Unit Scenario: Bloody Valkyrie Shalltear

Unit Scenario: Bloody Valkyrie Shalltear is a character scenario released in Mass for the Dead, featuring the character Shalltear Bloodfallen

Episode 1: Love Maiden, Restart
In a meeting with Momonga, Albedo provides a restoration status of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. According to her report, the supply of gold coins being sourced from the mines have stabilized as planned. Also in regards to the security system on each floor as stated in the previous report, there are no new issues. Momonga listening to the report is pleased with what he heard as it's good news and attributes that it is due to Albedo's tireless efforts, admitting that even with his own power alone, it would have been impossible to restore Nazarick so far without the help of her and the others. Albedo glowing to herself states that it is merely her greatest joy to be in service to the Supreme One.

Momonga still acknowledges that while the smooth reconstruction of Nazarick is a result of everyone's work, but above all Albedo, the Overseer Guardian, must be particularly burdened on the job. Albdeo dismisses the concern as ridiculous as it is only natural for her duty as Guardian to display a higher standard of work than others. Though Albedo tells her master that she is touched by his concern for the former's well-being. Glad for her loyalty, Momonga asks Albedo to continue to do her best which she promises, stating to leave everything to her.

The Overlord then plans to return to his room and direct Albedo to contact him if anything arises. Thinking to himself, Momonga muses that the latest summoning experiment ended without any "exceptions". But right now he only wants to take a breather, away from the reports. However, he hears Albedo behind the door of his chambers, and it appears she is shushing someone to keep quiet from anyone nearby overhearing. Seeing it as nothing to be concerned about, Momonga returns to his room and rest.

Albedo on the other side of the door, is excited that her dear one has left her with such confidence to take charge in Nazarick. Her brief moment of excitement is spied on by Shalltear Bloodfallen who overheard what she and Momonga were discussing in private. Envious of the Overseer, Shalltear laughs sarcastically that what Albedo means by is "leave everything to me" and predicts that she will get others to do it for her. She fumes over wanting to be personally complimented by Momonga just as Albedo had. However, the vampire knows that the reason as to why Albedo receives such treatment stems from her being the Overseer Guardian in the first place, whilst she is but a mere subordinate to her. While not complaining about the role Peroroncino granted her with, she still wants to be acknowledged by Momonga.

Shalltear grows concerned on Albedo and Momonga's growing relationship, as the former has always been by the undead's side and hence giving her many opportunities to seduce Momonga. If this continues any longer, Shalltear thinks Albedo will win Momonga's heart someday. Wracking her brains, Shalltear tries to find a way to halt their progress from advancing any further than it already is. Ruminating that Albedo had used many instances which constituted abuses of power, such as arranging a night with Momonga to herself after conducting a random drill while Shalltear was away. The vampire becomes determined to best Albedo in the "Trial of Love" and become Queen and refuses to become just a concubine. Remembering that when challenged in battle and in love, Shalltear understood how not only offense is of great importance to winning but also defense as well. For this, she begins to have an idea of her own in formulating.

Episode 2: Trial And Error
A few days after the decision, while patrol security is in progress Shalltear notes that nothing happened. In her room, there is still plenty of time left until the scheduled patrol time for another floor to do. One of her Vampire Brides then prepares her mistress's bath and tea. While waiting for her luxuries, Shalltear turns her attention over to reading a book she borrowed from Ashurbanipal. One of the other Vampire Brides sees her enthusiasm when reading the book offers to read it for her to help her work, but Shalltear declines as she is simply studying.

This confuses the other vampire as they believe Shalltear is already beautiful and intelligent enough, feeling there was no real need for their master to go out of their way and do the reading herself. Though flatter by her servant, Shalltear states that it's to help her in succeeding Momonga's "Trial of Love" and to not be overtaken by Albedo who is in a position superior to her and those like Demiurge. To make up for the difference, she made it her goal to acquire knowledge by taking the time to read and study. This makes sense to the Vampire Bride as in a battle, a good head can come up with an excellent plan against one's opponent. The Vampire Bride asks Shalltear if she approached the protagonist for help. Sadly, Shalltear did not want to bother the protagonist as he is already been entrusted with an important task and did not want to rely on him too much, recalling how he had once helped her on the "recommendation of love" and doesn't desire to seek the guy out again.

Still, she wants to test herself to succeed and feels what she is now in is the "fog of war". The Vampire Bride apologizes if she overstepped her boundaries, but Shalltear does not mind as she did not know. The Vampire Bride then asks what Shalltear learn after reading so many books. However Shalltear is at a loss what to say, meaning she had forgotten all the contents of what she read not too long ago. She tries to state how there was a lot of content that she didn't understand and hence why she forgot quickly after a glance. The vampire chalks the excuse that the books were collected by the Supreme Beings and are just as unfathomable. Seeing that studying from books may take a little too long, Shalltear wishes that there was some other way to deepen her knowledge instead of using the books. Her servant states that it would depend on the content of the knowledge her mistress wants to deepen. Shalltear knows that but what she wants to know more about is her master Momonga.

The Floor Guardian remembers that Momonga said, "If you know your enemy and you know yourself, there is no danger of a hundred battles." In this case, the enemy is a word with a meaning of rebellion or profane. Then Shalltear falls silent in thought and realizes who her enemy for love is. Having made a decision, she orders the Vampire Bride to go to the 9th Floor and invite Albedo to a tea party with her.

Episode 3: Tea Party Strategy
Albedo is surprised by the unexpected invitation from none other than Shalltear Bloodfallen herself after hearing that the Vampire Bride relayed the message to her. Since their breaks are at the same time and it would be boring to spend it alone, Albedo accepts the invite anyway to avoid boredom. It's learned that among the Guardians holidays, breaks are sometimes permitted as long as they do not interfere with their security work. Albedo even has the authority to adjust the break time, but at this time feels no need to do so at the moment.

While she accepts the invite, Albedo asks if Aura Bella Fiora is also been given an invitation as well. However, the Overseer Guardian is only told that Shalltear wishes to have a quiet tea time as Aura being with the two would be way too noisy for an effective conversation between them. Hearing this, Albedo finds it oddly unusual as usually both Shalltear and Aura have an almost sister-brother relationship, as reflected with their creators. Though she cannot help but note that Shalltear is right on the mark that Aura is sometimes a bit noisy at their tea sessions, but something like that should not be the reason for excluding her in the first place and wonders if there is something going on.

Despite the strange request, Albedo decides to play along with the Vampire Bride's offer but request to have the session in her room as the former claims that she wants to save time returning back to her station for Momonga. The Vampire Bride states that she will pass on the request to her mistress, noting to herself that it will place Shalltear at a disadvantage. In contrast, Albedo wonders whether Shalltear will accept or reject her and waits to see whatever her rival is planning for the former.

Episode 4: Silence
And on the day of the tea party, Shalltear Bloodfallen is welcomed into Albedo's quarters. Since she is the one to initiate the party, Shalltear present her colleague some souvenir tea she mentioned. And while it has no special effects, Shalltear guarantee that it tastes good. Albedo finds it curious that while demons can enjoy the comforts of food and drink, Shalltear is unable to benefit from buffs and can only be satisfied by tasting them.

Shalltear states she is fine and also presents a cake from the pastry chef. Though she cannot eat it, Shalltear heard that the taste is superb from the maker. Albedo offers to prepare the tea, which Shalltear allows, eager to see the results of training that the Overseer Guardian had with the maids. Albedo briefly wonders if the tea she was given may have been spiked as it seems to be new and unfamiliar to the black tea that is normally served. The Overseer Guardian though proceeds to brew the tea and the two ladies try it, finding it to be delicious just as the vampire described.

The two Guardian stare at each other in silence and they continued drinking their tea. Albedo watching the other woman from her side of the table cannot help but feel suspicious on why the vampire is so silent. She considers that maybe Shalltear arranged this meeting not for tea but for something else, perhaps to extract information from her in anticipation for another Queen War.

Albedo recalls the wise words from the protagonist: "If you know the enemy and you know yourself, there is no danger of a hundred battles." and that this is a situation where she must incorporate it to defeat Shalltear in this apparent charade of a tea party. The vampire then speaks, asking Albedo if the weather is to her standards. Albedo answers that she only goes out to check on the surface, not caring any less about the weather. This causes Shalltear to laugh, drawing Albedo's ire on what is so funny about her statement.

On the other hand, Shalltear feels that they are heading straight into an awkward session between the two of them, but resolves to know as much about her enemy as possible and why she set up this tea party in the first place. She plans to draw Albedo into a casual conversation of the day and lower her vigilance before going in deep while the Overseer Guardian's guard is down. A problem hits Shalltear as she doesn't know the definition of small talk as such things normally happen when Aura is around and chides her self and an imagination of Aura for not thinking through this more carefully.

Albedo inquires the silence from the vampire and asks if there is anything important that she wants to discuss with her. Shalltear denies that she has no pressing issues and that all she wanted to do was spend some quality time alone with Albedo. Observing her opponent quietly, Shalltear worries if she was able to successfully fool Albedo and seems convinced that she has done a good job deceiving her. Still, the tea party ended without incident, though Albedo has a lingering impression that her colleague is possibly hiding something in her intentions throughout their tea party together.

Episode 5: Rival of Love
Shalltear is mopping that her plan failed and didn't went the way she had hoped against Albedo. The vampire though is comforted by Slimeko who stated that Shalltear was on the right path and she did try to gain information from her competition. The protagonist thinking that the "Trial of Love" to be a significant development for not just Shalltear alone but also for Albedo as well to help them grow into more ideal Queens, encourages the Floor Guardian not to give up and that next time to make a more detailed plan.

Knowing the homunculus is right, Shalltear is fired up and ready to try once again and defeat Albedo in the future. Just then, Albedo comes into the library asking who she is supposedly talking about until now. Slimeko seeing Albedo worries if the Overseer Guardian had accidentally overheard their conversation. To that end, Shalltear accuses Albedo of spying on them without their permission first beforehand. Albedo denies this of course as she only came and heard her consultation with the protagonist but that is all. Nothing on the content reached her ears. Glad that she is in the dark, Shalltear asks Albedo why she is even here to begin with.

To Shalltear's surprise, Albedo states that she wants to apologize for the tea party the other day. Since Albedo was invited and arrived at their location unnoticed by neither her, the protagonist nor Slimeko, Shalltear was upset and failed to notice the Overseer wanted to make amends. Albedo also admits that she had some suspicions on Shalltear's strange behavior but felt guilty for suspecting it. The protagonist watching guesses that Albedo likely knows something about Shalltear's aim all along but yet pretending not to, making him wonder what her true goal really is by giving an apology. He suspects that she is plotting something as he observes her choosing to offer Shalltear an apology in front of her directly.

Shalltear still doesn't know what she is apologizing for, so Albedo tells her that as Overseer Guardian, as her Queen, she failed to realize the discord between them that is happening between the two of them. Albedo wants to make it clear now and be frank with her. She understand why Shalltear called her out to a private tea party without offering an invitation to Aura, is because Shalltear has an interest in speaking to her privately. The confession stuns Shalltear and her companions. The vampire tries to stop Albedo with her tirade of emotions, but the latter states that she cannot accept Shalltear's feelings as her heart only belongs to Momonga and him alone.

Not letting the vampire object, Albedo states that she is surprised that someone like Shalltear would have romantic feelings for her since it's well known that the vampire has a sexual interest in necrophilia. The Overseer Guardian tells Shalltear to give up on this path. Shalltear tries to explain that she harbor no such feelings toward Albedo, but the latter states that she is willing to forgive Shalltear for this once she becomes queen. All Shalltear can do is be indignant at the humiliation.

In the end, the scheming of Shalltear's plot with the tea party ended in failure brilliantly. And also Albedo's misunderstanding continued for as long as possible until she is eventually brought into the light on the plot. Both women find themselves completely embarrassed on what they experienced. To cover up their blunders, the two take it out on each other, renewing conflict yet again on who will be queen. Slimeko sensing that they would fight it out then hurries to get Aura to deescalate the situation. Aura who received the news soon arrived before long and managed to rein in the two female Guardians and thus allowing life in Nazarick continue as normal.

Trivia

 * This is the second story unit of Shalltear Bloodfallen in Mass for the Dead.