After a while, a gigantic staircase appeared before Makoto's eyes. It was wide enough that over ten people could walk down it side by side, arms outstretched, with no problems. A luxurious red carpet lay on the steps. Makoto slowly descended the stairs, until he reached the lowest floor; the Thirteen Floor of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick.

The place where he had arrived was a large receiving room, with several figures within.

The first to enter Makoto's line of sight was a distinguished old gentleman in a butler's outfit.

His hair was pure white, even the beard and moustache near his mouth. However, the old man's back was ramrod-straight, like a sword forged of steel. His face was deeply wrinkled and gave onlookers the impression that he was a kind and gentle person, but his keen eyes were like those of an eagle sizing up its prey.

There were six maids standing behind the butler. However, these maids were different from the one Makoto had met earlier, in looks and equipment.

The maids wore gauntlets and greaves of gold, silver, black, and other coloured metals. Their armour was designed to look like the outfits of maids in manga. They did not wear helmets, but instead white headdresses. In addition, every girl was armed with a different weapon. They were the very picture of battle maids.

Their hairstyles were also varied; they wore their hair in buns, ponytails, long and straight, French curls, and so on. The one thing they had in common was that every single one of them was attractive. The exact way in which they were attractive also varied within them; one was sporty and athletic, one resembled a demure Japanese maiden, one of them had a seductive allure, and so on.

"Indeed."

Makoto placed his thumb on his chin and looked at the butler and maids who were bowing to him. Makoto typically used teleportation magic to move through the various rooms, so he had not had many chances to come at the hallway. Looking at the staff filled him with nostalgia.

He reached his hand out and touched an invisible menu, opening a page that only guild members could see. Then, he selected an option from several choices. As he did so, the names of the butlers and maids appeared over their heads.

"I see. So that's what they were called."

Makoto laughed softly, at himself for almost forgetting their names, and also because of the fond memories they brought up in him. There had been quite a few arguments between his colleagues when they had chosen names for the NPCs.

The butler — Sebas's — design was that of a house steward.

The six maids beside him were combat maids loyal to Sebas. Together, they were called the "Pleiades." In addition to these maids, Sebas was also in charge of the Tomb's manservants.

The text box for Sebas contained more detailed information, but Makoto did not feel like reading it. The servers would shut down soon and he had to be somewhere before then.

As an aside, all the NPCs apart from the maids were also very well fleshed-out. This was because the guild members were all fans of complex backstories and details. Many of the guild members were artists and programmers, and a game like this which emphasised the customization of appearances, allowing them to indulge their desire to create and design, was a godsend to them.

Originally, Sebas and the combat maids were intended to be the last line of defence against invaders. However, if enemy players could penetrate this deeply into the tomb, they would be able to handily defeat Sebas and the maids, so they were little more than speedbumps to buy time. However, no player had ever made it this far, so they had been waiting here for orders.

The only ones who came here were killed by the Overlords of Capital Sins so they couldn't even participate.

Without orders, all they could do was wait for a chance to be of use.

Makoto tightened his grip on the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown.

He knew it was foolish to feel pity for NPCs. They were nothing more than a collection of electronic data, and the closest they could come to real emotion was a very skilled set of AI routines.

However—

"As your guild master, I shall put the NPCs to good use."

Makoto could not help but laugh at himself for that incredibly lame line, and then he gave them a command.

"Follow me."

Sebas and the maids bowed respectfully, to show they had heard and acknowledged the order.

Leading them away from this place was not what the guild members had intended for them. Ainz Ooal Gown was a guild that respected the will of the majority. It was forbidden for an individual to selfishly manipulate the NPCs that everyone had made together.

However, this was the day when the curtains would fall on everything. Given that, everyone would probably forgive his indulgence.

As Makoto thought about this, he continued moving forward, followed by the sounds of many footsteps.

Eventually, the group arrived at a vast hemispherical dome-shaped hall. Four-coloured crystal lamps glittered from the ceiling, and there were seventy-two niches in the walls. Most of them were filled with statues.

Each statue was modelled after a demon's appearance, and there were sixty-seven of them.

This room was called "The Lemegeton." It was named after the Lesser Key of Solomon, which was a magical grimoire.

The statues in the niches were designed to resemble the seventy-two demons mentioned in that book, and in truth, they were golems, made out of extremely rare magical alloys. There should have been seventy-two of them, but there were only sixty-seven because their creator got bored with the project and quit halfway.

Of course, he took the project and upgrade it, becoming the 8th Floor Hierarchy.

The four-coloured crystal lamps on the ceiling were a type of monster, and the moment an enemy entered their range, they would summon high-ranking elementals of earth, water, wind, and fire, in addition to bombarding them with area-of-effect attack magic.

If these crystal lamps all attacked at once, the firepower they unleashed could easily defeat two parties of level one hundred players, which would be roughly twelve people.

This room could be said to be the final defensive line of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick.

Makoto led the servants behind him past the magic circle, and laid eyes on the giant doors before him.

The majestic set of double doors were over five meters in height and covered in intricate carvings. The left side was shaped into a beautiful goddess, while the right was made to resemble a cruel demon. So realistic was their design that even from across the room, Makoto thought that they would attack him.

Still, while the carvings looked like they could move, Makoto knew that they had never moved before.

Since they made it all the way here, we should gather in glory and welcome these brave heroes. Let others slander us as they will, but we shall welcome them proudly and openly, like the magnanimous lords that we are.

That idea had been passed, in accordance with the majority vote rule.

"Ulbert-san…"

Ulbert Alain Odle. He was arguably the most obsessed with the idea of "evil" in the guild.

"Was it because of chuunibyou…"

Makoto felt that way as he looked around the large hall.

"…Will these two statues attack?"

He was right to feel so uneasy.

Even Makoto did not fully grasp the secrets of all the mechanisms in this dungeon. It would not be strange if one of the retired guild members had left a strange sort of present for him. And the one who had designed this set of doors was just such a person.

In the past, he had designed a very powerful golem, but shortly after activation, a flaw in the combat AI made itself known and it attacked everyone around it.

To this day, Makoto still had his doubts about whether that "mistake" had been on purpose.

"Hey, Luci Fer-san, if they really attack me, I'll be mad, you know."

However, Makoto's caution in reaching for the doors was unfounded. As he touched them, they opened by themselves, although they did so slowly, in deference to their massive weight.

The air changed.

Although the atmosphere from earlier was filled with quiet solemnity, the scene before his eyes now exceeded that by far. The air became a pressure that weighed heavily on the entire body.

It was an exquisite piece of work.

And in this wide, high room—

Even packing several hundred people inside would not make the room feel crowded. The high ceiling and the surrounding walls were a predominantly white colour, with golden decorations as highlights.

The numerous chandeliers which hung from the ceiling were made of precious stones of all colours of the rainbow, and they emitted a fantastic, dreamlike radiance.

Numerous flags emblazoned with different symbols hung from flagpoles sunk into the walls. A total of forty-one of these flags swayed gently in the wind, from the ceiling to the floor.

In the centre of this room that was tinted gold and silver, there was a flight of stairs about ten steps high. Atop these stairs was a gigantic throne, carved out of a single piece of crystal, whose back was high enough to touch the ceiling above it. A huge red banner hung down behind it, proudly displaying the symbol of the guild.

This place was located in the deepest reaches of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick. It was also its most important place; the Throne Room.

"Ohh…"

Even Makoto could not help but gasp at the sheer magnificence of this room. He felt that it was easily the second most impressive location in YGGDRASIL, if not the first.

This was the most suitable place for him to welcome the final moments of the game.

As Makoto advanced through the room that seemed to absorb the sounds of his footsteps, his eye fell on the two females NPC that stood by each side of the throne.

She has long purple-pink hair that reaches down to her knees and two white wings protruding near her hips. Her pupils are purple surrounded by a gold iris. Her ears are wing-shaped and she also has a halo over her head. She has her midriff exposed and wears a long skirt. She has also a slim and well-endowed body.

She was a beautiful woman whose smiles hide a great thirst for knowledge.

She was the Overseer of the Floor Guardians of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, Jibril. She was in charge of the last four floors of Nazarick and the 8th Hierarchy.

She was a beautiful woman who wore a pure white dress, and the faint smile on her face was that of a goddess. In stark contrast to her dress, her hair was a flowing, lustrous jet-black that reached down to her waist.

Although her golden irises and vertically-slitted pupils were somewhat odd, apart from those she could easily be considered a world-class beauty. However, a pair of curved horns sprouted from the sides of her head. In addition, a pair of black-feathered wings emerged from her waist.

Perhaps it was because of the horns, but her divine smile seemed like a mask that concealed her true feelings.

She wore a golden necklace that patterned after a spiderweb. It extended from her shoulders down to the tops of her breasts.

Her slender wrists were covered in a pair of lustrous silk gloves, and in her hand, she held a strange weapon that looked like a wand of some sort. It was roughly forty-five centimetres long, and a black orb hovered at its end, floating lightly in the air but holding its position at the end of the wand.

Makoto had not yet forgotten her name.

She was also the Overseer of the Floor Guardians of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, Albedo. She was in charge of the first seven NPC Floor Guardians. In other words, they were the second highest-ranked character in the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick.

Because of that, she was permitted to await orders within the Throne Room, in the deepest reaches of the Tomb.

However, Makoto turned a sharp look at Albedo:

"I knew there was two World-Class Item here, but how is it that there are three of them here now?"

In YGGDRASIL, there were two hundred ultimate items in the game, known as World Class Items.

World-Class Items possessed unique abilities, and some of them were so balance-breaking that they could even request changes to the game's rules by the developers. Of course, not every World-Class Item possessed such insane power.

Even so, a player who possessed even a single World-Class Item would be catapulted to the highest echelons of fame in YGGDRASIL.

Ainz Ooal Gown possessed twenty-one items of them, the most of any guild. Even that was far in excess of any other guild. The guild in second place only possessed three such items.

With the permission of the other guild members, Makoto was allowed to possess one of these ultimate items, and the rest of these World Class Items were scattered throughout Nazarick. However, most of them were stored in the depths of the Treasury, defended by its Avataras.

The only reason why Albedo could possess such a rare treasure like this without Makoto's knowledge was that the guild member who designed Albedo had given it to her.

However, since today was already the last day of the game, Makoto felt that he should respect the wishes of his comrade who had given the item to Albedo, and so he did not take further action.

"This is a good place."

Makoto's words were directed to Sebas and the Pleiades as they reached the base of the stairs leading to the throne.

After that, he began climbing the stairs but stopped when he heard footsteps behind him. Makoto could not help but laugh, although his skeletal face could not show any expressions.

The NPCs were merely inflexible AI routines. If he did not give a specifically-worded command, they would not recognize it as an order. Makoto had forgotten this and thus he had not properly commanded the NPCs.

After his guild members left, Makoto had begun solo hunting by himself to a nearly ridiculous degree in order to earn the gold needed to maintain Nazarick. He did not build friendships with other players and avoided them, as well as the high-difficulty areas he used to visit when his guild members had still been around.

Then, he would deposit his earnings in the Treasury before logging out. This had been his routine for almost every day. As such, he did not have much contact with the NPCs lately.

"—Stand by."

The sound of the footsteps stopped.

After Makoto gave the correct command, he ascended the final steps and arrived at the throne.

There he could see the last figure at the throne's side.

She has a very distinct appearance; she takes the appearance of a young human girl from medieval times. She has straight silver hair that goes well past her waist and blue eyes. She clads herself in silver armour and wears a purple dress underneath. She also wears a piece of armour on her forehead that is actually a limiter to her true skills. Actually, her full armour is a limiter.

She was the Supreme Being's Soulmate; Eucliwood Hellscythe. 

He showed a smile under the helmet.

"Hello, my other half. " He said with feelings overflowing inside him.

He also stared openly at Albedo, who stood by its side. Though he had entered this room before, he did not recall her eyes tracking him in his memories.

"What kind of backstory was she designed with?"

All Makoto knew about her character was that she was the Overseer of the Guardians, as well as the highest-ranked NPC in Nazarick.

Driven by curiosity, Makoto opened up a console and began scrolling through the details of Albedo's flavour text.

A flood of densely-packed characters filled his vision. It was like reading an ancient epic poem. If he took his time to read it in detail, he would probably still be reading until the game ended.

Makoto felt like he had stepped on a landmine. If he could move, he would have been trembling now.

He wanted to scold himself for having forgotten that Albedo's creator was obsessed with this sort of thing.

However, since he had already opened it, he had no choice but to abandon his resistance and continue scrolling.

He didn't even skim the text for the important points; he simply scrolled to the bottom as fast as he could while looking at the title.

After skipping past vast expanses of text, Makoto's mind settled on the last line and froze.

"She is also a slut."

He could not help but stare.

"…Eh? What does this mean?"

A cry of disbelief escaped Makoto's nonexistent lips. He looked the words over several more times, eyes filled with suspicion, but in the end, he could not find any other meaning to them. After several rounds of thought, he could only come to the conclusion he had started with.

"A slut… it must be an insult of some sort."

Each of the forty-one guild members had designed their own NPCs, so he could not understand why anyone would want to treat the NPCs they had designed themselves in this manner. Perhaps he would understand why after reading that long essay of flavour text.

However, there were guild members who would come up with these unconventional designs.

Albedo's designer, Tabula Smaragdina, was one of those people.

"Ah, is this what they call gap moe? Tabula-san… even so…"

Isn't a backstory like this far too much?

Makoto could not help but think that. All the NPCs made by everyone were an inheritance of the guild. Designing the highest-ranked NPC Albedo in this manner made him think that Tabula Smaragdina was beyond saving.

"I see."

Would it be fine to change an NPC's backstory based on a personal decision? After thinking about it for some time, Makoto came to a conclusion.

"Should I change it?"

Currently, with the guild weapon in his possession, Makoto could be said to be the master of the guild. It should be all right to exercise the guildmaster's authority he had never used before.

Makoto's doubts vanished like mist, as he steeled himself to right the wrongs of his guildmate.

He extended the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown that he was holding. Normally, one would need developer tools to change a character's backstory, but through his power as guildmaster, he could directly access her settings and edit them. After some action on his console, the "slut" line vanished.

"Well, it should be like that."

Makoto thought a bit more and looked at the gap in Albedo's flavour text.

Five words in English.

I should probably fill that up…

"This feels a little silly."

Although he was laughing at himself, he still typed out a few words on the console keyboard. The words formed a sentence:

"She's in love with Makoto."

"Uwah, how embarrassing."

Luckily, 'she's' is considered one word.

Makoto covered his face with his palm. It felt as though he were designing his ideal girlfriend complete with love events for himself, which embarrassed him so much that his heart began pounding. Although he wanted to rewrite it again out of shame, in the end, he changed his mind and decided against it.

The game would end soon, after all, and his shame would vanish with it. Besides, the sentence he added matched the gap left by the deleted sentence exactly. It would be a shame if he deleted it and left an empty space again.

Makoto sat on the throne, scanning his surroundings with eyes filled with satisfaction and a little embarrassment. He noticed that Sebas and the maids were still standing by in a dormant state. It seemed a little lonely, and a little odd, to have them standing motionless like that.

I think there was a command for that.

Makoto recalled the words he had heard before and extended a hand before lightly bringing it down.

"Kneel."

As one, Albedo, Jibril, Eu, Sebas, and the six maids fell to one knee in obeisance.

Good.

Makoto raised his left hand to check the time.

[23:55:48]

He was just in time.

In all likelihood, the GMs were probably flooding the public channels and setting off fireworks. Makoto, who had put his heart and soul into this place and cut off all contact with the outside world, was unaware of that.

Makoto leaned against the back of the throne, and slowly raised his head to look at the ceiling.

He believed that even on the last day of the game, some invaders might come to Nazarick.

He would wait for them. He would accept any challenges in his position as guildmaster.

He had sent emails to all the guild members, but only a few had come.

He would wait for them. He would welcome his comrades back in his position as guildmaster.

"A relic of the past, huh."

Makoto sank into thought.

Although the guild now was just an empty shell, he had enjoyed his time with it.

He turned his eyes to look at the huge flags hanging from the ceiling. There were forty-one of them in total, the same number as there were guild members. Each of them displayed the personal symbol of each guild member. Makoto extended a finger and pointed to one of them.

"Mine."

Then, he turned his attention to a nearby flag. That flag represented one of the strongest players in Ainz Ooal Gown — no, in all of YGGDRASIL. He was the one who had started the guild, and the one who had gathered the "Original Nine".

"Touch Me."

The symbol on the next flag he pointed to belonged to the oldest member of Ainz Ooal Gown, who was a lecturer in a university in real life.

"Shijuuten Suzaku."

His finger moved faster than before as he shifted to the flag which belonged to one of the three female members of Ainz Ooal Gown.

"Ankoro Mochimochi."

Makoto fluidly recited the names of the various symbols' owners: "Momonga, Herohero, Peroroncino, Bukubukuchagama, Tabula Smaragdina, Warrior Takemikazuchi, Variable Talisman, Genjiro—"

It did not take long for him to name all forty of his former comrades.

Their names were still branded deeply in Makoto's brain.

He sprawled tiredly on the throne.

"Yeah, it really was fun…"

Even though the game did not have any subscription fees, Makoto had still spent so much money he won on his old life and a third of his monthly salary on it. It was not because his salary was high, but because he had no other hobbies, so he funnelled all his income into YGGDRASIL.

There was a cash gacha in the game where players could pay for a chance to win a prize. Makoto spent nearly his entire bonus on it, and barely managed to get a rare item out of the experience. When he heard that one of his guild members Yamaiko had won that item for the cost of a lunch, Makoto had been so envious that he wanted to roll around on the ground.

Because almost all of Ainz Ooal Gown's members were productive members of society, most of them were willing to spend money on this hobby, and among them, Makoto was one of the bigger spenders. He was probably one of the top few on the server.

That was how dedicated he was. Adventuring was fun, but his greatest joy was found in playing with his friends.

To Makoto, whose old friends had passed away and who had no friends in real life, the guild Ainz Ooal Gown was a shining memory of the good times he had had with his friends.

And now, this guild would disappear.

His heart was filled with regret and reluctance.

Makoto gripped the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown tightly. He was a human forced to live in a world fated to fall into ruin. And here he was just another player who could only watch the closing time as it approached.

The time on his watch read [23:57]. The server would shut down at [00:00].

There was little time left. The virtual world would end, and he would have to go back to reality the next day.

That was only natural. Nobody could live in a virtual world, which was why everyone had left, one by one.

Makoto felt his body trembling and sighed.

He had to wake up at four tomorrow. He had to sleep the moment the servers shut down in order not to affect the next day's work.

If He cOuLd StIlL BeARinG tO live.

[23:59:35, 36, 37]

Makoto set his watch to count out the seconds.

[23:59:48, 49, 50]

Makoto closed his eyes.

[23:59:58, 59—]

The countdown finished. He waited for the curtains to fall on his fantasy world.

He waited for the automatic logout.

[0:00:00…1,2,3]

"…Hm?"

Makoto opened his eyes.

He had not returned to his familiar room. This was still the Throne Room in YGGDRASIL.

"What's going on?"

The time was right. He should have been forcibly logged out by the server shutdown.

[0:00:38]

It was definitely past midnight. The clock could not have gone wrong because of a system error.

Confused, Makoto looked around him, searching for any clues in the vicinity.

"Could it be they delayed the server shutdown—?"

Or had they extended playtime as a form of compensation?

Although numerous reasons appeared in his mind, they were all far from the truth. However, the most likely reason was that an irresistible force had cropped up, and extended the server shutdown time. If that was the case, the GMs would have made an announcement. Makoto hurriedly worked to reopen the message panel he had closed, and then he stopped halfway.

There was no command console.

"What… on earth happened?"

Makoto was filled with panic, frustration, and suspicion, but he was also surprised by how calm he was considering the circumstances. He decided to call on other means. Forced connections that did not require a console, the chat function, a GM call, a forced logout.

None of them responded. It was as though they had been deleted from the system.

"…What the hell is going on!?"

Makoto's angry voice echoes through the Throne Room, then vanished.

Today was the last day of YGGDRASIL, yet all these things were happening on a day that should have marked an end to the game. Was this some kind of prank they were pulling on the players?

Makoto was quite unhappy that he could not meet the end of the game in style, and the words he muttered clearly illustrated the anger inside him. There should not have been any reply to his hostile suspicion.

However…

"What's wrong, Makoto-sama?"

It was the first time he had heard that beautiful woman's voice.

Makoto was startled, but he still kept searching for the source of the voice. When he found the one who had spoken the words just now, he was speechless.

The person who had answered him was the NPC raising her head; Albedo.

"Is something wrong, Makoto-sama?"

He turned his head. Now it was Jibril asking him questions. Makoto did not know how to respond. As it was, there were far too many things he did not understand, so his thought processes short-circuited.

"What?"