Renner clapped her hands together and gave a bright, toothy smile up at him a half a moment later. "And speaking in that vein, lord of friendship, that I thought I might recommend someone to you, a few someones, if you like. You've done such a wonderful favor to me already, just by your introduction, that I want to repay your favor as soon as possible."
"Oh?" Momonga felt a twinge of reticence, up until now it had all either been accident or the intent of his subordinates that led him to people after at least a 'tip' from someone they brought in. This felt different. "Who?"
"Emperor Jircniv of Baharuth. He's a very fine ruler, listens to people's advice, but he is utterly bereft of true companionship. He has no one he can call 'friend'. He just works and works all day, so much so that it is a wonder he hasn't gone bald. If your lordship would extend an invitation to him, I'm sure he would accept."
"An Emperor seems unlikely to simply accept an invitation, or even like he might be able to leave on a whim, for someone he has never met." Momonga pointed out, and Renner's eyes brightened.
"You're so right, sir Momonga!" She inched closer, keeping her hands clasped as if in prayer and rose to her tiptoes so that she was as close to his face as she could be. "A demonstration that you are an asset, that you are a true equal to him, that is what you require, may I suggest you lend humanity your strength by perhaps… resolving the unresolvable?"
"Such as?" Momonga asked, he folded his arms behind his back in a thoughtful pose that also let him feel the fabric of his dress beneath his robe, it was his only source of strength in the face of her wide eyed and almost fanatical expression.
"The beastmen are destroying the Draconic Kingdom, nobody has been able to stop them, if you were to solve that problem, you would have the gratitude of that… well she is a bit of a silly loli, but she means well, the Draconic Queen, Draudillon, and the attention of Emperor Jircniv. You will have the gratitude of all nations and it will be so much easier for you to find the reincarnated souls of those you treasured so." Renner suggested, and at that Momonga sucked in a breath.
"What did you say?" He asked.
"I spoke with your servant, Demiurge, he explained everything on our walk. I have no skill with magic, but I have studied it. It does seem possible that the souls of the people you loved have returned to inhabit the bodies of people here, one way or another. I suggest it is possible that it happened, or alternatively that they guide you to friends who will guide you to them. Isn't that right?" She ended her question with a high pitched 'not quite' squeal of excitement.
"I suppose." He suggested, it was the middle path of an answer, one that let him preserve his dignity as well as disguise his confusion over her answer. 'How did Demiurge conclude… no, it doesn't matter. This might be for the best, it will make the guardians and everyone else in Nazarick more at ease if they conclude that anyone I call a 'new friend' is somehow connected to the ones who created them. And maybe she's right? I'm here, what if they got here before me, they would have skills for something like this, or items. Could I be… finding my friends again? No. No way. These people are themselves… but it's probably for the best not to say that.'
Instead he said, "You are very wise… Renner. But don't suggest this to the others I've invited here, even if they are what you wonder about, that is too much to take in so easily. Keep that thought to yourself."
"Of course, you are after all, going to be my very good friend, your wants should matter to me." She fluttered her eyes up at him and added, "But other than Jircniv, there are adventurers you might like to know, people like the Blue Roses, they have been helpful to me in the past and are very loyal."
'The more servants I provide him, the better he will think of me. As long as he lets me have my Climb, I'll do everything I can to give him the whole world!' Renner vowed, and privately wondered if that is exactly what she would need to do.
"I suppose, but for now… yes, at least starting with the beastmen…" He rubbed his chin, 'Yes, a good story, I'll need a very good story… something that will draw their eyes…'
He began to comb through his knowledge of Yggdrasil lore while he thought, unintentionally meandering away from Renner as he muttered under his breath, and as he combed through that lore he hit upon an answer.
An answer that appealed to his gamer history and excitement at the chance to finally test his magical limits… and play the role he created his character for in the first place.
[Gate] He whispered the spell and the vortex appeared, he didn't hesitate to walk through it, and only once it shut on the other side did he realize, 'Oh… right… Renner. Well, if we are to be friends, she'll forgive me this once, after all I am carrying out her idea.'
Just where the beastmen were was an open question, his appearance through the Gate took him to an imprecise location, but with his power to detect 'death' wherever he could see, and thanks to his flight items he could see for hundreds of miles, he expected it would not be a difficult search.
[Detect Death Level Five] He cast the spell, and the world turned blue in his eyes, dots of red appeared to light up the view, but in the south there was a mass so great that the red shape roiled. 'A battle or a massacre, either way that seems the most likely place.' And with that, he shot off with a thunderous crack in the air as he broke the sound barrier.
He turned out to be every bit as right as he expected. [Projected Voice God of Death] It was a pure vanity skill awarded to players who took on character roles as opposed to just stat driven players, those who truly 'lived' the game, got little skills of a sort that would let them play their character better. One of his included the ability to project a booming voice that would strike the ears of those it was intended for.
"Beastmen! Your bloodlust has awakened the Overlord, long have we of Nazarick slept, long have we quietly dreamed as life came and went upon this world, and long have we gone on, content that the balance of life and death was maintained. You, though, have destroyed that balance! Withdraw! Return to your own lands and allow the restoration of the balance of nature, or Momonga of Ainz Ooal Gown will cast you down!"
His voice boomed like a god across the failing Draconic Kingdom, man and beastman alike, even those caught in a pitched fight, were forced to pause and listen.
The deep and roiling red began to slow, pausing, and fading from its deep crimson to a pinkish hue. 'Will they actually listen?' He wondered.
The bloody shade flared up again.
"I suppose not. I guess that was a bit of a chuunibyu moment… but still, acting is hard!" He protested to nobody but himself.
"Very well then." He said and went for the nearest sign of death.
A small village the smell of death was quite fresh, and there were several beastmen sitting around a handful of bodies, laughing and talking, oblivious to his approach from above while they casually ripped flesh from limbs that they would chew and swallow.
"It must have cost a lot of souls to cast that spell for us to hear it, but in the end it was only a bluff." A tigerman said with an idle laugh before wiping blood from his face and then licking it from his fingers.
"Oh, it was no bluff." Momonga promised as he landed behind the beastman.
"I already had my chuunibyu moment, so you'll forgive me if I skip the speeches and simply kill you now." He said and put his hand through the tigerman's back and then out the other side, exploding the heart out to land in tatters to beat its final time in the open air.
The beastman had enough time to look down at the hand in his chest and utter, "How did that get there?" Before he started to slide forward as Momonga brought his hand out.
The others rushed to stand, but Momonga held his hand over the corpse. [Create Death Knight] The roiling mass of black slime swarmed over the dead, covering it briefly and causing the other six to freeze in horror.
"Kill the beastmen until I tell you to stop." Momonga ordered, and the death knight with its great tower shield and its long twisted sword, spread its arms and howled its hatred of the living so that even the birds of the sky changed their course rather than fly above it.
"That's different. That is very different. The old ones didn't need a body… I wonder how long this one will last… and it uses less mana too, I could create a lot more…" As he thought of that, Momonga looked at the pile of human corpses.
"Yes, a lot more." He muttered and began to cast his spell again, and again, and again.
Until there were no living beings but himself to be found in the village. Death knights, reapers, reavers, rippers, liches and worse, and hours later, they still remained.
"Perhaps you won't just vanish if you're made with corpses… interesting to know, but we need to be sure." He said to the group of undead, "And I would like to know if you can gain levels. Go, kill beastmen wherever you find them, drive them out of this land. Follow their scents, and carry on until I recall you all." He ordered, and their screaming howls shook the trees before they took off in all directions.
'This is a sizable country, a few hundred undead will take too long, I won't gain the attention of any great nobles with so petty a display, I need to do more, much more… and I do want to test my magic, perhaps a tenth tier spell next… but which one… which… one…' He wondered as he set off toward the largest sign of death, but did not worry too much. After all, before the need to carry it out, he had time to kill.