Hello Scrolls and Nazarins, Mr.Bones brings you another chapter of my Overlord fanfic: The One Who Came Back.

How has E-Rantel changed in recent months and how has Yuri Alpha spent his days?

With you

The One Who Came Back

Chapter 33: The New Normality

When the Hero in Black, Momon, confronted the Sorcerer King, it became a legend. The greatness, courage, humility, and ultimately, the agreement: Momon had managed to force the Sorcerer King into a bargain, ensuring the safety of the people. It was all so epic that it seemed like something out of a tale or a dream, thus beyond the comprehension of the people a touchable reality, a true legend.

Pandora's Actor realized this while interacting with the population. In his conversations, it seemed that people didn't fully grasp the significance of the event, that they were truly safe. Their trust only reached the point of making life bearable.

Therefore, a new intervention was necessary, a subtler one, with Momon's involvement in the incident with the children. Everything seemed to start moving forward then. Mundane conversations with the parents were something people could understand, something more natural to their lives. Dealing with ordinary things and everyday life is sometimes the maximum that someone can endure.

When the children started walking the streets without being killed, a sense of relief took over. Adults moved around with more confidence, and services began to operate again. After all, everyone needed to eat, and to eat, they needed to work. And for all that, commerce needed to reopen. It wasn't instantaneous; it took months to achieve a relative normality.

In the following months, the flow of people coming and going to the city improved. But then, suddenly, came the BOOM! Overnight, hundreds of people started arriving: traders, immigrants, and adventurers from Arwintar. The latter were drawn by the newly reformed Adventurer's Guild, which now possessed the famous Training Dungeon, attracting crowds from Copper-rank adventurers seeking to learn to Platinum and Mithril-rank individuals ready to test themselves and acquire new weapons.

Speaking of weapons, a new trade flourished the runic weapons were for sale at the guild store, initially coming from the Dwarf Kingdom and later from the Village of Carne, where they started to be manufactured by the first immigrants and became the latest craze. Stronger, with more effects, and much, much cheaper than enchanted weapons, as a result, common weapons were relegated to ordinary people. But "if you're an adventurer, you need a runic weapon," that was the advertising pitch. So when the first dwarf blacksmiths arrived in E-Rantel to set up new forges, the orders exploded.

In just six months, the population doubled, and all spaces were occupied. But the employees of the Sorcerer Kingdom didn't stand still during this time. Throughout the period, there were changes the slums were vacated, and their residents were sent to work on farms, for those who wanted to, of course. Some escaped and later regretted it upon discovering that those who stayed now had their own land, their own undead laborers plowing the fields, and life was much easier. Several neighbors joined together in groups and set up their own collective farms, enabling them to explore larger areas and pool their forces for the work.

After emptying the slums, they were demolished by the Construction Corps. In just a few days, thousands of undead tore down every usable brick or piece of wood, followed by Death Knights who excavated the land continuously. From above, they could be mistaken for leaf-cutter ants opening a huge wound in the city that didn't cease even during the night. Silence had to be cast over the area to muffle the noise, and after a few days, it was possible to see what was being done: sewers, streets, sidewalks, parks, foundations, and all kinds of things necessary for a new district.

Within a week, buildings began to rise, but they had a strange appearance some with enormous doors, others with small entrances. Everything was being done simultaneously, in an organized chaos orchestrated by Elder Liches and accompanied by master dwarves in the art of construction. Everything had its place, even the streets, with a rune every ten meters to enhance their resilience. In less than a month, the Demi-Human district was ready.

All the houses and shops already had occupants, who arrived with the Boom. Registered and organized, they now had a place to create their own stories.

But the Construction Corps didn't stop there; they continued building districts along the outer line of the wall, now called the Inner Wall, forming a new ring around the city. It took a year for it to be completed. Even the old districts didn't go without renovations, as they needed to adapt to the new incoming population. Parks were created, and the competition to build the largest statue of Ainz began.

After the completion of the outer districts, the builders divided into two groups: one group focused on further expanding the city, while the other began reconstructing the road system. The first road to be rebuilt was the one leading to Carne, turning what used to be a two-day journey into just a few hours with the new soul-devouring carriages. This expansion would continue, forming a network of roads connecting to major cities, eventually reaching the Dwarf Kingdom, the capital of the Baharuth Empire, and beyond.

Everything needed by humans, dwarves, and the demi-humans coming from Abelion Hills, Arwintar, or any other place was available in E-Rantel: opportunities for trade, adventures, and education.

After the discovery of what was happening at the orphanage, now renamed the Institute, parents flooded the classrooms with their children, and soon it became necessary to create new schools. After all, the children were safe there they ate, learned to read, write, and calculate. And if that wasn't enough, from a certain age, they could also dedicate themselves to a trade: blacksmithing, sewing, cooking, alchemy…

When some of the students showed signs of possessing special abilities, they were closely observed. Potential sources of unknown skills were one of the reasons these schools existed.

Lord Demiurge was impressed by the number of children who demonstrated such abilities. It seemed that having some talent was more common than expected, every fifth child appeared to be capable of doing something unique. Most of these talents seemed useless and would never be detected if it weren't for the disguised daily tests along with all the classes, exams, exercises, and medical examinations. But "even something trivial can be the weapon that wins a war," Ainz once said.

Demiurge wanted to bring the children to his laboratory, but he was strictly prohibited by his master from approaching the schools. He had his farm to take care of, and the mere proximity of the demon could drive the children insane and ruin everything. Nigredo and Pestonia took care of the younger ones, and Yuri Alpha would not give up her students.

Among the trade masters who joined the Institute, there were Lizardmen teaching fish farming, dwarves teaching ordinary blacksmithing, and humans and elves teaching in various fields. And for those who showed potential, they also learned martial arts and even magic.

One of these masters was a former paladin from the Noble Kingdom, a Nazarick who set out to spread the word of his God and discovered that even in the capital of the Sorcerer Kingdom, there was no church dedicated to him a situation he intended to remedy, but first, he needed a congregation. Thus, he became a fencing teacher and, in his spare time, spread the word of his Lord using the Book of Justice. This book was the first draft created by Neia, a collection of stories that His Majesty had told her during her journey and his exploits during the invasion of the Holy Kingdom.

Now with four Institutes to manage, the Director, known as Yuri Alpha, was quite busy. Even with the help of Nigredo and Pestonia and a hundred employees, she still worked late into the night, which wasn't a problem for an undead, but her master insisted on resting hours. Despite this, Yuri still managed to find time to help her pupil train the mansion's maids.

Tuare believed that the current maids, even though they were the best of the best available, did not meet the standards required by her and her Tutor to serve their master. They lacked the fervent devotion seen in the Homunculus Maids, something that was much more evident in the new class being formed at the Institute. Once they surpassed their predecessors, the graduates would replace them in service.

As usual, Yuri began her day with the routine visit to the main entrance of the city.

"Good morning, gentlemen. Any news this morning?" Yuri Alpha asked the customs officers, as she did every morning for the past two months since receiving her master's mission.

"No, Ms. Alpha. The other entrances and internal patrols have not reported the arrival of anyone matching the given description," the Lich said in his raspy voice. Practical and concise, it was the same phrase repeated every day.

"Thank you for your service. If there's any new information, please contact me immediately," the maid bid farewell.

Her carriage awaited her, modest by Nazarick's standards, a convertible roofed coach with the Institute's emblem on its side and the Sorcerer Kingdom in the background. With this open carriage, the population could see Yuri, something that, according to Pandora's Actor, was important for building a bond with the residents. Many greeted her with discreet nods, as the Director's stern demeanor didn't leave much room for frivolities. Even experienced adventurers felt intimidated by her presence, but the children, they would wave enthusiastically when they saw her.

Today was a day off for the schoolchildren, so there were several of them in the streets accompanying their parents wherever they were going. As a medieval society grounded in polytheistic religions, there wasn't a specific day of the week to be observed, only festive dates. Even the concept of a week, month, and year was different from what Ainz knew, so he decided that, conveniently, once every six days there would be a break in the schools. As the children started staying at home with their parents for a day, this working day became a day with less work because if their king ordered them to rest, that's what they would do.

Yuri's carriage was already nearing the Institute when she received the message.

"Ms. Alpha, we've received a positive signal."

"Has the target been confirmed?"

"Yes, ma'am. The comparison with the portrait is ninety-five percent positive."

"In which part of the city did they infiltrate?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, there hasn't been any attempt at covert infiltration."

"Then where are they?"

"Right in front of me, Ms. Alpha. They're looking at me," the Lich said as he was being observed by the smiling figure of the Traveler.