Antikythera stepped into a vast prairie which stretched as far as the eye could see. It surrounded a multitude of steel beams jutting out of the ground, construction lights illuminated the nd around the steel beams in a 60 to 60 meter radius, automatons and construction vehicles of different sizes moved in all directions while carrying or doing over a dozen different things.

  The chaos of it all was undermined by a sense of efficiency, and Antikythera knew that when viewed from above, the constant movement, seemingly erratic pathways of the machines, and non-stop whirring of engines would become a canvas of mesmerizing art accompanied by a symphony that only cshing metal was able to produce.

  It was like if one viewed ants and their perfect coordination as they tore through carrion and brought it back to their home, all done in a single-file line with no wasted movement.

  Antikythera was unable to physically view this phenomenon, he was simply too small to do so, but he could feel it happening through his connection with the minds of the vehicles and automatons. He knew why they were going in this direction or why they picked up this item; he also recognized why some shifted their priorities with seemingly no reason.

  Hana was somewhere inside of this chaotic pce, helping guide everything else as they built the factory. Her mind was connected to all of them as well, and Antikythera could feel her looking at him. He wondered where Hana's physical body was as he went under the construction lights, his lenses automatically shifting in response to the sudden change in brightness, allowing him to see much more clearly.

  Antikythera never found Hana's body before he picked up the artificer's written report on her progress with the factory.

  He brought it back to Nazarick, and after handing one copy to Sakai and reserving another copy for Albedo, he went ahead and waited in the Overseer's office for Demiurge to arrive so that they could start their meeting properly. Albedo had pnned this gathering shortly after Antikythera started teaching Ninya, and bits of information on what they should discuss filtered into the Automaton's mind over the course of the entire day.

  When Demiurge entered, the meeting officially started.

  "We will stay here for the rest of the night, and the meeting will conclude come dawn. If any of you have any problems with this, please speak up," Albedo began. "I value your time and know that your projects are for the benefit of Nazarick and Lord Ainz. If you have a reason to leave the meeting at some point, tell me what it is, and I'll consider if it is important enough for you to be allowed to leave."

  "My schedule has been emptied," Demiurge told the succubus with confidence. "Anything I need to do is currently being handled by my summons."

  "My current experiment requires my subject to rest every day for maximum efficiency." Antikythera didn't need to expin any further; after all, all three of them knew just how fragile organics could be—especially mortals with little to no personal power.

  "To start, Lord Ainz's progress in the city called E-Rantel has been pretty substantial. He has met someone with a talent that allows them to use ALL magic items and has informed me to see the limits of such a powerful ability." Albedo started the meeting now that there were no objections from the parties present nor a possibility of it being cut short. "He was at some point asked by the talent holder to guard him as he gathered herbs, but Lord Ainz denied the request when he learned that the human holds such a powerful talent."

  "Does it allow him to use World Items?" Demiurge's concern wafted off of him in waves.

  "Lord Ainz feared its possibility." Albedo nodded.

  "What happened to him?" Antikythera thought that the talent holder must have been kidnapped and dispatched, right? It only made sense.

  "Lord Ainz has given him an orb of death, an item unique to this world which contains a soul. As strange as that may sound," Albedo grabbed a sheet of paper and handed it to Antikythera, "that is our full report on the item."

  "He took it from someone? Where are they?" Antikythera stopped reading to ask what he deemed an important question.

  "Dead." Albedo was blunt and didn't hide a single detail.

  "Dead. Lord Ainz killed them?" Antikythera once more read through the transcript Narberal Gamma gathered from the conversation between the now-deceased necromancer and Lord Ainz. "It says here the man compined about being punished by a group of people. Do we not know who they are?"

  "If I may," Demiurge stepped in, "I have heard a second account retelling of the event from our source within the royal castle of Re-Estize, and she said that people occasionally heard manic ughter coming from the graveyard where Lord Ainz fought the necromancer."

  "He was manic then," Antikythera guessed. "Someone in that state of mind would be of no use to us, even if they knew the location of potential targets."

  "They would simply kill him, yes. And with our previous experiences reted to spells which prevented people from leaking information, it is safe to assume that we wouldn't get anything from him even if he was kept alive." Albedo agreed with the room's general sentiment. "It was wise of Lord Ainz to kill him and transfer the ownership of the orb to the talent holder."

  "I see. Then it is safe to say that we wait for Lord Ainz's pn to come to fruition? With such a potent talent in the hands of the orb's new owner, I am sure it won't take long before the group the necromancer fears takes notice of him, no?" Demiurge looked around for confirmation. He smiled when he saw his colleagues nod.

  "Who is Clementine? And why was the necromancer compining about not receiving her help?" Antikythera continued reading through the transcript once the conversation lulled.

  "The Hanzos told me that she is a volunteer at some local charity. She is currently feeding the citizens after such a massive event happened around E-Rantel." Albedo sounded confused by her own answer. "I have tasked the Hanzos to find more information on her, but they have yet to return to me with anything substantial."

  "She should be an important individual. Otherwise, I simply do not see how or why the necromancer would compin about her not helping out with his ritual." Antikythera pointed out. Of course, Albedo and Demiurge agreed, but they too had no answer for why this was the case.

  "With the events of E-Rantel finished, Lord Ainz's adventurer persona has now been officially recognized as Adamantium rank. It won't be long before he finds a way to connect to Red Drop." Albedo shared the good news.

  Antikythera returned the paper which listed out the orb of death's properties as well as its recent history. He was sure that it would accumute more words over time—its new owner seemed competent enough to give them several pages' worth of data. And with Lord Ainz encouraging the orb—which was subservient to him—to whisper that his grandmother was not killed by his own hands but rather by the group of necromancers looking to end the world, he was sure to figure out a way to find the ones responsible for orchestrating the travesty that was now his life.

  Their topic of conversation moved on to Demiurge's test progress, and the Archfiend had made substantial leaps these st few days, with him contacting a princess, starting his farm, and beginning his pns for his own persona which would influence the wider world.

  ===========

  And so, Saint Clementine makes her entrance. This is, by far, my most favorite version of Clementine second only to her Christmas Kitty Cat cospy in one of the novel's artworks (THANK GOD THE ARTIST FOR THE NOVEL (SO BIN) LIKES CLEMENTINE OTHERWISE WE WOULDN'T EVEN BE BLESSED BY SUCH GREAT ART).

  Also, if you recognize this particur version of Clementine, then you know where things are heading for the New World.

  Oh and Nferia is there too I guess, I wanted to try out something new with him and this is what I came up with.