Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Ulbert resumed his meal and ‘felt’ the departure of the guardians, more in the sense that their eyes were no longer on him, and somehow he had the distinct feeling that they would not be returning to continue to serve dinner. ‘They’ll go back to the Guildmaster.’ He reasoned, ‘That is their job, to report to him and explain what happened.’

  Distracting the table with questions about recent events only led to more questions that were not just about distraction, but about genuine interest and learning about what his old friend had been up to. ‘Establishing a Kingdom, I’m impressed. Here I am about to do the same thing… but then again, why have two small kingdoms when we can have one big one?’ There was an interesting thought.

  And it waged war against his demonic desire for freedom and independence for himself that came with being King of an Empire all his own with nobody to answer to. ‘Is that really my demonic side, or is it more myself… maybe both?’ Ulbert couldn’t have said for sure, but at least the question of what to do could be put off until later, when he saw his old friend again.

  One thing he was able to conclude fairly quickly as he probed for more information about what happened to the Holy Kingdom, even though all the intelligence was third or even fifth hand accounts…

  ‘Jaldabaoth was ‘definitely’ Demiurge. The description of the damage matches what I can do with my claws and mimics some of the attacks I know I gave to him.’ That realization definitely fell into his demonic mind’s control.

  ‘Strange. I did rescue humans, and I seem to like Torald… I think I will get to like the Queen. But I feel no connection to humans as a species. I don’t feel anything, any ‘guilt’ about what my creation did. Now that I think about it, I let humans go more because they reminded me of people back home than because they were innocent, weak, or victims in their own right… I didn’t so much as shudder at their injuries or really even pity their suffering. Now that I’m in this body, a great deal of its nature is probably going to dominate my personality… but…’ Ulbert closed his lips around the hunk of fresh baked bread and chewed while Torald told some story of his life that Ulbert only half listened to.

  ‘I won’t be like those CEOs I hated… I just have to try to think of the small animals… the humans, other mortal races… like I did my home. No, my ‘former’ home. I’m never going back to that world. Even if I found a way, definitely not. I’m going to be a King, no, an Emperor, have children with a beautiful Queen that I turn into an Empress, and spend my days with my friends… and I won’t let any part of my demonic body take away that happiness.’

  With that resolve fixed in his mind, Ulbert settled the finest dinner of his life, anticipating another night with the Queen he would make into his bride, and all the life that would follow from it.

  “Ulbert!” Ainz held his arms out wide to embrace his companion as soon as the gate opened up again… but there was no Ulbert.

  Ainz held his arms out anyway after Demiurge and Albedo stepped through… and then he repeated, “Ulbert…!” But still there was no Ulbert.

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  “Where is Ulbert?” Ainz asked as he looked from Guardian Overseer to Guardian. His first horrific thought was as obvious as it was unthinkable. ‘Albedo ‘and’ Demiurge, both being wrong, and it ‘not’ being Ulbert? Inconceivable!’ He discarded the thought as soon as it came to mind.

  And an even more inconceivable thought came to him.

  ‘Did he die? Did something happen to him?! Were we too late?!’ The horror of the idea that his friend might return, only to immediately die… his emotional suppressor hammered away at his feelings as he talked himself out of the idea.

  And he saw Demiurge’s face, far from unhappy, or even his usual neutral, Demiurge was if anything, ecstatic. “My Lord,” he said as he and Albedo knelt and he saw her nod to give the news, “my creator asks that you join him tomorrow at the last city he destroyed, he says he wants his first meeting with you to be a ‘game’.”

  “A game? That does sound like him. But then… what kind of a game?” Ainz asked as his curiosity took hold.

  Albedo then chimed in, explaining what they heard at the table, about his impending union with the Draconic Queen, his ‘bride price’ of land to add to the Kingdom, and his intentions on the following day to wreak havoc over half the Beastmen Kingdom.

  “Ahhh, so an above ground dungeon crawler.” Ainz said and then rubbed his boney fingers against his jaw, “Or would this be more of a kill quest… or a gather quest… I suppose it could be any of those… perhaps even a delivery quest if I thought about it the right way…” Finally he set his muttering aside and shrugged.

  “No matter! Of course, I’ll definitely join him. Albedo,” he turned his attention to the Guardian Overseer, “you recall the complete list of all the equipment belonging to the Supreme Beings?”

  “Of course, My Lord!” Albedo cried out at once.

  “Then you will join me at the treasury. We will retrieve Lord Ulbert’s equipment and return it to him tomorrow, a Supreme Being shouldn’t go hunting in nothing but his basic gear now, should he?” Ainz asked rhetorically, and regretted that there was no flesh on his face to reveal the smile he felt.

  “No, Your Majesty.” Albedo answered according to what she knew would please him. But she kept her preference to herself. “But if I may suggest, My Lord, as Demiurge is going with his creator, why not take Pandora’s Actor as well?”

  She could see her beloved was hesitant when he didn’t answer right away, and she hastened to add, “I would accompany you myself, but seeing to matters in the Holy Kingdom are going to take a lot of time, and if I can’t go, and he can’t go, then I’ll need to give you a larger security team to-” She stopped when Ainz held up both his hands in front of himself with palms out to still her long… long explanation.

  ‘I suppose I owe her for her patience after the incident with Shalltear, going out unsecured for even a minor purpose and causing her undue anxiety would be poor of me… and I can tolerate his outlandishness for a few days at least.’ Ainz thought, though he wondered if he was exaggerating his ability to tolerate the living embodiment of his own chuunibyou phase… it couldn’t be helped, and it would be fitting in the way Albedo suggested.

  “Yes. Yes, I’ll take him. For now, let’s go and get things ready, there’s a lot to do, and only so much time to do it all.” Ainz made the cryptic statement and could only hope this wasn’t adding on another ten thousand years to Demiurge’s belief about how far ahead everything was planned out.