Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 18

“No one told me about this!”

Albedo did not look up from her desk as Succulent stormed into her office in E-Rantel’s Royal Villa. His narrow frame was shrouded in a heavy mantle that was tossed about as he continued to fume.

“That bitch shot me in the leg – while I was Invisible! I don’t even know what she did after that! She knew where I was the entire time. All my equipment…it was like someone chained me to a cart full of rocks!”

He finished walking up to her desk, angry breaths filling the space between them. Rather than reprimand him for his outburst in her presence, however, she simply returned his infuriated look with a calm expression.

Maybe I should have given him to the Five Worsts like the others…

As the Sorcerous Kingdom stabilized, Albedo turned her attention to updating the woefully insufficient systems of the judiciary they had inherited. It was more often than not insufficient to deal with the reality that faced even the primitive nation of Re-Estize. There were so many loopholes, oversights and blind spots that she occasionally thought of petitioning Momonga-sama to allow her to tear it all up and start anew.

This was, of course, simply out of annoyance. While the Sorcerous Kingdom had inherited the laws of Re-Estize by Momonga-sama’s orders, the bulk of Albedo’s grievances lay with administrative and civil law rather than criminal law. It was all informative to her, however, for within the laws of a nation was the character of its people.

What they considered ideal; what they thought was fair; what they were willing to tolerate. How those with power could abuse it and how those without could elude its reach. In the laws codified by the Royal Court of Re-Estize, she could discern how the subjects of its former territory of E-Rantel might be best ruled.

In addition, their system of vassalage conveniently compartmentalized the hierarchy of administrative sectors. It even worked with entire nations like the Baharuth Empire: as a client state of the Sorcerous Kingdom, their problems were not her problems until she decided to make them her problems. They independently managed themselves otherwise, and this relationship flowed down to the individual level.

After formulating her initiative to update the processes of the Judiciary, she selected the sub-component of the Sorcerous Kingdom appropriate for her first set of goals: Völkchenheim County. She had the Eight Fingers extract the remaining member of the Six Arms from his incarceration in Re-Estize’s capital and put him straight to work. Without a proper ‘baptism’, however, it appeared that he did not appreciate who his new master truly was.

As the seconds passed in silence, his furious expression dissipated.

“I did as you asked,” Succulent forced out the words. “What’s the next job?”

Albedo didn’t answer him. Lines of worry started to crease his gaunt visage.

That’s right, Human – you exist at my leisure.

Beads of nervous sweat formed over Succulent’s brow. He swallowed and his gaze started to waver, as if looking for a way to escape. His eyes returned to the desk as Albedo produced a folder and placed it before him. He tentatively picked it up and read through the content.

“This…this is impossible,” he said. “These countermeasures are absurd! No one has the resources or people to…”

His voice trailed off into a mutter as he read over the document again.

Albedo held back a snort of derision. As a member of the Six Arms, Succulent stood near the pinnacle of power when it came to the operations of the Eight Fingers. Even so, his reaction proved that he had only ever been a big fish in a small pond, inordinately proud with his pittance of strength.

“It isn’t impossible,” Albedo told him. “In fact, it is easily accommodated.”

“But…equipment with True Seeing?” Succulent’s face twisted incredulously, “For both local authorities and special officers assisting with judicial oversight? I didn’t even know True Seeing items existed – there isn’t anyone in the region that can cast the spell.”

As an Illusionist, the idea probably didn’t sit very well with him. It was a single spell that could nearly render an entire school of magic impotent if one did not possess the appropriate countermeasures.

“All threats to His Majesty’s order are to be crushed beyond the shadow of a doubt,” Albedo told him. “Having every member of the local authorities equipped with True Seeing items is unnecessary, however.”

“And these officers for ‘judicial oversight’?” Succulent sneered, “Surely you can’t expect–”

“That is none of your concern.”

“Right,” the man’s lips drew into a thin line. “Then, what should I do next?”

“Return to your assigned village in the northeast,” Albedo told him. “You will be retrieved once the judiciary has updated its processes.”

Succulent gave her one last, hesitant look before lowering his head stiffly and turning to leave the office much more quietly than he had entered. Albedo was confident that he now understood what he was: a dog whose master was only interested in seeing each of his tricks once. She would enjoy watching him squirm in dread as he desperately tried to stay ahead of her.

The door clicked shut. Albedo produced another folder. This one was the report submitted by Narberal Gamma. She leaned back and perused its content until her eyes fell upon a single line.

We are not here to deliver vengeance, we are here to bring this criminal to justice.

Albedo’s amber eyes narrowed in annoyance. ‘Difficult’ was an understatement when it came to creating a body of officers to help with judicial oversight. Of the Humans involved in law enforcement that remained in the Sorcerous Kingdom, the vast majority were pleased with the advent of the new nation. Long had they struggled against the forces of crime and corruption in Re-Estize to little long-term effect, and they found new confidence and pride in their work upholding the Sorcerous Kingdom’s order.

Unfortunately, confidence and pride in one’s work did not mean that one qualified to work as special officers of the judiciary. A high degree of austerity, talent, intelligence and loyalty were required to serve in the role. That the sole candidate so far who met all of Albedo’s criteria belonged to Shalltear was vexing, to say the least.

In her opening move, Albedo had moved Shalltear’s pawn and the order that allowed her to act as a royal investigator in Völkchenheim County out of the way. While doing so, Albedo collected insights as to why Momonga-sama had chosen her in the first place. Now, Albedo needed to form her own cadre of investigators for the judiciary: individuals that answered solely to her. Once she had them, Shalltear would have no further cause to infringe on her jurisdiction, and Albedo’s achievements would be her own.

But first, she needed to figure out how to create these new agents. Perhaps Pandora’s Actor’s research held the answer…

“How much did you know?”

“About…”

“The incidents in Völkchenheim County,” Narberal said. “The ones that I just returned from investigating.”

“Ah, so our dear Guardian Overseer acted on the order given to us by Ainz-sama, did she?” Pandora’s Actor replied, “I was wondering why she went ahead and ‘borrowed’ you without any stated reason.”

Pandora’s Actor, in the guise of Momon, was seated at the desk in his manor office. Night had fallen over E-Rantel, and the Dark Warrior had just retired to his guest house in the central district.

“Albedo-sama didn’t tell you?”

“I don’t see why she would need to,” Pandora’s Actor said. “The judiciary is her department.”

“…but Ainz-sama signed that order for you.”

“That he did,” Pandora’s Actor nodded, then swept out a hand as if to indicate an imaginary document on his desk. “But note the wording on the order. No one but us would know the true reason behind its creation. To the head of the judiciary, it would only appear that one of Shalltear’s vassals was somehow afforded a special directive that afforded powers that infringed on Albedo’s jurisdiction. In short, an eyesore…or perhaps an obstacle?”

“Albedo-sama wouldn’t–”

“Are you sure about that?”

“We are all comrades from Nazarick.”

“That’s true,” he crossed his arms, leaning back on his seat. “We are indeed all comrades from Nazarick. We were created to serve the Supreme Beings and delight in that service. But tell me: if an opportunity arose to serve Ainz-sama, would you happily allow that opportunity to pass to someone else?”

Narberal’s expression grew conflicted, and a deep chuckle rose from Pandora’s Actor’s chest.

“There is nothing to be ashamed of,” he told her. “It is what we are. As we delight in our service to Ainz-sama, so can we become jealous of opportunities to serve.”

“Then are you not angry that she…she stole what was yours?”

“Did she?” The guise of Momon raised an eyebrow, “The duties that led to the creation of that order continue to this day and will continue for as long as there are new things to discover. I will not begrudge others if they, too, can be of use to Ainz-sama by…well, let’s just call it collaborating, yes?”

Pandora’s Actor leaned forward, placing his elbows on the desk and folding his hands under his chin.

“You understand this, do you not?” He asked, “Do you not feel pride at the achievements of your sisters; satisfaction when they succeed? At the realization of their troubles and failures, are you not troubled as well? You are part of a greater whole, sharing in their joy and sorrow.”

Narberal nodded silently at his words.

“Then I should also remind you that there are those who do not think this way,” Pandora’s Actor told her. “Rather than finding paths where all can profit and find satisfaction in their lives, they seek to monopolize everything that they can. Individuals who believe that in order to win, all others must lose.”

“Are you saying that Albedo-sama is one of these people?”

“Not all of the time, no,” Pandora’s Actor replied. “I believe that she is, by and large, a just individual. The main exception to this is when it comes to Ainz-sama’s affections. There can only be one ‘first wife’, and this competition has its own rules. It may extend to anything that she believes might earn our Master’s favour over her rivals. Baroness Zahradnik is Shalltear’s vassal, thus her achievements are Shalltear’s by extension. By expending the order on some minor matter, she can move on to address larger issues that are ‘worth more’.”

A frown crossed Narberal’s face as she digested his words.

“You used her?” Her voice was shocked, “The Guardian Overseer?”

“We exist to be used!” Pandora’s Actor clenched his fists before his chest in a strong gesture, “Used for the sake of our Master. Ainz-sama himself took an interest in the matter and approved of our method. Considering everything leading up to this, I would dare say he predicted this turn of events the moment that you and he encountered Torkel Völkchenheim over a year ago. Besides, I’m sure that our dear Guardian Overseer has also managed to sneak in a few side goals of her own. This was her duty as the head of the judiciary anyway – I simply spiced things up a bit.”

Pandora’s Actor rose from behind his desk, motioning for Narberal to be seated on the couches nearby.

“Shall I call for one of the maids to bring up some tea?”

“It’s fine.”

He sat down across the centre table from her, crossing his legs and placing an arm over the backrest of his seat.

“So how is the young Count since we saw him last?”

It had been months since they had last visited Crosston and its surrounding lands. Within two weeks of being granted his new territories, the young Count rallied his new subjects under him, enforced order and had deftly laid the foundations required to build his new administration. What was left now was for him to gradually familiarize his subjects with the new workings of the Sorcerous Kingdom, a process that Albedo predicted would take roughly two years to reach acceptable levels of integration.

It felt like a long time, but the truth was that he was well ahead of the curve. The Guardian Overseer’s overall projections for the Sorcerous Kingdom indicated that, if one included the acclimation of Demihuman populations, a state of political and economic stability would require at least five years to achieve.

The stability brought about by Count Völkchenheim’s rapid progress was such that Albedo had taken his land off of the list of territories that required Momon’s visits shortly after. An extraordinary noble by the measures of Re-Estize, but overshadowed by the achievements of a certain group of Noblewomen with lands near the city. If Völkchenheim had been a Baron, he would have been promoted to a Count. Since he was already a Count, all they could do was grant him more land to manage in the future.

“I don’t see much of a difference between these western nobles,” Narberal replied.

“Hm…I suppose it’s not exactly your forte,” Pandora’s Actor said. “In that case, we should move on to our own matters. Was the true objective of Ainz-sama’s order accomplished?”

“I believe so, yes,” Narberal nodded. “That Woodlouse has regained her ability to detect…criminals? Even after watching her operate, I can’t figure out what exactly it is.”

“Are you sure you want to know?”

Narberal furrowed her brow at what she probably thought was a strange thing to ask.

“Consider what initially led to her gaining the ability,” Pandora’s Actor held out a hand. “Shalltear sent her out to solve a problem. She first realized this ability after Shalltear arrived to bring about its resolution. A class promotion quest, as Ainz-sama so succinctly defined it.”

“But then she lost the ability.”

“Which was unfortunate. The fact remains that she already qualified for the class that manifested this ability. All she needed to do to get it back was earn experience in that class again, which is what happened in Völkchenheim County.”

“It didn’t.”

“Hm?”

“I don’t think it happened in Völkchenheim County,” Narberal told him. “At the end of the first day, she discovered that she had regained it after neglecting to check for so long. Can the people here gain levels simply by riding around and investigating crime scenes for a day?”

“The rate at which individuals gain levels appears to vary widely,” Pandora’s Actor said, “if the Adventurer Guild data is any indication. Low levels appear to be universally quick, as long as one puts the appropriate effort into it. As one approaches their ‘limit’, however, their progress slows down dramatically.”

Many elements clouded their tracking of levels in this New World, as well. Some Class Levels had concrete benchmarks, such as being able to cast a new tier of magic, working with more advanced materials as a crafter, or increased Martial Arts capacity. These were, however, broad measures that did not indicate the specific Class Levels one had gained.

As such, their identification of Class Levels and advancement was similarly broad. They could say that a Gold-rank Adventurer belonged to a certain archetype, but pinpointing what combination of classes within that archetype they possessed was next to impossible without mountains of verified data. Even then, it could still be something they had never encountered before.

“Based on what we’ve discovered so far,” Pandora’s actor continued, “I agree with your assessment. Baroness Zahradnik is difficult to keep track of, as she doesn’t consistently participate in the Adventurer Guild. Sometimes she seemingly leaps forward after performing her duties elsewhere, and other times she is unchanged. The only thing we know is that she is not ‘slowing down’ yet, but even with this being the case she shouldn’t have gained a level with just her opening investigation.”

Pandora’s Actor understood that the Baroness had at least one prestige class with cultural prerequisites, demonstrated the physical progression of a ‘warrior’ archetype – presumably a Ranger – and also displayed commander-type abilities. Shalltear and Aura were convinced that she was a ‘Noble-Commander-Ranger’, though Mare had his doubts.

Civilian Job Classes, such as administrators and the many different types of tradespeople found in this New World, did not exist in Yggdrasil for the most part. The Baroness was a mystery relative to those full-time Adventurers who only gained combat-related Job Class Levels that observers from Nazarick could roughly correlate with Classes from their previous existence.

Beyond that, she had an ability that was lost to her for a few months before regaining a prestige class associated with the ‘quest’ Shalltear had sent her on. This was assuming that it was the same Class and not another Class with a similar ability that she had gained at an unspecified point in time while she had lapsed in the review of her abilities. More research was required to find the missing pieces of the puzzle presented by her existence.

“All that aside,” Pandora’s Actor told Narberal, “her ability presents an interesting case for the tools that are unique to the native populations of this world. Why I asked if you were sure you wanted to know is because of what she was doing when she first gained the ability.”

“She was ‘hunting’ criminals, wasn’t she?” Narberal replied, “Aura-sama can locate Magical Beasts as a Beast Tamer. If that’s the case, the ability to locate criminals should be the result of a Job Class that deals with criminals.”

Specialized tracking abilities did exist, and those that Aura possessed worked in their New World. As a Beast Tamer, she was easily able to locate Hamsuke in the Great Forest of Tob, but could not just as easily locate Zytl’qae – a colossal plant-type monster – in the same region. Pandora’s Actor harboured doubts over whether the ability had to do with ‘criminals’, however. It should be at least known to those in law enforcement vocations if it existed. Then again, the local judiciary was not much of an institution to begin with.

“And what if it’s something else entirely?” Pandora’s Actor asked, “She was sent on a ‘quest’ to investigate Fassett County and deliver Ainz-sama’s justice. What if her Job Class has nothing to do with law and everything to do with the Will of our Master?”

“That’s…”

Narberal shifted in her seat, an uncomfortable expression clearly painted on her face.

“If this is the case,” Pandora’s Actor pressed her, “would you be able to bear her gaze? Your Ring of Nondetection will not protect you from her scrutiny, nor will it protect you from yourself. What if she one day comes up to you and declares that you have run afoul of Ainz-sama’s Will? Knowing what you know, you would not even be able to act against her – you would only be crushed by shame and self-loathing.”

His fellow Doppelganger did not reply. That an outsider could gain such an ability would be considered both preposterous and terrifying to the denizens of Nazarick.

“Well, not that we know what it is for sure,” he shrugged. “There are other things that it might be, and probably more that we have not considered. Because Ainz-sama directly influenced her matters, however, what I described may not be as impossible as it sounds. Tell me, what else did you observe?”

“She also learned a Martial Art that aided in the capture of her quarry…that should be similar to learning an offensive Skill?”

“What was it called?”

Narberal’s lip twitched. Pandora’s Actor leaned forward at her curious reaction.

“I-I can’t say it,” Narberal’s cheeks grew flushed.

“That only serves to whet my curiosity,” Pandora’s Actor said. “If you can’t say it out loud, then take off your Ring of Nondetection.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Narberal slipped off her ring. One of the many things it prevented was a Doppelganger’s ability to use Detect Thoughts at will. It took a second to make out the name of the Martial Art – announced with a remarkably cutesy version of Narberal’s voice – through the other Doppelganger’s bubbling mirth.

Pandora’s Actor leaned back in his seat.

“This is…did she really say that?”

Narberal nodded in reply. Pandora’s Actor shook his head, placing the fingers of his right hand against his temple.

“I would die if I said anything so embarrassing.”

Narberal burst out laughing, falling sideways onto the couch while gripping her sides. Pandora’s Actor looked over at her incredulously.

“Do you truly find it so humorous?”

Narberal only continued to laugh. Pandora’s Actor sighed, waiting for the storm of giggles to play itself out. Her incomprehensibly bad sense of humour aside, Narberal’s thoughts conveyed what appeared to be a Martial Art common to Rangers.

As common as it was, it could not normally be learned in such a short time. This meant that it was either something that she was already on the verge of grasping or the ‘theme’ of her newly acquired class – a new piece of her ‘build’ and thus her identity – allowed her to learn it far faster than usual as a basic component of her skillset.

Across from him, Narberal finally settled down, sitting back up and fixing her appearance.

“There’s one more thing I believe you should know,” her face returned to its usual placid expression.

“What would that be?”

She only met his gaze, left hand gripping her Ring of Nondetection tightly. Pandora’s actor reached out to skim her thoughts again. He straightened in reflex at what he found.

Supernatural charisma. Strength, speed and endurance that a Human of her level shouldn’t possess. Immunity to electrical damage. A confession and a question, in a voice that spoke of uncertainty, fear and terrible, terrible loneliness.

“This…have you told anyone else?”

Narberal shook her head.

It appears that one good turn deserves another.

If he had learned anything about her in their time together, it was that Narberal Gamma returned acts involving herself or her sisters in kind – be it in the form of retribution or favour. Ludmila Zahradnik had kept Narberal’s identity close, and so Narberal was keeping the Baroness’ new existence a secret in return.

He wondered how long it would stay that way. Narberal would not say anything unless she was directly ordered to by a superior, but far too many eyes were now on the Baroness.

Narberal reequipped her ring and excused herself from his presence. Pandora’s Actor remained seated long into the night, pondering the meaning of the new development.

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