Ainz PoV:

 

Ainz was facing a major dilemma. In a fit of anger, he had marched towards this containment facility to save Tabula’s daughter. Which, in all honesty, was the right move. Opening up Nazarick to potential risks in the future did concern him but that concern was nothing in front of Lilith’s safety.

 

His personality did not allow for such an atrocity against someone related to his friends to go unpunished, and so he had ordered the all too enthusiastic NPCs to take appropriate care of the humans that were to be captured.

 

Moreover, he would not have known how to face Tabula in the future if he had allowed whatever the so called ‘SCP Foundation’ was doing. But now that he was on the cusp of saving Lilith, he had regained enough clarity to think over everything that had transpired.

 

These moments of clarity brought forward a pressing question that he had not given any thought to at all, to his mind. How was he supposed to approach Lilith? It was not right to make Demiurge interact with her right off the bat. None of the NPCs had ever met her.

 

Even Ainz had only met her once or twice and had a vague recollection of her. If not for Demiurge uncovering the documents regarding what the foundation was doing, he might not even have remembered her.

 

Regardless, she was his friends daughter and in the absence of her father, Ainz would gladly take on the role of her guardian. He was the only one who could given the circumstances. Even if the entire ordeal promised unknown challenges that Ainz did not know how to deal with. He had to be the one to strike up the conversation with her.

 

After becoming the overlord of Nazarick, Ainz had plenty of experience dealing with ‘troublesome children’, that is, the NPCs that their guild created. But they did not provide a proper guideline in dealing with this situation.

 

To a certain extent, Lilith was in a position similar to him. Both of them had found themselves stuck in the forms of their player avatars in an unknown world. The difference being that Lilith had drawn the short straw in regards to her new circumstances.

 

Ultimately, they were both former humans and Lilith was only an innocent child without societal experience unlike Ainz. The NPCs were far from ‘normal’ and Ainz himself was no longer the person who he used to be after the experiencing events that transpired in the New World.

 

Perhaps the closest reference point Ainz had was his experience in dealing with Aura and Mare. Ainz was a bit worried about whether it would be alright for an innocent child like Lilith to interact freely with the NPCs. What if their degenerate thoughts and quirks rubbed off on her?

Imagine Tabula meeting his daughter in the future, only to find a second Albedo or Demiurge. The very thought of that was frightening.

 

He eventually decided to let events play out as they were. Anyway the NPCs were likely to worship and protect her like they did with Ainz. Perhaps more due to her being merely a child, much less, having experienced such misfortune.

 

Based on his observations ever since the news regarding Lilith was disclosed to them, he was certain that this would be the case. All of them had an unexpected newfound zeal driven out of fascination, and perhaps, guilt?

 

He was certainly fine with their approach towards Lilith in this particular aspect, as he too was intending to protect the poor child from any further harm. And yet, having considered all of this, the question still remained.

 

How must he go about approaching Lilith? How should he strike the conversation and what should he talk about? Ainz was used to practising for hours regarding his ‘performances’. His acts of being a ruler. But his fury had made him forget preparing for this inevitable conversation.

 

Residents of the New World might find it funny that the mighty overlord of death that had spread havoc across the lands was now struggling to talk to a little girl. If they knew and had the courage to think of such thoughts, that is.

 

More questions kept assaulting his mind. Did she even remember him? If she did not, wouldn’t it be frightening that a huge terrifying skeleton showed up out of nowhere and took her away? Well, she was supposedly blind so maybe not and he vaguely remembered something regarding memory loss in the file he had read.

 

This girl had just randomly been dropped off in another world away from her family and had been essentially tortured for a very long time. He had doubts about whether she would be very receptive to his presence. 

 

It might be possible for someone like Demiurge or Albedo to treat her trauma. They did have unnecessarily huge brains and used their understanding of human nature to devise devious plots of mass destruction.

 

Maybe it could work the other way around as well? No, no way. Their treatment might delude her into following their ways. Now that they were on Earth, maybe he could take her to visit a human psychiatrist experienced in dealing with such situations.

 

“Thud…thump…” Ainz stopped rubbing his chin and raised his head to witness Demiurge walking back with a summoned demon and the death knight he had created earlier.

 

“Lord Ainz, the facility has been cleared of all pests. The Eight-Edge Assasins have already transferred them to Nazarick. Please follow me to where the young lady has been confined so we can rescue her immediately.” Demiurge updated him on the progress of the mission.

 

‘Forget it, I’ll decide how to act as I go along…’ Ainz decided to bite the bullet and hoped that his act would make a positive impression of a dependable guardian in Lilith’s mind.

 

“Umu, lead the way Demiurge! We have no more time to waste.” Ainz spoke in a regal manner, spreading his hands out into the air whilst holding the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown. This was one of his most practised and used regal form. The first of many that followed later upon closely studying Emperor Jircniv’s behaviour.

 

Demiurge gave an affirmation and turned around leading the way immediately. Having already surveyed and cleared out the path ahead, it did not take long for them to arrive near the cell mentioned in the files.

 

The cell itself was nothing special. It looked similar to how cells for experimentation were described in fiction. It was a chamber with sterile white walls with one wall made entirely out of glass to observe the subject inside. It had an intense clinical feeling intensified by the antiseptic smell.

 

Ainz was finally able to observe his dear friends daughter beyond the glass walls. A girl of about ten years of age was visible curled up against the wall. Upon hearing them showing up, she raised her expressionless face towards the source of the sound. Her beautiful red eyes lacking any lustre.

 

She was dressed in something akin to a white hospital gown with thin red striped. Two curved horns were visible decorating her head as long, slightly messy and unkept white hair flowed down to her waist.

 

She just stared at them not speaking anything at all. Maybe due to her blindness, she did not understand who her unusual visitors were. Ainz could hear Demiurge gritting his teeth and he could easily imagine the expression of anger that might have spread across his face.

 

He too might have displayed a similar expression if he still had a regular human face. Unfortunately, he was a skeleton now. Shaking his head, Ainz lightly tapped his staff against the floor and cast the [Gate] spell.

 

He lead Demiurge through the dark, swirling tear in space beyond the glass wall. Such a flimsy glass wall obviously could not hold him back but he doubted that shattering the glass wall and possibly frightening her was the best way to go about making good first impressions.

 

Once in front of her, Ainz spoke as gently as he could:

 

“I don’t know if you remember me but I am your father, Tabula Smaragadina’s, close friend from the time when we played YGGDRASIL. You might remember me as Momonga, we have met a few times.” She just continued staring towards his direction giving no hint as to whether she had even heard what he spoke.

 

While a bit flustered, Ainz had still expected this. It was unlikely that a tortured child would suddenly open up to him in a matter of moments.

 

“I am deeply sorry for not coming sooner to help you. Would you be willing to come with me until your father returns? I promised to keep you safe from any further harm.” Noticing the lack of response, Ainz contemplated just picking her up and taking her back to Nazarick and slowly make her open up.

 

He thought over the contents of the file and remembered something he had read. Ainz opening his inventory and procured some chocolate and placed it in her hand.

 

“You can have this. I heard that you like sweets. If you follow me back to Nazarick, my, no our home, you can have plenty more sweets and delicious food.” Chocolate was a rare commodity back home in their dystopian world.

 

The number of times he had eaten something as expensive as chocolate could be counted on his fingers. As he gave her the chocolate, for some reason Lilith just stared towards him with her eyes widened.

 

After doing all of this, a rising surge of embarrassment spread through Ainz. He had a serious urge to facepalm. Luckily, Demiurge could not make out any changes in his behaviour. For once, he was thankful to be an undead skeleton.

 

‘Aah, how could I have done that? Doesn’t this make me similar to a perverted kidnapper?’ Ainz was having a breakdown over the fact that maybe he was similar to those kidnapper scum who bribed young children on the streets.

 

But he did not have enough time to think about this slip as Lilith took the chocolate and started eating it quickly as if the world was about the end the next moment. She then looked away from him with a slight blush on her face as she spoke in a low yet sweet voice:

 

“…I’ll come with you if you give more…”

 

‘Aah, that does it. I am basically the same as those perverted trash.’ Lilith’s confirmation on accepting his ‘bribe’ gave Ainz the confirmation he did not desire. But more so, a new worry sprouted in his mind.

 

‘That file was not lying. Won’t she basically do anything or go with anyone as long as they bribed her with sweets?’ This concern? had already taken root in his mind. It increased his guilt and cemented the image of naive child.

 

***

Lilith PoV:

 

My reality sense could already detect Ainz’s arrival. One of its other major abilities was also to observe souls. I could view Ainz’s soul akin to a blackhole sucking away any light. It was hard to imagine that this soul belonged to this awkward skeleton.

 

I could sense his discomfort in not knowing how to approach this conversation. Based on his character, I had already expected as much. Well, I was not going to make it easy for him so I continued acting out the image of a traumatised child desensitised to everything.

 

Why? Cuz its fun seeing him scramble around, looking all composed to maintain his regal image in front of Demiurge. Yes, I could sense Demiurge being there as well. Not like the NPCs were going to allow him travel around alone.

 

Now that they were rescuing a supreme beings daughter, there was no chance in hell that a guardian was not present. On a side note, the second that Ainz had showed up and started speaking to me, the shackles restraining me had basically vanished.

 

We had reached the end of the designed narrative. The future ahead was entirely unknown. While the threat of returning to that void always hangs around my neck, I am not going to shy away from the shenanigans that are about to ensue.

 

“You can have this. I heard that you like sweets. If you follow me back to Nazarick, my, no our home, you can have plenty more sweets and delicious food.” My thoughts and act were disrupted as Ainz produced a chocolate bar in front of me.

 

Hmph, I might look like a child now but mentally I am older than everyone’s grandparents. There’s no way that would fall for a petty bribe like this. Well, he did come rescue me announce the start of my new life, so maybe a bite won't hurt?

 

A sugar-rush spread throughout my body upon eating this insignificant chocolate bar. No, there’s no way that I, the mighty Lilith, would fall victim to a mere chocolate bar. I am a cosmic horror who spreads chaos everywhere I go.

 

This odd behaviour has to be due to something Nyx-chan did with this body while she was in control. Curse you, Nyx-chan.

 

***

“…I’ll come with you if you give more…” I replied in a barely audible voice. It’s all for my free and happy future. An elaborate act to convince them that I am indeed a little girl now. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

***

~Hope you enjoyed reading!~