My family runs an adventurer's guild.

However, in the first half of the 19th century, because Queen Victoria of England liked the elegant white color and wore an all-white wedding dress for her wedding, the saying "what the superiors like, the inferiors will follow" became true. Due to the enormous influence of the British Empire at its peak, the all-white wedding dress finally became popular all over the world.

Scarlett O'Hara, the protagonist of "Gone with the Wind," was obsessed with white satin gowns, saying it was an ancestral tradition, but in reality, this style had only been fashionable for two or three decades at the time. It's possible that Scarlett's mother wore a white satin wedding dress, but her grandmother was more likely to have married in a colorful gown.

Similarly, the brides in classic romance novels such as "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility" rarely wore white wedding dresses—to the British of that time, such a thing probably looked more like mourning clothes or nun's habit: 18th-century nun's habit was pure white, and its style was more like a modern nurse's uniform.

Chapter 106, The Horror of Ainz Ooal Gown

Earth in the world of OVERLORD, year 2138 AD

This is a hopeless world with a bleak future and people living in misery.

Humanity failed to break free from Earth's cradle and usher in the era of the vast universe before resources were exhausted, and instead continues to be confined to its increasingly impoverished home.

The flame of hope that illuminates a bright future is on the verge of being extinguished; all that remains is a dying struggle and a desperate attempt to survive.

Decline, poverty, technological stagnation, widening wealth gap, class stratification, environmental pollution, and resource depletion...

The sky was covered by black smog, filled with deadly air toxic by toxins.

The severely polluted and barren soil makes the crops in the fields almost inedible.

Rivers and lakes have become murky and discolored, and pure freshwater has become a luxury.

Even the ocean is gradually decaying and dying, and can give less and less to mankind.

The Earth's natural environment has already become so horrific, yet human civilization is destined to become even more vile.

Faced with a nightmarish future, the ruling class that dominates the world does not concentrate all its resources and strength to pave a bright future for human civilization, but instead intensifies its efforts to seize and monopolize everything, whether it be wealth, knowledge, power, resources, or a clean environment.

Social classes became completely rigid, technological development stagnated and regressed, and the door to knowledge gradually closed to the poor.

Deliberate suppression and restriction of education turns people into empty-headed, ignorant illiterates, making them easier to control and enslave.

However, the plight of even elementary school students being considered intellectuals made scientific research impossible and completely extinguished humanity's hope of moving towards a new era.

In this era of extreme wealth disparity, the wealthy and powerful, who have inherited their positions for generations, have retreated to lush, eco-friendly cities, enjoying fresh, hydroponically grown fruits and vegetables, as well as expensive meats and seafood produced within these cities. Ordinary people, however, are forced to barely survive on unpalatable synthetic foods, or even more tragically, resort to consuming contaminated wild crops, contracting various strange diseases, and dying a miserable death.

Even just seeing a beautiful natural view or breathing a breath of pure, fresh air has become a luxury for the poor.

From East to West, human civilization as a whole appears stagnant and decadent, twilight on the verge of decline.

It's easy to imagine that the harsher life in the real world becomes, the more people yearn for a spiritual life—in ancient times, religion flourished during times of famine and chaos. In the future, however, online games, to some extent, have replaced religion as a form of anesthetic.

Thus, a panoramic immersive VR online game called "YGGDRASIL" emerged and became immensely popular in this sorrowful and decadent era, becoming a pillar of support for countless players—renowned for its exceptional freedom. It boasts a vast world stage, numerous class skills, freely customizable player appearances, and even the ability to customize background information, create guild strongholds, and personal NPCs.

The game features over two thousand basic job types, including both basic and advanced ones.

Therefore, YGGDRASIL caused a sensation upon its release and subsequently became a global phenomenon in the gaming industry, dominating the scene for twelve years.

However, no matter how popular an online game is, there will eventually be a day when its servers are shut down and its operation ceases.

As time quietly passed, after twelve years of continuous operation, [YGGDRASIL] finally came to the day of server shutdown.

This is the last day that the game [YGGDRASIL] will continue to operate...

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In the dead of night, at the Great Tomb of Nazarick, the stronghold of the "Ainz Ooal Gown" guild in the game [YGGDRASIL].

In a conference room furnished with a giant obsidian round table, sat the guild leader, player "Flying Squirrel".

He wore a luxurious black academic robe with purple-gold embroidery along the edges, and ornate decorations on the collar, resembling an extravagant ancient emperor. However, his head was a skull devoid of flesh. Large, empty eye sockets gleamed with a crimson-black light, and a black halo-like aura emanated from the back of his head. Within his ribcage, a flickering red light pulsed.

Because this guild leader is an undead player, using the Lich class, and has leveled it up to the highest level of 100.

His real name is Suzuki Satoru, an ordinary Japanese office worker who is introverted and not good at socializing. His game player name is "Momonga," the guild leader of the top-ranked guild in the game, "Ainz Ooal Gown," and the last remaining member of the guild.

The other members of the guild had long since left the game over time.

There was no way around it. Although these players had all been deeply infatuated with the game [YGGDRASIL], so much so that even when they were too tired to keep their eyes open, they would still force themselves to log in in order to get the sign-in rewards. Compared to the lifeless real world, the virtual world in this game carried too much hope and dreams. It had beautiful scenery and starry skies that even the poor could see, and companions and partners who could fight together regardless of their background.

However, a game is still a game, and no matter how realistic the data from the server is, it can never replace reality.

The players' experience in the game 【YGGDRASIL】is actually more like a grand and lively dream, where everyone can play and have fun together without being hindered by status or position. But after waking up, they still have to put on the mask of real life and go their separate ways.

Once players finally grasped this point, all the adventures that took place in the game became utterly boring.

After all, one cannot live on dreams alone. Thus, as time went on, more and more players of the "Ainz Ooal Gown" guild chose to compromise with reality and quit YGGDRASIL. Some kept their game accounts, nominally not having left the guild, but no longer logging in, merely as a memento. Most, however, simply deleted their accounts completely, erasing all traces of their past in the game.

Only Ainz Ooal Gown's guild leader, Momonga, continues to diligently maintain the guild. Even though everyone else has left, he refuses to give up—for Momonga, who lost both parents and has few friends in the real world, this gaming guild in the Great Tomb of Nazarick is his most cherished spiritual refuge and his second home, to which he has invested countless hours and resources.

However, the day of shutdown finally arrived, and this only haven in my dreary life was about to disappear.

This cruel ending left Ainz Ooal Gown, now known as Momonga, feeling a profound sense of loneliness and emptiness.

Just a few dozen seconds ago, he had a conversation with one of the few remaining guild members, the slime monster Black Lolo Black Lolo, and they were both complaining about their jobs in real life: troublesome and incompetent subordinates, rude bosses who wouldn't listen to explanations, and deteriorating health...

However, after venting, the troubles of life and work remain the same, with no change for the better.

Now, even Hei Luo, after venting his frustrations, has logged out of the game, gone back to sleep, and disappeared.

Only Ainz Ooal Gown, the future Overlord, and Ainz Ooal Gown, the present one, are left sitting alone in the empty conference room, feeling infinitely desolate.

"...I really miss those days spent with my friends, they were so enjoyable..."

He muttered to himself as he looked around. In the center of the room stood a huge round table gleaming with obsidian, surrounded by forty-one luxurious chairs, almost all of which were empty. The chairs that had once been fully occupied now held only his lonely figure.

I remember how lively this place used to be! Some people would drag their exhausted bodies online after working themselves to the bone, while others would get so caught up in playing that they forgot to do housework and argued with their wives. Sometimes, everyone would gather in the guild and not even leave the guild, just chatting all day long. Sometimes they would tell silly, pointless stories to liven things up; sometimes they would plan their next adventure; and sometimes they would reminisce about the thrills of treasure hunts.

They also organized large-scale guild wars, launching strong attacks on the enemy guilds' bases and ultimately successfully defeating them;

They were once attacked by the strongest monster, which was known as a world-class enemy, which almost led to the destruction of the entire guild.

I remember a few times when we stumbled upon many rare resources by chance, which made everyone so happy that they rolled on the ground in joy.

There are also various monsters and traps set up in the Great Tomb to defend against invaders and deal with waves of invading enemy players.

Besides the fun adventures in the game, Ainz Ooal Gown believes the greatest joy lies in playing with friends. For Ainz, whose parents have passed away and who has virtually no friends in the real world, this guild is a cherished memory of the wonderful times he spent with his friends.

But now, there's not a single person left here, except for myself...

What was originally a guild that belonged to everyone has now truly become his (a skeleton's) guild.

The faces and voices of the players who once sat here are still deeply etched in his mind.

However, those joyful days that have passed are gone forever.

Even the last remaining remains of the Great Tomb of Nazarick will soon disappear with the shutdown of the game [YGGDRASIL].

The flying squirrel was naturally filled with regret and reluctance, as if the house it had built brick by brick had been forcibly demolished.

—And they haven't given even a penny of demolition compensation.

However, as an ordinary person, Flying Squirrel has no way to change this fact and can only silently wait for the server shutdown time to arrive.

What frustrated Ainz even more was that he had originally sent messages to the remaining players on the guild member list, inviting everyone to gather at the guild's headquarters, the Great Tomb of Nazarick, on the last night before the game [YGGDRASIL] was about to shut down, and stay together until the server closed as a memento.

As a result, they did come, but they only exchanged a few pleasantries before logging off. Not one of them was willing to stay in the game until midnight when the servers were shut down.

In the end, is there really no one willing to stay with you until the very end?

The future Ainz Ooal Gown thought this silently, letting out a long sigh from his heart.

He didn't want to condemn these former online friends for their heartlessness, because he could also understand how exhausted they were. Even so, they still managed to respond to his emails and log on on the last day before the game's official launch. That alone deserved his deepest gratitude.

If you continue to ask the other party to stay, then it's not just being shameless, it's asking for trouble.

But... why do I still feel so desolate inside, and even have an urge to cry?

Sigh, forget about those unhappy things. I'll just take advantage of the last bit of time and wander around the guild!

Before the game shuts down, I took one last look at the Great Tomb of Nazarick that I built with my friends.

Consider this the final inspection of my own backyard!

Of course, since it's an inspection tour, one should wear their most stylish outfit.

The future Ainz Ooal Gown let out another long sigh from his heart, stood up from beside the empty obsidian round table, and put nine magnificent rings on his skeletal hands in turn, followed by a necklace, gauntlets, bracers, a crown, a cloak, and so on. If measured in money, they were all incredibly valuable artifact-level items—but now that the game [YGGDRASIL] itself is about to shut down, they are not worth much anymore.

Once the game [YGGDRASIL] shuts down, it will become completely worthless—after all, it's just a bunch of data.

After equipping himself with his best gear, Momonga left the round table and walked towards the wall, where a luxurious wand stood—a massive, complex wand coiled with seven snakes. Each snake, struggling in agony, held a gem of a different color in its mouth. The handle was made of crystal, radiating a soft blue light. Anyone would have thought it was an extremely high-grade treasure.

This is a guild weapon that each guild can only possess once, the "Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown," which can also be considered a symbol of this guild.

The treasure that should have belonged to the guild leader was instead used to decorate the room—because there were no other items that could represent the guild.

More importantly, the destruction of guild weapons signifies the collapse of the guild.

Therefore, guild weapons are usually not used to unleash their full potential, but are instead kept in the safest place.

However, in the final moments before the game is about to shut down, there seems to be no need for such caution.

After a moment's hesitation, Ainz reached out and grasped the guild's wand, then turned to leave the guild's meeting room.

However, at that very moment, he heard a strange voice.

"...Hello, are you Mr. Satoru Suzuki? May I have a moment to discuss something with you?"

The next instant, the flying squirrel turned around abruptly, as if startled, and pointed the guild staff in the direction from which the sound came.

Then, he saw an adorable little cat-person standing next to the round table he had just left, saying to him, "...I am Ferry, the Human Resources Manager of Totoro Town Adventurer Game Company. Our company is very interested in your guild's Great Tomb of Nazarick and wants to relocate the entire site to the new game to serve as a starting village. I wonder if Mr. Suzuki Satoru would be interested in switching jobs to our company and serving as the village chief of the starting village?"

However, the flying squirrel completely ignored his rambling and simply asked in a cold voice, "...Who are you? How did you get in?"

Author's message

P.S.: Suddenly remembered something funny: With the recent escalation of the US-China trade war, American cartoonists have also found inspiration. Last month, one cartoonist incorporated this theme into his work—due to tariff barriers, soybeans that US agricultural states planned to sell to China were stuck with unsold stock. Angry farmers dragged soybeans to the White House to protest to the president. To win back these core supporters, the president ordered the unsold soybeans to be consumed internally, and the staple food for prisoners across the US was changed to boiled soybeans. So, American prisoners have been eating soybeans every day ever since, looking miserable...

Do you think this situation could actually happen?

Chapter 107, Showing Off in Front of the King of Show-Offs

Upon discovering that strangers had broken into the Great Tomb of Nazarick, which he considered his home, Ainz Ooal Gown's first reaction was a mixture of shock and anger.

—It's like an ordinary person suddenly discovering a thief in their own home.

In addition, in the future, Ainz Ooal Gown harbored deep confusion and apprehension.

Like other guilds in the game [YGGDRASIL], Nazarick, the headquarters of the "Ainz Ooal Gown" guild, also has strict protective measures to prevent teleportation spells.

Players who are not guild members cannot directly teleport into the Great Tomb of Nazarick without receiving an online invitation from a guild member. They can only enter from the surface entrance, fighting their way in layer by layer against the Guardian NPCs – this is what is known as guild wars.

Otherwise, even if guild members stayed in the Great Tomb, they would be constantly attacked by players outside who would open portals, making their lives miserable.

However, Flying Squirrel clearly remembered that he had never extended such an invitation to any outsider.

None of the people, including Hei Luo, who had briefly logged in before, had mentioned anything like this to him.

The system never gave me any notification about "the Great Tomb of Nazarick being attacked".

So, how did this cat-man player manage to sneak in so quietly?

Therefore, under intense mental pressure, Ainz Ooal Gown, now known as Ainz Ooal Gown, completely failed to notice what the other had just said to him. He simply aimed his most powerful weapon, the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, at the other's head, as if a fight was about to break out at any moment...

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On the other side, looking at the terrifying giant skeleton in front of him, he suddenly raised a huge, frightening-looking magic wand and aimed it at his own head.

Phil, who was trying to banter with him, was so frightened that he almost had a heart attack.

Meow! I was talking to you so nicely, why did you suddenly turn into a "super fierce" person who's about to start a fight?

I remember this guy in front of me is known for being a coward, having a vivid imagination, being pretentious, and being good at "outsmarting thin air," isn't he?

No matter what earth-shattering changes happen, can you always calmly put on a show in all sorts of fancy ways?