After parting ways with Ainz, Vahn returned to his assigned room with the intention of placing his body into power-saving mode for the remainder of the evening.
"Hmmn...?"
Detecting a familiar presence within his room, Vahn's brows rose slightly before he entered to find an obfuscated lump atop his bed.
"Aura? To what do I owe the pleasure...?" Vahn asked, his tone patient, tinged with humor as he glanced back over his left shoulder, where Aura was perched above the door, ostensibly preparing to ambush him.
"Aww, come on, Lord Vahn. Couldn't you have at least pretended not to have noticed me...?" Aura pouted, dropping to the floor before rising to her full height to give Vahn a view of her in blue, white-spotted pajama pants and a matching, long-sleeved top.
"I could have. But I would rather hear the answer to my question..." Vahn answered with a smile, simultaneously extending his left hand to comfort the pouting Elfette with a headpat.
"I just wanted to spend a bit more time with you before you left for the Capital with Lupusregina..." Aura confessed, her cheeks flushing slightly and her expression nervous as she lowered her gaze and pressed the tips of her fingers together.
"Mmn...alright then..." Vahn approved, preempting Aura's excitement by appending, "But if you were hoping to sleep here, you should perish the thought. We can watch a movie or two, but then you'll need to be on your way."
"Can't I stay just one night...?" Aura asked, staring up at Vahn with large, faintly glistening eyes as she attested, "I mean, it's not like I was hoping we'd be able to do adult things together. Though, if it's Lord Vahn...I'm not opposed to the idea..." in a gradually diminishing tone.
"I'm honored. But, unless I've been misinformed, you've still got quite a bit of growing to do before worrying about that sort of thing," Vahn noted, exhaling faintly from his nose. Aura and Mare were both seventy, going on seventy-one years old. But while Elves and Dark Elves within the setting of OL-2138 developed extraordinarily quickly within their first five years of life, they effectively ceased aging until they turned one hundred and fifty and started puberty. And while he had women in his harem comparable to Aura in size and build, Vahn had no interest in children outside of ensuring they grew up happily and healthily.
"Haaaaaaaa...I guess Lord Vahn is a boob guy after all..." Aura sighed, her shoulders briefly slumping before she regained her usual vigor and asked, "So, what are we watching...?" with a curious head tilt.
Though he was tempted to clarify that he appreciated women of a variety of shapes and sizes, Vahn smiled, gestured to a nearby leather sofa, and answered, "We can go through a brochure. Though, considering it's pretty late, I would advise against anything horror-related. I know they're your favorite, but watching them before bed is a good way to ensure you have a nightmare."
"I'm fine with anything, so long as it's at least two hours," Aura answered, waiting for Vahn to sit down first so she could take her usual spot atop his left thigh. Vahn had positioned himself on the far left of the sofa to give her plenty of space to his right, but instead of forcing her to relocate, he produced a glowing window and had Sis display a few dozen movies for the young Dark Elf to peruse and choose from—filtering out horror movies and those with a heavy focus on romance...
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[October 20th DxD/June 13th DBT]
"I have an admission, as well as a somewhat...unusual request for you..." stated Ainz, his expression the same as always, but his tone grave, full of caution.
"Why so serious...?" Vahn asked, raising his right brow from his position across from Ainz in their usual private dining hall.
"I'm sure you've noticed, but not everyone within Nazarick is pleased by our affiliation..." Ainz expressed with a weighty sigh, adding, "And while I may not agree with them, I am not incapable of seeing the reason in their concerns..."
"I suppose you're referring to Nazarick's growing reliance on the materials and resources I provide," Vahn surmised.
"Indeed..." Ainz affirmed, nodding solemnly before stating, "The denizens of Nazarick are very prideful. I fear they perceive our fellowship as a sign of weakness. And while you might not ask much from us, the fact remains that if we offend you, you could rescind your support, severely hampering our operations."
"Self-sufficiency is always the best course to pursue for an organization," Vahn affirmed calmly. "But another fact is that you require the resources I provide. And if the alternative requires you to take them from others, that isn't true self-sufficiency. It's appropriation—theft."
"That's where my unusual request comes in..." Ainz stated, bridging his skeletal fingers as he asked, "How confident are you that you would be able to weather any means we employ to ensnare, subdue, or eliminate you outright? Because demonstrating your capabilities may be the only way to convince certain elements within Nazarick that cooperation is in our best interest..."
"If the methods are directed at me, I am 100% confident in my ability to escape or survive anything," Vahn answered, a relaxed smile adorning his face as he forewarned, "But, while I'm prepared to demonstrate that fact, you should be aware that my power and resilience scale proportionally to the methods employed against me. If the method you employ fails to kill me, lesser methods will subsequently be ineffective."
"I see..." Ainz muttered, cupping his chin thoughtfully. From what Vahn had previously revealed about the nature of Divinity, he knew there was no such thing as absolute immutability. Vahn might very well possess the ability to survive or escape any methods used to kill or seal him, but there had to be something to balance the equation.
'Anathema...' Ainz recalled, his fiery crimson eyes flashing within their dark sockets as he recalled Vahn's explanation of the purely destructive beings—transdimensional antibodies born from his shifting the balance between creation and destruction too much toward the former. In other words, the more good Vahn did, the more power and influence the forces of evil gained in turn. Inversely, if the forces of evil grew in power, so too would Vahn's...
Raising his gaze to meet Vahn's, Ainz decided to confirm his suspicions directly, asking, "What, exactly, is your purpose in this world? I recall you mentioning you wished to gain experience and reconnect with the lives of mortals, but how is what you've been doing any different from observing from afar?"
"Honestly? I find myself asking the same question almost daily..." Vahn confessed, leaning back in his throne-like chair, exhaling from his nose, and resting his cheek against the knuckles of his left hand as he added, "But you shouldn't misinterpret my inaction as incapacity. The truth of the matter is that my reservations are born from a desire not to interfere with the growth of people like yourself. You and your Guardians are effectively the protagonists of this world, so if I did as I pleased, there are two likely outcomes—neither of which favors Nazarick..."
"In other words, you represent an existential threat to Nazarick..." Ainz concluded, his eyes flashing. He understood that Vahn wasn't trying to threaten or intimidate him. The simple fact of the matter was that Ainz Ooal Goan and The Great Tomb of Nazarick were diametrically opposed to the principles he represented. They were darkness, decay, and death, whereas he was light, prosperity, and life. If he allowed Nazarick to follow its natural course, Vahn was the very hammer of karma that awaited them at its end...
"I represent an existential threat to anyone who would deny others the right to live freely," Vahn affirmed with a nod, expanding, "That's why I don't go out of my way to prevent Nazarick from pursuing a course I don't necessarily agree with. It's natural for those with strength to exert it. But you cross a line when you deny others the opportunity to grow out of fear or an abundance of caution. It's the same logic as being prepared to die if you're willing to take another's life. The moment you go out of your way to overtly deny opportunities to others, you forfeit the right to expect growth without impediment..."
"Ah...that would explain why you allowed us to conquer the Lizardmen..." Ainz supposed, caressing his chin as he outwardly speculated, "Since we did not massacre them and left open an avenue for them to grow beyond their meager lot, the destruction we wrought upon them will invariably be superseded by the prosperity they achieve under our rule..."
"That's typically the rationale that permits conquest," Vahn affirmed with a nod. He wasn't a fan of war, but it was often the only means to weed out deeply entrenched corruption. To that end, if Ainz decided to conquer the world to stamp out inequity and to create a more prosperous world for the survivors, Vahn wouldn't attempt to stop him. Where he drew the line was placing the ends before the means, and using lofty words and promises of future prosperity to justify cold calculus and acts of cruelty in the present.
"I see. Thank you for explaining all of this. I believe I have a much better understanding of your stance and Nazarick's future path as a result of this conversation," Ainz expressed, his tone sincere as he offered Vahn a slow, acknowledging nod. He really didn't want the latter as an enemy, so while he had no choice but to consider methods to seal away or eliminate Vahn as a threat to Nazarick, Ainz preferred that they remain on conversational, if not friendly, terms.
"I'm glad to hear it," Vahn expressed with a smile, raising a golden goblet as he added, "Here's to Nazarick's continued prosperity. I genuinely hope it's able to endure until you've had the chance to reunite with your friends. Never forget that that's your goal."
"Indeed," Ainz affirmed, raising his own gem-encrusted goblet before he and Vahn downed the respective contents of their glasses. The subject of the toast left him feeling a little wistful, but Vahn helped him to refocus by seguing back to the topic of trying to seal or destroy him. The way the latter spoke about the subject made it clear he wasn't even a little worried that they might succeed. So once the long meal came to an end and Vahn had set out for E-Rantel, Ainz conferred with Demiurge, Albedo, and a few others to ensure that, in the likely event their methods failed, Vahn didn't emerge from the attempts as their enemy...
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As it had been nearly a month since his departure from E-Rantel, Vahn wasn't surprised when, upon reaching the city's entrance, he was asked to report to Pluton at the Adventurer's Guild.
"Thank you both for coming. And allow me to express my relief that you made it back to the city safely..." Pluton expressed sincerely, bowing his head low and respectfully the moment Vahn and Lupusregina entered his office.
"Did something happen...?" asked Vahn, a slight frown marring his face as he immediately thought of Tristain and his men.
Raising his head, Pluton, with a grave, increasingly sweaty expression, revealed, "It concerns the Zurrernorn executive you captured previously. Someone—or a group of people—massacred the guards keeping watch over him and freed him from the cell he was being kept in. We don't know where they escaped to, but they left a message for you..."
"What message...?" Vahn asked, his expression and tone hardening into a mask of icy determination. He wasn't surprised that the Necromancer had been freed. In fact, he had anticipated it. But since the man was only alive because he had entrusted the Re-Estize Kingdom to deal with him, it now fell to him to amend that mistake.
Swallowing hard, Pluton passed Vahn a folded slip of bloodstained paper with a simple line of text: Be seeing you, little sheep—signed by someone whose name or title ostensibly began with the letter C...
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