"Everyone has their story, don't they?" Jircniv said as they walked away.

"They do." Ainz said, "And to know them is to rule them well, and the way to know them is to speak with them, to listen to them, and here we are." He added politely.

Jircniv reflected that, contrary to his expectations years ago, he was now enjoying the company of the unfathomable undead king.

Arriving at the Arena brought back mixed feelings for Emperor Jircniv, it was the site of his greatest defeat, the place where the Sorcerer King had broken his ability to resist, and won the empire without a drop of blood being shed. In the moment at that time he had hated that defeat more than anything else in his life. But with the reflection of time and increased experience with the undead monarch his view had changed, he'd come to see the way the Sorcerer King had defeated him in a more noble, even merciful light. He could have done any number of terrible things, but instead he not only captured the empire whole and intact, he kept Jircniv on the throne despite the plots laid by the emperor against him. So...the mixed feelings were more personal, like visiting a place where a person had experienced an embarrassing accident. On the other hand, in a way it had also been his greatest triumph, by yielding to the Sorcerer King first the Empire had been the first to gain the benefits of their relationship. While the Re-Estize Kingdom suffered enormous losses and inner turmoil as a result of resisting, and continued to maintain their independence nominally while being dependent on a lopsided trading relationship with the Sorcerer King...who was simply bleeding them of talent and gold while they had nothing to show for themselves except continued and ever increasing weakness. Surrender it seemed, had given Jircniv more power than any victory ever could have.

His train of thought was interrupted when he saw Osk standing at the great entryway. The man first saw Leinas and his eyes went wide, then the emperor, and his expression became bright, and then he saw the Sorcerer King, and he immediately knelt as they trio and the entourage approached. Jircniv couldn't help but think his reactions were all perfectly appropriate.

As they came near, Osk spoke up. "Your majesties, it is an honor to have you at our humble arena today."

"I'm sure it will be worth every minute, as it always is." Jircniv said, but he did not give the man permission to rise, as he thought back to his defeat here.

"Yes, well worth every minute." Ainz said, thinking about how much he'd enjoyed fighting Go Gin there before, while Jircniv for his part, assumed Ainz was referring to their own royal battle, and his own personal defeat by the Sorcerer King.

"Please, rise." Ainz said, and Osk slowly stood. "Will you join us today, or must business take you elsewhere?" He asked the portly manager.

Osk beamed. "If your majesties would have me, then it would be my honor to join you."

"Then do so." Ainz said, "There is something I would have of you."

Osk looked curious, while Jircniv kept his face neutral. "Shall I lead the way majesties?" Osk asked, and Ainz gestured for him to do so.

When they arrived at the royal box seating, the announcer was already naming the combatants, two minor figures little known to the empire and not known at all to Ainz, but nonetheless for several minutes the two rulers watched the unknown figures give their all against one another.

"What do you think of their abilities Leinas?" Ainz said, looking at the formidable knight.

"Majesty they are undisciplined young men, their swings are wild and uncoordinated, a more experienced opponent would best either or both in moments...but there is potential there." She said.

Osk nodded in agreement. "Exactly so." He said, "You have a keen eye my lady. They are very raw recruits who have only recently come to us, this is only their fourth match." He looked over to Ainz and said, "Majesty the last time you came to me you allowed me to fulfill a promise I had left unfulfilled for far to long, you put on a show such that the empire has never seen it before or since, and you created a revolutionary adventurers guild structure that has seen lives saved and dreams fulfilled, if Pluton Ainzach has been exaggerating a hundred times over, you've still done things we had not dreamt of before...now you are here again. I beg of you sire, don't keep me waiting in suspense."

Jircniv restrained the urge to ask a similar question, but he too, looked to Ainz.

The Sorcerer King stayed silent for a moment and then said..."I need you to manage an arena for me."

"I'm sorry sire, I'm sure I didn't hear you." Osk said.

"I said, I need you to manage an arena for me." Ainz said again.

"What arena?" Osk asked in confusion, "If there had been an arena built in E-Rantel or in Carne or anywhere else your noble self rules, I would surely have heard about it by now."

"I haven't built it yet." Ainz said. "I will be building it when I visit Carne Village."

"Aren't you bringing this to me a little early sire?" Osk asked, his confusion clearly not abated. "And wouldn't a younger man be better suited, I am every bit the age I appear to be, this arena took many years to build, and I'll be in retirement long before one like it can be finished."

"Are you retiring in the next week?" Ainz asked blandly.

That left blank stares on the faces of all those present.

"I should clarify, when I say 'build' I mean 'create' I will 'create' an arena when I go to Carne, one suitable for holding roughly ninety-thousand spectators. I want you to manage it, or at least train a suitable party for the task."

Silence greeted his statement.

"H-How long will it take?" Osk asked softly.

"A few hours or so for the dwarves to ensure the area is roped off and nobody can disturb the process, then I will cast a spell, and it will exist." Ainz replied flatly, as if he were describing the weather.

"Wha..." Jircniv began, but he paused when Ainz continued to speak.

"The adventurers guild has grown much as people have entered the system, however they train in isolation...which does not diminish their power...but I wish to take things in a new direction, men and women of great courage, valor, and skill, should gain the reputations they deserve more readily, and too, there is a cost to drawing untrained persons in to the system only to find that they are unsuitable. I will create a series of arenas around the lands I rule, and those who wish to become adventurers will first prove themselves there, with opportunities in the adventurers guild being granted to those who perform well in the arenas. I will license individuals to sponsor competitors and contests for entertainment, which I will tax, and I will use them to commemorate great events and to promote martial virtue and a competitive spirit between cities and provinces of the Sorcerous Kingdom. Too, such events can serve as an opportunity for international competition."

"International competition?" Jircniv asked.

"Yes." Ainz said. "Many thousands of years ago, there was a great contest between the many city states of man, it was called 'The Olympics' all wars were halted for this, and the athletes of cities great and small would gather in contests of boxing, sprinting, chariot racing, wrestling, and more. I would recreate this great tradition, and invite all nations and all adventurer teams to come to my nation in this year, and every fourth year thereafter, in celebration of excellence, international cooperation, and competitive spirit. Each competing nation will send a runner bearing a lit torch from their capitol, from one city to the next, relaying it from place to place, passing the lit flame of their people, all the way to a single place in the arena, they will then enter together, light the flame together, and ignite the games in peace, setting aside even enmity for a time to compete with honor to show their people's greatness."

Jircniv swallowed at the thought, he imagined how it would look as if already seeing the great artists of nations human and inhuman, sending out their best, taking the long road and...he couldn't even picture an arena that big, it was easily much larger than his own...he percieved that these smaller arenas around the growing rule of the Sorcerous Kingdom would become places to compete for a spot in such games. It looked marvelous even in his imagination, it didn't take a creative genius to imagine what was running through Osk's mind, he could see the man practically salivating over the opportunity.

"Your majesty I accept, I can appoint a ready replacement here, I have many capable subbordinates, and I will make myself ready to leave in a matter of days." Osk said, wiping the drool from the corners of his mouth as he snapped back to reality and answered as fast as the words could spill from his lips. "Ninety-thousand people...by the gods..." He shook his head as if he could barely believe it.

Ainz turned back to watch the completion of the contest, it had ended with one man falling hard on his back, and the other with a sword to his throat. A victory, but as Ainz had increased his own ability, he'd come to recognize that it was not a clean or skillful one on the part of the winner here.

Other contests came and went, but Osk paid no mind to them, his mind was filled with visions of the Great Arena of Carne, the largest in the world, and the glorious contests it would see in his lifetime.

Jircniv thought he should have felt some twinge of resentment, but to his own surprise he didn't, the visions of the future that Ainz had shared with him had stilled his animosity, his frustration, and his resistence, it had made him now a fierce ally of the Sorcerer King, who saw the vision the undead figure had for the world, and found it worth pursuing. His duty to his nation had become a duty to obey in order to secure for his nation the finest future they could have.

The remainder of the day at the arena was spent with Ainz explaining the workings of the Olympics, the ceremony awarding medals to those who finished in the top three positions, and the immortal etching of the victors names and nations into history, names Ainz still had recorded in the Library of Ashurbanipal. Immortal fame alone would drive many to extremes, and nations and kings would do much for pride, he could imagine such glory being impossible to resist, with Adamantite teams of adventurers, workers, mercenaries, and so on, coming together for the privilege of representing their homes and winning names that would never be forgotten.

When the last contest was over, they stood up, and Osk knelt to the Sorcerer King. "With your majesty's permission, I will depart immediately and settle affairs here."

"You may. Come to the palace by the end of the week, if you are not there when it has come time for me to go, I will assume you have changed your mind." Ainz said.

Osk shook his head, "Majesty if I am not there, send a search party, because I am either kidnapped or dead, as I would not ever miss this opportunity by choice." He said with a laugh, prompting a laugh from Jircniv, Leinas, and the attendants to the emperor, Ainz himself let his jaw fall open and laugh in a low sort of way.

"I will keep that in mind." He said dryly.

"Where would you like to go now your majesty?" Jircniv asked.

"We will return to your palace for now, but tomorrow we meet your nobles, your military command, and I'd like to see how Yvas is doing with his school. Then as per noble protocol I suppose we can have a few ceremonies and banquets for a few days, then after that I go to Carne. If you wish to come with me, you may. I can send you back after I have created the arena, or you may remain behind." Ainz said with a shrug, "I leave that choice to you."

It wasn't even a question in Jircniv's mind, this was something he had to see. "I would very much like to go, it would be an honor and a privilege to be the first to see the Great Arena of Carne."

When they returned to the palace, the emperor offered the Sorcerer King quarters for the night, and he accepted politely, despite not needing rest himself, and Jircniv bade him goodnight and went to bed, however he did not sleep, instead he first summoned his minister of the interior. The man had been asleep already, but Jircniv ordered his immediate presence in the throne room. The man arrived still dressed in his night clothes and knelt before the throne.

"Can you explain your ineptitude?" He asked the fearful man.

The minister of the interior was a thin, almost wraithlike figure with beady eyes and a balding head, he was probably the ugliest of all the ministers in Jircniv's service, but he had also been at the helm since the time of Jircniv's father, it was this longevity that prompted Jircniv to let him explain himself, but the man was only more confused.

"I do not understand, your majesty." The man said.

"Today while I was out with the Sorcerer King...you know him, the man who by himself could destroy every single person in our army with a single spell and still have power to spare, if he so chose...and we found evidence of incredible failure on your part...or rather...HE did. And HE is not happy, which means "I" am not happy." Jircniv replied with a hard eyed look at the man.

The small man seemed to shrink even smaller. "Please explain what you found majesty." He pleaded.

"A homeless girl who described her abuse as a slave, escaped after the death of her sister, ended up in a vile orphanage...you know...one of those institutions YOU are resonsible for handling, and it was so very bad that she preferred to run away and starve to death in our capitol rather than grow up there. The Sorcerer King found her being beaten by a merchant and got her story out of her...in front of me. Now...explain why these orphanages are that bad. Explain how the ministry of the interior, which was responsible for the resettlement of former slaves, has ended up failing so badly that the KING OF ANOTHER COUNTRY...OUR FUCKING RULER...found out about it and did so BEFORE ME?!" Jircniv stood up in a rage and the man began to shake as the bloody emperor's voice rose.

"Sire, I do the best with the budget that I have and..." He began to say, but Jircniv cut it off.

"I sit in on the budget meetings, I have YET to hear you say you were short of funds to run things well, I have not heard you propose a new idea on how to run these programs in years, if ever, I have yet to see you raise a single issue...and the result was an INTERNATIONAL EMBARASSMENT in front of the most powerful figure in the world! A fucking GOD!" Jircniv snapped. "I'm having your books audited immediately and you are confined to quarters until it is finished. If I find you've been misusing funds, you can expect your head to end up on a pike with the reason for your execution on a sign dangling from your teeth. If you have simply been lazy and inept, you will be relieved of your position but allowed to retire peacefully far from the capitol, a final show of gratitude for your long years of service under my father, before laziness took hold." Jircniv said, and called for his guards. "Remove him to a secure but comfortable chamber, and have the minister of finance informed that in the morning he is to conduct a full audit of the ministry of the interior." The guards rendered a salute and then leveled their halbards at the minister, who squeaked fearfully, but uttered no protest as he was marched out of the room.

Jircniv shook his head, thankful the Sorcerer King's view of him did not seem to diminish as a result of those events, and then he went to his bedchamber, where he summoned his favorite concubine to him. He needed her tonight, and so he began to undress while waiting for her. Some perhaps would have said that should be the work of the female in his service, yet his relationship with her was different, coming to its current status at her insistence. Because she was chosen for her intellect, despite the fact that she was nominally there only for her body's ability to comfort him, he had a higher regard for her than others, and her looks were not those of a stunning beauty of the sort he could have had if he wished it so. She was skilled at those games played in bed, but the greatest ease he truly found with her was in their discussions afterwards when he could have her as a sounding board and and she responded with points of her own.

This night was no exception for the two of them, with limbs and bodies casting dancing shadows against the wall, they enjoyed one another a great deal before they lay back in mutual exhaustion. After a few minutes hard breathing she rolled over onto her side and rested her head on one hand, propping herself up. "You've got something on your mind, don't you Jir?" She said in the familiar way that was only permissible in private.

"A lot." He said. "The Sorcerer King arrived today."

"I heard. He seems to carry change with him the way clouds carry rain, you never know where it will fall, or how hard, or whether it will be a blessing that provides for you, or a flood that washes you away...but you know that it will fall, sooner or later." She said softly, then bit her lip..."Which was it this time?"

"Hard to say." Jircniv answered, "I admit today was...amazing in some ways, the temples will declare for him here, but he's also proposed some revolutionary measures that may vastly improve the empire, and he said them as though they were obvious. Also...today I walked...WALKED the streets of the capitol." He said with great emphasis on the word 'walked'.

She raised an eyebrow, "You've never done that before." She said in a deadpan sort of way she used when stating the obvious.

"Correct." He said as he lay back and stared at the ceiling. "Yet now I have, and it was a unique experience, I will make a habit of doing so, if not every time, then at least regularly, and I'll be allowing commoners to visit the palace, I have come to realize that I have become too remote to my people, its galling, in minutes Ainz pried a story out of a homeless girl, identified a deficiency in one aspect of my empire, and appears to have somehow exposed the ineptitude of my minister of the interior. He also revealed a hidden talent within a stone's throw of the palace and seems to have launched a revolution in deserts. Not to mention his idea for an international sporting event."

She listened intently as he rattled off the events. "He must be a genius." She said softly.

"Of the highest caliber. That or simply so long lived that he knows everything worth knowing." Jircniv replied.

"You should start planning for the sporting event now, I don't believe he had you with him by accident when he brought this up." She said thoughtfully.

"Oh?" He asked.

"Yes, he was rewarding you for all your service and work, giving you an edge to raise the finest contestants that you possibly could to represent the empire. Who knows what benefits he'll bestow to the winning nation, you must take advantage of this and prepare accordingly long before it begins."

"Yes...that does make sense, it can't be coincidence that he brought this up when I was there, he's so very subtle its easy to miss the many levels of planning that he engages in, even when they're of benefit to me. I suppose if he has a weakness, its that he thinks we're sometimes more clever than we are, and we miss what he wants us to see until someone brings it to our attention." He said as he stretched out.

"Well, I wonder what you'll see tomorrow." She said with a lewd little smile.

"I don't know, but I know what I want to see right now." He said with an equally lascivious grin, and he reached for his concubine once more, drawing a giggle from the woman before their lips pressed together.