Author's Note: By the Supreme Ones, you all were craving this story. The reception from the last chapter was immense, I almost felt overwhelmed by the positively received. Thanks, everyone!
Anyway, the Three-Tails Arc served as the prelude of the story, establishing Nadeshiko, Ainz's authority in it, introducing Ainz to the general atmosphere of the world, the diplomatic ties with local and foreign powers, and creating the first instances of the butterfly effect.
This story shall be separated into multiple 'Arcs'. Each Arc has a primary theme. The Three-Tails Arc, for example, was an identical name to the anime's title for that arc and served to indicate the current placement of the timeline in which the story begins. It also is the first and last time we'd have an arc with a similar name to the show.
Remember, Overlord is not a shonen like Naruto is. So if you're here for a shonen-like experience, I'm afraid this isn't the power of friendship you are looking for.
Alright, here's the Q&A! Remember, I don't offer spoilers!
Did Ainz lose the [Sealing Crystal]?
Yes, the item had been 'consumed' for the lack of a better term.
Can Ainz create mineral veins with [Super Tier Magic: Creation]?
No, he cannot, otherwise, he would have done so in the New World. Instead, he went out of his way to locate mining locations or deals like with the Dwarf Kingdom.
Is [Super Tier Magic: Creation] having different limits? Can it create life?
No, it cannot create life. Although it did behave differently, there are still set YGGDRASIL rules. Despite its namesake, it can only 'change an environment' not 'add an environment'.
Can Ainz implant body parts into himself such as the Sharingan?
Such implantations are surgical procedures of biological material into a living biological body. Since Ainz is an undead Overload, a type of advanced skeleton, he is incompatible. He doesn't have the nervous system or flesh for those parts to fuse with.
Why has Ainz gone through the marriage farce and be with Nadeshiko instead of Kirigakure and become the Mizukage?
Personal preference, but I was finding the constant 'Protag starts by being involved with one of the Great Villages' trope to be boring and restrained. I wanted to be more original, less restricted by canon material, and I always had a soft spot for the small dog becoming the big dog. There were other villages I could've picked, but I chose Nadeshiko because of its relative proximity, its status as a minor ninja village, and cultural foundation I can work off on.
The Overlord of Nadeshiko
Skewed Diplomacy Arc
Chapter 14
Satoru Suzuki sat on the balcony of his and Shizuka's house, overlooking the vast majority of Nadeshiko Village from an elevated area. As the house of the village leader, it was also one of the tallest buildings, able to peek over the defensive walls of the Main Hill and bordered the bridge separating it from the Residential Hill. This allowed him to glance downward and observe both populations of hills and their daily ongoings, a rather peaceful sight accompanied by the gentle breeze that blew down from the surrounding mountains, creating a pleasant scent. It was a relaxing sensation that Ainz indulged in while his mind reviewed the past days' occurrences and the village's current state.
It had been two days since the incident at the lake.
The mission's purpose itself had been a failure, although some information in the geographical survey had been gained, the region had not been fully explored due to circumstances outside the assigned group's control. Not to mention, the diplomatic tension between Konohagakure and Nadeshiko had risen, there's also now established conflict between Nadeshiko and the rogue ninja, Orochimaru, and his Village Hidden in the Sound. This was not including the Three-Tails now secretly sealed within one of the Nadeshiko kunoichis, an accident on Ainz's part caused by miscalculating the changes in such an experimental use of Super Tier Magic.
Although a failure of a mission, upon return to Nadeshiko Village the kunoichi were all given full pay due to unforeseen hazardous situations. It was a dent in the village's finances, with no clear view of return income, but such were the risks in a gamble. The status of Tanya as a Jinchuuriki was made into a high-ranking government secret; betrayal and leakage of such information would result in execution. It had been a fearful enough consequence that it would keep all parties silent about it for an extended enough period of time, hopefully enough until Ainz figured out what went wrong.
As for the boy capable of taming the Three-Tails, Yukimaru, they kept him in house arrest at the opposite end of the village from Tanya's location. Ainz did not wish to risk an interaction between them and possible mind control of his genin Jinchuuriki, even if he could theoretically make Tanya near-immune to the Mind Control status effect, he didn't want to risk it. Still, although he was put on house arrest, he was given a civilian caretaker to ease his slow introduction and eventual integration into the village.
However, the most pressing issue lay in relations with a foreign ninja village.
His legally married wife, Shizuka, initially kept her cool in the report with all the kunoichi present in her office. But once it was just her, Tokiwa and Ainz, the leader of Nadeshiko then berated the man in an emotional cocktail of anger, panic, concern, pride, and self-defeat.
Although they'd yet to hear anything from the Village Hidden in the Leaves, or the Village Hidden in the Mist, it seemed Shizuka did not have a good assumption of an eventual communication with the former.
She hadn't spoken to him since then, likely calming herself down and trying to cope with the information of what had occurred at the lake area.
The Overlord decided to give her some space for now.
After that hectic day, the following day had been mild, a day to rest and recover. He had checked with the YGGDRASIL seed's growth progress which had sprouted into a tiny tree, resummoned the [Moonlight Wolves] to guard it, and made a note at how the surrounding ground had taken on a more lush grass appeal near the tree before he returned to Nadeshiko.
He explored Nadeshiko Village a bit more as well, familiarizing himself more with its layout and general location of its facilities and shops. He was confident he could remember key locations, though anything beyond that would require a bit more time.
He recalled the basic information of the village's layout, there were three hills: Academy Hill, Residential Hill, and Main Hill.
Mostly self-explanatory, Academy Hill held educational facilities, but also communication, hospital, and more middle-class residential buildings. It was somewhat underdeveloped, having notable space to construct new facilities.
The Residential Hill held a large proportion of the populace, low and middle-class wealth lived there along with markets, restaurants, inns, and trade, but lacked in defensive structures outside the geographical advantage.
Of course, the Main Hill was home to the oldest and richest, but also contained most government-run facilities, factories, higher-end shops, and held the most development and access to the rudimentary electric grid. It was also the most defended location.
Ainz didn't need to be a genius to see how much of a mess the village's layout was. It desperately needed a lot of restructuring, improvements, and additional fortifications. Luckily, in terms of building supplies, Nadeshiko held a surplus of wood and granite. But there hadn't been any production of metal, and the labor force available was severely lacking.
Frankly spoken, Nadeshiko Village's population was small for its size. It had about little more than three thousand individuals, give or take a few uncounted for.
Not for the lack of space, but because of three reasons which Ainz could make an educated guess.
For one, cultural limitations on the introduction of men into the village for its kunoichi prevented those women from marrying civilians. This, combined with the requirement to find a man that can defeat them, which in itself could lead to the consequential death of the kunoichi in such duels, prevented steady immigration.
Of course, Nadeshiko civilians were exempt from that rule, but considering a sizable portion of the populace were kunoichi the problem was more than a small footnote.
Secondly, food.
Food was a problem, not that anyone lacked food in the village, but rather it didn't have self-sufficient production in that department, relying entirely on outside imports. But a lack of food led to slow growth, though perhaps that was more of Ainz's game knowledge than reality, but Suzuki Satoru knew better than anyone how being starved could affect a man.
Thirdly, and finally, was the unnatural odd occurrence of female-only births. This was already causing an issue with the gender ratio, which while on paper said it was 40 to 60 in favor of the female gender, was more accurately observed to be akin to 35 to 65. Logically, the population could be solved in the short term by encouraging births, but that wouldn't solve the problem with the lack of men, and eventually, the disparity couldn't be mitigated by the cultural law's introduction of new immigrants.
In the context of a company, all it bounded down to a lack of employees and trouble hiring additional employees because of long-held corporate traditions and some outside factor.
So, despite what should have been a relaxing moment on the balcony still had Ainz thinking about problems.
"What would you all do?" Ainz commented to himself, thinking as to what each guild member would do to solve the problems. "I don't know much about food production, and isn't it winter or fall right now? There is a chill, though I can barely feel it. So that is out of the picture for now… Actually, that seed is still growing regardless, though it is notably slower than in-game growth timers. That might also have to do with my mismatched job class."
He paused for a moment.
"Now that I think about it… Wasn't it changing its surrounding environment, the area around it was more like a plain than its native woodland variant. Is that a good thing? Sorry, Blue Planet, I'm not an expert at these things… Maybe it'll end up being a positive change?"
He had checked on it yesterday, after all, it didn't seem too significant a shift, maybe it'll be localized to the tree.
The door to the balcony opened, out stepped the sight of Tokiwa. She had been quite harsh on him after the recent incident but had mellowed out after Shizuka's own scolding, and the fact that Ainz upheld his word.
"Hello, Tokiwa, what brings you here? Don't you stay by Shizuka's side during her work?" He questioned.
"Ainz," She addressed without the honorific. "I came to ask you a favor," The woman closed the door, but didn't sit, remaining standing by the entryway.
He was puzzled, not expecting Tokiwa to ask something of him. "Alright, you have my curiosity."
"Do you recall your reply to the Mizukage's invitation?" Tokiwa questioned.
"I do," He responded, it wasn't some forgettable document, papers of importance tend to stick in one's mind for a bit.
"You and Shizuka would be expected to travel to the Hidden Mist Village," She began. "But Shizuka and the former village leader had been etching away from the Mist these past few years. The relations between Nadeshiko and Kirigakure are not hostile per se, but given the Bloody Mist's not-so-recent history and coming out of the civil war leaves a bad feeling in my mind."
"Are you fearing possible assassination attempts while we're in Kirigakure?" Ainz said, thinking back to days in YGGDRASIL, such lures to draw in the leadership roles of rival guilds under the pretense of talk weren't a rare occurrence.
"Bluntly, yes I am," Tokiwa admitted. "But I saw your space-time ninjutsu three days ago, can you teleport multiple people at the same time with it?" She asked.
Space-time ninjutsu? That exists? Well, an enlightening piece of knowledge that Ainz will keep in mind. He didn't know how his countermeasures to time-based magic will work against jutsu, but most of his observations so far seem to indicate a correlation between Tier Magic and Chakra Jutsu.
"You mean my [Greater Teleportation]?" He wanted to clarify.
She nodded, "Yes, so can you…?"
It would be simple to include one or two other individuals alongside himself in spells like [Teleportation], especially if he included metamagic. But in this world, Tier Magic was an unknown, hiding its effects behind half-truths would benefit him.
"I can, but…" He quickly tried to come up with a downside. Then he recalled how his spells were confused for these 'seals' before, "It used a complex seal that requires a period of time to recharge, so emergencies only," Ainz lied.
"I guess that makes sense," Tokiwa bought it.
"Though I was under the assumption that only I, and perhaps a small retinue, would go to the Hidden Mist?" Ainz questioned, he was the one who replied to the letter in the first place with his signature. "Wouldn't both leaders leaving behind the village risk its security?"
"While true, we can't exactly be on guard the entire time," Tokiwa replied, "It's a mild showcase of strength for both leaders to appear, considering that we are a small ninja village, our main competition is other minor ninja villages, not the Great Five."
"Yes, however, there is still the possible letter from the Leaf Village's Hokage. That's not exactly content meant to be viewed by others than the leaders," Ainz said.
"Are… " She took a step towards Ainz, "Are you not wanting Shizuka to go with you?"
He raised a hand in denial, "That's not what I meant to imply," He answered. "I'm just expressing concern over the village's safety if both leaders leave."
Of course, Ainz had not fought Shizuka seriously before. And given that she'd been fighting others before they met, she might have been exhausted beforehand. But given his observations of Shizuka, and the knowledge that she was the strongest kunoichi in Nadeshiko, didn't paint a positive picture for Nadeshiko's chances. Shizuka was generally around the upper 30s, low 40s at best with what Ainz had witnessed. She'd have a difficult time fighting those ninjas Ainz killed back at the lake.
He felt that Shizuka should grind- Er, train some more, increase her chakra ninja Job Class levels.
Speaking of Job Classes, Ainz recalled he needed to check up on the genin, Tanya, and see if she received any of that Jinchuuriki Job Class levels.
Ainz could try using [Discern Enemy], a Tier Spell that allowed him to view an estimated level of a target. But that wouldn't identify which Job Classes there were, and he was unsure how the spell would function on these, technically, levelless individuals.
There was also the matter that the symbol of his guild, Ainz Ooal Gown, had appeared on her upper chest.
Tokiwa continued, "While it's true that you and Shizuka are our strongest, the power gap between our kunoichi, such as myself, and Shizuka is not that significant," She said.
"Oh? So you are comparable to Shizuka?" Ainz asked with curiosity.
"We spared often, I know her strength better than anyone," She proudly boasted. "I admit she's stronger than me, the benefit of receiving direct tutoring from our previous leader after all, but I manage to win a few matches too."
Ainz felt nostalgic, recalling the duels between guild members back in YGGDRASIL, even the competitive rivalry between Touch Me and Warrior Takemikazuchi.
"Care to tell that story? I'm interested in how your sparring sessions went," Ainz asked, waving his hand directed to a chair across from him.
Tokiwa pondered for a bit, but relented, "Sure, I got some free time," She sat and began to recount her and Shizuka's time together.
Unexpectedly, Tanya was quite happy to find the hazard pay to be quite generous despite her logical mind knowing the village's not-so-secret financial state. In fact, Tanya had quietly figured out over the last two days that she'd been the only kunoichi to receive hazard pay in addition to the mission payment. Which in that itself was given despite what was by technicality a failure.
Of course, the first matter of business that Tanya went about with her newfound paycheck was restocking her weapons and tools pouch. A long-term investment would be worthless if she wasn't better prepared for the next mission and ended up as another person in the grave. Her clothing held up rather well both in and out of combat, though she felt it was vital to obtain a pair of combat gloves sooner than later.
For now, though, Tanya sat in casual wear at home, a comfortable shirt and shorts, a rather boyish look for her gender but such prenotions of appearance mattered little in this ninja world. Her mother had been rather overprotective upon learning Tanya's involvement in a combat situation so soon, something which the reincarnated salaryman tried to keep secret, but found herself unable to lie when asked by this life's birth mother.
Luckily, Tanya reassured her that such excursions out of Nadeshiko were not allowed for her for an extended period. Though, this was not solely because of her graduate status and brief vacation, but because of a circumstance that happened towards the end of the mission.
Tanya was not comfortable with the fact that a kaiju now lay sealed in her body. It had been quite a terrifying thought that haunted her the prior two days, lingering in her mind like a knife to her throat.
But more than forty-eight hours and nothing.
She didn't feel any different, nothing noticeably affecting her thoughts or body.
Well, aside from the symbol now engraved like a bolded tattoo on her chest, which was visibly seen when laid bare. Of course, it wasn't anything that can be shown easily, quite inappropriate to show it when considering her gender. But Tanya didn't deny its constant reminder when she bathed.
Lady Shizuka had informed her that the Chief Medical-nin will now be her personal doctor due to Tanya's newfound status as a Jinchuuriki; Lord Ainz will be responsible for checking the status of the seal, as both the one responsible and the only Seal Master in the village.
Jinchuuriki… The meaning of the word left a bad taste in Tanya's mouth.
It was probably the fault of Being X, that bastard had been quiet her entire life so far but the moment she had her first mission outside the safety of the village it went to shit.
Also, was there a reason why Lord Ainz's actions he did were spoken like a magic spell-
-The audible sound of someone knocking on the door drew Tanya out of her thoughts. As a small apartment, it was easily heard even in Tanya's private room. She left and opened the front door.
"Hello, Tanya!" An older girl with brown hair tied in twin-tails with a red ribbon greeted Tanya enthusiastically.
She recognized this person as Nina, her new team member. Tanya hadn't the opportunity to really know her team members, the hectic nature of the mission had prevented any casual pleasantries.
"Afternoon, Nina," Tanya returned the greeting. She glanced briefly behind Nina, but didn't see anyone else, then returned her attention to the girl. "What brought you here?"
Her mother was currently out at her stall, working.
"Kluke told me to fetch you," Nina answered. "Team meeting, Aki should be there already, knowing heer."
Tanya would have appreciated a forward notice, but nothing to be done about it, "Alright, let me switch to my gear."
"No need for that, you can go with what you're wearing!" Nina said, "No training or missions right now."
"I still feel more comfortable in my working attire- My kunoichi equipment," Tanya corrected herself. "Just give me a few minutes."
"Sure, let me know when you're done," Nina took a relaxed position against the door.
"Thanks," Tanya said and retreated to the privacy of her room.
Tanya hadn't really interacted with her teammates before, except their Jonin Leader, but Nina's bubbly personality grated slightly on her nerves. Still, if Nina behaved professionally when the situation demanded, then Tanya can tolerant the girl's demeanor outside of missions. It wasn't that Nina's positively was the issue, it's that such people she'd known with it tended to be more emotionally driven, and as such, could act outside orders.
Well, let's see how it goes.
The Leader of Nadeshiko, Shizuka Gown, a family name that she had to grow accustomed to, scratched her head absently while partly leaning forward on her desk over paperwork that ceaselessly continued to pile up every day. Nadeshiko wasn't even a large village, Shizuka rarely had to be stuck in the office doing paperwork, but ever since Ainz arrived it had been a tidal wave of work. If that hadn't been head-inducing enough, the complications that arose due to her aforementioned husband's actions made her seriously consider becoming an alcoholic.
Just… How?
A simple geological survey goes horribly wrong only to suffer no casualties, avoid conflict with the Hidden Leaf, uphold allegiance with the Mist Village, defeat rogue shinobi belonging to the legendary Snake Sannin, and also make a Jinchuuriki of the Three-Tails from a Nadeshiko kunoichi while keeping that information secret.
And that only included what happened on the mission, never mind what occurred in the village prior and afterward. He's already won over the kunoichi that were present, how long until he controls the rest under Shizuka's command?
Ainz Ooal Gown was terrifyingly lucky or outright monstrously intelligent.
She couldn't help but assume the latter; could only thank whatever deity watching that Ainz was on their side.
Despite the migraine that Shizuka suffered, most of Ainz's actions had a positive effect.
Most.
The political ramifications with Konohagakure were still an unknown situation, and the upcoming diplomatic discussions with Kirigakure, courtesy of Ainz accepting the invitation on Shizuka's behalf, was only days away.
Shizuka hoped that the current Mizukage was a tolerant and understanding lady, the head of the Hidden Mist had been the leader of the rebellion against that very same village during the days of its bloody history.
"Lady Shizuka!" A kunoichi rushed into her office. "We have an emergency!" The woman shouted.
The Village Leader sat upright immediately, "What is it?!"
"There's a sizable group of refugees outside Nadeshiko's entrance, they are begging for asylum from what they claim to be a monster of death having destroyed their home village," The kunoichi explained. "We don't have an exact count, but there could well be over a hundred people."
"A monster of death?" Shizuka questioned, puzzled by the title. "Nadeshiko doesn't have anywhere to place them. Set up a refugee encampment outside the village, I'll order some chunin and genin to patrol and help."
"As you command, Lady Shizuka!" The kunoichi responded and left the office.
Nadeshiko Village hadn't the prepared infrastructure to deal with a mass influx of people, a couple dozen perhaps, but not a group over a hundred or more all at once. It wasn't that they didn't have the space to build more abodes on the hills, just not the time or money to waste on building beyond the expected population growth and immigration.
Still, a monster of death? What did that imply? A crazed rogue ninja? A summon of some description? She needed more information, also, which village on the peninsula was destroyed? Nadeshiko was the only fortified place able to defend itself without external aid, every other town or small village on the peninsula was purely civilian. And while technically Nadeshiko wasn't under strict obligation to defend the Land of Water's civilians, that was supposed to be Kirigakure's responsibility, it was, however, expected to help.
Shizuka bit her lip, then stood up. She wanted to check the situation herself, the paperwork could wait.
The Leader of Nadeshiko stepped out of her office and hastily walked down the hall, passing by the occasional kunoichi or administrative civilian frantically working out. She noted that Tokiwa wasn't nearby, her friend that's usually there to assist her had been absent today.
As she exited the building, Shizuka concentrated her chakra and leaped high to the rooftops, jumping from building to building then down at the interconnecting bridge between the highest and lowest hills. Already approaching the area, there was quite the commotion centered in the area belonging to the vast majority of Nadeshiko's population, mostly at the entryway point into the village.
Then she noticed him.
His apparel and size were impossible to point out of the gathered crowd.
"Ainz!" Shizuka shouted.
Ainz Ooal Gown turned his attention away from whatever conversation he was in when his name was called. She didn't recognize the individual he had spoken to, so the person was likely one of the refugees.
"Ah, Shizuka," Ainz replied, his tone sounding like he'd expected her arrival. "I was just conversing with the leader of the refugees, I have reassured him that we'll help his group. I assume you've already been informed of the situation?"
She paused for a bit, her mind racing to figure out as to how quickly Ainz had reacted to the situation.
No, stop, it wasn't the time to make assumptions as to Ainz's thoughts and actions.
"Ahem," She cleared her throat and adopted a more professional behavior. "Yes, I have already ordered the formation of a temporary refugee camp outside Nadeshiko's entrance."
Ainz nodded and turned back to the male spokesperson for the refugees, "As Lady Shizuka said, temporary housing will be put up until we find a more permanent solution. As for the Death Kn- The death monster, rest easy that capable kunoichi will deal with it."
Shizuka raised a brow, did Ainz know the true nature of this so-called monster of death?
"Excuse us," Shizuka said to the man, she noticed Tokiwa nearby, "She's my assistant, she'll answer your questions for now," She directed the man to her friend before walking up to Ainz and then dragging him to a more isolated place.
She took a deep breath, then said, "We can't."
"What do you mean?" Ainz questioned.
"We can't make each and every refugee into Nadeshiko citizens," She said. "Nevermind the cultural law conflicts, we don't have the food reserves for such a sudden boom in population."
"I'm aware of Nadeshiko's lack of food surplus," Ainz replied. "But I'm working on a solution."
"I don't see many solutions to that problem that doesn't require more from the village's finances," Shizuka admitted. "We're barely even importing goods using the village income."
"Why exactly is the village solely reliant on food imports? I can understand fishery or region-specific, but does Nadeshiko have no ways to produce any?" Ainz pointed out the critical flaw.
"Nadeshiko- Um…" She frowned in thought, puzzled by that issue as well. "I do not know, maybe my predecessor did, but it hadn't been an issue before."
Ainz continued, "It's a worrying issue that a bit of foresight could easily see, but I understand that it's only been a few short years in office, with a lack of cooperation to boot. We'll discuss it with the Elder Council."
She sighed, not exactly wanting to deal with them due to past grudges, but understanding the necessity.
"As for the monster of death," Shizuka started.
"I recommend chunin to jonin, particularly those with high evasion and fire element jutsu," Ainz answered. "I am familiar with what they speak, and know it has a weakness to that element," He explained. "I'll give a better explanation later."
"Alright," Shizuka relented. "Also… Did you manage to check the refugees for any hidden deserters or rogue ninja?"
"No, but given their escape, I doubt that any are present," Ainz said. "Besides, Nadeshiko wouldn't be a profitable target, there is nothing worthwhile to risk infiltration."
Shizuka had to agree with Ainz on that.
What would be here for a single rogue ninja to risk an entire village worth of kunoichi to possibly chase them?
