"It's been fun…" came the morose voice of Suzuki Satoru, his voice practically deafening in an otherwise quiet room. Being a rather thin average man who was currently playing his favorite DMMO-RPG game YGGDRASIL, in real life he was sitting down in his ratty old armchair with his gaming headset on, but in the game he was sitting on the throne on the 10th floor of the building he and his 40 friends made called The Great Tomb of Nazarick. His in-game avatar was that of an overlord, the highest ranking of undead, and as he sat on the throne he moved his in-game avatar's pupils (that being two red dots) to the legendary Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, which was a borderline World Item from how powerful it was.

He had grabbed it from its usual pedestal, breaking several rules in the process he and his guildmates had made, but who could blame the man? It wasn't as if anyone (besides HeroHero) would come to chastise him, now would they? He had gathered up all the NPCs he could find nearby and brought them to the throne room to kneel before him as he counted down the minutes before the servers went offline.

23 H 58 M 29 S

Satoru looked around at Sebas, Albeado, the Pleiades, proud of his friends' artistic skills to have them be there in his final hour, before the game died and, along with it, some of the soul of Suzuki.

He wasn't afraid to admit that the game was his life. He had poured thousands and thousands of hours into the game, memorized a whopping 718 different spells, and probably had the most overfilled inventory man could ever devise. Indeed, Satoru was proud of his accomplishments, proud of the time well spent playing his favorite game. He had collected quite a few World Items and had enough gold coins in the treasury to make even a capitalist duck blush.

And now the devs were going to take that away from him.

It wasn't fair! It wasn't fair that everyone had left him behind, making him truly the last heteromorph of The Great Tomb of Nazarick. It wasn't fair that once the game went offline he'd be stuck with the miserable existence one called life; which in the 22nd century was abysmal, what with the acid rain and the smog and the lack of vegetation, and so on and so forth. He was overworked, paid in pennies, and lived off of instant-cooked ramen with fried eggs and cheese. Without YGGDRASIL he didn't have any escape from reality, a fate worse than death in his opinion.

23 H 59 45 S

And now it all comes to an end. Satoru counted/watched the in-game clock tick by, waiting for it to all end, waiting until he got booted from the game and back to his shitty apartment.

Five seconds left.

…

Three seconds left.

…

One second left.

…?!

What he was expecting was a black screen, instead he experienced vertigo as gravity pushed inward in his chest. He felt himself get sucked in as the world turned black.

The first thing Satoru heard when he awoke was the sound of a bird tweeting, a rare occurrence in Japan (on behalf of the fucked-up environment). He found himself holding the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, standing on a dirt path that lead to what looked like a town in the distance. He first noticed that his UI was missing, which was a slight annoyance to him. Taking another look around he was astounded by the mountains and lush vegetation near and far from him.

There were actual trees! Actual, honest-to-God trees with healthy green leaves! He saw a fresh apple (a luxury in his world) hanging on one of the branches, and like a moth to a flame he reached out to try it, only to see a skeletal hand wearing fancy, stylish rings.

He pulled his hand back, inspecting it with worry until…it went away? A green light that he didn't notice before enveloped him shortly after he freaked out. Wasn't a mastery over emotions a key feature of being an overlord? With his mind at newfound ease he calmly observed himself before getting an idea, "[Create Greater Item]" he said in a deep regal voice, conjuring a floating mirror in front of himself, his reflection showing him what he already knew: He was his avatar, Momonga the Overlord. He leaned into the floating mirror to better see himself, turning and twisting every which way until he was satisfied; upon which he got another great idea. He thought about entering his inventory as he reached out with the hand holding the staff until it suddenly entered a blackish/purplish void nearby him.

Feeling better about keeping the staff safe (as losing it would be a nightmare), he reached within his inventory and pulled out two items: The Mask of Envy (a red mask that constantly smiled with two aquamarine sapphires as its eyes) and a pair of majestic gauntlets that was studded with rubies, emerald, and diamonds. Satoru—no, Momonga put on the mask and gauntlets to hide his true appearance. Thankfully the two items magically conformed to his skull and skeletal hands like they were made for him in mind. Satisfied, he dispelled the floating mirror and looked to the nearby town, which was probably an hour walk by his estimates.

Momonga could have used the spell [Fly] and [Haste] to get him there within minutes, but why waste an opportunity to walk the countryside and experience nature at its finest? So with a moderate gait he began to walk his way to the town. The view and sounds and smells were breathtaking (not that he needed to breathe in the first place), and he was sure that Blue Planet would have loved this even more than he could. The last remaining Supreme Being thought idly to himself, "There's so much plant life in this new world! The breeze feels so pure and uncorrupted by pollution, and the sky is so clear you can even see this world's moon."

The birds were chirping and tweeting nearby him with crickets making their usual sound, which filled Momonga with delight. After walking for roughly half an hour a green horse and buggy came running by. The overlord made sure he was out of way of the carriage when the vehicle suddenly stopped ahead of him and a short dirty blond haired man jumped out of the door. He came rushing to Momonga as he stopped in-front of him, being way too close for comfort as he looked into his eyes (or rather his mask, in this case).

"You there!" the mystery man shouted, his eyes scanning the other's clothes.

"Hello, how can I help you?" Momonga asked calmly, thankful they could understand each other, knowing that some isekai stories liked to fuck with the protagonist by making them illiterate and unable to understand the language.

"Wh—where did you get such unusual clothes?!" he asked as he tried to grab the taller man. Unfortunately his passive ability [Negative Touch] was still activated and the man recoiled a bit from the pain. "I'm sorry I touched you, sir…?"

Momonga thought for a moment (while also turning off [Negative Touch]), wondering what name to give to the man. If he wanted to find out if his friends/the NPCs of Nazarick came with him when he got isekaied then he needed a name that would call to the others; a name that would be instantly recognizable. With a name in mind he said, "My apologies for not introducing myself. My name is Ainz Ooal Gown, and I'm a wandering magic caster. Perhaps we could continue our discussion on our way into the town?" the newly named Ainz suggested, gesturing to the carriage.

"Of course, Sir Gown! My name is Zanac Zenfield, and I own a famous clothes store called Fashion King Zanac," Zanac explained as he and his guest got into the buggy, sitting opposite to each other. The seats were plush and comfortable, as most noble seats were. The vehicle started to move as the two went into discussion. "Sir Gown, I must say I've never seen robes like those before, not to mention your beautiful mask and gauntlets. I must ask: Are you willing to part with your clothing? I can pay you handsomely, I assure you," Zenfield bargained.

"Hmm…I'm sorry, but I cannot part with these set of clothes," Ainz answered, making the man droop a little in sadness. "However, I am willing to negotiate with other sets of clothing."

Zanac looked at him a little weirdly, "I don't see a bag on you, Sir Gown."

"Please, Ainz is plenty. Back where I came from any decent magic caster could do this," he bluffed as he reached into his inventory and pulled out a typical school girls' outfit. It was one of the few dozens of clothing he had in his inventory that wouldn't buff the user by wearing it. He then offered it to the short man, which he took with shaking hands.

The merchant's eyes bugged out of his head as he felt the material and examined it in great detail, front and back. "What do you want for it, Sir Ainz?"

The undead overlord quietly sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to convince the man to just say his new name. "I want two things: First is a fair compensation for the clothing, second is information."

"I can pay you 20 gold coins as soon as we reach my store. What do you want to know?" Zanac asked, a smile on his face.

"I'm new to the area and I need to know what I'm dealing with. What can you tell me about the town we're entering?" Ainz asked.

"Well, we're entering Reflet Town, a quaint little town with a low amount of crime and whatnot. The points of interest are my shop, Aer's Parent Coffee Shop, the Silver Moon Inn, and the Eight Bears Weapon Shop," he explained, still clutching the clothing happily. "There's also a guild place for adventurers."

"Interesting, thank you. What about the political climate? Any strife or wars happening at the moment?" the overlord asked.

"We're not at the brink of war, at least I don't think so. Oh, we're here!" the short man announced, quickly getting out of his carriage and urging Ainz to do the same.

The skeleton got out gracefully as he observed the area around him. There were people milling about doing their chores for the day, and like Ainz expected there were no heteromorphs or demi-humans in the crowd, so he assumed YGGDRASIL logic applied here as well. He followed Zanac into the man's store and saw a typical shop full of clothing. Unfortunately he couldn't read any of the writing, at least not yet. The short dirty blond went into the back and a minute later came out with 20 gold coins as promised, offering them to Ainz. He took and then examined it, seeing how it was completely different from the gold coins in YGGDRASIL, making the millions and millions of gold coins in his inventory almost useless. If he wanted to survive and thrive in this world he needed money, and quick, which gave him yet another idea. "Mr. Zanac, how would you feel about a deal of sorts?"

"A deal? Of what, Sir Ainz?"

"What if I told you I could procure more unusual clothing for you and in exchange you gave me more money and intel when needed?" the undead offered, his mask nor his skull betraying nothing.

"You have more unusual clothing?! I'd be delighted to accept, Sir Ainz!" Zanac agreed, holding out his hand (seemingly forgetting his earlier mistake).

Nonetheless Ainz shook hands with the man before retracting his hand and saying, "[Create Greater Item]." He conjured a simple pair of blue jeans that he once saw in an old 21st century movie and handed Zenfield the clothes. Ainz then chanted the same spell over and over four more times, creating a button up shirt, a pair of khakis, denim overalls, and dress suit respectively. He handed all the clothes to Zanac, who was practically foaming at the mouth over all the unusual clothing he now had. He quickly went into the back room and came out carrying his money.

"Here are 10 platinum coins, Sir Ainz! Thank you so much! I'm going to make a killing with all this!"

"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Zenfield. I'm guessing 1 platinum coin is worth 10 gold coins, correct?" Zanac nodded enthusiastically in response. "Thank you and have a nice day," Ainz bid his goodbyes as he left the store, storing his newfound money into his inventory. He decided to wander around a bit in town until he found the guild or the Silver Moon Inn.

Not even five minutes in and he heard a young woman exclaim in a nearby alleyway, "You said one gold coin!"

"Nuh-uh, lady. See this scratch? You're lucky to get one silver coin, girly," the man argued, holding a glass antler.

There were four people in the dead end alleyway, two men and two young women. The young ladies were standing at the end of the alleyway, the two of them wearing a green skirt and a white and purple cover up. "Forget it. I don't need your money. Just give it back to me and we'll be on our way," she demanded, holding out her right gloved hand.

"This is ours now, seeing as how you gave it to us. We ain't giving it back, lady," the man wearing a green shirt argued.

"Should I help them? They'd be indebted to me if I did, which would be invaluable," Ainz thought to himself as he decided to enter the alleyway. The four of them turned around and faced him, all of them intimidated by his mask and large stature. With his right gauntlet-clad hand he reached out and pointed in the direction of the glass antler before uttering, "[Repair]." That useful spell was Tier 1 magic (and also lowered the value of the item but they didn't need to know that) and it did its job at repairing the small scratch on the antler. "There, the item is restored. Now, pay the ladies their rightful sum," Ainz commanded, hoping he didn't need to use [Aura of Despair I] to convince them.

The men looked over the glass antler and found no more blemishes or scratches on it, just like the overlord said. They grumbled and sighed as they picked up the silver coin off the ground and handed the women a gold coin in return, leaving soon after.

"Thank you so much! I was so sure we would've been swindled out of our money," one of the women said. "My name's Elze Silhoueska, and this is my sister, Linze," she introduced, gesturing to her sister (who was much meeker than her older twin).

"The pleasure is all mine, Miss Elze and Miss Linze. I did what any other mage would do in your situation," Ainz brushed off the thanks, trying his best to make them feel indebted to him.

"I've never heard of this 'repair' spell, was it Null magic?" the quiet one (Linze) spoke up for the first time, looking at him with curiosity.

"It was a spell I learned ages ago. Any half decent mage could do that spell from my homeland," he half-lied, not wanting to reveal that he learned that spell in a level-up. He decided to shelve the "Null magic" question. "Do you two know where the Silver Moon Inn is? I want to wake early to find the adventurers' guild tomorrow," Ainz bluffed, knowing that his new form didn't require sleep at all.

The two sisters looked to each other in surprise before Elze spoke up, "That's exactly where we are set up. Do you want to come with us, mister…?"

"My apologies for being so rude. My name is Ainz Ooal Gown, and yes, I would like to come with you."