Strings Wrapped Around A Bone

The Necromancer and the Puppeteer

As they carried on with their banter, unbeknownst to the two mages, the aggro was now on both of them. Their other teammates did warn them, but the two were too keep in the heat of the argument that the warning fell on deaf ears. Sensing as though the fighting had stopped, they looked towards battle to see that the boss was charging the last attack to them.

"AHHH!" They both wailed in unison as the boss knocked both of their health to 0.
Once they got back from their spawn point in Niflheim to the middle Múspellsheim where the raid took place, they both got laughed at and made fun of by the other guild members. This story was usually shared by the original founders with new players who joined the guild.

________________________________________________________________________________

Finding clarity in his fond memory, Momonga spoke up, "Bijou may be a coward, but she is no outsider," his voice bellowed sternly as if a worse fate would befall those who imply otherwise.

"My deepest apologies for having mere opposing thoughts, Momonga-sama." Albedo bowed, face looking ashamed.
"It's alright Albedo, as long as you understand that she is a very important person to me," He waved his hand, to add that there was no bad blood.

Now that he thinks about it since the NPCs are more life-like, would the items float like they usually do if you unequip them? Just as he finishes his thoughts, he uncurls his bony fingers from the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, and like his hypothesis, it floats, defying the laws of physics.

If the items work the way they usually do, what about skills and spells? If he can't use his spells, he's as good as dead. 'Seems like I have to test if I can still cast magic even without the interface. But casting spells in the throne room is really inappropriate.'

"Albedo," Momonga started, he had to go to the sixth floor, specifically the Amphitheater, "Gather all the floor guardians to meet on the sixth floor, with the exception of the fourth and eighth to meet at the Colosseum within an hour. I will contact Aura and Mare myself."

"Understood, Momonga-sama" Albedo bowed in respect before swiftly exiting the throne room.
Momonga sighs deeply, as he is finally left to himself. This whole situation is turning into a more serious matter than he expected. The NPC seemingly became alive, the illegal beta testing done by some unknown party.
However, there was a more important and serious issue.

Bijou is gone.

________________________________________________________________________________

00:00:00

'Ehh~ I wonder what game I should invite Mochi-kun to play..'

00:00:01

'Ah! Right... I'll have to take care of my laundry, decontamination is such a pain...'

00:00:02

'I'm still in my underwear, gosh, that's a bit embarrassing.'

00:00:03

Kinoshita Shiori opens her eyes, the black screen with a window blaring the notification at her of the server shutdown is absent. The sun is blazing into her eyes, her apartment has no windows. And it definitely couldn't pierce the polluted clouds. Was she still in Yaggasill? "BIJOU - SAMA - IS - CORRECT!" A fast, robotic, and annoying pitch rang into her ear. The one announcing was a Japanese doll, specifically, it looked like a slender feminine woman, made of porcelain, wearing a traditional, fish-themed, kimono.

Well, that's what Shiori saw as she fell down. Having pushed herself away from the tree she was leaning onto, hoping to step away from the loud scream, only to end up on a non-existent patch of land. "AK!" A loose rock underneath her feet followed the flow of gravity, "HAA!" Shiori fumbled against a growing tree sapling at the mountain's edge. "Ow!" The flailing, veiled, puppeteer finally reached her destination at the bottom of the ravine. The rocks, or rather pebbles, she landed on were hard but, thankfully, dull. To add more to her problems her veil tangled around her legs, stopping her attempts at a steady landing.

Groaning while laying her back on the ground, Shiori slowly untangled her veil. Freeing her legs at last, she surveyed a large gash on her calf, the pain came as she took in the severity of the wound. An imp-like laugh reached her from above, only for the laugh to be cut short by what sounded like a bell hitting glass. "How dare you," An echoing, soft, and gentle yet angry voice interrupts the doll and descends in front of Shiori, "Bijou-sama, Suzu apologies for Ningyo's impertinence."

The speaker seems to be a furin, the Japanese wind chime. Its gaiken, the glass-shaped bowl, is made of an illuminated pure crystal. The zetsu, the ringer, is from a small sample of prismatic ore "Celestial Uranium" Momonga gifted her after a day of mining at one of the guild's former mines before it got taken over by a rival guild using the world item 'Ouroboros'. Lastly, the tanzaku, instead of the usual strip of colorful paper, is wood cut from a sakura tree, in the Cherry Blossom Sanctuary when Momonga and the rest first conquered the dungeon, the kanjis 風 and 鈴 were written in ink strokes. The former means wind and the latter means bell, forming 風鈴 or Furin. It is to be noted that the kanjis for bell is written much larger than the kanji for wind, to signify the intended name, "Suzu,"

"Would Bijou-sama like for Suzu to heal her?" The owner of the soft echoing voice continues to bow before Shiori. "...Sure?" And with that her gash was healed, like it was sewed up by a doctor but with invisible thread and needle. With her worries gone away, she crossed her legs and looked around, "Where are we?" They were surrounded by mountains and rocks, trees sparsely placed in between cracks in boulders. "Not - Near - Nazarick - Definitely," Her other NCP voiced her thoughts, Ningyo's voice was less piercing this time. That hit from Suzu had shut her up mostly.

Shiori was still puzzled by how alive her NPCs were but right now they were in the middle of nowhere. Momonga wasn't here, neither was she with him. If he is experiencing the same events she hopes he won't lose too much sanity.

Being quite the complacent person, she could accept the things that the world throws at her as if she were breathing, but now she wonders if her NCPs came alive... would the NPCs in Nazarick be too as well? That theory both excites her and makes her worry, they were made to have low karma for roleplaying purposes, would that affect them too? But if she were to find her fears to be true, would she bring herself to let them do as they were programmed? Shiori wonders if her love for her friends, or her morals were stronger.

As she contemplated her face scrunched up in sadness, outside she was gazing at the passing stream but none were her thoughts focused on the said stream.

A spark interprets her pondering though, her eyes track its position beside her, just as she lands on it, it shoots up, and explodes. "Fireworks?" As the show died down Shiori's eyes darted down to the caster a smile crept on her face, "Are you cheering me up, Ningyo?"

Shiori would have never thought in a million years that her creation could be so cute. "Bijou - Sama - Is - Much - More - Beautiful - With - A - Smile," The doll pouted, looking away embarrassed. "Ningyo, you are so sweet. You too, Suzu." Shiori gave her thanks.

Shiori looked back at the stream, now noticing the schools of fish swimming down the hill.

The bell asked, "But Bijou-sama, where should we accompany you?" Suzu's zetsu clinked against her gaiken as the wind pushed her tanzaku, "Bijou-sama is human, she must eat, and drink. Suzu cannot bear to let her creator rest on dirt."

Suzu was right, the sun won't last forever. Well then, "It seems..." Shiori holds her breath before exclaiming, "THIS BEGINS MY ADVENTURE!!!"