77
As soon as Ainz felt his feet standing on the solid ground of the Singularity he instantly looked around, trying to determine where he currently was.
After a few moments of observation Ainz had determined that he is currently in what would be best described with the phrase "uninhabited island". Ainz was currently standing on a golden yellow sand that carpeted and scattered in front of an endless blue sea stretching into the horizon. Behind him was, at a respectful distance from the location dominated by the beach, a cornucopia of vegetations rising to the sky in the form of numerous trees, shrubs and tall grass.
"Ha..." - Ainz chuckled for a moment. In Septem, he was so excited to see the sea that he has never seen before - and now, there is only the shining sea as far as the eye can see...
The problem, the only one in fact, that he could see right now was that with the boundless sea in front of him he doesn't really have any idea of where to go right now.
"The sun, the beach and the sea..." - Ainz turned to the source of the voice, seeing Mozart looking with interest at the vista of the Singularity that had opened to him. "I admit, I expected something much more sinister and strange..."
"Under any other occasion, I would suggest that we stay here for a while..." Nero sighed, after which she lit up the already light-flooded beach with a radiant smile, "But our mission cannot wait ~ umu! Ainz, what awaits us next?"
After Nero's exuberant words, the eyes of the rest of the Servants became focused on Ainz, forcing him to begin to tremble internally.
'I would like to know that myself…' - Ainz exhaled, after which he looked around the beach again.
As Ainz could see the island itself was very small, well as far as a person who never actually saw a real island could tell anyway. Ainz saw that at a certain distance, just a couple of kilometers, he could see the end of the beach, seeing only the sea instead, hopefully outlining the border of the island. In other words, the island definitely did not look too big from his vantage point.
"Well, then..." Ainz nodded. To make sure that he could take better care of the Servants, then this means that he needed to act rationally.
After a second, several small black clots separated from Ainz's shadow. These small clots, after a moment, began to slowly shape into huge birds of prey, consisting entirely of rotten flesh and in various places only bones. After they were completely formed they began to caw with a sound that can only be described as screams, they instantly soared upward.
"If you think about it, this is the second time that Senpai uses necromancy..." Mashu said softly, "Although, if it does not require bodies, can this be considered necromancy at all?.."
The four Bone Vultures created by Ainz were only of the twentieth level, and therefore Ainz did not expect that they could defeat any of the opponents they could meet on the island. However, after their destruction, Ainz could determine where on this island there was something worthy of interest. Or, if the vultures had not been destroyed at all, then Ainz could determine that there was nothing interesting on the island without wasting time exploring and bothering the other Servants.
However, this process takes time - and although it was only an hour or even less, his summons would most likely cover all the island. He considered it impractical to spend this entire hour on the beach.
So, while his summons are engaged in surveillance - it was best for him to decide on where he should go now.
And before that - how to go there.
Ainz looked once again at the parameters of the Servants he brought with him, trying to find among them something suitable...
"Cainabel," Ainz turned to the girl, who is currently trying her best to blot out the sun with her umbrella "Your second Noble Phantasm... Do you have any ships?"
Cainabel, hearing the question, made an expression of grimace and displeasure, - "To my regret, when I was collecting my army, I... I was not particularly interested in a fleet…"
"Unlike my dear friend, I will certainly find just a meager ship, my lord," Baal instantly interrupted Cainabel's reply, causing her to send him an evil glare, "A whole fleet, if you wish."
"Using your third Noble Phantasm in this Singularity is temporarily prohibited," Ainz warned Baal.
Of course flying was much better than sailing nine times out of ten. But flying with no concrete direction and not knowing if they have anywhere to land is assisted suicide at best. What's worse, by flying in this cludless coverless sky they would become a beacon to any enemy in a very large distance. And even worse than that by flying it would make themselves defenseless and make scouting anything on the ground even harder.
"Hmm..." Ainz thought about it some more then shook his head. 'Apparently, there's nothing else that can be done here... oh well.'
A second later, Ainz extended his hand forward, "Create Greater Item."
After another moment, Ainz's magic responded to his spell as it began to surge, after which, a small black blot fell into the water of the beach. In an instant the small blot began to spread to the sides, then the enlarged darkness surged upward from the water. This dark shape began to form a frame of a ship. Then the smudge of dark frames turned into a fast-flowing black stream, outlining the matte black shapes of a ship. The dark hull which did not reflect light began to form everything that was necessary for such a ship - cabins, a steering wheel and even tall masts, on which, after a moment, large black-and-matte sails were flown. On each of the sails a golden symbol was embroidered - it looks like that of a stylized seal, the symbol of the guild Ainz Ooal Gown took its place on the sails. After another moment, when the ship was fully formed by a spell, Ainz exhaled and lowered his hand.
'Creating such large items really does take a lot of mana…' - Ainz shook his head. Making a ship with Create Greater Item took him as much mana as using five spells of the tenth rank — an insignificant price for someone with his mana reserves, but given that Create Greater Item was a spell of just an eighth rank — the cost of using this spell for such a trick was truly astronomically ineffective.
"Umu!" Nero's delighted exclamation resounded suddenly, "Great, that-for-who-I-still-didn't-come up-with-a-title! This ship is worthy to be my personal flagship!'
When Baal heard this, he thoughtfully lifted an eyebrow, after which he looked at Mozart and pretended to quietly inquire, "Does she realize that she has as much relation to this ship as all the other Servants?"
"Her ego makes Nero a little bit…" - Mozart tried to find the right words, - "Special in terms of perceiving the world…"
"That is one way of saying it," Baal nodded.
"She's dumber than a roadside stone," Cainabel rolled her eyes. "At least the stone didn't burn Rome."
"This is the second way of saying it," Baal impartially assessed Cainabel's words.
"Excellent!" - however, Nero, not listening to the conversations, managed to get to the ship faster than anyone else, after which, with just a small jump, she was on board, "I am the first - and that means - I declare myself captain of this ship!"
Ainz blinked at such a silly development.
Well Ainz doesn't really need to contest the captainship of the ship. After all, It's not like he has any idea of their destinations so not being the captain of the ship is no loss. And it's not like Nero being the captain gives her any actual control over the ship, Ainz could easily, with a flick of the wrist, destroy the ship completely so any mutiny would be doomed from the start.
"Good," Ainz agreed easily, after which he glanced at the rest of the Servants and, nodding, with the help of a flight spell, boarded.
Balam was in a bad mood. Well, it's not that he was usually joyful and cheerful - but today his mood was worse than usual. There were several reasons for this.
The first reason is Focalor, which annoyed him in the morning.
"Is everything prepared?" Balam hated this question with such vehemence that he almost cracked his alarmed face — it's counterpart's — with his hand — or its counterpart again.
"YES!" Balam could not resist, "YES, EVERYTHING IS READY, NOBODY SUSPECTS ANYTHING, NOBODY GUARDS ANYTHING, THE SERVANTS HAVE NO IDEA, ALL OF OUR TRACK ARE ERASED, ALL MY MAGIC IS ERASED, AND IF YOU ASK SOMETHING LIKE THIS AGAIN - I WILL ERASE YOU FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH!
Focalor was silent for a second and Balam was able to exhale - or to produce an analogue of such a movement for the Demon Kings.
"Are you sure?" Focalor asked innocently.
"GO FUCK YOURSELF!" Balam howled, smashing into the place where Focalor was supposed to be with a powerful blow of magic. Focalor, however, demonstrating his incredible intelligence, chose to escape a little earlier.
Balam exhaled viciously several times, after which he sighed.
There was, clearly, a reason why the Demon Kings did their errands alone, uniting only under the direction of their King. Because the Demon Kings, united by a single plan and a single fidelity to the King did not have to love each other like siblings. Strictly speaking, the Demon Kings getting along with each other were the exception rather than the rule - and at the same time a very rare exception. In most cases, their relationship to each other was more like the manifestation of competition, animosity, or constant fraud. While it almost never came to open hostility between them, even if one of the Demon Kings died, the others would sooner have ridiculed him than tried to support him. Partly, of course, this was due to the fact that the Demon Kings did not believe in their mortality.
But even so, having learned that two of their ranks had died with their final death, the Demon Kings were more worried about their own lives, and not about their comrades...
Therefore, even now Focalor bothered Balam only in order to calm himself. But, since the life of Balam himself also depended on his actions - Balam, even without the constant reminders from Focalor, utilized his powers to the fullest while engaged in the preparation of the trap. And Balam was completely pleased with the final result.
Of course, his King could easily find the threads stretching from Balam to the other participants of the Singularity - but it was his King, a kind of constant and the peak of strength. And even if the unknown adversary somehow managed to find an opportunity to bypass the King on one side of his multifaceted abilities - then this would rather indicate that the King's strength in this facet of his abilities had a flaw that could be used than something else.
At least that's what Balam sincerely wanted to believe in...
In any case, after preparing such a trap, there was practically no chance that an unknown enemy would be able to bypass the nets placed on him so easily...
"Are you prepared?" Focalor's voice made Balam fall into uncontrollable rage...
"But determining the course of the sail is the captain's main duty!" Mashu genuinely tried to convey her thoughts to Nero.
"The captain must always be able to distribute duties to his deputies!" Nero objected to her.
"But you have already assigned all the responsibilities!" Mashu almost resorted to grabbing her head in frustration. "You called yourself the captain, but you gave all the duties and rights of the captain to other people! This means that now the title of captain does not mean anything!"
"Umu umu umu umu umu umu umu!" Nero closed her ears and immediately began to fire a tirade to block out Mashu's voice...
How did Altera end up in this situation?
She remembered how she fought with Mark... More precisely, with Mars, the God of War. Before that, there were only vague memories hidden in her head - in which she destroyed dozens of gods. She also remembered - with some difficulty - that she served Baal...
Altera's gaze then came upon Baal, who watched with some pleasure the actions of Mashu, trying to reason with Nero, and Nero, sincerely avoiding all attempts to convey at least a little common sense to her.
To another Baal. And her goal was to gain control over Ainz's strength and, having received from him as much information as possible, destroy him.
In other words, the question again arose in her head - how did she find herself in the current situation?
Probably the destroyed gods of Olympus had cursed her to constantly get herself into such situations...
"Oh, what a pity, my little pet got bored," Cainabel's voice brought Altera out of her thoughts, "Or not, wait a minute, problems of outdated software? If you are buggy, then I will definitely take you apart to see what exactly has gone wrong with you."
Altera turned her gaze toward Cainabel, who was next to her.
Cainabel was another unexpected factor in Altera's worldview. Because, before meeting with her, Altera sincerely believed that there could be no creatures like her at all. And yet Cainabel was quite real, material, and, unfortunately, in fact, was the current mistress of Altera.
Looking at Altera carefully, Cainabel sighed and rolled her eyes, leaning back at one of the rails on a ship moving slowly along the waves.
"Hey, pet, I'm bored," Cainabel turned to Altera, after which she looked at her with a frown, "Dance for me."
Altera blinked, and then glanced at Cainabel carefully, "What kind of dance exactly?"
"I don't know," Cainabel shook her hand in the air. "Striptease?"
Altera blinked, then nodded slowly, "Okay..."
But a voice that rose as if from nowhere did not give her the opportunity to engage in such an act.
"Bearing in mind that you called Altera 'pet' and now ask her to dance a striptease, should I tell my master that you are into bestiality?" Baal kept a slight smile on his face while uttering these words, because of which his overt insult sounded more like a friendly joke.
"Come again, burnt chicken?!" Cainabel looked at Baal with undisguised hatred, "Or is your courage manifested only in third-party remarks?"
"No," Baal smiled a big smile, "My courage comes when I know that you cannot kill me. And oh god, look at the time!"
After that, Baal rolled up his sleeve pointedly, glancing at his empty wrist without a watch.
"It's time to convey that you are trying to rape the Servant entrusted to you!" Baal smiled, looking at Cainabel.
"Oh, are you envious?" Cainabel did not deny what was said, instead going on the attack, "Indeed, after all, you were emasculated upon the orders of the Eighth Emperor... By the way he was a lovely fellow - he loved to talk about how easy it was to crush you in battle!"
Baal's smile faded for a second from mentioning a sour fact of his biography before returning to its place "Indeed, however, I was summoned up as strong as before. Which, of course, cannot be said about you - O True Ancestor Of Failure."
"VAMPIRES!" Cainabel immediately rushed forward, grabbing Baal by the neck and lifting him into the air, making him cough from the pain of a strangled throat, "IF YOU DARE TO SQUANDER MY TITLE THEN I WILL..!"
"What is happening?" Ainz's appearance next to the two Servants made them freeze for a second.
"Friendly spat," Baal grunted through a strangled throat, smiling.
"Training sparring," Cainabel answered Ainz also calmly, continuing to hold Baal aloft on her outstretched arm.
"Oh, ahem, I see..." - Ainz froze for a second, after which he looked at Altera. "They are not bothering you?"
Altera, who was the least significant variable in this situation, blinked, after which she slowly shook her head.
"Good," Ainz nodded, after which he looked at the two Servants, Cainabel, who continued to hold Baal on an outstretched arm, and Baal, who continued to smile, "Of course, ahem, if your communication happens this way, then I won't interfere, but... I ask, can you be somewhat less... Loud?"
The message of such a request was clear to both Cainabel and Baal.
"You are free to fight each other as much as you want and how you want, as long as it doesn't bother me."
"Of course, my lord, how could it be otherwise?" Cainabel blurted out with a smile, after which, for a second, clutching her hand on Baal's neck a little stronger than before, she let him go.
Baal, having fallen from Cainabel's grip, cleared his throat a little, after which he still got up and looked at Ainz with the same unchanging smile that he always kept on his face. "No problems, my lord, everything will be done as you will."
"Good," Ainz nodded, after which, once again giving Altera a look, he headed off.
And Altera kept thinking.
How exactly did she end in this situation?..
Mozart continued to enjoy the incredible vista of the ocean in front of him, the light salty sea breeze and the sun's rays illuminating his face.
With pleasure, Mozart closed his eyes, exposing his face to the rays of the sun. His long golden hair was pleasantly ruffled by a gentle wind...
Bang!
With a loud sound, another Servant landed right next to him, forcing Mozart to slightly open his eyes.
Mashu seemed exhausted, as if she had just fought in ten battles at once, but Mozart knew much better than anyone else that the reason for such a fatigue was completely different.
"This is simply impossible!" Mashu breathed indignantly, "Nero does not listen to me at all!"
"Yeah," Mozart assented, not opening his eyes fully, enjoying the sea breeze.
"I simply tried to convey a simple truth to her, but she just can't ever admit that I was right!" Mashu looked at Nero, who continued to do in the distance what she thought the captain should be doing. That is, strictly speaking, nothing useful.
"Absolutely," Mozart answered calmly.
"She doesn't listen to anyone at all," - Mashu thought for a second, - "Besides, probably, Ainz."
"Exactly so," Mozart felt as a gust of wind patted his neck.
"I'm generally wondering if I should just leave Nero alone in this case..." Mashu breathed out thoughtfully.
"Rightly so," Mozart sighed.
"Hey!" Mashu turned to Mozart, "Are you even listening to me?!"
"Naturally," Mozart exhaled, after which he felt a sharp movement of a hand shaking him, "Hey, I'm really listening! With my ears, I could not help but hear you even if I didn't want to."
After that, Mashu looked at him in surprise, "Then why do you answer only with such simple answers?"
"I simply answered with what I actually think," Mozart exhaled, then, realizing that his sense of calm pleasure had passed, he opened his eyes, "and I think you should not bother Nero with something as banal as "logic"."
"But..." Mashu blinked in confusion, "Why?"
"Because it is a futile task to try to argue with a Servant," Mozart breathed out, "Especially someone who has such an... Interesting view of the world as Nero."
"But…" - Mashu tried to find an objection to Mozart's answer, - "It's just illogical! She declared herself the captain, and then entrusted Ainz with control of the crew. Which is logical, given that the entire crew is made up of his Servants. Then she gave up controls of the ship, determining the course of the ship. But now, with nothing to do, she can not calm down, calling herself the captain of the ship! This is simply illogical!"
Mozart, when he heard the tirade, sighed, "Mashu, I must admit, I don't know you so well - but for the time that I spent with you, you didn't seem to me particularly fixated on "logical" behavior."
"Well, ahem," - Mashu coughed a little, - "Such a thing is not important to the core of the question…"
Mozart blinked, after which he turned his eyes to the distant waters of the ocean, "Then what does this concern?.."
"Ahem..." Mashu then became silent.
Mozart, however, knew that she would continue to speak, so he did not rush her, continuing to look at the ocean. Ah, he liked this Singularity so far...
"It is simply wrong..." Mashu finally managed to construct her thoughts while looking away, "Senpai was supposed to be the captain..."
Mozart blinked, then shook his head - 'Ah, there it is…'
"But, as far as I can understand - Ainz seems not too eager to be a captain," Mozart shrugged.
"Yes, but at the same time he was entrusted with all the duties of a captain - and he was not given the title of captain!" Mashu stamped her foot, after which she looked at Mozart indignantly.
Mozart froze for a second from such illogical words, and then smiled, "This is... A little bit too childish, don't you think so, Mashu?"
Mashu, hearing the words, looked away, "But how can he not be the captain?! This... This is wrong, I read that it should be different!"
Mozart shook his head. "Reality and books differ much more often than one might think."
Mashu exhaled, and then looked at Mozart carefully, - "But it should not be so!"
"Ideally, of course, it shouldn't," Mozart easily agreed with her, "But we, I'm afraid, do not live in an ideal world. Expectation and reality intersect in general much less often than anyone might want."
Mashu frowned, and then shook her head, looking at Mozart, "But it's just... dishonest!"
"Life is a dishonest thing," Mozart shrugged, and then looked at Mashu, "I understand that you want to give Ainz something pleasant..."
"Ahem!" Mashu began to cough at the unexpected reply as soon as Mozart mentioned it, but he continued to speak.
"But, apparently, he is living quite well, even without the title of captain" Mozart looked at Mashu supportively, after which, making sure that she heard him, looked away, "Nero cannot be convinced anyway, so it's better find another way to give Ainz something pleasant."
"Okay," Mashu nodded, after which Mozart smiled and closed his eyes.
Ah, the sun and the sea and complete peace...
"In that case, Mr. Mozart," Mashu nodded. "What is a better way to please Ainz?.."
And no way to enjoy it...
Ainz hoped that Nero, who had assumed the title of captain, would take charge of the ship's management. Naturally, his expectations turned out to be meaningless...
"I have no idea where we are going..." - The four created Bone Vultures, having examined the island and not finding anything interesting on it, were already dispelled. So Ainz had to create four more and send them around his ship making them fly at a decent height and distance, hoping to at least find anything around the sea. Unfortunately, so far, everything that Ainz saw around was a boundless sea without any hint of changes on the horizon. Also…
"I was not even given the title of captain!" - Ainz frowned slightly offended. No, he was not opposed to cede the captain's title to another person... If such a person would do the duties of the captain. But Nero, declaring herself the captain, instantly lost interest in controlling the ship, leaving the job on Ainz's shoulders. Ainz was not happy about this turn of events - especially considering that the only possible consolation in such conditions, the title of captain, was literally stolen from under his nose!
Ainz frowned once more, after which, slightly adjusting the course and speed of the ship with magic - one of the positive aspects of creating things with the help of spells - then he sighed.
"I have no idea where we are going, what we are doing and what our goal is..." - Ainz thoughtfully nodded to himself. If his body could withstand magic of the tenth rank, then he would definitely now use some kind of spell like Blessings of Titania or Lead of Yatagarasu, showing the path to his goal... But, unfortunately, his body could not withstand such spells. Which, of course, was disappointing - since without any clues Ainz would plow these seas for who knows how long. Only some crazy amount of luck could now lead him to...
One of the Bone Vultures instantly vanished, giving Ainz the feeling that it had just been destroyed.
Ainz blinked, then looked up at the sky.
Among the clear blue sky there was still the unknown black abyss.
Sometimes Ainz wondered why it was that his luck was not at all natural for someone of his position...
Skill: Supertier Magic (A+++)
Although it may seem strange that the skill responsible for almost omnipotent power has not reached the EX rank, this is the peculiarity of the Supertier magic. In itself, this skill is responsible for controlling such omnipotent-like forces, before which many mysteries fade and True Magic pales, Divine Authority and Magecraft recede, giving way to its supremacy. In other words, the EX skill rank denoting the "incomprehensible power of ability" simply cannot be applied to a skill whose very essence lies in incomprehensible power. In other words, the rank of the skill A+++ is the highest applicable in this case. However, anything higher is definitely not required for a skill whose essence is omnipotent strength.