Chapter Text
Two Years Later -
Tanya was confused. Actually, that was putting it lightly. She was completely dumbfounded.
From her first day in this place, she didn’t understand what was going on. The front had been guarded by the undead that made up the Sorcerer Kingdom’s army, but the staff and kids that joined later on had consisted almost entirely of normal citizens. They were different races, sure, but for the most part, everyone was a normal humanoid or demihuman who was brought under Ainz Ooal Gown’s flag for one reason or another. In fact, it turned out that most of the caretakers used to be wives and mothers, now widows and bereaved, usually because of the massacre that Ainz had performed at the Katze Plains years ago.
She had only been able to confirm that the two headmasters were placed here by order of the government, and they served interesting roles. The first one that she had met, Pestonya, was kind but strict. She ensured that everything was running smoothly and that the orphans were in line. Her standards were honestly quite high and demanding, but that meant very little to Tanya as she had already planned to excel in all fields to stand out. Pestonya was here to make sure that everything was moving along well, and Tanya was more than happy to display excellence to her.
As for the other headmaster, Nigredo, who she later found out was the faceless woman who had nearly strangled her to death on the first night, Tanya had mixed feelings. On one hand, she couldn’t stomach looking up at her for too long. On the other hand, she completely let her off the hook for what happened on the first night, and she was unequivocally the most caring person there. Of course, it was hard for her to be when everyone’s immediate instincts were to run away from her, but she never stopped being kind. She was always the first to try to help out one of the kids or let them have fun. It was a very confusing juxtaposition against her horrifying appearance, but most of the kids who had been around for a while got used to her and started to trust her.
Tanya guessed that this was Nigredo’s purpose. She was here to desensitize everyone, show them that even a heteromorph could be good. And for the most part, it had been working, as Tanya noticed that the kids in the orphanage gave less worried glances towards the monsters that roamed the streets than normal passersby. However, Tanya herself couldn’t really break down the barrier of trust between them. She had seen what the thing was actually capable of, and so it was like having to meet with a predator every time they were in the same room. She obviously didn’t show her fear and was polite to Nigredo, after all, she had similar feelings to some of her bosses from her previous life who could ruin her career with the flick of a pen, but she never felt such a primal urge to run as she does when she is close to her.
But still, there was even more she did not get. Especially things like the curriculum. There was the stuff she did expect, like basic math, which she got her own class for, thanks to already having learned it. Reading and writing were also things that she quickly caught onto, likely helped by her spending most of her free time in the library. However, the physical education course was strange as it seemed like she was the only one who was mandated to take it every day. There were others, like Grantz and Rhiner, who joined her almost every day(partially because she forces them to), but others, like Weiss, had to only attend every so often to keep in shape. When Tanya tried to avoid it, she would get a very stern warning from Pestonya about ‘not falling behind.’ It seemed like she was the only one who would get punished for missing a day, and Tanya wondered why that was.
Although that wasn’t even the strangest class she had, as all of her preconceived notions of what her magic class would be like were thrown out the window. When she learned magic before from the priest, it had been more so about the feeling of wielding mana rather than a concrete format of how to perform spells. However, here she was taught by Iguva 62, who was practically her personal teacher since nobody else at the orphanage was anywhere near her magical level, as she had just begun to scrape into the 4th tier of magic. His approach was much more scientific and methodical, explaining mana in definite amounts called mana points or MP, and even getting into the specifics of how a spell functions, how it interacts with objects, and what its casting time was, as if it were a field of science.
It reminded Tanya of spell descriptions she used to see in games from her old life, and she was pretty sure that ‘MP’ was the exact phrase used to refer to how much a spell cost to cast in those games. It weirded Tanay out to no end, but more importantly, it was far easier and faster for her to grasp an understanding of. Where she had only known a few spells before, she was now capable of using well over a dozen; and efficiently as well, as she wasn’t just taught how to cast a spell, but how to do so in combat. She was constantly running combat simulations with Iguva and Death Knights, gaining very realistic combat experience as the undead were not afraid to hurt her and send her straight to the infirmary. In fact, it happened so often that she was by far and away the most frequent patient of the medbay, to the point where the doctor was getting annoyed at her for being hurt so much.
Of course, the unmitigated violence that they were willing to perform on her hadn’t been entirely surprising to her, but what was was the level of magic that they were just casually teaching her. They had already taught her up to the fourth tier of magic, and Iguva had told her that soon she would be receiving a new instructor who would be better suited for teaching her the fifth tier of magic. The lich had dropped that line so casually that Tanya had to do a double-take when hearing it. According to everyone she had asked who didn’t work directly for the Sorcerer Kingdom, the teaching of 5th-tier magic and usually even 4th-tier magic was limited to those who were a part of a guild or country to ensure only people who were loyal to a cause got access to such powerful magics. It was unheard of for a random child to be taught anything even close to that level.
This meant one of two things to Tanya. The first option was that Ainz Ooal Gown was an idiot. This was not an option. The geopolitics of the human nations had actually seemed rather stagnant before the Sorcerer Kingdom showed up. The Re-Estize Kingdom and the Baharuth Empire would push and pull against each other with neither overpowering the other, The Roble Holy Kingdom was preoccupied by its own problems, and the Slane Theocracy was off doing… she wasn’t actually sure what the Theocracy was or is doing, but it wasn’t changing the landscape drastically.
Then came the Sorcerer King, and in just two years, the lines on the map became unrecognizable. Almost immediately after showing up, the Empire had fallen under its control and became a vassal. Then, the Roble Holy Kingdom was decimated and saved by Ainz Ooal Gown himself, causing their country to fall into disarray and for what was practically a cult worshipping the undead spellcaster to become a major political party in their nation. Then, most recently, the Re-Estize Kingdom stopped existing, razed to the ground by the Sorcerer King’s army.
All of this was unthinkable just a few years ago, but it had all happened. And it happened because of that man. It was not just improbable that he relied on dumb luck; it was impossible. Everything that skeletal ruler did was meticulous beyond approach. He was not an idiot.
That just left Tanya with the second option, and she did not like it. The second option was that someone in high standing had set their sights on her, and she didn’t know who. She couldn’t confidently claim that she had the attention of the king himself, but it was likely someone close to him. Which was strange, since the person closest to the king that she had personally met was Pestonya, and it seems like she just used to be his maid. Tanya wasn’t sure if such a position would hold much sway in the Sorcerer Kingdom, but it was the best idea she had so far. It would also explain why Pestonya was pushing her so hard, as she was investing a lot into her.
But even all that wasn’t the strangest part. No, the strangest thing that had been going on was the ‘experiments.’ Every now and then, a ‘researcher’ would come to visit the orphanage and perform some tests on the children. More specifically, they would perform tests on Tanya. Sometimes, on rare occasions, they utilized the others, but every time, without fail, they had Tanya perform in the experiments.
The researchers told her it was because she had something called a ‘Talent,’ which they wanted to learn more about. Normally, that was fine as they usually made her push her limits by using her Talent, but some of them…
Some of them she had no recollection of happening. She would just wake up after a while, and each and every time she did, she had a deep sense of dread crawling up her back. She doesn’t know what happens during the tests that she doesn’t remember, but she does know that she hates them.
The normal tests were basically nothing to her; the forgotten ones genuinely frightened her.
-
Good, it's a normal one.
Tanya didn’t realize that a small smile of relief formed on her lips as she sucked in air for her heaving chest. She was standing alone in a room, her hands resting on a dark orb that sat upon a table in front of her. She was allowed a moment of rest before a voice filled the room, sounding like it was coming from through one of the walls.
“Very good, Tanya. Please do one more attempt, and then we will be done for today.” Tanya closed her eyes and took a deep breath. After she released it, her eyes shot open, staring with determination toward the orb. “Understood. Commencing trial number 6,” she responded in a strict voice. After gathering herself, she once again closed her eyes and spoke.
However, this time her voice was different. It was softer, less professional. “May your light guide me down the path that you have chosen for me. May my soul be molded by your divine hand.” As she chanted, a glow began to form in the palms of her hands, and her eyelids began to scrunch up in concentration. “May my fate be yours to decide. [Holy Aura].”
She opened her eyes as she casted the spell, and her irises had turned to a golden hue while she looked on with conviction. The light in her hand exploded in brightness and remained steady, dispelling any shadows that lingered in the room. At the same time, the dark orb that she was holding onto appeared to activate, and it emitted a pitch-black aura in a radius around itself. The radiant light from her hands clashed with the consuming darkness coming from the orb. The two emissions seemed to fight each other for dominance over one another. This battle lasted for less than a second, and Tanya’s spell soon overpowered the orb, bathing the room once more in a calming yellow glow.
Tanya sustained the light for several more seconds before pulling her hand off the sphere, the light in her palms dissipating along with the dark aura coming from the orb. Once the lighting in the room had returned to normal, Tanya seemed to snap out of her concentration. She shook her head, and a sneer appeared on her face. Damn Being X. This is too petty, even for you.
That night when Being X had talked to her, he had apparently been very literal in his meaning. He gave her a ‘Talent,’ which the people of this world equated to a blessing from God, and which she equated to a curse. The Talent that she was given was apparently the ability to increase her total MP, spell strength, and mana regeneration with what others told her was ‘practically no cost at all.’
But to her, it was a horrible cost. Each and every time she wanted to cast a spell at the highest level that she could, she needed to pray. She needed to give honest devotion specifically to the one she knew as Being X, although she couldn’t even use that name for the prayer. It made her stomach turn every time she did it. It made her feel like she was forced to compliment the emperor’s new clothes each and every time she wanted to survive.
“Excellent! You can leave the testing room now,” the voice told her through the wall. Her knees buckled slightly as she attempted to move towards the door, and she needed to catch herself with the table in order to not collapse from exhaustion. Despite the buffs and extra mana she got from her Talent, she was still more than susceptible to fatigue, and so casting too many high-level spells in a short period of time would still take a toll on her. She knelt for a moment before finding the strength to once again stand and walk, although she did so with a slight limp.
Pushing the door open, Tanya was greeted by one of the bright hallways in the orphanage, its ornate and intricate design a sharp contrast to the grey and bare room she was just in. Closing the door behind her, she noticed a strange man approaching her. “So, what were the results, Mr. Pulcinella?”
The man was short, only a little bit taller than Tanya herself, and quite a bit on the heavier side. He was draped in a large white garment, with his arms and legs wrapped in pristine white bandages and with many medical instruments scattered across his person. His face was covered by what looked to be a cross between a gas mask and a plague doctor’s mask that was bound by a picture frame over his head, with two long tubes hanging from the cheeks of the mask that were seemingly connected to nothing. Tanya would have almost been willing to write the man off as a human in a strange Halloween costume if it weren’t for his bare hands and feet that revealed his tight, deep blue skin.
This person was Pulcinella. He was the primary researcher who conducted the experiments that she was a part of, and he was rather interesting. He seemed nice enough as he was always cheery and excited, but some felt off about him. Every time Tanya interacted with him, she was convinced that he had a few screws loose and that the man's kind exterior might not be entirely accurate to what he was thinking on the inside.
“They were fascinating!” Pulcinella told her, his voice as loud and chipper as it usually was. “As expected, your pool of mana has increased since we last tested it, along with your stamina and output. While that was expected, it appears that you are also now casting those spells at a higher level! That orb in there had a 5th-tier magic nullification effect, the very same one you could not overcome last time. But now, you were able to resist its effects within all 6 trials! Your Talent seems to be growing ever stronger. Isn’t that joyous?”
Tanya let out a small, unsteady laugh through what was a very real smile. “Yes, it is. I’m glad to hear that.” This was the off-putting part that Tanya disliked about Pulcinella. He was always obsessed with her or somebody else's happiness. That might sound like a good thing, but he took it to a creepy degree, not ceasing to bother you until you showed him signs of being content.
“As you should be! Whatever God it is that you are praying to must be smiling upon you. I can only imagine it must feel like to you what it feels like to me when my lord smiles upon me. Truly, we are so lucky, are we not?”
Tanya’s smile tensed at the comment. “Yes, truly. If that is all, I would like to prepare for the physical training that I have after this. Is that ok with you?”
Pulcinella gave her a wave as he looked down at some sheets of paper he had been carrying. “Of course. Please enjoy the rest of the day. I will need to pore over the results of today's tests.”
With a curt 'thank you,’ Tanya took her leave, making her way through the halls that she was familiar with now in order to reach her room. She was quick to change into more leisurely clothing that were a better fit for physical activities than the normal dress code. Afterwards, she headed straight to the courtyard, taking in a deep breath as she exited the building. It truly was a nice day, with the sun high in the sky and a cool breeze drifting through the open air. Against the large tree in the corner and under its shade lay Rhiner and Grantz, with the latter giving a small laugh at something funny the other had said. In the center of the courtyard stood two people, both of whom were evidently not human.
One of them was Weiss, the dog man taking a deep bow to touch his palms to the ground in order to stretch. The other seemed to be a mix of a few things, from a wolf and a human to even a mole. It was bipedal and covered in fur, with a very lean and tall body. Even their head seemed to be overly thin and tall, as their snout was long and narrow like a Borzoi dog. The man had told them that he was from the Quagoa race, but Tanya still wasn’t entirely sure what that entailed. Regardless, the demi-human had been the only person to show up to all of the training sessions of his own free will, so he had gotten along with Tanya and the others.
The Quagoa was stretching with Weiss, corkscrewing his body when he noticed Tanya exit the building. He gave her a wave and a greeting, alerting everybody else to her presence. “Good morning, Tanya. I saw you leave the dining hall this morning with Pulcinella. Another test?”
“Afraid so, Wili,” she responded, walking over to stand by them in the middle of the grass. “Thankfully, it wasn’t a bad one, so I’ll be fine.”
Weiss jumped in, hearing that. “Regardless, he probably drained all of your mana. Every single time, I am amazed that you are even able to stand after those tests. I mean, when I had to perform his tests, I practically had to go into a coma for the rest of the week.” He let out a small laugh, and Tanya allowed herself to feel a bit proud as she gave him a smug grin.
“It is evidently because of my skill and tenacity, two traits you all seem to not have in combination.”
Wili let out a snicker at that. “I think it has more to do with your God-given Talent, but sure, let's go with that.” While Weiss laughed in agreement with the Quagoa, Tanya’s smile turned sharp and tight, and she bit down hard enough on her cheek to almost make herself bleed. She knew that it was likely due to confirmation bias, but she kept on noticing that ever since the incident in the church, people had started to talk more and more about a singular god when around her. Again, she thought that it was just a coincidence with everyone praising Ainz Ooal Gown as a lone god, but it frustrated her every time.
“Perhaps. But shouldn’t we all be preparing for our training?” Her question was accompanied by a glare towards the two under the tree, and Rhiner responded with a faux salute.
“Sir, yes, sir,” he said in a voice dripping with just a bit too much sarcasm for Tanya’s liking. Regardless, the two boys got up and joined the others in stretching. As they talked and joked with each other, Tanya let their voices sink into the background as she began to stretch her arms out. They prepared for a while until the door from the church opened and two people entered the courtyard, one of them speaking with a hefty and chuckling voice.
“-of course, my brother isn’t one to just quit, so he jumped into the water to fight the toad man for his net!” The man let out a boisterous laugh at his own story, and it caught the attention of everyone. The man’s back and head were covered with dark green scales, while his belly and underside had beige leather for skin. He wore very little clothing; although, there didn’t appear to be anything that needed to be concealed. He only had a sash around his chest and waist that held a large and well-worn great sword to his back. Next to him, a dog-headed maid politely shook her head.
“Zaryusu should really stop getting himself into trouble. You should tell him to be safer. He is a father now, after all.-wan.”
“I’ll tell him you said that, but I don’t think he will listen.”
Pestonya hummed in response before gesturing with a nod towards the group of five that had lined up in the center of the field. “Anyways, we have arrived. I believe your students are ready to begin.-wan.”
The Lizardman nodded and looked over everyone who was present. “Seems so. Looks like we have our normal lineup today. And you are all punctual, as usual.”
“You could make it easier for us, Shasuryu,” Rhiner called out as he finished a deep stretch. “We start so early and go on for so long.”
“What good warrior ever asked for things to be easier?” Shasuryu asked as he puffed out his chest and crossed his arms. “You should be asking me to make it harder on you to train you up better!”
“As in 10 laps harder, Mr. Shasha?” Tanya ‘innocently’ suggested with a villainous and knowing smile.
The Lizardman nodded her way. “Exactly! In fact, great idea, Tanya. Everybody, you heard her. We’ll start with ten extra laps today. Get to it!” He got a mix of groans and enthusiastic responses as the group of five moved to the edge of the grass to begin their laps. Tanya quickly pulled out in front, setting a pace that everybody else felt was just a bit too high, but they kept up with her anyways.