Chapter 289

The trip from the inn to the palace was brief, but even had it not been, Raymond felt himself too distracted to notice, 'What could possibly be the problem…'

Lots of things ran through his head, the Allfather immediately topped the list. 'Could he have chosen to declare war on another human nation?' If that was the case, that nation was simply finished. Raymond remembered the sight of those beings the Allfather summoned, and the duel of the champions, a handful of unknown humans armed with equipment better than what he considered divine class, and the Four Imperial Knights were simply annihilated.

What to think of such a man was a subject of great controversy amidst the Slane Theocracy's leadership. 'Is he a defender of humanity? Is he a literal god come again to lead us into prosperity? A devil in disguise, a false savior?' Even Raymond himself was unsure, but among the more rabid anti-demihuman factions of government, Ainz was the clearest threat to human supremacy since… ever.

To Raymond however?

He felt the knife twist in his gut on the way to the palace when he saw a goblin walking beside a human while an ogre exited a door the size of a barn, and none seemed to think to strike the other.

His carriage stopped, and though he couldn't quite see why, the tail of a naga was clearly visible, at least, and a series of small children rushed past. For just one moment he felt himself ready to leap out of the carriage, his hand went to the knife he always carried at his side. 'I have to protect them!' He screamed in his head, and then the carriage lurched forward and the naga came into view. It wore a vest of bright blue with glow stones adorning the sleeves. 'It's… controlling wagon traffic?! It was minding their safe crossing?!'

He stuck his head out of the window to watch the impossible vanish into the distance, part of him all but prayed for it to attack, but the naga did not, it simply took position at the intersection of the street again, and waited.

He clutched his head as cut after bloody cut ran through his memory. "It was for humanity." He said to himself over and over until he reached the castle and the carriage stopped again.

The boy who brought him, opened the door and Raymond emerged with a single quick hop, skipping the step and any of the usual pleasantries, he rushed toward the door where a pair of goblin guards holding long halberds simply opened the door for him and held it until he passed them by, evidently expecting him.

'It was for humanity!' He said and rushed onward until he reached the entrance to the throne room. A dark elf guard, slight of build and wearing runecraft armor, stood in his path.

Raymond stopped, the guard met his eye, "Before you go in, you should know, the Queen of Frost is present. You are urged to control yourself."

The Cardinal stiffened, and the guard gave a slow nod. "That was why I was to warn you. Are you prepared?" The guard asked with a more gentle, but almost stern tone.

"I pledge to take no aggressive act." Raymond said, and the guard reached for the door and opened it for him.

Far from a number of guards and courtiers, the throne room was almost empty. The Wolf King and Queen sat on their thrones, and at either side of them stood the Allfather and Allmother, 'She's not human… Just like they said…' He thought as he noted the wings, but her hands folded protectively over the bump where her baby was, just as a human mother might, and everything about her was divine class in its radiant beauty. She stood close to her husband, and inched a little closer when Raymond entered.

The Golden Queen Renner, bearing her marvelous crystalline like dress so that she glowed with an almost angelic light, the Holy Queen still held her son, the firstborn son of the Allfather and heir to the throne. Her countenance was nigh unreadable. If she was angry or fearful, even Raymond could not say.

Then there was her. 'The traitor to humanity… the Queen of Frost…' It was his first time seeing the dragonid Queen up close, and if it were not for a few features, the horns, wings, and tail, she still appeared human. Slightly pale, and with Raymond's sharp eyes he could tell that her flesh had changed from the natural softness of human flesh to become closer to the soft armor of a dragon's body. When he met her eyes, a chill ran down his spine. Unlike the other Queens, this one was wearing military equipment, the armor of a demihuman she'd killed, according to reports.

The Allfather himself put a protective arm around the waist of the Allmother when she inched closer, he was a tall, powerful-looking man, dark haired and square jawed, he radiated power and charisma. No sooner had he shifted his eyes from the dragonid to the man than every fiber of his being called out to listen to, and even obey, the royal before him.

But the first words to be uttered snapped Raymond out of his trance. "Queen Draudillon of the Draconic Kingdom was attacked and kidnapped, taken on your territory." The Wolf Queen said, and Raymond's mouth dropped open.

"We would never do such a thing!" He insisted, and Enri inclined her head toward him as soon as he protested.

"We know. But it did happen. Based on the evidence, it appears some runaway slaves are responsible, you have many elven slaves, and I've even had the occasional runaway show up here." Enri leveled the words at him with only the slightest hint of accusation.

"Yes… I know the Pontifex Maximus has urged you to send them back as it's created a disruptive element… a place to escape to means that some will try to escape that otherwise would not." Raymond pointed out, "If some escaped slaves did do this, I assume you are prepared to take responsibility?"

Enri bristled a little at his almost benign way of accusing her in return. Her fingers tensed on the throne, "If I were the sort to lay blame, I'd think it would be with the ones who created the situation in the first place. I've heard 'stories' about what goes on in your country, if you would change your policy, you wouldn't have this problem in the first place. If you make your work into a nightmare, why are you surprised if people try to get away from it?"

Raymond bristled a bit. "It was that or kill them, what else can we do? We've been at war with the Elf Kingdom for over a hundred years, and even before that the Elf King was trading away his own people… and we need the labor, the more bodies in the field, the more men we can field."

"Bodies. Not 'people'." The Queen of Frost replied to him unasked, "Thousands of elves now live in my country, refugees from Wenmark, the stories they tell of the horrors of their city life chill even my blood, and my blood no longer runs hot at all."

Raymond shivered, "I've heard of that city… but we are not Wenmark… what kind of fool would mistreat… no, we're getting distracted, what is the evidence even that it was runaway elves or that it happened at all?"

The Wolf King held out a hand and tossed the wrapped up cloth to the floor at Raymond's feet, the ear rolled out and the partial insignia was obvious. "I see… wait… if this happened on my country's land then how…?"

Raymond crouched down and picked up the ear in one hand and cloth in the other, and searched the faces around him for answers.

"I found it." The Queen of Frost answered, and a number of eyes fell immediately to her.

Neia's shoulders slumped, "Look I'm just not that good of a liar, that takes people skills, and do I look like I ever got the chance to develop many of those?" She asked, it was grim, self effacing humor that caught them off guard, especially given the nature of the moment. "I crossed your border when I didn't find her on our side. I'll apologize if you want me to, but there wasn't time for formalities, not with a fucking Queen missing."

Raymond was quiet, and suppressed his revulsion at the hypocrisy that came out of his mouth next, "You crossed our border without our permission?"

"The Theocracy should be familiar enough with that practice." Enri pointed out to him.

"I don't know what you mean." Raymond lied smooth as silk, 'The Sunlight Scripture died not far from here.' He thought and dropped both the ear and cloth back down to the floor, he folded his hands behind his back and squared his shoulders. "The Slane Theocracy has only ever acted in the best interests of humanity."

It was a noncommittal answer, and they all knew it.

He shifted tack and added, "Where were they found? Are you sure they were taken and not killed?"

"By horse it would be about three days from here, but that's an estimate, I don't ride much anymore." Neia said with a snarky little smirk on her face and a beat of her wings that wafted air toward him and briefly disturbed the neat brown hair on Cardinal Raymond's head.

He rubbed his beard, "Has there been a border crossing since then? Or any high quality goods mysteriously showing up in the local market?" Raymond asked.

All eyes turned to the Wolf King and Queen.

"We don't know… but why?" Nfirea replied with the question in return, his eyes obscured by the hair that hung down in front of his face.

"Find out." Raymond answered. "If these were escaped slaves, then they were running north, toward you. And if they really did attack the Queen's retinue then it's unthinkable that they wouldn't plunder it and sell the goods to support themselves once arriving here."

A round of steady eyes met the Cardinal with new respect, but he didn't notice, he was stroking his full beard from cheek to chin, "I just don't believe it was slaves though." He mumbled.

"What?" Neia said, affronted, "Are you calling me a liar? I cut that ear off a corpse." She said and flashed her fang filled snarl at him.

Though her eyes were such that he couldn't truly meet them for long, he shook his head, "No, I am willing to accept that… but… why take them?"

"Why else?" Neia hissed at him, and the room, save for Raymond, collectively winced.

"I was once a field warrior, and so were you, weren't you, Queen of Frost?" Raymond asked.

"I… I was, yes, why?" Neia answered, slightly discomfited by the unexpected common ground.

"I ventured out alone or with a small group for days, weeks, or even months at a time, and when I was in that position, captives were not on my agenda. Were they on yours?" It was half accusation, half simple statement of fact, phrased as a question.

"No… no. Point in fact, they weren't. When you're out like that, you got no way to keep captives, no place to hold prisoners, you've got to keep moving and prisoners are a cross between danger and hindrance… ohhh…" Neia felt the realization dawn on her like the rising sun.

"They've got nowhere to take them, can't keep them, definitely can't sell them… even if they wanted to do that, they'd just leave them behind, dead or not." Neia reached the conclusion that Cardinal Raymond wanted her to, and silence returned to the room, though far, far more respectful than before.

"The Elf King took her." Raymond said without a single shred of doubt dropping from his tongue.