18 Chapter 18: Take off your shoes

Surprisingly, no-one had managed to get poisoned during the dinner, and the rest of the day had gone over in a flash of unpacking and making themselves at home.

Since no-one had any energy to go out after the frantic effort which had gone into the dinner and the moving in, the entire Peerage occupying what was now Issei Phenix's estate started to creep towards leisure and relaxation.

Momonga sighed contentedly as he sat on the third floor, specifically in the magical research room he had requested from Lady Phenix, eyeing a tome of magic in front of him.

Yubelluna and Xuelan had wanted to go check out the basement swimming pool and gym, respectively. Koneko and Asia were stuck reading manga and watching television in one of the relaxation rooms, while Yuuto had gone for a walk to familiarize himself with the estate's grounds. Rias and Akeno had disappeared somewhere.

Momonga guessed that the two were having a tryst before the night would come and the peerage would retreat to their own rooms. 'Then again, there are no known observers in this estate as there is no service staff, which means technically if Akeno and Rias slept in the same room then no-one would know…'

'This feels almost too easy.' Momonga thought as he detached himself from the magical tome, the words it contained seeming to tangle into each other in his head, creating a mess that frankly made no sense. 'Nine's Own Goal had to disband and form Ainz Ooal Gown in order to have even a chance of conquering Nazarik a pitched battle that took all our abilities, skills, strategies and a metric tonnage of cash items, back when it was just a dungeon. I still can't believe we managed to clear the whole place in one go. But it became our home, and for that I am still glad.'

In comparison it seemed almost unfulfilling that Lady Phenix had just basically handed him an estate without more effort on his part than writing his name on a piece of paper (which he had read thoroughly for any sign of schadenfreude. It seemed that the woman had thoroughly approved of his paranoia regarding contracts).

He wasn't complaining, just feeling unfulfilled.

'Well, I'm not getting any closer to unraveling this…' Momonga sighed as he closed the book and placed it back on a shelf, then pulled the curtains over the window that showed slowly darkening night sky, locked the door to the room, and opened his Inventory. "Ddraig?"

"I am here." The voice of the dragon echoed in Momonga's head, and he pulled the inventory rift wider so he could look at the 'place'.

The red dragon seemed to be lying on the 'floor' of the inventory, quotation marks around the concept as the inventory's pocket dimension was in ever-shifting flux as items rearranged themselves as more were added or removed, while the dark marble 'floor' could turn to a wall or even disappear completely as the inventory auto-sorter did its work.

It was honestly quite surprising that the dragon hadn't been crushed to death by something rearranging itself inside it or undoing a floor below it and then re-doing it when the beast was halfway falling through it. It seemed that the inventory auto-sorter considered Ddraig to be part of his items and thus was leaving the dragon alone.

"What do you need of me, Lord Momon?" The dragon clarified as Momonga was lost in his thoughts. The dragon lifted its head from the floor, revealing that it had been reading a book titled 'The History of Nines Own Goal- by Momonga.'

Momonga narrowed his eyes at the book. In YGGDRASIL players could create items, consumables and gear if they had the necessary reagents and skills, but he had never heard of the book the dragon was reading, and certainly didn't remember writing one… until something clicked in his head.

'Hold on, the conversations, logs and personal notes… could it be that when I arrived, they were compiled and turned into 'books'?' Momonga blinked and reached to grab the book the dragon had been reading, causing the lizard to start objecting before it seemed to remember something, and then stop. '...I remember. These are my memoirs, conversations and messages I had sent to other members of Nines Own Goal, and about my life before I… Momonga was rescued by Touch Me…'

The realization that the overgrown winged garden lizard in front of him had dared to read something so integral to the very core that made Momonga, something so intimate, made him nearly lash out in rage and anger. But unsurprisingly emotion suppression managed to calm him down before he could do something reckless, and Suzuki Satorou reminded him that Momonga had promised the dragon could read any one of his books.

'Haah... ' Momonga felt resigned as he returned the book in front of the dragon, having bookmarked the page where Ddraig had left it. "Forgive me. I was merely curious about the book you had…"

"You're Momonga, correct?" The dragon's statement almost caused Momonga to instinctively cast [Grasp Heart] on it.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Momonga tried to feign ignorance.

"I read the spells you used in the book. The same ones you used against me. I also found some of the artifacts in here that you had written about in the book." Ddraig narrowed his eyes, or rather, the dragon's irises narrowed.

"...Good catch. So, did you like what you read?" Momonga realized that the ignorance route was blocked, and was beginning to buy time while forming a battle plan. Unfortunately, he'd have to pull the dragon out of his inventory to prevent its death from destroying his items, which means that his cover would likely break when he started to fight…

"I did, actually. It was… oddly comforting. I guessed that you never intended for anyone to read that book when you wrote it?' The dragon's tone was surprisingly mild. "Was everything written in it true?"

"As far as I know." Momonga paused at the dragon's tone. "It is a compilation of notes and messages between myself and my… friends."

"They no longer exist, correct?"

"Not in this world, no."

"But in the one from where I pulled you?"

"...Not in there either." Momonga answered truthfully. After all, none of his friends had remained in YGGDRASIL's dying moments.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry for your loss. I read as much, their disappearances… but I didn't want to presume. Call it my curiosity for a story left open." The dragon lowered itself back down, preparing to continue reading. "I've read this a few times already, but there's not much to do here unless I indulged myself in the items here… which I'm guessing would be the equivalent of signing the death warrant of my own soul."

"I see…" Momonga tried to think about what to do. "You don't approve of my past, I take it?"

"...In truth, I'd have thought you to be a rambling madman or a fantasy writer, if your spells hadn't almost torn my soul to pieces in an instant and with contemptuous ease. Me, who have existed long before human civilizations had even evolved from monkeys, and long before the land-drakes you call dinosaurs walked the land." The dragon seemed a bit bitter.

'Wait, what?' Momonga filed the dragon's words for later study. '[True Death] is just supposed to cause instant death on low-level enemies, or do nothing if cast against higher level enemies which would effectively reveal someone's level, and [Grasp Heart] causes instant death against low-level opponents, or if resisted, a stun and a small chance of instant death... They aren't supposed to affect the soul?'

The second statement hit his head. 'Wait, this dragon's older than human civilization and goes back to the age where dinosaurs walked the land? What?'

"The pantheons of gods you've crushed, creations you've slain… and this Nazarik you've conquered with your friends… What are you planning on doing here, Lord Momon? …Well, if you plan on going by that name." The dragon leveled a gaze on Momonga through the opened inventory rift. The dragon's tone was carefully calculated to be neutral, but Momonga could feel that it was judging him. "Are you planning on crushing this world under your tyranny as well?"

"Well, I was planning on not dying. I don't know if you're aware, but there are a lot of strong opponents in this world. I was planning on taking some preparations, figuring out some things, raising my Peerage." Momonga answered honestly. "Happiness is impossible to truly archive if you're weak enough that it can be taken away."

"And what is happiness to you?" the dragon seemed to pause for a while. "Wait, you have a Peerage?"

"I became Rias Gremory's husband and a King of a Peerage. I took her Peerage into mine, Rias as my Queen, and the survivors of Riser's Peerage as members of mine. You remember, the one who killed Issei." Momonga felt that honesty would serve him well, at least until the dragon started to ask about undead and 'supreme beings'. The dragon seemed quite taken aback from his answers. 'What is happiness to me, huh…'

The answer was simple, really. There was no time he was happier than when he had been with Ainz Ooal Gown, adventuring YGGDRASIL and experiencing what the game had to offer. But with YGGDRASIL shut down and his friends from the past gone, there was little he could do to bring that time back. Instead, he recalled the words he had told Yubelluna and Xuelan during the shopping trip when Yubelluna had nearly broken from remembering her dead friends…

'We can only march forward with our lost and beloved in our hearts…' "Well, my happiness should be a simple answer if you've read my memoirs." Momonga told the dragon whose eyes narrowed even further. "To adventure a new world, with friends by my side."

"An answer truly unfitting of a monstrous necromancer and master of the dead." The dragon's tone was dry. "Why specialize yourself in such a horrible profession if friends and adventure were what you sought? Why not become a healer instead?"

"You've read the book."

"Indeed, but I still wish to hear the true reason from your mouth."

"...I thought it was cool." Suzuki Satorou uttered the words with a barely audible tone.

The dragon seemed stunned.

And then rolled over on the 'floor' while the inventory auto-sorter moved the display cases away to prevent them from being crushed.

"Ghar- Hrha- hrahrahrahrah... " The dragon rolled around on the 'floor' with sounds that Momonga guessed were snorts of laughter coming from its massive body. The reaction to his answer caused a vein to start pulsing in Momonga's fleshy body's temple. "Hraaha… 'I just thought it was cool'... Truly, I can see why you of all beings in creation would come and occupy Issei's body… Although your ambition may be nobler, Lord Momon, and your behaviour more 'appropriate', deep down you both are equally obsessed! Hrha- hraa!"

The dragon seemed to calm down and rolled onto its stomach. "So… How are you going to go about reaching your goal, then? If you have a Peerage already then you've already taken the first step in surrounding yourself with people, whom in time may become your friends. The fact you've taken Riser's Peerage as well means you are at least capable of forgiving those who have slighted against you, but what will you do going forwards?"

"Train them, go to a high school to finish my education…" Momonga had to pause as the dragon seemed stunned again after hearing his second point, before rolling around on the 'floor' again with a chorus of dragon-snorts. "I'm trying to be serious here."

"Hra- Hrahaha! The slayer of gods and divine beings, crusher of deities and monsters beyond number… 'What do you plan to do?' 'Well, I was planning on going to high school'... Hrahaha!"

"Should I remind you that you are, if what you've told me is truthful, a dragon from the birth of this world and stuck in what's basically my purse?" Momonga felt a bit vindictive from getting laughed at so much.

"Technically I'm stuck in an over-glorified gauntlet which is stuck in your 'purse'" The dragon seemed to take the poisonous observation with absolutely zero offense. "Ha… well, in truth I've become a bit bored reading the same book over and over. Normally I'd have just gone to sleep and dream about explosions and about the time I was free of the [Sacred Gear] I'm locked into, but I'm not sure I'd wake up again if I went to sleep here."

"...I see." Momonga glanced at a display case that seemed to shuffle to the foreground as he thought about it. The red gauntlet with a green gem in the back of the hand was quite striking. "Out of curiosity, what would you do if you were freed from it? Would the [Sacred Gear] still function?"

"What I'd do most likely? Get stuck in another [Sacred Gear] in a short order. Devils, Angels and all other supernatural factions have a hate-boner for dragons due to our strength. And not without reason, as a single dragon of my strength could turn entire continents to seas of fire in an afternoon. That means whenever a dragon is spotted in the wild, so to say, there's a huge battle as all factions pile in on it and try to subdue and claim it for themselves." Ddraig seemed a bit bitter. "And no, the gear would be destroyed if I left it. Don't worry about it though, while I have a feeling you could probably free me, I have no interest in being free for the time being. Although it would be nice if I had more things to occupy myself. When I was worn by my previous wielders I could hear their thoughts and see through their eyes, so…"

"...So you were a peeping dragon, basically." Momonga sighed. The dragon seemed a bit offended but shrugged. 'Well, that just means I can't use that [Sacred Gear] until I can find a way to block Ddraig from listening to my thoughts… shame, [Boost] is a ridiculously broken ability.'

"Hm, then how about this: I'll put some local books and entertainment into my inventory and you can use them to entertain yourself, how does that sound?" Momonga offered.

"In truth I could care less about contemporary entertainment under normal circumstances, but I guess some magazines and books about local weapons development, myths and so on wouldn't go amiss." The dragon seemed to nod to itself and then seemed to realize the tone it had taken. "If that's not too much of a bother, of course."

"I can do that." Momonga agreed. 'Small strokes fell big oaks… small favours could start to warm this thing towards me. I have no delusions that it's my 'servant' in name only and if he gets free, I'm toast…'

"Speaking of entertainment, what was that blue can you put in here a while ago?" the dragon seemed genuinely curious.

'Oh, here we go again…'

.

.

"Whoaf!" Xuelan finished her chain of kicks against a dummy target that had been set up in Issei's estate's basement gym. The dummy must have been made of Underworld materials as it had withstood the full force of her kicks without disintegrating, although she hadn't used her magic to boost her kicks nor the power of her Rook Piece. She had changed to her exercise clothes, which were composed of sandals, skin-tight hotpants and sports bra.

"Eh, this place might be fun." she noted as she walked out of the gym after cleaning after herself and sitting beside the pool where Yubelluna was swimming.

Xuelan took her sandals off and dipped her legs into the water, and was soon joined by Yubelluna who came to rest beside her, leaning against the edge of the pool while submerged from chest down. "You're already enjoying yourself then, Xuelan-chan?"

"Yeah, Yubelluna-chan. Exercising like that makes me reminiscent of training together with… well, the rest of 'them'." Xuelan nodded. "I'm kinda sad that no-one else made it… but…"

"...'We have to keep them in our hearts and keep walking'." Yubelluna finished for her. "I know. You know, I was one of the first who joined Riser's Peerage."

"I know."

"Is it wrong for me to start thinking that Issei-sama is… well, decent? On one hand, the 'original' Issei killed Riser, and for that I hate, hate him from the bottom of my heart… but the 'new' Issei..."

"...Heh." Xuelan smirked and kicked the water, sending ripples across the swimming pool. "Three days and already eyeing a married man? My, you're bold, Yubella-chan."

"Don't pretend you haven't thought the same, at least on some surface degree." Yubelluna's eyes narrowed. "But yeah, It's just that… well, it feels like if I'm tarrying for too long the moment passes and it'll never happen. Strike the iron when it's hot, or something like that? Besides, if he has parts of Riser's soul, then it'd be like 'returning to the usual' as it were, right?"

"Didn't take you for a philosopher, either." Xuelan reached to dip her hand in the pool half-heartedly. "Yeah, I'm a bit conflicted too… I'd gladly kick the 'Old Issei in the groin hard enough that he starts spitting crushed nuts for what he did to Riser, but… eh. I guess the new Issei is okay. It just feels weird to think of them as 'new' and 'old' versions. It doesn't help that when I call him 'Issei' I remember the pervert who exploded my clothes in the rating game. Or the dirty feeling I still get when I remember how he ogled my breasts even while I was breaking his arm."

"Oh yeah, that happened." Yubelluna snorted. "Hah!"

"Shutup." Xuelan splashed some water towards Yubelluna, causing the woman's snorts to turn to coughs as water went in her nose.

"Mean, Xuelan-chan…" Yubelluna noted before hopping out of the water and sitting beside Xuelan. "...Not to mention... If Issei-sama doesn't have Riser's soul, then he might decide to use us to fund him. Like those girls in other Peerages who are forced to take sexual contracts with humans and then give the compensation they are paid by their 'customers' to their King."

"You're saying we should try to seduce Issei so that doesn't happen?" Xuelan sighed heavily as the idea of them being forced into what was effectively prostitution was as repulsive to her as it was to Yubelluna.

"It's preferrable alternative to being forced to be molested by and breed with some fat, old, stinking humans." Yubelluna looked quite severe. "Riser loved us, so he didn't force us to do that... But you know that many Kings use their Peerages to gather funds for them or punish them by forcing their lesser Pieces to take contracts like that. Issei-sama... I don't know if he'd do that, but I somehow get a feeling that he wouldn't take our feelings into account if that benefitted him."

"I guess... He seems to be really cold and calculative when the mood suits him. Or perverted when the mood suits him." Xuelan's face was quite pale as she contemplated their situation. "I suppose we don't really have a choice... Plus, while pre-rating game Issei was kind of gross from what I saw, he seems a bit cuter now... Or that's just the Piece's influence talking through my mouth."

"So, since Rias-san seems to be more interested in cheating Issei-sama with Akeno-san than doing anything about their marriage, specifically as Issei-sama tries to be the perfect husband, do you think we should… take the opportunity to let Rias-san know what it feels like when someone cheats on her? Besides, seducing Issei-sama shouldn't be too hard when Rias-san is giving him constant blue balls..." Yubelluna lifted her eyebrow.

"Haah… and in the end, your slut personality shows up." Xuelan sighed with comically exaggerated motions to lighten the mood which had grown quite severe for a moment, and then blushed as Yubelluna reached to fondle her boobs. "Bellu-chan!"

"Oho, you're already using the nickname?" Yubelluna's eyes had a glint that caused Xuelan to shiver a bit. "Come on, how long has it been since you got some?"

"W-well, since Riser hadn't invited me in his quarters for a while, he was entertaining the kitty duo…" Xuelan blushed. "Didn't we just talk about…"

"Come now, you wouldn't be blushing up to your eyes if you weren't looking forward to getting it on again." Yubelluna rolled her eyes and slid her hand down Xuelan's exposed stomach, causing the woman to take a sudden breath in.

"Right, stop, or I'm not going to be able to wait to ambush him at night." Xuelan grabbed the hand before it could snake between her skin-tight exercise hotpants and her actual skin.

"See, now you're being honest." Yubelluna chuckled. "Besides, I saw your expression when he bought that truckload of libido boosters."

Xuelan blushed up to her hairline.

.

.

Rias shivered and she paused her cooking, as she and Akeno had decided to cook some light food for the Peerage as a late evening meal. "The evil in the air. I can feel it. It hungers, and my bones shiver. Some great evil lurks, hunts, stalks..."

Akeno just poked the girl's boob and caused her to jump.

"Something bad is going to happen. I can…"

Akeno just poked the girl's boob again.

"Akeno, I'm serious!"

Third poke.

"Fine, fine, but when it happens, you're going to have to apologize and say 'I'm sorry, Rias-sama, you were right and I was wrong'"

A flat stare.

Rias sighed and pulled a light vegetable pie from the oven. "...I still think we should have cooked something with pineapples in it…"

"Pineapple pizza is banned." Akeno told her with unusual seriousness in her voice, before it made way for a more usual teasing tone. "Just tell Issei-kun to eat raw pineapples."

Rias blushed.

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