Ch7. New world
"What's going on!?" Momonga exclaimed in worry, glancing at Rei who gave him a casual shrug.
Rei didn't bother explaining the situation to Momonga. He knew the man was smart enough to understand it himself from all the clues. What Rei paid attention to, however, was Momonga's face. More precisely, how expressionate it was.
'Who would have guessed a skull could convey shock so thoroughly?' Rei mused in amazement. He didn't have a clue how he knew Momonga was shocked, just that he did. In front of him was a skull without a shred of flesh or skin, yet, Rei simply knew how that skeleton felt from the briefest of clues.
This alone told Rei that he already changed without even noticing it. He became more observant, more sensitive to the smallest of details. While Momonga was still inwardly in turmoil because he was not forcefully logged off, Rei was trying to pinpoint the changes in his mentality. Which... wasn't the easiest thing to do considering he had no frame of reference.
In the end, Rei gave up, deciding to tackle this problem at a later date, 'I guess, I will just have to note the changes along the road.' He inwardly sighed. He was not feeling as if he wasn't himself. He felt... perfectly normal, yet, he also knew he underwent a change. It was a maddening feeling.
It was then a worried voice interrupted both players from their musings, "Momonga-sama, is something the matter?"
Both Momonga and Rei looked in the direction from which the voice came, Momonga in surprise while Rei with a full intention of enjoying the next scene while mischievous thoughts flashed through his mind.
"I... er... ugh?" Momonga intelligently replied before he turned towards Rei in exasperation, "Do you see the same thing as me, or am I hallucinating?" He asked in a deadpan, causing Albedo's worry to skyrocket. She, however, stayed silent and just observed, not wanting to interrupt a conversation between Supreme Beings.
Rei lifted his eyebrow at Momonga and smoothly put his hand on his hip, "Depends... why don't you try to grope her to ascertain that fact? We both know it passed through your mind." Rei coyly teased, causing Albedo to blush crimson red while eagerly staring at Momonga and almost hyperventilating from anticipation. As for Momonga... his lower jaw dropped when he heard Rei's suggestion.
'Aaaand, here it is, the telltale sign of forced emotion suppression. Gotcha! Momonga 0, Rei 1.' Rei inwardly smirked.
His eyes briefly flickered in the direction where Sebas Tian and the Pleiades diligently stood, trying not to show how flabbergasted or amused they were. Rei promptly found his target and looked Solution Epsilon straight in the eyes. These arctic cold blue orbs of hers as if instantly warmed, causing Rei a small shock. He was naturally quite interested in how Solution would turn out since he couldn't really prevent it in any way. When she just subserviently lowered her gaze and head in a small bow, showing the deterrence to Rei like an obedient maid, he had to admit he was a bit happy.
'Good, no yandere issues or uncontrollable obsession detected.' Rei breathed a sigh of relief. 'Then again, it's still too early to judge so I should stop making fun of Momonga lest this jest comes back at me.'
Rei looked back towards Momonga who was being fussed over by Albedo. The guy was hopeless, to be honest. He had no idea how to stop the overzealous succubus who wanted nothing more than to have a go at his bony ass then and there.
Needless to say, Rei had a whole lot of fun watching their interaction.
Albedo really didn't mind the audience as she stood in front of Momonga, almost invading his private space. It was obvious the girl, despite being a virgin, was a real succubus. The way she held her body and subconsciously showed her curves by slightly swaying her hips from time to time... one could mistake it for a sign of her excitement but Rei, somehow, knew differently.
'She is doing it on purpose.' He realized, not knowing how he came to that conclusion, only understanding that it was the truth. 'Her chest is perfectly on the level of Momonga's eyes, she never sways her hips too much, staying always in his line of sight. She is also perfectly distanced from him so that her body is dominating most of Momonga's line of sight while also being close enough that he can reach and smell her.' Rei's mind suddenly gathered an influx of information as it instantly evaluated Albedo's tactics and approved of them as passable... against a living being, that is. Then his eyes landed on Momonga and Rei couldn't stop himself from sniggering at how clueless the skeleton was. 'It is almost a pity that Momonga is undead and these tactics do not work on him. Haah~, he doesn't even realize he is being seduced. A pity... It would have been fun to see him all flustered.'
Rei had no idea how the heck he even spotted Albedo's subtle seduction play. Nor why he understood what she was doing. In the end, he just took it in strides and chalked it up to his new race and was inwardly glad for this new useful ability.
"A-A-Albedo!" The flustered Momonga exclaimed in an attempt to stop Albedo from fussing all over him. He wasn't flustered because of her womanly charm. He was simply overwhelmed by the situation. "Stop!"
Albedo reluctantly listened and distanced herself from Momonga, if only slightly.
Momonga looked at Rei, pleading for help with his eyes. Seeing that, Rei rolled his eyes in reply before sighing.
'Well, my fun is over, I guess.' Rei thought before pinning Albedo with his gaze, causing her to nervously squirm. "Okay... Momonga probably has some orders for you. Let him speak, alright?"
Hearing that, Momonga instantly threw Rei a look as if he grew a second head that so clearly conveyed his feelings, 'I have orders for them?'
By now, Rei knew the guy well enough to discern his intentions from that single look and so, he returned his own look at him accompanied with an eye roll, nodding in the direction of the Guild Weapon in the skeleton's hand. 'You are the Guild Master, duh.'
Rei could swear Momonga blinked his confusion away despite lacking the necessary body parts for such an action. Then, Momonga turned towards the NPCs and a brief instance of uncertainty could be felt in the air before a resolve filled him.
"Sebas... Something weird happened with the Tomb. Go outside and scout the surroundings." Momonga started.
"As you wish, Momonga-sama." Sebas nodded before leaving.
"Pleiades, go and guard the 9th floor."
Yuri Alpha wordlessly bowed, followed by the other maids, and turned to leave. All but... Solution. Much to Momonga's and Rei's surprise, Solution Epsilon stood rooted in her place and gazed in Rei's direction, as if waiting for orders.
Momonga was confused and tried to find out the reason while Rei had an inkling of why and gulped.
'So she recognizes my authority above Momonga's, huh? I guess these lines stating that her loyalty to me is much greater than her loyalty to Nazarick is true, then.' Rei didn't really know how to act towards the woman. Sure, he spent years perfecting her build when she was an NPC but it was honestly a quite weird feeling now that he knew she was alive.
Seeing how Albedo frowned when Solution disregarded Momonga's orders, Rei decided to intervene before the girls started to fight because of something so insignificant. "Go, Solution. I want to meet you in the fighting arena in half an hour, however." Rei ordered.
"As you wish, Master." Solution calmly replied before bowing towards Rei followed by a respectful nod towards Momonga as she turned around and followed the other Pleiades, ignoring the intense stare Albedo was administering to her back.
Rei inwardly sighed, knowing this will be a headache in the future. Fortunately, Momonga continued, "Albedo, gather all Floor Guardians except the ones from the fourth and eighth floors in the fighting arena in the sixth floor in an hour from now."
"Understood." Albedo bowed, turned around, and left.
When they were finally alone, Momonga sagged in his throne as if he was mentally spent and released a long tired sigh.
"Is this really happening?" Momonga sked Rei who hummed in agreement.
"We can discuss what exactly happened and theorize how after we gather more information." Rei turned into what Momonga liked to call 'Rei's scheming mode' where he was completely serious, unlike his normal laid-back self.
Seeing Rei serious, Momonga nodded. Rei was far better at decision-making and taking into account many things at once. He was an entrepreneur in the real-life so it was given that with his experience, Rei was better at making sudden calls. Momonga wanted to push the position of the Guild Master to Rei many times but Rei always argued that Momonga wholeheartedly cared for the guild and was a better administrator.
Rei's brief burst of seriousness quickly dispersed as a grin appeared on his face. "So... Liking Albedo so far, heh?"
Momonga groaned, "I feel as if I dirtied Tabula's child. Dealing with her will be tiring as hell." He whined to Rei, not knowing if he should be happy, afraid, or nervous from what was happening. It was simply far too many things happening at once.
Rei threw Momonga a meaningful look and then said in a tone as if he was scolding a child. "Ha! I told you the flavor text is dangerous. But did you listen? Nooo! 'Rei! it's just a few useless sentences! It isn't worth using the Guild Weapon to change it! Just let it be! It won't change anything about Solution!' Well, enjoy Albedo's infatuation, Momo-chan!" He chuckled at the exasperated skeletal expression of his friend before turning around and leaving the throne room, heading towards the fighting arena on the sixth floor with mirthful laughter.