Chapter 189: 188
It didn't take long for Ainz to travel to his destination. Unlike ordinary caravaneers, who had to navigate through the sand with imprecise maps and had to rest in oases to escape the heat and sandstorms, Ainz could travel in the most direct line. Plus the occasional teleporting, it turns weeks of travel into minutes.
The only problem was that… traveling in a straight line is harder than it sounds, especially somewhere without landmarks like a desert.
"I wonder where exactly I took a wrong turn?" Ainz, keeping his expression calm as he stared at the melted black desert ruins and the black ash that had turned solid in front of him. He had definitely gone past the desert, he just hadn't arrived at his destination.
According to the information he had gathered, this Singularity was divided into several zones that could be conventionally called states. The Holy Land, Egypt, Assyria, the Crusader City, and the Land of the Old Man of the Mountain – but that did not mean that the entire Singularity consists entirely of these states.
Nor did it mean that there was anything outside the Singularity.
As far as Ainz could see, there was no sand, or dust, or even any dirt. The was just an endless expanse of black crust of melted ash and embers that still, in some places, glimmered dimly with the burning remnants of a fire. In some rare places, the remnants of the fire still burst out in small flashes, completing the picture of desolation before his eyes.
Even the sky above wasn't blue, but was almost completely obscured by black and red viscous clouds, through which the sunlight barely penetrated. It actually almost reminded him of the sky back home, in his desolate future, it just needed the acid rain to complete the picture.
Unlike the last Singularity – and Ainz was glad he took the chance to travel then – everything that was not under the control of whatever entities control the state was a desolate hell. It was even more depressing than the one he had encountered in the last Singularity.
Turning back slightly, Ainz glanced at the desert behind him.
No, by no means was the desert, especially for ordinary people, an alluring destination, but compared to the black wastelands before him, it looked almost heavenly with the open clear blue sky and the rare white curly clouds floating slowly.
The contrast was so stark that if Ainz was still in YGGDRASIL he would have said something like 'the developers are so lazy, where were the game designers looking?!'
But because it wasn't YGGDRASIL, the feeling of wrongness was even worse…
However, what frightened Ainz at the moment was not the emptiness, but his need to complain, and his inability to do so since he has the Servants with him.
'How did I ever get lost?! I wasn't even turning anywhere and just kept going north!' Ainz took a deep breath, then exhaled, calming down without the aid of his skill, showing his gradually growing self-control.
'Though, okay, I had no compass with me and the caravaneers' directions weren't exactly so direct… I could have veered off course just a little at the beginning, or just moved further than necessary, teleporting, adding some more chaos to the equation. I did talk about that sort of thing before, about teleportation, didn't I?'
Haste makes waste… is that how the saying goes?
'The only problem is that I'm absolutely nowhere near where I wanted to go! I sent Sita and Medb out to scout, but I ended up going somewhere else entirely – what's the point of scouting if the main force goes somewhere else entirely!?'
Ainz exhaled again to calm himself down. Luckily he hadn't told the Servants with him where he was going, if not, he had to come up with some random excuse as to why he was not actually lost.
'Okay, okay, come to think of it – I did tell the Servants that I recognized the road, but none of them were present with me during my conversation with the caravaneers, were they? They don't know that I was trying to find out the way to Cairo – I can just pretend that I was asking the way to something else… But then – to what exactly?'
"I see people," Mashu's voice came as a surprise to Ainz, but it was a pleasant one – he had just found the excuse he's going to use!
"Okay, we're going to them." Ainz took the chance to shift the Servants' perception a little, and hurried to teleport so that was the first to greet the strangers to think up an appropriate excuse.
Or rather, as his passive skill, which began to work as he teleported closer, told him – he was not going to meet humans. None that is alive, at least.
"Hmm, zombies?" Ainz, still hovering above the ground, glanced at the several human-like monsters beneath his feet.
The creatures, mutilated by time and necromantic energy, only resemble humans in the barest of senses. Their empty sunken eye sockets, skin that's peeling in some places, and faces distorted by grimaces of pain and hatred, along with the unnaturally extended limbs ending in claws, they looked nothing at all like humans. Their tattered clothing only reminded him of what these people were when they were alive.
"They look like zombies, but… " Ainz took a close look at the creatures, and found that they're actually quite orderly despite their appearance, and were walking purposefully somewhere. "Maybe ghouls?"
After a moment, one of the ghouls moving at the lead stopped, before turning his gaze in the direction from where Ainz just were, and where the Servants still are at the moment.
Ainz thought for a second about why they're ignoring him even when he was much closer, before nodding. "Right, the undead won't attack another undead, so they're definitely ignoring me, maybe they didn't even notice me, mistaking me as one of their own, but all undead have passive recognition of the living. They're responding to the Servants' presence!"
A moment later, Ainz gave the Servants a command over their connection, asking them to stop, and then, to test his own hunch, he slowly descended, not even trying to hide his appearance from them.
The ghouls, about a dozen in all, now turned their attention towards Ainz and instantly tried to do something. Perhaps to disperse, perhaps to form some sort of formation, thereby demonstrating to Ainz once again their intelligence, before suddenly stopping, their pre-programmed action facing an error.
It seems that Ainz was right, the Ghouls would only react to the living.
Ainz, after making sure that their pause wasn't just a fluke, finally landed on the ground, right in front of the leading Ghoul. Seeing as the front Ghoul was the one trailing ahead perhaps as a leader, and seeing no cost to it, Ainz spoke out to him. "Can I help you with something?"
The ghoul, clearly not expecting Ainz to speak, displayed a clear expression of surprise and then reluctance. It seems that the Ghouls still retain a measure of cognition – then to Ainz's surprise the ghoul replied. "You… One of us?"
Their voice sounded as ragged as they appear, but they surprisingly still sounded legible despite the obvious damage to their voice box. Dismissing his surprise, Ainz decided to respond back.
"In a way," Ainz replied simply, deciding not to get into a long story about undead species, and his positions as its highest tier. "So, you're… Ghouls? Why are you here?"
The Ghoul, who looked like an older man in the past, but now looked more like an ordinary monster, shook his head slightly at his words. "Yes? No? I guess that's what they call us…"
'So we've got the undead here from somewhere, too!' Ainz nodded, huh, if he were to think about it a bit, the presence of undead, the black and red clouds, the raging fire… Ainz had seen something like this somewhere before, and not just in YGGDRASIL.
"We were humans before…" Ainz barely stopped his response to the obvious. Of course, they were human, and then they became undead, that's usually how it goes. Ignoring the strange pause, the Ghoul then answered Ainz's second question. "But we failed the Holy Selection…"
"Holy Selection?" Ainz thought for a second, and finding nothing, just decided to ask. "What is that?"
"Only he who passes the Holy Selection may enter the Holy Land… " The ghoul tried to smile sardonically, failing miserably because of his appearance.
"We just wanted to eat, for a brief succor in this endless desert," Finally, the ghoul managed to give Ainz something he could work with. "We just want food and water, can you give us some?"
Ainz thought about the information he just received for a moment.
There was no point in giving out any random people supplies, even if Ainz had plenty. And seeing that even if Ainz couldn't gauge the levels of the ghoul, at least without using his abilities, but even level ten or fifteen seemed like a very generous estimate of their abilities – maybe closer to level five? Useless mobs, but… there's no point in risking it.
"Okay, but," Ainz smiled, finding the perfect solution to their shared dilemma, "Only if you tell me in return where this 'Holy Land' is…"
Excuse get!
Perhaps Medusa might have had a chance to hold Scáthach back – especially with Arthuria's help, that is, if they hadn't made the worst mistake possible.
They had relaxed their guard.
Accustomed to their Master's behavior, to his unexpected decisions, which all turned out to be part of a foolproof plan that worked like clockwork, they allowed themselves to be distracted for a second. Especially since there were no enemies around them, and their Master was close by as Ainz could easily deal with any threat – they allowed themselves to relax for a second and took their eyes off of Scáthach.
So Scáthach had lunged forward without a problem.
She had kept a low profile, waiting for the right moment before rushing forward.
No, Scáthach didn't think that her situation was much different than when she had first arrived in Chaldea, Ainz was still as dangerous and unkillable as ever. Perhaps fortunately, he had already proven to her that he was a dangerous opponent who should not be underestimated.
But in addition to facing a scorched wasteland that reminds her of the Land of Shadows stretching in all directions, and spotting a group of monsters approaching Ainz, Scáthach has to act. Ainz literally forced her to react to his actions.
Whether he would kill her later was a non-problem, but letting him do his dark deeds behind her back was not something she could allow him to do.
Foolishness or conviction – some of it certainly guided Scáthach the moment she, in defiance of Ainz's orders, lunged forward, bridging the distance that separated them in a split second.
Moving at a speed that any racing car would envy, she was able to assess the situation in half a split second - Ainz, still in his human form and… a dozen ghouls surrounding him.
Ghouls, huh… In a way, it was even logical to encounter such creatures near Ainz.
Ghouls, humans warped by their own hatred, anger, and despair – usually without any interference from dark magic, only the right emotions are needed. But, those emotions must be really strong to turn a person into such a creature.
A comparatively small gnat in a world of demons and dark creatures, more often serving as a servant or meat wall. Scáthach couldn't even remember how many of such things she had killed – perhaps between tens of thousands and a couple of billions. When you face endless hordes of enemies – it becomes hard enough to keep track of the number of those returned to oblivion.
Though it was the sort of creature perhaps she had expected to see as Ainz's servant. To be exact, it would have been the classic picture – ghouls were quite popular as small and numerous servants among the dark creatures of all types and ranks.
Scáthach appeared a moment later next to Ainz, wanting to at least see what exactly Ainz was trying to convey to the creatures before she would kill the ghouls and most likely die along with them. The bag and the lumps she saw made her grimace. Potion ingredients? Scrolls? Remnants of the past Masters of Chaldea?! No matter how many times she had to die, she would get to the truth and find out Ainz's weakness!
Her spear appeared in her hand a moment later and flashed towards the full bag, poised to spill its contents over.
Scáthach froze as her gaze stumbled over the contents of one of the several bags Ainz had handed over to the ghouls that they had opened to see its contents. She was expecting something grotesque…
Inside was food – bread, apples, cereals of some kind and meat – maybe human meat, of course, but it looked more like pork – she had a pretty good idea of what human remains looked like.
And then there was the water, packaged in ordinary plastic bottles.
No, of course, there was still the possibility that it was all ingredients for some kind of ritual – but it still looked more like… ordinary provisions, – the usual supplies that any caravan could use on the road.
"What!?" The reaction to Scáthach's sudden appearance came a moment later, unexpectedly from the ghoul when their brain did manage to comprehend her appearance, causing them to recoil in shock and… fear?
"We're under attack! Men to me! Give the women and children time to run!"
Children? Women? Do… Do ghouls even have genders? And how could they have children…
Scáthach knew that ghouls were created from humans, so it wouldn't be at all strange that there were women and children ghouls, but… She somehow hadn't really thought about that kind of thing before, and they sound much more lively and lucid than those ghouls she had met before.
"So it's not enough to banish us from our home, it's not enough to take away our belongings, you decided to finish what you started?!" Obviously trying to stall for time to allow some ghouls to escape – she could see, judging by their figure, the runners were two women and one child.
"Come on, come on, then child killer, and end it already! Come on, don't miss!"
She shifted her gaze from the speaker to the other remaining ghouls – and the monstrous creatures looked like… well, Monsters. But in their eyes, Scáthach could easily read their emotions.
Fear, and at the same time anger and contempt. Not the anger that remained in the eyes of the mad monsters, but the anger with which a desperate man greeting an ax murderer.
'Wait a second, why are they even reacting like that?!' She almost indignantly took a half step back. 'They're the monster, and I'm the one defending humanity – why am I being treated as the villain?!'
"Ahem, there's no need to worry, she's with me." Before the two groups could come to blows, Ainz had intervened, calming the ghouls down and preventing the women and child from going too far.
"And I'm sure she doesn't want to do anything to harm you – she just… got a little overexcited."
'And now he's making excuses for me, like I'm some petulant child!' Scáthach realized that she understood absolutely nothing of what she's seeing right now.
'Now what, am I going to get jumped on now, hoping to tear me apart? That's usually how my encounters with ghouls ended… the ones that survive anyway.'
"We should be leaving anyway – it was a pleasure meeting you, and thanks again for the information," Ainz bowed slightly, observing politeness, that monster?
"No, we should be the ones thanking you, for the supplies." The ghoul tried to smirk, but his lack of lips only made it as if he was snarling instead, before turning his gaze to her and then back to Ainz. "Just, please… don't scare people like that again."
'You're not even human, you're monsters! How are you scared!?' She wanted to shout back, but paused for a moment before she let go, holding the impulse within herself.
Ainz only nodded slightly at these words, and then set off back to the way Scáthach had arrived from at a brisk pace, while the ghouls saw him off with wary glances from their empty eye sockets. No, they were directed towards her?
Slowly, they made their way away from Scáthach, turning back from time to time, clearly still wary of exposing their backs to her.
She reacted to these actions with only an incomprehensible look, before being returned to attention, when Ainz, already a dozen yards away, drew attention to himself by clearing his throat.
Slowly, clearly trying to digest what she had just seen, Scáthach followed Ainz to the Servants, who had just now appeared on the horizon, walking relaxedly. Were they so unconcerned with her that they didn't even worry about Ainz?
They weren't really wrong, but it still irked her somewhat.
That was almost a disaster, luckily Scáthach has a good pair of eyes to go along with her speed. While he didn't really care about the ghoul one way or another as he had acquired the information he wanted, having a subordinate that was too eager was also a bad thing.
"Scáthach," Ainz said to the girl walking behind her, "Please don't scare people like that anymore, don't threaten them with weapons, and don't appear out of nowhere with an expression like you're going to kill their entire kin. I know that Ghouls aren't exactly known for their docility, but attacking out of nowhere like that, could go wrong in so many ways."
"I'm not-" Scáthach stammered for a moment before she realized something and began replying more vigorously than before. "And why am I even making excuses to you?! They're ghouls, monsters, not humans, but a threat to humanity!"
"Oh, were the ghouls especially menacing when they tried to give women and children a chance to escape? Or was it when they asked me for food?" Ainz replied, not particularly hiding his irritation as he continued to move toward the Servants.
"You remind me very much of the humans I have encountered in the past – they too killed all the non-humans they could see. Sometimes for fun, sometimes for equipment, sometimes for…"
Ainz pondered, about how he could say 'level-up' about Players without giving away details that he doesn't want people to know, before continuing neutrally. "For power."
"And let me tell you, none of them ended well," Ainz paused for a moment, looking at Scáthach before casting a slight glare, his memories of Heteromorph 'hunters' tingling his irritation a bit.
"And they were much stronger than you."
Leaving the very serious implication hanging in the air, Ainz shook his head, shedding his indignation, before he looked at the other Servants and nodded at them.
He really didn't care whether the ghouls lived or not – it's not like he feels a sense of solidarity with Heteromorphs or something like that to censure Scáthach over it. It's just that he preferred his subordinates to not adopt a hit first and worry about it later attitude.
What if they were some kind of Super Ghouls or something!? He doesn't really need Scáthach to act like Yamaiko-san, the muscle-headed Sensei… What a scary thought.
Okay, so… the Holy City, huh?
Ainz had been to a couple of these before, in YGGDRASIL, that is, he wondered what this holy city would be like this time…
Medb didn't care whether the loving crowds continued to follow her, she wasn't planning on stopping to wait for the ones lagging behind anyway. But in the end, she did let them go, ordering them to return to their usual activities.
The reason for this decision was Nitocris. Medb and Sita could not remember any Pharaoh by that name – and after questioning the Servant herself, she admitted that she was a minor mythical pharaoh. Her legend is marked not by her rule, but by a rather obscure legend about how she had killed the people who tried to control the pharaohs – including her previously enthroned and executed brothers.
She then committed suicide without having undergone the pharaohs' ceremonial training, a rarity which is why she is generally remembered by people, despite her small legend in relation to other greater heroes.
This same Nitocris, however, earned at least one raised eyebrow from Medb when she noticed something peculiar. Even though she was completely under the effect of her Charm Aura – and Medb could definitely confirm this – she still managed to worry about people following Medb.
Not that such a thing was impossible – in fact, it was possible to ignore Medb's Charm Aura altogether, but for someone caught by her powers to be able to think about anything other than their desire to please Medb? This was something rare.
And given that Medb's charms made others place her on a pedestal as 'the most important person in your life, before which nothing else matters' – it meant that Nitocris' subconscious thoughts placed the well-being of the people just as importantly.
After all, Medb's abilities were not mind control, directly suppressing the will, but an ability that altered the perception – just like all the illusions in her arsenal. Something which meant that her subordinates were still capable of their own reactions and even free will. And that, in turn, also meant that the crowds moving behind her forced Nitocris to constantly slow down in order to wait for the ones lagging behind, to see if they could keep going, and other things.
No, as queen, Medb even understood Nitocris' thoughts. And besides, the people no longer mattered when she already had a guide anyway. So, without much trouble, Medb let the people go back to their lives – letting Nitocris lead Medb and Sita forward to the palace, and their goal.
Towards the King of Kings and Pharaoh of Pharaohs, Ramses the Second, nicknamed Ozymandias, the so-called 'perfect king'.
Judging by the incessant homage Nitocris was giving him, he's something between a mentor and a father figure to Nitocris, with a serious dash of sycophancy from a schoolgirl who just opened a male-model magazine.
Not that Medb herself should talk about such things… the pot calling the kettle black and all that.
In any case, it didn't take long for Medb to reach her destination, ignoring her surroundings and taking advantage of the Servants' powers, her destination was on the horizon in just a few minutes.
All of her long life, excluding her rather brief period of exile and removal from the throne, Medb has spent her entire life inside her palace – a palace very much in keeping with her status. It was made of huge vestibules of Lunar marble, with Lunar silver making most of her many decorations. Its architecture was designed by Skadi's own hand, with hundreds of her subordinate servants inside obeying her every whim.
Her palace was a palace that truly suited her status, something that would make any observer marvel at the ephemeral beauty of her personal fiefdom – even when one just saw the outside facade. Once inside, however, the opulence and beauty of her palace could drive a mere man mad long before he even took a step toward her throne room.
In other words, it was a dwelling that matched her perfectly, so beautiful that comparing any other palace to hers, Medb could only contemptuously grin, conveying her true feelings better than hundreds of insults, but…
"Not bad," Medb concluded from a glance at the Palace of Ozymandias.
Titanic in its size, stretching far and wide like a city, the palace was constructed like a temple. Dozens of stelae and monuments rose into the heavens, creating a single composition, while glints of blackened steel strolled across the outer walls, assembled on top of yellow-orange desert stones.
As they neared the palace, Medb could feel that the air seemed to be saturated with some unearthly power and almost hummed with tension, as if some kind of energy was saturating the air. And as they got close, some invisible force seemed to bear on the trio.
After walking a few more steps, suddenly Medb's palanquin stopped moving – and to Sita's surprise, it was lowered to the ground.
Medb's charms had ceased a little earlier.
This action causes Nitocris, who had just wanted to take Medb inside and introduce her to Ozymandias, to freeze in incomprehension, trying to rationalize both the rush of her feelings and their sudden end. As Nitocris tried to understand what's happening, Medb herself rose from her palanquin, then as soon as her feet took a step out of the palanquin it melted away like a mirage.
Leaving Medb and her not at all imposing height alone in front of a gate of black blued steel, slowly gleaming.
Unlike many of the Servants and creatures of Yggdrasil that Ainz was familiar with, and especially those he had summoned, Medb was not cruel or even particularly evil – her Karma was kept fairly close to neutral zero. Sure, in some ways she was arrogant and willful, perhaps even heartless, but she was not really evil, and so she could show respect to her opponent and not start battles unnecessarily.
So, showing a considerable amount of respect, Medb had risen from her palanquin to enter the palace of Ozymandias in person with her feet.
On Medb's own part, it was also a test.
She had felt Ozymandias' gaze the moment she was near the building, which meant that he knew exactly of her arrival, not to mention the fact that the surrounding environment was completely saturated with his power.
And so Ozymandias was in control of his palace, just as he had seen her appearance.
In this case, Medb had to test his vision – could he see, in her demeanor, a sign of respect and her willingness to initiate dialogue? Did he deserve his titles, King of Kings and Pharaoh of Pharaohs, could he see her essence and understand the situation?
If now Ozymandias would not open the door even after she came to him and came down from her palanquin, if he would not show her hospitality and meet her at the gate? Then perhaps Medb had nothing more to talk about with a false king with made-up titles that he was not worthy to bear.
In that case, she would simply leave his Realm before returning here with the sole purpose of getting rid of an unnecessary Servant, interfering with the Singularity who was creating a distortion within the distortion. And more importantly, inhibiting his beloved's way.
A moment later, Medb didn't need to wait any longer, the silent and massive doors of blackened steel opened. Though, she has to amend her observation, the door was not made of steel, and in Medb's estimation, it was a metal of much higher quality and much stronger magical properties.
As the door slowly opened, it allowed Medb to see the courtyard beyond it. As it opened though, the first thing Medb noticed was the creature similar to the one on which Nitocris had arrived on – a sphinx, but not an ordinary sphinx.
Medb could see a shimmering bluish haze interspersed with light silver flashes that concealed its body and left only the outlines of its figure. That along with its size made it clear that this creature couldn't even be placed on the same stage with an ordinary sphinx. The aura of power it exudes that made Nitocris freeze, staring in incomprehension at such a being most likely thinking something along the line of 'why did it appear here?!' marks it as a powerful creature.
Sita also froze in place – but for a very different reason. The creature was indeed powerful, exuding a power no less potent than that of a truly powerful Servant, no weaker than a dragon even.
Medb only glanced at the frozen Sita, then shifted her gaze slightly to Nitocris, clearly conveying instructions to look behind the girl who had just been freed from her enchantment before stepping inside.
The fact that Ozymandias did not greet her himself was a violation of etiquette – an equal should greet an equal. But, judging by Nitocris' reaction, it can only mean that the Sphinx was the highest ranking and most powerful of Ozymandias' servants. This in turn meant that Ozymandias did not perceive Medb as a mere Servant – a mere Sphinx would be enough to see off a mere Servant – or they could be left without guides at all.
And thus Medb could delay her assessment of Ozymandias.
If he considered her to be someone important, but below Ozymandias himself in the hierarchy, and therefore unworthy of his personal appearance? Medb would at least try to engage in a dialogue with him, albeit with a greatly reduced opinion of him.
If there were other reasons preventing Ozymandias himself from welcoming Medb…
Who knows, though certainly not to the level of Momonga, but she could at least give a little bit of respect back.
Excerpt from The Great Migration: A History of Immigration in the United States:
… Thanks to the mutual aid of community members, no small number of political positions were taken by members of certain nationalities, which in turn created resentment from members of the other nationalities of the United States. Such resentment led to a split in US domestic politics for a long time, though perhaps not without reasons.
A sticking point, in particular, was the existence of criminal gangs who consisted almost entirely of minorities – a rather famous one being the Sons of Ireland.
The criminal group were guilty of multiple skirmishes with the police, including some that can without exaggeration be described as full-blown battles. This along with the smattering of domestic terror acts, and even an assassination attempt by the semi-legendary Irish hired assassin, known by his alias of Cu Chulain's Alter-ego, towards the President, didn't help matters.
The last matter happened in a time of chaos, with many people going missing and properties destroyed, something that was exacerbated by the President's death.
However, some historians also claim that the murder of the sixteenth President of the United States, Thomas Edison, may in fact be the work of another semi-legendary criminal mastermind, the famous outlaw of the Wild West 'Scáthach'. This theory, however, was mostly put forward according to eyewitness accounts by people of mostly Irish descent, and thus was highly disputed.
Of course, the supposed assassin's identity is still in a hot debate.
The supposed assassin, Alter Ego, was found dead, and only by accident at that, his time of death impossible to determine as it was found in a horrible condition. According to the coroner's report at the time, 'it was as if someone tried to get rid of the body by drowning it in a vat of acid'. The finding makes it difficult to determine if Alter Ego was responsible for the President's death, or if he was already dead by the time that the President was assassinated.
On the other hand, the other suspected culprit, Scáthach, was never seen again after the chaos at all. Something which for a long time generated speculation about her continued life, about her migration back to Ireland, and even about her supposed immortality…
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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