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Inside the next Singularity (187)
🕑 Added 2022-09-10 08:51:03 +0000 UTCThe first thing Ainz felt the moment his feet touched the ground of this Singularity was fine sand shifting beneath his feet. Then next came the bright midday sun, mercilessly roasting everyone who caught its eye. And then lastly were the hot, dry wind, its breeze barely cooling his skin.
"This is the desert," Ainz made a simple, if obvious, inference before looking around.
Unlike the last Singularity, where he had also stumbled upon a desert, if one created with nuclear weapons and therefore with its own set of unique characteristics. This time the desert he had found himself in was a natural one, the sand under his feet, the most ordinary sand, gathering in slowly crawling waves of dunes as far as the eye could see.
In his past life, Ainz had never seen anything like this – in person, at least, excluding his experiences in YGGDRASIL. But, in that past Singularity, when he took a tour of Earth's famous landmarks, he had already been in a place similar to this when he visited the Egyptian pyramids.
"Hmm, are the Egyptian pyramids related to the Crusades?" Ainz shook his head, not really knowing the answer to that. "I don't know, but I'll keep that in mind for the future… "
“Senpai?” Mashu's voice distracted Ainz from his thoughts, causing him to turn to his Servants, who had appeared at the same time as him in the Singularity.
From the looks of it, the only one who had any trouble with the heat, which Ainz could ignore due to his nature and passive protection, was Mashu herself. She was trying to shield her eyes with her hand, creating a little shade. Besides, hmm, she was wearing heavy metal armor, though Arthuria, wearing the same armor, didn't show her displeasure in any way.
Then again, Arthuria always maintained the same expression on her face, so it was quite difficult to tell from her face if she really wasn't experiencing any discomfort.
Chasing the thought away, Ainz thought about their plans for a moment, once again they had found themselves in a desert with no landmarks. In the last Singularity, his plan for general exploration had worked well – in that case, should he do it again?
“I sense something," Medusa spoke suddenly, interrupting Ainz's thoughts.
“A Servant?” Ainz asked the question that interested him. If he was lucky enough to meet a Servant of this Singularity, it was obviously a good omen – usually Servants were the ones who always had information about what was going on in the Singularity.
Medusa shook her head slightly, though.
Hmm, humans aren't bad either… At least the humans must have some information about what was going on, even if it was incomplete.
“How many?” Ainz asked the next question that interested him.
“At least thirty," Medusa pondered for a moment, "They seemed to be traveling in a convoy, with some beasts – it might well be a caravan.”
“A caravan, hmm, probably either a traveling one or a trading one." Ainz thought for a moment.
If it was a matter of communicating with ordinary people – and even more so with small-time traders, then Ainz was confident in his abilities. He had the right mentality and skills for such a thing, but for the other people in his entourage…
Mashu was suitable, and at least he trusted Medusa enough not to do anything stupid. Though, on the other hand – Medusa’s appearance might be too eye-catching, her manner of dress would also look out of place in a desert, never mind for the current era. Then again, Ainz himself might look strange for the current era as well, so he saw no other option than just trying to meet new people himself.
Maybe in the future, he could ask Da Vinci for clothes that would look suitable for the Singularity? At the very least, he could get the word out that he shouldn't have to meet the locals like that in the future.
“Okay, in that case, I have decided on a course of action." Ainz looked around him, at the endless desert. "I think we should look around the surrounding area just in case, perhaps we’ll find an unexpected landmark. And after that, it seems that we’re going to try to make first contact in this Singularity.”
***
When Ainz went off to talk alone, leaving some Servants as backup and some others to scout the surroundings, all Medb could think of was that she had to demonstrate her usefulness.
If you think about it logically – because every King wants to see only useful people in his subordinates, every Master wants to see only the best qualities in his Servants. Simply because that is the natural and logical desire of any human being.
Of course, in the past, a red thread of destiny had bound Medb and Momonga together, but the conditions now were much different than in the past. Ainz was already in relationships with several girls, and Medb herself had appeared late enough for her to be unable to easily cut off all of Ainz' interfering relationships.
It wouldn't be much of a problem if she could just get rid of the other contenders for his heart by a simple and safe method, like poison or a silent knife from the shadow. The situation at the moment however was definitely not predisposed to such a thing.
For one thing, all Servants possessed limited resurrection abilities – at least as long as Ainz wished it. And while the possibility of killing the Servants until Ainz became disillusioned with them and stopped resurrecting them was not beyond her reach, it was not the quickest or most graceful plan Medb could have used at the moment.
Another option would have been, for example, to pit the Servants against each other – if she played her cards right and blamed a few Servants for causing issues and constantly clashing with many other Servants - Ainz would have to intervene. In the best-case scenario, he may simply become disillusioned with his chosen paramours, or maybe even distance himself from them. After all, nobody likes dealing with troublemakers that make their life harder for no discernible reason for no return.
Even so, if there was anything but cold logic inside Ainz, and Medb had seen for herself how big Momonga's heart could be – his judgment might be skewed. And so he might, even in the case of his paramours' obvious wrongdoing, take their side.
However, if there was someone other than his lovers whose usefulness he could not ignore, then wouldn’t he judge them to be more important and take their side instead?
And Medb just wanted to help Ainz – with all her heart… Luckily for Medb, her targets, while not being all of them, were here in the Singularity with her, where anything could happen.
Mashu and Medusa were two of Ainz' current lovers, and thus Medb's natural enemies.
Scáthach had professed herself to be Ainz's enemy – so she was even higher on the list for elimination than Mashu or Medusa.
Arthuria took a neutral stance, clearly not wanting to get involved in the Servants' internal squabbles – which was commendable from Medb's point of view, and dangerous at the same time. Many of Medb's knights were the same, doing Medb's bidding, but when the situation changed and Medb was thrown off the throne, they just as easily defected to her husband's side, obeying his orders without question.
In other words, Medb had only one natural ally in this Singularity who’s pursuing Ainz' favor, but with absolutely no interest in him romantically.
“Sita," Medb's voice came to Sita unexpectedly, but she didn't even flinch when she felt the girl appear behind her. Instead, Sita chose to continue her methodical survey of the desert for possible hidden threats, as Ainz had instructed. Something which was praiseworthy in Medb's mind. “Let me shorten my speech and throw out all the compliments you don't deserve anyway, and spare you the duty of uttering praises you wouldn't understand, and get right to the point.”
Sita, hearing these words, did take her eyes off the desert and silently turned her gaze to Medb. “Ok, that was not what I expected to…”
“You need Ainz's favor," Medb said with such certainty, as if Sita were seeking her favor instead, not out of a desire to belittle Ainz, but out of habit. Ignoring Sita’s surprised look, Medb continued on. "And so do I, and the situation at the moment is such that we need to demonstrate our usefulness and the efforts we are making to achieve Ainz's goals.”
Sita, hearing this, nodded slowly. “Well, what do you propose?”
“An alliance," Medb said quietly, "A temporary alliance that is. My actions will be to your benefit and vice versa, to show Ainz our abilities and our value.”
Sita thought about the proposal for a few seconds before she slowly nodded.
“Combat would be the easiest way”, Medb answered calmly. “But there aren't any monsters or Servants near us for miles to come – I think you've noticed that by now.”
Sita only nodded, forcing Medb to continue. “Then Ainz, Master, of course clearly knew this – but then still insisted on leaving his Servants here? There must be another reason why he had done so.”
“Not to mention the fact that he had told us that already knows everything about the current Singularity, which means that getting information from talking to ordinary people is also useless… Then why are we meeting the caravan?” As she spoke, Medb ran her hand through the air, indicating the surroundings.
Sita instantly remembered the moment when Ainz, leading the meeting, had said something like that before she shook her head a little. Ainz had indeed said that he knew all about the Singularity, but was such a thing really possible?
On the other hand, even if it was a lie on Ainz's part, if he really could rid her of her curse, she was willing to close her eyes and ears on such matters. She would repeat that Ainz was absolutely omnipotent and omniscient for as long as it took.
“So he either doesn't trust the Servants to execute his plan, or he's prepared a plan that relies on our ignorance of the plan." Medb nodded, confident in her deduction.
"As I’ve asked around, in past Singularities, he has done exactly the same…”
“Okay, let's say that’s true… So then, what now?" Sita nodded slowly, trying to work the gears in her head, assimilating the information that Ainz had already prepared some incredible plan to solve the current Singularity.
Medb only smiled a little at Sita’s question. “You do realize that we're not actually in the middle of nowhere, don't you?”
***
Ainz had just finished talking to the merchant caravan, having received important information from them, and much suspicion, before taking a few steps toward the desert to leave the merchant, and his questioning gaze. Before he could get far, however, he heard Medb's voice in his head -
"Master?"
"Did you find someone?" Ainz had his haunches raised immediately, before turning toward where he assumed Medb should be.
"Not really," Medb replied calmly before continuing on. "On the other hand, we were able to determine that we were currently in a, um… Singularity within a Singularity?"
"Huh?" Ainz blinked, then shifted his gaze to the sand beneath his feet before glancing around at the people from the caravan, still watching him like a hawk. Was he already in a hidden dungeon without even noticing it? Hmm, that was dangerous. Especially the fact that he hadn't just entered the hidden dungeon, but had originally appeared in it, which meant that he was in the most dangerous position, left with no information about how this Singularity worked. And yet, even if he starts gathering information now, the information he could gather in this dungeon might not match the information about the rest of the Singularity.
What a conundrum…
"Okay." Immediately, his suppression of emotion stopped Ainz's emotional response, forcing him to answer calmly. "What else did you find out?"
"The center of this anomaly within an anomaly, seems to be located in the city to the north," Medb answered instantly, her excitement barely concealed. "And it extends for many kilometers, at least from the Mediterranean coast, to the territory of modern-day Sudan.”
"Hmm, okay, I get it." Ainz nodded, not knowing what Sudan was – a river? A desert? A country?
"And, with that, you… "
"I, along with Sita, would like to scout this area." Medb replied instantly. "With your permission, of course."
Ainz, on the other hand, instead of answering, froze for a few seconds upon hearing Medb’s plan.
In the current situation, with Ainz' information about the surrounding Singularity still insufficient, it was shortsighted to split up and go in search of information.
But at the same time, Medb was strong enough and had a great enough variation of abilities to survive almost any conditions she would find herself in. And Sita could make up for her slight weakness with her scouting skills, and she also has the skills of a healer, but was nowhere near strong enough or varied enough to easily survive any trap. The two of them should balance each other well…
"All right," In the end, Ainz decided to take a chance after all. "But be careful, the enemy may be strong and definitely have the terrain advantage, and could have prepared quite a number of traps. You also need to remember to protect Sita, she’s a lot weaker than you are."
Ainz, remembering the last Singularity, where he had returned to one heck of a surprise, hastened to add another important instruction. "Also, in case you engage in any combat or encounter anything unexpected, be sure to let me know, I will respond instantly."
Medb did not immediately respond to these words, but there was no sense of an end to the connection, which caused Ainz to think that something went wrong. "Medb?"
"Oh, right, sorry!" Medb, who had forgotten about Ainz’s presence for a few seconds, indulging herself in a cocoon of warmth, replied in a voice completely out of her working serious tone. "Of course, of course you care about me, how could I have thought otherwise… "
"Ahem." Ainz coughed a little, drawing attention, feeling somewhat uncomfortable listening to Medb's carefree voice that had acquired notes of dreaminess. "Did you need anything else?"
"Nothing, my dear, I'll come back to you with good news!" Medb replied with indulgent happiness.
"Kisses!" With that last goodbye, Medb’s presence disappeared from Ainz's mind.
Ainz’ connection broke off a moment later, causing him to frown, then shrug his shoulders.
He could only hope the balanced and calm Sita would be able to steer the duo through – Medb’s last message didn’t endear a lot of hope that she wouldn’t do anything unnecessary.
When he returned to reality, Ainz realized that he had been staring silently in the direction of the desert for some minutes, and then he shook his head slightly, dismissing his thoughts. Teleporting back to the Servants, leaving behind him a dozen caravaneers and their long line of caravans, a moment later appearing before Medusa, who had already managed to gather back all the Servants, excluding Sita and Medb.
“Sita and Medb have gone ahead," Answering the unasked question, meeting Medusa's questioning gaze, Ainz still continued on. "However, I have received some information about what is going on…”
Scáthach, the only Servant whom Ainz had not directly assigned to search for enemies, but rather left her in the care of Medusa, only glanced at Ainz suspiciously at these words. Then, with a sharp movement of her head, she moved her gaze in the direction of the caravan with some alarm. It was as if she still doubted that Ainz had just simply gotten information from them rather than finishing people off on the spot.
‘I understand that her being here is necessary to keep her from doing anything irreparable in Chaldea.’ Ainz sighed.
‘But she's annoying me! The worst part is that this situation is different from Nobunaga's.’ Ainz exhaled slightly, even more irritated. ‘I had beaten Nobunaga, and she agreed to obey me… But if I just beat Scáthach now – she's only likely to strengthen her desire to finish me off!’
A moment later, Ainz realized that the four Servants present were staring at him the entire time, because he never said anything about the information he had received. One activation of Suppression of Emotion later, and Ainz was able to pretend that he was immersed in his thoughts, and was certainly not uncomfortable with the attention.
“Right, the information I received is that at the moment, the Singularity contains a few separate states – or state-like associations. The Kingdom of Great Egypt, which is where we are at the moment. The Holy Kingdom in the Holy Land, and also the Assyrian Kingdom… located somewhere.” Ainz bent one finger, then two others in succession.
And then he thought for a moment before he continued speaking, remembering the other information that Medb had given him. “Though there's some rumor that the surviving crusaders had created their own state, and that some people have taken refuge near the Holy Land under the patronage of the Old Man of the Mountain…”
“So, hmm," Medusa was the first to react to his words, bowing her head slightly before looking at Ainz, "Servants of Egypt, Assyria, the Crusaders, and at least one Assassin…”
‘No idea about the Servants themselves… but that sounds about right.’ Ainz nodded slowly, as if to agree with Medusa's thoughts.
‘But what does this have to do with Assassins? No, of course there is a high probability that there is at least one Servant Assassin in this Singularity, but why did Medusa mention them separately?’
Ainz shifted his gaze from Medusa to Mashu, who, noticing Ainz’s attention, only shrugged a little awkwardly, as if not knowing exactly what she should answer at the moment. Though whether she had actually received Ainz’s unasked question or was just embarrassed being stared at by Ainz is not something he can answer. Ainz then turned to Arthuria, who just kept a cold, aloof expression, not really caring about the information Ainz had brought. And then finally to Scáthach, who, judging by her look, was still more interested in glaring at Ainz and his actions at the moment than in the information he brought.
Ainz waited a few seconds, checking to see if another of his Servants had any ideas, before he sighed and nodded. "Anyway, I recognized the road, so we should hurry up.”
***
To the inhabitants of Cairo, the procession that appeared on the streets by the time the Sun had already passed its noon peak came as a surprise.
For those already accustomed to the manners of their new King, the Pharaoh, the golden palanquin on the shoulders of four warriors with armors shimmering with all colors of the rainbow, was not so beyond the limits of possibility. It simply confused them that their Pharaoh left his golden palace, although he had not appeared in public for months.
But the true wonder lay in the girl seated on the throne – with a figure so regal that anyone could tell at a glance that this was what a true goddess looked like. With her hair flowing red and gold over her shoulders, and with the look of piercing emerald eyes, anyone who saw the girl knew instantly that they were born for this very moment, to look at the visage of perfection.
From young to old, from men and women, anyone whose eyes touched the figure of the queen, no, the goddess – understood that life had been given to them for only this moment. The moment when they could offer their lives to the descended goddess.
If the goddess would not accept their lives, then there was no point in their existence.
As soon as a human's gaze touched her, they instantly understood their purpose.
The smiths abandoned their tools and the tradesmen discarded their gold, the wives abandoned their husbands and the children abandoned their parents. They all joined in the procession, joining the crowd as if the rats of Hamlin, following behind their beautiful goddess, no longer capable of any thought or emotion except their overpowering love, adoration, and subservience. The procession becomes like a wave in their united synchronicity, and in their unifying silence, as if afraid of attracting the attention of the goddess who could deprive them of the meaning of existence with one word. And at the same time, they were desperate to see how their goddess would draw attention to their miserable and until that moment so meaningless existence.
Amid such an impressive procession, a single short and still beautiful, but not beautiful enough to outshine Medb's beauty, the girl, Sita, continued to silently watch the other Servants approach.
Medb's arsenal of abilities is incredibly vast and varied, but from her very narrow specialty of detecting Servants, Sita was more prepared than Medb, and Medb’s provided the perfect cover for Sita. Not just by attracting all the eyes, but by shackling them to her. Medb had turned Sita into a ghost, more effectively than if she had the skill of Presence Concealment, and at the same time served as a shining challenge to any Servants who might sense her.
And there were definitely enough Servants in this Singularity and in this city.
In other words, Medb was the main ‘showpiece’, while Sita had to act from the shadows, assessing the Servants and acting behind the scenes. It was just a coincidence that the plan suited Medb preferences perfectly.
“Coming," Sita spoke out quietly, causing Medb to nod slightly visibly.
However, Sita did not allow herself to look at Medb - of course her love for Rama was endless and unbreakable, not to mention the fact that Sita simply did not like girls in the romantic sense. But… Fearing that Medb's abilities might be more mind control rather than just a type of charm, and might lead to thoughts that Sita could not forgive herself, she chose to move slightly ahead of Medb without paying attention to her.
In any case, standing next to Medb, Sita need not worry about her visibility.
So Sita, taking only one step to the side, just in case their opponent attacked Medb immediately, so she wouldn't get hit, looked carefully, using her Archer's enhanced vision, at the figure of the approaching Servant.
The Servant appeared to be a girl – a short girl with dark, tanned skin and long purple hair that rippled in the wind. She was dressed in a light clothing of white and gold, with two large standing ears on her top, hmm… Dog ears maybe? Or were they rabbit ears? It was hard to tell, especially at this distance – much less distinguishing than her simple red-colored tattoo on her cheek, or was it just make-up?
What was easy to notice, though, was the huge, monstrous sphinx she had arrived on, although another would have called it a chimera or similar creature rather than a sphinx. Its face was hidden behind a huge, appropriately sized gold mask, but its huge lion-like body and two eagle wings were clearly visible even without Archer's supernaturally sharp gaze.
What only Sita could discern, however, was that the Servant, finding the procession, and its leader, Medb, with her gaze, seemed to sway in her seat, along with the sphinx, which immediately stopped, looking at the figure of Medb…
Then instantly they rushed forward with redoubled eagerness, along with the Servant on his scruff, who immediately flashed a smile so dazzling that Sita wanted to cover her eyes, shielding them from the new sun.
But Medb, who quickly noticed the Servant and the beast's approach, stopped, causing the column of tens of thousands gathered behind her to stand still, silently awaiting their goddess' next move.
Seconds later, the Servant, still seated on the huge magical beast, appeared in front of Medb in her full appearance, just as Sita had seen her. Long purple hair, tanned skin, a white very frivolous robes, with golden ligature around the edges, and a long, thin staff in her hands. The staff looked more ceremonial than practical, apparently carved from white bone, which had not yet yellowed in the sun, the head of the staff a carved figure with a stylized head.
“I never thought that I could see a pharaoh so beautiful, as if giving light like Ra to this world!” The girl's voice, quite high-pitched, reached Sita, before the sphinx, obeying the same sorcery as the common people around it, sank down on its paws, bowing its head. “How glad I am that I can see such a thing…”
A moment later, it was as if lightning had struck the Servant's mind, making her realize her disrespectfulness in continuing to communicate from the beast's back, so in a moment she jumped off the beast. She then froze, clearly not understanding what she was supposed to do now – maybe fall to her knees?
Sita instantly noted how unaccustomed it was for this Servant to behave from the position of… subservience? Hmm, a Servant who had come to bow to another powerful King, she mentioned the Pharaohs, didn't she?
“Enough. Tell me your name." Medb ordered when the Servant awkwardly bowed in respect to her. A phrase that to Sita sounded cold, but to those under her spell was like the babble of a spring brook, the Servant froze, waiting for the next order of their goddess.
“Oh, yes, I beg your pardon!” The same Servant jumped up in place from surprise, and involuntarily standing straight as if in the face of a strict teacher, and at the same time a favorite movie character. The girl replied, trying to maintain a serious expression on his face, and failing miserably. "The name’s Nitocris! Servant of the Caster class, Nitocris!”
Then, after a moment, Nitocris hastened to add. “But I am not Nitocris of Assyria – I am the Nitocris that was the Pharaoh…”
Immediately, as if by reflex, Nitocris bent down again in an awkward and extremely inept bow. “I hope you're not disappointed…”
“Seeing such a bad example, as you might expect, he can even bow better than all the kings and pharaohs of the world… " Medb spoke with barely a moving lip. "Where did he learn that I wonder…”
Sita, meanwhile, tried to remember the name Nitocris from the list of legendary heroes of Egypt she knew. Pharaoh Nitocris… who’s that?
“Nitocris, hmm…" Medb, however, lacking Sita’s discretion, turned towards her a moment later, asking exactly the same question that Sita herself had been wondering about.
"Who is that?”
***
Excerpt from The Great Migration of Peoples: A History of Immigration in the United States:
…as to be expected, the number of immigrants arriving in the United States grew day by day. The people fleeing the destruction of their culture and the terrible conditions of other colonial empires in those days, many arriving immigrants brought with them not only their own belongings but also their culture – folklore, habits, cuisine, and connections.
Although in current times this problem is no longer so acute, it was only at the beginning of the migration waves that the oppressed peoples of the British Empire, of which there were many. They quite often fled without any plan, relying only on news about the ‘wild western frontier’ or ‘gold rush’, to search for better opportunities.
They fled their appalling living conditions – and the only way they could survive in this case was to be able to rely on previous settlers, regularly relying solely on their same nationality for kindness. From these humble beginnings were born the ‘national communities’ that were famous in the modern days. Areas in a city where certain nationalities exist almost homogeneously. And although the passage of time has significantly smoothed these corners, there are still separate areas in some cities that historically belonged to certain groups of people.
Primarily consisting of the two most oppressed nationalities during the British Empire – the so-called ‘Irish’ and ‘Indian’ areas, those areas remained mostly the same today. That’s why, New York is still considered the ‘Irish state’, and North Carolina is the location of the largest Indian Mandir outside of the Indian subcontinent…
