Neia Baraja


 * "The Sorcerer King is justice and weakness is a sin."
 * - Neia's ideology of the Sorcerer King representing her group of followers.

Neia Baraja (ネイア・バラハ) is a citizen of the Roble Holy Kingdom. While starting out as a mere squire in the Holy Kingdom Liberation Army, after meeting Ainz Ooal Gown, she became vital in liberating her country. Afterward, she became the leader of a cult that follows the Sorcerer King's ideals that "strength is justice."

Appearance
Neia is a young, teenage girl with short blonde hair and beady black eyes slanted upwards, giving the impression that she was constantly glaring at others. On the other hand, the dark circles around these eyes made the people around her think that she was the kind of person who hung around with criminals in seedy back alleys. She was also shown to be carrying a sword at her waist, emblazoned with the crest of the Holy Kingdom's knight order. Additionally, she is adorned in a blackish-looking cape which is used to cover around the upper parts of her getup.

At some point in the war, she would discard the dark cape in favor of wearing the Buser's green armor bestowed upon her by Ainz. Since then, she dons a reddish colored cape over her old one. In addition to that, she wears a unique visor that completely obscures her intimidating eyes from scaring those who observed or approach her. Besides the new attire, her equipment consists of gauntlets, necklace, and circlet that the Sorcerer King lent her. She possessed a quiver for holding the arrows on her upper back body and would carried a bow to fire at foes from it.

Personality
Since interpersonal relationships aren't her strong suit, it has lead Neia into developing a personality that favors doing everything by herself. According to her father, he saw her as a gentle, fragile girl, who is not the type of person that thinks of fighting power as everything. She is even reflective and self-aware of how others around her view her intimidating face, feeling thankful and appreciative for the Sorcerer King going out of his way to give the former a mask to cover it up for everyone's sake.

During and after the Holy Kingdom's war with the Demi-Human Alliance, her own belief and philosophy surrounding her home nation and countrymen began to change ever since she met and allied with the Sorcerer King. Having now understand what kind of person the Sorcerer King is positively, it encouragingly spurred and motivate her to take actions for him and the Holy Kingdom confidently and fearlessly. When put into several positions of power militarily and politically, she became even more vocal, patriotic and charismatic about her new ideology that centered around justice and sin. Due to her interactions with the Sorcerer King and getting to better know him as a person, she has become more pragmatic with her view of the world. She accepted the grim reality of making necessary sacrifices for the greater good and wants to reinforce the Sorcerer King's views based on it. She was honest and careful with her words, not the least bit afraid of withholding information from Ainz.

As far as diplomacy goes, she acts under the role of being two factions' messenger and spokesperson to one another. In other words, she would convey her thoughts along with the Holy Kingdom Liberation Army's intentions and Sorcerer Kingdom's opinions for either sides to be informed of. At the same time, she becomes positively charismatic and engaging by the time she rises up in the rank of a leadership role among her followers. When leading both the Archery Unit and the Sorcerer King's Rescue Team, she has an eloquent way with words towards the people who supported her ideology. She was relentless in trying to save Ainz and acquired his aid, urging her supporters to do the same as well beside her. She deeply valued and treasured the precious items Ainz had given her on her missions to save him and bring law and order back to the Holy Kingdom.

Additionally, she has shown at times to be sternly scornful around people like Remedios and the priests whom speaks ill of the Sorcerer King. When listening to their conversations about the Sorcerer King silently, she frustratingly hated the thought of them badmouthing him behind his back. Moreover, she is considerately thoughtful, courteous and attentive around Ainz, realizing the ways in how the Sorcerer King is trying to look out for both his nation and the Holy Kingdom's interests in mind fairly. She has also shown to act envious and longing towards Shizu's relationship with Ainz, wishing to be as close to the Sorcerer King like the latter. Nonetheless, Neia is a dutiful person who follows her superior's orders as they were given.

Background
Due to the fierce-looking eyes, she inherited from her father, Neia Baraja tends to leave a bad first impression on others she meet. This is the reason why Neia's childhood friends kept a distance from her. For that reason, she happens to be bad at building good interpersonal relationships with people and always complained to her father over the matter. When her mother overheard her saying that, Neia took quite a beating from her.

Somewhere during her childhood, her father stated that she was always scared of caterpillars. At the age of six-year-old, she carved a wooden doll as a special gift to her father.

While growing up, Neia decided her goal in life was to become a paladin within the Holy Kingdom. She was rarely ever at home, and instead, took to training instead. She admired her mother as a Paladin and was dead set on becoming one herself, to follow in the footsteps of her mother. However, no matter how much effort and time she spent practicing, Neia saw herself not improving. Before her first encounter with the Sorcerer King, Neia felt that she possess no innate talent whatsoever with anything, even less so with a sword, and found her ranged abilities to be an utter waste of time to work on improving until now.

After taking on the position of a squire, Neia realized she has become much more useful to her companions when conducting her missions and the orders that she followed by accordingly. Eventually, with courtesy of the people she talks to and listens to during meetings, it leads Neia to accept her previously hated eyes as a way to direct how she feels towards the Paladin Order whenever they speak badly about the Sorcerer King.

According to the author Maruyama, Neia Baraja was the kind of girl whose mental state is quite unstable. Even in her normal state of mind, she still looks off-putting to some people due to the way she glares at them all the time. This crazed aspect of Neia was the reason behind why superiors don’t think highly well of her.

The Paladin of the Holy Kingdom Arc
and The Paladin of the Holy Kingdom II Arc Neia Baraja journeyed together with the Holy Kingdom's ambassadorial delegation to the Royal Capital of the Re-Estize Kingdom. Though her presence was seen as a nuisance by the veteran paladins, Neia's sole purpose in this journey was to ensure they made it to that nation safely. As Neia walked through the streets, she happened to notice the citizens of the capital were visibly depressed, thinking this was due to the fact that they've suffered an invasion not too long ago. Though she dismissed the idea, upon remembering that the Northern Kingdom's citizens are currently suffering worse. After being sent on a mission to contact the nobles of the Re-Estize Kingdom, she reported back to Remedios Custodio, stating that the nobles would not be able to receive them due to lack of time. Neia's superior, Remedios didn't believe her at all and saw it as a failure done on her part.

Later on, she was present alongside the rest of the delegates during the meeting with members of Blue Roses. Upon encountering the adamantite adventurer group at first glance, she admired their composure, especially Lakyus who seemed more refined than her own leader. After the meeting was over, and no help could be established from any party in the Re-Estize Kingdom, she and the rest of her group departed for the Sorcerer Kingdom to seek out aid from Momon instead.

She leads the party and used her sharp senses while stationed at the front to watch out for any danger. Right around when the envoys reached the Sorcerer Kingdom's border, they encountered a strange mist that was approaching fast. As they were preparing for danger, she quickly jolted towards the sky after senses were on fire. It turned out to be a flying ghost ship, one that was right in front of them all this time leaving her dumbfounded. She was left speechless after realizing the flying ghost ship was carrying the Sorcerer Kingdom's banner. As a result, she ended up wondering what sort of nation is the Sorcerer Kingdom supposed to be if it had such strange forces like the flying ghost ship under its command.

When they reached the Sorcerer Kingdom's capital E-Rantel, Neia was ordered to the back of the group as she was only serving as a guide beforehand. Upon their arrival at the city's main gate, she was left marveling at the two stately-looking gigantic statues flanking the gate and left in awe at the appearance of frost giants tending to them.

Upon entering, Neia was astonished by the various races that inhabited the city. During their walk towards the Shining Golden Pavilion, her party came across a trio of dwarves. After questioning them, she was surprised to find that the dwarves were technical advisers that came from the Dwarf Kingdom itself and that they were using the undead to pave roads.

Neia was present when her party gained an audience with the Sorcerer King and Albedo. She watched the exchange between the two parties and was disheartened that the Sorcerer King could only provide help within three years time. Due to her unwavering insistence, Ainz was delighted and cut the time to two years.

After the negotiations had concluded, Remedios started to scold the young squire for interfering, however, she fought back in her own defense as her effort had shortened the time even further than they were capable of. Once the two finally stopped arguing, Neia went outside to cool off her head. At that moment, she heard an invisible voice coming from behind her, directing her towards a back alley. The voice was revealed as none other than the Sorcerer King himself. Ainz came to talk to her as he had another proposal for visiting the delegation. Ainz wanted to carry out his plan in secret, requesting the young squire to help him get into the building, to which she accepted without hesitation. Neia and the rest of the Paladin Order listened to his proposals, and after deliberations, the group have decided to accept it. Along the way, she was chosen by her superiors to act as his personal guard and to keep an eye on him.

During the journey back to their hidden base, Neia and the Sorcerer King spent some time having informal conservation. She came to better understand what kind of person he is, beginning to have a degree of respect and admiration for the Sorcerer King. Ainz, in turn, gave her his Ultimate Shooting Star Super bow in order to convince Neia to use it for his, and her own protection.

Neia witnessed the difference in intelligence and charisma between the Sorcerer King and Remedios, which caused Neia to be more respectful of the undead than her own superior. She later draws a similar conclusion when comparing him to Calca or Caspond. When Ainz commented as to how the Liberation Army had remained undetected due to falling within the demi-humans plans to monitor the location of the human resistance, she relayed his wisdom to Remedios. After the Sorcerer King retired, the priests in the camp noticed Neia wielding the bow given by Ainz. She was asked to turn it over to the priest, as they believed it contained sinister magic but she refused, saying she would report its confiscation to the Sorcerer King. Remedios relented and Neia watched her 'lead' the meeting on the Liberation Army's next move to relocate and attack the enemy camps to replenish their supplies.

Later, she and Gustav meet with the Sorcerer King and inform him of the Army's plans. The squire is disappointed at the lack of proper respect given to the sovereign due to his undead state. She resolved herself to change that impression, believing he is a good person. Listening to their plans, Ainz commented that it is a sound strategy, however, he doesn't believe that there will be much food at the camps, as the demi-humans would probably have given their captives less in order to keep them weak and reduce their resistance. Despite the gamble, Gustav is insistent on saving innocents.

After Gustav leaves, Neia apologizes for his suggestions not being taken seriously. He then decided to ask her about the general area.

During the journey to liberate the nearby camp, Neia became fascinated by the Sorcerer King's wisdom. She wanted to relay Ainz's wisdom to the leaders in order to achieve success. Ainz urged her not to as the Liberation Army needed to realize the truth for themselves before seeing his alternatives. The Liberation Army attacked a nearby village controlled by the Bafolk. Neia and Ainz stayed at the back of the army surveying the battle. When a Bafolk used a child as a hostage to force the Army to withdraw, Remedios ordered her paladins to back away. Neia was stunned at Remedios's single-mindedness in her belief of saving a single life at the expense of countless others. Ainz, seeing it futile to give into threats, intervened and killed the child as an act of mercy and allowed the Army to resume its liberation of the camp. Neia watched the child die, though she was not angry at the Sorcerer King, but grateful as she knew that he could not show weakness as the demi-humans would exploit it in the future, and he did what needed to be done.

Their next destination was the city of Loyts, and as they arrived, another situation occurred in which a demi-human used a child, even younger than the previous, as a hostage, holding the human soldiers at bay. She once again witnessed Remedios cling to her flawed ideals and inability to understand sacrifice. Ainz offered his services to provide a means, though Neia was hesitant to allow him as he was still conserving his mana. She watched Ainz use his magical summons, High Wraiths to subdue the Bafolk and destroy the city gates. Later, upon encountering a berserk Bafolk warrior, she watched in awe of his raw power as he easily crushed its head with his hand. The two continued and met Buser. The Bafolk Lord mistook Neia to be a magic caster who summoned the undead, causing Neia to deny. However, Ainz jokingly confirmed it to be true. After the misconceptions were cleared up, Ainz and Buser engaged each other in battle. Neia watched in clear wonder at the Sorcerer King's skills, seeing neither gain an advantage. When Buser tried using his Martial Arts to destroy Ainz's magically crafted weapons, he was shocked to see that he was unable to do so. Realizing that he was clearly out-matched, Buser begged for his life offering his allegiance to the Sorcerer King. Ainz considered his offer at first surprising the squire. As some of his subjects may take offense to his inclusion, he decided to kill him.

With the death of Buser, Neia and Ainz went further into the city and discovered that demons had been conducting medical experiments on the human captives. After informing the priests and Remedios, they discovered several orc prisoners that were held captive by the Demi-Human Alliance as they refused to bow to Jaldabaoth (Evil Lord). Seeing the sorry state of their minds and bodies, Ainz offered the demi-humans sanctuary in his Kingdom but was outright rejected, them believing it was a trick. Neia feeling insulted by their statement, she went ahead to defend Ainz, stating that he was a benevolent being who built a nation where humans and demi-humans lived in peace. The orcs were shocked by the girl's passion and were slightly moved in the process. Though they initially declined to relocate to the Sorcerer Kingdom and asked to be sent back to the Abelion Hills, they told the two that they would consider Ainz's offer in the future.

After Ainz spirit the orcs away, Gustavo introduces them to the rescued Prince Caspond Bessarez. Unfortunately, their celebration is short-lived as 400,000 demi-humans surrounds the city of Loyts. The army maintained position around the city for three days, in that time Neia finds herself stationed at the eastern gate. Before she was deployed, Ainz had bequeathed her several new magical equipments, which she was reluctant to accept by otherwise convinced by the Sorcerer King to use them in battle. Her equipment attracts the attention of several of her fellow countrymen stationed at the gate. They eagerly listen to her first-hand account of the Sorcerer King and his part in capturing Loyts spreading a magnanimous image of him.

The eastern gate is found under siege by the demi-humans. The militiamen along with Neia hold the encroaching force with volleys of their arrows. Several ogres pummeled the walls with three waves of ballista bolts, causing massive casualties on the defenders' side. Neia using her bow managed to nail an ogre in the head, injuring it from continuing to attack. Neia and her group were forced to retreat from their section of the wall as the ogres directed their fire at them.

Jajan of the Lagon Tribe managed to take the head of the human commander and orders his forces to kill them all. Neia shoots her arrow and managed to kill Jajan. The demi-humans keep their distance, seeing that she is wearing Buser's armor and are under the false impression that they were fighting the one who had defeated the previous owner. One of the demi-humans notices Neia's glaring eyes and realizes that she was the Mad-Eyed Archer, but Neia realizes that was her father that they referring to and they mistook her as him. The militiamen try to defend Neia from the demi-humans but were overwhelmed. Being surrounded by demi-humans and scared to death, Neia Baraja was killed in battle.

Neia was resurrected by Ainz using True Resurrection, a ninth tier spell and a healing potion. Seeing Ainz's power at eliminating all the demi-humans, Neia finally understands what justice is and swears fealty to Ainz. Just before Ainz returns to Nazarick, Neia enters his room to express her gratitude towards her savior. When Ainz asks about the bow he had given her, Neia tells him that it works splendidly and that many people saw the amazing power of the bow alas there were killed in the battle. Neia tells Ainz that the people whom he saved also wish to express their gratitude towards him. Receiving their gratitude, Ainz tells Neia to inform them that he's glad to receive their gratitude. Neia then left to convey his message to them while Ainz returns back to Nazarick.

The squire busies herself, training news archers as their supervisor. Thanks to the patronage of Ainz Ooal Gown, Neia finds herself being praised for her skills and equipment. Ainz meets up with her again and before they could discuss further, a wall of flame appears, signaling that Jaldabaoth has arrived. The two then fly to Prince Caspond's meeting room to discuss the plans on a counterattack. Before they could finish their talks, Jaldabaoth bursts through the wall along with the demon maids. After Remedios is swatted away by the demon using Calca's corpse, Jaldaboath turns his attention to the Sorcerer King and challenges him to a duel. Ainz accepts, leaving Neia worried as the Sorcerer King has already used up too much of his mana and would be at a disadvantage. Nonetheless, Ainz assures her he will be fine and goes to face the Demon Emperor.

Neia and the rest of the Liberation Army watch the duel from afar. She is taken aback by the incomprehensible battle and believes that Ainz will triumph. However, she sees that Ainz has fallen down in the air along with the Demon Emperor. Only the latter reemerges, injured but very still alive. To Neia's surprise, Jaldabaoth emerges victorious from the match. Speaking in front of the masses, the Demon Emperor acknowledged the Sorcerer King as a worthy opponent to square off against. However, he shortly afterwards made a mockery of the Overlord for being overconfident in using his power, seeing that the latter thinks it will be sufficient enough to save the humans. Jaldabaoth notes it to be his downfall which got him killed. Still horrified and shocked by this news from Jaldabaoth, Neia denies this to be true as she believes what he said were lies fabricated by the demons to trick the humans including her. Filled with anger at the demon's mocking tone, she pulled an arrow out of her bow and tried to shoot him but Jaldabaoth quickly avoids the arrows. Jaldabaoth looks at the arrow and the bow that she used and asked if it was made by the ancient magic of runecraft, and said if that is true it might even be able to kill him. Neia Baraja refused to acknowledge the demon's accusation or suspicion as she wanted to keep the Sorcerer King weapons ability a secret from it. Hence, she kept shooting arrow after arrow with Jaldabaoth avoiding each one while trying to cover up demon's information about the runecraft. Once the last of her arrows were spent, the Demon Emperor fled the scene in order to recover from his injuries and the loss of strength.

After the Demon was retreated, Neia wished to initiate a rescue operation to find the Sorcerer King. Remedios believed that they should focus on other matters and perhaps considered the idea that Ainz was truly dead. Neia accused her of being seduced by the demon's words and her ineffectiveness in fighting the demon. Just as they were going to clash with each other, Prince Caspond and Gustav intervene.

A few days later, Neia is suffering from severe exhaustion due to stress over Ainz's whereabouts. Her eyes became even more fearsome, forcing her to keep the visor Ainz given her on to prevent scaring people. She busied herself in training her archery squad and slowly recruit them to form a rescue party. Neia attempted to approach Prince Caspond for permission to send out a search party but was cut short when his presence were requested by the other soldiers.

After leaving Caspond’s room, the first place Neia went was the archery range where her unit of subordinates are waiting for her return. She would inform them everything of what had transpired, had been said, and the conclusions they had reached. After hearing Caspond's conclusion from her, they reassured Neia that they will be keeping their eyes open over the current surroundings while searching for the Sorcerer King during the meantime. Until her request from the Prince is granted or she received an audience with him, Neia and the rest of her subordinates will be focused on honing their skills through training.

Later on, Neia met with Prince Caspond, Remedios and Gustav in a meeting with a representative of the Zern. The Zern wished to seek aid from the humans, in order to rescue their prince as he was being held hostage by Jaldabaoth thus were being forced to participate in the war against the Holy Kingdom. In return for their help, they swore to switch sides and aid the Liberation Army against the Demi-Human alliance. Sensing this as a good opportunity, Caspond agreed. The prince decides to assign Neia to carry out this mission with the aid from the captured Demon Maid. Neia is shocked at this revelation, and soon the Demon Maid is brought in chains into the room. It was revealed that just before the Sorcerer King disappeared, he gained control of the demon, CZ2I28 Delta, and ordered her to aid the Holy Kingdom with anything they need. Neia was not completely convinced, Neia requested some time to think about before she makes her decision.

Needing to get to know the Demon Maid first, Neia decides to see for herself if the demon is trustworthy to work with. The two meet and after a bit of a rough start, got to know each other and Neia begins to trust the demon who introduces herself as Shizu after both parties agreed that the Sorcerer King is a magnificent ruler and sharing chocolate shakes.

Shizu and Neia had managed to infiltrate the city of Kalinsha by hiding inside barrels being taken to a castle by the Zern. They managed to avoid detection and kill the Vah Un guards guarding the Zern prince. Reaching the Zern Prince Beebeezee, they inform him of the current situation, including the death of his father by Jaldabaoth's minions. The Zern knowing that if they attempt to escape they will be hunted down and eliminated, but if they stay they would still live under subjugation and cruelty and that Jaladabaoth. Seeing their dilemma, Neia offered a third option: seek asylum in the Sorcerer Kingdom. The Zerns and the prince were not assured by being protected in a kingdom ruled by an undead, but Neia with help from Shizu assured them they would be safe. Seeing their words full of confidence and conviction, the prince decides to take the chance in trusting the words of his saviors. It was also around the same time that the Zern figured out that one of the Jaldabaoth demon commanders was still in the city. Taking the opportunity, the Zern decided to use the chance to cripple Jaldabaoth's command structure by eliminating the said demon. Neia and her allies agreed to the plan with the prince included will help carry out the plan.

The whole group engages in battle with Neia, Beebeezee, and Shizu fighting the Circlet Demon while the rest of the Zern fight his minions. After an exchange of several blows of different attack spells and hand to hand combat, Neia is blinded by a Blindness spell but with the help of Beebeezee on her shoulder, she managed to deal one last strike with her bow to cripple the demon. Shizu then delivered the last blow which finally killed off the creature. The Demon Commander turns out dead as are his subordinates, while the group celebrates briefly before rejoining the Army in taking over the city.

A few weeks after the city had been successfully liberated news of Neia and Shizu's exploits spread. Using her newfound fame, Neia recruits people into her cause to finding the Sorcerer King and glorifies his name to all the masses under her banner. Working under her is Bertrand Moro who acts as her secretary in managing her schedule to fuel membership and morale. Her efforts are not unnoticed by the higher-ups but are unable to do any direct action to her due to her popularity.

A few days later, an army led by members of the Southern Noble Alliance arrive. After the nobles swear their allegiance to the prince, the Liberation Army decides to press the attack against the Demi-Human Alliance. Neia and Shizu were ordered to stay at the rear with the Archery Squad. Though it was said they were in the rear in order to protect the back-line of the army, it was deduced that they were there in order to limit their movements and accomplishments to a minimum. They watch as their allies engage a demi-human force.

However just as the humans were routing the demi-humans, Jaldabaoth arrived with his wounds finally healed. The battle had drastically turned, and the casualties are climbing with numerous of their forces dying one by one just by Jaldabaoth walking in the field, with his fiery aura. Not many options left, Neia and the rest of the Holy Kingdom army are cut off and have resolved to fight until the end. For maybe cause enough of a gap for the royal members and high nobles to escape to the south. However, as soon as the other demi-human army is in sight, they realize they are composed of a different army, with the liberate Orcs and Zerns form part of the alliance, and in the distance the sight of the Sorcerer King leading them. Neia and the others scream with joy that the army is on their side and the Sorcerer King has returned.

Neia is weeping in relief that the Sorcerer King is alive and is present with Shizu and the others where they learn of Ainz's whereabouts in the Abelion Hills and how he liberated the area. Like so many others she witnesses Ainz engage Jaldabaoth in a duel and defeat him, ending his reign of terror.

After the liberation of the Roble Holy Kingdom, Neia and her followers, see the Sorcerer King and Shizu off. Neia conflicted, at having to see Ainz, a being she devoted to serving, leave but understands that the Sorcerer King must return to his own kingdom. Ainz is grateful for her services and offers her to join him, giving her a chance to revive her parents as a reward. Tempted Neia instead refuses, as it is a reward far too much for her. She instead decides to place her duty in restoring her kingdom back to its former glory. Neia is still grateful for his generosity, and bids farewell to her liege and Shizu. Her last request is to be allowed the honor of calling the Sorcerer King, Ainz-sama which the Sorcerer King accepts. The two-part ways with Neia's followers giving him a formal salute.

The Witch of the Falling Kingdom Arc
Neia's teachings have been spreading far and wide throughout the Northern Holy Kingdom's territory. So much so that her cause has even reached the leadership of the Re-Estize Kingdom, and has even gained the full support from the Northern Holy Kingdom's higher ups. However, her teachings have been heavily rejected by the Southern Holy Kingdom's leadership and people. This only served to cause and escalate civil unrest within a nation where the North and South were already at odds with each other. While discussing with Princess Renner, Prince Zanac of the Re-Estize Kingdom share and elaborate some suspicions about why the Faceless One, Neia is hiding her face with a mask.

After the carriage attack had taken place, the Holy Kingdom was one of the five nations that had signed and agreed with the Sorcerer Kingdoms declaration of war with Re-Estize Kingdom. Neia's personal seal was on the document representing the nation. It was assumed by the Re-Estize Kingdom officials that she had either already overtaken the authority of their religious institutions, or that she has authority above that of their current religious institutions.

Abilities and Powers
Neia is adept at using a bow and could accurately shoot her foes with arrows. Her bow skills are said to be very well suited to the bandit's lifestyle. She was also acknowledged by her father in regards to being a ranger like him. According to Gustav, she is the only one among the Holy Kingdom's soldiers who can notice things with a clear perception due to her keen senses. While Neia was a long way from her father, she harbored some pride in the fact that her senses were sharper than those who had only been trained as paladins.

She lost almost all her original levels or classes after being resurrected by Ainz. At the same time, she gained new class levels from surviving the Holy Kingdom's war with the Demi-Human Alliance. Unbeknownst to Neia, she is able to use a special technique which can allow her to influence the thoughts of people, or otherwise, brainwash them. When Neia uses this power on traumatized people, her words are said to save them from utter despair. This enhanced her communication skills as a public speaker in front of the masses.

Unlike normal paladins in the Holy Kingdom Liberation Army, she can bless her physical bow and arrows with divine powers magically instead of with a sword. While her fellow paladins have their divine magic imbued through their melee weapons, she, on the other hand, does her enchantment on ranged weapons over what the latter is capable of doing. This power of holy blessing she could do to her own weapon and attack may be a special attribute originating from the Sacred Archer class which Neia has acquired during the war.

Job Classes

 * Paladin (2)
 * Sacred Archer (3)
 * Evangelist (2)
 * Founder (4)

Former Job Classes

 * Squire
 * Archer

Main Equipment

 * Unnamed Sword: A sidearm decorated with the crest of the Knight Order of the Holy Kingdom, and sort of looks like the ones issued to trainee soldiers. She has the habit of caressing this sword to calm her down when feeling uneasy as this was her partner through long years of training and practice.
 * Ultimate Shooting Star Super: A weapon borrowed from Ainz. He said that it's made with the dwarves' ancient art of runecrafting, but is, in fact, a YGGDRASIL weapon with rune decorations that held no power at all.
 * Star Pendant: Given by Ainz, this item grants Neia an immunity to fear.
 * Turtle Shell: Buser's magical armor, previously looted by Ainz and given to Neia. Accommodates to the size of the user and protects against projectiles.
 * Circlet of Iron Will: Strengthens the mind against charm, fear, as well as other mental attacks.
 * Gauntlets of Archery: Strengthens the user's shooting skills by granting increased swiftness and precision, among others.
 * Necklace of Heavy Recover: It enables Neia to cast the 3rd-tier spell, Heavy Recover.
 * Visor Mirror Shade: Allowed the user to use the skill Snake Shot, which makes arrows turn mid-air and hunt targets down like a wild beast once every three minutes.

Pavel Baraja
In the past, Neia used to love her father very much when she goes so far as carving a wooden doll just for him. According to her father, she would have hugged him immediately. At some point in time, however, she no longer hugged him after he returned home. This is because she grew independent, and no longer relied on her father for deciding things, and relied on herself from then on.

After the death of her father and the fall of the Northern Holy Kingdom, Neia used the knowledge that she learned from him to guide the delegation of the Liberation Army safely to the Re-Estize Kingdom. During the travel, Neia affectionately remembered her father, and nearly broke into tears when thinking about him.

She mentioned to Ainz that in some part of her heart, she holds some resentment towards her father. This was due to the fact that Neia's sinister eyes was inherited from her father and it being the cause for so many of her problems. It was likely the reason why she decided not to follow the same path as her father but her mother instead.

Ainz Ooal Gown
Upon meeting Ainz for the first time, Neia wasn't afraid of him being undead, and instead, was awed by his appearance and aura. She sensed that the Sorcerer King is not simply a mere undead like the rest of his kind and could be an actual supreme being. In addition, she also finds his logic and the decisions he carries out to be reasonable. Every time he openly speaks his mind, it would leave an indelible impression on Neia's heart. She had not only forgotten that Ainz was undead but later came to harbor feelings of genuine respect for him as the Sorcerer King. Neia seems willing to defend him if the need to arises even against people from her own country. She was even ready to accept help from the Sorcerer King in terms of knowledge for military plannings besides having him fight in combat against Jaldabaoth and his forces. She appreciatively holds deep trust towards Ainz's judgement, taking everything he says at face value.

As the two traveled to the resistance camp, Ainz and Neia conversed with each other in his carriage where she was amazed at the undead's character, describing him to be a King who is as kind as he is wise. When answering Ainz's question concerning her parents, she told him about their fate, which made the Sorcerer King apologetic to her circumstance. Seeing his reaction, she even knelt before him in the carriage and faithfully swore her loyalty and life to protect him when the conflict in her country is settled. At times, however, she pondered the thought of Ainz being a human magic caster in a skeletal mask due to the way he acts. After she is revived by Ainz, Neia comes to realize that his way of using his strength for those under his rule makes him the embodiment of justice. The ways of how Neia happens to view justice and sin radically different from Remedios and those like the latter all stemmed from what she sees in Ainz himself.

Albedo
After war between the Roble Holy Kingdom and the Demi-Human Alliance was over, Neia admits her own jealousy towards Albedo, realizing she was the reason for why the Sorcerer King has decided to depart from her nation early and not celebrate their victory against the demi-humans. Not only that, but due to the fact she was also viewed by the Sorcerer King as one of his important associates in the Sorcerer Kingdom. Particularly, Albedo being allowed to speak to him in a familiar manner, because she was close to him, was something that Neia has desperately sought on doing with the Sorcerer King, yet could not ask for, which made herself very envious.

CZ2I28 Delta
CZ2I28 Delta is only known to Neia as one of Jaldabaoth's demon maids who was bound by Ainz Ooal Gown. For that reason, she was initially wary of her presence and unable to trust her. Additionally, Neia is envious of Shizu's nonchalant attitude of calling Ainz the way he is without referring to him by an honorific title. After spending time conversing with the maid, she soon opened up to CZ2I28 Delta and asked for her cooperation on the job. Hence, Neia is able to get along very well with the maid as they share the same loyalty and respect for their master. A month later, as she gathered more volunteers to search for Ainz, Neia became friendly to CZ to the point where she hugs her in private and finds comfort in the former demon maid's words and presence.

Gustav Montagnés
Gustav normally treats Neia a little better than the other paladins. He also tends to defend her when her skills are brought into question. Neia becomes angered when Gustav tries to ask for Ainz's wisdom about how to fight back against Jaldabaoth's forces, yet, does not even offer the Sorcerer King the courtesy of a map.

Doppel-Caspond
Neia first met the 'prince' exchange greetings with the Sorcerer and was given the personal thanks from the later for serving Ainz which humbled her. Though when Caspond inquired on the imprisoned orcs, she was disturbed by his brutal nature of wanting to slaughter them despite being innocent. She attributed his hatred towards demi-humans to his time as a captive by the Demi-Human Alliance. After Ainz vanished after fighting Jaldabaoth, she clashed with the prince's strategy in not searching for the Sorcerer King and refusing to admit he was dead.

Calca Bessarez
As a member of the Paladin Order, Neia was bound to serve Calca. However, she only met the Holy Queen once in her life, during which she never struck her as being a true monarch.

Remedios Custodio
Remedios is Neia's superior. However, Neia resents her for various reasons. This primarily has to do with how Neias was used as an outlet by Remedios for the latter's anger and grief over the deaths of her friends. Neia is frequently bullied by Remedios who belittles and insults her "inadequacy" in this time of crisis to vent out the latter's frustrations, even though she lost family and friends too. Neia also thinks of Remedios as an unwise and an ineffective leader because of how she lets her emotions cloud her judgment and her lack of intelligent insight outside of combat. Neia is also angered by the fact that she was allowed to skip being a squire simply because of her natural born talent.

This resentment grew to distrust upon hearing about Remedios' plan for having both Ainz and Jaldabaoth kill each other during their eventual showdown. She felt unease after hearing how her superior is willing to take advantage of Ainz's goodwill by not only getting him to fight the demon but to do all the heavy lifting for them.

Despite all of this, Neia came to sympathize with Remedios upon learning that her naivety was a result of her trying to carry on the idealistic beliefs of the deceased Holy Queen, who was a close friend to her and later expressed both pity and sympathy for Remedios after seeing her futile attempts to frantically trying to avenge the Holy Queen against Jaldabaoth and later caused her to feel genuine pity for her after seeing her trying to revive her by preserving her body and picking up the meat pieces of Calca's defiled corps. However, she also recognized these beliefs as hypocritical and that the world, especially during times of war, doesn't work that way.

Jaldabaoth
Neia hates Jaldabaoth for what he did to her country and people but is mostly angry at him for having killed both her mother and father and vowed to avenge them. After Jaldabaoth declared the news of Ainz's death, she was the first person to refute his claim, doubting everything the demon says were true. It came to the point in which she went as far as suspecting Remedios for trusting the demon's words too easily. On the other hand, she would not have hesitated to use the opportunity to attack Jaldabaoth while he is heavily injured after his battle with the Sorcerer King.

Trivia

 * When her father was presented the doll she made for him, he originally thought it resembled a monster rather than him.
 * Neia's dream as a child was to visit other countries, and held a vague sense of admiration for the Baharuth Empire as it was supposedly much more superior than the Holy Kingdom as mentioned by her father.
 * Neia Baraja is the first of two characters in Overlord so far, that has received two Character Sheets.
 * According to the Author's Notes, Neia was originally conceived to be a male character, but decided to switch genders due to having too many side male characters interacting with Ainz already in the story.
 * In the New World, Neia is the first character to be often provided various items from Ainz than Enri Emmot, Brita, Fluder Paradyne, Pluton Ainzach, and Forgemaster.
 * In Mass for the Dead Neia appears at the end of a special event where she, having reached Kalinsha, is stunned to find the Chaos Beasts that had overrun the city to be absent. Seeing this as a miracle she declares it to be God's Blessing and that God is here.

Quotes

 * (To Gustav about Remedios): "...Even if she takes her anger out on others and gives them a hard time, then?"
 * (To Gustav): "Understood. If it is for the sake of the Holy Kingdom, I will endure it with a smile."
 * (To Ainz): "My skills aren't good enough for me to proudly call myself an archer, Your Majesty. I am simply better at archery than swordsmanship, and the truth is that people have scolded me and told me I ought to focus more on training up my sword skills."
 * (To Herself about Ainz): "No! I can't let His Majesty spoil me like this! If I don't lower myself a little more—"
 * (To Herself about Ainz): "I can't believe it. The Sorcerer King is wise and sagacious, and surely he must know the meaning of bowing. Even so, he still bowed to me like an ordinary person-- No. Don't get full of yourself. I can't possibly be that valuable. This simply shows how magnanimous the Sorcerer King is; he even treats a commoner politely. --Ah! He mustn't!"
 * (To Ainz): "Your servant is of humble origins, but I swear that until Your Majesty's work is complete, I will loyally and faithfully serve you."
 * (To Herself): "That's what I sensed from His Majesty, something which the Holy Kingdom now lacks...a sense of integrity. That's why I feel like this..."
 * (To Herself about Ainz): "He's actually happy that I can understand him...what a gentle and kind person he is."
 * (To the Paladins during the siege): "What you should be doing is devoting all your strength to save the lives which can be saved!"
 * (To Ainz): "I'm a little tired, but more importantly, my heart has cleared up. I am absolutely certain that Your Highness is justice!"


 * (To Ainz): "No. Justice without power is meaningless, but power like what Jaldabaoth possesses is not justice either. Therefore, being strong, and using that strength to aid others is truly justice; in other words, you are the incarnation of justice, Your Majesty!!"
 * (To Herself): "Weakness is a sin, so one must become strong, or humbly accept justice similar to that of His Majesty."
 * (To Remedios about Jaldabaoth killing Ainz): "Calm? You actually believe that demon's words? Captain, did you sell your soul to him!?"
 * (To Shizu): "...Alright. I believe you. But please, don't look down on me any more. I would gladly walk through oceans of fire and climb mountains of blades for His Majesty."
 * (To a crowd of people): "However! There are exceptions to all things! Just as there might be a warm day in winter, just as a bud might bloom from a withered branch, just as a brilliant shooting star can streak across the darkest night. So too is His Majesty -- an undead being who aids the living. You must have heard the stories from the people he rescued. It is also possible that some of you were rescued by him. Then based on what you know to be true, you have the proof that I am not lying!"
 * (To Shizu): "…Quite cute… Speaking of which, you must be really bored because you can’t go outside, CZ-senpai. Shall the two of us go somewhere together next time?"

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