Well, you all know how it is. With everything that's happening in the world right now, my life has been a wreck and it's been hard finding time to write, especially since I've been staying with family for the past few months and haven't been home. Luckily, things have started going back to normal as of late and I can get back to it. (P.S. Spending a lot of time thinking of how to improve this story and I realized after reading over it again that a lot of chapters are badly written and could use some improvement, the early ones especially I know are horrible, which is why I've been taking a break from updating to rewrite a huge section of the early story. I've finished chapter one and uploaded it. Expect to see a full revision of the story completed at some point, along with the continuous updates.)

Please Enjoy

Flushing out her assassins may have sounded like a good idea initially, but now, after seeing them in action it just seemed like one of the worst ideas Rigrit must've had in years.

She did not enjoy being a bystander. Most people, because of her age, often assumed she needed help in protecting herself and it annoyed her to no end.

Today was no different. Had it not been for the fact that the two she watched now were busy trying to kill each other rather than Rigrit herself, she'd have entered the conflict without hesitation.

She was glad to have been as patient as she was.

The two assassins in front of her were very obviously above the realm of average humans, not so much that the elderly adventurer couldn't keep up, but enough so that she seriously considered ignoring Solution's previous threat and simply running away.

While the idea of fleeing in the face of danger was a sickening notion to indulge, she was seasoned enough to spot a losing battle when she saw one. Her only reason for coming to the Kingdom in the first place was to gather information and possible allies, not wage a personal war with whoever she'd obviously pissed off by being there.

Speaking of which…

The thoughts of the adventurer wandered away from the action for just a moment. It was a bad time to get distracted but the "who" in this situation was just as important as the why.

A cloaked assassin who was handy with a knife was pretty common, and quite honestly Rigrit had handled more than a few people who fit the bill on that description, so a random thug trying to kill her didn't raise too many questions. The other one, however, did not fit any cliche the adventurer could think of.

She was what appeared to be a maid of all things, which was, in a word, bizarre.

An assassin hiding amongst the staff of a wealthy landlord? That would make the most sense but then who have I upset badly enough that they would send her there? Princess Renner or perhaps someone else in the royal family?

The obvious assumption came to mind first: A pretty face that belied a more sinister nature would fit right in with the golden princess and her sociopathic tendencies, especially if it turned out to be true that she was working with the enemy. In that case running was definitely the right choice. If she got caught here then there was a good chance she'd never escape, and, realizing the grimness of her situation, Rigrit suddenly wore a sour look. The dragon was right to try talking her out of getting personally involved, but it was too late to be concerned with the "I told you so." that would be waiting for her when she managed to get back to him.

For now she watched, secretly grasping the item her old friend had given her in case of an emergency, knowing very well that the perfect opportunity to use it would be upon her soon enough.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the conflict, Solution had found herself not only confused with the current situation, but also extremely irritated.

Her opponent had not seemed particularly threatening at first glance, just another useless human looking to make problems for Lord Ainz, someone she could devour without even being asked to explain her reasoning. The few exchanges between the two proved this assumption to be vastly mistaken. Not only did the nameless rogue possess the skill to stand toe to toe with Solution in both speed and reflexes, they also seemed to be doing so without much effort.

This, for obvious reasons, infuriated the maid.

She was an assassin by nature, her classes that weren't racial based leaning towards the strengths of infiltration and espionage, therefore she should have been a cut above even the most skilled of cutthroats and thieves amongst humans, or really anyone else for that matter, so why was she struggling to land even a single hit? A small scratch was all she'd need, a fast acting poison could take care of the rest right then, but her movements were being matched by the opposition at every turn.

"Come on now, you clearly aren't trying very hard. How long do you want to drag this out?" Her opponent taunted.

The maid was easily provoked by the voice of a cocky human, now wanting to twist their disgusting grin into a look of horror as she had done to many others before.

She reigned those thoughts in however, forcibly stifling her own sinister grin before she did something she would regret. Despite the trouble that her opponent had caused, it wasn't worth it to jeopardize her mission by giving in to dark impulses.

Ainz had taken the time to bring a new, seemingly special guest into their home, that meant her previous contacts needed to be handled, especially those who's memory had not been altered. Rigrit, who was seemingly an old friend of the vampire had caused quite a commotion over her leaving, which was problematic for obvious reasons.

Simple reconnaissance was her goal, just watch the old woman for a while to make sure she didn't make too big of a fuss and then return to Sebas, a moonlit battle was not part of the plan at all. Therefore, neither was bringing home an unexpected prisoner.

As that thought came to mind the empty blue eyes of the maid slowly drifted over to the woman she'd been spending her time following as of late. Everything would have been much easier if she'd allowed the old woman to simply get herself killed but with events unfolding as they were, the Pleiades couldn't simply watch, not when there was the possibility of a potential murder being linked back to Momon. Under ordinary circumstances the slime would have preferred ensnaring the target within herself, carrying them off without a trace. That line of thinking however wouldn't get her very far in a situation like this.

She had a hostile force openly impeding her progress, which complicated matters to an extreme degree. Sebas was not around and neither were any of the other maids. The old butler would likely realize something was wrong if Solution didn't come back soon but drawing out a battle wasn't her strong suit so relying on his aid was out of the question for the time being.

They were lucky to find such an unoccupied part of town to have this little encounter but that could be changed very easily should Rigrit realize that Solution could not fight and babysit at the same time and then decide to run off or do some kind of flashy spell to attract attention to the area. On top of that, she knew nothing about her assailant, nor why they were targeting her quarry, which meant that Ainz would obviously be interested in who the mystery assassin was, who had hired them, and for what purpose.

So many variables, and no answer the slime thought of seemed like a good...Solution.

In the end she was stuck in a confrontation she had no hope of resolving cleanly and worse still she could only hold so many intact people within herself before it would affect her outside appearance. Not to mention the fact that they wouldn't make it easy for her to catch them in the first place.

With a sigh, the maid focused again on the person in front of her, secretly wishing that Sebas or one of her sisters had come along with her.

"You." Solution stopped abruptly, addressing her opponent directly and bringing the fight to a brief halt.

Stalling wasn't something she took much pleasure in, but she had to try resolving this situation somehow.

"Why are you after this woman? If your goal is to kill her then it is pointless for the two of us to be fighting one another when we are both aiming to get rid of her."

The maid spoke again, lowering her arms to show that she had no intention of continuing. A peaceful conclusion would eliminate the odds of the situation spiraling out of control, and she knew any of her sisters would do the same should they find themselves attacked by problematic humans, in accordance with Ainz's wishes of avoiding unnecessary deaths.

She would soon learn that her hopes were misplaced.

"Huh?" The hooded assassin replied. "I don't care about the old lady at all."

Needless to say those words evoked a rather harsh reaction from Solution.

"Then you are causing trouble for me on a whim?" The maid accused, her annoyance slowly shifting into blood lust.

The rogue stifled their laughter, seemingly amused with the maid's response.

"I get it, it won't make much sense since you aren't the same girl…But that's alright, I'm sure they didn't neglect to mention me." The rogue sang, removing their hood for the first time that night.

It didn't take long for Solution to have her guard up once more. Narberal Gamma gave very detailed reports on every single endeavor she'd been through as a part of Darkness, including precise descriptions on who they'd met and what they were like.

Obviously, there could only be one human who held such a sadistic personality, annoying voice and, most distinctive of all: Orange hair.

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Evileye moved quietly down the halls of Nazarick, having just left what she had been told was just a guest room, a term she didn't quite believe given how luxurious the place was but it was the least questionable thing she'd seen today so she didn't bother wasting any mental energy on it.

The grand tour had finally come to an end but her mind was still trembling from all that she'd witnessed. Moving through the halls of Nazarick had truly been an out of this world experience, not even her travels with the Thirteen Heroes came close to all she'd seen in just one night.

Demons, angels, undead and just about any other creature you could think of all lived within just one tomb...A tomb that in itself was practically several cities worth of space shoved into a pocket underground.

Who would believe that? There was no rational way to explain any of what she'd seen, any attempts to do so had her questioning her own sanity, as if she hadn't done enough of that already tonight.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" A monotone voice suddenly broke the silence

Evileye turned her head to glance over at "Nabe", who had been assigned to watch over her and lead her back to the throne room to meet her new allies.

"I am fine, just lost in thought." The vampire responded in an equally monotone expression.

It was painful for her to have learned of the relationship that Ainz and his partner truly shared, to know that their closeness and secrecy was really the result of an inhuman master and servant trying to blend in to human society and not the scandalous romance half of the guild assumed it was.

Embarrassingly enough, Evileye herself had become very interested in the topic due to her hopeless crush on the necromancer, though she now realized that most of the assumptions she'd made about Darkness were really the result of her own childish fantasies coupled with a few nasty rumors. Not only that, the women who supposedly DID hold his romantic interests were essentially left unanswered as they fought amongst themselves for his affection...And there was no telling how they'd react to a newcomer.

But that was only the beginning of her social struggles.

Due to the arrival of Tan, whom she learned had only joined the family just a little while before she did, the residents of Nazarick weren't exactly thrilled to have another potential disaster character join their ranks. No one went as far as to make her feel unwelcome, but the looks in their eyes gave away their distrust of the vampire, almost as if they expected her to betray them on whim.

It hurt, but the adventurer was used to being scorned, this much wouldn't discourage her so long as Ainz's opinion of her didn't change.

"Entoma, I've brought the newcomer." Narberal's voice practically echoed in the silent hallway, snapping the vampire out of her thoughts.

The duo had found themselves before a massive set of doors and there to greet them was another maid, this one more child sized than any of the others Evileye had seen so far.

"Hm? I thought he'd be taller." The cute voice responded, giving Evileye even more reason to believe she was a child.

"Our new guest is a she." Narberal spoke to her sister, ignoring the playful banter.

In response, the shorter maid let out a strange sound. Was it a click? Or maybe a growl of some sort. The vampire couldn't tell either way, but in light of discovering that she could likely be looking at a little girl, she brushed it off and instead found the reaction to be cute rather than terrifying.

"Well anyway, Lord Ainz is waiting, so get moving!" The bug finally responded, pushing Evileye through the doors without the slightest hesitation, much to the vampire's surprise.

Maybe not everyone was scared of her after all.

Though the tiny creature paled in comparison to the personalities that awaited Evileye in the next room.

More maids, twin dark elves, a tall man in an orange suit with a large tail, a demon woman of some kind, which was apparent by her horns and the wings at her hip, then most shocking of all, a giant blue...Cockroach?

She didn't bother trying to wrap her head around that last one, nor did she even attempt to consider the almost ungodly presence they all seemed to give off. Instead, she walked around the edges of the room, towards the back, they didn't seem to notice her entering so it would be easier for all of them if she made her way around the room quietly, which she did so after making sure that no one saw her.

Well, almost no one.

By the time Evileye made her way anywhere near the group of guardians who were patiently awaiting their king's arrival, the doors she entered from flung open once again, this time with Tan and Shalltear being the ones to enter, and they were not at all discreet enough to be ignored. That was when the other occupants of the room all turned and stared directly at the one person they did not recognize.

As one could imagine, the amount of pressure Evileye was subjected to in an instant completely halted her ability to speak.

Luckily, or unluckily, she didn't need to speak for herself.

"Hey, everyone else is already here!" Tan exclaimed confidently, striding forward as if the tension in the room had no effect on him.

Easily, the man managed to steal everyone else's attention with his words, he wasn't Ainz but being a level one hundred player made him close enough. The others, while not necessarily happy to see him would still show whatever amount of respect was required of them for their new "Advisor".

"Welcome welcome, 'Evileye', to our dysfunctional little family." The dragonkin continued, giving the nervous vampire a pat on the shoulder as he walked by, showing a level of familiarity that was foreign to her.

Again, she found herself wondering if his actions were genuine or if this was a test of some kind.

"Thank you...Tan." She managed to say weakly, not sure what to think.

Then the other vampire walked by, the two making eye contact for a brief moment before Shalltear continued on.

It was only a moment but Evileye could tell from just that glance the immense gap between herself and the one other creature like her in the room. She'd known for long enough that "Nightfall" was a vampire like herself, but the nature of said vampire had been a mystery to her for a long while. Now, after seeing her attire, demeanor, and feeling that unrestrained menacing aura for herself...She felt that she was better off not knowing after all.

It was a room full of monsters, and whether or not she could ever hope to understand who they were and why they existed, she was one of them now too.

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Why was she here? HOW is she here?

Solution's mind was racing, the identity of her attacker having done a lot more than just surprise the slime, in fact she was completely baffled.

Of all the potential nuisances she could have expected to meet while dealing with the meddling humans of this world, the last one she would have ever thought she'd see would be the one that Ainz had killed with his own two hands.

"Well? Am I familiar?" And she just kept talking, adding fuel to the fire as she twirled her stiletto.

There was no mistaking it, this woman was Clementine, the cohort to a certain necromancer's plans to overrun a certain city with undead. The details were mostly forgettable aside from the fact that Ainz had supposedly crushed the life out of her and left her corpse to rot.

Which is exactly what made the current situation so utterly confusing for the maid.

Her king was not one to kill without good reason, but when he declared that someone would die then there was no doubt in anyone's mind that his opposition would be utterly destroyed without chance for retaliation. This, for obvious reasons, made Clementine's health a bit more than questionable. Even if by some chance Ainz had made a mistake, there was still no way that Clementine should be able to stand, let alone flip around through the air with such ease.

If she had been healed...No, if she had been revived...

The slime cleared her head of such thoughts, the mortality of her enemy was not a concern she should be addressing at this moment. No, if anything Clementine's reemergence only served to let the maid know that there was no longer an option of just walking away from the battle.

"It has become apparent that I will have to crush you in full force." Solution threatened, brandishing a small dark blade in the moonlight as she spoke.

No matter how she looked at the situation, it became clear that things needed to end quickly, even if that meant incapacitating the enemy and ditching them to be handled by someone else. If her king of all people had overlooked the capabilities of this woman then there was no point in the maid taking chances in dealing with the unfinished business herself. The only thing that mattered was getting out of there with her hostage intact.

With that thought in mind, Solution once again spared a glance over towards the elderly woman who'd been watching them silently. She was lucky: A sensible person would have escaped a long time ago but Rigrit did not seem inclined to do so, either out of pride or curiosity. Maybe the old woman could be reasoned with after all, in which case she could make a valuable ally to Ainz as well.

First things first...

Before she could be concerned with Rigrit however, she had to find a way to deal with the pest in front of her and she had a very simple plan on how to settle things efficiently. Now was the time to put it into action.

Solution then went on the offensive, closing the gap instantly, focusing on speed rather than precision and swinging wildly as a result. It was a reckless move, one that could easily get you killed but leaving herself exposed mattered little, the only thing that was important was getting as up close and personal as she could with the enemy.

A loud series of metallic clashes could be heard following the maid's sudden assault. Solution's attacks could only be described as ferocious, akin to that of a wild animal's, enough so that she began to overpower her enemy and push them back, more in the style of a berserker rather than an assassin.

"Oh? What's with this sudden burst of energy?" Clementine spoke, somewhat surprised.

As any experienced fighter type could tell you, this style of fighting was not for the faint of heart. Abandoning defense was a horrible idea, especially in a battle between assassins, where a single well placed slash could cost you your life. Luckily that particular weakness meant nothing to Solution.

Being a slime, she felt no need to worry about being pierced or cut by a blade, no this was a perfectly valid strategy in its own right. Her opponent may have been skilled but that was not enough to defeat a Pleiades.

If Narberal's descriptions of Clementine's battle strategy were as accurate as she'd hoped they were then this was an obvious answer to the sadistic rogue's tendencies.

Clementine was highly aggressive, with speed being her most valuable trait. She savored every moment of hunting her targets down and killing them mercilessly.

And if Ainz's description of her final moments were accurate then she definitely felt hopeless and frustrated after being overwhelmed with pure physical force.

It wasn't rocket science. Solution did not have to worry about running out of stamina, and if Solution decided to be overly committed to being the aggressor then Clementine would inevitably be forced on the defense, and if Clementine was neither patient enough to deal with nor enjoyed being forced into a corner then at the rate things were going she would only have two options: Either back off and give up on offense altogether, or, what would be deemed a more obvious answer: launch a counter on the maid between attacks. Regardless of which outcome she chose, the win still belonged to Solution.

And of course, her enemy chose the latter, waiting for a moment between Solution's attacks and launching a safe, albeit predictable strike of her own, and Solution, having baited her opponent perfectly, felt a smile creep onto her face as the blade closed in on her.

She could see it coming, the opponent's dagger aimed right for her throat and she was in no position to dodge it.

Exactly as planned.

The moment it touched, she would just pull it in, catching the weapon would be all too easy, and if her opponent wasn't quick to react they would follow suit. Really, being a slime in a knife fight made things far too easy, the only real downside would be Rigrit seeing her devour someone else, which would blow her cover but it couldn't be much worse than gutting someone in the middle of the street.

And of course, Clementine didn't have the luxury of knowing the true nature of her opponent, so there was no hesitation on her end.

It was a cheap, yet effective strategy with little drawbacks. The blade was not enchanted and physical damage would do almost nothing to the slime in question. Humans were far too easy to trick.

The blade approached closer as time seemed to slow. A foot. A few inches. Then a few centimetres. The blade neared ever closer, until the point where solution could practically feel the cold metal grazing her throat.

Then it vanished.

Solution's eyes widened.

Not just the blade, the person before was gone from her sight.

Where did sh-

She didn't get to finish that thought. A slash tore into her from behind.

In an instant her opponent had vanished into thin air and in the next the maid had been cleaved in two, her insides appearing as nothing but a sleek layer of blue, cleanly separated by a blade.

Then both halves fell to the ground with a loud Splat.