Grand Foreigner (Chapters 1- 200)

Chapter 62

Sitting on a beach near the edge of the island looking at the waves ceaselessly crashing before it, Ainz was deep in thought.

Slowly, the waves continued to roll one on top of another, crawling onto the sandy beach with all the noise that accompanied its passing.

This rhythmic tidal sound was quite relaxing. Pacifying. Refreshing even to his troubled mind.

It's funny. A really funny thing to consider.

The singularities were the "events" - in game terminology - through which he progressed through the "story". In fact, it was but a test of his skills as a "player" - "can you defeat this monster?", "can you solve these riddles?", "Will your allies survive?" Game conventions, the elusive moving plot. A linear progression of "events" steadily becoming more challenging in turn. For him, as a "player", there was no point in caring of the outcome of this "event", except whether or not he would "lose" or "win". The things that a "player" cared about were from the category of "what resources can I find there?", "What kind of opponent will I meet there?", "Will I like one of the newly introduced NPC's?". At least it should have been, if it were a game. From the player's point of view, Humanity's continued existence, this all represented nothing but a big "event" - one of hundreds of similar ones. "Humanity was destroyed" - an interesting approach to the narrative, but in the end - just a meaningless part of the "lore" that builds the next "event".

But if you were to look at such an "event" not from the perspective of some outside "player", but from the point of view of the "NPC's" living in this world? What was he supposed to feel? Horror? Determination? Anger? Apathy?

Did it make him a bad person that before his conversation with Mashu he had not even tried to look at the situation "seriously"? Should he have been trying to understand the point of view of those living in this world? Or should he discard these thoughts and not bother with such "trivial" things? What would his guildmates say?

Ainz was not sure.

The waves beneath his feet slowly crept onto the coastal line, leaving only wet sand.

Sitting on a small rock, legs dangling, looking at the surf, Ainz was currently lost in his head. All the time it seemed to him that the correct answer to all these questions, one that would solve all his problems and worries all at once, was close by, but he couldn't grab hold of it, and the answer remained within his reach, but infuriatingly remained completely unattainable for Ainz.

"I wonder if philosophers who ruminate about the meaning of life feel this way." - Ainz stared at the wave breaking over the sands gently rolling through, after which he shook his head and looked away.

To discover Cainabel, who is currently walking towards him.

"My lord," the girl bowed, after which, glancing at Ainz who was glancing at the ocean, quickly followed the direction of his gaze, and smiled. "Are you contemplating the beauty of nature?"

"Not really," Ainz sighed and looked at the glittering sea. The waves slowly overcame the preceding one, calming Ainz, - "I'm just looking at the sea... A lot of time has passed since I last saw it."

There were seas in Yggdrasil of course, but Yggdrasil in the end remained but a game.

Although recently, Ainz was no longer sure what he could consider but a game, and what was reality.

"Hm, really," Cainabel glanced at the sea, then smiled to herself. "To be honest, I also haven't seen the sea for a long time."

Cainabel, as befits her in-game status as a boss, had her own "dungeon" - her permanent residence, the Blood Gardens. From the very beginning of the "event" and its existence to the moment when the "event" along with it ended, Cainabel was always in the "dungeon" and never left its premise. Naturally, being stuck in her location Cainabel could not see the sea.