'I sit corrected...' thought Vahn, his brows rising ever so slightly as three additional Chiefs joined the fray, one of whom, covered in scars and green scales, was able to use wide-range Healing Magic.
As the green-scaled Lizardmen healed those who had fallen, a second Lizardman, possessing yellow, gecko-like skin with muted orange spots, assailed the Elder Lich with a slingshot that fired crystalline projectiles. At the same time, the third reinforcing chief, covered in red hide and peculiar armor formed of white bone, raced forward with a double-bladed weapon he could spin around his body and use in conjunction with his tail to chain together rapid slashing attacks.
"Vahn? Why do you seem relieved? Were you hoping that Cocytus would lose...?" asked Aura, alternatingly applying pressure to the sides of Vahn's neck with her thighs while leaning over the top of his head.
"Why would he want that...?" asked Mare, half-turning to glance up at his sister with a look of confusion.
Shaking his head, Vahn calmly explained, "I wasn't hoping that Cocytus would fail, but these Lizardmen have ultimately done nothing to warrant this attack. And if Ainz Ooal Gown devolves into an existence that justifies unprovoked attacks on others, it loses the right to disparage or begrudge others for attacking The Great Tomb..."
"I guess that makes sense..." Aura conceded, crossing her arms and leaning the full weight of her upper body onto Vahn's head with a slight pout adorning her face. She clearly wasn't convinced, but since the only counterargument she had was that Nazarick was superior to others, she kept the thought to herself.
biwoo
With the tell-tale sound of an impending message echoing in the ears of everyone present, Vahn perked his brow as the voice of Albedo informed, (Lord Momo—Lord Ainz commands that all Guardians make their way to the Throne Room as soon as possible. Lord Vahn has also been invited to attend, but he is naturally not required to do so.)
"Uh, oh. Is it just me, or did she sound angrier than usual...?" asked Aura, a bead of sweat forming on the right side of her face as she presented an awkward smile.
"I hope Cocytus isn't in too much trouble..." Mare muttered meekly, his body language contradicting his words as his droopy Elven ears perked slightly and the sides of his lips briefly curled upward. Vahn noticed this, but as he had more than a few sadists and masochists among his harem and the Dragon's Pavilion as a whole, he didn't dwell on it.
"Hurry up and open up a Gate, Mare! If Albedo is angry, I don't want to be the last to arrive," Aura stated, gripping Vahn's ears with her gloved hands as if she were preparing to pilot him through the Gate.
'Should I go...?' Vahn asked himself and Sis. He could guess the reason for Ainz's hasty summons—to address the outcome of the battle and to question Cocytus while the experience was still fresh in his mind. There was no implicit need for him to be present, but seeing how Ainz chose to address or punish the defeated Guardian for his failure would give him a better understanding of the direction Nazarick was headed.
"Alright, let's go," Vahn decided, picking up Mare by his waist, causing the young Dark Elf's ears to waggle and turn red before he set him down and gently tousled his hair.
"Oh? We're not heading back to E-Rantel...?" Lupusregina questioned, moving away from the wall she had been leaning against with crossed arms. She was always happy to make a pit stop at Nazarick, but at the same time, she was looking forward to her and Vahn being alone again.
"I would like to see where this goes..." Vahn responded, half-turning to meet Lupusregina's gaze with an affirming nod before removing Aura from his shoulders and setting her down. She briefly resisted by squeezing her legs together and thumbing the backs of his ears, but when he increased the pressure in his hands, she reluctantly allowed herself to be removed from his shoulders. Then, as Mare dutifully opened the eerie black-and-purple Gate that would return them to Nazarick's front entrance, they all passed through as a group...
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'Mmn...this place is as impressive as always...' thought Vahn, entering The Great Tomb of Nazarick's spacious Throne Room and Final Boss chamber, located on its 10th Floor. The room was almost entirely composed of gold, silver, and marble, with a long, dark red, gold-trimmed, stylishly patterned carpet running down the central court well, spanning two hundred meters in length and sixty-eight wide. On both sides of this well were forty black, gold, and silver-embellished stone pillars, each bearing a crimson banner denoting one of Ainz's former guildmates. And at the back of the hall was a crystal obsidian throne, situated atop a raised platform with a wrapping staircase ten steps tall, above which hung a colossal, ominous-looking chandelier that resembled an obsidian meteor suspended within a golden, candle-lined cage.
"Lord Vahn...I mean no offense when I say this, but I wasn't expecting you to attend this audience..." Albedo remarked, standing to the right of the currently unoccupied throne with her gloved hands folded neatly over her lap.
"My views haven't changed, but as I've become more deeply intertwined with Nazarick as a Guild Officer and a supplier of materials and resources, I can't well pretend its matters have nothing to do with me, can I...?" Vahn countered.
"Has Lord Vahn come to advocate on behalf of the Lizardmen?" Albedo questioned, a slight frown marring her face as she added, "If so, I would request that Lord Vahn take the matter up with Lord Ainz in private. This place represents the incontrovertible majesty of The Great Tomb and Ainz Ooal Gown as a whole. If Lord Vahn were to confront or oppose Lord Ainz here, that image would be needlessly tainted..."
Shaking his head, Vahn calmly asserted, "I am merely here to observe. As I've said time and again, I have no intention of sabotaging Ainz's authority or dividing Nazarick against itself. If I speak during the audience, it will be because Ainz has addressed or asked for my opinion directly."
"Then I have worried needlessly..." Albedo expressed, closing her eyes and bowing her head. Vahn detected a thread of hostility that hadn't been there before he joined Tristain's investigation nearly a month prior. But as he had technically opposed Ainz's will during their previous conversation, a conversation he had insisted upon, it wasn't difficult to imagine she was holding a slight grudge.
Though he was tempted to ask Albedo how things were going between her and Ainz, a subtle way of reminding her that he was the one who had facilitated their becoming a couple, Vahn decided against it. Instead, he smiled and asked, "How have things been going here at The Great Tomb? Is Shalltear still brooding over being forced to betray Nazarick?"
"..."
Raising her head, Albedo stared directly at Vahn for several seconds before closing her eyes, exhaling faintly through her nose, and answering, "Indeed. But that is her burden to bear. For a Guardian, there is no greater disgrace than betraying the Master who chose to stay with us, even when all others had left. Even if it was not by her own volition, Shalltear scarred Lord Ainz's heart and is the principal reason for Nazarick's current stance. For that, she is right to feel ashamed..."
'I hadn't considered that...' Vahn realized, turning his head and raising his gaze to stare at the massive banner hanging behind Ainz's throne. He was aware that Ainz had adopted his current name to spread it throughout the world, so he had assumed the man's current actions were meant to speed up that process. However, it was only after the incident with Shalltear that Ainz began obsessing over preparing for war and forcing other Players to expose themselves. Before that, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that he had been fooling around, particularly in his self-assigned role as Momon, an enigmatic Adventurer who wore conspicuous black and gold plate mail and wielded a pair of giant swords as if they were feathers...
"Pardon my interruption, Lord Vahn. But I have just received word that Lord Ainz has arrived and is prepared to begin the audience. Please make your way up the viewing area..." Albedo expressed, turning her head and glancing up at the mezzanines running along both sides of the hall, where musicians would play music out of sight during important ceremonies, and where archers equipped with powerful magical crossbows would be able to rain down arrows on invaders from above.
"You want me to head up there, functionally out of sight...?" asked Vahn, following Albedo's gaze before looking back at the woman with a mix of incredulity and amusement.
"I'm honestly not sure where else Lord Vahn should stand..." Albedo admitted, looking around the Throne Room as she explained, "Ordinarily, the Guardians form a line before the throne while the Pleiades and other servants form up, facing inward, along the periphery. Only Lord Ainz and I, as his Right Hand and Overseer of the Guardians, are supposed to set foot upon this dais. If Lord Vahn were to position himself to Lord Ainz's left or my right, it might insinuate subordination when the two of you are supposed to be equals..."
"Mmn...sounds convoluted..." Vahn expressed, leaving Albedo at a brief loss. Unfortunately for her, while he wasn't there to make things difficult for her, he had no intention of demeaning himself to uphold Nazarick's so-called incontrovertible majesty. Thus, while he resisted the temptation to scale the steps and adjust Ainz's throne to the side, creating room for one of his own, he climbed them diagonally to position himself to the far right. This placed him and Ainz on the same level, and as he was nowhere near the throne, it symbolically reinforced that he didn't fall directly under the purview of whoever sat upon it.
"I see...Lord Vahn's wisdom is truly vast..." Albedo conceded, her right eye twitching subtly, and the smile on her face looking noticeably tense despite her Great Actress Skill. With her intellect, she was able to grasp the meaning behind Vahn's actions nigh-instantaneously. And while she had never once believed him and Ainz to be on the same level, the fact remained that her Lord, Master, and prospective husband regarded the interloping Dragon God as his contemporary. As such, she had no choice but to tolerate Vahn's presence atop the dais as she messaged her fellow Guardians to begin filing in...
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With Ainz requesting that he accompany him after the audience, Vahn followed the skeletal man through a Gate to a private study and lounge. There, Ainz allowed his elaborate golden staff, which resembled a twisted golden branch capped by seven snake heads, each with colored gems in their mouth, to float away from him.
"First and foremost, I would like to apologize," Ainz expressed, turning to face Vahn with his fiery eyes as he stated, "My words to Cocytus about it being more cost-effective to turn the Lizardmen into undead, as opposed to investing in their growth, must have come across as needlessly callous. I never planned them as such, but I would understand if you viewed them as a breach of our agreement..."
Shaking his head, Vahn smiled and reassured, "Though those words, in particular, caught my attention, I was overall impressed with how things went. I still feel that attacking the Lizardmen unprovoked crossed a line, but I agree with your decision to place Cocytus in charge of them going forward. My only critique is that I feel they are undeserving of this show of force you have planned, but I understand its necessity. All I ask is that you remember that they were merely defending themselves. Interpreting their survival as a slight against Nazarick is equivalent to cracking an egg on your face and being upset when you get yolk all over yourself. The egg did nothing wrong..."
"I see...while I have never heard such an analogy, it's easy to understand and surprisingly apt..." Ainz acknowledged, cupping his chin and nodding. What followed was a casual discussion between him and Vahn concerning the specifics of the demonstration he had planned. It needed to be grand to entice Players, reinforce to the Lizardmen that further resistance would be futile, and to pacify any lingering resentment his Guardians might hold toward the reptilian humanoids for defeating one of their own—even if the outcome had been a foregone conclusion. Fortunately for Ainz, Vahn was well-acquainted with such spectacles, even if he generally left organizing them to Venelana...
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