Chapter 0115: Discussion About the Overlord World
After Hayashi confirmed his intention to intervene in the Overlord world's storyline, Erina, Hisako, and Yunyun's spirits visibly lifted—to put it in clichéd terms, their eyes were shining with excitement.
"So, should we discuss how to handle the Overlord storyline?" Hayashi propped his chin on his hand and said, "Shall we start by reviewing the known information?"
Hisako was the first to raise her hand. "Then, allow me to report first!"
"First, we can confirm one thing: any player still online at the time of the server shutdown will be transported to another world. However, judging from the fact that the Six Great Gods arrived 600 years before Ainz, the Eight Greed Kings 500 years before, and the Thirteen Heroes over 200 years before, it seems players from different guilds were transported at different points in time."
"Second, although Ainz is invincible in combat in the other world, the natives still possess some relics left behind by previous players. If we're too careless, we might fall victim to them."
As for who might fall victim? There's no need for me to elaborate on that shameful lamprey who, despite being undead, got mind-controlled, right?
Erina suddenly raised her hand and said, "In that case, if we actively participate in events, compete for first clears, guild battles, and so on during the game, collecting as many World-Class Items as possible, wouldn't that mean the risk of us being threatened by World-Class Items after the transfer would be much lower than Ainz's?"
In Erina's view, there are only so many World-Class Items. If the number in their possession increases, wouldn't that mean fewer in others' hands? That makes sense, right?
Hearing Erina's naive words, Hisako sighed helplessly and said, "Erina, that's impossible—YGGDRASIL was operational for twelve years. We can't stay in that world for that long."
At the mention of twelve years, Erina immediately backed down—although the emergence of high-quality ingredients in the Pokémon world had extended the deadline for Chef Abe to prepare life-saving meals for Mana Nakiri, it was nowhere near twelve years.
She pouted unhappily and said, "Then what should we do? With such a big gap, won't we end up with very few World-Class Items?"
Hearing Erina's words, Hayashi recalled the plot of a certain game-isekai novel he had read before and raised his hand. "Well, I suddenly have a bold idea."
Hisako played along, extending her right hand and saying, "Please, begin your performance!"
Hayashi cleared his throat and said, "Here's the thing—as everyone knows, when a game is about to shut down, the prices of its equipment and items plummet! If we take advantage of this and, after the shutdown announcement, go on a massive buying spree for World-Class Items or rare items—couldn't we score a huge bargain?"
"Gasp—"
Upon hearing Hayashi's suggestion, Erina and Hisako gasped in unison. They exchanged glances, realizing that Hayashi's plan might actually work!?
Hisako murmured, "That's right! Only a few of us know that players online during the server shutdown will get transported to another world!? So in everyone else's perception, once the game shuts down, no matter how rare an item is, it'll just become meaningless data..."
Take the game Fantasy Westward Journey as an example—a level 150 belt with no-level restriction, rage, and special skills could be worth tens of millions. But if the official announcement declared the game would shut down in a month, would that belt still retain its value?
Absolutely not! An item's worth is based on the game still being operational. If the game is about to shut down, the value of equipment is destined to plummet beyond recovery—no one would be foolish enough to buy a bunch of data that's about to be deleted, right?
Unable to contain her excitement, Erina clapped her hands and said, "As expected of Hayashi! When it comes to this, we can always count on you!"
Hayashi: 'Huh!? Wait, what do you mean by "this"? Ugh, why do I feel like Erina isn't saying anything good here!?'
Hayashi wrinkled his nose and grumbled, "After we finish discussing other matters, let's talk about the Ainz Ooal Gown guild—do you have any good solutions for handling them?"
As soon as he posed the question, Hisako quickly raised her hand and said, "I do! The simplest method!"
Hayashi turned to her. "Oh? Go ahead—"
"From the first episode of the anime, we know that during the server shutdown, the only player online from Ainz Ooal Gown is the Sorcerer King," Hisako said, raising a finger. "So doesn't that mean if we just prevent the Sorcerer King from logging in when the server shuts down..."
Wouldn't that mean Nazarick would simply cease to exist?
"Whoa—"
Hayashi's eyes widened, and he couldn't help but exclaim, "No wonder they say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned! You're something else, Hisako!"
Hisako: '???'
Why do I feel like the young master is insulting me?
Hisako puffed up her cheeks and glared at Hayashi, while Yunyun, standing to the side, hesitantly spoke up, "U-um, if that's the case... wouldn't that mean no one would be left to save the villagers of Carne Village?"
"Ah—"
Hayashi, Erina, and Hisako exchanged glances before Hayashi scratched his head and said, "Ugh, according to the original plot, Carne Village still needs to be saved by the Sorcerer King's group, but..."
Hisako also rubbed her temples and added, "But if the Sorcerer King doesn't get transported, no one saves Carne Village; if he does, it might lead to the massacre of 70,000 people later."
Damn it, isn't this just pitting the lives of Carne Village against the lives of 70,000 others? We're not Kiritsugu Emiya—how are we supposed to weigh this!?
With this dilemma surfacing, the previously relaxed atmosphere instantly grew heavy.
Yunyun asked nervously, "Um, d-did I ask something I shouldn't have?"
Hayashi waved his hand with a solemn expression and said, "No, you're not wrong! If anything, thanks to Yunyun's reminder, we realized this oversight—Erina, Hisako, do you have any good ideas?"
"Sorry—"
Hisako held her head in her hands and smiled bitterly. "With no way to control time travel right now, I really can't think of any solution to this problem."
Erina also shook her head weakly, murmuring, "The lives of Carne Village and seventy thousand people…"
What a heavy choice indeed.
As the team members fell into silence, Ho-Oh, perched atop Hayashi's head, couldn't help but speak up. "So, uh, I analyzed the situation, and basically, you guys want to do something where you can't control the outcome, right?"
Hayashi nodded. "You could say that."
Ho-Oh tilted its head. "So, have you considered using methods like boosting luck to achieve your goal? If your luck is good enough, wouldn't things just work out?"
Hayashi twitched his lips. "Don't joke around—can we really gamble on luck for something like this?"
Ho-Oh rolled its eyes. "Don't tell me you actually think luck isn't important?"
Hayashi waved his hand. "I know luck is important, but what I mean is, we can't just pin all our hopes on it! It's unpredictable—who knows if it'll even work?"
Ho-Oh pouted and said irritably, "Well then, here's the question: aside from relying on luck, do you have any other solutions?"
That one sentence left Hayashi speechless.
...
...
In the end, to resolve this "balance problem," Hayashi and the others, with Arceus's assistance, prepared two contingency plans—
Plan One: At the start of the time travel, have Hisako first use a luck-boosting ability from the Konosuba world to raise their luck once, then have Ho-Oh bestow its blessing on Hayashi and the others to maximize their luck before proceeding with the time jump.
Plan Two: If Plan One fails, Hayashi and the others will immediately lead the guild members back to the Pokémon world and, with Dialga's power, travel through time to reach the correct point in time.
To test this, they even conducted a trial run—taking Dialga to the Kenichi world, jumping three years forward, then three years back. Only after confirming it worked did they finalize the plan.
"Ah—"
Hayashi walked into the living room, quickly made his way to the sofa, and collapsed onto it like a puppet with its strings cut. "Finally found a solution. I'm exhausted from all this."
Truth be told, Hayashi himself didn't feel a strong sense of responsibility. After all, whether it was Carne Village or the deaths of seventy thousand people, he had only witnessed them through a screen, not firsthand. Plus, the sanitized nature of animation made the impact on him rather shallow.
But with Yunyun, Erina, and Hisako being particularly invested in this matter, Hayashi had no choice but to accompany these three silly girls in their busywork, running around nonstop until now when he could finally take a break.
"Hayashi, thank you," Erina said wearily as she leaned back on the sofa, then slumped directly onto Hayashi's shoulder. "For indulging the three of us in our whims."
Yunyun also looked at Hayashi with gratitude and said, "Hayashi-nii is such a good person!"
"..."
Hayashi rubbed his head and then glanced at Erina.
Erina said, "Don't worry, that doesn't count as a 'good person card.'"
Hayashi tilted his head in confusion. Why did this conversation feel vaguely familiar? Had it happened before?
Well, no matter.
He waved his hand and said, "Anyway, let's discuss how much time we plan to spend in the Overlord world."
Hisako sat up straight, rubbing her head as she said, "If we're just focusing on leveling up characters and acquiring equipment and materials by buying them cheap after the server shutdown announcement, half a year should be enough, right?"
Hayashi crossed his arms and nodded. "Half a year in the game, then another half a year in the other world—a year in total. That should do it."
Just as everything seemed to be going smoothly, Hisako suddenly remembered something terrifying. She timidly raised her hand and said, "Um, I just thought of something—I remember the real world in Overlord is a highly advanced futuristic society, right? So… how do we get things like identification documents? Cash transactions for in-game items would require bank transfers, wouldn't they?"
In an instant, the living room fell deathly silent.
Holy mother of Sichuan boiled fish in chili oil—this was a disaster!