Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 38

The crisp sound of a flipping page broke the perfect stillness of Albedo’s office as she perused the latest report to arrive at her desk. A half dozen binders were arranged in a row before her, each containing well over two hundred pages. The report itself – or rather, the study – was contained within a binder of its own. The rest were the source materials referenced within.

Normally, voluminous amounts of data were sorted and compiled by the Elder Liches she had painstakingly trained for the Sorcerous Kingdom’s administration. This study, however, contained data that was indecipherable to the Undead servitors.

Its length aside, it wasn’t a common thing to receive information that the Sorcerous Kingdom’s Undead administrators could not process. The vast majority of their work was what one might call ‘bookkeeping’ or ‘accounting’ – dealing with mountains of mundane tasks that were time-consuming rather than complex. Management decisions were limited to what was prescribed by Albedo or others both qualified and authorised to act as the ‘middle-management’ of the Sorcerous Kingdom.

Submissions by the nobility had certain quirks to them; something that appeared to be deeply ingrained in how they communicated both with their superiors and with one another. Each was structured as a form of discourse or correspondence, conveying complexities beyond what was possible through forms and conventional reports.

The efficiency by which those complexities were conveyed depended on the qualities of the individuals involved, but each Noble of the Sorcerous Kingdom delivered them with a unique ‘voice’. It all spoke of the way that their society was structured: while it might be said that all Humans formed bonds with others, Nobles were creatures that epitomised this trait. Every submission was a communion of thoughts and values crafted to create, reinforce and deepen social connections.

Albedo suspected that the Nobles had settled on this mode of communication precisely because they thought it would better help their new Prime Minister understand both themselves and their subjects. By summer, they were all resorting to written correspondences. She couldn’t say that they didn’t succeed in their objective, but she cared very little about reciprocating their efforts with correspondences of her own. All she wanted was the crucial data that they presented which would assist in her governance of the realm.

The latest offering provided a wealth of information that would be undoubtedly useful, but, at the same time, she couldn’t help but be a bit surprised at how well the tool that she had deployed worked. Like an arrow loosed from a bow, it not only flew unerringly at its target but managed to hit nearly every other target along the way. There was also a degree of annoyance over the fact that the tool had to be ‘borrowed’.

“Empire in Chains,” she muttered. “These Nobles are becoming audacious.”

“That’s a good thing, is it not?” The other figure in the room said, “Bold leaders with bold ambitions make for excellent agents of change.”

“It would be better if they were agents under our complete control.”

“Mah, you should know that it works better this way. Well, considering the work in Re-Estize…”

Reclining on the chair across from her in his mustard-yellow uniform was the Area Guardian of the Guild Treasury of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Pandora’s Actor. He held a copy of the study open in a long-fingered hand and seemed a bit more than proud that the seed he had planted had grown so rapidly over the past year.

“That is exactly my point,” Albedo suppressed a sigh. “The vermin there are audacious to the point of presumptuousness! Whenever I think of…”

An uncontrollable shudder went all the way to her wingtips and her hand went to where she had been violated. If there was a way to tear off her skin to make it so that she had never been touched, Albedo would have gladly done so.

She should have demanded that he be mulched and replaced with a Doppelganger. Their insolent pawn had grown problematic to the point where he had been isolated to ‘his’ territory. There, Hilma Cygnaeus assured her that he would be rendered harmless. Two handlers were assigned to watch over him and bring him out only when his presence was required at one Noble function or another.

“At any rate,” she smoothed out her feathers, “it only goes to prove that an adequate degree of oversight is necessary if any of these outsiders is to be granted real authority.”

“Speaking of oversight, something is off about your agent in Re-Estize…”

“The Princess, or the prostitute?”

“The Princess. The prostitute is already ruined. Any concerns over her are ultimately short-lived.”

That was true enough. Hilma Cygnaeus would never be any more than what she was. She would be squeezed for what little she was worth and cast aside when they were done with her.

“Have you heard something as Momon?”

“What I haven’t heard is the problem,” Pandora’s Actor crossed his legs and gestured vaguely into the air. “I understand that her proposal to treat Re-Estize as an ‘Area’ appeals to our sensibilities, but this plan that she is enacting is indicative of problematic thinking. That Human is fundamentally at odds with the core of what we are.”

So he was aware of it as well. By putting together bits and pieces from external sources, no less.

Simply put, Princess Renner did not trust anyone and her motives were inherently selfish. This was the polar opposite of Nazarick’s NPCs, who were created to serve and implicitly trusted one another.

“As long as we hold power over her heart’s desire,” Albedo replied, “she can be reliably used. The same cannot be guaranteed for these seeds that you’ve planted.”

“While they may have been planted by me,” Pandora’s Actor said, “they have been mostly nurtured by others. Even Ainz-sama has involved himself in the process of transforming them into the first batch of qualified agents.”

The Doppelganger stopped gesturing to pat the binder in his hand – the work of one such tool. Albedo looked back down at her copy, idly running her gaze over the open page. Only a fool would attempt to refute his statement. Pandora’s Actor had invested a great deal of effort in determining how to mould the citizens of the Sorcerous Kingdom into components that served in the machinery of the state. His findings led to a variety of conclusions that were both promising and potentially problematic.

To the denizens of Nazarick with their unending lifespans, the workings of the mortals under their rule could be seen as a curious game in itself. Each piece lived brief lives and their task was to make the most out of those brief lives. Education and guidance – or rather, standardisation and brainwashing – served as an effective means to mass-produce individuals who embarked upon the Job Class paths that their handlers desired.

If they produced a faulty component, all they had to do was wait for them to die. Or justify their disposal. Many advocated that failed individuals should just be reprocessed to free up resources. However, the lines that the Supreme One had drawn concerning the governance of the Sorcerous Kingdom essentially prohibited this.

Some of those components, however, were now starting to produce results and reveal aspects of the world that would by necessity change the Sorcerous Kingdom’s plans as well.

“Do you truly believe that this emphasis on culture merits the investment of our time and resources?”

“Indeed, I do,” Pandora’s Actor nodded. “What we have discovered concerning the ‘mechanics’ of this world make its effects irrefutable. Unlike Yggdrasil, where everything is known and set in stone, everything evolves here. Even if we do not deepen our understanding of these systems and exploit them to our ends, someone else inevitably will and they may potentially gain advantages over us. The task of managing the mortals of this world is well-suited to we who can cultivate their potential over the course of aeons.”

“Potential…Ainz-sama has warned of the dangers that come with knowledge. Only those who display absolute loyalty to Nazarick are allowed to share in its fruits. What is allowed to the rest is limited to what we deem harmless.”

“Oh, I do not disagree, but several of the people that we speak of are as loyal as a native of this world can be short of casting domination magic on them.”

“They are loyal Nobles,” Albedo noted. “Loyal Nobles are loyal to the contracts that they maintain with their liege.”

It was perhaps a strange distinction to make considering that the sovereign of the state was Momonga-sama, yet a crucial one all the same. The citizens of the Sorcerous Kingdom – Nobles included – were generally unaware of the fact that the Sorcerous Kingdom was in truth a front for Nazarick. They believed that they were citizens of a kingdom that had certain differences from the one that they had come from but was still largely something that they were familiar with.

Those exposed to the truth of the Sorcerous Kingdom reacted in one of two ways. The first was that they would enter a state of fearful subservience that produced individuals of limited and specific use. The second was that they would understand their place and show the appropriate gratitude for being allowed to exist. Save for a handful of exceptions, Humans tended to fall into the first category.

“You believe that they will change if exposed to the truth?” Pandora’s Actor tilted his head, cradling his chin between his thumb and forefinger. “All of them are already aware of bits and pieces of it. The workings of the Sorcerous Kingdom are such that certain things are not so easy to conceal. Furthermore, the gradual approach to their…transition has been taken precisely because they are not only individuals of proven talent, but also because their nature is compatible with ours. Time only proves this ever more to be the case. Inserting this agent into your experiment with the Empire far exceeded the minimum thresholds for success, no?”

Was there such a thing as getting more than what one wanted, yet being unsatisfied that one had? Despite being what all agreed to be a resounding success in their efforts to create useful agents out of the world’s natives, something still irritated her about the whole affair.

The basic test for the agent had several conditions to clear. Abusing her authority as a representative of the Sorcerous Kingdom was an instant fail and grounds for termination. Demonstrating competence in the role that she had been groomed to fill was also required to pass. She was to facilitate the integration of the Death-series servitors but failure or success at her other tasks as a liaison officer did not constitute an overall failure so long as she endeavoured to carry out her duties in good faith.

No one expected her to just barely manage, but neither did anyone expect her to help achieve over eighty per cent of the secondary and bonus objectives that were identified but not disclosed. The Empire was made to better know its place, understand that they could not survive the dangers of the world without the Sorcerous Kingdom and had taken the first steps to align their legislation with their suzerain’s foreign policy. This was done without extinguishing imperial ambitions; instead refining them to serve as a better geopolitical tool for the Sorcerous Kingdom.

Of immediate importance to Albedo were the imperial policies currently undergoing deliberations: policies concerning non-Human races and tribal relations. With the subjugation of the Abelion Hills came a fresh influx of non-Human subjects to the Sorcerous Kingdom. The Empire’s efforts would serve as a testing ground for how Human-centric societies could be phased into the multiracial society that their Master desired.

Their Master’s shrewd acquisition of Pe Riyuro and the arrangements to have him encounter Emperor Jircniv served to catapult her plans forward. Albedo would be unqualified as Momonga-sama’s right hand if she didn’t further capitalise on his generous assistance. While it would be a few years before the other Human countries in the region would come under their direct influence, it would take time to collect data and develop a working template for their conversion into states that fell in line with the Sorcerous Kingdom’s policies.

“Perhaps it is because we don’t have many of them yet.”

Albedo looked up from her thoughts. Pandora’s Actor quietly awaited her response, regarding her with his egg-like face.

“I beg your pardon?”

“A line exists between those of Nazarick and everyone else,” he explained, “but outsiders are beginning to approach that line as of late. They can never step over it to become one of us, but, at the same time, they have created a new line for us to observe. Before the Sorcerous Kingdom, the beings that existed in that space were products of indulgence, curiosities, experiments or something like pets. Now, we have a new breed of outsider that has been imparted a degree of authority and responsibility that may be perceived as infringing on the duties that we have been created to fulfil.”

Pandora’s Actor leaned back in his seat and crossed his legs, looking up at the wall past her left shoulder.

“I believe we are all experiencing some discomfort due to this. Jealousy, if you will.”

“Jealousy?” Albedo’s smile slipped off of her face, “What is there to be jealous of these inferior lifeforms about?”

“The same things that we are always jealous about,” Pandora’s Actor shrugged. “Whenever someone performs some service for Ainz-sama, we think ‘ah, I wish that could have been me’. When someone serves in a role that we, too, might have served, we imagine how well we could perform the bliss we would experience in their place. As created beings, we always strive to do more – we would grind ourselves to dust just to grasp a tiny bit of that supreme bliss. Whenever others are entrusted with important tasks, there is a tiny voice in each of us that screams ‘thief’!”

“And so you propose to increase the number of ‘thieves’.”

“No, I am saying that only having a few makes their achievements seem overly ‘special’ – especially since they require intelligence and talent to accomplish. Rationally speaking, this shouldn’t be so since we are the ones assigning duties to them. Having more of these individuals will better define what is to be truly envied and what is to be perceived no differently than how you would view an Elder Lich delegated to administrative tasks.”

“…you’re trying to soften me up for the next one, aren’t you?”

As Albedo peered at him, Pandora’s Actor brought down his hat to hide his face. His muffled voice rose from behind it.

“Maybe…”

She snorted and rolled her eyes.

“Unlike Baroness Zahradnik,” she said, “Countess Corelyn is both logical and plans thoroughly ahead of time. We have been collaborating closely on her initiative, amongst other things, since last spring.”

“So I’ve heard,” Pandora’s Actor placed his hat back on his head again. “From what I can gather of her, the good Countess has an overwhelmingly positive sense of respect and admiration for her Prime Minister, as well. Birds of a feather, perhaps?”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Albedo scoffed. “She and I both understand our respective positions and her excellence was apparent once she assumed the duties that came with her title.”

“Yet, you did not voice a single word of protest when Shalltear gobbled her up.”

“Shalltear’s duties are far more expansive and complicated than she can handle alone with Elder Liches and Vampire Brides,” she told him. “It was a necessary staffing arrangement and Ainz-sama approved her request. Besides, her transfer under Shalltear’s authority does not affect her other work.”

Pandora’s Actor rose from his chair, his slender fingers moving to tug at the lapels of his uniform.

“In that case,” he said, “may I take this to mean that you’ll give your final approval on her great venture?”

“It’s just the first step of her ‘great venture’, but yes.”

“Then I will see you at the next court meeting,” the Doppelganger’s form shifted, his uniform replaced by jet black plate, “as Momon, of course.”

Albedo’s amber gaze followed Pandora’s Actor as he made his exit. Once the tall door clicked shut, she closed the binder containing Baroness Zahradnik’s ‘report’ and relaxed in her seat.

Great venture, huh…

If one was to summarise the moves that Nazarick had made with respect to the Sorcerous Kingdom, they could be described thusly:

First came the acquisition of a key territory that acted as the nexus of the region and would serve as a compact seat of power, E-Rantel. To the west of E-Rantel were all of their efforts that might be described as subversive or belligerent. Eastwards were the efforts that would be described as benign or benevolent.

To the northeast was the Empire, which acted as a test model for a stable and orderly Human state.

In the Azerlisia Mountains to the north was the Dwarf Kingdom: a small, but relatively valuable state that explored the possibilities of having minor, fully autonomous trading partners. The Frost Dragons that had been picked up along the way were granted to Shalltear and served as the backbone of the Sorcerous Kingdom’s aerial transportation network. There were also the Frost Giants that came as a sort of bonus and were in the process of creating a navy. They would also serve as marines in the armed forces.

In the southwest was the mopping-up of Demiurge’s ‘farm’ experiments, which culminated in the selective genocide of tribal populations in the Abelion Hills. Once several dozen side objectives were accomplished and the targeted populations were cleansed, they were left with mostly-docile groups of tribal Demihumans who submitted themselves as tributaries to the one who liberated them from ‘Jaldabaoth’: the Sorcerer King. Management of the Abelion Hills had been handed to Albedo, and she planned to use it as a testbed for various social and economic experiments.

This Demihuman genocide also served as a springboard to destabilise and divide the relatively stable and prosperous Holy Kingdom of Roble, which was situated on the peninsula to the west. The Holy Kingdom was a series of ‘intervention’ experiments where adverse conditions were forced upon the nation for the Sorcerous Kingdom to ‘rescue’ them from. It was also used to test various methods to boost domestic productivity under undesirable conditions by the standards of the native Humans.

The first phase – a military intervention to save the nation from the ‘Demihuman coalition’ invading them from the Abelion Hills – had recently been concluded. The second phase was a socioeconomic experiment that set the stage for a second military intervention. This intervention involved the Sorcerous Kingdom delivering economic and military aid at the request of Roble’s Holy King, who was now a Doppelganger from Nazarick, to quell civil unrest, purge undesirable elements and restore order to the nation. Once that was done, the Holy Kingdom would not only be ruled by a Nazarick agent but also be unquestionably indebted to its saviour, the Sorcerer King.

Countess Corelyn’s opening move to her ‘great venture’ was the Sorcerous Kingdom’s next experiment: one that tested the viability of its native agents in influencing national affairs on a large scale. Far to the southeast, past the misty wastelands of the Katze Plains, the Countess and her ‘faction’ would be performing another intervention – one that would bring an entire nation back from beyond the brink of ruin.

The deliverance of the Draconic Kingdom. Once complete, the Sorcerous Kingdom would have another scenario’s worth of data. Tightly binding their new ‘ally’ to the Sorcerous Kingdom’s hegemony would also deliver to them a gateway to the continent.

And after that…

Albedo’s eyes glinted in anticipation. After that would be her turn. Everything was going according to plan.