The wealth of the tomb was beyond counting.  Literally.  “What treasures will satisfy this offering, mein Vater?”  Pandora’s actor asked with an upward gaze that, even faceless, seemed somehow to bear an air of eagerness.  

‘Interesting, despite his featureless state, little things about himself reveal a great deal about how he feels.  Is this because I created him?’  Ainz asked the question of himself and had no ready answer, it was a minor mystery, but on the surface it seemed probable to the otherwise socially awkward former salaryman.  

“Have you used your ‘King of the Fort’ job skill since coming to the New World?”  Ainz asked.

“Nein, mein Vater.  My last instruction was to use it only when Nazarick called for gold, and this has not happened since our coming.”  Pandora’s Actor answered, and this too gave Ainz pause for thought.

“I see… I see…”  Ainz answered and brought his mailed hand up to stroke his chin while he thought.  ‘So that too differs from the game, at least that alleviates one concern, we won’t be running a deficit keeping Nazarick under my control.  Maintaining a guild base in the game was expensive, the shitty devs really stuck it to the guilds that way.  How many times did we have to go on dangerous raids just to ensure we could afford the upkeep on it, prior to my cash shop item giving him Lord of the Fort?  Too many times, far, far too many times.’

The reflective moment passed and he turned his attention back to the kneeling Pandora’s Actor.  “Then how much money can you create?”  Ainz couldn’t keep his relief at bay, and that in and of itself was enough to slow Pandora’s Actor’s answer.

“Ah, my lord…”  He reached into the pocket of his dimensional space and drew out two heavy looking silk sacks, each roughly the size of a watermelon, and he sat them on the dark stone floor.  The clinking of coins broke the silence of the moment.  

“One is of platinum, the other is of gold, and I can produce this once every thirty days mein Vater, and smaller sums can be taken in their place, should there ever be a need!”  Pandora’s Actor seemed unable to refrain from an over the top gesture, thrust his arms open like he was going to embrace the sacks of coins, and Ainz wanted to die inside.

‘I made this chuunibyou?!  What was I thinking?!  German!  Drama?!  OK the uniform is very cool but the rest… why… the excessive dramatic posing… no, just no!’  Ainz’s mind ran like a sprinter away from the proof of his chuunibyou past, and he felt a longing for the emotional suppressor of his former undead body.  ‘To feel nothing, what a blessing!’  He mentally sighed and said with quiet desperation, “Do not speak German in front of me.  Ever.”  Ainz emphasized after he finished speaking, and he could feel the surprise from the NPC.  For a moment, he wondered if he had wounded the blank faced doppelganger.

‘I made him, after all, I must take responsibility.’  Ainz acknowledged while restraining his own sigh.  “Pandora’s Actor, you are as I made you, this makes you… something of a son.  Therefore you must become more than I have made you.  You must grow in ways that you have chosen for yourself.  Show me what I did not create.”

‘Well, that was a load of bullshit if ever I said any.’  Ainz reflected, but Pandora’s Actor ate it up.

‘Ja… Yes, father, I will show you what you wish to see, I swear it as your son.”  The doppelganger replied while Ainz took up the coins.

“I know you will.”  Ainz answered in turn, and taking up the coins, he tossed them into his pocket dimension, he then turned to leave, and as he did he added, “Practice your imitation of my former shape, I may need it.”

Pandora’s Actor snapped up to a rigid posture and gave a crisp salute with his hand canted over the brim of his cap.  “Yes… father!”  he emphasized as the door slowly closed behind the retreating Ainz and Lupusregina.

When they were alone and leaving the area, Lupusregina was quick to ask, “What next, master?”  

“The Arena.”  Ainz answered in an instant.

There was no need to explain what he was going to do there, but on the long walk, that didn’t stop Lupusregina from asking another question of her master.

“Lord Mare, or Lord Cocytus, master?”  There was a little shudder in the battle maid’s voice when she asked the question.

“Are you concerned?”  Ainz asked with a downward glance at the maid as she followed at his side.

The sound of feet over stone was answer enough, but the battlemaid chose to speak for herself instead.  “I can’t win, master.”

The red haired beauty was far from cowardly in nature, thus making her words even more profound.

“Do you believe I could lose?”  Asked Ainz, it was a direct question, and one Lupusregina felt like a hammer on her heart.

“I believe victory would be very difficult, master.  But I believe you could win, however if you want to know who I think would be more easily defeated, I would say Lord Cocytus.”  Lupusregina replied, her eyes turned down with what might as well have been great interest in the stone beneath their feet as they walked.

“Why Cocytus, Warrior Takemikezuchi gave him a great many immunities to magic.”  Ainz asked with a very curious interest, his inner gamer came out in earnest at the unexpected reply from the battlemaid.  It seemed to contradict all reason.  ‘Mare is such a sweet little boy, nervous, soft natured.  By contrast Cocytus is a paramount warrior, shouldn’t it be the other way around?’  He wondered.

“Master, if Lord Mare were to turn on you, he would call for help from the other guardians who he would think might help.  But Lord Cocytus, if he were to want to fight you, he would try to do so by himself.”  Lupusregina replied and closed her sunlike yellow eyes that glimmered in the shadowy walk of the hall of the great tomb.

“I see, that is a fair point, I will be informing Cocytus, which by the way, means I need to do something else first.”  Ainz said and stopped in his tracks before activating the message spell.

‘Mare, Aura, I have a task for the two of you.’  Ainz said with all the authority he could muster.

‘Yaaaaaay!  What is it, Lord Ainz?!’  Aura exclaimed.

‘A-At once, Lord Ainz!’  Mare exclaimed with a subdued, nervous eagerness that characterized the young male dark elf.

‘I want you both to go to Carne Village, there is a forest near there, Aura, I want you to tame every monster that could threaten the village.  Mare, I want you to prepare to expand the village considerably.  Tell them you are an Emissary of Ainz Ooal Gown, and they will cooperate in every way.  Fix the roads, build more homes, prepare training grounds suitable for adventurers and for soldiers.  If they request anything in particular be built, listen to their representatives within reason.  If there are useful beasts taken that can help with the construction, their use is permitted.  Go at once, do you have any questions?’  

‘None, Lord Ainz!’  The twins exclaimed, and Ainz killed the link.

“There, that will remove said problem and get a task done too.”  Ainz murmured under his breath.  Unsurprisingly, he felt his heart rate begin to ease, the notion of having to fight either of those two precious children of Bukubukuchagama was such that, however unlikely it was, facing it as even a possibility was still too much.  

When they reached the now empty arena, Ainz sent out a message to Cocytus to join him, and straight away it so happened.

The insectoid ice monster stood tall and strong, weapon in hand and ready to serve The One Who Stayed.

“My Lord.”  The Guardian said and knelt.  Head bowed and weapon upright with the butt of it planted in the sands.

‘This, this, I need to get this over with, I need to.  Whatever happens, happens.  I put off the twins, but I can’t put everything off, and I need his help as a warrior now.’  

“Cocytus, who am I to you?”  Ainz asked from beneath his onyx colored warrior helmet.

“The greatest of the Supreme Beings.  The One Who Stayed.”  Cocytus’s answer was so reflexive it was hard to imagine any deception in the words, but still, sweat sprang to Ainz’s forehead.

“And am I the Ainz that you know?  Have you any doubt?”  Ainz asked, and the Guardian raised his head without thought or permission.

Cocytus searched the body which stood before him, though covered in magic armor, the importance of his master’s question, and the mystery behind it, was such that he could not help but raise his head.  Lupusregina stood a pace behind at his left hand, her body was relaxed, but ready as if she were prepared to fight.  ‘What goes?’  His formal warrior mind asked, Lord Ainz was tall and broad of shoulder in his enchanted, conjured armor given to him by the spell ‘Perfect Warrior’.  But there was more.  It troubled his icy heart, and yet the question demanded an answer, so he moved his mandibles and spoke.

“None.  You are The One Who Stayed.”  Cocytus replied, “To whom all my loyalty and my life belongs.”

“And is this true no matter what?  Even if I should change?”  Ainz cut to the quick, ‘Just rip the damn bandaid off.’  He told himself, and waited.

“No matter what, My Lord.”  Cocytus responded.

Commanding words were the next to follow, and with them, Ainz’s hands came up to the sides of his helmet.  “What happens next is a secret, you are forbidden from speaking of this to anyone.”  

“Master, I obey.”  Cocytus answered in turn, no criticism came to him for raising his head without permission, and therefore he concluded that it was a not unexpected response, however impertinent it might have been considered at some other time.

A moment later he understood why, as the helmet came off and was held in front of his master’s chest, and Cocytus found himself looking into the tanned face set beneath black hair, and brown eyes stared back down at him.  

“Illusion?”  Cocytus asked, cocking his head.  He saw Lupusregina slide one foot behind her, turning to the side as if she were readying herself for an immediate fight.  ‘No.  No.  And she knows.’  The Guardian recognized.

“It is not, is it, My Lord?”  Cocytus asked with a calm and even voice.

Ainz let out a sigh and relaxed at the Guardian’s answer, he set the helmet under one arm and scratched his dark hair, at his side, he felt Lupusregina begin to relax.  “No, it isn’t.  During my visit to the village, as best I can figure, whatever spell they cast, reacted with my world item, I was changed into this.”  

“I see.”  Cocytus replied.  “That is why she is prepared to fight.  My loyalty was in question.”  

As an insectoid, he didn’t have the same inflections as a human, but Ainz could still detect the subtle implication that he was wounded by doubt, and like a father that has unintentionally hurt his child, Ainz felt his heart go out to the faithful Guardian.

Ainz yanked off his mail glove and cast it to the sand, scattering granules with the force of his toss, then barehanded, he reached out and put a palm on the frozen forehead, it was cold to the touch, pleasant, really.  Then he said to the Guardian, “You did nothing wrong, Coctyus, nothing you have ever done has caused me to question your loyalty.  This is the kind of uncertainty that comes with a body like this one, and I merely acted according to it.”

“I see.  I understand, Master.”  Cocytus responded with a noticeable relaxing of his icy form.  “How can I help?”  

“One side effect is that I can now gain more power than before.”  Ainz began the sentence in a professional manner, but by the end, a broad smile traced its way over his face as his boyish inner RPG grind gamer came to the fore.  “Your creator gave you the ability to summon high level monsters, did he not?”

“My ‘Dueling Partner’ skill.  Yes, My Lord.”  Cocytus answered clearly but inside his head was spinning.  His lord was already among the most powerful beings in this world, and yet there was the possibility of more?  ‘I am privileged above all others, to bear witness to the growth of my master’s power.’  He thought with reverence.  But another thought troubled him.

“Few of the others know.”  Cocytus guessed.  Ainz’s smile fled, his lips became tight and he gave a somber nod.

“No, they do not.  Lupusregina knows, her nose found the truth.  I just informed Pandora’s Actor.  Now you.  Some of those who reside here have a deep hatred for humans that may transcend their loyalty to myself as the master of the tomb.  I will reveal this slowly, to a precious few at a time.”  Ainz explained his intentions, and Cocytus nodded.

Part of the guardian of the fifth floor wanted to immediately say, ‘None would ever be disloyal to a Supreme Being.’  But he knew quite well that the hatred for humans ran deep in some of them, the fact that the invasion of the tomb had included humans was not forgotten.  It was still an unthinkable thought, and yet he thought it anyway.  

“So you prepare.”  Cocytus recognized his master’s intent, and his admiration swelled for his master to heights he had not known he could achieve.

“Yes, that’s my intention, my own summons can gain me some experience, and I can gain some out in the wider world, however that is very low, if the rules of the old world hold, I can gain more experience by way of strong opponents summoned by someone else.”  Ainz took his hand from Cocytus’s frozen forehead and held a finger pointed out a few inches from the Guardian’s face.  “You.”

 

---

 

Arche sat down at the expensive table with her parents.  It was smooth and polished, and had over a dozen chairs, though it had not held any but the five members of her household for quite some time.  Her somewhat overweight father traced a finger over his brown mustache, he wasn’t looking at his daughter, he was looking at the pouch she put on the table between them.

His fingers twitched, eager to snatch it up, only the hand of his wife on his shoulder kept him from doing so.  Her long, angular face was slowly becoming wrinkled through age and worry, her once glowing golden hair was beginning to whiten, more from stress than age, as Arche figured it.  

Arche rested her hands folded one over the other on the table in front of her.  “Father, this has to stop.  You can’t keep spending money as if you have more of it coming in.  You don’t.”

Her father’s plump face darkened.  “Yes I do, you just brought some.”

“Father, I’m an adventurer, a worker, I could die out there, or the jobs could dry up, what then?”  She opened her hands and spread her arms out, imploring with him to listen, she leaned forward, her sharp blue eyes were hardened by experience.

The middle aged former noble sputtered, “Nonsense!  We’re nobles after all.  Everything will be fine.”

Arche slumped, then brought a hand up and rubbed her forehead when it bowed forward.  “Father, we’re not nobles.  We lost that place in the world, we need to sell this house, we could get a good price for it, and you could live well off of that for a lifetime if we just pay off our debts.”  

“No!”  Her father shouted and slammed a plump fist down on the table.  “Never!”  

“Dear…”  Arche’s mother said, but to her daughter, not her husband, “You must understand, this is the only life we know, there’s no other place for us.”

Arche felt a hint of pity rise up to combat her anger at her father, her voice became quieter, more daughterly when she answered, “There needs to be, mother, there needs to be.  Kuuderika and Ureirika can’t live off your memories, and if you want me to keep coming back alive, I need to upgrade my equipment.  I can’t keep using all my money to pay off your debts forever.”

“Why not?  You’re doing fine now, aren’t you?”  Her father spat, and Arche felt her head hurt.

“Father, my team has upgraded their equipment twice in the last year, that has let us take on better jobs that pay more money, but I haven’t upgraded even once since we got started.  If I can’t keep up with them anymore because their equipment gets better and mine doesn’t, they’ll drop me the same way the Bloody Emperor dropped our whole family.”

“They wouldn’t dare drop a noble’s daughter!”  He said with a furious glare in his dark, deep set eyes.

‘We’re not nobles!’  Arche wanted to scream at him, but instead she took a deep breath and appealed to the old idiot’s innate bigotry against the lower classes.  “They’re peasant workers, what do you expect?”  She asked, ‘I’m a worker too, and a peasant, and you’re not even a worker.’  Her contempt for him only grew when she saw that her statement worked and he became sullen.  His face purple with anger at an insult that hadn’t happened, to a house that no longer mattered.  

“All we need is for the Bloody Emperor to die.”  Her old man growled through gritted teeth, “This is all his fault, all of it.  He cast us out for nothing, but it’s not done, we’re the last, and we will outlast him.”  

Arche flopped back in her cream colored expensive chair, with the purges of the nobles and their replacement with elevated commoners of various talent and utility, some of the old guard, like her father, had taken it hard.  Their luxurious house was now the last one in the area to be occupied, others were empty, sold off or forcibly reclaimed by the Emperor when the occupiers were executed.  

Some had been smart, and gone on to live quiet lives, using the sale of their estates to fund comfortable retirements, pay for the education of their children, and to attempt to restore their status by drawing the emperor’s attention through merit, or through their children’s merits.  Arche could feel nothing but envy for those families.  ‘They’re the smart ones.’  She thought, and shoved the coins the rest of the way across the table, the clinking noise they made when he snatched them up, was like the sound of rattling chains to the young Arche.  She brushed her hand briefly through her short blonde hair and stood up.

“I’m going to go meet with my team, promise me you’ll only pay your debts and use the rest of that on necessary expenses.”  Arche said with resignation.

“Yes, yes, of course.  Only debts and necessities.”  Her father said, holding the coin pouch in his palm, the hand bobbed up and down several times as he tried to get an estimate of the contents by weight.  

‘At least that much is progress, he’s actually thinking about what’s there instead of tossing it aside to spend later.’  Arche’s hopeful thought rose up and held until she reached the front parlor of her family estate, and found that their aged butler was allowing a merchant into the house.

The plump man was getting richer off her increasingly poorer family, and he had the gall or decency to tip his round blue felt hat to Arche as the one he knew was making it possible.  Arche wasn’t sure which it was, nor did she speak to him, only nodding in return as she went back out into the streets of Arwintar again.