158 Chapter 158 Epilogue / End of volume 4

Jaldabaoth's howl of anger and frustration as he vanished under the King's magic was drowned out by two things. The howls of the banished demon army as the object summoning them was crushed, and the cheers of the army of dwarves, dragons, and quagoas who had been fighting along the edge of the abyss mere moments before.

Their swords, claws, mauls, and axes were raised as one to the black sky as their collective master descended from above after his victorious battle against the one who would have slain them to the last infant or hatchling of any race.

And when he touched the ground again, one noble foot gracing the stone floor before the Great Rift, the dragons bowed their heads, while the dwarves and quagoa knelt in submission to his will.

"You have victory!" Ainz declared and raised a hand in triumph.

The cheer renewed, but for all the whoops, howls, and roars, there was more to be done.

It took hours to dispose of the dead, casting the corpses into the Great Rift where they were always disposed of, and the healers ran out of mana long before they ran out of wounded, forcing the use of most of the potion supplies and then still requiring the use of more passive 'non-magical' treatments.

However, when it was all over and done, there was still even more to do, but it was the work only a King could perform. Seeing to the peace.

Ainz held both hands over his head then, his fingers out to call for quiet.

"A moment of silence for the dead who paid the price for your lives, and for the peace that is to follow. You are all my people now. Dwarf. Frost Dragon. Quagoa. I will not see war return here again. You were all allies once, in the long, long ago. Now you've fought together again, and I hope you understand why you were allies. Dragons," he pointed to the former concubines and their children, "you are strong, one of the strongest beings alive… but you cannot make much of anything as you are. You need these smaller ones to make your lives the sort you want to live. But now I forbid you to oppress them, so… you must trade."

"Trade?" The concubines and children asked as one.

"Yes." Ainz didn't avert his stare from their wide eyed confusion. "My Kingdom is growing, that means trade will flourish, people, messages, and goods of the sort you want, will go all over the place. If you slaughter a cow you may eat it today, but it will bear no calves tomorrow. I will put you to use in long range trade and travel. You will take money and goods for what you do, and while you may not take to it at first?" Ainz smirked and removed his mask, "When you're rich from it, I don't think you'll mind."

"Now to you… Pe Riyuro… you lost many of your people fighting, and lost many on the way here… now control over the whole mountain is lost to you. But your people still have a future. There are many mountains, and I'm sure not all of them are inhabited. You will return to your homes, and be provided what you need to survive… then when I have secured another range, one with no threats to you… your people will be relocated there."

Pe Riyuro gasped in disbelief, 'An entire mountain… a whole one to ourselves…' "Yes, Your Majesty." Was all he could muster out. 'By the god of ores… what if he'd decided to just…' That was a nightmare that would haunt him for the rest of his days, and keep him working such long hours for the rest of his life that quagoan work ethic would become a thing of legend long after his passing.

"Now, to the dwarves, we have our agreement, and I will keep it. The Runesmiths will go with me as we discussed, but they will come back here yearly to show off their work, meet their families, friends, and… spend money… probably on beer." Ainz chuckled a little, and the dwarves collectively shared in his amusement with laughter of their own. "Gondo Firebeard…" Ainz said, and from somewhat farther back, the dwarf stood up.

"My Lord!" He exclaimed, moving so quickly that his helmet toppled off his head and crashed with a clatter to the stone at his feet.

"You kept the craft that saved your people alive. You are the One Who Stayed faithful to your trade, you will lead runecraft development in my country until you retire." Ainz promised, and Gondo let out a squeal of excitement that saw the little dwarf jump up and down in sheer joy.

Around him, other dwarves were looking at him with envy and giving resounding congratulations which lasted until Ainz turned and pointed to Hejinmal.

"You, Hejinmal, will return with me, I will put you into service under one of my Guardians, I'm sure she'll be thrilled to see you. Be good to her, she's a dear child of mine." Ainz said, and Hejinmal bowed deeply, lowering his head to the stone. "There are ample books for you to read, and her brother is an avid reader as well, I think you'll enjoy it there on the sixth floor of my home."

"My Lord is kind and generous, I'm grateful." Hejinmal replied.

"Now… I will stay for one day to celebrate with you, and then I must get back to my home. I have a bigger country to run now, and I can't neglect my work forever." Ainz chuckled and shrugged, and again those around him shared his laughter.

True to his word, the rest of the day was spent drinking heavily by most of all sides, with the dragons consuming entire casks of ale on their own, and the quagoas learning just why the dwarves liked alcohol so much.

When morning came and most of the city was passed out, Ainz opened the gate. Quadwar was quietly carried through by Hejinmal where his body could be studied and potentially healed with both intact with the help of ninth tier healing spells.

The runesmiths were all present with their immediate wives and children, while the rest of their families appeared and saw them off. They hiked through the whorling vortex with contented waves and excited steps, eager to see what future awaited them all, and eager to see the eighteen rune sword again as a fixture on the wall of the promised workshop. A thing to aspire to, a challenge from the past to the future that would never be out of sight.

Gondo was the last of them to enter the void, "You've done a marvelous thing for me, your Majesty. I don't know much about gods, but I promised you my soul, so I guess…" He stroked his rust colored beard, "I guess that makes you God enough for me. I'm yours forever, thank you."

Before Ainz could say "You're welcome". As if he were embarrassed by the outpouring of thanks and the tears that went with it, Gondo rushed through the gate after the others.

With the families gone and the room empty, Ainz made a quick guess and said, "You can come out, Demiurge."

"My Lord is impossible to deceive, even by accident." Demiurge said and gave his lord an affectionate smile, he knelt before his Father, his King and his reason to be and bowed his head. "Was I… useful? Did I do well?"

Ainz gave a quiet nod, "Yes… but… some of your experiments…" Ainz frantically wanted to say, 'I didn't want that!' or 'That wasn't what I meant!' But it would shatter the perception Demiurge had of him, and yet it couldn't go unremarked on either. Ainz' very human conscience clawed at him.

So he split the difference, "I think they… weren't quite subtle enough. So much pain and torture is just… it's pointless and even gets in the way of accomplishing long term goals… try to be more subtle in the future."

'...Replace blatant torture with subtle torment to obscure the involvement of the Supreme Being from any implications of his connection… of course, how negligent of me!' Demiurge thought with vigorous self recrimination.

But out loud he said, "Of course, My Lord. I understand perfectly."

"Ah… good, let's go through now, there's a lot of work to be done." Ainz quipped, and they stepped through the [Gate] to return home again. Leaving the city, and the drunkards from dragon to dwarf to quagoa to wake up alone and see to his final orders.

When he returned to the throne room, clad in his mask still, expectant faces, tense with watchfulness and waiting, dropped as they relaxed. The Guardians and Pleiades, plus Sebas, one and all awaited him. Only Albedo's face lacked that same tension, she stood at the front, wearing only her normal tranquil knowing smile. They dropped one and all to their knees and bowed their heads. Albedo was the one to address them.

"Welcome back, My Lord, your servants have missed you these long months." She said to him, At Ainz' back sat the stairway to the throne, he glanced away from them, up to the rising stone to the seat of power. "Hail to the King over Nazarick-"

Her words were instantly cut off.

"No." Demiurge said, stopping her with such suddenness that she dropped her jaw, the bare beginnings of impossible wrath in her bright yellow eyes, which was shared by the others. Demiurge saw their faces, from Sebas to little Mare… nothing was worse than defiance like that.

He cut them off and said, "My Lord… the Throne of Kings awaits you… our Allfather."

Demiurge's words sent a wave of shock through the guardians. "Cocytus, you said once before that 'King' was too small a title for our mighty Lord. During my journey I found the right one. This land has Emperors, Kings, Queens, Pontifexs and Princes… but the titles of others would only diminish our master. I propose a proper title… who he truly is, to us, and to all those in the world who fall under his rule."

"Allfather… Allfather… Allfather…" The quiet title was whispered among the guardians as they tried it out.

The words formed slowly on their tongues as Ainz ascended the stairs and turned around to put his back to the chair.

"Hail to the Allfather, Ainz Ooal Gown!" The cry began with Demiurge as soon as he knelt in his place among their numbers, and when he bowed his head, the others, from Lupusregina who knew first, to Albedo who knew not, the cry of loyalty filled the throne room, filling the white robed Ainz with equal parts relief and very human anxiety.

When it finally stopped, he looked down to Albedo and said, "Your report, Albedo, I'm sure we have a lot to do."

"At once, My Lord." She said with a smile.

...Months Earlier… Roble Holy Kingdom…

Neia Baraja sat alone in the darkness far too close to the demihuman border for her liking. 'If they hadn't caught you letting those demihuman infants live… you wouldn't be here wondering when demihumans were going to murder you…' She told herself and poked the little fire that offered the only light other than the stars above.

Whether she was telling the truth or a lie, she wasn't sure. 'You'd probably be here anyway, father's curse again.' She thought and ran her fingers over her vicious eyes, briefly closing her eyelids while sparks crackled below her little stewpot.

From a practical perspective, starting a fire while scouting this far in the wild lands alone was stupid. Stupid and dangerous. But Neia was past caring, squire or not, she had no bonds that would call others to help her. 'If I'm being abandoned on an assignment like this, I might as well have a hot meal before the end.' She reasoned and then opened her eyes, stuck a wooden spoon in the little pot, and took a sip. The flavor of rabbit and wild vegetables was sharp, but not half bad.

But any thoughts on the quality of her meal were dispelled when she heard a cry overhead and saw a massive object sail past through the dark and land with a thunderous crash not far away.

"What in the name of the four?!" She exclaimed, she quickly smothered her fire, snatched her bow up from beside herself and ran through the trees and bushes as fast and quietly as she could.

The dark leaves smacked her face and roots 'threatened' but failed to trip the adroit squire. She avoided things around her as best she could, her scary eyes at least good for seeing somewhat better than average in the dark.

She came close to the noise of the crash when she heard the sound of an agonized groan.

Almost 'blubbering', 'Whatever it is, it's alive, and it's in pain…'

She nocked an arrow and approached the noise, and then gasped when she saw a frost dragon on its back.

Covered in burns, with a multitude of broken bones, a clearly shattered jaw, agony filled its single, hopeless eye.

Neia's heart raced in her breast, whether it saw her, or smelled her first, she didn't know, but when it saw her nocked bow it immediately spoke.

"Don't… kill… h-elp-help me." It begged, it looked away after meeting her eyes. "Please… begging you… help me…"

Neia lowered her bow, the thing looked so damn… sad. She glanced back the way she'd come. 'None of my own people for a hundred kilometers at least… no demihumans either… Neia… you're being stupid… he's a dragon, he'll eat you for sure…'

"Please…" It begged again while looking at her upside down.

She put away her bow. "The four must truly hate me… but what else is new." Neia mumbled and put away the arrow in her quiver again. She then put the bow on her back and sighed.

"Alright… let's start by setting these bones… this is going to hurt… but first… promise me you will not eat me." Neia said, and the dragon stammered.

"Olasird'arc promises on his name… won't eat savior…"

"That'll have to do…" Neia said with resignation, her shoulders slumped briefly as she contemplated the likely end of her life after the dragon recovered, if it did. 'This is stupid, he's a dragon…' she thought, but all the rest of her saw was a broken mass of pain, weakness, desperation, in need of help. And so she clambered up to the broken leg to get started. "I'm no healer, and any healer I could fetch would just report you and have you killed, so I'm going to have to do this the slow way. Setting the bones is going to hurt like a demon's fire… are you ready?" She asked when she reached the broken leg.

The dragon gave a quiet nod. 'If you only knew.' He thought as the human grabbed the bone, activated a strength enhancing martial art, and got started.