15 Pandora's Actor

Ainz could be seen lying on a luxurious bed in his room, and a maid with white hair and a serious expression could be seen watching over her master, who at the moment, was reading a book about something she didn't understand.

Suddenly her master rose from his bed, throwing his book inside his inventory in a rush.

"Go inform all the guardians to gather in the throne room at once, I don't care what they are doing, this is priority number one."

"Y-Yes!" The maid was about to leave, but Ainz stopped her.

"Use this ring, return it to me afterward." He handed her the ring of Ainz Ooal Gown

The maid seemed frozen at the sudden gift, but she remembered the order quickly, "Understood Lord Ainz!" She teleported away.

Ainz teleported to the throne room where Albedo could be seen standing beside the throne, her eyes were puffy and red, showing she most likely cried after her beloved showed his fury.

Some broken things could be seen on the floor, the Guardian Overseer most likely also felt angry at Thoth and decided to relieve herself.

"A-Ainz sama!" She shouted, hoping her beloved forgave her.

Ainz raised his skeletal hand to stop the Succubus before she assumed things. "Stop right there, I'm here only because an emergency has happened, check Thoth's loyalty."

Albedo did as ordered, though the disappointment on her face was clear as day. To her shock, Thoth's name was red, indicating betrayal.

"Thoth has turned against us Lord Ainz! But why?"

"A world Item most likely, we will discuss the details once everyone is here, send out someone to go retrieve Shalltear, she needs to get back ASAP, am I understood."

Albedo made a face when Ainz wanted to save Shalltear, which infuriated the overlord.

"Would have her die then?!" Albedo immediately corrected herself, and luckily for her, Ainz's passive effect finally decided to kick in, making the overlord calm down.

Ainz rested his head on his hand as Albedo sent message after message, coordinating the entirety of the tomb.

"Put the Tomb into the highest level of readiness as well," Ainz noted, Albedo nodded and sent out more messages.

While she was doing this, Ainz explained the situation to her, as one of the smartest beings in Nazarick, she should be kept well informed of the situation.

Within a mere minute, each Guardian except Shalltear could be seen kneeling before Lord Ainz, the entire tomb was in an uproar as each available mob and NPC alike patrolled each floor with diligence, turning the already impenetrable fortress into something impressive by all standards, far more impressive than anything ever seen in this world.

Ainz stood up, his staff slamming into the floor below him as he explained the situation.

"Thoth has been controlled by a world item." The guardians were shocked to hear this world had such powerful tools.

"While Shalltear was in her blood frenzy, Thoth intervened and protected her from the World Item, he transformed into his biblical form to resist its effects, but he failed," Albedo added, dragging Shalltear's reputation through the mud.

The Guardians were impressed by Thoth and his sacrifice while also scorning Shalltear in their minds, the foolish child has inconvenienced their master yet again.

"Albedo, now is not the time for you to try and get one over on Shalltear is it?" Ainz turned to the Guardian Overseer, his eyes piercing through her intent.

"I apologize." Albedo bowed slightly.

"Whatever, your games don't matter to me anymore. All of you, take this as an opportunity to learn! This world is dangerous and we must not let our guard down, am I understood?!"

"Yes!" they shouted with vigor, their master's word was absolute in their minds.

The doors to the throne room opened again, this time, Shalltear walked through, she walked forward, eyes on the ground in shame, she could feel the gazes of each guardian scorning her, and worst of all, she felt the Gaze of Lord Ainz staring her down.

She kneeled and remained silent, she wanted to say something, but what could she say? Her mistake has put the entire tomb in danger.

"Have you got nothing to-!" Ainz silenced Albedo before she could destroy any semblance of the ego the guardian had left and spoke himself.

"Shalltear, do not feel ashamed, you made a big mistake, yes, but you must learn from this. Do you understand?"

"Yes, thank you Lord Ainz, I will do my best." Shalltear was quiet, far from her loud confident self.

Ainz may have said it was okay, but that didn't mean she didn't screw up, and now, in her eyes and the eyes of everyone else in this room, she was a disgrace to the tomb and the 41 supreme beings.

Ainz turned to the other guardians, their faces cold as stone when looking at Shalltear.

"Now, Thoth made a good choice turning into his biblical form, we shall wait and investigate the surrounding area for a few hours, once the sun is high in the sky, I shall strike."

Gasps could be heard from the guardians, Demiurge spoke up immediately.

"Lord Ainz! Please forgive me but that is foolish! You shouldn't put yourself in unnecessary danger!" The guardians nodded, "Since Shalltear caused this, she should be the one to deal with it." Demiurge finished, his voice felt venomous as he mentioned Shalltear.

"Lord Ainz, I agree with Demiurge, since Shalltear caused this, let her clean her mess," Aura spoke up.

Shalltear remained silent, not making eye contact with anyone.

"No." Ainz immediately shot down Aura and everyone else, "I will deal with this myself."

"But-" Demiurge tried to argue further, but Ainz exercised his absolute authority, "My word is law isn't it Demiurge? Then be silent. I will go and fight for Nazarick, I refuse to watch the children of my friends kill one another."

"You may be on standby in case I'm ever close to death, but unless necessary, you will not get involved, am I clear?"

"...Very well." Demiurge had to swallow the facts. Since Ainz decided to do this himself, as a servant, he had no right to object anymore.

"All of you are dismissed!"

Everyone left, including Albedo who now had to make adjustments with Demiurge to their world domination plan.

Shalltear remained behind, and when everyone left, she spoke.

Her voice cracked as she spoke, the realization her master was now in danger because of her hung heavy on her heart and mind, and she said the following words.

"Lord Ainz, I'm sorry, I'm sorry for arguing with Albedo like a child, I'm sorry for putting you in danger, and I'm sorry for being a disgrace, but please, please don't fight Thoth, he completely counters you, I don't want you to suffer because of me!"

"Stand up Shalltear." She stood as requested, but her eyes were still low, "Look at me." She looked up, her eyes were a bit red, and her eyes were filled with shame.

"Haaah..."Ainz sighed, causing Shalltear's shoulders to shake a bit in trepidation, will she be insulted? She would deserve it after all, so she would accept it without complaint, "Shalltear, I am not angry at you, you made a mistake, and that is fine, everyone makes mistakes sometimes, but you must learn from this alright?"

Shalltear nodded, though the vampire was still clearly worried.

"And don't worry about me getting hurt, I'll have you know I am not to be underestimated by anyone! I was considered one of the best fighters in the guild, even though I wasn't the strongest stat-wise, I made up for it with great skill and effort, so no need to worry about me okay?"

Ainz reached out with his hand and he patted the vampire's head, making her smile slightly.

"...Alright Lord Ainz, I believe in your strength and judgment, I will be cheering you on."

"Thank you Shalltear." And so, Shalltear Bloodfallen left the throne room, she would no doubt get hell from the other guardians, as she deserved, but that's okay, Lord Ainz had decided to give her another chance, she would learn and persevere.

She wouldn't compete with Albedo anymore, Lord Ainz had made it clear how much he hated that, and as the books Thoth gave her said, she must respect her partner's wishes and do her best to make things work for both of them.

The vampire was already growing, and though she didn't realize it, this would be the start of a fundamental change.

While her personality was growing and changing, her body, to her dismay, would forever remain the same, though maybe, with some time, she would accept her appearance as her true self and stop putting up pretenses.

As her creator said, flat is justice! 'Maybe I should embrace those words' she mused.

Ainz could be seen looking through a scrying mirror, he observed Thoth, ensuring nothing of note was happening.

Luckily, the gear of the Guardian was retrieved without issue, saving Nazarick some valuable resources.

Ainz watched as Nazarick's agents swarmed the area, and as he decided to go to E-Rantel to check on the situation there, he noticed Albedo returning to her post beside him.

Albedo, who was eager to be by her beloved's side again, pouted in disappointment when Ainz got up and prepared to leave.

"Hmm, Albedo, would you like to accompany me to the treasury?"

Albedo perked up in joy at this, her wings flapping slightly, "I would love to Lord Ainz!"

The two teleported inside a large room, the ceiling couldn't be seen, as large golden statues and artifacts were put up on pedestals in the walls, which stretched upwards like the ceiling, infinitely.

Large mountains of gold and gems could be seen covering the floor, they were so immense that unless one could teleport within Nazarick with a ring of Ainz Ooal Gown or fly, they would act as walls.

Additionally, the air in the room could turn toxic at any moment, meaning if one didn't have something to aid them, they would drop dead in three steps, even level 100 players stood no chance without countermeasures.

Not to mention the entire treasury was in its personal plain of existence which could only be accessed with a ring of Ainz Ooal Gown.

It wouldn't be wrong to say the treasury was its own floor, but neither would it be considered accurate.

The duo teleported to a large pitch-black door, Ainz paused and then spoke the password he and his friends came up with.

'Hm, I forgot it.' Ainz realized he no longer recalled the password.

That was only to be expected. There were so many such gimmicks in Nazarick that he would probably only be able to remember a password if it was one he used frequently. However, given that he did not come to the Treasury often, he did not remember the password to this door.

He had only come here when he had to pay for the upkeep costs of Nazarick with the money he had earned, and that had been years ago. Since he could not remember the password, Ainz instead spoke a master password that worked in place of all other passwords within the tomb: "All glory to Ainz Ooal Gown."

In response, the jet-black door displayed a series of words: "Ascendit a terra in coelum, iterumque descendit in terram, et recipit vim superiorum et inferiorum."

The door opened, revealing a tunnel with world items encased in glass boxes inserted into the walls around them.

As the two kept walking, Ainz asked Albedo a question.

"Albedo, do you know about Pandora's Actor?"

"Yes, he is the guardian of the treasury, though his abilities are not known to me, I know his intelligence is on par with mine and Demiurges."

"Umu, indeed..." Ainz said as they reached the end of the corridor.

Now in front of them, A tomb-like rectangular room could be seen that had a table and sofa set in the middle of the space. There were other passages visible to the left and right similar to the path from the Armory. The height of the room was five meters, but the dim interior extended further in, where a large niche was set into the wall which was where the Mausoleum is located.

another large room could be seen, Albedo's creator could be seen sitting on a comfortable-looking red couch, and his tentacle face moved naturally.

"Lord Tabula-?! No, you are not him, who are you?!" Albedo prepared to kill the fake, but as she did Ainz spoke.

"Pandora's Actor, reveal yourself."

Pandora's actor changed his form, revealing his true form.

Where his mouth and eyes should be, three black circles could be seen, he is wearing a yellow uniform with many medals on it.

"Oh, my Creator, LoOoOord Ainzu-sama!" He intentionally dragged on the Lord part of his greeting, his body moved, making everything as dramatic as possible.

"Eh-U-umu, hello Pandora's Actor."

"Yes! To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you?"

"I came to borrow some World Items."

"Ooh! World items!" He raised his hand into the air, squeezing it into a fist as he continued.

"Shall their world-crushing power finally be unleashed upon this fragile world?!" He brought his hand down and lowered his cap.

"Who shall taste their wrath this time?" Pandora's Actor lowered his arm and asked, this time his voice was filled with weight, though Ainz couldn't tell if he wasn't still acting.

Albedo looked confused and revolted at the same time, this is certainly not what she expected from the creation of Lord Ainz, but genius minds are not easy to comprehend, or so she remembered from the other Supreme Ones.

"E-Ehem, a situation has arisen outside, we need their power to protect Nazarick."

"I see! Very well then, please go on and take what you need."

"Thank you, Pandora's Actor."

"Good luck Lord Ainz, and I wish you a good day fair maiden."

"Excuse you?" Albedo turned, her face filled with anger.

"O-Okay come here." Ainz dragged Pandora's actor away from Albedo and out of earshot.

"I am your creator, so you will listen to anything I say yes?"

"O-of course Lord Ainz!" Pandora's Actor saluted like a proper soldier.

"Could you please stop with all the theatrics?"

"Eh?"

"Okay-Um, You dont need to be so dramatic with me okay? As your creator, I demand you stop being so eccentric."

Pandora's actor looked down, his eyes covered in a dark shadow, but he promptly saluted and while making eye contact said the following.

"Wenn es der Wille meines Gottes ist!"

Ainz slammed his hand into the wall behind Pandora's Actor, "Was that German?! Dont do that in front of me either!"

"O-Okay then..."

"Wonderful."

Ainz then left the guardian behind and entered The Mausoleum with Albedo.

-x-x-x-

THANK YOU TO MY PATRONS! patreon.com/MarAuthor

NAZARICK NPC's (0): NONE (1 USD/month)

AREA GUARDIANS (1): Blorgus Gaming (2 USD/month)

FLOOR GUARDIANS (1): LightningGodWolf(4 USD/month)

SUPREME BEINGS (1): ElusiveBucket (6 USD/month)