Wishes

On the first night of the journey.

They had stopped in a small village a half day away from the nobles dutchie.

As Akabaru, Yuri and the carriage driver sat around the small campfire, and ate in silents the driver suddenly broke that by asking a question.

"Why did you accept the job.. you know there is a reason why it wasn't on the guild bord.. right?" he sounded sombre and looked to have sleep deprivation

"Simple.. I wanted to do something while we travelled.. protecting someone is no hassle.."

"..He would have just employed eight fingers.." The driver interrupted looking with dead eyes into the fire..

"Tell me your name driver… and I will grant you any wish.." Akabaru smiled evilly as if insinuating the things he could wish for.

"My name is Cassian.. my wish is for my little brother to live a happy live.." Cassian made a self deprecating smile as he kept staring into the fire.

"To wish for your brother is noble… what would grant him a happy live.. stable work, or uncountable riches?"

"It is nice for you to entertain me Warrior-san but it doesn't matter.. he will not live to see himself free.." tears welled up in his eyes as he wiped them away and got up heading to his sleeping sack next to the carriage.

"Master.. I have noticed that you wish to kill the noble.. but hesitate to do so.."

"We shall see his estate, if it is worth it we will take it over, hypnotise him or get a doppelganger to take his place.. if it is what I suspect then we can burn it to the ground and blame it on Eight fingers as they have connections to the noble and if investigated would find proof of his heinous actions.. the most eight fingers van do is try and get to us themselves but I don't see that working out.."

Akabaru explained while pouting some more wood on the fire

"And what of his wish master?" Yuri looked at the sleeping back of Cassian

"If he wishes he can assist Sebas and depending on what his little brother wants it will change.. perhaps move to carne village.

…

However, this was the last link in a long chain of accidents and coincidences.

If Akabaru had not killed Nigun, if Akabaru had not completely blocked the Theocracy's divination spells, if the Theocracy had not mistaken this for the revival of the Catastrophe Dragon Lord, if Shalltear had not been distracted — perhaps events would have unfolded differently. However, the sum of all these possibilities might have instead been phrased as an inevitability.

A world item [Downfall of Castle and Country. This was a sacred treasure left behind by the gods who saved all humanity, and its power exceeded that of anything which Shalltear carried.

For only a world item could stop a world item.

…

…Shalltear shivered.

This was the first time which Shalltear — as a Guardian, one of the highest-ranking entities in the Great Tomb of Nazarick — had ever shivered. It was a subtle observation, or one could call it a warning from a sixth sense.

Shalltear's eyes turned, intending to seize the old lady her instincts were warning her about.

That human had to die at all costs.

The spear-wielding man rushed at her just as she realized this and was about to make her move.

"Get lost!"

Shalltear batted him aside with all her might. However, when subjected to a strike that would pulverize a weak human being, the man was simply knocked back and did not perish on the spot. In addition, his will to fight was still intact despite being blown away.

Shalltear cast a spell, centered on the old lady.

"[Mass Hold Species]!"

She wanted to capture several people. This was because she had a premonition that capturing these people would not only make up for her previous errors, but earn her praise.

As she thought that, Shalltear's mind suddenly turned white.

It felt as though part of her thought processes were gone, because she could not comprehend what was happening. And then, when she realised what had happened, Shalltear was shaken to the core, fear filling her undead heart.

This was mind control.

As an undead being, she should have had complete immunity to mind-controlling items, yet her will was still being dominated. She desperately tried to engrave hatred and anger on her gradually-whitening consciousness, and as her mind pondered countless variations of the worst-case scenario—

"Giiiiiiiiih—!"

—She wailed, weeping tears of blood as she struggled to fight back against the dominating force which was corrupting her, a Guardian of the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

However, despite Shalltear's frantic resistance, her will was steadily bleached away. Nor could she use teleportation magic. This was because her mind would be completely overshadowed if she allowed herself to be distracted by such matters.

Shalltear used a class skill to create a 「Purifying Javelin」. It was a gigantic lance of the holy element, and despite her own evil alignment, it could still cause massive damage to her foes. The most important thing was that she could spend MP to imbue it with perfect accuracy and tracking ability.

As she marshalled her utmost opposition, Shalltear glared at the user of the technique, the old lady who was planning to defile her. She did not take the man who held the large, mirror-like shield standing between her and the old lady into consideration.

And then — she threw.

With the part of her mind that was still conscious and aware, she hurled the lance which she held.

As her mind went white, she used that skill of hers to the full extent of its power, striking an augmented blow.

The strike flashed by in a streak of light and struck the old lady after penetrating the body of the man in front of her and the shield he was holding.

The last thing Shalltear saw was the panicked group and the two of them coughing up blood in agony.

-

Albedo had been trying to get back into contact with Shalltear, as she had disappeared from the map for a while, Albedo did know the approximate location where she was last seen but the searching area was to large and she wasn't even sure that Shalltear would stay in the area.

As she searched she contemplated bringing it to the supreme ones, but she knew if she presumed the worst, than the chances of the supreme beings being mad at her would be high.

So she continued her information gathering expecting herself to be done in a couple of hours

..

The group had arrived at the estate without any problems occurring during the day..

Akabaru saw the decrepit state of most of the servants, and the clear lack of proper supplies.. but in contrast to that the mansion was well build, clearly of a sturdier build.. at the entrance of the mansion stood three people, most likely the sons of the baron.. looking them up and down there was a clear difference between them…

The first son stood tall and had a muscular build, clearly showing his noble status.

The second son also stood tall, having a more skinny appearance and no noble temperament..

The last son tried to stand straight, being shorter than his brothers and also the most skinny of the three.

The carriage stopped before them.. as the baron got out dragging along a female slave that he had with him on a chain. Confirming the things Akabaru had sensed..

The baron himself was a fat and ugly noble, clearly indulging in everything he could, and as he stepped towards his mansion he paid no mind to anyone that was there until he stood and the unopened doors..

"Cassian.. the door please.." his pomfret attitude caused him to have a annoying tone as he spoke.

Akabaru just watched and planned on how to take over the place.. all dependent on how the three sons acted and if one was suitable to take over..

..

From what Akabaru had seen all of the sons were trash.. the oldest had to much pride, the middle only had lust and the youngest had just to much greed.. but it could still work..

He got out of vision from all the residents of the Mansion and summoned a gate to get back to the tomb.. he could get albedo or demiurge to apply his idea's

-

"Albedo..?" Akabaru looked at albedo, who could be seen in deep thought while looking at some documents

She jumped up not expecting one of the supreme being to arrive at the moment

"Lord Akabaru!" he found it strange how Albedo reacted as if she was hiding something.

"What are you working on…"

"I am sorry that I haven't informed you yet lord.. but Shalltear seems to be gone.."

"What do you.." Akabaru stops as Albedo showed him the list of NPC's with Shalltears name being red, meaning that she had turned hostile.

"Call Ainz and say that he has to come here immediately.. I will find her with one of my spells.."

Akabaru prepared to cast [Grant a wish] while Albedo contacted Ainz and informed him of the scenario

-

"Albedo why was I not informed of this the moment It occurred!" The 'calm' and 'collected' Ainz shouted.

"I wished to confirm it before I would inform you." Albedo sounded weak, like a child that did something wrong.

A green aura appeared around Ainz calming him down. "Could you make contact with Shalltear or not?"

"She hasn't responded to any of our attempts, I contacted Sebas but he didn't know her location. We did confirm that her vampire brides were killed…. Lord Akabaru is currently finding her.."

Ainz looked on as Akabaru was casting one of his racial spells..

"It could be a exaggeration, maybe Shalltear was unhappy with our rule."

"That would manifest over time, this is to soon to have that kind of scenario. Even more so when we had a vow of fidelity a week prior." Akabaru interjected

"You're right but vampires can not be brainwashed, the only way to trump that would be to a world item or a world class skill."

"Ainz the possibility that some countries have World items is there, If the 6 great gods were players than so called artifact of them would remain, not excluding the fact that there could be other players."

"Albedo call everyone to the throne room and find Shalltear, it doesn't matter how long its going to take. I will go to the Treasury, while Akabaru finds Shalltear."

"Could I not escort u to the Treasury, I may be of assistance at your side lord Ainz?"

"No Albedo, I gave you the task so complete it."

"Understood, Ainz-sama."

…

Akabaru finished the cast of [Grant a wish] receiving the location as he felt the cooldown begin… he could grant three wishes, each having a cooldown of ten days that stacked upon each other..

There were two main paths that a player could take if he was a genie, that was the cooldown reduction or the strength increase of the wishes.. But because of a special item he had found Akabaru obtained both.. in the end it was more expensive than to just make or purchase [make a wish rings]

The location he received was in the approximate area that Albedo had pointed out, with the location came a image of a lone girl standing in the middle of a clearing in the forest…

Making a gate, Akabaru stepped through seeing the girl, Shalltear not move a muscle as he approached and stood before her..

Shalltears eyes were empty, showing signs of her mind not working, either through a Spiritual attack or mind affecting kinds…

"Shalltear.." Akabaru thought of moving her, but touching her could be seen as an attack and a battle would begin.

Akabaru felt confident that he could win if he had preparation but he also knew that with one small mistake he could lose his life.

He thought of simply allowing her to move… Akabaru thought that if she was controlled by a mind control spell than it had to be a World item.. but as long as he did not intervene directly with the items effects than he would be able to make her move..

For example [Depiction of Nature and Society] a world item that the guild had.. if Akabaru was trapped in the world item the only thing he had to do was wish to find the exit, getting there wouldn't be difficult as he would be able to teleport to it.. if he were to wish to escape, than nothing would happened as the wish didn't have that much power that it could overrule a world item..

So Akabaru decided to cast [Grant a wish] once again, this time wishing for her to move around, changing her order from wait to wander didn't directly inflict but was probably the most he could do.

..

Akabaru looked at Shalltear, that was walking around seemingly random as if guarding the clearing, and smiled his spell worked, making her walk around the area

-