Chapter 266

Layali licked her fingers clean of fish juice, the succulent, savory flavor of the smoked meat drove her tongue mad with delight, but her remaining eye never left the blue haired human who ignored her while he laid out his bed roll. He was shirtless, and that revealed that he was at least, what he seemed. He had a warrior's body, muscle ran all over his limbs and his torso. A few feet away, his shirt lay drying in the sun.

"I don't have one for you." He said while removing his boots and laying them at the head of his cheap sleeping roll.

"So I can share with you?" She guessed. 'He is the same.' She had the thought, but then he shook his head.

"Hell no. That would be uncomfortable." He pointed to where his shirt lay drying in the grass. "It should be dry from when you drenched it. You can use that."

"Oh." She said, then asked, "The sun is still up, why are you sleeping now?"

"I run at night when it's comfortable, and rest in the afternoon. Plus it's safer during the day than at night." Brain answered and laid himself down, resting the back of his head on the toe end of his boots as a sort of pillow, he promptly fell asleep with his arm laying limp around the sheath of his sword.

With nothing else to be done, Layali doused the remnants of the cookfire, stowed the remaining equipment into his pouch, and then went over to his shirt. The oversized cloak of his was a good enough blanket, and with nothing else for it, she lay down on the fabric after briefly touching it. 'Smells like a human…' She thought with revulsion, even inadvertently washed and dried, it still had his smell, but it beat the bare ground at least, and so she lay down herself and went to sleep.

Zesshi was well away from where she left Raymond when she hit the first divergence. That was when she realized she had a problem. 'Shit! I don't know how to track anything! Other people always do that for me! And I don't know where anything goes… who knows where all these roads go…?' She scratched her head, her fingers running through her black and white hair while she thought it over. One road went right, one went left, and the other went toward a river bend in the distance. 'Which way is north… I know the blue haired guy said he was going to the tournament… and Raymond said we'd pass through Carne and Nazarick… but which way… ugh… great job, Zesshi. Great job… you're on a straight road, you haven't left it, and yet 'somehow' you've managed to get lost!'

'Okay, stop and think… at least there's nothing in the world… that you know of, that is a threat to you. And he's not running away from you, he's not even really in a big hurry. So just run down each road and see if he passed through. There's not that many blue haired humans with katanas running around… wait… are there?' She wondered, and realized she had no idea. 'Ugh, you have 'got' to get out more.' She told herself, shrugged, turned toward the road on her right, and took off running again.

More than once Cerebrate looked toward the river with some bit of regret for his lost toy. 'I'd have had to dispose of her soon anyway, still it would have been nice to get at least a few days more use out of her before I cross the border… in retrospect taking the long route would have just been a bother.' He knew on some level he was just talking himself into dismissing the probable drowning, but the loss was still a bother.

The first real distraction he had from his annoyance was a sign written in two languages. Curiously, rather than wood, the sign was a large stone slab secured in turn to a pillar half the height and roughly the width of himself. The slab was a simple rectangle, and though he couldn't read the top half, he could read the bottom and concluded that they were dual writings of the same thing.

"You now enter the Kingdom of Carne." He read the bottom half which was inscribed in the language of the Slane Theocracy. 'The upper half must be written in the language of Re-Estize.' He concluded and stuck his head back into the carriage window to watch the world roll on.

'Forming a new kingdom is busy, chaotic work… I wonder…' He licked his lips and felt the stirring in his loins, the reputation for order which was spread by the ones who essentially took his job in the Draconic Kingdom was probably exaggerated. 'New creates chaos, new wars, new cities, new kingdoms, new work, new anything creates new opportunities…' That was the lesson he took from his tutors, and for that reason he sought out chaos brought on by newness and danger. Because there, a talented man could get away with anything. 'My swordhand is worth more than any whelp's whole body… and it's about time I remind this whole shitty world of that fact… I can't wait to get to Arwintar…'

Ainz was the first to descend from the carriage before holding his hand up, allowing Albedo to take it and accept his courteous but needless help to descend to the waiting stone ground. A tiny hint of anxiety still struck her when her Lord did these things for her, but one of the many lessons of the priest was, 'Love is not just large and grandiose gestures, it's made up of a thousand little acts of kindness, accept them with grace and return them in the same spirit.'

And so she accepted the meaning of his actions, and let him help her down without protest, her delicate little feet planted on the ground as close to him as she could manage, and only then did she see the growing castle that was, if not ready yet, going to be quite impressive when finally completed. Various towers were rising with scaffolds of wood surrounding them, where laborers under dwarven direction during the day would set down stone intended to stand for centuries.

The main building was in fact built in part from materials drawn from the remnants of Enri's old home, with simple timbers standing out in stark contrast to the rest of the more ornate building. "They work for your glory, my Lord." Albedo said and put her arm around his waist, "As they should."

Ainz gave a mute nod, in a way she was right, but there was more that Albedo couldn't see, 'Maybe she never will, but I do. This is pride, real pride in their work. They're glorifying themselves too, making something to stand so that the heirs that haven't even been born yet will one day marvel at.'

The front entrance was made of large, thick stone blocks arrayed in a broad fashion that essentially walled the courtyard on one side, while at the center lay a large double door of thick ironwood laced with strips of metal for practical defense.

The door groaned as the goblin guard forced one door open, and from within emerged the familiar royal couple. "You didn't think we would leave you to walk in alone, did you, Your Majesty?" Enri asked with a little sunny smile that all but lit up the dark of the evening.

"Please, come in and make yourselves at home." King Nfirea said with a sheepish face when he tried to sound a little more noble than he was.

It was charming, in a way, and Ainz bridged the gap, taking the first step toward the pair, and matched step for step by Albedo.

With her masterful intellect paired with her physical perfection, the winged succubus embraced her role as wife of the Allfather and the charmer of the pair, returning a radiant smile and bending slightly forward when Enri made the same gesture.

"How far along are you?" Albedo asked, and winked.

Enri gasped, and Nfirea's brief blush became proud, his back became a little bit straighter, and while Enri remained briefly stunned by the deduction of Ainz' mate, he answered. "About four weeks."

"Congratulations. When will you make the announcement?" Ainz asked and held out a meaty hand, which Nfirea clasped a moment later, the squeeze was amiable, and Enri recovered the power of speech to answer for herself.

"After the tournament in Arwintar, with so many attending from so many places, I was hoping that we could make this into an opportunity to create peace. After that war with my old Kingdom… I know one thing, that I don't want to send my son or daughter out into that." Enri raised her head when she straightened, "For my children to be safe and happy, that's all I want."

"That is why you are well suited to be Queen." Ainz answered as his affection meter maxed out for the young woman, "Now, should we go in, or do we just stand here talking in the darkness?" He asked and chuckled a little bit, prompting similar responses from the others.

"Yes, this way, Allfather." The Wolf Queen said and fell in to Albedo's right as her husband fell in on Ainz' left, and then they guided the couple toward the castle of the young kingdom.