Chapter 37 - 『Mirror, Mirror』

Standing by the front doors was a figure donned in a tailored black forked dress coat with blue satin inner lining, a black jabot with a dark blue bowtie layered over it, completed with a gold pendant tying them together.

Jack was dressed in noble attire, consisting of a frilled dark grey dress shirt, black vest with matching lining as the dress coat. He wore white slacks tucked into a pair of dark hard leather military boots, and a satin blue sash as a belt wrapped around his waist.

In his hand was a classic silver etched pocket watch, watching as the hand ticked as the time passed. He could hear each of the individual gears moving, as it clashed with the giggling of the two twins playing out in the yard with Eve and Shizu.

Glancing up from the watch, his electric blue-violet eyes rested on Arche as she emerged from the West Wing and into the central foyer. She was dressed in her normal attire as she hadn't collected her things from her parents house.

Not that there was much to collect. She had sold her valuables in order to pay her parents debt, which only continued to grow. That and her mother gifted her items to calm her down, which didn't really help.

So as she padded on over to Jack, she glanced up at him from under her blonde bangs which traced her eyebrows. Her blue eyes seemed to shine up at him, reflecting the angelic radiance of his skin.

"Where did you get that?" Arche asked with a light laugh, reaching out to feel the satin lining of his coat. "Did you make it or...?"

"My sister made it actually, a few years ago." This item was pretty high in class, similar to that of the maid outfits that the Pleiades wore in the Great Tomb of Nazarick. So it was essentially as powerful as armor made from Mythril composite combined with other magically enhanced metals.

"Oh?" Arche smiled faintly, feeling how soft it was with her bare hands. She wasn't wearing her gloves this time around, knowing that Jack would want to hold them. It was something far more expensive than her parents ever had even as nobles. It was so finely produced that one would think it was a legendary suit, which in her mind seemed a bit preposterous.

"Shall we?" Jack offered his arm for her to hook onto, along with his hand open at the end.

Arche's lips tugged to the side slightly, smiling a bit more as she hooked her arm into his, grasping his hand once she did.

With that, Jack would turn and press the door open with his free hand, without a problem at all.

The two made their way through the courtyard, passing by the fountain. From the corner of their eye, they watched as the twins were playing with his 'sisters.' Though it was mostly Eve and Shizu chasing after them. Eve trying to capture them and Shizu trying to hug onto them in order to cover them in stickers.

It was definitely an interesting show to watch as they made way for the gate.

Within a minute or so they were leaving the property. Jack opening the front gate with his hand, much like he had done with the door, as they casually escaped onto streets of Arwintar.

"So… Did you enjoy the bath?" Jack asked as he looked down at her, continuing to take the lead.

"Mhm..." She'd nod, layering her upper lip over the lower. "Did you take a bath?"

"Shower," he responded with a light chuckle, his free hand combing through his hair. "Wasn't half bad." Jack hadn't taken a bath or shower since he had first arrived. Though he had quickly noticed, his body didn't seem to smell all that bad either prior to taking a shower.

The two of them watched as a carriage bugged on by them, almost hitting Jack, not that it would've done all that much damage. His eyes simply glared at the back of it.

The carriage was painted a nasty yellow-green color with gold inlay. It was expensive looking despite the horrible choice in color.

A nobleman who retained his status seemed to peer out with a grin across his lips, looking over the two.

Both Jack and Arche gave the noble a blank look.

Yet as Jack licked his inner lips, the noble shivered as if he felt some sort of monstrous killer intent, and pulled himself back in through the carriage window.

The car would then pick up pace after some subtle shouting from the passenger. Quick enough, the carriage vanished around a corner after turning down another street.

"You know, I think I used to be a people person," Jack pointed out with a serious tone.

Arche looked up at him when he spoke, raising a brow beneath her golden bangs. "Oh really?"

"Then people ruined it," the seriousness was quickly swept away with sarcasm and a grin across his lips. "Arrogance is usually what brings a Noble to an early grave… Wouldn't you think?"

Arche slowly nodded at this and looked forward. In a way, she could only think of her father and mother when it came to the delusional arrogance that they held.

Refusing to recognize your status was taken away, it was childish and stupid. She was happy she was out of the house, happy she had a place to go, and happy she had her little sisters.

She wouldn't know what to do should her little sisters be taken as collateral for the debt that they owed.

Though she also feared that since her parents no longer had money coming in, the individuals working for the money lenders would try to abduct her or her sisters as compensation. Even as these series of thoughts passed through her mind though, the moment she'd look at Jack, those thoughts would quickly fade away.

A man who could single handedly destroy a skeletal dragon, and unknowingly to her, a City. It kept her mind at ease, even if his attention was now treading ahead of them.

…

Aura sat there in Momonga's study, the mirror of remote viewing in front of her. Her eyes glued to the reflective glass surface as it displayed Jack and Arche, walking with arms and hands locked together.

Her eyes slowly moved to her gloved hands, tilting her head to the side slightly, before looking to the girl with blonde hair. "Hm.."

Demiurge entered the study and paused, not seeing the Supreme Being, but Aura seated behind the desk. "...Lady Aura, what are you doing?" He'd inquire as he pressed his spectacles to the bridge of his nose, squinting his eyes on the young elf.

"Watching Jack-oniisama, he's currently without Shizu and Lady Eve." She called him Jack, mainly because that is what he was having Shizu call him. That and it sounded a bit smoother than Cipher.

"Oh...? Does he know your watching?" The Devil in a suit and tie, walked over to the desk and stepped beside the large chair, peering over the elf's shoulder towards the item floating in front of her.

Aura nodded as she kept her eyes on him. "He looked directly at 'me,' a few seconds ago."

"Still taking advantage I see..." His eyes immediately resting on the small human female walking with him. "That human looks like a doll, I can see the artistic value..."

Aura glanced over at him for a second before looking to the mirror. "Artistic Value?"

"Can you zoom in?"

Aura nodded as she waved her hands in front of the mirror, panning in and viewing the two as they were walking and talking in the streets of Arwintar.

"He's enchanted her skin with divine protection, interesting..." Demiurge was trying to think of a reason to justify protecting a human being, let alone someone who wasn't apart of Nazarick. Could she have some sort of potential they were unaware of? A talent which surpassed others? Could it be a ruse to settle into society? Jack being smitten with the human didn't necessarily cross his mind.

Aura was watching the gaze that Jack gave the girl, every time he looked down at her, and every time he looked away. Her eyes shifted towards Demiurge, waiting to hear his wisdom, yet he seemed confounded as well about what was going on.

Demiurge knew that Jack had used humans in E-Rantel, and he was aware of Momonga's plans to use the Swords of Darkness to spread his great name. Yet here, it just looked like Jack was dressing up and taking a small human out for a pleasant walk.

When the two of them walked into a premium clothing shop, Aura blinked a few times.

The Devil would tap his chin slightly in thought. Now it was looking more and more like a modern date. Going into a store to try on and buy clothes.

Soon enough there was someone else entering the room.

"Ah! AINZ-SAMA~!" Shalltear cheered as she came in through the large double doors and then came to a stop seeing the two other members of the Floor Guardians behind the desk. "Hm? What's this?"

With her hands elegantly guiding her dress, the overcompensating vampire made her way over to the desk. Dipping her upper body down slightly as she wanted to see what the others were looking at.

Her eyes narrowed on the storefront, before looking over towards Aura. A sly grin forming over her lips, "Thinking about buying a dress, Aura?"

Aura just looked over at the Vampire with a blank frown across her lips. "I have plenty of dresses, I really don't need anymore than what I already have." She crossed her arms over her chest, grasping at her own biceps in the process.

"Then… Why are you looking at a dress store?" Her fanged grin faded from her lips as she turned to look at the mirror of remote viewing once more.

"Cipher-sama appears to be going dress shopping with a human female." Demiurge stated as he kept his eyes on the mirror, not pealing them off for a moment even though they couldn't see inside.

"EH?!" Squinting her slotted eyes, Shalltear's gaze on the mirror intensified. "He has all of us to choose from, and he chose a mere human!? Oh, Cipher-sama!"

Aura scratched at her collarbone slightly when Shalltear seemed to be disgruntled by the idea of Jack choosing someone other than a resident of the Great Tomb.

"He could have been charmed," Demiurge suggested as he knew that Jack wasn't an undead, and even though his physiology and armor protected him as his powers were also above most of those outside, there was a small chance. "Or a breeding experiment…?"

Of course, that wasn't quite the correct assumption.

"Or..." Aura looked over at the Devil and then to the Vampire she had originally been programmed to feud with. "Wait.. Why are you back from your mission?"

"Ainz-sama ordered me to withdraw, after Sebas Tian and Solution entered the City. Apparently there have been some curious reports about a Dragon Lord being active to the South." She blinked ambient-like as she casually watched the mirror's surface. "Are we just going to be staring at this shop the entire time?" Her eyes shifted over to the Sixth Floor Guardian. "Why don't we watch Ainz-sama?

Aura and Demiurge looked over at her for a moment before glancing up from the mirror. All three of them were staring at an Albedo, excited by the mere mention of Ainz Ooal Gown!