Zaryusu wasn't alone in his hut, his albino lizardman child was on the floor playing when Crusch moved the flap aside and entered, still red faced. Her expression brought him jumping to his feat and reaching for Frost Pain...but he dropped it and fell prostrate on his face as the Sorcerer King entered, glad he dropped it quickly so that it would not appear that he was bearing arms against his ruler.

"Majesty, had I known you were coming I would have prepared a reception for you!" He said hurriedly. Though the passage of time had eased the bitterness of defeat, and the Sorcerer King's largess in supplying, expanding, teaching, and growing the prosperity of his people had eased it further...and his generous resurrection of Zaryusu's brother hadn't hurt either...the at the core of his being there was still an element of fear at seeing a being so overwhelmingly supreme up close and personal. Such casual power was remaking the world, and he knew quite well he should definitely not be in that being's way.

Ainz waved his hand in dismissal, "Think nothing of it, I prefer not to stand on ceremony today, I am merely touring my realms and speaking with the common people and the leaders of my various domains, though what needs to be said is not for all ears, for now, let it be enough that I see what value has come from the investment in time, labor, magic, and money has been brought forth by your people, now rise, and...show me around...after finding someone to mind your child of course" He said in a noble voice that became somewhat whimsical as he asked to be shown around like a tourist.

Zaryusu scrambled to his feet and rushed to his infant, "As your majesty says." Zaryusu replied as he took up the young male. The little one squalled a bit, and Zaryusu looked over to the back of the hut where his wife still stood. He was about to ask her to mind him, when Ainz interrupted, "I wish to have you both accompany me, you are leaders here, and when all is done I wish to inform you of momentous events about to shake the foundations of this world, events in which you will have key roles."

Curious and awed expressions formed on their faces, but beneath that lay troubled minds and anxious hearts. "That however, can wait until later, though they approach with swiftness, we have time to see the fruits of prosperous peace." He said, and turned to gesture to the door out of their humble hut, Leinas stood waiting outside, silent and immobile with sword out and tip buried in the path, her eyes constantly watching for any trouble. Though she had never killed, and never fought, lizardmen, she had fought and killed demihumans before. An unknown type presented unknown challenges, and therefore she was wary of these unfamiliar creatures.

For all her wariness however, there seemed to be nothing to be wary OF. She saw simple huts with numerous small lizardman children running and playing on the many pathways, the huts were set on poles above the swamp, and the walls were simple earth piles with wooden spikes driven in to them...but at the same time, it was obvious that little care had been paid to the walls in some time, the wood was rotted from the swamp and had not been replaced, some poles had obviously been removed, leaving many gaps along the way. Her eyes narrowed as she thought about the implications of that. You don't build a wall like that unless you need it, and you don't stop maintaining it unless you don't need it anymore.

That meant that at some point they had fought an enemy, then they had lost, and now they were safe. Pieces of the puzzle came together in her mind as she picked the Sorcerer King as the only possible fight they could have had in years, which means after he defeated them, he chose not to exterminate them. Having abundant familiarity with slaughter and finding it to be thoroughly disgusting, it was a position she approved of. That was only a small piece of the larger puzzle she was putting together. She saw many lizardmen and women, supported by the undead, dredging muck up from the swamp and taking it to areas where others were hammering poles into place close together and binding them securely. She saw the way this created deeper areas farther away...while creating new land above the swamp elsewhere. It was an ingeneous innovation, as she looked around, she saw that there were a number already completed, and whats more, she saw the way the people who lived here were fishing in the deeper areas...creating not just new land, but new food sources to feed their growing population. Peace had indeed been prosperous for these people.

When the Sorcerer King exited, she stayed silent and waited direction, the large male rushed away briefly, and came back with an even larger behemoth of a lizardman, who oddly enough, took the small albino infant after a few short words and entered the hut from which the Sorcerer King had just come.

Leinas waited until the trio passed her by and then she took her place behind them, listening curiously while eyes scanned constantly.

"You've elevated more of the village since last I came here." Ainz said matter of factly.

"Yes my lord, we've used the techniques you gave us to build up land for new living quarters, and we've even built most of the covered road you mentioned two years ago, linking us to the toadman tribe that surrendered after us, and also nearly completing the link to the main...what did you call it sire...highway?" Zaryusu said.

"The wide road?" Ainz asked. Zaryusu nodded.

"Yes, highway." Ainz answered. "When that is completed you'll have easy travel throughout my realm, and the wealth of trade will flow to you like wind over water. How are the dwarves and quoga working out?" He asked.

"Very well sire." Crusch answered, "I handle many of the dealings between them, they're not especially fond of one another, but their talents complement one another flawlessly, the dwarves oversee the complex calculations, erect long term support structures, but good as they are at digging, the quoga far surpass them, tearing into the earth and rock like we can walk through the swamp. With your majesty's magic sustaining our efforts and ensuring the stability of our structures against the elements, our children in ten thousand years may use the roads we build today."

"Speaking of children," Ainz said, "how is your young one?" his voice carried the collector's curiosity, and she, with a mother's pride that reminded Ainz of his own mother said...

"He grows as he should, he is a very curious child, and very active. We have great expectations for him. Still a little young to be away from us...but always stopping to question the dwarves, quoga, and any travelers who venture to our home." Ainz detected a hint of protectiveness in her, as if she feared he might take her child away and so exercised care to phrase it so that his remaining with her was necessary.

"Well that is good, we'll have to have someone from the mage's guild come and see if he has an aptitude for magic, if he does, I will see that a seat is reserved for him when he comes of age." Ainz said.

"Your majesty is generous." She said politely, with the instinctive anxiety of a mother thinking of her child's departure.

"Just make sure you remain worth of it." Ainz said, "Generosity should beget itself, else it is wasted."

"I shall engrave your majesty's words onto my heart and onto the heart of my child and my people." She replied fervently.

As they went out beyond the wall, Ainz pointed to a series of huts under construction. "What are those for?" He asked.

"Those sire, are for our increased population." Zaryusu replied. "In the past, your majesty is aware we suffered a terrible famine, yes?" He asked.

"I have heard of it, yes." He replied.

"That was the worst of them, but it was not the only time we suffered food shortages, and it was routine for our children to suffer or die early, with all these changes over the years, our numbers have greatly rebounded and my wife and I realized we would quickly overgrow our current boundaries, therefore we're constructing additional homes. We have also seen an influx of frogmen migrating this way as they build their own roads close to us, with peace between us at last, we see the old live on and the young living to grow to adulthood, so...we need more space." Zaryusu said.

"Good." Ainz said, "I am glad to see that I am fulfilling my promise to my people."

Zaryusu did a double take when Ainz said 'my' people, and was deeply moved as he understood that Ainz was speaking of them all as a part of his nation and not merely subject to it, the measure of loyalty in his heart grew in that moment.

"How is the education of the population going?" Ainz asked.

"Our literacy rate is now very high. All the of age children and most of the adults can now read and write, and since we no longer need to put everyone to work harvesting or rebuilding what the swamp destroys, we find we have time to increase our learning. We will be ready to send the first generation of students to Nazarick for higher learning soon, and our library holds a small number of texts that we rotate out through Cocytus when he comes to inspect our work and deliver news or instructions or collect our portion of tribute." Zaryusu said. "It was truly an innovative idea to create a building where anyone could just borrow and return a text, and to establish it in connection with your majesty's own amazing library so that there would always be new material...marvelous." His expression was hard for Ainz to read, but his voice carried abundant enthusiasm.

"Thank you." Ainz said, "In time as I establish more of these 'lending libraries' I will establish ties between them and a system of exchange so that they cooperate with one another, allowing readers in one city to find which other library has content that their own lacks, and request it, so that book cycling includes special requests, nobody should ever lack for books of whimsy or wisdom, in my ideal land."

Zaryusu and Crusch bowed their heads deeply, and resumed leading Ainz around the outer area of the village. "Over here," Zaryusu pointed to an enclosed area spanning roughly an acre, interspersed throughout it were a series of pillars and a complex array of holes mirrors, and chutes were being connected from one floor to the next, with dwarves supervising lizardman labor as skeletons carried construction material, "we are building a tiered farm, per the design your majesty gave to us, through this tiered system we can feed numerous people and supplement our diets without the same expansive space needed for fisheries. Next to that," he pointed to a place that was already drained and which numerous skeletons were excavating, with the dirt underneath being carried away in baskets to expand the area of above swamp area for housing, "we are establishing a reservoir, with your majesty's magic, we will create a water purification system that will feed the crops, and when the enclosure is completed, again with your majesty's magic, we will be able to keep the weather constant without impacting the rest of our environment, and thus grow crops all year round. This not only increases our food supply for our population, but frees up more for trade."

"And how is trade flowing?" Ainz asked curiously.

"Lightly at the moment." Zaryusu said with disappointment. "Until the main roads are completed, we have to make do with the more adventurous merchants, who are yet few."

"Are there any in particular you care to deal with?" Ainz asked.

Crusch nodded enthusiastically. "Several sire."

"Very well, later I will have some favorable trade documents drawn up allowing some exclusive rights for a handful of years to the merchants you designate, this will give them a short term advantage in building their organizations up, the condition being that they will partner with lizardman merchants from among you who wish to venture into the wider world, so that you may send your own merchants out and not be dependent heavily on others for your provision." Ainz said, thinking back on his lessons in history and how unbalanced trading relationships lead to economic oppression and dependency.

"Sire, we haven't the wealth to send out our own even when the road is completed." Zaryusu protested.

Ainz waved that objection away, "I will extend a small loan to a few such lizardmen who wish to work themselves hard and build up an enterprise. Thus they will have the means to begin to trade...though before doing so I will establish an apprenticeship system allowing them to begin learning before the road is complete. Have a few volunteers report to Cocytus, I will select a few honest merchants willing to pass on their knowledge to young entrepreneurs."

Zaryusu and Crusch looked at one another in shock as the Sorcerer King casually overthrew every fear and created a whole new system of prosperity in front of their eyes. His godlike status was elevated in their eyes as they nodded numbly.

It did not take as long to tour the village as it did to tour anywhere else thus far, and eventually they found themselves at the statue of him that the village had built after their surrender.

"I've always liked that statue." Ainz said politely, "Not exactly my likeness, but it has an artistic flare that represents the culture it comes from, the artist is to be commended."

"I'm sure he will be pleased to hear your majesty's praise." Zaryusu said.

"Perhaps it is overdue to reward him, but I would still like to do so, please pass on to the artist that if he wishes to study at the artisan school in the Baharuth Empire, I will sponsor his time there." Ainz said casually.

"I-I will ensure he receives your generous offer your majesty." Crusch said.

Ainz stepped forward and turned around to face them. "I will be blunt, this tour has another purpose."

"Majesty?" They said together.

"A war is fast approaching. You are familiar with the Slane Theocracy?" Ainz asked Zaryusu.

The lizardman's eyes grew bitter. "I am. They hate us."

"They hate me too." Ainz said, "And they are spoiling for a fight with their actions against my Kingdom."

Zaryusu and Crusch shared a shocked look. "Can they be so foolish, do they not know of your power sire?" Zaryusu asked in dumbfounded disbelief.

"They are fanatics, they will act anyway." Ainz said with a shake of his head. "Foolish, I know, but they are used to winning, and overestimate their gods support of them."

"Will your majesty obliterate them with your magic then?" Crusch asked, and her face went into shock when Ainz shook his head.

"No, instead I will 'trade' away the use of my most powerful spells in exchange for certain concessions on how war is to be fought, they will not enslave captives, they will accept surrenders, they will not destroy houses of worship or nonmilitary targets, they will give medical aid to the wounded, and a few other details, each condition that they accept will have me refrain from one tier of magic use. I will instead wage a more conventional war." Ainz said.

"But...why sire?" Zaryusu asked in a voice as surprised as that of his wife.

"I have several chief aims in this conflict. The first is to establish that I do not simply rule by terror, that my subjects prosper, grow strong, and will fight to protect the kingdom. The second is to show to all my subjects the power of true unity, where demihuman, heteromorph, and human, all offer balance to one another's strengths and weaknesses, when they are as fingers on a hand, closed into a unified fist, there is nothing they cannot accomplish. This will unite all our people into one body. Lizardman, human, even vampire, will come together in one whole as brothers and sisters. Third, I will show the Slane Theocracy...and all others, that it is not only my magic that makes me dangerous to cross, by outfighting them at every turn, by gaining total victory without the nead to lay waste to their cities, I will establish a victory that completely crushes their spirit of resistance. Last but not least, this presents an opportunity for mercy, to display our moral superiority as a kingdom and not simply show that we dominate by mass death. If and when they break the terms of the deal I will offer to them, it will be their own fault that I have unleashed magic beyond their understanding."

The pair nodded in understanding, they were the wisest of their number, and grasped his goals as he ticked them off on his boney fingers.

"What may we do to assist then sire?" Zaryusu asked.

"I ask for volunteers among the lizardmen and toadmen who live here, they will constitute a part of an army, and you, Zaryusu, will be placed at its head as a general." Ainz said.

Zaryusu's jaw dropped.

"Sire even if half of both our populations departed, we could not even constitute a single legion equal to what the Baharuth Empire fields." Crusch said.

"That is not all your husband will command. I will be visiting the dwarven homeland and calling for quoga and dwarf volunteers as well, then I will be visiting E-Rantel and asking for volunteers among the adventurer's guild, and calling for volunteers from among the peasant class. All of these together will be placed under Zaryusu's command, when all is said and done you should have some twenty thousand soldiers under your name and bearing my banner." Ainz said, sending their minds reeling as they grasped the scale of what he was raising.

"Will that be enough?" Zaryusu asked softly.

"I am also raising the Empire's legions and they have already begun to march to the capitol, I will be using an army of goblins and volunteers from Carne Village, to be commanded by General Enri, Leinas," Ainz gestured to his bodyguard, "will be commanding force I raise from among my undead and from the Abelion Hills, and Neia Baraja will be commanding the legions of Black Justice members into a unified force. There will be four armies marching South, eventually to become five and if all goes well, six...and in turn we will be facing the Slane Theocracy, the Roble Holy Kingdom, the Elf Kingdom, and the Re-Estize Kingdom, or at least part of it."

The trio swallowed, and the two lizardman leaders looked to Leinas who looked with equally wide eyes back at them as the Sorcerer King accounted for the scale of the war to come. It would be a war of legends. Zaryusu knelt suddenly and bowed his head, "I accept your majesty's charge." He said firmly. "I ask only that you take care of my family should I fall in your service."

"It will be done, though I will do what I can to ensure that you do not fall." Ainz said nobly.

"And what of myself sire." Crusch said softly.

"You will rule this region as a governor, I will incorporate the entirety of the toadman and lizardman region into one administrative area, you will report only to Cocytus or myself and have full rule to the borders of the dwarf dominated mountains and the Baharuth Empire." Ainz said, and she knelt next to her husband, with head bowed beside him.

"I accept your majesty's charge." She said humbly, "I will strive to fulfill your expectations."

"Good. See that you gather the roster of volunteers within the week, for now, I close my visit with a feast." He said, and he opened a gate and had his servants bring forth copious amounts of food and drink, runners were dispatched to call for toadmen and by early evening there was laughing and drinking and toasting and eating, a sea of fish must have been consumed that day, with Nazarick providing varieties never before seen, and the lizardmen proved to be connoisseurs of marine life, critiquing the many varieties enthusiastically as the evening wore on, at last as torches still burned bright in the evening Ainz allowed himself to fly several feet into the air and call for the attention of his many subjects.

"Hail to you my subjects!" He said loudly, "I visited this day to see that you were worthy of being ruled, and to see that you were ruled well, and I am proud to say that both expectations are MORE than met! You prosper, which is my desire, and the fulfillment of my promise, your loyalty in my service has been beyond question, and I am proud to call you my people! Yet trials remain on the horizon, tests of strength and will and cunning, which will lay the foundation of all our futures! I know that you will meet these trials, and that you will make your ancestors proud of you, as well as your many heirs, may they be more numerous than the stars! Though I must leave with more work ahead of me, know that my work ensures the security and prosperity of all, and that you are never far from my thoughts, even when my body is far from you!"

Cheers and raised cups greeted the conclusion of his speech, and he descended to the ground. "Long live the Sorcerer King!" Leinas shouted.

"Long may he reign!" the crowd shouted back, as Ainz created a gate, and walked through, with Leinas following quickly behind him.

Dancing and singing went long into the night, but Zaryusu and Crusch had to much on their minds to drink as they went off to find privacy.

"You're leaving me again." Crusch said softly. "Soon."

Zaryusu nodded. "I am, but by need, never by desire." He said.

"Please do not let me receive your body, I couldn't bear to lose you again." She said, "Perhaps I could ask that the Sorcerer King allow me to come with you...?" She began, and Zaryusu shook his head to cut off that thought.

"Even if he said yes, I would implore you to say, for our child's sake and to ensure our people are all well ruled." He said softly, his voice catching slightly with emotion.

"So you're asking me to watch you put yourself into harms way again?" She asked with resignation.

"Please forgive this selfish male his foolish request, but grant it." He said as he reached out and took her hand.

"Then there is only one thing to do." She said as she raised her eyes to his.

"There is?" He asked.

"Yes." She said firmly, "Get me pregnant."

Zaryusu was enthusiastic in obliging her, but apart from their passionate embrace, beyond them there was singing and laughter, a very different atmosphere from the eve of their defeat years before when Ainz had first ended Zaryusu's life and defeated the lizardman alliance. Crusch, in her more clear headed state later, could not help but think that this was a preferred atmosphere for expanding their family, than the previous one was in which their family had begun. But she was not 'clear headed' again for many hours, around the time of the Sun's rising.