CHAPTER 16:

TO PREPARE A TRAP

Church frowned as he listened to Demiurge's report. Ever since the destruction of the Eight Fingers, there had been something of a lull in events, aside from a few incidents involving monsters in the forests around Carne. The two had come to a détente. As long as Demiurge only targeted people like the Eight Fingers for his experiments, Church would turn a blind eye to his Omega-like antics. Demiurge would also act as Church's spymaster, and advise him on possible courses of action.

He'd shot down Demiurge's suggestion that they become their own country…at least officially. Unofficially, he had no problem with Carne and Nazarick acting as a state within a state in Re-Estize, as long as it remained unofficial. He wanted to protect the people of Carne, and Re-Estize had been doing a shitty job, with Gazef arriving too late, though that was partly due to the luring tactics of the Slane Theocracy and the machinations of the nobles trying to kill Gazef by proxy. Gazef wasn't at fault, and indeed, Church was glad that some of the nobles who had blocked him turned out to be supporters of the Eight Fingers. It meant various people could clean house, in a way.

Still, it seemed like Keene's warnings about the Baharuth Empire was on the ball, as Demiurge's report confirmed that someone within the Empire was trying to use surveillance magic on them. What was more, Demiurge's Shadow Demon spies had indicated a meeting between Count Femel and Fluder Paradyne, the latter being the Court Mage of the Emperor. And there was some thought being given to hire Workers to investigate the Tomb of Nazarick. In effect, do some tomb-raiding, with some intel gathering on the side. The Workers were being used as patsies by the Baharuth Empire, meat shields.

Workers, according to what Church had learned, were like Adventurers, only they weren't confined by rules and guidelines. They had no affiliation with Adventurers Guilds, so they needed to gather information on their own, but they also got involved in illegal practises and missions. Thanks to the Blue Roses, Dyne and Ninya, they had some information on some of the more famous Worker groups in Re-Estize and the Baharuth Empire, and Demiurge was refining that with his own espionage.

Church frowned as he looked at the list Demiurge had given to him. "So, according to what your spies told us, the most likely candidates for Workers being sent to us are these guys?"

"Indeed, Lord Church."

"Jeez, they've got worse names for their groups than most rock bands back home," Church muttered. "Tenmu, Heavy Masher, Green Leaf…and Foresight. You have intel on them?"

"Indeed, Lord Church," Demiurge said once more, before handing Church folders that contained dossiers of the various members. They even had photos of some of them, courtesy of using a camera Church formed on a Remote Viewing Mirror. "My lord, I would like to propose a plan to both test our defences, and to showcase our power. In brief, we would allow these fools to come here, and see how they fare against our defences."

Church nodded, humming to himself as he looked through the file on Tenmu. "Okay, okay…well, how about we modify that? Let me ask you something, Demiurge…what motivates these guys?"

"Money," the bespectacled demon said with a shrug.

"Exactly. These guys are mercs. I've dealt with mercs before. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm sure some of these guys I'm going to enjoy having them test our defences." Church scoffed as he slapped the Tenmu file down. "Case in point! See this cockbite? Erya Uzruth, ex-Slane Theocracy, only named member of Tenmu, supported in battle by a trio of Elf sex-slaves with their bloody ears cut off! I'm half-tempted to throw him to Aura or Mare, and tell them to have fun. But my point is, Demiurge, aside from those guys that I wanna kill on principle…maybe we could make them a better offer. Whatever the Empire paid them to try and do some tomb-raiding, we up the ante. Buy them out." He picked up another folder.

"How can we be assured of their loyalty to Ainz Ooal Gown?" Demiurge asked. "Money may not be enough, especially for foolish humans who despise nonhumans."

"I don't think that's gonna be a problem with this lot," Church said, having picked up the file on Foresight. "These guys, I think, will definitely be on the 'keep' pile. They've got a half-Elf amongst them. Quite a looker too, even if she's as flat as a washboard." He frowned when he came across a file on one Arche Eeb Rile Furt. "Geez, a kiddy caster, again? Why the hell is a kid her age working with a Worker group? I mean, is she like Ninya, needing to look for her sister or something?"

"I do have some information on her. If I may, my lord?" Demiurge asked. On Church's nod, Demiurge said, "In the Baharuth Empire, Emperor Jircniv has purged many noble families, as well as bringing many others low, keeping in power only those he believes are useful to him. Many nobles foolishly live beyond their means, despite having less income than they used to. In checking the backgrounds of the various Workers, we found that this girl's parents are amongst the more profligate, with debt collectors being frequent visitors to their household, and she is the only one in the family with any notable income. Her parents sneer at her skills and work, treating her efforts with undue contempt. She may be a weakling by the standards of Nazarick, but by the standards of the humans here, she is actually quite the prodigy, trained by none other than Fluder Paradyne himself. By all accounts, the only members of her family that she is close to are her younger sisters."

"So she's a child labourer to support deadbeat parents? Son of a bitch," Church growled in disgust.

"They're contemptible human beings indeed," agreed Demiurge, "living to excess, caring little about how they will pay for it. Indeed, our Shadow Demons have heard them considering selling off the youngest daughters into servitude."

Church froze, and then matched Demiurge's gaze. "Well…I think I've definitely found some more test subjects for you."

"Purging the Eight Fingers have given me a surfeit, but it would certainly please me to receive more," Demiurge said. "Can I presume that you wish to help the girl and her sisters escape?"

"And inflict some overdue karma while I'm at it, by the sound of it."

"I see. Of course, simply buying them off before they come here would not be ideal," Demiurge said. "If Fluder is involved, then he or the Emperor would wonder about how and why. Better to have them disappear within Nazarick. And if they re-emerge, well, at least they can say that they had to plead for their miserable lives, in order to save face."

"Yeah. Now, we're in this mostly to protect the Re-Estize Kingdom, mostly from those cockbites at the Slane Theocracy, though if the Empire comes a-calling…"

"Hmm. Incidentally, it should be noted that it is approaching the time for the annual…sabre-rattling, as I believe humans put it, between Re-Estize and the Baharuth Empire. Will we declare for one side or the other?"

"Re-Estize, for now at least," Church said. "Don't get me wrong, I don't want to start a war, but if one does start, I'll end it. The problem is, you've probably got morons who make Caboose look like Einstein with the medieval fantasy setting equivalent of itchy trigger fingers. Have we got any request from the King regarding all that?"

"Our spies report the matter being heavily debated. Even with the Eight Fingers purged and their supporters amongst the nobility hobbled, the faction looking to take power from the king still has considerable influence. And it seems that Evileye's warning about Prince Barbro is holding weight. He is itching to come down to Carne and investigate us. Incidentally, we have been investigating Renner, and she is a rather interesting human. She seems not unlike us in terms of mindset."

Church grimaced at the reminder of the princess who set off all his Omega alarms. "Well, better keep her onside, to be sure. Anyway, back to these poor bastards coming along. I'll be going over these files. Some of these guys, we'll be using to test the defences of Nazarick. Others, we'll be making a better offer, particularly Foresight. Am I understood?"

"Of course, Lord Church…"

"Lord Church, is this wise?" Albedo asked after he briefed her on the rough draft of their plan. "Can we trust these Workers?"

"Depends on the Workers. I reckon Foresight will be able to be recruited without much trouble. However, the others will be at our discretion, based on their reaction to events in Nazarick. As I said, we're going to deal with the leader of Tenmu with prejudice. We'll use him as an example to give some incentive to the others. I'm trying to think of a suitable fate for this cockbite. Given that he is from the Slane Theocracy, a slave owner and a rapist douche, well…"

"…What is wrong with being a slave owner?" Albedo asked. "Technically, you are one."

Church winced. "I think of you as my servants. Hell, I'd pay you if you'd accept it."

"Forgive me for offending you with the comparison. However, after seeing what the Eight Fingers did to the likes of Tsuare, I agree that an owner of unwilling sex slaves is utterly contemptible," Albedo said with a haughty sniff. "It is one thing to be a willing concubine, and yet another to be conscripted into such a thing. A willing servant is more agreeable than an unwilling slave. I will agree that your methods are working, Lord Church. Do you think this will prevent the Baharuth Empire from making any further incursion into Nazarick?"

"Maybe. Once I make an example of this Erya Uzruth prick, I'll film it and bring it to Jircniv. That, and any other examples I have to make of the Workers. I'll make it clear that I will be protecting Re-Estize from incursions from Baharuth and the Slane Theocracy. From what Demiurge has gathered on him, for all the fact that he's a tyrant, he's also got a good head on his shoulders, so enough of a demonstration of force might be enough to get him to come to the table. Also, we'll have to make plans to extract Arche's family from the Baharuth Empire once we confirm her loyalty."

"And what will you have us do with the Workers that we secure the allegiances of?"

"Have them act as our agents for dirty work, especially where they know more than we do. Keep in mind, we've been mainly concentrating on Re-Estize, the Slane Theocracy, and the Baharuth Empire. And that guy in armour came from somewhere in the Argland Council State. There's the Dwarf Kingdom in the mountains, the Roble Holy Kingdom, and so on. Frankly, given how badly that Zeynedelux guy didn't like you guys, there's probably more people out there who hate Players and NPCs, and maybe we don't want to draw the ire of those who have issues with them, just in case they turn out to be stronger than us. The Workers can be potentially good sources of info, not to mention being proxies. Besides…as long as they're not utter douches, we can work with mercenaries…"

Elsewhere in reality, a pair of men sneezed. One went by the nom de guerre of Felix, the other by the name of Locus. "Hey, who the fuck is talking smack about me behind my back?!" Felix snapped, his weaselly features screwed up in anger beneath his helmet.

"How long a list would you like?" Locus, in an unusual moment of snarkery, retorted. Then again, his partner did have a tendency to annoy others, including himself. It seemed to be his raison d'etre.

"Oh look, it speaks!" Felix snapped. "Goddammit, now I've gotta wipe the snot off my visor…"

Albedo nodded. "Very well, Lord Church. But will the Baharuth Empire be cowed into leaving us alone through such an act?"

"Well, I hope it's enough. I want you and Demiurge to brainstorm possible ideas to ensure that. Just as long as it's gonna cause less of a mess…or loss of life. We want the Empire to remember one thing when dealing with us."

"And what's that?"

Church grinned viciously. "Don't make me come over there."

Albedo returned his vicious grin. "I love it. Perhaps that should be the new motto of Ainz Ooal Gown. Then again, I believe there wasn't an old one, unless 'Glory to Ainz Ooal Gown' counts, and while that is indeed superlative, it doesn't have the same level of threat as your motto. Still…thinking about ways of deterring enemies through fear, but with a minimum of loss of life…I have to admit, it's interesting."

"As long as it doesn't come back to bite us on our collective asses, that's great. Hopefully, we won't need to use that. Geez, I'm beat. We'll have to get ready to head to the Baharuth Empire tomorrow. And sorry, Albedo, but I ain't up to sleeping with you in anything but the most literal sense for now…"

"That is fine," Albedo said, her smile now gentle and caring. "A Succubus I may be, but I am not blind to my lord's needs for things other than sex. But you still want me to hold you?"

"Well, yeah."

"Then I am at your service, Lord Church…"

CHAPTER 16 ANNOTATIONS:

So…it's been a while, huh? Yeah, yeah, I'm sure many of you are annoyed at the delay. It's partly due to waning interest in Red vs Blue, and because, well, this story feels like it's approaching a conclusion, albeit an anticlimactic one.

I've actually been sitting on the first half of this chapter for months, but didn't know where to go. I was going to bring the Workers in, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. I felt it needed more of a full chapter for that.

Anyway, I decided to come back to this because I've begun to watch the third series of Overlord. That, and I recently updated Yield to the Darkness, my Potterverse crossover, though readers of that will know that I am giving considerable thought to a remount of that story. That won't happen here, in case you're worried.

Back in Chapter 14, I brought up Foresight and Arche in particular. Their fate was one of the points that showed that Ainz had lost most of his humanity (though debatably, that showed further back, like when he allowed Demiurge to kidnap innocents for experiments during Volume 6), and left a bad taste in my mouth. I've decided to spare the entirety of Foresight, though the other Worker groups are up in the air. Well, save for Tenmu. Eryu is gonna die, and die horribly. How? Well, my first thought was to have him get the same treatment Clementine did in canon, you know, the Bear Hug of Death. But I'm open to any suggestion that catches my eye.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this bit of filler. I dunno when the next chapter will be out…sorry.

Review-answering time! Slayer of the Abyss: Harems are harder to write than people think. Leaving aside the need to justify it in the cultural background of the story (Naruto fanfics use the fanon of the Clan Restoration Act, though High School DxD at least has the justification built into Devil society), you also need to justify it with the characters, in that would they be willing to be engaged in a polyamorous relationship? Also, I can't write lemons to save my life, so I try to avoid writing any. As for the rest of the Red vs Blue cast, I'm not sure, but that's something for later.

No numbered annotations this time.