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Overlord - Chapter 26
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His entire body felt like it was being gently stroked. Someone’s hands were pulling him up from deep underwater. But Zaryusu shook them off. He sensed something horrifying beyond those hands that he didn’t like.
After what could have been an eternity or an instant, he had the feeling a hand was reaching out to him again. He went to brush it away once more but hesitated. He could hear a voice right next to him. The voice of the female he loved…
He hesitated.
And hesitated.
And hesitated.
After faltering and wavering in that world of uncertain time, Zaryusu finally, albeit reluctantly, took the hand.
And all at once he was pulled up, leaping into a white world.
The overall weakness was awful.
His body felt full of sludge.
He was abnormally exhausted. No matter how hard he’d trained, he’d never felt as awful as this.
He fought to open his heavy eyelids.
Brilliant light poured into his eyes. Lizardman eyes automatically compensated for the amount of light, but they were still dazzled by sudden brightness. He blinked—
“Zaryusu!”
Someone hugged him tightly.
“C-Crusch?”
He should have never heard her voice again, but there it was.
He looked at her hugging him with eyes that had finally adjusted.
It really was the female he loved, Crusch Lulu.
Why? How in the world…? Zaryusu was assaulted by endless doubts and worries. The last thing he remembered was…the moment his own head fell into the marsh. Cocytus had definitely killed him.
So why am I alive? Could it be that…? “Crusch, did he kill you, too?” he asked, with a numb mouth that didn’t move quite right.
In response came Crusch’s puzzled face. “Huh?”
He was slightly relieved to see that expression. She wasn’t dead, then. So why am I alive?
A hint at the answer came in the form of a voice from somewhere to the side. “Hmm. So he’s revived, but he’s confused. And it seems like he lost some levels… I guess it’s not much different from Yggdrasil?”
Realizing whose voice it was, Zaryusu looked over in surprise.
Standing there was the King of Death, Ainz Ooal Gown, the impossibly powerful caster. He was holding a foot-long wand that looked so sacred as to be out of place in his hand. It was an extremely beautiful object, made of what appeared to be a tusk with runes carved in the handle, its tip dipped in gold.
Zaryusu had no idea, but it was a Wand of Resurrection, the item that had brought him back to life. Usually only someone who could use priest magic was able to wield priest-magic items, but this one was an exception.
Zaryusu examined his surroundings and confirmed that they were in the same lizardman village from before. The group was in the square, with lots of prostrate lizardmen surrounding them. None of them moved a muscle, their worshipfulness was so strangely intense.
“What in the world…?”
It was logical to prostrate oneself after being shown that much power, but that wasn’t all he felt from the lizardmen here—there was something else, something stronger. Lizardmen had no deities—the targets of their faith were their ancestral spirits—but what he sensed from them now was the worship of a god.
“Hmm. Be gone, lizardmen. Don’t enter the village until someone tells you to.”
No one objected to the order. On the contrary, they consented without a word. The shuffling and splashing in the marsh as they walked away were all they left as they cleared the square.
The display of power must have completely broken their spirit. Of course, it was lizardman custom to bow to the strong. In other words, things had gone according to their opponent’s wishes.
“Aura, are they gone?”
“Yes, they all left.”
The one who answered was a dark-elf girl. It might have been partially because she was standing behind Ainz and Zaryusu couldn’t see her, but he hadn’t even been able to sense her—her presence was surprisingly slight.
“Okay. Then allow me to congratulate you on your resurrection, Zaryusu Shasha.”
Resurrection.
It took Zaryusu a little while to understand what that word meant. When it dawned on him, he was hit with a shiver. Resurrection…so I came back to life? He couldn’t speak, only gasp.
“What’s the matter? It’s not like lizardmen harbor some hatred for resurrection, right? Or did you forget how to talk?”
“R-resurrection… You can bring the dead…back to life…?”
“That’s what I’m saying. Really? You thought I couldn’t do something so simple as that?”
“Did you…hold a big ritual…?”
“A big ritual? Why would I need that? I can do it fine by myself.”
Zaryusu had nothing else to say. Resurrection magic was a miracle performed by the legendary lizardman with dragonlord blood in him.
But here was a being who said he could do it by himself.
A monster? No.
A caster with immense power? No.
Zaryusu had figured it out completely.
Leading a mythical army, attended by devils…
In other words, the being before him was on par with a god.
Zaryusu sat up, wobbling, and prostrated himself before Ainz. Crusch hurriedly bowed in the same way.
“Great One.” The being looking down at him seemed confused for a moment, but Zaryusu judged that to be just his imagination. “I devote myself to you.”
“Good. I’ll make you a promise on my honor as Ainz Ooal Gown.”
“Allow the lizardmen to flourish.”
“That’s what you want? I promise anyone under my rule will flourish.”
“I thank you.”
“Well, your mouth still isn’t working quite right, is it? If you rest a bit, you’ll get back up to speed. Rest for now. Later there are a lot of things we have to decide. First, we need to make sure this village, now under my rule, has proper security… Well, please discuss it with Cocytus.” Saying that, Ainz readied himself to leave, but Zaryusu had something he needed to ask first. It had to be now.
“Please wait. What about Zenbel and my brother?”
“Their corpses should be over there somewhere.” Ainz had begun walking away with Aura, but he stopped and gestured casually with his jaw toward the edge of the village.
“You won’t bring them back to life?”
“…Hmm…I don’t sense anything in it for me…”
“Then why resurrect only me? Zenbel and my brother are strong. They would definitely be useful to you.”
Ainz took a good look at Zaryusu and shrugged. “I’ll think about it… Keep the bodies of those two safe. I’ll consider it.”
Ainz walked off, robe flapping, as if to say the conversation was over. As the pair retreated, Zaryusu heard Aura’s fading voice say, “That hydra’s pretty cute, huh?”
He finally broke his submissive posture and relaxed.
“I survived… Or I guess I came back to life?”
He didn’t know what kind of rule they were in for, but if they could prove themselves useful, he figured it couldn’t be that bad.
“Crusch, my brother…”
“It’s okay. Let’s worry about it later. Right now you need to rest and get back on your feet. Don’t worry, I can carry you.”
“Okay…thanks.”
Zaryusu crumpled to one side and closed his eyes. The moment his lids fell, he was hit by a wave of sleep, like the deep sleep that awaited him after a day of straining his body beyond its limit.
Sensing the gentle arms around him, Zaryusu sank back into darkness.