Chapter 11

Somewhere deep below Helheim.

[Message to Oshikuru] "Oi, accursed demon, good news! as expected, we won. Told you so!"

"Hahaha, good to hear, Momonga-san, though I trusted you one can never be too sure. I'll let you go back to celebrate with the rest of AOG, but I have to ask you one last question."

"I'm listening."

Oshikuru was glad they were not face to face. Even if he had already hinted at what this was going to be about and he was quite sure Momonga, or whatever the real name was, would not shut him down, what he was about to do would make him extremely vulnerable, for he had neveer dared to ask such a thing after growing up. It still seemed childish and unnecessary to him, but no matter what it gnawed at a little part of him. Mostly, he was content of what he had so far accomplished in his life, considering the difficulties he had faced as an orphan in what the world had become. Still, as a human being, he had the very same needs and wants as everyone else, especially social ones. For no man can completely erase the desire to love and to be loved back by relatives, partners and friends. Having all of the three is the best, two is fine, only one is difficult, but none is rough. No matter who you are and no matter what you do, loneliness will affect you, if you are human.

Oshikuru lost his parents and there was nothing he could do about that; on the other hand he was not interested in settling down anytime soon; lastly, he did have acquaintances and colleagues, but none he was willing to call friends. At least until he had bumped into Ainz Ooal Gown. They were close friends with one another, although each of them had a different personality and objective, they were all ready to give everything to help their guildmates. And the most enlightened among them was their Guildmaster, the only one who had listened to Oshikuru's desperate attempt to have some friends.

Now, there could not be friendship between Ainz Ooal Gown and Little Help, but he was quite sure there could be between Momonga and Oshikuru.

So, he asked, but still hesitantly. I must not screw this up. Let's take it slow.

"Momonga-san, would you like to keep in touch?"

"Sure, man. And don't worry, I know how it feels to be lonely, I live on my own and have no friends IRL as well, my guildmates are the only people I have ever been able to connect with. Actually, I'd have quit playing Yggdrasil, or changed my account race to human if I hadn't been found and helped by Touch Me-san. I can't imagine how you managed to get this far without anyone by your side, you really are impressive."

"Well, first of all, thank you. Actually, I didn't start as a fiend. I picked a human being so that most people would not openly go after me when I began playing. Then, as I was looking for a way to become stronger, I found the items that led me to become an Arch Devil—"

"Yeah, about the items you've found, I've seen you got no less than six World items during the battle… I know what you said about the others, and you're probably right, but maybe if you were willing to share a couple of them…"

"I don't want to buy friends. Besides, Touch Me clearly stated what he thinks of me. I'm sorry about how he feels, but I can't change that. He's an important member of your guild, an old friend of yours and a nice guy, when I'm not around. I don't want to cross him, not this way. No way I'll be what disrupts a group of friends like AOG. I know now I can't be a part of it. It's probably my fault, I should have acted differently, but I had my own dreams. Besides, it is just a game, I have a lot of fun, but there will be other games in time. What matters to me is I found a nice person like you. Everything else is… not as much important to me right now."

"You're probably right."

"Umu. But enough of that, we can keep talking about it and whatever we want tomorrow. Hell, I can't wait to hear about how you beat the shit out of all those who tried to take over Nazarick!"

"Hehe, it was fun!"

"Well, this was a wonderful but demanding day, I must rest now. So… do you have Telecrypt? This way we don't have to cast a spell while being in-game to be able to communicate."

"Ah… yes, sure, but I haven't used it for a while, I don't even remember my account name…"

"No big deal, I'll let you know mine and then you can text me whenever you want to. It's D. ."

"Ok, easy to remember, similar to your Yggdrasil profile. Well, you sound tired and so am I, so… goodnight, my friend."

Oshikuru would felt lucky to be in Yggdrasil. He didn't know if he would have shouted, wept or cursed if his mind had been connected to his actual body. Still, powerful emotions dominated his mind for a little while, taking his breath away. I can't believe it… he really did say that…

"You still there, Oshikuru?"

He mentally recovered as quickly as possible.

"Yes, I'm sorry, it's just… today's been a real rollercoaster of emotions. Good night to you too… my friend."

The [Message] was dispelled and Oshikuru logged off soon afterwards.

As soon as he was back in his real body, he jumped up from the chair, crashing his head right into the ceiling before falling back to the floor where he smiled and clenched his fists as he got back up ignoring the pain.

He felt like crying and laughing at the same time. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before.

"I don't know what it's gonna be like, but thanks a lot, Momonga-sama. From my beating heart, I really thank you, my friend."

AN

While this is not over yet, it will soon be. A couple more chapters, three at most, then the story will be complete and then if anyone wants to review it I'll welcome any feedback. It's been quite nice to write this for me and now I feel I'm up to the task of doing the real deal, also given I can already see many people have started reading it. So, this short story is about to come to an end, but it is only the beginning of what I'll be doing next.

I hope you guys are having fun reading this at least half as much as I do.