"Touch Me."
Next he pointed at the banner of the person who was an university professor in the real world, and also the oldest person in Ainz Ooal Gown.
"Shi-juuten Suzaku."
His finger moved faster and faster, pointing out the banner that belonged to one of Ainz Ooal Gown's three female members.
"Azuki Mochi."
Momonga smoothly recited the names of the banners' owners.
"Meromero, Perorontino, Simmering Teapot, Tabula Smaragdina, Takemikazuchi, Variable Talisman, Genjiro───"
Remembering the names of his 40 companions wasn't very difficult for Momonga.
The names of his friends were still deeply imprinted into his mind.
Momonga tiredly leaned at back on the throne.
"Yeah, it was really fun…"
On top of the monthly fees, Momonga spent almost one-third of his monthly salary on cash purchases. It wasn't like his income was especially high, it was just that he didn't have any other interests, so he spent most of his money on Yggdrasil.
The game had a system where players could pay a fee in order to participate in a lottery to win a rare item, and Momonga had spent most of his money on this. After many expenses, he managed to get many different rares. But after hearing that one of his guild members managed to win the lottery using only his lunch money, Momonga was green with envy.
Since every member of Ainz Ooal Gown was a working member of society, everyone had spent money on cash purchases, but Momonga was in a league of his own.
He was addicted to it that much. Going on adventures were interesting, but freely roaming about with his friends was the most fun out of all.
For Momonga who had no friends or remaining family in the real world, his memories of the time he spent with his friends in Ainz Ooal Gown were all he had.
Today, that guild would disappear.
With a heart full of dismay and regret, he clenched the hand holding the staff. Momonga was just a normal person, he didn't have any financial power or connections that could change this fact. He could only wait silently as time ran out for all the players on the server.
The holographic clock read 23:57. The server was ending at 0:00.
Time is running out. This virtual world will end and I will return to my everyday life.
This is obvious. People cannot live in a virtual world, so everyone will have to leave sooner or later.
Tomorrow I'll have to get up at 4am. I need to go to sleep immediately after the server shutdown, so that it won't affect my work tomorrow.
23:59:35,
36,
37…
Momonga slowly counted the seconds.
23:59:48,
49,
50…
Momonga shut his eyes.
23:59:58,
59—
With the clock counting the remaining seconds, he waited for the end of this fantasy world—
And the eventual forced logout—
0:00:00…
1,
2,
3…
"…Huh?"
Momonga opened his eyes.
He was not back in his familiar room. He was still sitting in the Throne Room within Yggdrasil.
"What's going on?"
The time was correct. Right now he should be forcefully logged out from the server shutdown.
0:00:38
It was already past the announced time and unless there was a system error, it was impossible to get it wrong.
Momonga looked around confusedly, searching for an explanation.
"Did they delay the shutdown? Or did they decide to postpone the end the end because they were unable to shut the server down?"
Various explanations came to his mind, but none of them seemed to be the correct answer.
The most probable explanation appeared to be a delayed server shutdown due to an error in the system.
If that were the the case, a GM should've made a statement by now. Momonga hurriedly tried to find any news on the shutdown in the chat channel— but stopped abruptly.
There was no control interface.
"What the…?"
Although Momonga felt anxious and confused, he was also a little surprised by his own calmness. He tried all the functions used in the game: Forced System Access,Chat, Call GM, Log Out and so on───
Nothing was working, it felt as if he was completely removed from the system.
"…What the hell is happening here?!"
His angry shout echoed in the Throne Chamber and then faded away.
For such a thing to happen on the last day, when everything was supposed to end… Were the developers actually tricking everyone?
Momonga's voice was furious and he felt frustrated from being unable to meet a glorious end.
Usually, there should have been no response to his furious exclamation.
However…
"Is everything all right, Momonga-sama?"
It was the first time Momonga ever heard this sweet female voice.
Although shocked, Momonga started looking for the source the voice. When he found out who it was, he was left speechless.
The response came from a NPC–It was Albedo.
Situated on the border between the Baharuth Empire and the Kingdom of Re-Estize, to the south of the Azellerisia mountains, was a vast forest called ‘The Great Forest of Tob’. On the outskirts of this forest, lay the village of Carne. It had a population of about 120 people, which were divided into 25 families. For a border village of the Kingdom of Re-Estize, this number wasn’t unusual.
The main livelihood of the villagers came from the forest and their crops, since there were almost no visitors except for some pharmacists looking for herbs and the tax collector who came once a year. It was a village frozen in time. The villagers were busy the moment they woke up at sunrise. As a village without a magical light, the ‘Continual Light’, they worked from sunrise until sundown, it was that kind of life.
Enri Emmot’s first task every day would be to go to the nearby well and draw water. Drawing the water was a girl’s job and once the water tank inside her family home was full, her first task of the day would be completed. Around this time, her mother would prepare breakfast, and the family of four would enjoy breakfast together.
Breakfast consisted of boiled wheat barley or wheat porridge, as well as some stir-fried vegetables. Sometimes they would also eat fruits. After dining with her parents, her 10-year old sister would leave for the forest to pick up fresh firewood, or help out with the fieldwork. In the village center, once the bell rings for noon, everyone will rest in the nearby square to eat lunch together. Lunch consisted of black bread a few days old, along with some minced meat soup. After that they would continue working in the fields and once the sun set everyone returned to their homes to eat dinner.