Chapter 343

"Damn it!" The elf king bellowed and raged, he was breathing hard, his chest rising and falling, it wasn't exhaustion, but fury that drove him to punch the ground again. "Somehow that whelp was behind this… I know she was! My other cunts are too useless… I should have broken that trash in, breeding ready or not!" He howled his rage and kicked his foot against the fireplace. The stones shattered into powder, foam formed around his mouth as his fury rose to ever greater heights.

'Trash nation. Trash people… everything is trash, they should lick the dirt from my boots to show their gratitude that I let them serve me at all!' He stalked around from place to place and recalled the feeling of magic, and the familiar array of creatures that appeared out of nowhere on his grounds.

'Gate magic… and undead minions… the same as that time.' His anger hadn't abated but the stirring of the memory stopped his destructive rampage. Around the estate there were broken walls with elf King sized holes through them, wooden chips and shattered stone… and not even any of his guards remained. 'This is how they rescued those hostages… so many did the same thing after that… force me to fight somewhere because of my pathetic servants, then swoop in and take them before fighting me… if I ever find this mysterious Gaym Gyde… I'll torture them to death…'

'I know the Nines are behind this… that whelp, she mentioned an Ainz Ooal Gown… it must be the same.' The elf King growled and stomped around his 'designated area'.

'Soon enough the next area will open… then… in the arena, new hostages, new prizes… new mates to make into mothers… maybe that stock will enable me to take this world. Then… then at last I can live as I should.'

'It's strange,' Draudillon spoke privately to herself as she strode down the long hall of Nazarick behind the maid. 'When I was a captive of that monster, I wanted two things. To keep my people safe and to avoid being violated like they were. Now here I am, I'm not a prisoner in fact, but I could be made so at any time… but I'm worried about neither what will happen to my people, nor that the Allfather would act like the elf King. What a difference context makes.' By simply speaking as a guest in the beginning and having his tacit agreement in calling it 'hospitality' the exact same situation was flipped entirely on its head.

'And yet despite all of that, my heart is still pounding the way it was when that elf leveled his arrow at me.' She rubbed her forehead and followed patiently behind the maid.

"Can you tell me anything about the Allfather?" Draudillon asked, "What is he like in private, what can I expect, how should I behave?" Draudillon asked, and the fire haired maid spun on her heel and giggled.

"Oh, he's going to assault you, oh yes. He's going to be so rough with you, oh, you poor powerless…" Lupusregina cracked up and began to laugh uproariously at the Queen's paling face. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Lupusregina waved her hand back and forth, fanning herself as if the laughter heated her up too much. "You just reminded me of somebody I met once that pulled similar faces. No, no, nothing like that will happen."

Queen Draudillon stopped in her tracks. "Is that true?"

"Yes, you have nothing to worry about, as long as you do three things, Queen Draudillon." The maid held up three fingers between the two of them.

"First," she lowered one finger, "show that you will treat all beings the same. He loves us all very much, if you want to survive, show that you'll make a world we can be safe and happy in. Second," she lowered another finger, "submit yourself to his will. He is no mere King -su. He is a living God. Master of the forty-one, this world is his, and there are only two types of entities in it. Those who will help to hand it to him… and the dead over which we tread… or feast." She licked her lips and her animalistic hunger became more obvious. Draudillon took a step back by sheer instinct, and the maid's demeanor shifted back to the quiet, demure servant it was a mere moment ago. "And third," she lowered her final finger, "Work hard."

'So like Albedo… monsters under the rule of a King who can command monsters, who can steal under the nose of the elf King, who can slaughter armies or save nations… no matter how clever I am… I can't win if I'm on any side but his…' The truth Albedo dangled out so politely was driven home with this simple maid revealing a shadow of her monstrous self.

"Then lead on." Draudillon said, straightening her back and stiffening her resolve.

"You humans… never tire of ya, you know. Always such a worried lot, always frantic." Lupusregina put her hands behind her head as she led the way, "It's kinda funny, my sister, Solution is the one I get along with the best on account of we always tell the total truth. It's not cause we're nice, we're not. It's cause that hurts you folk the most, an yah hide from it, even though yah need it far more than yah know. Face the truth, or get crushed by it." Lupusregina giggled as she recalled the way Lakyus's skull was crushed against the stone, and the broken, shattered souls of the three survivors of the now wilted rose.

"So… what're you goin in there to do anyway, or is that none of a little maid's business?" Lupusregina asked when they reached the King's bedroom.

"Add my kingdom to his. Unconditionally, even if I must go with it." The Queen answered as Lupusregina knocked.

The Draconic Queen could hear the noise of voices, but not what was being said, though a moment later words 'Allow her in' came through clearly enough.

Lupusregina opened the door and closed it behind the Queen, 'That was easy… but I wonder where those fallen petals landed… prolly right where they were s'posed to.' She told herself and went back to her duties again.

"Selki? Shorla? Mazaor?" Acolyte Ja'ness asked of the darkened room. "Why is it so dark in here?" He asked. One of the few pleasant things about the harsh training of priests in the Slane Theocracy, was that at least you never had to fear being in the dark for long. There was always somebody in the monastic school who was reading something, even into the wee hours of the morning.

While a storm raged on outside, with howling winds and rolling rumbles of thunder that caused trees to bend over almost halfway, the indoors was always dry, and warm… relatively, and lit.

But now there was darkness. 'Come on…' He told himself, then said it. "Come on, this isn't funny. We're not first years. Say something, light a candle, we've got studying to do and the head priest's note said he'd be here in an hour." Tall and slender, Acolyte Ja'ness was one of the more graceful students, and… generally prone to some degree of sloppiness when it came to being on time, a fact that annoyed most of his peers.

"Look, I know I'm late… again, but there was a good reason this time! There's no need to prank me!" He shouted into the big, dark room. 'Hiding under their desks waiting to scare me or something… jackasses.' He grumbled, the noise of a wet slap like his foot hit a puddle resounded under his feet.

"Come on… I don't want to mop in here…" He grumbled as he flailed in the dark in search of a sconce on the wall. He found it quickly enough and fumbled with his hand, tracing his fingers over the bronze outline until he knew which way it went, and followed it up to find the soft feel of the wax candle.

"You're late." A voice said in the dark, a woman's voice. "We were supposed to be gone an hour ago."

"Maris, or is that Avis? I'm sorry… I was…" Ja'ness held his finger up to the candle wick. [Spark] he cast the utility spell and a tiny spark jumped from his fingertip to the wick and cast the dancing yellow light around him.

He opened his mouth to scream, nothing came out.

Strewn about the room were corpses, blood still dripping from their bodies where they lay slumped over. The dripping blood pooling on the stone floor, at least twenty of them. Ja'ness fell to the floor and began to back away, "No! Ahhh… what the fuck… what the fucking fuck?!" He fell to panting until his body stopped going backwards, his hands felt wet, as did the back of his pants, he raised his hands to look at them, his palms were red, and the blood that stained them, cold.

He craned his neck up to find himself looking at a giant of a woman.

Lightning cracked against the sky outside, and two more figures, twins, came in through the windows. "We got the others, evil mountain." One of the pair said.

"Evil mountain, you were supposed to be done. Why is he alive?" The other asked.

"He was late." The mountain of a woman muttered, she then shoved her leg forward, giving him a swift kick and sending him skittering through the blood. She reached behind her and took out a large hammer from off of her back.

"Why… for god's sake… why… I-" Ja'ness cried out, 'I can't die here… I was supposed to become a scripture member, and a cardinal… I was supposed to be the one who stayed at the top of this nation… I can't die here!' He screamed inside his head, and screamed out loud a moment later as he rolled over and tried to scramble through the blood-slick stones, splashing droplets about as he made to flee for his life.

Gagaran's voice cast hatred like archers cast arrows and slingers cast stones, "Ask your gods when you meet them!" She roared with her half mad eyes alight brighter than the candle light or the lightning itself… and brought the hammer down on the last acolyte's skull, smashing it to mush just as he elicited one last scream.

With that, Gagaran reached up, licked her thumb and forefinger, and then closed them over the last candle, leaving the slain corpses for others to discover.

"Come on, the Slane Theocracy has a lot of priests, so this is only the beginning. We don't want to waste time while it's still easy." Gagaran said, and with that, Tia and Tina fell in behind her, heading toward the door the acolyte had come in through. "Right. Evil Mountain."

"Right."

The twins uttered, and left the slaughter at their backs.