Valkyrie's Shadow

The Tiger and the Dragon: Act 5, Chapter 4

The Tiger and the Dragon: Act 5, Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Ludmila dabbed at her cheek with a handkerchief, wiping away another trickle of unbidden tears. Beside her, Clara let out a quiet sob. Ludmila reached out to place an arm over Clara’s shoulder, hugging her to herself.

Lady Aura stood several metres away, eyeing them with a frown.

“I know this might sound weird coming from me,” she said, “but should you really be that upset over hearing that Lord Ainz died?”

“Wouldn’t you be upset if you heard that His Majesty left us?” Ludmila asked.

She never knew that she could be so distraught. Their god had finally returned to them, then they were told that he was dead less than a year after. They didn’t even know it had happened – someone had to tell them that he had died in some place far beyond their reach.

This is what they must have felt when the Grave Sin happened five hundred years ago.

When the words left Lady Shalltear’s mouth, Ludmila felt like she would turn to dust right then and there. It was beyond the loss of friends and loved ones – there was so much directionless grief, rage and remorse that she had jumped at the first chance to act upon her feelings by joining Lord Mare in his attempt to sink Roble into the sea.

“O-of course I would!” Lady Aura answered, “I’d be sadder than you! But…the other people we informed didn’t cry like you two did. They just didn’t believe it. Some of them thought it was a joke and laughed.”

“How can something like that be a joke?” Clara looked up from Ludmila’s breast with a glare.

“I know, right?!” Lady Aura scowled and raised a fist, “The world is just full of terrible people who don’t know how wonderful Lord Ainz is!”

A brisk wind blew over the rooftop garden of Clara’s palace. Clara shivered and activated her Endure Elements brooch. Ludmila shared a look with Clara and she nodded, drawing away from Ludmila rearranging her shawl.

“Lady Aura,” Ludmila said, “what actually happened with His Majesty in Roble?”

“Mmh…I wasn’t there but, basically, some people came to E-Rantel to ask for help and Lord Ainz went back with them. They fought a whole lot of Demihumans and eventually Jaldabaoth showed up.”

“Who is Jaldabaoth?”

“Erm…”

Lady Aura’s hands went out, tracing a less than vague outline in the air.

“Like this, maybe? A big fiery Demon.”

There were many Demons described in legends, but few were ‘big and fiery’. Broadly speaking, ‘Demon’ was a term used to describe a notable being who used their powers to perform evil acts and bring ruin upon the people. The Demon Gods of two centuries previous were examples of such beings that were powerful enough to be categorised as gods, and they had come in many forms.

As far as actual Demons went, it was said that one of the Thirteen Heroes was a half-Demon. The only other true Demons she knew of were Prime Minister Albedo and…

“I think I encountered something like that last summer in the Upper Reaches. Did you read the reports on it, my lady? I referred to it as the ‘Evil Star’, but that may have only been something the Demihumans came up with.”

“Um…just saying, but a lot of Demons look the same as one another. I think the reports about what happened back then mentioned that there were plenty.”

That much was true. There had been at least six different types of Demons in the battle at the end of her campaign in the Upper Reaches. The members of each type were indistinguishable from one another.

“So what happened when Jaldabaoth showed up?”

“They fought,” Lady Aura said. “Jaldabaoth and his minions against Lord Ainz. After lord Ainz got rid of all the minions, he fought Jaldabaoth in a magnificent aerial duel!”

A twinge of envy rose within her. She wished she could have seen it. His Majesty must have been spectacular.

“But then,” Lady Aura said mournfully. “Lord Ainz fell into the Abelion Hills.”

“Oh no!” Clara gasped, “But that would mean Jaldabaoth was free to do as he pleased!”

Ludmila couldn’t even imagine what a being capable of fighting against the Sorcerer King could do to a Human nation. She wondered how many had survived Jaldabaoth’s wrath.

“Luckily for them,” Lady Aura continued, “Lord Ainz hurt Jaldabaoth so much that he was forced to retreat. While Jaldabaoth was recovering, Lord Ainz liberated the tribes of the Abelion Hills. After that, he returned to the Holy Kingdom and defeated Jaldabaoth in another amazing battle – this time, one-on-one.”

“Oh…”

Clara and Lord Mare clapped their hands with bright smiles. Despite already knowing the ending, Ludmila felt a sigh of relief leave her.

“My lady,” she said, “for our peace of mind, could you tell us where His Majesty is now?”

“On a carriage coming back from Roble,” Lady Aura replied. “They left around the beginning of spring using the same route that they came on. The carriage is going reeeeeeally slow though. Lord Ainz must be using the time to think about something big and important.”

With the story at its end, Clara followed Lord Mare to see what he had brought for the rooftop garden. Ludmila stayed behind with Lady Aura. While she was glad that the Sorcerer King was safe and sound, other thoughts plagued her mind.

That ‘Evil Star’ was probably Jaldabaoth. The likelihood of two insanely powerful Demons existing in the Abelion Wilderness simultaneously is next to none.

She was nearly helpless against the powerful Fiend, but attacks from the Rune Bow Ultuwah managed to drive it away. If she had been stronger, maybe the injuries that she inflicted upon Jaldabaoth could have influenced the battle in the Holy Kingdom more in the Sorcerer King’s favour, reducing the risk to His Majesty.

It was three times now that she resorted to using a bow against powerful foes. First Jaldabaoth, then Sigurd, then the Viridian Dragon Lord. In all three instances, what she could do felt woefully inadequate.

“What’s wrong?” Lady Aura asked.

“I was just thinking that I should improve my ranged combat capabilities,” Ludmila answered. “Every time I get into a fight where I must resort to archery, I feel impotent. Even with this campaign in the Draconic Kingdom, I spend nearly all of my time flying back and forth managing the front lines as a Captain rather than fighting directly on it. Our overall strategy there means that I won’t be participating directly most of the time, but, In the future, I can think of plenty of scenarios where a bow would come in handy in similar situations.”

Lady Aura crossed her arms, pursing her lips in thought.

“Hmm…would that mess up your build? Well, you’re some weird Noble-Commander-Ranger… Since people get their levels first and develop Skills and Abilities later, you probably have plenty of stuff you could be doing already that you haven’t really looked at. How strong are you as a Ranger?”

“I’m not sure, my lady,” Ludmila replied. “Ever since I changed, I found that I’ve lost a few things and gained some others. I’m so much stronger than before that I don’t think I should ask for more than what I have. Maybe being a ‘Death Maid’ is just fine.”

“Nonononono, that’s wrong!” Lady Aura said, “Mare and I still do plenty to see if we can be better at all sorts of things and you’re nowhere near as strong as we are. Anyone serving Lord Ainz has to do their best!”

“…I’m sorry, my lady. You’re right. I mean, I still try to improve in certain areas, but I suppose I’m entirely lost when it comes to others.”

“I guess I could see that,” Lady Aura crossed her arms and put on a thoughtful look. “Heteromorph Levels give tonnes of stuff and the people around here can come up with the most random things. Since you mentioned your ‘Death Maid’ ability, maybe you should work with that? Undead Racial Levels have all sorts of negative-energy related Skills and Abilities.”

“Well, I did figure out how to modify one of my Martial Arts to deliver negative energy damage recently. Martial Arts are their own thing, though.”

“Have you talked with Shalltear or the Undead that you work with?”

“Lady Shalltear’s racial Skills and Abilities are very…Vampire. They’re everything one would think that a Vampire should possess. I believe a large part of my problems is that I don’t have any examples of what I am to work with.”

Innovation was a difficult thing. ‘Innovating’ what was supposed to be ‘natural’ was next to unfathomable.

“Shalltear has Lord Peroroncino’s Encyclopedia, doesn’t she? There should be something in there.”

“I asked about it once and she told me that I couldn’t look at the entry.”

Lady Aura’s look turned disparaging.

“Probably because she wrote something super pervy in it and doesn’t want you to see. Hmm…”

The terrain of the rooftop shifted around as Lord Mare discussed landscaping options with Clara. So far, they seemed to have settled on a central pool with a set of small falls that flowed into it from the north.

“A lot of Undead have negative energy attacks,” Lady Aura said. “That seems useful. You could imbue your arrows with negative energy and do all sorts of stuff with them. Like ability damage, curses or energy drains. I heard your weapon has ability damage too: if you learn how to perform that stuff as an Ability, it would free up capacity on your weapon for other things.”

“That seems as good a place to start as any. I thought you were going to suggest the negative energy bomb again. Oh, speaking of weapons…”

Ludmila reached into the Infinite Haversack on her right hip, withdrawing the Dragon Horn from the Viridian Dragon Lord. Even with its slight curve, it was as tall as she was.

“You mentioned that I could make a bow with this, but no one I spoke to has any clue what to do with it.”

The reaction to seeing it was generally ‘shock’. First over the fact that she was carrying an Ancient Green Dragon horn around, followed by the assumption that she had somehow killed an Ancient Green Dragon. Smith Kovalev had even asked if he could see some scales.

“You’re supposed to make a composite bow with it,” Lady Aura said.

“But the region is very humid, my lady. Composite bows won’t last.”

“The Rangers from the Adventurer Guild always say the same thing, but, once you enchant the bow, it’ll be no problem, right? Longbows are big and annoying to use. If you have a composite bow, you’ll have the same power in a smaller bow. A smaller bow will let you loose arrows on the run and it’s easier to use on a mount.”

She nodded in agreement with Lady Aura’s assertions. After fighting with a longbow for so long, she was becoming keenly aware of its limitations. As one grew in strength, agility and endurance, it became more and more viable to fight with a bow while running. The problem was that a longbow was as tall as the wielder, making it cumbersome to handle. When she fought on the run, she always used a shortbow, but those were lacking in power.

If enchanting a composite bow solved the problems that came with humidity, then it became an obvious choice. Going by what she understood, the damage to the bow would reduce its durability as a magic item, but the bow’s performance wouldn't be affected until that durability ran out. One could use advanced Mending spells to restore the bow to full durability again.

“What else do I need for a composite bow?” Ludmila asked.

“Uh…horn – you have it already – sinew, wood, glue, string? Don’t just get any old materials, either – it’d be a waste of the horn.”

“I’m afraid I’m not strong enough to defeat beings as strong as the Viridian Dragon Lord…”

“You have Ilyshn’ish, don’t you?”

“…I will not turn Ilyshn’ish into glue, my lady.”

“Th-that’s not what I meant! You can work together, right? Go on a hunting trip or something. Hah~ I want to do that one day. There are so many beasts that I’ve never seen before here.”

Ludmila wondered when she would have the time for that. Her time was split between domestic duties, army duties and tasks for the transportation network. Unless her duties somehow had her come across rare and powerful creatures…well, that was how she ended up with the Dragon horn…

“What about the Lord-class creatures with hunting ranges around one thousand square kilometres?”

“One thousand square kilometres…like Hamsuke? That’s too weak. It’s a good way to measure things out, though. I’d say a single creature with a hunting range of four thousand square kilometres or more would work.”

That would be a creature about as strong as Ilyshn’ish. Still, Ludmila didn’t feel right about using her companion for her personal ends.

“Shouldn’t you be excited?” Lady Aura asked, “You’re a Ranger, right?”

“I’m not sure if I should be excited about hunting such powerful quarry.”

“But that’s why it’s so great! Fighting to get stronger. Training your pet. Finally bagging your quarry. In the end, you get a shiny prize that’s way better than what you had. It’s like an epic quest!”

Stories of epic quests never really excited her, but the idea of bettering herself was attractive.

“I’ll have to keep an eye out for opportunities, my lady,” Ludmila lowered her head. “Thank you for your advice.”

“Sure thing.”

They went to join Lord Mare and Clara in the garden, which had been rearranged at least three times while Ludmila spoke with Lady Aura. Ludmila examined the line of plants to the side: like the ones Lord Mare had left with Glasir, she had never seen any of them before. A quarter of the plants were stored in jars and submerged in water.

“Lord Mare,” Ludmila said. “You didn’t give the Lizardmen in Warden’s Vale any of these plants, did you?”

“N-no…”

Though he seemed well-meaning, Ludmila worried over introducing plants that were potentially harmful to the local environment. Lord Mare ensured her that the plants with Glasir could only grow around Divine Ash, but she wasn’t sure what else he was spreading around.

“What do these plants require?”

“Shalltear said that she wanted a pool here, so I brought some tropical plants. They’ll thrive in the microclimate created by the hot water, but, if they somehow manage to get off of the roof, they’ll die from the cold.”

“Lord Mare says that they’ll grow thick enough to block people from seeing the pool itself,” Clara said. “People flying by won’t be able to see us here.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you, my lord,” Ludmila said. “I assume they are being grown for other purposes, as well?”

“Un,” Lord Mare nodded. “Most of them are for crafting materials or food. A few of them have a bit of intelligence, but there aren’t any carnivorous ones.”

Clara moved away from the line of plants to stand behind Ludmila’s shoulder.

“There isn’t anything like that Ghost Tongue at Ludmila’s place, is there?” Clara asked.

“Sorry, that only grows around Divine Ash. I can bring a Divine Ash cutting here to see if I can raise the same ecology around it, but the only one that seems to be doing well is in Warden’s Vale.”

“Ah, that’s fine, my lord,” Clara laughed nervously. “I’m sure we’ll manage without them.”

The door to Lady Shalltear’s court opened and Florine appeared. The young noblewoman didn’t appear to be all there, her steps slowly skimming over the stone as she came forward to join them.

“Are you alright, Florine?” Ludmila asked.

“Hm? Oh, yes. Lady Shalltear gave me a lot to think about.”

Whatever it was, she seemed reluctant to share.

“Well,” Ludmila said, “if you’d like to talk about it, just let me know.”

Florine put on a half-smile in response. She turned her attention to the reshaped garden.

“Have you settled on a layout, Clara?”

“I think the general feel here is good,” Clara replied. “I’m a bit worried about whether this pool will leak into the palace…”

“As long as the basin stays unworked,” Lord Mare said, “I can mend any leaks. A-anyway, the hot water starts up here and flows down this cascade into the main pool. Then the pool feeds this stream that connects to the other pools in the garden. Um…I’m not sure where you want the water to end up.”

“How much water will flow through here?”

“It would be the rain that this roof catches plus what the magic item makes. I-I’m actually a bit worried about that…”

“About the rain, my lord, or the magic item?”

“The magic item,” Lord Mare replied. “You said that these magic items are commonly used by cities and towns, right?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Clara nodded. “They’re used to supplement urban water supplies.”

“Do you think they use them all over the world?”

“The rest of the world is supposed to be more advanced than this region, so it would stand to reason that they do.”

“Then…where does it all go?”

“What do you mean by that, my lord?”

“If water is being conjured for all those places, it flows somewhere. Into the sewers and the ground. Into the lakes and rivers. Then into the seas and oceans. Then it evaporates and becomes rain…but it stays in the world, right? Doesn’t that mean you’re slowly flooding the world with items that create water?”

Could that happen? Ludmila didn’t even know how big the world was, never mind how much water was needed to flood everything.

“…that’s a good question,” Clara said. “Does that mean we should add something that destroys water at the end of this system?”

“I think we should collect it.”

They turned to find Lady Shalltear coming over from the entrance to her court with Liane and two Vampire Brides.

“Collect it, my lady?” Clara said, “Do you mean to say that we should store it for when it’s required? To water the gardens and such.”

“No, no, no,” Lady Shalltear replied. “I’m saying that we should sell it!”

“But it’s water,” Liane frowned. “Water isn’t a valuable commodity in our region.”

“It’s not just any water,” Lady Shalltear told her. “It’s water that the ladies of my court have bathed in! A first-class product! We even have three merchants – you can market it yourselv–”

Lady Aura’s hand clamped straight onto Lady Shalltear’s face with a loud smack.

“Is it this mouth?” Lady Aura scowled, “Is it this stupid mouth saying stupid things?!”

Muffled noises rose from Lady Shalltear as she struggled to remove the hand pressing against her face. She could have stepped back to get away from the Dark Elf’s hand, but stubbornly insisted on trying to pull the hand off.

Ludmila eyed the interaction thoughtfully. Lady Shalltear was supposed to have a Freedom effect active, but it wasn’t working against Lady Aura’s hand. Was there some trick to it?

Lady Aura turned to them.

“Remember, you four are this idiot’s courtiers now, so make sure she doesn’t do any dumb or crazy stuff!”

“How dare you!” Lady Shalltear finally threw off Lady Aura’s hand, “Those are my vassals – y-you can’t just order them around!”

“Is that so?” Lady Aura raised an eyebrow, “Who was it that put me in charge of a certain pair of dummies?”

“Ngkh!”

Teeth clenched, Lady Shalltear glared sullenly at Lady Aura. The Dark Elf girl turned back to address them.

“And that’s how it is. I can’t be around all the time to keep an eye on this idiot and Shalltear’s other vassals always do their best to follow her orders. But you four are different: make sure you take good care of her.”

“We’ll do our best to serve her, Lady Aura,” Ludmila lowered her head.

“Un,” Lady Aura planted her hands on her hips and nodded. “Ludmila’s been doing a good job so far so just ask her about the details. Are you done here, Mare?”

“I have to see how the sun will affect the position of all these plants…I’ll come back to do that tomorrow.”

“Er, just a sec,” Liane said. “You said two dummies. Who’s the other one?”

“Albedo,” Lady Aura replied.

With that, Lady Aura and Lord Mare hopped into one of the potted trees. Lady Shalltear sighed, her crimson gaze downcast.

“I want my dignity back.”

Ludmila went over to Lady Shalltear, gently stroking her back.

“It will be fine, my lady. No matter what, you’re still our liege.”

“But they know I’m stupid now,” Lady Shalltear sniffed.

Clara, Liane and Florine exchanged looks, then burst out into laughter.

“We’ve been helping you with so many different things,” Clara said. “There’s no way we wouldn’t have noticed.”

“So she’s been keeping up appearances thinking we didn’t know,” Liane wiped a tear from her right eye, “she really is a dummy.”

“See!” Lady Shalltear pointed, “This is a real-life charisma break! Hah…I’ll never recover from this.”

Florine came over to stand on the other side of Lady Shalltear, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Ludmila is right, my lady,” she said, “it will be fine. Perhaps you feel inadequate because there are so many excellent people in His Majesty’s service, but that doesn’t matter to us.”

Lady Shalltear looked up at Florine.

“It doesn’t?”

“Hmm…how should I put it? As Nobles, our choices are generally limited. Sometimes we’re born in a generation where we have an excellent liege. Sometimes, it’s the opposite. Usually, they’re just normal. Our vassals, too, are the same way. One of our tenants might possess prodigious talent, but his son might end up as an indulgent wastrel. Either way, their household is still under our care and we just have to make things work.

“As noblewomen,” Florine continued, “we might have been married off to someone incompetent and spent the rest of our lives desperately trying to make sure their household didn’t fall apart. Or our husbands might not have even recognised us for our capabilities and we’d be forced to watch our new household destroy itself while being tasked to raise children that would inherit that mess. A lord might wish for better vassals, or vassals might wish for a better lord, but the fact is that we were all brought up knowing that the world isn’t some perfect chain of perfect relationships with perfect people.”

“So you wouldn’t rather work under, say, Albedo than me?”

“There would be certain advantages to working under Lady Albedo,” Florine replied, “but, in the end, I think I would rather serve as your vassal rather than hers.”

“But why? You said that vassals might wish for a better lord, and Albedo is so much better than I am at this stuff…”

“She isn’t.”

Lady Shalltear looked uncomprehendingly at Florine.

“She isn’t,” Florine smiled. “Lady Albedo is an excellent administrator. Her judgement is peerless when it comes to the application of His Majesty’s laws and organising the realm. In a word, she’s ‘functional’ and we all admire her greatly for that. Being a leader, however, is not simply about being ‘functional’. People aren’t numbers or mechanisms that one can activate and expect to perform according to specifications that generate productivity and balance satisfaction.

“People and nations have a soul. You, my lady, tend to breathe life into the parts of the world that you touch. If Lady Albedo had her way, I think the Sorcerous Kingdom would be a sterile and dreary place. Besides, you’re not genuinely stupid. You have things you’re good at too.”

“…what if I told you that, if I had my way, the entire world would be a paradise for the Undead?”

“Then I suppose we would all be Undead,” Florine replied. “But it would still have more spirit than whatever Lady Albedo could devise.”

Their liege’s gaze turned away from Florine, moving from Clara to Liane, who smiled and nodded. After a moment, she released a quiet breath.

“In that case,” she said, “I’ll be relying on you girls for many things.”

“Vassals do not exist without purpose, my lady,” Ludmila said. “Nobles are raised because they are needed by their liege. It doesn’t matter that you don’t possess unfathomable intellect or peerless talent and capability. It is our joy to be of service to you and His Majesty, and it is an honour to be entrusted with duty. Don’t you feel the same way about your service to the Sorcerer King?”

“Of course!”

“Then it shouldn’t be so strange, yes? What you’ve been doing all this time is already more than we could ever have hoped for in the past, and I believe that things will only get better with all of us together now.”

Ludmila produced an empty decanter from an Infinite Haversack.

“We should take care of this before we have to leave,” she said. “Did Lady Pestonya deliver the one from the other day, by the way?”

“Hm? Oh, yes, thank you for that. The place Albedo sent me to is so arid. Having a glass of fresh blood after a hard day’s work really hits the spot.”

“I brought decanters for the others, as well,” Ludmila said.

“Excellent,” Lady Shalltear brightened. “Hehehe…I’ve been waiting for this. Let’s go back inside and fill them up.”

Lady Shalltear turned and headed back to her court. Ludmila fell in line behind her, followed by Clara, Liane and Florine.

?Did she say ‘blood’??

?Yes, Liane. I’ve told you about this, haven’t I??

?Does it hurt??

?Not much. Lady Shalltear is an expert at drawing blood, so you’re in good hands.?

?Eh…?

“By the way,” Lady Shalltear said. “If I’d like more than blood, that would be fine as well, yes?”

“We are at your service, my lady,” Ludmila replied.

“Then…Florine?”

“…yes, my lady?”

“About the ‘side story’ with Grand Duchess Chartia and the High Emperor that I wanted to commission…”

“No.”

“Aw.”