Lucius, The False Angel

After meeting the master of the house, the three E-Rantel natives, those being Lizzie, Brita and Niferia, were invited to accompany Cassian to dinner.

They naturally panicked and tried to politely refuse at first, but with some insistence from the lord, each of them nervously agreed.

And I say nervously yes, because they admittedly were quite a bit nervous.

Including Lizzie, and she's a fair bit old, which was supposed to come with a fair bit of life experience to at least help her when dealing with stressing situations like this one.

But she was nervous, not because she was in the presence of a lord or anything, she's dealt with her fair share of nobility during her days after all, she wouldn't be this successful if she didn't.

No, what made her nervous was another thing, a gut feeling that she immediately felt upon seeing the supposed lord.

But…she didn't know what it was, at least not yet.

So after deciding to tread carefully, she reluctantly agreed to have dinner with the lord.

Which brings us to our current situation, with Lizzie, Niferia and Brita sitting at the edge of a very, very long table, that was full to the brim with the richest and most scrumptious of palates.

At the head of the table, the lord naturally sat, he held a fork with one hand, a knife with the other as he ate the food in front of him with elegance and sophistication.

…Which was unlike the other three sitting to his right.

Starting from the seat closest to the lord, the old grandma Lizzie wasn't particularly known for her good manners and grace, but for her potion making skills.

So predictably, she ate crudely, with just a fork to skewer the meat and shove down her throat, while occasionally also doing the same to some of the other dishes on the table.

Next was Niferia, and if there was something meant to describe the young man, it's undoubtedly the two words 'village boy'.

And a village boy he sure was, because faced with a food he never had the chance to even glance at his entire life, he chose to eat the blandest of them all.

The soup. He drank a spoonful of soup, then ate a piece of bread after, then rinse and repeat.

…Truly a village boy.

But that wasn't even the strangest one yet, because to the side of Niferia, there sat Brita, and to say that the female adventurer was struggling was quite an understatement.

She tired, prepared her mentally and gave it her all, but even for the life of her, she couldn't figure out how for the sake of the rest of sanity.

‘How am I supposed to use a fork and knife at the same time! I just eat with my damn hands!’

She was having an internal crisis, never in her short life was she forced to use such complicated ways of eating food and safe to say that being faced with doing so stressed the poor young woman.

The crisis didn't end internally either, it even extended to her outer demeanour, as blatantly evident by her struggle to even lift any food up to her mouth.

So you may ask yourself, why is she doing this to herself? Why doesn't she drop the eloquent facade and eat with the method she prefers the most?

Well, the answer was quite simple.

'I can't embarrass myself in front of lord Cassian! I heard that nobles care greatly for this ‘etiquette’, so I won't disappoint the lord!!’

She swore to herself as she continued to struggle, using every ounce of her brain to look as elegant as possible, while and also fighting to even eat the food in the first place.

But thankfully, her struggling didn't continue for long.

“I suppose I shouldn't take up anymore of your time”

The sound of the iron culinary utensils hitting the ceramic plates echoed particularly loudly, which was immediately followed by the lord's soothing voice.

The grace of which he carried himself was captivating, the sheer charisma he exuded was enough to make even the most mundane of actions, like wiping his mouth with a piece of cloth, the most refined action ever.

He clapped his hands softly, and what immediately followed looked like a scene staright out of the imperial palace.

Countless servants carrying a varied collection of desserts swarmed inside the hall, accompanied by countless others scurrying away with the plates of food that were already laid upon the table.

They worked with unmatched efficiency, so much so that in a matter of mere minutes, the never ending amount of main dishes were replaced with an equally absurd amount of desserts.

And after finishing the task they had been assigned, all servants calmly walked outside the hall with practiced steps, leaving only one butler, the man who had brought the trio inside the mansion, standing behind the lord of the mansion.

The butler wordlessly poured wine in the glass in front of his lord first, then after making his way towards each guest and doing the same, he also left the hall, leaving the lord and his three guests alone.

The first to move was the lord, he picked up his glass and slowly savored the wine inside, and with a satisfied sigh, he looked back at his guests.

“Now that's desserts have been served, let us get to the crux of the matter”

This served as a wake up call of some sorts, it drew the trio out of their momentary trance, and back into the present, as the three stared at the lord in silence.

They were quite stunned by the previous scene, and for good reason too, none of them was born to nobility after all, and a scene like that weren't a characteristic of just any nobility, but only the most elite of them all.

So from the commoners perspective, this supposed lord was like a king, which was quite shocking considering they just heard of him this morning.

But after pondering about it for a few seconds, the scene didn't seem that strange.

After all, the man in front of them had enough money to purchase such a large mansion first thing after arriving in town.

“Let’s begin with Madame Lizzie”

The grandma was slightly startled by being addressed so suddenly, but as she was about to voice her curiosity to the lord's demand.

She stopped dead in her tracks, the object that the lord had seemingly pulled out of nowhere and placed on the table made her do so.

It was a small glass bottle filled with a colored liquid and sealed by a stopper from the top, it was obviously a potion…but, there was something strange about this in particular.

“It's…red”

Yes, it was a red coloured potion, a small glass of blood red potion that oozed magical properties, that the old pharmacist could feel, even from afar.

She hurriedly stood from her seat, hurling her small stature towards the bottle while simultaneously staying far away from it, as if afraid to directly touch it.

“A-Appraisal Magic Item, Detect Enchant”

Her stretched out arm glowed bright green at its end, gathering mana at her hand and channeling it into the potion.

The potion glowed with a faint green aura, a sign that the spell being cast on it was working.

There was also another sign of the status of the spell, that being the increase widening of the eyes of the pharmacist.

“Heh….Hehehe…hahahaha”

Suddenly, she started laughing out of nowhere, her creepy old voice starting out low, until in permeated into full blown laughter.

“G-Grandma?”

Her grandson asked in a slightly shaky voice, internally surprised by his grandmother's reaction.

His mind questioned the intensity of his grandmother's reaction, which he naturally attributed to the red potion potion his grandmother was all but drooling towards.

…As for Brita, she was just crept out by the old lady, but recognising that such a reaction was probably due to some discovery related to the unusually colored potion, she decided to listen in silence.

“Niferia! All potions turn blue during the manufacturing process, right?”

The old granny whipped to the side and stared straight into her grandson, with a gaze intense enough it could physically be felt.

The boy however, didn't seem that affected by the intensity of his grandmother, his mind was busy trying to figure out what is it that his grandmother was alluding to by asking such a seemingly obvious question out of nowhere.

But for that, he needs to answer her first.

“That's right”

After hearing his answer, Lizzie then whipped back at the potion, pointing at it with her shaky shriveled finger with a fascinated look in her eyes.

“This item is a true potion, something that no-one has ever been able to make until now!”

She looked back up to her grandson, the smile threatening to spill form her face.

“‘A true potion of healing exhibits the color of god's blood' I thought it was just a legend, but…here it is”

Her voice got lower by the second, until she fell back into silence, her smile also diminished, replaced by a serious look as she looked back at the owner of said miraculous potion.

The lord who has been silently staring at them with no change in his usual calm demeanour. 

“Lord Cassian…may I ask about your offer?”

She may have been a wrinkled old grandma, but she has not lost her wits just yet, and presenting something this valuable in front of her of all people, the lord obviously wanted something in return.

She wasn't sure about what he wanted from her exactly, she wasn't even sure she could fullfil his asks, at least based on the little she knew and saw from him.

That's why she decided to be straightforward and ask what he wanted, resisting the urge to immediately request the price of this unusual potion and subsequently trapping herself in what she thought to be a honey trap the lord had laid to her.

Which she was right about, the lord had presented her of all people the potion to ensnare her, to grapple on her curiosity and greed to get her to do what he wanted.

And he already succeeded, because despite her reluctance, Lizzie was clearly still deeply interested.

So with practiced movements, he leaned forward in his seat and brought his arms over the table and rested his head on his hands. 

He looked like the boss of a an underground organisation, his uncanny presence coupled with those pitch black eyes that brought chills down the old woman's spine made it impossible to relax under the man's gaze.

For a moment, she believed herself already a goner, for if she refuses the lord's offer, then there was no need for her to continue living.

Her throat dried, her mind raced frantically as she thought that her time had finall ran short, she let herself be lured into the trap without a shred of retaliation, it was all over.

But…as she was about to beg the lord to at least let her grandson live, she was yet again interrupted by the his words.

“Madame Lizzie, would you work with me to improve this world?”

“...Huh?”

Color rushed back into her now place face, surprise became evident on her face at the seemingly out of nowhere words that the lord had just spoke.

But, he didn't let her drown in her own thoughts, at least not until he finished what he wanted to say.

“There is a few more of those potions, they were a family heirloom that have been passed down my family since the age of the six great gods…and as I'm the last member of the family, they came to be my possession”

He spoke with a somber tone, his expression looked slightly pained as he looked off to the distance, as if recalling the distant past.

“They were my family heirloom yes, but I refused to keep such divine creations only to myself, not when the world could be so much better with it”

His soft tone increased in intensity, becoming stronger, filling up with conviction, with passion.

But, the pained look still remained in his eyes

“I wanted to help the people, to change the world so that they may know the potions that our gods graced as with in the far away past…but, I underestimated the greed that seeps in humans”

“I had traveled far and wide, asking various potion makers to help me produce more of this miracle potion and help humatiy rise even higher”

As he spoke, the pained look in his eyes transformed into one of disdain, a scorn that was clearly visible even inside the swirling void that was his eyes.

“But they all refused, their miniscule minds desired more than just ‘helping the people', some going as far as threating me to hand over the potion, all for their pointless greed”

His words sounded hatful, his voice rang sharp and unmincing, he seemed deeply angered and disappointed, which unconsciously affected the young boy and the female adventurer sitting beside him.

They were also deeply distraught, each of them wondering how could such a noble man suffer such injustice, such putrid circumstances.

They felt sorry for his sadness, they were angry towards those who had wronged him, after all, such a noble man didn't deserve this amount of misfortunes.

“So after countless failures, I had decided to stop trying, for I knew I wasn't going to be able to change humans, and as I'm incapable of deciphering such a miraculous magic item alone, I gave up…but that was until I arrived here, at this town”

His hate and disdain slowly faded, the pained look in his eyes was replaced by a more hopeful one, he stared at the old woman and spoke in a calm and collected voice.

“I had heard of your capabilities Madame Lizzie, I became aware of your far and wide spread fame as the most talented potion maker in this kingdom”

“So now I make you an offer, I'll help shield you from the other nobles greed, and provide you with all that you could ever need for the task, all in exchange of helping me reverse engineer the potion”

The lord stared at the old woman with a meaningful look, his overbearing presence washing over her like a tidal wave.

She felt her throat dry, her expectations were completely shattered from the moment the lord had opened his mouth to speak.

She hadn't such a noble goal, nobles weren't exactly known by their kindness and good nature, and while she would've normally questioned the truth in his words a thousand times over, the emotions he spoke with prevented her from doing so.

Nobody could lie and be this emotional, no man, no matter how shrewd and crafty he was, could speak with such conviction, such passion.

She...found herself swayed by him.

…….

In the vast planes at the south of E-Rantel, a group of adventurers could be seen making their way across the empty path forward.

The group was made up of six people, four of them could be instantly recognised as the famous group known as the ‘Swords of Darkness’.

The other two however, were a little harder to distinguish with just a glance, but upon glancing only once more, one would immediately recognise the other two, they were quite the sensation among the adventures of E-Rantel after all.

Naturally, the other two were the copper plate adventures Momon and Nabe, a new pair that the city hadn't heard about before, but they were seemingly a force to be reckoned with, at least according to one unfortunate adventurer that had graciously made an example out of himself.

The group made their way in the empty plains with seemingly no goal in mind, mindlessly walking for hours now, with nothing in sight but the greenery that surrounded them from all directions.

Thankfully, the dull scenery was just broken by the sight of a small river that made its way across the planes, with a dozen or so small and medium sized rocks at its bedsides.

The sight was quite beautiful, it felt quite comfortable just looking at the scenery from far away.

But more importantly, it served as a safish resting area after such a long marsh, which the captain of the smallish adventurer team wasted no time in immediately pointing out.

“Momon-san, why don't we take a break over there?”

Peter said while glancing backwards at his new colleague while simultaneously pointing at the river, he spoke with a slightly ragged breath, which obviously alluded to his tiredness.

Momon, or more specifically Ainz the undead overlord in this case, felt no such emotion, or any other emotion for that matter.

He didn't feel tired. Hell, he could even walk the entire world and not feel anything, and the same went for his companion, which was a doppelganger and was similarly unaffected as well.

But, he wouldn't obviously state that out loud, he wasn't that stupid.

“I understand”

So he agreed, starting to make his way towards the river in his usual silence.

It didn't take but a minute for them to reach the riverside, and soon enough, each one of them was sitting on one of the rocks that were littered around them.

They sat in a comfortable silence, with only the occasional sounds of water flowing echoing through their ears, the group started to visibly relax.

Well, all were relaxed but Peter, the leader of the party looked all but relaxed actually, with him standing at the edge of the river and frantically looking around all panicky.

“Momon-san, things are going to get a little dangerous from here”

He looked back at Momon and said a slightly concerned voice.

Which was honestly quite understandable, because like it or not, Momon and Nabe were copper ranked adventurers, and with such dangerous quests like this one, ignorance could be even deadlier than what you would end up facing.

So Peter had the full right to be skeptical about Momon, he hadn't seen evidence to prove his competence after all, and only heard stories of it.

But thankfully, his worry was unnecessary.

“I understand, we will be careful”

Naturally, Momon completely understood the hidden meaning behind Peter's question, and replied to him confidentially, both to serve as an assurance for Peter and for himself.

‘I can't use most of my magic in this armor, I wonder how far I could go only as a frontline fighter' The undead overlord said to himself, his paranoia eating at him by the second as thoughts continued to swirl in his mind.

He then remembered his companion, the battle maid doppelganger that was disguised by his side, and waiting to follow his every command.

‘Narberal will use fifth tier magic if necessary, it'll be great of that takes care of everything’

But then again, fifth level magic was just the middle of the spectrum, there was literally a million other things that could overpower it with the slightest of effort.

‘...If that wasn't enough, I'll have to get serious’ The undead overlord seriously thought, he wasn't going to risk his lif-…undeath, for 

a ploy to gather information.

And even if he revealed his identity here to these humans, it didn't necessarily mean that his plans will immediately be foiled.

After all, there were many ways to silence them, he could wipe out their memories, convince them that he wasn't as evil as he appeared to be, or he could…

‘Just kill them all'

“Hey Nabe-chan~ Don't worry so much!”

The annoying voice of the ranger known as Lukrut Volve, pulled the overlord out of his slightly less than wholesome thoughts, causing him to look at the man in question, which was in turn looking at Nabe.

“There’ll be nothing wrong while I'm the eyes and the ears of the team. Well, aren't I amazing~?”

He pointed at himself while smirking, playfulness and mischief were practically dancing in his eyes, which along with his above average looks, one would imagine it made him quite the charmer.

But…not with this one, unfortunately.

“This insect…”

"Nabe”

“...Momon-san, will you allow me to squash him?”

“Denied”

The charming lady adventurer was…a little less accompaning than expected, she wasn't exactly one to be described as good mouthed either, at least telling by the not so pleasent words that unhesitatingly flowed out of her petite mouth.

But the ranger was sure to not let that stop him.

“Ouch! You're as harsh as usual, Nabe-chan~”

He shrugged helplessly, shaking his head left and right as if at loss.

But the wide grin on his face was surely not one of loss, which earned him a few awkward laughs from his friends amidst the silence that followed.

Which was soon interrupted by the young ‘male’ magic caster of the group who was known as Ninya, likely in an attempt to disperse the awkward atmosphere thanks to his friend's antics.

“R-Right! This area is the wise king's territory, right?”

Thankfully, his attempt seemed to have succeeded.

“Wise king of the forest?”

“Y-Yes, it's a mighty magical creature that is said to have lived for hundreds of years. A sliver four-legged beast that has the tail of a snake”

Ninya described passionately, ‘his’ eyes practically shining as ‘his’ hands moved in extradited movements.

“It's said to be able to use magic as well! Isn't that fascinating?!”

'His' excitement was quite apparent, almost any magic caster would really, they were curious beings by nature.

Which naturally included Ainz.

“I see, it would be interesting to meet such a creature”

“Ri-!”

The young magic caster instantly quieted down when she saw the ranger stand up and reach for his bow, the tension grew in the air as the ground started to shake, a sign of a large group of monsters imminently approaching.

“They're finally coming” Said the ranger with a small excited smile.

……

“I hope our deal was to your satisfaction, Madame Lizzie”

At the entrance of his grand mansion, lord Cassian stood besides the three of his guests, which of them holding one of three things he had granted them with.

First was the grandma, who in addition to getting an incredibly rare herb from the lord's garden, got a parchment that contained the terms of the contract that the two had sealed.

The terms were as such, Lizzie were to try and recreate the red potion of the gods with her all, she would get protection from the lord, in addition to also all the funding that she'll ever need.

And in return, she'll give the recipe to him and he'll take the full responsibility of disrupting the potions without involving her at all.

One might think that she's giving up her discoveries to him, and all the riches that would undoubtedly follow, and you would be absolutely right about that, which made Lizzie agree to the terms even more.

A renowned pharmacist or not, she was but a regular at the end of the day, and with no protection to speak of, any one with enough power could force her to work for him to the bone if word got out of her knowing the recipe to such a miraculous potion.

So she decided to fully unassociate with the product itself, satisfied with only contributing to the recreation of such a magnificent magic item.

As for the fears of the lord abusing the potions for his gain, they didn't even cross her mind, not for a second.

After all, how could such a benevolent lord do such actions? Have you gone mad?

 “It's a pleasure to do business with you, Lord”

The grandma smiled, it was a little creepy, but still a smile nonetheless, which the lord happily returned back.

Then he turned to the red haired young woman standing beside Lizzie, the female adventurer known as Brita.

“And you, lady Brita? I hope this serves as enough compensation for my Momon's mishap”

Brita had received not one but two blood red potions, which were safely secured in a small pouch she had on her waist, tucked carefully outside the prying gaze of others.

She wasn't going to repeat the same mistake of parading her potion with her everytime she moves, not when the only time she had a potion in her, it got smashed into smithereens with her having no hand in it whatsoever.

So she'll be careful this time, she'll hide the potions and store them well, especially when she knows how valuable these potions truly are.

But believe it or not, that wasn't what she was truly excited about.

No, instead of the literal god blessings inside glasses that she had not one, but two off, what she was truly excited about was the parchment in her right hand, the one she stared at with a smile that nearly split her face in half.

It was also a contract, but unlike Lizzie's, this wasn't a magical one, but a governmental one.

It simply stated that the adventurer known as Brita is now under the jurisdiction of the noble house of lord Cassian, with her being affiliated with the noble house while also still remaining as an adventurer.

Meaning that she's his personal adventurer, thus itching her a step closer to her ultimate goal.

'Hehehehehe, lord Cassian~ my lord~’

Her eyes practically had hearts in them, she finally looked up from the parchment only to look at her new lord's black eyes and ask with the sweetest smile on her face.

“Who’s this Momon, lord Cassian?”

…

…

…

“...He’s Someone” Said the lord with no noticeable change in expression, his voice remained stable as well, despite his internal thoughts.

He decided to leave the weird red haired girl for now, and after turning to the last person remaining, he asked the same question once more.

“What about you, lord Niferia? Was my gift to your satisfaction?”

Ironically, the young boy ended up with the flashiest gifts out of the three.

He was gifted a literal bag of gold coins, it was heavy and rattled around making huge clancking sounds as he carried it with his two hands compined.

He was also given a small red ring, it had the symbol of what looked like a human with horns engraved on it, but other than that, Niferia couldn't discern any particular properties the ring posseed.

It was just a regular ring without much value, admittedly a cool looking one with an even cooler color, but still a regular ring nonetheless.

He was happy with it though, because not only did it look cool as hell, it was also a sign that he…

'I met a lord and he personally gave me a gift! How amazing is that! I can't wait to tell Enri!’

“It very much was, thank you very much for your generosity, lord Cassian”

“No need, we are all friends now, and there's no need for such formalities between friends”

The lord spoke with great humility, and with a wave of his hand, the butler behind his back walked to the front.

“The butler will show you all to your homes, having such valuable items on your persons could prove quite dangerous after all”

“Thank you, lord Cassian”

“Thank you”

“Thank you, my lord!”

“Haha, no need”

After expressing their heartfelt thanks, the trio started slowly walking out of the main mansion and into the garden, with the butler following them.

Their foot steps echoed further and further away, all until they existed the outer mansion gates, fully exciting form the entire mansion, and leaving the lord to his own.

He stood there, watching as their footsteps echoed quieter and quieter until they fully disappeared, he watched them fully leave the mansion, and only then, did he finally move.

He walked back to the chair nearest the fireplace, the main chair that's meant for the lord of the house.

But there was something noticeably different about the lord, his features didn't change, he also seemed to have no visible changes…but something felt odd about him.

The air seemed to unsettle where he walked, the surroundings seemed to warp just by containing his presence, shadows were actively avoided colliding in his path, as they made for him to pass in panic.

He finally reached his seat, in which he sat down on with suffocating elegance, with majestic majesty, and like an emperor to his empire, he spoke with a stoic, cold voice.

“Demon, sit down with me”

The words were said calmly, but there effects were nowhere but calm, and with a flash of flames and a scream of deep anguish, what could only be described as a demon was indeed sitting on the seat directly in front of him.

But this demon was familiar however, there weren't that many demons after all, and those features were only unique to one specific demon.

Tall figure, dark skin, nicely combed black hair, a sliver tail and neat British suit with a tie. Features that were well known to citizens of Nazarick and players of YGGDRASIL alike.

It was Demiurge.

But unlike the usual Demiurge however, the demon's usual malevolent smile seemed to have been wiped of his face.

Replaced by a half surprised half horrified look of terror.

“Demon, did you think I didn't feel you spying on me since I set foot in this city?”

Terror which only deepened as the Cassian, Lucius Von Lucifer, stared at the demon with his swirling black voids of eyes.

“You being all the way in Nazarick doesn't matter to me, demon. I can pluck you out form anywhere in the damn galaxy”

Lucius leaned back into his chair slowly, his eyes never leaving the ever shivering form of the demon, while his black hair unconsciously swirled above his head like maisma, as if reacting to his mood.

“Speak, because if you don't. No amount of praying would ever save you from me, worm”

The demonic son of Lucifer said with a venomous glare

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