Ch.1 The Great Distress

The Great Tomb of Nazarick holds many creations, many perils, and many treasures. None the least of which are its guardians from the beautiful Albedo to the cunning and calculating Demiurge, but none compare to the commanding presence that is the ruler of the tomb, the fearsome Ainz Ooal Gown, the overlord himself.

As of the moment, Ainz is in his chambers after a long day of plotting and unwanted advances from Albedo, his constant reminder of his greatest mistake before becoming his avatar. Practicing his poses, lines, and posture Thinking to himself "This conquest stuff is starting to become too taxing. But I've come too far to even consider taking it easy." His thoughts weighing harder after a long day. In spite of his words, Ainz takes a moment of relief to think "But I'm not too sure of my next move yet." During his moment, Ainz hears a knock at his chamber door and he immediately commands "You may enter."

Opening the door and immediately bowing in his master's presence is the 7th floor guardian and the commander of NPC defenses, Demiurge. Being the vigilante servant, the first words out of his mouth are a polite "Forgive my intrusion during your leisure time, Sire. But I humbly request that you indulge me for a moment."

Ainz raises his hand in command and answers "Not at all, Demiurge. Your words have never failed me in benefiting our plans. Now rise and tell me what you wish to say." In true form, Ainz stands tall with his staff in hand and awaits the words to come from his servant's lips.

Demiurge, with his usual smile, nods and rises with his hands behind his back and immediately asks "I hear that Albedo made another advance on you, Sir. With all due respect, why not indulge yourself with her and Shaltear?" His blunt voice cuts through Ainz's ears rather quickly as his lord's jaw nearly drops at the proposal.

Ainz, thinks to himself "What is Demiurge thinking? He's never been upfront about this to my face." But then he calmly replies to his servant "I don't believe it to be necessary, nor do I believe it to be appropriate for myself to indulge in physical pleasures with my servants. Moreover, Demiurge, I find it rather out of character for you to even suggest it. I feel as if you're leaving out key details."

Demiurge swiftly apologizes, bows, and explains "I sincerely apologize, my Lord. It wasn't my intent to mislead you, but I was considering the possibility of you producing an heir for your position. Since, surely, there is no line more fit to rule than yours."

Hearing his words, Ainz bewilders the thought "Now what brought about this thinking? Or are you and the others doubting my loyalty to the great tomb, the others, and all of my servants. Tell me what makes you doubt me." His voice concerned, Ainz holds his dignified stance.

Not wanting his loyalty to be questioned, Demiurge confesses "Not a shred of doubt exists towards you, my lord. What I merely suggesting is that we have someone to pledge ourselves to should you return to the other supreme beings. The other guardians, myself included, just want assurance that your reign will carry on should this occur. But as our leader, I've no doubts of your abilities or your most generous trust in us."

Ainz dismisses Demiurge "I appreciate the sentiment, Demiurge, but I do not wish to have this conversation in the future. Now, I'd like some privacy for the moment." The guardian swiftly obeys as he exits the room and leaves his lord alone. But after this, burdens plague the overlord's mind " If something causes me to return home, everyone here would be devastated, especially Albedo. Perhaps I just need to reassure them that I don't have any real plans on leaving them…but even that could change if I learn something new about what's happened to me." Getting a little worked up, Ainz feels the force calming him down and then he says "No time to think about trivial matters. I have so much more work to do." But when saying this, Ainz feels a different sort of force around him. Instead of a green glow, he gets a red one, and then something curious occurs…he feels tired. Ainz's vision goes a little dim "I feel so tired all of the sudden." It doesn't take long for it to occur to him "Wait, tired? I haven't felt the need to rest since coming here. I don't know if I like this." Ainz rests on his bed and laying his skeletal body on his mattress and the smell of perfume soothes him and everything goes blank for a moment, he falls asleep for the first time since coming to the tomb for real.

Very soon, his vision comes back and immediately sits back up "Oh, I must have dozed off suddenly." He says to himself and immediately and stands back up to return to his work. He exits his chambers at warps into his throne room. He expects Albedo to be near his throne as per usual, but she is nowhere to be found. In fact, no one is present in the room. He looks around and sees not a soul, dead or alive. Not dwelling on it, Ainz sits on his throne and decides to make contact with one of the guardians.

But before he can, a maid appears and drops a bucket with water and a cloth in it "Lord Ainz!" she screams as she runs up to see him.

Ainz looks upon the maid and asks "What is wrong? Did you make a mistake while cleaning? If so…" His voice pleasant and not at all mad, he sees a sorrowful expression upon his servant.

The maid immediately runs up and looks upon him and she has tears in her eyes while she says "Lady Albedo told us that you'd return to us. She never gave up, and now you're back with us. Oh, we must contact Lady Albedo immediately."

The maid is about to do something when Ainz orders "Halt! I merely left to my chambers for a small period. Surely there is no need to be so grand about a return from a brief leisure."

The maid looks sadly up her master"Lord Ainz, do you mean to say you don't remember?" she asks with clear hurt in her tone.

Ainz immediately asks "What am I to remember? Did I make a promise to the others and now am fulfilling it?"

The maid bows and suggests "I think it'd be best if you contacted lord Demiurge. I believe he's here in the tomb still."

Liking the suggestion, Ainz contacts Demiruge with magic as he puts his finger to his head "Demiurge, I have a need of your service. Please come to the throne room immediately." His voice swift and clear as he commands him.

The response he gets from floor 7 guardian from just hearing his voice is unnerving "Lord Ainz, have you finally returned to us!?" Demiurge sounds uneasy and a little desperate.

Immediately, Demiurge warps into the throne room with a very desperate look on his face and when he sees Ainz, he drops to his knees, shaking with a large grin, and then utters "You HAVE returned after all this time." He looks upon the leader of the tomb with awe in his presence and says "It's true, and all this time waiting is finally paying off. Our patience has been rewarded at last."

Concerned for his servant, Ainz calmly asks "What ails you, Demiurge? A maid had a very similar reaction to you just now."

A little confused, Demiurge asks "Sir, you aren't aware of where you were?"

"Where I was? What do you mean?" Ainz's confusion ever growing deeper as her asks this question.

Beside himself, Demiurge tells his master "Sir, you left us 300 years ago without a word. We assumed you left to the other supreme beings."

With this revelation, Ainz is quite surprised "300 years? Are you certain of this, Demiurge?" He asks with slight worry in his tone.

Demiurge nods his head "I'm very sure, sir. I have been waiting in the tomb. Waiting for word from you for this entire time and all these years, and you're timing couldn't be any more impeccable."

Knowing Demiurge, Ainz has no doubts that he's telling the truth since Demiurge doesn't lie to his master, but at the same time, he (Ainz) requests "I want you to inform me of all major happenings during my absence, but only important details."

Demiurge bows in response while saying "Of course." He then goes on to explains the story, but only the major details. His explanation is about to begin when the loud sounds of instruments playing, like a loud fanfare signaling the arrival of someone. Hearing this, Demiurge looks at the door and says "A very fortunate timing indeed." He looks at his lord and further adds "Sir, I believe it would make things a little easier if you met the two who have arrived at this moment. That is, if you would allow it."

Ainz nods and gives his approval as this may indeed make things quicker. He and Demiurge goe to the Amphitheatrum on the 6th floor and Ainz appears in the VIP seating area and looks down into the arena and sees a very unusual sight, a bunch of the guardians are down there, but there many garbed in black armor and others garbed in crimson armor. They are divided in clear groups opposing each other and what catches Ainz's eyes is that the guardians of the tomb are apparently on different sides. Aura and Mare are standing with the crimson troops along with Cocytus, and on the other side stands Sebas, Pandora's actor, and Victim. Curiously, both Albedo and Shaltear Bloodfallen are nowhere to be seen.

Then, the leaders of the these two groups seemingly appear as all, including the guardians, bow as two armored women ride in with one riding on a bicorn and another riding a giant hamster. The one riding a bicorn wears a deep crimson armor and has long silver hair that she ties into a long tail that wraps around her neck like a scarf with red piercing eyes that glow in the dark and he has fangs on her lips with a sword at her side and she has a mantle wrapped around her armor with an insignia that resembles a bat with its fangs bared. The other wears armor that resembles a sky on a moonless night with long, but shorter, black hair, a pail complexion, yellow eyes that stare into the soul, horns like a devil protrude from the sides of her head, and she wears a white cape with black trim with an insignia resembling a skull with red eyes.

Demiurge approaches his master while asking "What do you think of them, my lord? Do they meet any of your expectations?"

Ainz turns to his servant "Are those two perhaps Albedo and Shaltear? If so, then it would appear many changes have occurred in my absence."

Demiurge adjusts his glasses and looks a little confused "No, sir, those two are not Albedo and Shaltear. Those two are your daughters."

Ainz suddenly loses his breath "D…DA…DAUGHTERS!" the green glow makes it return to calm him down (several times) and his stress goes through the roof as the mysterious force takes effect to calm him down. "Demiurge, did I….*cough*…I mean, did I perhaps suddenly call Albedo and Shaltear to my bed chamber before I disappeared." He asks with a bit of distress in his voice.

"Not that I'm aware of, Sir. The last time we spoke, it was when I brought up the idea of you producing an heir. The first person to notice you missing was Albedo herself. She and all of us were quite distressed by your sudden leave." Demiurge explains to his master on this revelation and then he tells the story of the two girls and their conception.

It happened not long after Ainz disappeared those many years ago, Albedo first discovered his disappearance first and ordered everyone to search, and they all looked thoroughly through the great tomb, the towns he frequented, the forests, the towns again, and other nations, but after months of searching, he wasn't anywhere to be found and then, when all hope seemed lost….a miracle happened within the great tomb.