Chapter One

"Do it. You'll regret it if you don't."

"… You're right. Thank you. You don't… mind?"

"I never have. I'll be right here when it logs you out."

;;;

Momonga opened Message with Flutter Core

[Momonga]: Herohero just left…

[Flutter Core]: For real? It's the last day! Didn't even say hi to me…

[Flutter Core]: Are the three still here?

[Momonga]: Yep. In BombombBoom's room. Are you going to see them?

[Flutter Core]: Already said my goodbyes. Still working on the garden if you want to come by.

[Momonga]: Would it be terrible if I went to the throne room with the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown?

[Flutter Core]: What? Of course not! You are guild master, Mo. Embrace the power while you can!

[Flutter Core]: Watch out for any traps though.

[Momonga]: Thank you. It means a lot to hear the go-ahead.

[Momonga]: Traps?

[Flutter Core]: Well, there aren't any for entering the throne room right now. Tab and Buku had lots of traps there a few years ago. I helped Yamaiko take some down back when she had her sister visit.

[Momonga]: That's nice of you. Are you… sure there's none?

[Flutter Core]: There's none.

The message closes and the six-inch, androgynous fairy continues with her watering. Her short white hair spikes out without moving and her blue eyes blink as she glances upwards, having finished the current plant. Crystal apples at the top of the superiorly grown tree disappear one by one, yet in a blink of an eye.

The player known as Flutter Core peeks around the tree. A woman in a maid uniform stoically picks the apples. Flutter Core smiles at Increment, a homunculus maid who's one of two maids allowed to come down to the sixth floor. Yamaiko was the only player Flutter Core felt comfortable asking to get help from a maid for the garden when Blue Planet stopped coming. Very few knew the fairy struggled with the upkeep. No maid has a gardening skill, but any one can pick the items easily enough. Increment is usually the maid to come, likely since her backstory includes her liking silence and since Flutter Core never got equipment to speak in-game, so it's always silence from her.

It's why, for the longest time, Flutter Core never played any multiplayer games. It's why her character model is built towards surviving as a solo character. She never would have been part of a guild if not for Blue Planet. Meeting in college, becoming friends, he then introduced her in-person to others who played the game YGGDRASIL. She didn't know they were thinking about inviting her into their guild, and then one day she got the invitation to join Ainz Ooal Gown.

I owe you so much, Flutter Core thinks as she waters the rest of the orchard. So much. This place she's helped maintain for years. This place on the sixth floor which grows the fruits and vegetables used for cooking meals. Where the crystal foods can be healing items, cooking items, or exchanged for large amounts of coin. And it all comes to an end tonight.

An hour of her nights, every day for years, has been devoted to watering this place and delivering foods to the treasury. All of it will have been for naught, as all the data will be destroyed, and she'll never be allowed to come back on again. When the news first went out was the first day in ages she missed coming. Only her fiancé convinced her to see it through to the end.

Her fiancé, who's kind enough to understand YGGDRASIL has become an hour of her life each day.

Her fiancé, who she only met because Blue Planet introduced them.

She owes her friend so much.

Maybe with this hour back in her real life, she'll have less stress when planning for the wedding. Only a month away, she's practically tearing her hair out between work and the last-minute touches. Exciting, but so stressful.

Flutter Core finishes the last of the watering and switches outfits into a strength-boosting one. It's made entirely of leaves, a crop-top and shorts. Then she uses Shrink – one of the first spells learned by fairies – to make the boxes of produce smaller and stuff them into her weighted inventory. Finally, she teleports to the treasury.

Automatically Flutter Core waves away the alert telling her poison immunity is in effect. With the four opaque wings on her back she flies over the mounds of gold and to the door on the far side. Then in real life, her fingers move over keys as a textbox appears in front of her character. For not having a microphone means she must type the words she wishes to say. In this case, it is the password to let her further into the treasury.

Being an editor and writer for most of her life has its perks. Like typing a keyboard blindly.

"[I'm dropping off some items.]" Flutter Core says to Pandora's Actor, the Guardian of the treasury. She wasn't even sure about doing this tonight, knowing it means nothing in the end of the game. Still, a routine like this is comforting. She transfers the crates onto his table and Resizes them back to normal.

Pandora's Actor sends back a confirmation and a happy emoji. Since the game can't show feelings, it's the best of a positive response it can give. Truth be told, Flutter Core used to not know what to make of Pandora's Actor. Dressed in his military uniform and egghead face, she wasn't a fan at first. Years of coming down here, the guy's grown on her. It's especially fun to guess the people he copies on the rare days he's shifted.

"[Take care, Pandora.]" Flutter Core says with a wave. Now she's feeling nostalgic. He gives another happy emoji as she turns and teleports back to the sixth level.

The fairy changes back into her usual now-you-see-me-now-you-don't outfit of a silken wrapping dress. It increases people's eyes travelling by her, and habitually she casts Invisibility and activates her major speed boosting skills as she zooms through the gates in the coliseum towards the forested area around. If Aura or Mare spot her, they'll ask if she wants to attack things since it's been so long.

Flutter Core's catchphrase is "I'm a twelve-inch-tall stealth specialist" for a reason. She'll probably be logged out before she can kill whatever dummy they drag up for her since she can't say no to them.

Increment is almost done in the orchard when Flutter Core arrives back. The fairy smiles and darts around, never getting seen or heard as she zooms through the plants. Ending up in the flower garden, the player settles down on a vine plant used for debuff potions. She watches as the light wind stirs the petals of the brightly coloured plants that are almost ready for harvesting, and she longs for a few more hours instead of a few more minutes.

All that's left is a few minutes.

Flutter Core opened Message with Momonga

[Flutter Core]: I guess I'll see you at the wedding?

[Momonga]: See you then!

;;;

"We're not going to make it!" screams a beautiful woman with a very deep voice.

"Of course we are," assures the calm Seraph Empyrean to the Predator Slime as he mixes the highly corrosive-looking mixture.

It's almost like a joke, the Abyssal Lord thinks to himself as he watches his teammates with almost shock fascination. They're trying to make an ultimate potion without killing themselves in the process. What kind of ultimate potion? Whatever they can. Props if no one has discovered it before now. Not like it will matter in a few minutes as the clock ticks away to midnight. An angel, a demon, and a slime stir a caldron in the bar.

Because Sous-chef has hidden some ingredients around here and they're easier to find than asking him for all his supplies.

"Centaur hoof?" Figmarent the Abyssal Lord offers to his teammates, BombombBoom the Seraph Empyrean and Vivinacerac the Predator Slime.

"Give me!" is the reply.

The liquid inside turns a scary pearl white.

;;;

Momonga counts down the seconds from atop the throne of the guild. A World Item known as The Throne of Kings.

He's sadden to see the fantasy end.

23:59:50

To see it all disappear.

23:59:55

All the effort, meaningless because someone else decided it so.

23:59:56

Goodbye.

23:59:57

23:59:58

23:59:59

;;;

00:00:00

;;;

00:00:01

00:00:02

;;;

On the sixth floor, a fairy screams.

In a bar, three people take cover as a cauldron readies to explode from failure.

And on top of it all, an overlord glances around his throne room in shock.


Disclaimer: I do not own Overlord. All rights belong to its respective owners.

A/N: Thanks for reading