…

          After some experiments that Aeskell failed to see the reason of doing went on, Momonga walked over to the twins and asked something of them.

          “You two look thirsty, would you like some water?” he asked his kids kindly.

          The two of them looked at each other and then balked and took a step back. They seemed to want to refuse the offer. But their loyalties to their surrogate father seemed to overrule that. He pulled a pitcher of water from his inventory and poured each of them a glass of water.

          They gulped down the water each in their own way. Aura just straight up chugged it. That was rather in character for her. But Mare simply sipped on the water slowly, as if it was a gift form a god to be savored.

          That was a rather strange thing to notice. But ever since she had gotten this body, she had begun to see the little things in everyone. It… Made her a bit uneasy now that she thought about it.

          Thinking about thinking, she looked back at the summoning spells Momonga had her perform. He had her summon some archangel flames, and some other low tier summons. The main thing that these tests that Momonga wanted to get done was how friendly fire worked.

          Of course, the first test was how his summons stacked up against their friendly compatriots. He had Aura test out her own special breath weapon. And how it affected him, her own summons, and his own.

          The answer was that friendly fire was turned on. So that was bad. That was really bad. Then again, she didn’t know how long she was going to stay friends with the great underground tomb of Nazarick. She might splinter away from them, she might find conflict with them.

          That was something that she did not like thinking about. Like, she felt like she might lose friends that she has yet to make. All in all, it left a bad taste in her mouth. Just simply thinking of being alone without memories to make with her friends to be, was rather disheartening.

          She shook her head of the encroaching thoughts of dread and the death of all things that was starting to wiggle its way into her own head and looked to Momonga and his kids. It was rather nice to see him having a fun time with his kids. But that fun was interrupted by Shalltear entering the stage.

          She swaggered out of a gate. She then spotted Momonga rushing over, she seemingly almost embraced him after doing so. It was then that she said something rather goofy, and Aura had to ruin her mood. It was rather strange to see the sultry Shalltear act so aghast and embarrassed.

          “Oh, my beloved Momonga! How I missed you, my lord!” she spouted.

          “As if Lord Momonga would like a lamprey that stuffs their chest like you!” retorted Aura.

          And the name calling began. It again, was actually pretty funny to see the usually rather chipper seeming Shalltear and the rambunctious seeming Aura fight with words like this. Aeskell walked over to Momonga, rather curious to see how these two’s fight had made him feel.

          When she scooted over to see him, he looked… happy? That was strange. The was until he noticed her and explained something about these NPCs that she didn’t know. It was rather nice to see him so happy. His own happiness was infectious if anybody asked, and no one has, and someone needs to tell you dear reader.

          “They’re acting like their creators. You see, Peroroncino, that’s Shalltear maker. Well, his sister was also part of the guild. And the two of them would argue and bicker like this all the time,” he said.

          At his explaining, the two of them stopped and looked at him. It was as if two children, abandoned by their parents, were brought up looking for them, only to find their memory in their guardian.

          This lonesome stare was stopped by the introduction of a rather large insect heteromorph creature. He stood very tall, how tall; she did not know. His exoskeleton was an aqua blue. In one of his four arms he held a halberd. A long bulky tail whipped back and forth like he was annoyed by the bickering from before.

          He seemed to be the embodiment of the perfect warrior. He looked at the two like their previous bickering was still going on. Out of his what could be called a face came frost. It puffed out and floated in the air for a couple of seconds.

          “You. Both. Are. Bothering. Lord. Momonga. With. Your. Bickering.” He said with a stagnated and strange kind of speech.

          This was Cocytus, the guardian of the fifth floor. She had been to the fifth floor and defeated him by pure focus and a bit of chance. If you are wondering how she managed to get past Shalltear, it was through a teleport trap that she had prepared for. Instead of teleporting all the way to her destination, the spell she had cast with a one-use item that she found randomly and was wondering what it did, teleported her halfway to her spot.

          This was on the fifth floor of the tomb. The great thing was that he was built to deal damage, and she had a maxed-out health bar. What was even better for her was that her internet was bad that day, so she was all sorts of bugging out.

          Thinking back on it, she wondered what he thought of their fight. She seemed to have locked eyes with him accidentally. Oh no…

          “May. I. Ask. What. This. Woman. Is. Doing. Here. Now?” asked Cocytus.

          He had been there when she was brought in front of Momonga, but beyond that. Well, he and the rest of the guardians of the great underground tomb of Nazarick had no idea she was a guest in this place.

          The only non-Guardian NPC that knew she was to be considered a guest was Sebas. He had been sent out to gather further information on the land that encapsulated the ground floor of the tomb. Everyone knows who Sebas is, he needs no introduction.

          “I’m he…” but before she could finish her sentence, someone interrupted her.

          “Can you not see it Cocytus? She is obviously here as a guest,” spoke an arch devil in a suit.

          He was right. But who was he? How did he guess that she was a guest? Well, all things considered. It was fairly obvious that she was welcomed here as a guest by the fact that she had not been restrained. If they had wanted to imprison her, all they had to do was freeze her, or something that the Author can’t think of at this time.

          She didn’t recognize this NPC. She wondered who he was and what floor he guarded. She had seen the guardian of the first through third floors. She hadn’t seen the guardian of the fourth floor. She had met the fifth-floor guardian. She was on the sixth floor. She had heard about the eighth-floor from all the news in the Yggdrasil forums.

          So, this must be the seventh-floor guardian, that makes sense. So, the guardian of the seventh floor was an arch devil. She didn’t know his name, but by the race he had been given she knew a good bit about his abilities already. Or, she knew enough about his race by the simple fact that she was a paladin and that devils and demons were and to her knowledge, still are, a paladins worst enemy.

          But beside him was a succubus. She looked rather like a maiden, other than the fact that her chest was massive. It was in fact too big for Aeskell’s tastes, but that was just her. Whoever designed her probably had a lot of fun making her.

          “You are right Demiurge. This is Aeskell, she is our guest for the time being. Cocytus, treat her as such. I will not tolerate any hostilities to our guests,” cautioned Momonga.

          So, Demiurge was his name? wasn’t that the name of an old Hebrew demon god thingy person? Whoever designed these NPCs was a bookworm nerd for sure. The only reason Aeskell had any knowledge of that info was because of her grandpa.

          “Lord Momonga, I could not get Victim or Gargantua here…” she started to say but was stopped by Momonga bringing up his hand.

          “That is quite alight Albedo. Gargantua cannot move from its spot on the fourth floor, and Victim is off limits. I should be the one apologizing for not telling you sooner, before you went through all the trouble,” he explained.

          ‘So, her name is Albedo?’ thought Aeskell.

          That was new information that was handy. But, well she was overthinking in her mind about learning a person’s name. that was dumb of her to overthink of. Surely no one was silly enough to take someone’s name as a new valuable piece of info, right?

Zogsalken

sorry for taking so long guys. i was caught up reading a ATLA fanfic. anyway, are you guys sure you don't want a romance between Ainz and Aeskell?