Chapter 194: The Request
Sebas stood completely still, as though something invisible had nailed him to the floor.
Origin Magic... consumes the soul.
The words had landed somewhere deep inside his consciousness, in the most sensitive place they could have found.
The Supreme Beings who had left.
Peroroncino-sama. Bukubukuchagama-sama. Ulbert-sama... each of them had gone on a day that gave no warning, and none of them had come back.
Could their souls have been consumed as fuel for Origin Magic?
Sebas's expression pulled tight without his permission. Even his breathing had grown heavier than before.
Then something reached into that dark place and pulled him back.
Touch Me-sama's soul had not been consumed.
Before it was too late, he had already found Touch Me-sama's reincarnation. He repeated that name silently to himself — the name that mattered more than any other — confirming what could not be taken from him. Good. This had not happened to Touch Me-sama.
The moment that thought surfaced, Sebas registered the selfishness in it.
If the other Supreme Beings' souls had truly been consumed by a dragon somewhere in this world, that would be a tragedy with no remedy. He knew that. He was Nazarick's butler. He should be carrying the same anxiety for all of the Supreme Beings equally.
But the relief that was rising in his chest right now was pure and narrow and entirely his own. Since finding Touch Me-sama, that concern had quietly grown a private layer beneath it that he hadn't chosen and couldn't quite refuse.
Lucian was standing a few steps away, watching every shift that passed across Sebas's face.
He pressed down the corner of his mouth that was threatening to move. He dropped his gaze and hid what was behind it.
The intelligence Draudillon had just shared with Sebas — about a dragon's nature, about its indifference, about Origin Magic and the limitation that came with it — all of it was true. He hadn't added a single false note. He hadn't tried to steer the Queen's meaning anywhere it hadn't already gone.
But a deception assembled from true pieces was sometimes more effective than a clean lie.
When Sebas carried all of this faithfully back to Nazarick, Ainz's hostility toward the dragon would deepen. From Ainz's perspective, the rumor about powerful souls reincarnating still hadn't been confirmed. But learning that this world could make use of souls as a resource — that fact, arriving from the side — would quietly strengthen Nazarick's willingness to believe in that rumor.
Which was exactly the effect Lucian needed.
He lifted his gaze back to Sebas.
The old butler's expression had returned to its usual steadiness. Only a faint residue of what had just moved through him remained, barely visible at the line of his brow.
"Sebas-san?" Draudillon's voice broke the delicate quiet.
The Queen tilted her head. Those large eyes carried a trace of genuine puzzlement. "You suddenly went..." She found the right word. "...very serious. What happened?"
Sebas collected himself and pushed everything still churning inside him back down below the surface. A warm smile settled across his lined face, and his voice came back to its usual even pace.
"It was nothing. I was simply taken off guard by what you said about Origin Magic." He gave a slight bow toward Draudillon. "Thank you, Your Majesty, for sharing something of this importance. I won't forget this kindness."
Draudillon blinked, looking as though she had a follow-up question forming. But the quality of Sebas's manner made it clear he didn't wish to go further, and she let the question go.
She waved a hand, her tone lifting back into something easy. "It's really nothing at all. I should be the one thanking Sebas-san and Lord Lucian for what you've done for the Dragon Kingdom. Without the two of you, the Dragon Kingdom might simply not exist anymore."
At that moment, someone knocked at the reception room door.
Every person in the room turned toward it simultaneously.
The door opened a crack. An attendant stepped through quickly, his expression clearly working to contain a visible agitation while maintaining the composure expected when entering the Queen's presence. He stopped at the threshold and bowed low.
"Your Majesty!" His voice trembled at the edges — the excitement wouldn't quite stay in. "The beastman nation has sent an envoy. They've brought a surrender document. They're requesting an audience at the palace gate."
The air in the reception room shifted.
Draudillon's eyes lit up with something completely unguarded. The elation arrived too fast for her performance to cover it. The corner of her mouth jumped upward.
"Really?" She turned toward Bergmann.
The silver-haired old man who had been standing quietly at the room's edge gave a small nod. Something settled and satisfied had found its way onto his face. "It seems the beastman king's successor is more efficient than we'd anticipated." His voice carried the faint release of someone who had been waiting for a weight to lift.
"Bergmann..." Draudillon turned to the prime minister with the manner of a girl who genuinely didn't know how to proceed. "What should I do? Should I receive them directly? Or make them wait first? They were so arrogant before — should I not..."
"Your Majesty." Bergmann cut in gently. "Please leave this matter in my hands."
Draudillon looked at that lined but remarkably composed face, and then nodded. "...Alright. I'll leave it to you."
Bergmann turned and walked toward the door, the hem of his dark formal dress moving with him. As he passed Lucian, he directed a brief, genuine look of thanks toward him. "Lord Aindra, Sebas-san, everyone — please remain here a moment. Once I've dealt with the surrender formalities, I'll return and we can speak at greater length."
He stepped out. The door closed behind him with a quiet click. His footsteps moved down the corridor and faded.
The reception room settled back into stillness.
Draudillon took a slow breath. She pressed the elation and the nerves back down, and rebuilt the innocent-little-girl presentation. "Well then... um..." She turned to Lucian, her voice somewhere between casual and uncertain. "Lord Lucian, Sebas-san, Lakyus-san — would you like to stay for dinner? I'll have them prepare the very best..."
Lucian looked at that completely performed little-girl manner and let himself have a small, private moment.
"Your Majesty. I have a request — an imposition, I'm afraid."
Draudillon's hands came up in front of her chest. A sudden nervousness. Is Lucian about to take advantage of Bergmann's absence to do something he shouldn't?
"Lord Lucian, please speak."
Lucian met her gaze steadily. The gold of his hair caught the light slanting in through the window. "Now that the Dragon Kingdom's situation has been brought to a close, I would like to..."
Draudillon, after hearing the full request, went faintly still for a moment.
Then she laughed — the kind of laugh that came with a "that's all?" ease, though somewhere underneath that ease was a thread of something else, too fine to name easily.
"Of course. You may have whatever you'd like, Lord Lucian."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Lucian gave a small nod.
Sebas, however, was standing to one side with something clearly sitting on the tip of his tongue that he hadn't said yet.
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