After thorough investigation it was discovered that Momon the adventurer didn't exist. A man with enough power to duel Clementine could not have been living under a rock his whole life, but after using all of their connections in all the lands where humans could survive they still could not find his name or someone like him being mentioned a single time. It was as if he and "beautiful princess" Nabe had simply appeared out of thin air. Clementine's fractured story checked out; Momon was actually an undead posing as an adventurer and they were probably the only ones that knew.
They had not been foolish enough to actually approach Momon as his allegiance and stance towards Zuranon was unclear and they did not know who else was watching him but the reason behind him posing as Momon had become clear to them after the battle of Katze Plains when Momon became the new caretaker and enforcer of E-Rantel in order to lessen the chance of rebellion. A move that showed the highest of tactical wit and incredible foresight that allowed for the complete control of an entire city despite being an undead.
Now thanks to the Blood Pool they had also been allowed to witness the strength of not only the Sorcerer King but also his servants. A sight that threw quite a wrench in their plans as initially they had hoped to become the arms and legs of this undead magic caster.
"While it is true that this undead seems to have his own agenda he is by nature an undead like me, that means that although manipulation is out of the question it is not impossible to take advantage of his existence. A being this powerful will be both feared and revered; such is the nature of humans. We will exploit that for our own purposes. But first we must establish ourselves as allies or at least a neutral party if we are to do so without incurring his wrath."
Hearing this, one of the four nobleman who was secretly one of the executives of Zuranon, raised his hand. He was one of the lucky nobles to survive the purge of Emperor Jircniv and thus had allowed the organization to retain a foothold inside the Baharuth Empire which had become the nation where Zuranon had its base of operations. Therefore his position could be said to be somewhat higher than the other executives.
"Ah, about that, ascended one, it seems that a couple of our lower branches in the Baharuth Empire caught wind of Ainz Ooal Gown's true identity and have secretly formed a sect worshipping him as their god. This had led to an increase in kidnappings for sacrificial purposes along with some becoming uncontrollable mass murdering lunatics. To be honest it has put me in a bit of a bind as some of them can be traced back to me."
The leader did not seem surprised as he heard this news, he had long expected some of their followers to be influenced by Ainz, and this was inevitable. The most important thing to do now was to streamline the belief and conviction of all the members of Zuranon in order to avoid causing internal conflicts.
"I had hoped we could have waited to address this issue until after our preparations were complete, but it seems we will have to be the ones to approach him first this time. Having said that, it would be too much of a waste if we were to be deemed dangerous or unworthy of serving him and wiped out as a result. Therefore we will need to bring along our trump card."
Heavy murmuring started amongst the other members of the council, besides all of them being capable warriors or mages their organization also possessed various precious artifacts from old ruins which they used to perform all sorts of dark rituals but their greatest weapon was a being capable of destroying nations with the downside that it a dangerous thing to unleash even for them. To bring it out as an insurance policy instilled great horror as to how dangerous Ainz must be.
Nonetheless there were no members who dared to refute this statement. Ainz had proven to be powerful and cunning, adding to that the fact that they now knew that he was also surrounded by powerful subordinates he could be said to be invincible.
"Ascended one, what about the branches who have started revering him? If we don't pull the reigns on them soon they might secede from us entirely."
"Leave them for now, if all turns out well than we can openly proclaim to all branches that Ainz Ooal Gown is our new god of death or something like that. We may not even have to lie if it turns out he actually is a god of death. For now it is necessary to obtain his favor and ride on his momentum in order to strengthen our position in the world."
The other members nodded as the leader stood up and left the room leaving the other executives behind.
It was not until the leader had left the room that the noble from the Baharuth Empire dared to speak again.
"Still, with those groups acting so rowdy it won't be long before they attract too much attention from the Empire and draw a punitive force towards them. When that happens they may spill a little too much information about our inner workings, no matter what the leader says we must address this issue now before they go completely feral."
The others looked at the nobleman awkwardly as contradicting or disregarding the words of their leader was a strange and controversial thing that was akin to heresy even.
"Phalfurt! Do you intend to disobey the words of our leader? If so I will kill you right here depending on your answer."
The mage was visibly shaking with anger as to him the leader of Zuranon was more divine than any god that humans prayed to.
"Not at all, Heckar-san, I merely wish to assure that should talks with the Sorcerer King fail that we are not sieged on two fronts. If the branches are caught alive or at least are still able to talk then the chance of this location being found are quite high. Or do you suggest we move our operations to the Slane Theocracy?"
At this Heckar became silent as shivers crawled over his spine just thinking about moving to the Theocracy. The Empire would condemn any members of Zuranon to death if found but that was merciful compared to what members of the Firefly Scripture did to necromancers in the Theocracy. Death would be a blessing that their victims would yearn for. Moving themselves into their grasps was something that none of the members present would want.
Seeing that the others had realized the importance of their base in the Empire remaining a secret the nobleman stood up and he likewise left the room whilst chuckling a few words as he walked.
"Looks like I'll also have to set up some preparations, huhu."
Chapter 4. Death vs God of Death
Part 1
Deep beneath the capital inside one of the inner sanctum's private chambers. The room was dead silent as Archon stared at the objects in front of him. He had shut himself in this room and sent away all his guards and other staff while he waited for the results of the battle. The Black Scripture had been deployed and all he could do was hope and pray that their efforts would not be in vain.
Normally, he would never doubt the outcome of a battle where all of the Black Scripture fought against one single foe, but now even he had come to doubt their chances of survival. The Sorcerer King Ainz Ooal Gown had demonstrated that he was an entity that was not to be trifled with.
If their surprise attack was successful and the power of [Downfall of Castle and Country] could hit Ainz, then Archon felt that even the magic caster would be defeated.
But if it failed…
Archon slightly squinted his eyes as he observed the thirteen candles in front of him, eleven of which were still burning.
These candles were burning with what druids called a 'soul flame'. Through a special ritual, one could link oneself with a fire and allow it to keep burning eternally as long as the one the flame was linked with was still alive.