In the year 2138 AD there was a term: DMMO-RPG.

That word was an acronym for "Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game".

These games were played by connecting a dedicated console to the brain via a neuronal nano-interface — an intracerebral nanocomputer network, created from the fusion of cyber- and nanotechnology.

These were games that allowed one to enter a virtual world and experience it as though it were real life.

And among the myriad DMMO-RPGs that thronged the market, one of them stood head and shoulders above the others:

YGGDRASIL.

This game had been painstakingly developed and released twelve years ago, in 2126.

Compared to other DMMO-RPGs of the time, YGGDRASIL's selling point was "player freedom".

It had over two thousand basic and advanced job classes.

Every class had a maximum of fifteen levels, and so in order to reach the overall level cap of one hundred, one would need to take at least seven different classes. However, players could take as many classes as they wanted as long as they met each class's prerequisites. A player could even take a hundred classes at level one each, although that was very inefficient. As such, in this system, it was virtually impossible to make identical characters unless one was deliberately trying to do so.

In addition, one could use various creator tools (sold separately) to fully customize one's armour, weaponry, flavour text, appearance, and other cosmetic settings.

A vast playing field awaited its players. There were nine worlds in total: Asgard, Alfheim, Vanaheim, Nidavellir, Midgard, Jotunheim, Niflheim, Helheim, and Muspelheim.

It boasted a massive world, numerous classes, and freely customizable appearances.

These features ignited the creative spirits of its Japanese players and sparked what would later be known as a stylistic revolution. So popular was it that whenever the word "DMMO-RPG" was mentioned in Japan, listeners would immediately think of YGGDRASIL.

—Still, all these were things of the past now.

A gigantic table carved of gleaming black stone sat in the centre of the room, surrounded by forty-one luxurious chairs.

However, most of those seats were empty.

Once, every single place had been filled, but now only two were occupied.

One of the seated people was clothed in a magnificent long black coat, with chains covering it.

He had long white hair, pale white skin and deep red eyes and behind him glowed a halo of black radiance.

The being in the other seat was not human either, merely a mass of a black, sticky substance. Its tar-like surface roiled and writhed continuously, never staying in the same shape for more than a second.

The former was an Unholy One — a special class one gained when you reach level 100 with different types of undead races. The latter was an Elder Black Ooze, which boasted the most powerful corrosive ability of the slime families.

One might encounter these monsters in the most difficult dungeons. Unholy Ones are only known as raid bosses, while Elder Black Oozes were dreaded for their ability to degrade weapons and armour.

However, they were not game monsters, but players.

In YGGDRASIL, players could choose their character races from three broad groups; humanoid, demihuman and heteromorphic.

Humanoids were the basic player type and comprised humans, dwarves, wood elves, and the like. Demihumans tended to be ugly but possessed superior attributes to humanoids. Examples of demihumans were goblins, beastmen, ogres, and so on. Finally, heteromorphic races had monstrous abilities, but despite their stats being generally higher than those of other races, they also possessed various drawbacks. There were around seven hundred playable races in total, including the advanced versions of these races.

Naturally, the Unholy One and Elder Black Ooze were among the high-tier heteromorphic races that were playable.

The Unholy One — who was speaking at the moment — did not move his mouth. That was because even the most advanced DMMO-RPGs of the time still could not overcome the technological hurdle of properly modelling the changes on a character's face in response to emotions and speech.

"It's really been a while, Herohero-san. Although this is the last day of YGGDRASIL, I didn't expect you to show up."

"Indeed it has, Makoto-san."

The two of them spoke with the voices of grown men, but compared to the voice of the former, the latter's words lacked force, or perhaps it could be said that they lacked energy.

"You stopped coming online after you changed your job IRL, so how long has it been… for about two years?"

"Ah — seems about right — wah, it's been so long… this is bad. I've been doing so much overtime recently that my sense of time is starting to go weird."

"That's really bad, right? Are you okay?"

"My body? Well, it's a mess. I haven't had to see a doctor yet, but I'm almost there, it's really bad. A lot of times, I feel like I want to run away from it all, but then I think about how I need money to live and then I go back to work like a whipped slave."

"Uwah~"

The Unholy One — Makoto — lowered his head in an "I can't take it" gesture.

"That's terrible."

As though following up on Makoto's comment, Herohero delivered a grim monologue, his words laced with an unimaginable reality.

The two of them griped loudly about the foolishness they encountered in their working lives.

Subordinates who did not know how to report, communicate, and discuss things, spreadsheets that changed by the day, scoldings by their superiors for not meeting various KPIs, working late every day until they could not go home, gaining weight because of their irregular lifestyles, and the increasing amounts of medicine they had to take every day.

Herohero's grievances burst forth like a broken dam, and Makoto lent his ear to him.

A lot of people were averse to discussing reality in a virtual world. It was fairly normal for people to not want to talk about their offline lives in a game.

However, this was not so for the two of them.

The guild they belonged to — a group that was founded and managed by players. Ainz Ooal Gown — had two conditions that each of its members had to fulfil. The first was that everyone had to be a working member of society. The other was that they had to play heteromorphic characters.

Because of these rules, the topics they discussed often revolved around their jobs in the real world. Any member of the guild would field these questions and, as such, the conversation between the two could be considered standard fare for the guild.

Also for Makoto who is used to listen to other people's problems, this was quite simple.

After about ten minutes, the torrent of words that flowed from Herohero dwindled to a trickle.

"…I'm sorry for making you listen to my whining. I can't complain much IRL."

The place corresponding to Herohero's head seemed to sway, as though he were bowing in apology. Thus, Makoto replied:

"Don't worry about it, Herohero-san. I made you come online despite you being busy, so listening to your complaints is only expected. I'll hear you out, no matter how many you have."

Herohero seemed to have recovered some of his old energy, and with a somewhat more energetic laugh, he replied:

"Ah, I'm grateful for that, Makoto-san. I'm glad I could meet a friend after signing on."

"I'm very happy to hear you say that too."

"…Although it's about time for me to log off."

Herohero's tentacle waggled in mid-air, as though he were operating something. Indeed, he was operating a menu.

"You're right, it is getting pretty late…"

"I'm sorry about this, Makoto-san."

Makoto sighed gently, as though he didn't want Herohero to sense the regret in his heart.

"Well, if it's like that, then it's a shame… time flies so fast when you're having fun."

"I really did want to stay with you to the end, but I'm about to fall asleep."

"Ah — well, you do sound pretty tired. Then, you should log out soon and have a good rest."

"I'm really sorry… Makoto-san. Although, how long do you plan to stay, Guild Leader?"

"I intended to stay on until I was automatically logged out once the servers shut down. Since it's still a ways off, maybe someone might come by in the meantime."

"Is that so… still, I really didn't expect this place to be so well preserved."

At this moment, Makoto was grateful that he had no way to show his expressions. If he did, Herohero would probably have seen his face twist up. Even then, his voice would betray how he truly felt, so Makoto kept quiet, in order to suppress the feelings surging up within him.

What does that mean?

He had worked hard to maintain the guild precisely because he had built it up along with everyone else, but hearing words like these from one of his guild members sparked a mix of complicated emotions in his heart. However, these feelings dispersed like mist as Herohero continued.

"Makoto-san, you must have kept the guild going as its leader so we could come back to it at any time. Thank you very much."

"…It was a guild built by everyone, so it's my job as guild master to keep things going so that the members can come back at any time."

"Yes. We had fun with the game because you were our guild master, Makoto-san… I hope that when we meet again, it'll be in YGGDRASIL II."

"I haven't heard anything about a second game… but as you said, I'd be glad if we could meet like that."

"I'll look forward to it! I'm having trouble staying awake… I think I'll log off first. I'm glad I could meet you in the end. Goodnight."

"…"

Makoto wanted to say something, but he hesitated for a moment, and then he spoke:

"I was very happy to meet you too. Goodnight."

A smiley appeared near Herohero's head. Since characters in YGGDRASIL could not express emotions through their facial expressions, they used emoticons instead.

Makoto worked his control interface and produced a similar smiley.

Herohero's last words were, "Let's meet up again somewhere."

—And so, the last of the three guild members to come online tonight vanished.

Silence descended once more — it was as though nobody had ever been here in the first place. Nothing was left behind.

Makoto looked at the place where Herohero had been sitting, and he muttered the words he wanted to say.

"Today's the last day of the game, I know you're tired, but we'll never have a chance like this again, why don't we stay together until the end—"

Of course, there was no response, because Herohero had already returned to reality.

"Haahh."

Makoto's sigh came from the bottom of his heart.

In the end, it was better that it had remained unsaid.

During their brief exchange, he could already tell how tired Herohero was from the sound of his voice. Still, despite his fatigue, Herohero had still responded to the e-mail he had sent and logged on for the last day of YGGDRASIL before it closed down. He should have been grateful enough for that. Asking him to stay on would not just have been a matter of being thick-skinned, but actively causing him trouble.

Makoto stared at the seat Herohero had occupied until just now and then turned to look at the other thirty-nine seats. Those were the places where his old comrades had once sat. After going a circle around the table, Makoto returned his eyes to Herohero's place.

"Let's meet up again somewhere… huh."

Let's meet up again somewhere.

See you again.

He had heard these words several times before, but they had never come true.

Nobody had ever returned to YGGDRASIL.

"When—"

No one came back.

"and where—"

They left me alone again.

"will we meet again—"

Makoto's shoulders shook violently, and the words he could no longer hold back exploded forth:

"—Are you kidding me!?"

He pounded the table as he shouted.

The YGGDRASIL system registered this action as an attack and began the complex calculations of Makoto's barehanded attack strength against the table's defensive strength to determine the final total of damage inflicted. In the end, the area Makoto had struck emitted a simple [0].

"This is the Great Tomb of Nazarick that we built together! How could you abandon it just like that!?"

After he shouted the words in his heart, the only thing left in there was emptiness.

"…No, that's not right. They didn't abandon it lightly; they simply made the choice between reality and fantasy. It couldn't be helped. Nobody would betray the guild. Everyone who made that decision must have found it painful…"

Makoto muttered like he was trying to convince himself, and then he stood up. He walked toward the wall, where an elaborately decorated magic staff was kept.

Seven serpents twined around the body of the staff, which resembled the kerykeion carried by Hermes Trismegistus. The serpents' mouths gaped open in agony, and each mouth held a gem of a different colour. The grip was exquisitely carved out of crystal and glowed with blue light.

Anyone would be able to recognize this staff as a supremely high-quality item, and it was a Guild Weapon that was unique to this guild. One could call it the symbol of Ainz Ooal Gown.

This staff, which should have been a treasure held by the guild master, was instead kept in this room as a decoration.

That was because there was nothing else which represented the guild quite like this.

Guild weapons were typically kept hidden away in safe places and not used for their tremendous powers because a guild would be disbanded if its associated guild weapon was destroyed. Even Ainz Ooal Gown, a guild which existed at the peak of YGGDRASIL, was no exception to this.

This was the reason why the weapon had been kept here, and Makoto had never touched it, despite the fact that it had been tailor-made to complement his abilities.

Makoto extended a hand to the staff but stopped halfway. This was because at this moment — in the last few minutes before YGGDRASIL shut down for good, he realised that soon the glorious memories he had made with his comrades would be lost forever, like tears in rain. The confusion he felt over this made him hesitate as he struggled to come to a decision.

Everyone had adventured every day, with the sole purpose of assembling the guild weapon.

Back then, they had held contests to see who could collect more raw materials more quickly, and there had been many disputes over the appearance of the weapon. But slowly, after everyone's opinions were gathered, the weapon gradually took shape.

That period of time had been the prime of Ainz Ooal Gown when all his glorious memories had been made.

People had dragged themselves online after a gruelling day at work, others had argued with their wives because they played until they neglected their families, and some even laughed and said they had taken special leave to stay home from work and log on to the game.

There were times when they had spent entire days doing nothing but talking about silly things for amusement. There were times when they would draw up plans for adventures, and times when they went looking for treasure. They had also mounted raids on enemy guilds' home bases and laid siege to their strongholds. Once, they had been attacked by a World Class Enemy — an immensely powerful, hidden boss monster — and the guild had nearly been destroyed as a result. They had also discovered many previously unknown resources, and they had placed all sorts of monsters in their guild base in order to eliminate invading players.

However, nine of them were left as of today.

Of the forty-one members of the guild, thirty-seven of them had quit. The other three were still registered as members of the guild, but Makoto had already lost count of the number of days since they had last come here.

Makoto opened a system console and connected to the developer's website to inspect the official guild rankings. Right now there were just under eight hundred guilds in YGGDRASIL. In the past, they had ranked as high as the fifth place, but now — as of the last day of the game — they were in the twenty-ninth place. At their lowest, they had fallen to forty-eighth place.

The reason why their ranking had not fallen even further was not because of Makoto's efforts, but because of the items left behind by his former comrades.

One could call this a hollow shell of a guild, a relic of past glories.

—This was the incarnation of those days.

This was the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown.

He did not want to let this weapon and its memories of their golden days stay here to be a painful reminder of the past. Yet, contrary thoughts wormed their way through Makoto's heart.

Ainz Ooal Gown had always decided things by use of a majority vote. Makoto might have been the guild master, but his job was mainly communicating with people and doing other minor tasks. 

Like with them.

Because of that, now that there were no other guild members present, for the first time, Makoto thought to exercise his powers as the guild's leader.

"This is a pretty sad state of affairs."

Makoto muttered to himself as he operated his player console. He intended to equip himself in the gear that best suited the leader of a top tier guild.

YGGDRASIL's equipment was classified according to how much data each item possessed. Items with more data were ranked higher. From the lowest to the highest rank, they were low class, middle class, high class, top class, legacy class, relic class, legendary class and, what Makoto was currently selecting, divine class.

On his ten fingers, he wore nine rings, each with a different ability. Then there was the matter of his necklace, his gloves, his coat, his shirt, and his circlet, all of which were divine class items as well. If they had a price, it would be a jaw-dropping one.

A red and black aura rose slowly from beneath his feet, and at a glance, it seemed extremely ominous. This aura was not the result of any skill Makoto activated. It was simply because there had been extra room in the robe's data capacity, so the special effects data for a [Disaster Aura]had been added into it. Touching that aura would not cause any harm.

In the corner of Makoto's vision, he could see various indicators which showed his stats increasing.

After changing out his gear, the fully-equipped Makoto nodded, satisfied that he looked the part of the guild's leader. Then, he reached out and grasped the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown.

As Makoto grasped the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, it radiated a nimbus of reddish-black light. Tormented faces occasionally coalesced out of the roiling light, and then they crumbled and vanished again. They looked so realistic one could almost imagine them wailing in agony.

"…I wonder if we went overboard with the details."

The staff that had been made but never used had finally found its way into its rightful owner's hands, in the twilight hours of YGGDRASIL.

Makoto rejoiced as he saw his parameters rising rapidly, but at the same time, he felt sad.

"Let's go, our symbol of the guild. No, my symbol of the guild."

Makoto left what was known as the Round Table Room.

Guild members had a ring reserved for their use. Anyone who wore that ring would automatically appear in this place when they logged into the game, barring special circumstances. If any guild members returned, they would do so in this room. However, Makoto knew that the other members of the guild would not be coming back here. In the last few minutes of the game, the only player who remained in the gigantic Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick was Makoto himself.

Makoto suppressed the emotions that were rising like a tide and walked through the halls.

This place was like a castle built of alabaster, a magnificent world suffused with a regal atmosphere.

If one raised their head to look to the ceiling, they would see crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling at fixed intervals, radiating warm light.

The broad hallways had brilliantly polished stone floors, which reflected the light from the chandeliers in a way that made it seem like twinkling stars were embedded in its surface.

If a visitor opened the doors on both sides of him, his attention would be captivated by the decadent furnishings within.

A third party observing this scene would probably be staring in awe.

The much-hated Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick had once been attacked by the largest invading force ever assembled in the game's history. Eight guilds banded together with their allies to bring a force of over fifteen hundred players, mercenaries, and NPCs to bear on Nazarick, but in the end, they had been miserably defeated. That legendary dungeon was now reduced to this.

The Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick had once been a six-floor dungeon, but it had been dramatically altered after Ainz Ooal Gown took control of it.

Currently, it was a thirteen-floor dungeon, and each floor had its own unique theme.

The First to Third Floors were modelled after a tomb. The Fourth Floor was an underground lake. The Fifth Floor was a frozen glacier. The Sixth Floor was a rainforest. The Seventh Floor was a sea of magma. The Eighth Floor was a wasteland with a city of dreams. The Ninth was the realm of the gods — in other words, the home base of Ainz Ooal Gown, which had ranked among the top ten of YGGDRASIL's thousands of guilds.

After YGGDRASIL's news of closing down. the price of creating new floors plundered so he was able to create extra floors alone as an extra stage to attract visitors as no one dared to attack the Great Tomb of Nazarick after the great failure in the 8th Floor.

The Tenth Floor was a mystic island covered with trees and a clear fog that brings quite a mystery. There is a fairy guardian of illusions, alchemy and magic. The land of Tir Na Nog.

The Eleventh Floor is the land of machines with buildings of steel and floating cities. There are a lot of automata and homunculus and the guardian is one of his masterpieces, a Strategic-Class guardian specialized in AOE-attacks but with the demerit of being unable to move. The Mechanic Valhalla.

The Twelfth Floor is a deep valley with a lot of caves and secrets with dragons flying everywhere. You would think you only need anti-dragon equipment but a surprise is that this is the realm of witches specialized in flying combat so is the most dangerous floor for those unable to fly. The guardian is a Primordial Dragon boosted with how many dragons are alive so you need to hunt them anyways. The Dragon Witches Valley.

Another great force started from the 10º Floor and reached the 13º Floor but they were trashed by the Overlords of the Capital Sins, that memory brought a smile to his face.

The sound of Makoto's footsteps and the tapping of his staff rang through this holy sanctuary. After turning several corners in these vast hallways, Makoto saw a woman in the distance, heading in his direction.

She was a sensual beauty, whose lush, golden hair grazed her shoulders.

She was dressed in a long, elegant maid's outfit, with a large apron.

She was roughly one hundred seventy centimetres tall, with a slender build. Her ample bosom looked like it would burst out of her bodice at any time. Her overall appearance was attractive and gave the impression of being graceful and kind.

As the two slowly approached each other, the maid darted to the side of the hallways and bowed deeply to Makoto.

In return, Makoto raised his hand in acknowledgement.

The maid's expression remained as it was, and she kept the same smile on her face from just now. In YGGDRASIL, facial expressions did not change, but this girl was slightly different from player characters with their unchanging expressions.

This maid was a Non-Player Character. She was not controlled by the game, but by a set of AI routines. Simply put, she was a mobile doll. Even if her design was incredibly realistic, her bow was nothing more than a programmed action.

Makoto's acknowledgement of her bow was nothing more than a foolish gesture because she was nothing more than a doll. However, Makoto had reasons for not treating her coldly.

There were forty-one maid NPCs in the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, each with their own unique design.

Their creator was a mangaka who had broken into the industry with his maid illustrations, and who was currently serialized in a monthly magazine.

Makoto studied the maid carefully. Apart from her looks, he also scrutinized her uniform.

The intricacy of the design, especially the fine embroidery that speckled her apron, was enough to make people gasp in awe.

Their design had been exceptionally detailed because of the declaration, "Maid uniforms are their secret weapons!" Makoto couldn't help but feel nostalgic as he remembered the complaints from the other guild members who had helped with the design.

Of course, he could understand the reasoning. After all, maids are justice. Sometimes he would change his avatar's gender with the Unholy One's skill and hunt dragons in a maid uniform or pass the town pretending to be an NPC.

"Ah… that's right. I think it was from then that he started saying that 'Maid uniforms are justice!', a man of culture. Come to think of it, I think the manga he's drawing now has a maid as the main character. Do his assistants cry when he goes overboard on the designs? Ah, Whitebrim-san."

The maids' AI routines had been programmed by Herohero-san and five others (himself included).

In other words, this maid was the personification of his and his past friends' hard work. He could not simply ignore her without feeling bad about it. After all, this maid was also a part of the glorious history of Ainz Ooal Gown.

Just as Makoto was contemplating these matters, the maid raised her head, as though she had spotted something, and tilted her head in surprise.

The maids would do this if anyone lingered around them for longer than a certain period of time.

As Makoto searched through his memories, he could not help but be impressed by such elaborate programming. There should have been other hidden poses programmed into them as well. Makoto wanted to see them all, but time was very tight.

Makoto glanced at the translucent watch on his left wrist and checked the time.

As he thought, there was no time for him to spend waffling around.

"Thank you for your hard work."

Makoto walked past the maid after that painful farewell. As he passed the maid, there was no response, but that was only to be expected. Still, even if she did not reply to him, Makoto still felt that it had to be said because it was the last day of YGGDRASIL.

Makoto continued forward, leaving the maid behind.

He walked until he saw a teleporter. Until recently there were only ten floors but thanks to the developers' consideration (or not) he was able to create three extra floors at a cost much lower than expected. He wanted to be selfish and create his own world in Nazarick.

He wondered if he had time to pass through the extra floors. He looked at the clock and saw he had enough time. He wanted to start from the first floor but he didn't have that much time.

He reached the 10th Floor.