‘Ah… yeah, this certainly is a problem.’ Momonga observed, staring at the two maids in front of him. ‘But, in a way, isn’t it kind of good?’
Behind the pair of girls stood the head maid Pestonya, the dog-headed head maid of Nazarick. Standing at Momonga’s side was Sebas.
When Momonga was called for an urgent matter, he expected something serious. However, this was probably a rather tedious matter that could have waited.
One of the maids standing there was Fith, a red-eyed, silver-haired girl with a cheerful disposition. Momonga already knew her status, but he wanted to see with his own eyes to confirm. He focused on her, and used his [Appraise] skill.
<Homonculus LV2 Name Fith
Status: HP 172 (green) MP 131 (blue)
SP 201 (yellow) 195 (red)
Average Offense Ability: 52 Average Defense Ability: 78
Average Magic Ability: 31 Average Resistance Ability: 70
Average Speed Ability: 101
Skills:
HP Rapid Recovery LV1 • SP Rapid Recovery LV1 • Magic Power Perception LV1 • Magic Power Operation LV1
Skill Points: 50
Titles:
Servant of Nazarick
>
Sure enough, his Appraisal confirmed it. It appeared that NPCs could now level up.
Dismissing the information, he turned to focus on the other maid. This was one he did not recognize, which surprised him. Due to his [Lord of Nazarick] skill, he had absolute knowledge of every servant of Nazarick. So the fact that he didn’t know this maid meant that she must not be originally from Nazarick.
He glanced up at Sebas with a questioning look. “So she’s an invader?” He asked.
“No, My Lord. Nazarick’s defense system considers her an ally.” The butler replied.
Pestonya nodded in confirmation. “That’s correct. She appears to have simply… appeared, overnight.”
Sebas looked over at the skeletal undead overlord. “My Lord, all signs point to her being a pop monster, but I was not aware pop monsters could spawn on the 9th floor.”
“Normally, they can’t,” Momonga confirmed. Nazarick, as a dungeon was able to spawn certain pop monsters, automatically generated NPCs which help defend it from invaders. These include things like low-tier undead or demons. However, homunculi maids were usually not considered part of this category. For some reason, it appeared that this maid simply spawned as a pop monster.
Momonga sighed and opened his status, before Appraising his [Lord of Nazarick] skill.
<The user is a [Lord of Nazarick]. Grants the user absolute knowledge of the status of any user with the [Servant of Nazarick] or [Lord of Nazarick] titles. Also allows the user to grant the [Servant of Nazarick] title to any creature that accepts the Lord of Nazarick’s dominion. The skill will not be successfully granted unless their subservience is pure. Allows for partial ruling-class privileges>
As he thought, there was a way to add new people to it. The last line was vaguely confusing but he figured there wasn’t much reason to explore it at the moment, and so turned his attention back to the new maid.
“So, what did you say your name was?” He asks, raising a skeletal hand to stroke his chin.
The girl bowed her head. “M-My name is Noir, My Lord!” She spoke anxiously but with an eager reverence. A fitting name, Momonga thought, as her short, dark hair stood out in contrast to the lighter colors of the other homunculi maids.
“Umu, and you wish to serve Nazarick?” He asks, observing the new maid.
“Of course! Anything I can do to be of service to the supreme beings!” She stated firmly. “If my presence is troublesome, I will gladly offer my life if the Supreme Beings deign it to be so.”
Momonga felt his sudden feelings at her bold assertion get squashed down by the green glow of his emotional suppression. ‘Ahhhh… this is awkward. Why is she just like the guardians?’
Momonga quickly cleared his throat and spoke in the most reassuring voice he could muster. “Ahem… Noir, that will not be necessary. You will be put to work with the other maids.” He wasn’t entirely sure how to do this, but the maid would make for a good guinea pig,
Focusing on her, he activated his [Lord of Nazarick] skill with a thought, and Appraising her showed that she had indeed been granted the [Servant of Nazarick] title, which of course now also granted him absolute knowledge of her stats and skills. They weren’t too impressive, however, in fact, they’re even worse than Fith’s, though that’s about to be expected as she’s only Level 1. Since he now knew that it was possible for NPCs to level up, he wasn’t worried about her remaining weak. Perhaps all of the NPCs could undergo training to gain new skills and higher stats.
On the other hand, it was worth experimenting to see if he could also level up, or if level 100 was still the maximum level cap. It was definitely something to look into.
“Pestonya, put Noir to work.” Momonga ordered, addressing the dog maid. “Ensure that she has an equal amount of work to the others. Nazarick can never have too many staff.”
“Yes, my lord. Ah, woof.” She added, bowing once, then leading the two homunculi maids out of the room.
Momonga then turned to Sebas. “This is good news. Summon all of the Pleiades maids to the Sixth Floor coliseum. I wish to run some tests based off this new information. Though, leave Aureole Omega out of it. She is already Level 100, so it is not necessary to involve her in this particular test.”
The butler performed an elegant bow. “At once, My Lord.” He then made a swift turn on his heel, and left the room.
Momonga sighed and raised a hand to his ear, or at least where his ear would be if he wasn’t a skeletal undead. {Buku, are you awake?}
Her response was almost instant. {yep! What’s up?}
{I will be running some tests on the Sixth Floor, I would like you to join me. It would be useful to you too.}
{The Sixth floor? That’s where Aura and Mare live, right..? Ehh, no thanks!}
Momonga hesitated for a moment, briefly considering whether he should push the matter. After a few seconds of consideration, he decided it would have to be tackled sooner or later.
{Buku, are you, perhaps, avoiding your creations?}
The silence that Momonga received in response would have made him think she has not heard him, only considering this was a telepathic communication, he knew that this was not the case. Therefore there was only one explanation as to her silence.
{I’m afraid you’re going to have to meet them sooner or later. Isn’t it best to get it over with now? What is there to be afraid of?} Momonga tried to reassure her.
{What?! Momonga, I made them crossdressers! You’ve met them! How can I face them when I did something so embarrassing!?}
Momonga shook his head reflexively, even though he knew she couldn’t see it. {Oh, no, it’s actually specifically because I met them that I know you have nothing to worry about. They’re just ordinary kids.}
There was another silence, and Momonga sighed as he let Buku think it over. Finally, after about a minute, he received a response.
{Okay, fine. But at least let me do it alone.} She bargained, but Momonga was quick to dismiss her concerns.
“That’s fine. I was planning to leave you with them anyways so I could focus on the Pleiades. I’ll see you at the arena.” he told her before he disconnected the mental link.
<X>
Buku sighed as she appeared at the entrance to the Colosseum. Glancing around, she had expected to be ambushed by a pair of fetishized elf kids, but that hadn’t actually happened. Instead, what she saw was the twin elves waiting her arrival patiently, and only when it was clear she had noticed them, did Aura run up to her eagerly, skidding to a stop as she performed an elegant bow. “Welcome to the Sixth Floor, Lady Bukubukuchagama! It’s an honor to see you again!”
The other elf boy anxiously crept up beside his sister and bowed nervously. “Th-Thank you for coming, Lady B-Bukubukuchagama…!” he whispered in a low voice. It was clear they both were nervous, and Buku thought she had a suspicion as to why.
“You two seem nervous. Is something the matter?” She asks, glancing down at the two of them. It was fair to say she was a quite bit nervous herself, but it wasn’t something she was going to let bother her.
“W-Well… We were worried that you’d be angry…” Mare mumbled, looking at the ground guiltily.
“And why would I be angry?” She asked, tilting her head.
“Because… you left…”
Buku smiled warmly and reached down to pat both of their heads and ruffle their hair playfully. “Don’t worry about it. I didn’t leave because of you two. I was simply… busy with some other things. But I’m back now, probably for good.” She assured them. It probably wasn’t best to tell them that the reason she had left the game was because her dying body was struggling to summon the energy to go to work every day, let alone play video games. It certainly was a fortunate twist of fate that she ended up here, even if it was without her brother. Still, Buku was confident that if she ended up here, he probably did too. Wherever ‘here’ was.
Both the twins looked up at her with big, hopeful eyes. “A-Are you sure, Lady Bukubukuchagama…?” Aura asked, her eyes growing a little moist.
Buku sighed. Mentally she noted how silly it was that she was afraid of them. Momonga was right, they were just normal kids who had felt abandoned. “Just Buku is fine. In fact, when we’re alone, you two may call me ‘Mother’ if you like.” she said, kneeling down to get onto their level as she reached a hand out to each of them..
Both of the twins stared at her hands in silence for a brief moment, then looked up at her. “L-Lady Buku… we couldn’t possibly…” Mare began, but Buku cut him off.
“Please. I insist.”
The two elves were silent for a moment before Aura finally spoke up. “As you wish… mother…” her lip trembled briefly, but she then suddenly jumped into Buku’s arms and hugged her tightly.
Buku let out a gasp of surprise but quickly allowed herself to relax and put an arm around the young girl.
“Mare, come.” She ordered, pulling the shy boy into her arms as well as they both began sobbing into Buku’s chest. “Oh, jeez you two… I’m sorry for leaving so suddenly… I’m sorry for making you feel abandoned…” she whispered.
The two children didn’t respond. What was there to say? All they cared about was that their beloved creator never abandoned them again.
<X>
Momonga turned his gaze away from the tearful reunion that was playing out on the other side of the sixth-floor colosseum and towards the six maids that were currently engaged in an explosive free-for-all with each other. Unlike him and Buku, or the Floor Guardians for that matter, the Pleiades maids were only around Level 50 each. If the leveling system in this world was anything like the leveling system in YGGDRASIL, it would become harder to level up the higher your level was. So even if it was possible to increase one’s level past the YGGDRASIL level cap of 100, it was possible that they wouldn’t achieve it anytime soon. Momonga did have items that could increase a player’s level stored in Nazarick’s treasury, but he was unsure if they would work on the NPCs now, as YGGDRASIL never intended to have NPCs level up, their levels were determined by an allocation from a guild pool, proportional to the size of a guild. It might be worth using one sooner or later, but for now, he wanted to try to increase the NPC’s levels the old-fashioned way. Depending on how difficult this was to do, it would determine the value that these items now held.
Even still, the six battle maids had been fighting for quite some time, and though he ordered them to stop the moment one of them received a level-up notification, they were still going at it as furiously as ever. A few stray bullets fired from a magical rifle wielded by the orange-haired automaton CZ2128 Delta, also known as Shizu Delta, whizzed toward him, but he simply ignored them as they deflected harmlessly off his passive resistance. Even if he didn’t have what appeared to be the highest level of resistance against physical attacks without being completely immune, his defensive stats were far higher than any of the maid’s offensive stats, and so he knew there was no chance they were going to penetrate his natural immunity.
Even still, the maid froze up, having realized she had hit him, and received a blow to the chest for her trouble which sent her careening into the wall of the arena at full force with barely even a grunt.
Momonga sighed and raised his hand, stepping forward. “That’s enough.” He shouted, the maids immediately stopped their fighting and turned to face him, lining up as they bowed their heads.
Momonga raised a skeletal hand to his chin in thought. “It seems like it’s safe to assume that either levels are too difficult to obtain within a reasonable amount of time right now, or can only be gained by killing. Needless to say, I don’t want to kill any of you to test that theory, so it will have to wait.”
“So, Momo, what sort of tests are we running here?” He heard a soft, feminine voice rang out from behind him.
He turned around to see Buku approaching him, leading a pair of excited twin dark elves by the hands. When they were both side-by-side, it was pretty clear her humanoid form looked a lot like the twin’s mother.
“I was trying to figure out if it was possible to gain experience without using an item or defeating a monster, through pure fighting practice. It seems like the bonus is minor, though I’m still unsure how a maid who hasn’t done any fighting even leveled up in the first place,” Momonga explained.
“I see… then perhaps our best option is to go out into the world and explore. If killing is the best way to gain experience, we’d be best off going hunting.” She replied, tilting her head at him.
“True, but I’m hesitant to go outside when we don’t know the average strength of this world. For all we know, we could be pretty weak. All we have are our stats, but we don’t know if they’re common or rare.” He pointed out.
“Hmm… if only the Appraisal skill could tell us.” Buku mused. “I wonder if there’s a way to gauge that.” She looked up at him, and Momonga suddenly felt a twinge of discomfort as a chill ran down his spine, as if someone was peeping on him while he was doing something private.
“Are you appraising me?” Momonga asked, watching her curiously.
“Oh, so you feel that too? Well, it’s good to know that we’ll know if we’re being appraised.” She replied, before focusing back on the air in front of her where she was presumably looking at his status. “Hmm, appraising your race still says you’re ‘rare and powerful,’ so at the very least we know Overlords are uncommon, the same as in YGGDRASIL. Only, now there doesn’t seem to be a level cap. Wait. Isn’t that pretty strong for you then?” She blinked, looking up at him suddenly.
Truthfully, Momonga had already thought of that. The 100-level cap in YGGDRASIL had forced Momonga into an extremely narrow build. Of course, it was powerful, but the way he had min-maxed his build meant that there was something to be desired in terms of magic that wasn’t necromancy or death-attribute magic. If he could allocate some of his strength into other types of magic, he could easily become much stronger, even if on paper his stats weren’t that much higher.
“Well, we can appraise appraisal results. So if we can eventually find something that tells us the average strength of humanity, that would be useful. But I doubt we’ll find that anytime soon, so all we’ve got is our own stats.” Buku finally concluded, dismissing the results of her in-depth appraisal research and standing up straight again as she looked at Momonga. “I guess it’s just trial by fire, then.”
Momonga sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I don’t like that… it’s very risky.”
“Surely it’s better than staying holed up in this tomb indefinitely, right?” Buku asked, looking over at the maids. “Hmm, we could always bring one of them?”
“If we’re looking for a guard, a tank like Albedo would be better.” He responded, stepping away from the maids so he could speak to Buku more freely in a hushed voice. “Maybe going out monster hunting is a good idea. But it might be smart to retreat from anything intelligent. After all, we don’t know who we might anger, and it’s best not to invoke the wrath of a powerful ruler.” He whispered.
“Well, I don’t think I really have an interest in any pvp either to be honest,” Buku replied with an awkward chuckle.
“Right, but even the monsters in this world could be unexpectedly powerful. It would be good to retreat if necessary.” Momonga reminded her.
“Then, perhaps it would be best to scout out the surrounding area, right? Do you have a Mirror of Remote Viewing, perchance? Or a similar reconnaissance item?”
“Of course, I can get one from the treasury. Your Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown should allow you to go there as well. But I can go grab one.” He assured her.
“Then, I’ll meet you in the main office.” She glanced over at the twin dark elves once more and offered them a silent nod of assurance before she teleported away.
Momonga let out a sigh through his nostrils. Even with the current situation he was in, there seemed to be quite a significant amount of intrapersonal conflict within Nazarick. He would probably have to deal with that sooner rather than later. But considering the monumental effort it would likely be, he chose to procrastinate it, despite his knowledge he would likely regret it later.
Turning to the Pleiades maids who were still standing at attention, he spoke. “Thank you for helping me with this test. The results are not ideal, but it seems something important has cropped up, so we will continue this another time. Thank you all for your time.”
The maids bowed devoutly, and Momonga turned to Sebas. “Buku and I will be in the main office. Meet us there, alone.”
“Understood, my lord.” Sebas bowed as Momonga too teleported away.
<X>
The blonde man sighed as he stood before the assembled mages and knights. Speeches were never his strong suit, but his men needed a brave face to look towards. They were up against the strongest man in the world after all. There would be no time to waste on something as trivial as the fear of public speaking, and he needed to lead them with confidence.
Clearing his throat, he spoke loudly, projecting his voice as much as he could within the quiet grove of trees that they stood within.
“My comrades! The Warrior Captain and his men draw close. It is true, we are up against the strongest man in the world by far, but by the grace of the holy Seven, we shall prevail! They are within the palm of our hand! Tonight, a new Hero shall be born from the death of the old one!”
With that, he held up a shimmering crystal. “Not only that, we have an advantage they lack.”
The men offered up a brief round of applause, it wasn’t much of a speech but it kept the spirits up. All he really needed was for his men to be in good faith.
Turning towards the edge of the tree line, he stepped forward until he was just barely out of sight and glanced around. It was any minute now. The village which stood within clear viewing distance about ten throwing lengths away. He would have liked to have been closer, but the vast open field between them and the village made that impossible.
Staring off towards the village, he couldn’t help but worry about the circumstances that led him into this situation. It was… questionable at best. Why was the death of the Warrior Captain so important now, of all times?
The man sighed, glancing up at the sky. There was still some time before the attack was supposed to take place. All in service of the greater good.
But why had he been shown that?
“Nigun. Are you aware of what these are?”
The blonde man looked up at the face of the elderly cardinal to whom he was currently genuflecting. His expression was unreadable, which meant Nigun had no choice but to take the obvious question seriously and play along.
“Yes, I am,” Nigun responded simply. Anyone within the upper echelons of the Slane Theocracy knew what the objects the man held in his hand were.
The Book of Alaf and The Book of Akemi respectively.
Written by the gods themselves, they, along with the four other sacred texts which together made up the pillar of the country’s religion. The religion which devoted itself to the worship of the Holy Pantheon.
Six books in total, and seven gods. The seven gods who favor humanity over other races.
But Nigun couldn’t help but feel a trickle of sweat on his brow as the cardinal presented the two books to him. Of the six sacred texts, these two were the only two which held information on the Gods of the Dark Pantheon. The book written by the Goddess of Light in particular held a disturbing amount of detail about the evil gods. Knowledge which was forbidden to all but a select few, though the existence of the Dark Gods was pretty much common knowledge as the Church regularly used the threat of damnation to the Dark Gods as a way to control the populace. But even Nigun himself only knew of the existence of the information, not what it contained. It was this book which the cardinal opened, setting the other one down on his desk as he began to read aloud.
“He was a skeletal undead with piercing red eyes and an extravagant purple robe. Every part of his avatar looked the part of an absolute ruler, and seemed to embody the very concept of death. Anytime I saw his avatar, I always felt a little jealous that I couldn’t have joined his guild, officially. He looked scary, but he was really a kind person, a strong leader, and a good friend. I hope he comes to this world someday. I’d like to see him again.”
The cardinal cleared his throat and looked towards Nigun. “Those are the forbidden words of the Goddess Akemi that I have been permitted to read to you. She describes the leader of the Dark Pantheon.” The cardinal closed the book and set it down on the desk before picking up the other book and opening it to the final page. There, was a seal enshrining the sigil of the dark pantheon. It was glowing with an energy that demanded attention. “I tell you this because we have received a warning. We believe it means The Dark Gods are coming to this world. It is possible you may encounter one.”
To say Nigun was shocked would be a massive understatement. He had gone completely pale in the span of that lengthy monologue, and was now barely collecting himself.
“Um… if I may…” he stuttered, looking up.
“You may speak.”
“Yes… is it true that the Goddess of Water had a positive opinion of this… God of Death?” He asked nervously.
“Not only is it true, it seems that despite having fought in the past, the Holy Pantheon considered the Dark Pantheon to be allies when they graced our world with their presence.” The cardinal told him. “Therefore, since we believe the Dark Gods are here, we have decided our best course of action is to seek them out. We will consider them allies as well, until proven otherwise. If you encounter any of them, it would be unwise to engage with them.”
‘Don’t engage with them’ they said, couldn’t have possibly made things more vague. Nigun shook his head and turned back around to look over his assembled men. Gods, appearing on this pointless mission? Absurd. Dark gods or not, there was no way a god would find the time to bother with whatever was going on here.
Nigun smirked. He felt a bit more confident now that he has convinced himself no dark god would drop out of the sky and kill him where he stood. He was still slightly worried about whether he could defeat the Warrior Captain, but the worry was almost laughable at this point. What was one lousy hero in the face of a literal god of death?
<X>
“Momo! You’re doing it wrong! Come on, just let me try already!” An impatient female voice rattled the walls of the office, as Buku tried to push Momonga out of the way. Sitting hovering above the desk in front of them was a mirror, though it showed a picture of a far-off scene rather than what was directly in front of it. The pair of them had been arguing for the past 15 minutes over how to get it working.
“Hey, leave me alone! I’ve almost got it! I would have had it immediately, You’re just distracting me!” Momonga waved her off stubbornly, before focusing back on the object in front of him.
“Oh? You’re saying I’m distracting now!?” Buku angrily hissed at him, before suddenly pausing. “Oh? Are you saying I’m distracting~!?” She asks with a seductive wink.
However, Momonga wasn’t paying attention. He let out a sudden cry of surprise when he realized it was now working as he intended. “Oh! I got it! See? You just had to give me a second!”
Buku huffs, looking away. Perhaps he was right, but she didn’t want to admit it.
“Congratulations, my lord.” Sebas offered with a firm, yet brief applause. Somehow the butler’s congratulations made Momonga feel even more like a massive idiot, though that was still overshadowed by his annoyance at Buku’s persistence.
“Thank you, Sebas. Now, let’s see what’s out there…” he muttered, shifting the display around to scan a wide area. Buku leaned over his shoulder, peeking in on what he was currently looking at through the mirror.
After a minute of searching, he spied a village that seemed to have some kind of activity going on. “A festival?” He muttered.
Buku leaned in closer and narrowed her eyes. “That’s not a festival…” she whispered. Momonga confirmed it himself by zooming in the field of view.
Indeed, it was not a festival but a massacre that they were witnessing. Knights on horseback rode through the streets, cutting down peasants as they passed. Some dismounted, butchering the villagers where they stood, and others dragged the women off onto the houses, where a fate awaited them which was best left to the imagination.
Momonga hesitated as he watched the scene unfolding before his eyes. If this was his human body, he probably would have thrown up at the sight of so much death. A glance to his side told him Buku thought the same. It seemed they had both lost a portion of their humanity.
“What will we do, my lords?” Sebas asked, watching the situation on display intently.
“Nothing,” Momonga replied simply. “There is no benefit to saving them, and it only invites needless risk.”
Buku sat back, watching Momonga with a complicated expression. On one hand, he was right, and she even agreed with him. There was no reason to help them. But on the other… was the Suzuki that she had fallen for really this callous? Or had someone else taken his place? Had the Overlord Momonga taken his place? And most importantly… Did she love Momonga the way she loved Suzuki?
Momonga noticed Buku’s expression and sighed, he had no way of understanding her feelings completely but he could guess the gist. Looking over at Sebas, he stared for a moment.
“Sebas, what would your creator do in this situation?” Momonga asked the Butler suddenly.
“I believe you already know the answer to that question as well as I do, my lord.” The elderly man replied with a bow.
The player who had created Sebas, Touch Me, was a strong advocate of Justice. Working as a police officer in real life, he liked to roleplay as a shining silver hero in YGGDRASIL, being someone who protected the weak at all costs.
“Saving someone who’s in trouble is common sense.”
That was the catchphrase of Touch Me. Slowly shifting his gaze back to the mirror, Momonga stood up. “Buku. You have your armor. Let’s go. Sebas, tell Albedo to meet me in full combat armor.”
“As you wish, my lord,” Sebas replied with a soft smile. Even Buku, who had agreed with Momonga’s original assessment, had an excited grin on her face.
“I’m ready. Hopefully, this armor is gonna be as protective as it was in the game.” She joked, noting how her crimson metal armor was pretty revealing, showing off plenty of cleavage and midriff. Not to mention it entirely lacked a helmet. In the game world of YGGDRASIL, this didn’t matter as the armor’s protective effects applied no matter where she was hit, but that probably wasn’t the case anymore.
With that, Momonga raised his guild staff.
“[Gate]!”
