NOVEL NEXT Chapter 5: Demon Ring of Flame, part two (56)
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Ainz barely knew the plan. He simply was thinking about what he would do when his newborn was born when he realized that he was right over the capital. He thought that he should make a rather badass entrance because he had just noticed a battle going on below.
He jumped from the floating board that he was riding on and fell to the ground. He had several enchantments on his gear that negated fall damage, so he was confident that he wouldn’t die. But that couldn’t be said for the ground he fell on.
Then, when the dust cleared, he saw Aeskell acting as her new, “Peregrinus,” persona. He then decided to stay quiet after Pandora’s Actor acting as Viridael and Aeskell acting as Peregrinus started talking. He listened in on what the plan was when Pandora’s Actor and Aeskell were talking to each other.
What they were talking about shocked him. He had no idea that there was this big plan about slaying a demon and whatnot. He barely had any idea on what was going on with the man who had hired him to take the crime syndicate, let alone anything that came out of Demiurge’s mouth.
They hadn’t said that it was Demiurge’s plan, but he could tell. After all, it had something to do with demons in particular, and well, the plan was complex. Only his 7th floor guardian could come up with a plan like this and not tell him.
After that, they he then noticed the three woman that were standing up and walking right next to him and Narberal. Among them seemed to be a warrior woman, a ninja, and finally a little girl. He barely remembered who these people were at all in all honesty, he was too busy in his own brain worrying about his future kid.
Ainz was shocked to see such a little person among one of the strongest adventurer parties in this kingdom. In all honesty, he wasn’t even sure if it was safe for such a little girl to be in this line of work.
But then again, not all adventurers did the fighting jobs. Some simply picked weeds in gardens that people needed picked. Others carried mail. Some were hired as porters. The list went on and on.
He then turned back to the two people that seemed to be doing a comedy sketch. The both of them were laughing now. It was as if they had been possessed by yokai or something of the sort. But as soon as they started, they stopped and Aeskell got all serious.
The change was so sudden that the three women from Blue Roses were shocked by it. The woman had been aloof most of this night, speaking in riddle-like-lines of dialogue. It would be like if Princess Renner suddenly changed to a darling girl to a genius and sadistic woman.
“I recognize those flames. They belong to the demon Jaldabaoth. You have seen his flames before. It is the reason you have stepped away from home, is it not? Little sister, drive him away, and I leave you to your own fate that you make yourself. Till then, goodbye,” she explained and simply jumped away without a second thought.
That was expected. That was like the only part of the plan he had guessed. The two of them hadn’t actually said a lot of things about the plan, but by how they were acting, and what the background for Peregrinus and Viridael was, he could guess the much.
“Well, that was a lot,” said the ninja that was only kind of dressed like a ninja, why was she letting her belly be exposed again?
The warrior woman nodded her head. What was her name again? He had forgotten. He was too busy thinking about his future child to actually remember, let alone try and remember her face. She shook her head after letting out breath.
“That’s a lot of info to unpack. Miss, I’m assuming Viridael, that was your sister. She’s strong,” was all that the warrior woman that Ainz had finally remembered the name of.
Her name was Gagarin if he remembered correctly. She was one of the members of Blue Roses. Her red plate armor was slightly banged up and her face looked like it had seen better days. For some odd reason her thighs were partially exposed. He never understood why people did that with their armor.
“Yes, you may have to explain yourself Viridael; after all your sister seems to be a member of and current head of a crime family,” the masked girl said. “Also, she said you recognized that fire engulfing the city. Tell us what it is,” she demanded.
Pandora’s Acter, who was currently acting as Aeskell acting as Viridael sighed. Ainz didn’t know what was going on inside his NPC’s head, but he knew that he was probably loving this. Ainz had designed him to be an actor after all.
“I might as well. You see, that was my sister. I didn’t know she had followed me all the way from home, but she did. Our family controls a crime market all throughout our homeland, and often deal in contraband like drugs and illegal weapons. I decided to abandon that life,” Pandora’s Actor explained.
The three other women nodded their as he started to flesh out the story slightly more. This wasn’t a part of the plan for the most part. But he thought he might as well flesh it out somewhat.
After all, he was doing this with his creator and father, lord Ainz. He was also thankful to Aeskell. Because of lady Aeskell, he would be getting a little brother and he also got to spend time with his father. It was a win-win in the doppelganger’s book.
Not that he had a book on how to act in certain situations, after all, he was the perfect actor. He could read the surface level thoughts of anyone around him and use them to make his acting even more convincible.
Lady Aeskell had told him that his creator had a little booklet on how to act in certain ways in different situations. That might be all hearsay though. His father was a god amongst mortals, no way he had to practice with a booklet on how to act as a leader.
“Also, those flames belong to a demon by the name of Jaldabaoth, like my sister said,” she explained again, “I’ve been hunting the demon for a couple of years now. I’ve chased him outside of my home nation and into the neighboring nation that Momon is from,” Pandora’s Actor said, expanding Momon’s lore. “Then, I chased him here. Any more questions?”
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Aeskell was floating above the fires that had risen up in the city. She was currently floating beside Demiurge in his new, “Jaldabaoth,” persona. Originally, he was just going to wear a funny looking mask and that was it for his look. But Aeskell wasn’t having it.
He was currently dressed up like a “Michael Scott cool Santa.” He had on a red suit with black clothes underneath it. It was a rather simple get up, but after he put on his mask that made Aeskell think of him as a child trying to scare their parent.
She looked down at the little people bustling to and fro around and somewhat inside the fire that Demiurge had set up. She then peered further down at the young prince that was encouraging his men that were way to under-leveled to be taking on the demons in the fire.
She then looked back to the place where Ainz and the rest of the adventurers were. She wouldn’t be acting anymore until the last bit of the plan. She would show up after Pandora’s Actor, Ainz, and Nabe left the area that the fire would cover and talk to her. But that was it.
“Demiurge, I was planning on asking Ainz on a date after this. Albedo gave her consent, and I was wondering if we have any plans after this?” she asked while turning to him.
He turned in turn to look at her and nodded his head.
“We do not have any plans that need to be taken care of personally by you or lord Ainz at the moment,” he confirmed but continued, “may I ask why you wish to go on a date with Lord Ainz? He is already in a relationship with Lady Albedo, if you don’t mind me asking.”
“He’s handsome, kind, and over all and really nice person. I simply wish to take the next step in our relationship and see where it goes,” she explained.
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Shalltear sneezed. She could tell, she had even more competition.
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