I guess I should take this opportunity to tell Demiurge that I’m not really that amazing, but what would happen if I did? What should I do if it caused the plan that Demiurge labored for so long over to end in failure? If I spent several years courting a big client, only to have it fall through because of a stupid comment from my boss...
Ahhh, Ainz said as he scratched his hairless head.
What should he do?
What was the best answer he could give?
No matter what simulations he ran, they all ended in Demiurge looking at him in disappointment. He could not reach a conclusion that he could accept.
He’s expecting too much of me — the higher the climb, the longer the fall. That’s why I said I’m nobody amazing...
And then, Ainz’s own plan had been quite the failure.
Ainz reached into his pocket space and drew a sword.
It was an ordinary sword inscribed with runes.
However, it contained power comparable to the bow he had lent to Neia.
Of course, these were not Dwarven runes. The runes carved on it had no power at all. This was a piece of equipment made with YGGDRASIL techniques.
“Haaaa…”
Ainz sighed. He had several weapons like this. The original plan was to lend these weapons to the Holy Kingdom.
The people of the Holy Kingdom would be awed by the overwhelming power of the sword and think, So this is the power of runic weaponry, which would in turn improve the reputation of the Sorcerous Kingdom’s rune weapons.
This was the other reason why he had lent Neia the weapon.
He felt that the people of the Holy Kingdom would see that weapon and secretly borrow them from Ainz.
However—
Ainz grabbed his head.
Why didn’t anyone borrow them? I even thought people would talk about it because it was so flashy… I guess I should have forced her onto the frontlines and made her fight, huh...
Just then, there was a tok tok tok as someone knocked on the door.
He quickly checked his robe and other messy places before putting the sword back into his pocket dimension. Then he put his hands behind his back, looked at the door like a sovereign, and spoke loudly:
“Who is it?”
“Your Majesty, may I enter?”
There was no way to tell if it was a male or female voice through the door. Normally, he should have asked the visitor’s name, but Demiurge had already told him that someone was coming, and so Ainz granted his permission without any hesitation.
“Ahh, it’s fine. Come in.”
The person who entered Ainz’s room closed the door behind himself, and its body changed as well.
It had an egg-shaped head with a mouth and two eyes that looked like sunken holes. Its three-fingered hands were as slender as stick insects.
It was a Doppelganger.
It was a Doppelganger he had lent Demiurge at his request.
Since it was a monster Doppelganger, it was not very strong.
Even when transformed, it could only copy level forty abilities, and it was even weaker without transformation. Its more potent abilities was how it could freely make use of karma-restricted gear. That said, it could not use magic items above legacy class.
Its vacuous hole-like eyes turned to Ainz, and then it bowed deeply.
“I sincerely apologize for the many offenses I have caused you during the course of my duties. I pray you will forgive me.”
“Don’t worry about it. You were just doing your job. I have nothing to say about that.”
“Your servant is grateful for your generous words.”
Ainz looked at the room’s door.
“Aren’t you very busy now? There ought to be many things you need to direct, no? And is there anyone outside? If there’s anyone, we’ll be in trouble if we don’t keep our voices down.”
“It is fine. Nobody will object to your servant going alone to see you, Ainz-sama.”
“Is that so…”
Oh yes, the Doppelganger replied. However, it was still important to be careful.
“Then, Ainz-sama, please inform your servant of your decision.”
“Inform you of what?”
That said, Ainz knew very well why the Doppelganger had come here.
Or rather, it was time to tell this Doppelganger.
Yes, the question of who he had enthralled.
“Forgive me. This one speaks of the matter from earlier — the matter of those humans who are devoted to you and whose lives must be spared, Ainz-sama.”
“Hm…”
Ainz nodded forcefully, and began to walk.
Of course, he could not leave the room. Ultimately, he could only pace around inside this room. There was no telling where the Doppelganger’s eyes were looking, but Ainz was certain that they were following his movements, Ainz was certain. In truth, it would be quite scary if they did not look his way.
Time was running out. As Ainz thought with all his might, he suddenly stopped in place.
—He could not find the right answer. However, he did not have any ideas about how to continue covering things up any more.
If he were human, his heart would be pounding now, but his body lacked any organs which could move in that way.
A powerful emotion welled up, causing his emotion override to take effect, and as the small ripples bounced around inside his heart, Ainz told the Doppelganger the answer.
“Umu. I’ll be frank. There are no human beings who need to be saved. Leave a few alive as needed.”
AFTERWORD
I’m sure that as children, many people must have wished for August to be sixty days long when they were doing their holiday homework while their parents scolded them, or when they flipped through the calendar in August.
Maruyama has always been that way. He thought that way when he forgot to do his homework and had to raise his hand up on the first day of school in September.
However, this time, I made it real!
My childhood dream came true! Maruyama wanted to become an adult like this in the past, and now it’s become reality! Oh what a wonderful thing!
Everyone’s — I guess I should stop here. Spouting these pointless excuses to drag things out won’t help things.
Therefore, while it was slightly delayed, we managed to publish the book at last. Well, this ought to be within the margin of error. No, the truth is that it was because a lot of things happened. Seriously, there were a lot of them both good and bad.
Speaking of which, Maruyama bought several ebooks while in hospital, ebooks are really great! I didn’t expect them to be handy. I think it would be good for Overlord to have an ebook version. Therefore, I have decided to convert Overlord into a digital format. As I thought, there are many things that humans won’t understand if they don’t try them out. Similarly, if you are not involved in a situation, there’s many things you won’t understand about it.
Incidentally, while this is offtopic, the ebooks I read were manga, specifically love comedies.
Now then, last of all, I need to thank a lot of people. In particular, the people holding this book, as well as a certain hospital.
I’ll be glad if I can meet you again in the next volume. Thank you very much, everyone.
September 2017
Maruyama Kugane
CHARACTERS
