picked the katana up, it had been too long since she held a weapon, and a voice on the back of her head spoke out almost instantaneously as she did:
("Psychometry – Trump Cards found: [Field], [God Flash], [Fourfold Slash of Light] Martial Arts available.")
In Cocytus' mind, he knew most other floor guardians would rebuke him for this, but he did not believe he was doing anything wrong. He knew the power gap between the two of them, and if he could learn something from this, he was bringing more power into Nazarick.
'Lord. Ainz. Said. Knowledge. Is. The. Most. Powerful. Weapon. There. Is.'
Unbeknownst to the two combatants though, this simple exchange of sword strikes would become one of the most important moments in Nazarick's history.
In another room, where pink frills of cloth decorated the walls and giggles filled the air, a certain homunculus maid was facing one of the harshest trials of her career yet.
"Ah, please, you don't have to-"
"You're too stressed out, dear. Do all the other maids work as hard as you?"
Foire felt as if she would lose all control of her body if she didn't resist, but all of this was…
"Hnng, Ahh~"
"You're doing great, Foire, let all of it out."
The other brides at the tea table giggled on as Foire was being cared for by the vampire brides, occasionally breaking the silence by asking about the Homunculus' work.
"You get to stay all day long with the Supreme One? I'm impressed Lady Shalltear doesn't get jealous of you, maybe we should tell her~"
Foire's mind was almost broken as another bride touched her, all the stimulation made her feel like she was going to melt.
"Just like that, Foire-chan. Since we're done with your shoulders, let's massage your hands now. Just a gentle touch on your palms and you'll feel so much better…"
The maid let out another embarrassing noise as her hands were gently caressed, from the tips of her fingers to middle of her palm. Of all the things she feared when Shalltear's brides got their hands on her, a stress-relief massage was nowhere near what she expected.