EPIC: Path of Demons and Dragons-Chapter 451: Rapport

[December 3rd DxD/July 27th DBT]

With Ainz inviting him to spectate the Workers’ invasion of Nazarick, Vahn emerged from a Gate connecting to the 6th Floor’s amphitheater, just as it was about to begin.

"Oh! Lord Vahn! You’re here~!" Aura chimed, smiling radiantly and skipping over to Vahn as he appeared.

"It’s good to see you’re as spirited as usual..." Vahn hummed, catching Aura out of the air and reciprocating the nuzzling hug she gave him. Her ears waggled when he supported her butt with his left hand and forearm, but when she realized he was carrying her like a small child, she gave him a half-lidded stare and retorted, "I’d be more spirited if you came around more often. What do you even do in the capital all day?"

"Right now? Nothing much..." Vahn confessed, simultaneously extending his right hand to gently caress Mare’s head as the crossdressing Dark Elf youth approached with his wooden staff clenched anxiously.

"Oh, my. Don’t let Lupusregina hear you say such a thing. The poor dear might die from despondency~" Shalltear teased, approaching with a dark purple, carmine-striped parasol with Cocytus and a vaguely bean-shaped, fleshy, pink, fetal-esque creature with branch-like wings and a hazy silver halo following close behind.

"Shalltear, Cocytus, Victim—it pleases me to see the three of you in good health..." Vahn stated with a smile. He felt a sense of incongruence saying such a thing about Victim, as the former NPC was created to resemble an aborted Angel fetus. But since the person itself didn’t have a problem with how it looked, Vahn didn’t insist on having it assume a different form.

"You honor me with your concern," Cocytus responded, exhaling streams of icy air from the ports between his large and powerful mandibles.

"It’s a genuine pleasure to see you again, Lord Vahn..." Victim appended, closing its paper-thin eyelids and inclining its entire body as either a nod or a bow.

"As for me, I would be in even better health if Lord Ainz would hurry and invite me to his bedchamber..." Shalltear sighed, deliberately emphasizing her ample bosom with her left arm. In the past, she had been as flat as a young boy. Now, thanks to Vahn, she no longer had to pretend or pad her bra to give the impression she possessed D-cups.

"Mmn...I’m sure he’ll come around..." Vahn responded noncommittally, simultaneously setting Aura down. He didn’t mind carrying her, but since Mare was looking up at him with a puppy-eyed expression of longing, he de-escalated before he ended up becoming the twins’ personal shuttle for the evening.

"Hey, Lord Vahn—is it true what I heard? Will you really be coming to stay here in the future...?" Aura questioned excitedly, giving Vahn pause as he didn’t recall making arrangements to stay in Nazarick.

"You must be referring to the agreement I made with Ainz to align myself with Nazarick once it went public," Vahn deduced.

"Yeah, that means you’ll be staying here, right!?" Aura chimed, her green and blue eyes shimmering with expectation as she excitedly pumped her fists.

"Mmn...in a sense, I suppose it does..." Vahn conceded, casting a glance at the artificial, star-filled sky above. He had no intention of abandoning his carefully constructed Seven Lotus Spring, but linking it to Nazarick via a gateway or by using superposition magic shouldn’t be difficult. It would, however, require him to petition Grayfia’s assistance.

"Awesome! We’ll hang out, watch anime, go hunting, build houses, and do all kinds of fun things together~!" Aura pealed happily, prompting Mare to nod vigorously and append, "And I—I would really like to learn about the Magic that Lord Vahn uses...!"

"Oh? I’m not really a Mage, though," Vahn commented, causing everyone present to stare at him as if he had just told them the sky was purple and that water wasn’t wet.

"Correct me if I’m wrong, Lord Vahn. But wasn’t the attack you used to purify that district in the capital a form of Magic?" Shalltear questioned, sounding both confused and curious.

"You’re correct," Vahn confirmed. "But that kind of Magic is similar to the Tiered Magic of YGGDRASIL or activating a Magic Item. The formulae for it already existed. I just provided the necessary fuel."

Before continuing or answering any questions, Vahn produced a grimoire selected for him by Sis, presenting it to Mare as he stated, "Here. There’s much I could teach you, but my specialty is energy manipulation. Most of the Magic I utilize is copied from other people, so if you want to learn the fundamentals, read that and practice diligently."

"O-Oh! Tha—thank you very much, Lord Vahn!" Mare exclaimed, his voice cracking and his cheeks flushing in embarrassment as he hugged the pale purple, gold-embellished grimoire as if it were a precious treasure.

"Good for you, Mare..." Shalltear muttered, her blood-red eyes narrowing, and a slight frown marring her face. Vahn also noticed Aura staring at him with a clearly expectant look on her face, so with Sis’s help, he produced a stylish, hip-worn quiver.

"This is for you, Aura. In addition to being incredibly durable, it will imbue any arrows you place into it with Encumbrance Magic. Explained simply, it creates a localized field that increases the weight of a target by 100kg, perfect for non-lethal capture..." Vahn explained, handing Aura the quiver.

"You even made it red, my favorite color~!" Aura noted happily, fixing the quiver to her hip without hesitation. She didn’t normally wear one, but as it was a gift from Vahn, she felt compelled to at least try it on.

Redirecting his attention to Shalltear, Vahn surprised her by producing a pendant with a teardrop-shaped gem known as a blood shard, explaining, "This pendant allows the wearer to overheal in the form of a magic barrier that also resists negative status effects. For a Vampiric Valkyrie with high health regen and lifesteal, it effectively doubles your health."

"Oh, my. My heart will forever belong to Lord Ainz, but if you continue to treat me as well as you have, I might just sneak into your bedchamber..." Shalltear hummed, her blood-red eyes narrowed, and a distinctly impish grin adorning her face as she turned her back and moved her hair aside, making it clear that she expected Vahn to place the pendant on her neck.

"I wouldn’t dare to compete with Ainz for the affection of his cherished subordinates..." Vahn responded, affixing the pendant to Shalltear’s neck with practiced ease.

"Lord Vahn continues to have a way with words..." Shalltear retorted, her voice lower and huskier than normal as she glanced back and up at Vahn as if she were seriously considering her proposition.

pishaa

Derailing Vahn’s gift-giving, Aura suddenly shot an arrow into Shalltear’s butt, causing what looked like a six-sided black pillar of lead to stick out of it. A hundred kilograms was almost inconsequential to a Level 100, but as she wasn’t expecting it, Shalltear promptly fell over, crashing heavily to the ground as she cried out, "Aura!? Have you completely lost your mind!? How dare you lodge an arrow into my immaculate bottom...!"

"Whoops. My hand must have slipped from the excitement of Lord Vahn giving me a gift..." Aura responded flat, her expression and tone a mask of impassivity as she readied a second arrow.

"Hey, now...let’s not get carried away..." Vahn interjected, placing himself between Shalltear and Aura with his hands raised placatingly and a faintly exasperated smile adorning his face.

"Disgraceful! To demonstrate such a lack of decorum before one of the Supreme Beings! The two of you should be ashamed of yourselves...!" Cocytus appended huffily, stamping the pointed pommel of his polearm and exhaling streams of frigid condensation like steam.

"If they have offended you, please permit me to apologize on their behalf, Lord Vahn..." Victim expressed in its warbling, multi-layered voice.

"Alright, that’s enough," Vahn said, his voice firm as he cast his gaze over everyone present, forcing them to fall silent and become markedly more attentive as he suggested, "Let us calm down, take a step back, and recall why we’ve assembled here tonight. What’s the situation with the Workers from the Empire? Have they already begun their infiltration?"

"They began just before you arrived, but I haven’t received any updates. They’re probably taking their time and trying to decide who gets to enter first," Aura responded, exhaling from her nose and placing her bow away.

"That aside, how do I remove this thing?" Shalltear asked, referring to the lead-like pillar protruding from her upper left butt cheek. She tried pulling it out by force, but the material seemed to have fused with her body down to the bone.

"How should I know...?" Aura responded, placing her hands behind her head and rolling her eyes.

"There is a dial on the side of the quiver. You just need to turn it to the off position," Vahn explained, prompting Aura to inspect the quiver and find a tiny golden dial with two settings. When she rotated it 180 degrees to the off position, the black pylon protruding from Shalltear’s butt reverted to a normal arrow and fell to the ground.

"Hmmn...that’s much better. However, I can’t help but wonder why you shot me. Did my flirting with Lord Vahn cause you to feel jealous? How precious..." Shalltear remarked, narrowing her carmine eyes and adopting a provocative smile.

"Do not start squabbling just because your previous indiscretions were swept under the rug. Even Lord Vahn’s patience has its limits," Cocytus asserted, clicking his mandibles.

"Lord Vahn doesn’t need you to speak for him, Cocytus," Aura retorted, joining Shalltear in glaring at the inordinately tall insectoid.

"I must agree with Aura on this one. Mind your own business..." Shalltear appended, causing the temperature to drop considerably as Cocytus’ grip on his halberd tightened.

"Here, Cocytus. This is the gift I’ve prepared for you..." Vahn interjected, positioning himself between the two parties and presenting Cocytus with a sphere that absorbed light, causing it to appear pitch-black with a hazy silhouette.

Saving Cocytus the need to ask, Vahn explained, "It’s a treasure that can create a pocket dimension when activated, trapping the user and an area of one hundred square meters in an infinite expanse where you can battle without having to worry about collateral damage."

"A perfect gift for a warrior such as myself! Lord Vahn’s consideration and insight truly know no bounds...!" Cocytus shouted, lowering himself to one knee, bowing his head, and extending two of his four hands to accept the ominous-looking sphere with reverence.

"Lastly...I feel this is the most suitable gift for you, Victim..." Vahn segued, producing a silver chain necklace with a blue-green gemstone and a four-winged sword motif, surprising everyone present as he explained, "Once a day, this necklace has the power to resurrect the wearer, restoring 50% of their maximum health and all of their mana. One thing to note is that, 300 seconds after the effect is activated, you will be severely weakened until the necklace regains its charge."

"I can think of no greater gift for one such as myself, whose purpose is to be sacrificed so that my allies might triumph..." Victim responded, floating toward Vahn, closing its eyes, and inclining its entire body respectfully.

"What did Ainz say the last time? Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for those he treasures..." Vahn recalled, placing the necklace on Victim’s notably warm and moist body. Fortunately, the wings on its back prevented it from sliding off...

"Alright, that concludes my impromptu gift giving. Should we relocate to the balcony...?" Vahn proposed, resisting the urge to produce a towel and wipe his hands clean.

"Oh..."

Catching Vahn’s attention, Mare emitted a faint sigh and slumped slightly along the group’s periphery. His droopier-than-usual ears and the forlorn look on his face made it apparent he was expecting a piece of equipment of his own, so, without missing a beat, Vahn gifted him a stylish white belt that increased his movement speed and prevented people from seeing up his skirt, no matter which angle they viewed it from...

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