9

For the last few days, with nothing better to do, I've been acclimating myself into my new home away from "home".

The thing that really struck me was how opulent the whole thing was. It has this whole gothic Victorian theme going on with all the dark colors and stone works. There was also this constant aura of mystery that had been jam packed into this place. I mean,

And all that's before talking about the security features I noticed in place. Spell traps laid onto the stone paths that worked on the equivalent of a remote trigger. Stone gargoyles sat perched on the roof, overseeing every possible approach, that would come to life when commanded. And if by some miracle someone managed to evade these security precautions, then they would face the specters and other ghostly apparitions that invisibly patrolled the inside of the manor.

By this world's standards, this manor was a fortress disguised as an eccentric home.

By Nazarick standards, this was closer to a "haunted house" attraction than a secure location.

Not to say that the defenses weren't lethal; I was assured repeatedly to the contrary. Merely showing the disparity in strength between things from Yggdrasil and this world. For example, the aforementioned gargoyles were a "mob" summon by an item from Nazarick's library. Meaning each stone sentinel was "only" in the mid-twenties in terms of levels. Maybe the item was from a Halloween themed event?

And let's not even begin to discuss the spells! They were all either tier three or four.

But that was all the point I guess, make something really scary (by this world's standards) and just have all the Eight Fingers swarm and get killed here like a human sized fly zapper!

But I had more pressing matters at hand. Namely, MAGIC!

"Damn it," I swore to myself as I looked at my most recent attempt to figure out the in's and outs of my powers.

In the past day or so, I have taken to using the basement as an impromptu lab for my experiments. Experiments where my goal was to learn what I could actually do. I told Mya and Eva that I was just 'testing the way spells worked between this world and Yggdrasil' and they just rolled with it.

As for the tests?

Laid out before me was a simple steel dagger; and that was the problem. Five minutes ago, it had been an iron dagger bought from the local market earlier this day with the enchantment [Minor Dexterity] woven into it. Now it was a steel dagger with no enchantment.

While I had been fiddling around with my enchanting powers, learning the names of several enchantments I can cast onto items, I had something of a lightbulb moment. See, what I've learned about enchanting stuff is that the mana cost for said enchantment is based off two factors: the tier of the enchantment itself and the quality of the item being enchanted. In laymen's terms, it costs more mana to cast an enchantment on a steel item then it is to cast it on iron.

Figuring all this out, I thought what if I cast a high tier enchantment on a low-quality item then transmute it into something more high quality; thereby bypassing the added "cost" of mana for enchanting something already high quality.

Sadly, this does not work.

For whatever reason, the process of transmutation destroys any enchantments in said item. No matter how small the gulf in quality is between the old and new item, nor if the item is being downgraded from something higher, the process will always remove the enchantment. Kind of a bummer that I failed at that, but on the bright side, I suppose I did learn a new type of "attack" that can destroy an opponent's enchantments with minimal use of mana. Except to transmute something I must be close enough to almost touch it, so it loses a bit of its combat potential.

The other thing I have been working on in an 'on and off' sort of fashion is the "Magnum Opus", that book I took from my room in the Tomb. The text is a mix between a lore book and an in-game Yggdrasil guide to alchemy. While the lore sections are pure Tabula-y goodness, overdramatic to a fault, I'm pretty sure the technical details on alchemy are just copied and pasted from some forum. I base this conclusion off the fact that the writing styles between the various guides and the lore stuff are different, and I don't think Tabula is the type of person to use words like "Big Boi", "Make-a-Waifu", or "Hippity-Hoppity here's your new property".

But ignoring the…colorful, language, these guides are very in-depth and did make me curious about something.

See, a few of the guides talk about the late game potential of the Hermetic job class, which I was. Namely creating homunculi. The guides described them as a good 'pack mules' to carry dropped items, or a good alternative to make a 'waifu' if you don't have a guild base.

From what I read, these were something in between the customizable Guild Base NPCs and the non-customizable, but infinitely recruitable, Mercenary NPCs. Basically, an NPC that has some capabilities of being customized (so long as the racial levels were all for types of homunculi) but would be gone forever if they were killed like a Mercenary NPC. The player gets a baseline of fifteen levels to customize them with (technically fourteen since one level always goes towards the homunculus racial class) with more levels being granted when you 'feed' the homunculus philosopher stones during the creation process. No mention on how many levels each stone adds.

Ignoring the weirdness of some of the words being used, I couldn't help but be tempted to make my own for curiosities sake. I either had, or could make, all the necessary components to create one. And the thought of having my own little NPCs for myself was a very enticing image. Yet, I was hesitant for the moment. A question hung in my mind:

If I made one, who would it be loyal to: me, its creator, or Ainz, my 'Guild Leader'? After all, the New World has so many little quirks when it comes to how it interacts with Yggdrasil's game systems. And what would be the point in making something that wouldn't be loyal to me first and foremost?

Ugh this is so frustrating!

I pinch the ride of my nose and try to recall all I could about NPCs from 'before' I was stuck here.

While all in Nazarick were loyal to Ainz, since he was the Guild Master, I remembered something from my 'first' life that indicated that this loyalty was less ironclad than it seems at first glance. Not to say that these beings aren't loyal to a fault. They cannot be bribed, the thought of treason does not even manifest in their minds, and they would stop at nothing to complete their assignments. They were held by the type of zealotry that only a fanatic can manifest when they can point to their deity and say 'look, my God is real'.

But just because they were loyal to Ainz, didn't mean they were equally loyal to Ainz. If I remember right, the NPCs had this internal loyalty hierarchy of who's orders they would prioritize within the Guild itself. An NPC will, supposedly, always obey the orders of their creator before the orders of any other guild members in the guild hierarchy if they receive conflicting orders.

Basically, say Touch Me (what a stupid name) ordered Sebas to save a village under attack, while Ainz ordered Sebas to ignore the village, Sebas would obey Touch Me since he was the NPC's creator. By contrast, if Ainz ordered Sebas to kill people in a village and a guild member like Tabula ordered Sebas to protect the village, then Sebas would obey Ainz since he was the Guild Master. Naturally, the issue would be a bit more than Sebas blindly obeying orders. The NPCs do have their own degrees of agency and will do things on their own so long as they aren't disobeying orders; like Sebas saving that girl since he thinks it's something his creator would have wanted him to do.

I assume if two guild members of equal 'authority' ordered Sebas to do opposing things, he would probably not know who to listen to and default to looking for some guidance from either the Guild Master or his own creator.

That being said, did that loyalty thing apply to just NPCs from Nazarick, or did this obedience extended further to anything created by Yggdrasil's systems?

I wonder…

"Mya," I called out from my workstation, looking to the homunculus just off to the side waiting on my every need.

"Yes, my Lady?"

"I'm in the mood for something sweet, go off to that bakery from the other day and pick me up some cakes," I tried to make my request appear as innocuous as possible.

"Of course, my Lady," she replied. "Do you wish for anything in particular?"

"How about a little bit of everything," I propose.

"Very good, My Lady, I shall see to it at once," with a curt bow, the maid rushed up the stairs and softly closed the door behind her.

I waited sixty seconds, fearing that Eva would come rushing down the steps to take her sister's place, before I enacted my 'test'.

"Specter," I called out, "come to me."

Moments later, an ethereal figure phased into existence before me. Its wispy form was tall, humanoid form, with spindly limbs. Its body was composed more of smokey mist than anything tangible. The specter's 'head', or what I assume to be its head, looked to me.

"Yes Master," it softly whispered. One of the first things I did when I summoned these things was to order them to not call me "Mistress". Unlike the gargoyles that lined perched atop the roof, these wraiths were summoned by me. Granted I was only able to summon them taking a card out of Ainz's playbook a while ago and asking one of the girls what spells I "ought" to use for internal security, but that is neither here nor there.

"I have a question," I began, careful to frame my words in such a way that I could brush off my real intent as it is misunderstanding me in case, I was dead wrong. "Who do you obey?"

The apparition tiled its head to the side in confusion, "I obey you, Master."

"Would you follow any command I gave you?" I pressed it. "Any command."

"Yes Master," it smoothly replied, giving no inflection of emotion in its words. "I am an instrument of your will."

'Moment of truth,' I took a deep breath, nervously looking to the doorway as if someone was going to pop their head in at the worst possible moment for me.

"Do you hold any loyalty to Ainz Ooal Gown, the Great Tomb of Nazarick, or any other beyond me?"

"I am loyal to you, Master."

"That's not what I asked," I shook my head. "I didn't ask if you were loyal to me, I asked if you were loyal to Ainz Ooal Gown or Nazarick beyond me."

"I am loyal to you, Master."

'What a thrilling conversation,' I muse to myself. It sounds like my theory is correct, else it probably would have said something like 'I obey you to enact the glory of the Supreme Ones' or some other nonsense. But I had to be sure.

"If any other servant of Nazarick gave you an order that conflicted with an order I gave you, whose order would you obey?" Let's see if this approach is better for it to understand; work our way up.

"I obey none other than you, Master," It nodded its nonexistent head. "No other's words hold sway over me."

Before my next question, I looked over to the doorway, knowing that this would be the worst time for someone to just walk in a overhear something they shouldn't. While I doubted the capability of this level twenty wraith to be able to enact my next 'hypothetical' order, it was more its reaction I was looking at not its feasibility of completion.

"If I ordered you to kill Ainz-"

The sudden connection of a message scroll to my mind caused me to jump out of my seat. My blood went cold, and my heart felt like it was going to leap from my chest with how fast it was beating. The timing was too coincidental! Was I about to get some rant about how horrific it was for me to consider killing the "Supreme One". I looked around the moderately sized chamber, as if I would find some assassin with a blade aimed at my throat.

If that's the case, I REFUSE go down without a-

But rather than some domineering voice while accusations of treason thrown at me, I was greeted by a calm female voice; one that sounded neither angry nor accusatory.

"Citrinitas."

I blinked as I registered the voice. Despite having never heard it before, my mind filled in the gaps of whose voice it was of its own accord, which did little to alley my fears.

"Albedo," I replied. Albedo, Overseer of Nazarick, madly in love with a sack of bones, a complete sociopath who looks down on almost all other life in the world beyond the Tomb, and my 'Sister'.

"Apologies, sister for the suddenness," Albedo apologized. "But I didn't know when I would have another moment to contact you."

"No, its fine…sister," the word felt strange on my tongue. "I was just in the middle of something," I look over at the specter who 'stood' there in silence, "but I can finish it up later."

"That would be best, since I do have a favor to ask of you," she replied. "I'm sorry for being brusque, but could you return to Nazarick to meet with me? I have certain things I wish to inquire you about and would prefer it to be done in person."

What else could I say? No, go to hell you crazy demon lady? Above all the other NPCs, Albedo was the most 'ax' happy of them, willing to declare a person treasonous for the slightest things; even other NPCs were not spared her inquisitorial gun hoe nature. I remember when Shalltear gets mind controlled, Albedo's first response is to kill the vampire before she even knew what happened to her.

Do I really want to try something with her? No.

"Sure, that sounds fine," I reply as coolly as possible. "I'll teleport back in a couple of minutes. Also if possible, I left the Guild Ring Lord Ainz gave me with one of the Pleiades when I left-"

"Don't worry about that," Albedo interrupted my request. "I'll inform Yuri Alpha to have it in hand for your arrival."

"Oh…thanks," I awkwardly thank her.

"It's no problem," she waived my comment off. "And don't worry about meeting me immediately when you walk in, take some time to freshen yourself up before coming to see me. I can only imagine how you must feel from being surrounded by all those filthy humans for so long without being able to properly bathe."

And there's the racism!

"Sure, I'll…see you soon I guess," I again awkwardly reply.

"I look forward to it," and like that, the 'call' ended.

I sat back down in my chair, pinching my nose as I tried to calm myself down, sparing a single look to the wraith who observed the whole interaction; the whole mood of my previous conversation sapped away.

Damn it all…

"Welcome back, Lady Citrinitas," Yuri Alpha acknowledge my arrival as I appeared before the Tomb's entrance; teleporting in as close as allowed by the Tomb's inherent defenses.

"It's, ah…good to be back," I lied through my teeth, nervously scratching the back of my neck. I had hoped that my 'vacation' would last a bit longer than a week. Thankfully I had rationalized to myself, over the course of ten minutes of hyperventilating, that this wasn't the worst possible thing. The mantra I settled on to keep me clam? 'In and out in an hour'.

"I hope your time beyond the Tomb was productive?" the maid engaged in some small talk as she fished her hand into her apron and retrieved an ornate ring; the guild ring.

"Thank you," I snatched the trinket from her extended hand. "And yes, I would say it was very productive. Now I'm sorry if this might seem rushed, but I need to get ready to meet the Overseer."

"Of course," Yuri nodded. "Forgive me for keeping you. I too have my own tasks that need to be taken care of. If you require anything, please do not hesitate to ask for assistance."

"Thank you," I gave her a small smile that I hope didn't look too forced, before teleporting into the Tomb proper. Like every time I have used this thing to teleport, I am greeted by the split-second image of a young woman with pink hair looking at me before I find myself in front of the door to my lab.

Thank God one of the preassigned teleport points for Nazarick is right outside my room!

Striding into the workshop, I am bombarded by greetings and questions by the homunculi within.

"Welcome back, My Lady!"

"It is good to see you safe and sound, My Lady!"

"My Lady, what is the New World like?"

"Did you see anything interesting, My Lady?"

"Thank you, thank you, its about the same as our old one, nothing in particular," I tried to answer them, but the question just kept coming. So, I did the next best thing, politely wave them off. "I'm sorry, but I can't talk right now. I have to get ready for a meeting with Able- with the Overseer."

"A meeting with Lady Albedo?" One questioned.

"Yeah, its in a few minutes so…"

Another to my side grabbed my wrist and smile, "if that's the case, then let's get you out of this costume and into something proper."

'Costume?' I mused, being pulled into my quarters by a trio of girls and placed before my mirror. 'That's right…I didn't change out of the Lilly stuff…'

Before I could even say a word, hands descended upon my outfit and removed it from me piece by piece. The three around me took great pains to avoid damaging anything, but they were a tad on the 'rushing' side. Hat, gloves, shirt, shoes, everything flew off at such a speed I was tempted to believe it was magic.

"Forgive me, my Lady," a new homunculus, separate from the trio fiddling with my "Lilly" attire, came up beside me. "But there is a matter I wish to discuss with you."

"Sure, what's the matter," I angled my arms so the shoulder cape could be removed.

"Nothing is wrong My Lady but…" the girl looked hesitant to speak up.

"But?"

"But…and I can only speak for what I have seen, but there seems to be a sense of lethargy from a lack of stimuli that has taken hold of many; myself included," the homunculus finally parsed out.

'Wait, lack of stimuli?' I mulled over the word used as a brush descended upon my hair, cleaning up any knots in it. "Are you saying you're bored?"

"Bluntly, yes My Lady," she admitted. "We are unuse to this degree of idleness. When the Tomb was still located in Helheim, there was always something needing to be done; more potions, more research, always something more to be done. But here? Beyond Lord Demiurge's Healing Experiment, we have been left with no real work that needs to be done."

"Real work?" I urged her to expand further.

"As you know," she began, "one can only keep checking supplies, and rearranging our stocks, for so long before the act becomes a waste of both time and energy. In the time you were gone, we have since truly crossed that threshold and now languish in idleness."

Okay I think I get it.

"What I wished to propose, Mistress," the alchemist finally got to the point, "is that we begin a series of studies regarding this New World's local flora and fauna."

Okay, that doesn't sound too bad. Could give them something to do, and not look too much into my own stuff that I have planned in the background.

"It would allow the Tomb to not only establish an alchemic baseline for the organisms of this world," she continued. "But would enable us to-"

"Its fine, you don't need to say anymore," I cut the girl off as the finishing touches of my old, dark, attire were placed on me. "You've convinced me."

"Truly?"

"Yeah, sure, it's something I was planning on asking you to do anyway," I lied through my teeth as I spared her a small smile. "Just make sure everything is done in moderation, nothing too crazy if you understand what I mean."

The alchemist nodded, "of course My Lady. Like I said, these trials and surveys are only meant to establish a baseline; nothing more. After we have gathered enough information, we shall defer to your judgment on how to proceed next."

"Then I leave everything in your capable hands," I replied to the girl as I strode out of my room.

But as I walked out of the room to the lab floor, the thought occurred to me. When they said local flora and fauna, did that include stuff in Crane Village. I have no idea how invasive this stuff they have planned might be but knowing Nazarick it probably involves a great deal of things with very little care given to the people it affects. Like the farming town that would probably face starvation of the homunculi started ripping up crops and taking work animals from them. They probably wouldn't, given that Ainz has 'claimed' the village as his own, but do I really want to take that chance?

"Before I go," I turned to the girl. "You do remember that Lord Ainz has claimed ownership of the human village near the Tomb?" She didn't reply, so I went on. "Meaning that the destruction of anything in that village would be perceived as slight against the Supreme One Himself."

Realization struck her expression, "My Lady…I didn't…I would never even consider that! Rest assured that the local human area will have no part in our trials!"

I nodded at her affirmation.

Teleporting away to the Overseer's office, I was confident that I had just nipped quite the disastrous series of events from occurring.

"You forgot Lord Ainz has designs for that human village, didn't you?"

"I didn't forget," the homunculi frowned at her fellow alchemist. Sighing the girl went over to a nearby stationary and began writing out their new orders.

"You were just implying that our experiments would encompass that area," the alchemist crossed her arms and sighed. "Lady Citrinitas obviously understood what you meant, as we all do, but if anyone else heard you-"

"No one else did," she interrupted, waiving away her compatriot's concerns.

"If they did," she countered, continuing her previous words. "Do you understand what kind of trouble you could be in?"

"It's just inconvenient is all," the homunculus finished writing down the inventory she was going to use.

"You think the Supreme One's decrees are 'inconvenient'?" The frown quickly morphed into a scowl.

"Please don't put words in my mouth," she snapped back, a few alchemists had looked over from their monotonous tasks to eye the argument unfolding. "Every word Lord Ainz speaks is a command I obey with every fiber of my being. I would sooner let myself be consumed by maggots than even consider what you just said."

The accuser shook her head, not wishing to continue the argument, and returned to her station.

The nerve of her! She was only thinking exactly what all the alchemists were thinking: why did Lord Ainz take pity on those lesser beings?

What possible boon could they provide Lord Ainz in life that couldn't be extracted from their corpses over the course of a dozen experiments? Humans tire too quickly and require sleep after moderate physical exertion, whereas an undead laborer will work until their task is complete. Their intelligence was subpar and ill-suited for tasks of the intellectual nature. Even their organic material was of too low quality for any useful alchemical creation beyond the most basic of things.

So, what was the point in keeping them alive if they provided nothing to Lord Ainz in return?

Not that she would EVER question the will of a Supreme Being. His words were absolute. Lord Ainz must see some use in them that the alchemists cannot being to comprehend. She just wished that they proved their worth sooner than later; but that line of thinking is why the Supreme Ones are infinitely above lowly servants such as herself. Whatever it was, they were simply too ignorant to see it.

She merely served Their will.

"You three," the homunculus gestured for a trio of her sisters to approach her, "over here, I need you for something."

The trio looked at her inquisitively, then noted the paper in her hand.

"Lady Citrinitas has allowed us to begin a series of surveys and trials to establish a baseline between the populations of this world and Yggdrasil and has instructed me to oversee the effort." she passed the note to them. "I have a few testing sites in mind. This is a list of all the alchemical items we will need for the trials. After establishing control groups, we'll disperse the chemicals into human population centers. Take precautions to ensure no material leaves the designated testing areas. Once we gather all data we can, we'll clean up the area and move onto the next site."

She saw the looks on their faces at the news and was not surprised by the ting of disappointment.

"Yes, I know. It might seem a tad dull, but we need to establish a baseline for future trials," she knew they knew it was true, but she decided to point out the silver lining in this assignment. "Though thankfully, I expect no more than a few thousand subjects will be needed to establish said baseline. After that? Who can say what her Ladyship will order? Maybe she'll let us be the first to toxin trials as a reward for establishing a framework to work from."

They nodded in agreement. Yes, that would be quite the reward. Afterall, how can they expect to know the amount of wretched ghoul venom a human body can be flooded with before it begins to rip themselves apart from the inside out if they don't run a trial?

Giddy with an infectious excitement, they rushed to the storage room to take the required tools and alchemical substances for the survey.

They had much work to do.

I stood before the double door to Albedo's office. It was a good thing that no one was walking the halls at this time. No doubt it would look odd if someone saw me just standing there, hand just above the doorframe, for minutes on end.

To say I was nervous of meeting my 'sister' would be a tremendous understatement.

Would she be able to tell I wasn't her sister? I mean, so far, no one seemingly has noticed I'm not wearing the skin of the real Citrinitas, but if anyone could figure it out it would be one of her sisters. If there was any consolation, I'm pretty sure I could bait Albedo into swiftly killing me rather than drawing out a torture session for 'impersonating' her sister.

'Ainz made you love him as a joke.'

Pretty sure that would be enough to trigger her anger.

After another moment of wallowing in my own self-consciousness, I resolved to just get this meeting over with. My hand softly knocked on the doorframe twice. For a moment, nothing. Then…

"Come in," Albedo's muffled voice replied from the other side.

Moment of truth.

With a deep breath, I opened the door.

The first thing that struck me was how modest her office looked. With a guild of "evil" role players I would have assumed that the office of the "Overseer" would be something out of an anime villain's playbook. Lots of dark colored material like stone or marble, oppressive lighting, even just spiky metal bits everywhere. What I found was something akin to special executive's office at some ritzy company.

Sure, the fine wood of her desk and bookcases were darker than normal, and the room had a bit more golden accents to it than some mundane corporate office in the "real world" would have, but the whole thing was kind of underwhelming. I mean it looked very effect and well organized, but it didn't have that spark, that overdramatic flair, that I've come to associate with anything in this tomb. Hell, my room and home looked eviler than this; Tabula spent a lot of time making my amenities have this gothic Victorian vibe to them.

This? This is John Doe's office during the yearly corporate Halloween party after he was told to take down some of the decorations by HR.

Of course, the room was never the thing that was making me nervous; it was who was in it.

"It's wonderful to see you again, sister," Albedo greeted me with a calming smile. While she had always looked beautiful, something about coming to life in the "real" world elevated here innate beauty to pure resplendence. Maybe it was because the expressions she had now were genuine rather than pre-programed? Midnight black hair, golden eyes, smooth skin, ivory white horns, black fathered wings, and a white dress with some golden spider web like thing on the front. Truly, she was beautiful beyond words.

"It has been too long, sister," I returned the greeting, doing my best to give off a genuine smile regardless of my personal feelings. I think it was fine, though the word "sister" still felt strange on my tongue.

"Please," she gestured to a chair before her desk, "have a seat. And sorry for the mess, things are still a bit hectic around here."

The 'mess' in question were the neatly stacked files and folders that was around her office. It wasn't messy in a

"What is all this," I questioned aloud while I took my seat, absently noting the door closing on its own accord.

"Depends on the pile," Albedo pointed to a stack atop her desk. "These are all the scouting reports from our forces," she pointed to a collection of folders on the coffee table, "those are projections of our current food supply," she gave a firm tap to something beside her chair that I couldn't see, "and these are all the maps of Helheim that are now utterly useless in this New World and are waiting to be put into storage."

"Sounds," boring, "tedious."

"Perhaps," she agreed, "but thankfully, any task in the service to Lord Ainz it beyond gratifying in every respect. Even beyond that, it is my role as the Overseer to ensure the smooth running of all the Tomb's facilities; that includes the administrative organization."

Good thing my job, to the best of my knowledge, is to just stand around and do nothing.

"But enough about my work," she cut herself off from further explanations, "I asked you here to discuss your own labors."

"Am I in trouble for the house thing?" I quipped.

"No," she shook her head. "I personally signed off on the requisitions form for those materials, so unless you've done something beyond that, I see nothing wrong with using some of our resources in establishing a forward outpost in the center of a human nation."

Right…. Outpost…..

"But beyond that, I want to hear how you are doing," Albedo leaned forward. "Not just as the Overseer, but as your older sister. It has been some time since we last spoke after all."

"Years actually," at least I'm pretty sure its years; hard to have a grasp of time when your consciousness skips around all the time. The last time I recall being with Albedo, before the whole transition thing happened, was when Tablua had the two of us, plus Rubedo and Nigredo, together and edited something with the four of us. Not sure what it was, but I think he was trying to make sure we were uniform in something.

"Yes," Albedo blinked, her gaze going off to the side for a moment before looking back at me. "But now that we have some time, what have you been up to?"

And so, for the next half hour, I explained everything that happened to me since I left the Tomb; with some omissions and reinterpretation of events. Riding with Skellyman (did not call him by that in her presence!), getting ambushed by bandits, reaching Arwintar, "confirming" the low power levels of this world's magic system, getting ambushed a second time in the city, then rounding up my tale of my experiments with enchantments moments before her call.

Naturally I kept some stuff close to my chest, like I didn't tell her about Arche or Foresight, and I did not elaborate on why I was being accosted by thugs the second time around, or that my true intentions for the whole thing was just an excuse to get the hell away from this madhouse. But other than those things, I was quite open with her.

I honestly didn't know what I was expecting with her. She didn't give any indication of her own thoughts during my entire story. All she did was sit there with a pleasant smile and ask for a clarification every once and a while. No note taking. No breaking eye contact: her golden orbs locked onto me. And absolutely no inclination if she was going to drill deeper to see if I was holding anything back.

When I finished my tale, she leaned back in her seat and nodded.

"That does sound like quite the adventure for you," she mused aloud. "More thrilling than what I've been doing at least. And while I would never ask you to not give Lord Ainz's the priority and swiftness he deserves, I want you to be careful out there regardless. Do not overestimate your own abilities. Lord Ainz considers all our strengths and weaknesses when he gives us his instructions, and it is the height of foolishness to veer off his magnanimous guidance for petty glories."

"I…understand, sister," what else can I say to the rabid zealot? "I don't plan on taking any unnecessary actions if I can avoid it.

"Sorry for sounding accusatory, I suppose I just needed to hear you say it," she sighs. Moments later, she looks back up at me with a certain glint in her eye that makes me uncomfortable. "Moving onto a more interesting topic, there is one other thing I wished to talk to you about."

Oh, I don't like the sound of that.

"While not something we need to worry about immediately, it is something that we must prepare for regardless," Albedo began. "We must prepare for the moment when Lord Ainz takes us as his wives."

"I'm….sorry?" When the fuck did I just hear!

"The two of us are unique," she continued without pause. "Since we are not only sisters, but we will also become sister-wives once Lord Ainz takes us to his chambers. While he will no doubt take untold numbers of women to his bed, only a few dozen will have the honor be his wives. "

"What…?" How the hell am I getting roped into this whole harem nonsense? And besides, even if he wanted to, which to the best of my memory he has no sex drive or romantic capabilities, he's a fucking skeleton!

"I will be his first wife naturally," she nodded sagely, "given my own racial advantages of bringing out pleasure in men; such a thing is obvious. More that flat chested lamprey," she muttered the last part under her breath. "Of course, as your older sister, I will do everything in my power to help you raise through the ranks of Lordship's, no doubt immense, harem. Perhaps by showing you the best way to bring our Lord pleasure to make you a favorite alongside myself!"

Okay, this is getting beyond awkward now.

Though I will have to ensure that any of the techniques I share with you are proven to bring Lord Ainz to sweet, euphoric release," the glint in her eyes turn into a shade of seeming madness. Her face grew red as her imagination ran wild. "So, I will have to take it upon myself to test them upon his Lordship. Repeatedly. As many thousands of times as it will take. How could I call myself a good sister if I gave my sweet little sister techniques, I have not thoroughly tested myself?"

I'm scared….

Time for me to make my exit (escape).

"I think I'll leave all the planning to you then," I replied to her in as much of a non-committal, but still kicking the can down the road, way that I could muster. Pretty sure if I said something more definitive, I'd either be dragged into the spurned women's club of women thirsting for a ride on Ainz's non-existant member, or imprisoned, because what woman doesn't want to ride that emotionally stunted skeleton? "But I have some…stuff I need to oversee right now. So…"

"Oh! Of course," Albedo snaping back to reality. "Of course. Forgive me, I get carried away sometimes when I think of all the love Lord Ainz will shower us with."

"It's fine," It's fucking creepy.

"But a word of warning before you leave Citrinitas," Albedo stood and gave me an overly sweet smile. "While you are my sister, and I wish only the best for you, know that I will not show any mercy to you should you attempt to usurp my position as Lord Ainz's first-wife. While I will respect the decision, as it's only natural, I will do everything in my power to ensure you fail."

"….thanks for the…warning?" I need to get out of here.

"Don't take it too personally sister," her expression switched to a more normal looking smile, "I just needed to get that out of the way so there's no misunderstandings later. That being said, have a wonderful day, and don't hesitate to come by every once and a while if you want to talk."

"I won't," ever come back to this room under my own power, I finished the comment in my head as I softly closed the door behind me.

I let out a breath I didn't even know I had been holding in as I scurried down the halls to get away from Albedo's office. Maybe she thought she was being sweet when she did all that stuff, but I found it beyond uncomfortable to see her go all "yandere" like that.

Ah, oh well. Just need to head back to the lab and change back into my-

"Ah Citrinitas," a familiar, slick, voice spoke up moments before I could teleport myself back to the lab. "Just who I was looking for."

'Fuck I do not want to deal with his shit right now,' I cursed in my head, but kept a pleasant enough expression on my face.

"Hello, Demiurge," I greeted the approaching suit wearing demon. "Is there something you need?"

"Need? Oh no, you've been beyond helpful in my healing experiments," he smiled, probably thinking of the torment he inflicted on those prisoners. "Again, I must thank you for lending me some of your staff. Without their aid, I believe I would not have made such rapid progress."

Oh, that felt like a gut punch alright, 'thank you for helping torture these people faster!'.

"But more to the point, I heard you faced some trouble in the human city," the demon inquired.

"It seems news travels faster than I do," I sigh.

"People talk about what they hear," Demiurge shrugged, "though I take care to sift through the gossip to find the truth of the matter."

Is he saying-

"I just find it odd," he continued. "Perhaps you could elaborate for me?"

"What part exactly," I sounded far calmer than I felt right now!

"Well, I'm just looking for a little clarification on a few matters," he replied. "Namely, why would someone, like you, seemingly lower herself into interacting with lesser beings in the way that you are right now?"

I could almost hear what his real question is: why aren't you being evil and killing people by the city load like the rest of us want to?

Now I had to be careful in my reply. Demiurge will no doubt go over every word I say. He'll pick apart every contradiction, real or perceived, and come to his own, warped, conclusion. Person LARPing away from the Tomb with regular people, who is also questioning if beings they summon will listen to them first and foremost above even the "Supreme" Lord Ainz himself? I can already feel the phantom pains from the reaction to that statement would be.

However, I could see a single way out. A silver thread that would make him back off immediately and probably buy me enough time to at least get some distance from this place in the worst-case scenario.

"I was inspired by Lord Ainz," I replied, "he was going off to adventure and make a name for his persona to further his master plan. So, I decided to follow his lead and do something similar in whatever way I could; hence the whole traveler persona I built up in the human city of Arwintar."

Demiurge was quite for a moment, no doubt running what I said through his mind. It felt like his eyes were piercing into me with how intense he was staring. The next few seconds could either make or break me…literally!

But rather than a further question or accusation, he chuckled.

"Oh, I see now," he gave me a knowing smile, nodding to himself. "So that's your plan? Clever. Very clever indeed. And quite insidious might I add."

What…

"You no doubt understood Lord Ainz's plan, just as I do, and sought to maximize its effectiveness with your own masquerade," Demiurge went on. "Ingratiating yourself as a traveler with a mysterious past, wielding powers beyond the norm for humans, later planning to fan the flames of conflict to ensure your rise into local awareness within that society. Truly, it seems we both reached the same conclusions on our Lord's desires."

Oh god please…don't tell me he's doing the whole 'Demiurge' thing….

"Though I will admit I had been charting my plan with an assumption of you serving as one of my underlings with several possible endings; depending on Lord Ainz's input naturally," he pushed his glasses up, "but even I'm not so proud as to admit the possible gains from your plan exceed what you could provide for mine."

Oh fuck….

"But don't worry," Demiurge raised his hand, "I won't spoil your fun. Given your plans are already set in motion I suppose I'll have to redraft a handful of scenes to play out with your absence. Unless…"

He took the thinker pose again before seemingly chuckling to a joke he told himself. After a few seconds, he turned back to me, "I'm sorry if this might seem bold of me, but how about we collaborate our designs into one masterfully crafted display of deception of mummery."

"I'm…sorry?" This was moving way to fast!

"I understand this seems a bit sudden, but I assure you that your plans will barely change at all," he tried to assure me. "The persona you have crafted will mix beautifully with character I plan to play. Not that I want to spoil my performance; apologies for figuring out your plan yet not divulging mine in kind."

"You mean the demon lord thing?" I quipped without realizing the slip of my tongue.

"Yes," he seemed genuinely surprised. "But how did you- Oh of course. Given how I already told you how your persona would work well with my own, it's only reasonable you'd reach that conclusion. And yes, you are correct; though I will say that the particulars are still being worked on."

Oh God…abort…. abort….get me out of here.

He gave a good-natured chuckle. "Look at me, trying to be so coy with my own plots, yet not even realizing that my questions betray my designs. Well, played Citrinitas." Before he could continue his 'praise' of my 'skills' some epiphany dawned on him. "But perhaps this coincidence is not a product of mere chance?"

"What…"

"What if Lord Ainz foresaw this eventuality," Demiurge began 'putting the pieces together'. "Since what are the odds for events to occur in such a way as to allow the two of us to chart our plans with such a degree of similarity that we would inevitably be drawn to working together to increase the yield of both simultaneously while not compromising the efficiency of either? How could this be any the result of any other outcome than of the direct foresight of a Supreme Being carefully directing us along the paths he desired!"

I'm pretty sure Ainz only has a vague plan that even he hasn't thought that far out. And I'm sure he has no idea what the hell you, and what you think I'm, doing. Ainz is a guy who had to be told he was conquering the world for crying out loud!

"But now that we are aware of his true designs, it's only right that we work together," he rationalized. "I will prepare everything on my end and leave your elements for you to work on. We need to-"

Rather than continue his gushing about how smart Ainz is, the Devil's rant cut itself short. I noticed that he was looking at something behind me. Turning around, I saw the short, pale, frame of someone I rather not deal with right now. Her red eyes widened as I met them.

Demiurge cleared his throat, "I just remembered I have…things to do right now. I'll be in contact with you Citrinitas over the particulars of our plans. But right now, I feel as if this is a…situation, I shouldn't directly involve myself with. Good day, to the two of you."

I part of me wanted to yell 'don't leave me!' to the arch devil as he rounded the corner with speeds, I didn't think possible by simply walking.

Resigning myself to my current predicament, I turned and scratched the back of my head.

"Look, Shalltear, I really-"

I was cut off by the short vampire flinging herself at me like a torpedo, crossing the distance between us in milliseconds. All the air in my lungs got pushed out by the combination of vampire slamming into me and me slamming backwards onto the floor. With the vampire's face shoved into my chest, I was prepared to scream my throat out to get someone, maybe Albedo, over here to get this perverted woman off me.

But any anger I had died as I heard sniffling.

Then crying.

And finally, I heard a series of words that Shalltear was repeating like some mantra; her voice muffled by my clothes but still easily understandable.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…."

Something tells me I'm not going to be 'in and out' in an hour.