Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, Overlord, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
The Sorcerer Hero: Deku
Chapter twenty: Gathering resources and more
"Wh-What is the meaning of this, Dabi?"
Dr. Ujiko was panicked as he saw Dabi and his right hand man Spinner come in with a person wearing a hooded orange royal robe, a red mask, and iron gauntlets. Also the mysterious figure had brought along a pair of Death Knights.
"Yeah, sorry doc," Dabi said to Dr. Ujiko while gesturing to the mysterious figure next to him, "But Lord Ainz here is calling all the shots now for the League of Villains."
Scowling, Dr. Ujiko said, "This isn't what All For One would have wanted! Everything he had built up being taken by one man!"
Stepping forward, Ainz said, "Oh, but you'd be very surprised what I have to offer for the Lea-"
Ainz stopped short when Dr. Ujiko sped back away from him, his seat speeding away along a line on the floor. "Do not come near me," Dr. Ujiko said, "No one aside from the late All For One is allowed to come near m-"
"It's quite rude to walk away from someone when they're talking to you," Ainz said from right behind Dr. Ujiko, cutting him off and making the doctor turn to see that Ainz was now standing right behind him. The Sorcerer King put an arm around Dr. Ujiko's shoulders, a gesture that friends would do with one another in a show of being close chums. But Dr. Ujiko was barely able to tell through his panic that Ainz put his arm over his shoulders as a casual show of dominance.
It was made clear that all the cards were being held by Ainz Ooal Gown.
Dr. Ujiko didn't even know how Ainz moved so fast. Neither did Dabi, who actually did a double take when he saw that Ainz was right behind Dr. Ujiko, as if he had just... just blinked there. "N-Not even All For One could move so fast," Dr. Ujiko said, "And he had a lot of quirks helping with getting where he wanted as fast as he wanted."
"I know," Ainz said, "I'm the one who not only killed All For One, but also took all of the quirks that he had. Not just the fast travel ones, all of them."
"You... you can take quirks too?" Dr. Ujiko said, "But how is that ev-" Dr. Ujiko suddenly stopped short as he began to rapidly age, crying out in panic. The show scared Dr. Ujiko as he's the one who was suffering, as well as creep out Dabi. "Wh-What did you do to me?" Dr. Ujiko asked, fear in his greatly aged eyes.
Ainz moved to stand in from of where the heavily aged Dr. Ujiko sat feebly in his chair. The masked figure held up a beautiful jewel roughly the size of a baseball. "Your quirk, Life Force," Ainz said, "Is right here. It's also a synthetic copy, I'm going to want to ask about that aspect later." Then, the jewel that Ainz held disappeared suddenly, and Dr. Ujiko's lost youth was restored. He was still a bit old, but nowhere near as withered as he had been.
Looking to Dr. Ujiko, Ainz said, "Do you doubt my power now?"
Dr. Ujiko felt excitement at the possibilities starting to overcome his panic as he regarded the Sorcerer King. "Not even All For One could have done it as easily and quickly as you! And you can hold quirks in an outside container!" Dr. Ujiko scrambled out of his chair and knelt before Ainz. "You could revolutionize research and development in the field of quirks! What would have taken years can be done in a mere fraction of the time with your help! Just imagine how powerful we can get from all of this!"
"Yes, having a researcher familiar with the material will be of use to me," Ainz said. The way that the doctor before him was humbling himself before him reminded Ainz of when he poached the best wizard that Baharuth had to offer from them. "Anyway, I'll be speaking with you later, I'll have Dabi buzz you when I'm ready to continue things here," Ainz said, "For now, I'm going to be looking into a few other things that I'm curious about."
"Let me know if you ever want my expertise put to use in service to you, Lord Ainz!" Dr. Ujiko said, again acting in a way that reminded Ainz of that wizard from Baharuth. Ainz left with Dabi and the Death Knights, leaving Dr. Ujiko already eager for Ainz's return.
Ainz, Dabi, and the Death Knights appeared through a portal (Dabi thought it was a quirk that Ainz had) into the main foyer of the abandoned manor that Dabi and the LoV had been hiding in when Sasuke Sengoku came by to pick them up. Since Ainz took over the League and made it a subordinate party to serve his interests, he also claimed the manor, and sent some servants to clean the place up. The manor would serve as the main base for the League of Villains, as Ainz's other parties had their own bases.
Turning to look at Dabi, Ainz said, "Now then, Dabi. I want to know about your spies, both the one you have in Endeavor's hero agency and the one you have at U.A. High School."
"Yeah, I still can't believe that Rappa and Beros were actually spies working for you," Dabi said.
Waving a hand dismissively, Ainz replied, "Well all of you are allies for real now, so the past is water under the bridge." Gesturing to Dabi, Ainz said, "Your spies, starting with the one you have working in Endeavor's agency."
"It's actually Burnin, a female pro hero who works as a sidekick for Endeavor," Dabi said, "She's actually utterly and irrevocably in love with me, pretty much reaching the point of being a bit on the crazy side about it. For the time being, I got her acting the part of loyal sidekick to Endeavor, but she secretly relays new info to me every so often."
Ainz got a few more details from Dabi about this Burnin girl, and after getting the gist on her had figured Burnin to be towards Dabi how Albedo was to Ainz himself. A part of the Sorcerer King felt a bit of concern for Dabi now. "I see," Ainz said, "Now, tell me about your other spy, the one that you got over at U.A." Dabi gave Ainz the full story, but even the Sorcerer King had been taken aback out of shock when he heard who the spy was.
...
Yugo Aoyama was beyond frightened when he got a call from Dabi, telling him to report to their usual meeting spot for a pick up. Aoyama had thought that with All For One dead and the League of Villains on the run, he and his parents were free of the strings keeping them bound, ever since his parents bargained with All For One to grant Aoyama, who had been born quirkless, a quirk.
When he got off campus, claiming he wanted to go buy something not available on campus, and went to the meet up spot for pick up, he was more or less dragged into a van and zoomed away. What horrified Aoyama was when Dabi told him that he was being taken to meet the new boss of the League of Villains, the man who was taking over running the whole show.
Eventually, they reached the lovely and large home Aoyama's parents, due to their respectable level of wealth and influence, was able to get. Dabi and Mr. Compress who drove took Aoyama inside and had him sit on the sofa in the living room, between his parents. What worried the Aoyama family the most was the masked figure in the orange royal hooded robe sitting in the armchair before them.
This was Ainz, although they didn't know that yet. Also standing behind where Ainz sat were Albedo and Demiurge but the Aoyamas didn't know them either, and behind Albedo and Demiurge stood a row of Death Knights that, shoulder to shoulder, went from one side of the room to the other. A total of five Death Knights, allowing some space between them, was able to fit in such a manner like that.
It took all of the nerve the Aoyamas had to not die of fright right there and then.
Holding up one of his gauntleted hands in a gesture of greeting, Ainz said, "A pleasure to have all of you here, Aoyama family! My name is Ainz. I got it from Dabi after I took over the League of Villains that your son Yugo here is a spy that the League has working for them to keep tabs on things in U.A." Leaning forward in his seat a bit, Ainz asked, "Is this accurate?"
"Yessir, Master Ainz," Aoyama's father said right away, fear clear in his tone and expression as he bowed his head.
Nodding once as he leaned back in his seat, Ainz said, "Very well. Anyway, I'm here mainly as a formality, given that I'm the one running the League of Villains now. I'm just checking on what all I have dominion over now. Anyway, you'll continue doing what you've been doing for All For One, but you're doing it for me now. Understood?"
All three of the Aoyamas nodded in obedience, frightened more than what even All For One had ever been able to do to them. "Good, I'll speak with you when I next have the need," Ainz said, "I'll be taking off now. Oh, and Yugo?" Aoyama looked up at the new dark lord his family was being forced to serve. "...I got it that a memorial of sorts was set up for a classmate of yours over at school," Ainz began, "It would be nice if you got flowers to lay at that memorial, wouldn't you agree?"
Aoyama was too scared to say anything that would be disagreeing with the new puppet master who was now pulling the strings on him and his parents. Ainz left with his followers and Death Knights, telling the Aoyama family that Dabi will buzz them when he next has need to speak with them, but for now they should act as if nothing is amiss.
Ainz made it clear he can, if pissed enough, do horrors not even the late All For One can do. Aoyama and his parents were scared into submission, not wanting to take any action that would be an act against Ainz Ooal Gown.
After dropping off his Death Knights back to where they were being stored in the second New World and then making a portal back to Nazarick so Albedo and Demiurge can return, Ainz thanked his two smartest subordinates. "I'll let you know if the Aoyamas ever become no longer of any use to me," Ainz said to Albedo and Demiurge, "If and when I do, well... you'll know what to do then."
"Yes sir, Lord Ainz," Demiurge said, both he and Albedo having small parts of them wish Ainz will give them the cue sooner rather than later.
"Until then, leave them be," Ainz said, "Anyway, I need to return to the second New World. I trust that you two can run things here in my absence."
"You can count on us, Lord Ainz," Albedo replied.
The Sorcerer King gave a nod before he stepped back out of the portal and appeared in his dorm room back in the second New World. He had locked the door and cast various spells to ensure no one would disturb him. He gave the excuse that he was tired and had felt he had come down with a bit of something, so he wanted to get some rest.
Ainz, dropping his illusion to appear as Izuku Midoriya once again, looked around the room. It was set up like a student's dorm room, having the essentials. There was a lack of decoration, aside from the gold medal Ainz won in the U.A. Sports Festival hanging from a hook on the wall above Ainz's desk. Ainz felt it was best to not put on frills as Izuku.
Seeing the time, Ainz figured that there was a few hours before settling down for bed for the night. Of course, the night was just extra work time for a tireless undead such as himself. It would give him time to not only begin carrying out an experiment he'd been wanting to carry out, but set things up so that he would get something he'd been wanting to see essentially brought right to him and dropped right on his lap.
But first, Ainz figured that he'd have to go down to the main area of the dorm building he and the rest of Class 1-A resided in while on U.A. grounds. Leaving his dorm room, Ainz wearing a baggy t-shirt that simply said 't-shirt' across the chest, a baggy pair of cargo shorts held up with a belt, and a pair of indoor slippers walked down to the ground floor and into the kitchen.
There, Ainz was greeted more or less immediately by Tenya, Ochaco, Tsuyu, and surprisingly enough Todoroki. "Midoriya!" Tenya greeted as he and the others regarded him with concern, "Are you feeling better now?"
"Yes, I guess I had worked myself more than I had expected during the move in process," Ainz replied, "I ought to be more careful. Thank you for the concern, Iida-san. I just needed some rest."
"Well thank goodness for that," Ochaco said, "Oh, one of the guys got it that Aoyama picked up a bouquet of flowers on the way back to U.A. while he was off campus to handle personal business. What do you think the flowers might be for?"
Shrugging, Ainz said, "Perhaps he wanted to bring something to lay at the memorial sight set up for Mineta, as a show of respect to our fallen classmate. That's my guess as I've not heard or seen any sign of Aoyama being in love with anyone."
Tsuyu nodded in agreement. "Yes, that does make sense kero. And it is rather sweet to pay respects to Mineta like that. It's terrible that Mineta was killed, especially as he really was bettering himself as a person, at least compared to how he was in the beginning of the school year."
The rest of the evening passed by calmly enough, and when Aoyama got back (Ainz's classmates were surprised when Ainz's guess on why Aoyama got the flowers turned out to be accurate), the whole of Class 1-A settled down for the night, all of them going to their respective dorm rooms so as to go to sleep until the next morning. Well... most of Class 1-A was going to be going to sleep for the night until the light of the next morning first breaks.
The undead, such as Ainz, never sleeps.
The following morning, Ainz was the first of Class 1-A awake (technically he never slept but no one had to know that), being found by Aizawa sitting at the island counter in the kitchen area, hanging near the coffee pot. "Never pegged you to be an early riser, Midoriya," Aizawa remarked casually.
"Well I did get a lot of rest yesterday, Aizawa-sensei," Ainz replied, "Perhaps that led to me rising early this morning."
Nodding his head towards the coffee pot, Aizawa said, "I'm going to get some coffee. My coffee brewer is busted so I couldn't brew my own this morning."
"By all means, help yourself," Ainz replied, inviting his homeroom teacher to grab a mug of coffee, "We also have creamers if you're interested."
"I take my coffee straight, but thanks," Aizawa said. After getting a mug of coffee, Aizawa took sip before letting out a content hum. "Mmm, I'm starting to feel alive again."
Ainz got nothing from coffee, it disappeared in his stomach after a while due to his undead nature. He drank it mostly for the sake of appearances so no one would question him being up early. But he would not begrudge those who saw coffee as an elixer of life. At least two of Ainz's guild mates back in YGGDRASIL were the same as Aizawa in regards to favoring coffee; one of them even had coffee made available in the cafeteria in Nazarick, although there it was mostly for detail.
As Ainz sat on a side of the island counter and Aizawa sat at one of the ends, both of them heard it as one of the girls let out a surprise scream of alarmed fright. This caught Aizawa's attention, and Ainz acted surprised as well although the Sorcerer King had a vague idea as to what may be behind the frightened female screaming just now.
Within short order, most of Class 1-A, only Yaoyorozu wasn't among the number, had come down to the ground floor. "...Where the hell is Ponytail at?" Bakugo asked as he looked around, "Shouldn't she be down here to help us figure out where that shrill ass scream had come from?"
"I think that it's Yaoyorozu who had screamed just now, Baku-bro," Kirishima remarked, sounding worried for his classmates who he figured are the one who were both screaming in alarmed, surprised fright. As Class 1-A would soon see, it was Yaoyorozu who had been screaming in fright, but when she seen, not only did the rest of the class see why she was screaming, the reason was actually rather surprising.
...
After everyone had gone to bed for the night the previous night, Ainz got to work setting up various things for both conducting experiments that he was wanting to conduct and to have potential assets brought right to him. First, he had a medical office set up that was more or less just a basic check up and examination place. Nothing too fancy, but it was enough for people to go to in order to have their quirks examined by an expert.
Second, Ainz returned to Nazarick to get Pestonya S. Wanko to serve as an 'assistant to a quirk examiner doctor' in the second New World. Albedo objected, still upset with Wanko over how she had once tried to actually help humans in the first New World. Ainz had eased up on Wanko over that incident, and that incident is actually part of the reason why he chose the dog headed maid for the role he had in mind.
He needed someone friendly towards humans for the assistant role, and that fit Wanko to a 'T'. Once things were set up for the quirk examining medical office, Ainz went about with his magic to begin conducting his experiments. With Time Stop active to let him work freely without the worry of being caught, Ainz magic'd his way into Yaoyorozu's dorm room as she was frozen in time and fast asleep on her larger than necessary canopy bed.
Yaoyorozu was currently at level fifteen (the training helped), had her Creation quirk and a quirk capacity of three, meaning she could take two more quirks safely. Ainz gave her a copy of Stout Strength (he was thankful for the extra Quirk Jewels he had to sacrifice due to cleaning All For One out before killing him) because he wanted to see if the obesity that Stout Strength granted could be used as fuel for Creation.
Ainz then went about the dorm rooms of the rest of his peers to help himself to copies of quirks they had which piqued Ainz's interest. He got copies of Bakugo's and Todoroki's respective quirks, as well as a copy of Kirishima's Hardening quirk which in all honesty was the quirk in Class 1-A that Ainz most wanted to duplicate. Once he had the duplicates, Ainz returned copies of the duplicated quirks to the persons he copied them from.
Ainz also helped out the students of Class 1-A here and there with an extra quirk or two; the main example of this being giving Kaminari a copy of a quirk that is a passive quirk that protects the holder from all negative effects of electricity, either used against or by the quirk holder. Ainz figured it would put an end to Kaminari dumbing out upon using his electrical quirk too much, as he didn't like seeing Kaminari being messed with while dumbed up.
Ainz then went to check on the students that were over in Class 1-B, as they had some quirks which piqued the interest of the Sorcerer King. Mainly, Ainz got a copy of the Steel quirk held by Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu as said quirk is comparable to Kirishima's Hardening. Ainz also saw that two of the students that are in Class 1-B also had quirks that really interested him, so he helped himself in making copies of said quirks.
Having theories he wanted to test, Ainz gave some of the Class 1-B students various passive quirks. Ainz also got a copy of the quirk that the Komori girl had, as it can spawn mushrooms. Depending on the kinds of mushrooms it can spawn, Ainz felt that it could be a source of quality ingredients for cooking, at least here in the second New World. If it could spawn genuine truffle mushrooms, Ainz's interests in the second New World stood to make even more money than they already were.
Ainz soon finished giving various passive quirks to the Class 1-B students, partly his way to thank them. However, the quirk he gave to Tetsutetsu was done as a mix of thanking the steel boy for letting him copy Steel and to conduct an experiment to see if Steel worked well with the quirk that Ainz had given a copy of to Tetsutetsu. It wasn't a flashy quirk, but it was one Ainz felt would be a good compliment to Steel.
Vitamin Fortification, the quirk is called. A passive quirk that made it so that if the holder ever became deficient in a vitamin in their body, then the quirk would generate enough of that vitamin to undo the deficiency. For example, if the holder of Vitamin Fortification, for whatever reason one could think of, suffered a Vitamin C deficiency, then Vitamin Fortification would generate enough Vitamin C to solve the problem. It helped keep one healthy to a degree.
Ainz got it that Steel when used long enough would cause the user to suffer Iron Fatigue, which is a deficiency in Iron in the body. If Iron Fatigue sets in, then Steel becomes less effective. It's one of the reasons Tetsutetsu had adopted an Iron-rich diet. Iron is one of the vitamins covered by Vitamin Fortification, so Ainz wanted to see if the combo of Steel and Vitamin Fortification would help one use Steel to max power without drawbacks.
Ainz was equal parts giving Tetsutetsu a gift and using him as a guinea pig. He was hoping the combo would work because he was wanting to use Steel for something, but it wouldn't be effective if Iron Fatigue became an issue. If the combo did work, then when Ainz gave one of his assets a copy of Steel, he would also give them a copy of Vitamin Fortification to effectively cut away the one drawback Steel has.
Plus, Tetsutetsu and the other Class 1-B students, as well as all of the Class 1-A students, were assets to Ainz, he planned to use them to maximum efficiency in his plans to make Izuku Midoriya a heroic name on the tongues of all the people of Japan. It wasn't the first time Ainz had done such a plan; he did more or less the same thing when he adventured around as the hero Momon. Things here were actually easier for Ainz as he has prior experience doing something similar.
When the rest of Class 1-A saw that Yaoyorozu had gone to bed the previous night slender but woke up this morning super fat, Mina said, "Hot damn, Yaoyorozu! I know you need to eat a lot as it helps your quirk, but ain't this a little extreme?"
"I... don't think that this much weight gain in the time between last night and this morning is possible Ashido," Tenya spoke up, a bit at a loss for words, "At least not naturally."
Folding her arms over her chest, Jiro said, "Well if any jerks make any fatphobic jabs at Yaoyorozu, I say we punch them back! You mess with one member of Class 1-A, you mess with all of us!"
"That is one of the manliest things I've ever heard, Jiro!" Kirishima declared.
Bakugo turned to look at Ainz, who looked to be deep in thought as he held a hand to his chin. "The hell are you thinking about, Deku?" Bakugo asked.
Ainz was only pretending to be thinking for appearances sake, and acted like Bakugo speaking up snapped him out of his thoughts. "My apologies for being lost in thought, Kacchan," Ainz began, "But what Ashido said, about how Yaoyorozu's quirk benefits from her notable diet as her quirk uses her excess weight as fuel. I can't help but wonder if this may be some form of evolution that her quirk had undergone."
The look on Yaoyorozu's plump face was a mix of her still fretting over being so plump now and her interest being piqued. "What do you mean, Midoriya?" Yaoyorozu asked.
Gesturing to Yaoyorozu, Ainz asked, "Have you tried using your quirk to make anything since you woke up this morning?"
"Hey, Midoriya's got a point," Hagakure said, "Hell, I bet that Yaoyorozu can make things with her quirk until all of this surprise fat is gone and return to normal!"
Yaoyorozu looked surprised by the idea. "I... I bet that I certainly could... but making so much stuff all at once may affect sales and the economy and-"
"Make things designed to be destroyed," Ainz suggested, "In fact, make pinatas filled with confetti and glitter, then let those in our class with quirks that can attack from a range use them as target practice." Arching a wry eyebrow, Ainz said, "You can make that, right?"
"I can make the pinatas, glitter, and confetti all separately," Yaoyorozu replied, "I'm not sure if I can make pinatas already filled. We'll just have to fill the empty pinatas up afterwards."
"Hey, taking shots at pinatas filled with stuff to make a show sounds pretty fun, actually," Bakugo admitted, "I wouldn't mind such target practice."
Aizawa arched a wry eyebrow. "Do it outside, at lea-"
*knock* *knock*
Aizawa was cut off when someone was heard knocking on the front doors of the Class 1-A dorm building. Going to answer, Aizawa when he opened the door saw Sekijiro standing there, a pair of girls both as obese as Yaoyorozu standing behind him. "Hey Aizawa," Kan began, "The students in my homeroom woke up feeling changed and-"
"You too, huh?" Aizawa said dryly, "Yeah, my students got the same deal."
As some of the Class 1-A students came over to see what was going on, Kan said, "You think that there might be, like, some sort of virus going around?"
"Let's not jump to any conclusions," Aizawa replied, "For all we know, they may be stressed due to the recent move onto campus."
Folding his arms over his chest, Kan said, "Then what could it be?"
Aizawa turned around to call for Ainz, but saw he was among the students who came over. Pointing to Ainz, Aizawa explained to Kan, "Midoriya here came up with the theory that it may be a case of a quirk evolving. Yaoyorozu for example has a quirk that uses her excess weight as fuel, and she woke up super fat. She could potentially spam her quirk until she's thin again.
"If I may, senseis," Ainz began, getting both Aizawa and Kan to look at him. After Aizawa gestured for him to proceed, Ainz said, "If this really IS a case of quirks getting stronger, then the quirk examiner I went to in order to confirm my quirk Sorcery would be our best bet to get answers. They not only were able to tell I had a quirk whereas other quirk examiners said I should be quirkless, but they were able to give me a general idea on how it worked and what it did."
"Other quirk examiners thought you were quirkless?" Aizawa asked, a look of bewildered surprise on his face, "What, are most quirk examiners STILL relying on the outdated small toe method of telling if someone has a quirk or not?"
"I believe that Yaoyorozu, as well all other students in both classes, ought to see the quirk examiner who identified my Sorcery quirk," Ainz said, "In fact, it may be for the best for every student in both of our classes to go and be checked, just to be safe." Aizawa and Kan nodded in agreement, before Aizawa asked Ainz to see if he could look into the quirk examiner who identified Sorcery and ask to set up some appointments.
Things were starting to lead right to the Sorcerer King getting access to what he was wanting. All according to plan.
END, CHAPTER TWENTY
Author's notes;
This chapter sees Ainz get Dr. Ujiko to lighten up and see things from his point of view, setting up for Ainz to get a lot of bennies in the future. Ainz also learns of how Dabi has the sidekick Burnin serving him as a spy in Endeavor's agency, as well as learning that Aoyama is the spy that the League of Villains has in U.A. Well, they're Ainz's spies now.
Ainz then gets copies of quirks he's interested in from the 1-A and 1-B students, as well as give some of them quirks that he believes will compliment them nicely, mainly Tetsutetsu as Ainz is wanting to test a theory about Steel. Ainz also gives a copy of Stout Strength to Yaoyorozu as he feels she'd benefit from having extra weight for Creation.
This helps set up getting assets Ainz wants to check out brought right to him. You'll see what I mean in the next chapter. Until then, see you later. Take care.