Chapter 66

In the Holy Imperial Capital of the Holy Celestial Empire, life continued as usual. The only humans of this continent lived peacefully in their nation that was founded by the Great King Byzant. Not that humans were treated badly by the other races five hundred years ago, it's just they were very small in numbers and always asked the peaceful nations like Elvenor for help.

The arrival of Byzant brought the golden age for the human race. He used violence to remove many elves and draph's from their lands, filling their lost territories with human colonies. That's how everything started, with violence, destruction, and death.

All the crushed nations started to see humans with hatred. While they were treated well, the other races were crushed. But it did not last long and the rule of Byzant fell, so did his kingdom leaving it in ruins.

Slowly, all the nations started to rise again and a possible war might have started if the humans had not apologized for all the crimes that the servants of Byzant had committed. They even gave some pieces of land that were considered holy by the nations that ruled it before.

But with the rise of the Dark Empress, things became more dangerous for the nations that share a border with the Underdark Empire. The previous Dark Emperor was a bit dangerous but he did not really care about the war. But his daughter was completely different from him. She was a dangerous dark elf ruler that loved violence and also she was a warmonger.

With this enemy around, the other nations turned their attention to the Underdark Empire. And the Holy Celestial Empire did not share borders with the dark elves, that gave the Holy Empire time to raise their armies and help the other nations to gain their trust.

But… time passes like water through a river. And when time passes, it comes with great changes and those changes might be for good… or bad.

The changes that happened in the land of the high elves brought great daze to the surrounding nations, especially to those who had a very good relationship with Elvenor like the Lorestir and the Egrond Kingdom.

This upset the surrounding nations very much because a new disturbance was rising and this was not the Dark Empress but something else… someone else.

Since that time, the presence of the military inside the cities was more active like something was about to occur. Young men from villages, towns, cities were being drafted to do military service. The people were getting worried because something like that hasn't happened for a long time and they thought that it has to do with the new nation.

From the gates of the city arrived a mature gorgeous woman with long brown hair, brown eyes, and pale white skin. She wore a white robe with golden outlines over a tight black dress that gave her a very erotic body appearance. Her hands were covered with long black gloves which held a purple-colored staff decorated with purple jewels.

"Ara~ what's this serenity?"

This half-elf female was a respectable holy person in the Holy Empire. Her name was Astrida Damascus and she was a priestess.

The wide streets of the imperial capital this time were not full of couples and other people like she used to see months ago. This time it looked like the population of the city had fallen. Of course, some people were walking but not in greater numbers like before.

A bunch of children ran towards her, they all were happy seeing the holy priestess again.

"Priestess Astrida is back!"

"Welcome back Lady Astrida."

A little time passed and these kids were growing fast. This tells the difference of the humans compared to the elves. Astrida as a half-elf grew slowly and saw all her human friends grow faster than her and even die…

"Oh, It's good to see you all healthy, my children." Astrida caressed the soft cheeks of the children.

"Welcome back Lady Astrida."

Astrida lifted her head and saw the dark-skinned girl Zooey.

"Ara Zooey, I'm glad to see you again."

"How did the pilgrimage go, my lady?" asked Zooey.

"By the will of God, it went good, but… haaaaah~ I'm a bit tired from the long road and my back hurts~"

Zooey's eyes ran down and saw the big rack of Astrida's chest. With all those tits, of course, the long road will make the pilgrimage harder for her.

"I planned to travel to the Elvenor Kingdom in two weeks to chat with Lady Sirius but I don't think I can now."

Suddenly, Astrida noticed that Zooey's face changed when she mentioned the Elvenor Kingdom as something bad had happened. Astrida stared at the surroundings again and it was very calm that she could hear the tweets of the bird's which was rare.

"Zooey did something happen?"

"No good to tell you here, my Lady. Let's go to Vortis Palace."

The human and the half-elf passed the boulevard and the long wide rode that was used when the Imperial Army paraded before the citizens. Astrida and Zooey reached the walls of the palace. Of course, as servants the Emperor, both of them had access to enter the palace without taking permission from the knights.

They did not bother to go inside the palace but they went to the garden so they could rest their muscles and talk freely. But out of surprise, when they went deep inside the garden, they saw Jeanne d'Arc drinking tea alone. Astrida was happy to see the Holy Maiden again, but Zooey was suppressed that Jeanne finally had come out of her room.

"Ara~ Holy Maiden, I'm so happy to see you again."

Jeanne lifted her head slowly. It worried the priestess because the Holy Maiden's eyes were dark when they should be full of life, divine, and happiness

"Astrida… when did you arrive?" asked Jeanne.

"I just returned from my journey, Holy Maiden."

"I see, good for you then."

Jeanne turned her face at the walls full of flowers with different colors. Astrida got confused with Jeanne because she has never reacted so cold before her.

Astrida now decided to change her tone. "What is going on?! The city was almost silent when I arrived and there were a lot of soldiers outside the walls. What's the meaning of this? Did the dark elves do something again?"

Jeanne didn't respond to the priestess questions. She looked like she was… dead inside, like someone, had hurt her heart. Jeanne seemed like she had finished her tea and left Astrida with Zooey alone in the garden.

"What happened here?"

The confused priestess sees the holy maiden as she leaves and then turns her head to Zooey.

"Seriously, what is going on?! Why is the holy maiden like that?"

"Lady Astrida… you said that you wanted to visit Lady Sirius, right?"

"Yes…"

She responded to the confusing question.

"Well, the kingdom of the high elves is no more."

"Eh…"

Astrida gulped hard. What did she say? What did she mean is no more? Astrida was not understanding the female warrior, she was being vague

"What are you trying to say? No more… you mean?"

Zooey didn't say anything.

"Did-did the Underdark Empire succeeded in invading the Elvenor Kingdom? What were you all doing?"

Slowly, the anger was rising, it can be seen on her brown eyes. Her father was a high elf noble from Elvenor and her mother a noble human female from the Holy Empire.

When she was a young girl, her father was assassinated by a human noble. At that time, the Kingdom and the Empire were not in good ties with each other and a war for revenge by the high elves could have started.

But the war never started when the Emperor apologized for the dirty actions of the human noble and handed him to the Elvenor authorities. The land of the high elves was like a second home for Astrida but she never told them that her father was the high elf noble and herself being an half-elf. But still, by hearing that something bad happened to the high elves, it made her afraid.

"The dark elves have nothing to do with this. The thing is that Queen Alea got married to the king of the Nazarick Kingdom."

"Nazarick? Married? What does that have to do with the sadness that has fallen upon this city and the holy maiden? Please just tell me, stop acting so dramatic."

"My lady, the Sorcerer Kingdom of Nazarick is a dangerous nation from the west ruled by an undead being that is trying to conquer the world. And the High Elf Queen is married to this undead that is called Ainz Ooal Gown."

That was a strange name that has never reached her ears. The western continent was unknown for her, so it was obvious that there were other nations on that side. But the big problem was the marriage of Alea and Ainz Ooal Gown.

"An undead? Beings that appear in this world just to bring death… Why would her majesty do this?"

"We don't actually know the reason for her decision, but we believe that the Sorcerer King is using his magic to control the queen and his undead army to keep the population under his thumb.

"Oh my god, this is terrifying." Astrida covered her mouth in shock. "But what about the Holy Maiden, why is she so distressed?"

"About that… the call for an alliance against the Nazarick Kingdom arrived here and his majesty accepted the proposal, but it was not waited well by the Holy Maiden. The one who is calling for an alliance is the Platinum Dragon Lord, the one who invaded the homeland of the Eight Great Kings. This agreement has enraged the holy maiden, she has told his majesty to refuse but he won't listen to her words."

"So that's why she is like that…"

Jeanne d'Arc is a woman from the ancient times that came alongside the mighty kings to this world. Eryuentiu is the holy land created by the godly magic of the eight kings. And Jeanne is called to fight alongside with the one who has invaded it…

"Does the Nazarick Kingdom allow outsiders to enter their territory?"

"Yes… Yeah, we have seen hundreds of humanoids heading there."

It was true, their knights have seen hobgoblins navigating in the rivers of the Holy Empire on rafts, all of them heading towards the Sorcerer Kingdom.

"But for what reason? Isn't that kingdom evil?"

"That's what confuses me. We have asked those hobgoblins about the life inside the Nazarick Kingdom and they say it's a paradise."

"A paradise while being ruled by an undead lord?"

"What is this Ainz Ooal Gown?!"

This was getting even more confusing. Sure the invasion of the Elvenor Kingdom is a terrible thing but people migrating there in great numbers brought many questions. What kind of paradise were those hobgoblins talking about?

"Is-Is Adelaida still in the city?"

She asked about the female high elf noble that was an envoy from the Elvenor.

"No she went back to her homeland." said Zooey.

"Did she say anything about the high queen and Sirius?"

"She said that Alea was the one who proposed Ainz Ooal Gown for marriage. He didn't have any intention for conquest but the Holy Emperor doesn't believe this and thinks that she is being manipulated with dark magic by the Sorcerer King."

Astrida was out of words. She was on a crossroad and didn't know who she should believe, the words of the Holy Emperor or the words of the high elf noble.

Alea marrying an undead being was unexpected and unbelievable. Astrida has never encountered undead in her life but she has learned about them from the old books.

From all the monsters that she knows, undead beings are the ones she fears the most. Monsters of unlife wandering around in desolate lands, waiting to slaughter mortal beings, it's just horrifying.

"I… I just can't… God, such plague has spread while I was gone... Zooey are we going in the right path? Can the alliance win this war?" she asked.

"I don't know, my lady, I really don't know. Ajax is determined to go to war against the Sorcerer Kingdom."

"I don't remember the emperor wanting to send his armies into a bloody conflict so much. He always ended the wars with diplomacy. Why now? Why does he want this war? Can't the Empire work with the Nazarick Kingdom? I know an undead nation is dangerous but still…"

"My lady, I said a moment ago that the Nazarick Kingdom wants to conquer the world. Let's say the Holy Empire becomes allies with the Sorcerer Kingdom… a cold and devious alley that might stab your back. The undead are immortal, the same undead king will continue to rule the nation forever. But humans are not, this generation will die and a new one will be born and take the lead of the Empire, but the new generation will be different from the old one. They will create new rules, they will become different people… weak people. And if a country is ruled by a weak leader with weak people…

"It will fall… Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times." Astrida finished her speech.

"Exactly."

"Let the next generation do whatever they want with their future, that has nothing to do with our situation. We are going against a nation who we haven't made any contact with. The Elvenor Kingdom had the west continent at their border, what if they had a long secret relationship with the Sorcerer Kingdom. Maybe Alea truly loves the Sorcerer King and decided to unite the two nations, what\s wrong with that?"

"I would love it if things were as you say, my lady, even the Holy Maiden said the same words but Ajax won't don't believe them."

"But this is absurd! The Holy Celestial Empire should not be like this. We should make contact with the Sorcerer Kingdom to know who they truly are and not fight them just because they are undead. We did this in Kraskudar Island for God's sake!"

"...I don't know."

"Is this the right thing to do Zooey?"

"I don't know, my lady, I am a knight of the Holy Empire and I must obey the Holy Emperor's order even if they are… absurd."

"Zooey, the ancient powerful Holy Maiden that has been here from the formation of this Empire till now is against this war. Ajax is young, very young. Since he became an Emperor, his path has been glorious because there were not many dangerous events. This grand war he wants might be his end, we don't know what the Nazarick Kingdom is capable of doing, right?"

The dark-skinned female warrior released a shivering breath. The borders of the Nazarick Kingdom were controlled by strong-looking undead that she had never seen before. Zooey has been two times to the fortress that is very close to the border. She has seen them. Dangerous monster warriors clad in terrifying black armor patrolling the border.

At night they were still there. Zooey could see them in the dark because of the crimson points that the undead have on their eye-socket. It was so terrifying that it looked like they wanted to attack the mortals but all they did was bord patrolling.

She was afraid.

"My-my statement stays the same. I am a knight of the Holy Celestial Empire and I will protect these lands to my last breath. If his majesty wants war, I… will follow him."

Zooey raised and turned to walk away from the garden leaving Astrida alone. She could see the face of the female knight that had an uneasy expression. Fear has captured her body and Astrida could tell from the quivering of her armor.

"I have a bad feeling… This will not end well. God help us."

Light Town

It was a cool morning and the sun had risen, spreading light upon this small forgotten town that had no soldiers to protect it from the barbarian hordes. It was a surprise that it had not been attacked yet.

Lieutenant Neia with her platoon were marching towards the town. There were one hundred soldiers, 10 priests, 10 arcane magic casters, and 80 Nazar's. It was a perfect army to protect a town.

"We are entering the town platoon."

And so they reached the town, it had no walls or gates and the houses were very close with each other, not like the other towns that Neia had seen in this new territory. It looked more like a village but on the map it said that this was a town.

"This town is similar to those of the Slane Theocracy."

"Hm? What did you say, Joker?" Neia turned to Joker.

"Uh, nothing Lieutenant."

The doors of the building started to open and the people of the town came out from their houses. The expression on their faces told Neia that Nazarick forces were not welcomed in their town.

Only the children under fourteen were looking at the soldiers on clad dark armor with surprised faces but the adults tried to put them inside the house.

"Nya~ It seems we are unwelcomed here, Madeye." said Neko.

"Yeah, I guess you are right."

The Nazar's went deeper in the town and more people came out to watch them. The army reached the center of the town. Neia saw there a lot of people and it looked like they had blocked the path.

In front of the mob was a man with a fat belly, brown eyes, thin mustache and the top of his head was bald and shiny but it had black hair around. He was the only person that wore expensive robes like a noble, so that tells that this man was a mayor or the chief of the town, nobody knows how this town worked.

The platoon got orders from Neia to stop the advance and she decided to step forward to talk with this man. Approaching, Neia noticed the men around murmuring about her.

"It looks like they have never seen female leaders."

There were a lot of women outside too and they had the same expression as the men making Neia having weird feelings about this place.

Neia stopped and the man in front of her stared at her from head to toe. She was not sure if she should speak first or let the man start. While looking at the man, Neia noticed behind the man something like a temple built upon a hill surrounded by trees but her eyes returned again at the man.

"I am the mayor of this town, Ciris Malak Gebro. For what have you come to our town?" demanded the mayor.

"Greetings mayor Gebro, I am Lieutenant Neia Baraja. I got orders from the commanding officer to guard this town because the barbarians had been advancing and destroying villages on their way near this area."

"Well, as you can see, we are all good Lieutenant, so I ask for you to take your soldiers and leave our town."

Neia was confused right now. Soldiers have come here to protect them from man-eating monsters and he does not want help. And the people were all on their mayor's side.

"Sorry mayor, but I have strict orders to guard this town so we refuse to leave it.

"Is that so, Is that so. Alright, but we don't have rooms for your army."

"Worry not sir, we are going to build a camp outside the town near that hill."

"No, you can't build a camp near the shrine! Build it somewhere else, far from the shrine. That is our holy hill.

Neia was starting to get curious about that shrine. Men were angry at Neai when she talked about building a camp near that place. There must be something holy there that these people protect with fanaticism.

"We will build it somewhere else then."

The people calmed and let the mays talk.

"I don't remember the soldiers of Karnssus wearing this dark armor. Are you from a special unit sent by the governor of the city?"

"No sir, we are the Nazar Army of the Sorcerer Kingdom of Nazarick."

After she said the name of her nation, the people backed off from Neia, even Ciris took steps back.

"What the…"

They looked like they had seen a ghost. The mothers took their children and went inside their houses.

"I have heard about that nation, you, you are servants of the undead."

"Sir… Karnssus can't deal with the Troll Kingdom aggression so all the City-State Alliance has kneeled before the Sorcerer Kingdom. The land that you are living right now belongs to my king Ainz Ooal Gown. And calling my king an undead is very rude so I beg you and the townsfolk to be careful."

Shock fell over the people. The king of the land was a being they hate. The people of this town were different from the others because they worship one the Six Great Gods. And being ruled by the enemy of all life was unacceptable.

"Scavenger!"

"Yes Lieutenant!" the hyenaman stepped forward.

"Find a wide plane outside the town so we can start to build our camp."

"Right away, Lieutenant."

Neia turned at Ciris again.

"I hope we don't have more misunderstandings, mayor."

Lieutenant Neia ordered her soldiers to patrol near the forest. She did not let any soldier to stay on the town right not because the these people hated seeing the Nazar's around

The people went to their homes leaving only the mayor and some man at the center of the town. Ciris was now in deep thoughts. The undead followers have given him a hard time. They can even fire him from the mayor post.

"Sir what are we going to do now?" asked a man.

"How should I know? These filths are everywhere now."

"Sir what if they control the shrine…"

"Shhhhhhh!"

The people tried to close the mouth of that man.

"You fool didn't you see those filthy elves in that platoon. Their ability to hear is very sharp so keep your mouth shut.

"I'm really sorry mayer."

"Tch!I am going to talk with the priest, don't follow me."

"We must do something to get rid of these pests. Filthy undead followers trying to invade our land.