Chapter 357

The golden wheat-colored wood of the great hall was filled with light, the sun streamed in through great glass windows, and the wood gleamed like an angel's halo. In the center of the hall was a long table holding the delegates of great nations. The Dragon Lords of Argland, the Oligarchs of the City State Alliance, the delegates of the Minotaur Kingdom, the Ogre Kingdom, the Wyvern Kingdom, even the Devor Empire, the nation of beastmen who thought all those at the table to be food themselves, had someone present.

Ainz seated himself between his wives, with Albedo to his right hand and Calca to his left. Beside Albedo sat Draudillon, and beside Calca sat Neia. At Draudillon's right hand sat Enri, while at Neia's left hand sat Renner.

The seats were still filling up when Raymond arrived. At the door the crier, a young man with a black and white butler's suit, who stood stiff with feet shoulder width apart, one arm folded behind his back, and one hand holding the door open, called out the new entry. "Cardinal Raymond Zarg Lauransan of the Slane Theocracy!"

Some eyes turned to meet his, some did not. But the moment his name passed the crier's lips, Raymond felt one pair very keenly. 'Queen Baraja.' Her baleful stare was the only one he felt that was truly full of hatred.

The Cardinal braced himself and tugged on the white and golden robe he wore for the occasion. Nua's words lingered still in his ear, 'Make allies for yourself.' She'd given that advice while she assisted him with his clothing, her deft and practiced hands performed each task to perfection, leaving not a wrinkle or loose binding.

'If only she'd come with me?' He thought, but her refusal came again even though he insisted her presence would help. It was still unclear to him just why she refused, but her simple question shut him down, 'Are you going to command me?'

He refrained, and let the matter drop.

So, alone he entered and with stately, long strides as if he were a nation's King, he entered the hall and chose his seating with care. He sat down beside the Golden Queen Renner.

Neia's eyes lost a hint of her hostility.

"Cardinal, so nice to see you here." Renner said with her glowing smile.

"Yes. Here." Neia said, robbing his choice of seating of its subtlety.

'Subtle as a club to the face, that one.' Raymond briefly mused, but answered, "Thank you, it was a hard road but… I made it. I'm here." He said emphatically, though his eyes fell longer on Neia than they needed to with Renner.

It seemed at first he would have to spell it out for her, until Renner put a hand on Neia's thigh and squeezed. Neia's eyes went to the source of the touch, and then back upward to Renner.

The Golden Queen gave the tiniest of nods.

Then the hostility of the Dragonid Queen that felt like her talons tearing into his flesh, began to fade away. Raymond watched Neia's expression change, the deep frown became a thin line on her face and she asked…

"I heard you were traveling with a slave the rest of the way here. Where is it?" Neia searched his face for answers, her question a… somewhat feeble attempt at being subtle.

"I see I've had tabs kept on me… I suppose that's unsurprising, but if you want to know, I have none. If you doubt me, come to my quarters and meet her for yourself." Raymond retorted.

Neia rolled her eyes, a strange thing to see when they were vertical slits, and said, "It's so much easier to be subtle in warfare…"

"I'm sure you'll be fine, you just need practice." Renner answered and gave Neia's leg a little pat as if she were praising a student who was trying ever so hard to grasp a difficult lesson.

The burst of laughter that came from Raymond's mouth was utterly and completely genuine, it took him by surprise, and the pair looked at him as if he had done something amusing that they hadn't quite caught.

"It's nothing. Let's just say that… you, Queen Baraja… had a point, and now I'm here." Raymond replied and took a deep breath. "Now, I see Draudillon is here, tell me what happened… I should greet her properly after the meal and I'd rather not look foolish."

His face grew pale as the story was relayed, and slowly darkened. "The elf King is here… I pray that whoever he faces first in the arena is not a woman. Have they released the names of the opponents due to face each other first?"

"The smaller rounds began yesterday, just exhibitions mostly, small name fighters or no name fighters… but the elf King should be up against whoever wins those fights in a few days… out of all those, forty-one are women." Renner explained, and her pitying eyes blinked repeatedly, "They train publicly to build excitement, one of them exceeds all the others… she's certain to win, and worse, she has a child with her to watch her fight."

"I see." Raymond answered as against his will the grotesque scene came to mind. The brute's triumph, and then her horror as she realizes the defeat means so much more than she first knew… "I should warn her… where do they practice?"

"The common grounds around the arena, as she draws a crowd with her displays of strength, you'll find her very easily. Someone tried to warn her already, but it did no good." Renner said, and Raymond fell to thought.

"I will think of something." He promised, and shifted his attention to the head of the table as the council members stood up at once and servants began to wheel in carts laden with food and drinks on platters of silver and in goblets of gold. 'I'll go at sundown… and hope for the best.' He told himself before resuming his focus on the gathering of nations.

When Raymond entered the room he found that Nua had already laid out a meal for him. It was fairly simple fare, a roast haunch of venison with a small helping of brown sauce resting over it, a side of mushrooms and a hunk of fresh baked bread, the whole thing was steaming hot. One bite was taken out of each portion.

"I've tested the food, Raymond, it's safe to eat." Nua said, and then pointed to a stack of papers beside the dish. "Also, these came for you. I opened them of course, and ran my hands over the paper, nothing was poisoned."

For a moment her eyes lingered on the papers, and Raymond's lingered on her, a depth of sadness was there that seemed to have pushed aside the anger that normally seethed just beneath the surface. "Thank you… I suppose you won't be eating with me?"

"No." She replied to him, "I've already eaten. I ate before I tested your food and opened your letters."

"I-I see." He said and took a seat. "Is there anything of interest?"

"Yes. You have letters from all of your comrades… it seems your correspondence reached the Slane Theocracy and hit many places, and it is still spreading. They are outraged at your blasphemy. Demanding you return to explain yourself. In addition, there is a letter, from Berenice, warning you to take care when you do come back. A string of murders, no… slaughters have taken place over the course of the last few weeks. All targeting priests and priests in training of the Six Gods. It's gotten bad enough that they're conducting a joint operation of the Agante and Black Scriptures to bring the murderers down." Nua, curiously enough, didn't seem mirthful about that in the least.

"I see… I don't have much time, I need to get changed and go to the arena." He said and explained the arrival of the elf King and his intention.

Nua pursed her lips and crossed her arms. "Absolutely not."

"I'm sorry?" Raymond asked.

"I said, 'Absolutely not'." Nua gave the order again, "Do you have a death wish?"

"No. Why?" Raymond asked.

"Because these letters arrived Raymond. They arrived here from the Slane Theocracy not even three weeks after they were sent from Peronia, it means the Slane Theocracy got directly involved in making sure this communication got here fast. They might have used flight magic to bring them, but if they did that, they could bring assassins too. What if they think you're behind those killings?" She demanded an answer, and his mouth opened and closed like a fish without saying anything or making a sound.

"I know, it's absurd, but it doesn't need to make sense to be believed. You only got one letter of warning. Either the rest don't care if you die or think you're involved. I can't act as your bodyguard effectively in a place like the training grounds, not by myself I can't." Nua shook her head, "Not at that hour at least… we'll go in the morning if you insist. And besides, if the woman you're talking about is the one that all the gossip happens over, the one called Shizi, then she won't be there now anyway. She leaves to spend time with her daughter and husband in the late afternoon."

"Oh… I see…" Raymond sat at the table and began to pick at his food. "Tomorrow then. But aren't you going to your room now?"

"I cancelled it. I'm sleeping here." Nua answered, he snapped his head up from the food on his plate.

"Come again?" He asked.

"I'm sleeping here." Nua said it again, "If that correspondence can reach you, so can people, and right about now there are a lot of people who will want you dead. It's time for the second half of my duties to begin, keeping you alive."

He looked her over again like it was the first time, she was a lithe, solidly-built elf, her ears were presently lowered and a sour glower on her face that was somehow still beautiful now that her golden hair was longer than it was when they met. Her steady stare promised him he wouldn't win an argument, and she remained silent, almost daring him to argue.

"So you're serious… about protecting me?" He asked her and she gave an instant sharp nod.

"You're the best chance my race has had in years. I'm not going to lose you to some stupid lawful sweet idea of saving a young woman… who isn't even in danger yet." Nua shook her head with vigor, casting the golden strands of hair about. "Not happening. I'll take you there tomorrow, and I've dismissed Sylia, given her enough money to go back to where her brothers are and even expand their farm. So I'll be driving you again."

"And… where will you sleep?" Raymond asked, he turned his eye toward the large bed, and then back to her.

"With no window here, the only way in is the door, so I'll sleep against that. If they kill me, you'll wake up." She said matter-of-factly.

"I'm not going to ask you to die for me after-" He stopped when her fingers covered her lips.

"You're not asking. I'm not asking if you want me to. I'm telling you this is what I'm going to do. You're the first truly good human I've known in I don't know how long… even those who I don't think were all bad… even those stopped short of good. A human willing to put their life on the line for my kind, to help us even at the cost of his friendships, his status…? I can barely believe you're even real. I'm definitely not going to let anything take you away."

"You're hard to argue with." Raymond said succinctly and began to tear into his food with her smug and cocky grin growing by the second and shining down at him.

Zesshi raised her hand above the waist-high post. While various other would-be combatants were doing their best to show their skills, it was no question who drew the most eyes. "Smash!" The crowd shouted, and Zesshi brought her fist down.

The ground shook, rumbling beneath their feet like a stormcloud overhead, and the post was gone. Her fist came up and her hands went to her hips, applause followed, the post was buried in the ground and a light cloud of dust began to settle around Zesshi's feet.

"Shi-Zi! Shi-Zi! Shi-Zi!" Her newfound fans began to chant her assumed name while the sun rose ahead of her.

The grounds on which she stood were wide open, punctuated occasionally by training posts and heavy weights, practice weapon racks lay near at hand, and many a broken implement lay cast off, while young servants rushed replacements out almost as fast as the old ones could be shattered.

"Who wants a quick exhibition?" Zesshi asked, "Just a few blows, I promise I won't hurt you!"

The crowd stepped back a few paces, and despite a few envious glares from the other fighting women, none stepped forward to volunteer.

"I volunteer!" A hand went up from the crowd, and a gasp went up, and the crowd parted to reveal the madman.

Zesshi's face went pale. "You…?" She gasped as the middle aged man took a step forward. His formal robes were gone and in their place was something she hadn't seen him wear in years. Training attire. Close fitting leather gear, complete with his standard knives.

"Shizi?" Raymond asked and cocked his head. "That's the name you went with? And you didn't even bother to dye your hair?"

It was then that her surprise twisted into a wrath, at his back was a collared elf. She stepped into view and looked over to Raymond, her mouth opened to speak.

"Sonofabitch!" Zesshi bellowed and charged.