Chapter 5.
Damn this fic gained a lot of views in a short amount of time since Chapter 1. Guess the Overlord fandom is pretty hungry on fanfic material, then?
Anyway, this is mostly a chill Chapter without a lot going on, just some discussions and exchange of information.
Wanted to finish this sooner but work's a pain in my butt -_-
Already know what should happen in the next 2-3 Chapters though so the next couple of Chapters should be out fairy quickly.
That's about it.
Kay bye.
XXX
"I believe an explanation is in order."
The words had not been shouted nor whispered, but they could feel the weight behind them as he stood before them with crossed arms across his chest.
They understood that their Master did not extend an aura of maliciousness towards them, for if he had they doubted they would survive, but simply being the sole targets of his focus made the Pleiades feel as if their legs would give up on them any moment.
Soon they realized they took one moment too long to admire their Master's presence and that they had yet to reply to him. The tapping of his gloved finger against his upper arm worried them greatly.
They were wasting his time thus displeasing him.
"W-We-" As the oldest among the present Pleiades Lupusregina took it upon herself to step forward and reply to their Master, but the most shameful of things happened to her. Her voice cracked.
Was it because of the pressure of being this close to the last of the Supreme Beings?
Or was it because right now, their action and words could very well decide whatever Eidolon abandoned them or not?
She could not say in the moment, but the pressure of something had caused her voice to crack in front of a Supreme Being.
The embarrassment was enough to kill her.
"Eidolon-sama, if I may explain…" Solution did not fail to pick up on her sister's plight and took a step forward as well, her voice calm and collected compared to that of Lupusregina.
'Sol-chan's amazing…'
Within twenty short seconds Solution had quickly and clearly explained the reason for their presence outside Nazarick to Eidolon as well as their understanding of how their actions were in direct conflict with his orders and their willingness to be punished for their transgressions.
"Haaa…" In response the Supreme Being before them simply sighed as he lifted his head up. "Well, I figured that much out from the moment I felt divination Magic gazing down upon us." He stated with a finger pointing upwards. "Nigredo, huh? Anyway, I have one question, you three." The Pleiades focused their attention, any question originating from a Supreme Being deserving nothing less than absolute attention. "Punishment this, punishment that...Do I really look like that big of a degenerate to you? The kind which punishes people for the smallest of reason just to get some superficial alpha male energy crap going on?"
The question stupefied the three battle maids.
How were they to reply?
Not unlike every other servant, they lacked any sort of fundamental information of Eidolon besides the fact he was one of the Forty-One Supreme Beings.
So then, was he a degenerate?
The three battle maids could not say.
Would it be insulting to state he was?
Or to state that he wasn't?
With so little knowledge on their last Master, the three found themselves unable to answer.
Yet, a question formed itself in the back of their minds as they pondered on the question:
Did it matter?
No.
Not at all.
They were his loyal servants no matter what manner of person he was.
The fact that he stayed behind when all others left was-
"Anyway, I have managed to gain some partly useful information so let's go back to Nazarick for now. I'll walk on foot but you can use [Fly] if you are tired. However, stay close to me."
Their Master spoke before any of the sisters could muster up an acceptable reply to his previous question. Their shortcoming felt heavy on their consciousness but obeying his current orders was far more important.
"Of course, Eidolon-sama."
"Mhm." The Supreme Beings simply nodded and turned on his heels, leading the way back to Nazarick. By his estimates they should require no longer than forty minutes or so to reach it at walking pace, time he planned to use and enjoy the nature and silence around him.
"Shizu, take to the skies and scout the path ahead while invisible. Lupusregina and I will protect Eidolon-sama at ground level."
"Understood-"
"Wait."
Their Master's voice interrupted the Pleiades as they strategised on how to best protect Eidolon in case the need arose, the sisters turning to face him.
"Hmm…"
"...My Lord? Is something wrong?" The Werewolf inquired.
"...Hmm? Mmm? Mhm. Shizu. Come over here." Eidolon gestured with his hand and the short Automaton briskly walked to his side as to not waste a single second of her Master's time. "Now, give me your hand." He said next as he held his open palm extended at her.
Shizu hesitated as she looked at the gloved hand.
Even if it was a command from the Supreme Being himself, she was unsure if touching him was acceptable.
"...I ain't gonna bite you, you know?"
His next words shook her out of her confusion. Though she did not feel worthy enough to touch him, Shizu went along with his request for fear of displeasing Eidolon and possible being the cause of his departure, as well.
Having been present when Momonga departed The Great Tomb of Nazarick mere hours ago, the Automaton did not even wish to imagine their last Master leaving them, as well.
She did not want to feel that sort of emptiness, that maddening feeling of abandonment ever again.
"...[Link of the Abyss.]" Eidolon uttered the words and Shizu disappeared from the sight of Solution and Lupusregina within the blink of an eye. Not just her physical form, but her presence as a whole could no longer be felt by either of the Pleiades.
For one single moment they even thought that he downright erased Shizu from existence as punishment for making him wait but then remembered how he disappeared from the crowd of gathered servants on the 1st Floor and realized it must have been one of his Skills at work.
"Now then...Lupusregina. Come here." He signalled the Werewolf to approach and she did just so. Then as she took his hand Lupusregina too disappeared from Solution's sight. Eidolon looked at his hand for a full second, a couple of words escaping his lips. "Well, I'll be damned...Solution. You are the last one."
And so after the last of the Pleiades touched her Master's hand she too disappeared from sight.
XXX
'Isn't this kinda too OP?' The man asked himself as he walked at a leisurely pace while the Pleiades walked but a single step behind him. 'I'm not dumb enough to forget how many daily uses I have left for each of my Skills. And I'm pretty sure…' He turned to look at the smallest of the Pleiades. 'That I placed the last [Link of the Abyss] on Shizu. With the ones I used before the server shutdown, the one I placed on Shalltear and then the ones I placed on Nyssa and Cyrus...Yeah, the one on Shizu should be the last one. And yet…'
Just like how his Skill [Phantasmal Figments] created more clones that should have been possible, Eidolon now learned that his main Stealth abilities no longer had their usual daily limits.
He wasn't complaining, of course, but this revelation did bring a myriad of possible problems along with it.
How much deviation in effects would each Skill have from it's original form?
If the number of daily uses increased, then would the cool-down increase as well?
More important, have his damage-dealing Skills been changed as well?
If so, how?
Better yet, how could he find out exactly?
It's not like he could still see the damage he dealt on his UI anymore, nor read the Skill descriptions to see if any changes took place.
The only way Eidolon could think of was to find mobs he was familiar with and see if they died as quickly as in YGGDRASIL, as well as try to experiment and see if his buffs and debuffs had roughly the same effects.
'In other words, it's a pain in the ass situation...Haa…Wait a moment. How would a Skill like [Aura of Interstice] even function in this game-turned-real-world reality? In the game it reduced Resistances by a set percentage but do percentages even apply anymore? And if they don't, then what have those values been replaced by?...Gosh this is going to be a pain to figure out...'
"Eidolon-sama, may I be permitted a question?" The blonde Pleiades asked from behind him while still matching his pace. One thing he noticed was that the Predator Slime was the most vocal of the present Pleiades, neither Lupusregina nor Shizu having talked much to him so far.
"Hm? You ain't in need of any sort of permission. If you want to ask or say something just do it, Solution."
"...Then, may I ask as to what effects Eidolon-sama's Skill has placed upon us?" She asked as she looked around, the world still the same with the exception of the blue filter which had been added to everything as far as the eye could see.
'Questions about my abilities? Hmmm...I'd rather keep myself and my Skills a secret just in case the worst-case scenario comes to pass, but...Guess telling them this much would not be too bad"
"[Link of the Abyss] extends my race-based Stealth to a certain amount of people of my choosing. Except some very specific divination-type Spells and cash items my Stealth cannot be seen through, so rest assured. You can't get stealthier than this." He explained as vaguely as he could for in the current situation, he could not even give exact details like the actual daily limits or how many people his Skills could now affect.
"As expected of Eidolon-sama, this servant is in awe at your incredible Skillset."
"I think the same su~!"
"Ah...It does have it's drawbacks so it's not all powerful or anything."
"If I may be permitted another-" Solution was just about to ask for permission to speak again when she noticed Eidolon looking over his shoulder at her. She immediately cut herself off and inhaled nervously."Eidolon-sama, what is this blue veil which appears to envelop our surroundings? It does not seem to shroud our own bodies…"
'I mean...not like I know for sure, but If the lore behind my race has indeed become reality, then…'
"Well, it's the afterlife, for a lack of better words. Probably."
"The...afterlife, my Lord?"
"Who the hell are you calling Lord, Drills?" The question had come unexpected not unlike the name Eidolon decided to address her by. "Actually, even using the 'sama' honorific is kinda pissing me off so can ya all stop it?"
With that said however, looking over his shoulder Eidolon noticed the three Pleiades baffled at him with an expression similar to one which might be interpreted as 'We no speak English'.
He sighed and rolled his eyes behind his mask before resuming his walk again.
Eidolon heard the hurried steps of the women as they rushed to resume their original position of walking behind him. "Anyway, I said this is the afterlife but that is mostly an...educated guess and nothing else. After all, already a couple of things don't make sense in this world so I cannot be sure the plane we are walking through now is the same as the one I know of."
'There's the Abyss from where I, race-wise, originate from. Then there is the Void and then the material plane. [Abyssal Cloak] should create a veil around the user which allows them to travel through the Interstice, the thin and subtle passageway between the material plane and the Void. Granted, the visual effect is the same as back in YGGDRASIL but if this really works based on that lore…where's the dead dudes? Is it because we are on a mountain where no one died? I saw nothing out of the ordinary while in that fort, either. Even the Skill itself generated some flying orbs acting as lost souls when I used it..Hmm…'
"Either way it's concerning…"
"My Lord?"
"Haaa...I told you to stop it."
To state the man did not try to change the Pleiades's way of addressing him would be a lie. However, even by the time they reached Nazarick little progress had been made in changing their approach, to his great dissatisfaction.
XXX
"I see, so you think we are located here, Demiurge?"
"Based on the surrounding geography I believe that to be the case, Eidolon-sama."
"Stop it."
"My Lord?"
"Urghh…"
Having arrived back at Nazarick Eidolon's first priority had been to gather the Guardians and have Shalltear open a [Gate] leading to one of the office rooms located within the 9th Floor where he took out all the items he gathered while inside the fort, the map being the first topic he decided on.
Eidolon crossed his arms and stared at the map on display placed on the centre of the table. To his right was Demiurge while Shalltear stood to his left. Cocytus, Mare and Aura were also present with the large insectoid standing opposite of Eidolon at the other end of the rectangular table while the twins flanked each side.
"Centre, huh? Might not be the worst location we could find ourselves in, though we have no knowledge of this world to base this claim on…" In case of Demiurge's claim turning out to be true, then Nazarick at the moment was located slightly to the right of the map's centre, in a mountain range which looked slightly like the letter 'S'.
"The. Terrain. Makes. It. Hard. For. Would-Be. Intruders. To. Attack. En. Masse. So. At. The. Very. Least. It. Is. A. Defensible. Position."
"Guess you're right. This could also play in our favour."
The true Vampire, still donning her red full-body armour, turned to face him. "What do you mean, my Lord?"
"Urghhh...Stop it with the 'Lord' thing." Eidolon muttered as he grabbed his mask with his hand. "This mountain range, it's cut off from the rest, right? With some luck it could be neutral territory not belonging to anyone else."
"I see, that indeed would be beneficial to us in our current state." The Archdevil nodded.
"It's not a baseless claim, either. Here, this part." Eidolon placed his finger upon the map. "Because this 'S'-looking mountain range is cut off from the main one there's a bit of a pathway between the two, right? I saw it while using [Fly] as well, it's a stretch of mostly flat land. And the fort I scouted out was further to the north. A fort is usually placed at the border of two countries to restrict access, right? So if the location we are in were to belong to this Dragon Kingdom we are possible the closest to, wouldn't placing a fort in this flat pathway be the smart thing to do? Since invading troops would have an easier time crossing on somewhat flat terrain than mountainous one?"
"Indeed, my Lord." The Archdevil agreed over Eidolon's grunt. "However, if the fort you yourself have located is placed further up north, then we can also assume another fortification to be placed at the southern end of this passage."
"Hmm...So we'd have a fort located roughly ten kilometres to the north-east of us, and another one a couple kilometres to the south-east as well, huh? Hmm…Could be worse I guess. This setup allows us at least some manoeuvrability without risking exposure."
"It is as you say, Eidolon-sama."
"Urghhhhhh….This is starting to get annoying. Can't you all just drop the honorifics already? I don't fart pure gold dust you know? At most it would be miasma or something..."
"Though disrespectful, allow us to reject your request, my Lord." Demiurge stated as he pushed his glasses with two fingers. "Eidolon-sama is a Supreme Being and anything else but absolute respect towards you would be blasphemy for mere servants like us."
"...Haaa. This ain't exactly the time for a long debate but this ain't over just yet. Also, two people can play this game, Four-Eyes."
Demiurge seemed to freeze for a long moment upon hearing the nickname. "F-Four Eyes…?"
"Yeah. You're Four-Eyes to me now. Also, Cocytus is Itsy-Bitsy."
"Itsy. Bitsy…?"
"And Shalltear is going to be Twerp."
"T-Twerp, arinsu…?"
"You got that right."
"Uhh, Eidolon-sama?" The older of the twins raised her hand.
"What is it, Aura?"
"What about me? And Mare?"
"I'm petty but not petty enough to pick on children. You two are safe and will be so for a long time to come." He stated with a thumbs-up and the Dark Elves seemed to relax at the sound of that. "Going back to the original topic, we can assume this area past the fort I scouted would be the Dragon Kingdom, right, Four-Eyes?"
To Eidolon's great pleasure the Guardian flinched at the sound of his nickname being used again. "I-It is as you say, my Lord. That would be the most logical conclusion." He then lifted his hand to push his glasses higher up but stopped mid-movement and dropped his arm again.
A smile found it's way on Eidolon's lips.
"Heh... And then, north of this fort is probably the Baharuth Empire. There is also the Re-Estize Kingdom the human soldiers mentioned but that could be anywhere, really. It is a bit of a pain, but this is what we have for now regarding geography. As for the books…" Eidolon stepped away from the table and walked up to the nearby desk where the dozens of books he stole were sitting, grabbing one at random and extending it to Demiurge.
The Archdevil flipped the book open and scanned it's content for a couple of seconds. "I see."
"Mhm. I had no troubles understanding what the soldiers were talking about but it seems their written language is a completely different matter. We are going to need to understand their language, sooner rather than later. Four-Eyes, can the Skellies on the 10th Floor translate those books? Maybe with the help of Items or Magic?"
"...The...Skellies, my Lord?"
"Titus and the other Overlords in Ashurbanipal, duh."
"I believe they would be able to translate this language, my Lord."
"Then have someone send all those books to the library afterwards. They can take their time with this task but the sooner we can understand this world's written language the better, right?"
"Indeed, my Lord."
"Ok, that's taken care of then. Lastly…" Eidolon reached into his Item Box and procured the bag of coins he also stole from the Captain's office, placing it on the table and taking out a couple of bronze and silver coins. "The currency. It seems this place does not use the same currency that we do. This could prove tricky."
"How so, my Lord?" The Vampire now nicknamed Twerp asked.
"Well twerp, firstly: we do not possess this currency in our Treasury. So in case we need to buy anything from this world later on, we would have no means of doing so as of right now. Secondly, Nazarick itself. This Tomb does have an upkeep cost, you know? If this world does not have our coins and we have no means to earn them…"
Numbers began to pop up in Eidolon's mind as he did a quick calculation of how much money was in the Treasury, in his Item Box and then the upkeep cost of Nazarick. Half a second later he nodded to himself.
'...We should be fine for the time being, then. Still, we are going to need to tackle this matter sooner or later as well, especially if we want to summon Mercenary NPCs which cost a shitload of money. Ahh, the environmental effects do also cost money to run, right? Should we deactivate them? Those sweet AoE effects are hella nice and useful though when invaders come in...Guess I'll need to talk to that Egghead later, him being the Treasurer and all…'
"Anyway, with what we have in the Treasury and the billions Gold Coins I have in my Item Box we should be self-sufficient for a while so this is not a priority but the fact this world uses another currency also means we have no means of putting a value on things. I mean, I have no idea what does coins are worth. What can we buy with them? I sure as hell don't know."
"Going by their look, size, weight and metal used, I believe those coins have lesser value than the gold coins we use, my Lord."
"Well, I also think so, but then again we are back to square one since we don't know what the prices are in this world. I'll need to find a city and scout out the marketplace, making notes of what people pay for every day items and then use that as comparison. Haaa, pain in the ass…But yeah, that's about it. Not a lot but at least we have some information now."
"If this Dragon Kingdom is truly at war with Beastmen in the south then we can assume they will not have the resources necessary to maintain patrols so I believe our location can remain secret if we take the right precautions. However, in the case of those Beastmen pushing through the Dragon Kingdom's they most probably will expand further in-land. If that comes to pass I believe we would need to engage them."
"Hmmm...You are right. So in a way, the fact this Dragon Kingdom is actively engaging them is good for us, huh? I'll need to head south and examine the situation, then."
Eidolon felt the stares of the NPCs fall upon him as soon as the words left his mouth.
"My lord, that course of action would be-"
"The best course of action, Four-Eyes." The masked Supreme Being cut off Demiurge mid-sentence. Then he sighed and walked up to the nearby sofa, throwing himself into it's soft fabric.
He raised his hand and brought it to his face, taking off the mask covering his face, revealing his ashen-plum skin to the Guardians. "Demiurge, you are smart so you above all should have figured this out first. I'm not the Guild Master." Piercing silver eyes fell upon the Archdevil, pupils that were surrounded by dark-blue scleras which gave off the strong impression of 'otherworldly' to the Guardians. "Do you understand what that means?"
'Well, it could be that the rules from YGGDRASIL no longer apply here, just like how my Skills are all over the place regarding effects and daily uses. But, just to be sure until we know for certain...'
"…"
"I cannot resurrect any of you in case of your deaths. Because the Guild Weapon required for NPC revival, the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, was created to be used by a single person: Momonga himself. And he is no longer around."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"...Whoa~" A certain Vampire was the sole servant to break the solemn silence as she gazed upon the powerful visage of the last remaining Supreme Being of Nazarick without any regard for subtlety.
Her taste, as per Peroroncino's choice leaned more towards the other way, if her harem of Vampire Brides was not evidence enough. However, Shalltear was without a doubt the kinkiest servant within Nazarick and the world at large, and her fetishes were manifold.
The fact that Eidolon oozed 'unlife' through his appearance alone would not play in his favour at all.
'I felt a chill just now…?'
This was but one of the first shivers down his spine Eidolon would soon learn to be a daily occurrence of his new life.
XXX
Well, in truth I doubt Shalltear would ever be interested in my man since he isn't Undead nor Ainz (not exactly Undead, at least), but I thought that was a funny way of ending the Chapter.
As for whatever Eidolon is petty enough to keep using the nicknames as long as the Guardians don't drop their respect for him, well...We shall see about that. I plan this fic to be mostly comedy but that's not all it's about.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the Chapter.
See you in the next one so until then drop them sweet reviews with your thoughts, complains and anything else in-between. Yes, you lurkers out there as well.
(Unlike my other work(s) here on FF I'm going to be asking for them in this fic so expect it to be a thing in each Chapter from now on -_- )
Kay bye.