Shalltear’s return found her Master in deep conversation with the elders of the lizardmen tribes. She approached her Lord and her dead heart defied its unlife to throb with devotion. She remained demure and quiet at his back, clad in her armor and waiting patiently for his attention.

“...Governing differing tribes scattered around the lake will lead only to trouble, and Heketi will burn the others anyway, as there are not very many of you I propose that you all remain here. Choose one chief over all of you, and I will provide supplies and direction to help you get established.” Ainz proposed the measure and the lizardmen traded dubious looks.

“My Lord, are you saying you can feed us all while we establish Chief Zaryusu Shasha’s fisheries?” One of the lizardmen asked.

“So few? With ease.” Ainz promised, ‘And conveniently enough, since all I have to do is give them things to get started, I won’t have to make any hard decisions, though maybe I should send them a governor… someone to rule over them properly. Or at least someone to whom they would report for me…’ Guilt and uncertainty warred in his mind and heart while he thought about the burden of being a bad boss and loading more work on his subordinates.

The mask was a relief as he did his best to act the part of the all knowing ruler, ‘At least my charisma rating seems to have enthralled them, who knows what it would be like trying to manage as an undead being…’ The thought brought him no small amount of anxiety, ‘At least then I might not be worried all the time!’ He shuddered and tried to focus on the questions of the moment which briefly gave way to murmurs of approval.

“The frogman’s information suggests that this will not be difficult, my subordinate and I will go with a single escort in the direction in pursuit by Heketi, and rid the lake of the threat.” Ainz promised, though as he gave them his word he had to consider what that entailed. ‘My last attempt at mercy was still more vicious than I thought it would be… though why the Empire chose to attack the way they did I will never know. Wasn’t the whole point of a duel, to ‘spare’ their lives?’ The rhetorical question threatened to keep him awake more than once and it was only the fear of his own friend’s children rejecting him that felt worse and kept him focused.

‘Work is a relief from fear…’ That thought came to mind as soon as Shalltear returned to his side. “What will you do first, mighty Lord?” Shasuryu asked from his place at Ainz’ feet.

“Going after all of the toadmen piecemeal will take too long so… I will go straight for their heartlands in the northern swamp. Once Heketi learns that it has been attacked, she will have to respond and withdraw her forces to protect her homeland. Then I can take care of the whole problem in one fell swoop.” Ainz proposed, ‘Thankfully I listened to at least some of Punito Moe’s tactics.’ He thought, and this left the lizardmen confused enough to ask…

“How will she know she needs to go back?”

“I will make sure she knows.” Ainz made the statement cryptic as he could, ‘I didn’t think of that… damnit!’ His mind raced and his gaze fell on Shalltear. “Open a gate back to Nazarick, I need the mirror.” He gave the order hoping his voice didn’t become desperate or panicked and that she would obey it before it became obvious he didn’t have an answer.

‘I wasn’t supposed to come back… was I? No wonder he seems thrown off, I was supposed to know to stay in Nazarrick and wait for him. I must get better at anticipating what he wants!’ Shalltear chastised herself and gave a deferential obedient nod.

“As my Lord commands.” She flicked her wrist and the [Gate] opened again. They stepped within and found themselves at the mirror, leaving the lizardmen back at their village.

Ainz went straight to the great oval glass and began to move his hands over it, swiping its view about, he expanded his hands outward, widening the view of the world until he found the great lake. His hands guided his view over the waters and he began to close his hands toward one another, over and over again to narrow and focus his view on the area.

The still waters came into view, ‘From here the place is actually very beautiful.’ Finding the frogmen armies proved easy, a small contingent was located at the Red Eye village, and a few hundred frogmen were located at the other ruins as well. ‘They really ruined those, though there doesn’t seem to have been much to ruin. I suppose she liked their locations…’ At a glance it appeared that the frogmen warriors that were stationed there were not just on the watch, they were also trying to build, albeit with crude tools.

Notably there were some lizardmen elders working in one of the locations, ‘What the tribe mentioned, sacrificing a few to ensure the rest had time to escape, this must be the survivors of that group.’ Those aged lizardmen had been stripped of even their loincloths, their cracked, ancient scales were bleeding in places where they’d been wounded either in fighting or for sport.

They hauled rocks, mud and wood under watching frogmen-eyes. His viewing field finally found Heketi, true to the prisoner’s recollections, she seemed to be in no hurry at all, if anything it seemed she’d paused to enjoy herself.

She was indeed a broad bullfrog-like being, she walked on two legs in a strange almost rotating sideways gait from legs that had feet turned away from the front and jutting out to the sides. Her legs were thick and green and covered with a mucus-like substance, ‘I know they’re frog people but… still, gross.’

She was broad bodied and wore a soaking wet cloth wrap that hung around her front and back, and a crown on her head that seemed to be made of twisted vines and finger bones with the flesh still on them. The source of those bones was still on their knees shivering and hissing in pain, clutching at their missing hands, were four aged lizard people. She was moving her big wide mouth above her bulging, pulsing throat, but the mirror conveyed no sound.

She made a gesture and behind the elderly lizardmen who contributed their fingers to her crown, several frogmen holding long spears to the bent old backs, thrust home. Their spears pierced the backs and came out the chests of the old, a spray of bright blood became a trickle as they grasped with the stumps and intact hands alike at wounds that had no chance of healing.

The spear wielders guided the bodies forward so that they were prostrate in the dirt as if offering obeisance to the Queen. Different species or not, in Ainz’ judgement as she nodded in approval and made a grandiose sweeping gesture toward the remaining lizardmen, she was smug and satisfied.

“Now… her homeland…” Ainz moved on, scouring the dark woods of the northern part of the lake. He might have missed their homes entirely except for what the captive told them. The human settlements were found first. Rather, what was left of them. Most of the ruins were simply toppled over walls, a few uprooted farms, precious little else. But they acted as an aperture for finding the frogmen. ‘They did say there had been a great deal of fighting with the Empire, I wonder if the peasants abandoned the area first?’

The question, he knew, would find its answer when he found the frogmen themselves, the view of the mirror carried him over the wetlands where he finally found a frogman hacking at some wood in knee deep water. He continued, searching until he found the first village. The frogmen villages were low places with homes built into the water itself and under ample tree coverage. Unlike the lizardmen, there was no evidence that they really favored land dwelling at all. Their homes were made of small stone platforms and walls of woven grass, broad leaves that acted like fabric while small sticks and vines acted like thread. Crude, simple places, they were nonetheless industrious in the extreme.

Their populations were sizable, each one several times larger than the lizardmen, and the frogmen themselves were garbed in crude armor. ‘Are they wearing… vines?’ He zoomed in on some heavy looking guards near a large pile of what appeared to be clear, viscous eggs. The guards were indeed wrapped in vines, a sheen told him they’d been rubbed and ‘polished’ probably with an oil to harden them into being useful armor. Each suit was made to fit the warrior who bore it.

He went over the woods for some time, and checked the lake for good measure. Heketi’s army was sizable, but she had clearly left plenty behind. ‘Nothing to chance, she left absolutely nothing to chance… had I not showed up, I’m sure the lizardmen would have been well and truly wiped out.’ He mused privately and finally settled on a decision.

The presence of the corpses in the burned out remnants of the lizardman village gave him an idea. He looked down at Shalltear who was shuffling her feet and looking up at him with almost desperate adoration and said, “Open another Gate. This one to the Katze Plains.”