Chapter Text
It was a classroom. Simple as that. One that several people in the room had been in many times before, spending large portions of their lives stuck inside it, glancing out the window and doodling on their papers to escape the insatiable boredom of being at school. Well, in reality, only two such people were here at the moment.
Subaru and Kazuma were both originally from earth, where they acted as mere students. That had been their way of life. To say they missed it would have been an overstatement for almost any teen of their age, but in their particular cases, they had missed it as a man in a desert missed the rain. Simply put, they were so inexorably exhausted by their tumultuous otherworldly lives that the return to basics of high school was gracefully welcomed. Sort of. It was certainly better than fighting for their lives every day, but to call it good might be a bit optimistic. After all, they weren’t alone in the classroom.
They were joined by many people who had never stepped foot inside one of these classrooms. Most of these had simply never been to Earth, much less Japan, but one of these members stood out.
Ainz Ooal Gown, earlier known as Momonga, and even before that being called Suzuki. He had never passed middle school, somehow being able to make it through life as a salesman despite only ever graduating elementary school. Even then, nobody would question his place in the classroom. He did well in his classes and, despite having the face of an evil skeleton, was typically well-liked. Especially so by his loyal subjects.
These had arrived with him upon appearing in this Japanesque world. Contrary to common belief, they were not at all upset about being transferred to a different dimension, instead being happy to follow their overlord and master. That was simply how it was.
Another person that might have recognized the classroom would have been Tanya, had she not graduated from a school many many years in the future. Hence, this was unknown to her and the personnel that obeyed her.
At this moment, all these people were sat in their seats, watching with everything from complete interest to total boredom how their so-called teacher explained how best to work up a dust cloud for dramatic effect. This man was Roswald, and he was appropriately dressed as a clown.
With the teacher talking smoothly about the intricacies of the subject, few things could have roused the students from their interest/daydreaming apart from the bell. However, what caused such a disturbance at this moment was nothing so trivial as a bell or the chime of a clock. No, it was merely the ding-dong of what almost sounded like an elevator arriving. All students present, including their teacher, fell quiet. Alarm raised, their eyes turned to look at each other, quickly understanding shock, disquiet, hesitation and fear in them. This was a natural reaction, considering that the last time they had heard such a sound, they had been sent to this world to “live a happy school life.” And now, they heard it again.
For a moment, not a single person did a thing. Some expected the world to twist around them, returning them to their own world as abruptly as they had been transported to this one. Others expected far grimmer fates. Not a single person accepted the actual effect to be what it was.
“Eeeek!” Aqua squealed in her seat, and by the time everyone had turned to look at her, she was gone. Left was a ripple in time and space, without a single hint of where she had gone or what had happened.
“Uh... Aqua?” Kazuma asked the air, prodding at her empty chair with his foot. No reaction. Something had definitely happened to her, and considering her reaction, it was nothing pleasant or wanted.
In turn, people began to look at others as though expecting themselves or their comrades to vanish in a similar ripple, though no such thing happened. Instead, the resounding silence gave way for a sound none had heard in several weeks or more. Traffic. That, and people. In the quiet of the classroom, usually filled with the teacher’s voice and nothing more, they could suddenly hear the sounds of activity from the city around them. Technically, this shouldn’t have been anything strange. As far as Kazuma and Subaru could remember, they were indeed in Tokyo. However, that wasn’t the reason that this was strange.
It was because in the weeks they had been there, there hadn’t been a single person apart from them in this city; nay, in this world. The people running the stores were people from their former worlds. The houses were all empty, their only residents being the transported students and teachers. No traffic ran and no planes flew above. Apart from the three classes hosted in the school, no other people visited. This world was one occupied by them and them alone.
However, the traffic outside proved otherwise. Slowly, the students turned to gaze wide-eyed out of the window.
Streaks of plane-made clouds crisscrossed across the busy sky. Cars honked angrily at others and just outside the school, various pedestrians walked by, seemingly chit-chatting among themselves as though all was normal. Then again, to them, it was surely any other day.
But for the students of class B, this was anything but normal.
A few of its more quick-witted members turned to look at their acting teacher, Roswald, whose face was somehow a shade paler than usual, his pupils trembling in his sockets. “Th-, this is…” Then, as soon as the words tumbled from his lips, it was as though he caught himself, righted where he stood and turned to look at the class, an exasperated, mildly amazed expression on his painted face. “My, my… What have I been doing until now, I wonder~?” he asked no one in particular, a hint of a smile trying feebidly to hide his rising hysteria.
Indeed, as everyone sat in their appointed seats, a similar question found itself into their minds as well.
What have I been doing here?
Tanya was a proud member of the Empire. To stoop so low as to submit herself to the schooling of some clown is next to preposterous.
Beatrice is far from a child, never even having been needed any education, especially not of this sort. How could she allow herself to parade with these people as though this situation was in any way regular?
Albedo, nay, all of the floor guardians of Nazarick are not so easily tamed as to allow a mere human to attempt to rule them. Although their master, Ainz, may have ruled it so, for them to simply mingle with the pathetic humans that comprise the ranks of this student body was silly, bordering on disgraceful.
Something had happened. It was as though a curtain had been raised on the class, drawing to a close the easy-going student life they had been eagerly participating in until now. A change had been made. The world they inhabited had shattered, leaving the entire class in a state of disarray.
As thoughts of panic and confusion whirled through the minds of all gathered, one exalted individual stood from his chair, the aura of a ruler roiling over him in a way completely unlike before. When those he had come to know as almost friends now turned to look at him, what they saw was not merely a spooky scary skeleton, but indeed an Overlord of Death, a god of demise so above them that few could contain their thoughts of despair. Completely disconnected from their previous sense of knowing him almost as a friend, they now blanched in hidden terror, not allowing their faces and body to betray their inner turmoil.
“I believe we have all noticed that something has irrevocably changed. Teacher… No, Roswald, how do you feel?” Ainz Ooal Gown asked.
Their formed teacher straightened slightly, his body coiling invisibly. “Indeed, it is as you say. I believe I may have not quite acted as myself for quite some time~.”
Ainz nodded. Although he couldn’t view himself from an outside lens, he, too, felt marginally changed. It wasn’t that he had become stronger, rather, it was as though some strength that had been sapped from him was returned in full. His mind calmed, the gentle feelings of belonging that had built over the past weeks crumbling almost into nothingness. He felt the changes with distanced interest, as though watching a Jenga game collapse without being invested in any of the players. “How does everyone else feel?”
For a moment, not a single person dared answer his questions, his mere presence choking the air from their lungs. In the end, one person spoke: “Betty also feels a bit different. Something might have been done to us before, I suppose. Something to make us act unlike our old selves, perhaps.”
The remaining students watched her in quiet agreement. Though, most didn’t feel all that different. In truth, only those whose personalities contrasted sharply with the task of becoming students had been all that changed. The rest were mainly made not to question the situation to begin with.
Subaru nervously raised his hand, a wry smile on his lips. “Um, are we even going to talk about how there are, like, people outside? I’m not the only one who noticed, right?”
Kazuma nodded in agreement. “Yeah, yeah. That’s totally weird.”
“All things considered,” Tanya said, shooting suspicious glances at all those around her. “It seems as though the influence of whoever wanted to keep us here has been lifted.” In her mind, a thousand thought all raced for the finish line. Could it be Being X? He had to be the only one capable of cancelling the might of a creature powerful enough to kidnap so many people and keep them under their control for so long. “That said, I doubt it makes our task of returning home any easier.”
Glances were exchanged, some hopeful, some desolate.
“Well, I’m already home, so I don’t really care,” Kazuma said, throwing his feet on top of his desk.
Subaru seemed to find personal ire in the careless attitude of his fellow transporter. “Hey, what about all the people who came here with you?! Are you just going to throw them to the side?”
Kazuma merely shrugged, in a “who gives a shit?” movement.
“Ah, to be tossed to the roadside as mere trash, how degrading~” Darkness moaned beside Kazuma, who immediately shuddered.
“Yeah, uh, I wouldn’t worry about her, I’m sure she can find tons of men interested in giving her a lashing,” Kazuma said dismissively. Though, even then, it wasn’t as though Megumin had anywhere to go, so really the argument was moot.
As people turned back to glance at each other, Darkness began going on a long, near ecstatic tirade about just the horrible things that various men could do to her. Then, just as people were beginning to grow too embarrassed to let her continue, the door burst open, revealing a creature clad in WWII-style military clothing along a face seemingly imitating the iconic face from The Screamer . The doppelganger panted, took one look at the room and then ran inside before promptly falling on his knees before Ainz.
“A-, Ainz-sama! My great and venerable father, I have none - kein ! - excuses for my acting! To think that I would assume a position as superior over the Supreme One…!! Ainz-sama, my father, I shall accept any punishment! Would you rather I kill myself here or elsewhere?”
Ainz dismissed the situation with enough coolness that one might assume he had experienced similar situations a few times too many. “Ah, no, that’s alright, Pandora’s Actor. You acted based on the influence of a third party - you have done nothing wrong.”
Pandora’s Actor clenched his fists, head lowered deeply in shame. “Still, still! Ah, it is too much to bear!”
“...Very well. As punishment, you may begin explaining what you know about this place. Ah, speak clearly enough for all present to hear.”
Pandora’s Actor tilted his head. “Including the insignificant humans, Ainz-sama?”
Ainz halted himself before answering too quickly, taking the time to actually survey those around him. He trusted Tanya well enough, though he more so respected her for her similar situation as him. Kazuma and Subaru, however… Both of them and their associated groups he was more so uncertain about. Now that he truly considered it, would he want mere humans to learn about something that could benefit Ainz better if they perhaps didn’t know?
“...Indeed, speak so that they too might understand.” Consider it a favour or a gift for those he knew had been in a situation similar to his own. All things considered, the only person among them that he even considered to be even a little bit of a threat to Nazarick as a whole was Tanya, although of course, he did not know enough about the other students to make a confident statement. The only thing he could truly trust was their human emotions. If they trusted him, he might trust them a little in turn.
“Very well, Ainz-sama,” Pandora’s Actor said. “I appeared here a week or so before you arrived. I can’t remember much or even everything, but I do remember not feeling all too surprised, or even upset. If anything, it felt natural that I would act as a teacher, even if placing myself in a superior position to the great and venerable Ainz-sama, my own father, should have been unacceptable. Before I was allowed to act as a teacher, I was taught myself. No, not taught. I was made to hold books, and when I held them, it was as though something else spoke through me. I did not know what I spoke of but I knew the answers to any questions I was asked. Ah, a most strange situation indeed, and while under its spell, I had no questions or doubts!”
“What was this thing that controlled you?” Ainz asked.
“Forgive me, I do not know. It was powerful, that I know. None of us teachers truly understood our own actions.”
From across the room, Roswald piped in, “Indeed~, that is so~.”
Ainz nodded gravely. “I see. I believe I speak for all ‘students’ when I say that not only did we feel intrinsically compelled to act as students and mindlessly accept our situation, but so too did we feel a great need to follow the student rules.”
The students around him nodded.
“In other words, whatever brought us here and made us do all this stuff has vanished?” Subaru said, expressing the thoughts of all present. “Then… are we just normal people now?”
Tanya shook her head. “Nah, I can still feel magic within me.”
Ainz nodded in agreement. “Indeed, I feel nothing suggesting such a change. If anything, I feel stronger than before.”
Subaru seemed uncertain, as though he wasn’t sure if his own powers were working. Though, for now, he had more pressing matters to consider. “Then… What are we supposed to do?” Blank stares met him. “H-, hey, I’m just asking what we’re all wondering! There’s probably no way of going back to the worlds we came from now, and apart from me and Kazuma, it’s not like you guys have anywhere to go. For some of you, I don’t even think you could go out in public without being arrested or something…”
“Eh? What are you looking at me for?” Ainz asked. After a second, he coughed into his skeletal hand. “Ah, well, you do have a point. Without Nazarick…”
A cool voice spoke from behind him. “It’s a simple matter, Ainz-sama.” Ainz turned to look at Demiurge, whose face held his usual expression of obvious cunning. “We do what we always have.”
“Eh?” Ainz said, completely dumbfounded. Then, for once, realization dawned on him. “You mean… That thing ?”
“Indeed so, Ainz-sama.”
“You know, the thing?”
“Exactly so, Ainz-sama.”
“It’s that thing, then,” Ainz said, more resigned than anything. Because, for once, he knew exactly what that thing was.
World domination.
A goal he only recently learnt he had. A goal he didn’t actually seek, but one his subordinates had deemed him worthy of. A goal he now participated in only to fulfil the expectations of his dear subjects. Were they really going to try that in this world? No, everything considered, it might not be all that bad. Ainz might not know all too much about history or societal sciences, having never really learnt them, but he did know that the world would eventually be conquered by his current government anyways, so there wasn’t really any need to delay the matter.
Though.. wouldn’t it be kind of weird to rule his own world? Couldn’t that cause a butterfly effect thing where if he killed the wrong person, he himself didn’t end up being born?... Well, anything was possible, but at this very moment, did he have much of a choice?
Still, ruminating it on his own would do nothing good. He needed to hold a meeting with the followers currently with him. Nazarick as a whole might not be here, but with his loyal subjects, he likely wouldn’t be killed anytime soon. Assuming his classmates didn’t somehow end up being stronger than expected. That, in itself, was likely his largest problem at the moment. From what he had seen so far, the strongest magically capable people were Tanya and Megumin. However, they were only human. In the weeks he had known them, both he and his subjects had spent much time and effort to root out the strength and effects of their powers. There were incredibly few regular humans here.
But even then, there remained several uncertainties among them. As groups began muttering softly amongst themselves, Ainz let his mind return to when he had used the tenth-tiered spell Time Stop. Normally, not a single person would have been able to move, however, several people somehow ignored the effects. One such person was the Goddess Aqua, who has now disappeared. However, as silly as it might be, Ainz was more worried about Subaru. He knew the kind of strength Tanya hid and although it was quite strong it also wasn’t anything too worrying. Subaru, on the other hand…
His entire situation was a complete mystery. There was something about the way he acted, and it wasn’t just the strange curse that hung around his heart like some sort of malignant tumour. He was able to resist the effects of Time Stop. He seemed strangely resilient towards fear despite seemingly having had it the easiest of all of them. Normally, even a hardened warrior would feel some degree of visible fear upon viewing Ainz. In these people, that had mostly been expressed through wanting to fight him. Yet, with Subaru, it wasn’t quite so simple.
Ainz chanced a glance behind him, zeroing in on the location of Subaru. Two steely eyes looked back at him. Hm? Was he holding Puck in front of him? Strange action.
Looking around at the other people present, he could somehow tell that the effects of the curtain being raised had indeed made all the more aware of his strength. In the new world, few humans could look upon his bare face without losing all sense of hope. Now, the almost idyllic school life where people had interacted with him as though he was a human had been completely disregarded, exchanged with a world of mildly terrified stares, framed by rising paranoia.
Subaru, on the other hand, didn’t seem all too frightened in the least. If he did, then it was expertly hidden by an impenetrable wall of hardened will. Just that thought was enough to make Ainz’ opinion of Subaru rise just a tad above most humans.
As Ainz stood up from his seat, he felt how the calming effects of his undead condition washed over him, completely drowning out that little nagging voice in the back of his head that asked, why are you thinking about your classmates as though they were enemies ? After all, the idea that anyone outside of Nazarick could ever truly be his ally was preposterous and he should have learnt that by now. Hence, he needed to hold a meeting with the allies that he did have. A meeting he could not allow his so-called “classmates” to hear.
Standing up, he felt the eyes of the class and his own subjects fall upon him. Some frightened, some neutral, some curious. At the moment, they were all irrelevant. “Follow me, guardians of Nazarick.”
A chorus of “Yes, sir!” rang out from his subjects. As he left the classroom, they followed him, their eyes no longer holding any mirth whatsoever at the faces of their classmates. Each of them intrinsically understood that the time for playing games was now over and that pretending to be friends with these insects was a waste of time. The only one who so much as paused when the trail left was Mare, who bowed quickly and said, “B-, bye!” Though, within only a second, his collar was unceremoniously grabbed by his sister, who dragged him away while scolding him.
For one quiet minute, everybody left in the classroom just stared at the door. Former teacher and former students exchanged looks of worry.
“Uh, they aren’t going to do anything weird, right?” Kazuma asked the group as a whole.
Tanya leaned her upper body against her desk. “No, he’s not that stupid. Though, keeping his allies close isn’t a bad idea. Soldiers!”
“Yes!” Her similarly-dressed subordinates all stood and saluted at her command. In turn, she herself stood up.
“We shall discuss our next course of action in the cafeteria,” Tanya said both to her own soldiers and everyone else in the room, likely in order to inform them that they should stay away from the cafeteria at all costs. “Weise, inform our superiors to meet us there.” And after just a few seconds, this group had left as well. Leaving Subaru and Kazuma’s group alone in the classroom, which now almost felt empty.
“Man, everyone’s just leaving, huh?” Kazuma said with a half-depreciating smile on his face. Truth to be told, he was kind of in a state of mild terror.