The procession of incredulous events forced Ainz suppression of emotion to activate, allowing Ainz to slowly exhale and calm down
'This...' - Ainz looked at Drake, who continued to look at him with a huge grin - 'This... Is such a thing really supposed to work like this?'
On the one hand, The Great Tomb of Nazarick, his guild base - and part of his current Noble Phantasm - were obtained exactly in such a way. Ainz Ooal Gown, who had just established themselves as a guild, had conquered the Great Tomb of Nazarick Dungeon, after which, as a reward for clearing the dungeon they received the right to use the tomb as a guild base. They later expanded it to its current finished form that was part of Ainz's Noble Phantasm. As Ainz had encountered such a thing before - it was impossible to say that Ainz never faced 'the winner becomes king'- kind of logic, but at the same time, up to this point, Ainz never thought that this logic could be applied to his current situation and this new world.
'Although...' - Ainz thought, recalling the lore of Yggdrasil - 'Quite a lot of beastmen tribes choose their kings by battle royale... And not to mention that most of all the kingdoms of Yggdrasil were formed when there was a powerful warrior who was able to unite a large group of people in one conquering campaign... '
'Well, in that case such a thing occurring now is not really extraordinary...' - Ainz slowly exhaled once more, after which he looked at Drake again. She, having caught his attention, only nodded towards Blackbeard, - "By the way, if you want to throw him into the sea - just tell me, I will do it with the utmost joy."
"Shut up, old hag, I'm helpful!" Blackbeard instantly spat out a curse at Drake.
"You were a captain only because we had too few Servants before now," Drake did not let the insult bother her, "Now, when this problem has been resolved, I vote to hang you on the nearest post."
"There are no posts in the sea, idiot," Blackbeard snorted.
"We'll find one just for you," Drake answered instantly.
Baal glanced at Ainz, and seeing... something, he took a step forward, "I'm sorry, but as my lord's deputy, I believe that I will be given the privilege to bring the majority's sentence to execution..."
"Hold, Ikemen!" Blackbeard instantly recoiled, after which he looked at him in surprise, "Bros before hoes!"
"Isn't it good in this case that you and I have not managed to become "bros" yet?" Baal smiled, "Indeed, of course, how could I testify against my friend..."
"Wait a minute, discount Satan," Cainabel sharply dug her clawed hand into Baal's shoulder, forcing him to hiss without causing any change to his perpetual smile from his face, "and who appointed you the deputy of my lord? It seems to me that you do not understand a little where your place in this hierarchy is..."
"Not fair!" Nero's voice was completely out of place in this conversation, "Why is he an admiral?! I wanted to be an admiral!"
"But you already took the title of captain," a small fraction of satisfaction was heard in Mashu's voice, "What do you have to complain about?"
Ainz slowly sighed. Well, and he thought he had trouble managing with only six Servants - and now there are ten of them... Truly marvelous.
"Silence," Ainz gave an order, after which all his Servants, who were all frolicking about, became silent, turning their eyes toward Ainz.
'Ha, they do listen to me!' - Ainz nearly broke into a smile. If someone like Cainabel and Baal began to listen implicitly to him, did it mean that he had reached the position of a respected boss? That would be great!
Although unknown to Ainz, the reason all the Servants listened to him was because Ainz could easily just blink all the opponents fighting against him out of existence if he were to be displeased, and not out of the Servants great appreciation of his position as leader. Although leadership gained from a position of strength was still a legitimate version of leadership.
"Drake," Ains looked at Francis Drake, who nodded to him showing her attention. "As far as I know your fleet's actions were directed with the goal of chasing someone... Who stole something valuable from you?"
Drake, when she heard of this, nodded in confirmation, "Yeah... One beautiful golden cup to be exact."
"A beautiful golden cup..." - Ainz blinked. "Don't tell me..."
"Ha, finding the Grail - so fast?" Nero managed to connect the dots first, "Wow, such a short Singularity!"
After that, she fell silent for a second and then frowned, "On the one hand, this means that our work will be easy... But on the other hand, it means that I will not be able to show all my beauty and power!"
"Oh, hmm..." - Ainz only nodded slowly, after which he looked at Drake, "In that case, definitely, we must catch the thief."
Drake glanced at Ainz, then smiled. "Well, you are now the admiral, so your word is law."
"Well, in that case - we're going at full speed after the thief," Ainz smiled. His smile then became very strained when he realized that Drake hadn't told him at all of where the thief is.
'But... Which way should we go now?!' Ainz was once again very glad that his nature as an Undead didn't allow him to express strong emotions.
"He subjugated the pirate fleet, captained by the most famous pirates in history - and he did it all in... An hour?" Olga-Marie looked at Da Vinci, who was sitting next to her, and they were eagerly watching what was happening in the Singularity. An opportunity they only have because Ainz allowed a connection to be created with Da Vinci's spell..
"Yup," Da Vinci picked up a croissant from a plate placed nearby and then grinned. "Definitely, he did indeed just do that."
Olga-Marie looked at the picture before her. It was...
Just plain inhuman.
"Can he instead be... just that lucky?" Olga looked up at the ceiling. "Just... How can this happen by any other way?!"
"Theoretically, of course, such a thing happening due to luck is possible," Roman replied to Olga. "Of course, with the approximate probability that any random coincidence of events is possible at all. But chief, if you think about it logically..."
"Don't talk to me about 'logic'," Olga snapped at Roman, and then looked again at one of Chaldea's many screens, which currently is displaying what Ainz and his Servants are doing - including new ones, "I know... I know that what happened can't be just coincidence... But it's just ridiculous! This is already beyond the bounds of what can be imagined by the human mind!"
"Don't forget who we're talking about here," Da Vinci looked at the screen carefully, "This is Ainz, a creature that surpasses everything that you knew and have heard before. I would not be surprised if it turned out that he already knew of everything that would happen just before he entered the Singularity."
Olga, hearing this, looked at Da Vinci, and then shook her head, - "Your explanation... It's just..."
Olga looked at the screen, "We don't even know anything about him... Almost nothing - and even what we know is simply our assumptions and what he let us know about him."
"But he is fighting for the benefit of mankind," Roman shrugged and smiled, "So... I see no reason not to trust him."
"I trust him," Olga sighed, "I mean... He is our last and only hope. Even if I didn't trust him, we still would have no choice but to look at what he was doing."
"Doesn't this make our observation even more exciting?" Da Vinci smiled and then waved her hands, "Hush, a new series of 'adventures in the Singularity' is starting!"
Olga, Roman and Da Vinci attention was then glued to the screens for a second before...
"What the fuck are they doing?!" - Olga could not stand what she was seeing before her eyes.
Ainz's spell that allowed an image to be sent to Chaldea, although it indeed followed him, could be moved within a small radius from Ainz's body. With that ability it could capture the actions of the other Servants. For instance...
"0\10, would not smash again", - Blackbeard snorted at Mozart.
"But just imagine!" Mozart tried to convince his new comrade, "A chest of astronomical size, the beautiful hair, those piercing eyes — with these she is at least eight out of ten!"
"Drake is an old hag," Blackbeard crossed his arms over his chest and huffed in indignation, "My heart belongs only to lolis!"
"He who does not understand the attractiveness of mature women does not understand the charms of women at all!" Mozart sighed joyfully. Oh, he loved Marie Antoinette, but her presence was somewhat... Let's just say that it 'prevented' him from some of his more 'peculiar' emotional outburst. Not as vivid as Blackbeard's, but still worthy of the definition of a 'man of culture.'
"Why do we need an old hag if there are so many other beautiful and young girls around?!" Blackbeard looked at Mozart with a blank expression, "Just look at that one!"
Blackbeard extended a finger, pointing towards Cainabel, who was still in a heated 'debate' with Baal at the moment.
"Goth-loli-vampire-dominatrix!" Blackbeard's eyes lit up with an unhealthy enthusiasm, "Oh, that marble-like skin, those snow-white hair and red eyes... It drives me crazy!"
"My friend, I'm sorry to upset you, but you probably chose the most unsafe option in the world," Mozart sighed.
Mozart was not the smartest person in the world... But, even he is not that foolish.
Furthermore, in another way, despite his weak image and not the most impressive strength, he had a couple of trump cards hidden in his sleeves, which gave him some advantage over many other Servants. His phenomenal hearing was one such trump card.
And, although among the Servants capable of wiping mountains and devastating countries in the blink of an eye, a phenomenal hearing should not have been a trump card - Mozart was not just a musician, but a Child of God. In other words, his absolute musical hearing surpassed the physical limitations of a simple thing like "hearing" and reached ridiculous heights where he could 'hear' more than was uttered. Therefore...
"Cainabel is the third most dangerous creature in the world that I know of," Mozart shook his head in resignation.
"Doesn't that simply add a certain charm to her?" Blackbeard then broke into a smile, "Yeah, sure, I am a degenerate, but is she not ideal from an aesthetic point of view?!"
Mozart sighed and still looked at Cainabel from the point of view of pure aesthetics.
"Hair... Eyes... Face... Body..." - Mozart sighed, - "Well... Nine out of ten."
"Hah?" - Blackbeard looked at Mozart in confusion, "And for what, pray tell, you took off a whole point?!"
"I prefer it when the pupil does not blend in with the iris," Mozart sighed and looked at Blackbeard.
"You don't understand the essence of monster girls!" Blackbeard accused him while placing a finger in his chest, "Monster girls hold the entire modern civilization on their fragile shoulders!"
Mozart only sighed again and looked at Blackbeard.
Blackbeard had long wanted to find someone with whom he could immerse himself in his highly sophisticated conversations. And, just his luck, he found Mozart, perhaps the only Servant, that would not have escaped from at the first opportunity. The only Servant who could play a part in the plan of Baal...
No, can Mozart Mozart consider it to be Baal's plan, if Ainz could improve it in a second, when he just noticed it? How did Ainz even guess that the situation in this Singularity would develop in exactly this way?
Was it Divination? Clairvoyance of the EX rank? Or something different?
Mozart shook his head and then looked at Ainz.
The second most dangerous creature that Mozart knew of was Baal. How was he able to uncover the Demon King's plan with just a minute of conversation?
However, even Baal needed a few seconds to decipher Ainz's actions regarding Blackbeard... Although Ainz didn't even need a second to come up with such a brilliant plan.
Mozart sighed and shook his head.
"Hey, hey, what do you think about Mashu?" - Blackbeard threw a grin at Mozart, "It's a minimum of 7/10!"
"I would even say eight out of ten..." Mozart smiled.
Blackbeard had found a friend, but not for the reasons that he could have imagined. Even Blackbeard himself had instantly become a pawn in Ainz's plans...
The first and most dangerous creature that Mozart knew of was, of course, Ainz Ooal Gown...
And considering which creatures walked alongside all those three all the time — damn, it was an achievement...
"I have no idea where we are going..." - Ainz sighed to try and empty out the block of hard steel that is currently sitting in his stomach. Managing one ship was a difficult act in itself... Managing a pirate armada was even more difficult.
Ainz only knew that a certain "blonde bastard" had stolen the Grail from Francis Drake, and then fled with it, but... He did not even know which way he was supposed to go to find him! It was just ridiculous - he literally sailed at random, hoping for an accidental coincidence of circumstances.
"Of course, it would be very lucky if I just stumble upon this "blonde bastard" now. But really, he should live in reality instead of looking at pipe dreams, even my luck is not that endless!"
Ainz then exhaled after the rant he just spewed out. He definitely needed to work to achieve anything worthwhile, and Ainz's luck would sooner or later run out, so he needed to put in the effort. It's just that Ainz was not sure whether or not standing still was the better option rather than just sailing in a random direction without any idea of where the enemy is... Ainz was not the smartest person in the world, but even he knew that the Earth was round, so he would not be surprised if he had managed to sail around the whole globe on a round-the-world trip and without actually ever meeting the enemy.
In addition, Ainz was greatly bothered by his knee-jerk thought when he heard Drake's story...
"Ha, why would anyone steal the Grail?" - Ains thoughtfully rubbed his forehead.
As far as Ainz knew, the Grail should have been the root cause of the Singularity. So from the very beginning it should have been in the hands of the enemy. Does this mean that Francis Drake was somehow connected with their enemy? Or perhaps even with the cause of the instability of the Singularity?
Ains sighed once again.
Baal said for sure that neither Drake, nor any of the other Servants in the entire pirate fleet has a Master... Although, it seemed that Baal wanted to tell him something about Blackbeard?..
Ainz recalled that Baal's attempted to establish a telepathic conversation with him when Ainz arrived on the Calico Jack and even managed to say something, but Ainz waved him off then... And after that Baal didn't even bother to clarify it with Ainz. Hmm, was it about something good or bad? Perhaps Baal had changed his mind about telling Ainz what he wanted to say at the moment - or did something else happen?
Ainz shook his head and exhaled, he seemed to be doing that a lot in this Singularity, and it hasn't even been a day!
A slight knock rang out on the door to the captain's cabin, after which a voice that Ainz expected the least was heard, Altera's voice, "Master?"
"Altera?" Ainz was surprised for a second, after which he hastened to rise from the table on which he was leaning on and to take the pose that he supposed was fitting to the image of a boss, "Come in."
A second later, the door to the captain's cabin opened - and Altera appeared on the threshold.
The cabin that Ainz used as his living space was not different from all the other cabins in his summoned ship. The cabin was created with the same black metallic substance as the rest of the ship with only a couple of windows to break up the monotony. Other than these things the room was completely bare with only a chair and a table furnishing the room. Not only that, the room was small with only a few meters of walking area, with only Ainz and Altera, the room looked cramped.
"Altera," Ainz nodded, then smiled. For some reason, sitting at a table opposite his Servant, Ainz felt like a full-fledged boss from his past world for the first time. Although, this comparison... Not that it did not flatter his ego - but the memories of the bosses from his past world made Ainz grimace. He definitely didn't want to look like them in front of his Servants - therefore, holding out his hand, Ainz once again cast a spell, creating a chair for Altera - "Please, sit down."
Altera, looking at this, nodded, and then sat across from Ainz.
"How can I help you?" Ainz smiled at the girl.
Altera looked at Ainz for a few seconds, then at the chair created by his magic, then at Ainz again.
'Ha, say something, please...' - Ainz felt Altera's unblinking gaze literally piercing through him. It seemed as if the roles of the boss and the subordinate had been reversed if one were to judge from the participant's level of nervousness.
"Cainabel wanted to know exactly how she can prove her loyalty and usefulness to you." Altera looked at Ainz seriously.
"Cainabel?" - Ainz blinked.
"Oh, ahem..." - Ainz blinked in surprise. It was a little... It was an unexpected request, - "I see..."
Ahem, Cainabel, then... She's trying... To curry favor?
No, that would be a rude thing to think about her - rather, Cainabel must have simply tried to ask Ainz for additional work. In fact, there was nothing wrong with that - even more, Ainz should have encouraged such an attitude to help him and take on additional work. Especially since if Cainabel took on more work it could lighten the workload on the other Servants, and maybe even his workload...
'Surprisingly, Cainabel seems to be very considerate of the other Servants...' - Ainz shook his head in surprise 'Although you can't say this by her normal behavior... Is Cainabel perhaps... A tsundere?!'
To any other logically thinking person, the intent of Cainabel's actions would be obvious. She was simply trying to get 'ahead' in the race between her and Baal. Cainabel, noticing Baal's complacency in their trip, has decided to try and gain Ainz approval by using Altera to ask for a job from Ainz... But Ainz, who had decided to take care of his Servants, was much more inclined to see something more positive in their actions rather than what the Servants intentions were. In the end, Ainz still considered Baal and Cainabel to be very reliable and respectable Servants...
However, even in such a situation a problem had arisen...
'I have nothing to entrust to Cainabel!' - Ainz shouted in his head.
Ainz did not know even what he should do and where to go, so he couldn't pass anything on to Cainabel. And yet at the same time...
'If I tell her to take it easy for now, will I set a bad example for her?' - Ainz exhaled. If you tell a person several times that "there is no work for you now" - will this not sound like an attempt to get rid of them? Or something like "I don't trust you enough to do my errands". Not to mention, he had found a job for Baal before, and those two were extremely competitive for some reason.
In addition, up to this point, Cainabel rarely showed concern for the other Servants. Why did such a thing happen right now? Some of the events that had happened must have influenced her somehow, but which one? The only thing Ainz could think of was...
'She took Altera as a kouhai!' - Ainz smiled at his conclusion. Surprisingly, was Cainabel really only needed a kouhai in order to reveal her secret good personality traits?!
Ainz was certain that he had definitely chosen the right path when he told Altera and Cainabel to stick together.
In any case, returning to what job he should give Cainabel - as he didn't have anything to do, he couldn't come up with anything good that he could entrust to Cainabel... But at the same time, Ainz definitely knew that he had to entrust Cainabel with at least something - and then definitely praise her for the work done... Even if he had to instruct her to do something completely useless.
"Ah, I got one," after a rather long period of silence, during which Altera did not utter a single word, simply continuing to look at Ainz, Ainz finally came to a decision "In that case, hmm... Definitely, I have an important one - I would even say a critically important job..."
Altera carefully looked at Ainz.
"Yes, definitely, I need Cainabel to go back to the island where we arrived initially," Ainz nodded gravely, "I think this is extremely important."
'Right!' - Ainz smiled. 'This is an absolutely useless and simple task, for which I can praise Cainabel a little later!'
"Okay," Altera nodded, and then slowly rose, "I will tell her right now..."
"Wait!" However, Ainz stopped her. Altera, stopping immediately in her tracks, looked at him carefully.
"Ahem, before you leave..." Ainz added. Well, since he began to act like a "good boss", then he definitely would have needed to follow through, - "Could you tell me a little bit... About yourself?"
"About myself?" Altera blinked in surprise - an extremely rare sight for Altera.
"Yes, about yourself," Ainz nodded. "How are you feeling? Do you get along well with Cainabel? Maybe you need something... ?"
Altera blinked again, after which she looked at Ainz, "If I can ask you... Why do I need to answer these questions?"
Ainz sighed. "Nothing serious. I just want to know more about the status of my Servants."
Altera nodded slowly, "I see."
"I feel..." Altera began to answer mechanically, glancing at her body, "Within normal limits. My relationship with Cainabel..."
Altera began to picture the limits of the permissible relations of a mistress, like Cainabel, to her Servant, after which she nodded, "Within the norm for the positions in our relationship."
"I also do not need anything at the moment to maintain my fighting potential," Altera finished with a nod.
"Hm, that's good, I suppose ..." Ainz was a little embarrassed by her dry answers, "But, if not to maintain combat potential, but maybe... I don't know, maybe you want something else at the moment? Maybe you need something to help in your situation... Or something like it?"
Altera blinked again, after which she was deep in thought.
Something that she would like... Something that she needs to help in a certain situation...
Hmm, probably Ainz was hinting at something that she might need to fulfill the mission entrusted to her?
In that case... Perhaps she would need something to hide her presence?
However, if Ainz was really hinting at it... Why not just say it bluntly?
Altera was not sure of this, but still, she did not dare to ask further clarification, simply answering Ainz's question.
"Yes, maybe I need an artifact to hide my presence," Altera nodded.
"Hmm, I see..." - Ainz thought for a moment, after which he muttered to himself "a strange choice for a present, but, I suppose, why not?" - "Can you wait for a moment?."
A second later, a ring flashed into Ainz's hands.
"This ring contains the spell Perfect Unknowable, the strongest concealment spell that I know of" - in this Ainz was a little disingenuous, he knew several specialized spells that were even stronger than Perfect Unknowable. But this was really the strongest spell from those Ainz himself could cast, - "It can be applied once a day for five minutes. But if you were to attack during the duration of the spell, then it will automatically subside."
"Good," Altera took the ring from Ainz, then put it on right away. "In that case, I suppose I'd better go to Cainabel."
"Of course," Ainz nodded, after which he smiled to himself.
At the moment, he literally was a picture of "the best boss in the world."
Mashu was looking at Altera, who just came out of Ainz's cabin, with a somewhat complicated expression, exhaled.
"Jealous?" - an inner voice of Mashu asked.
"What?!" - Mashu blinked - "No, of course not!"
"You're lying," the voice grunted. "You can't lie to me so easily. I am inside of your mind - I understand all your feelings and see all your thoughts. You are damn jealous!"
"Well..." - Mashu grunted internally - "I would not call it jealousy..."
The voice sighed and in the end grunted - "Well, well..."
"That is..." - Mashu shook her head - "We have been together for two months now, but I still couldn't manage to talk one on one with him even now..."
"Some girls are constantly clinging to him, how dare they!" - finished the voice exaggeratedly and indignantly.
"No!" - Mashu shook her head with such force that for a second it might seem as if her head would fall off.
"Don't shake your head so hard, it starts spinning in here!" - the voice was indignant before continuing - "Seriously, look at yourself. You seriously asked Mozart how to "give something pleasant to Ainz." It seems to me that there are not that many ways to make a man happy..."
For a second, the voice stopped and then muttered something to itself like "I would not want to mention my father in such a way...", then continued - "Listen, just do it. Go to Ainz and tell him that you like him and..."
"NO!" - Mashu instantly reacted to these words, after which she shut up - "That is, of course, he is kind, smart, strong, generous, sweet..."
"How difficult it is to cooperate with you," the voice sighed. "Okay, then if you can't just be... Well, just start gradually. Go to Ainz and say that you would like to do something useful - are you at least capable of this?"
"Um..." - Mashu thought - "But he has so many other Servants stronger than me... How can I be useful?"
The voice fell silent, then sighed - "Ah, that's indeed the problem..."
After that, Mashu joined in - "Indeed, the problem..."
"Okay, listen, I will help you in this matter..." - the voice sighed - "But with only one condition. You must stop constantly thinking about the things that you constantly think about! "
"I don't think of anything like that!" - Mashu instantly went into denial.
"Oh, come on," the voice grunted. "I'm inside of your head, believe me, I know what you think about... even right now!"
Mashu, instantly became embarrassed, shook her head as if in denial...
And only then did the realization hit her...
"Who are you and what are you doing inside my head?!" - Mashu, only after a few minutes of dialogue, did she realize that her inner voice was supposed to be female. On the contrary, the very masculine voice that was speaking with her did not fit with her voice at all.
However, the inexplicable feeling of kinship that she felt from the voice was also to blame for her not noticing the discrepancy.
"How can you not recognize the one whose abilities you are constantly using?!" - the voice became angered for a second - "Though very badly at that..."
Mashu blinked and then asked the question - "A Servant?"
"I'm a part of you, a demi-Servant, that is the Servant," the voice sighed. Mashu froze.
"You... You were silent for sixteen years!" - Mashu instantly bursted out with anger.
"And I also saved you when you were supposed to die - in that explosion, two months ago," the voice sighed.
"But... why now?" - Mashu asked the question to the Servant.
"Ahem" - the Servant was embarrassed, after which he shook his head - "Let's just say... The plans have changed... And I got tired of your inner whining!"
"I do not whine!" - Mashu instantly shook her head.
"Yes you do, yes you definitely do!" - The Servant almost put out his tongue in a childish way - in a metaphorical sense, given that he was currently only a voice in Mashu's head - "In any case, let's deal with the crucial things first, and then we will decide whether you whine or not later."
"As for my identity..." - the Servant exhaled...
Ainz did not know that he had teleported from his captain's cabin exactly a second before Mashu had burst into his cabin with the incredible news. This was probably an occurrence of bad luck to balance out the good luck that had recently happened to AInz.
However, it's not that he had teleported aboard the Golden Hind for no reason at all. No, he went to the Golden Hind for a specific reason - a reason that made him , once again, became afraid of his luck.
Ainz, standing next to Drake, instantly turned his gaze into the distance to an object pointed at by Drake.
The ship that he saw in the distance was unlike Ainz's ship, nor any of the ships on the pirate fleet. The closest thing that Ainz could think of in comparison with that ship was his recollections of some random pictures that Punnito Moe showed him about the ships of antiquity.
However, it is not the ship that Ainz was concerned of at the moment. The thing that really bothered him at the moment was Francis Drake, who continued to look at the ship slowly approaching closer and closer with a grinning smile.
Ainz shook his head before glancing at Drake, "I suppose that they were the ones who stole the Grail from you?"
"Yeah," Drake smirked, "The first legendary pirates to leave their mark on history The Argonauts. And their commander, that blond bastard, Jason."
Ainz nodded slowly, and looked away into the distance, looking at the slowly approaching ship. Only one question remained in his head.
'Who the hell is Jason?!'
Noble Phantasm - A crystallization of the legend of a Servant. Each Servant has a trait that distinguishes them from the rest, a thing makes their legend truly theirs. Arthur's sword Excalibur, the Twelve Labors of Heracles, Gae Bolg of Cu Chulainn. Noble Phantasms are the whole legend of the Servant, compressed to the limits of one ability. A final trait that makes the Servant exactly who he is. A sword, crown, story, or a song - something that makes a Servant a Servant.