Chapter 138

Atop the dragon, Ainz could clearly see why the dwarves panicked as they did. From a distance, they must have looked like a great many in number, when in fact they were not nearly as numerous as all that.

A small number of defenders, and a small number of attackers, and now all reduced to what amounted to nothing more than refugees.

"Alright, set me down there, Hejinmal." Ainz said and pointed to the ground ahead of the walls of the city.

It was obvious when the fleeing figures saw him, they began to slow, seeing a dragon circling in a slow descent beneath the sky of stone until it touched the ground.

The words of Punitto Moe came to mind, 'Throw something odd and unaccountable in their path, and you may halt an entire army.'

Ainz landed and dismounted from the dragon, he kept his left palm resting on Hejinmal's long neck and waited as the slowing numbers of dwarves and quagoa began to approach far more tentatively, but they did continue to approach.

"Come closer, I won't harm you! My name is Ainz Ooal Gown! I am the King of the Nation of Nazarick." Ainz called out and holding up a hand, he curled it inwardly toward himself, indicating that they should collectively come closer.

Being taller than any dwarf, and so obviously not one, he became a sort of 'neutral figure' to both the dwarven and the quagoan numbers. The scattered ranks continued their unofficial truce and approached on slow steps. Many of them were exhausted, carried as far as they were only by the raw terror that still touched their steps.

There came a point however, when even fear could not carry them farther on their flight. When they collectively stopped well out of reach of the dragon's breath, Ainz took one step forward, putting himself between them and the dragon. "Send forward a representative then, one from each of you."

The scattered numbers began to organize themselves with relative speed, considering most of them had to trudge.

Mutterings and mumblings that were probably words, but which were too mangled by distance and softness of voice ran rampant through both groups until one dwarf and one quagoa shambled forward.

"Sit." Ainz said immediately when they came close enough, and they flopped hard onto their backsides with sighs of relief.

"Now, tell me what has happened? Are you friends again? I heard you were enemies…"

A quagoa face did not reveal very much, but it appeared at least they had the same cockeyed look that most bipedal species seemed to have when confused.

With the representatives seated, Ainz towered even more over both races, "Now, start at the beginning…" Ainz said as gently as he could, but the quagoa's sharp jaw opened and he answered with a slew of questions…

"Who are you… what are you… why are you here…?"

It went on, and though it was the dark furred quagoa who spoke, the dwarf clearly favored the questions, looking up with the same cockeyed face as his counterpart.

"I suppose it is only natural that you should ask that… very well, I will begin, and then await your answers." Ainz said and began his story.

Including the fictional parts wherein his Kingdom was quite ancient, he peppered the story with anecdotes about the Undermountain Empire he once knew there, a cosmopolitan place where dwarf and quagoa shared space freely.

Recalling Demiurge's fabrications, he built them into his narrative, finally pointing to the Great Rift that was formed in a great clash to defeat a terrible demon.

When he got to his description of the Evil Lord of Wrath, both the dwarf and the quagoa gasped, sucking in their breath and trading looks of mutual understanding.

"I can't quite recall his name however…" Ainz touched his head as if it ached, "We slept for so long… some memories… they're bright as day and eternal as a glowstone. Others?" He bent forward a little, "So obscure. Hard to recall, his name… Jald- Jal-"

"Jaldabaoth." The dwarf and the quagoa said it at the same moment, and both groups cried out in fear at their backs when the name of the towering demon was spoken.

"Yes… yes that is the name!" Ainz sharply nodded his head. He stopped then, and stared down at them both, "But… if nobody remembers the things I've said… how can you possibly know 'that' name?"

"That is the reason we ran…" The quagoan warrior said with a dread look up at the King.

Ainz took a 'shocked' step back. "It can't be! Jaldabaoth has been sealed since the Rift Making!"

"You described what we all saw… and if even a quagoa agrees with me… Great King… you defeated this being once before, you say?" The dwarf replied.

"Yes," Ainz replied, "He was weakened enough by runecraft weaponry. And with the enchanted runecraft armor, the armies of both dwarf and quagoa held out while I sealed his army into an object and then confined him in the same way. The last I saw of either, the object holding him prisoner was being locked away, and the object confining his army was tumbling into the rift. It was never found, but with him confined and both dwarf and quagoa watching over the rift, it didn't matter. There were bigger concerns."

"If all of that is so… then how are you here now?" The quagoa asked, its claws digging into the stone beneath him, gouging it deeply.

"I was awakened, my ancient home was invaded. Now my Kingdom is restored. I can't help but wonder if Jaldabaoth wasn't awakened precisely because we were?" Ainz rubbed his chin in deep thought, and a low grumble of disgust reached both groups.

"Now, it is your turn." Ainz pointed at the quagoa, "Tell me everything you know, beginning with why the ancient union of your peoples was destroyed, if you know it, and all leading up to today."

The quagoa froze like a doe caught off guard by the sudden appearance of a hunter.

The dark furred creature was full of stammering and uncertainty, with little he could say about their history, but Pe Riyuro figured large and got a glowing depiction in the present day when he got up to that point.

And when it came down to the reason for conflict the spokesman made it plain. "We want to rule the mountains, that is all. The quagoa desire to raise our place in the world. Dwarves are in the way, so we're getting rid of them."

"So… if I were to offer the quagoa a mountain range of their own, something unencumbered by dragons or dwarves where they could grow to the limits of their potential…?" Ainz let the question hang, and at that the quagoa snapped his jaw shut and looked at Ainz as if his head had become gold, and the quagoa had become Midas himself.

"A mountain of our own?" The quagoa asked.

"Yes." Ainz replied. "This part of the world has long ranges, and I'm sure I can provide you what you want… if you return to my service, and if your people aid me against Jaldabaoth."

The quagoa nearly shot to his feet, the temptation was great in his eyes, his whole body stiffened like the dead as he explained, "I can't agree to that! I lead only a few hundred warriors! Only Pe Riyuro can…"

"Will Pe Riyuro listen to you?" Ainz demanded and stepped a hair closer to the quagoa, the short being shrunk in fear.

"I-I don't know… My Lord." The quagoa whispered, "Even if he does, the dragons-"

Ainz cut him off again. "If Jaldabaoth is back, and has met the dragons, then there are unlikely to be any dragons left to oppose Pe Riyuro's decision."

He then snapped his pointed finger to the dwarf. "You, there is another way across the Great Rift isn't there?"

The dwarf reflexively nodded. "Yes, yes there is, My Lord." He gasped out in haste.

"Escort the surviving quagoa over it, send them back to their people, let them tell the truth of Jaldabaoth to theirs, as you tell the truth to yours. If Pe Riyuro is wise or alive, then all as it was will be again." Ainz proclaimed, and both looked overtly confused.

"You, quagoa, tell your chief to bring all his people here. Jaldabaoth will be searching for his army of demons. If Pe Riyuro is as wise and canny as you say, he will do as I say. If he is dead, let his successor come. If he is a fool, then you will all die out buying time for the dwarves to prepare for the fight. Life, or death, the choice is his."

Ainz lowered his pointed hand back to his side, he recalled a moment in which Queen Draudillon spoke in anger, how she snapped out her command of "go" to someone who was not moving fast enough from her presence.

"What are you waiting for? The Demon Emperor to catch up to you? Go!" Ainz snapped, and the quagoa shot to his feet.

The dwarf chosen as a representative scrambled to his feet just as fast, and with great haste they scurried to carry out the command of the King. "The rest of you, follow me into the city, you have to tell your people to get ready to resist a demon."

There was not one, no matter how weary, who was slow to follow Ainz' command.