Last time Draven practiced his summoning training with the help of his father and Narberal. However Draven still struggles with trying to figure out how to act like a child. However he does seem to have a mask that he wishes to test out for unknown reasons.
Lupisregina was not amused in the slightest currently. She woke up to get ready for the day and could not find her hat anywhere within her wardrobe. A pair of red wolf ears that matched her hair Color twitched irritably on her head at the lose of her hat.
"I swear if this is another one of Entoma's pranks I'm going to strangle her!" Lupisregina growled in annoyance as she continued to make her way towards the dining room. "There you are Lupisregina, I was starting to wonder if you had woken up." Yuri said as she gave her sister a stern look. "Give me a break Yuri! I couldn't find my hat anywhere this morning! Do you know how-wait what happened to your glasses?" Lupisregina stopped her rant midway as she realized that the head maid was in fact missing her glasses.
Yuri stepped forward and accidentally bumped into a chair given her eyesight was impaired without the aid of her glasses. "Yes, well it appears that belongings keep disappearing around Nazarick. Solution is missing a few of her daggers, Narberal cannot find her hair tie, CZ's scarf is gone, the list goes on unfortunately." Yuri explained as Lupisregina growled in annoyance at the news. "I swear when Entoma gets here I'm going to kill her!" Lupisregina snarled as she still believed this whole mess was their sister's doing. Another set of footsteps was heard as the other maids turned to see Entoma walk into the room, although she also seemed annoyed. Lupisregina marched up to her insect sister with a glare plastered across her face.
"Alright Entoma, what did you do with our stuff?" Lupisregina growled in a demanding tone as she waited for the insect maid to answer her question. "Someone stole from all of you as well?" Entoma asked as everyone noticed the red rope that is usually tied around her waist was nowhere to be found. "It appears the guilty party may in fact be Aura and Mare, you know how she gets with her games." Solution said as she was ready to march off and interrogate the twin dark elves. "I wouldn't waste your time, I already went to them. Aura and Mare said they didn't have my bow, so it has to be someone else." Entoma said as she cleared the twins of any potential involvement or guilt in the act of stealing their belongings.
"If it wasn't Entoma or the twins, we could very well have an intruder within Nazarick." Narberal said as all of the maids tensed up at the thought before anger set in. "So a little pest dares steal from us and potentially our master? I will enjoy devouring them." Solution said as a sadistic smile spread across her face and the other maids started pulling out their weapons. "You can't hurt them!" The rest of the battle maids turned to look at CZ in surprise as she was defending the thief in question. "CZ, why pray tell can we not punish an intruder that dare steal from our master?" Yuri asked as she gave her sister a rather stern gaze. "It's not an intruder, it's Lord Draven." CZ said as the rest of the battle maids went silent at the automaton's reveal as to who the thief was in reality.
To say the battle maids were taken aback would be an understatement, why would Lord Draven steal from them? "Why wouldn't Lord Draven just ask us? We would be happy to supply him with anything he requires." Narberal said as she was confused by the young lord's actions and motive. "Lord Draven does not need our items, he is testing something he created. His plan was to give everything back when he was finished. He let me know in case the assumption of an intruder was made." CZ explained as the maids relaxed slightly, but were surprised Lord Draven of all people would do something so childish. "CZ, who else in Nazarick is currently aware of Lord Draven's test?" Yuri asked as she gave her sister a stern look. CZ seemed to stiffen at the question slightly.
"Myself and Lord Ainz are currently the only ones aware of Lord Draven's test to my knowledge." CZ said meekly as the other maids all remained silent for a moment. "So Lord Draven is currently wondering around Nazarick, taking items without anyone being informed?" Narberal asked her sister to confirm that she was understanding her correctly. CZ slowly nodded as the maids paled. "Everyone spread out, we need to inform the Floor Guardians before something dire occurs!" Yuri ordered as all the maids quickly split up to go to each of the floors of the Great Tomb and inform the Floor Guardians of what was happening. All of the Pleiades hoped that Lord Draven hadn't already got himself into some form of trouble.
2nd Floor, Adipocere Chamber
Shalltear was currently in her bedroom as her Vampire Brides assisted her in getting dressed in her usual attire. However as they were straightening her dress, the Vampire Brides turned and hissed at the wall. "Oh? Is something wrong?" Shalltear said in a calm tone as she had sensed the intruder minutes ago, she did however notice her umbrella was seemingly levitating in the air. "How adorable, an insect decided to infiltrate the Great Tomb with an invisibility spell?" Shalltear said as she turned to the invisible intruder before snapping her fingers. The Vampire Brides lunged at the invisible intruder, but to Shalltear's surprise the intruder was fast enough to allude her servants. Shalltear could hear faint footsteps heading towards the door, the umbrella had been discarded to floor the moment Shalltear had blatantly called the intruder out.
Shalltear lunged forward and quickly grabbed the invisible intruder by the shoulder before roughly pressing them against the wall. "Now, now who said you would be allowed to leave after you dare and try to steal from Nazarick?" Shalltear asked as a cruel smile spread across her face as she was ready to dispatch the intruder. "S-Shalltear, your hurting me." The intruder spoke as Shalltear's eyes widened in shock and surprise before she quickly released the intruder. "L-Lord Draven! My apologies if I had known it was you." Shalltear's words devolved into unending rambled apologies and asking if the young lord was indeed alright after her rough treatment of him while Draven tried to calm her down.
While this was happening, Lupisregina burst into the room with a concerned look on her face. Lady Shalltear, Lord Draven is testing out an item of his, there is no intruder!" Lupisregina said quickly as to not waste time. "I-I'm so sorry Lord Draven, please forgive me!" Shalltear said in a distressed tone as she had dropped to her knees at this point. "Shalltear there is no need for apologies! It's my own fault for only informing father and CZ of my little experiment." Draven said as Lupisregina's ears perked up at the young lord's voice, but did not see him anywhere present in the room. "Lord Draven? Where are you?" Lupisregina asked as she looked around the room, desperate to find the young lord to ensure he was safe.
Lupisregina felt a tug on her dress as she turned to see that her dress was being pulled by an invisible figure. Suddenly Draven materialized out of thin air still holding Lupisregina's dress. In his other hand was a mask that looked like a fox. It was primarily white with purple and gold accents around the eyes, ears, and mouth.
"It appears the Mask of Mischief works rather well for sneaking around, however I may need to give it a way to hide myself from those with heightened senses." Draven said with a small chuckle before he was quickly pulled into a hug by Shalltear who quickly began looking over his shoulder to see how badly she hurt him. "Shalltear, I'm fine! My shoulder most likely only has a bruise, father warned me this might happen when I decided to not inform most of you of my test." Draven explained as Shalltear then forced the young lord to face her as she shot him an intense glare.
"Lord Draven, why in the world would you do something so reckless as to sneak around Nazarick?!" Shalltear growled as she continued to glare at the young lord. Draven let a small smirk spread across his face, which only seemed to annoy Shalltear further. Draven then felt his ear get tugged as Lupisregina glared at him as well as she tugged on the young lord's ear. "You go around stealing our belongings and make us worry that an intruder has infiltrated the Great Tomb! Honestly Lord Draven what were you thinking?!" Lupisregina growled as she waited for the young lord to give her an answer. What happened next surprised both of the vampire and maid as Lord Draven began to laugh at the whole situation.
The Floor Guardians had heard Lord Draven laugh before, however it was a bitter laugh on that reflected the child's more serious nature. However this laugh was completely different, it was filled with childish joy, something completely foreign to the young lord. "Lord Draven? Are you feeling well?" Shalltear asked with slight concern in her tone as she carefully watched the young lord. "Feeling well? I feel wonderful Shalltear, I suppose you could say this wasn't just a test, but a slight heat on my part. I thought it would be fun to give all of you a scare!" Draven said as his laugh has devolved into light chuckling. Shalltear and Lupisregina were stunned, Lord Draven had just played a prank of all things on them, a childish game of all things from the young lord.
Shalltear smiled before gently pulling the young lord into a hug. "You little demon! How dare you scare us like that!" Shalltear scolded in mock annoyance as she gently pet Draven's head. Lupisregina smiled, but still playfully glared at Draven for his actions. "Of all things you had to take, it had to be my hat? I don't like going around without it you know." Lupisregina said in a slightly embarrassed tone as Draven smiled at her. "Really? I find your ears quite charming Lupisregina, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable however." Draven said as Lupisregina blushed in embarrassment at the young lord's words. "Perhaps you should return everyone's belongings before reporting to Lord Ainz?" Shalltear said as she ruffled Draven's hair in a good natured manner.
Throne Room
Draven stood in front of his father and Albedo as Ainz held the Mask of Mischief in his hand, studying it closely. "It is impressive this mask was able to allow you to not only go undetected by most of the inhabitants of Nazarick, but even allowed you to move quick enough to avoid Shalltear's Vampire Brides. What spells did you use to enchant it?" Ainz asked as he gave his son a curious look. "I did not utilize spells father, I imbued the mask with runes." Draven explained as both Ainz and Albedo looked at the human child in surprise at his statement. "Lord Draven you can understand runes?" Albedo asked in a surprised tone at the young lord's ability to understand runes. Draven blushed in embarrassment as he never bothered to mention some of his studies.
"Back when I was imprisoned, I had to keep myself distracted by studying in my library. It was the only thing that kept me sane, during that time I taught myself to understand the language of runes. It took a few months to learn the whole language, but it was certainly worth it. Look on the inside of the mask father." Draven said as Ainz turned the mask over to inspect the inside of the mask. Ainz then saw two runes engraved into the mask.
"The rune on the left side is for invisibility the one on the right side is for swift movement." Draven explained as Ainz studied the two runes before nodding his head in understanding. "Draven, I would like you to continue your research into runesmithing, it could prove very useful to our conquest in the future." Ainz said as Draven nodded his head in understanding as he knew how useful runes are. Albedo however was concerned.
"Lord Draven, while I am overjoyed that you are finding ways to enjoy yourself, but please be more careful with the games you play." Albedo said in a worried tone as she walked up to Draven before gently resting a hand the young boy's cheek. "I'm sorry Albedo, I will try and be more careful from here on out." Draven said as Albedo smiled at him before picking the young lord up. "Lord Ainz, if we are finished, may I take Lord Draven back to his room to treat his injury." Albedo said as she turned to look at the lich for confirmation. "That is all, proceed Albedo." Ainz said as the succubus nodded before carrying Lord Draven back to his bedroom. Draven simply let himself get comfortable as he knew at this point there was no chance of him breaking free from Albedo's grip.
Albedo looked down at Draven who was resting, not quite asleep, but slowly drifting off into sleep. Albedo smiled at Draven as she gently pet Draven on top of the head. However Albedo couldn't help but wonder how some of the more isolated members of Nazarick would handle Lord Draven. "I wonder how my dear elder sister would react to Lord Draven. She always did have a soft spot for humans, particularly children." Albedo thought to herself as she continued to gently cradle the young lord as her mind continued to wonder to her elder sister and how she was currently doing within the Frozen Prison. "Lord Ainz probably would be against Lord Draven meeting her. At least until he is appointed another retainer." Albedo thought to herself as she continued on her way to Draven's room to check his wound.
So Draven has created a mask that allows him to turn invisible and move faster! Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, had an issue figuring out what I wanted the plot to be. Of course we are getting closer to the potential timeskip, so please tell me if there is anything else you would like to see Draven do as a child. As always leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments! What exactly will happen next now that Draven seems to be allowing himself to act more like a child? What other items has Draven been creating in his workshop? Who else will he meet? Find out in the next chapter of Overlord: Child of the Library!