So, good news for you Overlord fans. 200 Years, A Long Wait For Friends, has 15 chapters written, a 16th is mostly-written, and I think soon, it will be published as a standalone story. And to tide you over, I have this interesting idea in the same crossover.

I can't remember exactly what sparked this off, though I suspected it was correspondence with Beleriond, where they mentioned that they were grateful that I didn't attempt a pairing between Harry and a certain Overlord character. And that got me thinking...what if that pairing was possible? It would be hard to do, yes, as anyone who has an inkling of this character would know that she would be incompatible with Harry normally. But what if somehow, she was?

I speak of Princess Renner.

No, really.

Of course, whether this story, whose title is Latin for 'Wisdom is better than gold', has enough legs to warrant a second chapter, let alone a full story, is another matter entirely, but I've come back to the franchise and have found new fertile soil, so maybe you'll get to see this become a full fic? I'm also throwing in a few Gamer elements, a relative novelty for my fics, as I usually don't find them very entertaining.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy...

SAPIENTIA MELIOR AURO

CHAPTER 1:

WISH FULFILMENT

The Kingdom of Re-Estize was one of the most peaceful and prosperous lands in the world, so many of its citizens would tell you proudly. And while that was true to some degree, and it was certainly more moderate than the Slane Theocracy, and more peaceful than the Holy Roble Empire or the Dragon Kingdom, the fact remained that these notions were self-delusions. Or outright lies, depending on the person.

Re-Estize was under siege, from both without and within. The Baharuth Empire's annual wars were slowly but surely taking their toll on the manpower in the kingdom. The Slane Theocracy was also exerting its influence on the fiercely-independent kingdom. But the most insidious enemies of all lay within.

Zurranon, the cruel organisation of necromancers, were plotting to turn yet another city in Re-Estize into a necropolis to fuel their plans. The Eight Fingers, a massive crime syndicate, had ties to many corrupt nobles, ensuring their grasp on Re-Estize would not be broken, save for by a miracle. And the nobles were broadly split into two factions, one that sought to erode the power of the monarchy by any means necessary to gain their own power, and another that supported the king and his decisions, out of loyalty or morality or even pragmatism.

King Ramposa III was a kind king, a compassionate king, and in many ways, this was his downfall. He compromised to a fault, trying to avoid conflict, even when inevitable. But his heir, Prince Barbro, was a moronic brute whose brainpower was devoted to scheming. His other son, Zanac, was also a schemer, but his intelligence and pragmatism eclipsed his brother's, and he still wished to see his father supported…or at least the more selfish nobles curtailed.

And what of his daughter, Renner?

Renner Theiere Chardelon Ryle Vaislef, to give her full name, was lauded as 'the Golden Princess', for her golden hair, sapphire blue eyes, superlatively beautiful looks, and her efforts to improve the lot of the populace. Her attempts at reform often put her at odds with the more conservative parts of the nobility, who thought her a vacuous bimbo who meddled in things she didn't understand. They sent her treasured daughters as maids to act as spies, who dutifully reported back that, while a little smarter than they thought, Renner was little threat. Just someone whom Ramposa would marry off one day, as he did to her eldest sisters, assuming he didn't die first and Barbro pimped his sister out to one of his allies.

What they didn't know was that Renner was far smarter than they gave her credit for. Since a young age, she had shown prodigious intelligence. But when she tried to show off to her family, they would express not praise, but fear. A princess' place was not to show intelligence, especially not that beyond their years.

It's a curious fact of life that many a young girl aspires to be a princess. When one analyses this dream, it can be disturbing. To be a princess is to be a brood mare for royalty and nobility. A princess is an ornament, not someone who actually does things. Some noble women can escape this: one of Renner's few friends, Lady Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra, managed to make a name for herself as an Adventurer, joining the Blue Roses. But Renner was no magic prodigy, nor did she have much physical ability. All she had was one of the keenest minds in the world, something that should have been treasured, and yet, was demeaned as something unnatural in her.

This could have sent her into a spiral, whereby the love and affection she held eroded away, where she had to wear a mask of a smile, where the soul of a monster was born where a prodigy had once been. She could have spent the next years of her life playing a role of a golden beloved princess, when in reality, she would care for little, and even what small loves she had were twisted into something malignant. She would have become a devil with an angel's face.

And yet, in this iteration of events…she was saved, by sheer happenstance.

You see, from a young age, Renner had an imaginary friend, a boy who would appear to her only in her dreams. She didn't always see him in her dreams, but in her most vivid dreams, he would appear. And he brought her much comfort.

He didn't fear her intelligence. He lauded it, he applauded it. He dared to say those who feared her for simply being a genius were monsters themselves. And in turn, she gave him succour, as he was raised by cruel relatives who dubbed him a freak, an orphan whose parents were drunken layabouts who died in something called a 'car crash'. He spoke of fantastical things that she scarcely believed, technological wonders her world did not have. He even did research for her, on agriculture, on city infrastructure, on so many other matters.

He claimed to be from another world. He later claimed to be a wizard, attending school at a remote castle. She wasn't sure she believed him. She wanted it to be true, with the fervent desire of a child…but her intellect was almost certain that he was little more than a figment of her imagination. A pleasant one, one that kept her sane, oddly enough, but a figment all the same.

However, one day, she would learn that he was no figment of her imagination. He was very real indeed. And he would come to her by sheer accident…

Renner walked through the gardens of the Royal Palace of Re-Estize City. They were immaculately kept, filled with all manner of beautiful plants. True, they were also as much a gilded cage as the rest of the palace, and yet, here was one of the few places outside her own chambers that she felt able to relax a little.

When one goes on a walk, one can also be often accompanied by a pet, usually a dog. Of course, to Renner, Climb was far more than the pet his and her detractors claimed him to be. Maybe once upon a time, she might have thought of him in a similar manner. But now, Climb was a confidant, and a loyal bodyguard. A bit too earnest and simple-minded for his own good, but someone so pure and loyal was a rarity these days.

She had plucked him from the streets, having seen something in the way he gazed upon her. True, she had to gently disavow any notions of romance, due to their respective stations, as well as a lingering hope that her imaginary friend was real. But Climb's devotion was far from false. Then again, she had raised him from being a homeless street rat into becoming a privileged young man.

She compared Climb to Gazef Stronoff. For all her mixed feelings about her father, he chose well in Stronoff, elevating him to become the Warrior-Captain of Re-Estize. Climb was on the way to reaching Stronoff's level, perhaps even surpassing it, though Stronoff had at least the ability to comprehend politics, even if he despised them.

Still, it felt like her life was reaching an impasse. Sooner or later, she would be pimped out to some noble. And it was unlikely that any solution would simply fall from the sky, would it?

As that thought occurred to her, she suddenly began to hear a keening noise from above. In fact, it sounded like a scream. Sapphire eyes looked up in time to see a form drop from out of the air, and land, digging a rather comic, human-sized and shaped crater into what was once an immaculately-trimmed lawn.

Once her shock died away, Renner approached the crater gingerly. Climb, bless him, said, "Princess, stay back!"

Renner shot him a brief look and a smile of reassurance, before continuing. The crater was at least some feet deep, but she glimpsed a form. It was definitely human…and the body was intact. In fact, the person who just dropped from the sky was still breathing.

Renner frowned, and then did a quick mental calculation. To dig a hole that deep from sheer impact, the fall was unlikely to be survivable without magic, which wouldn't have dug a crater like this anyway. In fact, the person was intact and breathing, no injuries she could see. Impossible, so she thought.

And then, she saw the face of the one in there. And her eyes widened in shock, a hand flying to her lips. A boy, about her age, with a messy mop of black hair, wearing glasses…and with a familiar thunderbolt-shaped scar marring his forehead.

But the shock quickly receded. And while she had questions, many questions, she knew she had to take action immediately. Her tone was no-nonsense as she spoke to Climb. "…Climb, help me get him out of this crater, please."

"But, Princess…"

"Climb…please," she repeated. "He's the one I told you about. He was real! He was real all along!"

Climb, after a moment, peered into the crater. "Princess…even if that is the case, he made it into the palace, and questions are going to be asked of the guards."

"Then he will be confined to quarters adjacent to our own, Climb," Renner said. "But I will have nobody barring Captain Stronoff questioning him. I trust nobody else to do so without harming him. Now, help me get him to those rooms, Climb."

"I'll do it. I don't want you to dirty your dress, Princess."

From so many others, the offer would have been condescending. In truth, Climb didn't have a condescending bone in his body. Still, Renner couldn't keep a slight acid touch to her reply, "How kind of you," before wincing in self-reproach. Climb was utterly loyal to her, and he didn't deserve it, and such a slip-up in front of someone less loyal could end badly. She wore a mask in public and in private, even going so far as to mould her expressions very carefully.

But this advent, this miraculous arrival, had shaken her. The mask had slipped, thankfully around someone who forgave her with ease. And she needed to take control of the situation, ere it was taken from her.

Once Climb dragged the body out, she helped support the body, and between them, they hurried to the quarters adjacent to her own. She wasn't exactly physically strong, but her excitement helped give her strength. Something new, after all this time. He was real! HE WAS REAL!

Darkness. That's all he saw, at least for now. The last thing he remembered was that archway, his godfather stumbling towards it…and now, he had fallen through.

Then, strange letters seemed to crawl across the darkness, outlined in green. It took him some time to comprehend what he was seeing, even in part. The words were baffling.

NOTICE: SOUL FRAGMENT INTEGRATED. LEVEL AND ABILITIES ADJUSTED TO MATCH.

NOTICE: LEVEL ACHIEVED WITH SOUL FRAGMENT EXCEEDS WORLD PARAMETERS DUE TO UNFORESEEN EXPONENTIAL POWER INCREASE FROM INTEGRATION. LEVEL ADJUSTED TO LIMIT.

NOTICE: SPECIAL TRAIT, 'LIBRA', GRANTED.

Before he could comment on that, he found himself opening his eyes. The text lingered, before disappearing…but that was nothing compared to the sight he saw before him. A face that was familiar, and yet, he wasn't expecting to see. Was this a dream? No, he wouldn't be feeling like a Dragon ate him up and spat him out if it was.

Long golden hair framed radiantly beautiful features, with sapphire eyes gazing into his own emerald ones. The girl was about his age, dressed in an elegant blue dress. And when she saw him waking up, she gave him a most radiant smile. Not the fake ones she had practised with him, or some of the more terrifying ones when she got a bit scheming. No, it was a genuinely joyful and relieved one.

And he knew who she was. He didn't know how she was here, but he knew her name. Even if he didn't, it was fairly blatant, as another set of green words appeared near her.

PRINCESS RENNER THEIERE CHARDELON RYLE VAISELF. LEVEL 15(1).

There was a serious, earnest-looking boy in knight's armour. He hadn't seen him before, but he suspected he knew who he was…and the green words appeared again. And his suspicions were proved correct. The boy's name was Climb, and he had another number next to the word 'Level', a little higher than Renner's level.

Then, Renner got his attention once more. "Is it you? Is it really you?"

"…I should be saying the same thing, Princess," he said.

After a moment, she chuckled, placing a dainty hand on his cheek. "You're real. You're real."

"Again, I should be saying the same thing, Princess," he said. "But…I'm alive, right? I haven't just died and this isn't some hallucination or something?"

Renner got an impish smirk on her face, and she pinched his cheek rather viciously. "There, proof that you're alive and not dreaming," she said.

"Ow! Did you have to?" he asked indignantly.

"Hmm, what an interesting philosophical question," Renner mused facetiously, before her smile became more solemn. "…You're here, you're really here, Harry Potter."

Harry Potter nodded, even as he wondered about the strange turn his life had just taken. After all, here he was, speaking with the girl, the princess he had thought little more than an imaginary friend. Potter Luck at its finest once more…

CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:

Wait, what? Renner isn't a total sociopath in this story? And she had Harry Potter as an imaginary friend? And what's this Gamer bullshit Harry is experiencing? And why so many questions for dramatic effect? Have I jumped the shark?

Now, why is Renner not so sociopathic and yandere-ish in this story? Well, it's thanks to Harry's soulbond with her. She was able to talk to him and discuss her plans for Re-Estize, and he was in awe of her genius and even encouraged her. Having someone who didn't treat her like a monster for being a child genius actually helped stabilise her psyche, and while she still lacks empathy, she's no longer quite the 'demon in princess' clothing' she was in canon. Instead, I think of her as being a bit like a Disney Princess, but with the mindset of the Sherlock Holmes from Sherlock. She is rather cold, analytical and pragmatic, but she still has enough human warmth to be less of a monster. But, as Sherlock himself nearly said in that show, just because she's on the side of angels (or has a face like one) doesn't mean she IS an angel.

1. I looked it up on the wiki, and Renner's level is effectively 15, albeit thanks to the class levels she has. Prior to the fall of Re-Estize, she had 4 levels in 'Actress', 5 levels in 'Genius', and before she sacrificed these levels to become an Imp, 6 levels in 'Princess'.