"Honestly…"
After a few minutes of silence, Erina and Hisako exchanged glances before the former spoke up with a troubled expression. "After catching up with Season 3… we really couldn't bring ourselves to like Momonga's story anymore."
"Hmm…" Hayashi pondered for a few seconds, then looked at the slightly pained expressions on Erina and Hisako's faces. Realizing something, he asked, "Is it because of Momonga's actions after he completely loses his humanity?"
"Hmm—" Hisako gave a bitter smile and said, "Actually, the earlier parts were fine, but during the battle against the kingdom, Momonga used a super-tier spell and wiped out an army of seventy thousand in one go. Then, from the corpses of the soldiers, five Black Goat Young were born..."
From that scene, it was clear that because he had become an undead in another world, Momonga had completely lost his humanity. He felt no emotional response to the deaths of seventy thousand people—his mind was solely occupied with thoughts like, "Seventy thousand dead—how many goats will this summon?" And when the goats appeared, he was overjoyed, exclaiming, "Five! It's actually five! This must be a record! As expected of me—only I could summon five goats at once!"
"If you immerse yourself in Momonga's perspective and embrace the dark tone, you'd probably find it thrilling," Hisako said, resting her head on Pinocchio's shoulder with a wry smile. "But Erina and I just can't get into it—we don't understand, nor can we imagine, what's so joyful about slaughtering seventy thousand people at once."
That was true. The protagonist of Overlord wasn't some righteous hero but a demon king who had gradually lost his humanity and embraced evil and sin. If you treated it purely as an anime, it was just entertainment—something to enjoy for the thrill. But if you imagined it as a real world, it would undoubtedly leave you unsettled.
"Um—" Yunyun raised her hand in confusion. "What are you all talking about? I don't understand any of this."
"Tch, go catch up on the series first," Hayashi said, handing her a tablet and shooing her to the side to binge-watch. Then he quickly sat down beside Erina and said, "If you don't like the later plot, we can just take the NPCs from the guild and leave immediately after crossing over, never going back. How about that?"
Erina nodded lightly, resting her forehead against Hayashi's shoulder. "Am I being too selfish?"
"Pfft, not at all," Hayashi sighed, ruffling her hair reassuringly. "Momonga was never a righteous hero to begin with—he's a villain who's lost his humanity. If anything, the people in the real world who support him and think he's in the right are the ones with issues, right?"
This wasn't Hayashi exaggerating—the author of Overlord had once stated in an interview: "Anyone who supports the protagonist in real life definitely has problems!"
"Mhm, thank you." Erina closed her eyes and murmured in a voice so soft only she could hear, "If possible..."
Though Hisako didn't catch Erina's words, she saw her lips move—she didn't know what Erina had said, but she understood what she meant.
Because, deep down, she also wanted to ask Hayashi if they could stop Momonga's indiscriminate slaughter in the other world. But before the words could leave her mouth, she swallowed them back—she knew all too well that the events in Momonga's world couldn't be resolved with a simple, brute-force solution.
"This isn't just an issue with the Bone King alone. Nearly all NPCs in Nazarick are utterly wicked (-500 justice value) - they're all demons who disregard life and would sacrifice anything to achieve their goals by any means necessary. Take Albedo for example, who developed the thought 'If other Supreme Beings appear and try to seize power, I'll kill them' just to protect 'her beloved Momonga-sama's' position!"
"But what if we directly prevent the Bone King guild's transition? Like making him work overtime on the server shutdown night through real-world means so he can't be online at the moment of shutdown."
"That might be achievable, but then how would we resolve the Slane Theocracy's massacre of Carne Village at the anime's beginning? Would we have to involve the young master in dealing with the subsequent events?"
"Simple involvement would be manageable, but I worry things might snowball and waste too much time..."
"Sigh—"
At this point, Hisako couldn't help but sigh and slumped onto Pinocchio, murmuring: "What should we do...?"
...
...
To lift Erina and Hisako's spirits, Hayashi took them to the Pokémon world for a change of scenery - as for Yunyun, she was currently completely absorbed in binge-watching anime and refused to move, so she stayed home.
It must be said that the little creatures of the Pokémon world have incredible healing power. Erina, who had been gloomy about the Bone King's later changes and the deaths of seventy thousand people, was already showing a faint smile.
Good job, Diancie!
"So amazing!" Hisako beside them widened her eyes looking around. "Living diamonds!"
Hayashi glanced at Hisako and said with amusement: "Hisako, you're such an intelligent woman, surely you don't actually believe in the so-called diamond scam, do you?"
Compared to other jewelry materials:
Silver has high ductility, with thermal and electrical conductivity among the best of metals;
Gold's ductility surpasses even silver, with extremely high corrosion resistance;
Platinum has exceptional chemical stability and catalytic activity, mainly used in automotive exhaust purification.
These all create value for science and world progress beyond jewelry. But what about diamonds? Beyond being made into engagement rings for the so-called "love scam," do they have any other value?
No, darling!
"Young master, that's where you're mistaken!" Hisako shot Hayashi a look. "Foolish women genuinely believe diamonds represent love, while smart women know it's a scam but still adore them, after all, who can resist such sparkly things?"
'So are women crows or dragons?'
Hayashi smirked, then clasped his hands behind his head. "Too bad Diancie hasn't fully matured yet, otherwise she could gift you a pink diamond of terrifyingly high quality."
"!"
Hisako's expression immediately turned serious as she looked intently at Hayashi. "Young master, when will Lady Diancie mature?"
Big, big shot?
Hayashi covered his face and said, "Probably going through a movie plot—well, for now, it's still early, still early."
Currently, Ash Ketchum spends about a year traveling through each region. Based on this pace, it would take at least two and a half years before he reaches the Kalos region—but fortunately, judging by the Pokémon in the movie, Froakie is still in its Froakie stage, so it should be during the early part of his Kalos journey.
"Hmm, alright." Hisako sighed in disappointment, sitting listlessly on a rock. Seeing her dejected expression, Hayashi helplessly said, "Ah, well, once she grows up, we can just come back, right? Then we'll get you a pink diamond the size of a fist to wear and make everyone else jealous."
Hisako imagined herself strutting around with a fist-sized pink diamond and couldn't help but twitch her lips. "A diamond that big would just make me look silly."
"Hahaha, a pink diamond that huge might even make people think it's fake, like glass!" Hayashi laughed, winking at her. "Actually, we don't have to focus on Diancie, right? Since we can travel to other worlds, maybe one of them has abundant jewelry resources? Then we can get you and Erina piles of diamonds—each the size of a lychee! Pink, blue, red, green, yellow, purple, black—one of each! Enough to cover all ten fingers!"
"Gah—" Hisako sucked in a sharp breath.
"Wait, that might not fill all ten fingers? Then let's add jade—like glass-grade imperial green, or cat's eye stones! Whatever's valuable, we'll get it!" Hayashi waved his hand grandly, embodying the image of a nouveau riche with zero taste, making Hisako cover her face in agony. "Young master, I really don't think that's necessary!"
You've successfully ruined all my fantasies about diamonds with your words—just moments ago, she was daydreaming about "flaunting a fist-sized pink diamond," but now she was picturing herself with all ten fingers adorned with rings, each set with a different precious gemstone.
The image was so beautiful—beautifully tacky to the extreme.
Hayashi's expression froze, and he shrunk his neck slightly. "Was that idea really that bad?"
"Not just bad—exceptionally bad!" Hisako said from the bottom of her heart. "Please, please never mention this idea to Erina."
"Ahem, got it, got it." Hayashi chuckled awkwardly and nodded. He turned his head toward Erina, who was chatting with Diancie, and immediately scurried over with quick steps, calling out, "Erina, cuddle, I want cuddles~~"
"Ew—"
Hisako rubbed her arms in disgust—not because she disliked Hayashi and Erina's affection, but because of the revolting tone in his voice! How could a reliable twenty-six-year-old man make such a nauseating sound?!
In one word: disgusting.
Hisako couldn't help but wrap her arms around Pinocchio's neck and vigorously rub her fox head. "Pinocchio, you must never imitate the young master! You have to be a fox with normal taste!"
Pinocchio: "?"
What the heck are you barking about!? My taste is incredibly refined, how could I possibly learn from him!? I can even calculate two plus three now!