Interlude: Sita (185) (Patreon)

What was the first thing any Servant who entered the service of Ainz had to do?

From Sita's point of view, the right thing to do was to find out exactly where, for what purpose, and under whose command she was supposed to be in.

And there was no better way to do this than to find out the answers to these questions from other Servants.

Of course, the right, and easiest way to accomplish her goals, was to simply ask her Master about her future mission – but that didn’t mean that he would necessarily answer it truthfully, especially when talking about someone like Ainz.

Not to mention an obscure evil deity like Ainz, but even a run-of-the-mill magus, would probably lie. After all, it is difficult to honestly answer a question like ‘how do you feel about your Servants’ or ‘are you a good person?’. It wouldn't even have been necessary to answer with outright lies to confuse Sita, simply answering obliquely was enough.

However, the moment Sita first took a step out of the room that she was assigned by the Director after her Master disappeared – a very obvious problem instantly arose before her.

To whom, exactly, could Sita turn with the many questions that plagued her?

With some, understandable, surprise, Sita had suddenly discovered that she was not her Master's only Servant. When she was first summoned, surrounded by so many other Servants, she had even thought that there were a lot of Masters in Chaldea. To not only find that there was only one, but that there were… more Servants than anyone had ever imagined came as a shock to her.

Several dozen, an astronomical amount, and they were all so different in character.

That was not the only shock she received, though. At first, she was worried about the amount of Mana that must have been expended just to keep so many Servants around, surely even an evil deity like Ainz couldn’t have so much Mana? She was worried that she had to compromise her morals to ignore so many people that must have been drained constantly of their life force.

Luckily, it was a worry that quickly expunged after her tour of Chaldea by Da Vinci… After she was grilled for anything she remembered about the Singularity and about what she knew or thought about Ainz.

Too bad that when she asked Da Vinci about how Ainz got along so well with so many personalities, she was only offered a shrug in return.

Captain Drake? Sita respected her military credentials and leadership skills, but in her insistence on offering to have a drink with her, that Sita realized that she was nothing like Sita herself.

Medea? She had little desire to mingle with Sita, and their character, looking closely, was too different for them to easily find common ground with one another.

Cainabel? Such a joke is simply unfunny.

So, paradoxically, Sita found that among the many Servants of Ainz, the closest and most comprehensible to her was…

The greatest scientist of all time, none other than Leonardo da Vinci herself!

Yes, Da Vinci was a woman, somehow, but with her knowledge of the Throne of Heroes and the Holy Grail Wars, this small matter of fact did not surprise her.

Da Vinci was also a surprisingly good conversationalist… if only Sita could have a turn talking, that is.

Yes, that's right, Da Vinci was willing to answer any questions Sita had, even the ones she hadn't planned on asking… when she got a chance to ask.

Okay, speaking frankly, when she first met her, Sita had suddenly found herself almost tied in place, like an audience forced to watch a performance from Da Vinci herself.

Frankly speaking, Da Vinci just really, really, really wanted to talk and ask questions – to express all her theories that she had not yet had time to tell the world. And such theories, as one could expect, Da Vinci had many.

About the nature of Ainz, about the existence of new, undiscovered metaphysical disciplines, about astrophysics, about the development of the literature of ancient Rome, about humanity, about everything at once – and about nothing in particular.

And as Sita was the first to agree, to her misfortune, to listen to all these theories, her time was spent mostly listening to Da Vinci’s theories. By a strange coincidence, as it turned out, the other Servants and people of Chaldea had the good sense to avoid Da Vinci whenever she’s in her ‘mood’.

Forced to spend many hours doing just that, Sita understood quite well why they had done so – and could even sympathize with the unfortunate souls who had been in her shoes in the past.

Still, no matter how much she sympathized with them, it doesn’t mean that she still didn’t harbor some resentment of being Da Vinci’s sole target.  Sita, of course, was perfectly educated, intelligent, experienced, and a host of other qualities that a Servant of her mythological era was supposed to be… But Da Vinci was Da Vinci.

And so Sita, for all her willingness, and breadth of patience – could not fully grasp Da Vinci's thoughts and theories. After a very short 10 minutes, she could only offer Da Vinci nothing more than to serve as a silent listener.

Da Vinci was perfectly happy with the situation; Sita was not.

But, of all Sita's virtues, foremost were her patience and temperance. So, even as she had stopped understanding what Da Vinci continued to explain to her, she just remained in her seat, keeping her gaze on Da Vinci as she moved animatedly around her office. She was clearly determined to make some kind of grand presentation to her first casual listener, occasionally nodding in time with her words and pauses, marking the end of another thought.

Sadly, the only thought in Sita's mind at that moment was nothing on whatever it is Da Vinci was discussing.

‘I really made the wrong choice.’ Sita mentally sighed, not allowing any of her sentiment to seep into reality. ‘I should have asked someone else… Maybe Kiyohime? She's Ainz's wife – I'm sure, as wife to wife, we would have easily found some common ground with each other…’

Thankfully Da Vinci, who could, in theory, read other people's minds, was too absorbed in her own story to hear Sita's own thoughts.

“…and if my assumption is correct – it invalidates everything we previously knew, no, could assume – about parallel worlds!” Da Vinci paused for a moment, as if, even she, couldn't bear to dump all her thoughts and theories on Sita at once, before exhaling to gather her thoughts. "Who knows, it might even bear some bearing to the source of your curse…”

Unlike the thousands of previous words and sentences – this nugget, Sita heard instantly.

“What!?” Sita returned from her stupor and stared google-eyed at Da Vinci. For the first time in…  at least a dozen hours, asked a question and even successfully drew Da Vinci's attention to herself. “What did you say about my curse?”

“Oh, did you miss it? Well, there was much to be heard all at once…” Da Vinci looked at Sita with interest, before allowing a slight smile to her face. “Don't worry, I'll be happy to repeat it…”

“No, thank you," Straining all her persistence – not a personality trait for which Sita herself was known for, she smiled, then continued nonetheless. A chance to cure her curse was worth breaking courtly manners. "But I need to know exactly what was said about my curse…”

Da Vinci bit her lip thoughtfully, as if she had accidentally said something unnecessary in a private conversation. An odd enough expression for someone who a few seconds ago seemed ready to tell the wonders of the world without any further conviction, but Sita used again all her persistence to ignore it, repeating her question. “I really need to know?”

“Hmm, about that…” Da Vinci, who a moment ago had been speaking with glee about her accomplishments and theories, was silent for a moment before she exhaled. "I suppose I can't just pretend that I didn't say that?”

Sita smiled a little shyly at that, a bit embarrassed by her unseemly behavior. “Absolutely not.”

Though, if Da Vinci really didn’t want to say anything, it’s not like Sita can contend the point with force. It wasn't that Sita was a powerful Servant, no, she had her own powers, of course, some can even be regarded as quite powerful. But if only her own powers were used to evaluate her as a Servant, there was a very realistic possibility that Sita would not be a Servant at all. And if she were, she would be at the bottom of the barrel in which, metaphysically speaking, Archer-class Servants were kept.

Really, the Archer class ran the gamut of Servants capabilities, it’s like the Throne of Heroes just throws the Servants it can’t make heads or tails of in there.

Returning to her lack of capability as a Servant. The reason was that her husband had sacrificed some of his power – his very ability to be summoned as an Archer, in order to give Sita the opportunity to become a Servant and make her stronger. All so that one of them could make their most cherished wish, should one of them actually win the Holy Grail War.

And the reason for Rama needing to do such a thing… was that Sita was in fact a complete copy, a kind of reflection, the flip side of Rama's coin. Inseparable part of him and at the same time – eternally cursed to always face away from him.

So that was why Sita needed to know the personality of her new Master! Sita was an extremely loyal Servant. As she is a dutiful wife, so too would she also be a loyal Servant, always clearly and calmly obeying their commands, no matter what they were… except romantic ones, of course.

There was no amount of Command Spells to make her forget about her husband or even think about anyone else romantically.

Yet the very reason why Sita became a Servant in the first place was the ephemeral possibility of one day achieving a wish, of reaching the Holy Grail that could deliver her from her greatest stigma. Her curse, of never finding Rama again.

Neither in the underworld, nor in the Throne of Heroes, even in a Singularity, could she meet him, so total was their curse. Even if, by some miracle, and it would take no less than a miracle, Sita had managed to meet Rama – one look at each other would have been all that Sita would manage to snatch. After that, anything, up to and including the breaking of the universe, the intervention of the Gods, or the direct will of Root – would have pulled them apart again.

All his reign, Rama had sought deliverance from this curse, anything – a spell, a prayer, divine intervention, anything that would lift his curse, and Sita as well had sought the same thing all this time. Separated forever, but thinking as one…

One could not simply tell Sita that a miracle cure existed, dangle it like a carrot in front of her nose, and then pretend that she was not supposed to hear about it and ignore her.

For one chance to see her husband's face again, Sita was ready to destroy the Singularity, all of America, if necessary, the whole world, in a crucible of nuclear fire…

And she did not regret her decision, nor repent for a second.

So Da Vinci's words that something like that might indeed exist somewhere, that something might shed the mystery about her curse – were, for Sita, like blood in water for a shark.

And Da Vinci, easily aware of this, only sighed before taking a seat at the small wooden chair with sagging back posted nearby, looking into Sita's determined eyes. “Your – or rather, your curse, it was originally cast on Rama, but it affected you both. A curse that represents… the will of this world, isn’t it?”

Sita nodded quietly at Da Vinci’s question, it wasn’t a secret that would hurt her or Rama in any regard. In all the incalculable time she had spent apart from Rama, she had been able to discover that the curse placed on them was not some simple spell or anything like that. It was an ability beyond what any other Servants or even Heroic Spirits possessed, perhaps, even something beyond a mere Divine Spirit. It was the will of the world – a kind of law or even a constant, determined by Gaia or Alaya, which Sita could not discern, which had become an immutable truth.

Literally, the will of the world.

But Sita had found that out after years and years of research – it was strange to hear Da Vinci from Da Vinci’s mouth, considering that she had hardly spent more than a couple of minutes thinking about it…

On the other hand, perhaps one would expect nothing less from the greatest genius.

"Then the solution is simple." Da Vinci replied with mocking ease, as if the question of the curse hadn't been something that Sita had almost become crazed by. Or did, judging by her actions in the Singularity.

"We need something comparable to the Will of the World – and there is only one, barring an attempt to make the world at large change its mind. The Will of the Other World!” Da Vinci leaped and then shouted with a manic glee in her eyes, causing even Sita to take a step back by her fervor.

“To fight against the Will of the World, the simplest of options is to try to appeal to something that embodies another world, whose will would not agree with the will of this world. In other words, we require an Outer God!” Now it wasn’t just a gleam, but Sita could see some eldritch truth in Da Vinci’s words, as if she was about to peer into some truth that is not meant to be known by man. But before Sita could start to doubt her determination to meet her beloved, to walk on this Outer Path, Da Vinci continued on.

“But! Since it's hard enough to appeal to the Door-and-Key or the Dark Mother under our current conditions – even if I think that it would make an incredible experiment! We still have one creature, one who exists outside the World’s paradigm! Which, by a happy coincidence, is also your Master, whose name doesn’t invoke madness and doesn't need sacrifices to be called on!" Da Vinci clapped her hands as if she were a teacher explaining simple arithmetic to children about the addition of single digits, a wide smile stretching across her face.

"Speaking of which, there he is!”

Sita, whose mind had been driven into a stupor after experiencing something similar to an overload, thoughtlessly turned toward the door leading to Da Vinci's study… To find her new Master at the entrance to it.

***

Ainz felt the urge to shiver for some unknown reason as he took a step inside Da Vinci's study.

Having dealt with Scáthach trying to kill him, in a way, and Medb trying to do something else to him, but just as creepy, also in a way, Ainz was in no way at ease. Even with the little distraction from his worries after his meeting with Karna, Ainz still felt that there was still one problem before him that he had not yet had time to deal with.

The books that he had… borrowed from the underground library of that local magical association.

Ainz took all the books indiscriminately, not particularly paying attention to what exactly he was collecting. After all, from his point of view he couldn't tell exactly what he was taking, either by appearance or content, which he didn't understand at all. For all he knows, one of them could be the secret recipe book for the perfect tartar sauce!

Ainz could scarcely imagine the confusion of anyone receiving such a book from him!

So, before he would give any of the books to Olga-Marie, he wanted to consult Da Vinci. She had been acting much more reserved towards him lately, and could probably tell him which books Ainz had seized would be useful in Olga’s studies, and which were in the end something like a cookbook. After his skimming, he definitely found some recipe books in the stash of sto… borrowed books!

Ainz absolutely did not want to be so immediately embarrassed, showing his total ignorance of local customs, magic, or something like that…

Considering the fact that Ainz was sort of in a relationship with Olga-Marie, he especially didn't want to give her… a gift, perhaps, that she wouldn't like. At least, in his time in the guild, all his friends had warned him about that, they periodically complained to each other about the unsuccessful gifts they gave or received from their significant others.

The ones that had regular contact with women at least…

Sorry, Peroroncino and Ulbert, I don’t think your advice of ‘just stick it in!’ or ‘just give them money!’ would work here…

However, Ainz realized that his simple and beautiful plan had gone wrong when no one had reacted to his knock on the door, even though he could clearly hear Da Vinci's voice from behind the door.

So, after waiting a few seconds, he opened the door, and only had time to take a step inside the surprisingly not junk-filled, but cleaned and even, in a way, clutter-free Da Vinci's study, before he froze.

First, from Da Vinci's grandiose gesture toward him – and second, from discovering that in Da Vinci's study was not only herself, but also a second Servant, whose presence he had not previously noticed.

She was a short girl with red hair gathered in two large ponytails at the sides of her head and wearing clothes so light that it was easier to call it a ‘peignoir’ than a dress. Sita, one of the Servants Ainz had summoned earlier, had not even aroused his interest and had slipped his entire notice.

Unlike Scáthach who had tried to kill him or Karna, a Servant so powerful that he had even managed to wound Angrboda, or, of course, Medb, Sita had not caught Ainz's attention. In the Singularity, he had only met her for a few minutes at the very end, and her parameters didn't seem like anything special.

So, although Ainz was a little ashamed to admit it, he regarded her as just a pity pull. An extra that was overshadowed by the more rambunctious Servants.

On the other hand, in a way, Ainz could even take a strange pleasure in the fact that he perceived his new subordinate as ‘just another subordinate’, that’s good, isn’t it? Because it meant that Ainz had already begun to settle into his role as a ‘boss’ and had begun perceiving his subordinates without problems… Admittedly, the fact that he ignored one of his subordinates meant that he was still far from being a 'good' superior.

So, coughing awkwardly into his fist, he corrected his recent blunder. "Good afternoon, Sita, Da Vinci… Sita, I don't want to be disrespectful, but…”

“WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT CURSES?!” A moment later, the girl's rather petite and frail figure was off the ground in a single leap as she literally started clinging to his clothes.

Were it not for the fact that Sita's own strength was not impressive and Ainz's own strength was far superior to that of a human – Servant or not, he would have most likely been swept away. It would also be a miracle if he did not destroy the table that Sita had swept up in her haste or crash into a wall.

What was more important than the reason he was still on his feet, though, was the reason he might not have been on his feet – Sita's reaction. Or rather, the words that escaped from her as she rushed toward him.

His suppression of emotion worked a moment later, suppressing the panic before he responded with anything inappropriate, allowing him to answer with, in fact, the truth. “Some things.”

While it was best to say that Ainz was a mage who focuses on Death magic, Curses were still present in Ainz's arsenal in no small amount. As a dark mage who had chosen to role-play an Undead of the highest rank, the Overlord, his arsenal was quite extensive in that regard, and he knew quite a few – in-game that is – things about curses.

It wasn't his most direct specialty, though, only a related one – the Player with the largest arsenal and the most powerful curses in the guild was in fact Tabula Smaragdina.

No, technically, a few extremely powerful curses were also in Ulbert's arsenal – those curses he picked for his class – but the full-fledged specialist in this area was still Tabula.

Tabula was also, somewhat, ‘interested’ in mythology and so had read through all of her spell descriptions and had put the flavor text to heart. Further, being the least silent member of the guild, Ainz had sat through many instances where Tabula would gush about this or that magic factoid in the past, and could probably repeat it… If he remembered it, of course.

“What exactly are you interested in?” But still, even with his maybe spotty knowledge about magic, if he were to also combine his knowledge of the game universe and maybe a few facts from mythology, it might be enough. To lie somewhat convincingly, that is, or to string so many useless random facts that it might sound plausible.

Hey, it worked so far! If not, he might just grab one of the random curse spell books in his inventory, and it might distract them for a while.

Still, Ainz wasn't sure he could help and answer the question he was asked anyway… However, at least he could listen about the problem – it certainly wouldn't make things worse.

“How do you break a curse?!” Sita, however, discarding her demure facade, clutched at him with a vice grip, staring at him with a look that could have burned through steel if she wanted to.

“Which one?” Ainz sighed as he answered, cursing his luck as he met another troublesome situation. No, of course, if he were to use something like a World Class Item, he could break any curse without learning more about it. But it was definitely the last resort of all the last resorts – World Class Items were valued by players far above their lives. After all, being reborn in YGGDRASIL was a daily occurrence, but finding a World Class Item – furthermore the same one – a second time was very unlikely.

“The will of the world. A curse that is from the will of the world." Sita looked him straight in the eye, completely unafraid of his reaction. Da Vinci, meanwhile, took a little distance from the unfolding scene before her, and took out her notebook and pen from a nearby shelf and prepared to write down everything. "The curse of separation that separates me from Rama.”

“Hmm," Was Ainz's answer to that.

The curse of separation? Ainz couldn't immediately recall if there was such a curse in YGGDRASIL. There were indeed some curses that were highly disliked among Players – like all curses in general really – that forbade two Players to join the same party, or prevented Players from using certain items. But, Ainz wasn't sure if that was the type of curse Sita was talking about…

Still, the effects of Sita’s curse were something that were somewhat familiar to Ainz – such curses were rare, and their levels wildly varied in and of themselves. But, the kind of curse that Sita was talking about were all fairly high level – none of them below the seventh tier of magic.

But still the ‘will of the world’, hmm? Is that like a stage? Like a dungeon room that imbued a curse to whoever that is inside it?

A term like ‘the will of the world’ was not often used in YGGDRASIL.

Some bosses and their special abilities mentioned such a thing, but more typically, such words could be heard when describing far more piecemeal things – such as World Champions, Realm Lords, World Class Items – and, of course, World Enemies.

If that’s the case, then, if Sita’s curse involved certain abilities of World Enemies or World Class Items – then such curses could only be broken with other World Class Items… Which Ainz was not going to do for nothing.

He would need an extremely good reason to even get out a World Class Item from his stash…

If it had to do with other ranks than that, then the Super-tier Magics – like Wish Upon A Star, would probably suffice… not that Ainz would be too happy to just pull that out willy-nilly.

“Hmm, I see." Ainz nodded, and for the first time in a long time, he wasn’t lying, "I think I understand.”

Sita, hearing such an answer, abruptly let go of Ainz and took a step back, staggering as if struck, looking into his eyes with a strange mixture of hope and fear. "And…”

As she started speaking, Sita paused for a second, swallowing the viscous saliva that had suddenly risen in her throat before continuing. “And what could be done about it!?”

“I… " Ainz furrowed his brow, a bit uncomfortable by the fervor that Sita was showing. He wasn’t going to be stabbed in the back if he refused her, would he?

"Theoretically speaking, and without giving direct guarantees, I can try to do it…”

Sita froze after these words, not quite sure what she had heard, hearing Da Vinci's voice coming from behind her, writing something quickly in the margins of her notebook. “I had no doubt…”

“But I think you must realize that… Such an endeavor would be costly, I can't make it that easy, without getting any compensation." Ainz nodded.

Indeed, even without resorting to the level of World-Class Items, the mere appearance of which would require an absolutely ironclad reason – the suffering of his Servants, with all due respect to them, was not one of them. But even using magic like ‘Wish Upon A Star’ was still highly questionable.

Using that magic took a minimum of five full levels from the user – and given the changed conditions around him, Ainz could not guarantee that he would be able to recoup that loss if the circumstances came to pass.

Of course, he still had two more nearly full rings, five free uses of the Wish – but therein lay the problem. He only had five such ‘free’ wishes left, which Ainz certainly didn't want to waste for nothing – especially considering that depending on the strength of the curse, it could require more than one wish to break.

For instance, the previous wish, Ainz had already spent on making Mashu immortal – which might not have been the best exchange – but what’s done was done.

It was not such a great waste, on the one hand, as an experiment, a test of how such magic would work in the New World. And on the other hand, as a reward for Mashu for all the past Singularities. It was also in no small part because Mashu was his first Servant, and was the one who first met him in this world, who was also there when this whole Singularity crisis had begun in the first place…

In other words – there were many reasons why he spent one of his finite – one that is very limited at that – resources on Mashu, and not all of them were out of sentiment. Just eighty percent of it, perhaps.

“What – what do you want in exchange for it?” Sita raised her gaze to Ainz.

Ainz, on the other hand, thought for a moment.

That is a good question…

Perhaps the right and even fair answer to that would be ‘reimburse me for what I will spend on you’ – but it is unlikely that Sita could do that. What price can you put on a literal miracle, after all?

In that case, if Sita herself could not directly reimburse Ainz's spending – then she could reimburse it indirectly. For example, by trading away some rare or valuable artifact in exchange for Ainz's spell – preferably one that could not be found in YGGDRASIL…

Hmm, come to think of it, her Noble Phantasm looked good – but Ainz wasn't sure if he could use it. And getting, albeit a rare but still a mere item, one that he probably can’t use, would be another dead weight in Ainz's inventory… Which reminds him of those things’ shitty drop rate. He still wants Tesla’s dammit!

Maybe he also needs a curse to be dispelled?

Anyway, back to the point, in other words, if the material repayment didn't work, then…

“I suppose I could try to do it as a reward for service, but…” Ainz looked at Sita, his newly summoned Servant. “We can talk about that when you prove yourself in the field first.”

Hearing those words, slowly, Sita nodded before raising her gaze to Ainz. “I understand, so…  Service…  In exchange for a wish?”

“Something like that,” Ainz nodded, then exhaled and shook his head. “Okay, I guess we've got that sorted out, in that case, I should probably be heading out.”

After that, with another nod to Sita, saying goodbye to her and Da Vinci, Ainz went away.

Another problem solved – kudos to ‘good boss Ainz’!

As he crossed the threshold, Ainz thought for a second, as if he had forgotten something, before he dismissed the silly thought. If it was important, he certainly wouldn't have forgotten it!

***

Left alone with Sita, Da Vinci finished her notes in her notebook with a big full stop and set it aside as she looked at Sita… Who had already turned around on the spot and was looking at her with an expression full of steely determination. The kind of determination that has led humanity to irreparable disasters time after time. Of the greatest Heroes and Villains – determination.

“I want everything," Sita answered as if to hammer out every word in metal. "Anything he might want from me… There are very, VERY few things in the world that I would not do to fulfill my deepest desire.”

“I never doubted it." Da Vinci smiled back, as he watched the previously demure girl disappear like a mirage, replaced by a woman with a crazed expression. Perhaps even the same one that she’s sporting right now.

‘So this is what a Yandere not fixated on Ainz looks like…’

***

Name: Sita

Race: Heteromorphic

Title: Rama's Wife

Job: Servant of Ainz Ooal Gown \ Wife of Rama

Residence: Chaldea, Da Vinci's workshop

Karma: +50 (Neutral ~ Neutral-Good)

Race Level: Deity Avatar (10)

Class Level: Archer (15)

Wife (10)

Bow Master (10)

Cursed Archer (5)

Others (21)

Total: 10 Racial Levels + 61 Class Levels = 71 Total Levels

HP: 40

Mana: 80

Physical Attack: 20

Physical Defense: 0

Dexterity: 80

Magic Attack: 40

Magic Protection: 80

Resistance: 100

Special Abilities: 60

Skill: Haradhanu Janaka

Level: 60

A powerful long-range attack that deals physical damage and minor holy damage. A surprisingly uninteresting ability for something in the level 60 bracket.

Player Comments:

— You've seen a tank without physical defense before! You've seen an undead hunter with an insta-kill! But were you ready to see… an Archer who decided to become a magical tank?!

— Oh yeah, the famous Archer build without the ability to attack, but with Dexterity 80… It's kind of a DPS’ function to run and shoot. At least both her resistance and mag defense are decent? If you try to swat her, she will run away – and shoot, dealing one damage with each shot. So it's literally a build not to be useful, but to annoy opponents, genius!

— You wanted to get a magical archer, I get it, that's fine. But you got a rogue-tank-DD-mage-priest-archer, who sucks in every role. BUT WHY DID YOU SPEND TEN LEVELS ON THE WIFE CLASS?! WHY!?