My family runs an adventurer's guild.

Hearing that there was such an alternative solution, Ainz finally breathed a sigh of relief, but then felt a little embarrassed.

Is the tactical objective of my current fortress city conquest campaign really just to find prostitutes and pimps?

While this would save the maids of the Great Tomb of Nazarick from having to sell themselves on the streets, which is probably a good thing, well... please spare me!

As Ainz Ooal Gown thought this, he felt waves of stomach pain.

—Even though he doesn't actually have a stomach. But... ahhh, my stomach really hurts!

This, this must be what is called phantom limb pain, right?

Although it seems I no longer have a fifth limb...

As Ainz thought this, he suppressed the stomach pain that seemed to come from nowhere and continued his discussion with Firi, "...This suggestion is not bad, but what if there aren't enough prostitutes in the fortress city, or the quality of the prostitutes is too poor to satisfy the players?"

"...In that case, we'll have to find a way to recruit a group of cheap elderly prostitutes in Totoro Town and Thousand Sails City, then put them into various beautiful female characters in the game, and have them go to the brothels in the fortress cities that we control to solicit customers, in order to meet the needs of a large number of elderly male players..."

Phil replied, "...In fact, we have already entrusted Mr. Ernest with this matter!"

Hmm, this idea sounds pretty good, but it sounds more like "Online brothels are opening with hot sales, sexy beauties are serving you online"?

Ainz Ooal Gown was thinking this with a bewildered expression, but since it wouldn't affect his Great Tomb of Nazarick, he didn't care. "...I don't object to this method. However, what other services should we prepare for these big spenders?"

"...Of course! To ensure the players have a great time, we need to provide them with plenty of aphrodisiacs and ointments!"

Upon hearing this seemingly reasonable request, Ainz Ooal Gown was once again utterly bewildered. "...Well...although there are workshops for making potions and items in the Great Tomb of Nazarick, the [YGGDRASIL] game is for all ages, so where would you find a recipe for aphrodisiacs?"

"...So, we can only rely on that young pharmacist, and his grandmother Lizzie, for this."

Firi pointed to Enferea, who was curled up next to him, and said to Ainz, "...His family has the best potion workshop in the fortress city!"

(Previously, Firi and Ainz were communicating telepathically using "message" magic, so Enferea, who was standing next to them, couldn't hear them.)

So Ainz, the Bone Overlord, summoned Enferea, who was pale and trembling, and arrogantly promised (or rather, deceived) her:

"...Young man! I highly value your and your grandmother's pharmaceutical skills! Therefore, after my army conquers the fortified city, I hope you can persuade your grandmother not to do anything foolish and to submit to my Kingdom of Nazarick! At that time, I will bestow upon you and your grandmother the title of Honorary Court Apothecaries. And if you can complete an important task I have entrusted to you, I will not only reward you with a large sum of money, but also grant you a title and a fiefdom..."

Several years later, Enfield, who had become famous as the "Master of Miracle Oils," would occasionally think of a very troubling question when riding on his wife Anli: "...How did my house become a place that specializes in selling sex drugs?"

Chapter 152, Invasion from Underground

As a massive army composed of undead, demons, monsters, humans, orcs, and elves slowly approached from the direction of the Kaz Plains, the fortress city of Ye Lantier on the eastern border of the Kingdom of Ri Yestij was quickly plunged into unprecedented panic and turmoil!

As a low-level office worker, Ainz Ooal Gown had no experience commanding a real war, except for guild wars in games.

However, among the older players from the Golden Dragon Kingdom, there are quite a few experienced professional soldiers. Moreover, disregarding the power system, the two fantasy worlds are quite similar in terms of their social systems, both being roughly medieval feudal lord kingdoms.

Several retired generals and the stroke-paralyzed prime minister discussed the matter briefly on the march. They first determined the primary objective of the operation—to capture the fortified city of Ye Lantier as completely as possible. Then, they directly applied their past battlefield experience to formulate an operation plan.

First, based on the experience of these veteran generals, a frontal assault would inevitably cause enormous damage to the city. In order to take over a city relatively intact, it is best to avoid sieges and street battles, and instead force the city's defenders to surrender directly through a show of force and a decisive battle in the field.

Therefore, the army of the Great Tomb of Nazarick was not in a hurry to attack the city. Instead, they swept through a series of villages and towns around the fortress city of Yelantil in turn. With unparalleled strength, they forced the leaders of these villages and towns to submit, thus isolating the fortress city's defenders to the greatest extent possible.

In addition, for players who have just entered the game "Overlord", they also need some low-intensity combat experience before they can really participate in the big battle. This is to familiarize them with the weapons and skills they have just obtained through spending money, as well as to practice teamwork with each other.

Compared to the Earth players who outwitted and outmaneuvered the corporate slave Suzuki Satoru in the game YGGDRASIL back then, these so-called new players in the Golden Dragon Kingdom have almost no concept of playing games; they are complete novices.

Although many of them had fought in wars and hunted monsters and beasts, they had never played video games before, and were quite unfamiliar with using magic and items obtained through in-game purchases. Their teamwork was abysmal. In a real fight, there would definitely be many friendly fire incidents.

If we don't let them do a few beginner tasks first, and go through a period of adjustment and adaptation, it would be a joke to rush them into a major battle.

Unfortunately, during this series of rural cleanup operations, players and NPCs encountered virtually no significant resistance.

Because the area surrounding the fortress city of Yelantier was entirely royal territory, lacking feudal knightly manors and lordly fiefdoms, the advantage of this arrangement was that the royal family could theoretically enjoy all the taxes from this land without sharing with other nobles. The disadvantage was the near absence of military force in the countryside—under medieval feudalism, while lords and knights were greedy, tyrannical, and unruly, they were also the most basic level of military defense. Without feudal manors, there were no knights in the countryside, and without knights in the countryside, the vast countryside outside the city walls was completely undefended.

Therefore, the towns and villages surrounding the fortress city of Ye-Lantir are basically similar to those in Carne Village, lacking any official, permanent military or political forces. Village chiefs are elected by the villagers themselves, and monster and thief control relies on temporarily hired adventurers. The mayor of the fortress city of Ye-Lantir, acting as the king's representative, essentially does nothing except send people to collect taxes once or twice a year.

In a place where local governments are largely autonomous and the government only cares about collecting taxes, it is worth considering how much loyalty the border villages still have to the kingdom—in short, very few villagers would be willing to risk their lives for a king they have never even met.

In any case, when the monster army of the Great Tomb of Nazarick roared in, these villages were basically terrified and fled in panic. One by one, they either dragged their children and fled in a hurry, or if they couldn't escape, they had no choice but to surrender as soon as they saw the enemy, hoping that these ferocious people would not be too bloodthirsty.

Fortunately, neither the players nor Ainz Ooal Gown intended to cause trouble for the villages. So, aside from demanding verbal surrender from the village chiefs, they simply ordered the raising of the "Kingdom of Nazarick" flag—featuring Ainz's guild emblem. They then purchased some food at a low price, and that was it—Ainz's subordinates, primarily undead, generally didn't need to eat. However, a significant number of players, especially those who had purchased the [Goblin General's Horn] and summoned a large horde of goblin soldiers, absolutely needed to consume food.

Even so, by the standards of that era, the army of the Great Tomb of Nazarick could be considered to have done nothing wrong.

Moreover, Ainz Ooal Gown generously announced that all taxes for the year would be waived for villages that surrendered voluntarily—after all, neither the NPCs in the Great Tomb of Nazarick nor the players who came to this world relied on this agricultural tax to make a living.

Therefore, the village chiefs were quite grateful and offered up their cattle, sheep, wine, and girls to reward Ainz's army... The other rewards were one thing, but seeing the village girls shyly coming to fawn over and serve them, a considerable number of gentlemen players with weak willpower and lack of patience, who could no longer restrain themselves, could no longer control their ever-growing desires...

Before long, the sounds of loud "slap slap slap" and "howl howl" echoed throughout the tents, huts, and bushes, filling the air with an ambiguous atmosphere that made single men want to light torches... However, compared to the lackeys of the nobles of the Kingdom of Ri Yestige who liked to play for free, these players who played the game for the girls at least remembered that they were under the watchful eye of the god of sleep. So before they were satisfied and pulled up their pants, the players would usually generously scatter a game coin (worth only a handful of copper coins in their real world), making the village girls who had served these players until their legs were weak beam with joy—in the impoverished countryside where people struggled to make a living, most women did not place so much importance on chastity.

Some players even went so far as to leave the main group altogether, settling down in a village and spending their days and nights with their favorite village girls. Phil and his mistress were helpless in the face of this, only able to warn them that they were responsible for all the consequences and that they should log off as soon as possible if they encountered any dire situations.

There was no other way; at this point, the so-called "player army" led by Ainz Ooal Gown was essentially a typical medieval army: Ainz, the "Tomb King," was accompanied by a small squad of elite confidants, followed by a large group of incompetent soldiers who could only make a show of force and shout "666."

On the other hand, with the commotion caused by players from the Great Tomb of Nazarick in the southeastern countryside of the Kingdom of Ri Yestize, the fortress city finally discovered that there really was a group of enemies from underground approaching!

Chapter 153, The Fortress City Descends into Chaos Without a Fight (Part 1)

Mayor's Office, fortress city of Ye. Lantier

"...There really is such a large army of a Sorcerer King wreaking havoc in the nearby countryside?! Those four adventurers weren't lying after all!"

Mayor Panathore, the portly, balding man who governs the fortress city of Ye Lantier, felt a dizzying sensation as he watched the urgent intelligence reports pouring in like snowflakes, along with complaint letters from the city's nobles and wealthy merchants.

"...There's no point in dwelling on the past now, Mayor! The problem is, how do we deal with the requests for help from villages and towns all over the country?"

"The president of the Y. Lantil Mage Guild, Laksil, a thin mage as slender as a bamboo pole, sighed and said this."

"...Ask me for help? Where would I get reinforcements to send them? The current forces in the city are barely enough to defend the city walls!"

Mayor Panathore shrugged. "...I'm still waiting for reinforcements sent by His Majesty the King!"

—According to the military and political system of the Kingdom of Ri Yestize, in order to prevent local officials from amassing troops and becoming too powerful to control, eventually seizing power, the royal territories outside the capital generally do not have standing armies. The only armed force that Mayor Panasole can readily command is a rather limited mercenary force, which is barely enough to guard his residence and warehouses.

Even the fortress city of Ye Lantier itself relies on conscripting citizens for service to maintain its operations.

Therefore, upon learning that an unknown enemy army numbering in the tens of thousands, filled with a large number of terrifying monsters, was attempting to attack the fortress city of Ye Lantier under the leadership of a "Magic King" who had emerged from a tomb... the poor mayor of Panathore was so frightened that his legs went weak, and all he could do was desperately plead for help.

After all, he was just the mayor, not the city lord, and his actual control over the city was far less secure and powerful than that of a hereditary lord.

"...What did the Adventurers' Guild say? Since they were the first to get intelligence, they should have a plan by now, right?"

After managing to calm down, Mayor Panasore's first reaction, driven by the instincts of a professional bureaucrat, was to try to shift the blame.

Unfortunately, he's not the only one adept at shifting blame.

"...The Adventurers' Guild stated that they are merely professionals who hunt monsters and must remain neutral, and cannot intervene in wars between nations."

"The president of the Mage Guild, Laksil, answered expressionlessly."

"...Damn it. This isn't some kind of war between nations! It's clearly a demon siege! No, a demon army siege!"

Mayor Panasonic slammed his fist on the table in anger, “...Isn’t slaying monsters an adventurer’s duty?”

"...Then, Mayor, can you provide the Adventurers' Guild with a sufficient bounty as in the past?"

Laksil calmly countered, "...According to the intelligence we've gathered so far, there are at least twenty Death Knights in the enemy ranks! In addition, there are hundreds or thousands of orcs and vampires, as well as elven archers and high-ranking goblin soldiers from who-knows-where."

You can roughly estimate in your mind how much bounty you would need to set up to wipe out such a large number of monsters and alien races.

Furthermore, as you probably know, the Adventurers' Guild does not accept credit; they will only act if you present real money first.

Mayor Panaso fell silent. He knew very well that the city's government treasury simply didn't have that much money.

Of course, if he were to completely abandon all pretense and send soldiers to ransack the private residences of the wealthy in the city, he could obtain enough money, but he would also be hated to the core by the entire noble class of the kingdom, and then be discarded as a pawn by the weak-willed king to appease public anger...

Moreover, the most troublesome issue right now isn't money. Even if he managed to raise the funds, the Adventurers' Guild would most likely find another excuse to refuse.

“…Then, according to the kingdom’s wartime laws, how about forcibly conscripting adventurers from the city?” he tentatively suggested.

Laksil didn't bother to answer this naive idea, and just looked at Mayor Panasonic with the eyes of someone who "cares for the mentally challenged."

"...Okay, I understand. There's no such thing as a free lunch. It's hard for anyone to get someone to risk their life for them without paying them..."

Seemingly feeling a little uncomfortable under Laksil's gaze, Mayor Panasonic awkwardly tried to smooth things over.

However, before he could finish speaking, a soldier, drenched in sweat, rushed into his mayor's office and, before the mayor could even reprimand him, shouted, "...Reporting to the mayor, it's terrible! The enemy has appeared outside the city walls!"

"...What?!" Mayor Panasonic jumped up in shock. "...Tell me quickly, what exactly happened?"

"...That's right, after we left the city, we encountered a goblin army and were also ambushed by orcs..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

After careful questioning, Mayor Panasore finally learned the general outline of the matter:

—The fortress city garrison, who had been ordered to go out on horseback to scout ahead, encountered a group of strange goblins not far from the city.

Although goblins, a demi-human race, are much shorter than humans, only the size of a small child, they are regarded as lowly monsters by adventurers.

However, the goblins the scouts encountered in the suburbs were well-equipped, wearing leather armor and body armor, and their swords and spears were not just random scraps. They even had two wolves as mounts, and their fighting strength was almost no less than that of an equal number of human soldiers.

In addition, a goblin mage and a human mage provided them with firepower support.

Despite having slightly more cavalry, the fortress city was locked in a fierce and evenly matched battle with the goblin army, resulting in a stalemate. Even more critically, shortly after the battle began, another orc force emerged from the forest and entered the battlefield, instantly crushing the exhausted human cavalry!

During the ensuing rout and escape, more and more people fell behind or got separated from the group, or were killed by goblin cavalry riding wolves...

In the end, only three cavalrymen managed to escape back into the city, bringing with them the devastating news that an unknown enemy force was approaching.

As for the location of the enemy's main force and camps, and how many troops they have sent, we still have no idea.

In response, Mayor Panasonic had no better options than to order martial law throughout the city and send messengers to the capital for help.

However, it wasn't long before Mayor Panasonic discovered, to his great distress, that the unknown enemy force, still far out of sight, wasn't his most pressing concern. The far more imminent problem was the sudden outbreak of a massive refugee crisis within the city!

Author's message

PS: According to statistics from the Japanese market, the average age of users of popular mobile games is around 40 years old. Among them, the average age is 41.7 years old for Monster Strike, 40.7 years old for Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle, 36.7 years old for Knives Out, 40.0 years old for White Cat Project, 41.6 years old for Final Fantasy: Memory Crystal, 41.0 years old for Granblue Fantasy, 44.4 years old for Super Gundam King, 34.0 years old for Shadowverse, 36.6 years old for The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage, and 38.2 years old for The Idolmaster Million Live Theater Days.

So these games weren't designed for teenagers, but for middle-aged men and women!

Chapter 154, The Fortress City Descends into Chaos Without a Fight (Part 2)

—Although Mayor Panasonic had been trying to suppress military intelligence, as the saying goes, secrets can't be kept forever. As Ainz Ooal Gown's army of players gradually approached, and as refugees from the countryside fled into the city, the people of Panasonic gradually began to notice the unusual situation...

Then came the inevitable panic and widespread fear throughout the city!

Because the municipal authorities of the fortress city of Ye Lantier attempted to conceal military intelligence and paint a rosy picture, the lack of official information led to a proliferation of rumors within the city, which spread more and more widely and became increasingly outrageous.

At first, there were only vague rumors of an invasion by an "unknown enemy force." Then, the adventurers' guild recalled the earlier statements of the [Black Sword] adventurer group, and the legend of "Nazarick [Tomb King]," which had originally been treated as a joke, began to circulate among the common people.

Then, as more and more villagers who had witnessed the "player army" fled into the city, the rumors about their strength became increasingly exaggerated, with dragons, demons, and fallen angels appearing on the surface. In the end, even outrageous rumors of the "resurrection of the Eight Greed Kings" and the "reappearance of the Demon God" were fabricated—although the truth of the whole affair was actually closer to these two most outrageous rumors.

Especially after the scout cavalry dispatched by Mayor Panathore were routed by a group of well-equipped goblins and orcs, and had to flee back to the city in a panic with their heads bleeding, a massive earthquake, like a landslide and a tsunami, immediately struck the fortress city of Ye Lantier.

Although the defeated army didn't publicize their escape into the city, many in the city hall and among the garrison were still notified. Furthermore, the atmosphere in the fortress city of Ye Lantier was extremely tense, with everyone focused on the matter, so the news spread at lightning speed—before Mayor Panathore could even issue a martial law order, news of the "Demon Army's" attack had already reached every street and alley in the city.

As a result, through the spread of misinformation, increasingly terrifying rumors began to spread like wildfire throughout the city, eventually causing turmoil in the fortress city of Y'Rantil! Every citizen with even a little wealth felt that if they didn't leave now, it would be too late!

Therefore, before Mayor Panasonic could even issue the martial law decree, the wealthy and noble families who had already made preparations poured out of the city gates in their carriages laden with riches, fleeing westward into the heart of the Kingdom of Ri-Estize. The middle class, without carriages, dragged their trunks and bundles, pushing wheelbarrows or pulling carts, trudging westward along the still chilly streets of early spring.

Faced with this sudden, apocalyptic mass exodus, the defending army was completely bewildered and offered little resistance—as the local treasury could not support the expenses of a standing army. Therefore, a large portion of the fortress city of Ye Lantier's defense forces consisted of militia conscripted without pay, whose mental fortitude and loyalty were not much stronger than those of ordinary citizens. Intimidated by rumors and seeing the dire situation and the massive exodus, some militiamen simply changed clothes and went home, while others, seeing their families fleeing, packed their belongings and ran away as well.

As a result, because the martial law was issued a step too late, the western and southern gates of the fortress city of Yelantil could no longer be closed.

—The chaotic flow of vehicles and people completely blocked the street, with hundreds and thousands of people of all kinds rushing out like madmen.

At first, it was only wealthy merchants and nobles who fled the city in carriages with their fortunes. Then, well-informed adventurers and mercenaries, fearing that the mayor would conscript them as cannon fodder once war broke out, also packed their bags and fled.

Next, seeing so many upper-class people flocking out of the city, the ordinary citizens of the fortress city of Ye Lantier also panicked. Anyone who could raise money and food began to follow suit and flee out of the city. In the end, even the militia guarding the city ran away in large numbers.

Worse still, with the outbreak of a wave of refugees, the order within the fortress city of Ye Lantier also collapsed.

Clearly, for any human city in any era, the sudden collapse of social order is a very bad thing.

Thus, within the fortress city of Ye-Lantir, on one hand, tens of thousands of citizens poured out of the city to escape, crowding the streets near the city gates. On the other hand, suddenly, many street thugs appeared, seeking to profit from the chaos and plundering everywhere, launching fierce attacks on shops and wealthy fleeing residents. Among them were not only former gangsters but also soldiers and minor officials hoping to make a fortune in the chaos.

Some particularly unfortunate nobles and wealthy people, before they could even escape the city with their children, were ambushed and killed on the streets. All their gold and silver valuables were looted, and their beautiful female relatives were dragged into dark alleys and disappeared without a trace...

It wasn't until Mayor Panathore realized the situation was beyond his control that he reluctantly dispatched his few remaining mercenaries and managed to secure assistance from the Mage's Guild and the Adventurers' Guild. Only then was the chaos in the city barely brought under control, and all the city gates were closed.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

While the entire fortress city of Ye Lantier was in chaos, no one noticed that a slender and agile female thief had taken advantage of the confusion to sneak into the city's adventurers' guild, easily steal a few items, and then quietly returned to the city's cemetery.

"...So these are the magical items that the four adventurers from the 'Black Sword' obtained? They're all pretty good stuff!"

Looking at the stolen goods Clementine had taken from the Adventurers' Guild, including the four magical items Ainz Ooal Gown had previously bestowed upon the Black Sword Adventurer's Guild (which were then confiscated and held in custody by the Adventurers' Guild), the withered necromancer Kajit couldn't help but exclaim with delight.