MidasMan

Sorry for the delay in this chapter. Lot of things going on right now. Also a lot of nit picks that needed working on. You can not imagine how many ways I can misspell my own character's name!

A little over a week has passed since my ‘freedom’ and so many things have already happened.

The Attack on Carne Village.

The Annihilation of the Sunlight Scripture.

Momonga’s declaration that he has changed his name to Ainz Ooal Gown.

NPCs have already left the Tomb to begin scouring the immediate area for anything noteworthy as, I presume, Ainz prepares for his larping session as ‘The Dark Hero Momon’.

And where was I in all of this?

Well….

“Is one of them still there?” I asked one of the homunculi from my desk.

She peaked out the door of my study relaying my request to the others. I saw her frown, then turned to me with a sad nod, “it appears so my Lady.”

I groaned, laying my head down on the piles of scrolls and texts before me. My hands ringing through my hair.

I was being stalked.

There was no other way to describe the situation.

Ever since I met Shalltear, over a week ago, she’s been hounding me every time I leave my lab. Walking down the hall for breakfast, she ‘bumps’ into me. Eating lunch, she muscles her way into a seat at my table even if it was set for one and no other chairs were in the room; I guess you don't really need chairs when you have perfectly good slaves on their hands and knees. And on the way to dinner? Shalltear will ‘accidentally’ drop something after ‘walking’ into me and bend over to retrieve it. Presenting her, admittedly limited, assets to my gaze.

On one hand, it's kind of funny.

On the other hand, this whole ‘thing’ Shalltear is doing is scaring the shit out of me. I see what happens to the girls that grab her eye; nothing can convince me that those brides aren't mind broken and secretly yearn for the sweet release of death as an alternative to Shalltear.

So I decided to hole myself up in my room for the past five days, my assistants running back and forth with meals to satiate my seemingly bottomless appetite. Because fuck me if I’m going to deal with a literal seamon demon vampire.

Though technically, I guess that is what she wants….

I shudder at the thought.

Since I sequestered myself away, Shalltear has taken to posting one of her vampire brides just down the hall to the lab. Waiting for the moment I emerge to tell her mistress. Come to think of it, that's probably how she knew I was out of my lab to begin with.

With nothing better to do over the past few days, with even food being just out of reach, I busied myself with learning what the hell I could actually do. Magic, alchemy and the like.

The result of my research was confusing.

As an NPC I know I can use magic, I just don’t know how. Everything I did before was automatic. Players would give me materials, and I ‘made’ the potion. No input from ‘me’ required. That didn't make me all too predisposed to actually using my powers on my own.

After waving my arms around for the better part of an hour on my first day of research, trying to feel the magic, I managed to cast a fireball. It happened after thinking of wanting to cast a fireball in a stray thought from being annoyed at not being able to use magic. It seems that I can cast spells when I ‘want’ to so long as I know what the spell I’m casting is. This stems entirely from me mentally shouting ‘Fireball” in my head while not meaning to cast a spell, followed by me doing the same thing but actually wanting the spell to be casted.

One small office fire later, and progress was made!

Honestly, I’m surprised that the homunculi weren't all that surprised when one of them walked in to see half a sofa on fire. She looked at me, then the sofa before quickly snuffing the flame out with a magic canceling spell. I was terrified that this display of magical inadequacy would make them start asking awkward questions like ‘why are you having trouble casting a fire spell when you’re supposed to me the brightest NPC in the Tomb regarding magic?’ Thankfully, no one said a word. They kept going on as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

I’d like to think it’s because Tabula put something in their bio about me doing crazy experiments that got out of hand on occasion.

I hope it's not because they think that little of me….

Regardless, I now knew that magic can be casted so long as I wanted it to be casted and knew the spell I was casting. I spent the whole second day just trying to go through my head of all the ‘spells’ or things I could think of that might be ‘spells’ in my head.

The result?

Two more small fires!

A small price to pay to learn what magic I could do!

To be fair, I only know two of the spells I ‘did’; Fireball and Arcane Missile. I’m guessing they are lower tier spells given that my office still exists. Even if they were only tier 3 spells, that would still put me in the top percentile of magic users in the new world; ignoring any spellcaster in Nazarick naturally.

There were another dozen or so spells I casted that had effects I could observe.

For example: [Blight]. When I casted it, it rotted away one of the legs of my chair. I mean that literally. The wood of the leg warped, darkened, peeled off, then disintegrated on the floor. It all happened over the span of thirty seconds. So I penciled that in as a damage over time spell.

By contrast there was [Barrier]. Self explanatory, it created a barrier of magic around me. Don’t need to be a genius to know that it's a shield. I can even cast it over things, like chair legs. And it can withstand [Blight].

I knew a few others off the top of my head. But I hadn't really tried them out.

Partly because I’m afraid of trying them out in such an enclosed space. Imagine gassing myself with something like [Poison Gas]? I don’t know if that's a spell or not, but I’ll wait until I’m not in a small room to try it out.

But still, for all the progress I made…..

“I’m so hungry,” I cried out from my desk. My stomach roared in demand of food. The headaches were getting more common. What ‘little’ food was brought to me only staved the hunger off rather than satisfying me.

Why was there no conjure food spell?

I slammed my fists into the arms of my chair, kicking my legs back and forth under the desk.

“Why the hell cant Shalltear just fuck off already and let me eat in peace!”

“My Lady,” a homunculi’s calm voice broke my hunger fueled tirade. Actually, there were two of them in the room right now. Forgot about them. They always seem to just blend into the background.

I turned my attention to the one that spoke up.

“Forgive me, my Lady” she began, “but if you are so hungry, why have you not put your Ring of Sustenance on?”

I stared at her dumbfounded.

“My what?”

---

Turns out there is an item called [Ring of Sustenance]. It's a fluff item in Yggdrasil that lets the wearer not need to eat or drink indefinitely. A small ring, not hard to craft, Tier 3 I’m told. No real use in a game world where there is no need to eat or drink. But in the real world, where I had real needs…

When they mentioned I had one I was freaking out. How was I supposed to play the role of an occult genius when I didn't even realize that this simple item could cure my hunger! I scoured the room. I searched every nook and cranny. Even looking behind the sofa cushions for it! All the while telling the two homunculi that I know where I left it.

And then, while I'm looking underneath the sofa, one of the homunculi points out how it was on my nightstand….

Apparently I had one right on my nightstand the whole time!

I really don't want to think about it. I’m just glad that they didn't bring it up again and agreed with me that I was testing them where it was. I knew where it was the whole time. I was also testing to see if they knew where it was.

Some of these NPCs are really gullible.

----

Later that day, while I was reading through a dozen or so old looking books out of curiosity to what was actually in them, I heard a knock at the door.

“Yes,” I called out tilting my head to the side. Still trying to make sense of this illustration of an angel looking monster with a dozen eyes along its many wings. This thing looked more monstrous than angelic if in my opinion.

The door opened and a homunculi came in, “forgive me my Lady, but Lord Demiurge wishes to speak to you.”

I swivel my head to the girl at the door, the illustration all but forgotten. A shiver went down my back.

“Demiurge,” I repeated.

She nodded, “yes my Lady. He said he wishes to speak to you regarding a project he is working on.”

Closing my book, I began to rub my head.

Demiurge? That archdevil, sadistic, suit wearing monster. The guy that will, in a short time, operate a farm with literal flaying shacks that turn people’s skin into scroll. The guy who is one of, if not the most, monstrous individual in all of Nazarick. That guy wants to speak with me!

I could feel my heart beating in my chest.

A part of me wanted to scream.

But this was Demiurge. Probably the single smartest NPC in all of Nazarick. Any break in ‘character’ would be noticed in milliseconds. And he wouldn’t ask why I was different. Oh no. He’d just drag me down to the dungeons himself without breaking stride. To be questioned about why I was in ‘Citrinitas's room’ and the like.

If I was particularly unlucky, I would find myself alongside the ‘Albion Sheep’ at his ‘farms’.

His worst aspect was how he twisted the words of others to fit his own world view. For example, if Ainz, who Demiurge knows is far beyond him in intelligence, stated that the sky was red, Demiurge would be among the first NPCs to exclaim how the Supreme Being is the only one capable of prescribing the true color of the sky.

Talking to him is going to be like tip toeing around egg shells.

I gathered my courage, barely capable of bringing myself to say the words.

“Send him in.”

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The alchemist gave the Floor Guardian a bow. “Please forgive the wait, Lord Demiurge. My Lady will see you now.”

“Don’t worry, the wait was no concern,” Demiurge waived off the girl’s apology.

Truth be told, Demiurge was surprised his request for a meeting was granted; let alone he got a response at all. Citrinitas was reserved at the best of times. For the longest time, she would only meet with Lord Ainz. Any other visitors were not merely denied, but were met with silence.

As Nazarick’s chief specialist in Magic and Grand Alchemist, her studies were of the highest priority. Her tireless work has brought victory and glory to the Supreme Beings time and time again. He understood this.

Still, he couldn't hide his good mood as he was ushered into her study. Perhaps she had an inkling as to the nature for his visit? That he was requesting her help with work given to him by Lord Ainz? He was sure something like that would rouse her from her work, if only temporarily.

Demiurge could feel the magic power emanating from the room as he crossed the threshold. Everything in the chamber emanated with power. Artifacts. Tomes. Reagents. This, relatively speaking, small space contained almost the sum total of all of Nazarick’s magical knowledge. True, the Library had a selection of general knowledge, but it was pitiful when compared to Citrinitas’s personal collection.

Scrolls on the Arcane. Tomes of Demonology. Books on various types of ethereal creatures and abominations that lingered between worlds. Even rare texts whose names have been forgotten to the annals of time. It was all here.

Such a reserve of course demanded the greatest levels of security. In the wrong hands, more likely the unworthy or inept, these powers can lead to devastation on an unimaginable scale. Only the Supreme Beings, and those who they permitted, were worthy of such a responsibility.

To insure this, the room was bathed in defensive spellwork. The wards, enchantments, and anti-scrying measures employed in this study were almost beyond comparison. Only the throne room, the personal residencies of the Supreme Beings, and the Treasury boasted such levels of protection. If he were to speculate, he’d even go as far as to say that this room would be one of the last bastions of defense in the unlikely, yet still possible, event that the tomb invaded and overrun.

Truly, the Supreme Beings accounted for every possible situation. Even those least likely to happen.

At the end of the room, sat the mistress of these higher mysteries herself, Citrinitas.

“Lord Demiurge,” she was tidying up her desk, her eyes not meeting his own as she fiddled about with scrolls and papers, “there was something you wished to discuss with me.”

If he was to be honest with himself, Demiurge could safely say he enjoyed her company more than her sister’s. She lacked that overinflated sense of self aggrandizement that her sister was guilty of. Was Citrinitas simply more mature? Not feeling the need to put on pointless displays of authority? Perhaps it was due to her close working relationship with the Supreme Beings? Why be concerned with your position in the hierarchy when the Supreme Ones themselves are clear and vocal with your praise?

He couldn't tell which. He had a hard time reading her. Not the extent of her sister, but it was enough to make him have to speculate a bit to draw conclusions.

But one didn't need to be intelligent to hear the snappishness in her tone. Oh dear. It appears he walked in at a bad time. From the ambient magic in the room, Demiurge could gather that she had been in the midst of an experiment prior to his arrival. Was she pursuing a line of research to aid in Lord Ainz’s future conquests?

Demiurge himself was confident in charting out no less than twenty eight potential paths that his Lordship may pursue in the coming days. Her line of research seemed to more along the lines of broad applications rather than something for any single avenue.

Truly forward thinking.

But that implies that he just interrupted her research into these potential applications.

Best make his request quick then, so she may return to her work.

“I apologize for barging in like this. And please, Demiurge is enough,” he waived off her formality. “As for my reasons, I actually need your help on a matter.”

That got her attention. She looked up from her papers for a moment, her golden eyes pulling themselves from the work on her desk. “My ‘help’?”

He nodded. “Yes. As you are aware, Lord Ainz has commanded that the survivors of the attack on the nearby human village be used to establish the effects of Yggdrasil magic in the New World.”

She mulled over his words. “He did?”

“Indeed he has.” He flexed his tail in excitement. “We’re currently in the early phases of what we’re dubbing the ‘Healing Experiment’. The results we have achieved so far are nothing short of groundbreaking.”

Finally, the girl brought her full attention to Demiurge. “And they are?”

For all his excitement, Demiurge had to watch his next words with Citrinitas. He won’t pretend to understand the complexities of magic beyond an advanced level. Pointing out patterns and limits to spells was one thing, it was another thing to engage in conversation with a person who knows the deepest depths of the Arcane on a level that was near that of the Supreme Beings themselves.

Best to not get drawn into a conversation of semantics and proper terminology.

“Remarkable,” he began excitedly. “First, we learned that healing an injury from a subject not only restores the injury, but also disintegrates unconnected bits of flesh. For example, should a finger be severed and healing casted on the wound the severed finger will disappear as the new finger is ‘healed’ onto the stump. No matter the distance, the severed body part will always disappear when the body is healed. But there is an exception to this rule! If-”

“If it was severed for a long length of time it will not disintegrate when the respective wound is healed,” Citrinitas cut him off, her gaze burrowing into his head.

Demiurge mentally kicked himself, realizing she had already deduced as much in the time between him beginning his explanation and the present. Her insight on such matters was truly beyond his own to deduce such an outcome in such a short span of time.

“Exactly,” he replied.

“So, if you have figured that much out, what do you need my help with exactly?” She questioned him.

Might as well be blunt on this matter, Demiurge reasoned. “I would like to borrow the services of a few of your staff for the near future to assist me in the early phases of the experiment. Their knowledge and insight into magic would be a great boon going forward.”

As an Area Guardian, Citrinitas was well within her rights to refuse any request from a Floor Guardian. An Area Guardian had absolute authority over the affairs of their specific regions of Nazarick; in her case, it was her study and the Alchemy Lab. Even if she were located on the Seventh Floor, his floor, Demiurge would still not have the authority to command her to do anything. Only the Supreme Beings and the Overseer held such authority.

If she refused him. That was that.

She was quiet for some time. He couldn't tell exactly what she was thinking, but the multitude of micro expressions on her face indicated she was in deep thought. She was certainly weighing the benefits of helping him at the cost of reducing her own capabilities.

He was even confident of understanding the broad strokes of the back and forth going on in her head.

If she gave him some of her staff, her productivity could be stifled.

But if she retained them, she knew his work would be slowed.

Her work was her primary concern and the highest priority.

Yet could she allow him to be slowed from a lack of experts on a task given to him by Lord Ainz himself?

Pros and Cons.

From her labored sigh, he knew she reached her conclusion.

“Fine. But no more than ten of them,” she finally decided.

Demiurge released the breath he hadn't noticed he was holding. He clapped his hands together, “I won’t require more than five. And of course I will share the results with you as they are recorded.”

She nodded. “Good. Now.” She sounded unsure, “I don’t mean to sound-”

“Don’t worry, I’ll see myself out.” he gave her a reassuring smile to show he didn't take any insult at her asking him to leave. “And thank you again.”

She nodded. Returning her full attention to her work.

Demiurge strode out of the study to the lab floor.

“Excuse me,” he called out to the arrangement of homunculi, “if I may have your attention.”

Some homunculi stopped their tasks to listen, others continued their work while listening to what he had to say.

“Your lady has just given me permission to request the assistance of five of you for an important assignment given to me by Lord Ainz himself.”

That got their attention. Now all eyes were on him.

“What kind of assignment?” one of them questioned.

Demiurge smiled. “I am conducting an experiment to see the effects of Yggdrasil magic in the New World. While my knowledge is quite extensive. Your lady has seen fit to aid me in this endeavor and your assistance will be invaluable in the following days.”

Quiet mutterings began amongst themselves.

Demiurge smiled as they jostled with one another for the chance to work on the Healing Experiment. After a minute of patiently waiting, five homunculi lined up before him.

“Excellent! Now follow me,” he led the homunculi out of the lab. “I’ll explain what we know so far so we can continue the moment we arrive. The subjects are being kept in the dungeon. So far we have determined that….”

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‘Fuck,’ I swore, throwing myself onto the bed. My face smothered into the pillows.

He’s already started his damn experiments! The Tomb has only been here about a week! I’m certain he just wants to saw off people’s limbs for the ‘evulz’! If he hadn't done the mental gymnastics to reach the conclusion that Ainz wanted this, he would have found another reason to torture people.

And the way he talked to me! Felt like he was toying with me. Like he’s so much smarter than me that he has to lower the bar when explaining things to me. Like I was just a toddler. That whole exchange was intense. It was like he was anticipating my every word.

And then he thinks I want to have a part in his senseless torture!

I felt the beginning of a headache, and for once it wasn't related to hunger.

I don't know why, but that whole exchange just made me so...upset. Angry even. Angry that this monster wants me to do work with him.

I got up and stood in the center of the room.

More than anything, I was just angry. All the feelings of anger and frustration that had been building up the past week.

This Tomb

The hunger and humiliation of my own ineptitude.

And now this…

Without caring of the consequences I felt spells being charged up in my hands.

[Fireball]

That fucking devil!

[Fireball]

He’s a damn grandmaster who thinks he’s a fucking pawn!

[Fireball]

Everything is a fucking game of 4d chess with him!

[Fireball]

And everyone is so hung up on that reject salary man’s words it’s pathetic!

[Fireball]

Everything is as is apparently according to his master plan!

[Fireball]

Especially his fuck ups!

[Fireball]

He’s just some LOSER who couldn't live in the real world!

[Fireball]

So he played pretend HERE with all his other LOSER friends!

[Fireball]

The only reason he wins ANYTHING here is because he was some otaku who just happened to be Isekaied to a world on video game logic!

[Fireball]

He’s so stupid he didn't even come to the conclusion that he could RULE this world as a an immortal God!

[Fireball]

Had to stumble into it because more competent people did all the work for him!

[Fireball]

If I had an army of sycophants that worshiped the ground I walked on nothing would stop ME!

[Eldritch Bolt]

If I had that power-

“My Lady!”

I blinked.

The room was a blazing inferno.

The entire far end wall of the room was bathed in fire. Flames lashed out in every direction. Nothing was actually burning to ash, fireproof wards saw to that, yet the flames danced across the various surfaces in a hellish dance all the same. Desk. Bed. furniture. Walls. Everything burned. Blazing shadows cast in every direction. A fiery orange dominated the entire chamber.

Flames billowed out from the now open door to the horrified cries of the lab floor.

Looking down at my hands, I saw dark energy radiating from them. I stood there, dumbfounded as the flames around me were dealt with. One by one, homunculi rushed in and dosed the flames with spell canceling abilities.

Soon enough, the room was fire free. It was still a bit warm, but nothing was burnt; not even the fragile looking books or slips of paper on my desk.

I barely registered being led to a chair to sit down. The search for any injury in my person. Barely hearing their questions as to my condition or asking what had happened.

I told them I was experimenting and something went awry. Nothing more, carry on with your duties.

That seemed to satisfy them, as they shuffled out moments later. Though two of their number remained.

Couldn't tell them I was venting my frustration at being trapped in a fantasy world with a Tomb of monsters when all I wanted to do was go home so I just threw fireballs everywhere in a fit. That would have made me look more than a little crazy.

But I wasn’t.

I was just venting my very legitimate frustrations at my situation. Lesser people would have probably broken under the stress I’ve dealt with.

Honestly I’m probably the only sane person in this Tomb.

….

God I'm sane.