Transmigration (2)

It was a day like all other days before, boring. At least for Shuten Dōji, this was the case, as he like always simply lay in his room on the spot where he was always lying.

'Ha... I think I'm slowly going crazy...' It had been such a long time since he left this room from his perspective that he felt like his mind would break down completely if this were to continue much longer.

'I don't know how much longer I can hold on...' At first, it seemed rather simple and his life was good as well when players still visited the 9th Floor, but after a long time as even the nightwalk was taken away, Shuten Dōji truly started to grow tired mentally.

Something which is more than simply understandable, rather it was astonishing for him to still hold on to his sanity, as truth be told he had now been inside the same room, lying in the same position and place for more than a year in real-time.

Who could truly stay sane in such a situation? Over this time he even started to forget the plans he had made to maybe save some of the poor lives who suffered rather unfortunate fates.

The only thing remaining besides his desire to be able to control his movements again was the sadness and helplessness he felt when two of his Creators had left.

'I hope the time to go to the new world will come soon...'

What Shuten Dōji didn't know was that this moment was much closer than he could have expected.

At this moment, Momonga the Last Player left maintaining the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick and the last remaining member of Ainz Ooal Gown was already sitting on the Throne of Kings and waiting for the countdown until the server would shut down.

As he lay there like all the days before complaining in his heart again and again, at this moment suddenly something felt different.

He had immediately gone silent in his mind upon realizing that something felt different, 'Is it...?'

As he thought he suddenly lifted his hand, and tears started to build in his eyes, as he sat up and spoke to himself.

"It is finally time?! I can move, we have finally reached it haven't we?"

Tears started to run down his cheeks as he realized they had finally come to the new world.

"HAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHA!!!" He broke out in wanton laughter in the next second as he fell on his back, from the joy of finally being able to move.

*Boom*

The door of the room was suddenly flung open and a young woman with black pointed dog ears, half-long black hair, and a long fluffy black tail behind her, wearing a black Kimono with two katanas at her waist, jumped into the room.

One hand was already on her Katana as she cried out after entering, "Lord Shuten Dōji!? What happened?!"

Anxiety and shock were written all over her face and she was followed by more than 10 more high-level Minions of the Imperial Pagoda.

Realizing that his laughter was probably a bit loud and startled the other residents of the Imperial Pagoda, he stood up and waved one of his hands to them, while rubbing away the tear marks with the other.

"Ah Kiyomi, don't worry nothing happened." He turned to the Minions and ordered, "You leave first."

Kiyomi breathed a sigh of relief, while the other Minions bowed to Shuten Dōji before turning to leave the room.

"Close the door behind you." giving another order to the Minions, they did as they were told, as they left the room.

After calming down, Kiyomi immediately took a knee and apologized, "I'm very sorry for inconveniencing you Lord Shuten Dōji, please punish me as you see fit."

Shuten Dōji shook his head in disbelief, 'What the fuck should I punish you for? For me losing myself in the joy of finally being able to move.'

Shuten Dōji ignored her words for now and opened the door of the balcony, walking out, he sat down at the edge of the balcony while enjoying the view from the balcony for the first time.

"Kiyomi, come here." He ordered her to follow him outside as he gazed upon the scenery of the 9th Floor.

Currently, the moon was already at its highest and it was still a rising moon.

Kiyomi stood up without speaking and then knelt outside on the balcony again, with her head still bowed low towards Shuten Dōji.

Meanwhile, Shuten Dōji continued to appreciate the view that he had never been able to see, even when it was always just a step away from him.

Turning towards Kiyomi who was still kneeling he shook his head with a helpless expression on his face, finally stretching out a hand, which landed on the top of Kiyomi's head.

'Soft... and it feels so good to the touch...' he was astonished at how good it felt to pat his servant's head.

Kiyomi on the other side grew completely ashamed, her face taking on a deep shade of red, but she didn't dare to ask why her Lord was doing such a thing after she had just made a mistake.

Shuten Dōji didn't even realize what he was doing, 'As expected feels good to the touch... I wonder how Shiro's tails or Yoru's wings would feel to touch?' his mind had drifted away as he continued to pat Kiyomi's head.

It took him a while to finally realize what he was doing, upon which he removed his hand in a hurry and then started to talk with a serious voice.

*Cough*, "Kiyomi, I have work for you to do."

Kiyomi regained her composure as she nodded her head, glad that her Lord had work for her to do.

"Whatever my Lord wants me to accomplish, shall be accomplished without failure."

'Haaaa... this girl seriously...' The expression on Kiyomi's face together with the words spoken told Shuten all he needed to know. She was probably programmed to truly see him like her Lord and everything he would want her to do would be her absolute priority.

'This devotion seems familiar...' It seemed to Shuten Dōji that not only Momonga would suffer under the absolute devotion of his subordinates, 'But at least I have known flaws by everyone and don't need to maintain being a perfect Ruler...'

He didn't even want to imagine how Momonga felt and coped with all the stress elicited from always maintaining his kingly persona.

He seemed to have been a bit long inside his mind as Kiyomi asked, "My Lord, how may I be of use to you?"

Coming out of his thoughts, Shuten Dōji smiled a smile that showed all of his sharp teeth, for humans such a smile was probably one of the most frightening sights ever to be seen in their lives.

"I want you to go and call Shiro and Yoru over to the Imperial Pagoda, also send Enmei to the entrance from the upper floor and Hisahito to the entrance from the lower floor. I believe we will get an unexpected visitor soon."

Kiyomi was stunned for a moment, but as this was the first time she would be allowed to be useful to her Lord, she quickly regained her composure and simply bowed her head while accepting his orders.

"As you wish my Lord."

Having said these words, she finally stood up and walked towards the entrance door of the room, leaving through it.

Shuten Dōji had watched her leave curiously, not because of her athletic and enchanting figure, but rather because since he had given her an order, her tail started to wag behind her like a happy, excited dog. After all, its owner praised it.

Shaking his head helplessly, he mumbled to himself, "It's crazy... I guess she has traits similar to a loyal dog in her personality as well..."

Kiyomi on the other side left through the entrance gate on the ground floor of the Imperial Pagoda.

"The Lord finally gave me personal work! Finally!" she was so excited she completely forgot her earlier mistake, fully concentrating on her new work.

"Let's first send Enmei and Hisahito out and then visit the Lord's finances." She made up an order in which she should work out what her Lord wanted her to do.

"The pond is closer, so Hisahito comes first." turning to the side she walked towards the backyard of the Imperial Pagoda.

There was a Garden, maintained by the Minions serving under Hisahito, while he resided inside the giant pond in the center of the Garden.

When Kiyomi entered the backyard, the Minions immediately bowed their heads while one of them already went to inform Hisahito of her arrival.

And so as she arrived at the giant pond, filled with countless lotus flowers, Hisahito was already waiting for her.

"Greetings Kiyomi." Waving his hand, the little Turtle-like creature greeted her like an equal, which was the truth for all the NPC's of the 9th Floor besides the Floor Guardian and his Fiance.

"Greetings Hisahito." She greeted him the same way with a smile on her face, forgetting about her orders for a moment she bragged a bit, "You know, Lord Shuten Dōji patted my head for more than a whole minute today!"

Hisahito's eyes went wide in disbelief, "How did you gain the Lord's favor?!"

A sly smirk appeared on her face as she continued, "Hehe, he seemed to enjoy the feeling of my hair and ears if I had to explain it."

Hisahito shook his head, still a bit disbelieving about the truth, but he also cautioned his friend and colleague, "You shouldn't let this spread too much, if either Lady Shiro or Lady Yoru catch wind of this, your life will probably become miserable..."

The sly smirk on Kiyomi's face froze and cold sweat started to cover her back as her breathing grew a bit labored.

Her tension was palpable and it took her a couple of seconds to calm down again upon which she glared fiercely at Hisahito, "We will never talk about this again and it will never be mentioned in any way in front of the Lord's fiance's."

Kiyomi had directly made up her mind to take this into the grave and never talk about it again, the only thing she feared besides being useless to her Lord and the Supreme Beings was being targeted by these two women.

They were just too scary to mess with in her opinion.

After clarifying this, she remembered the reason why she had come to Hisahito in the beginning, "Anyway Hisahoto, I am here to deliver the orders of Lord Shuten Dōji."

These words made Hisahito straighten up, as he awaited the orders given by their Lord.

"You shall go and watch the entrance to the lower floor. The Lord is expecting guests, although you are sent there, Enmei will be sent to the entrance from the upper floor, as the Lord doesn't seem sure from where the guest will come."

Hearing the orders given by the Lord, Hisahito nodded his head with a serious expression, "I will arrange for my Minions to take over watching my area and then immediately go to the entrance to the lower floor."

Kiyomi nodded with a satisfied smile and then waved goodbye before disappearing again, she had decided she had wasted enough time and running was the better and faster way now.

It didn't take her long before she reached a particularly large Cherry Blossom tree in the Cherry Blossom forest, it was the home of the nature spirit Enmei.

Arriving here, Kiyomi called out, "Enmei! I have orders from Lord Shuten Dōji!"

The leaves in the trees started to rustle before a small creature with a height of around 30 cm jumped out from in between.

This little creature resembled a Mushroom with hands, feet, and a face, as well as a green glow covering its body.

I landed in front of Kiyomi and asked in a childish and cute voice, "What orders does the Lord have for this little me?"

Looking at the little guy in front of her with a childish and cute voice, Kiyomi spoke in a voice of appreciation, "Ah little Enmei, you are as cute as ever!"

The little eyes of the little guy narrowed and he demanded in his childish voice, "Kiyomi, you said you had orders from the Lord..."

Coming back to her senses, Kiyomi gave a wry smile before taking on a serious expression, "You are to go to the entrance of the upper floor. The Lord is awaiting g a guest, but he doesn't know if the guest comes from the upper or lower floor, yo you and Hisahito are sent out to stand by on both entrances to await the guest."

Nodding in understanding with his cute little head, "I understand, I will go there immediately."

The little guy then jumped up into the trees and continued on his way by jumping in between the trees.

Of course, in Kiyomi's eyes, he was still very slow as Enmei was a Caster or to be specific a Druid, which meant that his physical abilities were nowhere near Kiyomi's.

"Now the trouble comes..." Who of the two women to go first to was now the question she stood before, "Let's go to the Mountain Shrine second, Lady Yoru is more forgiving than Lady Shiro..."

She then turned and started to make her way towards the Dream Forest, it didn't take her too long to reach the edge of it, upon which she didn't stop even for a second, running straight towards the hidden village inside of it.

The Dream Forest was a very special place on the 9th Floor, as the fog covering it would cast Illusions on all that would enter it.

This of course had exceptions, which included the NPC's of the 9th Floor as well as the players of the Guild of Ainz Ooal Gown.

So Kiyomi wasn't affected by it and could go straight towards the center, of course, her entrance wasn't hidden from the wardens of this forest, who immediately informed the Area Guardian of this Forest.

Sitting inside the wooden Palace at the center of the Village in the middle of the forest, Shiro soon received the information about Kiyomi coming towards them.

Shiro sat on a throne made of pure white wood, which seemed to not have been made, but rather grown.

"What might bring you to me Kiyomi?" Shiro's voice which seemed to enchant all men who would hear her voice sounded out, as she sat there with her feet crossed, revealing her long slender legs.

"Mana, go and greet her, bring her to me as soon as possible." her seductive and intoxicating voice addressed one of her servants.

"As you wish Lady Shiro." a black-haired beauty, in a black Assassin costume bowed and left the Palace.

"Are you here on his orders?" a flash of excitement came into the beautiful silver eyes, with black vertical slits, of Shiro as she watched Mana leave the Palace.

When Mana reached the entrance of the hidden village in the Dream Forest, Kiyomi just came running over out of the Forest.

A smile appeared on the beauty, hidden under the mask, as she addressed her comrade, "Kiyomi, why are you in such a hurry?"

Kiyomi upon spotting Mana came over directly, stopping in front of her as she greeted her casually, "Ah hey Mana! I am here on the orders of the Lord to speak with Lady Shiro. So could you lead me over?"

The smile under Kiyohime's mask grew stronger, "Oh good, the Lady is awaiting you already. My little cat spotted you entering the forest already and she knows you are coming here, so she sent me to take you to her."

Turning around, Mana went ahead while Kiyomi followed after her, "As expected of you. Your little cats are probably distributed throughout the whole forest aren't they?"

"Of course, this is the best way to spot intruders, although it is a pity that Raiders have never gotten this far..." There was great disappointment in Mana's voice.

"I feel like the Lord feels the same as you. He only sits in his room, especially since Lord Momonga forbade the Nightwalk he seemed rather depressed. At least until today!"

The two talked as they walked towards the wooden Palace, soon they walked through the gate and walked in front of the Throne in the Great Hall.

Whereupon reaching a certain distance from the Throne, both took a knee side by side.

"Lady Shiro, I brought Kiyomi over as you ordered," Mana spoke after kneeling, which was followed by Kiyomi greeting the Lady.

"Kiyomi greets Lady Shiro." She even bowed her head low.

Shiro waved her hand with a smile on her face, "No need to bow your head Kiyomi, you are the trusted servant of my beloved husband, so please raise your head."

She waited until Kiyomi raised her head before continuing, "So what brings you here? Shouldn't you be protecting my Husband in the Imperial Pagoda?"

Shiro narrowed her eyes and a smile was still on her face, but there was a real sense of danger in that smile, which made Kiyomi shudder.

She didn't dare to delay any longer and explained the reason for her visit, "The Lord sent me out to call you Lady Shiro and Lady Yoru to the Imperial Palace. He seems to be expecting guests, though I don't know who that might be, but the Lord sent Hisahito as well as Enmei to watch both entrances to this floor to greet the guest."

Shiro's silver eyes went wide for a second, "It seems someone important is going to visit us soon... fine. Thank you for making your way here to deliver the message of my beloved Husband, you can continue on your journey."

Kiyomi bowed her head once again before excusing herself, "Don't mention it Lady Shiro, I am only fulfilling my duty. I will see you later in the Imperial Palace."

Shiro nodded at Kiyomi, who left immediately afterward, She then turned her attention to Mana, who was still kneeling.

"I will need you to take charge of this area for a while. It shouldn't be a problem?"

"No problem at all, Lady Shiro." Mana immediately accepted the request but then spoke again, "But Lady Shiro should at least take two Minions with her as simple safety measures."

"Ha... as if I needed a minion to guarantee my safety..." Shiro immediately denied her suggestion, "Finally I will be able to see my dear again..."

Mana couldn't argue against it, Lady Shiro and Lady Yoru were both much stronger than all Minions and NPC's on the 9th Floor besides Lord Shuten Dōji.

Shiro on the other side only thought that after so long, she would finally be able to see her beloved man again.

Kiyomi on the other hand, was already on her way towards the Mountain Shrine on the other side of the 9th Floor.

It took her a while to reach there and she had to lie, if she said she was not depressed when looking at the stairs that led up the mountain from below.

"I want to get back to Lord Shuten Dōji..." She had been utterly scared when being in the presence of Shiro before and now she was feeling the same again.

She always felt that she could be seen through by the two women for whom her Lord was like the world. If they knew she had been patted by him... she couldn't even imagine the anger she would have to endure, which was why she was very glad to be able to Shiro's Palace as fast as possible.

The same was true now, "Let's just draw her attention to meeting the lord, this should her send me away fast, like with Lady Shiro..."

She spoke to herself while making her way up the stairs towards the shrine lying atop it.

Upon reaching the top of the mountain and the entrance of the Shrine ground, she saw a figure dressed in a white Yukata, combined with an ice blue sashi, her long white hair was bound in a long ponytail that hung over her shoulder.

This figure standing there waiting for her was another fellow NPC, "Hey Yuki! You waiting for me means Lady Yoru already knows I'm on my way here?"

"Greetings Kiyomi, yes the Lady is already aware and waiting in the head shrine for you." the cold different voice of Yuki sounded before she paused for a moment, "You were spotted as soon as your first foot landed on the first step on the stairs."

"Hahaha, as expected, it should have been the snakes of Kiyohime, shouldn't it?" Kiyomi laughed while scratching the back of her head.

Yuki simply nodded before turning around, "Follow me, the lady is waiting."

Kiyomi simply followed after her.

Walking across the Shrine ground, which was laid out with white marmor plates, the two came to the building in the center.

A traditional-looking Shinto shrine, with red and black as the main colors, Yuki walking ahead opened the main door and entered first with Kiyomi following right after.

Sitting in the center with her back towards them was the Area Guardian of this place, Lady Yoru.

The only things that could be seen from this point of view were the seemingly endless black hair and the black feathered wings sprouting from her shoulders.

Yuki and Kiyomi kneeled side by side, before Yuki spoke first, "Lady Yoru, I brought Kiyomi over as you wished." her voice was still as cold as ice, it seemed that there couldn't be any fluctuations in her voice no matter what.

"Thank you, Yuki." a voice that seemed to soothe the hearts of all that would hear it, reached the ears of the two kneeling.

Yoru paused for a moment, "What brings you to me Kiyomi?" Curiosity could be discerned in the voice that was so pleasant, just listening to it could repair all the pain in people's hearts.

Kiyomi answered in a direct way, in the hope of being dismissed as soon as possible, "My Lord sent me out to invite Lady Yoru and Lady Shiro to the Imperial Palace."

The moment these words fell, the wings on the back of Yoru seemed to gain a life of their own, as they started to flutter.

Kiyomi ignored this and continued, "He is expecting an important guest, he even sent Hisahito and Enmei to the two entrances to the 9th Floor to greet this person. He seemed to want you two to be present as well."

"I see..." Yoru spoke, taking a pause, and then dismissed Kiyomi, not caring about her anymore, "I understand, you can leave, I will make my way to the Imperial Palace as soon as possible."

"Thank you Lady Yoru. I will see you later..." Kiyomi didn't dare to linger around and exited this place as fast as possible, finally making her way back towards the Imperial Pagoda.

Yoru narrowed her black eyebrows, while a flash of suspicion came into her beautiful black eyes.

She had the feeling something was wrong with Kiyomi, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what was wrong.

This thought though only lasted for a second before a look of excitement appeared on her face, "Finally I will be able to see you again, though it is a bit annoying that, that woman will also be present..."

She then addressed Yuki behind her, "Yuki, I will leave the Shrine in your capable hands, while I am away."

"I understand, Lady Yoru." Yuki calmly accepted the order given to her with the same expressionless face and cold voice as before.