Hi All ! Thanks for taking the time to read my first fanfic!

Before we begin I just want to clarify that this fanfic features Satoru as opposed to Ainz.

And yes there will be romance in this Fanfic between Satoru and Narberal.

Finally, there will be quite a lot of differences between this fanfic and the original source but I hope you will all enjoy it nonetheless.

Alrighty, enough from me! Lets dive into the story :D

Disclaimer - I do not own overlord

Chapter 1 : Prologue

A ray of warm evening sunlight invaded the windows of an office, hitting the eyes of its occupants at a rather uncomfortable angle as though attempting to remind them that the day was drawing to an end.

Of the few that remained, only one boy who looked to be in his late teens winced in particular discomfort as he was situated adjacent to a large wall composed of nothing but glass.

Fortunately he had managed to plan out his time extremely well today, pushing himself more than he normally would have – knowing full well that today was the last day he would get the chance to play Yggdrasil ever again…

'I wish it didn't have to end…'

Giving his head a quick shake and suppressing the sigh that threatened to surface every time he thought about the topic, he instead converted all his energy towards completing the task at hand.

'Every minute is precious…got to get back asap.'

Barely a minute had passed and the young boy had already finished, giving his ENTER key a satisfyingly loud tap before standing up for a quick muscle-reviving stretch. Throwing his watch a quick glance, the young man immediately packed his belongings and headed for the exit, all the while giving his colleagues along the way a quick farewell.

"Alright, see you all tomorrow!"

"Later Suzuki-Kun, have a safe trip home."

Taking the shortest route home, Satoru managed to arrive back at his humble abroad in a mere 30 minutes, half of what he normally used for the same routine. In doing so however, he had skipped a large portion of his routine…aka shopping for everyday essentials or food.

"Ah well, instant noodles will have to suffice for a night." Murmuring that quietly to himself, Satoru managed to open the front door albeit with extreme difficulty for the weather outside had greatly numbed his fingers. 'I'm home!"

Flicking a couple of switches here and there to illuminate his vicinity, Satoru made his way through the small apartment with practiced movements, throwing his backpack here and shrugging off his outer attire there without so much as a glance back.

A couple of steps were all it took before he found himself in the kitchen, brewing a kettle of hot water in order to prepare a mug of coffee and cup noodles.

Despite the fact that it was fairly small (boasting only a single bedroom, bathroom and kitchen), Satoru loved the place nonetheless. He had managed to decorate the place so that it provided him with a homely feel yet also kept the place clean and tidy all at the same time.

After all if it was one thing he had a bit of practice in, it would be his independence. Having lost his father and mother both at an early age, Satoru had no choice but to rely on himself ever since. Instead of complaining about his misfortune however, the young boy had decided to make the best of his situation.

"What's important is not the cards we are dealt but how we play them."

Adopting such a mindset was what pushed the boy from despair to hopeful ever since the unfortunate incident involving his parents. Rather than focusing on what he couldn't control, Satoru knew that he should make the most of every opportunity he was presented with, hoping to make his parents proud in the process. It also made his days more worthwhile, knowing at the end of the day when he went to bed, that he had done everything he could.

In fact it was precisely because of this mindset that he was able to get to where he was in life. Sure his job was nothing fancy, being just your ordinary salaryman working from 9-5. However when one took into the account the fact that Satoru finished his academic journey at elementary school without progressing onto high school or university, it was something worth applauding about especially since he genuinely achieved it all through his own blood, sweat and tears alone.

Regardless Satoru took his job very seriously, earning praise from both colleagues and managers alike which lead to several raises over the past couple of years.

As a result of his newly acquired financial stability, Satoru had decided to expand his field of interests, trying out several new things in hopes of finding a hobby or two.

Never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined that drawing would be the one hobby that would change his life…

You see, Satoru in reality actually had no interest in gaming whatsoever, having no prior experience either. In fact it was so far down his list, that he would have never tried Yggdrasil had he not been so addicted to drawing at the time.

So one may ask… "What exactly caused such a boy to spend countless hours within a virtual reality game?"

Once upon a time when Yggdrasil had first begun, its reputation was unrivalled in more aspects than one. Developers released updates and new content very frequently and its player base skyrocketed at an exponential rate to the point where anyone who bothered to use the internet would at least know the name. Such was the fashion in which Satoru discovered its existence too.

Like with many popular thriving online games, official competitions were also held by the company so that players could compete for exclusive rewards that couldn't be earned any other way. Some of these included limited edition gear, weapons or other consumables. As such, these events were often very well received which in turn allowed the company to not only reward their most loyal or talented players but also provided them with the publicity they desired.

With such an apparent win-win situation at hand, one didn't need to be a genius to figure out the reason for the continual improvement in rewards for such competitions.

Because Yggdrasil boasted stunning graphics at the time that were leaps and bounds ahead of any other virtual reality games, the developers naturally earned the faith of their player base when it came to artistic skill. Couple that with the fact that everyone was interested in the chance of winning a unique aesthetic prize, it made perfect sense that the reward for the next competition be something along those lines.

After many public opinion polls and questionnaires, the company officially announced the details.

'Our first anniversary is coming up and we would like to show our appreciation by having one lucky player made character implemented into the game! The winner will receive a unique custom made avatar/character on your selected account!

If you are interested, simply create, draw and submit for your chance to win your very own exclusively designed character!

Additionally, four lucky runner ups will receive some limited edition gear in game!

Good luck! ^^

Please see below for important details on submission dates and requirements.'

Until now, Satoru still thought it was a rather childish reason but it hadn't changed nonetheless after all these years. At the time, he was more interested in getting his artwork evaluated by professionals than actually winning – the prize simply served as a cherry on top.

"Still can't believe I won that competition." Satoru exclaimed out loud, knowing full well that no one would be able to see his act of immaturity. "I mean, everyone seemed to really like my character!"

The young boy could still feel the excitement well up every time he recalled when the results were posted. After all, the top 5 artworks were posted for public to view and his had received the most compliments by a mile.

"Well I did spend many sleepless nights perfecting the tone, color and shades…" Satoru continued with his monologue before a loud sound broke his train of thought.

Switching off the now screaming kettle, the black-haired quickly prepared a meal of coffee and instant noodles before returning to his bedroom which also served as a living room.

Allowing himself a couple of minutes to quickly down his food, Satoru watched with a smile as the DMORPG helmet lit up with vibrant colors – the device that acted as a gateway to an alternate reality that he had spent countless hours in.

After winning the award, it seemed like such a waste to not try playing the character that the design team made especially for him after all. Besides Satoru had placed so much effort into drawing and creating them, so he felt almost obligated to stay with them. As stupid as it sounded, it felt like they were a part of him.

Whether it be the beautiful tapered eyes, thick and silky black hair tied in a ponytail or the healthy snow-white skin – every detail was drawn to an immaculate and flawless degree that Satoru at times had a little trouble believing that it was his own creation.

Heck he didn't want to seem like a weirdo of any kind, but there were times when he would stay on the login screen for more minutes that he should have simply admiring the work of art.

Simply put, the character was absolutely beautiful, much more so in game than just on a canvas – as though breathed to life.

Anyway now was not the time for a stroll down memory lane, after the entire server was set to shut down at midnight, which meant he had no more than a meager 4 hours to say his final goodbyes.

Quickly assuming a comfortable position in the armchair he always used to dive in game, Satoru gave his face a quick slap or two to rid the tears that threatened to fall before donning the VR helmet.

Several small beeps could be heard as the system sprung to life – a procedure that had freaked out the boy when he first started using it but now something he was completely used to.

Satoru navigated swiftly through all the necessary menus with Satoru inputting his credentials where necessary.

Before long, the usual familiar screen filled his visor interface.

-Login confirmed.

-Welcome back Satoru to Yggdrasil!

-Now loading Character Selection screen

Because Satoru was the type to focus entirely on one thing at any one time, he only possessed one character, preferring to spend all his time improving and perfecting them.

Besides why create a second character when you have an exclusive custom character right?

-Please select your character

Narberal Gamma (Level 100)

Giving the first character a swift double tap, a flash of bright light filled Satoru's vision as the young boy felt himself drawn once again into the alternate reality.

Before you asked, no. Satoru didn't have any friends in this game. It was true that he had one of the most popular characters out there on the entire server, with the name "Narberal Gamma" reaching the ears of many he had never even seen before. Heck, word spread to his ears that apparently he even had a fan club of some sort which would probably explain the reason why his character had a nickname.

Narberal the beautiful princess.

The more he thought about it, the stranger and more embarrassing it got especially since he was a guy in reality.

Unfortunately he missed the opportunity to clarify his gender when his artwork was released on the Yggdrasil website. To be fair, at the time he had never planned to play the game therefore he never really thought about offering any proper explanation thus generating the rumor of him being a girl. Furthermore, Satoru had used the pen name "Nabe" when he submitted the art so that didn't really help his case either.

So by the time he was aware of this issue, it was already too late. With many "fans" coming up to greet him on a daily basis, requesting for many mundane and time consuming things like a hand shake or two.

Thankfully, through many hours of hard work, the young boy managed to build his reputation to the point where his fame wasn't built entirely on the foundation of Narberal's transcendent beauty but also for her strength as a mage in battle.

However the constant waves of admirers and random adventurers with ulterior motives visiting him eventually took its toll. For starters, Satoru always had difficulties socializing, preferring to spend his time alone more so than not. So for him to be exposed to so much attention due to superficial reasons eventually drove him into a corner, thus opting to stick to solo play.

It was probably for this reason alone that he refused all party and guild invitations.

He still interacted here and there with others but those were nothing more than business transactions, such getting a player to craft a weapon or to request an update from info brokers.

Of course, solo play did in fact have a lot of disadvantages as most higher leveled raids or dungeons were exponentially more difficult without any backup. Therefore he had to plan each and every move extremely thoroughly for any hope of success. Needless to say, he had experienced on many occasions especially when attempting something for the first time. But Satoru was crafty with his information and used everything to his advantage.

As a pure arcane caster, who thanks to the skill Dark wisdom, knew well over the normal 300 spells that a level 100 player would, his timing and practical usage of every skill was detrimental to his success. Not only did he have a deep understanding of the game itself, but Satoru was also fairly diligent in his practical training, memorizing every single position of the spellcasting console allowing him to use magic with fluent combos without so much as a second thought.

To top things off, Satoru was also fairly quick at adapting to unforeseen circumstances for random events occur all the time in dungeons so there was no certain guide.

Anyways, let us not delve too much into the specifics on the final night. Rather than spending an hour thinking about strategies and gameplay, he would much rather engage in some more relaxing activities.

"First, let's visit some of places I used to frequent as a beginner for the sake of nostalgia. Then maybe I can visit my special relaxing spot up on in the mountainside overlooking the vast expanse of forest and ocean!"

With a solid plan in mind, Satoru hummed to himself happily before preparing himself mentally for the a teleportation spell.

The young boy knew that he had logged off in a run-down hotel of a small town yesterday contemplating on a mysterious red orb object he had received ever since he started this game.

But never mind that.

Time is of the essence.

If he wanted to go back to those beginner spots for the feels, why not equip some beginner armor too?

With a practiced motion, Satoru swiped the air in front of him before selecting the correct options for his equipment….or rather it should have but nothing happened. Raising his eyebrow in confusion, the young boy once again repeated the same motion but no avail much like the first instance.

'What in the world…?'

Maybe the item box was bugged as it is the last day after all…maybe they shut off some of the system prematurely?

Satoru decided to give something else a try, closing his eyes and mentally commanding his powers much like he would normally in game.

Skill activate: Greater teleportation !

Opening his eyes slowly, Satoru found that he was still in the same room much to his dismay. By now, he was starting to feel a small ounce of worry as this level of bug has never occurred to him. Heck, if he can't access the main menu, then how was he supposed to log out?

Message Gamemaster!

But there was no response.

Satoru could feel his palms begin to sweat and his heart begin to race with a migraine starting to set in due to his lack of sleep. The young boy quickly wiped his hands on his trousers and it was only then did he notice the attire he was wearing was from work in reality.

Yet the scene he saw before him was Yggdrasil without a mistake!

"What's going on?" A croaky distressed voice was all the boy could muster before trying to get up. "Can someone help me?!"

However before he could rise from his unnaturally soft pillow, a gentle feminine voice filled his ears.

"Suzuki-sama?"

Satoru glanced up weakly to see the appearance of an individual that he had spent many hours admiring, designing and perfecting staring back with a worried expression.

That's right.

The elegant , snow-white skinned, black pony tailed beauty that was currently offering him a lap pillow was none other than…

"Narberal Gamma?"

"Yes Suzuki-sama, you should be res…"

"…how…what?" The young boy stuttered in confusion, unable to find the right words to formulate a string of coherent words. Somehow he felt extremely weak perhaps from the weird "dive" that he just performed but he was having trouble simply trying push himself up into a sitting position.

"Don't push yourself!" Helping him up gently, Narberal carefully pulled Satoru into a warm embrace. "It's ok Suzuki-sama, you're not alone. I'll be here."

Much like his consciousness, Satoru could feel his worry slowly slipping as well, finding comfort in the warm and soft hug the black haired beauty offered.

It didn't take long before he was sound asleep and emitting a soft snore.

In a very delicate and tender motion, she gently placed the young boy back to bed, making sure that he was in a comfortable position before pulling up the blanket.

Reaching out to gently stroke Satoru's hair with one hand and the other to clasp his hand, Narberal let out a grateful smile with cheeks dyed ever so slightly in pink.

"Thank you for staying with me Suzuki-sama."

A/N - Thanks again for reading everyone! What did you guys think?

I'm still trying to get some feedback as this idea is experimental atm haha. The main focus of this fanfic is going to be around Satoru and Narberal with their interactions and relationship forming the core of the story as I particularly enjoyed their adventures together as Darkness in the original source, therefore I wanted to try and delve into that aspect (with a twist).

Anyways until next time, hope you all have a wonderful day ^^

-Eria