Melodie Anasha swung her training blade to the side, taking the parried blade of her opponent with it, and in the same motion kicked one of her feet forward. The point of her boot struck the ankle of her opponent, making her wince from the protected but blunt strike, and in that moment of weakness she then thrust her arms forward, slamming the pommel of her blade into her opponents Shoulder. Such a hit would hardly be fatal if this was real combat, but in a mock duel it was more than sufficient enough to make it clear to all of the other knights that she could have easily gone for the throat.
The fact it sent her opponent to the ground as elegantly as a brick was an added bonus.
"Ugh, dammit, what is your problem?" The knight on the ground groaned in aggravation as she shifted back away from Melodie before getting up.
"I merely am fighting to win so that I never fall," Melodie said as she glanced to the sides, noticing many of the other knights around whispering and commenting to one another. She could hear what they were saying pretty easil. It was the same complaints they used to say when Hara would beat them by using anything and everything to her advantage. Things about fairness and honor in combat. As if any of them knew a damn about either with the way they had treated Hara. "If you can't handle being a knight, then perhaps you should retire."
Those words caused a number of Knights, both Dawn Templars and City knights in equal measure, to glare at her. A couple even yelled, calling her a fake knight, or an insult to knights.
Melodie simply smiled. "If you think I am a fake then step up and prove your skills." she countered, eyes falling on one of the Dawn Templars who had called out against her. "Surely a dawn Templar should have no issue fighting a mere city knight such as myself?"
"Why you insolent little-"
"Enough!"
All eyes turned to the edge of the training ground to Aria, who stood there looking none too pleased. "Everyone, fall out and return to your duties. Melodie, follow me up onto the wall, now."
Melodie said nothing as she complied, listening to the sneers and jeers of many knights hoping she was about to be dressed down. She was of course about to be dressed down by her sister, but Aria was about to find out just how little effect it would have.
It would be hard to reprimand someone who was feeling like her vocation had less a nd less point behind it after all.
She followed Aria out of the training yard and up the stairs to the top of the wall, almost the exact same positon where Ainz had decimated the army of the Dark queen. The effect on the fields north of Thorn could still be seen. The crater was full of grasses now, but the burnt trees and soot covered rocks did not disappear as easily as scorched ground.
"What in the world has gotten into you as of late Melodie?" Aria demanded, giving Melodie no more time to look upon the actions of who she figured was probably the strongest mage that had ever been in Eostia.
Melodie turned away from her sister, placing her hands the walls crenellations and staring out at the landscape. "You are going to need to be more specific."
"You have been intentionally putting everyone on edge with your actions and borderline harassing them in training!" Aria yelled as she pointed down at the training ground. "And beyond that, you have not been fighting as a knight should! Why?"
Melodie slowly turned to her sister, her face utterly neutral, showing nothing, and making Aria visibly tense. "And how should a knight fight, sister?"
"You have been a knight long enough to know the answer to that," Aria said seriously.
Melodie stared at her for a moment, unchanging, before suddenly breaking out into laughter. "Ah yes, how silly of me to forget such a thing. We must fight with honor, after all, the monsters and demons will surely fight with honor too, won't they?"
"Melodie," Aria warned.
"Yes, how absurd to think otherwise. After all, we are supposed to be the defense of the city if the demons ever attack, so of course we train with each other as if we are honorable knights of old, while protecting the citizens, against giants and monsters over twice our size. Yes, surely fighting honorably with a sword and allowing our sparring partners a chance to get up if knocked down is proper?"
"Melodie."
"Yes, and fighting in a way that actually improves our skill is utterly intolerable isn't it? Wouldn't want us poor city knights to have skills actually comparable to the vaunted Dawn Templars who consign innocents to death and flaunt their rank now would we!?"
"Melodie Enough!" Aria yelled as she took a step forward and swung her hand to slap Melodie in the face.
Only for Melodie to grab her sisters wrist before she made contact. Tightly. "Our parents never hit us, and you are going to because I have an opinion?"
"I'm going to smack some sense into you if I have to," Aria said darkly as she wrenched her hand out of Melodie's grip. "What has gotten into you?"
Melodie stared at aria for a moment, her expression shifting from neutral, to anger. "You are still asking that? Have you maybe even given it thought? Even considered why I might be acting like this? Or are you just ignoring the obvious because it doesn't suit you as a Templar?"
"Enough Melodie! You are getting dangerously close to being put under house arrest! Why are you acting like this? Stop being a bitch and answer me!"
"A Bitch, huh?" Melodie asked grimly. "You mean like Tasha, who you let get taken by Orcs last year and is likely still their breeding bitch? Like everyone else we have lost because we are so set in our ways and unwilling to change? You want to know why I'm acting like this? It's because we are worth nothing. We are just sacrificial stock to the nobility, and the princess knights. This war is going nowhere, and none of us have any hopes or chances for a future if we stay the way we are, so something has to change!"
"You know that is not true, we-"
"It is true!" Melodie snapped. "Tell me, who was the most skilled fighter out of all of us in Ansur? Which if us knights has killed the most demons out of all of us?"
"Obviously Princess knight-"
"Bullshit, she only leads the charge against small forces," Melodies declared angrily. "And even if she's skilled, she barely does anything since she focused on just protecting thorn and the Goddess Reborn. So who has killed the most?"
"Likely one of the other Dawn Templar Captains who-"
"Lies and you know it!" Melodie snapped again. "The one who has killed the most is, has always been the one who all of you were hoping to die, the one who you forced into the rearguard time and time again making me volunteer to do the same despite your denial, the one who all of you treated like shit. It was Hara, and you know it!"
"She was not a real knight, so your question was wrong."
"That is not the point."
"Then what is?"
Melodie stepped right up to Aria, almost nose to nose. "If Hara had not been there, I would have been taken from that village. It is only because she was there, that we lasted long enough for Sir Gown to save us, that we were not beaten, broken and captured and turned into breeding stock for the enemy. Hara never wanted to be a knight, but was forced to because she made a mistake, and despite that was the best damn knight that has ever been in this city because she used everything at her disposal to fight. She was undefeated in training, in spars, even duels, and no one ever gave her any respect, and then you and that bitch try to get her killed. And when she gets saved and leaves, none of you act like anything even happened, like you never did anything wrong!"
"That is what this is about? Your misplaced respect for a heretic who should have been killed years ago and didn't deserve respect in the first place?"
"No that is not what this is about! This is about everyone's hatred of her, and your specific hatred of her, because is not just about her mistake! You have always hated her, even before our village was destroyed and our families all killed, you never cared for her and were always trying to make her look bad, less than she was, always trying to separate us, trying to pull me away from my best friend who was probably the most open and friendliest person back in the village back then! You have always hated her to such an extent that you even tried to get her killed that one time!"
"That was an accident and-"
"We both know that is a lie, and we both know you had a pen pal you never told me or our parents about. I wonder who they were. Why did you stop messaging them, hmm?"
"Melodie, you are getting frantic, you need to calm down, maybe go and rest for the day and I'll forget this foolishness of yours ever happened," Aria said as she stepped back and tuned to walk away.
"You knew the attack was coming, didn't you?" Melodie said darkly. "You knew, and that is why you wanted to convince our parents to bring us to the city that day."
"Melodie, you are saying very dangerous lies. Stop."
"No, I don't think I will now that it all starts making sense. Everything that happened, it was all a stupid murder attempt that went out of control, wasn't it? You acting like you had control of a situation as a little kid and thinking you could get away with anything because of it!"
"Melodie, you-"
"Need to stop acting like I'm dead and think about your current position, right?"
Both Melodie and Aria turned to the walls crenellations behind Melodie and went wide eyed, as there sitting on top of one of the crenellations, was Hara. And she looked strangely different. They both expected she would be dressed as a mage as she was taken by Sir Gown who was himself a mage, so long robes, a huge book, that sort of thing was what they expected her to be wearing and carrying.
Instead of armor or robes she was wearing dark pants, a black shirt, a leather vest, and a solid looking belt around her hips. Her body looked, off somehow, like she had grown slightly older or more mature. The fact she was smiling, and holding a weapon that neither sister recognized was only eclipsed by the fact that they had not seen her or how she had gotten up onto the wall in the first place.
"You, how did you-" Aria began to say, only for Melodie to turn and dash right up to Hara.
"Hara, it, it is you, right?" Melodie asked nervously as he shifted and twitched as if unsure what to do.
"Of course it's me. What, it only takes a month to forget what I look like?" Hara asked before grinning. "Or has it been so long since you saw me smile you forget that instead?"
In reply Melodie suddenly lunged at Hara, hugging her and pulling her off the walls crenellation in a tight embrace. "I- I didn't even get to say good bye, I was just told you were sent off with Sir Gown."
"Well, it was pretty sudden," Hara said with a smile.
"Yes, and it was supposed to be permanent," Aria said coldly as she glared down at Hara and her sister. "How did you get up here, and what are you doing here, criminal?"
"Aria, how can you just-" Melodie began to say, only for Hara to put finger against her lips.
"Stop, let me explain, its news for both of you anyway," Hara said as she peeled her friend off of her and stood up. "So, When I got out of my completely unjust punishment," Hara put extra emphasis on the words just to spite Aria. "I asked Sir Gown if we could go to our village. You know, so I could actually see it myself and try to have some semblance of closure. Something I was never allowed to have. I'll spare you both the boring details, but we fought some scavengers, found out I was being hunted, found the Village deed, found proof that the attack on the village was planned, found who planned it, were sent to go after them, confronted them . . .and I killed them," Hara said as she took a deep, solemn breath. "The one who destroyed our village, the noble who planned all of it, is dead by my hand. Our, our parents can rest in peace now. Everyone's can."
The silence between the three women was thick enough it could be cut with a knife, and for a time none of them said anything, though that seemed to be mostly because two of them did not know what to say.
Aria was the first to speak up. "So you are telling me you killed a noble? Why should I not take you into custody right now?"
"Aria!?" Melodie exclaimed in shock and horror at what her sister was suggesting.
"Were you not listening? Because our mission to bring that noble in, or kill her if she resisted, was given to Lord Ainz by the Goddess Reborn herself," Hara said with a smug smile that she directed solely to Aria.
"Absurd, there is no way the Goddess reborn would meet such rubbish as-"
Very suddenly Hara was a meter closer to Aria, with both hands upon her strange blade topped staff and with the staff stretched toward Aria. The blade's edge rested against Aria's neck ever so gently.
"What, when did you-"
"Ah, I'd be careful," Hara said with a grin. "Wouldn't want you to cut yourself on my blade. It would leave a bad taste in my mouth, even if you are the one who kept screwing with and bullying me while growing up." In the next second she removed the blade and took a step back before smiling again. " I wouldn't insult the one who is getting missions from the Goddess reborn and is more than he seems, though if you want to hear it from someone you would trust, he should be speaking to Claudia right now as a, courtesy call."
"A courtesy-" Aria tried to say as she looked utterly enraged, trying to find the words to say, but failing.
"Hara, how did you, how did you get so fast? You were always skilled, but I barely even saw you move," Melodie asked curiously before looking down at Hara's leg.
Hara smiled. "Yeah, it's as you guessed, we managed to get my leg properly healed. Proving that Selia was full of shit as well I will point out."
"Why you-"
"As to how I got so fast, I've been getting some training with someone accompanying Lord Ainz, and I have had a . . . . . well I can't say much but I've gotten a boon, I suppose would be the best way to describe it," Hara explained as she utterly ignored Aria.
"Really? She must be strong then if she's helped you so much," Melodie said as she seemed to look over Hara. "Are you alright though? Wearing such clothing must be hard and . . . . you are being treated well, right? You aren't being forced to do anything you don't want?"
"Far from it, I'm doing great!" Hara declared as she almost seemed too bound over and hug Melodie again. "Honestly, this is the best I have been in years, and these clothes are better than any of the knight armor easily"
Melodie looked confused as she spoke. "Well . . . . . . That's good, though I'll admit I, kind of am sad I was never able to help you in any way."
"You were the only reason I was alive, so don't put yourself down," Hara said before a grin crept across her face. "Say, why don't you quit?"
"Quit?
"Quit?!"
"Yes, quit the City knights and come with us, with me," Hara suggested. "We, Lord Ainz and those of us with him, we're actually doing things that matter, that Help Eostia. It has to be better than standing around and sparring with idiots who know nothing about fighting to survive, right?"
"Absolutely not!" Aria yelled in absolute rage as she stormed forward and put and arm between Hara and Melodie. "I will not allow you to manipulate and corrupt Melodie, not anymore!"
"Aria, Hara has never-" Melodie began to say only or Aria to interrupt her.
"Enough, stop taking this criminals side Melodie, I only want what is best for you, and leaving the knights is a foolish idea, as is gallivanting around with some worthless mage and his equally worthless followers who-"
*SMACK*
Aria was stunned as Hara slapped her across the face, an annoyed expression covering her face as her eyes seemed to vibrate with anger. "Alright, that is enough. I've had enough of you trying to control Melodie like a puppy, and of you harassing and tying to end out friendship over the years. If you want to prove something then do it with actions, not words."
"You, how dare you-"
"If you want to prove something then do it with actions!" Hara yelled so loud her voice echoed out across the whole district, making every city knight and Templar below look up and suddenly be very aware of her presence as she continued to speak so loud to be easily heard. "You are a captain of the Dawn Templars, yet I've never seen you so much as even kill an Orc, so prove you can actually fight and backup your rank. I challenge you to a duel!"
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Princess Knight Claudia was not expecting to see the man called Ainz Ooal Gown again so soon. In fact she could have gone for years without seeing him again and been quite happy. His very presence made her uncomfortable in a way she would never admit to anyone, and the way he spoke and manipulated words was a concern to both security and public life. And that was to say nothing about Her Lady Celestine's words about him.
That he could be someone the same as Lady Lucross, a God Reborn. The very idea made bile try to climb up Claudia's throat to her mouth.
Yet here he was standing in the main hall of her castle with a hooded figure, and the Church scholar from before. The scholar made sense, as having a member of the church watch over him meant he could be proven to be a fake, but a hooded figure who revealed nothing of their body was absurd, and as it was not the Ex-greyed knight, it was even more suspicious.
"Why are you here, Mage," Claudia found herself saying within seconds of entering the room and seeing him.
"I was passing Ansur, and felt it would be proper to inform you of a dealing that has been dealt with," Ainz said simply as he took a step forward. When Claudia said nothing he opted to continue. "Baroness Tralford has been investigated for dealings in regards to a certain village, and has been proven to be a worshipper of an evil god, and was summarily executed by Hara, earning vengeance for the death of her family at the Baroness's hands.
Claudia simply stood there with her mouth agape for a moment. The Tralford barony was between Ansur and thorn, though closer to the latter, and the Baroness had been a worshiper of an evil god? The idea that one could be so close to Thorn, it was- "impossible," Claudia said out loud. "Do you really think a worshipper of such heresy could ever be so close to any of the Foresters cities, especially thorn? We would have known."
"Sir Ainz speaks truth," Amrita said as she took a step forward, looking at Claudia in a way that seemed, odd, as if she was stiff or had aching legs.
"Why are you taking the side of a heretic, Scholar?" Claudia then demanded.
"Because he is not a Heretic."
"And makes you say that?"
"Because," Amrita said as she lifted an arm out of her cloak and held up an amulet with a symbol that Claudia recognized, but had never seen physically. The symbol of the Inquisition. "I am beholden to the same knowledge that you are, of what he is to be."
Claudia found herself unable to speak out of shock for a moment, but aft that shock quickly turned to anger. "You were a . . . or how long? Why have you been here in Ansur? Why spy upon the Dawn Templars, the most respected of all knights!?"
"Hmph, she believes you to have been spying on her, how quaint," Ainz commented with a huff.
Before Claudia could command him to silence however, Amrita spoke up in response. "I have never been spying upon you. Up until recently I was retired. Recent events however, required me to come out of retirement."
Claudia was silent for many moments, not having noticed that Klaus had just entered the room behind her. "Then you believe the absurd idea of this mages identity?"
Amrita nodded
"And how am I to know it is you, that does not speak falsehoods?"
Amrita rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Because I answer to the Goddess, as do you."
"You dare tell me who I-"
"Princess Knight Claudia I - Oh," a Dawn Templar exclaimed as she entered the room in a frantic hurry only to realize that Claudia was in the middle of something. "I apologize, I will return later and-"
"What is it?" Claudia asked, seeming to be happy for the interruption.
"Um, Captain Aria is participating in a duel in the courtyard training area."
"A duel, against whom?"
"The Grey knight, ma'am."
"What?!" Claudia exclaimed as she spun back around to glare at Ainz.
"She wished to speak with her friend that was all. I can only assume your captain who has hated her since before being a knight must have initiated this," Ainz said before letting out a light chuckle. "However this could be a good way to see how they both are growing. Hara was skilled before leaving, and your dawn Templars are to be skilled, no?"
"What are you getting at, mage?"
"Nothing, I mealy wish to see how Hara has improved," Ainz said with a nod as he took a few steps forward. "I only aimed to inform you of my prior success before stepping into the city to acquire some supplies before departing later today. Once Hara and Aria have completed their duel we may chastise them for it, and then we shall be out of your hair."
Claudia looked like she was about to scream, but calmed down as Klaus stepped up beside her and spoke. "Then, perhaps we should go and witness this rare match, no?"
Claudia looked to Klaus, who said something under his breath for only her to hear, and then she turned to leave while waving a hand. "Well, come along so we can get your criminal apprentice out of here."
Ainz chuckled a bit as he and his followers moved to follow Claudia. "I am fully aware of the events surrounding her criminalization you realize. I am aware that she was merely used to catch the Baroness, and that you failed," Ainz said as he followed Claudia through the halls of the castle. "You failed, and rather than own up to such a failure, you tried to have a girl executed when she did not deserve such a fate."
"She is a user of dark magic's and deserved such a fate," Claudia said coolly before looking back and sneering at Ainz. "And the goddess Reborn agreed with me."
"She had, yes," Ainz conceded with a nod. "However she has also told me she wished she had not done so, that now she believed it was too heavy handed."
"Absurd."
"Yes, well it is obvious you are rather set in your ways," Ainz said with a chuckle. "Tell me, do you believe that Captain Aria would win a duel against Hara?"
"She is a Dawn Templar; of course she would win against a Heretic who was nothing but a grey knight."
"I see, and the fact she was often put into the rearguard, or sent into situations where she actually fought demons more often than most of your knights did would do nothing to improve her skills then, of course?"
Claudia stopped and turned to Ainz, the Hallway ahead of them leading to the courtyard and training areas, the noise already loud and palpable. "What are you trying to say, Mage?"
"I have been saying many things, all of which you seem to be either ignoring, or unable to understand it seems. So I will be blunt in this regard. "Aria, will lose to Hara."
"Lies."
"No, it is not a lie, but a fact. Shall we see for ourselves?" Ainz asked as he then strode forward ahead of Claudia and out through the hall into the training areas.
Claudia followed a second later, and while she expected the duel to perhaps be closer to equal, she was not expecting to bear witness to the scene of aria being sent flying through the air and out of the dueling circle to a crowd of her own knights looking on in horror and shock.
"I told you," Ainz said in a pleased tone before descending the stairs and speaking loud enough that none could state they did not hear him. "Hara! I recall you asking to find Melodie and speak to her, not to cause trouble by participating in a duel."
"I apologize, but it was unavoidable, sir," Hara proclaimed as she twirled her Naginata and slammed its shaft to the ground.
"Be that as it may, you did not need to send a noble knight flying like that," Ainz said with a loud chuckle. "If you knew it would be so easy, you should have held back more."
The unsaid implication was not lost on any of the knights in the area, or on Claudia who immediately began descending the stairs on the opposite side of the ones Ainz went down. "What is going on here, what just happened?"
"Ma'am," a dawn Templar spoke up as she ran to the bottom of the stairs that Claudia was descending. "The Greyed knight somehow was upon the wall and challenged Captain Aria to a duel, demanding she prove her skill of her rank. She accepted, and then as soon as they both were in their places Aria moved to engage the greyed knight, only to be knocked out from under her own feet by the greyed knights staff."
"And how did she somehow get knocked out of the arena?" Claudia asked as she looked over to see that Aria had seemingly been knocked unconscious.
"She, the grey knight punched her out of the air, ma'am," The Templar responded, her voice wavering at the strangeness of her own words.
"She . . . –" Claudia stopped just shy of reaching the bottom of the stairs and whipped her gaze to Ainz, who was now walking toward the dueling area. "What exactly are you trying to do here mage?"
"I am not sure what you are meaning," Ainz said simply as he turned to Hara. "If you are done here though Hara, we do have other things to do in this city before we leave."
"I am, though I would like to--"
"Do not ignore me mage!" Claudia commanded as she stormed toward Ainz, Templars and city knights moving to allow her unimpeded passage directly towards him. "There is no way a girl as small as that could send someone flying, so what sort of magic stupidity did you cast on her to do such a thing?"
"I simply used a spell on her in the past weeks that changed her very being and got rid of her humanity," Ainz said simply.
The entire training are was silent. The many knights looked at Ainz with either horror, or outright disbelief, while Claudia looked on the verge of yelling for many moments before letting out a growl. "If you are going to come here and mock us, at least use a more believable lie. Get out of my city."
"Of course," Ainz said as he turned and began walking back toward the Castle. "Come along now Hara, there is no need to get in the experts way."
Hara nodded but did not immediately follow as she looked to Melodie who was standing nearby looking conflicted. " Melodie, if this is ever too absurd or hard for you, just quit and do what you want to. Stop listening to your sister. I'll come by to see you again, okay?"
"O-okay."
Claudia watched as Hara followed Ainz up and out of the training area before turning to the various knights and Templars. "Let it be known, the former Greyed knight is not allowed from today onward to enter the City of Ansur. Now back to your training!" Claudia commander angrily as she turned to leave and looked again at Aria's unconscious form. "And someone get Aria to a bed. I will be in my office, planning improvements to everyone's training regime."
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General Grave Levantine looked out the window of his own personal study at the slightly distant Knights training ground with mixed feelings. On one hand it was good to see the pompous knights that his daughter in law trained be knocked down a few pegs. On the other hand, her anger and dislike for the mage meant she likely would deny him, or at minimum the greyed knight, from Ansur in the near future.
"Stupid girl. You have skill with a blade, but your ability to command people is severely lacking," Grave muttered to himself with a shake of his head as he moved away from the window where his gaze fell upon his desk. There were piles of requisitions, a number of requests from various guilds for use of the militia for menial things, and an unknown letter.
Its contents had been strange, speaking of some things that he did believe in, but many that sounded a rather bit, outlandish.
Or straight up extreme.
"Another thing to look into suppose," He continued to mutter as he sat down at his desk and pushed the letter to the side, only to see the paper part, a second piece underneath that he hadn't noticed now visible. He slipped it away to find that instead of a letter, it was merely a strange symbol messily drawn in strange purple ink. " . . . .So this letter comes from strange cultists or something? I'll need to look into them earlier then. Make sure I can deal with them . . . or see if they have a use to me," he decided as he pushed it aide, not noticing the ink seeming to bubble on the page, releasing a faint mist into the air as the ink disappeared.
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Ainz and his group walked out of the gates of Ansur, being glared at as they left by the city knights at the gate, without saying anything to them aside from a half effort wave of a hand. The four if them walked for over an hour until Ansur was out of sight, and only then did Ainz turned toward a nearby copse of tree's, prompting the others to follow him.
The copse was dense; a grove of old growth tree's dark and tall with boughs that formed a canopy where no light managed to reach giving it a dim and grim feeling. The ground was rather bare aside from gnarled root systems and low shrubs that held on to a miserable and pathetic attempt at existence, while mosses grew up the tree's trunks like coats of many colors. Mushrooms and various other types of fungus grew abundantly as well. It would have looked like a good place for chemist or herbalist to hunt for potentially rare or useful plants.
If it was not for the fact that they could see a number of trees branches shifting, vines wriggling, and lichen seeming to shift.
"Well, that's promising, right?" Hara said as she looked to Ainz, who seemed utterly uncaring about the shifting plants.
"It is certainly progress, but we will only see how much so in a few moments, as I believe we are just about there,"
Hara said noting as she followed, and barely a minute later they came into a small clearing in the forest. Where Amrita and Flora were sitting on the grass. Amrita was sitting cross legged on the grass with her folded traveling cloak underneath her. It looked awkward in her armor, but she seemed utterly content.
Unlike Flora who was kneeling there and looked to be concentrating extremely hard, a bunch of vines behind her, and smaller ones around her, wriggling about and looking perfectly in place considering her skins green hue.
"I take it you both were successful in the city as you are here first?" Ainz asked as he walked over, Hara walking beside him, and flora and Amrita walking behind him, despite being also in front of him.
"We were," amrita said as without opening her eyes while gesturing toward a rugged looking bag that was leaning against a tree. She then seemed to wince slightly. "Could you please do away with the fake? It is still connected to me and it feels, uncomfortable having it so close."
"Yes, the Simulacrum has served its purpose," Ainz said as he made a motion with a hand, the Amrita and flora behind him seeming to dissolve into mist as if they had just been illusions.
"Why go to such a length in the first place?" Amrita then asked as she opened her eyes with a content expression.
"Considering how quickly whomever was watching us had responded and found us again in Thorn after the plains near the barony, I felt it was necessary to help, hide some of our actions," Ainz explained.
"And that meant harassing one of the Princess Knights?" Flora asked as she let out a held breath and fell onto he back on the grass, the various plants and lichens around her then stopping their motions.
"It worked as planned. The whole district was focused on us, the Princess Knight and the duel that Hara ended up taking part in. You both are safe to shop as you needed, Hara got to sow the seeds of discord amongst the knights, and even The Princess knight herself must now be having doubts," Ainz stated with a pleased hum as he walked over and levitated the sack into his hands before opening it and gazing inside before closing it bac up again. "I would say all of these are quiet good results considering the ways things could have gone, no?"
"I just do not understand why you WANT to aggravate Princess Knight Claudia," Flora said with a shake of her head. "It just seems so counterproductive."
"It may seem that way, but it does serve a number of purposes," Ainz reassured.
"Are you willing to share them?" Amrita asked before wincing slightly. "I we are going to have to control these copies of us you made in the future I would like to know why as they seem to give rather bad headache's."
"In simple terms it allowed you both to meet Tavis and get proper clothes for flora," Ainz said as he looked at her, noting that the clothing she was wearing was now much nicer than what she had before and much more suited for traveling. "He was fine with keeping quiet I take it?"
"Dwarves are rarely racist at even the worst of times," Flora said with a nod. "He had no issues with keeping what I am a secret. In fact I had to insist he make the clothing normal as tried to convince me to get clothing that showed off more skin. Claimed it would suit me better."
"Well you are a Dryad, a race often seen in stories and tales as sprites of nature, or in some places the Nymph's, children of Gods; so I can understand why he might think as such," Ainz said with a chuckle. "He likely thought he was giving a compliment."
"I am aware, doesn't mean I have to like it," Flora said with a sigh. "You were saying?"
"Yes, the other reason is rather simple. In addition to keeping you under wraps, it kept the Princess Knights attention on myself, as well as anyone else that may have taken interest in me. Until I find out who had been watching us in the Barony and Thorn I am not going to be so open or easy to catch and it also keep the princess Knight on her toes.
"Against you?" Hara asked curiously.
"Yes," Ainz said as he lifted a hand up and slipped of his mast to stare up at the canopy above, seemingly in thought. "Regardless of how I feel about the pathetic governmental body of these lands, the Princess Knights are a facet of it that the people respect and expect to exist. If I am to act the part of a God in some future time, I do not want to be universally liked, for such a thing leads to exactly the problem Celestine has currently."
"The masses believing her word as law and never even thinking otherwise, of personal thought stagnating," Amrita said in understanding.
"Precisely. I would like to avoid that. Universal worship, and respect, are two different things after all."
"Still seems like a strange way to go about it, making yourself intentionally hated," Flora said with a shake of her head, making little flower petals to break away from her hair even as new buds grew and formed in their places.
"It has its uses," Ainz said simply before looking back at the sack. "Did you both manage to acquire everything needed?"
"We did," Amrita said simply. "I take it we shall depart then?"
"Yes, we head for Rad, where hopefully the tiny stripper has had more luck than we have," Ainz said as he slipped his mask back on while Flora and Amrita got up off the grass.
"Lady Luu-luu will not like being called such a thing," Amrita commented.
And while Ainz said nothing, all three women were pretty sure he was smiling underneath his mask.