In general, newly summoned Servants at Chaldea followed a fairly predictable pattern of period of adjustment. Especially those of a Royal lineage, or worse, a Divine one.
First, they would attempt to impose their own terms; then, they would clash with Ainz, before losing miserably. Afterward, they would disperse throughout Chaldea, each trying to reconcile their shattered worldview with their new reality. Eventually, boredom would set in, they would emerge from their rooms or whichever closet or room that they decided would be their new haunt, find other Servants, and engage in all sorts of forms of social interaction.
Around this point, Ainz would reappear, before adding the finishing touches of compromises that would allow them to function as members of Chaldea, transitioning them from the ‘completely clueless newbie’ to ‘newcomers’ settling into Chaldea.
There were exceptions, of course, but they are few and far between. Exceptions like Altera, whom Ainz had initially entrusted to Cainabel's care, or Karna, who never quite overcame the ‘getting bored in his room’ stage. As, in his mind, ‘go to your room’ was an order, and Karna was completely unaccustomed to questioning, let alone disobeying, orders.
Most Servants followed a defined path; the exceptions merely proved the existence of the rule.
But if anyone had told Ishtar that she was supposed to follow the ‘rules’, rather than being yet another exception to them, she would have most likely clubbed that ‘someone’ over the head with her bow.
Therefore, as Ainz departed the Summoning Chamber, along with the other Servants, including the Gorgon, who was attempting to piece together the fractured narrative of her life now, and Quetzalcoatl, who was already contemplating potential sparring partners; Ishtar approached Ereshkigal, her eyes narrowed into slits so thin that Ereshkigal was compelled to mirror the expression.
The relationship between the two sisters was ‘complicated’ to say the least.
“There you are,” Ishtar said, tucking her arms under her, if we're being honest, less-than-ample bosom. Romani, sensing the impending ‘sisterly’ showdown, had already made a hasty retreat.
“How long has it been since we've last seen each other?”
Of course, they had fought side-by-side in the Singularity, but that hardly counted as a reunion, merely a brief intersection while on the battlefield, which was not particularly conducive to dialogue. Apart from that, Ishtar and Ereshkigal truly hadn't appeared before each other in a very, very long time.
Ishtar was the Goddess of the Heavens, ruling over all that the sun touched; she was flighty, arrogant, and at times so thoughtless as to be cruel, she had very little to do with the World of the Dead. On the other hand, Ereshkigal was the goddess of the dead, of souls and the underworld; the sun's rays never even threatened to penetrate her realm, and she herself never left it.
The eternal guardian of the deceased never saw the sky, Ishtar's domain.
The only time they met and interacted properly, besides during their birth and the subsequent division of divine domains, was when Ishtar, deciding no one in the world of gods or men could oppose her. Thus, she needed to conquer more — She descended into the Underworld to seize control of the souls of the dead from Ereshkigal.
To say that it was a disaster would be putting it very mildly.
Ishtar, of course, was a goddess of incredible power, but in the underworld, very far away from her divine domain, her strength greatly waned, whereas Ereshkigal, her twin sister who was just as divine as her, was at the very heart of her power and authority. Therefore, Ereshkigal not only defeated Ishtar but did so with humiliating ease, stripping her of her treasures and kicking her back to the surface world – disgraced, weakened, and bereft of all the jewels and artifacts she had collected.
Ishtar, in one of the very few instances of such, had been somewhat humbled by the experience, realizing that arrogance verging on foolishness was too costly for her treasure-hoarding nature. However, she was far from grateful to her sister for the lesson, and a chasm inevitably formed between the two goddesses ever since.
It couldn't be said that they became legendary enemies bent on each other's destruction…
But if one were to imagine the situation, the analogy of ‘one sister taking the other's sports car because she lost it in a card game’ would ring true; not in substance perhaps, but in spirit.
“A long time, indeed.” Ereshkigal replied, crossing her arms over her chest, mimicking both the appearance and mannerisms of her twin.
“What of it?” Ereshkigal replied, a touch curtly.
Unlike Ishtar, Ereshkigal, being the sister who metaphorically took the sports car, had no desire for any future clashes; why would she, having already won the prize? But a certain awkwardness from her victory, even if Ishtar had started the whole thing, and a residual feeling of defensiveness, lingered.
“Nothing,” Ishtar replied just as curtly, then a tense silence descended between the two goddesses, who suddenly started a staring contest, each thoughtfully sizing the other up, trying to figure out where to take the conversation next.
Their pride being quite the fragile thing, neither sister dared be the first to concede metaphorical defeat by backing down. Resigned to a stalemate, they continue giving each other piercing glares, the summoning circle’s steady hum the sole soundtrack to their unspoken ‘duel’.
Into this charged silence stepped the only one who seemed to have misplaced them.
“Who was I missing again?” Looking at the Servants that were following behind him, to Ainz’s shock, it seems that he was missing two.
“Oh, right!” Ainz's skeletal form appeared in the doorway.
“Ishtar and Eresh!”
Trained by years of sisterly squabbles, the scarce meeting between sisters always being memorable, Ishtar's mouth was already open, ready to launch into a tirade. How could he forget the most dazzling goddess in the world, then mention her name as if she were a forgotten loaf of bread?
But before she could let loose, a strangled sob cut her off.
“Eresh?!”
Startled, Ainz blinked in surprise, looking all over the room for the source of the sound.
“Huh?” He traced the sound back to Ereshkigal, desperately trying to pinpoint the source of his offense. Had he been too informal? He knew the type — overly-familiar bosses who called their subordinates cutesy nicknames, imposing it unilaterally, uncaring if said subordinate actually liked the nickname. Was he now that guy?
He'd have to squash this habit immediately if he was turning into that kind of boss; Ainz knew precisely how uncomfortable such forced camaraderie could be.
“No one's ever… given me a nickname before,” Ereshkigal stammered, her gaze fixed on Ainz with a look of surprise and unshed tears. In her isolated underworld, the silent, unthinking spirits were her only companions.
True conversation and companionship had been a luxury long denied to the Goddess of the Underworld.
“Ah, I apologize. Would you prefer I call you Ereshkigal, instead? I know that giving nicknames is a–” Ainz tried to offer, trying to backpedal, but he was stopped immediately.
“No, no! Definitely not!” She quickly waved her hands in dismissal, before realizing that her denial could be taken in the wrong, then collected herself.
“Ahem, what I mean is, I wouldn't be… unduly angered if you continued. In fact, it is… a new experience for me. And not an unwelcome one.” Torn between her desire to keep this rare moment of connection and her duty to maintain her divine authority, she cobbled together a proclamation.
“I shall permit it! So long as you use it with the proper respect, I see no reason to forbid such… a display of reverence!”
Watching this slapdash defense of her sister’s dignity, Ishtar's eyes flicked from Ainz to her sister; and a slow, knowing smirk spread across her face. Seeing that smirk, Ereshkigal could already sense a plan brewing in her sister’s head, and nothing good would come from that.
She blushed, already feeling the phantom sensation of embarrassment.
“What do you want?!” She tried to fold her already-crossed arms even tighter across her chest, as if it would offer her any defense from her sister.
“Oh, nothing~ Nothing at all!” Ishtar sang, her smirk stretching wider still as She let her gaze travel from her flustered sister back to Ainz, savoring the deliberate movement, entirely aware Ereshkigal was watching her every move.
“Absolutely nothing… Hehe…”
“Ahem!” Ereshkigal, realizing any attempt to defend herself would only sound like a desperate justification, more fuel for her sister’s teasing, defiantly raised her chin.
Ainz, lacking the vital organ for deciphering sisterly subtext, raised a skeletal hand to the back of his skull. He scratched at his empty occipital bone in confusion, then ventured, tentatively. It seems that his faux pas was not a faux pas, at all?
“So… I can call you, Eresh?”
“Of course, you… I mean… Hmph!” Ereshkigal's head whipped back towards Ainz, only for her eyes to see Ishtar's grin, now so wide it seemed in danger of splitting her face, her assent dying on her lips.
On one hand, there was the desperate need to wipe that smug look off of Ishtar’s face, on the other hand… was this rare warmth she’s feeling worth sacrificing just to wipe the smug off of her sister’s face?
The scales tipped. There was only one answer.
“Yes, of course! You absolutely can!”
But still, the sight of Ishtar's insufferable smirk demanded retaliation, a new plan formed in Ereshkigal's mind, and as her own smile began to bloom, Ishtar felt a sudden chill running down her back.
Of course, Ainz was ignorant of this whole byplay.
From his perspective, it was as if the sisters were exchanging expressions with each other. As Ereshkigal's smile grew, Ishtar's faded in equal measure. He has no idea what to make of this interaction.
Then, Ereshkigal's arms flew out in a grand gesture, her finger now leveled directly at her sister.
“And Ishtar also deserves a nickname!”
Ainz blinked, his gaze suddenly shifting to Ishtar, unsure of what to do.
Could he even give Ishtar a nickname?
The only reason he called Ereshkigal ‘Eresh’ was because her full name was long, filled with unfamiliar syllables, and it made his tongue clumsy to pronounce. The abbreviation was purely for convenience.
‘Ishtar’, on the other hand, was a short and simple enough name; he saw no reason to shorten it further.
However, if he refused now, would both of them think he was playing favorites?
Ishtar crossed her arms under her chest, ready with a witty retort, but stopped short.
If she rejected a nickname from Ainz, Ereshkigal, her sister, Eresh, would have one; while she, the most beautiful goddess in the world, and the superior sister between the two of them, would be left with nothing!
Nicknames meant little to Ishtar; but what did matter to her, what truly, deeply mattered, was the thought of someone possessing something… that she herself did not!
Her initial plan to lightly mock her sister immediately dissolved in the ether, replaced by the burning desire of one-upmanship. Spinning on her heel, she glared at Ainz with a force that felt almost physical.
“Fine, yes! That's correct! I desire one as well!”
Ainz, once again, unfamiliar with the way the feminine sex of his species thinks, could only blink in confusion.
“Why?”
He couldn’t even imagine a decent nickname for ‘Ishtar’, all his mental attempts resulted in either ‘Ish’, which barely sounded like a name, or ‘Tar’. And the thick black sludge didn’t really bring Ishtar to mind.
However, confronted with the world's simplest question, Ishtar froze, as if she'd run headlong into a concrete wall.
“‘Why?’ You’re asking me, why…?” It was a question Ishtar had never bothered to ask herself. The answer had always been simple; because she was Ishtar, the most beautiful goddess in existence, and by that right, everything belonged to her. Because she couldn’t allow someone else to have something she didn't, especially not her sister, especially not a nickname indicating intimacy and favor, especially not from their shared Master, Ainz.
Her mouth opened to unleash a torrent of words, but she caught sight of Ereshkigal’s smirk, a perfect mirror of her own. And suddenly, her whole tirade disappeared from the tip of her tongue like ash in the wind.
If she said, ‘because Ereshkigal can't have something I don't!’ it would sound like… envy.
Ishtar did not envy Ereshkigal! She couldn’t!
Otherwise, Ereshkigal would bring up her little trip to the underworld, and then Ishtar would be on the receiving end of the teasing…
Without an answer, Ishtar remained frozen, mouth agape, and Ainz mentally counted to five.
Since his return, about five sentences had been spoken, punctuated by silent glaring, incomprehensible smirks, and now… this gaping silence.
Ainz blinked again.
Two sisters. Smirks. Silent staring. Stunned silence…
‘Wait, are they messing with me?!’
The only rational, if mistaken, explanation presented itself.
Just because he viewed himself as the boss and Chaldea as his responsibility didn't mean his Servants saw it the same way.
After all, he was dating his ‘employee’, a multiple of them even! Some of his ‘employees’ mostly spent their time playing video games, or indulging in their hobbies, even if some of it, like training, sparring, or expanding their knowledge could be counted as something that could be related to their ‘employment’. There’s even one or two of them that tried to topple his position, either by asserting their own authority, or by outright trying to kill him!
It wasn't a stretch to imagine two sisters deciding to pull a prank on him.
Realizing this, however, did not help Ainz feel any better about the situation. He wasn't the kind of boss who would fly off the handle over a joke, but being the butt of one was equally undesirable.
The only logical course of action was to leave.
“Alright, I'm heading out.” Ainz turned on his heel, having no further desire to remain in the company of those who saw him as their free source of entertainment.
““Wait!”” The two goddesses, who had been perceiving the situation entirely differently, couldn't let such a thing happen, spoke in stereo.
Ishtar couldn't let him leave after he'd clearly favored Ereshkigal while completely ignoring her; whilst Ereshkigal couldn't let him go after he’d been the first living, relatively speaking, being to show her any level of understanding, or simple kindness, let alone friendship.
Ainz, having taken a step to leave the room, was abruptly halted by two different hands clutching his robe. Untangling himself would be no trouble at all, but seeing such a behavior from the two sisters, their desperation, didn't quite fit his ‘two sisters pranking the new guy’ hypothesis.
He stopped and glanced back at the two goddesses.
“Is there a problem?”
The hands instantly retracted, while the girls exchanged a look, each keenly aware that the first to explain their actions would become the immediate target of the other's scorn. Neither wanted to be that person.
Ainz observed this silent standoff for a few more seconds, then tried to leave again.
“So… I'll be going now?”
““No!”” The two Goddesses once again blurted in unison, their gazes snapping back to him and an unspoken understanding passed between the sisters; if neither made a move, Ainz would indeed just leave this deeply awkward situation.
Ultimately, the one with slightly more self-control, and slightly less childlike confidence in her own divine rightness, caved in first.
“I wouldn't mind talking some more!” Ereshkigal announced.
Before Ishtar could retort, or add her own two cents in, Ereshkigal pressed her advantage.
“Without Ishtar! She is completely unnecessary for our conversation!”
Ishtar, verbally blind-sided by her sister, scowled and crossed her arms.
“I think the exact opposite action should be taken! We need to talk, and without Eresh!” she shot back, her tone and expression reminiscent of a pouting child, even as she unknowingly used the nickname Ainz had given for her sister.
Ainz blinked, an action signified by the momentary snuffing of the crimson flames in his eye sockets, and looked from one goddess to the other. And then back again. His much-lauded intellect finally delivered the answer he'd been missing, an answer he didn't like at all.
“Are they fighting over me… like a toy?!”
The comparison was so accurate, so perfectly fitting the context of everything he'd witnessed, that Ainz felt a brief spark of satisfaction at having pinpointed the root of their conflict, before a second later, the full implication crashed down on him, souring his momentary triumph.
‘Wait. I don't want to be the toy two sisters are fighting over.’
Suddenly, his desire to leave was turbocharged. Being treated like a piece of meat to be divvied up was even less appealing than being the target of a joke.
Ainz felt a sudden migraine assaulting him, something that was supposed to be impossible.
He exhaled and made his decision.
“Alright, I'm going to check on how the other Servants are settling in…”
This time, Ainz ignored the twin cries of protest as their hands reached for him again, but he was already a step ahead, out of their grasp an instant later.
Quickly becoming bereft of the presence of their master, who had bidden a hasty retreat, the realization that he was actually leaving shifted the situation from awkward to critical.
Ishtar reacted first.
“No, wait! The most beautiful goddess in the world… commands you to remain in her presence!”
“I have things to do, so I can't,” Ainz replied with the simplest, most universally effective excuse known to man’ ‘I have work to do’. And it was incredibly effective on the Goddess.
The words seemed to short-circuit Ishtar's brain. She understood the concept of ‘work’, despite her professional laziness and frivolous nature, even she recognized that some tasks were unavoidable. But to choose work over her presence?! The two conflicting ideas collided in her mind, leaving her frozen like a robot given contradictory commands.
Ereshkigal, however, intimately understood the meaning of work, her entire existence revolved around the endless maintenance of the underworld and its captive souls. Realizing that any attempt to simply stop Ainz would fail, she employed a far more elegant solution, one Ishtar might have taken eons to consider.
“Can I come with you?”
Ainz, already a few steps away, stopped.
Ishtar, seeing that she was in danger of being left behind, quickly added herself into her sister’s plan as well.
“Hey, with me too!” Coming in second fiddle, as if she was just an afterthought, was anathema to Ishtar; but it was better to be in second place rather than being disqualified outright.
His first impulse was to say no; but aside from his aversion to being fought over like a prize, he had no real reason to refuse. He'd only been planning a casual walk through Chaldea, and his ‘important’ business was mostly an excuse to escape the two sisters.
Claiming he was on a top-secret mission they couldn't witness would be a blatant lie.
Besides, the goddesses hadn't even left the summoning room yet, they didn't know their way around Chaldea, had no idea where their quarters were, and they certainly didn't know a single thing about the other Servants. And acclimating his new summons to their new surroundings was, after all, his responsibility as their Master.
After a moment, he let out a sigh and turned back.
“Alright… follow me.”
“Excellent!” Ereshkigal immediately appeared at his left, beaming.
She could continue her conversation with Ainz after all!
“Fine, this Goddess will allow it!” Ishtar, despite her words, quickly and excitedly took up a position on Ainz's right, completely unbothered by the disconnect between her pronouncements and her actions. She shot him a smirk.
“Now, about that nickname…”
Ainz could only sigh and mentally bemoan his fate.
If only his ‘collection’ were just a silent, inanimate collection…
***
“And here we have the cafeteria. Archer is almost always here cooking, and everyone eats here. I highly recommend it, Archer’s cooking, that is.” Ainz gestured and then walked through a set of large double doors leading into the bustling mess hall.
“Excellent! I trust his cooking will meet my divine standards!” Ishtar proclaimed, planting her hands on her hips and surveying the room imperiously.
“Trying to gain a few pounds so Maanna could no longer carry you?” Ereshkigal remarked, shooting a triumphant glance at Ishtar as her insult landed square on her sister, who responded with an indignant squeak.
“My weight is perfect for my height and proportions! The ideal divine weight for the ideal goddess!”
Ishtar squared off against Ereshkigal, crossing her arms. “In fact, maybe I could gain a couple more!”
“So your weight isn't perfect, then?” Ereshkigal's quick retort earned another squeak from Ishtar.
Ainz, pretending not to hear, not wanting to become a participant in the cat fight, simply gave a nod to Archer, before leaving the cafeteria. He continued down the corridor, gesturing to one side and then the other, pointing at the various rooms.
“And this is the rec room… or, thanks to Hector and Mozart’s effort, it’s basically an arcade now. They’re always trying to rope people into playing video games with them. Francis Drake sometimes tries to turn it into a tavern, but we usually just ask her to take the party elsewhere.”
“Video games? What are video games?” This time, an unfamiliar term caught the goddesses' attention, and while Ishtar saw another opportunity to demonstrate her magnificence, Ereshkigal was genuinely intrigued by a new concept.
A way to pass the time with others… perhaps even a new form of entertainment in the world of the living!
“Console games. Like computer games, but on a television,” Ainz explained, shaking his head. In his world, any game that wasn't a direct neural interface was a quaint anachronism, an antique, but that hadn't stopped him from soundly defeating Mozart and Hector on numerous occasions.
A game was still a game, no matter how you looked at it. And Ainz, if nothing else, is a dedicated gamer.
“Feel free to try it out; I doubt anyone would mind. Besides, there’s not the only one game console in Chaldea, though I’m not sure how many they've consolidated into this room,”
Giving another quick wave to the Servants who were too taken by the games they’re playing to give one back, Ainz continued on the tour, gesturing down another hallway.
“And that's the training room…”
Memories of Mordred and Artoria, Scáthach and Nobunaga, Jeanne and Jalter using the room flashed through his mind.
“…but I'm sure it's perpetually occupied. You'll want to check the schedule if you plan on using it.”
Step by step, Ainz led them through the corridors, pointing out the various rooms as they passed; the central server, triple-fortified by Da Vinci at Hassan's request. The large hangar where Asterios liked to play, because he couldn't fit in the smaller rooms, not because of any special thing in the room, which meant Jack, Kiyohime, and sometimes Serenity were usually nearby. The main observation deck, where Romani, under the guise of his important mission of monitoring Ainz, managed to sneak in daily viewings of his favorite virtual idol's performances…
With each room, the goddesses peppered Ainz with questions, their conversation gradually shifting from one-upping each other to discussing the practicalities of their new home.
And with each question, Ainz sank deeper into his own thoughts.
Every room, linked to the Servants who frequented it; every Servant, linked to habits he'd come to know, and every habit, linked to a memory he had forged within Chaldea’s walls.
A tangled tapestry of remembrance, from small moments, like bumping into Hassan as he emerged from a ventilation shaft; to monumental ones, like his first kiss with Olga Marie.
There were so many memories. Even the arguing and one-upmanships of the siblings that he was giving a tour to, elicit so many more.
Ishtar and Ereshkigal reminded him of Peroroncino and Bukubukuchagama, two siblings locked in a perpetual, low-stakes feud, never missing an opportunity to needle one another.
But it was only a faint echo.
Ereshkigal, more serious and mature, was not Bukubukuchagama; and Ishtar was certainly not Peroroncino. The resemblance was fleeting, there was no direct parallel.
Just as there was no parallel between Chaldea and Nazarick.
This was not a repeat — it was not a ghost of Nazarick transposed onto the canvas of this new world. It was not a continuation of his story.
But he had formed a tapestry of memories all the same.
From first opening his eyes in Fuyuki, to the battle with Tiamat.
From the initial panic of facing Servants for the first time to the destruction of a Beast.
From the terror of his allies to Da Vinci’s scolding frown over another lost body…
These were new memories.
They were connected to his past only through him, as if his past were a sprawling canvas, and these new memories a fine thread, drawn together and threaded through the needle of his consciousness. Stitch by stitch, the new was woven into the old.
This wasn't a reenactment of the past; it was something new, something Ainz couldn't rehearse or perfect. He could draw analogies, but an analogy was just a blueprint, reality was always messier than the plan.
And so, after a few more steps, Ainz pointed out the final notable landmark on their tour, the Servant quarters, before turning to face them.
“I know this is all… disorienting. A new place, new faces, an uncertain future. Servants, Chaldea, Singularities… it must all feel like some strange dream.”
Ainz was unsure if he was talking to the two sisters, or to himself. Closing his eyes, the lights in their sockets extinguishing for a moment, and though his skeletal face couldn't show it, he smiled.
“But you know… it’s not so bad here. Chaldea isn’t so bad. There's no going back. What happened in the past, for better or worse, is over.”
Ainz opened his eyes, and though neither Ishtar nor Ereshkigal could see it, they would both swear that Ainz was now wearing the most melancholic, and yet, strangely, not at all sad, of smiles.
“But who knows? Perhaps here in Chaldea, you’ll find something new. Not a tapestry from the past, but the thread you'll weave into your future. And even if you don't…”
Ainz let out a quiet chuckle, a sound strangely incongruous with his imposing figure.
“Archer is a very good cook. And some would say that’s reason enough to face a new day with a smile.”