Slowly walking along the smog-filled London with the unexpected ally - a possible ally - Ainz corrected himself instantly - Ainz did not forget to periodically glance around his surroundings.
All kinds of buildings built with a certain flair to it. What was the correct name for this era?
Ainz tried to remember...
Tabula... No, Genjiro used to talk about it?
No, it was Whitebrim! Yes, Whitebrim used to talk about this time period, Victorian England! That seems to be the correct name for the time period? Yes, it seems so.
Ainz was delighted remembering his friend extolling the virtues of maids and how he came up with the designs of the uniforms of the maids in Nazarick. Yet, a frown appeared on his face not long after.
Hmm... Two seconds? At least about that amount of time...
It took him two seconds to remember who exactly he had discussed this topic with... Two whole seconds that he spent trying to remember something about his friends...
This had never happened before, he always remembered his guild and his friends so easily...
What has changed now?
Ainz glanced around at the smog surrounding him. Of course, he was protected from any kind of poisons and any other physical effects of smog by his racial immunity. But, if the fog could somehow have an effect that blurs memories that could bypass his immunity... then it's a very serious matter entirely. But before he could think about it more, Saber's exuberant voice distracted him from further ponderings.
"And here we are at home!" Saber's voice distracted Ainz from his thoughts - forcing him to look at one of the many similar houses that they had stopped at.
Though, perhaps, the place they have arrived at was better described as a mansion. A small one, tiny even when compared with the standard mansions in Ainz's memories, but definitely way larger than any place he ever lived at.
The house is a small three-story mansion that did not stand out, at least against the background of similar buildings that surround it. The mansion was surrounded with a high metal carved fence and an iron gate, just like the surrounding buildings.
A gate which Saber threw open in the most barbaric possible way - with a kick, almost knocking the fence door off its hinges. After another second, some voices can be heard coming out of the mansion, a very loud sigh...
"Mo..." - The voice tried to call out to the Saber, but was instantly interrupted by the Saber's booming voice. - "I AM SABER AND I AM NOT ALONE HERE!"
"Oh?" After another second, the mansion door opened, exposing the likely owner of the house to Ainz's eyes.
"Mo..." - THe newly revealed young man tried to ask a question to the armored Servant, but was immediately rebuffed.
"I SAID TO CALL ME SABER, IDIOT!" - The voice from under the armor sounded extremely loud and annoyed, - "SO YOU BETTER SHUT UP!"
The young man frowned, and then, looking at Ainz and the group of Servants, immediately took a step back inside the mansion, "Okay... Okay, no need to shout Saber, come in."
Ainz threw a suspicious glance at Saber, but did not comment on his strange behaviour, allowing the strange Servant to calmly enter the house. And then, just in case, Ainz raised his hand, forcing his Servants to stop behind him.
"Greater Trap Detection", - Ainz used a spell that covered the whole mansion with a wave of light , and then shook his head. Apparently there were no traps, at least none that cannot be detected without a specialized spell or item. Ainz was not paranoid enough to use such resources, it would be very paranoid to assume that the enemy would be so adroit as to perpetrate such a performance so perfectly as to trap them in this instance. That, and the fact that using a greater trap detecting spell would destroy his body and the minute delay him searching for the appropriate item would create would make the effort worthless as an enemy so prepared would take the chance to attack anyway, Ainz decided that this is good enough.
"Ainz?" Da Vinci's voice distracted Ainz from the spiralling course of paranoia, forcing him to turn around, "Did you just check the building for traps?"
"Yes," Ainz nodded and then frowned. Strange... there were no traps, at least of the level that Ainz could determine, in the building, so it was unlikely that Saber was planning to ambush them now and attack... But there was no other reason why he was acting so suspiciously.
"Someone just threw a wave of mana through me and my hand trembled!" Came a voice from the house after a moment, "So which IDIOT owes me a new manuscript now?!"
Ainz quietly coughed into his hand... Then he shook his head - he did the right thing - after which he nodded and went to the mansion first ahead of the Servants.
The interior of the mansion greeted him with a soft, warm electric light illuminating the contrasting dark wood paneling, leaving Ainz in shock.
'They already have electricity?!' Ainz blinked, shocked. In his mind, electricity was a recent invention, so he was expecting candles, oil lanterns... or something like that.
"Master?" - Medusa's voice allowed Ainz to dispel his shock, forcing him to turn to the girl, - "Is there something wrong?"
Ainz looked at Medusa carefully.
To be honest, this was the first time since Ainz gave the Grail to Medusa that he was able to look at Medusa closely, so his unexpected interest in Medusa's appearance was fully justified... However, in a strange way, Ainz could not find anything unusual in Medusa's appearance even after the Grailing process.
Except one thing...
Ainz frowned for a second before realizing what had changed - her eyes. Medusa's eyes as he remembered them would not be out of place in his previous world where body modification was quite common to those who can afford them. Of course, compared to the weird things that he saw the young people did in his time, not to mention the more various and drastic appearance common in Yggdrasil, Medusa's eyes did not stand out at all. But still, the square pupil in Medusa's unblinking eyes betray her inhuman nature.
However, right now Medusa's eyes looked... Quite normal. Moreover, nothing in the eyes of Medusa, still hidden behind the lenses of glasses, hint at her nature in any way.
"Master?!" - In the eyes of Medusa, fear slipped through, after which she instantly turned to the other Servants, - "Master!.."
"No, nothing," Ainz shook his head, feeling the suppression of emotions run through him. Great, he was just staring at the girl and she had already decided that he had fallen under some spell, that's just fine!
Then, trying to act as if that didn't happen, he took a step forward, trying to escape from his mistake. As Ainz entered the mansion he looked around, trying to find his way in the mansion.
"Oh... Artoria..." Saber's muffled voice sounded like the trumpet of salvation in this case.
"My name is Arthuria, 'thu'. Arthuria.", - Arthuria's voice was as cold as always, however, she headed towards Saber's voice, Ainz following behind her.
Ainz, found himself in a large living room, illuminated by a bright light, inside which, around a skillfully carved table, several cozy sofas covered with high-quality velveteen were placed. A little further away from the center of the living room there was a large writing table on which several books lay open and a strange mechanic thing.
Ainz tensed, trying to remember what exactly the strange mechanism on the table was, but in the end he couldn't. He was helplessly lost on what technology they had available in this time period.
Not far from the sofas there were several beautiful bookcases, filled with books in expensive looking leather covers - and the whole picture was completed by a huge terry carpet covering the floor, and a huge chandelier decorated with crystal hanging from the ceiling.
'This is... A nice house...' Ainz blinked.
In the past, he never saw what the inside of a rich person's house looked like - which was not surprising for someone of his social status. But now, looking at this splendidly decorated living room, Ainz was sure that this was how a rich person's mansion would have looked from the inside. Though probably with more modern amenities...
"So... Oh, and there are unexpectedly many of you," The familiar voice attracted Ainz, forcing him to turn around. Seeing the person who had allowed them entrance into the house, Ainz decided to take a closer look at the owner of the mansion for the first time.
The speaker was male, he looked a little over twenty, an age where one had already passed the period of adolescent awkwardness, but had not yet acquired truly adult features. Coupled with the person's apparent youth, his soft colored blonde hair, and genial way of talking, he looked like a very harmless young man.
Anyway... the man was dressed in a white shirt, gray pants and a gray jacket casually draped over his shoulders. His hands were covered with black gloves, and on his nose rested glasses in black frames, giving him the most harmless and good-natured look that could be imagined. Of course, without stepping to the level of a white fluffy rabbit.
"So, Arthuria..." Ainz was distracted from his inspection of the white-haired probable Servant when he heard Saber, which looked so wrong in the tastefully decorated living room, Ainz's brain, chose to ignore him when he was examining the room. Definitely, the huge metal armor and the imposing manner with which Saber threw his legs on the table made Ainz exclude the metal encased Servant.
However, as soon as Arthuria appeared on the threshold of the room, Saber immediately rose from his relaxed pose on the sofa and quickly lowered his feet from the table. The action forced Ainz to remember Yamaiko's stories about students, which immediately turned from lounging punks into diligent excellent students when the teacher appeared on the doorstep.
"What do you want?" Arthuria gave Saber a cold look, but even Ainz could easily tell that right now Arthuria was frowning at Saber as if trying to remember something.
"Hmm, Arthuria... I would like to..." - Saber hesitated for a second - which, given his large armor, was a little strange, - "Talk to you..."
Arthuria looked closely at the Saber, then turned to Ainz, "Master."
Ainz just nodded at Arthuria's unasked question, and then turned to the owner of the mansion, who was closely watching Arthuria and Saber.
"Ah, so that's it..." The owner of the mansion, as if realizing something incomprehensible to Ainz himself, immediately nodded, then turned to Ainz himself, - "Hmm, in that case..."
"And who is the hopeless idiot who had decided to join the the suicide squad of this damned city?" Ainz instantly turned to the new voice, to the stairs that lead to the second floor not far away to see a...
Child.
Ainz froze for a second before the child turned to Ainz, after which he scowled at all the Servants and exhaled a deep sigh, "Oh no, there is not only one desperate idiot here, there are a whole bunch of fools... Oh, what can I say to that - besides, that madness and defeat loves company?"
Ainz blinked.
The voice that he heard belonged to someone who might have been close to Ainz's age... Maybe a little younger - however, what Ainz heard and what he saw did not match at all. The speaker was a child, a very young child, a prime schooler even.
The voice that he heard was that of an adult, low, deep and pleasant enough to hear - but the speaker was a child, perhaps ten years old at best. A boy who would not be bothered by shaving in the morning for a long, long time. The child was literally only up to the waist of Ainz himself.
The child had a very distinct look to him. With his blue hair, blue waistcoat suit, and disproportionately large glasses, he cut a very eye-catching figure. Though his way of dress and with the large glasses hanging of his small head only by sheer stubbornness amplified his boyishness, his adult-like voice and way of speaking was very disturbing to hear.
"Wow, a child!" Ainz could identify Da Vinci's voice out of a thousand.
"Wow, a giant woman!" Imitating Da Vinci's voice, the child replied dripping with sarcasm, after which he looked at Da Vinci with a glance of an inveterate critic, - "Breast the size of a melon, with a thin waist - it seems that the only thing balancing these two lumps of fat is your empty head... Hmm, clearly, I don't like you anymore."
"Auch!" - Da Vinci took a step back, looking at the child in amazement, - "This is the first time someone criticized my appearance..."
"But obviously not the last one," The child replied with a roll of his eyes, and then turned to Ainz and frowned, "Why are you standing there like a statue? Or are you waiting for a special invitation?"
Ainz, to be honest, was so taken aback by the Servant, Ainz hoped against all hope that the boy is a Servant or his image of what a child should be would collapse, that he could not utter any words and his suppression of emotions was forced to activate simply so that Ainz would not suffer a heart attack from the sheer shock that he experienced.
"I advise you to carefully choose your words when you talk to my Master", - Medusa took a step forward, looking into the eyes of the child. However, instead of being horrified by the threat, he just rolled his eyes.
"If you want to kill me - kill me, I won't resist - not that I could do that at all", The child snorted, - "But spare me the empty threats, I'm not one of those who pisses in their pants when they put pressure on me."
"Oh, are you already out of that age?" - Da Vinci, instantly reacted, forcing the child to frown and glare at Da Vinci.
Da Vinci was one of the most genial and peaceful Servants out there. But no one, NOBODY dares to criticize her appearance!
"What a curious phenomenon, the air flies into your empty head through your ears and blows out something similar to words", - The child snorted in response.
"How sweet, a child comprehending the wonders of science!" - Da Vinci smiled the kindest smile that could be imagined, - "However, even a child comprehends a similar phenomenon when he is five or six - in that case, can I say that at the age of ten, you are a little behind in development from your peers?"
The child clicked his tongue loudly at DA Vinci's insults, after which he looked at Da Vinci with irritation. She responded with a good-natured smile.
"Hmm..." the owner of the mansion coughed and Ainz was grateful for such an interruption, "Andersen..."
"Oh yes, how could I forget..." The child took a step forward and glanced at Da Vinci, - "Hans Christian Andersen is the name of this third-rate Servant. However, it's not that I hoped that in your empty head this name lingered even for a second."
"Oh, in my mind there will be a place for this information", - Da Vinci smiled in response, - "Not that I needed to memorize information about the most acrimonious child that I have met, but in the end I am not one of those people who would need to write their own autobiography in order to remember every mistake that they have made in their life."
Andersen frowned Da Vinci, and then turned around on the steps of the stairs, on which he still stood, - "It doesn't matter, I have not finished my new manuscript yet."
"Are you running away?!" - Da Vinci, sensing blood like a shark, immediately hurried after the child Servant, - "Wait, I have not yet told you all the other insults I have come up with! After all, I'm not one of those who need to write an entire book in order to come up with a decent answer to the offender!"
Ainz blinked and looked at the owner of the mansion, the latter turned his gaze to Ainz.
"I beg your pardon, Andersen is... Always like that", - The man apologized, then bowed slightly in response.
"Hmm..." Ainz blinked. Usually people say in such situations 'not always like this'... Was Andersen really alway like that?
Oh, Ainz already had a sixth sense that in this Singularity, the enemy probably won't be the main source of problems for him...
"By the way," The owner of the house added after- "My name is Jekyll... Henry Jekyll."
Ainz blinked and frowned...
It seems that he had heard this name somewhere ... But where?
"Master", - Jalter's voice distracted Ainz's train of thought, - "There is... Another Servant."
Ainz instantly glanced at Jekyll, demanding an explanation, but he only raised his hands in a peaceful gesture, "Oh, nothing, it's just Fran. She is... very shy about new people."
"Fran?" Ainz frowned... No, of course, he had heard a name like 'Fran' a couple of times in the past, but it was not so easy to draw a concrete parallel with the name among all the characters he knew and the identity of the Servant.
"Fran..." - Jekyll frowned, then looked around and quickly said, - "Monster of Frankenstein... But she really does not like this name and I would ask you not to call her that."
"Ah..." - Ainz blinked.
Frankenstein's monster... Ainz knew that one.
Moreover, Ainz had heard the name referenced again and again... usually as a pejorative for things that are ill-fitting and 'monstrous'. Even in YGGDRASIL there were several different kinds of 'Frankensteins', either deliberately made by the Developers or even Player Creations that are... Well let's just say that compared to them, even someone with such a repulsive appearance as Herohero or Bellriver appeared normal.
Ainz vividly imagined the Servant in the form of poorly sewn pieces of flesh and a torn face, the scars of which formed a kind of creepy smile, and then shook his head.
"Oh, Fran, you are here!" Jekyll smiled, calling out to the Servant that is apparently behind Ainz's back, forcing Ainz to glance back with trepidation.
What he saw did not look like a terrible monster... Or like a monster at all.
The Servant that he saw was a short girl, dressed in a light white robe...
Ainz had one in his inventory... A wedding dress? It seems that it was called that.
However, on a completely ordinary body, covered with not the most ordinary clothes, Ainz's gaze did not linger on it for a long time, quickly being attracted to the Servant's face. However, here Ainz faced a problem, almost the entire face of the Servant was covered with long bangs of her rather undistinguished brown hair, which made it impossible to look into Fran's eyes.
However, this was not so important, because almost instantly, Ainz's gaze was focused on the rather long and sharp horn protruding from the girl's forehead - and the two strange metal structures on the sides of her head, which Ainz could easily mistake for a strange-looking headphones in any other situation.
"M..." Fran spoke quietly to Jekyll, and then shifted her gaze... Or at least Ainz himself decided that, since he definitely could not follow the girl's gaze, completely hidden by her hair.
'I wonder how she can navigate in space if she doesn't see anything?' Ainz involuntarily turned his gaze to Medusa.
"So you were hiding here, huh?" Jalter took a step forward, looking at Fran, but Fran only stepped back.
"Mmm..." she said quietly, making Ainz frown.
Was Fran so shy that she couldn't say a word to a Servant she just met?
"Please, do not frighten her", - Mashu took a step forward behind Jalter, putting her hand on Jalter's shoulder, forcing that to look at the hand on her shoulder in response. Mashu then smiled at Fran - "Fran, I understand correctly?"
"M..." Fran nodded slowly, then looked at Mashu expectantly... Or at least that's what Ainz thought. This hair prevented Ainz from perceiving any of Fran's actions at all!
"I am Mashu, and this is Jalter", - As if speaking to a child, Mashu's voice acquired a particular softness as she spoke, - "There's no need to be scared of Jalter here, she's a big softy..."
"Who are you calling soft?!" - Jalter threw an irritated glance at Mashu, who just rolled her eyes.
Ainz blinked and then turned his gaze to Oda who was behind both Jalter and Mashu.
From the very moment they met the new Servants, she remained silent, only carefully looking at the Servants around her and Ainz, as if immersed in thought...
For a second, Ainz felt a stab of something like conscience - probably he shouldn't have pressed the girl so hard... He definitely crossed a line...
But at the same time, Ainz could not do anything to fix what had happened now. And any attempt to simply say something like 'I'm sorry, I didn't meant to' to Oda would most likely provoke a reaction from her that Ainz would definitely not want.
Ainz looked at Medusa and smiled. She, noticing his smile, smiled back.
It was the easiest to deal with Medusa. No problems at all...
Besides the fact that Ainz was kind of in a relationship with her now, huh...
Ainz's smile faded, as soon as he remembered this fact. After which Ainz glanced at Jekyll, who was carefully looking at Fran, Mashu and Jalter talking about something - as far as Fran could do it with one word or even one letter replies, after which he raised his voice, - "Mr. Jekyll..."
"Oh, you can just call me Henry", - Henry smiled, then nodded at the sofa next to him, trying not to look at the table, which was completely occupied by Saber's feet, again. - "Please, it is better to discuss the situation while seated and not on your feet..."
Ainz agreed with this logical conclusion and found himself on the sofa a second later. Medusa and Oda were next to him - however, if Oda was seated at some distance from Ainz, then Medusa seemed to be trying to squeeze into him.
'Oh-oh, personal space, personal space!' - Ainz didn't have time to really panic before his emotions were completely suppressed - 'Thank you, Emotional Suppression!'
"Ah! I beg your pardon, an important meeting without tea", - Henry smiled at a small joke, - "I do not feel like an English gentleman at all, ha-ha..."
However, after a second, Henry's smile disappeared from his face, - "But, I'm afraid, in the current conditions, the tea in my house has all dried up long ago - and I'm afraid I won't be able to get any new leaves any time soon... If, of course, I am lucky enough to do it someday at all..."
"So, hmm," Ainz sighed, not really wanting to be the one to break the silence, but seeing that he's the leader and that the Servants next to him staying silent, Ainz himself had to speak, "So, this smog..."
"As you may have noticed - it was not just any ordinary smog", - Henry exhaled, - "This is a magical anomaly... And an extremely strong one at that. Neither during my lifetime - nor after my death, as my Servant form, have I been able to establish its cause."
"After 'your' death?" Ainz focused on the peculiar information just divulged.
"Yes, that's right", - Henry sighed, - "In fact, when this all started I was still alive. I won't say that in my life I was exceptionally educated - but for me, as a person with some knowledge of magic - although I myself am not a magi at all and never was - I managed to barricade myself in my mansion and did not let the smog go beyond the fences. Moreover, after some time, I managed to find Mo... Saber in this fog, as well as Andersen - and Fran."
"Find in this fog?" Ainz asked a question, waiting for an explanation.
"Yes", - Henry nodded, - "It's a strange phenomenon, but sometimes this is exactly what happens, Servants just 'appearing' through the smog. Strange phenomenons surround us in our lives... Oh, I beg your pardon - I got distracted."
Henry shook his head a little and continued, - "In an indeterminate way, Servants periodically appear in this fog - as if they just appear out of nowhere... However, given that all this is a magical anomaly - this is definitely possible. Periodically, from this fog, Servants arise... And, of course, for me, as a person who understands - and understood - the need to solve the problem that has arisen and the need to gain additional strength on my side in the form of Servants - it was vitally important to periodically make a kind of sortie when I detected the appearance of a new Servant. So I managed to find Fran, Andersen and Saber that way..."
"To understand the situation better, I need to know," Ainz nodded, "When exactly did this happen?
"It all started a month and a half ago," Henry exhaled.
"A month and a half ago, then..." Ainz frowned. A month and a half ago was when the Singularities first formed... So, definitely, time in the Singularities continued to pass from the very moment they appeared, hmm...
"A month and a half ago London was completely absorbed by the smog, but initially it was not such a problem", - Henry exhaled, - "Every day the smog gets stronger and stronger, more and more destructive... I beg your pardon, Saber, the strongest of us is now the only one capable of moving on the street. However, even then Saber has to rely on Andersen's powers so that it would not harm her. However, at the start, I could even move along the street even as a human, not without some risk of course... The main problem during the time when the smog was still light was the automatons."
"As Saber said to me, you have already met them", - Henry exhaled, - "However, their number was very small then. Now almost all the streets are filled with their patrols, which is why it is now almost impossible for us to get a new Servant even if I could detect one. Still you wanted to know how I 'died', right?." Ainz nodded, as Henry started to recall the past.
"That day, I just detected a new Servant so I found myself on the street, moving through the fog and..." - Henry exhaled, - "The next thing I can remember is the moment I emerged from the fog. Or, more precisely, the emergence from the fog of the 'Servant-me'."
"In other words, most likely...," Ainz looked at Henry.
"Yes, I died as I passed the smog.", - Henry sighed, even though it happened a month ago nevertheless, talking about his own very recent death was not too easy for him - "However, exactly how and why I died - I did not retain such memories, so I'm not even sure if it's the smog that killed me."
"I see", - Ainz nodded, - "In other words... Do you know anything about the reason for the smog appearing?"
Henry frowned, then said slowly, "No."
"Ha..." Ainz exhaled, then closed his eyes. So, even in this way, having found allies, the information regarding this Singularity remained practically zero.
"But we managed to establish that there are several Servants on the side of the enemy as well..." Henry hurried to console Ainz.
"Have you managed to determine their number, names, or abilities?" Ainz asked an important question.
Henry looked away as Ainz asked the question.
So no, ha...
Ainz shook his head.
"But we have several theories as to where we can start looking for information regarding what happened.", - Henry smiled, trying to say at least some good news, - "Before your group's arrival, our forces were insignificant and we could not risk a full-fledged operation, but with you..."
Ainz exhaled.
Well, even a small lead was better than none.
"Okay," Ainz nodded, "In that case, hmm... Where do you think you should go first in this case?
"This is where all problems of this kind usually begin", - Henry exhaled, - "To the Mages Association."
Excerpt from the scientific work "Charles-Henri Sanson and views on the Great French Revolution through the prism of time":
Despite the fact that the leaders of the revolution were undoubtedly subjected to the greatest condemnation, it is certainly impossible to ignore the conviction of the executor of the Revolution, the royal executioner, Charles-Henri Sanson.
Although in life Charles-Henri Sanson was characterized by people as a very merciful and noble young man, after the events of the revolution, the consciousness of the masses shifted to the point that many people publicly considered him an 'accomplice to evil' and 'a servant of witches'. The latter, most likely appearing due to the rather old existing French belief about the duality of great French leaders, each of whom has two sides - 'the one that protects the people' and 'the one that seeks to destroy the people'. A similar belief was started during the rise of cults of 'The French Witch - Jeanne d'Arc' but such a thing is not the main focus of this treatise.
Charles-Henri himself was, even during the time of the revolution, subjected to significant persecution to the point that he was considered an accomplice of several murders and that he worked in the service of the Devil. He was even accused as one of the culprits of the Vichy fire of 1790. Such a thing of course, shows just how reviled the figure of the executioner among the common people...
Needless to say, even at different times of history dating back to the revolution itself, Charles-Henri was not given any redeeming features. So great was his infamy that he was accused of murdering the semi-legendary Red Wanderer (A thing that was later conclusively proven to never have happened) from distant lands. As an aside the Red Wanderer was a legend about a red-clothed stranger that usually appeared during momentous event in history which today was identified as a whole series of people that began with probably a wanderer from Japan, which was closed at that time, who happened to be on the territory of France during the Hundred Years War by accident. It is interesting that such acts were prescribed to Charles-Henri Sanson much later than his execution of Marie Antoinette - but chronologically, they should have taken place much earlier than the aforementioned execution...