Pleiades Day

Part 2

Yuri returned to her room — or rather, she returned to one of the rooms assigned to the Battle Maids. This room was a suite which linked tp a bedroom, living room, bathroom, toilet and other such sub-facilities. It had been made in the image of a suite.

The bedroom did not feel cramped, even with three double-sized beds in it. The living room had a dining table and a sofa, as well as chairs — enough to seat six people in total.

There were three Battle Maids who lived in this expansive room.

They were Yuri Alpha, Lupusregina Beta and Narberal Gamma.

Adjacent to this room was another one of the same size, which was occupied by CZ2128 Delta, Solution Epsilon and Entoma Vasilisa Zeta. Incidentally, while Shizu and Entoma had other private rooms besides the 9th Floor, it was not uncommon for them to stay with Solution or Yuri because sleeping alone was boring.

Yuri leaned against the stylish sofa and consciously tried to avoid looking anxious — though because she was undead, her anxiety had never been that strong to begin with.

This is bad… there isn’t any more work… what should I do now…

Her sole task today was the education of Tsuare, which she had just completed.

She flipped through her planner, but there was nothing else scheduled for her. Naturally, she had not specially arranged things to be that way. In other words, what awaited her over the next few hours would be hellish boredom.

It was not that today’s schedule was particularly light, hence the free time. Rather, to Yuri Alpha the Battle Maid, she had always had long stretches when she had nothing to do.

No, saying that she had nothing to do would be wrong.

To the Battle Maids of the 9th Floor, who had been created to defend the 10th Floor of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, patrolling and preparing to respond to intruders at any time was fulfilling the core purpose which their creators had intended for them.

However—

There was nobody in this world who could possibly reach this Floor.

Indeed, even when beings on par with the Supreme Beings had assailed this place in their hordes, they could not breach this holiest of holy sanctuaries. This invincible fortress of all invincible fortresses. Standing watch here was no different from doing nothing.

In all honesty, Yuri was somewhat displeased with her present circumstances.

Too much free — no, too much standby time is a little… I want to have more work.

Of all the tasks assigned to the Battle Maids, the ones which took the longest to carry out and which felt the most fulfilling were duties in the log cabin on the surface. However, due to the rotation of their shifts — it was Entoma’s turn today — they would not come around that frequently. Yuri had just completed her shift two days ago, so she would have to wait for two more people to go — two people had not been assigned this duty — before it would be her turn again.

Therefore, in order to make use of all this time, Yuri had been looking for extra things to do, but regretfully she had not found anything like that on the 9th Floor.

For instance, whether or not she could stand guard along the hallways. The problem was that hallway security was now handled by Cocytus’ personal vassals. If she did so, it might be taken as mistrusting Cocytus’ subordinates. That would be indirectly insulting Cocytus.

She knew this was just a selfish impulse of hers, but her body told her that it wanted to work hard and throw off a spray of sweat — even though the undead did not sweat.

Is there really nothing to do… I’m envious of the regular maids…

Since she did not have anything to do in terms of her primary vocation of “battle”, then she would just have to perform her secondary tasks as a “maid”.

However, if she did that, it would lead to a fatal problem.

In Nazarick, there were beings known as the regular maids, in addition to the Battle Maids.

To them, the work of a maid was their primary vocation. Such tasks were their "primary" vocation. Therefore, it would be strange to arrange for such work if it did not revolve around them. If anyone asked why, the simple and natural answer would be because the Supreme Beings had arranged it in that way.

In other words, even if Yuri found work which could be done, it was very likely that it had already been assigned to someone else. In contrast, if it had not been assigned to someone else, then there was probably some special reason behind that.

With those reasons in mind, if Yuri performed those tasks, she would be taking their jobs. Of course they would not show their displeasure if Yuri had actually done that. But when Yuri put herself in their shoes and thought about how it would feel to have someone take her work away, she no longer wished to do so.

Yuri once more thought about the two people in confinement.

If laboring to one’s last breath for Nazarick was the greatest joy imaginable, then betraying them was the most horrific torture. It was deeply ironic that she, as a free person, could understand the sentiments of those two people so well.

“Haa…”

From deep within herself, Yuri exhaled the dissatisfaction which filled her.

— Crunch crunch.

“Oh, what’s wrong, Yuri-nee? Stomachache?”

The person addressing her in such a casual tone was one of her sisters, Lupusregina Beta.

She had the same smile she always had, but the fact that she had asked that question while knowing full well she was undead was clearly to tease her.

Yuri narrowed her eyes and glared back.

And in the face of that innocent, pure-hearted smile, she sighed again.

“Uwah~ sighing when you see your little sister’s cute face is so mean~”

“I do envy you…”

One could almost see the question mark appear on top of Lupusregina’s head.

The reason why Yuri envied her was not for her happy-go-lucky personality, but for her area of responsibility.

Lupusregina was one of the busier Battle Maids. Her job was to defend Carne Village — although she felt that the word “village” could no longer be used to describe something of that scale — and maintain its security. More precisely, her purpose was to observe and remain alert while preventing the leakage of the technologies developed within the village, among other colorful tasks.

I’m sure she finds her job very meaningful.

Yuri’s gaze then turned to another one of her sisters, who had been entrusted with an equally meaningful task.

Her little sister had her mouth half-open — Narberal Gamma.

She had been sitting motionlessly on the sofa since just now, her mouth half-open as she looked into the air. Her typically energetic ponytail drooped lifelessly.

— Crunch crunch.

“Nar-chan, what’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing, just spacing out, I think.”

The two of them were talking, but Narberal’s eyes were still fixed in space, making people think that something was there.

Yuri’s eyelashes twitched.

As a Battle Maid, one ought to behave accordingly, even in the privacy of their own room. However, before Yuri could say anything, Lupusregina spoke up first.

“Well, it can’t be helped. She’s resting, after all.”

“Was she like this in the past?”

“Nar-chan’s security for Ainz-sama, after all. When she’s outside, she can’t let Ainz-sama see anyone being rude, she has to decide whether or not to immediately kill anyone who’s rude to Ainz-sama, and then she has to focus herself to stay on alert for the enemy, so wouldn’t that put her nerves on edge? It’s only when she’s in a safe space that she can unwind, so it can’t be helped. Also, a face like that might be pretty normal for her species.”

She thought about the face of the Treasury’s Area Guardian. Indeed, her face seemed to resemble his.

Yuri cast out the mental image of the their two faces overlapping.

Speaking of which, if I say that Narberal’s attitude isn’t fitting of a Battle Maid, then isn’t the way I keep sighing even less fitting? I can’t do that.

Sebas had said before that “One who stands above others must be an example for their lessers”. As their big sister, and as their assistant leader, she had to project an image that could serve as a role model for her little sisters.

Since the Supreme Beings had made Yuri as the eldest of the sisters, then Yuri had an obligation to play the role of the eldest sister to the hilt. That would be a combination of her loyalty to and repaying the kindness of her creator, Yamaiko.

However — how should she do it?

— Crunch crunch.

“Yuri-nee, you’ve been looking pretty suspicious since just now. What’re you doing?”

After pondering whether or not to give an honest answer, she decided to use Lupusregina’s question to speak her mind. She would have Lupusregina lend her a hand… or a paw, as it were.

“…I have no tasks to perform.”

“Ahh~”

Lupusregina looked at Yuri like she was gazing upon a starving refugee from afar.

Her eyebrows twitched, but she powered through the impulse. She was a person who worked at the behest of the Supreme Beings. Her currently unoccupied self could not hope to compare. She had to know her place.

“Yuri-nee, didn’t you go to the Treasury with Ainz-sama?”

“…Just once.”

“After that?”

“…Not at all.:

“Ah~”

Lupusregina cast her eyes to the air. Strangely enough, it seemed to be the same place where Narberal was looking..

Hm hm… Is it something which people who aren’t working can’t see…?

— Crunch crunch.

“…So what have you been eating since just now?”

“Oh, these? You slice potatoes thinly, then fry them, and then you sprinkle salt on them. I had the head chef make them — they’re delicious.”

Lupusregina pulled out several thin potato slices, delivered them to her mouth, and then ate them.

Crunch crunch.

They made a crisp, lively sound.

No, in truth she already knew what Lupusregina was eating. Yuri could not consume food, but she could prepare it. Her skills were simple and could not produce special effects from special ingredients, but when it came to regular dishes, she could make just about anything.

Then why had she asked that question out loud—

“—Eating while standing is hardly graceful, and the crumbs are falling everywhere. Remember to clean up afterwards.”

The regular maids did not clean this room. Instead, Yuri and the others took turns to clean it. That said, it was fundamentally Yuri cleaning up for the other two while they were out to work. The reason why they did not let the regular maids in here was not so much that they did not want to let their jobs be taken, but more that their pride refused to allow them to let others clean up their own messes.

Thus, ordering the person who had clearly dirtied the room to clean it up was only to be expected. Even if that person was under the orders of the Supreme Being and led a busy life every day.

In addition, having someone eat something which went crunch crunch while she was feeling frustrated made Yuri angry, as though she was being looked down upon.

This was her complaint against Lupusregina, who had made an undead being like herself feel that way.

“Okie ~su”

— Crunch crunch.

Irritation flooded Yuri’s heart.

— Should I throw a silver knife at her?

Lupusregina was a Werewolf, and while she was weak against silver and similar metals, she possessed a resistance to other metals as well.

For instance, a silver weapon would increase its damage done to her by 25 points, while weapons of other metals would do 10 points less damage. The final damage was calculated after subtracting defensive strength and the like, so if that value was zero, even a silver weapon would not be able to do her harm. Since it was only a silver dagger, a light throw would not cause any damage to her.

However, silver was the metal which Lupusregina hated the most. Just touching it disgusted her. One could say it was the best metal to punish her with.

Perhaps she had used her skill [Animal Instinct] to sense Yuri’s thoughts, but Lupusregina hastily spoke up.

“H-hang on! Come on, give me a break while we’re off-duty. I’ll speak properly in front of Ainz-sama and stuff, I’m a capable woman, you know.”

A capable woman. Yuri was about to furrow her brows when she heard that, but then she thought that Lupusregina was working harder than her, so she could not say anything.

I want to work too… No, Yuri. How can you be jealous of this girl?

Yuri beat back the Dark Yuri within her heart. Then, she felt something connecting at the same moment as she heard a voice.

『—Yuri Alpha.』

Nobody in Nazarick could possibly mistake the owner of that voice for any other.

“A-Ainz-sama!”

Yuri genuflected in the appropriate posture of greeting.

Of course, her Master was not here and he was probably not watching. However, she could not show any disrespect to her Master’s voice.

『…I have a request for you. Come to my room… ahem, my room in Nazarick.』

“A request for me?!” Her absolute Master had no need to ask Yuri Alpha for anything. All he had to do was give an order. “I will proceed there at once!”

『—Umu. And hurry.』

After saying so, the [Message] ended.

“Was that from Ainz-sama?”

“Yes, he said he had a request for me.”

The tension and passion she was feeling was so surprising that it made her face stiffen up.

As an undead being, her strong emotions should have been suppressed, but the enthusiasm kept welling up inside her.

Right now, she was like Shalltear.

For some reason, she felt excited despite being undead. While that might have been because of a status abnormality like [Blood Frenzy], she could not conclude that was the case.

Even the undead could be divided into those who could express strong emotions and those who could not. In order to ascertain this, the Guardian Overseer Albedo had taken it upon herself (apparently) to experimentally investigate the matter.

She gathered high-end undead mercenary monsters, undead created by the Supreme One’s skills, as well as automatically spawned lesser undead generated by Nazarick in order to collect various data from all of them. Yuri had taken part in that exercise as well.

However, these experiments had begun with a special experiment just for Shalltear, and it sparked a great uproar between Albedo and Shalltear that soon spiralled out of control. In the end, the experiment was terminated with no definite findings. After that, she had been interested in hearing about the results of the research as an experimental participant herself. It would seem that difficult to draw a conclusion due to the lack of information on the superior undead beings in this world, so the plan had been temporarily put on hold, according to Albedo — who had been punished to do cleaning with a mop.

Yuri vaguely recalled Demiurge saying that if that research had been conducted in a different place, perhaps it might allow the undead to feel strong emotions.

At that time, would she be able to express her emotions more fully?

And would that be a good thing?

She did not know if the upwelling within her was one of unease or anticipation, but Yuri locked away her personal thoughts on the matter. She would be appearing before the Supreme One soon, and she had to focus herself.

“—Then I’ll be off. I don’t think anything will happen, but please take care of things if they do.”

“Ok-”

“I understand. Take care, Yuri-neesama.”

Narberal interrupted Lupusregina just as she was about to raise a thumb that was oily from her potato chips.

The relaxed mood around her up till now had vanished.

Narberal had her usual faint smile on her. Her ponytail was still drooping slightly, but one could say it was the same as always. Time spent with the Supreme One was special.

“Hey hey, she was saying that to me!”

Ignoring the voice of her little sister from behind, Yuri set forth.

There was no special meaning to that.

She had been summoned by the Supreme One, so spending even a second extra in conversation with her sisters was a waste. It was most definitely not because her sister’s smile had angered her.