Chapter 323

"Is this how I do it?" Ainz asked, glancing at the Holy Queen as he tried to settle his son just right into his arms, the little thing was small, squishy, and so delicate that Ainz felt a terror in his heart that no enemy in the New World had ever given to him. 'I'll break him!' He told himself as his heart palpitated in his chest, but to his relief, the Holy Queen with a patient and slow touch, helped him move his arms and hands just a little.

"Good, like that, now relax. He won't bite, and he won't break from just being held." Calca said, and then leaned back against the bulging cushion of the couch.

The Holy Queen kept an eye out on the demon as she helped the husband they had in common, but a sense of relief came over her as the mother to be watched with a careful eye to see the way her husband learned to care for the infant. Tiny arms and legs kicked about, and little gurgles came out as the child smiled upward at his father.

'If my mother, if my friends, could have seen me now… what would Bukubukuchagama have to say about this? Father of nations, father to the children of my dear friends, and now father to my own bloodline… two of them soon…' He considered and reached out a finger to wiggle in between the infant's hands.

Aurelion grabbed for the finger with a baby's giggle and seemed to smile larger when he caught it.

"He's coming along fine. And he's got quite a grip for a child of his age." Calca said with no small amount of pride, going so far as to stretch out her arms across the back seat when she straightened up. "What a King he will be, one day. It makes me wish we had a prophet, or at least an evangelist around."

Ainz's mind jumped to the familiar RPG job classes. "Those are rare, aren't they?" He asked.

"Oh yes… very." Calca emphasized, "We haven't seen either since the Six Great Gods appeared. One of the founders of the Slane Theocracy was an evangelist who gained prophetic powers. They wrote a book… but they wrote it in an unknown language and nobody in the Slane Theocracy can read it."

Ainz perked up, "Could you perhaps write some of it, maybe I would recognize the way it looks."

Calca shook her head, "No, I'm sorry, my husband. There is only one copy and they've had that locked up since before my nation appeared. It's said that the one who wrote it intended it to be read only by another of the same fate… a pitiable thing, since their prophet came to a bad end."

"What sort of a bad end?" Ainz asked, looking up from his son to focus on the curious bit of history.

"Suicide." Calca said, "Prophecy is a powerful thing, too much for one mind. The theocracy's crown of wisdom bearers become catatonic and die young trying to read the future together, and usually failing. For one person to do that? I can't imagine the pain, the stories of those days say that the prophet's brain was supposed to feel like it was on fire every time he saw something new. The Dragon Lords are longer lived than we by far, they could probably say more, but they take a dim view of talking to humans much. Except for the pervert."

"The pervert?" Ainz chuckled, "I doubt he's that much of a pervert." He added, 'Not compared to Peroroncino at least.' Ainz added privately.

"He transforms himself into various races to have sex with their women… In fact he's the grandfather of Queen Draudillon. But even he doesn't say much to outsiders, not without a good reason." Calca pointed out.

"I see." Ainz remarked, while leaving off his private thoughts… 'I see that rescuing Draudillon just became an even higher priority.'

Raymond allowed Nua to do her job and check him in, and waited for her to guide him through the sea of tables within which, to the Cardinal's dismay, included more than just humans… again. Big mugs of ale with big foaming heads dripping down were raised in cheer and consumed with loud smacking lips. To his right, a human male and an orc male were busy armwrestling, grunting against one another while a female of each race stood by their mates and cheered them on. The human woman… was buxom, but rippled with muscle and had shoulders almost as broad as those of her husband, with close cropped hair and leather armor, a steel sword strapped to her side. The orc female might have been a green skinned sister, with large tusks and deep set eyes, they pumped their fists and cheered on the competitors.

Raymond almost stopped, going to a half step briefly to watch, but when the creak of the stair caught his attention he remembered himself and followed his slave up the stairs.

Nua walked with the steady trudge of those for whom time meant nothing, just one more step, but it carried her forward to the landing and then up the second flight until she was moving along the length of the second floor hallway.

She stopped at a door, slid an iron key into the lock and opened the door. As was proper, Nua entered first, and when nothing happened, Raymond followed. "I will unpack your bag, master." Nua said in the even, indifferent voice of one who was merely doing her work.

Raymond gave a half nod to her as he looked about the room, a single bed lay with white cotton sheets and a single long pillow across the head against a dark cherry stained headboard.

A chest of drawers, if not the finest, at least smooth and stained to match the bed, sat nearby as did a single small square table with a black and white banded candle sitting there waiting for use.

All in all, cozy but not luxurious, was how he thought to describe it. Nua, for her part, walked straight to the chest of drawers, opened his case, and began to store the next day's clothing. But when she got to his combat gear and spare field equipment, she paused. "Master… What do I do with this? Do I store it at the ready or leave it packed?" She reached down and held up the armor, though she only pointed down at the weapons with her free hand.

Raymond raised an eyebrow, "You can… lift that, with one arm?"

"Yes, My Lord. I've been worked hard, something like this is easy. If it displeases you, I will set it down immediately!" She added and began to crouch down to put it carefully back into place.

"No, it's fine…" Raymond insisted, and the slave paused at a half crouch, clearly trying to think of what to do, he said…

"You can put it back, I won't need it here, at least not tonight." He said, and it was with a swift gesture that Nua laid it back into position just as it had been. Not many can handle that… with the countermanding weight penalties to increase my other abilities, I've seen hardened adventurers who couldn't pick it up.'

She closed up the case and then slid it beneath the bed, then closed the drawer too, before going in front of him and kneeling again with her head bowed. "Is there… anything more, or should I retire to my place to sleep tonight, M-My lord?"

Raymond understood what she was asking, but a puzzlement struck him that, thanks to his curious and inquisitive nature, had him looking around the room again as if he'd missed something. "Where? There is no other room."

She studied his face for longer than was comfortable, her sky blue eyes seeming to search every whisker of his brown beard. "Is my master joking, again?"

"No." Raymond answered and scratched his head. "It seems a normal enough question."

"Has my lord never traveled with one of us before?" Nua asked, she spoke with a slow, metered intonation, her eyes still searching over his face for any hint of anger or taunting from down where she knelt.

"No, I haven't." Raymond answered with a shake of his head.

"Then, master, I will be sleeping outside, underneath the carriage, if you have no intention of ascertaining my… compliance, then I will return to sleep outside." Nua replied, her face unchanging and betrayed no hint of neither happiness nor unhappiness.

'If she were a gambler, she would be the best.' Raymond considered, then added, "When was the last time you ate something?"

"Yesterday, my lord, before coming to drive your carriage." Nua answered. Her belly rumbled, but she ignored it as if it hadn't.

Raymond frowned deeply. "You should have said something. Why didn't you?"

"It's not my place, master. Your comrade ensured I understood I would be attending to a Cardinal, one of the pinnacles of human authority. If you wish me to starve, I starve. Eat, I eat. What you command me to do, I do. You are the chosen of the gods, I am two legged sheep… as he put it."

Raymond drew his fingers over his beard and let out a sigh. "That does sound like something he would say… his scripture always was that way…" Raymond muttered while he absently looked away from the kneeling elf, her hair was nearly shorn to the scalp, a thing he'd seen before, but couldn't quite place, but it was also a fresh cut.

"So… I suppose that means he is responsible for your hair?" Raymond guessed.

Nua bowed her head and without thinking, she reached up to touch it. "It is as you say, master. It was much longer before he put me to the test."

"I see…" Raymond replied, a faint hint of disquiet nestled itself at home in his gut. "My comrade is… more firm than I. More formal. He is the product of his scripture. I come from the Black, we're stronger, and more flexible. If you're hungry, say something, if you have food and you're hungry, just eat."

Nua looked at him again. "You won't… punish me for that, my lord?"

"No." Raymond replied, his expression as stony as hers was empty.

"Then… thank you, my lord." She replied, "I am hungry. But I have no food to eat. If it pleases you, I would like something."

Raymond's belly rumbled, and he put his hand over it. "It seems… Nua, that my belly agrees with yours." She didn't laugh, and his attempt at it died on his lips, he cleared his throat and said, "I'd rather not wait for you to bring me anything. Come with me."

"Yes, master." She said, and when he exited the room, she followed. The lower floor was a large public area, and the smell of roast and stew paired with fresh baked bread was enough to set both their bellies rumbling again.

Not far away he heard something new, the tune of a bard playing a lyre, and a bawdy drinking song being picked up with it.

"Drink goes up and cock goes down,

The will is tall but it makes you small

But drink and drink till you forget

How you made the girl upset!

She hoped for a sword and you said nope

Just laid there while you pushed a rope…"

It was lewd, it was bawdy, and the lyrics grew ever more so as the song went on. Raymond glanced over to the source and shut his eyes immediately. An orc, an elf, a goblin, and a human clad in miners clothing, complete with rock dust and dirt, were swaying around a table and singing along with a dark elf bard.

"Blasphemy." Raymond tried to tell himself. But he could only mouth the word, while his body bounced a little and he hummed the tune. 'This is an exception. This isn't how things really are. Maybe it's a plant to fool me. There's only one road, the dragonid could have collaborated with the Allfather to stage this for my benefit, knowing I would be here.' He told himself, not opening his eyes until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Forgive the noise." A soft, lilting woman's voice said. He looked up to see a pregnant dark elf with a radiant smile on her face. "They're a noisy lot, but good hearted and they won't cause any trouble, they've been on this kick about dwarven drinking songs ever since they came back from the mountain with pockets full of silver to spend."

"I… I see… they- they worked with the dwarves, did they?" Raymond asked, a twinge of curiosity coming out in the way he darted his eyes from them to the elf woman.

"They did, the dwarves are short of labor still, so they've been paying more than usual to help expand and meet the demand for ore… well, so those lot say, I'd rather stay away from the mountains personally. Now, ah…" The pregnant elf looked from him to where Nua stood stiff and silent. "Can I get something for you and your wife?"

Nua and Raymond gasped deeply at the same moment. "She's not my wife, she's-" He paused, doubting that the truth would go over well.

"I'm his servant, driving his carriage." Nua explained in his stead.

"Oh… oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to presume, it's just that a lot of couples travel this way now that the roads are safe again." The elf woman said, a little blush on her face.

Before Raymond or Nua could respond to offer forgiveness, a burly human with short sleeved brown shirt laced up to the neck and a white apron wrapped around his waist appeared at the dark elf's side and put an arm protectively around her.

"Chatting up the guests again, love?" He asked and leaned down to kiss her cheek.

"Just a little, honey, just a little." The dark elf woman said with a touch of aplomb and a slightly deeper blush that turned her cheeks a more mild shade of pink than before. "They had a few questions is all… oh-" She looked at Raymond and Nua and put a hand on the man's chest. "This is my husband, he cooks here, all that food you smell, that's his masterful work."

"It smells… marvelous." Raymond said as he felt his body go numb. He glanced at Nua out of the corner of his eye, she still stood stiff as a statue, her face neutral, but he could feel her uncertainty in the way she glanced down at him again and again, each time the question was clear. 'Will saying the wrong thing lead to pain?' So she was choosing to say nothing.

"We'll have two bowls of rabbit stew and a side of bread, and… your strongest bottle of wine to go, and two ales." He said, and when his belly rumbled he had the perfect excuse to be rid of them. He put a hand on his stomach and asked, "Please hurry, I'm going to die of starvation, I swear it."

He wore a charming, gregarious smile on his face, and it was enough that the couple suspected nothing.

"Course, this is our place after all, and nobody leaves here hungry, or stays hungry here for long. I've got a fresh batch that should be ready right now." The male of the pair said and squeezed his wife at the hip, drawing her a little closer to himself and prompting her to inch even closer of her own accord. "We'll see you right in a handspan of seconds. Come along, love, let the man spend time with his-"

"Servant. Only his servant." Nua said before the misunderstanding could repeat itself.

"Oh, right… I just assumed." He said, until Raymond handwaved it away.

"A common mistake." Raymond added, "Now… how about that stew?" He asked again, and the couple turned around to return to their duties.

When they were gone, Raymond focused his attention on Nua, "Sit. And when the food comes, just eat."

"Yes, my lord." She replied, and sat in silence to stare down at the wooden table, her hands in her lap when she was seated, though she shifted about with some discomfort.

"You can talk." Raymond said, "It feels awkward for you to just sit there staring at the table while we wait."

"What would it please you to hear, my lord?" Nua asked, and Raymond let out yet another sigh.

'How many more of those will I have in me before we get to Arwintar?' He wondered. "Just… whatever." He answered. "If you'd rather not say anything, then just… just stare at the table."

"Thank you, master." Nua answered and resumed staring down at the table.

The dark elf waitress returned to the table just as another song started up nearby, one even bawdier than the last.

"Bugger off ye lads ye won't be gettin laid…

An the sooner ye go home, the sooner we get paid!"

"Is something the matter?" The dark elf asked as she laid a big wooden bowl in front of them both, along with a platter with a long piece of fresh baked bread between them. She looked with concern at Nua, and then at Raymond again.

"No, it's just been a long journey." He said, then added, "But one more thing, she neglected to get a room for herself, do you have another?" Raymond asked.

The dark elf's pearl white teeth showed when she smiled at the question, "Yes, we do have one more room open."

"She'll be by to collect the key to it after we're done eating." Raymond said, and ignored the stunned look on Nua's face that briefly broke through the neutral mask.

"It will be ready, enjoy the food." The woman said and sashayed away with a spring in her step, and when they were undisturbed at their table, Nua sat looking down at the stew as Raymond reached for the bread.

"Am I… this isn't a trick?" Nua asked.

Raymond twisted the bread and it tore with a crack, small crumbs fell away to land on the smooth wooden plate as he broke the bread between them and then held out half to her.

Raymond gave up for the present. "Your master is ordering you to eat." He said, and with that, she accepted what he offered her and began tearing chunks off and dipping it into the rabbit stew.

Her eyes lit up, and nearly filled with tears as the flavor exploded in her mouth. Decorum was forgotten by the hungry wood elf, and she tore into the meal as if it was to be her last.

Raymond ate more reservedly, but as he watched the elf tear into the food he wondered something else, 'How much did she eat, and what did she eat, when she last ate at all?'

As another song began to pick up, he turned to watch the bard and his enthusiastic patrons, and this time he couldn't close his eyes, and he dared not look away, because if he did… 'I'll be watching her eat… and I don't… I don't think I want to do that.'