Chapter One: A Taste of Madness
For the Overlord, the Ruler of Death, the Supreme Being Ainz Ooal Gown, it was another day overseeing the Fortress.
For the rest of the living, new-coming citizens of the newly established Great Underground Fortress of Nazarick… not so quite, and this was easily noticeable on their shaking shoulders and pale complexions – details that Suzuki Satoru, salaryman, worker of the IT section of Tokyo Co. and all-around stressed middle-aged man always noticed.
It was something he'd quickly learned whenever anyone with sense and a sound mind stood at least 30 feet near his avatar… something that it still had to settle on his mind.
Anyway, on the important matters… ah crap, Ainz was doing it again.
The talk.
"I suppose you must be quite scarce of economic, political, and military advantage." Said Ainz, almost droning the information and making the poor mother of three shrink with withering enthusiasm. "You don't know how to read, speak fluently the International Tongue, nor do you know any of your country's touristic and patrimonial places."
"I… um," The woman tried, rather pitifully, to conjure an argument at all, rising her hand half-scared-out-of-her-wits and half-confused of the flood of words that Ainz let out of his mouth.
Seriously, Satoru winced in sympathy at the shaking hand that lowered as quickly as an arrow whizzing through the air and killing a prey, for Ainz didn't let up at his harsh criticism. "You've never trained self-defense, you don't have any mana reserves, and you don't have even the brawn to be applied for hauling." He sighed, mostly for dramatics, and rubbed his bald dome. "You're now, if I may, completely useless."
This completely destroyed the woman, figuratively. And Satoru was too much of a bleeding heart those days, so, with the authority of parent stepping their foot down, he commanded:
"Ainz, stop."
The Overlord subtly perked, and his hand almost seemed to clench, but it was all concealed with a single cough that was once again for dramatics. "However," he said, gaining the attention of the woman once again.
"I'll give you ONE," a single finger was lifted for further emphasis. "One chance to redeem yourself and to fix your ways."
"A-Anything, please, as long as it can let me feed my children." The woman almost prostrated on the spot, but Ainz wasn't on the mood for begging and sweet appeals, so with a waving hand, he casually said,
"You will become the first housemaid of the Fortress – the Head Housemaid, actually." Ainz said, almost as grave as if sending her to the frontier as a sacrifice for a cannibal tribe.
…
"Eh?"
'Eh?' indeed. Well, it was Satoru's idea, actually.
…
...
...
One week ago.
It was the end. His precious Fortress… his whole Empire! It was going all down around him – crashing like a damn rigged flight in the middle of the Pacific! It was a disaster!
"FUCKING SERAPHIM AND THEIR TRICKY DECEITS!" Suzuki Satoru almost threw his whole desktop away in pure rage, eyes still focused on the flaming ruins of his 12-year old creation, the Magnificent Tomb of Nazarick (first adjective added for impact) and its surrounding lands.
With a gesture that was completely intentional for him to see, one of the Avatars of the besieging (and basically victorious) players was tea-fucking-bagging on the corpses of his fallen minions and Guild NPCs.
They were even dabbing on poor Albedo's body, the motherfuckers!
After a long tirade swearing a flaming, hell-on-earth revenge of cataclysmic proportions – and of course deflecting the 'gg ez' and 'press S to spit' with practiced, 100% effective responses - Satoru let out a long, long pathetic groan, slumping boneless on his chair. Fuck, well – whatever, at least the most important thing was safe and sound, even if at the cost of everything else.
Satoru wandered south of the marshes of Helheim, eyes flickering towards a small critter before discarding it, until he finally found his most treasured possession, exhaling with obvious relief.
Momonga.
Although battered and edging on the dangerous red zone of his HP pool, the Overlord was still as sturdy and as readily to take orders as he always has been. A lone, dastardly Swamp Warg tried to sneak on him.
It soon became his new Mount – a Skull Warg, overfilled with Negative Energy to the point of Reverse Necromancy. Such a gruesome fate for the animal did nothing but bring inspiration and a fiery positivity.
The Legend still lives, its legacy can be preserved.
Well… in his overactive mind, for the clock was nearing to its end.
Five minutes until shutdown.
The reminder stifled whatever flames where in his heart.
Satoru smiled bitterly, gut rolling with the fact that the thing he'll be seeing when the time hits twelve o' clock will be dark, and the menu of his operative system.
But all things changed. Although YGGDRASIL, the best Strategy Role-Playing Game in the past decade will cease, there can be pirated versions of it; modified, private versions of it.
There could be ramifications of its profound impact in the industry, there can be better games.
And perhaps, the Empire of Ainz Ooal Gown shall be reborn from its ashes, ready to rule the world with an iron hand and to delegate chaos and ruin to whoever defies it! The rule of Momonga has come to an end in this decrepit, lone world, but it only gave freedom to the Overlord once again!
Hell yeah! Satoru clenched his fist as hard as he did his teeth, eyes shining with newfound purpose. The bone has been grounded to dust, but it'll let the acorn grow far into the sky as a strong tree – and Satoru knew he wasn't going to give up.
"It was a goddamn good time." He whispered, but then shook his head at such a meek gesture. He slammed his hands on the arms of his chair. "A HELL of a time!"
The structuring of buildings, the designing of more projects in the Fortress, the gathering of resources to make his visions come true.
The pain of defeat, the glory of victory, the heat of the battle! The countless corpses he stepped upon to reach his zenith in the castle, the blood that sowed an entire Empire!
The buzzing of everyday life in the game, the sunsets and sunrises, the changing climate!
The history that he started, beheld, and that will now end…
12 years well spent. A hell of a time indeed.
11:59:56
"Well…" Satoru said, idly looking at the clock.
11:59:57
"It was a good time."
11:59:58
"Shit, I think I forgot I had work…"
11:59:59
.
.
.
What the fuck is this about?
An idea: what if YGGDRASIL got the "Strategy" genre added in it? What changes would it apply on the system in which Overlord is ruled with, and what of the changes in the New World? What of the implications of Ainz Ooal Gown not being a Guild composed by Individuals, but by entire Empires and Kingdoms?
I thought all of that, but really... I just wanted to go back to writing and get the juice flowing. That, and Jesus Christ, The Clockwork Empress is hella great, so I thought 'Why not?' and made my own version of it.
Simply put: Overlord is now about Momonga and Satoru working together to build an Empire from the ashes, Suzuki makes the input, Momonga does the dirty work.