Chapter 245

Having Nazarick find where Astraka was going proved even easier than Ainz expected, Demiurge expertly used the mirror of remote viewing and relayed the information to his Master with a joyful heart.

By the same token, dispatching a doppelganger as a messenger using a [Gate] spell from out of sight proved just as easy.

With that done, Ainz went to Calca's private chambers, 'I suppose they are to be mine as well… sort of.' Ainz thought and shivered, 'I wonder if Peroroncino ever had sex… if he did, maybe that is why he was so obsessed with it…' The feeling of her slender, strong thighs clasped to him, the arching body and shapely curves, the passionate kiss, and roaming hands as she gave herself over fully to his touch…

'No wonder overpopulation became a problem back home… who wouldn't do this as often as possible?!' He thought ecstatically and caught sight of a stupid, goofy grin on his face in the mirror. He put his hand over his forehead and dragged it down to his chin. "Calm down, Ainz. I know you're new at this but still!" He swore under his breath and thought back to his many dreams of Albedo's body entwined with his, the prior night, indeed many prior nights, his dreams were more intense than ever. In the past, it had always been merely her 'body' but the last few?

He recalled her face hovering over his, drawing in for a kiss, her whispered words in a throaty voice, 'I love you, and no matter what you'd done, I'd have loved you anyway…'

The words lingered still in his mind, though his own sense of guilt was still present, thinking back to his confrontations with the guardians and the battle maids… 'They all know, and nobody cares, I'm just The One Who Stayed, one among their creators, would it really be different in Albedo's case…? Has she really been right this whole damn time and I've been too dense to see it?!'

He had his back turned when the door to Calca's chambers opened and she entered alone, locking the door at her back, she gave him a little winsome smile and a rare demure look half away from him, half toward him while reaching her hands behind her back. "I see you know our customs."

Ainz said nothing for an instant, 'What the hell does she mean?!' He wondered, but not for long.

"I really am impressed, you must have learned everything about us, to learn that it is customary for royalty to enjoy a night of… lovemaking, before riding toward a battle." Calca's hesitation on the word wasn't lost on him, but she didn't hesitate in the unbinding of the back of her blue and white dress, nor did she hesitate to step out of it when only her long golden hair concealed her breasts from his eyes.

"Calca," Ainz said impulsively as he reached out to touch her, his hands fell to her hips, but her hands went to remove his robes, "you don't have to pretend with me."

She smiled a little bit up at his face, 'Objectively, he is the single most handsome figure I've ever seen, I can hardly believe he is a magic caster and not a warrior. If things were different? If I were different?' She contemplated as his robes fell away.

"Maybe not, but it feels good to pretend sometimes, and I'm used to pretending. Kelart and I have loved each other for a long time, and we've both played pretend. So… let us 'pretend' together for a little. Close your eyes, Allfather of Nazarick." Calca said and rose to her tiptoes. She didn't wait for him to obey, but put her fore and middle fingers above his eyelids, and dragged them down, closing his eyes for him.

"Now… pretend I am the woman you love more than anything in the world, and I will do the same. Though… you might have an easier time than I. Anything can go wrong in a war… we're lucky the Queen of Frost hasn't already taken Kalinsha or reached here… so for now, because anything might end us both for all we know? Let's pretend for a little while, and be happy." Calca said in a throaty voice, and with his clothing fallen to the floor, and the warmth and heat of her body pressed against his own, he had no will to refuse her.

'Albedo…' He thought, and kissed the Queen as they tumbled back into her bed, neither of them even once opening their eyes to end the game.

Not until morning at least.

They were awakened by a steady knock at the door, still entwined together, bodies slick with the proof of the previous night's passionate embraces. It was Calca who pushed herself up and put her hand to his chest to shake him awake.

"My Queen… Allfather… we are ready to march!" Kelart shouted from outside the door.

Ainz stirred with only a little prompting, her hand on his chest, for a moment he wanted to whisper Albedo's name, but his eyes fluttered open in time to see the golden cascade, and not the inky black, and he knew the truth. 'The game of pretend is over…' He told himself with an ache in his heart that he hadn't expected, and then forced himself to sit up.

"Very well!" Calca declared loud enough to be heard. "We… we will require a bath first, and then we will go."

"I have taken the liberty of having the bath prepared in advance, Your Majesty." Kelart replied in a more subdued voice than before.

Calca sat up beside the man who would be her nation's new King. "All I ask," she said quietly, "is that you never do anything against her, if ever you grow jealous, as some men do, come to me. Do not hurt her."

"I promise. I swear it on my name." Ainz declared as emphatically as she requested, and they were quick about preparing themselves. The baths of the Roble Holy Kingdom were nice enough, simple large open pools, rounded rather than squared, and the water was not a hot spring, but rather just water heated by enchanted rocks that lined the stone pools.

But as a man of Japan still, Ainz found it more than refreshing, it was down right reinvigorating, and he felt his entire body relax into the water while the attendants scrubbed him. 'When I was a skeleton, the slime bath was suitable, but now that I have flesh, nothing beats hot water again… and there is something to be said for having an attendant!' He groaned as the servant at his back scratched and scrubbed at Ainz's broad back. 'I can't use the maids for this but… perhaps I could acquire a few from outside of Nazarick for this?' It bore more thinking, but it was unimportant in the moment, he chose to simply enjoy the echoing noise of the splashing water and the sound of the scrubbing brushes grinding against his skin.

It was nothing if not regrettable when the servants stood back, their bodies clad in white bathing robes that clung to their wet skin, bowed, and said, "The Allfather is now clean."

Within the hour he was on horseback, trotting to the front of the ranks of five hundred runecraft clad soldiers of Queen Calca, and another hundred of the soldiers of the Kingdom of Nazarick, armed in Yggdrasil equipment… nothing top tier, but raising them to heights they could never have dreamt of before, and with them all, several thousand soldiers and paladins clad in the equipment of their Holy Kingdom.

Queen Calca was already waiting for him at the head, and her face was neutral, no smile nor frown, no looking around, no waving to the public. She wore a white breastplate armor painted bright blue with the symbol of her house in the center. Her dress, no longer formal, was something of a 'war skirt' with many metal bands secured to leather that hung loose around her thighs. Without even guessing, Ainz recognized that what she wore was enchanted, and unable to think of what else to say to the stone-faced Queen he asked…

"What spells are on your equipment?"

That made her smile a little, she raised a golden eyebrow at him, "Always the caster, aren't you Ainz?" She asked, and he gave a polite smile in return before replying…

"Professional interests don't change much."

"Another thing we have in common." She acknowledged and put a hand on her 'war skirt'. "These are enchanted for luck, and my breastplate," she gave the center a little tap, "is resistant to piercing damage. If I take any blows at all, this is where it will be, where I am best protected."

"Clever." Ainz acknowledged, and he meant it, smarter players from Yggdrasil used similar tactics, maxing defense in one thing, and then doing everything they could to ensure that attacks would target that. It was considered a risky but advanced strategy for self preservation, and mostly used by support players.

The horn blew at their back and they began to lead their little force out of the gate, Calca's face lost its pleasantness and became grave again, some of the color gone from her cheeks, and a barely disguised tremor to what skin of hers was visible, Ainz was sure he was the only one who could see them. He leaned toward her ever so slightly and whispered to her as they passed beneath the portcullis, "Don't worry, everything will be fine, trust me."

"What did you do?" Calca asked, equal parts curious and commanding, her big blue eyes fixed on her future husband.

Ainz only gave her a knowing smile, "I told you to trust me." He then winked at her, and a breathy little laugh passed her lips, she inched her horse a little closer to his own.

"Alright then, keep your secrets." She said, and some of the color returned to her cheeks as they rode on.