18

A Miracle

That's what people were calling it.

A week ago, Draudillon Oriculus had resigned herself to facing yet another defeat at the hands of the beastman hordes. Another city lost, another throng of her people devoured by uncaring monsters.

She's prepared herself for the worst, even as she calls for her people to stand firm in the face of adversity and believe in victory.

She drank herself into a stupor to ignore the voice in the back of her head telling her this will be 'just like every other time'.

Yet it wasn't.

Rather than receiving reports of an empty city, or the aftermath of beastmen gorging themselves on the population right then and there, more bizarre happenings worked their way back to the capital.

Victory.

It was too outlandish, too fantastical, for the Dragon Queen to fully register the words the first time she heard them. She nearly dismissed them outright, almost called the messenger who brought them a liar before the whole court.

Yet more reports came in one after another. All too similar, and from differing sources, to be an outright fabrication.

They spoke of nearly the same scenario: a dark cloaked figure emerged out of what seemed like thin air, just as the battle reached its peak, and laid waste to the oncoming beastmen with powerful magic. Be it from beams of light crashing down to burn all in their path, the demihumans collapsing in horrid pain amidst charging, or even cut down by what some described as angels.

Again, and again, and again.

Hardly able to ignore this sudden turn of events, if they were true, the half dragon ordered her forces forward. They were either to scout out just how reduced the enemy was and report back. But they encountered nothing. No packs of beastmen, no fortifications, no outposts, not even a campsite. Only wilderness, and a patchwork mosaic of charred corpses strung across the length of a nation.

So their orders changed: reclaim as much land as possible before another demihuman horde marched into their lands.

Yet as the news of the scale of this 'Miracle' tickled to the masses, with sporadic celebrations already underway across much of the kingdom, Draudillon couldn't help but feel anxious.

She had spent so many decades wishing for some sort of salvation, be it from her nation's own efforts, or that of another, that she did not consider what the implications of her people's deliverance would be.

That there was a power that easily crushed those who her kingdom struggled to fight. It was equal measures exciting and nerve wracking.

More importantly, where were they?

Why has no one claimed credit for this 'Miracle'?

Even if it was not a single mage, but a collection of them who wore the same outfit working in tandem, it was still a momentous display of magic worthy of any reward that her coffers could offer.

Yet no one stepped forward.

And the uncertainty of it all made her anxious.

Draudillon rested her head on the cool desk of her study, finally away from the throngs of courtiers and advisors that shadow her every move. She was hardly frustrated at them for doing their jobs, but it did get suffocating from time to time. Some momentary solitude, away from it all, did wonders.

Yet in the quiet dark of her study, her mind still worked on figuring out this strange puzzle that was before her.

Draudillon groggily mused to herself, recalling one fringe theory being thrown around the inns that this salvation was from some divine retribution against the beastmen. But whether it was one of the Four Great Gods or one of the Six Great Gods, none who preached this could say.

"A God? Hmph," she grumbled aloud, running a hand through her hair while she filled her glass up to the very top. "Nice of them to finally do something…"

"As much as I love a good ego stroke, there was nothing divine about what I did."

She choked on her wine at the sudden voice piercing the silence of her study. Still coughing, she turned to the darkest corner of her chamber to see who had spoken.

Sitting in a chair just behind her desk was a figure clad in dark robes that obscured the body and a smooth black mask. With one leg crossed over the other, the intruder lazily looked up from a book they were reading to regard the Dragon Queen.

Draudillon's heart raced.

An intruder, this deep in the palace! How!? The wards her great grandfather set up would have altered her to anyone crossing the threshold of her personal rooms and chambers!?

"Isn't there something you wish to tell me?" the masked figure asked, their voice clearly being filtered by some form of magic. Closing the book, they waved it away to vanish in a mist of light to give the queen their undivided attention. "Perhaps a 'thank you' for saving your people?"

"I…I- I'm not sure I understand," she collected herself, donning a mask of calm, all the while sending a pulse of magic through a rune on her desk to alert her guards outside.

"You were talking to yourself, about my actions saving your people," he stood up, lazily pointing to the map of her kingdom, hastily edited to show the territories reclaimed over the past week. "At least I assume you were. I am the talk of the town, or kingdom in this case."

Oh. So that was what this was about…

"Or you're some magic caster who wants to claim credit for this nation's newest hero," the dragon queen countered, her eyes quickly glancing between the door and the intruder. "Very bold of you, if that is the case." The amount of power someone would need to not only sneak into her study, but remain undetected, was astronomical.

"Ah yes, those very common masked mages capable of destroying armies on a whim," he chuckled. "Can't go ten feet without tripping over a baker's dozen."

"As you say," Draudillon sent another pulse through the rune.

Why were the guards outside not barging in?

"But is it really so hard to believe that I am who I say I am?"

"There are many powerful individuals in the world," she replied coolly, sending yet another pulse through the rune. "Anyone can claim to be anything."

"Can you please stop doing that," the masked mage sighed.

"I'm sorry?"

"Your magic panic button," he pointed to the desk, "the rune you keep trying to use to alert people you're in trouble? I nipped your panic button an hour ago, and the guards outside are under a trance to not enter until I release them."

He held up his hands in defense before she could say anything.

"No, no, I completely understand. And to be fair, I would've done far worse than just signal for help. But I also understand the apprehension of believing a random person who broke into your palace. So how about a simple demonstration to show who I am."

With a gesture, something materialized into existence beside him. A brilliant, majestic, almost living statue, with pitch black wings. It stood a head taller than the mage, and wielded a spear and buckler shield of pristine pure gold.

Just as the reports described.

"I know there are other ways to display my magical power," he continued. "But I feel this is the easiest way."

This was… not what she had been expecting to happen to her today.

"I believe we got off on the wrong foot," the dragon queen recomposed herself. "If you are who you say you are, then the people of the Dragon Kingdom owe you a great debt Lord…?"

"Aiwass," the man answered. "And just Aiwass, I'm no Lord. Just a humble mage."

"A mage who, supposedly, laid waste to hordes of beastmen and seemingly drove them out of my kingdom. Hardly humble, as far as I'm concerned."

"Humble, in the sense I don't brag about things I can't do," he clarified, taking his seat again. "I'm actually quite proud of the things I can do."

"And perhaps too honest," while still on edge, Draudillon was at least certain the man wasn't some assassin. If he was, why not just kill her without revealing he was in the room? But she still didn't know why he was here. "Though some would consider it poor manners to cover your face before a monarch."

"Really?" he held in a laugh, giving an exaggerated look over her body. "Do you really want to play that card given how you tend to look before your people?"

"If you're here about your reward, there are easier ways to claim it," she ignored the comment and attempted to regain control of the conversation's flow. "Far less likely to.. Burn away good will you garner."

"Oh? My reward?" his head tilted, but the mask hid his expression.

"Yes, your reward," she too finally took her seat. "If you are who you say you are. You need only ask, and you shall have it. So long as it's within my power and within reason, of course."

Within reason? What a joke.

The truth, if he was who he said he was, though the more she spoke to him the more she felt certain that this was the man in question, she couldn't refuse him anything.

He could go as far as claiming all the liberated land as his own personal fiefdom, be it as a vassal of hers or as a new realm entirely, and she'd be forced to allow it. A full quarter of her lands cut from the rest.

It boiled her blood, that vestigial dragonic part of her was almost retching at the thought of giving so much of her land away, but what could she realistically do. After all, if her army struggled with the beastmen, how well would it do against the man they crumbled before?

So what would he demand?

A king's ransom? The Kingdom's coffers were hardly bursting, but if she didn't have to pay tribute to the Empire or Theocracy for military assistance any more, an amount could probably be arranged.

Titles of nobility? Hardly unheard of to enthrone particular individuals who do great deeds for their respective nations. Though at that point, who would her vassals listen to? The queen who failed them, or the mage who saved them?

Perhaps he was ambitious enough to demand her hand? She considered offering that last boon to the boy emperor in Arwintar in exchange for protection, but if this mage could do the same without subjecting her nation to subordination to another power it was hardly the worst outcome. And it could potentially bring powerful blood into the Oriculus line to offset the thinning of their draconic heritage.

"Oh don't worry about repaying me," he waved off the prospect. "I saved your lands out of the kindness of my own heart. You, and your people, owe me nothing for that."

"That's," unbelievable, "generous of you."

"Well, what I did was more of a demo…. A demonstration of my power," he corrected himself. "You could even call it an audition."

"If you want the position of court mage, all you have to do is ask," even if he wasn't the mysterious mage who saved her lands, a mage of such power and skill needed to enter this part of the palace undetected was more than sufficient to become her court mage. Though she doubted she'd be too quick to trust a random mage overly much.

"Not for that," he denied. "No, the salvation of your kingdom was a demonstration to show I could do what I say I can do."

"And that would be?" her curiosity was piqued, even if she did her best to keep her expression neutral.

"Ending the war with the beastmen, permanently."

Draudillon snorted.

Single handedly end the war?

Ridiculous.

"Is it really so outrageous?" he reacted to her. "Even you must know I merely gave you some breathing room. Sooner or later, maybe a couple years from now, perhaps even a decade, the beastmen will return and everything will go right back to how I found it."

"And you can end it?"

"I know I can. With a single command, my forces will march forth, eradicating everything that stands in their way like that," he snapped his fingers.

"And then?" She took note of what he said. His 'forces', implying he was not working alone.

"And then, I go before the beastmen king and give him an ultimatum to surrender. Stand down, or die."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that," he spoke with absolute certainty.

And despite her better judgment, she could see him appear within the beastmen king's court and cause chaos with spells. But to force the demihuman to end the war?

"And I gather that this time, you would want a reward."

"I'm afraid so," Aiwass shook his head. "If you want my help in ending this conflict, permanently that is, I will require payment."

"If you can end the beastman threat," again, despite her better judgment, she indulged the man in his hypothetical. "My earlier comment of your reward still stands. Money, titles, name it and it will be yours."

"Hmmm, tempting, but what I want is something a tad more unconventional," a lone finger tapped the arm of his chair, as he quietly mused to himself. "I want a sample of your blood."

"Excuse me?" The request put her on edge. "Did you just say you want my blood?"

"A sample, no more than a handful of vials, nothing that would harm you," he clarified, seeing her distress. "But yes, your blood."

"That is…." disturbing "the first time someone has asked for something like that. Most would ask for something more," normal "wordly."

"Most people are fools," she could hardly disagree with him on that. "I'm more interested in things that are actually useful."

"I don't suppose I could ask you to-"

"Explain myself," he finished her question. "It's actually quite simple. You have dragon lord blood in your veins, and through it, the ability to cast wild magic. I am interested in that power. Ergo, I want your blood for research purposes."

"Diluted dragon blood," her fingers dug into her dress to hide her frustration. While called a 'half dragon' by most, she was, in truth, merely one-eight dragon. The blood of the Brightness Dragon Lord, her Great-Grandfather, was too muddled to be of any practical use beyond some parlor tricks or cantrips.

"Well I don't see any other Dragon Lord nearby offering up samples of their blood," he joked. " So if I can get somthing I am looking for, all the while saving a nation from man-eating monsters, all the better."

"Saviors and heroes hardly ask for blood to lend their aid,"the queen commented.

"And I never claimed to be either," he countered, "I have given you my price, do you accept?"

She has heard this boast before. Over the course of a century, lines of adamantine adventurers claiming that they would be the heroes the Dragon Kingdom needed. They would kill the beastmen. They would kill the beastmen king. They would save the kingdom.

They failed. Each and everyone of them failed.

So many, and so often, that she's honestly forgotten most of the team names who ventured into this fool's errand.

But…..

She looked back at the map, for the first time in over a century the Dragon Kingdom's borders were truly free of enemies. No city was under threat, no horde meandering around capturing her people to be cooked and eaten. Her people were safe from predation.

A far cry more than what those other adventures achieved.

And it was that time of the century again. That strange period of time that occurred once a century where inordinately powerful individuals emerged from who knows where to change the face of the world.

Her great-grandfather was the first person who pointed out this trend to her, but she never really gave it any thought.

But after hearing of what occurred in Re-Estize, with a demon invasion being beaten off by a single man, perhaps there was more to her great-grandfather's words than just pointing out a trend.

…

"Do it," her words felt like a hammer blow.

"It's a deal then," even without being able to see his expression, she could feel a grin ready to split his face in two.

"How long will this take," she questioned as he straightened out his cloak.

"... I'll be in touch," he gave a non-answer, making his way to the far end of her chamber; the angel he summoned followed silently behind. "But I promise it'll all be out in the open. I've had my fill of cloak and dagger stuff for the time being. Good day, your highness."

And with that, he was gone; vanishing in a quick burst of magic.

While she wondered why the angel did not 'follow' its master, the being soon dissolved into motes of golden light, leaving the queen alone once more.

Alone with her thoughts, Draudillon couldn't help but feel a strange sense of 'wrongness' about it all. Afterall, heroes, true or imagined, hardly ask for blood as payment. She just couldn't shake the feeling she had made a pact with a demon or sorts…

She glanced at the map again, a nation free of beastmen.

…

So be it.

If her people's salvation could be earned with some of her blood, then she will gladly pay that price.

She just hoped she wouldn't come to regret this choice in the future.

Fucking finally!

I fell face first into my bed, barely able to hold in my groan as I switched out of my Aiwass attire into some 'normal' clothes. I'd been stuck in that fucking room for over an hour just standing there in the dark waiting for the queen to walk in.

I was a mere two minutes away from calling it quits and trying again tomorrow before she waddled herself in.

I am almost one hundred percent certain that if I just popped up, teleporting in right in the throne room, said 'Yo! I saved your people! I can do more, let's make a deal!' I'm certain I'd have been swarmed by guards and not get a word in edgewise.

And they would have been all like 'stop! You have violated the law!' Would have been a total mood killer.

I'm also SO happy she didn't call me out on the 'guards in trance' thing. All I did was kill the panic button, if she made a ruckus, I was in big trouble!

And….

And it was pretty cool doing the whole coming out of the shadows thing.

Of course I was being completely honest with her.

Well, maybe not completely.

Since even before I popped on over to chat, I was 'receiving' reports from my 'forces' that they had crossed the border into the Beastman Kingdom and were engaging the enemy.

'Forces' was a pretty way of saying the motley assortment of homunculi, golems, and fallen angels who numbered around thirty to forty people ("people") strong at most. It felt incredibly lacking for all that I was hyping myself up. I could have had a small army of a few hundred crossing over, but I needed those philosopher stones that could have formed those NPCs for research purposes.

Research purposes that are hopefully almost done since it's been five days since I started it….

I still don't think it'll be that big of an issue.

I know beastmen were on average higher leveled than humans here, but I just didn't know by how much. I'm just assuming for the moment that level fifteen is enough for the rank and file at least. And if worse came to worst, the fallen angels could pick up the slack given each was a level fifty summons.

And I mean, it's not like I told them to conquer the kingdom, just wipe out its military along the border. Then I pop into the Beastman's capital and just scare whoever's in charge into stopping their attacks on the Dragon Kingdom permanently.

There should be no problems.

But no plan survives first contact with the enemy. The king could turn out to be some crazy lunatic that refuses to surrender, and anyone who comes after him follows suit.

I mean, I guess I could mind control the king into surrendering.

Not with the World Item of course! Oh no, I have a specific person in mind for that!

And as for the reward? Well I was being completely honest about that.

Wild magic does interest me. After all, if it brought things to this world, couldn't it let things leave it as well?

I mean for god's sake, it turned video game assets into real things! A simple teleportation spell should be more than reasonable!

Not that I know much about researching blood, magical blood at that. I think I'll just have Fluder and his students look it over. Have them use those big brains of there's to figure out if it's possible to use wild magic when-

A light knock at the door broke my train of thought.

"My lady?" It was one of the maids, must have heard the commotion in here.

"Yeah, I'm back," I reply. The pair knew I went out to do 'important stuff', but of course neither knew what I was actually doing.

"Do you require anything? Drink? A meal?"

"Both would be good."

"I'll have a meal ready for you in a moment," I heard her footsteps as she left.

Putting on something more comfortable, and less edgy, I waddled myself out of my room to the dining table. And when I rounded the corner, I found the table already had an occupant.

That's right, I had a….guest….

"Guest"….

"Why good morning Citrinitas, you are looking radiant this morning," the vampire in question sat at the far end of the table, fluttering her eyes as I took my seat. Her skin had its usual corpse-like tone to it unlike her disguise. "The sun seems to rise as if to meet your radiance."

"It's past noon," I tried to not make eye contact.

"Ah…." she gave an almost comical head tilt and slow blink, like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. "Well, um…" Fumbling her words, she quickly consulted a small notebook she seemed to keep near by her recently. "You…um….um…Ah! Yes, your radiance has brought morning to noon."

"That doesn't even make sense." I quip, trying to nurse the headache I always got when she was around.

The vampire, for some reason, decided to come to Arwintar to be a part of Ainz's 'Plan' for the city. She claims Demiurge sent her this way and told her to wait for my instructions to proceed to the next phase.

I have no fucking idea what she's talking about.

Part of me wants to just kick her to the curb and have her skedaddle back to the tomb.

However, I know for a fact that if I left her alone to her own devices, the bodies would start to stack up. Better she's here bothering and annoying me, then terrorizing the people of Arwintar. Especially so soon after that little 'performance' Demiurge did.

So I gave her a guest room and tried to keep my distance from her.

I spent as little time here as I could, claiming I was doing research elsewhere that was important to my 'plan'. Technically all true, but very different from what I think she probably thought.

Though I will say, cringy pick up lines aside, she is behaving herself. There has not been a single missing person in the area since she arrived. Best behavior indeed.

I think that is more a mixture of her not wanting to 'mess up Ainz's plan' then her actually reforming herself to be a better person.

Speaking of being a better person, she's still trying to get into my pants. Though it's more tolerable given the lack of pushing boundaries and more resorting to cringy one liners that sound like their right out of an porn game.

Three guesses who she's looking for inspiration from…

I don't even know why she's so adamant about wooing me!

I mean it makes some sense why she is interested in me now since I gave her a little 'pick me up' when she was in her whole depression thing. But before that I have no idea what I did that made me vampire catnip.

I won't deny she's cute in her own way. Has this 'kicked puppy' face whenever she gets really distraught. That's kind of cute. So cute it's almost easy to forget she's a sadomasochist that gets off on abusing people.

Pretty sure she's not going to do that to me anymore, but that hardly makes up for the fact she is fully willing to abuse others.

And yet….

Shalltear flipped through the book pages rapidly, trying in vain to find something.

…that kicked puppy look.

"You're coming off too forced," I finally comment, digging into the food Mya placed before me.

"Hmm?" she rolled her head to the side so she could meet my eyes.

"Your speech is fine, but it's obvious the words aren't yours," I clarified, wolfing down my food. "Makes you come off as fake."

"But…. these are Lord Peroroncino's own memoirs….." she clutched the small book close to herself. "If I can't even speak my Creator's own words…then…what good am I….I…"

Oh boy, I could tell a minefield when I saw one. And I also don't want to imagine what hellish, and corny, pickup lines that pervert would have written in that.

"Just…think of them more as a guideline, then a set script."

"But I…"

"Just ask yourself this," I tried to frame it another way, "Are you saying that stuff because you want to say it, or because he wrote it down?"

"But they're his words."

"And not yours," she looked down at the book.

A silence came over the table for a short while, then the vampire spoke again, clearly finding the previous train of thought uncomfortable.

"You're going to be leaving again, soon, right?" she fiddled with the edges of the book.

"In a few minutes, why?" I gulped down a glass of wine.

"Is there…" she fidgeted in her seat, "Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Not at the moment," or ever.

"...I know I'm not as smart as you," she sighed, "but there has to be something I can do. I can be useful, I can…I mean, I can do stuff. I'm not useless"

"Shalltear," I realized I was going to have to nip this in the bud. "You are not useless."

"But why aren't you letting me help you?"

"Because," I'm actively working against Nazarick and I think you'll kill me if you find you. "I need you here."

"Here?"

"Yes," my mind spun a lie as quickly as it could. "The plan…Lord Ainz's plan, that is, will soon be underway, and it needs you here for it to work."

"It needs me?" she blinked.

"Of course," I walked over to her side of the table. "It needs you to be ready at a moment's notice. That's why it requires you to be here, ready when the signal is given."

"There's a signal? I don't remember reading that." Wait, she read something about this?

"That's because,"come on brain, think! "The signal is so obvious that it doesn't need to be written down. You'll know it when you see it, there is absolutely no way to misunderstand it."

"But…." Shalltear worked through all the info I gave her. "But if I don't know the signal, how can I be ready for it?"

That's actually a good question….

"Are you wearing the ring that conceals your true power?" Shalltear nodded, and showed me the simple silver band. "Then you're already all set."

"...If you're sure," Shalltear mumbled to herself then nodded. "Then I'll stay right here, ready to answer our Lord's call."

"That's the spirit," ready to answer a call that will never come. Though I do need to find out what she read and if I can get a copy. I need to know what sort of bullshit Demiurge is cooking up.

Swearing to myself at the time, I quickly finished up and got ready to teleport back to my new castle. But before that, since I was having this heart to heart with her, I might as well tell her the one genuine thing I have on my mind for her."

"Oh, and Shalltear," she perked up at her name. "You seem better than I last saw you."

"What do you mean, you saw me just last night when you got back in- oh," her shoulders slumped down as she realized what I meant. "Right. Yes. I just… I still don't think I deserve forgiveness for what I did. Even after my punishment. But I'll put my trust in Lord Ainz when he says I have been punished sufficiently for my blunder."

"Punishment?" I didn't think the bone man had it in him.

"Yes, Lord Ainz was stern, but fair, in the punishment he administered," she shifted in her seat, a blush flourishing across her cheeks. "So very stern…"

Why was she…

Oh!

Oh right…

Shall-Chair….

Honestly, is it even possible to punish a masochist?

"She needs to be spayed," Mya commented aloud, taking my empty plate away.

"What do you know!" Shalltear countered, shattering a plate against the wall where the maid once was.

Why is my life turning into a fucking romcom….

It was official, Shalltear was bored.

The vampire grumbled into a pillow as she kept looking at the clock. The act seemed to make time move even slower!

Since Citrinitas left to do whatever it was she does everyday, she was stuck here with those annoying homunculus maids of hers. And it was solely due to the fact they were her's that Shalltear hadn't killed them yet for how ungodly irritating they could be.

She was frustrated.

And bored.

To make matters even worse, she was filled with that wonderfully frustrating feeling whenever she's near Citrinitas. A beautiful girl like her taking time out of her busy, and infinitely more important schedule, just to help a screw up like her?

Just the thought of it made her feel all warm inside.

She left all her brides back in Nazarick, so she had no one to relive her frustrations with. Citrinitas was adamant they never to step foot in her home. Shalltear can't actually recall the last time she went this long without relief.

But she needed something now!

to get her head back in the game.

She just needed one…

One human. Or elf. Or anything really. Just something to just take the edge off.

Hopefully a cute one.

No. No. Now was not the time to be picky.

Shalltear left the home, nervous that this was paramount to leaving her post. If the signal came and she wasn't there….

No. She would know it, Citrinitas said so! And since she wasn't here, and the ugly human city was the same as always, she knew for a fact that whatever the signal was hasn't happened yet.

What mattered now was getting herself in top shape, working her frustration out of her system. That meant a cute girl, on her hands and knees, look up at her with empty eyes as soon as-

"Who are you?"

Cursing under her breath, it took all the vampire's self control to not turn and kill the human who addressed her.

But then she saw her.

Short blonde hair.

Bright cerulean eyes.

Pristine, smooth pale skin.

And even with the human's baggy ensemble, Shalltear's eyes could easily tell how proportioned they were.

It was all very, very, nice.

Was it good luck to find a human that met her qualifications? Even as reduced as they were given the nature of her issue?

"Um, what are you doing?" the human questioned, the same one who moments ago irritated her.

Then again, that voice~

Oh yes, she will do nicely~

As Shalltear walked towards the girl, the human took steps back.

"H-Hey! Don't just ignore-" whatever the girl was about to say died in the back of her throat as Shalltear stared directly into her eyes and charmed the human. The girl's expression dulled as the charming effects took hold.

The vampire smiled at her handiwork, with none the wiser.

While she preferred her toys to show off more of their skin, she could hardly say modesty didn't have its own appeal from time to time. Such as, say, an innocent maiden of faith was found wearing her full regalia.

She beckoned the human to follow her back to Citrinitas's home.

Of course, as if to ruin her good mood, one of the homunculi crossed the vampire's path when she returned.

The maid regarded the pair, focusing on the human, then sighed.

"I'd ask that you try not to stain your room too much, but I know that's too much to hope for," the homunculus quipped, her gaze lingering on the human.

Shalltear let out a low growl at the homunculus as she retreated to her room with the human in tow.

"So," the vampire locked the door behind her to keep those meddlesome maids out of sight and mind, giving the human her full attention and examining her new toy in detail. Time for the most important question. "Are you a virgin?"

"Yes," the reply was emotionless. In her current state, the girl was little more than a living doll for Shalltear's own amusement, possessing no agency of her own to impede her new mistress's will.

In this state, and with a simple word, she could make this human do pretty much anything.

But where was the fun in that?

Where was the struggle? The pain? In short, where was the enjoyment in claiming a human without a struggle?

No.

There was an art to this, to truly break someone. Shalltear planned to keep the human entranced only as long as it took to learn everything that could conceivably be gleaned from her flesh. Every pleasure point, every pain point, it would all be opened to her like a book.

Then, she'd release the girl from her thrall, and with the human fully conscious and understanding their situation, then break her in every conceivable way. To put her through such throngs of pain and pleasure until her mind can't differentiate one from the other.

The only thing that would make it better is if the human had some loved ones that she could break her in front of.

A boy she was infatuated with?

A girl~

Hmmmmm.

"What were you doing before I found you," Shalltear questioned, her pale hands starting to run across the human's covered frame.

"I was going to see a friend," the human neutrally replied, her breathing slightly hitching when she felt Shalltear's cold hands. "I hadn't seen her in several days, and wanted to make sure she was alright after the attack."

"Oh a friend? Is she your girlfriend?" Shalltear pressed, getting excited at the implications.

"She is a girl, who is a friend," the human commented absentmindedly.

"But that's not what I asked. I asked if she was your girlfriend."

"I…don't understand," the girl's face scrunched up, trying to make sense of the simple question. "I am her friend, and she is a girl."

Before Shalltear could wonder just how dim this human must be, a thought occurred to her. And the vampire could hardly hold in her squeal of joy.

Not only was this girl a virgin, but she had no understanding of female and female relations!?

Oh what luck!

It took all her willpower to not start gorging herself on this human

"Then perhaps, after we're done here, you can show me where she lives," Shalltear salivated at the thought.

""I- I can't," the human stuttered.

"...what?" Shalltear did not believe what she was hearing. She yanked the girl's head back by her hair and glared into her empty eyes. "Did you just say I can't do something!?"

"This is Lilly's home. I can't show you it, because we are already there."

"No it's not, you dumb human," she frowned, "It's Citrinitas's home."

"No, Lilly's."

"Citrinitas!"

"Lilly's home."

How was she even having an argument with an enthralled human? The spell is supposed to make them utterly compliant to her!

Wait…

Wait just a second….

That name was familiar to her. She knew she heard it from Demiurge.

Was that a human who was part of the plan?

Pushing the girl aside, Shalltear pulled out the 'simplified manuscript' given to her by Demiurge about the basic bullet points of the operation she always kept on her night table to consult whenever she was confused.

Who was who, and what was what. That sort of stuff.

She flipped to the pages with aliases and names.

Lord Ainz Ooal Gown = Momon

Narberal Gamma = Nabe

Demiurge = Demon Lord Jaldaboath

Citrinitas = Lillith Ars Goetia Lucifer Solomon

She held on that last one.

Lilith

Lil-ly

…

Citrinitas = Lilly

…

…

The script slipped from her hand

If what this human said was true, that this was the 'Lilly' character's home, that would mean she was a known factor in Citrinitas's plans….

And by extension, Lord Ainz's plans.

Oh no…

Oh no, no, no, no, no….

She almost screwed up again!

The vampire nearly fell into a fetal position from the despair of it all.

No! It's still fine!

She didn't do anything to the human yet so she can still fix this!

She looked at the girl, her expressionless face completely oblivious to the vampire's plight.

That's right!

She hasn't done anything yet, so she can just wipe the girl's memory and dump her somewhere so she can do whatever Lord Ainz and Citrinitas have planned.

Yes, yes she could fix this.

But while the vampire hurriedly dragged her out of the home to deposit her somewhere else, out of sight and out of mind, only a single question echoed in her mind.

Why?

Why? Why?

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? WHY?

Why did Citrinitas have to have such impeccable taste in women!

Arche blinked and her head swelled with pain.

"What in the…'' she looked around her surroundings. She had just gone from the front of Lilly's home to some alleyway in the blink of an eye.

Arche had been on her way to see how Lilly was doing. She'd been preoccupied in the immediate aftermath of the attack the week before and couldn't check up on her. Foresight, along with a good number of other worker teams, had been requisitioned by the city watch to help fill out their strength in the aftermath of the attack.

And when she wasn't out patrolling some street, or just standing around to give the impression of law and order, she was dealing with the twins. They kept asking about going home and seeing their parents again. Arche had been coming up with more and more excuses to delay the whole thing, but that would only work for so long.

She'd bring the pair back home…eventually.

And seeing as how today was the first day she had any real time to herself, she decided to check in on Lilly to see if she was alright. Not that Arche was overly worried for the girl's safety, given how strong she was.

But something…happened.

She didn't know any better way to describe it.

One moment, she was at Lilly's home. Then in some dingy alley. Everything in between was just…gone from her mind.

The only thing Arche remembered seeing was a blonde girl about her age, and the girl's bright red eyes.

Red slit eyes.

A monster?

A few days ago she would have written the thought off entirely. But after everything that happened she'd be stupid to dismiss it outright.

But if it was a monster, hiding in plain sight, then the next questions were 'what kind' and 'why'.

Arche went out into the street, taking note of the signs indicating she was now halfway across the city from where she once was.

Clicking her tongue, Arche cast [Flight] to get a birds eye view.

If the person she saw was a monster, given their human-like appearance, Arche could only guess that the creature must be a vampire or some sort of demon; the two monster variants most likely to blend into society without raising an alarm.

At the thought of it being a vampire, Arche's hand ran along her neck feeling around for bite marks. A pointless gesture. If she had been under the thrall of a vampire, or something with vampiric qualities, it could have easily drained her then healed the marks while she was influenced by it.

But beyond wondering 'what' it was, Arche was trying to figure out WHY there was a monster outside Lilly's home at all.

Though it hardly took more than a few moments for her to reach a logical conclusion.

Lilly was probably the second most powerful magic caster in Arwintar, behind Master Paradyne himself. If the first attack was just a probe, to see where the Imperial defenses were strong or weak, then logically these creatures would want to know which individuals could pose a threat to a later attack and deal with them accordingly.

But if that was the case then….

She gazed over the city with her All Seeing Eyes, noting nothing out of the ordinary, seeing Lilly's magical signature clear as day from her in home, meaning she was fine.

Arche bit the inside of her cheek.

She couldn't help but feel things were about to get a whole lot more complicated.

There sure were benefits to owning personal castles in the middle of nowhere. Like performing research without nosy Floor Guardians to worry about.

Well, I mean it's technically Fluder's castle, but if he genuinely wanted it back, I'd like to see him try and pry it from my cold dead hands.

Anyway…

Research!

The only way to truly be ready to use a weapon was to learn everything about it. How it worked, why it worked, what it would and wouldn't work on, and so on.

And right now I had one of the most powerful weapons in the world in my procession, [Downfall of Castle and Country].

Unlike the Theocracy, I knew this for what it was; a truly powerful object devoid of any divine nature.

And once you look at something as just another item, albeit very powerful, it becomes something to be studied rather than an object to be revered.

I doubt the Theocracy even knows that World Items cancel each other out.

But I wanted to go even further than that! I wanted to know everything about this item.

What constitutes 'equipped' for the item to work?

Did the concept of 'equipped' come from the item itself, or did it only apply to what the user thought was 'equipped'?

Can the effects be canceled at any time?

If so, was there a 'tell' for the user when such a thing happened?

Could the user of the item tell if their target died and they can use the item again, without canceling the effects on another target?

Can the dress be used to affect another target, at the expense of the control over the previous target naturally?

And so, so, much more!

And I found answers to most of those questions through a variety of testing.

It was considered 'equipped' so long as it was on the body of the user, or worn in a way a dress was not typically worn in; such as being wrapped around an arm or the chest like a cloth.

The effects could only be canceled by casting it again, but there was no 'tell' to let the user know the previous target was no longer under control.

I even found the answers to questions I didn't even consider!

For example, if the World Item overrides any form of control a target was under, such as more conventional mind control, that effect would not restore itself after the World Item's effects were removed!

I found that bit out by using it on some zombie Fluder's students created for testing. The test was supposed to see if someone could 'tell' their own mind control, or control in general, was overridden by the World Item. They could not. But when I removed the effects on the zombie, it went feral and tried to attack.

It wasn't a risk to anyone in the room at the time, level five zombie trying to attack some level twenty something mages, but it was still interesting nonetheless.

But that brings up another question: did Shalltear attack Ainz because the mind control was incomplete, or was that just her personality after having Nazarick's control stripped from her?

A question for another time I suppose.

Still, with all the progress I was making, I was able to move on from walking corpses and skeletons to more interesting guinea pigs

And no, that's not a euphemism. I used genuine, fluffy, little guinea pigs. I needed living test subjects and I refused to use slaves like Fluder and his cohort suggested. They proposed buying slaves for a fake mining expedition then claim a 'cave in' killed them to deal with the paper trail.

I refused, because of course I said no to something that horrid!

Mind you, I did do a tiny 'oopse' in the episode.

See, I still don't know my own strength, even after all this time. So when one of Fluder's students, some guy whose name I don't even remember, kept pressing and pressing me about all the 'progress' we'd make if we just had better 'subjects', questioning why I would even care about some 'slaves', I might have put my foot down a little too hard on him.

The end result was a shattered foot, though even that's been generous with how little was holding it to the leg….

I fixed it with a quick minor health potion, so it sort of resolved itself, and thankfully the issue hasn't come up again.

Of course, I did need to start testing with things a bit more complex than guinea pig.

As the light from the World Item died down, a single figure sat in the center of the testing chamber. A puppy, cute as a button, with his tail wagging so happily.

I knelt down, the mages in attendance waiting with baited breath for me to issue a command.

"Come," I beckoned the dog over.

The dog looked at me, head tilted, then scampered over to the complete other side of the chamber to smell the wall.

This sent the students into a frenzy of scribbling notes and quiet murmurings.

"Come here," I ordered, more forcefully. Though I had the biggest smile on my face as the little doggo continued to mind his own business on the other side of the room. Not that anyone could see it with the mask.

Even the guinea pigs I tested understood my commands when I gave them. Understanding my words to the letter. The puppy had just taken the full brunt of [Downfall of Castle and Country], a mind control item that could twist Shalltear Bloodfallen into doing its wielder's bidding, yet it was seemingly immune to the effects.

Or, more likely, his collar fitted with a tiny caloric stone the size of a pebble, shielded him from the effects.

Standing up, I dust off my pants and address the crowd of mages, each waiting with baited breath for the results.

"I have no control over the dog," I report.

They broke into excited murmurings. They knew exactly what sort of power the World Item had, so to see the effects not taken was quite surprising for them. More likely, they believe I have just 'discovered' a defense to the World Item in question.

And I did discover something. Not a defense, but how little was needed to achieve that defense. A caloric stone the size of a pebble was enough.

Before I could join in the celebrity 'pats on the pack', a mage opened the door.

"I'm sorry for interrupting," she apologized, heaving from running all the way here from wherever she was before. "But they're ready."

I didn't need any further explanation, knowing exactly what she meant, I teleported right down to the chamber in question.

A massive chamber in the dark depths of the palace, probably meant for storage, now played out host to one of my greatest experiments yet. The pair of mages already inside jumped at my sudden arrival, but made no comment; they had long since gotten used to my teleporting around.

In the room were eight shrouds of light. Shining and coalescing motes of energy forming into something more 'solid'.

The event itself was hardly a surprise for me, I had seen this time and time again when I created a homunculus. But this time was different.

See, I had done tests on the creation process to see if I could make anything more powerful than a level fifteen NPC. That led me down the rabbit hole of using more philosopher stones to create a homunculus.

In practice, it went something like this.

One philosopher stone creates a level fifteen homunculus NPC.

Two philosopher stones, used in the creation of a single NPC, create a level sixteen homunculus.

Three together create a level seventeen.

And so on.

But I also found that each time another stone was added to the process, the 'cast' time grew exponentially. Where one stone could create a homunculus in a few seconds, two stones together increased that time to almost a minute, three were finished in ten minutes, and so on.

Probably some system made by the Yggdrasil devs to encourage players to buy some cash shop items to speed up the process. But I don't have any, so I have to wait and play the long game.

Back to the process at hand! So I thought to myself a few days ago, what would happen when I use thirty six stones to create a homunculus?

And not just one homunculus, but eight at once.

And also how 'liberal' would whatever system that allocates levels be if given only a 'vague' order. Say: create two tanks, two healers, and four DPS.

In other words, a large dungeon group, or a small raid group, by Yggdrasil standards.

And so two hundred and eighty-eight stones later, eight NPCs were about to be born into the world.

Their 'birth' was no more grand than any other homunculus being created, but the anticipation of what would come out was more than enough to keep me on the verge of my metaphorical seat.

They came into existence in a soft hum and a dim flash of light. Eight figures, standing tall and rigid. Each bore similar traits to all the other homunculi I had made: alabaster white skin, bleached white hair, silvery eyes.

Yet there was something different about these ones.

Their faces didn't have the 'uncanny valley' feeling the others made when I looked at them. No sensation in the back of my mind telling me something was 'off' about them. Sure, the colors, or lack thereof, were striking, but not unnerving. I could tell I wasn't the only one who thought that, given the murmurings.

The other, perhaps more important, difference was who they were. That is, there were four men, two women. Sure, all had the same barbie/ken doll anatomy with smoothness between their legs, but the fact I could see that two were women was…different.

Usually, all the homunculi that were created were men. Even the other homunculus in the room regarded the group with curiosity.

"Time?" I regard the mage who was in the room before I arrived, recognizing him as one of the few looking over the 'birth'.

"Six days, five hours, twenty-three minutes," he answered. Too long for my liking.

Filing that nugget for later, I turned my attention to the group before me, making note that the two girls happen to be the two 'healers' of the group. Something to consider for later.

"Do you know who I am," I asked them.

"Yes," they replied in unison. It was so strange hearing female voices among the chorus of men.

"Do you know what you are, and what is expected of you?"

"Yes."

"Tell me what is expected of you."

"To serve you, Master."

I hid the excited shiver that ran down my spine at the response. These sorts of displays always had that effect on me.

"Then gather gear from the next room," I gesture to the adjoining room filled with all manner of items and crafts. "We'll talk about what you'll be doing then."

Rather than reply, they bowed, then marched, again in unison, to the other room.

They seemed loyal enough, or at least pretty much the same as the others I made. I wonder if the differences go deeper than simple appearances. Perhaps they 'think' differently as well. Not in the sense of disobedience, but are more 'intelligent' given they have more 'levels' to work with.

As the group matched out, and the mages talked excitedly with one another, I looked to the far end of the chamber to the lone glowing light overseen by a lone mage. Still in the 'early' stages of development, as if the whole creation process was at one-hundredth of the speed as normal.

This one was going to either be my greatest creation, or a headache to control.

That's because, as I said before: one stone makes a level fifteen, two make a level sixteen, and thirty-six make a level fifty.

So what will happen, I mused a week ago, if I used eighty-six stones at once?