Ainz stared down the overly excited brain eater, only still seated because of his wife's intense glare. The last instructions needed to be given to Tabula and Mariposa, and thus, they were finally in his quarters.
Ainz held his left arm to Albedo's knee in a protective gesture as several maids prepared the table, pouring glasses of a juice mix made from the fruits found in Tob by the head chef of Nazarick. The orc, like all culinary fanatics, always sought new ingredients to cook with and, to Ainz's delight, had the philosophy of prioritizing local homegrown sources whenever possible. The head chef had even requested a network of farms that would grow produce specifically for the Great Tomb's establishments.
Not that the orc wouldn't cook with ingredients from within the dungeon, but even he had to acknowledge that the foreign ingredients made for a nice variety at every meal.
In fact, all the presented cuisine was made from new world-sourced ingredients, from harvest to presentation. Small one-bite cream sandwiches with smoked frog meat, unique salad in varied bread baskets, and decadent vanilla cream with new fruits and honey.
"How are you feeling, Lady Albedo?" Mariposa was the one to start the conversation to break the uncomfortable silence, leaning forward.
"Mostly fine, but a bit tired. Do children of succubi drain their mothers a lot? From what I have heard, I have two additional sisters and could use some insight." Albedo replied with a rather straightforward question as she leaned back, taking a deep breath and grasping Ainz's skeletal hand to drain him a little.
Their daughter was once again taking everything she had, leaving her utterly exhausted. Although as not only a succubus but a goddess, she could choose the gender of the child, it had felt natural to have a daughter as the first child, and should Ainz want a son, she would give him one as a second or third as soon as it was viable.
Mariposa raised her brow at Albedo's choice of words. She knew the young goddess rarely misspoke and only did so while under duress, which wasn't present at the moment. 'Has she accepted me as her mother? There's no way she used sisters instead of half-sisters by accident.'
"I gave birth in the astral realm, so I cannot speak from experience when it comes to going through pregnancy in a physical body but yes, our children take a lot of energy from both parents."
"Does this mean I should try to give more energy to Albedo?" Ainz inquired, leaning forward.
"She should instinctively feel when your energy is required. It also heavily depends on the gender of the child. Males will require more male energy and thus the father will have to give the majority of what's needed. For daughters, the mother will have to supply the majority. For that reason, I gave Tabula daughters since at the time he was in a…weakened state."
"I know my father was a human at the time. Did he not tell you that the truth was revealed to me? And while we're at it, how large of a role did you play in my creation?" Albedo displayed how little patience she had for vagueness today, already mentally drained from her child.
"Ohh…no, he didn't. But you know your father, and how forgetful he is," Mariposa chuckled. "I was present as inspiration, not only for appearance but some of your personality as well."
"Do you consider me your daughter?" Albedo asked a follow-up question.
Mariposa paused. The question was a literal minefield and her only saving grace was that she wouldn't be slaughtered where she should due to her status, but ruining her relationship with Albedo would not fare well for the anticipated future.
"She is your mother!" Tabula announced, annoyance evident in his tone.
"I asked her not you, father!" Albedo hissed back, displaying clear defiance and forcing the brain eater to shrink away from his angry daughter.
There was no way forward but to answer the question honestly. Mariposa took a long breath before meeting the young goddess's gaze. "Yes, you, Rubedo, and Nigredo are my daughters, but I do not ask you to acknowledge it if you do not want to. Your creation is different and I played no role in making you a Goddess, I only just helped with the blueprint that was used by… I don't know who or what made you into you."
"Then you are as much my mother as Tabula is my father, who did the same. You can freely present this connection between us to everyone," Albedo declared as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, leaning against Ainz as she absorbed more power from him.
"Getting tired?" Ainz inquired, wrapping, his arm around her shoulders in case she fell asleep.
"The child is active. I can manage," She mumbled.
"She shouldn't be this tired all the time, even I wasn't this exhausted. Perhaps we could ask Flornohe, as she had witnessed births of the Great Mother Lilith's reflections and would know more," Mariposa suggested.
Tabula meanwhile extended his arm towards his daughter, positioning his palm in front of her stomach as magical circles appeared between the duo.
"Tabula, what are you doing?" Ainz immediately raised his voice, beginning to channel his magic.
"Nothing intrusive, just reading energy patterns." The brain eater replied, already distracted by his effort to know more about Albedo's pregnancy.
"Be careful!" Ainz warned him, his voice booming with authority as the Overlord straightened out, magic circles appearing around him as he prepared to shut down the brain eater at a moment's notice from his wife.
"I am careful… strange… hmm… why can't I… this shouldn't…" Tabula grumbled under his breath, his frustration growing as the magic circles grew in size and number.
"Is something wrong?" Albedo questioned, hand slightly shaking.
"No… I don't think so… I just can't detect anything." Her father shook his head and slumped back onto the sofa, his magic circles dissipating, "I don't understand."
"Let's just ask for Flornohe's input. This is a new situation for all of us." Mariposa suggested again, patting her husband's leg.
After Ainz sent a request to Ulbert to borrow his subordinate, the elder succubus arrived in his quarters within a minute and performed the usual pleasantries by addressing everyone by their titles and bowing deeply.
"Could you please provide insight into the nature of Albedo's pregnancy?" Mariposa was the first to address her former superior with a request.
"I will do what I can." The succubus approached Albedo and then, same as Tabula, extended her arm toward the young goddess's barely visible baby bump, eyes glowing.
"This is unusual. There are no energy patterns… this child is not a god… and I don't… " Flornohe then turned her attention to Eleleth who had been standing in the corner, still as a statue, virtually unnoticeable unless someone paid attention to her and said, "Perhaps your servant can provide some information, your imperial majesty. Metatron, for all its limitations, should have knowledge surpassing mine."
Ainz turned to stare over his shoulder at the angel who had not uttered a word thus far, "Can you tell more?"
Eleleth approached them, her gaze never leaving Flornohe, "I am afraid I won't be able to tell much either. The child is not a god, I am sure of that, but something greater. We lesser beings simply do not have the ability to see the magnificence that is your daughter, master. Only you could reach such highs to see into the realms above and see what sort of entity your daughter will be."
Flornohe eyed the angel with suspicion. There was something oddly familiar about the creature, as if she had met Eleleth before, but to her knowledge, she had never interacted with a Metatron and the angels did not ascend in ranks, so she couldn't have been a lesser angel either.
"Higher creature, explain." Tabula perked up again.
"This child likely operates on a higher fundamental level and thus from our perspective there is no energy at all. This would explain why the empress is drained so much. The child could likely drain the entire world in an instant to accelerate her coming into the physical realm, but chooses to exercise restraint albeit on an instinctive level out of consideration for her creators." Eleleth explained as she returned to her spot and resumed her statue-like demeanor.
"Then there is nothing to worry about?" Ainz questioned. Though he had no idea what to make of this revelation, the fact that his unborn child already had the restraint not to harm Albedo was a huge relief for him and his wife.
"I believe so. The Empress and the world should be fine," Eleleth confirmed.
"I'll just…" Albedo mumbled, finally dozing off.
Ainz, meanwhile, addressed Flornohe, "Thank you for your input. You may return to your duties."
The elder succubus bowed and departed without saying another word.
"There should be some methods to detect-" Tabula started to speak but was cut off by Mariposa.
"This is your daughter and granddaughter, not a test subject!" Mariposa hissed, "Better get details about the Baharuth visit."
"But-" The brain eater tried to protest.
"Tabula!"
"Fine." He finally gave in, not wanting to face the terrifying wrath of his wife.
"We'll figure things out in time. For now, just be happy about your first grandchild." Mariposa patted his leg and then turned her attention to Ainz, "As I understand from Lord Ulbert's proposal, we are to seek new agents for Nazarick in a nonaggressive manner and plant ideas in the young ruler to seek unification with Nazarick for his own good?" Mariposa inquired, leaning back.
"Yes. Ulbert's plan is sound and his agents should be present to give ideal targets. I trust you both will know what to do, so don't worry about every single detail and should you encounter players, retreat immediately."
"It's not the players we should be worried about. We both know that there is something more hidden in this world." Tabula reminded him.
"The point still stands, if you encounter something dangerous, retreat."
"Very well, we'll be off then. Notify me if anything comes up with Albedo and the child." Tabula stood up, giving one last glance at his sleeping daughter before departing with his wife, hand in hand.
Ainz glanced at Abedo, who was quietly mumbling about reports in her sleep, glancing over his shoulder at Eleleth. Something told him she knew more than she let on, and this was a worrying development.
The angel, for all her loyalty, was hiding something, that he knew. Was it intentional or not he couldn't tell, but there was a chance Regoz was involved somehow and that surely was not good for his unborn daughter. If she was some higher being, that would explain why Regoz was interested in the first place and explain at least some of his goals. The question was what he could do to protect his family and Nazarick from the possible entities that could take interest in them.
For a while, he just sat there, letting Albedo rest on his shoulder. She needed to sleep more and hopefully not be stubborn and take more energy from him to function healthily, even if their daughter absorbed energy like a black hole.
He knew he needed to do more, to grow in more ways than one. One who was weak could not be a protector. A true protector must be the most dangerous entity out there so no one in their right mind would dream to offend said entity, and those who did could be repelled and eradicated. Yet he had little idea where to even start. For all the power he possessed, Ainz was well aware he was but a speck of dust in the greater scheme of things.
'Perhaps I finally need to figure this divinity stuff out. If I am only limited to physical things, I cannot hope to stand up to the likes of Lilith and Regoz.' As his wife slept, Ainz relaxed as well, and tried to feel his whole self using his wedding night as a reference. Their child was conceived in the immaterial, and that was where he needed to be.
The world around him slowly faded as he began to feel his true form: an immense, near-boundless dance of light and dark. In a sense, he was truly immortal, and even if the world he was in was destroyed, he and the rest of his friends and wife would be able to retreat to the immaterial until they found another world to inhabit. But that could not be said about the majority of Nazarick, who were still bound to the material realm.
Being in this state didn't give him much insight at the moment, only that he was more in this much greater realm and that's it.
'I guess I should hit the library and read everything relating to gods I can find there.' He set a plan in motion. He would have a lot of time during the night and he wasn't about to waste any of it.
Editing by aidan_lo.
Proofreading by Mfkz_rocker, fvvck, IAMTHEPLOKOKIOPO, Omnax, and aidan_lo.
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