Grand Foreigner (Chapters 1- 200)

Chapter 126

Altera felt something unusual. Feeling something unusual was also unusual for Altera, the strangeness of which caused the strangeness of the current situation to become more and more exacerbated in Altera's head at an ever-increasing rate. As one might guess, allowing the current situation to hold would cause a failure cascade of catastrophic proportion. So to prevent such a disaster, let's start from the beginning.

Cainabel, Altera's mistress at the moment, loved to use her for various assignments. For example, when Cainabel was angry, she usually 'sparred' with Altera. Altera realized that sparring was only the bare excuse used to relieve her anger with the help of banal physical violence. Altera was also aware that communicating said information to anyone, one that she had sussed out after a few 'sparring' sessions, would only exacerbate Cainabel's angry mood.

Altera learned quickly. So, after the incident where after she relayed her findings to Cainabel, where instead of the traditional three rounds of 'spars', Cainabel continued on until she had thirty victories, she got the message. Now, she simply chose to note this information to herself, rather than share it with outsiders.

Cainabel also liked to issue simple commands to Altera that anyone could carry out. Bringing Cainabel food; holding plates; holding an open umbrella. The last example supposedly was to protect Cainabel from the light. A ridiculous notion given that they're currently indoors - how artificial lights, not even UV ones, could harm Cainabel is still a puzzle to Altera.

And so, while slowly getting used to the two types of commands that Cainabel gave her, she found herself now in quite the conundrum because of her new order.

"Alt... Altera?" - The huge monstrous colossus, Minotaurus, towered a couple of meters above Altera, making her look like a foolish child against the background of the legendary monster. Although in reality the situation was starkly the opposite, which one could easily surmise just by looking at how nervous the giant is.

What does the command 'make friends with the Minotaur' mean? Make friends... How? To what extent? What in this particular case did Altera need to understand by friendship?

Altera was a mechanical creature, or at least very close to such a definition, so the execution of clear and concrete commands she could accomplish dutifully and perfectly. However, the command to become a 'friend' to the Minotaur was anything but clear. Not at all.

Altera didn't even know where to begin, how do people become friends? Altera was troubled trying to understand such an alien concept. What's worse, other than the fact she doesn't even know where to begin 'befriending' the Minotaur, is that her mission didn't have any clear parameters of success. How does one determine whether or not someone is a 'friend'?

Master, Ainz... Was he a friend? Maybe. In the first place, in order to complete her mission, it was necessary to define what friendship is. It is very likely that some of the people in Chaldea and the Servants considered Ainz a friend, so how exactly did he become one?

Was Doctor Roman considered a friend of Olga-Marie? Was Da Vinci considered Ainz's friend? Was Medusa considered Da Vinci's friend?

As Altera pondered on how she would accomplish her mission, she continued to glare at Asterios. The invisible pressure exerted by Altera's unblinking eyes forced the giant to shift his gaze nervously. First at his surroundings then at himself, as if looking for something strange that had attracted Altera's ire. The domineering giant right now looked nothing more like a boy standing in front of the gaze of an attentive adult. A sight so strange that it would have caused significant confusion for an outside observer.

Altera tried to imagine what form of friendship Cainabel had in mind. Did she need to save Asterios' life? Perhaps, according to some research materials, does she need to enter into a romantic relationship with him and then end it, becoming friends that way? Or perhaps according to that very thin book she needed to learn how to make cocoa, and then go hiking with him in the mountains?