EeDechi tilted her head back and drained the last of the tea from her cup, then set the white porcelain teacup down on the tea table.
Now she understood that launching a sudden attack in this place to take down the great demon lord Ainz Ooal Gown would be pretty tough. Better to bide her time for a bit and find Arche first.
The adventurer captain lowered her gaze and began pondering her next move.
Arche was an adventurer who had ventured into the Great Tomb of Nazarick a few years ago, only to vanish without a trace, no word at all. For some reason, her two pairs of twin sisters had ended up in a brothel.
Later, EeDechi happened to stumble upon the brothel, set it ablaze inside, hacked down a few people—it didn't take much effort—and rescued the twin sisters. Ever since, the adventurer captain's goal had been to head to the Great Tomb of Nazarick and save Arche, whose fate remained unknown.
A blonde maid walked up to her and started clearing away the tea set. EeDechi looked up, and her eyes lit up.
This maid's head of blonde hair was almost identical in shade to that of the twin sisters, Ureirika and Kuuderika. More importantly, EeDechi had this vague feeling that while the maid was good-looking, she wasn't perfect.
You see, the women EeDechi had encountered so far in the Great Tomb of Nazarick—like the iron fist maid, Albedo, Shalltear, and several other maids—had wildly different vibes and styles. Each one embodied a different archetype: big sister, queen, young girl, tsundere, airhead, bratty, energetic girl, mature woman, and so on.
But they all shared one thing in common: their beauty and figures were flawless, as if they hadn't been born naturally but had been meticulously crafted by some creator.
The blonde maid in front of her, though, was far from perfect. Her facial features were delicate, but her brows were a bit wide, her lips a tad large—not perfect at all.
She was like an ordinary beautiful woman from the mortal world, with a human quality that stuck out like a sore thumb in the Great Tomb of Nazarick.
EeDechi had a sudden realization, feeling like opportunity had come knocking right at her door. She sprang up from her seat with a whoosh, grabbed the blonde maid's small hand, and pulled her into her arms.
The adventurer captain gazed deeply and affectionately at the flustered blonde maid in her embrace, the corner of her mouth curling up in an instant into a wicked, charming smile. "Hey there, girl, you've been a real pain to track down. Come on home with your big sis now."
The blonde maid, caught off guard by this sudden mishap, cried out in alarm: "Guest, what are you doing?" Her eyes were filled with panic as she twisted her body nervously, desperate to escape EeDechi's grasp.
"Hey, little lady, don't run away now." EeDechi blurted this out without thinking, then shook her head hard, cleared her throat, and said with a straight face: "Ahem, Arche, just play along a bit—I'm here to rescue you."
"I... I'm not Arche, I'm Tuareninya—you've got the wrong person." The blonde maid stammered in a flurry, her slender hands feeling like they were clamped in iron vices, impossible to break free.
The adventurer captain was talking about saving the blonde maid, but her actions were more like an eagle clutching a helpless chick protectively in its talons.
"Hmph, they've brainwashed you." EeDechi's face darkened with a hint of annoyance as she barked loudly: "Snap out of it! Arche, your two sets of twin sisters are still waiting for you outside!"
The blonde maid Tuareninya struggled with all her might: "You've mistaken me for someone else—I'm really not Arche! I don't have twin sisters! I only ever had one sister named Nia..."
"Oh?" EeDechi furrowed her brows, scrutinizing Tuareninya's face closely. She realized that, aside from the blonde hair, this maid's features seemed somewhat different from those of the twin sisters...
A hand clad in a black suit sleeve gripped EeDechi's arm, and for a moment, she found it oddly hard to muster her strength. She followed the arm upward and saw it belonged to the tall, upright old gentleman Sebas—this kind and handsome old man had anger etched on his face for the first time.
"Lady EeDechi, what exactly are you doing to my subordinate?" Sebas's tone was downright hostile.
Barrett, spotting his captain stirring up trouble, hurried over as well. Unlike EeDechi, who was hopeless at recognizing faces, Barrett saw no resemblance at all between this blonde maid and the twin sisters, beyond the hair color.
"Captain, you really have the wrong person—she's definitely not Arche."
"Are you sure?" EeDechi asked, her expression grave.
"I swear on my eyesight—she looks nothing like the twin sisters." Barrett replied with a sigh of exasperation.
EeDechi released her right hand from Tuareninya's elbow. Tuareninya, who had been thrashing wildly, suddenly lost that iron grip holding her, and her body teetered off balance, about to crash to the ground.
Sebas bent forward, his steps steady, wrapping his arm around Tuareninya's waist and helping her to her feet. Tuareninya's footing was shaky, so she naturally pressed her palm against Sebas's chest, snuggling into his embrace, a shy blush tinting her cheeks. Sebas gently stroked her head, whispering soft reassurances, his eyes brimming with tender affection.
"Wow," EeDechi's eyes widened—any idiot could tell that Sebas and Tuareninya had something more than a simple relationship going on. She chuckled and said: "An old bull munching on young grass, huh."
At those words, deep anger surged once more across Sebas's previously calm face. Barrett quickly yanked EeDechi back, hauling this foul-mouthed troublemaker to the guest seats.
The ruckus this time was no small thing, and Ainz, who had witnessed nearly the whole episode, shot her an inquiring look, waiting for EeDechi to explain herself.
With the cat out of the bag, EeDechi didn't bother hiding her true purpose anymore. She asked straight up: "Where's Arche gone off to?"
"Arche?" Ainz paused, caught off guard. "Is that a person's name?"
"Arche Eebile Fort." EeDechi declared with solemn gravity, reciting Arche's full name from memory.
"It's Arche Eeb Rile Furt," Barrett murmured in reminder from the side.
"Foreign names are so damn long—how am I supposed to remember? Anyway, it's Arche," EeDechi snapped, a bit flustered and annoyed.
Ainz, still seated on his throne, looked puzzled: "I'm not entirely sure who this Arche you're referring to is. It sounds like a girl's name."
"Do any of you know who Arche is?" Ainz asked his subordinates nearby, and the guardians started murmuring among themselves.
Soon, their discussion reached a conclusion.
Albedo bowed low and reported: "My Lord Ainz, among the group of adventurers who invaded the Great Tomb a few years ago, there was a girl named Arche."
"Invading the Great Tomb... adventurers." Ainz mulled it over for a moment, finally dredging up some old memories. "Oh, right—that incident. Wasn't that ages ago? Back then, Baharuth hadn't even bent the knee to us yet."
He gave EeDechi a weird look, baffled as to why this girl was dredging up an old affair that had nearly faded into the dusty corners of his mind.
After that, many events had unfolded—nations toppled, entire races wiped out, throwing the world into chaos. Compared to those, a few puny ants sneaking into his domain seemed totally trivial, not even worth committing to memory.
"Remember now?" EeDechi demanded sharply. "What's Arche's situation like now?"
"She's fine."
"That's good—hand her over to me then." EeDechi let out a sigh of relief.
"Her tender vocal cords went to Entoma, her head to a demon. Her arms to the undead, her skin to Demiurge, and the remaining parts became food storage. You could say her body was put to good use, with nothing wasted."
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" EeDechi's eyes bulged with rage, her hair practically standing on end one strand at a time.
"She's as dead as dead can be—how do you expect me to hand her over to you?" Ainz's voice was flat as a stagnant pool, like he was recounting some everyday tale that had zilch to do with him.
"You... you butchered her like that, and you can't even remember her name?" EeDechi's tone seethed with barely contained fury.
"If I remembered the name of every person I've killed, my brain wouldn't have the storage for it." The demon lord Ainz on the throne said coolly.
"Besides," Ainz went on, "they barged into the Great Tomb of Nazarick without my say-so, so naturally, they had to be ready to pay the piper."
"As the strong crushing the weak, your excuses sure sound noble!" EeDechi shot to her feet, her hand clamping onto the giant sword at her side, her black eyes blazing with bottomless, raging fire.
The great demon lord Ainz stayed planted on his throne, not budging an inch, but the Floor Guardians at his side kicked into gear.
Albedo, Shalltear, the massive Cocytus, and Sebas slowly closed in around EeDechi, while a few maid-like figures blocked off the hall's doors.
"Captain, cool it—size up the situation first. This is their stronghold!" Barrett yanked anxiously at EeDechi's arm, trying to talk some sense into her about playing it smart.
EeDechi scanned her surroundings and, for once, took Barrett's words to heart. She snorted coldly, her hand dropping from the giant sword's hilt, and plopped back into her seat.
Who would've guessed this level 100 otherworlder was actually a bleeding-heart do-gooder? The great demon lord Ainz sighed inwardly, a tad disappointed.
He had originally harbored the idea of recruiting EeDechi to join the Great Tomb of Nazarick, but now that notion was fading fast.
"No need to be so serious," Ainz smiled. "You want Arche? Since I can send her to hell, I can also pull her back out."
"Is that so?" EeDechi said coldly. "You sure talk a big game."
"Don't believe me?" Ainz chuckled lightly, beckoning a black-haired maid in the distance: "Go to the 5th Tier layer Frozen Prison and bring over a human."
The black-haired maid obeyed and departed, soon returning with a woman in tattered rags, her hair a mess and face grimy.
The woman was in a state of panic, prostrating herself on the ground, not daring to utter a word.
"What's your name? What food did you eat this morning?" Ainz asked the woman before the throne. His voice carried an undeniable authority that the poor woman couldn't withstand.
The woman lifted her head: "My name is Gunivelle Virella. This morning I ate... meat soup with teeth... and black bread." For some reason, her body shuddered violently when she mentioned "teeth."
Ainz nodded: "Good." Before his words even finished, a stream of red flames burst from his bony palm, engulfing the woman's body. She didn't even have time to let out a scream before being burned to ashes.
The flames receded, leaving specks of post-incineration white ash drifting in the hall's air.
Seeing Ainz casually kill someone right in front of her, EeDechi was beside herself with rage: "What the hell is the meaning of this?"
"Don't rush." As Ainz spoke, a small copper can with golden rims appeared out of thin air in his hand.
EeDechi's eyes locked onto this quaintly patterned small copper can: "What's this can for?"
"You don't recognize it?" Ainz said in surprise. "This is a magic item from YGGDRASIL—you have to shell out real cash to get it. It can resurrect any low-level character from your memory."
Ainz twisted the copper can with magic, and golden light rippled around its body. Then the glow floated up, left Ainz's palm, turned into a ball of light, and settled on the ground. The golden light ball writhed, forming a human silhouette. The light soon faded, revealing the human body—it was the woman Ainz had just burned to death!
The woman threw herself to the ground, kowtowing nonstop: "My lord, please don't burn me, please! I'll do anything you want me to do!"
"I ask you," Ainz's tone remained stern, "what's your name? What did you eat this morning?"
"My name is Gunivelle Virella. This morning I ate... meat soup, and black bread." The woman's answer was identical to the one before she was burned to ashes.
"See? This resurrection item is pretty handy, but it's one-time use. I bet you don't have one of these?" Ainz looked at EeDechi.
EeDechi pursed her lips, staying silent.
"But I've got plenty more of these magic items." After Ainz finished speaking, another quaintly patterned gilded copper can appeared in his hand. "As long as you're willing to spar with my subordinates a couple of times, I'll use it to resurrect Arche."