Medusa slowly rose from her bed,taking her time to examine her surroundings.

Medusa is quite surprised to find herself alone, lately it has become unusual for her to wake up alone in bed…. not in that way of course. Her sisters, Euryale and Stheno, are almost quite literally attached at her hips during all her free time - and thanks to their efforts, all of Medusa's time is free time.

No, of course, Medusa was happy to spend time with her sisters again, to be with them... But, if she has one complaint… She is quite unhappy with the fact that the reason why her sisters suddenly became so interested in spending time with their youngest was not exactly the one Medusa would have liked.

Indeed, her sisters preferred now to spend every night being held in the arms of Medusa - each night spent hugging her and telling her how dear she was to them.

On the other hand, spending time wool gathering on that again seemed like a meaningless activity. The best thing she could get out of it would be to plunge herself into a long period of self-reflection about her life, her relationship with her sisters, what had happened to them, and about Ainz. Of course, she would only be wasting her time as she would do it without finding any answers.

Therefore, shaking her head to clear her mind, Medusa exhaled and looked around again.

Perhaps this was primarily caused by their fear of Ainz, but... Medusa would like to think that it was not the main reason for their current behavior. Or at least not the only one...

In any case, it has become unusual for Medusa to be alone lately. For example, while her Master, Ainz was in Chaldea, the only time that her sisters left Medusa alone was when Ainz was with Medusa herself. Barring this occurrence Euryale and Stheno did not leave Medusa at all.

However, as soon as Ainz had left for the Singularity, her sisters, finding strength and reassurance in the fact that Master was out of reach for an indefinitely long period managed to overcome their fear of him and go on a tour of Chaldea. Indeed, a week has passed since their summoning and yet the only place in which they have ever been in is Medusa's room. They haven't even been in the Cafeteria, never even tried Archer's cooking, which, in Medusa's opinion, was an extremely sad thing to happen to anyone. With the blessing of Medusa herself, at the moment, Euryale and Stheno set off to correct this grave mistake.

Medusa finally rises from her bed and stretches a little - not for any actual real benefit, but solely because of her rather complacent mood.

Chaldea, despite being such an important place and the more than significant crisis in which she was currently involved in solving, was a surprisingly boring place. At the very least as soon as anyone stayed in it for more than a few days without having any jobs to do.

Of course, in Chaldea, there were many interesting places and activities to waste time in - lounges filled with lots of computers, board games, billiards, a small tennis court... Even a beauty salon - which sadly at the moment, however, is seriously understaffed. There's also the pool, sauna, bar, the training grounds...

And there are actually many more places in Chaldeato to spend time relaxing in, sadly some of them are defunct at the moment. Many parts of Chaldea were not functioning at all at the moment, by the decision of the chief, they were powered off to save the energy of Chaldea's Core. Barring any change, what was available for relaxation was useless for a loner like Medusa. Perhaps, if the Master is here...

Medusa imagined it for a moment, after which she rejected these thoughts. Of course, perhaps she would like to spend time with Ainz, play billiard with him, or maybe share a drink at the bar. Sadly she doesn't think that Ainz would like to and she was not selfish enough that she would demand something like that from Ainz. Even if she would not mind...

Medusa with a force of will drove these thoughts away - what's the point of thinking about it now? At the moment, Medusa was in Chaldea, and AInz is in the Singularity. And at the moment, she has time to kill and there was only one that she liked to do to occupy her time.

"Reading again today it seems" - Medusa exhaled and looked at the book currently lying on her night stand. a book given to her by Ainz. A book written by Baal, yes the Baal that Medusa just saw not even a week before. A book filled to the brim with double meanings, the narrator's theatrical flair and his story of the Seventh War... It was interesting literature - perhaps not in the sense in which an art or even a biographical book is interesting, but in the sense in which Machiavelli's treatise is interesting. As a door that allows you to look into the thought process of the author, to look into the workings of the mind of the author. So by the fact that it was written by Baal, it was a really interesting book.

Medusa would be glad to ask Ainz for something similar again. However, she was far from in the position to ask him for anything. The last time she had asked Ainz for a boon… at that time... She had crossed the line of what was permissible - and only by the goodness of his heart did Ainz agree to fulfill her request. It is unlikely that she will ever find the strength in herself to ask anything from Ainz. So - her choice for literature was limited to a much more conservative collection that is available in Chaldea.

Therefore, with a sigh, Medusa slowly decided to head toward the library...

Only to, moments later, crash into someone.

"Oh!" The man in whom Medusa had crashed into, barely had enough time to express his surprise before finding himself sprawled on the floor. Medusa, being a Servant, did not experience a similar problem, finding herself only slightly staggering at the time of the collision. Worried that she had injured someone, she immediately rushed to help the person.

"Are you all right?". Medusa offered a hand to help the person up.

"The only thing inside me being currently wounded is my pride ," He answered instantly, after which, having taken the girl's hand, he got back to his feet.

'He is…' - Medusa blinked from behind her glasses - 'Amazingly beautiful.'

The man she accidentally knocked down was incredibly handsome - androgynous even. Perhaps the only reason she had called him a man was due to his clothes - if the man was in a dress, then she would easily mistake him for a somewhat masculine girl. Indeed, with his soft and neat facial features, piercing blue eyes and molten gold hair with straight strands descending to his shoulder blades, he was not inferior in beauty when compared to many Servants and perhaps even Ainz, who possessed a body created by Da Vinci herself, a recognized genius of the art and connoisseur of the very concept of beauty.

This fact occupied Medusa's mind for a second before the man had risen from the floor. The man shook his head, as if to shake himself out of a daze. Medusa, noting the last fact, immediately bowed, - "I apologize."

"It's okay," The man smiled with a bright smile that seemed to warm the corridor several degrees instantly, "I'm used to being overlooked."

The stranger's remark was rather friendly in tone, however, Medusa, feeling some shame from her action, instantly averted her eyes, causing her to notice the man's uniform. A crisp men's suit with a small patch with the name and surname on the man's jacket, together with his rank that had caught Medusa's eye.

"I'm sorry, are you one of the technicians?" Medusa glanced at the guy.

"That's right," he smiled back, "I work here as a technician... Although, of course, it's not that I had much of a choice at the moment."

Medusa understood that if the technician had not delivered it the way he did, together with his facial expression, intonation of his voice and smiling nature, she would have felt somewhat awkward. It made the rather gloomy joke of her new acquaintance, to be more likely intended as a fleeting amusing remark, rather than a rather difficult statement of fact.

"Yes, for sure, I'm sorry," Medusa apologized again, causing the technician to wave his hands in acquiescence.

"It's okay, I need to be more careful and look around more often," the man answered, after which, before the awkward silence could be established between the Servant and the technician, he continued, "I'm sorry, were you going somewhere?"

"Yes," Medusa breathed, "To the library."

"Oh, what an unexpected destination," Medusa thought for a second what exactly the man meant by it. "Not many people visit the place these days."

Medusa was not inclined to small meaningless conversations, however, after hearing the boy's words, she still answered with a smile, - "In this case, we can assume that I am the rare exception."

"And that's fine," the man smiled again, making Medusa smile back. His smile was terribly contagious, and the manner of speech, behavior, all the way to his position in space, eased the people around him in a good-natured manner - "In that case, let me walk a little alongside you. By coincidence - the library is just on the way where I'm going."

Medusa usually did not like other people's company - especially unfamiliar ones. But after a few seconds of reflection, after looking at his good-natured smile, which, unlike a smile from, for example, Baal, did not look like he's planning some kind of mischief, she still exhaled - "Okay then. Let's go."

"Thank you," the man nodded once more, after which he walked along with Medusa.

Only after just a few steps did Medusa realize that she suddenly found herself spending time with an unknown man with whom she absolutely had no idea what she should talk about.

Immediately she finds herself panicking in an attempt to come up with any topics of conversation. Medusa, failing to come up with anything, decided to ask the man a question - "Are you not afraid of me?"

"No," the technician answered instantly, shrugging his shoulders, after which he looked at Medusa inquisitively, "Should I?"

"Well," - Medusa barely managed to hold herself back from palming her face. Indeed, just ask the person walking next to you whether or not he is not afraid of you, what was she thinking, if at all?! She herself drove herself into a trap, now, even if her new acquaintance was not afraid of her before, she would have to explain to him why he should have been afraid of her... And this will most likely put an end to her rather pathetic attempt to establish a dialogue...

Medusa exhaled, after which she forced herself to answer, "Usually, the other technicians shy away from us, Servants..."

"Hmm, is that so..." the man thought, but before Medusa could come up with a hypothetical continuation of her conversation in her head that would obviously end in disaster, he continued, "I can't say that I am 'used' to the Servants... Indeed, Servants are, for me, a very alien existence- but I'm not sure that I should be afraid of them. At least, as far as I can tell, there are not so many crazy killers among the Servants… At least if there are, they are not targeting me "

Medusa, having heard the words of a man uttered in the tone of a friendly remark, was only forced to be silent. If only he knew...

A considerable number of people…. perhaps even Servants, justified their terrible deeds in a variety of ways - necessity, conformity with the spirit of the times, the fact that their opponents committed even more abominable acts, that is,of course, if they even bother to justify themselves at all. But Medusa herself was at least aware that her hands were not clean from the blood of many people - Heroes - her sisters... Medusa was not a crazed murderer, but it was also impossible to call her sinless.

"I..." Medusa broke off, unsure of how exactly she would answer his remark, "I am... Not the best example for a Hero."

At this, the man just looked at Medusa, after which he grinned as if at a joke he only knew. In other circumstances, such an act would have looked, if not insulting, at least provocative for Medusa. But due to the personality and behavior of her new acquaintance, his action did not cause her any reaction except for some embarrassment, as if a student were at lesson and just said some kind of nonsense that the teacher noticed.

"Let me determine myself if you are the best example of the Hero or not," The guy smiled, continuing to move slowly along the corridor. "In my opinion, there are too many people, monsters, Servants who are much less suitable for their title of 'Hero', but meanwhile they are regarded as such by all accounts. Indeed, only by myself can I judge whether or not I'm seeing something good or evil in front of me, applying the label to oneself is too stupid. Being inside their own understanding of good and evil, no one is able to call themselves unambiguously good or evil, regardless of any evidence they can field to support their arguments - since each of his conclusions will be colored by their own judgment."

"This…" - Medusa thought. Suddenly, her small comment provoked a rather detailed and somewhat philosophical response from her new acquaintance, - "I…"

"Ah, there's no need to react to this at all," the man smiled back at her, catching the words that Medusa was trying to pick up. "Indeed, this is simply the truth, which can only be accepted or rejected."

Medusa, hearing such remarks, fell silent, pondering about the subject, allowing them to move along quietly, without distracting her from her thought.

However, it is not like she could plunge into deep thought and come to any specific conclusion to the technician's remark while walking. An answer for such philosophical thoughts could only come after hours of discussion and comprehended during deep thoughts alone. Definitely not in a few seconds during her walk to the library.

"Oh, I'm sorry," The technician had correctly interpreted Medusa's mood and waited a few seconds so as not to appear impolite and give Medusa the opportunity to think about the topic provided to her. Realizing that philosophy is not the best topic, he nevertheless continued on "I guess such heavy topics are not exactly fitting for a light conversation. In that case, maybe, if you don't mind, I could ask you what is it like to be a Servant?"

"Hah?" Medusa glanced at the guy in front of him that in return looked at her with considerable curiosity in his gaze, "Yes, I suppose…"

Indeed, although the existence of the Servants as part of the world was known to any person more or less knowledgeable about magecraft - very few of them have actually met Servants face to face. Not to mention the fact that none of them could imagine what it was like to exist as a Servant.

Medusa found herself a bit relaxed from the fact that the conversation had moved on to a calmer course and on a topic in which Medusa herself felt more comfortable discussing "It is... Unusual. Not bad and not good in some way, definitely a different existence than that of a normal person"

"How so?" The man asked. "In what sense?"

"Well, perhaps the most obvious difference is that my current body and my current personality are not my real self, at least not in the full sense of the word," Medusa exhaled, "Rather, it's... Something more like a part of a copy. That is, all the traits and my current personality that I possess now - are also possessed by my true self in the Throne. But, at the same time, I do not possess all the features of my true self. It is a strange existence. It is as if you 'know' what you should be, 'how' you should act, and despite the cognitive dissonance of your current personality and that of your 'true' self there are no issues… Internally, you understand that the 'you' that you are now, and the 'you' that you were in the past that you remember... Is two different people, in spite of the fact that you are not."

"Hmm, I must admit, that is a very confusing thing to consider," The man answered easily, "But I would not say that it is incomprehensible per se. Everybody experiences such emotions - every day a person falls asleep as one person, and wakes up as another. If you were to look at yourself ten years ago, you can often find nothing more than a couple of small similarities. I guess it is doubly true for Servants, who get to do it all the time."

"I guess that is true," Medusa's somewhat open demeanour would surprise anyone that is familiar with Medusa's normal quiet behaviour. It seems that Medusa found it easier to talk with the technician rather than with another stranger, due to the technician's open demeanour, Medusa finds it easier to talk with him. The only people that she would find it easier to talk with would probably be her sisters or Ainz. - "But this is not exactly the same thing. Perhaps the analogue of being able to see your past selves can be true - but the fact is that the Servant is not a complete copy of their Heroic Spirit. Rather, it is similar to how a person who has suffered partial amnesia, who regained his memory, but who in fact had recreated himself as a person, can look at his old diary. He understands that it is written by himself - but at the same time he sees a completely different personality, someone he never knew - and yet at the same time, someone he knows better than anyone else."

"Really, what a confusing state of being," the guy smiled, and then sighed, "But philosophical conversations like this, I think, are not supposed to be done on a short walk — and I would not want to be so rude as to impose myself on your time. Indeed, I am not the embodiment of knowledge or skills, and of course I do not have much experience in advising anyone in need. Therefore, the last thing I want to ask - does existing like this bother you?"

"Me?" Medusa thought.

Indeed, such a question was an extremely difficult and important issue to answer.

It was impossible to simply say that Medusa was not bothered, uninterested, or not worried by the fact that she embodied an imperfect copy of the real Medusa Gorgon. However, on the other hand - the Medusa, that she was now, was... 'freed' from the many problems of the 'real' Medusa Gorgon. The death of her sisters... Medusa hated herself and her actions then - but for her now these actions were only like that of a mortifying 'past' action. And although she experienced the pangs of self-hate for having once committed such an act, the subconscious understanding of 'I, as a person, as a Servant I am now, will never do such a thing' held her cope with it, helped her enjoy her time with her sisters. The 'Medusa' that she was now could not even imagine the reason why the 'Medusa' of the past could have killed her sisters. Perhaps it was this inability that helped her distance herself from her 'past' self, from her monstrous self. It was similar to how easy it is to find what is different rather than what is the same.

Weighing both of these facts on the scales, Medusa had come up with an appropriate answer.

"I... I can't say that it doesn't bother me at all," With her still collecting her thoughts, Medusa slowly answered the question, "But if I am given the choice to become the Medusa that I 'was', or to remain myself... I would prefer to be the one I currently am."

"So you agree that both of you are different people?" The guy caught Medusa in a small logical trap, after which he laughed, looking at how Medusa gave him an unreadable look, "I'm sorry, this is what I learned from my brothers. In other words, you still think that it makes no sense for you to try to return to your roots - and instead, it will be better to simply continue to live now as a Servant…"

"If you look at everything from such a perspective," Medusa exhaled, "Well, perhaps yes."

"Fine," the guy smiled. "In that case, I can only wish you good luck with your endeavour. Growth and movement are what distinguishes life from the rest of existence. You should never forget the past - and you should never be chained by it - only by growing above the past and stepping over it we can move forward."

"This…" - Medusa sighed, - "Is an awfully tutor-like speech."

"Really?" The man blinked, then shrugged. "Indeed. I was the third oldest brother, and I guess the habits stick with me."

"Third oldest?" Medusa glanced at the guy, somewhat interested, "And how many of you are there?"

"Twelve of us," the man smiled, "Unfortunately, at the moment I am the only one left..."

"Yeah..." Medusa glanced to the side, as if trying to see inferno raging behind the barrier behind many walls.

"Yeah..." breathed out the slightly puzzled guy, after which he shook his head, throwing off his confusion, "In any case, moving forward allows us to grow above ourselves - so no matter what decision or goal you come to, I can only hope that you will achieve that that you want and I can only wish you good luck."

"Thank you," Medusa smiled, and then blinked. "By the way, why did we go to the library the long way round?"

"Tsk, so you've noticed," the guy smiled with such a smile that made it virtually impossible to get angry at him, "I confess that the chance to talk with a Servant is so rare that I allowed myself to make a big detour to talk longer. I hope you forgive me?"

Medusa only exhaled. It was decidedly impossible to be mad at a guy for such a trifle, - "I understand."

"Thank you," the guy smiled, after which he pointed at the door next to them, "By the way, this is the library."

"Thank you," - Medusa smiled at the guy, - "See you again, Lancel."

"It is likely," Lancel smiled and turned away, "In the meantime, I'll go. The fourth node is beginning to go on the fritz again. Good luck in all your endeavors."

After that, Lancel slowly walked away from Medusa, making Medusa smile. Indeed, at the moment there was a slight smile on Medusa's face which Lancel put very easily there in a small conversation, after which he frowned a little.

"Jeanne?" Medusa's gaze came upon the Saint, who was walking toward her.

"Ah, Medusa!" The Saint smiled, but after a second her smile faded a little, after which she turned around, continuing to mutter to herself, "Hmm, just..."

"Did something happen?" Medusa asked, looking at Jeanne's peculiar behavior.

"No, no, nothing special," Jeanne shook her head, "Just… Maybe I'm overthinking it..."

After a second, Jeanne, turning around, went back the way she came from, to which Medusa only shrugged, and then smiled.

Honestly, her already not very prominent reading mood was completely gone, and reading remained for her just one of the possibilities of spending time.

Really, hmm, move forward...

Medusa exhaled and smiled.

When Ainz finally returns... She obviously needs to meet with him again.

&*m$: *#*m K*#m?&

Hello there!

Okay, as expected - kudos to DiscereEstVivet - he is the best.

Is that going to be the next summoning catalyst? - Don't think so, but who knows?

I seem to recall a mention of Ainz having fought a boss version of her in Ch. 80? - Yes, he fought

Though, I think someone else is next in line after this singularity. - Probably...

Do plan on summoning Gilgamesh? - Probably...

So would Ainz need to give a chant like Emiya to bring out his Reality Marble? - He would need to give a chant to use this NP in it's full glory

With Ainz passively buffing all the denizens in Nazarick with his "legend" are they in Grand Servant/ Beast Tier, higher, or lower? - Depends on the denizens in question.

Is Medea (3) old enough to be in Ainz's strike zone or no? - Lily one? Hm, not outright, but with some time...

Since The Goal of All Life is Death was one of Ainz's skills but is now a noble phantasm does it now require mana to activate and destroy his homunculus body? And with Super Tier Magic? - They would both destroy his body, but they don't require mana due to Ainz's Existence.

Could Moon Cell full power BB be a challenge for Ainz, Cainabel, or Baal? - Ainz - depends on the conditions. Cainabel - probably it would be a draw or battle of attririon. Baal - depends on the info he could get about BB, so either OTK for Baal, either Baal surely lose.

Since Ainz's quest log legend and his power, buffing him even higher than his Overlord equivalent (presuming since Deicide Ex is nuts) is able to take on Rubedo now? - Depends on the conditions.

Would Cainabel and Baal start frothing at the mouth of they learn how powerful Rubedo is? - They are already crushed by Ainz's level so much they would probably react something like "huh, another apocalyptic undefeatable monster in Ainz's stores... Yeah, whatever"

Is this the time Ainz can meet someone he knew in ygdrassil now on the fgo universe? - Heh...

does goetia or the other beast class servant count as a worthy opponent? - Depends on the circumstances...

Nazarick will appear in this ark? - No

If you choose to offer another grail to the Servant Gacha system, do you think you could summon a raid/event boss entity not related to gods, devils, undead or lolis? - Maybe

Wonder if anyone would try becoming his mother... - No

I just realized something, if Ainz figures out that the Grail reaction to "current wishes" when used as a summoning catalyst, will he use it to summon one of the denizens of Nazarick as a servant (instead of using his noble phantasm) or will he use to summon one of the other 41 members of Ainz Ooal Gown? - Absolutely not, not to mention that it would not work out.

And hey - there is a lot of new chapters! On my Pat reon\rure though, so it's now 8 (!) - chapters ahead. And this is not the end! For 1$ you get 8 new chapters right now, interludes and beyond.