Chapter 221

'So this is what it's like.' Neia thought as the world disappeared below her, those who towered over her became like tiny ants and the world itself seemed to both shrink, and grow larger than it had ever been before. The chill of the air could not touch her, the high winds far above the ground below were like a gentle breeze on her skin, and it wasn't until she stopped after passing through a cloud that she wondered, 'Why did I just do this? How did I know I could do it…?'

There was no clear answer to the former squire, she turned her eyes toward the distant wall, far out of view even from where she finally hovered, somewhere beyond, there, where her parents lived. 'Or at least, I hope they're alive… would they… would they accept me now? As I am?' That was an unpleasant thought. 'Before my death I finally learned that they actually loved me… what a horrible thing, if they could look at me now and feel only hate…'

It wasn't a pleasant thought, nor was it an impossible one. They all grew up with the same teachings, 'Non-humans are evil. They must be destroyed or broken so as to never threaten us. They are the enemy…' In her darkest moments in the midst of hunting them, Neia believed it too, when they were striving to kill her, or some peasants were fleeing a demihuman raid and required a rescue. Seeing their burned out homes and bodies…

But other times, an orc mother clinging to an infant, begging for her child's life, a father saying he wanted to see his son again… a starving, hungry body that lost its former strength… a dragon who just wanted to live… it taught her how alike they all really were in the end.

'One side of the wall or the other… life is life, and we all want to keep it…' She thought, and closed her eyes again, picturing the faces of the only humans she loved, or who she now knew, had ever loved her. It sat in her gut like a rock, wondering what reaction they would have if they could see her now.

'There is only one way to find out… and that is to get them myself… if they're alive. And if they are not… if they are not?' Neia wondered, and her fist clenched far tighter than she expected that it would. The severing of her last true tie to her old home, and part of her, a tiny fragment, knew the truth. 'That thread is the only thing holding them back from slaughter… if they choose to cut it…? On their heads be my actions.'

She then began her slow descent, her wings flapped slow and steady, held out to keep the fall relatively slow and easy, her body spiralling back down to the ground again, she did her best to land beside Olasird'arc, though when she hit ground and folded her wings in instinctively, she stumbled a few paces before looking at him with questioning eyes.

"The instinct of young dragons… to taste the sky. A call to fly." He said to her, "Though it typically doesn't hurt to open wings for the first time."

Neia swallowed and shuddered, "That part hurt but…" She looked up at the sky, "it was worth it… for that."

The evening with Albedo was far more intense than Ainz had ever anticipated, and for reasons he did not ever expect to deal with. 'At least she's fine with me being 'human', but all she wants is to be with 'me' and I can't… it would be easier if her loathing of humans extended to me… at least then she wouldn't be in any pain…' He trailed off the thought, and if he were honest with himself, he only half listened to her.

Until she got to the end. "And this brings us to the exit strategy, with the Kingdom in chaos and at war, I have no doubt that someone as intelligent as the Holy Queen will realize something else is at play here, and to that end, I am arranging for the Slane Theocracy to take the fall. The doppelgangers are mere summons, so they will be captured and reveal Theocracy involvement, with a goal of creating a far more militant Kingdom that would take action against the Demihumans of the Abelion Hills and take the majority of the casualties before they interjected and swept over the whole region themselves."

Ainz didn't pale, he was too surprised to do even that.

"You sound certain," he said after a long minute, "why would they believe that the Theocracy would take such an action, and what about Wenmark, your destruction there was far greater than their magic could manage." He pointed out.

Albedo's morose face became brighter when she answered, "Master, I used falling meteors and a quake, they will think these merely natural events, and that it merely gave the Theocracy an opportunity to capitalize on."

As he thought about it… 'She's right. This could work. The Slane Theocracy is the greatest potential threat to my domain… they accept no other races beyond humanity. I can't let them remain diplomatically strong.'

He swallowed, but kept the noise to nothing, "Y-You did remarkably well, Albedo, I'm… very proud of you. I'm sure Tabula would offer all his praise to you."

Her face became bitter, twisted, "He would offer only trash in my eyes." She spat out, and then lowered her eyes when she saw the open mouthed shock on her Master's face.

"Forgive me for speaking out of turn of a Supreme Being, Master…" She folded her hands onto her lap and kept her eyes downcast.

"Albedo." Ainz only said her name, almost like it was a prayer. "What is it…? How could you say that about your father…"

"What can I say about a father who abandoned me… and worse… abandoned the man I love?!" Albedo exclaimed with sudden passion, leaning forward across the table, she held her hand over her ample chest, covering where her demonic heart beat. "He hurt you by leaving, they all did. You are the only one left. The one who stayed, the last, your-" She paused, 'love… heart… future…' a thousand words of affection and desire ran through her from the tips of her toes to the top of her head, but unable to bear rejection a second time, she said only, "praise, is the only treasure I can hope for!"

Ainz took that in, so much came to mind, but his courage died, his will died, and instead he looked away from her and said, "I should meet your subordinates, are you finished with them here, or have they more to do?"

"They have only one task left… and then they will be fit for their reward." Albedo answered, and opened the gate as Ainz donned his mask and stood from the table.

Moments later, a pair of women came rushing through the magic of the gate as if they thought nothing of it, and immediately went down to their knees before Albedo.

"Welcome back, my servants." Albedo said and put a blessing hand on first the elf, then the human, and then stepped aside to gesture to her master.

"This, is the Lord you serve, Allfather Ainz Ooal Gown, ruler of the Kingdom of Nazarick." She had the brightest of smiles on her face, and spoke with such passion and enthusiasm that neither woman could doubt the demon's words.

Both Illyana and Skana prostrated themselves reflexively, bowing their heads and pressing them down against the floor after they bent at the waist, hands cast forward in submission. "Lord of our Lady!" Illyana was the first to cry out her obeisance, "We are your humble servants!"

"Raise your heads." Ainz said in an offhanded way, and slowly the pair went up to their knees.

'By the gods…' Skana thought with dismay, he seemed… utterly… holy. An aura of divine majesty radiated off of him as if he were a god, her bright green eyes beheld the Allfather and every fiber of her being cried out for her to beg for his orders, her body shook with almost religious ecstasy and basked in his presence, and at her side out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Illyana felt the same or nearly.

"Only such a Lord, could command our Lady…" Skana whispered under her breath, and while she wasn't sure if the robed man heard her, it didn't matter, he acknowledged her with a nod.

"You were promised rewards for your service, were you not?" Ainz asked, trying to speak with a gentle voice, but their reactions, wide eyes, shaking, over the top responses at the very least, 'Either my level one hundred charisma is at work, or Albedo has told them enough to make them afraid.'

Which exactly it was, he was unsure and could no longer ask, so he focused on the immediate, and what he could ask.

"I-I was promised that I could act as Lady Albedo's personal servant… ah-a secretary in her home, to attend her as my one and only Mistress…" Illyana replied, stammering all the while, and flushing bright red in the face.

"Acceptable." Ainz replied succinctly. 'It hadn't occurred to me before, but she doesn't have any truly 'personal servant' to look after her needs, in retrospect I should have thought to assign her a maid or… agh, I should see to the same for every guardian with abundant responsibilities outside of their floors alone.'

"And you?" Ainz glanced from the elf to the human after privately filing that thought away.

Skana's bright red face did not regain its true color, 'My wish, it seems so shallow and worthless now…'

She hung her head, shamed about herself for the first time in her life.

"I-I was offered wealth. Lots of it." She said, and she could sense his disappointment in his answer.

"You will have it." He replied to her, "As well as a suitable home after this for all your… loyalty."

"Th-Thank you… My Lord." Skana said, but could not raise her head again.

He looked away from the kneeling women and over to Albedo, "Begin the last phase of operations. And then send them to Nazarick when you are done."

"As My Lord Commands." Albedo said and bowed in his direction until the [Gate] appeared again and he vanished through it once more.