Hayato shuffled across the street hastily.
The sun was coming up- which meant that the sun's heat and ultraviolet rays would combine with the chemicals in the air and make it even nastier than it was at night.
Of course, this was normal for this world, so that didn't really pick up his interest.
It did however annoy Draudillon Oriculus who found that the air was someone now even less breathable than before- something she had been sure was impossible just a few moments before. How did anyone live in a place like this? Was this some sort of curse placed on the environment, or the result of a magical experiment gone wrong? If so, why didn't the people here just leave and go live somewhere else?
She had finished (and hid away) the bottle she had drank. Or to be more precise, bottles. She might have gotten a bit carried away and drank about three or four bottles. Anyway who would've seen her would've been amazed that a little girl had that kind of a capacity, but the thing was that her ability to drink was based on her real age and not this diminutive body she was using.
As such, she was still kind of tipsy and had trouble getting into the backseat but she managed somehow. Her Ring of the Unicorn would make sure she didn't get liver cirrhosis or any other major bad effects due to her large alcohol intake, but it didn't protect her from getting drunk. Come to think of it, it wouldn't cure the hangover she'd inevitably get later on either- but she assumed she'd just pop a healing potion to deal with that later.
The car that Hayato had managed to get was a relatively newer one. He had made some excuse and said that he needed to drop by his house for half an hour. He got some strange looks but thankfully enough no one questioned him too deeply.
His plan was to either figure our where the girl lived and drop her off there, or if that wasn't possible or her parents had been taken, to stash her away at his own house for a while. He would then come back for his normal patrols, but he had to be quick.
"I need you to hide yourself," Hayato said as he motioned for the girl to sit not on the backseat, but rather, on the carpet and told her to keep her head down. It would not be good for either of them if she was discovered.
"Oh? But no one can see us, right?" she asked as she was wedged uncomfortably on the floor. The windows were tinted and she couldn't see out of them and if one peered from the outside, one couldn't see inside the car either. All one would see would be one's own reflection.
But Hayato knew better. The type of tinting used for these windows was a special filter, and street cameras and any cameras attached to drones could see right through a window tinted with it as if it was clear glass. That was why anyone who wanted any real privacy from the state surveillance system would not use this feature and instead use curtains, but of course, there were no curtains in this car.
And so, the only thing for him to do was to tell the girl to stay out of sight.
Just as he was thanking his luck that everything was going so well, his phone rang.
It was his chief.
"Uh, yeah, Chief?"
"Where are you right now?"
"Just about to take off," Hayato said.
"Ah good, an issue just came up and we need someone on it right now. We've received a distress call from Labcorp Inc. where they've had a break in apparently. We couldn't get a clear response from the caller, just that someone had broken in and was now gone."
Hayato scratched his chin. "Can someone else handle it for now?"
"No, not this kind of client. It needs to be dealt with now."
Hayato understood what this meant. Labcorp was clearly an important site though he had never heard of it himself before, and by the tone of the Chief's voice it didn't seem as if he would relent on this.
Oh well, this wouldn't likely derail his plans too much.
He would try to deal with the matter as quickly as possible and get the girl to stay in the car.
Cars in the world of 2138 were equipped with software which automated driving, but police cars were an exception. The reason was that even till date, a computer system capable of fully operating a car had not been designed- at least, not one which was cost-effective. As it was the software was usually just an assistant to individuals who might be disabled and not be able to drive as they once could. As it was police cars and other government vehicles of importance could not be automated lest they fall victims to hackers.
However, Hayato was a reasonable enough driver as all members of the force were and driving did not bother him.
Along the way that he was driving, he decided to see what he could listen to. The Internet was down, but there was a large library of downloaded songs on this system.
One was from an American singer who had become rather popular in the 2060s, and as he switched it on and started shaking his head slightly to the tune, he nearly lost control of his vehicle when he heard the words coming from the speaker.
It was a good thing that the roads were almost deserted thanks to the quarantine otherwise he would have almost certainly ran into someone. Thankfully he managed to regain control of the wheel almost immediately.
Draudillon Oriculus moaned. The sudden swerving was doing nothing good for her drunk mind. Even worse- there was some weird smell in this carriage and he had difficulty holding in her liquor. But she tried her best not to vomit, because she knew that things would get very bad if she did.
The words from the speakers- they were in Japanese! In other words, Hayato understood them entirely. However, this was not a cover of the song in another language and now that he saw the track's description, it was still listed as being in English.
Even more bizarre was that he was sure this was the original singer's tone and temper, but the singer had never recorded a Japanese version herself. Not that Hayato didn't know English- he had studied it, albeit not in very much detail, and could make out some of the words. He could even read English text at the level of a middle school child in America.
He just turned the music off, chalking it up to the software being faulty and not showing him that it was a dub. Yeah, maybe he had accidentally hit some settings on it which set everything to be a Japanese dub. Either that, or someone who had used the car before had tampered with the settings.
But still... to put his mind at ease he went to a German news website that he was sort of familiar with. Yes, the words were still written in German and not Japanese. There was even a prompt asking him if he wanted the software to translate the words for him- into Japanese no less. It would be strange for a window like that to pop up if the settings had been changed to put everything in English.
As a final test he went to some public access documentaries. There was one famous one in French he had heard before which was a documentary of the German invasion during the last world war. He pressed on it and a voice began narrating the story.
In Japanese. While Japanese subtitles floated across the screen, and the same French national he had seen before narrated the same story but in Japanese for some reason. No- his mouth was not moving as if it was speaking Japanese, but the words were Japanese. He didn't remember the man's voice that well but it resembled it- but had it been dubbed over? He checked the description and it said that it was French audio but subtitles in forty-five languages were available.
It all made no sense and he shut it all down as he focussed on the road.
Kudos to the nonexistant traffic they got to their destination fast.
Hayato instructed the girl to stay put, who lazily moaned a "Yes..." somehow. She had sort of fallen asleep by this point.
Come to think of it, an outsider would get a rather odd impression of they knew that Hayato was carrying around a little girl who was drunk in the back of his truck. It would not be made easier by the fact that his name was 'Touch Me' in Yggdrasil.
He had no clue what was in store for him though.
The front of the building was a rather famous sushi chain which he had visited on occasion. It would normally be bustling with activity but given the time and the fact that a quarantine was in effect it was shut down. Above that were several floors which he assumed belong to Labcorp's business operations.
It was clearly a well enough company given the status of the reception hall, though it wasn't a very exquisite one either. There were a few luckless staff members staring at him with sleepy eyes- this company was clearly not as blackhearted an enterprise as the one that Herohero- ah, what had his name been? Ah yes, Hiroshi. The one that played as a slime. The corporation he had worked for probably had several dozen employees locked away thanks to the quarantine in effect. There were only five which he could see here, and as he saw it, they did seem to have some basic facilities such as water and food at least.
Thinking of his old friends brought back old memories but he pushed them aside. He had a job to do. And who knows? There might be a silver lining to this quarantine, given that a lot of them might be freed from their jobs. Perhaps they could meet up in Yggdrasil once again. Oh no wait- he realized that the Internet was down, so there was no such silver lining.
The moment the employees noticed his uniform though their eyes widened and snapped out of their drowsy states of mind and he was hastily ushered in and led up a flight of stairs to the CEO's office.
The door to the office was made of a reinforced alloy which could stop bullets. Hayato recognized it as such doors were present throughout police HQ, but it was odd to see such a thing in a corporate office. While the door was strong, it did not look good and clashed with the surrounding decor- though perhaps the person in charge did not mind.
The inside of the office surprised him as it was as lavish as the office of the CEO of a large enterprise. This company couldn't have employed more than thirty people, so it was immediately suspicious as to how the head could afford such a place.
And it wasn't even the fact that it was richly decorated that shocked him the most- was that an actual tiger skin hung on the wall? It was illegal but Hayato knew there was little point in reporting it, but they could have at least done a better job at trying to at least conceal some things in the office given that a police officer was dropping by. The whole place looked like the den of a drug lord.
The only thing which contrasted from the mafia lord picture was that the the occupant of the room was neither cool nor calculating- or perhaps he might've been earlier but he certainly was not right now.
Mr. Yamamoto's hair looked frayed and his clothes were out of order. He had what looked like a small burn on his left hand, and he had been sweating so profusely that there were pit marks on his suit. He seemed somewhat relieved on seeing Hayato- think of that, a criminal happy to see a police officer! But given that Mr. Yamamoto did toe the lines of the megacorps it was only natural that he could rely on law enforcement in his time of need.
And that really pissed Hayato off.
For starters, the average citizen could not rely on police protection. If the average citizen was robbed, they would get a report registered but usually nothing would come of it, and the perpetrator would likely not be caught unless there was some significant pressure from the megacorps to do so. Hayato knew this of course, but being reminded of it so starkly still disappointed him.
Second of all, Mr. Yamamoto's story made no sense at all. It all seemed like a bad acid trip, and if not that, sleep paralysis.
Mr. Yamamoto was clearly important given that he had received police help almost immediately, and that too with the quarantine being in effect, but that didn't change Hayato's opinion that this was a colossola waste of police time and that he should file a report against Mr. Yamamoto for the same.
"Tell me," Hayato said. "Were you on any kind of hallucinogens or illicit drugs at the time?"
Mr. Yamamoto looked flabbergasted. 'What! No! I'm telling the truth!"
Hayato looked around the office. "In that case, where is the security camera footage to back up your assertion that a uh, demon somehow materialized into your office?"
"There are no cameras," Mr. Yamamoto said. "Not in here."
Hayato would've found this odd to believe, but then he realized that there must have been lots of things going on within this office that Mr. Yamamoto would've preferred never get out. In that case, it made quite a bit of sense to not have any recording devices in the office itself. After all, if the door was as sturdy as it looked, it meant that no one could break in and even if they did their faces would be caught on the cameras outside.
Hayato decided to listen to his story once again. It was ridiculous- all of it, and more so the second time.
But there was a single thing that bothered him. Mr. Yamamoto said that a woman who had appeared in the office 'charmed' him, but he didn't use the Japanese word. No, he used the word Charm in English. It reminded Hayato of the Charm spell in Yggdrasil- come to think of it, the effect that he described was quite similar to the in-game lore of the game.
"Did she use the word 'Charm?'" Hayato asked, wanting to confirm the detail.
"Yes," Mr. Yamamoto said. "I heard the word clearly."
Japanese video games generally used English names for the spells for the simple fact that it made the spells sound 'exotic' to Japanese gamers in a small way. There was no reason for Mr. Yamamoto's hallucination to do the same- or maybe it did so because Mr. Yamamoto was also a fan of games such as Yggdrasil?
Another thing that stood out was the object Mr. Yamamoto said was being held by the man who commanded the two demons. It was a description he had heard repeated over and over by Ulbert in Yggdrasil. But then again, a statue of a demon was not an odd thing for a demonic sorcerer to hold, so perhaps that was the reason why Mr. Yamamoto had thought of it like that.
"Well then, I think we're done here," Hayato said as he got up.
Mr. Yamamoto protested, of course, but Hayato ignored most of his asseritons of: "I wasn't crazy! It really happened, I tell you!"
On the way back to his police car, Hayato went ahead and made a phone call to HQ.
He was asked to hold for about four minutes. There seemed to be a deluge of calls given the quarantine.
"Ah yes, I wanted to say that I have taken a report from Labcorp Inc.," Hayato said. He relayed what he had heard in short.
The moment he had said the word 'monster' suddenly the line disconnected and seconds later he was talking to someone else. He was hit with a barrage of questions. What exactly had happened? Did he get all the details? Was there camera footage? Did anyone else know about this?
Hayato tried explaing that he was sure that the man was probably just on drugs or something, but was instructed to seal off Labcorp Inc. He was to go ahead and interrogate the man again, properly this time- he was told, and to make sure that word of this did not get out. They were also going to send a team his way.
Hayato had no idea what was going on. The way that voice on the phone was talking was authoritative- but also seemed very panicky. What had gotten it so worried?
He went back inside and relayed the orders he was given. He was met with some protest from other employees within the building, but they died down when the reinforcements arrived.
What? Did they send half the police force in the city down here?
Of course, that was an exxageration- but there were still six giant armored trucks outside and when the people inside came out Hayato recognized the Kenpeitai.
Named after the Secret Police of Imperial Japan of old, even a civilian could recognize them in there characteristic masks and military grade weapons.
Once the people inside saw who was coming to get them, they no longer looked angry and instead had looks of despair on their faces. Some even began crying.
Hayato couldn't blame them. He had never really had encounters with the Kenpeitai but he had heard the rumors. If you were unlucky enough to have them knock on your doorstep, you would probably never be seen again.
Or so the urban legends went.
The regular employees were taken away without much of a fuss into the back of a truck.
The only time a problem arose was when they had gone to arrest Mr. Yamamoto himself. Hayato had thought that it would have gone smoothly but he heard several sounds of gunfire, and five minutes later someone was taken out in a body bag.
Hayato himself was just standing at the side- as someone who shoved a badge into his face and started yelling at him told him to do.
Afterwards, he was taken to a different truck than the one the employees were being kept in.
Their captain approached him and to Hayato's surprise, he was far more formal and polite than was expected. He sort of resembled the Chief of Police- Hayato would not have been surprised if someone told him that the two were brothers.
Once Hayato relayed what he had seen and heard, he was pretty much let go.
That was it. There was no explanation- on why they had come over, on why they had arrested the employees, or why Mr. Yamamoto had been shot.
Nope. Nada. Zilch. They just told him it was classified and instructed him to go about his other work as usual.
Hayato had seen a lot of police movies- far too many as a matter of fact, especially before he had joined the force. In each of those movies, this would be the point in the movie where he, the lone police officer, would ask for more details or end up poking up deeper into the matter than he had intended thereby leading to the revelation of some cover up.
But life was not a movie.
He had realized that a long time ago.
And anyway he was already doing something rather illegal, and so he simply saluted and walked out.
He called his chief telling him that the work was done but the lines were busy so he just dropped him a message instead.
Hiroshi walked nervously with Solution by his side. They were wandering around the ninth floor of Nazarick.
He had to admit that the two of them looked weird standing side by side. If anyone on the street saw them, they would probably come to the conclusion that Solution was a lady of the night and was accommodating her client by dressing up as a maid. Either that, or that Hiroshi was really rich.
Hiroshi wasn't even sure if he could find it in himself to look at Solution in that way- sure, she was his creation, but what did that mean exactly? How should the two of them behave towards each other?
Hiroshi had asked Solution and all she had said was, "The entire point of my existence is to serve my creator, Herohero-sama. I will do anything that you wish."
As such, that answered none of his questions.
The only real person he could turn to for support would be Suzuki.
He had even sent a message to Suzuki (or to be more accurate, he had had Solution send a Message to Suzuki) asking him if he'd like to go on a double date. Or well, it wasn't a date technically, but whatever- what he meant was that Suzuki could bring along his own created NPC and the four of them could stroll around the ninth floor.
As a matter of fact, Hiroshi didn't even know the name of the NPC which Suzuki had designed. He only knew about it because during one of the few sporadic times he had logged in during the past couple of months he had seen that the guild NPC levels had been depleted somewhat, and Suzuki had said then that he had made an NPC.
Suzuki however had declined while not stating a reason for this, and as such there wasn't much that Hiroshi could do about it.
"Can you, uh, drink?" Hiroshi asked as he pointed towards a bar. It was still noon, but he figured they could still drink lightly.
"Ah, I can drink," Solution said. "But I won't get drunk though."
Hiroshi realized it must be part of her racial abilities. Well, there was little reason to drink then.
"So, what would you like to do then?" Hiroshi asked.
"Absolutely anything done with you, my creator, Herohero-sama is fine with me," Solution said. "I'm just extremely happy to just be with you!"
Hiroshi sighed.
Truth be told, Solution was telling her own truth. She did as a matter of fact look rather gleeful with her face occasionally contorting beyond the realm of human possibility but Hiroshi was slowly getting used to it. She was clearly enjoying this- even if it was just aimlessly walking around.
This place had originally been for roleplaying as a place where the guild members could relax and unwind and as such was filled with shops, bars, and even an ice cream stall. He didn't even remember the ice cream stall- was that a recent addition? And who had put it there? Ack- no point in thinking about that now.
There were books on almost every subject- even books about relationships. Books on how to be a better parent, or a better teacher, books on how to make friends, and books on being a better boss.
Hiroshi would've normally scoffed at people who read those kinds of book before but now he could understand them. Understanding a new kind of relationship was hard.
Only there were no books about something like this. Or even an established social convention that Hiroshi could rely on while dealing with Solution. What was out of bounds between them? It was clear that their relationship was not one of equals- Solution had a slavish loyalty to him and as such he remembered the old quote that with great power came great responsibility. It followed from that line of thought that if he had more power he should also shoulder more responsibility between them.
From the way Solution behaved, and not just her, but the other NPCs as well- it seemed as if the two of them could never be equals. Or at least, Solution could never see herself as Hiroshi's equal.
Humanity had attempted many cloning attempts in the past- and there were tales of the horror of illegal genetic experiments that were performed on prisoners of war during World War 3 (or as some people liked to call it, World War: Tokyo Drift). However, true human cloning had not been successfully achieved. As such, the claim to have created life was an achievement that humanity could not yet boast to have done so. Even attempts at making better artificial intelligence had been only barely successful compared to what people of yesteryears must have hoped from the future.
And yet here the two were. Creation and created. Had Hiroshi been more educated, he might have thought of Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam or Nietzsche's theories about the nature of man and god.
Instead, he could only think of Confucius's basic etiquettes- some which were drilled into all citizens. One of them was the nature of relationships.
Confucius said that there were four kinds of relationships: those between a ruler and subject, one between husband and wife, one between father and son, and lastly- and the only one in which the two people were equals, between two friends. Where did he and Solution fall into these categories?
Even if Solution was the manifestation of how he'd like a woman to look like- there was a bunch of problems if he tried to take their relationship down such a route. Others, such as Suzuki would almost certainly disapprove. How would an outside party think of such a thing? He couldn't help but feel like a pervert- yes, that is how someone would have viewed it if he tried to make a move on her.
"Ah, Herohero-sama, is something wrong?" Solution asked. Hiroshi had not spoken up for several minutes, and that obviously made Solution feel like she should speak up. "Have I upset you in some way?"
"No, no," Hiroshi said. After having been treated like trash in his job such treatment was refreshing at first but was increasingly becoming more and more awkward and unbearable. Couldn't she speak to him like a normal person?
Again, the only person who could maybe relate to him right now was Suzuki, but he was off doing something else. Well, him, and perhaps the other guild members wherever they were.
"Ah," Solution said, once again interrupting Hiroshi's train of thought. "If you were wondering what I'd enjoy doing, Herohero-sama, it would be to listen to stories about you. I would love to listen to what your life has been like up till now- it would greatly please me to know more of the glories that you have accomplished!"
Solution had realized that when her creator has asked her what she wanted to do and she didn't give an answer, he had become lost in thought. This made her think that such a statement had perhaps upset Herohero-sama in some way, and so she thought of something that she indeed would like.
"Oh," Hiroshi said. He really couldn't think of anything that would interest Solution. She had such a high opinion of him that explaining that he was a low level worker would probably confuse her- and there was the fact that he and Suzuki had agreed to keep such details under wraps for now. With that option gone, he decided to go with one of the stories from Yggdrasil.
He didn't know how much Solution knew, but he figured she wouldn't know this sort of story.
But it was odd for them to keep talking while standing or walking around like this, so he turned around and led Solution to the bar they had passed on their way. In doing so, he grabbed her hand was shocked at just how soft it felt. It felt as if his hand could actually sink into the skin- and as he remembered just what it was that Solution was he shuddered, recoiled, and withdrew his hand.
Inside was Sous-chef, and Hiroshi briefly did a double-take at his appearance. He had not see Sous-chef in the kitchens, and he vaguely remembered that on one specific day, the man would handle this bar here on the ninth floor. Who took care of it on other days then? Sadly, Hiroshi couldn't remember.
Sous-chef turned towards Hiroshi and Solution, and though he had no eyes which Hiroshi could make out, seemed to look at Hiroshi favorably. "Welcome, Herohero-sama. It is an honor to have one of the Supreme Beings in this bar." He then bowed deeply.
The bar was magnificent- Hiroshi had never been to such an establishment before and he doubted that one as extravagant as this could exist in real life. The only other occupant in the bar was Eclair Ecleir Eicler. He was a diminutive penguin butler and refreshingly, Hiroshi had to admit that he did look rather adorable. The butler hopped off of his stool and gave a deep bow.
"I too, bow deeply to Herohero-sama, one of the great Supreme Beings," he said and then gasped. "Ah, Herohero-sama, there seems to be some mud on your pants!"
Hiroshi looked down- right, some dirt must have gotten on them while he had been walking with Solution. And these were normal clothes and not the kind of Yggdrasil which were supposed to never get dirty. There wasn't a lot of dirt on them however, it was hardly something that Hiroshi would have been disturbed by in his normal life, but it seemed that Eclair Ecleir Eicler seemed to be bothered.
"No matter, I shall scrape it off!" Eclair Ecleir Eicler said and waddled over to Hiroshi's feet and began removing the dirt. Hiroshi had no idea how, but his pants were as good as new within a span of seconds. Cleaning spells, most likely, or a cleaning ability of some sort.
"Thank you, Eclair Eclier Eicler," Hiroshi said.
"I do not deserve such gratitude, for I only live to serve the Supreme Beings," Eclair Eclier Eicler said. "Howsoever, if you should wish to reward me- Herohero-sama, then you could help me take over the throne of Nazarick, so that I may one day rule over this Great Tomb!"
Eh? Hiroshi was confused until the realized that Ankoro Mocchi Mochi must have programmed that in as a joke. Solution looked at Eclair sternly, but seemed to have a look that said 'it can't be helped.'
Right, that might have been intended as a joke- but unfortunately for all of them all of their jokes meant for a video game had turned into reality. What if Eclair Eclier Eicler lead a rebellion against all of them one day?
"Oh! And if you don't mind me asking, what will you do once you are the ruler of Nazarick?" Hiroshi asked.
"Eh? Forgive me, but I do not understand your question," Eclair said. "All I know is that I must clean, and that one day, as a reward for cleaning, I will be made the supreme overlord of Nazarick!"
"Oh," Hiroshi realized, immediately piecing together that Eclair was in no way serious about staging a coup or something along those lines. There was no need to be worried about that. "Well then carry on."
"Please do not mind this one's blasphemies," Solution Epsilon said.
"Ah yes, welcome to you to, Solution-san," Sous-chef said. Hiroshi noticed that his demeanor was noticeably frostier while addressing Solution- perhaps that was because he considered her to be on the same rank as himself? "And what would bring you here today, Herohero-sama?"
"Oh, well, I created Solution and so I thought I'd spend some time with her," Hiroshi said.
Hiroshi had said this casually, but Eclair Ecleir Eicler's eyes widened and his jaw nearly dropped to the floor. Sous-chef was a mushroom and so did not have any facial expressions, but he similarly looked flabbergasted.
"To think, that one would have the honor of spending time with one's creator!" Eclair Ecleir Eicler said.
"Indeed, I truly envy you Solution-san!" Sous-chef said.
Hiroshi took a seat and motioned for Solution to sit next to him. "How could I possibly sit on the same level as you, Herohero-sama?" she asked, but Hiroshi sighed and told her to sit down.
Solution sat to his right, and Eclair Ecleir Eicler made to sit to Hiroshi's left. As Eclair was very short this was difficult and he ended up needing Hiroshi's help.
Hiroshi didn't mind holding the little penguin butler- it was like holding a small plush toy. Only thing was that Eclair fidgeted a lot and seemed to be embarrassed a little.
"And, so, what do you have to drink?" Hiroshi asked.
Sous-chef listed a number of drinks, none of which that Hiroshi recognized.
"Uh, how about the one named 'Nazarick?'" Hiroshi asked.
"Ah, no, pardon me Herohero-sam, but that drink is tasteless," Sous-chef said with a sad voice. "Long have I tried to make it into something worth of its name, but sadly I have failed up till now."
"Ah," Hiroshi said. He no longer had the heart in him to try something else. "Eh, could you maybe just get me a pitcher of lemonade for now?"
"Of course, my lord!" Sous-chef said and brought out a huge tankard filled with what Hiroshi guessed was lemonade.
He had to guess because the lemonade was blue.
Eh? Is this normal- or was there some lore in Yggdrasil which said that all lemons were blue and so lemonade is blue here?
Tentatively, Hiroshi took a glass and Sous-chef poured some of the drink for him. Hiroshi took a sip and was surprised. No doubt, this was just normal lemonade, but he had no clue why it was colored the way it was.
"Ah, right," Hiroshi said. "So as I was saying, Solution, I was going to recount to you how the guild Ainz Ooal Gown first conquered the Great Tomb of Nazarick!" Out of all of his adventures within Yggdrasil, this was the one which he remembered the most clearly.
"Ah!" Eclair Ecleir Eicler said. "Is it truly alright for ones such as ourselves to listen to such a tale?"
"Yes," Hiroshi said. "So anyway, at the beginning the guild Ainz Ooal Gown only had nine members. I, along with Suzu-I mean, Momonga, was one of them."
All three of them were staring at Hiroshi with faces which held expressions of wondrous rapture and wonderment. It honestly unnerved him a little and put a bit of performance anxiety on him.
"Nishikienrai was the one who had initially scouted the location of a dungeon," Hiroshi said. "By that time, Momonga was in control of the guild and not Touch Me."
"Eh?" Solution exclaimed. "Touch Me was once the leader of the Supreme Beings?"
"Well, he was clan head," Hiroshi said. "But when we organized into an official guild Momonga became the guild leader instead. So, we assessed the strength of the dungeon, and we had been planning to conquer it for a few weeks. It was suggested that anyone trying to conquer it should be more than level 80, but we weren't too confident of our numbers. As such, we divided ourselves into six teams to assault the dungeon once were inside."
"I don't recall much of what the other teams experienced," Hiroshi admitted. "But I was sent along with-"
He then paused as a voice suddenly popped up in his head. It was a Message spell.
"Hello! This is Suzuki. If you're resting, I apologize for disturbing you. But, if not, could you meet me in the Throne Room? This is something that I wish to discuss with you. Ah, it isn't that urgent and can wait a few hours, if you're wondering."
Suzuki might've said that, but Hiroshi's curiosity was piqued.
"Ah, sorry about that, but Momonga said that he wanted to discuss something," Hiroshi said. "Hey, Solution, you don't mind going over this later, do you?"
"Of course not, Herohero-sama," Solution said and bowed deeply. "To even hear the beginning of such a tale is a great reward."
The other two agreed and bowed.
Hiroshi glanced toward his ring and teleported outside of the Throne Room.
He pushed open the door to see that Suzuki was on the throne with Albedo at his side.
"Hello, Suzuki," Hiroshi said.
"Hello. I thought you might be sleeping- I didn't interrupt you did I?"
"Ah, no, I didn't actually rest, I went for a walk with Solution," Hiroshi said. "Didn't I send you a Message about that earlier."
"Ah yes," Suzuki said as the flames in his skull disappeared for a second. "I couldn't join you for some reason. I'm sorry about that."
It was a strange way of phrasing the sentence. Granted, Suzuki didn't have normal facial expressions in this current form, but Hiroshi could sort of figure out what Suzuki was feeling.
It was almost as if Suzuki was uncomfortable or embarrassed about something. But then again, what would he have to be embarrassed about? Was it his created NPC?
Given the fact that Hiroshi had made his NPC look like an H game character, and the fact that Shalltear existed, he had trouble believing that anyone else would be embarrassed at one of the NPCs that they had created. And even if they did make some questionable choices while designing the NPCs, the fact remained that Hiroshi was in no position to judge someone else.
"Ah- coming to the point which I was going to talk about," Suzuki said. "I think we've done enough experimentation and we can go ahead with perhaps trying to find more of the old guild members."
"Ah, oh yeah," Hiroshi said. He couldn't deny that it seemed like a good idea.
"And to do so, I ran another little experiment," Suzuki explained. "I went over to Nigredo's residence in the Frozen Prison, and she appears to be normal except for some- ah, strange settings that Tabula put in for some reason. Aside from that, her divination magic works as usual, but it was unable to find any of the other guild members."
"Ah," Hiroshi said. "Was that because none of the others were transformed into their game avatars like you were?"
"That's what I was thinking," Suzuki said. "But, given that she had never seen the others like you are, I thought perhaps she could locate her creator. And she did- she found Tabula Smaragdina."
Albedo's wings shuffled at the mention of her creator's name, but her expression was unmoved.
"Given that, we could either go to one of the guild members whose addresses I know," Suzuki said. "I know of a few of them, or we could go to Tabula first. I don't know if their old addresses might've changed with time, so at the very least we have a confirmed location with this."
"Ah, but there a whole lot of other things we can do right?" Hiroshi said. "If we can use divination magic, we could spy on the government or some other place to know what's been going on outside."
"Ah, yes," Suzuki said. "But we might trigger anti-divination traps- ah, we could always rely on the Mirror of Remote Viewing and see if it works."
"Ah, right," Hiroshi said. Though there were risks with this plan, it was a lot less risky than just going out like this.
The only reason the two of them hadn't thought of this earlier was because they had been preoccupied with other things, but it came so naturally now.