Ninya and the rest of the former Swords of Darkness enjoyed the hospitality of the village, deciding to delay their trip back to Carne and enjoy some of the money they’d gotten from their latest, and ‘last’ reward for adventuring, they splurged. Peter now had several pieces of enchanted equipment thanks to the generosity of Sir Momon, as did Lukrut, Dyne, Brita, and herself. There had even been enough money left for drinks, and so, no reason to hurry.

So every village they stopped in, they spent liberally, making themselves very popular with poor, nameless villages on their long circuitous route back to Carne and the work that would await them there.

But Lupu’s words hung in Ninya’s mind, which was part of why she didn’t mind the delay, every night, she recited the lessons she had learned from the adamantite ranked cleric.

And it was because she was up late at night in one poverty stricken village, that she was the one to hear the scream, the slap, and the tearful sobbing. Ninya stood up from the table where she was drinking and reciting lessons and bolted out the door expecting to find some little domestic brawl, and instead found a crude carriage and some armed guards in cheap leather armor.

“Come on! You’re lucky I like you, I only slapped you a little bit! Just be good for me and if you’re lucky I’ll even give you a bonus… you should be glad of the chance to bear my child!” The nasally voice, the entitled pronouncement, it was the sort heard all over Re-Estize.

The nobles of this particular area were not particularly well off, but they were still nobles, though even at a glance she knew the waifish man in the dirty clothing that had obviously once been quite fine, was not actually the lord. ‘The local Lord’s son.’ Ninya realized.

‘Don’t get involved.’ The thought came to her as her eyes darted around her, nobody else had emerged from their homes, and she knew why, ‘They’re thinking the same thing. Just like when the Lord of my village took Tuare…’

Lupu’s words to her returned again, the mocking, taunting truths that were ground into her like salt into open wounds, the instinctive fear of the nobles that was ingrained in every peasant man and woman from infancy was like ice in her veins that froze her blood and compelled her to do nothing.

On the ground in front of her though, a pretty young peasant girl whose dress was already torn and face red from a slap looked tearfully to where Ninya stood, the girl was young, quaking in fear.

“Please! My lord, don’t take her!” A very thin older man pleaded, he and his wife knelt inside their door and their hands were up and pleading, “Show mercy! We paid our taxes didn’t we?”

“Yes, but it wasn’t really enough, the least you can do is obey like good dogs.” He nudged the blonde girl’s leg, “Yes, dogs, and she’s just a bitch.” He laughed at his own joke. “Now come on, you!” He reached down and tugged the girl at the wrist, dragging her through the dust.

The slender little blonde yelped in pain when she was scraped over the dust.

Ninya’s blood had turned from ice to fire as the advice of the adamantite adventurer sent her over the edge. “Hey! Let her go!” She shouted, and the noble, the villagers, even the peasant girl, froze at the unspoken disbelief that someone had said the impossible.

“Excuuuuuse me!” The lordling exclaimed, affronted, “Don’t you know who I am?! I’m Lord Philip, these are my lands, peasants, and therefore this is my business, not yours.”

‘Stupid adventurers!’ Philip cursed, ‘Don’t even know the faces of the people who rule the places they visit, as soon as I’m the official lord, I’ll put a tax on their passing through my lands and make them come pay respects to me personally.’

As if that settled the matter, he turned to his guards. “Take the bitch and put her in the carriage, do I have to do everything myself?!” He snapped, ignoring Ninya again.

The old fear came up in Ninya again, in the light of the torches of the night, the young girl’s fearful face was lit up bright as the sun, and Ninya’s old anger drowned her peasant fears in their coming sea of rage.

“I said let her go, you piece of shit!” Ninya brought her staff up, the words of Momon echoed in her mind, ‘Protecting the people is an adventurer’s highest calling!’

“Put that one down!” Philip shrieked and waved a hand toward Ninya.

“Magic arrow!” Ninya cast her spell, and arrows of light ripped from the air to pierce the guard’s cheap armor.

Ninya’s shouting had drawn the attention of the rest of her friends, the chaos drew out the other three guards from where they were out of sight on the other side of the carriage, and the rest of the village, hearing the unexpected chaos, began to poke heads out of doors.

Lit by torches, the former Swords of Darkness needed to know only one thing, that their teammate was in trouble. Lukrut’s arrows pierced a guard through the throat, Peter clashed briefly with another who clumsily waved a spear with a shout more of fear than of spirit, he ducked beneath, and buried his sword to the hilt in the man’s guts.

Brita handled the last, avoiding the spear, bringing her mace down to break the wood, then while the guard looked at it in brief dumbfounded confusion, she spun and smashed her new mace into his face. He crumpled with a sickening crunch of bone and a thud into the dust.

Ninya ran with a banshee shriek to the noble, raised her staff, and began to hit the young man in the face and head. Unused to warrior combat, she would have gotten derision from any instructor.

But she got only blood and screams of pain from the lord. Holding her staff in two hands, she brought it up and down on the scrawny youth’s head.

Ninya shouted and screamed her hatred so greatly that she drowned out his screams of pain, spattering blood over the fallen girl he’d dropped into the dust in his desperate failed effort to protect himself.

It wasn’t until she felt a pair of hands pull her back and she began to breathe deeply, heavily, that she stopped seeing red, and saw what she’d done. The head was a caved-in wreck, the young man who identified himself as ‘Philip’ was very, very dead. Blood stained the ground and the trembling body of the peasant girl.

“No more! No goddamn more!” Ninya shouted her rage at the uncaring sky.

Looking at the dead guards and dead lordling, those who had seemed invincible had been shown to be frail, the godlike status of lords in the eyes of peasants took a mortal blow.

And with the fatal wound, the girl’s father and mother approached the dead guards and picked up the fallen weapons.

Thus was born a battle cry. “No more!” became a shout that threatened to split the sky.

Ainz stepped through the gate that took him back to Nazarick. Lupu had cleared the hall and passed on his orders that none were to be there for his return, as he had a private matter to attend to that required the utmost concentration.

Lupu followed him all the way to the treasury, through the various traps and past the statues of the Supreme Beings that had come and gone. She lingered there a moment, to look at her maker. When she did, Ainz waited too.

“He would be proud of how you have performed your duties.” Ainz promised her.

“Thank you, My Lord.” Lupusregina said and stared up at the great black werewolf king. “I loved him like a father, and tried to model myself after him.”

“I see a great deal of him in you. He was playful, whimsical, and ferocious all at once, but a very good friend.” Ainz answered and touched the open hand of the werewolf statue. The open hand with its terrible claws were meant to be in a posture of ferocity, but to Ainz, it was like an extended hand of friendship. “I hope wherever he has gone, he is well.”

“Me too, my lord, but I am glad that you are the One Who Stayed.” Lupusregina replied, and followed him the rest of the way to the treasury.

When they were at the door he asked her, “Tell me, have you ever met Pandora’s Actor?”

“No, my lord, never.” Lupusregina shook her head slowly, her shining black and white maid outfit swayed with her, the slit portion of the dress exposing her long right leg up to the thigh.

“He is… unique. He is my creation.” Ainz replied. ‘Oh god, I was such a chuunibyou when I made that one, what the hell am I going to face?! Please oh please be normal!’ He cried out in his mind and opened the massive double doors.

Glittering treasures of gold, priceless items, things that even alone would greatly enrich any kingdom to possess them, mere flavor text in the game, they had come to reality now.

But all of that, he ignored. For there in the center of the room, was the Beast King himself, Lupusregina’s creator.

“Father…” The battlemaid thought in an instant, her eyes wet with tears, and before Ainz could even speak to tell Pandora’s Actor not to do that, the area guardian of the treasury returned to his natural form, black pits for eyes and mouth and noseless face. Bright yellow uniform with buckles and buttons, a red shirt and black tie and a flawless black and red military cap that arched at the front and had a short brim coming out over his forehead. The guardian took a bow, his left hand sweeping dramatically in front of his waist as he did so.

“Mein apologize mein Frau! I should not have taunted one so lovely with so heartbreaking an image!” Pandora’s Actor exclaimed.

‘Oh no! He’s even more cringy than I feared!’ Ainz broke out into a cold sweat.

Lupusregina wiped her eyes and glared, “That was mean.” She said and crossed her arms.

“Ja. Mein regrets. I but thought it a mere prank… but I should have known better. Were mein Vater to be gone, to see his like and learn it false would have broken mein heart.” Pandora’s Actor said and only then did he slowly straighten up.

“Enough.” Ainz said in a slow, drawn out way, “No more pranks like that, now I’ve come here for a reason.”

“Vater, if you need anything of the treasury, it is yours to claim and for me to inventory, I live but to serve you!” Pandora’s Actor declared in a long, loud voice and raised a hand to his chest and extended another out in a grand dramatic gesture.

‘Ugh… alright, this is the important part. Ignore the cringe, and just… do it.’ Ainz told himself and took a deep breath. “Pandora’s Actor, is your loyalty to me as the undead creator, or is your loyalty to me absolute and total, no matter what?”

Near at hand, Lupusregina took on a subtle defensive stance with one foot back, ready to charge and transform if she had to. Created to buy time, she had no chance against Pandora’s Actor in a fight, even if he were not the strongest guardian, he was nonetheless a level one hundred, several times stronger than her.

Ainz reflexively checked his exp rating, it had gone up considerably with the recovery of the Crown of Wisdom, like he’d received a ‘Quest Bonus’, but it was still a long way from level one hundred and one. ‘Still, if it comes down to it, I can handle him. Especially with Lupusregina to buy me time.’

The doppelganger cocked his head in confusion and lowered his arms, the sense of drama gone, he didn’t even speak any german. “Father, you are my maker. My loyalty to you is beyond even my loyalty to these treasures or this tomb. No matter what, I am yours… but why… why would you ask such a thing?”

Ainz slowly took off his helmet and stepped forward. “I don’t know if this is permanent, and I know we don’t have any race change items, and I still find it hard to believe it worked… but…” He touched his human face and traced his fingers over it. “This is me, for now. Do you still stand by your words?”

“Father, who else knows?” Pandora’s Actor asked with baited breath.

“Only Lupusregina, for now. In time I will inform the others, when I can be sure none of them would break loyalty, the hatred of humans their creators gave them may be far stronger than I know. So I must prepare.” Ainz replied and gave a deep sigh. “Now, your answer?”

Pandora’s Actor dropped to one knee, bowed his head and covered his heart with his long fingered hand, “To you, always you, no matter what your form, you are my maker! The One Who Stayed!”

“Good.” Ainz answered and put a hand on his head. “Now, about why I have come. I learned a great deal about the outside world, and because of the danger I yet face, I require many more servants.”

“You wish to offer great rewards?” Pandora’s Actor waved at the endless treasures.

Ainz then turned his mind toward the workers he learned of, men and women who would take on almost any job, on the edge of society, with no security and no options, and no way to change that. He shook his head, “No, I wish to send them an invitation, and make an offer to them.”

“An offer, my lord?” Pandora’s Actor asked.

“Yes, an offer they can’t refuse.” Ainz answered with relief and resolve blended into one.