Pestonya Shortcake Wanko liked her job.
As the headmaid of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, she held a fairly high position, with 41 wonderful subordinates who never gave her any reason for worry, and was blessed with a workplace she was sure made many of her fellow creations envious.
While every inch of Nazarick could be regarded as sacred, she was of the opinion that the 9th and 10th floors were still the most special places in the tomb, for the sole reason that these were the floors where the Supreme Beings resided.
She had often seen them through her work.
One of the perks of being a maid was the opportunity to listen to her masters talking with each other.
She didn't always understand the words or the topics of their conversations, but just listening to their voices and the subjects that they considered important already made her feel blessed in many ways.
For this reason, Pestonya believed she understood the Supreme Beings better than most of her colleagues, though this opinion was best left unsaid, since many of her colleagues wouldn't take kindly to hearing that.
Yes.
She loved her job, but there were days when a difficult situation would emerge.
One not caused by her master, but by her troublesome colleagues, and today was one such day.
Pestonya moved through the halls with quick, but elegant, steps.
As a level 86 Cleric, she had an impressive physical capacity that dwarfed the other maids on the floor, so this amount of exertion was not enough to put her out of breath.
It didn't take long before she saw her target.
Sebas spotted her immediately, turning his sharp gaze in her direction before giving her a smile.
"Pestonya, to what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting?"
Sebas was by himself, with none of the Pleiades following him.
"Sebas-sama." She greeted him respectfully, for he was now the highest authority on this floor, having been promoted to a Floor Guardian a few days prior.
"Just Sebas is fine, no need to add a 'sama'."
"Sebas then. Did the Pleiades tell you what's going to happen on the floor?"
"Yuri Alpha did tell me that many high-level servants will descend onto this floor for an important meeting, but that since it's something exclusive to female servants, she didn't feel it was her place to tell me the details, only that it was a meeting meant to better fulfill one of Ainz-sama's requests," Sebas spoke as he held his chin, a gesture full of the elegance expected of a butler of Nazarick.
Pestonya could understand Yuri Alpha's resistance to telling Sebas the whole story, but as the one responsible for the safety of her fragile subordinates, she would need to ask for Sebas' help.
"This meeting is actually meant to decide on a human form befitting of Ainz-sama for his next outing." She then looked him in the eyes.
"Albedo and Shalltear will attend this meeting, and I fear that due to the subject to be discussed, things could grow heated, and the regular maids will also attend, so can I ask you to help maintain the security through it?"
***
An immense round table filled most of the room.
With 41 seats, this table was where the 41 members of Ainz Ooal Gown gathered to discuss and decide on important matters.
Pestonya remembered how lively this place had been, with many of the Supreme Beings yelling at each other as they sat on these same seats.
She especially liked how Ankoro Mochimochi, her creator, would always greet her whenever she passed by her.
But as more and more of the Supreme Beings left, this place began to have another significance for her.
Her master, Ainz-sama, seemed to share her feelings on the matter.
His eyes would always dim whenever he looked at the empty seats on the round table.
Maybe it was for this reason that he ordered them to use this place whenever a meeting was needed to decide something.
She and her subordinates had arrived earlier and spent a good amount of time cleaning every nook and cranny of this important place in preparation for the first meeting to be held here since Ainz had allowed them to use it.
At the moment, she stayed with Sebas at the entrance to this room to greet the important people who would soon arrive.
Behind each of the 41 chairs stood one of the regular maids who worked on the floor, ready to attend to the guests coming to the floor.
Mystra, the Vice-Floor Guardian of the 9th floor, sat in one of these chairs, surrounded by 5 of the Pleiades.
Despite living on the same floor, this was only the second time Pestonya had seen Mystra.
She wore a lustrous green robe that hid most of her figure, leaving only her golden skull and black eyes exposed.
Those dark flames seemed to move with utter disinterest as she looked through the room.
From what she had heard, if something wasn't about either magic, Ainz-sama, or one of her siblings, it was very hard to catch Mystra's interest.
Albedo and Nyx were the first to come.
They made their way through the room, offering light greetings to those inside.
Following them was a human woman.
Nyx explained that this woman would be accompanying Shalltear and Pandora's Actor on a mission by Ainz-sama's orders, so no one objected to her presence there. She was made to stand at a corner and ordered to remain quiet unless someone addressed her first.
Albedo sat in the rightmost seat, with Nyx by her side.
After them came Thalia and Aureole Omega, the ones who had summoned this reunion.
They said that Rubedo declined to participate, claiming that they needed someone to defend the tomb, and went all the way to the 1st floor to stand guard.
Then came Hela, the Vice-Floor Guardian of the 7th floor, who only acknowledged Nyx and Mystra before sitting at a random chair.
After that came Aura and Artemis of the 6th floor, then Nethys came, accompanied by Nigredo and Neuronist representing the 5th floor.
And finally, Shalltear and Eris made their entrance.
Almost 60 women in total came to the room, with 42 maids, Sebas, and Emilia standing, and the rest sitting on some of the 41 seats.
Pestonya felt nervous looking at the seating arrangements.
At the table, 3 factions were formed.
To the right was a faction led by Albedo.
To the left, one led by Shalltear.
And between them, a neutral faction led by Aura.
The 3 highest-ranking women remained silent, but Pestonya could see that sparks were already flying between them.
After everyone had made themselves comfortable, Thalia stood up and addressed them.
"Thank you all for coming here today. As you might already know, Ainz-sama asked me to create a painting of a heroic human that could represent him, something that I deemed too important to decide by myself, so I ask for all of you to share your opinions on this matter." Thalia then made a slight bow and sat on her chair once again.
Noises of agreement filled the table, with no one thinking that she was wrong in calling forth this meeting.
Seeing that everyone was on the same page, Albedo spoke next.
"Thank you, Thalia. To use the appearance of such an inferior life form to represent Ainz-sama is indeed an extremely difficult task, no offense, Aureole Omega."
"None taken."
"As such, let's open this meeting by asking, are there any suggestions?" Albedo let her gaze drift through the people at the table.
"I have one." Aura was the first to raise her hand.
"What is it, Aura?"
"I think Ainz-sama should have brown skin." She then looked at Artemis by her side, who also nodded in agreement.
Looking around, most women were either in agreement or indifferent about the choice, but then a loud sound interrupted them.
"Hmph, I don't agree, Shorty!" Shalltear banged her fist against the table.
"Why should Ainz-sama have brown skin?"
"Why not, fake boobs?" Aura replied, emitting her hostility.
"You!!!!"
Shalltear got up and began to walk towards Aura.
"Shalltear, go back to your seat right now!" Albedo yelled from her seat, and Sebas silently moved to stand between the two Floor Guardians.
"Shalltear, please calm yourself. This is not a place for two servants of Nazarick to be fighting each other." Sebas turned his gaze to the symbol of Ainz Ooal Gown on the table and then looked back at her.
Seeing the symbol of the Supreme Beings in front of her finally calmed Shalltear, who reluctantly returned to her seat.
"Hmph! I say that Ainz-sama should have white skin, just like his bones, and also red eyes." She expressed her stance.
Silence fell over the table as everyone considered her proposition, even Aura.
Maintaining Ainz-sama's color scheme was a compelling argument that needed to be taken seriously.
"Wouldn't having pale skin and red eyes make Ainz-sama look like a vampire?" Yuri Alpha was the one to interrupt the silence.
"And what is the problem with that?" Shalltear was not convinced.
"Well, isn't Ainz-sama supposed to look like a human? If he is mistaken for a vampire, wouldn't that defeat the purpose of his disguise?"
"Tsk!"
"Ugh, why don't we just keep the skin brown and the eyes red and move on to another topic?" Finding the back-and-forth annoying, Hela intervened.
"Fine! x2," The two Floor Guardians agreed.
After overcoming the biggest hurdle, the discussion continued at a rapid pace.
Albedo: What body type is most appropriate for Ainz-sama?
Nethys: I think Ainz-sama should have a muscular warrior's body.
Mystra: But isn't Ainz-sama an arcane magic caster? It would make more sense for him to have a scholarly build.
Shalltear: I want to be held by the muscular Ainz-sama~~
Aura: I think he should have a slender build, not too muscular, but not too lean either.
Yuri Alpha: I agree with Nethys-sama, a warrior build is the way to go.
Narberal Gama: I disagree, Ainz-sama as an arcane caster is way cooler.
Albedo: It's hard to choose; both options are very tantalizing.
Eris: Ainz-sama already has the charm of a magic caster, so there's no need for his body to reflect that, and between a warrior and a caster, it's obvious who has the superior body, and shouldn't Ainz-sama's form be the best in every way to be befitting of him?
Once again, silence fell over the table.
Albedo: Does anyone still disagree with Nethys? If not, we'll pass to the next topic.
And no one objected.
Like this, they decided on the amount of body hair for the human form, as well as whether it should or should not have a beard. The size of the eyes, their curvature, the angle of the nose, the sharpness of the cheekbones, and the percentage of body fat on the body.
Point by point, the meeting covered every aspect the members thought relevant, but just as it looked like everyone was ready to wrap up, something came up.
Shalltear: Ainz-sama should have a big dick.
It was an outrageous statement, but one delivered with such certainty that the people around the table took a moment to process it.
Nyx: What are you talking about, Shalltear?
Artemis: Isn't this inappropriate? How could you talk about such a private thing of Ainz-sama?
Aura: What is a dick?
Neuronist: Fufufu, but isn't this nice?
Eris: Shalltear, sometimes even I have a hard time understanding how your mind works.
Albedo: Silence! Let her elaborate. I think Shalltear is on to something.
From interest to confusion to disgust to outrage, the women on the table reacted differently, but upon hearing Albedo, all of them turned to look at Shalltear, who remained unfazed by their reactions.
Shalltear: I mean, don't you guys think that Ainz-sama would have a big one? Or what, do you think a small dick would be befitting of someone of Ainz-sama's stature?
Faced with this ironclad logic, everyone turned silent.
Shalltear may be crude, but her words resonated with all of them, and in their hearts, they knew her to be correct.
Well, all except one.
Aura: Guys, what is a dick?