Side Story: What If (Part-1)

This chapter can be skipped. As the title suggests it's a side story with no relevance to the 'canon' storyline. The first part of the chapter is a copy of chapters 4 and 6. I literally copied and pasted sections for the first part of the chapter. 

This chapter had been sitting in my stash for a couple of months now so I thought of uploading it as a little treat before the new year. On that note I wish everyone a Merry Christmas in case you do celebrate and a Happy New Year!

***

Momonga PoV:

Location: Round Table Room, 10th Floor of Nazarick

A gigantic table carved of gleaming black stone sat in the center of the room, surrounded by forty one luxurious chairs. However, most of those seats were empty. Once, every single place had been filled, but now only two were occupied. 

One of the seated people was clothed in a magnificent black academic robe, edged in violet and gold. The collar seemed excessively gaudy, but somehow it fit the overall design. However, the exposed head was a bare skull. Points of dark red light glowed in its large eye sockets, and behind that skull glowed a halo of black radiance.

The being in the other seat was not human either, merely a mass of a black, sticky substance. Its tar-like surface roiled and writhed continuously, never staying in the same shape for more than a second. 

The former was an Overlord — the highest-ranked of those magic casters who had become undead in order to learn the most potent spells. The latter was an Elder Black Ooze, which boasted the most powerful corrosive ability of the slime families. 

"I'm having trouble staying awake... I think I'll log off first. I'm glad I could meet you in the end. Goodnight." Said the elder black ooze or rather herohero. 

"Today's the last day of the game, I know you're tired, but we'll never have a chance like this again, why don't we stay together until the end—" Of course, there was no response, because Herohero had already returned to reality. 

"Haahh." "This is the Great Tomb of Nazarick that we built together! How could you abandon it just like that!?" "No they did not abandon it but made a choice between fantasy and reality.

Momonga picked up the staff of ainz ooal gown that had been crafted by the last few remaining members of the guild. 

"I wonder of Shiraori-san will come online today. Probably will, she was the only other player that stayed behind after all." Speaking of Shiraori-san, she was truly a strange one. Momonga recollected their first encounter together as he walked past the unconquerable great underground tomb of nazarick. 

She seemed to be online most of the times but that makes sense considering the reason she gave. Apparently she had a terminally ill disease due to which she could not leave bed so YGGDRASIL was her only source of freedom. 

Poor girl, and that's why we made an exception and allowed her to join ainz ooal gown even if she was not a working member of society. She also rarely ever spoke using her own voice relying on the chat software instead to communicate, which she did a lot. 

When she did speak it was a couple of barely audible words causing peroronchino to name her kuudere-chan before getting beaten up by her. Sighing, Momonga got up and departed towards the throne room.

As Momonga walked past the hallways of Nazarick whilst reminiscing and hoping for his guildmates to show up one last time before the game's fateful inevitable end, he finally reached the gates of judgement.

The Golems Lemegeton stood as one of the last lines of defence before the gates to 'welcome' any intruders who might trespass upon the guild's grounds. Made from prismatic ores that the guild had acquired from the seven hidden mines.

The gates were a majestic set of double doors that were over five meters in height and covered in intricate carvings. The left side was shaped into a beautiful goddess, while the right was made to resemble a cruel demon. So realistic was their design that even from across the room, one felt like they would attack.

With a final sigh, Momonga opened the gates and entered the throne room of Nazarick. Due to the dramatic flair that everyone in the guild possessed as well as the member's knack for roleplaying, the throne room certainly reflected such tastes. 

Consisting of flags and majestic thrones for each of the members as well as the hard earned world item, the throne of kings that lay at the end of the hall. Beside the throne of kings lay Tabula's masterpiece, the guardian overseer Albedo. 

The perfection that Albedo embodies was a testament to the crazy amount of dedication and effort Tabula put in order to perfect her.

Momonga took his seat at the throne of kings with the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown hovering beside him, the position reserved for the guild master according to the roleplay the members were gunning for. 

He opened the flavour text that Tabula had inputted for Albedo, displaying a massive 40 page text. Tabula was always very keen on details. Although there was no harm done, other members felt this was totally unnecessary as, the NPC's were at the end of the day, bits of data. That would not change no matter how much they wished it to.

Upon glossing over the entire text, he came to the final line which said 'Incidentally, she is a slut.' Facepalming at the antics of his friend, having written such a long and detailed flavour text only to reduce her entire being to this one line. 

Momonga resolved to change this particular line on the last day of YGGDRASIL thinking Tabula would surely forgive him anyway. Deleting this line using his guild master's authority, he started writing, 'She is deeply in love with…'. He was going to add his own username in that space but finally deciding against it as he did not want to desecrate his friend beloved NPC. 

Leaning back against the throne, he started loudly reciting the name's associated with each of the flags that represented his guildmates.

"…..Peroronchino, Tabula-Smaragdina, BukuBukuchagama, Genjiro and Shiraori. Haa, that's right it was fun…"

Maybe for the final few moments he could spend the remaining time with the NPCs. Momonga imagined a scenario where the throne room was filled with the heteromorphic creations of his friends as he did his one final role play as the overlord of Nazarick before the inevitable end.

Thinking of this, he used the master source to summon the NPCs to the throne room. With few obvious exceptions like Gargantua, of course. Momonga did not have to wait too long for the NPCs arrival as the opening of the gates signalled their arrival.

Soon enough, the throne room was about to be packed as NPC after NPC made their appearance known.

Momonga was pleasantly surprised, no truly happy when the gates opened for the final time to show Shiraori with Sebas and the Pleiades in tow. He had expected that she might be logging on the final day as well and suspicions were confirmed to be true. Of course, he would not complain about the presence of one of his dear friends.

Momonga spoke up as he saw her making her way to the throne, drifting past the hordes of NPC: "I see that you have made time to visit Nazarick on the last day? How is your health?" After a few moments her reply was visible in the chat software:

[Of course, it's the last day after all. Nazarick is basically my home so I would obviously come here. As for my health? Well…its been rough. Let's leave it at that.] Momonga sent pitying looks towards her after listening to her reply, not that she could make them out.

Perhaps he should not even have asked. As she said, Nazarick was her home. While Momonga considered this to be true as well and Nazarick provided the necessary escape from reality for him, these words could not be more accurate when talking about Shiraori. She did not have any other options other than Nazarick.

Momonga truly admired this girl who had never complained about the unfairness of reality despite her circumstances. Well, she might have in her mind but never bothered to let any of them know about it. She was kind of synonymous with the words introvert.

Regardless, there was no point discussing about any of this. YGGDRASIL would soon end and there was no clue if any of them would ever meet again in reality or otherwise. This might as well have been the last ever meeting he will have with Shiraori. 

'At the very least, let's have a pleasant send off.' Momonga thought. And so, Momonga gave play to all his dramatic flair under Shiraori's doubtful eyes as he raised his skeletal arms attempting to copy a regal pose as he spoke out in a purposefully deeper voice:

"I thank everyone for gathering here today on my command. In the coming few moments YGGDRASIL will usher in Ragnarök leading to the end of everything including Nazarick. As the guild master of Ainz Ooal Gown I thank everyone for their hard work." After he finished speaking, the embarrassment caught up with him as he regretted his little act.

"Cough, Shiraori-san do you wish to say anything?" He shifted the topic, urging Shiraori to say something as well. In truth, there was no need to be embarrassed as the NPCs were just bits of code and as far as he knew, Shiraori was not someone to care about his act.

"…Well…Good job…" Shiraori replied in a barely audible voice. Momonga could not hear most of what she said but he was surprised that she even spoke out loud at all. 'Was this the 5th time overall?' He rubbed his chin as he tried to recollect the number of times he had heard her speak.

He then glanced to the timer that showed the countdown before the game was shut down. '[00:10], Hmm. It seems this is the end.'

"Well then, I hope we meet again Shiraori-san." Momonga spoke as he looked towards her to which she just nodded. He then proceeded to close his eye expecting to wake up to reality as he was forcefully logged out.

[00:00]

But the expected end did not seem to come. As he opened his eyes once more, he was still seated on the throne within the halls of Nazarick. What shocked him was the NPCs kneeling before him were moving on their own and making elaborate expressions.

He turned to look for his friend but she was nowhere to be seen. Shiraori had vanished into thin air. Maybe she got logged out?

"Lord Momonga, is everything all right? Just earlier you spoke of the end of the world. Is something wrong?" Albedo asked in a concerned voice.

'She is…speaking? This should have been impossible. Did the shitty devs secretly release a new patch for the game instead of shutting it down? This is all too real. I should check if R-18 actions are possible.' Momonga was going to proceed with his 'confirmation' but on second thought he decided against it.

For whatever reason, the NPCs seemed 'alive'. Regardless of the reason, he did not feel comfortable going ahead with what he had thought. Firstly he had to confirm if and where his friend was as well as their current situation.

"Sebas, take the Pleiades with you to investigate the surroundings. Nazarick is currently in an unknown situation. After Sebas conducts his investigation, all of the floor guardians present should do the same for their respective floors as well." Momonga ordered.

'It should be fine to order them right?' He was unsure.

"As you wish, my lord." The NPCs replied and Sebas made his way to the gates with the Pleiades in tow.

"My lord, has something happened to Lady White? She suddenly disappeared from the throne room. Is it possible there is an assassin aiming for the last supreme beings? Or did she sacrifice herself to get us to safety?" As soon as the words fell, all the NPCs were thrown into frenzy and looked around alertly as if to find the suspected assassin.

Momonga looked towards the NPC who spoke. A man in a red pinstriped suit with glasses and a tail as if to signify he was not human. 'Guardian of the 7th floor, Demiurge. A demon and Ulbert's creation' He thought. 

But how should he reply? Shiraori's whereabouts were his concern as well.

"Her current location is unknown but an assassin is unlikely. I don't think someone could sneak attack anyone in the throne room with all of us present." There were multiple powerful NPCs present, a few of which were level 100. 

Momonga himself was level 100 and if the target of the NPCs was Shiraori that was even more unlikely as she herself was very powerful. 

"Then has she…abandoned us like the rest of the Supreme Beings." One of the twin children spoke up. 

'Aura, guardian of the 6th floor', information about Bukubukuchagama's creation passed through his mind. 'The Supreme Beings that the NPCs speak of must refer to the players. But abandoned? Is that how the NPCs view the other members of Ainz Ooal Gown who stopped playing?'

They were indeed abandoned as they would have chosen reality over a game. That was the sane choice. Momonga was the odd one for not abandoning the game and focusing on making a living.

But he could not say that as he looked at the children who looked as if they had been abandoned by their parents. This was not only referring to the twins who were already on the verge of crying but also the rest of the NPCs. 

Even more so due to the fact that any of them could give up on YGGDRASIL but Shiraori could not. As she said earlier it was her home. To say that she had abandoned them would be to deny the truth and that was something that did not sit right with Momonga.

"Of course not. She considers Nazarick her home more than anyone else, me included. Unless something happened she won't choose to leave Nazarick of her own will. That is why our top priority is figuring out her whereabouts as soon as possible."

"Of course, my lord. We will definitely bring lady White back home safely." His dear friends creations replied with determination flashing through their eyes. 

And as the clock relentlessly ticked away...

***

Location: The Office; 10th Floor of Nazarick

Momoga, no Ainz, was looking over the stacks of papers placed in front of him as Albedo and Demiurge stood by. It had been a few week since Nazarick had been transported to a new world and Ainz had his hands full with managing the guild and exploring the world. 

There was still no trace of Shiraori that could be found. Well, that was not entirely true. Whenever Ainz tried to [Message] her, he could hear something but it was covered up with background noise. Regardless, that had given everyone in Nazarick hope of her return as not even this much was possible in regards to his other friends.

'Soon enough we will find some clues…' Is what everyone told themselves every day and today seemed to be the luck day.

Ainz was startled as someone used [Message] to contact him. But the reason for his surprise was not the [Message] itself but the same background noise that appeared whenever he contacted Shiraori. 

He signalled the NPCs to quiet down so he can listen carefully. Noticing his sudden burst of seriousness, they stopped their conversation and did not ask what was the issue no matter how curious they were.

Finally Ainz was able to hear something:

['....Momonga....are....you...there? Can…you…hear…'] The words came through muffled and obscured, lost in the crackling hum of distant interference. But unmistakably, it was the voice of his lost friend. The familiarity lingered, etched in his memory from the few times he had heard it, creating a distinct recollection.

"I can hear you clearly, Shiraori-san." He replied in a louder tone than normal. Not even emotion suppression could put a stop his elation. Surprise was evident on Demiurge and Albedo's faces. 

'Would they be the first ones to hear of the Supreme Beings whereabouts?' Demiurge thought, not making a sound. If they lost this clue due to a random burst of noise he made, that would be a sin that he could not atone for even by taking his own life.

['Good.....I...…..in...…..Marvel...the...comics!'] It was getting harder for Ainz to hear what was being said. But he was confused by the few words he heard clearly. 'Why does she care about comics right now? Is there some clue in those Marvel comics she has stored in the library?' Ainz was thoroughly confused so he enquired about his doubts.

['Marvel...multiverse….real...…..I...am...…..'] And then the [Message] was cut off. Ainz was confused if he should take what heard literally. Was she trying to say that the world in comics was real and she went there like a novel protagonist? Or did the important part of the message get cut off?

Regardless, this was the only clue they had right now in order to investigate and Ainz was not going to let this chance slip. He immediately ordered:

"Bring all the 'Marvel Comics' in Shiraori's collection in the library. Call the other NPCs as well. It is very likely they contain a clue to her whereabouts!" 

***

The next chapter will most likely be the long awaited 2nd interlude chapter many of you have been begging me for. If not it will be in the next couple of chapters. Hope you enjoyed reading!