Abyss (244)

The surrounding darkness around Ainz is impenetrable, as if the concept of light itself doesn’t exist where he is. That is — if it weren't for his undead nature allowing him to see in the dark, if he was a normal human, Ainz wouldn't even be able to see his own hands. 

However, even with the ability to see, it doesn't bring much comfort, as nothing else around him is visible. The hole that he had jumped from, the red figure of Ereshkigal, quickly disappeared from sight, leaving Ainz only the impenetrable void in its place.

It was like he was ensconced in an intangible black cocoon with nothing around him, only an infinite emptiness.

After some time, Ainz stops feeling even the sensation of falling, although he cannot say for sure why this is happening — either he has ended up weightless and was indeed just floating in the void now, or there was some kind of mental magic at work. Both equally very bad for him.

In his estimation it was perhaps simply because of a combination of a lack of the air rushing past his ears, and that his body has gotten used to the sensation of falling, he has been doing so for a while after all. It was an insidious combination, making him feel as if he was just hanging in the air, and depending on how long it would last, Ainz has no doubt that it could drive a lot of people mad. 

He cannot see anything around him other than his own body, so he cannot determine whether he was moving or not. And as his mind informs him — judging by the absence of the whistling wind — the air around him has also ceased to exist… It was called a total sense deprivation if he remembered it correctly.

As a test, Ainz tries to breathe in air only to find, judging by the absence of any sensation of air rushing into his lungs, that he is indeed in an airless pit — if not for his undead nature, he would surely have suffocated. Or perhaps even that would be deprived of him, as the infinite black void seemed to swallow everything else.

Ainz waits another ten seconds, checking if he'll reach anywhere and if anything will change around him, and after determining that the surrounding darkness stays the same, he decides to change something. Two spells, one for light and one for flight, the light for obvious reasons, and the one for flight just in case he was not actually just frozen in the air.

In a moment, a flash of light so bright it seems unnatural in the absolute darkness, cuts through the Abyss. However, even as the light illuminated everything around it for what Ainz seems like kilometers, all it reveals is even more emptiness. No, rather than giving any answers, instead the light only made the encroaching darkness seemingly more hungry. 

Of course, that was nothing more than a trick of the mind, as the edge of the light struck the limit of what it can illuminate. 

It simply revealed that the void continues much farther and beyond what the light was capable of illuminating.

“Interesting…” Ainz mutters under his breath before blinking and repeating what he just said. 

“Interesting?”

Understanding comes to his mind instantly, he's absolutely certain that he had said the word, but no sound follows out of his mouth a moment later. Despite definitely speaking, he can hear his inner voice that usually sounds within every speaking person's head, but not his own voice.

“Hello? Can anyone hear me?” Ainz tries again to speak, but cannot hear his voice… or even feel his lips moving.

Halting in place, Ainz raises his hand towards his eyes, confirming that it’s definitely his hand before clenching it into a fist… and not feeling the pressure of his fingers on his palm. Despite his eyes confirming what’s happening before him, that he had clenched his hand into a fist, he cannot feel his own fist, the fingers clenched within it nor the fact that he’s moving his hand at all. 

He can absolutely see it, as a test he wiggled all his limbs making sure to look as each limb moved, confirming that control over them hasn’t been lost. But he does not feel their movements as much as he just knows they’re moving. Perhaps not just because of his undead nature, but due to some instinctive knowledge embedded within a person's brain that when they move their limbs, they move according to their commands.

On another note, he found out that he was exactly frozen in place, as his flight spell moved his body according to his mental command when he wanted to inspect his limbs visually. He didn’t have to fight the force of gravity.

After spinning in place a bit, Ainz cancels his flight spell’s effect, trying to determine if he'll continue falling. He might have already confirmed it once, but there’s nothing bad about double-checking.

Now that he can at least somewhat orient himself in space thanks to the light source, he can afford to conduct such an experiment — only to find that he remains stationary.

“So there’s no gravity here… At least it's worth assuming that, no…” Preferring not to delve into endless self-reflection and presupposition while proposing trying out hypotheses. One that is one of the forefront right now was the possibility that the anti gravity effect simply existed because he was observing his body. Or that the light was simply falling at the same rate that he was falling in while maintaining position.

Needless to say, he had failed in keeping his mind from wandering about possibilities.  

Turning his eyes downward, Ainz became even more interested in what lies beneath him, for he was indeed falling for a time before he was caught in the trap. Nothing could tell him how far down the pit extends, it could be literally just a few meters below him, or it could be thousands of kilometers distant.

Nothing is definite in this place.  

In Ainz's mind, fragmented memories resurfaced. Merlin and Mashu seem to have discussed something about this? A place where there is nothing, no space, no reality, no sensations… Yet Ainz continues to exist, as does his magic, which in turn means he can at least attempt to find Tiamat, sealed in such an inhospitable Abyss.

“Greater Teleportation.” A moment later, Ainz is transported hundreds, if not thousands of kilometers downward, his spell moving him judging by his intention, the light from his spell nothing more than a distant twinkle above him. It had become an impromptu mile marker, denoting just how far he has gone.

Dispelling the distant spell and casting another anew, Ainz found that he was now hanging in the same dark emptiness as he did before. It is still the same boundless darkness, absent of any sensations and bereft of gravity. 

Looking downwards, the same bottomless darkness greeted him just as it did before. 

Seeing as his intent with Greater Teleportation was supposed to send him to Tiamat’s locations, the Abyss, the lack of the Beast to be found, confirmed another of his hypotheses.

“So simply trying to teleport in this place is useless, I'm being stymied not by physical distance.” Ainz tries a few more Greater Teleportations just in case, but even after what he modestly estimates to be two or three thousand kilometers traveled, his surroundings remain completely unchanged. 

“Pity.”

Ainz then tries sending out a couple of magical arrows around him, but encountering no resistance, they simply shoot off into the distance until they dissipate into the darkness and disappear completely from his sight. The possibility that space itself is being looped is disproven. 

“So any attempt to physically reach a location is moot.” Ainz arrives at this conclusion and sighs slightly regretfully. “I regret having to resort to extreme measures, but if it is the only way, then for the resolution of the final Singularity, I will have to sacrifice something important… Farewell, my body, I hope Da Vinci will create a new one for me in the future.”

His next spell is definitely one that his new body cannot handle after all.

In another moment, Ainz's skeletal hand slipped out of his flesh body, catching his now limp humanoid form and gently leaving it floating in the void, floating weightless before extending his hand forward.

“Gate!”

A vortex of darkness, blacker than the blackest night, seeming to stand out even against the surrounding pitch-black darkness, appears beside Ainz after a moment, allowing him to slip into it.

After all, a mere infinitely large empty space could not stop a player from Yggdrasil, especially one possessing a spell literally made for traveling through all kinds of realities within the game. If not for it, he would have been long since trapped in some pocket dimension of one of the bosses. 

So of course, he did not expect to so easily reach Tiamat.

However, even more than that, Ainz did not expect that after the very first moment of emerging into reality from the Gate, he would be completely engulfed by a thick black slime surrounding him. 

And the sound that struck his ears, a scream filled with pain and despair, was simultaneously painfully familiar and unfamiliar.

The scream of Medusa.

***

Arthur stumbles back after Quetzalcoatl's strike, attempting to gauge a better position for a possible counterattack. However, Quetzalcoatl doesn't give her much time to prepare, launching herself into a swift leap, aiming to drive her heel into Arthur's skull. 

Arthur responded to the attack with a simple tilt of her head, allowing Quetzalcoatl's foot to crash into the pauldron of her armor instead of her face. Contrary to Quetzalcoatl's expectations, as expressed by the surprised look on her face, she had found that her attack wasn't enough to tear Arthur's body apart. 

It is however a much heavier blow than Arthur expected. 

With a sound of violent explosion, gusts of wind blew through the jungle canopy, smashing through many stone buildings, destroying them with the force of a hurricane. A deep furrow was dug on the ground, almost as deep as Arthur’s knees as she was driven backwards.

"Wow, amigo, congratulations! You managed to survive an attack of mine, and I was barely holding back!" Quetzalcoatl, equally thrilled by the fact that Arthur didn't even try to defend against her strike and impressed that Arthur survived it, leaped backwards from Arthur. Watching with glee as Arthur effortlessly extricates herself from the crater that had formed under her feet. 

"Surviving a blow from the goddess of war and wisdom, isn't that something worth celebrating?!"

Arthur chooses not to engage in dialogue with Quetzalcoatl, instead re-focusing on her opponent, the attack giving a good gauge of the Goddess’ capabilities. The strength of the kick was somewhat greater than she had anticipated from a Servant of this world, even if said Servant was supposed to be a deity… But that is all. 

Arthur doesn't, couldn’t, consider herself to be in any real danger, and it's not because Quetzalcoatl claimed she only wanted to test if Arthur was strong enough for Quetzalcoatl to follow her. If Arthur was weak, that blow would have killed her outright after all, and there was no lack of killing intent from the Goddess, even if it was tinged with a sense of playfulness as well.

Nevertheless, getting serious, as in using her Noble Phantasms against someone of Quetzalcoatl’s level? Even if Arthur could put aside her royal status and knightly honor, the desire to defeat an opponent with equal strength in a test of skill without using an ace up her sleeve or overwhelming strength from the get-go without giving them a chance to prove themselves in battle, remains strong.

After all, Quetzalcoatl doesn’t seem to be an opponent threatening humanity, defeating her with brute force seems dishonorable to Arthur. Not to mention that if Arthur starts throwing around spells and Noble Phantasms, there's no guarantee that Quetzalcoatl will survive them, and Arthur had initially ventured into these jungles to seek information rather than to kill. The fact that the Goddess could also be an ally also figures into her thinking.

"You need to think on your feet in battle, not standing still!" Quetzalcoatl, not even waiting for Arthur to respond, launches another into another attack. She charged head-on once again, running at Arthur with a predatory sprint, before dropping low and thrusting her leg upwards toward Arthur’s chin.

Should the attack connect, then Arthur would be blown upward towards the sky, a battlefield where the Feathered Serpent feels even more at home than on the ground. Arthur, now well aware that Quetzalcoatl indeed ranks among the strongest Servants in this world, does not remain idle.

She would not give the Goddess another free shot. 

Leaping backward, causing the Goddess to miss by bare inches, her foot passing by in front of Arthur’s face, not caring about the buffeting wind her attack had blown up. With placid calmness, Arthur decided to test Quetzalcoatl with a thrust of her still-sheathed sword, a move that Quetzalcoatl deftly avoids with a playful leap back while attempting to knee Arthur’s extended arm. 

A beautiful exchange of attacks, dodges, and counter-attacks.

Arthur counters by throwing her other hand up to intercept the knee; however, in blatant defiance of physics, Quetzalcoatl seems to freeze in midair before abruptly twisting away, allowing a sudden fiery whirlwind seemingly born from nowhere to crash into Arthur.

Of course, such an attack has no effect on Arthur. 

Another quick swipe of her still-sheathed sword unleashed an equally massive wind blast that disperses the fiery vortex into nothingness. Nevertheless, the whirlwind accomplishes its main goal, a smoke screen. Quetzalcoatl is once again at a distance from Arthur, right where she had been when the sudden bout had started.

"Not bad, amigo… But not good enough!" Quetzalcoatl says again in her usual playful tone, making it clear that she finds more amusement than seriousness in their fight. 

Grinning wide enough to show off every tooth in her mouth, she lunges forward again, dropping low once again, but not repeating her previous attack. Instead of delivering the expected sharp kick or sweep with her leg, she slams her feet into the ground, kicking up an enormous cloud of dust. Using it as cover, and with her great speed to run around Arthur, appearing behind her back.

“Haha!” With a laughing cheer, the Goddess started her assault with a punch that belied her massive strength behind it.

Arthur, this time barely restraining herself after having decently estimated Quetzalcoatl’s physical ability, with a twist of her hips, turned around and greeted the Goddess’s maneuver with a thrust of her own sword. 

Fist meets sheathed blade, and it stops the Goddess dead in her leap of attack. Arthur of course would not miss her chance where the Goddess’s momentum was halted, and she was stuck in the air. With a practiced ease her other gauntleted hand punched forward towards the Goddess, who had to block the attack as her feet finally found the group, even as the sheathed blade once again sought to find purchase on her body.

Blocking the fist and blade combo sideways, and was forced to jump again as Arthur’s follow-up, a leg sweep, forced the Goddess to jump, narrowly avoiding the attack. Right into Arthur’s next attack, as she sheathed sword once again flashed ahead towards Quetzalcoatl’s chest.

For the first time in their brief yet intense exchange of blows, Quetzalcoatl was forced to defend herself.

With no avenue to dodge the attack, Quetzalcoatl crossed her hands in front of her chest to block Arthur’s sheathed blade. However, instead of being sent flying backward like a cannonball—her body, caught by a sudden wind current, twisted in the air in an unreal pirouette, dodging the strike. The goddess's foot slams into Arthur's outstretched arm, and a lightning bolt crashes down from the sky to strike Arthur. Both the dodging of Arthur’s strike and the subsequent counter-attack, proof of Quetzalcoatl’s control of the very air. Though the lightning strike, more a rebuke than an actual attack.

Arthur doesn't even move to defend herself against Quetzalcoatl’s attack.

"My apologies." Arthur’s expression remains unchanged after the quick exchange of attacks that didn’t even take a moment before she returns her arm, holding her sheathed blade back to her body, covering her elbow lightly. "I thought if I didn’t hold back too much, I'd accidentally kill you."

"No biggie, amigo!" Quetzalcoatl beams widely in response before dramatically brushing a hand through her hair. A couple of strands appear to have been scorched away, leaving no trace behind, as if they were cut rather than burnt—or perhaps disintegrated. "Many underestimate me."

Quetzalcoatl then theatrically brings her hands back while rolling her shoulders and neck slightly, without losing the triumphant grin etched on her face. "Does that mean you’ll stop holding back with me?"

"I didn’t say that," Arthur studies Quetzalcoatl carefully. "I’ll still have to hold back to avoid killing you. Just a little less."

"Your words wound me, darling!" Quetzalcoatl, unfazed by Arthur's response, claps her hands together before half-opening her eyes in a ferocious sneer. "Then I’ll be the first to stop holding back…"

***

"Hmm, what about Quetzalcoatl?" Angrboda moves alongside Jaguar, watching as the latter struggles to keep up with her newfound mother while also desperately trying to find a way out of her grasp. Suddenly it was as if the familiar jungle had been transformed into a labyrinth of traps and dead ends. "You said she should be nearby?"

"Yeah," Jaguar responds weakly, finding no escape route and reluctantly forced to lead slash follow behind Angrboda, and after swallowing hard, she timidly adds, "Angrboda…"

"I told you to call me 'Mom'!" Angrboda immediately spins towards Jaguar, her brows slightly furrowing—not in anger, but more as a mild, motherly exasperation. However, to the fear-ridden mind of Jaguar, her expression looked like every possible nightmare from Hell.

"Of course, Mom! Absolutely, Mommy! I'll always call you that, Mother!" Jaguar takes an involuntary step back, frantically spewing out words, as if trying to build a verbal shield against Angrboda's approach.

"Now, now, there's no need to worry and be scared." Angrboda forgets that just a few moments ago, she was literally trying to tear Jaguar apart, her expression softening into a good-natured smile as she reaches out to ruffle Jaguar's hair. "Nothing bad is happening. Trust your mother!"

It's hard to say whether Jaguar is affected more by Angrboda's current non-threatening behavior or by her own feline nature, but after a few seconds, the tension, and fear begin to leave her posture. She had even leaned her head into Angrboda’s hand, like a cheeky cat demanding affection—a gesture Angrboda is more than happy to indulge.

"So, what can you tell me about this ‘Quetzalcoatl’? Arthur seems to be having some fun with her." After running her fingers through Jaguar's hair for several seconds, Angrboda accurately determines the direction of the ongoing battle between Arthur and Quetzalcoatl. They were loud enough that the whole forest probably heard their fight, if not for the frequent mini-earthquakes being obvious signs. 

Just by the fact that the bloodlust is practically absent from both opponents — Angrboda can tell without even glancing at the fight that this current skirmish could only be described as 'playful' for the two participants. However, Jaguar flinched, as another earthquake rumbled, its epicenter somewhere in the distance, as ominous explosions resounded throughout the whole forest from the clashes of the two opponents.

"Quetzalcoatl is my enemy!" Jaguar declares almost proudly before averting her gaze, suddenly losing some of her confidence. "Well, I mean… we should be enemies, but… I'm not exactly her enemy… And I'm not in my full form—so I'm not even fully the one who should be her enemy…"

"Hmm?" Angrboda halted for a moment from the strange statement before continuing on, and this time, Jaguar follows on her own feet. "What exactly are you talking about?"

"Tezcatlipoca is the enemy of Quetzalcoatl, and I am Tezcatlipoca… Or rather, his embodiment." Jaguar looks away, following behind Angrboda with halting steps, as if it saddens her to admit that she is definitely not currently at the level of power needed to consider herself a worthy enemy for Quetzalcoatl. 

"So if I were in my full power and in my embodiment as Tezcatlipoca, I would definitely be an enemy of Quetzalcoatl. But right now, I'm in Jaguar form, so I can't be a worthy enemy or rival for Quetzalcoatl… But we are still enemies!" Despite her despondence, Jaguar still tries to puff her chest up. 

"Just not quite the way we could have been!"

Angrboda glances back at Jaguar before continuing forward. Honestly, Angrboda didn't expect much from this world—not even from a grand name like Quetzalcoatl, even if she shared the name of one of the Eight Dragons, a World Enemy, Feathered Serpent, Quetzalcoatl, Dragon of Primordial Fire.

However, learning that Jaguar considered herself an opponent for this world's Quetzalcoatl still leaves Angrboda feeling somewhat saddened, as if her declaration casts a shadow on the great dragon of the past.

Of course, Angrboda harbored deep affection for her child, even if she’s from this world and not hers. However, she wasn't one of those mothers who were convinced that their child was the best among all possible children—or that all her children deserved endless love simply by virtue of being Angrboda's children. 

No, Angrboda embodied the motherhood of wild beasts, she’s capable of tearing apart their own offspring if they were not adequately prepared for independent survival in the wild. Better dying at her hands and returning the strength so that their other siblings can survive, rather than go out to the wider world and become some other’s prey. 

And because she lacked that motherly love that clouded others’ judgment, Angrboda could admit that she felt some sympathy for the name of Quetzalcoatl if this Jaguar could pose any kind of opposition to it, she was that weak.

After all, there weren't many monsters in the world that weren't directly or indirectly her children. And World Enemies like Quetzalcoatl—whom even she had only heard legends about rather than seen in person—commanded her respect. To learn that their name had fallen so low in this world… 

It elicited an involuntary feeling of sadness in Angrboda.

"M-Mom? Mom, maybe it's just me, but… I somehow feel like you're not showing me much motherly love right now!" Jaguar had become slightly bolder thanks to the fact that Angrboda clearly wasn't planning on killing her at the moment and was even willing to ruffle her hair. She looks up at Angrboda, expecting reassurance that Angrboda truly loved Jaguar and wasn't thinking anything like that.

"Let's go," Angrboda simply sighed despondent at her lacking children, and quickly strides forward. "I want to see this world's Quetzalcoatl—maybe she has information on what's going on in this Singularity…"

"Mom, wait! You're talking like I don't have any such knowledge!" Jaguar exclaims indignantly as she hurries after Angrboda.

"Do you have any?" Angrboda asks with a glance at Jaguar as she pauses momentarily.

"No…" Jaguar's attempt to appear more important failed instantly, as she deflated before Angrboda’s disappointed gaze, even as she grabbed onto a lifeline with all her strength. 

"But I could have!!"

Angrboda just gives Jaguar another disappointed look before hastening ahead again, forcing Jaguar to rush after her. Jaguar’s words like wind in the air, unheard by all. 

"First Quetzalcoatl, now you… I am a Divine Spirit—why does everyone treat me like an empty space!?"

***

Alturia made her way along the wall, examining the scattered corpses of monsters around her. She stabbed a few more that seemed to show signs of survival, ensuring that the attack on this wall was over at last. At least for today.

“Thank you, thank you very much!” The voice of a soldier echoed, causing Alturia to glance toward the speaker. She saw an older man bowing deeply in respect. Alturia pondered about what she should do for a moment before waving her hand dismissively, not bothering with a reply.

Now alone again, she then shifted her gaze to the restless Black Sea beyond the walls of Gilgamesh's kingdom.

“Hmm…” A sudden voice beside her drew Alturia's attention to the imposing figure of a wandering monk who had suddenly appeared. She glanced at the man without responding or reacting in any way. 

“No reaction? That's a pity. I was hoping you had cooled down after our little quarrel.”

Alturia had to strain her memory to recall when she had quarreled with Benkei before concluding that she did not remember such an event. She strained her mind again, this time analyzing what Benkei might have perceived as a quarrel. 

“Are you talking about Ushiwakamaru's clothing, or more to the point, her lack of one?”

“Ahem, yes,” Benkei turned slightly to the side, his face reddening slightly, clearly avoiding Alturia's gaze.

“I do not consider something as paltry as that, a quarrel, a disagreement, perhaps. But, it is indeed not fitting for a noble samurai, to wear clothing that not even women of the night would find proper.” Alturia, who always tried to maintain a neutral expression, involuntarily grimaced slightly. 

Without delving into long and clearly unsuitable philosophical musings on the nature of physical relationships—something she understood little about, as a Divine Spirit born from King Arthur. Alturia simply found it unpleasant to look at Ushiwakamaru's appearance… and at how Benkei, who was supposed to be her devoted follower, looked at her. Worse, to let it continue and let others see.

“Ahem, in any case,” Benkei, realizing that he should immediately change the subject before Alturia would begin with a lecture on propriety, latched onto a new one. “Thank you for your help; we didn’t lose any soldiers today.”

“It was not difficult.” Alturia responded honestly, even if it might sound like bragging, that was simply her honest option. As, despite the multitude of monsters, hardly any of them posed a significant threat to a nearly divine being like her. She didn’t even need to call on Llamrei to aid her.

“Hmm, it's hard to tell whether that sounds more like arrogance or modesty, but either way—thank you,” Benkei smiled slightly before nodding slightly toward Alturia.

Alturia almost reverted back to her usual response to praise, to that of non-expression, little better as a statue, before a curiosity forced her to ask a question. At least Benkei would have some experience with the matter. 

“Why do they thank me?”

“Hmm?” Benkei blinked in confusion. “Because you helped them?”

“Aren’t we allies? Is my help not something expected?” Alturia raised an eyebrow, asking what seemed to her the most logical question under the circumstances. “These soldiers and you—my aid is expected in defending the wall from attacking monsters, what is the point of expressing gratitude for that?”

“Ahem… Politeness?” Benkei furrowed his brow slightly, struggling to understand Alturia's questions.

“Politeness?” Alturia ran the logically understandable but internally unacceptable word through her mind. “If this is done to influence my feelings and convince me to continue aiding in the defense of the wall, it makes no sense. I will continue doing so until I receive another order, and when I do, no amount of politeness would persuade me to remain at this wall further.”

“Hmm… perhaps,” Benkei sighed and was forced to admit the truth in Alturia's words. He then looked up at the darkened sky, faintly lit by early evening stars before continuing on.

“But… So what?”

Alturia blinked at the rather nonsensical reply before frowning slightly, expecting Benkei to continue. And seeing the confusion in Alturia’s face, he did finally continue speaking his point.

“People are irrational by nature. You could say that gratitude shown after receiving help is just an irrational habit. Neither I nor the soldiers on the wall had devised some genius, intricate scheme to convince you to disobey your orders if you were suddenly ordered away from the wall. Probably, you could say they show politeness more for themselves than for you.”

“And what’s the point in that,” Alturia tried to imagine how words of thanks, given to other people no less, could help the soldiers on the wall, but Benkei only shrugged.

“I don’t know. People are irrational. I could try to come up with some wise kōan about human emotions and reason, after all it's part of my prerogative as a wandering monk, but honestly… I just don't know why people do what they do, and no one can be certain about it, either.” Benkei spread his arms slightly before continuing on.

“That's why they do it. They speak, they feel, they live—because they don’t know why they do these things. If people thought about every step they were about to take—they wouldn’t be able to move.”

A smile and a joking mood then struck Benkei as he remembered a certain funny anecdote that he had heard somewhere.

“Literally—walking is an incredibly complex mechanism of biomechanics: thousands of chemical processes, a complex system of electrical impulses, muscle tension and relaxation needed to be done in the correct order, all just for one step. If people knew how truly complicated walking is—they wouldn’t be able to do it.” Benkei spread his arms further and took a small step forward, as if to demonstrate the feat.

“But they don’t know this—and so they keep walking.”

These words caused Alturia to ponder deeply before she finally spoke again.

“You said you wouldn't speak in wise kōans.”

“That wasn't a kōan. Just the musings of an old wandering vagabond who has done many things and still doesn't know why he did them,” Benkei looked away from Alturia before beginning to walk past her.

“So… would you like to join the soldiers for a little celebration after your patrol? I believe Lord Ushiwakamaru would be glad to see you at the small celebration in honor of surviving yet another day.”

For a moment, Alturia opened her mouth to ask why she would need to be present at such a celebration and why it was happening right now. But then she closed her mouth, nodding silently, and started following behind Benkei.

Sometimes the question ‘why’ or ‘for what purpose’ is indeed the most foolish question one could ask.