Author's Note: Thank you all for your continued support. I'm glad you all seem to have enjoyed the diplomacy chapter previously, but that isn't the be-all-end-all for the arc. I say we still have about six or seven more chapters before this arc is finished if every arc is roughly 13 chapters that is. At least that seems to be my estimation.
Please keep in mind that the events of Naruto Shippuden are changing, so the timeline of canon events happening, if they occur at all, is shifting.
I managed to purchase Overlord Volume 14 recently, and saw that Volume 15 had been released in Japan! Already there are fan translations out for it, so I'll give it a read soon. Also thinking of purchasing the Naruto LNs.
Anyhow, short chapter this time, having health problems but got a new prescription, it's helping a lot, but that's why I've drastically slowed on writing at all. I had trouble focusing while maintaining story quality due to my health.
Now, here's for the Q&A! No spoilers and I don't repeat the answers, but for when the Naruto timeline takes place currently, see chapter 14's AN!
It wasn't clear, what is Ainz's mission?
As shown in the previous chapter, Ainz's mission is to discover the true perpetrator behind the 4th Mizukage's puppeteer. He wasn't ordered to kill or capture, rather gather critical information.
Can Ainz revive Shizuka's deceased lover?
Tricky question, although through Demiurge's resurrection experiments we see that the target needs to be the soul, which is tied to the body. So a body is required. We also know that Ainz will need to waste a [True Resurrection Wand], we Shizuka's lover was a civilian and as such 'low level'. He might not resurrect with normal revive spells. But we also know from D&D, something which Overlord takes much from, that there is a time limit on how long it's been since the target died. I'll vouch that the time limit is longer in Overlord, but it's been too long for Shizuka's lover to be revived.
Can Ainz do silent metamagic casting? Why didn't he use spells like [Charm Person] during the meeting?
Yes he can; Ainz has the perception that the Mizukage is equivalent to a high-level Player, as such would easily resist mind control effects. Not to mention, Kirigakure is an ally to Nadeshiko, Ainz wouldn't do that to his allies.
What are Ainz and Shizuka's relationship in the future?
This relationship is important for the main story, but I will reveal not to make your expectations something of deep love for one another. Maybe something more akin to Satoru and Keno?
Chakra fruit to get body back/get flesh back/skin suit Ainz-
No.
The Overlord of Nadeshiko
Skewed Diplomacy Arc
Chapter 19
Arriving at the largest library of the Village Hidden in the Mist, Ainz Ooal Gown felt like it had taken him much longer to finally reach this point than it actually had. But finally, after about ten days since arriving in this world, he now had access to a plethora of information available to the common man. While it was certainly no internet, his own guildmates' dedication to filling Nazarick's own great library in the correct manner taught him the means to navigate through this one even without the conveniences of technology.
Although, he did off-handely compare the size difference between the one here and the one back in the guild base. Simply put, there was no contest, but this wasn't some fantastical building for its setting in a video game.
"Hello," Ainz spoke up as he approached a librarian clerk, a young man by the looks of it. "I was wondering where you placed the more international newspapers?"
Gosh, newspapers, that was such an old term to Ainz, he wouldn't even remember it if there wasn't the local one in Nadeshiko.
The young man was taken aback by Ainz's approach, his eyes quickly glancing over his broad form, but eventually did respond. "U-Uh, newspapers, right. Head down that column, take a right, in front of the entrance to the staff lounge are baskets filled with newspapers and magazines organized by year. I think the leftmost basket has ones more related to events outside of Kirigakure?"
"Thank you," Ainz waved casually as he stepped past him and followed the directions given. On approach to the spoken baskets, he reached into the leftmost one and pulled out a folded newspaper.
He skimmed through it; years of experience on reading through bloated forums, navigating through endless advertisements, and other marketing schemes the companies squeeze into websites allowed him to read the condensed paper.
The newspaper was likely old by a few short months, but with the timeframe and technology of this world, that's basically yesterday.
A few key points of interest were mentioned, and as expected, any headlines or large paragraphs were dedicated to news concerning the Five Great Ninja Nations. It seems that there had been a conflict between the Hidden Sand Village and a rogue ninja group known as the Akatsuki.
He paused at that, made his way towards the more ninja-focused section of the library, and took a freely-given updated Bingo Book. Then flipped through to arrive at the S-Ranked pages which detailed this organization.
So, this must be the group that the Mizukage warned him about; the Akatsuki. Their goal seemingly is to steal all the Tailed Beasts, composed entirely of S-Ranked ninja and led by a still mostly unknown figure. Did that mean they were monopolizing these supposedly raid bosses?
He'll need to keep them in mind if assigning Nadeshiko's Jinchuuriki, Tanya, to any missions outside the village. He didn't wish to lose such a rare Job Class individual to another faction, but he couldn't trifle his subordinate's growth by keeping her behind closed doors.
Ainz closed the Bingo Book and placed it into his Inventory, hiding the usage of it behind a bookshelf as the visual effect unique to it after appearing in this world would be eye-catching. The Overlord returned to the paper, filtering out needless information as he tried to get a bearing as to the current political climate.
Well, it wasn't like he was not used to politics between guilds back in YGGDRASIL, but there were very few Heteromorphic guilds in the first place; discussions with humanoid or demi-human guilds tend to lead to PVP scenarios given the racial conflicts.
The Fifth Hokage, her title being the Slug Queen, one of the three legendary sannin? A Player with titles in the community tended to have the power and experience to back it up, and considering Orochimaru was also one of the sannin…
An audible sigh escaped him.
Did he really mess up with the diplomacy concerning the Hidden Leaf Village?
There hadn't been any sort of conversation with Nadeshiko from Konohagakure. So Ainz didn't believe they were in any sort of negative relationship, but perhaps he should have been a bit less… Forceful? Demanding?
No.
No, he did the right thing.
Nadeshiko shouldn't step down and let Konoha walk over them, that sort of oppressiveness, even if seemingly used in a friendly manner, would just crush Nadeshiko's reputation.
If the village were to grow, they couldn't just let bigger villages walk through them.
That didn't mean that Nadeshiko should antagonize them, just that Nadeshiko shouldn't just let them have what they want without compensation.
Ainz Ooal Gown would not help someone out of the goodness of his heart, not unless it was for his own benefit, or they were under his wing.
There was a bit more miscellaneous about the other great nations, such as the Hidden Stone Village and Hidden Cloud Village. But they weren't related to Nadeshiko, even if the Hidden Cloud Village was technically the Land of Water's neighbor, they didn't border Nadeshiko's peninsula.
He put aside the newspaper and began to browse the library for more chakra-related material, something more focused on the Chakra Natures he briefly learned about; especially about Bloodline Limits.
But there was a problem.
"Pardon me," Ainz spoke to the same young man from before.
"Y-Yes?!" He was still nervous for some reason.
"I've been looking for information on Bloodline Limits but I can't seem to find any books, I wanted a bit of a refresher," He gave as an excuse.
"Oh," The man frowned a bit at the mention of it. "We don't carry books on Bloodline Limits here."
"I see," Ainz replied.
Ah, right, there was some sort of conflict in recent years about Bloodline Limits in the Hidden Mist, wasn't there? The knowledge must have been burned, a shame.
Ainz spoke again, "Very well, I'll change the topic, where's the civilian education?"
After taking a book related to chakra nature, he might as well also pick out some self-help books.
A rather petite blonde girl, Tanya, finished caring for her kunoichi tools in her room after finishing another D-Rank mission. Admittedly, Tanya had briefly become a bit anxious the past two days after Being X had made contact with her, but after a moment to regather her thoughts thanks to the monotony that were D-Rank missions; Tanya came to the theory that Being X wouldn't play unfairly.
As spoken in his own words, whatever deed he did would be a gentle push, not a shove of trouble on Tanya's doorstep, it would take some time before whatever he planned would come around to 'testing' Tanya. Which meant that Tanya had time, time to prepare herself accordingly.
She had a list concerning what she wanted to accomplish.
On the top was related to Chakra.
Now, Tanya was an individual that was logical to a fault, but her understanding of chakra bordered on the supernatural. Although it could be partially chalked up to this world's difference in physics, the fact that current research of chakra divided them between physical and 'spiritual' energies frankly confused her.
She refuses to buy deeply into it being 'spiritual', her own personal opinion that was more accurate to call it 'mental' energy but couldn't do anything about it being labeled as it currently was.
It was difficult to change the name of something so deeply entrenched in society, so 'spiritual energy' it shall remain called. Even if the blatantly obvious correlation between a person's more learned state or intelligence is tied directly to their proficiency with the more 'spiritual' side of chakra.
Improving her chakra control was always a high priority, made more difficult due to her large reserves, recent training in that department finally pointed out an issue related to her newly found status as a Jinchuuriki. Her chakra control, whether due to the seal or the turtle kaiju, has been partially shot.
So, Tanya spent her free time working on returning it to an acceptable level. Though it did bring up a reminder, how exactly was she supposed to 'use the power of a Tailed Beast' that Jinchuuriki could supposedly do? Her attempts to communicate with her jailed creature have been moot, and it has not sought to communicate either.
How was she supposed to make a contractual agreement if the other party refused to meet-
A symbol flashed before her vision, a representative carving identical to the mark of the seal.
Suddenly, her surroundings were a majestic, fantastical, elongated hall that seemingly stretched for miles. The floor, marbled with a black carpet stretching forwardly down, at each side were rows upon endless rows of pillars reaching to a dark ceiling. As her vision looked into the void beyond, she could see, on occasion, crimson flags that gut out of the pillars, each bearing a unique symbol different from each other.
"What…?" Tanya spoke out loud, her voice echoed and carried down into the long hall.
Where was she? What happened? Was this because of Being X?
No, it didn't match his previous words.
A genjutsu?
Unlikely, given her seemingly innate resistance to genjutsu, but it is probable. Just because it was harder to pull off on her, didn't make her immune. Unfortunately, it was difficult for one to resist a genjutsu after it's been cast, not unless someone else was around to lend chakra.
She tried to dispel it by disrupting her chakra but had no luck.
Out of options, Tanya decided to simply walk, if cautiously, down the hall.
Moments passed…
Minutes go on…
Wariness edges on the border of Tanya's thoughts.
However, eventually…
She stopped.
A large throne sat before her, the carpet ending before its feet, emblazoned with the symbol identical to the seal. It would be the key clue to her whereabouts, if not also for the massive jail cell formed out of sky-blue glowing crystals, separating the reincarnated girl from the gargantuan turtle kaiju, the Three-Tailed Beast.
"This must be the method by which I communicate with you?" Tanya spoke with a raised voice, backing her tone with a sense of fearlessness, even if anxiousness did fester within her.
A singular eyelid opened and looked down at her, a red eye and yellow pupil holding the entirety of Tanya's petite figure.
"So, you're my new Jinchuuriki…" It spoke.
Tanya raised a brow, she expected some level of intelligence not outright sentience, and the voice belonging to the Tailed Beast was more formal than she expected. She could see it belonging to quite the well-mannered gentlemen if it weren't for its appearance.
"Tanya, of Nadeshiko," She began with introductions. "We are both unfortunate to be stuck with one-another due to an accident, so let's try to make this a beneficial relationship. I hold no ill will towards you."
The Three-Tails was silent for a moment, his lone eye gave a scrutinizing gaze.
"I see… So it wasn't Kirigakure… How do you plan to make this mutual? I'm not going to give you power out of the gate." He responded.
Tanya was elated, looks like this wouldn't be some animal-taming act, it was far more acceptable that it was an understanding individual, though that did leave room for questions.
"I do not expect such, I'll rather grow with my own strength than rely on someone else," She answered. "Though, before we make our arrangement, I have some questions."
"As do I, a question for a question then?"
"Acceptable," She agreed. "If you are such an enlightened individual, why didn't you speak out during the lake incident?"
"I had recently reformed after my death due to my previous jinchuuriki's demise. My mind was still in the process of regaining itself, so my body ran on instinctual self-preservation during that time." He answered truthfully. "Now, my question is, who is my sealer?"
"Ainz Ooal Gown, Nadeshiko village's co-leader, and my superior," She replied. "When you spoke about lending power, can you clarify on that?"
"A Tailed Beast can lend their chakra to their Jinchuuriki, whether to bolster their reserves or access different transformed states. But you presently beyond the latter… And I am unsure if it is possible with whatever this seal is…"
"The sealing was…" She tried to find the best way to describe it. "Unconventional."
"Yes, as I can see this place is not representative of our typical mental world, no doubt major influence on the part of Ainz, rather than you."
"Mental implies that this is inside my mind?" Tanya had trouble with that implication.
"Not entirely, your mind remains your own, where we are currently is the representation of the seal, which connects to each other through telepathy. You cannot read my mind, as I cannot read yours."
"That is reassuring, I admit, I was believing you would be far harder to deal with," She said.
"I do not hate humans as my siblings do, I had a decent relationship with my previous host, and you seem to be not blinded by bias to my kind. Still, this Ainz character is concerning, but the more pressing issue is the one responsible for my death, who controlled my host and I through a powerful genjutsu."
"We can talk about it, but first, how about a verbal agreement?" Tanya can't exactly do a contractual one, there was no legal backing for something within oneself. "We treat each other with mutual respect, you'll lend me chakra in emergency situations, and in return, I'll see about talking with Lord Ainz about you're living conditions." She had to imagine being trapped in a crystal jail cell wasn't a comfortable experience.
"Normally you would be able to alter it yourself, but given the circumstances, you may have to converse with that powerful entity. Furthermore, I actually encourage you to talk to me. I want to know who you are beyond just observing your day-to-day activities."
Entity? Did it call Lord Ainz an entity? But observing, well, probably expected, the Three-Tails did now rent space connected to her.
She nodded, "I can spare some time every now and then. Speaking of which, may I know your name? I doubt you're just called the Three-Tails."
"... Isobu."
It sounded a bit surprised, did he not get asked much?
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Isobu. Now, do you mind telling me how exactly to get back to the real world?"
"A simple matter, just…"