In the morning, the sunlight shone with unusual brightness, and the clock tower at the north end had already tolled ten times, its long, resonant chimes echoing through the palace. The appointed time for the invitation wasn't far off.
The burly Barrett hung his head low, his face twisted in misery, looking for the first time like a wilted eggplant hit by frost. He asked with a grimace, "Captain, knowing full well this invitation might be a trap, are we still going?"
"Of course we are!" EeDechi declared loudly. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained—how else do you catch the tiger's cub without stepping into its den? To rescue the twin sisters' big sister Arche, I've got to make a run into the Great Tomb of Nazarick. And now Ainz is handing me this chance on a silver platter? No way I'm turning it down."
"He's handing it to you? You sure it's not the other way around—us handing ourselves to him?" Barrett pursed his lips as he eyed EeDechi, starting to wonder if this black-haired girl's brain wasn't firing on all cylinders.
Sean and Stella stood off to the side as well. But they weren't about to play the loyal fools and tag along with Barrett to storm the demon king's lair—they were just there to see them off.
EeDechi's expression was grave as Stella edged closer to the captain, her eyes brimming with uneasy worry.
She whispered, "Captain, if Arche's already... I mean, if—if she's gone for good, could I take the twins under my wing from here on out? It's been so long since she vanished, and Arche... she's probably more dead than alive by now."
It was plain to see that the kind-hearted cleric girl had genuinely taken a shine to the twin sisters. All along their grueling journey—roughing it through wind and rain from Baharuth to Re-Estize's capital—it had been Stella who fussed over Ureirika and Kuuderika with tender care, treating them like her own flesh and blood, her little sisters in every way that mattered.
And the twins adored their cleric big sister right back. Ever since their mental scars had been mended, the bond between the three had only grown tighter.
"Rest easy—even if Arche's tumbled straight into the Hells, I'll haul her back out kicking and screaming, so Ureirika and Kuuderika can reunite with their real big sister!" EeDechi met Stella's gaze, her eyes burning with unshakeable resolve.
"Mm-hmm..." Stella nodded meekly. "That'd be the best outcome of all."
EeDechi tightened the straps on the giant sword slung across her back and set off, leading the downcast Barrett toward the spot specified in the invitation.
"Captain, watch your back out there!" Sean called after her—that was the only thing he could do for her now.
Seeing her team's morale in the dumps, EeDechi tried to rally them with some upbeat words: "Don't sweat it for me and Barrett. Once we're back from the Great Tomb of Nazarick, we'll all hit up that Connot tavern south of the capital for some roasted hippogriff. Princess Renner swears their wild mushroom tenderloin slathered in foie gras is out of this world!"
"Captain! You can't talk like that!" Barrett, trailing behind EeDechi, looked downright panicked. "Stuff like 'After this battle, I'm heading home to get married,' or 'Once this job's done, I'm quitting the adventurer life'... things like that are the biggest jinx for us adventurers!"
"Pfft!" EeDechi scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Superstitious hogwash."
Barrett shook his head, muttering sighs under his breath as the two of them trudged onward, one behind the other, toward the rendezvous point with Ainz.
The spot laid out in the invitation was right at the gates of the palace castle—and strangely, they hadn't run into a soul along the way. This was the royal palace in the heart of the Re-Estize's capital, after all; normally it crawled with nobles and officials, and royal guards in full kit stood watch at every corner.
As EeDechi and Barrett rounded the gates, a wave of necrotic chill hit them from afar, and suddenly it clicked why the palace felt so deserted.
Beneath the white marble spires of the palace castle, two ranks of towering skeletal knights clad in black plate armor stood facing each other, gripping steel giant swords. They'd left a gap between them wide enough for four to walk abreast, and a long runner of deep crimson velvet carpet unrolled down the middle.
At the far end of that lavish blood-red carpet loomed a golden door even taller than the skeletal knights. It hung there unsupported, no walls around its edges, just floating in thin air. Within its frame, swirls of magic light—sky blue laced with blood red—twisted like a vortex, mysterious and grand beyond measure, as if the gateway led straight to another world.
At the forefront of the towering skeletal knights' ranks, atop the deep crimson velvet carpet, stood a breathtakingly beautiful woman in a pristine white gown, her golden eyes glimmering with a touch of warm amusement.
EeDechi and Barrett headed toward the white-gowned beauty. In that brief span as they stepped onto the red carpet, the cloudless sky erupted with a sudden thunderclap—a thunderous BOOM that made Barrett, dogging EeDechi's heels, flinch hard.
Then storm clouds boiled up, roiling like raging ocean waves, a frigid gale howling as if a torrent of rain was about to crash down.
But in an instant, the clouds dissolved, the cold wind ebbed away, and the brilliant sunlight poured over the land once more.
Barrett, who'd weathered plenty of bizarre sights, still felt his gut twist with dread at this wild weather flip. EeDechi wasn't rattled in the least; she let out a cold snort. "Flashy with the parlor tricks, aren't ya?" With that, she marched right onto the deep red carpet and clasped hands again with the white-gowned beauty—Albedo.
"Welcome, EeDechi," Albedo said, her gaze laced with arrogance. She added with prim restraint, "Follow me. You're about to enter the Great Tomb of Nazarick—do show a little respect."
The three strode along the red velvet carpet, the skeletal knights flanking them on either side standing twice as tall as Barrett.
Barrett snuck a peek at the fierce soulfire blazing in the skeletal knights' sockets, and once he realized these undead guardians—locked in rigid stance—weren't mere decorations, his anxiety spiked, his hand drifting to the sword hilt at his waist without thinking.
Albedo spotted Barrett's gesture and shot him a look of disdain. She then stepped into the golden door at the carpet's end, her lithe white figure melting away into the vortex of sky-blue and blood-red magic light.
"What in the hells is this thing?" Barrett tilted his head back at the portal, which seemed like a gateway to the heavens or straight to hell, and the itch to turn tail started gnawing at him.
"From what I sense, it's just a teleportation gate. Other side's gotta be the Great Tomb of Nazarick," EeDechi replied breezily, stepping through without a second thought.
Barrett glanced back at the skeletal knights lining both sides of the deep crimson velvet carpet, gritted his teeth, drew his sword half an inch from its sheath, braced for a fight at any moment, and plunged headlong into the vortex-like swirl of magical light within the gate.
...
Albedo led them through the teleportation portal into a grand hall, then down a tall, deep corridor, pressing onward.
At some point, a pair of black wings had sprouted from her back, and two white horns—curved with a slight twist—had emerged from her forehead. Though her face remained stunningly beautiful, the kind that could topple kingdoms, her new look evoked a fallen angel plunged into the Hells or a mind-beguiling succubus.
At the corridor's end lay another opulent hall, and EeDechi and Barrett never could've guessed who'd be standing there—a figure they recognized.
He was a handsome old gentleman, his hair and beard snow-white but impeccably groomed, not a strand out of place. Few wrinkles marred his face, his nose was aquiline, and his lion-like eyes gleamed with sharp, profound depth. Tall and straight-backed, he wore a perfectly tailored black tailcoat, exuding refined, debonair charm—a prime specimen of a silver fox.
He'd once been the quest patron for the Last Defender of the Way adventurer squad!
EeDechi remembered it crystal clear: in a border city of Baharuth, it was this old gentleman who'd approached them, issuing the mission for Peyton Manor. And it was during that very job that EeDechi had clashed with her first real worthy foe in this isekai world—a black-skirted goth girl who'd left a lasting impression.
"Esteemed Lady EeDechi, as I once told you, we would meet again," the old gentleman's voice—rich and magnetic—rumbled steady and mild, without a trace of Albedo's haughtiness.
He extended a hand to shake with EeDechi, his manners ever the picture of courtesy.
"SO... IT'S YOU," EeDechi, who'd been unflappably cool since stepping into the Great Tomb of Nazarick, finally cracked, her eyes widening in disbelief as memories of Peyton Manor flooded back.
"YOU'RE AINZ OOAL GOWN!" she exclaimed.
"Er..." The old gentleman's outstretched hand hung frozen in mid-air.
"My name is Sebas Tian, not the Supreme Overlord Ainz Ooal Gown. I'm merely the butler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. If you're so eager to meet Lord Ainz, please, follow me."