Downtime

Thoth could be seen lying down on his back on top of the Colosseum, staring at the night sky with his wings hidden within his back.

The wing matter was discussed in great detail, but unfortunately, no spells provided a permanent solution, Thoth could forcefully change his species if he wanted to, but that was not an option to him.

He liked being an angel, and a certain someone who was thinking of him at the moment also liked him being an angel.

He sighed, but sadly, there was nothing to be done.

The books don't mention how an angel can redeem himself, only what happens once they fall and how they can fall, in other words, he was on his own in finding a path to redemption.

The four little ones offered to stick with him, maybe help him find a way to rise again, but he refused without a second thought, he didn't need four people around him.

Right now, he just wanted some time for himself, he didn't even realize how much he needed a break.

It's been a bit since he came to this world, and he's been working almost constantly. Absorbing knowledge, trying spells, reporting to Ainz, trying to help people, working with Demiurge on fake rescuing those kids from his happy farm, and then making sure those kids don't get sold off to slavery or something, visiting Aura and her pets... The list goes on and on.

The supreme ones didn't even give him his own room, or bed, or anything, he only had the library and the counter, only the things that would matter in a fight were given to him.

He would love to lay down on a bed and sleep, but he couldn't even sleep, he only found solace in the cuisine, the food here is divine after all.

"Why does this bother me so much?" Thoth muttered quietly.

It just didn't make sense to him, it was only a cosmetic change, his stats are the same and his abilities are too, so his angelic parts must be impacting his mood along with his lore.

He realized this, and he tried to move his mind elsewhere, but no matter how much he tried, his subconscious seemed hellbent on finding a way to return to normal, so his thoughts drifted in that direction as well.

*Sigh*

A frustrated sigh escaped his body.

"Whatever, let's just sleep on this, maybe I will come up with something after I wake up."

Thoth didn't mind sleeping on the hard wall of the colosseum, his body was durable enough to ignore such a thing, and his mind was tired enough to not care anyway.

As the sleeping beauty decided to take a nap, a certain someone was also thinking of Thoth, her simple mind doing its best to figure out a way to help him.

Shalltear Bloodfallen could be seen patrolling her floor, her mind was not all there, focused on other matters. She didn't have her book in hand, she couldn't focus on it right now even if she wanted to.

It's simple, she felt terrible, the girl knows that if it weren't for her, Thoth would be okay and Lord Ainz would not have had to suffer so much pain. Both of them refused to blame her, saying there were other things at play as well, but she still felt incredibly guilty.

She considered wasting her time at the bar, but the books Thoth gave her said, "You must do your best to learn and clean up your mess." Or something similar.

"Hah~ I wonder what I should do..." She was stuck, she wanted to help fix the mess she created, but how?

She couldn't even have fun with her toys anymore, though her vampire brides were certainly delighted that their mistress was no longer in the mood for "fun."

Shalltear kicked a small stone as she mulled things over, when suddenly, a brilliant idea struck her, why doesn't she just ask?

"Yes! Okay, I'll ask Thoth if he wants anything, and if nothing else, I'll try to cheer him up!" Shalltear regained some of her energy with a new mission now before her, and this time, she wouldn't screw it up!

Truly, the vampire had outdone herself this time, even Lord Ainz would "Umu" in pride if he saw this no doubt.

Shalltear finished up her patrol, and while she was doing that, Aura could be seen in the colosseum playing with some of her pets, she considered talking to Thoth, but to her, it seemed like the guardian needed time for himself.

She did call out to him before, asking if he wanted to play with her beasts, but he politely declined, much to the disappointment of her pets.

Seems like he just wanted to relax while looking at the sky created by Lord Blue Planet, to be fair, it is certainly beautiful, one of the many monuments to the power of the Supreme Ones.

She was still concerned about her brother's well-being though, but her thoughts were cut off when she noticed a certain vampire appearing from a [Gate].

Shalltear looked around, ignoring the many large animals around her and instead looking for Thoth.

Aura approached Shalltear, who noticed the former approaching.

"Why are you here Shalltear?" Aura was in a fairly bad mood when she noticed the vampire, so she got straight to the point.

"Do you know where Thoth is? I want to see him." Aura raised an eyebrow.

"He's up there," She pointed at the top of the colosseum, "he isn't exactly in the mood to talk though."

"Oh..." Shalltear second-guessed her plan, maybe she should wait until she tried to cheer Thoth up.

"Why are you asking anyway?" Aura crossed her arms while waiting for an answer.

 Shalltear, trying to look confident, straightened her back and spoke while looking down on Aura, a habit she developed, "Well, seeing as it is my fault things have gone this way, I thought I could try to cheer Thoth up, but I'm not sure I should now..."

"Uhuh, it's surprising you even thought about anything, but hey, it's progress I guess." Aura shrugged.

Shalltear instinctively opened her mouth to fire back an insult, but she closed her mouth again, instead asking for advice, "Well, what do you think I should do then?"

Aura was expecting Shalltear to have a different response, so she scanned her with her eyes, unsure if the vampire hit her head on something.

She looked rather, nervous, Humble even, which surprised Aura, since the girl constantly projected authority, trying to be the most important person in the room.

"Well, I think you have improved a lot, seeing you are trying to make up for your mistakes by working on yourself, you can talk to him, but don't piss him off more okay? He has a lot on his mind right now."

"Right, I can't imagine how guilty he must be, considering he almost killed Lord Ainz..." Shalltear couldn't imagine the havoc that must be going on in Thoth's mind, if she was in his boots, she would already have moved to the bar, she wouldn't even want to live anymore.

"Exactly, so be careful, now shoo! Go!" Shalltear took the cue and she began to approach Thoth, Aura looking on in amazement.

"To think I would see the day where that idiot would learn, what a miracle." Aura shook her head slightly when suddenly a huge chameleon rubbed against Aura, getting back her attention.

"Aw right you! Sorry, she took my attention away didn't she~" the chameleon nodded while some of the other creatures whined.

As Aura turned her attention away from Shalltear, she slowly climbed the steps, nearing the wall on which Thoth was lying.

Shalltear stopped when she climbed all of the steps and jumped up onto the wall, and she immediately panicked.

Thoth could be seen peacefully slumbering, she did not plan for this, and as such, she immediately turned to Aura, who was busy with all of her pets.

Okay, she was on her own it seems.

'Do I wake him up? But that would only annoy him! But who knows when he might have free time again!? He spends most of his time in that human city whatever it was!'

Shalltear was panicking, she expected to simply walk over and for things to happen, but now, she learned the pain of overthinking and social anxiety delivered in one mind-tearing dish.

Shalltear jumped down and walked towards Aura, who looked at her with a skeptical look.

"...Did you make him angry that fast?"

"No! He's asleep, I didn't prepare for this!"

Aura looked at Shalltear like she was looking at an idiot. "Well just wait until he wakes up then?"

"...Oh... I didn't think of that." Aura facepalmed, which Shalltear ignored as she walked over to Thoth again.

"*sigh...* What is going on in that girl's head?" Aura shook her head on held her forehead, genuinely dumbfounded.

Shalltear got onto the wall and she sat beside Thoth, who was deeply asleep.

Shalltear looked at him for a second, and then she decided to do something to make him more comfortable.

She messaged one of her brides to bring her a soft pillow, which she did a few minutes later, she dismissed her bride without even looking at her.

The pillow was a brilliant white, she loved seeing the blood of her brides spray all over it while she...

*Ahem!* Anyways, she gently lifted Thoth's head and carefully placed the pillow below him.

After she slowly lowered Thoth's head, she let him go and smugly smiled to herself.

A job well done! Indeed, she has successfully conquered the art of pillow laying, all shall tremble before her!

So Shalltear kicked her legs, excited she did at least this right, and she waited for Thoth to wake up.

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