AN: This story fills a section merely summarized in 'God Rising: The Cult of Ainz' if you have not read that story, then this story will make no sense to you. 'God Rising' will be the trunk of a tree from which a number of branches spring, some stories will explore the consequences of the main one for people in the New World, others will fill gaps that the main story necessarily requires me to only summarize, expanding upon shortened scenes that had to be short otherwise it would completely change the main story focus. I hope you enjoy them all, but if you read them all and hated them...well...to late, you can't unread it. ;) As always, reviews are more than welcome.

Neia did not facepalm often, but when she did, she did it hard enough to hurt. On this occasion, she was facepalming because her best archers had just shot some of her best close fighters in the back. The close fighters had leapt down from the wagons...right in front of the archers. As they were struck, a dark elf child that had not yet introduced herself, cast spells to paralyze those struck to simulate their deaths. Almost half of Black Justice had been incapacitated before the lizardman opposition forces had even made contact, and on this occasion, they didn't even make contact. They saw what happened, and laughed so hard they fell over.

'Reset!' Cocytus shouted.

The paralyze effect was dispelled, and the humans stood up, red faced and embarrassed one and all.

'I see the first problem.' Cocytus said.

'Me too.' Neia said in a tone that could not entirely conceal her sarcasm. But if Cocytus noticed that, he didn't mention it.

'I have seen your system practically applied individually, but your people have never had to guard anyone, or operate as if they were a single being, have they?' Cocytus asked.

'No.' Neia said. 'When we served against Jaldabaoth, as some of those who are here did, we stayed in a single formation and focused entirely upon the bow, they are brave, but they have never had to move as one, and until now, I have only trained them in individual combat. Though they are not as good as I am individually, they are still very good at that...but this is new.'

'They will need experience, they must grow as a unit and they must grow as individuals, we will begin slowly, until the motion becomes second nature.' Cocytus said.

For what then seemed like forever and a day, Black Justice did nothing but take position, reset, and take position again, archers firing a volley and sword specialists leaping down, over...and over...and over...and over again. The monotony of the exercise took its mental toll even though the rings of sustenance kept them from needing food, drink, or sleep. Many times Neia thought to herself, 'I wonder how many hours we've been at this?' only to remind herself that the concept of hours was meaningless when time was literally frozen for everybody else.

They practiced this one single maneuver until Cocytus was satisfied, only for Cocytus to say, 'Very good, now switch positions, those in, get out, those out, get in.' This resulted in a chorus of groans, which prompted Neia in turn to snap, 'None of that!' Her gaze swept over her following, 'The greatest force in all the world is giving us his time and resources to make us worthy of representing him in the wider world. The great and powerful do not groan at this, or at any adversity, the powerful, righteous, and just, only do what needs to be done, now take position!' Her shout had the vigor and the power of her conviction, and it sent a spine tingling sensation down the ears of her listeners.

As Ainz watched her through the mirror of remote viewing, he groaned at her words. 'She's a better speaker than I...but if she only knew how wrong she was.' He almost chuckled at the sheer frustration he felt in trying to take on the role of supreme leader, however he wasn't about to go and inform her of her profound error, even if he did so, he rather doubted she'd believe him.

Albedo approached with the gentle light steps of a courtly lady and stood beside Ainz, she looked into the mirror and saw Neia gesturing with her sword. She was pointing at various positions, shouting instructions to which the other humans of her band immediately responded. Ainz didn't speak, though he glanced at Albedo curiously, she hadn't said anything crude or insulting about Neia so far, she only watched as if gazing at a growing garden.

Ainz decided to break the silence first, 'What do you think? He asked.

Albedo smiled sweetly, 'I think she will do very well.'

Ainz could not widen his red eyes anymore, but if he could have, he would have. This was an unusual answer for Albedo.

'You think so?' Ainz asked.

Albedo tilted her head slightly, 'I do, after all, Ainz chose her, and her performance in Demiurge's test proved her absolute devotion, why when she was trying to kill herself because she thought you had conveyed the order for her to die, she reminded me of Shalltear begging for punishment, she screamed and screamed as she tried to pull the Dagger of Paradox into her heart and could not get it through, why I've seen Neuronist Painkill work, but I've never seen tortured screams like that before.'

'What?' Ainz said, a slight edge coming to his voice. 'Explain.' He commanded.

Albedo paused as she detected his change of tone.

'My lord Ainz, we were not sure we could trust her to put your will before her own, we had to know she was dedicated to you just as we are.' Albedo said with a somewhat shaken tone of voice as she detailed the events of the test.

'Are you saying you doubt my ability to win others to my cause? That I do not inspire loyalty in those not created to be loyal?'

Ainz asked, his voice had a hard tone, but inside he thought to himself, 'Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit! Those two, I'd have looked really bad if she failed, and I put so much work into that one!'

Albedo was already stumbling over her words as she failed to meet the gaze of her beloved Lord Ainz. 'No my lord, its just, well she is a human, they're not known for their loyalty, look how Fludur abandoned the child he raised, how Renner has betrayed her Kingdom and family, how can we know we can trust this human unless we personally put her to the test?'

Ainz sighed and shook his head as if disappointed. 'I will not scold you for this because your intentions towards me were good ones, but in the future, bring such an intention to me for approval first. 'Please convey that to all the guardians, and do not let this happen again.'

Albedo bit her lower lip and nodded, looking like a little girl being scolded by her father for picking flowers out of his newly planted garden, 'As you say my lord.' She said, and scurried off to convey his instructions.

'If I were as smart as they think I am, I would have seen that coming.' Ainz thought to himself, 'But still, she passed such a test, she was willing to take her own life because she thought I desired it? I'm not quite sure how I should feel about that.' A feeling of guilt welled up in him, though he thought nothing of doing anything to anyone for the sake of Nazarick, this didn't really meet that qualification, she was already serving Nazarick, so it felt like torturing a follower for fun. 'No help for it, I'll have to apologize to her.' He said softly.

When he teleported to the training area, he saw the humans clashing with the lizardmen as skeletons sat immobile in the wagons, the human combat style was a truly fearsome thing, the free hand of the humans gave them options, and they would grab at anything they could, pulling lizardmen off balance, twisting arms, even grabbing tails when the chance came, obviously they had trained before coming to Nazarick. Neia in particular stood out while fighting at the center, with the dexterity you'd expect of an archer wearing light armor, she seamlessly switched from sword to bow for close and distant strikes. Mare was as a result, quite busy casting low level paralysis spells on those struck by blunted weapons to simulate 'death', and for a time it was uncertain who would triumph...however the greater numbers, physical strength, greater experience, and the use of Frostpain and other mystic arts gradually turned the tide, and in the end the skeletons were massacred. When it was over, the paralyzed 'dead and wounded' were freed, and Cocytus approached to offer his critiques.

Ainz waited until then, and called out to Neia, whose eyes lit up when she saw the object of her devotion, and she swiftly put away her arms and rushed to kneel before him. 'My lord,' she said, 'I deeply regret that you came only to witness our defeat, I swear on my faith in you that we will learn from this and grow stronger.' She said.

'You may raise your head,' he said, and Neia looked up at him admiringly, 'I didn't come here concerned about your defeat, I came about your recent victory.' Ainz said, prompting a confused look from Neia.

'My victory? What victory my lord?' She asked.

'I am given to understand that my guardian, Demiurge, put you to a test earlier, he demanded you take your own life because my justice required it, he gave you a knife and told you to stab your own heart. They said you went nearly mad with the agony of failing to slay yourself, because you believed I wished it.' Ainz said.

The light in Neia's eyes seemed to turn bright as the sun, and he was reminded of the wide yellow eyed gaze of his guardians, the eyes of unflinching faith where there were no lines to cross at all, only his will. It was a look he'd never seen in a human before, and he found it...unsettling.

'Yes my lord,' she whispered, 'and if you wish my life this instant, then I will draw my sword and take it now, your justice is absolute, YOU are absolute.' He voice grew in strength and confidence as she looked up at him, and Ainz reached out and touched her shoulder, his skeletal fingers closing to hold it gently, he looked down at her and said, 'Neia, I have come here to apologize for what was done to you.'

Neia blushed deeply at his touch and shook her head furitively as she spoke, 'You are the Sorcerer King, the arbiter of justice, you needn't apologize to me.' Inside her mind she was shouting that only the most supremely righteous of monarchs could behave this way when a wrong was thought to be done, but she didn't miss a word as he said, 'My guardians are devoted to me, and sometimes their devotion leads them to excess, and it would never be my will that someone loyal to me be distressed or tortured without reason, that would be unjust, and how could I be the arbiter of justice if I let injustice pass in my realm unremarked upon?' He said.

Her mind spun, 'Please, of course think no more of it my lord, I live and am well, and learning that I had your trust was reward enough to sustain me for a lifetime, I will admit the agony of failure was very great, I could not bear the thought of letting you down, but it was worth it, so please, do not think you have anything more to apologize for.' She spoke so rapidly that she feared for a moment that he hadn't understood her, but he chuckled and released his touch, 'Very well then.' He said, 'You may return to your training.'

Neia stood, bowed, took several steps backwards, then ran back to where Cocytus and Sebas were providing guidance and going slow motion through a number of hand to hand combat techniques, as the humans...and their lizardman counterparts, stood on and watched the demonstrations.

Ainz watched as the motions were repeated, and then humans and lizardmen paired off, and repeated the motions slowly with one another over, and over, and over, and over again.

After some time watching this, Ainz approached Cocytus & Sebas, 'How are they doing?' He asked.

'My lord,' Cocytus said, 'they have very strong warrior spirits, but are inexperienced in active unit combat, and though their fighting method is very strong, it incorporates very different elements, so it will be difficult to master, they have yet to defend the caravan successfully, but it is still early in their training. It will be a long time before they are truly ready.'

Sebas chimed in, 'I believe Cocytus is quite right, as they learn to harden their bodies through my arts, their unit will become like a living fortress.'

'And what do you think of Neia?' Ainz asked, 'Is she fit to lead?'

Sebas stroked his chin, and answered, 'She clearly loves her people, so in that respect she is well suited, and she commands their respect and devotion, and she is brave, however...' Cocytus completed the sentence, 'She lacks tactical and strategic knowledge. She has spent her time as a servant and a squire, she has never had to command a unit in the flow of combat and so knows not what commands to give or when. In sum, she must be educated.'

Ainz thought back to his guild days, when he was relatively new to Yggdrasil, but shortly after joining his own guild, he had gone as an observer watched a battle between two massive guilds from a distant vantage point. He remembered watching how one guild's lead figure taking on the roll of general, sent orders out to constantly adapt to the flow, taking advantage opportunities and weaknesses, and how important his instructed maneuvers were in eventually surrounding and destroying the entire force of an equally large guild with relatively low losses of his own. He remembered talking about the subject later with his guildmates, and their resident military otaku lectured Ainz on how strategy worked and referenced a number of books...which had been added to the library...'Ah ha!' Ainz said as he snapped his fingers and came out of the reverie to which he'd just fallen into. Cocytus and Sebas, who had been looking on in silence as he'd thought, looked at him with curiosity.

'Educated warriors are better warriors, educated generals are better generals. What Neia needs is more than just combat training to enhance her skills, she requires a complex education to train her to function as a senior officer.' Ainz said, he laughed at how obvious it seemed now that he thought of it, 'In the library, there are numerous books on warfare that my friends have compiled, we must see that Neia reads them all. Ainz quickly cast a spell and a quill and paper floated beside him, he began to recite the titles of a number of books.

'The Art of War, Small Wars, The Book of Five Rings, On War, The 36 Strategies of Ancient China, The History of the Pelopenisian War, Sun Bin's Art of War...' On and on Ainz recited texts of strategy and history that offered insight into command and control, striking a renewed awe in Cocytus in particular, before he said, 'Also, have the Goblin Strategist brought from Carne village to assist in her instruction.' Ainz finally finished speaking, plucked the list of books out of the air, and handed it to Sebas. 'Have these books assembled in the library and prepared for Neia to read every night...except when doing night training, then she will study in the day.' Ainz took special care to make that qualification, with their extensive devotion he could easily picture them insisting Neia continue to read while handling a night attack on the Caravan at the same time, it was an almost laughable image, but nothing was beyond absurd when it came to how the guardians might interpret his orders. 'My lord,' Coctyus said, 'May I ask that Zaryusu be permitted to join her in this?'

'Why?' Ainz asked curiously, to which Cocytus answered, 'So that he may be called upon to perform a similar service if the lizardmen are ever to fight on behalf of Nazarick. If educated warriors are better warriors, then this will surely make Nazarick stronger.' Ainz thought for a moment, and then nodded, 'Let it be done, if you foresee him acting as a leader in a larger role, we should prepare him for it now.'

Neia was surprised when Cocytus informed her of what she'd be doing in the 'evening' of the timeless moment, when the others were given some time to relax, she found herself following behind an elder lich and walking beside a lizard man, the same lizard man who had practically frozen her bones before bashing her in the chest. 'You hit hard.' She said to him, breaking the silence as they walked down a long corridor. His mouth fell open in what she assumed was a laugh and he answered, 'You take getting hit hard, very well.' He rubbed his jaw where she'd punched him as her armor had deflected his blow.

'Neia Baraja.' She said, introducing herself. 'Zaryusu Sasha.' He said in reply.

'So...were you born in Nazarick or...? She started to say, pausing as he shook his head. 'No, I am not from here, I live on the lake nearby, Nazarick conquered my people some time ago, and now we serve the Sorcerer King.'

Neia's eyebrows went up in surprise. 'You tried to fight the Sorcerer King?'

Zaryusu shrugged, 'It went about as well as you might expect, in the end, we were defeated by Cocytus alone, and he is now responsible for ruling us.'

'How did you survive?' Neia asked, amazed that anyone could survive combat with the imposing Cocytus.

'I didn't.' Zaryusu said, 'Lord Ainz returned me to life, as well as my brother, and now our people serve him.'

Curiosity tickled Neia's mind, 'How has he ruled you?'

'Cocytus has been fair to us,' Zaryusu said, 'Lord Ainz has provided us seemingly limitless food to make up for our decreased numbers, Cocytus fought at the front lines of the frogmen conflict after that and saved many lives, and he has provided books to me that have helped greatly enhance my fishery invention. But I will not deny we are a better and stronger people for his rule.'

'No bitterness at being conquered?' Neia asked, to which Zaryusu said, '...I regret the losses from among those of us who died in futile resistence, but this is the way of the world, the strong rule and the weaker follow. Besides that, the frogmen ended up invading shortly afterwards, and because we had the power of the supreme one, we lost very few and that threat was ended forever, all in all, we lost far fewer than we would have if we had to face the frogmen alone. Also, he could have killed us all if he had wished, but instead he chose to feed us, instead of enslaving us and grinding us down in misery, he has seen to our prosperity, instead of keeping us ignorant, he has chosen to help us learn, just like he is allowing me to do now. I would dishonor my ancestors if I remained bitter about being better off instead of being happy about our people having a future.'

Neia wanted to ask more, but they arrived at the library, and there an ornately dressed elderly looking goblin stood, gesturing to a table stacked high with books. 'Please be seated.' He said, 'We have much to do.' His creaky voice spoke of advanced age, and the stack of books looked intimidating to say the least, but still they did not hesitate because of that, what gave them pause was the sheer mass of the library beyond that table. 'What...is this?' Neia asked, the first to get words out as both her and Zaryusu's mouths dropped open.

'This is the library of Ashurbanipal' said a cloaked skeleton that a sat at a nearby desk. 'The grand library of Nazarick, if there is knowledge it does not contain, then that is probably not worth knowing. The supreme ones gathered knowledge from the realm beyond and stored it here. There are fictions, books of spells, books of love, gambling, building, mathematics, and subjects I cannot even begin to comprehend the nature of.'

Neia could not help but reflect for a moment on how bizarre her life had become since her days of being a simple squire, that she could go from that, to standing next to a lizardman and a goblin in a library of dreams listening to a skeleton mage explain the knowledge gathered by gods that filled the largest room she'd ever seen.

'I...I see. And you are?' She asked, 'Titusu. Titusu Annaeusu Sekundusu. I am the chief librarian here, I maintain the order of the texts and ensure everything checked out is checked back in, properly stored, and treated with care.'

'How do you do that?' Zaryusu asked.

The fleshless skeleton's voice did his smiling for him, 'A system of the supreme ones,' he opened a book and showed them a card, 'this card contains the name of the person who checked it out, at the top of the card is the title and number assigned to the book, when someone takes the book, they sign the card and I store it in order here,' he gestured to a series of drawers with different number ranges on them, 'then when they return it, I put the card back in the book,' he turned the book to the side and showed a number sequence on it, 'this number tells me where to place it in order with the others,' which he then demonstrated by glancing at the number and then walking directly to a shelf, and simply putting it back into position, 'and I'm done.' He said. The supreme ones called it 'The Dewey Decimal System.'

As he described the system, Neia and Zaryusu glanced at each other in wonder at the simplicity and effectiveness of the system they'd just learned, and each could see the thoughts of the other, such a method of accountability could be easily transferred to a thousand different logistical uses, but Neia saw a problem. 'But, how do you know what you're looking for in the first place?' She asked.

'Simple,' Titusu said, each number range has a different category, so all you need to know is the subject classification, and you can find whatever you need, for example, you're both here to learn strategy, so you simply look for nonfiction, and then the subject of military strategy, and flip through the cards here,' he approached a deep red colored set of small drawers, opened one up, and began flipping cards as if searching, 'and you can find every book we have on the subject, with author, title, and number reference, as well as a short summary.'

'Amazing...' Neia & Zaryusu said together.

'The supreme ones are exactly that.' Titusu said, and then he gestured to the table. 'Your workspace has been prepared for you, there is ample paper for you to make notes with as well as a supply of ink, and I have been instructed to provide you with any assistance you need, if I am not at my desk, please ring the bell and I will come to you immediately.' After speaking, he went over to a nearby cart stacked high with books and began to wheel it down the path between shelves, replacing them in their proper positions one by one.

That broke the spell over the two figures, and they sat at the table where the goblin strategist stood. 'I am the goblin strategist, I am to aid you with your training, you will read much, and I will answer questions along the way, and we will also put your learning in to practice using games of learning provided by the supreme ones, expect this to be far more difficult than any physical task you have ever undertaken, but if you apply yourself, you will stand ready for any challenge.'

'Thank you, goblin-san' Zaryusu said, 'but what name should we call you by?'

The goblin strategist laughed, 'I have no name of my own, but if you feel the need, then I will choose to be called 'Sun' after one of the authors you will study today.' Neia and Zaryusu nodded, 'Very well Sun san, what comes first?' Neia asked.

The goblin strategist slide over two very thin books, along with two pair of glasses. 'These glasses will allow you to read the language, so please use them. This book is called, 'The Art of War', please begin.

Neia opened the book and looked at the strange shapes on the paper, before putting the glasses on and seeing them take the shape of words she knew. 'The art of war is of vital importance to the state...' she began to read, and as she began to read, worlds began to open up before her as concepts never considered, were brought to her attention.

She began to rethink everything she understood about how the Holy Kingdom military had functioned, why Jaldabaoth was able to gather a hundred thousand demihumans to attack them while they had no idea what was happening until the demon showed up and unleashed his hordes. 'The knowledge of this slender little book alone, might have saved countless lives.'

Her time reading was punctuated with the questions of Sun-san as he quized them about each chapter, then he began to drop examples of the application of these materials to them, allowing them to see the real applications. 'Where do these applications come from?' Neia asked, 'I have never heard of these countries, tribes, generals, battles, or cities.'

Sun shrugged, 'I was summoned with knowledge of these things from many books of the supreme ones, I asked Lord Ainz about a few, and he said they were from thousands of years ago.'

She and Zaryusu shared a glance. 'Lord Ainz is thousands of years old.' They thought in unison. 'That explains much.'

She had no idea how long they went through their reading and questioning, before the strategist called an end to their first session and sent them back to the training grounds where the lizardmen and humans were talking, laughing, eating, and drinking. Some of them had stripped down and jumped in a nearby lake and were engaged in swiming competitions, while others were trading stories about their homelands, and friendships were formed between species that shared a common struggle, to gain strength against the adversity of their current weakness.

The time spent at ease was eventually ended with the return of Cocytus and Sebas, and each took half the number and began instructions all over again, where Cocytus taught the sword, Sebas focused upon unarmed combat and martial arts, teaching them techniques never dreamed of before like Judo and and Muy Thai, which he credited as being a gift from the supreme ones, along with increasing their ability to execute martial arts. Without their rings of sustenance, there was no question that they would have collapsed many times over, but with them, they didn't need to stop, they didn't need to eat or drink, they were as unrelenting and unceasing as the undead themselves.

Eventually, students swapped positions, and those who had been with Sebas, went to Cocytus, and those who had been with Cocytus, went to Sebas. They struck dummies, they struck skeletons, they blocked against a strange device of rotating poles that, if not stopped, would have struck vital points, and they repeated the motions hundreds upon hundreds of times before moving to living opponents, until at last the wagon defense trial occurred again. This time, the defending Black Justice immediately ordered the skeletons to lie down, while the archers fired their volleys at the attacking lizardmen and the sword specialists closed the distance, the archers fired arrow after arrow into the massed ranks, prompting the little dark elf to paralyze one after another to simulate death, before the arrow fire was halted by the lack of more to fire, and they followed Neia's directions and tried to encircle the mass, only for Zaryusu to reveal his reserves, charge the wagons, and begin to exterminate them, by the time a detachment of Black Justice could disengage and defend the wagons, they had suffered 50% losses, prompting Cocytus to call a halt.

'You have done better, both of you, but still more work must be done.' Cocytus said, 'But first, you will be rewarded for your progress, a meal has been prepared, and the Sorcerer King wishes to address you.'

As the five hundred knelt before the skeletal Ainz, headed by Neia & Zaryusu, he said to them, 'You remain weak,' their heads remained low, and spirits fell, 'but you are stronger than when I first saw you, and compared to who you were before you began, you are strong.' Their spirits rose again, 'Tomorrow, you will say to yourselves, 'yesterday I was weak, today I am strong' and you will do the same the day after, and the day after, you are not strong until you have reached the pinnacle of what you are capable of, in all that you pursue, I am but a helper to you in this, but the work is yours, be proud of every inch of progress that you meak towards the peak, that belongs only to you, and nobody can ever take it away, no matter what happens to you.' He said, his voice sounding as noble as he could make it, and clearly it had an impact, because when Neia said, 'Hail the Sorcerer King!' the cheer was quickly taken up.

When it died down, Ainz continued, 'You will be rewarded, time will be unfrozen, and you will have two full days in your homes before you return, and when you do, we will do this all over again, enjoy your rest and recreation, and prepare to fight for another inch of progress towards the peak when the Sun rises tomorrow.' He then cast 'gate'in front of each group, and said, 'You are dismissed.' Prompting them to stand, wave farewell, and walk through the holes in reality.

Neia and her band found themselves again in front of the capitol, and she quickly instructed her people to take their ease, but to not engage in drinking at all, or combat unless necessary for the safety of themselves or a citizen, and to return to this same spot within two days time. They swiftly dispersed with acknowledgement of her orders, and she strode straight to her headquarters to speak with Robel & Gilcrest, there was much to explain to them about what she had learned, and only a short time to see it done.