Chapter six: Stones to Cast
https://archiveofourown.org/works/23402635/chapters/84055423
“You’re late!” The guardian of the first several floors of Nazarick hissed at her inferior, who was gliding into the stone room from a shadowed doorway. The dark-haired target cringed in fear at the words, bowing her head while eyes widened in understanding of why she had been summoned to the True Vampire’s presence.
“M-my apologies, Lady Shalltear,” the vampire bride responded. “Forgive me for my—”
“Ah-ah! Don’t even ask, I don’t want to hear it!” Shalltear snarled. “Return to your post and tell your replacement to assist the third floor guard as support instead of relieving you; apparently you need a lesson in devotion to your duties! Now get out of my sight!”
The creature in white bowed, backing away as quick as she could, obviously glad this was the only punishment doled out. The mistakes of her fellows as of late had been much more severely met. She vanished into the dark, feet audible as she rushed to comply with her orders.
Once the undead servant was gone, Shalltear sighed, rubbing a manicured finger over each temple. This was no time to be lax in the security of the tomb! A Supreme Being had arrived directly in their midst no more than an hour ago without warning, and safety was more important now than ever. From what she had heard, Lady Zoba was resting from the ordeal, and when she awoke, a good portion of the tomb was to be gathered away from their posts to formally welcome their Lady of Desires home. It would be a spectacular occasion.
Shalltear was responsible for the tomb’s first line of defense. Every inch of her floors needed to be maintained, regardless of who would be summoned by her glorious Lord Ainz to attend. And, they needed to be maintained by underlings who could actually do their jobs, instead of being late to something as simple as a guard change!! She should have just sent that idiot to the frost prison, rather than let her take an extra shift. Ridiculous!
She pouted and balled her nails into her palms. All this waiting was too much. There might be some time to go to the ninth floor before the assembly was called, time to sit at the bar for a few rounds. How long would Lady Zoba need to rest? Probably a while, if half of what was being said was true. She’d hear some strange things getting whispered around the tomb…
“There is a certain book of sacred nature in the library of Ashurbanipal.”
Shalltear nearly jumped as the voice rose, but instead she turned with a frown, waving smoke from her wrinkling nose as a suit exited the newly appeared plumes. “Demiurge,” she greeted, in a not-so-welcoming tone.
“Perhaps, with interest to the levels allotted you by the Valkyrie and Cleric classes, you have some familiarity with it? Mmm,” he glanced sideways at her, turned toward the doorway the vampire bride had retreated through as he stepped to stand beside Shalltear. “Then again… perhaps not. Forgive the assumption you would devote time to such an ordeal as reading for the interest of it.”
A growl rattled in her nose as she forcefully folded her arms over her chest. He folded his own pointedly behind his back.
“The story is of one party asking a wise man permission to punish an individual, for a crime committed. They request death by stoning against the accused’s unchaste actions, a consequence supported by the law. The wise man looks among the accusers, and responds…”
The devil’s tail flicked as he shifted his feet, turning whole-bodily to face his fellow guardian.
“… ‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone’.”
Shalltear winced, and with a cut at her remaining pride, remembered the vampire bride had winced as well upon entering the room. “So?” she snapped, an ashamed glare directed to the floor. “What does that have to do with anything? My duties as floor guardian are just as important to the tomb as ever, despite… despite what I did to Lord Ai—”
“Shalltear. Did you truly think I wouldn’t discover your other failure?” Black fire crept into life around his frame, heating the cold stone room.
An eyebrow snapping up, she moved the shamed gaze to him. “What? What are you—”
“Have you not realized it yet?” The shadow on his face rippled as a glint traveled from his glasses to his fangs. “You were Messaged. Given a directive to summon a gate somewhere within the Burning Temple. To lead to the tomb’s surface, likely as close to the edge of the anti-teleportation field as could be managed. Did you? Are my suspicions true?”
“Of course they are!” she cried back, offense working it’s way into her expression. “You’re the one who told me to do all that! Hmph. Maybe you need to get your head checked, did you forget our whole conversation? It’s not really that clever of a ‘suspicion’ if you—”
“Must I spell it out for you?” Demiurge sighed. “That was not me, Shalltear.”
“Wh—That conniving—he tricked me?? But—why??”
Demiurge did some footwork before the big meeting, and Shalltear was one stop he was sure to make! Poor undead girl has a lot on her mind as of late, and our devil-in-red is only adding to that pile of guilt. And all of that combined is, of course, only gonna spell more trouble in the end for our two main characters…
