Momonga paced around in his room. Albedo had used Message to inform him that the Floor Guardians were ready to receive him.
As he was about to leave, his eyes went to Suzuki Satoru's- no, his own corpse which was lying naked on his bed.
It would be odd to have a naked human corpse on his bed, so Momonga figured he might as well dress his dead body up before leaving.
However, it turned out to be a hard task since he was doing it in the third person, and he still felt embarrassed handling someone else's naked body.
No- what am I thinking? This is my body, and it is perfectly normal for people to touch themselves- no wait, that's not what I meant!
Momonga had awkwardly managed to place his own corpse back into its normal work clothes.
He thought about what to do with it- he didn't want to leave it alone in his room, especially since someone might walk in and take it.
Then, a lightbulb turned on over his head as he got an idea, picked up his own body, and walked to the throne room.
In the throne room, Albedo, Demiurge, Coccytus, Aura, Mare, Shalltear, and Sebas were kneeling before the throne. The Pleiades were also there, but they stood behind the Floor Guardians and arranged against the wall.
Momonga sat down on the throne and propped up his former body next to it.
"Raise your heads," he said and the Guardians complied. "We have much to do today- and the first order of business is... I would like for you to give your opinion on this human body."
Momonga motioned to well, himself. Or what he had been earlier, so to speak. He wanted to know what the Guardians would think of his human form.
Shalltear was the first to speak up. "Well, I may be a necrophiliac, but even I wouldn't hit that."
Momonga's jaw hung wide open. That was... not the answer he had been looking for.
"I do believe it is a slightly above average human specimen," Demiurge said. Momonga thought that that was far better.
Momonga knew that his human body was rather unremarkable, so Demiurge was right on the mark when he said that.
"I believe we may put it to many uses," Demiurge said.
Huh? What's he talking about?
"For example, we can use the skin to create at least two to three scrolls to hold magic spells in them," Demiurge said. "The excess skin leftover can be used as leather, the hair can be used to make brushes, the vocal cords can be given to Entoma, and about twenty kilograms of food can be harvested for use by Kyouhukou. Furthermore, the fat can be used as cooking oil, the bones can be ground into charcoal, and any leftover bones can have ornamental value for the art project that I have considered working on."
That's my dead body you're talking about! Don't talk about it as if it's a piece of meat! Have some respect for the dead- no wait, technically I'm still alive, or rather, I do have my unlife... and come to think of it, what kind of art project requires human bones?
Momonga did not say any of this out loud however, but mentally made a note to not let Demiurge within fifty feet of his corpse.
At the very least, he was sure that Shalltear would not desecrate it, so in that matter Shalltear was more worthy than Demiurge.
"Forgive. Me. I. Am. Not. An. Expert. In. Humans. But. This. One. Seems. Unremarkable," Coccytus muttered.
"I too, believe that this is an average human specimen," Sebas said succinctly.
"I agree," Aura said. "Nothing too special about him."
"Uh, y-yeah, it's just a normal human," Mare said.
Momonga sighed a little. These people had given a far better answer than either Shalltear or Demiurge.
"And you, Albedo?" Momonga asked. She alone of the Floor Guardians had not answered.
Albedo smiled sweetly.
"This is a vile, unsightly creature, unbefitting to stand in the same room as that of you, O Supreme One," Albedo said. "However, had it been alive, I would have delighted in tearing its head off."
She smiled all the while as she said that.
Uwah! That's way too scary!
And, at that very moment, Suzuki Satoru's pants fell off.
It seemed that Momonga had, in his haste, not put them on properly.
"And, to top it all off," Albedo added. "The size of his manhood appears to be far below average, even for a human. I do not think even a lower succubus would want anything to do with such a man."
Agh! Is there a button that lets you commit suicide in game? I want to use it!
Before Momonga could get too depressed, his emotions were surpassed.
However, the emotional suppression simply blunted the majority of his feelings.
He still felt a deep sense of shame inwardly simmering inside him though.
There was no way he was going to tell the Floor Guardians that that was his true form now.
"Ah, yes, well moving on," Momonga said, trying to change the subject as quickly as possible even as he hastily put his pants back on his own corpse.
Could this day get any worse?
"The next move we must make is to gather the other guild members- the other Supreme Beings if you will," Momonga said.
This was met with shock all over.
"Momonga-sama, will the other Supreme Beings truly be joining us?" Demiurge asked as his tail wagged to and fro like that of a puppy's.
"Indeed," Momonga said. "First of all though, I will be going to fetch Herohero-san, who I met just a few hours earlier. After that, I will work my way around to gathering the others, including Touch Me, Ulbert, Tabula, Bukubukuchagama, Takemikazuchi, Blue Planet, and Peroroncino. But first, I will go to Herohero."
As Momonga mentioned the name of each of their creator's, the Floor Guardians eyes lit up. Aura and Mare looked at each other excitedly. It was not possible to discern Coccytus' expressions, but he clicked his mandibles rapidly. Demiurge began wagging his tail even more fervently, and Shalltear sat wide-eyed.
Solution had perked up at the mention of her creator's name, but had not said anything. Sebas, much like her, seemed to take the stoic approach.
The only exception was Albedo. Her wide smile had disappeared and she seemed to wear a frown on her face. Even the name of Tabula had not brought her warm smile back.
"Eh? Is something the matter, Albedo?" Momonga asked.
"Forgive this one for speaking," Albedo said. "And if you should find it necessary, you may detach my head from my shoulders for saying this- but given that the other Supreme Beings had left us for so long, and I am assuming they did so voluntarily, would it be alright to try and bring them here against their wishes?"
Demiurge rounded fiercely against Albedo. "Albedo! How dare you! We exist to serve the Supreme Beings! There could be no greater joy than having them return to this glorious tomb once more!"
"Silence, Demiurge," Momonga said with a wave of his hand. He found Albedo's words to be unsettling.
No, as he thought about it, he realized that Albedo did sort of have a point. After all, the others had left because they were busy with their own lives, and they had done so willingly. If anything, if one thought about it, it was Momonga who was being selfish in demanding that they join him.
Do the others want to come back? Would they be happy seeing what has happened to our guild?
He had not considered what his friends may have wanted- perhaps they would want to stay clear of such a thing as their guild coming to real life? Momonga could not imagine someone like Touch Me, who had a wife and child, to want to leave that and join him.
In other words, Albedo had seen something that Momonga had not.
She truly is worthy of her position as Guardian Overseer.
"Albedo has made a fine point, we cannot force the others to stay," Momonga said. Demiurge apologized.
As he thought about it, that meant that it would definitely be a bad idea to try and reach out to all of his friends all at once. It would be better to try with one of them first, see how they reacted, and then move on to the others as he had originally thought.
"That said however, Herohero had been with me just a few hours ago," Momonga said. He knew others in his guild better than he did Herohero, but he had not met with them as recently as he had with Herohero. It would be awkward for him to walk up to someone he hadn't talked to in several years.
Furthermore, it was possible that Herohero had been transformed just like Momonga had, given that Herohero had been online just a few minutes before midnight.
This only solidified his idea to talk to Herohero first. "As such, I think Herohero would gladly come back. To accomplish this, I shall be leaving immediately. My orders are that you all try to stay quiet as much as possible- and to possibly guard Nazarick with an illusion so it cannot be viewed from afar. Do not venture outside the tomb."
Momonga knew that a satellite could probably pick them up and was surprised that one hadn't already- unless they had been spotted and a human group was just waiting for the right moment to strike.
"Momonga-sama, please allow me to accompany you," Albedo said, the smile now back on her face. "I will assist you in greeting Herohero in person."
That was bad- he didn't know how they might react to seeing a human. "Ah, the thing is that we will be discussing a matter that is for Supreme Beings only."
Did that work? It was sort of like telling the employees in a company that there was a meeting for the Board of Directors only and that they couldn't share the details with everyone, Ainz thought. Such a thing would be annoying to the employees, but at the very least, they should understand that secrecy in certain matters was necessary.
Albedo seemed to accept that line of reasoning but opened her mouth again. "Ah, but Momonga-sama, the fact remains that with two Supreme Beings, we cannot leave your safety to chance. Please allow us to accompany you- we shall cover our ears if you so desire, but please let some guards stay near you."
Momonga thought about it. "Fine. But I will need someone skilled in stealth- and for that, I choose Aura to be my bodyguard."
"As you command, Momnga-sama!" Aura exclaimed with excitement.
Albedo seemed unhappy with this, but Momonga added, "I will allow only her to accompany me, no more. I will not listen to any objections."
Momonga chose Aura because she seemed unlikely to strike a human without just cause, her form was sort of human like and so she would not cause too much alarm even if spotted, and she was skilled in stealth.
"Ah, if it may please you Momonga-sama, may I suggest something?" Shalltear asked.
"Indeed, you may," Momonga said.
"Wouldn't it be faster if all of us split up to find the other Supreme Ones?" Shalltear asked. "I would have no objections to finding Peroroncino-sama by myself."
Momonga tried to imagine what would happen if Shalltear appeared at Peroroncino's doorstep. Or what would happen if Demiurge found Ulbert.
"No! I forbid it!" Momonga screamed harshly. "None of you are to try and contact the other Supreme Beings without my explicit permission!"
Shalltear bowed her head and deeply apologized- she looked to be almost on the verge of tears, and Momonga did feel sorry for screeching like that.
The others looked disappointed as well as shocked at Momonga's sudden outburst. "Ah, I apologize for shouting, but the thing is that there are certain matters that only Supreme Beings can understand. Uh, as such, the others might be offended if you were to suddenly appear before them."
"Ah, is that so?" Shalltear said. "Forgive me Momonga-sama, for this servant of the Supreme Beings never considered such a thing!"
"It is no worry so long as you understand now," Momonga said. Now, there was just one other matter: what was he going to do with his own corpse?
He didn't want to carry it around when he went to go meet with Herohero. Also, he didn't want to leave it with anyone here. Especially Demiurge.
His body was a very valuable item to him, understandably of course. So where should he keep it, and whom should he entrust it to?
Of course, when one thought of valuable items, there was only one place to put them.
"Albedo, give this human corpse to Pandora's Actor," Momonga said. "Tell him that it is important that this corpse not be manipulated, altered, or ah- harvested in any way, aside from a preservation spell cast upon it. He is to guard it with his life."
"As you wish, Momonga-sama," Albedo said.
Albedo was the Guardian Overseer of Nazarick. She was the incarnation of femininity, and a paragon of ladylike qualities.
As such, Albedo did not know the meaning of the word cringe.
However, she had just gotten a crash course in Cringe 101 the moment she had stopped by Pandora's Actor's domain- the treasury of Nazarick.
It had only been ten minutes into explaining things to Pandora's Actor regarding what he had to do that she had already wanted to wring him by his neck.
Pandora's Actor struck a strange pose, and then said, "Understood, Albedo-sama. I shall carry out my creator's orders without fail!"
He then examined the corpse in question. "Tell me something... this body... do you not feel like it resembles that of Momonga-sama?"
Albedo was sure that she had misheard something, because whatever Pandora's Actor had just said was absolutely ridiculous.
"What are you saying?"
"I said, this human body seems to resemble Momonga-sama, my creator," Pandora's Actor said and thumped his hand over his chest.
A wave of black rage washed over Albedo. "How dare you? How dare you? How dare you compare the greatest of Supreme Beings with a lowly human maggot like this? For this, I should have your head!"
"Come on now, Al-'before anyone else'-do-sama," Pandora's Actor said with a wink when he said 'before anyone else.' Albedo thought that Pandora's Actor had meant for the wink to seem seductive or coy, but given the fact that he had no eyebrows or other facial features it just looked weird.
"Do not call me that ever again!"
"Eh? But don't close friends often give each other nicknames?" Pandora's Actor asked.
"I am the Guardian Overseer of Nazarick, and you are not to toy with my name like that," Albedo responded.
"Well, well, well, as I was saying though, being Momonga-sama's creation, I feel like I can understand him the best out of anyone," Pandora's Actor said. "And, as I recall, are you not as intelligent as you are beautiful, Albedo-sama? Then surely you must realize that this cannot be a simple ordinary human for Momonga-sama to treat it like this."
Albedo was greatly irritated at Pandora's Actor's words, but she couldn't help but feel that he had a point.
For one, she was quite jealous that this NPC knew more about Momonga-sama than she did- it was indeed possible he might have some insights that the others would not have regarding what Momonga-sama wanted.
And, Albedo couldn't help but remember how Momonga-sama had treated this human body with utmost care. It was so strange- that was why she had not been too harsh while describing it to Momonga-sama. It was almost as if her master revered the body or something.
"And I do believe, that you would recognize your creator, no matter what form he would be in?" Pandora's Actor asked. It was true, Albedo had recognized that Pandora's Actor was not Tabula the moment she had laid eyes on him. "In much the same vein, I can see sort of an 'echo' of Momonga-sama in this human's body. Just an echo though, I do know that this is not Momonga-sama at all, but it somehow reminds me of him- as if Momonga-sama had to choose a human body, well, then it would look like this."
Albedo considered the possibility. Could it be that this human body was one of her master's creations?
"But if that's the case, then what use could Momonga-sama have for such a body?" Albedo asked.
Pandora's Actor immediately gave her a huge thumbs-up. 'Very good Albedo-sama! Now you're thinking in the right direction!"
"Don't patronize me," Albedo growled. She had forgotten that despite Pandora's Actor's eccentric behavior, his intellect rivaled that of hers and Demiurge's.
Pandora's Actor then sat down and put a finger to his chin thoughtfully. All he needed was a pipe to look just like Sherlock Holmes in his classic contemplative pose.
There was a long dramatic silence in which Albedo held in her breath, wondering what conclusion Pandora's Actor would draw.
"Truth be told, I don't seem to have the slightest clue what he could want with it," he finally said.
Albedo almost did an 'anime fall' [if you watch anime you know what I'm talking about] but her inner nature would not allow it.
"Of course, that is only to be expected," Pandora's Actor said cooly. "After all, we are speaking of my creator, Momonga-sama! None of us could possibly hope to match his peerless intellect!"
"On that point, I agree with you," Albedo said. It was rather shameful that she could not understand what her master wanted, but she would just have to work harder to make up for that.
As she left, she turned her attention to another problem.
Namely, the fact that the other Floor Guardians had learned that their creators were out there somewhere in this world.
None of them had, thankfully, left the tomb, but Albedo felt like that was only the case because none of them knew exactly where their creators were, had no means of finding out their locations, and because Momonga-sama had explicitly forbidden them from leaving the tomb. Not to mention they were probably afraid of disappointing their creators given that Momonga-sama had said that it would be rude to approach them without another Supreme Being in tow.
Without any idea as to their creator's locations, Albedo thought that only Aura would dare to venture out into this world which was unexplored, and she was away with Momonga-sama.
She couldn't help but feel uneasy though. What if the other Supreme Beings turned against her love? Their creations would then also very probably turn against Nazarick, and she had to prepare in case that happened.
She of course, would remain loyal to the man she loved, even if Tabula-sama ordered her otherwise. In that sense, she could always rely on herself, and Pandora's Actor to help her.
In that case, she should probably try to buddy up with Pandora's Actor a little, no matter how much the idea of doing such soured her mind.
She also made a note to check up on Rubedo once she was sure that the others would not be going anywhere.
Herohero's actual name was Hiroshi Hirota. He had slept through the white wall which had engulfed the Earth that midnight, and for that matter, he had not been granted any new powers when it had hit him.
As such, he noticed nothing different as he got up to get ready for yet another day of drudgery.
He approached his mirror and noticed his own usual tired human self. He looked to be ten years older than he actually was, and his body felt horrible. He was constantly racked by body aches and needed sleeping pills in order to sleep or else he couldn't.
He would eat breakfast on his way to work, but before heading out, as was his habit, he checked to see if he had any messages.
There were a few weird ones. Many of them were from his colleagues, and most of them went along the lines of 'Have you checked the news?'
Well, Hiroshi hadn't and so he went ahead and checked the news. There were reports of strange things seen flying around various places in the world- many people thought they might be aliens.
One of his colleagues had remarked that his son had suddenly made some sort of weird robotic thing.
Hiroshi personally thought that if he had any children and they had made robots by themselves, well then, he would be quite happy with them, but this man seemed worried.
Just as he was browsing one last article before leaving, the computer screen froze and a message was displayed there:
Due to the spread of a recent illness, the area under megacorp Google is currently under quarantine. A curfew is in effect immediately- citizens are hereby forbidden from leaving their homes or their places of employment and will be shot at sight if seen outside. All transport services are being shut down save for emergency services and those required by high-ranking officials. Access to the Internet is being revoked as a precautionary measure to stop the spread of false information and panic spreading. Citizens are requested to stay in their homes and await further instructions.
Hiroshi also had another message from his own employment office under the Megacorp stating that he didn't have to come in to work today.
He cursed under his breath.
A break from work was certainly welcome given that he practically lived in his office most days, but the thing was that he knew he likely would not be paid for this day.
Furthermore, if only he had been informed of this earlier, than he might as well have stayed up late playing Yggdrasil before the game shut down last night.
He looked outside and saw the flashes of police sirens. That surprised him.
This whole situation was surprising, if he was honest. Since when did megacorps care about people's health this much? Hiroshi had worked even when sick, and he knew that many people had died while working and that the megacorps only paid out a pitiable sum as life insurance money.
He could even hear the faint sounds of police sirens and gunfire outside and he shuddered. What was going on? Since when did the police actually do something in this world?
Well, whatever it was, it seemed that the main gate to his apartment complex had been electronically locked. There was no way to go outside- not that anyone would really want to. As such, whether he liked it or not, he was stuck here.
At times like this, he would probably have loved to go back to playing Yggdrasil, but with the game being down, he couldn't do that.
As a matter of fact, even if it wasn't down, given that he couldn't access the Internet, there was no real point even if the servers had stayed up.
He couldn't even contact anyone as all phones had been blocked.
He sighed and then sat upright as he heard a knock on his door.
Who could it be at this time?
Hiroshi opened the door and beheld a large skeleton, larger than any human, dressed in a dark robe.
Hiroshi smiled. "It's good to see you, Satoru-san!"
"Ah, yes," Suzuki replied in a deep voice that couldn't possibly be his own. "Well met, Hitora-san!"
Hiroshi had already pieced together what was happening.
Yes, clearly, Suzuki Satoru, the guildmaster of Ainz Ooal Gown, had talked with him last night and realized that Hiroshi was feeling down in the dumps, and decided to pay him a visit to cheer him up.
"That's an amazing cosplay you have," Hiroshi remarked. "I can't imagine how much it cost."
"Cosplay?" Suzuki muttered before adding, "Ah yes, well, I suppose that's- ah..."
But still, Hiroshi had to note that Suzuki's cosplay was beyond anything he had ever seen before. The detail was incredible- Suzuki could see every single ring that Momonga had in the actual game. And next to him- was that a Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown replica? The thing looked amazing!
Hiroshi couldn't imagine how much a costume and set of accessories like this could cost.
He remembered that Suzuki was a man who spent a third of his salary on Yggdrasil, but maybe once it was announced that Yggdrasil was closing he had channeled the funs to this project?
"But that said, you've picked a rather unlucky time to arrive here," Hiroshi remarked.
"Ah, I apologize for dropping in like this," Suzuki said hurriedly. "You must be busy and-"
"Oh no, no, that's not what I meant," Hiroshi said. Suzuki had apparently taken his comment out of context- namely that this was a bad time to drop in.
That wasn't it- rather, it was the fact that the curfew had just started. Suzuki would be stuck with Hiroshi for now.
Come to think it, Hiroshi found it odd that Suzuki could use public transport while dressed like this, and even more importantly, that the apartment's security had let him walk in without even calling Hiroshi.
Ah well, he guessed some people couldn't be counted on to do their jobs properly.
"I meant that it's unfortunate you came right now," Hiroshi said. "I mean, I don't have any work- so it's great I have a friend with me to talk to, but the curfew means you can't go back either."
Suzuki would be missing work- wait no, he too would have a holiday. The two of them lived in an area controlled by the same megacorp- the two of them had exchanged addresses earlier as several guild members had once planned a meeting together in real life several years ago, when the guild had been at its peak.
However, they had never acted on their plans to meet in person.
"Curfew?" Suzuki asked.
"Yeah, I can't access the Internet," Hiroshi explained.
"I was using it minutes before," Suzuki replied.
"Yeah, it just happened, can you believe that?" Hiroshi asked.
Now that he thought about it, there was another problem, namely that Hiroshi didn't have enough food stocked up for the two of them if the quarantine lasted for more than a few days. Granted, if that happened, then several people would be in trouble, but it was probably too much to ask for the megacorp to provide the citizens with food and water.
Oh well, he would get to that problem when he would get to it.
Honestly, Hiroshi had no idea what would happen if this went on long enough. Such a thing had never happened before in his lifetime.
"So why don't you come in?" Hiroshi said now that he had regained control of his train of thoughts.
Suzuki looked around and hunched over to come in. His skeletal frame barely fit through the door even with him hunched up. Hiroshi looked behind Suzuki to see just in case someone else was behind him.
He wouldn't put it past Ulbert to make a costume like that- as a matter of fact it would have probably been either Ulbert or Touch Me who would have been the happiest to have a realistic cosplay like the one which Suzuki had.
Drat, what were Ulbert and Touch called in real life again? Everyone in the guild knew and remembered Momonga's real name, but as for the others... their names had faded from Hiroshi's memories.
But there was no one else besides Suzuki there.
Hiroshi had to admit that Suzuki was quite dedicated to the cosplay though as he hadn't removed the costume even though it was clearly quite cumbersome to take a seat.
Come to think of it, Hiroshi wondered, there didn't seem to be any room in the costume for someone to fit inside. And the movements were far too fluid.
Could this be some sort of remote controlled robot? No, that would be far out of the reach of a salaryman such as Suzuki to afford- unless Suzuki had won the lottery or something like that. That or he had been lying about his job.
"It's super realistic though," Hiroshi said to himself and without much though, moved over to touch the skeletal mask that Suzuki had on.
Those eyes- the way that the flames danced inside them was incredible. It was truly spooky- if Hiroshi hadn't known that this was a costume he would have been genuinely scared.
As he touched the mask he felt that it was as hard as bone.
And right then a voice called out to him: "Take your stinking hands off him, your damn dirty human!"
Hiroshi stumbled back as a whip cracked and suddenly, the table he had kept in front of the chair Suzuki was sitting in split in two.
Standing behind Suzuki was a small girl (or was it a boy?) who was holding the whip and looked angrily at him. She, or he, had mismatched eyes and pointed ears.
The ears, Hiroshi could explain away. Cosmetic surgery was relatively cheap and some people enjoyed altering their ears so they would look like elves, while some girls altered their ears to become cat ears. Such girls were usually actually high class escorts and did such for their client's wishes.
What he couldn't explain away was the fact that he had seen this elf somewhere before- and how it was that she had gotten into his apartment in the first place.
And then it hit him.
"You're one of the elves that Bukubukuchagama made!" He did not remember her real name either.
The moment he said this, the girl paused and looked at him in confusion. "How do you know my creator's name?"
"Aura!" Suzuki shouted. "Why did you do that?"
"But Momonga-sama, this lowly life form tried to touch you! I had to intervene," Aura responded.
"What's going on?" Hiroshi asked. His heart had begun pounding.
"I'm sorry about this, Hiroshi-san," Suzuki said. "I should have started with this- but basically Yggdrasil has become real."
"Huh?" Hiroshi asked.
"This is no costume," Suzuki said. "This is my new body. I stayed logged in while the servers shut down, and the moment after, I found myself trapped in this body. And not just that- but our whole guild came to life. Even the NPCs that we made, including Aura."
Hiroshi laughed. He laughed at the absurd possibility that whatever Suzuki was saying might be true.
Actually, Hiroshi desperately hoped that what Suzuki had said was true. It would be a dream come true.
But, the other possibility was that someone was playing a very elaborate prank on him.
"Alright then, prove it," Hiroshi uttered confidently.
"You have a lot of nerve-" the girl began to say before a skeletal hand waved at her.
"It is fine," Suzuki said and left the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown. The staff hovered in the air like it would in game.
"That doesn't prove much," Hiroshi retorted. "A hovercraft could do that, or something like that."
Suzuki then unleashed a wave of dark energy.
Hiroshi didn't see anything, but a wave of coldness washed over him. The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees. Okay, he was clueless as to how that happened, and why he was feeling so scared.
"But there is a final test," Suzuki said and approached Hiroshi and grabbed his arm. The skeletal hand felt real and surprisingly strong, even though there was no muscle connecting the bones. Hiroshi had expected to see thin wires if he looked at the costume closely, but there was nothing like that. "Come, Aura, let's go home."
And then they teleported.
Hiroshi blinked and found himself in a place which was familiar and yet so alien at the same time.
He recognized the throne room, of course, but to see it rendered in real life was surreal. Suzuki was standing beside him along with the elf.
The Throne of Kings was right behind him, and he saw the NPCs of the throne room.
Either he was dreaming, or this was real.
And if he was dreaming, well then it was a cruel dream given that he would have to wake up.
An NPC, he thought she was named Albaedo or something like that, was glaring at him. She looked beautiful, but the glare did not fit her countenance. "Why have you brought this human here, Momonga-sama?"
Did the NPC talk? Now that he thought about it, the elf girl had talked as well. That was something that could not happen in-game.
The moment he realized this, his eyes turned towards the Pleiades because there was one face that should be there which he wanted to confirm.
He locked eyes with a maid who had bright blonde hair and blue eyes.
The maid's eyes widened. "Herohero-sama?"
Hiroshi smiled. "Yes, that's who I am!" He then turned towards Suzuki. Well, this was definitely real.
"What are you saying?" another maid snapped at Solution. He thought this maid was named Yuri or Yuki... he didn't remember all that well. "How could a human be a supreme being?"
Hiroshi stated laughing hysterically and then fell to his knees.
Solution Epsilon, on the other hand, felt a raging headache.
Slimes like her normally could not feel pain, but this was psychological and not physical pain.
Namely, she knew that this human was her creator. That was an undeniable fact she knew deep inside herself.
On the other hand, how could her creator be a human? This too was an almost undeniable fact, and the contradictions between the two were what gave rise to the headache.
But, as she saw the human fall to the floor, she forgot everything else and rushed to her creator's side.
Her skills began to activate as she surveyed this human. He was suffering from hypertension, decreased bone density, and seemed to also have a small tumor in the right lung.
How could something like this happen to her creator? She wanted answers, but Solution had never been someone who thought a lot. She mostly followed orders.
"Solution is not mistaken," Momonga-sama said. "That human, is, as a matter of fact, the Supreme Being known as Herohero."
There were gasps of disbelief around Solution, but she had already known that fact deep in her heart. Her creator had now collapsed and was lying down on the floor.
She cast the most powerful healing spells she knew in quick succession at her creator. Some of them would heal health, while others would cure fatigue, and yet others would cure the effects of a chronic poison that seemed to have affected him and which had seeped into and affected nearly every single organ system.
"What was that?" Hiroshi muttered. He got up to one knee, somehow his body felt so... amazing all of a sudden. Not only that, but the air in this place was so... clean. The air at his home and office was obviously filtered, but it lacked something that the air in this place possessed.
He wobbled as he tried to get up. "Sorry, but could someone lend me a hand?" he asked.
Solution instinctively moved to help him get up, but she was stopped as Momonga-sama had reached him first and brought him to stand with a single motion of his skeletal hand.
"Are you alright, Herohero?" Momonga asked.
"Yeah," Hiroshi answered. "I think so."